It’s easy to go onto YouTube, do a search and see crazy, inspirational, well-produced workouts from a collegiate strength and conditioning setting. From football to basketball to baseball, you’ll see tire flips, presses with chains, tug of wars, things done with logs, people dressed in camo, etc., but is that what goes on day to day? Sorry to break the news to you but, typically, no. Those “video workouts” typically make up less than 5% of total work performed by an athlete over their career. So instead of stealing things from the latest crazy video that was produced to get the fans in a frenzy for the upcoming year (when they know good and well that their team sucks), steal things from the other 95% of an athlete’s training. In no particular order, here are the Top 10 things you can take from a collegiate strength and conditioning program.

1. Coach the athletes; don’t make them your training partners. It is impossible for me to get the most out of an athlete if we are both working out. If it’s a squat day, and I am focused on my next set, I am sure as hell not as involved as I am supposed to be with their next set of squats. I am a coach. I am paid to get the athletes better, not myself. No one cares if I hit a new PR (outside of me), but a ton of people care if an athlete hits a new PR. Make your athletes and clients’ training and success your priority.

2. Program. Instinctive programming is nonsense. Not sure what instinctive programming is? Good. It refers to the coach or trainer who thinks up workouts in their car on the way to the gym. They call it instinctive programming to try and make their haphazard approach seem more than what it really is, which is shit. I don’t care who your programming god is. Prilipin, Zatsiorski, Siff, Simmons, Kraemer, Stone. If you are not programming with purpose, then your athlete is not getting as good as they possibly could be under more direct programming. And don’t give me any bullshit about how great the results are that you’re getting from your instinctive programming. All exercise works and will yield results, but only smart programming will yield continual results over time.

3. Goal Setting. We allow our athletes to set their own goals, with our help. It’s important for the athlete to set up their own, individual goals, because a true athlete and competitor will stop at nothing at achieving these goals. Athletes needs both short-term and long-term goals, as well as achievable and reach goals. An achievable goal is typically a short term goal that we can cross off the list, hopefully soon. A reach goal is a long-term goal that may or may not ever happen, but gives the athlete something to strive for. These goals help keep the athlete motivated when the going gets tough.

4. Warm up, band stretch, and foam roll, every day. We do these things with our athletes, at the very least, every day we workout. If an athlete feels good physically, then they will be in a better mental state and, hopefully, perform better. If they feel run down, performance will suffer. Don’t be mistaken. In addition to these three things, we do ice baths, contrast baths and showers, Epsom salt baths, massage, and presentations on proper nutrition and sleep. A good warm up/band stretching/foam rolling routine will help the athletes feel better and get them to buy into other modalities.

5. Talk to your athletes. Any coach worth his or her salt should talk to their athletes, every day. Get a feel for their personality. Understand if they are someone that needs to be coddled or needs to be kicked (figuratively). But this is a give and take process, and I let them know this. I talk to my athletes daily. However, I treat freshmen different from my upperclassmen. Because freshmen are new to the consistency of a college training regimen, they don’t have any points of reference. Therefore, no matter what they say or feel, they have very little to no influence on what they do until they have gone through at least 12 months of my programming and a full season. It’s at that point that I will slowly start to allow them to give me feedback to how they think the workouts are going, how they are feeling and if we need to make any manipulations to their individual training.

6. Be smart with scheduling. You are not a machine. If there’s one thing that I know for certain about myself, it’s that I am a much better, more effective coach and motivator the fewer hours I work. I am a champ for 40-45 hours a week. From 45-55, I can get the job done better than most. More than 55 hours a week, and I am just going through the motions. I know, I know, you’re amazing. You consume a gram of caffeine a day and you are spectacular. Sorry to point this out, but you’re not, and I’m sure your athletes/ clients like you much better, and you’re more effective, when you are rested. Schedule your athletes in blocks so that you can get in a groove on the floor, and then retire to your desk to program, relax and get up for your next group.

7. It’s a changing world. Roll with it, but don’t lose focus. Between the social networking, the internet, DVRs, cell phones, etc., this world is ever changing. Don’t fight it, because in the words of Ivan Drago, “You will lose.” At the same time, the good old fashioned morals and attitudes that this country was built on are still the stepping stones for success. Don’t spend time on the internet blogging and talking shop when you could be doing that with people in your community. Grow your brand, but do it in a way that benefits both you and the community around you.

8. It’s a lifestyle, not a job. No one goes to a toothless dentist. You have to live a healthy lifestyle and be an inspiration to your athletes. If you’re a “do as I say, not as I do” coach, you will not reach as many people as if you were in it, living it with them. And you don’t need to be perfect. Tell them about your diet slip-ups, and how you did nothing but lie by a pool on vacation and drank daiquiris watched the sunset. It will humanize you in their eyes, and give them someone that they can respect, and try to emulate, instead of you setting an incredibly high bar that few of them can ever achieve.

9. Get continuing education, from everywhere. Too many coaches fall in love with one particular way of doing things and then get all their information from that source or sources like it. You are not learning anything new, just the same old stuff repeated. You are not getting any better and you are certainly not bringing anything new to your athletes. Powerlifting, Olympic lifting, bodybuilding, paleo, ketogenic, Crossfit, you should be stealing, er, learning, from all these things (among others) to help get your athletes better.

10. Love what you do. The old saying is true: love what you do and you won’t work a day in your life. I will never be rich, I will never have the nicest car, but I live every day to the fullest and love what I do. We are lucky. We don’t sit behind cubicles, we don’t wear ties to work, and we can get tattoos without being overly scrutinized. What more could you ask for?

Being to implement these 10 things, and you will see your athletes and clients get to another level.