Third round of this series of interview already.  Patrick Ward, strength and conditioning specialist and massage therapist, was kind enough to give me a couple minutes of his time to answer my questions.  Here we go:

What does your current training look like?

My current training is pretty darn boring. I lift 3 days per week and perform total body workouts. I do the same four exercises each day 3 sets x 5 reps and currently work below 80% intensity for all sets. I do some form of cardiovascular exercise at least 3-5x/week usually consisting of either consistent work in the 120-150bpm range or some form of extensive tempo work. I’ll do this for about 3-5 weeks and then begin to focus more on some specific lifts, increase the intensity, etc…

What’s your favorite song to lift heavy things to?

I can’t say that I have a favorite song to lift to but I do enjoy putting country music on the radio. Sometimes I even listen to sports talk radio when I lift. I try not to blast realy intense music and hype myself up for lifts in the gym unless I am testing something and I am trying to get really gassed up. Otherwise, I try and keep my cool.

What would be your best advice to an up-and-coming strength and conditioning coach who wants to make it in this business?

Read as much as you can, ask a lot of questions of others and of yourself, and never take anything anyone says as gospel – be open to many possibilities.

What’s your passion, or second passion in life after health and fitness?

I like jazz music a lot and actually my undergraduate degree was in jazz guitar from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.

Who are your 3 most influential mentors?

Charlie Weingroff, Willem Kramer, and Judith DeLany are up there as far as people that have influenced me professionally that I have been able to have some form of personal communication/relationship with. Also in that list I would have to include Don Miller, Jeff Cubos, and Dave Tenney.

What’s the biggest mistake you see athletes who want to make it to the next level make?

Doing too much. Most athletes crush themselves with insane amounts of either volume or intensity (or both) setting themselves back from further progres and decreasing their level of readiness, causing them to have inconsistent results when they compete.

What’s your favorite supplement?

I am not a huge supplement guy. I like fish oil and protein powder (muscle milk chocolate is my favorite). After that if you want some creatine or a multi-vitamin go for it. In general though I am a whole foods guy and feel that people should dial in their diet before they try and SUPPLEMENT it with anything.

What’s the most overrated exercise?

Every exercise has its place in a program and it is not my job to tell people what they should or should not use as every situation is different and every individual is different. I try not to get enamored with too many exercises or exercise variations. I see a lot of people creating new exercises for the sake of doing something “new”. I still like to stick with the basics and just focus on that.

What’s the most underrated exercise?

Don’t know if there is an underrated exercise. I try and focus on very basic compound exercises and they aren’t exercises that most people aren’t already doing – bench press, chin ups, rows, push ups, deadlifts, squats, lunges. Perhaps an exercise that I do like to use that I don’t think too many people use is the step up. I think it is a great exercise for the lower extremity and find that most people seem to shy away from it for one reason or another.

What book are you currently reading?

You must have been living under a rock for the last 8 years if you’re involved in any way in the fitness industry and have never heard of Eric Cressey.  Eric is one of the smartest minds in the business, he has been a huge mentor for me for the last 6+ years, and he is just a great person that will go out of his way to help people.  I must say that I owe him a lot and if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be where I am today- literally; he got me an internship in 2007, and put me in touch with Kevin Neeld, who ended up hiring me for the job I have today!

Eric was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to participate to my rapid fire series which, you’ll see, turned out to be more than one-line answers for most questions!

Here we go:

What does your current training look like?

I generally lift four times per week, with two sessions being lower-body and two sessions being upper-body.  I’ll usually do some sprint work or some kind of conditioning (been rowing more lately) on two other days per week, and have one complete day of rest.

What’s your favorite song to lift heavy things to?

I’ve always been a big Linkin Park guy, so any of their stuff is good.  Honestly, though, I have heard so much music in my time in gyms that I’m just about desensitized to it by now!

Was it Linkin Park playing in the background?

What would be your best advice to an up-and-coming strength coach who wants to make it in this business?

Find mentors.  You need people to not only educate you on how to assess, program, and coach, but also how to approach your professional goals and development.  I’ve been very fortunate to have a few people take me under their wings over the years, and wouldn’t be where I am without them.

What’s your passion, or second passion in life after health and fitness?

Well, I’d say that health/fitness obviously comes after family.  So, that aside, I’d say that I am very fortunate that my profession and my passions are closely related, as I am a huge baseball fan and train a ton of baseball players.

Who are your 3 most influential mentors?