MARK RIPPETOE ON Strength Coaches’ Academic Preparation.

The academic preparation necessary for becoming an effective coach is not being provided by the vast majority of Exercise Physiology programs in this country, and apparently abroad as well. This is a serious problem if you want to be a serious coach, and we need an approach to the situation that most efficiently provides the background material needed by a professional barbell strength coach.

Briefly, most – and by “most” I mean virtually all – Exercise Science degrees offered by institutions of higher education are essentially PE degrees. They are the academic equivalent of an Education degree – their required courses are lacking in academic rigor, they do not adequately expose their students to the basic sciences and math, and the program is largely devoid of lab hours.

The best programs would be administered by professors with hard science backgrounds, and would wash out the same number of unqualified and uncommitted students as the Chemistry department. The worst programs are provided as graduation vehicles for scholarship athletes. The latter far outnumber the former.

I find that highly plausible.