Today’s show is with Boo Schexnayder.  Boo is a current strength coach and former jumps coach at Louisiana State University, and is regarded internationally as a leading authority in training design.  Boo has been a two-time previous guest on the podcast talking about speed and power training setups.  In a world of complexity, and nearly infinite ways to train athletes, Boo knows the art of managing athletic performance by using training means that are not more complex than they need to be.

In my coaching (and athletic) years, I have loved looking into all of the complexities, and details of the human body, training, motor learning and biomechanics.  It’s always been a swinging pendulum in terms of digging in to understand important training nuances, but then zooming back out, to pull along the key pieces of what it really important, both in general, and for each individual athlete.

When we over-complicate training, over-coach, and give out exercises that require too much distraction from actual outputs or muscular adaptations, we create a diminished experience for the athlete, and also create a program that is harder to learn from as a coach.  Knowing how and when to make the complex simple is a mark of an accomplished coach who can really transmit training to an athlete in a way that allows them to self-organize to their highest potential, both on the level of skill development, and maximal outputs.

On the show today, Boo goes in detail on his own upbringing and mentorships in coaching that have led him to become the coach he is today.  He speaks particularly how his work in the rehab process gave him increased confidence in his regular coaching abilities.  Boo will speak on the process of how far he will go on the complexity rung in the gym, and how he balances coaching skill and technique with the self-organizing ability of the athlete.  Finally, Boo gives some of his thoughts on training that focuses on an athlete’s strength, and his take on heavy partial lifts in the gym in respect to the total training system.

Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs.

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Timestamps and Main Points

5:02 – Boo’s early development as a coach, early mentors, and his work in rehab that led him to where he is now

15:30 – Some specifics that Boo learned from the world of rehabilitation that intertwined with his performance coaching practice, and how rehab and training follow the same principles and draw from the same well

21:50 – Boo’s advice on arriving at the place where things can be made optimally simple in coaching

25:10 – Why coaches end up chasing things in athletics that aren’t that important

36:28 – Where Boo draws the line on complexity in the weightroom to the point where exercises aren’t helping to accomplish the primary goal of training

40:26 – The extent of complexity Boo would utilize for single leg movements

46:01 – How athletes must train their strengths in order to potentiate their weaknesses

52:48 – A discussion on how the Buffalo Bills didn’t squat in season and still experienced substantial success

57:20 – Boo’s take on heavy quarter squats and partial step ups in performance training (vs. full range of motion)



“The earliest (change) is when I finally understood specificity and I developed a healthy non-respect for coaching culture, I realized that a lot of coaching is traditional and needs to be evaluated”

“Another bright light that came on is when I got involved in the rehab field”

“I think the key thing to keeping things simple is understanding what you are trying to accomplish”

“So much of what we do in traditional coaching cultures is just filler work”

“I feel that one thing that holds back lots of coaches is technology, there is so much technology out there that so many coaches have b...