May 2008
What's Happening - Takeo Spikes and Rick Tomberlin Reunite - Valdosta High School was featured in our March/April 2008 issue, and recently the team had their annual football awards banquet where Takeo Spikes was the keynote speaker...
Training Brief - New Website Resources - The mission of Bigger Faster Stronger, Inc., is to encourage positive changes in the lives of young people through character education and sports fitness seminars. To support coaches and physical educators in their work with young people, and excellence in youth athletics and physical education...
What's Happening at BFS - Team USA, led by BFS clinician Jeff Scurran, fell short 24-14 in the GE Global Challenge Bowl, held March 22 in Kawasaki, Japan. “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb and never fully recovered, but I am proud of the way we showed spirit and came back...
April 2008
What's Happening for April 2008 - One of the most exciting basketball players in college is University of North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough (pronounced hands-bro). Only a junior, Hansbrough has made the covers of the major sports magazines and is one of the most decorated athletes in the ACC.
What's Happening - Constant Innovation at BFS - One of the latest trends in the world of strength and conditioning is "training the posterior chain" that is, working on the major muscles located on the backside of the body, such as the hamstrings, glutes and erector spinae. Why the recent interest? Because research has shown that strengthening these muscles is one of the best ways to make athletes run faster and jump higher.
Featured Article for April 2008 - BFS has been promoting the box squat as a core lift for over 30 years. It is one of the most effective exercises for developing overall strength and lower body explosiveness. Maybe, just maybe, this is an appropriate time to say, We told you so!
What's Happening for April 2008 - Developing Power (and Much More!) with the Plyo Bar
A revolutionary way to safely incorporate plyometrics and other great exercises into your athletic program
Training Brief for April 2008 - The Bigger Faster Stronger Total Program is a training program which allows every athlete regardless of sport, age or gender to make great gains and break many personal weightlifting and performance records each week, both in and off season.
In the next issue of BFS Magazine: Athlete of the Year! - Kiley Allosso, our 2007 BFS Female High School Athlete of the Year, led Frank Cox High School in Virginia Beach to a second state championship in two years...
March 2008
What's Happening - The Ultimate Resource for Lower Back Pain - Stuart McGill is one of the foremost, internationally recognized experts on lower back disorders. He has written over 200 articles on topics related to back pain, and the results of his results are summarized in his book, Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation, 2nd ed., (humankinetics.com). Although the book includes a lot of technical information for the health care practitioner, Low Back Disorders provides detailed descriptions of rehabilitation techniques, postural assessment and other information that coaches would find of value.
Two growing health concerns: fast food and lead-based paint - BFS addresses a five-fold increase in fast food consumption, and concerns about lead-based paint.
BFS Featured Article for March 2008 - Lutheran High North
Small School, BIG Punch
A commitment to UNIFICATION has paid off for these athletes from Houston
When it comes to state educational systems, it’s not true that everything is bigger in Texas. But it is true that sometimes smaller can be better...
New video available to view in the BFS Motivation Library - At BFS we believe that the building of character is one of the most valuable lessons we can instill in our student athletes. The motivation to persevere against all odds is a trait that will help young people grow into great citizens in all walks of life. By learning from stories such as Andrew's we can all see that many goals that seem impossible are in fact within our grasp with hard work, dedication and BELIEF!
Join Dr. Shepard, founder and CEO of BFS, as he inspires us all with this remarkable young man's story! www.maxcast.com/BeAn11
BUILD YOUR OWN BFS MOTIVATION LIBRARY
The BFS Maxcast Video Network gives you the opportunity to have these motivational stories available “on demand” to use with your team when you need it.
You can create your own “video on demand service” and try it out at NO CHARGE...
BFS Magazine 1992 Issues added to our online archives - We have just finished adding another complete year of the Bigger Faster Stronger Magazine to our online archives. We now have every BFS Magazine article from 1992 to the present online and available to you free of charge. And we're always adding more, both old and new. We won’t stop until we have every single issue, all the way back to the very first one in 1980, ready for you to read.
Olympic Lifters Love BFS Too! - Gerald Willis sent us a picture of Gerry Ferrelli, Denis Reno of Weightlifter’s Newsletter, Bob Bednarski, and himself at a reunion they held of the legendary Central Falls Weightlifting Club.
Gerald also tells us:
"... a few of the football guys and I had a little contest to see who could actually lift this thing (a 230-pound tire!). They failed miserably. Old Olympic lifters never die; they just risk hurting themselves doing dumb things!"
A Closer Look at the PARALLEL SQUAT - A Closer Look at the PARALLEL SQUAT
Answering the critics, once again, about this essential BFS core exercise
When BFS started 32 years ago, one of the most controversial aspects of our program was our promotion of the squat. We stood by it then as one of the best exercises for athletes, and we stand by it now.
National High School Power Clean Championship Set - Val Balison, former American record holder in the clean and jerk, is the meet director for the 4th Annual National High School Power Clean Championships, which will be held at Bonanza High School in Las Vegas on May 17, 2008...
Player Profile - Andrea Ruygrok - Andrea Ruygrok is 34 years old and did great on the BFS program in high school; but she felt she was terribly out of shape and signed up with a trainer. Here is how she explains what happened next. "I would bring in the BFS magazine articles to the trainer, telling him I wanted to be like other profiled female athletes. Initially he laughed at me"...
January/February 2008 issue of the BFS Magazine now available online in our Archives - The January/February 2008 issue of the BFS Magazine has been added to our online Magazine Archives.
February 2008
Overcoming Obstacles - OVERCOMING OBSTACLES: Anthony Robles
When it comes to overcoming obstacles, you can’t get much more inspirational than Anthony Robles, a freshman on the wrestling team at Arizona State. Anthony has only one leg, but he doesn’t let that hold him back...
BFS Feature Article for February 2008 - BFS knows what it takes to be successful in high schools, both in PE and Sports. Our exceptional staff of clinicians draws from a deep background in the educational environment and brings this expertise to you...
BFS Special Bulletin - PE Grant Competition Update - The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) is pleased to announce that Carol M. White Physical Education Program (PEP) grant competition opens on February 15, 2008 and closes on March 24, 2008.
PEP grants support the initiation, expansion, and improvement of physical education programs...
Vince Helmuth - We Revisit the BFS Male High School Athlete of the Year for 2006 - We obviously had a great selection in Vince Helmuth as our 2006 BFS Male High School Athlete of the Year. Not only is he fulfilling his dream of playing varsity football at the University of Michigan, he has seen playing time as a freshman!
New BFS Baseball Instructional DVDs - THE BFS BASEBALL TOTAL PROGRAM significantly improves all aspects of baseball performance.
The BFS program will make you run faster, throw farther, hit harder...
BFS Safety Brief for February 2008 - BFS founder and CEO Dr. Greg Shepard encourages all coaches and instructors who supervise programs of strength and conditioning to become certified for these reasons: Safety, Liability, Confidence, Career.
Prepare yourself with the information you need as a Coach or Administrator to avoid and / or win lawsuits...
More Work on the Chain Gang - While taking a break during the photo shoot for the feature in this issue on vibration training, Canadian strength coach Paul Gagné lived up to his nickname of being the MacGyver of strength and conditioning.
This time he developed two new uses for BFS lifting chains.
No Cover Jinx Here - Our last two college covers features Adrian Peterson, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Looking back we at BFS are patting ourselves on the back for making some pretty good selections. Despite being only a rookie in 2007...
January 2008
What's Happening for the week of January 28th, 2008 - NAVY STRONG
Bobby Doyle is the son of BFS clinician Bob Doyle; and despite being only a sophomore, he has already been contributing to the success of the Naval Academy's football team. This year against Duke, for example...
BFS High School of the Year, Who is next?
Titusville High School in Titusville, Pennsylvania, was selected as the 2007 BFS High School of the Year...
Spotlight Products for January 2008 - Beat The Computer PRO
This is software created to specifically enhance your BFS Total Program.
Create Personalized, Sport-Specific Workouts Using the Most Successful Set-Rep Computer Software Program Ever Created.
SPRING TRAINING IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER - ARE YOU READY?
Reach your potential and learn to play your best with these BFS Baseball DVDs.
BFS Baseball has assembled a tremendous staff of professional players with over 50 years of coaching, playing, scouting and training experience
Feature Article for January 2008 - High school coaches today are faced with ever-increasing challenges, even more so than their predecessors were. That’s what makes it so difficult to single out just one high school for our highest honor – so many schools deserve recognition for their hard-won accomplishments. But we had to make a choice, and we believe we made a wise one in selecting Titusville High School as the 2007 BFS High School of the Year.
Learn more about how school sports training unification can lead to success over all athletic programs at your school. Listen Rich Venuto of Louisville High School in Ohio as he speaks to Coach Freeborn about their experience with a unified BFS athletic program on the BFS Maxcast video channel...
Keeping up with the bloggers - As noted in the previous entry, two things are still true: we are way behind on this blog, and we are still making changes on our web site...
January 2007
Big Improvements coming to website - I've been way behind on this blog, but here's some great news. We've hired a full-time website programmer, Greg Minear, who is helping us make dramatic improvements in the website.
October 2006
Dr. Shepard steriod interview in Salt Lake City newpaper - BFS Founder/CEO Dr. Greg Shepard was recently interviewed by a newspaper in Salt Lake City about his views on steroids.
Female Weightlifting on CBS Early Show - Michelle Glasgow, a schoolage national champion in Olympic lifting who is also a competitive ballroom dancer, was featured on the CBS Early Show. Michelle is 15 years old.
August 2006
U.S. Government Announcement: York Barbells Recalled - Yesterday the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the following press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2006
Release #06-243Firm's Recall Hotline: (800) 358-9675
CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772
CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908
Weightlifting Bars Recalled by York Barbell Co. After Reports of Units Breaking
Clarett in Trouble...Again! - Just when you thought Maurice Clarett's problems couldn't get worst, they have.
University of Oregon to be featured in BFS - One of the major feature stories for the September/October2006 issue is about the football team at the University of Oregon.
How to get in touch with the editorial department at BFS - A lot of our readers want to know how to get success stories published in BFS. The best way is to click on the Tools for Coaches...
Former University of Utah Strength Coach Joins BFS - Barry Johnson was featured in our Sep/Oct 2005 issue for this accomplishments as head strength coach for the University of Utah. Johnson, who has extensive experience working with high school athletes, has joined the BFS Team as a clinician.
BFS Mag about to hit the press - We are just about ready to hit to press with the next issue of BFS. There's an article about the legal aspects of having kids that is simply a must-read for coaches...
July 2006
The Myth of Growth Plate Injuries in Young Weightlifters - One of the most common fears about weight training for young athletes is that it will damage growth plates. Here is a great quote from a respected sport scientist concerning this issue:
"It has never been shown scientifically or clinically that the periodic, non-chronic imposition of large forces by weight training on the growing body causes damage to the epiphysial [growth] plates.
