Meet Tim

Introduction by Kim Goss - Editor of Bigger Faster Stronger Magazine

Tim Adams has gone where few professional coaches have gone before. His success in helping athletes at all levels achieve physical and mental superiority has made him one of the most sought-after—and financially successful—coaches in this highly competitive field. But before turning the pages of his book to learn about Coach Adams’ success system, you need to understand the committed path that was involved in developing it.

A native of Lafayette, Indiana, Tim says his athletic aspirations can be traced to his father, who played football at Butler University and was a high school coach. An All-State running back in high school, Tim was recruited by the Air Force Academy in 1987 to play running back. Due to ACL knee injuries, he had to drop out of football but was able to pursue Olympic lifting and compete in the Collegiate National Championships. I got to know Tim during this time as he worked as an assistant strength coach alongside head strength coach Jack Braley and myself at the Academy until he graduated.

After graduating from the Academy and serving a short-term assignment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio as a financial manager, Tim was able to return to the Academy as an assistant strength coach while completing master’s degrees in exercise science and business administration. However, in 1998 Tim faced a tough decision.

To continue coaching meant making two sacrifices: Tim could no longer remain in the military, as he would soon be reassigned to another base; and he couldn’t stay on as a civilian strength coach at the Academy, as the head coach had offered the civilian strength coaching position to another coach. Tim’s choice was either to take a secure, well-paying job in a career field that did not interest him or to start from scratch by coaching in the private sector. Tim’s passion for coaching won out.

When Tim gave up his military commission, he moved to Denver and began getting work as a performance-enhancement coach for all types of clients—athletes and non-athletes alike. Several times a week Tim would make the three-hour round trip drive to Colorado Springs to work with figure skaters at the famous Broadmoor Skating Club; he also worked with local Denver athletes at several health clubs in the area. All the while he volunteered his services to several professional sports organizations, such as the Denver Broncos, with the intent of breaking into that market.

This was a tough period—going from a secure job with a guaranteed future to struggling to attract clients and making about half of what his pay had been in the Air Force, without benefits. All Tim could do was look toward the future.

“Every change in life is an opportunity to learn and enhance your skills” is a favorite motto of Tim’s. He says that working with those elite figure skaters was a great opportunity, as many were among the best in the world. At the same time, he was working with athletes on an introductory level, so he had to learn how to refine his workouts accordingly; and that was useful in helping him hone his skills as a coach. Yes, it was a struggle, and yet Tim says it was also a great learning experience.

Tim saw the value in working with all types of athletes, but soon it became clear to him that he was most interested in working with professional football players. He set about getting a job in the field, but that wasn’t easy. He was sending letters to every NFL organization but wasn’t hearing back from any of them. Nevertheless, he was persistent and eventually found some independent-contractor work training some of the Denver Broncos in the off-season.

Now that his foot was in the door, Adams’ goal was to position himself in such a manner that the players could see he was different from the other coaches and could help them achieve even more. As a result, when Tim’s contract expired, there were a half-dozen players asking him to continue working with them. That was the beginning of his career in working one-on-one with professional athletes, because when the players he was working with were traded, they would introduce him to players from other teams who would hire him as well. Tim also got the opportunity to work with several draft prospects; in 1991 alone he personally coached six players who were picked in the first round of the NFL draft and four who were picked in the second!

In 2003 Tim was hired as the head strength coach of the Oakland Raiders. He realized that he preferred coaching truly committed individuals on a more one-on-one basis so eventually he returned to the private sector to achieve even more success. How much? Tim does not like to drop names but says that his clients are “topnotch” and admits he has coached Olympic medalists, world champions, Super Bowl champions, NFL Pro Bowlers, Heisman Trophy winners, X-Game champions, collegiate All-Americans, and Hollywood entertainers.

One of the things Tim learned early in his career is that being a coach is much more than teaching athletes how to do exercises properly. When he started working with professional athletes, he quickly found that his job was much more focused on the mental side of the sport. “I’ve always been interested in learning what separates one athlete, one person from another, and the answer is in the mind,” says Tim. “I don’t care how good a coach you are, if your clients don’t have the will to win, they are going to get beat. Great athletes have a way to impose their will upon their opponents and find an edge, a way to intimidate them and wear them down. A determination and focus to be the best. It’s a game within a game. That is the most important key to success in sports and in life. Period.”

And this, the mental side of being a winning athlete, is what Making The Best Better! is about. So if you want to learn how one of the most accomplished coaches in the world gets the most out of an athlete and how you can master his method, then Making The Best Better! is for you!