Testimonial Time!
I had the pleasure of working with Kevin Kocos recently here at the University of Minnesota (go Gophers!!). Kevin works with the men’s track and field team, women’s gymnastics and men’s and women’s golf teams and also assists with men’s and women’s hockey and men’s basketball here at Minnesota. Before coming to Minnesota he completed a year-long internship with the Chicago Bulls. During his time in Chicago, Kevin worked with Bulls players as well as assisted in screening athletes for the NBA draft. Kevin also worked with private clients in high school and college athletics as well as the NHL.
Before his time in Chicago, Kevin completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. At La Crosse he worked with athletes of several sports but worked most closely with the men’s and women’s swim team as well as the women’s soccer team. Kevin also enjoys competing in Olympic Weightlifting.
As a Strength and Conditioning Coach, consulting with Mike T. Nelson is something I try to do as often as possible since I always learn something new I can apply to my athletes. Mike takes a very comprehensive approach and is relentless in staying on the cutting edge in strength training and fitness. His ability to apply his knowledge to each individual makes him a great asset in the field. Just learning a few his drills from the Z Health Warmup helped my left glute start firing, after it had been inhibited for some time.
Kevin Kocos, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, University of Minnesota
Thanks again Kevin and I look forward to working with you again very soon as I always learn something new also.
The Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC) this Sat April 4.
The TSC is
1 RM (rep max) deadlift
pullups (max continuous, Elite BW +25 lbs)
max number of reps of KB snatches in 5 min, 24 kg (Elite 32kg aka 70 lb )
Here are my posts from the previous TSC
Model Integrity and Tactical Strength Challenge (TSC)
TSC results and update Sept 8, 2007
I did not do the TSC this past Nov since I was slammed with work, research, etc I made a promise that I would do it in Spring.
Well, Spring 2009 rolled around and I was not wanting to do it. I did the Z Health Master Trainer Eval and that took more time than I expect and then days after returning from that, I fell in a broomball game and managed to bruise my sciatic nerve (details below)
I'm back
At this point I really did not want to do the TSC since I wanted to break my old PR (personal records) and not do less than them.I realized that this was backwards thinking! I needed a goal and a time line and even if I would perhaps miss breaking my PR, I would still make more progres than letting it slide until Sept again--a whole year later from the last time I missed.
So I started rehabbing my hip and doing what I could.
I had a break down in about late Feb and wanted to drop out again. All my lifts had dropped by a lot since I needed to let my hip heal first and not lift in pain, plus I was swamped with everything else going on--research, work, business blah blah blah. I realized that I had the TSC as one of my goals of 2009 and had sent it to my entire email list. Uh oh.
I hired a coach for a new program on 3/3/09 at the 11th hour to pull my lifts up.
Here are the results below so far
3_31 Tues KB snatch and DL--TSC prep
3_3 to 3_26 Thurs DL and KB Snatch: TSC prep
Now I just have a few more days before the TSC and we will see how it goes and I feel pretty confident that I will set at least 1 PR and hopefully more.Lessons Learned (aka read this part)
1) I am really similar to everyone else and subject to all the same pitfalls too of course! Knowledge does not always equal action.
2) Get a coach! Everyone needs a coach. I need a coach and so do YOU. Does Tiger Woods think he can coach his own golf game? Nope? Did Michael Jordan have a coach? Yep. You get the idea.
3) Set goals, go for it and have others hold you accountable. I did not want to email my newsletter and say "Yeah, I did not even show up for the TSC" Ugh. Who is in your social support network? Many times, this is the main job of a trainer--ACCOUNTABILITY since as Henry Rollins says, "....will always kick you the real deal"
So what are you waiting for? What are your goals? The time is NOW and get to it!
Rock on
Mike T Nelson
PS
Even if you are not competing, go visit the TSC near you and if you are in Minnesota come on out to Kinetic Edge Performance and sign up or at least watch. Details below from B-Rad
