BFS Magazine

The mental and physical benefits of managing progress.

When looking through the BFS catalog, some coaches are surprised to see it continues to offer manual set-rep logbooks. After all, isn’t this the Information Age, where paper, in general, is following the path of vinyl records…and 8-track tapes…and cassette tapes, and CDs? Certainly, computer-aided workout systems, including our own Beat the Computer program and Set Rep Log App, have earned their place in athletic training and physical fitness programs. When coaches are working with large groups, the usual situation at high schools, computer systems such as these are essential in managing data to produce team and class ranking systems.

The Beat the Computer (BTC) and Set Rep Log App (SRLA) programs are particularly valuable because they give athletes specific goals each time they work out to help ensure continual progress – automatically producing athletic evaluation reports. Still, as will be explained later, there are good reasons to have athletes complete the original BFS Log-books by hand. The BTC, SRLA, and BFS Set-Rep Logbooks are all great for encouraging progress and making it easy to track. The fact that athletes can make progress every single workout is a major reason that coaches and PE teachers appreciate the BFS Total Program. More specifically, the program enables every athlete to make personal records, often several personal records, every single workout – even in season. This is in contrast to many of the periodization schemes.

Periodization vs. BFS

When BFS began developing its training system, news started trickling in about elaborate training programs called “periodization” developed by Eastern European coaches. Although the elaborate tables, charts, and graphs associated with these programs were certainly impressive, BFS immediately recognized the problems associated with such training systems.

While BFS recognized that for single-sport athletes these programs did have their advantages and were obviously successful, periodization programs were not practical when coaches were working with multiple-sport athletes at the high school level – especially those in team sports. First, these periodization programs usually focused on peaking for only a few competitions a year. If you’re a football coach, under this system which game would you peak for? The obvious answer is the state championship, but how do you get into the championship game if your players are in poor form during the playoffs? The periodization solution to this issue would be to go into a “maintenance” phase, but athletes don’t get bigger, faster, or stronger during maintenance workouts. Also, what about multi-sport athletes, which is what most high school and younger athletes are? How are athletes expected to get stronger if they are lifting light weights, year-round? The answer is that they can’t.

In addition to those problems, BFS found for a high school coach that it was difficult to motivate young athletes if they had to wait weeks to see progress. Rather than just keeping records for 1-repetition personal bests, Shepard expanded the program to include personal records for multiple repetitions, total weight used in an exercise, and total weight used for all sets in an exercise. The result is that even when athletes have an off-day and can’t make a record in how much weight they use for a single lift, they can still set a record for the amount of work they perform.

Setting daily records have additional benefits, as was confirmed by Dr. David Schlenoff. A licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist in the Baltimore County Public School system, Dr. Schlenoff often works with students who have learning or emotional problems. Several years ago he had the opportunity to work with a girls-only high school weight training class that used the BFS Program. Schlenoff found that the girls worked hard and made great progress on the BFS Program; they also experienced unexpected benefits in their attitude.

Says Dr. Schlenoff, “What was even more noticeable was a palpable air of happiness that seemed to permeate the weight room as these girls eagerly awaited their opportunity to work out. They each seemed very proud of their progress. Perhaps this seeming happiness derives from learning how to set realistic, attainable goals and from reaching those goals. Perhaps it derives from being part of a group with a shared interest – we know that girls are typically more socially oriented than boys. Perhaps it derives from the endorphin release that has proven to be attributable to physical exercise – or maybe it’s just plain fun!” It feels great to check off individual items on a “to-do” list, and the same satisfaction occurs when young athletes physically write down their records. This is why the classic logbook has a special place in the BFS Program. Sometimes tried-and-true works best.

Dr. David Schlenoff, psychologist, Baltimore County Public Schools Dr. Schlenoff is a licensed psychologist and certified school psychologist and is BFS certified. He has served as a psychological consultant to Runner’s World magazine, has published material on the role of a therapeutic running program in rehabilitation, on jogging therapy for psychiatric inpatients, and on numerous other topics.

SAVE 20% on all Bars and Collars in October 2019

From striking and durable color Cerakote bars from Solid Bar or world championship quality bars from Eliko BFS has what you need to set your program apart. Power Bars, Hex Bars even Curl Bars all on sale this week! Take advantage now, this offer can't last.
Shop Power Bars, Olympic Bars, even Hex Bars, and Training Bars! Just use discount code 1910SSB for 20% Off Bars and Orders over $50 Ship Free!

There is no question that simply playing a sport will improve agility and lateral speed. There are many methods of increasing these essential athletic qualities that will help any athlete beyond their natural talent or how much they practice their sport.  Learning proper movement skills is, of course, essential to moving quickly, and this is one of the primary jobs of the sports coach.  Here are six effective ways to step up your athlete's game...

It was while attending South Sioux City High School in South Sioux City, Nebraska, that Shadle learned about the BFS Total Program. “A BFS clinician came to our school, set up our weight room, and taught our coaching staff how to implement the program,” says Shadle. “I liked the BFS program and thought it helped me stay healthy and set up a strong structural foundation for my future athletic career.

Distance runners often have reservations about lifting weights, but this wasn’t the case with Shadle’s high school coaches. “The message I got from my coaches was that performance is all about the strength-to-weight ratio.  It was important to be structurally strong and fast.” She says that not only did the BFS program fulfill her goals of being a faster and stronger runner, but also helped keep her injury-free. “Strength training for a distance runner is much more than just strengthening bones,” says Shadle.

The BFS Dot Drill is not only an effective warm-up but it also improves agility and quickness. BFS offers a FREE DOWNLOAD to help you get started on the DOT DRILL. Check out the BFS Downloads here: http://bit.ly/BFSDownloads BFS also offers other DOT DRILL materials here: http://bit.ly/BFSDotDrill Thanks for watching!

BFS Clothing on sale this week!
August 29, 2019
Save 20% with discount code 2019-08-CL

How important is ankle mobility to injury prevention? One study of 10,393 Australian basketball players found that the “players who did not stretch before the game were 2.6 times more likely to injure an ankle than players who did.” Let’s look at another example.

Many athletes believe that tendons are fragile and that they should wear high-top tennis shoes for added support – however, there is no research to support the idea that high-top tennis shoes reduce the risk of any injury. Further, in the sport of weightlifting (snatch and clean and jerk), the athletes wear low-top shoes. And although male athletes have lifted triple bodyweight overhead and women have lifted double, ankle and knee injuries are rare. 

Coaches often comment on an athlete as having “good feet.” They want athletes who are light on their feet, are quick on their feet and have a fast “first step.” But having good feet is not a mysterious quality that only a few fortunate individuals are blessed with. Every athlete can improve this important athletic quality, much more than you might suspect.