Joe Cristando
“Music is the undercurrent of everything I do. I'm fanatical about collecting records and discovering new sounds. When I'm programming, coaching, training, or doing anything related to strength, there is a constant soundtrack to all of it.”
What motivates you as a coach?
“My goal and passion as a coach has always been to help people find and fall in love with the barbell. To get people to experience how transformative strength can be for your physical, mental, spiritual health. Nothing is more rewarding than watching an athlete discover new abilities in strength, conditioning or technical capacity. ”
“I try to build a collaborative relationship built on trust and by explaining the how and why of fundamental training principles. I believe this is much more effective than just giving people a list of movements and commanding them to do them. If an athlete understands why we do certain things at a core level they are much more able to execute and stay engaged in the long term.”
What makes someone a good coach?
“Empathy, a willingness to adapt, aversion to dogma, knowing when to admit you're wrong and don't know the answer, humility. All of these traits take precedence over technical knowledge and expertise. Your knowledge is only as good as your ability to effectively convey it to an athlete.”
“My goal and passion as a coach has always been to help people find and fall in love with the barbell. To get people to experience how transformative strength can be for your physical, mental, spiritual health. Nothing is more rewarding than watching an athlete discover new abilities in strength, conditioning or technical capacity. ”
Joe has written a free program for all members of Squats and Science.
Intermediate Powerlifting
“This is a program containing 3 microcyles designed specifically for early intermediate lifters. Micro cycle 1 is a weekly ramp and introduction to volume. Micro cycle 2 is the the peak of volume ramping followed by the beginning of a taper. Micro cycle 3 is a slow taper in volume with weekly ascending intensity work culminating in the final week which is a supra-max singles week.”