Blog

In the world of basketball, we work with quite a few athletes who are well above average height. It is not uncommon for collegiate or professional basketball organizations to have rosters of players with an average height of 6’5”, or 6’ for the league that I work in. That’s a great trait to have for the sport and allows those athletes to do some remarkable things on the court. However, although having great height and length can be advantageous, it can also wreak havoc on movement patterns that vertically challenged individuals like myself take for granted. And when movement problems arise, so does the potential for an increased risk of injury.

Getting off the Ground Is a Cornerstone to Sports

Most of what we talk about in the realm of strength and conditioning relates to developing better athletes. Well, most of the players I see are already pretty good athletes. They’re fast, they can jump high, and they’re highly skilled. That’s why they’ve made it to the professional ranks.

What I don’t have are very good humans (in a movement sense). I attribute most of that to the culture of training in the sport. The sport of basketball is notorious for early specialization and countless hours spent on the court for skill work, all year long, with very little energy and effort put towards developing general movements and physical attributes.

When #movement problems arise, so does the potential for an increased risk of injury, says @chaser_strength. Share on X

Getting up off the ground, squatting or kneeling to pick something up, hinging into a good “athletic stance,” or gracefully falling back down to the ground are all actions that a lot of taller humans struggle with, and rightfully so. Having a frame that size makes movement, especially in deep ranges of motion, quite difficult if that frame has never been in those ranges. To that point, very little of what I do is geared towards building better athletes, but instead to building better human movers. Consequently, a nice side effect of being a better human mover is becoming an even better athlete.

The goal of this article is to share some of the movement problems I see daily with my taller athletes and how I attempt to solve those problems by teaching foundational and fundamental human movements. I hope that you can utilize some of this information in your own practice if you see a similar need with your athletes or clients.

Why Schwarzenegger Knows Best

Arnold said it best: Get down!!! Learning how to get down and interact with the ground, with more than just our shoe-covered feet, is a crucial skill to becoming a better human being. As infants, we interact with the ground more than any other time in our lives, and we use it as the foundation upon which we layer our growth and development. The most amazing part about that entire process is that nobody instructs us how to roll over, sit up, or crawl. Or even if they do, we don’t comprehend it—we just do it!

We use the ground to help develop the neural connections and pathways that allow us to perform these movements. It’s amazing to think that this all happens at such a young age, and yet they are skills that most of us eventually unlearn. Once we progress to walking, we decide rolling and crawling are no longer useful and we leave behind the simplest of human movements.

If you don’t believe me, go watch a tall person try to move around on, or get up from, the ground. It’s very likely that it will appear difficult, and almost painful. There’s also a good chance that sometimes it IS painful. It’s one of the hardest things for me to watch my athletes do. The simple act of getting up from the ground—the most basic human movement if there ever was one—has become a physically taxing task for a lot of them. In a sport that is played in the clouds, these athletes have forgotten how to interact with the ground.

Video 1. Block Zero means that, before you start loading with extreme intensity, you need to make sure the athlete has maximized the necessary prerequisites of movement. Simple motions on the ground are excellent starting points for more demanding weight training.

So how do we fix this? We start with Block Zero. Block Zero is not a new concept for the strength and conditioning world. It usually consists of developing relative/internal strength by perfecting bodyweight movements before moving on to their loaded counterparts.

Basketball is played in the clouds, and athletes have forgotten how to interact with the ground, says @chaser_strength. Share on X

I take my Block Zero one step back from that. For us, Block Zero is about taking it back to the most basic of the basics. We start with a variety of ground-based locomotion strategies. After that, we progress to a variety of get-up strategies, learn how to fall safely, and then eventually proceed to bodyweight movements like the squat, hinge, lunge, etc.

Phase 1 of our Block Zero consists of rolls and crawls.

Video 2. All athletes, regardless of sport, can benefit from fluid control of their spines and legs. Squatting doesn’t need to be from the top down; rolling is a great way to teach movements from the ground up.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

At some point in a person’s athletic career, they are going to fall. Teaching athletes how to fall gracefully and not hit the ground like a sack of potatoes is a good way to help keep them healthy, which is our ultimate goal. It also helps them transition quickly and efficiently back to their feet. To fall safely, you must be able to roll smoothly once you hit the ground, and smooth rolling requires a flexed trunk.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Aren’t we supposed to keep a neutral spine at all times?! This may ruffle a few feathers, but I believe it’s important to not only be able to get in and out of flexion/extension with ease, but also to be able to brace and maintain under load in flexion/extension. Having the ability to get into a gross flexion pattern, maintain it, and absorb some type of load is a pretty important aspect of smooth and safe falling. So, before we get into our various rolls, we start by learning how to brace in flexion with hallow holds, hollow rocks, turtle rocks, and roly-polies. This all sounds like something you’d see in an elementary school P.E. class, but that’s the point!

Once we’ve mastered the braced flexion, the rolling begins. We start with back to belly/belly to back rolls (they’re harder than you might think), and then we transition to a forward and backward “gymnastic” style roll where the athlete rolls right over the top of their head. Then we finish with more of a “parkour” style of roll, which is like the gymnastics roll except that the roll happens over the shoulder and across a diagonal angle of the back.

Development of the skill of rolling may decrease the likelihood of an injury happening during a fall by enhancing proprioceptive coordination and improving the function of the vestibular system, which can lend itself to improvements in other areas of movement as well.

Video 3. Most athletes have exposure to forward rolls, but adding diagonal rolls is a good idea as well. Simple rolling is a lost ability, likely gone due to too much specialization.

Video 4. Backward rolling is just as valuable as forward rolling, and adding a few minutes during warmups or even warm-downs is a fine option. Remember that a backward roll is not just for falls, but an athlete can use it for basic self-care if done in the beginning of a training session. *It’s important to note that we practice these movements on a padded surface to ensure athlete safety as they learn.

Teaching and Instructing the Crawling Pattern

We’ve all heard the saying “You gotta crawl before you walk.” As cliché as it sounds, it’s true. Crawling is the foundational pattern that allowed us to progress to walking. It’s how we develop a gait cycle. Just like walking, crawling is an alternating reciprocal motion of the limbs created by coordinated firing of muscle groups in the legs, trunk, and arms.

Sometimes we forget how involved the arms and shoulders are in gait, but they are a crucial part of walking and running. When we crawl, we get our hands back on the ground and stimulate mechanoreceptors that reactively fire muscle groups throughout the body, rebuilding foundational strength of the shoulders, trunk, and hips, and improving inter- and intra-muscular coordination and reflexive joint stability.

Video 5. Static positions are starting points for a lot of athletes for good reason. Athletes are not babies, and crawling is a different loading stress. It needs to be tough in a mature fashion, not just sprinkled in a program.

I see a lot of basketball players with rough gait cycles, so my go-to fix is getting them back on the ground and learning to crawl. Back to the basics! We begin with holding the crawl position for time to establish a strong position. Our crawl position looks a little different than what you might have done back in middle school football practice. Our starting position begins with flat hands on the ground and the balls of our feet as our contact points. Making sure we have our wrists under the shoulders, our hips under the knees, and a neutral spine, we rise just enough to get our knees 2 inches off the ground.

Video 6. It’s easy to get carried away with crawls and overprescribe them in training. The key is to make athletes aware of the pattern and know when they are ready to move on.

Once we’ve mastered the static position, we then progress to forward-moving crawls, lateral crawls, and finally backward-moving crawls. One of our big focuses with crawling is gaining the ability to stabilize the trunk while we move through flexion/extension and abduction/adduction at the hips and shoulders. If we can create stiffness in the trunk, we can effectively transfer energy produced by the lower limbs to the rest of the body.

Rolling and crawling, and their respective progressions on the ground, make a nice segue into our next phase of Block Zero. Like everything else, they eventually tie together.

Get Up and Go!

If I asked you to think of someone who may have trouble getting up off the ground, you would probably think of an elderly person in a Life Alert commercial. But the reality is that there are people of all ages that have trouble with this basic human skill. That skill becomes increasingly difficult the taller and longer a person is. It’s a lot of body to move, and it isn’t easy if you don’t practice it on a consistent basis.
Athletes who have always been tall have difficulty getting down to the ground and back up again. Share on X

This is a problem I see every day. Athletes who have been tall their entire lives find it difficult to get down to the ground and back up again, so they do everything they can to be in that position as little as possible. When they do end up on the ground, they often reach a hand up for help back up. What?! You’re an athlete, so be an athlete and get back up on your own! This leads to a movement skill that isn’t available when it’s needed most—during a game.

Video 7. Less common movements are great to challenge athletes and see how they solve coordination puzzles. Athletes learn to be in deep positions safely by using the Shin Box Get-up.

We see it on the court all the time. An athlete hits the ground for whatever reason and doesn’t get a call. Play continues, and now our team is essentially playing four on five because so-and-so over there is going through a painstakingly slow progression back to their feet. That may seem like an exaggeration, but a lot happens in just a few seconds on a basketball court, and an athlete spending all that time on the ground doesn’t do us much good. We need athletes up off the ground and back into play as quickly as possible.

Video 8. You don’t need to load every movement to be a better athlete, and simplified Turkish get-up variations are great. A focus on getting off the ground with athletic motion is good for athletes learning to get outside their sport’s comfort zone.

To solve that problem, we transition into Phase 2 of Block Zero with our get-up variations. There are countless ways to get up off the ground from all different starting positions, but the few we begin with and focus on in this training block are from the lying prone, lying supine, and seated positions. We start with the lying prone position with push-up to crawl and push-up to lunge get-up, then finish with the push-up to squat get-up.

Next, we move to the lying supine position with the no-handed sit-up to shin box get-up variations, then to no-handed sit-up to crawl position get-up variations, and finish with our Turkish get-up progressions. Seated get-ups come next. This list could go on and on, so I’ll save you some reading time and attach a demonstration video with these progressions.

Video 9. Adding a sit-up motion is a natural progression of learning to get on your feet and moving. A big difference exists between a connected movement pattern and an isolated movement pattern done excessively.

Not only do get-up variations help us solve a movement problem that we encounter on the court, they also give us solutions for a host of other problems we see within our athletes’ bodies.

Need joint mobility? Get-ups force us to actively access joint ranges to get into proper positions. Need joint stability? Many get-ups are quasi-unilateral in nature, forcing us to stabilize a joint while we move through its ROM. Need “core” strength? Get-ups require dynamic and reflexive bracing of the trunk to complete the movement safely and successfully. My point is, get-up variations are a great bang-for-buck exercise that checks a lot of “needs” boxes for our athletes.

Big trees fall hard, but do they have to?

As stated earlier, all athletes will fall to the ground at some point in their career, and those that are in contact sports will fall a lot. Hell, I’ve even seen golfers fall after an awkward, off-balance shot. If you’ve never seen someone who isn’t good at falling tumble to the ground, stop reading and go search the internet. There is a pretty solid chance a lot of those videos will be of injuries, because that’s what happens when our athletes don’t learn how to fall properly. Obviously, not every un-athletic fall results in an injury, but as falling is a part of sports, I’d rather lower that risk as much as I can before something eventually does go wrong.

If you’ve seen bad falls, you’ve probably also seen great falls. The kind of fall that makes SportsCenter’s Top 10 the next morning because it was so graceful and athletic, which probably resulted in that athlete getting back into play and doing something awesome. It’s almost impossible to replicate a game-like scenario when it comes to falling because falls are usually unpredictable and completely unexpected. However, if we can teach an athlete to fall smoothly and gracefully from a variety of positions and situations, from external forces or on their own accord, then we can keep them healthy and get them back into play quicker when a real fall does occur.

Despite the lack of pads worn during a game, basketball is definitely a contact sport. Because of that fact, I want my athletes to be prepared for when they inevitably hit the (hardwood) floor. This part of the Block Zero doesn’t get its own phase, as we start to implement this pretty quickly into our warmups once we’ve learned how to brace in flexion. Because many of our roll and crawl positions are used in falling, we progress them together.

Not only can learning how to fall correctly make the real event safer, it may help us fall less, says @chaser_strength. Share on X

If we can learn to hit the ground in braced flexion, we can roll out of the fall and not only dissipate the impact forces across the entire body instead of absorbing them with the hip or shoulder, but also end up in a crawl position that is easier to stand from. So, once we’ve learned certain roll and crawl progressions, we string them together into a controlled fall variation. We start from a tall standing position each time. The athlete then descends to a squat or lunge position, and then into a backward, forward, lateral, or diagonal roll from there.

Not only can learning how to fall correctly make the real event safer, but it may also help us fall less. Learn how to fall, to fall less? That’s right! Maintaining balance is dependent on the information gathered by the brain from three peripheral sources: the eyes, muscles and joints, and vestibular organs. Signals are sent to the brain from sensory receptors located in each of these sources. With input from all three sources, the brain analyzes the information and integrates it with previously learned information. This previously learned information provides automatic movements based on repeated exposure to certain situations.

After the input is sorted through and integrated, impulses are then sent out to the muscles needed to control movement, stabilize and clear vision, and ultimately maintain balance. This is called motor output. These are important factors when it comes to practicing falls. If we can regularly expose an athlete to as many different falling scenarios as possible, then with previously learned information and increased function of our sensory input sources, they can better navigate the situation when it reoccurs.

Squat and hinge patterns: Movements first, then exercises

I won’t spend too much time on this section, as there are thousands of great articles on squat and hinge patterns, and their respective benefits as they relate to increased athletic performance and decreased risk of injury. You’d be hard-pressed to find a strength and conditioning department that doesn’t program at least one variation of a squat and hinge pattern with their athletes. However, it would also be fairly easy to find a department that doesn’t teach these patterns very well.

That statement is going to piss some people off, and that’s OK because it pisses me off that we have what seems like endless information on these movements, yet we still have sloppy patterns being thrown around all over social media. What’s worse is this idea within the world of basketball that players shouldn’t squat too deep or hinge too far because of how tall they are. Let’s pause here while we think about the absurdity of that statement…OK, moving on.

Let me preface the following information by stating that this is not the case throughout the entire industry. There is a group of strength coaches who understand the need for these movements with the taller populations and, more importantly, know how to solve the movement problems and teach correct patterns. Kudos to those coaches that see height and length as a unique opportunity and challenge, and not an excuse to throw basic patterns out the door simply because they don’t know how to teach them to an athlete that doesn’t naturally have perfect squatting and hinging techniques.

Kudos to coaches that see height as a unique challenge, and not an excuse to forgo basic patterns, says @chaser_strength. Share on X

I think we can all agree that the anthropometrics we see with a lot of basketball players can make the squat and hinge patterns a little more difficult to perform, but I see that as the very reason they should be doing these movements, not shying away from them! Building strong and stable joint structures and tissues through full ranges of motion with proper technique and appropriate loading is a great way to reduce the risk of injury rates in our athletes. Tall and long-limbed athletes are not exempt from that line of thinking just because it can be more difficult to achieve. And if you believe, as I do, that a large amount of our basketball athletes have spent very little of their lifetime near the ground, then it would be even more pertinent that they do so under our guidance!

Earlier, I discussed how it can be difficult for taller athletes to get up and down from the ground, how they try to stay out of those ranges of motion as much as possible, and how that can create quite a few issues. I then proceeded to discuss how we go about getting them back down and interacting with the ground so movement could become easier, more efficient, and pain-free with this version of the Block Zero protocol. What I didn’t discuss during all of that was how we use the squat and hinge patterns the entire time without really teaching them.

Because squats and hinges seem to be taboo in the early development of most basketball players, asking an athlete to perform these movements can trigger immediate pushback. I get it all the time with incoming rookies and trades. They were either told to never squat or hinge (too far over), or they got hurt performing one of these movements because they were taught incorrectly, so now they have a fear of the movements. Fearmongering from the weight room is all too real in basketball, so my goal is to trick them into performing the MOVEMENTS before I teach them the EXERCISES.

Before I ever ask an athlete to perform a loaded squat or hinge exercise, I simply teach them how to get down to the ground and back up again using these movements. Within the get-up variations, we see squatting and hinging patterns. So, I establish solid squat and hinge patterns within our get-up and get-down progressions, with as little cueing as possible, allowing them to learn how to get into proper squat and hinge positions. When I do have to cue, I try not to use the words “squat” or “hinge”; instead, I use external cueing to achieve the positions I’m looking for.

What I’ve come to find is athletes learn these positions quicker and without preconceived notions and fear, because they only see them as getting down and up from the ground, whereas I see it as squatting and hinging hidden within another movement. When we finally do get to actual exercises like front squats or RDLs, I continue to use the same external cueing as before, as well as getting them to mimic parts of movements we’ve already learned. I’ve found great success utilizing this method of teaching, but remember that there are a thousand ways to skin a cat, and this is simply the one that I’ve found works with our athletes.

Final Thoughts on Squat Movement Development

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned from working with the basketball athletes and their unique structures is that we have to build better human movers before we think about building better athletes. I believe that if we can get our tall athletes to move like our small athletes—falling smoothly, getting back up with ease, squatting and hinging into great athletic positions with no pain; all things that many of us take for granted—we can build upon the solid foundation that is basic human movement and develop durable, robust, and healthy athletes.

We have to build better human movers before we think about building better athletes, says @chaser_strength. Share on X

Because this is my first article, I’d like to take a moment here to express my gratitude to the outstanding strength and conditioning coaches I have been fortunate enough to work for over the past few years. I attribute much of what I have learned to my mentors, Jason Roberson, Shawn Windle, Lee Taft, and Gary Christopher. Without them, I wouldn’t be anywhere in this profession. I’d also like to thank Daniel Roose, Cory Schlesinger, Ryan Horn, Andrea Hudy, and the others who were kind enough to return calls, answer emails, open their doors, and share their valuable experience and knowledge over the past two years.

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

Every basketball junkie has dreams of dunking over their opponent on the court. It seems that is part of the right to athletic manhood. Every little kid always asks the older high school athlete if they can “slam”. Sometimes the response is I can get rim or can dunk a tennis ball. Once an athlete has broken “the dunk barrier”, they get creative, one-hand, two-hand, tomahawk, one step, two legs, reverse. Dreams of entering the NBA dunk contest are always in the back of player’s mind, and the 5’7 Spud Webb only encouraged everyone’s dreams.

The internet world of athletic training is built on these dreams. If you want to sell, you have to have a vertical jump program. There are thousands you can buy. Kelly Baggett had the first one that I thought was good. It had a good mix of exercises and a sound progression. There were many in between and many more that were just plain bad. Michael Jordan’s coach put a book out that was just plain bad. The program would work great for Jordan but no one else. A good recent one is Joel Smith’s Vertical Foundations.

Eventually, it became fun to see some crazy ideas. As I learned more, I realized how some of these books or even tools could become detrimental. I’m thinking of Strength Shoes. I had them back in high school. They do work. You do add inches and increase your speed, but it becomes a law of diminishing returns. Think about it. Your calves can only get so big and strong. From a recruitment pattern, your calves become the driver, and you lose out on glutes and hamstrings. I will never forget the first couple days I had them, and I was young, I jogged a couple of miles in them. I didn’t walk for days. In hindsight, they were not a good idea for me. I digress. Anyway, in the internet world of jumping, I did a Google search. A Google search has 44 million listings to improve your vertical jump. Ankle rocker has 44,000, most of which deal with rocking chairs and other things that have nothing to do with the function. And ankle rocker is where I have athletes that are picking up inches quickly.

The first athlete was more of a long play. He started at a younger age and would come and go with his extensive basketball schedule. His biggest issue was his tibial torsion. With his shins twisting, it was difficult to get lateral stability that created the issue of getting a stable base from which to jump. With an extensive amount of work to his hips, we finally got to the point where he could get his body lined up to jump in a vertical fashion. As a 6’1 guard, he needed to turn heads to get the attention he needed to move on to the next level. This is where the big drive came from to get a big jump. He needed an explosion. He started at 24 inches, and his last jump before leaving for college was 36.5”.

This is a progression of the first athlete. He started at 24 and progressed to 36 as shown in the videos below.

And this is where you end up when you put it all together.

Another athlete was a quick fix. A good athlete and a better hurdler came in for an assessment. We found that his ankle rocker was off. And he jumped with his back and used very little legs. But, being an explosive athlete he still jumped 25”. Three weeks later and some ankle work, he hit 31”. Since then, he has hit 32.4.

Both athletes and many more lack the ability to jump with their legs. As mentioned in my Ankle Rocker article, if an athlete cannot bend at the ankle, their body needs to rotate around the hips to gain velocity to throw the body vertically. And now the lift comes from the arm throw and the straightening of the spine. Legs just finish the movement. There is no drive. It is all throw. To get the drive from the legs, the ankles need to bend forward to create space for the hips to drop. So, the drive becomes vertical and from the hips, thighs and calves. To develop this, I created a circuit that we warm up with every workout. Some of the results have been incredible. I had two athletes put 5 inches on their vertical in 2-3 weeks.

After the athletes have the basic ankle rocker down and single leg squats, we move into the following workout.

The first exercise is what we call an ankle rocker pop. The athlete stands on the jump pad and goes into an ankle rocker position. Keeping the torso vertical, allow the ankles to bend forward, hold for a count and jump from that position. We want to make sure hands stay on hips, so we get a true reading on the just jump pad. We will do 4-6 repitions. More if the numbers continue to go up. In the second set, the athletes get into the same position but when they can’t go down any further, they will allow their hips to push back to the point where their shins and torso are parallel. Once in this position, with their hands on their hips, they will jump up. Once again, we measure the height. It is usually higher. On the third set, we will do the movement in a counter jump fashion. The movement should be short and quick. You can also drill this movement by pulling down hard, holding for a count, and extending up quickly, never leaving the ground.

The second exercise is a stair climb. Standing at the base of the stairs, the athlete will step onto the first step and push their shin forward trying to touch the edge of the next step without changing their body position. From that point, they will push down on the foot and extend the shin vertically from the ankle and drive up to the big toe. And continue to do so up the flight of the stair. Have them think about squeezing their glute at the top of the movement.

The third exercise is on my MVP Shuttle. The athlete will lie on their side with their foot underneath their hip. They will squat into a position where the shin comes forward and hip bends slightly and will do a single leg jump from that point. And upon landing, try to get back immediately into that same position. We start with a weight less than bodyweight so the movement can slow down to get a feel for it. Once the ankle works properly, we start adding weight.

Here is a great jump with great technique.

This vertical is 38.7”. Watch the shadow in the back.

Here is a 40 inch jump with feet turned out with a lot of glute recruitment. This is a 40 incher.

Another 40. Watch the ankles and short approach.

This has carried over into their sprints as well. I have seen big changes in an athlete’s sprint as well. They seem to have more pop and have increased their stride. Sometimes it is the little things that make the biggest impact.

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

 

Athletes and coaches have tried nearly everything to find a competitive edge, and the rush for the next big thing has led me to Halo Neuroscience, a brain-stimulating tool for those looking to improve their performance. Two presentations during the CVASPS seminar intrigued me regarding “electrical athletes,” so after careful research, I decided to try brain stimulation again to see if I was missing something.

Brain stimulation, specifically transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), is growing in popularity, thanks to professional teams like the San Francisco Giants and private training facilities experimenting with it. We studied Halo Neuroscience’s Halo Sport system to see what is possible with brain stimulation and athletic performance.

In this article, I don’t focus so much on the product as I do on the process, meaning how someone theoretically harnesses the potential of brain stimulation in general. From the results of a few months of research and experimentation, I have a better idea of what is necessary to apply it to all sport science.

What Is Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation?

Transcranial direct current stimulation is exactly what it sounds like—pushing low levels of electrical current through the scalp. While there are new tDCS products on the market, tDCS itself is not new—like many trends in sport, it is just making a comeback. The theory is that after stimulating the brain, the athlete has a temporary window of enhancement to exploit for greater outputs (training) or inputs (learning) with their body and mind.

So far, much of the research isn’t conclusive as to whether the neurostimulation works with direct current, but like all things in science, it’s about the details and study designs. Outside of sport, the only hopeful findings I have seen are on depression and other disorders like schizophrenia. I was personally hoping that tDCS could help with Parkinson’s disease, but so far there is nothing conclusive on the efficacy of neurostimulation.

Most of the early questions coaches and average Joes have is on the safety of tDCS. My first fear was an obvious one: Would this product or family of systems “scramble” my athlete’s brain acutely or in the long run? Another fear I had was the use of electrical current causing a burn or similar, as I have seen some researchers with the scars to prove it.

As of today, the FDA and European agencies are not committed to a specific position on the classification of tDCS, and many systems are now on the consumer market. Much of the research also delineates the difference between anodal and cathodal tDCS, or positive and negative stimulation. Different types of stimulation theoretically influence the resting membrane potential, thus modulating the excitability of the neurons.

The most likely reason that tDCS is not more popular now is that the Cochrane summary shows the evidence is insufficient for managing symptoms of depression, the most promising area in the past. There are warnings on tDCS for at-risk users (such as the possibility of seizures for those with epilepsy) and other side effects like nausea and headaches. So far nothing in the literature hints that disastrous side effects are possible.

The argument is that tDCS is temporary, sort of like caffeine, and only provides a short window of benefit, so it’s up to the practitioner to create a method or technique for the transient benefits. On paper, this theory is a fair argument for limited results and only those that know how to create programs will benefit from the application.

How Does the Halo Neuroscience System Work?

The Halo Neuroscience system is basically a headset, similar to the Beats by Dre product you see everywhere. Halo systems are oversized headphones with one key difference: they have electrodes that look like rubber hair brushes that sit on the top part of the head. The smartphone app starts and stops the stimulation, and the product is designed to be used before training, whether it’s while playing the saxophone, practicing soccer, or crushing weights. The protocol is that you turn on the system for 20 or so minutes, and immediately afterward, the athlete is primed neurologically for enhanced learning and/or performance.

“Neuropriming” is the term Halo uses for the leveraging of the neuroplasticity of the brain and, in theory, using tDCS promotes a hyperplasticity to the athlete temporarily. During this period, athletes should practice or train normally, and in time they should get better or faster results from the use of the system. The company has initiated some partnerships with Sparta Science and other private facilities, and the advertisements and educational videos cite remarkable results with the system.

Barwis Methods claims their athletes are increasing power by 10%, and a cornerback for the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders added 6-8 inches to his standing vertical. With all of the testimonials and case studies, the use of tDCS looks very exciting, but I only trust what I see and even the best research to me is not a guarantee.

Does the Science Support Brain Stimulation and Sport?

After reading 40 studies sent by Derek Hansen, I was left more confused about how anyone can draw a clear conclusion on any of the studies relating to sport. Diseases and other health challenges have a connection to sport science, but I need good studies on sport and the research was scant at best. I went on PubMed and found a dozen studies or so on tDCS, with mixed results. Some showed nothing and some showed a clear improvement from the inclusion of brain stimulation. Every month, a study comes out, and each time a PDF enters my email inbox I read it immediately.

When I looked at the available research, it was difficult to create a continuum of effects as low-level changes are usual in a disease state, sedentary populations, and beginner exercisers. What I saw was some athletes or trainees responded favorably, even when they had some experience under the bar.

Recent studies have found that tDCS had no effect on athletes or regular Joes here, here, and here. What was interesting was that both low-level forces (balance) and maximal exertion failed to make a positive change, and one study even seemed to disturb or reduce performance with dynamic balance. A very interesting triple blind study on muscle force and tDCS resulted in no positive benefits for brain stimulation with healthy individuals.

What about the positive results with tDCS and athletes? A few studies, hot off the press, demonstrated that brain stimulation had a possible impact with strength and power, even in experienced lifting populations. A study published ahead of print in May 2017 showed promise for soccer athletes and isometric strength, but, again, the study design was limited due to the challenges of brain stimulation research design. Another study on cycling using heart rate and electromyography showed possible results with anodal tDCS, but with unclear mechanisms and a limited study design, the verdict is hard to support.

Based on the studies, it seems more benefits exist with brain and body tDCS than mental conditioning alone. Still, I was not confident that the studies that did show positive results were constructed right, because the challenges with sham controls and training protocols usually create outcomes that support a hypothesis. Sometimes coaches have to experiment and find out for themselves whether something is promising or a waste of time and money.

How I Investigated the Theory of Brain Stimulation and Applied the Science

My experience with technology and coaching, as well as some creativity, gave me a very unique perspective on what we should do with the Halo system. My gut feeling with any performance-enhancing device is that you must factor in placebo early, as athletes respond to nearly anything if they believe enough. Also, most testing in the lab is sterile and artificial, meaning what we learn from a cycling time trial may not help a running back in the chaos of the NFL. I have been constantly let down by teams and facilities that don’t think things through and provide very weak anecdotal information when confronted with questions.

Factor in #placebo early, as athletes respond to nearly anything if they believe enough, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

Theoretically, if tDCS has a small benefit with athletes to enhance neuroplasticity or other performance areas of the brain, what are the best ways to integrate it? Based on the science shared earlier, I formulated three ideas that I wanted to explore. My hypothesis is that a poor study design can either create misleading speculation or taint the data. Here are my key questions:

1. If a window of hyper-learning is created, and the coaching and training are terrible, could the athlete theoretically get worse?
2. In regard to speed and power, if athletes are temporarily enhanced by masking fatigue, does this potentially harm the body in some way by pushing through when rest is a wiser option?
3. When does tDCS start to hit a diminishing return or can it burn out an athlete by tinkering too much with Mother Nature?

I have more questions (some of them a little nefarious), but for the most part my main concern is protecting both the athlete and the training process. No matter what the training tool, recovery device, or even supplement, without a lot of thought given to employing new solutions, many well-intended products can backfire. I have seen countless technologies make athletes worse simply because the thought process lacked a solid strategy to properly apply the benefits.

The Creative Testing Ideas We Developed

Sham devices are a mixed bag of results because the athletes are always smarter and more responsive to placebos, good and bad. For example, if a sham device didn’t provide the same “simulation of stimulation” level experience, would the athlete respond more to the perceived higher current? What about telling the athlete the system does something different than performance, such as altering mood or perception of pain?

The core problem with devices is that creating a sham system in studies is not a perfect process. Supplements, specifically placebo pills, are far easier than placebo technologies.

My second point is that the ownership of the training process when trialing a device or product requires deductive reasoning. Research is always going to be a leap of faith because most studies will try to isolate one variable to create a clear comparison. Take the heavy sled studies that show great promise with some athletes—a perfect example of a limited design and a necessary evil. Too many other variables teasing out what works is hard, but without other modalities included in the training, results artificially inflate many studies.

Also, be careful not to let bias sabotage results. I have very little emotional attachment to anything because I am a generalist and competitor. I don’t care what works; I care if it works better than other options. Coaches not interested in something new always tend to place the equipment change or different method in a no-win situation. This happens when coaches who are trying to just keep their heads above water have technologies or new approaches forced on them.

I don’t care what works; I care if it works better than the other options, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

My creative solutions are not something that will amaze anyone, but the ideas were clever enough to do the trick. What I did was a little unconventional: Instead of telling the athletes it was a stimulation device, we informed them it was a CNS fatigue measurement tool. The issue we had was some athletes already knew what the product was and we had to adjust by simply finding athletes who were not on Facebook or Instagram that much—an arduous ordeal, to tell the truth.

We just told some athletes upfront and saw how they responded, as many of the athletes we work with are constantly exposed to new ergogenic aids and likely have lost their arousal or placebo benefits because of disappointment from the past experiences. During training camps, many athletes respond well to tapering, as the volumes tend to drop when on the road. All of the details mentioned are a real monkey wrench due to drawing conclusions from data in a vacuum, and this the reason coaches and sport scientists need to work together more.

The Results of Halo Neuroscience and Other Systems

I will be upfront with you: It’s hard to tell both the rate of success and the magnitude of change if an athlete responds to the brain stimulation. We tried out another system outside of Halo, and a DIY (do it yourself) system, and found the conclusions to be too cloudy for comparison. The Halo Neuroscience product worked very well from a user experience perspective, as the product is a beautiful and well-designed device.

On the other hand, the athletes that used it found it strange to use large headphones during the warmup, and some liked it just for weight training. Only the Halo Neuroscience product provided a wireless experience that was practical for the field.

We created five categories of experiments during the few months of test-driving Halo. We looked at several combinations and areas of interest, such as will power, acute explosiveness, overspeed, learning rate, and retention of learning.

Will Power: Like most coaches, I went to the Wikipedia entry on tDCS a while ago and looked at what was promising and saw depression as a possible treatment. When athletes are fatigued, mood scores drop, so I figured that during heavy training periods, Halo could elevate the willingness to train so athletes are sharper. I don’t believe in masking perceptual fatigue to keep athletes going, as I think reaching deep in the dark netherworld is a good part of developing an athlete. Using the product compared to the controls showed a statistical difference, but we didn’t test anything exhaustive.

Acute Explosiveness: We did a CMJ test with a few athletes and could not replicate any of the experimental findings with power. It might be necessary to train with it for weeks to see any changes in the force-time curves of jump analysis. One athlete had a standing repeated bound test hit a personal best, but we don’t know what changed besides total distance. We do have a contact grid using Ergotest, but the issue is knowing where in the human biology the performance change happens outside of kinetic and kinematic data.

Overspeed: Several athletes achieved a personal best in flying sprints at training camps in Italy and Florida. Due to the small sample size and a lack of control, we can’t come to any conclusions, but the number of successful testing PRs was so exciting that we wanted to continue using the product. I am going to be testing with EMG for temporal changes in muscle activity next year with something more formal. With the stubbornness of maximal speed, anything that can tap into removing the “internal parking brake between the ears” would be a godsend. It should be noted, those that used caffeine all had great times, while those that didn’t and used stimulation didn’t have as great a performance.

Learning Rate: Finding out if it helps with learning skills or improvement is a very difficult way to assess efficacy of the Halo product or any tDCS system. It’s complicated to learn something new or improve what you know, and errors are hard to decipher when fatigue and coaching styles add so much complication. Most of the subjective feedback given without prodding is that athletes say things are easier to do. I have no way to measure this besides my eyeball test, but most of the feedback is that restrictions seem to be removed during warmup and early in the training. I think guarding for fatigue or past injuries is temporarily removed, in theory, but it could be placebo to those expecting a performance boost.

Retention of Learning: Due to the short testing time frame, we don’t know if athletes retained their skills better than their counterparts. I am interested in rust, or errors early in the next training year. There have been some rumors of athletes locking in skills, but so far I don’t see anything in either research or my own experiences to conclude athletes are returning what they learned earlier. The difficulty is knowing how to make a conclusion when athletes are practicing without the Halo system, as that may wash out the positive benefits of the system. Again, it is not easy to make finite conclusions about motor learning because most studies on learning are in areas that are not speed and power, like darts or archery.

So far, what we know is that we had no adverse reactions, but there may have been a slight electrical burn with one coach. Nobody during the investigation had a poor response to the Halo Neuroscience tDCS, either subjectively or with any type of power or motor skill output. I talked to one NFL strength coach who said he performed his squat better than expected, but the skills of snatching and cleaning were impaired during the period of use. He was adamant that it wasn’t fatigue, so perhaps some people respond negatively and each application should be individualized.

Should You Try Brain Stimulation?

We think the very act of trying any brain performance product is a smart idea, provided that you have a plan. My issue with most of the marketing and hype with sports performance products is the fact that all of them seem to promote mythical performance changes that even doping can’t provide.

It’s a smart idea to try brain performance products, as long as you have a plan, says @SPSmith11. Share on X

The experience we had with Halo was interesting, but it’s going to take a lot of published research with carefully designed studies for us to give it our blessing. What we can share is that the brain is only going to grow in popularity with training and, as more information is available, coaches will be better able to use all of the science in an applied way, be it with technology or just with the human touch. 

Special Note: Sean Smith of Exceed Sports Performance and Fitness performed most of the experimentation and follow-up. In addition to Sean, Hakan Andersson was also instrumental with experimentation.

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

With a heavy calendar and very little downtime to train, finding the balance between strength and conditioning training and tactical training is not always easy.

The good ol’ days of torturous training camps are well behind us. We are more conscious about our players’ health, and injuries during pre-season camp is certainly not what we hope for–especially not for the sake of proving a point. So after hard off-season training, is there a way we can establish a reliable and safe baseline for our athletes without risking injury?

As we enter a new season with multiple athletes and sometimes many new faces, our time is limited. Processes to create baselines must be easy to implement and fast at giving us the pertinent information we need. Establishing a program that allows for each athlete to retain current physical and cognitive capacities is very difficult. But it’s a lot easier with solid data.

In-Season Fatigue Profiling: How to Create a Reliable Baseline

A reliable baseline is imperative for a coach to individualize an action plan and use the plan for monitoring an athlete. Are a 1RM and a vertical jump reliable enough to manage fatigue? It can help and can be part of the equation. But sport is about momentum and velocity.

It’s important I know as much as possible about my athletes. I’m interested in five main categories: speed, power, strength, endurance, and lower limb balance. And I attribute a different attention to the components depending on the sport and position.

Speed

First, I divide speed into multiple components, since different sports and positions have different needs. They go as follows:

• Peak Speed
• Time to reach peak speed (acceleration)
• Time to reach peak power (how fast one can deploy peak power)
• Cognitive speed, reaction time

Peak Speed

For some applications, peak speed is important data, but maximum velocity in a straight line is rarely achieved in most team sports. I still like to have this data, though, because it reveals important information. A noticeable loss of peak speed may indicate exhaustion or overtightening of hip flexors or hamstrings, leading to possible injuries. The data also helps with post-injury return-to-play protocols.

Acceleration

Time to reach peak speed (acceleration) is a must-have for baseline data. Most sports are defined by the capacity to accelerate and build momentum. Following the evolution and the variability of this aspect is very important.

Peak Power

For some positions, like football linemen or the front row in rugby, I want to know the speed with which they can deploy peaks amount of power (time to reach peak power). This defines their ability to efficiently deploy the first power steps so in power sports.

Monitoring peak power outputs throughout the season is a primary concern because it directly affects all other performance parameters. A significant decrease in this number will negatively affect overall speed and all the averages associated with conditioning parameters. I’ve learned through experience that a significant loss of power on a five-burst assessment is enough to raise a flag and I should start looking more in-depth for issues.

Cognitive Speed

And what about cognitive speed? If our athletes can’t process information fast enough, their physical capabilities may not be useful. This component of speed is measurable and quantifiable, and it must be part of the baseline; mental fatigue is certainly a concern throughout the season.

I also like to incorporate the vertical jump. I use the jump mat for this. I’m not concerned about how high an athlete can jump because it doesn’t necessarily represent how well they can accelerate. It is valid data, though, for monitoring fatigue and return-to-play protocols.

Strength

I want to know upper and lower body maximal strength. Again, different sports and different needs, but knowing that my athletes can retain a decent level of strength throughout the entire in-season is an important factor for success.

Endurance

It’s great to know how fast, strong, and powerful my athletes are, but can they sustain repeated bouts of exertion without losing efficiency? Can my football player repeat 60 snaps at full capacity? Or is he losing important speed and power after only 20 snaps? The ability to reproduce full momentum in a specific energy file is measurable; that’s why it is part of my baseline.

Lower Limb Balance

Finally, it’s important to know if our athletes remain balanced throughout the different phases of the baseline acquisition. Some look very well balanced during acceleration, but through repeated bouts, fatigue often reveals inconsistencies.

Sometimes an athlete shows significant imbalances on the take-off, indicating poor weight transfer on the ball of the feet. This scenario occurs regularly even with the highest level athletes. This condition is impossible to detect with the naked eye and has great negative impact on performance. It’s also indicative of possible injury, as the overused side will eventually not sustain the extra forces applied. A simple mechanical correction on weight distribution and gait control can fix this. But we can’t fix it if we can’t measure it.

Interventions: Combining Strength Training Testing and Speed Data

I mentioned that a baseline must be easy and quick to implement. According to the list above, however, it looks complicated and difficult. It isn’t. I’ll show you how I get it done and how the numbers become my assistant coaches.

First, I love strength and big lifts; maintaining strength throughout the season is extremely important. Strength is the foundation of power and speed, so it’s a must keep. The squat, the deadlift (and their variations), and the big rows and pulls will always be part of my game plan. I use them in a calculated way, and I use them a lot.

I used to always conduct a 1-3RM evaluation period. Although I never had an incident happen during those periods, the high physical demands of most pre-camps made me reconsider. The intent behind a test day is to establish a starting point to build a strength curve and establish force-velocity ratios. In my quest to be more time efficient, it made sense to simply work with all the information I already have.

For the athletes who I follow during the off-season, I have solid data and reliable information. This means I can build an individualized plan of action for them.

For the athletes whom I don’t know, I do two things. If I have advance notice that they’re coming, I’ll reach out to them and their strength coaches and ask for numbers on specific lifts. I’ll build a progression off those numbers. I stay more conservative on the prescribed loads as I want to make sure I’m satisfied with the athlete’s technique and execution.

What about athletes whom I know nothing about? This is when technology becomes my best friend. We have very little time for trial and error–especially not errors. We all know that strength is required for power and speed. And we know that our strongest athletes are not necessarily our most powerful or the fastest. In other words, their strength doesn’t always transfer well. This is why I want to spend more time on evaluating speed, power, and acceleration.

The great thing about being a strength coach today is that we have technologies enabling us to be better at what we do. It doesn’t matter anymore if an athlete benches or squats a ton of weight if it doesn’t transfer to the task they have to perform.

How can we establish what is sufficient speed or power or the combination of both? I use the HiTrainer to create very accurate portraits of my athletes.

I like to call this tool the “human dyno”–it’s incredibly efficient and versatile. In a matter of minutes, this self-propelled treadmill equipped with load cells and high precision tach collects all the data mentioned earlier.

The baseline protocol is very simple and fast. The athlete runs a total of five 20-yard sprints and five 5-meter sprints (total of less than 30 seconds of work).

It collects the data in real time: peak speed, time to reach peak speed, peak power, time to reach peak power, as well as lower limb balance throughout each run. It also provides all averages for each component.

The graph above represents three separate 20-yard sprint speed curves taken at different times. Notice how the top curve (pink) is much higher than the red one and shows a much steeper first segment (acceleration). As the blue segment shows similar peak speed, acceleration is starting to decrease. Red and blue have similar acceleration, but red shows a significant drop in top speed and capacity to accelerate compared to the pink segment. At this point, we must explore why this athlete shows such a loss in performance.

The HiTrainer Pro also assesses cognitive speed with a reaction time function. This function measures how fast an athlete can react to a visual or sound cue. This also gives me all the data mentioned above so I can see if my athletes are just as efficient while making decisions. I value this highly because, on a regular basis, I see athletes losing up to 50% of their total power output while making decisions. And most of them have a very difficult time reaching their full speed if we don’t train this specific component.

For endurance or repeatability, this device is pre-programmed for any desired sport-specific energy file. After choosing my protocol, once again, the HiTrainer gives current real-time data on the capacity to repeat bouts of maximum energy expenditure. With football, for example, I use a 10-snaps protocol. This pre-programmed feature consists of ten bouts of 5-second sprints. Each sprint is followed by a 20-second complete rest (time to go back to huddle). The screen placed in front of the athlete displays every single sprint and calculates the total averages of speed and power. It becomes very easy to establish levels of conditioning for every athlete so we can act accordingly.

This function is used with hockey players as a representation of one shift on the ice. Notice how peaks of power significantly decreased by the fourth sprint. Also notice the red % on the bottom right. It’s red because it shows an imbalanced ratio of 64% for the left leg and 35% for the right leg. Look back at the previous graph, and we that the same athlete showed near perfect balance on a single acceleration (green % bottom right 49%-51%). It’s an important issue to address–the athlete is overcompensating under fatigue.

In about 5 to 7 minutes per athlete, I have a complete profile of current capacities. The data is very easy for the coach and the athlete to read and understand.

In only a few minutes for each athlete, I create a complete profile of their current capacities, says @hitrainer_pro. Share on X

This is how I monitor fatigue in-season. The tool is simply part of the program and, by using is regularly, the data collected provides me great insight. The machine literally becomes my assistant because it feeds me what I need to know.

Now I have an easy way to monitor all the crucial components necessary for success. As I see one of the components start to decrease enough where my athlete cannot maintain an acceptable variability, we can openly discuss it and see what’s affecting the result so much. We may not know right away what the issue is, but we can certainly raise our hand and call a timeout if needed.

I’ve been using this monitoring process for five years and have tweaked it over time. Like everything else, we must adapt to different environments and athletes.

Baselines and In-Season Training: Final Thoughts

With the very little time we have to train, this baseline assessment has provided great results and has prevented many overtraining, or as I prefer to say, under-recovery situations. It’s also allowed me to easily individualize my workout plans and tailor them to specific needs. Since the HiTrainer is used at every level of athletic development, the manufacturer has done a great job providing wattage and speed standards for gender, age groups, and levels from youth to pros.

This is one of the reasons I can greatly reduce the time needed for lifting; I know exactly what to prescribe and how much. When dealing with a heavy calendar and very little time to get the job done, we strength coaches often have our heads on the chopping block. This monitoring system provides a great insurance policy–it is safe to administer, very reliable, and allows us to make proper interventions when needed.

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

“Flex on three, Flex on three! One…TWO…THREE…” A dramatic pause, three crisp handclaps in unison, and sixteen pre-teen voices rise as one: “FLEX!”

On cue, all sixteen girls flex their biceps—they are strong, they are committed—and then rush to take the pitch. Sixth and seventh graders, they wear jerseys from their home soccer club and line up in a fluid 4-3-3, switching positions tactically and supporting each other in open space. The field this particular afternoon is massive—a regulation-sized pitch at a north coast high school—and the game is physical, one rough challenge after another. The late summer heat radiates from the rubber in the turf, and for long stretches the team regresses, losing shape and losing possession.

To Compete

Still, the game remains scoreless late in the first half because first and foremost these girls know how to compete. Several of them bounce among gyms and sand courts up and down the coast for high-flying volleyball clubs, while others dig in against the most fearsome pitchers in the county for Select and All-Star softball teams. Some play basketball, or “Friday Night Lights” flag football, or field hockey. One versatile, wide-channel player is a competitive gymnast; a tall and rangy defender is a swimmer. Our creator in the central midfield splits time with her rock climbing team.

They do it all. But this is a different game. Participating in San Diego’s competitive Presidio League, all sixteen athletes on the roster are playing their first season of non-recreational soccer. And in this league that is new to them, they are something entirely new: a “Flex” team, specifically designed to support and encourage multi-sport athletes.

Flex:

• To bend (something pliant or elastic)
• To bend (a joint) repeatedly
• To move by muscular control
• Pliancy; flexibility

–American Heritage College Dictionary

Youth sports today are, in a word, inflexible. Practices, games, scrimmages, local tournaments, travel tournaments, skills clinics, private coaching sessions, speed and agility training, team functions and fundraisers–the dominant theme is commitment. For the parents, the commitment of time and money is substantial, driven in equal parts by the desire to see their children succeed and the fear of allowing them to fall behind.

For the players, there is a commitment to being available and game-ready. Always. Particularly in areas like Southern California, where there is no seasonal impediment to playing outdoors year-round. Pick any major sport, and for kids as young as 7-10, there will be games to be played in January, in May, in July, in September, and in December.

Debates about early specialization frequently spotlight the most glaringly proactive: Type A tiger parents going all-in on one sport for their elementary schooler in a (yes, delusional) pursuit of a prized scholarship. They misunderstand their child’s actual ability, the statistical improbability of any one athlete reaching the university level, and the non-linear nature of long-term athletic development.

In my coaching and parenting experience, however, such cases are outliers. More often, the road to early specialization is reactive, a grudging capitulation. Club soccer, club volleyball, club basketball, travel baseball and softball–these programs and their professional coaches don’t forbid their youngest players from playing other sports or demand exclusive specialization. They simply impose an inflexible, year-round playing structure that is so time-consuming that few players can squeeze in the hours to compete in a second sport.

What was once a sport’s traditional off-season is now a de-facto weeding-out season, says @CoachsVision. Share on X

What was once a sport’s traditional off-season is now a de-facto weeding-out season, during which the most committed players maintain a regular practice schedule, participate in skills clinics and scrimmages, and enter competitive, weekend-long tournaments.

For the vast majority of youth players, there is no 10-year plan to land a D1 scholarship, no let-it-ring-from-the heavens decision to specialize from this day forward. There is merely the short-term reality that if they’re not available and game-ready throughout a sport’s off-season, when the regular season does come back around, some other kid will be out there playing their position.

Changing the Game

Question: What would it look like if we relaxed a player’s commitment to being perpetually available and game-ready in a single sport and freed them to compete at an equally high level in others?

Out on that sprawling high school field, scoreless at the halftime whistle, the Flex girls are frustrated as they trot to the sideline. Throughout the half, every time they used their superior speed and mobility to gain a step, slower defenders countered with the guile and positioning to knock them firmly off their runs. Hastily-lost possessions consistently allowed the opposing side to build into space with patient and well-drilled passing combinations.

On multiple occasions, the opposing striker’s ability to create with her head flummoxed our back line—the girls have just reached an age where heading is allowed (per US Soccer regulations). After starting our practice schedule no fewer than four months behind the other teams in the Presidio League, our squad’s technical coach and I have barely begun to introduce the skill.

It is a work in progress.

On the field, and at the administrative level, our home club has a well-established system. They’ve been fielding teams in the Del Mar/Carmel Valley area of San Diego for nearly 50 years, and the program director is a former USWNT star and US Soccer Hall of Famer. This fall alone, the club is supporting over 100 teams in its recreational program (girls and boys, U6-U19), as well as nearly half that many teams on the competitive side.

For those unfamiliar, the difference between a competitive team and a recreational one is like the difference between a catered meal and a potluck. One is not, in all cases, superior to the other. In every potluck, however, the word’s second syllable is the operative one: the guest who volunteered to bring a side may arrive early to emulsify the dressing for their world famous grilled steak ceaser, or they may show up mid-meal lugging a bulk-store tub of expired potato salad.

The choice is stark. Youth players can try out for a year-round competitive team, with the structure in place to play “real” soccer week in and week out. Or they can sign up for a draft-based, 10-week fall recreational season, where the action on the field sometimes looks an awful lot like soccer, sometimes not at all, potluck depending.

The Problem: In the existing model, there is no passable option for those skilled and athletic players who want to play a competitive version of team soccer but cannot manage the year-round commitment due to time conflicts with other sports.

At the club level, that problem is not actually a problem—meaning the issue hasn’t yet shown an appreciable impact on their financial bottom line or their ability to field quality teams. They’ve been at this for nearly half a century and have a functioning model in place. To overcome that systemic inertia, someone engaged on the playing side needed to dig in their heels and push. Yes it’s a bumper sticker platitude. No Gandhi didn’t say it, but “be the change you wish to see in the world” can be simple enough advice.

In this case, that change began with a proposal to the club’s directors and executive board: a new “Multi-Sport” team concept, filling the gap between the recreational and competitive programs. These Multi-Sport teams would allow athletes to train in the summer, play in a fall competitive league, and compete in summer and winter tournaments, but with a looser, seven-month schedule in place of a year-round commitment.

          Flex: to move by muscular control

The Obstacles:

1. The club legitimately believes that year-round, academy style training is the path to higher level success in soccer.
2. The club relies on professional coaches in the competitive program, and those coaches need to earn a stable living, or they will go and coach elsewhere. For coaches to get paid year-round, they need players to coach year-round.
3. Though a non-profit community organization, the club is also a brand with a reputation to uphold. A competitive-type team playing sloppy, disorganized soccer under the club’s umbrella would be a bad look for the club.

The Pitch:

1. Research indicates that multi-sport participation provides athletes a greater opportunity to thrive in different team dynamics, dramatically improves mobility and physical literacy, and promotes a higher game IQ. It also reduces burnout, overuse injuries, and performance plateaus.
• “High school athletes who specialize in a single sport are 70 percent more likely to suffer an injury during their playing season than those who play multiple sports.”
• “Numerous research studies that have conducted over the past 10 years indicate that females are indeed more susceptible to ACL injuries; most studies report that females are 4-8 times more likely to tear this ligament.”
• 88.5% of NFL draft picks in 2016 played multiple sports in high school.
2. The Multi-Sport teams would be coached jointly by a licensed volunteer coach and a technical coach from the club’s competitive coaching staff. This arrangement would benefit the professional coaches by adding a paid weekday training session to their schedule while not piling onto their already-hectic weekend game load (most coach multiple teams).
3. The team I had ready to test the Multi-Sport model brought a proven track record, coming off a successful run through a slate of recreational All-Star tournaments. We had players with the technical skill and tactical awareness to fill every role on the field, the girls practiced and played with a magnetic spirit and passion, and they were collectively ready to take the next step as a team.

The Result: This year, on a trial/pilot basis, the club agreed to field a pair of non-year-round teams that occupy a grey area between the competitive and recreational programs (my team plays in the Girls 2005 age bracket, and there’s a Girls 2007 team). “Multi-Sport” was considered too unwieldy a name—the club didn’t want to limit the teams only to multi-sport athletes or somehow imply that the club was fielding teams across multiple sports. So I needed to rebrand the program before we even got underway.

Bringing us to Flex.

To Bend. Repeatedly.

Back to the game. Returning to the field for the second half, the Flex girls suffer a tough break in the early going as the referee awards the opposing team a dubious PK, breaking the scoreless draw. The momentum shifts and the girls begin to look worn-down, gassed from chasing the game in the smothering heat.

During that downswing, a defensive miscommunication paves the way for an “excuse-me” goal, making the score 2-0. Even so, these girls know how to compete. We push numbers into the attack and spend the final 15 minutes furiously pressing for a goal, creating chance after chance and dominating the run of play, but without finding the back of the net.

Walking off the field at the closing whistle, the Flex girls want exactly what you hope to see from a losing side—more time to play. “Just give us another 15 minutes, we can SO beat those girls.”

That outing has been their only loss through the midpoint of the regular season, kicking off with a 4-1-1 record. Meanwhile, the ’07 Flex team hasn’t found anyone in their division capable of running with them; they’re off to a 6-0 start with a 42-1 goal differential.

For proof of concept, these early results validate one of the basic truisms of youth sports: if you want to win more games, start with better players. Simple enough. Except:

1. Winning games is easy: play weaker competition and you’ll mostly win. If “how do I win more games?” is the primary question you’re asking yourself as a youth coach, you’re asking the wrong question.
2. More importantly, how do you foster and develop athletes who will continue to be better players year after year after year?

Flighted in a C-League, the Flex girls have so far held a demonstrable edge over their opponents in explosive power, closing speed, and aggressiveness to the ball. We consistently dominate two of my primary in-game KPI’s—winning a higher percentage of 50-50 balls and covering more ground than our opponents in the same space. Being able to win possession of the ball at a higher rate, in turn, allows us to hold the edge in a third key performance indicator–maintaining possession for a greater balance of the game.

With their combination of raw athleticism and relative inexperience, the Flex girls have improved at an exponential rate since we began–basic technical elements like first touch and juggling as well as advanced tactical concepts like overlapping and executing passes that eliminate defenders. Even while progressing in leaps and bounds, none of the players are within a broomstick’s reach of their individual ceiling.

The team’s technical coach and I share giddy asides as we plot our training sessions, thrilled to see how the girls swiftly apply each new tool and skill we teach. In these heady moments, there’s a very real temptation to push and push and push, hammering down the accelerator to see how far we can go during the limited time left in the season.

What would this team look like if we could compel all sixteen players to make our technical practice and our team practice week in and week out? What if we scheduled additional Sunday scrimmages to get more touches and game experience? What if we all chipped in to pay for a second weekly session with our technical coach? What if we planned an aggressive slate of post-season tournaments?

Hitting that gas pedal, though, would crash headlong into the Flex team’s entire raison d’être, all while pecking about to answer the wrong question. Could we raise our expectations and demand more, setting a goal to go undefeated during the second half of our season? Sure, but so what? If our Flex team was bumped up and entered a B-Flight in the Presidio League, all of a sudden our cool 4-1-1 record would be it’s inverse (or, more likely, even worse). The teams in the B-Division started with better players.

So while more more more soccer would make each Flex player more effective in a C-Level game today, my core coaching beliefs center around the philosophy that playing more more more everything will either:

1. Make our players more effective on the field five years from now, when they have more personal agency and will be closer to reaching the physical maturity to play the sport(s) of their choice at a peak level.
2. Do no harm (and be way more fun).

Managing more more more everything requires a willingness to bend. Repeatedly.

          Flex—Pliancy. Flexibility.

Because, sure enough, our Flex soccer season cuts through the thick of the weeding-out seasons for the other sports our girls play—largely with coaches who have yet to embrace the Flex mindset. More common, instead, are flawed interpretations of the “10,000 Hour Rule” and the valorization of phrases like “the best ability is availability.”

Coaches like to control what they can control, and getting kids to show up is easy—dock their playing time if they don’t. Miss practice, miss a game, say hello to the bench. The players will get the message and get to the field, or they’ll quit—in which case they’ll be replaced by kids whose best ability is availability.

Kids show up or they’re replaced by kids whose best ability is availability, says @CoachsVision. Share on X

A few of my Flex girls never miss a thing. But some have to leave practices early for other commitments; some miss an entire practice occasionally. Others miss at least one practice every week. Some will miss the occasional game because they have a tournament or conflicting competition in another sport. But what if, by missing one of my practices, the players are helping themselves become more accomplished athletes in the long run?

Because the best ability is and always will be superior ability: the combination of physical, psychological, technical, and tactical qualities applied in the run of play.

On the field, I rarely talk about responsibilities or assign my players a job. Instead, I encourage each of our athletes to bring their unique talents and personalities to impact the game. Our softball players attack balls out of the air with the direct pursuit angles and proper drop steps developed by tracking flies at shortstop and centerfield.

Pitchers and catchers on our soccer team strike balls with sheer #force learned on the diamond, says @CoachsVision. Share on X

The pitchers and catchers on our roster strike balls with a sheer force grooved-in by the weight-transfer and hip rotation required on the diamond. It takes most of our opponents an entire half to adjust to how far several of our softball players can uncork a throw-in, springing their teammates for fast break transitions deep downfield.

Meanwhile, the volleyball players on our roster contribute a completely different skill set. They possess an uncanny sense of width. They understand combination-based attacks and are accustomed to a pattern of securing possession from a central space to set it to big hitters out wide. All game long, these net sport athletes spread our attack out toward the corner flags, delivering dangerous crosses back into the box.

Operating in the space behind them, our rock-climber—typically the smallest player on the field—possesses the strength-to-body-weight ratio to excel in that discipline and picks her way through larger defenders with the same creativity and anticipation she might use to choose handholds and footholds on a free climb.

I could go on and on. These observations support a question I do consider worth asking. Not “how do I win more games,” not “how do I lock down maximum player availability,” but:

What would it look like if we relaxed a player’s commitment to being perpetually available and game-ready in a single sport and freed them to compete at an equally high level in others?

If you’re willing to bend—repeatedly—the answer is out there on the field, with kids playing the game.

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

Even though my coaching career is in its infancy, I’ve been extremely fortunate to build relationships with coaches who speak the same language. Influences from Mike Robertson, Jay DeMayo, and Ryan Horn always leave me nodding my head in agreement after a presentation, podcast, or post on social media. Affirmation of one’s philosophy is powerful, and quite frankly, feels good. But what say you to the coaches who contest or even oppose your training means, parameters, and system?

It may be unsettling initially, which is fine. Progress begins where your comfort zone ends. The truth is, the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know as much as you thought. This is why I’m compelled to share my experiences with a handful of coaches who made me check my ego at the door. I describe my experience with five mentors, from how we met, the impact they have had on me personally or professionally, and a change I thought I would never make.

If you’re a coach, young or old, novice or master, this article will serve as a reminder that change is the only constant, and we should be adapting as much (if not more) than the imposed demands we prescribe our athletes. Otherwise, we are doomed to fail.

We’ve all had major influences on our career. Those who influenced us early (right or wrong) seem to be the most difficult to drift away from, and it’s hard to accept that there may be another way when it directly conflicts with their philosophy. In these situation, it’s prudent to own a beginner’s mind. It’s extremely liberating and it allows us to learn–rather than build walls to any new information that may contradict our own beliefs.

Andy McCloy, Alabama Strength Coach

I first met Andy McCloy in April 2016 at a private seminar held at Joe Kenn’s house in Clemmons, North Carolina. Interesting to note, the only reason I introduced myself was that, when the strength coach at my alma mater learned I was attending this event, he told me to make sure I made an effort to speak to Andy. Naturally, I looked him up on Instagram, and my initial thought was, “Who is this guy and why is he so good at taking selfies?”

Everything truly seems to happen for a reason. We interacted before, during, and after Coach Kenn’s presentation. Whether we were discussing postural restoration, integrating high/low into the Tier System, or Andy’s impeccable Adidas Ultra Boost game, we just clicked.

The impact Andy has had on me is difficult to put into words. For starters, not one week had passed after the seminar before we had our first phone call, discussing principles and philosophies of training in the private sector. That’s the type of individual he is. As I’ve mentioned before, my father was taken from me at the age of 14, and (knowingly or not) I was looking to fill that void. Andy has made that void disappear.

Since that seminar, our contact has been consistent, insightful, and never boring. I like to think I’ve also brought him value, giving him that extra push to embark on his journey of coaching others in the industry through the vehicle that is BCI Tribe, of which I am proudly a member.

Being a part of Andy’s tribe has instilled a mantra in me I never thought I would adopt: “Serve first, sell later.” It goes against what 99% of all the business gurus will tell you when it comes to your time and worth. At first, I was a bit perplexed that someone as successful as Andy would live by such a code. Other coaches who I respect and follow endorse such claims as, “Time is the one thing you can’t get back.” At first, I was skeptical and immature. I could not grasp the long game or big picture–I wanted to help my business here and now, months or even years down the road.

Regardless, I made a conscious effort to not treat Andy’s advice like a buffet, picking and choosing what I want, while leaving what didn’t agree with me behind. I went all in. Why? You get paid for done, you don’t get paid for completing seven out of tent items on your to-do list. You don’t get paid for doing 99.99% of the work. You get paid for done.

To my surprise, I’ve been happier since I began giving my life away. It’s enabled me to build meaningful relationships in our community, develop an unbreakable level of trust through honest and open communication, and establish a culture in West Michigan that is second-to-none. As Bruce Lee said, “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” In my opinion, paying it forward is time well spent.

Joe Kenn, Carolina Panthers, NFL

Long before meeting Coach Kenn, I was fascinated by this eccentric strength coach and his presence on social media while bringing it “from the sac!” Coach Kenn posted an Instagram video in early April of 2016 where he asked anyone interested in attending a private seminar at his house (this is the type of individual we’re dealing with here) to comment why they believed they should be there. Based on the responses, he would choose who could attend. As irony would have it, no one was selected based on response alone. Many of the coaches (including yours truly) called in favors to plead our case to attend this event. Why not? It’s who you know, right?

If I could boil down Coach Kenn’s impact on me personally as well as professionally to one word, it would be challenge. This past January, I reached out to Joe before my first combine training season. I’m sharing our conversation, as it is pure Joe Kenn:

Me: “If I got a combine guy for nine weeks, how much time should be spent on each strength? (Absolute, Accelerative, Strength-Speed, Speed-Strength, Starting Strength) and in what order?”

Kenn: “You have nine weeks of preparation for seven tests and position drill tryout. I would start with what are the tests he will be measured in and make your assumptions from there.”

Me: “Could you expand on that a little bit?”

Kenn: “NO! If you are going to do combine prep, you should have been preparing all year for this. Players’ careers are in your hands. You are a smart guy. Evaluate the needs of the athlete for the combine.”

Me: “Understood.”

Kenn: “I have spoken to you, you are a smart guy who knows training. If I don’t challenge you to think diligently, who is?”

To say this was a wake-up call would be an understatement. Coach Kenn is the epitome of a teacher who chooses not to give you the answers but rather the tools to learn. I remember walking into the bathroom of my facility, looking myself in the mirror and saying, “You don’t know anything.” There is no elevator to success; it was time to take the stairs.

Coach Kenn’s presentation in his home that weekend shook my training philosophy like a sapling that had not taken root yet. The change I made since meeting Joe may seem underwhelming, but to me it’s as profound as it is simple: total body training sessions. Nothing earth-shattering, right? I wish I could have said the same. At the time, I was an avid fan of Buddy Morris, James “The Thinker” Smith, and Joe DeFranco, all of whom still use split routines, Westside-esque templates.

As a young coach, in a time where novices covet what they see, the Tier System was not sexy enough for my endorsement–until I stopped trying to impress and was open to learning.

If we truly adhere to the Law of Dynamic Correspondence, training must mimic the sporting activity to transfer to the sporting activity. Last time I checked, sport is total body in nature, head-to-toe, and toe-to-head. Why would we not train our athletes in the same fashion?

Now, all roads lead to Rome, and nothing is set in stone. James and Buddy are excellent examples of this, as they are some of the best coaches in the industry who have found success year after year utilizing split routines, so who am I to say I’m right? As Kenn would say, “I know what I know, I know what I don’t know, and I know what I don’t care to know.”

Since adopting the Tier System at my facility and in my coaching, I have nothing but good things to say and have found success with those I train. Effective and efficient training sessions run rampant with my athletes. Simple may not be sexy, but it produces the intended result, a la Bruce Lee.

The Tier System has not only made me a better coach but has also developed my leadership qualities. The simplicity of the template has empowered the coaches who work with me to have the confidence to write programs of their own, which is making them leaders. That is a #wordswin.

Jorge Carvajal, Florida Performance Coach

The demigod that is social media led to Jorge, and I had an enlightening Skype call after he came across my first article on SimplifFaster, How to Build the Ultimate American Football Player. Jorge may not know this, but I had studied him for some time, as we share mutual friends in Carl Valle and Derek Hansen. I had no idea who he was at the time, but if he’s friends with two people for whom I have much respect, he can’t be all that bad. After conversing with him, I came to find that he’s the new guy who’s been around for 25 years. I had some catching up to do.

“Build a coaching practice around a life.” This was not as much a claim as it was a request made by Jorge. As he explained his life to me, and how he goes about his day, I could not help but reference The 4-Hour Work-Week, and we chased the Tim Ferriss rabbit-hole for the following half hour, discussing the application of production > being busy.

The change I’ve made in my life since speaking with Jorge is saying, “yes” to everything. Before that, if the proposal made to me did not invoke a “hell yes!” my answer was “no.” Jorge made an interesting point that transformed my decision process. He explained, “Say ‘yes’ and then figure it out, because if you say ‘no,’ that opportunity is gone forever.”

Since taking his advice, I’ve experienced some alluring observations. As I’ve found myself saying “yes” more often and exposing myself to not only new opportunities but also different, I’ve invoked a fear response in my amygdala. This has been exponentially beneficial; it’s provided a form of checks and balances. I’ve been far more objective in coaching because I’m constantly thinking in the back of my mind, “How do you know you’re doing a good job?” Evaluations aplenty have led to consistent 1% improvements in those I work with, which is a huge win.

In addition to my new affirmative lifestyle, I’ve found enlightenment in accepting that there are no bad decisions, there are only decisions, and we must deal with the consequences of our choices. One of my crucial decisions has been the concept of “n=1” which is a prerequisite I have strayed from in recent months.

How can I coach an athlete to push if I’m not doing the same in my own training? Share on X

I have not been a coach of integrity; meaning I have not been doing the things I am prescribing my athletes to perform. How am I able to coach an athlete to push during the acceleration phase, if I’m not doing the same in my own training? The consequence of that decision was hiring Derek Hansen to prescribe a sprint program for yours truly. I can live with that.

Although I have known Jorge for the least amount of time compared to the other four coaches, the relationship between time knowing him and his impact on me is inverse. My life is fuller, and I’m a better coach and a man of integrity. Thanks, Jorge.

Derek Hansen, Vancouver Speed Coach

Every autumn, my team and I travel to Indianapolis for our continuing education event of choice, the Physical Preparation Summit. I glanced at the list of speakers and saw the name Derek Hansen whose presentation was about speed training considerations for non-track athletes and the high/low approach. I’m a big Buddy Morris fan, whom I met at the Cardinals’ facility two years ago; he was a raving fan of Derek’s. I had to meet him.

After the first day of presentations, there was a social gathering where attendees and presenters talked shop. Derek was gracious enough to indulge me for what was close to an hour as I presented my entire program to him. I was astonished by how generous he was volunteering his information. It was refreshing that a coach of his reputation was willing to give a young coach direction.

When one thinks of Derek, one word comes to mind: sprint. It’s probably the smallest change I’ve made from the five coaches, but it may be the most powerful for its impact on my system and my athletes. For years, I believed in the school of thought that football is simply a game of repeated accelerations, which is not false. But there is more to the story; that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The benefits I’ve seen since implementing (max velocity) sprinting in my system include, but are not limited to:

• Weights follow speed: Weights will make an athlete faster for only so long before diminishing returns are realized. Why? Sprinting is 5x ground reaction forces and 7x muscle-skeletal forces every time an athlete strikes the ground.
• Sprinting is a plyometric: There is a flight phase where both feet are in the air. I still prescribe jumps and plyometrics, but the ground contact time won’t be nearly as brief as it is when sprinting. The goal of the bulk of jumps I prescribe is to develop stiffness.
• Evaluation: Want to know if you’re dealing with a fight-or-flight athlete? Prescribe sprints with a partner chasing them or vice versa.
• Speed reserve: By building a bigger engine, your athletes will be able to perform at (higher) submaximal speeds for longer durations. It is conditioning without entering a lactic environment.
• Builds other qualities: Aside from addressing conditioning, strength, and plyometrics through sprinting, there’s also less need to address change-of-direction and agility. The ground forces exerted at top-speed may be 800-1000 lbs per That’s far greater than any force output during cutting or chaotic drills and without the wear and tear.

This word keeps popping up since meeting this incredible cradle of coaches­–simplicity. Simplicity triumphs over complexity every single time. I have found that complexity is a symptom of confusion. Our speed development system is extremely vanilla, and it could be considered boring by other coaches. But it’s been the ultimate performance enhancer for my athletes.

Our speed development system is extremely vanilla, but it’s been the ultimate performance enhancer, says @huntercharneski. Share on X

Derek’s message has also contributed to the success of my consulting career. I work with my alma mater’s basketball and football teams as well as a small handful of coaches in the industry who have leaned on me for guidance and direction in the development of all training means, parameters, and systems of their programs.

@DerekMHansen has given me a new passion: #SpeedKills, says @huntercharneski. Share on X

Since meeting Derek, I’ve become enamored with the most coveted bio-motor ability in the world of physical preparation. Speed separates the poor from the average, the average from the good, and the good from the great. How I continue to push my athletes towards great gives me purpose, and Derek has given me a new passion. Speed kills.

Brett Bartholomew, Atlanta Strength Coach

Education-wise, I am fueled by speed. Naturally, I could not pass up the PLAE Speed Mastermind in Denver, CO at Landow Performance this past April where Brett was presenting, (Derek was also presenting, go figure). Between presentations, I approached Brett, introduced myself, and we began talking about my facility and what takes up most of his time. Of course, I bought his book there and then. Pay it forward.

Brett is only a few years older than I, and this alone has given me the confidence to accomplish the lofty goals I’ve set for myself. What’s more, I have found out more about the athlete I was, and still am, after reading his book, Conscious Coaching. Now, I’ve always thought my strength (no pun intended) is my ability to relate to any individual. Whether I’m working with an eight-year-old, an NFL athlete, or a division one female soccer player, I can build a relationship, get their buy-in, and help them succeed.

The change Brett has instilled in me is to be relatable, not their friend. I’ve always said, “I am a relationship coach.” Brett’s work has heightened that awareness, and my athletes have benefitted as a result. Not only have my coaching skills spiked, as I study the person as well as the program, but my mentoring and leadership abilities also have received an upgrade.

Since meeting Brett, my staff and I pride ourselves on the idea of “one session.” If an athlete is on the fence about training at my facility, or their parents are a tad wary about my system, we assure them that all it will take is one session for the parents and the athlete to be sold.

The one session guarantee drives my staff and me when an athlete walks through our doors for the first time. We want them to have a “wow” experience and know we care about them and not their performance. This is our competitive advantage, and Brett has influenced this process greatly. I look forward to our relationship blossoming into something great in the very near future.

Find Your Mentors and Change for the Better

In an industry where change is the only constant, take time to expose yourself to innovative ideas, systems, and patterns. If you stop learning, you stop growing. If you stop growing, you limit the development of your athletes. The world of physical preparation may seem as big as it is daunting–it isn’t. Coaches, myself included, are more easily accessible than they’ve ever been. Just look at my interaction with Jorge Carvajal. Don’t be afraid to reach out to some of the great minds out there. It will challenge your beliefs, but I promise you’ll have something meaningful to contribute to them as well. This is not a zero-sum game.

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

Every university across the country has incoming freshman step foot in the weight room with varying levels of experience. As the strength and conditioning industry progresses, more qualified coaches are being employed at the high school level. Even with a qualified coach at the helm, many athletes will continue to show up on college campuses for their first day of practice needing more work from a developmental standpoint.

While sport coaches breathe down our necks to find out how much their athletes are squatting or how many inches we’ve added to their vertical jump, as strength and conditioning professionals we must know how fast to move an athlete through our progression/regression stages.

About Our Freshman Developmental Model

The research by Istvan Balyi on long-term athlete development provides the basis for this model. Each athlete entering the program begins in the same stage: Stage 1. As the athlete accomplishes the goals of each stage, they will progress to the next stage. This progression will lead to more challenging movements from a technical proficiency standpoint, greater requirements of the athlete’s work capacity, and a larger exercise library the athlete will have to be proficient in.

Technical progression, not strength level, differentiates one athlete’s programming from another’s, says @StrengthZack. Share on X

The driver for progression of movement is, and always will be, technical proficiency. Technique is the highest priority when progressing an athlete. Proper technical mastery of prerequisite movements assures us that the athlete is ready to load each movement in the manner that we see fit. Technical progression, not strength level, is what will differentiate one athlete’s programming from another’s.

Stage 1: Learn to Train

The goals of Stage 1 are to teach the athlete our basic movement patterns and build work capacity. Year in and year out, the incoming freshmen generally display a lack of work capacity.

Prior to the execution of any lifting of any kind of implement, the athletes will do focused work on diaphragmatic breathing.

There are many ways to accomplish this. I have had the most success using the 90/90 wall breathing drill. The video below gives instructions for the execution of the breathing drill. I have found that this exercise not only teaches athletes to breathe properly, but also helps them get into a neutral posture through their lumbar spine.

Video 1. While teaching breathing is trendy, coaches have been doing it for years, just with less sophistication and education. Engrain good habits right away, and build a foundation of quality breathing.

Following the introduction to proper breathing mechanics, we introduce our basic movement patterns: squat, hip hinge, upper body push, and upper body pull. The exercises used during this stage are a KB/DB goblet squat, KB/DB RDL, push-up, and body weight rowing patterns such as a TRX row or barbell inverted row. The introduction of these exercises serves as our basic movement screen as well. We can address basic movement inefficiencies (lack of joint mobility, lack of stability, asymmetries) while the athletes execute these exercises.

These sessions not only focus on movement introduction, but there is always a work capacity component added. Many athletes we bring in are simply not ready to undertake the amount of training we plan to put them through, so we stick to basic means to accomplish the end goal. Various sled dragging patterns, carries with various objects for various distances, and the use of escalated density training (EDT) are all methods that we utilize in our program to increase our athletes’ work capacities and ready them for the rigors of training as they progress through their careers with us.

Each training day looks very similar during this stage, so it becomes imperative to find ways to challenge the athletes during the session. One way is to introduce tempos to movements. For example, on our lower body push day, we may have an athlete goblet squatting with a KB with a five-second tempo during the eccentric portion of the movement. The tempo not only makes the movement more challenging, but it gives the coach an opportunity to continue to evaluate the athlete as they move under load. By constantly tweaking each movement, we as coaches can continue to evaluate the athlete’s strength and weaknesses, which will lead to better development of movement patterns.

Stage 2: Train to Train

Stage 2 takes our rudimentary movements—the KB Goblet squat, KB RDL, push-up, and TRX row—and progresses them. The next step in our progression of movements is the front squat, barbell deadlift, bench press, and pull-up. We still utilize our Stage 1 movements as warm-up movements, technique primers, or for more GPP-type training following the motor learning portion of the workout. For example, we may bench press.

We do a standard 5×5 training plan for the main movement, superset each set with a low-intensity exercise in opposition such as a band row, and then super set t-spine mobility exercises such as a seated PVC t-spine rotation. After they finish the working sets for capacity, we have the athletes execute push-ups, KB goblet squats, and TRX rows for time, usually 15-20 minutes at the end of a session.

During this time, we still coach the push-up to our specifications and even decrease individual volumes if the reps begin to look bad. While fatigue can make cowards of us all, we ensure that even if a kid can only do five reps per set to our standards, we stop the set at those five reps to avoid teaching them poor habits.

Athletes spend an extremely long time in this stage. Our freshman football players spend close to three months in this stage to help break any poor habits they may have come to us with.

We begin to introduce structured programming during Stage 2. Athletes will start to train through different phases (hypertrophy, max strength, conversion to power, etc). Volume will remain higher than with our advanced athletes to continue to develop their work capacity and engrain motor patterns, but we will begin to collect relative max numbers (3-10RM) and train them based on certain percentages of their projected maxes. During this stage, many athletes progress from front squatting to back squatting if they do not have any mobility/stability issues that would hinder them in this exercise. This stage is also where our introduction to Olympic-style weightlifting movements occurs.

“You can’t progress an entire group of athletes as a unit, but you can move them in the same direction.”

Stage 2 training, while intended to increase the athlete’s general capabilities, is still very much educational. We expose the athlete to a variety of different movements and exercises with various implements and tempos, but the key is still building clean motor patterns. The “art of coaching” becomes a large factor here, as the coach holds the key to the athlete’s progression and regression through the stage. You cannot expect an entire group to progress as a unit—there are simply too many factors to account for. However, by using various training means to accomplish the same goal, we move the group in the same general direction.

Stage 3: Train to Compete

During this stage, the athletes have already had exposure to most of the exercise library and the training becomes much more focused. Analysis of the athlete’s specific strengths and weaknesses occurs during this stage. For example, if you have a 180-lb athlete who can squat the house but has a very poor vertical jump, his training may focus more on power production than on increasing maximal strength.

Most of your upperclassmen will be in this stage. We train to increase qualities that will help increase their performance on the field. We use many different assessments during this phase.

Stage 4: Compete to Win

Buddy Morris has spoken on the reason his defensive backs don’t spend as much time back squatting heavy as the interior linemen do—it simply will not translate to increases in their performance of the same capacity. Why waste an entire year trying to increase Patrick Peterson’s back squat when it won’t make him play corner any better? This mindset is what Stage 4 is all about.

Stage 4 is your highly specific training. Many athletes in this category may never catch an Olympic lift again simply because catching a clean will not make them better at their sport. They have far surpassed that part of their career and reached the upper echelon of sport performance. In very few cases will any of the athletes we coach in our careers reach this level.

The athletes at this stage in their development focus on one task. These are the Olympic-level 100-meter sprinters, the 900-lb bench pressers, the super heavyweight Olympic-style weightlifters, and any other athlete geared toward accomplishing one task through training at an extremely high level. Their training is extremely focused toward the end goal. These athletes have moved past improving general qualities.

Simply put, these athletes do not care about the process; they care about the outcome. If a training modality does not improve their performance, they throw it out and seek out a different method.

Athletes in the Stage 4 development phase do not care about the process, only about the outcome, says @StrengthZack. Share on X

A perfect example of programming for this kind of athlete comes from the research of Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk. If you are not familiar with Dr. Bondarchuk, many people consider him one of the best throws coaches in world, specifically in the hammer throw. From his text, Transfer of Training in Sports, Dr. Bondarchuk finds a higher coefficient of correlation (0.620) for an athlete increasing his squat with a barbell when they are a 45-50m thrower compared to when the athlete reaches 75-80m throws (0.196).¹ Simply put, the barbell squat becomes less effective for improving the performance of the thrower as they progress through their career.

Additionally, as the athlete progresses from being a 45-50m hammer thrower to becoming a 75-80m hammer thrower, the coefficient of correlation increases for the use of different weighted implements in technical training, while the strength exercises commonly associated with the training of throwers (squat, clean, snatch) decreases. This means that the athletes no longer receive as large of a performance increase using general means (increasing maximal strength) and should now focus on improving strength in their competitive movement (e.g., increased weight of their throwing implement).

Design Your Own Model of Development

It takes time to develop an athlete who is successful at the collegiate level. While we see more and more athletes coming into college with a legitimate training background than ever before, you still must take the time to start from square one and progress kids at the right pace to ensure that they will remain healthy and ready to dominate the field of play. Remember, just because an athlete comes in and is ready to step onto the field of play, doesn’t mean they are ready to participate in the same training program as the fifth-year seniors they are playing alongside.

Check your ego at the door and advise your athletes to do the same. If never letting a kid back squat keeps him healthy and improving on the field, then they may only ever front squat during weights. It is not about records, it is not about likes on social media, and it is not about reporting huge increases in max numbers to your sport coaches. It is about preparing athletes to be successful on the field of play.

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

Reference

1. Bondarchuk, A. (2010). “Transfer of Training in Sports II.” Muskegon, Michigan: Ultimate Athlete Concepts.

 

Like protein, which I discussed a few months ago, testosterone is an aspect of performance that athletes tend to stress about and of which there is an abundance of misinformation. The general narrative is that athletes should aim to have their testosterone as high as possible, which is why many supplement companies do a good business in natural “testosterone boosters.” But are these supplements worthwhile, and what role does testosterone actually play in athletic performance? In this article, I’ll examine this hormone and its role in sporting performance.

A Brief Science Primer on the Real Testosterone Research

Let’s examine the testosterone molecule a bit closer. Testosterone is the main male steroid hormone, driving the development of male sex characteristics. It’s typically considered the prime hormonal driver of anabolism, the process by which things grow–particularly muscle. While testosterone is primarily a masculine hormone, females do also possess it, just at far lower levels than men. This is one of the main reasons why females tend to have less muscle mass than their male counterparts.

Testosterone has several roles that may be interesting to athletes. It plays a role in training response by driving many of the positive adaptations athletes seek to elicit. This includes increases in muscle mass following hypertrophy-based strength training. Testosterone increases the rates of muscle protein synthesis post-training, which tends to occur over the long term as testosterone increases the transcription of genes driving increased muscle protein synthesis and, hence, muscle hypertrophy.

Physiological responses are well illustrated in studies where researchers gave subjects supplemental testosterone (which is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency) and watched its impact on muscle growth. In a famous study from 1996 and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a group of researchers compared increases in muscle size and strength in a group of subjects given testosterone and undertook strength training compared to those doing strength training alone.

The results were clear; supplemental testosterone had a huge effect on increasing muscle size and strength. The testosterone and exercise group increased muscle size more than 600mm in their quadriceps, compared to a loss of over 100mm for the exercise-only group. They also improved their bench press 1RM by 9kg while the exercise-only group stayed the same.

There is also emerging research suggesting that testosterone has short-term, non-genetic effects, such as altering energy metabolism and motor system function, both of which can support resistance training adaptations.

Testosterone Ignites the Drive to Train and Win

Testosterone also may affect motivation to train and compete. In a group of female athletes, Christian Cook and Martyn Beaven found that, over the course of five training sessions, circulating testosterone levels impacted the load chosen by the athletes to lift. Here, higher levels of testosterone were associated with greater training weights selected, indicating that when testosterone increases, so does motivation to train.

When #testosterone increases, so does the motivation to train and the chance of victory, says @craig100m. Share on X

Similar results have been reported in males. In a group of professional rugby players, higher pre-game testosterone levels were associated with an increased chance of victory while lower levels increased the chances of a loss. This adds support to the assertion that higher levels of testosterone impact motivation.

It’s clear that ensuring optimal testosterone levels will likely support athletic performance. But how can we do that? Some dietary aspects support adequate testosterone levels. The first is caloric adequacy – i.e., consuming sufficient calories. Long-term calorie restriction decreases testosterone levels.

Sufficient calories, zinc, and #VitaminD support optimal testosterone levels, says @craig100m. Share on X

Both zinc and vitamin D levels are linked to testosterone levels. Low levels of zinc are associated with a decrease in testosterone, so it’s logical to keep zinc levels optimal. Note that I said optimal and not as high as possible; there’s always a physiologically optimal intake, and too high an intake of zinc is associated with such problems as increased risk of cramping.

 

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) of zinc is 11mg, with the upper tolerable limit set at 40mg. Zinc-rich foods include:

• oysters
• beef
• crab
• pumpkin seeds
• green leafy vegetables

The same is true for vitamin D, low levels of which are associated with decreased testosterone. Once vitamin D levels are normalized, testosterone returns to normal. As I’ve previously written about vitamin D, athletes should ensure sun exposure, consumption of oily fish, and potentially a supplement, if required.

Higher levels of body fat are also associated with lower testosterone levels. While most athletes are not fat or obese, some specific events (throws) and sporting positions (rugby forwards and NFL players) are at an increased risk. Although their position may require more weight, this does carry a risk of lower testosterone levels, illustrating how a careful balancing act is required.

How Lifestyle Factors Can Make or Break an Athlete Hormonally

Lifestyle factors also impact testosterone levels. Increased levels of stress can alter the ratio of testosterone to cortisol, causing a drop in the relative levels of testosterone that are available to exhibit its positive effects. Females who use oral contraceptives also tend to have lower levels of testosterone and a reduced testosterone increase following resistance training.

The type of training undertaken by athletes can also impact testosterone levels. Both sprint training and resistance training increase testosterone levels acutely, while endurance based training often decreases testosterone. This may be one of the reasons why strength training has such a positive effect on endurance athletes; it can increase their levels of testosterone and, hence, motivation.

#Testosterone increases with sprint and resistance training and decreases with endurance training, says @craig100m. Share on X

These findings have been replicated several times. Bosco and Viru, two greats in the sports science field, reported that sprinters had higher testosterone levels than soccer players who, in turn, had higher levels of testosterone than endurance athletes – in this case, cross-country skiers.

There is also some evidence that testosterone levels can be manipulated by watching specific videos before training. In one study, Cook and Crewther examined the impact of watching different four-minute video clips (aggressive, training, funny, erotic, sad, and neutral) on testosterone response and performance in a strength training workout with twelve professional male rugby players.

The aggressive, training, funny, and erotic video clips increased testosterone, while the sad clip decreased testosterone. The erotic (2.1%), aggressive (5.4%) and training (4.6%) videos all led to significant performance in the weight training session (measured through a 3RM test). This shows quite nicely the impact our environment can have on testosterone levels, and that taking time to set the correct motivational climate is important.

 

Monitoring Athlete Testosterone Levels

While monitoring testosterone levels is expensive and slow, there is some evidence that, once the technology improves, the information it provides could help maximize the training response.

A paper from 2008 describes a study that put sixteen rugby players through four different strength training protocols and measured their testosterone response. Half of these players started a three-week training block, undertaking strength training sessions that elicited the greatest increases in testosterone. The other half undertook a three-week training block using the strength training sessions that produced the lowest testosterone response. After the initial three-week block, the players switched to the opposite training intervention.

When performing the training that elicited the greatest testosterone response, the players exhibited significant increases in both bench press and leg press 1RM. However, when undertaking the training intervention that elicited the lowest increase in testosterone, 75% of the players showed either no change or a reduction in 1RM performance. These results show the promise of using the individualized testosterone response to exercise to help guide training program design and enhance adaptations.

Getting Athletes on the Right Track Naturally and Ethically

We’ve seen that testosterone is an important hormone in athletic performance by:

• mediating long-term adaptations to exercise
• affecting mood and motivation in the short term

We can help our athletes reach their potential by:

• providing short-term boosts to testosterone levels through the use of motivational videos
• supporting chronic testosterone levels with dietary interventions
• programming training sessions to maximize their testosterone response and attain greater strength improvements

When it comes to testosterone-boosting supplements, there is no real evidence that these work, outside of potentially correcting nutritional deficiencies that may be impacting testosterone levels. As usual, it’s far better for athletes to try to correct these deficiencies by changing their diets as opposed to turning to supplements.

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

 

At clinics, I often ask coaches to tell me their all-time favorite drill, the “dream drill” they find most beneficial in helping their athletes run faster. Answers vary. Some like fast, straight leg-impact bounds, what Chris Korfist refers to as “Prime-Times” because they resemble Deion Sanders’s strut into the end zone. Others prefer the Gerard Mach ABC drills. According to Vern Gambetta, those drills are intended to “specifically strengthen muscles in the postures and actions that are similar to those that occur during the sprint action.”

But drills can be problematic. Gambetta considered the technical benefit of the Mach drills as ancillary and noted that “if they are not taught properly and constantly coached, incorrect execution and repetition will ingrain bad habits.”

I know two things about drills: 1) coaches generally like them, and 2) coaches are so focused on proper execution that if you show them videos of athletes demonstrating those drills, they could spend considerable time pointing out technical mistakes those athletes are making. The reality of speed drills is that coaches often disagree on the proper mechanics to perform them properly.

So what is the one drill I like, the one drill hard for athletes to do wrong or for coaches to debate incorrect execution?

The answer goes back to the mid-70s when I attended a clinic at the University of Illinois Circle Campus. The keynote jumps speakers were Polish pole vaulting coach Andrzej “Andy” Krzesinski and his wife Elzbieta, affectionately called “Golden Ela.” Both were former Olympians. Andy finished 12th in the pole vault at the 1960 Rome Olympics while Ela won the long jump gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and silver in 1960. Andy coached 1976 high jump gold medalist Jacek Wzola and 1980 pole vault gold medalist Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz.

I thought their presentation was excellent, but many coaches left early because of the difficulty in understanding their English. Growing up in a Polish family where many relatives had similar language issues, I didn’t have a problem understanding the points Krzesinski was making or the description of the drills he was presenting. One drill, in particular, caught my attention. Krzesinski said it could easily be performed at any school with stadium bleachers. He didn’t give it a name, so I called it the “Polish Bleacher Bound.” It remains my all-time favorite.

An athlete starts with the right foot on top of a bleacher seat, with the left extending down to the bleacher tread. The athlete then drives up into a full extension jump. The left foot is now on the top of the seat, and the right foot drops down to the shorter tread. Repeat the movements in the opposite direction to return to the starting point. To make the drill more complex, have the athlete drive forward down the length of the bleachers and then back, which continually reverses the extended and loaded legs.

Polish Bleacher Drill

Why do I like this drill so much? For starters, it is easy to execute and requires no additional equipment.

Driving up from a thigh parallel position isn’t easy, but the point of emphasis is the contribution of the fully extended drop leg. This requires a powerful eccentric contraction. The greater the force applied by the dropping leg, the less the load on the opposite leg trying to drive up to full extension. With more advanced athletes, the placement of the foot on the bleacher seat can be delayed until the foot of the fully extended leg lands on the bleacher tread.

In a 2004 article, “Means and Methods of Sprint Training,” John Cissik notes my insights from an earlier article: “As opposed to better stride length and stride frequency through the leg swing drills used by many, Jakalski advocates that improvements in stride lengths and frequencies are determined largely, or perhaps entirely, from the ground force applied during the stance phase . . . . According to Jakalski, elite sprinters are achieving their greater velocities through a combination of exerting more force against the ground and an ability to exert it more quickly than other athletes.”

Coaches may find Polish Bleacher Bounds as a way for sprinters to experience the kind of big forces applied in minimal time that are essential to achieve faster top-end speeds. If so, we owe a big debt to Andrzej Kreszinski, the diminutive Polish jumps coach who, on a cold day in Chicago, shared his expertise with coaches for whom English was not a second language.

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

Cissik, John M. “Means and Methods of Speed Training, Part I.” Strength and Conditioning Journal 26.4 (2004): 24-29.

Gambetta, Vern. “Mach Sprint Drills: A Personal Perspective.” Functional Path Training, September 29, 2015.

A colleague recently asked me what would be the ideal off-season program for high school jumpers (long/triple/high). Programming for any athlete involved in a power sport should revolve around improving their ability to move faster by applying greater force in less time. Qualities that address this objective are increased speed, strength, elasticity, and coordination. The off-season is also an ideal time to enhance work capacity. This, along with the addition of progressive variation as time goes on, will lead to a more robust athlete when the season starts.

In a perfect scenario, the degree to which each of the qualities is addressed would be individualized with a coach monitoring progress and adjusting programming as needed. At the high school level, however, this is often not an option in the off-season due to conditions set by governing bodies. Therefore, the focus here is to provide options that high school jumpers can complete on their own.

Consideration #1: Fall/Winter Sports

I would be a hypocrite if I did not note that track and field jumpers should participate in other school sports. Football, soccer, volleyball, and basketball all translate very well to the off-season work needed for jumpers. I would even say that cross country could be an option if the coach runs a progressive program and is willing to train the athlete like a sprinter.

The greater a jumper’s athleticism, the more adaptable the jumper, says @HFJumps. Share on X

Many coaches would scoff at this idea, but the way some field/court coaches run their sports is not all that different from cross-country training. Any fall or winter program that prioritizes (or makes exceptions for) developing explosive athletes is a welcoming home for a track and field jumper. Here are some other advantages for a jumper involved in multiple sports:

• It is healthy for athletes with a young training age to get exposure to a wide variety of activities. Studies indicate higher injury rates for athletes who participate in one sport.
• The coordinative pool of a young athlete should be broad and shallow, not narrow and deep. This gives them greater resources to draw from when faced with a task. The greater a jumper’s athleticism, the more adaptable the jumper. If you do not think adaptability is an important skill for a jumper, ponder this: We expect the jumper to take off from the same spot every attempt, but no approach is EVER the same from start to finish.
• It is beneficial for athletes to be coached by other people. Different coaches have different sets of rules and expectations. It is valuable for an athlete to learn how to thrive in various environments.

Consideration #2: Sprint!

I have two general tenets I follow in-season:

• Faster and fresh athletes jump further.
• Fresh and faster athletes jump higher.

I could write another article about these two points, but the emphasis here is that speed must be a year-round priority for horizontal and vertical jumpers. I advise sprinting two times per week on nonconsecutive days. Get creative with your starting position (kneeling, prone/supine, 2/3/4 point, facing different directions, etc.), and spike up if possible.

A simple system would be to start with sprints of 10 meters and increase 5 meters per week, capping out at 40 meters. Keep the total volume between 100 and 120 meters. Give full rest between reps (~1 minute for every 10-meter run) so each rep signifies your maximum capability.

Consideration #3: Play Games!

I think the only reason I ended up with a smidge of athletic ability is because I played pickup games of any sport imaginable as often as possible. Some options are basketball, flag/touch football, ultimate Frisbee, handball, and trashball. Each of these activities incorporates multi-directional movement, change of direction, and “organic” plyometrics, which enhance robustness.

Off-season track athletes not in a fall or winter sports should play games as much as possible, says @HFJumps. Share on X

In my opinion, the king of games to play during this time for a jumper is basketball. The amount of variability in the jumps performed during a game of basketball is second to none. Don’t be afraid to open or close a session with a dunk contest (find an adjustable rim if needed). Incorporate single and double leg takeoffs and try to master as many different dunks as possible (Joel Smith of Just Fly Sports gives some good reasons to do this in this article on slam dunk training. I encourage off-season track athletes not involved in a fall or winter sports to play games as much as possible.

Consideration #4: Barefoot Training/Running

Training barefoot seems to be prevalent in distance running circles, but it should also be part of the training of speed and power athletes. The ankles and feet deliver force to the ground, so an athlete can only transmit force that the ankles and feet can handle. Smith states:

“Whenever the environment and injury risk allows, barefoot work is best. Not only does barefoot work improve intrinsic foot strength automatically, but also allows for a better sensory link of the feet to the ground, a better tripod, and better upstream firing patterns.”¹

From a top-down view, an athlete with better feet is more likely to deliver what he or she can generate. From a ground-up view, an athlete can generate more because muscles will be firing in the proper sequence. Win-win!

An excellent off-season option for jumpers is barefoot tempo running (60-80% of maximum effort). Besides getting the aforementioned benefits of barefoot training, tempo running increases the jumper’s work capacity and tendon strength due to the high amount of contacts. According to Smith,

“Single leg jumping is of the ‘explosive isometric’ variety, meaning it relies heavily on a locking action of the muscle combined with strong tendons. Creating strength in the connective tissues needed for jumping demands specificity and adequate repetition.”2

The lengths of the runs can be anywhere from 50 to 300 meters. Recovery should not be complete. In terms of volume, leave something in the tank so you can operate at a high level the following day. Grass is better for barefoot work than field turf because of variability. With a less-consistent surface, your feet get to make minor adjustments during each step.

Straight runs can make up the majority, but also incorporate curvilinear and circle/figure eight running (with a radius of 2 to 10 yards). Soccer fields have a nice center circle to use. The ground contact and force vectors are different in these activities, which gives the ankle-foot complex a different (and essential) challenge to manage. The carry-over to the high jump approach and running curves on the track are obvious, but a benefit for long and triple jumpers is the ability to better absorb force when awkward landings occur.

Video 1. Athletes can modify the amplitude of the waves from rep to rep. As the comfort increases, they can increase the speed at which they do the drill.

Video 2. The athlete demonstrates a circle run with a radius of 4 meters. Athletes should feel outward pressure on their feet. Again, as comfort increases, speed can increase.

For simplicity’s sake, I’m saying that tempo running falls into the same training category as playing games. If you have a choice to complete a tempo running session or play a game, choose the latter! You can always incorporate barefoot movements/running in your warm-up and other parts of training.

If you have never trained barefoot before, ease into it. Training with blisters is far from ideal. Furthermore, you will probably feel the effects of training structures in your lower legs that you did not even know you had.

Consideration #5: Jump Rope

Jumping rope is an overlooked activity that is ideal for jumpers because of the high number of low-intensity contacts that you can achieve with a rhythmic element. Every jump approach and second spent in flight has a rhythm to it, and anything you can do to develop a general sense of rhythm is a plus.

There are several variations that you can do while jumping rope:

• Alternating tempo
• Double, single, and alternating leg combinations
• Jumping on different surfaces (or even with each foot on a different surface)
• Rotating slightly while jumping (about 36-45 jumps per one revolution works well)
• Moving slightly forward, backward, or laterally while jumping
• Running while skipping rope (Besides increasing coordination and rhythm, it cleans up inefficient backside mechanics by making the push-off short and reactive.)³
• Jumping while working up a slight incline or down a slight decline (driveways work well)

If you want to challenge your proprioceptive system, close your eyes while jumping.  As mentioned above, if you want more bang for your buck, ditch your shoes and go barefoot. You can jump rope just about every day in reasonable doses, and it is an easy item to incorporate into your warm-up.

Consideration #6: The Weight Room

After much deliberation, I decided to include this section. With the premise of the article being activities athletes can do on their own, it is certainly within reason to say that most novice athletes should not create, nor execute, a weight program independent of a knowledgeable adult’s supervision. Every high school has the group of students who show up to open weights after school and do nothing but socialize, or who have a program and/or technique so poor they probably would be better off socializing.

With this said, there are phases of development where a high school athlete can look at a barbell and get stronger. Couple this with the fact that many have a very low training age, and you have a recipe that will guarantee gains no matter what type of weight program they complete. The goal here, however, is to try to make what is done in the weight room slightly more specific to the high school jumper, which leads to the need to briefly discuss the muscle-tendon unit.

Tendons play a huge role in the track and field jumps due to the reactive nature of the events (takeoff times under two-tenths of a second). Tendons are responsible for transmitting the tension that muscles generate. Because of the low ground contact time, muscles do not have time to generate much force.

Owen Walker of Science for Sport says that it is generally accepted that the tendon is the primary site of the storage of elastic energy.⁴ The primary analogy used here is of the muscle-tendon unit as a rubber band. When stretched, it stores energy, and when let go, it releases energy.

An easy way to show this is to perform two vertical jumps. Perform the first as a standard countermovement jump. For the second, after descending, pause for two seconds and then try to jump. You can probably feel the difference without any verification from a measurement device. The first jump utilizes the “free” elastic energy provided by the descent, whereas the second one does not. If the tendons are the primary storage spot for elastic energy, optimizing tendon function should be a consideration when designing a weight program for a jumper.

Dr. Michael Yessis, author of “The Revolutionary 1×20 RM Strength Training Program,” says the best way to address tendon strength and thickness for the novice athlete is to take part in a high-volume/low-intensity strength program. The reason is that higher volume leads to greater blood flow, which tendon growth depends upon.⁵

Optimizing tendon function should be a consideration when designing a weight program for a jumper, says @HFJumps. Share on X

Yessis’ 1×20 RM program is exactly how it sounds: one set of an exercise for 20 repetitions. Because there is only one set per exercise, a workout menu can consist of around 15-20 exercises as opposed to the four to six exercises for three to four sets that is more typical for a low-volume/high-intensity program.

Besides the importance of tendon development for jumpers, there are other reasons that this system could be the best option in the unsupervised off-season situation:

• By working at a low intensity, the athlete can focus on proper technique.⁵ The high volume of each set makes it more difficult for athletes to use a weight they cannot handle. Once an athlete compromises form to complete a rep, the set is over.
• The high-volume and one-set combination means more repetition of a greater number of exercises.⁵ Repetition is a great teacher (assuming the lift is done properly).
• Since the program should address the entire body, athletes can do it twice per week on nonconsecutive days. This again increases the amount of repetition of each exercise per week. Many other programs have different menus on different days.

Another point of note is to ease into the 20-rep range over the course of a few workouts (especially if you are not used to this type of set volume). Once you can achieve the 20 reps with perfect form, then you can increase the load slightly. Yessis’ 1×20 RM book is a quick read for those who want more rationale and programming information.

As mentioned before, there are many ways to get the job done in the weight room—this is just an option that fits well within the goal of this article. I encourage athletes to discuss programming with their coach and always prioritize technique over load!

Consideration #7: Develop Healthy Habits

If a track athlete is not involved in a fall or winter sport, his or her daily schedule is probably less demanding than an in-season athlete. Less obligations can lead to the development of healthy or unhealthy habits. It is always easier to eat Cheetos and play video games than exercise. Make it a priority to develop healthy habits so they become part of your daily routine prior to the start of the track season. This will make you more likely to stick with them throughout the season. Besides remaining active (hopefully using some of the suggestions in this article), these are some additional items to consider.

Designing a Program

Designing a program that takes these items into account could be complicated, but it does not have to be. Find the sweet spot with the considerations addressed. If you planned to do something on a particular day, but then do not feel like doing it on that day, do something else!

While I am a big believer that structure leads to productivity, I also feel that a lack of structure in the off-season is healthy. Take advantage of the power of choice the off-season provides. It certainly does not present itself as often in-season. Above all else, do everything in your power to enter your season happy, healthy, hungry, and bouncy!

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. Smith, Joel. “10 Ways to Build Better Forefoot and Midfoot Power.” Just Fly Sports, August 17, 2017.
2. Smith, Joel. “Long Sprinting for Reactive Vertical Power.” October 24, 2013.
3. Bosch, Frans and Ronald Clomp. “Running: Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology Applied in Practice.” Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005. 313.
4. Walker, Owen. “Stretch-Shortening Cycle.” Science for Sport.
5. Yessis, Michael. “The Revolutionary 1×20 RM Strength Training Program.” California: Sports Training Inc., 2014. 31-40.

 

We have set the bar high at the Track Football Consortium. In addition to keynote speakers Latif Thomas (CEO of Complete Track & Field), Shawn Myszka (“The Movement Miyagi”), Jimmy Radcliffe (Oregon S&C), and Stuart McMillan (Performance Director, ALTIS), our 6th Track Football Consortium will feature Olympic legend, Carl Lewis.

Carl Lewis is the most decorated track and field athlete of all time. However, we didn’t ask Carl Lewis to be our keynote speaker because he was fast and set 12 world records in his 18-year career. We didn’t ask Carl to be a presenter because he long jumped over 28 feet 71 times. We asked Carl to join us because of his ideas on training.

Carl Lewis currently coaches sprints and jumps at the University of Houston. Houston crushed the 4×100 at the 2017 NCAA National Championships, running 38.34 for the win. In addition, Carl recently worked with an NFL team, which makes him a perfect fit for the Track Football Consortium.

 

Carl Lewis, Football Coach

If you’ve read my most recent article, the controversial “New Ideas for Old School Football Coaches,” you know that I show a certain disrespect for the football status quo. Carl Lewis shares many of my ideas, believes there is a right way to practice football, and agrees that we could be doing better. Modern football is a sprint-based game and football coaches could learn a thing or two from people who understand speed.

Football coaches could learn a thing or two from people who understand speed. Share on X

You might think Carl Lewis is a better fit for track than he is for football, but he’s as good for one as he is for the other. Lewis recently worked with the defensive line of an NFL team. Right away, he noticed they were making big mistakes.

As Lewis puts it, “If you push, put the feet down, and run through them not to them, you’ll maximize your power and hit with the most force. Keep your chin down and your eyes up. That’ll keep your shoulders down so you’re less likely to be pushed backwards.”

He based the lesson entirely on the mechanics of speed, and it worked. That week, the team held their opponent scoreless through three quarters, had eight sacks, and gave up only one touchdown. They won the game. The defense excelled again in the next game for another win.

Carl Lewis as a defensive line coach tries my imagination, but why not? I can’t think of any position that combines speed and explosion more than a defensive lineman. Look no further than Jadeveon Clowney of the Houston Texans. (By the way, coaches from the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars attended TFC-5).

The Perfect Method

Carl Lewis has developed the insights he shared with the NFL team and many others on the mechanics of speed into an online training system and information resource that teaches coaches and athletes how to prepare, practice, and perform their best by focusing on the details. “The Perfect Method” also offers tools that build confidence so athletes can perform under pressure. Reinforced by specific examples from Lewis’ career and experiences, lessons taught in “The Perfect Method” are measurable, comprehensive, constantly updated, step-by-step, and accessible in the palm of your hand.

Says Lewis: “There’s only one way to perform your best, and it can be taught.” The key word in that sentence is “taught.” Coaches who don’t understand speed, don’t understand that speed can be taught. Too many coaches believe speed is something found on a chromosome, and you either have it or you don’t.

Coaches who don’t understand speed, don’t understand that speed can be taught. Share on X

And who better to teach us than the King of Speed?

We look forward to collaborating with Carl Lewis for this never-before-seen presentation on thinking differently about how we train and perform on the field and on the track.

Track Football Consortium, December 8-9

Carl Lewis will speak twice on Friday night, December 8th. Co-directors Chris Korfist and Tony Holler will make two presentations each. Chris Korfist is the owner of Slow Guy Speed School and the founder of Reflexive Performance Reset. Korfist is an international sprint guru and the U.S. expert on the 1080 Sprint. Tony Holler, a veteran track coach of 37 years, has written over 100 articles and last year coached the fastest freshman in the nation, 14-year-old Marcellus Moore (10.40 in the 100m).

Featured football coaches will include Steve Jones (Kimberly, WI, 62-game winning streak), Dan Hartman (Hinsdale Central, IL), John Konecki (Crete-Monee, IL), and Dan Fichter (Irondequoit, NY). Joel Smith (Cal-Berkeley) and Jeff Moyer (DC Sports Training, Pittsburgh) will represent the S&C world. Track coaches will include Brian Fitzgerald (Rio Mesa, CA) and Kevin Paterson (Benedictine University). Those in attendance will have a chance to see 11 speakers presenting 19 hours of material. There will be multiple opportunities to collaborate and network. Once you attend a TFC, you are one of us.

SimpliFaster has sponsored all six TFCs and will provide awesome coffee mugs to those who attend this year.

TFC-6 is a 24-hour event, beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, December 8th, and closing at 5:30 p.m. the next day. We developed the schedule with balanced emphasis on sprinting and explosive training. We typically draw equal numbers of S&C, track, and football coaches, with other sports also represented. After all, speed and explosion are not limited to track and football.

 

 

Join us at the Track Football Consortium on December 8th and 9th at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. Benedictine is only 23 miles from O’Hare and 27 miles from Midway. There’s a cluster of hotels and restaurants in Naperville, 3.7 miles from Benedictine.

 

Register here: http://trackfootballconsortium.com/#tickets.

For more information on “The Perfect Method,” visit www.theperfectmethod.net.

Questions?

Tony Holler 630-849-8294, [email protected]

Chris Korfist [email protected]

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