Michael Boyle's Strengthcoach.com Blog

Just a quick reminder that Alwyn Cosgrove and Lou Schuler have a new book coming out tomorrow. New Rules of Lifting for Abs is the latest installment in the New Rules of Lifting series.  New Rules of Lifting for Abs is sure to be both entertaining and informative and will be great for you as a trainer or as a gift for clients. Make sure you check it out.

My Road to the Top ( originally published 2007, edited 12/21/10)

It must be New Years resolutions and goal setting time because recently I have received more than a few Facebook messages asking how I got started. Rather than half-ass a quick post I thought I would take a moment to tell a story that might inspire a few of you. I have been lifting weights since around 1973 or 74. Like many my age I started with the York 110 pound set with the wall chart in the basement. My father was a teacher-coach and Hall of Fame football player in college and I was going to be just like him.

To cut to the chase my football career was ended by two serious problems that afflict far too many athletes. Lack of size and lack of talent were two things I just couldn’t overcome. What I did learn was that I had some fast twitch muscle fiber and liked lifting. Lifting kept me sane after giving up football and I pursued athletic training in college. In true Outliers fashion I was lucky enough to have a dorm director named Mike Woicek my first two years of college Mike, for those who don’t know, is the current New England Patriots strength and conditioning coach and the man with the most Super Bowl rings in the history of the NFL. What luck. Another guy at Springfield College at that time was Rusty Jones, current Chicago Bears strength and conditioning coach. Very early on I had great mentors and role models.

I left Springfield College after five years with a Masters degree and took a job at Boston University as an assistant athletic trainer. In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to be a strength coach. It was 1982 and I was about 185 lbs, soaking wet. I didn’t look like a strength coach and still don’t. After six months of athletic training I took the plunge. I quit my full time, paid job as an athletic trainer and became the volunteer strength coach.  I gave up a salary and benefits for a volunteer job and started my journey. Very few schools even had full-time strength and conditioning coaches at the time. I tended bar 4-5 nights a week to pay the bills and threw myself into the job.

I was a former football player and a competitive powerlifter but I became a “hockey expert” at the urging of the hockey coaches at BU. For those unfamiliar BU is to college hockey what Notre Dame or USC is to college football. I figured hockey out and also figured out that there was no one training professional hockey players in Boston. I had found my niche. I met a hockey agent and talked him into sending me a few minor league clients. I told him no NHL guys. I needed desperate guys that would listen to a “football guy” tell them how to make it to the NHL.  I also started training some high school hockey players because, in truth, I needed the money. That may have been the smartest thing I ever did.

To make a long story shorter, some of my new minor league clients did make the NHL and the Boston Bruins offered me a part time job as their strength and conditioning coach. With a little money from BU and some from the Bruins, I gave up the bar business and was now a full time strength and conditioning coach with two jobs. I worked from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM with the Bruins and then drove to BU and opened up the weight room at 12. I coached every day at BU from 12-7 with some 6 AM football stuff thrown in during the winter before Bruins practice. I would then either go to a BU game or go back to the old Boston Garden at 7 PM and train the injured players or those who didn’t dress. After the game I would try to coerce a few players to work out. I’d get home about 11 PM. Not a bad day for an eight month season.

At the roughly the same time I began my speaking career by accepting the invitation to speak at everything but the opening of an envelope. Most of my “speaking engagements” were to middle school hockey players in groups of 10-12. Obviously an audience that foreshadowed things to come. Chris Poirier and Perform Better gave me a break when they began their Perform Better clinics. I was one of the first speakers and like any good job, I never left.

I did this for 10 seasons and at the same time found time to leave my full time job at BU and open Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning. We were one of the first for-profit centers opened in the country. As Alwyn and Jason so aptly described in their article The Business, I was rapidly becoming an overnight success one twelve hour day at a time.

The rest is simple. I just kept doing what I was doing. I worked in my business. I put in my 10,000 hours. I coached athletes and I coached coaches. I think the big key is that I took chances and was willing to work long hours. It was not easy. Except for my brief athletic training job at BU ( six months) I did not have a full time job with health insurance until I was thirty years old. I read this quote in a book the other day.

“Most people give up right before the big break comes”

Don’t let that person be you. Keep moving forward. Remember, the big break might be around the corner.

Want to see some great old footage of vintage Michael Boyle? Take a look at this piece from the folks at Shuttle Systems, maker of the Shuttle MVP, one of my favorite pieces of equipment. Scroll down to my video and have a good laugh at my expense.

Training=Rehab Rehab=Training

I don’t promote a lot of products. It’s not that I don’t always like them, it’s more that promoting products always seems to cause problems. If I promote one, I get a request to promote another. As a result, I have stayed out of most affiliate programs. I am going to make a notable exception here and I am going to tell you why. One, Charlie Weingroff is a very smart guy with a lot to offer. That should be obvious if you read his posts. However, that fact alone does not make Charlie different from many guys selling info products.

Two, I feel that in some small way StrengthCoach.com was the launching pad for what I think will be a great career as an educator. Was Charlie Weingroff smart before he began posting on StrengthCoach.com? Absolutely. Did people all over the world know? I don’t think so. So, Charlie Weingroff is a home-grown StrengthCoach.com expert who has put out a content loaded DVD package. The truth is I am proud to be able to introduce Charlie to a lot of my readers and I will guarantee that you are not disappointed. If you are looking for a great new product to help you learn and make you think buy Training=Rehab and Rehab=Training.

Lecture 1- “The Quadrants: Finally, Clarity in the World of Strength”

What is the impact of the strength coach to sport? Shouldn’t it be obvious? Then, why doesn’t the team with the best gym numbers ALWAYS win? Should a 1,000 pound deadlifter jog, swim and bicycle? Play in a local basketball league? Should a 12 year old boy rest five minutes between his sets of 92% max on his squat?

Lecture 2- “The Role of Hypertrophy and Armor Building”

The Incredible Hulk, Sir Galahad and Bobby Fisher get into a contest. Who wins? How does armor help an athlete and when does it hurt?

Wow, the weeks just go by too fast. Once again I realize it has been two weeks since I updated everyone on the site. In the meantime we have had the first Perform Better 1 Day and our largest Mentorship group ever ( 17 attendees).

The site as always is packed with content

First up from the week of November 22nd was: From the Ground Up by Dan John. This was the second of what we are calling Strength Coach Classics. Strength Coach Classics are articles that are in the archives that we will repost every year to make sure that new members don’t miss them . The bad part about having so much on-going content is that members don’t need to go back and read. We are going to try to pick articles out for you and re-post them and, this is a real classic.

Next up was   : How to Be an Awesome Coach by MBSC staff member Brendon Rearick. I think it is great that all my young coaches have begun to write. Not only does it give us great content but, it gives us great perspective. Brendon looks at what it means to really relate to kids, something he does well.

Next up was:  A Caveman’s Guide to Exercise Anthony Donskov should be on staff the way he is cranking out articles. This is another great one from a coach who is really coming into his own as a writer.

Video of the week: Standing Hamstring Stretch was another clip from Functional Strength Coach 3.0 I have a bunch of these clips that we’ll be using for the next few months to give those of you who have not seen FSC 3 a chance to learn and to proview.

The week of Nov 29^th starts with a great piece from Gray called : The Momentum of Perspective Just take a few minutes and read this, that’s all I can say. As always, great stuff.

Next up was  Why You Can’t Lose Weight from Brandon Alleman. This was actually a blog post that I liked from Brandon and he was kind enough to let us use it.

Also up was:Exercises I like, the Close Grip Snatch by Matt Delaney. Matt is an Olympic lifter and former MBSC staff member. This also happens to be one of my favorite Olympic lifts.

Video of the week for this week also came from FSC 3:  Video of the Week – Rotational Squat

If you haven’t been on the site this week, make sure you log on and check out another excellent week of articles

Make sure you check out the StrengthCoach Podcast

3 Years of the Strength Coach Podcast- Boyle, Cosgrove and 2 Gray Cook Segments

Boyle on Success, Cook on Thoracic Mobility and Yankees Strength Coach Dana Cavalea- Episode 69

Also, make sure to check out Strength and Conditioning Webinars

Site Notes

Please let us know via the forum if there are things you want to see on the site.

Also, your credit card statement will show a charge from RylanLee.com, not StrengthCoach.com. Hope you enjoyed the week.

Years ago, in the 80’s, a track coach named Kevin McNair did an excellent VHS tape on speed development. Unfortunately a Google search gave me the bad news that Coach McNair had passed away in 2008. I am looking for the VHS tape as I am trying to convert some of the great 80’s stuff to digital format. Does anyone have one I could buy or borrow?