NSCA’s Coaching Podcast, Episode 68: Dave Terry

Dave Terry, Associate Director of Sports Performance at Georgetown University, talks to the former NSCA Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Scott Caulfield, about his time at Georgetown and the value of mentorship. Topics under discussion include building the intern program, creating relationships with the athletes, and different ways to think creatively, learn, and grow as a strength coach.

Find Dave on Instagram: @daveterry16

“So we talk about at Georgetown, it's not about your program but about the PROGRAM. And the PROGRAM is in all caps.” 1:42

“…you get that sense of urgency, say in your heart. That you want to drive. Keep driving, keep driving, push your athletes just a little bit more. And those details matter a little bit more because you hold yourself to that same thing.” 13:10

“Normally, they would be like, oh, well, strength coach doesn't run. Well, I ran with the guy to make sure they see me doing it all. And that takes away their excuse.” 14:06

“So with our college-level, I want someone is very curious and is going to show up. If you're asking questions, you're very curious about the field, I would love to teach you. Or, I would love for you to have an experience where you learned a lot. So if you're very curious and you're showing up on time, if we schedule a 2 o'clock call, do you call me at 1:59, or 2:05…” 15:59

“Email is going to be dmt55@georgetown. And then, Hoya Strength Instagram is just Hoya, H-O-Y-A, Strength… And then, DaveTerry16, if they're just want to get a hold of me and come by.” 35:14

[00:00:00.47] [MUSIC PLAYING]

[00:00:01.40] Welcome to NSCA's Coaching Podcast, episode 68.

[00:00:06.20] With our college level, I want someone that is very curious and is going to show up. If you're asking questions, you're very curious about the field, I would love to teach you. Or, I would love for you to have an experience where you learned a lot, so if you're very curious and you're showing up on time. If we schedule a 2 o'clock call, do you call me at 1:59 or 2:05?

[00:00:25.49] This is the NSCA's Coaching Podcast, where we talk to strength and conditioning coaches about what you really need to know but probably didn't learn in school. There's strength and conditioning. And then, there's everything else.

[00:00:36.14] Welcome to the NSCA Coaching Podcast. I am Scott Caulfield. And we are still here, Washington DC, the 2019 national conference. Super excited about my next guest here, came across the street from Georgetown University, Dave Terry Associate Director for Sports Performance.

[00:00:53.63] Welcome, Dave.

[00:00:54.62] Thanks for having me.

[00:00:55.46] Appreciate you stepping up to the plate here, too, man. We're trying to fill some last minute substitutions. And people had backed out. So you came up big for us, to be able to jump in there and present today, so.

[00:01:09.90] Yeah. I was excited the opportunity came up.

[00:01:12.17] And I know you guys aren't just sitting around over there. You've got USAW course going on. You've got athletes. This could have potentially been a day off for you, I'm sure. So we really appreciate you spending, time coming to do a podcast, and then speak later today.

[00:01:27.20] Of course.

[00:01:29.57] Yeah. You're speaking today. Are you're talking about programming or kind of the overall? What are you--

[00:01:34.27] A little bit of everything. So it's called "Simply Stronger." Really, it's a look into everything I do with my athletes. So we talk about at Georgetown, it's not about your program but about the PROGRAM. And the PROGRAM is in all caps.

[00:01:47.31] So that really embodies every interaction you have with your athlete. So yeah, it's sets and reps. And that's great. That's on your card. And that's your program.

[00:01:55.83] But then, really looking at how do I develop culture? Are they all tucked and tied or are they dressed the same? What I look at, how I evaluate, and how to develop because I think all of those things, those details, are important to the success of your program.

[00:02:10.94] It's like that way they know. You can gauge they're locked in. If their shirts are tucked in, I know they're ready to test. But if they come in looking like slobs or sitting on the ground, we probably should test today because they're not the focus we need to safely do what we need to do. There are just the different things that I do to basically make my program work the way I want it to.

[00:02:29.87] When Mike Hill, your boss, right?

[00:02:32.33] Oh, yeah.

[00:02:33.24] We were talking yesterday, though and just about, like you were saying, the culture, these little things. You're also teaching them about life. And it's paying attention to detail, these little things like tucking in your shirt. Oh, whatever, tucking in my shirt. Well, that isn't just about tucking in your shirt, right?

[00:02:54.14] Right, yeah. I mean are you are you going to prepare for what you have that day? And mostly, a lot of our athletes end up on Wall Street, these big jobs, where those little details start to matter. So them learning that.

[00:03:03.43] And I think even just seeing how the shirt tucks in transfers over to different areas of training. Those details matter. And I want the same focus on our abduction work there, at the beginning, as I do our back squats.

[00:03:17.75] Everyone can get excited for a back squat. But I'm putting a little band on my ankles. I might be talking to my buddy about what I ate for breakfast that morning. Hopefully, they ate breakfast that morning.

[00:03:25.90] Right, right. No, that's a good point. Yeah, the attention to detail stuff is so, it can be so minute. But it has such a big payoff at the end.

[00:03:33.59] I was in the Navy. And I never understood, in boot camp, why it mattered if you had to have this ridiculously, squared away, tucked in bed. And your stuff had to be always everything lines up and the clothes you wear.

[00:03:50.00] And until you get to the real Navy, you call it, or your ship or wherever you end up. And if you don't pay attention to detail, someone gets their head chopped off by a helicopter rotor. There's a bigger consequence.

[00:04:03.86] Although, probably no one's going to die in sports from something like that. But at the same time, safety in the weight room, things can happen. So yeah, 100% keeping people dialed-in, focused. Paying attention to detail has such a bigger picture effect on everything.

[00:04:19.59] Yeah. And it's only an hour and a half, two hours a day. But getting them to say-- because a game might be only an hour and a half, two hours. But you have to be able to lock in.

[00:04:26.45] And seeing that transfer over to the field of play. Yeah, we can be loose, we can be relaxed. But then as soon as we hit that, we have to flip that switch because we don't want always be on, either.

[00:04:34.45] So them being able to see, OK, I'm entering the weight room doors. Cause I don't even I don't even brief the lift in the weight room because I want them to go in and work only in the weight room. So that way they know as soon as they shake my hand and walk through the door because everyone get a handshake.

[00:04:46.79] That's one of my get ways to gauge readiness. If they have a weak handshake, they don't make eye contact, I'm going to go check in with them, make sure everything's good.

[00:04:52.76] Nice.

[00:04:54.23] And then they go.

[00:04:55.25] That's cool. And yeah, you've been at Georgetown for six years. You actually came to Georgetown from the high school setting. So that's pretty cool. What was your experience like in a high school strength coach?

[00:05:06.75] That was actually a ton of fun because we really got to see a lot of development. So I was a Grand Haven High School, in Michigan. And we really see-- because you get athletes have never touched a barbell before. And then, you get some high school football player that thinks he's the world's strongest man in the half squat. And you've got to dial them back a little bit.

[00:05:25.21] Yeah.

[00:05:25.53] So I feel like that is a great way to learn development. It turned into a sandbox, once I actually got to oversee a high school program, to whereas I learned something. I might have an athlete come in after hours because the way the high school worked, was from 6 to 7 PM it was open gym.

[00:05:42.69] So they would come in. Maybe on their own, I could try something out that I thought might work for that person, that I wouldn't necessarily do if there was a football lift. So I might have a lineman come in, hey, let's try this. And then, if it worked great. I learned that.

[00:05:54.40] So I think the high school was great for developing. And I loved it there. Because I was also at a boarding school for a little bit, where you have the kids seven days a week. So you really can program their training, the recovery, and

[00:06:04.92] [INTERPOSING VOICES]

[00:06:05.19] Did you work at, like were you a dorm parent or something, too?

[00:06:08.90] No, I just--

[00:06:09.60] OK

[00:06:09.75] --I didn't do any of that.

[00:06:10.05] A lot of those kinds of schools will have that, as well, where you're totally embedded.

[00:06:14.77] Yeah. I was only there about 35, 40 hours a week. So I wasn't there too much.

[00:06:19.18] So what kind of transition was it make going to Georgetown from that?

[00:06:24.76] Really, luckily, I had mentors at Georgetown that really took me under their wings to show me. Carl Johnson, Mike Hill, Crystal has been-- really took me in and showed me the ropes real quick and made sure I was able to learn from my own mistakes, as well.

[00:06:38.71] But I think having mentors, like those guys, really is why I was able to even do what I did.

[00:06:45.46] Probably.

[00:06:46.19] They would sit down teach, evaluate me regularly. So I was always getting great feedback to become a great coach. And then, Carl-- we'd be walking out of football warm-up and he'd stop, throw me the whistle, [INAUDIBLE] hey, you're running it today. So I got a little under the gun quickly.

[00:06:59.85] And then, as a 23-year-old, getting thrown a football warm-up that you've watched. And you've been thinking about what you do in your head. Obviously, as a coach, you're envisioning yourself in that situation. And you get that opportunity, you quickly learn that you need to step up at all times.

[00:07:15.66] So we talk about mentorship a lot, too. And you've been mentored by these other guys. And now, as associate director, you're mentoring other people. Maybe talk about how those mentorships have developed and looked and what you're doing as a mentor now, and what you've looked for in mentors before you.

[00:07:34.50] Right. So when I first got to Georgetown I was actually coming off being a competitive body builder. So when I got to Georgetown, I'd never weight lifted. I've never snatched. I cleaned a little bit playing high school football. But that was it.

[00:07:44.73] So getting to Georgetown and having Carl Johnson be the first guy that I interacted with. And that year, in 2013, he was the national champion weightlifter. So I was able to learn a lot from him, as far as weightlifting, and really learn how to actually train weightlifting, as a weightlifter. So having the guys like that.

[00:08:01.08] And then, [INAUDIBLE] came later that summer, those guys really took me under their wing like their little strength coach brother--

[00:08:06.57] Yeah, nice.

[00:08:07.38] --and taught me programming. And then, they would just throw a book on my desk. And I didn't care about anything other than that. So they'd be like, hey, read this. Tell me about it on Monday.

[00:08:15.12] So they always through different things on me. So I was always reading. I was learning and really immersing myself in it. And having guys are so passionate about strength and the field really helped inspire me to do that.

[00:08:28.18] So and then, Carl took me under his wing and really just was like-- even now, teaching me different things as a strength coach, throughout the career. So having guys that can coach you throughout the whole process and then I've reached out to different guys I thought would be-- Like Todd Hamer, I'm interested in what he's doing. So I'll go hang out with him and train.

[00:08:48.84] And for me now, it's like training with different guys has enabled me to learn and see how they actually do it. Because I might not be able to think of the question, but, when I see it, getting in the squat rack with them. They might explain something.

[00:08:59.13] So now that I'm in that boat of an internship director, this summer we have six interns. And really sitting down thinking, OK, what's important for me? What was important for me to learn? What do I think is important for them to learn now? And really evaluating that, by semester, seeing what works. And I really try to tailor it to.

[00:09:18.54] I have my general curriculum that we have on Google Classroom. So they can go through Blackboard, or whatever, and they can see how the internship laid out, and read ahead, if they need to. So they're learning on their own pace. But also, we have a lot of discussions.

[00:09:31.71] And then, from there, it's making sure they get time under the barbell. So that way, they know what a snatch feels like, what a clean feels like, what a squat-- they know what everything feels like. So that way, they can coach a little better and learn some of the minutia.

[00:09:43.91] That maybe they have an issue. They see an athlete with the same thing. Well, I know how to do that because we corrected that. So we all train together, as well. So at 10 o'clock, bars are loaded. We're training. We don't miss summer internship, so.

[00:09:54.80] And then, outside of work, they come over. We talk shop. We watch-- I think the other day we had them all over. We watched Westside Vs the World and just show them different things because that's one thing Carl did was, we'd sit there and we watched the Bulgarian Training Hall DVDs or Westside. And he really showed me just different areas. So that way, I could expand my toolbox and understand it.

[00:10:15.24] There's so many different ways to train and pick what maybe resonates with me. And rather than, with these kids, here's a ton. That you don't have to do what I do. Here's everything. Here's some things that maybe I don't believe in, but I know they work well.

[00:10:25.61] Yeah.

[00:10:26.07] So.

[00:10:26.73] You said you guys do Sunday staff gatherings, right, like get togethers.

[00:10:31.92] Yeah. So we try to have-- I'm big into cooking, as well. That's my second thing.

[00:10:35.52] Nice.

[00:10:36.42] So we have the intern staff over. We have a family dinner. And also, sometimes the staff, there's the GAs and interns come over from GW or local. And that way we can all sit around and talk strength, eat, have that kind of fellowship.

[00:10:49.38] Because that was one thing that I thought was awesome when I was an intern is having people come by. And you have to learn from other people. And just the ideas that come up sometimes are really cool. Hearing what Todd is doing over at GW. And that way we can share.

[00:11:04.53] [INTERPOSING VOICES]

[00:11:04.59] You learn a lot. And you get to sit down and make some friends, too.

[00:11:07.29] That's super cool. Yeah, the whole breaking bread with people, man, is I mean, that's transcended from cultures and generations, right?

[00:11:17.34] Mm-hmm.

[00:11:17.91] I mean, beyond like decades, beyond decades, [INAUDIBLE] centuries of people. That's how they learn and share and bond with each other. So that's super cool.

[00:11:27.43] And I feel like being in someone's house, you grew up in a house. You're more open to discuss maybe your opinion. You might not think it's wrong, but in public I feel like people kind of tighten up because you don't know who is listening.

[00:11:36.18] But we're all strength coaches. And we all understand each other. So we might talk about some different things that maybe don't come up normally in internship meetings.

[00:11:43.68] Absolutely.

[00:11:43.95] So it's been fun.

[00:11:44.76] That's a great point. You talked about training, yourself. That's a big one. You talked about Tolzman being the strongest person you ever seen. I'm going to say that 505 back squat for 10 is not too shabby, which you just did the other day, this week, so.

[00:11:59.16] Yeah.

[00:11:59.94] Maybe talk about why is it so important to train yourself, if you're a strength coach.

[00:12:05.10] That was one thing that those guys kind of really, really impacted on me is, you have to train. Otherwise, what are you even doing here? It doesn't matter. After shoulder surgery I would run, which everyone knows me, I hate running. But it was like I had to move.

[00:12:20.88] So the training I think is important because it also gives me that edge. And that's one thing that I tried to do this year, especially is psych up my training cycles with football.

[00:12:31.03] And so, that way, the linebacker with the 10 rep max, they know that I have one that week, too. So we can talk about how that feels, how our bodies are feeling. And they understand, here's what I did to take care. And that way start to relate it a little bit more. It's helped a ton with buy-in.

[00:12:44.14] So training with them-- not training with them, but syncing up our cycle, so training together. So we're all on our strength endurance doing our 10's, our 5's, our 3's, or whatever, together. It's really helped. And then, our intern staff, we're on the all train on the same program, right now.

[00:12:59.27] So then, from there, I try to encourage everyone to compete because having that competitive mindset helps them, When they're talking to the athletes, it's, oh, I'm still a competitor. So here's what I do.

[00:13:08.12] And also, you get that sense of urgency, say in your heart. That you want to drive. Keep driving, keep driving, push your athletes just a little bit more. And those details matter a little bit more because you hold yourself to that same thing.

[00:13:22.69] So when I'm meal prepping, making sure I'm watching what I'm eating, I talk to them a little bit about that. Pull them aside, hey, I'm doing all this. And they also see that.

[00:13:31.21] I spend a lot of time-- in the spring I go eat breakfast with football after every lift because we luckily we have a dining hall where I can sneak in. I sit down, talk with them. So they can see what I'm eating, see what our staff's eating. And I think-- they flip a switch. And they see how much we actually eat.

[00:13:47.01] Yeah--

[00:13:47.49] [INTERPOSING VOICES]

[00:13:47.59] And I'm half the size of some of these linemen.

[00:13:50.72] Right, Right.

[00:13:51.08] And we're eating the same amount of food.

[00:13:52.95] That puts it in perspective for them.

[00:13:55.13] Yeah. So I think that competitive mindset, also being able to preach the recovery, them seeing you go through all this. And I think that's where social media actually comes in handy. Me showing doing the recovery runs.

[00:14:06.24] Normally, they would be like, oh, well, strength coach doesn't run. Well, I ran with the guy to make sure they see me doing it all. And that takes away their excuse.

[00:14:13.57] Right, right right, right, right. No, that's a good point. Yeah. And I've said too, a lot, obviously, training strength sports, or stuff that we're going to have to teach, is critical because we need to be able to demonstrate and show that. And it certainly helps the credibility-wise. But also just training for anything.

[00:14:33.67] So it shows that you can put a plan together and execute a plan. And maybe it's for a sprint triathlon. But you had to program this. And still do your strength training and all the other pieces of the puzzle. That you have to do it to compete, like you said, and have that mindset is huge. Doesn't necessarily just have to be in powerlifting or strength sport.

[00:14:55.99] Yeah.

[00:14:56.41] Yeah.

[00:14:57.16] I think the mindset, just understanding, being able to explain it-- a 10 rep max is no fun feat. You have to like sit there. And I waited all day till I finally felt like it. And I actually locked the doors. And I joke, but just cranked up some music because I had to lock-in and just decide that this is what I was going to do.

[00:15:14.47] And talking to those guys, if we're getting in our 10's, hey, start envisioning yourself. Start thinking what-- you should have done this squat already 15 times before you actually get under the bar. And so the guys understand that.

[00:15:26.34] And the envision part, we have a guy that comes in and talks during camp about doing that for games. But just, them seeing that I have to envision myself doing anything, before I actually do it, will help with the success.

[00:15:36.84] Yeah. That's such a great point, visualization, positive mental attitude, positive mindset. How about internship-wise, do they have to train? You guys mentor them a little bit. What are you guys looking for when you're selecting interns? I'm sure you have plenty of people apply.

[00:15:54.71] Right. It depends. I know that's the strength and conditioning answer. So with our college-level, I want someone is very curious and is going to show up. If you're asking questions, you're very curious about the field, I would love to teach you. Or, I would love for you to have an experience where you learned a lot.

[00:16:14.60] So if you're very curious and you're showing up on time, if we schedule a 2 o'clock call, do you call me at 1:59, or 2:05, different things like that. Sometimes, are you flexible because things come up even when we're trying to do interviews. I might have an athlete show up an hour late. I had this. I got a call. Are we going to be able to reschedule? How flexible are you within-- obviously, you have a schedule, but are you able to adapt and be ready for an interview if I give you an hour window? Rather than, hey, 1:15.

[00:16:42.07] So but then, once the more responsibility you have, I'm looking at are you open to learning, obviously, open again. But then, what's your coaching voice? How confident are you on the phone? How confident are you in person?

[00:16:54.44] We actually usually try to bring people in and train with them. How do they show up? How do they present themselves from when they walk in the door? Do they train? Because that's a huge passion of mine, are they actually training.

[00:17:05.33] And then from there, how are you going to train with us? How do you fit in with the staff as you train? Are you going to quit because something's hard?

[00:17:16.97] Because I remember when Carl first started training, I was like, I can't quit. I can't. This is tough, everything hurts. But I can't let him break me, essentially.

[00:17:25.39] But with that, how are you going to show up, how are you going to show out, and how are you going to develop as a coach is how we look at it. Do you, when you walked into the facility, are you going to introduce yourself to everybody that's there that you can see wearing our logo, or are you just going to talk to me?

[00:17:39.41] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:17:40.91] When you ask where the bathroom is, do you introduce yourself, so they know who it is? So really those sort of little things matter a lot. And then when we sit down to talk, I think it's the same as everybody else.

[00:17:50.20] But those are the little things that really will make or break an interview outside of the actual sit down and talk. Because I feel like everyone is going to be nice to whoever is interviewing them. But did you talk to the volunteer intern because I'm going to ask him.

[00:18:01.11] Yeah. That's a great example. Yeah. And Mike had a point the other day, when I had him on. And he was saying somebody had come in-- I think it was an intern-- come in. And basically said to him, oh, hey. Is Mike Hill here? And he was like, no.

[00:18:15.13] [LAUGHTER]

[00:18:15.46] Nope he left already. And he was like, oh, OK and left. And he's like, yeah. Especially in today's day and age, if you can't do a little bit of homework to know who you're interviewing with or who you're going to be visiting, right?

[00:18:29.42] Yeah. Well that's one thing with-- if you just go to our website-- in fairness to him, Mike's changed a little bit, in the past 10 years. So he has a beard and slicked-back hair. But even, get on social media. Look at what we're doing.

[00:18:41.37] That's one thing that I did and that I see most of our successful interns that we hire. And they have watch every video we posted. They're like, hey, back last year, when you guys were doing this-- and if they can talk about that I know that they're going to do the due diligence when I give them, hey, I actually have to head out. Can you cover this session?

[00:18:56.94] I know they've already know what we're doing. They've done their research. They've been watching as an assistant, as in helping. And they're ready to go.

[00:19:02.45] But if they come in and just, hey, what's up? You haven't done any research. Then, what are you going to observe while you're here, if you have an opportunity to step up?

[00:19:13.40] You mentioned training together. So are you writing the program? And everybody's following what you're doing? Or are you starting off like that? And then, you maybe throw it over to somebody and go, hey, you want to write this block or--

[00:19:25.43] Right. It depends. So during the summer internship, I'll write the program. And then, based on our different goals we will change a little bit. So right now, with Parker, we're trying to throw some Olympic lifts his way because he doesn't have as much experience with that.

[00:19:40.91] Whereas, Chris, Sean, and I-- that's our training group-- we're all doing the same program. I do the strength work. Sean does the conditioning work. And we talk about how we're going to fit everything in.

[00:19:55.58] Nice.

[00:19:56.22] And so we sit there and make sure they understand why we're doing it. So that way, they can see. But also, in the internship they're doing their book reports. So they see, oh, this is phase potentiation. This is how we're doing it or this is that. They see the application from what we're studying in the internship to that. So we make sure they understand.

[00:20:11.39] But outside of that, the college level interns in the summer train with football. So they're actually doing the program. And they'll come back and watch us train.

[00:20:20.00] So they're in there with the team for their first three weeks, training with them. So they can understand, oh, this is actually, really this is the most work I've ever done, or I understand where these athletes are coming from.

[00:20:31.40] And then also, that gets the football people to listen to them a little bit more because they know they've been in. They've developed that relationship under the bar, rather than as a coach. And it's helped a lot for them to already establish that voice because they already have that relationship. And they know that the intern cares.

[00:20:44.66] Nice. I like that a lot. You mentioned book reports and some of the other assignments. Maybe run through a few of the things that a part of the internship that you have these guys and gals do.

[00:20:56.78] So we have articles that start off. So the first few meetings are just us throwing articles out there because there's a ton of great, free information. So I say, hey, read these few. And then, find a couple that you like that we can bring in for discussion.

[00:21:07.77] So we have about an hour and a half, those first two weeks, that we just sit down discuss. We talk about their why. But then, we also talk about these articles and what it means to be a strength coach. And then we go right into movement.

[00:21:21.08] And then so, I start with bodyweight movement, before we load. Why do we even-- what's the point of squatting. I've had a sport coach say, I don't want to squat. Why are you squatting our team? And I was, well, that's where you're supposed to do. And so I actually had to sit there and look at why do I actually squat? What's the point?

[00:21:36.06] And so really taking a step back. I think it helps me about once a semester. Well, why do I actually do all this? What's the point? Am I wasting time putting a movement in?

[00:21:46.38] So making sure they understand the why. And from there, we go loaded movement. And go through. And then, I'm one of the weird people that is a power lifter, but I love watching Olympic weightlifting. So we'll throw in-- we'll watch it. We'll watch the greats do it. And then, we'll do it ourselves. And then, talk about cueing coaching from there.

[00:22:02.68] And then, from there, after that we start getting book reports and programming. So they actually learn how to coach first because that's for strength coaches, sports forms coaches. And then, teach them the science because everyone can learn. They're all in college.

[00:22:13.36] Right.

[00:22:13.72] So that way--

[00:22:14.11] They've got a degree or they're in the degree program already.

[00:22:16.20] Right. Yeah, yeah.

[00:22:17.02] But really seeing, here's how you interact, here's how you coach. And then, from there, they get into book reports. So I think last week we had MMA conditioning, or whatever. They go through their books and present on different topics.

[00:22:29.11] And then, the last 10 minutes of their presentation is how would you apply that here at Georgetown with the facility? So that way it gets them thinking, here's what I have at hand, rather than having that perfect facility. Here's what I have. Here's how I would apply the knowledge from this book.

[00:22:40.49] And that's actually helped a ton with the interns writing their programs. Even the ones that go on to that full-time assistantship position, they already know how to apply it because they've already-- some of them have gone through the summer internship and when we brought them on. So they already know exactly how they'd apply everything at Georgetown.

[00:22:54.40] Whereas, sometimes we might not get a coach till this month. And they have a month to learn the facility, and the ins and outs, and how the room really flows. And so, they already know that.

[00:23:03.15] And that's one thing. The room floor with the interns is like, OK, let's actually go do this. Oh, there's a hiccup here and a hiccup here. Well, we only have 45 minutes to train. How can we make this a little smoother?

[00:23:12.96] So teaching that aspect of training, I really liked in my internship. So I try to make sure they understand that whole aspect. And then, they can read on their own.

[00:23:22.42] Right. Do you think there's anything that you're seeing across the board-- and maybe you're not. If you're not, no biggie-- that people are lacking coming into that setting as an intern? Or, are they too much been worried about reading their books and going to class. And it's just they haven't been opened up to the "real world of coaching." Air quotes, there.

[00:23:46.48] Yeah. I think that's a good question. I they're afraid to coach. Initially when they first hop-in, you see a lot of hands in pockets, and you're like, dude, get your hands out your pockets, or sitting back.

[00:23:58.42] So the way our facility's set up, we have turf. And then, we have our racks. And when they're on the turf they're just sitting there observing. But actually being able to get there on the rack and have the confidence to say even just, hey, what weight do you have? I'm going to load the bar. Just the ability to interact, there's that hesitation. So really just being able to get in there.

[00:24:13.39] And you're going to screw up. I screw up. I'm part of a team. Getting them to understanding that's OK. The athletes are going to screw up, too. But really the drive to really get in there and coach.

[00:24:23.53] And then, the other thing is, luckily we've had a nice crowd come through Georgetown. But really, I want to learn. And I do it this way. But I want to see the way you do it.

[00:24:34.64] And I'm going to steal something from you and you and you because that's what I did. Because if you look at everyone on staff, every single coach on staff does it differently. No one does it remotely the same.

[00:24:44.75] So even on staff, hey, Miguel, what are you doing? I kind of like that. And then, even just how Christina interacts with our athletes. It's like, hey, she has great buy-in. What exactly is she doing? So I might be watching.

[00:24:57.14] And that's just all of us sitting there, watching each coach and taking their strengths and saying, oh, I want to steal that. I like that. And just really putting together your tool box, I guess, but.

[00:25:06.48] Yeah. I like that. Obviously, you're here--

[00:25:10.84] [COUGH]

[00:25:11.57] --speaking today. And you mentioned the videos you guys are watching. What else are you guys doing to improve your craft? Or, where are you getting information from, events or places, your websites, and things you're reading?

[00:25:28.20] Right. First and foremost, I like to go to actually train with people. So we'll go on field trips. Spring break, we just went around a different weight rooms, site visited. We'll watch a session. Or, we'll just get in there and train with them and learn. Just ask them about what they do.

[00:25:42.06] And then, the other thing is, Elite FTS always has a ton of great, free knowledge. Pretty much all those websites, you're going to see good stuff. YouTube. Watching all of it, for the Olympic weightlifting, especially. I'll send out YouTube links, where you're like, hey, what do you think? Watch this.

[00:26:01.97] That way, there's goes where they see the full training session. You can see how the Olympic weight lifters warm up or what movements look like with different athletes. But YouTube is huge for us.

[00:26:13.09] And then, if I'm curious, I kind of dive into studies. So being at a university, like we are, we have access to a lot of those publications, the research. So we just dive in that. We'll dive into articles.

[00:26:24.72] And then, books, whatever book is usually big. A staple we always do, Tier System. Simple way to organize, get that in. And then, from there, what's the intern curious about? So we have Purposeful Primitive, with Marty Gallagher, is another one they're reviewing. So just really whatever, as long as it's within reason.

[00:26:45.74] VBT was one we did last time, which was super interesting to hear how they would apply it at Georgetown, so. The biggest thing would be the short articles, I think starting them off and then, because we only have time to do about one book.

[00:26:56.01] Yeah. Yeah, I was going to say, you don't try and keep up with Hill's book reading, do you?

[00:27:00.48] [LAUGHTER]

[00:27:01.97] Guy's on another level.

[00:27:03.51] Oh, yeah. No, I joke. I go up there every once in a while because he's on the third floor. His weight room is up there. And I'll go up there and be like, what are you reading man? What are you doing? And but it's what's awesome is the way he applies some of those really abstract concepts to strength conditioning.

[00:27:20.79] So hearing the way he thinks get your mind kind of thinking out there. And then, how can you apply that? Because he'll take something where I'm like, you're nuts and then, he'll talk about it, how it applies to strength conditioning. And all a sudden, it makes sense. It's just a different way to look at it.

[00:27:36.39] And even, we talked about last week, in the internship meeting, how there's pyramids all over the world. And they all look similar. Well, there's always different ways you get to the same thing.

[00:27:46.16] They had different ways of looking at something to still develop a building that's very strong, that's lasted thousands of years. But they probably did it a different way. And whose to know that they can-- communication.

[00:27:57.69] So how does that apply to strength conditioning? Well, we're all building an athlete. We're going to do it a different way. And hopefully, we're all building athletes that can stand their whole career, per se. So taking those out. Just giving a different way to look at it, rather than being sets, reps, percentages, barbell, percentages, barbell, kettlebell, dumbbell all the time, has been interesting.

[00:28:15.40] And I think he brings a lot of that in to just get us to step back and really take in everything. And I think that's helped us develop that culture because we're not just sitting there looking at the barbell. But how's the human interaction with that?

[00:28:25.91] No, that's cool. There's so many different areas and again, this being such a young profession. Thinking about reading all the southern literature whether, whatever it might apply to and then, trying to use that lens to apply it to your coaching practice is super interesting. Yeah. Especially if you're smart enough, like him, to take some stuff out that I might not get, but.

[00:28:49.89] Right. And that's one thing, I've developed some things that I do outside of work as hobbies. And I've been able to have great coaches even with that. So I'll steal a lot of stuff, whether it be learning how to shoot a handgun, or whatever. That coach, oh, you can't miss fast enough. Well, how was that? Pay attention to limbic lift. I pay attention to my set up, more often.

[00:29:09.45] Or, even cooking, taking your time really, slow cooking. That's lifting in general. You throw in. You slow cook it. And then, that meat falls apart, And it's delicious.

[00:29:17.43] Well, that's the same thing with your lifts. You slow cook it. Now, it looks great hopefully, if you still cooked it properly.

[00:29:21.99] Right, nice, nice. That's a good one. You're world-- maybe not world renowned, well-known, maybe being the strongest guy to squat in khaki shorts, too.

[00:29:34.76] [LAUGHTER]

[00:29:35.04] Could you tell us, did that come from something else, or do you have specialized khaki shorts that are built for extreme amounts of weight?

[00:29:44.82] So my buddy and I were down at the conference. And I just wanted to watch the lifters, initially. And so, I went in my polo and khakis. And I was just going to watch. And then, he just kind of like, you got that look in your eyes Dave. I was like, fine, fine, I'll lift. And so I was lifting in khakis and a polo. And it was a ton of fun. And I could do it.

[00:30:05.04] And I was like, so and then, I don't need to bring shorts all the time. I don't need to travel with gym shorts because sometimes you'll get a text. When Todd Hamer texted me, hey, do you want to squat with Stan? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'll be over there a second.

[00:30:19.48] So you get the opportunity to lift and sometimes, your not always ready. And luckily, there's stretchy khakis now, that you can move around. But it's also turned into my funny thing to post on social media,

[00:30:29.43] Yeah, that's awesome.

[00:30:30.14] "Khaki strong."

[00:30:30.51] "Khaki strong," love it, yeah.

[00:30:31.92] But it's just a way to have fun and just show that you always got to be ready for something.

[00:30:37.12] And what Dave's alluding to, for anybody listening in that's wondering, Stan Efferding was also at this conference, who's a pro bodybuilder. And his tag line, I think for a long time, was the "world's strongest bodybuilder." And he's just a freak, vertical guy. If you don't know what we're talking about check him out.

[00:30:54.75] But Dave got to train with him Wednesday, Thursday?

[00:30:59.00] Yeah, Wednesday.

[00:30:59.66] Yeah. What was that like?

[00:31:02.70] So we walked in and I've followed him for a while. And so it was cool just being around. And the one thing is he's one of the nicest guys in the world. He sits there. And he was talking to me. My knees are cracking a little bit. And I was like, what do I do?

[00:31:17.91] And he sends me all his Rhino talks. And then, talks about doing salt. And what he did because he had awful tendinitis. And so what he did. Hopefully, that helps out.

[00:31:27.66] And just nonstop just teaching us different things, talking about different people that I also look up to him. Talking about what he's learned, as well. So just training with guys like that you learn so much. And it was only in exactly an hour, so I had to [INAUDIBLE].

[00:31:42.63] You just sit there and you learn, even just watching him warm up. What is he doing? Why do you foam roll your IT band? Well, it feels good. Oh. Well, that makes sense.

[00:31:49.77] Just kind of understanding his mindset even, too because I would love to be that strong in 20 years. And so, hearing him talk about what he's done to maintain his body and help out with that. I'm sitting there in my head and making mental notes. I got to write this down as soon as I walk out the door. So it was awesome. That was just so much fun.

[00:32:11.50] That's cool. No, yeah, like you said, for someone like that and to be as strong as he is, at the age he is and to have trained as long as he has. Yeah, like that longevity, you've got to be doing something right to not be injured when you're lifting that heavy and you're lifting that long.

[00:32:29.55] Exactly. You're sitting there. And I made up in my mind because I've watched him. I was like, I've got to hit whatever he hits. He's 20 years older than me. I got to be able to.

[00:32:36.99] And so I was like wrap my knees as tight as I could because I just hit the 10 rep max, not even 24 hours before. So I was walking upstairs I felt like I had no power left on my legs. But luckily, Todd Hamer had all the power lifting gear. So I had to--

[00:32:49.87] [INTERPOSING VOICES]

[00:32:50.19] --wrap up a little bit.

[00:32:51.23] A little assistance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what kind of day was it? What kind of reps were you guys doing?

[00:33:00.60] He was just working out. That's one thing that I took away from that is when you're train, you just got to continue to train, just what feels good. I think he worked up. He had 500 for like five or seven reps. And I knew I had a triple I me and no more. So he hit that, but it was--

[00:33:14.28] I'm really glad I didn't come over there then, that may--

[00:33:17.71] Well, as Todd says, as the weight gets heavier, you just put on better gear.

[00:33:20.31] [LAUGHTER]

[00:33:21.24] You put on a bigger squat suit, you'll hit. But just doing whatever feels good. And that's one of my big takeaways is if I want to train, still be a competitive lifter at 50, 55, I got to make sure my training's consistent and smart, rather than, right now, I know I could probably max out and feel great. But the plan doesn't have me maxing out until December. And understand that long run, which training with guys like that, they understand the long run.

[00:33:44.96] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:33:45.43] So trying to take something of that and apply.

[00:33:48.40] Yeah. And great takeaway too, for training our athletes, too. People that want to go, go, go, and getting them to see the bigger picture. And no, look, you probably could do that today. But there's a reason that we're doing this. And you're not going to do that today.

[00:34:02.55] Well, that's one thing that's helped me out is showing that my athletes, hey, this is where we're going. Here's the next three cycles. Oh, OK. So I can max out here? Well, it's not max out. But you'll hit heavier weights. Oh, OK coach. So

[00:34:14.85] that way understand, I've got to let the volume do its work. I got to let these 5's do their work. And they can understand it. And explaining that to them because some of these guys come in and they're strong.

[00:34:25.32] Even, the women's crew team at Georgetown is strong. They've taken their time under the barbell and now, we're able to pull. But they understood this slow code because the nature of their sport is slower. Hey, I only let them pull from the floor to their knee for three months, just to get initiate that, pulling for the floor. And now they're like, can I deadlift?

[00:34:42.74] Yes.

[00:34:43.44] But the slow game is something I feel, even me as a lifter, it took me forever to learn.

[00:34:50.50] Totally.

[00:34:51.25] Carl Johnson probably yelled at me a few-- he did yell at me a few times.

[00:34:55.15] That's such a great point. This has been awesome. And I know that we got to get you ready because you've got a presentation here a few minutes. That I'm tapping into your prep time. And I wanted you to be able to get your mind right.

[00:35:06.12] People who are interested in connecting with you, following up with you, what's the best way to reach out to you and follow you, et cetera?

[00:35:14.07] Email is going to be dmt55@georgetown. And then, Hoya Strength Instagram is just Hoya, H-O-Y-A, Strength. [INAUDIBLE] And if you just message us. And then, DaveTerry16, if they're just want to get a hold of me and come by.

[00:35:28.71] And our doors are always open to Georgetown. So anyone listening, if you're in town, come by, train with me. Then hang out. We'll talk some shop, maybe grab some lunch.

[00:35:36.30] Fantastic. That's great man. Appreciate your time.

[00:35:38.52] Of course, thank you.

[00:35:39.90] Excited to see your presentation here, in a little bit. And again, we appreciate being in your hometown, here. Thanks again and again. Thanks to everybody listening, especially you guys that are able to come in and let us know.

[00:35:53.19] And it's great meeting people who like the podcast. So we appreciate all the support from everybody, all over the world, that this and especially, also our good friends at Sorinex Exercise Equipment, who support the podcast and everything we do at the NSCA.

[00:36:06.68] Thanks to you as well. It's been a great episode and we look forward to sharing it soon. We'll put all Dave's info in the show notes, as well. And if you're new to this podcast and want to learn more about NSCA Strength and Conditioning Certifications, you can get all the details at nsca.com/certification.

[00:36:23.78] This was the NSCA's Coaching Podcast. The National Strength and Conditioning Association was founded, in 1978, by strength and conditioning coaches to share information, resources, and help advance the profession. Serving coaches for over 40 years, the NSCA is the trusted source for strength and conditioning professionals.

[00:36:40.85] Be sure and join us next time.

[00:36:42.29] [MUSIC PLAYING]

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