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For more than a year now, society has had to drastically change the way it operates to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries, states, and cities around the world have been forced to balance the safety of their citizens with keeping businesses open in order to prevent a total economic collapse. Too few regulations have been met with the repercussions of higher case rates and too many regulations have been met with resistance from civilians, as they are unable to work, socialize, and maintain their livelihoods in such uncertain times. On many occasions, there has been some type of regulation placed on the utilization of gyms, training facilities, and the like to prevent the spread of the virus; whether by limiting the number of people allowed in a facility, mandating masks throughout, or closing all gym facilities completely until further notice.

This has presented many issues in training, as athletes have long depended on relatively unrestricted access to resources in the weight room to develop alongside their team and coaches throughout the year. With facilities under different regulations, athletes and coaches have been challenged to find creative ways to train to avoid losing all of the progress they’d made until the pandemic hit.

I’ve seen more athletes performing isometrics with pickup trucks, flipping tractor tires, and swinging sledgehammers than ever before. I’m both encouraged and inspired to see so many of our community leaders and young athletes finding solutions to stay in shape without their usual performance tools and equipment. It goes to show just how resilient humans can be when we brainstorm to find ways to solve problems and situations that otherwise would prevent us from being great.

Given the circumstances of the pandemic and what I’ve seen…there are more conventional & safer ways to continue to build force production capacity when traditional training isn’t easily accessible. Share on X

Given the circumstances of the pandemic and what I’ve seen, I think there are more conventional and safer ways to continue to build force production capacity when traditional training isn’t easily accessible. There is a false notion that an athlete must be lifting a barbell in order to perform any meaningful strength work. While it may be easier to throw plates on a barbell and lift to progressively overload training, you don’t always need a ton of resistance to improve your explosiveness. If unable to find challenging resistance, you can still get a great quality training session by altering the velocity, sets, reps, and rest intervals (among other things) to challenge the body in different ways and continue to improve in a meaningful way.

Adding a Final Touch to Medicine Ball Throws

It may seem odd to some, but an extremely effective way to improve power is to start incorporating medicine ball throws into your training program. The beauty of the medicine ball is that it can be utilized in a multitude of ways, ranging from a simple chest pass to the overhead backward toss, a jump to throw variation, slam, and much more. The fact that they are relatively light in weight compared to the weight you might put on a bar for a back squat or deadlift allows the athlete to perform the movements with much more velocity than they’re used to. In my experience, it has served as a great key performance indicator because as medicine ball throws improve in various planes, I have also tended to see gains in the broad jump, vertical jump, triple broad jump, 10-yard sprint, and bar speed in the weight room.

Medicine balls come in a variety of weights to allow you to continue to challenge the athlete in new ways. There are some coaches who don’t believe medicine balls should ever be heavier than 6-8 pounds, while there are others who believe you should exclusively use medicine balls that are 10-12 pounds or heavier for it to carry over. I recommend starting somewhere in the middle as an initial assessment, and you can increase or decrease the weight based on what you see. It is also worth being mindful of the diameter of the ball as it can significantly affect the throwing capacity of each athlete.

There are many ways you can assess the medicine ball throws over time, and I know that there may be differences out there. A common method is to compare the body weight of the athlete with the weight of the ball and then use that ratio to objectively grade the medicine ball throw. How far did the 150-pound athlete throw a 15-pound medicine ball? How long was the medicine ball in the air on a vertical throw? What is the max velocity of the ball?

Pay close attention to the projection angles and make sure that you’re coaching the loading, swing, and release phases appropriately. A few degrees in one direction or the other can be the difference between a flat laser beam throw, a moon toss, and an incredible throw.

Video 1. An example of what I call “popcorn throws,” in which an athlete or group of athletes performs max throws for height off of the bounce of the previous throw. It keeps all athletes engaged, provides opportunities for intra group competition during the exercise, and most importantly, it’s fun!

In 2001, Barry Stockbrugger and Robert Haennel published a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that showed overhead backward medicine ball throws are both reliable and valid measures of explosion with regard to total body movements and general athletic abilities. Personally, I use this test along with the between the legs forward (BLF) throw for power testing. I also like to use the chest pass, rotational throws, popcorn throws, and reactive catapult throws for development.

You don’t have to include a ton of throws for a good CNS response. I’ve had good success with my athletes using 1-3 sets of 3-5 throws and choosing anywhere from 1-3 variations depending on which part of the season they’re in, how long I’ve been working with them, the sport(s) they play, what they’re doing outside of my sessions with their teams, and myriad other factors. Additionally, if you notice the distances begin to fall off, it may be a good time to take set rest or end the throws entirely. You may have overestimated their readiness for what you had planned for them and getting ahead of it is extremely important as you may be reaching a point of diminishing returns and digging them into a deficit.

Sprinting for Deep Neuromuscular Adaptions

The ultimate exercise to both express and develop speed and power is sprinting. No matter which form it takes, proper sprinting is an extremely potent stimulus that, under the right circumstances, has acceptable risk with substantial rewards.

In the weight room, even with velocity-based training, a fast rep is when the bar is moving 1-1.3 m/s or slightly faster. For traditional weightlifting standards, this is the extent of “speed” and power training, and for some readers, these velocities may seem eye-popping. On the track, a 1.00 m/s average velocity would be the equivalent of a 100-second 100-meter dash, whereas a competitive high school time would be anywhere from the low 11-second to the high 10-second range (around 9-9.3 m/s average velocity).

Sprinting allows us to prime and improve the maximum potential of the CNS, the rate that it recruits motor units, the number of motor units recruited, subsequent force outputs, and the ability to contract and relax quickly as our muscles switch on and off throughout the stride cycle. Can you guess what other activities may benefit from these qualities being improved upon? You guessed it: jumping, throwing, changing direction, and lifting, along with a laundry list of other important athletic attributes. Time and time again, I’ve seen athletes with relatively little weightlifting experience, formal jump training, medicine ball work, etc. put up insane numbers when performing testing following the speed training work that they do with me. Sprint training really is THAT powerful.

The biggest mistake many coaches make is overvaluing the benefits of conditioning while overlooking the massive training effects that can be unlocked with maximum effort sprinting. Share on X

The biggest mistake many coaches make is overvaluing the benefits of conditioning while overlooking the massive training effects that can be unlocked with maximum effort sprinting. Conditioning can be done through properly structured team practices by repeatedly exposing athletes to the demands of the sport. What team sports don’t typically achieve is maximal speed efforts that lead to further development. Setting aside time in structured training to do maximal short sprint work (0-60 yards), whether socially distanced or remotely, can be the missing link that begins to tip the scales in your favor.

Video 2. Sprinting, the ultimate plyometric, takes an athlete out of their comfort zone to perform coordinated, repeated, violent limb swings that require optimal core control for adequate performance. If a sprint quality is lacking—such as stiffness, limb velocity, striking mechanics, posture, or any other attribute that is important to performance—the overall sprint times will suffer accordingly. Being able to screen for these deficiencies provides coaches with opportunities to audit their own programming and provide individualization to address the deficits in their athletes.

Mastering, Managing, and Modifying Plyometrics

In team sports, many times plyometrics are used to warm up or fill time, but rarely are they tediously prescribed or performed with a given focus in mind (from what I’ve seen). I recently shared an article outlining the benefits of proper plyometric prescription, and I believe they’re a great complement to max effort sprint training. I don’t tend to use them as a filler, but rather, I use them as movement prep and a CNS primer prior to sprinting.

Think about the high jumpers and long jumpers who progress over time. While technical improvements are certainly pivotal in making these gains, the biggest differential for many is the ability to produce a lot of force very quickly and orient it in the right direction at the right point in time. The more you practice something, the better you get.

So how do you think these athletes are improving their jump measures? It is not from random plyometrics sprinkled throughout the program (though some of them may be helping), but rather, performing high jump, long jump, and exercises that resemble the demands of their competitive events in training. For team sport athletes, a blend of activities that require accelerating, decelerating, changing directions, or lateral, rotational, or backward movements along with reactionary components serve the athletes well in developing the whole package.

The key is we need to ensure these drills are advancing and redirecting the center of mass throughout. If the feet are just moving really fast and the center of mass isn’t moving in a meaningful way, we need to coach the athlete up or spend our time on other drills that will progress those attributes.

A simple bang for your buck is using the vertical jump or broad jump tests to double as training modalities to improve speed and power, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

A simple bang for your buck is using the vertical jump or broad jump tests to double as training modalities to improve speed and power. Progressions may consist of double leg stance, stagger stance, single leg, assisted or resisted variations of each, and then chaining jumps together with and without obstacles. Another way to alter these is to change the landing parameters. Some coaches prefer to have athletes stick landings, while others prefer to limit ground contact times as much as possible. Working each in isolation and then mixing them together in various phases throughout training will likely yield the best results, as we are working every aspect of athletic development rather than only one piece of it.

If we focus in too much on one-dimensional drills and training, a lot is left on the table. An example of this would be an athlete who focuses too much on lateral movements and not linear. They may be shifty and good at mirroring athletes at lower speeds, but they may not have the breakaway speed to run away or run down an opponent.

On the flip side, an athlete who is too focused on linear work may have the wheels to get into position to make a play but lack the deceleration and reactionary capacity to finish the job. It’s best from a plyometric standpoint to develop the totality of the athlete to improve qualities that they’ll call upon frequently during competition. This will allow them to thrive in uncertain conditions and ultimately maximize their playmaking abilities along the way.

Video 3. There are virtually no limits to plyometric prescription other than a coach’s imagination and ability to instruct, as well as their ability to identify faults and correct them in real time. Due to the nature of tendon loading, high force demands, and the potential multidirectional nature of plyometrics, it is imperative that safety and proper dosage are incorporated throughout.

Old School Hill Sprints for Athletic Development

Because sleds can be expensive and/or cumbersome to set up and put away after every training session, I deferred to the use of hill training early on in my performance training endeavors. They are as cost effective as they are convenient, and with a little bit of searching, you can likely find a hill that suits your needs. Whether the hill is excessively short and steep or very long and gradual, you can adapt your training to match what you have available to you.

Similar to medicine balls, the hill can be a diverse training tool in developing speed and power. Because the incline can vary, hills have different levels of difficulty that present a spectrum of challenges for your athletes. As the grade of the hill increases, the force requirements to successfully navigate the hill increase as well.

Due to requiring extra force to be successful, steeper hills or hills in general may expose shortcomings in force production in weaker sprinters, whereas the stronger sprinters will likely thrive. Weak and strong sprinters aren’t determined by their numbers in the weight room, but rather by the ability to effectively use their force production capacity to accelerate and build momentum in a given training or competitive environment.

I don’t think it’s as common for coaches to have their athletes perform plyometrics and drill progressions on a hill for contrast effect, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

I believe that It is intuitive for most coaches that sprinting on a hill can be an effective training stimulus. What I don’t think is as common is for coaches to have their athletes perform plyometrics and drill progressions on a hill for a contrast effect.

For example, when an athlete performs an activity on the hill, they get used to applying x% greater force to be successful in the task. When you take them back to flat ground to perform the same task, there may be a temporary spike in their performances as they’re recruiting more motor units than they usually would to execute the task. I attribute this to learning how to overcome the hill followed by using the newfound feeling of greater force recruitment and applying it to flat ground sprinting, jumping, medicine ball throwing, etc.

While it may seem I only like the hill for the short term, I think it serves as a great continuous learning opportunity and occasional reference point in the long term. The weaker athletes get the benefit of simulated “resisted sprinting,” and the stronger athletes can refine their execution of the acceleration over time. I’ve not done any force plate assessments or things of that nature to measure the effects of the hill; however, immediate improvements in sprint times, jumps, and medicine ball throws all lead me to believe that the effects are potent. As athletes gain more exposure to the hill, I feel that the coordination paired with the increased muscular demands over time further improve the KPIs listed above.

Due to the increased demands of the hill, it doesn’t take as much training volume or rep distances to achieve your desired outcomes. I’ve found good hill sprint work to take place within about a 4- to 9-second time frame with casual walk back rest between, or longer if the athletes are approaching fatigue.

Additionally, it may be good to limit sprinting on the concrete, as shin splints can become apparent with too much volume on the incline and an unforgiving surface. A good grass hill can be a good substitute, just make sure that the hill isn’t wet and slippery. Safety should come first with any training approach, so be cautious before forcing any new training into your program.

Video 4. Hills provide unique challenges and situations in which unique drills can be implemented as well. In addition to the usual plyometrics, mechanical drills, and sprint workouts, you can come up with some abstract exercises to help emphasize the push and gradually bleed the new skill into other drills and speed work.

Look Beyond Traditional Weight Training

When it comes to training, coaches historically have turned to the weight room for solutions to everything. The idea that the weight room is needed for all speed and power solutions is a tale as old as time. It has led to many athletes feeling like they are losing all of their progress since they’ve been prohibited from weight training facilities during the pandemic. In reality, speed and power are complementary qualities that we can develop very effectively outside of the weight room. The categories listed above are very broad and can be as useful as you make them. However, they are not the only ways to improve force-producing capacities.

The idea that the weight room is needed for all speed and power solutions is a tale as old as time, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

Resistance bands are a very cheap and effective way to replace certain components of the weight room. While the overload principle is limited to the amount of tension your bands can provide, working muscles in different planes with bands has been a popular workaround in these troubling times. Another popular one I’ve seen is loading up backpacks with canned goods for resistance training.

The point here is that the four topics I mention above are not by any means the end-all, be-all to speed and power development outside of the weight room. Rather, they are effective ways to improve the total athlete in the absence of traditional weight training.

My recommendation is that you find something that is easily accessible, affordable (or free!), and safe to perform consistently. The first time you perform some of these activities, it may seem hard and discouraging. Your balance may be off, you may have difficulty controlling your body, you may not be as fast as you’d like to be, you may feel sluggish accelerating out of your cuts, or you may just not be firing on all cylinders. The more often you can practice doing athletic things, the more likely it is that you’ll be ready to do athletic things when the time comes. Consistently train what matters and the performances will take care of themselves.

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

Stockbrugger, B. and Haennel, R. “Validity and Reliability of a Medicine Ball Explosive Power Test.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2001;15(4):431-438.

Beato, M., Bianchi, M., Coratella, G., Merlini, M., and Drust, B. “Effects of Plyometric and Directional Training on Speed and Jump Performance in Elite Youth Soccer Players.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2018;32(2):289-296.

As a high school track and field coach, my greatest challenge is creating understanding. Sprinting, when done well, looks effortless; explaining how to make it look that way, however, is much harder. In this article, I’m going to name and explain five of my favorite coaching cues from Dr. Ken Clark, a leading authority on speed training.

I recently attended a Ken Clark Speed Clinic—for those unfamiliar, Clark is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at West Chester University in Pennsylvania and is a sought-after consultant for many elite athletes and performance organizations. I’d read his research and articles, plus listened to his lectures, but this was my first time observing him coaching athletes in real time.

What did I learn? That your coaching is only as good as your cueing.

This is especially true in speed training. If you’re a track coach, you know that if an athlete can understand and perform a drill, they’re more likely to apply those mechanics when they’re hauling down the track. Drills don’t make you fast, but they are a reference point—when they are executed with purpose and quality, they will lead to mastery of a skill and consistent, high-level performance.

Drills don’t make you fast, but they are a reference point—when they are executed with purpose and quality, they will lead to mastery of a skill and consistent, high-level performance. Share on X

My Five Favorite Cues from Dr. Ken Clark

How can you help athletes improve in executing drills? Provide them with stronger, more relatable cues.

1. Arm Switch: “From Eye Socket to Hip Pocket”

Less is more when it comes to coaching drills for arm drive. The next time you’re drilling arms, ask your athletes to stand, eyes forward, with their right hand at their eye socket and their left hand at their hip pocket. On your command, they switch from eye socket to hip pocket while driving the elbow back. Put this drill in before you start the dynamic drills, or any time the athletes need a reminder of arm mechanics.

Begin with 10 command reps on each side, then progress to five seconds of continuous switching. This is a great drill to include in the warm-up.

2. Three-Bucket Pose: “Don’t Spill the Water”

Teaching an athlete correct body posture while sprinting can be challenging, especially at the high school level. Why is correct sprint posture important? When a sprinter can maintain this posture, it allows for proper and efficient force application, by decreasing collapsing at ground contact, of the ankles, knees, and hips. Applying optimal force with good posture translates into fast times on the track.

What is good sprint posture? It is when the athlete stands upright and tall with the head, neck, and shoulders directly on top of the hips with a neutral pelvis. The problem with trying to coach this position is that athletes tend to flare their ribcage and arch their low back in an effort to get “tall.” They may feel like they are in a good position, but they aren’t. When the athletes maintain this posture during training, it may result in injury over time and slower speeds.

What’s the solution? The three-bucket pose with the cue, “Don’t spill the water.” Using this drill in the warm-up gives the athlete a reference point without having to over-explain. I implement this drill after mobility and activation and before dynamic drills.

Where do we start?

Have your athletes stand in rows facing forward, with arms bent and elbows about 90 degrees. With the right hand about eye level and left hand by the hip, have them stand on a stiff left leg with the right leg bent at 90 degrees. Tell them to imagine they have one bucket of water on their head, one on the knee that is bent, and a third hanging by the handle on the foot. Once in position, cue the athlete to stand tall and “Don’t spill the water.”

This pose forces the athlete to feel a strong sprint posture. If you have an experienced sprinter in your group, use them to demo: One picture is worth one thousand words!

Progressions: If your athletes are new to this drill, have them begin practicing 10-second holds on each leg. When that’s no longer challenging, have them hold the pose with their eyes closed. You can progress this further by adding:

• Front lunges.
• Reverse lunges.
• Lateral lunges.
• Sprinter-skydivers for three reps on each leg.

(Always exploding back into the three-bucket sprint pose.)

3. A-March: “PUNCH the Ground”

The A-march is a fundamental drill that teaches proper sprint mechanics. When performed correctly, it keeps the body in a straight line from the bottom of the foot through the top of the head, referred to as a post position. The drill reinforces for athletes the need to keep the knee up, the heel pulled up beneath the knee, and the toe pulled up into dorsiflexion. As the athlete begins to march, they must strike the ground with force. Slowing this drill down and focusing on mechanics can lead to better sprinting and faster times.

The problem most coaches experience is that once the drill becomes more dynamic as speeds increase, form is sacrificed—and when the form is lost, so is the purpose of the drill. Consistency with cues and form is key. Cue the athlete to “PUNCH the ground” with their foot strike: Punching implies force without much more explanation.

Where do we start?

Begin with the basics and have the athlete standing in the post position (a post is straight up and down and another good cue):

• Neutral pelvis.
• Hip in line with the ankle.
• Keep the head, neck, and shoulders relaxed.

Sprinting is running as fast as you can upright and relaxed—not an easy concept to convey—and the more it’s reinforced in drills, the more reference points an athlete will have.

Sprinting is running as fast as you can upright and relaxed—not an easy concept to convey—and the more it’s reinforced in drills, the more reference points an athlete will have. Share on X

Guide them to march in place while maintaining this position (see image 4). Their arms should move in a one-stroke movement, forward to back, with relaxed hands and working in harmony with their legs. Each time the marching leg goes down, cue them to “PUNCH the ground” with the part of their foot where the spike plate would be.

Start with 10 reps in place, followed immediately by a 10-meter march. Repeat this twice. When the athlete can easily perform this drill, progress into:

• A-skip for 10 meters x 2.
• A-run for 10 meters x 2.

Continue to reinforce striking or punching the ground with an upright posture.

4. Thigh Switch: “Smash the Glass”

How do we cue knee drive for effective and productive acceleration? What is acceleration?

Acceleration is about applying force down and back into the ground for the first 20-30 meters of a sprint race. For high school athletes, I use the example putting your foot on the gas and getting up to speed or taking off like a jet plane (it is a gradual rise of the hips as the athlete comes out of the start.) The knee drive must be forceful in order to drive down into the ground with force to propel forward with speed.

At the start of the sprint, the athlete is in a four-point or block start at about 45 degrees. Coming out of the start into the acceleration requires not only horizontal but also vertical force relative to body weight. Explosive hip action, hip flexion, and extension are key in acceleration. High school athletes sometimes have a difficult time with forceful knee drive coming out of the start, which will lead to a poor acceleration phase.

Where do we start?

I love the thigh switch drill and use it on the acceleration-focused days—the exercise gets the athlete in a position where they can better understand knee drive and explosive hip flexion. To start, have the athlete push into a wall with their body at a 45-degree angle (see image 5). This will be the position for the set command. There should be a straight line from the head and shoulders through the hips and down to the ankle. The athlete’s arms are extended into the wall like they are trying to push it down. Now they have an understanding of body position for acceleration!

Next, on the go command or a clap, have them bring their right knee up at a 90-degree angle to the torso and cue“smash the glass” (the leg of the knee that is up should have the look of a “Z” in this position, and often they will have the foot cast out in front of the knee). Instantly, they will understand it takes force to smash glass, which is knee drive and also hip flexion.

Start with isometric holds for 10 seconds each leg. Once they understand the concept and can hold the correct body position, progress to:

• One-leg drive x 5 each leg.
• Wall scissor drill x 5 each leg.

5. Sprint Top End Speed: “Strike”

Now that the prep work is done, the body is primed to get moving fast! Technical build-ups are a perfect way to segue into quality work safely and effectively. We want the athletes to understand that to move fast, they have to apply maximum force into the ground to reach top end speed.

What is a technical build-up, and how do we cue it?

Set up three 20-meter zones on the track with visible cones for a total of 60 meters. Before the athlete runs, explain how fast you want them to run each 20-meter segment:

• 1st: 20-meter acceleration (60%-75%).
• 2nd: 20-meter fly zone (90% +).
• 3rd: 20-meter deceleration.

A good way to explain to the athlete how fast you want them to run in the second (or fly) zone is to tell them close to all out, but not 100%.

This is where athletes should start to understand that when the body is in optimal sprint posture with prop alignment, more force can be applied, just like striking a nail on the head. Share on X

Cue the athlete during the fly zone to “strike” the ground like a hammer hits a nail on the head. Use the example when you hit it dead on it goes right in the wood—if you hit it from an angle, it takes a few more strikes. This is where they should start to understand that when the body is in optimal sprint posture with proper alignment, more force can be applied, just like striking a nail on the head! You want the athlete to understand that when they strike the ground during sprinting, it must be an aggressive, stiff ground contact to maximize rate of force.

To get the most out of your cues, work on one at a time—for example, during the technical build-ups, repeat the drill 3-4 times and have the athlete focus on only one thing at a time as listed below. Sometimes you have to slow things down first in order to sprint fast.

With each rep, have athletes work on one cue.

• Rep 1: Familiarize drill.
• Rep 2: Posture.
• Rep 3: Front-side mechanics.
• Rep 4: Foot strike.

Making Your Sprint Drills Work for Your Athletes

Drills don’t make athletes fast, but the way we cue them can make a world of difference in the way athletes perform each movement. Cues serve as a reference point for proper sprinting technique and mechanics, which are key to faster times and reducing injury. Since teaching is a part of coaching, learning how to cue drills is a skill.

Drills don’t make athletes fast, but the way we cue them can make a world of difference in the way athletes perform each movement. Share on X

When an athlete relates to and remembers the cues, it will have a lasting impression on their movement and performance. When you tell the athlete, “strike” the ground, they understand you mean force; when you say, “smash the glass,” they understand knee drive. We should all speak the same coaching language and learn to be efficient with our time and our words. Dr. Clark is a master at this: Use cues athletes can relate to and understand to help them reach the end goal of SPRINTING FAST!

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

A fundamental role of coaching, irrespective of the specific sport or duties, is to instill confidence in the athletes you work with. In essence, we’re not only responsible for improving physical abilities, developing skills, and educating them on movement, but we also need to recognize the impact of simply helping athletes become more confident with who they are and what they do. Restoring confidence in injured athletes can be just as difficult as restoring the physical injury itself, in some cases. But at the root of this transition is taking what they believe they can’t do and proving to them that they can.

Restoring confidence in injured athletes can be as difficult as restoring the physical injury itself, in some cases, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

I’ve been at Virginia High Performance for about five years now, and for the bulk of this time, I have overseen the training and programming directives. At VHP, we run a concentrated program for active duty and veteran military athletes, most of whom are from the Special Forces and Special Ops groups. Suffice it to say, there’s hardly a dull moment in our facility.

Over the years, we have seen a tremendous spectrum of injuries and adaptive athletes, and the majority of them, despite being injured, still must be able to perform operational duties—and at extremely high levels. There’s virtually no injury that I haven’t worked with by now, and while that has come with a steep learning curve on the physical/mechanical side, it pales in comparison to the psychological battle these injuries have represented. In this article, I’d like to discuss some of these psychological barriers that result from injury, and how we as coaches can be better equipped to navigate training when pain and discomfort won’t seem to dissolve.

The Relativity of Pain

Pain, no matter how you choose to define it, is absolutely a complex psychosomatic occurrence that has a multitude of factors. Pain science is a rabbit hole just about anyone can get lost in quickly. As surprising as this may seem, pain is actually still a relatively unknown phenomenon, especially the origins and relativity components. But one thing is for certain: Pain does not affect individuals equally, and the worst thing we can do is assume in either direction.

Managing an athlete’s pain response to training, at least in my belief, is where the “art” side of coaching really becomes critical. The first step is to establish a pain relativity scale that matches your athlete. Remember, a “6 out of 10” for me may be a “4 out of 10” for you or someone else, so this is again where assuming can be damning.

Once the baseline is established, it’s on you to then configure a way to stress them during training without breaching their individual limits. I’m extremely cognizant of respecting the athlete’s barriers; the main reason being we’re trying to reset their relationship to exercise/training. If we constantly do things that reinforce the pain feedback loop or demonstrate inability, it will indirectly reinforce to them that training makes them feel worse, not better. Beyond empirical and subjective pain scales, I look at three distinct subcategories of pain: anticipatory, associated, and assumed.

Anticipatory: Demonstrated mostly through body language (guarding/tensing) and often subconscious. Detracts from movement by creating dissonance in which concern is prominent thought/focus.

Associated: Demonstrated through optimistic caution (i.e., “Normally when I do this, that happens, but I’ll give it a shot.”); mostly a conscious behavior. Can become an impediment to training if not corrected.

Assumed: Demonstrated through direct, assertive statements (i.e., “If I do this my knee will be inflamed for the next two weeks.”). Compromises training by way of phantom barriers.

Irrespective of the specific pain type, the outcomes are virtually the same—estranged confidence and an impaired ability to focus on task execution. Our goal as coaches or practitioners then becomes trying to identify why they are showing uncertainty and try to assist them in working through the confidence barrier. Simply, if they start with assumed pain, we want to get them to a point where they still may have anticipatory reservations but are at least willing to trust us and themselves to execute. Given enough time and repetition, what was once anticipatory will soon dissolve, but it takes multiple efforts to establish this.

Restoring Confidence in the Injured Athlete

An unequivocal pet peeve of mine is when coaches reiterate or reinforce to someone that they’re injured or that they’ll “never achieve X/Y/Z.” This includes treating them with overzealous fragility and hesitation. It’s important to recognize that the athlete will pick up on your demeanor quicker than you can mask it, and if they sense uncertainty from your instruction, they will adopt it in their action.

It’s important to recognize that the athlete will pick up on your demeanor quicker than you can mask it, and if they sense uncertainty from your instruction, they will adopt it in their action. Share on X

Although coaches wear several hats during their time on the floor, being the purveyor of what someone can or can’t do is absolutely not one of them. Starting from the point of injury onward, athletes will be met with endless encounters where they’re forced to be reminded of what they can’t do. After so many weeks of recovery, rehabilitation, and general life endeavors, by the time they get to the strength coach, the last thing they want (or need) to hear is how messed up they are.

Now, of course there are additional measures and considerations that the coach must take. Please don’t misconstrue this as ignoring problem areas and throwing athletes right into the fire. I really think that part of this conversation speaks for itself, but you should be very thorough in the “X’s & O’s” of how to accommodate an injury.

What we’re focused on in this context is simply the interaction and austerity you present as a coach to provide them with the perception of trust, knowledge, and confidence both in you and themselves. This is especially paramount with the population we work with at VHP, as most of our athletes are (literally) world-class experts at reading others and detecting emotional shifts through body language. Your language matters, but the way in which you assert yourself and instruct will be highly significant as well. They need to feel the confidence you have in both the situation and their ability to complete the task, not just hear it.

Disparaged Relationship with Training

No differently than how obese/unhealthy individuals have a poor relationship with food, injured athletes can develop a poor relationship with training. It’s not a knowledge or information barrier; nor (in most cases) is it a volition or willingness barrier. The root of the problem is that they have become overwhelmed by injury, and in addition to diminished confidence in their ability, they’re now in a space where movement is perceived as a potential threat. It is absolutely critical that this relationship is amended throughout your time training with them.

In addition to the injured athlete’s diminished confidence in their ability, they’re now in a space where movement is perceived as a potential threat, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

I believe that a fundamental error for a lot of coaches is assuming that the limiting factor is information- or desire-based. Again, at least with a high-performing population, these two are rarely the barrier. I believe what we need to emphasize is restoring their relationship (cognitive-emotional) with training by modifying the perception of what their present abilities are and neglecting the proverbial limits or expectations. It’s vital that the athlete feels like they are in control of their situation and their destination. I see the role of the coach in this instance as that of a translator, whereby our job is to shift what they think or believe into what we can prove to be true.

Shifting perspective can be tough, and this is why I emphasized the “art” component above. But if nothing else, the coach needs to be mindful of general personality type, learning style, and how heavily the athlete values objective or subjective input. If they’re someone who needs more of a nurturing approach, give them frequent positive feedback and reinforce they’re on the right track. If the athlete is more objective or number driven, well then give them just that. Provide tangible evidence of marked improvement—this gives them the positive confirmation bias that what we’re doing is effective.

The better (and more quickly) you can understand the athlete’s personality and history, the more precise and thorough you can be with application and instruction. Ultimately, your efforts must work to recalibrate how they perceive training and their eligibility to do so at a high level. So, as far as positive affirmations, video review, or objective measurables, know the audience and provide them with what they need.

Optimize Movement Signatures

Movement signatures is a concept I was introduced to through the work of Stu McMillan and the ALTIS crew, and it has dramatically improved my coaching. In short, movement signatures are the independent and unique characteristics of an athlete’s movement profile. I believe this has resonated so well for me working with injured athletes because very little falls into what we would conventionally deem “theoretical norms” or standardized ranges.

For instance, if we have an athlete coming off of a SLAP tear, we can exhaust ourselves with textbook data and timeline graphs to assess the improvements for our athlete. However, textbooks often fail to consider items like differences between surgeons and surgery type, condition of the athlete pre-op, mechanism of injury, surrounding joint and tissue integrity, and so forth. Adding to the ambiguity for me are the very unique demands and exposures for tactical operators. But I can assure you, if I compared every one of my SLAP tear athletes to a standardized chart, we would never be in a place where we could perform meaningful work.

If I compared every one of my SLAP tear athletes to a standardized chart, we would never be in a place where we could perform meaningful work, says @danmode_vhp. Share on X

It’s imperative that you apply the relativity factor to injured athletes. Yes, in the first 12 weeks post-op there should be clear markers the athlete should reach, and improvements will be mostly linear. But once that initial phase has come to pass, things just aren’t that black and white. This is where understanding the independent signatures becomes tremendously helpful.

For me, we strictly compare where athletes are now to where they started. Rather than spending an abundance of time on “improving shoulder flexion by 5 degrees” because that’s what a book says, I want to see how I can simply optimize what they have and how they get there. The psychological side to this is a change in paradigm, as they’re no longer chasing arbitrary numbers that may or may not help them at all. Rather, I want them to have an intrinsic focus of “Okay, how can I make this as effective and efficient for me as possible?” The shift in focus alone can be an epiphany moment for the athlete.

Final Thoughts

• Be concise and consistent with your cueing. Injured athletes will already be so consumed by not getting injured again that long-winded cueing and instruction can overwhelm them. Additionally, they will often rely heavily on these cues outside of the facility. Give them tangible pieces they can use in work or practice. Language is one of them.
• Create an effective environment. Have their type of music on, ensure good energy and conversation flow, give them their favorite rack, etc. Make it feel like home.
• Allow them to make (within reason) mistakes. More importantly, allow them to solve the problem for themselves. It’s important that they don’t become externally reliant on you or anyone else.
• Make them sweat! This ties into the whole fragility piece outlined above, but their training has been performed in bubble wrap for weeks if not months… No matter how, make sure they leave every session sweating and feeling like they trained hard!
• Acknowledge how injuries can permeate daily life and how it’s on them to be mindful and manage outside of the facility. This includes things like therapeutic and restorative care.
• Be adept at reading body language and facial expressions and pick up on patterns. A lot of athletes will mask the presence of pain/discomfort very well. They will also be outright indirect with how something feels out of fear of being held back. It’s on you to find the honest answers.
• Autonomy is a major key. Inform your athletes about what’s going on, what you’re applying, and why you believe it’s valuable. Additionally, teach them little things like soft tissue work, breathing drills, etc. that are tangible pieces they can include on their own. I believe the more ownership they have over their training and recovery, the more inclined they’ll be to optimize it.

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

The MuscleLab contact grid is a novel measuring device that virtually turns a training surface—specifically a track or sports flooring—into a measurement zone. The area, ranging from a few yards to about 40 yards, detects foot contact durations. With a contact grid, a coach can estimate jump heights and various stride parameters such as stance time, flight time, and more. This anthology covers the best articles on using the contact grid and includes additional resources that will expand your use of the technology further. The contact grid is an exceptional tool, and you should know that it integrates with other MuscleLab products, including the Dynaspeed and Laser, using a synchronization unit.

Getting Started with the MuscleLab Contact Grid

In this article, Carl Valle covers the essential needs for setting up and operating a MuscleLab contact grid, including software and hardware installation. As one of the technology’s biggest proponents, Coach Valle shares fundamental recommendations on best practices, including testing and training with the system. Regardless of whether you are an advanced user or simply just interested in how the product works, this is a good primer for everyone.

Buyer’s Guide to Contact Mats and Contact Grids

The contact mat and grid market is wide, ranging from simple mats all the way to sophisticated runways. This buyer’s guide is an exhaustive list of providers of hardware and includes key differences between all of the systems available. Before investing a single dollar into testing equipment, it’s recommended that your review the guide to make the right choice for your athletes.

The Top 8 Ways Coaches Can Use MuscleLab

Another Carl Valle article, this piece really shows the range of options that MuscleLab has to offer. In addition to the other products mentioned in the article, Coach Valle hints at the power of synchronizing multiple measurement tools for a deeper dive into the activity that professionals can measure. If you are looking to invest in a jump and speed solution but are cognizant about expanding your options in the future, this article is right for you.

Why High School Coaches Should Invest in Performance Tech

Ryan Denton is a high school coach who shares his story of using the contact grid before expanding further with additional sensors for speed testing. Included in the article are how he was able to raise funds and the necessary time investment spent to learn about other measurements outside typical testing. If you are a high school coach and want to take long term athletic development to the next level, this is recommended reading.

How to Set Up Hurdles for Better Plyometric Training

One of the most popular ways to use the contact grid is to help guide spacings and heights when jumping over hurdles. This article includes videos on what is considered a properly executed jump and what to do in order to measure ground contact times and flight times properly. Regardless if you are already using the contact grid now or curious about using it later for jump training, this article is one of the most in-depth resources on hurdle jumps available.

15 Uses of the MuscleLab Contact Grid

Rob Assise, a jumps coach in track and field, shares a whopping 15 ways to use the contact grid in this article. Not only does Coach Assise include the different exercises but also the details of creating the measurement on the MuscleLab software. If you are on the fence about whether you should invest into the MuscleLab contact grid, this article will likely convince you to move forward.

The Scandinavian Rebound Jump Test: Why Every Athlete Should Use It

The Reactive Strength Index, or RSI for short, is one of the most favored jump tests in sports performance. While it’s easy to perform, this article shows a modification of the test that can improve both its validity and accuracy while making it easier to administer. It doesn’t matter if you are an elite coach needing a scientific solution for measuring elasticity or a new coach wanting to get started, this article is for you.

Athlete Leg Stiffness

Mike Young, a leading expert in performance, covers the necessary ways to train stiffness in his breakthrough video course. Dr. Young, who is a new user to MuscleLab, outlines a scientific and practical way to train plyometrics with the contact grid. If you are serious about training and want to learn, or if you are a user of the contact grid and want better direction in training, this video course is appropriate.

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

Many questions surround the two main components of the sport of running: endurance and speed. This is particularly the case when designing a training program meant for a specific distance. Will more endurance work reduce speed? Should a training week have more speed or endurance work? Should a long run come at the start or at the end of the week? What kinds of speed workouts are important in a marathon training program? When is the right time to begin doing speed workouts? What are the ideal long run distances to do? The list of questions could be endless.

But what is clear is that endurance and speed are the two main qualities necessary to win in any race from the 1500m through the marathon and all the way up to ultra-marathon distances—and getting the perfect ratio of the two elements at any given distance is the key. A 1500m runner will need more speed and less endurance compared to a marathon runner, and vice versa. Perhaps we could roughly put the necessary ratio of speed to endurance this way:

• A middle distance runner will need a ratio of 3:2.
• A long distance track runner will need 3:3.
• A marathon runner will need 2:3.

Applying the ideal ratio to a training program will depend on the intended result. If the focus of the runner is to run a marathon, then more of the training time will go towards building more endurance compared to what it would have been for running a 5K race.

Applying the ideal ratio to a training program will depend on the intended result, says @kenyanathlete. Share on X

Stages, Distances, and Surfaces

The pattern of training will be almost the same for the different distances, starting from gradually building the runner’s aerobic capacity before going into the more demanding anaerobic and speed workouts. The significant difference here will be in the volume of the weekly mileage and in the spacing of different runs in a week.

For a runner who has been out of training for a while, or who is new to running, the first two to three weeks of beginning training are often the toughest. It is like beginning to roll a large tire: once it starts to move, it gets easier to keep rolling.

I have worked with runners who started their training by shifting between jogging and walking before they were able to complete a continuous easy run of 30 minutes. Aiming to run/walk for about 40 minutes in a day, three times in a week can be a good start. As the body adapts to running, the number of runs and duration can be increased gradually according to how the runner responds to training.

Aiming to run/walk for about 40 minutes in a day, three times in a week can be a good start, says @kenyanathlete. Share on X

From there, it will require a lot of patience as it will take time (in some cases even years) for some to be able to run their first marathons.

One good thing about running is that you can start tackling the shorter and less demanding distances like the 2K, the 5K, and the 10K as you keep building fitness and confidence, until you or your athletes are eventually able to run the half and the full marathon distances.

Coaching is an art that is dynamically changing with advancements in science and technology, and through learning from real experiences of other runners across the world. That is why world records keep getting broken every year.

Some years back, it was common to have coaches advising their runners not to specialize in more than two distances. If you ran in the 400m, you were not allowed to train for and run the 800m. You had to choose on becoming a sprinter (200m, 400m), a middle distance runner (800m, 1500m), or a long distance runner (5000m and 10000m). Road runners fell in a separate group altogether—in fact, it was sometimes argued that a road runner would never be able to be competitive again on a track.

Some years back, it was common to have coaches advising their runners not to specialize in more than two distances, says @kenyanathlete. Share on X

I have seen runners progress from the 1500m to the 5,000m and longer on the track and then transition to the road, but I have never seen a runner who has been running on the road come back to do the 5000m on track. A famous coach once told me this after learning that I had run in a 10K road race before as I was seeking to join his group of middle-distance track runners for a speed work session. The same coach must have now seen runners like Mo Farah and Geoffrey Kamworor crossing all the distances and surfaces from the 5000m on track, to the marathon, and back onto the track again.

Of late, a number of runners are beginning to increase their scope from running the 1500m on track up to the half marathon on the road. Examples are Netherland’s Sifan Hassan and Kenya’s Hellen Obiri, the reigning world 5000m champion who just made her half marathon debut by running 1:04:51 at the Istanbul Half Marathon on April 4^th—the fastest debut in history. Interestingly, she will be moving back to the track to specialize in the 5,000m and 10,000m distances going into the Tokyo Olympic Games in July.

Developing Endurance for the Marathon

Always start by building an endurance base that will increase your aerobic capacity. Increase your mileage gradually on a weekly basis. The best way to go about this will be to start with the number of runs in a week before concentrating on the distances.

Always start by building an endurance base that will increase your aerobic capacity, says @kenyanathlete. Share on X

With the runners I coach, I often start by basing their training on the duration of their runs rather than on the distance they should cover in their first days of training. Once they get used to 50-minute morning runs they can proceed to 1-hour runs, continuing that way until days when they can alternate 1-hour-40-minute runs with 1-hour runs.

After about a month, when the athletes begin to feel comfortable with their running, we move on to some long runs once in two weeks. At the same time, we introduce double runs on some days to help add up the weekly mileage.

The long runs would range mostly between 25km to 35km, and they are introduced to runners in that order. They start with the shorter of the long runs as they build both their confidence and endurance before moving on to the longer distances.

Competitive marathon runners should cover around 120km in their weekly mileage. Out of my personal experience, I have come to learn that it doesn’t matter whether a long run begins or ends the week—what matters in the end is the weekly mileage.

Competitive marathon runners should cover around 120km in their weekly mileage, says @kenyanathlete. Share on X

These first stages of training are heavily targeting the aerobic element, which works on the body’s mechanisms that produce energy with the use of oxygen. It helps in building more endurance and in strengthening the cardiovascular and the respiratory systems. The intended result is a stronger heart and more efficient lungs.

Strength and Anaerobic Training

After building greater endurance, speed and strength training should easily fall in place with a significant reduction in injury risks associated with the harder and faster training. Starting speed training before building a strong endurance base will put runners at greater risk for injures.

Starting speed training before building a strong endurance base will put runners at greater risk for injures, says @kenyanathlete. Share on X

Anaerobic means “without air” and refers to training the body to produce energy without oxygen. This applies to exercises at a higher intensity that last less than two minutes, where the body requires immediate energy. The body will rely on stored energy sources rather than oxygen to fuel itself, which includes breaking down glucose.

This will be a time to start hill workouts, fartlek runs, tempo runs, and track intervals.

There are so many ways and ideas to vary hill workouts, but given that the end result of all the variables is to strengthen the leg muscles, quicken strides, and expand the stride length, I often recommend a simple one for my runners:

• Find a slope of about 300–400m.
• Run up moderately and jog down slowly as recovery.
• Perform continuously for 35 to 40 minutes.

Fartlek runs are a perfect way to begin introducing speed workouts. This will be more of a continuous run, but with alerts to push hard and to jog along the way. It is a good idea to start doing a number of fartlek runs before beginning to do interval runs on the track. These runs can be varied according to the stages of training. There are times that runners can run longer and jog less (such as five minutes hard and two minutes jogging), and days where the ratios are more even (such as two minutes hard and two minutes jogging). All will depend on the context of a training week as a whole.

Tempo runs are more of race rehearsals. These are run at slightly slower than a typical 5K race pace. Tempo runs help the body get mentally and physically used to racing conditions. They also help all the aerobic and the anaerobic systems begin getting used to their work in a racing condition. Marathon runners often participate in events shorter than their primary race as part of their tempo run workouts—for a marathon runner, these distances range from 8-15km.

Track intervals are done at a pace faster than the race pace. Marathon runners should do track interval distances ranging from 800m to 2000m. For 800m intervals, the recovery time between intervals should be around two minutes, while for 1600–2000m intervals it should between three to four minutes. Interval training sharpens speed and improves running cadence.

Interval training sharpens speed and improves running cadence, says @kenyanathlete. Share on X

Preparing for Success

The best way to prepare for a marathon race is to give it the full respect the race deserves right from the first day of training. It helps to acknowledge that the marathon is a very demanding distance that will require significant preparation in building sufficient endurance and enough speed.

“To win is not important. To be successful is not even important. How to plan and prepare is crucial. When you plan very well and prepare very well, then success can come on the way. Then winning can come on your way.”—Eliud Kipchoge, the world marathon record-holder.

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

Every once in a while, the topic of strength training with children and adolescents boils up on social media. The other day on Twitter, a strength coach posted a video of young athletes doing squats in an amazing-looking school gym. The comments on the tweet featured the usual myths: Strength training at an early age stops growth, there’s a high risk for growth plate injuries, and it is generally harmful for bones, tendons, and ligaments.

I don’t think I need to go into any more of this nonsense; these myths have been debunked for well over 15 years, probably longer. The benefits and effectiveness of resistance training for young athletes, especially in regard to motor development, are well known in the S&C world.

I’m a huge supporter of resistance training and teaching kids lifting techniques at an early age… I have also wondered if that’s actually fun for them and how I can make it more fun. Share on X

However, one argument against strength training with kids is also often mentioned in the discussion, for which we as strength coaches often don’t really have as clear and convincing an answer as we do for the myth around growth plates.

“Kids should have fun and play games. Lifting weights is certainly not fun for kids.”

I’m a huge supporter of resistance training and teaching kids lifting techniques at an early age, even the complex ones like the Olympic lifts, because of all the benefits for athletic development. However, as a strength coach I have also wondered if that’s actually fun for them and how I can make it more fun. I think, to give a thoughtful response to that, we have to reflect and discuss what “fun” in the context of youth sports actually means.

We use this word very often to describe how we expect training for young athletes to be and what our primary goal in youth sports is. “Fun” is named as the main reason why kids participate in sports; therefore, not having fun (anymore) is the reason kids drop out of sports, very often at an early age. The dropout statistics in youth sports, as well as the decline in physical activity among children and adolescents in general, is alarming, so the fundamental question is why can’t we seem to establish fun in youth sports? And let’s be provocative: If we can’t do that, why are we even thinking about putting kids in a gym and having them lift weights?

When I scroll through social media, where coaches share the content of their programs or drills, it seems like the common association with “fun” is playing games. The weight room is portrayed as the place for hard work, sweat, and grind—doing what’s necessary to play the game. That’s not a bad thing at all, but it doesn’t really help us to figure out if lifting weights is fun and enjoyable for young athletes. Luckily, the majority of strength coaches already understand that kids should not be treated and coached like small adults.

Social Factors and Child Training

The concept of fun in youth sports is hard to grasp and even harder to characterize. We as coaches tend to think that we know what’s fun for kids in sports, but do we really? In a mixed methods study from 2015, a group of researchers used a social research method called “concept mapping” to collect data from kids, parents, and coaches to identify all the elements that make participating in sports fun for kids (Visek et al., 2015). Afterward, those fun determinants were rated and quantified in regard to their importance to fun, frequency of occurrence, and feasibility of implementation.

For the study, only participants from soccer—as one of the fastest-growing sports in the world and one with easy socioeconomic access—were surveyed. Anyway, I don’t want to get too deep into the complexity and beauty of mixed research methods and will instead jump to the results, the theoretical framework, and why this paper made me evaluate my view and approach on the whole aspect of fun in coaching kids, not only in the weight room.

The study identified 11 dimensions of fun in youth soccer, which were ranked based on the ratings.

1. “Positive Team Dynamics”
2. “Trying Hard”
3. “Positive Coaching”
4. “Learning and Improving”
5. “Game Time Support”
6. “Games”
7. “Practices”
8. “Team Friendships”
9. “Mental Bonuses”
10. “Team Rituals”
11. “Swag”

Let’s get a bit deeper into the dimensions, their fun determinants, and especially the importance rating. Playing well together as a team, being supported by my teammates, and supporting my teammates, all had the highest importance rating (Positive Team Dynamics). That’s not really surprising. What did get me thinking were the determinants of the second dimension (Trying Hard): trying your best, exercising and being active, and working hard had a higher importance rating than, for example, competing, setting and achieving goals, or making a good play (scoring, making a big save, etc.).

The highest ratings for Positive Coaching got the determinants when a coach treats players with respect, encourages the team, and is a positive role model with clean, consistent communication. Getting compliments, a coach joking around, and participating with the players during practice got the lowest importance rating.

The participants also rated being challenged to improve and get better at the sport, learning from mistakes, and learning new skills with much more importance than going to sports camps or copying the moves and tricks that professional athletes do (Learning and Improving). Determinants that seem to be of less importance for fun in youth soccer are earning medals and trophies, staying in hotels for games/tournaments, traveling to new places to play (Swag), or doing team rituals. Keeping a positive attitude is of way more importance than winning (Mental Bonuses). Getting playing time was rated much higher than playing in tournaments or playing on a nice field (Games).

So, what do we take out of this study? Yes, it has its limitations, and the major one is the sampling of only team sport athletes from soccer, as some fun dimensions would probably look a little different in individual sports like track & field or wrestling. But the results also show us where youth sport participants put their priorities and how they perceive fun.

If we look at the determinants, it becomes clear that it is not primarily the WHAT in youth sports that matters, but the HOW. Enjoyment of sports and fun is predominantly related to the environment and social aspects, the teaching methodology, and positive coaching in general. Fun is therefore more than just playing games; fun in youth sports is a multifaceted combination of positive movement experiences in the sport, as well as in the sporting environment. Training in youth sports, regardless of the sport, is therefore fun when many fun dimensions are covered in a holistic training approach.

Movement and Joy of Training

So, if the WHAT in training is only secondary, at least for the fun factor, then as coaches we can add fun to even seemingly boring exercises or drills through the HOW. If we can accommodate different fun dimensions in strength training with kids and teens, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll feel fun lifting weights, too.

If we can accommodate different fun dimensions in strength training with kids and teens, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll feel fun lifting weights, too, says @eo_performance. Share on X

Let’s see how to make lifting weights for kids actually more fun and apply the fun dimensions in the programming. I figured out pretty quickly that I have to change my way of designing training sessions for kids if I want to make sure to cover more than just the athletic development aspect of strength training with kids and make fun and enjoyment a priority. It all started with defining the gym as a learning environment where positive team dynamics like supporting each other are essential.

When we look back on our school days, we mainly had fun when we:

• Had a positive and supportive relationship with our classmates.
• Actually understood something in math because the teacher explained it in a simple and understandable way.
• Learned something that made sense to us and that we could somehow apply.
• Learned something new that we could demonstrate or explain to our friends, parents, or grandparents.

For example, when I teach Olympic lifts to kids, it’s relatively easy to show them the rough flow of the movement. Kids are pretty good at mimicking movements. But the focus is not on WHAT to do, but on HOW to do it. I have noticed over the years that many young athletes can do many exercises in the weight room more or less well, but a basic understanding of the movements and their purpose is not there. So, the first change I have made in my kids’ training is more emphasis on movement learning and understanding the WHY.

Young athletes should learn to evaluate themselves, process feedback, and also take on a coach’s perspective. If kids understand and know where their body and the barbell have to be in which phase of the lift and WHY it’s important, for instance, to do a quick turnover in the snatch or accelerate the barbell in the first and second pull, then they have already understood a lot about these movements and can evaluate themselves and others.

This approach allows me to always have kids train in pairs or teams on one barbell. The person performing an exercise gets feedback from the partner.

A New Framework for Kids

From a pedagogical perspective, it then makes sense to teach children what good feedback is and how they can support their training partner or motivate them. In this way, I have covered several fun dimensions such as Learning and Improving, Positive Team Dynamics, and Trying Hard, and above all, I have increased the pedagogical training quality in a very simple way.

This probably sounds totally complicated and far beyond the scope of what we as strength coaches are supposed to do. But if we really want to get kids excited about strength training, we have to rethink our training design away from exercise selection and make it more fun-oriented through a holistic approach. Fun is not only created by playing games, but above all by the social aspects of training and positive, athlete-centered coaching.

If we really want to get kids excited about strength training, we have to rethink our training design away from exercise selection and make it more fun-oriented through a holistic approach. Share on X

This can also be planned, especially with the same or even higher prioritization as motor development. It is always very easy to say that sport—and that includes strength training—builds character, but it is not the sport itself that makes young athletes more confident or team leaders. It is an educational framework and a corresponding orientation of the training design for kids and young athletes that leads to character building and fun. As coaches, we should therefore reflect on whether we really achieve these goals with our training and how we can improve our training design so that not only we ourselves feel the fun, but also the children and young people we coach.

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

Reference

Visek, A.J., Achrati, S.M., Mannix, H.M., McDonnell, K., Harris, B.S., and DiPietro, L. “The Fun Integration Theory: Toward Sustaining Children and Adolescents Sport Participation.” Journal of Physical Activity and Health. 2015;12(3):424-433.

Going into my second season as a Minor League Baseball strength and conditioning coach, I had high expectations for what the year would bring. Having time to reflect on year one and think of what changes and improvements could be made for year two was an exciting thought process; however, come March 15, COVID-19 had shut down spring training only a month into the hands-on portion of year two.

Looking back at what is now just a little more than a full year ago (and what I very wrongly believed would be a two-month to maybe three-month period), there were two ways to take this time frame. The first way was to accept that nothing was going to take place in person, at least for a short time period, and rest on your laurels. The other way was to take time to reflect, learn, and connect even more than in a normal year.

Having this time as a reflection period, among other things, I’ve learned and realized plenty about myself. Even more so, I’ve used the time to consider what it is like to be around elite baseball overall and to truly understand and explain the experience better.

Overview

Asset Cost

One of the first things I learned, and will likely always continue to process, is the cost of an asset. Part of what can help you transition into professional sports and constantly improve in the realm is truly understanding the cost of players, coaches, and the overall organizational structure. Although sports are a game no matter the level, professional sports organizations are just as much a business.

This business aspect also separates professional coaches from college and high school coaches. While strength and conditioning coaches are paid more than college or high school athletes, in professional organizations strength and conditioning coaches will not be paid as much as most—if not all—professional athletes they work with.

Referenced below are some of the largest-ever signed contracts from the big four American sports leagues.

Out of the top 100 sports contracts, 96 are in the American big four sports. While these top numbers are quite exorbitant—and honestly, it’s tough to fathom just how much money they really are—this truly shows the value of the assets you work with while in professional sports. Even the league minimum contracts ($563,500 for MLB, $898,310 for NBA, $510,000 for NFL, and $700,000 for NHL) are no small figures.

Looking at the minimums and maximums shows you the range that professional organizations value their players at from a cost perspective. While not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, where college football has most strength and conditioning salaries listed as of this past year, only seven of the Division 1 Football head strength and conditioning coaches were slated to make at or above the minimum American big four sports players’ salary. In total, 11 were slated for $500,000 or higher, 23 for $400,000, and 38 for $300,000. These 38 coaches make up the top 30% of the 130 teams, and this does not even include pay for assistants. Again, while this is not perfectly apples to apples, it should help you better understand the cost of assets.

Knowing and truly comprehending that the athletes you work with in your organization will almost always be paid more than you is a crucial piece to doing a proper job. While it is possible to take risks, they must be well-measured and calculated at all times. No matter what, you will likely always earn less than the athletes you work alongside, and your organization, not your athletes, will pay you directly for the work you do.

Patrick Mahomes signed his mega deal during this time, and other stars in leagues continue to sign large deals as well. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the environment, some strength coaches have been furloughed or laid off because of the pandemic. At the end of the day, both of these things are business decisions and need to be understood and respected. They are part of the risks that come with being in a professional organization; it is a business first.

Expectation vs. Reality

Keeping in mind all that I’ve previously stated with regard to costs can help you understand some of the realities of working in professional sports compared to the expectations you might have when looking from the outside in.

Understand that it is almost entirely unlikely you will ever be your own boss within the realm no matter your title. Someone somewhere will always be above you, whether in your own department or in another. That is the reality of professional sports organizations: They are big, and they are businesses. That does not at all take away from how great they are, but rather serves as a reminder of what the organization truly is that you work within.

Also, when working in pro baseball and especially in the minor league levels, there is a high likelihood of living in no fewer than 2-3 different cities every year. If you want to work in Minor League Baseball, you need not only love the job you do, but also the game of baseball. Games are played nearly daily, and you will likely be away from home most of the year. Sure, spring training might be in Florida near the beach, but do not at all mistake it for spring break. Enjoy any and all family time you have either at home or when they visit. It is very likely that between your off-season home, spring training facility, and season affiliate, you will live in three different places unless you move near your spring training facility.

If you think that you have all of a sudden ‘made it’ as a strength coach just because you have been hired by a professional team, think again, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Furthermore, while a job in Minor League Baseball is an occupation within a professional organization, for many coaches it is only the beginning of a long journey. If you think that you have all of a sudden “made it” as a strength coach just because you have been hired by a professional team, think again. Making it merely starts with the job you have, and you can quite easily lose it for a short time or forever if you fail to do your job well. The hard work only begins as you start your career, so do not take for granted where you are. Remember what got you there no matter where you are within Minor League Baseball and know there will always be aspiring coaches who want your job. Even if it is only a rung on the ladder, it is the most important rung in that time.

Using the four-coactive model within professional sports, many of the best professional athletes excel at some combination (if not all) of the technical, tactical, and psychological aspects of their sport, yet may lack in the physical domain. Especially in baseball, a highly skillful and strategic sport, this has the potential to ring true where you do not have to be the most physically dominant specimen to reign supreme. All coaches at all levels face pros and cons, and many say that if they had ideal conditions, they would do the job in certain ways.

Not all professional baseball players (let alone all professional athletes in general) will be the greatest physical athlete or have the urge to be. It is normal human behavior. Work with what you have to the best of your ability and do not let that hamper what you can do. And to those who assume otherwise about the professional level, ask around and learn about it—it can be surprising the similarities that are found from level to level.

This paired with understanding the asset cost and risk/rewards of professional baseball means you will not always have the most groundbreaking, new type of programming. Plenty of work may follow some of the more basic programming around, and there is nothing wrong with that. As it is, most great programming is founded on the same basics and principles.

Lastly, in most organizations (colleges, for example), the strength and conditioning staff spends most of the year together in the same location. Professional baseball, however, does not work that way at all. The only time a full strength and conditioning staff is guaranteed to all be in the same place at once is during the busiest time of the year at spring training, and that does not guarantee there will be much overlap or work with the Major League staff. Instead, in Minor League Baseball, the staff you will be with the most is the affiliate staff you are slated to work with. At most, as a full strength staff, you might get up to three or so months together in a year between spring training and off-season camps.

Imposter Syndrome

So, you’ve just landed your first job at a big organization within professional sports. You’ve made it, step one to reaching your goal, or maybe your goal is even complete—now what?

Maybe you are working in an organization with someone you have looked up to or you are in your first year while others there are in their fifth year or beyond. No matter the situation, it is definitely possible to feel like a fish out of water, and you may begin to question yourself some. Understand it is perfectly normal and okay to feel this way—many people do. Josh Bonhotal covers imposter syndrome really well and gives a great understanding of what it truly is.

Realizing you may feel the effects of imposter syndrome is necessary to give you the awareness to work with it. You probably are not even the only one feeling that way where you are. Keir has spoken to this many times, saying to forget about having it as best as possible and just go and do.

At the end of the day, you will never know everything, but be aware of what you do know. Use what you know to be the best you can, and remember you are not alone in feeling doubt. The best thing is to do the job well—it does not have to be perfect. For those who have considered writing or using social media more, the same principle applies here.

Programming Considerations

Time of Year

As a professional baseball strength coach, there is only one time of year where you are guaranteed to be working with your athletes, and that is during the season. That means unless guys are in with you during the off-season, baseball is the priority at absolutely all times, and being healthy and able to perform as much as possible is their number one need.

When looking at programs for different coaches, sports, or times of year, for example, exercises, sets and reps, tempos, and other nuances may change, but principles remain. From an outsider’s perspective, there is the chance that programming could look “boring” or “risk averse” due to the nature of games occurring nearly daily. Flip that when looking at colleges or private sector coaching, where it may look the opposite when they have guys during the off-season.

While there are some opportunities to get guys in during the off-season at the professional level, the norm will be having guys in during the season. When it’s the off-season, unless there is a camp going on, guys will often want to head back home. Like coaches, they are most likely away from home most of the year.

Knowing games will be no fewer than six days per week with upward of about 21 straight days’ worth of games makes programming tricky, but structured, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Overall, working with the baseball schedule is the biggest hurdle to creating effective programming. Knowing games will be no fewer than six days per week with upward of about 21 straight days’ worth of games makes programming tricky, but structured. While pitchers have a more set schedule of when they will pitch, position players will likely see more game action throughout the week that has to be worked with. All players will practice nearly daily, too.

Travel Schedule

Working within a professional baseball organization means working primarily during the season when baseball games are at full speed and completely the main priority. This also means off days need to be exactly that—off. The only exception to a true off day is when that day is also a travel day depending on the league and schedule.

There also will only be one time when travel is not at all overnight: spring training. This time is the most hectic portion of the year, though, as guys fight for jobs and ramp up toward the season. Additionally, all of the minor league players will be in the same place all at once now, as opposed to spread among their affiliates.

Once affiliate teams take shape and seasons begin, the season schedules look more like those of Major League seasons. However, there is one big exception: travel to and from home and road sites. While Triple A affiliates can travel by air for some, like Major League clubs, these are commercial flights and likely the first flights out.

All other affiliates travel by bus when they are on the road, and Triple A ones will also travel this way plenty of times. On the road, the bus is all there is for transportation, so between getting to a gym, lunch, and a game, there is only one option. Add in the fact that bus drivers have schedules they must follow, and there is only so much time that can be allotted to team activities like going to a weight room.

For Minor League baseball, the travel schedule can be one of the bigger challenges to work with when setting a schedule for strength and conditioning. Especially when on the road, there will be challenges to work with to ensure programming is done well. Although it is not travel or controllable, the weather also is a factor in scheduling and travel. Always be ready to adapt at any moment.

Maxing Out Is Overrated

One of the lessons that I took home after interning with Cressey Sports Performance, my first experience around some of the most elite professional baseball players, is that picking days or weeks specifically to use for max testing is not necessary. This lesson still resonates with me because it is something that I never would have considered part of a good program prior to that; truly a 180-degree shift in my mindset. Before that, I had no reason to think it was unreasonable to take time to occasionally find a true 100% and build percentage-based lifting off of that.

Being inside the sport, this also should come down to realizing that you are working with your athletes in season. Using a week when they are playing and the sport is more important takes away from their abilities. Velocity-based training devices provide all necessary feedback to ensure strength training is done well and monitored at all times. Proper monitoring can make testing far less important. Now, this is strictly from the weight room perspective: properly dosing max speed work is a crucial part of an overall holistic program.

As strength and conditioning coaches, it is written in our job title that we help athletes get strong. However, this might be one of the easiest duties of the job. While powerlifters and Olympic lifters are athletes, they are not the athletes we work with, so there is no need to chase maximal strength development. Because of this, constant monitoring with velocity-based training devices gives us all that is necessary, rather than using any in-season time with athletes to max out and test strength qualities.

Optimal, Not Maximal

Knowing the difference between optimal and maximal will help with success in both the long and short term.

At no point during an in-season professional program will you have the opportunity to have a maximal workload off the field. As previously mentioned, baseball is the priority, and that takes the maximal load with games nearly daily. While a true optimal load may never be figured out, the goal remains to optimize as best as possible. Additionally, travel details do not make the demands any easier. Making every session and contact of as much quality as possible should always be the goal.

At no point during an in-season professional program will you have the opportunity to have a maximal workload off the field…the goal remains to optimize as best as possible, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

Creating an environment that allows for two to four quality sessions in a week is imperative to a successful minor league program. Whether it is a weight-room session or a speed session, the goal should always be to work with on-field performance as best as possible. There may be sets or reps left in the tank, and that’s okay—it’s better to have guys feeling good than feeling fully spent. While pitchers may have time to recover between outings, plenty of position players have far fewer days off.

As strength and conditioning coaches, our goal should always involve optimizing athletic qualities and overall performance as best as possible. With a long season filled with games nearly daily, and travel schedules that do not make it any easier, striving to optimize every second in our domain is key.

Soft Skills

Always the Intern

Before I landed a full-time job, I somewhat jokingly thought I would be forever the intern, stuck doing so much of the job’s busy work. Of course, this is far from an uncommon path within our field, which has led others to think up ways to fix this.

While having a professional (or any) job may mean you have graduated from the role of intern, it does not mean your work ethic should change. I will always remember a mentor telling me that when you do get a full-time role at a club, be the person who does more than their job calls for. Be that person, so whenever you leave your job for the next one, the people you left behind realize all you did for your organization, especially in roles that went beyond your specific job duties.

No matter what, no matter how far you make it, never lose the work ethic. There is always someone to work with and/or work for. Never be too big for the little things. Just because the job you have may not be the one you want forever does not mean 100 or more others would not line up to take yours from you in a heartbeat.

Do not lose the drive you have as an intern once you leave that role, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

In professional organizations, between players, staff, front offices, and more, there are plenty of moving parts. There will always be something to do and a way to pitch in. Be ready at any time to help and do not lose the drive you have as an intern once you leave that role.

As Best as Possible, Take Everything in

Working in any big sports organization is unique and working in baseball provides some of the most distinct opportunities and situations. From big league guys with more than 10 years of experience at the top level and close to 20 years playing professionally, to guys within organizations who have been there for 40-plus years, there is a wide range of experience and people to be around. Although some minor leaguers may not even be 20 years old, there is a full spectrum of people and players to work with.

If you are early in your career and have the chance to be near people with 5-10 years or more in, no matter their role, their insight can be absolutely invaluable. It’s not always the easiest thing but learning to listen more and take in as much as possible early on is a phenomenal way to gain insight that can enhance your understanding of professional organization structures.

Depending on your role as a minor league strength and conditioning coach, you may not get to work hands-on with big leaguers, but you still may be in close proximity to them. The chance to be near these pros and see their work ethic up close provides some of the greatest learning opportunities. Taking it all in and learning from it for yourself and your athletes can help lengthen careers. Some of the best lessons athletes learn may not come from us directly, and providing examples can help show them what they have a chance to become.

Furthermore, if you ever have a chance to be around executives or front office people, try to understand the different outlook they have. While we tend to get used to our view as strength coaches from our on-/around-the-field perspective, it is great to understand the overall picture of an organization and realize there is far more that goes on beyond our narrow scope.

Connecting

One of the greatest things that comes with having a job in the professional sector is the instant credibility that you receive as a coach. Deserved or not, having a professional organization give you the opportunity to represent them will most likely result in others automatically believing you are a more credible source than if you were some random strength coach without the same type of backing.

While networking is good, it will really only be worth your time if the connections you make are meaningful and therefore truly help you create a network. Pratik Patel puts this more succinctly than I do, and it is advice that needs to be heeded and understood. Sure, this could be a way to add yourself to a list of possible future candidates when other jobs open up; it is also a way to find other people who might be worth adding to your own staff. It’s taken a while to truly understand what people mean when they say it’s not who you know, but who knows you. (I know without my Cressey Sports Performance internship I would not be where I am today.) Make sure with whomever you meet, barring mentor/mentee relationships, that you can at least provide or attempt to provide good value in return.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, the upcoming year will end up far different than years past, when it was possible to meet coaches in the area. Another benefit of reaching out to coaches in the area for the club you are with is you may save money on an away gym by finding a good weight room if it allows. Even if you are unable to get into a weight room, there will still likely be great coaches within the area. Do not discount those who work at high schools, and there are likely many high schools around some smaller areas. Among others, Mark Hoover and Graham Eaton (so long as you can understand his thick New England accent) are great guys to know and learn with.

Use your position to your advantage to know as many great people as you can and learn all you can. Especially with all the travel that the position provides, the opportunities to meet others are ample.

Self and Family Time

Last, and anything but least, are relationships and time with your family and yourself. Without a doubt, these are of utmost importance, even if they do not affect your job directly.

As it is, accepting a career in professional sports is amazing, and no doubt something I will likely always want. However, almost everything comes with a price. Deciding on a career path is a unique decision for each and every situation, and pros and cons change with every circumstance.

In baseball, unless you are at the Major League level (and even for some at that level), you will most likely be away from home for more than half of the year. A normal Minor League year now spans from around Valentine’s Day to beyond Labor Day. Off-season camps can account for another month as well. Between being at the spring training facility and affiliate season, there is a real chance of being in multiple locations that are not home for eight or nine months.

In professional baseball, the climb to a level that can change that is not necessarily overnight, let alone guaranteed to be anywhere close to fast. Cherish every minute you get to be around friends and family, because it is not nearly as much time as you think. Being home because of the pandemic likely reminded you of this.

If you choose to be in professional sports of any kind, you likely are goal-oriented, or at least want to win a championship; however, do not let that ring chase be the only thing of importance. Nobody likely has the ability to keep you as grounded as your spouse, and it is crucial to always remember that. Give your most important relationship the attention it deserves and needs. Take the time to nurture it while on the road and especially when back at home, since that time is limited.

Do not forget to take time for yourself, either. Off days don’t happen often…if all it involves is taking a day to get away and refresh your mind, then do that, says @sgfeld27. Share on X

And do not forget to take time for yourself, either. Off days don’t happen often, and not always when you’re home. You will not always be able to do much, so if all it involves is taking a day to get away and refresh your mind, then do that. Do not forget about yourself or your family, no matter what. Thinking about heading back for the upcoming season makes this feel and seem far different than ever before. Maybe that’s due to being recently married and having a year at home, but it provides a great reminder to not take the time for granted.

Concluding Thoughts

Being a strength and conditioning coach is a great job and holding a strength and conditioning position within professional baseball is an amazing opportunity. It’s an exciting time to have the chance to return for a third spring training here in the very near future.

No job will ever be perfect, and regardless of how much we all talk about the art and science of training, strength and conditioning roles in professional sports are still just jobs within big organizations at a simple, descriptive level. Furthermore, balancing the art of training and the understanding of the business you work in is very important for learning to succeed.

There is no need to fear what you may or may not know because learning will always occur. Understanding where you are and forging strong relationships are among the most important things you can do. This will help lead you to success within the role and help make the job as fulfilling as it can be.

More than anything, though, do not forget to take and enjoy all the family time you have, because it will always be finite.

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