Today’s episode features the return of strength coach Mike Boyle. Mike is one of the foremost experts in the fields of Strength and Conditioning, Functional Training and general fitness. In 1996 Michael co-founded Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, one of the first for-profit strength and conditioning companies in the world. He is the author of “Functional Training for Sports”, “Advances in Functional Training for Sports”, and “New Functional Training for Sports”.
Mike made huge waves in the industry when he put down a firm stance against bilateral barbell squatting, in favor of goblet squats and single leg work, which he spoke on in his first guest appearance. Although many doubters would arise, on last episode, Mike gave some very clear anecdotes on just how good of results you can get in standard NFL combine training KPI’s without using the “sacred cows” of a barbell back squat.
For today’s episode, we pick back up where we left off, talking about the departure of standard powerlifting means in training athletes, now focusing particularly on posterior chain development. With the exit of the barbell deadlift, Mike has an array of exercises and movements that heavily tax the muscles of the glutes and hamstrings, and can do so to a greater degree than typical bilateral straight bar work.
For today’s episode, we’ll cover the biggest differences between the old and new functional training books, why coaches tend to be afraid of the term “functional training”, the evolution of Mike’s sprint training based on the ideas of Tony Holler, developing the posterior chain effectively and safely, and finally, Mike’s 3 “Go-to” total body lifts for developing athletes
Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.
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Key Points:
- The biggest differences between the old and new functional training for sports books
- Why coaches tend to be afraid of the term “functional training”
- Potential drawbacks of doing only single leg work in the weightroom
- Michael’s utilization of flying 10-yard sprints in a small space
- Velocity based training, system loads and jump squats
- Means of developing posterior chain without using deadlifts and good-mornings
- Mike’s 3 go-to lifts for athletes
“I don’t think people look to learn, I think people look to be right and people look to support what they are doing”
“If someone can show me a better way, I’m going to go with the better way”
“I think most people are loading too heavy when they try to do their contrast stuff (heavy hex-bar jumps), and tilt the risk reward”
“The less you want your athletes to get hurt, the higher you should keep the reps…. I might never go under 5 reps working with professional athletes”
“If you are looking at posterior chain, then it’s really down to getting good at the one-leg straight leg deadlift”
“To me heavy sled work is like a posterior chain leg press, and everybody from an athletic standpoint, should be trying to push the heaviest sled they possibly can”
“The limit of posterior chain strength is way higher than what we think”
“We never deadlift with a bar, ever, because it makes no sense”
“I just don’t know if there is much better bang for the buck than Olympic lifts”
“Athletes gravitate towards athletic things (in the weightroom)”
About Mike Boyle
He currently spends his time lecturing, teaching, training, and writing. In 1996 Michael co founded Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, one of the first for-profit strength and conditioning companies in the world. Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning exists for one reason: to provide performance enhancement training for athletes of all levels. Athletes trained range from junior high school students to All-Stars in almost every major professional sport.
Prior to Co-founding Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning, Michael served as the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Boston University for 15 years, also for the past 25 years he been the Strength and Conditioning Coach for Men’s Ice Hockey at Boston University. Mike also was the Boston Red Sox strength and conditioning coach in 2013 that won the World Series. In addition to his duties at Boston University and the Red Sox, from 1991-1999 Boyle served as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. Michael was also the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the 1998 US Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey Team, Gold Medalists in Nagano and 2014 Silver medalists in Sochi, and served as a consultant in the development of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Michael has been a featured speaker at numerous strength and conditioning and athletic training clinics across the world and has produced 20 instructional videos in the area of strength and conditioning available through M-F Athletic. Michael has also lectured all over the world. In addition, Michael published Functional Training for Sports for Human Kinetics Publishers. Mike and his wife Cindy have 2 children, Michaela and Mark, and reside in Reading.
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