Photo submitted Local business owner Anthony Tridico, second from right, holds his new book, “Force 46 Strength and Conditioning: The John Stucky Perspective; Transformative Knowledge for Fitness and Physical Education Design,” alongside basketball players that train with him Tage Wyman, Braylon Barnes and Grady Corey.

A Warren County native and local business owner has penned a book highlighting his relationship with his college coach and what he has learned in his more than 20 years as a coach and teacher.

Anthony Tridico, owner of Force 46 Strength and Conditioning, released “Force 46 Strength and Conditioning: The John Stucky Perspective; Transformative Knowledge for Fitness and Physical Education Design” last month.

“The book is my tribute to Coach (John) Stucky and then it all ties in to my last 30 years of experience both in teaching and sport coaching as well as being state director for the National Strength and Conditioning Association. I also was taught by a legendary position coach in Louis Campbell who I still regularly speak with today. He exemplified what a coach should be along with an impeccable demeanor.” Tridico said. “My time at the University of Arkansas was the most significant time of growth for me and set the tone for expertise today both as a strength and conditioning coach, 25-year teacher and sport coach. I formed a significant Physical Education philosophy at the University of Arkansas. There are many other great coaches I have been fortunate to be around but these two coaches set an example that is rare to find these days and 99% percent of the people attempting to coach will never reach the knowledge level that they were at.”

He said the book addresses many of the issues he sees with training methods and the beliefs behind them.

“Much of what I have observed is the same rehash of the same trash that has never been correct but still the myths of sport performance and weight loss and intelligence continue,” he said. “The book is a tribute to Coach Stucky and how great he was. When you see what he accomplished as a pioneer in training since 1970 – by 2001 coach was named only one of ten master strength coaches… the highest honor for strength and conditioning in the United States – and then seeing how so little has changed in the ignorance of training and coaching, I finally said, ‘I am writing this book!’ I basically address alot of elements of my professional career so I specifically address echo chambers in fitness, sport training, public education and sport coaching in public schools.

“In sports performance, there are four main concepts that have been misrepresented or misinterpreted. These four concepts are periodization, plyometrics, specialization and sport specific training. I address all these concepts. I also address the importance of physical education in schools and classroom design and how schools diminished its importance for the false quest of rigor in intelligence. Physical education is the most important class our students can take. I back this up clearly in the book.”

Tridico said the writing process was “exhaustive,” especially while building and running a business.

“I was building my business and busy with clients and writing when I had a moment. Then the editing process was even more exhausting and time consuming when I had little time to begin with,” he said. “However, nothing good comes easy so in the end it was a great process. I was fortunate that one of my former students, Shannon Coulter, was a publishing coordinator so I went with her and Page Publishing. The editing process is the most difficult part of the process. The company was great and they helped me out greatly so I am very happy and proud at this point.”

Tridico said he hopes readers can benefit from his experiences.

“Coach Stucky was a legend in strength and conditioning, so that allowed me to be able to see all the ‘Kool-Aid’ drinking that is promoted in sport performance, physical education, weight loss, etc… is mostly snake oil,” He said. “In short, my own improvement from the training was beyond comprehension unless you actually live it. I knew more about training because I actually performed the training not just studying and trying to coach it. Then with all the studying I did – a B.S. in kinesiology at the University of Arkansas, and master’s in exercise and sport studies at Boise State – along with being an assistant strength coach at Boise State, helped me understand all the misinformation and misrepresentation of training myths or fads that the vast majority of people have. In the end, it was training under Coach Stucky that was far more transformational than the textbooks.”