Transcript
Speaker: Success and failure are both habits. don't you know don't Nobody should ever forget that. And we we get really good at the things that we do the that we do the most, we experience the most.
Speaker: But dealing with failure is something that ah is another thing that's being taken out of the of young men's lives. yeah You know, trophies for everybody.
Speaker: Bullshit. You either win or you lose, and losing is fine. What does it mean to actually develop a young man today? Not just train him, but shape the kind of person he becomes.
Speaker: Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast where we explore the art and science of leadership to the lens of athletics and beyond. I'm your host Texan Quilkin and today I travel to Soarnex headquarters to sit down with Coach Sean Waxman at Summer Strong.
Speaker: Waxman has spent 32 years in weight rooms from elite Olympic weightlifters to high school football programs and he believes the barbell might be the best classroom we have left.
Speaker: He's the author of Suffer Smarter and the founder of Dynamic Method. And today he's going to break down why the crisis in masculinity starts getting solved between the squat rack and the deadlift platform.
Speaker: We'll share what he's learned about culture, standards, failure, and why the most important thing you can teach a kid has nothing to do with their clean PR. With that, let's throw it out to Coach Waxman who helps us raise the game. Ready, ready, and rate.
Speaker: Action. Welcome Summer Strong 2026. Sitting down with Coach Waxman. Thanks for taking the time. Appreciate it Thank you for having me. All right. We're going explore high school weight rooms and the opportunity that it presents, which is so rich and can extend into life if we do it properly. Yes. it's not just Even if you don't do it properly, it still extends. I hope. Which, not always the best way. but Yeah. Well, the lessons that we aim to hand off yeah to help them understand that they can do hard things. Yes. And if you put in the work, then.
Speaker: Yes. It will work out. Unintended here. um Coach, what was the opportunity that you saw at the high school level where there's a need? Because you also wrote a a book about this. So you are an expert in this field for helping us understand a current state of high school athletes and what you feel that they need that you give daily.
Speaker: You know, I think... ah you know, we're we're at a bit of a crisis with ah with masculinity and and what it means to be a man.
Speaker: And, you know, and I thought that, you working with kids, middle school, high school kids is an opportunity to ah reinforce or teach you know some of the the things of what masculinity is.
Speaker: um And I think I've always thought that sports and and and more specifically the weight room because it's little bit more controlled. right yeah like There's no winners or losers in the weight room. You're on your own personal hero's journey. And I thought that I've always felt that that was a great opportunity to help ah direct the um trajectory of young men's lives.
Speaker: Look, I'm not, I coached a lot of women in in weightlifting as well, so it's not like it, but I think the crisis lives with young men right now, not not with girls. So I, and I think that, that strong women role models should be working with with with the girls, strong men, male role models working. And that's what directed me to that space, which is why I just, I wanted to go back to working with high school athletes in strength and conditioning. For a while, i i I wasn't doing that. I did it early on for 12 years, then went just into weightlifting, only weightlifting ah for about 12 years.
Speaker: And now I'm doing a mix of both. So i'm bat so one of the reasons I moved from LA to Utah was to get back into high school strength and conditioning because I thought the opportunities were there were better there. ah Just a different family dynamic, ah different kids. yeah um So I thought it was a great opportunity. I didn't want to fight all the battles.
Speaker: you know, making sure that your kids are, you know, in l LA it's sometimes it's, you know, I'm not, kids aren't eating, like they don't have enough money to eat. There's, you know, the family's all in jail and we don't have that so much in Utah.
Speaker: And I just like taught enough to get them to do the other things correct, like the weight room stuff correct, ah then fighting those battles as yeah as well. So it was a strategic decision.
Speaker: Yeah. And you can focus and you can see outcome. Here's my input. Yes. and Right. Two, three, four years later. Yes. Here is it. So the challenge with a lot of youth is we pour into them, but we don't know if it's going to click connect and it may take four years before they remember what coach Waxman said. Right. Here's an opportunity in a town, in a community for you to.
Speaker: potentially see the yeah the impact in which you're giving. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you mentioned the problem with masculinity. let's Let's try to start. What was the, I mean, the first inkling that there is a challenge here that this is no, this is now an issue that wasn't an issue before. What was the awareness gap or the curtain that was pulled back that made you think like, oh no, I i need to step in.
Speaker: ah I guess from a 5,000 foot view, it's, it's, ah being ostracized for um aggressiveness or um strength.
Speaker: You know strength used to be ah something that you coveted, not just physical, right? But it was it was it was something that that that young men sought after.
Speaker: you know, it's now it was it's being looked at as ah as a threat. You know, strong, aggressive men are considered a threat.
Speaker: I'm like, wait a second. How did we get there? i You know, I'm not saying bully. know, I'm not saying bad human. I'm saying, you know, a strong, aggressive man ah is is ah is of is of great value in this in this culture. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And it's it's being frowned upon. So, you know finding ways of exhibiting aggressiveness and exhibiting strength in productive ways are great tools. yeah And, you know, we can we can really do that well ah in the weight room because, you know, you do it on the field, football field, there's violence involved, which, look, I'm not opposed to violence either. I think violence is good in in in the right ah scenarios.
Speaker: But, know, In the weight room, there's not it's it's just these pure expressions, strength, ah grit, um ah did the failure, yeah right success. you know All these things are great tools that we can teach and control.
Speaker: With the mentor in place. Yes. Yes. To then guide that that even if you do fail, but that was a good failure, which happens a lot. Well, failure is part of the process. So, you know, one of the things that we want to do is we want to have failure injected into things because those are those are lessons.
Speaker: So even with like with with my weightlifters, you know, there are times, most of the time I don't want them to fail in the beginning, right? Because I want them to learn the habit of success.
Speaker: ah Because success and failure are both habits. don't you know don't Nobody should ever forget that. And we we get really good at the things that we do the that we do the most, we experience the most.
Speaker: But dealing with failure, is something that is another thing that's being taken out of the of young men's lives. yeah You know, trophies for everybody. Bullshit. You either win or you lose, and losing is fine.
Speaker: You know, so letting young men understand that, yeah, losing is fine. ah Why did it happen? What can we do different next time? Yeah. ah Are great lessons.
Speaker: ah And so that's kind of how I yeah see that. How I structure lacrosse practices is we have different competitions throughout.
Speaker: So we are constantly, there's not one winner per practice, but we are constantly winning and losing, and then the loser is doing push-ups. So they're doing some kind of, call it punishment.
Speaker: And then they they don't want to do that anymore, so then they work harder the next segment within practice. And so by the end of practice, we get this this boiling up, and then we do like lacrosse competition versus just skills and drills comp. So that way, I'm integrating and making sure we're learning how to lose, which is...
Speaker: this correct behavior is to try harder the next opportunity and not go hands up and blame the refs or blame this or that. and then aim to, with the the middle school kids, at once a week give away socks or give away something, a celebration, the stickers or something to one person.
Speaker: So now we're learning to like celebrate our friends, because they're our teammates, versus like, oh why didn't I get that? right Which that is not a good way to enter into ah high school or varsity, because now we're building resentment and we're training resentment. now we're Training them how to celebrate each other when one of their teammates has success.
Speaker: Now, I love that. and and I think the other, you know, talking about winning and losing, i i think there's a, you know, there's a ah broad dynamic. Like, you know you have 80 kids, you know, one first and last, you know, first and 80th.
Speaker: That's one winner loss. But the other winner loss is what did you do? You know did you do 10 pull-ups last time and did 11 this time? But, the you know, number one did 20?
Speaker: ah You still won in the sense that, you're you know, you're you're improving your own output. But you're just not you're not better than that than the best guy.
Speaker: So I think and i think there's there's value in those lessons as well because you yeah we talk about controlling what you can control. Mm-hmm. if you have If you have somebody that's that's that much better than you, you can't control that, but you can control one more you know for your own self.
Speaker: So i take ownership in the things that you can control and don't sweat the things that you can't. Doesn't mean you shouldn't ah start to try to achieve those things, but don't get don't get caught up in it. you get Work on your own journey.
Speaker: yeah And then keep your head down and keep working on it and see where see it winds you up. but So I think there's you know there's a number of different ways you can look at that. Yeah.
Speaker: And are you intentionally programming that way and then connecting a lesson based off that program to help kids learn that faster? You know, I'd love to say I well i am, but are it's just, you know, you got 80 kids, it's kids's like, you know, it's like herding cats. Yeah. So, but you find those moments. Yeah.
Speaker: right like you you look you Like you look for them. I'm not necessarily creating them. I'm like, god say oh, I programmed this, and I know they're going to. I wish I was that great good, but I'm not. oh But moments always come.
Speaker: yeah You just have to be paying attention as a coach. And and you and and you and you see it, and then give the lesson. So it's a little bit more organic than than than man-made.
Speaker: Yeah, I believe it. And you've had enough reps leading to then spot and anticipate. Oh, well, I'll know. Like, you see one set and they go, I'm like, OK, I'm watching this guy because I know it's going to happen. Exactly. Sometimes they surprise you.
Speaker: You never know. ah So now one of my favorite things is introducing kids to the the barbell for the first time and like, yeah, yeah. Calluses come up. Yeah. So what are what are some examples of the fun lessons that you've had over the years where it's like, that bar hurts my back?
Speaker: Is there a pad for this? Or, I mean, the old calluses. Yeah. ah
Speaker: in The bar in the back, I kid with them. i Like, once you grow traps, you'll be fine. Yeah. so just be patient. But actually, I'll change their grip and I'll get them to struggle a little bit. And the calluses, I'm like, look, it's a great lesson take care your hands.
Speaker: Right? Like, take care of your hands or don't take care your hands. You'll know either way. So don't get it so much in the weight room with the football players because ah they don't have the volume.
Speaker: ah But my weightlifters, obviously, i you know, it's the good news, like the good thing about a weightlifting gym ah is the older guys always dictate the culture. i Not dictate it, but they they hold the standard.
Speaker: So I don't have to do a lot of that. i And they'll, the older guys will make sure that the younger guys know what's up. And if they don't follow their advice, like I'm not telling them, you know, if they don't follow the advice, they don't follow the advice. I'm not, I'm not their mother.
Speaker: No. So you're, you want to be miserable, be miserable. That's up to you. um But once they get to a certain level, they're pretty buttoned up. Yeah. Like I don't, I don't worry about them. So in knowing that,
Speaker: and taking that into a high school weight room culture. And what's unique about high school is you have your weight room, but then you have the basketball team, you've got the football team, you've got the volleyball team, each of those teams has their own culture.
Speaker: So how have you aimed to to unify or hey, learn what the basketball culture is and then help reinforce it in the weight room. What is your approach there? Yeah, so right now I'm with only with football. I've only been with i've been with football for the last five years, but when I was doing multiple teams in high school, you know, it's it the standards are the standards. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: So everybody follows the same standards. I don't care what sport you're in or what you're doing. So um that's the common thread and everything kind of falls under the the that umbrella.
Speaker: So to me, especially at the high school level, i the kids are so under-trained that teaching them how to work, doing basic things.
Speaker: And it doesn't matter if you're playing a football or or tennis, right? Like you do things the same way. The sub-bonger exercises might little might look a little different based on the sport, but the the main stuff is the main stuff. Everybody's got to do some kind of squatting, some kind of pulling, some kind of pressing, right? Some kind of explosive movement.
Speaker: i Everybody does it with the same intent. you know with the same attention to detail, with the same accountability. And doesn't matter what sport it is. you know It is what it is.
Speaker: and you know And we talk to kids about whoever lowers the standard, that's our new standard. yeah right The standard is what everybody's doing. So we really impress upon ah you know maintaining those standards because they're not pliable.
Speaker: bible And that seems to keep everybody in lockstep. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. And helping them see it.
Speaker: How are you, what's your approach to calling guys out without them disappearing?
Speaker: In a perfect world, which I haven't found yet, it's the leaders, of you know, the the leaders do it of the team. haven you know That's one thing that I haven't, that's one puzzle I haven't been able to figure out is how to create that at the high school level. seen at When I've been at the college level before,
Speaker: it's eat there's there's kids like that. where you can There's more than more than you can than you can choose. They're always like, they they're have to pit they have to whittle down who's going to be in the leadership council.
Speaker: I haven't found that to be true in high school. I think their you know kids are are hesitant to want to tell their like to get on their friends. yeah I get it.
Speaker: I get it. So absent of that, it it it it falls on us. um And, you know, it's not, it's about lessons. It's not about punishment, right? It's about, here's, you know, here's here's what we gotta do and here's why we need to do it.
Speaker: So I think with older athletes, um I don't give a shit if they know the why. You know, college pro athletes, look, you're professionals, deal with it or get the fuck out.
Speaker: um with with younger kids, I think if they if you can give them a bigger picture as to why this is important and why it matters,
Speaker: um that doesn't scare them away. They might not still buy in. They may buy in, but they're not going to run away. So I think that ah that approach, I think, is...
Speaker: the best of a very difficult situation. Yeah. Do you wait for them and ask why? Or do you know what? I tell them why we're doing I tell them if I, if they're struggling ti to get on board, um, the conversation will include a why I think, I think it's important because it brings context to the words. Yeah.
Speaker: Uh, and i don't, Like, i don't I've never been a coach that, like, is ah as a motherfucking people. Like, i've just not that I've just never been that guy.
Speaker: Especially, like, I'm not going to it kids. mean, that's just crazy. Texas football. Well, different animal. And you have a cat. I mean, it's it's different. Like, I just, i never I never thought that that was, I never needed that as as a kid. You tell me what to do, I'll do it. You can you know, you don't need to get up my ass.
Speaker: ah So it's not that I'm like, you know, fluffy and, you know, it's roses and cats. It's just stern, consistent,
Speaker: and ah and meaningful, right? So what does it mean be consistent? You know, what why you know why are we doing this? um Be consistent with the message, right? And and and and hold and and you got to hold the standard too.
Speaker: Yeah. So and there are three things that are really hard to do on all the time. I struggled with that um at my last high school ah because i was the only one in the room. No coaches were helping out.
Speaker: And I couldn't stay on top of it. Kids were slipping through the cracks because there's only so much... that I could see.
Speaker: So that was a big problem for me. And and and I will say this, i've I've learned that, especially a high school program, when you have 80, 90 kids, gotta have help.
Speaker: Like you can't, you have to have a group of people that are all pushing in the same direction, that are giving the same message out there on the floor with you. Like, show me, like, I don't know how guys do it by themselves.
Speaker: I know people do and be able to institute that culture, but we weren't getting culture from the from the football coaches. Like, they weren't instilling anything. You know, did they it was it was me had them for yeah know the whole year up until summer.
Speaker: And then football coaches come to Bob. I'm like, oh, that's too late now. Yeah. So... um I'll never go into a situation again where there's not coaches in the room.
Speaker: That's why I took this job at Corner Canyon because head coach promised me that there's other coaches in the room. yeah I'm like, great. That's all I needed.
Speaker: So, yeah. Yeah, but but I think it takes a team to implement these things that we're talking about. If there's a coach out there that's listening to this and he did it by themselves, please reach out to me and tell me tell me the magic because I haven't figured it out.
Speaker: Time out. Coach needs a coach. I want you to take a second to reflect on this past season and what did not click. Were there moments where you lost your temper, lost your cool, felt your team was mentally soft, weak, not prepared to face competition? Were there are moments where they put their heads down and were not ready or accepting?
Speaker: Did they quit on you? Did they quit on their their teammates during a game? What was that experience like? How did you manage it? How did you handle it? I have a course out here.
Speaker: It's called Why They're Not Listening, Coaching Today's Athlete, where I dive into a concept I've been working on that's called social-emotional leadership. How do we use practices? How do we use strength and conditioning sessions to develop our leaders, to have self-awareness, social awareness, and then have a toolkit to then lead not only their teammates, but themselves.
Speaker: But it starts with you, coach. i encourage you, check out this. My first lesson in the course is free. To find that, head to listen.captainsandcoaches.com. Start preparing now for next season, and everything that you're investing will start to pay off.
Speaker: Now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and break. Two things on that. I spend a lot of time coaching coaches, and including those on my lacrosse teams. And then I got to approach and understand their experience and help them.
Speaker: Because a lot of them default to, i don't I don't have the words or I'm mad on the line. So now understanding, hey, well, we can have a conversation. what's being tough?
Speaker: It's having that hard conversation. Why are these guys acting out? Our sprints are not going to fix and correct that behavior. Right. But a conversation will. So the tough thing to do right now is not conditioning. The tough thing to do is have a hard conversation to figure out why they're acting up.
Speaker: So that that's one thing I want to encourage, because then guess what we're, in fact, teaching them how to do? Is confront and have a hard conversation with a teammate that's out of line.
Speaker: so they won't default to yelling at a freshman that's not doing something because then coach did not default to yelling at them for doing something. we're aiming to to install that. And then one interesting observation this particular season with my guys, because lacrosse in Texas is half football players. So they are used to being MF and treated like a piece of garbage. So now that's not my approach whatsoever. So then they
Speaker: They view it's either all or nothing in terms of motivation. I'm either yelling at them 100% or I'm not motivating in their eyes. So I need to help them understand this is a spectrum. Like this kid may need somebody to jump on them, but this kid and may just be a nudge like, dude, touch the line.
Speaker: I don't know. So helping them understand as leaders, because was confronted by my team captains this year for not yelling at a freshman for not running through the line. And I was like, well,
Speaker: I didn't yell at him. I confronted him and say, dude, I need you to finish the line. And guess what happened the next rep? He finished the line. I just didn't make a scene of it in front of the whole team. And then what you noticed, I felt as well, because I got feedback from the captains that I missed stuff.
Speaker: Again, it's 50 dudes out there. So now they think I'm miss it i am skipping out on right calling them out because I missed something. And it's like...
Speaker: Dude, refs are going to miss calls. Like, I can't see everything. Right. I'm more concerned about the varsity. Right. That's really where my eyes are, not what this freshman's doing. So then I...
Speaker: that I'm glad the captains brought that to me, that they observed me missing reps. But it's like, well, dude, I'm more concerned about you guys.
Speaker: And i'll I'll have that conversation with that. They got to step up and say something. That's also the part of the conversation. Like there's also an opportunity for you to. And that's why I, that's the thing that I struggle with the most. is How do you develop that with your, with your leaders? Cause you know, every team's got leaders, whether they're,
Speaker: Vocal or not, you know, is what but like I just don't... Nobody wants to be confrontational. And I love being... I love confrontation. And, you know, not and not ah like ah not in a jerk-off way, but, like, confrontation's good. Yeah. like i But these kids, they don't they don't see it that way. Technically, every cue that we have for a kid during a lift, that's a confrontation.
Speaker: Right. you know yeah it's a first Yeah, it's a version of that. Yeah, for sure. Right. But I would love to understand the psychology of that better. And I just think that's, so I talk about like, you know, when I got into team strength and conditioning, especially at the high school level, you know, the technical part of it, I mean, I'll put myself up with anybody, you know, teaching them how to do stuff, programming, all that, running in a weight room, no problem. But like the thing that was different
Speaker: for me, especially coming from weightlifting, ah is that that part of it, like the culture development and because when you have weightlifters, I mean, eat they are dialed in, you know, college athletes pretty much dialed in.
Speaker: um But high school kids, not necessarily. So I just, like, that was, that's the part, like, for me, that was the exciting part because it's the part that I didn't really know.
Speaker: so it was like, it was an opportunity for me to to really learn something. I'm still, believe me, I'm still learning it. i And, but it's frustrating. I'm still very frustrated with it because I feel like I failed at the last school I was at.
Speaker: And it drives me crazy. And don' I'm not going to have an opportunity to fix because I'm not there anymore. um You're not wrong, but you are.
Speaker: aiming to fix it and then hopefully maybe the kids that didn't feel that you helped them, they can reflect and see that you're you're still here fighting, going. Yeah, I'm um i'm hoping. You know the interesting is its there's other interesting problems with new school and that.
Speaker: You always think that success is there's there's signs, right? So Teams that are successful, they do the big things right. right i guess Or else they wouldn't be successful.
Speaker: You know, football, they do the football stuff really well. Or else you wouldn't, you know, there's six out of last eight state championships, um the two they didn't win, they lost in finals. so Like, this is in a row.
Speaker: Two three-peats.
Speaker: So obviously doing something right. yeah So when you go into a situation like that, and I do some consulting work as well with teams and and and it's always the the good teams that want help, not the bad teams.
Speaker: Like when the bad teams, when they contact me, I'm like, look, you know the help that you need right now is beyond what I can do, because you need to do the thing that you're doing better.
Speaker: ah So when I got to this new school,
Speaker: i you know, they they all touch the line, they all show up, they all effort, like all that stuff is there, but it's the little things, right? It's the it's the little everyday ah things like stepping over, I could go to the bathroom and there's a piece, there's a towel on the floor.
Speaker: Don't step over the fucking towel, pick it up, throw it in into garbage. Be on time, right? Know the reps and sets. Don't ah yeah think like the the little things that have nothing to do with actual football, but i have everything to do with attention to detail.
Speaker: so consist So great teams to be great for a long period of time. it's the It's the maintenance of the big things, but it's also doing the the little controllable things at a high level too.
Speaker: And so that's the challenge at this program because they already got the big things down. let's do Let's pay attention to details. Let's make sure the details r square. Make sure everything's put away exactly the way it's supposed to be put away. Don't step over the towel.
Speaker: Bottle, pick it up. You know, all these things that you can control. Yeah. And that's gonna maintain that success. So like at the other school, I couldn't even get to that.
Speaker: Right, i could just it's the big things. yeah they did they did they They didn't do well. So different challenge, not any easier necessarily, but that's where can,
Speaker: that's what where i can got Be helpful. like ah The big thing that I tell all my kids is how you do anything how you do everything. How you do anything is how you do everything.
Speaker: And and it's it it it starts in the weight room. If you're not on time, if you're not doing the right thing, if you don't know what you're doing, um that doesn't show up just there. And I tell you, I promise you, it's showing up somewhere else outside here.
Speaker: You know, and and it's hard to change that stuff, but you can change it in here. Yeah. And that's that's the big perspective of like. Hey, your boss your professor is not going to care as much as me. They're not going give praise. Your boss, hell no.
Speaker: No. you're costing them money. Right. Here, we're trying to shape the behavior because we care about you. Yes. And we know what's waiting on the other end of the platform. Right. We're preparing I always tell these kids, this is preparation for life. Being able to do hard things consistently. And hard doesn't necessarily mean strenuous.
Speaker: It's hard to like pay attention to the details. Yeah. You know, what what what's going to happen? This is like when you're when you're a dad and you lose your job and you've to figure how to take care of your family. That's hard.
Speaker: Like, what are going to do? Like, this is going to train you for dealing with those types of situations. And um that's how I try to frame it with them.
Speaker: And these are the problem. i So like so these these are the higher level problems that we're dealing with at at Quarter Canyon. You know, it's not like we've got to get better at football. Like they're already good at football.
Speaker: We got to get better at at the other shit. Yeah. And keep showing up. you Keep showing up. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, those are the fun challenges that we get to approach.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Because if it's just teaching the snatch, you clean a jerk in a squad, I wouldn't want to do it. No. I mean, I just look, I don't get excited teaching football players how to clean.
Speaker: I mean, I just don't. Because you're not going to the Olympics and they can clean or not clean. If a kid's talented, he's still gonna play. Exactly. You know, it's like, I'm not i'm not like blind by the, well, if they don't do this, this, and this, they can't.
Speaker: Bullshit. Have you seen the DeMarcus Ware power clean? Yeah. Hand clean? Yeah. Oh, excuse me, curls? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 315. Right, that's what I'm saying. Like, you get a guy that talented, you know, we're not in the business of making him more talented. Yeah. I wish we were.
Speaker: But you know like what I would always thought was, like those kids, like those 10 kids that are on your team that are just gifted, i don't worry about those kids. And we're not winning football games because of them.
Speaker: We're winning football games because of the other kids. And that's where we can have the biggest impact. And it's more important for those kids to to to be on board and improve. Because football is one, not with your best, not with your stars.
Speaker: It's one with everybody else. yeah you know My everybody else's are better than your everybody else's. We're going to and ah yeah it's And getting those kids on board is more important to me than getting the the the superstars on board. The problem is...
Speaker: You want your superstars to be the leaders. that's ah That's an assumption that we can go after. But it's hard. like we got kids We got a couple of kids that are, you know, they're going to... I mean, we got Michigan. We got all these teams that are down looking at these kids.
Speaker: And they're, like, getting paid to to play seven-on-sevens. They're not around all the time. ah But we want that kid to be a leader, those kids to be leaders.
Speaker: You know, it's it's it's tricky. what What are some approaches you try to throw at them to get them on the team? So I'm not the head guy. so Within the weight room walls.
Speaker: To be honest with you, I'm dealing more with the with the young kids, like, in that way. Like, I have a lot of dialogue with the young kids. I'm a little bit more standoffish with the varsity guys. Yeah. um the head The head football coach is the head strength coach for those guys. I'm like the guy behind the scenes. You know, we're having conversations, you know, a few times a week about about stuff behind the scenes. But it's he's the guy.
Speaker: Yeah. You know, I'm the guy helping out. He'll that you know, he'll ask me to chime in every so often. I love it. That's the role that I want. um So he's still trying to figure it out. ah And I don't have a great solution.
Speaker: um I don't. I wish I did. Yeah, we we got some kids that are leaders that are not superstars. They're superstars as far as they want, they they're top players for us, but you know they're not, schools aren't coming down to to just see them.
Speaker: yeah you know ah They'll play at the next level, but like Ivy League or you know something like that. I mean- i Use sports to get into school. yeah Right, which is which is great. um And they're our best leaders.
Speaker: Are super duper stars? Not so much. yet you know Well, I don't know if we're going to get them there. I'd love to say we will, but I don't know. But they don't what the the thing that they don't do is they don't detract.
Speaker: They don't detract. That's good. So I think that the best way to to to handle those situations is make sure they're not detracting from the situation. They might not be adding, but they can't they can't take away.
Speaker: So our best guys that aren't great leaders... aren't problems. it's good So it might be a problem that doesn't need to be fixed.
Speaker: Right? So, well, you are fixing it at the level you can control. Yeah. Because these guys will graduate and your guys that you're working diligently with diligently with now will then step up into the junior senior year.
Speaker: And that's, so the the big picture plan is is exactly that. Like, let's get, you know, the middle school and and and freshman kids. Let me, you I'll deal with them. you know, and we'll try to develop, i myself and the head coach, develop, like, you know what are the things that we want to instill into them?
Speaker: And then I'll be able to do that, freeze him up to, you know to handle the bigger picture. ah And then in two or three years, we're having a different conversation. Yeah. Right, because we've we've done we've done the work early.
Speaker: So by the time they they they matriculate into the into the varsity space, like they're all buttoned up. yeah And that's how you, because like when you have a program like that that's so successful, like you can't go in there and say, we're a fucking shit can and everything. We're starting over. What do you mean starting over again? We're the best team in in the state. We're the best teams in the country.
Speaker: So you can't do that. ah go to a It's almost easier when you go to a bad team. Yeah. Right? Because you can say, well, you guys suck. Like, we're gonna we're changing shit right now. Yeah. um You can't do that in a situation like this.
Speaker: so um But you can organically yeah change things from the root. And then that's ah the only truth they'll ever know. So that by the time they're seniors, they didn't see all the other challenges that you're facing right now. So that's how you you know that's how you that's how you change things in a situation like that. So that's one of the main reasons they brought me on.
Speaker: Yeah. Is to is to do that. Because I was willing to not want to be the head guy. you know, it's funny. Like when I was trying to look for college jobs. Nobody, like I would i was telling everybody, like, I don't want to be a head guy.
Speaker: And, you know, i have a pretty good resume. And i saw so would send my resume. Nobody believed me that I didn't want to be the head guy. Like, they everybody thought that I was the one to go in and and take their job.
Speaker: So, we're saying um well, it's the best thing that ever happened to me because, you know, i came into this situation and i had the same conversation with the coach. I'm like, ah coach, I don't want to be the head guy. pro Nobody believes me.
Speaker: Like, I want to be the problem solver behind the scenes. yeah So this is the best opportunity for me because it allows me to do exactly that. yeah So, yeah, interesting how things how things work. ah Yeah, I got stories for days like that where it hurts now, but then...
Speaker: turns into something amazing. Yeah. I mean, I, uh, dealing with the head coach, like I, at this stage of my crap done everything. Um, and I know what I want to do And especially last year with my health situation I had, uh, without going into it, i died last year for seven minutes, 38 seconds.
Speaker: And, uh, in the weight room, no, I didn't die in the weight room. I died in my, my house. Uh, had a, uh, uh, I had a heart thing. I had a cardiac arrest. oh no no Nobody knows why. My heart's fine. Everything's fine.
Speaker: ah So I died, got revived. And after that so after that, that happened in September. i I said to myself, i just I'm going to do exactly and only what I want to do.
Speaker: yeah I'm not doing anything that I don't want to do. So I realized that the only thing I want to do is coach high school football. Hell yeah. So, and I'm not going to it. yeah I don't want to do anything else other than, well, and weightlifting, obviously.
Speaker: But I got rid of all the, I want to go to, the i want to coach in the pros. I want to coach, your Nope, nope, nope. I wanna do high school, I'll do it for fucking free. I don't care.
Speaker: yeah I just, that's what makes me happy. And all I'm gonna do is what makes me happy. time out text here to talk about training on my old bull program that i deliver through train heroic this is the program that i am writing for myself to rebuild my body former collegiate athlete, Barbell enthusiast for decades, and this is an opportunity for us to continue to grow and have fun on the program to keep you coming back for more. I got two required days on the program, full body, one heavy push, one heavy pull, two other dumbbell-based strength days in case you have to travel, and then two cardio days, one max heart rate, and then one longer, slower distance. We're hitting everything in the week.
Speaker: You can rearrange the days to fit your schedule, whatever it may be. I'm following the program along with you. You can see my lifts, and I can coach your lifts up on the platform. That's the beauty of it.
Speaker: Come join me for seven-day free trial. Click the link in the show notes. If you're watching on YouTube, click here. With that, let's get back to the show. Ready, ready, and break. Happy. Yes, y'all.
Speaker: I mean, the reverberations. Yeah. It's going to stick with those guys. All the cues, your voice in their head, they're going to holding on to it and telling stories for years. I hope so. You know, it's's it's been that way.
Speaker: i and i'll get I'll keep on getting better at it. Yeah, I've been doing it it for 32 years, but... um I'm always trying to find the things where I can improve. And like the culture thing is a bit is where, you know, why I get excited yeah again about being there because it's something that I'm not so great at.
Speaker: And now with attitude. Well, it's just, you know, it's it's it's it's where I focus my energy. Right. You know, because I said, I have a video of me I put up because, know, people say, oh, clings too hard to teach. You know, a video of me teaching a room full of kids that never did an Olympic before in 12 minutes how to do the Olympic lifts.
Speaker: So like that part isn't the challenge anymore. Yeah. So, ah you know, it's great after doing it for so long to find challenges. And and and yeah, every day. Yeah, it's exciting to. And that's what I'm that's what I'm living for. I'm living for, you know, for that stuff.
Speaker: Yeah, I love it. So, coach, I know you got the book out there. Where can people continue to learn from you, dive in and then? Yeah. Follow your growth as a coach. So I have a book I i wrote last year called Suffer Smarter. It's not a not a training book. It's ah basically a book on how to introduce productive suffering back into your life.
Speaker: i to improve your life through exercise. You know, my my belief is that ah so suffering through exercise, and not like stupid ways, but suffering through exercise are ways to learn the lessons that we talked about, like the grit and the showing up every day and, you know all these things. So,
Speaker: I talk a lot about how to how to to create that framework in your life. And yeah through anecdotes, ah my through my own life and and other people's lives, high-performing coaches, i and it was a...
Speaker: It was a quite a journey to to put that book together. I mean, there were times when I had to stop writing it just because um it was bringing stuff up in me yeah that was ah challenging.
Speaker: So I put it up i put it away. took me longer to write than I would have liked, but I got it out. So that's available on Amazon. ah you know Get it, I think.
Speaker: It's look, I'm biased, but it's it's it's a good book. And the people that have read it have have really. Told me, you have told me that it it's really helped them um get out of their rut.
Speaker: And so I have that out. I got a free. um I'm writing a series. I started new company called Dynamic Method. Okay. And it's a high school strength conditioning.
Speaker: Right now, football. So I have a free squat manual. It's on the Dynamic Method. If you go to my Instagram, it's the, T-H-E, underscore, Sean, S-C-A-N, underscore, Waxman.
Speaker: It's available in the in the link there. SeanWaxman.com. I think is just Suffer Smarter right now. I'm in the process of redoing all that shit.
Speaker: I'm in the process of writing a high school strength conditioning book. Awesome. It's the book that I wish I had when I started. Yeah. So it's it's it's a framework book. It's not a it's not a
Speaker: framework in this in the sense that whatever situation you're in you can take the framework and apply it to your situation. ah And that's going to be out by the end end of the football season. okay So I'm planning it for Dan because nobody's reading anything right now. we're We're in the middle of it. It's too late. So I'll have that coming out. I'll have a ah I'll have a book on the Olympic lifts for high school coaches. Great.
Speaker: That's coming out too. That's needed as well. That'll be out at the same time as the, and I'll have a whole video library of, of the movements, the basic, you know ways to teach it real simple. Not, not, not teaching to Olympic weightlifters, but, you know teach it to your football players. You have, you have 15 minutes. What do you do?
Speaker: yeah Here's what you do. So real simple, real basic, um overly basic, which I think is missing in some cases. And a complete book on talk about culture, talks about you know not only the technical part of stuff and and full year, right? yeah What do we do the day after the season ends ah until until until the beginning of next season?
Speaker: Yeah, much needed. So I've got to manage lacrosse season, but there's football dudes, so they're in football. Right. Spring spring football. I don't know if you have spring football in Utah. i Full pads. No. Okay. No, it's not Texas. Yeah. You guys, we we have it, but there's no there's no contact. Yeah. So basically it's dual in season athletes and I got to manage it through the lacrosse side.
Speaker: And then the usually would say, all right, football, you're doing 70% this run today. But then now seniors that were in this program before me, they were pissed off because they had to do it in the the previous regime. They had to do a hundred percent of everything.
Speaker: So the fact that I was trying to temper, there was a, You know, guys were upset. So now I had to do everybody gets 100 percent and manage that and manage the politics and dynamics because the oh yeah football doesn't believe lacrosse exists.
Speaker: I'm sure they're pissed. You know, in in Utah, they are they push multiple sports. You know, like we we encourage our kids to play multiple sports. I think it's the best way. I get why they don't do it in Texas.
Speaker: Texas is different animal. um Georgia, probably the same. Florida, probably not so much. But just did the culture is different. So like they revolve the schedule around kids playing multiple sports. Wow.
Speaker: which um from a control freak, like I am, i don't like it, but i but I think there's value in it. So I get your situation. but And it's crazy to me that you go like training,
Speaker: You know they're training, and then you say, okay, we're going full pads for two weeks or whatever it is. Beat the shit out of each other, go full. like I talk about that in the book. Like kind to like how do you make those transitions?
Speaker: um Even though we don't do it in Utah, like I understand the dynamic of how you go from like mostly weight room to now we're going full field.
Speaker: So, bit of a challenge. yeah And that spring game is is more situational, but you you know cut the whole high school roster in half and pit them against each other.
Speaker: And then it's like red zone time or special teams time. So they mix and match. how much What's their injury rate during that? Well, it depends because now we've got weightlifting injuries.
Speaker: Because guess who's managing the weight room? The football coaches. And they don't teach the kids. so then ah you're not you're not doing football? i'm a No. Just lacrosse? Just lacrosse. So then we got to deal with back issues from weightlifting.
Speaker: And then the coach is like, well, if you didn't play two sports, you wouldn't get hurt. So it's your fault. You got hurt in the because you're playing lacrosse. It's like, no, no, no, They need be taught how to.
Speaker: Do an ass-in-the-air deadlifts and squats. Oh, yeah. i I want ban deadlifts because they – you think cleans are hard to teach. You should see how these guys are taught to – Well, I don't – so that's the one – like, I don't do straight bar deadlifting with my kids. Good.
Speaker: It's heavy. are you Anything heavy off the floor is trap bar. Great. And they get – pull off the floor with, ah you know, with with clean work. Mm-hmm. Yeah, like no, like heavy deadlifting is a skill.
Speaker: Like, and and you can't, no way you can manage it with that with that many, and stupid. Like, you can load, like day one, you can load the trap bar up and and be fine. yep Like, I don't get, I don't get that. I know some coaches disagree um with that, but I think, and I'm not a guy that like, oh, you know, everything is dangerous, but,
Speaker: you can really mitigate most of your injuries by not having them straight bar deadlift in a weight room. That's coming from a guy, i mean I mean, I am a big advocate of it, but I think it's stupid.
Speaker: Yeah, I concur. Just stupid. um And it's also stupid to to to squat the way half these guys are squatting. My team, too. Like, i'm not we're not the best squatters yet either.
Speaker: So, you know, I'm i'm living it. We're getting better. Yep. You know, I don't mind that the not low enough problem. I mind the other problems, like the crazy knee, you know, the valgus and the round back, and you know, ah all that shit.
Speaker: Like the the high squats are fine. Like we can fix that too. But it's the other shit. like People talk about the exercises are dangerous. I've never met an exercise that's dangerous.
Speaker: yeah it's The bad coaching is the dangerous part. And you know mitigating that some ah through better exercise selection, better teaching, you know better but better coaching. And if you don't know how to coach it, don't fucking use it.
Speaker: yeah you know Spend time learning it. But if you can't teach people how to clean, look, I'm a big advocate for the Olympic lifts. Don't get me wrong. And I think at some point you should know how to do it and teach it and integrate it in your program. But if you don't, let's not do it Like, let's do other things. Yeah. And I don't, like, I don't i don't get that.
Speaker: They don't either. That's why they keep on doing it. But that's why we have your resources coming out. Right. How much needed. It'll help. Like, I think, you know, there's some really good books out there already that are great resources. You know, I'm um But what mine is, i took I have all those books and I used parts of it for everything.
Speaker: I think this I'm learning from all everybody else and I'm putting in everything into one. And this this is the i got said this is the book that I wish I had when I started.
Speaker: you know Tell me how to plan each block, what to do, here's the, and like I love Jim Wendler's approach. Like his football book, 531 for Football, I don't think it's available in like a printed copy. I think it's only... To me, right now, is the best high school football training book out there.
Speaker: yeah And you'd be shocked, if you haven't read it, you'd be shocked at how simple it is. That's what gave me the idea. That that book got me out of complexity.
Speaker: Good. And... um I really like i pay homage to him and and and his approach in that book.
Speaker: i I think it's a little too simple and in in ways and not enough... i like I still have that weight lifter in me. Like I need the periods. Like i want the phases and well, I just can't, I can't never get that away from that.
Speaker: ah But as far as like you eat the tone yeah and the simplicity, I think that's what the big thing that's missing. Cause I have every book that I could find in English on strengthening, conditioning and they're all,
Speaker: Most of them, not all. they're Most of them are such high level. yeah I appreciate that and I understand. But this book is written for the the coach who's the head coach and the strength and conditioning coach.
Speaker: And football's his thing. right you know he ah But he does the strength and conditioning too. ye So it's written for that guy. Good. um Football coach that does the weight room versus a strength conditioning coach for the football team. And I think a strength and conditioning coach that does it for the football team would still find value in it, but it's not written for him.
Speaker: it's well If that the person has that position, reading it, they're also going to gain some social intelligence on how to communicate better to the high school coach on why we're doing what we're doing. Right.
Speaker: Right. Absolutely. So...
Speaker: Yeah, that's that's coming out. Endita Dynamic Method. I'm in the middle of rebranding and doing all that shit. We'll link it up. I hear the claps, which is going to be our curtain call for our segment here.
Speaker: Dude, I'm glad we got the time. finally. It was due to this last year, it didn't work out. Well, now we've a beautiful room. So I feel... naturally it was it was meant to be this way. Yes. Grateful for the time and now we got the chance to talk about the books yeah we wouldn't have last year. i appreciate that. Yeah, dude. I appreciate what you're doing and and being in that position where it's all about the understanding, the kids, and pushing and not necessarily being You don't have to be the head guy. no No. No, don't rush to be the head guy. you know Be careful what you wish for. yeah it's ah it's not it's different There's value in it, but it's it's different it's a different job.
Speaker: For sure. So, sean I appreciate you and all the work you've done and all the work you've doing, man. So, thanks for joining me today. today Thank you. Thank you, Yeti. This is my favorite cup, by the way. Oh, yeah. So, cheers the Yeti sponsor here.
Speaker: Thank you everyone for tuning in. Cool. Thanks, brother.
