Wanna Be A Strength Coach: Know These!

I feel like most peoples perception of a Strength Coach is setting up some racks and throw people into squatting and benching.  No rhyme or reason, just make athletes work their tails off and that's it.

It's a poor perception and the field of S&C is actually a very in-depth field of work that requires coaches to know much more than basic exercise.  A particular aspect I feel all coaches should know is anatomy.  Specifically functional anatomy aka how muscles, bones, soft tissue actually work during human movement.

It's more than knowing you work your biceps during curls, it's knowing the true functions of muscles and understanding how movement is king.  If you know this functional anatomy, you have the tools to essentially figure out everything else and use this knowledge to drive your program.

The following set of questions below is what we give to our interns at the beginning of their internship to get a baseline of what they know.  When they leave us they must score 90% of higher of this test otherwise we fail them on the internship.

It's amazing how much people with 2-3 years of college education struggle with this basic information. These are things every coach should know like the back of their hand and it's your job to study your ass off so you do know this stuff.

Take the test and see how you fair?

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What is SAID?  What does it mean?

Name these bones

   Upper Leg  -

   Upper arm -

   Shin –

   Collarbone –

   Knee Cap -

What are the 3 regions of the spine and how many vertebrae are in each?

What are the top 2 cervical vertebrae called?

Name the 3 hamstring muscles?

Name the 3 quad muscles?

Name the 3 energy systems and their typical durations of activity?

What does anaerobic mean?

What does aerobic mean?

What is the central nervous system?

What is the parasympathetic nervous system?

What is the sympathetic nervous system?

What is the function/joint action of the gluteus maximus during athletic movements?

What 4 muscles consist of the inner/deep core?

What are your hip flexor muscles?

What are your hip extensor muscles?

What are the 4 rotator cuff muscles?

How many calories are in a gram of fat, carb, protein, alcohol?

What is Wolff’s law?

Show the following joint actions

   Spinal flexion and extension

   Shoulder flexion and extension

   Hip Flexion and Extension

   Dorsiflexion and Plantarflexion

   Shoulder Internal Rotation and External Rotation

   Scapular Depression and Elevation

   Scapular Retraction and Protracton