The strength and conditioning field is like no other. Coaches have bitter enemies and die-hard devotees — and sometimes a person will qualify as both depending on the day of the week. There are insane egos and there are humble, incredibly bright coaches who go unnoticed. Finally, there are a lot of coaches who people really don’t get.

On one hand, you have genuinely bad strength and conditioning professionals who couldn’t coach their way out of a wet paper bag. On the other hand, you have extremely knowledgeable coaches who people really don’t seem to understand — either because they don’t try to understand them or because they’re working off of false pretenses. Mike Boyle tends to fall into the latter category. In fact, he might be the world’s most misunderstood strength coach.

Until last year, I really didn’t “get” Mike Boyle either. However, I’ve had the chance to meet up with him twice recently, and we’ve exchanged a few dozen emails about training methodologies. We still don’t agree on everything, but I can definitely say this is one smart, experienced coach who has a lot to offer the world of performance enhancement.

You don’t have to like him or take everything he says to heart, but you’re missing out if you’re not at least listening with an open mind. So, without further ado, Mike Boyle.

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