JH: What trends do you see as long lasting and beneficial to athletes and what trends do you think are going to be very short-lived?

KG: Personal training is here to stay, unfortunately. When I worked at Bob's we had a supportive training environment where everyone was willing to help those who asked for it--we didn't need personal trainers. On the positive side, the popularity of personal training is leading to higher standards in the educational levels of those involved in the profession. IDEA offers some excellent educational materials on how to make personal training a career, and they are amazingly in touch with trends in the industry. The National Strength and Conditioning Association has some quality information about exercise technique, but I must say that from interviewing many elite strength coaches that the NSCA has lost touch with its membership.

Home training is probably a long-lasting trend, since so many people are doing business from home. As for short-lived trends, I believe the fitness industry tends to run in cycles. I see that kickboxing classes are now popular, but it seems that about every five years I find myself writing about the rebirth of this activity.

JH: What do you think is the biggest mistake most strength coaches make in preparing their athletes for competition?

KG: In addition to relying too much on bodybuilding training methods, there's the practice of allowing sport coaches to have too much control over conditioning, especially when it comes to endurance training. Hockey coaches are pathetic in this regard, requiring their athletes to participate in aerobic training programs that severely compromise overall athletic fitness for the game. Football coaches are still obsessed with the 40-yard dash and bench presses, and this has compromised the ability of strength coaches to optimally train their athletes. The ease with which the sport coaches walk all over the strength coaches shows that the strength coaching profession still lacks the respect it deserves.

JH: There are a lot of cool gadgets out on the market today. Besides using free weights and cable systems, do you implement other forms of equipment to enhance performance?

KG: Not much, because most of the exercise equipment on the market is inferior to free weights, and conditioning is what I do for a living. At the Air Force Academy our football weightroom had ten Olympic lifting platforms with Eleiko Olympic lifting bars, and ten squat racks with Eleiko powerlifting bars. That was where we the core of our training, and in the eight years I worked there I pretty much avoided the bench press area entirely because I simply didn't care to waste my time on such an overrated exercise. In fact, at my current facility I don't even have a bench press.

At my private facility I have two lifting platforms, several Olympic lifting bars including the Lady Eleiko and bumper plates, a power rack with various chin-up attachments, glute-ham bench, cable crossover machine, reverse hyper, leg raise platform, trap bar, step-up platform, several jumping boxes, dumbbells, treadmill, stationary bike, and a rowing machine which nobody ever uses. Probably the only gimmicks I have are the Manta Ray, which is great for painlessly introducing squats to athletes, and an exercise wheel for abs that I got on sale at Target for $3.85. I have a few medicine balls that I frequently use for warm-ups, and some Swiss balls that add much-needed color to the gym.

JH: Coach Poliquin exposed the masses to such training as wave loading and the five percent solution; do you have any methods that you think are particularly effective for improving relative strength?

KG: Not to diminish Poliquin's contribution, but I first read about wave loading in the early '70s, and Angel Spassov was promoting it quite heavily in the '80s. Such "revolutionary" training methods have been around for quite some time, but unfortunately most people are looking to bodybuilders for the answers rather than to weightlifters. So, I would say that if you're interested in improving relative strength, you need to be studying the training methods of weightlifters. As for a more specific answer to your question, I would say that plyometrics and complex training can extremely effective ways to improve relative strength in higher-level athletes.

JH: Where do you see the direction of the industry heading?

KG: I believe strength coaches are going to get fed up with low salaries and try to get more into the commercial sector. However, many are going to be frustrated because they won't be able to work with elite athletes and will have to spend a considerable amount of time on self-promotion, people skills, and administrative issues.

Most strength coaches and trainers are going to be working for major gyms, which often take 60 percent of their salaries. They can also be frustrating places to work as you have to deal with the general membership. I'm fortunate to be able to work in a private training facility where I don't have to pay high commissions and can train my athletes the way I want; then, too, I've become so busy that I can select my customers. I can stay competitive because I've borrowed the concept of focus in business and successfully applied it to my training techniques, and in this regard I recommend the book "Focus" by Al Ries. I would like to add, however, that those who will probably be making the most money in this profession are those who focus on training master-level athletes and senior citizens.
JH: Any final comments?

KG: Those who want to become strength coaches really have to understand what's involved. I remember I was so busy at the Air Force Academy for the first eight months that I developed the ability to sleep only every other day, and 70-hour weeks were more the norm than the exception for the entire time I was there. Currently I write a lot of articles in which I interview strength coaches, and I usually get a lot of laugher when I ask them when the last time was they only worked 40 hours in a week. As they say, "You've gotta love it!"

JH: Coach Goss, I do appreciate your taking the time to answer these questions. I know that it will benefit many.

KG: Thank you, Josh.