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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

In the strength and conditioning industry, coaches can train athletes at various levels, such as junior high school, high school, college, and professional. In college and professional settings, there are many resources to utilize as a strength and conditioning coach to ensure that the athletes get the best adaptations possible for optimal performance. Many facilities have more than 10 power racks, multiple specialty bars, velocity-based training technology, and more equipment for use.

In the private sector, coaches may not have those same resources due to constraints within the business, such as time, money, staff management, and facility constraints. However, athletes are still the focus, and the ability to streamline and train your athletes at a high level while inducing stress for adaptation is still the number one goal as a strength and conditioning coach.

Coaches in the private sector look to provide the best training possible for their athletes. Some facilities allow for 6–10 athletes and some facilities allow for coaches to train 15–20+ athletes at one time. This begs the question: How do you facilitate and run a large group training session in the private sector?

The principles for running a large group session require an assessment of space and facility... As stupid as it may sound, many coaches overlook the space component when planning a training session. Share on X

There are many different avenues you can take to run a large group session, depending on the facility’s resources and capacity. The principles for running a large group session require an assessment of space and facility, time constraints, resources, and command and control.

Facility Considerations

First, as a coach you must assess your space. As stupid as this might sound, many coaches overlook the space component when running a training session. Before programming even begins, you must ask yourself:

1. How many athletes will be in the session?
2. How many coaches do I have to run that session?
3. What athletes will I have in the session (male, female, sport, etc.)?
4. What do the athletes generally need in terms of training?
5. Based on their needs, what space do I have to work with in the training session?

At Varsity House Gym, we train different teams with more than 30 athletes in a session. Most high school athletes generally need more strength training under heavier loads with proper technique. The focus is to improve movement quality and instill the idea that technique is more important than load, and then progress from that perspective.

As coaches, when we know how many athletes we will have and what the athletes generally need, we can determine what to program based on the space available in the facility. An example of making a training adjustment is removing Olympic lifting from the program and replacing the movement with ballistic medicine ball exercises. While I am a big advocate of Olympic lifting in high school athletes, I also understand the learning curve that is required to ensure the athletes are meeting loads that elicit the proper adaptations. That being said, it is beneficial to have a training philosophy and understand how to regress and progress the movement rather than the exercise itself.

Know the Plan

Second, programming large group sessions requires coaches to be swift, effective, and to the point in a short period of time. For the most part, most coaches do not have more than 60 minutes to get a training session in with their athletes. Attention and focus from the athletes and the coach must be high, and they must be as well organized and prepared as possible.

For the most part, most coaches don’t have more than 60 minutes to get a training session in with their athletes. One way to stay organized is by running station-based training, says @debadjuju. Share on X

One way to stay organized is by running station-based training for athletes. When coaches program stations, it allows them to control the time in which the athletes must work at each station, forces the athletes to move quicker through their workout and have a sense of urgency, and meets the athletes’ training needs when programmed correctly. The group size will be indicative of the number of stations and how long the stations will run. For a football team of 40 athletes, we will have four stations with three exercises running for eight minutes at each station.

• Station 1
  • DB bench
  • Inverted row
  • Reverse lunges

• Station 2
  • Front foot elevated split squats
  • Single-leg RDLs
  • Push-ups

• Station 3
  • Single-arm farmer carry
  • Lateral bounders
  • Box jumps

• Station 4
  • Reverse sled drag
  • TRX rows
  • Band pull-apart

The goal for lifts like these is to attack each component of athletic development (push, pull, hinge, carry, plyometric) in some way in a short amount of time. Coaches must run a cost-benefit analysis on what they want their athletes to do and how they want their athletes to do it.

If, for example, the goal is to produce more force, then we must be creative with accomplishing that goal in a timely manner. We can meet different goals of athletic development by changing and manipulating the sets, reps, and intensities via the tempo of lifts. This is not to say that coaches can’t use accommodating resistance such as chains and bands to meet those goals, but if athletes don’t have the capacity to handle those modalities, or coaches do not have the manpower to effectively coach, then we must be innovative in the way we program.

Use the Assets Available

The third component to coaching a large group session is asking what resources you have and commanding and controlling the climate you are in. Resources are the blaring elephant in the room when it comes to programming ability and bandwidth. There are coaches who will blindly program exercises and movements that require technical proficiency and fine-tuning but not have the staff to effectively facilitate the session.

Resources are the blaring elephant in the room when it comes to programming ability and bandwidth, says @debadjuju. Share on X

In a perfect world, coaches would want a 1:9 coach-to-athlete ratio in three racks. Three athletes per rack allows for the athletes to set up and break down equipment faster, learn from each other, and manage the flow of the session for the coach. If your facility has the means where there is a 1:6 coach-to-athlete ratio, then coaches can get a little more detailed with their programming. A training session with our athletes at Varsity House goes as follows:

This is a simple program that requires attention to detail both on the part of the athlete and the coaches involved. Your why behind training will always come before your how; however, you will not be able to execute higher modalities of training if you do not have the right resources or people in place.

Your WHY behind training will always come before your HOW; however, you can’t execute higher training modalities if you don’t have the right resources or people in place, says @debadjuju. Share on X

What happens when you have athletes with different skill sets and training ages?

Given the capacity to do so, run separate concurrent programs or base the program on the lowest common denominator. Running concurrent programs looks like if a coach had a football team of 40 players—all of whom are different biological ages and training ages—that coach would want to have a beginner, intermediate, and advanced level program for the players. Coaches must understand proper progressions and regressions of movements to meet the athletes’ needs from a sports performance view. Kris Robertson, who is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach for Simon Fraser University, wrote a standard criterion for youth development.

These benchmarks are a framework to scope your training methodology for your athletes, but the principle of meeting certain criteria before moving to the next stage holds. To run multiple programs during one session, you must understand and know what the end state is and reverse-engineer how to achieve that end goal.

Quality Coaching

Lastly, coaches need to command and always control the room and the session. There are certain intangibles that a coach needs to efficiently run a session. I’m not saying that you must be the rah-rah stereotypical strength coach who is loud and highly caffeinated, but you need to be able to capture the attention and focus of a room.

A coach must understand the general environment they are working in and the personalities they are working with to best facilitate success. For example, the stereotypical strength coach may be beneficial and needed for a football team’s culture, whereas a more reserved approach may be favorable for a men’s basketball team. The control portion relies on the second point, in which your programming is efficient and flows. A coach can command and control a room if they are well-spoken and communicative, and the flow of their session runs smoothly.

A great piece of advice when running a session is to do a mock session and set up all the equipment needed. Run through the session and identify any potential bottlenecks, says @debadjuju. Share on X

A great piece of advice when running a session is to do a mock session and set up all the equipment needed. Run through the session itself and identify any potential bottlenecks in the design to ensure that the session will continue to flow. An efficient session requires a focus on the why and how of preparation and attention to detail.

Final Takeaways

Running a large group session in a college weight room does not necessarily translate to running that same session in the private sector. Depending on the private facility, a coach may be constrained by factors such as space, time, staffing, and resources.

Even when those issues are present, a coach can effectively overcome them with the proper mindset and tools. Applying the ones I’ve mentioned, I have been able to coach sessions seamlessly by understanding what my end goal is and working backward to develop a robust plan to meet that goal. My primary aim as a strength and conditioning coach is to build healthy athletes while minimizing injury risk. The principles of running a large group training session and knowing my athletes’ needs have allowed me to be successful in increasing strength and speed during training blocks.

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

Picture this. You’ve created the perfect program down to every rep. For the next few weeks, you know exactly what your athletes will do to succeed. There are even some colorful graphs that show the max recoverable volume for each week—something you’re extremely proud of. You gaze over the spreadsheet as if it were your firstborn child. Nothing can bring you down from the high of this moment—except for 32 kids dragging themselves into your weight room after a punishment conditioning session for penalties the week before.

Cue glass shattering sounds. One by one, your athletes fail this “perfect” program.

This is a real scenario I remember going through as a young coach in college. My program bit the dust, and we adjusted on the fly to squeeze out a worthless training session. I wish I could say this only happened once, but that would make me a liar.

I know that I’m not the only strength coach who has experienced this exact scenario. Maybe it wasn’t conditioning that got athletes; perhaps it was a lack of sleep, not eating enough, a heavy class load, extracurriculars, a crazy fad diet, their significant other dumped them, their dog died, etc. Whatever it is, you don’t always get 100% from your athletes—shoot, sometimes you barely get 50%.

This poses a very important question: In a setting with dozens of kids, how can we create a program to maximize each athlete’s session no matter the circumstance? There are many ways to do this, but a strategy that I have been using for years is autoregulation.

What Is Autoregulation?

Autoregulation is a training method that adjusts each session based on the ability of each individual that day or moment. This is affected by both their perceived capability and their actual ability. The problem with this strategy is that it is harder to periodize since each session’s “success” is left to the whim of the user.

Autoregulation is a training method that adjusts each session based on each individual’s ability that day or moment. This is affected by both their PERCEIVED capability and their ACTUAL ability. Share on X

Without control over volume or intensity, most coaches might feel like a captain without a sail. We all know that athletes vary in the way they want to push themselves. I was someone who would take it to an 11/10 each workout and just deal with the consequences: If my program sheet said I had a 365-pound clean, I was going to get it at all costs.

Conversely, I’ve worked with athletes who, when given the choice, elect to do NOTHING. We used to play a game with these types of athletes in college called SNIPER. A random coach would count all their reps and mark it down when they skipped any. Then at the end of the workout, BAM! we would punish them for every rep missed.

This is why it is important to know your audience and then build a program around them.

Autoregulate Your Weight Room

I’ve compiled a list of some of the different forms of autoregulation I use as well as the type of athlete I most use them on. I’ve also categorized these based on the simplest to implement to the most complex/expensive.

Ready Score (Age 14+, for ALL Sport Athletes)

If I had a dollar each time an athlete told me that they were “tired,” I’d be competing with Bezos and Musk for richest person alive. For years, I would just say “me too” and laugh it off. It wasn’t until we created a simple score chart that we were able to quantify each person’s readiness and actually determine who was too tired versus who just wanted to complain.

There are many ways to do this, but our chart has three tangible and two intangible scores. This allows for true as well as interpersonal metrics to be considered. When a score is low enough, we adjust that individual’s workout to be less intense. We still get in a quality session, they feel like their feelings are heard, and we save a lot of frustration.

It wasn’t until we created a simple score chart that we were able to quantify each athlete’s readiness and actually determine who was too tired vs. who just wanted to complain, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

The reason we say this is for kids 14 and up is that prepubescent athletes seem to have a hard time with introspective thought, and they recover much faster than their older peers. I’ve seen kids play six games over a weekend and be ready to go by Monday.

Max Reps (Age 12+, Basic Level of Weightlifting Knowledge)

This is one of the easiest ways to get in a lot of work in a short time. It’s also a great way to build competition into any program. The principles are simple:

• Perform a baseline set of reps (we do one to two sets of five, three, or one).
• Perform a max reps set following three rules: No repetitive bad form, no failure, and leave one rep for next time.

This can be as simple as allowing kids with younger training ages to get more volume or as complex as affecting each athlete’s progression based on the reps completed.

For example, in our program we have a “class leader,” which is the person who completes the most reps in one set during an exercise—it stimulates competition and gets more reps out of otherwise less-involved members. For progression, we use the rule if you can do more than the minimum but less than double, next week’s percentage increases 2.5%, and if you can do more than double you go up by 5%. So, for example, if we do a set of five at 70%, and they complete 12 reps on their max reps set, next week they will do 75%.

Rapid/Chaos Training (Age 16+, at Least 1 Year of Weight Room)

Whenever I talk with other coaches, I find this modality to be one of the least used in autoregulation. In the past few years, tempo eccentrics has become the golden calf of weight room training: it is worshipped. Strength coaches on Twitter drool over dozens of athletes squatting with synchronized uniformity. That being said, a growing amount of research supports the concept of rapid eccentric training in the weight room. (Here’s just one example.)

A rapid or chaos lift requires athletes to quickly lower and then ascend a movement to complete the set as fast as possible. Anyone can perform a rapid concentric, but it is astounding how few can perform a rapid eccentric with a little bit of weight. The autoregulation of this comes in the form of a stopwatch.

Anyone can perform a rapid concentric, but it is astounding how few can perform a rapid eccentric with a little bit of weight, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

Squats, for example, are a great way to challenge the rapid eccentric, since there is a turnover moment at the bottom. If I prescribe three sets of five at 50% 1RM, I will record their first set and challenge them to beat it. If they are able to move the weight even faster on the second set, I add 5% and challenge them again. The next week, we will start at a higher percentage and do it again.

Because emphasis is placed on speed over load, a tired athlete will simply move the load slower, while a prepared athlete will maximize speed gains. The greatest drawback of this autoregulation is that it requires a good coach’s eye. Athletes are notorious for compromising form for speed. Likewise, no increase in load should occur if there is obvious struggle or deceleration—a set of five rapid squats should not take 15 seconds.

Video 1. Rapid chaos lifting.

Velocity-Based Training (Age 16+, Requires Technology, 1- to 2-Year Minimum Experience)

One of the fastest growing trends in the weight room has to be velocity-based training (VBT). It is by far the sexiest of the autoregulation methods I have brought before you today. To use this method, you must intertwine technology and the barbell to create the ultimate feedback system. I’ve even used VBT to conduct a study on fatiguability in weightlifters. There are many ways to autoregulate this, but first you have to determine what your goal is and then work to a weight and speed combination that achieves that goal.

To keep it simple, I will talk about the primary three zones of speed we work on and how to progress through them using a block strategy system. This is a force-to-velocity-based system, but there are many ways to do this:

• Block One: Weeks 1-3 (accelerative strength)
  Starting at about 65%, your athlete will perform 1-5 reps for 3-5 sets. Our goal is to lift a weight between 0.5 and 0.75 meters per second (m/s). If they can move the weight faster than 0.75 m/s, you will instruct them to add 5% to the bar. The ceiling for most athletes will be 85% at 0.5 m/s for only one or two reps.

• Block Two: Weeks 4-6 (strength-speed)
  Starting at about 45% of their 1RM, your athlete will perform 1-3 reps for 3-5 sets. Ideally, the weight will move 0.75-1.0 m/s. If the weight is moved faster than 1 m/s, they will add 5% to the bar; however, if it moves under 0.75, drop the weight by 5%. Starting in this block, speed will matter much more than weight as you prepare for the final block. At most, you can expect them to achieve 60% of their 1RM.

• Block Three: Week 7-9 (speed-strength)
  Most athletes dislike this block due to the lack of weight, but a great VBT system can reinforce competition and effort by giving speed feedback. I like to make it a competition, having our guys compete for speed over absolute weight achieved. Start this block at 25% of their 1RM and perform sets of 1-3 for 3-5 total rounds. The weight needs to move between 1.0 m/s and 1.3 m/s and only increase by 5% each set that they achieve faster than 1.3 m/s. Your top performers will achieve around 45% of their 1RM.

Other than the cost of technology, this method does have drawbacks. For one, it greatly slows down the flow of your training. It can also be demotivating for certain populations of athlete to lift so little. I like to use this strategy during the season and with my older population (20+ year-olds) because it maximizes the day-to-day output of the nervous system without adding too much volume to already overworked athletes.

RIR/RPE (18+, More Motivated and Experienced Lifters, at Least 1 Year in Weight Room)

Reps in reserve (RIR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) are great ways to decide what weight can be lifted on any given day. I’ve used this with more success with barbell sport athletes than others, but it is still an option to explore.

The idea is that you provide a rep range and then prescribe an intensity based on feel. For example, let’s say that your athlete is working up to a heavy single at RPE 8 or RIR 2. Rather than leave them to their own devices, you will give them a percent range to work through.

For this, we will prescribe 80%-95%, allowing them to start with a very manageable percentage and then build up to a weight that achieves our RPE/RIR goal. The downside to this is that ego can really affect what an athlete thinks an 8 actually is. I’ve seen college kids grind out an obvious 10/10 only to turn around and cheerfully chime: “That was a 7.5. I’m going to add 5 pounds.”

No, you’re not, kid.

What to Choose

Some coaches may never fully embrace the nuance of autoregulation within their training; however, they don’t have a choice. When prescribing a percentage of weight, a sprint, or a plyometric for an athlete, their fatigue and readiness will affect the outcome of that exercise. When your athletes are tired and they fail their weights for the day, they’ve performed a max effort set and attempted an RPE 10 (even if it would have normally been an 8).

In contrast, you might find that you have a standout athlete who needs more weight to be at the appropriate velocity for your current block goals. Even when you have them sprint or jump, the variability within the day to day affects the output and, therefore, the desired adaptation of that session. This is why I am a big believer in manipulating the autoregulation that typically goes “unseen” by planning for it ahead of time. You may not have the resources or technology to capture every athlete’s daily performance, but you can build in self assessments that allow them to determine their max volume or intensity for that day.

When it comes to strength and conditioning, remember everything works a little, some things work a lot, but nothing works if athletes can’t even do it, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

But now it is up to you to find out what you can autoregulate and whether your population can handle it. When it comes to strength and conditioning, remember everything works a little, some things work a lot, but nothing works if athletes can’t even do it.

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

While video review is ubiquitous in team sports, with nearly every high level team reviewing game and practice film, performance analysis is less common. The difference between the two is more than just semantics. Most sport coaches watch film with their team for dual purposes:

1. To share insight on opponent tactics.
2. To review player decisions during games and practices, again typically revolving around tactics (e.g., did the linebacker make the correct read and fill the right gap).

Performance analysis is a different animal.

Tactical elements can certainly be incorporated, but at its core, performance analysis seeks to answer this fundamental question: how does the athlete produce performance, and what interventions are required to improve it?

When investigating these questions, kinetic and kinematic data are prime suspects, and accurately capturing and reporting the right KPIs do indeed inform training decisions and athlete potential.

Accurately capturing and reporting the right KPIs do indeed inform training decisions and athlete potential, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Video analysis thus seeks to provide actionable insight on how to make athletes better.

The process involves a deep dive into the relevant and modifiable (emphasis on modifiable) performance variables, including but not limited to joint angles, athlete psychology, and decision making. Beyond performance enhancement, video analysis can serve the following purposes:

• Screening for risk of injury.
• Aiding in the return to play decisions (especially if an analysis was completed prior to the injury).
• Ranking members of a team to appropriately match interventions with athlete subsets (i.e., “putting athletes in buckets”).
• Allowing athlete and coach to see things from the same perspective.
• Providing developmental athletes with performance milestones.
• Granting objective feedback on the training process, essentially quantifying athlete development to improve over the course of a season or lifetime.
• Comparing practice efforts to PR performances.

Rightfully so, performance analysis is only going to become more common. This article details 15 strategies to improve your performance analysis, based on my own trial and error as well as wisdom I’ve gleaned from others.

1. Don’t use an iPhone

An iPhone or iPad is a great place to start with video analysis—you can quickly capture 120 or 240fps slow motion video, upload it to a computer or an app, and begin analysis. Additionally, there is value in taking video and streaming it to a TV via AirPlay for immediate feedback and a quick and dirty, on-the-spot analysis with athletes.

But for the professional offering video analysis as a service, Apple products don’t cut it for two main reasons:

• Professionalism (specifically, the lack thereof).
• Image quality.

If you are hired to provide performance analysis, what statement does it make if you pull out your phone? How are you differentiated from the coach…or the athletes themselves, for that matter? First impressions matter, and if you want to be taken seriously and earn repeat business, you must appear as the professional you truly are.

First impressions matter, and if you want to be taken seriously and earn repeat business, you must appear as the professional you truly are, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Beyond that, iPhones currently offer 1080p video quality when shooting in slow motion. That’s fine for close shots, but kinematic and sport analysis often involves shooting from a distance and zooming in to avoid parallax issues when measuring angles and distances (more on this later). Image quality quickly deteriorates when zooming in on 1080p footage. 4K video quality allows you to zoom in on the picture while maintaining clarity.

Higher image quality provides a better product for the consumer—it’s worth noting that the athlete was about 12 meters from the camera in the above shots. Zooming in on still shots taken from greater distances will produce even lower quality images, particularly from 1080p quality footage. For more on camera specs and recommendations, read this.

I use a GoPro HERO10 and love it. The camera is compact, durable, and shoots 120fps slow motion video in 4K quality, giving you the picture clarity to impress while allowing for slow-motion, kinematic analysis.

Pro tip: Whatever camera you choose, be sure it supports 4K quality or above while shooting in slo-mo, is durable, waterproof, and easy to transport and set up.

2. Utilize a Tripod

There are several advantages to using a tripod, not the least of which is that you don’t have to stand behind the camera to film, allowing you to coach and observe from other angles. Additionally, you appear (and are) present for the training session, as opposed to playing the role of videographer and not watching what’s happening in real time because you are stuck behind the lens.

Further, a good tripod ensures steady footage. You don’t want your film to look like the Blair Witch Project—you need non-shaky, steady film for clean and easy analysis. A sturdy tripod that can withstand wind is desirable.

You need non-shaky, steady film for clean and easy analysis, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Pro tip: Use a mini bubble level (Google or Amazon that term) to ensure your camera is level, both side-to-side and front-to-back. If filming sprints from the side, set the camera roughly 10cm above the athlete’s waistline.

3. Use a remote

You’re going to notice a theme here. Using a remote introduces yet another level of professionalism. The preparedness again repeats: “I’ve been here, not my first rodeo…”

There is also a very real workflow and ease of use advantage to having a remote. As mentioned before, being present and able to observe and coach while filming is invaluable. A remote makes filming seamless, while also saving you time (and data on your data card). You can start and stop the video exactly when you want, as opposed to hitting “record,” running to your observation point, watching, running back, and hitting “stop.”

GoPro offers a remote as well as an app that connects to the camera, but again, you don’t want to be the guy or gal looking at your phone during a training session. Further, the remote has stronger connectivity and a greater range than the phone does, making it a superior choice.

Pro tip: ensure your remote doesn’t use Wi-Fi to connect the camera, otherwise it is useless in settings where you don’t have Wi-Fi access.

4. Film from a distance

Parallax, which refers to images becoming distorted as a function of cameras transforming a 3D world into a 2D image, can cause errors in calculations such as angles and distances. Parallax is a normal phenomenon and isn’t indicative of problems or shortcomings with your camera—it just happens when taking pictures and video.

To avoid parallax—and therefore ensure accurate angle and distance measurements—you need to shoot from a distance, such that the athletes you analyze are in the middle of the shot. Additionally, take care to aim your camera straight. If the camera is angled slightly to the left or right, it will again create parallax and distort perception of angles.

Parallax is a normal phenomenon and isn’t indicative of problems or shortcomings with your camera, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Pro tip: only analyze kinematics from the middle third of your footage. The edges of the frame produce parallax that distort perception of angles and distances, yielding inaccurate data.

5. Consider two (or three) cameras

To be sure, multiple cameras are not required to execute video analysis. You can capture quality film and complete comprehensive analyses with one nice camera.

But there is certainly merit and utility in capturing multiple angles—like side and front or back—of the same trial.

Specific to sprint analysis, two cameras come in handy when analyzing both acceleration and maximum velocity. Capturing a close up of the first step as well as the first 7-10 steps can be done at once, for instance. Additionally, cameras can be placed to capture the first 7-10 steps as well as a maximum velocity split, say 30-40m down the track. Thus, acceleration and max speed can be captured in one trial, saving time.

At least one coach I know has a custom mount by which he fixes a camera to a hurdle, allowing a unique perspective toward oncoming hurdlers while also capturing the traditional side shot.

Using two cameras opens doors to saving time, improving workflow, and capturing unique angles you may otherwise opt out of.

Pro-tip: to make analysis easier and improve workflow while filming, consider cameras that sync together via a remote and thus start and stop filming at the same time.

6. Never run out of memory or battery

Imagine being in the middle of a recording session and your battery dies. In some cases, like practice, there might be another rep to capture. In others, like a race, you may never get a chance to swing again.

Likewise, imagine readying yourself to break film down, only to realize your memory card became full halfway through the session and you don’t have everything you need.

4K video takes about 45gb of space per hour of film. Do yourself a favor and don’t skimp on the memory card. Go with a 32gb card at minimum, 64gb to be safer and give yourself more wiggle room.

Do yourself a favor and don’t skimp on the memory card, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Likewise, carry at least three batteries at all times—preferably extended life batteries.

Pro-tip: Many cameras can charge the battery internally, but an external charger that can be plugged into the wall allows you to charge multiple batteries at once.

7. Safely store video

This may not seem like an important step…but trust me, you will regret not keeping video long-term. Whether an athlete you once filmed gets hurt and you want to review old film to see if there were kinematic “clues” that could have been involved with the injury, or whether you simply want to juxtapose progress between last year’s film and today’s, a time will come when you’ll want to look back on old footage.

Cloud storage is an option, as is an external hard drive. Hard drives are nice because you know you’ll always have a hard copy.

Store your film for future reference. Just do it.

Pro tip: Permanently save at least one rep per athlete from each film session.

8. Understand the KPIs

Capturing film is great—but unless you are able to critique the movement and provide feedback on how to improve, you cannot call it performance analysis.

If you aren’t at the point where you know what you’re looking for, you’re probably not ready for video work. Your energy should instead be focused on honing your craft.

The Science of Speed, by legends Carl Lewis and Tom Tellez, and The Mechanics of Sprinting and Hurdling, by another legend, Ralph Mann, are both insightful for understanding sprint kinematics.

Pro-tip: whatever you choose to analyze, watch an inordinate amount of film of that movement, from multiple athletes. Your coach’s eye is more valuable than your ability to measure angles and distances.

Your coach’s eye is more valuable than your ability to measure angles and distances, @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

9. Create performance reports

Performance reports serve two purposes: they provide a snapshot in time of performance (like annual bloodwork), as well as highlight strengths and areas for improvement. Sleek, clean, and insightful reports bring tremendous value, as they inform training. Further, they may be used post-injury as a rehabilitative tool—particularly if a report was compiled before the injury occurred, serving as a pre-injury data point and providing minimum kinematic goals for the athlete to reach.

Basic considerations include acceleration and maximum velocity reports. One may also venture into block clearance, change of direction movements, or other sport-specific tasks, such as hurdling, field events, throwing a football, or pitching and hitting a baseball.

Wherever there is sport, there is possibility for performance analysis.

Pro-tip: Spend time making your report pretty. Appearance matters.

10. Use two reports: one for parents and athletes, another for strength coaches/technical coaches/sports science/medical personnel

It goes without saying that parents and (most) athletes speak a different language than those “in the biz.” If the only information the parent can understand from the performance analysis is the athlete’s name and the test date, the report misses the mark.

Instead, documents given to parents and athletes should be written and presented in such a way that they are understood. Don’t use technical jargon. Speak in plain English. Rather than comparing hip flexion angles at toe off between limbs and noting a 19-degree differential, simply state “Little Johnny’s right thigh doesn’t swing as high as his left one. If we fix that, his left heel probably won’t be the first part of his foot to hit the ground anymore, and he’s likely to become faster and decrease the chances he’ll get hurt. Training should focus on that moving forward.”

Save the heavy science for the strength and conditioning coaches, technical coaches, and sports science/medical staff. They can understand, and therefore value, that information.

Pro-tip: As Einstein said, “you don’t really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.” If your grandma doesn’t understand your report for parents, redo it.  

11. Leverage video analysis software

I will not belabor this point, as it has been written about extensively elsewhere.

Some sort of video analysis software is required, as the common video players don’t provide the necessary tools to report joint angles, movement times (such as time to take off, ground contact and flight time, etc.), and distance covered (step length, for example).

Without the key metrics, you cannot analyze performance.

When considering video analysis software, priorities include workflow—as a poor process can easily double or triple the required time to complete an analysis—software capability, and cost.

Dartfish is a phenomenal tool, commonly used by TV commentators like NFL analysts, and includes next-level features such as stromotion. Kinovea is a limited but viable tool to get started, and you can’t beat the cost (it’s free). Other players certainly exist in the market as well.

When considering video analysis software, priorities include workflow, software capability, and cost, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Pro-tip: Kinovea is free. Dartfish offers free trials, and many other software options likely do as well. Test the waters and understand that you get what you pay for.

12. Be prepared to calculate distances

Distance metrics, like step and stride length, are of value because you may find asymmetries between left and right step length. Beyond basic sprint analysis, lengths in events like the high hurdles and triple jump are must-have metrics.

In order to calculate distance via video, you must have a known reference the same distance from the camera as that which you wish to measure. Sounds complicated, but it makes sense intuitively: If you’ve set cones on the ground one meter from each other, you can use that known distance to calculate other metrics, so long as the athlete isn’t too far in front of or behind the cones.

Pro-tip: tennis balls cut in half make for small, vibrant distance markers.

Bonus tip: Recall that velocity = step length multiplied by step frequency. If you know average step length and 10m split time, you can extrapolate step frequency.

13. Prioritize workflow

Time is valuable—perhaps the only thing we lose and can never get back. If you refine your process, whether by upgrading your video analysis software or becoming a bit more handy within Excel, you may reduce the time it takes to generate a report by five or ten minutes. Those minutes add up, especially if you’re analyzing a team of athletes and want to turn around the reports in a timely manner.

Excel is handy for creating a template and being able to plug and play. If you possess even a remedial understanding of formulas, you can program Excel to automatically calculate values for you, saving precious time. Further, if you have the wherewithal to Google custom formatting options, you can even program Excel to automatically add the desired text to what you input to a cell, such that when you type 4.67 and hit “enter”, it automatically turns into “4.67 steps per second.” Not to mention the many charts you can create in Excel, from bar graphs to scatter plots and line charts.

You can program Excel to automatically calculate values for you, saving precious time, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

On the flip side, Excel is relatively limited in visual design options. Amazing design tools exist (like Canva), but I’ve yet to find one that matches the convenience and automation factors that Excel brings.

Lastly, write out the appropriate workflow to streamline your analysis process. The first few analyses I completed, I found myself going back and forth between still shots to measure angles. Then I got smart and wrote down a step-by-step process, ensuring I captured all measurements needed from one photo before moving on to the next. Total time to completion was cut almost in half.

Pro-tip: Make the down payment in time up front to save yourself time on the back end. Depositing a few hours to build your template and map out an efficient workflow will compound over time.

Bonus pro-tip: Program Excel such that when you input the time stamps at ground contact and toe off, contact and flight times are automatically extrapolated. 

14. Invest in technology…once you’re there

The bare minimum technological requirements are a camera, video analysis software, and a program to create a document, like Excel.

Beyond that, consider the variables you analyze, what metrics coaches and athletes find valuable, and how you may automate the data collection process via technology to improve data fidelity and streamline processes. Remember, the purpose of technology is to collect insightful data and save time in analysis.

Remember, the purpose of technology is to collect insightful data and save time in analysis, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

If you report ground contact and flight times, a MuscleLab contact grid will make your life easier, at a fraction of the cost of competing technologies. It isn’t difficult to manually calculate the metrics via film analysis…but it’s time consuming. Imagine having those numbers at your fingertips, ready to plug and play. Further considerations from those analyzing sprint performance include timing devices to capture speed metrics like rate of acceleration and maximum velocity, and IMUs to automate kinematic data collection. While many tech companies exist, the allure of Ergotest is that the technology they produce conveniently syncs together, displaying all data on one screen.

Those analyzing Olympic lifts may enjoy VBT sensors that capture bar speed as well as bar path, creating a nice visual that can be dropped into a report. A metabolic cart certainly provides value, particularly for endurance activities.

But before committing funds to technology, I recommend completing several reports, understanding the ROI, and becoming comfortable with the basics. Master a basic hip hinge before moving on to a power snatch.

Pro-tip: If you’re going to invest in technology, your first stop should be a quality video analysis software, like Dartfish.

15. Develop your business model

The value in performance reporting is there for athletes and coaches alike. This should be a standalone service you charge for, thus making this venture profitable as well as interesting and useful.

The value in performance reporting is there for athletes and coaches alike, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

You can and should make a business out of this.

What do you charge? Who is willing to pay for your services? How do you get your foot in the door to build momentum? How do you craft your sales pitch?

These are questions you must answer for yourself. Resources exist: take advantage of them.

Pro-tip: pro bono analyses can be a good way to attract clientele and repeat customers, but free services are often perceived as low value services. Walk the line carefully.

Take the Plunge

As one of my old coaches used to say, “the eye in the sky doesn’t lie.” Performance analysis—and specifically video analysis—isn’t going anywhere. It will continue to evolve, and advanced skillsets in analysis and presentation will separate coaches from the pack by providing actionable insight that illuminates areas for improved athletic performance.

Like all things, there’s a learning curve and lots of trial and error involved in becoming proficient. If you’re on the fence, here’s my advice: just take the plunge. You will grow as a practitioner, and your athletes will benefit along the way.

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

Throwing velocity has become a gatekeeper to the higher levels of baseball. Improving this quality is a complex endeavor, and one that I’m intimately familiar with as both a player and coach.

When I graduated college I wasn’t ready to give up on my dream of playing professional baseball, but with my velocity being what it was (up to 88mph), I didn’t have any opportunities. I knew I needed to throw harder, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about doing that. So, I buckled down and began researching, talking to coaches who had a track record of success with improving throwing velocity, and then experimenting on myself. Out of this process, I learned what did and did not work on my way to improving my own velocity to 94mph. Fast forward a few years, and I’ve helped many high school, college, and professional pitchers improve their velocities as well.

Throwing velocity has become a gatekeeper to the higher levels of baseball, says @tyler_anzmann. Share on X

This article will be about not only what works, but about why it works and how to apply it.

Program Design and Adaptations

Well-designed programs for velocity enhancement should involve some amount of high intensity throwing. This makes sense, as most people are intuitively familiar with the SAID principle (specific adaptations to imposed demands)—in other words, you need to train the thing you’re trying to get better at.

If you want to throw harder, you need to throw hard somewhat frequently. But beyond this obvious point, what’s going on as far as adaptations to this stimulus and how does it help increase throwing velocity? There are two basic types of adaptations that are important to understand when dissecting training methodology:

• Neurological adaptations
• Physiological adaptations

Both of these play a role in determining the output capability of a human being. If we use the analogy of a racecar driver, neurological adaptations would be akin to becoming a better driver, whereas physiological adaptations would be ways to increase the horsepower of the car. In order to throw at our highest possible velocity, both of these types of adaptations are important.

Neurological Adaptations

Neurological adaptations involve changes to the body’s software. If the software is too slow or out of date, even the best hardware will perform poorly.

1. Coordination

The first neurological adaptation that’s important to understand is coordination. Basically, this means that muscle force is applied at the right time, in the right direction, in the right sequence, etc. In research on specific adaptations to weight lifting, one of the key determinants of velocity-specific adaptations (how good did the participants get at lifting light weights fast vs. heavy loads slowly?) was coordination.

The groups that lifted lighter weights got better at lifting weights fast, while the other group got better at lifting heavier weights and not quite as good at lifting light weights fast (Almasbakk and Hoff, 1985). This points to the coordination gained from specific types of training being important for the specific adaptations. This same process occurs with high velocity throwing and is one of the reasons pitchers who focus only on throwing strikes at low intensity don’t continue to gain velocity after puberty (when physical maturation alone can account for improvements in velocity).

2. Motor Unit Recruitment

The second neurological adaptation is motor unit recruitment. A motor unit is composed of the motor neuron (a nerve cell which passes impulses from the brain or spinal cord to muscle fibers causing it to contract) and the muscle fibers it innervates. Motor units can be divided into low- and high-threshold varieties.

• Low threshold motor units are recruited first due to the size principle. These are composed mainly of type 1 (or slow twitch) muscle fibers, which are resistant to fatigue but are not capable of very high outputs.
• High threshold motor units are composed mainly of type 2 (or fast twitch) muscle fibers. These are only called upon when the central nervous system determines that their assistance is required. This could be when heavy loads are being lifted, when light loads are being lifted in close proximity to failure, or when maximal velocity is intended.

Repeated exposure to maximal effort activities can help make more high threshold motor units available. Therefore, throwing at maximal effort somewhat frequently can be a helpful stimulus for increasing the ability to recruit high threshold motor units (more on this later).

Repeated exposure to maximal effort activities can help make more high threshold motor units available, says @tyler_anzmann. Share on X

For example, an early off-season high intensity throwing session will typically include:

• A warm-up involving a potentiating component
• Specific constraints drills tailored to that athlete’s needs in low volume

Video 1. Figure 8 Drill, example of specific constraints.

• Long toss, or catch play as needed to finish warming up
• Maximal effort throws with additional momentum (run-up, shuffle, walk-up, etc.)
  • Over/underload balls may or may not be used depending on athlete development level, needs, etc.
  • Every throw is measured
  • A velocity drop-off is used (generally around 2%) to stop the session early if necessary
  • Complete rest between throws to keep fatigue low

Video 2.  Shuffle Throw.

3. Rate Coding

The third neurological adaptation is rate coding. Rate coding is the frequency at which motor units discharge action potentials to activate. Increasing the rate at which motor units are activated increases the potential for overall force output in shorter time frames.

High velocity movements have been shown to increase rate coding to a greater degree than heavy loading (Van Cutsem et al., 1998), which makes sense as this plays a larger role in high velocity force production than low velocity force production.

Heavy loading and high velocity movements both compete for significant recovery resources and therefore must both be carefully planned around and accounted for. This is just one reason why the assessment process is so critical. Depending on an athlete’s force velocity profile, training experience, and the time of year, more or less heavy loading may benefit that athlete. But, in a more advanced population, heavy loading plays a relatively small role in improving performance. This means a higher volume of sport-specific training (throwing in this case). More intensive ballistic and plyometric variations are used with contact times, velocities, and weights determined by the athlete’s profile.

4. Activation Level of Antagonist Muscles

The fourth neurological adaptation is related to the level of activation of antagonist muscles. Think of antagonists as the muscles that oppose the motion you’re trying to create (e.g., the triceps are the antagonist to the biceps as they extend the elbow while the biceps create elbow flexion).

Antagonist coactivation is important for joint stability, but if antagonist activation is too great it will limit the net torque produced by the opposite muscle. This coactivation has been shown to decrease as a result of high velocity training (Janusevicius et al., 2017).

Physiological Adaptations

Along with neurological adaptations, physiological adaptations to high velocity throwing are also critically important. Think about this as the hardware to the neurological software. Low quality hardware won’t be able to take advantage of all of the amazing features of even the best software.

1. Fascicle Length

The first physiological adaptation is a change in muscle fascicle length. Increased fascicle length is important as it is associated with faster contraction velocities. Longer fascicles mean a greater number of sarcomeres (the smallest functional unit of muscle tissue) in series and all of these sarcomeres shorten at the same time. If a greater number of sarcomeres in series shorten at the same velocity, a greater distance has been covered in the same amount of time. This equates to higher shortening velocity.

It has been shown that faster 100m sprinters have longer fascicles than their slower counterparts (Kumagai et al., 2000). This can be applied to throwers as well. The way sprinters train generally involves relatively frequent high effort sprinting, plyometrics, and gym sessions tailored to their specific needs. Throwers should be trained similarly. Throw at high intensity one or two times per week, use intensive and extensive ballistic and plyometric variations, and tailor gym sessions to the athlete’s needs.

2. Fiber Type Shifts

Muscle fiber types are something that everyone is familiar with. There are two broad categories: fast twitch and slow twitch. Beyond this basic level of familiarity, there is more that can be gleaned from understanding some important differences between the fiber types and subtypes.

Within the fast twitch (type 2) muscle fibers there are two important subcategories: type 2a and type 2x. Type 2x fibers have the fastest shortening velocities (~5-6 fiber lengths/second), while type 2a are still very fast (~3-4 fiber lengths/second) but are a bit slower than type 2x (Beardsley, 2021), and both types are significantly faster than type 1 fibers (0.5-1.0 fiber lengths/second) (Beardsley, 2021).

Depending on the type of training performed, fibers can shift their type from 2a to 2x, and vice versa. The more fatigue that is present in a training program, the more likely a shift is to occur from type 2x to type 2a. This may or may not be a problem depending on the force-velocity profile of the athlete, but as strength standards and basic body composition requirements are met, this is worth keeping in mind when programming. Type 2a can shift to 2x provided that the velocity is high enough and volume is relatively low.

Type 2a can shift to 2x provided that the velocity is high enough and volume is relatively low, says @tyler_anzmann. Share on X

This is just one reason why distance running and high volume, low to moderate intensity training programs tend to be incompatible with a goal of maximizing throwing velocity. If you want to maximize throwing velocity, high intent and low fatigue during training sessions are musts.

3. Stiffness and Connective Tissue Adaptations

Muscles and adaptations related to them are incredibly important when it comes to maximizing throwing velocity, but there are limitations to a purely muscle-focused approach. Concentric muscle actions are limited in that as the shortening velocity increases, force decreases—so at very high shortening velocities, very little force is produced. At the highest movement velocities, it may not even be possible for muscles to shorten fast enough to help in a meaningful way. This is why elastic energy storage and release is so important in high velocity movements, including throwing. Tendons play a large role here. They can be thought of as amplifiers to our muscle power. When tendons are stretched, they store elastic energy to be released later, producing output much greater than muscles alone are capable of.

In order to increase the amount of force that is transferred from a muscular contraction and increase the amount of elastic energy that can be stored and released, tendon stiffness often must be improved. Stiffer tendons require more force to be stretched, but they return more elastic energy. Compliant tendons, on the other hand, change length without requiring as much force to be exerted on them. Think about trying to pull a heavy stone using a very stretchy rubber band; this would be like a very compliant tendon in that force transfer (greatly inhibited). Next, think about pulling that same heavy stone with a chain; this would be like a stiffer tendon in that force transmission (better and more immediate).

Research has shown that elite 100m sprinters have stiffer Achilles tendons and stronger calves to go along with those stiffer tendons (Arampatzis et al., 2006). Stiffer tendons require stronger muscles in order to stretch them, so this makes sense. Similar adaptations occur at the shoulder and arm in overhead throwers. These adaptations occur as a result of high velocity training (sprinting) and also help to increase their sprinting proficiency. Throwing at high velocities has a similar training effect and these adaptations have similar performance implications for improving throwing velocity as well.

Research has shown that elite 100m sprinters have stiffer Achilles tendons and stronger calves, says @tyler_anzmann. Share on X

4. Muscle Pennation Angle

The final physiological adaptation involves the pennation angle of muscles. This is the angle of the muscle fibers relative to the longitudinal axis of the entire muscle. The greater the pennation angle, the fewer sarcomeres in series, but the greater the number in parallel. This means that a greater, or more obtuse, pennation angle means that the muscle is capable of generating higher forces, but lower velocities. Due to the shortening velocity being slower, more cross bridges can form, generating higher force. When higher velocity training is used, the pennation angle of a muscle tends to be reduced or more acute.

When it comes to throwing and other complex movement patterns involving proximal to distal sequencing, the more proximal muscles will generally have a greater pennation angle and the more distal muscles will have a reduced pennation angle. This makes sense, as the demands on those structures are different. Proximal muscles tend to be used more for force production and have more time to do so, while distal muscles tend to be exposed to much higher velocities and be involved in energy transfer.

Conclusion

In order to maximize an athlete’s opportunities to play at the highest level, throwing velocity must be maximized as it offers a powerful advantage on the field. However, maximum intensity throwing can provide benefits as a powerful means of training as well as an arrow in the quiver of a pitcher when used appropriately. The neurological and physiological adaptations that occur as a result of this stimulus help raise the ceiling for a thrower’s velocity potential. Once coaches understand the adaptations that can be created through a program involving high velocity throwing, a thoughtful program can be implemented based on their existing understanding of program design and periodization.

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

We may not realize it, but all good coaches subconsciously assess an athlete’s readiness in some capacity. This doesn’t necessarily involve the use of sophisticated technology—sometimes it’s simply talking with the athletes about how they’re feeling or how practice was and then making the appropriate adjustments to the training plan.

Coaches may not think that they have the ability to initiate an athlete readiness program on a larger scale due to a lack of resources, from knowledge to equipment to manpower. While having access to more resources can lead to better monitoring of our athletes, there are also several lower-cost and time-effective readiness protocols that can help coaches monitor their athletes’ readiness on a budget.

There are several lower-cost and time-effective readiness protocols that can help coaches monitor their athletes’ readiness on a budget. Share on X

This article will dive deeper into four affordable yet effective tools to monitor athlete readiness and help lay out real strategies to utilize them.

Athlete Readiness

Readiness monitoring is assessing an athlete’s physical and mental preparedness for that particular day. You can accomplish this through various methods, some easy to implement immediately and some requiring more work up front. The benefits of monitoring an athlete’s readiness are having the ability to keep your athletes from overtraining and making more appropriate adjustments to a training plan if necessary.

When monitoring athletes, you want to ensure that the information will provide value and help drive training decisions. Not every affordable measure will fit every environment and be appropriate—it is the coach’s responsibility to figure out if the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to committing to a readiness tool.

Coach to Athlete Communication

The most affordable monitoring tool available to coaches is their own coach’s eye and their ability to care and communicate with the athletes—this is free, provides insight, and helps get athlete buy-in. Trust is a two-way street, and we should see this as working with the athlete and not being above them.

Stress does not discriminate, whether it’s from an intense training session, academics, or arguing with a boyfriend/girlfriend—knowing this information allows coaches to better monitor the athletes and their training program.

This assessment begins the second they walk through the door. Are they talking and laughing? How does their body language appear? How are their actions consistent with what they’ve shown in the past?

This assessment begins the second they walk through the door. Are they talking and laughing? How does their body language appear? How are their actions consistent with what they’ve shown in the past? Share on X

If any of these raise a red flag, communication can begin with a simple how are you? That can go a long way in a trusting relationship. More follow-up questions include:

• What did you do last night?
• When did you go to sleep?
• How did you sleep?
• Did you eat breakfast?

And so on, including any questions that may be specific to the athlete or team.

I worked with a collegiate team that went out late on Thursday nights for their team bonding night. I knew coming in early Friday morning what we were getting into, and it was never good. Asking the right questions on Friday gave me the tools to better prepare that training session. This was a better idea and more of a reality than thinking I could prevent a team of college students from going out with their friends and teammates the night before.

Being a successful communicator is a requirement for a coach, and it also comes into play when implementing a more strategic monitoring strategy. The following four strategies and assessment tools can help coaches cover their entire team and pursue a more organized and holistic program:

1. Subjective questionnaires.
2. Grip strength.
3. Countermovement jump assessment.
4. 10-yard sprint assessment.

1. Questionnaires

Subjective questionnaires work to provide similar data as wearables, but from the athlete’s perspective. Everyone perceives stress and what is good hydration and nutrition differently, so it is important to educate athletes the best you can and try to create standards. Know your audience here and use your best judgment to create questions that will benefit the program.

I have used questionnaires for some teams and found success—not necessarily because it showed a magical number, but rather because it helped open the door for a conversation. If I see that an athlete has put a low number on morale or overall readiness for multiple days in a row, then I will have the type of productive conversation with that individual that has helped drive more success than anything else.

Obtaining a questionnaire is relatively easy and affordable. Training software such as Bridge Athletic and TeamBuildr have their own questionnaires available that teams can easily do from their phones. Or, if you’re on a tighter budget, you can create one yourself using Google Office or several other survey apps.

2. Grip Strength

Using grip strength to help regulate and assess an athlete’s readiness is one of my favorite methods. It’s quick, only taking about 10 seconds to test each hand. It’s also affordable: a quick Amazon search shows a grip dynamometer costs $28.99. And it requires no skill to operate—just grab it and squeeze it as hard as possible to get an accurate read.

Using grip strength to help regulate and assess an athlete’s readiness is one of my favorite methods. Share on X

Video 1. I’ve used grip strength as a readiness assessment method when working with private clients or small teams of 10-15. I first used this method when preparing a few athletes for pro days at their colleges and began to implement the grip test before and after training sessions.

Though I started with limited expectations, I’ve found with my athletes that grip strength is reliable for monitoring their fatigue and stress. You can see from the short range of data below that many of the days with lower results were surrounded by stressful periods for this athlete. These include testing in one of his pro day events, such as the 40-yard dash or 225-pound bench press test, during stressful times in his personal life such as a breakup and moving apartments, and the gradual stress of training multiple times and days throughout the week. The higher days often corresponded with positive training days and hitting personal records.

Getting a baseline or “max” was the first objective, and then monitoring anything larger than a 10% drop-off as a red flag that would potentially influence training. Every time there was a dip in grip strength, we didn’t automatically decrease training or assume the sky was falling. But consistently, each time there was a significant drop, it was around a time of chaotic stress or injury.

The only downside to this method is that there is high variability at first—it takes some time before you can create a reliable average and begin to see patterns. Since it is so accessible to test, though, the numbers will accumulate quickly.

For me, it’s just too easy of an option not to implement it, with low risk and a potentially high reward.

3. Countermovement Jump

Performing a countermovement jump is another assessment that can help monitor training readiness. It meets the same required criteria of being quick, semi-affordable, and relatively reliable for recognizing athlete fatigue.

Step one is to find a testing tool that you can use consistently. I personally like using a jump mat, as I find that it’s quicker and flows better in a group setting than jumping with a Vertec. Either is fine, and most facilities are equipped with one or the other (or at least can find room in the budget to purchase a reliable vertical jump testing tool).

Video 2. Performing a countermovement jump on a Just Jump mat as a readiness monitoring tool.

Next, it is important to test often and under the same testing standards—for example, I test my teams every session after warm-ups and before the first lifting block, every training day.

Keeping the testing procedures consistent is not only important for creating more data and making numbers more reliable, but it also helps with the flow of the training session. Share on X

Keeping the testing procedures consistent is not only important for creating more data and making the numbers more reliable, but it also helps with the flow of the training session. Eventually, the athletes just knew that we perform a countermovement jump to conclude our warm-up.

When examining the jumps, I stick to the rule of 10% drop-off being a red flag. If an athlete jumps under the 10%, I allow another rep to ensure it wasn’t just a poor rep; if the jump is similar or even worse, then we can look to adjust the training plan.

4. 10-Yard Sprint

The 10-yard sprint is another great tool to monitor an athlete’s readiness for training. When recording the numbers for the exercise, it is important to keep the testing procedures similar, much like with the countermovement jump. The timing of the 10 isn’t done to necessarily get an accurate 10-yard sprint, but rather to compare the numbers to themselves and decide where the athlete’s training ability is for that day.

A stopwatch can easily record an athlete’s sprint time to compare to over the course of time. As long as the testing procedures are similar, performed at the same time, with the same setup, and by the same individual, then you should feel confident with comparing and relying on the numbers.

When training large groups, I’ve given the responsibility of one line to interns, or even sport coaches who watch the team lift. Then I always keep them with that group throughout the testing.

Video 3. When performing the assessment, I run three sprints and use the best timed sprint as the number to compare to their best recorded time. Ensure that the athletes get full rest—one minute at the minimum; this should be easy to do if you are working with a large group.

Using a sprint drop-off chart (which you can find for free at xlathlete.com), you can determine if the sprint has a 2-5% drop-off change. I have always used 5% or higher as my marker, as I find 2% to be too low for the level of athletes I train. Five percent or more gives them more wiggle room for errors.

On the Right Path

All coaches want to know that they’re making the right decisions to drive their athletes in the correct direction. Much like the value of a map on a long road trip, readiness tools can offer coaches insight that they are on the correct path and doing what is right for the athletes.

Implementing these methods to determine athlete readiness is a low-risk/high-reward option coaches can do without altering their current training program or environment. Share on X

Monitoring athlete readiness does not have to be an expensive or complicated process. Implementing these methods is a low-risk/high-reward option coaches can do without altering their current training program or environment. The previously listed methods are all also cost- and time-effective, allowing coaches to make better training decisions.

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

By Mike Over and Alex Chrysovergis

If you’re training for strength, power, and overall athleticism—or even if you’re just a fan of reading fitness literature—chances are you’ve heard of post-activation potentiation (PAP). This is the phenomenon by which “the contractile history of a muscle influences the mechanical performance of subsequent muscle contractions.”¹ In layman’s terms, this means that by exposing a muscle to heavy loads prior to an explosive movement, we can elicit greater fast-twitch fiber recruitment and a higher degree of nervous system stimulation.

Simply put, we harness more power.

There are a few training methods that take advantage of this principle, the most common being the complex and contrast methods. Complex training involves performing a few heavy repetitions in the strength range, immediately followed by some reps of a lighter load power exercise of the same movement pattern. For example, back squats and plyometric jumps. The contrast method, on the other hand, involves switching between strength and power exercises from set to set.

French Contrast is two ‘waves’ of potentiation-based training all rolled into one big complex set. Generally, you’ll take 20 seconds between exercises and 2-5 minutes between sets. Share on X

All of this sounds great, but can we possibly do even better? Yes, we can. Enter the French Contrast Method (FCT), an advanced training protocol that combines both complex and contrast training. Research and personal experience suggest that it produces amazing results. The concept was first and foremost grasped by French track & field coach Gilles Cometti, and then it was widely popularized by Cal Dietz, the Head Olympic Strength & Conditioning Coach for numerous sports at the University of Minnesota.

Here’s a general overview of how it works. Each set involves:

1. A heavy compound lift: This is a big strength movement whose purpose is to recruit as many relevant motor units as possible.
2. A force-oriented plyometric movement: This typically involves a relatively longer ground contact/stretch reflex time. At this point, you should just try to produce the maximum amount of force possible on each repetition.
3. A speed-strength movement: Speed-strength is all about moving at high speed with the maximum load possible.
4. A speed-oriented plyometric movement: An accelerated/overspeed exercise is performed here, usually by utilizing a band to provide that extra speed boost.

All four exercises belong in the same set and represent a similar movement pattern like pushing, pulling, squatting, hinging, and so on. They should be performed in this exact order, taking only a few seconds of rest between each one.

The totality of these movements is designed to involve the whole strength-speed/speed-strength spectrum.

Programming Parameters

Now let’s elaborate on specific programming parameters.

1. Load and Reps

• For the compound lift, the load should fluctuate around 80% of your 1RM. Perform 2-3 reps. Resist the temptation to go too heavy. The purpose is to potentiate the muscles, not get gassed out. More on common mistakes later.
• In the force-oriented plyometric, simply focus on producing as much power as possible on each rep. Do 3-5 reps.
• For the speed-strength movement, use around 60% of your 1RM as a general rule, especially if you’re going to use Olympic lift variations. Keep in mind that this percentage can vary depending on the nature of the exercise. For example, other ballistic exercises like the barbell jump squat are best performed around the 30% point. The load you choose should feel heavy yet comfortable enough to be explosive. Again, do 3-5 reps.
• In the speed-oriented plyometric, focus on minimizing contact time with the ground or switching between concentric (lifting the weight) and eccentric (lowering the weight) contractions as fast as possible. Perform 4-6 reps.

2. Sets and Timing

All four of the above exercises constitute one giant set. Once more, remember that your goal is to attack every rep with full intent and aggression, not under fatigue. Therefore, perform your French Contrast sets first thing after a good, dynamic warm-up while you’re still fresh. Do not exceed 3-4 sets of any given complex in the same training session. You can program two complexes for different body parts though, such as lower and upper body.

3. Rest and Frequency

Rest around 20-30 seconds between each exercise during the set but take 2-5 minutes off between sets. The French Contrast Method is notorious for draining the lifter’s nervous system resources and causing systemic fatigue.

The French Contrast Method is notorious for draining the lifter’s nervous system resources and causing systemic fatigue… Use it in your last periodization block to peak, for no more than 3 weeks. Share on X

For this reason, you should use it in your last periodization block (realization phase) to peak, two to three times per week, and for no more than three weeks. Make sure to follow with a deload period, especially if you’re competing.

Examples

Let’s look at some examples so that the method’s modus operandi becomes crystal clear. It goes without saying that what follows is a simple demonstration of the logic behind the method. The movements can be substituted with others, sport-specific or not, to suit your needs accordingly, as long as the above conditions and principles are satisfied.

Complex 1: Hinge/Lower Body Pull

Let’s first take a look at FCT as applied to lower body pulling. This series, in particular, can help athletes with building linear acceleration and aerobic work capacity/power. The exercises are:

1A. Trap bar deadlift or RDL – 3 reps @ 80%
1B. Broad jump (high-force speed) – 3 reps

1C. Elastic resisted row – 5 reps

1D. Assisted sprint – 15-20 meters

Insert Video 1. Hinge series.

Complex 2: Squat/Lower Body Push

Here’s an example of how to apply FCT to squatting. It will help athletes immensely with vertical jumping speed and power. Here are the lifts:

1A. Safety bar box squat – 3 reps @ 80%
1B. Hurdle hops – 3 reps

1C. Sled push resisted x 20m

1D. Assisted squat jumps – 5 reps

Insert Video 2. Squat series.

Complex 3: Upper Body Push

This is an example of FCT applied to upper body pushing. It will tremendously help athletes required to throw/push/punch in their sport. Here’s what it includes: 

1A. Close grip barbell bench press – 3 reps @ 80%
1B. Med ball chest pass – 5 reps

1C. Dumbbell push press – 5 reps @ 60%

1D. Band-assisted plyo push-up – 5 reps

Insert Video 3. Upper body push series.

Complex 4: Upper Body Pull

As far as functional movements are concerned, this list would not be complete without a pulling-focused complex. Athletes who drag/pull/grapple in their sport will find this extremely useful. The exercises are:

1A. Weighted pull-up – 3 reps @ 80%
1B. Plyo inverted row – 5 reps

1C. Ball slam – 5 reps

1C. Band-assisted pull-up – 5 reps

Video 4. Upper body pull series.

Common Mistakes

By now you should have a good idea of how to program FCT. Now let’s look at some common mistakes you’d best avoid.

1. Not Choosing the Correct Weight

A lot of times, people do French Contrast wrong because they see it as an opportunity to load up the weight and create high degrees of stress and tension and even go to near failure for 8+ reps.

This is counterproductive for an athlete trying to get stronger and faster. The context of their sport and the athlete’s goals help identify the loading schemes and range of motion. If you are a sprinter trying to boost acceleration, why in the world would you feel the need to squat ass to grass with 1-3 rep maxes? You want to maximize the potentiation effects of your big strength lift, so you don’t want aggressive fatigue coming from the main lift. The same applies for deadlifts from the floor or raised. You must use the correct scenario for each particular athlete and their goals.

Additionally, acceleration doesn’t happen with perpendicular shin angles, so take that note into account when doing your movements.

2. You Rest Like a CrossFit Lifter or a Bodybuilder

You are training for performance, but you are not trying to drive so much lactate to your muscles you can’t move the next day!

On the flip side, you will be out of breath. That’s normal. However, we’re here to get strong and fast, so sucking wind for 2-3 minutes between exercises would be a sign you need to go back to base one and touch up your conditioning work.

French Contrast is two “waves” of potentiation-based training all rolled into one big complex set. Generally, you’ll take 20 seconds between exercises and 2-5 minutes between sets.

3. Poor Exercise Selection

Most people will just turn to the standard box jump for the choice to contrast the main lift. While it can help, you need to think more outside the box (no pun intended) and utilize more exercises that relate to the athlete’s needs. Other options can include hurdles, bounds, even depth jumps and band-assisted/-resisted jumps.

Are they in a frontal plane sport? Have lateral-based movements. Additionally, the key is to not gas yourself on the big lift so your plyometric is not at a high work rate.

4. Trying It with a Low Training Age

While seeing this on YouTube and Instagram might be exciting for the young athlete, it can be a waste of time. Doing the French Contrast Method without developing basic levels of strength and power would be like trying to add a spoiler and turbo to your ’95 Toyota in the hope of kickstarting the engine’s speed.

Doing French Contrast without developing basic levels of strength and power would be like traying to add a spoiler and turbo to your ’95 Toyota in the hope of kickstarting the engine’s speed. Share on X

It’s just not ready for it.

Rate of force development (RFD) within a muscle requires various levels of motor unit contractions. They can be either isometric or ballistic contractions. However, the point of RFD is understanding that high initial motor unit release plays a critical role to reach a high rate of force development. This means that if an athlete cannot recruit the most motor units, their RFD will be impacted, making it a poor choice for low-skill newbies.

5. Using for 3+ Weeks

While this strategy is highly advantageous to use even closer to competition, it is not something you want to continue to do for extended periods of time. It is perfect for building to peak week.

The best way to use French Contrast training is as a form of periodized block training and cycle it in 3-4 weeks prior to your event or competition. The goal of FCT is not muscular growth, so if your goal is to add slabs of muscle, I wouldn’t count on this to get you there.

French Contrast Takeaways

For FCT, potentiation is the underlying physiological mechanism that theoretically makes this set structure effective. This is when a conditioning exercise—commonly a heavy loaded compound movement—serves to increase the performance of a subsequent exercise, commonly a lower-load, higher-velocity exercise. French Contrast is a great way to take potentiation and alternate between high force and high speed.

While this method tends to work much more efficiently with higher-skill lifters, it has been tested with lower-skill beginners, and there is some suggestion that if they are above novice, a slight drop in intensity (think RPE 6-7) and a slight increase in the reps performed can have some merit. This is ultimately up to the discretion of the coach. Beginners need to be focused on motor learning, recruitment, and proprioception before working such high training variations.

One big thing to remember that is often underappreciated is that in sports and training, many scenarios involve performing while fatigued. That is one area where the French Contrast can help and give a proper synergy to real-life situations.

Adding French Contrast training can fire up metabolic capacity and enhance the overall work capacity of your training session by getting more work done in less time. Share on X

Above all, FCT is a solid way to stay young and agile if you’re over 40. In particular, most men after this age begin losing motor units and growth hormone. Adding FCT can fire up metabolic capacity and enhance the overall work capacity of your training session by getting more work done in less time.

If you find yourself needing to show up your old high school buddies in a summer basketball league this year, give this method a try 3-4 weeks leading up to your season.

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. Lorenz, D. “Postactivation Potentiation: An Introduction.” International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. 2011;6(3):234–240.

Alex Chrysovergis is a self-defense instructor and strength and conditioning coach. He’s the owner of Streetwise Krav Maga, a leading reality-based self-defense and fitness school in Greece.

In 1998, Michael Owen became the youngest England player ever to play at a World Cup when he was brought on as a substitute in England’s first group game, a 2-0 win against Tunisia. Owen was also a substitute in the next game, before starting the final group match, a 2-0 victory over Colombia. In the quarterfinals, the 18-year-old Owen was again chosen to start the match—this time against Argentina. In the 16^th minute, with the score tied 1-1, Owen received the ball just inside the Argentina half, dribbled past two of their most experienced defenders, and coolly finished from just outside the penalty box.

It was an amazing goal, and one that led to him being voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The assumption was that, being this good at 18, Owen would go on to become a world-beater: the best player on the planet. Things didn’t quite work out as planned. Although he had a couple of successful seasons following his breakthrough, Owen eventually moved to Newcastle—where the team was relegated—and Manchester United (where he was largely a bit-part player), before ending his career, aged 33, at Stoke City.

At least Owen got to play on the biggest stage. At age 12, Sonny Pike had the world at his feet. The British player had a trial at Ajax, the Dutch club renowned for developing successful world class players; later, he had trials at Chelsea. At 14, he was part of a McDonald’s advertising campaign, and had his legs insured for £1 million. Much was made of Pike’s talent—he was compared to Pele and Maradona—but he retired from football in 2001, aged just 18, having never played a professional game.

Key Predictors for Success

The stories of Pike and Owen highlight the sporting world’s obsession with youngsters, with the implicit—and sometimes explicit—notion that being good at a young age transfers to senior success. We see this in track and field all the time: athletes who are successful at the under-18 and under-20 levels being promoted as those that will soon become world-beaters.

To an extent, I experienced this in my own career; having come 3^rd at the World Under-18 Championships and 1^st at the European Under-20 Championships over 100m, and with the London 2012 Olympics just seven years away, I was heralded as a potential gold medal winner at those Games.

That, of course, didn’t happen.

Despite these cautionary tales, many people believe that what makes a good junior athlete also makes a successful senior athlete, and point to factors such as conversion from World Under-20 to senior squads as evidence of effective (or ineffective) systems. However, a recent study published in Sports Medicine suggests that the predictors of junior and senior elite performance are in fact, in many cases, opposite.

Despite these cautionary tales, many people believe that what makes a good junior athlete also makes a successful senior athlete, says @craig100m. Share on X

To reach their conclusion, the study authors conducted an extensive literature search, finding 71 studies comprising 9,241 athletes (both male and female) from across the globe. Two-thirds of the athletes combined into the meta-analysis were from team sports, 24% from centimeter-gram-second (CGS) sports (such as athletics, rowing, and weightlifting), with the rest from combat, artistic, and other sports.

Athletes were designated junior status based on the definition of the international federation. For athletics, this would be under-20 athletes (defined as competing up to and including the year of their 19^th birthday). Overall, 5,690 of the athletes comprising the meta-analysis were juniors, and 3,551 were seniors. Finally, the authors split the athletes into four groups:

• World Class—athletes who placed in the top-10 at major international senior or junior world or continental championships (1,003 in total).
• National Class—athletes who were part of a national squad, and/or achieved a top-10 finish at the national championships, and/or played in the highest national league (4,818 in total).
• Regional Class—athletes competing at below national standard (2,541 in total).
• Below—everyone else (879 in total).

When analyzing their data, the authors looked at some key predictor variables within the athletes, including the age at which they reached key performance milestones, the age at which they started taking part in their main sport, the amount of accumulated practice in their sport, the amount of accumulated play in their sport, and the amount of accumulated practice and play in other sports.

The results make for interesting reading.

For junior success, the predictor variables suggested that these athletes achieved key milestones earlier, started their main sport earlier, undertook more practice in their main sport, and took part in fewer other sports.

For senior success, the predictor variables suggested athletes achieved key milestones later, started the sport later, and took part in other sports to a greater extent. In senior athletes, the amount of main sport practice was less of a predictor of success than in the junior age groups (in part because at the senior level everyone has high levels of practice), and the amount of early main-sport practice was not related to senior success.

When comparing senior World Class with National Class athletes, the researchers also noted something interesting: senior world class athletes tended to start their main sport later, and accumulated significantly less main-sport practice, but significantly more practice in other sports.

Senior world class athletes tended to start their main sport later, says @craig100m. Share on X

What Does All This Mean?

Firstly, if you want to be a successful junior, you should start your sport as early as possible, accumulate as much practice as possible, and focus your efforts on your main sport. If you want to have senior success, you should be a bit more circumspect: practice multiple other sports during your youth, and then focus on a key sport in your late teens.

Secondly, this is another nail in the coffin of the much popularized “10,000 hours” rule; accumulating as much training time as possible in one sport (“deliberate practice”) early on is negatively associated with senior success. Interestingly, senior World Class athletes appeared to accumulate less overall practice time than senior National Class athletes, suggesting that “giftedness”—whatever we might think that consists of—may be a driving factor of senior success.

Furthermore, and highlighting difficulties in talent identification, senior National Class athletes tended to be better at the junior level than senior World Class athletes, but the World Class athletes had a rapid improvement over a short-time period during late adolescence and/or early adulthood which took them to the highest level.

The authors came up with an interesting potential explanation for at least some of these differences: depleted potential. They suggest that athletes may have a similar level of potential, but when they attempt to maximize this potential may be important. Future national class athletes appear to deplete their potential earlier, in part by undertaking more sport-specific practice during their mid-teen years.

Athletes may have a similar level of potential, but when they attempt to maximize this potential may be important, says @craig100m. Share on X

This clashes with other stressors—school, sleep, homework, socializing, etc.—all of which may blunt the scope for future positive adaptations, potentially through overuse injuries or burnout. Less sport-specific practice during this age bracket, however, decreases the risk of overuse injuries and burnout, and so maintains adaptive potential for later on, when the athlete is physiologically able to harness it.

Pulling It All Together

It’s clear to see that what makes a good junior athlete is different from what makes a senior athlete. This doesn’t mean that being a good junior athlete is negative; instead, the main telling factor is how the junior athlete became “good.” If it’s based on minimal training and a high level of sport sampling, then this is potentially a marker of talent; if it’s based off lots of training and potentially early maturation, then it’s potentially a marker of a lower chance of senior success.

What makes a good junior athlete is different from what makes a senior athlete, says @craig100m. Share on X

As such, focusing on enhancing junior performance through accumulating high levels of sport-specific training is potentially damaging to senior success, but positive for junior success. This means that we might, to some extent, be forced to choose—and that expecting successful junior athletes to become successful senior athletes may be a false prophecy.

Lead Photo by Kieran McManus/BPI/Icon Sportswire

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