http://www.theranchathletics.com/news/40-random-thoughts-on-training#.U32ZAdq9KSP

1. Don’t bother conditioning unless you’ve developed work capacity and strength first

2. If you aren’t cycling in a strength phase into your athletic development, you’re behind the curve.

3. Always train the glutes

4. You can never be too strong

5. Learn to breathe correctly

6. Learn to land before you learn to jump

7. The torso/abs are for stability

8. Correct your imbalances

9. Recovery is underrated and overlooked

10. Bilateral loading such as squats and deadlifts will carry over to unilateral movements

11. Play and have fun

12. Believe in your athletes more than the athlete believes in himself or herself.

13. Inspire

14. Instill confidence

15. There is no perfect program, keep refining and learning

16. Train the energy systems required for your sport, but also make sure you train all energy systems regardless.

17. It’s all about the hips; strong, stable, and mobile

18. Learning to absorb force is just as important as producing force

19. You must squat and deadlift

20. Consistency is going to be vital in improvement

21. Start slow and then learn to speed up

22. If something hurts, fix it

23. Soft tissue work is essential

24. Have a plan, but be ready to make changes to it. Just because it is written down does not mean that has to happen that day.

25. Unless you are a pro, don’t train like a pro. You must develop your body and work capacity to be at that level first

26. We don’t see all the inside factors taking place with other athletes, they struggle just the same as we do.

27. There are no 5min abs, or 15min butt and gut workouts

28. Girls will not become grotesque by lifting weights

29. Know when to lead and know when to follow; we can all learn something from everybody.

30. Change is necessary, don’t be afraid of it

31. Learning to move properly will fix and prevent most ailments

32. There are bad days and there are good days. Stay in the fight regardless, but if there get to be too many bad days, fix it.

33. Internal motivation is key to success. You will always be with yourself, so don’t learn to depend on external motivation to keep you going.

34. Accept help from others and be willing to listen

35. Big isn’t strong, strong is strong –Louie Simmons

36. There are no shortcuts. The fact that a shortcut is important to you means that you are a pussy. –Mark Rippetoe

37. All serious athletes go outside of sport specific work at some point to improve

38. It isn’t a corrective exercise; it is just the correct exercise for you.

39. Strength and mobility affect all other aspects of your fitness. Focus your time here.

40. Little Johnny won’t care when he’s 30 that he played on the All-World-7-Year-Old travel baseball team. He will care if he’s got a blown out elbow and back, though, and can’t play with his kids –Mike Robertson

lots of good stuff in there. only a couple things i don't fully agree with.
a- you don't have to do squats and deadlifts to be a good athlete but i know they have major advantages
b- 27. There are no 5min abs, or 15min butt and gut workouts
actually i can have a great butt gut workout inside 15 minutes!

lots of good stuff in there. only a couple things i don't fully agree with.
a- you don't have to do squats and deadlifts to be a good athlete but i know they have major advantages
b- 27. There are no 5min abs, or 15min butt and gut workouts
actually i can have a great butt gut workout inside 15 minutes!

yes, you're right that you don't have to squat and dead lift to be a good athlete.

you need to squat and dead lift to be a physiologically properly functioning human being.

lots of good stuff in there. only a couple things i don't fully agree with.
a- you don't have to do squats and deadlifts to be a good athlete but i know they have major advantages

37. The first place a serious athlete should be looking to improve their overall function is squats and deadlifts.

I have pretty good squat strength (I can squat 275 lbs 10 times no problem, I'm 200 lbs), but my foot/leg speed/power leaves much to be desired. Anyone have any drills for this? I want to be able to pump my legs faster/more explosively for more than a few seconds at a time in DH MTB riding. Some of it may have to do with my coordination and reaction time … I don't do explosive squats with weights because I've have had 2 knee operations. I do some plyometrics (box jumps) and air squats but they don't seem to translate to better lower-body power on the bike.

BTW, I'm talking here about the difference between strength and power here. My legs seem to be able to lift lots of weight (strength), but not at high/explosive speed (power).

step-ups.
do them.

if you want to get fast then train fast/explosively - this can be more difficult with questionable knees though.
bounding drills will help a bunch too.