The most studied supplement for performance on the planet is creatine. There are hundreds of studies yielding tons of data. But I still hear all the time "You shouldn't take creatine during the season" or "Creatine dehydrates you" and even "Creatine is dangerous". Is there any truth to these accusations?

We're going to talk about how creatine works, why it works, and why it should be a staple in your supplement regimen!

Artificial Intelligence applications are becoming more and more popular by the day. Chat GPT and GROK are two of the most successfully marketed chatbots and they can do your homework, write you an article, code, draw contracts, and as I found out today, even create training programs.

We're going to go over some of the limitations and advantages of using AI to create training programs for yourself, or (hopefully not) your clients.

Youth sports have been commercialized and it's only getting worse. The US spends 19B dollars per year on youth athletics, and that's projected to more than double by the year 2026! Today we'll look at how much money parents are spending on their kids' sports, what the time cost is, and the odds that you'll be lucky enough to land that full ride to a university.

Are high school weight rooms safe? All across the country high school football programs are entering into Winter workouts in preparation for the Spring football game. This means kids will be lifting weights and conditioning with their football coaches. Quite possibly the worst-case scenario at many schools that don't have strength coaches, but that doesn't stop them. So to answer the question of what is going on in high school weight rooms, nothing good.

By far the worst part of being a strength and conditioning coach is dealing with sports coaches. Many refuse to defer to experts in the physical preparation realm and instead put their athletes through the worst forms of training. They don't know that they don't know and it's to the detriment of these kids.

Does weight training stunt the growth of kids? Will weight training make you slower as an athlete? Does weight training make you too bulky and less flexible? We'll answer all those and more today with a little history lesson from WWI Japan!

Matt Petgrave has been arrested and charged with manslaughter for the incident that occurred on October 28th that led to the death of Adam Johnson. This is a follow-up to my last episode where I spoke my thoughts on what I think happened, and this week we'll look at some of the evidence pointing to this manslaughter charge.

This past weekend in the EIHL there was an incident that has garnered international headlines. A young man lost his life playing the best sport on Earth in what some are saying was an intentional kick. Today Coach Connor breaks down what happened, and it may surprise you.

The world is very different from when I was getting recruited to play college hockey. As an athlete, every single thing you say or do is archived for the world to see, forever. This week Coach Connor talks about the dangers of social media and has some stories from athletes he's worked with in the past.

This week we dive into the career of our host Connor Lyons. He talks about how he got into the field, what his education was like, the places he's been, the teams he's worked with, and the coaches he's worked next to. He'll touch on his influences both direct and indirect, and what his philosophies as a strength and conditioning coach are.

This week Coach Connor talks about the SAID Principle. The SAID Principle should dictate the vast majority of the decisions we make in the gym. Whether you want to get bigger, stronger, faster, or even just move better you've got to place your body in a position to do so. If you want to get better for sport, then you need to make sure the demands you're placing on your body align with the adaptations you need for the field, court, or ice. If you want to understand the "why" behind your training, listen to or watch this episode of Strength Coach Rants!

Everyone's trying to get to the top as quickly as possible, often with as little work as possible in the process. Whether you're an athlete, the parent of an athlete, or a recreational lifter you've probably been tempted to use gear. When it comes to information about steroids, most people are relegated to approaching the biggest guy in the gym and asking questions which usually ends up being a healthy dose of Broscience. Well, not anymore. Today, Coach Connor goes over what steroids are, how steroids work, and why kids shouldn't be using steroids.

Modern-day training camp is a relic that just won't die. This video is directed at youth sport coaches: STOP WITH THE INCESSANT CONDITIONING, you're killing the long-term development of the kids in your care. This episode breaks down the downfalls of only using the "offseason" to train off the field and what all this conditioning is doing to your athletes. Give it a watch/listen and learn!

When it comes to full vs. partial ROM there seems to be somewhat of a debate, and there really shouldn't be. This week I go over why Joel Seedman is wrong about his 90-degree stimulus in addition to many other things he's wrong about. Check it out!

Hockey is a sport categorized by 45-second shifts of all-out effort. Or is it? Today we talk about the misconceptions associated with hockey shift times/efforts and what you should be doing when it comes to your physical preparation for the sport of hockey!

Can you vape or dip and still play sports at a high level? Is vaping or chewing better than smoking cigarettes when it comes to performance? It's not messing with your lung capacity so it has to be better than cigarette smoking, right?

The answer's not all that surprising but today we'll go over all the reasons you might want to think twice about taking a pinch out of that can or a puff off of that pen!

The Long Term Athletic Development model has widely been understood to be the best way to train for long-term athleticism. Between training stages and windows of opportunity or trainability, the LTAD model seems to be all buttoned up. In my opinion, this model is very misunderstood and misinterpreted, and oftentimes even downright wrong in its application. We'll go over all that and more today on Strength Coach Rants!

What are the things you need to look for in a strength and conditioning or sports performance coach? Does education matter? What does their clientele look like? How long have they been coaching? Did they play at a high level? I'll answer those questions and more in this week's episode of Strength Coach Rants!

Not too long ago I had a 10 year old in my gym tell me what his favorite flavor of C4 was. This got me thinking about why these kids are drinking energy drinks at such young ages. Do they actually need more energy or is it something else? Kids have more energy than they know what to do with. We've got an epidemic of young boys being put on ADHD meds, do they really also need caffeine?? Well, one thing's for sure, they're not buying them for themselves so this is a conversation that needs to be had with their parents. Today we're going to go over why energy drinks are bad for your kids, and what we should be doing to create an environment in their day where they don't feel the need to reach for these energy drinks.

This week Coach Connor talks about training sub-max weights to failure, when to use it, how to use it, and why to use it. If you've ever thought about including training to failure in your own programs, give this week's episode of Strength Coach Rants a watch!