Aspiring athletes between the ages of 5 and 12 need to be exposed to and perfect a wide variety of movement challenges in order to develop effective coordination and movement skills. Proper coordination and mobility—and the joy in executing these in a free-flowing, creative environment—set the foundation for learning more complex sports skills later on. As author Jozef Drabik puts it: “…without good coordination the full motor potential of a person cannot be realized. Mastery of sports technique is impossible without good movement coordination.”

A common complaint among sport coaches today is that many young athletes lack fundamental coordination and movement skills. These traits were found in abundance years ago, when children were more likely to play outdoors, compete in multiple sports, and have access to physical education class more than once a week. Children today spend most of their school days seated in a classroom, while their free time is also often sedentary as well: Fortnight, anyone?! Even those who do actively participate in sports tend to be heavily involved in playing one sport year-round.

All this #specialized practice in one sport should lead to a generation of superstars, but it hasn’t, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

Over the last 20 years, there has been a push in youth sports to spend any and all available practice time on developing specific sport skills at the expense of developing all-around athleticism. You would think that, with all this specialized practice in one sport, we would be seeing a generation of superstars. In fact, it’s just the opposite: Injury and burnout rates are at an all-time high.

Proper general movement training can go a long way toward helping improve overall athleticism. Movement sessions for children should be fun, engaging, challenging, and most importantly, semi-organized. Between school and sports, children spend their entire day in an organized setting being constantly told what to do. A good training program will let young athletes develop their own style of movement to be able to solve movement problems in their own unique way. Children develop this movement sense by practicing, exploring movement, and trying things out.

Back to the Basics: Educational Gymnastics

In my experience, the implementation of basic gymnastic exercises can greatly enhance a developing athlete’s all-around movement skills. As mentioned earlier, the best age to implement these types of exercises is between 5 and 13, with the most sensitive periods from the ages of 6-11. The exercises involved ask the entire body—fingers to toes—to move in a coordinated manner, defy gravity, and, in turn, develop a number of fitness- and skill-related components like flexibility, strength, balance, and coordination. They explore the basic foundational positions of squat, lunge, step, supine, prone reaching, and rotation. With a little creativity, these movements can allow for unique movement challenges in multiple planes, levels, and directions.

Training for a sport doesn’t always have to look like that sport, and kids appreciate fun movements, says @JeremyFrisch #LTAD. Share on X

Training for a sport doesn’t always have to look like that sport. For example, climbing on monkey bars is not only fun for kids, but it develops a tremendous amount of shoulder/arm/grip strength that can carry over into sports that involve throwing, catching, blocking, and tackling. When it comes to training youth athletes, the following are some of my go-to ideas for all-around athletic development.

Basic gymnastic exercises can be broken down into the following subsets:

• Animal Movement
• Rolling and Tumbling
• Jumping and Landing

Bear and Crab Series

1. Bear series
   • Bear one-arm reach
   • Bear opposite arm leg reach
   • Bear rotate

Video 1. Bear series exercises.

2. Crab series
   • Crab one-arm reach
   • Crab cross
   • Crab rotate

Video 2. Crab series exercises.

We often do this series as a challenging warm-up activity. The benefits of the Bear and Crab Series include:

•  Static and dynamic balance
•  Trunk stability
•  Strength development through the hands/arms/shoulders
•  Mobility through the hips and thoracic spine

The sequence follows one-arm, opposite arm and leg, and then a rotational component with each exercise increasing in difficulty. This could benefit almost any developing athlete. When training youth baseball players, for example, this series can improve shoulder function and build strength and rotation through the trunk and core, which aids both throwing and hitting. For youth soccer players, these same qualities mean better coordination of the arms and legs, which translates into better sprinting and cutting efficiency. It takes tremendous effort to balance and maintain position on three and two points of contact. This is the reason the series starts with simple holds in a static position for a short period of time, and then moves on to more dynamic movements.

Rolling/Tumbling Series

3. Rolling/Tumbling series
• Forward shoulder roll
• Back shoulder roll
• Star roll
• Butt roll

Video 3. Rolling/Tumbling series exercises.

Very young children love to do somersaults and other tumbling actions. It’s the perfect opportunity for them to explore their environment and learn how to control their bodies. For some reason, as we get older we stop doing these movements, which is not a great idea. As we grow taller and heavier, our center of gravity and base of support change significantly from early childhood.

During growth spurts, children’s balancing abilities can often be negatively affected for a short period of time. Out of nowhere, kids can suddenly seem clumsy and uncoordinated. An easy ground ball at shortstop one season is suddenly a bit more challenging the next season because the athlete grew two inches over the winter. The athlete has never explored that new range of motion in different movements and scenarios, and will need time to adjust. This is why general movement training is so effective for the developing athlete, because even as the athlete is growing rapidly, they continue to develop their spatial skills at the same time.

Maintaining #tumbling skills can positively affect body awareness and control during growth spurts, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

Keeping up with tumbling skills can positively affect body awareness and control through those times. This is very important for young athletes who play sports like football, soccer, hockey, and wrestling. Those sports obviously have moments where the athletes will find themselves moving through the air and falling on the ground in awkward positions. Knowing how to fall, land, and recover is not only important for performance, but also for injury prevention.

Jumping and Landing

In field and court sports, having the ability to start, stop, turn the hips, and change direction is paramount to being successful. It requires a pair of strong legs and mobile hips to be able to get into the right positions to move efficiently. Many young athletes have decent sport-specific skills, but fall behind or get injured because they simply never developed a foundational level of upper and lower body strength, hip range of motion, and trunk stability.

Luckily, it doesn’t take fancy exercises or a million-dollar training facility to remedy this issue. As a young coach, I often found myself training youth sports teams in gymnasiums, outdoor fields, and empty hallways. With minimal equipment, I had to come up with ways to improve strength that produced results. Working on jumping and landing skills is a great way to train the lower body for the demands of sports. It’s cheap, easy to implement, and something many children like to do from a very young age.

Children, by their very nature, love jumping. For most kids, jumping skills develop naturally though a wide range of movement experiences, games, and sports. Children crave challenges and by exploring different jumping activities, children will naturally take chances and have fun in the process. For older athletes, jumping and plyometrics have been a staple in performance enhancement for decades. This is why I find jump training so beneficial—it can be implemented at all levels and ages of sports performance training.

Jumping is broken down into five different categories, although as you will see in the video, a coach is only limited by their creativity and imagination. When you add simple tools like boxes, hurdles, and trampolines, the amount of variation is endless.

The five jumps are:

• Two-foot takeoff, two-foot landing
• Two-foot takeoff, one-foot landing
• One-foot takeoff, two-foot landing
• One-foot takeoff, opposite foot landing (aka leap)
• One-foot takeoff, same foot landing (aka hop)

When it comes to jump training, many coaches follow a series of progressions, with increasing difficulty depending on the exercise. Although that is a perfectly fine method of training, our method of jumping is a bit more experimental. Instead of following a fixed number of reps and sets and training days devoted to one exercise, we constantly change exercises and add different parts to each exercise. For example, instead of just a two-footed vertical jump, we may throw a medicine ball catch in the air, followed by a single-leg landing. For young athletes, the more variation that can be added to each exercise, the bigger the potential to expand their overall movement skill set.

Video 4. Jumping and landing exercises.

Learning to Play

Children learn best when they are allowed to figure things out by themselves. When I was a kid, my friends and I never counted how many times we climbed a tree or raced each other down the street (sets and reps). I simply went outside and played. We raced, chased, wrestled, biked, climbed, and swam ourselves to exhaustion. These play sessions not only made us tired, but developed movement skills that we carried forward with us in sports and life. If sports are a complex problem-solving activity, then early movement experiences are the ABC’s and 123’s needed to solve those problems.

Kids need #play sessions to develop the movement skills they carry forward in sports and life, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

Exposure to a wide variety of movement is key for all-around athletic development. Good coordination and movement skills are the basis to developing an athlete’s full potential in any sport. The lack of fundamental movement skills in our current youth has been brought on by the decline of outdoor play and multiple sports play, and diminishing physical education time paired with longer periods of sedentary, seated time. This, in fact, is why I find my passion in training these young athletes. It is my mission to bring back these basic movements that once flooded our courts and fields with superior athleticism.

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

During the academic year at my school, Mondays are the busiest training day of the week. Over the course of the day, 400 student athletes come in for workouts, with the bulk of them arriving during two high-traffic intervals: 6 am to 7:30 am and 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm. These are busy stretches, and with support staff limited to a grad assistant and a few undergrad interns, we have to lay out procedures almost perfectly so they run with precision. Otherwise, there’s too much downtime, and athletes end up cooling off while waiting to get the rack for their next set.

While I’m fortunate that we could have 24 people lifting in racks at the same time with another 24 spotting the lifters (accounting for 48 athletes), we typically have groups of 60-75 lifting at one time. That could be half of our football team or combined groups like the men’s and women’s hockey teams. Although it seems like there should be enough work for everyone to stay focused, having large groups of people lifting and staff members doing too many things at once, sometimes athletes decide to make their rest times longer than they should. What’s an overworked coach to do?

Programming rest activities for the athletes is the best of many things I’ve tried. While active recovery is not a new idea (Dr. Zatsiorsky talks extensively on this), we can look at recovery activities as ways to logistically control the flow of the room and spend enough time doing those extra—but easily skipped—pre-hab exercises.

We now have athletes set up in groups of three to four and, while one performs the main exercise, everyone else has a job to do, and no one should be screwing around and distracting others. Sounds good, right? It is. The hard part comes next. You have to decide which exercises are important to program and how much time the athletes need between sets.

What Makes An Exercise a Good Fit for Rest Intervals?

After a few years of programming rest exercises, I’ve been able to try a high percentage of my ideas. As you would expect, some worked well and others did not. I’m lucky now because my staff size has grown and I have other people who—because of their background or education—see different solutions that I never I could. That’s called diversity, by the way, and has been proven by history to be a good thing as long as you’re open to a range of ideas. The three areas where anyone (from undergrad intern to professional staff) can be creative are:

1. Injury Reduction
2. Grip
3. Vision

Of course, we don’t try every idea that gets pitched in the staff meetings. We have to have a process to vet the ideas before we introduce them to the athletes.

Here are the four questions we ask before we try anything new.

Is this an exercise that athletes can easily do on their own, and is it unique enough to keep their attention?

Once upon a time, I was a staff of one (plus the occasional undergrad intern) coaching groups of up to 50 people. In that large of a setting, it’s really difficult to be effective coaching everyone at once, so I needed a way to keep half of the athletes busy and out of the way so I could spend time coaching more technical exercises. Out of necessity, I had people perform some drills that they could do on their own with minimal or no coaching at all—but it didn’t get off to a good start. I found myself coaching the recovery exercises more than the big compound exercises because people weren’t doing them correctly or not taking them seriously.

Do we have—or can we make—the equipment needed for this exercise?

A couple of my favorite shows growing up were the A-Team and MacGyver. In both of these series, the characters had to think of creative ways to use materials at hand to beat the bad guys and save the day. While we have some very specialized equipment that we use with our athletes, everything that they use for their rest exercises is homemade or found lying around the office.

Is this exercise so simple that you could coach a 5^th grader to do it right?

The athletes take the lead on these recovery exercises. I teach a handful of them first, and their job is to teach the next group. Keeping that in mind, all the exercises have to be simple to set up and to teach. The fact that I’m working with college athletes with big, mature bodies doesn’t always mean they have big, mature brains.

Is this exercise going to allow the athlete to recover from their main exercise?

Since we’re talking about active rest exercise selection, be aware of the paradox of rest and exercise. You can blame my football coaching background for my deeply rooted aversion to people standing around during a workout, and my first few attempts at programming rest exercises were more exercise than rest. Those poor athletes needed a rest period after their rest period. I had to remind myself that tired and fatigued athletes only become more tired and do not improve. It was a blow to my ego when the rest exercises started looking more passive with people standing around, but the quality of their lifts improved, which is the important thing.

For an idea to go from the meeting room to a trial with athletes, we have to answer yes to all four questions. If it doesn’t, we work on it and adjust it until it passes our screening process. Once it does, we plug the new idea into some sample workouts to see how the athletes handle it. Be ready with a backup exercise, just in case. I’ve seen plenty of ideas pass all of the screening questions only to fail spectacularly when introduced in the weight room. It happens. Suck it up, learn from it, and move on. Now, let’s get into the recovery exercises.

Injury Reduction Exercises

There is more downtime in weight rooms than you’d expect. Say, for example, you have power cleans programmed for the athletes to do four sets of triples at 85% of their 1RM. How much rest should the lifter have? If you want them to mostly recover between attempts, 3-4 minutes rest would be about right. If you have lifting groups of three people, realistically each of the recovery exercises should take about 60-75 seconds. That way, you’ll account for 2-2.5 minutes of the lifter’s rest time with some extra time built in for them to get their head right before making an attempt. This should work out just perfectly.

The art, though, comes in deciding what type of focus you want for the recovery exercises. One of the hallmarks of strength and conditioning programs is that stronger athletes tend to get hurt less than weaker athletes.^{1, 2, 3}I spend time addressing the injuries experienced by the athletes I work with. (The injuries rates on the chart below might be different than what the national averages show.) While we all have different names for similar exercises, and by no means is this going to be an exhaustive list, here are some types of exercise we use to address these common injuries.

Addressing any way to fix these common injuries is a good first step to keeping the athletes in the competition arena versus the training room. But for the athletes I work with, improving their performance is not limited to the typical exercises you would expect to see in a weight room.

Grip Exercises

As our athletes will tell you, I’m obsessive about the quality of their grip. It might be a reflection of society and the general avoidance of physical work, or it might be my belief that you’re only as strong as your hands, but many of our athletes come in as freshmen with embarrassingly weak grip strength. The overwhelming majority of team sports, however, require grip strength in some form, be it securing a tackle in football, holding onto a basketball, keeping a finger from jamming, or pulling a heavy deadlift without straps. Consequently, I place a concerted emphasis on grip strength.

You're only as strong as your grip allows you to be, says @CarmenPata. Share on X

The way I describe it, there are three types of grip strength: pinch, crush, and twist. Pinch grip exercises focus on using the thumb and fingertips to secure an object. For crush grip exercises, think of anything that you’re trying to close your whole hand around and, well, crush. Lastly, the twist grip uses your wrist to turn something forward or backward.

At the start of this article, I shared the four must-have qualities for a recovery exercise. Here is how I decide which grip exercises to program as recovery exercises.

Is this an exercise that athletes can easily do on their own, and is it unique enough to keep their attention?

Yes, most people have never seen anything like these exercises before they get into our gym.

Do we have—or can we make—the equipment needed for this exercise? 

Yes, as strong as the athletes are, extra 45s, 25s, and dumbbells are always available.

Is this exercise so simple that you could coach a 5th grader to do it right?

Yes, all you have to say is “Pick it up until it drops. Make sure to have fast feel, though!” 

Is this exercise going to allow the athlete to recover from their main exercise?

Yes, grip work will not fatigue the central nervous system, and no one will need an oxygen tank to help them breathe after a set. The notable exception is not to fatigue the athletes’ hands before deadlifts or any of the Olympic variations.

Since the grip exercises receive a yes on all of the questions in the screening protocol, try adding in one at a time with the people you work with. Try the pinch grip for starters, as a person can do it with a double overhand position. When they need a new challenge, move into the single overhand position.

Pinch Grip

To really work on the pinch grip, start with two sets of plates and put them together front to back. I begin our male athletes with two 45-pound plates and female athletes with two 25s. In our gym, we don’t have metal plates anymore, which is a blessing and a curse for grip work. The bumper-style plates are easier to grip (as the rubber is easier to grab than the smooth metal), but they’re also thicker than standard metal plates, making it more difficult for people with smaller hands.

• Whatever style plates you have, stand them up and then put the plates face to face (so the backs of the plates are facing out).
• Pinch the plates between your thumb and fingers and pick them up. For the first couple of runs, chalk will help with your grip, but as your grip improves, slowly wean yourself off the chalk.
• When you’re ready to step up to a new challenge, try the single overhand version of the plate pinch as shown in the pictures.
• The final and most difficult evolution of the plate pinch is to add movement to this pinch, in the version of a plate.

Video 1. Finishing a pinch grip exercise with a mic drop moment is not needed, but it’s deeply satisfying.

Crush Grip

Since a crush grip simulates closing your hand to make a fist and crushing anything in its way, you can use something as simple as a towel to train for it. Both of the examples below involve the athlete doing some type of pulling exercise. The only direction I give the athletes is to keep their grip on the towel—no wrapping the towel around their hand.

Video 2. Towel pull ups are about as easy as it gets. Simply hang two towels from a pull-up bar and start your reps from there.

Partner towel rows take a little more coordination since you’re pulling against another person and both of you must be in sync. I coach a three-second eccentric tempo with both people holding the towel in the same hand, which gives an angled pull. And as long as they keep their chests squared up, this drill also doubles as an anti-rotation drill for the torso.

Video 3. The partner towel rows provide an angled pull and double as an anti-rotation drill for the torso.

Twist Grip

For targeting the twist grip, the kettlebell bar twist is my go-to exercise. As you can see in the video below, we set a standard Olympic bar at shoulder height and tied a weight to a stretch-band while looping the other end around the bar’s sleeve. What you don’t see is a 45-pound plate on the opposite side counterbalancing the kettlebell hanging from the bar.

When I program this exercise, I explain that each rep will go up with wrist flexion (turning your palm down) and down with a controlled eccentric wrist extension (turning your palm up). For the next rep, just go the other way: extension then flexion.

Video 4. The kettlebell bar twist is my go-to exercise for targeting the twist grip.

These examples of the pinch, crust, and twist grip exercises give you a starting point for getting strong hands. Again, you’re only as strong as your grip allows you to be.

Vision Training Exercises

Finally, the last of my programmed rest exercises work one of the most overlooked aspects insports: visual acuity. Or, as I tell athletes, these drills will help them see better. Using basketball as an example, watch how much the players’ eyes move around looking at the ball, their opponents, their teammates, coaches, officials, or even the people in the stands. Their eyes are in constant motion and quickly change their focus. As strength and conditioning professionals, we do all sorts of work to help improve people’s speed, power, and stamina, so why don’t we spend time helping them track, focus, and identify their targets faster?

Some of our rest exercises work one of the most overlooked aspects in sports: visual acuity, says @CarmenPata. Share on X

Keeping with the basketball example, it doesn’t matter how fast an athlete is if they keep visually losing track of the person they’re guarding—they won’t be on the court playing. If progressive overload is a way to force a super-compensation of muscle, then there should be a way to overload the muscles that control eye movement and focus the pupil. Before we get going too far, let me state the obvious: adding weights to the eyeball is not how you’re going to overload these muscles. What I’m suggesting is that you can fatigue these muscles by forcing them to move fast and adjust their focus quickly.

Like every other muscle group in the body, our eyes have a few main movement patterns which work in opposite relation to each other to stabilize the joint—or in this case, the eye. The main body movements are flexion and extension, internal rotation and external rotation, and protraction and retraction.

The eyes are the same. I’m not comfortable using the correct optometrist terms, so I’ll stick with the common terms of up and down, left and right, all the angles in between these, slight rotation to or away from the nose, convergence (cross-eyed) and divergence (bug-eyed). All of these movements come into play one way or another when the eyes focus on a target.

As your eyeballs move to see the target best, the colored part of the eye relaxes or contracts to change the amount of light that ultimately transmits to the back of the eye to the retina and then your brain “sees” what you’re focusing on. This description is an overly simplistic—yet accurate—portrayal of how our eyes focus, and it does have something in common with every other movement pattern the body produces: muscles make everything happen in sequence.

Since there are muscles involved in producing these movements, you can train the muscles surrounding and inside the eyes to become more efficient and faster in their movements, just like we do to help people run or jump. Here’s how I do it.

Eye Charts

I start with the most basic skill and have the athletes match letters and numbers from two sets of charts. One is smaller (4″x6″) held in their hand while the other is larger (8.5″x11″) and posted about 6-8 feet away from the athlete. Their job is to read their handheld card like a book (left to right and top to bottom) and then find the matching character on the far sheet as fast as they can.

When doing this sort of vision work, the athlete’s goal is to move their eyes as much as possible while specifically focusing on a target. We’ve had people do this while running their feet, doing some jumps, up-downs, or even switching cards during the set.

Another progression is to have them move the card or their body in different positions. To their right or left. Over their head or at their hips. Feel free to change the font size and colors to make it a bigger challenge. You can even do this with one eye closed. Let your imagination be your guide in how you want to challenge the athletes and overload the eye musculature.

Hand-Eye

Once people start getting good with the vision charts, the next step is to help them track an object as it moves in space. This is not something overly complicated. All I’m talking about is playing catch. Well, there is a twist—you need two different colored balls. In the video below, there are red and white lacrosse balls. Tell the athlete which hand is going to catch which colored ball. In the video, the athlete is supposed to catch the white ball in the right hand and the red ball in the left.

Video 5. The hand-eye catch exercise helps athletes track an object as it moves in space.

We start fairly easy, only going one ball at a time. Then, once the athlete has their rhythm, they turn 90 degrees toward me with their left shoulder pointing at me, but they still need to catch the ball with the correct hand. Lastly, the athlete turns 90 degrees the other way, so their right shoulder is pointed at me. This is a relatively easy progression.

Next, I throw both balls at once with high-low, both sides, and even a crossed-arm catching pattern. As with the vision charts, we do this with one eye closed or start with both eyes closed and opening on a “go!” call. These drills are to help the eyes focus on targets, not to help the person’s catching skills. Some people have never practiced catching drills before and will be discouraged quickly if you emphasize the catch. You should coach them up on their ability to see and react to the different balls.

Convergence-Divergence

The last vision skill we teach is done with some high-tech equipment: a six-foot piece of string or rope, five ½ nuts, a one-inch washer, and a dedicated carabiner. To set this up, tie off the washer to one end of the string, loop the nuts through the string (so they don’t slide off) every foot or so, and then tie the other end of the string to the carabiner, which you secure to your rack. When the athlete is ready, they hold the washer on the top of their nose right between their eyes then step back until the string is straight.

Their goal is to either converge or diverge their eyes so they experience a blurry double-vision of the string crossing at the first nut. Once that happens, they relax their eyes to come back to normal and then converge or diverge their eyes at the next nut, working up the string. This is harder than you’d think, and if they’re worried about always looking awkward while doing this drill—well, they’re right about that, but no one is going to notice.

Make a Difference Where and When You Can

The overall idea behind these drills is to fill the athletes’ time with quality work and not just to keep them busy. Pre-hab, grip, and vision work are areas that I’ve been quick to overlook in the past but are vital to an athlete’s overall development. Like you, I’m naturally drawn to watching someone set their new squat max, or shave a tenth of a second off their ten-yard sprint time because it’s fun to watch and is something you can feel proud about being part of. Seeing someone set a new PR on their string target convergence drill is not something I’m going to ever post on social media or brag out to other coaches because it’s not that glamorous.

On the other hand, if you’re like me and believe you’ll get the greatest improvements in performance by attacking people’s deficiencies, then maybe you should celebrate these improvements. Say you already have a basketball player who is strong (a double bodyweight back squat), fast (a 1.6-second ten-yard sprint), and powerful (30-inch vertical jump). What more can you really do with this person that’s going to impact their performance?

If I was working with a person like that, I might simply try to keep them healthy, fast, and strong. But that doesn’t improve their performance on the court. Would helping their eyes move and focus faster on what’s happening on the court change their performance? What about making sure their hands are strong enough to hold onto the ball coming down from a rebound? Save your answers, these are rhetorical questions.

Seeing people improve and stay healthy are always my goals for athletes. Just because the improvements happen in a non-traditional exercise doesn’t change the fact they’re still getting better, and their training is making an impact when they compete.

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. Zouita, S. et al. “Strength Training Reduces Injury Rate In Elite Young Soccer Players During One Season.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2016; 30(5): 1295-1307.

2. Hewitt, T. E., et al. “The Effect of Neuromuscular Training on the Incidence of Knee Injury in Female Athletes: A Prospective Study.” American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1999; 27(6): 699-706.

3. Alentorn-Geli, E., et al. “Prevention of Non-Contact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in Soccer Players Part 1: Mechanisms of Injury and Underlying Risk Factors.” Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, 2009; 17(7): 705-729.

I am excited that neck training is gaining a lot attention because of concussions in sport, but we still have a lot of work to do. This is not an article on how to reduce traumatic brain injuries (TBI) using neck exercises or neck training. That’s too much of a promise that no coach could keep; however, if a stronger neck gives you a better chance, than I am all for it.

This blog piece is about building a complete neck that enhances what the neck is designed to do. The typical article on neck training usually shows progressions of exercises from easy or light strength training to more intensive or difficult training. I will not do that. Instead, this article is about preparing the neck for sports performance, and if that can reduce concussions and help athletes recover from TBI, then I feel I have made a difference. This past summer, the Exceed facility started taking neck training to the next level, and my goal now is to share a few concepts we support.

My Neck Injury Story

Neck strength is not just a catchy, trendy topic for me. It is a tale that hits home personally because it played a huge role in my life and athletic career. During my sophomore year in high school football, I was thrown into the starting role of middle linebacker while weighing a whopping 170 pounds. Despite my lack in size, I had a knack for the ball, and ended up playing a key role and made some noise across the league. About seven games into the season, I experienced what might have been a career-ending injury.

I was on special teams in a game we had already wrapped up when I stepped up to make a block and, the next thing I knew, I was getting up off the ground. Although I felt a little dazed and unsure of what had happened, it wasn’t out of the norm for me to have this “stinger” sensation a couple of times a game. After a few days of this sensation, however, something just didn’t seem right.

At the time, I had been working with a reputable strength coach for a couple years and when I mentioned the feeling to him and the staff, they quickly referred me to “the top guy.” After a negative X-ray, I almost walked out of the hospital with a clean bill of health; however, at the last minute the doctor asked me to simply turn my head. Tingling, numbness, and concern would best describe what I felt.

He referred me to the best neurologist he knew and after countless tests (MRI, CAT scan, bone scan, EEG), the neurologist determined that I had almost completely broken through my C6 vertebra. He estimated that I was one good collision away from some form of paralysis. His recommendation was to quit contact sports and spend a few months in a neck brace.

Direct #necktraining should play a greater role in contact and collision sport training programs, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

I chose a different path. I worked tirelessly with my strength coaches and PTs for months on end until I was fully cleared to return to play. Neck strength and direct neck training were invaluable to my success, and therefore I believe that they should play a greater role in contact or collision sport training programs.

General Training and Neck Development

The same lessons we learn from core training apply to neck training. Technically, where the core ends and begins isn’t clear, so spinal training may be a better description for training the trunk and neck. I want to make sure that anyone reading this understands I do believe in training the neck specifically, but at Exceed, we found that our athletes now test better than we expected because they are well-rounded in their training. Before jumping into any neck training, we recommend looking at the entire training program to see if any of the workouts you do help train the neck indirectly.

Without reviewing what the neck already does from day to day, it’s easy to overdose the area with added exercises. This is not a debate on what the minimum effective dose is compared to the maximum safe dose; it’s knowing what an athlete is already doing. I can say with confidence that our training has a lot of neck training without doing any isolation drills. You should inventory your training and see where you can add areas to challenge athletes above the chest.

The human head weighs about 4.2-5 kilograms, according to online journals, and this fun fact means the neck always has work to do every day. Be aware though, not training the neck directly isn’t enough to have a neck that performs. What I am saying is a healthy neck will come from general training, while a high-performance neck requires extra credit or direct training.

A healthy neck comes from general training while a high-performance neck requires direct training, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

Leg training and neck training should have similar philosophies, but you don’t need a “neck day” to make gains—just include neck training earlier as part of athlete training. Periodically placing the neck work early in training, even if it’s warm-up drills for coordination activities, reminds everyone involved that the neck matters. Depending on the needs of the day, the order of where you place neck training will change. We tend to include it later in the session, but don’t place it at the very end of the workout all the time.

Practice is another source of neck training we need to account for. An athlete playing and practicing their sport will spend a lot of time being active with turning, tilting, and twisting in order to track the action. I will get into neuromuscular control in more detail later, but just going to a game and watching an athlete play can teach you a lot about the job the neck has to do.

The gist of what I am saying is that, like any area of the body, you need to see how much total and specific work an athlete receives each day. If they are wearing a helmet and are tired, listen to them and think about resting or going lighter than planned. Even if they are not doing a lot of neck-specific training and are just tired overall, listening and monitoring their training load is a better road to take.

Neuromuscular Coordination and Vision

Precision motion of the neck is great to ensure an athlete is challenged without just resorting to loading only, and strength without mobility and motor control is incomplete. The neck has many roles, and one of them is the ability to use its mobility to look for danger or to be the danger. During times of chaos, the speed and precision of neck action is essential to vision, especially in sport.

In times of chaos, the speed and precision of neck action is crucial to vision, especially in sport, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

A neck needs to stabilize the head, but that’s not the end game. Necks are “pivotal” to life and do so much in sport beyond just tracking balls and looking for opponents. If you want to prepare the neck properly, think about its three big needs and exploit them with your exercise selection. The videos below show the three needs of neck coordination: fine motor skills, freedom or mobility, and brute force. We don’t use a pen light or laser with the exercises at Exceed, like some coaches are experimenting with, but we think it is more for bored athletes or rehabilitation.

Video 1. Fine Motor: Coordination of the neck isn’t complicated—it’s the ability to do what you want in any way you need it to be. We like doing figure eights with athletes now as it improves how they control and steer their neck.

Video 2. Freedom: Large ranges of motion are great, and that starts with diagonal chops of the neck and plotting every safe degree of motion possible. Neck mobility is not about how much range of motion you have, it’s how much coordinated range you can access.

Video 3. Force: This isometric exercise develops neck strength, improving the accessibility of neck coordination and even endurance of the neck. Getting stronger is not oversimplifying the problem or reductionist—it works.

Improving sports vision or eye performance is popular and the trend comes and goes quickly. Balance or vestibular development is also a trend that still seems to linger from the days of unstable training. Not getting caught up in the hype cycle is important, but we still keep an open mind to the science by asking questions of other coaches. Our philosophy is simple: Train the body and let the skill coaches and games take care of most of the skills.

We are not purists and do step into the development process if a gap exists, but hero coaching needs to stop. Without getting into a rant, we see a lot of coaches who want to be the star of the show, meddling with athletic gifts that are not very trainable and spending way too much time on things that might work instead of focusing on what must work. Strength and conditioning is a limiting title, but doing neither job leaves athletes weak and out of shape. Direct and basic strength training of the neck is enough to make a difference, so if you have time to do more that’s great, but “don’t lose sight” of the priorities.

When you train for performance, it also covers injury #resilience most of the time, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

One point to consider, though, is that the small details of how the head receives a blow make a huge difference as to whether an athlete becomes concussed or not. I am not making an argument for teaching how to receive a blow, but I do think something needs more exploration if a possibility exists. Stepping away from injury, it makes sense to address performance and ensure that a neck is functioning for winning, not just trained in the hope that concussions are reduced. What is great when you train for performance is that most of the time injury resilience is covered.

Testing Standards and Expectations

I don’t blame coaches for not testing the neck directly, as we have just scratched the surface in that regard. Some of the best testing data is the load and exercises you do, but when working with someone unfamiliar, isometric testing is a safer way to go. Without getting into endless details and the science, research supports testing the neck by isometrically challenging flexion and extension with simple equipment in a seated position. We do realize that, for a lot of accuracy and precision, testing the neck should be done with a strap in a chair, but we aim to screen out really poor performers who have likely slipped through the cracks rather than try to get an exact number like those who do performance tests. We want ballpark estimates to ensure we are on the right track, and acceptable standards can be found with studies from rugby.

The rate of force development, RFD for short, is a measurement we know needs more attention and promotion. Working with force plates and being exposed to this measurement with jumping was eye-opening for us. If you read the social media comments, the average coach can rattle off more measurements about jump output then they can on neck performance. Neck training and RFD are in the research, so we took time reading the studies and concluded that RFD was worth measuring. Athletes don’t have the luxury of bracing for impact with long time periods; they need to be just as reactive to their neck impacts as their legs when playing.

Athletes need to be just as reactive to their neck impacts as their legs when playing. Share on X

In the next year, we plan to add better testing, monitoring, and rehabilitation standards with our athletes. Based on some recent conversations with a colleague, we will most likely utilize some more advanced metrics with our neck training, including load cells. We don’t expect everything to change overnight, but we don’t want to drag our feet either.

Currently, we don’t test “strangers” at Exceed, as an unknown athlete maximally doing any strength test is a recipe for disaster. Even isometric testing of the neck is something I am not a fan of, as it’s not the same as the IMTP or vertical jump testing. If an athlete has been training their neck, we are more comfortable submaximal testing based on their training history. If they are new to training and we add any maximal test, it could spell trouble. Thus, we like to ramp up training and testing, and don’t like doing a formal maximal effort test on “Day 1” with athletes. Testing early, however, can provide a quick snapshot or send up a flare on any athletes who need a more medically monitored intervention.

Static and Dynamic Isometric Training

Isometric training works. If an athlete is new to strength training, it’s common to do bodyweight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, and maybe lunges. The neck is a little different with training, as bodyweight exercises are not easy with the neck without really knowing what you are doing. Wrestlers are known for having great neck strength, and so are football players, but getting a bunch of basketball players to do bridges isn’t realistic. The solution to starting with isometrics is to do solo routines of basic movements, then progress to more demanding exercises.

Video 4. The spin, or 360 exercise, is unique to the Iron Neck device due to the technology. I am sure someone can find a similar exercise, but this option is great for all levels of neck strength.

Isometrics don’t need to be perfectly static and sometimes consist of a combination of contraction types. I demonstrated an eccentric contraction with the kPulley, as the use of elastic resistance with neck training is mainly concentric. Overall, using bungee or elastic bands is versatile, but the average athlete can benefit from simple cable resistance.

The days of head harnesses and using a weight plate are not gone, but they are certainly shrinking. Based on what we do now and in the past, isometric training and simple movements are the needs, and other combination exercises are mainly for advanced athletes. We don’t do neck rehabilitation at our gym, but we like to learn from experts in sports medicine. In general, I’d say about half the training we do is isometric.

Video 5. The KB Hip Halo with static neck is not easy to do and we’re just starting to experiment with it.

Our “Neck Program” includes a handful of exercises and our progressions mainly add load or just coach the exercise right. Sequencing exercises and writing workouts so that each piece perfectly connects to the next is unrealistic, but we get the idea of what is attempted. The KB Hip Halo works mainly on pelvis stability (staying neutral and level) while introducing a force that wants to disrupt that position. The intrinsic muscles of the foot and lower limb are already heavily challenged, but by adding a neck component to the mix, we can challenge the eyes/neck, pelvis, and foot simultaneously.

Video 6. Maintaining a good neck position is always difficult for people when doing push-ups. With good coaching and form, the athlete can kill two birds with one stone.

Since my business partner and I basically do most of the coaching, we just try to keep the challenges slightly linear—meaning we don’t get too fancy or cycle loading to the neck. Incrementally adding resistance or making an exercise slightly harder is the objective. At times, just letting experience take over and selecting exercises that are progressively more demanding works perfectly. By progressing a push-up by adding the Iron Neck, you can reinforce posture while adding a slight variation to a “simple movement.”

Video 7. This exercise challenges the neck in a multi-planar environment. It encourages maintaining a posture through level change as well as a forward and backward step. As with all the exercises displayed, we are not endorsing it or prescribing it—the point of showing it is to make sure coaches know what is possible with just a little creativity.

By combining a simple strength movement with a static or isometric neck position, you can really add some value to the basics. Finishing a day with some coordinated neck work in combination with a squat or lunge can ensure better strength patterns in the future, as well as train the neck for sport.

Yoked – Muscular Development of the Neck

Getting bigger and getting stronger from neck training is easy to see with some athletes, but other sports may not have a culture of wanting to get “yoked.” American football loves thick necks, but not everyone wants to look like a bull, so neck training is tricky. Certain body parts have a greater propensity for size and most often the individual athlete’s genetics will be more to blame for size gains than the reps and sets, but it is always good to ask an athlete what they believe is important when training the neck. If an athlete doesn’t want to get an increase in neck thickness, they won’t put the effort into the training if you don’t explain to them how to avoid the issue. Most will conclude that concussion prevention and injury reduction is important enough to invest some time in.

Educate athletes on #necktraining early so they know its purpose and comply with instructions, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

If you don’t talk to the athlete about neck training early, you may see poor compliance later. You can get stronger without getting bigger, and you can get bigger without much improvements in maximal performance. As a side note, it’s rare to see an athlete with a bullfrog neck who hasn’t spent a lot of time in the weight room. It’s somewhat of a badge of honor.

The research on neck thickness can easily be misinterpreted if you make conclusions based on a simple number. In addition to their body composition, where an athlete adds muscle determines if the gains really provide a benefit. The muscles that provide flexion, rotation, lateral motion, extension, and other motion do not develop the same. A cross-sectional analysis of the area looks like a tree trunk if you look at the anatomy images online.

For our tracking purposes, we believe that the research has merit, but we are cautious about getting excited if an athlete increases their neck thickness. You have to eventually test in order to be sure that the size helps the neck perform. As of today, neck size matters, but we don’t think about what that really means with athletes.

Video 8. Simple neck retraction and protraction motions are part of a neck development plan. A few reps and sets are all that is needed to get progress in neck strength.

Many of our more advanced athletes do Olympic lifts. Many college programs still incorporate them, so we feel that it is our job to at least educate and instruct the athletes to use them as effectively and safely as possible. In some programs, we train them heavily and rely on them for much of our power development in the weight room. Even after years of coaches talking about how jump squats or, ironically enough, the trap bar jump is great for leg power, we keep true to the lifts because they build a lot of muscle in the neck region.

The trapezius muscle is the posterior chain of the neck, and if it’s big and strong, it’s highly likely the neck is prepared. Direct training and general training together make a difference, and we know from both our own eyes and the science, getting stronger in traps with big lifts matters. We are not activating, we are loading.

Creating Your Own Training Plan

I wish I could go into more of the exercises and concepts that we are learning about now. It’s easy to get excited about any new facet of training, but what we learned over the years is to be patient—but proactive. Don’t wait for the field to pass you, but don’t overreact and try to be a leader by taking things too far in neck training. Being adequately prepared means you take the need seriously, not make it so important you add too much strain on the area.

Take the need for neck training seriously, but don’t overreact and add too much strain on the area. Share on X

We expect to fine-tune our neck development program every year, but tweaking what we are doing right is so much better than overhauling like a mad scientist. I personally know the value of neck training, and I hope this article gets you started in making progress in this important area.

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 the biggest issues we have in the strength and conditioning field is that we use words and phrases that we don’t clearly understand as speakers or that our audiences understand—or both. This lack of understanding occurs because we don’t present the concept in the language of the population we are trying to serve. The unintended consequence is the creation of a divide among professionals in the industry when, in fact, we are trying to unify groups around a solution. Long-term athlete/athletic development (LTAD) is one of these concepts.

A lack of understanding occurs if we don’t present a concept in the language of the people we serve, says @rihoward41. Share on X

For example, I recently gave a presentation with LTAD in the title at a national conference for fitness professionals. I should have thought ahead and recognized that the audience might not be that well-versed in my topic. I should have asked key questions, like: Was my audience aware of LTAD? Did they know the key components of LTAD? Were they wondering how LTAD could help them increase their presence and their results? I realized my mistake with the title at the beginning of the presentation, when I asked the audience of around 50 fitness professionals “who is familiar with the term LTAD?” and only three hands went up.

How could I suggest implementation strategies to a group who did not know what the presentation was about in the first place? Luckily, most attendees were fast learners. At the end of the presentation, they responded that they had a practical understanding of LTAD and, by the end of the conference on Monday, they recognized how they could implement LTAD strategies. I had increased their awareness, and I’m very excited that opportunities continue to grow to spread the message of how LTAD is a cradle-to-grave framework to foster physical literacy.

Why Isn’t LTAD a Household Term?

Regarding the acronym itself, why doesn’t the term “LTAD” resonate more broadly? Some might say it’s merely an awareness problem, but many attendees were familiar with concepts within LTAD—such as giving kids time for free play, encouraging kids to play a variety of sports, teaching the importance of strength and conditioning, and recognizing the need to create a successful cradle-to-grave model to promote lifelong movement opportunities. Many professionals within our field recognize the underlying principles of LTAD, but do not know that there is a framework that organized these concepts collectively as LTAD.

Many professionals in the field know the concepts within #LTAD without knowing the term ‘LTAD,’ says @rihoward41. Share on X

There is a lack of awareness of LTAD’s magnitude, sometimes brought about by misperceptions. The Dictionary.com definition of awareness is “knowledge or perception of a situation or fact.” The difference between knowledge and perception is critical. The English Language Learners Dictionary’s definition of perception is “the way that you notice or understand something using one of your senses.” The expression that “perception is reality” highlights the uphill struggle when the perception of LTAD does not match the reality. Part of the problem is the term “LTAD,” which conjures perceptions of who LTAD targets, who is responsible for LTAD implementation, and what outcomes LTAD produces. Here are a few examples of perception problems:

• • The perception of “long-term” as only being the length of the sports career rather than the ability to provide the skills needed to be physically active throughout the entire course of life. Experts suggest that activities for adults should be “lifetime activities”; that is, mainly sagittal plane movements for which no prior skill development is necessary, such as walking, jogging, hiking, swimming, and then adding tennis and golf. In reality, LTAD helps us all develop the skill set needed so that we can decide which activities to participate in, and to have the confidence and competence to engage in these successfully. Lifetime fitness activities should include sports and any other activity of an individual’s choosing.

 

• • The perception of the term “athlete” for many refers only to an eliteathlete, so they believe: LTAD is only about sports; LTAD does not work for the entire population; or LTAD is not appropriate for specific areas, such as physical education. LTAD subscribes to the definition of athlete as anyone with a body, promoted by The Aspen Institute’s Project Play and Dan Bowerman from Nike. LTAD is a cradle-to-grave framework for every person to enhance the development of not only physical skills, but also psychosocial, technical, and tactical elements of performance and activity.

 

• The perception of development through play. We often hear “gurus” say, “just let them play; they’ll figure it out!” Would we ever say, “just drop them off at the library, they’ll learn to read!!”? It is important to note that play is not just about organized sports, either. Due to the reduced time kids get in recess, PE, and free play, and the extended time some kids spend in youth sports, we need to highlight that there are three types of play and we need to ensure that kids have an opportunity to play sports, get recess every day, and have time to just be kids.

Perception Matters

This lack of understanding—or better yet, lack of willingnessto see things from all angles—is leading us down a slippery slope. If we can’t look at concepts and ideas from a variety of perspectives, how can we expect to provide the best information to our athletes? This means our perception needs to be broadened. Sometimes, we get caught up in our own world and do not consider other perspectives. As an example, sport science research is too often viewed as a nuisance by coaches who think academics sit in their ivory towers with no understanding of what it’s like to be in the trenches.

Researchers, on the other hand, too often view the “data” coaches collect as not meticulously kept or controlled, and therefore believe the results might not be as accurate as needed and not generalizable to the general athletic population. There are plenty of researchers that have “boots on the ground” and many coaches who compile excellent quantitative and qualitative data. To change the cultures of youth sports and strength and conditioning, we all need to open our minds to share the facts about research and coaching to encourage collaboration in the best interest of youth positive development.

Let’s Meet Our Audience Where They Are

We have a perception problem! If we are truly going to make a difference with LTAD, we need to better meet our audience where they are, using language that solidifies our value proposition (in parentheses in the section below) to:

1. Change the culture of youth sports (make all sports fun again for all kids).
2. Provide developmentally appropriate opportunities to participate (provide curriculum and practice plans for coaches and PE teachers).
3. Collaborate with all stakeholders to improve opportunities for kids to be physically active (you’re part of the solution—let’s work together!).

These strategies must include collaboration with physical educators to relate LTAD to physical literacy, obesity rates, and lifetime physical activity (increase the value and perception of PE). Let’s get coaches, physical educators, administrators, and parents working together on redeveloping the community feeder pattern that links the before, during, and after school opportunities for all kids to be physically active, including through sports (let’s get more kids physically active). With increasing attention finally being paid to mental health, share with parents the benefits of positive youth development provided through sports, PE, and play (sports for healthy minds and healthy bodies).

To engage parents, we know that they want what is best for their kids. We know that the current pay-to-play, early sports specialization model excludes many kids. It is also not leading to elite sports performance as much as we think—the U.S. is ranked 39th in per capita Olympic medal count. Make parents part of the solution by dispelling the myths around early sports specialization, pay to play, and “elite” travel teams. Show them what you do and how it develops athleticism for their kid to develop sports skills appropriately and have every chance to continue participation for a lifetime. (We work together to make your child the best he/she can be.)

We also need to show the disparity between what happens in sports and what happens in academics. Would we ever ask kids to specialize in one academic subject in elementary school? Would we ever cut students from science class? Where are the weekend math tournaments that require extensive travel? What school offers only one subject?

Granted, both sports and academics need a complete change of focus, but establishing a youth-centric approach to both can build success in the long run. Healthy minds and healthy bodies has been our slogan since the Roman era, so the value proposition for sport and education is clear: Sports and fitness lead to better citizens, higher graduation rates, longevity, and a host of other benefits. These benefits are somewhat dependent on the quality of the sports and fitness program, so LTAD can play a significant role in showcasing the features of a quality sport and sports coaching framework.

#LTAD can play a key role in showcasing the features of a quality sport & sports coaching framework, says @rihoward41. Share on X

Specific to coaching, LTAD encompasses all aspects of coaching, but is not simply coaching (coaching is critical to the success of kids). As a cradle-to-grave model, coaching is essential for those participating in a sports program. If the current adult-driven sports model is not corrected, it will be difficult to get all coaches on board with multi-sport participation, getting all kids to play (and not always sports), and creating a cradle-to-grave system for integration of parents and kids to embrace a physically active lifestyle.

Coaches play an important role in sports, but we know that LTAD extends beyond sports and beyond athletes’ careers in sports. We need to increase coaching education efforts to become more consistent with what we call LTAD and how it is delivered to coaches. There are multiple versions of LTAD in the U.S., with different versions within national governing organizations. To increase awareness and improve perception, we need edification of terms and language to help coaches deliver quality instruction to athletes in their charge.

LTAD as a Unifying Strategy to Increase Sports Participation and Physical Activity

The lack of opportunities for kids to participate has been labeled a social justice issue. Two key areas of focus are the economic disparity and the lack of PE requirements. The economic disparity issue was recently a feature story in The Atlantic. The reduction in the number of youngsters playing sports is directly related to economic inequality—in wealthy areas, youth sports participation is actually rising, whereas in poor neighborhoods the participation rate is declining. The data indicate that 34% of children from families earning less than $25,000 played a team sport at least one day in 2017, versus 69% from homes earning more than $100,000.

The PE issue is underscored by the fact that only six states require PE every year, with cuts hitting the most economically disadvantaged areas most. Related to sports participation, the LA Unified School District found that only 77% of students graduated, and those that graduated had an average 2.1 GPA. Athletes, on the other hand, had a 92% graduation rate, and a 2.8 GPA. The concomitant health risks associated with lack of exposure to physical education cannot be ignored. All students need to learn the value of being physically active, and taking care of oneself.

It is time to remove silos and promote long-term athletic development (#LTAD) as a unifying strategy, says @rihoward41. Share on X

It is time to remove silos and promote LTAD as a unifying strategy. The platform of LTAD has opportunities for coaches, teachers, parents, administrators, and all other stakeholders to not only delineate their roles more effectively, but to also see how to collaborate with other stakeholders in the best interests of kids. Somehow, coaching has become like politics—we take a stand on something based on our perceptions and we blast those that don’t share the same view. All that does is dilute our efforts to grow our profession. It is time to stop and hear each other out!

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

Have you ever wondered why one of the most holistic assessments of human physiology is currently restricted to a handful of sports science labs, hospitals, and research centers? I’m referring to cardio-metabolic analysis, the only known non-invasive method capable of analyzing how a person’s cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic systems operate both individually and in unison¹. Due to its ability to accurately assess the energy consumption and substrate utilization of the human body (i.e., percentage contribution of fats and carbohydrates in the human body), cardio-metabolic analysis has long been considered the gold standard assessment for developing physical exercise and nutritional programs². However, despite its well-established value in performance optimization, very few athletes and coaches are aware of its benefits and even fewer use it in their training.

Cardio-metabolic analysis is the best assessment to develop physical exercise & nutritional programs. Share on X

But why is it that such a holistic and foundational assessment remains so inaccessible³? The reason is due to cost-prohibitive devices with cumbersome operation processes, the time requirements to conduct a cardio-metabolic test, the discomfort caused by the headgear of traditional metabolic analyzers, and the immobile nature of existing solutions that are unable to collect data from real-life training conditions⁴. These are enough complications to make even the most data-driven coach contemplate whether or not to prescribe the test, and to make the average athlete dread the thought of going through it. Specifically:

• A medical grade cardio-metabolic analyzer costs more than $30K and requires specialized training to operate.
• Interpretation of the data generated from such a device and the development of physical exercise and nutritional regiments based on the information gathered requires a degree in exercise physiology, as well as experience from tens (if not hundreds) of tests.
• Running a test (including the syringe calibration of the flow sensor) and crunching the data can take up to one hour.
• The immobility of most devices—and the unreliability and fragility of the few portable options that exist—have made real-life cardio-metabolic testing unrealistic, therefore restricting it to the lab. As a result, the substantial differences in an athlete’s physiological response between the lab and real-life training conditions have also led many coaches to distrust many of the insights of indoor cardio-metabolic testing and resort to less sophisticated but outdoor-based forms of assessment.
• The discomfort most mouthpieces inflict on test subjects has led athletes to develop an aversion towards the assessment and coaches to be skeptical about prescribing it.

Consequently, the lack of a convenient and cost-effective solution results in the average team resorting to unreliable assessment methods for prescribing training and nutrition.

What Is Cardio-Metabolic Analysis?

Cardio-metabolic testing, also known as VO2max testing, ergospirometry, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, or metabolic testing, is largely misunderstood and underutilized. The sheer number of names is silent proof of how fragmented and limited its utilization is, and speaks to the mystery around the metrics. The clear definition of cardio-metabolic testing is the measurement of the oxygen uptake (VO2), carbon dioxide production (VCO2), and ventilation (VE—total air volume exchanged with the environment) of a person through the continuous analysis of his inspiratory and expiratory gases⁵. By combining these three basic cardio-metabolic parameters, as well as those used to derive them, we can assess the cardiopulmonary response of an individual and his energy consumption (i.e., number of kcal expended in a period of time), and determine the contribution of the two major fuel sources (i.e., carbohydrates and fats) in his energy mix.

Overall, cardio-metabolic analysis has not only been restricted to very few sophisticated and well-funded athletic organizations, but the interpretation of the information it generates has also been superficial. Not only are coaches and teams avoiding cardio-metabolic analysis, but the very few who do apply it underutilize the data it can offer³. However, recent technological advancements in sensing technology have managed to overcome the obstacles posed by existing devices and are bringing cardio-metabolic analysis to the core of athletic training. The following case study describes how PNOĒ—the world’s first portable, low-cost, and medical-grade cardio-metabolic analyzer—has managed to make the most insightful and advanced assessment accessible to a football academy in Athens, Greece.

Energy Efficiency: The Mother of All Metrics

A famous football (soccer) team based in Athens, Greece, has utilized cardio-metabolic analysis to evaluate its players while playing on the pitch. The affordability and robustness of PNOĒ allowed the coach to concurrently assess a group of athletes playing the sport and measure their fuel efficiency and substrate utilization during real-life training scenarios. They measured fuel efficiency by combining data from PNOĒ, which provided information on the metabolic cost of the physical activity performed (i.e., the chemical energy consumed) and a power meter, which provided the amount of mechanical work generated.

By calculating the ratio of mechanical over metabolic power, the coach was able to derive the amount of chemical power converted to useful mechanical propulsion: or, in other words, the gross fuel efficiency of his athletes⁶. Substrate utilization was also measured directly through PNOĒ through the respiratory exchange ratio (RER)—the gold standard metric for measuring the contribution of fats and carbohydrates to each individual athlete’s energy mix⁷.

Fuel efficiency stands out as the most central metric, as it is directly associated with most key elements of an athlete’s performance, including fatigue, fitness level, technique, mobility during the game, etc. For instance, fatigue accumulation, and the concomitant loss of motor control, or low fitness levels constitute factors that lead to higher metabolic costs for the same mechanical power generation (i.e., same body movement), resulting in reduced efficiency.

Fatigue is generally defined by two conditions:

1. an inability to maintain the target mechanical power; and
2. a decrease in muscular performance and efficiency while maintaining the same amount of power output.

While a) can be easily monitored (i.e., measurement of pace, power output, etc.), b) can only be assessed with the direct measurement of fuel efficiency. Moreover, since it’s not easily assessed, b) can prove to be one of the most dangerous drivers of fatigue accumulation and, as a result, a major driver of sport injuries.

The general mechanisms correlating reduction in fuel efficiency—i.e., increase in metabolic cost for the generation of the same mechanical power output—and the occurrence of injuries are:

1. progressive motor recruitment (i.e., impairment of Type I muscle fibers and the progressive recruitment of energetically less efficient Type II muscle fibers);
2. progressive loss of motor control; and
3. compensatory response of surrounding muscles; all of which are directly linked to injury occurrence while directly and nearly instantly impacting the fuel efficiency of an athlete^8,9.

Therefore, by measuring fuel efficiency in real-life conditions in specific time intervals (e.g., every two weeks) or after important events (e.g., after a game or a week of intense training), a coach is able to collectively monitor the fatigue accumulation of his team.

Substrate utilization revealed the movements and exercise intensity levels at which each athlete’s metabolic condition shifted predominantly from fat to carbohydrate oxidation. To understand the importance of this phenomenon, we must look into the basic mechanisms according to which our body’s fuel sources are utilized. Our body relies primarily on a mixture of fat and carbohydrates to power its energy needs. Fat, a fuel source oxidized through an aerobic process (i.e., a chemical reaction that involves O2), is usually the predominant energy source during light and medium exercise intensities. Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are a fuel source that can be oxidized by both aerobic and anaerobic processes (i.e., a chemical reaction that doesn’t involve O2), and are usually the predominant energy source during higher-intensity exercises.

Aerobic metabolism does not generate any fatigue, but it evolves slowly and cannot immediately cover the entire energy demands of an exercise. On the contrary, anaerobic metabolism can be very rapidly initiated to cover energy demands, but generates fatigue. Therefore, aerobic metabolism is the predominant energy mechanism during light and medium-intensity workouts or steady state exercises, whereas anaerobic metabolism is the predominant energy mechanism during high-intensity workouts, or when exercise intensity changes (in other words, during the transient phase from a lower to a higher intensity exercise state during which aerobic metabolism has not yet been able to “catch up” with energy demands). Therefore, the ability to rapidly engage aerobic metabolism in response to an increase in energy demands and develop it such that it can cover high levels of energy demand is the ultimate goal of most athletes. This is what we refer to as a “strong” aerobic base.

Returning to our Greek football team, the direct measurement of carbohydrate and fat oxidation—and, consequently, the interplay between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism—provided for the first time the ability to measure real-time fatigue accumulation, as well as how aerobically “fit” each player is. And, all of this executed within the conditions and movements they are regularly exposed to.

Lastly, the combination of fuel efficiency and substrate utilization can be used to accurately assess the nutritional requirements of an athlete. Specifically, by monitoring energy expenditure (i.e., kcal/min) and substrate utilization (i.e., contribution of carbohydrates and fats to energy mix) through gas exchange, an athlete’s diet can be precisely formulated to achieve a specific weight goal or induce a desirable metabolic adaptation (i.e., make the athlete a more efficient fat burner). This is possible by establishing a correlation between the athlete’s mechanical power output (measured through motion sensors) and cardio-metabolic profile (measured through gas exchange analysis).

Cardio-metabolic analysis metrics help target decision-making for athletes’ nutrition & training. Share on X

Following a number of assessments utilizing a cardio-metabolic analyzer and a power meter, the athlete’s energy expenditure profile (kcal/min) can be strongly correlated against biometrics such as mechanical power output and/or heart rate that can be gathered throughout their entire training session or even the entire day. As a result, by monitoring mechanical power output and/or heart rate, a coach or performance specialist can reliably and non-invasively “recreate” the athlete’s metabolic response and therefore derive their nutritional needs^10,11.

Results and Interpretation

The assessment consisted of two 15-minute sessions during which a small group of European football players wore PNOĒ masks and played. In between the assessment sessions, the players underwent a two-hour training session. The PNOĒ online platform allowed the collective analysis of cardio-metabolic and biomechanical information for the calculation of fuel efficiency and substrate utilization.

For each athlete, fuel efficiency and substrate utilization was compared between the two assessments in time intervals where levels of mechanical power output were comparable—i.e., power was used as a benchmark for intensity. The analysis was conducted on the PNOĒ online platform, where biomechanical and cardio-metabolic data were collectively analyzed in order to quantify the level of fatigue accumulation based on fuel efficiency and substrate utilization. Analysis of the data revealed the following insights:

• Players with higher contribution of carbohydrates in their metabolic activity during the first assessment incurred a higher reduction in fuel efficiency between the two assessments.
• Players with lower fuel efficiency during the first assessment were able to maintain lower mechanical power outputs during the second assessment.
• Players with high fuel efficiency had higher contribution of fats in their metabolic activity (i.e., a greater portion of their energy consumption was covered through fat oxidation) and were able to maintain higher levels of mechanical power output during the second assessment.

Repeating the same assessment protocol can reveal how different training routines induce changes in fatigue accumulation among players. Moreover, creating a baseline assessment protocol consisting of two 15-minute assessments and a two-hour training session in between allows for the quantification of fatigue accumulation during a tournament or intense training season. Specifically, the repetition of the baseline assessment protocol before and after the tournament or intense training season should reveal the level of fatigue each player has incurred in their cardio-metabolic system.

Why Measure in Real-Life Conditions?

The traditional method of assessing the cardio-metabolic condition of an individual is through a standardized protocol of increasing intensity on a form of cardio equipment (i.e., treadmill or cycle ergometer). Although the benefits of standardization allow for easier comparison between tests, the drawbacks mentioned below have led many professionals to question the validity of indoor testing:

1. Many athletes are not used to running on the treadmill or cycling on a stationary bicycle. As a result, the inability to move freely and naturally gives a distorted picture of cardio-metabolic data, prevents subjects from reaching high-intensity exercise states, and, in some cases, can even cause injuries.
2. Movement and, by implication, muscle engagement during an actual sport (i.e., in the case of football, repeated alteration between different running speeds and directions) can be substantially different compared to a treadmill or stationary bicycle, leading to substantially different levels of energy expenditure and substrate utilization.
3. Environmental conditions such as temperature, wind, and humidity can affect a person’s cardio-metabolic state substantially, rendering the controlled lab conditions misleading.

About PNOĒ

PNOĒ has addressed the limitations posed by traditional cardio-metabolic analyzers by creating the first portable, low-cost, affordable, and medical-grade cardio-metabolic analyzer. Its key advantages are:

• Requires no cumbersome calibration—for those who have experience with cardio-metabolic analyzers, PNOĒ doesn’t require the notorious 3-liter calibration syringe.
• Begins measuring in less than three minutes and is fully operated through a smartphone that projects real-time cardio-metabolic data.
• One-hundred percent cloud connected and transmits real-time cardio-metabolic data to the PNOĒ online platform, which can be accessed from anywhere around the world.
• Accuracy has been validated against clinical gold standard metabolic analyzers.
• Can be used in the field to assess athletes in the sport and environment they train in, to provide training recommendations that are sport- and environment-specific.

Several high-profile fitness centers, sports teams, and research groups around the world currently use PNOĒ, and its advantages are effectively addressing the problems that have kept cardio-metabolic analysis confined. Athletes and coaches who implement PNOĒ in their training regimens and take cardio-metabolic analysis into real training conditions are now gaining access to a wide spectrum of unique insights and metrics, and reporting substantial changes in performance. From our vantage point, PNOĒ has achieved two big wins: 1) it made cardio-metabolic analysis accessible to the average athlete; and 2) it made cardio-metabolic analysis sport- and environment-specific, consequently rendering its insights directly applicable and far more impactful.

PNOĒ makes cardio-metabolic analysis accessible to the average athlete, and environment-specific. Share on X

Conclusion

Cardio-metabolic analysis constitutes the most foundational assessment of human physiology. Its metrics provide unique insights into an athlete’s fitness and allow for targeted decision-making regarding their nutrition and training program. Decades of research have amassed unequivocal evidence indicating the breadth of information a single 15-minute cardio-metabolic test can reveal and point to the necessity of this type of assessment—not just for athletes, but also for the general population.

2016 was a landmark year for cardio-metabolic testing, with the American Heart Association elevating VO2peak to a vital sign and calling for its wide adoption in everyone’s health checkup¹². Acknowledging the value that cardio-metabolic testing brings to the world of sports and public health, PNOĒ is helping to remove the operational barriers that have kept this assessment restricted to the lab for so many years and is now making it accessible, not only to the everyday athlete, but soon to the general population as well.

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. Guazzi, Marco, et al. “Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, vol. 70, no. 13, 2017, pp. 1618–1636., doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2017.08.012

2. Myers, Jonathan, and Euan Ashley. “Dangerous Curves.” Chest, vol. 111, no. 3, 1997, pp. 787–795., doi:10.1378/chest.111.3.787.

3. Forman, Daniel E., et al. “Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing: Relevant but Underused.” Postgraduate Medicine, vol. 122, no. 6, 2010, pp. 68–86., doi:10.3810/pgm.2010.11.2225.

4. Diamond, Edward. “Developing a Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing Laboratory.” Chest, vol. 132, no. 6, 2007, pp. 2000–2007., doi:10.1378/chest.06-2413.

5. This Joint Statement of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) was adopted by the ATS Board of Directors, March 1, 2002 and by the ACCP Health Science Policy Committee, November 1, 2001.

6. Coyle, Edward F., et al. “Cycling Efficiency Is Related to the Percentage of Type I Muscle Fibers.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 24, no. 7, 1992, doi:10.1249/00005768-199207000-00008.

7. Scott, CB and Djurisic, Z. “The metabolic oxidation of glucose: thermodynamic considerations for anaerobic and aerobic energy expenditure.” JEPonline11: 34–43, 2008.

8. Jones, Andrew M., et al. “Slow Component of V˙O2 Kinetics.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 43, no. 11, 2011, pp. 2046–2062., doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31821fcfc1.

9. Jones, Andrew M., et al. “Slow Component of V˙O2 Kinetics.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 43, no. 11, 2011, pp. 2046–2062., doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e31821fcfc1.

10. Brage, Søren, et al. “Estimation of Free-Living Energy Expenditure by Heart Rate and Movement Sensing: A Doubly-Labelled Water Study.” Plos One, vol. 10, no. 9, 2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0137206.

11. Haskell, William L., et al. “Simultaneous Measurement of Heart Rate and Body Motion to Quantitate Physical Activity.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, vol. 25, no. 1, 1993, pp. 109–115., doi:10.1249/00005768-199301000-00015.

12. Ross, Robert, et al. “Importance of Assessing Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Clinical Practice: A Case for Fitness as a Clinical Vital Sign: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association.” Circulation, vol. 134, no. 24, 2016, doi:10.1161/cir.0000000000000461.

Apostolos Atsalakis graduated as valedictorian from Cambridge University with a Masters degree in Nanotechnology. He received a BS & MS degree in Applied Physics from the National Technical University of Athens. He is the inventor of several patents, he has been the speaker in several conferences and an author of articles in high impact scientific journals. IOP (Institute of Physics) has offered him the position of a reviewer in the high impact journal Nanotechnology. In the past, he worked as an analyst in the banking sector and as a business developer in a European based e-commerce startup that attracts thousands of users daily.

Medicine balls. Everyone is familiar with them and loves to incorporate them in some type of way. Whether you slam them, throw them off a wall or in the air, or do some circus trick with them, medicine balls are fairly universally accepted in some manner. Maybe it’s time more people started testing with them as well. They are already a staple in most training programs, so using them to test and assess seems like a natural progression.

Using #medicineballs to test and assess seems like a natural progression from training with them, says @ShaneDavs. Share on X

Testing them is a little less straightforward than you may think, however. Of course, you could grab a piece of paper and a tape measure and get some decent objective data, but I think there is a better way. Now, with the help of the Assess2Perform Ballistic Ball, it’s possible, scientifically validated, and, dare I say, easy.

This piece covers the three most common medicine ball tests, a couple variations of each to consider, and how to analyze the performances. If you do not currently have access to a sensor-based MB, you can still take away some practices for standard MB testing.

Why Test with Medicine Balls?

We can gain a lot of information using medicine ball tests. We can see how an athlete responds to a testing environment, how they move in more complex coordinated patterns than simply jumping or squatting, and how they respond to training, all with a fairly safe and practical method. The load is light (ballistic) and the information we gather reinforces our training or helps to make the necessary changes.

Testing isn’t just about measuring. It is a means to accountability, not only for the coach in making sure what they do is actually effective, but also for the athlete. Without numbers, how do we know athlete efforts are as they appear? How do we know that their Wednesday afternoon effort is on par with their ability or peak values?

Testing can give valuable insight into program data or simply incentivize, encourage, and motivate your athletes to “give their best,” so to speak. At Exceed, we’ve tested jumping and sprinting for a long time now, and when our college and professional athletes return after the season they know there will be testing. Now, thanks to the Ballistic Ball, we can add medicine balls to the mix.

The main reason for adding the med ball tests is the simplicity and safety involved, but here are other quick reasons that you’ll love them too.

• Max effort testing can be risky, but it’s much less risky with medicine balls.
• Testing with medicine balls requires very little set-up time.
• Science supports MB throws and they are practical to do in or out of the lab.
• Athletes enjoy throwing medicine balls because it is primitive and engaging.
• Any time you add metrics or tech to a movement, athletes try harder. It’s science.
• MBs bridge the gap between lifting and sport coaches. Testing with a med ball can better display some need for training to the sport coach.

It’s not so much about improving the tests we all love so much. Ask any coach or trainer and they’ll most likely agree that sprint, jump, and lift tests are a standard and effective collaboration. They are pure, direct, specific, and undeniable, but medicine ball testing isn’t about better or worse—it’s about different and more. We can test a sprint as long as the athlete is fresh, injury-free, and motivated, and jumps are a great addition but practically limited to the lower body.

Medicine balls won’t replace your #combine tests, but they are no longer on the ‘B Team’ either, says @ShaneDavs. Share on X

On the contrary, the posterior scoop toss (between the leg overhead throw), for example, coordinates almost every joint at max output. I am absolutely not arguing against using those tests in any way—we do so practically every day in some manner—but adding the medicine ball tests reveals a greater amount of information and touches on some unique patterns and qualities hard to quantify in the traditional tests. Medicine balls are not going to replace your combine tests, but they are no longer on the “B Team.”

Medicine Balls: Is the Science There?

There is enough science and research out there for a coach to do their homework and make some decisions on whether med balls, both as a test and training method, are for them. Exceed’s approach to new tests or technologies is to use them and get a lot of data and familiarity with the data, and then worry about interpreting it when you have enough. Studies are fickle in that often the conclusions differ based on test subjects, methodology, and a number of other factors. Arguably, the best practice is then to test the movements that make sense for your clientele with a premium placed on execution and replicability, and your data will ultimately determine the effectiveness of their use. In my opinion, the med ball tests are much more about long-term development than short-term novelty, so treat your “study” in that manner.

Certain sports are more conducive to medicine balls simply in terms of game-like motion. Including MB work in special-strength phases for throwing or rotational sports (such as baseball, handball, golf, hockey, and the throw events in track and field) would seem obvious enough. But how do the medicine balls fare in sport specificity studies? Findings vary, believe it or not, and although some research states that including medicine ball training in unison with a traditional baseball off-season program would yield an increase in power or velocity, another study on medicine balls in training argues that no velocity improvements were noted on post-intervention testing.

You can probably find research to validate any point if you look closely enough, but the majority of research is in favor of throwing med balls in an attempt to improve velocity. Even beyond baseball studies you can find good cases for including the throws, such as a study on handball athletes who improved throwing velocity by incorporating MBs into their training routine.

Regardless of what sport you train for, testing athletes with medicine balls seems like an appropriate method provided you know the limitations and drawbacks of testing in general, and specifically with medicine balls. Scientifically, a coach would want medicine ball training to improve performance, evaluate talent, and demonstrate reliability when testing. The science is rather specific to what medicine ball testing does well, such as power testing with overhead athletes, and what the complexities (contradicting science) of sports movement can create at times. The science supports testing with medicine balls, but most of the research is on chest throws, while other movements are working their way into more validity.

A coach will have to make the decision to invest in a Ballistic Ball versus testing with a tape measure or radar gun. With research on reliability of testing medicine balls with different weights, we avoid measuring lightweight balls, as of today, and typically use a 10- to 13-pound ball. Lightweight balls are population-specific but the athlete being tested should use an appropriate load. Based on current science, the ball is scientifically validated for testing and adds context to the throws by showing how an athlete generates their power. We still measure for distance, but velocity is a better measure and can be much more “facility friendly.” Find out what works best for you and use additional measurements along with the A2P Ball to ensure redundancy for an auditing system.

The Perfect Testing Protocol

Not to harp on how to avoid testing mistakes, but not having a standard approach to testing makes gathering quality information from your data difficult. In fact, the hardest part about data collection may not be the analysis at all, but the policing of the protocol. Athletes inherently want to win and will do anything to find a loophole or a “rule-bending” way to exploit the technology. If a gap or weakness in the protocol exists, the cunning athlete will find it immediately and take advantage.

You can see a common example of this by watching an athlete cheat a mat-based vertical jump. They swing their legs forward and land in a very deep squat, keeping their feet in the air as long as possible. When the protocol is “Jump up as high as you can,” this seems like a logical way to be in the air as long as possible. By stating rules and criterion more definitively, it helps to eliminate these issues but can drastically alter the cheaters’ jump heights. If the coach/test administrator is not diligent in policing the test, athletes will find a way.

Along the same lines, the testing protocol must have meaning to the athletes and it must be replicable. Be firm in your standards but explain the underlying purpose of the test. When they understand what the test is truly looking to display, many athletes will give a valid effort rather than try to cheat for a higher score. It’s also easy to replicate a test once it has a standardized format and meaning for the athlete. Based on the research on familiarization with medicine balls, some movements may take more than a few reps to be considered valid. So practicing and repeating the efforts stringently will improve the validity and efficacy of the test.

 

Honest Error Correction

After considering the ways athletes “cheat” the system, let’s look at the common honest mistakes and errors. We find that, as in standard strength training, most errors start at the setup. We all know it would be very difficult to squat your max weight if you started with your feet all out of whack. This is the same for testing protocols, including medicine ball tests. How an athlete is set up at the start will dictate what happens when the movement begins. Instead of waiting for a catastrophe, spend some time and energy creating a repeatable and optimal starting position for the athlete and give them a fighting chance.

Most athletes, if given the right circumstances, will do the best they can and not cheat, as the movements don’t have much room for error. If you spot a strange motion, explain the fault and repeat the test. Sometimes a video camera alone will keep athletes from attempting a conscious mistake, but showing a clip afterward is priceless when errors cannot be rectified by verbal explanation.

Spending the time it takes to refine your testing protocol is worth it, says @ShaneDavs. Share on X

Finding your own concrete protocol will take some time but it removes so much of the havoc on test day. Your protocol and verbal cues could simply be camouflage for your cheating prevention or they could ensure a great starting position for replication purposes. Either way, spending the time it takes to refine your protocol is worth it. For a few ideas on procedures, here is a return to play article written about five years ago that shared and outlined some solid points on medicine ball tests.

A Few Points to Consider

After giving some thought to your protocol and to what you are trying to accomplish by testing—and for that matter, training with medicine balls—you should consider a few points. First, medicine ball throws are not specific to sport. They are as specific to pitching, hitting, and throwing as squatting is to jumping. They are tools and can help the general abilities that improve the sport skill.

Take the baseball swing, for example. Part of the setup and movement strategies associated with hitting a baseball involve timing, reading, and decision-making. It is not just output, as the medicine ball throw is; it also involves a significant amount of input and processing. So throwing a medicine ball does not, and arguably should not, mimic your sport skill exactly. It is a general strength or power tool that only helps the output part of the equation.

Similar to the swing is the throw or pitch. Handball and baseball throwing involve accuracy. Now, it’s nice to have a little bit of direction when throwing a med ball, however, the outcome or result doesn’t fully rely on the thrower’s ability to hit a target. A handball study on throwing velocity showed precision was unaffected while power improved. So a non-specific throw can still benefit a sport skill. To me, this means don’t overcoach the MB movement like it’s the sport skill. The repetition and effort that comes with throwing for numbers (testing with the MB) alone will benefit the velocity and power of the sport skill.

Lastly, I encourage you to rely less on normative or comparative data and look more closely at an individual’s progress. Why wouldn’t the normative data be important? Technical differences will play a role in the velocity. A stronger and more powerful athlete might throw a medicine ball farther than a weaker counterpart, but the velocities may not line up. Although my last points were about not worrying about making the med ball throw a sport skill, the mechanics and refinement of the throw can play a role in some of the data you’ll see.

What Is Rotation? What Do You Look for? How Do You Test It Properly?

At times, body rotation is confusing; while most coaches understand that torso rotation would require the hips to remain locked, the end goal is something entirely different. What we want is a rotation of the hips and shoulders, somewhat in unison, to generate as much force, power, and velocity as possible. A factor to take note of is that hip power from the extremities usually transfers through the spine, rather than the spine doing all the work alone. Generating power from the legs and transferring it to the arms (and torso) is typical of almost all sporting movements (regarding rotational power). Although the spine dissipates and recycles energy very well, most of that ability comes from Mother Nature, not being good at core exercises.

Something else to consider is the fine line between seeking out useless spine mobility and moving safely. Obviously, adequate movement is important for joint health, but efforts placed on increasing range of motion of the trunk may not help performance, according to some research. The argument was that a limited range of motion at certain joints can aid in velocity when transferring force from the lower to the upper extremities. Coaches value core training because they want to protect the spine, but they also know that mid-section strength is vital when transferring forces.

Rotational throws tend to be the sloppiest med ball movements, which is risky and hard to test well, says @ShaneDavs. Share on X

Why is this all important? Simple. The value of rotational power needs to be put into a healthy perspective because rotational throws tend to be the sloppiest of the medicine ball movements. They can get ugly and lead to poor control and coordination. Without knowing the true prerequisites of good-looking rotation, or at least what you’re actually testing, there tends to be a slippery slope of bad mechanics, which is both risky and hard to test well.

Categories and Subtleties When Throwing

I would argue that there are a few categories to consider when discussing throwing and what tests you’ll use. First, you have to decide whether you want to test static, dynamic, or both. Then, whether you want to allow stepping, test in-place, or both. We use all variations because we can gain valuable information from each. In the descriptions of the movements below, I explain how and why you should use the variations in your protocols.

How to Test Rotational Power with Side Throws

Rotational throws tend to be either a punching action or a sweeping/scoop action. The punching action keeps the ball closer to the body and relies slightly more on the upper body, whereas the sweeping action extends the arms out away from the body, similar to a hammer throw, and usually involves a little more lower body, as in track and field events. Both movements incorporate rotation, but are far different in regard to interference with repeatability and technique.

We tend to see better quality of data with repeatability with shotput-like action, but for athletes with poor upper body strength, a sweeping action with arms straight works well. The shot version also keeps the ball from spinning too much. Often, when using the long arm sweeping version, the athlete spins the ball intentionally, which overinflates the data a bit.

Coaching Tip: I find that the shotput/punch-style throw works better with a lead step, as it allows the tester to “be an athlete.”

Video 1. The “punch” version of rotation may be more repeatable as the motion is less susceptible to body English. Comparing both the traditional rotational throw and the punch/push style may be an interesting assessment for some coaches.

Although I prefer stepping with the “punch” version of the rotational throw, I like both stepping and locked in-place throws with the long arm, scoop style. By keeping the stance “stiff,” you get more standard and reliable data. It’s fine to allow leg drive, but make sure the movement has parameters that are sensible, meaning the body shift is minimal and the leg motion is repeatable.

A seasoned athlete should be able to find a comfortable and effective stance by themselves, but a less-experienced one might need help determining this position. As a coach, you can use a symmetrical base stance or staggered depending on what you’re looking for. Experiment and come to some conclusion as to what you want to train and test and go from there. You can choose to make the stance specific or use something general so comparisons are wider; either way, have a plan for what to do later if you wish to compare different athletes.

Coaching Tip: Cueing the athlete to “throw up, slightly” will keep their ball path straighter and help to eliminate too much lateral movement.

Video 2. The traditional rotational throw uses arms that are parallel and has a longer motion. Some coaches use a countermovement, while some prefer a strict rotation starting from a still position.

How to Test Upper Body Power with a Chest Throw

Chest throws with two hands are simply underrated. I am a big fan of lower body testing, but feel that one rep maximum testing in the upper body is great for some sports and athletes, and unnecessary for others. Youth, novice, and poorly trained athletes who need to be assessed were once limited to push-up and pull-up tests. If you’ve trained any of those populations, you’ll understand that those can be just as hard as a max bench press.

Chest passes with medicine balls were great to keep athletes elastic, but as an upper body test they weren’t exciting. The Ballistic Ball has made that a moot point. They work great to complement your upper body testing or to replace it, as in the aforementioned populations.

In certain situations, a med ball chest pass could replace the bench press for testing purposes, says @ShaneDavs. Share on X

Before you lose your mind thinking I am in favor of dumping the bench press, I am not. In terms of logistics, push-ups and bench pressing can be very time-consuming and coaching-intensive. If you work with large groups and have limited time, a chest pass could be a convenient and effective replacement. I am not, however, arguing that medicine ball throwing should replace your upper body training! But as a test, it could give you some reliable and easy measurements to allow you to spend more time training than testing.

Coaching Tip: By having an athlete sit (on a box/bench) or half-kneel (pictured in video), you can eliminate most of the lower body involvement and address the upper body test as such.

Video 3. Anyone can do a good half-kneel or seated throw and it requires very few repetitions to get familiar with it. In addition to their simplicity, chest throws are fairly safe.

As pictured above, chest throws test and train well from kneeling or sitting positions and can also be done in a variety of stances to address specificity in certain populations. Another popular position, and one that eliminates all of the lower body, is the supine chest throw. By lying on your back, you can ensure there will be almost none of the data inconsistencies that come with standing variations.

Whatever variation you prefer, the chest throws are the most reliable because the ball is pushed with a very simple motion. The load and size of the ball are also great for athletes, and using a heavier ball removes many of the “micro accelerations” that come with light implements being thrown at very high velocities. Balls above 12 pounds reduce the “noise” and produce cleaner data in general.

Coaching Tip: Having a partner is important for safety purposes, but can also be utilized to add a greater eccentric “drop” when testing or training dynamic supine throws. Just don’t catch your own throw!

Video 4. Supine chest throws eliminate all lower body involvement and do a good job mimicking the bench press if that’s what you are replacing.

How to Test Total Body Power with Overhead Back Throws

My personal favorite throw is one everyone will likely love: maximum effort throws overhead. Throwing medicine balls forward (chest pass or overhead like a soccer throw-in) is common, especially with rehabilitation programs, but a true overhead back throw is a total body movement that starts with the legs. The main reason I love the throw is for the added coordinative demand it requires. If you want to see athleticism—look no further.

While testing or competing for distance is fun and exciting, the data collection is near impossible without a lot of trained eyes and space. With the ability to test velocity, you just need some high ceilings or open space and you’re good to go. As I’ve already discussed, velocity really adds a luxury and new look to the other two test categories, but with the overhead throws, recording speed is indispensable.

I especially like this test because of the simplicity in its directions and rules. Hold the ball, squat down, and throw as hard as you can. Of course, coordination and practice will help advance the test numbers slightly, but most of the improvements will come in the form of pure capacity and power.

Although simple in concept, I must warn coaches about an inconvenient part of complex movements. You must factor in movement variability and speed readings when interpreting the tests. In the past, nearly all of the data collected was with distance, a measure that requires a lot of skill by the athlete to be valid and useful for coaches. Different sports will perform uniquely with medicine ball overhead back throws compared to other exercises, so look at all of the tests before drawing conclusions. Poor launch angles would sabotage an otherwise great throw with regard to distance.

Throwing for distance is fine, but remember that you may see athletes not match up perfectly when ranked for velocity and distance separately. By replacing distance with velocity, we get a more efficient and convenient method of data collection and a rawer value as a whole. At Exceed, we like having skills to ensure that athleticism is not lost, but reliability and validity are important when testing. Like back squat tests or even jump tests, standardizing the tests requires an athlete to follow directions and not cheat.

The countermovement version is a great way to see an athlete move unrestricted. Some sports or positions would benefit from training or testing from a static position, but as an overall testing method, we prefer the countermovement approach. Fewer regulations and allowing the athlete to find their best practice will ensure that the improvements you see come from training adaptations, not testing familiarization.

Coaching Tip: Every coach loves “triple extension,” but how about quintuple extension? The vertical throw involves extension of the ankles, knees, hips, spine, and arms. Cue the athlete to throw slightly backwards for best effort. This will typically result in tremendous full body extension without the awkward back bending some athletes do when searching for distance.

Video 5. Throwing a medicine ball up explosively is another great way to see how an athlete moves. I love to follow an athlete’s ability to throw a medicine ball fast over their career.

Transfer and Capacity with Medicine Balls

With any weight room or field training drill, the transfer to sports performance is a difficult quality to prove for several reasons. The first problem with transfer is that most training programs include multiple variables, so teasing out one factor isn’t truly possible. Most training that is highly specific transfers well because the modality is within the same “species” as the sporting action. Transfer is important because coaches want exercises that have a high probability of making athletes better on the field, but sometimes capacity is just as valuable.

Transfer is important, but sometimes capacity is just as valuable, says @ShaneDavs. Share on X

Capacity encourages transfer because fatigue, general strength qualities, and power are needed to keep athletes durable and resilient. Capacity is also more plastic, and can be shaped by additional specific training to assist with transfer, so the two training qualities are far from mutually exclusive. The best example is squatting heavy: While it may not guarantee that an athlete runs fast, having that capacity does show to benefit with injury rates and the ability to tolerate other training elements that may transfer nicely to sports performance.

Although I believe medicine balls help to express power better than they develop it, I don’t want coaches to dismiss medicine balls as less-effective tools. Specific sprinting and jumping are direct paths to sport and weightlifting or powerlifting can be more effective for power development, but the medicine balls are specific enough to maintain a quality during the offseason. They won’t replace your sport training or your barbell work, but they are great additions and you can include them in testing protocols to make everyone’s training better and more candid. Overall, medicine ball training is timeless and I’ve yet to see someone’s performance drop because of the equipment.

‘Throwing’ a Few Ideas Around

After reading this article, you should be more than confident that testing with medicine balls is worth the investment, but here are a couple of reasons why I love testing throws. Athletes need to get out of their comfort zone with their sport and appreciate general skills and general training. Medicine balls are wonderful equalizers because they are the perfect middle ground that all athletes can find reasonable success in.

Testing with med balls is safe and effective—you can jump right in after training with them, says @ShaneDavs. Share on X

In addition to positive feedback from honest training, ballistic throwing is popular with team coaches, making medicine balls excellent discussion points to other training needs that are not as well valued in coaches’ minds. Testing with medicine balls is safe and effective, and coaches should jump right in after a few weeks of training with them.

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 are reading this, chances are you are already familiar with the concept of microdosing from many of Tony Holler’s articles at the Track Football Consortium or here on SimpliFaster. We have seen this concept applied to short sprints with three to four fly 10s. We’ve also seen this applied to speed endurance work, with minimal reps and longer rest periods in between the longer distances that are covered. We’ve even seen it applied to practice theory and having a minimal amount of practices during a week period, taking into account some extreme cases with as few as one practice a week (which I have gotten away with on several occasions).

I think the success that coaches have had using this technique in a high school setting has been pretty well documented (we are anxiously waiting for someone in the college or pro levels to apply it to see what kind of results they get). But how can you take this concept off the track and apply it to other settings, like the weight room? Come with me down this rabbit hole, as I have discovered a couple of unique and powerful tools to support this method.

We are waiting to see the results of someone who applies #microdosing at the college or pro levels, says @korfist. Share on X

In the weight room, one concern I have is that a lot of what we do may or may not have an impact on sprinting, because we move the bar so slow and, in some fashion, not at all like we would move when we run. There is also a lack of timing, as well as a question of the role of slack or lack thereof in dealing with a bar on our shoulders. In trying address these thoughts, I back-doored my way into finding the first tool I want to discuss, the Exogen suit. I had an idea for overspeed training where—if I could weigh down a limb with a small amount of weight and pull the athlete at maximal speeds—I could force the muscle to contract faster with that little bit of weight and strengthen the muscle at speed. It would certainly be a change in environment.

I had heard that Henk Kraaijenhof was experimenting with something like this with an athlete he trains, so I emailed him and asked for details on what he had going on. All he responded with was a picture of an athlete wearing what looked like a Venom costume. It was some form of neoprene tights, with discs stuck to the suit. He is usually good at leaving me hanging and letting me do a little work for myself. And I knew if Henk was using it, it had to be good—otherwise, he wouldn’t waste his time.

Movement at Speed

With a little digging and research, I found out that the equipment in the picture was the Exogen suit, made by the movement technology company LILA. The concept behind it is that, in order to truly strengthen a movement, you have to execute that movement at the appropriate speed. As previously mentioned, the speed and movements performed in the weight room may not always have the most beneficial effect. On the other hand, if you weight the limb either with weight or speed, you can injure your athlete. (Think 5-pound ankle weights, which do not always have the greatest benefit.)

The Exogen suit utilizes weight by the gram. It is a compression-type suit made of Exoprene™, and you stick the 200-300g weights to the suit with Velcro. The weights are teardrop-shaped, so the heavier part can go closer to the joint and make it weigh even less.

The experience of running while wearing the Exogen suit is actually quite amazing, because nothing moves when you have it on: You don’t feel the weights moving with momentum. It is a pure movement feel, unlike ankle weights or even the Kolka Thigh trainers (who remembers those from the early 2000s?).

So, as I usually do, I bought a bunch of the stuff to try it out on myself and on some test-case athletes. I always try new products and methods out on myself before I let my athletes take a shot. Strangely enough (for me), instead of doing the most difficult/extreme exercises first, I actually followed the instructions, and man am I glad I did.

The progression is to start with the calf sleeves first to train better hamstring function. I put on my calf sleeves with 200 grams and went through the normal warm-up my sprinters would do—some booms, lateral chain, and mini hurdles. I could feel something, but not enough to change my timing. When I took the sleeves off, I felt like I was flying. A day later, I really didn’t feel any soreness from the exercise. But that night, while I was walking my dogs, it kicked in: DOMS hit my hamstrings hard.

It took about a week for the soreness to dissipate. Next, I had to try the sleeves with my athletes. A quick caveat: I did not time any improvements. When we started the project, it was 80 degrees out. When we finished the cycle, it was in the 40s and 50s. No one runs fast in cold temperatures.

Did the athletes have a noticeable change? Yes, for some reason, their turnover improved, noticeably. They all felt like they were flying. Stride length looked the same, if not better.

So I tried it out with my Girls Lacrosse team, which included five Division 1 athletes who have been with me for three years. Due to weather and space limitations, we timed Freelap 40s in different locations for pre and post. Pre was an outdoor track in 90-degree weather, and post was indoor in a crowded fieldhouse. But we saw some substantial time drops from the girls who wore the suit versus those who did not. I have seen enough to warrant buying more calf sleeves.

Microdosing with the #Exogen suit strengthens movements at the proper speed and recruitment, says @korfist. Share on X

In my mind, the Exogen suit supports the concept of microdosing by applying very small amounts of weight to strengthen our bodies instead of big, heavy weights. For example, instead of doing glute-ham raises with a plate or rubber band, we used the 200g of weight behind our calf to strengthen our hamstrings. While heavy weight room work is not quite the movements we use in sport and may change recruitment patterns and recovery times, microdosing with the suit strengthens movements at the proper speed and recruitment.

Occlusion Training

In pursuit of more microdosing-based methods, the next pieces of equipment I tried were the B Strong blood flow restriction training cuffs. Cal Dietz raved about these in his workouts. Remember, his idea—which I agree with—is that no change happens in a session unless you trigger a hormonal response or change the tissue.

The B Strong cuffs limit the flow of blood, which causes fatigue when exercising with light weights. The fatigue sends a message to the brain to help more by sending growth hormone to the receptors, which will result in stronger muscles without using heavy weights. And because the weights are light, there is no poor form or the compensatory recruitment patterns that often come with poor form. Better yet, there is little muscle damage from using the lighter weights, so recovery times will be lessened.

One aspect that excites me about the potential of the B Strong cuffs is an idea that Cal and I share: the concept that restricting blood flow will also force the fast twitch muscle fibers to fire more. There is no oxygen to supply the slow twitch muscles, and that will force the body to use fast twitch muscle fibers or maybe even help the conversion of slow twitch to fast twitch.

Additionally, a fight that I lose every year is the idea that an off day is an off day during track season. My athletes find a way to get back into the weight room to do their upper body work (mostly above and beyond what I suggest; therefore, throwing off future workouts due to the lack of recovery from actual beneficial work). The cuffs could serve as a meeting in the middle: The athletes can now do all of their bodybuilding work using the cuffs, without the same muscle/system damage caused by the “curls for the girls/suns out, guns out” workouts.

As with the Exogen suit, I had to try it myself. I had tested another cuff in Venice Beach, when teaching RPR at OsteoStrong. I liked it, but I went with the B Strong cuffs. For fear of another weeklong soreness, I followed the advice of Sean Whalen and did not go all-out on my first try with everything on and crank it to 11. I started with just the arms and did 5-pound curls and triceps extensions for 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off for 10 minutes. I was tired at the end and my arms felt full, like I had a really good pump.

The next day I did body weight squats with the same intervals. The following day, I could feel I had worked out: My muscle tissue was sore, but not the typical sore. It was a better sore, if that makes sense. But most importantly, my elbow did not feel wrecked. My elbow takes a beating from all of the RPRI do and it prevents me from doing any arm exercises. I even had to get rid of my favorite—chins.

The next day, my elbow actually felt better. So, for a 50-year-old who likes to beat up his body, this may be a great alternative. For my athletes, we will see when track starts. From a running standpoint, and no indoor track, we could do high knees for time and possibly elicit the same response as a longer run. Outdoors, I am thinking of doing 23-second runs with the leg cuffs.

It seems sensible to investigate the possibility of #microdosing with the support of new technology, says @korfist. Share on X

With less weight and more specific recruitment with regards to speed, microdosing with the support of new technologies seems to be a sensible path to further investigate, especially if we can stimulate a change in muscle type (fast twitch) or muscle chemistry (growth hormone).

I’ll share more at TFC-Chicago in December. My topic will be microdosing in the weight room, and we will investigate these ideas as well as some others during the session.

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

Do you ever have those days when you don’t want to work out? I do, and the older I get, the more often I feel that way. Usually, though, I end up working out anyway. Sure, the session with the foam roller is about 10 minutes longer than normal, and my warm-up seems like it takes longer than the actual workout. But there is still a lift to do, and just because I don’t feel like doing it that day doesn’t change the fact that I need to get it done. The more I think about it, if I only worked out on the days that I really felt like it… well, I’d look and feel a whole lot worse than I do now.

Does that mean that those workouts are perfect? Of course not—but I get them done anyway. Working with mostly college-aged athletes, I always laugh when they tell me they can’t work out because they don’t feel like it today. Really? I have been lifting at least five days a week for almost 30 years, played five years of college football, and have been competing at powerlifting, strongman, and weightlifting for over a decade (which has taken a toll on my knees and back).

For me, there is the added stress of working 50 or more hours a week at my full-time job and another 20 hours on my business, writing books and articles, plus living on and managing a 40-acre farm… all of which can suck the motivation from anyone. Oh yeah, and I am also the proud papa of a wonderful 2 ½ year old who runs nonstop. All this, and my athletes are the ones telling me that they don’t feel like lifting? Right. I so badly want to tell these 18- to 22-year-olds to trade lives with me for a day and see how much they feel like training.

But, of course, I don’t. As a professional strength coach, my calling is to help people become better versions of themselves. This means that when I am given an opportunity, there’s going to be a lesson taught so these younger athletes can learn from my experiences. Remembering back to what I was like at that age, I can’t blame these athletes for not understanding how narrow their view really is, or having strategies to grind through things they don’t particularly want to do.

Think about it for a second: When you were at that magic college age, didn’t you feel relatively good all the time? I know I sure did. That is the time when your body produces your own personal cocktail of gonadal steroids and adrenal androgen agents. It’s as simple as this: When people are in this primed training environment, they can recover, grow muscle, and lean out faster than at any other point in their adult life.

At that age, what were the major stresses in your life? Mine sure weren’t my job, mortgage, children, or the health concerns of family members. They were getting a date, figuring out how to afford the newest video game, and getting my homework done on time. As I said, this is the age when you should be mentally and physically feeling good most of the time.

When you constantly feel good, it makes everything easier, especially training. You can walk into the gym at 6:00 a.m. or 7:00 p.m., after a night out or not, and still salvage a decent workout. Unfortunately, the day comes where you walk into the gym and you just don’t “feel” quite right. Your knees might ache from yesterday’s squat session. Maybe you slept on the couch last night and your lower back hurts. Or maybe you got dumped by your longtime girlfriend or boyfriend.

The scenarios are endless, but ultimately there is one decision to make. Are you going to work out today? Over the years, I’ve heard two very different ways people ask that question. Some ask, “Do I feel like lifting today?” while others wonder, “So, should I lift today?”

How Changing the Wording Changes the Question

At the heart of both questions is a simple choice to make about whether or not to lift. But changing the way you phrase the question also changes the process of how you reach your answer. Asking if you feel like doing something involves the most primitive area of the brain’s limbic system.

This region oversees the most basic of bodily functions, like controlling your heart rate and breathing, governing primal instincts such as being hungry or finding people attractive, and making decisions that either give you pleasure or avoid pain.

Asking if you feel like doing vs. should do something involves different parts of the brain, says @CarmenPata. Share on X

Asking if you should do something, on the other hand, involves a different and more evolved part of the brain: the cerebral cortex. This part of the brain surrounds the limbic region and is responsible for what you’re doing right now—communication, conscious thought, and information processing would not be possible without a fully functioning cerebral cortex.

The cerebral cortex’s relationship to the limbic region is both figuratively and factually significant, since the cerebral cortex is the higher power in regard to your brain. It can override the primal urges for immediate gratification or for running away from possible pain. In our case, if the cortex has a specific process or plan, then it can overrule how you feel that day and decide to move some weight or not, as long as there is a framework set up to engage the cerebral cortex and its reasoning process.

Goal-Based Decision-Making

Your training goals for the day, either hypertrophy or performance, will determine what sort of questions you need to ask. When you train for hypertrophy, the goal is to have specific muscles grow in size by varying the combination of reps, rest, or weight, which overloads and fatigues the muscle. The classic hypertrophy training idea is four or more sets with 8-12 reps per set, all done with 90 seconds or less between sets. Weight or resistance is adjusted, so if you cannot get eight reps you take some weight off the bar, and if you get more than 12 reps you add more weight to the bar.

Workouts like this cause a fatigued state in the localized musculature for two main reasons:

• First, the primary muscles involved have a significant decrease in the carbohydrates stored (muscle glycogen).
• Second, the chemical that provides energy for muscle contractions (phosphocreatine) is used up.

The bad news is that because you are fatigued, you won’t be as strong when you finish with the workout until your body has a chance to recover. The good news is that skeletal muscle is really good at recovering and replenishing both muscle glycogen and phosphocreatine, meaning you can recover from hypertrophy workouts relatively fast. You might be really, really sore for a few days, but from the view of an exercise scientist, your muscle glycogen and phosphocreatine will be back to their pre-exercise levels in hours—which technically means that you are recovered.

Your training goals for the day—#hypertrophy or performance—determine the questions you need to ask, says @CarmenPata. Share on X

In other words, you don’t feel like lifting. You’re sore and beat up, with another high-volume leg day in front of you. It would sure be nice to have some objective way to see if you are really not ready to lift, or are simply feeling sorry for yourself.

You’re in luck—I have one and it’s the secret I’ve shared with the athletes I work out with. Believe it or not, most of it is just a simple checklist. For the people who train solely for hypertrophy, deciding whether or not to lift is sort of easy because of these factors. Here is the checklist I use with people to see if they are ready to have a high-volume hypertrophy workout.

For me, the five yes/no questions in the checklist determine whether someone is ready for a hypertrophy-type workout. Let me explain my rationale. Resting morning heart rate is a good indicator of recovery and overall body stress levels as long as it’s done the same way every day. Here is my personal morning routine and what I suggest to others:

1. Wake up.
2. Go to the bathroom.
3. Drink a glass of water.
4. Sit down for at least 10 minutes in a quiet spot and think about the things you’re grateful for and what makes you happy.
5. Use the app Instant Heart Rate on your smartphone to take your heart rate. Write it down, or use a program like Google Sheets to keep your records and get your average.

Working with mostly college-age athletes, I know that it is not the duration but the start or onset time of sleep that is a good indicator of sleep quality. That’s why I ask if they went to bed before midnight. Checking if people had something to eat for breakfast should give an indication of whether their muscles have been primed with some carbohydrates before working out. In my mind, getting something to eat—even if it’s a Pop-Tart—is still better than nothing.

Hydration status is represented with the urination question, and though it makes some people giggle, it is a down-and-dirty (pun intended) way to figure out if people are getting enough water. Finally, you have to account for the social, emotional, and intellectual stress that people are experiencing, which is the reason for the question revolving around people’s feelings.

To proceed with your normal lift, you must score at least three of five checks in the “Yes” column. If there are more checks in the “No” column, I give people an alternate workout. I let them pick what exercise or exercises to do, but they have to follow these guidelines.

• Med balls or kettlebells only.
• No more than 4 total sets.
• No more than 10 reps.

It’s a really low volume (<40 reps) workout compared to what they would typically get (32-48 reps per exercise), but that’s the point. Their alternate workout is a de-load. They are in the gym, getting some work in, and setting themselves up for a great workout tomorrow.

Performance Training and the Autonomic Nervous System

I mentioned that most of the people I work with are college athletes, and for this population, becoming faster and better at their sport is the goal of training—any hypertrophy that happens is a by-product of training. With that in mind, the question of “should I lift?” changes from determining if they are physically ready to grow to instead determining whether they are ready to be as fast or powerful as they can be. Again, you have to make sure the body is ready, but if you look to the muscles for this answer, you’re starting at the wrong place: You have to go much deeper than the muscles.

You must look deeper than the muscles to determine whether the body is ready to lift, says @CarmenPata. Share on X

When your body is not under stress, it functions in a state referred to as the “rest and digest” or parasympathetic state. From an evolutionary viewpoint, when you are in this parasympathetic state, your body is getting ready for the next time you have to run or fight to escape from a dangerous situation. Like the name suggests, this is when the body can repair itself: digesting food, canceling out stress hormones like cortisol or adrenaline, and conserving energy with a lower heart rate. When you are in this state, it is easier to think and do work that requires a steady hand.

The counterpart to the parasympathetic state, “fight or flight,” is how the body functions under stress. When you are in the fight or flight—or sympathetic—state, you are experiencing all the benefits and drawbacks of having your body primed for physical activity. Your heart rate and breathing increase, sending more blood and oxygen to your extremities and getting ready for activity. Stimulants like epinephrine are released into your body, causing your pupils to dilate so you can see more of the world. Adrenal glands begin to secrete the hormone adrenaline so you have a boost of energy if you need it.

Being in this primed physical state for activity comes at a cost. Non-essential systems, like digestion, are nearly shut down to provide blood and energy to the rest of the body. Your ability to process complex ideas or your fine motor skills are greatly impaired as well. Think of it like this: If a lion is chasing you for lunch, do you need your digestive system to process your breakfast, or do you want as much extra energy as possible to help keep you running fast until there is someone else between you and the lion? Once you’ve survived the lion attack, then you can rest and your body will have time to finish digesting your breakfast. Make sense?

Thankfully, we don’t have to run from predators in our daily life anymore, but our bodies haven’t figured that out and still respond the same when we feel any sort of stress. Physical, emotional, and psychological stress, as well as stress from trauma, all trigger the same response from our bodies. This wouldn’t be an issue if there was enough time to rest and recover from each stress event, but that isn’t the way modern life works.

We have rush hour delays and congested traffic. We stay up later, sleep less, and are exposed to more varieties of stress than our ancestors could even dream of. When you are constantly exposed to all of these stressors and are not given enough time to let your body get back to its rest and digest state, how do you know when you are ready to train to be fast or powerful?

Simple. You check your nerves. As you’ve read, when you are exposed to a stressor, you shift to a primed physical state, which is what you want for training. But if you remain in this stressed state for too long, your nerves become overloaded and it takes more time to signal your muscles to contract. What all of this means is that, although your muscles are full of muscle glycogen and phosphocreatine, you will still train like you are weak and slow. To keep this in check, I have athletes use this version of the readiness questionnaire, which has two very important additions.

The big changes are in questions 7 and 8. When athletes are scheduled to execute workouts that demand they be near their absolute best and fastest, we have them get a baseline reading of their nervous system.

Most people like using an app on their phone called SpeedTapping, which has a rectangle that you have to tap as many times as possible in 30 seconds. The other option is to use a Just Jump pad and get a countermovement jump score. Either way, their test gives my staff and the athlete a glimpse of how their nervous system is functioning. After their warm-up, but before the athletes begin their lift, they re-test. If their score is higher than their baseline, which it should be, then they continue their lift as normal.

Every once in a while, their post-test is actually lower than their baseline. Think about it for a second: They perform worse after warming up than they did before warming up. Besides violating every training theory about an active warm-up improving total body function, this drop in performance tells me their nerves are not functioning at their normal levels and the athlete is in no way capable of training at a high level that day.

However, instead of letting them walk out the door, I have the athletes do a recovery-style workout, with 20-30 minutes performing a very low heart rate (<110 beats per minute) activity like walking, biking, rowing, or swimming. This is followed by 10 minutes with a foam roller and a good stretching or yoga session, and then they can call it good for the day. I’ve found that performing these easy, recovery-type workouts usually does the trick, and the following day their taps or jumps are back to normal.

From Readiness to Results

So, what does all of this mean? Whatever the goals of your workout session—becoming as big as a mountain or setting a new personal record—it’s about getting results. When you go to the gym, you should figure out what will be the greatest return on your time, effort, and sweat. Deep down, the root of the problem is that our brains just don’t want us to do more than what we need for our body to survive, let alone put itself in a fatigued state from working out.

Therefore, you have to make a choice. In that moment of choice, we truly become the paragon of all life on the planet, because human beings are the only ones that have that ability. Choosing what to do with our potential is the privilege and the price we pay as human beings. After all, a tree can only be a tree, but it will always grow as tall as it can. A cheetah can only be a cheetah, but it will always run as fast as it can. You and I are different, though. We can not only decide how much of our potential we will use, but we can also decide what we will remake ourselves into.

While we have this power and choice over what we will do, at some point everyone’s motivation wanes, and the temptation to skip a workout begins to creep up on us. Having a plan (or in this case, a checklist) to see if you are really ready for a training session, rather than listening to your feelings tell you “not today,” is a powerful tool. Think of it this way: Your feelings are just information, they are not instructions. Just because you don’t feel like it on a given day, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t lift, but that you need to take a closer look to see if you are ready to lift.

A plan that determines your #readiness to train is a powerful tool that can override your feelings, says @CarmenPata. Share on X

If all the signs are yes, except for your feelings, then at any point you can override what you are feeling, which is something you already do many times each day. I get it—going into a heavy deadlift workout is not the same as holding back your inner Hulk and not smashing the printer when it has a paper jam. But, then again, it sort of is. You are making a choice to ignore your primal feelings and instead listen to your rational thoughts.

If you are anything like me, sometimes you just need someone or something to come along and push you out of the funk of feeling sorry for yourself because you don’t feel like lifting. In that case, think of these readiness surveys like your own personal Hans and Franz: They’re “here to pump you up!,” making sure that at the end of the workout you are one step closer to the person you want to be.

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. “Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014”. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436. [CC BY 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons.