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Travel is a part of sports at nearly every level. Professional sports teams likely have it the worst, going from coast to coast through as many as four time zones in North America. However, travel is not a uniquely professional challenge; at the semi-pro, college, and other levels, it’s common for teams to spend hours on a bus en route to their games. I still get chills thinking about the “sleeper buses” needed in many junior hockey leagues in North America.

Traveling, in whatever form, will add challenges to prepare athletes for games. As performance coaches, it’s our job to educate our athletes on managing those stresses to perform at their best. Share on X

Traveling, in whatever form, will add challenges to prepare athletes for games. It will complicate sleep, make it harder to get quality nutrition and hydration, and leave athletes stiff and less mobile. As performance coaches, it’s our job to educate our athletes on managing those stresses to perform at their best.

Depending on your role, you’ll often be able to support them directly by supplying resources like proper nutrition, supplements, and recovery tools. Here are some variables to keep in mind and manage for athletes while traveling.

Track Overall Recovery with a Wearable Device

At the end of the day, you need to have data to measure recovery. Otherwise, neither you nor your athletes will have objective measurements to go off of, whatever interventions you choose.

In a professional sports environment, teams can (and often do) provide players with some wearable device, like a WHOOP Strap or Oura Ring, among many other reputable brands. The benefit for teams using the same brand is that they provide a dashboard where coaches can see all the player data in one place.

While not perfect, heart rate variability (HRV) data collected during sleep provides an overall indicator of recovery. So, if players see a dip in their HRV while traveling, they know they should take some extra steps toward recovery. HRV can be helpful because, as you’ll notice when you look at the data, some athletes recover much better than others while traveling. Anecdotally, we’ve all seen some people who can’t sleep on planes or buses at all, whereas others can knock themselves out without a problem.

That’s a simple example, but the point is that recovery will vary, and some players will need more support than others. With the wearable data, you can identify who may need to prioritize more of the recovery tools that I’ll touch on later. From there, you can have individual conversations with athletes to discuss recovery interventions.

Recovery will vary, and some players will need more support than others. With the wearable data, you can identify who may need to prioritize more recovery tools and interventions. Share on X

Additionally, wearables empower athletes to make changes even when you’re not looking at the data closely. They can see for themselves that, yes, the five-hour flight left them worse off than they thought, so they should take extra steps on their own accord.

It’s not feasible for all teams to invest in this, but the good news is wearable devices are becoming more and more commonplace. Often, athletes will already have their own, and you can talk to them about allowing you access to their data on a coaching dashboard. With my business in the private sector, we buy all our clients’ wearable devices now—but if they come in with their own, one of the first steps we take is to get access to their wearable data. I’ve written an article about why HRV is the best metric to assess recovery, which you can read for more background on that measurement.

Plan Sleep and Exercise Around Time Zone Changes and Travel

The most significant changes when traveling come from sleep. First, athletes aren’t sleeping in their own bed, which has its own set of problems, from temperature to light exposure to the comfort (or lack thereof) of hotel pillows. You’re often changing time zones, which throws off sleep cycles and circadian rhythms.

Even if you don’t cross time zones, at lower levels, in particular, it is common for teams to leave at crazy times. Sure, the NHL might bring you the day before, but in the minors or juniors, if you have a noon game four hours away, the team bus or plane will likely leave at 6 a.m., which means athletes wake up around 5 a.m. These early mornings are the nature of the sport, so let’s plan for it.

Crossing Time Zones: East to West

Often in the professional ranks, the performance and coaching staff get a say in the travel schedule. If you’re fortunate enough to be in that position, here are some considerations. In my experience, even at lower levels, as long as it doesn’t require an extra hotel night (which skyrockets costs for a team), coaching staff and management are receptive to different suggestions.

If you’re going to the East Coast from the West Coast (like New York to Los Angeles) and have flexibility around the departure time, aim to land in the evening right around a reasonable bedtime in LA. For example, if you leave New York at 7 p.m. Eastern and land at 10 p.m. Pacific, it will be 1 a.m. EST, and athletes will be ready for bed. Upon arrival, plan to shuttle the team right toward bed. This departure time allows for a big dinner before leaving and then before-bed snacks or a lighter meal upon arriving. If athletes are in bed by 11 p.m., they can be up at a reasonable hour on the West Coast and be more adjusted to the West Coast circadian rhythm.

Try to adjust athletes to the hours of the place where they play so their internal clocks can be ready for sympathetic activity. Share on X

This may seem a bit silly because you’re making tired athletes stay up late. But if they must play a game the next day at 7 p.m. PST/10 p.m. EST, and they’re on an EST schedule, they’re likely to be more tired for the game if you let them stay on an East Coast sleep schedule. Instead, try to adjust athletes to the hours of the place where they play so their internal clocks can be ready for sympathetic activity. This advice is especially true because road trips often last more than one game, and players will be in that new time zone for several days up to a few weeks.

It applies even if the team is only traveling one or two hours (although to a lesser extent) or if the team is going across an ocean and through more time zones. The principal aim is to land in the evening and get athletes to bed at a normal hour in the new time zone.

Crossing Time Zones: West to East

When going in the opposite direction, I have the opposite advice. Instead of traveling in the evening, travel in the morning. For example, an 8 a.m. flight means players wake up at 5 a.m. PST, which is 8 a.m. EST. This time is a reasonable wake-up hour, so athletes will already adjust to the East Coast time zone. When the team arrives in the afternoon, plan some light exercise as soon as possible after landing.

Exercising right before our desired bedtime, of course, is a mistake. It will accomplish the opposite of what you want. However, exercise in the afternoon has been shown to be a nice reset for our body’s temperature cycles. We’re hot when we work out, but we cool down over several hours into our sleep cycle. The same goes for our hormonal systems. A burst of cortisol and adrenaline in the afternoon sets us up for melatonin production several hours later, limiting the effects of jet lag.

Encourage or lead a 5- to 10-minute dynamic warm-up with your athletes to get them moving once they land in the afternoon. In addition to the circadian rhythm reset benefits, this warm-up will also get them moving after being on a plane where they’ve stiffened up and halted blood flow. In these instances, the goal is to land in the afternoon and get in some exercise.

Regardless of the time zone change, the principle is to align your body to the time zone you’re landing in as soon as possible. Even in the day or two before leaving, encourage athletes to start to shift sleep toward that time zone if it’s practical. Encourage movement if it’s daytime when you arrive and encourage jumping right into a pre-bed routine (after eating and other reasonable measures) if landing in the evening.

Early Morning Departure

Here’s what you should make sure your athletes DO NOT do. And I’m emphasizing this because I’ve seen it countless times. If you have to wake up at 5 a.m. for a noon game, athletes will often stay up the entire night until they get on the bus, then get a few crappy hours of bus sleep right before playing. If you train teenagers and even college athletes, you’ll be surprised how common it is.

The drawbacks to this are obvious. They get less sleep overall and lower-quality sleep in a suboptimal environment (a moving bus). They also mess with their sleep cycle by staying up all night and sacrificing any chance of significant deep sleep and REM sleep.

Instead, the solution is to go to bed earlier. If an athlete typically goes to bed at 11 p.m. and wakes up at 7 a.m., plan on them going to bed two hours earlier. Now, this might not be possible, but going through the evening routine two hours earlier helps people fall asleep earlier as well. Realistically, you can’t expect perfection here, but getting to bed any earlier will help. Then they can take a little nap on the bus before the game and be much better off than they would have been otherwise.

Set Up Your New Environment

One of the biggest challenges of competing while traveling is being away from our typical routines. Athletes aren’t sleeping in their own beds or eating their usual meals, so it’s crucial to encourage planning around this.

Sleep Environment

The ideal sleep temperature for almost everyone is 62–69 degrees Fahrenheit. If athletes already know what temperature they sleep best in (which, again, HRV data will help determine), encourage them to set the thermostat to their ideal temperature right away.

A simple, low-cost option is to bring a case of earplugs (the silicone ones are a bit comfier) and a bunch of eye masks for those payers who want them. Share on X

Even at the professional level, players often share a hotel room, which can cause sleeping strife in its own right. Hopefully, as a performance coach, you have done an excellent job educating them on good sleep habits, such as keeping the TV and other screens off and closing the shades to not let in artificial light. But what do you tell athletes if one roommate is up late reading, on Facetime with their partner, or snores in the middle of the night?

A simple, low-cost option is to bring a case of earplugs (the silicone ones are a bit comfier) and a bunch of eye masks for those players who want them. Again, this is imperfect, but it can offset otherwise uncontrollable factors. These can also be useful if the team stays in a busy city with more noise and light pollution than where they live.

Food on Hand

How to eat while traveling deserves its own article. However, it helps to always have healthy snacks on hand, like fruit, protein bars, and some pre-made wraps. Often, part of the job of the performance coach is to plan this ahead of time. Are you getting snacks or meals delivered to the team hotel? Are players entirely on their own? If it’s the latter, have you looked up options for places nearby to get healthy food?

This is one of those areas where the strength coach ends up doing much more than worrying about what’s going on in the weight room. Your goal is to empower athletes to plan ahead even if there are no team resources. These are details, but they can and often will make the difference between an athlete with the fuel to compete and one without.

Recovery Tools
This is the fun part you might have been looking forward to with all the fancy recovery tools and toys available.

• Normatec/Compression – One of the elements I liked a lot about the Normatec device, as I wrote about in my review here, is that it’s SO easy to travel with. The basic concept of the Normatec is you wrap it around your body (I use the legs product), and it adds compression, improving blood flow and circulation. This is called pneumatic compression. In a team setting, it’s easy to have a few of these on hand for anybody to use. Players can get a lot out of it with just 20 minutes in the hotel room.

• Myofascial Release Tools – You can’t bring a big foam roller with you while you travel, but you can pack a bunch of lacrosse balls or softballs or a few electric massage tools like a Hyperice Hypervolt or Theragun to go around. All of these fit in carry-on bags and make it through security. Encourage players to bring their own lacrosse or tennis balls in their carry-on.

Massage has also been shown to increase parasympathetic nervous system activity, making it a great tool in our arsenal for improving recovery and essential while on the road. Share on X

Yes, this will support local recovery. But massage has also been shown to increase parasympathetic nervous system activity, making it a great tool in our arsenal for improving recovery and all the more important while on the road.

Supplements
Supplements often act as small factors. A little here or a little there, the thinking goes, makes a small, worthwhile difference. When it comes to road trips, though, two supplements can have a considerable impact on how athletes adjust to travel and recover: caffeine and melatonin.

• Caffeine – Caffeine is a double-edged tool. On the one hand, it keeps you awake; on the other hand, it keeps you awake. If the team arrives in the daytime and needs to avoid sleeping, caffeine can help reset the circadian rhythm. But if it’s the afternoon or evening at your destination, educate players to make sure they avoid caffeine. If you have one of those, “well, I drink coffee all the time, and I feel fine,” then you’ve got a bigger battle that involves much more than road trips.

• Melatonin – Melatonin, for this purpose, is the opposite of caffeine. It’ll put you to sleep. In general, I don’t recommend melatonin supplementation because it decreases the body’s ability to produce melatonin. Traveling across time zones is the one exception.

As an extreme example, if you’ve just flown to Australia and have a 9- to 12-hour time difference, your internal clock is wholly flipped when you arrive. Taking melatonin in their early evening can allow you to sleep through the night and get on their schedule. When traveling lesser distances, like 4- to 6-hour time zones, if athletes know they will have difficulty falling asleep at the new place, you can talk to them about taking melatonin.

When it comes to road trips, two supplements can have a considerable impact on how athletes adjust to travel and recover: caffeine and melatonin. Share on X

Other Variables

We didn’t talk about how the game schedule itself can mess with your schedule. Not only are athletes traveling, but they’re also competing late at night. Luckily, I’ve also written a guide about how to recover from late-night competition and training.

Combine that piece with this one, and you’ll have the tools to best support your athletes during a crazy competition schedule.

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

Good old social media. Why is it that even with app limits and turning off notifications, I randomly check my IG and Twitter accounts multiple times every day expecting to see…well, I’m not quite sure what I expect to see. Maybe that’s why I check, for the unexpected jolt of dopamine and perhaps a feeling of self-worth that someone I’ve never met “liked” or “retweeted” my post.

Hooray, my day is now complete!

That’s never enough, though. I want more; we all want more: more likes, more followers, more retweets and reposts, more words of affirmation, more entertainment!

I had initially planned to write an article on college recruitment and how strength and conditioning coaches can maximize their time with recruits and families to leave an impact. The main focus of the article was on authenticity; however, when I started to write about being authentic, I couldn’t help but think about the last two days in which I told myself to not go on any social media, as it was causing me some anxiety (which isn’t a feeling I usually experience).

There’s something to that, and my hope in writing this article is to share with you some recent feelings and experiences with social media and how, going forward, I intend to approach these apps on my phone that are a dopamine goldmine.

How can I stop comparing myself to others and not feel pressured to post and share every aspect of my program? asks @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

How can we get back some control of our phones and our time on social media sites? How can we get the most out of these sites without spending hours on our phones each day? How can I stop comparing myself to others and not feel pressured to post and share every aspect of my program?

With honesty comes vulnerability. In sharing my thoughts, I know these will resonate with many of you. As always, I want to encourage us to realize that we can control what we see and how it makes us feel. I’ll look at three different topics around social media that I’m concerned about that, if managed appropriately, can turn into real positives. These are:

• Insecurities of not doing enough.
• Rabbit holes.
• “Networking.”

Insecurities

Like most professionals, strength and conditioning coaches look up to and try to learn from the people in the top programs with the most success. For me, in the U.S. collegiate system as a mid-major strength coach, that means looking at Power 5 Conference S&C coaches to see how they do things. If I’m watching a game on TV, I look out for the strength coaches and see how they act on the bench during games. I try and listen to any podcasts they’re on, and for the main premise of this article, I look at what they share on social media.

While social media can certainly educate, it can also apply small pressures throughout the day, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

This can be quite intimidating, especially for a young coach in the industry—while social media can certainly educate, it can also apply small pressures throughout the day. I often ask myself questions such as:

• They’re always posting before and after pictures of their athletes. Do I need to do that more to show my value and role with the team?
• They share videos of athletes lifting every day on their stories. Do I need to share more of my guys training online to be like them?
• They do a lot of Olympic lifting. I hardly do any, but this person’s been in the industry a long time and is highly respected. Am I missing something?
• They use cryotherapy chambers a lot during the season. Am I missing something with recovery by not using these? Should I be looking into local cryotherapy places and seeing how much they cost?
• They post a lot of pictures of themselves training the team and at practice. Is that what I need to do to “be seen?”
• They post a lot of videos of themselves training. I train most days; should I film some workout highlights and share them online?
• They always have weight room videos being shared. Is that something I should ask for more of?

Don’t worry; these aren’t thoughts and questions that keep me awake at night. But they do constitute those small pressures I mentioned as I check in on Twitter and Instagram. Like most coaches, I strive to be my best, and every strength and conditioning coach seems to have a social media presence of some sort. Some are on it for what seems like hours a day posting content and replying to their followers, while others only have four pictures on their page.

Where’s the happy medium?

Some S&C coaches are on social media for what seems like hours a day posting content and replying to their followers, while others only have four pictures on their page. Where’s the happy medium? Share on X

This all came to a head for me recently when I was back home in England for a month. I went home for my twin brother’s wedding and wasn’t able to come back into the U.S. until my work visa was sorted out, a process that took a few weeks. Not being able to train my athletes was tough—I love my job, and I love the role I play as an S&C coach getting athletes ready for a competitive season.

What made it extra hard was going online and seeing a lot of fellow basketball strength and conditioning coaches sharing the training they were doing with their guys and how they were getting ready for the season. It really got me down: not just that I wasn’t physically there to train my guys, but that every time I went online, I was reminded of this fact!

My mood started to shift negatively, so I decided I needed to do something about it. I didn’t go on Instagram or Twitter for a week. I completely shut off that stimulus and got away from the comparison game, the small pressure cooker. I took a step back from it all. This may sound very simple and very easy to do—don’t look at Twitter or Instagram for seven days—but how many of us as S&C coaches have actually done this? I would imagine very few.

I realize both those platforms are a way to keep up with family and friends, but I think we would all be transparent here and admit we use our profiles primarily as a job/hobby profile where we post things that interest us that are work-related and training-based. It really surprised me how much social media affected how I felt and how I saw myself as a coach. I’d placed a HIGH value on it all.

Going off the grid for a week was the best thing I’ve done in a while. I immediately felt better about myself and my situation. I used the time to instead plan for when I was able to come back to the States and coach the guys again. Taking a step back, seeing social media for what it really is, and being able to come back online now with a renewed spirit and perspective on it has really helped me learn to not let it get me down. I aim to use it for good, certainly not just to argue with people and create animosity when, really, there are far more important things in life than squat depth.

It really surprised me how much social media affected how I felt and how I saw myself as a coach, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

If you’ve ever felt some pressure/anxiety with social media, it’s okay. If there’s one thing social media is great at, it’s the comparison game and everyone showing off their best selves. Spending so much time on these apps, it’s no wonder it got to me!

So, how can we take back our control of social media and not let it get us down by pulling us into this comparison game? Below are some practical takeaways, all of which I’ve done when I felt like social media was affecting me negatively more often than positively. Try some of them out—I hope they give you a renewed feeling of control and a positive outlook when using social media:

• Consider taking a break from social media if you feel small pressures every time you check in. “Social media free” days in the week can be a great starting place here. I recently took the week off, and I’ve previously taken four months off from social media.
• Set time limits on your social media apps, for IG and Twitter combined. Mine is set at 75 minutes.
• Don’t go on social media first thing in the morning. Allow yourself some time to wake up and start your day the way you want to start it without being bombarded with other people’s business and the potentially negative effect this can have on you.
• If someone bothers you online and you get frustrated when you see their content, simply unfollow them. Try to control what you can, not what others do.

Allow yourself some time to wake up and start your day the way you want to without being bombarded with other people’s business and the potentially negative effect this can have on you. Share on X

Rabbit Holes

It seems like every day on Twitter, I can get lost in a new training method, a new recovery tool, a new thread, a new book released. One of the most challenging things for me online is not getting sucked into every new piece of information I see—and I see a lot!

As strength and conditioning coaches, we wear many hats and are a source of information to our athletes for a wide array of subjects that pertain not just to physical performance in the weight room but health and fitness in general. For example, it’s not uncommon for:

• Athletes to ask about a particular diet they want to try out.
• Assistant coaches to see something they liked online and ask about that on the spot in a staff meeting.
• A certain school to do a lot of “X,” and for coaches to wonder why we don’t also do “X.”

These can be tricky conversations to navigate. Having an eyes-wide-open approach to all the information available to us as coaches is useful here so that we can at least be aware of the latest fitness trends before we are called upon to have an answer for them.

My main struggle here is going online, and then 15 minutes have passed as I’ve gone down a new rabbit hole. I’ve started half-reading a newly released article because I’d feel left behind if I didn’t know this latest content. For someone who likes to be organized, likes to have a to-do list and a structured day, this is frustrating and quite frankly dumb of me—but it’s a trap I get caught in frequently.

If this hits home with you and your social media habits, I’d like to recommend a book. It’s been one of the more impactful reads I’ve enjoyed in the last few years: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. We did a book study on it as a basketball program to show the team what focused hard work really looks like and how that can benefit them on and off the court.

Newport’s book highlights how our current environments and work habits focus on shallow work—replying to emails as soon as we receive them, interrupting our work to check social media on our phones or reply to texts. Shallow work is defined as “non-cognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted.” Trying to get work done while we scroll online a few times each hour with our attention getting pulled in many different directions is a recipe for average work.

Opposite to shallow work is deep work, which is defined as “professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” Some examples might be blocking off a morning to write your team’s next training phase, having phone-free time in the day to read a research article, or diving deep into a training course you’ve enrolled in but haven’t focused on in a few weeks. I know what type of work sounds more conducive to producing a great end product and being a top coach! If you choose to read this book, please reach out and let me know how it’s impacted your work habits. I’d love to hear about it.

It’s better to really learn new information by taking the time to actually read an article than to skim read everything just to say you’ve looked at it, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

So, how can we avoid the rabbit holes of social media? Here is a list of practical thoughts designed to help you with this:

• Save interesting articles as bookmarks on your laptop or on a tab for you to read at a later point. Don’t let daily scrolling distract you from your actual day’s work and focused to-do list.
• It’s okay to scroll past people’s articles and blog posts. You can’t read everything about everything; be selective. It’s better to really learn new information by taking the time to actually read an article than to skim read everything just to say you’ve looked at it. Deep work versus shallow work.
• Designate a week (or two, the period is up to you) on a specific subject area—for example, sleep. Read up on everything you see posted that week on social media about sleep and nothing else. Focus solely on that specific subject area to truly learn about it and not just skim the surface of multiple subject areas.

Networking

This could be an article by itself, so I’ll keep it brief. As mentioned earlier, it seems that most S&C coaches have some form of social media presence, which is great because it gives us an insight into their methods and what they do in their jobs. With this open access, we can also tweet @them directly, give them a direct message, like their content, and comment on anything they post. So, the ability to “network” and contact peers we respect couldn’t be easier in 2022; this probably is the most accessible people have ever been to each other all over the world.

Networking, in my eyes, is building a genuine relationship with someone that includes some give and take of information, insight, and knowledge. You are reaching out to someone you respect and asking them informed questions to enhance your knowledge while respecting their time by having carefully considered discussion points already lined up. Yes, some networking is less formal; it could be a friend of a friend you are finally getting around to chatting with in the industry. However, for those people you don’t know or have any prior connection to, I think a formal message that notes down some questions you have for them is a good place to start when initially contacting them.

Make sure your social media channels reflect what you want your diet of information to look like, says@SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

I’ve loved connecting with lots of strength and conditioning coaches across a wide range of sports. I’ve DM’ed lots of them and have been able to have phone calls, exchange text messages, and share interactions since then. Just be genuine and humble with your interest and approach and drop the ego, and I have no doubt you can start to build relationships with some coaches you really respect and admire. Chances are if you choose your coaches correctly, they are as open and hungry for knowledge and insight as you are. They have a growth mindset, too, and would love to connect. 

Some practical thoughts on using social media to genuinely network and improve yourself as a coach:

• Don’t force it! Give honest feedback to posts and like them if you truly want to share that you enjoyed it. Give thought to this. If you’re going to direct message them, make sure you really want to connect with this person and have talking points for them. It shows you will value their time if you’re able to get on a call with them.
• Turn your social media into a resource of great information, follow those you respect and admire in the field, and learn from them. Take the time to read their articles and study their work before reaching out. It shows care and that you’ve taken the time to study them—it’s a sign of respect.
• Make sure your social media channels reflect what you want your diet of information to look like. What we read, what we listen to, and who we follow and connect with all contribute to our diet of information. This is how you can improve your diet on social media so that you know it is a resource for positive growth and is helping, not hurting you. This will expose you to the best people to connect with.

Be Authentic

The social media dilemma: should I/shouldn’t I use social media? Should I not share what I’m doing for fear of being questioned/mocked? Should I share what I’m doing to give people an insight into who I am as a coach and what I value?

It seems there are endless questions that surround everyone’s use of social media and how we can best stay connected to people without it taking hours of our day, especially when we are at work. I hope that by me showing some vulnerability here, you know that you aren’t alone in feeling some pressure with social media and trying to use it for the best purposes. I know that I’m better off and more productive when I take a short break every few weeks: I get out of the hamster wheel, realize that the world hasn’t stopped, enjoy the extra time to actually read some of those articles on my internet tabs, and also get more time outside and away from any screen!

What you post and show of yourself on social media is your personal brand, and it’s out there for the whole world to see; just make sure that it’s truly YOU that people see, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

My final thoughts are these: share what you find interesting, be authentic with what you post, be yourself—there’s only one you, don’t be a copycat—and be sure to take some breaks along the way. What you post and show of yourself on Twitter and Instagram is your personal brand, and it’s out there for the whole world to see; just make sure that it’s truly you that people see! I hope you apply some of these practical suggestions and can use social media as a positive experience that enhances your knowledge, provides no stress, and connects you with some great people.

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

As with any specific injury, there are several factors at play with ankle and foot injuries. A few of the more commonly acknowledged factors are footwear, surface type, age/phase of development, speed/direction of applied force, and even environmental conditions, and any of them can be influential.

But what about incomplete or improper training and preparation? Where does this rank among the hierarchy of risk variables for ankle/foot injuries?

But what about incomplete or improper training and preparation? Where does this rank among the hierarchy of risk variables for ankle/foot injuries, asks @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Despite our industry becoming zealots of the unwritten doctrine of not being able to “prevent” injury, I would like to continue challenging that thought. While it should clearly go without saying that no measures can totally eradicate the opportunity for injury, I think we have maintained a poor perspective on this concept. For instance, the school of thought where people believe it is negligible or wasteful to directly train the minutia and athletes get what they need from big lifts.

Regarding the foot and ankle, there are several stones left unturned that I believe are in part responsible for the alarming rate of lower-extremity injuries.

Using Research to Guide Exercise Selection

Foot and ankle injuries are problematic across almost all sports, spanning virtually all levels of competition. In fact, in a study examining the rate of lower-extremity injuries in all sports across 100 U.S. high schools, Fernandez et al. reported that ankle injuries accounted for roughly 40% of all lower-extremity injuries in high school athletes (35% of all male injuries, 49.6% of all female injuries).¹

In a separate longitudinal study (2005–2016) examining rates of lower-extremity injuries among high school athletes, Aogaichi et al. reported that across gender-comparable sports (eight total sports), ankle sprains accounted for the most prevalent injury type in 11 of the 16 sports between genders.²

There are some significant observations we can identify at the professional level as well.

In a robust (and fascinating) analytics report examining all injuries in the NFL from 2000–2014, the authors reported that ankle/foot injuries represented roughly 40% of the total lower-extremity injuries reported. We can also infer that lower leg/foot injuries (i.e., ankle/high ankle sprains, Lisfranc fractures, and Achilles injuries) account for some of the longest time to return across all injuries and may be significantly more difficult to come back from.

As I narrow the focus of this article to ankle sprains, I believe it’s important to establish that the rate and severity of ankle sprains are a combination of multiple factors, some of which we may have control over. Among some of the controllable variables, the ones I’ve found the most success with are developing foundational foot strength, including a good bit of barefoot training, addressing lower leg muscles directly, and emphasizing proprioception across exercise selections.

Strengthen the Foot (Eccentrically)

I would venture to say that improving foot eccentric strength and motor control are among the most critical but ignored aspects of sport performance. We must recognize that, irrespective of sport or specific action, almost all human movement starts from interaction with the ground (ground reaction forces—GRF). The simple euphemism for this is poor foundation, weak structure.

I would venture to say that improving foot eccentric strength and motor control are among the most critical but ignored aspects of sport performance, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

But in a more technical sense, the way I see this is that an inability to load eccentrically through the foot places more undue stress on surrounding structures—which includes the ankle. The longer an athlete goes without addressing the eccentric deficit, the more likely they are to develop common overuse injuries such as turf toe, plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, or chronic ankle sprain development.

Think of eccentric foot control as trying to “widen” or flatten a triangle, where a wider angle equates to more surface area between foot and ground and thus a greater opportunity to disperse force. With a wider foot promoting more evenly distributed forces, athletes are not only capable of producing and tolerating greater force magnitudes, but they are also less likely to have issues with overloading or overstressing specific regions of the foot.

As this relates to chronic ankle sprains, limited eccentric foot tolerance means that the ankle will experience greater amounts of torque when accommodating GRFs. Because the foot is incapable of splaying, the base becomes narrower. This means the ankle is now required to do two things at once:

• Control excess range of motion due to the lack of stability at the foot.
• Work as more of a terminal stabilizer for the knee.

This is a fundamental recipe for disaster, and if unaddressed, it can become a significant vulnerability for the ankle joint.

Improving eccentric foot control starts with the intrinsic muscles of the foot. The intrinsic foot muscles include the lumbricals, plantar aponeuroses, foot ab/adductors, and foot flexors/extensors. The beauty is there are several things you can do that require minimum thought, without having to adjust your programming dramatically. The best way to start is by simply having your athletes get out of their shoes for portions of their training.

Training barefoot doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing endeavor. Some portions of training are appropriate for barefoot training. For instance, whereas high force/dynamic primary lifts (i.e., squats/cleans/etc.) may be an imprudent time for barefoot work, warm-up/movement prep options, accessory blocks, and select low-level plyos are all good opportunities to get athletes out of their shoes. Removing their shoes allows athletes to have a true interface with the ground. This promotes an opportunity to emphasize foot compliance, which requires the foot to detect and mold itself to the external environment.

Another simple strategy is to have them perform more movements in reverse. Even just backward walking/marching can be effective for novice athletes or early-phase return to play (RTP). Reverse locomotion promotes a reciprocated foot patterning, and, given that forward walking/running involves almost exclusively concentric/isometric actions, this reverse pattern is a novel way to introduce eccentrics.

Another simple strategy to strengthen the foot is to have athletes perform more movements in reverse. This reverse pattern is a novel way to introduce eccentrics, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

This is a concept Pete Bommaritto and his back dorsiflexion series first introduced me to, and it is remarkably simple yet effective for loading the foot/ankle complex eccentrically. And with this series, we get the added element of some velocity/change of direction along with eccentric loading.

Strengthen the Mediolateral Structures

Examining the mechanism of injury for ankle sprains, irrespective of type, should clearly show the significance of medial and lateral lower leg structures. The peroneal group, which spans the lateral compartment of the lower leg, plays an essential role in stabilizing the ankle/foot complex. The peroneals are criminally overlooked in training and are one of the primary components with high ankle sprains.

An even less discussed muscle, the tibialis posterior, spans the medial aspect of the foot and runs up the medial compartment of the lower leg. The tibialis posterior primarily plantarflexes and inverts the foot and is also critical for providing midfoot stability.

When the tibialis posterior is not functioning properly, athletes can become more susceptible to medial/eversion ankle sprains, as there is greater deviation between the ankle joint and foot actions with reduced medial border foot stability. The opposing muscle, the tibialis anterior (TA), also plays a critical role in supporting and stabilizing the ankle. The TA is a primary dorsiflexor while assisting in foot inversion, but an overlooked role of the TA is acting to eccentrically stabilize the tibia during rapid plantarflexion. This is key with regard to how ankle sprains occur.

While the muscles of the lower leg are primarily responsible for the extrinsic support of the foot/ankle complex, the arches of the foot play a major role as stabilizers and providing intrinsic support for mediolateral control. Moreover, the dense ligamentous bed (retinaculum) that envelops the ankle/foot junction is also critical for stability and support.

Addressing the stiffness and spring functions of the arches is essential for bulletproofing the ankle, and this goes for both acute and chronic conditions, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

In addition to providing structure and durability to the foot, the arches also collectively disperse and generate force across the plantar surface of the foot. Having disproportionate force capabilities between medial and lateral longitudinal arches can create non-functional foot biasing that will likely destabilize both the foot and ankle. Addressing the stiffness and spring functions of the arches is essential for bulletproofing the ankle, and this goes for both acute and chronic conditions.

Sensory and Motor Functions

I mentioned above that the ankle is supported primarily by robust ligaments and a dense network of connective tissues enveloping the joint. These connective tissues are enriched with sensory and motor receptors we know as proprioceptors (fascia/tendons/muscles) and mechanoreceptors (ligaments). So, in addition to the stability and structure these fibrous tissues provide, they are also essential for things like balance, motor control, sensory function, and neuromuscular function. It’s imperative to recognize that these receptors are not stimulated (at least not significantly) during conventional bilateral movements with limited mechanical deviations. Moreover, there is a reduced proprioceptive demand as familiarity to certain movements/exercises increases.

There are two specific points where I look to emphasize proprioception and motor control for ankle sprains:

1. Relatively early in the RTP timeline.
2. Toward the end of reintegrating into sport.

Speaking to the former, the early phase applications will consist mostly of simple, controlled, and rudimentary types of drills. For instance, band-assisted pogo hops (using a foam pad), band offset hops, and hop hop sticks are all low-level drills that can be used as precursors to re-strengthening the area. The goal with early phase applications is to stimulate the area, but in a controlled and predictive way. The athlete knows what’s coming and can plan and orient accordingly.

You can use additional tools to mitigate the force impact with these drills as well. Using bands to unload mass or having the athlete work from foam pads helps to diminish the effects of force on the joint.

The addition of cognitive elements provides a substantial factor of challenging the athlete to trust the joint…exposure to reactionary movements is fundamental for successful RTP, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

In the late phase applications, once strength and capacity have been established, we want to look toward drills that are more reactive and unplanned in nature. This addition of a cognitive element (perceive/react/respond) provides a substantial factor of challenging the athlete to trust the joint. As we know, a lingering consequence of ankle sprains is the fear of re-spraining the joint. Despite being fully healed mechanically, athletes often struggle to fully regain confidence in the joint, which continues to compromise play and function. This outlines why the athlete being exposed to reactionary/challenging movements is fundamental for successful RTP.

Take-Home Points

Ankle sprains are an inevitable component of sport and believing we can entirely prevent any injury is foolish. However, there is often a lot more we can do to make our athletes more robust to injury, and this is especially true for the foot/ankle. Common denominators for ankle sprains include poor foot function/strength (namely eccentric), excessive ankle joint laxity, poor foot compliance, and impaired sensory-motor function.

Additionally, the kinetic integration and complementary functioning of the foot, ankle, and lower leg working in tandem is a leading priority for minimizing the likelihood of recurring ankle sprains. We can check every individual box there is, but if the collective pieces are never challenged in concert, we are doing our athletes a disservice. (See here for 28 restorative exercises for ankle sprains.)

Don’t become infatuated by dressed-up mobility drills. While the ankle is a mobile joint, creating a great disparity between mobility and stability functions can destabilize the joint, compromising functional stiffness and force capabilities.

Lastly, don’t ignore the sensory-motor elements of ankle and foot function. This is the piece that will tie everything together by giving the athlete a better sense of trust and confidence in the joint.

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. Fernandez WG, Yard EE, and Comstock, RD. “Epidemiology of lower extremity injuries among US high school athletes.” Academic Emergency Medicine. 2007;14(7):641–645.

2. Aogaichi Brant J, Johnson B, Brou L, Comstock D, and Vu, T. “Rates and Patterns of Lower Extremity Sports Injuries in All Gender-Comparable US High School Sports.” Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. 2019;7(10): 232596711987305.

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

Conjugate training was made famous by Louie Simmons and Westside Barbell’s training method. Although his system is a concurrent system, conjugate is a piece of the Westside training method. Conjugate training simply means we rotate movements in and out of our program every week.

I’ve applied the same concept to our jump training. Just like we rotate bars or variations for max effort exercises, we’ll rotate our vertical and broad jump variations every week. By doing so, this exposes athletes to a wide variety of jump positions, which improves technique, surfs the force-velocity curve at a variety of joint angles, and creates a fresh stimulus.

How Did We Get Here?

When I began measuring jumps, I did so for the sole purpose of measuring readiness. As a byproduct, we were “working on jumping,” but we weren’t truly training the jump. We performed vertical, hands-on-hip (HOH), and pause HOH jumps. These were the most common jumps used for readiness and key performance indicators (KPI) to evalute program effectiveness. After taking enough data, I found these jumps were great tools to measure readiness and somewhat useful for program effectiveness; however, they left more to be desired because we weren’t truly developing the jump or getting the full picture of jump performance.

As I continued to measure these three jump variations, I found athletes weren’t “all-in” when performing the jumps daily or weekly. There were plenty of days athletes were excited to jump, typically leading to personal records (PRs), but also plenty of lackluster days. The monotony of doing the same jumps reguarly can lead to a lack of effort if we’re not careful. Can we use these jumps as a way to evalute readiness? Absolutely. But, over time, the athletes may not put in the same effort as they did in the beginning, leading to inconsistent results. The same argument can be made about readiness surveys, but I digress.

The monotony of doing the same jumps reguarly can lead to a lack of effort if we’re not careful, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

The next issue to consider when measuring jumps is the psychological impact of a poor jumping day. For some athletes, if their jump is down, their energy and mood is going to be off for the rest of the day. They’ll blame mistakes in practice or the game on being tired, instead of focusing on the task at hand. Not always, but it can happen.

I’ve had athletes that weren’t feeling their best yet still manage to excel in training or on the field. I’ve seen awful readiness scores using heart rate monitors, then athletes jump a PR. Fatigue is too complicated to be assessed and summarized by a single jump, and it’s important we communicate that with our athletes when performing jumps regularly.

Ultimately, I want to avoid the psychological impact of a poor jump performance, while also chasing performance increases and developing the jump weekly. This led me to using multiple jump variations over multiple weeks, which eliminated the obession over one jump output. I’ve found this develops a better jump profile and teaches athletes how to perform the skill of jumping through a part-whole approach.

Weekly Jump Layout

The basis of this system is rotating broad and vertical jump variations each week. In a typical week, our athletes perform one broad and two vertical jump variations. By rotating these variations, we’re giving our athletes the opportunity to hit PRs multiple times a week or month. This keeps the athletes coming back for more, as they’re chasing the dopamine hit of a PR.

Depending on how we organize a five-day training week, we’ll have one or two days of broad jumps and three or four days of vertical jumps. I prefer having more vertical than broad days because:

• Vertical jumps are harder to master;
• We can create more variations comparatively; and
• They give us a better picture of how the athlete is adapting and feeling.

Below are some examples of how we can arrange jumps within our training. In a normal training week, we’re working slow to fast, with the emphasis going from acceleration to max velocity. Table 1 is an example of three days in the weight room and two days of field work. Table 2 is an example of four days in the weight room and one field day. These are common layouts of training weeks, but it can be manipulated to fit our unique situation.

I prefer to pair vertical jumps with weight room days because the majority of weight room movements have a vertical emphasis. On field days, we’re training acceleration and developing qualities or skills for sprinting and change of direction (COD). For those reasons, the broad jump makes the most sense because it aligns with the horiztonal emphasis of the day. Even though top-end speed (max velocity) has a vertical emphasis, acceleration and COD requires horizontal displacement.

Vertical and Broad Jump Variations

When I began using this system, I performed four vertical and broad jump variations: seated HOH, seated, standing HOH, and standing jumps. This created four-week cycles (weeks before repeating the same variation) that naturally fit into our training system. Over time, I’ve expanded the jump library to create a longer jump training cycle. I’ve found these additional variations enhance our adaptations and improve our athletic potential.

I’ve found that additional variations enhance our adaptations and improve our athletic potential, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

The key to this system is rotating jumps every week in a deliberate progression (think part-whole theory). Table 3 lists the jump variations I currently use with our high school population. This differs from the dryland training table because I’ve adapted the system to my current situation. The jumps are also arranged slow to fast in terms of ground contact time (GCT) because we’re moving from strength to reactive in nature.

As the coaches, we can add or take out any variations to adapt it to our situaiton and make cycles as long or short as we’d like. The idea is that every time we come back to a specific variation, our goal is to jump a PR. This may not happen every time, but it should happen more often than not.

If you look at Table 3, you’ll notice we’re progressing from seated to standing variations. This is because it lowers the learning curve for novice jumpers while progressing from a strength to speed (reactive) focus. Seated variations give athletes more time to put force in the ground and take out the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC). By taking out the SSC, most athletes will jump higher, as it favors strength-dominant athletes and lowers technical hurdles. Standing variations require athlete’s to use the SSC to quickly reverse momentum and put force in the ground. Our fast-twitch athletes shine here because they don’t need significant time to exert power.

Seated jump variations give athletes more time to put force in the ground and take out the stretch-shortening cycle, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

Video 1. Vertical Jump Variations (missing HOH and Verical Jumps).

Video 2. Broad Jump Variations

For novice athletes, performing jumps in general will increase their vertical. Jumping is a new skill and fresh stimulus, and their technique will improve week after week. With this system, we set these athletes up for success by lowering the technical barrier with certain variations. For example, by performing seated or hands-on-hips jumps, we’re taking out technical factors—such as syncronizing arms with takeoff—that can impact jump performance. By using a part-whole approach, athletes only need to think about a couple technical pieces when jumping which improves the learning process.

For experienced jumpers, we must provide unique and varying stimuli to induce change. These athletes have jumped their entire lives, and having them perform the same jump week after week won’t give us the same return on investment (ROI) as unique jump variations. They’ve maxed out their motor pattern development, their neural pathways are highly-formed, and if we’re asking them to perform the same jump every day, frankly, they’re going to get bored.

Intent is a key element of jump performance, and a bored athlete won’t train with intent. By “taking away” the vertical jump for eight or more weeks, athletes will be chomping at the bit to see, test, and measure their vertical. It’s like keeping a race horse in the stalls: when we give them a chance to race, they’re going to give it everything they’ve got.

Intent is a key element of jump performance, and a bored athlete won’t train with intent, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

Integrating Conjugate Jumping into the Workout

Integrating the conjugate jump system into training is simple because we can make it part of our warm-up, workout, or both. This all depends on the structure and flow of our training session. I typically run workouts in a circuit fashion with a multi-station warm-up. I’ve used circuits like Cal Dietz’s “Performance Circuit” and three-station supersets. This lends itself to seamless integration for jumping because it becomes a station. Typically, athletes will perform five to seven measured jumps a day. By the end of a week, this gives us 25-35 high quality data points to assess our program and athlete readiness. If an athlete jumps the majority or all their jumps over their previous PR, then we know we’re making significant progress.

If you have access to a jump mat, simply put it out with a sheet of paper and let the athlete’s record their jumps. Then we’re able to coach the room instead of recording numbers. For broad jumps, we’ll need to record the athlete’s jumps unless we have an intern or assistant coach in the room. If we trust our athletes, we can have them record each other’s broad jumps.

Another layer we can add within this system is aligning our training loads and movements with our jump variations to further emphasize a specific goal of the day. For example, I pair broad jump and squats together because they’re quad-dominant movements. I pair vertical jump and deadlift together because they’re a reflection of nervous system readiness and the deadlift will potentiate the central nervous system.

We can also align jump variations with our training loads to reflect speed or strength emphasis. During certain portions of the year, I’ll expect jumps to decrease, such as during a heavy eccentric phase, but then supercompensate six to eight weeks later. This keeps strength and conditioning coaches accountable because the data tells us if our program is doing what we say it’s doing.

During certain portions of the year, I’ll expect jumps to decrease, such as during a heavy eccentric phase, but then supercompensate six to eight weeks later, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

The biggest benefits of measuring a jump every workout is it creates competition in the room and shows our athletes they can hit a PR even when they’re tired. Everyone is trying to out jump somebody, which leads to high intent every jump. Psychologically, it’s a massive confidence boost when our athletes jump PRs on multiple sets or during their last set of the day.

In terms of readiness, we’ll be able to see where the athletes are for the day, week, and month. As the strength and conditioning coaches, it’s our job to let the sport coach know if numbers are negatively trending so they can adjust accordingly. On top of that, we can change the workouts as needed when we see significant drops over time. By tracking numbers every session, we can also autoregulate training if we so choose.

At the high school level, we can see how jumps are impacted by specific sports and when seasons change. I’ve found at the beginning of each season, athlete jumps decline because they’re in a new sport. A new sport means new stresses, and the coaches are typically training the kids to “get them in shape.” By tracking daily, we have objective numbers to show coaches that our athletes are struggling to perform at the beginning of the season due to an acute spike in load. By the time they’re adapted and recovered, we’re almost a third of the way into the season. If I’m the coach, I want my athletes to be ready to perform the first game, not a month later.

Results

Below are the charts of every broad jump, HOH jump, and vertical jump I’ve taken with my high school athletes this year. I value the HOH jump more than the vertical because it accurately reflects the true power and fatigue of the legs. I view this as our floor of jump potential. The vertical jump has a greater technical requirement which causes greater variability until the athlete’s technique is dialed in.

In 12 weeks, male and female athletes improved their broad jump by 8” and 13” respectively. For male athletes, the average vertical improved from 24.3” to 25.1” over 12 weeks. Their HOH jump improved from 21.1” to 21.6” over 9 weeks. Our female athletes improved their vertical from 19.3” to 20” and their HOH jump from 17.2” to 18.2” over 12 weeks.

For the female athletes (Tables 5, 6, and 7), most were jumping PRs as we circled back to the specific variations. I believe this is because they were learning how to jump, but most importantly, they were learning to be explosive and move with intent—which might be the most important skill for them to learn within our setting. On top of that, most of my female athletes had never trained, which led to a heightening of their nervous system.

Looking at Tables 6 and 7, notice how the HOH and vertical jumps are trending downward for the athletes at the top of the chart. These athletes transitioned from explosive fall sports to soccer, and one was out for a month due to illness. For those on the bottom half, most transitioned to off-season leading to improved recovery. As previously stated, we can track readiness and watch how seasons and specific sports impact outputs.

We can track readiness and watch how seasons and specific sports impact outputs, says @coachrgarner. Share on X

With the male athletes (Tables 8, 9, and 10), there’s a greater fluctuation in jump numbers. For the broad jumps in Table 7, their skill and technique for the broad jump improved drastically which led to PRs. Yes, there’s going to be inter- and intra-muscular coordination at play, but technique is a significant driver here.

In Table 9, the athletes in the top half of the chart have either just ended fall sports or are starting winter sports. Naturally, as the season progresses, we’ll likely see a downward trend due to fatigue. For the bottom half of this chart, the majority of these athletes don’t play a fall sport and are adapting to the training.

Conclusion

The conjugate jump system is a customizable system that is effective for both novice and experienced jumpers. We’re able to improve technique, provide a unique stimulus, and track readiness throughout the year all in one system. This system helps build buy-in and gives athletes daily opportunities to chase PRs. The more often our athletes can set new PRs, the more they’ll want to train. The beauty of this system is that we can individulize it to our situation, program, and athletes. As long as our variations build upon one another, we can be as creative as we’d like and customize it to our training philosophy.

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

A quick disclaimer—the contents of this article are not inspired by my current position as a high school strength and conditioning coach. In fact, the absence of the highlighted issues kept me coming back for year six.

If not from my current position, where do these methods for losing coaches come from? Some are inspired by previous positions, while most are inspired by the experiences of colleagues and friends in the coaching industry.

Enough of the “so I don’t offend my own athletic department”—let’s get to it.

Everyone wants to fill their athletic department and/or coaching staff with great coaches. (Exactly what constitutes a “great coach” is outside the scope of this article. Fill in whatever attributes comprise your mental model of an outstanding coach and read on.)

I would argue that hiring great coaches isn’t that difficult of a task—but retaining them is another matter entirely, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

I would argue that hiring great coaches isn’t that difficult of a task—but retaining them is another matter entirely. While this list is far from comprehensive, here are a few time-tested strategies to send even the most battle-tested coaches packing.

Starter Pack Item #1: Erratic Scheduling

We all know “stuff happens” in coaching and in life. Unexpected circumstances turn up, the schedule is altered, we pivot.

The occasional scheduling woe isn’t the focus of this section.

Instead, I’m referring to a chronic lack of planning and preparedness, the result of which is:

• Practices consistently run over.
• Pop-up meetings are the exception rather than the rule.
• Staff members are completely unable to plan anything outside of work.

To put it in more accurate terms: The head coach is holding everyone in the program hostage with their unwillingness or inability to create or stick to a plan. It’s poor leadership and a fast track to staff burnout.

And here’s a hot take: If the staff is burned out, how must the athletes feel?

I’m not here to promote laziness or complacency. Everyone understands that a coach’s schedule is demanding. Instead, I’m promoting having respect for people’s time.

I’ve lived the life of working seven days a week with absolutely absurd hours. Sometimes that’s the job. But there are a couple of ways this kind of workload can play out.

I’m not here to promote laziness or complacency. Everyone understands that a coach’s schedule is demanding. Instead, I’m promoting having respect for people’s time, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

In one situation, the hours are many, and the work is difficult but necessary. Clear communication is given regarding expectations and scheduling. Despite fatigue, coaches stay motivated in the presence of clarity because there is an understanding of purpose. The end goal is at the forefront of everyone’s minds and seems attainable because the process supports the goal. The net result? The work is fulfilling.

In the other scenario, schedules are needlessly inconsistent. Coaches (and athletes) rarely know what to expect. At some point, a person feels they have no control over their schedule, and life outside of work seems impossible. If the hours were needed and the work fruitful? Refer back to scenario #1.

However, wasted time abounds in these circumstances. Schedules are chaotic and poorly communicated. Often there is no purpose to the hours spent at work. When great coaches can no longer identify the purpose behind their toil, they will leave.

To fast-track coaching departures, check out these bonus point opportunities to accentuate an inconsistent schedule:

Bonus Points for: Rescheduling team practices/functions for the head coach’s personal “stuff” (hair appointments, workouts, kid’s soccer games, etc.).

But the head coach isn’t selfish, right? They couldn’t possibly be. After all, they’re a self-proclaimed servant leader. Everything they do must be for the program because they tell everyone it is.

Double Bonus Points for: Preaching “family first” to athletes while needlessly placing stress on the staff’s families. If the staff can’t predict their schedule, it stresses their family.

Create a schedule. Communicate that schedule. And for the love of all that’s holy, stick to the schedule. It’s really not rocket science.

Starter Pack Item #2: Micromanagement of Experienced and Successful Coaches

Hot take: If there’s time for a head coach or administrator to micromanage everyone in their downline, there’s a solid chance that individual isn’t fulfilling all of their own job duties. Instead, they’re annoying everyone in their path and wasting valuable work time coaches could otherwise devote to tasks that would improve the program.

I’m going to take a brief pause to speak directly to readers who hold these leadership positions: Please don’t micromanage your coaches. Instead, empower them with autonomy.

Clearly, I’m not referring to coaches who don’t handle their business. Some coaches may benefit heavily from structured mentorship, but the subject of this article is the high-performing coach.

These high-performing coaches don’t need to be told to “carry a whistle, practice plan, and pen to every practice.” If those items are needed, great coaches will have them.

They don’t need to be told to upload their practice plans into a shared folder that never gets opened.

They don’t need to be treated like a first-year coach. A supervisor’s time would be much better spent fulfilling their own job responsibilities and supporting their coaches versus meddling in the day-to-day affairs of those coaches.

A supervisor’s time is much better spent fulfilling their own job responsibilities and supporting their coaches than meddling in the day-to-day affairs of those coaches, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

Some head coaches and administrators just can’t help themselves on the micromanagement front. If this is the case, it’s best to go ahead and rip the band-aid off and get those self-sufficient coaches sprinting out the door as fast as possible using these bonus point strategies:

Bonus Points for: A swerve well outside of one’s lane! A perfect example would be asking a coach to submit a detailed strength and conditioning plan for the athletic director’s review when the AD lacks an accredited strength and conditioning certification of any type or any real experience. For the record, “back in ’89 when I was at XYZ school, I used to run the weight room” does not often constitute real experience. If an AD is that concerned with evaluating the weight room X’s and O’s of a given sport, a consultant should be hired to review programs. I happen to know one.

This next one is so big it’s worth: TRIPLE BONUS POINTS!!! Micromanaging a coach who has had more success in their career than the supervising head coach or AD had during their own.

The supervisor doesn’t just look foolish on this one; they look insecure. If hiring successful people poses a threat to a supervisor’s fragile ego, then the supervisor is the person who should take a one-way trip out of the athletic department’s door.

Starter Pack Item #3: Not Supporting Coaches

Loyalty is preached in the profession but when the wheels come off, is it practiced? I’ll give an example: A colleague at another school and his assistant were called into a parent meeting. The athletic director and school superintendent were present. During the meeting, the parents began shouting expletives at the coaches and calling them names.

The administrators allowed it to continue.

This is 100% UNACCEPTABLE.

Let’s look at a better way to handle this. As I mentioned, some of this article is inspired by events in my past. Here’s a detailed account of what I experienced in a similar encounter.

For context, one of our athletes missed practice for an orthodontist appointment. Congruent with the contract that our players and parents signed at the beginning of the season, she needed to make up the missed practice time before playing in the next game. She could do so by attending any freshman practice scheduled that week.

Upon receiving this “news,” she stormed out of our office into the locker room. As the door closed behind her, she aired her feelings to the rest of the team in no uncertain terms.

The head coach was not amused. The athlete was directed to come back to the office. I decided this would be an optimal time to avert my eyes and check my email as the “discussion” got heated.

Thirty minutes later, I was walking through the hall. The parent of said athlete arrived on the scene, saw me, and lost her mind. I sidestepped into the front office with her in pursuit. It was such a commotion that one of the principals was already en route to intercept the debacle as it unfolded and quickly quarantined the “meeting” to his office. The parent continued to scream in my face. (To be honest, it was so over the top, I’m laughing at the memory as I type this but wasn’t laughing at the time.)

The principal (a former coach) looked at me and said, “Coach Mitchell, you won’t be spoken to this way. You can go to practice. If we need anything from you, we will let you know.”

Later that afternoon, both the head coach and I received apologies from the parent and the athlete.

That’s how to back up staff.

Looking back at the first scenario, a simple “Since you’ve chosen to berate our coaches, this meeting is over. There won’t be another until you can conduct yourself in a rational manner” would have gone a long way to demonstrate loyalty. Instead, the situation demonstrated to the coaches that the administration would allow parents to treat coaches poorly.

What is allowed is encouraged.

Clearly, the “what not to do” incident above is an example of an objectively unacceptable occurrence within an athletic department. But is it always such overt scenarios that send coaches over the edge? No. More often than not, it is a series of subtle nudges, each one putting the coach nearer and nearer to the brink of departure.

It isn’t always overt scenarios that send coaches over the edge, but a series of subtle nudges, each one putting the coach nearer and near to the brink of departure, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

So, what might these subtle nudges look like? I’ll just bullet point a few for purposes of brevity:

• Head coaches allow athletes and parents to treat assistant coaches with less respect than they are expected to treat the head coach.
• Head coaches “correct” assistants in front of athletes or other staff rather than doing so behind closed doors.
• ADs discuss one coach’s job performance with another coach of equal or lesser rank.
• ADs “forget” to mention the accolades of some coaches during staff meetings while lavishing praise upon others.
• Blatant favoritism is shown on social media. Are some coaches/teams posted about, liked, or retweeted in disproportionate amounts?

Great coaches won’t stick around very long if they know they won’t be supported when issues arise or when they don’t feel supported in their daily operations.

Starter Pack Item #4: Using a “Lack of Family” as an Excuse to Overwork People

A fan favorite: off-loading work onto coaches who don’t have kids. They can come in earlier, stay later, and take work home, right? Absolutely, if the goal is to make them rethink coaching as a career.

As a childless coach myself, this one hits close to home.

I once went to an associate AD to discuss my sports assignments. My workload was absurd, and my sports overlapped to the point that I needed to miss eight off-season workouts with one team to travel with another. I was being pulled in too many directions, and my overall well-being began to suffer.

During the meeting, I was told (exact quote): “If you had kids, we would change your sports assignments.”

I’m no expert in human resources, but I’m sure this is not okay. Instead of filing a complaint or whatever my legal course of action might be, my next entrance into that AD’s office was to submit my letter of resignation. Every broken camel back comes from one final straw. This was mine. I wouldn’t and won’t be punished for my family structure.

As mentioned in the section above, this starter pack item often transpires in more subtle ways. Coaches without children might be given early morning or late evening responsibilities, while those with children find themselves off during these hours. More specifically, this could look like placing a childless coach in charge of monitoring the athletes while they set up the volleyball net in the gym before morning practice. Meanwhile, the head coach strolls in with Starbucks right before (or even after) the start of practice. It might also look like assigning the coach without children to sit and wait on parents to pick up athletes after a late-night arrival home from a game.

The truth of the situation is that a coach must be present in both cases. But it shouldn’t always be the coaches without kids. If it is? Those with kids who are benefiting from this arrangement should be expected to pick up slack elsewhere. At the very least, walk in with two Starbucks in hand.

When penalizing employees for not having families, it’s essential to keep a few things in mind:

First, it’s 2022. Family doesn’t mean a hetero-cis spouse, 2.5 children, a Labrador retriever, and a hamster. It can take many forms, and one is not superior to another. Personal biases should be cast aside to embrace the diversity of today’s family.

Second—and this may come as a shock to some—there are actually people who don’t want children. It’s true, and it doesn’t make their personal time any less valuable.

This may come as a shock to some, but there are actually people who don’t want or are unable to have children… This doesn’t make their personal time any less valuable, says @missEmitche11. Share on X

On a related note, some people desperately want but are physically unable to have children. Often, they aren’t sharing this information at their place of business. Punishing people for not having kids through either overt or passive-aggressive tactics is wildly insensitive. “But I didn’t know,” one might say. Exactly. Coaches should be treated fairly regardless of family status and structure.

Finally, there is a coaching shortage. Will overworking anyone in the early stages of their career, before they have kids, lead to them staying in the profession? Nope. They will probably bail for fear that they will be unable to balance their career and family if and when that time in their life arrives.

Bonus Points for: Complaining when coaches bring their children to work.

To review: Coaches without kids are second-class citizens. Coaches with kids? The children are to be heard of but never seen. It matters not to insensitive supervisors that childcare doesn’t open until 6:30 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m. or that the parent is at work outside of those hours due to starter pack item #1. Figure it out.

Insensitive head coaches and ADs walked uphill in the snow both ways, carrying a baby in each arm. So should everyone lower in the hierarchy.

Athletic departments that take this approach shouldn’t expect to retain great coaches.

Starter Pack Item #5: Abysmal Salaries

The final addition to the starter pack is an obvious one.

It’s simple: If people can’t afford to live, they’re going to leave. Additionally, if they can do the same job elsewhere for more money, they’re going to leave.

Who better to advocate for salary increases than head coaches and athletic directors? Yet how often is that occurring? Strength and conditioning coaches, assistant coaches, and other support staff members can shout “we are worth more” until the cows come home, but until head coaches demand these pay raises within their program, the needle likely won’t move.

Who better to advocate for salary increases than head coaches and athletic directors? Yet how often does that occur, asks @missEmitche11. Share on X

I will say I’m not entirely convinced that low salaries are solely the fault of the employer. If a position opens with a salary range of $25,000–$35,000 and there are 50–100 applicants, does this communicate to the employer that this isn’t a livable wage? It does not. It communicates that 50–100 people are willing to do more for less. So, they’re going to keep paying less.

The coaching industry finds itself in a little bit of a pickle: Until the willingness of the supply chain to work for pennies is altered or those in positions of authority step up to the plate and demand fair wages, pay increases aren’t likely. Coaches will enter the profession at these rates, but they won’t stay. It’s the circle of life low retention in the industry.

Final Thoughts for Employers

It’s pretty simple; don’t do what I wrote about above. Instead:

• Stick to a schedule.
• Give coaches autonomy.
• Back coaches up.
• Treat all coaches fairly.
• Pay coaches a livable wage.

And do these things consistently.

Final Thoughts for Coaches

I’ve seen it stated that “great coaching jobs don’t become available.” This means if coaches are:

• Treated fairly and with respect.
• Empowered to make the decisions that benefit their program and athletes.
• Allowed work/life balance.

They will hold on to these positions for a very long time.

Food for thought when submitting an application to a position with frequent turnover.

If your ego says, “It will be different because I’ll be better (than the last coach)?” I’ll catch you on social media posting a “thanks for a great 2 years at X Academy” letter after you’ve figured out your predecessor wasn’t the problem after all. The problem was that the people they worked for operated using a grab bag of starter pack items, just like the ones they used to send you on your 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

Not everyone can have 10+ squat racks and platforms with all the bells and whistles like Tendo units, safety squat bars, and Freelap timers. Many coaches work in a situation where the budget is small and equipment is limited.

I wanted to write this to provide my personal experience working at small schools and making do with what was provided. Explaining how I made it work may help other coaches utilize everything they have at their disposal to provide the best program they can for their athletes.

My Coaching Situation

Before recently getting a job with EXOS to train military members at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, I worked as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for Western Technical College’s baseball team in La Crosse, Wisconsin. In my prior experiences at Saint Mary’s University and Winona State, I learned how to make do with limited space and/or equipment.

Saint Mary’s had three squat racks with attached platforms, a rack of dumbbells, 1-2 back extension machines, four lat pulldown/seated row machines, a few pairs of resistance bands, and some stability balls. Down the stairs from the weight room were the indoor track and rubber-floored basketball courts, which was a great space for speed and agility training (when in-season teams weren’t using it). As you can tell, there wasn’t much weight room equipment for the 250-300 athletes that needed it.

It was a very similar scenario at Western Technical College. They had two squat racks with attached platforms, a rack of dumbbells up to 100 pounds (with only two benches), a rack of kettlebells, stability balls, bands, a couple machines, one glute-ham device (GHD), and one cable machine. Their small basketball court where they do their warm-ups and plyometrics was up the stairs from the weight room. I trained about 40 baseball players, separated into two groups of 20, in this space at 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I was the only strength coach during their training, so it was my responsibility to make sure guys trained effectively and safely with the limited space and equipment.

Based on these experiences working with limited staff and equipment, I’ve compiled three tips that ensure everyone can do their workout within an hour, says @Mccharles187. Share on X

Based on these experiences working with limited staff and equipment, I’ve compiled three tips I’ve found useful. These ensure everyone can do their workout within an hour, efficiently using our limited equipment to obtain the adaptations and results we need to promote speed, power, strength, hypertrophy, or work capacity, depending on the time of year and goals for the athletes.

1. Pairings Are Your Friend

This is an easy and effective way to avoid athletes standing around waiting for equipment. Combine exercises in pairs, trios, or even quads, have your athletes in groups of 3-4 ,and rotate through those pairings before moving on to the next group of exercises. Generally, I like to do combos of three that include:

• A1. Lower body push

A2. Upper body pull

A3. Lower body mobility drill

• B1. Upper body press

B2. Lower body pull

B3. Upper body mobility drill

• C1. Accessory

C2. Accessory

C3. Accessory

Using this setup, I can have groups of three athletes per station where one athlete does the first exercise, one does the second exercise, and the third does the mobility drill. If I have a group of four, that fourth will be the spotter/getting ready to do the first exercise. Then they will rotate through A1-A3 before moving on to B1-B3 and C1-C3. With my 20 guys, I will have two groups doing A’s, two groups doing B’s, and 1-2 groups doing C’s—then, they all rotate accordingly. As much as I like to have them do it in order, it’s just not realistic or efficient. Work with what you have.

2. One Exercise Per Piece of Equipment

This is huge—only use one exercise per piece of equipment. This ensures that everyone will have access to equipment without waiting. If we use the above examples, it will look like this:

• A1. Barbell back squat

A2. Chin-ups or v-grip pulldowns

A3. 90-90 rotations

• B1. DB military press

B2. Split-stance KB RDL

B3. T-spine rotations

• C1. Band pull-aparts

C2. Mini-band monster walks

C3. Planks

As you see in the above workout, every exercise has its own equipment, because if I had used DB military press with DB RDLs there wouldn’t be enough dumbbells to go around. The way I set up my sessions is this: In our basketball court, we start with our dynamic warm-ups (about five minutes) followed by a pairing of a lower body plyometric with an upper body plyometric (medball-related exercises). Athletes get into groups of 2-3 to get through the plyos within 10 minutes. At this point, the session is 15 minutes in, so afterward we go to the weight room and spend the last 30-35 minutes doing our main training for the day.

When I program for the weight room, I note how many pieces of equipment I have and what pairings would be good together to keep things efficient, says @Mccharles187. Share on X

When I program for the weight room, I note how many pieces of equipment I have and what pairings would be good together to keep things efficient. In my mind, I want to accomplish a squat, hinge, upper press, upper pull, 2-3 mobility drills (at least one upper and one lower), a core exercise, and a grip/wrist exercise. This was a baseball team, so my accessory/mobility drills were more baseball-specific with thoracic mobility, hip mobility, wrist/grip strength, and scapular/rotator cuff stability/mobility.

I usually think of what barbell exercises I want to do first, since I think these will be my biggest bang for the buck, and pair them with something simple that can be done within the area of the squat rack/platform, so everyone can rotate in. For example, on Mondays I programmed back squats with chin-ups and a lower body mobility drill because our chin-up bar was next to our racks and it was easy to walk over and do them—and the mobility drill can be done anywhere, since you don’t need equipment for them most of the time. Because each exercise used a different piece of equipment (or no equipment), I never had athletes waiting in line for something, and they did my go-to exercises to promote power and strength (as well as mobility, which made it easier for them to get their squats to depth after each set).

Following that, we did an upper press paired with a rotator cuff exercise and a thoracic mobility drill: an example would be a single arm upright kettlebell press with band pull-aparts with chicken wing thoracic rotations on all fours. Our next pair would be a hinge exercise paired with a core exercise with another lower body mobility drill. Because we used a barbell and a kettlebell already for back squats and our upright press, I’d use a dumbbell and do an RDL variation with bird dogs and 90-90 rotations. Finally, we’d finish with a grip exercise like farmer’s carries to end the session.

This is the summation of the workout:

(In gymnasium)

• Dynamic warm-up: 5 minutes
• Plyometrics (if you like Olympic weightlifting, you could do this here instead): 10 minutes

1. Lower body plyometric (depth jumps off a box) 3-4 x 3-5 reps
2. Upper body plyometric (medball slams) 3-4 x 6-10 reps

(Head to weight room)

• Weight room: 30-35 minutes
• A1. Back squat APRE 10 (3 warm-ups sets, 2 workings sets)

A2. Chin-ups 5 x 3-5 reps (add weight as needed)

A3. Lunge-position stretch 5 x 5 belly breaths

• B1. SA half kneeling kettlebell upright press 3 x 8-12 each (great for baseball for shoulder stability and overall grip)

B2. Band pull-aparts 3 x 8-12 each

B3. Quadruped chicken wing thoracic rotations 3 x 8-12 each

• C1. Dumbbell split stance RDL 3 x 6-10 each

C2. Bird dogs 3 x 8-12 reps each

C3. 90-90 rotations 3×10 each

• Farmer’s carry 3 x 30 yards

This was a workout I did with my baseball players, and I found it very effective. We were in an early off-season phase during the fall semester, so the reps/volume was very high. As the semester progressed, we worked our way down the rep range to focus on strength (3-6 reps of 4-5 sets or APRE 6) and then eventually peak strength (1-4 reps of 4-5 sets or APRE 3).

In short, one exercise per piece of equipment. Use that creative mind!

3. Identify Your Focus Exercises

Focus on 1-2 main exercises that you want to coach and check technique, then pair those with easier exercises that you don’t need to worry too much about. As the only coach on the floor, I couldn’t realistically watch every athlete for every single set and rep and watch them like a hawk. When doing your pairings, pick that one exercise that you want to watch them do and let the other pairings be exercises athletes can confidently do on their own without hurting themselves.

When doing your pairings, pick one exercise that you want to watch them do and let the other pairings be exercises athletes can confidently do on their own without hurting themselves. Share on X

If we use the A pairings again, I’d be looking at everyone’s back squat a lot more than I’d be watching them do chin-ups and mobility drills. In the B pairings, I watched how everyone hinges, because most athletes can military or bench press without screwing up too much. Knowing you can turn your back without worrying someone will hurt themselves while you’re focused on the main exercises will give you a sense of ease and less stress.

Results

The results you can expect from running workouts in this format are athletes getting through their exercises effectively and efficiently without long wait times. You also successfully program exercises that will influence adaptions to reduce injuries and enhance performance with the limited space and equipment you have.

Within the week, during three training sessions at Western Tech, my athletes were able to do their warm-ups, plyometrics, back squats, deadlifts, barbell reverse lunges, RDL variations, chin-ups/pull-ups, upper presses, and row variations, along with mobility and stability exercises—all within 50 minutes, with only two squat racks/platforms, dumbbells, kettlebells, and bands. We even performed APRE training with back squats, deadlifts, and DB bench press and witnessed great results with athletes increasing weight on the bar or dumbbells by 5-10 pounds and/or increasing by 2-4 reps of the same weight on a weekly basis.

We did the simple things really well, and the hard work paid off. My guys were workhorses, and I had to reinforce how to be more of a racehorse focusing on quality over quantity, says @Mccharles187. Share on X

We did the simple things really well, and the hard work paid off. Having my exercise selection with equipment and space in mind helped my athletes get there. Athletes seeing their numbers go up really helped build buy-in to my program, and athletes thanked and fist bumped me, telling me how great a job we were doing. They saw that doing a workout under an hour three days per week, while also focusing on sleep and nutrition (I took wellness surveys of their stress levels, hours of sleep, and body weight before every session to hold them accountable), was giving better results than training five days a week for 1.5-2 hours. My guys were workhorses, and I had to reinforce how to be more of a racehorse focusing on quality over quantity.

Using these three tips, I see no reason you can’t get your team in and out of the weight room within an hour and still get in solid, quality training. It’s about being efficient and setting up a constant, fluid, and well-oiled machine of athletes rotating exercises and pairings. Athletes will pick up on how you set up your stations and get the hang of it quickly. Good luck and get after 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

I would love to have athletes available to train 52 weeks out of the year—and I’m sure many of you would echo that sentiment. That way, we can have our best shot of implementing the programs that we neurotically designed for our players and their needs. In D1 college athletics, you may get close to this, but even those coaches have to navigate time off and dead periods.

Training, by nature, is incomplete.

As strength and conditioning coaches, we are at best a small sliver of an already overflowing pie. I am not discounting the work that we do; many of us are reading, iterating, listening to podcasts, talking within our network, and exhausting any other avenue in order to put our best foot forward for our players. With that being said, solid training relies on long-term consistency over short-term intensity. Therein lies my problem.

Solid training relies on long-term consistency over short-term intensity. Share on X

If you’ve been in the iron game long enough, you will quickly find out that things never quite go as planned. What was once a meticulously mapped out four-week training block has suddenly become an index card with scribbles and revisions in red ink. This is an all too familiar experience of mine, working at a private PK–12 school. In a lot of ways, it is similar to many public schools, but there are two unique constraints that are central to my demographic:

• Over 80% of students participate in at least one athletic sport. As a school, we rely on and encourage our students to participate in multiple sports.
• There are far more days out of school and dead periods that limit exposures to consistent training.

I am a huge advocate of multi-sport participation: the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks from where I sit. The differentiation between sports and their required abilities are themselves a training means for our students. From a training perspective, this simply requires getting a little creative and dialing in what is realistic in terms of adaptations. This article will help outline some simple, practical training tools that you can use if you find yourself in the same situation. I am a believer that something is still better than nothing at all.

A Mile Wide, An Inch Deep

Strength and conditioning at a secondary school can at times feel like Groundhog Day. Depending on certain circumstances, it might be six weeks or so before you see an athlete again. I’m half-joking here, but the bottom line is, as a coach, I have to be comfortable with uncertainty and have the willingness to adapt on the fly. I’ve experimented with highly-focused training blocks—I felt that if I only have x amount of time, I might as well invest heavily in the target quality that will give me biggest bang for my buck.

Though I had success with this model, I’m not sure it was the best overall package for my athletes. As I transitioned to a more diverse program, I started to see equal if not better results. I also found that athletes enjoyed training much more and didn’t experience the staleness that comes with mind-numbing repetition.

As I transitioned to a more diverse program, I started to see equal if not better results. Share on X

I began creating base templates that I could use for my training sessions. Once I have a base template, I can iterate and make adjustments on the fly. Training sessions would be forecasted out on a daily and weekly basis, so I could be flexible whenever I was thrown a curveball. I made templates for:

• Weight room
• Speed training
• Conditioning

I like a concurrent approach to training, so I would utilize these templates almost like a menu at a restaurant: I wanted everything to be present in some form or fashion. Based on the constraints and what our goal was at the time, the distribution of each session type would change. Let’s look at how I set up weight room work for my athletes.

Weight Room

In the weight room I had to be simple. Simple in this case doesn’t mean easy. I wanted to have a training menu in place that took little time to teach, but still ticked off a lot of boxes. Here is my basic outline of what a session could look like.

Heart Rate Elevation

Now let’s get through each category and I will show you some specific movements that I like to use. We start off every weight room session with some form of heart rate elevation. I like to use jumping rope or extensive jumps for this period. Not only do they raise heart rate, these jumps also help with elasticity, stiffness, and coordination of the lower limbs. These are done regardless of upper or lower emphasis. On upper body days, I might incorporate extensive medicine ball throws in this initial period or put them in as a primer before a main lift. Here is an example training menu that I pull from.

Mobility

The next phase of the workout will focus on mobility. I am guilty of neglecting mobility in my programs—I always thought there were other things that needed to be done that were of a higher priority. It wasn’t until I started adding in some mobility exercises into my own sessions where I could see a huge difference in my performance. Not to mention my body felt a ton better.

For my purposes, I am not trying to reinvent the wheel. Joe Defranco has a short and sweet mobility routine called “Limber 11.” It goes through some foam rolling, stretches, and range of motion drills that can prepare the body for training. The circuit works, so I use it. Every so often I will add in some crawling to shake things up. While crawling is not technically mobility driven, it does have a stability component along with many other benefits. Five to ten minutes is all you need here.

Power

Once we finish up the initial warm up, I have the athletes perform some power-type activities. The movements during this period can be any type of jump, plyometric, Olympic lift variation, or medicine ball throw. Jumps/plyos are always included. The Olympic lifts or medicine ball throws will be the secondary choice.

Typically, the prescription will be based on the sport, the athlete, what needs to be addressed, and training logistics. For the inconsistent athlete it is best to err on the side of caution. If I get an athlete of very low training age, I tend to always pick jumps. You can get a lot out of 15-20 quality, coached-up box jumps. If I see an athlete who has accumulated training sessions, I will dose hang cleans—light and fast cleans will reinforce technique and give us the primer power work that we want. Again, reps stay in the 10-20 range. Quality over quantity.

For the inconsistent athlete it is best to err on the side of caution. Share on X

Early in my coaching, Olympic lifts were a no go for me. I always felt that it took too much time, and quite frankly I wasn’t extremely confident in teaching them. What changed my mind was hearing great coaches like Al Vermeil, Dan John, and others speak about the benefits, along with how to progress the lifts. Like many things, I started with myself. After about four weeks, I felt polished enough to where I could train using a hang clean. From a performance and overall well-being side of things, adding these Olympic lift variations was a big net positive. Not to say they should be done with everyone, but it’s worth exploring and talking to coaches about. Here is an example breakdown of:

1. What movements make up this period.
2. How they are progressed throughout training.

Range of Motion

At this point in the session, the athletes are warmed up and primed for the main lifts and our “meat and potatoes.” During their main lift work up sets, I like to add in one to three movements to help with range of motion and overall integrity of specific body regions. I like to call these add-ins movement is medicine. These are done at relatively light intensity and the main goal is to grease the groove. Typically, I prescribe time instead of repetitions. It is also a good chance to put a tempo cadence on the repetitions to further time under tension and muscular work.

Here is a list of some of my go-to upper and lower body movements. I choose these for inconsistent athletes because they:

• Are extremely easy to teach.
• Require little equipment.
• Can be done alongside their main lifts.
• Address common movement issues that I see in my population of athletes.
• Strengthen supportive structures that would take up too much time on their own.
• Can aid in the warming up of specific musculature needed in the main lifts.

Strength

For our strength work I keep it very simple. Sorry if you were looking for some Russian top-secret, double probation program, as Buddy Morris would say. The two best programs, in my opinion, are Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 and Dan John’s Easy Strength. These programs trim the fat and are as essentialist as it gets for training. As long as you have a push, pull, hinge, and squat somewhere in your training, you will be fine.

As long as you have a push, pull, hinge, and squat somewhere in your training, you will be fine. Share on X

Both programs treat strength as a skill. You complete every rep in training and you “own” every rep. You can study up on both of these by clicking on the links above. I will provide the base template for 5/3/1 in terms of percentages. I like a total body approach, but strength work can easily be split into upper/lower. If you want to get fancier and your athletes are developed enough, you can adopt a Westside-style approach.

At this point in the session, the athletes have done a good bit of work. Training sessions using this approach tend to be a little on the longer side, but the volume associated with this program is built in a way that isn’t very taxing to athletes. This program is meant to accumulate repetitions from a variety of movements and planes of movement.

Since a program like this spares precious resources of the body, intensities of the main lifts can be programmed in waves. Once athletes become skillful at the lifts, then you can make trips up above their true 85% 1RM more often. For younger athletes, I will be overly safe when determining rep max ranges. I would rather them be too low than too high with their weight. A majority of early adaptation will be through the nervous system in the first place, so rep execution is crucial. I am a firm believer that this is a well-rounded GPP program that can be implemented to both prepare athletes for the season as well as train them during the in-season period.

For younger athletes, I will be overly safe when determining rep max ranges. Share on X

Accessory Lifts

When it comes to accessory lifts, I pick those that give the most bang for your buck. Sure, I will add in some neck, traps, arms, and calves every once in a while—however, in my experience, athletes will end up doing this stuff on their own anyway. Don’t pick too many accessories, maybe just two or three depending on the session. Here are some of my favorites. Again, I choose these most often because they are no-fluff and they are effective as accessories to the main lifts.

Finisher

To cap off a session, more times than not I have athletes do a “finisher.” This isn’t your workout-of-the-day lactate-fest. All parties enjoy the finisher so that’s a win. My go-to is always a carry variation. Dan John talks about anaconda strength. Being able to brace and stabilize is important, especially under fatiguing conditions. Distances or times don’t have to be crazy—just enough for the athletes to feel it. They should leave the gym feeling good. Even if they grinded through it, they leave with a sense of pride.

Being able to brace and stabilize is important, especially under fatiguing conditions. Share on X

A recent conversation with Al Vermeil has opened my eyes to the importance of mental conditioning—if athletes believe they are working hard and you are gradually increasing that work over time, a winning culture has the soil to grow. As a coach, you have to keep them going up to a level that they never thought they could reach. But you have to be smart about it.

Other things I use are prowler pushes, rower machines, battle ropes, grip challenges, and long duration iso holds. Here are some of my favorite carries.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it. A typical training session I would run that touches on a lot of different things. Sure, it doesn’t follow a neat periodization scheme; it does, however, give the athlete sound training and it also keeps them excited about coming back.

A perfect plan is useless if you have no one to use it with. Share on X

A perfect plan is useless if you have no one to use it with. If you coach athletes that are in and out due to school, sports, and family, then this is for you. It is hard to run a block system or a concurrent methodology if you only get four weeks here and four weeks there with athletes. When time is the enemy, any quality work is good work. It also gives you chances to try out new training methods. In my experience, young athletes love to be the guinea pigs as long as you explain to them what, how, and why. My speed and conditioning work would follow that general outline. The key is to not overcomplicate things. Exercise prescription and workloads are still based on common sense principles.

Give the athletes what they need and what they are ready for. A rule of thumb from coach Charlie Francis is looks right, flies right. You’ll know when changes need to happen. If it doesn’t work, reassess and find a new path.

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

One of my most significant mindset shifts occurred a few years ago, when someone referred to in-season as the longest, most consistent, unbroken training block of the year. This is so true—basketball off-season is in the summer, with numerous potential non-training periods. The season is, hands down, where you spend the most unbroken time with your roster. (I wish I remembered who tweeted that first so I could give a shoutout—apologies for my lousy memory).

Before adopting this outlook, I valued in-season training…but not as much as I should have. I knew it was important and obviously crucial to our athletes’ success, but I still was probably selling myself and our athletes short when it came to in-season protocols.

Now, in-season training is much more of a focused process than checking a box that simply says we lifted that day. For both the team and private settings, here are some helpful philosophies that I’ve used to get incredible results and feedback from our athletes.

1. Off-Season Influences In-Season

One of the biggest influences in any athlete’s training should be their own personal training history. Exercise history plays a significant role, no matter what time of year it is or what phase of training they’re in.

One of the biggest influences in any athlete’s training should be their own personal training history…In the case of the in-season athlete, this history is critical info, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

More seasoned athletes will have a long list of things they’ve tried, enjoyed, and/or hated, things that worked, things that failed, and so on. Inexperienced athletes with a low training age don’t have that list yet, but they have limitations as to what their programs can look like simply based on their training age (or lack thereof).

In the case of the in-season athlete, this training history is critical info. What did they do in the off-season and/or preseason? This answer should definitely dictate many in-season decisions.

It’s advantageous for coaches to look deeply into this because every athlete will have a different off-season. This is true at every level of the game, from high school to professional. A majority of these athletes are not running a program written by their team strength coach, and in some cases, some don’t even train regularly.

• If athlete A participates in a well-organized program all off-season that includes lifting, sprint work, agility work, and skill development, I would say they had a useful off-season.
• If athlete B needed surgery at the end of the season and spent the entire off-season doing physical therapy, that’s a very different situation than athlete A.
• If athlete C doesn’t lift a single time and plays pick-up all off-season, that’s another unique scenario compared to athletes A and B.

But what if they’re all teammates? When they get back to their team, what if they all have the exact same program?

No bueno. There is no way players B and C can hang with player A in a training setting. But we see this all the time in sport. I understand the challenges that come with each sector of training, from private to team at various levels. Still, there must be some level of continuity in what that athlete has been doing and what they continue to do in-season. Otherwise, we risk a stupid and highly avoidable injury in training—which should never happen.

By using their off-season training info to drive their in-season programming, you’ll have a much better idea of their current strengths and weaknesses and how you can address each and then progress the athlete appropriately throughout the year.

2. Fill Gaps with Training

Piggybacking off point #1, in-season training is an excellent opportunity to fill gaps in an athlete’s training. This is twofold:

1. First, of course, you could fill the gaps they may have from their off-season training situation.
2. More importantly, though, in-season training should fill gaps caused throughout the year by the demands of the sport itself.

For basketball players, there are some catch-all red flags that we can look for as coaches, aside from the player’s individual needs.

The first gap we could potentially fill throughout the year is range of motion. Basketball is dominated by partial ranges of motion:

• A defensive stance is a wide half squat.
• Jump takeoffs often occur from a quarter squat position.
• A jump shot is released in partial shoulder flexion.

Hoopers overload those partial ranges throughout the year and could lose strength and stability in the deeper ranges of those movements.

Video 1. In this example, the athlete maximizes ROM in this lunge variation by using a large plate to create a deficit, allowing him to sink deeper into his lunge and train strength through available ROM.

Just because many of the movements we see on the court are partial ROM doesn’t mean full ROM movements never happen. They do. And by continuing to give your athletes access and ownership of those full ranges via training, you’ll help them stay prepared for all movement scenarios they may see in the game.

Another critical gap we can fill in-season is exposure to specific outputs the athletes may lack during the game.

This is where my opinion may differ from a lot of coaches out there—many coaches I know believe that we should avoid jumping in-season because the players get that in their sport or that we should avoid sprinting because they get enough of that in their sport. I disagree. We should find jump and sprint variations that they don’t get exposure to in their sport and use them as catalysts to improve the actual in-sport variations. Keeping our speed and power outputs is a major goal during the season.

We should find jump and sprint variations that athletes don’t get exposure to in their sport and use them as catalysts to improve the actual in-sport variations, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

For example, I don’t think there’s any harm in appropriate volumes of single-leg jumping for an athlete that is a two-foot jumper on the court. I feel that this gives them exposure to their non-preferred jumping style in a safe and controlled setting, enhancing their output and giving them confidence in that style of jumping.

Video 2. Believe it or not, this athlete had trouble touching the rim using a single leg (left) takeoff simply due to lack of exposure. As you can see, he doesn’t lack the physical qualities.

The highest jumper I’ve ever trained is a two-foot jumper. His max approach jump has been measured as high as 47 inches. He can get that high going left-right and right-left. At one point, he could barely touch the rim off a left-leg-only takeoff. He had no injuries or abnormalities in structure—he simply wasn’t good at it. And because he wasn’t good at it, he was discouraged from training it. And discouraged to use that takeoff in games. This could have potentially taken away playmaking opportunities.

We worked on it at very moderate doses and eventually got his ability in a single-leg takeoff within 10% of his preferred two-foot gather. Now he has access to all four takeoff styles with confidence, which has undoubtedly positively impacted his game.

Video 3. This athlete performs a 30-meter sprint against 1 kilogram on the 1080 Sprint, which is basically a full-court sprint (plus 4 extra feet), with the goal of maximal velocity and maximal recovery time between reps.

The same can be said about speed. Basketball is a game full of so many different paces, but a large portion of the game is played in acceleration. Many athletes don’t get much max velocity exposure in the games, so we can fill that gap by training max velocity during the season.

Again, just because basketball is acceleration-dominant doesn’t mean max velocity will never happen. It will. And, again, by continuing to give your athletes max velocity exposure, you’ll help them stay prepared for all paces of the game and probably make improvements along the way. More than likely, if max velocity improves, so will acceleration—it’s a win-win.

There are so many gaps we can fill as coaches during the season. The examples I used are simply the ones that I consider the most universal in in-season programming.

Other more unique examples include:

• Movement patterns: What movement patterns are basketball players not getting directly from the sport? Can you load them and achieve a productive outcome?
• Diet and nutrition: What nutrients do athletes lack during the season? Being indoors and a winter sport, I would venture to say vitamin D is probably a concern. Can we eat or supplement that? What nutrients do we lose in sweat? Can we eat and supplement them?
• Feet: Basketball shoes are great for basketball but terrible for our feet. Can we train without our shoes whenever possible to restore foot function and continue to give our foot/ankle stimulus directly on the floor?

Video 4. Tightrope walks are now a staple for our basketball players. Get them out of their overprotective shoes and let their feet feel a training stimulus again.

3. Assess, Don’t Guess

I’ve written about VBT in the past, so it’s no secret that I am a huge fan of technology in training. During the season, technology can help coaches make more informed decisions based on the trends of the data we have access to.

Some coaches have access to extraordinary amounts of tech and data, while others may have little to no tech implementation. I think there’s something here for everyone. What the Los Angeles Lakers have will be different from what the 1A high school in rural Indiana has. But having something helps!

The more you can go from “I’m not too sure” to “I think so” to “I’m pretty sure,” the better. Use whatever you can to take the guesswork out of your system.

We all have access to two old school and FREE readiness indicators: the box score and the schedule. These include crucial info: minutes played and travel logistics, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

Velocity-based training is an excellent way to have a built-in readiness test within your training. Simply looking at what the athlete did in previous weeks versus what they’re doing on that day can help you make on-the-fly programming decisions for each individual athlete. The autoregulation is built in because you’re training for a target bar velocity rather than a target load or target percentage of 1RM.

And while VBT is cool and all, we still have access to two old school and FREE readiness indicators:

1. The box score.
2. The schedule.

These two things include a pair of crucial pieces of info:

3. Minutes played.
4. Travel logistics.

Basketball season is a grind, with a lot of travel and potential back-to-backs. Depending on the level of play, this can really impact player energy.

During the season, athletes who aren’t getting a lot of playing time can capitalize on many training opportunities. On the flip side, athletes who start and play most of the game will obviously have higher levels of fatigue accumulation throughout the year. The programs for these two groups of athletes may look different from day to day.

We can use box scores as a bare minimum for readiness testing. My colleague, Coach Dre Davis, head basketball coach at Warren Central High School, uses a “Total Work Chart” to get an even more in-depth look at the box score. This chart includes minutes played, scoring, assists, rebounds, and all the typical statistics, but he also tracks high-effort situations such as charges taken, 50/50 balls won, defensive five-second calls, and other stats that don’t show up in the box score.

The amount of “total work” an athlete does on the court may not show up in the box score. However, it gives us a good idea of how active and impactful a player was during their time on the court and is another great tool to coincide with the standard box score for determining how players may feel throughout the year.

Be rigid with your training goals but flexible with how you help athletes achieve those goals. This goes for training year-round, not just during the season, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

Be rigid with your training goals but flexible with how you help athletes achieve those goals. This goes for training year-round, not just during the season—but finding ways to mold your program around the individual will always pay off.

4. Watch Film

This is my absolute favorite way to improve in-season training—watching the game that I love! The first article I wrote for SimpliFaster was about how strength coaches can influence training by watching film. Since writing that, I believe in film study with even more conviction.

Earlier in this article, we talked about filling gaps, and watching film is one way you can further understand how to do so. When you watch game film, you can take note of movement quality, repetitive movement patterns, major inefficiencies, major strengths, and more than just the X’s and O’s of the game.

When it comes to film study, you can get as deep as you want and as creative as you want. Not to mention, technology like Hudl and Synergy can sort all of these plays by player, actions, outcomes, and just about any other variable you can think of.

Also, we can watch how things transfer (or don’t transfer) from training to the game. One of the most significant examples that come to mind is when coaches try to coach a “false step” out of an athlete. Then, when you watch the actual sport, you see nothing but “false steps.” So maybe we should just leave the false step alone because it is a natural and efficient movement strategy and train our athletes to be robust and durable enough to perform that false step without further risk of injury.

The possibilities are truly endless when using film study to find creative ways to help our athletes. It’s a highly untapped resource in our field, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

This video shows a random possession from the 2021 WNBA Finals game 4—as you can see, on the offensive side of the ball alone, there are two false steps within one possession. Trying to coach this movement out of athletes is not a good use of our time because it will consistently continue to happen naturally in games.

The possibilities are truly endless when using film study to find creative ways to help our athletes. It’s a highly untapped resource in our field. It’s fun, engaging, and outside the box. All of this helps us grow as coaches. So many hunches can be confirmed on film, giving coaches the confidence to act on those hunches and potentially make impactful training decisions for the athletes.

5. Communicate Proactively

Last but certainly not least comes communication. The key here is proactive versus reactive communication. Honestly, this might be the most important point here, but if I started the article off with something this boring and straightforward, you wouldn’t still be reading.

As much as I love technology and new ideas, I still think personal connections are the lifeblood of our industry. Earning trust, showing empathy and support, and trying to be a universal resource to our athletes at all times is probably the best injury mitigation strategy we have.

As coaches, we must remain proactive during the season with our communication and player relationship development. S&C coaches, along with all medical personnel, should know about every bump, bruise, ache, and pain. This way, we can respond to small things while they’re small and avoid them becoming big things in the future.

As much as I love technology and new ideas, I still think personal connections are the lifeblood of our industry, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

The basketball season is a grind, for sure—but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to improve through it! By taking these five fundamental actions, we can give our athletes a safe and effective in-season training experience and help reduce the myths of in-season training to help push our field forward to new levels.

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

Twitter is a dangerous place to be when you don’t retweet what the masses believe. It never fails; each time I type in my username and password, I find comments that raise my eyebrow, but I hesitate to chime in. There is a lot of toxicity among coaches who disagree in the field of sports performance. As we all know, Twitter has evolved into a dumping ground for people to leave their opinions—good or bad. I appreciate positive discourse as much as the next person, but personal growth rarely occurs on this particular social platform.

So, when I discovered dozens of tweets from GOOD strength coaches saying they didn’t want to bilateral back squat anymore, I genuinely had to reevaluate my stance (no pun intended). This wasn’t your standard lowbrow name-calling, but a series of points that made great sense.

So, I thought to myself, why DO we back squat bilaterally?

Out with the Old, In with the New?

Strength is very important. Years of research and anecdotes have proven that getting stronger yields great results, especially at first. Physics will even teach us that the ability to create force affects all movement. In 1969, the University of Nebraska saw the value of strength in sports and hired Boyd Epley as the first-ever strength and conditioning coach. While other teams were favoring calisthenics, Nebraska was bending bars and getting PRs. Nebraska won five national championships with the help of Boyd and his revolutionary weight training.¹

Fast forward to today, and even the smallest of junior highs has some form of weight room access. The sporting world has come to realize that Strength is King! But this wasn’t the argument I was seeing on Twitter; it was about which strength actually mattered. The longer you are in this field, the more exercises you will see come and go—not because of their effectiveness but because of their popularity.

Video 1. An incoming eighth-grader squatting 300 pounds for 10 reps.

The bilateral squat is one of the most common exercises athletes do. Walk into an offseason program, and you will find some version of it being done: back, front, box, and in many high schools, the quarter. But on the “opposite” side of sports training, things look slightly different.

We are slowly turning the bilateral back squat into the Batman of S&C. It came in to save us from small legs and slow sprints, and now we want nothing to do with it, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

Therapists and athletic trainers spend most of their time developing single limb and unilateral squat strength and proprioception. Both seem to get results and make athletes feel and perform better. With squats being the breadwinner of the weight room for so many years, I wanted to know why many seasoned coaches were protesting the traditional bilateral version for the more “therapeutic” unilateral? We are slowly turning the bilateral back squat into the Batman of strength and conditioning. It came in to save us from small legs and slow sprints, but after years of being misunderstood, we want nothing to do with it. You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.

If Everyone Else Jumped Off a Bridge, Would You?

Whenever I saw the “squat” signal on Twitter, I peeked at the comments to see what most of the complaints were and found a lot of pros and cons to the arguments. Rather than Monday Morning Quarterbacking the discussion among my peers, I decided to step into the arena and give my two cents. For each argument, I wanted to share my own pro and con and cite my reasoning for either/or.

I don’t want to see new coaches look at the anti-squat movement and take it as gospel without hearing an argument from the pro side. But I also don’t think we should ignore the great points made for unilateral dominant lifting. If this happens, we might find a generation of athletes missing out on the fundamental advantages of either version. After hours of sleuthing, I determined these were the three primary conflicts to both argue against and defend.

1. Unilateral Squats Are More “Sport-Like”

This has to be the biggest and most common argument against traditional bilateral squatting. And I get it. Unilateral training is a critical component in building transferable performance.

Pros

There is a difference between saying you should squat unilaterally and saying you should only squat unilaterally. Read that again if you need to. I also need to express that unilateral is not the same as single leg. By splitting the stance, we can mimic the hip angles of sprinting. This is most likely why some research finds that unilateral strength training (even with less weight) can create nearly equal performance gains as bilateral strength training.² If less weight can achieve almost identical gains in performance, this might be a low-cost way to improve performance in the weight room.

There is a difference between saying you should squat unilaterally and saying you should ONLY squat unilaterally, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

Cons

That being said, let’s not forget a primary reason we train hard in the weight room—to improve key performance indicators (KPIs). There will be many arguments about strength training, but ultimately, we spend hours in the weight room to maximize our muscles’ output. There are many arguments as to what a good KPI is but being able to produce more FORCE is not up for debate.

Newton’s laws show us that we cannot affect our surroundings or ourselves without force. So, if the goal is to produce more force, we want to be able to maximally recruit more muscles and generate a greater output when we train. The max voluntary contraction is when we can utilize more of our muscles’ force potential on and off the field.

When performing bilateral squats, we are in a balanced and controlled environment that allows for greater voluntary contraction, force, and power without worrying about BALANCE.^3,4 The most significant drawback of unilateral training is the inhibitory component of finding your ground. If I pushed you while you stood on one leg or two, on which would you have better balance? Two legs, of course.

Therefore, greater voluntary contraction is possible in this position. It’s the same thing as lifting weights on imbalanced surfaces. If the ground under you is shaking, you produce less force as your body prioritizes not falling over. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strengthen our bodies unilaterally, but it does mean that max contraction, and possibly max force, is easier to train from a bilateral stance.

2. Bilateral Squats Are More Dangerous and Lead to Injuries

I was surprised when I saw this comment pop up more than once. I shrugged it off, assuming the injuries were most likely related to the knee—an old adage some coaches have against deep squats. However, to my surprise, the argument was that bilateral squats caused back injuries in athletes. As someone who powerlifted for his college and has a decade of competitive history, I took this one personally. It took years to convince people squatting wasn’t counterproductive for knees, and now we’ve demonized it for the back.

Pros

If you’ve ever worked with high-commodity athletes, you know what rule #1 is DON’T HURT THE ATHLETE. Working with someone who is or has the potential to “make it” is a curse and a blessing at the same time. So, when faced with exercise selection, you must choose what has the highest reward for the lowest risk.

If someone tells you that bilateral squatting has no risk, they are lying to you. Likewise, if someone says doing anything in the weight room has no risk, they’re also lying. For example, throwing a medball against a wall seems harmless…right? Unless that someone is a college pitcher, that ball bounced back faster than they expected, it jammed their finger, and they have games coming up. So, if we have someone in a competition phase or who has a nagging injury exacerbated by bilateral squatting, it might be best to utilize unilateral squats instead.

Cons

Like most people, I trained like I was invincible in my early competitive days. I thought I had all the techniques figured out, but in true Dunning-Kruger fashion, I had a lot to learn. As you can guess, my youth wore off, and I suffered a pretty frustrating back injury—not from squatting, but deadlifting. I let my ego determine how I lifted and not my actual physical preparedness.

Being in college and surrounded by people who really didn’t know how to help me, I had to go on a personal journey to fix my technique. At the end of this adventure, I concluded that these four minimum tenets, which have reduced (if not eliminated) back injuries from our program over the years, should take priority.

1. Proper abdominal bracing (intra-abdominal pressure).
2. Depth of movement over weight lifted.
3. When range of motion (ROM) is affected, cue knees over toes, not chest down.
4. DO NOT overarch the low back or shift the hips to get away from sticking points.

The first cue has to be the most critical yet under-taught component to lifting in most weight rooms. I have even found myself teaching bracing patterns to high school state powerlifting champs who regularly suffer back pain at school. Within weeks of rehab and technique corrections, they hit PRs and feel healthy again.

I would compare athletes back squatting to my grandparents on the computer—the tool is as good as the person using it, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

Teaching a young adult to curb their ego even when you’re not looking is easier said than done. If I had a dollar each time a kid broke one of these rules on their own to get an out of gym “PR,” I’d have enough money for a new truck. Bilateral squats don’t inherently have high risks when being implemented. I would compare athletes back squatting to my grandparents on the computer—the tool is as good as the person using it.

3. Back Squats Are for Squatty People, Not Athletes

Let’s be honest; the only sports requiring a perfect squat are weightlifting ones. I absolutely understand where this argument comes from, but if this is the case, NO athlete should lift any weight. Since we can agree that strength training has benefits, we need to decide if and when to change the type of lifting based on our athletes.

Pros

The number of elite powerlifters transferring into the NFL or MLB is equal to the number of people who can prove that the earth is flat—zero. However, many ex-college football players have found success in powerlifting after a subpar collegiate experience (yours truly included). If the list is so heavily stacked in one direction, we must ask, why is that?

The answer must be that back squats favor athletes who are not particularly, for lack of a better term, athletic. There are many ways to improve strength in athletes outside of the bilateral squat, and honestly, it’s a numbers game in the end.

This next story is an anecdote, but I bet many coaches have their own versions. I have an international basketball player who comes home with horrible knee pain every offseason. A combination of genetics, poor collegiate training, and the grind of being in another country causes his body to fall apart each season. Standing at 6 foot 6, he was never a good squatter, and most of his college coaches didn’t even train the lower body in the weight room. Once he is back, we are able to get his legs healthy and stronger, but the approach we take is not the old-school HEAVY WEIGHTS method. The majority of his strength program is unilateral, with some bilateral squat work. At most, he back squats 300 pounds for one rep without any discomfort.

That being said, we will perform sets of 5 and 10 doing split squats at 150-plus pounds. Simple math reveals that 150 pounds per leg equals 300 pounds total, but instead of one hard rep, we are accumulating much more volume. I’ll admit that my math is oversimplified since his other leg contributes, and range of motion might be a factor. However, ultimately, we are still developing strength at “similar” loads and higher volume.

Cons

If you’ve ever been in a college weight room, you know you will find plenty of individuals opposed to bilateral squatting—most of them being “dramatic” athletes. I have seen guys who made it to the NFL do anything and everything they can to not squat.

“It’s my back.”
“My leg is sore from practice.”
“I have a headache.”

Once I sifted through the excuses, I learned it had little to do with the exercise itself and everything to do with how weak they are at it. Plenty of professional athletes never had to back squat as they dominated their sports. Lebron James hasn’t done a squat yet (even though his trainer thinks he did). These are top-tier athletes who don’t enjoy being bad at something, and since they are not built squatty, they want nothing to do with it. The solution is not to convince them they will be a state champion powerlifter but to explain the many benefits of getting stronger in the deep squat. Squatting should have little to do with how much they lift and more with how much more they can correctly do than when they started.

Squatting should have little to do with how much they lift and more with how much more they can correctly do than when they started, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

If I had to give a quick list of reasons bilateral squats are beneficial, I’d tell them:

1. Deep back squats are correlated with the improved thickness of the ACL and connective tissues within the knee. Whether or not you can squat a lot, performing regular deep squats through adolescence seems to grow this essential tissue.⁵
2. Improving the squat is associated with increased vertical and improved sprint times. You don’t have to lift a house to see benefits from getting stronger.⁶ Likewise, bilateral training might impact things that require more strength, such as change of direction and deceleration.⁷
3. Bilateral performance training seems to have a greater magnitude for performance increases with a longer impact duration. While research shows unilateral training has rapid, short-term gains (less than six weeks), bilateral development has a slower but greater and longer-lasting process (12+ weeks).⁸

Should I Do Bilateral or Unilateral Squats?

It’s the great debate. Bilateral squats were once a hero to the people, saving the town. But now the crowd is divided on whether we need this “vigilante” in our weight rooms anymore. Post a video of a heavy back squat on Twitter, and one group will praise the performance while another will call for your head. After hours of deliberation and study, I knew there had to be more to the story.

Many papers show that unilateral training and bilateral training improve performance, but the combination of the two ultimately creates the BEST results, says @endunamoo_sc. Share on X

When you research bilateral versus unilateral training, you will begin to see a trend. Many papers show that unilateral training and bilateral training improve performance, but the combination of the two ultimately creates the best results.⁹In a world of black and white, Republican and Democrat, Apple and Android, it might be best to fall in between somewhere. Based on my exploration of social media strength coaches, I believe following these rules should create the safest and most productive program:

1. Perform bilateral squats within the capacity of the user at a minimum effective volume.
2. DO NOT treat unilateral training like an afterthought but program the intensity to match the rest of your program.
3. If bilateral squat training creates a recurring problem for an individual, remove that risk factor
4. Pairing bilateral and unilateral training seems to produce the best long-term results. There can be more than one hero in this movie.

So, the next time someone asks whether they should do unilateral squats or bilateral squats, I’m going to say YES.

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. Shurley JP and Todd JS. “The Strength of Nebraska.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2012;26(12):3177–3188.

2. Speirs DE, Bennett MA, Finn CV, and Turner AP. “Unilateral vs. Bilateral Squat Training for Strength, Sprints, and Agility in Academy Rugby Players.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2016;30(2):386–392. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000001096. PMID: 26200193.

3. Eliassen W, Saeterbakken AH, and van den Tillaar R. “Comparison of Bilateral and Unilateral Squat Exercises on Barbell Kinematics and Muscle Activation.” International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. 2018;13(5):871–881.

4. Núñez FJ, Santalla A, Carrasquila I, Asian JA, Reina JI, and Suarez-Arrones LJ “The effects of unilateral and bilateral eccentric overload training on hypertrophy, muscle power and cod performance, and its determinants, in team sport players.” PLOS ONE. 2018;13(3):e0193841.

5. Grzelak P, Podgorski M, Stefanczyk L, Krochmalski M, and Domzalski M. “Hypertrophied cruciate ligament in high performance weightlifters observed in magnetic resonance imaging.” International Orthopaedics. 2012:36(8):1715–1719.

6. Wisløff U, Castagna C, Helgerud J, et al. “Strong correlation of maximal squat strength with sprint performance and vertical jump height in elite soccer players.” British Journal of Sports Medicine.2004;38:285–288.

7. Appleby BB, Cormack SJ, and Newton RU. “Unilateral and bilateral lower-body resistance training does not transfer equally to sprint and change of direction performance.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2020;34(1):54–64.

8. Makaruk H, Winchester J, Sadowski J, Czaplicki A, and Sacewicz T. “Effects of Unilateral and Bilateral Plyometric Training on Power and Jumping Ability in Women.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011;25(12): 3311–3318. 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318215fa33.

9. Ramírez-Campillo R, Burgos CH, Henríquez-Olguín C, et al. “Effect of Unilateral, Bilateral, and Combined Plyometric Training on Explosive and Endurance Performance of Young Soccer Players.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2015; 29(5):1317–1328. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000762