JFIFC    $ &%# #"(-90(*6+"#2D26;=@@@&0FKE>J9?@=C  =)#)==================================================f" }!1AQa"q2#BR$3br %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz w!1AQaq"2B #3Rbr $4%&'()*56789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz ?x '4)@ F8c4IIR i!Wԭt> 67ĄѲnP#qKc̵eQ'(n18r:Wya]]x2vY2cЯbF\ һ'Nc2 58vcÿyǺ8nV; q/i{4 yFN=:;&7}=*9)89)Xe2J\J(xfQH.c& ZO/;@Rtw?QlG^j}nJi=B$;cmO5Һ:hPՒxNՂ W6<6|#8]_h8cT@W3]brF&qrbEџ$>'MY71Z0bX֨x,pOMz5+{-'Uz~iw+E]\y]u̩ڥR'};t ;b`$~U::u4EӫC5Yƭ{)$ojb\;AːbNia$nܴGww64G ɸ"Zw~uy,P[R9w SZwGj0]ä\"m~S &\}Nݔ<'z/sys$/s7b:@޲+$9,@CWܨ'e&t,67%s׃ֲ&G.eKAH؇P2y:$8AJ5˽=Y;~4ZSrw,o$Ys1k Dk(3>ߚ%~9_5V0T9h5/Ȣ?FHOכ.fvG(!L9 2sڛ#Iq qǶ+13$G#:QXڥouAiXdZt5g\\δa N2yYwrw6{Wt%HNATh7^FH2I שb>b_1NyV!{ʭ'x"-L!'b]nצEy%${uCכYua3䛘qUߣt*>(¨g_/6KM-k [w|zgp;~Z-j27sz K22%pY5r;޾[iHŸ8kx4~H֭)ͧqEp\Se勱fcď2WqQN;3f&$n8jCv6*; ;bQWoj&bw0}6.n^=cjٴFx)ԃ*-0Z<_=զM~urq|@Ȓf12½,$\((㯥Fc7<"y wQV;4xUr9cҊ*&"Э~).y9gX6y4QOKi`!.#8+^yw"College, Western PA. I majored in English, and played defensive end in football and was a thrower for the indoor and outdoor track teams. I received my masters in physical education from Springfield College in Massachusetts. <br><br>BFS: What is your athletic background?<br>Brooks: In high school I was on the football, basketball and track and field teams. In college I focused on track, primarily the shot put and discus, and football. After college I concentrated on the shot in the hopes of making the Olympic Trials. My personal best was 59 feet.<br><br>BFS: Did you make it to the Olympic Trials?<br>Brooks: No, I got pretty severe tendonitis in one of my knees. It got to the point where I had to take time off and that pretty much killed my chances.<br><br>BFS: You worked for strength coach Charles Poliquin last year in his facility in Tempe, Arizona. How did you get involved with Charles?<br>Brooks: We first met at a strength summit in Victoria, Canada. Charles was one of the primary speakers, and we got talking between sessions. That summer I had been working for a gentleman he knew out of Boston and he said,  Ah, you should work with me instead. So we got a dialogue going, and I went to some of his clinics, and last summer I ended up going out and working for him.<br>BFS: What was the main thing that Poliquin taught you? What distinguishes him from other strength coaches?<br>Brooks: What doesn t distinguish him! Charles has influenced me more than anyone out there, from truly understanding proper rest intervals, to tempo, to the pairing of exercises. A big part of what distinguishes him is his ability to truly analyze an athlete and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. He doesn t take a hockey player and say,  These are the movements in hockey, but rather,  What does this individual need? What are the things we need to do as far as balancing an athlete out, regardless of what sport they do? <br><br>BFS: Do you think a lot of strength coaches are caught up with trends, such as now with the emphasis on core training?<br>Brooks: A lot of coaches out there have gotten caught up in gimmicky stuff and truly d