Mike Barwis

Mike Barwis

Mike Barwis

^[1] Mike Barwis is the founder and CEO of the Barwis Methods family of companies, including the Barwis Methods Training Centers. He is currently the Senior Advisor to the New York Mets and was formerly the Director of Strength and Conditioning for the University of Michigan where he was directly responsible for the development and implementation of the strength and conditioning programs. Prior to this, in 2003, Barwis assumed the responsibility for the football program of the Mountaineers of West Virginia University while maintaining his position with the Olympic sports. During his tenure at West Virginia University, he designed and implemented programs for all of the Mountaineers' 21 varsity sports. His last 5 years at WVU were widely considered to be the golden era in WVU athletics.

Additionally, Barwis has been published in numerous journals, magazines, newspapers, written several books, and produced several videos. Barwis earned his undergraduate degree in Exercise Physiology from the School of Medicine at West Virginia University and his master's degree in Athletic Coaching with an emphasis in strength and conditioning. He also completed course work in the area of anatomy and physiology at Temple University. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the NSCA, BMI as a Barwis Methods Master Instructor, CPR and AED certified. Barwis has been recognized in his field as one of the most influential strength coaches of all time. Barwis is the star of the Discovery Channel’s hit TV show “American Muscle” which features his work with professional athletes and people with disabilities. He has also been featured in many TV, news, radio, and internet shows and is widely recognized as a leading authority on the neuromuscular systems and bio-mechanics. As a result, Barwis has become one of the world’s most desired experts for helping elite athletes prevent and recover from sports-related injuries and surgeries as well as for helping people with injuries and disorders affecting their neuromuscular system such as Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI), Cerebral Palsy (CP), Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), Muscular Sclerosis (MS), strokes and others. Athletes and people with neurological disabilities come from all over the world to receive assistance from him and his team as he has become known as the world's leader in understanding and enhancing human motion. As a consultant, Barwis helps teams and organizations assess their athletes’ biomechanics, work with their medical staff and strength staff to enhance scientific training protocols and helps design/redesign facility layouts. He also helps eliminate athletic imbalances and assesses soft tissue and neurological issues. Often, Barwis works directly with team owners and General Managers, advising on beneficial high-level organizational adjustments. The "Barwis Methods" businesses founded by Barwis include a wide variety of services and products that are either designed or influenced by his expertise. Such services include training for elite athletes of all sport varieties, combine training, personal and group training, diet and nutrition programs, the injury recovery program, corporate consulting and wellness programs, motivational speaking and more. Products developed by Mike include nutritional supplements, training equipment of all types, durable medical devices, athletic gear and apparel, flooring and graphics and other items.

Barwis also founded two 501c3 tax-exempt non-profits, Athletic Angels Foundation and the First Step Foundation. He unofficially began the Athletic Angels Foundation in 1996 while coaching in Morgantown, WV to help impoverished children gain access to athletic, academic and mentoring opportunities, leveraging his relationships with athletes and philanthropists to connect them with economically disadvantaged to show them love and respect give them opportunities they would otherwise forever be denied. The First Step Foundation was founded by Barwis in 2014 to help people with neuromuscular disabilities gain and retain access to the Barwis Methods Injury Recovery Program (IRP) as well as to enhance and expand the program to be able to help more people. The IRP uses Barwis' proprietary and revolutionary system, "Neurological Reengineering", to help people regain functional control over their nervous system, assisting their ability to cognitively control their movement.

Background

Mike Barwis is the founder and CEO of the Barwis Methods family of companies, including the Barwis Methods Training Centers, and a current consultant to the NY Mets. Most recently, he was the Director of Strength and Conditioning at the University of Michigan, where he was directly responsible for the development and implementation of the football strength and conditioning program, and he oversaw a staff that included 7 full-time assistants, 1 part-time assistant and 10 interns. Under his direct supervision, Barwis’s assistants also handled ice hockey, softball, wrestling, and men’s soccer.

Barwis earned his undergraduate degree in Exercise Physiology from the School of Medicine at West Virginia University and his master's degree in Athletic Coaching with an emphasis in strength and conditioning. He also completed course work in the area of anatomy and physiology at Temple University. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist by the NSCA, BMI as a Barwis Methods Master Instructor and CPR and AED certified.

Barwis has coached 38 National Strength and Conditioning (NSCA) All-Americans and was one of 10 coaches to receive the Bronze Award from the NSCA certification commission. He has trained thousands of Olympic and professional athletes in over 40 sporting events.

Barwis worked at West Virginia University for a total of 14 years. He was originally appointed the Director of Strength and Conditioning for Olympic sports in 2000 during which time he supervised all of the University’s sports programs. In 2003, Barwis officially assumed the responsibility for the Mountaineers football program while maintaining his position with the Olympic sports. During his tenure at West Virginia University, he designed and implemented programs for all of the Mountaineers 21 varsity sports. His last 5 years at WVU were widely considered to be the golden era in WVU athletics.

Red Wings Training with Barwis Methods

. During this time, Barwis also wrote and taught the Master's curriculum on Physiology for West Virginia.

Before and during his tenure as the strength and conditioning coach at West Virginia, Barwis also trained professional, Olympic, national and international competitors and medalists in wrestling, track and field, soccer, football, basketball, baseball, motocross, cycling, cross country, downhill skiing, boxing, ice hockey, tennis, swimming and diving, gymnastics, crew, body building and rifle.

Barwis joined Head Coach Rich Rodriguez at the University of Michigan in the winter of 2007. He was formerly employed as the strength and conditioning coach for the West Virginia Mountaineers.^[2] Mike Barwis was named director of strength and conditioning at West Virginia University, supervising the entire strength program for WVU athletics, in May 2003.^[3] He had been previously employed as assistant strength and conditioning coach beginning in August 1998.^[4] Barwis said, "We're kind of the pioneers of the most progressive strength program in the country. We (West Virginia) were the strongest team in the country the last four years -- best conditioned, the fastest, most balanced, best body awareness, and most explosive."^[5]

Philosophy

Barwis created his own philosophy of strength and conditioning called "Barwis Methods". This philosophy is a holistic approach to strength and conditioning and is based on scientific laws of medicine such as "Wolfe's Law" which states, "The body conforms and adapts to the intensities and directions to which it is habitually subjected." Barwis' background in neurophysiology and biomechanics helped him understand how the body responds and adapts to stimulus and assisted him in creating scientific, personalized and adaptive training cycles for his athletes. The Barwis Methods philosophy of strength and conditioning also incorporates a proper nutritional foundation and aspects of mental and emotional stimulation that generate specific hormonal responses to facilitate maximum performance and adaptations. “There’s no question,” Barwis said. “My job really is to invest in the lives of others and to figure out what they need – not just physically, but also mentally to get them where they need to be. That’s a big part. Getting yourself in the right mental mindset and putting yourself through things that people – and you – don’t think are possible allows you to get to a place before the season starts where you feel like it doesn’t matter what you bring to me. I’ve been through the war without actually fighting in one, and I don’t care what’s in front of me. I’m ready to destroy it.” ^[6]

One phase of strength training commonly used by Barwis is muscular hypertrophy. “It’s the first phase where essentially we put a load on the body with a high number of repetitions with very little rest and recovery, which accommodates an increase in mass of the muscles,” Barwis explained. “That’s important because as we increase the mass in the muscle fiber . . . that allows us to (maximize everything). It’s kind of a scientific approach minus the science.".^[6] Depending on the needs of the athlete related to their current condition and the time of year, Barwis will implement the hypertrophy, strength or power transfer phase of strength and conditioning as he has for years with athletes such as Richard Sherman, Nick Swisher, Ndamukong Suh and countless others.

Former Head Coach Rodriguez once stated that Barwis's role as strength and conditioning coach may be more important to a football team than offensive or defensive coordinator when out of season. " In a lot of ways, it's even more critical because there are about five months where he has them by himself," Former WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said. "He basically has them all summer, and there is a good bit in the spring where he is in control and we can't have any contact with the players. He is an extension of the coaching staff, and we expect the same effort and same intensity in the weight room as we have on the field."^[7]

Team Accomplishments

During his five-year tenure, West Virginia produced eight NFL draft picks including one 1st round pick and three 1st day picks.^[8]

2005/2006 season

West Virginia produced their first ever consecutive 11 win seasons in school history. 2006 West Virginia were matched up against the No. 8 Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia was the SEC Champion. They took a surprising 31-21 lead at halftime and set a BCS record of combined points in a first half of BCS game. And held on to defeat the Georgia Bulldogs 38-35. They finished 5th in the final polls tying the highest in school history.

2006/2007 season

West Virginia played its way to the Gator Bowl and defeated Georgia Tech 38-35 locking up a second straight top 10 finish.

2007/2008 season

The Mountaineers started the season as the No. 3 ranked team and reached a ranking of No. 1 in the nation in the Coaches Poll and finished the season with a third consecutive 11-win season after the Fiesta Bowl Victory. The victory came over the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners had no answer for the speed of the Big East Champion West Virginia Mountaineers and defeated them 48-28.

2007/08 off-season

After being hired in December 2007, Barwis and Head Coach Rich Rodriguez "took one look at Michigan's weight room in December and decided to gut it. It was outdated for their needs. Six weeks and more than $1 million later, there were machines in the building that a layman would never recognize."^[9] Above the door to the workout room, a sign was posted saying "Through these doors walks the best-conditioned, hardest-working team in America."

In the spring and summer of 2008, over thirty professional athletes trained with Barwis, including Larry Foote, who said he became "more explosive, faster and better-tuned as he heads into his seventh season in the NFL." The workouts, referred to by one newspaper as the "Barwis School of Pukitude," were attended by, among others, Braylon Edwards, Chris Perry, Jamar Adams, Steve Breaston, Victor Hobson, James Hall, Leon Hall, LaMarr Woodley, Mike Hart and Ryan Mundy (who has the unique distinction of having trained with Barwis at both Michigan and West Virginia).^[10][11] Hockey players Kevin Porter, Chad Kolarik and Matt Hunwick also trained with Barwis over the summer.^[12]

Former WVU players Steve Slaton, Darius Reynaud and Johnny Dingle also made plans to work with Barwis in Ann Arbor prior to the NFL draft. "'Mike's like an uncle to us,' Dingle said. 'He's a nice friend to have, whatever you need Mike for, he'll do.'"^[13] s

2008 season

After Michigan upset then-ranked No. 9 Wisconsin on September 27, 2008, the Detroit Free Press reported that "when they were rallying and Wisconsin was wilting, the Michigan football team couldn't stop praising Barwis".^[14] Michigan won the game 27–25 after trailing by 19 points. "Every player noticed, even when things didn't click, that they were overwhelming Wisconsin." Moreover, "[t]he strength and conditioning program is paying dividends on the field. Michigan has appeared stronger in the second half of all four games than in the first half."

2009 season

In the second game of the 2009 season, Michigan beat Notre Dame by scoring with 11 seconds left to take 38–34 lead. Sports Illustrated reported about the quarterback, Tate Forcier: "And like all these Wolverines, he's in excellent shape. After Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen carved up its defense for 118 passing yards and 17 points in the second quarter alone, Michigan seemed to wear down the Irish in the second half. 'I attribute that to conditioning,' declared running back Brandon Minor, who pounded for 106 yards on 16 carries. 'We pride ourselves on that.'".^[15]

Personal

Barwis is a native of the Philadelphia area. He is married to Autumn Barwis, and they have two sons together, Raymond and Charlie and two daughters Hannah and Julia. Autumn Barwis was an associate director in the strength and conditioning at West Virginia University.

In 2000, Mike Barwis hired Speck as an intern. According to an interview with the Dominion Post, a newspaper published in Morgantown, West Virginia, Mike explained:

"Autumn and I worked together for about seven years. We were best friends and obviously excellent co-workers. We had similar interests, the same drive, the same ambition, the same direction. We complement one another at work. We complement one another as friends.

"After a number of years we decided maybe it was time to do it outside of here. We really seemed to match up personality-wise, ambition-wise, direction-wise and interest-wise.

"She was the first person I ever found that filled all the voids in my life. The things I was bad at, she was good at ... and she's not bad at anything."^[16] The couple married on June 30, 2006.

See also

• List of Michigan Wolverines football trainers

References

External links

• Article about Barwis from Scout.com
• Athletic Strength and Power Podcast: Part One with Mike Barwis
• www.barwismethods.com