I Pick Things Up and Put Them Down

Walking into the Nelson Fieldhouse, you are greeted with a vast collection of trophies, medals, and ribbons from all different sports. Coasting through the halls, however, you begin to hear a sound from around the corner, but it's as if the sound is coming from beneath the floor. From walking down the steps, a loud thundering sound of heavy metal and the jingling of weights on a barbell is heard in the distance. Winding through the long hallways, you spot a weight room where, inside, you see a mammoth of a man with his bushy ginger beard, hefty size, and sporting a Bloomsburg baseball cap. "Happy days!" he chuckles in a bellowing voice from across the room. His name is Dr. Comstock, and he is one of our strength and conditioning coaches here at Bloomsburg University. 

Dr. Comstock's title is an Assistant Professor of Exercise Science, in which he is involved in teaching, research, and service at the University. He also coaches football at Columbia-Montour Area Vocational Technical School and has loved coaching the sport for 7 years. "Do what you can where you're at and try to make people's lives better, the vehicle for me is teaching them how to do stuff in the weight room, and on the football field," explained Dr. Comstock. His main role as a professor is teaching content about strength and conditioning. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, it is a structured program that combines resistance training and cardiovascular conditioning to improve specific qualities in an individual. Examples of this would be muscular strength, endurance, power, speed, agility, and coordination. This is done through basic movement patterns such as squatting, pushing, pulling, sprinting, and jumping, which enhance an athlete's abilities as well as better prepare them for their specific sport. 

A typical workday for Dr. Comstock will consist of teaching two to three classes, in which he always likes to get the students engaged by asking questions related to the content or having the students participate in a set of new exercises they will be learning about. 

    "Another technique queue I like for the RDL is to imagine your arms are hooks," announced Dr. Comstock to his students.

    Will replied, "Like they're ropes just hanging from your shoulders." He said in a deep voice.

    Dr. Comstock rotated to face him. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm looking for good example, Will!" He continued, "Alright, let's get into partners and set up your squat rack." The students shuffled into groups and arranged their equipment to warm up.

A project Dr. Comstock is most proud of was constructing the 477 and 294 classes. They are his cultivation of how what he teaches can be used in a real-world context, whether that is a clinical or athletic setting. His 294 Resistance Training Techniques focuses on the instructional side of training, such as lifting techniques, principles, and safety guidelines for resistance training. In his 477 class, he focuses more on the protocols used for assessing fitness and health in an individual, along with designing a program for that individual to improve specific qualities in the patient or client. "I’m honest about what I’m teaching, I’m honest about how it's not for everybody, honest about how it's not going to be easy, but its is going to be something valuable," he explained. He use's honest to describe his teaching style because he knows it will foster open communication between him and his students. 

Once his classes are complete, he transitions to working on a research study. He is currently working with Dr. Mookerjee on an injury surveillance study for athletic training. This is a longer-term study that will be looking at the psychological factors of injury rehabilitation in athletes. The athletes participating in this study will be working with the athletic training staff and completing questionnaires through their rehabilitation process to gather information on mental factors that relate to recovery from injuries. 

Then, to wrap up his work, he will respond to messages from students and review the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (JSCR). This is a peer-reviewed journal, published monthly by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), that focuses on research, reviews, and reports in the field of exercise science. It is a great resource for practitioners in his field as it covers all aspects of strength and conditioning, including exercise physiology, biomechanics, and sports nutrition. 

Dr. Comstock loves his work and has a fun time teaching students; however, it does have it's challenges. "Sometimes what they expect and what they need are two different things," he explained. The most challenging part of the day is helping students through the curriculum, as there comes a balance of giving students what they expect from the class and giving them the information they need to be successful. He expresses that mastering the basics of the content is what will allow his students to be successful, as this is what everything else later on will be built from.

As for where Dr. Comstock sees himself in the next five years, he simply wants to become someone in the local community whom you can come to learn about strength training. He does not seek to receive any national awards or recognition. He is striving to become a helpful and knowledgeable individual who will impact his community in a positive way. "Whatever you do, if you can look yourself in the mirror and say I did what I thought was right and I did the best I could, you'll live a happy life." This is something we can all take from Dr. Comstock, because if you check these two boxes off life's simple, you make choices and you don't look back.