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I recently heard Joel Smith on the Gem Sessions podcast say, “Field and court sport athletes use a different strength than powerlifters.” This statement resonated with me and summed up how I’ve felt about sports performance since my first day in the field. This quote could be interpreted differently depending on the individual and twisted to fit somebody’s bias. Maybe that is exactly what I’m doing. Early in my career, however, I remember thinking “How do back squats, deadlifts, and bench presses best prepare athletes for dynamic sports?”

It was difficult for me to find the correlation between watching a basketball player move on the court and a maximally loaded back squat. This initial thought may have been slightly naive, but I don’t think it was too far off base. The “rinse and repeat” nature of this field and saying “because that’s how we’ve always done it” are two dangerous traps to fall in. We need to continue to evolve and find ways to move the needle with our athletes to best serve, improve, and prepare them.

What if there was a potential way to better prepare athletes for the forces they experience in sport, closer to the rate at which they experience them? Could this help improve performance while helping to reduce the likelihood of injury?

A Question of Force Production

At this point in my career, I understand that what we do as sports performance coaches is general in nature. We apply general stressors to influence the specificity that sports demand. This article doesn’t say that back squats, deadlifts, and bench presses aren’t useful or have no place in training. There are plenty of times when they fit well in a program, such as for athletes who are underdeveloped and have a low training age. They should be dosed with a patient progression, never with the goal of as much weight as possible, as soon as possible.

If you claim your athletes are best prepared for competition because of their improved one-rep maxes, I think you’ve missed the mark, says @huntereis_sc. Share on X

This is also the case during phases furthest from competition, when it is not necessary to expose athletes to the highest of forces, while having the goals of restoring sound movement patterns and training joints through full ranges of motion. However, I don’t think these movements are the “golden ticket” to preparing athletes. There is much more to it than these three exercises and their variations. If you claim your athletes are best prepared for competition because of their improved one-rep maxes, I think you’ve missed the mark.

I would like to explain the thought process behind this opinion and give my recommendation to help better prepare athletes. While I understand there are numerous physiological underpinnings to what strength is—such as rate coding, enhanced synchronization, and accessing higher threshold motor units—to put it simply, I believe this all boils down to force and the ability to generate it when needed, in the time constraint allowed. If you were to take a poll of 100 people walking down the street, and show them two videos, one of a 385-pound deadlift and the other of a 42-inch depth drop, and then ask, “What exercise produces more force?” my bet would be that most would say the deadlift. In actuality, I can confirm the opposite.

In a self-run experiment I performed by myself on Vald force plates, I compared the forces generated from trap bar deadlifts of increasing intensities with depth drops at various heights. Here is what I found:

• At a body weight of 215 pounds, lifting a 385-pound trap bar with max intent produced 2,968 Newtons of force.
• Those 2,968 Newtons of force are equal to about 3.1 times body weight (when converting my body weight to Newtons and then dividing the Newtons produced in the exercise by body weight in Newtons).
• A 42-inch depth drop produced 4,070 Newtons of force, which is 4.3 times body weight.
• A 66-inch depth drop produced 5,480 Newtons of force, which is 5.8 times body weight.

Video 1. Performing a 66-inch depth drop.

Allow this small experiment to set the stage for a system that creates a more effective way to prepare athletes to excel and stay healthy within their sport. We have lost sight of a very important and simple piece of physics:

Force = Mass x Acceleration

We have been so focused on the “Mass” piece of the Force equation that we often fail to truly apply significant forces to our athletes. The Acceleration piece can be manipulated to apply higher forces at faster rates. This is why, in another “in-house” study, a trap bar drop catch with 155 pounds generated more force (3,328 Newtons) than a 385-pound trap bar deadlift (2,968 Newtons). Drop catches can be a powerful way to manipulate the Force equation to achieve higher force exposures. A drop catch consists of holding a weight/implement at the top of the range of motion, allowing the weight to freefall, and then catching it at the lower portion of the range of motion.

Drop catches can be a powerful way to manipulate the force equation to achieve higher force exposures, says @huntereis_sc. Share on X

Video 2. The drop catch allows increased forces at a lower external load because of an increase in acceleration or rate of loading. The rate of loading is an extremely important factor when looking at the speed of sport but also the time frame in which injuries occur.

According to Koga et al. (2010) in a study assessing ACL injuries in handball and basketball players, there were high peak vertical ground reaction forces experienced at an extremely fast rate. It is important to keep in mind, as stated in this study, that there are a lot of kinematic factors that influence an ACL injury; however, we are going to dig into the kinetic influences presented. Those high peak vertical ground reaction forces averaged 3.2 times body weight and occurred 40 milliseconds after initial contact.

Let’s take this information and consider a hypothetical scenario: when looking at a Power 5 college basketball player, the average weight for an individual at this level is about 205 pounds. According to the study referenced above, that individual would experience about 656 pounds of force in 40 milliseconds. I don’t have data to back this claim, but I doubt there are many college basketball players back squatting or deadlifting 650 pounds, and not in 40 milliseconds.

Again, I want to reiterate that there are a lot of specific kinematic factors that contribute to an ACL injury. However, we want to prepare athletes to be as robust as possible, and with this specific topic, I think we can accomplish a lot in the kinetic realm. While I don’t have a study to prove that a depth drop occurs at a faster rate than a heavy back squat or deadlift, I think most of us realize which one has a faster rate of loading.

Also, remember the numbers stated previously, force in relation to body weight? A 42-inch depth drop produced forces at 4.3 times body weight and 66 inches at 5.8 times body weight. So, a faster rate of loading and higher peak ground reaction forces? Depth drops may not occur in 40 milliseconds, or maybe they do, but I think we’re getting closer to the demands necessary to reduce the likelihood of injury.

After discussing this topic and its potential influence on injury reduction, let’s look at increasing performance. The picture above shows where most, if not all, the fancy metrics over which sports performance coaches, researchers , and scientists obsess ultimately derive from. As you can see, the birthplace of these metrics is “Force.”

What does this mean?

The ability to produce force is the underpinning quality of most others, including jump height, RSI—modified, power, and rate of force development. It is often stated and widely accepted that “strength” is the underpinning quality of all other qualities, and because of this vernacular, young coaches immediately believe they must get their athletes back squatting, deadlifting, and/or bench pressing as much as possible. What if we reframed this narrative and said that the ability to produce high force as opposed to strength was the underpinning quality of most others? How would this small change in semantics change our athlete’s preparation?

What if we reframed the narrative and said that the ability to produce high force as opposed to strength was the underpinning quality of most others? asks @huntereis_sc. Share on X

You may still choose to squat or deadlift an athlete to improve their force-generating capabilities; however, I believe a switch to other, higher-force potential movements should come sooner rather than later to continue to move the needle within an athlete’s performance. Anybody can take a young, underdeveloped athlete and improve their ability to generate force with a traditional exercise—that is simple and effective, and a low-hanging fruit with most.

For example, a basketball player who can do a dumbbell rear-foot elevated split squat (RFESS) with 100 pounds in each hand is pretty strong. I understand that conclusion is drawn subjectively, but bear with me. That 200-pound (total) RFESS produces roughly 2,020 Newtons of force. You could absolutely continue to progress this athlete until they can complete reps with 110 or 120 pounds, but there will probably be a point of diminishing returns with this tactic in terms of the ability to generate force. What if you transitioned this athlete to a forward dumbbell drop lunge, as seen in the video below? Again, this model doesn’t denounce these methods but offers a progression from them.

Video 3. Forward DB drop lunge.

Without the context provided within this article, you may see this movement performed with, say, 45-pound dumbbells and scoff at the potential of increasing an athlete’s force-generation ability. But what if I told you that this exercise with those 45-pound dumbbells produced just under 2,400 Newtons of force? That same exercise with 60-pound dumbbells? Just under 3,500 Newtons.

But wait! The external load! The dumbbells are so much lighter! Yes, the external load is less, but look under the hood—there is more than meets the eye. Remember, Force = Mass x ACCELERATION.

The last piece of this high-force equation within a training program is overcoming isometrics. Most practitioners in our field are familiar with an isometric mid-thigh pull (IMTP) or an isometric belt squat. While these methods are mostly deployed as testing and/or monitoring within a program, I believe they can also be used in training to create a positive adaptation. Before I continue on this topic, I want to make sure I highlight the difference here between two commonly misunderstood isometrics.

A “yielding” isometric—holding a position with external load, whether gravity in a body weight variation or a weight held in a loaded variation—creates different adaptations than an “overcoming” isometric, which I am discussing here. While a yielding isometric obviously has a force component, overcoming isometrics allow athletes to push with maximal effort against an immovable object.

The reason I think this could be a “tip of the spear” type application within this system is the amount of force that the athlete is able to generate. I believe a belt squat overcoming iso to be the highest force-producing exercise an athlete can perform. I’ve seen athletes produce 10,000 Newtons of force within an isometric belt squat—over eight times body weight! Along with extremely high force outputs, the ease of doing a belt squat overcoming isometric within training is ideal. There are almost zero technical aspects to this movement, as the athlete stands with a belt around their waist that is chained to the ground or a rack and pushes as hard as they can into the ground.

I believe a belt squat overcoming iso is the highest force-producing exercise an athlete can perform, and it needs limited skill. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me, says @huntereis_sc. Share on X

Compare this to an Olympic movement with high technical proficiency needed, or even one of the powerlifts, which requires potentially less than an Olympic movement but still high levels of skill. Exposure to extremely high forces, with limited technical skill needed? Sounds like a pretty good idea to me!

Video 4. There are almost zero technical aspects to an isometric belt squat.

Practical Applications

Do I think you need to overhaul your entire program and only do depth drops, drop catches, and overcoming isometrics? Absolutely not. As I’ve previously stated, there is still very much a need for traditional movements in the weight room, whether they are back squats, deadlifts, RFESS, or lateral lunges. In my opinion, this system can be used on a small scale within an off-season and/or a large scale over an athlete’s career.

Small Scale in the Off-Season

Within an off-season, you can slowly progress force exposure, as opposed to progressing intensities within similar exercises. A common linear progression within an off-season program may be starting at a lower intensity and higher volume and slowly allowing those two variables to flip so you end with high intensities and low volume. I’m proposing, potentially following that same logic, that instead of an overall 10 weeks, this could be weeks 1–5. Weeks 6–10 could then begin to transition from depth drops to drop catches to overcoming isometrics.

I also think these two methods can blend throughout all 10 weeks. Early in the off-season, you could be doing lower depth drops early in a training session before the emphasis of the day shifts to an RFESS. Then this emphasis changes later in the off-season, when you may perform a large quantity of belt squat overcoming isometrics and follow that up with loaded lateral lunges.

Large Scale Across an Athlete’s Career

Maybe early on, with an individual with a low training age, you only employ traditional movements, as this is a low-hanging fruit that allows them to increase their force-generating capacities. Later in the athlete’s career, once they have reached a level of “strong enough” (which is a lot sooner than most coaches believe), you then implement more of these high-force exercises. There is no exact way I believe you have to implement these principles; however, I do believe they are important to think about and employ at some point.

A New Way of Thinking

I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel or demonize traditional movements in the weight room. There are plenty of coaches who help cultivate explosive and robust athletes using back squats, deadlifts, and bench presses. But I want to present a new way of thinking that can help to move the field forward and potentially better prepare those athletes to excel in their sport.

Maybe the best way to prepare athletes isn’t loading them with as much weight as possible but understanding how to apply forces that best prepare them to excel and stay healthy in what they love to do. Back squat? Nope, play their sport!

*Views are my own and not a reflection of former or current employers.

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

GPS tracking is nothing new to football, and I have been blessed to have been around a different GPS tracking system at every stop in my career. My responsibilities have morphed from placing out the vests in athletes’ lockers as an intern, to downloading and reporting as a grad assistant, to being the head strength coach conversing with the head football coach about alterations to the practice plan. These organizations have spent money on GPS because they wanted to be at the forefront of physical preparation. By seeing the many systems and approaches to its implementation, I’ve been able to appreciate the value that GPS brings from day one.

By seeing the many systems and approaches to GPS implementation, I’ve been able to appreciate the value that it brings from day one, says @Torinshanahan42. Share on X

The ability to quantify the game removes the guessing about what preparation should look like for optimal performance. While I’ve seen the benefits, I have also seen the costs and understand why every team does not have GPS. My hope with this article is to help provide the lessons I have learned with GPS and bring them to your team. Hopefully, you can use these lessons to improve your understanding of the game and weekly preparation.

It is important to note that the data I share below reflects the data collected at my most recent institution, a Division 1 Patriot League university; however, the lessons I have learned, examples, and ideas for change are lessons that come from my experience across multiple teams and conversations with peers.

Learning these lessons has been a long process, and I am nowhere near finished—it all started one day when I asked my boss to take the next step past just passing out vests and units. My first assignment was to help find sets of normal practice values. When I started looking, there was very little useable information out there—or, at least, it was hard to find.

Data with context can become information. There typically is either data without context or a lack of data, and it’s just stories. I hope to bridge that gap by providing some summarized data with context so that it can help you.

Game Demands

Preparing for something you do not understand is difficult. Preparation for football games starts by analyzing the game itself, and football becomes tricky to quantify not because of a lack of resources but because of its nuances. Multiple positions are drastically different from an anthropometric measure standpoint, as well as the drastically different roles. The nuances compound when you add offensive and defensive schemes to the mix, where the same position can have different roles and demands due to the use of that position in that scheme. The final compounding factor is the individual’s role on the team, whether they are the star player, a special teams star, or another part of the rotation.

Factors impacting game demands:

• Conditions: Field type and weather conditions.
• Style of play: Tactical schemes of offensive and defensive.
  • Position assignments within that scheme.
• Position: Amount of rotation at that position.
• Role: Star player, role player, special teams guy.

The point of explaining the different factors that go into the measurement of game demands is so we all understand that every team will have different demands. Now I will try to provide general averages to game demands with context, so you can understand how they might or might not relate to your team.

GPS metrics are actually very easy to understand. There are metrics for the volume of work, the intensity of that work, and the density. These are all the same variables we utilize in the weight room. Practice and games are external load stimuli to the body, just as resistance training is. The tracking system we had during the collection of this data set is Polar Team Pro.

GPS metrics are actually very easy to understand. There are metrics for the volume of work, the intensity of that work, and the density, says @Torinshanahan42. Share on X

To quantify volume, we utilized their muscle load metric, a measure of anaerobic power movements summed together (or the stress applied to the body). Muscle load per minute is our intensity metric, as this is the rate at which external load is applied to the body. Velocity is the king of intensity. High-velocity and high-acceleration movements place enormous forces and stressors on the body. Respecting the volume of these instances is important for the preparation and modulation of performance.

We look at high-speed distance (global >70% maximal sprint speed), sprint distance (global >90% maximal sprint speed), and high-intensity efforts (count of occurrences of acceleration or deceleration greater than 3.5 m/s²). Polar Team Pro utilizes global thresholds, which means offensive linemen are held to the same velocity standards as wide receivers for all velocity-related metrics—this is important to note when looking at the following data.

Offensive Game Play

Our context: We play in a spread-style offense with a pretty typical tempo. Our running backs rotate the most, but we tend to focus on the guy with the hot hand. Wide receivers tend to rotate with personnel packages. I would call it a standard offense in modern-day football. We averaged 11 drives per game, totaling 70 plays (on average). We possessed the ball for 29.9 minutes of gameplay over 54 minutes of the real clock. The offense averaged 6.2 plays per drive while on the field for 4.1 minutes of the real clock before resting for 9.4 minutes between drives.

Our GPS metrics for offensive players followed normal patterns I have seen with previous teams. Quarterbacks do vastly more in games than they ever do in practices. This is because of protecting quarterbacks in practice. Offensive linemen also have very low volumes in practice unless you have an offense that pulls offensive linemen downfield.

There is a need for metrics specific to line players to quantify the physical demand of pushing other grown men around. Skill players, on the other hand, have physical demands that are very easy to track. Wide receivers and running backs get put in space and are allowed to do their thing: they rack up large volumes of yardage trying to stretch defenses.

Defensive Game Play

Our context: We play in what I will call a 4-2-5 defense. Our defensive line rotates quite frequently, while the defensive backs rotate a typical amount between drives. Our linebackers do not rotate very often. I would also say we run a pretty standard modern defense with a good mix of zone/man and mixed assignments by position. We average 11 drives on defense while facing 67 plays. We defended for 30.1 minutes of gameplay over 60 minutes of real time. On average, the defense had 9.7 minutes to rest between drives before playing for 6.3 plays over 4.8 minutes on the real clock.

The external load experienced by our defenders followed normal patterns. The defensive line has similar problems to that of offensive linemen in quantifying their demands—the primary difference is that they still rack up decent volumes of yardage chasing down the ball carrier. Linebackers perform tremendous physical work, including running from sideline to sideline while chasing down the ball carrier. Safeties must fly downhill from depth, leading to the highest high-speed and sprint distance.

A defense’s performance in a game can be estimated by their top speeds. Higher top-speed percentages mean they had to sprint to catch up with someone—nothing good happens when defensive players are trying to catch up to someone. You will see this as the top speed an athlete hits in a game on defense is usually higher than that of their offensive counterpart, but their offensive counterpart will have a higher average percentage of top speed.

The top speed an athlete hits in a game on defense is usually higher than that of their offensive counterpart, but their offensive counterpart will have a higher average percentage of top speed. Share on X

Offense vs. Defense

The averages for offenses and defenses will look relatively similar, especially when you play similar offenses to the one you run. The difference comes in how your opponents execute their own scheme.

Your defensive players will be exposed to greater variability in the specific demands placed on them each game. It is important to understand this during your practice week: all the workload put on your players must be accounted for. When one of those days has a higher variability, the other days must be more specific to account for swings on the variable input day, game day.

There is more opportunity for swings in practice volume from offensive players because you know what they will handle in the game. You can work the math with them, while the widely unknown variable of the game for defensive players demands that practice be more routine. Increasing the variability of their practice routine exposes them to the extra risk of injury due to intensive swings in their acute:chronic workload from (relatively) very light or very heavy volume games. In short, be more careful with defensive players because of the variability of their game demands.

Practice Demands

Football is a sport where we spend far more time preparing for the game than playing it. Hours of practice, drill after drill, and countless reps are utilized to teach technical skills and tactical concepts, develop physiological fortitude, and train the body physically to play football.

It becomes incredibly important to understand the physical load on the body in practice. This is compared to game demands to understand how well the athletes are prepared, says @Torinshanahan42. Share on X

With the amount of time spent at practice, it becomes incredibly important to understand the physical load on the body in practice. This is compared to game demands to understand how well the athletes are prepared. Athletes can be overtrained and play in a fatigued state—putting them at a higher risk of injury over time—or athletes can be undertrained, meaning they are not prepared for the demands they will be subjected to, also increasing their risk of injury.

Precisely what a practice should look like is beyond this article. What I would like to share are generalized trends in the practice demands of football players.

Trends

Defensive coaches push guys harder in practice, and defensive players will do more work per practice than their offensive counterparts. This becomes especially true when compared to the game demands for those positions. This year, defensive players on this team averaged 87.4% of a game’s volume per practice, while offensive players averaged 80.4%. Offensive players physically cover more distance in practices, but again, this is relative to what they do in games.

In practice, both sides of the ball have similar opportunities for high-intensity efforts for a couple of possible reasons. First, defensive coaches tend to keep rotating players in practices (similar to during a game). On the other hand, offensive coaches tend to rotate less in games or more in practice. This means that offensive players who play in games rack up more high-intensity efforts, while those efforts are spread amongst the position group in practices. Below I have included average practice external load volume metrics for both sides of the ball.

Lesson #1: You can do more, a lot more. 

I think one of the barriers around GPS in football is that coaches see GPS as a limiter, something that tells them to do less on the field. They see reps as currency and duration as a requirement for the day to be profitable. The opposite, however, is true—volume is the cost they pay for each rep, and intensity is the benefit. Practicing at slower speeds than game intensity creates a challenge for transferring technical and tactical skills to the game environment. Situations happen faster than they’ve been practiced, putting the players a step behind.

I think one of the barriers around GPS in football is that coaches see GPS as a limiter, something that tells them to do less on the field, says @Torinshanahan42. Share on X

Playing at game speed in practice prepares players for what they will experience in games. Increasing the intensity is also a way to do more. Players experience greater total volumes of work if the intensity is increased since intensity is the rate of work per time/rep. In short, there is an opportunity for coaches to do more with GPS during practices; low-quality volume must be removed for high-quality intensity during practices.

Lesson #2: Practice is an important training exposure.

The volume of work that athletes are exposed to during the practice week greatly impacts their physical performance capability. This last season, we had 84 practices averaging 125 minutes for a total of 10,500 practice minutes. This a huge opportunity for sports performance coaches to train within the tactical and technical preparation of practice.

Another way we look at the amount of work done during the week is through game loads. The game loads metric is the number of games’ worth of volume of work athletes perform during the practice week. During the 12-week season, we averaged 2.8x game loads per week in practice, meaning we played almost three games to prepare for one game. There is a lot that can go right and a lot that can go wrong during all this time. Coaches need to be very intentional with this time to prepare players to be successful in competition.

Lesson #3: Prepare them for practice, not games.

Players have drastically greater exposure in practices, and practices have different demands than games. While the focus is winning games, the number one objective to accomplish this task must be making sure our players, especially our best players, are on the field.

If practice is a large exposure to training, then players must be prepared to handle practices, not games. I once designed my training, especially fieldwork, to the demands of games. An example is that most wide receivers cover about 250 yards of sprint distance in a game. In the summer, we build to and then consistently expose them to this type of sprint yardage in training. Having done this volume of work in a controlled setting, they are less likely to be hurt in the open environment of games doing the same volume.

If practice is a large exposure to training, players must be prepared to handle practices, not games. But practices have different exposure to external loading, with very different rest periods. Share on X

But practices have different exposure to external loading than games, with very different rest periods. Practices end up being more sustained, whereas games are highly intermittent with long rest periods. The differences are significant enough that to keep athletes healthy, they must be prepared to endure practice first. The volume of practice before the first game will properly prepare athletes for the game. This approach comes from keeping our primary job in mind: reducing the risk of injury.

Differences between games and practice:

• High volumes of work
  • Average 349 high-speed yards in games vs. 366 high-speed yards in practice
  • Average 520 muscle load in games vs. 579 muscle load in practice
    • Muscle load = Polar’s version of player load—a measure that summarizes movement in all directions by intensity for the total load placed on the body
• Low intensity of work
  • Average 145 sprint yards in games vs. 129 sprint yards in practice
  • Average 5.3 muscle load per practice in games vs. 4.3 muscle load per minute in practice
    • Muscle load per minute = intensity of loading as measured by muscle load
• Different rest periods are found in games
  • 86% of minutes are spent not playing football in games vs. one 5-minute rest period and four 1-minute rest periods.
    • 1:3 vs. 1:5–7 work:rest ratio

Summary

In my several years of experience with GPS, I have seen multiple ways to implement the technology. I have also seen multiple ways to practice and prepare for games. The lessons I have learned are straightforward:

• We can do more in practice with higher intensity.
• We need to be intentional about the training exposure of practice.
• Players should be prepared for the demands of practice.

Practice involves lots of work with less rest. Games have extraordinarily large amounts of rest time between drives, allowing for high-intensity actions placing great stress on athletes. Offensive and defensive players are exposed to significantly different demands in practice and games, as defenses must react to opposing offenses. Combined, this is all information I have learned by using GPS with football. You can bring these lessons to your team to help better understand the demands placed on them.

I have included some extra resources that I found useful on the journey.

Lead photo by Bradley Rex/Icon Sportswire.

Resources

The Process: Fergus Conolly and Cam Josse.

Brad Dixon, Tony Holler, and The Track Football Consortium.

I also recommend just getting GPS and exploring.

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 friend Molly Binetti gave one of the favorite talks among all those in attendance at Union Fitness last spring, and I couldn’t be happier to have her back on the docket this July for The 2023 Seminar. She is a driven coach, one who strives to always be better for her athletes and help the profession by sharing and educating coaches. But above and beyond all the great things, if I were to summarize her in one word, it would be “champion.”

CVASPS: What are a handful of the mistakes you routinely see being made by strength and conditioning coaches in the United States and throughout the world, and what specifically do you feel they should do differently to correct these issues?

Molly Binetti: When it comes to the mistakes I see made by strength conditioning coaches around the globe, it really boils down to two things. The first is that we spend too much of our time in a really narrow scope of focus when it comes to our learning and continuing education. What I mean by that is that all of our focus is on the physical and physiological aspects of training—training adaptations, technology, biomechanics, and all of the things that are the foundation of what we do and undoubtedly the cornerstone of doing our jobs at a high level. We don’t spend enough time on lateral thinking and pulling concepts from other professions, such as communication, leadership, business, financial aspects, negotiation, conflict resolution, psychology, and human behavior.

Coaches don’t spend enough time on lateral thinking and pulling concepts from other professions, such as communication, leadership, business, negotiation, and human behavior, says @MollyBinetti. Share on X

All these aspects contribute to us being able to do our roles and navigate our careers at the highest level. It’s really nobody’s fault because none of our curriculum in school focuses on these things. Instead, it tends to be about anatomy, physiology, biomechanics—all of those things.

They’re not included in internships because internships are focused on, obviously again, learning these concepts of training: being able to put a program and a plan together for an entire year. We learn how to coach movements and how to run a session and things of that nature, but there’s really no general education and formal training in these areas, especially when it comes to communication, human psychology, and the ability to understand human behavior, which is at the heart of what we do.

We are teachers. We’re trying to get our athletes to learn how to train. We’re getting them to develop. We’re trying to change the behaviors that may be in their way, inhibiting their performance and growth. A solution would be to include more of those concepts, whether in a curriculum, part of our internship experiences, or having more formal learning opportunities along these lines.

There are sources out there now. “Art of Coaching” is one. There are a lot of coaches providing communication training, presentation training, etc. We need to have more of those resources as part of formal education, whether in school or within internship opportunities, and have more exposure to these areas to understand what aspects of our job are essential.

The second mistake I see us, as strength coaches, making is that we often put our agendas, and not our athlete’s agenda, at the forefront. We don’t keep the main thing the main thing. That main thing is our athletes, their journey, their goals, and what they need to do to perform at the highest level within their sport. Too often, we’re too married to specific training methods and beliefs, for instance, a particular exercise or approach to how we train. This can come at the expense of the athletes and what they need. We often come from a place of control and structure—almost a dictatorship—instead of inviting our athletes to be a part of their own learning and development process.

The most important thing is giving them a say in what they do and finding solutions that work for them individually, even though those solutions may be different than what you truly believe in. We need to release control, let go of our ego, and find solutions for each individual athlete to help them get where they want to go and equip them with skills that will transcend their careers as a basketball player, a soccer player, a football player—whatever that might be.

Sometimes we are blinded by what we believe needs to be included in an athlete’s program, but we need to be open to changing things when it comes to doing what’s best for them, says @MollyBinetti. Share on X

Sometimes we are blinded by what we believe needs to be included in their program or what we believe is the right or wrong way to train. We need to be open to changing things when it comes to doing what’s best for our athletes and not what’s best for us and satisfying our ego. As far as a solution to correct this, I think it just really takes an ability to be open-minded and self-aware and a willingness to listen and ask better questions to understand better what exactly our athletes need from us.

CVASPS: What advice would you give a coach to improve their knowledge as a process of continuing education? By this, I mean, can you point our readers in a few concrete directions to find the scientific and practical information to improve the methods used to strengthen performance?

Molly Binetti: The advice I would give to a coach looking to improve their knowledge in a particular area of training or coaching really differs depending on whether they’re a novice or a more experienced coach. As a young coach, it’s really important to spend as much time around your mentors as you can, whether that’s within your internship or, if you’re a full-time coach already, with your director or whoever is above you or maybe has held a position similar to yours for a long time.

I think it’s also really important to get exposure to as many in-person or virtual clinics and conferences as possible, whether that’s a state or national conference. Being able to meet other people in your field is important, but so is learning and listening to a wide variety of topics.

As you become a little bit clearer on the areas you need to learn about and you kind of create a niche for yourself, my advice is to seek out people who are already in your space doing things at a high level and having a lot of success. Put yourself in the uncomfortable position of asking them for help, asking them questions, and learning from them in any way you can. Because I think the best way to blend the technical and scientific with the practical is to learn from people who are already doing that at a really high level.

There are lots of great resources out there online through articles and blogs, podcasts, and virtual presentations. The NSCA and CSCCA put out content, obviously CVASPS, SimpliFaster, Pacey, and Sports Smith. Many platforms provide continuing education opportunities. So, my advice is also to get specific about what you want to learn, find out who is doing it really well, and do your research on what resources are out there, but it ultimately comes down to being willing to get uncomfortable. Make connections with somebody you don’t know or figure out how to make connections by utilizing the people you know already.

CVASPS: For readers unfamiliar with your history, can you provide some background on your niche in the world of athletics, the educational/career path you took en route to your present role, and any notable publications, courses, or products you have available that you’d like to direct readers toward to dive deeper?

Molly Binetti: I am the Director of Women’s Basketball Performance at the University of South Carolina. This is my fifth year in that role and 10th year overall as a full-time Division I strength conditioning coach. I did my undergrad and got my bachelor’s degree at Marquette University, where I started my journey as a performance professional. I was lucky enough to get introduced to Todd Smith, the head strength coach at Marquette, and interview him for one of my classes. He opened the doors to me and allowed me to come in and observe and volunteer my time.

I had no real idea what this world looked like or anything related to the field, but I just kept showing up, and that opportunity turned into an internship throughout my entire undergraduate career. I went on to internships at EXOS, which was Athletes Performance at the time. I ran a high school program. I got my master’s degree at the University of Minnesota, where I was also a graduate intern and worked with a multitude of teams during that time. And then, I was lucky enough to get my first full-time position at Purdue University in 2013 at 23 years old. I spent one year there and moved on to the University of Louisville, where I spent four years.

So overall, this is my 10th year full-time. My current niche is in the world of basketball development, but I really take pride in my approach to holistic athlete development. I would also say my niche is coaching development and education. For notable publications, I have two articles, both in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, regarding elite women’s basketball players: “Mechanical Determinants of Faster Change of Direction and Agility Performance in Female Basketball Athletes” and “Physical Determinants of Division 1 Collegiate Basketball, Women’s National Basketball League, and Women’s National Basketball Association Athletes: With Reference to Lower-Body Sidedness.”

CVASPS: Can you provide a sneak peek of the topic you will be covering at The Seminar, as well as a few useful takeaways on the presentation for those who may not be able to attend?

Molly Binetti: At The 2023 Seminar, I will be presenting on “developing athletes outside the lines,” which will be a detailed look into a holistic, athlete-centric approach to development in a team sport setting. When I say “development,” that is an all-encompassing physical, mental, and emotional approach to training. The emphasis will be on environmental design and utilizing autonomy, creativity, exploration, and variability. It will be on partnering with the athlete to create a learning environment that equips them with skills, not just to take ownership of their training, but to grow and mature throughout an entire season and an entire four-year career.

There will be specific examples of:

• Developing athleticism.
• What individualization looks like within this structure and system.
• What team sports periodization really looks like on a day-to-day basis.
• What choice and autonomy can result from a development standpoint.

So, listeners and those in attendance can expect to be challenged to think outside the box in terms of their own coaching style and structure within their environment. They’ll also learn easy ways to include the athlete in the process and, in turn, create a more engaged, more responsible, more intentional training environment and athlete.

@CVASPS The Seminar attendees will learn easy ways to include the athlete in the training process and, in turn, create a more engaged, responsible, intentional athlete, says @MollyBinetti. Share on X

CVASPS: I hope you enjoyed this Q&A with Molly and understand why I’m so excited to have her as part of this summer’s event. As a champion in every sense of the word, Molly’s continuing pursuit of ways to be better for her athletes and find ways to give back to our vocation are why I had to have her back on the docket for The 2023 Seminar at PLAE HQ in Canton, Georgia, on July 21 and 22, for what is going to be an absolutely fantastic event. For more info, tap the link, and be on the lookout for the next installment of our presenter Q&As here on SimpliFaster.

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

“You’ve been brought up a certain way since high school. It’s ingrained in you. I had a wife. I had a family. A business I was starting. But I kept hearing those little things in the back of my mind: you’re letting your team down.”

Joe Jacoby, a former All-Pro and three-time Super Bowl champion, anchored the Washington Redskins’ infamous “Hogs” offensive line through a tremendous 13-year career in the ’80s and ’90s. In the latter stretch of his career, while brushing his teeth one morning, the offensive tackle collapsed on his bathroom floor with debilitating back pain. Widely regarded as one of the tougher guys ever to play the game, Jacoby would be in the lineup that same week for the Redskins, despite his crippling physical state and the obvious risk it would pose.

The result?

He was hospitalized for three days after that game. Shot up with cortisone and painkillers, discharged, and then—you guessed it—back on the field with his teammates for practice within another day or so.

The toughness of professional athletes is unmistakable, and perhaps this is most glorified in the NFL, where a penchant for unrelenting aggression and channeled violence are all but a prerequisite for professional football players. Truth be told, the story of Joe Jacoby—his toughness, durability, and borderline-reckless willingness to sacrifice “for the team”—is hardly uncommon among NFL players. Bear in mind, these earlier years of professional football, in particular, had a much different brutality to them, as player safety and sustainability weren’t exactly priority items.

Take Jim Otto, who, now at 85 years old, may be the figurehead of “football toughness.” A Hall of Fame center who played 15 seasons for the Raiders, Otto was a pioneer in that early, brutal era of the NFL. Famously, Jim Otto has had upwards of 75 surgeries to amend the injuries he sustained throughout his career.⁴ This includes 28 knee operations, an unknown number of concussions, and three life-threatening infections, culminating with having his lower right leg amputated in 2007 due to complications from previous surgeries.¹ And knowing what he knows now, after suffering through so many injuries and surgeries, would he do anything differently if he could go back and do it all again? “Absolutely not; pain and injuries are a part of what I signed up for.”

The average NFL career lasts a mere 3–4 years, but that brevity doesn’t prevent these athletes from suffering the long-term consequences of their careers, says @d@danny_ruderock. Share on X

Becoming a professional athlete is the fairytale dream for millions of kids around the world, and one that very rarely materializes into a reality—only about ~0.0075% of high school athletes reach professional levels.² In other words, statistically speaking, an individual has about the same odds of being struck by lightning twice as they do of becoming a professional athlete. There is an incomprehensible amount of work, talent, timing, and opportunity needed to reach the pros. But for all that goes into getting there, holding on to it proves even more fleeting for the majority of NFL athletes, as the average career lasts a mere 3–4 years. Despite this reality, you would be hard-pressed to find any current player who feels they won’t defy those statistics.

That brevity doesn’t prevent these athletes from suffering the long-term consequences of their careers. This is something I’ve continued to learn vicariously through my time working with Brett Bech, a 51-year-old former NFL wide receiver. Brett has spent an extensive amount of time at the NFL level and is one of few to do so as both a player (five years) and strength and conditioning coach (13 years). This has also allowed him to see and experience the game through multiple lenses.

Brett sustained a relatively “standard” five to six significant injuries throughout his career that, in some capacity, have caused him pain or limited function (of note: his golf game!). As he has described it to me, the pain is just “something you deal with.” Like most, he adheres to the unwritten standard of the NFL world: never show weakness and never complain.

Musculoskeletal (MSK) and Orthopedic Injuries

The NFL’s injury rates and types are wide-reaching but have some patterns and commonalities. It is important to consider how injury data has shaped and shifted throughout the evolutions of the game. Since the forming of the “modern” NFL, when the league merged with the AFL in 1966, a lot has transpired to bring the league to where it is today. The rules and structure of the game, dimensions of the field, player size/speed/skill, and emphasis placed on protecting the athletes have all evolved in their own ways. This helps us understand the context of injuries and also allows us to appreciate the efforts that have been put in place.

Not all that has evolved has been for the better, however, as some of the outcomes of evolution have led to questionable decision-making by league officials. The increased volume of play, greater travel demands, and bias of revenue over player may all be factors in how some injuries have occurred in the modern era. Nevertheless, the predominant orthopedic injuries among NFL athletes include shoulder, spine, ankle/foot, and, most prominently, knee injuries.

The increased volume of play, greater travel demands, and bias of revenue over player may all be factors in how some injuries have occurred in the modern era, says @danny_ruderock. Share on X

While acute orthopedic injuries don’t occur often, they are invariably severe when they do (i.e., leg fracture, shoulder subluxation). Chronic conditions like arthritis, on the other hand, are more common, as they develop from microtrauma over time. The most common soft tissue injuries generally include rotator cuff, Achilles, and hamstring injuries. Soft tissue injuries are a combination of severe/acute injuries (i.e., ACL, Achilles rupture) and chronic deterioration, such as tendonitis and myofascial pain syndrome.

While a select handful of professional football players do walk away relatively unscathed, the vast majority of NFL retirees report struggling with pain and consequential outcomes from injuries/surgeries sustained throughout their careers. Additionally, while a few players are afforded the ability to walk away on their own terms, countless others are ultimately forced out due to overwhelming pain and injuries.

While some pro football players walk away relatively unscathed, a majority of NFL retirees report struggling with pain & consequential outcomes from injuries/surgeries sustained during their careers. Share on X

According to the University of Michigan 2009 study analyzing retired NFL athletes, 80% of NFL retirees aged 30–49 and 77.6% aged 50 and older reported having daily joint pain. Comparing these percentages to the average U.S. male, whose values are substantially lower—20.6% less than 50 years old and 37% over 50—really puts things into perspective. Based on this data, NFL retirees under 50 are nearly four times more likely to report chronic pain. As we could assume, NFL retirees also report having an arthritis diagnosis at a staggering rate. More than 60% of NFL retirees over 50 and 41% under 50 indicated having at least one arthritic joint.⁴

I alluded above to how the presence of pain and injury can adversely affect an individual’s state of anxiety and depression, and this is not something to overlook. Whether transient or symptomatic, states of depression and anxiety have indirect influences elsewhere on the body (e.g., the immune system) and can also be damaging to perception, confidence, and even self-worth. When size, strength, skill, and function begin to deteriorate, it is often a sobering reality for individuals who were once world-class athletes.

As demonstrated in the graphic below,⁴ NFL retirees appear to have consistently lower ratings of personal health compared to the average adult male. While there is a relativity to this that needs to be recognized, this survey indicates that most retired NFL players, both under and over 50 years old, perceive their health as being either good, fair, or poor, as opposed to very good or excellent. This was slightly more pronounced in the under-50 group, as 58% of respondents collectively reported good or worse.

Head and Brain Injuries

Beyond the musculoskeletal and orthopedic injuries—and perhaps even more significant—is the rate of head injuries and long-term effects on the brain. The violent nature of football makes the potential for head injury unavoidable, no matter the extent to which we try to modify the game and protect the players. There has been a meteoric rise in data surrounding concussions and brain injuries, particularly regarding NFL athletes.

The discussion around head injuries in pro athletes is elusive and often muddled with bureaucracy and litigious debates; consequently, we ignore the human element, says @danny_ruderock. Share on X

However, the discussion around head injuries in pro athletes is elusive and often muddled with bureaucracy and litigious debates; consequently, we ignore the human element of this discussion. Nevertheless, all concussions are not created equal and, like most injuries, affect people differently. This includes the long-term effects of concussions, which are highly variable as well.

As such, an eight-year data set (2012–2019) shows roughly 240 documented concussions throughout an NFL season, correlating to about 10% of all NFL players.⁵ As evidenced in the graphic below, the majority of concussions occur during game play, as opposed to practice. This may seem logical, but it is an important indicator of how improving player care and safety has benefited athletes. The average NFL practice in the Jim Otto and Joe Jacoby days was typically much more contact-intensive.

A concussion rate of 10% may not seem staggering, but there’s a lot to unpack here. First, 10% of all active players on each roster may not accurately reflect the risk, as at least half of an active roster doesn’t see much playing time. Then we have the efficacy of reporting, both from the player and the team; despite recent improvements, this has been questionable, at best, for decades. This data also does not represent what the long-term consequences may include, which can be debilitating.

Along with concussions, we also have CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a severe condition that causes rapid degeneration of brain tissue. Although this has been a contentious and wildly publicized discourse, over the last 10 years, we have seen a rise in CTE studies and findings that, quite frankly, have almost unanimously produced harrowing results. For instance, Boston University’s CTE Center reported that this number might be as high as 90%–95% of all former players.⁶ Additionally, NFL retirees are at a much higher risk for cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, ALS, and chronic progressive memory loss and cognition⁴ than the average adult male.

Underlying Health and Wellness

The final element to consider here is the effects on cardiovascular and metabolic health, which may be the “sleeper cell” of the group. The musculoskeletal injuries and, to an even greater extent, the head injuries are very visible outcomes of professional sports. What’s less observable, at least in most cases, is the adverse health effects plaguing former professional athletes.

As evidenced by the graphic below, cardiovascular disease, metabolic impairments, and endocrine irregularities are considerable consequences for NFL retirees, affecting nearly half of the athletes surveyed in this study. What is particularly concerning about these data points is the rates at which we see things like heart complications or high BP/cholesterol for NFL retirees under 50 compared to the average American adult.

A common sentiment among former NFL athletes is that they feel like they “live in a body that they don’t even recognize,” often reporting that their body feels much older than their biological age should suggest. This corresponds to the points above on the perception of health. While physical trauma and mechanical damage certainly play a prominent role in this, the general health, wellness, and stress management maintained throughout a player’s career are likely far more impactful on their overall physical state post-career.

For some NFL retirees, the cardiac, endocrine, and nervous systems (among others) may warrant equal or greater attention than mechanical ailments, says @danny_ruderock. Share on X

The accumulative outcome of the unforgiving physical demands of the game, poor lifestyle/health habits, and immeasurable stress and pressures ultimately take a toll on the internal systems. For some NFL retirees, the cardiac, endocrine, and nervous systems (among others) may warrant equal or greater attention than mechanical ailments.

Long-Term Help for Players

The enduring path of a professional football athlete is something few will ever know. Despite millions of fans worldwide tuning in every Sunday to witness the brutality and risk, almost none will understand what it took for those athletes to get there or the arduous route many must take on the other side. The data underscores what we all witness: the compounding effects of decades of training, practice, and competition have consequences on the body—an “orthopedic cost” of sorts.

While the league (NFL/NFLPA) has improved the resources and efforts for assisting its players in their transitional process, it wouldn’t be a reach to say it has put long-term player health on the back burner for far too long. It remains evident that there is a tremendous void of services and organizations designed to help this community of players.

There has always been an immense amount of time, money, and resources funneled into player scouting, development, and maintenance. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for players on their way out of the league, despite approaching an impending lifetime of hurt. Much like we have seen with military veterans over the years, when you can provide value, you’re treated with the utmost priority. But once that value has diminished or become vacant, you’re expeditiously shown the door so that room can be made for the next person up. That needs to change.

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. Jim Otto Wikipedia

2. Odds of Becoming a Pro

3. Holstein, JA. Jones, RS. Koonce Jr., GE. 2015. Is there life after football? Surviving the NFL. New York, NY. New York University Press.

4. National Football League Player Foundation Care: Study of Retired NFL Players (2009) via the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research.

5. Vox Media/NFL Concussions

6. Boston University CTE Research Center

As a high school football coach, I work with young people with a wide range of athletic abilities and body types. With all types of athletes, wickets are a fantastic tool to create elite sprint shapes. My work is inspired and influenced by the brilliance of Tony Holler, Chris Korfist, Barry Ross, Jimmy Radcliffe, Brian Kula, Dr. Ken Clark, Brad Dixon, JT Ayers, Joey Guarascio, and others. I did not invent the wheel—all credit goes to those who have come before.

I love wickets for building sprint mechanics. I love wickets for training proper sprint technique. I love wickets for enforcing sprint mechanics at or near maximum speed. While I love wickets for all these reasons, most of all:

I love wickets for creating beautiful sprint shapes.

I am always struck by the beauty of speed. Seeing athletes sprint with proper form is a joy to behold. Seeing that speed translate to the playing field is fulfilling. As a lifelong sprinter, I can also confirm that sprinting through wickets is a beautiful feeling.

Seeing athletes sprint with proper form is a joy to behold, says @ErikBecker42. Share on X

Video 1. Snow? I still get in my own wicket training.

I believe that speed is the most important attribute for all athletes. In any sport, at any position, being faster makes you better. In any athletic contest, being faster creates two essential elements: space and time. Speed gives an athlete the ability to create or close space while also enabling the athlete to read and process longer before reacting.

Speed is the most important metric to develop in all athletes—you could fill an entire library with the benefits of training speed. Sprinting increases top speed, increases sub-max speed, builds muscle, burns fat, activates fast twitch muscle fibers, increases explosive power output, builds anaerobic endurance, reduces injury risk, boosts metabolism, improves cardiovascular health, improves body composition, improves glucose control, increases acceleration, improves VO2 Max, improves mitochondrial density, improves insulin resistance, lowers blood pressure, increases human growth hormone, increases protein synthesis, boosts testosterone levels, has anti-aging benefits, and is the ultimate abdominal workout.

Back to Wickets

As we know, we run faster when we run more efficiently. Elite sprinters share the same mechanics: they run tall. As Tony Holler says, “you should look two inches taller when sprinting.” Along with that, elite sprinters run stiff: when their plant foot touches the ground, they do not collapse into their leg, but bounce off the ground with a rigid quality (as a former lacrosse player, the example I give is bouncing a D-pole off the ground). They are big in the front: the front knee is high and the foot is dorsiflexed in preparation for the next ground strike. They are short in the back: their back foot cycles through as quickly as possible.

We run faster when we run more efficiently, says @ErikBecker42. Share on X

That cycle must be efficient for an athlete to reach their maximum speed. Dr. Ken Clark has done invaluable research in this area.

While the efficient sprint cycle is key for running faster, we know that speed comes primarily from the ability to put more force into the ground with each ground strike. This is the research of Barry Ross and highlights the importance of mass-specific force (force generated in proportion to an athlete’s body weight). Brian Kula and JT Ayers have done incredible work in this area based on the groundbreaking book Underground Secrets of Faster Running by Barry Ross.

In his work with Olympic-level sprinters, Ross found the concentric phase of the hex-bar deadlift had the greatest impact on increasing maximum sprint speed. He called this Mass-Specific Force and developed the Force Number metric to measure power output.

Force Number = Max Hex-Bar Deadlift / Weight

1.5=Good, 2=Great, 2.5= Elite, 3=World Class

Increasing mass-specific force, coupled with an efficient sprint cycle, is essential for developing speed. Check out JT Ayers and Brian Kula’s excellent video on lifting for speed.

Video 2. Concentric phase of the hex-bar deadlift.

Wickets are an especially valuable tool for creating an efficient sprint cycle. They force athletes to maximize their front-side mechanics, while diminishing back-side mechanics.

Video 3. I cue my football players to “run big and tall” with their front knee high.

Again, as Tony Holler says, “Sprinters are big in the front and short in the back.” Wickets also develop an effective cadence for max or near-max-speed sprinting, forcing athletes to run tall and strike the ground under their bodies.

Wickets also develop an effective cadence for max or near-max-speed sprinting, says @ErikBecker42. Share on X

How I Do It

The way I program wickets comes directly from Tony Holler. The athletes must be warmed up first: I prefer Reflexive Performance Reset and the Atomic Warm Up by Tony Holler.

I do some quick cueing where I demonstrate and explain the sprint shapes we are looking to create: high knee, high toe, back elbow to the sky, big arms.

Video 4. Using the yard markers on the football field to space the wickets six feet apart.

I use the hash marks on a football field. This is a helpful way to ensure athletes run in a straight line and provides a set distance to space the wickets.

I give the athletes a 20- to 25-yard build-up with an emphasis on increasing speed consistently up to the wickets. I want them to be at 90% or better of their maximum speed while running through the wickets. This should feel similar to a build-up or a flying 10.

I set the wickets every other hash—this six-foot distance works well for high school-age athletes. I instruct the athletes to focus on their mechanics and building speed through the wickets. 

Video 5. For the athletes running the wickets, I want it to feel fast and smooth.

We decelerate gradually and walk back to the line to recover.

I commonly give them three to five reps with a three- to five-minute recovery to ensure quality output.

I like to use wickets with our athletes every week or two as a part of a complete speed and power training program.

I like to use wickets with our athletes every week or two as a part of a complete speed and power training program, says @ErikBecker42. Share on X

Since I began using wickets as a training tool, I have noticed a few things:

• I find that the more natural athletic ability a young person has, the more comfortable they look running wickets from their first attempt. These are often kids who naturally run well, are highly coordinated, or have a track background.
• I love watching these athletes run wickets. It creates and reinforces beautiful sprint shapes: high knee, high toe, big in the front, big and tall, stiffness through ground contact; strong bounce and cadence. Watching gifted athletes run through wickets is a coach’s dream. It’s beautiful. But obviously, I did not do much.
• I might love wickets even more for the guys who are not naturally as gifted, because it forces them to run with proper sprint mechanics. I love watching kids who do not have natural sprint mechanics and bigger kids run through wickets because it creates those elite sprint shapes.

Video 5. Watching big guys sprint with great mechanics is awesome to behold.

I have found that, over time, using wickets as a training tool will increase the sprint mechanics of every athlete. I believe that no matter what sport or position you play, running faster makes you better. I believe wickets can be a great way to help you get there.

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

Private high schools are making the collegiate arms race for facilities look like nothing. When I saw the recently renovated athletic facility at Orange Lutheran High School in Orange, California, I knew it was done and done RIGHT. Bubba Reynolds, Director of Sports Performance, has assembled an Avengers-type staff with Ryan Nguyen and Chase Sanders. These three full-time strength coaches have more than 28 years of combined experience and train over 800 athletes daily in this 5,500-square-foot facility.

Video 1. Virtual tour of Orange Lutheran with Coach Bubba Reynolds.

Purpose

This space was initially built in 2015 as part of a $15 million project by Orange Lutheran and its athletics department. Along with this beautiful space are an athletic training room, gym, locker room, and offices. The initial push for the weight side of the project was not only the need to house the growing athletic department but also an initiative by the school to help promote healthy living for their students.

The initial push for the weight side of the project wasn’t only the need to house the growing athletic department but also an initiative by the school to help promote healthy living for their students. Share on X

This idea is something that I think is not as prevalent or talked about at the high school level—the reality is that only around 7% of high school athletes will play a college sport, so how can you cater to and impact the other portion of your student population? This push for healthy living first helps all students as well as those athletes who are looking for that little push in their sport. Now the coaches here are renovating this space to help accommodate the amount and type of training being done at Orange Lutheran. This effort is designed to improve the flow and ease of training to match the experience level of the staff they have put together.

Design

This space is made up of a large PLAE flooring piece, nine Powerlift double-sided half-racks, and many other accessories, including UCS plyo boxes, VALD, etc. Imagine the space is split into thirds:

• One-third of the room is turf.
• One-third is the nine double-sided racks.
• One-third is where you can find the other accessory pieces and dumbbells.

This is not your typical customized weight room with team branding all over the place—obviously, there are some customized pieces, but promoting healthy living for their athletes is the primary goal. Coach Reynolds focused more on the quality of the equipment with the normal level of customization than seeking out the company that would do the most from a branding and colors perspective. Coach Reynolds also mentioned that a considerable part of their plan with the new setup is to have each rack be uniform with the same equipment.

“Having one of each type of equipment at the racks is a non-negotiable for us because you need to be able to move on the fly, no matter where you are in the room. So, if one rack has chains for accommodating resistance, but another one doesn’t, this will create problems in our organization and timing if a team needs to be on one side of the turf or the other, depending on the situation.” 

Rack Setup

Each one of the double-sided racks consists of a 35-pound bar, set of DC blocks, pair of chains, dip/weight belt, RFE split squat attachment, trap bar, TRX attachment, and fat grips. There is a separate storage area in the corner of the weight room for the specialty bars: multi-grip, safety squat bar, etc. A large rack also stores the program’s main kettlebells at the end of the turf area.

Plyometric boxes are lined up together in one area against the wall, and medicine ball racks are evenly distributed in the corners of the room (4–20 pounds). Power Lift dumbbells are standardly distributed across the room, so athletes can grab any weight from 3 pounds to 100 pounds without having to walk and carry it around too far, and there are UMAX “beauty” dumbbells that go from 3–20 pounds in 2.5-pound increments. Those weight trees are evenly distributed across the room as well.

My favorite part of this space is how easily accessible everything is—that’s the only way to survive when training 80+ kids at a time. Share on X

Foam pads, sliders, and Sorinex rollers are in the center of the room to grab from (18 of each type of equipment). Mini-bands, LAX balls, foam rollers, PVC sticks, and wooden dowels are sectioned by the kettlebell rack at the end of the turf, which they call the “soft tissue area.” My favorite part of this space is how easily accessible everything is—that’s the only way to survive when training 80+ kids at a time. This shows the expert level of these coaches and the quality of the training they give their athletes.

Technology

Coach Reynolds values the technology piece of sports performance, especially with the work they do on the VALD ForceDecks and the more than 20 iPads they use to deliver their training with Teambuildr. Over 800 athletes come in and jump daily, allowing the staff to monitor performance and create player profiles that can be updated to show each athlete’s progress.

Programming for 800+ athletes sounds like a lot of printer ink and sheets of paper if done the old-school Excel route, which is why Orange Lutheran utilizes the Teambuildr training app and iPad combination to deliver those programs—this has a higher upfront cost, but it is cheaper in the long run.

Video 2. Explanation of how Orange Lutheran uses Vald force plates.

Final Thoughts

The main reason for constructing this space for the Orange Lutheran athletes was to promote a healthy lifestyle for them as growing young individuals, not just stronger and faster athletes. I think many spaces are designed only with the athletes in mind to help them in the next stage of their athletic career, but Coaches Reynolds, Nguyen, and Sanders do a world-class job of managing and promoting the education behind those lifestyles.

I hope more coaches value this type of space instead of only caring about how it might look on an Instagram post, with its focus on uniformity and flow. But don’t let that fool you—this weight room is BEAUTIFUL too!

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

Raise your hand if you compete in indoor track but have no indoor track to practice on.

This has been a constant battle for most schools throughout the Northern United States for as long as indoor track has been around. How does a coach get their athletes ready for a season without a facility that they will actually compete in?

We get outside as much as we possibly can—usually, 40 degrees is our threshold—but we also have to factor in wind chill, precipitation, and snow cover. When being outside is not realistic, we improvise and utilize what we do have. We have no pits inside, no easily accessible place for run-throughs on hurdles, and nowhere to wear spikes…yet schools like ours, Salt Fork, find a way.

Having a successful indoor track team that can throw down some big marks in February and March while also preparing for the outdoor season isn’t as difficult as you might think if you can:

1. Be creative.
2. Communicate.
3. Be flexible.
4. Focus on the fundamentals.

1. Be Creative

At Salt Fork, it is imperative to get creative with space during the winter or when the weather doesn’t cooperate in the spring. When the track isn’t accessible, we must turn our attention inside. The first spot to look is our high school gym—but that idea tends to get quashed quickly because of basketball season, as it’s very rare to find a time when either the boys’ or girls’ team is not on the gym floor right after school.

The second spot we look is to our elementary school gym, which is across the parking lot. We typically have access to it for about 15–20 minutes to get RPR and speed drills in before the cheerleaders come in for their practice at 3:30 p.m. After that, we move to the elementary hallway, which covers about 60 meters from wall to door. This is our MOST important space during the winter. The hallway allows us to accomplish every sprint that we cover in our speed cycle (40m, 10-yard fly, 20-yard fly, etc.).

Using the hallway allows us to accomplish every sprint that we cover in our speed cycle. It also enables us to complete lactic workouts, if necessary, once we’re in season, says @SFStormTrack. Share on X

This hallway also enables us to complete lactic workouts, if necessary, once we are in season. We have two go-to lactics for this hallway:

1. One is 10x40m with a 10-meter run-in and a one-minute rest between reps.
2. The second is a 30-second shuttle drill (our indoor version of the 23-second drill).

We set up cones at the start line, and the runner sprints 50 meters down the hall, turns, heads back up the hall to the 100m mark, and so on. Very similar to how we do it outside, we set up cones for the 23-second drill at the 165m mark and up every 5 meters to 200 meters. With all the turns and reduced traction, we’ve found that our top runners can hit around 200m at 30 seconds—which is the goal outside in 23 seconds.

We utilize our Freelap system for every sprint we do inside (outside of the shuttle). Many people may think that our athletes will suffer from shin splints by running inside on a tile floor in tennis shoes—we do everything we can to reduce the chance of that happening. We cut reps if necessary, focus on walking on our heels and toes while barefoot, and do our ABCs and wipers with our ankles. All of these methods have helped us immensely in the winter months to reduce the likelihood of shin splints occurring.

2. Communicate

It is important to communicate with fellow teachers, administrators, and coaches so that we’re all on the same page. It is necessary to reach out to get the space we need. At the beginning of the winter, I make sure to reach out to the elementary school principal to relay our schedule to use the hallway in that building. We clearly have a lot of patient elementary teachers who have put up with us for years now.

Many teachers are still in their classrooms finishing up for the day, often with their own children, and we work together to make sure that no one gets run over by a sprinter barreling down the hallway at 22 mph. We even get the occasional elementary student who wants to hop in and sprint as well! It is also beneficial to check out the boys’ and girls’ basketball schedules to determine when there are off days, and we can use the H.S. gym for warm-ups or fundamentals.

3. Be Flexible

Another pillar of indoor training is flexibility. At times, we have to call many audibles on what we want to do because of spacing issues. I can’t even count how many times I have planned a workout and discovered that it wouldn’t work with the space we had for the day.

As mentioned, we typically rely on the elementary hallway to get our sprinting done, but sometimes it has tables full of projects up. We may have to move to a shorter hallway and shorten our sprints but raise the reps, if necessary. For instance, instead of doing 3×40 yards, we may have to pivot to 5–6×20 yards. The focus on acceleration becomes more of a point of emphasis with this change.

This season, the girls’ basketball team has used the weight room for their pre-game meeting before they head out for away games. We share the space and make it work. They use the front with the TV monitor to watch film, while we use the back half to finish our workout with jumpers doing “run run jumps” or sprinters finishing with isos, for example. We have a new gym floor that we can’t put the hurdles on, so we use the hallway outside of the gym. It isn’t spacious or glamorous, but it gets the job done.

It’s not spacious or glamorous, but using the hallway for the hurdles gets the job done, says @SFStormTrack. Share on X

We often have to be patient with kids or custodians or teachers walking down the long hallway we run in—we wait, because we are the guests. It’s important to think about programming for the day as well. For our technical events—hurdles, jumps, and throws—we have to be very flexible in utilizing the space we have.

4. Focus on the Fundamentals

Maybe one of the most beneficial aspects of limited space and being forced indoors is the opportunity to put a concerted focus on the fundamentals. We spend a lot of time working on the little things indoors.

Tony Holler’s “boom-booms” become a go-to in various forms. We typically start on the wall, utilizing just the bottom half of our bodies, working on shin angles and getting knees high. We then advance to loaded boom-booms, getting shins in proper angles with the drive leg moving backward and then quickly back up, finishing with a “boom, boom, boom.” Next, we move to stationary boom-booms off the wall, where we now utilize the arms but still stay in place.

Finally, we advance to walking boom-booms, switching three times, holding the knee on the third, and then going again. We do this for about 10 meters. We also spend time, especially with the younger athletes, working just on arms and ensuring they get them into a proper position as they sprint.

We don’t have the ability to utilize blocks inside, so we find other ways to work on acceleration and getting our bodies in a proper position. We work on accelerations from a lying position on the belly, from a kneeling position, and from a single-leg loaded position.

Hurdlers, as I have mentioned earlier, don’t have the ability to use the gym floor anymore. Instead, we utilize the hallway just outside the gym and focus on the basics since there isn’t room to work on getting over hurdles at normal speed. We do lead leg and trail leg drills, we work on improving the cut step, and we walk, skip, and jog over hurdles at reduced heights and distances. We spend time working on the proper arm position and how to move them through the hurdle process. We focus on the positions of the feet, knees, hips, and chest. Working on these basics has set our hurdlers up for success when we can actually get outside.

One of the most beneficial aspects of limited space and being forced indoors may be the opportunity to focus on the fundamentals. We spend a lot of time working on the little things indoors. Share on X

Our jumpers typically do their work in the weight room. We are currently two weeks into our season, and we haven’t had any jumpers actually jump into a sand pit, yet. Jumpers get their work in two times a week on our X-factor days. We spend about 20–30 minutes each day working on the basics. We isolate each phase of the triple jump and work on it individually.

Again, much like the hurdlers, we continue to ensure they get their arms, knees, hips, chest, and feet in the correct position to maximize their jump. We do chair drills that replicate the landing phase of each jump. Our first meet is in a week, and it looks like we will have an opportunity to finally get steps in beforehand with a 50-degree day on tap.

Luckily for our throwers, the elementary gym floor is conducive to throwing indoor shot. They have the opportunity to work on throwing with an indoor ring that has been built, although this only occurs once the cheerleaders have finished their competition season. Prior to that, they spend time in the weight room getting stronger and working on their form.

Sample Week of Indoor Training

Monday

Weight room: Foam roll, ankle mobility, golf ball rollout

Elem gym: RPR and speed drills

Elem hallway or gym: Work on arm movement during sprints, wall boom-booms

Elem hallway: 10-yd flys x 4 – 170–200 yards total, 5 min rest – Freelap, 1–2 handoffs 4×4

Weight room: Ankle isos, lift if not in advanced PE

Hurdles: Take hurdles to gym hallway, fence (wall) drills – four-count trail leg and two-count trail leg, window drill 2x each

Tuesday

Weight room: Foam roll, ankle mobility, golf ball rollout, RPR

Gym hallway: Shortened speed drills

Weight room: Broad jump, measure, 3x

Gym hallway: Varied accels – from prone position 2x, from a kneeling position 2x, loaded leg 2x (cut down to one if needed)

Weight room: Skater bounds variations, lunge isos, lift if not in advanced PE

Jumpers: Stay in weight room, mini hurdle gallops – run, run, jump 3×6

Wednesday

Weight room: Foam roll, ankle mobility, golf ball rollout

H.S. gym: RPR, speed drills, wall boom-booms, and loaded boom-booms

Elem hallway: 20m fly with 10m entry x 3–5 reps for 150m total, 4–5 minutes rest, Freelap

Weight room: Ankle isos, lift if not in advanced PE

Hurdles: Take hurdles to gym hallway, fence (wall drills) – stationary lead leg, 1H (2×10 both legs), bent knee jogging over 4H – 2x each leg, 30” or wickets for new hurdlers

Thursday

Weight room: Foam roll, ankle mobility, golf ball rollout

Elem gym: RPR, speed drills, med ball throws – underhand (2×6), push accel (2×6) 5–10m each

Elem hallway: 4×2 handoffs – 1–2 times

Weight room: 2×8 each leg – single-leg plyo, mobility circuit with bands, hurdle mobility circuit, lift if needed

Jumpers: Focus on phase 1 TJ – seated chair landing drills

Friday

Weight room: Foam roll, ankle mobility, golf ball rollout—mentally get ready!

Elem gym: RPR, speed drills

Elem hallway: 10x40m w/10m run-in, 500m total, 1-minute rest, Freelap

Conclusion

Each school and team will have different challenges to deal with when it comes to indoor track if they don’t have a fieldhouse or facility of their own. In my experience, it just takes a little ingenuity to figure out how to best tackle the situation. We are a small school with a lot of athletes still participating in winter sports, so our numbers are limited until those are over, which makes it easier to make the space work.

Larger schools may need to stagger times or set up stations to best accommodate their athletes. I believe that the hidden benefit is the increased focus on fundamentals for all athletes—even veterans who have been around for four years. As a coach, if you can be creative, communicate effectively, be flexible, and focus on the basics, you can get plenty accomplished inside with limited space during the winter and spring when necessary.

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

Being an athlete is all about overcoming challenges; it’s what makes a victory, a new competition record, a personal best, or even a comeback such a beautiful thing. Without a challenge to overcome, the pursuit of athletic competition doesn’t mean much.

As an athlete, one unique challenge to overcome is optimizing a tendon’s performance abilities without sacrificing its health in the process. As with any other tissue in the body, tendons adapt to the specific demands imposed upon them (known as the SAID principle), and knowing about the unique mechanical properties they possess can help athletes train in a manner that optimizes their performance while simultaneously reducing their risk of injury.

As an athlete, one unique challenge to overcome is optimizing a tendon’s performance abilities without sacrificing its health in the process. Share on X

So, this article will provide an overview of the unique mechanical properties of tendons and how different training demands influence them. With this information dispensed, I’ll discuss the different general strategies that can be incorporated into an athlete’s training for optimizing tendon performance and tendon rehabilitation.

A Quick Rundown on Tendons and Injury Statistics

Most athletes and coaches know that a tendon is a structure that takes one end of a muscle and anchors it onto a bone, serving as a “middleman” bringing the bone along for the ride when the muscle contracts.

And for many individuals, that’s about the extent of their tendon knowledge. But with these structures being as critical (and often just as vulnerable) as they are for athletic performance, it’s worth knowing what can be done to ensure the tendon achieves optimal performance output while remaining at the lowest risk possible for sustaining injury.

Injury Statistics

Soft tissue injuries (injuries to muscles and tendons) account for upward of 50% of injuries in the United States every year and are notably higher in athletic populations.^1,2 These injuries can be either sudden and traumatic (such as from tripping and falling or tearing a hamstring when sprinting) or chronic, occurring from a prolonged lack of adequate health (typically brought on by repeated overuse beyond what the tendon can cope with). It’s estimated that 50%–75% of all running injuries are due to overuse, with the Achilles tendon and knee tendons being most commonly affected.²

Regardless of how the injury arises, tendon pain and dysfunction, at best, will impede maximal athletic performance. At worst, it will sideline an athlete for the season—or even end their career.

Therefore, strengthening tendons (which optimizes performance and prevents injury) should be a top priority for strength coaches working with their athletes while ensuring optimal rehabilitative strategies are being carried out by rehabilitative specialists treating the athlete.

The basis for optimizing either of these aspects begins with a fundamental awareness of what determines a tendon’s overall strength and performance capability.

There are two critical factors that will determine the strength of a tendon:^3,4

1. The amount of collagen within the tendon. (Collagen is a structural protein that’s highly prevalent within the tendon that runs in a parallel fashion.)
2. The number of crosslinks attaching to these parallel collagen molecules within the tendon. (The more crosslinks there are, the stiffer the tendon becomes.)

Regarding crosslinking: these crosslinks running across the parallel collagen molecules restrict the sliding of individual collagen fibrils alongside one another, which reduces the extent of deformation (lengthening) the tendon can undergo, ultimately making it stiffer.

Knowing these two factors will help you understand why rehabilitation-based training of a tendon will require a different training methodology than performance-based training (both will be discussed shortly).

On the surface, it would seem that training tendons to become stiffer is all it takes to optimize tendon health. This is true—but only up to a point. A stiff tendon will indeed become a strong tendon (strong is good), but the stiffer the tendon becomes, the greater the risk of injury to its attaching muscle.⁵ This is particularly true with athletes who compete in power-based sports requiring their tendons to withstand a repeated high rate of force development (RFD).

A stiff tendon will indeed become a strong tendon (strong is good), but the stiffer the tendon becomes, the greater the risk of injury to its attaching muscle. Share on X

To determine how to avoid incurring this type of injury, we first need to discuss the unique mechanical properties that tendons exhibit. As you read through, it may help to visualize how these properties apply to the Achilles tendon, the hamstrings tendons, the patellar tendon, and the hip flexor tendon, all of which are robust in nature and of paramount importance to track and field athletes.

Mechanical Properties of Tendons

As strength and conditioning specialists and rehabilitative specialists, we must be aware that tendons are more than a simplistic piece of connective tissue that anchors a muscle onto a bone; how we train and stimulate these structures has vast implications for performance potential and injury reduction in athletic populations.

These unique responses result from the tendon’s structure and molecular composition. When we understand these features, we can use them to the athlete’s advantage based on their needs and goals for performance or rehabilitation.

For the scope of this article, there are two critical characteristics of tendons to be aware of: 

1. The regional mechanical properties that exist between either end of the tendon.
2. The viscoelastic properties that a tendon possesses.

A brief rundown on these unique properties will set the stage for how they can be utilized to the athlete’s benefit based on different training interventions.

Regional Variation in Tendon Function: Stiffness vs. Compliance

Tendons exhibit regional mechanical properties, meaning how a tendon responds to a given stress or force will vary from one area of the tendon to another. The reason for this phenomenon is that one end of the tendon attaches to a very stiff tissue (i.e., a bone) while the other end attaches to a very compliant tissue (i.e., a muscle). In other words: when the tendon tugs on the bone, the bone has no give, but when it tugs on the muscle, the muscle will have some give.

This difference in the tendon’s attachment to two mechanically different tissues results in what’s known as impedance mismatch and is what gives tendons their unique regional variation.^6,7

The point at which the muscle attaches to the tendon is known as the myotendinous junction (muscle-tendon junction), which is the most frequently injured region involving muscle strains and tendon injury.⁸

How an athlete trains and loads their tendons will influence either the stiffness or the compliance of the myotendinous junction of the tendon:

• It can be made stiffer, which will improve athletic performance.
• Or it can be made more compliant, which may reduce performance but will improve the tendon’s health.

The myotendinous junction is essentially a blending of the muscle tissue and the tendon tissue. Conceptually, it’s the same as interlacing your fingers of one hand with the fingers of your other hand (one hand being the muscle fibers and the other being tendon fibers). This blending and interlacing of tendon fibers with muscle fibers leads to an increased surface area for connection between these interfacing tissues. Additionally, it leads to greater shearing forces when they’re being pulled apart. (Shear is what happens when one surface slides across another.)⁶

The collagen fibers of the tendon closest to the muscle undergo a high rate of shear, which breaks the crosslinks attaching to the collagen molecules. This, in turn, leads to a less stiff (more compliant) tendon.

Why is this worth knowing? Because this shearing and crosslink-breaking phenomenon will form the foundational basis for why tendon rehabilitation movements must be done slowly (discussed later in the article).

Viscoelasticity of Tendons

Tendons have a relatively high water concentration, meaning the tendon itself will take on and exhibit the unique properties liquid can produce. One such unique property is viscoelasticity, which means the tendon can mechanically behave like an elastic material and also like a liquid.^9,10

The easiest way to visualize the concept of such viscoelastic properties is by recognizing how water behaves based on the speed at which you enter a swimming pool. If you casually step into the pool, the water molecules will move and flow around you without resistance. Do a belly flop off the high-dive tower, however, and they will behave like a sheet of concrete upon impact, not doing much to move around your body.

So, the slower the movement, the more time the water molecules have to move around your body. The quicker the movement, the less time they have, therefore behaving more like a sheet.

This forms the basis for why fast tendon-loading exercise increases the stiffness of a tendon and how it improves athletic performance; the faster you load the tendon, the more it behaves like a sheet, and thus the stiffer it becomes.

Let’s use the next section to visualize why this stiffness is so imperative for athletic performance.

Training Tendons to Improve Athletic Performance

Athletes participating in velocity-based and power-based sports require stiff tendons, since a stiff tendon allows for a greater and more immediate force transfer between the body and the surface it’s in contact with.

Think of it this way: If you had a strap hooked up to a sled and had to pull it from point A to B as quickly as possible, would you rather that strap be a braided rope or a bungee cord?

You’d want the strap to be stiff! It’s the same in velocity-based athletes; stiff tendons allow for a more immediate transfer of force and, thus, propulsion. In other words, you don’t want your sprinting force to be absorbed by stretchy tendons when running; you want stiff tendons since they will strike the ground with less give and propel you down the track much faster.

So, if increasing tendon stiffness is the name of the game, implementing exercises that involve a high rate of force development is the best bet. The faster the tendon is loaded, the more it will stiffen up.

As such, depending on the unique needs of the athlete and their sport, periodized training regimens that use plyometric exercises should be a priority for strength and conditioning coaches. They should be programmed strategically and incorporated appropriately, emphasizing explosiveness and mimicking the specific demands of their sport.

The specific lower-body plyometric exercises that can be used are almost endless and can range from bodyweight movements (vertical jumps, broad jumps, sprints, etc.) to resistance-based movements (such as trap bar jumps, power cleans, explosive kettlebell swings, and so on). Again, it all comes down to the needs and abilities of the athlete.

Using plyometric-based exercises will increase tendon stiffness, which is good; but remember: it’s only good up to a certain point. Share on X

So, using plyometric-based exercises will increase tendon stiffness, which is good; but remember: it’s only good up to a certain point. The stiffer the tendon becomes, the more vulnerable it becomes, particularly when subjected to fast, explosive movements utilizing a high rate of force development from its attached muscle. Too much stiffness with inadequate tissue compliance leads to the tearing of tissues around the musculotendinous junction.⁵

Once this straining and tearing of the musculotendinous junction occurs, it’s no longer about performing fast movements; it now becomes a game of improving tissue health through slow loading.

Let’s look at the following section to understand just how profound of an impact this slow loading will have on improving tendon health, either as an injury prevention strategy or as a rehabilitative strategy.

Training Tendons to Improve Athletic Health

Injuries are a part of sports, and while every precaution must be taken to avoid injury as best as possible, they will still happen. When tendon injury occurs, optimizing the rate and extent of recovery is essential for the athlete.

Prevention is better than any cure. As strength coaches, we must understand that slow tendon loading has a place at the table for injury prevention training; preventing tendons from stiffening to the point that borders on the edge of injury is critical. And as rehabilitation specialists, we must understand that the rate of movement and frequency at which we prescribe tendon loading exercises for an athlete can optimize the recovery process.

As S&C coaches, we must understand that slow tendon loading has a place at the table for injury prevention training; preventing tendons from stiffening to the edge of injury is critical. Share on X

Eliminating the Tendon’s Stress-Shielding Response

An unhealthy or injured tendon is a mixture of healthy and unhealthy collagen fibers; the healthier the collagen within the tendon, the healthier the tendon itself will be. Collagen will become stronger and healthier when given mechanical stimulation through loading exercises, but if this mechanical stimulation is performed relatively quickly, only the healthy fibers will be stimulated.¹⁰

This is due to a unique phenomenon known as stress shielding occurring within the tendon. It involves the tendon’s ability to “shield” the unhealthy, injured, or weaker collagen fibers when the tendon is subjected to load (i.e., exercise), whereby the healthy collagen protects the unhealthy fibers from contributing to the movement (i.e., from being stimulated).

One way to overcome this protective shielding is to utilize stress relaxation, which is another phenomenon unique to viscoelastic materials. When the tendon is subjected to holding a prolonged isometric contraction while under load, the healthy collagen fatigues, resulting in progressive relaxation of the loaded collagen fibers.¹¹

This, in turn, leads to the reduction of stress shielding, allowing mechanical signaling to be imparted to the unhealthy or injured collagen fibers.

As such, performing mid-range isometric contractions for varying durations of time against moderate-to-heavy loads (based on the athlete’s abilities) two or three times per week has been shown to be effective in eliminating stress-shielding in tendons.¹¹

To learn more about implementing stress relaxation, check out this case study by Dr. Keith Baar: Stress Relaxation and Targeted Nutrition to Treat Patellar Tendinopathy.

While it was once believed that eccentric-based exercises were most effective for tendon rehab, current literature suggests that the rate at which an exercise is performed is the determining factor for an exercise’s rehabilitative effectiveness and not the phase of the movement itself.¹⁰

This means that if performed at a slow rate of speed, the concentric phase of exercise can be just as effective as its eccentric counterpart since slow movement is responsible for greater shearing and subsequent crosslink breaking near the myotendinous junction.¹⁰

Keep in mind, however, that eccentric exercises can still be employed in the rehabilitation world and have plenty of merits.

Frequency and Intensity of Loading

The best medicine in the world will lose its effectiveness if not taken at appropriate intervals. The same can be said for tendon loading exercises; optimal outcomes are, in part, determined by optimal frequency. It’s not a perfect science here, mind you, as numerous variables can play into determining optimal exercise frequency for an athlete.

The best medicine in the world will lose its effectiveness if not taken at correct intervals. It’s the same for tendon loading exercises; optimal outcomes are partly determined by optimal frequency. Share on X

Nonetheless, some exciting research has shown that very short periods of tendon activity (loading) followed by long rest periods seem optimal for stimulating collagen production.⁵ Within this same body of research, it’s also been observed that the body needs 6–8 hours before the exercised tissues can sense another stimulus being provided (i.e., the tissues need this length of time before returning to exercise sensitivity).

As pointed out by Dr. Keith Baar (a leading expert in the world of tendon-based rehabilitation), tendon loading for optimal health can be performed with slow movement for 5–10 minutes against a predetermined load.^5,10 The extent of this load will depend on many factors unique to the athlete and their state of rehabilitation.

Surprisingly, for injured athletes, the amplitude of the load used for performing the exercise is not important for the stimulation of collagen synthesis.^5,12 It would, however, stand to reason that the load should be appropriately challenging for the exercise or movement session duration. This is outstanding news since it permits the athlete to begin rehabilitation as quickly as possible. It should go without saying that any loading exercises should be pain-free; however, mild discomfort (that doesn’t worsen) should be anticipated.

Here’s a visual recap of what all of this may look like for an athlete’s tendon rehabilitation:

Nutritional Interventions for Tendons

For patients and athletes looking to attack every angle of their tendon rehabilitation, nutritional interventions can be considered, as some promising work by Dr. Keith Baar, Gregory Shaw, and others have shown that vitamin C and gelatin supplementation can increase collagen synthesis in tendons that have undergone recent loading.^11,13–16 There’s still much more the scientific community is looking into, but the preliminary research seems promising.

Of course, nutritional intervention for tendons is a long-term strategy, but the preliminary research is rather exciting. The research is aimed at the positive effects of providing the body with an abundance of amino acids (glycine, in particular, since it is the predominant amino acid within collagen) and vitamin C, which acts as a cofactor for increasing collagen synthesis.

The details are beyond the scope of this article, but here’s a brief rundown of what’s been shown:

• Ingesting a slurry of 48 mg of vitamin C mixed with 15 grams of gelatin (which contains a high level of glycine) one hour prior to tendon loading maximizes the uptake of amino acids (including glycine) into the exercise-induced collagen.¹⁶
• This slurry is ingested approximately one hour before tendon loading as the bioavailability of glycine (the body’s ability to absorb what’s present) should peak around this time.
• Results have shown statistically significant increases in glycine uptake within the exercise-stimulated collagen fibrils.

It’s really neat stuff, and while I don’t have the space to go into specifics within this article, check out the references at the end of this article to read up more on the findings of these interventions.

Balancing Tendon Performance and Health

Being an athlete is an ongoing battle between optimizing performance and reducing the likelihood of injury. Regarding tendons, athletes, coaches, and rehabilitation specialists should be aware of the relationship between tendon performance and tendon health. As such, the athlete’s training regimen should incorporate the various loading parameters required to optimize tendon performance and tendon health.

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. Calve S, Dennis RG, Kosnik PE, Baar K, Grosh K, and Arruda EM. “Engineering of functional tendon.” Tissue Engineering. 2004;10(5–6):755–761.

2. Järvinen M. “Epidemiology of tendon injuries in sports.” Clinical Sports Medicine. 1992;11(3):493–504.

3. Ellingson AJ, Pancheri NM, and Schiele NR. “Regulators of collagen crosslinking in developing and adult tendons.” European Cells & Materials. 2022;43:130–152.

4. Fessel G, Gerber C, and Snedeker JG. “Potential of collagen cross-linking therapies to mediate tendon mechanical properties.” Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery. 2012;21(2):209–217.

5. Baar K. “Minimizing injury and maximizing return to play: Lessons from engineered ligaments.” Sports Medicine. 2017;47:5­–11.

6. Paxton JZ and Baar K. “Tendon mechanics: the argument heats up.” Journal of Applied Physiology. Published online 2007.

7. Arruda EM, Calve S, Dennis RG, Mundy K, and Baar K. “Regional variations of tibialis anterior tendon mechanics is lost following denervation.” Journal of Applied Physiology. 2006;101(4):1113–1117.

8. Jakobsen JR and Krogsgaard MR. “The myotendinous junction—A vulnerable companion in sports. A narrative review.” Frontiers in Physiology. 2021;12:635561.

9. Ikoma K, Kido M, Nagae M, et al. “Effects of stress-shielding on the dynamic viscoelasticity and ordering of the collagen fibers in rabbit Achilles tendon.” Journal of Orthopaedic Research. 2013;31(11):1708–1712.

10. Keith Baar – “Physical Training, Performance and Injury Prevention”; 2018. Accessed February 11, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgcR5J1dwcY

11. Baar K. “Stress relaxation and targeted nutrition to treat patellar tendinopathy.” International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2019;29(4):453–457.

12. Paxton JZ, Hagerty P, Andrick JJ, and Baar K. “Optimizing an intermittent stretch paradigm using ERK1/2 phosphorylation results in increased collagen synthesis in engineered ligaments.” Tissue Engineering Part A. 2012;18(3–4):277–284.

13. Levine M and Violet PC. “Breaking down, starting up: can a vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplement before exercise increase collagen synthesis?” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2017;105(1):5–7.

14. Lis DM and Baar K. “Effects of different vitamin C-enriched collagen derivatives on collagen synthesis.” International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2019;29(5):526–531.

15. Paxton JZ, Grover LM, and Baar K. “Engineering an in vitro model of a functional ligament from bone to bone.” Tissue Engineering Part A. 2010;16(11):3515–3525.

16. Shaw G, Lee-Barthel A, Ross ML, Wang B, and Baar K. “Vitamin C-enriched gelatin supplementation before intermittent activity augments collagen synthesis.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2017;105(1):136–143.

The two fears we all have when finally deciding to buy equipment are: it is going to collect dust by not being used and/or we overpaid and could have saved some money with a different option. Considering how saturated the market is with equipment (plus the amount of educational content on training athletes being created every day), how could you not have those concerns? Both are totally valid and I am here to offer an affordable, versatile, and simple solution to level up your speed training.

COVID-19 was actually one of the best things to happen where I coach (weird as that sounds, with all things considered) because we had to be creative in multiple ways: how to keep athletes spaced apart and how to use equipment to give a high-quality speed stimulus, all while keeping it simple enough to minimize the amount of touching/cleaning necessary. We had a bunch of the very thick (2.5-inch wide) super bands in our weight room not being used, so we decided to loop them together. This allowed us to keep athletes apart while providing resistance during our acceleration training.

We realized how versatile these double bands were and created more and more drills as time went on, while also utilizing equipment we already had. And, odds are, you just might have some of these super bands collecting dust in your weight room as well…

It’s always worth reiterating that you get what you pay for, but there is inevitably context to add to these kinds of decisions: the size of the operating budget, overall number of athletes being trained, universality of equipment, and so on. For example, a Run Rocket is over $2,000. Would you rather have 1 Run Rocket or 32 sets of double bands? This article is going to explain how—for only $62—you can get an extremely versatile and effective piece of equipment for your speed training. I’ll also give examples of the variety of drills you can perform using these double bands.

I’m not sponsored by EliteFTS, these are just the bands we use. The “strong bands” are only $31 on their website.

Video 1. Get faster for only $60.

Double-Band Drills

For this section, we’ll split the drills into two categories:

1. In-place drills
2. Moving drills

1. In-Place Drills

These types of drills are valuable because they simplify learning something complex—like sprinting—while removing the forward locomotion component. The other half of the band can be anchored by another athlete standing still or by tying it around an immovable object, like a rack or wall hook.

In-place drills are valuable because they simplify learning something complex while removing the forward locomotion component, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X

In-Place A-Series (A-March, A-Skip, A-Run). In my opinion, this is the best combination of simple and effective when teaching the A-series. First, it is straightforward. The athlete stays in the same spot so they do not have to worry about horizontal speed. Second, it is self-organizing. There is only a small area underneath the athlete’s hips that they can strike to keep their balance and give them a small forward push to stay in the same spot/not move backwards. Third, the resistance is at the hips. Breaking at the hips is one of the biggest flaws in sprinting posture.

So, in order to do these drills well, the athlete will need to keep their hips in a good position (and it is pretty obvious whether they are doing so). No matter which drill it is, you can coach as little as “stay in the same spot, keep good posture, and hit your A-position every step for 10 steps,” then see how your athletes do.

Video 2. Double-banded in-place A-run with 10+ youth and middle school athletes.

Banded 1-Steps (Forward and Crossover). In speed training, when you want to work on something, you need to exaggerate it. The 1-step is an awesome drill for feeling that big, forward, exaggerated, explosive first step. The increasing resistance as the athlete stretches the double band out has two benefits:

1. It teaches the athlete to really finish the step through triple extension.
2. It slows them down so the landing is less impactful.

Additionally, when performed out of a lateral stance, it can be used to help train the crossover “steal start” for baserunning and the start of a 60-yard dash for baseball players.

Video 3. Double-banded 1-steps with athletes acting as the anchor.

Banded Broad Jumps (Double Leg and Single Leg). Broad jumps are a great way to bridge the gap between traditional explosive exercises (usually aimed at improving the vertical jump) and sprinting. Learning how to drop the shins and create a forward shin angle, combined with an explosive triple extension against resistance, is an effective regression from sprinting itself to help with horizontal explosiveness.

Broad jumps are a great way to bridge the gap between traditional explosive exercises and sprinting, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X

Lateral Bound and Lateral “Quick to Stick.” Providing resistance and challenging explosiveness in the frontal plane can be a little trickier than doing so in the sagittal plane. A lateral bound (think about it like a resisted skater jump) teaches the athlete how to organize the body and be fast through a lateral shin angle. This is a common movement pattern in most change-of-direction and agility skills. The lateral “quick to stick” overloads the eccentric component with the band pulling the athlete in, being very similar to the eccentric demands of cutting.

Video 4. Double-banded lateral bound (first 2 reps) and lateral quick to stick (last 2 reps) with the bands anchored to a rack.

Wall Mechanics Drills. Wall drills are foundational for multiple reasons: they’re simple, not moving, and take the arms out of the equation. Examples include the wall load-and-lift and wall switches. However, along the same lines, they can become mastered relatively easily. As no athlete is above foundational sprint drills, putting a band around the athlete’s hips is a simple progression to provide a continued challenge. This can also be used as a specific intervention if your athlete is having issues breaking posture at the hips when sprinting.

2. Moving Drills

These types of drills are valuable building blocks for sprinting by slowing the athletes down enough to focus on mechanics while allowing for high outputs and efforts.

Moving A-Series (A-March, A-Skip, A-Run). This is the next progression of the A-series (obviously), slowing the athlete down enough to focus on mechanics but adding in the challenge of moving forward. Cue them to “move forwards, keep your posture, and hit your A-position on every step”—then see how your athletes do.

Video 5. Double-banded moving A-run for 5 yards.

Heavy Low Marching. I think this is one of the most unique uses of the double bands and one of the most difficult to perform with any other piece of equipment. Think about this like super horizontal A-marching. The combination of providing enough resistance to get an aggressively forward and horizontal shin angle while also moving forward is such a powerful teaching tool for acceleration.

Heavy low marching is one of the most unique uses of the double bands and one of the most difficult to perform with any other piece of equipment, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X

Video 6. Double-banded heavy low marching for 10 yards.

Sprints. Depending on how you coach it, you can get a variety of resistances based on how hard the “anchor” (the athlete in the other band) resists the athlete sprinting. I coach:

• “Light resistance,” where the anchor is moving forward at a light jog pace, partially being pulled by the sprinter but still providing some resistance.
• “Medium resistance,” where the anchor is moving forward at a fast walking pace, but they are controlling the pace with their resistance.
• “Heavy resistance,” where the anchor is only moving forward at a slow walking pace.

Video 7. Double-banded sprint for 10 yards with 40+ athletes.

Resisted-Release Sprints. Variable resistance (or resistance that changes intensity throughout the rep), can be very difficult to achieve without specific equipment. However, with a person providing the resistance as the anchor, they can intentionally decrease the amount of resistance they are providing as the rep progresses. Bands work by providing more resistance as they’re stretched, so a moving anchor actually allows you to do the exact opposite, providing a unique stimulus.

Bands work by providing more resistance as they’re stretched, so a moving anchor actually allows you to do the exact opposite, providing a unique stimulus, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X

Video 8. Double-banded resist-release with A-run for 3 seconds into a sprint with decreasing resistance.

Shuffling. Again, resisting a movement in the frontal plane is traditionally harder to do than resisting sprinting. However, the double bands provide a great solution with the moving anchor providing resistance while the athlete performs max effort shuffling.

6 Key Benefits of Double-Band Drills

1. Quality of resistance. The double bands are great for providing smooth horizontal resistance, because the stretch of the bands mitigates some of the perturbations in the sprinting cycle. Contrarily, think about how jerky and rough a sled can be during sprinting due to friction halting the sled with the rhythmic pattern of sprinting. Also, putting two bands together as opposed to one gives a high amount of stretch/resistance for a variety of drills and stimuli.

2. Cost-effective. As with everything, there are inexpensive, medium-priced, and expensive options. Speed training equipment can get up to around $20,000—like for a 1080 Sprint, which I am fortunate to have where I coach. And I must say, I use the double bands and 1080 Sprint equally: they both do very different things (as you do get what you pay for), but both are valuable for speed training.

This could be even cheaper if you use just one band instead of two. However, the resistance would be given by an athlete holding the band as opposed to the band being around their hips. This would increase the risk of an athlete getting hurt if they accidentally let go of the band or if it were to slip. Double bands are both safer and more versatile than just one.

Double bands are both safer and more versatile than just one, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X

3. More athletes involved. This is also another concern of many coaches when using equipment: the equipment becomes a bottleneck, which increases the number of athletes standing around and waiting. Regardless of whether you are doing in-place drills or moving drills, the double bands need to be anchored to something to provide resistance. Therefore, half your athletes will be doing the drill while the other half are acting as the anchor. It’s a win-win: athlete engagement is increased while minimizing downtime.

Additionally, this provides an opportunity to give some autonomy to your athletes. If they slack when providing resistance, are not smooth when being a moving anchor, or anything else along those lines, it ruins the rep for the athlete performing the drill. Saying something like “help your partner get better right now” or “be a good teammate” usually gets the anchors’ focus.

4. Portability. Bands are light and foldable—you can toss them over your shoulder, put them in your trunk, put them in a big plastic bin, or move them in whatever preferred method of transportation.

5. Minimal space needed. I know what you might be thinking: “Matt, what a thorough and well-done article, but all I have for space is a full weight room.” Perfect, you can do all the in-place drills. If it is fair to assume that a rack with a bunch of weights on it will not move, so you can tie the bands around a rack to be the anchor. Additionally, the moving drills are usually only done 5, 10, or occasionally 15 yards at a time.

6. Durability. As COVID-19 (spring 2020) was the inspiration for the double bands, we have now been using them non-stop for almost 3 years. These double bands have seen every variation of these drills, whether during sunshine or rain, for 100+ high school athletes or explosive professional athletes, or anything in between. Not once have the bands snapped or broken. Now, with that being said, some of the outer layers have started to peel…but some wear is to be expected with any equipment receiving consistent use. And as with any piece of equipment, you should check the status of the bands periodically to make sure they are safe to use.

As with any piece of equipment, you should check the status of the bands periodically to make sure they are safe to use, says @CoachBigToe. Share on X

Cons (or, Con)

There are not too many cons, but there is one big one: getting the bands apart is almost IMPOSSIBLE. It is rubber that has been stretched against rubber and it is tight.

Where I coach, these bands are used exclusively for our speed training, so it is not an issue. But if you plan on going back and forth between single- and double-band use, it might not be the most efficient use of your time (and sanity) trying to get these apart.

Three Twenties Well-Spent

Now, I am not one to judge how you spend your money, but what used to get me nine Chipotle burritos (now more like five) can get you one set of double bands. I am no rocket scientist, but two sets of double bands are the same price as a year of Spotify Premium AND it is only a one-time cost. So, you tell me, would you rather save up for ¼ of a 1080 Sprint or get an entire high school football program (140 athletes) doing speed training at the same time?

The double bands are one of the most cost-effective and versatile pieces of equipment you can buy to take your speed training to the next level. There are a variety of drills both in-place (which are great for teaching, especially in a limited on space) as well as moving (which are great for combining mechanics and high-effort outputs). You should make sure something like this makes the most sense for you before deciding to buy, but three years later, my double bands aren’t collecting dust and are helping my athletes get better.

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