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The primary goal of strength coaches is to develop athletes who are fast, powerful, and strong on the field. To that end, over the years there has been a significant emphasis on the strength portion. As far as the power side, most strength coaches have used Olympic lift variations, traditional plyometrics, or a combination of both. Although you should include these types of drills in your training program, these movements do not account for all of the change of direction patterns we see on the field.

Athletic movement is performed in specific patterns. When an athlete moves from one position to another, they need to create power during this transition or link movement patterns. To bridge the gap between training in the gym and playing the sport, coaches need to understand patterns of movement, which they can use to improve patterns of multidirectional power.

Video 1. This video demonstrates the linking of movement patterns that may happen in sport. It also shows the point at which athletes need to produce power to effectively change direction and accelerate.

Sport Practice Isn’t Enough

Wait, won’t an athlete get enough of this from playing their sport?

Possibly, but not likely. There are a few missing pieces from just practice alone. First, we need to look at the coordination aspect. What I mean by that is good athletic movement can be defined as choosing the appropriate movement pattern at the appropriate time and executing it exactly as you want to.

Good athletic movement can be defined as choosing the appropriate movement pattern at the appropriate time and executing it exactly as you want to. Share on X

The key part of that is executing the movement at exactly the angle and position you want. In practice, a defender may perceive the correct movement, but miss the angle at which to execute the movement—which may allow the offensive player to get past them. This particular defender may continue to lack coordination of a particular movement skill despite playing a sport for a decade. So, if practice is the answer, why is this athlete still deficient in a particular movement?

You also need to consider the intent of the drill. In order to improve speed and power, the quality of the training has to be high. If an athlete is not moving at 95% or higher of their maximal output, then we are not actually improving top end speed and power. In a sport practice, the athlete may perform drill after drill without getting adequate recovery between them. This will automatically decrease performance intensity due to fatigue. Training multidirectional power in a controlled setting allows the coach to choose the particular exercises, as well as the sets and reps, to ensure the highest possible quality and intent.

Understanding Patterns of Speed

Before going further into multidirectional plyometrics, let’s first understand the foundational patterns of movement we see in sports. Along with linear acceleration and sprinting, athletes move in one, or often a combination, of these patterns.

Plyo Step

The plyo step, sometimes called a “drop step,” occurs when an athlete begins in a position with their feet in line with one another. Think of a linebacker in football before a snap or an infielder in baseball. In a sense, the athlete begins in what we know as an “athletic position”—from this position, they are able to move in any direction. For the plyo step, the athlete sprints forward from this stance, and to create a more positive shin angle, the athlete steps backward in order to go forward. If we just fall, the movement is too slow, and we cannot create the same angles of force.

Video 2. Here you can see how an athlete punches one foot backward in order to move forward. This is a more effective way to accelerate from a parallel stance than just leaning forward and taking a step.

Lateral Shuffle

We are all very familiar with the lateral shuffle. From an athletic position, the athlete pushes off of the outside leg and pulls with the lead leg.

Lateral Run

Some coaches may term this a “crossover run.” This pattern is used when an athlete requires more speed than a lateral shuffle. The shoulders stay relatively square while the hips turn to the side.

Video 3. Athletes perform lateral runs all the time in sport. The athlete stays square to the play or the opposing player while their hips face the direction that they move.

Hip Turn

A hip turn occurs any time an athlete needs to move behind them at any angle. Athletes punch a foot in front of themselves in order to create an angle of force to move backward. As they initiate the punch, the other leg repositions itself to allow the athlete to move backward efficiently. A couple of examples of this are a cornerback in football repositioning to defend a wide receiver sprinting past them and a baseball outfielder tracking a ball overhead.

Video 4. In a hip turn, notice how the foot punches in front of the body to allow the opposite leg to reposition to the angle the athlete needs to move.

Curvilinear Running

In sport, athletes don’t always run in straight lines. Often, they run in various curved angles, as they try to get to the edge around a defender. In these instances, we will notice them leaning toward the inside of the turn and utilizing both the inside and outside edges of the feet. When they use these types of speed patterns in combination, the movement possibilities are endless. In other words, athletes need to produce power at every possible angle.

In other words, athletes need to produce power at every possible angle. Share on X

In a typical plyometric program, you’ll probably see countermovement jumps, broad jump variations, depth jumps, and lateral bounds. These are all great and play a role in enhancing speed and power, but what are the angles at which coaches have athletes perform these jumps? Typically, they are done straight up and down (countermovement jumps), straight ahead (broad jumps), or directly to the side (lateral bounds).

How often in reactive sports will someone be moving in exactly these positions? Not often. That’s why we need to add different directions and angles of power to match the patterns we see in competition.

Use Closed Drills as a Movement Assessment

Athletes need to perform multidirectional plyometrics in a closed drill fashion for us to see if they have weaknesses in any particular position or angle. Over the past 10 years, I’ve trained quite a few athletes, and by having them just do a reactive hip turn drill where I point to one side or the other, I can tell which side of the field they play. Any defender who plays on the right side is much better at performing a hip turn to their right as opposed to their left because that is the side to which they are more likely to turn in practice and competition.

What if this player is asked to move to the other side of the field? As a coach, you need to make sure this athlete is prepared for this by including retreating patterns of power development within your plyometric program. Relying on countermovement jumps and lateral bounds is not enough to address this specific pattern of movement.

Reverse Engineer the Sport

The next step is figuring out exactly how we go about improving power in all planes and angles. The whole purpose of this type of plyometric system is to reverse engineer the sport. First, based on the position the athlete plays in their sport, figure out which patterns of power they utilize most often. Defenders will need to excel at any angle moving laterally as well as backward; forwards (or an offensive player) will need to excel at any angle moving forward as well as laterally.

I’ll continue using the example of a defender. Can they produce power well moving from both the left to the right and the right to the left? From there, begin to change the angle. Can they move well to the left and angle back to the right? How about the other side? Based on these answers, it’s up to you as the coach to choose the appropriate drill for the athlete. Give the athlete the best chance to excel in sport by adding more movement skills and power to their movement toolbox.

Once you think about reverse engineering the sport, it seems logical to incorporate multidirectional plyometrics into your training system. I see a lot of coaches incorporate extensive jumps at different angles into their training, but then only include intensive countermovement jumps, broad jumps, and lateral bounds. One of the reasons more coaches don’t utilize this method is because it is difficult to measure. It’s easy to test a broad jump or vertical jump, but how do you measure better quality movement? It is possible using any device that measures ground contact time.

Once you think about reverse engineering the sport, it seems logical to incorporate multidirectional plyometrics into your training program. Share on X

I use the gFlight v2 to get a reading on ground contact time. I have the athlete step down off a box, punch the ground with a single foot, and land with the opposite foot on a low box at the angle or position of my choosing. Make sure to keep the box the athlete is landing on at a standard angle and distance from the point of contact on the ground. With the distance fixed, we can see improvement in power if the ground contact time decreases.

Video 5. Since power is a result of force/time, we are able to track lateral power using this test. If the distance remains the same, but the time on the ground decreases, we can infer that the athlete created more lateral power. You can also have athletes perform this test at different angles to test power in multiple directions.

Focus on Decreasing Time on the Ground

Power is a combination of force and time. Too many plyometric programs focus on the force side of power production instead of on minimizing the time of power production. Both force development, which involves longer ground contact time, and drills focusing on decreasing ground contact time should be a part of training, but the large majority of training programs fail to adequately focus on decreasing ground contact time.

When the focus is always on height or distance, the angle of the shin becomes more upright. Changing directions quickly is about keeping a more positive shin angle to direct force more horizontally. If coaches continue to have athletes focus solely on creating distance, they will ingrain a pattern that is not optimal for coordinating movement patterns.  

Video 6. This shows a focus on minimizing time on the ground as opposed to more of a jump and land with a focus on maximizing distance. This is more specific to the types of movements an athlete utilizes when changing direction.

Train Unilaterally

Another key to improving on-field speed and power is training power unilaterally. Often, this means planting a single leg into the ground to throw an opposing player off balance or, as a defender, reacting to that type of movement. Despite this, just about all plyometric programs stick to only bilateral jumps.

Am I asking people to go right to single-leg depth jumps? Absolutely not! But we do need to get athletes used to planting and punching off of a single leg. If we really want to use the term “physical preparation coach,” we need to prepare athletes for the angles of force and the positions they will see in competition. Once again, if you have the mindset that they get this enough in sport, you will fail to ever notice if they lack a particular pattern of multidirectional power.

Video 7. Patterns of power need to be developed at different angles. In this video, you’ll see a lateral to forward pattern of power. The athlete moves laterally and then punches into the ground to direct himself forward. Also notice the angle of the punch changes to address the different angles that will happen in competition.

Video 8. This is a similar concept as the lateral to forward pattern of power, except this time the force is directed backward in a retreating pattern.

Develop Positional Strength

A phrase I heard recently that I love is “your body can only produce force in positions in which it can absorb force.” If you watch an athlete, and it looks like they get stuck in the mud during a change of direction, they could be lacking the positional strength with which to absorb and redirect force.

There are three different factors that dictate the position of the athlete when changing direction:

1. Speed: What is the speed at which the athlete is moving before they change direction? If an athlete performs a single lateral shuffle before changing direction back the other way, they do not have a lot of speed built up, so the change of direction isn’t as physically demanding as sprinting 15 yards and then having to slam on the brakes and go the other direction.
2. Angle: What is the angle at which the athlete is changing direction? If an athlete sprints 5 yards straight ahead and then cuts forward at 45 degrees, that movement will be easier to execute than sprinting 5 yards and then cutting backward at 45 degrees.
3. Strength: The strength of the athlete also dictates the position. Stronger athletes can stop at higher hip and knee angles than weaker athletes can. A deep hip and knee angle will take longer to accelerate than a higher hip and knee angle.

Creating Transfer

If the true goal of sports performance is to create transfer for the athlete, we have to start taking into account not just the strength and conditioning requirements, but also the movement requirements of different sports and different positions in those sports.

The term ‘sport specific’ should be synonymous with ‘movement pattern specific.’ Share on X

The term “sport specific” should be synonymous with “movement pattern specific”—if we think about sport in this way, multidirectional plyometrics should be a part of every athlete’s program in some way.

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

Originally used in the dynamic world of business as a way to illustrate effectiveness—and therefore, where to focus energy to increase profit margins—“leading” and “lagging” indicators are useful concepts to direct and focus training. In the performance field, testing and evaluation can be seen as a means to validate our efforts as effective professionals (essentially, our profit margins): After X amount of training time, the athlete saw Y improvements in their strength, power, endurance, etc.

Originally used in the dynamic world of business as a way to illustrate effectiveness, ‘leading’ and ‘lagging’ indicators are useful concepts to direct and focus training, says @JuanCTPerez. Share on X

While this method of testing has its merits, it is very limited. For example, if Athlete A improved their squat max, it is safe to say that their strength has increased. We could also say technique improvements, among other things, are the root cause, but for the sake of this argument, we will call it a strength improvement. Additionally, if Athlete A’s 40-yard time, pro agility, broad jump, and vertical jump improved, we could use those all as indications of increased performance. While these numbers look great, they may have little to no carryover to what actually matters: the game.

This is where the concept of leading and lagging indicators comes in.

Leading and lagging indicators can provide more value in defining our roles as performance professionals. In the business world, leading indicators are metrics such as:

• Weekly number of sales calls and meetings.
• Weekly new customers.
• Monthly sales.

To dive in even further, a leading indicator is an indicator that might help predict future success. For example, all of the key performance indicators (KPIs) we track are an example of leading indicators. On the other hand, lagging indicators are:

• Annual or monthly sales.
• Annual cash flow.
• Customer satisfaction.

A lagging indicator is one that actually measures past performances. For example, in soccer, a lagging indicator for a team could be injuries, total number of shots, shots on goal, total number of passes, match possession in the opponent’s half, or wins/losses. If the lagging indicators are not improving, but the leading indicators are, then it may be time to choose new leading indicators that more accurately align with our goals in competition.

Determining Lagging Indicators

The first step in determining lagging indicators is to talk with the actual sport coach. While having an understanding of the game is vital, it is in no way a replacement for actually talking to the coach. In addition, obtaining the box score sheet after each game can be very valuable for the coach who likes to track data points.

This process is also helpful because leading/lagging indicators can be time-based. For example, in the postseason, lagging indicators might increase in a certain category compared to the preseason. This can be due to increased fatigue over the course of the season, which may have implications on what should be measured at that time. Perhaps you were measuring RPE as a leading indicator, when in fact you should have been measuring something more objective such as lower body power?

How to Select Effective Leading Indicators

The key to selecting effective leading indicators lies in the game itself. Typically, sports performance professionals have a reductionist approach where we analyze physiological metrics of athleticism—which are important, but may not have a direct bearing on the game. Chances are, we all know an athlete who wasn’t quite as strong as the competition but was still able to compensate and outperform them in game situations. One of the most notable examples is Kevin Durant, who failed to rep 185 pounds on a bench press at the NBA Combine while he was playing at the University of Texas—most would say that he has been fairly successful despite this shortcoming of upper body pressing strength.

While these physical tests may give coaches numbers to hang their hats on, more effective tests may be something like reactive strength index (RSI) for lower body power, vertical jump repeatability for power endurance, reactive agility, or something similar. The point is not in the actual test, it’s in the fact that these tests have some level of correlation with actual basketball skills such as rebounding and reaction time that may have a greater influence on the game outcome than an action such as bench press.

Internal vs. External Measures

This is a helpful distinction to define when determining what to measure. If a practitioner solely takes internal and/or subjective measures such as resting heart rate (RHR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE), then only part of the story is being told. On the other hand, if the practitioner only takes external measures such as power output on a force plate, vertical jump height, or GPS metrics, then only half the story is still being told.

One suggestion is to base your indicators on the most important factors in the sport, says @JuanCTPerez. Share on X

At the same time, care must be taken not to have too many measures, as this may become unmanageable during the course of a busy season or during road trips and team travel. The measures must be able to be recorded quickly, consistently, and efficiently, even in a larger team setting. When taking these measures, intra (within the same practitioner) and inter (between multiple practitioners) rater reliability must be controlled for, so that the measures stay accurate over time.

Now that we have a common language on internal versus external, how do we select the most appropriate measures? One suggestion would be to base your indicators on the most important factors in the sport. For example, in basketball, power is very important, so one external measure you would want to take into account is either power output on a force plate or vertical jump height. This will give a picture on whether the training program is positively affecting that key quality.

In conjunction with measuring power, we can also measure RHR to give us a better idea of why we are seeing what we’re seeing. An example of this could again be with the vertical jump: If we see a great score on the Just Jump and then a subsequent tank for a period of time, we may conclude that the athlete just had a really good day and consider that score an outlier. BUT, if we have the RHR and see that there is a correlated elevation in HR at the same time, we may find that the athlete has been going through a period of stress and may be in a state of overtraining/under-recovering. This is just one example of how internal AND external measures can be beneficial, but there are countless others.

The Most Overlooked Measure

One largely overlooked measure in this technological arms race is the simplest of all—conversations with your athletes. This would fall into the category of internal and subjective measures. You can uncover a lot by SINCERELY asking the question, “How are you today?”

One largely overlooked measure in this technological arms race is the simplest of all—conversations with your athletes, says @JuanCTPerez. Share on X

The major missed part in this equation is the sincerity. If you have not fostered a relationship with your team where honest expression can be given, or you don’t have an actual relationship with the athlete, then don’t even bother with this one because the standard answer to avoid further confrontation will be “good.”

Having said that, we must take into account that this measure is not particularly quantifiable; still, there are things we can do to make it so. For example, after posing the question to your athlete, you can either let the answer fade into the wind as most coaches do, or you can track it through a total quality recovery scale (TQR). After compiling your team’s TQR scores, you can then adjust training as needed. While this method is not feasible for those with limited staff, it is something that can make a difference in training.

How Many Data Points?

One of the most common questions within testing is how many data points should I get? The answer: as many as you can take without disrupting training.

The standard college approach is to have a testing session when athletes arrive on campus, right before play starts, and then one postseason. If time and circumstances allow, then one testing session during the season can also be executed. If this approach is utilized, that only allows for three testing points a year…which means in a four-year cycle, there are only about 12 total testing points.

This approach may work in a given setting, but it’s by no means optimal. A more effective approach would be to implement exercises or simple “temperature checks” embedded throughout the training cycles. This could look as easy as implementing a Just Jump score and an RPE at multiple times throughout the week.

For example, if Team A seems to have particularly high numbers on the Just Jump mat after a velocity-based training day, it may be a good idea to implement a velocity-based training day before a game if your situation allows. In basketball this could lead to more rebounds, or for volleyball a higher number of kills. Likewise, if Team A reports that their RPE is very high after a particular training day, you may want to place that session as far away from game day as possible.

Measure What Matters

It would be easy to say measure A, B, and C for the most accurate depiction of what’s happening with your team, but the truth is this would be erroneous and irresponsible. While most sports share commonalities, it is impossible for me to know what is going on in your current setting, with your current coaches, and your current performance staff. If a measure is suggested, but you don’t have the means to record it, then it is ineffective. Care must be taken to work with the coaching staff of your sport, the athletes on the team, and your sports performance staff to see what can be done consistently and at a high level. In the realm of athletics, answers are always sought but hardly ever given.

What matters in determining leading and lagging indicators? The answer is ‘It depends.’ …If a measure is suggested, but you don’t have the means to record it, then it is ineffective. Share on X

Likewise, for the question of what matters in determining leading and lagging indicators, the answer is “it depends.” In my own coaching experience, I can definitively state that when athletes were not hitting their training percentages (leading indicator-external measure), and post training RPEs were higher than normal (leading indicator-internal measure), practice performance also suffered (lagging indicator).

When I took all these factors into account, I could clearly see that I selected the correct measures. While it was much easier for me to make on-the-spot adjustments for athletes who I had been working with for a while—and implement a recovery day when needed—these indicators proved particularly helpful for me when working with incoming athletes such as freshmen or recent transfers. If, after an adjustment period, the new athlete performed a similar workout as the rest of the team but was not hitting their particular numbers on a specific day or was very slow with their weights in addition to a high RPE, in conjunction with a high performance in a practice or a game, then a conversation was in order.

Many times, I was able to uncover that an athlete hated a particular exercise, and I could make an adjustment in order to make training more enjoyable and get better returns. However, when the same scenario occurred—but training performance was poor on multiple days and practice was not as sharp as it had been—I could see that the athlete needed a recovery intervention of some sort. While these particular leading/lagging indicators may not be the first choice for everyone, they have proven particularly helpful for me in my coaching.

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

In grade school, we’re taught the scientific method and how to work through each step in order to draw conclusions about a given problem. The same basic model is instilled all the way through the post-graduate level—during my DPT curriculum, we learned from surgeons that the basic process of developing competence in any given surgery is: see one, do one, teach one. Obviously, surgeons don’t watch just a single procedure before making their first incision (I hope), and the systematic approach remains in place to solidify the learning process and progress towards mastery.

In coaching, however, while we do see freely-shared forms of programming and exercise progressions, what we don’t see as frequently is an implementation of sound movement diagnostics and teaching strategies. What I mean by this is that many programs seem to put more emphasis on the what than on the how in training. Coaches across the nation are now catching on to the idea that sprinting and jumping are critically important aspects of developing speed and power.

Many programs seem to put more emphasis on the *what* than on the *how* in training, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

However, there is not a plethora of information being presented as to what these tasks should look like. In videos of athletes sprinting, everything from the starting position to the initial three steps to maximal speed mechanics looks drastically different. Some are overstriding and landing on their heels, others are understriding in favor of frequency. There are athletes who are straining to the point of rigidity without fluidity, and others who are so relaxed that they’re getting no displacement.

Without addressing mechanical proficiency in these tasks, athletes are starting to see plateaus in their performances due to inefficiency. The cost of sprinting and jumping at maximal intensity with poor mechanics can lead to severe detriments in performance, even to the point of regression or injury. Programming is only so effective without technical concepts being taught and refined along the way.

Mind and Matter Working Together

As a coach, seeing the lack of technical progressions in training is discouraging because it removes the most fundamental aspect of sports and performance from the program: proper movement. An athlete doesn’t need a coach in order to understand that running, jumping, and lifting will make them better. Sound programming methodology is great, but the absence of time spent on technique sets the bar extremely low and establishes a norm that movement doesn’t matter.

Many performance professionals have adopted a self-organization model of performance in which they use task repetition to allow the athletes to develop their own natural ways of moving. Many athletes will reach a more optimal stage of mechanical proficiency as their training age increases, but most athletes will not self-discover optimal mechanics without intervention.

Each human being follows what is called the path of least resistance, in that their body tends to utilize positions and movement patterns that are the easiest to achieve. As we adopt different postures throughout our lives, the path of least resistance can vary greatly from individual to individual.

With each repetition of a task, the body self-organizes in a way that is very broad. The cerebellum has a blueprint and is constantly refining that blueprint until we can safely and efficiently complete a task. If I drink from a glass of water and spill, the blueprint in my cerebellum will reorganize so that it doesn’t happen again. If I spill again with the refined blueprint, the cerebellum will again throw out what it believes did not work and refine the pattern. Every time that I don’t spill, the cerebellum will reinforce the pattern and continue to do so each time I drink from a cup without spilling.

All of this is to say that while self-organization does naturally occur without direct intervention, the movement strategy is the bare minimum for the body to survive in the wild, and the majority of athletes will not quickly (or possibly ever) self-discover optimal movement to maximize performance capacity in sprinting.

If we line up 10 self-organized athletes and have them sprint, you’ll likely see 10 very different ways of moving. While a few of these 10 athletes may have naturally good habits with regards to turnover, arm swing, trunk posture, body lean, or striking mechanics, it is highly unlikely that those who do not express ideal mechanics in the group will self-organize to match the others.

Why Teaching Movement Matters

Coaches need to have a general understanding of how the body should be operating during performance in order to give meaningful lessons about it. This is the foundation of coaching, as it allows you to qualitatively dissect performances and give live feedback to an individual or group of athletes. With this comes the ever-growing repertoire of cues, analogies, demonstrations, and drills to help the athlete progress towards understanding the important qualities you’re after. Each time you utilize one of these intervention strategies, you’ll naturally find the things that work and don’t work for each athlete, which will refine your approach in the future.

Not all athletes will respond well to the same teaching strategy, so coaches have a responsibility to recognize when there’s a lapse and to overcome it in the best way possible. As the famous quote goes: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” If what you’re teaching isn’t sticking, don’t be afraid to try a new strategy or come up with a creative idea to get things to click for the athlete.

You don’t need a doctorate in science to have a meaningful impact as a teacher and reinforce key aspects of performance. That being said, I would recommend having at least a general understanding of muscle function, physics, the kinetic chain, and principles of motor learning in order to explain complex concepts in a simple manner to the athlete. It may accelerate your ability to achieve success in your chosen intervention and help build trust in the athlete-coach relationship.

Teaching athletes is not a perfect science, though. Even though there are simple ways to help athletes conceptualize what is expected of them, they don’t guarantee correct performance. Taking a multidimensional approach to teaching concepts significantly increases the odds that something you present to the athlete will be beneficial to the end goal. Because athletes have different learning styles, developing a strategy that presents a variety of learning opportunities (as opposed to relying heavily on one technique) will ensure that fewer athletes fall through the cracks.

Taking a multidimensional approach to teaching concepts significantly increases the odds that something you present to the athlete will be beneficial to the end goal, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

A Multidimensional Teaching Model

My teaching approach is systematic, following many principles of teaching and learning in general. The goal is to provide a variety of inputs with opportunities to demonstrate proficiency and maximize learning for each athlete. These inputs allow the athletes to use a wide array of tools rather than just one. I enjoy providing verbal instruction, visual demonstration, question and answer sessions, and information on scientific principles, as well as chances to repeatedly exhibit their skill as their mastery is refined over time.

Below is a simplified checklist of what is involved in my teaching process:

1. 1. Athlete performs task without cues (the “Baseline” stage)

 

1. 1. Present the problem

 

1. 1. Athlete’s first attempt to solve

 

1. 1. Present concept

 

1. 1. Athlete’s second attempt to solve

 

1. 1. Visual demonstration with explanation

 

1. 1. Cue as necessary (the “Work in Progress” stage)

 

1. 1. Gradually remove cues and encourage reflection

 

1. Athlete autonomy (the “Competent” stage)

**Repeat the cycle periodically in training and as you add wrinkles to the task.

I understand that, for coaches, there is a demand to simplify as much as possible and that this checklist may seem complex at first glance. I encourage you to adopt your own systematic approach that works with your practice flow and fits well with your athletes. Even if it doesn’t touch on every aspect of learning, that system will provide a variety of opportunities and serve more athletes overall than a one-dimensional teaching approach. Once you’re comfortable with it, you’ll start to plug in and play different pieces on the fly as you get better at reading and responding to each athlete’s response to a given stimulus.

Now is a good time to drop a quick reminder that we are trying to rewire movement patterns and introduce novel concepts that may challenge preferences deeply ingrained in their muscle memory. While you may be able to make headway on several things, don’t expect those qualities to be permanently improved after 5 or 10 minutes of targeted work once or twice per week.

While you may be able to make headway on several things, don’t expect those qualities to be permanently improved after 5 or 10 minutes of targeted work once or twice per week, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

It took the athlete a lifetime to get to the point you found them, and it is your job to communicate with them that technique refinement is a gradual process that will test their patience. It will take tons of guided and unguided practice to really ingrain the new movement pattern to the point of being second nature—reminding the athletes that it will take time helps keep their frustrations low as they experiment with different strategies.

Practical Application: The Pitter Patter Plague

The “pitter patter plague” is one of the most common things I run into when coaching speed for high school athletes: most of them are in such a hurry to get to the finish from the start that they sabotage their performance capacity. There is no sound race strategy being executed and when the gun goes off, the athlete tries to start in sixth gear rather than working through each gear smoothly to win the drag race.

I used to have this problem myself and would often be leading races from the gun for about 70-80m before getting passed. This pattern is even more exaggerated in a 200m, as you’re holding on for the last 80m of a race. I could get away with it most of the time in high school, but capped my 100m and 200m times at 10.98 FAT and 22.41 FAT, respectively.

As soon as I learned how to execute a patient acceleration in college, I dropped my PRs down to 10.57 and 21.18, which effectively took me from irrelevant in the Big Ten Conference to winning medals on different relays, eventually becoming an All-American and school record holder in the 4x100m relay (39.12).

It isn’t that the potential to be a 10.7 and 21.9 high school sprinter wasn’t there, but it is that I was capping my performances due to poor execution. Below is an example of how I use the teaching system presented above to help athletes understand and cure the pitter patter plague.

1. 1. Athlete performs sprint without cues: Many athletes defer to spinning their wheels (frequency) at the expense of covering enough ground (stride length) in the initial acceleration phase of the sprint. Rushing the acceleration causes ground contact times to be too short for optimal force production and the end result is a decrease in displacement and subsequent velocities. Issues are identified during the warmup as I have athletes perform 20yd sprints periodically throughout, starting at 60% intensity and gradually working up to 100% . The shoulder excursion is generally small, which means the hip excursion will be, too. The center of mass tends to rise prematurely, and the athlete is upright sprinting within a few short, rushed steps.

 

1. 1. Present the problem: The equation for velocity is stride length x stride frequency. The pitter patter plague is an issue as it often leads to athletes hitting their top speeds prematurely, after which they begin decelerating sooner and to a greater degree than with a well-executed acceleration. As they are still gaining speed, many sprinters may already be at their limit of holding that speed once the fatigue hits…and they’re holding on for dear life at the end of a race.
      I stumbled upon a recent Tom Tellez piece with this concise yet eloquent statement: “The best way to get passed at 90m is to hit top speed at 40m.” I could not agree more, as this perfectly describes the majority of what I see in inexperienced athletes who train in programs that do not identify or address this nuance.
   2. Typically, I’ll tell my athletes something along these lines: “Hey nice job on that, I like the intensity you brought in that rep. Your frequency is good in that you can move your legs really fast, but it’s so fast we aren’t covering any ground, which is only half of the equation.”

 

3. 3. Athlete’s first attempt to solve: Having been presented with the information above, typically the athlete will try to artificially extend their stride length by reaching their legs out on the next 10-20yd sprint repetition. The wheels are no longer spinning out of control, but the solution they came up with shifts them to the opposite end of the spectrum. I refer to this as “moon running,” as they are meaninglessly floating in the air rather than violently sprinting across the Earth.

 

3. 3. Present concept: Here is the point I tell the athlete that they’ve now exhibited both ends of the spectrum. We’ve now seen Saturday morning cartoon sprints and moon bounds. The encouraging thing is that they’ve demonstrated the ability to consciously express both. The downfall is that neither are ideal in this particular circumstance. They need to explore variances of stride length and frequency that exist in the middle of the spectrum in order to find the optimal ratio for their biological constraints. All they need is guided practice to find it and then they can progress towards mastering it on their own. We can afford to give up some of the frequency in favor of longer strides, but only to an extent. Our arms and legs are attached by invisible strings, so when our arm swing is short and choppy, our stride will be too. Similarly, when the arms are swinging long and slow, the legs will follow suit. The happy middle ground that exists between a choppy arm swing and a passive one will usually yield more optimal results for the athlete.

 

3. 3. Athlete’s second attempt to solve: Usually, this rep would look less exaggerated than the first attempt to solve. The stride length is still excessive, but appears to have a more natural cadence than before. We go back to the drawing board and I begin to give them a plethora of visual rather than verbal information. The visual information may be in the form of a physical demonstration where I exhibit the fault in their movement so they can see what is problematic. Other visual info may come in the form of a quick video snapped on my phone or, at times, I’ll dive in all the way and use Dartfish to get my point across. There are no concrete rules in how you present this information; the goal is to simply provide some form of visual data in the event the athlete is more of a visual learner than a conceptual learner. As stated before, this is just my way of making sure fewer athletes fall through the cracks in the event a certain teaching modality doesn’t suit the athlete’s preferred learning style.

 

3. 3. Visual demonstration with explanation: I show the athlete both ends of the spectrum and break down the progression of a full sprint. I may begin clapping or drumming a rhythm that is initially slower and speeds up as I progress. This illustrates the nature of a sprint, as early on the athlete’s stride frequency will be a bit slower and gradually pick up as they work their way down the track, gridiron, pitch, etc. Here is where I also take the time to show them a video of themselves in a side-by-side comparison with other established sprinters. As they rush through the acceleration in the video, I pause and often say something along the lines of: “This would be the equivalent of attempting a max vertical jump from a quarter- or half-squat position. There’s still a lot of potential power sitting in your legs and the fact that you’re rushing means that power is never expressed. Be patient and you’ll run faster.”

 

3. 3. Cue as necessary: With each repetition from here forward the athlete will wax and wane between too frequent, too long, and just right. If they’re on either end of the spectrum for too long, all they need is a subtle reminder such as “Move your arms faster” to cue faster frequency, or “Bigger arms” to cue longer stride length. The most valuable things the athlete can do to learn are to get high quality repetitions and to experiment with execution. In our physical therapy curriculum, we often refer to this type of issue as a movement pattern coordination deficit. It’s not that the athlete doesn’t have the capacity to perform, it is that their chosen movement patterns are detrimental to that performance, and optimizing these movement patterns is going to be key in their improvement.

 

3. 3. Gradually remove cues and encourage reflection: As the magnitude of the ebbs and flows shrink and the athlete begins closing in on their optimal stride length and frequency, they need less input and more repetitions. This doesn’t mean I stop cueing completely, but it means I cue less frequently and stop being a helicopter parent. They’ve got wings and need to practice flying with less guidance and more self-awareness. As I remove the frequency of input and taper my cues, I replace them with occasional comments to inspire introspection on a given rep or set of repetitions. “How’d that feel?” “What did you do well there?” “What do you think you need to work on?” Subtle reminders to reflect on performance and confirmation that you either agree or disagree with their assessment will go a long way in creating athletes who are both competent and confident in their abilities. You can’t hold their hand throughout competition, so you need them to feel comfortable in their ability to execute without you being by their side all the time.

 

3. Athlete autonomy and competence: Finally, the athlete has demonstrated consistency in performing the acceleration with a proper stride length, frequency, and rhythm, as well as the ability to optimally build speed either completely or mostly independently. Occasionally they may drift from optimal and require a subtle cue or reminder to execute, but they are easily coached back to form. To continue solidifying the correct movement qualities, you may begin to up the challenges by having them perform on variable surfaces (track, turf, grass, court), with different resistance or assistance, from different positions (4-pt, 3-pt, 2-pt, supine, prone, side lying, lateral start, etc.), and any other variables you can safely manipulate or randomize to encourage mastery.

Subtle reminders to reflect on performance and confirmation that you either agree or disagree with their assessment will go a long way in creating athletes who are both competent and confident in their abilities, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

Next Steps to Coaching Mastery

The pitter patter plague is only one of the infinite number of mechanical faults that may present themselves with a given athlete. It is easy as a coach to feel the need to correct all of the faults at once, but you may find yourself overcoaching and making problems worse. On the other hand, influencing movement is difficult, and even harder to do in a group setting. This could explain why many coaches choose not to engage in an attempt to make mechanical changes.

If you choose to do so, however, look for the big things that stick out and see if fixing one fault can naturally cause the others to fall into place. If your cues aren’t working, grade the task down and make it simpler. If you think you’ve made it as simple as possible, don’t be afraid to get creative.

It is easy as a coach to feel the need to correct all of the faults at once, but you may find yourself overcoaching and making problems worse, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

The point of this article is to bring into focus basic principles of learning and teaching that can easily be used to form a personalized system. Ideally, the system should have the ability to be broadly applied while working on technical concepts with athletes. It doesn’t need to be overly complex to be effective—in fact, your system may lose effectiveness the more convoluted you make it. Start simple and add wrinkles to your approach as you master it and encounter shortcomings along the way.

Teaching movement is not as simple as exposing athletes to a variety of drill progressions with the intent of refining different qualities related to sprinting. Take some time and learn about why a particular technique or pattern is more effective than another. Figure out how to sharpen your coaching eye to identify lackluster patterns so you can address them. A system or program is only as strong as its weakest link—which in many cases is the haphazard attempt (or lack of an attempt) to address the technical aspects of performance with athletes.

We as coaches should demand better from ourselves and from others to provide athletes the coaching they deserve, as it helps us deliver the highest quality service we can provide while keeping our athletes performing at their best when it matters most.

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

Athletes hate being told they can’t do something or that they have to sit out, but at some point or another, every athlete will need to supplement their normal training program. Any setback can also become an opportunity to try something different, and it’s a coach’s responsibility to understand how to facilitate this safely and effectively.

There are three primary situations where I would consider supplemental training:

• Injury
• Poor preparation
• Deload/off-season

Injuries—although devastating to an athlete’s psyche—don’t necessarily require time off. More acute or chronic injuries, such as a SLAP tear or tendinitis, can be trained through by adjusting movement pattern, range of motion, and load placement.

For the second situation, if an athlete is inadequately prepared for training, their coach may need to step in and call an audible. Athletes are humans too, and perhaps they didn’t sleep well, are dealing with external stressors, or simply “aren’t feeling it” on a given day. Exercises should be substituted to de-emphasize load and intensity, and the coach can instead give the athlete an opportunity to focus on mobility or breath work.

Lastly, a deload phase or the off-season are perfect times for an athlete to “play or expand,” allowing the athlete to try new things through fluid and adaptive exercise variations or new movements. This is the time to break away from traditional training and allow the athlete to understand how their body moves, what feels good, and what areas need improvement.

The landmine is a great tool for these times when supplementary training comes into play. Using a landmine reduces the presence of axial/direct loading on the joints, and it can change the position of movement and the range of motion by adjusting how the body and bar are positioned. Athletes can use the load from the landmine to find deeper end ranges of motion and explore different mobility properties that may appear more difficult with just their body weight.

Athletes can use the load from the landmine to find deeper end ranges of motion and explore different mobility properties that may appear more difficult with just their body weight, says @nicc__marie. Share on X

The movement of the landmine itself can help teach an athlete how to effectively transfer force between the upper and lower body, while also presenting a greater demand on transverse (multiplanar) stability. The athlete is now responsible for executing proper technique as they maintain the position of the landmine in relation to their body and the landmine’s countermovement. Ultimately, this can help an athlete build strong body control to become more durable and spatially aware.

A good resource that led me to really explore the ideas and possibilities of landmine training is “5 Reasons Why Landmine Variations Should Be a Staple in Your Training” by Danny Foley. Landmine training helps to build knowledge, develop strength and power, and improve mobility. The benefits of the landmine, coupled with the need for supplementary training options, can provide coaches with a bigger toolbox when these instances arise.

Position/POM-Checker/Range of Motion (ROM)

When it comes to injury supplementation, athletes can use the landmine press in place of a traditional barbell press. If they have a nagging injury (such as shoulder impingement), they can use the landmine to maintain strength and movement patterns. An athlete with impingement or a minor rotator cuff strain can experience pain every time they go overhead, making it difficult to load the shoulders. Having the bar at an angle away from the body changes the mechanics by removing direct, fixed loading of the joints and allows the athlete to utilize their optimal pattern/ROM. An added benefit of the landmine press is preserving scapulohumeral rhythm without worsening the injury site.

Looking to lower body benefits and load supplementation, let’s say an athlete experiences knee pain from their quad tendon. Rather than loading a barbell in a front or back squat, the athlete can adjust the position of the load for a more hamstring-dominant lever. A kettlebell suitcase hold is a good option, but a landmine sumo squat will allow the athlete to move more weight. Additionally, the sumo squat coupled with the landmine brings a secondary emphasis on external rotation strength at the hip.

Video 1. The 1/2 kneel SA landmine press can bring awareness to any limitations in the t-spine. If an athlete is locked in their t-spine, then the scapula can’t glide properly into the overhead position and the rib cage will flare open.

The landmine can also highlight improper movement patterns or restrictions that arise when compensating for an injury. The coach can incorporate t-spine drills to improve mobility, and after the issue is addressed, cue an active trunk so the rib cage remains closed and the scapula can move in an upward rotation. By squeezing the glute on the knee-down leg, the athlete creates a neutral pelvis. The front foot actively provides pressure into the floor via big toe flexion.

The landmine can also highlight improper movement patterns or restrictions that arise when compensating for an injury, says @nicc__marie. Share on X

Navigating Around Injury

Several months back, I had a volleyball player who tweaked her foot at practice. She wasn’t in a great deal of pain, but for two weeks it hurt to land on the foot—so, power cleans and plyometrics were off the table. With respect to the high demand of jumping and ground contact in practice, I wanted to keep hers to a minimum. Consequently, we needed to find a way to retain power and speed-strength without moving her feet.

Two movements that I implemented in lieu of our power/plyo block were the landmine curtsy squat with hip flexion and the landmine stepdown with hip flexion.

Video 2. The landmine curtsy squat: This variation challenges the athlete with frontal plane strength and stabilization for the lower leg and foot.

The curtsy squat variation was included for multi-tempo, single-leg loading, substituting what would be a speed split squat variation. As for the stepdown, here we again use a combination of tempos in place of traditional load to challenge the athlete in a hip-dominant movement. A key to this movement is being deliberate in the changes of direction and stabilizing at end range.

These weren’t just variations blindly grabbed out of a bag—when supplementing exercises, for injury or otherwise, we need to select movements that retain as many of the properties and traits as our sport-specific training would include. By playing with tempos and landmine positioning, athletes can work that power component with a lighter load and/or intensity for that timeframe. The deload/off-season of a program is another time to improve movement literacy or retrain movement patterns that have deteriorated over time, either from injury or simply “going through the motions.”

A tertiary benefit to landmine training is it tends to offer biofeedback. This can be especially beneficial for novice, detrained, or athletes coming off injury. By integrating movements such as the landmine RDL, athletes can reconnect with a simple hip hinge pattern and then build onto it. The placement of the bar forces the athlete to find balance across the mid-foot while applying pressure through the whole foot or feeling like they are going to fall over.

A tertiary benefit to landmine training is it tends to offer biofeedback. This can be especially beneficial for novice, detrained, or athletes coming off injury, says @nicc__marie. Share on X

Coaches can use this same hip hinge pattern to reinforce proper position for a bent-over row. The landmine row is a regression to help an athlete position their body properly for a barbell row. When an athlete is too upright, they begin pulling more with the shoulders and traps.

Video 3. The landmine can coach the athlete into the proper back position to use the upper back correctly during the movement.

Expanding the Movement Pool

I use the landmine to help athletes progress to more advanced barbell movements depending on their sport. It gives the athlete an opportunity to have a little fun and play around with different variations. Movements such as the landmine split jerk mirror the concepts of power development and can be a useful introduction to the barbell split jerk. For others, it may be the only way to perform the movement due to a limited overhead position or risk of an overuse injury.

Video 4. The landmine 1/2 kneel overhead lift-off utilizes the same position as the 1/2 kneel overhead press mentioned earlier, but now we focus on moving the lower body while the upper body is isometrically contracted.

Movement literacy isn’t just about prepping similar movements for a different piece of equipment. Sometimes it is about understanding the mechanics of the body and how they should perform during other movements as well.

Having time to explore new movements in a program can lead to multidirectional and multiplanar exercises. The landmine has no shortage of these capabilities, due to the tool’s own movement variability. The landmine SA OH reverse lunge has a lot happening in its movement, and it is not an exercise that I would recommend for everyone. However, as a weightlifting coach, this movement has a good ROI for our athletes in their overhead position and allows them to only focus on shoulder control and stability as their body moves into the reverse lunge.

This movement can progress into a landmine SA OH squat. Again, in each of these exercises, the multidirectional movement pattern challenges the athlete neurologically and helps prime them for more compound chain movements. With the shoulder locked into place, the athlete can now work into that squat pattern and grow comfortable in the bottom position of the snatch on each side to ultimately lead into a barbell overhead squat.

From a mobility perspective, this forces the athlete to find mobility in the t-spine to stabilize the shoulder as they lower themselves. Often, the athlete can’t get deep enough into an overhead squat to feel where that overhead position of the shoulder should be. By performing a unilateral movement, the athlete can allow for more space in the trunk.

If athletes are insufficiently prepared for training, that doesn’t mean all is lost for the day. This is a good time for the athlete to work on mobility. As shown from the exercise above, the landmine allows an athlete to find true end ranges of motion by using additional load and allowing gravity to force them into those deeper positions.

If athletes are insufficiently prepared for training, that doesn’t mean all is lost for the day. This is a good time for the athlete to work on mobility, says @nicc__marie. Share on X

The landmine adductor sway is easily one of my favorite mobility drills for the lower body. The athlete must shift slowly through one plane of movement in relation to a specific joint (i.e., the hip). As they move into the lateral part of the hip, the opposite adductor is loaded eccentrically, allowing the hip to open up through every angle. The major cues for this exercise are to go slow and strictly move in the horizontal plane. Any vertical displacement removes the benefit of shifting from the outermost point of the hip joint through the athlete’s center of gravity and into the other.

Choosing What’s Right for Your Athletes

The landmine attachment provides supplemental training options for numerous scenarios and programming phases, and its versatility provides athletes with an opportunity to develop movement confidence, whether it be returning from a more serious injury or working through a minor one. The landmine also provides options for an alternate training session when an athlete is having an off day or simply needs to cognitively detach. Athletes can use the attachment to target improvements in strength, mobility/multidirectional movement, and power. They can also be given autonomy to play with the positional load and variations of the landmine during an off-season or deload cycle with little risk and a high reward.

Whether using the landmine in regular training or as a supplemental source, always remember that regardless of the plan you have in place, great coaches are responsible and prepared for anything that can and will happen.

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

Third quarter. Tie game. Your star player is sitting on the bench during a time-out. Despite only playing a few minutes, he is unable to catch his breath. You advise him to put his hands behind his head and take a few big, deep breaths. The moment passes, and he lets you know he can go back in the game. You tell yourself you shouldn’t be too concerned. This is normal for kids, right?

Breathing deficiencies are more common than most coaches realize. Recent research has shown that 15-25% of athletes suffer from asthma-like symptoms.¹ On a team of 20 kids, 4-5 of the athletes are probably suffering from issues like wheezing, coughing, congestion, and an inability to reach their peak physical state.

Breathing is one of the many pillars of performance, yet breathing deficiencies are more common than most coaches realize, explains @TomBroback. Share on X

Why would you need to address breathing with your athletes? That is a great question that I hope to answer emphatically to encourage you to focus on this aspect of health and performance. Breathing is one of the many pillars of performance. Exercise, mindset, nutrition, and recovery are all other pillars that I talk about with other coaches and athletes. You may have more, and that works. Breathing will always be included because every athlete has to breathe in order to not only live, but to play their sport well.

Commons Issues Athletes Have with Breathing

Breathing drills matter to me because I grew up with asthma. As an active athlete my whole life, I faced additional challenges in my health and performance. I did not know of these drills growing up and firmly believe incorporating them on a regular basis would have changed my athletic career. The best education at the time was to go to a doctor, use an inhaler, and stop playing when it got too hard.

This message has all been too prevalent for athletes with breathing issues. Doctors and medications are still important, but there is so much more we, as coaches, can provide our athletes. Beyond this, there are common issues most athletes suffer from when it comes to breathing.

Less Is More

Contrary to popular belief, breathing should occur less frequently than usual. Over-breathing causes an excess release of carbon dioxide, which negatively impacts the release of oxygen from the red blood cells to the working muscles.² People think breathing more will increase the oxygen intake, yet our blood cells are typically near their capacity for oxygen molecules anyway. This is why breathing less often is better for your athletes to perform at their best.

If you don’t know whether your athletes are breathing correctly, consider this. Breathing cycles have been shown to be most efficient with a 5.5-second inhale and a 5.5-second exhale, giving us an average of 5.5 breaths/minute.³ Have each athlete count their breaths per minute. I bet a lot will have more than 10 breaths per minute and certainly can benefit from breathing drills.

Quiet, Not Loud

Along with breathing less often, breathing quieter will be more beneficial to your athletes. Taking a big, deep breath is going to affect the carbon dioxide pattern mentioned above. At rest, your athletes should barely be able to hear themselves breathe. Instructing athletes to take a large, deep breath is not the most efficient pattern to help them calm down and reset despite the common advice coaches give their players.

Along with breathing less often, breathing quieter will be more beneficial to your athletes, says @TomBroback. Share on X

Use Your Nose to Breathe

Noses are meant for breathing. Mouths are meant for eating. A large reason for this is nasal breathing will activate your parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) more effectively than mouth breathing does.² When you combine this with the proper use of your diaphragm muscle, you maximize the efficiency of the human body. Considering that we breathe every minute of every day, we want to make sure we aren’t in an elevated sympathetic state from the way we breathe all the time. Nasal breathing for the win.

Hands on Knees Is Okay

Bonus time. This research article has made the rounds in the strength and conditioning community, and I feel it is of most importance to mention here. A 2019 study of recovery positions found athletes recovered better with their hands on their knees, rather than the typically coached behind the head position.⁴ Most athletes I know feel the knee position is more natural, and maybe we need to listen to this intuitive desire.

There is no worse feeling as an athlete, especially with asthma, than a coach yelling at you to get your hands behind your head as you gasp for air. We can work on forgetting what the optics look like and focus on what science tells us is best for recovery. Would you rather look tougher and not perform well? I don’t think so.

We have now identified the common issues athletes have with breathing. We know our society is wired to stimulate the sympathetic system all day, from text messages to breaking news to portable speakers to the stress of school and work. Helping athletes turn their brain, their nervous system, and their environment from a heightened sympathetic state to a more neutral parasympathetic state can be all the difference in creating a great workout session, an excellent practice, or the ability to get a good night’s rest.

Breathing Drills

Let’s dive into how to do this. Here are four common drills I use with athletes to help them breathe better, feel better, and most of all, perform better.

Belly Breathing

Belly breathing is a phenomenal way to get athletes into a better psychological state before a practice, workout, or game. The team at Reflexive Performance Reset (RPR) has done a tremendous job of advocating for belly breathing as part of a complete program. Belly breathing emphasizes the use of the diaphragm, combined with nasal breathing, to calm the body and mind before a stressful event like a workout or game. It took me a moment or two to figure out this is a time we want increased PNS activity to better prepare the athlete for the massive amount of stimulus and stress about to occur.

Belly breathing emphasizes the use of the diaphragm, combined with nasal breathing, to calm the body and mind before a stressful event like a workout or game, says @TomBroback. Share on X

Video 1. You can do belly breathing in a variety of positions. I like to get the athlete on the ground with their hands on their sides to get full expansion and proper rib cage movement with each breath.

A darkened room can also help the athlete settle down their mind before competition. I advocate for 3-5 minutes of this, typically combined with RPR drills.

Breath Holds

Breath holds are an excellent exercise you can add to a workout program. This drill doesn’t take very long, but it is incredibly effective. The idea of this is to increase the tolerance of carbon dioxide in your body to improve the exchange of oxygen between your red blood cells and your working muscles.

Video 2. Working on holding your breath until you feel the urge to breathe will have a dramatic impact on performance, especially in athletes who do not breathe efficiently.

Holding your breath for a long time is impressive, but we are more concerned here with delaying the time it takes for your body to tell you a breath is needed.

7-11 Breathing Drill

This is an excellent drill to incorporate after the end of a workout. When we work out or practice hard, the body is elevated into a sympathetic state. In order to maximize our recovery time, we need to transition into a parasympathetic state as quickly as possible. This drill speeds up the process if you have your athletes do it directly after a session or practice.

Video 3. With 7-11 breathing, both numbers stand for seconds. The “7” is for a seven-second inhale, while the “11” is for an 11-second exhale.

Doing this for 3-5 minutes after a workout or practice can be a game-changer for your athletes. Once again, I prefer athletes to lie down and dim the lights and music if they can. If you don’t have time to do this after a workout or practice, instruct your athletes to get this drill in at home as soon as possible.

4×4 Box Breathing

Box breathing is a perfect drill to do right before bedtime. Similar to 7-11, box breathing will get your athletes in a parasympathetic state to calm their brain and nervous system before bedtime. The difference with this drill is there are breath holds incorporated. “4×4” stands for a four-second inhale, a four-second pause, a four-second exhale, and another four-second breath hold.

Video 4. Repeated box breathing for 3-5 minutes before bed can improve the quality and quantity of sleep, which athletes most desperately need.

Breath Has Power

You don’t have to be a respiratory therapist to understand the power of breathing drills. Respected resources like The Oxygen Advantage and Breath can help you take your athletes to the next level. I hope you start practicing these drills with your athletes. Performing 7-11 breathing after basketball practice, belly breathing before a state meet, or 4×4 breathing before bedtime can be a game-changer for your team.

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

References

1. Miller, M.G., Weiler, J.M., Baker, R., Collins, J., and D’Alonzo, G. “National Athletic Trainers’ Association position statement: Management of asthma in athletes.” Journal of Athletic Training. 2005;40(3):224-245.

2. McKeown, P. The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, scientifically proven breathing techniques to help you become healthier, slimmer, faster, and fitter. New York, NY: William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. 2016.

3. Nestor, J. Breath: The new science of a lost art. New York: Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. 2020.

4. Michaelson, J.V., Brilla, L.R., Suprak, D.N., McLaughlin, W.L., and Dahlquist, D.T. “Effects of Two Different Recovery Postures during High-Intensity Interval Training.” Translational Journal of the ACSM. 2019;4(4):23-27. doi: 10.1249/TJX.0000000000000079

Carl Valle recently wrote an article on arm action that led me to unpack some of the research behind arm action and see how it matched with my own observations over the years.

There is still a debate about coaching correct arm action. Many coaches say they don’t bother to cue the arms. Others recognize the significance of doing so, even if it is some vague, half-hearted mumbling like “They serve to counterbalance the lower body.”

To be clear, I am not sure that the issue of “fixing arms” is an elite problem. Elite athletes and even those approaching that level almost always have the look down—that is, purposeful and contralaterally fused with the lower limbs. The goal of arm action should be to get them to not be an issue, as arms can be more of a hindrance than any sort of gateway to garnering All-State honors.

Sprinting is mostly about the legs and feet; however, let’s not kid ourselves that there isn’t some juice to squeeze out of the arms when dealing with our typical high school athlete. Share on X

Sprinting is mostly about the legs and feet; however, let’s not kid ourselves that there isn’t some juice to squeeze out of the arms if we are dealing with our typical high school athlete. A lot of the issues I see with arms stem from a lack of long-term development and a deficient skill base. The athlete simply works against themselves and resists that which should occur naturally.

My goal isn’t to dissect specific angles but to merely continue the conversation that perhaps the issue of arm action isn’t as simple as some make it out to be.

Arm Action During Acceleration

“During the start of the sprint, the body’s center of mass leans forward, suggesting that the relative momentum of the horizontal component of both arms may not be canceled.”

This quote originates from a research paper titled “Scapula behavior associates with fast sprinting in first accelerated running.” It points out that there is a distinction between what the arms may contribute during the athlete’s forward-leaning acceleration phase and when they’re upright running. The arms move more forward and backward during the acceleration phase, whereas in upright sprinting they move up and down. In the same study, subjects were restricted with tape at the scapula, thus limiting arm drive. As a result, the athletes were not able to achieve as deep of a forward lean. This tells me that limiting the arms compromised balance.

Another research article titled “Body position determines propulsive forces in accelerated running” states that this matters because “Higher accelerations were generated by lower, but more forward oriented forces. The orientation of the maximum force vector strongly correlated with the forward lean of the body at toe-off.” Good accelerators know how to apply force horizontally from deep body angles, and arms have quite a lot to do with it.

Still another study discovered that “Arms contributed 22% of the body’s kinetic energy, indicative of the importance of these segments during the pushing phase of the block start.”

So, whether or not you feel the need to have interventions related to the arms, we cannot ignore that they are important. I have seen many high school athletes who function as if they have taped scapulas.

If you remove the tape scenario from the equation, their passive and rigid arms are a major impediment to body angles and drive during initial acceleration. Of course, the legs are still the driver, but the general lack of motor skills causes the legs and arms to be nearly disengaged from each other.

We know that strength correlates to acceleration abilities; however, thinking strength work (especially purely upper body work) is the sole answer to anything sprint-related is where some coaches and athletes still run afoul. Carl remarked in his article that boosting strength numbers isn’t enough to guarantee improvements in pure arm action, but the force production capabilities and postural benefits of having a strong upper body don’t mean it isn’t a piece of the puzzle.

Next Steps

Admittedly, this is a lot to sort through. One of the mistakes I used to make more frequently was saying too much, too early. Armed with good intentions, I would force instructions onto a runner trying to learn the basics of sprinting and ultimately paralyze them. Cues for arms can work, but exactly who with and when is another story. It is not my goal to just give a list of cues here. A shy freshman might need to “Use more violence with your arms,” and this direction to increase the intent is nice, but it doesn’t mean it is a long-term fix.

Cues for arms can work, but exactly who with and when is another story, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

“Split and rip” may be appropriate for someone who is too passive on the downstroke during acceleration, as long as they continue to build and don’t end up striking an acceleration pose for the camera. I am fine with any cue as long as it keeps the act of sprinting subconscious and hindbrain.

I do like continual drilling and using basic movements as reference points during specific sprint workouts. While no drill mirrors the range of motion and speed of the arms during true sprints, all drills require purposeful contributions from the arms to be considered “good drills.” Quantification of improvements with drills feels largely subjective, but one thing I look for on video is that when a foot first contacts the ground, the arms are nearly parallel to each other and ready to flex and extend with the contralateral leg.

It isn’t that any drill is a magic fix for arm action, it is more about making arm contribution a nonnegotiable habit for as many movements as possible. Certainly, a specific drill could be the starting point or the thing to revisit to make a change.

As far as more authentic sprinting solutions, I think hills and sleds are the way to go. These are both excellent means to provide an environment suitable for the athlete to make mistakes, refine the movement, and have a fighting chance to figure it out. The most obvious benefit of hills and sleds is that they make it necessary to use greater drive and arm action to complete the repetition. This makes it possible to maintain body position longer, and the speed of the run is technically submax. Athletes are usually less worried about artificial low heel recovery and mimicking the look of their favorite sprinter and instead can improve just by using natural strategies from experiencing the hill or the added weight behind them.

I am a fan of using one of these items per week early in the season and eventually progressing to a contrast workout with a flat ground rep in close proximity to the hill or resisted sprint, which serves as the reinforcement. I find hills and sleds pair well with cues in the form of analogies.

If you want to improve limb synchronization, leave the strength exercises masquerading as sprints alone, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I do not particularly enjoy using sleds so heavy or hills so steep that the repetition becomes a laborious double-foot support sled pull or a hill trudge absent of motor skill learning. If you want to improve limb synchronization, leave the strength exercises masquerading as sprints alone.

Video 1. Hills and sleds can provide opportunities for an athlete to naturally use greater drive and arm action. Avoid going so steep and heavy that it negatively impacts limb synchronization.

Arms During Maximum Velocity

“The vertical range of motion of the body CM was increased by the action of the arms. The arms were found to make a small but important contribution to lift, roughly 5-10% of the total. This contribution increased with running speed.”

This quote comes from a study called “Upper Extremity Function in Running. I: Center of Mass and Propulsion Considerations.” It was done on a treadmill at running speeds of 3.8 m/s, 4.5 m/s, and 5.4 m/s. This is a far cry from sprint velocity, but as the speed increased, the vertical lift contributed by the arms also increased. It would not be farfetched to think that the arms also increase lift during a full sprint. This is different from the horizontal drive that the arms are thought to provide during acceleration. With no major forward lean, the arms move up and down relative to the trunk. The forward and back swinging cancels out any horizontal momentum.

Ralph Mann spent some time studying 200m Olympic finalists and found that the “faster sprinters had a greater arm displacement from the shoulder (135° versus 118°) and elbow (84° versus 67°), as well as joints with a greater average speed from the shoulder (525°/s versus 490°/s).”

As I said previously, I don’t think arm action is a problem for elites, and this doesn’t necessarily mean that arms are the deciding factor. However, it is clear that faster runners have the arms to match their lower body.

I have seen jumpers at the high school level truncate their flight and hurdlers flail due to some degree of arm issues. I am far from a biomechanist, but it does seem worthwhile, especially early in development, to provide long-term development opportunities with the arms. In acceleration the arms are about creating power, and during upright sprinting they are about matching and amplifying the reflexive “snap” in the lower body.

Most coaches are aware of stretch reflexes occurring in the lower body, at least on a general level. In my opinion, lots of high school sprinters make their arm action too deliberate. There must be some reflex in the upper body to match the rate of speed of the legs below. It isn’t about pumping the arms harder.

This is why it becomes crucial to relax, remain free of tension, and use an appropriate range of motion. When watching videos of my faster sprinters, you can see how the arms mirror and support the legs. When the arm is near max extension, so is the contralateral hip. It seems like the stretch placed on the pec at this point aids in creating an elastic and natural movement of the arms and spine. At foot strike the ground contact is brief, while the arms ideally are close to parallel and beginning to both move upward, working in concert with the legs/feet to perhaps amplify the vertical forces. The arm closes into max flexion as it passes the hip along with the opposite leg.

Arms are important to create balance and rhythm but without proper motor skills and limb synching, the athlete limits their velocity potential on any given day.

What to Do About It

As with arms during acceleration, the goal is to put the athlete in proper training scenarios to feel the contribution from their arms and kind of figure it out.

I do employ some arm cues as well, although I am trying to be more selective about when to speak on it. I have found cueing the athlete to get the arms or elbows “down” creates an athletic and more purposeful look. High school sprinters often drive their arms and hands “up,” which makes them appear robotic because the arm stays locked closer to 90 degrees throughout. The range of motion is often cut short, and they seem more likely to excessively cross over their midline.

Cueing them to “cross the hip with the hand” appears to yield a more reflexive and natural arm swing because of the stretch placed on the pec and shoulder. This strikes me as being similar to an athlete bench-pressing and bouncing the bar off their chest, which is of course dangerous but enables them to move more weight. An easy way to get an athlete or coach to understand this is to stand in place and do an arm swing both ways.

1. 1. Swing your arms upward.

 

1. Swing your arms, focusing on getting the elbows down and hands across your hips.

Of course, arm swing speed from a stationary position is irrelevant for sprint speed but #2 should feel more elastic and natural.

Drills can be valuable in terms of impacting the sprinter from a development perspective, but it is the patience that is the payoff and not any one drill. There are certainly drills, like the strike drill and prance, that I feel strongly about in terms of their ability to impact an athlete quickly.

The best way to improve arm action is with sprint reps that focus on rhythm and motor learning. This goes beyond just tempo work, although surfing the whole sprint velocity curve is one way to avoid pace lock.

The best way to improve arm action is with sprint reps that focus on rhythm and motor learning. This goes beyond just tempo work…, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Without going into too much detail on each sprint variation, these are the ones I like the most to encourage natural and productive arm movement during upright sprinting. Paired with the previously stated cues, these function as “super drills” that inform the sprinter of their arm and leg cohesiveness.

• • Stair runs at different speeds

 

• • Ins and outs variations

 

• • Buildups

 

• Wickets at different spacings at or slightly shorter than current stride length

Another tool I have used is a cheap, homemade “WeckMethod pulser.” I am no expert in his methods, and I don’t try to be. The small Mentos gum containers are a good size, and I filled them halfway with BBs and then wrapped them in electrical tape. I have seen great results with some of my athletes during the last couple of seasons.

Kids often seem to run faster on relays, and I wonder if the baton does something to their arm that makes it a better lever. This goes beyond athletes merely getting electrified to run with their teammates. I have had conversations with John Garrish, who originated this idea. He says kids seem to run better with something in their hands. I would agree, although I can’t really say why.

I do know the sound of the “pulser” rattle provides another sensory cue for the athlete. During flight, the BBs shift to the other side of the container, and at foot strike they collide with the inside, providing the athlete with feedback on their range of motion, purpose, and reflexive snap. We must cue the athlete not to grip the container tightly, or the tension can flow upstream to other areas and dilute the effectiveness of the teaching tool. This is why something like an Exogen forearm sleeve could be a more suitable alternative, since the hand remains empty.

In a study titled “Effects of arm and leg loading on sprint performance,” subjects ran with lead rods in their hands weighing 0.2 kilograms, 0.4 kilograms, and 0.6 kilograms. It was discovered that “a) Arm loads of <0.6 kg do not seem to interrupt spatiotemporal variables and hence introduce technique breakdown, (b) preference would be to affix load to the lower area of the arms, which increases the rotational inertia and ensures that the hands are not gripping a load.”

These two tools may be another way to add variability to certain exercises without fear, as it does not change stride length, frequency, overall rhythm, or even velocity. Be cautious of tight grips or weights above 0.5 kilograms, as they could change things for the worse.

A Call to Arms

I am certainly no expert in this area, but I have seen lots of bad movement firsthand and can see how faulty arm action hinders my athletes. Merely getting it to not be a major issue can make a difference. Sprinting is still mostly about the legs, but arms that work in concert with them can be a game-changer or at least level the playing field.

Coaching the arms should be about using natural interventions and placing the athlete in a position to subconsciously get more purpose out of their arms. Arms play a huge role in balance and rhythm and increase drive during acceleration and vertical forces when upright.

Coaching the arms should be about using natural interventions and placing the athlete in a position to subconsciously get more purpose out of their arms, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

While arms might not be an issue for elites, the fastest runners have more range of motion and speed at the arms than their slower counterparts.

Cues can help, but my preferred ways to address arms include drills, sprint tasks, and some outside-of-the-box tools that keep sprinting closer to fully hindbrain. This may be a long-term development goal rather than an instant fix, and I have seen coaches impatiently discard things before they have a chance to work. An athlete with terrific motor skills may not need any intervention, and it is best to say nothing to them at all and leave their arms alone.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to anything related to training, so coaches should carefully explore and figure out what, if anything, their athletes need when it comes to arm action.

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

In the era of feudalism, the local landowner graciously allowed poor people to live on his land and work it for him. In exchange, the landowner generously provided military protection and law and order, and he allowed each worker to retain a portion of the output. Certainly, a degree of income inequality existed under such a system, but there are natural limits in place when trading goods and services is the primary means of exchanging value. If you own 10 times the number of turnips as your neighbor, you’ll simply become the owner of a lot of moldy turnips in two weeks or so, and 100 horseshoes aren’t useful when you only have one horse!

Times Are Changing

This all changed with the Industrial Revolution, during which three key developments collided to fundamentally change society. These changes are felt to this day:

1. Division of labor.
2. Technological development.
3. The advent of paper money and banking.

This meant that humans could now specialize in a particular task or duty, boosting their productivity. Coupled with new technologies like steam-powered machinery, they were able to produce far more of value than they were ever likely to consume themselves. Industrially minded individuals now had the recipe for the creation of huge wealth, and for the first time it could be stored indefinitely in the form of currency without it going to waste or being lost or stolen.

In short: The Industrial Revolution made it possible, for the first time in human history, for a limited number of individuals to hoard huge sums of wealth. With a booming population and high demand, these individuals took their profits, bought more machines, hired more workers, and doubled down to further consolidate their monopoly on wealth (and the power that follows wealth). In the years 1800 to 1920, wealth inequality increased one-hundredfold in the United States. The political cost of this gap appears to have been the rise of populism and Fascism in the 1930s, and World War II. Interestingly, the highest that wealth inequality has been since then was around the time of the global financial crisis in 2008. Judge for yourself the political ramifications in the 2010s.

It would be overly dramatic to suggest that working as a strength coach in professional or collegiate sport is akin to working in a 19th-century textile mill, but the parallels are there. Share on X

What is clear, though, is that while capitalism and the profit motive are the most powerful engines of productivity we have, those on the bottom rungs of the system suffer disproportionately. Industrialists used their financial and political monopolies to drive up the hours worked by their staff to exploitative levels (12 hours per day, six days per week, no vacation or sick pay), giving no heed to working conditions (think one toilet for several hundred people), and swiftly firing and replacing anyone who complained. “Don’t want your job? No problem, we have 10 people who do.”

Hmmm… unregulated, near-exploitative work hours, flat or worsening pay, a hugely oversupplied workforce that is easy to fire and replace, and a huge income disparity between those at the top and the bottom. Coaches, does any of this sound familiar?

It would be overly dramatic to suggest that working as a strength coach in professional or collegiate sport is akin to working in a 19th-century textile mill, but the parallels are there. The 40-hour week is a joke in high-level strength and conditioning. Sixty is closer to the norm, and seven days a week in-season is par for the course, based on my own experiences and those of my colleagues.

Field Saturation and the Pay Gap

As the market has flooded with aspiring strength coaches while jobs have remained relatively fixed, market dynamics have caused wages to plummet. A colleague told me that the same job he did for one organization 20 years ago now pays 50% less (without accounting for inflation), with more rigorous educational and professional requirements. The same job I did in 2010 now pays less in real terms when accounting for inflation. I personally know of multiple coaches with two degrees and six-figure student debt looming over their heads who have worked at the NCAA Division 1 level for less than $15,000 per year.

It is common these days for head sport coaches in football and basketball to make in excess of 100x the salary of the lowest-level strength coach working with the team, says @RUGBY_STR_COACH. Share on X

Conversely, the compensation at the top of the field continues to rise, widening wealth inequality. Every year, the same article is written about how university presidents, sport coaches, and even head strength coaches are being paid more than ever before. It is common these days for head sport coaches in football and basketball to make in excess of 100x the salary of the lowest-level strength coach working with the team. For context: nasty, cutthroat Wall Street currently sits at 221:1 for its CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio. The trajectory for sports, where we talk endlessly of family and “being in it together,” is not a good one.

In professional sport, but particularly in college sport, the gap between the image the organization projects to its customers (fans and athletes, respectively) and the experience of the staff is comical. I have personally worked elbow to elbow with three colleagues in an “office” that legitimately was a closet in a former life, and I’ve had cockroaches run around my feet where we were expected to use the bathroom and shower. I complained, but nothing happened. I’m sure my experiences were not unique, and you have stories of your own.

The unspoken understanding was that the organization didn’t need to change, because if I didn’t want to be there, they could find someone who did. Ultimately, I didn’t want to be there, and sure enough, they replaced every member of the previous staff in short order, for less money, and with no change to the system that caused everyone to leave in the first place. The reason you don’t hear about it is because careers can be ended with a phone call. If you challenge the status quo, you can be swiftly blackballed and find yourself on the outside looking in. The bosses know it, and their staff knows it, so they keep the code of silence.

To be clear: I’m a grown-up. I chose that job. I could have chosen to be any number of things besides a strength coach. But it doesn’t make it right or necessary. Ultimately, worker exploitation serves neither the organization nor the employer. We see again and again that winning organizations are filled with people who love to work there and whose core members often remain in place for years before success arrives; winning organizations don’t change the seats on the bus every 12-24 months.

So why is it that factory workers don’t work 72 hours a week, 52 weeks a year today? Why aren’t they forced to share one bathroom for an entire shop floor? Why do they get sick pay, health, and retirement benefits? Why is it that an “unskilled” auto worker hired in 2007 or earlier now makes an average of $28-$38 an hour, whereas I, with my two degrees and decade of experience, made the Virginia state minimum of $7.25 and no benefits (in reality less, on account of hours worked) in 2018? The answer is organized labor.

The Labor Movement exists because of the premise that while individual workers are easy to ignore, fire, and replace, they cannot be so easily ignored when they speak and act as a collective. Over the years, labor unions have been responsible for negotiating rising wages, improved working conditions, enhanced benefits, and legal assistance for workers. If you’ve ever benefited from sick pay, taken a weekend off, or utilized employer health insurance, you’ve felt the benefit of the union movement.

From Minimum Wage to Millionaire Coaches

We are overdue for a similar coming together of strength & conditioning professionals. For too long, a strength & conditioning career has been the preserve of only those with pockets deep enough to afford one—first, the burgeoning cost of qualification (another article for another day), and second, the sometimes years of interning and GAships that must be conducted before the terrible wages even begin.

Our field is missing out on the talents of potentially huge numbers of bright, hard-working, but poor coaches who simply can’t afford to enter the workforce. An organized movement of coaches can work with the governing bodies and the institutions to lower the financial barriers of entry. The creation of a parallel career path such as a nationally recognized paid apprenticeship would be one potential option.

Our field is missing out on the talents of potentially huge numbers of bright, hard-working, but poor coaches who simply can’t afford to enter the workforce, says @RUGBY_STR_COACH. Share on X

A strength coaches union can also advocate for the raising of minimum wage standards. Why was I paid $7.25 per hour? Because the school knew they could get away with it. The idea that the money just isn’t there falls on deaf ears. Division 1 institutions routinely sit on endowments in the billions of dollars. “But Keir, you can’t tell donors how their money should be spent.”

Well, you can certainly advise them, and in any event, the University of Texas just spent $40 million on a buyout for the head football coach. That works out to $100,000 for every one of the approximately 350 full-time members of staff in the Athletic Department with plenty of change left over. The money is there, it’s just not there for you, and it will remain as such until schools are contractually obligated to pay it.

Let’s respect the time of the coach and establish clear boundaries for hours worked, mandatory days off, actual vacation time, and contact dead periods. It is now illegal in Germany and France to contact workers via email or telephone unless it’s an emergency. These are not tiny economies, and sport is not the only profession that wants to win. If it is good enough for the largest economies in Europe, it’s good enough for college sport.

By acting as an organized group, strength & conditioning professionals can pool legal resources for issues such as termination, accident and injury of athletes, responding to overbearing sport coaches, or even negotiating a share of the vast bonuses afforded to senior coaches and administrators. We can even go a step further to pool educational resources and raise the collective professional standards. Let membership to a union act as a badge of quality that commands a higher price.

Socialized Strength or Capitalized Coaches?

To be clear, I am not a dyed-in-the-wool commie socialist. I am a business owner myself (albeit a small one), and I expect that, as the man at the top, I reap the greatest reward for incurring the greatest risk. The greater your contribution, the more you should benefit. But I also make sure that my employees take a share of the profits, and their wages rise over time as mine do. That I should get richer and happier as they get poorer and more miserable is neither conscionable nor advisable.

Improved worker conditions and wealth creation are not mutually exclusive. We’ve all heard of the amenities provided for Google’s workers, from food, to exercise facilities, to sleep pods. People want to work there and give their all. It certainly would have made me hang around longer as a university strength coach!

Improved worker conditions and wealth creation are not mutually exclusive, says @RUGBY_STR_COACH. Share on X

Happy workers hang around longer and willingly work harder. For a historical example, do a search for Henry Ford’s $5 revolution for reference. At the time, it represented a near doubling of pay, while reducing hours worked for a great swath of Ford’s workers. The move gets credited as a major driving force behind the creation of the American middle class while further boosting Ford’s domination of American auto manufacturing. These examples were PR coups for both Google and Ford, and both companies still made money hand over fist.

Do not underestimate the lengths to which sports organizations will go to avoid negative press. Simply witness the swiftness with which an employee is scrubbed from their history and website when a DUI or similar indiscretion occurs. A union movement of strength coaches should bear this in mind. If an organization will not respond to the carrot of positive press, there is always the stick of negative press. Draw media attention to those institutions that exploit their workers, create poor conditions, or risk endangering their athletes by hiring unqualified individuals who, often through undue influence from the sport coaches, put athletes in the hospital or worse.

Remember also the nuclear option of organized workers: industrial action. Organizations will act to protect the bottom line even more than their public image. You can imagine the chaos a department walkout on week 1 of the semester or season would cause. Such action, while drastic and to be used as a last resort only, demands attention.

What about the “scabs”—those individuals who would cross the picket line, stay outside of the union, and undercut the competition to secure employment? Isn’t a union doomed to fail as long as such people operate within the field?

Perhaps, but I would highlight the examples of both the Screen Actors Guild and the NFL Players Association. Both unions operate in outrageously competitive fields, and the line outside the door of people willing to work for free is a long one. Nonetheless, both have been able to secure improved wages, conditions, and rights for their workers while driving up the quality of work. Hollywood and the NFL still profit to the tune of billions every year. It can be done.

Making Change Today

What now? We have to recognize and state publicly that change is needed. If the NSCA, CSCCa, or UKSCA are the true coach advocates they claim to be, they need to follow the example of the ASCA and set wage expectations. Create or associate with a workers union and incorporate membership into the accreditation structures. Refuse to affiliate with or advertise jobs for teams or institutions that fall short of the expected standards.

If the NSCA, CSCCa, or UKSCA are the true coach advocates they claim to be, they need to follow the example of the ASCA and set wage expectations, says @RUGBY_STR_COACH. Share on X

If you’re a director or administrator, put your money where your mouth is. Until a union is created, build the kind of working conditions for your coaches where, if you suddenly had to work the same job tomorrow, you’d be happy to do so. When a union does exist, hire only union workers. Send a message to your coaches that you are the family you say you are, and crow as loudly in the press about it as you do when a new locker room or stadium is constructed.

Lastly, if you are an in-the-trenches coach, recognize that a small personal financial and professional sacrifice—say, in the form of union dues or not crossing the picket line—pales in comparison to the collective benefit to the profession as a whole, and that such action benefits those at the very bottom, and smooths the path for those who follow in your footsteps.

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 teams and athletes have all kinds of ways to assess recovery, from strap-on heart rate monitors to assessing acute power through vertical jumps to more advanced testing prevalent in professional sports. However, none of these are particularly accessible to an individual training on their own or for trainers working with individuals in a private-sector setting, especially if it’s an online coaching setting where you’re not physically present for the workouts.

Yet, there is one piece of technology that’s increasingly popular and accessible to everybody: wearable technology. With wearable technology—or “wearables,” as the cool kids call them—any individual can get critical info such as heart rate data, sleep statistics, and more right on their smartphone, easily and in a noninvasive manner. The most popular wearable technology brands include Fitbit, the WHOOP Strap, and Oura, and you could even throw the Apple Watch into the conversation. Whichever device you choose, look for two important features:

1. It should provide 24/7 monitoring and be made to be worn day and night. If you don’t wear it at night, for example, you’ll miss key sleep and heart rate data.
2. It is only a tracking device. By staying focused on the data, the device commits all its memory and resources to data tracking and management. For instance, you wouldn’t want to find out your brain surgeon spends most of their time working their second job as a librarian. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just wouldn’t want them as my brain surgeon.)

With this in mind, the WHOOP Strap, Oura Ring, and higher-end Fitbit models check both boxes. I’ll save the more nuanced differences between them for another article.

While wearables have their drawbacks, they democratize the data once previously held by high-level coaches. And with that data, everybody from elite athletes to everyday gym-goers can get insights into their health and performance previously reserved for the best of the best. If you’re training in a team setting but don’t have the resources to provide, for example, a set of Polar heart rate monitors to everyone, you may find that a majority of athletes already collect heart rate data with their personal wearable.

Of all the metrics present on wearable devices today, I don’t think there are any that are more misunderstood than heart rate variability, or HRV. Share on X

However, most of your athletes won’t really know how to use the data to make changes. They’ll get their fancy new wearable watch but then ignore everything it tells them. I don’t believe this is a fault of the individual’s willpower; rather, it’s that they don’t know what they’re looking at. And more importantly, even if they did know what HRV and REM sleep were, for example, they wouldn’t know what to do about them.

Once you teach your athletes what the most common metrics on their wearable device mean, they can then use that information to manage their workload, enhance recovery, and ultimately improve performance. Plus, you give them the skill set to do this on their own, independent of the team setting.

If you’re in a private one-on-one setting, you can take this even further, using the wearable data as an integral part of managing their training, recovery, and overall health.

And, of all the metrics present on wearable devices today, I don’t think there are any that are more misunderstood than heart rate variability, or HRV. HRV has become one of those fancy acronyms synonymous with data, tracking, and high performance. But the problem with it, and a problem with a lot in our field, is how to take a valuable tool like HRV and communicate it in a simple way for our clients and athletes to understand it. What is HRV? What does it mean for our clients?

HRV is a measure of how much your heart rate varies (hence, the name heart rate variability).

For a general understanding of HRV, including exactly what it is and where it comes from, refresh your memory here. But the HRV derived from a wearable device is slightly different from the HRV you collect at any given time of day. If you collect HRV during your athletes’ workouts, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

When Does the Wearable Assess HRV?

Obviously, heart rate and HRV depend on the athlete’s activity. If you’re working out and all of a sudden do a sprint, your heart rate will shoot up, thus affecting the HRV score. These HRV scores are not what the most common wearable devices measure, and they have separate meanings and applications. The HRV that shows on a wearable device is taken while you’re sleeping. The HRV taken during sleep shows general signs of readiness and recovery for the day, rather than assessing a particular moment. Waking HRV has different meanings and applications, but that’s not what a wearable device refers to when reading an HRV score for the day.

The HRV shown on a wearable device is taken while you sleep. It shows general signs of readiness and recovery for the day, rather than assessing a particular moment. Share on X

What Do Wearable HRV Scores Mean?

For the first several days (or even weeks) of looking at an athlete’s HRV data pulled from their wearable device, you’ll start to see a general pattern and reasonably assume what their “baseline” HRV score is. Of course, the more baseline data you have—like the control for any experiment—the more reliable it will be. When working with someone, they’ll often have had a wearable for some time and will have weeks of HRV data piled up that you can look at and make sense of.

In any case, after an athlete has established what their HRV hangs around when they’re well recovered, you can then be on the lookout for variations away from normal. The higher the HRV score, the better recovered and more prepared for stress an athlete is.

Why a Higher HRV Score on Your Wearable Signifies Better Recovery (and Vice Versa)

When our parasympathetic nervous system is more dominant, our heart rate at rest (like sleep, when the wearables pulls HRV data) will be lower. Then, when your heart rate increases because of increased oxygen demands, the rise will be greater, and you’ll have an overall higher HRV. A higher HRV signals that the parasympathetic branch is more dominant and you’re well-recovered.

There are exceptions to this, as this article aptly articulates. But for the vast majority of people, the exceptions only matter after they first learn the general trends. And for most trainees, understanding that in most instances a higher HRV corresponds to enhanced readiness, and vice versa, is a simple benchmark and framework they can use to take action on.

How to Take Action on Changes in HRV

The HRV score on a wearable device will change due to a number of factors. If over the last 3-4 days your HRV has kept creeping down, that’s an indicator that your sympathetic nervous system is overpowering, and you’re not recovering optimally. And, of course, that could be a result (and likely a combination of) a number of factors: Your immune system could be under attack, you could be not sleeping well, you could be dehydrated, or maybe you just added a new stimulus to your training.

Often, the first factor you’ll want to look at with your athletes is their workouts. Have you increased the volume or intensity? This, of course, could explain the decrease in HRV. If you respond to these obvious changes in stress by focusing on recovery methods or otherwise aiming to lower stress, you will soothe HRV back into the normal range.

However, sometimes HRV will decrease, and you won’t have an easy answer for the cause of the increased stress. This is where I’ve seen the best value from looking at wearable HRV data. You have to work with the athlete to try to identify where the stress is coming from. Is their sleep wildly off? Are they stressed with work or school and need changes made to their workout program because of it?

As trainers and coaches, we’re often with our athletes for a few hours per day, max. The HRV data can give us an insight into supporting them during the other hours of the day. Share on X

This most often leads to a deeper conversation beyond training, and into deeper facets of the athlete’s lifestyle—and even their life. As trainers and coaches, we’re often with our athletes for a few hours per day, max. The HRV data can give us an insight into supporting them during the other hours of the day.

Additionally, HRV fluctuates from day to day, but maybe not so much that it causes concern and warrants a deeper conversation. But I encourage the clients I work with to respond to even slight changes. If their HRV is above normal, even slightly, I encourage them to throw in an extra set to take advantage of the fact that their body is well recovered and prepared, and vice versa.

What Makes Looking at HRV on Your Wearable So Valuable

Even when you can’t detect changes in your stress and recovery, the autonomic nervous system can, and one of the clearest ways that’s reflected is in HRV. In other words, HRV is a very “touchy” metric. It’s sensitive, in the best way possible.

For example, before you get sick, your HRV might take a noticeable hit. Your immune system is under attack, and that adds stress that will ultimately show up in your HRV. When you encourage athletes to look at and “listen” to their HRV score, they can halt or blunt the effects of that sickness by prioritizing recovery when they see their HRV drop on their wearable.

This, in a nutshell, is what makes HRV so powerful. It gives a deeper look into the body’s stress and recovery beyond what we can physically feel. It’s like getting to talk to the unconscious part of your brain: the autonomic nervous system. That’s right, it’s giving consciousness… to unconsciousness. Give it a minute; it’ll make sense.

This, in a nutshell, is what makes HRV so powerful. It gives a deeper look into the body’s stress and recovery beyond what we can physically feel. Share on X

Training Factors: Using HRV to Measure Adaptation

When you increase a number with training factors, from volume and intensity to adding a new kind of stimulus, you can expect your athletes’ HRV to dip. Then, after some time, they will adapt to it, and their HRV will come back up. Knowing this, you can also use your HRV score to assess how, or how quickly, your body is adapting to a new stimulus. If, for example, you have your client go from training three days per week to four, you can see how that affects their HRV and how long it takes to return to baseline. Once they’re at the baseline, you can then add another new training stimulus to keep challenging the body and make continual progress.

But you also have to consider that HRV might be affected by other factors. You may have to look at nutrition, hydration, sleep, stress, or other health conditions that could impact your athlete’s HRV.

The number of factors might be overwhelming. But it should also be empowering. If you see HRV go down, that doesn’t mean the athlete’s sleep is messed up or the training volume is too high, necessarily. Rather, HRV is made up of a multitude of factors that all form the puzzle that is your health and performance.

We can’t begin to improve that puzzle—to tweak one of these factors here or there for the better—without being aware that adjustments need to be made. The moment we’re aware of what’s going on is the moment we can take control and make the necessary changes.

How Do I Manage My Athletes’ HRV?

The tendency here may be to ask, “How can I improve my athletes’ HRV?” But we don’t necessarily want the HRV number to stay high. In fact, training should and will cause a downward bump in your HRV. But having the data can help you add in the right amount of stimulus and gauge how it affects your autonomic nervous system. You can add just enough new training to spur stress and ultimately adaptation, but not so much that it causes a setback. This is where a knowledge of HRV provides key insights into training.

However, if you haven’t added stress to a training program, but your HRV decreases, that’s the time to look at other factors like lifestyle factors to assess what could be signaling a sympathetic response in your autonomic nervous system. Check the simple boxes first, like hydration and sleep. See if those bring your HRV back to baseline and go from there.

One common element I’ve noticed among high performers is that their sleep hygiene is off. Sure, they lie in bed for eight hours, but the room is too hot or too bright, or they work out too late at night, and that disrupts their sleep and, ultimately, their recovery.

Second, just make sure they’re adequately hydrated. It’s one of the common factors, and it’s so easy to fix. Encourage them to start drinking more water and see what effect that has on HRV.

As you work with your athletes on making changes in response to their HRV, over time you’ll empower them to make changes on their own. Share on X

As you work with your athletes on making changes in response to their HRV, over time you’ll empower them to make changes on their own. Sure, you’ll still work with them to manage their workload and recovery, but you’ll also give them the knowledge to manage their lifestyle on their own. Understanding HRV gives them the awareness to understand theirbody better; to become more in tune with its subconscious messages and adjustments.

What Happens When You Use the Wearable Data and Make a Change? Make Another Change.

When you add stress in, at first it will have a negative effect on HRV. The body will have to start working harder to recover. But then HRV will go back up, and it will hit the inflection point where it was before the new stimulus. That inflection point begins the super-compensation phase. This phase is what allows athletes to take on that stress again, in a different way. If we put the same stimulus on their body after compensating, the dip in their HRV won’t be as low. And then maybe next time it’ll have an even smaller effect on HRV, and eventually it won’t affect HRV at all.

That HRV score now tells us that we need to do something again to change the stimulus. This is how we progress, and how we get better, and how we can use HRV as a guide from a fitness standpoint.

Now that you know what HRV is, what factors affect it, what to be aware of, and what applications you can make, you can use it to actually improve the health and performance of your athletes.

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