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In the ever-evolving world of basketball and training, we’re constantly striving to find ways to push boundaries, help our athletes gain a competitive edge, and hone our professional skills to make an impact on our athletes. Deconstructing—or reverse-engineering—movements and allowing that to guide my programming has definitely become an edge for me as a coach.

In my previous article, “Deconstructing 3 Common Basketball Moves (to Train the Underlying Qualities),” we dove deep into the critical components that underpin three common basketball moves (jab steps, hesitations, and misdirection steps) and the essential athletic qualities needed to help elevate a player’s ability to master those moves.

Guided by feedback from readers, I was motivated to add a second installment to this article series. This time, instead of all offensive moves, I will look at three common defensive tactics and break them down in the same format.

Teaching defense is a passion of mine, probably because I wasn’t very good at it as a player…and I now know how much of a positive impact improving my defense could have made for me. It’s a great skill to focus on from youth to pro—nobody has ever been benched because they played tenacious defense.

I’ve run a series of defense-only camps over the past few years where I not only instruct defensive principles but also aim to shed light on some of the longstanding myths and misconceptions about playing good defense. For example, why a plyo step (or false step) is more useful than a pivot step, and why it’s actually advantageous to cross your feet on defense rather than always being in a lateral slide. We drill, we watch film, and we compete, and every player goes home with a better understanding of efficient defensive movement skills.

Defense is complex. It requires both team and individual responsibilities. In this installment of the series, I’ll break down three of the most crucial, fundamental components of being a great defender:

1. The closeout
2. The lateral shuffle
3. The crossover run

1. Closeout

Starting with one of my favorite topics, the “closeout” is truly a fascinating part of the game. A closeout is probably the defensive movement with the most variations, the largest number of different coaching philosophies, the most nuances, and the most myths surrounding it.

I’ll preface this by saying that there is no one-size-fits-all right way. Closing out is very situational, and it also depends on your skill set as a defender combined with the skill set of the offensive player you’re closing out on.

With those obstacles under consideration, we must adhere to the principles or goals of an effective closeout. Two major objectives in every closeout are:

1. Close space.
2. Follow the game plan.

Let’s unpack this.

Obviously, on defense, we’re trying to stop the opposing player from scoring. You’re assigned a player to guard, but that doesn’t mean the other players on the court don’t matter, including your teammates. Defense is not only an individual task but a team strategy.

Take face-guarding, for example. It’s highly effective for keeping the ball out of a particular player’s hands, making them work extra hard to get open and potentially stopping them from impacting the game. But, on the other hand, it takes you completely out of the team’s defensive scheme, removes you from help situations, and puts much more pressure on your teammates. Not to mention, face-guarding a player will wear you out as a defender, potentially decreasing your energy to produce on the offensive end. It can be good or bad, depending on the situation.

Closeouts are similar. Each style of closeout has pros and cons—and most coaches will assign a closeout style to each of their players and how they should close out on each of the opposing team’s players.

We can close out aggressively or recklessly to ensure we take away the catch and shoot by a knockdown shooter, but this usually takes us out of the play and creates an advantage for the offense if they decide to pump fake and attack. This is referred to as running a shooter off the line. And if a coach asks an athlete to run a shooter off the line, it’s because the other four defenders are prepared for the help needed.

We can close out conservatively or “short” if we want to ensure that we take away a driving attack to the basket by a dynamic playmaker. However, this usually leaves the door open for great looks at three-pointers with a late contest or no contest at all. This is referred to as containing. And if a coach asks an athlete to simply contain the drive, they’re willing to live with a few open shots knocked down by that player.

So, as a defender on a closeout, we need to consider these two scenarios and dozens of others because that closeout will have an immediate impact, whether good or bad, on the rest of the defense.

If we pretend for a second that basketball is purely physical and the scouting report doesn’t matter for how coaches create a defensive game plan, chances are there is a common denominator for how we can achieve our first goal in a closeout.

Sprinting.

If we simply sprint to a closeout, we can close space and make plays. Then, we can layer in the X’s and O’s of the game plan on top of that, depending on the coach’s instructions on how to close out on who.

We don’t want choppy feet.

We don’t want high hands.

We want an all-out burst of speed to close the space and then decelerate, contest, or react however our game plan is designed for us. But the key is to sprint.

The two most important qualities needed to be an effective defender in a closeout will be acceleration and deceleration. We need to be able to get going in a hurry and stop on a dime.

General strength training can help athletes check both of these boxes, giving them the ability to produce a ton of force as well as redirect that force (not absorb it) when it’s time to stop.

Other lifts like box squats and any compound lift with a pause rep will also be great options for mastering the skill of going from a relaxed state to an explosive state, similar to accelerating and decelerating.

Of course, sprinting is one of the absolute best ways to get faster. Short or longer distances. Standing or kneeling start. All curves and angles. Just sprint. Combine this with a solid strength program, and we’re cooking with fire now

And lastly, the most specific of them all, practicing a sprint-stop closeout. A full sprint to a two- to three-step deceleration. This is the most versatile, general, and effective closeout style if we don’t consider individual game planning. This closes space and allows the players to get into the best positions to make the next play.

2. Lateral Shuffle

The lateral shuffle is the most popular defensive footwork strategy that we have, but it is also the most misunderstood. The lateral shuffle, of course, is the defensive slide. This is a fundamental aspect of basketball, considering nearly half of your time on the court is spent defending your basket and trying to prevent the opposing team from scoring on you.

Drills like lateral lunges will help you build the strength and stability that apply to this movement. Lateral bounds will help you develop power in the frontal plane. Resisted shuffles will help you bridge the gaps between strength, power, and speed. But before we dive into the training, I’ve got to get a few things off my chest about the defensive slide.

What I was taught about the defensive slide growing up largely turned out to be incorrect and inefficient. The most important message I want to convey in this segment about the defensive slide is that it is okay, and normal, to have some uniqueness in biomechanics from athlete to athlete. It is widely accepted in the basketball community that nearly every athlete will have a slightly (sometimes drastically) different form with their jump shot. No two players shoot exactly the same.

There is a technical model of a “perfect” form jump shot that we base our fundamental teaching on, but over time, each athlete’s execution will turn into a form of its own based on several factors, such as limb lengths, lever angles, strength levels, and so much more.

Also, guess what? Rarely do the best shooters at every level look identical to that “perfect” model.

• Reggie Miller’s elbow sticks out.
• Kevin Durant begins his shot on the weak side hip.
• Steph Curry’s feet are never squared.
• Ray Allen flicks the ball with his guide hand thumb.

These are widely accepted nuances of jump shot form. But still, when it comes to the lateral shuffle, we expect there to be ONE way to perform the defensive slide. That doesn’t seem fair to the athletes.

Just like a jumper, the defensive slide will vary from athlete to athlete based on many factors.

The shooters listed above were able to find success because even though they may deviate from the norm, they adhered to some best practices or principles of a jump shot, such as having your hand under the ball, having the ball roll off your pointer and middle fingers, snapping your wrist as you follow through, etc.

A defensive slide also has principles that help an athlete use this movement efficiently. Slides will look different, but the best lateral shuffles have these principles in common:

1. Initiating the shuffle with a push from the top leg.
2. External rotation of the non-pushing leg and hip.
3. Moving with aggression and anticipation.

That’s it. If those three things occur on a slide, I am not too concerned with how it looks in any other way. So many fake fundamentals have been assigned to defense over the years—many of them are inconsequential.

A defensive stance height and width are completely individual preferences. Do you think Nikola Jokic can get as low as Jamal Murray? Heck no. Different body types, limb lengths, joint angles, etc.

What an athlete does with their arms/hands while they slide is also completely an individual preference. This can also be an element of team strategy based on where you have help-side defense, who you’re guarding, and who else is on the opposing team.

And now, the elephant in the room: the feet. Can they cross? Do we want short, choppy slides or longer strides? What if the feet come together during the slide?

Honestly, I’ve seen some of the best defenders in the world do all of these things. I don’t think they matter as much as people want to believe.

At one of the last clinics I went to, one of the presenters spent 20 minutes of his presentation teaching the slide. He taught the best stance, the best slide technique, the best footwork. When the athletes went live, all the drills went down the drain. Literally everything they worked on NOT doing happened.

False steps happened.

Feet crossing happened.

Not being in a low stance happened.

But…defensive stops also happened.

Feet crossing or coming near each other in a slide is not as detrimental as we once believed. If you watch athletes perform the action, when one leg pushes, the other leg externally rotates and pulls with the heel to continue the flow of that energy and continue to move laterally in space. After those two actions, there is a recovery phase in which both feet are underneath the hips and off the ground for a split second; in certain cases, those feet will actually slightly cross.

This can happen due to circumstances and the context of the game that are out of the player’s control.

Sometimes, the athlete loses their balance, gets bumped, or simply gets their feet tangled up in the traffic of the game. This may cause an athlete to need to cross their feet to regain balance or stability and try to get back into position to make a play.

Also, an athlete’s limb lengths contribute to this happening and can make it inevitable. Basketball bodies come in many shapes and sizes, and long legs are common. I’ve noticed that having long legs and a little more vertical displacement on their shuffle will lead to an athlete’s feet coming close together or crossing. This results from their legs being off the ground for a slightly longer amount of time and just needing some more space and time to recover before the next shuffle—it’s not necessarily a good or a bad thing, just something that can naturally occur.

With that being said, am I advising coaches to teach athletes a shuffle with the legs crossing? Absolutely not. But if an athlete is making consistent stops, moving well, staying healthy, and just so happens to cross their feet every now and then during a slide, I think it’s safe to let it slide (no pun intended). It’s not the deadly mistake we once thought it was, especially because the offense is so talented in today’s game; you really shouldn’t be sliding more than two slides in any direction anyway—it’s too slow.

Again, the most important components will be a powerful push with the top leg, the external rotation of the other leg, and approaching each slide with aggression and anticipatory movement.

Let’s look into the physical qualities needed to build up a really strong lateral shuffle. From a mobility standpoint, we need to access decent ranges of external hip rotation and internal hip rotation, as well as adduction and abduction. These give us the fluidity to move our hips through space at various angles and through all three planes of motion.

I’m not saying we need to get a goniometer out and measure exact ranges, but a simple eye test should get the job done. Generally, if it looks or sounds painful for athletes to showcase their ranges of motion in these areas, that’s a good sign it could use some work. Also, if there are majorly apparent discrepancies between sides, that could be something to look further into or have a medical staff member perform some joint range testing.

The consequence of not improving and/or maintaining these hip ranges would be an inability to execute one of the three major principles of the lateral slide: the external rotation of the non-pushing leg. This would leave our athlete with a very squared-off, slow, and inefficient shuffle that looks like defense from the 1930s.

To address these mobility demands, I really love these three drills that have remained a staple in our programs over the years.

• 90/90 switches with lift
• Hip airplanes
• KB weight shifts

From a performance expression standpoint, it is crucial for athletes to have strength in the frontal and transverse planes. This not only provides stability to the system but also serves as a baseline of force for creating power and speed.

Although the above exercises build strength, they also have some built-in mobility benefits as a secondary use, even if they aren’t the main lift of the day.

Another general quality we can help our athletes build is a base of plyometric fundamentals. Using plate straddle reaction hops or lateral rebound jumps to increase elasticity, lateral bounds or slant board lateral bounds to increase lateral power production, or even practicing the lateral shuffle skill (especially under load) are all great ways to enhance athletic outputs.

Lastly, the ultimate specificity would be simply going out on the court and guarding people. I love implementing small-sided games to put the defense at a disadvantage and force a chaotic environment for athletes to grow in.

For the drill above, once the ball is released, the defense can slide or run and touch the cone that is one to two strides away. This takes them out of position by one to two steps. The offense then attacks, and it’s a live one-on-one. You can set constraints like spots on the court, maximum dribble count, driving direction, or pretty much whatever your imagination can think of.

While you may not always get the perfect lateral shuffle—or maybe the athlete will use a completely different strategy—you still help them build up a valuable accumulation of reps. That is helpful for future scenarios when they can pull from those past training experiences to make the right play.

In fact, one of the other footwork strategies you may see during these live drill interactions is…the crossover run.

3. Crossover Step/Run

Aside from the defensive slide, the crossover step (or crossover run) is the most prominent and effective defensive footwork strategy basketball players use. Sliding laterally is far too slow for playing effective defense. We need an alternative method to make up ground if we get beaten and also potentially beat the offensive player to the spot to play aggressively and proactively on the defensive end.

The crossover step is the bridge that takes us from the shuffle into a sprint-like posture so we can turn and run or at least square back up with the ball handler to get back into a slide.

Quick terminology check: I am describing what some may refer to as a lateral run and a lateral run step. Those terms were coined by the legendary coach Lee Taft, a pioneer in teaching authentic sports movements as it relates to speed and agility—one of the most valuable resources in the field.

When I was introduced to this concept, it had slightly different terminology, so I’m in the habit of calling this the “crossover” version. More importantly, this has been the term that works well for my athletes and in my setting. Although it would be nice, having one set of nomenclature that spans an entire industry is difficult. My two cents here would be to choose the terminology you can be consistent with and that your athletes understand.

One of the best things about the crossover step is that it can simply be a step that bridges the gap between two movements, such as a slide to a sprint, or it can also be a continuous action that turns into a movement of its own, such as a crossover run where the athlete sprints on a diagonal path for a distance of several steps.

Just like the defensive slide, some principles need to happen to make the most of the crossover step. Those principles are:

1. The movement must be initiated by a dynamic repositioning of the lead foot, never a static start position.
2. As the lead leg repositions and initiates the movement with a push, the opposite leg will externally rotate (similar to the slide) and strike down under the athlete’s center of mass.
3. The athlete’s torso will rotate toward the direction they want to travel as they bring the initial pushing leg across their midline.

While principles 1 and 2 are similar to the defensive slide, it’s the third principle that separates the two. When the torso rotates, it allows the athlete to commit to a diagonal path rather than staying on a lateral path like a slide. The external rotation of the non-pushing leg in conjunction with the torso rotation clears the way for this movement to occur. As the non-pushing leg strikes under the hips, the initial pushing leg will recover and swing across the front side of the body to then repeat the gait process for as many steps as needed before moving to a new strategy or change of direction.

When it comes to strength, many of the same general strength patterns we covered already are also applicable. Lateral lunges, transverse lunges, Cossack squats, and other frontal and multiplane movements are key.

From a mobility perspective, we need to be able to tap into the same elements discussed for the defensive slide. The only major difference in focus with the crossover step is ensuring we have adequate adduction ranges, especially in knee and hip flexion. Other than that, we still need great foot and ankle stiffness, strength, and power production capabilities.

There are many variations of this, many ways to load it, and even machines you can use to set this up. In general, just try to load this movement pattern moderately to build up a foundation of strength. You can then build onto it with some more specific training.

From a plyometric, something like a rear foot elevated lateral rebound jump can be a great drill to isolate both adduction and abduction of a single leg, forcing the foot to respond and stabilize from the ground up as the leg swings across the body’s midline.

Basketball movements occur at many different angles, and the crossover run is an excellent way to access those unique angles of the game. Linear speed is a massive bang for your buck when it comes to speed, but don’t neglect the curves and angles of sprinting to help bridge that gap from training to on-court speed transfer.

Another great small-sided game to throw in—perfect for a group setting—is the closeout to one more drill. There are two offensive players; I like to play corner and wing. The defense or coach begins with the ball, and the drill is initiated with a pass. The offense has zero dribbles, one pass, and one shot as a unit. They can use the shot or pass however they want.

Defense can earn one point if the offense misses a shot that is well contested and two points for pass deflections, turnovers, blocks, or shot clock violations. The offense can’t hold the ball for more than two seconds before passing or shooting.

As the drill begins, the defense must take the shot away on the closeout, force a pass, and then sprint to a contest on that shot. Players will get creative and find ways to naturally evolve the drill as they get more and more reps. This incorporates every movement that we discussed in the article.

Mastering the art of defense is a process, but it can be one of the most rewarding efforts a hooper can make. Defense is truly a game-changing skill to have and makes any player a valuable asset to any team.

By reverse-engineering the physical tools athletes need to build a robust foundation of strength, speed, and agility, we can help them transfer those gains to their sports skills and become lockdown defenders.

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

Track and field, the greatest sport in the world, is brutal, unforgiving, and fair. A race’s victory goes to the person who deserves it the most. For most meets, we don’t use stopwatches and subjective judgment; rather, we use highly sophisticated timing equipment with multiple perspectives and angles at the finish line. The multiple cameras go to a computer that captures the “photo finish” by measuring the “torso” of the athlete. To quote the commentators at the recent World Championships in Hungary, “You must know how to lean at the finish.”

Consider, for a moment, the razor-thin margins that decide the outcome of a race—mere inches, tenths, hundredths, or even thousandths of a second. Each season, there will inevitably be races where the line between securing a championship, triumphing in a dual meet, or breaking a world record hinges on an athlete’s finesse in that critical lean at the finish line.

As a high school track and field coach, I have weathered the emotional rollercoaster of races, oscillating between sheer elation and profound disappointment in the results. It’s a journey that spans four years of relentless training, encompassing 10 months of each year, all to culminate in a decisive lean!

When I was a high school athlete, many of the timers were either coaches or moms equipped with stopwatches. My coach used to emphasize that “leaning forward a bit early and adding a slight grunt could shave off a couple of tenths.” Coaching guru Kebba Tolbert, coach at Harvard, shared a photo of himself during his high school days, showcasing a Michael Jackson “Smooth Criminal”-inspired lean at the finish line of his race.

Throughout my career, I’ve witnessed every imaginable variation of the “lean.” From the Windmill, Chest Out, and Arm/Shoulder Push to the Forward Head Dip, Dive, and a myriad of others—I’ve seen them all. Surprisingly, each of these finishing techniques can be effective at some level. The Dive will get you on the local news. However, it’s a delicate art, and a common problem for most high school athletes is either leaning prematurely or far too late in their races. Regardless, at any track meet, you will hear the same thing yelled at the end of a close race, “LEAN!”

Recently, one of the fastest humans alive told me:

“(How to finish) is something most coaches at this level believe you should have already learned from your first coach. But most first coaches don’t teach that. And your high school coach will probably think the same thing. And the cycle continues until they realize no one has taught you how to lean.”

As a high school coach in California, the stakes are undeniably high. Winning a race or securing a placement can be the key to victory in a dual meet or an opportunity to advance to the next round of post-season or clinch a championship title. Having your athlete out-lean an opponent for a second-place finish, especially in dual meets where points are scored in a 5-3-1 fashion, changes the entire meet. Going 1-2 not only secures valuable points but also grants your team an impressive 8-1 advantage.

In the NCAA, championships are often decided by competitors who secure a place finish by the narrowest of margins. These points carry immense significance, highlighting the critical importance of each place and the ultimate finish of a race.

On the global stage of events like the World Championships, Olympics, or prestigious Diamond League races, the stakes are not only about glory but also about substantial financial rewards. Consider the scenario of traveling all the way from Jamaica to Budapest, enduring an 11-hour-and-10-minute flight, only to miss out on a medal by a mere one-thousandth of a second. This unfortunate fate happened to Oblique Seville in the 100m event during the recent World Championships. The difference between victory and a fourth-place finish in such elite competitions can translate to a staggering $16,000 in prize money—a fortune lost by the slimmest of margins, sheer thousandths of a second.

Image 5. Screenshot from results posted on the World Athletics website.

Individual Event Prize Money

• Gold: US $70,000
• Silver: US $35,000
• Bronze: US $22,000
• Fourth place: US $16,000
• Fifth place: US $11,000
• Sixth place: US $7,000
• Seventh place: US $6,000
• Eighth place: US $5,000

Race Examples with a Lean

Countless examples abound at every track meet worldwide, a tradition that has continued since the inception of this sport. While I could highlight numerous instances, even from my team this past season, I’ve instead selected a few notable examples with links to excellent breakdowns of the events.

Allyson Felix vs. Jeneba Tarmoh

During the 2008 100m Time Trials for the 100m dash, Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix unofficially finished in third and fourth place. The top three athletes were set to qualify for the Olympics. However, following a timer-issued protest, it was determined that both athletes had recorded an identical time of 11.068 seconds, resulting in a dead heat or tie.

USATF had no established policy to address this situation. Ultimately, it was decided that a runoff would occur after the 200m races later that week. Jeneba chose to withdraw from the runoff, allowing Allyson to secure her spot at the Olympics. She went on to earn three gold medals in that Olympic Games (in the 200m, 4x100m, and 4x400m events) and place fifth overall in the 100.

Nick Symmonds vs. Khadevis Robinson

One of America’s all-time greats in the 800m, Nick Symmonds, was out-leaned in the 2008 U.S. Indoor Championships Men’s 800m by Khadevis Robinson. Nick would go on to say, “A lean can be the difference between winning and losing.”

What Do the Coaches and Athletes Say?

Coaching at the high school level, I avidly follow the NCAA and professional competitions and even host a popular podcast. Throughout my journey, I’ve had the privilege and honor of interviewing some of our sport’s most brilliant minds and accomplished athletes. Naturally, I posed a question to them: Do you intentionally practice for the finish? Is the art of leaning at the finish line a part of your training regimen? Their answers surprised me.

I made a commitment to maintain their anonymity, but to bolster credibility, I provided some accolades to accompany their responses (with permission granted for the use of each quote).

High School Hall of Fame Coach (California)

“I do teach the finish. Cues are lean, dip, windmill. I’m not a big fan of the both arms back, chest out technique. Lots of falls with that. Windmilling the arms is important, as it counters the forward rotation. So it’s torso that counts at the line, and that could mean chest, shoulder, or beer belly.”

High School Coach, Multiple Times Coach of the Year (California)

“The funny thing is I do not, and even more funny, I have no reason why I have not. Even better than that, all my kids lean well anyway.”

High School National Coach of the Year and California Coach of the Year

“I teach leaning through the line. Most athletes tend to slow down and pull their chest back from the line. I have found that the best kids on your team need and deserve the time to be taught this part of a race.”

Four-Time Orange County Coach of the Year

“Yes, we teach to run through the finish and will end a practice by walking and visualizing the end of a close race. Not to panic and where on the track to lean.”

D1 College Coach in California

“I do not teach to lean through the line at practice. My fear is that by doing this in practice, an injury will occur.”

Arizona Area Collegiate Assistant Coach of the Year

“Yes, I teach how to finish the race with a good lean.”

400m Hurdler World Medalist

“Yes, we always worked on it around the week of conference or a big meet, but that was about it.”

One of the Fastest Men to Ever Live

“I don’t practice that. It’s just not at the top of the list to practice. However, my mom taught me when I was young.”

One of America’s Best 100m Sprinters

“No, sir. Normally, nobody is next to me, so I just practice running through the line.”

Multiple Gold Medalist Sprinter and Women’s Relay Record-Holder

“Yes, I do practice leaning at the line in some practices. Depends on the coach. I have had some that focused on it, and some did not.”

One of America’s Best 200m Runners Ever

“Not really. That’s more of an instinctual thing. The only times I’ve done it is when someone is on my tail.”

NCAA Coach of the Year and Sprint Guru

“We don’t practice that. Folks get distracted trying to lean instead of just sprinting well… and most leans I see at meets are done very poorly—people just dip their heads early.”

One of the Greatest 400m Hurdlers Ever

“No.”

CEO of One of the Best Private Sprinting Coaching Groups in the Country

“We don’t practice leaning more than we just practice ‘running through’ and looking in the distance.”

The conclusion is quite evident: there exists no consensus regarding training for this particular aspect of the race. What’s more, the controversy surrounding it surprised me. In fact, one coach even shared that their head coach outright rejected and prohibited any form of lean-focused training during their sessions.

What Does the Timer Measure?

So, I then talked to the timers and got their perspective. They are the ones, after all, who are clicking the button to issue the mark.

Chris Drescher of Finished Results Timing, Brian Sparacino, and Wilson Morales. Wilson is one of only two NACAC-certified finish photo judges in America and is often tasked to oversee finish photos for accuracy at World Athletics events.

“Where do we place the line scan on the body? The simplest way to explain this is to imagine a Ken doll or Barbie doll. Take off the head, arms, and legs; the remaining torso is all that matters.  A mistake that I’ll see most often is using the shoulder as the first part to cross. Technically, it’s the clavicle, not the shoulder. So, if an athlete uses the swim and smile technique to try and gain an advantage, the timer should put the line at the clavicle, which is essentially the mid-point at the shoulder.”

The NFHS book states:

“The endpoint of the torso is the outer end/articulation of the collarbone (clavicle). Normally, this is approximately at the border of the middle and outer third of the distance between the neck and the peak of the shoulder. Although the pelvic area is anatomically part of the torso, for consistency in photo finish judging, it is more practical to define the lower end of the torso as the horizontal cross section of the body through the hip line (an arbitrary line encircling the fullest part of the hips, between abdomen and crotch).”

“The most important thing at the end is that these systems and the operators bring equality and fairness to every race. This means no matter which heats you run in any race, your time has the same standards, something that manual timing does not offer, where officials activate time for each individual based on their visual appreciation of the gunfire and stop the time by a visual appreciation of the torso at the finish line. With fully automatic timing (FAT), no human intervention is between time activation (other than the starting gun for the race, but a transducer detects the signal and activates the time) and the operator that captures and evaluates the image.”

What Is Fully Automatic Timing (FAT) for Sports?

Fully automatic timing (FAT) is a popular type of sports timing that captures digital race results that are accurate to at least 1/100th of a second  (0.01) but preferably 1/1,000th of a second (0.001). Fully automatic timing systems require a start signal, running time, and capture device to be digitally synchronized to ensure accuracy. True FAT also requires the timing device to be activated automatically by a start signal rather than manually (e.g., as with a stopwatch). The finish time must also be captured electronically to remove any human error or delay.

Training for the Finish

My team prioritizes training for the finish line. However, I have reservations about having my athletes perform reps and practice leaning at the conclusion of training sessions—my preference has been for them to run through the line. Yet, here’s an alternative approach: why not conclude a practice session by having athletes line up about 10 meters from the finish line? In their respective lanes, they can walk (or even jog) to the finish line alongside 5–6 other athletes. This exercise not only helps them familiarize themselves with the movement and timing of the lean but, more importantly, allows them to visualize winning a close race at the line. This has proven very helpful to my athletes over the years.

It is evident that many NCAA and professional athletes do not incorporate this crucial element into their training. However, I have been told that Bobby Kersee and Curtis Taylor of Oregon do incorporate the finish in practices. Engaging in a simple routine of walking, jogging, visualizing, and giving oneself the cue to lean at the finish costs nothing. It serves as a preventive measure against leaning too early and equips athletes with a plan for when it truly matters. And it will matter!

It is also clear that high school coaches are responsible for imparting the art of the finish. If athletes don’t grasp the significance of the finish with their torso, they may struggle to grasp it at higher levels of competition.

Lead Photo by Stanley Hu/Icon Sportswire.

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

My career as a high school strength and conditioning coach has spanned nearly 30 years. Over that time, my methods, beliefs, and even things I hold as core aspects of my programming have evolved and continue to do so. Coach Mike Boyle once said, “We all think we are doing things the best way possible, or we wouldn’t be doing them. The key is to keep questioning those to make sure.”

Over the last few years, two of the most influential coaches for me have been Cal Dietz and Tony Villani. Cal’s role in my evolution as a coach has been a long, slow, consistent trickle: I watch or listen to his videos and presentations or read articles he has written and often see better ways of doing things. My relationship with Tony, however, has been more of a series of watershed moments that began with attending a clinic at Strong Rock Christian School in Georgia four or five years ago.

While Tony is probably best known for his XPE NFL Combine Prep success with partner Matt Gates and then, more recently, for his SHREDmill, what I saw that day was a thought process and method to teach our athletes ways to gain separation and use optimal change of direction techniques. Within a few minutes, I knew the way I would teach movement was going to change forever. While Villani’s Game Speed Curriculum was my initial “whoa” moment, the use of the SHREDmill to develop our athlete’s ability to maximize force in the process of acceleration is the latest.

The SHREDmill is a self-powered speed training system that Tony first invented and used in 2011. It helps maximize an athlete’s potential for peak acceleration and top-end speed without the need for space to sprint. The SHREDmill has revolutionized how our athletes train and more than proven its value in the time we have implemented it. In this article, I will discuss our progression to Cal’s Performance Pattern Cycling Method along with the SHREDmill (and a few other pieces of technology) and how it became a powerful solution to our space and time limitations.

Finding a Solution in the Performance Pattern Cycling Method

My inspiration for this article was the overwhelming number of questions I have been getting recently about how we use the SHREDmill in a team and classroom setting. One limitation of technology in high school strength and conditioning is the ratio of student-athletes to workstations. While some schools have access to two or more SHREDmills, most facilities have just one.

This is the case at Metrolina Christian Academy (MCA) as well. While a small school (400 students), we run as many as 40–50 athletes at once through a session (a max of 45 minutes of training time). I bring up Cal and Tony in this context because a combination of protocols I have learned from both has become a standard best practice in our programming at MCA.

In addition to our limit of just a single SHREDmill, we only have five power racks. This fact was the original inspiration for our move away from a more traditional use of Coach Joe Kenn’s “Tier System” as the base structure for our sessions. At times, I found it challenging to plan for groups as large as ours, given our space and equipment limitations. The solution I turned to was one of the tweaks inspired by Cal Dietz—his Performance Pattern Cycling Method was just what the doctor ordered.

The basic explanation that Cal gives on his blog for PPCM is “cycling through different exercises in a specific order to optimize performance results…and avoid negative patterns or dysfunction in subsequent exercises” (which is outlined in detail here). Essentially, this means taking a cycle of movements or exercises and putting them in a sequence that allows coaches to build on and potentially improve the performance in later movements in the cycle. The most common example I’ve heard Cal discuss is to pair a bilateral squat movement with a cross crawl or march. This will return the athlete to the optimal unloaded linear movement pattern (optimal sprint/walking gait) that the loaded bilateral movement can negatively affect.

While you may or may not prescribe to the idea that the bilateral squat causes the gait pattern to change (not this article’s emphasis, but another worthwhile rabbit hole topic to seek out from Cal, I assure you), I have seen it to be true, as Cal suggested. I use this as just one example of many I have learned in my ongoing deep dive into Cal Dietz and his methods.

How does this help us with our limitations? We can now set up many more stations for our weight room training session. Instead of having a group of 6–8 athletes working in five racks, we can have smaller groups rotating through a wide range of movements relative to the goal for the day. We have the ability to expose our athletes to a wide range of stimuli in an order that builds on each task to hopefully multiply the results efficiently.

This method has proven to be very “tier system” adjacent and easy for our athletes and coaches to understand. It has also proved to be a driver of intent and an educational tool, as our athletes have learned that every task we assign holds great importance for the end results. The driver of that piece was the use of technology to test WHILE we train.

I’m often asked how we get our athletes to buy into things like RPR or some of the neuro-driven movements we employ. It’s as simple as providing live and instant feedback using technology. PPCM has allowed our program to run smoothly despite our space limitations. It has also allowed us to optimize strengths, such as access to a wealth of technology and the ability to provide live feedback to our athletes. One note is we do not do exactly what Cal Dietz prescribes—we have developed our own plan based on our needs, equipment, time and space limits, etc., while trying to stay as close to the core of the PPCM as possible.

We use these cycles each of the three days we train in our weight room. For the purposes of this article, I will focus on our heavy lower body day. Here is an example of a common session: this will be after a short five-minute warm-up period utilizing RPR, spring ankle, and isometric split squats (for example):

Four Dozen Kids, One SHREDmill

We generally have about 45 minutes, maximum, to get this session in. Ideally, you would like to have the space and equipment to start each athlete at a safety bar split squat and progress from there. When we have a smaller group training, we do this. When we have a group over 20, we assign each group to a movement as their starting point. As they finish, they move to the next movement in the exact order. This is one of the issues we had to work through.

The athletes naturally wanted to race through and skip something or go back to it. We really had to reinforce the thought process of “If you are done before the group in front of you, rest!” Our goal is normally five sets of our strength lifts. You will see above that we have fewer sets prescribed for some. This is really a result of trial and error. After almost a year, we have narrowed down a method that works for OUR situation. We know we will almost always be able to finish that circuit in our prescribed time when we use this.

At first, we tried to use a strict timer for each. This may not sit well with some of my more organization-driven colleagues, but we quickly did away with the clock. We found that once the athletes understood the process, we could let them drive the circuit, and we could coach. Our athletes handle the iPads and understand the process to work as a team to change names and use all of our technology and the SHREDmill.

The SHREDmill is especially easy to use. Our athletes sometimes use a personal three-number code that keeps track of their metrics in the cloud (if it’s an assessment), and other times use free run mode (no code, just set the time and go). We have found that once the athlete memorizes their three-digit code, there is no time lost compared to a free run. Every 5–10 athletes (on average), the belt may slide one way or the other (based on how the athlete pushes). It is a quick and easy process to reset it with your foot and be on the run. We have taught our athletes how to easily adjust the belt as needed by using their foot to push the corner into alignment. Beyond that, there is little to no setup between reps.

This allows me and our coaches to have little involvement in that aspect, freeing us to be present and coach. The intent that the competitive atmosphere of live feedback builds has been incredible and yielded results that I never imagined we could see. One immediate example comes from our 5 into 10 fly data. Before SHREDmill and the full-fledged PPCM, we considered a 1.28-second time good for males and a sub-1.25 excellent. Those numbers are now common for all but very large or very young athletes. It now takes a 1.21 or below to break our leaderboard, and we have had an athlete hit 1.13 and 1.14 (he also ran a 6.29 sixty at a national baseball event).

The intent that the competitive atmosphere of live feedback builds has been incredible and yielded results that I never imagined we could see, says @MarkHoover71. Share on X

The reason I point that out is not to compare our program to anyone else’s. When I took the position at MCA and did an across-the-board evaluation of athlete needs, the top need was to improve early acceleration and decrease the time needed to reach a high percentage of max velocity. We developed our program this year to make this a priority. Tony’s influence in this area not only provided us with the ability to see great improvements in horizontal force production, which transferred to improved early acceleration, but it also led to incredible improvements in max velocity miles per hour—this despite the minimal use of any max-velocity mechanics drills in our field and court sport preparation. Instead, I compare it to where we started and hopefully help others in a similar situation to also see improved results.

If you don’t have the technology available, it’s very simple to replicate with less or none. We test our vertical jump (a different day) on a Skyhook Jump mat. A jump mat can be used and produce similar results from an intent and feedback perspective. If you don’t have VBT? You can do timed sets, as I wrote about in this article.

My final takeaway for you is to say that the targeted use of PPCM is just my solution. Your solution may or may not be the same. My advice is to read, study, and grow. The knowledge you acquire will be in your back pocket and allow you to take inventory of what you’ve learned and quickly apply those solutions. PPCM and the SHREDmill are powerful tools in my inventory. However, with or without access to technology, your growth mindset can offer a solution that can help you make the best out of any situation, regardless of constraints and limitations.

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

As performance coaches, if athletes come to us looking to get faster on the field, we typically assume they want to improve their speed moving forward and their ability to move side to side. But what if the limiting factor to improving their speed in a game isn’t their ability to sprint forward or transition laterally? What if their limitations are displayed in the ability to retreat—or, in other words, their ability to transition and move backward?

Before going into more specifics on retreating speed, I first want to define “game speed” and the difference between linear and game speed. Game speed is the ability to either create or take away space on the field. Typically, offensive players look to create space from defensive players, while defensive players aim to take away space from offensive players.

Creating or taking away space effectively requires an athlete to transition fluidly and explosively through all movement patterns and directions. While we cannot undervalue how important maximizing an athlete’s top-end speed is, it does not guarantee an athlete will be effective when it comes to game speed.

Why Is Retreating Speed So Important?

Now that we have a basic understanding of linear speed versus game speed, we can take a deeper look into a specific area of improving game speed—the ability to retreat explosively.

Let’s use the example of an NFL cornerback and wide receiver. The job of the cornerback is to not let the wide receiver catch the ball. To do this, they must minimize the space between themselves and the receiver. Receivers are some of the fastest athletes on the field. If the receiver is accelerating downfield, cutting in their route, slamming on the brakes, and reaccelerating, the cornerback needs to be able to explosively transition at all angles backward.

In this matchup between Stefon Diggs and Marshon Lattimore, at the 1:24 mark, you can see a great example of a hip turn to transition just about directly backward by Marshon Lattimore. If you look closely when watching sports, you’ll see these types of movements happen all the time. Of course, this seems obvious, and we know this is a key contributor to high levels of performance—but I don’t see enough sports performance coaches actually teaching these skills.

The majority of speed training I see is linear speed (which is an absolute must) and some random cone drills. The problem with most change of direction drills is they do not have any context behind them. Improving game speed is a skill, and understanding how athletes need to move in order to be effective allows you to break down movement to its simplest progression and then layer in more difficulty by manipulating speed, angles, and movement patterns to create elite movers.

In terms of developing retreating speed, the foundational movement is known as a hip turn. A hip turn occurs when an athlete needs to transition backward. The hips will pivot to the side the athlete intends to move. As the hips pivot, one foot strikes the ground. As the foot explosively strikes the ground, the hips reposition to move in the exact angle and direction the athlete intends to move.

The most common mistake I see coaches make when training athletes with this type of drill is having the athlete flip their hips to the side and hit the ground with both feet at the same time. When you strike the ground with both feet at the same time, you are no longer in a position to accelerate well. When striking with one foot and repositioning the hips, the lead leg is given the freedom to retract and strike the ground at a better angle for acceleration. If both feet hit the ground simultaneously, this cannot happen.

For a hip turn to be effective, the athlete’s initial foot strike has to be in front of their body. Some might consider this a false step and not an efficient method of movement. However, the athlete needs to strike the foot away from them to create a shin angle for better horizontal projection. This leads to better acceleration, no matter what direction they intend to move. Not only does the foot strike need to be in front of the body, but it also needs to be aggressive.

Progressing Retreating Drills

There are a few different strategies to use when progressing hip turn drills. First, I want to ensure athletes have the ability to retreat at any angle or direction behind them. Performing a hip turn and going into a sprint at a 45-degree angle behind you is easier than doing a complete 180-degree turn and going into a sprint. The more they work toward transitioning straight back, the more difficult it will be to reposition their hips, move in a straight path behind them, and not round their turn.

Begin with stationary drills and work toward being effective when moving at all angles backward. They can perform a hip turn into a sprint or even a shuffle. I encourage you to train different patterns—progress toward opening up directly behind them while maintaining a straight path. Rounding their turn can cause them to lose an angle on an opposing player. This can cost them a step or two, which can be the difference between making and not making the play.

As your athletes work toward mastering a 180-degree hip turn, you can begin to layer in drills by adding movement prior to a single hip turn. The intensity and difficulty of any change of direction are increased when you add more speed before a change of direction. Therefore, start with a single shuffle or a single lateral run step prior to performing a hip turn.

Since each of these movements can be performed over a relatively short distance, the intensity of the drill does not increase too much. Be sure to still encourage your athletes to move fast regardless of the distance of the drill. Performing the drill at half speed is not the same as performing it at full speed. Mastering the skill of speed drills means being able to perform them well at full speed.

You can increase the difficulty of the drill by adding more speed prior to the hip turn as well as adding in more changes of direction. You can also begin to pair hip turns with other movement patterns. Consider the drill’s intensity to ensure you get a high number of quality reps.

For the most part, keep the drill between two and four seconds. Keeping the drill this short will allow your athletes to perform a higher number of quality reps. This gives them more exposure and a better opportunity to learn the skill of the movement. Performing drills that last 10 seconds or more—especially done at maximum speed—will limit the number of reps the athlete can perform without getting tired to the point the speed session becomes a conditioning workout.

Continue increasing the drill’s difficulty by adding new layers of coordination and tougher movement problems. I particularly like using drills that require the athlete to perform multiple hip turns almost in succession. An example of this is video 5 below, where a hip turn is performed at the cone and then another almost immediately.

These are effective for helping defensive players recover and keep an angle. One-on-one matchups are a game of cat and mouse—defenders do not want to get spun around. The ability to perform hip turns in succession allows athletes to keep the opposing player directly in front of them.

Applying Multidirectional Plyometrics to Improve Retreating Power

Along with improving the actual skill of linking movement patterns for better retreating speed, we want to continue to improve power within these patterns. This can be done by performing multidirectional plyometrics with a focus on retreating. Similar to speed training, the majority of plyometric drills you see performed are straight up and down, traveling forward, or moving side to side.

When considering the movement of a basketball player, they play defense just about half of the time. Here, you’ll see Kobe Bryant playing lockdown defense by executing effective hip turns at the :17 and :19 marks of the video. Developing this type of mastery of movement is critical, so why don’t we put a much bigger emphasis on developing retreating power?

Earlier in this article, I reviewed the importance of a hip turn and how that is initiated with a single punch into the ground. Creating more power within this movement can greatly contribute to closing speed, particularly over short distances. When considering how to include retreating plyometrics in your program, you should progress toward developing unilateral retreating power. This can be done with a focus on minimizing time on the ground, maximizing distance, or a combination of these two key points of emphasis. The sets and reps will be the same as what you would program for your athletes with other plyometric drills.

Where Does This Fit Into Your Speed Training?

When programming speed, I take a different approach than the majority of programs I’ve seen. I have made speed the primary focus of my program, and I train a particular aspect of speed five days per week with my athletes. Two of those days focus on linear speed in the form of acceleration or max speed drills. The other three days are dedicated to improving the skill of game speed and linking movement patterns. On these days, there can be some overlap when performing attacking, lateral, or retreating drills.

Get creative and think of game scenarios in which athletes need to rapidly change their direction of movement. Manipulate the volume of drills as you see fit for your athletes and time your athletes regularly to ensure their speed continues to improve over the course of your program.

The drills do not need to look perfect every rep—as a matter of fact, they should not. If an athlete can perform a drill perfectly every time, they own that skill, so find a way to increase the difficulty of the drill by changing the speeds, angles, or movement patterns. Also, take note of the differences when linking movement patterns toward the left and the right, as I have seen a good bit of asymmetry (this is most likely due to an athlete playing primarily on one side of the field). Continue to build on your athlete’s strengths while working to eliminate any movement deficiencies that can expose them on the field.

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

In the 1968 Olympics, US weightlifter Tommy Suggs noticed that Russian coaches had a unique way of greeting athletes from other countries. They would shake with one hand and then reach around with the other to feel the thickness of their lower back muscles. Such was the importance these coaches placed on developing this muscle group.

In review, the erector spinae consist of three muscles that run vertically along both sides of the spine: iliocostalis, longissimus, and spinalis. Their functions include extension, flexion, and rotation of the torso. These muscles are also involved in spinal stability. As seen in the lead photo of the US Olympian Derrick Crass (photo by Bruce Klemens), fully developed erector spinae muscles resemble a pair of thick cables.

Strength coach Charles R. Poliquin believed that strong erector spinae muscles created an “irradiation effect,” such that if you strengthen these muscles, your strength in other lifts will improve. For example, Poliquin said performing barbell back extensions could enable you to lift more in the military press and the biceps curl. Spine biomechanics professor Dr. Stuart McGill agrees.

“Stiffening the core allows the hip and shoulder musculature to move the distal limbs without an energy leak as the spine bends,” says McGill. “A core that arrests spine movement transfers the power generated at the hips to use in Olympic lifts, military presses, and the like.” McGill adds that he has worked with elite weightlifters and world record holders in powerlifting, and the common factor among them was a “strong, stiffening core.”

Before getting into the pros and cons of various lower back exercises, let’s look at two sports that have taken a particular interest in developing the erector spinae muscles: powerlifting and weightlifting.

Getting “Back” into Powerlifting

In the early days of powerlifting, minimal “supportive gear” was allowed. Today, numerous powerlifting federations permit the use of gear such as squat suits that may add hundreds of pounds to a lifter’s performance. Whereas 700-pound bench presses and 900-pound squats are rare in one federation, 1000+ results in these lifts are commonplace in others. Beyond gear, there was the issue of technique.

Some powerlifters would squat with an upright style and a relatively narrow foot stance a half-century ago, a style that could be considered “quad-dominant.” However, allowing athletes to squat higher and wear special squat suits that support the spine has resulted in the popularity of a lift that resembles an ultrawide stance good morning. This style could be considered “hip-dominant.”

I discussed this new squatting technique with the late Carl Miller, a former coaching coordinator for USA Weightlifting who did extensive academic work in anatomy. Miller offered the theory that powerlifters figured that the knees would wear out before the hips, so they developed a squatting technique that would place more emphasis on the hips than the knees. He presents an interesting argument because there has been a significant increase in hip replacement surgeries among the general population in recent years. In other words, because knee replacement surgeries have become so effective, the hip is the next area to break down.

This technique may be better for boosting the numbers in powerlifting competitions, but this muscular imbalance may be a red flag for athletes in other sports. Just ask strength coach and posturologist Paul Gagné.

Gagné recently consulted with an NFL team that focused on partial squatting movements. He noticed that many of these athletes “were built like horses,” with considerable muscle mass around the hips and upper thighs and minimal development of the muscles around the knee. He believes such unbalanced development increases the risk of knee injuries.

As for how modern powerlifters should train, no discussion about powerlifting would be complete without a mention of Louie Simmons, one of the most influential coaches in powerlifting.

Although the squat and deadlift work the erector spinae muscles, Simmons believed that powerlifters should perform additional work for the lower back. One of his key predictor lifts was the standing good morning. Among Simmons’ influences was Bruce Randall, a strongman who bulked up to 401 pounds and could perform a good morning with 685 pounds. From there, Randall dropped nearly half his bodyweight to become Mr. Universe in 1959.

The Russian weightlifters in the 60s and 70s also performed good mornings for strength with a barbell on the shoulders. Leonid Taranenko is a former absolute world record holder in the clean and jerk with a best of 586 pounds in 1988, a record that stood for 33 years. In an interview with weightlifting sports scientist Bud Charniga, Taranenko said he would perform the exercise because he believed it was important to have a strong back in weightlifting. With the good morning, athletes lean forward, allowing their hips to shoot back to maintain their balance. Taranenko said he would straighten up when he felt pressure on the balls of his feet.

Many commercial gyms offer seated back extension machines that replicate the movement of a seated good morning. I believe the seated variations should probably be avoided by those with a history of lower back issues.

I say this because research conducted by Alf Nachemson of Sweden in 1975 showed that leaning forward about 15 degrees from a seated position can nearly double the compressive forces on the L2-3 vertebrae. In fact, about 30 years ago, a friend of mine with a history of lower back pain told me he decided to try such a machine. After performing just one set, he immediately had to be taken to the emergency room for severe muscle spasms that prevented him from walking.

As the powerlifting community focused on using the lower back muscles more in squatting, the weightlifting community was developing methods to use the lower back less, making additional work unnecessary.

A Tale of Two Pulling Techniques

In the 60s, Russia was the dominant force in weightlifting. Their coaches promoted a lifting style that extended the shoulders well in front of the bar when it passed the knees.

The Russian technique places a high level of stress on the spine for a prolonged period. Focusing on this technique resulted in these athletes developing tremendous erector spinae muscles, and they often included special exercises to strengthen the lower back.

In 1984, unnaturally high testosterone levels among athletes resulted in a doping ban for this hormone. Doping control affected lifters using the Russian pulling style because they could not recover adequately from the stress this technique placed on the lower back, at least not with the total volume of their training that they were accustomed to (for more on the triple extension technique, see my article).

In the early 80s, the Chinese took a particular interest in weightlifting, especially in the women’s division. They “changed the game” by looking for ways to modify pulling techniques to minimize the stress on the lower back for women. The style was more upright, with the shoulders staying on top of the bar during the pull throughout the lift.

The Chinese pull has a distinct advantage over triple extension because it uses the powerful Achilles tendon to assist the quads in producing power. Thus, their lifters raised their heels before full knee extension. They also avoid moving the shoulders in front of the knees at any point of the lift. As such, additional lower back exercises were unnecessary, and lifters could perform a higher volume of the classical lifts (e.g., snatch or clean and jerk). And because females tend to have relatively more strength in their legs than their lower backs (compared to men), this style proved superior.

As a result of this pulling technique, the Chinese women have been the dominant force in the Olympic and World Championships. In recent years, Chinese men have become an international powerhouse in the lighter bodyweight classes but struggle to find talent in the heavier classes. That said, if the Chinese enter a lifter in an international competition, odds are they will medal. Often, one or more of them will break a world record.

Modern technology allows coaches to analyze a weightlifter’s technique more precisely. Video 1 shows my former weightlifter, Christian Rivera. The first image was taken when we started working together and shows that he was pulling the bar straight up rather than towards his center of mass. The next clip shows a corrective exercise for this issue, followed by a lift with a more optimal bar path and a heavy lift in competition. At a bodyweight of 143 pounds, Christian broke the New England clean and jerk record with a lift of 288 pounds. 

Today, perhaps due to a lack of education and gyms being overwhelmed with athletes, many strength coaches only have their athletes perform Olympic lifts from the mid-thigh (hang) or blocks—the so-called “weightlifting derivatives.” These variations minimize the stress on the lower back from pulling off the floor. It also means the lower back muscles received little stimulation.

Besides these partial movements, many popular strength and conditioning programs focus on Bulgarian split squats, high hex bar deadlifts, and leg presses that do little to develop the lower back muscles. Athletes who focus on these lifts could benefit from additional exercises for the erector spinae This begs the question: “Which ones are the best?”

There are two major types of lower back exercises: those producing maximal resistance in the internal range (back extensions) and those producing maximal tension in the external range (reverse hypers and good mornings). Let’s start with back extensions.

Rediscovering Back Extensions

Back extensions strengthen the erector spinae muscles in the internal (shortened) range and strongly affect the gluteal muscles.

First, consider that back extensions can be used as a dynamic warm-up for the posterior chain muscles (hamstrings, glutes, lower back) at the beginning of a workout. In the 70s, I would train alongside Ken Clark at the Sports Palace Gym. Clark was an Olympian who clean and jerked 470 pounds in the 220-pound bodyweight class, a lift that I believe has yet to be matched. He would warm up with a few bodyweight back extensions before lifting.

By changing the angle of the bench (horizontal to incline), you can affect different portions of the strength curve, so variation ensures complete development of the muscles. Resistance can be increased by holding a weight plate across your chest and on your shoulders or a barbell across your shoulders, but having a barbell is more comfortable and you can pack on the plates.

Coach Poliquin liked performing back extensions on a 45-degree incline bench, holding the barbell at arm’s length (arms perpendicular to the floor) with a wide grip to increase the range of motion. From a muscle recruitment standpoint, Gagné says incline back extensions recruit more of the muscles below the L3 vertebrae, and conventional back extensions recruit more of the muscles above L3.

The Reverse Hyper Advantage

Reverse hypers strengthen the erector spinae muscles in the external (lengthened) range and strongly affect the gluteal muscles. Poliquin told me he saw gymnastic coaching books from east Germany and Hungary showing this exercise performed with resistance over a pommel horse. Resistance was provided by a kettlebell or a medicine ball. I’ve also seen a physical training book by Thomas DeLorme and Arthur Watkins, published in 1951, showing the exercise performed with iron boots. The 1985 German physiotherapy book Training Therapy: Prophylaxis and Rehabilitation, by Rolf Gustavsen and Renate Streeck, shows the performance of this exercise using cables for resistance.

Another interesting variation was performed by American weightlifter Roger Quinn. Chronic knees prevented Quinn from squatting heavily frequently. As such, he would focus on the Olympic lifts and then substitute a combination of other exercises for squats. One of these was a reverse hyper variation using manual resistance.

Quinn describes this exercise in an article published in the March 1974 issue of the International Olympic Lifter. He would lie face down over a gymnastic pommel horse and, while keeping his legs straight, Quinn would have one training partner apply manual resistance to his legs while another stabilized his upper body. “These reverse hyperextensions…seem to work the buttock muscles in the same fashion that the two-hand curl works the biceps,” said Quinn. “I feel that this exercise comes close to really isolating the buttocks while simultaneously employing the spinal erector muscles of the lower back.”

As for the first working prototypes of a reverse hyper machine, powerlifting guru Louie Simmons received the first patent on a device in 1993. Simmons also suffered a back injury and sought to rehab it by developing a reverse hyperextension machine. Resistance was applied by a strap that wrapped around the ankle; the strap was attached to a lever arm with a pivot point under the bench. This design enabled the legs to be pulled in line with and even under the hips, increasing the exercise’s range of motion and thus providing traction on the erector spinae.

Gagné also says the biggest and most common mistake when performing reverse hypers is lifting the legs horizontally (on the units with a platform parallel to the floor). Raising the feet to parallel or even higher, as many powerlifters recommend, will place adverse stress on the L3 to L5 vertebrae by causing the spine to hyperextend.”

Regarding kettlebell swings, which are external-range exercises, you must be careful to maintain a neutral spine when performing them. Often, the momentum these weights develop can encourage back rounding and take the tissues through a range of motion that may be too extreme. Also, don’t rely on a picture book to learn these exercises—seek the help of a qualified instructor.

As for reps and sets, because the erector spinae are primarily slow-twitch muscle fibers, coach Poliquin says you should perform phases of high-rep and low-rep protocols. The low reps will help with performance in heavy compound exercises such as squats, and the higher reps are essential to help prevent and rehabilitate lower back issues caused by poor muscular endurance.

The Issue is the Tissue!

Besides being used as a strength training exercise for the lower back, the Russians used several variations of good mornings and back extensions with light weights as a prophylactic/therapeutic exercise. Consider these as dynamic stretches.

Think about it: how many basic weight training exercises are performed with a “tight back,” such as a squat, deadlift, or power clean? Performing an exercise with a rounded back with a light weight (usually the empty bar) will help ease the tension developed during these exercises.

In 1974, weightlifting legend Tommy Kono wrote an article for Strength and Health magazine where he said that hard weightlifting training can cause the lumbar muscles to become overworked, such that they become stiff and “cannot relax or tighten completely.” He added, “Your back can become ‘stiff as a board’ with the lumbar muscles hard to the touch (‘all knotted up’), or the muscles so fatigued that it is like a spring that has been overstretched. In either case, you have lost the explosive contractile quality of the muscles in the lower back.”

The late Dr. Mel Siff told me this idea was often used in figure skating. After arching their lower back in a Biellmann spin (where the skater pulls the heel of their boot behind their head into a split), in practice, skaters would be instructed to touch their toes to prevent their back from cramping.

In 1986, weightlifting sports scientist Bud Charniga wrote an article about a rounded-back good morning holding a barbell. Using an empty bar, the athlete would bend forward and try to touch their head to their knees (shifting their hips back to maintain balance). Performing this exercise with just an empty barbell is extremely difficult.

As a compromise, I would often have my sprinters at Brown University perform it by holding a light weight plate (usually 10 pounds for females and 25 pounds for males) behind their shoulders, going down as far as comfortable. I would have them perform the exercise standing, with the rear foot elevated in a split, and seated. These were performed with light weights and only as a dynamic stretch. However, those with disc issues could aggravate their condition with these movements.

An alternative to these types of dynamic stretches is longitudinal osteoarticular decoaptation stretching, which is translated from the French acronym ELDOA. ELDOA is a form of fascia stretching developed by Dr. Guy Voyer that decompresses the entire spine and helps normalize the alignment of the vertebrae.

Through extensive research involving sophisticated diagnostic equipment, Voyer demonstrated that ELDOA can increase the space between each vertebral column segmentally; but rather than just muscles, ELDOA stretches the fascia.

Fascia is the tissue that connects and shapes every muscle, organ, blood vessel, and nerve. Of particular importance to athletes is that fascia envelopes and intertwines with the fibers of muscles and, therefore, plays a vital role in determining the range of motion of each joint. In effect, if the fascia is abnormal or injured, an athlete will never achieve optimal levels of flexibility, strength, and power, no matter how much static, PNF, or dynamic stretching they perform.

ELDOA is remarkably effective in treating herniated disks and back pain caused by many other conditions. As a bonus, one effect of myofascial stretching and ELDOA is an increased ability to recover from exercise. This effect enables athletes to increase the intensity and length of their conditioning programs and sports training sessions. Video 2 shows a tennis player who was coached by Gagné performing an ELDOA stretch for the lower back.

Finally, the current thinking in back pain rehabilitation appears to be that muscular endurance may be more important than absolute strength. For more on this subject, I highly recommend Dr. Stuart McGill’s extensively researched but highly readable textbook, Low Back Disorders, 3rd Edition.

I realize I’ve thrown a lot of controversial ideas at you, but what worked a half-century ago in strength coaching may not be what’s best for athletes today. It’s been said that “the Devil is in the details,” so stay on top of your game and take a closer look at lower back training.

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

Reed, D. Personal Communication about Tommy Suggs. 1976.

Poliquin, C. The Poliquin Principles, 3rd Edition. Poliquin Performance Center 2, LLC. 2016; p. 142.

McGill, S. Personal Communication. August 27, 2023.

Miller, C. Personal Communication. 2005.

Roach, R. “The Amazing Transformation of Bruce Randall.” Iron Game History. 2008;10(3) (Reprinted from Muscle, Smoke & Mirrors; House Publishing, 2008).

Charniga, A., Jr. “An Interview with Leonid Taranenko.” Sportivny Press. September 23, 1989.

Nachemson, A. “Disc Pressure Measurements.” Rheumatology Rehabilitation. 1975;14(3):129-43.

Charniga, A., Jr. “Can There Be Such a Thing as an Asian Pull?” European Weightlifting Federation Scientific Magazine. 2016;2(4):24-32.

Charniga, A., Jr., “The Ankle and the Asian Pull.” European Weightlifting Federation Scientific Magazine. No 12: January-April 2017.

DeLorme, T., and Watkins, A. Progressive Resistance Exercise. Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. 1951.

Gustavsen, R., and Streeck, R. Training Therapy: Prophylaxis and Rehabilitation. Thieme Medical Publishers. 1985.

Quinn, R. “My Special Leg Routine.” International Olympic Lifter. 1974;1(3).

Kono, T. “The Loosening Deadlift.” Strength and Health. 1974.

Charniga, A., Jr. “Variations and Rational Use of the Good Morning Exercise.” NSCA Journal. 1986;8(1):74-77.

Goss, K. “New Directions in Sports Training and Rehabilitation.” Bigger Faster Stronger. Jan-Feb 2007.

McGill, S. Low Back Disorders: Evidence-Based Prevention and Rehabilitation, 3rd Edition. Human Kinetics. May 8, 2015.

Until this point, GPS has mostly been used by large institutions or organizations with huge checkbooks to assist athletic training and sports medical staff in keeping their athletes in peak physical condition—and, most importantly, as healthy and injury-free as possible. A colleague who was on my staff while I was the Director of Football Performance at Ohio State University is now working for another Power 5 football program, and his sole role is to run, collect, manage, and report the GPS data to the assistant AD for football sports performance and the athletic training staffs.

We spoke recently, and he stated that in 2017, before they started tracking player intensity load with GPS, there were a total of 52 soft tissue/hamstring-related injuries in the program. That may seem like a high number of injuries, but this number includes any tightness as well as grade one, two, and three strains. Total training and competition time lost because of those injuries was approximately 789 days. In 2021, that number was reduced to 34, with days lost totaling approximately 309.

GPS player tracking provides important and very useful data that allows coaches to make better decisions in real time, as well as anticipate and alter activity in the coming days or weeks due to the clear and accurate picture that this technology provides. But let’s not stop there—let’s look beyond the obvious and dive deeper into using this technology with not just collegiate and professional athletes but with a much broader population as well. GPS is no longer available to just the Alabamas and Ohio States; it’s become affordable for the individual end user. The technology can be used in youth sports as well, where proper long-term athletic development is needed, and good training decisions lead to much better outcomes with less time missed due to injury or less-than-ideal training protocols.

My world is movement and speed training. Most of the athletes who come through our doors want to move with greater efficiency, improve their mobility and speed, and stay injury-free. We use GPS quite often, but not in the ways outlined above. The three main ways we use GPS in the private sector are:

1. Track & field race modeling and monitoring.
2. Change of direction (COD) performance.
3. Gamify training – competitive, intentional training outputs.

Utilizing GPS for Race Modeling

Let’s define race modeling and talk about why coaches use it to help athletes achieve peak performances.

In the world of track and field, there is a multitude of events and sprint distances. Not all athletes are built or trained to be able to compete or succeed at all those events. Shorter races (60m, 100m) have different energy demands and training requirements than longer races (200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, etc.). If athletes could just run all out in every race, there would be no need for a strategy or plan. For example, in the 400-meter sprint, athletes cannot sprint all out for the entire 400 meters without “hitting the wall” and experiencing rapid deceleration from crossing the anaerobic threshold.

Race modeling is building a strategy or plan to run your best race.

Let’s look at one of my favorite races, the 200m. Most 200m runners are taught and trained to break the race down into three parts: an aggressive acceleration for the first 40–50 meters followed by a maintenance of high speed for the next 50–60 meters while navigating the curve with control and posture. Some refer to this as floating, and the goal is to be able to run close to 95% of your maximum velocity while still maintaining some reserve for another push upward after the float.

Following this float, 200-meter runners will make one more push/drive toward the highest speed they can attain with what they have left. They take advantage of the curve to straightaway and hold on to as much maximum speed as possible throughout that last 80 meters of the straightaway to the finish. Learning to run races efficiently doesn’t happen overnight. It takes repetition, getting a feel for running each part of the race, and then putting it all together in its entirety.

What if we could quantify this process rather than just feel it? Yes, we can train each portion of the race with a stopwatch, but that doesn’t always tell the entire story. With GPS, we can do this (and are doing this) in that exact manner. Below, you can see data from a GPS device worn by one of our sprinters during a 200-meter race.

We were able to capture speed and distance data, which is shown in the tables below in one-second segments. Additionally, we can look at this data on a graph that plots speed and time.

You can see the aggressive acceleration over the first 35 meters in the illustration in Figure 1 above, marked with the first red arrow. You’ll notice the distance out from the start of the race, where the athlete reached his peak speed of 24 mph. That athlete then slightly decelerated over the next 40 meters, depicted by the second red arrow. He had a slight reacceleration bump at the 7–9-second mark (77–81 meters, approximately) of the race, shown by the curve upward at the start of the third red arrow, which then slightly curves downward, illustrating the athlete’s deceleration over the remaining 110 meters of the race.

As a coach, I can compare this actual performance to the ideal performance in this manner:

First phase analysis based on Figure 1   

• Actual performance—Reached peak speed at 35 meters. 

• Ideal performance—Reach peak speed at around 50 meters.

• Actual performance—Lost approximately 1.65 mph over the speed maintenance zone. Zone covered was 39 meters.

• Ideal performance—Lose 1 mph, at the most, over speed maintenance zone. Zone covered would be 42–45 meters.

Third phase analysis based on Figure 3

• Actual performance—Reached second peak speed at 9-second mark (approximately 80 meters) and lost approximately 3.8 mph over remaining 110 meters.

• Ideal performance—Reach second peak at 11-second mark (approximately 110-meter mark) and lose 1.0 mph, at most, over remaining 90 meters.

To summarize, based on the actual performance, we know there is a need to increase drive phase patience and distance, work on speed maintenance training, and certainly improve speed endurance for better performance in this race.

Using GPS to Assess COD Performance

Acceleration, deceleration, re-acceleration, body control, and stopping ability are the name of the game when it comes to field sports. We call this change of direction (COD) performance; most refer to it as agility.

Let’s define COD performance in no uncertain terms: it is how quickly you can accelerate, decelerate, re-accelerate, stop, and change direction on the athletic field (and not necessarily in that order). It’s any combination of those skills.

This is likely the biggest athletic factor that determines success over your competition in most field sports. Acceleration refers to speed and how quickly it can increase over a given time frame or distance. The same can be said for deceleration and how quickly speed can decrease over a given time frame or distance. What I’m referring to with change of direction performance is the ability to maintain body control, foot placement, and movement efficiency while combining all the components of COD.

One of the COD performance sessions that we run athletes through while measuring, tracking, and comparing their performances over time is what we call “the vector cut tree.” This is comprised of either a one-cut or two-cut change of direction. For example, one of the vector cuts is a 10-yard linear starting sprint with a 45-degree cut for 5–10 yards after the prescribed cut around the 10-yard mark. Another example is the same 10-yard starting sprint with a 90-degree cut to the right or left and carrying that cut for 5–10 yards following the prescribed cut.

With GPS, we can measure distance, acceleration, speed, and other metrics during this entire movement. In this particular example, we are looking for the highest speed attained over the first 10 yards, the least amount of speed loss during the cut or change in direction of movement, the highest amount of speed regained or achieved in the 5–10 yards of the new linear path of movement following the cut, and a smooth curve or trend line that isn’t scattered about (showing choppy movement or loss of smoothness in the movement).

Let’s look at two athletes performing the linear to 90 cuts in the same session.

Athlete #1: Analysis based on Figures 4 and 5

1. Covered 15 yards in 4.5 seconds.
2. Peaked at 12.39 mph at the 6.1-yard mark.
3. Had a choppy, inefficient deceleration, evidenced by the scattered dots that form a rough curve.
4. Lost approximately 10.89 mph during the 90-degree cut.
5. Reached a peak speed of 7.83 mph in the second direction of motion following the 90-degree cut.

Athlete #2: Analysis based on Figures 6 and 7

1. Covered 15 yards in 3.6 seconds.
2. Peaked at 12.37 mph at the 6.0-yard mark.
3. Had a smooth deceleration evidenced by the smooth curve.
4. Lost approximately 2.97 mph during the 90-degree cut.
5. Reached a peak speed of 10.83 mph in the second direction of motion following the 90-degree cut.

In summary, Athlete #2 had a much better performance in that movement pattern. He completed the entire required distance in less time. While both athletes reached the same speed on the first line of movement around the same distance out from the start, Athlete #2 was able to change his direction of movement sharply with much less speed lost. Then he accelerated again in the new direction and reached a higher speed at the conclusion of the movement.

Gamify Training with GPS!

Speed coaches know if you time a sprint or movement, the athlete will run as fast as they can. Training and moving with intent are extremely important for improving the quality of training sessions, repetitions, and drills.

I remember a day when my coaches and I were looking over fly sprint times and wondering why our athletes weren’t performing as well as we were expecting them to at a particular practice. We had deloaded their training for a week or two leading up to this session and were giving them maximum rest between sprints. This made us believe we would see lots of new personal bests for this benchmark sprint on this day.

Most of the athletes were just stale, running the fly 20-meter sprints against timing gates. The speaker that we play music on was dead too (no charge), and even though we were timing their runs, they just didn’t have the juice. I told my coaching staff to set up a second and third lane with timing gates, organize the sprinters in groups of three by comparable speed, and race them.

Sometimes, timing them isn’t enough to create the intentional efforts needed, so by adding a competitive race to the equation—mixed in with a few friendly wagers on each race—we got the results we were looking for over the next two sprints. PBs started popping off like crazy! Times, on average, improved by .15–.2 seconds, in some cases.

This was an example of what we call gamifying a session or drill. Build a score or win/loss around an exercise, and you will get the very best outputs from the ultra-competitive athletes you coach. You tap into their innate desire to compete, perform better than an opponent or teammate, and ultimately WIN! Just win, baby is the motto!

With GPS, you can gamify almost any movement, drill, or sprint. Figure 8 shows the peak velocity of the sprint with an on-screen alert set to show when each athlete being monitored hits 90% of their max output speed. You can see that all the boxes are colored red, which is the alert that was set. If the athlete did not hit 90% of their peak speed, the box would remain the default color.

This is particularly useful for us when administering true speed sessions where we want to see an athlete hit 95% or greater of their maximum speed output on each sprint rep. If they are not hitting that high a threshold, we would likely make an adjustment in the session—such as allowing for more recovery time, for example. If we see speed dropping below 90%, the session will be ended—and these alerts help us monitor that performance metric in real time with GPS.

A Precision Tool

The more precise we can be—making sure we keep the main thing the main thing and without over-analyzing the data—the more impact our programs and coaching will have. If you are a private sector coach and looking for better ways to quantify training to help your athletes lock in and crush performance and move with better precision, speed, and power, then take a serious look at adding this GPS technology into your program.

If you have questions or want to discuss, further feel free to contact me through email at [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

When thinking about sports-related injuries, many of us would first envision the violent contact injuries we see in American football. We’d think about the brutality and consequences of head injuries or the inevitable non-contact injuries we witness on Saturdays and Sundays while huddled around the TV screen.

Basketball has not conventionally been perceived as a high-risk sport or one that comes with significant injury risk considerations. Although basketball injuries are typically more discrete, we should not overlook the rigorous demands of basketball, as these athletes experience tremendous physical stressors in their own regard. In this article, I’ll cover the primary injuries for basketball athletes and discuss how we can take a preventative approach to mitigating their onset.

Basketball Injuries by the Numbers

Injury trendlines across all major sports have risen over the last decade, at least at the professional levels, and basketball is no exception. With the influence of early specialization, AAU leagues, and expanded practice and training demands, basketball athletes can become uniquely prone to injuries driven by accumulative repetitive stress. The compounding stress of a persistent high volume of court time can predispose athletes to chronic ailments such as tendonitis, muscle strains, and ligament strains.¹

Additionally, taking into consideration the idiosyncrasies of basketball athletes—abnormal physical frame, high on-court volume model, and lack of variation in training—basketball can become a battle of attrition more than anything else. This may especially be the case at the professional level, which has a grueling 82-game regular season along with a demanding travel schedule.

As evidenced by the chart shown above,² injuries in the NBA have been persistent, if not rising slightly, over the last five years. Also outlined above, NBA injuries are predominantly tendinous/ligamentous (soft tissue) injuries, followed by muscular injuries such as strains and microtears. While it was not explicitly stated whether these injuries were chronic- or acute-based, it is fair to speculate that given the constructs of the sport, basketball players are probably more susceptible to chronic injury types such as tendonitis, fasciitis, and compressive fractures.

There is also a clear priority for injuries based on location, and likely to nobody’s surprise, that priority is from the knee down. According to data provided by Torres-Ronda,³ the most commonly injured site is the ankle (20%), followed by knee injuries (14%), and then foot injuries (12%). Collectively, injuries from the knee down account for nearly 50% of all injuries experienced by NBA players. Although hip (groin) and lower back injuries are somewhat common in basketball, the ankle, knee, and feet represent the triad of basketball injuries.

Preventative Strategies for Hoopers

As shown through the work of Torres-Ronda³ and others, the primary consideration with preventative strategies for basketball players is managing the work-rest ratios—specifically, the rate of change in physical demands. It has been well established that substantial changes in playing or practice time, along with rapid fluctuations in player demands, have shown to be the strongest factor in injury occurrence. Despite this being largely out of the control of the strength coach, it should be monitored closely. And although beyond the focus of this article, there are also the extraneous factors of sleep quality/quantity, nutrition, hydration profiles, and psychoemotional stressors that need to be accounted for when discussing injuries.

But from a mechanical perspective, several strategies can be applied to mitigate the onset of injuries. The predominant focal point for strength coaches, physical therapists, and athletic trainers working with basketball players is emphasizing qualities from the knee down. Additionally, analyzing the individual proportionalities of strength and mobility rather than the empirical, isolated outputs is another essential component for basketball players. While these athletes aren’t typically required to exert maximal force, there are a lot of nuances to how strength is expressed in basketball. This speaks to why we should look for more of an integrative rather than an overloaded foundation for programming.

1. Improve Foot and Lower Leg Strength

Considering the significant rates of lower extremity injuries, indirect applications simply do not suffice to meet the demands of these athletes. Deliberate work targeting the feet, ankles, and knees should be a foundational component of any basketball program. A simplified approach for strengthening the feet, ankles, and lower legs can be executed from four primary pillars:

1. Strengthening intrinsic foot muscles.
2. Developing foot compliance.
3. Improving proprioceptive acuity.
4. Improving the force coupling of the ankle joint (Windlass mechanism).

Improving strength and function in the feet and lower legs is relatively simple, requires no additional time or resources, and represents what I believe to be the lowest-hanging fruit available for most athletes. The added bonus to this is that by improving foot strength, sensorimotor acuity, and force coupling of the ankle, we also directly provide a better foundation for knee health. Given the knee joint’s simplistic nature and limited degrees of freedom, only so many things can be done directly to improve knee health. As such, improving the foundation for the knees (foot and ankle function) provides a better opportunity to preserve stress experienced at the knees.

The bulk of my foot and ankle work falls at the top and bottom of programming—in other words, prioritizing feet and ankles during the warm-up/movement prep periods and finding ways to integrate these concepts into the accessory blocks. The simplest adjustment coaches can make is having athletes perform a portion of their training out of their shoes, which, again, for me, tends to fall in the movement prep and accessory periods. Having athletes perform a variety of isolated drills barefoot—such as a spring ankle series and rudimentary plyos—is a simple adjustment that provides a high return on investment.

Additionally, having athletes remove their shoes for standard accessory movements like single-leg RDLs, step-ups, and lunge patterns can provide great opportunities to get some barefoot work in. Beyond that, a lot of the mundane restorative work for feet and ankles can be prescribed as “homework” for the athletes so that it doesn’t take away from limited training time.

Considering the amount of time basketball players spend with their heels off the ground, the demand for force coupling at the ankle joint is very high for these athletes. Improvement of force coupling at the ankle is rooted in the ability to create mechanical tensioning through the medial plantar arch, along with the ability to pressurize across multiple points of the forefoot (compliance). This is another thing that can be accomplished in training by slightly modifying how movements are performed. A primary application I use for developing the Windlass mechanism is a floating heel technique, where we have the athlete perform conventional movements like a front foot elevated split squat with only their forefoot on the box.

2. Close the Gap on Contractile vs. Connective Tissues

The majority of basketball injuries are classified as connective tissue injuries, which should prompt coaches to consider how their training parameters influence different tissue types in the body. Force profiling provides a convenient and objective way to discern significant differences between muscular capacity and soft tissue resiliency. This can be observed in a number of ways, for instance, with force plate analysis, which is becoming more widely accessible and practiced. Simple diagnostics to determine muscular versus connective tissue contributions and capacities include having athletes perform a multitude of jump types, such as static versus countermovement jumps, and analyzing traits like time on the ground versus flight time.

We can best decide between emphasizing contractile and connective tissue in training by analyzing the parameters in which exercises are prescribed and performed. For instance, where myotendinous adaptations occur at higher intensities (>80%) with a longer time under tension, myofascial adaptations are more aligned to submaximal intensities (60%–80%) and performed with higher velocity. We can also consider the type of load utilized or applied, as this can be a significant factor in determining which tissue type is being prioritized.

In addition to the intensity ranges, static load is preferable for emphasizing muscular and myotendinous developments. In contrast, isokinetic options like cable, Keiser, or band loading are generally ideal for emphasizing connective and myofascial tissues.

There are a few important distinctions to this part of the conversation, and the first is that these tissues are inextricable, and purely isolating a single tissue type is an impossible feat. Nevertheless, we can be selective to tissue type and preferential with adaptations when training parameters are applied in a specific way.

The second consideration is that one is not inherently superior to the other. The priority should be on the proportions between contractile and connective tissue and then considered based on the athlete’s morphology and play style.

If you have an athlete who is more muscularly driven, the solution in training isn’t to focus purely on developing the connective tissue but rather to seek better compatibility between the tissue types and work to close any substantial margins of deficit. Despite this being anecdotal, I feel strongly that a significant difference between contractile and connective tissue presents a major culprit for injury potential. The mistake several coaches have made is committing themselves to the blind pursuit of maximizing force while neglecting how that force expression is being elucidated.

3. Emphasize Integration, Not Overload

The primary factor in the occurrence of soft tissue injuries is tissues being loaded faster than they’re able to respond or in a vector (applying torque) they cannot tolerate. What’s important to recognize, though, is that injuries do not occur because of the failure of one specific tissue but rather are a consequence of supporting systems failing the tissue. Nothing about our anatomy functions independently; it is always a tandem of systems, tissues, fluids, and signals that occur in a dynamical, complex harmony. As this relates to training, having a detailed and precise strategy for emphasizing the relationships of these systems is critical.

Emphasizing integration rather than pure overload is a training principle that I have almost inherently become ascribed to, especially in the case of injury. Utilizing an integrative approach does not mean that we become averse to high force loading; it does imply, however, that overload is a byproduct rather than a training priority. Additionally, I put an emphasis on utilizing movements that demand kinetic integration or sequencing. The time and place for pure isolated exercises is slim, and, for my sake, they’re not performed often. My focus is more aligned with how the athlete connects or performs movement and then looking to challenge these movements through a variety of progressions or “layers.”

A priority for integrative training is to emphasize the mechanical relationships of movement. For the sake of foot, ankle, and knee health, there are several marquee relationships we can look to.

The first is the relationship, or interface, with the ground upon contact. Where the center of pressure is across the foot in relation to the direction of movement is a critical factor in the way the body will experience force. In addition to the position of the foot, the amplitude, rate, and direction of force are all also determining factors. From there, the ability of the foot to load eccentrically (splay) and the relationship between the base of support and center of mass will strongly influence the firing sequence of the associating muscle groups.

When athletes cannot create adequate force coupling around the ankle, knee, and hip joints, the joints become vulnerable to experiencing undue stress. There is also a significant influence from the presence of rotation: for instance, whether the foot is more supinated/inverted or pronated/everted. This changes the kinematic relationships of the lower leg muscles, which will then likely influence the bigger muscle groups of the thigh.

Similarly, the position and angulation of the trunk during dynamic actions will have a strong influence on the firing sequence of the leg muscles. This relates back to the relationship between the center of mass (COM) and base of support (BOS), where the greater the distance between the two, the greater the amount of torque experienced at the associated joints, namely the knee joint. For instance, when excessive degrees of ipsilateral trunk flexion are present during a single-leg landing, ACL injury risk increases due to the consequential dynamic valgus torque placed on the knee.

Key Takeaways

Basketball players have unique frames; beyond the overall height of these athletes, the limb length ratios are generally more of a factor in training than for athletes of other sports. In conjunction with the high-volume on-court time, this extreme length can make training challenging for these athletes and likely plays a significant role in injury manifestation.

Although injuries are never entirely preventable, some strategies and modifications can provide a lot of value for preserving the health of basketball players. Considering the high rate of lower-extremity injuries, prioritizing the feet and lower legs should be a staple of training basketball athletes. Additionally, with the elevated possibility of connective tissue injuries, training adjustments should be made to account for the disparities between contractile tissue capacity and connective tissue resiliency.

By utilizing an integrative approach that is individualized to the athletes, we provide the athletes with a better opportunity to stay healthy and durable for the long term without compromising their performance in the short term.

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. Korkmaz MF, Cetin A, and Bozduman O. (2020). “Anthropometric evaluation of ratio between extremity length and body length in basketball player adolescents.” Pedagogy of Physical Culture and Sport. 2020;24(3):125–128.

2. Escamilla V, “Epidemiology and injury trends in the NBA,” Thermohuman.com, 2/22/22.

3. Torres-Ronda L, Gámez I, Robertson S, and Fernández J. “Epidemiology and injury trends in the National Basketball Association: Pre- and per-COVID (2017-2021).” PLoS ONE. 2022;17(2): e0263354.