This weekend Adam Linkenauger and I held our first 72-Hour Freak Athlete Certification of the summer. We had an amazing group of 6 athletes from all over the world including Shanghai, China; Seattle, WA; Georgia, and Maine. The small group allowed each athlete the personal attention they desired and the weekend was a huge success. We were very honored and humbled to have the opportunity to work with such motivated and awesome people.
Special thanks to Clint Gray and Damin Altizer for their guest coaching appearances, and to Steven Elovich and the rest of the Salem Red Sox organization.
Here is a quick recap of some highlights:
We had multiple strength training sessions and every major lift was trained. The lower body lifts were technique only. We did not go heavy on these as we spent the entire weekend jumping, and we needed the freshest legs possible for our dunkers! We did work up to new maxes on the Bench Press using the new technique these athletes learned.
- Roc increased his bench press from 170 to 225
- Chase hit 225 (150lb & 16 year old)
- James hit 245 (15 years old)
- Ben hit 225 for 2
- Henry hit 225
- Matthew, a 15-year-old hit 125 x 3 (more than his bodyweight!)
- and Eliyah hit 135
Every single athlete was squatting wrong. Same with the deadlift, O-lifts, and anything that involved hip hinging, hip extension, or total body tightness.
Problems solved. New strength potential, less knee pain, and injuries prevented. Now they’ll go home, get stronger, and raise the ceiling on how high they can potentially jump.
What about the Jumping & Dunking?
- Not a single athlete could dunk upon arrival.
- One guy couldn’t even touch rim when he arrived Thurday night. By Friday morning he was 3 inches over it!
- Every single athlete increased their vertical, improved the jump technique, and got closer to dunking
- 2 of them actually threw down, and a third might have if he hadn’t cut his hand on the rim.
- There was a 3-point shooting contest and Ben Teer, who just transferred to Iona was our winner, taking home a brand new Wilson Evolution basketball. (I came in second, so you future Certified Freaks better step it up!)
- As you’ll see in the photos below, we hooked the guys up with #FREAK swag including shirts and posters.
- We wrapped the weekend up with individual talks, goal setting, action items, and custom coaching plans.
The Special Surprise:
- Friday’s activities winded down with a trip to the local minor league baseball game to support the Salem Red Sox. Of course we treated our VIPs to a suite complete with leather recliners to facilitate recovery while we rested and prepared for our final day of the overhaul!
- The guys were so excited to share the things they learned, we had them demonstrate proper technique to the entire stadium! Actually this was just musical chairs with exercise balls. Notice the intensity in their eyes…competition was the name of the game and the crowd loved it!
We WILL be holding another Certification in July, and information has now been released. If you want to be a part of this special experience and take you athleticism and game to new levels, be sure to act fast. Space will be limited and there only 8-10 spots left!