Category: Articles

Written by: Kevin Cann The coach’s job is to be a facilitator of the environment for the athlete to self-organize into the skills that will make them the best athlete possible for their sport.  This requires much more than just analyzing sets and reps at a given intensity. There are four different things that promote change within the environment.  They are variability, instability, constraints, and overload.  Most programs that you see for powerlifting on the internet only focus Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann There tends to be this argument in regards to specificity versus variation in strength training.  The specificity camp will tout that higher frequency competition lift programs are superior because you get to practice the lifts more. In these circles technique seems to take a bit of a backseat to training volume, but coaches will still throw some lifting cues in a comment on Instagram, typically hidden between positive affirmations, but that is Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann There is a massive misunderstanding about speed work in general amongst lifters and coaches.  Anyone with an Instagram account can put out information these days and actual knowledge gets lost in the process.  The lack of education and experience amongst those that share this information is incredible, but that is a complaint for another day. Speed work is also known as the dynamic effort method.  When we perform speed work, we are looking to Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann In the beginning I was against conjugate for raw lifters.  I would say the same things that the internet says today about conjugate.  Bands are only for equipped lifters.  Conjugate is for people on drugs, that is how they can max out every week.  It was my ignorance matched with trying to be one of the group that was the USAPL cool kids.  When people say that “Westside” is outdated and doesn’t work for raw lifters, Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann I am writing this to go along with my Instagram post, but just where I can use more words.  This is a conversation that I have continuously with the team, and I feel it is extremely important to understand. People get stuck on the narrative that we need to use the lifts to build the lifts.  That we need to keep increasing the weight of the lifts to improve performance as increasing volume Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann This trend of hyper-specificity is a bit concerning because it is moving the sport backwards in our general knowledge of how strength is developed.  I do feel a lack of education is a major problem.  In places like Russia, their coaches are also sports scientists.  Here it is just someone with an Instagram account that wants to do it.  They tend to be good at Instagram, or maybe they are a personal trainer with a Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann The ideal model for the development of athletic skill is usually displayed as a pyramid with GPP (general physical preparedness) being the larger portion making up the base, SPP (Special physical preparedness) being right above, and then our competition specific training making the peak. This model was created by the Soviets in the 1960s.  They even created a school system based off this model that led to domination in the Olympic games.  Children Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann Developing the highest levels of strength possible is a complex-coordination problem that the coach and athlete must solve.  According to Frans Bosch, the strategy for this problem must be flexible and multi-purpose and that is only possible under two scenarios: It must satisfy the intent of the movement It must be suitable for solving several motor problems Developing these complex skills are not a linear process.  We do not start from being a Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann Coaching should focus on developing the intuition of each given lifter as this is where their own elite levels of performance lie.  At the top of the hierarchical skill acquisition pyramid is “unconscious competence.”  This is where the athlete is just flowing in their environment without thinking about anything.  This is typically referred to as being in the zone, but it is a subconscious engagement with the environment at a high level. Right below Read More

Written by: Kevin Cann I have been experiencing something in training that is different from anything that I have experienced before.  The last two months, I have been on a tear with PRs.  One week after the next just hitting PR after PR.  Some of these have been smaller 5lb PRs, but a few, like yesterday’s 37lb PR, have been much larger. I have not changed up anything in training.  Perhaps I have made better training decisions, but those Read More