POWERED BY TRUCKS: Former football star joins the SSM team

By Anthony Trucks 

Welcome to my new column where I hope to cover all areas of weight training. 

Before I get started I would like to introduce myself because content is only as good as its source. I grew up in Antioch where I attended Antioch High. I earned a football scholarship to the University or Oregon where I received a bachelor’s degree focused in anatomy, biology, and human physiology. After college I spent time on the rosters of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins and Pittsburg Steelers, before suffering a career-ending injury. 

I opened up a training facility in Antioch, which is now moving to Brentwood, in 2008. I have trained hundreds of athletes from youth to professionals in many sports. I am a published best selling author, creator of a sports performance app, public speaker and all around passionate guy who LOOOOVES training. So let’s get started.

In order to truly get to the depth of the ensuing strength training discussions, groundwork has to be laid, so a few areas must be addressed.

1. Training young athletes: The goal is to have a safely-designed program that has a proper progression so a person can develop into being able to do more intense lifting as they grow over the years. 

2. The Program: The biggest problem I find with new clients who are looking to start strength training is their lack of past experience in having a correctly-designed program. What people usually do is start training with no clear plan in place. The problem here is that you never know how one day will affect your training goal six months later, because there is no tracking or progression in place. This is the MOST important part of starting to train.

3. Technique: Before starting any program you MUST do a proper assessment and movement screen to determine what exercises you are actually CAPABLE of doing in the weight room. If you are not capable of performing a certain exercise correctly because of physical limitations, more harm will be done than good. The next HUGE aspect to this is even if you have a perfect program created, failing to correctly go through the proper range of motion on any lift wastes the program, your time, the exercise being used, and can cause injury over time. 

4. Consistency: A poorly designed program followed perfectly is better than a perfectly designed program followed poorly. Most people don’t have the patience to follow a program through, which leads to them jumping around the weight room and later wondering why they aren’t improving. How can you reach your goal if you keep going off the path?

Now that we have that clear, the FUN can begin. In the following columns I am going to give you some of the most cutting edge, creative, and thought provoking weight training theories, exercises, and programs out there. I am ALWAYS learning to get better daily, so strap in people and enjoy the ride!

Anthony Trucks was a decorated football player for Antioch High and the University of Oregon before spending time on multiple NFL rosters. His Trucks Training facility has been operating since 2008. Powered By Trucks will run once a month in the magazine and will include additional content at SportStarsOnline.com. Send your weight training questions to Anthony at contact@truckstraining.com.