| Robert McAdams' Home Page |
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| Who is Coach McAdams? |
| Football Robert McAdams has played football at the Junior High, High School, Amateur (Marine Corps), and College levels. He has played on a Championship Team in the Marine Corps as a Linebacker and Fullback. McAdams has coached 8 different football teams. He has head-coached 3 teams, 2 of which were Championship Teams. He is very familiar with unorthodox offensive and defensive strategies from extensive research and experience. |
| Weight Training Robert McAdams has 15 years experience in weight training. He has increased his bodyweight and strength consistently over this time. He has gone from a 125lb 8th grader, who could clean 95lb, to a 225lb college linebacker and weightlifter that could clean over 405lb. He was invited to compete at the 2004 Olympic Trials for Weightlifting, and was ranked in overall men at #21 that same year. He has competed in Olympic weightlifting in the 85k, 94k, and 105k weight classes over his career. He has also coached both small-group junior weightlifters and large-group high school & junior high football players. |
| Education Robert McAdams has a Masters degree in Kinesiology from Midwestern State University. His degree was coupled with invaluable experience as an intern coach and competitive weightlifter for Wichita Falls Weightlifting Club. This club was been a power in the Olympic weightlifting world in the years prior to and after my his time there. His coaches and mentors, Glenn Pendlay and Mark Ripetoe, have many years of collective experience and education. Both have done extensive research into the realm of strength, power, physiology, and performance. McAdams’ thesis covered the topic of strength and power training for optimal results. |
| What Are The Books About? |
| Strength & Conditioning Most coaches in general don’t have the type strength and conditioning program that “produces” players. I have been around some different programs and seen a lot of weirdness in their weight rooms. I have seen coaches yelling and blowing whistles, oblivious to weight on the bar or form in the lifts. I have seen kids sprinting from station to station more worried about not getting yelled at then performing the exercise correctly. Some kids in my current strength program have bragged about the “old” days when they did power cleans as fast as possible for 1 minute in a circuit. Then I ask, “How much stronger did it get you?” Then they stop, think, and reply, “I didn’t get any stronger, but it sure...” Then I cut them off and remind them that their old clean max was nearly 100lbs less a few months ago… Interestingly enough, Vertical Jump & 40 are much improved too. = Player Production. I can understand kids taking pride in “puke” circuit routines because they are young, but why do coaches? I have trained myself and various levels of kids and adults for many years. And I have never seen a person that cannot double his or her strength and power in a reasonable amount of time. Most coaches would be glad to get a kid to increase 25- 50% in a year or so, much less 100% in 4-6 months—as I have produced over and over again. |
| Football Strategy The football books are focused mainly on matching correct athletic ability with correct scheme. In general, I look for offenses and defenses that give the Average Jimmies & Joes a good chance for success. I am a run-based offensive coach, so all my books revolve around that theme. Obviously, if you have lots of athletes, you can run what you want to and win games, but maybe not championships. But if you aren’t matching up athletically with your opponents, you maybe “searching” for a scheme that fits your kids better on offense and/or defense. I have been on both sides of the road, athletically speaking. I have head coached teams with great athletic ability and won many games. But, when I was matched against a team of greater ability in the Championship, I found myself chasing my tail on the sidelines. My players needed a coach with more knowledge than I to better 1) use their ability or 2) negate the opponents’ ability. I was no slouch, don’t get me wrong. I was good enough to squeak out a victory in the last seconds against a superior team for the Championship. But I think a great coach should not have to put himself through that type of heart attack ending. I have also had a Varsity Schedule with a JV Roster. This doesn't work out too well. I know the pain of telling kids where their opponents are going to hit and still watching running backs get winded by long touchdown runs. I have seen why “normal” defensive schemes break down and “sound” offenses get stopped cold. This leads to my belief that all coaches need to have a smart, effective, “player-producing” strength and conditioning program. Furthermore, coaches of un-athletic teams need a “right now” scheme they can expect success with besides the normal schemes that most schools run. My books are written to give those coaches some answers besides, “more coaches, more drills, better scout team, blah, blah…..” I don’t mean to say that those are not good things. But I have seen more than one example of kids failing due to inferior scheme, not coaching. My football books offer unorthodox schemes that may supply part of that formula for success to coaches and their kids. |
Olympic Weightlifting
Olympic weightlifting correctly is the absolute best way to train for
power production/increase. This is an issue that most teams are in
serious need of knowledge/experience. I have competed & coached
in Olympic weightlifting for many years, and this type lifting is
not used in most high schools. That isn't a misprint; read it
again... Writing “Power Clean 3x8r” on the board or sheet does not
mean they are utilizing this great power-training modality. The kids
are not going to just do it right on their own with a quick "talk about
it" teaching session. Without correct, slow-paced, progressive
teaching and training, they will not gaining the benefits of using
Olympic lifts at all. Please understand that doing the Olympic lifts
(power cleans, etc.) “kind-of wrong” is like a woman getting “kind-
of pregnant”. If they do the lifts wrong, they do not get any power
benefits from them. If 225-250lb is a big lift for your team, they
are doing it wrong. With a Freshman team in Kentucky, I had 7
(out of 15) kids at or over 225lb Clean & 185 Snatch, with 3 over
265lb Clean & 210lb Snatch. With another team of Freshmen in
Florida I had similar results. Both teams had 9+ winning seasons
when those Freshmen were Seniors. One of the kids I coached,
Steven Knowles, shares the Clean & Jerk record for his weight
class in Florida. At first meeting, he Cleaned 145lb, but after an off-
season and 20lb gained in muscle, he Clean & Jerked 280lb. Four
years later and 30lb more gained in muscle, he got 390lb and just
missed 415lb in his college football program, best on the team.
Olympic weightlifting correctly is the absolute best way to train for
power production/increase. This is an issue that most teams are in
serious need of knowledge/experience. I have competed & coached
in Olympic weightlifting for many years, and this type lifting is
not used in most high schools. That isn't a misprint; read it
again... Writing “Power Clean 3x8r” on the board or sheet does not
mean they are utilizing this great power-training modality. The kids
are not going to just do it right on their own with a quick "talk about
it" teaching session. Without correct, slow-paced, progressive
teaching and training, they will not gaining the benefits of using
Olympic lifts at all. Please understand that doing the Olympic lifts
(power cleans, etc.) “kind-of wrong” is like a woman getting “kind-
of pregnant”. If they do the lifts wrong, they do not get any power
benefits from them. If 225-250lb is a big lift for your team, they
are doing it wrong. With a Freshman team in Kentucky, I had 7
(out of 15) kids at or over 225lb Clean & 185 Snatch, with 3 over
265lb Clean & 210lb Snatch. With another team of Freshmen in
Florida I had similar results. Both teams had 9+ winning seasons
when those Freshmen were Seniors. One of the kids I coached,
Steven Knowles, shares the Clean & Jerk record for his weight
class in Florida. At first meeting, he Cleaned 145lb, but after an off-
season and 20lb gained in muscle, he Clean & Jerked 280lb. Four
years later and 30lb more gained in muscle, he got 390lb and just
missed 415lb in his college football program, best on the team.
| Self Publishing I have lots of down time after and before football season. I am a researcher, I love getting information about things and dissecting those topics from every angle. I'm continually researching every way to better compete in football, stay in shape, make money, etc. Back in the Summer of 2005, I decided to purchase a book on how to self publish and write how to books. First and foremost, I wanted to our defenses, offenses, and strength program on paper. Before I knew it, I had written the majority of three books. I enjoyed it, and finished them one at a time. I continued doing it with two more football books. Unfortunately, the book I purchased didn't tell me a lot of what I had to go through to finish up, sell books, advertise, set up website, and many other issues. Since the book I read and used wasn't complete, I wrote my own "how to" book on how to write "how to" books to help others. Say that really fast 3 times... Since then, I've finished several other books in areas of my expertise. I think everyone with knowledge that can help others can/should publish a book.. I think it's very productive way to spend your time, sharing information to help people succeed, feel better, get stronger, cook better, lose fat, win games, make money, invest in real estate, etc. Stop by the publishing page and look it over if you think you have knowledge that others may need or want to understand self publishing better. I even got my mother to write her own cookbook. She sold quite a few copies and helped others to make some great tasting meals. |
