Five Questions for a Five-Star Fitness Professional, Eric Burkhardt – Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, Long Beach State
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By Sal | July 22, 2009
This week I’d like to thank Eric Burkhardt, CSCS, the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at California State University at Long Beach, for participating in this feature and for taking the time to answer my questions.
Eric has been a successful strength coach at the Division 1 level for over 20 years in a career that has taken him from being an undergrad at Long Beach State to 2 stints as their head strength and conditioning coach, with several interesting and productive stops in between at the University of California at Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. The program he has developed at LBSU serves as a fantastic example of what a strength and conditioning program should be about, as the athletes under Eric’s tutelage focus on developing maximum strength and explosive power by performing exercises that relate to athletic performance. The speed and conditioning program at LBSU utilizes the appropriate sport-specific metabolic conditioning protocols that prepare 49er athletes to excel on the field.
As the summer winds down Eric is getting ready to leave Long Beach State and the collegiate strength and conditioning scene, and he will enter the fitness field, starting his own personal training business. Division 1 athletics’ loss will be the personal training business’ gain, as Eric will certainly bring the same energy and commitment to excellence to his private clients that helped his athletes succeed for the last 2 decades.
1) What was your reason for getting into, and how did you get into, the fitness/strength coach business?
In the early 80s when I was an undergraduate student at Long Beach State, I was really on more of a wellness/fitness path, but I loved strength and power training. Around 1986, I learned that the athletic department at Long Beach State had recently hired a strength and conditioning coach - Mark Paulsen now at the University of New Mexico - to train the athletes for improved performance. At that time, I had no idea that college athletic departments were hiring experts to set up strength/power training programs for athletes. I thought that was just about the coolest thing I could imagine doing for a living so I marched into Coach Paulsen’s office and asked if I could volunteer. He assigned me to the Women’s Volleyball team which went on to win a championship a year or two later. I was hooked.
2) How do you feel about the way fitness/a healthy lifestyle is portrayed in the media?
I honestly don’t pay much attention to the media. I hardly watch any TV, but I guess media is everywhere and it influences you even if you don’t think you’re paying attention. If anything, I’d say things are improving in terms of becoming a little more ethical. I think it has to as consumers become more educated. I guess I still notice a lot of the same nonsense though. People still want to believe there is an easier way to becoming healthy and fit. They still want to believe there is a better exercise gadget – I’ve always found infomercials totally amusing.
Of course you now have reality TV shows on fitness like the Biggest Loser, which cracks me up. I think I saw a You Tube clip you did about this show and I can honestly say I agree 100% with your opinion. The fitness instructors/personal trainers they have on there take themselves way too seriously and try way too hard to come off as hard asses - cracks me up.
3) What is your training philosophy? You can give me your “Elevator Pitch” or the long version, your call.
I guess I’ll give you the elevator pitch...First off, I haven’t really made any major changes to my philosophy in years. I’m happy to say that the approach I adopted 20+ years ago has stood the test of time. I like to think that training should be as efficient as possible in its ability to increase performance (enhance one’s ability to move) and develop durability (injury resistance). I believe that training exercises fall into a spectrum ranging from “bad to best”. Somewhere in there you will find “good”, “better” and “best.”
I try to stick with exercises in the “best” category as much as possible and maybe using those in the “better” category for variation or unloading purposes. I probably only use the exercises in the “good” category for special purposes – i.e. training around an injury. If we were looking at exercises to increase total body and leg/hip strength, my “best” category would include the back and front squat, my “better” category would include lunges and leg press would be in the “good” category. All my strengthening programs are built around a base that contains squatting movements, explosive lifts (i.e. snatch and clean & jerk and their variations), and dead lifting. I really would not change my approach whether I was training a college athlete or a stay-at-home mom. Exercise fads come and go but the best training methods have been around for years and will remain around for many more years to come.
4) How has the fitness business/strength coach profession changed since you first started training clients/working with athletes?
I have worked as a Division 1 college strength and conditioning coach for over 20 years. In that time, salaries have not improved much even though workload and expectations are unreasonable. For younger strength coaches without a lot of commitments and responsibilities outside of work, this lifestyle can work well. Years ago, college strength coaches were seen as more of a support staff member but are now viewed as a critical component in terms of wins and losses.
I think the other big change that stands out in strength and conditioning is the fact that it’s become more recognizable by the lay-public as something that athletes must do in addition to practicing their sport. By now, most athletes, parents and coaches realize its necessity in terms of reaching a higher level of performance. Because of this, we now have huge commercial sector training facilities that specialize in training athletes.
5) What’s the biggest problem/most common hurdle that you have to help your clients/athletes deal with? Nutrition issues, motivation issues, commitment issues, something else?
Nutrition is often a huge problem with athletes for sure. For most, the quality, quantity and frequency all need to improve. For example, one of my athletes had a bag of Skittles for a post-training snack, and I can’t believe how many athletes skip breakfast. Motivation and commitment can also be issues. Encouraging someone to move relatively heavy weight in an explosive manner is not easy. I think it’s about how well designed the program is, how one communicates with the athlete/client they’re training and the “atmosphere” the trainer/strength coach creates that determines the success of the workout. I believe the ability to do this is both an art and a skill that only the best personal trainers/strength coaches can pull off.
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