Michael Yessis is a teacher, sports performance trainer, biomechanist, and author. He earned a Ph.D. from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. He has done work

translating Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

, adapting, and implementing sports training methodology from the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, including work by Yuri Verkhoshansky,

Anatoliy Bondarchuk Anatoly (russian: Анато́лий, Anatólij , uk, Анато́лій, Anatólij ) is a common Russian and Ukrainian male given name, derived from the Greek name ''Anatolios'', meaning "sunrise." Other common Russian transliterations are Ana ...

, and Vladimir Issurin, for over fifty years. Yessis has worked extensively with professional and amateur athletes, including

Marv Marinovich Marvin Jack Marinovich (August 6, 1939 — December 3, 2020) was an American college and professional football player who became a strength and conditioning coach. He played college football as a two-way lineman for the USC Trojans and was ...

, Evander Holyfield, Dianne DeNecochea, Jose Luiz Barbosa, and others in over 50 years of active work. Yessis worked with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

and

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

professional football teams, as well as Team USA Volleyball. Muscle & Fitness Magazine referred to Yessis as a "legendary biomechanist."

Biography

In 1975 Yessis and

Fred Wilt Frederick Loren Wilt (December 14, 1920 – September 5, 1994) was an American runner and FBI agent. He competed in the 10,000 m at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and finished 11th and 21st, respectively. Wilt held eight AAU titles, ranging from th ...

, noted athlete and running trainer, coined the term

plyometrics Plyometrics, also known as jump training or plyos, are exercises in which muscles exert maximum force in short intervals of time, with the goal of increasing power (speed-strength). This training focuses on learning to move from a muscle extensi ...

while observing Soviet athletes warming up. In 1982 Yessis traveled to the

to work with Yuri Verkhoshansky, a leading biomechanist and

sports trainer Athletic training is an allied health care profession recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA)"What is an Athletic Trainer?". The Board of Certification Website. 2003. Athletic training is also recognized by the Health Resources Serv ...

from the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

at a time of Soviet sports dominance. Yessis's teaching career focused on a performance-based version of sports conditioning & training. As a biomechanist, he emphasizes technique analysis and movement pattern training in conjunction with strength building based on the specific physical requirements of each sport. Yessis has authored 16 books and over 2,000 articles in various publications, and has appeared often on television, radio, and the internet as an expert guest or commentator. As a highly respected educator, Yessis was selected as a member of The Society for Unconventional Physical Education. As a researcher and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

, Yessis made available for an

English-speaking Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest langua ...

audience an array of significant Soviet books and journals created by the Soviet sports-scientists beginning in 1961, including Yuri Verkhoshansky, creator of the 'shock method' of training, later to be called "

's signature work Transfer of Training and the signature work of Vladimir Issurin, Block Periodization Training. Yessis was a leader of a group of athletes, sports coaches, and strength coaches to the

to study at the Moscow State Institute of Physical Culture. He established contacts for the exchange of information and for the development of greater exchanges between the countries. His work was responsible for making this body of

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

science-based sports research available in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Yessis' translations include: ''Transfer of Training Volume I'', ''Transfer of Training Volume II'', ''Block Periodization Training'', ''Special Strength Training A Practical Manual for Coaches'', ''Running and Hurdling'' and numerous Soviet journals. Yessis was chief editor for two well-established academic journals and senior editor for a Weider Publication. Yessis was the editor-in-chief for ''The Fitness and Sports Review International'', a quarterly publication from 1966–1994. He also held the editor-in-chief position for ''Soviet Sports Review'', a collection of translated journals from Soviet coaches and original articles from contributing writers from 1968–1972. In addition, Yessis provided translation and original writing contributions to ''Soviet Sports Review''. Yessis served as senior editor for ''Sports Fitness'' (a Weider Publication known today at

Men's Fitness ''Men's Fitness'' was a men's magazine published by American Media, Inc and founded in the United States in 1987. The premier issue featured Michael Pare from the television series '' The Greatest American Hero''. The magazine's slogan was "How ...

). Yessis served as training and technique consultant to the

of the NFL, trained former All-American and Oakland Raider

and his son Todd Marinovich, helping Todd to become a first-round draft choice. Yessis served as training and technique consultant to Evander Holyfield, professional

beach volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

player Dianne DeNecochea, and the U.S. Men's Olympic Volleyball Team. He has trained Olympians including Jose Luiz Barbosa, an 800m and 1500m runner, four time Olympian and gold, silver and bronze medalist in six world championships, Edgar Oliveira, an Olympian who participated in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

in the 1500m, Joao N'tyamba who participated in three Olympic games in the 800m and 1500m,

Wander Moura Wander do Prado Moura (born 22 February 1969) is a retired long-distance runner from Brazil, who won the gold medal in the men's 3000 metres steeplechase at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina. His winning time of 8:14.41 at ...

who holds the South American record in the 3000m Steeplechase, participated in the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

and

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and was victorious in the

Pan American games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

in the late 1990s.

Richmond University Richmond American University London is a private university in London, United Kingdom. Richmond was founded in 1972,by British educator Cyril Taylor. The university awards US degrees from the American state of Delaware, where Richmond is accr ...

head strength and conditioning coach Jay DeMayo is currently using Yessis' system. Yessis is currently training former NFL

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

Tim Green's son Troy Green (

Skaneateles High School Skaneateles Senior High School is a public high school in Onondaga County, New York, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located ...

, New York) in preparation for college. Yessis participates in seminars around the country and via webcast on a regular basis. Yessis has written 16 books in the sports and fitness field including ''Explosive Running'', ''Kinesiology of Exercise'', ''Build A Better Athlete'', and ''Sports: Is It All B.S.?''Yessis, Michael. ''Sports: Is It All B.S.?''. Cardinal Publishing Group, 2006. Yessis has authored more than 2,000

articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

on fitness and sports training that have appeared in various publications: ''Running Times'', ''Muscle & Fitness'', ''Shape'', ''Scholastic Coach'', ''Fitness Management'', ''National Strength and Conditioning Association Journal'' and ''Track and Field Coaches Review''. His column was published in

Muscle & Fitness ''Muscle & Fitness'' is an American fitness and bodybuilding magazine founded in 1935 by Canadian entrepreneur Joe Weider. It was originally published under the title ''Your Physique'', before being renamed to ''Muscle Builder'' in 1954, and acq ...

magazine for 25 consecutive years.

Academics

Professional organizations

*American Running Association, 1979–present. *National Strength & Conditioning Association, 1980–1995. *LeTip Business Men's Group, 1985–1988. *National College Physical Education Assoc. for Men, Western Society, 1960–1985. *American Association for Health, Physical Education & Recreation, 1958–1982. *International Congress for Health, Physical Education & Recreation, 1976–1982. *American College of Sports Medicine, 1972–1982, 1990–1992. *International Biomechanics Society, 1975–1980. *California Association for Health, Physical Education & Recreation, 1958–1979. *National College Physical Education Association for Men, 1960–1978. *International Military Sports Council, 1968–1978. *International Council of Sports & Physical Education, 1968–1975. *Association Internationale des Ecoles Superieures d'Education Physique (AIESEP), 1968–1972.

Publications/books in English

*Explosive Tennis: The Forehand Sports Training, Inc. (2000) *Explosive Running (2000) *Explosive Golf: Using the Science of Kinesiology to Improve Your Swing (1998) *Inspiring Others To Win. Griffing Publishing, 1998. (Chapter contribution). *Sports and Fitness Success From 6 To 16 (1996) *Body Shaping (1994). *Kinesiology of Exercise (1992) *Sports Restoration and Massage: Secrets Of The World's Greatest Superstars (1992) *Secrets of Soviet Sports Fitness and Training (1987) *Plyometric Training: Achieving Explosive Power in Sports (1986) *Running and Hurdling Fred Wilt, Editor, Dr. Yessis Translator Championship Books, 1984 *Handball, 3rd Edition (1st Edition, 1966; 2nd Edition, 1972) William C. Brown, Publishers (1978)

References

External links

cvasps.comrunrunlive.comdryessis.comrunning.competitor.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yessis, Michael 1932 births Living people American exercise and fitness writers Cal State Fullerton Titans men's tennis coaches University of Southern California alumni American tennis coaches