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Good morning. A Super Bowl-winning strength coach's playbook for young coaches, a new study that challenges how we prescribe range of motion, and the body-fat order that ran a trusted NBA coach off. Let's get into it…
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📸 Rogue
Steelers.com caught up with new head strength coach Mark Lovat, and his philosophy boils down to one idea: nail your principles, then give yourself plenty of ways to hit them. A squat, he points out, doesn't have to be a barbell back squat - front squat, safety bar, whatever fits, as long as the modality serves the principle. The advice he still leans on is just as grounded, passed down from an old mentor: do the job in front of you, keep your mouth shut, know your role, and if you do it well, the role expands.
Assistant Justus Galac, back in Pittsburgh after a 2021 stint, keeps his own approach simple - coach with respect, and adjust to what each player gives you.
A new Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research study put 45 lifters through 8 weeks of knee-extension training at different ranges of motion - and the results challenge how we prescribe it.
The findings:
Moderate-load partial reps at LONG muscle lengths (55% 1RM) matched full-ROM training (80% 1RM) for muscle-thickness growth
The long-length partial group produced greater fascicle-length gains than full ROM at multiple sites
Short-length partials (0-50 degrees, 80% 1RM) trailed both groups on growth
Lower baseline fascicle length predicted bigger fascicle gains in every group
The authors say moderate-load training at long muscle lengths can deliver similar size and superior architectural change compared to heavy full-ROM work.
Basketball Network, drawing on Yaron Weitzman's new book on the LeBron-era Lakers, recounts a telling clash: then-team president Magic Johnson reportedly ordered S&C coach Tim DiFrancesco to collect body-fat percentages on every player. When DiFrancesco pushed back that the metric had fallen out of favor as a fitness measure, Johnson's answer was "I want it done, and I want it done by the end of the season." He left the organization soon after. Johnson has denied mistreating staff.
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