About Coach Kenyon
The SST journey began in August of 1980 during my first year in a masters program which ran simultaneous to my first year as a high school coach. The masters program taught me the "research methodology" to investigate how to best train athletes to optimize sports performance. The coaching jobs allowed me to execute my learnings in real time while working with athletes on their strength and conditioning.
The early 80’s were a busy time for me. In addition to starting my masters at California State University- Long Beach and coaching at Woodrow Wilson High School, I also spent two years working at the CSULB Exercise Physiology Lab where I learned invaluable lessons which I still utilize in my consulting work today. While attaining my Masters Degree I wrote my theses which was entitled “The Effect of Power Overload Training on Wheelchair Racing Performance and Ergometer Power Output in Quadriplegics”. My paper was awarded the Outstanding Thesis Award at CSULB in 1982.
I used my background from CSULB to begin a research method process in 1981 to determine the best way to train the high school athlete. Most of the articles I found were from the NASCAJ (The National Association for Strength and Conditioning Journal). This is when I began my relationship with the NSCA. By the spring of 1981 I had written the first Conditioning Model for High School Athletics, which was the precursor to "The System" Manual that is still being used today in over 400 high schools coast to coast. I became a member of the NSCA in 1983. I took the CSCS Certification in 1987 at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada and became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach. In the summer of 1987 I was named the NSCA National High School Strength Coach of the Year. I was nominated for this prestigious award again in 1989.
In 1988 I was invited to the first ever USA Weightlifting Level I Certification at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. This is when I began my relationship with USA Weightlifting. I became a Level I Certified Olympic Weightlifting Coach that same summer. I was invited back in 1989 for the Level II Certification and was certified Level II in 1989. By being taught by the best of the best weightlifting coaches I built a foundation of technical excellence that still permeates through the SST program almost 35 years later.
Concurrent with my experience with the NSCA and USA Weightlifting, I developed skills as an assistant at Wilson HS, and then as a head coach and strength coach in both the high school and university systems. For 41 years I honed my craft as a coach. During my tenure I worked with adolescents and young adults of all ages, experience levels, and sports— but a large portion of my time spent with wrestling, track and field, and football athletes. In addition to working at the schools listed below, I also coached the Optimist All-Star Football Team twice and the Sacramento County Sheiff “Hogs” in the Pig Bowl for ten years.
“SST will help you produce gladiators out of your athletes that are optimized for performance while minimizing injury potential”
I took my first head coaching job at Encina HS in the spring of 1985. Encina had never had a winning football tradition and was mired in a 30 game losing streak. Year one we were 2-7-1 and in year two Encina went 6-4 and made the CIF Playoffs for the first time in the 30 year history of the school. I then took the head job at Casa Roble HS, leading them to a 7-3 record in 1987 and a 9-1 record in 1989 and a berth in the CIF Playoffs. After two years of "earning a Masters Degree" in football at CSU Sacramento I took on the challenge in 1995 at Del Campo HS in Fair Oaks. Del Campo had not had a winning season in 20 years and went 1-9 in 1994. We were 2-8 in 1994 but then went on a five year run including 8-2, 9-1, and 9-1 records, two CAL League Championships and five straight CIF playoff appearances. In 1995 I was named the Sacramento Area Football Coach of the Year. With all of the successes and turnarounds at each school the constant was the year-round strength and conditioning program implemented within the school day based on the principles developed from my learnings at university, the NSCA, USAW, and all of my other experience.
Why the SST “System”?
The thing that sets the SST system apart is a design that allows 1 coach to train 50 kids in a 1500 sq. ft. facility in 50 minutes with maximum efficiency and effectiveness. All SST weight rooms are designed to provide coaches with easy flow around the space so they can be actively engaged and provide constant instruction. This allows them to provide immediate feedback to their athletes which is rubric based: telling the student what they did right and what to do next. SST teachings use a finite number of free weight, standing position, multi-segmented exercises performed with intensity and variation using high quality commercial grade equipment.
The first fifty exercises are warm-up and speed related, the second fifty are strength, power and core related. By following this model five days a week, fifty weeks a year for four years, SST will help you produce gladiators out of your athletes that are optimized for performance while minimizing injury potential. The model also provides a breakdown of how to perform each exercise with technical excellence. Example for the overhead jerk below:
Some coaches have 1 year of experience for 41 years, others have 41 years of experience. From coast to coast, most coaches I speak to have have the exact same issues, and the SST system is, in most cases, the solution for these issues. The limitation is typically the instruction, not the instructed. Do not let limited facilities keep you from implementing "The System". Training sessions can be done in a fully functional SST weight room, on a gym floor, in a wrestling room, or even on a field or blacktop!
Just like the Microsoft vision was "a PC in every house in America'', the SST vision is "an SST weight room in every High School in the United States''. Let us help you with either weight room design, weight room equipment, weight room education or weight room instruction to optimize athletic performance and reduce injury potential in your students and athletes.