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Andrew Brown PT, DPT, MS, CSCS

@northcoaststrength

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Performance Physical Therapist + Strength Coach
🏴 Bellingham, WA
Helping motivated humans take ownership of their physicality.

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🏴 🤘🏼 🏴 taken in Pacific Northwest by @northcoaststrength

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2 years ago

Training for Freeride - Big Picture Programming

1. Focus the majority of your training effort in developing thigh and hip musculature. 🦵

2. Rate of force production is irrelevant without having adequate force output. 📈

3. Movement literacy expressed under high forces and fatigue is expression of the sport. The goal of training is to allow more tolerance to sport exposure. Do the damn thing. ⛷️

4. Train your heart, lungs, and develop better capillary density for better recovery and fatigue resilience. 🫁 🩸

Happy training y’all!

#mountainsport #ski #snowboard #strengthandconditioning #physicaltherapy #strengthcoach #pnw #bellingham #mtbaker #shuksan taken in Bellingham, Washington by @northcoaststrength

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a year ago

Comprehensive training for the outdoor athlete. taken in Tacoma, Washington by @northcoaststrength

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7 years ago

Most people I work with come in with their focus on the former, which is fair. You see the outcome of ACL tears, bone stress injuries, shoulder labral tears , etc and the logic goes to “how do I not let that happen to me?” Fair point, but I think it’s a bit misled.

By shifting our attention to improving all the qualities that support performance and preparation for the forces, positions, and time domains of sport (doesn’t matter which sport here) we are inherently gaining resilience against the bad shit that can happen when we miscalculate a landing or position.

The data on this is pretty clear that there is no evidence a dedicated “injury prevention programs” beats a well designed strength and conditioning program. Lauersen et al., (2014) found that strength training is the most protective intervention, cutting sport injuries to under a third!

Plus, many of those “neuromuscular interventions” don’t have much other benefit while the benefit of plyometrics, heavy strength work, and progressive aerobic conditioning expand far beyond the realm of sport.

Happy training ya’ll.

#strengthandconditioning #physiotherapy #ski #mtb #trailrun taken in Bellingham, Washington by @northcoaststrength

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a day ago

Shoulder season always creates a bit of tension with my direction for training. Should I continue to focus on building endurance or switch back to strength development? For me this fall and winter, I’m gonna keep ripping the mileage and forgo the usual shift back to a strength training emphasis. Why? I have a really stout strength background and feel that my aerobic capacity is a more limiting factor to my long term goals.

Here are the two questions that got me to that realization:

1. Where are you coming from?

Reflect on what you’ve done to get you to where you are now. What’s your history as an athlete? Have you regularly logged 5-6 hours of aerobic training but struggle to hit a bodyweight back squat? More time in the gym will likely have a benefit not only on your endurance performance but also on your resilience as a human. Have you been fairly consistent with strength training but havn’t ever surpassed 3 hours of aerobic training in a week? If you can comfortably squat 1.75 x bw I’d strongly recommend minimized time in the gym and aligning your training with greater aerobic volume. Being strong is a phenomenal asset, but increasing your aerobic training and supplementing targeted loading into the patellar and achilles tendons with isolation movements might be a better investment.

2. Where are you going?

What are your goals homie!? Be realistic with where you are now and where you see yourself in 4-6 months. If your goal is to hit a 50k trail race, you likely need to be hitting 6+ hours of aerobic work per week for multiple weeks in a row to complete that goal reasonably well. Start with the goal in mind and work backwards. If your goal is really just to have a couple of days ski touring but most of your days are in resort going downhill, having a greater emphasis on eccentric strength work might make a lot of sense!

Hope everyone is having a great start to the fall season! Trails in Bellingham are ripping right now.

#mountainathlete #ski #mtb #trailrunning #physicaltherapy by @northcoaststrength

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10 days ago

If your mobility is limiting your ability to load a resistance training exercise, chances are there’s a better option for exercise selection. Not everyone needs to do an ass to grass squat to train effectively (most people do not).

Most mobility limitations I’ve encountered (especially in the hips) are likely skeletal and hammering 90-90 hip rotations isn’t gonna do anything except piss off your hips.

Just spend that time on plyos.

Cheers. by @northcoaststrength

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a month ago

SKI PREP LAUNCHES SEPTEMBER 7th!

This is a 12-week pre-season ski program that builds overall athleticism with a focus on lower extremity eccentric strength and strength endurance. Big sends on the hill require rock solid leg strength while cardiovascular and muscle endurance are key to keep lapping the lift from bell to bell without gassing out.

The 12 weeks are broken into accumulation, intensification, and strength endurance phases with additional cardiovascular training.There are 2-3 resistance and 3-4 cardiovascular sessions per week.

This program is intended for those who have a previous history with resistance training and are comfortable with barbell front squats and trap bar deadlifts (though you can sub out movements given training history and preference).

There will be an option to continue on the North Coast Mountain Athlete Program for in season strength maintenance after the 12 week cycle has concluded.

Hit me up with questions. Let’s get after this winter. Pray for snow ya’ll.

#ski #snowboarding #strengthandconditioning #mountainathlete #physicaltherapist taken in Mt. Baker Ski Area by @northcoaststrength

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a month ago

High volumes of glycolytic work are not necessary for the mountain athlete.

Carefully and intentionally dosed exposures for certain disciplines (ie downhill skiers) can absolutely be warranted, but the majority of training volume should come from individualized aerobic training and heavy resistance training.

Feeling like you “burnt it down” with hard grinders and finishers doesn’t equate to adaptions that are meaningful or useful for athletes who need to go long sub-maximally. by @northcoaststrength

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2 months ago

North Coast Med Ball Prep Circuit:

Folks on my programming will recognize this. A simple flow to get things prepped before moving onto to more stimulating velocities and loads. Nothing special about the exercises themselves, just exploring different planes of motion while getting core temp and ROM warmed up.

E1. Lateral Ball Slam x 10
E2. Bear Hug Ball Reverse Lunge x 10
E3. Ball Chest Pass to floor: x 10
E4. Ball Rotational Swings x 10

2-3 sets through and call it good. Shouldn’t take more than 4-5 minutes, if that. Increasing velocity or output per set is a get ramp up. So many different ways to build these circuits, just explore. Fingers to toes.

Followed up with jumps and bounds.

#chopwood #carrywater taken in Bellingham, Washington by @northcoaststrength

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3 months ago

I don’t think there is a point in my adult life that I’ve been less interested in the pursuit of resistance training. I very much still enjoy it, but its place in my identity and function has evolved immensely over the last decade. If chasing the barbell metrics is your “end”, that’s totally rad. I learned so much from that pursuit, but its place in my life has shifted to a means to support “mountain stuff”.

Today’s full body lift after an AM threshold session:

Plyo 1. DB Jump (knee dominant impulse)
Plyo 2. High Pogo ( ankle dominant RFD)

A1. Safety Bar Squat: 3 x 3

B1. Pull Up: 3 x 6
B2. @ancoretraining x @sorinex Hammie Curl: 3 x 10
(F*cking spicy)

C1. KB OHP: 2 x 12
C2. FR KB Carry: 2 x 40 steps

D1. @ancoretraining Hammer curl: 2 x 20

Duration: 37 minutes

For the trails. by @northcoaststrength

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3 months ago

10-week RCT in well trained runners:

• No change in fresh running economy
• ↓ fatigue-related decline in economy (−2.1% vs +0.6%)
• +35% improvement in fatigued high-intensity performance

→ Better late-race performance

(Zanini et al., 2025, Med Sci Sports Exerc)

#running #runcoach #durability #physicaltherapy taken in Bellingham, Washington by @northcoaststrength

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8 months ago

Been seeing the concept of plyos for tendon stiffness being thrown around a bit and thought some clarification was warranted.

Heavy loads are better for changing structure and material properties - the kicker is that it takes about 12 weeks to see meaningful benefit.

Plyometrics, while important, aren’t as good at building structural or material changes but teach our nervous system how to organize the muscle to use that stiffness.

What this means for preparation is heavy loads should precede intensive plyometrics and heavy loading should start early in the preparation cycle to see meaningful benefit before heavier plyometrics are introduced.

Heavy loading builds structure.

Plyometrics refine function

Bohm S, Mersmann F, Arampatzis A. Human tendon adaptation in response to mechanical loading: a systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise intervention studies on healthy adults. Sports Med Open. 2015 Dec;1(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s40798-015-0009-9. Epub 2015 Mar 27. PMID: 27747846; PMCID: PMC4532714. by @northcoaststrength

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8 months ago