Many of us in the world of athletics have become so consumed with instant gratification and finding the “quick fix” that we sometimes forget how to be patient, be present, and be happy with fragments of improvement each day. When it comes to athletic performance and training the human body, the slow cooking or “Crock-Pot approach” is often the safest and most effective means for making positive physiological changes in the tissues that comprise the human body.

Another favorite analogy of mine is to think of training as venom: a highly toxic and potentially lethal substance when encountered or administered in large doses. When repeated small doses are administered over longer durations of time, however, the same venom can become a catalyst for growth, resiliency, and performance as the body adapts to the stress being applied. Conversely, the “Fryalator” approach, or too much stimulus all at once, can fry the athlete and their central nervous system, muscles, tendons, and ligaments, as well as their drive to train and compete. Don’t fry your results! Get the Crock-Pot out, turn it on low, and understand that greatness will take time to achieve.

‘How You Do Anything Is How You Do Everything’

This is a line we use quite often when athletes are training; in fact, it’s on the door when you walk into our facility. Be sure athletes carry this mindset with them from the time they first step foot in the gym to the last second they spend in their cool-down or recovery, and you will see measurable results. This summer we made a few changes to our athlete’s warm-up protocol that did just that.

Their warm-up is the one thing they do every day they train. As a result, we have the opportunity to make some awesome performance improvements when athletes are intentional and purposeful in their approach to their warm-up each day. We use the warm-up as an opportunity for success rather than something that has to be done before they can start training. We help athletes understand that the warm-up carries the same emphasis as the rest of their training each day and should not be taken lightly.

Making a Change

What did we change to help make our athletes faster this summer? Quite simply, we went outside, as this was a reasonable solution to our problem of needing more distance to run. Like many private sector performance facilities (or even some public gyms), we don’t have 100 yards to run on inside—or even half of that. This means we were spending zero time at top speed in our running mechanics work.

For the most part, our athletes don’t reach top speed until 20–25 yards, which is about the time they would run smack into the wall at the end of the turf. When preparing athletes for the speed of sport, this top end speed work is vital to developing tissue durability and actually getting faster. We recognized that we were not effectively covering this in their training, and we needed to, so we went outside to a designated strip of approximately 75 yards in the parking lot.

When preparing athletes for the speed of sport, top end speed work is vital to developing tissue durability and actually getting faster. Share on X

Athletes did half of their warm-up inside, consisting of dynamic flexibility, joint ROM, and tissue prep work, and then went outside to run. We kept it short and sweet, as it can be very easy to overdo it on volume of ground contacts on an asphalt surface if we are not careful. For some of the older athletes, this warm-up took place three days a week. Considering that it was our first year implementing the new protocol, it was important to closely monitor their feedback each week and gather intel on how they felt both during and after each warm-up. Here’s what we did.

Video 1. The athlete performs a straight leg run followed by a run out at “tech speed”—their fastest speed while maintaining perfect technique, proper focus, and intent—for the same distance.

1. Straight Leg Run Outs– 2 x 20/20 yards – Straight leg run for 20 yards and then run out of it for 20 yards at a “tech speed.”

Tech speed is the fastest speed they can attain at perfect technique while maintaining proper focus and intent on what they are doing. The “run out” was also focused on being more elastic with their posterior chain and really feeling how their feet strike the ground with every stride. These straight leg runs also provided some much-needed durability for the hamstring muscles and tendinous junctions in the posterior chain while at higher speeds. We feel strongly that in order to help decrease injuries to the posterior chain we must apply regular stress to these structures at high speeds as found in upright running drills or a straight leg run.

Video 2. Athletes use the parking lot to perform wicket run outs. Be sure to adjust the wickets based on athlete leg length and running experience, as well as when athletes aren’t obtaining the right flow through the hurdles.

1. Wicket (Hurdle) Run Outs– 2 x 8–10/30 yards – Run through 8–10 wickets with a focus on upright posture and foot strike under the body. After exiting the wickets, maintain the same posture and mechanics for approximately 30 yards.

We mostly utilized 6” wickets and a spacing of approximately 4’9” for the first three wickets with a 4–5 step run in, 5’ for the next three, and 5’3” for the last two wickets. Each day, our beginner high school athletes started at this spacing, and then, as the older high school and college athletes came in later in the afternoon, we adjusted by adding approximately 3” to each wicket. Leg length and running experience both play a role with wicket spacing, and a keen coach’s eye and experienced intuition will recognize when distances need to change. Do not be afraid to make changes if athletes are not obtaining the correct flow through the hurdles.

New and veteran coaches alike should use video analysis as often as possible to help slow it down and start to develop that eye for posture and technique. The last thing you want is for athletes to feel uncomfortable and muscle the foot over the wicket or cast the lower leg out front as they move through them. In these situations, it may be helpful to use dowels or lay the wickets down to help athletes feel the correct positions without forcing or impacting the harmony of their movement.

1. Technique Runs– 2 x 75 yards – Here we put it all together and have the athlete run at the highest speed they can for approximately 75 yards, then rest and repeat one more time. The speed is dictated by their technique, and because of this, speeds typically float somewhere around 90–95% of their true top speed due the cognitive nature of the drill.

Even though we ask them to run at the highest speed they can, we also ask them to still think about their technique, such as foot contact, posture, bounce, etc. It was so cool to watch athletes improve over the summer and really begin to feel the changes and adaptations during the longer distance runs. Some reported that it felt like they were floating and not having to work as hard to move quickly. This feeling can sometimes be attributed to the foot striking the ground more effectively in relation to the athlete’s center of mass and, thus, improving their timing. It also can be attributed to a stronger, more reflexive posterior chain.

When their timing improves and running becomes more elastic in nature, it becomes fun to feel the body gliding over the ground. It was not uncommon for us to stop athletes from taking extra reps later in the summer because they were having so much fun “feeling” and moving faster. There was also feedback from parents at the start of fall sports, as they could see their kids moving with more fluidity and bounce on the field.

Key Performance Indicators

When it’s all said and done, the athletes using this warm-up get approximately 250 yards of high speed upright running each day that is brief, intentional, and highly effective. For some of our college athletes, this approach added approximately 9,000 yards of upright running to their training this summer that they otherwise would not have been exposed to with our prior warm-up protocol. Our younger high school athletes saw closer to 5,000 yards by the end of their summer training.

Utilizing the parking lot helped athletes safely add upright running volume to their summer training and impacted their conditioning and energy system development. Share on X

We also believe this impacted their conditioning and energy system development, since they were able to safely add upright running volume to their summer training that they otherwise would not have implemented. A gradual ramp-up in running volume during the pre-season can help reduce soft tissue injuries when athletes move into competitive seasons.

Key performance indicators we observed were athletes learning how to bounce and use tendons in their running versus a more muscle-driven and tight running strategy. This bounce I keep talking about is what will lead to the “floating” sensation mentioned above. In my experience, muscle-driven running is sometimes found in athletes who spend too much time in the gym and not enough time actually running, as they do in sport. The gym can be helpful for athletes in many ways, but too much gym time or lifting weights can also have adverse effects on a highly coordinated skill, such as running, that should be very natural and fluid. Performance coaches also need to spend as much time as possible studying sprint mechanics and running technique so that they practice effective coaching strategies.

Another observation was the athletes utilizing their “front side” mechanics more effectively, which allowed for a more efficient forefoot strike to the ground underneath them instead of a heel strike too far out in front of their center of mass. Athletes also learned what it was like to have some “flow” and be more elastic in their running, which became fun and something they looked forward to doing with their new confidence and technique. This confidence in their technique is vital to opening up new doors in their speed development.

Key performance indicators we observed were athletes learning how to bounce and use tendons in their running versus a more muscle-driven and tight running strategy. Share on X

If an athlete truly believes they are getting faster and also believes in the process or program they are following, you have just empowered a lifetime of speed development. It is my opinion that drills such as running through wickets could provide the most bang for your buck in terms of long-term development when approached in this way. These drills just are tools, and you should use them as such when trying to enhance speed development. If you can use tools and provide drills that will help athletes “feel” it more often, you will be more effective as a coach.

‘Show Me and I Will Forget. Teach Me and I Will Remember. Involve Me and I Will Learn.’

We did not test longer distance times, as our facility has a parking lot that we share with four other businesses, so setting up timing gates would have been a nightmare amongst all the traffic. However, the changes were visible to our staff and observed and felt by all of the athletes we trained, which was valuable feedback for first year implementation even without test scores to back it up. College athletes have reported feeling faster than ever since being back on the field with their teams this fall, which is more great feedback.

Ten-yard acceleration times were faster for the entire population of athletes in post-testing at the end of the summer, which may or may not be directly linked to the upright running warm-up we implemented. The 10-yard test is descriptive of an athlete’s acceleration, and it is much more tissue-driven and powerful in nature than upright running. If any correlation exists between the warm-up and the athlete’s 10-yard acceleration, it would most likely be in their confidence in their running ability due to the added volume in their training over the 10–12 weeks of camp.

I will say that I recognized less compliance or squish at the foot and ankle upon impact with the ground in their acceleration phase of running. We viewed this with slow-motion video clips and made sure the athletes were able to see and understand it as well. These healthy improvements in stiffness could also play a role in the 10-yard testing improvements.

Allowing the athletes to run at higher velocities each day is highly effective as an addition to their warm-up protocol and a means of potentiating the system prior to a gym-based workout. Share on X

We also learned that allowing the athletes to run at higher velocities each day is a highly effective addition to their warm-up protocol. Athletes responded fantastically to this simple speed-enhancing approach, which requires nothing more than 8–10 short wickets or hurdles, three cones, and a length of parking lot, grass, or turf of 75–100 yards. It also acts as a highly effective means of potentiating the system prior to a gym-based workout.

You are hard-pressed to find a faster athletic movement than sprinting, and if you want to get an athlete’s nervous system firing on all cylinders prior to a workout, then go sprint! When it comes to preventing soft tissue injuries during high-speed running, you will also be hard-pressed to do this without actually spending time running at high speeds. Don’t let the four walls of your facility represent the limits of your athlete’s programs—there’s an opportunity for some really awesome results just outside those doors.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

Oh, how recruiting has changed for college coaches since the birth of social media.

Before Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat were all a thing, recruiting was a matter of identifying and scouting high school athletes, vetting them by speaking to their coaches and family members, and then ultimately hoping they choose to continue their athletic career and studies with your program.

Today, however, high school athletes regularly tweet about the schools that have made them offers and the schools they’re still visiting. They receive input via comments—both positive and negative—from fans and their peers based on what they posted on social media. They’ll share highlight packages of themselves, retweet, and like anything positive said about their game by others. Many will go as far as announcing their eventual commitments exclusively on their social media channels.

Throw all of this in with the fact that these are still 16- to 18-year-old kids who also enjoy life outside of the sport that they excel in, and an athlete’s social media accounts can mirror the inappropriate language and antics often heard and seen throughout the halls of the high schools they attend Monday through Friday.

Instead of just vetting players through game film, in-person scouting, and speaking with coaches and family members, college coaches and recruiters now also keep a close eye on their prospects’ social media accounts. They want to ensure that if they continue to recruit them, they’ll be pursuing a person who will represent their university and athletic program with class and dignity.

Just as an adult can be punished (or even terminated) by their employer for posting inappropriate or offensive content on their social media channels, high school athletes can lose opportunities if they slip up on social media. Their dream school may pull a scholarship, and they risk schools not recruiting them that otherwise might have shown interest.

Student-athletes must understand that free speech on social media has consequences, including rescinded scholarships & loss of recruitment offers. Share on X

High school athletes can argue that they’re entitled to freedom of speech protections as defined by the First Amendment, and this is true. However, high school student-athletes also need to remember that free speech isn’t without consequences. And posting inappropriate, controversial, or offensive content on social media channels—or maintaining connections with questionable individuals over various social networks—can have a huge impact on their future.

In this post, we’ll dig further into the social media channels that your players likely are on today, good and bad social media posting habits, and examples of standout high schoolers who’ve seen recruiting change drastically due to the content they’ve shared on social media.

Here’s a closer look at what you should be telling your players about their behavior and posting habits on social media.

The Big 7 Social Media Platforms

Today’s high school athletes most often frequent seven popular social media platforms:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Snapchat
• Instagram
• Tumblr
• TikTok
• Pinterest

This isn’t to say that all high school athletes use every one of these or use them equally. But you can bet if a college program is recruiting them, the coaching staff will know exactly which platforms they’re on and will monitor all of them.

What Posts About Off-the-Field Behavior Suggest About You

So what does a high school athlete’s social media behavior imply about them? It can often represent an unfiltered view into the life and character of an individual. Someone who conducts themselves professionally and appropriately on social media networks will help reinforce a college coach’s decision to recruit them. However, an athlete who uses foul language, racial or ethnic slurs, or engages inappropriately with others or shares offensive content will draw pause from college coaches. And rightfully so.

When college coaches recruit for their programs, they not only want exceptional athletes who fit their mold but also upstanding students. Exceptional athletes with poor character can potentially lead to more trouble than they’re worth if they continue poor social media behavior while attending the university. Also, if the athlete plays a revenue sport of interest to the public, these posts will be seen and possibly published by members of the media.

We’ll ask the question again: Just what can poor social media posts say about a high school athlete? Here’s a look at some of the conclusions that coaches may draw from questionable posts:

• The player is involved in drug and alcohol use (or abuse).
• The player doesn’t tolerate others with different religious beliefs or those of different ethnicities or races.
• The player doesn’t take academics seriously.
• The player is involved in other trouble or possibly illegal behavior.
• The player crosses the line of being confident to portraying arrogance or cockiness.

Social Media No-No’s

If your players don’t know these, they should. You absolutely want to advise them to refrain from posting these things to the social media platforms we mentioned earlier.

Plagiarism. Students can share, retweet, and repost as much as they like, but saying something or taking work that’s clearly not theirs and giving everyone the impression it is constitutes plagiarism. Do not encourage this behavior. It’s a simple one to avoid—make sure there are proper attributions and citations associated with anything shared on social media.

Any illegal activities. We get how high school is usually a time when young people begin to attend parties and perhaps engage in recreational drug use and consume alcoholic beverages. We can pretend it doesn’t happen, or we can be honest and accept the reality that it does occur. As coaches and mentors, we prepare kids the best we can and hope they make the right decisions when faced with certain situations.

We’re not saying anyone is a bad person if they do engage in these behaviors occasionally, but they certainly should not post it on social media. The bottom line is that it’s illegal. And anything illegal not only may land a student in hot water with the authorities or their school but also with coaches who may want to recruit them at the next level.

Fiery emotions. The pause then post guideline comes into effect here and will become a recurring theme in this post. Many times after tough losses or emotional wins, athletes are apt to log on to their social media accounts and sound off about what happened. And while posting something like Big Win! is fine, taking things too far—in victory or defeat—can have detrimental effects.

Bottom line: advise your players not to let their frustration, anger, or jealousy boil over online. Showing true emotion is natural, but what they say needs to be appropriate—not something they’ll regret after emotions have cooled and they’ve had more time to think.

Negligent behavior. This one should go without saying. Posting about a lack of care or ambition can do a lot more harm than help with recruiters—especially when your players are working hard to get the big offer they’re waiting on.

We understand that nobody is perfect, these are 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old kids, and mistakes happen on social media. You remember what it was like to be a teenager, right? (Though you likely didn’t have to worry about looking bad on social media in your day). Mistakes may happen, tempers flare, and kids might post something they later regret even if they follow the pause then post rule.

How to Remedy Social Media Mistakes

So what can a high school athlete do if they’ve posted something inappropriate? We have a few recommendations.

Delete the post. Although screenshots may still exist, deleting the post can prevent it from spreading beyond what has already occurred. On a similar note, if you have a heavily-recruited player, advise them to scour old social media content and remove anything that may be controversial. Removal can reduce the risk of something from their past coming back to bite them when it matters.

Address the post. If an athlete is being recruited, they’ll likely be asked about the post the next time a coaching staff contacts them. We suggest they address it beforehand in the form of an apology post. Something along the lines of this usually suffices:

“Last night, I used poor judgment in posting something that I should not have. I’m very sorry to anyone I may have offended and to my friends, family, and teammates for representing them that way. It was a mistake, and I will learn from it moving forward.”

Learn from the post. After following the two steps above, the athlete needs to practice what they’ve preached and make sure they don’t make the same mistake twice. Making a routine mistake once will often not hurt their standing when it comes to recruiting. Making the same mistake over and over again likely will.

Social Media Best Practices

Let’s now take a moment to focus on some ideal topics for posts that will help a player’s position with coaches and recruiting coordinators.

Support and encouragement. Instruct your players to use their social media accounts to support and encourage others, whether it’s their teammates, fellow students, or community members. When players make an effort to offer public support to a worthy cause or a worthy person, it reflects well on them.

College coaches aren’t only looking for exceptional talents; they’re looking for exceptional leaders and teammates as well. Though he’s a professional athlete, Houston Texas star JJ Watt excels in using social media for many charitable efforts, including the awareness and funds he raised for victims of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Highlights. Players can use their social media accounts to market themselves to recruiters and college coaches in a tasteful manner by sharing highlights from a big game they had, personal mixtapes, or any published features from newspapers and magazines. Players shouldn’t be afraid to advocate for themselves a little bit on their social media channels, yet it’s important to do so in a humble and gracious way to avoid appearing arrogant.

Inspirational quotes. Everyone has their favorite inspirational quotes from sports figures or historical icons. Sharing them in a way that reflects a player’s situation or offers some commentary on current events can be a tactful, classy way to communicate a certain point.

Personality. Last but not least, make sure your players know it’s okay to flash some personality online. It’s fine to chime in on the hot new pop single, vent about who got voted off The Voice, or add their two cents about a professional sporting event. Personality is a good thing.

It’s never bad for your players to shine on social media the same way they excel on the field or court. The above examples can help them do just that.

Privacy Settings: Public vs. Private

One of the common excuses for poor social media behavior, whether from a high school athlete or anyone, is that they’ve set their account to private so it’s not accessible by everyone. Another excuse we hear is that they’ve posted on their Twitter profile that “retweets or likes aren’t endorsements,” which is somehow perceived as a “get out of jail free card” for sharing questionable or offensive content on Twitter. Spoiler alert for the latter example: it’s not.

In this section, we’ll focus on the public versus private debate. To that, we ask: Is anything said or shared on social media private anymore? And while, yes, you can restrict the people who follow you and see your content, screenshots don’t lie. Someone who takes and then shares a screenshot from a high-profile high school athlete can do real damage.

A standout player should make their social media accounts public & use their real name to increase their reach to potential colleges and coaches. Share on X

Furthermore, it behooves a standout player to make their social media accounts public and use their real name. It’s a great way to increase the reach of their network and connect with more potential colleges and coaches who may have an interest in extending a scholarship.

How NCAA Coaches and Recruiters Vet Student-Athletes

Per NCAA recruiting guidelines, college coaches aren’t allowed to contact recruits over social media channels publicly, engage in a public conversation on social media with recruits or about recruits, or post photos of student-athletes until the student has signed a Letter of Intent with the university.

However, social media guidelines have loosened for college coaches when it comes to recruiting. Specifically, the NCAA permits Division I college coaches to directly contact recruits through a social media platform’s private messaging function, typically after a student has begun their junior year of high school.

College coaches are allowed to *slide into the DMs* of the high school athletes they're most interested in, per NCAA rules. Share on X

So, we could say that college coaches are allowed to “slide into the DMs” of the high school athletes they’re most interested in. These guidelines offer a nice recruiting tool for coaching staffs that know how to properly use social media as a tool. It allows them to pop in and wish a recruit good luck before a big game, congratulate them on a big performance, or touch base about life.

It’s also worth noting that the NCAA doesn’t specifically state that college coaches must monitor their recruits’—or even their current players’—social media channels. The big-time programs, however, have coaches on staff who are specifically tasked with this duty and contact recruits via the messaging features when appropriate.

Just as exceptional high school athletes are already under a microscope by the opposition when it comes to game planning on the field or court, their social media accounts are under a microscope by the programs that are recruiting them to play at the next level.

One social media misstep by a high school athlete can lose a scholarship or stop recruiting efforts. Share on X

One misstep could result in athletes losing scholarships that have already been offered, or programs could completely stop recruiting a player. It’s happened before, and surely it will happen again. Are the players that you’re coaching today prepared to behave appropriately when they login to their social media accounts?

It Can Happen to You

Think one little tweet or Facebook post can’t hurt you? Especially when there’s a delete button that can remove the post from the Internet forever?

We have three words for you: Screenshots are forever.

As we said, athletes have already lost scholarships—and it will surely continue to happen if high school athletes don’t approach their social media accounts as a professional, ethical medium. A good rule of thumb to follow is this: don’t put anything on social media that you wouldn’t say to a beat reporter. Another good rule of thumb to follow, and we’ll say it again, is to pause before you post.

A pulled scholarship or reduced recruiting interest could happen to any high school athlete over inappropriate activity, regardless of how much talent they possess on the field or court. Here’s a look at two high-profile examples where this happened:

• In 2012, a highly ranked wide receiver playing at a prep school in New Jersey garnered interest from the University of Michigan (U-M) and his home state Rutgers University football program. But a series of graphic tweets resulted in his expulsion from school, and U-M and Rutgers both stopped recruiting him. He eventually went on to play Division I football, but not at his preferred universities.
• In 2017, a Virginia high school running back started a YouTube channel, on which he frequently used foul language. He also posted a video of himself trespassing. The player, who was committed to playing football at Old Dominion, received a phone call after several of his inappropriate videos went viral and learned the school had pulled his scholarship as a result.

These are high-profile examples of inappropriate social media coming back to bite a high school athlete. But don’t think for a second that similar situations haven’t happened in non-revenue sports like golf, volleyball, rowing, swimming, tennis, and track and field.

Proactive Solutions

What’s the best way to nip poor social media behavior in the bud, regardless of whether colleges are recruiting your high school athletes? Simple: explain that their words hold power and influence. As their coach, you need to remind them that when they tweet or post to Facebook and Instagram, potentially anyone can see what they’re saying. And remind them that they represent more than just themselves—they represent their team, their school, and their community.

Studies indicate that most students begin using social media during their junior high school years. In high school, even if their popularity changes and their athletic ability grows, their behavior may not.

We’re not saying that high school coaches should prohibit their players from having fun. Instead, encourage players to focus strictly on the positive when it comes to social media behavior.

High school athletes should congratulate their team after a big win rather than tweeting about how hard they’ll be partying to celebrate it. They should publicly thank college coaches who recruit them and extend offers on social media, rather than voicing favoritism for one school over another or sharing posts from others regarding their feelings for a program.

And yes, it’s okay for them to share highlight reels and personal mixtapes as a means of amplifying their recruiting profile as long as they do it in a grateful and not overly boastful manner.

When used correctly, social media serves as a nice marketing tool and an ideal complement to their athletic ability for college coaches to see. Share on X

With offers and scholarships potentially hanging on a single tweet or post, it’s important to train your players on how to use social media. When used correctly, it serves as a nice marketing tool as well as an ideal complement to athletic ability for college coaches to see. When it’s not, it can become a case study of what not to do for future exceptional high school athletes.

One thing is certain, social media isn’t going away anytime soon, so your players will continue using it. Make sure they have the right information and proper use guidelines so they can excel in high school and at the next level.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

By Alan Bishop

As a college athlete, my love for the weight room was greater than my love for the game it was preparing me for. When it came to strength training, it was the process that got me hooked. Being able to drive the human body’s progress with something as simple as percentages, sets, and reps was incredible to me. As I learned more about the intricacies of the human body and the principles of physical development, strength and conditioning became my passion.

There is a great quote from the character Bane in the movie The Dark Knight Rises:

“Oh, you think the darkness is your ally, you merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man; by then, it was nothing to me but blinding! The shadows betray you, because they belong to me.”

This quote speaks to me on many levels, but from a training standpoint, it touches my soul. I get emails regularly from kids who believe S&C looks fun and are thinking about getting into it. My advice to them is to do something else.

You’ve got to be built a little bit differently to thrive in this environment. You’ve got to absolutely love the process, and the grind is part of that process. I don’t know a single aspiring coach with hesitations or reservations who ended up lasting very long. Most people spend years interning and most never get a full-time job. Those who do have a high divorce rate, typically make a salary well below their education level, and rarely retire as a coach.

Then there are the coaches who do get full-time jobs but can’t ever seem to find a “work-life” balance. Work-life balance is a fallacy because there is no such thing as “work-life.” There is only “life,” and coaching is a lifestyle.

Work-life balance is a fallacy because there is no such thing as “work-life.” There is only “life,” and coaching is a lifestyle, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

There is no glory in poverty, and there is no honor in neglecting your family. Many coaches have found great success “balancing” their work, finances, family, religion, etc. Many haven’t. You better be absolutely convinced you can make it all work before diving into this profession.

Going back to the Bane quote—for me, every aspect of being a strength coach makes sense, and it is probably because I was born into the iron game. I was doing military-style PT tests (push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, etc.) when I was a kid. My dad is a retired 30-year Army veteran, and as far back as I can remember, I mimicked his training. He had a policy that we’d get baseball cards if we improved our totals by five reps on push-ups and sit-ups. I remember him teaching me to do push-ups against the wall when I couldn’t get any more reps on the ground. Looking back, I’d consider that the most simplistic introduction to mechanical advantage drop sets in the history of training.

When I was 10 years old, I saw guys Olympic weightlifting. I started sneaking onto my neighbor’s back porch to use his curl bar to mimic what I saw. At 12, I was sneaking into the fitness center on base to use the dumbbells and bench press. In high school, we had a small weight room with a whiteboard that our football coach wrote workouts on. Every day started with what he wrote, but we turned it into a 1 rep max contest before the hour was up. Our 1 rep maxes went through the roof because we worked our asses off in a highly competitive environment, but we weren’t training, we were just lifting hard and letting puberty do its thing. Newbies can make progress doing just about anything, but once you get a few years under your belt, you need structure.

Once I got into the collegiate setting and got a taste of real programming, progressive overload, periodization, and coaches who were absolute savages at teaching kids how to train, I was hooked. Every semester I’d train with the earliest lifting group of the morning so I could start my day in the weight room. I had coaches who put together great programs and coached their faces off.

I made incredible gains as a collegiate student-athlete, and that is a credit to the coaches because, looking back, I made that progress in spite of what I did off the field, not because of it. Everybody has a story about why they didn’t make it to the next level. For me, I just wasn’t good enough at the actual game of football for anybody to pay me to do it. I was a very average athlete with an above-average work ethic. That combination was just enough to help me occasionally see the field.

The incredible gains I made as a collegiate student-athlete are a credit to the coaches because that progress was in spite of what I did off the field, not because of it, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

My biggest “regret” from my playing days is that I was so beat up by the time I finished, my progress in the weight room and my development on the field stopped. Not only did it stop, I regressed.

Injuries are multifaceted, and make no mistake about it, I was beat to hell from years of playing football, but I didn’t do myself any favors from a career longevity standpoint with my approach to training or my off-the-field habits. I’m not talking about drugs or alcohol; I’m talking about really poor recovery and nutrition. Experience is the best teacher, and my mistakes as an athlete have greatly influenced my teaching philosophies as a coach.

The biggest takeaway from mistakes in my own training as an athlete that has shaped my approach to training student athletes is: “Health drives performance.” As long as you’re following this advice with every decision you make, it’s really hard to go wrong. I could write an entire book on what not to do, but here are four big things I messed up as an athlete that I now preach with solutions as a coach.

Chasing Quantity, Not Quality

This is the biggest mistake I made in my training. I was so concerned with putting up big numbers that I sacrificed range of motion and rep integrity to stack more plates on the bar. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve put up some big numbers, but I never got great at training. I got great at stroking my ego.

The biggest mistake I made in my training was being so concerned with putting up big numbers that I sacrificed range of motion and rep integrity to stack more plates on the bar, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

A wise man once said, “Show me a man who constantly cheats technique, and I will show you a man with joint problems.” By the time my senior year hit, I was sputtering to the finish line. Five years of college football had taken its toll. My feet, knees, groin, hip flexors, and low back were in constant pain. This, coupled with years of chasing numbers, left me beat up. When I hung up my cleats, it took me about two years to finally feel “good” again.

When you cheat technique, you create structural imbalances and compromise connective tissue integrity. Check your ego at the door and get great at training. When you chase quality, the numbers will always follow.

Failing to Listen to My Body

This is one that I still struggle with. The way I was raised, you put your nose to the grindstone, you shut up, and you get the work done. If you’ve got problems, you outwork them. As an athlete, it didn’t matter how banged up I was from practice, how little sleep I’d gotten while working on a paper, or how badly my knees hurt during a team run—I showed up early, I put my head down, and I got to work.

The problem with this approach is that I had some of the best S&C coaches in the game, and I didn’t let them help me manage the stresses on my body or in my life. If I’d have pulled any of them aside and explained that I’d been walking down stairs backward for the last two years because my knees were in constant pain, or I was working security jobs at night because I couldn’t pay my bills, they wouldn’t have thought I was soft, they would have adjusted my training.

Instead, I kept my mouth shut, took a few more scoops of pre-workout, and popped a few more ibuprofens to manage the pain. By the time I finished playing, I was taking at least 400 milligrams of caffeine (and who knows what else) before every lift and a minimum of 1,600 milligrams of ibuprofen daily. Masking the problem in the short term increased the problem in the long term.

I once heard a coach say, “Before 30, guys train with their balls; after 30, they train with their brains.” While crude, it is true. I was a dopamine-driven meathead, and I loved every minute of it. BUT training is a marathon, not a sprint. The athletes who stay consistent in their training will have the best long-term results. Getting injured or constantly being banged up is the quickest way to derail training and ruin results. Quit fighting through injury and take care of your body.

You need to know when to back off. Athletes are built differently. We love the grind and aren’t afraid to put in work. But sometimes the best thing to do is take two weeks and recharge the batteries. As an athlete, I never took training sessions off during Christmas or summer breaks. Not once. It was a huge mistake. The physical and mental benefits far outweigh missing a few days in the gym.

Valuing Body Weight Over Body Composition

At 13 years old, I was 155 pounds. At 23 years old, I was 295 pounds. I embraced weight gain and I ate every meal like a man who just got out of prison. I loved every second of getting big and strong. Looking back, though, I was chasing numbers on a scale, and I should have been more concerned with my body composition. Fat don’t flex, and after 275–280 pounds, the weight gain didn’t have any carryover to the field. In fact, I performed worse because I was just getting fatter, and my knees always hurt.

Again, I’m a firm believer that health drives performance. Caloric intake is really important if all you’re worried about is gaining/losing weight. But if you’re worried about packing on muscle mass, your hormonal profile, staying healthy, and most importantly, PERFORMANCE, then food quality, nutrient timing, and avoiding chronic inflammation become a huge part of the equation. Numbers on a scale are not indicative of health.

Numbers on a scale are not indicative of health. When it comes to food, chase quality, and the scale will usually take care of itself, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

When gaining weight, all calories are not created equal. If they were, 3,000 calories from Oreos and Pepsi would give you the same results as 3,000 calories from steak and sweet potatoes. When it comes to food, chase quality, and the scale will usually take care of itself.

When it comes to gaining weight the right way, start with a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, get 20% of calories from healthy fats, eat vegetables and fruits at every meal, and then fill in the rest of your caloric needs with quality carbohydrate sources.

As an athlete, I went through 8–10 RTDs a day and ate pizza and ice cream at night because I was “burning so many calories and really needed the fuel.” I gained a lot of weight, but I also left college as a pre-diabetic. To quote another movie (Dodgeball), “It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off…”

Body weight, especially in a game like football, is important, but it should never come at the expense of health.

Burning the Candle at Both Ends

When I was an athlete, I lived off of five hours of sleep (three hours if I was working security that night), trained like a maniac, took an average course load of 15 credits every semester, took six credits every summer, and had a part-time work-study job. After five years of school, I was two semesters away from a master’s degree, and I was debt-free. However, I felt physically and mentally drained to the point that I was no longer productive at anything else.

Being so far ahead in school was great, but I was there to play ball, and that is something I can never get back. Being good at school and good at sports are not mutually exclusive, but there needs to be an intelligent approach. That approach needs to start with eight hours of sleep every night.

The top two predictors of injury are previous injury history and lack of sleep. It is no coincidence that I was constantly dinged up and constantly sleep-deprived. Sleep is the greatest performance-enhancing drug on the market, and it is both free and legal. We need to drive this message home to athletes constantly.

Sleep is the greatest performance-enhancing drug on the market, and it is both free and legal. We need to drive this message home to athletes constantly, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

If you’re training hard, you need to recover. Getting ahead in school and paying your bills are important, but you need to be smart and adjust your day accordingly. Get some sleep and train later in the day. Catch up on sleep over the weekend and on off days. Turn off the TV and go to sleep.

Health Drives Performance

As coaches, we have the benefit of drawing from past experiences to help shape our training philosophies and influence our interactions with current student-athletes. For me, I was an athlete who loved the weight room and wanted to do everything the right way. But I often got in my own way because I didn’t understand how to approach training, nutrition, and recovery in an intelligent manner.

There are many principles that guide my philosophy on training student-athletes, but at the heart of it there is one standard I refuse to deviate from: Health drives performance. Sports are not inherently healthy pursuits. The body breaks down and injuries happen. But one thing that will never thwart your training progress is emphatically chasing health in and out of the weight room.

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Over the course of my 40-year career in the related professional fields of orthopedic and sports physical therapy and the performance enhancement training of athletes, I have been fortunate to work and associate with many outstanding, successful, and unique medical practitioners, strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches, and business professionals. Many have become lifelong friends and mentors, some have cultivated me over brief periods of time, and all have imprinted some form of valuable experience upon me.

These many lessons have been instrumental to me, whether during the training of an athlete, the physical rehabilitation of an athlete, researching and publishing scientific subject material, or assuming the role of a department head or chief executive officer (CEO) of a large health care business. I frequently find myself contacting these professionals, as well as relying upon my past experiences, to assist in many of the crucial decisions that have occurred over the course of my career.

This is a tribute to all of those individuals (there are too many to mention all of them) who were kind enough and willing to “take me under their wing” and spend the time to educate and refine me. As an expression of my gratitude toward all of them, I’d like to share some select experiences in this blog post. It’s a way to “pay it forward,” especially to the young S&C coaches and rehabilitation specialists, as there was a time when I was also in their situation. I hope that other professionals reading this dialogue may benefit from these lessons as well. As the SimpliFaster website is related to athletics, I will attempt to be consistent in describing these experiences in that context.

USA Hall of Fame Strength and Conditioning Coach Johnny Parker

Coach Johnny Parker has won three NFL Super Bowl World Championships, many other championships, and numerous professional awards. I first met Coach Parker at Giants Stadium in 1985. At the time, I was a physical therapist in the Sports Medicine, Performance, and Research Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York.

I was establishing a platform to introduce the squat exercise as a component of the postoperative anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction rehabilitation process. Dr. Russell Warren, the head of the HSS Sports Medicine service and NFL New York Giants head team physician, suggested I meet with the NY Giants Head S&C Coach Johnny Parker because he was a big advocate of the squat exercise. I met with Coach Parker at Giants Stadium and spent the day with him. After that, he invited me to work with him and his New York Giant players for the next seven years (his remaining tenure with the team), during their off-season physical conditioning and training. We remain very close friends to this day.

“Remember that we coach the kids, not the weights.”–USA S&C Hall of Fame Coach Johnny Parker

Coach Parker instilled in me that we are in the coaching profession for our athletes, and not the other way around. We must do all we can for them, regardless of the required work hours, our personal concerns, or any other “outside” distractions. Our concern is for our players, to make our best effort every day, to be the very best professional we can possibly be. We are to be leaders and hold our players accountable, as their dreams are in our hands.

“Opponents admire talent because you’re born with it, they respect strength because you have to work for it, but they fear toughness.”–USA S&C Hall of Fame Coach Johnny Parker

Coach Parker taught me that “toughness” is the ability of the athlete to establish and maintain their composure throughout high pressure situations. Toughness is ignoring poor weather conditions on game day, not jumping offside when your opponent has the ball and it’s third down and two yards to go, not hitting a player when he is out of bounds, not roughing the passer. Toughness is performing your assignments optimally to achieve a much-needed win.

Toughness is representing your institution or team appropriately, waking up on your own accord and attending class, achieving proper grades, and maintaining proper conduct both on and off the field. It’s assisting your team in a positive, not negative, manner both on and off the field. It’s the disciplined ability to repeatedly control all of the variables that are controllable and to ignore all of those variables that are not.

Toughness is NOT working your athletes so hard that they reach the point of vomiting into a bucket, collapse on the practice field, or become too exhausted to fully recover. Share on X

Toughness is NOT working your athletes so hard that they reach the point of vomiting into a bucket, collapse on the practice field, or become too exhausted to fully recover for the next training or practice session. Anyone can exhaust their players and bring them to the point of illness—there is no coaching talent requirement for those achievements.

NFL Hall of Fame Coach Bill Parcells

While working the off-seasons with Coach Parker at Giants Stadium, I was eventually introduced to New York Giants Head Coach Bill Parcells. Our relationship continued through the time he became the head coach of the NFL New York Jets, as he referred some of his Jet players to me to rehabilitate. As our relationship evolved, I found that not only was Coach Parcells one of the most intelligent leaders I have ever known, but he was certainly one of the wisest men I’ve ever come across in my career. That holds true to this day.

At the time, our physical therapy company was going through a restructuring of senior management. I was placed in the role of CEO, along with my partner George Papadopoulos, until a new CEO who would be appropriate for our business model could be located and employed. I spoke with Coach Parcells during this 12-month period, as he was a key resource for me. I’ve always believed in the strong connection between the roles of a successful head sport coach and the CEO of a large business. Both are ultimately responsible for their “team” and face many similar decisions.

“There is a big difference between routine and commitment.” –NFL Hall of Fame Football Coach Bill Parcells

No truer lesson has ever been stated. Similar to the head coach and leader in charge, all assistant coaches and players must consistently display their best efforts both on and off the field. Athletes are motivated, we all know that, so why would a coach select someone who is not motivated? They must be provided with the environment, knowledge, and tools to hone their craft—yes, craft, not job (there is a big difference). A football team needs football players, not athletes who happen to play football. There is a significant difference between the two.

A football team needs football players, not athletes who happen to play football. There is a significant difference between the two. Share on X

In many careers, there are individuals who at one time arrived at their work setting with motivation and enthusiasm, but eventually fell into the trap of arriving to work, performing their duties, and then leaving for home, only to return the next day to display the same lackluster effort for the “daily routine.” Unfortunately, this is all too common. Just like the head coach, staff and players must be continually challenged to evolve and improve themselves. The head coach must ensure that the staff and players are also provided with the environment and tools necessary to positively grow and succeed.

The staff and players must also be held accountable for both their professional responsibilities and personal conduct and rewarded whenever appropriate. They often must be pushed outside their “comfort zone” to adapt and grow, and to attain the confidence to strive when placed in unfamiliar and, at times, high-pressure situations. Until such a “culture” is established, the risk remains for an environment of “routine” to rear its ugly head.

Coach Parcells would also state that football players who play the game for money and fame will likely achieve neither, but players who play for championships will likely achieve both. Only the avoidance of routine and the culture of commitment will lead to championships and the achievement of fulfilling the athlete’s dreams.

“Potential means you haven’t done anything yet. You lose with potential; you win with performance.” –NFL Hall of Fame Football Coach Bill Parcells

This statement certainly doesn’t mean that athletes with great potential are discounted; on the contrary, they are recruited, taught, and mentored. However, over time the athlete must eventually convert their “potential” to “performance.” An athlete is rewarded on performance. A team wins based upon their performance. A coach is judged on their performance. If this is not true, why then do we keep score during athletic competition?

USA Strength and Conditioning Hall of Fame Coach Al Vermeil

Coach Al Vermeil is the only S&C coach to win world championships in two different professional sports leagues (the National Football League and National Basketball Association), as well as add seven world championships to his resume. Coach Vermeil has been retired for more than a decade; however, in my opinion as well as the opinion of many of my peers, when it comes to the combination of knowledge and coaching abilities, he is still the best S&C coach in the country.

My initial contact with Coach Vermeil was through our mutual friends, S&C coaches Al Miller and Don Chu. Ironically, Coach Vermeil and I remained in consistent contact for years through many phone conversations before finally meeting face-to-face. He has taught me so much about coaching, working with athletes, programming, etc. It’s too long a list for this article, but his following brief statement left a strong impression upon me that will last my lifetime:

“There are no absolutes.” –USA S&C Hall of Fame Coach Al Vermeil

Coaches and athletes today have various educational, coaching, and equipment merchandise available to them to enhance their professional knowledge and coaching proficiencies, as well as the physical and psychological development of their athletes. There is a staggering number of conferences, print publications, certifications, internships and mentorships, data collection, and training equipment available. However, the most utilized resource at every coach’s and athlete’s fingertips is the internet.

This high-speed network of information provides the user with an infinite amount of data, including coaching and training information, along with instant gratification. The internet is also a venue where robust claims of coaching prowess and athletic physical enhancement are guaranteed, often at a price. Frequently, these “guarantees” come without substantiated scientific evidence and, thus, are based solely on opinion. This is not to imply that there are not some dependable and valid products and information available, but products should not be considered “one size fits all,” as athletes are individuals.

Some sound advice for all coaches and athletes would be “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware) and examine all information for both validity and substance. I should also note that the only “secrets” are the ones that can be bought. The reality is there are no secrets, as desired information is always available to those who invest the time to search for it.

The reality is there are no secrets, as desired information is always available to those who invest the time to search for it. Share on X

Athletes are individuals both psychologically and physically. What is appropriate for one may not be what is ideal for another, as their specific needs are likely different from many of their peers. There is no one “cookie cutter” method for success; there are no “absolutes.” If there were, we’d all coach with the exact same philosophical training methods, utilizing the same programs and exercises during our athletes’ training.

USA Strength and Conditioning Hall of Fame Coach Al Miller

I first met S&C Coach Al Miller when Coach Parker and I flew to Denver, Colorado, to meet with him and his staff. Al and Johnny are good friends, and at the time, Coach Miller was the head S&C coach for the NFL Denver Broncos. He had arranged a weekend seminar on strength and power development to be taught by Coach Dragomir Cioroslan, a former Romanian weightlifter who was at the time the head coach for the USA National Weightlifting team. The weekend was quite an educational experience, and it initiated what came to be a long friendship with Coach Miller, a great man.

“Don’t ever condemn ignorance, educate it.” –USA S&C Hall of Fame Coach Al Miller

Coach Miller, like many S&C coaches, was employed on the football staff of many prestigious head football coaches, but none was greater than the legendary head football coach at the University of Alabama, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. I used to ask Coach Miller and all my coaching friends about the various experiences of their careers, but I had a special interest in hearing the stories and lessons of Coach Bryant.

When coaching athletes, instead of becoming frustrated with them, take a step back, look in the mirror, and discover the missing piece(s) of the puzzle. Often, the player is not the culprit. Share on X

One lesson that Coach Bryant passed on to Coach Miller was not to become frustrated if a player did not comprehend a lesson or was unable to perform a training technique, as the confusion might not be the athlete’s fault. Poor coaching, poor communication, or the lack of the necessary tools (equipment, facilities) and environment to accomplish the assignment may actually be the culprit(s). When coaching athletes, instead of becoming frustrated, take a step back, look in the mirror, and discover the missing piece(s) of the puzzle. Find the solution and, if necessary, adjust the teaching methods and concepts to a simpler level via improved communication so the athlete can comprehend and perform the task at hand.

USA Strength and Conditioning Hall of Fame Coach and National Athletic Trainer’s Association Hall of Fame Athletic Trainer Dr. Donald Chu

I first met Coach Don Chu at a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) National Conference in 1984. I approached him after his presentation to ask him a few questions about it. I also asked if he had time to discuss his career, as I was interested in the same professional pathway. Coach Chu asked if we could get together later that same day.

Coach Chu was kind enough to meet with me for two full hours, providing me with any bit of information that could possibly be beneficial to me. At the end of our meeting, he looked directly at me and asked if I would be interested in working with him in his physical therapy practice in California. I thought about the offer for a couple of days before ultimately declining it, but I requested to remain in contact with him. We’ve remained good friends to this day.

For those of you who don’t know of Don Chu, you should. Don Chu has his Ph.D. in physical therapy and is a NATA certified athletic trainer, a noted strength and conditioning coach, and a track and field jumps coach who has coached both Olympians and All-Americans. He was also a professor of kinesiology and biomechanics at the school where he coached, California State University at Hayward.

He is the only S&C coach and athletic trainer in history to be inducted into both the USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame and the NATA Hall of Fame. Although he coached at Cal-State Hayward, a Division II level college, there was a time in his career when Coach Chu coached more 7+ foot high jumpers than anyone else in the country! Although retired, he is still the foremost authority in the country with regard to plyometric training.

“Always have a plan and be sure to emphasize quality not quantity of the work that is to be executed. Too many coaches prescribe too many exercises just for the sake of including exercises. They want to include everything they can in their program due to the concern their competitor may be doing something with their athletes that they are not.” –USA S&C Hall of Fame Coach and NATA HOF Athletic Trainer Dr. Donald Chu

Excessive training for the sake of training is a direct route to negative consequences. Share on X

Coach Chu stressed the significance of focusing on the quality of an athlete’s training and the ability to segregate what is important from what is not. This not only results in enhanced performance, but helps the athlete concentrate on fewer versus too many training factors. The focus on quality also avoids overtraining by maintaining the workout volume and time at appropriate levels. Excessive training for the sake of training is a direct route to negative consequences.

Bulgarian Weightlifter and Bulgarian National Team Weightlifting Coach Ivan Abadjiev

In 1988, I traveled with a number of American strength and conditioning coaches to Bulgaria to study and observe the Bulgarian National Weightlifting team. We arrived in Bulgaria in the late spring, prior to the summer Olympic Games. We attended team workouts and had periodic question-and-answer sessions with various weightlifting team coaches, including head weightlifting coach Ivan Abadjiev. At the end of the day, we would return to our hotel for dinner and then, eventually, to our hotel rooms. One evening after dinner my roommate, USA Hall of Fame S&C Coach E.J. “Doc” Kreis, slapped me on the shoulder and said, “C’mon, let’s go.” When I asked where we were going, he stated, “Back to see the Bulgarian weightlifting team train.”

We took a taxi to the weightlifting center, and upon our uninvited arrival, we just stuck our heads through the doorway. Coach Abadjiev saw us and graciously waved us into the facility. Our one-on-one time that evening with Coach Abadjiev is an evening I’ll always remember.

“During our athletes’ training, we ensure the quality of our work while taking advantage of our athletes’ high testosterone levels.” –Bulgarian Weightlifter and Bulgarian National Team Weightlifting Coach Ivan Abadjiev

Like Coach Chu, Coach Abadjiev stressed the quality of his athletes’ training. In preparing for the upcoming summer Olympic Games, his athletes lifted weights three times per day for no longer than one hour per training session. He stressed how testosterone levels would rise for approximately 20 minutes and then remain at maximal levels for only an additional 40–50 minutes prior to the initiation of their decline. Thus, the reason for just one-hour workouts followed by appropriate rest sessions repeated three times daily.

The Bulgarian weightlifters performed only four exercises:

• Back squat
• Front squat
• Clean and jerk
• Snatch

No assistance weight exercises, period. Their executed exercise sets consisted of single and double repetitions, and their executed exercise weights were at least 20 kilos from their personal recorded best. They stressed quality of work and no additional exercises just for the sake of adding exercises. This information certainly reminded me of Coach Chu’s advice as well.

Soviet Coach and Professor Yuri Verkhoshansky

Prior to my trip to Bulgaria, in 1987 I traveled with a different group of American S&C coaches to the former Soviet Union and former East Germany to study the training methods of various national sports coaches and scientists, as well as observe various national teams during training. During our time in Moscow at the Central Institute of Physical Culture and Sport, we attended various lectures, some given by Professor Verkhoshansky. His main topic was “shock training,” or what American coaches termed “plyometrics.” Professor Verkhoshansky is often referred to as the “Father of Plyometric Training,” as he is credited with creating the shock method of training (plyometrics), along with inventing the depth jump. As a former sport coach, he was also very proficient in the methodology of special strength training and special physical preparation of athletes.

“I have had my share of great successes but have had my share of failures as well.” –Soviet Coach and Professor Yuri Verkhoshansky 

I had the honor to spend a period of time one-on-one with this brilliant man. During our conversation he admitted that he had his share of failures, and this certainly impressed upon me as a young coach that even the best have their share of mistakes. Professor Verkhoshansky stressed the need to have a well-thought-out program design that is substantiated with scientific evidence. His words echo in my head on the occasions when I sit down and design training and/or rehabilitation programs, as well as research projects.

My own personal experiences have taught me that throughout the course of a professional career, everyone makes mistakes. The key is to learn from them, don’t repeat them, and over time to minimize them.

Hall of Fame Basketball Coach Lou Carnesecca

I had both the honor and the privilege to serve as the head strength and conditioning coach at St. John’s University of New York for 10 years (1986–1995). The athletic department at St. John’s and I both had one significant thing in common: I was the university’s first head S&C coach and St. John’s was my first head S&C coaching position. I always felt we grew together, and a focal point for this growth was our famed ambassador of basketball, Head Coach Lou Carnesecca.

I felt very excited and privileged to be his basketball team’s S&C coach, and I was Coach Carnesecca’s only strength coach, since he retired in 1992 during my tenure at the university. Coach Carnesecca’s career collegiate record at St. John’s was 526–200, winning three out of every four basketball games he coached. During his entire collegiate coaching career, his St. John’s teams were never omitted from a post-season tournament.

Coach Carnesecca was very unique, as he was kind yet demanding, and he embodied intelligence, wisdom, and a wealth of coaching experience. His players, his university, and the city of New York all loved him. If Coach Carnesecca had run as a candidate for the mayor of New York City, he would have been elected in a landslide.

“60% players, 30% coaching, and 10% luck…but you make your own luck.” –HOF Basketball Coach Lou Carnesecca

One day at practice, I asked Coach Carnesecca who was more important to winning a basketball game, the players or the coaches? I presumed I knew the answer and expected him to provide me with a similar answer, but his response was something I did not expect and remains with me to this day.

After thinking for a short moment, Coach Carnesecca responded: “60% players, 30% coaching, and 10% luck,” and after a pause he added, “but you make your own luck.” He asked whether when our players succeeded in attaining key rebounds or loose balls on the court, were they lucky or was it a result of weight room, track, and on-the-court training? When hitting foul shots with no time left on the clock to win a basketball game, was that due to luck or the result of all the foul shots taken by our players at the end of each and every practice?

You make your own luck by working hard, paying attention to small details, leaving no stone unturned, and having the staff and players work together to achieve unity, culture, and success. Share on X

Coach’s message was clear. You make your own luck by working hard, paying attention to the little details, leaving no stone unturned, and having both the basketball staff and players work together to achieve unity, culture, and success.

Russell F. Warren, M.D.

When I arrived at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in 1984, I was hired as a physical therapist to work in the Sports Medicine, Performance, and Research Center. At the time, there were only two sports medicine orthopedic physicians/surgeons in the Sports Medicine Service: Dr. Russell Warren and Dr. Thomas Wickiewicz. Both are brilliant and skilled physicians presently still in practice.

Dr. Warren was the Chief of the Sports Medicine Service and the head team physician for the NFL New York Giants, and he would eventually become the surgeon-in-chief at HSS. He is considered one of the “Forefathers of Sports Medicine,” and under his tenure the sports medicine service at HSS grew to its present 39 physicians. To put things into further perspective, there are more head team physicians in U.S. professional sports (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) who completed their orthopedic and sports medicine training (i.e., residency, fellowship) at HSS than at any other institution in the United States.

“We have an obligation to our patients to do the best job possible, no matter how long it takes, or what the cost. If you’re not going to do the job right, get out of the way and have someone else do it.” –Dr. Russell F. Warren

This message was provided to me during a conversation with Dr. Warren when discussing a research project on which I was one of the investigators. As UCLA Hall of Fame Basketball Coach John Wooden stated, “If you don’t do the job right the first time, where will you find the time to do it again?”

Dr. Warren was noted for enforcing the academic and surgical skill requirements of his residents and fellows. It didn’t matter if it was the President of the United States or a person from a homeless shelter, no one left the operating room until the job was completed correctly. He played no favorites and brought out the best in all under his tutelage. My years at HSS taught me with the importance of academics, research, and patient care, as the patient always came first. To do the job correctly, if your personal skill set was not at the level of others when addressing specific pathologies, you should pass the patient to the professional best qualified to provide care.

My time at HSS also coincided with my time at St. John’s University. I had some pretty long days (early mornings and early afternoons at HSS, mid-afternoons and evenings at St. John’s) for more than 10 years, but I loved every minute of it. The combination of these two professions allowed me to bring the principles and exercises of S&C into the rehabilitation setting.

Drs. Warren and Wickiewicz were open to my ideas as long as I could justify my cause. They allowed me to initiate my ideas into sports medicine rehabilitation (e.g., incorporating the squat exercise as part of the HSS postoperative ACL rehabilitation protocol at a time where squatting was still taboo for many), and they were always available for discussions. I am very grateful for all of the lessons learned from Dr. Warren and all of the other fine physicians at HSS. I continue to spend time at HSS with these physicians to further my education.

Dr. Claude T. Moorman III, M.D.

Dr. Claude “T” Moorman III, or “T” Moorman, is the president of Atrium Health’s Musculoskeletal Institute as well as the Edward N. Hanley Jr. Endowed Chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. Dr. T. Moorman is the former head team physician for Duke University, the NFL Baltimore Ravens, and the University of Maryland. “T” was a Sports Medicine Fellow at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. During his time in fellowship, he and I developed a close relationship, and he immediately became one of my favorite, if not my overall favorite, HSS Sports Medicine Fellow during my years at HSS.

“You need to continually practice and hone your surgical skills, and you also need to get a callus on your butt by studying in the library.” –Dr. Claude T. Moorman III

One morning after CORE conference (i.e., Grand Rounds), I asked T what he thought becoming an outstanding sports medicine orthopedic surgeon would require. In addition to developing excellent surgical skills and decision-making processes, he included getting a callus on one’s butt by studying in the library. T is a brilliant physician and researcher. He (along with other HSS physicians) taught me the value of both research and academics in the medical, and frankly any, profession.

As an example, say a coach witnesses a different team’s athlete performing a specific exercise that they have never seen before. If they have no understanding of the purpose of the exercise and employ this exercise in their program design, how would they know the exercise is appropriate for their athlete(s)? If the exercise coincidently improves the athlete’s physicality, without knowledge of the foundation and purpose of the exercise, how would the coach know how to appropriately progress the exercise?

The field of S&C and coaching has a component that is “art.” But we also cannot ignore the scientific legitimacy component that is essential to the profession. Share on X

I certainly acknowledge the field of S&C and coaching, as with any other professional field, has a component that is “art.” But we also cannot ignore the scientific legitimacy component that is essential to the profession as well. S&C coaches need to not only acquire a callus on their hands from the barbell, they also need to acquire a callus on their butt from studying in the library.

NFL Super Bowl Champion Coach Dick Vermeil

Head football coach Dick Vermeil and I were introduced via a phone call initiated by his brother, and my good friend, Al Vermeil. Coach Dick Vermeil would call me occasionally with regard to his players’ injuries. Dick Vermeil has won the “Coach of the Year” honor at every level: high school, junior college, NCAA Division I, and the NFL. He is in multiple Halls of Fame and was the winning coach of Super Bowl XXXIV with his NFL St. Louis Rams team.

I finally met Coach Dick Vermeil in person when he hired his brother, Charlie Francis, and me as consultants in 1999, his third season, to work with the St. Louis Rams. Coach Dick Vermeil and I have continued our relationship through the years, as he is the ultimate professional and a very sincere and caring person. You’ll never meet a finer gentleman. Coach Vermeil has actually traveled with some of his dear friends to New York to have me assist in their physical rehabilitation. If you’re Coach Vermeil’s friend, you’re a friend for life, which speaks so much to his character.

“The players don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” –Super Bowl Champion NFL Coach Dick Vermeil 

Coach Vermeil reinforced the fact that we, as coaches, are in our role for the benefit of our players, period. We have the responsibility to make our athletes our priority, not the other way around. As mentioned previously in this article, we owe our players our best efforts, and we have to make our own commitment to be the best we personally can be. Throughout my career, I have often met the “me” type of individuals—the ones with the big egos (some who are also bullies) who believe that all success is due to them and their efforts. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Those who yearn for the spotlight have no idea that by doing their job well, working for the benefit of the athletes, and publicly giving credit to those who deserve it, they will place a bigger spotlight on themselves than they ever could have imagined. Have you ever witnessed a head coach who has just won a world championship publicly state that the championship win was all due to them and their efforts alone? Our athletes need to believe in us in our roles as coaches, and a significant part of that belief is for them to know and feel that we truly care about them.

Renowned Track and Field Sprint Coach Charlie Francis

As with coaches Al and Dick Vermeil, I first “met” Coach Charlie Francis via telephone conversations. Charlie was a good friend of Al’s, and Al placed us in contact with one another. I finally met Coach Francis in person during the aforementioned time we spent together with the NFL St. Louis Rams. My time with him and Al Vermeil exposed me to a level of coaching brilliance and foresight that I had rarely been exposed to before (or since). Charlie was very unique in his thought process, his ideas, and the way he viewed coaching situations.

Although Charlie and I continued to stay in touch, and we met each other on various occasions, my biggest regret in my professional career is not spending more one-on-one time with him. I will never make that mistake again, as I presently have a strong relationship and friendship with Charlie’s protégé, Coach Derek Hansen. Coach Hansen has been a great resource for me. He has taught me invaluable amounts of Charlie’s thought processes and coaching practices, as well as many of his own. I would highly recommend that coaches attend Coach Hansen’s running mechanics professional courses.

“It depends….”–Renowned Track and Field Sprint Coach Charlie Francis

On the occasions when I asked Coach Francis a question, he often responded with the statement: “It depends.” Coach Francis repeated this answer often enough that it could possibly lead to frustration for the person asking the question. I soon realized that he needed more specifics to provide the most appropriate answer to the question presented before him.

He reinforced the fact that no matter what area of professional occupation, every person is different, and every situation is different, and the necessity for a coach, or any professional, is to collect all of the information and conditions related to the question. Only then can a coach provide the answer that would best benefit the athlete. “It depends…”: those two words convey so much.

“95% effort is still submaximal.” –Renowned Track and Field Sprint Coach Charlie Francis

During our time together with the Rams, Coach Francis stressed the importance of sprinting during both the off-season and in-season not only for performance enhancement, but for injury prevention as well. Coach Derek Hansen has also been a proponent of this concept and has reinforced this to me throughout our time together.

Coach Francis stressed the importance of sprinting during both the off-season and in-season not only for performance enhancement, but for injury prevention as well. Share on X

Charlie espoused a point of view to which I not had been previously exposed. Loading at such high intensities was not only required for adaptation for improvement, but such high intensities were also safe to impose upon the athlete because they were still submaximal. The concern is not the high application of intensity, but how often (exercise volume) the high intensity is applied. How often should a coach apply such high intensities? It depends….

I have utilized “high intensity” in the rehabilitation setting since squatting our postoperative ACL reconstructions at HSS. However, that conversation with Charlie embedded further clarity and reasoning to the “why,” in my mind, to apply this concept during the rehabilitation process. The fact is that athletes need to return to play not just based upon limb symmetry index measures, which are both useable and significant, but by also meeting the physical standard requirement (i.e., strength, power, speed) of their sport of participation. The additional achievement of these physical requirement standards assists to ensure both a safe and optimal level of return to play. The athlete requires the application of high intensities not only during training but, when appropriate, during the rehabilitation process as well.

CEO and Business Executive Richard ‘Dick’ Parsons

Dick Parsons is one of the most brilliant, yet down-to-earth, business executives with whom I have ever been associated. More importantly, he is just a great person, period.

Dick Parsons is an astute attorney and businessman who also has a strong background in banking. He worked closely with New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and at the time Mr. Rockefeller was appointed Vice President of the United States, Mr. Parsons also worked closely with President Gerald Ford. Dick Parsons is the former Chairman and CEO of Dime Savings Bank, CEO of Time Warner, Chairman of Citigroup, and interim CEO of the NBA Los Angeles Clippers at a time when the organization was going through a difficult situation. He was also the interim Chairman of the Board for CBS Corporation when that organization was presented with some difficult times.

It’s not really relevant how I initially met Dick Parsons, but after spending some time with him, he asked me to train him. I agreed, as his offices were in the Time Warner building, where we also have one of our physical therapy facilities. Dick is the only “personal training” client of my career, and I trained him for three days each week during his years as CEO at Time Warner. His breadth of business knowledge and, more importantly, his advice on how to work and communicate with people are still invaluable to me.

“Don’t ever forget who you are as a person. Don’t allow money or power to ever influence who you are as a person because it’s who you are that put you into the position to attain success.” –CEO and Business Executive Richard “Dick” Parsons

Dick reemphasized this lesson; a vital lesson that my parents had also taught me when I was growing up in a lower income area of Brooklyn, New York. We started our physical therapy business 20 years ago in a small 1,600-square-foot facility in a small shopping mall in Queens, New York. Today we stand at 185 physical therapy facilities in five states, a 20,000-square-foot athletic performance training center, and more than 2,000 employees. A good support group of family and friends will keep you on the right path (i.e., prevent you from changing), and that right path will help ensure success.

A good support group of family and friends will keep you on the right path, and that right path will help ensure success. Share on X

I’ve always believed if you make the necessary decisions for the right reasons and remember to treat your staff as though they work with you and support you (because they do)—not work for you—everything else should fall into place.

CEO and Professional Physical Therapist Dan Dourney

Dan Dourney is a physical therapist by “profession,” but he has acquired many executive business talents throughout the course of his career. He has assumed the role of president, chief operations officer, and chief executive officer of many health care companies, including, but not limited to, those involving physical therapy, surgery centers, and electronic medical records. To this day, he continues to sit on many institutional and company Boards of Directors, chairing some of them as well. He is very skilled at developing and instituting process and establishing roles of responsibility, as well as holding individuals accountable for their role. He plays no favorites, yet is very approachable, open to dialogue, and fair in the management and evaluation of his staff.

“It is important not to confuse the enactment of process with the achievement of results.” –CEO and Professional Physical Therapist Dan Dourney 

Strength and conditioning coaches, sports scientists, athletic trainers, physical therapists, sport coaches, and other professionals may implement the best processes and program designs, collect data, etc., but the bottom line is that they must achieve success. The athlete’s physical qualities and overall performance must improve, injuries must resolve in a timely manner, and data must contribute to improved process and design additional benefits for the athlete, as well as reinforce present ones.

Ultimately, the staff, individual athlete, and team must be successful, and to state this candidly, they must win. It doesn’t matter how good a training program design, coaching skill, or sports science process may appear to be, if there are no proven achievements of success, they are unsubstantiated. As Coach Parcells would say, “You are what your record says you are.”

“Hope is not a strategy.” –CEO and Professional Physical Therapist Dan Dourney

It would be quite unrealistic for a head coach to walk onto the field of game day competition, thinking to themselves, “I hope our game strategy plan works today,” and expect to be victorious. There is no “hope” in the preparation of an offensive and defensive strategy against an opponent when so much time and effort was spent examining the competition and devising such a plan. There is no hope, only the substantiated belief in a concise and programmed plan based on facts both accumulated and reviewed in devising such a plan.

It doesn’t matter how good a training program design, coaching skill, or sports science process may appear to be, if there are no proven achievements of success, they are unsubstantiated. Share on X

The same may be said of the training and rehabilitation of athletes. There is no hope, just a well-devised plan, based on the substantiated scientific and other related evidence and conditions (i.e., the number of athletes, the training age of the athlete, the training facility environment, the seasonal weather conditions, etc.), that is specific and appropriate for each individual athlete with regard to their current physical state. Then there is the addition of the art (skill and ability) during the coaching or rehabilitation of the athlete. When the science and art are brought together, a professional establishes their career “record.”

Learn From Everyone and Make Your Own Luck

I have had both the honor and privilege to work and be associated with literally hundreds, if not thousands, of medical, S&C, and business professionals and peers during the course of my career. All have influenced me in their own way, providing me with both experiences and lessons in what to accept and, just as important, what not to accept as a professional. I look forward to continuing to learn from them, as well as others, in the years to come.

With the exceptions of Mr. Dan Dourney, Coach Abadjiev, and Professor Verkhoshansky, I have had good 30+ year friendships and relationships with all of the above professionals, which I truly appreciate and treasure. During my career, my peers have often remarked on how lucky I’ve been. I always thank them for their compliment and agree that I have been fortunate throughout my career; however, I am also well aware, as a lesson bestowed upon me, that I worked diligently to make my own luck.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

By Mike Snowden

Adding variety to a strength and conditioning program is essential to keep Generation Z student-athletes excited, motivated, and engaged. The issues with this arise when coaches begin to feel like they need to add variety just to appear more innovative or more qualified or to reel in more “likes” on social media. Often, that effort causes more harm than good not only for the athletes’ development, but also on the scoreboard, which is where things really matter.

The three methods I write about here are strategies I’ve found useful in building stronger and more durable athletes in a variety of sports. Keep your principles as your cornerstones, but spice stuff up like any good chef would do. The recipe that you use with your team may closely align with or be vastly different from the athletic performance program across the state, but the big rocks are likely very similar. That’s why two bowls of chili can look exactly the same but taste totally different.

Keep your principles as your cornerstones, but use variety to spice stuff up like any good chef would do, says @Mike__Snowden. Share on X

I am lucky as a strength and conditioning coach, as our schedule allows us to have 60-minute training sessions four times each week, for the majority of the year. During the in-season period, our travel schedule dictates when we can train, but over the last two seasons, our men’s basketball team has averaged 65 strength training sessions in our home gym from our first day of official practice to our final competition. Because we get to train so frequently during the year, it is essential to add some sort of variety to not only avoid plateaus in progress, but also to keep morale high—even during tough times, such as when you need to shake off the hangover of a tough loss. This could also be that last week or two of the off-season program, when athletes can begin to lose interest and turn their attention to vacation plans or how they plan on spending their time away from campus or structured training.

The Westside Method (or Conjugate System) created by Louie Simmons of Westside Barbell in Columbus, Ohio, is based on variety. You perform the movement patterns often, but you vary the methods of loading quite frequently—hence, the reason for specialty barbells and training tools. This system began in powerlifting, so like most things, you must take only what’s applicable to the team, sport, or other athletes you work with. As strength and conditioning professionals, this is the same thing we do with other disciplines such as weightlifting, strongman, bodybuilding, and even CrossFit when appropriate.

Change Exercise Tempos

Following the principle of progressive overload, changing exercise tempo or the speed of execution of a movement is an easy way to overload an athlete without needing to raise the external load. Another beauty of this method is that it can apply to just about every exercise, and it can give you room in your exercise library if you are limited on space and/or equipment. The muscles work in three phases:

• The eccentric, or lengthening, phase.
• The isometric phase, where there is tension developed but no changes in length.
• The concentric phase, where the muscle is shortening.

Modifying the tempos allows you to increase the time under tension (TUT) and attack each phase specifically.

Cal Dietz built the Triphasic Training Model around loading each of these muscle actions with the goal of increasing power outputs in sport. One thing to keep in mind is that longer eccentric work will cause increased muscle soreness later on, so you must be mindful of the time of year you program this. A great thing about the tempo work is that, for newer athletes or newer movement variations, allowing the athlete to slow down the movement can help them process the kinesthetic cues a bit better (such as “where am I feeling this” or “am I balanced over my entire foot”). It also gives the coach more time to cue and correct any faults that may happen throughout the movement.

Four numbers, each representing the number of seconds spent during each phase of the movement, make up the tempo of the exercise, so it may look like the example in table 2. Table 3 shows a sample three-week tempo we use with incoming athletes to teach the squat pattern. You can then progress and regress your training program by adjusting the TUT for each repetition or each set based on the goal of the training program.

Add Variety to Hand and Foot Positioning

In our program, we use different hand positions to both add volume and target specific areas of the body in the off-season. During the in-season period, we may use certain hand or foot positions to work around injuries. Keep in mind the PRIMARY goal here IS NOT to develop our hand, wrist, and forearm strength. Athletes would perform training for this area daily, in what we call the “weak links” portion of our program. Altering something as small as a hand or foot position can be huge for a coach working with large groups of athletes at once. Because it is a movement that the athletes have done before, it requires minimal coaching and learning, which translates to more efficient training.

We use different hand positions to both add volume and target specific areas of the body in the off-season, says @Mike__Snowden. Share on X

Making the learning curve smaller also gives the athletes a greater confidence in their familiarity with the movement, and later on, the freedom to choose the grip or stance they’d prefer to use. In our program, at different points in the year, there are days when athletes can pick which grip variation they’d like to use for a particular movement. I’ve listed a sample bodyweight push-and-pull circuit below, using multiple hand and foot positions.

We’ve also used hand position to alter our supplemental lower body training at times. This has included hand-supported and free split squats, single leg squats, and deadlift variations. Hand and foot placement variations have also added another layer to our kettlebell swing progression. This includes the single-arm kettlebell swing, double kettlebell swing, and staggered-stance kettlebell swing. These variations have allowed us to build out some complexes and work capacity circuits to improve conditioning without running up and down the basketball court during the season

Common pulling and pressing movements give many hand and grip placement options. Hand-width changes on pulling and pressing can also make a huge difference in an athlete’s training program. Rotating between wide, narrow, underhand, and neutral grip pressing or pull-ups can provide months of exercise programming, or you can combine the rotations with suitable loads and rep ranges to build a complex or circuit. A few of the variations we use more frequently are the mixed-grip chin-up, close-grip bench press, and overhead pressing using a trap bar. A lot of this comes down to finding ways to get the most use out of the tools that you have available.

Hand-width changes on pulling and pressing can also make a huge difference in an athlete’s training program, says @Mike__Snowden. Share on X

Alter the Training Environment

Outsourcing your training session can be daunting for some strength and conditioning professionals who may not feel comfortable relinquishing “control” over their team. Many coaches seem to be okay with this when it comes to bringing in yoga instructors, but there are other disciplines where outsiders can be of help. My viewpoint has always been that if someone is better than me at something, connect with them and try to find a middle ground to help our athletes get better. Here in Tuscaloosa, we are lucky enough to be right down the road from the home gym of boxer Deontay Wilder, the WBC Heavyweight World Champion. After making the connection with the coaches at this gym, visiting with our team for a summer conditioning session was a no-brainer and a win-win scenario for both parties.

Of course, not everyone has that level of boxing facility right around the corner, and not all coaches or programs have the resources to bring in outside help. Still, there are ways to make this work. It is vital to “build your army” to help enhance your program.

My viewpoint is that if someone is better than me at something, I should connect with them and try to find a middle ground to help our athletes get better, says @Mike__Snowden. Share on X

At my previous coaching stop, we had a club boxing team on campus that we worked with to put together a few summer conditioning sessions. The boxing club provided gloves and mitts for the team to use, and we brought out sleds, tires, and medicine balls to put together a strongman medley to complement the boxing lesson out on our team’s football field. Going boxing with our team over the summer gave our athletes an opportunity to learn a new skill and create an additional bonding experience before the season.

As another way of changing the training environment, I have found that making even the subtle change of training outside can be valuable for basketball and volleyball athletes. At my last two jobs, we were lucky to have a “patio” right outside the weight room, which allowed us to do at least one portion of our training session outside daily. The majority of the time it was our loaded carries and sled work, but we had a few stall mats out there that allowed us to do our pulling and medicine ball work outside as well.

These patios weren’t anything fancier than a slab of concrete and a patch of grass, but they got the job done. Using your schools’ other athletic facilities can also help here. Taking court sport athletes out to run stairs at the football stadium or on the field can be enough to fire up your team. It can also build some connections with other coaching staffs if those relationships aren’t already in place.

Getting hardcourt athletes out to run on a surface other than what the athletes compete on can pay dividends later in the season. We’ve used the grass and turf quite a bit to reduce the amount of pounding we do outside of the sport. Building intermixed teams of women’s volleyball and basketball players for a competitive game of ultimate Frisbee on the field has been a great way to sneak in some extra conditioning and fun during the off-season.

Success Depends on Buy-In and Commitment

At the end of the day, safe, sound, and simple training isn’t always as sexy as some trainers and coaches on social media may make it seem. Hard work can actually be downright boring at times. It’s full of repetitive tasks that don’t always show immediate results; but, performed day after day and month after month, it can add up quite a bit. Many athletes do not always see it that way, but it’s the job of the strength coach to throw them a bone when they need it and add in some variety without rebooting the entire program.

It’s the job of the strength coach to throw athletes a bone when they need it and add in some variety without rebooting the entire program, says @Mike__Snowden. Share on X

One piece of advice that has been drilled into my head since my time as an intern is that even the most meticulously planned training program is nothing more than junk if your teams don’t fully buy into what you are trying to get done and aren’t engaged during the process. Making these three tweaks to your program will allow you to personalize the movements to each athlete or group. If there’s one thing I have learned after working with numerous athletes, it’s that setting the athlete up for success is the best way to generate athlete buy-in and avoid stagnation.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

Whoever has the data is king. I’m by far not the first to write this, and the fact of the matter is that, in this data-driven age, it couldn’t be truer. The other thing that couldn’t be truer is that the king could be you.

With technology and information easier than ever to access, strength, performance, and sport coaches have zero excuse not to measure progress and track it over time. Athletes and consumers (our clients) are starting to expect it. If we, as coaches, do not begin delivering objective, meaningful data for them to show progress, we will be out of business and/or become the “behind the times” coach quicker than ever.

The challenge, of course, is not to just collect data for the sake of it, but to collect objective metrics that actually transfer to sport and that you can explain simply to the athlete. When you choose the right metrics, it not only serves as a motivator for the athlete, but also proof that your training is worth continuing to pay for and/or you deserve that promotion you’ve been gunning for.

Furthermore, if you own a gym or work as a supervisor to other coaches, the objective athlete results at the end of a training block serve as an amazing evaluation tool for you. Which coach’s program was most effective? Which coach’s athletes did not improve as they should have? It makes it easy to objectively assess how effective each coach’s training is.

The most difficult challenge as a supervisor, however, is that you likely need separate sets of metrics for athletes in different sports and/or demographics in order to evaluate your coaches fairly. For example, let’s say you set the expectation among all your coaches that you want all athletes to deadlift twice their body weight. Is this metric relevant in the same way to an athlete no matter their sport (golf vs. baseball vs. football)? What about their position (defensive back vs. pitcher vs. offensive lineman)?

You likely need to look at speed metrics with the deadlift at a lower relative load for a golfer than an offensive lineman (from the data we have seen). So, be sure you evaluate your coaches and their progress appropriately. Rewarding a coach for improving a metric that is not meaningful for competition performance is worse than not tracking at all.

Tracking objective metrics also opens the door to discuss what went right and what can be improved upon for the next training block objectively. If you do not require your coaches to test their athletes with metrics that transfer to sport, you’ll miss out on a massive opportunity for your organization and your athletes.

If you don’t require your coaches to test their athletes with metrics that transfer to sport, you’ll miss out on a massive opportunity for your organization and athletes. Share on X

From a distance, the process looks extremely straightforward. Measure before the intervention, complete the intervention, and then measure after the intervention. Seems simple enough, right?

In your head right now, there are probably a few questions swirling around, like:

• How do you decide what to collect data on?
• What metrics apply to your sport?
• How do you go about collecting data?
• How do you know if what you are doing is worthwhile and going to be relevant?
• How much time does it take?

These are just a few of the questions that likely start to percolate in your mind when you think about the possibility of collecting data. If you take the five minutes to keep reading, I’ll answer them for you. It will change your career path, your athletes’ performance, and our field forever.

What’s the First Step?

The first step is to figure out what metric you want to test. For most people reading this, the easiest thing to do is take a look at some research, find a metric that correlates to sport-specific performance, and start tracking it. After you’ve collected some data, determine if you see the same findings as the researchers. Evaluate which athletes made bigger gains and try to figure out what other variables were at play. Making this time for critical thought and evaluation of athlete performance as a direct result of your training is a critical element in a coach’s professional growth.

Now, some of you reading this might think a lot of the research relevant to you doesn’t really tell you anything meaningful in terms of transference to sport. If that is the case, you get to ask the questions that you want and figure out the answer yourself. Do you think there is a better answer than you’ve been able to find out there? Do you think a specific theory that is dominant in your sport doesn’t exactly hold up?

For me, the first question I wanted to answer when I started out was, “Does golf fitness even work?” From there, it turned into seeing what physical markers would prove to be most important in improving swing speed. Since then, my questions have expanded in so many different directions relevant to golf performance that I have research and data collection planned out for the next 24 months—in my commercial training facility, not a research lab.

Take a second and think: It probably won’t take you long to come up with something in your sport that you think is awful and drives you up a wall every time you see it posted on social media. Is it core work, muscle activation, or perhaps training on BOSU balls? I know there’s something. There is no excuse in this day and age to be mad about it and bash others on social. Stop tweeting criticism and do something about it. Define your question, collect the data, and then share what you found with the world. This is a far more productive Twitter conversation that will move us forward.

If there’s something in your sport that bothers you, don’t bash it on social media—do something about it. Define your question, collect the data, and then share your findings. Share on X

When I started in the “golf fitness” world, I had two choices. Follow the theories, poorly done research, and supposed science-backed ways of doing things (even though there was no readily shared data) and hope for the best, while complaining on Twitter that there wasn’t any good research out there. Or, figure out for myself if what I was doing was working and then continually ask more questions, test them objectively, and share what I found. I chose the latter, and I hope you do, too. Your data collection and research won’t be perfect (mine certainly is not), but it will move your industry forward in a way that is positive for everyone involved, especially your athletes.

How Do I Know It Will Be Worthwhile?

As I mentioned above, everyone today has a question they want to answer or a theory that they will gladly bash on social media. Taking the step to actually go ahead and collect the data—to objectively find out if what you believe is correct—is hard, but necessary. Often, the barrier stopping someone from taking this step is that they aren’t sure it will be worth their time.

What if you do all the work, actually collect all the data, and then find out you were wrong? Wouldn’t that mean you aren’t as smart as you thought, and won’t people laugh at you? Won’t that hurt your career?

First of all, if people pay enough attention to what you do to criticize and judge it, you are doing something right. Second, if your data collection is sound, and you do figure out you were wrong, that’s great! Particularly since the topic for which you chose to collect data was important to your field (assuming you did step 1 correctly), and you now have objective information to share and educate others in your space with.

Being afraid to be wrong is the single biggest flaw that coaches have in their thinking today. It is a terrible disease that stops them from actually collecting data and being willing to fail. You have to go into data collection with an open mind. You are not looking for the right answer to support what you think. You are looking for the truth, and it will often surprise you. At the end of the day, if you find truth, you’ve done more than 98% of the coaches out there in terms of furthering your field.

Go into data collection with an open mind. You’re not looking for the right answer to support what you think. You’re looking for the truth, and it will often surprise you. Share on X

Personally, one of our greatest findings to date happened when I was wrong. I wanted to test a reduced-volume overspeed protocol against a high-volume protocol from the most popular overspeed company in the golf space. I thought their protocols were extremely excessive in volume requirements. I felt that having a golfer swing almost 12,000 times a year in addition to their normal practice and play increased the risk of overuse injuries already rampant in golf. I was 100% confident I was right, and they were wrong.

When all was said and done, my team and I completed a six-week and then an eight-week follow-up study on the two protocols and found there was no difference in the swing speed gains produced by either protocol. They both produced the exact same results. At first look, I was initially disappointed, embarrassed, and depressed. I was wrong.

But then I realized what this meant. We had completed the first and only two studies looking at volume in overspeed training and had found that golfers could do 66% less work (9,000 fewer swings a year) and still see the same results. Wait—this was huge!

Out of a “no answer” to my question came the greatest answer possible. While I had thought the lower-volume protocol would get better results because athletes would not be as tired, it turned out my athletes could do less work and see the same results. This was a huge finding in the golf world, and I believe it has implications for other sports as well.

My hypothesis was wrong, and I had to eat my words a little bit, but the findings have changed the lives of thousands of golfers and hopefully saved even more from unnecessary injuries. I’d be happy to continue to be wrong like this the rest of my career.

So, in the end, if you pick a meaningful metric or variable to measure and track, it doesn’t matter what you find. The finding will be meaningful no matter what. You will either find that the metric helps your athletes, or it doesn’t. The answer in both these scenarios is hugely helpful.

How Do I Collect Data?

Now that you have your question figured out, how do you actually collect the data? The most critical step is to figure out your system. Once you have your data collection system figured out, it becomes a plug-and-play operation based on all the new questions that you have throughout the year.

The key to any system is consistency and quality. Let’s say you want to simply test how strong every athlete on your team is. There are 30 athletes, so you ask your assistant to help you test everyone. If you both give different directions and they have each athlete test to failure while you go based off RPE, your numbers will be useless. This probably seems like common sense, but the quality of your data set is everything. Protect it with your life.

This probably seems like common sense, but the quality of your data set is everything. Protect it with your life. Share on X

For the strength testing example above, you and/or your staff should give each athlete the same directions and cues. You should give them all the same number of warm-up sets, and there need to be predetermined objective rules to determining good reps versus bad reps, etc. You should be able to give your system to the high school kid running his friends through a training program, and he should be able to follow the directions to a “T.”

While this part can be a bit tedious, once it’s done, it’s done. This was my single biggest mistake early in my quest to figure out if “golf fitness” actually worked. I made the mistake of not standardizing all of my tests and having staff help me without establishing consistent and validated measurement systems.

While my current database is about 1,000 golfers large, it could have been 50% larger. I had to throw about 500 data points out due to three years of testing that I could not honestly say were done consistently. If I had kept those data points, it would have brought the integrity of my other 1,000 data points into question, not to mention that the conclusions we would be able to draw would be flawed.

After you are sure that your testing will be done consistently, you need to establish how it will be tracked. We use paper during the actual athlete testing (this allows us to get up to 10 athletes through more than 30 different metrics in under an hour) and then transfer those numbers to our database in Excel afterward. This is the system we designed to fit into our 60-minute training slot in our commercial setting. In different settings, you will likely need different formats. It doesn’t matter what that format is; it just matters that it works for you and is consistent.

Other than paper expenses, the cost of collecting and storing your data is pretty cheap. Every time you test, you will have to block an hour or so to enter the data (maybe longer, depending on the size of your collected sample), but you should consider it a critical part of creating your report card. The data doesn’t lie—interpretations might, but the absolute data does not. It will tell you very clearly (if you picked the right metrics) how you did as a coach and opportunities for improvement in the next training block.

Why Collecting Data Will Make You a Better Coach

There are two reasons why I believe testing, collecting data, and evaluating it has made my team and me better coaches. First, it forces us and our athletes to be accountable to what we call “test weeks.” Every athlete in the gym knows when test weeks are, and they know that if they slack off during training between test weeks, we will see it and call them on it.

For my coaches, it serves as their report card and an opportunity to assess how effective their training has been. It holds them accountable to objective data and to their athletes. If the athlete doesn’t improve, I require the coach to figure out why and explain it to the athlete while they review their results. For me, it serves as a quarterly check-in and evaluation of our programs as a whole to see where we can improve, where we are doing well, and how we want to continue to evolve our programs. Our data also serves as an additional quality control team member.

It is simple to see how the data collection can essentially turn into a part of your quarterly reviews for coaches. What is probably the most powerful, however, is that after you have collected data consistently for two years, you can start to see year-over-year and longitudinal changes occurring. This is where research lab studies pale in comparison to what the private sector and university team settings can produce.

Research lab studies pale in comparison to what the private sector and university team settings can produce because coaches can collect data on the same subject for multiple years. Share on X

It is near-impossible to get a subject to agree to be studied for multiple years. It is not that hard to convince an athlete that if they want to play their sport for many years to come, they need to train consistently. Because you track metrics that transfer to sport, and you improve those metrics every test week, the athlete sees the improvements, becomes more motivated and bought in, and continues to train with you. The athlete looks forward to the test weeks throughout the year and is happy to participate in them because they want to compete with themselves and their peers to see who improved the most. This is your opportunity to collect longitudinal changes over time (and eventually share the results with your field) that are near impossible to collect in traditional research labs.

As you collect the longitudinal data, you are evaluating the progress of the athletes as a whole, as well as each individual athlete over time, multiple times a year. It is hard to think that any coach who is in tune with their athletes’ objective progress over time would not get better by seeing trends and traits that respond better at different times to different stimuli.

Finally, collecting the data will make you a better coach because, inherently, you will have to teach other coaches who are not collecting data and evaluating it closely (the 98%) what it means and how they can improve their athletes. It is the age-old medical model of learning. Watch—Do—Teach.

How Many Data Points Do I Need?

This is a logistical question, and there will always be a criticism of any research or data set. Traditionally, you should shoot for having an “n” of 30 (30 subjects). That being said, countless studies with fewer than 30 subjects are published in peer review journals. The honest answer is you want as many data points as you can possibly get.

When we released our initial data set, we had about 300–400 data points. People came out in droves on social media and with personal email attacks telling us the sample size was too small, and it was irresponsible to release the information. The next sample we released was over 600 data points. The criticism only got louder.

We are now close to 1,000, and the number of people still saying it is too small is shrinking. The really cool thing, though, is that the number of athletes and coaches who reach out and visit us from around the world because we continue to challenge the status quo and produce usable, meaningful data is rising at an incredible rate. It is now a huge driver of networking and teaching for us.

If you collected the data honestly and are confident in the data set’s integrity, ignore the people trying to poke holes in your numbers and/or attacking you on social media. Share on X

Work to collect as many data points as you can and then just report your honest findings. Especially if what your data shows runs counter to mainstream beliefs and how people make money, you will get people trying to poke holes in your numbers and even attack you on social media to some degree. If you collected the data honestly and are confident in the data set’s integrity, however, take the noise as a compliment that you are doing something right. They will quiet down eventually.

How Long Does It Take?

The answer to this question largely depends on how many athletes you work with within the sample that you want to look at. As an example, at Par4Success we have about 100 golf members on whom we are able to collect longitudinal data, and we have an additional 200 or so new golfers who come for assessments throughout the year. We have collected about 1,000 data points in three years with three test weeks per year. Extrapolate that to your current population, and hopefully that helps to answer that question for you.

Now if you wanted to look at a specific element of training, and you have 30 athletes that you could split into two groups, you could easily run a training study in six weeks to see what shakes out. This is what we have done while looking at eccentric flywheel training, overspeed training, and other topics.

My recommendation would be to look at doing a combination of both, and over the course of a few years, you will have quite a large database to draw conclusions from and help move your industry forward. Encourage others in your space to do follow-up or similar studies to further your initial findings even more.

How Do I Make Sure My Data Is Usable and Interpret It?

This simply goes back to the integrity of your data sample and making sure that you collect each data point in the same manner. At Par4Success, we have made training videos for every single test, and we require all new staff to watch them. Then we have a team review of all testing procedures before every single test week. This ensures that we test consistently and that our inter-rater reliability is solid.

In the beginning, when we cleaned up our data sets, we took the additional step of actually validating the inter- and intra-rater reliability for each test, but this is likely a bit of overkill for most of you reading this. Many of the tests you will likely perform (medicine ball throws, strength tests, vertical jump, etc.) probably already have published studies on these values.

The most time-consuming part of the process is the fun part: figuring out what your numbers show. Unless you have a stats and/or Excel expert on your team, you likely will need to find a friend or hire someone to help you with this. This is the most dangerous part of any data collection—the interpretation.

While the data never lies, the most dangerous part of any data collection is the interpretation. Make sure you have a stats expert help you with this. Share on X

As I mentioned above, the data never lies. However, you can run enough formulas and look at the numbers from enough angles to have the numbers tell you anything you’d like them to. Ever heard of “creative accounting” in Ponzi schemes and the financial crisis of 2008? You don’t want to get caught up in “creative data interpretation.” How do you know, if you look at “r” values for correlations, whether to select a one-tailed or two-tailed t-test? If you don’t know what that means and/or the answer, that is probably a good indication you need to find someone to help you with all the data interpretation.

When you do find a stats expert to help you out, you will be able to tell them your questions, your hypothesis, and which variables you want to see the relationships of. They will be able to give you the stats answer. This is probably the hardest time to stay objective and make sure that your emotions or preconceived assumptions don’t influence how you look at the numbers. If you can keep emotions and preferences out of it, you are well on your way to finding the truth of what your training did or did not do.

Great Tools to Collect Data

Below, I have listed some of the best tools that we currently use to track and measure progress in training sessions and over time, and what we have found them to be helpful for. There are lots of different ways to utilize these tools, and I am excited for the future information and data that will come from their use.

Exxentric kBox and kPulley

The great thing about these two tools is their direct connection to any device via Bluetooth. They enable you to look at all sorts of power and speed metrics and track them over time. You can identify when power output drops in sets and objectively look for changes throughout your training block and yearly with any athlete.

The kPulley proved to be a game-changer for our rotary athletes, increasing their swing speed by 150% compared to a control group that did not use it. I believe the opportunities to explore other areas of transference to sport are huge with these two devices.

Assess2Perform Ballistic Ball

This is an amazing tool that we use in training sessions for immediate feedback on athletes’ efforts with medicine ball work. We haven’t objectively measured the impact of using the Ballistic Ball versus a traditional medicine ball in training yet, but that is on the docket. We are also looking to draw correlations between velocity and power numbers with medicine ball tests to swing speed in golf.

Our initial database focused on the distance of the medicine ball thrown. We have determined that distance with the Ballistic Ball is comparable to a regular medicine ball of the same weight, so we are looking at other metrics as well. The opportunities here for golf and other sports are huge for future data collection and studies.

Push Band and Assess2Perform Bar Sensei

We are in the early stages of looking at velocity-based work with our athletes, and both of these bands offer great options for athletes and their training. Athletes can easily take both on the road, and the improvements in this space are moving fast. It is going to be fun to see where both of these tools go in the future in terms of what metrics they track, and which ones are the most meaningful. We are still early in our use of these bands, but definitely would recommend some of the articles written on these products by Carl Valle for comparisons and to figure out which band is right for you.

Barbells

Tried and true, use barbells to track your athletes’ compound lifts. How strong is strong enough for your athletes? This is data we are working on in the golf space, but is there a clear relative strength that exists for your sport? While these tools have been around forever, there are still niche opportunities in sports when looking for transference and how to continue to improve the way you prepare your athletes.

Others

Vertical jump tools, scales and tape measures, and a myriad of other tools are out there. Tracking changes in metrics and also determining relative power and strength numbers are great areas to look at for data tracking.

Collect the Data That Matters

At the end of the day, if you took nothing else from this article, please be sure to only collect data on things that move the needle on the field, the court, the course, or wherever your athletes play their sport. Don’t just track data for the sake of tracking.

If it doesn’t influence performance, stop tracking it and look at something else. Make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of “creative interpretation” of the data. Report what your numbers say and be reasonable with your conclusions. There’s no need to try to make every data point an industry-changing event.

Above all else, your curiosity and willingness to challenge the norms and fail while doing so will drive our industry, your career, and your athletes forward. But none of that will happen unless you commit to prioritizing the integrity of your data set. If you are able to do all this, your throne likely awaits…

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We absolutely can teach speed—contrary to what the color commentary guy on Monday night football may spout for effect to the masses. High school sport coaches work with athletes at a very important time in their athletic careers when they often come into our hands extremely raw. With proper coaching and consistency, our athletes can rise from the most inauspicious of beginnings.

But coaching means more than having a few drills and exercises in our repertoire. It is multimodal, and we need to be comfortable with an array of tasks. Giving explicitly clear cues, for example, or sometimes saying nothing at all. Filming and giving athletes feedback at their level is tremendously useful to help them understand the changes that you’re hoping to take place. Certainly, drills that are very close to the task of sprinting can prove useful.

While these ideas go a long way to help athletes develop, the process is not instantaneous. Coaching is often an exercise in patience.

Speed Evaluation: Whole Movement Observation and Feedback

For this post, I opted to highlight my work with a developing athlete who has real potential entering his junior year. He’s on the cusp of the varsity lineup and somewhat mirrors the reality of our day to day experience as high school coaches.

During our first two sessions, I filmed his running at maximum velocity and during his acceleration phase. The sessions were free of feedback to prevent any premature influence, so I centered my efforts around some very simple cues based on what the video told me. I noted the athlete needed two very simple things.

First, he needed to learn to relax at maximum velocity. Using a kinogram and the five positions of maximum velocity, especially at maximal vertical projection (MVP) and touchdown, I observed his lack of peacefulness. He was straining, and his strike segment lacked hamstring extension, which possibly contributed to a reduced stride length.

His issue was simple but very important. In a post about the ALTIS Kinogram Method, Stuart McMillan and Dan Pffaf wrote:

Neutral head carriage, with eyes looking directly ahead. The human body is an inverted pendulum subject to imbalance through improper head position, and that impacts weight distribution further down the chain. Therefore, if the head is out of position, there will be an impact in lower-body joint dynamics. Athletes who throw their head back or push their chin forward create imbalanced forces. In the upright running cycle, the head should be held in neutral alignment with the cervical spine. Understand that any deviation from this will also negatively affect lumbar vertebrae position, and possibly pelvic alignment.

Indeed, at full speed, my athlete’s pelvis was rotated too far forward because his head moved out of position further up the chain.

Video 1. A flying sprint is a cornerstone of running mechanics as it serves as a reference goal for acceleration and submaximal locomotion. Video and constantly audit technique over the course of a career.

Second, I had to address his acceleration phase, which lacked violence, or “splitting without the rip.” His rear arm extended very long and slow while his heel dropped excessively upon ground contact. His neck was bent forward to create the illusion of driving forward. I opted to start with a remedial two-point start to rework accelerations from the ground up so he could learn how to push.

Derek Hansen has said, “Poor arm swing can quickly weaken posture and negatively impact the delivery of both horizontal and vertical force into the ground. Having the arms free to swing powerfully is critically important for proper sustained acceleration on the way to top speed.”

Video 2. Errors in arm action may seem to be problematic, but wait until those flaws actually cause efficiency issues to address it. How the upper body connects to the lower body depends on the athlete, so individualize as much as possible.

Thoughts on Cues

Cueing is an oft-debated topic on social media. It’s easy to dismiss or argue the validity of certain cues depending on your own experiences. No matter what the cue is, if it elicits the desired response, it’s always correct in that scenario with that athlete. Cues are sometimes taken too literally by people for whom they are not intended.

For example, I’ve recently seen the cue “run tall” debated. The argument is that running too tall will reduce ground reactive force and lead to slower running times. However, if an athlete flexes at the waist too much or leans back at max velocity, this cue could correct the problem. If you don’t think this is an issue with your athlete, the cue to run tall could be redundant and change something for the worse.

I recently cued an athlete to pretend they were riding a bike when performing dribbles. Another athlete didn’t respond to this cue; he needed “pretend it’s a rainy day, and you don’t want to get your sneaker toes wet in the puddles.” Silly? Perhaps, but each created positive changes in the respective circumstances.

Admittedly, I’m guilty of over cueing athletes at various points in my career. Those cues pushed some athletes into a conscious state of running and, thus, some level of “paralysis by cueing.” Even if cues are correct or near and dear to your heart, they don’t guarantee immediate change. I’m getting better at using consistent cues even if they take time. One of my favorite cues lately when doing plyometrics is “high as possible, as fast as possible.” Nothing fancy, but easily understood. Sometimes asking questions such as, “Can you go higher for me? Can you go faster?” are excellent cues.

Most athletes respond better to simple, repeatable cues to keep them confident and allow for better rehearsal, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Language is complex, and any given utterance might be interpreted in different ways. There are specific things you can say to athletes that put them in the best position to “get it” and succeed. With the athlete who is the subject of this post, I opted to keep the cues very clear and simple. I find most athletes respond better to simple and repeatable cues to keep them confident and allow for better rehearsal. If they can use a cue readily without being any less automatic in their rehearsal and effort, it’s probably a successful, or at the least, useful cue.

To help my athlete keep his head more neutral in hopes of running with a more relaxed, upright posture, I rolled with “Eyes in front on the hunt.” I have used “Eyes to the horizon,” but on the hunt felt more appropriate as it conjures an image of relaxation with a quiet intensity. Peacefulness, in this instance, is more akin to a predatory cat stalking prey than a yogi.

For acceleration phase cues, I used combinations of the following:

• Bang-bang. This cue implies pushing without over pushing and employing violent arms and quick hands. His arms tended to be long and slow backside, which is the antithesis of the violence needed during acceleration.
• Aggressively push your hips and sternum toward the finish line. The cue helped this athlete displace his hips without over flexing at the waist while keeping a long spine throughout.
• Give me some violence. I used this cue if his start seemed to lack some “umph.”

After all of this, he showed noticeable improvements.

I find, however, that we need to exercise some patience here. For all of the aggressive, bang-bang, violence cues spoken, we could have solved many of these issues by putting some weight on a bar. He’s definitely not strong enough yet. We addressed his squat mobility in the summer program I run at Crossfit133 in Georgetown, MA. We were slow to have him increase the loads on traditional strength exercises like the squat and deadlift because of these issues.

For all of the aggressive, bang-bang, & violence cues, we could have solved many issues by putting some weight on a bar, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I know there has been much debate online recently. It’s easy to cherry-pick examples of elite athletic freaks like Kevin Durant or a sub-10-second 100m runner and say that weight room strength doesn’t work or isn’t necessary. But stride lengths get longer when sprinters apply more force to the ground.

In my experience, increasing strength is one of the factors to increasing force against the ground in developing athletes. This is especially true when:

• an athlete sprints routinely
• lifting doesn’t impact the sprint work (using low reps on main lifts, great technique, and lots of rest)
• the goal is not gaining mass
• correct posture is prioritized when performing all sprint tasks

Indeed, it would be hard to convince me that this athlete, who sprints several times a week, would not also benefit from increasing his mass-specific force. I’ve found that improving upper body strength experience helps to counterbalance out of the blocks and gives athletes confidence to project violently. Moving ahead, I encouraged my athlete to get back in the gym and work on adding general strength while continuing to sprint two to three days a week.

Hybrid Exercises for Proficient Movements

Again, saying something doesn’t necessarily make it or so. Rather than simply speaking things into existence, I often pair drills that are equal parts drill and actual movements. These hybrid exercises get us away from timing every rep and put the focus on performing movements with the most proficiency possible on a given day.

For my athlete, I switched up the acceleration and max velocity main sessions and potentiating exercises every two weeks and implemented some ideas from Christian Thibaudeau’s Neurotyping work. Without going too deeply into it, Christian advocates matching an athlete’s neurological profile to the training program they perform.

From observation and personal experience as a teacher, I decided that my athlete best reflected the 2A type. Thibaudeau has said, “With a type 2A everything works, but nothing works for a long time.” Variety did seem to be our best friend during our work together. Doing things in two-week blocks was just enough time for him to realize improvements while staying motivated by variety.

I prefer to include items that push athletes close to—or at—motor skill failure periodically as a challenge and also provide a subtle ego stroke for the athlete. An athlete who feels good is more open to trying progressively harder things and is more motivated to push through even when they’re not initially successful.

Here are some of the items I programmed for my athlete in addition to my typical doses of dribbles and wicket runs.

Board Acceleration to Overhead

This is a great way to work on lower body mechanics without the arms. The board (hurdle top), or in this case a broomstick, serves as a great tactile cue to keep the spine long during acceleration. It also encourages athletes to feel themselves rising in a rhythm. With every step during acceleration, the shin angle changes until the shins are vertical during max velocity.

I often have athletes who keep the same torso position on multiple steps and create an illusion of staying low but end up really off balance. Others are fully upright by the fourth step but keep their neck bent to create an illusion of driving forward.

This exercise makes it easier for them to avoid early vertical shins and flat foot contacts. It also lets me see if they’re transitioning appropriately from their start to upright running. Indeed, I liked the improvements I saw with my athlete and found it was a useful drill to help both acceleration and maximum velocity.

Video 3. Removing the upper body or challenging the athlete with and without arms requires experience. If an athlete has technical problems, adding challenges or changing the dynamics may or may not work for them, so be vigilant.

Skip and Switch Flys

To set up a peaceful entry into the fly reps from the start, my athlete often used a skip and switch fly. The skip is a good way to force an athlete to bring good posture into the rep. As speed is built and maintained, the skip lead-in combined with the rhythmic transition and leg switch adds another challenge. The more powerful the skip, the easier it is to switch the thighs into a fast sprint because of the increased vertical displacement. I cue an athlete to think about making a well-timed step over a wicket hurdle and continuing with a seamless transition from the skip. Although we usually did not time these, a timing system could be worked into the practice.

Video 4. Skipping can look good, but may not transfer unless the athlete is aware of what is happening in time and space. An athlete who fails to get their knees up is not necessarily weak or deficient in hip flexor strength, they could have a coordination issue.

Downhill Buildups

There have been studies on the effects of combined downhill and uphill sprinting and how effective they are on top speed, and I devoted two weeks of training to the downhill portion. It’s a valuable teaching tool for handling high-speed travel rather than any peaking or stride length trick.

Obviously, the over-speed aspect of these runs could positively influence step length since the ground is coming at the athlete faster and in a different way. Chris Korfist has talked about plyo-soidal training and how changing surfaces can challenge the lower limbs to become stiffer and perhaps allow the athlete to bust through plateaus.

I continued to use the “eyes in front, on the hunt” cue as well as “fast as possible, smooth as possible.” I encouraged my athlete to start in a rhythm and build up fast while staying in control. To get the point across, I pantomimed a basketball on my finger then progressively spun it faster and faster until there was nothing left to do but maintain the control. The sound and cadence of the build-up were important so that the last ten meters were near peak, controllable velocity. After doing a few reps, he was ready for the ground and running fast on the track.

Video 5. Strange environments often wake up athletes or strain them psychologically, perfect for those that need to execute on-demand. Be creative, as athletes need to get out of their comfort zone.

Standing Triple Jump

The standing triple jump (STJ) addressed a huge need for this athlete. In our first week together, his standing triple measured at 18′-8.” By the end, his best was still only around 20′-7,” and we can attribute some of his improvement to learning the movement and becoming more proficient through repetition.

We slowly built a tolerance to controlling downward velocities in addition to scaling to more difficult reactive strength index jumps, such as drop jumps. Indeed, one study found that drop jumps were more closely linked to VMAX performance, and “such forward cyclic horizontal jumps would develop effective specific strength in the extensor muscles of the legs for the drive phase of the sprint stride.”

While horizontal jumps don't correlate much with maximum velocity running, the shin angles achieved at the jump's start could help with a block start. Share on X

So while horizontal jumps might not correlate heavily with maximum velocity running, it does seem that the shin angles achieved at the start of the jump could help with a block start. Carl Valle has said, “I see a strong relationship between this test and early acceleration because the takeoffs from both the dual leg jump and the bounds afterward include forefoot projections of the ankle complex and deep knee angles in general.”

When we first started using the STJ, this athlete had a lot of trouble pushing off both feet and would step out like he would in his two-point start. By the end of our work together, he was marginally better at using both legs. In the second of two pictures above, his arms are timed to contribute more to the jump. Perhaps improvements in timing here can have a more global effect on his sprinting.

I did not overuse this test, and I laid ground rules that he had to land and stick the landing in a squat. I cued him to imagine “jumping into the ski boots on a snowboard” when landing safely on the foot tripod. Moving forward in his training, I prescribed more mobility, general strength, and hip extension work. His lack of violence and hip extension at the start seems to correlate strongly to his acceleration phase, where we initially had a more difficult time moving the needle.

Video 6. Jumping or plyometrics are more than just power. Those that struggle to control the timing or range often show similar issues at full speed.

Rhythmic Rise Drill

This a stationary drill, and to be honest, I don’t love pure arm drills. Many other drills let athletes experiment dynamically and self-organize with cheek to hip arm action. However, I would say this is more of a torso drill than an arm drill.

I told my athlete to assume a starting posture similar to a block start with a parallel stance. Once in the athletic posture, he slowly extended while rising in a rhythm. For every arm swing, the torso rises. I cued him to keep a long spine and not to rush the rise nor maintain the same torso position during the arm swings.

This is definitely a case of a concept in isolation rather than an authentic application, but it gave him a reference point. He would often get ready for an acceleration rep by rehearsing this drill. Toward the end of our work, I started seeing a slightly stronger post-up position during the start with a more powerful arm drive.

Video 7. The athletes you train may just need rudimentary drills to get an understanding of what they need to do if they are new to a concept. Don’t be afraid to regress to make progress.

Learning to Learn

One of the first things I want to do with all of my athletes is to improve their general athleticism, which includes skipping, hopping, and moving well generally in all planes. My best sprinters are usually my best general movers. With developing athletes, I find it best to sprint often while progressively pushing them closer and closer to failure with their motor skill exercises, as needed.

My best sprinters are usually my best general movers, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Whether on the track or in the weight room, I want to make the athletes as receptive to cues as possible. The more movement that the athlete is exposed to, the more options both of us have when attempting to fix something. It’s very easy to cue someone into a state of conscious confusion when they have not experienced the most rudimentary of tasks due to their low training age.

The foundation of acceleration and the concept of pushing starts with basic drills, such as the isometric post-up drill or a skip for distance. Teaching the athlete awareness of the ground’s interaction with the foot and how to use the big toe joint to let the shin drop and act as a lever to project forward doesn’t always happen at full speed. Some submaximal rehearsal seems to go a long way with my athletes, especially when paired in a complex with maximal work.

Submaximal rehearsal goes a long way with teaching acceleration, especially when paired in a complex with maximal work, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Likewise, for maximum velocity mechanics, there are plenty of drills that help my athletes run better. I’m not saying these items are a magic wand you can wave and instantly have a team of all-state performers. Yet, if good posture has proven to be important during sprinting, then it should become a habit because habits are hard to break. Skipping, bounding, dribbling, and even jumping jacks are all opportunities to get better. If your best athlete can run 10.5, this strategy may be unnecessary for them.

By all accounts, my athlete has made tremendous progress in this area. It was fun to see him become more confident and use the general drills as a motivator and learning experience.

Video 8. Drills can be a way for athletes to become a better learner or a sponge. Limiting drills as corrections to inefficiencies is a bad idea.

Case Study Update

After all of this work for eight weeks, we saw some improvements. His 10m average velocity went from 20.15mph to 20.53mph, and he looked much better doing it. Moreover, this speed was up from 19.28mph at the end of track season (about 15 weeks).

During this time, his rep consistency was the most impressive improvement. When we first started training, hitting 20mph was a possibility on a good day, and by the end it was a definite on every rep.

Looking at an updated kinogram, I could easily see why. Although at touchdown he’s not exactly hitting the vaunted position of four knees together, his head and pelvis are more neutral and relaxed. His arms do look better and have more of the parallel positioning sought in this phase. It probably won’t be until he attains significantly higher velocities that these positions will change.

We cannot expect or force developing athletes to hit the positions that Usain Bolt has. For now, this athlete’s ability to run faster with better posture without being overly conscious of it is a huge step as he develops the neuromuscular coordination necessary to run fast. In the past, it proved easy to accidentally cue and shift this athlete into too much of a conscious mode of thinking while sprinting.

Video 9. Various approach runs can help take an athlete from one stage to another. Working on cone drills works if you know when to allow a set of errors to clean up while others are in hibernation.

In addition to his maximum velocity, he also improved his 40-yard time. He began with a starting time of 5.23, and by the end of the eight weeks, he ran a 4.96. Both measurements were taken with the Freelap timing system. We can attribute some of this improvement to his maximum velocity improvement—when an athlete is getting faster, they’re also getting to top speed more aggressively and in a better position to run fast.

We need to consistently develop both maximum velocity and acceleration at the high school level, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

There has been some debate recently about the need for acceleration development in developing athletes. We need to consistently develop both maximum velocity and acceleration at the high school level.

Over the course of the sessions, it appeared he had a subtle change in the violence and displacement of hips, but to be honest, there’s still lots of potential for growth here. Moving forward, he needs to work consistently, watch videos, and celebrate his improvements, no matter how small.

Video 10. Young athletes need fresh acceleration runs and repetition. So long as an athlete is going fast and is making progress, don’t sweat specific angles and positions of higher performers.

Options Are Good

As I’ve said, coaching is not a one size fits all endeavor, as many roads lead to Rome. Best practices are just that—best practices until something breaks down and doesn’t work. Coaching high school athletes often requires us to be well-versed in simplifying concepts. Sometimes the most powerful things we can do are to keep our athletes confident and repeating things until they become better. The specificity principle holds true when it comes to speed. To get better at something, you have to do that thing.

Slowing things down for the athlete in the form of similar tasks or general drills can allow for adequate rehearsal of maximal concepts in a submaximal setting. I recommend these be placed as close as possible to the specific sprint tasks of the day where they can bring maximum subconscious intent.

Above all, it’s important to be patient with athletes as they develop. You can’t force your athletes to hit world-class sprinting positions just because you know it’s correct. Professional athletes give us a glimpse into what the best in the world do, but at 11 to 12m per second, movement is a different breed. It’s foolish to believe you can always speak things into existence. Sprinting, like anything in athletic development, is a process—and a very individual one at that. Whether you say more or less, always meet the athlete where they are.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

By Derek Hansen

While coaches often spend a great deal of time and effort deconstructing and making sense of research, theory, and movement biomechanics, they often don’t have good information on how to plan and implement a basic speed session, let alone plan for a week, month, or year. They may have a few drills they like to use, along with some general ideas on the total volume of work. But they’re less prepared to integrate each element in an organized way that gets the most out of their athletes.

Unfortunately, efficacious sprint programming is not taught in a university exercise science program or—on the other side of the spectrum—YouTube videos. Even coaching certification courses offer generic examples for program planning. Rarely do coaching instructors spend hours and hours looking at every possible scenario, combination, and permutation of circumstances and identify appropriate progressions.

And, let’s be honest, many coaches fall back on what they did as an athlete. They don’t actually plan for the individuals under their charge. They simply regurgitate workouts and cross their fingers hoping that natural selection or dumb luck will make them successful. And this process perpetuates the disorganization and randomness of training.

I had the fortune of learning under some masterful coaches like Charlie Francis and Al Vermeil—wise individuals who had well-thought-out reasons for every rep they prescribed and every minute of recovery that separated individual runs. While it’s difficult to document the mastery of coaching in one article, we can describe some basic premises around planning an individual sprint training session for coaches.

In our Running Mechanics Professional courses, which I’ve been delivering over the past year, we spend a great deal of time outlining this process. The comprehensive courses explore running mechanics, sprint training, return-to-play protocols, and integration of running programming for various sports and are directed at coaches, strength and conditioning specialists, and physical therapists.

For those who have not had the luxury of attending these sessions, this post summarizes some of the key issues for implementing sprint workouts.

Identifying Your Audience

Just like a good stand-up comedian, you have to know your audience and plan your routine for the best responses. Your jokes may be a hit in one city, but if they start missing the mark on a college campus, you have to adjust and improvise on the spot to avoid being heckled into irrelevancy.

As a coach, you rarely work with just one athlete over an extended period of time. Hence, your coaching instruction must be adaptable to fit with varying group sizes and athlete types. Every athlete needs your attention. And it’s your choice on how to allocate that attention in terms of when, what, how much, and how frequently.

If you spread yourself too thin over every athlete in your group, no one person will get enough attention for appropriate feedback and prescriptive advice to allow for significant and sustainable results. If you focus too much on one or two athletes, everyone else will suffer from a lack of coaching. Knowing how to manage the individuals in your group is imperative for sustained success.

Group Size

One-on-one sessions. If you’re working with just one athlete, you can take much more time to explain technical details, field feedback from the athlete, and use rep-to-rep video review to document progress and solidify prescriptions. The downside is that it becomes very easy to fill the silence with too much information and grow fond of the sound of your own voice.

In these situations, it’s extremely valuable to give the athlete space between sets and reps to digest the work they’re doing and the cues offered to them. While there is a desire to maximize the “density” of the interaction in one-on-one scenarios, focusing on one quality or message usually goes a long way to realizing success over an accumulation of individual sessions. Periodic one-on-one sessions with athletes within your group can be very valuable to highlight technical issues or build a stronger connection with a specific athlete who may need a little more focused attention.

Periodic one-on-one sessions with athletes highlight technical issues and build a stronger connection with specific athletes, says @DerekMHansen. Share on X

With team sport athletes, I’ve had success conducting “maintenance” or “refinement” sessions once per week in a one-on-one format—both during the in-season and off-season periods—to both maintain and build qualities. In today’s age of raging specialization, there is neither the time nor energy to hold more than one 60-minute session per week without blowing the minds of the load management gurus in the industry.

It is, however, just enough volume and frequency to accomplish some goals that carry over into the competition realm and minimize injury caused by inefficient movement and poor coordination at higher speeds. Knowing how much and how hard is the key to hitting the sweet spot for these athletes without putting them over the top.

Small group 2-4. Small group sessions with enough athletes to make the time socially stimulating and extremely productive can be had with a handful of participants. These numbers allow for appropriate recovery periods while one athlete per rep is being completed. Feedback is provided in much smaller doses than in the one-on-one sessions but still ensures enough constructive information for athletes to maintain steady progress. Athletes get the opportunity to watch each other’s repetitions and gain some insight into cues and lessons that may also apply to them.

Medium group 4-10. Moderately sized groups—often what I found myself dealing with as a track and field sprint coach—still can offer a great deal of value and high-density coaching if set up correctly. These arrangements can work well in a track and field setting because athletes have a good understanding of the dynamics involved and have developed a degree of independence and self-sufficiency during a training session.

Team sport athletes, in my experience, tend to expect instruction on what to do all the time: where to stand, when to start, when to listen, and when to be quiet. The coach puts much more effort into multi-tasking with different flights of athletes performing their repetitions than in the smaller group arrangements. Athletes can do starts all at once or subdivided into groups.

Video review might occur as a group with everyone looking at their own repetition, and the coach making comments only when they need to correct specific errors. But individualization becomes more difficult, as time is a factor and athletes need to complete repetitions in rapid succession.

Large group 11 or more. These sessions typically involve an entire team performing the work en masse with coaches only offering corrections when individuals make egregious errors. Drills, workout goals, and technical recommendations tend to be more basic and simplified in implementation to ensure everyone understands what the coach expects of them.

Although video analysis is much more difficult, it can be done by assistant coaches or interns and reviewed at a later date. We don’t advise showing athletes individual video clips during the session because this can be distracting and disruptive and ruin the flow of the workout.

Having the entire group perform technical drills or repetitions can be difficult for a coach because there are so many bodies to monitor. Creating waves or rows of 3-4 athletes per repetition is easier to manage and allows athletes to recover adequately before their next attempt. Waves also make it easier to monitor run times, whether you’re using a handheld stopwatch or an electric timing system. The one-on-one and small group scenarios obviously lend themselves to easier performance monitoring by timing during daily workouts that have not been set up as milestone testing sessions.

In any case, it’s necessary to lower your expectations of how much you can accomplish with larger groups to minimize coaching burnout and prevent you from losing your voice. Scaling your efforts reduces your stress and makes it easier for athletes to process the work you’ve prescribed. Goal setting introductions before the workout and debrief sessions following training help educate the athletes on the items they performed well and the areas that need work, without interrupting the rhythm and flow of the session while it’s happening.

Group size is only one major variable relating to planning and implementing your sessions. Once you scale your coaching delivery, you can focus on other key areas of instruction. Some significant factors that can influence how you carry out your sprint sessions may include:

Sport

• Court sports involve shorter sprint distances than field sports.
• Larger athletes (football, basketball, rugby) may only require or tolerate shorter distance sprints.
• Surface types that athletes are accustomed to may dictate your choice of training surface.
• Athletes that compete on or in other mediums (ice hockey, cycling, swimming) may benefit from sprinting on a hard surface.

Age

• Younger athletes may require more general fitness training than developed, mature athletes.
• Older, veteran athletes require or tolerate much less overall high-intensity volume than younger developed or developing athletes.
• Younger athletes may lose focus much quicker than more mature athletes, thus requiring shorter bouts of technical instruction.

Training Age

• Athletes with a younger training age may require more technical instruction despite their chronological age.
• Athletes with an older training age may require relatively low volumes of speed work to maintain or improve speed qualities.

Training History

• Strength athletes need instruction on how to relax, think of technique over effort, and take advantage of their elastic qualities.
• Endurance athletes need to be taught that quality over quantity can have significant benefits.

Injuries 

• A training population with a more significant injury history may require a more gradual progression and lower overall volume initially.
• Athletes with a history of soft-tissue injuries from running in their sport may not have accumulated enough sprinting volume in the off-season to sustain their movement requirements for their sport.

Goals and Objectives

Once you know the nature and size of your training audience, it’s easier to formulate goals and objectives for the sessions. Every session can have both general and specific goals, varying from athlete to athlete and group to group. Some goals are philosophical while others are purely and specifically mechanical.

In all cases, having explicit goals and objectives that lead to tangible results is critical for every coach and performance professional. Goals such as team-building and mental toughness only distract you from achieving significant physiological and technical gains through deliberate practice and careful execution of movement skills.

Technical Focus

Every sprint and speed coach has a technical model in mind for how they want an athlete to look during different phases of a sprint. We can characterize this as a general template or model for sprint mechanics that all athletes under their charge are aware of when entering a training season.

Once a coach understands the strengths and weaknesses of the athletes involved in the sessions, more specific technical prescriptions may be required from session to session to realize improvements in execution. Every coach should have an idea of what needs to be improved from session to session with all their athletes so they will progress over the long run.

Some common areas of technique refinement to highlight in a session are start mechanics, arm carriage, head position, step over height, and general relaxation as it relates to effort. Coaches often rotate their emphasis over several training sessions so as not to grind the athletes with the same feedback repeatedly.

Distances Covered

The individual distances covered in a sprint workout are determined by many factors, including sport, event, time of year, facility constraints, weather, athlete size, and the coach’s training approach.

Shorter distances may be associated with an emphasis on explosive starts or working with heavy linemen in American football. Longer sprint distances may be required specifically for 400-meter sprinters in track and field. Intermediate sprint distances may be appropriate for team sport athletes who must perform upright sprinting at high speeds several times throughout a game or match.

It's better not to combine a broad array of distances in the same session with your athletes, particularly with larger groups, says @DerekMHansen. Share on X

In most cases, it’s not advisable to combine a broad array of distances with athletes, particularly with larger groups. If you decide to work on starts and shorter accelerations, the bulk of the session should involve repetitions in that range of distance. In a maximum velocity session, which should be a separate session, you can precede maximum velocity sprinting with some shorter accelerations—but not so much that energy is drained early in the workout. This would negatively impact the session’s main objective.

Track and field athletes may be more focused and experienced to handle a broader range of distances within one session. These training sessions tend to be longer in duration, though, and require longer recovery periods than may be possible with team sport athletes. It’s very easy to want to accomplish many goals within one session. However, simplifying your efforts, setting the “bar” an appropriate height, and identifying achievable results are always more productive in the end.

Multi-Directional Activities

“Fake-sport-specialization” has led to a trend toward making all locomotion activities multi-directional and agility-laden. Apparently, straight lines or even slightly curved arcs do not exist in high-level sports—as though the shortest distance between two points remains elusive.

Simply watching a sporting activity, particularly at the higher levels, will yield some movement truths. Multi-direction work is certainly required to prepare an athlete for many sports, but at volumes that are far lower than what is done currently by many sport coaches, strength and conditioning professionals, and even do-it-yourself parents.

Let's not forget that much of the sport-specific work gets done in the sporting practice sessions, says @DerekMHansen. #SprintTraining Share on X

Hence, coaches must be organized and deliberate in their prescription and implementation of multi-directional work. Let us not forget that much of the sport-specific work gets done in the sporting practice sessions, and too much of a good thing can yield nagging overuse injuries.

Planning

One of the most valuable means of determining the length of a training session is examining the constraints over which you have no control. You may only have a facility for 60 minutes, your athletes have classes to attend, or a sporting body only allows a certain amount of training time for your team. Much of our training is determined by conventions that have nothing to do with optimal training methods. For thousands of years, the days of the week have dictated microcycles, not physiological parameters or accurately determined circadian rhythms.

Once you have determined your time allotment for a given session, you begin to examine the amount of time required for equipment setup, warm-ups, individual repetitions, and the recovery times needed for maximal effort and adaptation. Time and recovery determine the work, not some magical physiological formula or coaching intuition. Understanding that leaving some work on the table is not only necessary but also keeps a coach from overdoing it in most cases.

The job of the typical track and field coach is a little more flexible when planning loads. The track facility is rarely booked by numerous sports and groups that share time and fight over start and finish times. Even good track coaches, however, typically impose minimum and maximum times on the track to ensure their athletes have energy and motivation to fight another day. Understanding that athletes have a finite capacity for many tasks and qualities will yield better performances and more durable athletes.

Many coaches struggle over ordering the types of work in their sessions. Some are still wildly mesmerized by ridiculous concepts such as muscle confusion and planned variability, rarely understanding the necessity for repetition, redundancy, accumulation of quality, and well-thought-out work. As Bruce Lee stated, “I do not fear the man who has learned 10,000 different kicks, but more the man who has mastered one kick 10,000 times.”

In general, it’s always advisable to carry out the more energy demanding and complex tasks earlier in the session. Starts require more energy to set the body explosively into motion and also involve significant technical requirements. While one can argue that maximum velocity sprinting is more demanding from both a central and peripheral perspective, it involves more of a “flow-state” with cyclical execution and lower brain involvement.

A short-to-long approach to a #SprintSession yields positive results and also presents a logical progression to the athletes, says @DerekMHansen. Share on X

Starts can create greater anxiety and overall muscle tension—particularly with the anticipation of each repetition—and are best to address at the outset of the workout before tackling the longer efforts. Hence, a short-to-long approach to an overall workout session can yield positive results. It also presents a logical progression to the athlete as the distances build over time and we add more segments to the individual runs. Working in the reverse order is less intuitive and can also negatively impact technical execution.

Ancillary training activities like plyometrics, throws, and weightlifting work better after sprint training, says @DerekMHansen. #SprintTraining Share on X

It’s also advisable to follow your sprint work with ancillary training activities such as plyometrics, throws, and weightlifting. These noncyclical activities work better after the athletes complete the cyclical, high-speed work. Sometimes, coaches include medicine ball throws and plyometrics—in very manageable doses—before sprint training to try to facilitate a higher level of activation for starts or accelerations. The key is to use these modalities sparingly so as not to steal energy—both physical and psychological—from the main goal: speed!

Warm-Up

The training and competition warm-up protocols used by today’s coaches and athletes are some of the most overthought and under-evaluated aspects of physical preparation. Once again, we hear terms such as movement variability, activation and potentiation, functional, and sports-specific used in an ad nauseam fashion to justify ill-conceived approaches.

The whole point of the warm-up is to prepare athletes for the reality and intensity of what will take place in training and competition. If you expect athletes to accelerate and run fast in training, you had better include a progression of work that covers these qualities.

In its simplest form, a warm-up should include activities that physically increase heat and circulation throughout the entire body. The warm-up also must progressively simulate the activities and intensities the athletes will experience in training and competition. I’ve always said that the easiest way to warm up is to use a short-to-long sprint approach that gradually dials up intensity while moving from shorter sprints to longer sprints. Acceleration involves muscles that play a lesser role in upright sprinting, and vice versa.

A short-to-long warm-up gradually introduces all of the required muscles & increases velocity & overall muscle recruitment as part of the progression. Share on X

A short-to-long approach gradually introduces all of the required muscles and increases velocity and overall muscle recruitment as part of the progression. Drills can emphasize posture, limb movements, and specific qualities (hip range of motion, elastic ground contacts, rapid arm movements, etc.), but we don’t need to use them extensively. We can also intersperse flexibility and range-of-motion exercises throughout the process, often as a check of muscle status and general readiness.

With a large group of athletes, often a highly structured warm-up approach limiting degrees of freedom works best. Determine how much time you can dedicate to the warm-up and then fill in the blanks. With smaller groups of high-performance athletes, you may want to give a bit more independence over how they prepare to take into consideration their individual preferences.

With younger athletes, you’ll have to overstructure the warm-up to make sure they hit all of the key movements and intensities. In all cases, having a plan, identifying objectives, and sticking to a timeline must be part of the approach to ensure you don’t waste time and your athletes are ready to go.

Therapeutic Interventions

While it may not be within the scope of your work to carry out physical therapy techniques on your athletes, it’s always good to know what is possible so you can seek out a practitioner to help you with your athletes. Talking-the-talk may be vital in getting someone else to walk-the-walk for you.

Although most therapeutic interventions take place away from the training venue, many operations now have integrated facilities where athletes can train and receive treatment for injuries under the same roof. Other programs have physical therapy staff on-site during training sessions. Regardless, it’s good to discuss with your team of professionals how to work with athletes during a training session. Having athletes spontaneously and randomly drop out of repetitions to get “tuned up” can be risky if not done properly.

It’s very important to provide an assessment period at the beginning of the session to address issues and communicate information. Access to therapeutic professionals at training sessions is a luxury, and we must treat them as such to avoid the “distraction effect” from hijacking the main purpose of the session: training!

Application of Drills

All coaches use drills in their training progressions to break down larger, more complicated skills. Often, however, the drills become business-as-usual, and both athletes and coaches forget the primary reason the drills were introduced. Apathy takes hold of the exercises, and technique degrades very quickly. Drills also get thrown into a warm-up routine where focus is in short supply and movements become sloppy. While drills can be valuable and certainly have their place in a training session, coaches must be very careful with their application. Drills should be used strategically, precisely, and consistently over time to accrue the true and full benefits.

Drills come after the general warm-up to reinforce proper movement patterns and activate the muscles required for the tasks ahead, says @DerekMHansen. Share on X

Drills are helpful in the early portions of a training session—following a general warm-up routine—to reinforce proper movement patterns and activate the muscles required for the tasks ahead. Many drills involve specific strengthening characteristics that assist with the proper execution of full movements in sports.

While terms such as activation and potentiation are often used to prepare an athlete for maximal efforts in training and competition, drills also serve this purpose. When moved to the end of a training session, drills can reinforce the movement patterns practiced in the primary training session. Coaches must be careful to monitor technique and fatigue closely to avoid reinforcing poor movement patterns.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Subjective

Qualities that are difficult to measure by objective means often play a significant role in the coaching process. Detecting muscle tension, relaxation, movement efficiency, or perception of pain and effort should all be discussed with the athlete, albeit in small doses and only when warranted. We can then correlate these subjective measures with the objective data collected from session to session.

Even video review interventions can involve a conversation around the question, “How did you feel on this repetition, and does it look as though you thought it would?” Often, athletes have very poor perception and awareness of what they’re trying to affect in a sprint effort and what they demonstrate on video. While your job is not to make your athlete feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about their performances, you should work with them to affect their best biomechanical efforts and resulting outputs. This is certainly the goal of the coaching process.

Objective

Run times. Data collection for monitoring, feedback, and overall tracking of progress are critical in any performance domain. There are many ways to collect athlete efforts over various distances, and most track and field coaches use a conventional stopwatch. The stopwatch is portable, relatively inexpensive, and very convenient, but its accuracy is highly variable, depending on who is conducting the timing.

The stopwatch—particularly in the hands of those collecting 40-yard dash times—often enhances or diminishes a performance depending on the motives of the timer. Some experienced coaches have found the stopwatch quite useful for tracking progress daily, particularly over longer sprint distances where minute deviations in start and stop reflexes don’t make a difference.

Valid and consistent timing results over short sprint distances (less than 200 meters) require electronic timing says @DerekMHansen. #SprintTraining Share on X

Those of us who need valid and consistent timing results over shorter sprint distances (i.e., less than 200 meters) require some form of electronic timing. Accurate times can be had to the hundredth of a second by infrared beam systems, radio frequency chips, and high-speed video applications and cameras. The choice of direction depends on the budget, personal preference, athlete group size, frequency of use, and manual labor resources available to the coach.

While the scope of this article does not cover the intricacies of electronic and fully automatic timing systems, numerous options are available and have been discussed and reviewed online. Any serious performance professional should look at implementing at least one of these systems to verify athlete improvements accurately.

Ground contact times. Ground contact time data has become more and more relevant to performance evaluations, as research has shown that shorter, more forceful contacts correlate with faster running. Although it’s not as easy or economical to collect as sprint times, ground contact data can be caught using a variety of methods.

Anyone with a modern smartphone should have the capability to collect high-definition video at 120 frames per second, which offers accurate times up to a hundredth of a second. While some coaches and analysts resort to manually counting frames of video to calculate ground contact durations, you can import video footage into video analysis applications that do the work for you. Dartfish Express, for example, allows you to tag the initial contact frame and the moment at toe-off to calculate the duration of ground contact for the stance phase during a sprint.

Those who have access to in-ground force-plate technology can also scrape ground contact data. But this can be much more expensive, time costly, much less portable, and generally more complex to set up and implement with a large group of athletes. In-shoe force transducer technology may soon allow us to collect this type of information for groups of athletes at a reasonable price point. In the interim, video footage may serve as the most practical option.

Limb angles. The video analysis applications discussed above often can measure postural and limb angles. It’s imperative to compare apples to apples and not oranges in this case. You must take time and care to capture video from the same distances, angles, and, preferably, the same device. Different cameras, lenses, and smartphones have varying fields of view, depths of field, and even a degree of distortion at the outer edges of the frame. Keeping this in mind, exercise due diligence and create standard operating procedures around your video collection practices.

Velocities. Some video analysis applications can measure velocities, but short of having an expensive instantaneous velocity laser device on hand, it may not be that important to track this information if you can capture interval times over 5 and 10 meters using more conventional electronic timers. You can obtain average velocities using split times, and these may be enough to determine notable increases or decreases in velocity at various stages of a sprint effort.

Stride frequency and stride length. While many world-class biomechanical analyses involve measures of stride frequency and stride length, it may not be as imperative to capture exceptionally accurate data on these qualities, at least not regularly. Counting strides over a given 20-meter window—achieved with a flying start—is an easier way to estimate average stride length and frequency at maximum velocity. In most cases, it’s not advisable to let the athletes know you’re trying to capture this data, as they may alter their normal mechanics to try achieve a better score and corrupt the data. Even worse, they may hurt themselves.

Closing Thoughts

Clearly, we could discuss this topic over tens of thousands of words in multiple volumes and a companion video series. I want to get coaches thinking about the key considerations when planning their sessions. During many years competing as an athlete, coaching athletes, and now educating coaches and rehabilitation professionals, I’ve seen and heard many things.

Much of the information has been good, but much has been illogical and egregious. While it’s easy to point the finger from afar and judge coaches for their actions—even questioning their motives and character—it may be more appropriate to produce resources to guide coaches and make them think about their philosophy and procedures. As my good friend Mark Uyeyama often states, “Most people don’t even know what they don’t know.”

Not many people have had the opportunities I’ve had to learn from some pretty special coaches and human beings. Some of it was sheer luck, but it also involved seeking out the best and learning firsthand the techniques they used to produce champions. It allowed me to get into their heads and truly understand why they did what they did at any given time.

I followed this with a good deal of trial-and-error to experiment with their formulations and philosophies. And while much of what they told me worked, I was forced to come up with some new concepts and techniques on my own. Necessity is the mother of invention, and putting yourself in a situation where you have to deliver often yields positive outcomes and growth. So take this article with a grain of salt, put it in the back of your mind, and get out there and coach to the best of your ability.

I look forward to hearing about your successes and failures; we’ll continue to grow together. For more information on the Running Mechanics Professional courses on this subject and many more other areas related to performance and rehabilitation, please visit Running Mechanics Professional.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF