This Case Study is an opportunity for you to get coaching reps explaining the ‘why’s’, seeing the Primal movements, and practically applying Power Athlete’s Bedrock program on a novice athlete. Where the Power Athlete Methodology course presents and tests on strength and conditioning knowledge, this case study will prepare you for putting this knowledge into action. Following the program and seeing a real-life athlete experience and progress through the novice window into Resets is an invaluable experience. With the Certified Coach Test, we aim to test the application of knowledge you’ve picked up in the Methodology course and prepare you become a Power Athlete Certified Coach.

The Bedrock Case Study is not required to take the test, but it will aid in adding authenticity to your coaching, as well as proof and confidence in your coaching and comprehension of the material. It has been said, “Education is what you do when you don’t know.” Preparing for your Certified Coach Test by putting an athlete through the Bedrock Case Study, you will truly begin to understand the program through helping an athlete overcome challenges and unlock their athletic potential.

The Bedrock Case Study will help you envision how programming and coaching fit together, and help highlight any missing pieces of information or force you to revisit pieces such as where to begin an athlete and knowing when an athlete has exhausted their linear progression.

While each coach’s Bedrock Case Study will tell a slightly different story, they will each have the same training principles, coaching of Primals, and applying Resets, Reloads, and other pieces of the program which will be evaluated during the Certified Coach Test. You can use the Bedrock Toolkit located in section 10 of your Workbook as a guide throughout your case study.

Steps to begin the Bedrock Case Study

Find an Athlete(s) (not yourself) to place on the Bedrock program
The most challenging piece of this case study will be finding an athlete. Aim for a novice to see the optimal expression of the Bedrock program.

Record Their Story
Establish a connection with your athlete and set them up to commit to your program for the duration. The best way to accomplish this is to identify training and performance goals. Think beyond numbers in the weight room, make these as in-depth and detailed as possible. Answer the following:

• Who is the athlete (age, training age) and what are they training for?
• What are the athlete’s performance goals?
• What are the athlete’s needs?
• What is your initial plan to address those needs and help the athlete meet their goals?

Record Their Training
Part of the mission for this case study is to show the progress through the phases of the Novice Window. Numbers tell a story of adaptation and the building of a Base Level of Strength. Recording this progress with one athlete will help accelerate your coaching experience and begin to build an intuition for application of programs for future athletes. While this may seem tedious, especially in the beginning of the program, record everything you can and watch the foundation of athleticism be built. Record the following: 

• Select a consistent recording platform for the athlete in which you can log progress and eventually put into graph
• Starting loads for each of the Bedrock lifts
• Intensity Sprint times and then number of sprints each week
• Reloads, Resets, and Plateaus 

Record Your Experience
This is your opportunity to talk specific strategy in the application of the Bedrock program. There is an art to coaching and we want to hear about your approach, what nuances did you discover on this program, and how did you evolve as a coach!

• Note your thought process experienced on important coaching days
  • Selecting starting weights
  • Coaching Primal movements
  • Applying Reload
  • Applying Resets
  • Motivating through the dark days of Bedrock
• Schedule bi-weekly coaching check-in’s to reflect and journal about the following:
  • Appearance of Power Athlete Training Principles in application
  • Progress of the athlete through the Novice Window
  • Improvement in efficiently coaching Primals and sprinting 
  • How does the conditioning programmed affect strength days

Present Your Experience
You have established a base level of knowledge with the Power Athlete Methodology course and have taken a big step by practically applying that knowledge through coaching. Now share your experience!

Put your athlete’s lift progressions into graphs and share with the Semester group. Chart your evolution as a coach as your athlete evolved. List out the information from the course that finally made sense. Or, be like Power Athlete Coach, Carl Case, and put your experience into helpful articles such as Getting Started on Bedrock and Bedrock Reset Guidelines.

When coaches gather from all over the globe for the Certified Coach Test weekend, we are going to round table the application of Bedrock. Although this case study is not required of you, we strongly suggest applying and recording this program so you can make an impact during weekend. Earn the right to not only call yourself a Power Athlete Certified Coach, but also prove yourself able to lead local Power Athlete lifting and coaching clinics.