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Speed training is a layered, multifaceted process dependent upon a range of factors. Whether linear or multidirectional speed, there are physical, technical, rhythmic, and mental components that will impact success. One piece of this layered process is the strength and stability of the trunk and spine.

When I say the trunk and spine, I refer to the areas of the midsection, lower back, and pelvis. This goes beyond having strong abdominal muscles and needs to be addressed with more than just ground-based ab exercises. Particularly when performing aggressive speed drills that involve high intensities, quick changes of direction, or sudden decelerations, the trunk and spine could be a key limiting factor and potentially even a link leading to an injury down the road.

Strength and stability of the trunk and spine goes beyond having strong abdominal muscles and needs to be addressed with more than just ground-based ab exercises. Share on X

This area needs to be prepared and strengthened with the utmost intent and specificity to not only help the athletes achieve the most out of drills but also to round out their physical capabilities and support injury reduction in any way possible.

When to Implement Trunk and Spine Training

When beginning to integrate trunk and spine training directly into speed sessions, coaches can simply place it within the preparation to help ready the athletes for the session ahead.

Another option would be to utilize the exercises in the session itself and complex or superset them with the speed drills. Doing this could help enhance the drill being performed and make it task-specific at a muscular level. We want to be able to make direct connections with our athletes and have exercises carry over for one another.

Pairing a particular trunk and spine exercise, such as an isometric hold, can help raise the body’s threshold or ability to prevent movement in that particular range, in the hope that it can also carry over when the athlete performs the speed drill again. Additionally, these drills are fantastic to include in a training design because they can be done right outside on the field!

An example would be using a band stabilization exercise to train a specific isometric in between reps of an athlete running sprints (if the coach feels this is appropriate, as each situation is different).           

Simply using the exercise as active recovery between reps is efficient and preferable to having athletes just stand around for their recovery. Yes, they need to rest, and this rest can be several minutes depending on the speed of the athlete and the distance covered, but we also know:

• The perceptions of sports coaches regarding time between reps.
• Parents may not understand this amount of rest in training.
• Total time is a limiting factor.

Also, having a determined, overzealous athlete sit for four minutes can be the most daunting task of the session, no matter how much logic you offer them.

While I will always defend my programs and sessions in a constructive way to those I work for, incorporating the trunk and spine exercises as active recovery is a win for everyone. The exercise isn’t physically taxing enough to hinder their next sprint, is beneficial enough to not waste anyone’s time, and makes a positive impact.

Incorporating trunk and spine exercises as active recovery is a win for everyone. The exercise isn’t physically taxing enough to hinder the athlete’s next sprint and makes a positive impact. Share on X

Band Stabilization Series

There is no limit to band stabilization exercises, as you can perform these exercises in a variety of ways. You can alter the position of the athlete from a kneeling to a split squat position (and everything in between), as well as where the band is anchored to the athlete. Anchoring the band around the waist allows for multiple angles of pull and anchoring the band around a single-sided shoulder allows for forward and backward motion. When going over the shoulder, the athlete will have their arms up and elbows back, making two “L’s” if we were to look down on them. Doing this helps prevent trunk rotation and fires up the upper back.

The band can even be anchored around the leg to attempt to pull the limb into a specific position, forcing the athlete to counterbalance this and work their way out. This is usually only performed in special circumstances, such as with a now-cleared athlete with a previous injury history.

When applying the resistance, I recommend going right up to the point where the athlete feels they will lose the position being held. Pull right up to that line but be careful not to cross it or you will pull the athlete over onto the ground. Going right up to the line will be uncomfortable for that athlete, though, and you may see some breakdown of position; if so, just slightly release some tension or coach them back into position.

Perform each hold for 10-30 seconds, progressing either by moving onto the next position or increasing band tension.

Video 1. Full Kneeling Position

When going from the full kneeling position, the closer the knees are together, the more difficult it is for the athlete. Widening the knees creates a wider base and more stability. 

Video 2. Half-Kneeling Position

Be mindful during the half-kneeling position to keep monitoring the down knee and keep the body symmetrical, as the leg will occasionally rotate in or get into all sorts of positions depending on how much resistance is given. The resistance can be applied to either side with the knee being down.

Video 3. Split Squat Position

The split squat position is by far the most difficult position listed here and can be performed off either side of the leg that is up. Aligning your athletes on a line can help them maintain proper body positioning of the lower body throughout this exercise if needed.

Video 4. Glute Bridge Position

The glute bridge is performed from a stronger position, so athletes can do this movement with more resistance than the others. It can be progressed by using a heavier band or taking it into a single leg stance.

Some other exercises that you can use to blend trunk and spine training into your speed sessions are resisted marches and skips.

Single Arm Band or Sled Walks

You can use a resistance band or light sled to start incorporating more dynamic exercises to challenge the trunk and spine.

I would first recommend performing these exercises with a resistance band as opposed to a sled because you can better manage the resistance added during the exercise and adjust it if needed. You can use a single resistance band or tie a couple of bands together to better distribute resistance slowly. Loop the resistance band around the athlete’s shoulder and apply just enough resistance so the athlete feels challenged and the band is trying to pull them to rotate to that side.

The exercise should be performed forward and backward. Cues for both directions are to focus on walking a straight path, with a slight lean in the direction you walk, while keeping everything in linear alignment: feet, hips, and shoulders, pointed as straight ahead as possible.

The athlete keeps their arms up and pulls their elbows back, making it easy to spot trunk rotation but also get some upper-body stability involved. If this position alone is too much for the athlete, have them simply place their hands behind the head in a prisoner position. This regressed version offers more stability.

Video 5. Band Single Arm Walks—Forward and Backward

Athletes are genuinely surprised how difficult this is if they do it correctly, and a little resistance goes a long way! Once the athlete has progressed to perform the exercise on a sled, I typically start even my strongest and fastest athletes with just 25 pounds loaded on the sled.

When using the sled, it’s easiest to loop the belt or harness of the sled around the shoulder and perform the same way. With the sled, though, the weight is what it is—there is no adjusting during the exercise, so the athlete has to remain stable and must not stop moving.

Video 6. Sled Single Arm Walks—Forward and Backward

Perform these exercises for sets of 20-40 yards, as fatigue begins to quickly affect proper body position.

Another movement to perform with the sled or bands is a drag using a single-arm isometric hold. Using a single arm forces the opposite side to remain stable, so if I’m performing the exercise with the handle in my right hand, my left side needs to contract and lock me in to prevent unnecessary movement.

Video 7. Sled Row Isometric Hold Back Walk

Weighted Offset Marches and Skips

Offset, weighted exercises such as marches and skips blend the weight room with more rhythmic and fluid drills such as skipping.

When performing these exercises, hold a kettlebell or dumbbell ranging from 5-30 pounds in one hand. The weight chosen will depend on the exercise being performed—skips are more difficult than marches and isometric holds—and you also need to consider the capabilities of the athlete.

Perform these movements for 10-20 yards, focusing on proper body posture and alignment and preventing the chest from collapsing down or crossing the knee or foot over the body’s midline. Athletes can perform these exercises in two positions:

1. By holding one weight by the side, in a suitcase carry position.
2. On one side held up in a front rack position.

Weighted Offset March Holds

Performing the offset march position in an isometric is a great way to introduce the movement and begin building a base from the ground up. While holding the implement on one side, the opposite side leg will raise, and the athlete will hold this position for the desired time.

This should be performed on both sides and done from each position: suitcase and front rack. Hold anywhere between 10 and 30 seconds per side to begin.

Video 8. Weighted Offset Marches Iso Hold

Weighted Offset Marches & Skips

Once the athlete is comfortable with the isometric position, slowly began progressing them to movements. Regardless of the variation or position, the universal cues will be having a strong, upright posture, popping the thigh up off the ground to about hip height rapidly, and maintaining a consistent, fluid, rhythmic timing throughout the exercise.

Some common errors I see during these exercises are body posture and coordination going everywhere. Even those athletes who can perform skips perfectly may struggle with the addition of the load.

When progressing this offset series, I would begin in the suitcase position first and move from marches (slow/fast) to skips (individual/continuous) before concluding with power. Then, moving through the same series from the front rack position.

Of course, this could appear differently depending on the situation and athlete, but that is a logical setup to use.

Video 9. Weighted Offset Marches and Skips—Suitcase Position.

Video 10. Weighted Offset Marches and Skips—Front Rack Position.

Video 11. Weighted Offset Power Skips.

The Next Level

Integrating trunk and spine training into speed sessions can be simple yet take your athletes and your sessions to the next level. Placing these movements into the athlete’s preparation or complexing them with specific exercises can help correct postural weaknesses and raise the body’s threshold during high-speed drills.

Integrating trunk and spine training into speed sessions can be simple yet take your athletes and your sessions to the next level. Share on X

These exercises can be performed directly out on the field with just a resistance band, sled, or a few weights and begin the necessary process of blending the weight room and field.

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Many sport professionals believe that the quality of movement, the running and sprinting mechanics, is a big factor in the occurrence of non-contact injuries. When a player suffers a hamstring tear during a sprint, we look at the footage and oftentimes see poor form. We then focus on fixing the technique and correcting the player movement strategy. But the body isn’t ignorant and rarely chooses a suboptimal and potentially dangerous movement strategy due to ignorance. Often, the poor form we diagnose isn’t the problem but a symptom.

The easy assumption is always to blame strength and mobility. However, unless previous injuries are compromising a specific muscle group or an anthropometric particularity represents an anatomical challenge, lack of strength and/or mobility is very likely a symptom rather than the problem itself.

What if emotional state and its subconscious effect on movement pattern was the problem?

The easy assumption is to blame an athlete’s injury on their lack of strength and mobility. But what if their emotional state and its subconscious effect on their movement pattern was the problem? Share on X

Isn’t it rather interesting that strength and conditioning coaches, medical experts, and sport scientists all still debate fiercely why hamstring injuries are still a high occurrence in team sports despite all the knowledge and best practice guidelines produced on this muscle group’s mechanics? All teams have specific hamstring strength protocols and teach running and sprinting form, but injuries are still happening. However, quadriceps strains are not that much of a hot topic.

In the medical world, back pain is a scourge. It is such a widely present and complex issue that such a thing as “non-specific back pain” is an accepted diagnosis. However, people do not queue at the physiotherapist’s office to get their non-specific abdominal pain relieved.

Calf, hamstrings, low back, neck—most injuries or painful problems happen at the back of the body. Strength and conditioning programs emphasize posterior chain “prevention” work and pre-habilitation protocols more than they do the anterior chain. Has Mother Nature made us with a big flaw, a fragile backside that we ought to correct, prepare, and treat so as to be able to go through our lives without breaking?

Of course not.

Evolution and Survival Phenomenon

If we do have more pain and injuries at the back of the body, it is for a good reason. Our front side is where all the vital organs of the body are located. Our eyes (allowing us to see threats and connect to the world); jaws, tongue and throat (without which we can’t be fed); the lungs we need to breathe, the heart, stomach, liver and reproductive organs—all are located on the front side of the body. Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have made us absolute masters at protecting our front.

If someone launches a punch toward your face, in a fraction of time, your hands will have raised up and protected your eyes and jaws. If you stand in the way of a powerfully kicked ball, in less time than it takes to breathe, your shoulder will come down to protect the lungs and heart, your arms will tuck in front of your abdominals protecting the liver and stomach, and your knee will raise toward your arms to save the genitals. If you have the time, you may even rotate, giving your back as a shield.

Maybe even more telling is to observe a fighter as he goes down. Lying on his side, his arms are on the sides of his head, his head tucked in toward his chest, his shoulders and chest curved inward, and his hips and knees flexed and raised all the way as to touch his elbows. In that curled-up position, he knows he can take more hits, he can endure more suffering; waiting for the referee to stop the beating, his survival is almost guaranteed.

The takeaway message is clear. The body will always sacrifice the back to save the front. Understanding this survival phenomenon, which is beyond our conscious control, can lead to two realizations with regard to injury prevention.

The body will always sacrifice the back to save the front. Understanding this survival phenomenon, which is beyond our conscious control, can lead to two realizations about injury prevention. Share on X

First, not everything is as simple as A=B. Hamstrings pulls are not always the consequence of improperly managed training loads, bad sprinting techniques, or poor muscular strength. No muscle ever gets injured alone, and none ever heals alone. We tend to be obsessed with very local questions and disregard the global.

For instance, in most monitoring programs conducted by professional sports teams, the same weight is not given to subjective and objective data. A player reporting not feeling great will most likely get a tap on shoulder and be given a “warning” in the monitoring system; if, however, the player instead scores lower than usual at one of the “screening” tests (sit and reach, for instance), they will receive a lot more attention from the support staff, ranging from treatment in the physio room to specific warm-up in the gym. The measurable and local aspect of an “injury prevention test” reassures us; it makes us feel as if we can intervene and control the risks. That is why we overly rely on them and build our injury prevention protocols around local and easily measurable issues.

The global is much more intimidating. There is no easy test for emotional state to do before breakfast. Yes, most high performance departments use some kind of wellness questionnaires, but they fail to give players’ answers the credit they deserve and act on the information collected, whether because they don’t appreciate how critical subjective feelings are in injury prevention or because they just don’t know what to do.

When a player reports high stress in their morning wellness questionnaire, how many of us provide them with a stress reduction protocol? A few exercises, maybe tempo breathing and mental imagery, before asking about their stress level again and deciding how to approach the rest of the day with them, just as you would if it were a poor result at the hamstring mobility test? My guess is, not many of us.

Research on Psychological Factors and Injuries

Numerous studies, however, have highlighted the role of emotions in injuries. More than 30 years ago, researchers Williams and Andersen proposed the stress-injury model, putting psychological factors and emotions at the center of their injury prediction model. Many papers reinforcing such findings have since been published, with perhaps the most telling ones led by Ivarsson¹ in 2008 and Angoorani² in 2019.

The former reveals that the use of four factors can predict 23% of injuries sustained by elite soccer players throughout a season:

1. Life event stress
2. Anxiety
3. Mistrust
4. Negative coping (poor coachability and tendency to worry)

When one thinks about the complexity of the phenomenon that is the occurrence of an injury, 23% is a rather high number.

The researchers note as well that injury occurrences in soccer games happen within five minutes of a particular event that happened on the field, such as a red card, another player injury, or a goal, once again showing the undisputable role of emotions in risk of injury.

The latter has its own wow factor too. Studying injuries in relation to various predictive markers, researchers found that emotional intelligence is the single strongest predictor of injury in Iranian professional soccer players. Low ability to control emotions was linked to higher injury occurrences but not to fool plays and cards. The reasons for such relation, therefore, isn’t uncontrolled aggression that propels players into risky behaviors for themselves and others, resulting in more injuries.

The fact that it remains undiscovered how exactly emotions are able to increase the likelihood of someone getting hurt is fascinating. Many argue that it may be due to the effect of emotions on concentration; others point out that negative emotions, such as fear, anxiety, or anger, are accompanied by physiological changes that may well be the reason for subsequent injuries.

But the truth is probably elsewhere.

When we design a monitoring program, we prescribe tests and conduct investigations with the aim of gathering information on all the essential systems of the body. Integrating data in specific algorithms, the ultimate goal of a monitoring routine is to deliver an overview of a player’s state of health and readiness as close to the reality of their physiology as possible. There is no consensus on what to include in a monitoring routine, and the complexity of the human body makes it extremely difficult to come up with a recipe that delivers more than a gross—and mostly unreliable—estimation of one’s actual risk of injury. Emotions, however, could well be the natural way the human body has to make its own health and readiness monitoring report available to our conscious state… hence, why it seems these are decent indicators of injury risks.

Emotions could be the natural way for the human body to make its own health and readiness monitoring report available to our conscious state...making them decent indicators of injury risk. Share on X

Modern affective neuroscience stipulates that it isn’t just emotions affecting changes in physiology, but physiological changes affecting emotions.

The Emotional State of the Athlete

We are very used to the idea that emotions are triggered by external factors. We feel sad after losing a match, and if the last goal was a penalty scored thanks to a controversial referee call, we may even feel anger. However, if the loss is the result of poor performance, the locker room will instead be full of shame and regrets. We are happy if we break a personal record and are stressed when congested traffic makes us late to training.

We do understand that a certain emotion triggered by a specific event or environment is certainly accompanied by physiological changes: the excitement as we run on the pitch to compete in a final raises heart rate, blood flow, focus, and strength. The anxiety and pain we suffer as we exit the field due to an injury leaves us weak, cold, and unable to digest.

However, those sorts of emotions are rare, and how we feel the rest of time is a matter of enteroception, the body-to-brain afferent signaling, central processing, and neural and mental representation of internal bodily changes.

The interoceptive effect of the immune system on emotions is an obvious one. The feeling “sick” is very often reported by someone whose immune system is attacked by a virus or bacteria before any visible symptoms have yet occurred.

At a given moment, within a given context interpreted by one’s memory and belief, the brain uses concepts to make sense of internal sensations and give us an indication about how we fare as far as our chances of survival as well as the best strategy to deal with the current state of our internal environment. From a sore stomach, the brain builds an example of hunger, nausea, or distrust based on additional sources of information available, whether it is a memory, a visual clue, or the environmental conditions, for instance. From a higher-than-normal tension in a muscle, a player may feel annoyed, tired, in pain, or anxious depending on the area affected and history of injuries.

When negative emotions, such as a lack of motivation, increased perceived fatigue, or stress, are self-reported by an athlete in the absence of concurrent meaningful life event or performance-related factors, we have to interpret it as a clear warning sign sent from their physiology that something is standing in the way of homeostasis. What we attempt to reveal through the use of a monitoring routine is handed to us by the emotional state of the athlete. We just need to pay more attention. Too often, the conscientious strength and conditioning coach harasses the athlete who screened poorly on a mobility test but claims to be feeling good, while hastily clearing the athlete who screened normally despite reporting high stress or poor motivation.

What we attempt to reveal through the use of a monitoring routine is handed to us by the emotional state of the athlete. We just need to pay more attention. Share on X

In light of the elements discussed above, we could easily argue that it is time for the table to turn, for emotions to be regarded as a critical aspect of health and readiness monitoring demanding immediate further investigation instead of being looked at only in retrospective analysis.

Emotions and Motor Behaviors

Another aspect that might contribute to the decent connection between an analysis of emotions and injury prediction lies in the relationship between emotions and motor behaviors. Indeed, it is well documented that each emotion can affect movement patterns.

Think about the blatant difference in attitudes between players who won and those who lost just after the referee blows the final whistle. On one side of the pitch, chests are held high, hands fly into the air, smiles illuminate faces, and the energy level is so high that some players jump and run around. On the other side, shoulders are rolled in, upper bodies carved up, and hands hiding faces. Energy is so low that some players lie on the ground or kneel, head on the ground. Still, both teams just played the same number of minutes of the same game, and their GPS and heart rate data are not so different.

If the physical demand of the game can’t justify such a discrepancy in motor behaviors, what we are witnessing is the power of emotions. As discussed before, when feeling under threat, the body will always focus on protecting the front, where the most vital organs are situated. The fighter assaulted, trying to ensure his survival, displays a posture and motor behaviors very similar to the anxious and depressed office worker taking their 7 p.m. commute after yet another day of conflicting and disempowering interactions. A forward-bent torso, shoulder rolled in front, chin that tends to tuck, looking at their feet: innate protective motor behavioral changes that come with negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, sadness, or stress all encourage withdrawal and are less than optimal to engage in highly demanding or explosive physical activity.

If a body under threat has already chosen withdrawal as the survival strategy and is then forced to engage in an activity that represents an additional threat, the motor behavior displayed won’t change to suit the demand of that activity. Actually, the reverse: it will worsen. A player taking part in an opposed training or a match while depressed will display motor behaviors that prevent them from optimally taking on information (looking down, carved-up posture), which can increase their chances of putting themselves in a situation prone to injury.

Put an anxious player through a speed session, and muscles located at the front of the body will tighten even more, cortisol will rise further, and eventually, some tissue located at the back of the body will end up as a casualty.

Monitoring routines and other injury prevention programs need to include more serious emotional state assessments and clear interventions. Share on X

Monitoring routines and other injury prevention programs need to include more serious emotional state assessments and clear interventions.

Finding the Right Scale and Solutions

First, a question or two asking a player to rate their stress level or motivation on a scale from one to five as part of the daily wellness questionnaire isn’t enough. There is much more to emotions than just stress and motivation. A much better assessment is to ask a player to select one or more words from among a selection of emotional states to describe how they feel today and provide them with an intensity cursor or color code associated with the words chosen in order to get information on the intensity of those emotions.

A continuum from activation to deactivation as well as pleasant to unpleasant should be used to better understand what a player needs to be ready for training on that day.

Emotions present in the high activation and pleasant quadrant are the ones associated with optimal readiness to train, whereas those of the unpleasant, deactivated quadrant describe an injury-prone state. A “low motivation” reported on the usual wellness questionnaire could mean the player feels too relaxed or too nervous or again lethargic, which are all very different states. A too-relaxed athlete can easily be moved to an excited state with some priming words from the coach and activation work prior to training, whereas a lethargic player needs to be first moved to a relaxed state through the use of some specific techniques (see below) before they can eventually be “primed.” Hence, the need for a more thorough way of assessing the emotional state.

With such an emotional state assessment, the aim of a player pre-training routine can be first directed toward “emotional” priming. Indeed, one of the beauties of emotions is that if they are a representation of our internal environment and health while being able to affect motor behaviors, they can in turn be affected by a change of physiology or posture.

Therefore, the emotional priming process could look like this:

• Step 1: Assess dominant emotion as part of a morning monitoring routine through the use of the quadratic model.
• Step 2: If needed, go through a specific protocol designed to shift a player’s reported dominant emotion from unpleasant to pleasant as a part of individual pre-training preparation time.
• Step 3: If needed, go through a specific protocol designed to raise the activation level of the dominant positive emotion as a part of the pre-training activation slot.

Shifting from an unpleasant-activated to a pleasant-activated state is possible using a variety of techniques, preferably facilitated and supervised by the team psychologist or mental coach. Those include:

• Positive mental imagery: The player consciously and purposefully closes their eyes and visualizes themselves succeeding at the upcoming training session. Five minutes of visualization can create a strong positive change.
• Reframing: The player expresses verbally or by writing what is most likely the source of the negative emotion—and then consciously and purposefully reframes the events leading to those emotions differently, using empowering and positive words only. Reframing has been shown to induce change of emotional state.
• Postural adjustments: This concept is used in behavioral therapy, when patients are encouraged to smile as a behavioral intervention to help them elevate their mood, even when the smile is initially artificial. The activation of the facial muscles into an expression associated with happiness evokes or enhances this associated emotion, leading to the improvement in mood.

Equally, a player feeling stressed or anxious can be prescribed a series of activation exercises directed toward changing the motor behaviors associated with such negative emotions. For instance, pull-throughs and other chest openers can temporarily reverse rolled-in shoulders and a bent-over torso. Face pulls and Turkish get-ups can be used to keep the head erect, and good mornings or bear hugs hold forces to straighten the back.

By changing their posture through movement, the athlete can experience a shift in their emotion. This mechanism is likely based on proprioceptive input to the brain regarding the current state of the body’s muscle activation pattern and joint configuration and existing associations in the brain between certain proprioceptive input and specific emotions.

Shifting from an unpleasant-deactivated to pleasant-deactivated state is possible using a variety of relaxation exercises such as:

• Controlled diaphragmatic breathing: The diaphragm has multiple physiological roles. The phrenic nerve that innervates the diaphragm’s functions has a connection with the vagus nerve, which can affect the whole body system. Diaphragmatic motion in breathing directly and indirectly affects the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and influences motor nerve activities. Diaphragmatic breathing is defined as breathing in slowly and deeply through the nose using the diaphragm with a minimum movement of the chest in a supine position with one hand placed on the chest and the other on the belly, inhaling and exhaling for approximately six seconds, respectively.

One study showed improvement in the biomarkers of respiratory rate and salivary cortisol levels, one showed improvement in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and one study showed an improvement in the stress subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) after implementation of a diaphragmatic breathing intervention. Five minutes of diaphragmatic breathing can therefore change some pretty strong physiological markers of stress and induce a shift in emotional state.

• Progressive muscle relaxation: This anxiety-reduction technique first introduced by American physician Edmund Jacobson in the 1930s involves alternating 15 seconds of tension and 30 seconds of relaxation in all of the body’s major muscle groups. Research shows that such quick relaxation exercise can decrease cortisol and perceived anxiety, making it an easy way to help a player move away from a negative emotion to a more positive one.

Raising the level of activation of a pleasant emotion is a relatively easy task. For most strength and conditioning coaches, this is what they more or less consciously attempt to do when programming “activation” work pre-training. A well-designed warm-up (more on this in the previously published article on warm-up strategies) using sensory and mental activation techniques will likely be enough to ensure that a calm player becomes alert and a relaxed one, excited.

Going straight to the pre-activation and warm-up with a player reporting unpleasant emotions can increase injury and poor performance risks. Emotions of the unpleasant-activated quadrant, such as nervousness or anger, are conducive to stiffer muscles, high aggression, and lower self-control in duels and contacts, as well as a limited ability to learn and memorize. Hence, it’s important to try to shift a player’s emotional state from unpleasant to pleasant before raising the level of activation.

The above strategies were aimed at reducing the potential negative effect of unpleasant emotions pre-training by inducing temporary and superficial changes. When a player reports a negative emotional state for several consecutive days, or when the individual displays a strong tendency to feel unpleasant emotions, then quick short-term fixes won’t be enough to diminish their injury risk. In this situation, it is necessary to increase daily contact time with the player to understand better what may cause the tenacious and unwanted emotion and organize regular meetings between them and the team psychologist or mental coach to develop better coping mechanisms.

Emotions and the Rehabilitation Process

Understanding the power of emotions and their role in injury risk can help us finally rehabilitate the human body. Usually, injury prevention models are built on the assumption that the body is quick to fail us and, in the end, not that smart.

Understanding the power of emotions and their role in injury risk can help us finally rehabilitate the human body. Share on X

Injury prevention programs largely focus on correcting and treating the imperfect body. When an injury happens, we are quick to point out “poor movement technique” or “training load.” Models are today built to shame the poor human body, claiming it’s unable to adapt to a training load’s variation. All this gives us an image of a fragile body to be protected from all the threats thrown at it. Sprinting! Lifting heavy! Variability in volume of training! Weather conditions! And more.

This vision is the result of the still-dominant theory of the brain versus body dichotomy: the brain constantly needing to supervise and boss around a body that isn’t much more than a machine. Such a view of our physiology is obsolete, and decades of sciences have shown that no separation or hierarchy exists between the body and the brain. Unconsciously, our body and brain work together relentlessly to ensure our survival.

We may accuse our body of not being made to be as fast, as powerful, or as agile with a ball that we want it to be, but accusing it of fragility is nonsense. The human body is a master healer, able to fight numerous threats all the time, bacteria and viruses, compression and tension, heat and cold.… When non-contact injury occurs, it isn’t because our body gave up on us, but because the strategy chosen to ensure that more vital structures were preserved and our survival was guaranteed resulted in damage to less important tissues.

Nothing ever happens by mistake or chance in the body. When we accept the hard fact that pain and injuries are not system failures or punishments but protective mechanisms, and that the strategies employed by the body and brain to ensure survival are under no obligation to make sense to our conscious selves, it can free us from thinking that the enemy lies within us.

When we accept the hard fact that pain and injuries are not system failures or punishments but protective mechanisms, it can free us from thinking that the enemy lies within us. Share on X

So here we are.

If non-contact injuries are for the most part collateral nuisances of unconscious protective strategies, preventing injuries requires that we decrease the amount and intensity of threats perceived by an athlete’s body and brain. If we currently do a decent job at monitoring visible and easily controllable sources of perceived threat, such as training load or mechanical and bio-energetic fatigue, we do however need to make more of an effort to include less visible and controllable—but nonetheless critical—sources of perceived threat, such as a negative emotional state and psychological stress.

Four simple principles can easily be implemented in training programming and monitoring to address those.

1. In a high performance plan, training and recovery are balanced. The same approach needs to be implemented for emotional states. Activities or environments that induce unpleasant-activated emotions should be immediately balanced by activities or environments promoting pleasant-deactivated emotions. A tough loss during an important game on Saturday night would be better followed on Sunday with recovery at the beach or SPA and a team barbecue as opposed to individual reviews, physical top-ups, and a team meeting.

During scheduling of training, travels, and other commitments, a real emphasis should be put on avoiding cumulative unpleasant emotion-prone activities. A clear example is the quite common succession of a physically stressful and anxiety-inducing physical activity (game or hard training session), a psychologically stressful and anxiety-inducing activity (individual review), and an environmentally stressful and anxiety-inducing event (travel, press conference).

Each player has a limited and finite negative emotion bucket that, if full, can trigger a strong survival response—the kind that does not care too much about creating a muscle injury in the process. Making sure that we do not fill that bucket too much on a daily basis by alternating stressful, exhausting, confrontational activities with calm, relaxed, safe ones is definitely a great place to start. Following a similar thought pattern as the one used to define and plan training loads, emotional load should be considered. “Emotionally taxing” events such as matches, travels, tough physical sessions, tactical meetings, etc. and “emotionally boosting” ones such as social time and recovery activities must be kept balanced.

2. Language used may well have some influence on preventing injuries. Many studies have shown that negative words unconsciously prime negative emotions and positive language leads to positive states. Sometimes, as strength and conditioning coaches, we pride ourselves so much on hard work that we speak to our athletes in a negatively charged way. “No pain, no gain” is written on the gym wall, and we enjoy finishing our session brief with “this is going to hurt guys” or “it’s going to burn.” We need to understand that the more we talk about pain, about being uncomfortable and tough, the more we prime our players to feel pain, anxiety, and fear.

As the unconscious does not care about where the threat comes from, language alone can contribute to trigger a survival response, increasing injury risks. It is possible to drive a hard work culture of training with positive words. “Challenging” instead of “painful,” “rewarding” instead of “tough,” or again “transforming energy” and not “emptying the tank.”

It is possible to drive a hard work culture of training with positive words. Share on X

3. The art of resting: when in doubt, give the player a break. The best way we can help the body do its job of healer is to give athletes some rest. In professional sports, doing nothing or prescribing rest is seen as weakness or incompetence. Support staff should always be ready to pull some sort of treatment, exercise, or technology out of the hat of “the evidence-based best practices.” Preventing injuries isn’t about doing more all the time: more testing, more data analysis, more “preventive work.” Oftentimes, it is about recognizing when we need to gain some time by pulling a player out of training until we figure out what is really going on with them.

Being aware of the impact of emotional state on injury risk, an athlete reporting a negative emotional state for a few consecutive days would most likely benefit from a couple days off and a meeting with the team psychologist or mental coach in an attempt to empty a little of their stress bucket instead of continuing to push them through the planned training loads. A day or two off will always be a better option than the amount of time on the sideline that a muscular injury would require.

4. Be mindful of negative people. Emotion is a significant predictor of injury risks and can spread throughout a group like pollen borne on wind. This emotional contagion often goes unnoticed and operates via our innate tendency to mimic the emotions of other people. A recent study showed that cartoons were rated funnier if participants were first presented with a picture of a smiling face. Simply being exposed to the non-verbal behaviors of others is enough to trigger a similar emotional experience, be it positive or negative.

In group settings, social rules influence thinking and behavior, and a club culture has the ability to increase or decrease injury risks. It is critical to put rules and behavioral expectations in place that reinforce positive emotions. Social rules may also develop based on the types of beliefs, attitudes, and emotions held by particular team members.

Alarmingly, research has shown that the behaviors of just one person can set these rules. In one study, 94 business undergraduates were observed as they took part in a group discussion. Unknown to the participants, one person was actually a plant tasked by the experimenters to purposefully display negative emotions in the group setting. Overall group performance and cooperation significantly decreased because of this negative influence.

With this evidence in mind, it is simple to understand that negative emotions cannot be left freely expressed and demonstrated within the team environment, or sooner or later it will have an impact on the team’s health and readiness. Poor results, long working hours, or divergences of philosophies can be a burden at times for support staff, and sometimes frustration, anxiety linked to job security, or near exhaustion can transpire in the way we behave, talk, or look at the office.

It is, of course, impossible to go through a full season of competitive sport feeling fresh and amazing; we have to keep in mind that personally giving in to negative emotions will impact athletes and other staff members around us. No matter how difficult it may be, a real effort to be positive around other team members goes a long way in contributing to lower injury occurrences and better team performances.

It is also the responsibility of leaders within the organization to ensure that the wellness and readiness of the staff members are monitored and optimized, exactly as it is done with players. Support staff can do everything and beyond to keep the players happy, healthy, and performing on the pitch week-in and week-out. However, if it comes at the expense of their own welfare, transforming them into zombies or frustrated, angry, and overworked victims, they will contribute to an increased injury risk for their athletes despite all their good work.

Preventing injury is much more than correcting poor movement strategies, developing strength, and monitoring training loads. It is time we accept the role of less “controllable” factors, and especially the power of emotions, and do our best to get our athletes out of a subconscious survival state.

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. Ivarsson, A. (2008). “Psychological Predictors of Sport Injuries among Soccer Players.”

2. Angoorani, H., Najafi, S., Sobouti, B., Zarei, M., and Nejati, P. “The Association of Emotional Intelligence with Sport Injuries and Receiving Penalty Cards Among Iranian Professional Soccer Players.” Asian Journal of Sports Medicine. 2019;11(1). 10.5812/asjsm.97321.

3. Hartel, C. “How to build a healthy emotional culture and avoid a toxic culture.” Research Companion to Emotion in Organizations. 2008:575–588. 10.4337/9781848443778.00049.

4. Hackfort, D. and Kleinert, J. “Research on sport injury development: Former and future approaches from an action theory perspective.” International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2011;5(4). 10.1080/1612197X.2007.9671839.

Are athletes prepared for return to sport? The current evidence suggests “no” based on reinjury rates and decreased performance upon return.^1–7 I struggle with this problem myself and was looking for ways I could improve. The easy answer was to measure workload. On the performance side, workload is often used to make sure athletes aren’t overtraining, with player availability being so important. However, on my side (rehab), I would use it to make sure I was not underloading athletes.

The easy answer to determine if athletes were prepared for return to sport was to measure workload. On my side (rehab), I would use it to ensure I was not UNDERLOADING athletes, says @MuyVienDPT. Share on X

When I investigated current tracking methods, I realized how daunting the cost could be to purchase a unit for each of my athletes. This is not a surprise, as for many, cost is consistently a barrier with the continuing emergence of improved technologies.⁸

Can’t I just grab athletes’ units from their performance coaches? This is logistically challenging since the units may be charging, uploading data, or in use, or there may be other time constraints that would affect when they are provided/returned. This does not solve the problem for practitioners working with private clients off-site, and it made me get creative.

What if I could design a system where I only needed to purchase a single unit? To answer that question, I sketched out the plan (figure 1) and made it work.

So far, so good. I have been very happy with my little system—it has changed the way I practiced by answering the question I was looking to answer. Since my system serves me well, I thought I’d share with others in a similar position. Yes, you can always just open the raw files to view; however, my method will hopefully save you time by having your data automatically calculated to get you to the meaningful measures that will answer your questions with external and internal load.

My method will hopefully save you time by automatically calculating your data to get you to the meaningful measures that will answer your questions with external & internal load, says @MuyVienDPT. Share on X

In the long term, this method should streamline and enhance a practitioner’s operations; in the short term, however, developing it does require an investment of time and mental resources.

What You’ll Need

Here is a guide to the overall steps coaches can use to set up a system that uses a single GPS unit to track and present the data of several athletes (figure 2).

Google Account or Excel

This method requires collected data to be dropped into a spreadsheet. For this reason, Google services work best since it is online. However, users can also link responses to an Excel file. If you use this for sports medicine purposes, be sure that the services you use are HIPAA compliant. G-Suite is a very cheap service that allows you to use secure Google services. If you plan to use Excel, you’ll have to make sure it is saved on a secure server, emailed using encryption, or shared through secure Microsoft Teams services.

GPS Unit

There are many different options, and this article may help you decide which unit is best for you. Each product has different measures of workload, so it would be best to purchase the same device that most of your athletes use when returning to their teams. You may also factor in what you use it for. For example, I went with STATSports Apex Series because I use the live data to dictate my sessions. You can have live data with other devices, but they may require you to spend more money on local positioning Systems (LPS) units. The Apex Series also does not work indoors, while LPS systems do.

Again, the previous linked article can review the nuances. Be sure to pay attention around the holidays, as some devices can drop from $300 to nearly $180. Lastly, the most expensive portion will be the vests. They cost about $40 a piece—you may luck out like me, and your performance coaches may have old ones they can give you. If you are using it for back-to-back clients, you will need multiple quantities of the sizes; however, I only use it with 10–20% of my clients per day, so I can wash them between uses. All in all, you have plenty of options and will need to purchase one unit.

Two to Four Hours’ Time Investment in Learning Google Sheets/Excel

This is the most time-consuming portion; however, it will be the gift that keeps on giving. For the sake of the proposed system in this article, individuals will need to know how to use three functions: filter, index, and match. There are SO many resources out there, but my favorite tutorials are from Adam Virgile. Not only does he have easy-to-follow directions and tutorials, but he is a sport scientist who understands what you may want to do with data relevant to sports performance and rehab. By watching the videos linked below, you should be able to build the same system proposed in this article or an even better one:

• Drop-down menus, index, and match functions
• Filter
• Athlete player card/dashboard

One to Two Hours to Build the Dashboard

Once you have the physical and mental tools, the actual process should only take you a couple of hours to set it all up.

External Load

Below is a guide on how I look at external load. I personally value other metrics over “player loads.” Instead, I want to look at changes over time and between certain sessions. The trade-off is that I would be unable to compare that athlete to the team’s demands with that specific metric. However, I feel like I can do well with other metrics and normative values found in research (figure 3).⁹

Additionally, I want to look at the relationships between certain measures. Did I increase athletes’ max speed and decrease their total distance? Did I ramp up their high-intensity distance but decrease their training time? Did their step balance even out at high speeds? These are all questions I wanted to consider when building my dashboard.

Internal Load

What about internal load? At the time I looked into what tech I should purchase, none of the teams I worked with tracked heart rate for internal load. Instead, most used session rate of perceived exertions (sRPE), which has shown to be valid and reliable in measuring internal load.¹⁰ You can read here how to capture and effectively use internal load without the cost of heart rate monitors. Because I could not relate my external load to the team’s data, recording RPE and wellness responses helped me have some kind of measure to compare the athletes to their teams.

You can apply the same concept to developing a method to track internal load and wellness (figure 4). Current methods of wellness measures do have their flaws, as described in this article; however, collecting responses on a numerical scale makes it easier to calculate. A comment section can always be added as well.

Pearls

All right, you did it. You now have a good understanding of the steps it will take to pull this off with minimal costs. Before you start, I’m going give you advice based on all the mistakes I made. These are not only the mistakes I made while developing this system in the beginning, but also hindsight at the end of the year when I began analyzing data for season-end reports. That’s right, this advice can save you HOURS of formatting changes and MONTHS of valuable data!

• Constraints mean easier data cleaning and process: It looks much cleaner when everything is uniform, and data may be missing from your calculations if there are grammar and/or syntax errors. I would recommend making your response options pre-defined including athlete’s names. Otherwise, you may have to deal with constantly cleaning “MaryPoppins,” “MaryPopins,” “Mary P,” or “MP” if the athlete makes typos or inconsistencies.
• Try to change everything to a numerical scale: Because your calculations require numbers, you want the responses to be entered as numbers too. This skips a potentially very time-consuming step to convert data. Although there is a trade-off, as described in this article, you can at least start with objective data before refining your methods.
• Track compliance: If all your players are not compliant with their responses, it may skew the data or make it outright invalid. There are likely many ways to do so, but personally, I have a separate tab that displays the dates of each person’s entries, so I don’t have to sort and sift through entries.

Also, those who are NOT compliant should not be punished. Many athletes do not like entering and filling out our surveys, so getting punished with conditioning or cleaning will increase their hatred for entering wellness data. Instead, have devices ready for them after lifts and practice in case they did not fill it out on their own via cellphones. Educate them on what you hope to do with it.

• Organization and planning are key: Take a look at other people’s dashboards to see what you like. Once you make your dashboards, it can be hard to add new things because of formatting. Lay out a grid and label which cells will contain which info. Despite that, just know you will likely make new iterations.
• Do something with the info: Dashboards and data are a hot topic right now. Everyone seems to be collecting massive amounts of data, but few are using that data.¹¹ What will you do if athletes have low energy? Would you target your intervention to the team or to the individual? Who is in charge of implementing said plan? Are there proactive measures? How often does follow-up data get taken?

Dashboards and data are a hot topic right now. Everyone seems to be collecting massive amounts of data, but few are using that data, says @MuyVienDPT. Share on X

There’s a reason there are entire sport science teams and PhDs dedicated to this field. This isn’t to deter you but keep you aware of the sports science field’s complexity and that measuring workload is just one aspect.

In my examples above, my method allowed me to make changes to my practice to achieve what I wanted. In early-stage anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction rehab, when athletes can hardly walk, I am still able to induce a “hard” session compared to the mid-stage rehab of the control (external PT) by modifying session pace, exercises, and session format (figure 5). In another example (figure 6), I was able to use the same GPS unit to track and display meaningful metrics for two athletes while only spending two minutes entering data after their sessions.

Conclusion

I hope my transparency with the process provides an efficient and cost-effective way to implement workload management to objectify decisions on the field, says @MuyVienDPT. Share on X

Workload management does not have to be labor intensive or expensive. The field of sports science continues to grow, and an active effort to understand it can enhance practice.^11,12 Although my system is not rocket science and is likely already done by many, I hope my transparency with the process provides an efficient and cost-effective way to implement workload management to objectify decisions on the field.

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

References

1. Ardern CL, Taylor NF, Feller JA, and Webster KE. “Fifty-five per cent return to competitive sport following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis including aspects of physical functioning and contextual factors.” British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2014;48(21):1543–1552. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2013-093398

2. Ardern CL, Webster KE, Taylor NF, and Feller JA. “Return to the Preinjury Level of Competitive Sport After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Surgery: Two-thirds of Patients Have Not Returned by 12 Months After Surgery.”American Journal of Sports Medicine. Published online November 23, 2010. doi:10.1177/0363546510384798

3. Dai B, Layer JS, Bordelon NM, et al. “Longitudinal assessments of balance and jump-landing performance before and after anterior cruciate ligament injuries in collegiate athletes.” Research in Sports Medicine. 2021 Mar-Apr;29(2):129-140. doi: 10.1080/15438627.2020.1721290. Epub 2020 Feb 2. PMID: 32009460; PMCID: PMC7395857.

4. Webster KE, Klemm HJ, and Feller JA. “Rates and Determinants of Returning to Australian Rules Football in Male Nonprofessional Athletes After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.” Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. Published online February 11, 2022. doi:10.1177/23259671221074999

5. Wiggins AJ, Grandhi RK, Schneider DK, Stanfield D, Webster KE, and Myer GD. “Risk of Secondary Injury in Younger Athletes After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.” American Journal of Sports Medicine. Published online January 15, 2016. doi:10.1177/0363546515621554

6. Kotsifaki A, Rossom SV, Whiteley R, et al. “Single leg vertical jump performance identifies knee function deficits at return to sport after ACL reconstruction in male athletes.” British Journal of Sports Medicine. Published online February 7, 2022. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2021-104692

7. Jae C, Jj M, E K, Kaj D. “Vertical jump impulse deficits persist from six to nine months after ACL reconstruction.” Sports Biomechanics. Published online September 21, 2021. doi:10.1080/14763141.2021.1945137

8. Stevens CJ, McConnell J, Lawrence A, Bennett K, and Swann C. “Perceptions of the role, value and barriers of sports scientists in Australia among practitioners, employers and coaches.” Journal of Sport & Exercise Science. 2021;5(4):285-301. doi:10.36905/jses.2021.04.07

9. Edwards T, Spiteri T, Piggott B, Haff GG, Joyce C. “A Narrative Review of the Physical Demands and Injury Incidence in American Football: Application of Current Knowledge and Practices in Workload Management.” Sports Medicine. 2018;48(1):45–55. doi:10.1007/s40279-017-0783-2

10. Halson SL. “Monitoring Training Load to Understand Fatigue in Athletes.” Sports Medicine New Zealand. 2014;44(Suppl 2):139. doi:10.1007/s40279-014-0253-z

11. Rauff EL, Herman A, Berninger D, Machak S, and Shultz SP. “Using sport science data in collegiate athletics: Coaches’ perspectives.” International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching. Published online January 21, 2022. doi:10.1177/17479541211065146

12. Hewett TE, Webster KE. EDITORIAL: “The Use of Big Data to Improve Human Health – How Experience from Other Industries Will Shape the Future.” International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. 2021;16(6):1590-1594. doi:10.26603/001c.29856

As performance coaches, we often feel a sense of doubt about how much our training in the weight room and on the field contributes to the performance of our athletes. Are we actually moving the needle in their performance? At the very least, we constantly question how we can better tie the needs of our sports into our programming. One of the ways we have found to bridge the gap between sport and the weight room has been by using partner combatives.

Partner combatives are a way to create one-on-one physical contact between athletes in a controlled and competitive way. They connect traditional training (e.g., squat, hinge, push, pull) and crucial aspects of sport by putting athletes in a position to use their strength in a specific manner—as opposed to exerting force against an inanimate object (barbell, dumbbell, the ground), partner combatives require athletes to exert force against another person.

While traditional movements help athletes increase their ability to apply force into the ground, we feel there is a more specific way to train an athlete’s ability to apply force into another person (another aspect of force application in sport). Additionally, partner combatives enable us to introduce and program contact within training at all times of the year. This can allow for a shorter and more efficient acclimatization period when those sports reintroduce contact within practices during pre-season periods.

Partner combatives enable us to introduce and program contact within training at all times of the year. Share on X

Coaches of contact sports often bemoan an athlete’s or team’s inability to “be physical,” or they express that their athletes “shy away from contact.” Programming partner combatives with those teams allows each athlete to be exposed to the stimulus of “contact” all year round. A controlled stimulus used to improve that specific, physical quality is something that these athletes won’t get anywhere else.

Identifying the Problem

During our time working at the University of California, Davis, we often had conversations around the effect our training had on our athletes’ performance on the playing field. Our conversations generally revolved around questions like:

• Is there more we can get from a squat other than improving an athlete’s ability to put vertical force into the ground?

• Can we enable athletes to improve force application into the ground AND against other bodies?

While these were questions most applicable to sports like basketball, football, soccer, etc., we asked additional questions about sports that aren’t played on the ground. (e.g., How can a bench press help a water polo athlete manipulate an opponent’s body similarly to an offensive lineman in football?)

As we sat down to further study certain sports, we consistently came across situations of intense physicality: water polo players fighting for position in front of the net or basketball players constantly fighting for position boxing out and rebounding. Notice how these players are required to put force into the ground AND into other bodies—bodies that are not stationary but battling to carve out space. There are physical battles in almost every play in sport. These often have a large hand in deciding the outcome of those contests.

In identifying these situations, conventional weight room programs didn’t feel adequate to best prepare our athletes for the demands of their sports. In discussion, we asked:

• How can we help to prepare these athletes for such a big part of competition through what we do in the weight room?

• How can we introduce contact/physicality within the weight room in the most controlled way possible?

Our answer? Partner combatives.

Categorizing and Programming Partner Combatives

We separate partner combatives into categories. Some of the combatives are simple, some are more complex (meaning we typically don’t trust teams with the more complicated ones until they’ve proven they can handle/control themselves):

Typically, we start our teams in positions of a partner combative, but we leave out the competitive component until they get a better grasp of the movement/position. (It’s fairly subjective when that is.) For example, we may have athletes start in a standing shoulder-to shoulder line push position; however, one person is giving ground while applying resistance as their partner moves them.

Video 1. Shoulder-to-shoulder line push as one athlete gives resistance and ground to the other.

Once our athletes show they are capable of these controlled positions, we’ll start the competitive side of partner combatives. However, we can still keep it controlled by limiting their time in competition (3-5 seconds).

Video 2. Shoulder-to-shoulder line push where both athletes fight to get over the line. There’s a short timeframe and not necessarily a clear winner or loser.

As our athletes show more competency, we allow them to build out the total time of the combative or have them go until there is a winner and loser.

Video 3. Bear position lateral line push combative. We let athletes battle until there is a clear winner and loser, however long that may take.

It is important to keep in mind that not every team or athlete goes through the same progressions. Some teams/athletes we’ve trusted go right into competition on day one, or at least use different variations of full partner combatives that aren’t quite as “violent.”

Video 4. PVC SL pull-over combative, where the athlete’s goal is to unbalance their partner first (lower on the “physical”).

Programming Partner Combatives: When and Where

In the weight room, we typically superset our major movements with whatever partner combative we want to use within that day. We’ve seen combatives be a great way to set the tone for the rest of the training session and allow athletes to feel the connection between a general movement (bench press) and specific movement (rooted wrist grab).

When explaining the “why” behind our program, it shouldn’t be up to the athletes to just trust what we’re saying. They can feel how a traditional movement in the weight room can pair with and complement a sport-specific situation. Athletes enjoy competing, and programming combatives early in a session typically creates a better, higher-energy training environment. Combatives force athletes to train with high levels of intent immediately within a workout. There is nowhere to hide when you’re doing a partner combative.

Combatives force athletes to train with high levels of intent immediately within a workout. There is nowhere to hide when you’re doing a partner combative. Share on X

If a training session is outdoors—speed, conditioning, etc.—then we like to put partner combatives near the end of the warm-up. Again, similarly to the lift, we want to prioritize combatives near the beginning of the session and allow the competitive energy from the partner combatives to carry into the rest of the training session.

Choosing Appropriate Combatives

When using partner combatives, our goal is to mimic the physical nature of the sport we are programming for. For example, we use the rooted wrist grab partner combative frequently with men’s and women’s water polo teams because of the constant hand fighting/grappling that happens in the water. However, this isn’t one that we use often with basketball teams. Instead, we’re more likely to see a combative like a standing back-to-back line push. This would more closely mimic a “box out” position.

That being said, we can still implement partner combatives in a general to specific way. A basketball team may benefit and enjoy something like a rooted wrist grab in an early off-season period to build competitive energy and general strength qualities. However, as we transition through the off-season and into the preseason, these combatives can now begin to emulate the sport. This prepares athletes for what they will experience in their competitive environment. Reverse-engineer the physical nature of the sport to build the starting points for the partner combatives that best complement the training of that sport.

Reverse-engineer the physical nature of the sport to build the starting points for the partner combatives that best complement the training of that sport. Share on X

Are We Actually Making a Difference?

Since implementing partner combatives, the golden question is: What are the objective measures of increased performance that we can point to for these sports? Truth is, we don’t have any. All we have are the anecdotal and subjective feedback reviews we’ve gotten from sport coaches and athletes. That feedback has been overwhelmingly positive in an attempt to tie the needs of specific sports into the weight room.

While objective measures are obviously important, we believe that performance coaches should implement and rely on subjective measures like watching the athletes compete in their competitive environment and put value in “reviews” from the players and the sport coaches.

Closing the Gap

Partner combatives have been one of the ways that we’ve been better able to bridge the gap between training in the weight room and on the court or field or in the water. Unsurprisingly, as athletes have begun to buy into this process—seeing training that they can directly relate back to their sport—they’ve more quickly and eagerly bought into the “traditional” training as well.

Give a little to get a little—even if we aren’t actually giving anything. Partner combatives might not be the best training method for every team/coach. However, they are one attempt in a continued and constant search to find the best ways to prepare our athletes for their sports.

Authors’ Note: While this article comes with our dual byline, we have taken and applied these exercises to our environments from a few sources, including Elon Sports Performance, Michael Zweifel, and Austin Jochum. Thank you to these people for educating us and continuing to push the field forward. Finally, thank you to SimpliFaster for the platform to share our ideas within our community.

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

Hunter Eisenhower is the Associate Director of Sports Performance at the University of California, Davis. He works with men’s basketball, baseball, and lacrosse while assisting with football. He has previously worked at Southeastern Louisiana, Minnesota State Mankato, and the University of Washington. Hunter was a collegiate basketball player at Seattle Pacific University. IG & Twitter: huntereis_sc

“Water makes you weak…” 

Many of us who work in the sports industry and are of a certain age have a real-life horror story about hydration reminiscent of that scene with Coach Boone (masterfully portrayed by Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans). Thankfully, attitudes and guidelines about hydration, performance, and recovery have changed markedly over the past 40 years. Hydration breaks aren’t just modern staples of practice, they are now being included as part of game day operations for major sporting competitions at many levels of sport.

All of this is for good reason, as governing bodies of sport across the globe understand the importance and health and safety aspects of hydration. As a result, athletic trainers, sport nutritionists, and other allied health and performance staff members have taken an interest in encouraging better hydration behaviors among athletes. There are times of the year when suboptimal hydration can not only impact performance but also put lives at risk.

Having worked in professional and collegiate athletics myself—and knowing staff members in multiple leagues and levels across sports—I can attest firsthand to the level of investment that organizations make to help support athlete hydration. Annual bottled-water budgets alone can soar above $20,000 for a team of about 30 athletes—a separate cost from any other sports drink or hydration-related supplement. A team located in a region where tap water is of poor quality can expect to invest heavily in bottled water, on top of “hydration stations” and fountains around facilities. I spoke with a head athletic trainer from the NFL this past year who submitted a yearly budget with over $120,000 for hydration and hydration-related supplements for his roster.

Annual bottled-water budgets alone can soar above $20,000 for a team of about 30 athletes—a separate cost from any other sports drink or hydration-related supplement, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

Professional teams aren’t the only ones investing in hydration at staggering rates. As of 2019, top collegiate athletic departments were spending nearly $60,000 each year on the equivalent of 21,000 gallons of sports drinks to help hydrate their athletes. In fact, the investment in hydration is only a portion of a larger budget aimed at fueling athletes for performance and recovery. Universities devote millions of dollars each year to fuel athletes, and much of this is made possible by an NCAA rule change in 2014 that allowed schools to support the nutritional needs of many more athletes within their department.

Hydration-related products are only part of the puzzle, as equipment and sports technologies also take up a sizeable portion of athletic training and performance department budgets. Despite budget cutbacks, recent surveys among collegiate and professional athletic trainers and performance staff show 44% of teams surveyed spend a minimum of $50,000 per season on sports technology monitoring aspects of health and performance. In addition to professional settings, these big budgets are nothing new at universities here in the United States, particularly in their football programs.

Despite big investments in the fueling aspect and the known impact on performance and health and safety, hydration monitoring budgets and methods in particular have largely lagged behind.

Hydration for Health and Safety

The hefty budgets devoted to hydration are justified, as fluid intake plays a big role in maintaining the health, safety, and performance of athletes. Ask any athletic trainer who has worked during the summer how often they push athletes to hydrate, and you will likely get a smile and an eye roll. Their efforts are for good reason, as NATA position statements have raised awareness around the fact that more than half of high school, collegiate, and professional athletes begin an activity while dehydrated. This is concerning from a safety standpoint, as dehydration—combined with physical exertion during activities in warm weather—reduces the ability to regulate core body temperature and subsequently greatly increases the risk of heat-related illnesses. Tragically, heat illness is one of the leading causes of death among high school athletes and has contributed to more than 30 deaths of collegiate football players since 2000.

While the magnitude of the importance of adequate hydration for athletes seems to center around focusing efforts during warm weather spells, the impact of hydration plays an important role for all athletes year-round. Dehydration has a significant impact on the body and subsequent performance output.^1–4 While muscle cramps and sluggishness in the later stages of practices and competition were once thought of as prime examples of decreases in performance, more recent research reviews have widened our understanding of the issue.

Hydration and Performing Sports Skills

Barnes & Baker (2021) completed a comprehensive research review of literature focusing on the impact dehydration has on cognition, sport-specific skills, and physical performance. Twenty-two of 34 studies reported dehydration as having a negative impact on cognition, skills, and physical performance in sports such as basketball, soccer, American football, and others.

The negative impacts of dehydration were pronounced when body mass deficit exceeded 2%, especially when combined with stress from heat. Of all the elements examined, 71% of the studies focusing on cognition reported decrements in cognitive performance due to dehydration. An additional 67% of the studies included in this review found dehydration to have a negative impact on sport-specific skills.

Nuccio et al., (2017) completed a similar comprehensive review of literature focusing on the impact of dehydration on cognitive, technical, and physical performance in sports. This review further focused on the cumulative impact of dehydration on cognition, technical skills, and physical performance as well as the effect on team sport performance. Results were mixed from sport to sport, given differences in rehydration opportunities unique to passages of play across sports; however, similar findings were reported regarding negative effects of dehydration on cognition, technical sports skills, and physical performance.

The findings described above are not groundbreaking developments, but given the frequency stated earlier about how many high school, collegiate, and professional athletes train or compete on a daily basis while dehydrated, are we missing an opportunity to better prepare athletes for their sport? There are countless discussions, many in the form of the outstanding blogs posts and roundtables on SimpliFaster, that help elucidate paths forward in training and programming. As a field, we make consistent efforts to maximize the physical performance of each athlete through those training programs, yet we are now presented with the reality that athletes are unknowingly preventing themselves from reaping the full benefits of that work. How can we make the most of our work to support athletes?

Monitoring Hydration: Methodology

Monitoring hydration status can be a simple endeavor to help mitigate decrements in performance due to dehydration. While some clinical settings have identified plasma osmolality as a gold standard for assessing hydration, these and some other methods aren’t practical for all, given budget or staffing constraints.⁷

Monitoring hydration status can be a simple endeavor to help mitigate decrements in performance due to dehydration, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

In applied settings, there are several commonly used approaches used to monitor hydration, and efforts should be taken to move beyond overly subjective methods that can lead athletes astray. Regardless of the approach, the underlying focus should center on actually helping athletes take action to stay on top of their hydration.

Weigh-Ins for Fluid Loss

Pre- and post-activity weigh-ins are a good indicator of fluid loss and can be implemented throughout most of the week. It is common for teams to tie this process into other activities surrounding body weight maintenance or as part of a baseline assessment during force plate testing. Issues around standardization are a key consideration here, and as someone who has personally performed well over 34,000 weigh-ins in a chaotic locker room environment (amateur numbers by the standards of seasoned athletic trainers and nutritionists/dietitians), I can attest firsthand that repeatability standards can suffer greatly regardless of which staff is present.

It’s important to remember that weigh-ins only tell part of the story around hydration status, as sweat rates causing fluid loss can be highly individual, and the day-to-day trends can vary depending on the fed-status of the athlete. Given issues around reproducibility, as well as recent high profile issues around misapplication of this data, it is wise to exercise prudence in how these are implemented in order to optimize their impact.

Bio-Impedance for Body Composition and Hydration

Those who already possess the technology can intertwine weigh-ins with body composition measurements on top of a relative hydration status. There are noted limitations with bio-impedance when it comes to assessing hydration status,^5,6and given the aforementioned issues around misusing and abusing body composition data, any regular usage of this technology for the secondary purposes of hydration status may not be warranted. Additionally, this method can require staffing devoted to the process and a hefty investment in the technology itself.

Saliva Testing and Thirst

Saliva testing is seen as a minimally invasive hydration assessment and is typically a good proxy to thirst levels. This is particularly true during exercise and in high temperatures; however, there are noted individual variances observed in testing.⁸ From a practical standpoint, stopping athletes during training or immediately after a session will require dedicated staff support and athlete adherence, as well as the handling of bodily fluids. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, most practitioners would admit to being less than enthusiastic about sample collection.

There are also noted issues with standardization in field testing, as athletes submitting samples at differing intervals between fluid intakes can skew results in some cases. Thirst itself is typically considered a strong subjective indicator, but it is also regarded as a sign that the athlete is already suffering from dehydration.

Sweat Rate Assessments: Patches and More

Assessing an athlete’s sweat rate and content can be done in the field using several techniques that include absorbent patches, apparel, towels, and other laboratory-grade tools. A portion of the sweat rate approach also relies on weigh-ins to factor in fluid loss, while the aforementioned tools used in the field are aimed at better understanding the electrolyte content of sweat. Sweat rate is highly individual, but it reflects what happens during any given activity and should be used in conjunction with objective measures of pre-activity hydration status.

Sweat rate is highly individual but reflects what happens during any given activity and should be used in conjunction with objective measures of pre-activity hydration status, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

Because of high variability in sweat rate and electrolyte content, an individualized approach would be necessary as opposed to relying on generalizability from any one measurement to a larger group. Many methods typically require dedicated staff time to collect and analyze samples of bodily fluids, and immediate results may not be practical in field settings. However, the information from these assessments can be a critical part of better understanding individual trends in sweating and identifying the necessary and appropriate strategies for acute rehydration efforts.

Urine Color

Perhaps one of the most widely adopted methods for assessing hydration status is the use of a urine color chart. Urine charts have been deployed at every level of sport, and they are intended to act as an easy-to-follow method for athletes to understand their hydration status. Interestingly, the validity of urine color charts has not been systemically evaluated in clinical settings, despite widespread adoption in athletics. While in theory urine color represents a proxy to hydration status, some studies that have used urine color in efforts to validate this proxy saw trained clinicians perform the assessment—not athletes.⁹

Urine sample charts, measured in arbitrary units (AU) 0-8 (10), are subjective in nature due to their dependence on athlete interpretation against a posted color chart. These charts can provide some assistance as a very low-cost alternative, as their intended use is for implementation where close estimates are acceptable. Urine color charts are not meant as a substitute for more accurate and reliable measurements.

Urinalysis (USG) Technologies

Urine Specific Gravity (USG) examines the density of urine against the density of water and is considered a good proxy to urine osmolality and overall hydration status in most cases.¹¹ This approach is also considered the closest to a “gold standard” for non-clinical, field-based hydration status monitoring. Common instruments used by athletic trainers and sports nutritionists or dietitians are refractometers and dipsticks, with refractometers considered more reliable at assessing USG. USG is measured along a spectrum of 1.000 to 1.030+, where a widely accepted cut-off for dehydration is > 1.020.

The main issue with widely implementing this approach is the requirement of collecting and analyzing urine samples, which requires dedicated staffing time and effort, as well as relying on athlete compliance. While USG levels account for hydration status better than many field-based approaches, there are many user workflows in team settings where the athletes themselves aren’t made aware of their status prior to engaging in their athletic activities.

Intake Health has produced a first of its kind solution to help supplement these efforts, building field-leading, objective hydration monitoring into an athlete’s daily routine. This is paired with staff-customized infographics to help drive hydration behaviors to positively impact hydration status before activity. The InFlow hydration monitoring solution is a positive development, helping solve a critical problem for health and performance staff needing daily pre-activity hydration monitoring as part of their athlete fueling strategy.

Monitoring Hydration: Best Practice

There are several key takeaways to consider as staff forms their best practice approach to monitoring athlete hydration:

1. There are no silver bullets in hydration monitoring, and good, reliable information is needed before, during, and after sports activities. Any one method used in isolation can inaccurately represent an athlete’s overall hydration status⁷—context is needed to help inform action.

Any monitoring method used in isolation can inaccurately represent an athlete’s overall hydration status—context is needed to help inform action, says @MdHCSCS. Share on X

2. Hydration is important year-round and is an all-day event. Extra attention should be given during high temperatures and periods of heavy training (pre-season camps, excessive competition fixtures, etc.) as well as before, during, and after practice.
3. Hydration monitoring procedures and refueling strategies must be impactful, related to each other, reproducible, minimally invasive to athletes, not require excessive staff time, and actually support a change in hydration behaviors. Advancements in technology are enabling procedures to achieve all of the above.

Consider the template below as a reference when designing or refining your team’s hydration monitoring strategies, with emphasis given to minimally invasive, accurate, repeatable processes.

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. Sawka MN, Burke LM, Eichner ER, Maughan RJ, Montain SJ, and Stachenfeld NS. “American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exercise and fluid replacement.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2007;39:377–390.

2. Armstrong LE, Casa DJ, Millard-Stafford M, Moran DS, Pyne SW, and Roberts WO. “American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Exertional Heat Illness during Training and Competition.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2007;39:556–572.

3. Kavouras SA. “Assessing hydration status.” Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care. 2002;5:519–524.

4. Bernardot D. Advanced Sports Nutrition. Canada: Human Kinetics; 2006. p. 75–101.

5. Ugras S. “Evaluating of altered hydration status on effectiveness of body composition analysis using bioelectric impedance analysis.” Libyan Journal of Medicine. 2020;15(1):1741904. doi:10.1080/19932820.2020.1741904

6. O’Brien C, Young AJ, and Sawka MN. “Bioelectrical impedance to estimate changes in hydration status.” International Journal of Sports Medicine. 2002 Jul;23(5):361–366. doi: 10.1055/s-2002-33145. PMID: 12165888.

7. Barley OR, Chapman DW, and Abbiss CR. “Reviewing the current methods of assessing hydration in athletes.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 202;17,52.

8. Villiger M, Stoop R, Vetsch T, et al. “Evaluation and review of body fluids saliva, sweat and tear compared to biochemical hydration assessment markers within blood and urine.” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2018;72(1):69–76. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2017.136

9. McKenzie AL, Muñoz CX, and Armstrong LE. “Accuracy of Urine Color to Detect Equal to or Greater Than 2% Body Mass Loss in Men.” Journal of Athletic Training. December 2015;50(12):1306–1309.

10. Armstrong LE, Maresh CM, Castellani JW, et al. “Urinary Indices of Hydration Status.” International Journal of Sport Nutrition. 1994;4(3):265–279.

11. Imran S, Eva G, Christopher S, Flynn E, and Henner D. “Is specific gravity a good estimate of urine osmolality?” Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis. 2010;24(6):426–430. doi: 10.1002/jcla.20424. PMID: 21089176; PMCID: PMC6647580.

12. Walawender L, Patterson J, Strouse R, et al. “Mobile Technology Application for Improved Urine Concentration Measurement Pilot Study.” Frontiers in Pediatrics. 2018 Jun 6;6:160. doi: 10.3389/fped.2018.00160. PMID: 29928640; PMCID: PMC5998741.

As much as coaches and practitioners like to attribute soreness and tightness to just being a part of the process, it cannot be lost on us that expediting the return to optimal is very much a part of our fundamental duty. There’s no doubt that athletes will get beat up during the season and throughout particular phases of the training cycle. However, considering the optics and fundamental roles of a strength coach, it can be easy to slip into autopilot with restorative modalities. The old adage “the best ability is availability” holds a great deal of truth, and beyond having our athletes physically uninjured, we should also take a sense of pride in having them feel as close to optimal as possible for as many games/practices as they can.

It’s important that coaches understand the spectrum of tightness and break this mold of inherently assuming the solution for tightness is copious stretching, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Conventionally, “tightness” has been associated with “a need to stretch.” But as we’ll discuss in this article, it’s important that coaches understand the spectrum of tightness and break this mold of inherently assuming the solution for tightness is copious stretching. While stretching is often a part of the solution, it is far from the only one. Likewise, the state of the muscles and connective tissue are certainly a part of the restriction but not always the full scope of what is limiting the movement.

An important distinction here before we get into the X’s and O’s regarding tightness: tightness should not inherently be perceived as a bad thing, nor should it be mistaken for “functional” stiffness. There are several instances where stiffness or tightness isn’t only needed but highly beneficial for strength and speed. Some easy examples are the ankles and hamstrings of a sprinter and the lat and triceps of a pitcher. In specialized cases like this, looking to “stretch” their tightness away would destabilize the athlete and likely compromise performance, while potentially amplifying injury risk.¹

Another situation is with athletes who’ve had major surgeries or injuries. The additional fibrous tissue (collagen) surrounding the injured site can be needed for stability and structure. I call this protective tension, and if we aggressively seek to “undo” this tension, it can destabilize the athlete while potentially affecting confidence in the area negatively. The main point being, don’t get carried away with overstretching and mobilizing every athlete you see on equal terms—not all athletes need to stretch/mobilize the same.

What Does “Tightness” Even Mean?

“Tightness,” aside from being an all-time favorite buzzword for coaches and practitioners to gripe about, is a term that lacks clarity. While there are obvious technical limitations to the term tightness, the general understanding is that tightness is an indication of stiffness or restriction, usually centralized to one area/muscle group (and, at least in most cases, believed to be chronically shortened muscles that prohibit the full ability to move and thus the sensation of feeling “tight”). While the simplicity of this thought is appealing, the fact is that’s just not the full story.

Tightness in and of itself is multivariant and can be the result of many things. This is why it’s critical to objectively evaluate movement with a wide perspective and never assume.

For instance, the presence of inflammation (lymphatic, interstitial, or injury site), a lack of circulation (hypoxic tissue), changes in blood/gut pH, cognitive impairments, and changes in environment (e.g., temperature, barometer), among other factors, can all be consequential for movement ease.¹

Misapplications of stretching have been rampant in performance settings, and I believe it begins here with the misconception of using stretching modalities as a means to reduce soreness or tightness.

Another mistake that’s even more common is chronically stretching muscles that feel tight but are in reality just weak, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Stretching athletes who are sore from training or sport—especially vigorously—is rarely a prudent solution, at least not in isolation. They are experiencing more of a biochemical/fluid disruption or stagnation than they are tissues being “shortened.”¹ Thus, the best recipe in these cases is to hydrate, sleep well, and promote blood flow to the area. Another mistake that’s even more common is chronically stretching muscles that feel tight but are in reality just weak. Stretching exhaustively when the deficit is strength-based only makes a bad situation worse.

If you’re one of those “I stretch all the time but always feel tight” people, I’m speaking to you here.

Movement Hierarchy

Human movement is remarkably sophisticated. And although we’ve tended to oversimplify our biology for the sake of understanding, we need to be able to recognize and appreciate this complexity. Human biology largely works in a hierarchical manner, in which central (bigger) systems will inevitably govern peripheral (or smaller) ones. As such, no matter if we’re discussing stretching, strength training, speed, or power development, we cannot ignore the principles of hierarchical order.

The first place to start is always with the central governor: the brain and central nervous system (CNS). As Stu McGill has said, “Stretching is just playing with the neurology.” What he means by this, as an example, is if an athlete is in true sympathetic overdrive (i.e., overtraining) resulting in a constant state of tightness, we can do all the stretching and mobility work in the world, but until the sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PSNS) nervous system balance is addressed, the athlete will still feel sore/tight, leaving our efforts in vain. Another common example of this is with endocrine and hormonal functions, in which the internal state (including pH balance) will precede any soft tissue, muscular, or joint capsule restriction.²

Working down the hierarchy, we have a few additional considerations as well. The distribution of collagen fibers (fascial densification), muscle fiber type ratio, tendon length and insertion, and localized circulation are a handful of additional factors that may have a significant influence on the sensation of stretching and how we approach treating it.³ As with anything else, these systems, ratios, and functions are different across different populations/individuals; likewise, the approach must be modified to fit the specific demands.

Classifying Movement Restrictions

I classify movement restrictions in one of five ways:

1. Mechanical
2. Neural/Motor
3. Fluid
4. Structural
5. Proprioceptive

Utilizing the criteria and points outlined above, we can essentially stratify movement restrictions to help set the template for how we approach movement limitations. Not only will the exercise selections and modalities be different based on restriction type, but there are programming and recovery strategy considerations that may differ as well.

Not only will the exercise selections & modalities be different based on restriction type, but there are programming & recovery strategy considerations that may differ as well, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

An example here is that someone with poor aerobic function and another with neuromuscular deficits should not have the same protocol, whether we’re addressing tightness or anything else. Where a mechanical restriction may suggest more stretching/soft tissue work, someone who is lacking in aerobic function may get more out of additional Normatec time or simply walking outside rather than additional stretching.

These classifications can be as refined and rigid or as loosely guided as you’d like them to be. The important point here is that, if nothing else, you can understand and identify the multitude of factors that can create tightness, limitations, or soreness. For me, the primary variables that this stratification chart influences are the training parameters and time allocated for restorative/recovery modalities.

Broadly speaking, mechanical and (some) neurological deficits tend to respond best to good old-fashioned strength training and some sidecar designated mobility/flexibility work. Meanwhile, fluid and proprioceptive deficits tend to be more nuanced and are more likely to require specialized treatments and modalities.

Solving Movement Restrictions

This is the point where we need to really go beyond the default stretching routines we’ve recycled for the last few years and look to branch out. No different than the strength toolbox, with restorative modalities and programming, it doesn’t hurt to have a few different tools you can pull from when needed. That being said, having a bigger toolbox doesn’t mean we always need to throw everything we have at every athlete we see. There is a time to be general, or as I call it, using your machete; but when a specific approach is required, we need to be able to pull our scalpel out.

There are a couple areas that I want to focus on from the graphic above: the fluid and proprioceptive restrictions. These two, in my opinion, highlight the multivariant nature of movement restrictions. With the concept of tightness, these two are often major contributing variables, as the fluid stagnation is typically confused for muscular tightness due to sensation. When we have fluid stagnation, no amount of stretching or mobility alone will solve the issue; we simply need to push fluid and keep the body moving to resolve our tightness issue.

We can stretch for hours on end with no resolution if there is a proprioceptive imbalance or impairment, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Likewise, the proprioceptive inhibition is another essential component to resolving tightness. Recall that the proprioceptive bodies in fascia, muscle, and other connective tissues are literally the sensory and signaling interface for our body.² Once again, we can stretch for hours on end with no resolution if there is a proprioceptive imbalance or impairment. Sometimes this requires advanced treatment, but in most cases, we can address this through perturbative or oscillatory work, band-assisted stretching (below), or even things as simple as breathwork to reset our proprioceptive input.⁴

Video 1. Band-assisted stretching.

General cases (i.e., general/acute soreness/tightness/fatigue) normally don’t require much in particular. I think of this as having a wide spectrum with a shallow focus—use a wide variety of things without hammering any. Including a good rotation of dynamic stretching, light aerobic work, some foam rolling/body tempering, and submax strength training during your warm-up/movement prep periods will check a lot of common boxes and have tangible value across most athletic populations.

For the specific cases (e.g., returning from a rotator cuff tear, plantar fasciitis, mechanical overload syndrome), this is where the general “x, y, z” alone won’t cut it. And even to a lesser extent, such as an athlete who has a clear connective tissue deficit (passive ROM), or one who struggles proprioceptively, we need to be refined in our approach.

For designated and specific recovery strategies, particularly during in-season periods, I would say a good round number to shoot for is 60 minutes per week. This can come in the form of one or two 30- to 45-minute designated training sessions or a daily practice of 10–15 minutes across most days. (Note: This type of work can always be instructed for the athletes to perform on their own, pre- or post-training.) It all depends on how constrained you are in your setting.

In college settings, it may be more practical to teach athletes early on as much as you can and depend on them to be autonomous. In the high school setting, on the other hand, restorative days may need to be fully supervised to ensure effectiveness.

Stretching Isn’t a Cure-All

Tightness is multivariant in nature and not always a negative. As with everything, coaches need to be able to understand the context of the situation and demands of the sport. If we apply copious amounts of stretching and see no resolution in perceived tightness, we’re misidentifying the culprit and/or doing something wrong.

If we apply copious amounts of stretching and see no resolution in perceived tightness, we’re misidentifying the culprit and/or doing something wrong, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Take a step back, analyze some of the compounding or contributing factors, and see where there’s a disconnect. Prioritizing good sleep, hydration, and proper nutrition are all low-hanging fruit to start solving the tightness conundrum. From there, apply a good dose of general strength training, while splicing in whatever stretching and mobilizing variations you feel are optimal.

I don’t believe stretching, in any form or fashion, is necessarily good or bad. Stretching won’t be a standalone solution for most athletes; equally, it should be a part of almost every athlete’s programming. Restorative treatments or modalities, however, should be included when they’re demanded. Being passive or retroactive with recovery won’t cut it for any athlete and applying general methods to specific limitations will inevitably shortchange the athlete. Be general when you can but specific when you must.

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. Schleip, R. Chapter 9 – “Water and fluid dynamics in fascia.” Fascia in Sport and Movement. Schleip, R, Wilke, J. Handspring Publishing, 2021, 117–127.

2. Stecco, C. Pirri, C. Fede, C. Yucesoy C., De Caro, R., and Stecco, A. “Fascia or muscle stretching? A narrative review.”Applied Sciences. 2020;11(1): 307.

3. Behm, D. and Chaouachi, A. “A review of the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on performance.” European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2011;111(11):2633–2651.

4. Frenzel, P. Schleip, R. and Geyer, A. “Responsiveness of the plantar fascia to vibration and/or stretch.” Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2015;19(4):670.

Training programs should aim to solve a problem—which, for most athletes, is a need for more speed and explosiveness on the field of play. Game speed is not the ability to express force; it is the ability to express force accurately! Every exercise that we choose—whether it’s in the form of strength training, plyometrics, or speed training—should aim to improve the physical limitations of game speed and continue improvements in the aspects of game speed in which the athlete already excels.

The term “corrective exercise” is thrown around a lot, and for the most part it is associated with a rehab or prehab type of exercise. Most coaches instinctively think of glute activation drills or some sort of scapular drills. These types of drills are often used in the weight room as a means to correct an asymmetry or create more mobility and stability around a joint. Do these types of drills ultimately lead to someone getting faster and more explosive? They might, but I think the time spent doing these types of exercises can be better spent doing corrective exercise through the lens of rehearsed speed drills, jump training, and plyometric training.

Corrective drills or exercises are used to make athletes move better. It may be difficult to give an exact definition of good movement in terms of change of direction training, but as coaches, you know a good athlete when you see one and can identify what a good rep and a poor rep look like. For an athlete to be fast, they must produce a high amount of force over a short period of time. This seems simple enough. As you read this article, you will learn some general concepts and principles to help your athletes.

I touched on the topic of why I like to do rehearsed drills as well as reactive drills in a previous article. In that article, I talked about wanting the athletes to move well—that is still the goal, but let’s figure out how to make that happen.

Limit Verbal Cueing

A point that needs to be addressed is the role of skill acquisition. This is a very interesting topic, with research continuing all the time. For the purposes of actually learning a movement skill, drills should be delivered in a way that there are minimal to no verbal cues needed.

For the purposes of actually learning a movement skill, drills should be delivered in a way that there are minimal to no verbal cues needed. Share on X

The drills need to put athletes in a position to subconsciously correct a movement pattern or create a better movement strategy. Cues that are intrinsic and cause athletes to think internally about joint angles, body position, and engaging specific muscles are not as helpful to the learning process because in a game, the athlete shouldn’t be thinking about any of these things. They should be processing the position of the defense, the strategy of the game, the score, and the environment.

In terms of how we look at drills, think about the starting point of a drill and the end point. Over the course of an athlete moving from the beginning of the drill to the end of the drill there are a few different areas that should draw your attention. Arizona State Professor Rob Gray says:

“Even though, in theory, there are an endless number of movement solutions we could use, we all have certain coordination tendencies. We are attracted to certain solutions that are highly stable and struggle to execute others that are very unstable.” (Gray, 81)

Athletes will choose a movement solution they are comfortable with. If an athlete does not have the physical ability to execute a movement, continuing to practice open agility drills may not be enough to improve their actual physical capacity. Dr. Gray also mentions “Our perception is well calibrated to our action capacity.” (Gray, 68) As you, the coach, improve specific components that address the ability to accelerate and decelerate in a variety of movement solutions, you simultaneously change the athlete’s perception.

If an athlete does not have the physical ability to execute a movement, continuing to practice open agility drills may not be enough to improve their actual physical capacity. Share on X

Perform the Drills at 100% Intensity, But Manipulate the Drill for the Desired Outcome

A seemingly logical progression for speed training may be to perform a drill at:

• 50% intensity
• Then 75% intensity
• And finally, 100% intensity

An example of this may be a jog forward to a cut at an angle forward, followed by a run and the same cut, and then a sprint and a cut. The problem with this way of progressing is these are all different drills, even though they may look similar.

When you go through a drill slowly, it is much easier to manipulate the body to move the way you want it to. However, an athlete performing a drill flawlessly at a slow speed does not guarantee they can perform it at a faster speed. At higher speeds and intensities, the athlete will actually have fewer movement options.

An easy way to illustrate this is to have an athlete jog forward 10 yards and try to cut at a 90-degree angle to the side. A good athlete can do this without breaking down before the cut. Now try this with a run, and you’ll see the athlete break down a step or two before the cut. If you attempt this with a max effort sprint, you may initiate braking 3–4 steps prior to making the cut. In essence, the way this drill is executed is completely different.

In sport, if you attempt to create space or get past an opposing player, you will move with high effort and intensity. This is why performing drills at a slow speed is a waste of time. An example of how you can progress a speed cut like the one mentioned in the previous paragraph is to limit the speed of the athlete going into a cut by decreasing the distance before the cut. You can have an athlete start with 3 yards, then progress to 5 yards, and 8 yards, and so on. A drill can only be a teaching tool or a learned skill when it’s performed at high intensities.

What’s Going on at the Foot?

I always like to first look at what’s happening when the foot strikes the ground. From that point, you can work your way up the chain toward the hip and then also take a look at what’s going on at the trunk.

A common limitation among athletes is they spend too much time on the ground when changing direction. When athletes react to opposing players on the field in a reactive manner, you most often see a change of direction off a single leg. Reacting to someone on the field does not afford you the time to get both feet on the ground to handle forces more easily. Athletes must learn the feeling of being quick off the ground. A great place to start when you see this is with straddle jumps. (I was first introduced to these by Lee Taft.)

Video 1. Straddle jumps challenge an athlete’s ability to get off the ground quickly while not forcing them to absorb the force of their entire body on a single leg. As an athlete progresses, you can add a band laterally to change the stimulus and progress toward being explosive off a single leg.

When performing straddle jumps, look for the athlete to get their feet as wide as they can, as long as they can still be quick off the ground. The more powerful the athlete, the wider they will be able to get their feet. This wider angle is what we aim for because it creates a better angle of projection when moving out of any change of direction.

Once an athlete can get their feet wide and be quick off the ground, you can continue to progress power development by having the athlete elevated on a small box or a stack of rubber mats. You can also add the lateral resistance of a band to create a new and appropriate stimulus. All of these methods are progressions toward the end goal of being explosive off a single foot.

As I mentioned earlier, all speed drills need to be performed at 100% effort. So, how do we move past the straddle jump progressions to drills with higher speeds? Start with quick, explosive movements that do not cover much distance before changing directions. The snap shuffle into a sprint is one of my favorites. Look for a punch into the ground off the plant leg, which will allow swing leg retraction and acceleration of the lead leg.

Video 2. A snap shuffle into a sprint is a nice progression for unilateral power and speed development because the athlete will not have a lot of speed built up before changing direction. 

Continuing the progression means increasing speeds going into a direction change. You can do this with a shuffle or lateral run into a direction change.

Video 3. A shuffle or lateral run is an effective progression that can tell you a lot about the athlete’s unilateral strength, speed, and power. 

If you notice a point at which your athlete cannot be quick off the ground, then go back to a previous progression within your speed training. There are several factors that can affect progress, but make any changes needed to your program to continue to improve your athlete’s performance.

Train the Trunk

As we continue to look further up the chain, look at what is happening at the trunk. The quicker the trunk rotates to the new direction of movement when changing direction, the more efficient the athlete will be getting out of that cut. By efficient, I mean you will not see excessive upper body rotation or tilt.

The quicker the trunk rotates to the new direction of movement when changing direction, the more efficient the athlete will be getting out of that cut. Share on X

Any time there is a direction change, specifically with any sort of lateral movement, the athlete should look to limit any sort of trunk sway or tilt. This movement indicates a weakness of the upper body in relation to the speed going into a change of direction. The band drill shown below, with the band in hand, is great for addressing this issue.

Video 4. Make sure the arm stays straight during this drill, so the trunk handles the load of the band and not the arm. 

Improve the Ability to Handle Force

If you notice your athlete is quick off the ground, but as soon as you start to increase speed going into a cut, they look much slower, then try to improve how well the athlete handles the force of changing direction—this may indicate a lack of strength by the athlete.

The weight room is great for addressing these limitations, but I also like to incorporate variations of speed drills as a type of specific strength. The lateral run progression in video 5 shows a progression of teaching athletes to handle a change of direction.

Video 5. This video shows a progression of three different drills. The first is without a band. The second drill adds a band to accelerate the athlete into a direction change. The last drill still utilizes the band, but now the athlete needs to go into and out of the cut. 

Tight Turns and Curvilinear Running

When an athlete sprints forward and then intends to make a hard 90-degree cut, you will actually notice more of a curvilinear cut. This occurs because of the forward momentum prior to the cut. If an athlete breaks down before the turn, you won’t see this, but in terms of trying to evade a defender or create separation from an opponent, you want to be able to make this cut with as little breakdown as possible.

Video 6. This is a slow-motion 90° cut. Notice the forward momentum that happens after the initial plant to change direction. 

A great way to progress handling high forces at tough angles is through curvilinear running. You can make the drill tougher by changing the angle of the arc as well as the speed going into the arc. Tighter arcs and increasing speed are great progressions to strengthen the foot and ankle in these positions and challenge the strength of the body.

Tighter arcs and increasing speed are great progressions to strengthen the foot and ankle in these positions and challenge the strength of the body. Share on X

Video 7. Here are progressions of curvilinear running from easier to more difficult.

Final Takeaways

For coaches, it’s valuable to understand that in order to continue improving athletic development, it is imperative to also incorporate agility drills into your program. Athletes can make a lot of progress using change of direction drills, but the purpose of doing those drills is to create more strength, stability, and power in the reactive nature of sporting movement.

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

Reference

Gray, R. How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach & Practice Sports Skills. Perception and Action Consulting and Education LLC. 2021.

On Thursday, March 15, 2012, I received the phone call that my father had passed away. The days that followed will be forever burned into my memory. On the 16th, we made the funeral arrangements. On the 17th, I labored over the perfect words to say from the podium above my father’s casket. On the 18th, we visited with friends and family at the funeral home. On the 19th, we buried my dad.

By the 20th, I couldn’t stand it anymore—I had to go lift. I wasn’t able to go to my weight room due to lack of proximity, so my husband took me up to the fieldhouse at his school to give me the chance to lift. Tears of sadness and anger streamed down my face, but I lifted. However cathartic the moment was, it would be foolish to pretend this made a dent in the devastation that I felt—but it was the first step along the path to normalcy in my life.

A decade later, on March 16, 2022, I found myself in a weird headspace. In addition to the recent 10-year anniversary of the sudden loss of my father, I had a friend unexpectedly depart my life. Despite, from my perspective, no apparent cause—and along with a continued effort on my part to reach out—all communication abruptly stopped. I found myself confused and devastated. I was at a loss as to how to handle these feelings, but one thing was clear: a start would be to go to my weight room at work and train.

It wasn’t until midway through my sets of pull-ups—which were going horribly, by the way—that I questioned why I chose to show up at work on a day off. Not like an existential why am I here? but rather an I get that I need to process some emotions right now, but why am I here specifically?

Hence the inspiration for this article.

In truth, every strength and conditioning coach has their preferred place to train and, taking it a step farther, their preferred platform. Between my two weight rooms, I have 30 platforms at my disposal, yet I use the same one every single time.

In truth, every strength and conditioning coach has their preferred place to train and, taking it a step farther, their preferred platform, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

It’s a place of solitude and strength. A place to experience success and, possibly more importantly, failure. No matter what is happening outside of that platform/rack, it’s a place you can go to escape it all or to process it, whatever the occasion calls for.

But this still hasn’t answered the question: why is one’s training space so special? Since I have the emotional intelligence of a gnat, I took to our industry’s leading source of wisdom to seek insight—Twitter.

The question I posed was as follows:

“S&C Coaches: tell me what life or career lessons you’ve learned through your own training and/or what value it brings to your life.” 

Here are five responses that resonated with me. Each made me reflect on the range of ways I feel that training alone on one’s chosen platform can provide a deeply introspective experience, one that has the potential to elicit personal and professional growth.

Lesson #1. “PRs don’t sync up with promotions or pay increases.” –Donnell Boucher

cc: Young strength coaches!!

You’ll never see me argue that training in some form or fashion isn’t a critical piece of our jobs, but our identity as professionals needs to extend beyond that.

Nonetheless, this tends to be a polarizing topic in strength and conditioning: looking the part and whether athletes care how much you lift. On one end of the spectrum, you have Team cut-off sleeves holding 8 ounces of chicken in one hand and a printed list of their recent PRs in the other. At the opposite end, you have Team I don’t have time to lift because it’s all about training my athletes.

My take? As with many things in life, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Coaches should lead by example. This includes training within your current physical capacity. But we should also exemplify balance. Your personal workouts shouldn’t trump the needs of your athletes. One of the responses I received on Twitter on this topic was along the lines of “My sport is coaching. If I come into a session wrecked from my own workout? I’m not doing it right.”

Preach.

The reality is that your ability to build relationships, to communicate, and to develop the best prepared athletes for their sport will lead to career advancement. Not how much you bench, bruh. And to take this point a step further, your career advancement shouldn’t get in the way of cultivating relationships outside of work.

The reality is that your ability to build relationships, to communicate, and to develop the best prepared athletes for their sport will lead to career advancement. Not how much you bench. Share on X

I stayed at work on a day I should have gone to see family (March 14, 2012). I opted to use my “get out of jail free” card on another date. It seemed like the right decision at the time but choosing to staff your desk over spending time with family rarely is. If you get nothing else from reading this article, please let my story be a reminder of that.

A second, and absolutely inevitable, reality is that you won’t always be able to train the way you did in your 20s. This brings us to a second life lesson learned on the platform.

Lesson #2. “Father Time is undefeated.” –Alan Bishop

My exact response: I hate that guy.

Because I do. As I discussed recently with a colleague, our bodies change as we age, but our hearts seemingly don’t. Despite two blown-out shoulders, I still have an itch to bench press. Despite a back issue caused by stupidity in my 20s, I still want to squat heavy.

But I don’t.

Instead, I modify around old injuries, spend more time warming up, and focus on movement capacity to prevent further injuries from occurring.

It seems like the right move, but it’s not without its own set of consequences. For example, as strength coaches, we pride ourselves on immaculate demonstrations, no warm-up required. We are cheetahs. We stay ready so we don’t have to get ready. We are flawless on the platform in front of athletes.

Until, one day we aren’t. One day, seemingly without warning, you hear that snap crackle pop in your elbow when demonstrating a clean pull, a movement your body no longer tolerates during training. (The pain is searing, but you don’t even flinch. You are a strength and conditioning professional; you demonstrate no weakness. Ironically, this was how you got hurt in the first place.) Your heart tells you this is an isolated incident, so you continue your idiotic ways.

As time goes on, you may start to realize these incidents are happening more frequently. You might have to practice what you preach to athletes and modify your own workouts, come into a team session more warmed up, or even *gasp* not demonstrate certain lifts.

The horror.

In all seriousness, this is the start of a big pivot in your coaching career, and one that I think can improve your communication skills. Since your body is failing you (relatively speaking), you’re going to have to figure out a way to show the visual learners in the group how to correctly execute a given exercise. You’re going to need a clear and concise system of walking one of your athletes through the correct execution of something they’ve potentially never done before.

If you’ve spent your whole career demonstrating, this can be a daunting task. If you’ve also spent your entire career feeling you must always get things right in front of athletes, you’re in for a bumpy ride. Prepare to use the following phrases in the early stages of this process:

“Sorry, I’m not explaining this very well.”

“You’re doing great. I’m just not used to teaching it this way.”

“NEVERMIND, I WILL DO IT.”

You may actually be amazed how relatable athletes find it when you throw yourself on your sword and say, “I can’t do this because of X” or “I am struggling teaching this.” They struggle in front of us all the time. It’s okay to reverse that role sometimes.

Despite my increased reliance on athlete demonstrations (I’d say I’m currently sitting at about a 60/40 me to them demo ratio), I do still keep a couple of aces up my sleeve to keep my street cred alive. At present, that’s making 1–2 strict pull-ups seem easy. Being a one-trick pony is a great workaround if you’re simply unable to give up your ego, as I have been. It also helps you stay focused on a long-term goal, which for me has changed dramatically from the earlier stages of my training career.

Instead of focusing on aesthetics and PRs, I’m now focusing on overall health. Remember our section title: Father Time is undefeated. He stops for no one. Waits for no one. Saves no one. If he would have told me on March 14, 2012, that my dad would pass away on the 15th, I would have taken a wholly different approach the 14th. I wouldn’t have waited to call or see my dad because I was headed out to my parents that weekend. I would have done it right then.

If you would have told me I would have two blown-out shoulders in my 30s, I’d like to think I would have modified my training in my 20s to attempt to avoid this. I wouldn’t have waited until I got injured. I would have done it right then.

Clearly, the impact of those two scenarios on my life really couldn’t be farther apart on a map, but the lesson is the same: prioritize the long-term goal because in the end the end is the end.

Focusing on the long-term goal is a good tie-in to our next lesson.

Lesson #3. “Boredom: We preach ‘the process’ to kids but never bother to embrace how monotonous training actually is.” –Tim Kettenring

Rather than sticking to a program over the course of time, coaches often program-hop in their own training despite the knowledge that consistent training will yield better results in the long term and lessen the likelihood of injury.

Think about that concept in the context of career growth or relationships. Rather than seeking that short-term dopamine hit that comes from the thrill of something new and different (but superficial), invest in things that stand the test of time. Invest in consistency. It’s boring, but it’s usually exactly what we need. Relationships can be challenging, as I’m currently experiencing, but the real ones are worth the frustration in the long run.

If you’re chronically in search of greener pastures, the problem may not be your current circumstance; the problem may be in your evaluation of your current circumstance, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

In the context of career growth, how often do we see strength and conditioning coaches hopping jobs? Sometimes it’s a necessary evil. However, if you’re chronically in search of greener pastures, the problem may not be your current circumstance; the problem may be in your evaluation of your current circumstance. Think of every time you’ve had an athlete request a new or “special” program when they are executing their current one with very little intent. This may be exactly what you’re doing seeking a different career opportunity.

Additionally, you’re probably missing the boat on learning how to develop athletes over a four- to six-year time frame. I’ve seen coaches never stay anywhere more than 1–2 years. Are they really adept at athlete development? How much traction can you get in that time frame? Again, I’ll ask: is the circumstance the problem in these job-hopping situations, or is it the coach in question?

Where it comes to relationships, “program hoppers” are ones discarding people by the wayside as they seek out the new and more fun. Rather than understanding and embracing the ebbs and flows that come with long-term relationships, they are quick to jump ship when things don’t go their way or to move on when the newness wears off in their current relationship.

In all three contexts—the weight room, a career, and relationships—“program hopping” is a fast track to a potential catastrophic injury. While you may not feel motivated to stay the course through what can be mundane and downright difficult, you need the discipline to do so to be successful in most aspects of life.

Lesson #4. “Two-hundred pounds is always 200 pounds.” –Monte Sparkman

This may seem like a simple concept, and it is. It’s also a powerful one.

The weight room is the most honest space in the world. The weights don’t care who you are, how you feel, or about your problems. They still weigh the same. There’s comfort in this truth, comfort in the fact that you typically get closure in the weight room. You either got the lift or you didn’t, and further adding to your sense of closure, you can usually pinpoint one or more causes of a missed attempt.

The weight room is the most honest space in the world. The weights don’t care who you are, how you feel, or about your problems. They still weigh the same. There’s comfort in this truth. Share on X

This is not as often the case in life, where feedback is not always so immediate and clear-cut. Root causes of issues can be much more complex, and you may have to do a tremendous amount of introspection in order to create a sense of closure for yourself. To use my own circumstance as an example, I may never have an answer for why my friend has stonewalled me. Instead, I may have to find a way to move on and gain closure for myself rather than receiving an explanation that might provide closure to me.

Life is filled with gray areas, and everyone needs a place where they can escape and recharge. The platform can provide the perfect outlet for this due to its black-and-white nature and the steadfast truth that the weights will always give back what you put into them. Careers may not. Relationships may not. But the weights always will.

Lesson #5. “There are two things in life that cause injury, whether in the weight room, in finances, or in relationships: 1) poor form and 2) ego.” –Christopher Lacey

Mic. Drop.

However, I do want to reverse the order of the two causes of injury for purposes of this discussion: ego first, then poor form.

Or, more appropriately, ego leading to poor form.

How many times have you seen it on the platform? Somebody wants that big 1RM squat, so they cut depth. They want to live that PR tug life, so they throw a C-shaped curve in their spine and pull with everything they’ve got, intervertebral discs screaming all the way. Their ego is greater than their ability, and the consequences can be disastrous.

This could not be more applicable in our careers. A strength coach heads into the first meeting with a new head coach, ego barely fitting through the door. They present their obviously correct training methodology only to reach a philosophical impasse with the equally large ego sitting across the desk from them. Someone commits a slight breach in etiquette during the meeting, and both parties leave furious.

What gets injured?

A relationship, and potentially the quality of the athletes’ experience. A better way is to negotiate a compromise. This may not happen on Day 1, but it can be reached through hard work, appropriate “form” in workplace interactions, and the development of a solid working relationship.

The same can be said in personal relationships. If we behave poorly, or our behavior is perceived poorly by the other party, we are likely to damage that relationship. We might even end it entirely. If it’s a relationship we value? The aftermath can be crippling, just like the aftermath of a training-related injury. Just like the aftermath of my ended friendship that led to the inspiration for this article.

More Than Just a Platform

I recently saw a tweet where a coach said that the overarching purpose of high school sports was for athletes to secure a spot on a collegiate roster. I was horrified.

I believe the overarching purpose of athletics is to provide opportunities to become a better human being. To learn consistency, discipline, adaptability, humility, and much more, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

I believe the overarching purpose of athletics is to provide opportunities to become a better human being. To learn consistency, discipline, adaptability, humility, and much more. These are the lessons I believe those of us who have chosen the profession of strength and conditioning have learned through our own training, and the ones we hope to pass on to the athletes we train.

The platform may not succeed in imparting these attributes to every person who sets foot on it, but to those of us that it has, it is our sanctuary. It is a place we go to grow, to reflect, and in my current circumstances, to grieve.

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

Last month, we raved about Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, and how high schools in Texas have taken strength and conditioning to new heights with the pinnacle of facilities. This month, we move on to North Scott High School in Eldridge, Iowa, which is led by veteran head strength and conditioning coach Tony Stewart.

Coach Stewart has been at North Scott for 13 years and played a crucial part in developing the new Lancer Athletic Building (LAB) in the spring of 2017. This space was a blank slate that Coach Stewart, along with Tim O’Neill at Power Lift, designed for exactly how he liked to coach and run training.

Video 1. The redesigned weight room at North Scott High School. 

Video 2. Coach Tony Stewart provides a virtual tour of the facility.

Usage of Space in the Design

I asked Coach Stewart what some of the biggest keys were going into the building and design of this space:

“Sight lines were number one. When there are a lot of kids in the room and not a lot of coaches, it’s important to be able to see everyone in the room. We went with full racks instead of half racks because high school kids need the boundary. We have a great storage closet as well as storage on the racks and at the end of DB racks also.

We like having the DBs between racks to limit movement around the room. We would really like our kids to be within the same area for the entirety of their training session, if at all possible. The organization of the DBs near the racks really helps that flow. The equipment from Power Lift and plates from Uesaka really are the focus on the decorations around the room.”

Sight lines were the #1 (priority when designing the space). When there are a lot of kids in the room and not a lot of coaches, it’s important to be able to see everyone in the room. Share on X

I never even thought about why coaches pick a type of racks, other than space-saving with half-racks or the look of full racks, before hearing Coach Stewart explain the idea that the full rack is essentially a corral for his athletes, who, at the high school level, tend to drift around.

The “flow” of the room is something that a lot of coaches want to improve in their own older facilities, and here Coach Stewart mentioned the idea of having the DB spaces between the racks to again keep the kids in their areas and not running around other athletes who are training, which can cause dangerous situations.

I asked Coach Stewart, after he had the space set, why they chose the equipment company they did:

“Relationships, to start—the people at Power Lift are top-notch. The equipment itself is the best on the market as far as longevity and durability. Power Lift equipment has the strongest gauge steel you can find in the industry, and with the amount of use and abuse our equipment takes, that durability is important. Power Lift will also customize anything you want. They have a great team.”

We want to feel like the company that takes that money will treat us like they would the mega D1 school that spends $1 million on equipment. Share on X

I think something a lot of companies forget is how coaches like to feel during this process. We know we are about to drop a lot of money (which can be relative based on the project), but we want to feel like the company that takes that money will treat us like they would the mega D1 school that spends $1 million on equipment. That to me is the difference between good companies and great ones!

Specialty Equipment

Aside from the normal racks, bars, DBs, and plates, coaches all over the country are trying to find new, creative ways to train their athletes when they are injured, taller/shorter, or have more experience. This is where the need for specialty equipment comes into play, and North Scott has some of the best:

“We have two pit sharks, one leg press, and two kBoxes that we used for alternative and specialized training for certain individuals. We have a variety of training and specialty bars as well and a turf area.”

The nice thing about specialty equipment is the ability to use it to progress/regress athletes based on their needs as well as provide injured athletes with the ability to continue to train during the rehab process. Something else that a lot of coaches overlook is open space and/or turf; in my opinion, this counts as “specialty” because it allows for infinite opportunities to utilize that space, from warm-ups to a training station for the session.

“We typically use our specialty pieces for injured kids or if we need to modify for any other reason. In our program, we also change exercises instead of rep ranges early on to elicit a new/different adaptation. For example, we will front squat, back squat, safety bar squat, DB bench, BB bench, Swiss bar bench. The different pieces of equipment help to make things new and fresh, even though we are fairly simple in our programming.”

Personally, I have athletes who—without something like a safety bar—would not be able to do anything but maybe isolated machines for the lower body (which is a great option, but over a four-year period, it isn’t enough). This rationale led to the purchase of these pieces of equipment that other athletes can use as well.

Tips for Coaches

Coach Stewart finishes our talk about the tips he has for coaches in this process:

“Don’t get what looks good or what you think would be good to have. Put thought into how you program, what you will actually use, and how easily the equipment adjusts in a short amount of time. I can have all the bells and whistles and attachments I want, but if 14- to 18-year-old kids can’t quickly change it out or would never really need it, then don’t get it. Keep it simple and usable and always consider storage for any attachments.”

Put thought into how you program, what you will actually use, and how easily the equipment adjusts in a short amount of time. Share on X

Something coaches don’t think about while designing these spaces is this is your chance to have everything match the way you coach and who you coach. Like Coach Stewart mentions for his space, there must be the thought of who you are training when buying equipment. For example, you wouldn’t want to buy a lot of 100-pound plates for a high school facility because the number of kids who could actually use them would be very limited. Instead, spend that money on squat wedges or safety bars because those are pieces that everybody can use.

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