PowerStrength Training Systems Internship

PowerStrength Training Systems Internship Weekly Journal

Week 1

            This week I met all the team members at PSTS-Jenison and observed the 3 different client group sessions: Thrive, College, and Beasts. I also began the first week of online internship curriculum!

Week 2

            Week 2 this week, I helped more with the setup of lifting sessions and assisting athletes with unloading and loading weights. As far as coaching goes, the first 3-4 weeks I’ll be doing a lot of observation so I can take down notes and ask lots of questions regarding how they run things here at PSTS. The internship curriculum is going good so far, I am learning a lot! I am also very anxious to get started with coaching athletes.

Week 3

            This week I helped more with the setup of lifting sessions and assisting athletes with unloading and loading weights. As far as coaching goes, the first 3-4 weeks I’ll be doing a lot of observation so I can take down notes and ask lots of questions regarding how they run things here at PSTS. The internship curriculum is going good so far, I am learning a lot! I am also very anxious to get started with coaching athletes and adult clients. It has been hard for me to not coach during this time, and I’ve been told that I just need to keep learning and observing so I can understand entirely how to coach the way that PSTS wants me to coach their clientele.

Week 4

            Week 4 this week, I helped more with the setup of lifting sessions and assisting athletes with unloading and loading weights. As far as coaching goes, the first 3-4 weeks I’ll be doing a lot of observation so I can take down notes and ask lots of questions regarding how they run things here at PSTS. The internship curriculum is going good so far, I am learning a lot! Next week I should be able to start getting more hands-on coaching with an athlete or two.

Week 5

            Week 5 this week, I helped more with the setup of lifting sessions and assisting athletes with unloading and loading weights. As far as coaching goes, this week I went through the warmup coaching videos, so I was assigned to write 1 warmup for athletes and 1 warmup for adults. The coaches passed me off on my warmups and I was able to coach a couple of athlete mobility and dynamic warm-ups. I am now also helping out at East Grand Rapids High School, where I am in charge of working with the freshmen classes. My role there involves instructing and coaching the freshmen athletes through their lifting sessions, so I am starting to get lots of reps coaching and queuing athletes into good positions during their exercises.

Week 6

            Week 6 this week, the internship curriculum is going good still, I am learning a lot! I am learning more from Jake on how to flow around a weight room when working with a large group. You want to be able to swoop in, help a kid get into a better position, then keep flowing around so that you can help as many athletes as possible. Jake also thinks that I take some things too seriously, he wants me to let loose a little bit and have fun with it. I think I take it seriously because at my last internship, it was intense, so it has been an adjustment for me to be able to let loose a bit and just have fun with things. I am also helping out a lot with the middle school kids towards the end of our time at EGR HS. I coach the kids through basic movements (pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks)… I love pushing the kids hard! I think I get a kick out of making them work, Jake and Will call me a drill sergeant! I told them I was going to make the kids earn it, lol. I am also starting to run the entire warm up for more and more sessions at the gym and am taking on more responsibilities as far as coaching a couple athletes at a time there.

Week 7

            Week 7: the internship curriculum is going good still, I am learning a lot! I am learning more from Jake on how to flow around a weight room when working with a large group. You want to be able to swoop in, help a kid get into a better position, then keep flowing around so that you can help as many athletes as possible. He has also mentioned to me to try and just give a kid a cue or two, then walk away and let them explore and figure it out instead of standing there and checking their form after cueing them. His advice has been helpful and I’m just trying to learn from him and do the things he’s encouraging me to do, because it’s only going to make me a better coach! Jake also thinks that I take some things too seriously, he wants me to let loose a little bit and have fun with it. I think I take it seriously because at my last internship, it was intense, so it has been an adjustment for me to be able to let loose a bit and just have fun with things. I am also helping out a lot with the middle school kids towards the end of our time at EGR HS. I coach the kids through basic movements (pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks) … I love pushing the kids hard! I think I get a kick out of making them work, Jake and Will call me a drill sergeant! I told them I was going to make the kids earn it, lol. I am also starting to run the entire warm up for more and more sessions at the gym and am taking on more responsibilities as far as coaching a couple athletes at a time there.

Week 8

            Week 8: the internship curriculum is going good still, I am learning a lot! Learned more this week on coaching adaptations and modifications during this week’s lectures. I am learning more from Jake on how to flow around a weight room when working with a large group. You want to be able to swoop in, help a kid get into a better position, then keep flowing around so that you can help as many athletes as possible. He has also mentioned to me to try and just give a kid a cue or two, then walk away and let them explore and figure it out instead of standing there and checking their form after cueing them. His advice has been helpful and I’m just trying to learn from him and do the things he’s encouraging me to do, because it’s only going to make me a better coach! Jake also thinks that I take some things too seriously, he wants me to let loose a little bit and have fun with it. I think I take it seriously because at my last internship, it was intense, so it has been an adjustment for me to be able to let loose a bit and just have fun with things. I am also helping out a lot with the middle school kids towards the end of our time at EGR HS. I coach the kids through basic movements (pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks) … I love pushing the kids hard! I think I get a kick out of making them work, Jake and Will call me a drill sergeant! I told them I was going to make the kids earn it, lol. I am also starting to run the entire warm up for more and more sessions at the gym and am taking on more responsibilities as far as coaching a couple athletes at a time there.

            Week 9

            Week 9: the internship curriculum is going good still, I am learning a lot! Learned more this week on programming and periodization during this week’s lectures. PSTS does a mixture of concurrent and conjugate programming. This just means that PSTS trains many training variables at the same time in each week/month. The curriculum also covered each training group that they coach at the gym: Thrive, College, and Beasts and how we go about programming and training each of those groups. I am learning more from Jake on how to flow around a weight room when working with a large group. You want to be able to swoop in, help a kid get into a better position, then keep flowing around so that you can help as many athletes as possible. He has also mentioned to me to try and just give a kid a cue or two, then walk away and let them explore and figure it out instead of standing there and checking their form after cueing them. His advice has been helpful and I’m just trying to learn from him and do the things he’s encouraging me to do, because it’s only going to make me a better coach! Jake also thinks that I take some things too seriously, he wants me to let loose a little bit and have fun with it. I think I take it seriously because at my last internship, it was intense, so it has been an adjustment for me to be able to let loose a bit and just have fun with things. I am also helping out a lot with the middle school kids towards the end of our time at EGR HS. I coach the kids through basic movements (pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks) … I love pushing the kids hard! I think I get a kick out of making them work, Jake and Will call me a drill sergeant! I told them I was going to make the kids earn it, lol. I am also starting to run the entire warm up for more and more sessions at the gym and am taking on more responsibilities as far as coaching a couple athletes at a time there.

Week 10

            Week 10: the internship curriculum is going good still, I am learning a lot! Learned more this week on coaching adaptations during this week’s lectures. The curriculum also covered each training group that they coach at the gym: Thrive, College, and Beasts and how we go about coaching and modifying/autoregulating for each of those groups. We went over the goals and adaptations for each group and talked about inseason/offseason training as well as taking some considerations in for what sport an athlete plays. I am learning more from Jake on how to flow around a weight room when working with a large group. You want to be able to swoop in, help a kid get into a better position, then keep flowing around so that you can help as many athletes as possible. He has also mentioned to me to try and just give a kid a cue or two, then walk away and let them explore and figure it out instead of standing there and checking their form after cueing them. His advice has been helpful and I’m just trying to learn from him and do the things he’s encouraging me to do, because it’s only going to make me a better coach! Jake also thinks that I take some things too seriously, he wants me to let loose a little bit and have fun with it. I think I take it seriously because at my last internship, it was intense, so it has been an adjustment for me to be able to let loose a bit and just have fun with things. I am also helping out a lot with the middle school kids towards the end of our time at EGR HS. I coach the kids through basic movements (pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks) … I love pushing the kids hard! I think I get a kick out of making them work, Jake and Will call me a drill sergeant! I told them I was going to make the kids earn it, lol. I am also running the entire warm up for at least 2 or 3 sessions at the gym each day and am taking on more responsibilities as far as coaching at least 2-3 athletes at a time there.

Week 11

            Week 11: the internship curriculum is going good still, I am learning a lot! This week I went ahead and finished the curriculum, I did my exit evaluation quiz that I’ll go over with Jake during my exit interview next week! The past 4-5 weeks I have improved a lot as far as coaching a large group at EGR high school and am doing a good job now of flowing around a weight room and helping as many kids as I can! His advice has been helpful and I’m just trying to learn from him and do the things he’s encouraging me to do, because it’s only going to make me a better coach! I am continuing to help a lot with the middle school kids towards the end of our time at EGR HS. I coach the kids through basic movements (pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks) … I still love pushing the kids hard! I think I get a kick out of making them work. When we do games and competitions with the middle school and football athletes, I have been helping too with refereeing the games where I try to make fair calls… but if one team is starting to take control, I try to make some bad calls so we keep the game a little closer, haha. I am also running the entire warm up for at least 2 or 3 sessions at the gym each day and am taking on more responsibilities as far as coaching anywhere from 2-4 athletes at a time.

Week 12

            Week 12: I finished the internship curriculum last week! This week Jake and I have to sit down together on Wednesday so he can go through the exit evaluation with me, see what my responses were online, then he will go through and score me on the values that PSTS is looking for. Jake and I then also talked about Upper Cross Syndrome and Lower Cross Syndrome, this is an area that I need to do some more research in to really understand it fully. Jake told me, “if you can understand UPS and LCS and then apply it by fixing that in your clients, you may never run out of business!”. I completely agree and am going to do some more digging into UCS and LCS so I can fully understand it and know it by heart, that way I can help anyone that comes to me with Pifer Training. The past 12 weeks I have improved a lot as far as coaching a large group at EGR high school and am doing a great job now of flowing around a weight room and helping as many kids as I can! Jake’s advice has been helpful and I’m just trying to learn from him and do the things he’s encouraging me to do, because it’s only going to make me a better coach! I am continuing to help a lot with the middle school kids towards the end of our time at EGR HS. I coach the kids through basic movements (pushups, squats, lunges, jumping jacks) … I still love pushing the kids hard! I think I get a kick out of making them work. When we do games and competitions with the middle school and football athletes, I have been helping too with refereeing the games where I try to make fair calls… but if one team is starting to take control, I try to make some bad calls so we keep the game a little closer, haha. I am also running the entire warm up for at least 2 or 3 sessions at the gym each day and am taking on more responsibilities as far as coaching anywhere from 2-4 athletes at a time. I have had a great experience working with PowerStrength Training Systems and will be applying all I have learned now into my business while growing that as much as possible!