James Smith is the Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of
Pittsburgh who claims himself to be a product of the things he was exposed to during his
experience in the work field as well with his prior education. It seems to be typical that
strength and conditioning coaches tend to practice the strength and conditioning style of
their mentors and seems to be that the best way to learn is to be around those who have
been successful. This lecture is focused on the stages of the annual cycle of football
strength and conditioning.
James Smith addresses the energy systems and in football, the Phosphagen system is the main system used. The athletes are mainly working in this system because football is a fast paced sport and plays only last for seconds. This being a fact, Smith points out that an overall greater level of aerobic conditioning is crucial for recovery between plays. This allows the athletes to maintain their level of intensity for the duration of the game. Smith refers to bioenergetic sequencing, and describes how he has different focuses depending on the current stage in the annual cycle; he also describes strength training as a small fraction of sport training which I agree on because there is many other factors that goes into
training athletes, while strength training is just a small part of it.
Smith addresses General Physical Preparation as being the foundation for all other training
which i agree with because if an athlete doesn’t have that general base of strength, they will
not be able to have optimal gains from specific training. General physical preparation
should always be incorporated in an athletes year long cycle of training.
Overall I felt like there was plenty of information I retrieved from this lecture. The hour and a
half lecture was a bit arduous at times but I found many of his sayings to be informative and interesting,
especially when he mentioned his incorporation of gymnastics into training athletes. Being a previous
gymnast, I became a strong individual from doing many gymnastic workouts such as planches and ring
work. I'm a believer of body weight exercises for improvement of overall strength and which is why I
support Smith's view of incorporating gymnastics into his exercise regimes.
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