J-Hawk Track

I first heard this 30 years ago at age 17, when my trainer Jay Schroeder DRILLED it into my soul. I still remember the day we met. He told me, “I don’t want you to squat 450 pounds in 3 seconds… I want you to squat 350 pounds in ½ second. THAT’S power.” To train with him, he forced me to write a daily training log that timed the concentric portion of EVERY rep, EVERY set, EVERY exercise with a stopwatch. I did this for 6 straight months before he allowed me to train at his gym. It took over an hour daily to write the log, but what I learned about my body and performance was invaluable. Training with this intent changes everything: to move max weights at high speed, EVERYTHING matters. Technique and position must be flawless, no power leaks. You learn to eccentrically LOAD, not just drop with gravity and momentum. My body awareness skyrocketed. Speed is king. Details and intention matter. I stopped caring about increasing my max and started caring about moving my max FASTER. It’s the primary reason I transformed myself from a walk-on who ran 4.8 to a first-round pick who ran 4.3.