Cheeky Mid Weeky

Matt Aldred returns to the podcast after helping Michigan Men’s Basketball win a National Championship, but this conversation isn’t about taking credit for the title.Matt and Justin dive into what the championship season taught him about coaching: keeping training simple, minimum effective dose, learning from individual athletes, adjusting volume, building leadership capital, communicating with players, and understanding when doing less can actually produce more.They also discuss warm-ups as an opportunity to microdose training, using GPS and force-plate data without allowing technology to dictate coaching, learning from other sports on campus, and why strength coaches need to understand their role within the larger performance team.More importantly, Matt reflects on ego, authenticity, family, faith, and what success should look like for a strength coach. Winning is great. But as Matt puts it throughout the conversation: it’s not about us.Learn about CEUs to the NSCA and CSCCa:https://www.strengthcoachnetwork.com/pricing___CONNECT WITH US: 🌎Site: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/📝Blog: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/blog/___From our sponsors: Hawkin Dynamics 🌎Site: https://www.hawkindynamics.com/Hawkin Dynamics is the world leader in force plate solutions. Wireless hardware, intuitive software, and powerful analysis make Hawkin Dynamics the best choice for any coach or trainer. Make sure you check them out in the link above.Power Lift🌎Site: https://www.powerliftusa.com/ Power Lift is an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of American-made strength and conditioning equipment. They understand that your Brand is important and offer several diverse ways to incorporate that Brand into your strength equipment. For more about Power Lift click the link above. Dashr🌎Site: https://www.dashrsystems.com/Dashr is a performance testing company best known for its laser timing, but also integrates with Teambuildr and offers a free Player Profile app used by 6k+ athletes. Beyond timing, they provide a full suite of testing solutions including verticals, broad jumps, RSI, biometrics, reaction, and AMS. For more about Dashr click the link above.PlayerData🌎Site:https://www.playerdata.com/en-usPlayerData is Strength Coach Network’s trusted GPS provider and a FIFA Quality–certified system, used by coaches at every level to quantify training load and understand movement demands. PlayerData delivers reliable, actionable data at a strong value point, with seamless syncing that saves coaches precious time—so the focus stays on coaching, not managing technology. For more about PlayerData click the link above.

Chris Martin is the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Louisiana State University Baseball, where he helped guide the Tigers to the 2025 National Championship in his first season in Baton Rouge.Before joining LSU, Martin spent six seasons with the Houston Astros, serving in multiple roles including Minor League Strength and Conditioning Coordinator and Rehab Strength & Conditioning Coordinator. He oversaw performance training throughout the Astros' minor league system, played a key role in redesigning return-to-play protocols for injured athletes, and helped support the development of numerous future Major League players.A former pitcher at Kent State University, Martin earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in Exercise Physiology. His background combines high-performance training, player development, and rehabilitation, making him one of the rising strength and conditioning coaches in professional and collegiate baseball.___Learn about CEUs to the NSCA and CSCCa:https://www.strengthcoachnetwork.com/pricing___CONNECT WITH US:🌎Site: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/From our sponsors:Hawkin Dynamics🌎Site: https://www.hawkindynamics.com/Hawkin Dynamics is the world leader in force plate solutions. Wireless hardware, intuitive software, and powerful analysis make Hawkin Dynamics the best choice for any coach or trainer. Make sure you check them out in the link above.Power Lift🌎Site: https://www.powerliftusa.com/Power Lift is an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of American-made strength and conditioning equipment. They understand that your Brand is important and offer several diverse ways to incorporate that Brand into your strength equipment. For more about Power Lift click the link above.Dashr🌎Site: https://www.dashrsystems.com/Dashr is a performance testing company best known for its laser timing, but also integrates with Teambuildr and offers a free Player Profile app used by 6k+ athletes. Beyond timing, they provide a full suite of testing solutions including verticals, broad jumps, RSI, biometrics, reaction, and AMS. For more about Dashr click the link above.PlayerData🌎Site:https://www.playerdata.com/en-usPlayerData is Strength Coach Network’s trusted GPS provider and a FIFA Quality–certified system, used by coaches at every level to quantify training load and understand movement demands. PlayerData delivers reliable, actionable data at a strong value point, with seamless syncing that saves coaches precious time—so the focus stays on coaching, not managing technology. For more about PlayerData click the link above.

Rick Brunner joins Justin Lima and Yosef Johnson for a conversation spanning four decades of sports nutrition and performance science.Rick shares how his trips to the Soviet Union in the 1980s connected him with scientists studying creatine, adaptogens, recovery, and athletic performance—eventually leading him to introduce creatine to elite American athletes around 1987.The guys dive into supplement quality, brain health, recovery, neuromuscular performance, reaction and quickness, and how nutrition should work alongside training.Rick also explains why the future isn't simply about building bigger muscles. It's about developing reactive, healthy, quick muscle through the integration of training, nutrition, recovery, and measurement.___Buy Supertraining to Read Along with Us - use code STRONGER20 to save 20%https://uaconcepts.com/product/supertraining___CONNECT: 🌎Site: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/📝Blog: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/blog/___From our sponsors: Hawkin Dynamics 🌎Site: https://www.hawkindynamics.com/Hawkin Dynamics is the world leader in force plate solutions. Wireless hardware, intuitive software, and powerful analysis make Hawkin Dynamics the best choice for any coach or trainer. Make sure you check them out in the link above.Power Lift🌎Site: https://www.powerliftusa.com/ Power Lift is an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of American-made strength and conditioning equipment. They understand that your Brand is important and offer several diverse ways to incorporate that Brand into your strength equipment. For more about Power Lift click the link above. Dashr🌎Site: https://www.dashrsystems.com/Dashr is a performance testing company best known for its laser timing, but also integrates with Teambuildr and offers a free Player Profile app used by 6k+ athletes. Beyond timing, they provide a full suite of testing solutions including verticals, broad jumps, RSI, biometrics, reaction, and AMS. For more about Dashr click the link above.PlayerData🌎Site:https://www.playerdata.com/en-usPlayerData is Strength Coach Network’s trusted GPS provider and a FIFA Quality–certified system, used by coaches at every level to quantify training load and understand movement demands. PlayerData delivers reliable, actionable data at a strong value point, with seamless syncing that saves coaches precious time—so the focus stays on coaching, not managing technology. For more about PlayerData click the link above.

What could the STRONG Act actually mean for strength and conditioning coaches?Rachel Newman, Marketing Manager for Customers and Community at TeamBuildr, joins Justin to break down why strength and conditioning needs its own SOC designation, what that could mean for salary and employment data, funding for personnel and professional development, and why coaches need to continue supporting the STRONG Act.They also discuss why the profession needs to unite around the title Strength and Conditioning Coach, how better federal data could help coaches understand career opportunities and compensation, and why this is a long-term investment in the profession.Most importantly, they don't just talk about supporting the STRONG Act — Justin calls his representative live during the episode. It takes about 70 seconds. If strength coaches want better recognition, better data and a stronger profession, we have to be willing to speak up.___CONNECT WITH US: 🌎Site: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/📝Blog: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/blog/___From our sponsors: Hawkin Dynamics 🌎Site: https://www.hawkindynamics.com/Hawkin Dynamics is the world leader in force plate solutions. Wireless hardware, intuitive software, and powerful analysis make Hawkin Dynamics the best choice for any coach or trainer. Make sure you check them out in the link above.Power Lift🌎Site: https://www.powerliftusa.com/ Power Lift is an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of American-made strength and conditioning equipment. They understand that your Brand is important and offer several diverse ways to incorporate that Brand into your strength equipment. For more about Power Lift click the link above. Dashr🌎Site: https://www.dashrsystems.com/Dashr is a performance testing company best known for its laser timing, but also integrates with Teambuildr and offers a free Player Profile app used by 6k+ athletes. Beyond timing, they provide a full suite of testing solutions including verticals, broad jumps, RSI, biometrics, reaction, and AMS. For more about Dashr click the link above.PlayerData🌎Site:https://www.playerdata.com/en-usPlayerData is Strength Coach Network’s trusted GPS provider and a FIFA Quality–certified system, used by coaches at every level to quantify training load and understand movement demands. PlayerData delivers reliable, actionable data at a strong value point, with seamless syncing that saves coaches precious time—so the focus stays on coaching, not managing technology. For more about PlayerData click the link above.

Mike Woicik is one of the most accomplished strength and conditioning coaches in NFL history. Across 30 years in the league, he won six Super Bowl championships — three with the Dallas Cowboys and three with the New England Patriots — after beginning his career at Springfield College and Syracuse.Mike joins Justin to look back at the evolution of strength and conditioning through a career that spanned multiple eras of the profession. They discuss the influence of Soviet training methods, Boyd Epley’s impact on Mike early in his career, bringing a college-style development program into the NFL, position-specific conditioning, speed and power development, single-leg training, in-season strength, testing, technology, and return-to-play.They also discuss what Mike believes the role of a strength coach should actually be. After decades working behind the scenes with some of football’s greatest teams and players, his philosophy remains simple: the job is about helping the athletes — not making the strength coach the center of attention.___CONNECT WITH US: 🌎Site: https://strengthcoachnetwork.com/___From our sponsors: Hawkin Dynamics 🌎Site: https://www.hawkindynamics.com/Hawkin Dynamics is the world leader in force plate solutions. Wireless hardware, intuitive software, and powerful analysis make Hawkin Dynamics the best choice for any coach or trainer. Make sure you check them out in the link above.Power Lift🌎Site: https://www.powerliftusa.com/ Power Lift is an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of American-made strength and conditioning equipment. They understand that your Brand is important and offer several diverse ways to incorporate that Brand into your strength equipment. For more about Power Lift click the link above. Dashr🌎Site: https://www.dashrsystems.com/Dashr is a performance testing company best known for its laser timing, but also integrates with Teambuildr and offers a free Player Profile app used by 6k+ athletes. Beyond timing, they provide a full suite of testing solutions including verticals, broad jumps, RSI, biometrics, reaction, and AMS. For more about Dashr click the link above.PlayerData🌎Site:https://www.playerdata.com/en-usPlayerData is Strength Coach Network’s trusted GPS provider and a FIFA Quality–certified system, used by coaches at every level to quantify training load and understand movement demands. PlayerData delivers reliable, actionable data at a strong value point, with seamless syncing that saves coaches precious time—so the focus stays on coaching, not managing technology. For more about PlayerData click the link above.