Saying that Stewart Venable has a unique background as a strength coach would be an understatement. Throughout his career, Venable has coached inmates, soldiers in the military, high school and college athletes, and the general population in the private sector. Venable has extensive knowledge of all things Iron Game, but his knowledge of applied neurology elevates his programs to the next level.
As an athlete, Coach Venable’s early athletic pursuits included martial arts and weight training. Because his high school didn’t allow non-athletes to use the weight room, his mother bought him a Sears and Roebuck weight bench and barbell set so he could lift at home. He went on to box at the amateur level, retiring undefeated, and competed at a high level in powerlifting and weightlifting.
Venable learned from many elite weightlifting and strength coaches. Among his mentors were Boris Urman, a former USSR Weightlifting Team athlete, and Tom Cross, a former strength coach at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. He also achieved the NSCA’s Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist credentials and became a Level 2 USA Weightlifting Coach.
While employed by the Department of Justice, Venable worked with inmates at the United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, Kansas. This facility incarcerated many notable criminals, including Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, and the Birdman of Alcatraz. Venable designed and supervised performance-enhancement programs for inmates and taught a class to get them certified as personal trainers. His subsequent career path led him into the private sector, followed by the high school and college educational environment.
In 2007, Venable opened the second CrossFit affiliate box in Kansas. The following year, he began coaching at Immaculata Catholic High School in Leavenworth, Kansas. In 2009, he became an Assistant Coach at Mid-America Nazarene University. Currently, Venable is a physical education teacher and the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for North Star High School in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Among Coach Venable’s strongest attributes is his ability to motivate athletes to “train with brain” using applied neurology. Let’s take a closer look.
Freelap USA: Why is neurological training important?
Stewart Venable: If optimal training is your goal, you must recognize that the brain is king, controlling every system of the body. It follows that a “holistic” approach to training incorporates all the body’s systems, not just the muscular.
Neurology follows a hierarchy. The visual system is number one, as about 70 percent of the information the body takes in about the environment comes from the eyes. The brain processes that information and sends messages about what it wants the body to do. The vestibular system, which is your balance, is number two. The proprioceptive system, which is the body’s ability to know where it is in space, is number three. That hierarchical order is 1,2,3. I present it to the kids as 3,2,1.
Neurology follows a hierarchy. The visual system is number one, as about 70 percent of the information the body takes in about the environment comes from the eyes, says @CoachVenable1. Share on XI prioritize the systems in reverse order because proprioception is the most accessible, being the furthest from the brain and easiest to train. For example, I might have my students perform small foot drills before squatting to wake up the receptors in the feet and see if that improves the squat. The other systems are closer to the brain, particularly the eyes. They have the most high-intensity impact, so you must be careful to apply stimulus in small doses.
Reflexive Performance Reset (RPR) got me the most buy-in at my current school, followed by Square 1 and Total Motion Release (TMR). I had a lot of success with these neurological methods in helping athletes achieve lifting PRs and reduce or eliminate pain. For example, I used RPR on a wrestler for balance and mobility; Square 1 on the principal’s daughter (a volleyball player) for her knee; and total motion release on a football player for his back.
When other kids see these results, they ask what type of magic I’m doing. I explain it’s not voodoo or magic—it’s neurology. Once the kids buy in, I don’t get any pushback from the coaches, parents, or the administration. Of course, a small group of student-athletes just wanted to lift and not do anything else, but most kids were interested in this training.
Video 1: Applied neurology stimulates the body’s visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. This video shows a single-leg balance exercise with head movement, followed by knee circles and skin stimulation.
Freelap USA: How do you incorporate neurological training into a weekly workout, and what general advice would you give high school coaches in applying these methods?
Stewart Venable: I met Dan Fichter, my primary neuro mentor, at functional neurologist Mat Boulé’s Institute of Innovation and Performance Course in 2021. Fichter told me implementing neuro training into your warm-up is the easiest way to start using functional neurology. He also said it doesn’t matter when you do it—what matters is that it’s somehow woven into your training, because 99 percent of the coaches don’t do it at all.
@WGF1 told me implementing neuro training into a warm-up is the easiest way to start using functional neurology—and what matters is that it’s somehow woven into your training, because 99% of coaches don't do it at all, says… Share on XOur daily program is divided into three training blocks. In each block, I focus on one of the three major systems and breathwork, which is especially important for athletes. As for my advice to coaches, those who want to teach applied neurology should be very particular about their choice of school’s to work in. Let me explain.
I work in a public high school and cannot control which students enroll in my weight training classes. My high school has about 2,200 students, and about 400 participate in school sports. Only about 30 percent of my students in my classes are student-athletes, while about 70 percent may not have signed up for or even desire to train—they were placed in a weight training class because there was an open spot to fill, and the administration was obligated to put them somewhere.
I have colleagues who teach at smaller or private schools, and they have more input regarding students’ placements in their weight training classes. I have some close friends in Nebraska who only have athletes in their weight training classes.
Video 2: Applied neurology can create improvements in balance and coordination. The immediate performance benefits of an infinity walk and bilateral alternating hand pronation/supination are shown.
Freelap USA: What special strategies do you use to keep things running smoothly in your classes that contain athletes and non-athletes?
Stewart: The progression and regression of exercises and training intensity for the students is based on physical ability and effort, not whether they play a sport. We might start with a body weight squat, and once the student is competent, progress to a goblet squat. Some students never progress beyond the goblet squat, while others progress to front squats, back squats, and overhead squats, all in the same semester. You could walk into any of my classes and see four or five variations of a squat, row, or press exercise my students do based on their physical ability.
Freelap USA: You worked in correctional facilities. What are some misconceptions about exercise in those facilities, and did you develop any unique coaching methods from working with inmates that also work with athletes?
Stewart Venable: Outside of military soldiers, inmates were the hardest training individuals I have ever coached. You might ask, “If you’re incarnated for 20 or 40 years, why are you working out so hard?” The answer is that, as with soldiers, their safety is at stake because it’s always life or death if they go into battle—they must always be ready. In contrast, most 17-year-old kids are not worried about life-or-death encounters because they think they’re immortal.
Outside of military soldiers, inmates were the hardest training individuals I have ever coached—as with soldiers, their safety is at stake because it’s always life or death if they go into battle, says @CoachVenable1. Share on XI wouldn’t say I developed any special coaching methods, but I learned some valuable lessons. First, getting buy-in to your program is easier when the people you’re training have skin in the game. Finding a connection between what you do and what they want for themselves is imperative.
Next, I found that everybody wants to look like “that guy” or “that girl.” They don’t want just to be a physical specimen; they want to look like a physical specimen! Your training needs to have some “candy” sprinkled in, or they’ll go elsewhere. To work arms and chest, high school students will join Planet Fitness, college students will sneak over to campus recreational centers, and inmates will hang trash bags full of water off a mop or broom handle.
Finally, I learned that respect is a two-way street—you must give respect to get respect. In the ’80s and some of the ’90s, if you told a kid to do something, it was “Yes, Coach!” You could yell at them, run the crap out of them, skip water breaks, and so on. If you disrespect an inmate by talking recklessly or trying to humiliate them, you’ll get assaulted or stabbed. If you don’t treat a convicted felon that way, treating your athletes that way doesn’t make sense either.
Freelap USA: Since you began coaching, what problems have you seen in the strength coaching profession?
Stewart Venable: There are education issues in our profession. I coached at a high school in Nebraska that had an elite velocity-based training system involving tracking cameras attached to each of its 15 power racks. The equipment was donated by a former student who developed it, which is fortunate because the cost was ridiculous. Unfortunately, no one knew how to use it. I showed them how to use it, but they became so obsessed with moving barbells fast that their technique suffered.
I’m 62. Getting information about strength and conditioning took a lot of work when I started lifting. I had to wait for Iron Man, Strength and Health, and Muscular Development magazines. Today, there is an overload of information, and it’s often difficult for coaches to filter it and determine what is good versus what is not.
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