Today marks the completion of my second week as a Strength and Conditioning Intern at the Sydney Roosters. The past two weeks have without doubt been two of the best weeks of my short career. I received a call approximately three weeks ago from my older brother Marty, informing me of an opportunity he had secured for me to come down to Sydney and work under the Sydney Roosters Strength and Power Coach Keegan Smith. I was ecstatic about the opportunity to say the least.
Marty in action at the AIS
Two weeks in and I feel as though I have learnt and experienced more in the last 14 days than my many years at university. Keegan is a very knowledgeable guy and I have learnt a lot from him in the short time I have been here. Keegan has implemented new nutritional approaches at the roosters and he is revolutionising the way players eat and think about the food they are using to fuel their bodies. He is also restructuring and refurbishing the gym with the best and most effective training equipment for strength and power athletes. The atmosphere at the Roosters is unreal; the players are constantly giving it their all, whether it is in the gym or on the training field. The coaches are also inspiring the players by arriving early most mornings and throwing down in the gym. It’s a special thing to be a part of.
Speed bench set-up
Louie Simmons Inspired Dynamic Effort Bench Press
Being able to work with professional athletes on a daily basis is an awesome experience. I love seeing the players feed off each other’s energy in the gym and get each other up for a big session. Keegan’s Strength programming for the players has included; Olympic lifting, Strongman, traditional Bodybuilding exercises, Gymnastic based movements, and Louie Simmons inspired Powerlifting techniques for developing maximum strength and power. I’m excited for the results we can expect to see leading into the season as a result of his smart programing.
The players are also learning a lot in regards to strength training and their untapped potential in the weights room, with a large number seeing improvements in strength just over the past few weeks. Testing has been a major focus leading into Christmas, as it can give us a quantitative measure and highlight areas that need improvement within the players. Lots of data analysis is occurring at present.
My individual training is going well; I set a new record on the deadlift today with a lift of 230kg. A weight that I thought would be almost impossible to achieve just over 12 months ago, whilst recovering from shoulder surgery. I owe a lot of my strength development to Crossfit Football, I was following the site religiously for 4 months and saw awesome gains with all Power and Olympic lifting, as well as increasing my overall conditioning and muscular endurance.
All my lifting stats improved dramatically whilst following the program. Some of my best lifts include 180kg Back Squat, 90kg Military Press, 135kg Power Clean and a 102kg Power Snatch. John Welbourne from Crossfit Football , is a smart guy and his site is definitely worth checking out if you want to improve your lifts whilst keeping variance within your training. Keegan has asked me to compile a list of challenging Crossfit Football workouts to give the players to do over the Christmas break to satisfy their training requirements.
Sam Kennedy – Featured on CrossFit Football
Making it on to the Crossfit Football Main page
Next week we will be training in Canberra at the AIS, another great opportunity I’m thankful for. I hope to experience as much as I can whilst at the Roosters and I’m very excited and indebted for the opportunity I have been given. This has definitely wet my appetite as Strength and Conditioning coach and I look forward to the remaining time I have working with the Roosters.
Sam Kennedy is a crossfit trainer and graduate of Sports Science from Charles Sturt University. Find him on Twitter @ SamKennedy28
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