Articles on athletic development, sport-specific programming, injury prevention, and performance testing — written by Austin, CSCS.
The approach vertical is the most trainable number in volleyball. Most athletes are leaving inches on the floor because of mechanics and a strength base that hasn't been built. Here's the 12-week arc that fixes it.
Read →Patellar tendinopathy is a load management failure — not a weakness failure. Here's the eccentric loading protocol, FMS screening process, and season-long management approach we use to keep volleyball athletes healthy.
Read →Most volleyball athletes in Central Illinois are only getting skill training. Here's what the other half of athlete development looks like — and why the printed report card is the proof.
Read →The FMS screen takes 20 minutes and tells us more about an athlete's injury risk than anything else we do. Here's what we look for, what each score means, and why we run it before the first workout.
A 0.1-second drop in the 40-yard dash changes how recruiters look at a football or baseball athlete. Here's the mechanics breakdown — first step, acceleration phase, and the strength work underneath it.
The mistake most athletes make: same program year-round, regardless of what's happening on the court or field. Here's how we adjust volume, intensity, and plyometric load across the competitive calendar.
The myth that weight training stunts youth growth has been debunked for decades. Here's what NSCA guidelines actually say about load, frequency, and appropriate training for middle school athletes.
Every six weeks, every athlete at The Lab gets a printed report card. Here's a line-by-line guide to what each metric tracks, why it matters, and what a meaningful improvement looks like.
What separates a fast high school football player from a recruited one? We break down the combine metrics D1 programs care about and the 12-week program that closes the gap.
You can't plyometric your way to a bigger vertical without a strength base. Here's the 6-week block we run before any jump-specific training for basketball athletes.
Rotational power, hip separation, and first-step quickness matter as much as bat speed. Here's how we build the athletic base that makes baseball skill coaching more effective.
Recruiting benchmarks by sport and division, how to present your testing data on tape, and why athletes who train with data close more offers than athletes who just show highlights.
Movement screen, baseline numbers, and an honest conversation about what your athlete needs. 30 minutes. No pitch. Bloomington, IL.
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