Buddy Morris Presentation Summary

Buddy Morris

Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

University of Pittsburgh

     The main point that Coach Morris emphasized during his presention was that no one program is perfect and no one program will work forever.  I completely agree with this philosophy.  The field of strength and conditioning is constantly evolving with new research findings.  He also goes on to say that the best program is one that is adaptable.  Each year, new athletes come in and even old athletes are different than they were a year ago.  This means that the program will have to adapt to meet the needs of the athletes.  Every athlete is built differently, it is the responsibility of the coach to look at each athlete and adapt the program to the athlete.  Another important factor to consider is that every athlete handles stress differently.  Training is a stresser on the body that affects seven different systems that do not recover at the same time.  This must also be taken into account when designing a training program.  Everything is a guideline including all training philosophies and percentage work.  Adapt it as needed each day.  Coach Morris also pointed out that as a strength coach, one should hire those of different strengths and weaknesses from their own in order to learn from each other.  This also helps in delegation of tasks and "separation of state" as Morris put it.  When Morris speaks of "separation of state," he is speaking of dividing teams and coaches according to specifics such as position or strengths. 

     As for Coach Morris' training philosophies, he doesn't use Olympic Lifts at all.  He believes that they are too technical and demanding.  Olympic lifting is a sport within itself so rather than taking the time to teach the very technical Olympic lifts, he uses medicine balls and plyometrics to develop explosive power.  For the entire first two weeks of training, he uses only body weight and medicine ball exercises in order to observe how the athlete's bodys function and their overall awareness of their body.  He uses dynamic effort training which involves bands and chains, as well as maximal effort training.

     Another main point that Coach Morris spoke about was mental toughness.  He said that a good coach is "someone who can make you do what you don't want to do, in order to get to where you want to go."  Coaches are here to train athletes, not to make them feel comfortable.  I think Coach Morris is right on with this philosophy.  If a coach can gain the respect and trust of their athletes, the athletes will want to work harder for that coach.  He also does not allow his athletes to yawn in the weight room or bend over because that is a sign of weakness.  All athletes wear the same thing, promoting team unity.  These are very idealist philosophies, but I believe they contribute to the overall attitude of the team.