In honor of the World Series starting today we have one heck of a baseball coach on the podcast! Rachel Balkovec is the Director of Player Development, Miami Marlins after serving in various roles with the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. One of the topics we talk on the show is how difficult it was for her to get into baseball because she is a woman. This conversation was incredible, and shout out to Rachel for her ability to push through to eventually make her dream come true. In the convo Rachel and Justin also talk X's and O's of baseball S&C, leadership, and much more. Full convo here: youtube.com/watch?v=0mJJFpvo…

YES!!!!

S&C coaches from all sports turn to SCN for education. Take it from former MiLB S&C and rehab coach R.J. Guyer and why he trusts SCN for continued education. Continued education for coaches got better with our new admin dashboard which allows staffs to bundle and save on each membership and course for their staff. Once inside the dashboard coaches can assign webinars, courses, or both to individual coaches, group of coaches, or whole staff. In this way con't ed doesn't become a box to check, it becomes the standard your staff lives by. Learn more here: strengthcoachnetwork.com/ins…

With the 5 strength and conditioning coach limitation in football removed what does this mean for S&C coaches? Hear from legendary S&C coach Joe @bighousepower Kenn in his blog post on how this new rule can make S&C great. "The NCAA has once again made a significant change affecting college football, and this time the decision directly impacts the strength and conditioning profession. The removal of the five-strength-coach limitation in FBS football opens the door for universities to expand their strength and conditioning staffs. On the surface, this appears to be a tremendous opportunity for our profession. More positions, more opportunities, and potentially more resources dedicated to preparing student-athletes for success." Full blog here: strengthcoachnetwork.com/blo…

Thank you for coming on and sharing!!!

Nailed it @724real

Your weight room layout dictates the program you can write. In this week's Cheeky Mid Weeky Justin is joined by Coach Travis Reust, M.Ed., MSCC, RSCC*D, who is the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator at Temple Independent School District in Temple, Texas. Travis has more than 20 years of experience in strength and conditioning, Reust has worked across NCAA Division I and II athletics, Texas public schools, and the U.S. Army. He even worked with professional athletes when they were home during the off-season. In this way Coach Reust has a unique experience working with athletes in all sectors of S&C - high school, college, professional, and TSAC What is the common denominator? Programs that make sense logistically. Sure, you may want to program certain exercises paired together, but do you have the space for it? Sure the textbooks might tell you one thing but what can you actually program in YOUR weight room? If you only have 1 barbell at the rack you cannot program BB Bench Press and BB Bent Over Row together. This is something that Missy highlighted weeks ago and Travis hits home in this episode. He also shares his insights on how to build relationships with coaches/athletes, working with pro athletes, getting started in high school S&C, and more. Click below for the full convo: youtube.com/watch?v=gJ3q4lOh…

Always happy for other S&C coaches success. Coach Ryan Reynolds and the KC Chiefs are off to a great start and they are a big part. Are they the sole reason? Nope. Have they helped? 100% Shout out to the leadership of Ryan who has learned from some of the best S&C in the world, including @coach_Doyle whom @Dr_JustinLima also worked with.

If you have not already, be sure to follow @Toohey_sp for the great S&C clips of athletes he works with training hard and properly.

Data without context is dangerous. We've said it a ton of times and will keep saying it until companies and coaches start putting context with their data they put out. One of the OGs of S&C Coach Donnell Boucher @akaCoachD was amazing at this. Back when he was at The Citadel Coach Boucher would post the time of day, weather, timing system, and build up distance into the report he would share with the data. This needs to become the new normal. Who cares the time posted if we don't know anything about it. -Was there a 1 yard lead into the sprint? -Was there a 5 yard lead in? -Was there no lead in and hand time? -What surface did the athletes run on? -What time of the day was it? -How hot/cold was it? All of this matters and NONE of it is shared with you the coach when you see companies or coaches telling you what "an elite male high school athlete should run a 40 in" or "how your athlete compares to an NFL player." Stop with all of that. @Dr_JustinLima wrote a blog talking about Coach Boucher's practices and how S&C coaches now a days can apply them. Read that blog here: strengthcoachnetwork.com/blo…

Hear Coach Kaz explain why you cannot be the same person in every room you are in. This might fly in the face of how you do something is how you do everything, that is ok. You still strive for excellence, professionalism, etc...but you are not the EXACT same person in every room. You need to learn how to move and communicate in different rooms so you can lead well. For more expert advice from Coach Kaz click here: youtube.com/watch?v=XULVIGPF…

Back in July there was a big push and lots of energy for H.R.9527 - STRONG Act Here is an update, there are two cosponsors to Rep Owens: - Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks from Iowa - Representative Gregory F. Murphy from North Carolina Learn about cosponsors: congress.gov/bill/119th-cong… It is October and Strength Coaches we need you to call and in get touch with your reps. Maybe you even do what @htomlin6 from @teambuildr did and meet people in person. This topic matters. Call, email, get in front of your rep so we can make S&C great for the future. If you need to know who to email and what to say click: strengthcoachnetwork.com/STR…

Coach Kaz Kazadi is one of those coaches who's intensity you can feel when they walk into a room. He doesn't even have to say a word and you can feel his intensity. The same can be said about his passion when speaking on a podcast.  In this episode of the Cheeky Mid Weeky Coach Kaz talks about the difficulty of winning, how elite teams/individuals win, what teams who don't win do, and everything between.  One of his best sayings is "or don't" It is so simple, yet so profound. We all have a decision to do the work required of us to be successful. Or we don't have to do the work. The choice is ours. However, we cannot be upset when we do not get the result we wanted when we do not put the work in.  So many gold nuggets of info inside this episode for coaches at all levels of S&C. Click below for the full convo: youtu.be/XULVIGPFTSg

Coach @ZachDechant made a great point recently with his post to help athletes find ways to compete. Coaches should give athletes something to chase. When you do you create competition and competition helps drives intent. Intent then drives effort. Everyone knows to use @DashrMPS vert for jumping but don't forget upper body. In using the vert for plyo push up you do exactly what Zach talks about!

Coach @jonesyjeff1 has helped @UNIFootball defeat not one, but two top 5 teams this season. UNI has done this the last two weeks in a row also. Jeff is the coach who taught @Dr_JustinLima the power complex, and is the author of the book The Intentional Edge: 10 Reps To Mental Toughness. He has prior years of experience working at the FBS level, including time at Auburn helping the tigers reach the BCS National Championship. Jeff is not the type to brag on himself nor self promote. This is why we want to highlight the great work that he is doing with the Panther football team. We want more people to be aware of the work he is doing because of the sound principles of the programs Jeff writes, as well as how good of a job he does connecting with the athletes he gets to work with. You can get Jeff's book on Amazon if you want to help improve your team's culture. We highly recommend it.

Enjoy!

Earlier today we broke the news about the NCAA agreeing to change Bylaw 11.7.4.4 (“Limit on the Number of Strength and Conditioning Coaches -- Bowl Subdivision Football [FBS]” Now you can hear from the coach himself who started this. Coach @coachmgspellman sat down with @Dr_JustinLima to talk about The SPELLMAN Act (great name), why he did it, what it means for the future, etc... Click below for the full 80 minute convo: youtu.be/ngsULMZCKKU

On 10/07/2026 the NCAA Agrees to Bylaw Changes Coming January 2027 and Waives Employment Caps in Interim Following Hagens Berman’s lawsuit, on Oct. 7, 2026, the NCAA agreed to change Bylaw 11.7.4.4 (“Limit on the Number of Strength and Conditioning Coaches -- Bowl Subdivision Football [FBS]”) in a win for plaintiffs in this case. This bylaw previously restricted the number of strength and conditioning coaches that Division I FBS football programs could employ. The NCAA will officially amend the rule in January, and changes will not take place until that time. In the meantime, the NCAA has also agreed to collaborate with schools seeking to hire additional coaches and will provide waivers in instances where additional hiring would exceed the limit that is currently in place. There is the possibility for this to help coaches all over the country get into football S&C now with more roles on FBS teams. This staffing of college teams will now look closer to the NFL where some teams have only three coaches where others have close to 10. Click below for full report from Hagens Berman site: hbsslaw.com/cases/ncaa-fbs-s…

As a coach what would you do when an incoming athlete tells you they wont do x, y, and z in the weight room? Would you react like Michelle? In this clip you hear from Michelle Pifer who serves as the Associate Director of Strength and Conditioning at Rutgers and how she navigated this conversation. Best part is Michelle knew how to still develop the qualities this athlete needed to develop, trained her part of the team, and did not lose trust with the athlete. Win Win Win That is a masterclass in communication and leadership. Click below for the full convo: youtu.be/ZutR7TWtQYI

6'5" 230lb TE for UNC running away from a DB this past weekend. Moses Cabrera is the head S&C coach for UNC and has worked with Bill Belichick for years. One thing that Moses has always prioritized is speed work. In fact on his CMW episode he said running 90% isn't fast enough when touching max velocity. As he says, players don't have to "dig" to get 90% they can do it rather easy. What speed does he ask for? 92-93% becasuse it requires them to "dig" for the speed requirement. Listen to his full convo to hear insights from a 3 time super bowl champion S&C coach. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…