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Is the bench press functional? I’m sure most of you have pondered this question, and for good reason. On one side of the argument, we have the “You don’t ever lie down and push a barbell in (enter sport here)” camp, who tag-team with the group that believes your shoulders will explode upon becoming muscle-bound from the mere thought of bench pressing. They often validate their argument with prescriptions of yoga, BOSU ball drills, or anything resembling a postoperative exercise seen in rehabilitation clinics. Believe it or not, I’ve actually heard this misguided advice over the years in the swim and baseball worlds, where these old wives’ tales seem to have staying power.

On the other side, we have the “Ride or Die” powerlifting types who place the bench press on the “be-all and end-all” altar, appeasing the 1RM gods. As fervent as the arguments from both camps are, the value of the bench press (like many other exercises) lies somewhere in the middle, buttressed by context and application.

A Question of Transfer

For those who validate their exercise pool via transference (or the perception of), it is easy to conclude that the only sport where the skill of the bench press completely transfers is powerlifting. Does this mean a lesser (or different) degree of transfer diminishes the use of the exercise?

Of course not.

The bench press and versions of it have been a part of strength and power development for athletes for going on several decades. Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk, for example, found a solid transfer with bench pressing up to 180 kilograms for discus throwers and shot putters. For them, the pattern of the bench press provided general strength improvement in the propulsive muscles of the triceps and shoulder girdle. The surplus from this level of strength led to bigger throws.¹ While 396 pounds (180 kg) may seem an excessive—or downright impossible—level for most to attain, contextually, for discus and shot, the weight of the implement and momentum requirement for big throws would call for larger forces to be created via a maximal strength surplus.

Using this line of thought, we can apply the context to throwers of a different ilk. In a study on handball players,² we can find that the bench press exercise provided an indicator of throwing velocities. Using a radar gun, ball-throwing velocity was evaluated with a standard three-step running throw. “Ball-throwing velocity was related to the absolute load lifted during the 1-RMBP (r = .637, P = .014), peak power using 36 kg (r = .586, P = .028) and 46 kg (r = .582, P = .029), and peak bar velocity using 26 kg (r = .563, P = .036) and 36 kg (r = .625, P = .017).”²

Essentially, the handball players who threw the fastest could not only produce higher forces but produce them in a shorter window of time. Given the lighter weight of the handball (15–16 ounces) versus the discus and shot (4.4 pounds and 16 pounds, respectively), the requirements to throw this lighter implement for higher speeds indicate less reliance on maximal strength but heighten the need to exhibit that strength in an accelerative and explosive manner. Similarly, the technique in the handball throw eerily resembles that of a quarterback, baseball pitcher, or water polo player, as well as the relative weight of those respective implements. In examining the study, we can draw inferences on how power and higher speed bench pressing techniques can develop throwing speed in the aforementioned team sport athletes.

On the intangible side, coaches who work with developmental athletes will struggle to prevent their trainees from bench pressing—especially pubescent males highly influenced by Instagrammers and TikTokers who celebrate international bench press day every Monday with entertaining (albeit performative) feats of stupidity. As coaches, if we take the bench press off the table, we risk our young ones pressing on their own, leaving them to their own devices and demises and losing any “buy-in” for our entire program.

Speaking from experience, I can say this argument is not worth the consequence.

Practically speaking, we can embrace this situation by implementing a proper progression to take advantage of their enthusiasm and adaptability. With developmental athletes, general strength is the low-hanging, fruit-bearing benefit of improved coordination, increased power, and psychological palatability. In the wise words of the legendary Joe Kenn, “Confidence transfers.”

A Question of Safety: The Hardware

For the general public and those with a physical therapy bias, the bench press is an easy culprit to demonize. If you were to survey any gym bro, veteran powerlifter, or ex-athlete who pressed heavy at some point in time, I’m sure you’d find complaints of pain, injury, and dysfunction later in life. In this instance, the author certainly is not exempt; but again, context is king. For those who push the envelope in any discipline, there are no free lunches. For the developmental athlete or strength enthusiast, we can put bench pressing in its place as a general or general-specific exercise that is used to drive athletic qualities.

For the general public and those with a physical therapy bias, the bench press is an easy culprit to demonize. Share on X

In 1987, Jobe and colleagues³ identified two groups of muscles involved in pitching, labeled Group I muscle:

• Supraspinatus
• Infraspinatus
• Teres minor
• Deltoid
• Trapezius
• Biceps brachii

These were found to have greater activity during the early and late stages of the throw, with less activity during propulsion. The muscles served primarily to position the shoulder and elbow for the delivery of the pitch—what we now define as stability to load and decelerate the throw. The Group II muscles (pectoralis major, serratus anterior, subscapularis, and latissimus dorsi) had stronger activity during the propulsive phase of the pitch, accelerating the arm and baseball forward in space.³

From basic anatomy and kinesiology, we can conclude that the Group II muscles determined in the study are also trained as prime movers in the bench press exercise. This gives us a bit of validation on the transfer argument, and I would contend on the safety argument as well. Going back to the necessities of subsets of strength—would it not be prudent to expose the muscles used in throwing to varying levels of force in a controlled manner in the weight room? The obvious answer would be yes, as these exposures give us a general foundation of strength and coordination. As more advanced training is called for throughout an athlete’s time, more specific subsets of forces—namely through power—can also be trained with the bench press.

In a real-world example, the crew at Driveline Baseball uses the bench press as a diagnostic tool and regularly includes a variation in the development of their pitchers, stating:

“The prime movers in a bench press are the pectoralis major, pectoralis minor, and anterior deltoid, whereas the triceps and serratus anterior work to stabilize the movement. The antagonist muscles are the latissimus dorsi, posterior deltoids, and biceps. The rhomboids help keep the scapula retracted during the movement. From an injury-prevention standpoint, because the muscles used in the bench press help accelerate the shoulder, stabilize the scapula, and aid in upward rotation, it’s important to see if those muscles can apply force quickly since the throwing delivery is a very fast movement.”⁴

You may ask why not look at a push-up, and I would agree, especially from a general perspective, but the open chain environment of the bench press may allow you to see some coordinative leaks from head to toe, as in a throw. Despite what most people may think, the lower body is involved in a stable bench press. Contrary to what you hear in some weight rooms, the dancing feet won’t help you cheat—this can give some weight to the coordination enhancement argument.

Despite what most people may think, the lower body is involved in a stable bench press. This can give some weight to the coordination enhancement argument. Share on X

Brain Games: The Software

On the topic of software, there is also the other side of the coin in terms of “safety.” Readers of this forum may be familiar with the concepts of Dan Fichter in how training affects the brain (reflexively) and vice versa. In the weight room, Fichter seeks to train “involuntary” (reflexive) movement, which the PMRF governs.

A quick word on the PMRF.

“The ponto medullary reticular formation (PMRF) is the powerhouse of your posture, the center for postural control. The PMRF inhibits flexion of the Posture System to efficiently resist gravity. Patients who present with dysfunctional output of their PMRF have flexor dominant posture, a common postural presentation of forward head posture, anterior rolling of the shoulders, chest flexion, and hyperkyphosis.

The PMRF is in the brainstem among the pons and medulla. It is the home of 8 cranial nerves that perform vital functions and contribute to proper posture. The reticulospinal tract descends from the PMRF to the spine to inhibit flexor tone.”⁵

In Fichter’s view, manipulating how the sensory input enters via the PMRF is critical in affecting range of motion, stabilization, and pain control. He feels classic programs only train 10% of what actually occurs in the body, whereas 90% of movement is governed by these brain-deep reflexes, going on to explain a cost to classic bilateral movements as they “temporarily paralyze the brain” and dampen reflexive outputs.⁶ As far as inputs impacting reflexes are concerned, he certainly has a point in regard to training chaotic team sports such as the one he also coaches (football): In this case, the general qualities developed will influence the software of the system (reflexes, brain) along with the hardware (muscle mass, tissue strength, etc.).

Being a practical coach, Fichter also doesn’t fight the “don’t let them bench press” debate. Instead, he manipulates the input to the PMRF by using asymmetrical postures while performing the exercise. For him, simply manipulating the grip with one hand in supination and the other in pronation will stimulate the paraspinal. Of note, Fichter also trains opposite movements together in a push versus pull fashion—think a triceps extension on one side with elbow flexion on the other or a row with a press. This may prove to be a bit impractical with bench pressing directly but is worth sparking thought with other exercises.

7 Ways We Spice Up Our Bench

Here are methods we use at P.I.T., which I’ll categorize here as either “hardware” or “software” driven.

Hardware Methods

1. Manual Eccentric Overload: This is simple and a great way to incorporate teamwork into a group session. Have the spotter push down hard as the athlete lowers the bar to the chest, obviously resisting. The spotter will immediately release the pressure about 2 inches from the chest, unleashing a neurological PAP effect that will send light bars through the roof. The premise here is a manual weight releaser that is more stable and doesn’t cost a dime.

Video 1. Coaches can use this to train eccentric overload and explosive concentrics in the same set.

2. Manual Oscillatory Isometrics: The same setup as above, except the lifter holds a position off the chest ranging from 2–4 inches. The spotter will apply “pulses” of force over a specified period (5–30 seconds, depending on what you want to train) before releasing.

Video 2. The lifter can explode up with a rep, or it can be racked if a longer duration is applied.

3. Timed Max Effort: The timed max effort is more of a training modality than a tactic and can be used as a quantifiable way to develop power endurance. I know I read about this in an article, and I cannot seem to find it online, but I must give credit where it’s due to Elitefts and Louie Simmons.

The application is quite simple: Pick a weight and move it as fast as you can for a specific rep range while a coach or a more experienced training partner times the set with a stopwatch. A good rule of thumb is one rep per second or under for the initial set; if this is accomplished, add 5 pounds to the next set but give an extra second to complete it. Do not add weight if the athlete cannot complete the set within the specified time.

I usually have them perform three sets per session, but you can go up to five if you like. I’ve applied this quite successfully with male swimmers timing 10-rep sets and beginning the cycle with about 40% of their body weight. Many progressed to near body weight for 10 reps in 10 seconds. For swimmers, output over time was something they could understand and therefore compete on without trashing them.

Software Methods

4a. Offset Load: This is simple—overload one side of the bar by 10–20 pounds.

Video 3. Bench press with offset loading.

Start with symmetrical hand spacing. For a challenge later, you can use one of the following grip configurations.

4b. Mixed Grip: Again, simple. One hand is pronated, the other supinated, symmetrically spaced.

Video 4. Start by symmetrically loading the bar but feel free to offset the load or hand spacing for a deeper challenge.

4c. Offset Grip: Put one hand closer to the middle of the bar and one hand wider. 

Video 5. Begin with a pronated grip, but you can use the two configurations above in conjunction with it.

If this is your first exposure to these concepts, and you are as much of a purist as I am, then you are probably asking yourself the same thing I did: “How the hell do I program this?” My solution is to do them in warm-up sets. Practically speaking, if the brain stimulation capabilities of these simple tweaks are true, then why not use them when we are trying to prime the body for performance? If you have three warm-up sets, you have three places to start with the above methods. 

Practically speaking, if the brain stimulation capabilities of these simple bench press tweaks are true, then why not use them in warm-ups when we are trying to prime the body for performance? Share on X

5. Chaotic Loading: If you don’t have the tools (earthquake bar) mentioned in the references above, you can use a stronger PVC pipe cut to a 7-foot length to match barbell dimensions with the suspended load of kettlebells or plates. Bungee cords may also work if you don’t have bands. Use this for lighter sets for athletes with a decent grasp of technique and a decent strength level (BW for 10 reps) before employing.

6. Isometric+: A play on the badger protocol here.⁷ Hold the bottom of the bench press position about 2 inches off the chest for a specified time, touch, and then perform reps. As alluded to above, I have found the combination of extended holds followed by reps to be a superior method for learning technique.

Video 6. In this case, we hold for 10 seconds and follow with a minimum of eight reps and as high as 20. Just keep in mind that the higher the reps, the fewer sets they will need.  

7. Two-Minute Drill: Hold the bottom and top for 10 seconds and do it for two minutes straight. This is an advanced method, but I like to use it for:

1. A challenge.
2. Intermediate trainees who need to learn to kick their technique up a notch.

I prefer using a chaotic setup via the earthquake bar and suspended plates here.

Video 7. The task is simple: hold the bottom for 10 seconds, then quickly press to the top and hold for another 10 seconds. Alternate this sequence for six total reps. At 20 seconds per rep, that equals two minutes.

Training Both the Hardware and Software

Work capacity, tissue strength (tolerance), skill, and resilience are the orders of the day, to some degree. If coaches can train many of these qualities at once, we will certainly try. This chaotic loading style can offer coaches a unique tool to replicate the demands of most team sports and allow for heightened stress on the stabilizers and proprioceptors for a pre/re-habilitative context.⁸ Studies cited and examined by Dr. Mann revealed several aspects of stable versus (various conditions of) unstable loading.

Although EMG measurements of the prime movers were not significantly different between both regimens, the EMG activity for the stabilizer muscles was far greater in the unstable condition (Lawrence, 2018, p. 1351). In another study (Ostrowski, 2017, p. 1349) that used untrained or recreationally trained individuals, there was no difference between the prime movers for the conditions. Mann explained, “this indicates that you can get the same prime mover activity with much lower loads in the unstable regime, indicating the same muscular stimulus without as much joint strain. This is crucial for the older or restricted lifter whose previous injuries and restrictions preclude them from training heavy any longer. For the younger lifter, this may allow them a prophylaxis to injurious situations from long term heavy lifting.”⁸

Although these muscles can be trained with other regimes, most notably high-impact plyometrics, trainees can enjoy a decrease in overall training stress by incorporating the unstable regimen that spares the CNS fatigue and joint damage from higher stress means. This would inherently save the heightened arousal for when it’s needed—the contest!

It is hard to argue with Mann’s contention that the stabilizer muscles are important in decelerating, stopping, and reaccelerating the body, external load, or limb in the arena of competition for athletes. Witness any contact sport, and you see this in live action.

These EMG revelations should also appease the “injury prevention” crowd, as these typically neglected stabilizers can now be trained during a lift typically scoffed at by this same camp. Most notably, the middle trapezius and bicep brachii activity was significantly different in unstable conditions. The increase in EMG activity of these muscles shows how they are important stabilizers for the shoulder, specifically in regard to protecting against SLAP tears.

Anatomically speaking, the long head of the biceps crosses the shoulder and the scapulothoracic joints, inserting where the slap tear occurs (the supraglenoid tubercle). Given that the stable bench press typically “pins down” the mid traps and dampens the biceps activity, the use of unstable loads can “wake up” these dormant muscles and improve the resiliency of our hardware.

Given that the stable bench press typically ‘pins down’ the mid traps and dampens the biceps activity, the use of unstable loads can ‘wake up’ these dormant muscles and improve their resiliency. Share on X

Couple this with a decreased demand in necessary load, “…the condition with the highest bar path variability required 67% of the bench press 1RM to maintain the same EMG prime mover and stabilizer activity” creates a resiliency stew so the body can more completely heal and recover between training bouts.⁸

I contend that the unstable loads develop a larger bandwidth of motor learning. We have all read or heard about variation improving learning, and in the Lawrence study, the barbell path was tracked under four different conditions. “…in the stable load, there was very little variation in the bar path (starting, touching, or ending position for the bench press). In the earthquake bar and thick bands, there was a significant alteration in the bar path between repetitions in terms of touch point, yet the pressing was fairly straight on each repetition. In the earthquake bar with plates with thinner bands, the bar path starts off smooth and starts to have some greater displacement from the path with each subsequent repetition. In the earthquake bar plus thin bands and kettlebells… no two repetitions went in the same path; the path chart resembles chicken scratch. There was a marked instability in this condition. In the study the numerical expression for the congruence of the repetitions shows not just the anterior posterior and superior inferior (bar movement toward the face and hips as well as vertical difference), but a medial lateral movement as well (from side to side). The fourth conditioning showed more than five times the variability in the repetitions as the stable load.”⁸

Given the above regarding the medial and lateral movement of the bench press during unstable loading conditions, I would contend heightened brain activity, a la the reflexive actions of the paraspinals as suggested by Fichter, exists as well. The “chaos” created by the unstable loading creates a repeated instantaneous panic response that forces the postural reflexive muscles to fire. Combine this with offset grip, mixed grip, or “quick style” reps (as seen in Fichter’s programs), and you have even more variations that are joint-friendly, brain-friendly, and highly challenging.

Mel Siff, the co-author of Supertraining, coined a term for this style of chaotic loading—“imperfection training”—as a counter to most common approaches to “injury prevention.” To paraphrase Siff⁹: The current emphasis on preventing injury is the avoidance of the demonized exercise as well as seemingly excessive amounts of volume and intensity. This approach is limited because it neglects to develop the ability to cope with suboptimal training and competitive situations. (P.S. This is why I think most scientific studies on training are flawed—the environments are too sterile.)

Sports that include many open skills and multiple qualities (that of a chaotic nature) must have a training component where athletes learn to cope with the unexpected. Share on X

Sports that include many open skills and multiple qualities (that of a chaotic nature) must have a training component where athletes learn to cope with the unexpected. In combat sports, motor racing, or any sport with an extreme risk to bodily health, athletes must develop the ability to deal with these potentially dire consequences. The ability to anticipate the threatening situation, rapidly react to the unexpected, and know what action to take to avoid injury should be adopted as a standard extensively in the repertoire of all athletic development. The idea or occurrence of truly perfect movement or “balanced” training loads is rare. Having the ability to manage and utilize “agile” training modes may be a subconscious but logical approach in this endeavor.⁹

As any coach in the weight room knows, our dual aim is to prepare our athletes for the demands of practice and play while Doing No Harm. We achieve this by coaching technique, managing volume, and developing a wide bandwidth of movement capabilities. Some coaches may write these off as the snake oil of the functional trainer types, but I’ll later explain and demonstrate how to implement these concepts without sacrificing the meat and potatoes of strength and power that you are trying to build.

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. Miller D., “Benchmark Lifts to Throw 50 Feet (High School Shot Put),” Throws University, 12/14/20.

2. Marques MC, van den Tillaar R, Vescovi J, and Gonzalez-Badillo J.J. “Relationship Between Throwing Velocity, Muscle Power, and Bar Velocity During Bench Press in Elite Handball Players.” International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 2008;2(4):414–422.

3. Gowan ID, Jobe FW, Tibone JE, Perry J, and Moynes DR. “A comparative electromyographic analysis of the shoulder during pitching. Professional versus amateur pitchers.” American Journal of Sports Medicine. 1987;15(6):586–590.

4. Rogers K., “Bench Press: A Deep Dive with Programming Considerations,” drivelinebaseball.com, 11/15/18. https://www.drivelinebaseball.com/2018/11/bench-press-deep-dive-programming-considerations/

5.Burns K. “Neurology of the Posture System.” American Posture Institute. 1/21/17. https://freetraining.americanpostureinstitute.com/neurology-of-the-posture-system-2/

6. Brain Games: Fichter Webinar. Upper Body Training for Athlete Development

7. Jovanovic M., “The Badger Protocol: Grease the Groove with IsoSandwich,” Complementarytraining.net, 7/13/21. https://complementarytraining.net/the-badger-protocol-grease-the-groove-with-isosandwich/

8. Mann B., “Unstable Load Training for the Bench Press,” Elite FTS, 3/7/20. https://www.elitefts.com/education/unstable-load-training-for-the-bench-press/

9. Verkoshansky YV and Siff MC. Supertraining. 5th edition, 2000.

Performance testing is commonplace in most strength and conditioning programs. By implementing the correct tests, you can get a snapshot of an athlete’s strengths and weaknesses while also quickly comparing that athlete to their peers. Nearly every physical quality can be tested, with options available for any budget. Among the cheapest, low-tech assessments are jump tests—specifically, horizontal-based variations like the broad jump. These are excellent assessments of lower body power, and athletes also love seeing how far they can jump compared to their peers.

For an S&C coach, the attractiveness of these tests is that all you need to do is lay down a tape measure, give some simple instructions, and start collecting data. Coaches now have a metric (jump distance in either feet or meters) to rank athletes…but is this the best use of this assessment?

A common trend in performance testing is to calculate an athlete’s “relative” strength or power. This is because athletes of different body sizes—despite being similar in other respects, such as gender, age, or absolute scores—may have wildly different relative scores. Moreover, having a superior strength- or power-to-weight ratio is more advantageous for an athlete than simply having higher absolute scores, especially in sports where weight categories are used (e.g., wrestling). This is why coaches care more about squatting 2x bodyweight than x amount of weight, as it is a more useful way of seeing how strong an athlete really is.

While many strength and power metrics are viewed under this lens, it is apparent that traditional jump testing has not been given this level of consideration.

Why Traditional Jump Testing Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story

There is a glaring weakness to using an athlete’s jump distance at face value. Take, for example, the hypothetical data set below.

Based on this limited information, if I asked you to determine which athlete is more powerful, or at the very least who is the better jumper, most coaches would automatically assume Athlete A. It makes sense, as the first athlete jumped nearly half a foot further. It is common for jump scores to be used this way (including vertical jumps) in practice; athletes who get a higher absolute score are slated as the better jumpers and more powerful athletes.

But how would this assumption change if we added a little more context?

As we can see, by simply taking the athlete’s height into consideration, we can see a different story emerge. We can now see Athlete B slightly edges out Athlete A when looking at the jump-to-height ratio. This is because we can now assess the athlete’s relative jumping ability, not just their absolute jumping ability. By using a jump-to-height ratio, coaches can compare athletes of different ages, heights, genders, and playing levels without having to buy any high-tech or expensive equipment. Just stick a tape measure on the wall and take the athlete’s standing height.

By using a jump-to-height ratio, coaches can compare athletes of different ages, heights, genders, and playing levels without having to buy any high-tech or expensive equipment, says @CoachGies. Share on X

I know what you’re thinking: “But coach, this is just a theoretical example. Surely this doesn’t mean much with real athletes!” Au contraire.

To provide some real-life context with elite-level athletes, I pulled the broad jump data from the 2022 NFL Combine for the Wide Receivers group (Table 3). When I applied the jump-to-height ratio and then ranked athletes on both their broad jump and ratio scores, something interesting started to emerge. Some athletes who were in the top third of broad jump scores suddenly dropped down the ranks, and athletes with some of the worst scores moved up. For example:

• Athlete 3 was 12th in the broad jump when looking at raw scores but is third overall when looking at his jump-to-height ratio.
• Athlete 11 was 28th in the broad (out of 33) but then jumped up to 11th with jump-to-height ratio.
• Athlete 26 dropped all the way down from 12th overall to 26th.

It also highlights just how freaky Athlete 1 is in terms of broad jump performance. This athlete was the shortest overall but had the second farthest broad jump corresponding to the top jump-to-height ratio. He is jumping 2x his standing height! The jump-to-height ratio helps put into perspective just how exceptional this athlete really is in terms of horizontal power production compared to other athletes.

I also looked at the correlation between broad jump distance, jump-to-height ratio, and the 40-yard times for the same group. When looking at broad jump distance and 40-yard times, there was a low to moderate negative correlation (r= -0.41). Meaning, as broad jump distances increased, 40 times decreased. But when looking at jump-to-height ratio, there was an even stronger negative correlation of r= – 0.51. Granted, it’s not a super strong correlation, and I am no statistician, but it does appear that the jump-to-height ratio is a little more informative than broad jump distance on its own—at the very least, it is something to consider when evaluating jump performance.

It does appear that the jump-to-height ratio is a little more informative than broad jump distance on its own… It’s something to consider when evaluating jump performance, says @CoachGies. Share on X

By adding this one quick change, coaches can level up their performance assessments.

Introducing the Jump-to-Height Ratio

Hopefully, it is apparent that simply using raw jump data is an incomplete method for comparing athletes. Typical standing broad jump normative data only gives us a grading system based on raw values.

For example, consider data looking at normative reference values for the broad jump in adolescents (Table 4). This large data set gives us a good idea of what different-aged athletes can perform for this test; however, as height is not considered, we are in the dark on whether the athletes in the higher percentiles are there because they are more powerful or simply because they are taller than their peers.

All things being equal, taller athletes should be able to jump farther than shorter athletes. This is for a few reasons:

• Taller athletes have longer limbs (i.e., longer levers), which increases the biomechanical advantage and torque produced around the joints, which can increase the amount of force produced during jumps.
• Taller athletes have longer legs, meaning they can reach further forward before landing.
• Some taller athletes may have more muscle mass and, thus, more force potential.

However, there are some disadvantages, like taller athletes being heavier, which could negatively affect their jump performance. The point is that simply looking at jump distance doesn’t provide enough nuance to make informed decisions on how good of a jumper an athlete is. Utilizing the jump-to-height ratio would clear up this confusion and provide more information when ranking athlete abilities.

Simply looking at jump distance doesn’t provide enough nuance to make informed decisions on how good of a jumper an athlete is. Utilizing the jump-to-height ratio would clear up this confusion. Share on X

While absolute data can prove useful, it is difficult to use this data in isolation when assessing athletes who may have a foot of difference in standing height, which is common for those who coach 12- to 18-year-old athletes. The simple answer is that you can’t, but with a few quick changes, you can start applying the data in a useful context.

We use the jump-to-height ratio with three different styles of jump:

1. The standing broad jump.
2. The single leg hop and stick.
3. The lateral bound.

For the first two, you will need the athlete’s standing height, but for the lateral bound, you will need the athlete’s standing split.

Protocols:

Standing Height: Ensure you measure the athlete with their shoes off, from the base of the foot to the top of the head.

Standing Split (Lateral Bound Only): Have the athlete stand with their feet as far apart as possible and measure from the inside edge of one foot to the inside edge of the other foot. Some key points in standardizing the standing split:

1. Hands must be on hips.
2. Torso must be completely vertical.
3. Feet must remain flat.
4. Knees must remain straight.
5. Toes must be pointing forward.

Video 1. Standing Broad Jump: Have the athlete stand behind a marked line and jump as far forward as possible. Measure the back of the athlete’s heel. If the athlete falls or steps back, the rep does not count; if the athlete falls or steps forward, measure where their heel initially touched the ground.

Video 2. Single Leg Hop and Stick: Have the athlete stand behind a marked line on one foot and jump as far forward as possible, landing on the same foot. Measure the back of the athlete’s heel. The athlete must stick the landing. If the athlete bobs around to regain balance or steps down with the other foot, do not count the rep. Make sure to repeat with both sides.

Video 3. Lateral Bound: Have the athlete stand behind a marked line with the inside edge of their foot against the line and jump as far sideways as possible, landing on the opposite foot. Measure the inside edge of the foot. The athlete must stick the landing. If the athlete bobs around to regain balance or steps down with the other foot, do not count the rep. Make sure to repeat with both sides.

Have them attempt each jump 2–3 times to find the athlete’s best score. You can now divide the jump distance by either the athlete’s standing height or standing split.

Applying the Jump-to-Height Ratio

Now that you have your athletes’ jump-to-height ratios, you can start applying that data to begin understanding your athletes’ jump abilities on a deeper level. You can rank groups of athletes (age groups, sports teams, positions, etc.)

The jump-to-height ratio gives coaches a clearer picture of which athletes are better jumpers without getting distracted by the shiny object of an athlete jumping the farthest overall. Share on X

Rehabilitation Uses

Jump-to-height ratio can be an impactful metric when considering lower body rehabilitation exit criteria and return to play. An interesting study from Ohji et al. (2021), which looked at single leg hop distances normalized to height and return to sport status post ACL reconstruction, found that a distance <70% of standing height on the operated leg was negatively associated with return to sport status. The authors concluded that improving single leg hop score to >70% of height may be important in supporting return to sport post-ACL surgery.

This shows the potential of jump-to-height ratios in providing clear exit criteria and training goals for athletes recovering from injury and potentially identifying risk factors for future injury. It should be mentioned that this is an understudied area, so you should take caution in over-interpreting this data. However, having historical jump-to-height ratios for athletes can be helpful if they suffer a lower body injury, as you then have clear benchmarks to work toward during the rehab process to ensure a safe return to sport.

Performance Uses

Though this is not a commonly used metric—meaning there is little in the way of normative data—we have started building out scoring standards that we hope will be improved as more coaches adopt the jump-to-height ratio. The beauty is that the more data you collect with your athletes, the more accurately you can produce scoring standards that apply to your specific situations (age groups, sports, genders, playing levels, positions, etc.). It can then help inform training interventions based on the ratios that best fit those athletes.

Closing Thoughts

S&C coaches have used relative metrics to gain deep insights into an athlete’s athletic potential; however, horizontal-based jumps have not been given this same level of consideration. By utilizing a simple jump-to-height ratio, coaches can quickly and accurately compare jump data between athletes of different heights, sports, or stages of rehab. Rather than relying solely on the total distance jumped, I encourage you to dig a little deeper to get the most out of your testing data.

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. Saint-Maurice PF, Laurson KR, Kaj M, and Csányi T. “Establishing normative reference values for standing broad jump among Hungarian youth.” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 2015;86(sup1):S37–S44.

2. Ohji S, Aizawa J, Hirohata K, et al. “Single-leg hop distance normalized to body height is associated with the return to sports after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.” The Journal of Experimental Orthopaedics. 2021;8(1):26.

3. NFL Combine Data accessed: https://www.draftcountdown.com/combine/2022-nfl-combine-results/

Medicine balls provide a unique opportunity, enabling athletes to accelerate until the very finish of the movement—something traditional resistance training cannot achieve. Whether for increasing outputs in rotational, linear, or lateral movements, most of us throw medicine balls with our athletes to become more explosive, leading to higher movement velocities. Yet I often see implementations of this training method without the detailed look it deserves.

Okay, give me 3×10 rotational throws is a common prescription found all the way up to the highest realms of athletic training. But what kind of rotational throw is the coach referring to? Do they always have just this one specific throw in mind that they always use? When the athlete seems to be getting stronger, do they then just give them a heavier med ball to throw? I don’t know—but I do know that we are still far away in most sports in terms of the best use of this amazing training tool.

Med ball throws can be used as a bridge between the weight room and our sport-specific work, enabling us to work the ability to transfer momentum through kinetic chains in three dimensions. Share on X

In my experience, medicine ball throws can be used as a bridge between the weight room and our sport-specific work, enabling us to work the ability to transfer momentum through kinetic chains in three dimensions. I have often asked myself if there are any untouched areas in terms of progressing medicine ball throws and their intensities, apart from only increasing the weight. Doing only this might lead to submaximal results (adaptations to stimulate neural drive and motor unit recruitment), as movement velocities are slowed down, as well as increase injury risks in susceptible tissues (think of rotator cuff tendons and the like) and possibly interfere with optimal sequencing and movement rhythm.

Unsurprisingly, the ultimate goal of this article is to lay out a straightforward way to progress the intensity of throwing a medicine ball by using what I call “momentum-based intensity techniques” (MBITs) to achieve higher athletic abilities for those we train.

Momentum and Impact

Momentum and impact are two of the most important terms in sport science, stemming from Newton’s Second Law (specifically the Impulse-Momentum Theorem), which basically states that:

The change in momentum of an object equals the impulse applied to it

.

Momentum is the product of an object’s mass and velocity, whereas impulse is the product of the net force acting on an object and its duration. This means that if we want to throw a medicine ball faster, we need a larger impulse acting on it. This can be achieved either by:

1. Increasing the duration that we act on the ball (see graph below: red impulse)
2. Increasing the net force (while keeping the duration the same: grey impulse).

The first is possible when using a larger range of motion, the second by being able to produce a higher force faster (rate of force development and maximal strength). Although theoretically correct, the assumptions made must be taken with a grain of salt in terms of the reality of what we see happening.

In reality, if an athlete increases mean force, the duration of their actions on the ball will be shorter, as acceleration is faster. Thus, the duration will only be the same when the mean force increases if the ROM of the movement is increased in the same fashion. Nevertheless, I think the graph and described theory help us understand the fundamental relation.

But this is only one part of the story. Why? Because in sports, we commonly need to act upon an object—whether it is our body or an implement—that is moving in a countermovement action.

Think of a player who needs to make a complete 180-degree change of direction. Their net impulse needs to be comparatively larger than the one when they start from a standstill, as they need to overcome the momentum their body has built up before executing the COD task. The same must be said about throwing a medicine ball, with or without performing a countermovement, which is used to stretch the tissues that are asked to produce and transmit the necessary impulse on the implement and initiate the concentric part of the movement at a much higher ground-reaction force.

Momentum doesn’t just go ‘anywhere,’ but in a specific direction—and via our impulse, we want to redirect it to achieve the goal of our movement task. Share on X

We must remember that momentum is a vector quantity, where mass is a scalar and velocity is a vector. This basically means it is a quantity that has a direction and magnitude. Therefore, we should always remember that momentum does not just go “anywhere,” but in a specific direction—and via our impulse, we want to redirect it to achieve the goal of our movement task.

To successfully turn their momentum around, the athlete must have sufficient technical and physiological qualities. If the “negative” momentum surpasses the athlete’s ability to redirect it—perhaps because the weight of the ball is too high in symbioses with the produced acceleration via the countermovement—then the ball’s exit velocity will drop. This is despite the coach initially thinking that by implementing a countermovement, the exit velocity should be higher due to the build-up of elastic energy in connective (endomysium, perimysium, and epimysium, as well as tendons and ligaments) and muscular tissues (titin) in addition to the stretch reflexes. If our only strategy to counter such a situation would be to lower the weight of the ball, we might lose out on what we are trying to achieve: building athletes capable of dealing with increasing amounts of momentum as they develop athletic abilities.

Stemming from the argument above, the foremost question should be: how can we logically increase momentum—of the whole body and the ball—by using variations of a specific throw? Based on this question, I propose a progression regarding training for output that not only addresses increasing the weight of the ball but also the fact that a better skilled and developed player can perform tasks that are more challenging in terms of the height of momentum they face.

MBITs: Techniques to Increase Intensity by Using Momentum

There are many ways to ask more from the athlete than simply increasing the weight of a medicine ball. I would even argue that increasing medicine ball weight as the only means to increase intensity is not optimal when the goal is to increase movement velocity via neural and structural adaptations—particularly since the weight of the implement an athlete deals with in sports like tennis and javelin remain the same, while advanced players (in comparison to those of lower levels) increase their exit velocities by efficiently transferring built-up, whole-body momentum into their implements.

Increasing medicine ball weight as the ONLY means to increase intensity is not optimal when the goal is to increase movement velocity via neural and structural adaptations. Share on X

This also holds for athletes in sports not dealing with implements but just their bodies. Elite athletes have unique abilities in terms of using their momentum to create acceleration and output by near-perfect segmentation and sequencing of their body parts. Imagine a highly capable soccer player using two to three steps to accelerate their whole body, effectively blocking forward momentum via their plant leg to kick the ball with a very high velocity. To do this, they must learn how to manage momentum optimally.

Video 1. A progression of rotational throws from a stationary, concentric-only throw to a “shock” and run-up variations.

Based on this reasoning, a much better way to increase intensity when training for movement velocity is to use methods to build momentum the athlete will need to deal with, as this will differentiate the great from not-so-great athletes: the ability to produce and deal with large momentums via impulse generation. Think of an athlete running to a COD task being able to create a higher impulse than their opponent, leading them to be faster out of that turn. Or a javelin thrower being able to use a faster run-up, which has been shown to be one of the most important KPIs for throwing distance.

To exemplify my method of increasing intensity, the graph below shows the MBITs that I use to increase rotational movement velocities. They can be used in nearly every throw variation, such as overhead and scoop throws, as well as chest pass tosses.

The easiest throw is concentric-only—the athlete does not need to deal with any negative momentum; they only need to produce an impulse on the implement. This throw is great for beginners, as they can work on the basics of technical aspects such as hip-shoulder segmentation and the sequencing of body parts. I believe hip-shoulder separation, in particular, is something many of us try to work on intensively with most of our athletes if they play a rotational or overhead sport. The fewer components novice athletes have to deal with, the more they can concentrate on specific elements of the technique they want to work on. This is not to say that learning a movement as a whole is not useful, but depending on the context, breaking down complex movements into different parts can be of great help.

A first progression to increase momentum from the concentric-only throw would be letting the athlete use a countermovement. A countermovement while standing can be further differentiated if the athlete is allowed to move from the ground up while using their feet or if they are instructed to keep their feet relatively stable. This removes the possibility of producing more significant momentum by engaging larger ranges of motion around the ankle, knee, and hip joint via rotation of the tibia and the femur.

Adding in a pre-step is the next logical progression when using a rotational throw. The athlete can effectively load their back leg, using it to produce a much higher momentum of the whole body, which needs to be blocked by the front leg and efficiently transferred up the kinetic chain to the ball.

In this progression, what Verkoshansky termed the “Shock Method” will lead us to another increase in intensity if the athlete moves with the highest possible intent (a prerequisite of the whole progression). Reversing the momentum of a ball that is thrown to them can—depending on how fast the ball is passed—immensely intensify the negative momentum the athlete needs to redirect. The “shock” in this method comes as the body collides with an external object, leading to a sharp increase in muscle tension—which can increase impulse generation (if the momentum is not too high for the athlete to handle). You can combine this MBIT with a number of the other MBITs, such as the countermovement, a pre-step, or even a run-up.

What you must keep in mind when combining MBITs, though, is the technical level the athlete displays: the more “noise” due to variables affecting the athlete (running up, catching the ball, etc.), the less likely they will produce the highest possible outputs if their technique is not advanced enough. (This is somewhat comparable to strength outputs on unstable surfaces in traditional resistance training exercises like squats and deadlifts.)

The last step (at least relative to this example) is using a run-up into a rotational throw. This increases the momentum of the whole body a great deal. Think of a pre-step that increases the velocity of the entire body to around 3 m/s and a run-up leading to twice the velocity. This would mean a difference in whole-body momentum of 240 kg x m/s when the athlete weighs approximately 80 kilos. The athlete would need a good blocking action of their front leg, bracing it hard to conserve the momentum and allowing it to travel through the kinetic chain, finally reaching the implement. If the blocking leg cannot stay stiff upon contact, the momentum will partly vanish, and exit velocity will drop.

Building on this, the run-up leads to an even stronger collision that the athlete needs to go through, and it requires producing a large impulse on the block leg to stay stiff, while also having great movement skills and technique. Without the latter, forces arising from the collision vanish and cannot be used to increase the exit velocity of the target movement. As mentioned earlier, momentum is a vector quantity—thus, the management of masses and their direction need to be fine-tuned. An effective block is great, but if the athlete cannot funnel masses into the desired direction, forces dissipate, leading to suboptimal exit velocities.

We must be very aware of the kinds of momentum our athletes have to deal with. Share on X

We must be very aware of the kinds of momentum our athletes have to deal with. Some sports (and movements within sports) don’t require a countermovement, such as starting from blocks in sprinting. In these cases, it could be better to use a different progression model than the one proposed due to higher similarity with the target movement, muscle actions, and timing. Thus, a progression model should always be specific to the sport, the movement, and the individual athlete.

Specificity of Throwing Variation and Intensity Techniques

The chosen throwing variation should reflect the needs of an athlete or group of athletes. However, not only do the throwing variations (e.g., rotational, scoop, overhead, chest pass, etc.) need to be selected but also the MBIT the coach implements.

Think of the difference between building up the momentum of the whole body, which is possibly already heading in the right direction, and reversing a negative momentum built up by the ball via a countermovement or having to catch the ball. While the need to brace your front leg might be specific to some sporting movements, such as a tennis forehand into which the athlete can accelerate, other movements fit better with using the shock method to increase the intensity. As I work with tennis players, this could be the moment a tennis player is on the run and merely able to reach the ball, hitting it while in the air. In this instance, they need to keep their hip stable, serving as a post (I often coin it “anchor”) for the upper body to rotate around.

Thus, the coach should be familiar with what the athlete needs to work on and how to achieve that in training while not using progressions that are too “heavy to handle” in terms of momentum.

When Is the Athlete Ready for a More Intensive Progression?

A coach has multiple options to use to establish how good an athlete is in dealing with momentum. Data should be your friend here—if you have an effective sensor (e.g., the Output or, depending on the throw, the Vmaxpro), you can measure exit velocity and acceleration of your throw (Output) or movement velocity (Vmaxpro). Another option would be to use a radar gun or measure the distance the athlete can throw in each variant. (Bear in mind that measuring distance is quirkier as more variables than just exit velocity, such as release angle, determine the outcome in the case.)

I use the Vmaxpro to determine movement velocities while performing medicine ball throws, even though it is not originally intended for such use. Share on X

I use the Vmaxpro to determine movement velocities while performing medicine ball throws, even though it is not originally intended for such use. Simply attach the sensor to the wrist of the athlete and look for an exercise similar to that of the throwing variation you use.

For example, I have measured vertical unilateral scoop tosses by setting the exercise in the App to “Curl Scott.” This worked well for me and gave me interesting insights. Moving from a concentric-only to a countermovement and, finally, to a shock version of the throw, the sensor showed that the shock-version led to around 20% higher eccentric peak and average velocities compared to the countermovement throw. This is a strong increase in what an athlete’s kinetic chain on the back of their body—most importantly, the hamstrings—must deal with in terms of momentum and being able to redirect it efficiently.

Video 2. Scoop throws.

Let an athlete run through a progression and see when they begin failing to use the momentum they build up or that the ball has. Let’s say you use the cheapest way of measuring—throwing distance—and your goal is to increase output via neural adaptations in their backhand motion since they are a tennis player, and you want to add velocity to their stroke. You let them throw through the following progression, and these are the results:

The results would indicate they can deal with a pre-step, but they are not able to convert the momentum built up by running into the throw. The problem might be technical or physiological, which is up to the coach to determine via their coach’s eye and other data, such as raw strength levels and RFD measurements. Carl Valle has written about that in several articles on medicine ball training for SimpliFaster: Output is one thing, but how it was produced is another.

The decision on how to help the athlete able to bear a run-up is, again, up to the coach. Perhaps they might use a pre-step as a more volume-intensive approach, while slowly building in run-ups to prepare the athlete to deal with higher-momentum intensities. Whatever the approach, constantly measuring output via distance or movement velocities holds the athlete accountable, shows progress, and ensures they use the right way of implementation.

Constantly measuring output via distance or movement velocities holds the athlete accountable, shows progress, and ensures they use the right way of implementation. Share on X

MBITs are basically comparable to the premises of Verkoshansky’s research on how to choose the right box height for drop jumps, the falling height of weights (in a machine that was built for an exercise like an MB chest pass), and an over-challenging situation when momentum becomes too high to handle for the athlete, leading to sub-maximal outputs. While slight “over-challenges” might be needed in terms of stimulating adaptations, constantly hammering an athlete with over-challenging situations might deteriorate performance while at the same time risking injury.

As with every other training modality, as trainers, we walk the fine line between enhancing performance and negatively affecting our athletes in the near term and long run. In simple language: It wouldn’t be wise to only program supramaximal-eccentric heavy back squats with an athlete struggling to even perform a technically sound bodyweight squat.

Building Your Own Progression Using MBITs

As humans, we can’t escape what Newton described in his laws, but we can help our athletes by enabling them to overcome, redirect, and manipulate the momentum they face in their sports and daily lives. This is where MBITs in medicine ball training can serve a great purpose as the base of sound progression models to enhance adaptations made from this amazing training tool.

By using momentum as a starting point for building your own model when chasing higher athletic ability, you can effectively intensify specific throwing variants without resorting to only using heavier balls. If this article contributes to helping you build better athletes, I will be more than happy.

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

As the saying goes, the only constant is change itself. Change merely for the sake of change is foolish; innovation as the result of new information and acquired experience, on the other hand, is the foundation of progress in any field. This requires both curiosity and humility. Having a genuinely inquisitive mind and a steadfast desire to get it right—as opposed to being right—have largely served me well.

Looking back and reflecting, I now find brutish and downright cringeworthy much of what I valued when I first began my coaching journey. The process is always incomplete, and God willing, I will be saying this same exact thing 15 years from now in reference to current training practices. Throughout this entire process, efficiency has been the one steady, driving influence. Getting more from less has led me to omit more than add: distilling training down to what is necessary and nothing more has led to broad shifts in my views on the fundamentals of athleticism and how they specifically relate to soccer.

Distilling training down to what is necessary and nothing more has led to broad shifts in my views on the fundamentals of athleticism and how they specifically relate to soccer, says @houndsspeed. Share on X

Quite simply, soccer players must play soccer to get better at playing soccer. Consequently, this has forced me to adopt a supplemental approach to performance work in developing attributes that soccer players would otherwise not acquire through play alone to ensure athletic balance and, ultimately, long-term sustainability. This requires constantly confronting ability as opposed to inability and progressing or regressing accordingly.

As a result, I am constantly reminding myself that my athletes’ immediate needs care not about my predetermined plans for them. For instance, well-planned speed work after an impromptu technical training session earlier in the day often means quickly pivoting to a less-stressful alternative, such as power or strength. Higher performance then comes as the natural by-product of aggressively pursuing health. As a result, these are how my thoughts on speed, power, and strength have evolved over time, with changes in my beliefs specifically on agility and conditioning likely warranting an entire article of their own.

Speed

Soccer is primarily an acceleration-based sport—only very infrequently do soccer athletes have the opportunity to truly demonstrate top-end speed within the natural confines of a game or training. In my coaching infancy, I leaned heavily on nothing but acceleration development as a result: starts from different angles, resisted accelerations with mixed loads, and med balls were my favorite tools.

This was effective…but only to a point.

Athletes would quickly improve and just as quickly stagnate. Over time, building a more holistic approach to speed by including traditional maximum velocity work with timed flys, wickets, and floating sprints has contributed to more consistent, continued speed development. In fact, despite being counterintuitive, more maximum velocity and less acceleration has shown to be most effective at improving speed with the soccer athletes I have worked with.

I believe this is in large part due to an athlete’s need for a constant, subtle variance to sustain improvement regardless of desired adaptation. Soccer athletes accelerate frequently in training and in games, and staying true to the narrative of supplemental skill development, max velocity work provides the necessary outlet to liberate growth, as it is similar enough but not completely congruent.

Top-end speed teaches soccer players how to sustain momentum and rhythm. Doing so necessitates a more efficient acceleration to achieve max velocity. Also, it is important to note that what initially allowed me to stumble upon this revelation was, in fact, the pursuit of greater health. Attempting to push back at clichéd Nordics for injury prevention, I began doing fly-in wickets with an emphasis on coordination under velocity from about 30 to 60 yards to inoculate hamstrings under more realistic conditions. Without fail, after two- to three-week mesocycles of top-end speed emphasis, acceleration times would improve. As it stands, for every acceleration-based session, I also do 2–3 max velocity sessions for the soccer athletes I train.

Power

As it relates to rate of force development, my initial training inclinations mirrored that of a traditional strength and conditioning template designed for a skill-position football athlete. To be clear, this was wildly successful at developing performance for soccer athletes both youth and pro alike, because it filled a glaring strength and power hole that existed in the athletic repertoire of most soccer players.

For individuals who were inherently agile and fit because of the specific demands of the game, integrating basic progressive overload with a barbell via back squats, front squats, deadlifts, and cleans went a very long way. Analogous to speed, however, this was only effective to a point. Time and experience then gradually led me to question the overly vertical nature of those previously mentioned movements, as well as the singular response nature of well-known power tests such as the vertical jump.

I began to value efforts that demonstrated an athlete’s ability to sustain HORIZONTAL movement as a better barometer of relevant athleticism for soccer, says @houndsspeed. Share on X

Soccer is primarily horizontal—and certainly more continuous than football—so I began to value efforts that demonstrated an athlete’s ability to sustain horizontal movement, such as consecutive broad jumps, alternating bounds, and even the flying sprints as a better barometer of the relevant athleticism for soccer. Currently, to better develop horizontal displacement, I gravitate to sleds, hills, bleachers, and plyos for distance more than their “up and down” power cousins.

Strength

Perhaps my biggest philosophical change has come regarding my view on strength as it relates to soccer. As stated above in reference to power, my initial training templates looked very similar to something that would be effective for a skill-position football athlete, which in turn meant a disproportionate amount of absolute strength development. Again, at first great, but lacking the nuance necessary for better sustainability in soccer. In the beginning, there were two important distinctions between soccer and football that I failed to account for:

1. First and foremost, soccer is continuous, and football is start-stop. This creates the biggest difference between soccer and football: soccer is a contact sport, and football is a collision sport. In fact, this puts football in a league of its own, even when compared with other very physical sports such as rugby and hockey.

The continuous, flowing nature of soccer mitigates forces upon impact with other players. The start-stop nature of football lends itself to far more violent collisions. Quite simply, the actual mass of a football player is more valuable than that of a soccer player. If velocity is then considered, we arrive at momentum—which is defined as mass multiplied by velocity (p=mv). Momentum matters in all sports because it takes into account both size and speed, but in my estimation, it is more important for a football athlete because of the direct role added mass plays in allowing an athlete to both deliver and handle violent collisions more effectively.

2. The second fairly obvious distinction I failed to factor in was the innate fitness differences directly reflected in the total duration of play and the distances traveled, and as a result, the slightly muted intensities for a field player in soccer when contrasted with a football player. Field players in soccer play a continuous 90 minutes that requires both offensive and defensive responsibilities.

I recognize that in youth football many players do play offense, defense, and special teams, but for the most part, as a football athlete rises in competition level, they likely specialize in either offense or defense. Added mass to a soccer athlete can become a burden throughout the entirety of a game, so the trick is building a bigger engine without changing the mass of the chassis for a soccer athlete.

Over time, the natural correction of the two initial oversights regarding the mass of an athlete and the intensity-duration relationship of the two games has led me to greatly value relative strength much more so than absolute strength. Relative strength demonstrates how effectively an athlete can move their own body weight, favoring the velocity part of the momentum equation with an intrinsic fitness quality as well. Specifically, I have yet to encounter an athlete who has improved their relative strength metrics and simultaneously got less fit. Yes, the concession is absolute top-end power, and that is quite all right.

Efficiency is everything to me, so developing multiple attributes with limited exercises is optimal, says @houndsspeed. Share on X

I prefer soccer players to be a “jack of all trades” as opposed to a “master of one” when considering all athletic qualities. For a track and field analogy, I liken the more diverse athletic attributes needed for soccer athletes to the skill sets necessary for heptathletes and decathletes. Building absolute strength will always be necessary, but the frequency of top-end strength sessions and the intensities within those sessions are now much lower than when I first began. I now build more around calisthenics exercises such as chin-ups, pistols, and dips, while squatting and deadlifting slightly less has ironed out the subtle differences necessary to better meet the mass-energy needs. To this point, it is very important to note that calisthenics should not be so quickly dismissed as a subordinate option to weighted resistance, as they successfully marry relative strength with both core stability and flexibility.

As stated earlier, efficiency is everything to me, so developing multiple attributes with limited exercises is optimal. For instance, as proficiency grows beyond a standard of 10 pistol squats, 10 chin-ups (full hang), and 20 strict push-ups (full lockout), advancing into concepts such as L-sits, muscle ups, planches, front levers, handstands, and dragon flags, etc. is necessary to push intensity as opposed to volume. Completely analogous to the Olympic lifts, there is still great value in even regressed variations and derivatives of these movements, and it truly is relative to the ability and willingness of the individual athlete to expand their skill set. This does not mean I am suggesting soccer players become gymnasts, but rather that there are ways to achieve more desirable, nuanced strength beyond that of a barbell and dumbbell.

Reflection and Revision

Performance training for soccer athletes is truly a unique puzzle. The diverse athletic skill set combined with a demanding intensity-duration relationship means there is much to be prepared for. I have been actively trying to refine this process for the past decade and a half, so hopefully this has provided insight into what I currently find most effective and, more importantly, how it came to be.

Years of daily reflection, on both objective data and subjective markers, have driven constant, subtle corrections that over time have led to larger philosophical changes.  The trick is remaining patient and resisting the urge to do too much too fast.

Years of daily reflection, on both objective data and subjective markers, have driven constant, subtle corrections that over time have led to larger philosophical changes, says @houndsspeed. Share on X

The origins, albeit suboptimal, may be good starting points in themselves for those looking to begin, as I would be foolish to dismiss what has brought me to this point. I do vehemently implore you that, when dealing with your athletes—particularly the youngest—you aggressively pursue health first by supplementing what they are lacking. In doing so, performance will organically follow.

Lead photo by Justin Berl/Icon Sportswire.

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

Even a cursory understanding of good breath mechanics can help focus the mind, coordinate the body, and reduce pain. Due to the nature of the adaptations that come with exposure to sport environments—combined with early specialization and a general lack of cultural free movement play—movement intelligence and freedom get limited in general, and breath mechanics does not escape this fate. Dysfunctional breath mechanics accompany, contribute to, or outright cause problems such as aerobic inefficiency; back, neck, and shoulder pain; negative autonomic and behavioral feedback loops; and more. Conversely, skilled breathing can be a Swiss Army knife for performance, resulting in coordinated movement, pain management, and enhanced focus.

Skilled breathing can be a Swiss Army knife for performance, resulting in coordinated movement, pain management, and enhanced focus. Share on X

While I enjoy seeing more and more coaches and athletes taking an interest in the benefits of breathing techniques, many are doing so without understanding the basic skills involved. Breath mechanics are the actual muscular skill of breathing techniques themselves, but you don’t have to learn to levitate like Himalayan yogis to get it right. Simple constraints and cueing will achieve an effective enough outcome for most performance environments. However, there is a deep, deep well of opportunity for those who would send the bucket all the way to the bottom.

There are two issues I’ve seen with the instruction of breath mechanics in performance environments:

1. Too much jargon. Coaches and athletes have enough skills to learn and tools to integrate into their respective disciplines without adding another seemingly complicated endeavor to the list. Confusing and hypertechnical jargon provokes an adverse reaction in coaches and athletes alike.
2. It can be tough to learn and integrate. The proprioceptive component of skilled breathing is subtle, and the way it’s often taught is too slow and myopic for use in environments that move fast. Performers need tools and heuristics that allow for rapid feel and focus and deliver a palpable difference in performance outcomes when executed.

My goal for this article is to give both coaches and athletes simple cues and tactics to quickly integrate skilled breathing into their total arsenal, so they can avoid problems down the road and be more efficient and effective in their pursuit of high-performance longevity.

Ideal Breath Mechanics

Before we address ideal mechanics, it’s not as if your athletes don’t breathe a certain way that they’ll drop dead on the field in a heap of failure. Not at all. That said, mechanics do matter.

The reason for any mechanical movement standard is to optimize innate anatomical leverages to achieve a movement outcome more efficiently and effectively. As an easy example, we can all run hard and long to some degree, but that’s not the same as spending time with a good track coach to optimize our running mechanics. You can, of course, go out and pound the pavement for hundreds of thousands of reps with no problem until the wheels come off, but why not use those reps as constructively as possible?

Failing to address breath mechanics at all leaves free money on the table. Share on X

Failing to address breath mechanics at all leaves free money on the table. As we start to explore the place of proper breath mechanics, especially in the context of sport, let’s establish a clear framework that includes the presence of an ideal as well as reasonable expectations in regard to achieving our outcomes. Ideal breath mechanics use primary breathing muscles to do most of the work because they have much better leverage to move the rib cage. It’s not bad to use accessory muscles per se, but it is bad to use mostly accessory breathing muscles—especially if it becomes a habit that carries outside of acute stress.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

For our purposes, ideal breath mechanics will represent those expressed without additional structural stress outside of posture in gravity and without added metabolic or psychological stress—all of which have an immediate and measurable effect on breathing.

When we breathe, the diaphragm and external intercostals ideally do the lion’s share of the work during inhalation, expanding the size of the rib cage so the lungs can inflate. The circumferential attachment of the diaphragm expands the lower rib cage, while the intercostals open the space between individual ribs. For this reason, these muscle groups are called the primary breathing muscles. Next time you chow down on some succulent barbecued ribs, know that you’re eating cow intercostals—that’s some top-of-the-food-chain shizzle right there.

When these primary breathing muscles work in concert, we more effectively control airflow into and out of the body, stabilizing trunk pressure and mitigating fatigue of the breathing muscles themselves. If not, respiratory metaboreflex can shunt blood from the extremities to the trunk as the diaphragm fatigues. The ancient Greek name for the nerve that innervates the diaphragm is the phrenic (nerve), which means “mind.” The ability to use the diaphragm, especially under stress, will help divert athletes from a cycle of over-arousal to a state of relaxed focus. Just a coincidence, I’m sure. While the breath wave, as I’ve described above, is not always available, as much of your ideal breath mechanics as possible should be preserved across training and sports environments.

Training the primary breathing muscles purposefully will reduce the stress load on more sensitive tissues in the spine through pressure regulation (an easy example is the Valsalva maneuver, often used when lifting heavy) and by decreasing the workload on accessory breathing muscles. Some postural orientations negatively affect breathing efficiency. For example, anterior pelvic tilt can create rib flare, limiting diaphragm excursion and rib mobility. Conversely, a stiff and kyphotic thoracic spine shuts down posterior and lateral rib motion, which is especially important for athletic pursuits when the abdominals are hard at work stabilizing the trunk.

Focusing on the ideal infrasternal angle, hypertonic scalenes, and apical breathing is great stuff, but it should not be your first concern in the training hall or on the field. Genetics, movement history (including injuries), and sports environment all play a part in how all movement compensations form; breath mechanics are no different. For coaches, in particular, it’s generally a better use of time to move athletes toward the ideal as simply as possible and outsource specific roadblocks to specialized professionals.

So what are we supposed to do, give up sports unless we can play with a perfectly aligned pelvic floor and ideal breath mechanics? Of course not. Mitigate what you can and understand the limitations of your athletes’ innate structures and the environment they’re playing in. If they play in pads like in hockey or football, these can affect access to the ideal.

There are clearly opportunities in both training and competition where using good breath mechanics can reset the mind and body in a way few other tools can. Share on X

While it’s not in the scope of this article to get deep into the weeds on the numerous compensations and dysfunctions that can occur with breathing mechanics, it does help to have some context around them. Life and sport do not exist in a bubble, and so ideal breath mechanics rarely, if ever, occur—unless your athlete is seated or lying down. There are, however, clearly opportunities in both training and competition where using good breath mechanics can reset the mind and body in a way few other tools can.

Get Them Moving

Get the ribs to move. All cues, techniques, tools, and interventions should focus on getting athletes to feel and move their rib cages better. It can be damn hard to feel and train breath mechanics because so little sensory information comes from there. Why? Because the stuff down there is mainly meant to work on autopilot (the autonomic nervous system). So when athletes have trouble training their diaphragm, it does not automatically indicate dysfunction in the truest sense of the word.

Our lungs are inside the rib cage. Let me say that again—our lungs are inside our rib cage. The obvious has to be said because breathing interventions are so often taught without reference to, well, the ribs. Focusing on moving the rib cage as a functional system provides a more accessible image and allows for a broader application later in sports-specific contexts, which means athletes can use it under stress. That is not unimportant!

Rather than getting all mixed up in correcting all breathing problems, first, just feel and move the stuff when and how we want to. Let’s start with some simple cues and tools that can help increase the feel for the athlete.

1. Fill the bucket. The cue “fill the bucket” is just a cue. It is not a detailed description of ventilation kinematics. Just get your athlete thinking and moving in the right direction, and as my good friend Coach Danny Yeager says, “start the conversation.”

When you fill a bucket with water, it goes from the bottom to the top and out to the sides evenly and equally. Imagine your torso is a big five-gallon bucket from Lowe’s or Home Depot. As you inhale, fill the bucket from bottom to top and out to the side. As you exhale, slowly pour the water back out of the bucket. Don’t expect to go full zen monk on your first try. It’s a skill.

Keep it simple and practice. As you and your athletes get it, apply it in various situations to enhance mental clarity and grab hold of the autonomic nervous system. Also, pay attention to where and when you/they cannot be filled. This can give you insight into other movement problems (especially scapula mechanics).

2. Feel/move the ribs. If you can’t feel it, you can’t change it. Having athletes simply place their hands on their rib cage can help compensate for the lack of sensory input in the area by using the nerve-rich tissues in the hands. This gives an external feedback mechanism to bounce the signal through and creates an immediate “feel” for what’s moving. Good times to introduce this are during warm-up, during cooldown, and between training evolutions.

The strap of a heart rate monitor is another great way for athletes to cue into their breathing. Simply cue them to “fill the strap with air” or combine it with “fill the bucket” from above. By getting these breathing tissues to act in better symphony, stress is distributed through the torso more evenly and with reduced energy consumption.

3. Keep your mouth shut whenever possible. Controlled nasal breathing provides 5x the airflow resistance of mouth breathing and so requires the diaphragm to work more effectively, especially when combined with slight closure of the glottis. I’ve found success with using a simple three-count inhale and three-count exhale through the nose during low-intensity warm-up drills. Athletes tend to get warmer faster (because of the increased CO2), and their breathing muscles get some work done too. Using this technique during work especially can go a long way to enhance focus, improve conditioning, and build solid breath mechanics.

For more information on this topic, check out the article I wrote for SimpliFaster, “Nasal Breathing for Athletes.”

Other Common Cues

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned “belly breathing” during this article. That’s because you don’t breathe with your belly—your lungs are inside your rib cage. In truth, it’s an “anti-cue”: it moves you away from the unwanted behavior of overusing accessory breathing muscles.

The belly moving is an artifact of increased diaphragm activity at rest and with a reduced load on the muscles of the trunk. As such, it’s often not universally applicable for athletes, especially under the stress of load, training, or competition. In my experience, getting athletes to think about moving their ribs reduces confusion between how they breathe when things are controlled in the training room and when things get real on the field.

Getting athletes to think about moving their ribs reduces confusion between how they breathe when things are controlled in the training room and when things get real on the field. Share on X

Another cue that recently got some attention is placing the hands on the knees for improved ventilation during recovery in athletic events. A study found that this bane of coaching existence actually increased breathing tidal volume because of the involvement of the pec major in particular. I don’t see any issue with athletes using what is essentially a natural position in which we mitigate the effects of fatigue. However, I would not and do not teach it.

For one, I work with lots of folks in the tactical arena, and the habit of putting your hands on your knees when you’re tired is a no-no. Second, if improved breathing efficiency is a goal, how many situations does this position apply to? What other benefit comes from its use? What state of mind does it put the player in, and what does this posture communicate to the opposition?

K.I.S.S.

There are so many interesting and creative ways to learn and optimize breath mechanics. It’s a deep rabbit hole full of nuance that can be incredibly rewarding both on and off the field. The nuance, though, should be primarily reserved for organic discovery by the athletes themselves.

The above suggestions are designed to get athletes to engage with the process simply and effectively, not turn them into free divers or have them float away on a lotus blossom. The goal should be to introduce this powerful practice into the toolkit in a way that is easy to implement and creates a discernible effect on performance. Make it easy, get them to feel something, and get more advanced when the questions come.

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

Kolar P, Sulc J, Kyncl M, et al. “Postural Function of the Diaphragm In Persons With Chronic Low Back Pain.” Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 2012;42(4):352–362.

Kipp S, Leahy MG, Hanna JA, and Sheel AW. “Partitioning the Work of Breathing During Running and Cycling Using Optoelectronic Plethysmography.” Journal of Applied Physiology. 2021;130(5):1460–1469.

Herrero JL, Khuvis S, Yeagle E, Cerf M, and Mehta AD. “Breathing above the brain stem: volitional control and attentional modulation in humans.” Journal of Neurophysiology. 2018;119(1):145–159.

Welch JF, Archiza B, Guenette JA, West CR, and Sheel AW. “Effect of Diaphragm Fatigue on Exercise Tolerance in Healthy Men and Women.” Journal of Applied Physiology. 2018;125(6).

Michaelson JV, Brilla LR, Suprak DN, McLaughlin WL, and Dahlquist DT. “Effects of Two Different Recovery Postures During High-Intensity Interval Training.” Translational Journal of the ACSM. 2019;4(4):23–27.

Mahler DA, Shuhart CR, Brew E, and Stukel TA. “Ventilatory Responses and Entrainment of Breathing During Rowing.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1991;23(2):186–192.

What I’ve learned over the years is that there is seldom a best way. Even more rare is a right way. And, almost never, is there an only way.

Like most coaches, I struggled to fully understand that early in my career. When you first jump into an industry, you’re eager to prove yourself, show your worth, and earn the respect of your peers by trying to convince others you have the best, the right, or the only way to do something.

As you quickly find out, it doesn’t work like that. This is why I love to operate in those gray areas. This profession is all based on a continuum—we have extremes in every topic. Sure, the extremes will work for some, but not all. The conservative route will also work for some, but not all. Finding the balance between those extremes is what is going to help the most athletes possible, which is what we all want to do at the end of the day.

Finding the balance between those extremes is what is going to help the most athletes possible, which is what we all want to do at the end of the day, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

One gray area that I operate in is blending skill training with general performance training, a combination that many frown upon or outright avoid. It’s often said to keep the sport the sport and keep the training the training; but again, there are some coaches who can do both at a high level and why would we not want to help the athlete in as many ways as possible?

In this article, I’ll share my personal journey of how I now view this gray area and how it has changed in the past decade, as well as dive into some methods that have worked well for me. Although my perspective is from a basketball lens, these principles can be applied to all sports and training.

Defining Skill Training

For a general working definition of what skill training is, I define it as training dedicated to enhancing the technical and tactical skills of the sport. This would include:

• Technical skills, which are the exact movements and physical tasks an athlete needs to compete in the sport.
• Tactical skills, which are the strategic, decision-based demands an athlete needs to compete in the sport.

A simple example of a technical skill in basketball would be the ability to deliver a bounce pass or chest pass to an open teammate. An example of a tactical skill in basketball would be knowing when to perform a bounce pass instead of a chest pass, and why.

Skill development is a crucial piece of the total athletic development puzzle for all sports. This is the foundation an athlete can build on, but also the repertoire that an athlete can constantly refine for the rest of their career.

Defining Performance Training

On the flip side, we can define performance training (aka strength and conditioning) as the general physical preparation of an athlete. This training is dedicated to equipping an athlete with the physical qualities demanded of them by their sport. This training is not only for performance enhancement, but also can serve a role in the mitigation of certain injuries and overall health and safety of an athlete.

Again, this is also a vital piece of an athlete’s development and it is equally important for the athlete’s long term success.

Stay in Your Lane

As coaches, it’s ingrained in us to work within our scope of practice. Strength coaches don’t diagnose medical conditions, athletic trainers don’t conduct a lifting program, physical therapists don’t perform surgery.

As coaches, it’s ingrained in us to work within our scope of practice, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

Sure, some individuals have the knowledge to cross these lines—it was never meant to be about the ability to do so, but rather the liability to do so. Each profession is set up with their specific services because that is what they are licensed and/or insured to perform.

I agree with this line of thought, because it keeps the safety of our athletes at the forefront. Somewhere along the lines, we associated scope of practice with staying in our lane. And to me, those are not the same thing.

Many coaches preach to stay in your lane, but the problem is that this is a very subjective line to draw in the sand. How do we even define what our lane is?

My aha moment was that my lane was never about one service to provide, but a solution to provide. My lane is basketball development. It wasn’t only strength training for basketball players. It wasn’t only speed and agility training for basketball players. It wasn’t only skill development for basketball players. It wasn’t only coaching a basketball team.

It is pure, holistic, multi-faceted basketball development.

So, I decided to pursue that and ended up wearing all those hats for the betterment of my athletes. My hope is that reading this is resonating with you right now, especially if you have been holding yourself back from operating in this gray area.

The Methods

Since we defined performance training and skill training separately, let’s look at how we blend the two. This hybrid approach obviously requires some personal experience and background context in multiple facets of the sport in consideration, but by no means do you have to be a former professional athlete in any sport to turn into an effective coach in that sport.

The first box to check would be to make sure you’re continually perfecting your craft and refining your skills in all of the areas you’re coaching in. It’s easy to get comfortable with what you know about a subject and neglect furthering your understanding on a deeper level, especially if you’re having success in it. Lifelong learners are always going to find ways to add value, regardless of what industry we’re talking about. In fact, one of the best parts of the hybrid training approach is that we get to view athletes through multiple lenses, which will give us a range of new perspectives and learning opportunities along the way.

Lifelong learners are always going to find ways to add value, regardless of what industry we’re talking about, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

When you see an athlete in multiple environments, this can also provide a ton of usable coaching information. Even if you don’t use a hybrid training approach, it’s extremely beneficial to watch your athletes play their sport. I’ve previously written about how studying game film can impact programming for performance training, but seeing them play, practice, and train for their sport in-person is even better.

If you’re using a hybrid training model, what you see in sport can dictate some performance-based programming decisions for you in the weight room. On the flip side, what you see in general performance training sessions can help drive decisions for you on the sport side. After all, we want synergy between these two facets of training to give the athlete the most out of both. This is a major upside of the model because all of the info is consistent and streamlined by being run through a single entity.

As with any training, whether skill or performance, it’s always a great idea to begin with an assessment or some form of baseline. We need to collect objective data relevant to the athlete and their sport. We can also collect subjective pieces of info and feedback directly from the athlete. This is a critical step in the training process that many still ignore. I can’t stress enough how important it is to establish a starting point for measuring progress.

As with any training, whether skill or performance, it’s always a great idea to begin with an assessment or some form of baseline, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

For example, objective data for a college basketball player could look like:

Performance

• Vertical Jump
• 20 Yard Sprint (0-10, 0-20 and 10-20)
• Trap Bar Deadlift Load Velocity Profile

Skill

• Field Goal Shooting Percentage (in game or in training)
• 3-Point Shooting Percentage (in game or in training)
• Turnovers Per Game (in game)

We can test the performance portion and we can look at official statistics (or training stats) for the skill portion. These are all things that we can work to improve and objectively measure to see if that training had positive effects.

Examples of subjective data we can utilize could include:

1. The Eye Test: Can we see a difference in any technical, tactical, or performance qualities?
2. Athlete Feedback: Does the athlete see or feel a difference in any technical, tactical, or performance qualities?
3. Outsider Feedback: Do those in the athlete’s network (coach, parents, teammates, etc.) see a difference in any technical, tactical, or performance qualities in that athlete?

My advice is to have a general system in place with some one size fits all key performance indicators and leave some room for individualization that you can sprinkle in on a case-by-case basis, depending on the athlete in front of you. The moral of the story: have something in place and grow it as needed.

Just as a strength and conditioning coach would do after an assessment or a skill development coach would do after an athlete’s first workout, a hybrid coach develops a needs analysis for the athlete and programs for them based on that. The only difference is that a hybrid coach is going to program for both skill and physical preparation simultaneously.

And it’s really all the same.

We begin with the low hanging fruit, use progressions and regressions to get the adaptations we want, track progress, reassess, and repeat the cycle.

Need to improve an athlete’s lower body strength? A healthy dose of squat, lunge, and deadlift variations will do the trick. Need to improve an athlete’s jump shot? A healthy dose of shooting drills will do the trick.

It’s not easy, but it really doesn’t have to be overly complicated.

Below are three hybrid methods that have worked well for me in the basketball world which can be applied to other sports in their own right.

1. Sport Movement Data

One of the most powerful things I’ve used in this hybrid training model is quantifying sport skills or sport movements. This can be done in so many ways, depending on the tools you have.

I am an avid user of the 1080 Sprint, which makes it really easy for me to hook an athlete up to it and have them perform a dribbling sequence or some sort of acceleration-based basketball skill and get immediate feedback on their force, power, and speed outputs.

I’ve even talked to coaches and athletes who are utilizing these same concepts with wearable EMG garments. I’m not quite there yet either financially or, admittedly, in my understanding of the data, but it’s another option that can give really useful data.

Like I said, I love the 1080 Sprint, but it’s not exactly the most common thing to see around a facility. Don’t have one? That’s okay, you can still use timing systems to get a similar result. We’ve used Brower Laser Timers, the Freelap Timing System, Smart Basketballs, Accelerometers, and a good old-fashioned stopwatch to time drills.

Not only does this give us output data on specific, sport-related movements, but in-session it can also gamify things and really bring the intensity of the workout up a notch. It’s amazing to see an athlete’s competitive nature kick-in and turn what was already a really good session into one that gets talked about for weeks to come.

It’s amazing to see an athlete’s competitive nature kick-in and turn what was already a really good session into one that gets talked about for weeks to come, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

A few major things I look for are sport actions that can be quantified and linked with a training option that we can not only use to improve that sport action, but also quantify on its own.

For example, change of pace is a huge component of basketball. We don’t want our players to be flying around the court at top speed and completely out of control: rhythm, pace, balance, and control are vital.

If we want to help an athlete improve their change of pace, we use the 1080 Sprint to quantify that attribute in various attack moves. In training, we need to help them decelerate cleanly, learn to relax, and then turn that small moment of relaxation into violent re-acceleration. All things we can train in the weight room and in our SAQ work, as well as practicing the actual skill.

Video 1. I want to measure change of pace and track progress on it.

Programming may involve box squat variations to overload the eccentric phase. This can help improve an athlete’s deceleration qualities, as well as contribute to acceleration speed due to increased eccentric and isometric strength, which is massively important in early acceleration.

We may also include some box squat variations and concentric-only lifts like pin squats or dead stop trap bar jumps to help the athlete improve their rate of force development, another major factor in that re-acceleration phase.

From an SAQ perspective, we can sprinkle depth jumps, drop jumps, and resistance sprints when possible, based on the athlete’s total workload. On the court, we can practice a lot of hesitation and deceleration moves to fine-tune the pace we’re looking for.

Of course, this changes from athlete to athlete, but this is just a general outline of a potential thought process that you can apply to whatever sport skill you’re focusing on. I really love the system of quantifying a sport skill, finding ways to globally improve the physical qualities relevant to that skill, and then putting it all together with skill training.

2. Contrast Sets

Another concept we can carry from performance training into skill development is the idea of contrast sets. In the weight room, we utilize contrast sets to enhance central nervous system activation and neural drive of a given movement. Using a heavy compound lift followed by a violent ballistic or explosive movement of the same pattern gives us that potentiation effect to help the athlete produce more power. This potentiation can give the athlete both acute and long-term training adaptations, including improved motor unit recruitment, rate of force development, and power output.

Video 2. The idea is that we can load a basketball movement to create a high-intensity muscle contraction, then contrast that with the same movement without load.

I use a ton of contrast sets on the court as well—and these same principles can be applied to all sports. Same concept, different environment. We load a movement with cables, bands, weighted balls, etc. to perform a sport movement, then immediately perform the realistic sport movement to follow.

For example, we can use something like a VertiMax and heavy ball combo to load a jab series. This challenges the athlete’s mobility, control, and ability to perform the technique precisely. In contrast, we can work the moves in on a dummy defender in a drill setting to give the athlete that extra burst to keep all reps at game speed with extreme intent.

Another thing I’ve loved experimenting with is towing an athlete into a deceleration-based basketball movement using the 1080 Sprint. This applies a slight amount of overspeed to the movement, challenging their ability to decelerate and control the movement, as well as exciting the central nervous system. While observing the move immediately after, I noticed insane footwork and stopping on dimes to complete the move.

Note: I would not recommend using this method with a basketball player’s jump shot mechanics. Using a weighted ball to shoot is not going to give us the same training effect as in cuts, sprints, changes of direction due to the delicate nature of an athlete’s individual shooting form and may actually alter mechanics in a negative way.

We only work these in once or twice a week for about 20 total reps each time, but the feedback I’ve gotten from athletes regarding these contrast sets has been amazing. When an athlete says they feel the difference, that’s a huge win.

When an athlete says they feel the difference, that’s a huge win, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

3. Movement-Based Programming

I’ve started to use the phrase “Movement > Moves” a lot, meaning that if we can help our athletes move efficiently, we give them the tools they need for any move they want to do.

Lifting-wise, we don’t have a leg day, chest day, back day, etc. We have a push day, pull day, and multi-planar day. Or we have an acceleration-based day, top-end speed day, or change-of-direction day. The skill work we perform on the court is just another puzzle piece in the bigger picture, fitting in perfectly with the off-court work.

We want all of these training sessions to feed each other. Since some athletes may knock it all out in one session and others may split it into two separate sessions or days, we want there to be a common theme and training goal behind each drill, lift, and session.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to experiment and troubleshoot, too. Some days we get off the program and go rogue down a rabbit hole. It’s not a script, it’s just a template to keep us focused on the athlete’s goals.

Video 3. Speed and agility day on the court.

We’re not robotically practicing situations we hope happen in a game the same way they happened in training—we’re equipping athletes with the physical and mental qualities needed to use various concepts from their training in the game without even having to think about it.

We’re equipping athletes with the physical and mental qualities needed to use various concepts from their training in the game without even having to think about it, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

Lessons Learned

At the beginning of the article I stated that there is rarely a one way, a right way, or a best way to do anything. I have, however, learned some lessons the hard way. Through trial and error, countless failures, and just flat out being wrong about a lot of things, I’ve been able to put together a pretty solid recipe of things that have worked for me and may also work for others.

Here are the five most notable lessons that failure in the hybrid space has taught me.

1. The Importance of Load/Athlete Management

Yes, we know load management is a crucial element to any kind of training program, but I can’t emphasize this one enough for hybrid coaches. This is the biggest benefit of the hybrid approach, but it can easily be the biggest drawback if not carefully managed.

Rarely do athletes actually overtrain; what typically occurs is an athlete will under-recover. Big difference. Athletes must be taking nutrition, hydration, sleep, mobility, mental health, and all other components of recovery seriously for any of their training to truly pay off.

So while load management is absolutely critical, we can’t forget about athlete management. This means relationships. This means communication. This means we need to go deeper than lifts, drills, and readiness scores. We need to really get in tune with the humans in front of us and see them as people first, athletes second.

So while load management is absolutely critical, we can’t forget about athlete management, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

When we can help manage our athletes and the load or stress they’re under, we can really make our best decisions as to what training we need to apply and in what volumes or intensities.

2. Be Prepared for Push-Back

Bad news about hybrid coaching: you will most definitely get some push-back. People who view you as a performance coach will question your ability to coach the sport. People who see you as a sport coach will question your ability to be a performance coach.

It’s okay.

Many people won’t understand your vision. As long as you have a vision, it’s up to you to bring it to life. There’s no need to worry about what others think. Just become laser-focused on the athletes and people who you need to serve and the results will come.

And when the results come, then people will start to see the vision.

3. High-Impact of Individualization

Again, one of the major benefits of handling an athlete’s programming from sports skill to sports preparation is that you can manipulate so many variables to really fine-tune what the athlete needs. So much of training is general—which is perfectly fine, but the more individualized you can make a program, the better.

Individualization isn’t easy, but it can be simple. It doesn’t mean every single athlete must have a unique program from top to bottom, but rather each athlete can have certain variables adjusted to make their program more focused on their needs.

A common example I see with the basketball players I work with is how they produce force, power, or speed. Some athletes are elastic and bouncy, but may lack pure force production. Others are muscle-dominant and force driven, but lack elasticity. They could have similar RSI, vertical jump, and speed numbers, but their strategies to get there are totally different things.

These athletes can train together and even use the exact same exercise selection in some cases. However, their target bar speeds may be different, their volume may be different, their warm-ups or plyo work may be slightly different. The skeleton of the program doesn’t have to be completely turned upside down to still get really good results.

The skeleton of the program doesn’t have to be completely turned upside down to still get really good results, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

We can use both sport assessment and performance assessments together to build a roadmap for the athlete. If the athlete can’t master a sports skill, maybe it’s due to lack of some sort of physical trait; we can train to enhance that, then apply it directly to the sport skill.

If it works, we know exactly why. If it doesn’t work, we still know exactly why. It’s a win-win.

4. Use a Scale of Specificity

A great deal of what we do as coaches can be measured on a continuum—in terms of the hybrid coaching style, the continuum or scale in this case can be how sport specific to make something, and when.

Do we want athletes turning everything into a sport-mimicking drill? No.

Do we want athletes only doing the 5/3/1 program for the big 3 lifts? No.

We probably want them in the middle somewhere depending on the athlete, the time of year/season, their goals, and their current level of athleticism.

Video 4. A sample of some of the programming decisions we can make when blending general to specific training.

I’ve turned to a scale of specificity to help me organize programming when dealing with athletes in the weight room and in their sport.

I’ve turned to a scale of specificity to help me organize programming when dealing with athletes in the weight room and in their sport, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

From bottom to top:

• General Speed or Strength
• Sport-Relevant Speed or Strength
• Targeted Drill Work
• Sport Skill

We want the bottom levels of the scale to feed the higher levels. This scale can help you properly program and dose athletes with lifts or drills that make the most sense for the stage or training or environment they’re in.

Starting at the bottom, with general speed or strength, this is exactly what it sounds like. These are the basics and fundamentals of speed or strength training that we can use to set a proper foundation for future training. Foundational movements in the weight room include the squat and hip hinge (as well as unilateral variants of both), upper body pull, upper body push, rotational movements, and carrying. On the speed side, we have sprinting, jumping, landing, cutting, shuffling, and throwing, although that could be more of a weight room movement as well.

General speed or strength work casts a wide net and allows athletes to reap numerous benefits of training before focusing too much on minutia and missing out on the low hanging fruit.

General speed or strength work casts a wide net and allows athletes to reap numerous benefits of training, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

Next on the scale comes sport-relevant speed or strength work. With a solid foundation set, we can now start to sprinkle in variations of those foundational movements with a little bit more focus on exactly how it can transfer to the sport. Some of the variables that can be altered to make a general exercise more sport-relevant include posture or body angles, duration of activity, overall volume or intensity, target bar speed, equipment or devices used in the exercise, and training environment or surface just to name a few.

Whether it be strength, power, speed, or even conditioning, the goal here is just to build upon that general baseline and add elements of the actual sport to the program.

Next we can add in specific drills that we think fill any gaps that may exist after the first two layers of training. It could be a purely sport-driven drill, a completely physical preparation drill, or a hybrid of the two.

And then, finally, comes pure sport skill. Just practicing the sport. The most sport-specific training that exists.

The goal is to build a holistic plan that allows the general to feed the specific.

5. Invest in Your Education

Lastly, continue to invest in your continued education. This doesn’t always mean investing financially, but also investing your time and energy into your education in outside-the-box ways. We can get a ton of information from clinics, courses, and certifications, and obviously those are great options for continuing education.

Don’t let those be your only forms of education though—other great forms of continuing education are less formal options such as networking, experimenting on yourself and…I can’t believe I’m about to say this…social media.

Networking and communicating with other coaches, athletes, and professionals in all industries is one of the best ways you can extract successful behavior and apply it to your own life.

Experimenting on yourself is great because you can then scrap all of your bad ideas and protect your athletes from them; the bad news is you may have to deal with the negative consequences of those bad ideas, but that’s okay, it’s kind of heroic in a way.

Experimenting on yourself is great because you can then scrap all of your bad ideas and protect your athletes from them, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

In all seriousness, it’s very important to practice what we preach as coaches. Sure, the levels of intensity or activities will change over the years, but at least having some relevant skills similar to the athletes you work with can make a huge positive impact on their buy-in.

And, lastly, social media. This ties into communication and networking, and there’s a ton of great info out there—but also I want to look at the flip side. The most underused benefit of social media is using it to view examples of what you shouldn’t do.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been scrolling through my feed, saw a video, and immediately thought, “Wow, I don’t think I would ever need to do that.” That goes into the mental Rolodex and honestly helps create a better organization system for when I go through those experimental phases with new exercises.

Never get comfortable. Never get complacent. Strive to master your skill set and fine-tune it daily so that you and your athletes can have the best experience possible.

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

Despite decades of ambiguity and lack of understanding, we are starting to see a new light shine on the fascial system. Our collective understanding of the fascial system has started to expand. From strength and conditioning coaches and physical therapists to researchers and sport scientists, this rise of interest in fascia applies to multiple human performance disciplines.

It’s important to recognize that acknowledging the presence of fascia does not negate the conventional anatomy we’ve all learned. I believe a part of the hesitation we see in coaches who are slow to embrace fascial concepts is rooted in that material being presented in a way that disregards conventional anatomy and dissuades them from learning more. Rather than seeing this as some sort of biological division, I like to emphasize that the constructs of fascia are more so a change in perspective or observation than a change in principles or practice. In other words: it is possible to appreciate and understand the fascial system without denouncing conventional anatomy.

It is possible to appreciate and understand the fascial system without denouncing conventional anatomy, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

While the revolutionary findings of fascial research are exciting and help to better shape our approach to injury restoration and sport performance, we should remain mindful that there is still an abundance of unknowns regarding the human body and performance optimization. Not only are fascial concepts still largely overlooked in strength and conditioning, but there is still disconnect among experts and governing bodies. For instance, how fascia should be properly defined, what its functions are, and how significant fascia may be in performance are all still being debated and determined.

In this article, I’d like to cover a base understanding of myofascial meridians and how this realization has profoundly influenced my approach to training and my perspective of human movement.

What are Myofascial Meridians?

Myofascial meridians are anatomical descriptors that have been broadly defined as continuous bands of fascial tissue spanning across and throughout the body.¹ The term meridians, specifically, is one of several terminologies used by prominent modern day fascia researchers. This group of researchers includes:

• Luigi, Antonio, and Carla Stecco
• Robert Schleip
• Jan Wilke

Myofascial meridians are anatomical descriptors that have been broadly defined as continuous bands of fascial tissue spanning across and throughout the body, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

There are other schools of thought, however, that use different terminologies. For instance, another prominent fascia researcher, Tom Myers, uses the term “trains” to classify these fascial vectors. For all intents and purposes, these terms (trains, meridians, lines, and chains) can be viewed as interchangeable and taken to broadly mean the same thing.

Along with the differences in terminology, there is also disconnect among precisely how many meridians or trains there are in the human body. Tom Myers and the Anatomy Trains organization have stated there are 12 identifiable fascia trains in human anatomy.² According to an investigative study conducted by Wilke et al.,³ however, they were able to confirm 3 of 6 fascial lines selected form Myers’ original proposed 12. As for the Steccos, along with several other prominent researchers, they typically recognize about 6 meridians in the body.

Although it is a bit unclear as to specifically why there is disconnect among these experts, a part of the difference in numbers may be due to dissection techniques (or skill) and how the tissue is extracted. Additionally, there is still differentiation between tendinous tissue, about which some researchers have different views on what is a part of the tendon proper and what is identified as fascial tissue.

Beyond the meridians themselves, myofascial unit (MFU) is another fascia-specific term that coaches should be adept with. Myofascial units are defined as regionalized compartments of the body that include a group of motor units that activate adjacent muscle fibers that move a body segment in a unidirectional manner.⁴ This also includes the joint, soft tissue, neurovascular components, and the connecting fascia.⁴ To simplify that, MFUs represent a localized compartment of the body (i.e., shoulder girdle, posterior hip).

MFUs represent a localized compartment of the body (i.e., shoulder girdle, posterior hip), says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Myofascial units largely speak to the agonist–antagonist relationships, and intermuscular coordination of the muscles and structures in working proximity to coordinate multidirectional movements. And, according to the Steccos, there are 78 identifiable MFUs found in the body. These MFUs can then be broken down and organized into 14 body segments that move in 6 directions across 3 cardinal planes.

I see the myofascial meridians as vectors of kinetic continuity that represent empirical force channels promoting the most efficient pathways for force to be transmitted and directed. These meridians represent lines of chronic stress or critical load vectors whereby the meridians overlay specific regions of anatomy that are activated during common everyday life and sport activities (i.e., walking, twisting, and bending). I can’t reinforce enough that there is no separation between fascia and the musculoskeletal system—everything is working in tandem to produce outcomes.

However, when we modify the perspective from which we analyze movement, it can create an invigorating observation. A great example of this is watching a baseball pitcher throw, which is one of the most beautiful displays of human biomechanics. From the fascial point of view, we can see a sophisticated sequence of shifting center of mass, redirecting vectors, and a “dance” between compression and tension throughout the body.

Meridians & Trains > Cardinal Planes

The deeper I investigate into the fascial system, the more I see it as filling in the gaps where conventional anatomy seems to fall short. Moreover, I’m able to recognize the extreme sophistication of human anatomy and movement—and while oversimplification can be effective for introducing concepts, we cannot shy away from the depth of details. A common example of this reductionist nature can be found in the observation of movement through the lens of three cardinal planes. The body, segmentally and collectively, simply does not move in a purely linear fashion—there is rotation and angulation that makes it all seamless.

Applying this to the baseball pitcher above, make note of the anatomical relationships occurring, not only the independent components. Along with the angles and positions of the body, consider how momentum is transferred and the tremendous amounts of torque that are placed on certain joints. While isolated items like glenohumeral internal/external rotation ratios do have significance for a baseball pitcher, I would argue the kinetic function of the anterior/posterior meridians could be more relative to play and performance.

The fascial term for this collective integration is what’s known as biotensegrity. In a nutshell, biotensegrity can be understood as the complex balance of compression and tension forces throughout the body.⁵ This balancing act is predominantly undertaken by the global fascial net encasing the body, whereby changes in position, speed, or expressions of force alter the localized fascial compartments. Collectively, this distribution of force, although produced by the bones and muscles, is mediated by the global fascial net.

In a nutshell, biotensegrity can be understood as the complex balance of compression and tension forces throughout the body, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Perceiving the body from the biotensegrity viewpoint as opposed to the three cardinal planes has helped my coaching immensely. The way I observe and analyze movement has become more focused on a global framework, rather than emphasizing the body as being a summation of independent parts. This has helped prevent me from being unnecessarily siloed into one segment or specific joint, instead focusing on understanding the kinetic relationships of the area with the rest of the body. The biotensegrity perspective has also dramatically shifted my approach for exercise selection and training parameters. In a broad sense, this has evolved into more emphasis on global patterns, utilizing more omnidirectional movements, and emphasizing open chain variations with fewer constraints.

There can be an appropriate time and place for just about anything in training, so again, don’t mistake this for completely doing away with foundational lifts or using isolation exercises. However, these have become much less frequent options for me, and in my opinion do not have as much benefit as we’ve been led to believe. We need to be clear in understanding that the goals of performance training are ultimately to improve the athlete’s ability in sport and minimize the likelihood of injury occurrence.

It should not be an inherent priority to improve numbers on bench, squat, or clean just for the sake of doing so. Rather, we want to look at how we can improve force expression and tolerance across a wide spectrum of positions, vectors, and under varying speeds as they relate to sport.

Aligning Conventional & Contemporary Perspectives

Suggesting that our conventional framework for anatomy and biomechanics is incomplete does not imply we need to tear the whole framework down and start from scratch. But if we have been working from a model that has not been telling us the full story of human biology, I would argue it should put some sense of urgency on us to continuously evaluate our practice. The root of this belief stems from recognizing the process of cadaver research in America, which involves embalming the bodies and using an array of chemicals to preserve the body for research trials and investigation.

The embalming and chemicalization process for cadaver research dramatically changes the biological landscape as it is in living humans. Among these changes, and most prominent for the sake of this article, is the erosion of fascial tissue due to the presence of embalming fluid. As a result, the majority of cadaver research involves bodies that do not have intact fascial tissue, other tissues that have been dehydrated, and drained of most blood volume creating a biological environment that does not properly illustrate the reality. So again, the framework for our understanding of anatomy may be prudent, but it is still not giving us the full scope.

The embalming and chemicalization process for cadaver research dramatically changes the biological landscape as it is in living humans, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

There will always be disconnect between coaches/practitioners regarding optimal human performance practices and applications: everything from academic background, formative development, and even just geographic location. Fascia concepts are a prominent example of this divide, and understandably so. I will be the first to admit these theories and concepts can be radical to digest, especially for those who have extensive experience in the field.

Nevertheless, I do believe we will be able to establish common ground in the near future. And as more definitive research continues to grow, the more likely we can come to terms with the symbiotic function of both fascial and conventional anatomy. But in the short term, I encourage you to simply suspend your disbelief. Give an honestly open window for being impressionable and see how these concepts make sense to you and apply to your setting.

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. Findley, T.; Chaudry, H.; Stecco, A.; and Roman, M. “Fascia research: A narrative review.” J Bodywork & Mvmt Thera. 2012;16, 67-75.

2. Myers, T. Anatomy Trains: Myofascial meridians for manual and movement therapists. 2^ND ed. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 2009.

3. Wilke, J.; Krause, F.; Vogt, L.; and Banzer, W. “What is evidence-based about myofascial chains: a systematic review.” Arch Phys Med & Rehab. 2016;97:454-461.

4. Maas, H.; Sandercock, TG. “Force transmission between synergistic skeletal muscles through connective tissue linkages.” J Biomed and Biotech. 2010.

5. Scarr, G. Biotensegrity: The structural basis of life. United Kingdom, Handspring Publishers, 2014.

6. Adstrum, S. Nicholson, H., 2019. A history of fascia. Clinical Anatomy, 23(7):862-870.

7. Krause, F. Wilke, J. Vogt, L. Banzer, W., 2016. Intermuscular force transmission along myofascial chains: a systematic review. J Anat., 228:910-918.

8. Wilke, J. Krause, F. Vogt, L. Banzer, W., 2016. What is evidence-based about myofascial chains: a systematic review. Arch Phys Med & Rehab, 97:454-461.

9. Myers, T. Anatomy Trains: Myofascial meridians for manual and movement therapists- 2^ND ed. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 2009.

Think back to those days in elementary school gym class. Chances are, if you had a good teacher, you probably did some form of the above pictured movement during class—it’s called the crab. Young children love doing novel crawling exercises like crab walks, but that’s not the only reason they are done so often in elementary P.E. Smart physical education teachers know that crab walks are a great activity to help develop coordination and total body strength. It’s unfortunate that this little gem of an exercise is not continued in middle school on through adulthood, because it serves as an effective exercise to improve many elements of athletic development and coordination.

It’s unfortunate that the crab walk isn’t continued in middle school and into adulthood because it serves as an effective exercise to improve many elements of athletic development & coordination. Share on X

This article will take a deep dive into everything involving the “crab” exercise. We’ll look at:

• What exactly the basic crab exercise is, including the well-known “crab walk.”
• The athletic benefits of the movement.
• The many variations that athletes can play with in a training program.

The Basic Crab Position

In my work as a youth athletic development coach, the crab is a staple in our programs. For some older athletes it may be a small part of a warm-up, whereas for younger athletes it may serve as a total body strength exercise. For even younger kids, crab work may come in the form of a game or challenge. As you can probably guess, the crab exercise has a wide range of uses for different ages and abilities.

Let’s take a look at the basic crab tabletop position and talk about why it’s a fantastic tool for the developing human/athlete. The basic crab position finds the athlete in supine (or facing up) position:

• Knees are bent.
• Feet are flat on the floor.
• Hands are on the ground underneath the shoulders and slightly behind the hips.

Prior to lifting the hips off the ground, we always cue the athletes to push their hands into the ground and squeeze their shoulder blades together. Then the athlete starts the exercise by lifting their hips all the way off the ground, so their hips are in line with the knees and shoulders—almost resembling a flat tabletop. We have the athletes hold this position for a certain amount of time, focusing on getting their chest and hips to “touch the sky.”

The crab walk finds the athlete in a similar position, with hips elevated a few inches off the floor. Instead of lifting the hips as high as possible, the hips stay a few inches off the floor, and the athlete then tries to walk on hands and feet in the desired direction. Athlete can walk feet first or hands first, and even sideways.

This basic exercise is highly valuable for today’s athletes—particularly based on the amount of sitting many of them do when they are not playing sports:

• Sitting in school.
• Sitting on their phones.
• Sitting playing video games.
• Sitting while driving to their next destination.

Lots of sitting with passive recreation. As physical therapist Todd Hargrove said: “Modern culture can make you forget that life has a physical dimension. Our attention is focused so often on computers and cell phones there is little left for our bodies.”

Lack of physical activity and the movement issues associated with sitting and being sedentary used to be an adult issue, especially in the older population, but now we’re seeing childhood obesity pushing almost 20%. Throw in a pandemic and a six-month lockdown, and it’s plainly obvious that when it comes to movement, many children are struggling right now.

Screen time and sedentary activity are way up, and overall general physical movement is way down. I’m seeing the negative effects of this even in so-called “athletic” kids. Many parents think that more sports is the answer, but the truth is that sports skills do little to arm the young athlete with appropriate levels of general strength, general mobility, and coordination needed to navigate the sporting environment. If the only physical activity a young athlete does is highly specific (for example, they just play basketball), it’s easy for the body to get used to moving in only those certain ways.

Strength and conditioning coach Pat Davidson said it best: “The human body is a marvel of energy conservation. It will always seek the path of least resistance. When you combine that with the modern world that doesn’t force you to go out and move a lot in a lot of different ways, you get habitually stuck in certain patterns and positions.”

Since return to play after the pandemic, there have been high numbers of youth sports injuries—many of these injuries stem from too much too soon on bodies that are not prepared. This why it’s important to always cover your athletic basics, even with the best athletes.

According to strength and conditioning coach Max Shank, some of the movement problems associated with extensive sitting are:

1. Decreased thoracic mobility (specifically excessive kyphosis, or forward curvature).
2. Decreased shoulder mobility (rounded forward and drawn inward).
3. Lack of shoulder stability due to lack of scapular movement.
4. Poor core coordination and hip strength.
5. Gluteal amnesia (the glutes stop working).
6. Head-forward posture (really bad for your neck).

In short, chronic sitting and lack of physical activity is an athleticism killer.

Video 1. Over time, too much sitting can really take away from being a highly functioning athlete. So, when I work with groups of young athletes, I try to nip this in the bud as quickly as I can.

The Antidote: Enter the Crab Hip Lift

At its most basic level, the crab hip lift does everything the opposite of sitting. Sitting is a passive, lazy activity with little or no movement. The crab, on the other hand, is an aggressive activity that involves the entire body.

At its most basic level, the crab hip lift does everything the opposite of sitting, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

Some of the benefits of the crab hip lift are:

• Strength and mobility through hip extension.
• Isometric strength of glutes/hamstring/low back.
• Scapular strength and stability.
• Shoulder mobility/arm strength.
• Core strength.
• Coordination with more advanced drills.
• Wrist strength and mobility.
• Static and dynamic balance.
• Spatial awareness.

This great movement challenges balance, stability, and coordination and develops strength from toenails to fingernails—particularly in the more advanced versions, when the athlete is asked to reach or rotate with their arms and legs in a variety of directions crossing the midline of the body. This crossing of the midline of the body is very similar to the act of crawling. “The closed chain crawling position uses bodyweight to stimulate the scapular muscles along with the abdominal wall and involves the stability of the spine with cross coordination when moving.” According to Vern Gambetta, crawling is the basis of reciprocal movement that underlies most sport skills.

Having covered what athletes need and why they need it, let’s look at the basic crab hip lift and its many variations.

Video 2. In this video, we can see the crab hip lift in its most basic form. The movement is very easy to learn and well-tolerated by most athletes.

I try not to give too much coaching on these movements because I want the athletes to feel them out. However, it’s okay to offer some suggestions. Usually, I encourage an athlete to get the hips to the sky or ceiling, and the other cue I tell them is to squish their shoulder blades together as hard as possible.

Progressing can be pretty straightforward. You can do straight reps up and down, then transition to short holds for something like 10 seconds on 10 seconds off, finally moving to the much more challenging long-duration holds, which can be done for 30 seconds up to a few minutes.

My friend and fellow coach Austin Jochum has some of his athletes attempt to hold this basic crab position for five minutes straight. For anyone who may think a five-minute crab hold is easy, I encourage you to give it an honest try and see for yourself. It’s a tremendous effort of isometric strength, endurance, and mental toughness to stay engaged.

A five-minute crab hold is a tremendous effort of isometric strength, endurance, and mental toughness to stay engaged, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

Moving a bit further down the rabbit hole, let’s take a look at some fun and challenging crab variations that require a bit more motor control, coordination, dynamic balance, strength, and spatial awareness.

Videos 3 & 4. I call these variations “crab reaches.” They are challenging because we limit our base of support by holding ourselves with three and then two points of contact.

The first version is a one-arm crab reach. We’re simply lifting the hips and reaching one arm straight up into the air. For you kettlebell fans out there, this may look very similar to the Turkish get-up. I would say that this is a great foundational exercise for learning the Turkish get-up without having to worry about holding a weight overhead.

For a little bit more range of motion through the spine and hips instead of reaching straight up, the athlete can also attempt to reach behind their body or rotate across their body. This gives the athlete quality rotation though the mid-portion of the spine—and that area is of particular importance because it is the rounded area we see when athletes are slumped over their cell phones.

Similarly, instead of reaching an arm, we can attempt to lift a leg up as high as possible. This obviously places more strain on the push leg on the floor, helping develop those important and often neglected muscles of the posterior chain.

Taking it one step further, we can have the athlete attempt to reach both an arm and the opposite leg at the same time. This is very challenging for the developing athlete because they will now find themselves balancing on two points of contact instead of three or four, increasing the balance component as well as the strength component (having to hold more body weight off the ground).

Video 5. My favorite version of this challenging variation is to simultaneously lift the hips while grabbing the foot with the opposite hand. This requires a nice combination of strength, mobility, and balance.

Crab Rotations

The next step in the crab progression is combining the hip lift with a reach and then a rotational component. Of all the crab exercises, this version is the most difficult to perform. Does the athlete have the strength and balance to hold themselves off the ground with one arm and one leg to control themselves as they slowly rotate their bodies around those two pivot points? This activity challenges even the best athlete’s spatial awareness, having to coordinate their limbs to move under control.

Video 6. Of all the crab exercises, this version if the most difficult to perform.

Crab Walking Variations

Although I use the in-place crab variations more often than crab walks, these definitely have their place in an all-around athletic development program. The best thing about crab walks is that they require virtually zero coaching: most young athletes can simply get on the ground and go without a lengthy explanation of the movement. It may look a little sloppy and awkward at first, but with a little practice, things tighten up nicely. Although they can be very difficult for bigger athletes, most people can handle 5–10 yards of a crab walk without a problem.

The crab walk is what I call a coordinated strength exercise. To move efficiently, the opposite arm and leg must work together. Since you have to hold yourself off the ground for the duration of the walk, the upper body—particularly the wrists, shoulders, and scapula—get some serious strength work at various awkward angles. The same goes for the glutes and hamstrings, particularly on the forward crab walk.

The crab walk is a coordinated strength exercise—to move efficiently, the opposite arm and leg must work together, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

While the glutes hold the hips off the ground, the hamstrings basically pull the body forward. This is great general strength work, while at the same time challenging the athlete to move forward in a rhythmic, coordinated manner. The crab walk can be done moving forward, backward, and side-to-side.

We make sure that we keep our movements efficient by doing crab walks for very short durations, usually 5­–10 yards. It’s not an endurance event or punishment—it’s training to be efficient, strong, and resilient.

Programming the Crab

The age group I most like to use crab walks with are athletes ages 5–12. Their smaller bodies move a bit more efficiently and don’t seem to tire as easily. Also, because it’s such a novel activity, kids tend to really enjoy it. Two of my favorite variations to use with kids are crab soccer and crab walks on planks.

Crab soccer is, as you might guess, exactly what it sounds like. We play 1v1, where each player is in an active crab position (hips off the ground). Both players try to kick a ball past their opponent’s goal. This is a fantastic warm-up activity that most kids love to play—five minutes of crab soccer and kids are warmed-up and fired up for the rest of the training session.

Plank crab walks are a great challenge for younger kids. The key is to elevate the 2×4 planks a few feet off the floor to provide that fear of falling off. This little trick works great, as the kids really have to slow down and concentrate on the movement. We often play a game where if you slip off, you have to to start over. The kids in our youth program love this challenge—once they make it across going forward, we try going sideways and backward.

Crab movements can be hugely beneficial for all levels of athletes—it’s one of those unique exercises that trains the entire body, from the toes to the fingers. The variations can allow for beginners all the way to advanced-level movement. They can be used as part of a prep/warm-up for older athletes, part of a youth athletic training program, or a novel challenge for kids.

Crab work is a simple and equipment-free bodyweight activity that can check a lot of boxes when it comes to all-around athletic development, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

We know that the environment many young athletes are growing up in today is not very movement-centric. Just because kids play a sport, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are getting exposed to enough movement variation that develops strength, resists injury, and improves performance. Crab work is a simple and equipment-free bodyweight activity that can check a lot of boxes when it comes to all-around athletic development.

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

Deen, JC. “How to Do the Crab Walk.” GMB Fitness. 3/22/22.

Gambetta, Vern. Athletic Development: The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning. Human Kinetics: 2006.

Hargrove , Todd. Better Movement.

Hurst, Ryan. “Movement Checkup: 5 Fundamental Movement Patterns to Focus Training.” GMB Fitness. 11/5/19.

Shank, Max. “The 30 Second Mobility Cure.” T-Nation. 6/26/13.