The Path to Athletic Power - Boyd Epley

The Path to Athletic Power

by Boyd Epley

NEW, 328 pages

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About The Path to Athletic Power

About Boyd Epley

Boyd Epley is the associate athletic director for athletic performance and facility development at the University of Nebraska. A legend at Nebraska and a pioneer in his field, Epley started Husker Power for the Husker football team in 1969. His strength programs have had positive effects on millions of athletes while he has worked behind the scenes with a mission to move athletes to a new level, never be satisfied, always stay focused, and always look for new innovation and research.

In 1969, Epley became the first person to carry the title of strength coach in what was then the Big Eight Conference. In 1978, Epley founded the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He hosted the first national convention and served as president and chairman of the board of directors for five years. In 1980, Epley was the first to be named the national strength coach of the year, and in 1993 he was presented the NSCA's first Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also honored by the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1993 with the Lyell Bremser Award, and in 1999 he was named as one of the top 100 people to have influenced college football in the last 100 years. In 2003 he was named to the College Strength Coaches Hall of Fame.

Epley lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, with his wife, Jane. They have two children, Jay and Jenna.

Reviews of this Book

“Boyd Epley has had a long and successful career in the field of strength and conditioning. All readers can benefit from this strength and conditioning pioneer's vast knowledge and expertise. The Path to Athletic Power is an extremely practical, thorough, and comprehensive resource for the development of a safe and effective strength and conditioning program.”

Dr. Chuck Stiggins
Executive Director, Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches association

"Boyd presents a unique and insightful view of the development of the Nebraska Husker Power program. Incorporated with this view are useful guidelines and examples which can be valuable to anyone involved in the strength and conditioning profession."

Meg Stone
Coaching Manager, United Stated Olympic Committee

"Boyd's program helped my strength and durability, which not only kept me injury free at Nebraska but also during my ten years as fullback for the Detroit Lions. The Path to Athletic Power can help you, too."

Cory Schlesinger
Detroit Lions

About Strength Training

Strength training is the use of resistance to muscular contraction to build the strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of skeletal muscles. There are many different methods of strength training, the most common being the use of gravity or elastic/hydraulic forces to oppose muscle contraction. See the resistance training article for information about elastic/hydraulic training, but note that the terms "strength training" and "resistance training" are often used interchangeably.

When properly performed, strength training can provide significant functional benefits and improvement in overall health and well-being, including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament strength and toughness, improved joint function, reduced potential for injury, increased bone density, a temporary increase in metabolism, improved cardiac function, and elevated HDL (good) cholesterol. Training commonly uses the technique of progressively increasing the force output of the muscle through incremental increases of weight, elastic tension or other resistance, and uses a variety of exercises and types of equipment to target specific muscle groups. Strength training is primarily an anaerobic activity, although some proponents have adapted it to provide the benefits of aerobic exercise through circuit training.

Strength training differs from bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting, and strongman, which are sports rather than forms of exercise, although training for them is inherently interconnected with strength training, as it is for shotput, discus, and Highland games. Many other sports use strength training as part of their training regimen, notably football, rugby, lacrosse, basketball, hockey, and track and field

The basic principles of strength training involve a manipulation of the number of repetitions (reps), sets, tempo, exercises and force to cause desired changes in strength, endurance, size or shape by overloading of a group of muscles. The specific combinations of reps, sets, exercises, resistance and force depend on the purpose of the individual performing the exercise: sets with fewer reps can be performed using more force, but have a reduced impact on endurance.

Strength training also requires the use of 'good form', performing the movements with the appropriate muscle group(s), and not transferring the weight to different body parts in order to move greater weight/resistance (called 'cheating'). Typically failure to use good form during a training set can result in injury or an inability to meet training goals - since the desired muscle group is not challenged sufficiently, the threshold of overload is never reached and the muscle does not gain in strength. There are cases when cheating is beneficial, as is the case where weaker groups become the weak link in the chain and the target muscles are never fully exercised as a result.

The benefits of strength training include increased muscle, tendon and ligament strength, bone density, flexibility, tone, metabolic rate and postural support.

The Path to Athletic Power