Coach Hassard, Author at Modern Athletics

Why We Overeat

A few reasons why we tend to overeat: The Current Food Environment The modern food environment is arguably the single most influential factor in overeating. You are surrounded by cheap, convenient, hyperpalatable, highly engineered food specifically designed to override your fullness signals. Adding to the problem is the availability of late-night delivery and dining. Your…

Common Training Pitfalls

Here are the most common things I notice keeping people from getting better results (it’s okay, we all do it). Exercise Pitfalls (in the gym) Mindset Pitfalls (mental game) Lifestyle Pitfalls (outside the gym) Take Action Alrighty then, I’ve warned you about falling in the pit. Now, if you fall into it, I’ll help you…

Train Smart: How to Order Your Exercises

If you want to get the most benefit from your workouts with less time and effort, the order in which you do your exercises matters. You want to tackle the most demanding, technique-intensive movements when you’re fresh and have the most energy and focus. In other words, you want to start with the harder stuff…

Two Exercises to Improve Every Aspect of Your Tennis Performance

Tennis is the sport you love, and training in the gym is the simplest way to stay in the game longer and play better. Here are two exercises for each outcome you can start doing now at the gym to immediately improve. You can look these up in our exercise library or book a training…

11 Warning Signs Your Training is Broken

*If your goal is strength, athleticism, injury resilience, and a body that defies aging. How did you do? Avoiding 80% of these is a passing score. If you’re guilty of any of these, don’t feel bad, my training falls apart sometimes, too. Plus, I don’t expect many to know this. Let’s break it down. You…

Prepare Thy Mindset for the Holidays

Audio Version (1:53) This is the time of year when we have time off work but the holiday season seems to keep us busier. It is an important part of the year because you either keep your fitness momentum or fall into a two-month or longer hole. But here’s what’s nice, you don’t have to…

How to Train Mental Toughness in Fitness, Sports, Work, and Life

Audio Version (1:47) Mental toughness is staying in the mindset you want, no matter what is happening. Some of the key traits are confidence, focus, and the ability to remain calm or calm yourself down. No matter how much mental toughness you think you have, we can train it. The good news is that everything…

The Easiest Way To Improve Your Tennis

Improving your tennis strokes is hard.Improving your endurance is hard.Improving your mental game is hard. Out of all the things you can train, getting physically stronger is the easiest. Yes, it takes work, but the time and effort required is minimal compared to training other aspects of your game. Strength training will improve your speed,…

#43 – Needless Knowledge, Identity, Getting Strong, and Astronauts

Knowledge You Don’t Need To get good at most things, you really only need to master around 20% or less of what the experts talk about. Fitness is the subject I know best, but I would say I only get to use about 5% of my knowledge because that’s about all people need to be their…

Common Myths and Fears of Lifting for Tennis

At the collegiate and professional level, I’m not sure you would find many, if any, players who aren’t lifting weights to improve their on-court performance and reduce injuries. In contrast, I don’t meet many recreational tennis players who are lifting weights, yet they face challenges that lifting is purposely designed to overcome. I’m not saying…