The Misunderstood strength coach

Scott Birdby Scott Bird | September 2, 2006
Filed in interviews | 3 comments

Walter Norton (spotting), Rick DiPietro (benching) and Mike BoyleEric Cressey conducts a very interesting interview with strength and conditioning coach Mike Boyle. Although Boyle is perhaps best known for training athletes using unstable surfaces, there’s far more to his methods than that. From the article :

I do some unstable surface training to make sagittal plane exercise more multi-planar. I really believe that unstable surface training and multi-planar training are excellent tools when used at the right time and place. The difference is that all the bells and whistles with no horsepower is a waste of time.

That ‘horsepower’ takes the form of many of the usual major compound movements, as well as the occasional spot of single limb work. Speaking of compound exercises, one of the many slightly unusual opinions expressed in the article was on Front Squats.

[Perform] Front squats instead of back squats: I love front squats because you can’t really do them wrong. No back pain, lots of leg work. I think the only reason most people back squat is because they never thought about not doing it.

Definitely something to think about.


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Comments

1

I have had a number of people recommend front squats. This seems like an idea.

Posted by: Bud Gibson | September 3, 2006 2:03 AM

2

I used to do front squats at the start but changed to normal ones for some reason, mind you that was before I was using the power rack and one of the limitations was actually getting the bar up. Must try it on my next leg day.

Posted by: Steph | September 3, 2006 3:11 AM

3

I haven’t done front squats for ages, but that’s only because of the awkwardness associated with holding the bar. The various harnesses for exactly this might be well worth investigation.

Posted by: Scott | September 3, 2006 4:23 PM

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