Lofton Training

Lofton Training Lofton Training offers college-caliber strength & conditioning to athletes of every sport in the New River Valley. Contact us today for a free session!

We help athletes improve strength, speed, and confidence.

09/11/2026

This is Phil.

Phil started as a client and is now both a client and a friend.

He spent 22 years as an Army Ranger and another 20 years as a CIA contractor. On September 11, 2001, Phil was at the gr***de range at Fort Dix, NJ, preparing to deploy to Bosnia, when the planes hit the towers.

Phil is 64 years old. Today, he came in and did his regular strength work. Then he asked for an extra workout to commemorate the day.

In a vest, he completed 9 rounds of:

11 Box Push-Ups
11 Squats
11 Box Step-Ups

Today, we work out in remembrance of September 11, 2001 — a day that changed our country and the world forever.

We remember those who were lost, those who served, and the strength and resilience that followed.

09/10/2026

I’m not sure there’s anything more fundamental to developing youth athletes than teaching them how to properly brace their core—and then developing their capacity to maintain that brace.

It’s right up there with teaching knees over toes and maintaining a neutral spine.

Once athletes understand the concept, we use different progressions to build core strength and, more importantly, their ability to create and maintain intra-abdominal pressure.

And as much as anything, good coaching is about keeping kids interested while they train.

Interested kids are more engaged. Engaged kids learn more, work harder, and ultimately get more out of training.

One of our go-to tools is the Bear (sometimes called the Leopard), with lots of different variations to keep things challenging and interesting.

Here, athletes are doing a resisted lateral bear crawl. The goals are simple:

- Brace the core.
- Minimize trunk and hip movement.
- Keep the knees about 1" off the ground.
- Move with control.

Success varies depending on training age—and that’s the point.
They don’t need to be perfect on day one. They need to keep practicing. Because if they stick with it, they’ll get better at bracing their core. And that capacity will carry over into virtually everything else they do.

09/09/2026

The obliques are an often neglected part of core training—but they play a critical role in athletic performance, especially running.

The external obliques help transfer force between the upper and lower body while contributing to trunk rotation, lateral stability, and the ability to resist unwanted motion. When you’re running, they help control the pelvis and rib cage as the body moves through each stride, allowing you to efficiently absorb and redirect forces from one side to the other.

For years, typical oblique work meant DB side bends and maybe some alternating crunch heel taps. Those exercises certainly have their place, but oblique training has taken on a much more prominent role in a well-rounded strength program.

One variation I like is what I call the Split Stance Side Bench Side Plank Arch Up.

Compared with a traditional side plank hip tap or arch-up, this setup allows me to get a much bigger stretch through the lateral trunk. At the same time, I’m getting some additional contribution from the hip abductors and adductors.

So while this looks like an oblique exercise, it’s really a great example of training the core as part of a larger kinetic chain—something that carries over much better to athletic movement.

Pallof Presses are a great anti-rotation exercise for strengthening the muscles of the core.We’ll usually start in a hal...
09/08/2026

Pallof Presses are a great anti-rotation exercise for strengthening the muscles of the core.

We’ll usually start in a half-kneeling position to give athletes a little more stability and help them learn the movement. From there, we’ll progress to standing and eventually add some load.

It’s pretty cool to see how much better athletes get at bracing and controlling their core as they become more comfortable with the exercise.

One small tweak I recently started making is adding a PVC pipe. It keeps the band from biting into their hands and helps them focus on maintaining a strong, stable position.

It also distributes the force across the arms, making it a good way to increase the challenge as athletes get stronger and need a little more resistance.

09/06/2026

Squats are a staple of our program, but we’ll change the variation depending on the focus of each training phase.

We typically use the box squat toward the end of a training cycle, when the focus shifts away from full range of motion and toward handling heavier relative loads. This allows us to emphasize force production in positions that more directly transfer to the demands of running and jumping during the season.

Strength Training Update!Quick schedule reminder: we are off today, but we’ll be back at it on Monday, September 7 at 3:...
09/04/2026

Strength Training Update!

Quick schedule reminder: we are off today, but we’ll be back at it on Monday, September 7 at 3:30 PM.

Also, mark your calendars for Friday, September 18 — we’ll be off that day as well.

More importantly, I want to give a shoutout to this group for the way they’ve been training!

The beginning of a training cycle can move a little slower as we build the foundation, learn proper movement patterns, and develop the skills we’ll rely on over the coming months. This group has been patient, attentive, and committed throughout the process — and the results are already showing. 👏

Everyone is moving with more proficiency and confidence, and that strong foundation will pay dividends as we continue to develop strength, power, and athleticism.

Proud of the work they’re putting in! 💪

09/02/2026

A little action from the beginning of one of our speed & agility sessions.

Here, the athletes are performing a single-leg dot hop into a short acceleration.

We’d eventually put more emphasis on the finer points of the movement—arm action, pulling the working-leg toe up, and coordinating the action of the contralateral leg—but on this particular day, the group just needed to get moving.

We’re still working on reducing ground contact time and priming the legs for longer runs outside. So there’s structure without constraint.

Especially with young athletes, striking that balance is important. You want enough structure to create purpose and direction, but enough freedom to keep them engaged, moving, and progressing.

We’re currently working through a Bulgarian Split Squat progression in our current training cycle.The Bulgarian Split Sq...
09/01/2026

We’re currently working through a Bulgarian Split Squat progression in our current training cycle.

The Bulgarian Split Squat is one of my favorite exercises for developing lower-extremity strength in youth athletes. It checks so many boxes:

- Great for the glutes, high hamstrings, and quads
- Requires balance—and balance is a big part of being athletic
- Helps address those sneaky left-right strength imbalances
- Easy to load without unnecessarily compromising safety
- Easy to progressively overload as the athlete gets stronger

We typically start by teaching the setup and basic form. From there, athletes begin by simply holding the bottom position with their body weight. Then we progress to slow eccentric reps with a light load. Next, we make it more dynamic: slow on the way down, pause in the hole, and then drive up fast. Finally, depending on the focus of the training block, we’ll add plyometrics or progress to a barbell variation.

08/31/2026

I work with a lot of athletes who want to improve their ability to powerfully rotate—whether they play lacrosse, baseball, golf, or even disc golf for the older generation.

We typically start by building strength isometrically. From there, we introduce slow movement.

As we progress through the block, we begin incorporating faster movement. But rather than immediately jumping to full-speed rotation, we start with one knee down. This allows us to keep things more stable while gradually increasing speed.

By the end of the block, athletes are on their feet rotating and throwing with speed.

There are many roads that can lead to improved rotational power, but this is one progression I like to use to gradually develop strength and power.

There’s a lot that goes into teaching the bench press—even for kids who have already benched at school or “in the baseme...
08/28/2026

There’s a lot that goes into teaching the bench press—even for kids who have already benched at school or “in the basement with my dad.”

We teach everything from positioning under the bar, bar height, hand width, and base of support to safe spotting practices, retracting the shoulder blades, bar path, maintaining tension, and more.

The goal isn’t just to teach them how to bench today. Hopefully, these are practices they carry with them for the rest of their training lives.

And unless their dad has worked with an experienced coach, there’s a good chance this is the first time they’re hearing any of it. 😄

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Blacksburg, VA
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