Jordan at Pepperdine - Week 4

Week 4 at Pepperdine

It's testing week at Pepperdine. All the athletes’ hard work was put on display, and it was their chance to lift some solid numbers. Both Men’s and Women’s Basketball hit some rep maxes in the weight room. I had the opportunity to visit another local university: California State University of Northridge (CSUN), take a look around their facilities and chat with their assistant S&C coach Chris. Chris also came through the Pepperdine intern system, further showing the road available to those that work hard and want to progress in this field.

Intern Education

We have been making additional changes to our program. This is a really beneficial part of this internship, as we get a lot of feedback: both good and bad. In order to make the most out of an internship like this, you have to be able to take constructive criticism on board. You are constantly being evaluated, either while coaching, programming or communicating with your peers. In the intern orientation one of the key points were "Every day is an interview", which is a constant reminder to be your best all of the time, not just when you feel like it.  This week I really tried to discover what Matt looked for when hiring strength coaches. Matt’s three "must have" qualities were as follows:

1.      Ability to grind = Work hard. Work long hours. Be detail driven. Get the job done and get it done right.

2.      Get along with his staff = You can’t stick out like a sore thumb. You need to like them and they need to like you. A healthy work culture is important when you spend 14 hours in close proximity of the same 6 people.

3.       Adaptability: You have to be continually developing. Whether that’s additional research, adapting to a new team you’re working with or taking new qualifications (Masters, S&C Accreditations or Weightlifting Qualifications).

Soccer workout at 6am. We have 28 athletes to train in one hour. A pre set up weight room allows the session to run smoothly.

Coach Interaction

All of the coaches here are big readers. It doesn’t matter if it’s S&C specific research articles or not, they read. Leadership books and communication books are common. Since being here I’ve purchased 10 books, either because I saw one of the coaches reading it or they recommended one. I'm stocked up for a while. They also apply what they read which is nice, you will often find them experimenting with new exercises or methods they have read about. They aren’t just the science guys that have no social skills, they all well rounded. I have been training a lot since being out here which I love. We have been training three times a day Monday and Friday and twice Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday. Our Mondays and Fridays look like:

5:30am

Pull Ups (90 reps every day this week)

11:30am

Usually a compound exercise performed EMOM style or standard strength protocol (e.g 5x5)

5:30pm

This session varies day to day. It usually ends up being accessory work for the main lift or something in a circuit format.



Schedule for the Fall. Team Sessions starting at 5:30am and finishing at 7:30pm.

Team Sessions

Testing week was great to see. Men’s Basketball really get into it and there is constantly shouting and cheering each other on. Once the guys are onto their last 1RM attempt of the day. Matt has the full team gather around and give encouragement. I think this kind of atmosphere would increase my squat by 200%. I didn’t see any ugly reps during testing week, as the coaches were very cautious of the potential of injury. Most of the coaches here are low volume programmers, with the intention of giving the most amount of stimulus with the least amount of work. The athletes tend to go home for a few weeks in summer, so at the end of the week Matt sat down and explained the summer program to the team. Matt had each athlete send a picture of the gym they have access to at home so that he can make sure the program is appropriate. This week was a busy one, and every day was different. Some days are steady and some days are extremely busy. This was a medium day, with a slow morning but picked up in the afternoon.

California Life

On the weekend I was taken to California State University of Northridge (CSUN) to have a look around their facility. I was told this type of set up was typical of a state college, generally a lot of space but not as much quality equipment as Pepperdine. They still had equipment such as a K-box, numerous specialty bars, bumpers and a few verti-max stations. Afterwards I got the chance to speak to one of Matt’s ex interns who had just been appointed the assistant S&C coach at CSUN. He is a classic example of Matt’s intern development route. Intern position, progressed into a volunteer position and then into a paid S&C role. We went for some food afterwards and it was cool to pick his brains about his path leading up to this point. He was discussing all of the additional responsibilities he’s had to take on since the new job and seemed a bit flustered by this. I’m excited for him though because increased responsibilities are signs of a career heading in the right direction.

And in true British style I got ridiculously sunburnt.

California State University of Northridge's S&C facility.