Ben Charles

Only 2-3 Squat Racks, Little Space, and One Coach? No Problem!

Not everyone can have 10+ squat racks and platforms with all the bells and whistles like Tendo units, safety squat bars, and Freelap timers. Many coaches work in a situation where the budget is small and equipment is limited. I wanted to write this to provide my personal experience working at small schools and makingContinue reading “Only 2-3 Squat Racks, Little Space, and One Coach? No Problem!”

Why you can’t rely on only motivation to achieve your health goals: Tips for building and maintaining new health habits

So, you’ve decided to make a change in your life and finally work on achieving your health goals. Whether this goal is your typical New Year’s resolution or a “I need to change now” realization, you’re probably riding high on motivation. However, you’ll need more than just motivation to hit your goal. While motivation canContinue reading “Why you can’t rely on only motivation to achieve your health goals: Tips for building and maintaining new health habits”

Strength Training Programs: 10 Factors to Determine Which is Best for Your Athletes

With access to the internet, there are a lot of programs out there that can seem overwhelming to choose from when deciding what’s best for your athletes. There’s Conjugate training, Triphasic training, APRE training, Velocity-based Training (VBT), 5/3/1, 1×20, undulated periodization, linear periodization, block periodization, Texas Method, and even your classic Bro-Splits/body part splits. PointContinue reading “Strength Training Programs: 10 Factors to Determine Which is Best for Your Athletes”

Workouts Too Easy or Too Hard? Relative Intensity Calculator is For You!

Have you been training and found your workouts to be too easy or too hard? Are you using percentages of your 1-rep max (1RM) to guide your training, but feel like you’re missing the mark? A relative intensity calculator may be a good option for you! A relative intensity calculator gives you an idea ofContinue reading “Workouts Too Easy or Too Hard? Relative Intensity Calculator is For You!”

How Can I Stop Overeating?

Did you grow up as part of the clean plate club? I am with you! However, growing up as part of the clean plate club, you may have found yourself (like I have) overeating and being uncomfortable after meals. I do want to be clear that it is completely normal to overeat sometimes, because weContinue reading “How Can I Stop Overeating?”

My Periodization Strategy for Athletes Part III: The Strength Block

Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash This is part of III discussing my periodization strategies to develop athletes to reduce injuries and optimize performance. If you haven’t read part I and part II yet, you can check it out here and here. So far, we have discussed the work capacity and hypertrophy block so todayContinue reading “My Periodization Strategy for Athletes Part III: The Strength Block”

What Should a Healthy Diet Include?

Oftentimes when a person decides to begin eating more healthy, they often end up following a “clean eating” diet. While a “clean eating” diet focuses on fruits and vegetables, it also often creates a list of “good” and “bad” foods. When you begin to divide foods into “good” and “bad” categories, you can begin toContinue reading “What Should a Healthy Diet Include?”

My Periodization Strategy for Athletes Part II: The Hypertrophy/Basic Strength Block

This is part of II discussing my periodization strategies to develop athletes to reduce injuries and optimize performance. If you haven’t read part I yet, you can check it out here. If you remember from part I, the following image provides the order that I tend to set my blocks up and in part IContinue reading “My Periodization Strategy for Athletes Part II: The Hypertrophy/Basic Strength Block”

My Periodization Strategy for Athletes Part I: What is the GPP Block?

To run a successful strength and conditioning program for athletes, you need a good training plan. The program has to have goals and exercises and training to help achieve those goals. These can include improving: speed, strength, power, hypertrophy, and/or endurance. Most athletes will need improvements in all these categories to some extent, however, howContinue reading “My Periodization Strategy for Athletes Part I: What is the GPP Block?”

Speed Technique Drills: The Wicket Drill

Photo source: https://simplifaster.com/articles/how-to-build-speed-hurdles-wicket-drill/ In the last year, I came across a speed drill that did a great job in showing proper leg mechanics for sprinters. Two basic skills are needed to enhance speed: increasing your stride rate and stride length. Stride rate is the number of strides in a period of time and stride lengthContinue reading “Speed Technique Drills: The Wicket Drill”