IGCT Episode #273: Dr. Aaron Wellman "What Are Your Big Rocks"

Bio

Aaron Wellman is in his third season as the Giants’ strength and conditioning coach and third in the NFL following a 20-year career at the Division I collegiate level.

When he arrived in 2016, Wellman significantly changed the Giants’ offseason and in-season training regimens, and the result was a substantial decrease in the number of season-ending injuries suffered by Giants players.

Prior to joining the Giants, Wellman was an assistant director of strength and conditioning coach for the University of Notre Dame in 2015.

Wellman spent the previous four years (2011-14) as the director of strength and conditioning at the University of Michigan. He was responsible for the yearly programming of strength, speed and football-specific conditioning. Wellman performed movement screenings to evaluate mobility and stability deficits along with subsequent programs to mitigate individual injury risk. He implemented athlete-monitoring systems including GPS and neuromuscular fatigue assessments.

Prior to his tenure at Michigan, Wellman held similar director positions at San Diego State University (2009- 11) and Ball State University (2004-09).

Wellman began his strength and conditioning career as a graduate assistant at Indiana University (1996- 98). He then spent three years as a full-time assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Hoosiers, and was primarily involved with the football, baseball and softball teams, as well as developing individual nutrition programs for student-athletes.

Wellman also worked for three years at Michigan State University (2001-03). He was involved with all aspects of the strength and conditioning program for football and assisted with men’s and women’s basketball and ice hockey.

Wellman is a registered master strength and con- ditioning coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCA), a certified strength and conditioning specialist and personal trainer by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and a specialist in performance nutrition by the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA).

A native of Ligonier, Indiana, Wellman was a four- year member of the Manchester (Ind.) University football team. He earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise science in 1996. Wellman added separate master’s degrees from Indiana University in applied sport science (1998) and nutrition science (2009). In May 2018, he received a doctorate from Bond University (Queensland, Australia), Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine.

Wellman and his wife, Shellie, have a son, Grant, and a daughter, Grace.