Plates and Pancakes: Building Better Athletes at Norfolk Academy with Paul Carrezola & Rachel Lifson

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Plates and Pancakes, Steven sits down with Paul Carrezola and Rachel Lifson, Director and Associate Director of Athletic Performance at Norfolk Academy, where they oversee the development of more than 500 student-athletes. The conversation dives deep into their approach to athletic performance, including summer training, sprint mechanics, relative strength, front squats, split squats, sumo deadlifts, Olympic lifting derivatives, RSI testing, and in-season training. Paul and Rachel explain how they teach athletes to improve posture, hip drive, and sprint mechanics using drills, band resistance, and simple coaching cues. They also discuss why they prioritize technique and relative strength over simply chasing heavier numbers, particularly with developing athletes. Other topics include: • Building a three-day total-body summer program • Teaching sprint mechanics and hip projection • The “Pac-Man” cue for sprint posture • Front squats vs. back squats • Split squats and relative strength • Sumo deadlifts for athletic development • Olympic lifting derivatives • RSI and ground-contact testing • Identifying high-potential athletes • Training rowers and developing coordination • Poliquin-style tri-sets • Pin squats and in-season training • Game-day and “minus-one” lifts • Teaching complex movements to young athletes • Social media, coaching, and evaluating training information online A great conversation about building strong, fast, technically sound athletes while keeping training practical and transferable to the demands of sport. #PlatesAndPancakes #StrengthAndConditioning #AthleticPerformance #HighSchoolStrength #SportsPerformance #SprintTraining #StrengthTraining #SumoDeadlift #FrontSquat #AthleteDevelopment #NorfolkAcademy #SpeedTraining #SportsPerformanceCoach https://youtube.com/@platesandpancakes4593 https://instagram.com/voodoo4power?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= https://voodoo4ranch.com/ To possibly be a guest or support the show email Voodoo4ranch@gmail.com https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/voodoo4ranch