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MMA (mixed martial arts) is a sport that has grown exponentially across the globe. Organizations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator Fighting Championship, and One Fighting Championship (ONE FC) organize events on an almost weekly basis, offering viewers battles between the most highly skilled MMA athletes in the world. The growth of combat sports has made athletes more competitive and skilled than ever—consequently, effective strength and conditioning tactics are an even more important piece of the puzzle for a successful outcome.

Fighters must develop a robust level of metabolic conditioning, strength, power, and speed to complement their skill, so that as time wears on, they can remain sharp and focused. Share on X

The fighter will always have two primary opponents upon entering the cage: the fighter standing across from them and their own preparedness. Fighters must develop a robust level of metabolic conditioning, strength, power, and speed to complement their skill, so that as time wears on, they can remain sharp and focused. Due to the complexity and many physical demands of MMA, as well as the challenges of organizing training, I have had to meticulously structure my programs to meet these various demands when training my combat sport athletes.

Energy Systems

When analyzing the physical demands of MMA, it can be overwhelming to even begin thinking about developing a program. Athletes require high levels of metabolic conditioning, the ability to rapidly generate explosive knockout power, the strength to take down and control an opponent on the ground, and everything in between. Each of these skills relies heavily on different energy system pathways, some of which directly compete with one another in terms of training, which makes matters extremely complex. Figure 1 below demonstrates actions seen in a typical MMA bout, as well as the corresponding energy system they utilize.

The style, size, and matchup a fighter has will ultimately determine what blend of these movements takes place in a fight. Some fighters specialize in grappling-based arts (e.g., Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, Greco-Roman, etc.) or striking (e.g., boxing, Muay-Thai, taekwondo, etc.), while others possess a somewhat even blend of them all. According to the UFC, as of 2018, heavyweights had the highest occurrence of fights finished by knockout (KO/TKO) at 60.1%, whereas women’s strawweight contenders had both the highest percentage of submission finishes at 27.1% and the highest percentage of decision bouts at 65.9%. This only adds to the list of considerations we must contemplate when designing a program.

This is similar to a sport like American football, where coaches cannot simply train skill position athletes (wide receivers, running back, etc.) as they would an offensive or defensive lineman due to the discrepancy in the playing style. Even though it’s the same game—or in terms of fighting, the same sport—there are very different performance strategies.

Metabolic Conditioning

MMA bouts are formatted as either three five-minute rounds for a standard match or five five-minute rounds for championship and main event bouts. Fighters must possess enough stamina to recover quickly between rounds, as well as maintain a high level of intensity throughout each round to ensure the best possible chance of winning. As previously mentioned, some fights end in the very early stages of competition—whether it be by knockout, submission, or injury—but for those who go the entire distance, it is advantageous for a fighter to possess robust levels of metabolic conditioning.

For those who go the entire distance, it is advantageous for a fighter to possess robust levels of metabolic conditioning, says @jimmypritchard_. Share on X

Traditionally, many coaches would prescribe long, slow, steady-state aerobic activity for their fighters to build aerobic endurance. These activities included things such as jogging, biking, and swimming for multiple hours a week at or near ~40%-70% max heart rate. This would build the foundation for the fighter, who would then build further from there and eventually train in a more specific manner as the fight neared.

While this method may still have merit in some instances, coaches have instead begun to introduce their fighters to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to produce similar, and in some cases superior, results in a shorter period of time. This type of training involves brief bouts of intense exercise (approximately >90% VO2 peak) interspersed with often longer bouts of lower-intensity recovery. The major benefits of HIIT over low-intensity steady-state conditioning (LISS) appear to be that adaptations are achieved in a shorter amount of time, and negative interactions between strength and power development are less likely to happen when training concurrently.^1,2

A HIIT session can be formatted in many ways, and it certainly cannot go without being said that fighters get a great deal of this conditioning in their skill sessions. Depending on how specific a coach would like to get, they may format a general HIIT session as something like 30 seconds of running on an incline treadmill followed by two minutes of walking and active recovery.

I may have the fighter do one minute of striking combinations, followed by one minute of takedown defense and sprawling, followed by 1-5 minutes of active or passive recovery.¹ Another popular option is to set up a series of resistance exercises (also known as circuit training) and have a fighter execute each one back-to-back with little to no rest for upward of 2-3 minutes.¹ The options are seemingly limitless, and it is in this area that art meets science, allowing coaches the artistic freedom to craft a session built uniquely for their fighter. Important considerations the coach can manipulate are:

• The rest period.
• Mode of exercise.
• Volume.
• Duration.

Strength and Power

Strength and power are critical components that contribute to the success of MMA fighters. Strength underpins power, and power is often associated with explosiveness, which is of utmost importance for throwing punches, kicks, elbows, knees, etc.¹ Furthermore, the ability to sustain such power across a fight is critical—thus, training a fighter’s power endurance or ability to resist fatigue and sustain power output is of utmost importance.

The major issue that I run into when structuring a plan for combat sport athletes, particularly when seeking to increase power, is where, when, and how often to train for it, says @jimmypritchard_. Share on X

The major issue that I run into when structuring a plan for combat sport athletes, particularly when seeking to increase power, is where, when, and how often to train for it. It is commonly accepted that power will suffer at the expense of increasing cardiovascular endurance, but gains can still be made. Intelligent programming can help mitigate the negative consequences.

Research suggests that gains in power and maximum strength can be made using a daily undulating model similar to that of a classic strength-power periodization model (where multiple weeks are dedicated to strength endurance, and then power training, sequentially) which could allow for the development of multiple training aspects at once.^1,3 It is possible that one day a week of power training could help to sustain or even build power for a fighter, while allowing for the training of many other physiological qualities simultaneously.

When designing a workout intended to increase power, emphasis must be placed on rapidly moving the weight through the concentric portion of the lift and keeping resistance between 40% and 80% of the athlete’s 1RM for each given exercise.^1,4 Exercises may vary on their optimal load depending on whether they are upper body or lower body, pushing, pulling, hinging, jumping, or a host of other factors; therefore, coaches must do their own research to discover proper loading schemes for their athletes.

One last important consideration when seeking to improve strength and power in fighters is the specific development of isometric strength. Many of a fighter’s grappling and clinching scenarios involve gripping, squeezing, and holding their opponent in order to maintain or improve position, work through a takedown, or finish a submission. This is where coaches must again get creative in their training techniques by implementing exercises such as weighted carries, holding or squeezing medicine balls and sandbags, or even dead hangs from a bar, to name a few. Bounty et al.¹ even suggest using towels for pull-ups, rows, and hangs to further tax the grip strength of fighters and provide a novel stimulus.

Speed

Speed is a critical component in MMA, as fighters must be able to rapidly generate strikes, evade their opponents, and close distances as quickly as possible. Speed is often trained and displayed in sparring and technical skill sessions, but trainers can also help to develop it through several other training methods. Plyometric training—specifically unloaded drop jumps and hurdle jumps—has been shown by Gomez et al.⁷ to increase kicking power in football players when combined with resistance training. One could extrapolate this information and potentially reproduce similar results with fighters whom they train and perhaps even build from it, using both upper and lower body plyometrics to increase kicking and punching power.

Ballistic methods such as weighted jump squats have also been shown to improve movement speed⁶ when loads were used at ~30% 1RM. As previously discussed in the power development section, selecting the proper load for executing these movements is of utmost importance to yield optimal results. Speed is a rather delicate physiological quality to train, particularly when looking at the fine motor skill involved in movements such as a punch, kick, knee, or elbow. Attempting to load these movements without a firm understanding of the cause-and-effect relationship should be avoided.

Putting It Together

The most difficult part of training an MMA fighter is not the training itself, but rather the organization of all the training components combined. The best resource I have come across to help do so is the book Science and Application of High Intensity Interval Training, by Martin Buchheit and Paul Laursen,⁵ specifically the chapter that Dr. Duncan French contributes to discuss exactly how this can be done. Below is an adapted table from the book:

To better understand this outline, once must understand what each “type” of HIIT targets. As such, each is described below:

1. Type 1: Aerobic Oxidative
2. Type 2: Aerobic Oxidative + Neuromuscular
3. Type 3: Aerobic Oxidative + Anaerobic Glycolytic
4. Type 4: Aerobic Oxidative + Anaerobic Glycolytic + Neuromuscular
5. Type 5: Anaerobic Glycolytic + Neuromuscular

Each of these training types are further detailed in the book, with information about work-to-rest ratios, volume, mode of exercise, and much more. As you can see, the skill sessions (e.g., wrestling, striking, etc.) provide the majority of what one may classically define as conditioning.

The most difficult part of training an MMA fighter is not the training itself, but rather the organization of all the training components combined, says @jimmypritchard_. Share on X

This type of programming requires sound communication between the strength and conditioning coach and specific skill coaches for each discipline, as they can work together to provide the targeted stimulus within each session. It is easy to see where a lack of communication can quickly result in overtraining, as a striking coach and grappling coach may cross over with back-to-back type 5 sessions on the same day (or something similar) and create unwanted, excessive fatigue in the fighter. Most high-level fighters now have a primary coach who helps to organize all of the training and communication between parties; therefore, it is important that a strength and conditioning coach plays a major role in the planning.

In order to successfully develop a plan for an MMA fighter, I always target each of the factors previously mentioned to some degree. Every aspect of the program will then be tailored to the fighter depending on their own individual strengths and weaknesses, as well as who their opponent is and how much time is available before competition. I view every program much like a stone that I must sculpt; who it is I am training will determine how it looks in the end.

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. Bounty P.L., Campbell, B.I. Galvan E., Cooke M., and Antonio J. “Strength and Conditioning Considerations for Mixed Martial Arts.” Strength & Conditioning Journal. 2011;33:56-67.

2. Gibala M.J. and McGee S.L. “Metabolic adaptations to short-term high-intensity interval training: a little pain for a lot of gain?” Exercise and Sports Sciences Review. 2008;36:58-63.

3. Hartmann H., Bob A., Wirth K., and Schmidtbleicher D. “Effects of different periodization models on rate of force development and power ability of the upper extremity.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2009;23:1921-1932.

4. Kilduff L.P., Bevan H., Owen N., et al. “Optimal loading for peak power output during the hang power clean in professional rugby players.” International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 2007;2:260-269.

5. Laursen P. and Buchheit M (Eds). Science and Application of High-intensity Interval Training. Human Kinetics: 2019.

6. McBride J.M., Triplett-McBride T., Davie A., and Newton, R.U. “The effect of heavy- vs. light-load jump squats on the development of strength, power, and speed.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research. 2002;16:75-82.

7. Perez-Gomez J., Olmedillas H., Delgado-Guerra S., et al. “Effects of weight lifting training combined with plyometric exercises on physical fitness, body composition, and knee extension velocity during kicking in football.” Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2008;33:501-510.

The 2021 track and field season was unlike any other, and because of the restrictions and restructuring caused by COVID-19, I felt like a first-year coach. As with any new situation, there were many circumstances to learn from. I tend to be my biggest critic at the end of the season, and it is hard for me to look outside of areas where I failed:

• I was unable to get our most talented jumper to the starting line.
• I was unable to get our most versatile jumper to the finish line.
• While we were able to get our most improved jumper to the finish line, it was with results that were lower than we had hoped for.

Fortunately, I work with a fantastic coaching staff who would remind me of the aspects that were going well. At the end of the season, our head coach told me he thought I did some of my best coaching ever, and he was probably correct. Of course, I will not forget the areas in which I failed (I carry a momento that I see every day as a reminder), but our delayed and shortened season posed new problems that required me to think differently. On the plus side, I was able to create some solutions to those problems, many of which will be part of what we do moving forward.

Technical Difficulties and Drills

While there is obviously a technical component to all track and field events, in my opinion, the hurdles, jumps, and throws involve another layer. With more than half of the 2020 season being cancelled and then the 2021 season being delayed and shortened, that additional layer became even more complicated. In many ways, track coaches around the country were coaching two classes of freshmen. I’m sure all event areas were feeling this too, but from a jumps coach perspective, it made practice difficult to manage. Our juniors and seniors were light years ahead of the freshman and sophomores, so there was often a canyon between their technical competencies.

What would be the best way to maximize practice time to address each athlete’s individual needs? The answer—due to our COVID-altered school schedule—ended up being drill work during ‘pre-practice.’ Share on X

So, what would be the best way to maximize practice time to address each athlete’s individual needs? The answer ended up being drill work during “pre-practice.” Due to our COVID-19-altered school schedule, I was able to offer our jumpers opportunities to come to practice 15-30 minutes early, two to three times per week, in order to complete tasks specific to their needs.

Before I go any further, I think it is important to discuss what constitutes a drill. I do not have a formal definition, but what I will offer in this article are activities which:

• Train a physical demand of the event.
• Allow the athlete to feel a movement that is part of the event.

In general, I would say that I am not a “drill guy.” I think the most important technical coaching occurs when the athlete is rehearsing the event. In high jump practice, this would be short or full approach work. In long and triple jump practice, this would be short approach work (4-12 steps; triple may not include all three phases).

If an athlete can make changes in these sessions, I have found the transfer to competition to be more likely. The only drawback in making technical changes within these sessions is that they often take a lot of time, which was something we did not have due to the compressed season length. Complexity was further increased by having a higher percentage of athletes who were competing in the jumps for the first time.

The drills completed during pre-practice were my attempt at accelerating the learning curve of our jumpers. None of the drills used were new. In a normal year, they would have been sprinkled in as needed. With the implementation of pre-practice, the frequency of the drills increased significantly when compared to a normal season.

The drills completed during pre-practice were my attempt at accelerating the learning curve of our jumpers, says @HFJumps. Share on X

Most importantly, the drills utilized were specific to each individual athlete. This was based on observing them sprint and jump multiple times prior to assigning the drills that would be their focus. This is probably the most critical part of drill assignment. For example, if an athlete has technical competency in the long jump landing, performing a drill targeting the long jump landing is nothing more than a waste of time and energy, which are our two most precious resources.

Repetition and Variation

When utilizing drills, I try to balance repetition and variation. There needs to be enough repetition so that transfer is made to the event. John Wooden’s Eight Laws of Learning support this: explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition. A simple example is the swing leg extension that happens in galloping and run-run-jumps. This motor pattern should be replicated in all three jumps (long jump style dependent), but that does not happen for all athletes. Repping thousands of these during a season/career assists in the transfer of swing leg extension.

Coupled with repetition is variation. If an athlete goes through the motions, learning does not occur. Therefore, whenever a drill is being performed, it is important for an athlete to have one or more of the following:

• A specific movement they are trying to achieve.
• A specific action they are trying to feel.
• A handicap to elicit the desired objective.
• A challenge that makes the objective more difficult.

In the aforementioned run-run-jump example, if an athlete is having difficulty with a rolling penultimate foot contact, I may have them do it barefoot to enhance the sensory component of the drill. If that doesn’t work, I may have them place their hands on their hips to allow them to focus their attention on foot contact. If there is still difficulty, we will slow the drill down as much as possible and then build it back up.

Once they have the rolling penultimate down, I will challenge them to toggle a normal and rolling foot contact between reps or within a rep (within a rep is extremely challenging!). Toggling is helpful because it is required if the athlete does both long and triple jump or high and triple jump. Without further ado, let’s get to the drills that formed our 2021 pre-practice!

Infinity Locomotion

I first heard of the Infinity Walk through Coach Dan Fichter at a Track-Football Consortium. I refer to it as “infinity locomotion” because of the various movements I use (walking, skipping, crawling, etc.) It is a method created by Dr. Deborah Sunbeck, and she explains it in her book Infinity Walk, Book 1: The Physical Self. An introductory video for the method can be found here. I strongly advise watching this prior to reading and watching my example video below. Here are some of the reasons for using infinity locomotion:

• Complete Eye Movement – By completing infinity locomotion in both directions, while keeping focus on a stationary or moving target, the athlete is more likely to go through a full range of eye movement. What makes the figure eight path unique is its combination of movement in the sagittal and frontal planes. There would be less stimulus if only moving forward and backward or left and right because only one plane would be addressed at a time.
• Neural Priming – The figure eight pattern of infinity walking and the additional challenges that can be implemented provide “multiple sensory and motor sources of neural priming which are needed to learn.”¹ In simple terms, the Infinity Walk wakes up the brain and gets it ready to learn. Seems like a no-brainer (pun intended) to use in any academic or athletic setting where skills will be taught!
• Vestibular Ocular Reflex (VOR) Stimulus – If you were to stare at an object and then move to the left while maintaining your gaze on the object, your eyes would move to the right. This is the VOR in action. The vestibular system is responsible for regulating eye, neck, spinal, and limb movements to maintain gaze.²

• I have seen Fichter speak many times, and one consistent message he has in his presentations is that the eyes are the most under-trained part of the body.

Steering

is a topic I often discuss when it comes to the jump approaches, and it is often an issue with novice jumpers (particularly with those who had minimal exposure to ball sports growing up). Infinity locomotion checks a box for vision training.

• Vestibular Stimulus as a Global Extensor – “The vestibular system is a major source of excitatory influence to extensor or antigravity muscles, particularly in axial or proximal limb muscles, and of reciprocal inhibition to certain flexor muscles.”³ Once again, the figure 8 pattern and visual focus pose a challenge to the vestibular system, which will wake up the extensors, so the participant remains upright. In a normal school year, students sit at a desk for about six hours each day. Sitting has a strong bias for being in a state of flexion, as does “cell phone posture,” so it makes sense to excite those extensors prior to athletic activity!

Video 1. Here, two athletes perform an infinity skip. The water bag, bungee, and arm movements all challenge balance and coordination. The options for variation are only limited by a coach’s creativity. For additional information and examples, see Cal Dietz’s “The Goat Performance Drill” part 1 and part 2 on YouTube.

If you watch Dr. Sunbeck’s video, you will notice the figure 8 oriented more side-to-side versus the examples of Homewood-Flossmoor jumpers, whose figure 8 was biased forward and backward.

My reasoning behind altering the drill was that I found it to be more specific to the demands of the long jump and triple jump. By rotating the figure 8, the drill involved a higher degree of convergence and divergence for the eyes. Convergence is especially important in the horizontal jump approach because the target (the board) continually gets closer (until the jumper loses sight of it). Most of the time, I placed a small cone on the ground for the jumpers to focus on (this was the case in the video), doing so to be consistent with the jump board being located on the ground.

By rotating the figure 8, the infinity locomotion drill involved a higher degree of convergence and divergence for the eyes, says @HFJumps. Share on X

As athletes moved closer to the visual focal object, I encouraged them to keep their head level (neutral neck) and track their eyes down to the visual target. There were times we altered the visual focus point or even made it mobile. We also did Dr. Sunbeck’s variation periodically. (Upon reflection, high jumpers will probably do a 50/50 split in the future, due to the nature of the approach.)

It is important to note that I have no idea if my variation takes away from any of the aforementioned benefits of the traditional Infinity Walk. I felt my rationale was solid for the change, and athlete feedback was positive, so I went with it. This was the one drill completed by every jumper who was present for pre-practice.

Ball Landing

Sometimes the universe aligns itself and makes it possible for people like me to make some minor discoveries. At the start of our season, we were indoors due to weather conditions and had to find space to practice away from our indoor track. We ended up in what I think is our cheerleading room. In that room, there were at least 25 exercise balls. I just remember thinking “That’s a lot of balls.”

Fast forward two days. We were back outside, and I had athletes completing a variation of a chair landing drill on the high jump mat because our sandpit was water-logged. An athlete made the comment that he was not a fan of the drill on the high jump mat because it was possible for the chair to tip over and hit him in the head. A second athlete immediately commented “There has to be something else we could use.” I agreed and told them I would think about it.

Later that night, I fell asleep, and in my dream, I saw the exercise balls in the cheerleading room. The next morning, I ordered three exercise balls to be used for the drill. I did not notice any major difference in utilizing the ball versus the chair, and a perk of the ball was it “softened” the landing, which allowed us to be able to perform the drill on FieldTurf. This made it easier for me to keep an eye on all athletes during pre-practice because our horizontal jump area is located outside of our track stadium.

Video 2. The progression in the “chair landing drill” link above can be followed for this drill. The timing of flexing the knees when the feet hit the sand and having the butt replace the heels can only be replicated during a jump, but the movement itself can be rehearsed with this drill.

It is important to note that this drill IS NOT a cure-all for landing issues. Many athletes are not in position to execute a quality landing due to what has happened prior to landing time. Common issues are poor flight angle and over-rotation, which are products of poor hip displacement and poor posture at take-off, respectively. Posture and hip displacement are big rock issues, and if they are a limiting factor, coaches should be sure athlete’s training programs prioritize their improvement.

Run-Run-Jumps

I mentioned some of the variations and benefits of run-run-jumps (RRJs) earlier in the article, and if I had to pick a favorite jump drill, I would have to say RRJs take the prize. I love gallops, skips, and bounds, but RRJs are unique with the inclusion of a true penultimate step. The numerous combinations of foot contact and arm action create a substantial amount of variation, which is a fantastic coordination challenge. Normally, we reach a solid degree of competency over the course of the first two weeks of the season and include them in our warm-ups and workouts two to three times a week for the remainder of the year.

If I had to pick a favorite jump drill, run-run-jumps take the prize. I love gallops, skips, and bounds, but RRJs are unique with the inclusion of a true penultimate step, says @HFJumps. Share on X

With a compressed timeline, we had less time to spend on RRJs on the front end, and I had some athletes really struggling with the coordination and rhythm of the drill. Pre-practice reps were extremely helpful in getting them up to speed with the rest of the group, which enhanced their confidence.

Video 3. Here is a variation of run-run-jumps, which would be utilized for the horizontal jumps. Additional variations and explanations of RRJs, galloping, and skipping can be found via this resource.

Serpentine Runs

I have advocated for the use of curvilinear sprinting and running in many pieces (here, here, here, here, and here). Clearly, I think it is kind of a big deal for all—it simply creates athletes who are more robust. While most of the information I have put out has dealt with curvilinear sprinting, there is definitely a place for submaximal curvilinear work.

I do like curve runs (think of running around a soccer circle) because it allows athletes to feel outward foot pressure, a key in the high jump approach; however, I have begun to prefer runs that follow a serpentine path (also called wave runs or slaloms). The reason for this is it provides athletes with the opportunity to continually exit and enter the curve. This is important because it gives athletes the chance to practice getting into a full body lean (straight line from ankle to head). Too often, athletes feel they are leaning properly, but they are actually bent laterally at the waist and/or neck—not an ideal way to transmit force!

I have begun to prefer runs that follow a serpentine path (also called wave runs or slaloms) because they give athletes the opportunity to continually exit and enter the curve, says @HFJumps. Share on X

The amplitude and wavelength for the runs can be altered. Since this is a pre-practice activity, the intensity of the runs was relatively low, which can be controlled by a relatively large amplitude and wavelength. We tended to set the course with cones on our infield, with a “vertical” distance from crest to trough of 5 yards (amplitude 2.5 yards) and a “horizontal” distance of 10 yards (wavelength 20 yards).

Video 4. A simple submaximal serpentine run.

Besides looking for a full body lean, another factor I like to see is big ranges of motion with the arms and legs. (Note: This was addressed with the athlete in video 4.) I typically spend most of my time cueing athletes to drive their arms down to get the hands to clear their glutes (the hand movement should end behind the glute, creating a window of daylight between hand and glute).

This motion is admittedly biased toward high jumpers, as it will be present in their approach, but it allows for a more fluid run for all because small ranges of motion tend to create sharp corners instead of a rounded path. Yes, I think it is imperative for all jumpers to complete curvilinear work!

Antepenultimate Box

Over the years, I would say that I have had a higher percentage of jumpers who had too large of a takeoff angle during long jump than too low. It seems to be more common for many athletes to block at the board, achieving minimal hip displacement and leading to too high of an exit from the ground and too steep of an entrance back in during landing.

This may have been unique to the population I coach, but this past year I had the exact opposite: five long jumpers, four of whom were new to the event, were classic line-drive flight cases. Normally, I try to work through this during short approach work and full approach rehearsal, but once again, due to compressed time, I tried to speed up progression through the regular use of a drill. The antepenultimate (third-to-last step) box drill is one I have sprinkled in during past seasons for those with too low of a takeoff angle.

In order for a long jumper to attain proper jump height, they must decrease the height of their center of mass prior to takeoff. Usually, attaining a rolling or heel-toe contact during the penultimate step will lead to the required jump angle. Some jumpers, however, need an additional stimulus to get a feel for the center of mass lowering, and this drill gives that sensation.

Although it’s impossible to say, I feel as if the antepenultimate box drill may have led to the most notable changes in those long jumpers assigned to perform it, says @HFJumps. Share on X

Although it is impossible to say, I feel as if this drill may have led to the most notable changes in those who were assigned to perform it. All five improved one meter or more from the season’s start to its finish, and their changes in flight pattern could have been identified by anyone who was paying minimal attention.

Video 5. While this jumper probably exaggerates the takeoff angle beyond what it needs to be during this drill, I was okay with it because it balanced out when we went to complete jumps on the runway. I suggest a box height between 2 and 4 inches.

Drills Discussed in Previous Pieces

There are additional drills that I have covered in previous pieces, so instead of going into detail on them again, they are linked here for your convenience.

• Curve Initiation and Curve Drills – All videos in the article except #4. These have a bias toward high jumpers, but there is certainly value in many of them for all.
• Low Lunge Walks – I love this drill because you can tell so much about an athlete’s gait without having them sprint.
• Suspended 1-2 – See video #4. This is mainly for triple jumpers, but the hip displacement piece and swing leg extension can be utilized for long jumpers as well.

Moving Forward

Our normal practice start time is 3:30 p.m. One item I am going to propose to our coaching staff is moving the start time back to 3:45, so all athletes (not just jumpers) can partake in their own pre-practice.

I think that our coaches giving our athletes specific items related to their needs (which we already do), with the addition of time to address them, has the potential to reap significant rewards. A second installment of this series will showcase our most improved long jumper and how we devised his specific pre-practice routine.

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. Sunbeck, D. Infinity Walk.

2. Keshner, E.A. and Peterson, B.W. “Mechanisms controlling human head stabilization. I. Head-neck dynamics during random rotations in the horizontal plane.” Journal of Neurophysiology. 1995;73:2293-2301.

3. Markham, C.H. “Vestibular control of muscle tone and posture.” Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. 1987;14:493-496.

Let me start by saying that it is always the coach’s job to be more educated and prepared to teach on a subject than their athletes. Additionally, “educated” in this sense is not about having a CSCS or a master’s in exercise science—I define educated as having a general understanding of the principles, reasoning, data, and technology in an athlete training program. It is, however, also very necessary to ensure your athletes are educated on the programs they are part of.

This is also something to consider when writing programs for an athlete. I have athletes who have been with me for more than three years now, and they could pretty much run the gym at this point. These athletes will get very detailed notes, loading schemes, etc.; new athletes, meanwhile, will have more general notes and basic lift cards. It is important to understand both the mental and physical capabilities of an athlete when programming for them. Generally speaking, athletes who are less educated in the weight room are also less experienced—therefore, it just makes sense to give them a more basic lift then an athlete who has three-plus years in the same system.

Coaches should always be in a position of authority in a coach and athlete relationship; however, if a coach is concerned about sharing the reasons behind an athlete’s training program with that athlete, this should be a red flag for both athlete and coach. Having educated athletes not only leads to more success, but it also keeps the athlete-coach relationship strong by encouraging each party to stay accountable to the other.

Here are the four important reasons to have educated athletes:

1. Streamlined communication
2. Athlete buy-in
3. Ease of use
4. Knowledge of results

1. Streamlined Communication

Quality communication in the weight room allows athletes to be time efficient and get the desired results from the program, and most importantly, it keeps them safe. Imagine asking an athlete to go and spot one of their peers when they have no knowledge of how to properly spot a fellow athlete? This is a lack of education that first results in poor communication and then finally results in a safety concern for both athletes involved.

Quality communication in the weight room allows athletes to be time efficient and get the desired results from the program, and most importantly, it keeps them safe, says @kingashton1. Share on X

Additionally, in a session with the music blaring, imagine answering what RPE means 20 times. When aiming to streamline communication, it is not so a coach can say go self-myofascial release your vastus medialis—a coach in that situation should still probably say go foam roll your inner quads.

When streamlining communication, there are a few important things that an athlete should understand.

• Rep schemes and the rest that goes along with them. Athletes have to understand what they are training for: is it fitness, strength, hypertrophy? Athletes should generally understand that the lower the number of reps, the higher the intensity, and thus the more rest that is generally needed. This helps to combat athletes who don’t listen to the desired rest time that is given for a set, as they now understand the why behind the program.

• Loading parameters. Athletes should understand any loading parameters that are on their workout card. If it is percentage- or velocity-based, they should understand how to calculate for the correct weight for that given set. In a perfect world, athletes would have resources at every rack for this (for example, a percentage chart or a velocity drop chart on every rack). If athletes are using RIR or RPE, they should have a good understanding of these parameters and how they can be used to adjust intensity.

• Tempos. If you are writing tempos on a card, and it reads 3100, athletes need to understand what that means. Is it 3 eccentric, 1 isometric, 0 concentric, and 0 rest between reps? What about a pull-up when the concentric is the first action in the movement? Athletes need to have this clearly defined for them, and they also need to have a general understanding of what the eccentric, isometric, and concentric portions of the lift are. Finally, they must know what a five or three count actually is.

• Any notes on their cards. When putting notes on an athlete’s cards, if they are not actionable for the athlete, it is a waste of time. If you write “retract and depress scaps” and an athlete has no idea what scaps are, that’s entirely a waste of time. When writing notes, think like an athlete and make sure the notes provide the desired feedback.

For example, when intaking athletes at my gym on the final day of their assessment, we sit down with the athlete and their guardians and go through their entire workout. We make sure to highlight the key points outlined above and ensure they have a good understanding of their workout the first day. Not only does this help them in the training process, it also makes the transition to training easier for our floor trainers, as the athletes now have a solid starting foundation.

2. Athlete Buy-In

There is no better way to drive buy-in than having the athletes feel like they are a part of their own development process. This assumes that the program is well thought out, is scientifically sound, and has specific goals for each athlete individually. But, hey, every program in the strength and conditioning world meets that criteria, so what do I have to worry about, right?

Nonetheless, this is also a great way to build culture among athletes, which is what everyone chases in their weight rooms. Ensure you have a few seniors helping freshmen set up a Tendo unit and reminding them of the loading parameters, or athletes pulling together, saying this is going to suck, but there is a reason for it, and we need to get it done. This, as opposed to just lining up on the line and running every time the whistle blows like a bunch of Pavlov’s dogs.

When athletes have an understanding of the why, it is much easier for them to buy in to the day-to-day tasks. I was speaking with a Navy SEAL who is now a BUDs instructor, and he said he has seen numerous people come into BUDs in incredible physical shape, but they don’t make it. He has also seen people who are pretty out of shape make it through the training. He said the single biggest difference in the people that make it versus the ones who don’t is that the ones who do want to be a Navy SEAL more than anything else in the world. These people know exactly why they are at BUDs—they want to be a SEAL. I am the last person to encourage the comparison between the military and training for sport, but this conversation provides a valuable hint at the power of understanding why you are doing something.

I always encourage our athletes to ask why they are doing something. I see this as an opportunity to connect with that athlete and really drive their buy-in to our program, says @kingashton1. Share on X

I always encourage our athletes to ask why they are doing something. I see this as an opportunity to connect with that athlete and really drive their buy-in to our program. I regularly float around between sets and strike up a conversation such as “how does this feel?” or “do you see how this can help your on-field performance?” This is often sufficient to generate enough of a conversation to communicate the why to that athlete and increase their confidence in the program. This has also led to some great follow-up conversations with our athletes who are more interested in the subject, so much so that it has led to them being hired on as interns.

3. Makes Weight Room Setup Easier

At my gym, we have Tendo units, Just Jump pads, InBody devices, laser timers, contact grids—you name it, and we likely have it or are looking to get it. This is a little bit of a humblebrag, but the point is we have a lot of tech, and we have to learn how to implement it with our athletes. There is nothing worse than having to set up a Tendo unit for the same athlete six weeks in a row or having to set up a Just Jump pad to get a few vertical jumps.

It is the strength staff’s job to have these devices set up and ready to roll for the day; however, if you can properly teach an athlete to set it up correctly for their personal use, that is vitally important. Additionally, data is only as good as its validity and reliability. If the Tendo unit is supposed to be set up at a filter of 15 and it is set up at 35, that changes the data—or, if athletes are supposed to start 80 centimeters behind the laser timer but get too close, that changes the data as well.

Furthermore, if athletes do not know what the numbers being spit out to them are, they have no way to track the correct data. If they were to record flight time—rather than vertical jump—that would be an issue. It is also vitally important that they know what they are looking for. For example, when looking at a Tendo unit, if they track average power rather than peak power, their numbers will be way off. Finally, educated athletes are able to do general troubleshooting on their own, which frees up the coach to work with other athletes.

Even if a coach does not have this technology at their disposal, it is still vitally important that athletes track data correctly. If an athlete has a one-plus set, it is important that they record the correct number of reps on the plus set. Additionally, when athletes need to set up their racks for an exercise, they need to know how to do that. If an athlete has to do a banded back squat but has no idea how to properly put bands on, this not only leads to poor training, but also presents a safety concern.

Overall, when athletes know how to set up the technology and exercises they use, it ensures that the data they collect is both reliable and valid, while allowing the coach to not have their head buried in computers the whole training session. It also ensures that the exercises are being performed and set up correctly each and every time an athlete does their workouts.

When athletes know how to set up the technology and exercises they use, it ensures that the data they collect is both reliable and valid, and exercises are being performed and set up correctly. Share on X

In the weight room, if an athlete asks me how to set something up for them, rather than running over and doing it for them, I take the time to walk them through the process for themselves. Often, this is the only time they will ever ask, as they will be able to set it up themselves, or they will be able to work through it with someone in their training group.

4. Validates Results

While the above three reasons are important, I feel that knowledge of results is the most important. When training day-in and day-out, an athlete can’t help but want to see positive results. Athletes who are educated on the training process are able to better understand the results they see.

The education process also keeps athletes more engaged through the various mesocycles during the years. Rather than wanting to see their 40-yard dash time drop during a GPP cycle, an athlete could be presented with their fitness test results instead. Or, if they see all of their results at once, the athlete can better understand why their fitness test got better but their 40-yard dash did not improve.

This sound understanding of their results keeps all parties accountable. When an athlete and a coach both know the results from a given training cycle, they both know whether the program did what it was designed to do. This creates a positive rapport between athletes and coaches by encouraging open communication about their results and whether or not they met the athlete and coach’s expectations. There is nothing more important to fostering a positive athlete-coach relationship than open communication about expectations and results.

There is nothing more important to fostering a positive athlete-coach relationship than open communication about expectations and results, says @kingashton1. Share on X

Every 12 weeks, we reassess our athletes through our assessment process. At the end of the week, we take the time to meet with each athlete individually. We go over their assessment results and explain what went well and what went poorly. We also set the stage for the next cycles of training by explaining what we will be focusing on and why. This way, when they come to their next assessment, they know what numbers they are looking to improve.

Steps You Can Take to Educate Athletes

Here are six actionable steps you can take to educate your athletes:

1. Take time at the start of the season or when they start in your program to teach athletes the basics. Teaching them things such as loading schemes, daily procedures, notes, and basic movements on the first day goes a long way toward the education of your athletes over time.
2. During daily training groups, float around and have small side conversations with athletes about the exercises they are performing and why each is important.
3. Be transparent. During a GPP phase, some workouts may be more difficult and less enjoyable for athletes to perform than workouts during a peaking phase. Tell your athletes this and why; they will appreciate you for it.
4. Set time aside to meet with your athletes individually or in small groups. In the same way sport coaches meet with their athletes at the end of the preseason or post season, take this time with your athletes as well.
5. Aim to do something weekly to continue your athlete’s education.
6. Put together a database for your athletes. Your more engaged athletes will take advantage of this and pass along their knowledge to the others in the group.

There’s a good chance that your educated athletes will also become your more successful athletes.

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

While scrolling through social media during our final “dead period” prior to the official start of the fall season here in South Carolina, I ran across a quote that initially made me laugh. After a moment to think about it, though, the quote gave me pause.

“Get ready high school strength coaches , it is almost football season, or as we know it ‘we just need to be in better shape’ season.”

While I had a good laugh at this, I decided against sharing the post—instead, that dig at the traditional imperative in high school football programs inspired me to sit down and begin writing, for the first time in a while. After giving further thought to the statement, the question it raised for me was first, what are we doing here? And then, more specifically, why do we, as sports performance coaches, often struggle to successfully get our message out to high school football coaches?

The fact is, most of the back and forth on the topic of “conditioning” at the high school level seems to revolve more around the egos and ambiguous traditions of the adults having the debate than the actual evidence of how to properly proceed. We can all agree that we want what’s best for the athletes—with that being the case, why do we have this frequent divide on what we believe is best practices to lead us to that end?

What We Know to Be True

This article is not about how or how not to “condition” your athletes or about sports-specific energy systems. I will, however, use this topic as the base example of my overarching point: If there is a bigger failure in communication in the athletic world than the one between strength and conditioning coaches and high school sport coaches, I haven’t seen it.

If there is a bigger failure in communication in the athletic world than the one between strength and conditioning coaches and high school sport coaches, I haven’t seen it, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

I know, there are situations in which everybody is on the same page, but that is an exception and not a rule. Even if your head coach “gets it,” not everyone on the staff does. It’s true—from football to lacrosse to soccer to field hockey to any sport you can name, there are sport coaches using flawed training methods with their athletes when it comes to the optimal way to “condition” or get in shape. Often, exercises and schemes are so far from optimal we can call them pointless. That can’t be denied, yet, it is denied daily, by sport coaches who continue to prescribe training that does not have much (if any) transfer to making their athletes play better.

While part of that responsibility falls on those individual sport coaches, we in the athletic development community need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we are also a big part of the problem. Let’s take a step back and look at the validity of the initial statement that broke me out of my writer’s block:

“Get ready high school strength coaches , it is almost football season, or as we know it ‘we just need to be in better shape’ season.”

That is absolutely the perception that a high percentage of programs will have in the first few weeks of camp this fall. Consquently, they will run a two-hour practice in which GPS data can (or would) show many of the athletes covering 2+ miles. After this, the coach will then have the players take off their helmets and shoulder pads and run slowly back and forth across the field until everyone is wheezing and dripping with sweat. There will be a 350-pound 15-year-old sliding his feet at 3 mph for 45 seconds after the others finish, just trying not to pass out while the other players and coaches will holler encouragement to “not quit” and so on.

If you played or coached football, you know this exact scene: When the poor guy does finish (and almost passes out), there will be shouts of how “mentally tough” that made the team. Inevitably, a coach will tell the kids “this is how champions are made,” and the physically spent group of young men will drag themselves off the field.

The problem is, anyone that has any level of understanding of human energy systems knows that nothing that took place after the pads came off helped make the players better at football—in fact, it probably made them worse. You must ask yourself:

• Why would sport coaches allow this to take place?
• Do we honestly believe that any coach shows up at practice and says “let’s do something completely counterproductive today”?

No, they do not. They are doing the things that their experience and background has made them believe are, in fact, best practices.

From an athletic development perspective, we understand that “in shape” most likely isn’t the issue and conditioning level is unlikely to be a limiting factor in on-field performance for most athletes. The question we need to pose, then, is: What does the athlete need to be in shape for? A marathon or a football game?

At the high school level, if the athlete has participated in the off-season, there is almost a 0% chance they are not in playing shape. Think about this for just a second—many high school athletes have “spring practice.” That’s four weeks of football practice. They then go into the summer program. Lifting, running, and jumping 3-5 times a week for two months. Add in 7-on-7 games, summer basketball leagues, and the reality that they are resilient teenagers…and it’s basically a physical impossibility that conditioning is a limiting factor to performance. The limiting factor is they have not played football.

At the high school level, if the athlete has participated in the off-season…it’s basically a physical impossibility that conditioning is a limiting factor to performance, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

The only stress or stimulus that is going to cause the adaptations needed for playing actual football is playing actual football. Factors that are hard to “condition” for but act to inhibit peak performance—such as the heat, longer practices in full equipment, the increased sport skill tasks that are being required, the mental fatigue of being coached at a higher level, etc.—are all elements that the athletes must adapt to during this time. Athletes who look sluggish in the August heat are not in need of pointless running—they need more football with less fatigue to allow them to be physically and physiologically recovered.

Open a book on the human energy system—then, take a stopwatch and watch a football game. Time the work-to-rest periods of each player during that game. Compare the two to see what type of conditioning will transfer to the sport. It’s not a huge mystery, yet sport coaches in many instances deny that evidence in favor of anecdotal experience and tradition. Despite the desire to win games and do the best they can to prepare their athletes, some still choose protocols that don’t have a high level of transfer based on the specific adaptations of the imposed demands of the protocol.

Why is this?

In my opinion, it has a lot to do with the anecdotal, we won games doing it thought process. It’s very easy to look at wins and losses and lose sight of the fact that correlation does not equal causation. Coaches may look at in-game performance metrics, and if they outperformed their opponents, use that as “evidence” in support of their standard pre-season conditioning grind. The truth is, of course, it could be a matter of just having a larger team (and thus fresher players), a more talented team, a better team culture, or maybe having a more effective S&C program developing their athletes independent of on-field conditioning.

A Breakdown in Communication

While our message has changed the way some coaches do things, there are still too many cases in which it has not. Here is another fact: The sport coach and the athletic development coach both have the same end goal in mind—having athletes who perform to the best of their abilities. If both coaches have the same mission, why is there often such a disconnect? Education and knowledge? Absolutely factors. Interest level? Probably a factor as well—some sports coaches just don’t have the same interest in the physical development side as they do in the technical and tactical. The list could go on and on.

Within the S&C community, however, we must shoulder part of the responsibility for this communication breakdown. How are the things that science tells us are true about the human body and how it works able to be ignored or denied? It is clear that there is a message problem. My contention is that a large part of these issues fall back on the athletic development/strength and conditioning community because of our behavior and actions toward each other. The more we foster an atmosphere of teaching and learning, of cooperation and discourse, the more our evidence-based influence will be accepted over anecdotal, tradition-based beliefs.

The more we foster an atmosphere of teaching & learning, cooperation & discourse, the more our evidence-based influence will be accepted over anecdotal, tradition-based beliefs, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

Returning to my original inspiration for writing this article, while there’s a good laugh to be had from that social media post, it isn’t the ideal way to communicate a message. Similarly, a friend of mine once said: When a sports coach says an athlete is not *strong enough*, what they are really telling us is they don’t know how to express the limiting factor in the athlete’s play—so *strong* becomes the word of choice.

Instead of taking offense to that or taking to Twitter to bash the sports coach, let’s find ways to ask the right questions to find out what the issue is. Maybe it is strength. That’s the easy fix. Maybe it’s mobility that limits the expression of the athlete’s strength. Whatever the case, let’s put our brains together and find out how we can help our athletes.

The Trust Process

We have to remember that WE are the support staff—our job is to develop an evidence-based map dictated by evaluating the needs of the athletes. We can create the map, have a plan on how to get the athlete where they need to be, and have a scientific path ready for the sports coach, but they still have to make the decision to follow it.

To get on the same page, we need to build relationships that will allow for an education process to slowly but surely develop. Would you trust a person you had a poor relationship with to provide the directions to a very important destination? No, because you don’t trust them!

In my current situation, I have worked hard to earn the trust of our head coaches. While there may be times they still do things I would not necessarily recommend, for the most part there is a level of trust, so they know the map I provide is one they can follow (and 95% of the time, they defer to me in my areas of expertise). That took a lot of hard work, understanding, time, and, frankly, a real attitude adjustment on my part. I had to learn that browbeating and debating was not an effective tool to show the coaches why my map was one to trust.

I had to learn that browbeating and debating was not an effective tool to show the coaches why my map was one to trust, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

Finding common ground, using common verbiage, presenting relevant data, and explaining the “why” of everything we do are all much more effective at building rapport. I had to remember that ego was a map to nowhere. Understanding, flexibility, and patience are all better directions to how to use that map we developed.

Each of us has to take the responsibility to not only develop trust within our athletic department but be aware of how we present ourselves as representatives of the S&C community. We must take responsibility for the message breakdown and do our part to build a feeling of trust and understanding with the sport coaching community, which we have not yet reached.

Be a Teacher

Think about the best teachers you’ve had and those who have influenced you in your career. Then, think about the type of relationship you had with that person. Was it adversarial? Probably not—it was likely based on trust and the knowledge that the teacher had a deep interest in your development. Our relationship with sport coaches on both a micro and macro level needs to be more characteristic of this.

I’ve quoted Coach Boyle before, and I will paraphrase him here: What we do in any single moment in time is what we believe to be best practices. Coaches are the same. If they do something less than optimal in the realm of conditioning or training, it’s not because they believe it will be ineffective; it’s because they expect it to work. You are the expert in the field—it’s your responsibility to find a way to package an educational and behavior-changing message that will help the sports coach gain a higher level of understanding in evidence-based best practices. It may be a subtle hint, or it may be a flood of technology that opens the communication pathway that leads to that understanding.

It’s your responsibility to find a way to package an educational and behavior-changing message that will help the sports coach gain a higher level of understanding in evidence-based best practices. Share on X

We need to teach, we need to lead, we need to learn to ask the right questions to unlock that trust and build the type of relationship that will get everyone on the same page.

How It Works

I work with a self-proclaimed old-school head football coach who, over several years, has developed complete trust in my expertise. We have a great relationship. That doesn’t mean he won’t do what he thinks is best from time to time, and that doesn’t mean we don’t disagree from time to time. That’s always going to happen. The key is sharing your “why” and expressing how that “why” will actually improve sport performance.

At the same time, you must be able to accept the fact that, regardless of that explanation, they may want to do something different. When that happens, take a step back and find a way to get it done in the most optimal way possible, while fulfilling what is requested of you. Learn to compromise within the compromise.

For example, when I found out two weeks ahead of time that our freshmen would be tested in the back squat, I said “okay” despite my initial hesitations. Then, a few days later, I went back and discussed his expectations of how we would handle “technical failure.” As it turns out, he was very receptive to my ideas. We had our max day, everyone was happy, and another level of trust and cooperation was added to our relationship.

Remember—the head coach is the head coach, and we are support staff (know our role). What this means is I draw the map and he trusts me enough to follow it. We recognize and respect each other’s roles and areas of expertise, and it works. That is because we both recognize that it’s not about us. We are both in our position to serve our student-athletes. We work together to make sure we are both doing the best we can for our players.

Bottom line: If an athletic department has growth-minded sport coaches who are experts in their field matched with a highly qualified, expert strength and conditioning professional, the student-athletes will not only perform at an optimal level, they will be healthier and more productive. Yet, in many instances, sports coaches do not see this as a truth. From the S&C side, what we need to do is work together as a whole to develop trust and foster relationships with our partners in the sports coaching side. Remember, it’s not about us.

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

If you were asked what muscles your eyes are primarily made up of, could you answer without Google? Simple enough question, right? Maybe right now you are looking left, right, up, and down, probably thinking about how all the type 2 fibers that make up your eyes are helping you do that.

At the same time, though, our eyes need to see and provide us with information for long periods of time. They need to remain open to do this yet blink quickly when necessary to reset. With all the quick movements, like blinking, it still would seem to be predominantly quick twitch based. However, could those long-duration uses serve to show otherwise?

Regardless of whether you’ve figured out the answer to the eye question, we’ll come back to it later. Clearly, the eye shows the need for all systems to work together for both short- and long-duration movements, just like how all energy systems need to work together and cannot be treated entirely in isolation, independent of each other.

Many have looked at sprinting in a similar fashion. Max speed doesn’t last beyond five or six seconds, so why sprint for any longer than that? Anaerobic systems are the only energy systems being used then, so why do we need to focus on other energy systems? Most sports actions don’t occur at submaximal effort, so the focus for everything sprint related should be all-out and with good rest. And the kicker—these sport actions and plays tend not to occur for longer than that 5- to 6-second time span, so there’s a high-enough rest:work ratio anyway.

While those arguments may all sound good, it can be quite easy to poke some holes in those claims. While maximum speed may only be held for 2-3 seconds, speed endurance—the ability to hold speed as long as possible and delay deceleration—can be crucial, as numerous plays occur for more than three seconds in sports. Although fewer occur at submax than at maximal effort, shouldn’t an increased recovery ability be something to look for, especially since energy systems all work harmoniously with one another as opposed to only working one at a time? And if and when the worst-case scenario occurs, all should be prepared to succeed at that point.

While it may not seem intuitive to train slower in order to gain an advantage, tempo has a place for almost all athletes, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Bearing this in mind, when working with team sport athletes, using tempo sprints as part of training can have great benefits. While it may not seem intuitive to train slower in order to gain an advantage, tempo has a place for almost all athletes. While Ryan Banta has already shown how tempo training can be used for sprinters and Mike Whiteman has discussed why tempo is great for sprint ability, let’s really dive in to understand how we can use this method to an advantage with baseball players.

Technique and Rhythm

The benefits of sprinting and its effects on the central nervous system and overall speed cannot be overstated; attempting to run at maximal speed, however, is no small task. Because of the inherent nature of attempting to run as fast as possible, there are drawbacks. For instance, technique will likely not remain perfect or even close to it for whoever is sprinting, especially if they are not a trained sprinter. In turn, relaxation can also be lost in this attempt at maximal output.

Enter tempo training.

There is more opportunity to view technique and rhythm when slowed down than when the aim is solely full speed. Rather than running at maximal speeds, depending on the intent of the tempo on a given day, athletes can be going anywhere from 65%-90% effort and/or speed. In these speed ranges, homing in on technique, rhythm, and relaxation—and truly coaching it up—can be the primary focus.

Enter tempo training: There is more opportunity to view technique and rhythm when slowed down than when the aim is solely full speed, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Forgive me as I digress, but I believe there is a necessary connection to make here between sprinting and lifting. Although they are not the same, there are some parallels. I find it stunning that some coaches will allow sprints to be used when they are ONLY fully max effort and/or max speed. When athletes are in a weight room, are they just in there to max out, whether it’s a one rep max or a five rep max? Or is the weight thoughtfully and carefully programmed? Hopefully, these answers don’t need to be provided to be known.

Furthermore, when athletes do max out, how much are we coaching them up for technique compared to when they are lifting submaximal loads? Maybe there is a reason maxing out seems to occur less and less often in programming for athletes (could an ever-improving use of velocity-based training metrics be part of the cause?). And while other accessory exercises help supplement our abilities on lifts where we may max out, they are just that—supplemental—in the same way that sprint drills are supplemental to sprints.

If we use velocity-based training metrics in the weight room, but agree that sprinting is the true means of velocity-based training, then it seems we have a big gray area to fill in. While the weight room can provide us with peak and average speeds in the 0.3-3 m/s range, sprints at the absolute most elite of elite speeds are about 12 m/s. A gap from 3 to 12 is far greater than a range of just 0.3 to 3. Even if we cap team sport athletes between 9 m/s and 11 m/s rather than using 12, the gap remains fairly unchanged.

Part of what makes tempo a great tool is that it fills in the gap of speed that is left if we only chase max velocity sprinting and weight room-based velocity. The gap that was about 3-9 m/s narrows to the 3-5 m/s range when we incorporate tempo running. When we use 65%-90% and program tactfully, all of a sudden, the ability to make meaningful technical improvements in sprinting becomes far easier.

Part of what makes tempo a great tool is that it fills in the gap of speed that is left if we only chase max velocity sprinting and weight room-based velocity, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Using submaximal paces can help in both a straight line and an arced trajectory. For any athlete, the ability to improve technique should absolutely help diminish the risk of injury while sprinting. For baseball, learning better mechanics in both planes translates right to field work. As athletes develop better technique, speed development becomes easier and far more fluid and relaxed. Learning how to find the feel of a certain percent effort or speed can help make learning to use specific speeds much more effortless.

As players constantly throttle through different speeds in games, the ability to own those speeds and techniques outside of games is highly important and gives a big reward at a minimal risk.

Planning for the Worst-Case Scenario

While we do a great job in reverse engineering sporting demands to prepare our athletes with complete holistic programming, I believe that preparing for the worst-case scenario is often an overlooked consideration. Maybe I am wrong, and it is perhaps just not spoken of as much. (I thank Dan Howells for adding this concept to my thought process in programming.)

So, what is it that makes tempo training a way to help plan for the possibility of a worst-case scenario occurring?

Within baseball, there are a few different ways to define what the worst-case scenario may be. From a general fitness and heart rate standpoint, being trapped in the sun and draining heat of summer during a long inning is a potential problem. What happens when you can’t get water, hide in the shade, or take a seat on the bench because your team just can’t get the other team out? Sure, hydration plays a factor here, but regardless, if you are not in decent enough shape to control breathing and heart rate for a long time frame, can you still be in an optimal spot? What if you are the pitcher, and it’s a long, 30+ pitch inning for you at this point? While the sport is primarily anaerobic based, there is still clearly a need for an aerobic base due to potentially long innings.

On the flip side, offensive players may have to make repeated sprint efforts numerous times in a short period, depending on how the inning is going. Especially if you have a speedy base runner at bat or on base, base stealing, hit and run plays, and extra base hits are all possible. All these situations mean guys will be sprinting anywhere from 10 to 120 yards in any given situation, and while they may not always reach max velocity, they also in all likelihood will not always have proper rest time with 30 seconds between pitches.

As with Zach Dechant’s example situation, 93% is not only barely above intensive tempo pace but also not quite max velocity. This is not to say maximum effort or intent is not present, but we must understand the demands to prepare for in a worst-case scenario. Yes, we must be ready for high-speed running, but we also need to have the ability to either hold near-max speed for a sustained time or repeat efforts on short rest too. Only running maximum velocity or intent on proper rest will miss the boat on this.

Finally, because baseball is an outdoor sport, the weather has a big effect on scheduling. It is an uncontrollable aspect that can wreak havoc on a schedule if the weather is bad for any period of time. Double headers and postponements are not uncommon as a result, and with those automatically come extra innings on any given day. On those days, guys have to be ready to make more plays no matter what, and more pitchers than usual will likely be used—meaning they also must be ready for shorter recovery before they pitch next. Without training geared toward this, we can expect long days to end with less-than-ideal results.

Worst-case scenarios are different from sport to sport, but the principles remain the same—as such, tempo training provides an excellent tool to ensure the preparation is met within baseball. Share on X

Worst-case scenarios are different from sport to sport, but the principles remain the same—as such, tempo training provides an excellent tool to ensure the preparation is met within baseball.

Off-Season Preparation

As with plyometrics, tempo has both extensive and intensive options. When it comes to off-season preparation, extensive helps prepare for more intensive work down the road. Furthermore, using extensive tempo from the start of the off-season provides an opportunity to build workload and tolerance.

If we are to adequately prepare our athletes for the long season, we must work them above the levels they will be worked during the season. Using tempo as a base provides an opportunity for numerous ground contacts that will quickly ramp up the moment spring training begins. This includes all contacts—those we focus on and those we don’t always think of as important—all the time just spent in cleats, shagging balls during batting practice, moving from field to field, etc. The contacts are endless, and as such, we must have proper preparation. Without it comes higher potential for injuries.

While tempo training may not be the top priority for a baseball player, even in the off-season, mixing it in correctly will pay a big dividend once the season begins. If we do not use it successfully during the off-season, how can we plan to use it properly in season?

Recovery and Peripheral Adaptations

Whereas sprint training aims to tax the central nervous system while building up max velocity and/or acceleration speeds (depending on the phase), tempo aims to help with recovery and circulation. Although it may not be accessible to all, a Moxy Monitor provides a great way to measure oxygen uptake to see that the stimulus provided gives the response we look for. If you are unfamiliar with Moxy or looking to dive into it, this is a great starting resource. Furthermore, standard heart rate monitors are a simple measure to ensure that heart rates don’t spike too high or fail to recover between repetitions and after sets.

Much like we use timing systems to monitor speed, measuring tempo runs and their intensities and goals with proper devices is helpful in understanding the systems within the body that we are working with. Anything can be great on paper, but until we see that the effect that we are aiming for is reached, we cannot prove we have accomplished our goal.

Without working this in during the off-season though, it is highly possible that tempo sessions could have negative effects on recovery come in-season phases. As the goal with tempo training is to improve circulation and recovery for pitchers between outings or position players on days where they don’t play (and therefore don’t sprint), we must ensure that these methods work as planned and use them throughout the year.

Implementation

With the season in mind, having a standardized test to train toward and focus on will help make tempo training easier to use.

*Note: Just because there is a tempo test does not inherently make this the priority over anything else. Rather, it truly is a way to standardize procedures and provide athletes with an understanding of what tempo is being used for and why.

Testing Protocol

The table below outlines two potential ways to incorporate tempo testing into baseball training:

The time-based and distance-based options provide largely the same parameters. There are some crucial differences, however, that make the time-based option the better choice, in my opinion. None are more imperative than the fact that if, and more than likely when, you have players from multiple speed groups, it will be much tougher to stay well-organized with multiple different work and rest times going simultaneously.

So, what makes this 14-second test a good, dependable baseball tempo test?

Primarily, the 70- to 90-yard range. While longer than a typical baseball sprint, it is still a sprint that can occur within a game. It is in between the range of a double and triple (60 and 90 yards, respectively). It also uses the top speed of players and helps to individualize a group task, while still making this much easier to accomplish as a big group. While differences in speed are minimal based both on the percent of top speed being used and the shorter the distance used for a test, this yardage still allows for the subtle variations to be seen.

Modifying this is as simple as changing the percentage of top speed run at, with room to adjust to 70%-75% of that. As such, work and rest times would be shortened by one and three seconds, respectively. However, shortening the distance beyond where it is would make this far less reliable of a test. While 50- and 60-yard tempos can work on a general recovery day basis, when testing they clump times up too much, and we risk messing up the validity of our tempo test.

Consequently, this test should comprehensively provide insight into athletes’ abilities to control their heart rate, breathing, and repeat work abilities. This insight is pivotal in understanding the players we work with and helping guide their development.

General Protocol

While some may think of him as a rugby guy, Keir Wenham-Flatt has a tempo template that is absolutely worth your time if it is something you do not feel comfortable fully programming. Though it may be best suited for rugby, you can tweak the template to be more useful for whatever sport you may be training or training for.

Beyond using the test and/or the template for longer-term programming, tempo training should become a staple of a program. Within baseball, tempo training is a simple and apt modality that is easily scheduled no matter the phase of the season.

Once the season begins, tempo should primarily serve as a means to provide recovery for pitchers between outings, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Throughout the off-season, extensive tempo can be used once or twice per week in order to build tolerance for foot contact during the season and to prepare for season-long tempo tests. Once the season begins, tempo should primarily serve as a means to provide recovery for pitchers between outings. Because the goal of tempo in season will lean toward recovery modalities, keeping it on the extensive side will be the preferential way.

For position players, understanding the schedule and who is playing on a given day is of great importance—as is understanding the types of players and their potential roles on a game-by- game basis. While an earlier example showed only making it to 93% of max velocity, in a single game athletes were still recorded breaking 95% of max speed 19 times. That comes out to an average of just above twice per position player per game having a maximum or near maximum velocity sprint. Now have that occur for three straight days or six out of seven days. Or when a season has a long stretch with 14 or more straight days with a game.

Of course, the need to sprint and be prepared for sprinting is paramount. However, when games occur nearly daily for weeks in a row, how do we ensure that guys have the ability to perform well day after day? Clearly, during the season, games provide the ability to sprint—so outside of those times, it becomes that much more important to ensure we program to the demands of what is needed to make performance its best in-game. We cannot endlessly stack sprinting on sprinting on even more sprinting. Know how to use tempo training between games and on rest days for position players to help them recover and prepare for future games.

Lastly, “poles” is a word that can create intense animosity for sprinting and/or conditioning in the baseball world. Running poles is, fittingly, the most polarizing term within baseball. Sure, they may not always be used well; however, creating an absolute distaste for them is not conducive to using these markers in a productive manner. Using poles to help distinguish proper distance and timing for tempo can be highly advantageous. Proper context and programming are absolutely necessary, but psychology cannot be forgotten.

Know how to use tempo training between games and on rest days for position players to help them recover and prepare for future games, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Systems in Concert

While team sport athletes are not sprinters, their ability to have good sprint mechanics is still important. The goal should not only be to improve overall speed, but also to remain healthier and mitigate injury risks. If availability is the best ability, then having better sprint mechanics should remain a crucial goal.

Furthermore, while the aerobic system may not be the most “sport-specific” system to develop and train, our bodies don’t work with their systems in isolation. Although the eye may move fast and blink, it still primarily has a slow twitch muscle fiber typing; likewise, although tempo may not need to be used as often as sprint training, it still is imperative to place it properly within a program. All systems work together and neglecting any part of them entirely is a disservice to our craft—at the end of the day, context and prioritization are critical to using tempo training in baseball.

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

For me, working predominantly with an injured population essentially makes conventional compound loading sparse in most cases and imprudent in others. I’ve had to work extensively on how to program effectively for my athletes without overtaxing injured areas. When you work with injured athletes, you’re forced to see things from a different angle—because there are so many hard barriers, you’re prompted to engineer unique solutions that accommodate the athlete’s limitations.

Having to do this so many times based on necessity has inspired me to develop a new paradigm for how I populate training hours, even with healthy athletes. You’re also forced into learning (and respecting) the significance of soft tissues. The ligaments, tendons, fascia, and joint capsules are unmistakably critical for overall health and function. While these tissues certainly need to be exposed to heavy static load, there is a strong argument to be made that most of the training effort should emphasize distal speed, terminal stability, and tissue quality as the athlete becomes more advanced. This has been a difficult, delicate balance I’m still figuring out.

The strength and conditioning field is an interesting space, to put it one way. In the same breath, S&C can be described as a “dog eat dog” world but also very much a copycat industry—there are a handful of predominant coaches/organizations that seem to set the path for the rest of us to follow. Along the way, some cling desperately to the industry leaders and take every word as gospel; in other cases, outcasts and radical thinkers take fundamental concepts and add their own twist or nuance to it, believing in their own mind they are revolutionaries of our field.

In fairness to both ends of the spectrum, I believe most coaches are genuinely well-intentioned, and we’re all really just trying to do one thing: figure out how to optimize human performance. But it goes without saying that for every one or two practical, beneficial, nuanced applications, there are hundreds of others that aren’t worth a damn—and remember, there is almost nothing “new” at this stage of the game. As we’d expect, this has continued to result in a great deal of debate, fervor, and borderline contempt from those across the aisles.

I was indoctrinated into this field by the likes of Louie Simmons, Eric Cressey, Mike Boyle, and others who are categorically “weight-centric” coaches. Al Vermeil, Dan Pfaff, and Buddy Morris are icons, in my view, and were instrumental in my early development as well. I can’t overstate enough that, to this day, I 100% love jacking some steel. When I put my personal bias for lifting weights aside, however, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to justify the practicality and effectiveness of conventional static weight for a lot of athletes and populations.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to justify the practicality and effectiveness of conventional static weight for a lot of athletes and populations, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Which leads me to the premise of this article: Have we become overly reliant on using static loading with our athletes?

Origins of Strength & Conditioning

First, a quick interjection. Allow me to take you back to 1968, about three decades before I was even born. The Nebraska Cornhuskers, who had ascended to become one of the powerhouse football programs in the country, were coming off a brutal 47-0 beatdown at the hands of Oklahoma in the National Championship. In response to this, Hall of Fame Coach Tom Osborne sought out Boyd Epley to pioneer the first concerted strength and conditioning program in the country. Asserting that his team was physically manhandled and underconditioned in their game against Oklahoma, Osborne was convinced that Epley would be able to push the Cornhuskers to a new level of performance by way of strength training, organized conditioning, and stretching.

As it turned out, Osborne was right.

Fast forward nearly a decade (1978), and Epley—who is largely considered the godfather of modern S&C—became the catalyst for organizing the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). To this day, it remains the American gold standard of our industry.

Around the same time, legendary bodybuilders like Arnold, Frank Zane, and others were radically popularizing formalized strength training. New magazines were circulating throughout the country at rapid rates; in essence, they made lifting weights cool and sexy. Then, in the 1980s, Arthur Jones introduced the world to the innovative Nautilus machine, which exploded from coast to coast, as commercial gyms were on a mercurial rise. Fast forward another decade or two, and little by little, the strength and conditioning industry became a mainstay in professional and collegiate sports, growing and evolving into what we know it as today.

And to this day, what we see in our field is still a direct extension of the work of these founding fathers.

Where Static Load Works

While I’ve become more reserved over the years as to who I feel is a good candidate for conventional static loading, please don’t misconstrue what’s in this article as me bashing weight training for athletes altogether. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better strategy for developing fundamental strength or power than with a barbell. With young athletes, the predominant necessity is simple—get stronger, add some mass, increase confidence. So, it would stand to reason that static load and conventional patterns (bench/squat/dead) should be a staple in programming.

Along similar lines—although this one is more contentious among coaches—I feel the best way to develop foundational power with young athletes is, again, with a barbell and set of plates. Teaching athletes the clean, jerk, and snatch at a young age can pay huge dividends in the long run, even if the Oly lifts aren’t a mainstay in their training development.

Teaching athletes the clean, jerk, and snatch at a young age can pay huge dividends in the long run, even if the Oly lifts aren’t a mainstay in their training development, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

The reason static load works so well here is a combination of factors:

1. Point blank—it’s effective. Outside of sprinting and heavy plyos, static loading is unequivocally the most effective way we’ve discovered to apply a significant external force in a reasonably safe manner. It’s foolish to challenge the science on this, as we’ve overwhelmingly seen that lifting weights promotes a plethora of beneficial adaptations for developing athletes.
2. The relative simplicity to coach and learn the big three and, for most, variations of the Oly lifts can be included here as well. The time it takes to teach them is time well invested. There are so many movements that stem from these, so beyond the lifts themselves, it’s critical the athlete is strong in these patterns and can perform them well.

The other situation where I believe static load is the best option is for muscle isolation, which applies largely to athletes in late-stage rehab or for athletes in need of localized hypertrophy/strength. Static loading promotes very little rep-to-rep deviation and, when coached and applied correctly, can be highly specific to localized regions. The lack of variability makes this a better option (in most cases) for localized strength/hypertrophy because the athlete doesn’t need to think about managing the path of motion. I would also add there’s generally an inherent familiarity to static loading, so the athlete can concentrate just on the work output without having to overthink it.

So, Where Is Static Load Overused?

And here’s where the feathers may start getting ruffled…

I think there are a few main applications where static load is not as effective as we like to believe and where I’ve found it to be suboptimal.

The first is with accessory lifts, in which coaches commonly include exercises like barbell or dumbbell RDLs, presses, bent rows, traditional lunges/step-ups, etc. Outside of young/developmental athletes, I think that these rudimentary movements have a very low return for athletes, mostly because the movements lack any degree of meaningful challenge or complexity and often don’t apply load significantly enough to drive a true adaptation. In a lot of cases with accessory work like this, it predisposes the athlete to just go through the motions—they’ve already done their meaningful work in the primary blocks, and now it’s time to go on autopilot and round the hour out.

Sure, I get that the adherence to training is a derivative of coaching influence, but even with strong coaching this can still occur. I believe, instead, there is a greater return on utilizing more variation and less structure with advanced and tenured athletes.

I believe there is a greater return on utilizing more variation and less structure with advanced and tenured athletes, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

The more constraints we put on them in task-based exercises, the less time they spend moving how they naturally would. Athletes continuously manipulate their bodies (to create favorable leverage) and pressure distribution across the foot (to shift momentum) when accommodating and expressing force. This is where I feel static load and task constraints shortchange us on training return.

Thus, I emphasize multiplanar, multi-tempo movements that emphasize speed, position, and proprioception. And this is all achieved using a wide array of load applications. With where I’m at now, I keep the compound static loads mostly to the primary block, then work to more fascia-driven accessories in my subsequent blocks. Here’s an example of how I would write a typical mesocycle (power phase shown).

Notice the primary block is where I retain the conventional movements, but after that, I normally want to look for other areas to emphasize and apply different load or stimulus. Then, the tertiary block progresses even more toward being fascia-driven:

When athletes are no longer in a developmental stage (16-24 years old), the goal is simply to keep them healthy so they can go out and do what they do. Another way of perceiving this is “maintaining the strengths while developing the weaknesses.” As such, we want to apply load and movement selections that challenge the nervous system and proprioception, and again refine the confidence and feel of the athlete.

We need to be mindful of the fact that our goal is to have them best prepared for movements/speeds/vectors found in sport, not become the best at lifting weights. Not to mention, for athletes who’ve put 10, 15, 20 years into training, it can sometimes be more mentally than physically taxing for them to engage in training. A large part of our responsibility is to provide an atmosphere and plan that is invigorating and enriches the process.

Where We Can Do Better

One of the overarching disconnects within our industry is recognizing the different spectrums of athlete development and the specific demands that should be applied for each. In the foundational stage (5-15 years old), athletes just need to have fun and understand the process of training. With this group, we can certainly sample some big lifts and have some semblance of structure, but I believe the most beneficial approach is organized chaos and exposing them to a bunch of movement variations that encourage the athletes to learn have fun.

One of the overarching disconnects within our industry is recognizing the different spectrums of athlete development and the specific demands that should be applied for each, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Developmental athletes (16-24 years old) should absolutely be exposed to static conventional loading. These lifts should be peaked in some form or fashion throughout the developmental years and should be a predominant training emphasis. This is the stage where we are truly trying to peak the genetic potential and get after it.

Beyond those stages (>25 years old), I believe we should look more to non-conventional loading parameters in lieu of bludgeoning basic accessory movements for the sake of more weight: non-conventional meaning more predominant band loading, cable and landmine variations, and med ball/free flow types of movements. This is a group of individuals—athletes or otherwise—that in most cases have reached their genetic peaks. Therefore, we need to remind ourselves of the question how strong is strong enough?

For advanced athletes, joint taxation and overload should be a preliminary thought when programming. Athletes who have accumulated multiple injuries/surgeries over their career and are frequently battling chronic joint pain tend to have trouble executing movements under static load and constrained paths of motion. Dynamic resistance has shown to be optimal for muscular and soft tissue loading, while minimizing axial or compressive strain on the joint. In a sense, the dynamic resistance allows the athlete to manipulate their levers, giving them greater muscular advantage throughout the ROM.

Having worked extensively with injured athletes, I’ve found non-conventional training parameters and applications have largely been more effective than traditional static loading. Coordinating with athletes on how to achieve dynamic movements (e.g., bands, med balls, landmine), to find the optimal paths and ranges of motion, can not only give them a solution for loading but also help a great deal with their confidence.

For advanced athletes, joint taxation and overload should be a preliminary thought when programming, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

Dynamic loading and variable movement patterns are generally more conducive to the types and expressions of force experienced in sport. The main variables we need to consider when discussing specificity or transferability are the nervous system and proprioception. Thus, by ditching the redundantly confined accessory movements, it opens more training time to work open chain and combination patterns that emphasize these systems while allowing the athlete to move in more compatible vectors. Once strength is obtained, it really doesn’t take much to maintain it, so as long as athletes don’t get fundamentally weaker, I can’t justify spending significant amounts of training time performing basic, redundant movements at moderate load.

The Road Ahead

All in all, I think the strength and conditioning industry is at a pivotal point in its evolution. Because of the rapid development of social media platforms, the feasibility of real-time data collection, and the continuous expansion of clinical research, we are starting to have a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t. But again, we’d be remiss to suggest that we have it all figured out and that what’s been done for decades is all that needs to be performed to optimize human potential.

You don’t need to just take this from me—there are several coaches who are far better than I will ever be who have also made similar statements recently. Industry legends such as Dan Pfaff, Stu McGill, and Bill Parisi have all been tremendous influences for me to break away from the trappings of conventional static loading. Dan has spoken on numerous occasions about the importance of recognizing the influences of hydrodynamics and the fascial system on human movement/performance (see recent podcast with Eric Cressey). In Bill’s groundbreaking book Fascia Training: A Whole-System Approach, he, Tom Myers, and Stu McGill share powerful stories and evidence that the fascia system has a much bigger influence on our function and performance than has been previously understood, which ultimately points to the conclusion that we have overemphasized structural lifting and conventional static loading.

I’m not here to sell you snake oil, but I would strongly encourage you to at least investigate some of this material. Specifically, I cannot recommend Fascia Training (Parisi) or Anatomy Trains (Tom Myers) highly enough; these books changed a lot for me. Along with keeping an open mind to perceiving the human anatomy through a slightly different lens, I would also encourage you to just sample different training modalities, variations, and load applications in your training. Instead of just concentrating on progressive overload with some of your tenured athletes, see how they respond to more multiplanar, open-ended movement patterns that challenge proprioception and movement fluidity.

Besides progressive overload with some of your tenured athletes, see how they respond to more multiplanar, open-ended movement patterns that change proprioception and movement fluidity. Share on X

We need to recognize when strong enough is strong enough and start to turn our focus toward making foundational strength more applicable for sport. Be cognizant of the fact that human performance is an amalgamation of multiple systems working in concert to produce gross, global outcomes. The muscular system is just one of many that must be addressed in training.

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

Really, it’s no secret—both the simplest and the most important recovery technique are one and the same: sleeping well. Which is fascinating, considering it’s still not clear why sleep has such a beneficial effect. One critical function activated during sleep has recently been identified: the “cleaning” of the brain and the elimination of waste that accumulates throughout the day, including toxins like beta-amyloid (which is involved in Alzheimer’s disease).

All of the stimuli from the day continually trigger neurons in the brain and, like any organ in the body that converts fuel into energy, this energy produces waste proteins that build up during waking hours and must be eliminated when we sleep. Recent research has shed new light on this process and may lead to a roadmap for preventing cognitive decline and degenerative diseases. During the night, our brain goes through several phases:

• From lighter sleep to deep, restful—almost unconscious—sleep, characterized by slower brain waves; to
• The rapid eye movement phase (REM sleep) where the brain becomes more active and we are the more likely to dream.

Most researchers have focused so far on the deep, non-REM phase of sleep, during which brain activity slows down and memory retention takes place. Recently, in the journal Science, a team of Boston-based researchers used non-invasive techniques on human subjects to demonstrate that the electrical activity of brain waves plays a role in this “cleaning” process.

Brain waves are produced by electrical impulses from masses of neurons that fire together in rhythm. Their activity is faster when we are awake and slows down when we are asleep. During non-REM sleep, neurons experience a synchronized decline in activity and throughout this “quiet period,” blood flows away from the brain as decreased activity means reduced oxygen requirement. As blood flows out of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid rushes into the vacated space and flushes toxins from the brain.

Brain waves are produced by electrical impulses from masses of neurons that fire together in rhythm. Share on X

Neurons are busy when we are awake; they keep activating in unison and they need oxygen to do their job. Thus, the blood does not drain from the brain and there is no room for the cerebrospinal fluid to enter and remove the waste from all this activity. Understanding this discovery allows us to better grasp how sleep issues can impact an athlete’s performance beyond energy levels.

Clear the Beta-Amyloid!

First and foremost: the beta-amyloid is the enemy to be struck down!

If a player appears listless, responds to your encouragement with a pale imitation of Droopy, and exhibits declining cognitive performance, chances are that this protein has something to do with it. The good news is that supplementation with vitamin D3 and turmeric helps in the evacuation of this brain waste. If players appear more tired than normal, complain of an unhealthy relationship with Mr. Sandman, or are going through a period rich in decision and reflection (contract negotiation, change of club, recent paternity, etc.), it is advisable to recommend a compulsory daily intake of these two substances.

Vitamin D3 and turmeric helps in the evacuation of brain waste. Share on X

Vitamin D3 and turmeric can also be the subject of a collective supplementation strategy used to cope with a situation where the quality and quantity of sleep are undoubtedly compromised. This is the case during post-match trips that extend into the early hours of the morning, during scheduled evening competitions, or even during an intensive training camp where athletes are overworked.

Sleep Issues Are a Shared Responsibility

As a next step, the staff must take responsibility. Muscles aren’t all that benefit from night-time calm. The brain also needs its moment of peace. It is necessary for it to evacuate metabolic waste at the risk of being degraded. A player will not be able to assimilate the strategic instructions, nor reproduce the technical gestures of their position with an invariable quality, unless the daily byproducts of their cognitive activity have been naturally cleaned up by sleep.

If this “cleaning” has not been done properly due to poor or insufficient sleep, you will find them yawning during the video sessions and they will be lost in the weight training sessions. If you turn off the water in the locker room, the athlete will remain dirty and in an awkward position. Likewise, if you ask them to think and worry about this or that all the time, they won’t be able to let the blood flow out of their scalp and consent to the cerebrospinal fluid doing its job.

It’s easy to lecture athletes by pointing at a sleep hygiene infographic—oftentimes, we desperately attempt to generate positive changes in behaviors regarding sleep hygiene in our players with colorful charts and worrisome statistics. And oftentimes, we fail. Not because our athletes are bad students of sleep science, but because we do not recognize that we are a part of the problem, that the environment we created is conducive to poor sleep habits.

For instance, it is well documented that the further away from the bed a cell phone is kept at night, the more likely it is we will have a good sleep, either from taking away the urge to check Instagram notifications until late or from the potential negative effects of signaling waves. Still, many of us ask of our players to connect to fill out some kind of online wellness questionnaire immediately upon waking up, or worse to undertake a heart rate variability test before leaving bed. It is our demand that prevents them from adopting a behavior we praise.

It is our demand that prevents our athletes from adopting a behavior we praise. Share on X

Likewise, educating athletes on how to set up the perfect bedroom—ideal temperatures, dark curtains, and expensive mattresses—is in vain when competition schedules and traveling strategies mean that a high number of nights will be spent in hotel rooms or on overnight flights and long bus trips. When we address the topic of better sleep using only “education” tools and programs, we not only fail to take responsibility for some of the poor habits developed by our athletes, we struggle to give actionable recommendations.

On many occasions, I found myself addressing a player reporting poor sleep with a totally unrealistic suggestion such as “avoid stress before bed.” Nobody ever purposely inflicts themselves with a good dose of stress before bed. But for those who come home to their families, a partner sharing their concerns or a young child who needs to be taken care of both present common sources of unavoidable evening stress.

Do not forget that athletes are humans first, and when they spend eight hours a day training and thinking about their sports, when will they have time for the vast amount of other concerns that populate an adult life? Relationships, finances, family, and—in some countries—trying to understand a new tax system? For those who stay awake late at night, lack of sleep becomes an obsession, a destructive fear.

Before condemning players for their nonchalance, their unprofessionalism, or their counterproductive habits when they have not had enough sleep, coaches must question themselves. When planning a field session from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. or a team meeting at 6:30 a.m., consider if these will help the players recover better. Does bombarding the team’s WhatsApp group with schedule changes and various recommendations until late in the evening allow their brains to regenerate?

The same prescriptive effort that is provided during warm-ups or prehab exercises is required to assist the player in their quest for restful sleep. No doubt, investing in high-tech gadgets that sound “Silicon Valley” and made you feel like a real scientist in your last podcast is tempting. You may be thinking “If the player’s sleep can be recorded, then the problem can be assessed objectively.”

The same prescriptive effort that is provided during warm-ups or prehab exercises is required to assist the player in their quest for restful sleep. Share on X

Stop there!

If you are asking an athlete to wear a smart device every night, it is imperative that you know exactly how to interpret each variation and that you are prepared to draw up a plan of action for it.

An athlete with insomnia appreciates a report confirming their sleep deficit as much as an overweight player appreciates the morning weigh-in…when faced with a player who fails in their attempt to lose weight, what do you do? Do you make them download an application on their phone that weighs them in real time? Do you recommend that they “eat less” and “be more careful”? No (unless you really don’t like them).

As a conscientious professional, you are more likely to refer them to a nutritionist, a specialist who can work with them for the long term. So why should the player who cannot give in to sleep’s call be treated any differently? The gadget approach is expensive, and resources would be better spent on consultations with a sleep specialist.

Be Open to Changing Your View on Optimizing Sleep

Sometimes, a few corrections are enough; other times you have to review the copy entirely. As elite sport coaches, we must first identify the goal, the objective. The next step is to determine if the athlete, player, or squad is open to the coaching philosophy, and to define the best approach to get our messages across. Adopting a new attitude always goes through three phases:

1. It starts with an openness to change which, little by little, turns into a desire to change behaviors.
2. Then comes the need to change behaviors, radical and stubborn.
3. Finally, the new way takes hold and becomes normal over time.

So, it’s not impossible to demystify sleep—to redefine it and adopt practical and achievable measures to fully reveal this natural process of human recovery which, even today, remains under-taught and underestimated. A change in the way we approach sleep must take into account three essential facts:

1. The circadian rhythm.
2. The chronotype.
3. The fact that the traditional “eight hours of consecutive sleep” is simply unnatural.

Planning Training with Respect to Circadian Rhythms

The circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle which controls our biological and physiological functions. When daylight enters our eyelids in the morning—the first phase of our human day—the brain begins to produce serotonin, which reactivates mood, motivation, appetite, gut, and bladder. As the afternoon progresses, the light levels drop, and the brain begins to produce melatonin. This hormone is also produced if too little natural light enters the eye for several hours, causing a feeling of drowsiness and a lack of energy and motivation.

The circadian rhythm is a 24-hour cycle which controls our biological and physiological functions. Share on X

Therefore, to stay alert and energetic during the day—and then calm and serene at bedtime—it is essential to respect this circadian rhythm. The source of the sleep disturbance may not be within minutes of falling asleep. It may not be a question of “sleep hygiene,” or some absurd addiction to video games. It is conceivable that the source of the problem is the schedule imposed upon the player.

For many athletes, the light exposure is too low during the first two phases of the 24-hour cycle (morning and afternoon). If you have basketball players playing indoors, the challenge is obvious. But for those who work in team sports played outdoors, it is necessary to review how training sessions are scheduled.

Perhaps on a typical day, the morning is spent indoors. Monitoring routine, breakfast, video session, weight training…the work done behind the curtains. Or is it perhaps the afternoon that is devoted to these activities? In any case, does the weight room have large openings letting daylight in abundantly? If the answer is no, it is highly likely that this type of schedule, under such conditions, disturbs the circadian rhythm of a majority of players, some of whom are not recovering.

Perhaps the complaints related to sleep are characteristic of the winter periods that your team goes through. With the reduction in natural light, the spectacle of field training sessions are performed only under artificial spotlights or are planned too early or too late in the day. To avoid disturbing the circadian rhythm, it is necessary to give the player the opportunity to spend time outdoors, in natural light, frequently, from the start of the day until the end. Ensuring a healthy circadian rhythm is about adapting to the seasons.

Respecting this natural rhythm also means providing players with a stable environment. When you have several groups, you tend to switch them over during the week. One group starting earlier than the other one day and vice-versa the next day. While this practice saves you from the anger of some, especially player union representatives, and seems like the right compromise, it may not be the most optimal in the long run, as it forces the circadian rhythm of players to shift in an attempt to adapt to daily changes.

Chronotypes and Performances

The concept of chronotype sounds sophisticated, but this is actually just a term for whether you are more of a night owl or an early riser. In zoology, the word chronotype refers to the time (“chrono”) of sleep and the regular activities of an animal. It is important to note that the chronotype has an implication beyond the time of getting up and going to bed: it is the body’s natural “timeline” for the various primary activities of a normal day (such as eating and sleeping) and also determines the best times for exercise, reflection, and rest.

Chronotypes have a genetic basis and are linked specifically to a gene, PER3. Early birds have longer PER3 genes, while night owls have shorter genes. Early risers and night owls are the most notable chronotypes because they are easy to contrast. However, they are not the only ones. Some researchers consider there to be four main chronotypes.

Chronotypes have a genetic basis and are linked specifically to a gene, PER3. Share on X

The type of chronotype impacts the level of activity and vigilance during periods of wakefulness. It affects body temperature, cortisol levels, and even blood pressure. For example, “lions”—morning people—experience a peak in body temperature earlier than night owls. This may have an implication on the necessary warm-up and activation time. If the training session is in the morning, the “wolves” will need a more intense warm-up than the “lions” in order to increase their muscle temperature and achieve sufficient cognitive activation. On the other hand, if the session is scheduled for the end of the day, the roles are reversed.

For most chronotypes, cortisol levels are at their highest in the morning, usually around 9 a.m. Cortisol begins to increase gradually in the second half of the night during sleep, then its production is accelerated upon awakening, before peaking one to two hours after waking up. From then on, it gradually declines throughout the day, reaching its lowest levels around midnight. In this way, cortisol plays a vital role in sleep-wake cycles: by stimulating wakefulness in the morning and continuing to support alertness throughout the day, while gradually decreasing to allow the body to produce other molecules and hormones, in particular adenosine and melatonin, which are involved in preparation for sleep.

However, the athlete’s life is punctuated by periods of significant physical stress (training sessions, matches, etc.) and much-needed rest periods. Each intense session causes an increase in the production of cortisol, which disrupts the cycle described above.

For chronotypes such as “bears” and “lions,” an intense morning workout is perfect as their cortisol levels are already high, and a more recovery-oriented end of the day perfectly accompanies the cortisol-melatonin transition. But for “wolves” and “dolphins,” whose cortisol production is delayed, the ideal timing of training and recovery periods is different. Some players with these types of profiles may have cortisol levels at their highest during the night and lowest in the morning. A workout placed in the middle of the morning then becomes problematic, because it keeps the level of cortisol high when it is supposed to be low. If this is repeated, an imbalance in the testosterone to cortisol ratio can occur, with all the complications that entails.

Knowing a player’s chronotype is informative and can help optimize training timing. However, in the context of team sports, individualizing the session schedules according to the profile of each athlete is science fiction. To meet the strategic and technical ambitions of a team, you have to bring together all the players every day at the same time.

Fortunately, it’s a safe bet that 80% of your workforce is made up of “bears” and “lions” who easily adapt to the classic programs offered (day that starts early; workouts in the middle of the morning; mid-morning and afternoon video/meeting; and preparation/recovery in the early morning, early afternoon, and end of the day). It is the remaining 20% ​​which represents a decisive challenge.

Fortunately, it's a safe bet that 80% of your workforce is made up of “bears” and “lions” who easily adapt to the classic programs offered. Share on X

A first strategic option could be to pull this small group of “wolves” and “dolphins” towards the others—to try to rectify their cycles so that they gradually turn into “bears” and “lions.” Specific light therapy sessions or the consumption of melatonin could help change their bedtime. Bad luck, however; the chronotype is genetically determined, and even if the professional and social rhythm adopted can have an impact on the cycle preferably followed, a radical change is not “trainable,” and the various tricks put in place do not guarantee the desired effect.

Exhausting yourself trying to adapt the player to the schedule by changing their chronotype will not be the most profitable strategy. Rather, it will be about adapting parts of the schedule to the player’s chronotype. Of course, juggling training schedules and threatening the smooth running of group sessions is out of the question. But, a typical day for a professional athlete is also made up of individual, varied, and flexible activities.

Individual meetings with coaches, media obligations, and other internal requests (administrative tasks, promotions, etc.) are within the scope of individualization based on the chronotype. The obligations that a player must meet during the day can be ranked from the most important to the least important, from the most cognitively demanding to the least demanding. Once this hierarchy has been established, it is sufficient to schedule the most serious activity during the period of peak productivity dictated by the corresponding chronotype, and to fit the others into the periods of lower performance.

With a “lion,” for example, a meeting with the manager to discuss strategy will preferably be held early in the morning, while smiling at the sponsors will be a perfect activity to accompany their lunch digestion. Inviting a “dolphin” to an important meeting at 7 a.m. will not do the athlete any favors—but around 1 p.m., when many of their teammates will be gathered around a video game or will be snoring peacefully away from prying eyes on a stolen yoga mat, the “dolphin” will be happy to be there and be part of a detailed conversation.

It is also possible to group the players by chronotypes, instead of the categorization by position generally applied, in order to determine their recovery and treatment slots. On the weekly rest day, why force a “wolf” to go to the training center for a massage at 8 a.m.? As for the “lions,” don’t ask them to make themselves available for treatment at 6 p.m., they are already longing for the comfort of a TV set. During a normal training day, the complicated chronotypes—“dolphin” and “wolf”—may present an imbalance in their cortisol production and require special post-workout attention. If places are limited, they should be granted priority access to the sauna, massages, and nutritionist.

Few teams bother to test their squad and categorize their players by chronotype; in the long term, however, if we multiply by the number of training days in a season, a small improvement in individual performances of even 1% due to an alignment of the proposed schedule and the chronotypes will make a difference.

Polyphasic Sleep: A Better Approach

Eight hours of solid, continuous, uninterrupted sleep—this is the goal we set for our athletes, the gold medal of recovery that everyone strives for every nightfall. A shower of infographics on the consequences of lack of sleep on sports performance, and the heavy incentives of coaches and the media, put night’s sleep on a pedestal and make it a major issue. When the player fails to score 8 or 10 hours of eclipse, they end up finding themselves to be tired, frustrated, and anxious in the morning. But the idea that we need to sleep in one uninterrupted block is not necessarily driven by biology. There’s a forgotten fact: we haven’t always had this approach to sleep.

The idea that we need to sleep in one uninterrupted block is not necessarily driven by biology. Share on X

Western European writers of the pre-industrial times refer to the two sleep intervals as if the prospect of waking up in the middle of the night was quite familiar to their contemporaries and therefore required no elaboration. During pre-industrial times, going to bed when the sun finally goes down, waking up in the middle of the night for a few hours, and then sleeping again until dawn was normal behavior, the most common mode of sleep.

Then comes the time of the industrial revolution: as electric lighting grows, people are breaking free from the limitations imposed by natural light cycles, and with it references to a “second sleep” begin to disappear. Nonetheless, studies suggest that humans tend towards biphasic sleep if given the opportunity. In the 1990s, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr showed that when people are exposed to 14 hours of darkness, not eight, they gradually shift to a two-phase sleep pattern: two four-hour blocks with a space in between.

Moreover, we find two-step sleep habits in many cultures—perhaps you have already tried the “siesta,” a practice dear to our Spanish friends? Or, have you already had the unfortunate experience of finding yourself waiting outside the doors of a Provencal post office, which close from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.?

Sleeping in one block is considered the healthy norm, and problems arise when it is expected to always be a perfect eight-hour period of blissful nothingness. Many believe that healthy sleep is a deep valley of unconsciousness that runs throughout the time you are in bed, but the reality is more complex. Instead, we go through periods of light and deep sleep every 90 minutes or so. Sleep is characterized by its multiple phases, which are repeated in successive cycles clearly distinct from each other and separated by periods of wakefulness. Far from an extensive and monotonous process that would justify a solely monophasic approach.

Faced with this practice of monophasic sleep, biphasic sleep is not the only alternative option. Polyphasic sleep is known to researchers as a variant based on multiple blocks of sleep, with varying and shortened durations. Sadly, the polyphasic approach to sleep is now almost taboo after enjoying a period of superficial stardom and becoming the plaything of a generation hungry for over-productivity. Blame it on Uberman’s sleep program, whose goal was to gain waking hours by sleeping a total of just three hours in six portions evenly distributed throughout the day, which was supposed to compress the physiologically less-important stages of sleep and regulate the stages vital for mental health upward in a homeostatic manner.

The idea that one can transform into a superman by depriving oneself of sleep is absurd, as it comes into dissonance with the empirical reality observed by anyone who has tried to perform during an episode of insomnia! But asking players to sleep 8-10 hours in a row is just as unnatural and restrictive as requiring them to sleep 30 minutes every 4 hours. Every athlete is different. Some people need less sleep than others. Some are free to go about their sleep-wake cycles as they see fit, while others are forced to imitate the rhythm imposed by their newborn baby. Where one may live in perfect circadian harmony with their other half, another may struggle and compromise with a family of varied chronotypes.

The reality is, you can’t always finish on time, win every duel, and be flawless in every practice. The players know that. When they suffer a setback or underperform, they are masters of bouncing back. They are endowed with the wisdom to compensate. And what keeps them going through tough times is the opportunity to do better the next session.

The reality is, you can't always finish on time, win every duel, and be flawless in every practice. Share on X

However, with a monophasic approach to sleep, the athlete in distress is deprived of a second chance. After a bad night’s sleep, the next one is already deemed critical. In season, this gaping hole cannot be filled in time to ensure peak performance in the next game, and in pre-season it makes the toil of the following days even more thankless. And after eight hours of imperative recovery stolen by a finicky nervous system, an impeccable eight-hour sleep appears as the sole way to re-establish balance.

Two sleepless nights, and suddenly the pressure surrounding the next twilight is immense. This performance urgency, night after night, creates unbearable psychological stress in those whose sleep is disturbed. This vicious cycle is not inevitable, however. Remember, the need to consolidate a single block of sleep is unfounded.

Instead of tending to a single, crucial period, a multi-phased approach allows for a salutary freedom: taking the necessary time elsewhere in the day to relieve the pressure of having to sleep at night. Because sleep works in 90-minute cycles (not 8-hour or 10-hour cycles), the expectation of a full night should be replaced by the ability to intelligently manipulate multiple 90-minute cycles. Thus, in order to ensure sufficient recovery, the stake for the player is no longer to sleep eight hours per night, but to accumulate a minimum of five cycles of 90 minutes per 24-hour period.

Obviously, the majority of these cycles will preferably occur at night, firstly because it is naturally dictated by the circadian rhythm, and secondly because the opportunities are more plentiful after the training center has closed its doors. With this method, athletes are able to plan their five sleep cycles in line with their program for the next 24 hours—and in the event that an unexpected event disrupts the progress of a cycle, it can be transferred to the next 24-hour period.

The organization of a typical week in team sports has the particularity of exposing the actors to a true roller coaster. Some days of the week start shortly after dawn and unfold like a frenzied race against time—sometimes with up to four training session, meeting, preparation, recovery, and video time slots. Other days, when time flows more slowly and the mood is peaceful, are reserved for recovery.

On match days, the pressure is tangible; it knots the stomachs, galvanizes the energies, and very often takes away any hope of a serene evening. The post-match days are very different: the physical and psychological integrity of the players must be restored. Fatigue is present in all movements, and comfort is sought from loved ones around a well-stocked plate or by means of a gentle recovery protocol.

On match days, the pressure is tangible; it knots the stomachs, galvanizes the energies, and very often takes away any hope of a serene evening. Share on X

During these weeks, days of excessive agitation and absolute or relative calm alternate, and some do not allow five cycles of sleep. Physical exhaustion costs cycles. The apprehension and excitement at the approach of an expected or feared confrontation costs cycles. Worst of all, evening games put the player’s nervous system in a state of turmoil, cause elevated cortisol levels, can introduce disturbing physical pain, and may keep the athlete’s mind busy replaying the game again and again instead of counting sheep.

Then, there are the late events to which the player is sometimes invited: dinner with the club’s partners, promotional operations, media appearances with a sponsor—these too are cycle eaters. On the other side of the equation, typical weeks have their fair share of opportunities to catch up on lost sleep. Recovery days can be filled with missing cycles, and some training days may have a late start, premature end, or periods of downtime: all opportunities to sneak in a missed sleep cycle. The calculation is simple: five cycles of 90 minutes equals 7.5 hours per 24 hours; five cycles multiplied by seven days gives a total of 35 cycles per week to reach. Shortened nights can be balanced with naps, late mornings, or early evenings.

Finally, in order to avoid over-distracting the circadian rhythm with the use of polyphasic sleep, it is important to adhere to a stable schedule for getting up and going to bed. If the whole week the player wakes up at 6 a.m. and wants to accumulate a few additional cycles on the weekend, just reprogram the alarm for another 90-minute cycle to go off at 7:30 a.m. And why not reprogram it again for an additional cycle?

In the opposite case, where the time to wake up is brought forward for an exceptional reason (travel, meetings, change of training schedule, etc.), it is recommended to wake up a complete cycle earlier. Continuing with the example above, if the player has to get to the training center 30 minutes early, then they should set their alarm for 4:30 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m. In debt for a full cycle, they can repay it at their convenience.

It is largely up to the coaches to deliver their players a more precise and more educated message on sleep. Forcing them into a system that has no regard for their chronotype does not contribute to optimal performance. Refusing to prioritize circadian rhythms when setting a schedule does not contribute to optimal performance. And, above all, preaching for monophasic sleep in an environment like ours does not contribute to optimal performance.

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

T.A. Wehr. “In short photoperiods, Human sleep is biphasic,” Journal of Sleep Research, June 1992.

N.E. Fultz et al. “Coupled electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and cerebrospinal fluid oscillations in human sleep,” Science, 2019.

Breus. “The Power of When: Discover Your Chronotype–and the Best Time to Eat Lunch, Ask for a Raise, Have Sex, Write a Novel, Take Your Meds, and More.” 2016.

Elite-level athletes can show great feats of strength and power in extraordinary ways—and, at times, display these spectacular performances in areas they have never actually trained. This phenomena brings up an interesting concept in training, that of “expression” vs. “development.”

One specific example of this occurred in a case study¹ looking at baseball hitters’ proficiency in vision and reaction tests. In the tests, the best batters were able to also score very high on light-up board reaction tests, even though none of them had ever trained with the light-up boards before. This is a good representation of being able to express great general visual and reactive capabilities due to the many years of training to hit against challenging pitching.

But does this mean that training with the light-up board would be an effective means of training those players? Not necessarily. The best batters scored high in spite of never training with those methods before! This is where expression vs. development comes into play: tapping quickly and scoring high in a light-up board test is an expression of their ability to take in visual feedback and react by rapidly moving their hands to the right spot at the right time. They developed this capability through many years of batting practice. But enough of the baseball references…let’s dive into some training!

Expression in Training

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are an effective tool for evaluating whether training is producing the desired adaptations. For high-speed rotational athletes, KPIs often include tested performance in jumps, medicine ball throw distance and velocity, and other measures that can reflect the necessary neuromuscular qualities found in the sporting movement. For example, pressing power² is highly associated with swing power—therefore, a medicine ball chest pass for distance is an appropriate test to show that training is working!

Key performance indicators are an effective tool for evaluating whether training is producing the desired adaptations, says @billmills. Share on X

Video 1. Medicine ball throws for velocity can be used as a KPI to evaluate training.

The issue is determining how that improvement in expression occurred. Improvements in expression, or performance in an exercise, can come from:

1. Increases in overall force production from muscle groups highly involved within the movement pattern.
2. Increases in rate of force development from the neuromuscular system—increased contractile velocities or improved speed of the signal from brain to muscles.
3. Improvements in joint stabilization (tendon stiffness or muscle stiffness), which ultimately allows for a better transfer of energy throughout the kinetic sequence of the movement.
4. Improvements in muscle and tendon architecture, such as fiber-type shifts or appropriate tendon compliance, allowing for greater transfer of energy within the stretch reflex of the muscles when utilized in a high velocity fashion.
5. Improvements in technique or coordination specific to the movement being tested. This increases with measured reps as the athlete will often find the optimal pattern to achieve the highest score.

As you can see, the first four of the above areas can transfer well from one movement to another movement. There is great transfer to sport-specific power when one of those first four areas is developed in training. The last, though it can often account for great improvements in performance, does not transfer very well to other movements.

For example, let’s say an athlete performs a medicine ball rotational shotput throw³ in their training. They are performing a light load, high velocity movement that is rotational in nature, so it correlates well with throwing and swinging performance. Let’s say the first time the athlete does the exercise, they achieve a score of 30 mph. Over the next few sessions, they adjust their hand placement and elbow positioning so that they can push harder through the ball. The following week, after practicing it several times over the course of the week, they achieve a score of 34 mph. That’s a jump of four miles per hour from their initial test, but it does not mean they will now throw a baseball or swing a bat that much harder!

The adjustment in their technique is specific to the medicine ball throw.

When Is Expression Meaningful?

Many athletes will show huge improvements in the first few attempts testing with KPIs. Improvements in that short of a time period are likely all due to “beginner gains,” or improvement in coordination specific to the movement that comes about from the first one to three weeks of performing a certain exercise on a frequent basis. The mechanism behind these gains is the brain and central nervous system combining to create a more efficient signaling pattern to recruit the right muscle groups at the right time for both the stability to execute the exercise and the force to complete it.

As in the previous example, the athlete may find a better way to grip the implement or perform the technique in such a way that optimizes leverage, and therefore achieve greater performance in that way. Regardless, these early increases in performance are merely expressions that don’t reflect development or transfer to sport-specific power.

Let’s continue with the example of the athlete who saw huge “beginner gains” in the medicine ball shotput throw. In the months following, the athlete trains hard with rotational medicine ball throws, strength training, and other means of developing power. The shotput throw performance climbs steadily by one mile per hour every few weeks. This is where the expression begins to matter. These small, steady, and slow increases in performance are indications that neural and muscular qualities are the main reasons that performance is improving. This should transfer well to other rotational power movements, like swinging a bat faster or throwing a ball harder!

Video 2. MPH of medicine ball throws can be tracked to assess training progress.

Development in Training

Now that we’ve explored why expression does not always equal development, it’s important to dive into what development truly means. The reality is that development for one athlete might look entirely different for another. At the end of the day, all that matters is that training pushes adaptations for the athlete towards more power capabilities in their sport or more ability to resist injury.

The reality is that development for one athlete might look entirely different for another, says @billmills. Share on X

Let’s take the above example of a medicine ball shotput throw (after the “beginner gains” phase) and create a hypothetical scenario of training approaches for two athletes: Vinny and Frank. Both athletes will perform the med ball shotput throw in high volumes with high effort on a regular basis in their program. Let’s say no other form of upper body training was done to impact their throwing power and performance during this period.

In our hypothetical scenario, Vinny and Frank both throw 80 mph and want to throw 90 mph to improve their game and get noticed by college coaches. Both athletes want to throw harder, as harder fastballs are more difficult for opposing batters to hit, and college coaches will take notice if they show 90 mph on the radar gun. Vinny is very big and strong, but lacks rate of force development qualities—he has always struggled with throwing a baseball fast, in spite of his great strength in the bench press. Frank is skinnier and weaker—he has good velocity for someone his size, but that’s still not enough to stand out on the field and get noticed by college coaches.

Since Vinny lacks power at high velocities, the shotput throw fits his needs well. He’s able to see two to three mph jumps in performance every month of the offseason. By the end, he’s able to shotput throw a four-pound ball at 39 mph from a pitching start position. He concurrently trained hard with baseball throw velocity as well, long-tossing and throwing at high effort for the radar gun. This all increased his velocity to the point of breaking the 90 mph mark after just four months of training.

Frank, on the other hand was not able to improve his shotput throw very much. He did not gain any weight or strength in his upper body, and the medicine ball throws were not able to develop his biggest needs. His baseball throw velocity was only able to improve by a marginal amount.

This is a very rudimentary example and does not take into consideration other important areas for throwing velocity such as mobility, movement pattern, ball grip, and throwing deceleration capabilities. The goal of this example is to demonstrate how a force-velocity profile may differ greatly between two athletes, although their external output (80 mph throw) is the same. As such, not all athletes should follow the same routine.

A force-velocity profile may differ greatly between two athletes, although their external output is the same, says @billmills. Share on X

Video 3. Using a supine overhead throw with 10lb, 6lb, and 2lb medicine balls to create a force-velocity profile.

This is based on an actual story of an athlete I trained who came into the offseason topping at 83 mph off the mound and finished the offseason at 91 mph. He entered the offseason with a 285 lb bench press and 565 lb deadlift, yet could not throw the 4 lb ball harder than 32 mph in the shotput throw. We did not train any reps with the traditional bench press, but we focused on many forms of ballistic pressing. He had all the force in the tank, but he needed to develop his rate of force development. The medicine ball throws helped to develop and express! That, coupled with a strict, high-effort throwing regimen, helped him increase velocity by so much in such a short time.

Frank, on the other hand, is a fictional individual but represents a likely scenario for a lot of younger baseball players. They will find cool-looking, explosive exercises on social media and copy that into their training. All the while, they neglect strength training, proper diet, and sleep patterns…and that leads to them making little progress!

Are Medicine Ball Throws Expression or Development?

To best answer this question, you first have to look at the athlete’s biggest needs. If they are velocity-deficient—meaning they are strong but lack the ability to produce force at very high speeds—then medicine ball throws will be a perfect fit. However, athletes who are force-deficient, as many beginners are, will not see great development with medicine ball throws. They may be able to express great performance with medicine balls, but they won’t be able to see large improvements as a result of doing them. Those force-deficient athletes will need to train against heavier loads and with greater mechanical tension to improve muscle mass and overall force production. That’s how they will develop power!

Athletes who are force-deficient, as many beginners are, will not see great development with medicine ball throws, says @billmills. Share on X

Video 4. Supine overhead medicine ball throw.

What About One-Rep Max Testing?

This is another common area of argument on social media. Unless you’re competing for a powerlifting or Olympic lifting competition, you don’t truly ever have to test a one-rep max. Increases in strength gains are great but testing those with a big one-rep max day can be taxing and detrimental to the program as a whole.

Let’s take the example of an athlete who wants to improve their squat from 315 to 405 lbs, ultimately helping them run faster and jump higher. If they constantly test their one-rep max every week, they will gas themselves out to the point that it could take three to four days of recovery before they can do any meaningful form of lower body training again at high intensity. This comes back to expression versus development; plus the fact that most novice lifters will throw technique out the window if all they ever do is try to test their one-rep max. So now they’re decreasing the number of meaningful training days they can complete and limiting the number of high quality reps in their program. That’s a recipe for zero jump and sprint gains at the end of the offseason.

Most novice lifters will throw technique out the window if all they ever do is try to test their one-rep max, says @billmills. Share on X

Rather, I would suggest high-effort reps, even if they are heavy sets of one to three reps. Always try to move the bar as fast as possible. Never miss a rep and add weight week in and week out. If you have a bar speed sensor, you can test the expression of each rep and ultimately ensure high quality. That’s a recipe for success!

What Are Some Common Forms of Expression?

These are commonly found in the sports performance realm. I’ll break them down between ways they can be a “smart” or a “not so smart” decision depending on how they’re used. It should be noted that these are generalizations. Everyone will have their own unique way of using the following scenarios. Just make sure of the best fit for your program.

One-Rep Max Testing: Most commonly used in compound lifts such as the squat, bench press, deadlift, and other barbell-based lifting movements (Olympic lifts, etc.).

Smart:

• Tested at the middle and end of the offseason.
• Tested after months of consistent training, ensuring perfect form and likely a large increase in performance from when they started.
• Great way to build camaraderie and “buy-in” to training.

Not so smart:

• Tested too frequently, not allowing for enough time spent training to actually increase strength.
• Allowing for sub-par form with the movement.
• Testing in an unsafe setting without spotters, catch-pins, etc.

Key Performance Indicator Testing: These are tests that reflect the power needs found in the sport. For example, a baseball outfielder must be able to accelerate quickly in a sprint and develop rotational power at very high speeds. Some good key performance indicators for this outfielder could be a rotational medicine ball throw for velocity (measuring rotational power), a 30 yd dash (measuring sprint acceleration), and a medicine ball chest pass for distance (measuring upper body pressing power at high speeds). Those measures should go up as a result of all the training done in the program.

Smart:

• Tested once every few weeks to ensure the program is pushing the athletes in the right direction.
• Tested in a competition setting, ensuring that athletes push each other.
• Put these numbers on a leaderboard! Exercises like jumps, sprints, and medicine ball throw velocities belong on the board up there with weightlifting one-rep maxes—it shows what tests correlate best with the sport!

Not so smart:

• Only using the KPI tests in your training, neglecting other important areas.
• Equating a KPI with on-field performance. (Example: “I throw this medicine ball 40 mph, that means I throw a baseball 90 mph, so I don’t have to train throwing a baseball”…it doesn’t work like that!)
• Testing in ill-timed or fatigued conditions. If an athlete just played four games in four days, they probably aren’t ready to test!

Video 5. Once coaches identify their training KPIs, they should track and test every few weeks to make sure their athletes are progressing in the right direction.

What Are Some Common Forms of Development?

These are some ways that you can really focus on development in training. It really comes down to knowing the athlete’s needs best. So in this segment, I’m going to break it down to “If they need more strength” or “If they need more velocity.” Those categories are a simple way to break it down, but understand that a healthy mix of all training types (high speed, heavy load, etc.) should all fit in a program to see the best gains possible.

A healthy mix of all training types (high speed, heavy load, etc.) should all fit in a program to see the best gains possible, says @billmills. Share on X

High Quality Weight Room Reps: Showing up to your workout is half the battle. High quality reps are where the battle is won!

If you need more strength:

• Focus on perfect technique on each rep. Why? When we change technique in an exercise, we change the level of recruitment for the intended muscles. For example, with a dumbbell row,⁴ you want to focus on the muscle groups in the rear shoulder and upper back driving the movement. Too many kids will start the row by extending the hips and yanking the chest upwards, taking away from the effectiveness of the exercise!
• Add weight or reps each week. Progressive overload is crucial to increasing muscle size and maximal force production.
• Heavy sets of five reps work great for a majority of compound lifts. I typically don’t recommend sets with much higher reps than that, as fatigue during the set can take away from the quality of rep.

If you need more speed:

• Use a bar speed sensor if possible. Know what ranges you should be working in to achieve your goals. This also ensures that intent is as high as it can be on every rep.
• Keep bar speeds⁵ from falling too much. For example, if you’re working with a heavy set of three reps and your bar speed is 0.5 m/s, your bar speed should never fall below 0.4 m/s. If you do dip below that, you’re likely running more towards fatigue and further away from power development.

Sprinting, Plyometrics, and Other High-Speed Forms of Training: As I’ve talked about previously, there are some athletes who may have a greater need for these forms of training than others. Regardless, all athletes will likely see some positives come about from these styles of training—just make sure it fits well with the entirety of the program.

If you need more strength:

• Program a few sets of these after a warm up and prior to weightlifting. This can create a great potentiating⁶ effect, helping athletes move some serious weight afterwards. For example, three sets of four to five max-effort jumps can get athletes ready to squat and deadlift a house!
• Do not mix conditioning with speed development! The goal here is not to gas athletes out, as that could run them into fatigue—so much that it will take away from their ability to make progress in the weight room.
• Don’t be afraid to add a little bit of resistance to their high-speed work. I have found that resisted sprints, heavier med ball slams, and chest passes work best with force-deficient athletes. Why? They need to be able to apply more force to their movements. More load should create adaptations leading to more force.

If you need more velocity:

• Measure performance on every rep. Time your sprints, measure jump height, etc. Why? This is the best way to ensure low fatigue and increased performance over time.
• Tailor your speed work to your biggest needs. For example, if you know you have great top speed, but relatively poor acceleration capabilities, you may want to increase volume of shorter sprints and improve performance in those.
• Lighten the load if needed. Assisted jumps, lightweight medicine ball throws, etc. can increase the speed of the movement. This is ultimately the missing factor—applying more velocity to their movements.

Tying It All Together

Always focus on development first. Use key performance indicators as a compass for where your training needs to push, but it is not a map—those KPIs can be a huge help and a great way to build camaraderie. Ultimately, you must always push for high quality reps in every movement. That’s what makes the difference at the end of the program!

Always focus on development first, says @billmills. Share on X

If you haven’t guessed yet, my personal area of expertise is in rotational power sports such as baseball and javelin. Medicine ball throws, jumps, and sprints are all great KPIs for baseball players, golfers, and javelin throwers. I recommend testing every two to three weeks to see that they are improving as a result of training. Those movements can produce greater adaptations with those who are already quite strong and profile as velocity-deficient. Therefore, they really should only be included frequently with those types of athletes. Athletes who are beginners or are more force-deficient should train against heavier resistances. They should aim to increase maximal force production and that will ultimately improve their performance with higher velocities!

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 & Supplemental Media

1. Laby, D.M., Kirschen, D.G., Govindarajulu, U., and DeLand, P. “The Hand-eye Coordination of Professional Baseball Players: The Relationship to Batting.” Optometry and Vision Science, 2018.

2. Miyaguchi, K. and Demura, S. “Relationship between upper-body strength and bat swing speed in high-school baseball players.” J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Jul;26(7):1786-91. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318236d126. PMID: 21921820.

3. Bill Miller, Instagram, 7/14/2020.

4. Bill Miller, Instagram, 6/23/2021.

5. Rodríguez-Rosell, D., Yáñez-García, J.M., Mora-Custodio, R., Pareja-Blanco, F., Ravelo-García, A.G., Ribas-Serna J., and González-Badillo, J.J. “Velocity-based resistance training: impact of velocity loss in the set on neuromuscular performance and hormonal response.” Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2020 Aug;45(8):817-828. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2019-0829. Epub 2020 Feb 4. PMID: 32017598.

6. Bill Miller, Instagram, 10/7/2020.

Edward Lorenz was a famous American mathematician and meteorologist, and one of Lorenz’s research interests was attempting to predict both the weather and the longer-term climate. One day in 1961, Lorenz was in his lab carrying out calculations and working on a computer model aimed at predicting a weather system. This was tedious work, requiring him to input numbers from a printout for each of the 12 variables that the model contained. Lorenz had run these particular numbers before and was redoing the prediction model as a way to check it.

On the second run-through, Lorenz entered one value ever-so-slightly differently. In the original simulation, the number he used was 0.506127. In his new simulation, Lorenz rounded the number—almost imperceptibly—to 0.506. Lorenz then went down the hall to get a coffee, and when he returned, he was astounded by what he saw: the small rounding he had made had a dramatic effect on the weather scenario that played out in the prediction. The results of the second simulation—simulating two months’ worth of weather—were nothing like the first.

Lorenz was puzzled by this, assuming that there was an issue with the computer system. He checked the equipment but couldn’t spot anything obvious. Rechecking the data, Lorenz noticed that, early on in the simulation, the values from both simulations were the same. However, after about a week of the simulation, they started to differ—at first by just one unit after the decimal place, then two. The size of the disparity typically doubled every four days or so, creating a large difference in simulation outcome after two weeks.

This was a stark reminder to Lorenz that miniscule changes within a complex system (like the weather) could have large downstream effects. In later speeches—and in popular media—this would be dubbed “the butterfly effect,” whereby one flap of a butterfly’s wings could create a tiny change in the atmosphere that may be enough to alter the course of the weather forever. This concept led to the development of chaos theory, the study of complex systems that suggests that, despite appearing random, there are underlying patterns and interconnectedness between aspects within such systems.

From Typhoons to Torn ACLs

We see these theories applied in practice during hurricane season—predicting the path of a hurricane is important, as it allows governments to prepare residents within the path to evacuate if needed. This prediction is, of course, difficult. In large part this is because of chaos theory—the factors that influence the path of a hurricane include wind speed and direction, sea temperature, and humidity, and small changes in any one of these can have a large influence on the path of the hurricane.

As a result, predicting the path of a hurricane requires accurate projections for each of these variables, along with an understanding of how they interact. Scientists are getting pretty good at this:

• In 1954, agencies could only provide predictions up to one day in advance.
• By 1964, this had grown to three days.
• By 2001, hurricane tracks were predicted up to five days into the future.

In 2020, Hurricane Laura was first identified as a large mass of clouds off the west coast of Africa. Five days later, it was given its name, and three days after that, meteorologists predicted that it would hit land on August 27, at 2 a.m., in Cameron, Louisiana. On August 27, at 1 a.m. and less than a kilometer away from Cameron, Hurricane Laura did indeed make landfall.

Given the complexity involved in predicting the path of a hurricane, the accuracy of this prediction is quite remarkable. This is something scientists have been working on for decades—making small, incremental improvements that add up to major leaps forward. The question is: How have they done this?

This is something scientists have been working on for decades—making small, incremental improvements that add up to major leaps forward. The question is: How have they done this? Share on X

Back in the 1970s, scientists relied on patterns seen in past hurricanes, essentially using prior performance as a predictor of future hurricane path. This was fairly useful—in the 1970s, meteorologists could typically predict the site of landfall for a hurricane to within around 500 miles—but not quite precise enough. Five hundred miles is quite a large margin for error, leading to a lot of people perhaps being unnecessarily warned.

Over time, meteorologists have begun to utilize more complex models that are dynamic in nature; the models change based on the data they receive. And they receive a lot of data, with more than 40 million different observations plugged into the models daily. This data is then used to create 50 different forecasts, in which the data is ever so slightly modified, allowing the scientists to understand the confidence of their predictions.

In late 2019, researchers from the U.S.—led by lead author Ben Stern—used this hurricane example to put some of the practices seen in sports performance under the microscope, as sports injuries are also complex and dynamic in nature. In a 2016 paper, published in the prestigious British Journal of Sports Medicine, the authors argued that simplifying complex problems into basic units is highly reductionist. This approach is useful for linear relationships (for example, exploring the relationship between smoking and lung cancer, where the more cigarettes you smoke, and for longer, the greater your risk); it less useful, however, for non-linear relationships, or relationships that are highly complex and multifactorial in nature.

Looking at ACL injuries, for example, we can see that the importance of a given risk factor differs between sports: in ballet dancers, fatigue is a key risk factor, while in basketball players, it is hip muscle weakness. But we can also expect to see variation between people in the same sport—Ballet Dancer A’s risk factors may be different than those of Ballet Dancer B. And yet, Stern and his coauthors wrote that we tend to completely ignore this in sport, instead focusing on, say, one “injury prediction test” and using this to inform future risk and interventions.

Meteorologists use 40 million data points daily to predict the path of a hurricane, while we might use one data point in a yearly injury screen to inform our practice over a 12-month period.

Meteorologists use 40 million data points daily to predict the path of a hurricane, while we might use one data point in a yearly injury screen to inform our practice over a 12-month period. Share on X

The Butterfly Effect and Injury Models

Stern and his colleagues instead suggest that we view the athlete in front of us as a highly complex human that is able to exhibit one of two separate states: a healthy state and an injured state. The athlete will constantly move toward one of these two end states—sometimes getting very close to the end destination (i.e., being injured)—but mostly being pushed or pulled in each direction.

The factors that push or pull an athlete in a given direction are broad and varied, and we should cast the net widely here: aspects such as stress, previous history, and non-sport workload all contribute to increasing or decreasing the risk of injury. Each of these factors can be subject to two competing factors:

1. Stress (which is destabilizing).
2. Accommodation (which is stabilizing).

The athlete is constantly balancing both stressful and accommodating factors; how well they are able to do this determines how likely they are to become injured. As this balance is highly dynamic and ever-changing, it’s easy to see how basing injury risk off just one test at one point in time is likely to prove highly ineffective.

A potential solution to make us better able to make an informed decision around injury risk for a given athlete on a given day is to collect data more frequently. This is what the meteorologists did when improving their hurricane path predictions. While we obviously can’t expect to collect 40 million data points per day, we should probably do better than one data point per year.

A potential solution to make us better able to make an informed decision around injury risk for a given athlete on a given day is to collect data more frequently, says @craig100m. Share on X

In team sports, this is perhaps a bit more common. GPS systems and heart rate monitors are in wide use, allowing performance staff to have more data at their fingertips to inform decisions.

This data collection doesn’t have to be costly or high tech: a now-seminal 2015 paper demonstrated how subjective, self-reported measures (for example, rating of perceived exertion, or mood) were highly sensitive to changes in training load, more so than objective measures such as blood sampling or heart rate. Even just a conversation with athletes as to how they’re feeling—and observing how they move during warm-ups—can provide a useful data point for understanding how the athlete is presenting on that day.

Data from a diverse range of potential injury determinants allows us to better understand the true injury risk of our athletes, so collecting information broadly is also important. In their paper, Stern and his colleagues recommend regular collection of self-report measures exploring aspects such as:

• Life stress, anxiety, and coping skills.
• An assessment of sleep quality and quantity.
• A nutrition log.
• Sport-specific performance tests (which can likely be embedded into a pre-session warm-up).

In a second paper, Stern and his colleagues introduce a second important concept related to complexity and performance: that of state dependence. In a system—such as the human body—where state dependence exists, the interaction between variables is not static. For example, if variable 1 increases variable 2 by 50% on one occasion, a change in a different variable, variable 3, over time may mean that, in the future, variable 1 only increases variable 2 by 10%. The size of this change can be large. Sometimes, improvements in the same variables may be:

• Positively correlated (i.e., improvements in one lead to an improvement in the other).
• Negatively correlated (i.e., improvements in one lead to a worsening in the other).
• Non-correlated (i.e., there is no relationship).

Whether these variables are correlated or not depends on the overall state of the system; the relationship between them depends on other variables.

Making the Connection with Your Athletes

When it comes to considering injury risk, we typically see that increases in psychosocial stress are associated with increased injury risk. But what happens if the athlete has well-established and effective coping mechanisms? A change in this variable changes the relationship between stress and injury.

This change is most likely stable, but there are much more transient changes in a variable that could modify this relationship; a few nights of poor sleep, for example, will likely increase the sensitivity of the athlete to stress, further increasing the risk of injury. This is a further reminder that a single piece of data that is collected can only serve as a snapshot of where the athlete is in time. What we need to know, given the complexity of humans, is how the data changes over time—having this knowledge will enable us to better understand what is truly happening in the athletes we work with.

A single piece of data that is collected can only serve as a snapshot of where the athlete is IN TIME. What we need to know, given the complexity of humans, is how the data changes OVER TIME. Share on X

Based on the work of Stern and his colleagues—as well as the underlying principles of chaos theory—we can develop some rules of thumb when it comes to working with athletes.

1. We need to consider athletes as complex beings; just because we’ve seen a relationship between two variables before doesn’t mean we will see that relationship again. Furthermore, we need to remember that a multitude of different factors likely influence any apparent relationships.
2. We need to move away from static, one-shot measurements (for example, pre-season screenings) if we want to better understand complex aspects such as injury risk and performance improvements. This isn’t to say that pre-season screenings aren’t useful—they can identify key issues to work with—but having more frequent data collection allows for more regular updates around how our athletes are tracking.
3. As a wide variety of factors influence how an athlete responds to training, or how likely they are to become injured, collecting a diverse range of data sources likely improves our ability to “predict”—or, at least, make informed decisions—around how athletes are responding.

As such, it’s better to collect information from a diverse range of sources (e.g., sleep, stress, perceived recovery, movement velocity) than from very similar sources. Humans are complex biological beings; we can do better than just reducing them to a single number.

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