James Smith Lecture Review

                James Smith is the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Pittsburgh.  He began his presentation by stating that his training philosophies are just a product of the things he was exposed to educationally and in the work field itself.  It seems that this is typical of most strength coaches and it also seems that the best way to learn would be from those around you that have been successful.  Especially in Smith’s case, he has a different background in the field of strength and conditioning as he was educated in Europe rather than North America.  This lecture is focused on the stages of the annual cycle of football strength and conditioning.

            Smith describes strength training as a small fraction of sport training which is very true.  There is a lot that goes into training athletes, and strength training is just a small part of that.  However that does not mean it is any less important than other elements of training, as Smith points out.  One of the points Smith made that I believe is essential when programming a strength and conditioning training plan is to consider what energy systems are being utilized in the sport and be sure that those systems are being targeted in training.  Smith also addresses General Physical Preparation as being the foundation for all other training.  I agree with this because if an athlete doesn’t have that general base of strength, they will not be able to have optimal gains from specific training.  This is applicable to all athletes, not just beginners.  Every athlete should participate in some form of general physical preparation at some point in their annual cycle of training. 

            Smith goes into specifics of how they train their football players at the University of Pittsburgh.  What I found to be the most important was splitting the football team into groups according to the position that they play on the field.  This will enable the training programs to be more specialized for each group.  He then goes into specific exercise and stretches that they utilize in their programs.  Smith ended his presentation by going through his macrocycle for the football team.

            Overall there was a lot of good information that I was able to take away from the DVD, however I must say that 1 ½ hours of lecture is a very long lecture.  Because I was watching a DVD I was able to break it up so that I could pay attention and learn more from the presentation.  However for the people that were actually sitting through that lecture, I believe it would have been more beneficial had he chosen either less points to address or just gone into less detail.