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I first gained experience in the university sporting environment during my time at a college in Oregon. Playing basketball there, I learned what a great opportunity it was to train, develop, and compete on a daily basis. While the university environment in the United Kingdom (UK) can be a bit different from the United States (US) regarding facilities and funding, there are still some excellent athletes, and the demands of a season can be equally—if not more—challenging.

With the investment in scholarship athletes becoming more prevalent in the UK (beginning about ten years ago), universities also began to employ strength and conditioning (S&C) coaches to work with these few select individuals. Having worked in professional and international sport with large teams and witnessed the US collegiate environment, I wanted to do something similar in the UK and deliver a comprehensive S&C service to as many student-athletes as possible. These are my insights from a decade within UK university sport.

Develop a Vision and Mission

Having a clear vision is essential. It gives you an overarching philosophy that you can aim everything toward. You can link any decisions to your philosophy and understand and assess whether you’re progressing toward your ultimate goal or not.

University athlete health and wellbeing is the priority while performance is a related goal, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

In the university environment, athlete health and wellbeing should be the ultimate priority, with performance treated as a related goal. You’ll usually have at least three years in the UK to develop an athlete, sometimes longer. These are almost always young athletes, who are growing, developing, and learning, and this is the ideal environment and opportunityto develop them physically.

If you get this right, you can improve their strength, power, speed, and endurance, which should have a lasting impact on their sporting performance. You can also create robust athletes who have reduced injury risk and can enjoy life in sport.

The long-term impact of injury in collegiate athletes is clear. There’s a negative effect on long-term health and wellbeing as well as reduced participation in sport.¹Knowing that well-implemented S&C support can help reduce this risk,²our priority in an S&C setting is to help guard against injuries. The university administration should also take this risk seriously. The university has a duty of care to look after its athletes competing for the university, and they should understand how sport influences long-term health and wellbeing.

Understand the Unique Constraints and Opportunities of the University Environment

In university sport, and indeed in any large organization or professional club, there are a variety of priorities. As S&C coaches, we like to think that we’re the most important aspect and that our influence is vital. While there is no doubt that well-implemented S&C can have a great lasting impact on student-athletes, it’s not always the case that management or people in other departments instantly and instinctively understand this.

For example, there could be financial implications. At my previous university, the sport department sat within the commercial services department. While there was some understanding that sport was important, it was difficult to clarify what fell in the profit and loss columns. When I first arrived, the S&C facility had a fairly large number of external members, who were non-students and did not need a sports-specific S&C training environment. I soon discovered that this conflicted with our vision to enhance student-athlete health, wellbeing, and performance.

Making a case for a student-athlete only space was easy; covering the cost took an innovative plan, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

The arguments to create a student-athlete only environment were easy to make. We could support training for many teams and athletes, using evidence-based methodologies, in a controlled and professional environment. The issue was that this could result in a large reduction in income if we discontinued the external membership.

I proposed engaging a large number of teams and athletes who would pay for the service. I had no previous examples to give as evidence that it would work, but my experiences within the American university system led me to believe that we could develop a service that teams and athletes would buy into. Luckily, the management agreed and took the risk.

Within the first year, we doubled the student-athlete membership and went from working with three performance teams (who received free services) to nine teams. Five years down the line, we now work with 35 sports in 65 team sessions, supporting over 1,000 student-athletes. The incredible thing, from a sustainability perspective, is that close to 900 of these athletes pay for the service.

Match Facility Design to Meet Your Mission

Designing a facility that can cater to your aims is important. After I was in the department for a year, we looked at redeveloping our facility. At the time, we had four racks, a few platforms, and some dumbbells and other bits of equipment dotted around the room. During the tender process, which was linked to the regular fitness gym facility, five companies competed for the bid. Most of the companies offered some great equipment, but the designs and layouts would not cater to the team and athlete delivery that I envisioned.

I drew up a proposal based on what I’d seen at universities in America. The team training area was a priority. It had six racks (three opposite each other) with a good amount of space and platforms in between. I thought this could easily cater to a total of 18 athletes. In the rest of the facility, I figured we could fit five more racks and then squeeze in some dumbbells, spin bikes, and a leg press.

 

That’s pretty much it: 11 racks, 5 benches, 3 bench pull attachments, some dumbbells, spin bikes, and a leg press. Simple but incredibly effective. Absolute Performance provided the equipment to match this design and did a great job installing it.

Another key factor was the integrated flooring. We went for 40mm rubber floor tiles that we could use for any type of lifting, eliminating the need for separate platforms. It made the area a great multi-purpose facility.

Tailor Your Communication for the Desired Effect

The value of your communication is judged by its outcome. You may have the best intentions and make a lot of valid points, but if the outcome is that the athlete does not buy-in or you don’t get the desired investment, your communication failed. It’s easy to try and shift the blame and say they did not understand you or they just didn’t get it. And there may even be some truth in these statements, but that’s not the point. The point is that your communication was unsuccessful, so you should try to figure out how to do it better.⁷

There are difficult decisions to make when coaching. Some people say they never tell athletes the truth about what they’re doing. Instead, they lie to the athletes, making bolder claims than they know are likely. I feel somewhat uneasy about this as an empiricist.

I prefer to try and sell the truth as effectively as possible. Research has shown that the same information can be delivered in different ways to have greatly differing effects. The work by Kahneman and colleagues has shown that we are all subject to bias in many ways.⁸Therefore, it might be beneficial to communicate in ways that enhance the likelihood of a positive outcome. Confidence is one of the obvious examples of this: if you deliver something with confidence and clarity, it’s more likely to be accepted as true.

The research on bias and heuristics gives us further rationale to embrace scientific thinking and methodologies. We are prone to confirmation bias and are likely to attribute errors elsewhere. Therefore, we should always be open to the fact that we may make mistakes, prepare to review our programs and testing results carefully, and then be willing to admit when we are wrong. It is, in fact, one of the main virtues of scientists—to be skeptical, to question, and to be objective rather than subjective.

While a person's thoughts can be interesting, their anecdotes can never overrule empirical evidence, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

In some ways, there seems to have been an increase in the value of subjective reasoning and personal evidence. While the thoughts of one person can be interesting, anecdotes can never overrule empirical evidence. I would advise all coaches and S&C professionals to consider these factors when reviewing evidence, designing programs, and communicating with stakeholders.

Foster a Team Culture that Reflects Your Vision

Of course, a department like this can only be successful if the teams and athletes turn up and are willing to buy-in. To do that, you need to ensure a quality service that’s engaging and effective. We must find a difficult balance between giving the teams and athletes what they think they want and ensuring that what we do for them is impactful.

I’ve found the best way to accomplish this is to engage teams by helping instill good team culture. The term culture is often thrown around without really explaining what it is or how to achieve it. For me, good overall team culture involves everyone working toward a common shared goal. It means every individual is accountable for their actions in every situation, all based on whether they’re helping or hindering the common goal.

A strong culture and team spirit can emerge once everyone buys-in and believes team goals, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

Attending S&C and working hard should impact athletic performance and be part of the common goal of a serious team. All the players should be accountable for this. You can enforce it through team rules and behaviors, which is where athlete leadership fits in. Successful teams tend to have a strong leadership group, consisting of key players who help hold others accountable for their actions. Once everyone buys-in and believes in the team’s goals, a strong culture and team spirit can emerge.⁹

Respect the Fundamentals of Science

Much of my programming and the philosophy I try to instill in the S&C department is to use “real training” and stay away from gimmicks and trends. We try to stick to the basics and develop all physical qualities in a simple way. A saying that always sticks in my mind from science education is Occam’s razor—always try to answer a question with the most simple answer possible.³

As a biology graduate, I’m passionate about science and the scientific method. I often view topics in S&C a little differently than what’s currently in vogue. An example is the common use of categorical thinking in S&C textbooks. Stemming from the ideas of Aristotle and Plato, categorical thinking aims to put everything into discrete groupings so we can consider them easily.⁴ It’s a common heuristic people use that can be very practical in certain circumstances.

For example, the electromagnetic spectrum is exactly that—a spectrum. However, we conveniently put groupings and names to different wavelengths of light and call them colors. Despite there being no actual boundaries between the wavelengths in the spectrum, we easily depict them as separate colors. But just as the distinction between red and orange can be useful, there can also be a blurring of these categories where the distinction is not so easy, and the colors become ambiguous.

In an S&C context, we see the same ambiguity when dealing with the changing force and velocity of muscle contraction. We often struggle with ambiguity, and viewing things in categories doesn’t help. The strength-speed continuum of muscle action is an example.

Muscle contraction occurs on a continuum from slow to fast; there are no actual separate categories of mechanism (obviously there is the increased recruitment of high threshold motor units, but this is not important for the point I’m making here) despite our insistence on saying “at this percentage we’re training max strength, and at this percentage we’re training strength-speed,” etc. With this thinking, as we approach the boundary between categories, a 1% change suggests a larger difference than is actually present.

This also opens questions about the physiological rationale for our training methods and philosophies. The mechanism of muscle contraction is an obvious area that informs program design. When a muscle contracts, we need the actin-myosin cross-bridge formation to impart a force. This force directly dictates all other outcomes.

While people say something like Power = Force x Velocity, which is true, we must understand that the velocity we measure only occurs due to the force imparted. They are not mutually exclusive. As we approach 1RM, actin-myosin binding sites are mostly occupied at any one time, meaning that velocity has to be slow. As the load decreases, the number of actin-myosin binding sites occupied can lower, meaning that cycling is quicker and the velocity of contraction increases.⁵

Being able to view physiological phenomena as continuous variables greatly helps our understanding and appreciation of program design and exercise selection. It’s useful to have simple rules-of-thumb when designing programs quickly and when we’re trying to get our heads around an idea, but we should always be mindful of the traps we can fall into.

There’s also often confusion with science: people might say there is no exact scientific research showing that something works in a particular environment, so you can’t say what is right or wrong. Well, that’s absolute nonsense. Science is not just a set of facts and theories that we know about the world. It’s also the process of scientific thinking, clear thinking, or critical thinking. It’s using evidence and what we do know to make informed decisions with logic, rationality, and reason.⁶

By understanding #physiology, we make informed judgments & predictions about behaviors, adaptations, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

By understanding basic physiology, we can make informed judgments and predictions about behaviors and adaptations. If we keep this simple and closely analyze the outcomes, we can determine whether our inferences were correct or whether we need to adjust things and try something different. Again, simplicity is key because then we can be clear in our analysis of what works or doesn’t work. When we overcomplicate things with many variables and principles, we can’t possibly have a good grasp of what actually caused an outcome.

Create Programs that Build Resilient Athletes

To look at some of the programs I’ve found successful in the university environment, I present my full season of programs for the Men’s Hockey team. To give some context, the team plays in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Premier Division and National League 1. This means that most players have matches on Wednesday and Saturday/Sunday, with hockey training on Monday and Thursday.

It’s a fairly demanding and fatiguing sporting schedule, which is similar across most top-level teams at British universities. Alongside these hockey commitments, all the players are full-time students with different courses and timetables. We’ve found the best overall schedule for them is two S&C sessions each week on Monday and Friday.

Pre-season

The pre-season period is the optimal time to get a large volume of training completed. It allows us to build a solid foundation and work on areas that may be prone to injury. At the start of every session, players will complete a warm-up and prehab routine. After taking them through this for the first couple of sessions, I let them get on with it themselves for the rest of the season. This helps to develop some accountability among the players. It also gives me an opportunity to talk to the players individually to see how they’re feeling and understand their current wellness.

Once the players finish their warm-up, they perform a 5-repeated jump monitoring test, which can track neuromuscular outputs throughout a whole season. This is an adapted version of the 10/5 Repeated Jump Test.¹²

 

As you can see from Table 1, the volume of the sessions is fairly high. We aim to develop some work capacity and structural adaptation. I like to use a slow tempo: 3-second eccentrics and a pause on the bottom of the squat. This helps to ensure that we develop good movement patterns and lifting techniques and also places sufficient stress on the body.

The development of the hamstrings and soleus are key areas for injury patterns that we see in hockey.

At the end of this period, we carry out some 1RM prediction testing using GymAware to help track progress and to assign some estimates to work from each week. I’m very mindful that the players have different abilities, workloads, and schedules, so I only use percentages as guidelines.

Bryan Mann’s work has demonstrated the benefits of autoregulatory training.¹³When someone easily hits their numbers for a given week, I encourage them to lift a little heavier. If someone is struggling, we may reduce the load slightly or reduce the number of sets, which is my usual preference. Having a close working relationship with the players and an understanding of their needs helps with this daily monitoring and adjustment strategy.

In-Season Phase 1

The program for the first in-season phase is very similar. Percentages on the bench press are higher than squats because there are less potential performance impact and injury risk from overloading the horizontal press.

The overall volume is still fairly high, particularly since they’re now competing in fixtures and train on Monday night after having S&C in the morning. On paper, that might be a risk. However, we’ve built this through experience and analyzing the impact of my sessions over several years. I’m pleased to say that our injury rate is extremely low. During the past three years, players in total have missed only five games out of a total of 960. That’s an availability rate of over 99.5%.

Our player availability rate is more than 99.5% because we built robust athletes using overload, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

While injuries can be due to luck, programming and management inevitably have an impact. There’s also what I like to call the “spiral of fragility.” Athletes are often treated as highly fragile, and coaches believe they must do everything to protect them. The concept is epitomized in an elite sport such as the English Premier League (football/soccer).

The approach is understandable in some respects, as we’re dealing with huge commodities regarding the players’ value. If they get injured, that’s a loss of money, so everything possible will be done to protect them and wrap them in cotton wool. However, this may prove to be an ineffective approach and actually have the opposite effect than what we hoped for.

The data clearly suggests that developing robust athletes, who are resistant to injury, requires a constant loading and developing of a good foundation. If we don’t overload, and therefore create a positive structural adaptation, then the muscles, tendons, and ligaments will be weaker and at higher risk of injury. The reversibility effect ensures that if we don’t train, then we lose any physical qualities that we developed. A proverb that sums this up well is: “prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.”¹⁴

University athletes are more robust than often thought and can withstand a good amount of loading, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

I’ve found that university athletes are more robust than we like to think. They are anti-fragile and can withstand a good amount of loading and adaptation. If you train them well from the beginning and continue loading them through the year, you can be hopeful for strong and injury-free athletes for the whole season.

In-Season Phase 2

In this block, we increase intensities and add a few more dynamic movements.

The squats include a “pop” out of the bottom, and the reverse lunges and step-ups are as quick as possible on the way up.

In-Season Phase 3

Phase 3 is the last phase before the Christmas break when we add power exercises such as jump squats and trap bar jumps.

When progressing to power training, I first train through all of the larger ranges of motion, looking at the concentric action (no countermovement) and a controlled landing (eccentric).

In-Season Phase 4

Phase 4 is the first block back after the Christmas break. Typically, we lose the athletes for around four weeks over the break, and it’s difficult to guarantee that they’ve done much training during that time.

I use a taper block to get them back to where we left off before Christmas. We also add in the next progressions in power training, using countermovement jump squats and trap bar jumps.

In-Season Phase 5

In phase 5, we look at repeated jumps and contacts, aiming to improve the reactivity of the muscles.

We include some loaded back squats and bench presses using bands to overload the top portion and allow acceleration through the whole movement.

In-Season Phase 6

Phase 6 is the final block of training leading into playoffs and championship games.

We add some multi-directional power work and continue with some squats, RDLs, split squats, and calf raises. This training format leads to some natural peaking as we’ve progressed from higher volumes at lower intensities to high intensity and power work with reduced volume.

With today’s trend of daily undulating methods, this block periodization method might not be the most popular, but I’ve found it the most successful in making progressions over a full season. Daily undulating methods might be good for experienced professionals who have many years of training background behind them and who are looking to stay fresh for every game.

The #BlockPeriodization makes successful progressions over a full season, says @Langford_Andrew. Share on X

But for these young athletes, who don’t have a great training background, undulating methods would be largely wasted on them. They don’t have the foundational qualities to just “top-up” and develop every couple of weeks. The best way to cause real adaptation and physical change is to overload a quality for a good block of training and then move on to another focus after that.^{10, 11}

Review Relevant Data to Evaluate Results

S&C is a field where we hope to have a real impact and see results, and our best evidence that we’ve done a good job and were successful is to review our data and test results. Physical outputs like strength and power are useful as well as injury data and feedback from coaches and athletes.

 

The graph covers the whole of the season. You can see the changes in power output throughout the year, with sharp fluctuations when we adjusted the emphasis of training. There was a large spike toward the end of the year when we focussed on the power and speed aspects of training to prepare for major competitions.

Summary

The university environment in the UK offers an excellent opportunity to develop young athletes over several years of engagement. My methods and examples demonstrate that you can set up an S&C department to be both sustainable and effective. I hope that other universities and administrations see the advantages and opportunities available to them and recognize the duty of care they have to their student-athletes.

For coaches and aspiring S&C professionals, I hope that this shows that using principles of science and scientific thinking can help develop effective programs, structures, and entire departments. From this, it would be progressive for the university S&C industry if other coaches and practitioners share their experiences and philosophies, helping develop standards and expectations, which in turn could be adopted by organizations such as BUCS.

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

References

1. Hootman, Jennifer & Randall, Dick & Agel, Julie. (2007). Epidemiology of Collegiate Injuries for 15 Sports: Summary and Recommendations for Injury Prevention Initiatives. Journal of Athletic Training. 42. 311-319.
2. Talpey, Scott & Siesmaa, Emma. (2017). Sports Injury Prevention: The Role of the Strength and Conditioning Coach. Strength and Conditioning Journal. 39(3). 14-19.DOI: 10.1519/SSC.0000000000000301.
3. Rasmussen, C. E., & Ghahramani, Z. (2001). Occam’s Razor. In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (pp. 294-300).
4. Mullainathan, S. (2002). Thinking through categories. NBER working paper.
5. Jaric, S. (2015). Force-velocity Relationship of Muscles Performing Multi-joint Maximum Performance Tasks. International Journal of Sports Medicine. 36(9). 699-704.
6. Russell, B. (2013). An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth. Routledge.
7. Cialdini, R. B. (1987). Influence (Vol. 3). Port Harcourt: A. Michel.
8. Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow (Vol. 1). New York: Farrar, Straus, andGiroux.
9. Fletcher, D., & Arnold, R. (2011). A Qualitative Study of Performance Leadership and Management in Elite Sport. Journal of Applied SportPsychology. 23(2). 223-242.
10. Haff, G. G. (2016). The Essentials of Periodization. Strength and Conditioning for Sports Performance. 404.
11. Painter, K. B., et al. (2012). Strength Gains: Block Versus Daily Undulating Periodization Weight Training Among Track and Field Athletes. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 7(2). 161-169.
12. Harper, Damian & Hobbs, Sarah & Moore, Jason. (2011). The Ten to Five Repeated Jump Test: A New Test for Evaluation of Reactive Strength. BASES Student Conference.
13. Mann, Bryan, et al. (2010). The Effect of Autoregulatory Progressive Resistance Exercise vs. Linear Periodization on Strength Improvement in College Athletes. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 24(17). 1718-1723.
14. Lukianoff, G., & Haidt, J. (2018). The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. Penguin Press.

 

Throughout my years of coaching, a number of different training concepts have come and gone. Some have stayed longer than others. Some I have tried, while others I’ve never believed in enough to implement in the first place. One new method, however, really caught my attention and I thought it could be very useful: velocity-based training (VBT).

First off, I am not the premier expert in this area. That title goes to Bryan Mann. In fact, for more information on this type of training, Mann has written two or three books and many articles. My objectives here are to introduce you to the concept of VBT, offer a starting point, and present firsthand ideas on how I’ve used this concept successfully in both team and individual settings.

Choosing a Device

To apply the concept in practice, you first have to choose a device. Initially, there were only a few options to choose from, but nowadays there are a plethora of tools that work in various ways and are worn in different positions. I was first introduced to one of these devices in the mid-2000s while attending a Tibor Gecsek Hammer Clinic at the University of Georgia. Bert Sorin, of Sorinex Exercise Equipment, also attended and was walking around with a device called a Tendo Unit.

To introduce the Tendo, Bert would have guys attach a string to their belt loop; this string was attached to the device that measured the velocity at which the string was pulled. He would have some of the athletes jump to see at what m/s they were going in a vertical direction.

I tried the device, and to my surprise, I hit one of the fastest measurements ever. Witnessing this, Tibor could not understand how a guy like me could have a higher m/s than he had. And made me do it again—the result was even better. I may be short, but one genetic gift I had was the ability to jump out of the building in my younger, lighter years. I have no doubt this gift is what made me successful as a shot putter.

But I digress—back to the devices. Like I said, currently, there are many devices to choose from: some with a string, some attach to the bar, some attach to your elbow, and some attach to the wrist. A few of the brands available are the Tendo, Beast, Push Device, Bar Sensei, and GymAware. I’m familiar with all the devices except the GymAware, which is said to be the most accurate but is also the most expensive. Although I’m fortunate enough at the high school level to have a great budget, we can’t afford one of these.

Instead, we have a few Tendos, a number of Push Devices, and one of each of the Beast and Bar Sensei. I find that as long as you use the same device each session, you can accomplish the objective you set. In my experience, when doing slower movements like a squat, bench, and deadlift, the range of devices are very similar when measuring, if not the same. With more ballistic movements, however, the differences can be a little greater, though the results are still in the same relative area.

I suggest doing your research and finding the one that best suits you. If money were unlimited, my choice would be the Tendo. Keep in mind, Bar Sensei continually improves their product, and they’re a very close second and much more cost effective.

Training Team Sport Athletes

Using VBT in a team setting can be beneficial in many ways. I will describe a few ways I use it throughout the year with different teams of both male and female athletes.

As a beginning example, let’s use football during the season. Our lifts take place on Saturday (the day after the game) and Monday or Tuesday during the week. We tend to do our squat and bench type training on Saturday since it gives the maximum time for recovery before the next game. A coach must take into consideration that the athletes get beat up throughout the season, and everything they do adds up cumulatively. What I mean by this is the only time an athlete is truly fresh is for the first game, and even then they’ve had previous weeks of double days and hard training, depending on the program.

Therefore, an athlete’s squat max from the summer, while fresh, isn’t necessarily going to be the same on a Saturday morning at 8 am after a four-quarter war the night before. At this point, if you’re using percentages to assign intensity for the workouts, you could be setting your athletes up for failure and even nervous system fatigue.

This is where VBT comes in. Bryan Mann assigns specific speeds for the characteristic you’re training for, and the Push Device has a chart with a specific range of speeds.

These characteristics include:

• Absolute strength
• Max strength
• Accelerative strength
• Strength speed
• Speed strength
• Starting strength

Speed Strength

To keep it simple, let’s focus on speed strength. This is the characteristic I train for the most and is the most important characteristic for success in athletics. The Push chart lists that speed strength is trained at between 1.0 m/s and 1.5 m/s average velocity. Therefore, when the athletes come in on Saturday, the intensity is determined by speed rather than percentages.

If you use percentages to train, there’s a high probability that you’ll train a different characteristic than the one you planned for. This can result in overtraining and create a hole that will be extremely challenging to get out of during in-season play.

If you use percentages you'll likely train a characteristic different than the one you planned for, says @nick_g_garcia. Share on X

Let’s return to the data point for speed strength listed at 1.0-1.5 m/s average velocity on the Push chart. There are a few different ways to measure training when applying VBT. Besides average velocity, we can use peak velocity. I prefer to use both.

I use average velocity when doing the less ballistic total body movements, like the squat, bench, and deadlift, and peak velocity when using more ballistic movements like the clean and snatch. The reason is that, while performing lifts like the clean and snatch, many things can affect the average velocity: range of motion, small injuries, etc. Because movements like the squat, bench, and deadlift are less complicated to perform, they are not affected in the same way.

Although the Push chart gives us a starting point for each of the training characteristics, I tend to stick with Bryan Mann’s speed recommendations, which you can find in his book Developing Explosive Athletes: Use of Velocity Based Training in Training Athletes, 3^rd Edition. He lists speeds for many different movements, including various types of pulls.

Assigning speeds for lifts keeps the nervous system firing & the athletes ready for a long season, says @nick_g_garcia. Share on X

When athletes come in to train during the season, we assign them a specific speed as a measurable for each main lift rather than a percentage. Training in this manner helps keep the nervous system firing and helps the athletes endure a long grueling season.

Monitoring Team Readiness

Before we move on from the team aspect of VBT, let’s look at how we can use VBT to determine team readiness. Often in a team environment, the results of the pre-season and in-season will determine if you have an opportunity to move on to the bigger competitions, like regionals and finals.

If the in-season is not successful, then the chances of the team continuing into the post-season become very low. Taking all of this into consideration, how do you go about determining your team’s readiness for the season and, for that matter, week to week during the season?

Currently, Catapult can track many different training metrics for individual team athletes, including mileage and running patterns. I’m the first to admit that I am no expert on Catapult—I do not own the system, nor have I used one. I do, however, believe it’s a valuable tool if you have the budget for it. Since Catapult is still fairly new at the high school level, it was not an option during our football season. Therefore, I had to come up with a way to determine whether our training on and off the field was beneficial or detrimental to our performance on Fridays.

How can we determine our training is beneficial or detrimental to our meet performance? says @nick_g_garcia Share on X

And then it came to me. For a long while now in my own training (inspired by Dr. Bondarchuk’s methods), I’ve used bar velocity devices as secondary proof that I was in peak performance. I did this by comparing my daily throwing results with my bar velocity when I lifted. Simply put, when my throws were up, my speeds were up. When my throws were down, my speeds were down. Also, when I reached peak performance, my throws were always up as well as my bar speed—the patterns mimicked each other perfectly.

The idea, then, was to hold our first training session using VBT one week before our first game to produce speeds that I considered realistic since they were not completely fresh. I felt this would be more representative of the speeds we may see during the season based on fatigue from normal everyday practice.

I chose one athlete from each position to represent the different duties on the field: defensive back, linebacker, defensive lineman, offensive lineman, running back, and wide receiver. I also included two athletes who may not play much and not get as many reps during practice.

We established weights they were to use for the hang clean, squat, and bench based on the literature: 1.35 m/s for the hang clean and 0.8-1.0 m/s for the squat and bench (for the record, this was average velocity, not peak velocity). Throughout the year, we would continue to use these same weights week in and week out while charting the speeds of each set of each lift.

As expected, the athletes who participated in most of the plays saw a decline in their average velocity by the time we reached the middle of the season. The players who played less kept within the speed parameters since they had not accumulated weeks of playing fatigue.

In mid-season, the team must feel as good as possible to ensure a late-season run, says @nick_g_garcia. Share on X

When moving into the middle of the season, it is increasingly important for a team to be feeling as good as possible to ensure a late-season run. The data collected can help us, as coaches, determine how to attack the last half of the season. Do we need to back off, or can we go a little harder each day? In our case, we needed to back off from what we were doing every week. Our speeds were down each week and showing no signs of improving.

Having the data that proves you need to do something different, however, and getting the higher-ups to change something are two different things. Common sense may say if you’re unsuccessful at a task, the answer is to work harder. In reality, the best answer is to back off to keep your athletes fresh enough to perform the way you coached them to perform. I don’t have the answer on how to get the higher-ups to do something different, but this is one way to determine your team’s readiness throughout the season.

Using Bondarchuk’s System with Individual Athletes

Let’s switch gears and look at how I use VBT with individual athletes. I mentioned using it as a second indicator of where my body is in relation to peak form using Dr. Bondarchuk’s training system. One of the cycles in this system is the Developmental Cycle (my previous article describes the program, “The Cycle and Exercise Classification of Dr. Bondarchuk’s System”).

For a Developmental Cycle, we want the lifting percentages to be roughly 60-70% of max. The objective is to move each rep of each set as fast and dynamic as possible. Ultimately, we’re training the speed strength characteristic. The Push chart lists speed strength at 1.0-1.5 m/s using average velocity. Therefore, we would find a weight that allowed us to be just under 1.0 m/s for every rep of every set (give or take), which according to the Push chart, falls into the realm of strength speed.

We chose these speeds because when we hit peak form, theoretically, our throws and bar speeds should be up, taking us into that speed strength realm. If we had begun in the speed strength realm and hit peak form, it may take us into training the Starting Strength characteristic. We will then risk not having enough of a stimulus in the weight room if the speeds are too high. This strategy has worked great for us.

Another way I use VBT with individuals is having a strength-oriented day and speed-oriented day. During the track season, we normally train twice a week: a strength-based lift on the first day of the week and a speed-oriented lift the day before or the day of the meet. Occasionally, our meets will fall on Fridays, including the Master’s meet and State Prelims.

I don’t comprise my program based on our meet schedule. Don’t get me wrong, we have a structured plan in place to peak at the proper time. If, however, we’re scheduled to lift on a Friday and a meet falls on that day, so be it. We’ll come in during the early morning and hit our speed-oriented lift, in which every rep of every movement must be in the speed strength realm.

A pre-meet speed-oriented lift session on the day of a meet can enhance race performance, says @nick_g_garcia. Share on X

Each time we’ve had a meet fall on the same day as a speed-oriented lift day, we’ve hit a seasonal best or personal best that same night. Therefore, I have no problem lifting for speed on meet days. In fact, this shows a pre-meet lift can enhance performance.

Training Female Student-Athletes

Finally, let’s look at how I use VBT with female student-athletes. In my experience, when female athletes first begin to train, the majority are intimidated by the weight room. We introduce them to kettlebell and dumbbell work to get them a bit more comfortable. Down the road 8-12 weeks, when we begin barbell lifts, these athletes tend to underestimate their lifting capabilities.

I then give each athlete an iPad and a Push Device. I tell them the speeds I want the bar moving between. Let’s use a squat variation as an example. I assign a speed of 0.8-1.0 m/s: any weight that moves slower than 0.8 is too heavy, and any weight that moves above 1.0 is too light. Ultimately, this range gives them an idea of where they should be, and since we’re training in the speed strength realm, the weight is not really heavy regardless.

This has helped the female athletes I coach progress much faster and have much more confidence in what they’re doing every week—not to mention, they feel a bit more special since they get to use a fancy device.

These are just a few ideas on how to get started with VBT as well as a few ways to apply it to your training. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at [email protected], or you can sign up to listen to the Hmmr Media podcast about VBT.

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

For athletes, achieving excellence requires not only talent, passion, and determination, but also an incredible amount of dedicated work. I’m sure you’re now quite familiar with the saying that it takes 10,000 hours for experts from many diverse fields to reach mastery. Even though this concept is not without its flaws, it reflects the reality that making it to the top requires an important time investment to develop the skills and physiological and biomechanical adaptations necessary for performance.

When working with young student-athletes, however, it’s necessary to consider not only the demands of training and competition but also academic and other commitments including exams, internships, and part-time jobs that are linked to this stage of their personal journey. Simply put, student-athletes need to excel both in sport and the classroom.

For the past 18 months, I’ve been fortunate to work with two female student-athletes who are full-time medical school students. One is completing her residency in pediatrics while competing as a short track speed skater. This article provides coaches a detailed look at some of the programming strategies we’ve used during her off-ice physical preparation, training she’s undertaken while also meeting requirements to complete on-ice skating sessions, different internships, and rotating work shifts during her residency. I’ll share some aspects of a coach’s decision-making process and thus stimulate further discussion about current practices.

Task Analysis of Short Track Speed Skating

Coming from a Canadian football background, I had little knowledge of short track speed skating when I was put in touch with this student-athlete. When an athletic development coach starts working with a sport they know very little about, their first step is to perform a thorough analysis of the physical and technical demands related to that sport.

My analysis started by sitting down and asking the athlete numerous questions about the sport and her performance. This gave me valuable information about her background regarding training and injury as well as insight into her strengths and weaknesses. As an example, she is relatively small in stature, which increases demands on her stability when she tries to position herself in the group and hold her position during races.

Short track speed skating consists of races over three distances with separate requirements and target time ranges for female competitors:

• 500 meter, with a race duration of 43-46 seconds
• 1000 meter, typically completed between 90-100 seconds
• 1500 meter, finishing between 143-155 seconds

In reviewing the literature, I learned that from a tactical perspective, a fast start strategy seems optimal for the 500m event, while the crucial portion of the 1000m is from the 6^th lap to the finish line.⁵ Emphasizing the start for the 500m race is crucial, as there are limited opportunities to pass an opponent during the race. For the 1500m, while a fast start strategy may lead to faster times, top skaters are faster during the last five laps. Therefore we emphasize pacing strategies and tactical decisions during the latter phase of the race.⁴

From a physical and physiological perspective, the 500m shares similarities with the 400m in track and field regarding both within-race strategy and energy demands.² Although, as the event’s duration increases, the crouched position adopted by the skaters puts them at a physiological disadvantage, as it may increase muscle deoxygenation due to static occlusion of blood flow in the leg muscles.³

The #TaskAnalysis helped us identify her main strength and the main area she needed to improve, says @xrperformance. Share on X

The task analysis and discussion enabled us to identify her main strength—her start—and the main area that needed improvement—endurance and capacity to resist fatigue in the late portion of the race.

Programming Strategies During the 2017-2018 Season

Following the initial task analysis and discussion, we performed a modified version of Kelvin Giles’ Physical Competence Assessment (PCA) to assist establishing her training age and “trainability” across a wide range of movements, including the overhead squat, single-leg squat, and side plank for time. We also did flexibility tests like the Thomas test and ankle dorsiflexion.

The initial assessment would progress over time to include more single-leg jumping movements to challenge her current athleticism. More importantly, it served as our starting point for her resistance training program. For programming, we adopted a progressive approach over the 2017 summer since we had close to 20 weeks to get her ready for the national qualifier in November.

Most training weeks consisted of two or three resistance training sessions, plus on-ice practices with her club. For the first three mesocycles, we used a simplified version of Joe Kenn’s Tier System in which we rotated total body, lower body, and upper body movements on a daily basis. At this point in her annual training plan, she had time in her schedule to complete all three training sessions during the week.

Day 1

• Plyometrics
• Total body exercise—Olympic lifting variation
• Lower body exercise—front squat progression
• Upper body pulling exercise

Day 2

• Plyometrics
• Lower body exercise—hexagonal bar deadlift
• Upper body pushing exercise
• Total body exercise—Olympic lifting variation using dumbbells or kettlebells

Day 3

• Plyometrics
• Upper body pulling exercise
• Total body exercise—jump shrug variation
• Lower body exercise—front squat progression

To focus on her start, most training days included compound multi-joint movements such as jumps (box jumps, Heiden jumps, and hurdle jump progressions), Olympic lifting variations (barbell high pulls from various starting positions), lower body exercises such as squats and hexagonal bar deadlifts, and upper body pulling and pressing movements. Accessory exercises such as lunges, step-ups, and core work completed the training sessions.

During the summer, she learned she was accepted to another university and would have to relocate to Montreal. This good news impacted our programming to some degree since she would be working at the hospital more regularly.

On certain occasions, for example, she was required to be “on call” and available for emergencies at the hospital or spend a full weekend at the hospital. This made it impossible for her to perform any training sessions we had planned during that weekend. I’ll examine a more detailed portrait of the commitments associated with such a schedule in the third part of this article.

As we got closer to the start of the 2017-2018 competition season, we started reducing the number of training sessions which involved her going to the gym. Moreover, we wanted to include exercises and methods that would somehow target her strength-endurance and power-endurance qualities while also increasing her work capacity.

For these reasons, we introduced various bodyweight and dumbbell circuits on the second or third day of training, depending on the number of training sessions in a week. With her access to dumbbells at home, we used different variations of Vern Gambetta’s dumbbell (DB) complex and lower body complexes before introducing Vern’s leg circuit. The DB complexes were comprised of four different exercises completed one after the other using 20-30% of her total body weight.

As for the leg circuit, we wanted to establish a base of strength and power endurance.¹ The exercises included different variations of squats, lunges, step-ups, and jumps at a tempo of one repetition per second. We started by using the half leg circuit (35 repetitions in total) for 3 to 5 sets with 1 minute of rest between sets. Then we progressed to no rest between sets before moving to the full leg version (70 repetitions) following a similar pattern of rest intervals.

During the 2017 competition season, we didn’t move away much from what we did during the preparation period. With most training time dedicated to on-ice practice sessions, we agreed to plan for one gym-based training session per week if possible. Otherwise, she could complete the circuit-based training session that required limited equipment.

In summary, during the 2017-2018 season, we followed a progressive and sequential training program. First, we emphasized improvements in general strength and power qualities and then progressed to include more circuit-based programming strategies while providing training sessions she could do at home.

Programming Strategies During the 2018-2019 Season

After taking the month of April off from dedicated training, we approached her preparation for the 2018-2019 season from a different perspective. Indeed, her coaches on the national team told her that her physical qualities were no longer a limitation in her on-ice performance.

Her physical qualities no longer limited her on-ice performance, says @xrperformance. Share on X

During May and June, one of her major obstacles was limited on-ice training time because of school compared to the other athletes in her club. During those two months, she interned in the intensive care unit, working 17 shifts per month and starting her day by 7:00 am and leaving the hospital between 8:00-9:00 pm. During this time, the other athletes at her club would complete an average of six on-ice training sessions per week on weeknights.

Because she lacked the energy to do the on-ice sessions, she either completed a short training session at home after work or went for a light jog. During her off-days, when she could have been resting, she often completed one or two daily training sessions on back to back days.

Not exactly the ideal scenario, and it meant training with suboptimal readiness. She would often complete a resistance training session at the gym and run back home as her conditioning. During this time in her on-ice training sessions, she would often hit a wall and feelings of heavy legs would appear after only a few laps. The intense internship period was starting to take its toll, and we had to find a solution to help her accumulate more training volume.

An intense internship was taking its toll and we had to help her accumulate more training volume, says @xrperformance. Share on X

During July and August, we re-introduced DB complexes and leg circuits to her training program on the second day of training. We also started introducing more intense lower body complexes during her gym-based training session to replicate some of the sensations she experiences during a race, especially during the 1000m and 1500m races.

She completed these complexes after performing a plyometric and an Olympic weightlifting variation and involved three types of muscle contractions or speeds of movement:

1. Dynamic
2. Isometric
3. Explosive

For example, she would hold a position for a certain time, then perform a squatting variation followed by a type of jump. The different parameters of the complex (exercise order, types of exercises, rest intervals, time under tension, etc.) were manipulated based on the objectives we wanted to achieve.

We put this strategy in place because, by then, she was then interning in pneumology and her more normal work schedule (9:00 am to 4:00 pm) allowed her to complete more training sessions both on the ice with another club (because her club was training in the morning at that time) and off the ice.

During August, for example, even though she was completing another internship in intensive care, her work schedule allowed her to skate in the morning, train in the early afternoon, and take a nap before going to work (8-hour shifts, from 4:00-6:00 pm to 12:00-02:00 am). This was nowhere near the hectic schedule she was working earlier during the summer.

To address her conditioning, we talked to our local speed skating club’s strength and conditioning coach here in Sherbrooke who suggested we add a stationary bike to her training. We added low box quick steps in a HIIT format on Day 1 and short intervals on the stationary bike on Day 3.

Over the following weeks, we progressed the low box quick steps from 15 to 30 seconds using a work-to-rest ratio of 1:1. For the bike intervals, we started with two sets of 5-6 intervals of 15 seconds with 45 seconds of recovery and progressed to 30-60 seconds of work with a 1:3 work-to-rest ratio and finally sets of 1 minute with a 1:2-3 work-to-rest ratio.

As we got closer to the start of the 2018-2019 season in September, she was able to complete most on-ice training sessions with her club after her daytime internship in dermatology. She performed the prescribed resistance training session before her on-ice training. If she needed to, she would modify the volume of the program to make sure she could complete the on-ice work prescribed by her coach and respect the training theme for the day. She was able to make modifications because she has a very good understanding of her body and the type of training she needs to perform at this level of competition.

The following graph illustrates her training loads collected using the Session-RPE method and an online monitoring tool as she completed her various internships leading up to the national qualifiers in Montreal and the US Short Track Fall WC Qualifier & AmCup 1 in Utah. The graph provides a nice overview of the challenging demands she faced over the months and how we managed her training accordingly.

Key Takeaways

My main objective for this article was to share the coaching decisions I’ve made in the past 18 months to help and support a young medical school student-athlete reach her goal of making the Canadian Top-20 in short track speed skating.

When working with athletes who perform at a very competitive level while also balancing high-level work or study demands that are time-consuming and stressful, it’s imperative that your training is very time-efficient and centered around what you consider to be the best “bang for your buck” training exercises, strategies, and interventions.

It’s also important to remain flexible when planning the different training sessions and training cycles. Work commitments such as night shifts at the hospital for multiple nights will have a huge impact on an athlete’s energy levels and, thus, motivation to go to the gym.

It’s often best to acknowledge these realities, find different ways in concert with the student-athlete to adapt their training, and look at key moments in their agenda where they can dedicate more time and energy to training. Although many young student-athletes have high aspirations, in the end, they need to find balance in the other important aspects of their lives.

References

1. Gambetta, V. (2006). Athletic Development: The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning. Champaign, Il: Human Kinetics.
2. Haug, W. B., Drinkwater, E. J., Mitchell, L. J., & Chapman, D. W. (2015). The Relationship Between Start Performance and Race Outcome in Elite 500-m Short-Track Speed Skating. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 10(7), 902‑
3. Konings, M. J., Elferink-Gemser, M. T., Stoter, I. K., van der Meer, D., Otten, E., & Hettinga, F. J. (2015). Performance Characteristics of Long-Track Speed Skaters: A Literature Review. Sports Medicine, 45(4), 505‑
4. Konings, M. J., Noorbergen, O. S., Parry, D., & Hettinga, F. J. (2016). Pacing Behavior and Tactical Positioning in 1500-m Short-Track Speed Skating. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 11(1), 122‑
5. Noorbergen, O. S., Konings, M. J., Micklewright, D., Elferink-Gemser, M. T., & Hettinga, F. J. (2016). Pacing Behavior and Tactical Positioning in 500- and 1000-m Short-Track Speed Skating. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 11(6), 742‑

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

Track athletes want to run faster. As a track coach, I really want all my kids to run faster. However, it seems we often hear the same excuse from coaches, parents, and athletes: some kids are born fast, and some are not.

I haven’t found this to be true. Yes, some athletes are born with a genetic predisposition to run faster than others. Speed, however, is a skill and we can teach it. Acceleration and running workouts designed for speed are very important, but so is the weight room. That being said, this article is about how to lift for speed.

Mass Specific Force (MSF): The Amount of Force Applied in Relation to Bodyweight or Mass

“Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements”—Barry Ross

(Be sure to check out Barry Ross’ fantastic book, Underground Secrets to Faster Running. It’s hard to find but worth the read).

There are three components for speed:

1. How often you contact the ground
2. How much muscular force you can deliver during ground contact
3. How much ground contact time is available to deliver that force

When combined, these three factors dramatically impact stride length and stride rate (frequency). The ability to generate and transmit muscular force to the ground is why someone runs fast. You want to encourage this in all your training efforts. In the weight room, the goal is to get strong without adding mass. It might be the only time in the weight room when “swole is not the goal and size is not the prize.”

To break it down in very simple terms, when you add more mass, you add more gravitational pull. Someone who wants to run faster needs to focus their weight room efforts on lifting with the right exercises so they don’t add mass. Instead, they want to specifically increase the strength of the muscles called upon to apply as much force to the ground as possible.

If you add mass (weight) to your body, the amount of force applied to the ground must increase proportionately to maintain the same rate of speed.

Physiology: Muscle Fibers

There are three types of major muscle fibers:

1. Type 1: slow twitch or slow oxidative—respond best to lighter training weights and a higher number of reps. Type 1 fibers are aerobic because they’re fueled by oxygen.
2. Type 2: fast twitch oxidative—both aerobic and anaerobic and used in all activities.
3. Type 3: fast twitch glycolytic—maximum force production fibers and largest potential to increase in size and strength. This is sprinting. These fibers are largely anaerobic. Those who want to increase their speed want this.

How do we increase type 3 muscle fibers?

Lift heavy often. This will increase your myofibrils, also called myofibrillar hypertrophy. The goal of the sprinter in the weight room is strength without mass. We find our one rep max (1RM), then work off that. Greater strength allows the athlete to run with greater economy since less energy is required to move the athlete’s mass.

Physiology: Rest

In the weight room, stay away from the burn that comes with extra reps—this is good for a bodybuilder but not a sprinter. The burn stems from lactic acid, which builds mass in addition to strength.

How do we program rest?

It is important to spend five minutes resting between sets because the phosphagen pool regenerates in a relatively short period of time—this is crucial to the creation of significant strength with minimal mass.

Athletes' muscles must be completely idle during the rest period. Our athletes sit and wait, says @coachjtayers. Share on X

For the phosphagen pool to adequately regenerate, it’s imperative that the athlete’s leg muscles are completely idle during this rest period. Our athletes will sit on the ground and wait. The rest period results in the athlete experiencing little-to-no muscle fatigue (from lifting) in the subsequent hours or days. To keep track of their rest, we have a clock on the wall, or they can use the timer on their cell phones.

The Weight Room Workout

A sprinter could incorporate as many as three sessions (heavy weight with low reps) per week since they do not work muscles to exhaustion and both lactic acid production and the need to rebuild muscle fiber are minimal. We strive for three lifts per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) in the off-season; however, with teenagers’ schedules, we’ll settle for two. In season, we continue to lift two times per week until the competition phase, when we move it to one.

You can lift all season when you do it intentionally for #speed, says @coachjtayers. Share on X

A few years ago, one of the top hurdlers in the state lifted the Monday before the state championship. When Allyson Felix was in high school, she maxed on May 3 and then ran the best race of her life May 5. You can lift all season when you do it intentionally for speed! (See Why In-Season High-Intensity Strength Work Is Better Than Maintenance Programs)

Our weight-training goal for speed is superior strength with minimal additional mass, says @coachjtayers. Share on X

Our weight-training goal is to create superior strength in the right muscles with minimal additional mass—not to increase muscle size. The only way to maximize MSF is through a high-weight, low-rep, and long-rest routine.

In summary, in every sport that requires running or jumping, we must offset the effect of gravity. Increasing MSF helps offset gravity.

Fall in Love with the Deadlift

We deadlift. There are many benefits to the deadlift when lifting for speed.

Muscles involved in deadlift:

• Quads
• Glutes
• Hamstrings
• Abdominals
• Calves
• Lower Back
• Trapezius
• Latissimus dorsi
• Scapular retractors

We also use Hexagon deadlift bars, where athletes step into the bar. We’ve found this helps a great deal with form. Note: it is very important that no athletes deadlift with heavy weight until they can deadlift with perfect form using light weight.

Benefits of the deadlift, especially with a Hexagon deadlift bar, include:

1. Limb speed improves more by lifting heavy weight, not by moving lighter weight faster.
2. The weight moves slowly, but the motor units fire as fast as they can.
3. By limiting reps to no more than 5 in a set at 85-100% of max with a 5-minute rest, the regeneration of the phosphagen pool can perform at 95% capacity after 5 minutes and then at 95% of each succeeding set.

Rest by sitting down.

The movement that we utilize in the deadlift is concentric (the up movement), where we build explosiveness and not mass, and we skip the eccentric movement (the down movement) where we build mass. This means the athlete will push up with the bar and drop it at the top.

After each set of deadlifts, we add single leg stabilization (really works the athlete’s core) and a plyometric. Plyos include box jumps, depth jumps, tuck jumps, and rocket jumps. If an athlete fails to complete the rep in any set, that becomes their new 1RM.  If the lift begins to stall, where there is no movement for more than 2-3 seconds, abort immediately or drop the weight.

Here is an example of a great 60-minute workout.

• Dynamic stretching and warm up
• Deadlift warm-up: 3 sets at 50%, 55%, 65% of max (2 reps each set)—use the eccentric and concentric movements or go up and down with the bar
• Deadlift (followed by plyo immediately after each set, then sitting rest)—drop bar immediately upon completion of each rep and do not raise your shoulders or hyperextend your back     
• Core and single stabilizing exercises circuit
• Push-ups
• Static stretching

Force Number Formula

Strength training in the weight room is the best method to increase MSF. We use this to encourage our athletes to increase their strength while not attempting to gain weight. So the next time another coach at your school tells one of your students they need to gain weight, have your athletes ask them about the science behind that statement.

Our Force Number Formula: Take their deadlift and divide by their weight.

For example, Jared F. deadlifted 395 and weighed 119lbs: his force number was 3.31. That’s the highest I’ve ever coached. Anything above 3 is insane. Most varsity male sprinters will need to be around 2.5 or above.

Force number is not a clear indication of the amount of force your athlete can generate and put into the ground based on their weight, but it’s pretty close. At the very least, every athlete will gain new insight into their improvement and set new goals while watching their force number rise month to month. We even have a Hall of Fame Force Number chart where we rank the marks of previous athletes.

Conclusion

Most athletes in high school athletics who want to be fast do not lift for speed. Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces, not more rapid leg movements. It’s vital to lift for speed. I’ve never been someone that does something because everyone else does it. Prove to me that it works, and I’ll adopt it.

I understand that some of the preceding might sound unconventional, but it works. In my last five years at this high school, we’ve seen eight of the top nine 100m times in school history. This past season, the 4×100 team broke the All-Time Orange County Record at 41.24; athletes have broken 29 grade-level and 7 school records; and the team has been ranked number one in Orange County three different years (2015, 2016, 2018). The last five years, Trabuco Boys Sprinters have been in the top five sprinting teams in California in the 100, 200, and 400. We also have our strongest sprinting group returning this upcoming season.

Lifting for speed with MSF will make you faster (learn more in my course here). Our training attitude is voiced routinely to our athletes: “I don’t know how fast you are going to run. But let’s find out together.”

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

If you have been in sports for a while, you know that recovery and regeneration matter. Half of the equation in sports is the ability to perform at your best, and sound recovery balances training and competition stressors. Unfortunately, a lot of recovery practices and methods simply don’t work. When you put time and money into recovery and the science and results are not there, it’s beyond frustrating—it’s disenfranchising.

As a former athlete and a professional specializing in athlete regeneration, my entire day focuses on helping those involved with athletics support regeneration to its fullest potential. The sole purpose of this article is to cover misconceptions about recovery and regeneration, and offer better solutions than there have been in the past. Much of what I say will be riddled with controversy and points that are hard to swallow, but if you do take time to read the evidence I provide, you will certainly be persuaded that a better option exists.

Sound recovery balances training and competition stressors, letting athletes perform at their best. Share on X

I have two major points of contention to share that are important when working with athletes, and those are the theories of regeneration and what the current methods actually provide. The first need for coaches is to define what recovery and regeneration are today, and determine what tools and methods can bring about the outcomes that coaches and athletes are looking for. I am the founder of FlowDyn Recovery, a regeneration device that brings a medical-grade solution into the hands of those involved with sports at all levels.

Athlete Regeneration – Beyond Rest and Nutrition

Honestly, sleep and nutrition are responsible for most of the recovery for athletes. There are very few other methods that actually work. Getting athletes to sleep better and eat a diet that fuels and repairs their bodies is the foundation of recovery. Managing soreness or training light and easy is also popular. Scientific reviews have not been very supportive of sports massage and other methods. Current studies are likely limited by the right measurements being inaccessible to sport science. Research is improving, but the designs are still based on the old ways of evaluating recovery. Today’s research calls modalities into question, and some of the science is observing an impairment of the recovery and regeneration process.

For years, coaches have experimented with heating, freezing, stretching, and even placing athletes on vibration platforms. The results have not been anywhere close to effective. Outside of waiting patiently, not much is available to get coaches and athletes ready for the next session. It’s very conservative to say most of the technologies and gadgets out there are for managing soreness, and nearly all the research concludes they are nothing more than placebo.

Outside of sleep and nutrition, coaches have placed a lot of effort into muscle recovery. It makes sense that if an athlete uses their muscular systems day after day, they’ll need to do something proactive. The problem is that, outside of time and the basics of rest and diet, massaging or rolling muscles isn’t that effective in restoring power and performance to athletes. Active recovery with light exercise is also questionable, mainly because it’s possible that the antidote isn’t strong enough because—ironically—it requires more training to help recovery.

Based on the science, it looks like Mother Nature beats human ingenuity, for the most part. Still, there are a few opportunities to help athletes recover, including passive assisted regeneration that combines modulating blood flow and light shear stress to the body. It sounds complicated, but I will cover this in exact detail in the next part of this article.

The Paradigm Shift of Microcirculation and Regeneration

Coaches strongly believe that breaking a sweat and increasing blood flow will help an athlete. They are half right. It’s not that blood flow improves recovery, it’s that an increase in circulation leads to a few adaptations to the body later. A temporary increase in heart rate and blood flow isn’t going to repair a tendon or remodel a bone—it’s the stress that stimulates the adaptations coaches desire so much. Also, if athletes are actively working hard, the real triggers are the by-products that message the body to adapt to the stress.

For years, the PRP injections that athletes have spent astronomical funds on have failed to live up to the expectations of science. Passive blood flow helps, but rapid pulsing actions need to be high velocity and high pressure or they will do little to a human’s physiology. Here is the difference below.

The lymphatic system responds favorably to exercise and external support in some patients, but athletes who manage everyday soreness don’t see a restoration of power from compression garments or recovery devices. The same disappointment that we see with passive blood flow studies happens with lymphatic movement, called lymphatic kinetics. Edema may be reduced with pneumatic compression or with the use of garments, but those same systems are not increasing blood flow significantly enough to create adaptations. Lymphatics and circulatory systems are slightly stimulated, but slow continuous squeezing or twitching isn’t enough to rebuild a body. Squeezing or compression that is not fast or intense fails to create shear stress, the strain that triggers adaptations that athletes need. Light therapy feels good, but it doesn’t enhance a body.

Research on angiogenesis and exercise is well-established in science, but the benefits to athletes are not clear. The most common injury in basketball is an ankle sprain, where circulation can be a major problem immediately. Active exercise may be limited, and this specific circumstance is a perfect illustration of what medical-grade compression can do.

The FlowDyn device, our recovery system, provides the benefits of a light aerobic session without the baggage of the pounding or additional soreness of exercise. The place that most recovery pumps end is where our technology starts. Intense but comfortable mechanical stimulations enhance growth and actual regenerative processes. Anything less is too weak to signal the body, and active stress such as blood flow restriction and exercise is too challenging to be recovery. It’s a little oversimplified to say that our compression training is passive and somewhere between blood flow restriction and pneumatic compression, but it’s easy to visualize the concept.

Managing the aches and pains of training is a first step to recovery, not the final destination. Share on X

Coaches and sports medicine professionals need to leave with this important take-home message. Most of the popular products marketed as recovery are not battling difficult problems in the medical field. Our company is worried about saving limbs from amputation and cares about growing vessels; most of the other systems attempt to manage soreness. While our product does help with the aches and pains of training, those are the first steps to recovery, in our opinion, not the final stop.

Pneumatic Compression and Electrical Stimulation Shortcomings

Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) might help athletes for performance. Pneumatic compression feels good, and it sometimes helps manage the aches and pains after a workout. Neither are truly recovery devices, as they don’t restore a muscle or physical system back to where it was. A lot of companies use the term “recovery” in their product offerings, but they can’t offer strong evidence that it does more than make a muscle twitch or squeeze your legs for half an hour. Recovery is a wide-open term, but if the body isn’t back to where it was originally or better than it was before the application, it’s not really recovery.

Pneumatic compression, often called intermittent pneumatic compression, was originally designed for lymphedema patients. Lymphedema is a medical condition that causes swelling to the extremities from excessive fluid. The condition is usually uncomfortable and manual massage, compression socks, and pumps have been used to fight the problem.

It’s not really recovery if the body isn’t back to where it was or better than it was before. Share on X

The main issue with pneumatic compression for athletes is that not much evidence exists that it restores an athlete to baseline. Two research studies on pneumatic compression demonstrated that the intervention post training or competition was ineffective in restoring leg power or speed. The scientific evidence is conflicting for soreness after training and competition, but it’s conclusive that the pneumatic compression devices don’t restore athletes. While the entire pneumatic compression market for sports more than doubled, there is no supporting research that the devices actually change or improve the body. Temporary relief from discomfort is a fair synopsis of what pneumatic compression systems provide, but beyond that, not much.

Electrical muscle or nerve stimulation is marketed as a way to facilitate recovery, but like pneumatic compression, it does not restore strength or power back to their original states. Muscle stimulation is even less effective for symptom recovery than pneumatic compression, and while research is promoted to assist with lymphatic support, the influence is small. Those struggling with air travel and prolonged sitting may benefit slightly from electrical stimulation, but the results are barely meaningful to an athlete. While a wearable EMS patch is a convenient option for athletes on planes to prevent blood clots in the veins, the increased volume of blood flow is just a trickle and no physiological adaptations have been found, even with funded research.

Athletes deserve something powerful and effective that offers more than temporary relief. Share on X

The overarching summary of electrical stimulation and pneumatic compression devices is that their results are very small and short-lived. It’s perfectly fine to use the equipment to help cope with the collateral damage of training and performing, but athletes deserve something more powerful and effective. Recovery should not be limited to temporary relief; it needs to demonstrate that it enhances the body and creates physiological changes that mean something.

Medical-Grade Recovery and Regeneration

If you demand high-performance recovery, then medical-grade products are the first step. What separates an approved device from one that can fulfill the demands of elite sport or sports medicine is the physiological power of the equipment. If you want regenerative circulation, you should consider investing in a system that can actually grow vessels and trigger adaptations.

The difference between pneumatic compression or electrical therapy and blood flow and medical-grade solutions is like the difference between a leaky faucet and a fire hose. It’s not even a fair comparison. As mentioned in detail earlier, real medical-grade regeneration creates changes to the body that are measurable and actually functional.

When I played football at the college level, I had a difficult time recovering from Saturday games and frequently missed Monday practices—I was simply trying to make it from day to day without getting injured. I tried ice baths, I tried electrical stimulation, I tried conventional pneumatic compression. None of them helped at all.

From the moment I started using our early FlowDyn device, I noticed a significant difference in the way my legs felt the following days. They felt extremely strong in every rep I took and honestly gave me a lot of confidence in my body. Going from my junior season missing nearly every Monday practice, to my senior year not missing a single rep the entire season, I experienced the benefits that the science was proposing. Even on the coldest winter nights in Oregon, I give complete credit to the FlowDyn device helping me not only recover, but become stronger throughout the entire season. I was able to lift before and after practice every day and recovering became the very least of my worries.

Real medical-grade regeneration creates changes to the body that are measurable and functional. Share on X

After college, it was time to offer the same experience to all athletes, not just those who happened to be in the family business of medical technology. We invested years and major resources into our recovery solution, and using it regularly gives the same benefits that other devices claim, but with far more potency. It’s bold to say that we are the most powerful on the market, but the statement has the advantage of being perfectly accurate. In summary, users of recovery devices should seek out physical adaptations that are meaningful and not just settle for something temporary.

Don’t Be Satisfied with Temporarily Feeling Good

A lot of topical creams and recovery devices provide quick relief, but don’t actually regenerate the body. We know that athletes who train and compete hard need help, but if a solution doesn’t work, they need to do more than just hope a placebo bails them out. Essentially, the best chance for recovery is to know the potential of a product and start there.

If you are interested in taking sport regeneration to the next level, the FlowDyn device is leaps above consumer compression offerings and slow-frequency electrical stimulation. The system is not for everyone, as it’s a professional model meant more for elite sport, not for casual fitness. The FlowDyn device is travel-friendly, and best used by medical departments doing everything they can to get an athlete back on the field.

Essentially, the best chance for recovery is to know the potential of a product and start there. Share on X

We may appear new to the sports market, but our parent company has helped thousands of people with circulatory support for over three decades. You can continue doing what you know helps athletes cope with aches to the joints, muscles, and tendons, but don’t just be satisfied with what may work—use the most potent system available.

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

Years ago, I took on the role of sprint coach at Triton Regional High in the small town of Byfield, Massachusetts. I had volunteered sparingly the year before and enjoyed it enough to give it a real try. Four years removed from competing collegiately in the 400m, I came in armed and ready to go. Unbeknownst to me, my grasp on training and athletic development concepts was tenuous at best—true “unconscious incompetence.”

It’s funny how inheriting a fairly talent-laden squad can disguise the truth: My athletes were succeeding in spite of me. However, I’d like to think that my heart was in the right place and I tried my best to maintain good relationships with the athletes during these “new days.” At the end of the day, some school records were set and some individual championships were won, but I can now say that I was standing still as a coach.

I read sparingly on issues related to training and my use of speed work was something to be desired. I was giving workouts, but not developing athletes. These are two very different things. Soon, the athletes with some talent who I had inherited were seniors and the thought crept in that, while I was doing okay, these kids deserved even better. Looking back on it now, I often have a severe case of the “what-might-have-beens.” They say that you coach what you know, and what I knew was not always applicable to 14- to 18-year-olds.

I was giving workouts, but not developing athletes. These are two very different things, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

There was soon a dearth of raw talent, and for whatever reason, a mass exodus of male multi-sport athletes. The “cats” had, in effect, gone away. Every once in a while, I heard a voice in my head asking, “Did you have something to do with that?” If I am honest with myself, I don’t know. Maybe. That “maybe” is all I need.

I know that training could have been more fun and I could have gotten out of the way more. So I did what I had done throughout my entire childhood—I read. I tried to understand energy systems at play in the sprinting events. I purchased programs from coaches who had forgotten more than I knew. I stumbled across blogs and read the musings of other coaches who seemed far more honest with themselves than I had ever been. I got back into doing sprint drills and plyometrics myself.

Since then, I have been slowly adding pieces to our sprints program in a way that makes sense without overwhelming myself or the athletes. Four years into my own paradigm shift, I think I have read enough to move the stage-of-learning needle to “conscious incompetence.” I know that I know nothing and years from now I’ll hopefully know something. Author Pam Allyn says: “Reading is like breathing. Writing is like breathing out.” After lots of reading, it is time to breathe out. Here are three changes that I am currently working through.

The Warm-Up

I post a lot of our warm-up drills on our Triton Sprints Twitter page. I want the kids to be proud of their athletic development. I am hard on them, but the reality is that they move better than I did at their age. One of my college coaches once referred to me as a “biomechanical nightmare,” and he wasn’t wrong.

My thinking used to be that the warm-up was just that: A chance to increase body temperature before we got to the real meat and potatoes—the workout. But the thing with “biomechanical nightmares” is that they can still be fast. Their limbs may fly all over the place, their arms may cross the midline, and they may exhibit knock-knees with every jump, but they are still fast. Accepting this fact presents as lazy.

Speed in the presence of this dysfunction is something that makes me nervous because I don’t think it is sustainable over time and it leaves seconds on the track. I never want to assume that puberty and maturation will fix the issues. Our warm-ups typically start with 90/90 or alligator breathing—roughly two minutes for athletes to pause and hit reset on their day. I don’t always know everything that went on in their day, but I do hope that track practice is a chance for them to deal with it in at least one way.

We usually go into dynamic stretches/drills after that and then sprint drills. I am blessed yearly with terrific captains and this year is no different. They take charge and, for the most part, move extremely well. We have five different warm-ups employed for different types of workouts. It seems excessive, but I work under the assumption that they forget everything once the next week comes along.

I treat warm-ups like an audition. Who is focused? Tired? Who does something they couldn’t before? says @grahamsprints Share on X

Acceleration days feature sprint drills that focus on pushing; max velocity days have a cycling- and posture-centered theme with small ground contact times. Lactate days focus on more of a technical buildup. On circuit days, I try to back off and let the captains decide. I treat the warm-ups like an audition. Who seems focused? Who looks tired and like they have regressed? Who can do something that they previously couldn’t? I think we try to keep the intent on everything high. Some days our warm-ups are longer than the speed workout itself. At this age, skill acquisition matters more than working out.

We have two lines, one behind another. I have a captain demonstrate everything and the group gives them a round of applause because athletic development is a cause for celebration. I typically follow up with an incorrect demonstration. Another captain is then called out and demonstrates it again. It can be high pressure, but they always rise to the occasion—this transcends the sport, and matters in real life.

Line one goes. I offer my critique of line one to line two, which is usually comprised of underclassmen. Sometimes they get it and sometimes they don’t, and I can live with that because it’s part of the process. There isn’t time to do this on every drill, but deciding which ones are important to you as a coach and then coaching the heck out of them is a good place to start.

Decide which drills are important to you as a coach, and then coach the heck out of them, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

The group warm-ups serve as a chance for everyone to work together on drills to promote the movements that pertain to the context of the day’s theme. The general strength created through these warm-ups is underrated, especially for the athletes who have never done a sport before. If they couldn’t A-march in December and they can in February, they got stronger. As Dr. Ken Clark says, “If you can’t hold this position isometrically, you can’t do it dynamically.”

The warm-up is also a chance for me to hit reset after completing my day at the elementary school just 15 minutes away. I get to practice the cues and language, and shine up the figurative language that will no doubt be abundant in the workout of the day. The use of specific language and cues makes the athletes more coachable over time. Give them options. I usually end with a challenging drill predicated on a bit of “violence” to see who is connecting the dots between everything.

After nine years, I can say that I am finally developing athletes. I take pride when a freshman improves from 8.0 to 7.5 in the 55m in two months, and looks exponentially better doing it. With consistent training, there will be a place for him one day on our team to compete in some event.

Timing Speed Training

People say speed is the hardest biomotor quality to train and they aren’t lying. I used to believe that speed was largely either something you had or something you didn’t. A few years ago, I stumbled across Tony Holler and the “Feed the Cats” mentality. I was intrigued instantly, but didn’t dive in entirely. I didn’t have a timing system, so I was running flys and accelerations for years without feedback. They were flys alright, but they lacked purpose and competitiveness.

#Feedback ensures that improvements are quantifiable long before meet day approaches, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

People talk down about today’s kids, but most of them like being timed and they like knowing they are getting better even more. Improvements are now quantifiable long before meet day approaches. Having to perform in practice almost daily is (slowly) making meets somewhat commonplace. We often use hallways (still no shin splint bug) and have only sneakers on, but the intent is there until we are graced by sunny weather. They are used to competing long before the starter’s gun fires.

I wish I had done more of this when I started. I think most of the athletes I coach now know roughly what 10m time they need to enter or move up from their current “mph club.” T-shirts have been ordered (thanks to The Medina Bees Track and Field Twitter page for the great idea). I hope they continue to strive and feel a sense of pride as they earn their shirts. I don’t care what anyone says: Being fast is cool, and the rest of the student body needs to know about their hard work. Moreover, speed is the greatest indicator of success in any track and field event, and in all sports.

I have become intrigued with the math behind the speed. Take a look at the data below.

Avg. Speed
22 second 200m= 20.33 mph
23 second 200m= 19.45 mph
26 second 200m= 17.21 mph
27 second 200m= 16.57 mph
50 second 400m= 17.9 mph
55 second 400m= 16.3 mph
60 second 400m= 14.9 mph

These are the average speeds needed to hit certain times in the 200m and 400m dashes. Just take the race length in meters and divide by the time. Then multiply that number (meters per second) by 2.237 (1 m/s = 2.237). I am recording each athlete’s personal bests in their events this year and comparing them to see if there is a range of how many mph you need to be above your event goal time to actually hit that time.

For example, our best 55m female this year has run 7.54 seconds (16.32 mph average) but has hit 19.28. This is a difference of almost 3 mph from her 55m race average. Our best 300m male has run 36.45 (18.41 mph) in the 300m dash. He has a peak mph of 21.10 mph in practice (granted, sneakers in a hallway isn’t the best testing condition). That leaves a speed reserve of about 2.5 mph.

Regardless, the speed has raised their respective ceilings. Exploring this further could help identify obvious deficiencies in certain training blocks. If there is a female who can run 19 mph but struggles to break 60 seconds (14.9 mph) in a 400m outdoors, that is something to be reflected upon. Why can’t she do it? Fear? (Not everyone can take themselves to the dark place.) Poor race model? Subpar performance on lactate workouts (again, fear)? Is it possible a minimal amount of aerobic work can help her? Or maybe the 400m was never a goal for her, and deviating from the current training takes her away from becoming great in other events.

If you’re last to the ball, how strong you are or what sport-specific skill you have doesn’t matter, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I know I will never regret prioritizing speed, especially in the early stages of their career. I hope, in the fall, that the field sport coaches notice their athletes are moving just a bit better and more swiftly. If you are last to the ball, it doesn’t matter how strong you are and what sport-specific skills you have. When it comes to high school athletes and speed training, intent takes the cake over the volume that they do. They have to get there before they can go anywhere.

Changing the Weight Room

In college, I lifted like a “bro.” So, for the first several years of my coaching career, I let athletes chase numbers, as football players often like to do. I failed to get them to check their egos and most prescribed exercises were in the hypertrophy rep range. Everyone lifted and it was chaos. I am sure some of them doubled up at their morning lifts.

Things are greatly simplified these days. We do not have many kids capable of lifting huge amounts of weight and that’s fine. Strength is a skill that needs to be developed. If the technique is there, with consistency they will get stronger. At their age, lifting helps posture and speed. After a certain point, I am not sure it continues to do so.

Most freshman don’t lift. First, because we don’t want to add any more to their plate. Second, they are getting stronger through bodyweight and general strength circuits. The weight room coach is actually our throws coach, Katelin Invernizzi. I may be a little biased because she is my fiancée, but she gets them moving better quickly. I read somewhere that sprinters don’t need to have too much mobility. I get that, I really do. We don’t need pliable ballerinas, but in my experience if a kid has a poor front squat technique, his block start is a mess as well. Strength lifting is done on acceleration days. Squat mobility is a focus. Again, the focus is the movement patterns, not the weight.

If athletes check their ego and look like they are engaged, I will post them on Twitter. Prep is usually done with Katelin in the middle, cueing them through each drill and fixing technical errors. They are done in 15-20 minutes. On lactate days, they do a giant hypertrophy set, in and out with good technique. Hypertrophy is great for tendons and joints. It’s a slower, less technical day, so the kids can look stronger and listen to music.

The third day of lifting is an introduction to Olympic lifting on max velocity day. It is broken down well and again in a circle, while they are cued through each drill. The last thing we want is to end up on the wrong side of Twitter because a video of one of our athletes doing a back-breaking clean went viral. It is our job to protect them and to develop them.

Let me be clear: Olympic lifting doesn’t supplant sprinting. Our message to our athletes is that the weight room is a support but not the answer. At the end of the day, being able to accelerate and decelerate under a bar is an athletic movement. Improvements here are often best expressed as the athlete being more receptive to cues outside the weight room, and being coachable is a good thing. Plus, it is fun and sometimes fun is a goal. We want our kids to leave Triton knowing how to work out, because working out feels good. Some of them will never run a step again, but options are a wonderful thing to have.

Moving On

Making mistakes is a natural part of the coaching experience. At some point, the things you have always done no longer work. The “adapt or die” mentality is very real. Facing that fact head on is often not an easy task. It’s 2019, and there is a plethora of information available. I can’t imagine not taking advantage of that.

I am a product of every coach I have ever met, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I am thankful for the programs I have purchased over the years that allowed me to enhance my coaching knowledge. Spending money is a necessary thing to become better at your craft. Connecting with all of the amazing coaches on social media has allowed me to continue to strive to be better for my athletes. I have learned from sprint coaches, distance coaches, sports coaches, CrossFit coaches, bodybuilders, and powerlifters. I am a product of every coach I have ever met.

“Stealing” ideas and making them your own in a way that makes sense to you is what learning is all about. With this variety, I think our program has gotten better even if we don’t set records every week. With consistency, more records will fall soon—I am sure of it—and that cats will come home. After a track practice, I am exhausted and take comfort in knowing that I am slowly rectifying some of my earlier gaffes. Movement quality is king and speed always kills.

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

As high-performance practitioners, it is our responsibility to think logically about the programming and implementation of training as it relates to the actual daily environment of our athletes. In many cases, those athletes are adjusting to an academic load and ever-evolving range of social stresses (from friends, family, and life), as well as a multitude of lifestyle factors that can and should be guided along with training prescription (i.e., nutrition, sleep, mindfulness, and behavior).

Recognizing that athletes are in a situation with countless spontaneous distractions and interactions, we must ultimately put pen to paper and make decisions on where to start, and from there, create a plan for where to go. The plan is to help our athletes progress: Moving forward, evolving, growing, and developing into better and stronger versions of who they were before. This means stressing and adapting, pushing through overload or overreach, and allowing response, recovery, and growth to occur. There are countless ways to achieve progress, and the numerous variables to manipulate (volume, intensity, effort, tempo, rest periods, frequency, etc.) can be overwhelming.

Planning lets coaches and athletes focus on other tangible concerns in training, sport, and life, says @Cody__Roberts. Share on X

Eventually, some organization must come through the chaos, as the practitioner thinks critically about the adaptive process of the athlete(s) and the training effect pursued by the coach and athlete. With planning comes purpose and clarity for both parties (coach and athlete), and it enables them to focus more attention on other tangible concerns throughout training, sport, and life. The lifting (or weight room) piece is understood, and there is a shared road map for what to do and in which direction to go.

Adapting to Variety – Dose and Response?

The linear periodization model takes the all-important progress-based approach and starts with high volumes and low intensities, continuing the inverse relationship across time. Intensity (weight on the bar) continues to increase as volume (total reps and reps per set) continues to decrease. This definitely works, especially for beginners, but like all things it only works for a certain amount of time. The practitioner must nurture, monitor, and control the adaptive process—and ultimately the training effect. This is because the planning and principles are only the starting point. The day-to-day adjustments are what make the training effective, coupled with the education along the way on how to improve the readiness of the athlete throughout the microcycle.

It is through this model that block periodization has evolved as a superior alternative, being potentially more effective and impactful within a given period of training. Rather than a linear approach across time, this model takes blocks of 2-6 weeks to undulate or concentrate training. Charles Poliquin, a proponent and forefather who we recently lost, wrote about this in 1988, in a classic NSCA Journal article: “Five Steps to Increasing the Effectiveness of Your Strength Training Program.” (May you rest in peace and thank you, Charles, for the legacy you left and the knowledge and experience you shared throughout your lifetime).

Block periodization is a superior choice; potentially more effective in a given training period, says @Cody__Roberts. Share on X

With everything that has changed in the last 30 years, it is amazing to consider how so much remains the same. In a time when things were potentially simpler than they are today, due to the lack of technology in the weight room, Poliquin shared the concept of undulating periods of volume and intensity (“Accumulation & Intensification”), mentioning the adaptive process and ways to promote and encourage maximum benefits with variety¹. But let us not get too caught up in terms, definitions, and labels. Instead, let’s focus on the dosage of training, and the response of the athlete across time (most importantly, when strength is the goal and in the weight room setting through the off-season, while preparing the athlete for competition). In the end, the ideal is to develop an athlete who is able to generate more force, with potentially greater coordination as well.

Strength Training in Cyclic Sports – Muscles to Movements

In sports like track & field and rowing, there is not much variety to the competitive event (or, for that matter, the training for that event). Athletes perform the same technical, structured movement with fluidity and rhythm, and the more efficient these repetitive actions are over and over, the better the athlete will be. There is a massive aerobic component and ability to endure with these events, as it is the average velocity across the race that determines the winner.

Whether you understand the law of averages or the law of large numbers, we know that with a greater maximum comes a greater average. This means that improving strength and power output in these athletes will ultimately improve their average velocity and, in turn, their performance. With this goal in mind, the picture and purpose become clearer on how to plan and program training in the weight room for athletes in a cyclic sport.

This leads us to consider the relationship of movements and muscles, and the understanding that, ultimately, we want to achieve movement-related adaptations, so we may shy away from the “bodybuilding mentality” that focuses on individual muscles. But it is actually the muscle-related adaptations that increase force production. As Chris Beardsley recently shared:

“…it is the adaptations in the muscles (or motor units) that allow us to increase force production in sporting movements, and thereby increase athletic performance.”

— Chris Beardsley (@SandCResearch) Dec 5, 2018

The ability to generate maximal force comes from increased⁴:

• Motor unit recruitment
• Lateral force transmission
• Muscle fiber diameter
• Tendon stiffness

GAINZ

Strength can be improved through an increase in cross-sectional area (hypertrophy), as well as the improved motor unit recruitment of an athlete’s given muscle fibers (neuromuscular efficiency/adaptation). Techniques utilized in the bodybuilding and powerlifting community (now supported through scientific research and understanding) indicate that hypertrophy occurs from:

• Metabolic stress
• Mechanical tension
• Muscle damage

These stimuli occur at, through, and of the muscle. But when training for longer periods than an 8- to 12-week research study, there needs to be balance and variety across time, as training all qualities simultaneously or frequently can lead to overtraining and maladaptation because of mixed or inconsistent signaling.

In Poliquin’s 1988 article, he shared information from the Alberta Weightlifting Association on their methods of planning training for weightlifters, stating that “in order to force the neuromuscular system to adapt to the training load, it is of the utmost importance to plan variations in both volume and intensity of load.”² He further stated that “linear overloading is hardly advisable,” and in order to maximize potential, athletes should begin with a hypertrophic-centered approach through a “Hypertrophy Phase” characterized by:

• Higher volumes (total reps)
• More muscle damage
• Greater time under tension (reps per set)
• Greater metabolic stress

This would be followed by neuromuscular engagement and recruitment, increasing the use of higher threshold fibers and motor units through a “Neuromuscular Phase” of:

• Greater intensity (weight on the bar)
• Maximizing mechanical tension through the tissues

It is this undulation of phases that can be incredibly beneficial, providing necessary progress and increased strength that impacts performance on the track or in the water. I have found this concept to be beneficial in a number of ways, with some important aspects I would like to highlight regarding its execution and effectiveness.

This undulation of phases can be very valuable, providing necessary progress and increased strength, says @Cody__Roberts. Share on X

Starting Point to Strength

As always, it is not about what you do, but how you do it that makes it effective. This process starts with a shared goal of strength development, within the minds of both the coaches and athletes involved. The majority of the work outside of the weight room is meant to develop capacity and energy system function, as well as the mental fortitude to endure paces and volumes that create adaptations within the cardiorespiratory system. Unlike the acyclic team sports that involve numerous qualities, skills, abilities, and reactionary components, these cyclic sports have a narrower focus when it comes to the nuts and bolts of development. As long as coaches place strength training correctly and plan the volumes and intensities of endurance work appropriately, strength development can concurrently occur with the development of aerobic capabilities.

Establish Movement Efficiency

With our shared strength development goal in mind, there is then the introduction of the movements and exercises that we will use to develop strength. Obviously, the exercises are designed to promote strength in the musculature utilized in competition. Knowing that we will work into a phase of training where we promote weight on the bar and maximizing mechanical tension, we want to prepare the athlete for the barbell exercises (squat, deadlift, press, pull) that will be used later in the “Neuromuscular Phase.”

Movement efficiency is a product of:

1. Mobility – the ability to move through an unrestricted full range of motion.
2. Stability – the ability to create tension and control through bracing and foot pressure.
3. Posture – the ability to engage core musculature and support orthopedic positions of the spine and joints.
4. Balance – the ability to work with symmetry and control throughout movement.

Movement efficiency—a product of mobility, stability, posture, and balance—supports strength work, says @Cody__Roberts. Share on X

These are the ancillary—but foundational—pieces that must be in place to properly prescribe, implement, and develop strength through our primary movements and exercises. This is the bedrock of any work in the weight room, as technique is always the primary focus, and should never be sacrificed for weight on the bar.

Technique first, ALWAYS.

Mind Muscle Connection: Internal AND External

Studies can argue which approach is more effective: internal (focusing on the muscle contracting) or external (focusing on moving an object), but both are important for individuals and exercises, and both are time and place dependent. Targeting the muscle through an internal focus is an excellent starting point, as the goals of the Hypertrophy Phase are to promote greater time under tension (metabolic stress and muscular damage), pushing sets upwards of 8-20 reps for 30-60 seconds. Developing a mind-muscle connection and promoting a sense of feel and usage (ability to contract/engage) within that will stimulate and maximize growth and strength, as well as give an athlete the sense they are working the muscles used to improve performance.

This also relates to the metabolic component (accumulation and usage/removal of lactate and hydrogen ions during extended intense bouts) that these cyclic/endurance athletes are accustomed to experiencing systemically throughout training for their event (running/rowing) and can be a feeling they can benefit from more quickly than if we promoted more weight on the bar. Depending on the athlete’s experience and knowledge of RPE (rate of perceived exertion), I often simply prescribe the sets as “Burn/Fatigue” with RPEs of 7-8 with great effectiveness, and the rep range of 8-12 or 15-20 as a secondary component.

This enables many things to occur:

• Loads are controlled with a higher rep range. (Potentially safer? Limiting the too-much, too-soon issue.)
• Sets are more effective as athletes extend sets into necessary exertions, fatiguing tissues and allowing impactful stress based on metabolic response.
• Athletes develop better motor patterns through increased repetitions, gaining necessary experience and sensation of the muscles working as they understand how to work and fight through fatiguing sets.
• Volume is effectively our driver and purpose, promoting great technique and more reps at a given load across the weeks.

This allows for the transition towards focusing on external load and moving that, as well as contracting the targeted muscles. All in all, during this Accumulation/Hypertrophy Phase, we target muscles through movements.

The Swinging Pendulum

Nothing lasts forever, and too much of a good thing can turn bad. This is where the coach must intervene, as overreaching can have a negative impact on the development of the athlete, leaving them at risk for injury. As Poliquin shared, “your body is well equipped to protect itself against intensity of work, but not against volume of work.”¹ Therefore, there can be a point when volume must be reduced and more is not better. Depending on the athlete, this could take anywhere from 2-6 weeks. When working in a team setting, it is always best to lean towards the minimal effective dose of 2-3 weeks, because of all the other training and life stressors that are simultaneously accumulating.

There can be a point when volume must be reduced and more is not better, says @Cody__Roberts. Share on X

Fatigue accumulates and the newness of the training begins to fade, staleness and monotony begin to rear their ugly heads, and the law of diminishing return ensues.

Shifting Our Focus

As we shift into a Neuromuscular Phase of training, our goal of strength development remains, but our means and methods shift to encouraging greater loads on the bar. We shift into a 3-6 rep range initially, promoting RPEs of 8-9 with the goal of mechanical tension. We can play with variations and prescriptions of tempo to help drive this, as well as controlling/encouraging greater loads. But this is where we become technicians, focusing on the movement itself, and the athletes begin to develop a routine as we address the bar physically and mentally (applying the same appreciation for a few repetitions as we do for the skill of repetitive actions in running and rowing). The same mindful and technical approach is taken to lifting heavy loads, as this allows for the most beneficial result.

These are not “max out” sets and we do not work from percentages. A percentage is an ever-changing number based on the time of day and readiness/recovery rates, and percentages can either limit or hurt an individual with too little or too much load for a given time and day. We continue to rely on technique, and focus on the prescribed RPEs, progressing loads over the block and gaining confidence and experience along the way. Following a percentage-based model can be disheartening, as we are in the middle of off-season training and the opportunity to improve can be limited based on everything at play.

We no longer focus internally or look for the muscular burn/fatigue, but rather begin to understand the nervous system’s impact on muscular contraction and movement of an external load. Developing and establishing proper and efficient recruitment of the musculature being used is of vital importance to the athlete and their strength development, as well as exposure to both techniques of internal and external foci.

This phase should also only last 2-3 weeks for the same reasons as the Hypertrophy Phase: staleness, adaptation, and monotony.

Always Better the Second Time Around

Henry Ford is credited with saying that: “It is always possible to do a thing better the second time.”

This quote and concept have encouraged and guided our alternation of shorter blocks (2-3 weeks) of higher volumes with higher intensity for strength improvements. Each block has similarities and differences, both are necessary, and the complement of the two helps to make performance (and ultimately strength development) as effective as possible. Within the annual plan there exists a roughly four-month period that is designated for “general” preparation, or off-season training. Competition and performance within the given sport/event is not the primary focus and there are more resources (time, energy, and effort) dedicated to building performance qualities such as strength.

It is very simple to work with athletes whose primary goal in the weight room is strength, but in order to make the most productive progress possible, undulation is important. Experience is a great measure of an athlete’s ability, and having already experienced an initial hypertrophy block, their mental and physical preparedness is definitely better the second time around. They know what is expected and what they are capable of, and can compare the initial Hypertrophy Phase to Hypertrophy Round 2.

In this, there’s a similar prescription of 6-15 reps as intensity will likely go up naturally, but we still prescribe sets of “Burn/Fatigue” with the rep range goal and 7-8 RPE goal in mind, allowing the athlete to have focus and purpose. The athlete may now be more prepared and ready to understand the internal versus external focus during the set itself, as the technique and motor pattern are well understood at this point. Volume is high again, intensity is reduced, and even though it is difficult and uncomfortable, the athletes know it is only for a short time.

Again, 2-3 weeks allows for productivity and progress, but limits overreaching. Some athletes enjoy this type of training and it allows them to embrace this side of their strength development, while those who despise higher reps per set know it is a necessary stimulus for their event.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel, and the plan across the off-season transitions yet again to Neuromuscular Phase 2.

Promoting Weight on the Bar with a Twist

As we transition between these phases there may be breaks and unloading along the way if needed, but sometimes the transitions flow seamlessly into one another as the shift in training allows for an unloading of either volume or intensity. As it relates to the academic calendar, this period of time can coincide with end of semester exams and the culmination and accumulation of fatigue and stress from school, life, and the holiday season. An effective approach that I have found here is to prescribe total reps (8-12), and accomplish those reps across 2-5 sets with 2-5 reps per set. By encouraging loads as opposed to reps, if the athlete gets five repetitions in a set and doesn’t achieve the 8-9 RPE necessary for maximum neuromuscular recruitment, then the load on the bar is increased.

There is also a built-in safety component here as opposed to straight sets: The athlete may choose to descend the reps per set across the sets (performing four reps the first set, three reps the second set, and two reps for the third and fourth sets). This also allows an individualized approach to how the volume is achieved, keeps focus the same, and ultimately puts the athlete in the safest position possible to achieve effective results.

Sets w/a total repetition goal allow intensity to increase, but adapt workload to athlete #readiness, says @Cody__Roberts. Share on X

Approaching the sets through a total repetition goal can also allow intensity (weight on the bar) to increase, but adapt the workload to the readiness of the individual, where they are able to perform singles or doubles at a given load and not feel discouraged that they’ve lost strength because a session fell on a day/time where their readiness was challenged.

‘Nothing New in S&C Except You!’

In the last 10-20 years, the research and sharing of training methods have grown exponentially. The scientific side is finally catching up to the practical application, relative to what is happening and what should happen with exercise prescription, periodization, and programming. Those who’ve been working in the field during this time have a unique perspective—if you ever have the opportunity to hear Al Vermeil speak, you will surely never forget it. He is one of my absolute favorite people, strength coach or not, and another forefather of our profession. (The subtitle above is a Vermeil quote.)

A choice line of Vermeil’s is one he shares from Bob Alejo, which often arises as different training modalities and techniques continue to come in and out of practice; “Show me what it is, and I’ll tell you what we used to call it.” The point is that many of the training methods and techniques being promoted today were already being implemented at least a generation ago.

What Poliquin termed “Accumulation and Intensification,” I classify as “Hypertrophy and Neuromuscular.” Synonyms or not, labels do not matter. What matters is the athlete’s understanding, purpose, and progress. After a period when the scientific research side was segregated from the practical side, we are now coming full circle to supporting the methods behind the madness, so to speak. Coaches and practitioners like Vermeil, Alejo, and Poliquin have established training methodologies, schemes, and principles that all of us should revisit and appreciate.

Training is difficult to generalize, as there is so much context to the environment and individual to appreciate. But the practitioner must embrace the gray areas, expose the athlete to variety, and manage the swinging pendulum of load and recovery to promote adaption. This is not new, but through the marriage of science and traditional practices, training systems have grown more concrete.

An undulation of volume and intensity allows for the necessary flexibility in training prescription, says @Cody__Roberts. Share on X

The undulation of volume and intensity allows for the necessary flexibility in training prescription and enables the athlete to have ownership and fluidity in the process. It is an approach that I have found effective for applying the principles of our forefathers, as well as adapting to the individual to make training productive and enjoyable. New is good, but can quickly fade, and with experience comes knowledge. Thirty years ago, Poliquin made the reference that “Variety is the spice of life,”¹ and through life we know that we live and learn, specifically in that order.

Variation of a stressor creates a more durable and adaptable athlete, creating a bigger cup to fill and stronger foundation to build upon. The timing and exposure should fluidly evolve and flow in a progressive curriculum that allows for learning and development. Everything works, but nothing works forever. Why not get the best of both worlds, and allow variety and experience to flourish?

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

References

1. Poliquin, C. “Football: Five steps to increasing the effectiveness of your strength training program,” National Strength and Conditioning Association Journal.10(3):34-39, June 1988. https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/Citation/1988/06000/FOOTBALL__Five_steps_to_increasing_the.5.aspx
2. Cherviak, A. 1983. “Methods of Planning Training for Weightlifters,” Alberta Weightlifting Association, Edmonton.
3. Weineck, J. 1983. Optimales Training. Perimed, Erlangen.
4. Chris Beardsley, S&C Research, Movements & Muscles

There are seemingly countless athletic qualities that enable sprinters to run fast, but one that is often not considered is the contribution of elastic strength.

Before getting into what elastic strength is, what it can do to help sprinters run faster, and how to improve it, let’s break down three basic components of sprinting: stride frequency, stride length, and ground contact time.

Stride Frequency

Stride frequency refers to how quickly an athlete changes their ground support from one foot to the other. Ben Tabachnik, Ph.D., is the Russian sprint coach who popularized the use of parachutes for sprint training in the U.S. In the book he co-authored with Rick Brunner, Soviet Training and Recovery Methods, Tabachnik says that the most important time to develop speed and quickness is between the ages of 8 and 13. Neurologist Harold L. Klawans, M.D., would agree with him.

The most important time to develop speed and quickness is between the ages of 8 and 13. Share on X

In his book, Why Michael Couldn’t Hit, Klawans said that to master athletic activities with a high skill component, those activities must be performed while the brain is maturing. Regarding his book title, Klawans explained that because Michael Jordan didn’t focus on baseball during his early years, he was not able to achieve a high level of skill (at least, compared to basketball) when he took up the sport professionally in 1994.

Citing research on violinists, Klawans said scientists “…found that those fiddlers who started playing early in life (age thirteen or younger) activated larger and more complex circuits in their brains than those who started learning to play their instrument later in life. Those who hadn’t started by thirteen never caught up. The circuits they activated were smaller, less complex, and more restricted. The time frame during which their brains could be guided to select those circuits had come and gone and left them forever without that ability.”

The lesson here is that if parents want their kids to be able to run fast, they should encourage them at an early age to participate in sports that require them to sprint.

Stride Length

Stride length refers to how much distance is covered with two steps. In 1991, track and field legend Carl Lewis needed to take 43 steps to establish his world record of 9.86 seconds in the 100 meters. At the 2008 Olympic Games, Usain Bolt needed just 41.4 steps to cover that distance, and as a result, shattered the world record with a time of 9.69. The following year the World’s Fastest Man covered the 100m in 40.92 steps and crossed the finish line with a world record time of 9.58.

A bigger muscle is generally a more powerful muscle, and as such, one of the keys to increasing stride length is to get stronger so that the athlete can apply more force into the ground to propel their body forward. Support for this idea comes from a study on the physical qualities of high-level track athletes that was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology in 2005. The researchers found that runners who excelled in the shorter events possessed considerably more muscle mass than those in the longer events.

One of the keys to increasing stride length is to get stronger. Share on X

Vertical and horizontal jumps are practical tests to determine an athlete’s leg power. If you test the vertical and horizontal jumps of discus throwers and shot putters on a typical track team, you’ll find their results often exceed those of the high jumpers—this is despite their considerably larger muscle mass. Case in point: 1988 Olympic shot put champion Ulf Timmermann of East Germany.

Timmermann recorded the second-longest distance of all time with a put of 75.65 feet (23.06 meters). Timmermann was powerful and brutally strong, reportedly being able to clean 485 pounds and squat 805 pounds. At a bodyweight of 262 pounds, he vertical jumped 36 inches and did a standing long jump of 11 feet, 2 inches. There are many more examples.

Former U.S. shot putter and discus thrower Ken Patera was the first American to clean and jerk 500 pounds. He did a standing long jump of 11 feet at a bodyweight of 335 pounds—talk about your Incredible Hulk!

Then there’s Adam Nelson, a U.S. shot putter who won gold in the 2004 Olympics. At a bodyweight of 260 pounds, Nelson had a vertical jump of 39.5 inches and could standing long jump over 11 feet. Nelson said that at a training camp before the 2004 Olympics, he got into a standing long jump contest with Dwight Phillips, a long jumper from the U.S. who won Olympic gold that year. In an interview that appeared on the Juggernaut Training Systems website, Nelson said they “…finished pretty much dead even.”

As for lighter power athletes, Yuri Vardanyan, a Russian Olympic champion in weightlifting who clean and jerked 494 at a bodyweight of 181, reportedly high jumped 7 feet using a three-step approach and a forward takeoff. Romania’s Nicu Vlad, the 1984 Olympic champion who snatched 442 at a bodyweight of 220, did a 43-inch vertical jump. Just type in “Olympic lifters jumping” on YouTube and you’ll find many videos of weightlifters performing impressive jumps.

In addition to being able to apply force into the ground to propel a body upward and horizontally, strength is especially important to the start of a sprint. Brian Oldfield was a 280-pound shot putter who put the shot 75 feet. In the 1976 “Superstars” invitational competition, he ran the 100-yard dash against Superbowl X MVP wide receiver Lynn Swann; Oldfield was stride-for-stride for the first 20 yards. Likewise, Vardanyan’s comrade David Rigert, an Olympic champion who broke 65 world records, reportedly ran the 100 meters in 10.4 seconds. Again, these athletes are not sprinters, but heavily muscled power athletes.

Before going any further, I need to address the relationship between power and muscle mass—a strength coach does not want to turn their sprinters into bodybuilders. Bodybuilding protocols use relatively higher repetitions and medium weights, and these methods do not create the highest levels of muscle tension needed to produce force quickly. Let me explain.

Bodybuilding makes athletes stronger, but power methods enable them to display that strength faster. Share on X

A study was published in Experimental Physiology in 2015 that looked at muscle fiber biopsies of bodybuilders and power athletes such as weightlifters. The researchers found that the training methods of power athletes increased muscle fiber quality and the ability to produce high levels of tension, whereas bodybuilding methods were found to be detrimental in enabling athletes to create maximal muscle tension. Yes, bodybuilding methods will make athletes stronger, but they will not be able to display that strength as quickly as if they used power methods. As Iron Game athletes are fond of saying, “Bodybuilders try to look good and weightlifters try to do good!” Now let’s explore ground contact time and the concept of elastic strength.

Ground Contact Time

Ground contact time refers to the ability of an athlete to exert forces to stop the descent (leg flexion/absorption) and project the body into the air (leg extension/reversal of efforts). The shorter the ground contact time, the quicker sprinters leave the ground, thus decreasing the time it takes to complete a sprint and helping to ensure optimal running mechanics.

Ralph Mann, Ph.D., and Amber Murphy, MS, wrote the classic textbook on sprinting, The Mechanics of Sprinting and Hurdling. Here is what they said about the importance of ground contact time, “Since the Ground Phase of the Sprint is the only time when the athlete can apply force to alter the Body’s Velocity, it is not surprising that this is where great Sprint results are produced.”

If you analyze leg motion prior to touchdown, the better sprinters minimize flexion at touchdown and switch immediately into leg extension. Consider that at the 2009 World Championships, Bolt ran 9.58 and Dwain Chambers finished sixth with 10.00. I understand that during this race Bolt had nearly half the degree of leg flexion as Chambers, and his total ground contact time was significantly faster than Chambers’ time. One reason for the difference was Bolt’s superior elastic strength.

Elastic Strength

Elastic strength is the ability of tissues to absorb, store, and release energy. The more energy these tissues release, the faster and more powerful the movement. But instead of just looking at the actions of muscles, consider that high levels of elastic strength can be produced by connective tissues, especially tendons.

Tendons should not be thought of as simply rigid cables that connect muscle to bone. Tendons have elastic qualities that can assist the muscles in producing power by acting as “biological springs” that compress and elongate. In fact, kangaroos have long tendons on their hind legs that can store up to 10 times more energy than their muscles. These animals are especially efficient at producing movement because tendons do not need oxygen to work and do not fatigue. Now let’s consider activities that can reduce elastic strength.

Tendons have elastic qualities that can assist the muscles in producing power. Share on X

According to sports scientist Bud Charniga, the use of athletic tape may interfere with the tendon’s ability to absorb and redirect force, and thus may be a direct cause of ankle and knee injuries. Writing in the Sep-Dec 2017 issue of the European Weightlifting Federation Scientific Magazine, Charniga said during the first week of the 2011 NFL season, 13 players suffered Achilles ruptures. How can this be, as this should be the time when a football player’s body should be the healthiest? Athletic tape is often used as a preventative measure in football—perhaps there’s a connection? Another concern is the extensive use of foam rolling, which may reduce the elastic qualities of connective tissues such as tendons and fascia.

In addition to questionable sports medicine practices, Charniga believes that focusing on partial-range exercises, such as parallel squats rather than full squats and power cleans rather than full cleans, may cause tendons to lose their elasticity and thus make them more susceptible to injury. The same can be said of isometrics. Russian sports scientist A. I. Falameyev in 1986 said that workouts using this type of muscle contraction could exert “…a negative influence on joint mobility, muscle and tendon elasticity.”

Getting back to sprinting, there are many weight training exercises that can improve elastic strength. To avoid excess knee flexion after the foot touches the ground, squats and lunges are good because they emphasize eccentric (i.e., braking) strength. To decrease the time between leg flexion and leg extension, barbell and hex bar squat jumps are effective. There is much more to be said on this subject, but these exercises are a good place to start.

Classic Olympic lifts like the clean and jerk best develop the strength qualities of sprinting. Share on X

As for the exercises that give you the most “bang for your buck” in developing all the strength qualities of sprinting, the classic Olympic lifts (snatch and clean and jerk) top the list. Note that I didn’t say partial Olympic lifting exercises, such as hang power cleans and pulls. There are also special flywheel-type resistance training machines that are ideal for developing elastic strength. Some of these machines provide the optimal amount of eccentric load at high velocity during dynamic movements. My strength coaching colleague, Paul Gagné from Canada, used these machines for eight years with over 100 elite athletes representing 15 sports and achieved remarkable results.

It’s often true that talent prevails and many outstanding sprinters do not lift weights, and we will never know if they were successful “because of this approach or in spite of it.” But the preponderance of research and real-world observation suggests that strength training programs, especially those that emphasize elastic strength, can help sprinters achieve physical superiority.

Header image by Bruce Klemens.

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

The idea of sport science conjures many different images: Grainy black-and-white film of Eastern Bloc Soviet coaches and athletes performing various exercises and tests, sure to be included in the next yet-to-be-deciphered text. Physiologists in lab coats, clipboard in hand, watching someone attached to a Met-Cart run to exhaustion. Nerds in glasses, pouring over streams of data, assured that the “secret” is just one proprietary algorithm away. Coaches also believe (some) in the latest and greatest technology, the next “great black box” sure to hold the answer inside it…if only you can afford it.

All of these images and many more are common fodder for internet debate regarding what a sport scientist is, what they do, what their value is, and everything that goes along with that dispute. However, my version of sport science is a little different, or at least a combination of all of the above…and then some.

Adding Sport Science Without Losing the Coaching Identity

To me, applied sport science is about using various tools and technologies, along with intelligent expert intuition, to better understand the “what” and “why” behind what is actually happening with my athletes. The system that I have organically developed is really about answering these inquiries, and in the process, coming up with new and deeper questions. (I say organically because I never set out to develop a “sport science” system or program…I was just curious and kept asking questions.) It’s like the proverbial “rabbit hole”—as I begin to understand and answer one question, another two or three emerge, sucking me deeper and deeper down the hole, spinning and spinning until everything is a blur and then suddenly…AHA! Something makes sense! Or at least it creates another question.

To break down why I believe sport science in general, and my program in particular, are so important within the process of player development, I want to outline some of these topics a bit further. The first one is the idea of understanding the “what” and the “why” behind training, and really behind competition. At the root of my sport science program, the goal is to better understand the actual physical demands of my athletes and be able to quantify as much of that as possible, so that we can make more informed decisions regarding training, practice, competition, and recovery.

One of the philosophical tenets I hold as a professional is to never do “work for work’s sake.” I don’t ever want to do things just because they are hard, or because they look cool, or because some other coach is doing them, or whatever. I need to have a reason for why we are doing what we are doing every day. I tell my athletes all the time to question me—if they don’t understand why I’m asking them to perform a certain exercise, use a certain tool, fill out a certain questionnaire, etc., I want them to ask.

This is for a couple of reasons. First, because the more they know and understand, the more likely they are to buy in. And we all know that buy-in is one of the most, if not THE most, important components to a training program. An average program performed exceptionally beats a great program performed poorly. If we can perform a great program exceptionally, we are going to be in a great place.

An average program performed exceptionally beats a great program performed poorly, says @DMcConnell29. Share on X

I firmly believe that education and communication are key to athlete buy-in. I send out anonymous surveys once or twice a year to my athletes, to gather feedback about my program—what they like, what they dislike, what they want more of, etc. Every single time, I get responses back that they want to know more about X, Y, and Z. Why this exercise, why those force plates, why that post workout drink, etc. Today’s players want to know “why,” and not in a bad way. They are curious, informed, and hungry for knowledge. And, without a doubt, the more they understand about what it is I’m asking them to do, and how it will affect them and their goals, the more they are going to buy in.

Accountability in Modern Sport

The second reason is accountability. I’ll tell you a short story that illustrates how I feel about this point.

Brett Hull was one of the greatest pure goal scorers in the history of the NHL. If you aren’t a hockey person and aren’t familiar, Brett was the son of one of the other greatest players in NHL history, Bobby Hull. Towards the end of Brett’s career, he signed with the Detroit Red Wings. At the time, the Red Wings were one of the most dominant and successful teams to ever play the game.

Brett Hull had no need to do anything more than camp out on the left wing and fire one-timers into the net—his spot in the Hall of Fame was already locked up, his Stanley Cup success was all but assured, and his place in history was a foregone conclusion. It just so happened that one of his last seasons was one of the first “behind the scenes” documentaries that was filmed and it went on to be the wildly successful “NHL 24/7” series. This was one of the first times that players were mic’d up during practices and games, camera crews were allowed in the locker room, and fans got to see and hear what really went on with their favorite teams and players.

A moment stood out, and still stands out in my mind, from that first series. It was a scene from a Red Wings practice, where Brett Hull (who was always known to have a sharp wit and equally sharp tongue) was mic’d up and homed in on. He was talking trash to one of the young up-and-coming stars in line waiting for a drill to start, calling him out for not backchecking hard enough during a simple 3-on-2 drill.

After the practice, the producers asked Brett why he was giving this player such a hard time about such a seemingly insignificant detail of a routine drill in practice. He said something to the effect of, “Because if I get on his ass for being lazy, I sure as hell better not make the same mistake and act like a dog out there.” Here is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, a player who was literally being paid just to post up and rip slapshots into the goal—not for his two-way play, not for his leadership, not for his defensive abilities—and he was holding himself accountable by getting on the heels of one of the next superstars of the game.

I tell you that story to tell you this: Sport science is as much about holding myself accountable to never fall into the trap of “doing things because it’s the way we have always done them” as anything else. The system I’ve developed and the tools and technology I utilize are my way of ensuring that I always try to progress and never get too comfortable. You know what they say—if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.

I want to keep an eye on long-term development, but I also need to respect short-term preparation, says @DMcConnell29. Share on X

This is certainly not the only reason I’ve gone in the direction that I’ve gone, but it is a central one. The idea of doing work for work’s sake is one that eats at me. My job is to do what is necessary to keep my athletes as healthy as possible first, and then to improve their performance. Both of these goals should be done with the proverbial “minimum effective dose,” because at the end of the day, readiness to play trumps all else. I want to keep an eye on long-term development, but I also need to respect short-term preparation. Applied sport science helps me walk that tightrope.

Why the ‘Little Things’ Matter in Sport

The next reason I have embraced applied sport science within my performance program has to do with chasing the 1%. This is an idea that I talk about with my athletes and I feel is crucial in an environment where everyone is doing everything they can think of to gain a competitive advantage. The idea comes from something called the “aggregation of marginal gains.” I won’t bore you with the details, but it originated in the business world and was adapted to high-performance sport. There is plenty of debate on the topic, but the simple premise is this: Every action or detail matters. It might only matter 1 or 2%, but it matters.

The example I often give is that of sleep. We can all agree that most people need about eight hours of sleep per night to be at their best. If I only get seven hours of sleep tonight, it’s not a big deal, just a small difference. I’ll be fine tomorrow. But if I do that seven nights in a row, I’m suddenly seven hours into sleep debt. Extend that out a month, a year. Suddenly, that small change in my sleep habit has grown into a major problem for me. That is the power of marginal gains—that is the 1%.

Sport science is about finding as many small changes as possible to develop a program over time, says @DMcConnell29. Share on X

The opposite of this example is just as true, and just as easy to implement. A few extra minutes of sleep per night is pretty easy to get, and over time it can have major positive implications on my health and my performance. Sport science is about finding as many of these small, 1% changes as we can for training and developing a program over time.

Video 1. Coaches in an applied setting need to find a way to get the job done in their specific situation. Don’t wait for someone to figure it out—go find a way to get the information you need.

The last big reason why I believe applied sport science is so important in a high-performance environment is the end result of always coming up with another question. Here’s another short story.

One of my first forays into technology was the acquisition and use of a team heart rate monitoring system. I was able to procure this system with the goal of “figuring out the energy system demands of hockey.” Can you believe that? I was going to figure it all out and devise the perfect ESD (energy system development) program. What. An. Idiot!!!

Well, what ended up happening was this: I surely gained a much deeper and more nuanced understanding of the energy system demands of my players both in games and in practice…and I was able to devise more intelligent training strategies around these newfound insights…and then I started to formulate other questions…and other questions…and questions upon questions upon questions.

Sports science keeps me honest, keeps me asking questions, and keeps me getting better, says @DMcConnell29. Share on X

In my view, this was and is a great thing. This is what keeps me honest. This is largely what keeps me, 15 years into this journey, hungry for more each and every day. I don’t know much. I know even less then when I started. And at this point, I’m pretty sure that at the end of my career, I won’t know a thing. That can be a scary proposition for some people, but for me it’s exciting. Sport science keeps me honest, keeps me asking questions, and keeps me getting better. Or at least not worse.

So, that is some of the “why.” Now how about the “what” and the “how.”

What I do is pretty simple: I train athletes. Specifically, collegiate ice hockey players. At the end of the day, what matters most and hopefully what I do best with my athletes are the basics. We warm up well; we sprint and jump with intent; we push, pull, hinge, and squat heavy. We do intelligent core work, mobility work, and recovery work. Without any of the tools I currently have access to, we would still do largely the same stuff, and get largely the same outcome. Remember, applied sport science is about the 1%, not the 99%.

It is crucial to build assessments, data collection & technology into a training process seamlessly, says @DMcConnell29. Share on X

That being said, we build in our technology, tools, and assessments so they are camouflaged as part of the process. A really important part of implementing sport science practices in an applied setting (read: real-world team training) is the ability to perform these various tasks with whatever the technology, with minimal extra “touch” to the athlete. They have enough on their plate; they shouldn’t feel like they are constantly being poked and prodded. They shouldn’t even know that what they are doing is “more” than just training. In fact, I think this is where many practitioners go wrong—as soon as the athlete feels like they are a lab rat, they will be all done with whatever it is that you are doing. It is absolutely crucial to build assessments, data collection, and technology into the training process seamlessly and effortlessly.

Technology: Tools That Work for Coaches

From a technology standpoint, this is what I currently use and/or do with my team.

• Athlete Management System: CoachMePlus
• Wellness/sRPE/Weigh In/Out: CoachMePlus
• Data Collection: Excel
• Data Visualization: Tableau
• Internal/External Load Monitoring: Polar Team Pro
• Velocity Based Training: GymAware and Perch
• Jump Profiling: Hawkin Dynamics Force plates, Just Jump contact mats
• Speed Profiling: Brower Timing System
• Video Capture: Coach’s Eye
• Eccentric Power: kBox kMeter

That may seem like a lot, but the ability to build these tools into a holistic system is key to the ability to seamlessly and efficiently utilize each one of them, with smooth transitions between each.

One point of note: Pieces of technology are just tools, just like a barbell is a tool, a dumbbell is a tool, and a kettlebell is a tool. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Each has a proper application and an improper application. Not one of them is the be-all and end-all. They are just tools in the toolbox. And there is always another tool.

This is how our system is laid out:

CM+ Wellness Questionnaire and Weigh In: Performed on the way to the arena prior to practice/games (weigh in when the players get to the rink).

Coaching Point: This is the first layer of athlete monitoring. It allows me to see where our players are at from a physical and psychological perspective. It identifies any red flags that I need to be alerted to. It highlights any athletes who I need to bump into and prioritize a conversation with in the 2-3 minutes I might have before we get going.

VBT: Main lifts (often our loaded power and lower body push exercises) are performed via velocity.

Coaching Point: This allows us to autoregulate loads based on individual readiness/fatigue, individualize speed zones within the team setting based on needs (five players on the same rack, performing the same exercise, can load the movement differently specific to their needs), and provide an opportunity for intrinsic motivation and competition, which drives intent by utilizing the leaderboard function.

Jump Profiling: Contact mats are used within lifts to create intent in jumping exercises, track development over time, autoregulate certain exercises, and create a jump profile for each athlete.

Coaching Point: We utilize a Just Jump mat at each of our six racks. This allows us to perform a number of different vertical jump variations, namely the drop jump (to establish RSI and elasticity), the countermovement jump (to establish global power output), and the non-countermovement jump (to establish concentric force application). We build these into our lifts as part of a tri or quad set, so athletes perform and record their jump outputs as part of training, each and every week.

*Jump Profiling: Force plates are used on a weekly/monthly basis to create a more in-depth analysis of our jump and force application profile. Currently, we are performing CMJ and an isometric mid rear foot elevated push test. The use of force plates is in its early stages for us, so I don’t have a tremendous amount to talk about at this point.

Speed Profiling: Performed 1-2 times per week in a 10-yard and flying 10 (10 build up, 10 record) sprint.

Coaching Point: These assessments are performed weekly. Acceleration and speed are absolutely the name of the game in ice hockey, where elite level athletes routinely skate >25mph. We utilize a laser timing system to monitor and drive intent behind our speed and acceleration work. Thanks to Tony Holler, I have become a “Record, Rank, and Publish” fanatic.

Video Capture: Used on a case-by-case basis.

Coaching Point: The use of Coach’s Eye is instrumental in multiple areas, from sprint mechanics to Olympic lifting, to mobility assessments.

Eccentric Power: Used with our “Eccentric Bucket” group via the kBox kMeter.

Coaching Point: This allows us to track and monitor eccentric overload and other important metrics in our “Eccentric Bucket” group to see who needs more work in this area.

Athlete Management System: Utilized on the front and back ends, as a direct contact tool for recording wellness, sRPE, and weigh in and out, as well as central data storage, reporting, and communication.

Coaching Point: Our AMS serves multiple roles and is instrumental in our process. It is the “hub” for all our data, testing, recording, reporting, and basic visualizations.

Data Collection: An important but not very sexy tool for any and all performance coaches and sport scientists is simply Excel.

Coaching Point: We use Excel to warehouse all of our data, which allows me to run statistical analysis, compare simple or more complex metrics and relationships, export to visualization tools, and last but not least, develop and design training programs.

Data Visualization: Used to illustrate data, take away messages, and create reports.

Coaching Point: Tableau has become an invaluable tool (along with basic statistical analysis tools such as SPSS) for creating creative and effective visualizations, so that I can easily and effectively explain data in terms and pictures that resonate with the decision-makers within our program.

The Final Word on Sports Science in the Real World

Each of our tools is built into our process, so that important data can be collected where applicable, displayed in real time, and quickly and efficiently disseminated on the back end to better understand the “what” and the “why.” For example, our jump and sprint “testing” is built into our training program, so within the context of a tri or quad set, one of the “exercises” the athletes perform is a vertical jump or sprint variation. Internal load monitoring is just part of the process. Athletes put on their heart rate straps before training, they see their heart rate response on the TV or iPad during lifts, and they get to see their data after practice or games. Transparency is key.

Allowing athletes to see their #data is crucial to the buy-in process—transparency is key, says @DMcConnell29. Share on X

I wholeheartedly believe that allowing my athletes to see their data is crucial in the buy-in process. It goes back to having a “why” behind everything that we do. Some of the players don’t care, but a lot of them want to see what their HR response was during a game, and then have a conversation about it. Was this good? Bad? What do they need to work on? What does this mean? Why was mine different from his? These are all teachable moments and important “a-ha” moments for the players and myself.

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

One of our primary challenges as strength and conditioning coaches and technical coaches is that a great deal of gym-based strength increases are non-specific, and transference to speed for sporting performance is less than optimal. I maintain that it is easy to develop a better athlete—as, by definition, if you make them stronger, fitter, or more agile, you have improved athleticism. However, and more importantly, do these increases translate to being a better player, with improved on-field or on-court performance? In many circumstances, the answer is, sadly, no.

Therefore, our challenge is to find training methods that improve strength and power specific to each of our unique training and performance situations. This is called “optimizing transference,” and in terms of speed development, a new training tool that optimizes transference is wearable resistance (WR), also known as light variable resistance training (LVRT). To be honest, this new kid on the block is not in fact that new—click on Google and you can see plenty of different ideas around what wearable resistance looks like, with research dating back to the 1980s.

An Exogen suit with fusiform weights lets us overload speed and constituent parts like nothing else. Share on X

There are, however, a couple of new additions to this area, including the figure-hugging Exogen suits with fusiform weights (50-300 gm/1.7-10.6 oz) that you can affix to the body anywhere there is a compressive garment—i.e., vest, shorts, arm and leg sleeves (see Image 1). As such, in terms of high-velocity movement-specific strength and metabolic training, I haven’t come across anything better—and I have been in the game a long time and had my head across a lot of different ideas and technologies to improve speed. This technology has enabled us to overload speed and the constituent parts (e.g., arm mechanics, step length, step frequency, etc.) like no other tool.

Why Is Optimizing Transference Important?

Let’s take as an example the squat, since it is a foundational movement of most strength training programs. There is a lot of research out there showing that the squat transfers really well to squat-like performance; the transfer to jumping and sprint performance, however, is not that convincing. Big increases are needed in squat strength before we see small improvements in sprint performance—if any occur at all.

When you compare squatting and sprinting (see Image 2), is it any wonder there is minimal transference, given the characteristics of the exercises? We rack our brains about how we can make training more specific so the likelihood of transference of training adaptation to athletic performance is more likely. We search for those exercises that have similar posture or force vector specificity. It is important to simulate the type and duration of the contractions that the athlete produces (i.e., contraction and metabolic specificity). We know we want to train fast because we know about velocity-specific adaptation. And so on and so forth.

As I look back, I think we have overcomplicated it all to show how smart we are, and as I get older, I want to simplify things. Therefore, my advice is to slap on an Exogen suit with 200-600 gm/7-21 ounces affixed to your lower limbs and start sprint training, as your strength and metabolic training are not separate from what you do but rather part of it. And guess what? You are most likely ticking a lot of those “specificities” that optimize transference of strength gains to sprint performance.

Now, I am guessing that you are likely thinking, “How can you seriously think that moving 200 grams/7 ounces is a strength stimulus, and moreover, that it can be a strength stimulus that can improve sprinting performance?” This is when we need to take a first principles physics approach (established science and not assumptions) to understanding WR: By understanding a few biomechanical formulas, the value of WR becomes much clearer, and in turn it becomes difficult to argue with the benefits of this type of training. What we bang our heads upon all the time is the “lift heavy” mindset, and the perception of moving 200-600 grams/7-21 ounces would offer very little to no overload to the muscular system.

Those who think like that couldn’t be more wrong. By taking a first principles approach, the naysayers will hopefully see that the future of fast is light. By this I mean that moving lighter loads—but at higher velocities during sport-specific movements—is where we need to direct much of our training. I am not saying to stop lifting heavy, as heavy resistance strength training is important for many team sports, but that LVRT offers a bonafide resisted overload depending on the magnitude, placement, and orientation of load, as well as the velocity of movement.

We need to train moving lighter loads, but at higher velocities during sport-specific movements. Share on X

More about these key loading parameters and the physics behind them later: The only reason LVRT won’t work is because the coach or user doesn’t know how to apply it properly. So, the aim of this series is to make sure this doesn’t happen, by embedding foundational knowledge about the physics of this technology and sharing the learnings of near-on five years of using WR.

First Principles Physics

Most of us are very interested in increasing the force capability of our athletes, as we intuitively and mechanistically understand that the amount of force an athlete can produce per unit time (impulse), coupled with the correct force orientation, is a major determinant of how fast they move. Therefore, improving force capability is a focus of some of our training. The typical way we go about this is to lift moderate to heavy loads in an explosive manner.

But let’s unpack this in a first principles type of way. The formula for force is: force = mass x acceleration. Now if we look at the example given above, the formula looks like this:

That is, if we want to develop force capability in an athlete, we typically place large external loads (mass = kilograms) on a bar, which requires large internal muscular forces to overcome or lift. But guess what? When we use that approach, the subsequent movement velocities and accelerations are small/low/slow. Now this is potentially not a problem if we are combining some slow-velocity gym training with a whole lot of on-field or on-track high-velocity training. However, I don’t want to discuss the merits of this, but rather bring attention to the fact that there is another way to develop high force capability in athletes according to first principles physics, which is often not understood and/or used. What say we flip the emphasis to the formula below, where load is light (mass = grams) but movement velocities and accelerations are high?

So, mechanically speaking, there are two ways to develop force capability: the first is a more traditional resistance strength training approach, where moving heavy masses is the emphasis; the second is the premise that wearable resistance is based on, in which movement velocity is the emphasis. Attaching a light load to the thigh or calf, and moving the loads at high velocities/accelerations, is another way to develop force capability, and most likely in a movement-specific context.

Now let’s take that concept of force orientation and optimizing transference. Without getting too complex and talking about the applications of three-dimensional forces and vectors I mentioned previously, I am pretty sure most of you can see that force capability developed during running/sprinting with WR (i.e., sprint-specific strength training as part of your sprint training with micro-loading) is more likely to transfer to sprint performance than non-specific strength training in the gym. We all know that gym-based, non-specific strength serves a function; however, if you need special strength or specific strength for sprinting, I hope you have seen the light—that LVRT is an innovative and targeted training tool for movement-specific speed development.

Obviously, from the formula I note, there are two methods to overload the muscular system to produce force, by either adding mass to the bar or limb or moving that bar or limb quickly. These are two really important loading concepts to understand if you want to optimize WR overloading. First, and potentially easiest to understand, is that as soon as we add mass to a limb, force output increases as long as the associated movement velocities and accelerations don’t decrease. With WR, however, the addition of mass can get a little more complicated when you look at the loading options you have.

In Image 3, you can see different examples of loading: a) central or vest loading; b) peripheral or limb loading; c) proximal medial loading; d) distal lateral loading; e) distal medial loading; and f) medial loading. Obviously, each of these configurations places a different overload on the muscles around the hip, not only in terms of medial-lateral loading, but also in terms of loading close to the hip (proximal) versus away from the hip (distal).

The same load/mass can have varying resistive overload/forces based on its placement on the body. Share on X

For example, let’s take a 400-gram/14-ounce loading on a vest, thigh, or shank. What you would feel if you had a suit and sprinted with 400 grams/14 ounces is: vest – didn’t notice it; thigh – yep noticed that; shank – that was hard. In summary, the same load/mass can have very different resistive overload/forces depending on where you place that load on the body. To understand this second concept of LVRT further, we need to jump back into first principles physics and discuss inertia.

Momentum and Torque

Inertia is the resistance of a body to change in motion, and is a function of mass. For example, we have a 90-kg (~200 pounds) collegiate volleyball player who’s about to perform a vertical jump. Theoretically, they have to produce more than 90 kg or ~900 N (90 kg x acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/s²) of force into the ground to get airborne. If we put a vest on them and place 10% of their body mass (9 kilograms/20 pounds) on the vest, then they would have to produce more than 99 kg or 990 N of force into the ground to get airborne.

What we have done here is increased the volleyball player’s inertia—their resistance to change in motion—as it is taking more force to produce motion. With vest loading, that is easy to understand. With lower limb loading, however, we have an additional complexity in that the thigh and shank rotate around the hip and knee, so WR provides a rotational overload.

Many people will read this and not think much of it; however, this is what makes WR pretty unique. Meaning, it provides a direct rotational overload of the muscles. Even though a 100-meter sprint is a linear activity, getting to the finish line is the product of rotation at the legs and arms, so rotationally overloading the limbs used for sprinting makes a lot of sense. It goes back to maximizing specificity to optimize transference.

What makes WR pretty unique is that it provides a direct rotational overload of the muscles. Share on X

So instead of inertia, rotational inertia is what we are really interested in when talking about limb-loaded WR, and it is a biggie to understand for you to overload with WR safely and effectively. The formula for rotational inertia is I = mr², where I = rotational inertia, m = mass, and, r = distance from axis of rotation. So, let’s take the thigh as an example: We know the thigh has mass and therefore requires rotational force (torque) to move it. The larger the thigh mass, the more muscular effort required by the hip flexors and extensors.

By simply adding more WR to the thigh, we increase the rotational inertia of the thigh, which means more muscular effort or turning forces/torques are required. But let’s not forget the second part of the rotational inertia formula (r²), which indicates that where we put the mass is really important. In fact, this has more of an influence on rotational inertia (muscular effort), as any distance change is squared.

As an example, we add 400 grams/14 ounces to the thigh mid-femur as shown in Image 4a. Let’s put some numbers into this so you can see the effect of placement on rotational inertia, and therefore muscular effort/torque requirements from the hip. I have modelled the rotational inertia associated with the thigh of an 86-kilogram/190-pound lacrosse player. In Image 5, you can see the rotational inertia associated with a variety of loads when the loads are positioned mid-thigh and distal thigh.

Let’s have a look at 400-gram/14-ounce neutral loading as shown in Image 4. By shifting the same load 20 centimeters down the leg (Images 4A and 4B), we increased the rotational inertia of the lacrosse player from 4.7% to 12.1% because the load is further away from the axis of rotation (hip). We call this distal loading, and it is one of the most important loading parameters to understand with WR, because for every cm/inch you move from the axis of rotation, the distance is squared. Hence, it has a substantial effect on rotational inertia, and therefore muscular effort at the hip.

An important consideration here is that we only influence the muscles at the hip if we thigh load; if we load with the calf sleeve, however, then we influence the muscles across the knee as well as the hip. Also, it is important to understand that calf loading places the load a great distance from the hip joint and, as such, there are significant muscular work requirements to move a light load so far away from the hip’s axis of rotation. As a rule of thumb, we use a 1:3 ratio in that we believe the equivalent loading at the calf is one-third of the thigh: For example, a 600-gram/21-ounce load at the thigh has about the same rotational inertia at the hip joint as a 200-gram/7-ounce load at the calf. Finally, remember the same principles apply across the arm.

Wearable resistance micro-loads to make sprint-specific resistance training part of sprint training. Share on X

The future of fast is light, as wearable resistance uses micro-loading to provide sprint-specific resistance training as part of your sprint training, not separate from it. As such, any strength gains are more likely to transfer to sprint performance than other more traditional resistance strength training methods. In this article, we provided the rationale and guiding principles around using load and placement (distance from the axis of rotation) for LVRT. In a future article, I will discuss in detail the effects of orientation and velocity of movement as methods to overload the athlete interested in improving speed.

Here, I took a first principles physics approach to show you why WR works. However, you don’t need to talk forces, torque, inertia, or rotational inertia with your athletes or clients—these concepts are for you to understand so you can use WR in a safe and effective manner. As I said earlier, WR offers a bonafide method of resistance training based on first principles physics, so it is difficult to argue its efficacy. Ultimately, the effectiveness of this technology in changing speed capability is based on your knowledge and its application.

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