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For a strength coach wishing to establish a winning culture, there is nothing more important than creating buy-in from all the athletes and coaches in the program. When athletes and coaches buy in, they are buying into you and your training program. They believe that following your program will give them the platform for enhancing performance and overall success in their sport. There are several factors a strength coach must address, including having an established training system. Many different systems can work, but it is imperative to use a system that fits your specific situation.

Unified vs. Specific Training

The most basic decision a strength coach will make is utilizing either a unified or specific training system. A unified strength training system is one in which all teams/individuals—regardless of sport—perform the same training. Utilizing a unified system for strength training has several advantages for the strength coach working with a large volume of athletes. Some of the advantages include:

• Utilizing the same cues.
• Narrowing down the exercise pool.
• Training multiple sports simultaneously.

This can make the strength coach’s life much easier in terms of overall management.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is a specific training system, which utilizes a strength training program that is specific to an individual athlete and/or a specific sport. Some of the advantages of a specific training system include:

• More skill-centered programs working toward a specific sport.
• Individual attention to address specific needs.
• Easier buy-in.

A bird’s-eye view of these two options would lead most of us to believe that the specific training system is the better option. But what if the strength coach is in a position where specific training programs are not the right choice? What if the strength coach has no additional staff and must train large volume of athletes from a variety of sports with limited time and resources? Well, in that case, maybe a unified system is the better option.

But what about the individual sports coach who seeks more specific adaptations for their athletes? How about the athletes themselves, who may see unified programming as “watered down”? A strength coach using a unified system needs to have answers for these questions if they want to have athletes and coaches who are 100% bought-in to their training system.

How can a strength coach offer a unified training program that can still provide specificity? By making the unified program specific. Share on X

So, how can a strength coach offer a unified training program that can still provide specificity? The answer: You make the unified program specific.

Why Make Unified Programming Specific?

A unified training program that’s made specific can seem like the best of both worlds.

Buy-in

When utilizing a unified program, it is important to create a vision for the athletes that your program is “specifically designed” to enhance athletic performance, regardless of sport. Making sure the athletes and coaches (and parents) understand that virtually all athletes need to accelerate, decelerate, jump, and change direction. In a weight room, all athletes need to squat, hinge, push, and pull. All athletes need a strong and stable core.

In addition, many of the movements in sport are similar and therefore share specificity. This will help create that vision for the athletes and coaches that your program offers specifically what they need.

Performance

As an athlete develops more strength, there will be a need for sport-specific exercises that translate that strength to enhanced performance. In most cases, it is futile to work on specific strength without a solid base of strength created from both relative and general strength exercises.

How to Make Unified Programming Specific

So, how can you add specificity to unified programming?

1. Link the Exercise to the Sport

When designing a program, strength coaches need to understand the movements and energy systems utilized by the athletes. It is also advantageous for the strength coach to highlight how the exercises within the program are already sport-specific.

Let’s say I have one of my “mixed” S&C classes with athletes from a variety of sports, and I am introducing the training for the session. I will explain the value of the exercise, demonstrate proper technique, discuss the cues for the exercise, and then describe how the given exercise is similar to the movements used in a variety of sports.

That conversation would go something like this. “Our second-tier exercise today is the step-up. This is an important exercise to develop single-leg strength and balance. Step up onto the 18-inch box, punching the foot down while driving the opposite knee up… PUNCH and DRIVE. This movement can be seen in a variety of sports settings, such as a basketball player driving to the basket during a layup, a long jumper jumping off the toe board, or any number of different athletes jumping to catch a ball (outfielder robbing a hitter of a homer over the fence, soccer player getting their head on the ball first, or a receiver/defensive back getting the football at its high point).”

How about a landmine lateral lunge? What specific sports movements are found there? I like to pick specific athletes from different sports and have them perform a sport-specific movement.

So, I’ll pick a volleyball player in the class and say, “Show me the position you’d get into when getting ready to dig out a spike from the opposing team.” Then I’ll pick a baseball player and say, “Show me the position you’d be in to field a grounder.” Then I’ll pick a tennis player and say, “Show me the position you’d get in while hitting a forehand volley.”

At this point, the athletes have seen three different sports and ONE common position. Then I have them demonstrate the exercise with a light implement to show the athletes the correlation between the specific sport movement and the specific sport exercise.

How about a medicine ball side throw? What sport-specific movements are found here?

• A baseball or softball player swinging a bat.
• A lacrosse player taking a shot on goal.
• A track and field athlete throwing the discus.

Bottom line, the exercises within the unified training system are applicable across a variety of sports, making them all ‘specifically’ similar. Share on X

During the training session, I often add a specific cue for the athlete based on their preferred sport. For example, while a baseball player is performing a side medicine ball throw, I’d say “swing for the fence!” or for a shot/discus thrower I’d say “let it fly,” or for a lacrosse player I’d say, “shoot!” Bottom line, the exercises within the unified training system are applicable across a variety of sports, making them all “specifically” similar.

2. Provide Exercise Selection Options

Options enable the athlete to have some autonomy within the unified program. Athletes have the ability to select an option that still meets the goal of the main exercise but provides a more specific adaptation or gives the athlete an individual choice based on individual needs.

For example, if barbell bench press is the main exercise, an athlete may opt to do dumbbell alternating bench press instead. This may be the case for an overhead athlete who wants to focus on more shoulder stabilization and/or a freely moving scapula. Another example could be a basketball player choosing to replace a clean with a hex bar jump due to recovering from a sprained wrist.

Another option for athletes is not to choose a completely different exercise but to make a simple “tweak” to it. For example, if the main exercise is a hex bar deadlift, a swimmer or track and field sprinter may choose to use a staggered stance for a more specific adaptation to mimic the start from the blocks. Another example is for athletes to do medicine ball rotational throws that best mimic their sport. This could be a baseball pitcher doing a punch throw or a golfer doing a scoop throw.

The way I provide the exercise selection options and tweaks to the athletes is threefold:

1. I list and demonstrate the options while going through the pre-training explanation.
2. The options are listed for athletes to view in the workout. (I use a program design software that enables me to write all the options in the “Exercise Instructions” area.)
3. We have a video library our student-athletes can preview and review prior to a new phase of training.

During the in-season, our athletes utilize more complex and contrast training. This is the perfect time to utilize the options and tweaks. As an example, during the in-season, one of the exercise pairings we “complex” is a split squat with a jump or med ball toss. Our track and field sprinters do a landmine split squat paired with med ball “start” toss. The throwers do a banded split squat from the pins paired with a med ball punch throw.

3. Set Phases of Training Based on Sport Season

The final method for making unified programming specific is to set up the weight room in sections to allow fall, winter, and spring sports to follow the unified system at different phases. I set our athletes into two groups:

• Fall-Spring
• Winter

I only have these two groups because my programming repeats itself every six months. That is, I use 6–7 different phases of training, it takes six months to complete, and then we start over. Therefore, fall and spring athletes do the same training phases throughout the year, whereas winter athletes train in a different phase. To clarify even further, in the month of January, fall and spring sports train in phase 1 (volume) of our programming; however, winter sport athletes train in phase 4 (speed-power).

The final method for making unified programming specific is to set up the weight room in sections to allow fall, winter, and spring sports to follow the unified system at different phases. Share on X

Having the training set up based on sport with fall-spring and winter groups is an important piece to my program design. It goes back to buy-in and performance. First, for buy-in, athletes appreciate the fact that during the latter part of the in-season, there is some autonomy, less volume, more recovery, and more focus on “specific” exercises. Second, everything boils down to performance. It allows the athletes to “peak” during their competitive season.

Level Up Your Programming

Linking the exercises to a variety of sports movements, enabling some athlete autonomy, and ensuring there is focus on specific sport performance has given our programming a big boost in terms of buy-in. We’ve added more S&C classes to our curriculum to meet the demand, and the majority of our sports continue to train over the summer months.

Athletes, coaches, and parents are becoming more and more aware of the advantages of a high-quality training program. Being able to describe a training program that takes into consideration the specific demands of individual sports is an attractive quality for most informed parents and coaches. Making a unified program with some specific exercises, options, and proper scheduling can bring your training program to a whole new level.

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

The topic was aerobic and anaerobic metabolic contributions to performance and how athletes should train for their sport. The class was exercise physiology. High school wrestlers were used as the example to make a point.

A typical wrestling workout (at least at that time) was jogging for miles before or after practice.

The professor argued that because wrestling matches are short in duration and exchanges within those matches typically consist of short bursts, the sport is anaerobic in nature and aerobic training therefore had little to no impact on performance. Instead, sprint workouts or other high intensity interval training methods mimicking the time constraints of a wrestling match were more appropriate training methods (so it was said).

Weeks before then, however, we had learned that anaerobic metabolism kicks in only after the aerobic system has been “maxed out.” A fair comparison may be to a hybrid car: once the electric motor is tapped out and the car needs more juice, the gas motor kicks in.

Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that the bigger the electric motor, the less work the gas one has to do?

We had also recently discussed the concepts of oxygen debt and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). A bigger aerobic engine should, theoretically, make up that debt faster than a smaller one. Yet, there seemed to be something that made a certain amount of intuitive sense about the basic argument: how does jogging slowly help a wrestler in a two-minute bout?

‘How does jogging slowly help a wrestler in a two-minute bout?’ asks @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Indeed, the debate persists today. A prominent strength coach recently tweeted his position that a cardio base is overrated, and strength coach Twitter did what strength coach Twitter does and talked about it for a few days. In the wake, another prominent voice asked if walking counts as cardio, and the engagement was comical.

Which is it? Does “cardio” count? Should team sport athletes ditch aerobic training altogether, prioritize it, or somewhere in between?

In we go.

Transference: The Only Principle that Matters

The goal of training is simple: to improve sports performance. It is not to make athletes sweat, to become an elite technician in the weight room, or to mimic sport itself. These may very well be means to the end of improving sport performance, but let us not forget that they are indeed means to an end and not the end itself.

The goal of training is simple: to improve sports performance. It is not to make athletes sweat, to become an elite technician in the weight room, or to mimic sport itself, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Let us also move away from the notion that fitness testing and training must always resemble sport. Testing that does resemble sport may very well be warranted, but that does not mean fitness testing which does not resemble sport is always unnecessary.

The purpose of testing is to evaluate a particular quality; 1RM tests quantify maximum strength and aerobic tests assess the robustness of the aerobic system.

If we believe that maximum strength or aerobic health influence performance in a particular sport, periodically evaluating those qualities via testing is appropriate, even though standing up with a loaded bar across your traps isn’t an activity you’ll see on the field or court of play.

The degree of similarity between a training method and actual gameplay is not informative of how that training stimulus may impact gameplay. The fact that walking uphill on a treadmill at 140 beats per minute doesn’t remotely resemble a football game is not evidence that such activity will not improve player outcomes.

The degree of similarity between a training method and actual gameplay is not informative of how that training stimulus may impact gameplay, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

It is also certainly not evidence that it will. The point is to think critically and reassess the eyeball test. While we’re on the topic—if long-duration isometrics are back in, are wall sits cool again?

Asking Better Questions

As mentioned earlier, when a prominent strength coach stated on Twitter that a cardio base is overrated, strength coaches went nuts. It is telling that some agreed with the statement while others vehemently disagreed. Perhaps this is the next frontier of fitness ideology.

Rather than scoff at the statement, I believe a better approach would be to ask oneself “what about this coach’s experience has led him to believe this is true?” Perhaps he has only worked with high level athletes who were gifted aerobically, and thus never saw a need to train it. Perhaps his training methods are so successful without incorporating cardio that he feels it unnecessary. Or perhaps he meant exactly what he said and nothing more: that he simply finds it “overrated,” which of course does not mean unimportant or irrelevant. Football players are not triathletes, after all.

How may aerobic training and adaptations impact team sports performance? Indeed, research has helped us answer this question, but let us not skip the thought experiment. In addition to research, let’s think.

My exercise physiology professor constantly challenged us to provide a “physiologic rationale” for our positions and thoughts. A physiologic rationale is a justification for why a thought could or could not be true based on physiology.

What might a physiologic rationale look like for the statement “aerobic fitness impacts anaerobic performance”?

Primary Aerobic Adaptations

To answer that question we must first understand basic physiology. The “big rock” adaptations to aerobic exercise are as follows, in no particular order:

• Increased capillary density
• Eccentric cardiac hypertrophy
• Increased mitochondrial density
• Increased aerobic enzymes
• Increased vagal tone

It is easy to see how each of these factors (outside of vagal tone, which has indirect implications) directly influence VO2 max and aerobic performance. With a little thought, we can also see how they benefit anaerobic performance.

Increased capillary density allows for more oxygen and glucose to be delivered to working tissue, and for more waste products to be removed. Although anaerobic metabolism by definition does not involve oxygen, glycolysis does require glucose. Further, as muscle tissues hypertrophy and become more physiologically demanding, delivery and removal demands would seem to increase as well.

Eccentric cardiac hypertrophy allows for an increase in stroke volume and greater cardiac output. More blood flow = more nutrients delivered. Couple this with increased capillary density, and blood flow delivery capacity significantly increases. Additionally, what I feel is often overlooked is that eccentric cardiac hypertrophy allows for a lower heart rate during submaximal work. In effect, it helps delay fatigue during fast but not all-out efforts that tap into anaerobic resources.

Eccentric cardiac hypertrophy allows for a lower heart rate during submaximal work. In effect, it helps delay fatigue during fast but not all-out efforts that tap into anaerobic resources, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Mitochondrial density essentially refers to how many mitochondria are in your muscle cells. Density is technically the absolute number of mitochondria in relation to the size of the cell (hypertrophy), but that’s somewhat of a technicality in this discussion as we’re really chasing greater absolute mitochondria numbers—we’re not seeking an increase in density via atrophy.

In any case, mitochondria are classically known as the “powerhouses of the cell.” More mitochondria allows for more ATP production via aerobic metabolism, resulting in greater ATP production capacity overall. Aerobic enzymes catalyze aerobic metabolism, so the more of those that are around, the more aerobic metabolism is available.

If more ATP is produced aerobically, less must be produced anaerobically to accomplish the same output, thus sparing anaerobic reserves. Consequently, metrics like maximal aerobic speed (MAS) are, to state the obvious, heavily influenced by these aerobic constituents.

Aerobic Contributions to Anaerobic Performance

MAS is fine, but how exactly does increased capillary and mitochondrial density help athletes jump higher, and why would eccentric cardiac hypertrophy improve a sprint time?

They don’t.

Well, I’ve contradicted myself, haven’t I?

Aerobic health does not directly improve maximal performance. Let me be clear: aerobic fitness will not directly improve your sprint speed or jump height.

Let me be clear: aerobic fitness will not directly improve your sprint speed or jump height, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

If you had a genie in a bottle and were immediately granted a doubled aerobic capacity, your 40 time would not instantaneously drop, but the speed at which you run a fade nine plays into a two-minute drill would be significantly better than otherwise. You might actually look fast still, instead of looking at the sideline tapping your helmet, or pretending your route was a three step stop instead of a 50-yard sprint.

Indeed, research has shown us that aerobic health is highly related to repeat sprint ability (RSA), or the ability to run fast over and over with minimal decrements in speed.^1-6 It is established that the presence of oxygen is required to resynthesize phosphocreatine (PCr) stores,^7-8 which is likely one of the primary mechanisms by which aerobic adaptations support repeated efforts of high output.

Thus, although “cardio” won’t directly help your 40 time (more on that coming), it could be the difference between being fresh enough to make the play in the 4th quarter, or coming up a half yard short and giving up the game-winning touchdown.

For a non-football example: aerobic fitness could be the difference between performing at 95% of your maximum capacity instead of 88% in the final seconds of the game. That 7% difference could be the difference between winning and losing, and that effect compounded over a season or a career could make or break a multi-million dollar contract, scholarship opportunity, or simply a lifetime of good memories and the confidence that comes with them.

Aerobic fitness could be the difference between performing at 95% of your maximum capacity instead of 88% in the final seconds of the game, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

What I’m saying is that aerobic fitness prevents fatigue from setting in, thus delaying fatigue-related performance drop-offs. And to again drive the point home: say an athlete runs 10 sprints with 30 seconds of rest between each; the more aerobically fit they are, the closer in time the first and last sprint will be. The less “in shape” they are, the slower and slower the sprints will get.

Training a Racehorse

This ability to repeat sprints is frequently considered as a fitness metric and performance outcome—and it most certainly is both—but put that principle into a training environment and we call it “work capacity.”

Certainly, volume drives results to an extent. I believe aerobic health plays a significant role in volume tolerance, and the ability to withstand high volumes of training is:

1. Advantageous for driving adaptation; and
2. Protective against injury.

I can’t point to a study to verify it, but something tells me that withstanding repeated bouts of high effort without breaking down mechanically or physiologically must contribute towards athlete health and injury prevention. Although not direct support for my previous claim, aerobic fitness has been shown to decrease injury risk during high‑speed running.⁹

Recovering between sets/plays is what allows athletes to maintain high levels of performance throughout, and indeed aerobic metabolism is what drives recovery.

When dealing with training constraints like time, recovery becomes a significant factor. For example, when accruing acceleration volume where an athlete may run up to 30 short sprints or more in a single session, recovery certainly becomes critical, as the goal is for all sprints to be at near maximal performance. Slow sprints are wasted ones.

Indeed, if one athlete tolerates just 10 short sprints before performance diminishes but another can conquer 30…do we not think this may play a role in athlete adaptation? If we can effectively deliver a powerful stimulus of 30 sprints vs. a relatively weak one of just 10, will that not deliver greater adaptation? I do understand this is nuanced, but rather than diving into the “it depends” scenario, in general, an increased work capacity is positive and allows for more intense training sessions to be positively received.

The minimal vs. maximally effective dose argument is at play here.

Beyond volume quality, however, is the ability to recover from a workout. Of course, adaptation (read: improvement) happens not during exercise, but afterwards, while recovering from the training session.

Of course, adaptation (read: improvement) happens not during exercise, but afterwards, while recovering from the training session, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Pat Davidson once posted that hanging out with people you like is probably one of the best forms of post-exercise recovery, and that post changed the way I thought. Optimal adaptation cannot occur while in fight or flight mode, so shifting away from a sympathetic state and upregulating parasympathetic activity is of paramount importance post-exercise. Laughing and breaking bread with people you like sets that stage.

Further, aerobic training both acutely and chronically upregulates vagal tone, making it easier to adapt to training.

Thus, aerobic fitness can not only increase the amount of high quality volume afforded to an athlete, it also makes it easier to adapt to that volume.

Greater dose + greater adaptability = greater outcome.

Going back to the genie in a bottle thought experiment: although doubling aerobic capacity won’t make you faster immediately, taking that new and improved work and adaptation capability into training over a year or a career may very well result in a faster you down the road.

Formula One Cars vs. Toyota Corollas

I believe this is also a Pat Davidson analogy. I noticed early in my training career that those with low training ages do not require as much rest between sets as those with higher training ages. Where a 21-year-old linebacker might very well need 3-5 minutes rest between sets, a 14-year-old in his first month of training might be fine with a fraction of that.

At first I was a bit perplexed by this. It did, after all, defy the guidelines I read in the CSCS textbook!

When a Formula One car guns it at full speed, it (and probably its driver!) are going to need a significant amount of maintenance and recovery before racing again. The car may need to go to the shop, the engine will need to cool, and the driver may need to re-collect himself as well.

When a Formula One car guns it at full speed, it (and probably its driver!) are going to need a significant amount of maintenance and recovery before racing again, says @KD_Kyle Davey. Share on X

But when you’re trying to beat the yellow light and you go pedal to the metal in a Corolla, there is very little consequence. Even if you hammered the gas for a solid 5-10 seconds on the freeway, the car and driver will be just fine.

So it is with training. Those with no engine can gun it and be ready to do so again very quickly. Those with big engines, however…

This basic premise provides two suggestions:

1. As an athlete’s strength and power grow, so too should aerobic capacity.
2. Aerobic capacity sets the stage for future development and success, and should be prioritized in youth athletes so the aerobic engine grows along with the anaerobic one.

Clean Up In Zone Two?

With aerobic robustness currently in the S&C spotlight, it’s not surprising that zone two training has seemingly re-emerged and is making the rounds.

Low intensity, steady-state training is not a novel concept. In fairness, I have not seen anyone claim it to be. Still, it is funny to see it making the rounds through the S&C circles when it is classically taught in physiology textbooks as one of the, well, textbook training methods for aerobic development.

I am happy the discussion is being had, but I do wonder if some will get lost in the weeds and go in too deep on aerobic training for power- and speed-based athletes. There is more to conditioning than low-intensity steady state exercise. Prescribing zone two training once or twice per week and hoping it will check all the aerobic boxes is wishful thinking. Tempo runs, training at and just above lactate threshold, and yes, even repeat sprints and oxidative work in the weight room all have a place on the curriculum. Guys like Joel Jamieson, Mark McLaughlin, and Alex Viada have excelled in this arena.

Beyond that, at the end of the day, field and court sports are indeed anaerobic by nature. Scoring well on an RSA assessment or a 30-15 intermittent fitness test does an athlete little good if he or she is simply not physically gifted enough to see the field or court in the first place.

For the sake of transparency, it is worth noting there is some research that shows little to no correlation between aerobic fitness and RSA,^10-12 which partly begs the question: even if aerobic fitness does contribute to repeat sprint ability, by how much? That is a question I don’t believe is answerable at this point. I do believe it plays a significant role, but I can’t point to a percentage and say “aerobic fitness improves RSA by X%.”

As with all other training factors, balance and finding the lowest hanging fruit is key. Aerobic fitness deserves a seat at the table.

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. Sanders, G. J., Turner, Z., Boos, B., Peacock, C. A., Peveler, W., & Lipping, A. (2017). Aerobic capacity is related to repeated sprint ability with sprint distances less than 40 meters. International journal of exercise science, 10(2), 197.

2. Aziz, A. R., Chia, M., & Teh, K. C. (2000). The relationship between maximal oxygen uptake and repeated sprint performance indices in field hockey and soccer players. Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 40(3), 195.

3. Bishop, D., & Spencer, M. (2004). Determinants of repeated-sprint ability in well-trained team-sport athletes and endurance-trained athletes. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 44(1), 1.

4. Jones, R. M., Cook, C. C., Kilduff, L. P., Milanović, Z., James, N., Sporiš, G., … & Vučković, G. (2013). Relationship between repeated sprint ability and aerobic capacity in professional soccer players. The Scientific World Journal, 2013.

5. Korkmaz Eryılmaz, S., & Kaynak, K. (2019). Relationship between repeated sprint ability and aerobic fitness in college volleyball players.

6. Doyle, B., Browne, D., & Horan, D. (2020). The relationship of aerobic endurance and linear speed on repeat sprint ability performance in female international footballers. Int. J. Hum. Mov. Sports Sci, 8, 147-153.

7. Turner, A. N., & Stewart, P. F. (2013). Repeat sprint ability. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 35(1), 37-41.

8. Haseler, L. J., Hogan, M. C., & Richardson, R. S. (1999). Skeletal muscle phosphocreatine recovery in exercise-trained humans is dependent on O2availability. Journal of applied physiology, 86(6), 2013-2018.

9. Malone, S., Owen, A., Mendes, B., Hughes, B., Collins, K., & Gabbett, T. J. (2018). High-speed running and sprinting as an injury risk factor in soccer: Can well-developed physical qualities reduce the risk? Journal of science and medicine in sport, 21(3), 257-262.

10. Castagna, C., Manzi, V., D’OTTAVIO, S. T. E. F. A. N. O., Annino, G., Padua, E., & Bishop, D. (2007). Relation between maximal aerobic power and the ability to repeat sprints in young basketball players. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 21(4), 1172-1176.

11. Aziz, A. R., Chia, M., & Teh, K. C. (2000). The relationship between maximal oxygen uptake and repeated sprint performance indices in field hockey and soccer players. Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 40(3), 195.

12. Rodríguez-Fernández, A., Sanchez-Sanchez, J., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Nakamura, F. Y., Rodríguez-Marroyo, J. A., & Villa-Vicente, J. G. (2019). Relationship between repeated sprint ability, aerobic capacity, intermittent endurance, and heart rate recovery in youth soccer players. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 33(12), 3406-3413.

Too often, when I go to high school track meets, I see horizontal jumpers fouling their attempts, jumping off the wrong leg, and having out-of-control flight and landing mechanics. Much of this is due to coaches and athletes not having access to a runway, board, or sandpit. If you coach the horizontal jumps, you know how important it is to be able to train with all three of these.

Unfortunately, many coaches don’t have that ability for an assortment of reasons. The most common of these are:

• The track is under construction.
• It is indoor track season.
• It is too cold outside and/or there is snow on the ground.
• The school doesn’t have a track.

If you coach the long jump and don’t have access to a runway, board, and/or sandpit for whatever reason, you can still train for success. Be creative. This article will provide solutions and actionable ideas to make the most of your situation.

If you coach the long jump and don’t have access to a runway, board, and/or sandpit for whatever reason, you can still train for success. Be creative, says @KCPerformance_. Share on X

It is obvious why athletes need a proper training environment to succeed in the horizontal jumps. I coach in Rhode Island, where we have indoor track season in the winter and outdoor track season in the spring. This means that during the indoor season, I can’t use the track for most of the season because it is cold, and we have plenty of snowfall. I don’t let this get in the way of our expectations to develop proficient jumpers. I have an athlete who jumped 22 feet 4 inches and never practiced on a regulation long jump runway with a board or sand pit. It can be done.

Make Your Own Board

A board is important. Jumpers need to practice their steering abilities and approach to the board. I created a board using white athletic tape, though there are a variety of other tapes you can use. I always have athletic tape on hand, and it’s relatively easy to see. I’ve also used chalk in the past to draw a board.

When you measure out the board, it is essential to use the exact standard measurements. This means the length of the board should be 1.2 meters, and the width of the board should be 20 centimeters. The tape may become worn, especially if you use it frequently, so it is essential to replace the tape as needed throughout the season.

If you have wide-enough space, you can even tape down multiple boards to create multiple runways. I like to have multiple boards since it allows me to dedicate a runway to beginner jumpers and more advanced jumpers. Plus, when you tape a board, it means it’s portable. So, if you tape a board and realize it is not in the most appropriate spot, you can always move it.

Video 1. Example of an athlete using a makeshift runway and taped board on an inside track.

Set Up a Runway

There’s nothing groundbreaking in this paragraph, but I do need to point out a few things. The most important part of the makeshift runway is to give the jumpers an appropriate and safe space to approach and then decelerate in. I am lucky that my school has an indoor 150-meter track, which means I have enough space to dedicate to a long jump runway.

The runway and board should be two very different colors so the jumper can clearly see the board and steer toward it as needed. Make sure your team knows which lane or space is dedicated to jumpers. Depending on where you’re making a runway (e.g., a hallway), you can mark it off with cones, chalk, or other landmarks.

Do not place the board in an area with heavy foot traffic because that will distract the jumper. Give them their space; the last thing anybody wants is the jumpers worried that somebody might run into their area while they are in the middle of their approach.

Create a Safe Pit

Jumping without sand is not ideal since sand helps to reduce impact and cushion landing forces. I have two alternatives that I use during the indoor season. One is a high jump landing pit that is safely connected as it would be during the high jumping event at a track and field meet. The other consists of gymnastics mats stacked on each other, creating about a foot of padding between the floor and the top of the mat. Both options have their pros and cons.

The great thing about connecting a few high jump mats is that we create a large surface area on which we can practice competition-type landings. The downside is that the pit is about 3 feet off the ground, so we have to do our take-offs off a 4–6-inch box. We really only use this type of setup if we want to practice our flight and landing mechanics. We also never make full approaches with this setup. For an 18-step long jumper, the farthest we jump from is a 12-step approach. We do not use this type of setup too often because I feel that doing most of your training off a box can create bad habits.

Safety is the number one priority here. If there is somebody who I feel can’t safely perform this type of jump off a box onto a high jump pit, then I simply don’t have them do it. I haven’t had any issues with this setup so far.

Stacking gymnastics mats on top of one another is a good option for practicing approach mechanics, steering abilities, the penultimate step to takeoff technique, and the beginnings of the in-air technique. Again, with this option, like the last, we never do competition approach lengths. It is simply unsafe, and if we are working on technique, I like to slow things down while we are learning.

Stacking gymnastics mats is a good option for practicing approach mechanics, steering abilities, the penultimate step to takeoff technique, and the beginnings of the in-air technique. Share on X

This type of setup works well for shorter approach lengths, skipping drills, run-run-jumps, etc. This is how we perform most of our long jump practice. It is important to give plenty of space past the “pit” for the jumpers to decelerate safely without harming themselves. The longer the approach, the more room they need to decelerate. Approach lengths usually vary from 6–12 steps.

Video 2. Stacked gymnastics mats stand in for a sand pit to enable athletes to practice approach mechanics, penultimate step to takeoff technique, and steering indoors.

The Important Stuff

The approach work and what happens on the ground are the most critical aspects of the long jump. If an athlete has poor approach mechanics, penultimate, and takeoff, then we don’t need to practice our flight mechanics or landings just yet. Good landing and flight mechanics are side effects of technically sound approaches. Within this setup, I instruct the jumpers to extend the swing leg after takeoff and land on the opposite foot they took off from. This teaches them the motion of the hang and hitch-kick without them even realizing it.

What happens on the runway and on the board is far more important than what happens in the air and on the landing. This is because everything that happens in the air is set up and created by what happens before it. What comes before the in-air stuff? The takeoff, penultimate step, approach run, and starting position. Without these four things in good shape, everything happening in the air and on the landing will be flawed anyway. An optimal landing does not occur without an optimal takeoff and approach run.

This is a challenging idea for kids to understand. They want to do competition-length approaches, jumps, and competition landings into a sandpit all the time and usually don’t like settling for anything less. The best advice I can give regarding this is to provide athletes with the best logical and sound rationale as to why you train them this way and how they can become very proficient at the long jump event without ever touching a sand pit during training.

Explain rationally to athletes why you train them this way and how they can become very proficient at the long jump event without ever touching a sand pit during training, says @KCPerformance_. Share on X

Get Better Results

This is the setup I have used, and it has worked very nicely. We have seen significant performance improvements and school records being broken while using this setup. Being creative and resourceful as a high school coach is always important, especially if your budget and facilities are less than ideal.

I would begin implementing this setup as soon as possible so your jumpers can safely improve their performance. None of these things guarantee that your jumpers will be better—just like anything else, it comes down to the coaching. Make sure you use these recommendations wisely and safely; as always, make sure they work for your situation and the athletes in front of you.

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

In 2011, I started my first internship at Longwood University under John Hark and Rick Canter. I was a Business Administration major with an interest in lifting weights and the desire to coach, but I didn’t know what exactly. A friend I trained with was interning for Coach Hark and suggested I reach out to him as well.

I understood only the basics of training (I went to the gym and worked out) and knew nothing about sports performance. The terms “kinesiology,” “biomechanics,” “triphasic,” “tier system,” and “energy system development” meant nothing to me, and to say I felt inadequate would be an understatement. I had no idea what I was doing, but within the first week I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do.

I’ve experienced three drastically different internships in my career, all at the college level. Overall, my time at Longwood was my best experience even though it was the “smallest” school. Why? It was the perfect blend of science and practice in a supportive environment. I was able to learn about the field and the science behind training, and most importantly, I coached every day for three years.

As I stepped into a full-time role, I wanted to develop an internship program that gave interns the best experience possible—a program that blended scientific truths, offered practical experience, and prepared interns to pursue any and every sector in the strength and conditioning field.

When developing an internship program from scratch, there were a few things I considered.

1. Start with Why

Determining the why behind a program will help guide us in the future when it comes to the growth or evolution of the program. The heart of any good program is rooted in education and service. We want to educate interns on the foundational principles of training, give them the practical experience to land a full-time job, and have a servant’s heart to guide them through this field. We tell our interns this in our first meeting and even during the interview process because it’s important for them to know what guides our decisions during this program.

We want to educate interns on the foundational principles of training, give them the practical experience to land a full-time job, and have a servant’s heart to guide them through this field. Share on X

If we’re starting an internship program to contribute to the future of the field, we’ll introduce and keep great people. If we’re starting an internship program to have bodies to clean and organize the weight room, then we shouldn’t have one in the first place.

I’m not saying interns shouldn’t do these things, because it’s part of the day-to-day responsibilities of any coach. I clean and organize the weight room every day. However, it can’t be the only thing a person experiences during their time with us. These types of internships push good people away from the field and leave them questioning what they saw in coaching in the first place.

2. Create a Deliberate Interview Process

Interview processes create the results they’re designed to produce. If we’re frustrated with the final product, then we need to change the interview process. This process should filter out any applicant that doesn’t fit our ideal candidate or culture. I’m not saying turn everyone away, but we need to be deliberate. Questions and discussion should require critical thinking, allow applicants to show their personality, and be transparent about what this position and career entails.

While marketing the internship, be upfront about the expectations and day-to-day experience interns will have. This includes the number of hours required, what the daily work looks like, and how they’ll be contributing to the department and training. This will help limit the number of applications and find the people we’re looking for.

To be honest, I’ve never turned away a person for an internship. However, we have open and honest dialogue during the interview. We describe what the field is like, what our jobs are day-to-day, and the long-term effort needed to be successful. This has led to applicants either realizing they want to go elsewhere or deciding this is exactly where they want to be. If a person is hesitant to get into this field based on this conversation, then this field probably isn’t for them.

3. Prepare Interns for the Next Step

Our goal at the end of our program is for interns to be able to coach from day one of their next stop. This doesn’t matter if it’s high school, college, private, or tactical: we want our interns to be confident in their ability to lead a room and program effectively.

Our goal at the end of our internship program is for interns to be able to coach from day one of their next stop, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

As a side note, I believe the most important skill of being a coach is public speaking. If we can’t speak confidently in front of large groups, then we’re going to struggle to lead a room. A coach may lack knowledge but still land a job because they can speak to and direct a crowd of people.

To fill our internship positions, we focus on recruiting freshman or sophomore students to our program. Why? This gives them an early start on their career to see if this field is something they’re interested in. Conversely, some may step in and realize it isn’t for them. That’s progress: now they know and can pursue other sectors instead of finding out they hate their “dream job” the last semester before graduation.

For those who decide this field is for them, we can pour into these students and guide them in the right direction. If they show potential, we can mold them into “assistant coaches,” and they’ll become another coach on the floor for the next 3–4 years.

By getting students in year one or two versus their last semester of college, we give them a massive advantage in the job market. If they intern from their sophomore year on, they could have three different internships under three different staffs by the time they graduate. With that much experience and networking, they’ll be able to land a GA or full-time position upon graduating. At the very least, they’ll land an excellent internship under a high-level coach. (I’d advise pursuing a big-time internship the summer before their senior year.)

4. Develop a Curriculum

Educating interns should be a significant portion of our program. As coaches in the field, it is our job to lead and educate the next generation. Developing a curriculum ensures we are teaching the foundational topics and skills needed to be successful without going off-track or missing topics.

If we don’t have a written-out curriculum, then it can be hard to stay on task or have a progression of topics. There are times when we want to sit down and answer any questions interns have, which can lead to great discussions, but we still need to have a curriculum in place.

Table 1 shows a sample of the curriculum we’ve previously used. We focus on the practical side because most students lack this experience. Since they’re getting the detailed science in class, we want to fill in the back-end with practical information to help present the whole picture. Do we discuss scientific topics? Absolutely, but the practical side is what separates average from great coaches. Topics covered include lifting technique, assessment, warm-up, injury modification, Excel, programming, and professional development.

The two biggest takeaways for our interns were always the Excel workshop and video calls with coaches. It’s vital to show interns how to use Excel, as most have never used it, and Excel is a strength coach’s best friend. This is a unique skill set for coaches. It also helps applicants stand out and may land them a job, as not every place will have resources yet to manage and distribute their workouts. 

5. Let Interns Coach

The purpose of internships is to connect the classroom to the real world and letting interns coach is as real world as it gets. If we only instruct our interns to clean, then we’re wasting their time. What’s the best way to serve and educate interns? Letting them coach under our supervision.

In my first internship, I was able to coach and lead different parts of workouts regularly. Although I lacked the scientific knowledge compared to my peers, I could lead and coach a room better than most, setting me apart. Starting out, I preferred learning how to coach from the floor versus from a place of deep scientific knowledge, believing I could learn biomechanics, energy system development, and programming on my own. However, learning the soft skills of communication, emotional awareness, critical thinking, and time management takes time and often requires positive and negative experiences to form. In the end, soft skills typically make or break a hire, which is why internship programs should focus these skills.

Soft skills—communication, emotional awareness, critical thinking, time management—typically make or break a hire, which is why internship programs should focus these skills, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

To get interns started, I have found it useful to organize a coaching progression (shown in table 2) and have them lead the warm-up, explain the workout, handle time intervals, lead post-stretch, or coach a rack. Start small and work up.

Some interns can step in on the first day and lead, while others may take more time. Overall, what matters is that we’re letting our interns coach more with time. I’ve had internships where I led teams for a whole year, and others where I wasn’t allowed to coach until the last day of the internship. I know exactly which one had the greater impact on my development as a coach.

6. Integrate Technology into the Experience

The use of laser timers, jump mats, heart rate monitors, and other technology is prevalent in our field today. If the department owns and uses technology, take the time to teach interns how to use it, how to collect and organize data, and how to interpret the data to make training decisions.

For the future of our profession, it’s crucial we teach interns how to use this technology and also to not be controlled by it. Technology is a tremendous tool, but at the end of the day, coaches must make the training decisions. Screens can’t replace the coaching eye.

There may be a time where a department has no technology available. Considering this, it’s important to educate interns on ways to train and evaluate programs without technological assistance. They might be hired somewhere without a budget, and it’s important we don’t set them up to be unable to show the administration that they can do their job effectively.

7. Teach Interns How to Train

We hear this all the time, but it’s the truth. An intern doesn’t have to be the strongest person in the room, but they need to know how to train. We learn by doing, and this is especially true when it comes to lifting. Getting under the bar is the best teacher we have. The only way we’ll know what a heavy squat feels like is to get under the bar and do it. The same can be said for speed and jump development. As a coach, if we’re going to prescribe something, we need to know what it feels like and what the recovery process looks like after the fact.

As a coach, if we’re going to prescribe something, we need to know what it feels like and what the recovery process looks like after the fact, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

If schedules align, we have interns train with the S&C staff. This is often when we get to know each other and build a stronger relationship. Personally, I have interns follow the program I’m doing unless they have a dedicated training plan or goal, such as Olympic weightlifting. My caveat is if I see they aren’t training consistently and diligently, then they’ll start training with the staff.

The other option is to follow the training plan the athletes are doing. I’ve seen this be a tremendous bonding tool for the interns and athletes. If the team knows the intern is following the program, they’ll ask them about the workout, how it felt, and the difficulty. On the flip side, the interns know how the athletes will feel during training and can coach them through it.

An underrated experience that we also need to teach is what constitutes hard training. To me, this means training when we don’t want to, pushing ourselves beyond our limits, and experiencing productive discomfort. This doesn’t mean reckless, excessive, and dangerous training, but there is a place for experiencing tough training cycles with amplified intensity and volume.

Build a Program for the Future

A well-rounded internship program can be a tremendous asset to any school or department. It provides a place for interns to learn and gives coaches a network of potential assistant coaches to hire in the future. Although we may be hesitant to let interns coach or lead specific parts of training, it’s critical to their development.

Although we may be hesitant to let interns coach or lead specific parts of training, it’s critical to their development, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

Interns don’t need to write programs or take over entire teams. We can easily let them explain workouts, lead warm-ups, or coach athletes walking around the room. The practical experience is what internships exist to provide. Our internship programs should provide opportunities for interns to learn and experience what coaching is like with the support of a professional to help them progress. Remember, interns will determine the future of our profession, and their experiences will positively or negatively impact the next generation.

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

This summer, I am fortunate enough to work with some local high school football teams to coach their speed and agility training. After meeting with these coaches and discussing how to plan for the summer goals they set, I realized that many struggle with designing a field workout. Or maybe they don’t think they struggle with it, but I just disagree with how they go about it.

In these cases, it’s the strength coach I meet with—the one who can properly plan a weight room workout with an overarching long-term goal that is built with daily weight room objectives (upper body strength focus, lower body power focus, etc.). These workouts individually make sense and seem to build toward their longer-term goals, but when it comes to speed and agility, the programs aren’t as well designed. These coaches understand they want their football players to get stronger at squats—so they program squats. Then afterward, they program other exercises that help build a stronger squat—lunges, RDLs, and hip bridges.

Perfect. Programming for a field workout is the same process.

Start with a Focus for the Day

As a coach, what are you looking to improve that day? What is the desired adaptation? Charles Poliquin was the first person I heard say: “You only have one ass; you can’t sit on two horses.”

You can’t improve every athletic quality and movement in one training session—pick a focus, says @steve20haggerty. Share on X

You can’t improve every athletic quality and movement in one training session—pick a focus.

Whether you are looking to improve linear acceleration, max velocity, backpedaling, changing direction, curvilinear running, lateral shuffling, or whatever movement you choose, just pick one for the day. All of these movements are utilized in football and are important to work on, but for simplicity, I will focus on max velocity sprinting here.

Planning the Field Session

1. Choose the focus for the day (again, there are a number of different movement options here, but for this article, I will stick to top end speed/max velocity sprinting).
2. Pick a way to train that focus. I refer to this as the application—the drill that will carry over most to the desired adaptation for the day. Max velocity is pretty straightforward (I feel like there is a pun here); you can do full-speed sprints, flys, or sprint-float-sprint variations. In the early off-season, I like spending more time working on flying sprints, really looking to improve top end speed and keeping the total volume at max effort lower. As we get into the pre-season, it is good to transition more into full-speed sprints—putting everything together, getting more volume at max effort, and more specific to their sport.

Sprint-float-sprints are a good bridge between the other two: more distance at full effort but not yet a full-speed sprint. Of course, all these methods can be done with different distances and resistance or assistance to keep the stimulus new and engaging. With those three variables alone, you can create quite a few workouts.

3. Select a drill or two that will improve your application from a strength, elastic, or mechanical standpoint. I refer to these as the technical drills. For max velocity, you can work on the strength aspect with resisted sprints or marches—applying more force into the ground, you can program plyometrics for the elastic component, or you can use different A- and B-skip drills to improve the technical model.

Pick a drill or two for the day and bounce back and forth between your application and your technical exercises. This does not have to look like a conditioning circuit—not only is recovery necessary for the demands of max velocity sprinting, but fatigue is the enemy of motor learning for all of your different movement focuses. Although I am a fan of the Feed the Cats idea, I have also witnessed speed improvements in a training session with technical drills used between sprint reps. Using drills to improve the components of a sprint will improve the sprint.

Now, with that being said, doing 100 yards of heavy sled pushes or even 10 yards of heavy sled pushes will most likely result in a decrease in sprint performance. I think that’s okay. I think we are allowed to take a day to improve a specific quality in the hopes of a big improvement in the future. Especially in the early off-season, performing a higher volume of A-skips, B-skips, moving claw, ankling butt kick, or any type of sprint drill to build up the tissues involved can be more beneficial for the long term. These are more extensive plyometrics and help strengthen the hip flexors, hamstrings, and ankle for the more intense sprints to come in the future.

Pick a drill or two you think will improve the movement focus for the day and utilize both the technical drill and application as a superset, says @steve20haggerty. Share on X

In the late off-season/pre-season, I would use fewer drills and focus on more volume of sprints, which is what football players need to be prepared for in their sport. So, pick a drill or two you think will improve the movement focus for the day and utilize both the technical drill and application as a superset.

Field Session Examples

1. Full-Speed Sprints Paired with an Ankling Drill

Depending on the time of year and position, the sprint work could work up to 60 yards or could stay as low as 20-30 yards. Most of the time, I stay around 30 yards for high school football players—they hit top speed sooner than an Olympic sprinter and therefore do not need 80 yards to work on top speed. I typically keep the ankling drill at 10 yards in length. Sometimes, it is just as simple as 10 yards of ankling, and sometimes with a 10-yard jog into the 10-yard ankling—this leads to an even faster ground contact time.

I use this drill as more of a neurological prep or stimulus, focusing on quickly recovering the foot off the ground. If the players perform the ankling drill well, as a coach, you should see less backside swing with their leg dangling behind them. This drill should teach them to quickly flex the hip and bring their leg back in front of them as soon as their foot leaves the ground. I like this drill for football players because they tend to have a more forward lean with excessive backside swing.

I don’t think many high school coaches think of pairing a drill with a sprint to improve the sprint, but rather just sprint and cue athletes how to run better. The drill can allow for less cueing from the coach, an actual physiological adaptation, and enabling the player to think less while sprinting—it’s difficult to swing your limbs as fast as you can while thinking about head position, arm swing, high knees, heel to butt, toe up, and getting off the ground quickly.

I don’t think many high school coaches think of pairing a drill with a sprint to improve the sprint, but rather just sprint and cue athletes how to run better, says @steve20haggerty. Share on X

This workout would look like:

• 2×20 yards sprints
• 2×10 yards ankling
• 1×30 yards sprint
• 2×10 yards ankling
• 1×30 yards sprint

Video 1. During the ankling drill, I look for quick hip flexion. The purpose of the drill is to recover the foot immediately after leaving the ground.

2. Flying Sprints

Build up 20 yards gaining speed and run full speed for 10 yards—with butt-kick skips. Most of the time I keep the sprint zone at 10 yards with a 20-yard run-in for football players. Butt-kick skips get progressed from 10 yards up to 60 yards. I think the butt-kick skip drill is good for building up the tissues involved in the recovery phase of a sprint cycle, basically getting the hamstring to pull the heel to the butt as soon as the foot leaves the ground.

The more you can dynamically strengthen the athlete’s hamstring and hip flexor to quickly recover the foot, the less backside motion you should see and the more efficient the sprint cycle should look. Again, excessive backside swing seems to be something football players typically struggle with, and this is one of the drills I like to correct it. You want to use the drill to improve the sprint. A typical workout would look like:

• 2×10 yards flying sprint (20-yard build-up)
• 2×20 yards butt-kick skips
• 1×10 yards flying sprint (20-yard build-up)
• 2×30 yards butt-kick skips

Video 2.   With butt-kick skips, I really only look for knee up, toe up, and heel to butt. Groove that motion you see in the sprint cycle and strengthen up the tissues involved.

3. Sprint-Float-Sprint Paired with Hurdle Hops

My last example would pair together sprint-float-sprint (sprint 10 yards, stride or jog 10 yards, sprint 10 yards) and hurdle hops. Hopefully, we are all aware of the need for a stiff/elastic ankle to transfer force into the ground for sprinting: if not, check out this article. The unrivaled way to improve these qualities in the ankle is with plyometrics.

Hurdle hops, albeit an advanced plyometric, are a good way to do this. I would start with the sprint-float-sprint, 10 yards each zone, two reps of this. Then go to the hurdle hops, four track hurdles, one time through. Back to the sprint-float-sprint, I would either increase the distance of the sprint zones or add more sprint zones—sprint-float-sprint-float-sprint.

For this example, I would increase the distance of the sprint zone to 20 yards and only do one rep, then back to the hurdle hops. Then, finish with one more sprint-float-sprint.

I think it is good to mention that, as the coach, you dictate the rest between drills and exercises. Rest could be a water break or deliberate rest (telling the athletes they have three minutes before their next sprint). It could also be giving the athletes a quick coaching cue while taking your time to walk to the group, giving the cue on what to think about, and then taking your time to walk back to where you watch the sprints.

Use the Drill to Improve the Sprint

As a coach, you should expect to see improvements in the athlete’s movement by using this method. If you improve the athlete’s ability to have a stiff ankle, their hamstring’s ability to bring their heel to their butt, or whatever you think a drill does, then of course you should see that improvement in their sprint.

The improvements I really look to make with football players are to improve ankle stiffness, strengthen the hamstrings and hip flexors (not just with slower weight room movements, but more sprint-specific speeds), force production into the ground, and better overall running shapes. Football players notoriously struggle with hamstring injuries—improving sprint-specific hamstring strength and getting them into better sprinting positions should not only help to minimize that but also improve speed. Again, this is not solely for sprinting but for any movement you want to focus on for that field session.

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

When laying out a training program, we always want to do what is best for our athletes and fill multiple boxes from the physical preparation checklist. This requires considering characteristics such as movement capacity, general strength, and coordination, along with several other subcategories that lead to more physically prepared and durable athletes.

Crawling is one of the most fundamental movements with which to examine general, foundational human abilities. Other than rolling, crawling is the first effective means of movement we perform as infants. Crawling is the first step that we take to get from point A to point B, though somewhere along the way we forget this and miss out on the value in crawling for athletic development.

When looking to develop the most robust athletes possible, crawling movements should be a cornerstone of training—especially in the training for youth athletic development. Share on X

When looking to develop the most robust athletes possible, crawling movements should be a cornerstone of training—especially in the training for youth athletic development. Crawling patterns promote total body strength and body and spatial awareness, and they create an engaging environment for young athletes to be challenged in and have fun.

Looking outside of youth athletes, crawling is still beneficial—though the older the individual, the less potential there is for movement development and quick learning (kids are like sponges). That doesn’t mean crawling won’t offer improvements: along with the previous mentioned benefits, crawling is great to develop hip and shoulder mobility, as well as trunk and spine stability in a slightly older population. These are things that I still want to develop in my high school, college, and tactical athletes.

Introducing Crawling with Isometrics

Introducing crawls is about focusing on positioning: teaching how to get into proper positions and then maintaining them when disrupted.

Introducing crawls is about focusing on positioning: teaching how to get into proper positions and then maintaining them when disrupted. Share on X

The two base crawl positions I recommend starting with are the bear and crab crawl positions. When labeling the isometric holds, we will refer to four-point, three-point, and two-point positions, designating to how many limbs you have for support. This also makes for an easy progression if you are in a group setting or writing a long-term program.

Video 1. Bear Crawl Iso Series. Holding the isometric for the bear crawl, you want to keep the hands under the shoulders, knees under the hips, and a neutral spine when holding each position. 

Video 2. Crab Crawl Iso Series. The crab crawl is similar to the bear crawl but with the hips staying off the ground during the hold.

When holding the positions, it’s important to evenly distribute your weight through your points of contact, especially when performing a hold with fewer limbs.

Holding the crawl positions for time should only be progressed to longer durations once the athlete has demonstrated complete control over the position. Clearly, a two-point hold will look different then a four-point one and allow time for the individual to gather themselves and balance, but they shouldn’t be falling onto the ground.

You may increase time from session to session or weekly, depending on how many times you implement crawls into the program. I start at a manageable 10-second hold and work up to 60 seconds for four-point holds. I have worked in longer holds, 75–90 seconds, but those were specific cases and more appropriate for those athletes.

When doing a three-point hold, you have to consider that if you perform each position for 20 seconds, that would be a total of 80 seconds; so, either give rest in between each position or account for total time, holding each position for a decreasing duration. If an athlete can manage a 60-second hold, they can begin moving with the crawls.

This is three weeks of a progression of time. Once completed, you can then progress into a three-point position and conclude with the tougher two-point position.

Taking it one step farther, you can also add resistance or a little chaos through partner perturbation if you’re able.

Video 3. Advanced Iso Holds. When adding resistance, I use either a weighted vest or chains, as these are safer, more comfortable options.

Crawling

Once positions are set, you can begin having the athletes crawl in motion. Here you will begin to challenge the positions that were easy before.

There are several variations of crawling that can and should be incorporated into an athlete’s training on a regular basis. The more practice and exposure to various crawling patterns, the more the athlete will gain from the movement. I typically keep crawling exercises between 5 and 20 yards. Five yards is a great marker to begin at, with most exercises being performed in the 10- to 15-yard zone, and 20 yards being where I cap the exercises.

Video 4 & 5. Bear Crawl & Crab Crawl. Once the distance begins to exceed 20 yards, fatigue begins to settle in and can dramatically affect the movement, leading to more risk than reward.

When performing the crawls, the cues will be different depending on the crawl, but universally you want to maintain proper, consistent body positioning throughout the movement.

Video 6. Spiderman Crawl. The Spiderman crawl forces the athlete to keep their body as low to the ground as possible. This helps with hip mobility and a high amount of upper body strength.

Video 7. Monkey Crawl. Monkey crawls allow the athlete to push away from the ground with their lower body while pulling themselves forward with their upper body. This is also great for hip mobility while achieving total body synchronization. 

Video 8. Shrimp Crawl. If you have ever done a Brazilian jiu-jitsu class, you have probably performed a drill known as shrimping—a movement where you essentially bridge the hips and curl your body in, moving yourself down the mat with your hips. While I don’t use the shrimp crawl for the same reason as jiu-jitsu does, it is an excellent way to teach individuals how to use their hips to create movement.

Video 9. Butt / Back Crawl. The butt crawl has been popularized by former powerlifter and coach Donnie Thompson. It is fantastic to help with lower body warm-ups and activation by shifting your hips up and side-to-side to create movement.

The back crawl is a humbling movement where the athlete begins on their back. Have them maneuver down the field like the butt crawl, shifting with their shoulders, lower back, and hips.

Keep these movements shorter in distance, 3–5 yards, as they are difficult to cover a lot of ground with.

Video 10. Plank Crawl. The plank crawl can be performed from either the hands or elbows and is exactly what you are probably imagining. The athlete locks themselves into a plank position and then begins crawling down the field, working to maintain body position.

Video 11. Tactile Cues. If athletes are struggling with the movements, including tactile cues with equipment can help teach and drive the intent of the exercise. An example of this is the commonly seen cone or object on the flat back when performing a bear crawl. Another option that may be easier for coaches to implement is the use of a stick to keep the athlete in position.

Video 12. Crawls in Various Lanes. Many of the crawls previously mentioned can also be performed in other directions such as backward, laterally, and in a circular movement. This helps keep the options fresh but doesn’t change the movement entirely.

Advanced Crawls

If your athletes are crushing the crawling exercises seen so far, here are five more advanced variations that you can place into the program for those they may be appropriate for.

1. Kettlebell Resisted Backward Crawl

While adding external load to crawls is not high on my list, this banded kettlebell setup is an exception and a phenomenal exercise. I first came across this exercise from John Hunt, an athletic trainer and professor who primarily works with baseball players of all levels.

Video 13. Kettlebell Resisted Backward Crawl. The crawl involves tying two resistance bands together and anchoring one end to a heavy kettlebell and the opposite end around the athlete’s waist.

The athlete pushes away from the ground, fully extending the arms, as they begin dragging the kettlebell. This is great for shoulder and trunk stabilization but also hammering at the connection between the upper body and trunk—a good alternative to get the arms overhead in a stressed but safe manner.

2. Disc Crawls

The athlete places their feet onto a pair of Valslides and begins making their way down the field while maintaining a strong body position. I introduce this exercise first going backward, where the athlete can push themselves away from the ground as opposed to pulling themselves going forward. 

Video 14. Disc Crawls. Each direction is difficult and requires the hips to stay engaged as you drive your feet into the discs the entire time.

3. Ab Wheel Crawls
This is similar to the disc crawls but this time the athlete has their hands on the ab wheel as they crawl down the field.

Video 15. Ab Wheel Crawls. Perform this movement slowly, working to maintain a complete flat back while in motion.

4. Plus Sit-Out

Adding the sit-out component to crawls continues to push the qualities of total body strength and coordination.

Video 16. Plus Sit-Out. This is also great to include some rhythm into the crawls, as they should be on a cadence of when to sit out.

5. Plus Drag

Video 17. Plus Drag. Dragging a kettlebell or sandbag during a crawl requires tremendous amounts of trunk and spine strength and should be used only with the athletes who have demonstrated the ability and capacity to do so.

Honorable Mention

While not technically crawling, I do find tumbling drills work hand-in-hand with the movement.

Video 18. Tumbling Drills. Activities such as rolls, cartwheels, falling, and other movements work similar characteristics as crawling but require different movement and landing strategies.

Applying Crawling

Applying crawling movements to games and competition is the final objective. Don’t be overly cautious when doing this with younger athletes—kids shouldn’t be worried about their perfect crawling positions when you tell them they’re going to play a game where everyone crawls around like a bear. Keep it stricter when the environment is more controllable (such as the isometric holds), but there are ways to keep games fun, yet safe.

Video 19. Catch Game. When introducing games, start from the isometric position in the same way you introduced the crawls to begin the progression.

A simple toss and catch, or even Simon Says from the bear or crab position, promotes additional challenges. From there, you can implement more speed and movement to the games, having races and chases.

Video 20. Capture the Flag. Another, more complex game is Capture the Flag. Using a flag or even a towel can create a competition for athletes to try to crawl into better positions to capture their opponents’ markers for victory. We also use this or ankle tag for a quick, fun warm-up.

Crawling is far too beneficial to be excluded from your athlete’s physical preparation. Share on X

Crawling is far too beneficial to be excluded from your athlete’s physical preparation. From helping improve mobility to strength and coordination benefits, it serves as a complete exercise prescription. It is also a fun way to enhance engagement during training sessions. You can follow the crawling progressions as you see fit and work to improve these capacities over time to benefit your athlete’s physical development.

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