Seth A. Dunaway

It’s the time of high school football season…check those soft injury situations and cross reference it with Summer workout attendance…I bet that most of those shoulder, ankle, hamstring, groin tweaks come from guys who felt they didn’t need to train with the team on most days…or at very least a qualified trained performance professional… I got breaking news for you…most of the the time “going to the gym with (insert Dad, Uncle, Cousin)” doesn’t work out the way you think it will…🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

5 things I’d tell you as a strength coach if I wasn’t afraid of hurting your feelings, which I generally am not.

“Older clients should never deadlift, the risk isn’t worth it” My client Chris and her Husband Mike see me twice per week. They’re 75 & 70 respectively. She’s loves to DL. Why? “It makes me feel strong and helps with my gardening” Coaches: Its not about you!

How do we get so many 7-8th graders to lifts? Because the sport coaches tell them to and show up! Remember coaches… It’s MY job to program and train your kids. It’s YOUR job to push them to workouts and show up as well. It’s a dual partnership!

Congrats to LSU Baseball on winning a national title! Here’s what their strength coach sent me in regards to their in-season training protocols on April 30th. 2 or 3 training days a week in season. Non-negotiable. Either train or fall behind. You choose…..

I have yet to see any athlete “catch up” in the summer from skipping training all year. This isn’t to say they won’t make great progress from showing up for 3 months consistently, because they can... But kids who skipped in the first place were already okay with being mediocre.

There’s this belief that summer is when athletes are going to make up ground physically in training when it’s actually a time where every sport tries to schedule it with games and camps. It is what it is. You just gotta be consistent year round, there’s no “make up” time.

Too many MS/HS athletes who can’t even meet basic strength/power standards are doing too cute of exercises in the weight room. Your quick feet/twinkle toe and sport specific training does very little in performance and reducing injuries when you’re relatively weak and don’t have an enough body armor.

Athletes who make fun of hard work are afraid of it.

Parents/kids… It does not matter if you lift 2-3 days per week if you’re also playing a sport 6-7 days per wk for MONTHS (sometimes years) on end straight. It will be VERY hard to improve performance and decrease the likelihood of injury if you’re playing 24/7/365. Hard to get strong/fast when you’re not fresh. Hard to give tendon/joints a break if you’re always going.

@OVRPerformance @sidney_kemp @HeenanJoey

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Sport coaches that take the S&C side as a priority and an extension to the goals of their program create a positive situation for all. Those who take it as an afterthought or gate keep otherwise are culture ruiners. In 2025, the latter is still commonplace and it’s crazy how…

The Strength Training Insanity Cycle Lift in the off-season, quit lifting in-season, and expect different results when you get close to championship season. Hit 💣? Lift Don’t get punked in the post? Lift Drive➡️ off tee? Lift Also, health drives performance Lift⬆️health

Amazing how his training looks similar to football, baseball, & basketball training. It's almost like building strength, mobility, and power gives a skilled athlete more strength, mobility, and power to use with their skillset.

Recipe for injury: Doing too much, too soon when you haven’t been doing enough for long enough. Every coach on the planet needs to understand this.

Pregame lift before the dub! Does this lift impact winning or losing? No. However, if you take into account that this is our 26th time doing this, those sessions add up. Accumulate to elevate! 📈

Clip from Vice Sports of Rick Pitino at halftime of the St. John's game at Providence. #sjubb was down big, and rallied to win.

Daily S&C thoughts (Day 174) Recovery is: movement, blood flow, restoring ROM. Recovery is NOT: endless stretching, J-Bands, icing. And no, I’m not anti-bands. Just not a “bands cover all our bases” guy. #bearcats #tengames #cincymade

Yearly reminder that no matter what sport you play… There’s NO reason to not continue Strength training year round. If you want to be your best and healthiest, then you better carve out time to train. It’s essential for the high performing athlete.