This weekend I had the privilege to visit College Station, TX and Texas A&M with my good friend Jake Johnson. The trip started off with me spending way too much money on an oil change and tire rotation. Which after the fact, was a good idea since the oil attendant said I was about out of oil. It would have been really bad to break down in between here and College Station. After we loaded up the truck with clothes bags, gym bags, and mattresses, you would think we were staying for a month, we were on the road. We left out Wednesday night after we trained for the day. Well, Jake trained. I pushed my training back to Thursday so we could train with the Aggie Powerlifting Club Team. Wednesdays are normally a dynamic effort bench press day for me; and Jake squats on Wednesday. Once on the road traffic wasn't bad. We stopped for dinner in Burleson at Arbys. I got six sandwiches for less than Jake paid for two sandwiches. I am the sandwhich master! Arby's was awesome. Brought back some memories from my days at VMI. As I drove, we both dominated our food and were well fed.
We pulled into College Station about 9 pm or so. Wednesday night we stayed with one of my former athletes, Scott. Scott had a nice little apartment close to the A&M athletics facilities. So close in fact, that we could see Kyle Field. Once we got unloaded and visited for a minute, the Arby's we had just dominated not so long ago was beginning to wear off- Enter Fuego. Scott suggested that we try out Fuego, a local Mexican restaurant. This would be the first of three times we would eat at Fuegos. This place has the most amazing tacos and queso. That night I didn't get the tacos. I got a half pound of meat and chips and queso which were really good. After dominating the fine cuisine we went back to Scott's place for some shut eye. We had to be at A&M Thursday morning at 530 am and it was approaching fast.
5:30 am came early Thursday morning. We met Coach Ray at the indoor facility and she was already warming her team up. Jake and I watched Coach Ray work her magic for the first part of the morning and then we were able to pick her brain. During the workout it started to snow and the team she was training had to go outside and get a team pick. I thought that was pretty cool. Coach Ray is a no-nonsense coach who definitely practices what she preaches, but who was also very down to earth. She was very willing to share her philosophy and ideas with us. We talked about several different topics ranging from jumps, warm up protocols, teaching progressions, and voodoo bands.
Me and Coach Ray
At the tail end of our meeting Coach Gibson came by and we decided to meet after lunch to talk some football. After several hours of learning and talking shop it was time to eat. We decided on, you guessed it, Fuegos. This time I got the tacos and they were amazing.
We met up with Coach Gibson about 1 pm or so after lunch at the new football training facility. To say it was impressive would be an understatement. This place was like a weight lifting palace with just about every bell and whistle you could think of. The icing on the cake were the cameras and video equipment mounted at each rack. These cameras not only record the athletes training, but are also able to measure the athlete's force production. Coach Gibson let me give it a try with an empty bar. There I was standing in front of the rack with an empty bar "cleaning" in loafers and khakis trying to beat my power output for each repetition. If it gets me to compete with an empty bar, I can't imagine what it does for a room full of athletes with heavy weight in their hands. Coach Gibson is a former high school coach who was very down to earth and easy to talk to. He understood and could relate to a lot of the issues Jake and I deal with as high school coaches. It was almost time for the next football group to come through the weight room so it was our time to head out. We thanked Coach Gibson for the awesome hospitality and headed back to Scott's apartment. It was time to rest up and fuel up for the night's training with the Aggie Powerlifting team. I'll talk more about that in Part II. Until then.
Texas A&M Football Training Facility
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