David Manning

"Death is undefeated, but I'll take it to three overtimes. That's strength." Houston strength coach Kurt Hester was diagnosed with Stage IV melanoma. Six months later, he may have lost his hair, but not his indomitable spirit. More from @JenLada:

I made a post earlier this week asserting that I think acceleration is a more important component of speed development than max velocity for team sports and then provided a free resource with the main drills I use to develop both. Now I want to explain why I think acceleration is more important. It all comes down to space. Almost every tactical skill in almost every team sport is designed to either create or constrain space. Offensive / attacking strategy is structured in a way that creates space for ball movement away from defenders to create advantages in numbers and put pressure on defenders. Defensive strategy is structured in a way that attempts to constrain the space the offensive players are trying to create. It’s a relatively simple equation, really. Volleyball would be an exception, but even in volleyball, attacking on-court movement is designed to create defensive space for scoring opportunities with defensive players moving into position to close and reduce available space for scoring opportunities. So what does that have to do with speed? If you visualize how space is created and constrained in sport, both by individual players and groups of players, it’s all predicated on acceleration. It may not be straightforward at first, but when you observe the sport closely, it reveals itself right away. Imagine a point guard driving the line to draw defenders from inside and outside creating space for his teammates at the post and on the wing. Those 3 steps from the top of the key to the lane are crucial and if he / she can’t present as a scoring threat by pressuring defensive players into trying to constrain his / her space, then they’re not accelerating well enough. Flip that scenario and visualize a defensive player trying to constrain space from outside - in and minimize the point guard’s ability to score. If he / she doesn’t accelerate via slide step while also keeping his / her hips open enough to redirect and re-accelerate back to the wing, then they can’t really accelerate well enough. The other really important - yet often overlooked piece - is that acceleration happens with a lower center of mass and most movement in team sports happens at a low hip height. This is much more advantageous to more effectively reacting to different stimuli and changing direction as needed. This element can’t be overstated. The same simply can’t be said for max velocity - which is not to say it doesn’t need to be emphasized but for every max V rep in training, I’d say we need at least 10 reps of acceleration, if not more. There are numerous scenarios in almost every sport that demonstrate the same create / constrain space dynamics that require immediate and high level acceleration skills and I could go on and on - and maybe I will in a newsletter. But for today, I just wanted to elaborate a little bit on why I consider acceleration to be so much more important than max V.

@RyanCyn Congrats man!

I did a thing (I’m a dad)

Shared it before, but feels like the right time to repost. Speech my high school lacrosse coach would always give us Which one are you? #NotAboutSports

@timkettenring Couldn’t agree more, Tim! From an old PowerPoint presentation I did for a club lacrosse organization. Most of the sprints a team sport athlete will see are short! Might as well hammer in those acceleration mechanics, get strong, & stack short yd RSA work to get them prepared 💪🏻

RDL can be pushed to levels nearing conventional deadlift numbers for most athletes. People talk about robust then do cartwheels to avoid systemic stress that might bring about such a state. Its no secret I’m a huge fan of Romanian Deadlifts, I believe they have value beyond just another accessory exercise. They can and should be use as a main movement. Properly triphasic (no dead start), hammering hamstrings & glutes, but peripherals of grip, lat and arm strength and T-spine strength. It can be plugged with max strength set & rep schemes you might use for squat or deadlift. 3rd tier for 3 x 12 reps is leaving a lot on the table.

@GuruAnaerobic “Your focus determines your reality” youtu.be/smpe0m4RD0M?si… From episode 1, Qiu-Gon Jinn (Liam Neesons character) to a young Anakin There’s a lot of great quotes from the movie series that have traces of Buddhism that I really like

@da_manning This is from Star Wars? I've never watched it

This makes a general point that what you focus on (or are told to focus on) becomes your reality. The other day, one of my nieces (in her 20's) said she would never travel to the US due to what it's doing to minorities. No mention of other countries. This is her reality - little I can do to change it. Be careful what you choose to focus on.

🔥 Why are aerobically conditioned athletes more resilient in the heat? A short thread on the physiology 🧵

@FlowGo37 That looks awesome 👏🏼 Pulpo a la gallega was the best dish I had when I was in Spain

Smashed fingerling potato’s Roasted Spanish octopus Chimmichuri

How many of these arguments have you seen people making against my lands proposal? It appears those arguments were not original

Enjoy your public lands while you can! Stop the theft of your public lands!

@hauserdan No, Dan, it’s just a shitty idea that a majority of the population doesn’t agree with. Go kick rocks and leave our land alone

So let me get this straight. Liberal Eco NGOs are paying “conservative” influencers to spread misinformation about the lands bill? One side pays to spread misinformation & use character assassination. The other side wants you to read the actual legislation. They are not the same

Left or Right the American in you should reject selling public land to private interests. National forests and parks shouldn't become private resorts and upper class mansions. Everyone pushing for this says "we have so much land were not using" and its all corporate interests they are mouth pieces for. They want to destroy grazing land and free open access to our natural beauty to house H1B workers and to sell it to foreign investment companies. The bill makes the sale MANDATORY. Even if you don't fish, many of us enjoy the outdoors and the public lands that have been set aside. This is nothing short of another money grab by the administration. Once the lands are gone we will never get them back.

Under the “Big Beautiful Bill,” federal lands like Teton National Forest will be put up for sale to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Enjoy it while it lasts.

I'm totally against selling this land. Nobody is going to build "affordable housing" deep in the Olympic Peninsula, which is one of the most beautiful places in the country. I want my kids hiking, fishing, and camping on those lands, not selling them for some tax-credit scam.

Sen. Mike Lee’s budget bill would force the sale of 2–3M acres of BLM & Forest Service land across 12 Western states. This is a land grab—plain & simple. Call (202) 224-3121. Tell your reps to defend public lands.

@FlowGo37 @FloridaLX Tough place to play. Humid as all hell, thunderstorms always caused delays and really cut into your Blue Martini time

@FloridaLX Respectfully. Absolutely not. 300 on a great night

The Launch were one of the Jim Davis teams They drew 3,000 for many games. At least these ticket sales were released, still waiting for PLL to do so.

@LKemp42 Only matchup I’ve had that made me switch to a titanium shaft, anything else would’ve snapped like a twig defending that man

Best bull dodger of his generation . Shocker: Dylan can still play.

@Results_Period @coachhockley @BrendanThompsn @Brandon_L_Davis @Tony_Villani_ @pntrack @SportsmithHQ 👏🏼 Yes! We’ve scripted & drilled everything, let the kids have fun in an environment that will teach these qualities too. It’s the most holistic way to train and foster a healthy relationship with physical activity they’ll take through life

One thing that’s in the forefront of mind is the social cultural context our kids are put into regarding sports. There’s very little play with friends (which can equate to large volumes of practice). It’s so drill oriented with individual coaches, sports practice and so on (boring and linear). The more problems they can solve within a game environment I’m going to do. It’s why we do gymnastics 2-3x a week to have them explore movements and problem solve (general physical preparation). Now we’ve moved to Capoeira(ginga).

Here’s where I started ( see below): I never mentioned you, the NFL, or training fast guys. It’s irrelevant to my original post. So we can discuss what my original thoughts were (there’s several posts attached) or not. What’s always interesting is coaches say they’re open to learning, yet they’re actually not. These “game speed” 😂😂😂 videos I’m seeing for American football in HS are pointless. Why? 1. There predetermined distance and marked by cones on where to cut (so not like a game) 2. There are 0 defenders or other offensive players (so not like a game) 3. Most run them out of bounds because drills are set up like that 4. There’s 0 problems being solved ( so it’s nothing like a game) 5. No football 🏈 involved 6. It gives off the illusion of professionalism 7. Yet most coaches take the bait because it’s the “easy” way out