Blog

With research in assisted sprints gaining steam over the last few years, I wanted to use this article to look at some of the specific methods we’ve incorporated into our long jump training regimen at Loyola University Chicago. I think a key element in the future of sprint and jump training involves effective uses of overspeed and assisted work to meticulously tease out potent speed adaptations. Nonetheless, it’s imperative that coaches consistently take a bird’s-eye view throughout the macrocycle, paying close attention to how gains in speed affect all other biomotor abilities.

As this is the second installment of an article series on long jump training, I wanted to briefly look back at the first part. In it, I tackled power development through resisted sprint training utilizing a method that involved working within zones of resistance on the 1080 Sprint in order to transfer big peak power outputs achieved at high resistances down to slightly lower resistances where velocity plays a larger role than force. The methodology of manipulating resisted sprint loads to transfer peak power outputs to lesser loads within a session aims to prepare the long jumper for added velocity at takeoff, where time frames to express power into the board are marginally reduced.

A similar thread runs through our assisted sprint training designs, albeit on the opposite end of the spectrum with the added load being assistance rather than resistance, and the analyzed metric being peak velocity rather than peak power. Although we didn’t utilize zones with assisted sprints, the prevailing idea of transferring high training inputs produced from higher loads down to lesser loads is at work here as well.

We’ve tried a few different methods in assisted sprint training over the last couple of years involving changing the settings on the 1080, using Brower timing gates, and trying various complexes, but in the end our methods are quite simple and similar to those mentioned in the previous article. (A side note here: I haven’t had much success doing complexes of assisted and unassisted sprinting. However, complexing higher and lower assisted reps 1 kilogram apart has served well as a catalyst for potentiation. I’ve found it best to either do isolated assisted sessions or segmented work. For the most part, we segmented full approach work with assisted sprints as separate components of a session.)

By the end of the article, we’ll consider a complementary advanced multi-jump exercise to enhance reactive strength to prepare for added velocity at takeoff. Overall, I hope you’ll find some similarities with the first article on power development through resisted sprint training and start to see an underlying training philosophy emerge.

Paradigms in Assisted Sprint Training with the 1080 Sprint

Focusing on the specific assisted sprint training program for two of our long jumpers at Loyola University Chicago, Eric Burns and Mackenzie Arnold, last year we worked up to 6 kilograms and even 7 kilograms of assistance once or twice, but this year we only went up to 5 kilograms.

By gradually reducing pulling forces, those increased velocities become normalized and methodically pared down into the athlete’s natural ability, says @BobThurnhoffer. Share on X

This was mostly because both of them no longer required that kind of assistance to achieve the peak velocities we were targeting.¹ This highlights how we thought of progression with assisted sprinting: namely, achieving big peak velocities at lesser and lesser assistances. As time goes on from mesocycle to mesocycle—and even macrocycle to macrocycle—the goal is to progress by not needing as much assistance, thereby enhancing assimilation of greater speeds into the athlete’s natural max velocity capability. The less assistance produced by the machine, the more speed generated by the athlete. By gradually reducing pulling forces, those increased velocities become normalized and methodically pared down into the athlete’s natural ability.

Throughout the past couple of years, we’ve placed assisted sprint work primarily in the third to fourth mesocycles, which for us at Loyola falls in the mid/late October to early December range (though we do continue to microdose during the season). The reason for implementation in late fall is threefold:

1. 1. As a further progression or intensification for max velocity training.

 

1. 1. On the practical side, we don’t have an indoor track, so we have to work within the limitations of an approximately 50- to 55-meter wall-to-wall straightaway of rollout track when the weather turns in Chicago. This makes fly sprints rather difficult and speed endurance reps untenable. With that in mind, we rely on assisted sprinting, since it allows us to achieve supramaximal and maximal velocities within a 35- to 40-meter sprint.

 

1. 1. In the case of Eric and Mackenzie’s long-term development—having done countless repetitions of fly sprints, wicket progressions, and any other types of max velocity and/or max velocity qualitative work over their career—in the last two years, assisted sprints served as a mode of speed training through which to challenge well-refined skills in a novel way.

 

Generally speaking, we found that Mackenzie had her best sessions when we integrated assisted work first, followed by max velocity/full approach, whereas Eric benefitted from unassisted work followed by assisted. More specifically, we had two slightly different methods for assisted speed work, one for Mackenzie and one for Eric. They did, however, do some crossover sessions where they used the other method just for variation’s sake.

With Mackenzie, we often used complexes of higher assistances followed by slightly lower assistances; for example, a few sets of 5 kilograms followed by 4 kilograms. With Eric, the concept of the sessions was similar to what we did with resisted work on the 1080—we would surf from a lower assistance, riding a wave up to a higher assistance for a rep or two before sliding back down to try to carry those velocities achieved at the high assistances down to the lower assistances. The progression through the macrocycle was to utilize less and less assistance; 5 kilograms was phased out by the time the season started.

This is all anecdotal, but a good analogy to use in understanding assisted sprint work is to think of 1 kilogram of assistance as 1.0 m/s tailwind. So, 2 kilograms is similar to 2.0 m/s, 3 kilograms to 3.0 m/s, 4 kilograms to 4.0 m/s, and so on. I have no evidence for that, but I’ve found it helpful in understanding dosage, prescription, progression, and programming for assisted sprint work.

This is anecdotal, but a good analogy to use in understanding assisted sprint work is to think of 1 kilogram of assistance as 1.0 m/s tailwind, says @BobThurnhoffer. Share on X

For Mackenzie, in the fall we favored complexes consisting of sets of 5 kilograms’ assistance followed by 4 kilograms. We found that the 4-kilogram reps were potentiated by the slightly stronger 5-kilogram pull. We mostly worked that type of complex while segmenting it with full approach work to be sure that increased speed levels weren’t outgrowing approach development. Occasionally, we added a segment of a few reps at 3 kilograms at the end to see how close the peak velocities achieved at 3 kilograms were to 4 kilograms.

Later, during indoor, Mackenzie achieved big peaks at 5 kilograms and 4 kilograms, so we phased down to 3 kilograms and lived there for the duration of the season. When administering assisted sprints, it’s important to not have too much variety in pulling force within a session so the athlete can lock into a rhythm and cadence while becoming further attuned to the nature of the pull. Midway through the indoor season, she was regularly hitting 9.5 m/s-9.6 m/s peak velocity at 3 kilograms.

Video 1. Mackenzie on an assisted sprint rep. This is all rollout track in a student rec center. In this particular session, we segmented six assisted sprints of approximately 40 meters at 3-kilogram pull followed by six full approaches with no takeoff. We closed the session with timed single-leg depth jumps (discussed further below).

Over the course of fall training with Eric, we wouldn’t do complexes—instead, we used a chiastic structure working from 4 kilograms up to 5 kilograms and back to 4 kilograms, with the intent of converting peak velocities from 5 kilograms to 4 kilograms. As training progressed, the sessions evolved into 3kg-4kg-3kg, targeting 3-kilogram peak velocities, and eventually moved to 2kg-3kg-2kg, where 2 kilograms was the focal point. In that sense, the game we played was to see how close he could come to his peak velocities achieved at high assistances down at lower assistances, which became a source of motivation for him each time we worked on it.

Below, you’ll see a session from the latter stages of the fall, where he had a breakthrough at 2 kilograms, hitting a peak of 11.15 m/s. In that sense, it was always the back half of the session that was most critical for development.

For Eric, channeling those big velocities toward the lesser assistances over the course of the season proved effective. In other words, transitioning from actual overspeed reps to assisted sprints seemed to allow for greater transfer. By overspeed, I mean hitting velocities the athlete would not be able to create on their own, even in perfect conditions; whereas, by assisted sprints, I mean using the 1080 to aid the athlete in hitting speeds they are likely capable of producing on their own in ideal or close to ideal conditions.

Throughout the macrocycle, we favored segmented sessions packaging full approach work with assisted sprints. Combining those within a session while bracketing them as separate components seemed to sift more speed into the approach work. Intensity in one aspect of a session begets intensity in subsequent aspects of a session, provided volumes are kept within a reasonable range. Once the season began, we paid more attention to density patterns and reviewed assisted sprints once every two weeks in reduced quantity.

Video 2. Eric on an assisted rep during the same session as seen in the clip above of Mackenzie. In this instance, Eric had already completed four full approaches with no takeoff; then we did six assisted sprints of approximately 40 meters.

To complete the training effect of assisted sprints for long jumpers, the takeoff leg must endure subsequent improvements in specific forms of reactive strength, says @BobThurnhoffer. Share on X

To round out this examination of assisted sprint training, I want to contextualize the training effect brought on by assisted sprints by recognizing the corresponding effect at takeoff. Meaning that, in order to complete the training effect of assisted sprints for long jumpers, the takeoff leg must endure subsequent improvements in specific forms of reactive strength as well. When considering transfer in any context, it’s essential to examine training effects holistically—otherwise, dysfunction can ensue. With that, we’ll turn to the last section, pairing distinct modes of depth jumps with assisted sprints to culminate the training effect. 

Multi-Jump Corollary to Complement Increased Velocity at Takeoff

It’s no secret that increased velocity is vital for further long jumping. That increase, however, has a cascading effect on every element of the event—most notably, it minimizes time available for takeoff. It’s not enough to simply train to get faster: Any speed upgrade has to be calibrated into the various elements involved in the long jump, especially the takeoff. This year, we added single-leg depth jumps as a consistent, weekly multi-jump activity in order to address the dilemma of having fractionally reduced time to express force into the board. In that sense, I thought it wasn’t enough to simply administer assisted sprints to gain in max velocity potential; there also had to be substantive gains in unilateral reactive strength to bring those training gains into completion.

Any promotion in speed development for a long jumper must be underscored with adequate advancements in elasticity for takeoff. Furthermore, adding single-leg depth jumps on assisted sprint days seemed like a natural fit. It sent a clear signal to the body of what we wanted to train: speed + faster ground reaction forces. This gave each athlete confidence that they could handle more speed at takeoff, and the vertical nature of the depth jump paired logically with the max velocity work.

There are several more reasons for the choice to do single-leg depth jumps:

1. 1. Mackenzie and Eric both learned to thrive in the weight room on unilateral static lifts. Our sports performance coach, Dave Vitel, did a wonderful job progressing their key static lifts into unilateral dominant eccentrics and isometrics, often with the heel lifted off the ground. These lifts served as another step toward greater specificity in the weight room to complement our sprint and jump practices.

 

1. 1. Unilateral depth jumps are more specific to the long jump takeoff, and we saw it as a rational progression from the bilateral depth jumps done in previous years.

 

1. 1. Since their natural tendency was to favor longer ground contact times and greater vertical impulses at takeoff, we administered single-leg depth jumps in a particular way. We could have done depth jumps with the progression being to raise the boxes gradually; however, that would favor large ground reaction forces through longer ground contacts. Instead, we capped the height of the boxes at 18 inches for Eric and 12 inches for Mackenzie, typically doing 6-9 jumps each leg once a week after approach, max velocity, and/or assisted/overspeed work from late September through the majority of the indoor season with a focus on speed of movement.

 

Early in the fall we only did six each leg; later, once we had graduated from short approach jump progressions, we left that behind in favor of added full approach volumes and an uptick to nine single-leg depth jumps per leg each session. During the indoor season, we backed off to 3-5 each leg per session for maintenance purposes and held off at times based on the continual overload of competition jumping.

Instead of progressing by height, we progressed by time to get used to expressing large forces in minimal time. The idea here was to target ground contact times similar to elite long jump takeoffs.² I used the Coach’s Eye app to time ground contact on the depth jumps and monitored it throughout the season. In that sense, the activity never changed, but the data analysis allowed us to methodically track progress over time.

We elected to not advance the activity by increasing height, since that would not address the issue of decreased time available at takeoff as effectively as tracking ground contact time at the same height over the course of a season. It’s a subtle difference, but it has implications on the specific nature of the training effect. In this case, our choice on administration of single-leg depth jumps favored faster reactivity off the ground compared to the alternative. Over the season, Mackenzie improved from .18 down to .155; Eric went from .21 to .19. In retrospect, Eric would’ve been better served using a 15-inch box.

It’s critical to not target shorter ground contact times in jumping activities, or sprinting for that matter, until sufficient force application is stabilized, says @BobThurnhoffer. Share on X

Overall, I felt this activity equipped the takeoff leg for added velocity and gave each athlete confidence they could handle it. I waited until this year—both athletes’ senior year—to incorporate single-leg depth jumps, because I see it as a very advanced multi-jump activity that shouldn’t be conducted without suitable long-term development. Furthermore, it’s critical to not target shorter ground contact times in jumping activities, or sprinting for that matter, until sufficient force application is stabilized.

Panoramic View

To close, I’d like to offer a few thoughts on assisted sprinting as a whole. Looking back at the past few years spent experimenting and refining approaches to assisted sprint training, I now feel as if I didn’t do enough of it 2-3 years ago. An incubation period must occur as an athlete adopts and adapts to assisted sprinting, but the fear of diving in must be overcome by clever initiation tactics. Any athlete can finish a max velocity or late-stage acceleration session with 1-3 reps of assisted sprinting with a light pull of 2 kilograms. Over time, they acclimate and can handle greater pulls; then, once adaptation further solidifies over time and intensity builds, pulling forces can be reduced, thereby offering even greater opportunities for speed maturation.

I now see assisted sprinting as the greatest element the 1080 Sprint has to offer, since you can easily control and program it through the machine. When executed well, assisted work can enhance sprinting economy. If the pulling forces match the buy-in of the athlete, it will allow them to sell out to greater vertical force application, applying forces at ground strike earlier than they would otherwise. This will reduce over-pushing late into ground contact and enhance front-side dominant mechanics, since displacement is secured through the pulling force. As comfort with attacking assisted sprints grows, neural adaptations are enhanced, reactivity of the ankle complex evolves, and coordination of limb exchange is amplified. We’ve augmented our assisted sprint training protocols with the methods mentioned above and will continue to do so in the years to come.

When executed well, assisted work can enhance sprinting economy, says @BobThurnhoffer. Share on X

The plan heading into outdoors was to nurture our unassisted/unresisted sprinting through extensification, utilizing longer efforts of complete sprints and sprint-float-sprint protocols between 50 meters and 90 meters, along with extending assisted sprint efforts into the 50-meter to 60-meter realm favoring 2-kilogram to 3-kilogram pulls—but the pandemic meant otherwise. The idea was to expand our sprinting and assisted sprinting reps into slightly longer efforts, stabilizing greater levels of speed while enhancing coordination of limb exchange over incrementally longer distances. After all, comfort with elevated velocities is required for sifting greater levels of speed onto the runway and coordinating it into the approach rhythm and takeoff.

Exposure breeds familiarity, familiarity breeds confidence, confidence breeds applicability, and applicability breeds transfer. Combining the methods for improved max velocity set forth here with the schemes for power development provided in the article on resisted sprints allows for several raw ingredients to jumping farther: composure with increasing velocity so it can be incorporated down the runway, improved elasticity for faster reactivity, and enhanced rate of force development for rapid power expression capabilities at takeoff.

With some strategies in speed/power development in place, in the next article we’ll look at joining those physical gains with skillful execution in the long jump approach. A key theme moving forward will be ensuring that gains in speed/power don’t grow faster than long jump skill acquisition.

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. Some of these thoughts were triggered through a conversation at dinner with Joseph Coyne, Keith Herston, and Jon DeGrave the night before Coyne put on a clinic at Florida State University in July 2018.

2. Referencing IAAF studies in biomechanics, World Athletics Research Centre

In the current “Information Age” of strength and conditioning, young coaches can get lost in the vast ocean of information. Social media, journals, blogs, podcast- and subscription-based services: The pool of information is ever-growing. New methods and practices are being developed daily, while old-school methods continue to produce solid athletic outcomes. So, what is a coach supposed to do? Hold to the tried-and-true and risk being left behind? Jump at every new method and hope to gain an advantage, but risk having it fall flat?

This is where the concept of training principles comes in. There is an opening phrase that makes the rounds on strength coach Twitter every now and then, which goes something like, I’m not an Olympic coach, or I’m not a Westside coach, or I’m not a 5-3-1 coach, or I’m not a triphasic coach, and so on. I guess that the point of this declaration is to demonstrate how the coach is not biased toward one system over another. While this looks good and open-minded, I think it is potentially dangerous. What is the limiting principle keeping these coaches from hopping from one program to the other or mixing too many methods at once?

Ralph Waldo Emerson stated, “As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods.” Principles are the North Star that keeps a coach on track through a sea of information. They don’t dictate exact bearings, but rather maintain a generalized course toward the objective.

I believe every coach, especially young coaches, should develop a set of guiding principles for their programming and training, says @Tate_Tobiason. Share on X

I believe every coach, especially young coaches, should develop a set of guiding principles for their programming and training. These principles should be broad, yet clear in their objectives, providing the framework by which a coach can decide whether a new method may be worth their time. Change for the sake of change is reckless, but by establishing guiding principles, change for the better is made possible, while simultaneously protecting against rash knee-jerk reactions.

For me, a principled approach to training began back when I was a young intern at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Back in the day, Boyd Epley and Mike Arthur developed a list of 10 “Husker Power Principles,” which they hung on the wall and treated as if they were the Ten Commandments. As a young coach, my opinions on training constantly changed with whatever rabbit hole I dove down, and thus I thought these principles were too rigid and narrow-minded, and I treated them as methods rather than guiding principles.

As my time at Nebraska progressed, I developed more of a relationship with Mike Arthur and began to probe him about these principles. Now, if you have ever met this soft-spoken man, you know that he is a wealth of knowledge, but sometimes getting an answer from him is like pulling teeth. Eventually, I learned that he got the idea for these principles after reading Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. By examining high performers in society, you can reverse-engineer effectiveness down to common habits or principles.

A similar concept can be found in Ray Dalio’s book, Principles. By examining what had worked and what hadn’t over the years at Husker Power, Coach Arthur outlined the underlying principles on which the program had built its success.

After hearing this, and reading the mentioned texts, I wanted to develop my own set of principles. Setting out, I began to examine successful training programs, trying to understand why they were successful. From the collegiate realm of Husker Power to the powerlifting realm of Louie Simmons and the track and field realm of Charlie Francis, I found common trends. Paired with first-hand experience, I started to form the following principles.

Principle 1 – “Athlete-First” Training

If you have been coaching for any amount of time, chances are you have heard the phrase “Athletes will not care how much you know, until they know how much you care about them.” Far too often, coaches get so caught up in boosting KPIs or demonstrating our knowledge of the field that we end up alienating our athletes. Not to say that KPIs are not important, but rather that they do not tell the whole story, especially in team sports. This took me awhile to understand, coming from a powerlifting background where the numbers did not lie.

Coaching, first and foremost, is a people business. Learn to listen to your athletes. Having a good relationship with a player may provide you with better and more honest insight than any screening tool. Coaching should be geared toward furthering their career, not your ego. I’m looking at you, social media coaches. As Bill Walsh puts it, the score takes care of itself. Focus on your athletes as individual human beings first, and you’ll be surprised to see how many other outcomes fall favorably into place.

Principle 2 – Ground-Based Training

Plain and simple, the majority of sports are played on the ground. Athletes need to learn how to display force and power into the ground to obtain maximal athletic output. Unstable surfaces may be great for rehab, but we are performance coaches. You may argue that unstable surface training expands the toolbox of an athlete’s ability, but I would counter that until you pour the foundation, set the frame, and hang the drywall, you do not need a Stubby Nail Eater in your tool pouch. Principles are not about demonizing certain movements, but rather putting them in the proper context.

Principles are not about demonizing certain movements, but rather putting them in the proper context, says @Tate_Tobiason. Share on X

Principle 3 – Power-Strength Training Split

Strength is the underlying quality for all athletic movement. It doesn’t matter how quickly you can move if it isn’t of any substance. On the flip side, strength levels only matter up to the point where your opponent is better able to display their strength levels. Therefore, I construct my training split into specific power and strength days.

On power days, we prioritize bar velocity with the ability to target specific sections of the velocity spectrum. Furthermore, by expanding the day to focus on high-velocity explosive movements, I don’t tend to worry about the Olympic versus non-Olympic debate. It allows me the possibility to start with some good old-fashioned power cleans and move on to trap bar jumps. Moreover, on strength days, we prioritize mass—whether it be building mass or moving mass. Primary lifts on this day—such as squat, bench, and deadlift—can have a velocity prescription, although it will be on the lower end of the continuum.

Principle 4 – Heavy-Light or High-Low Training Split

While 100% effort is required to improve athletic performance, 100% intensity is not always required. In fact, it can be counterproductive. A mentor of mine told me that strength coaches would be better described as “stress managers.” It is our job to know when to push adaptation via high stress and when to back off to allow adaption to take hold. Examine some of the great coaches of history: Their programs followed this principle, understanding that athletes require high-quality stimuli to induce adaptation, but realizing that high intensities of training are unsustainable day after day.

Principle 5 – Progressive Overload

As the athlete progresses, so should the challenges the athlete faces. Progressive overload can take on a variety of forms other than the common “add five pounds per week” mantra. Load is the accumulation of total reps, weight, and form/range of motion. The goal should be to challenge athletes weekly by making incremental changes that increase total load.

For example, if an athlete has three sets of five reps on dumbbell shoulder press, and they complete 40-45-50 pounds for their three sets, rather than attempting to increase every set by 5-10 pounds each week and risk failing, they could instead perform 45-45-50 pounds in Week 2 and 50-50-50 pounds in Week 3. Total load will have increased from 675 to 750 pounds lifted over the three weeks.

Athletes need to be challenged off the field, so they can be a challenge for their opponents on the field, says @Tate_Tobiason. Share on X

The goal should be to challenge athletes weekly by making incremental changes that increase total load. Athletes need to be challenged off the field, so they can be a challenge for their opponents on the field.

Principle 6 – Successive Patterning

Establishing proper movement patterns is key in the weight room. Start with the basics (squat, hinge, push, pull, stabilize) and move on from there. As coaches, we sometimes spend too much time hammering home the basics, or we skip over them altogether. Establishing a base is key, but don’t be afraid to move on to more advanced tasks.

An overhead squat with a dowel is great for teaching freshmen to move correctly, but not for a senior who has already been around the block. A good coach will not only teach the athlete the ABCs of movement, but also teach them how to string these movements together on the field.

Principle 7 – Appropriate Energy System

In the weight room, training from sport to sport will not differ greatly. However, on the field, the nuance of athletic development shows itself. Each sport has unique energy system demands and should be trained accordingly. Soccer and football players may both cover a lot of ground, but one is a free-flowing sport, while the other has short breaks in-between plays.

A proper understanding of the energy systems is what separates the good coaches from the great, says @Tate_Tobiason. Share on X

First, identify the work:rest ratio of the sport, the position, and even the style of play run by the coach. Then, implement an appropriate training plan. The goal is to prepare the team for their style of play, not regurgitate a safe textbook answer. A proper understanding of the energy systems is what separates the good coaches from the great.

From Principles to Outcomes

Principled training is not so much about creating success as it is preventing failure. It’s about keeping us away from the rocky shorelines that are injury-plagued, losing seasons that ultimately result in athletes watching from the stands. While my principles have helped me have success with my athletes, more importantly, they have helped keep my athletes safe, healthy, and progressing in a state of improvement.

I encourage every reader to create their own guiding principles that they can use and follow throughout their career. In a world full of information and emotionally charged debates, it is important to have a North Star to keep the ship on course. So, do you have a guiding star, or do you find yourself afloat in a sea of training ambiguity?

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

Your first year as a coach, whether as a graduate assistant or an intern, is a unique and challenging one. Often that struggle is due to one or more of the reasons below:

• You just finished playing collegiately and therefore still see yourself as an athlete.
• You have a hard time balancing your personal relationships with the athletes and your professional responsibility to instruct and educate.
• You excelled at your sport and feel you are already a good coach.
• You excelled in the weight room and feel you are already a good strength and conditioning coach.

There is a lot of information on social media these days about improving yourself as a coach, but little out there on how to begin that process in your first year in the job. I wrote this article to give you a greater understanding of what it is like to be a coach and how to get the most from your graduate assistantship/internship.

1. Have Great Time Management

Being in graduate school and working full-time as a coach isn’t easy! As an international student, I had to take three classes (nine hours per week) and was given three teams to coach during my first semester. The amount of time I had to spend doing schoolwork and doing my job was overbearing at times.

When you have sessions as early as 6 a.m. and don’t get back to your dorm room after night class until 9 p.m., it can be tough. Much like our athletes who juggle their time between classes, practices, lifts, and social activities, your schedule will be tough but doable with the correct time management.

A piece of advice: the sooner you set your schedule and organize your time between the office, classroom, and library, the easier the transition into grad school and coaching becomes. Any extended periods of downtime you have in the office should be seen as opportunities to get some schoolwork or programming done, or to engage in some structured learning (like reading an article or watching a presentation).

You ask your athletes to get 1% better every day, manage their time effectively in order to get adequate sleep, and eat enough food to stay energized and recover from practice, but you have to walk the talk too! Buy a planner and get organized.

Buy a planner and get organized, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

2. Be Vulnerable

When I first started as a graduate assistant (GA) strength and conditioning coach, I didn’t ask the head strength coach anything. I didn’t ask what he did with the teams before I got them; what he thought about my program; what he thought about the way I was training them; what he thought about my periodization model, loading, exercise selections, etc.

There were two reasons for this: pride and fear. He had been in the profession for four years and, even though I had previously been a personal trainer in England, this was my first semester training American collegiate teams.

Did I need some help and guidance? Absolutely! But I avoided asking as I didn’t want him thinking I didn’t know what I was doing; it was this threat of perceived ignorance that stopped me from asking for help.

After two months or so I finally asked for his help only to discover what will surely come as no surprise: he was actually very helpful and supportive when answering my questions, and gave me crucial insight and knowledge I could use to improve my programs. Needless to say, from that point on I talked to him on a daily basis about my athletes and our programs.

The biggest problem I have experienced and see other GAs struggle with is being vulnerable. We are too proud and/or scared to make mistakes. But this is how we learn!

There are countless stories of famous inventors and athletes who made many mistakes in their careers, but they learned from them and became better because of this failure and learning process. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask your head coach something you aren’t sure of. The likelihood is they will respect you more for asking.

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and ask your head coach something you aren’t sure of, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

3. Ask Specific Questions

If you ask the coaches you work for broad, wide-reaching questions such as how they condition the team or how important nutrition is for athletic performance, that can actually be counterproductive! Everyone is busy, time is precious, and interrupting a supervisor’s thought process to ask a broad question isn’t ideal. Asking the right question is a skill, and focusing on specific, well-timed questions can be a gamechanger for a GA/intern’s relationship with their supervisors.

Pre-session, when everything is set up and the athletes aren’t in yet, is a great time to ask these questions; mid-lift is not. This distinction might sound obvious, but when I was an intern often I wanted the answers to my questions immediately.

For example, asking about an athlete’s power clean form mid-session isn’t the right time. That’s the time to listen to the coaches around you, to hear their coaching cues and the individual feedback they give the athletes, and to write all of these points down.

After the session is when you can get the notepad out, go back to your original questions, and ask the coaches. They will be impressed that you wrote down their cues and took the care to even have a notepad and pen, and will be grateful you didn’t ask them the questions when they were trying to coach multiple athletes at once.

Timing of questions is crucial—you want the coaches’ best answer so you have to know the best time to ask.

4. Build a Great Relationship With Athletic Trainers

Strength coaches and athletic trainers (ATs) work towards the same goal: both want their athletes to be high-performing, injury-free, and available to play every game. For preventing and rehabilitating injuries, a strength coach and AT overlap in their job descriptions. Therefore, communication and cooperation with the AT staff is crucial in this process to ensure the best care for the athlete.

Injured players often have training contraindications, which means a modified strength and conditioning program. There needs to be clarity and a specific purpose for these sessions in order for the athlete to maximize their time in the weight room. Great communication and similar training philosophies between a strength coach and an athletic trainer can really set your athletic performance model apart from others.

My AT and I are constantly sharing articles, screenshots, podcasts, and Twitter and Instagram links with each other—iron sharpens iron. You will likely share a room with this person on the road, spend a lot of time together at practices, and will both come up with the most appropriate tests for your athletes when testing week rolls around.

If you have a data tracking system (we use Kinexon at Furman), having your AT take an active role in this is crucial. We text our head coach every day with a report on what we saw from the data at practice. If the relationship between a strength coach and AT isn’t healthy, then everything they do will be sub-optimal.

As a young strength coach, your ATs should be a constant source of information. I was fortunate at the University of Alabama in Huntsville because some of the ATs were CSCS certified, which made conversations about programs, requirements of the athlete in the weight room, and return-to-play protocols that much easier.

I’m entering my sixth year as a strength and conditioning coach in the US, and I’ve realized that this relationship is as important as the relationship you have with your head coach and players, so make sure it’s a healthy one!

5. Learn From All Your School Classes

In some cases, the Master’s program you choose will be directly related to the coaching field you are working in: for example, a Master’s in Exercise Science, Coaching, or Strength and Conditioning.

But this isn’t always the case. I earned a Master’s in Management with a focus on Human Resource Management, but my main focus was pursuing a career in strength and conditioning coaching. Even though I wasn’t passionate about 80% of the classes I took, some of them were brilliant for developing my coaching philosophy and role as a strength coach.

I took a leadership class and my professor was one of the best public speakers and educators I ever had in college. Thanks to his class, I developed a greater awareness of the type of leader I was and the various class projects that semester really challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and embrace public speaking. Even though your master’s may or may not be relevant to your job and career path, there are still opportunities to learn as a coach.

Even though your master’s may or may not be relevant to your job and career path, there are still opportunities to learn as a coach, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

You will likely find that there are other GAs in your classes. Use that as an opportunity to get to know them. I had various sport coach GAs in my classes who I still know, one of whom is now in the same conference as me and one who is the head soccer coach at the same school we graduated from.

6. Have an Insatiable Appetite for Learning

Learn, learn, learn! Before I had the GA coaching position, I thought I knew what it meant to be a coach. That first year showed me how much I needed to learn if I wanted to really make an impact in this profession.

My appetite for learning is as strong as ever; the imposter syndrome still keeps me on edge and I’m grateful for it. Learning is fun when it’s your passion and you know that knowledge will positively impact people.

Once your studies are done for the semester and your finals week is over, use that as a great opportunity to finally read what you want to read, study what you want to study, and geek out over training articles and continued professional education content.

It’s also a great time for reflection: look back on the semester with your teams, assess how you did, and ask your head strength coach and head coach for feedback. Seek out this information, the truth will always make you a better person and coach.

7. Manage Your Money

If you are working as an intern and getting paid, you are in the minority and you should cherish every dollar you get. Internships and graduate assistant jobs are a time when you are working to gain experience and learn, not to be paid for being a novice and having no experience in the field.

You have to go into these roles with humility and recognize that you can’t bemoan the fact that you are working for free because you have nothing to offer. You are at the bottom of the food chain and your job is to assist in any way you can. The same goes for any industry: an internship is phase one and you have to earn the right to get paid for skills that you are acquiring.

So my advice to a graduate assistant coach or intern is to manage your money very carefully. Sleep on a buddy’s couch, ask for a meal plan, pack your own lunches rather than eating out because it’s convenient, and ask if the facility has a nutrition station that is available to you.

I was given three shirts and two shorts as a summer intern at a Division I school, and mid-week laundry at my buddy’s house was the norm. I wore those shirts out but didn’t ask for more gear because I wanted to earn it and I knew being an intern was a unique period in my career. I’m a firm believer that you’ll earn what you earn; phase one is about survival, not accumulating disposable income.

8. Turn Your Social Media Into an Educational Tool

The days of posting pictures of you partying are gone. You’re a coach now, so you must see yourself as a working professional and your social media as an online resume. I’m not saying you suddenly need to post pictures of the books you’re reading, leadership quotes you like, or videos of your squats, or even that you can’t post anything personal.

However, you must be more aware of who your audience is now. If your profile is public, I can guarantee your new athletes will look at your profile, as well as your coaches and administrators. Make sure there’s no current content that could immediately jeopardize your position, and from here on out: be aware of your audience and act accordingly when deciding what to post.

Taking inventory of who you follow is also important. As you progress in your career you will start to seek out coaches you admire and follow them on various social media platforms. This might take some time; I remember when I first started out I had no clue who was who in the industry.

Admittedly, social media back in 2015 was very different from today where it seems every strength coach shares content of some sort or is at least visible online. To get started, ask your head coach who they respect and who puts out some great content. Follow those people and turn your social media feeds into an educational tool rather than a time-sapping, brain-numbing distraction.

I did a social media inventory this summer during the COVID-19 pandemic and made a conscious decision to use my social media pages for educational purposes. I unfollowed random people, followed some new people whose content I liked, set an app limit on my Twitter and Instagram accounts, and took back some control over my social media time.

Now when I go online I see my close friends, family members, and professionals I admire; these steps have had a big creative influence on my programs since I came back to work. Use social media as continued education, not as a break from work—it can do so much more for you than that.

Use social media as continued education, not as a break from work—it can do so much more for you than that, says @SCoach_Aldo. Share on X

Your first year coaching is such an important time for you to grow and develop. I hope my words have been an encouragement and will provide direction for you to maximize your time as a graduate assistant or intern. To summarize, take these tips:

• Manage your time efficiently
• Be vulnerable
• Ask great questions
• Build a relationship with the support staff
• Apply your degree content to your job
• Learn something new every day
• Manage your money
• Use social media for good

Thank you for reading. Good luck out there!

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

Are your athletes training great but performing poorly? Do you find that sometimes their heads are getting in the way? Are they worrying about the future, such as the next competition or competitor? Have they mentioned negative thoughts racing through their minds?

If this is the case, how much time do you spend working on training the mental side of the game? If the above describes you or your athletes, there is hope—learning how to train the brain while training the body is the key to having a champion’s mindset.

As a licensed clinical social worker with a private therapy practice in the Philadelphia suburbs, I see anxiety with children and teens growing at an alarming rate. Anxiety is considered an epidemic right now among our youth, and athletes are not immune to this phenomenon. “Nearly 1 in 3 of all adolescents ages 13 to 18 will experience an anxiety disorder In the United States,” according to the National Institutes of Health. While athletes spend hours working on their physical preparation, game skills, and specific techniques, very little time is spent on “the mental game.”

As a therapist and a sprint coach, I see a great need for teaching our children and athletes how to exercise their brains in ways that will help them throughout life, says @jovif10. Share on X

As a therapist and a sprint coach, I see a great need for teaching our children and athletes how to exercise their brains in ways that will help them throughout life.

Mindset, Self-Regulation, Goal Setting, and Imagery

As the famous Yogi Berra saying goes, “Ninety percent of the game is half mental.” Others, meanwhile, have suggested that 90% of the game/sport is mental and 10% is physical. If this is true, we have reached a sad state of affairs in youth sports.

Parents will pay top dollar to give their children specific technical training, such as batting lessons, pitching lessons, etc., and send their kids to special trainers for speed and strength and to top club teams. However, very little (if any) time is spent working on the mental side of competing. Instead, that mental aspect is often neglected until an issue arises. Athletics does not appear to treat the mental aspect of training the same way they do the physical and technical.

It is not uncommon for a parent to wait until a pattern of underperforming or persistent anxiety before or during competitions forms before reaching out to me to get their child help. When I explore with parents what their child has been doing that helps in the area of mental training, most respond with “not much.” I have had numerous calls and emails from parents contacting me right before a big competition.

It is important to explain to parents and athletes that while this mental training does help, it is not instantaneous, and there are no quick fixes. Just like speed training, this also takes time to develop. Many coaches know this is an issue and realize the importance, but they find it hard to fit it in and/or do not know how to address it.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), “sport psychology is a proficiency that uses psychological knowledge and skills to address optimal performance and well-being of athletes, developmental and social aspects of sports participation, and systemic issues associated with sports settings and organizations.” What often separates good athletes from great athletes is the time spent working on their mental game. Many elite athletes work with a sports psychologist or a mental skills coach in order to perfect the mental aspect of their game and/or sport. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady—who has played in nine Super Bowls (winning six), with four picks as Super Bowl MVP, and 14 Pro Bowl appearances—started using mental coaching while still at the University of Michigan.

Working with a sports psychologist or mental skills coach helps athletes improve performance and consistency by working on their mindset (such as managing expectations and time management), their emotional regulation, and their use of imagery. Tom Brady is hardly unique, as elite athletes are no strangers to using mental skills to perfect their sports: In the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Canadians came to Sochi with eight sports psychologists, while the United States brought along nine (with five just for its snowboarding and ski programs alone). 

How Mindset Impacts Performance

“Negative thinking is almost 100% effective.” –Bob Rotella, sports psychologist

There are some common behaviors, emotions, and thinking patterns that can negatively affect an athlete’s performance. How an athlete thinks about an upcoming competition will significantly influence their attitudes, actions, and emotions. Coaches need to be able to recognize these factors and learn ways to address them.

An athlete’s state of mind can have an immense impact on sports performance, directing them to succeed or fail. Negative thinking is a thought process where individuals begin to see the worst in everything. Many athletes have a negative mindset without even realizing it—complaints about workouts, weather, performances, or coaches are all elements of a negative mindset. Maybe you’ve heard athletes say things like:

• We have to run in the rain?
• I can’t do this.
• This is too hard.
• The coach just doesn’t like me.

These are all examples of language that does more harm than good. These thoughts are like weeds that will choke out the positive beliefs if allowed to grow. The more we feed these negative thoughts, the stronger and more widespread they will get.

Let’s look at a visual I use with clients and athletes about negative thoughts, or what we also call cognitive distortions. There is a story (attributed by some to be an old Cherokee Indian legend) of two wolves that is a great illustration of a battle we all have in life. The story goes something like this:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil—he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”  

He continued, “The other is good—he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you—and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

You have a battle going on inside you that is eternal; it will always be there, so you need to learn how to deal with it. The first wolf is easy to feed and appears to be automatic for many. Once you start with a negative thought, they start coming quickly and multiply, and the bigger and stronger the “bad wolf” inside then gets. One negative thought feeds the next, which makes the thoughts stronger and more frequent!

You have a choice of which wolf you want to feed. When you feed the “good wolf,” the “bad wolf” gets weaker. Change the language you use and feed the good wolf. Start telling yourself positive messages, believe in your ability, and begin to move forward instead of being stopped by fear. This is a great lesson to teach our athletes on choosing to feed the right wolf and to practice these new messages on a regular basis. They will not believe it at first, but the more they stop the negative message and feed the “good wolf,” the weaker the “bad wolf” gets over time and loses its power.

The language you use on a regular basis has to be positive. Stopping the negative thoughts in their tracks as well as practicing positive thinking daily is key in having a positive mindset. Choosing to feed the “good wolf” is a change that will leave you feeling happier and healthier.

Staying positive is a skill, and we should work on it daily. An athlete can develop positive affirmations and thoughts in place of the negative thoughts and practice saying them several times a day. Eventually, they will begin to believe it and retrain their brain.

Negative thinking is a mental brick that weighs athletes down and keeps them from reaching their potential. Mental mistakes and setbacks are part of any sport, but if the athlete spends time thinking about the past or worrying about the future, they miss the present! They may be there physically, but they are not there mentally. It’s time to drop the mental brick, let the thought go, and refocus on the present moment.

One way an athlete can put a mistake, setback, or negative thought behind them is to learn to stay in the present. If you want your athletes to perform under pressure to the best of their ability, they need to practice and learn how to stay in the present.

If you want your athletes to perform under pressure to the best of their ability, they need to practice and learn how to stay in the present, says @jovif10. Share on X

“Mindfulness” is a popular term these days, but some people are not sure what it means: Mindfulness is being present without distraction. With the current generation’s on-the-go attitude, the distractions of social media, and the loads of academic work for student-athletes, being present is tough. Practicing mindfulness begins with learning to notice the distraction, letting it go, and then coming back to the present moment.

It may be helpful to develop a mental or physical reminder to assist in letting go and refocusing on the present moment. A method that was first made popular by Dr. Ken Ravizza, a professor of applied sports psychology at Cal State Fullerton, was to place a miniature toilet in the dugout for players of the 2004 Fullerton baseball squad to “flush” their mistakes and move on to the next play. That season the team went on to win the College World Series! Whether you use a visual of “dropping the brick” or “flushing it,” it can help athletes let go and refocus on the here and now.

Strategies for Emotional Regulation

“Believe me; the reward is not so great without the struggle.” –Wilma Rudolph, sprinter

Fear and anxiety can be significant mental blocks for many athletes. It is important for them to recognize anxiety and see how that emotion can push them to success or pull them down. Anxiety is a normal and natural part of life, but not when we are constantly anxious about everything. When we can learn to face adversity calmly, we will see great success.

Coaches should be able to not just recognize the negative thinking that occurs with anxiety but also understand the physiological symptoms: shortness of breath, feeling hot, racing heart, and feeling shaky are among the most prominent. If an athlete’s body responds to fear in these ways, they need to first calm their bodies and use self-regulation skills.

Self-regulation is when an individual gains physiological arousal back under control. Deep breathing (or belly breathing) is one way to help athletes self-regulate: Cue them to slowly breathe in through their nose and out through their mouth 10 times, and that will begin to calm them down.

Once the body is calm, they can then tackle the mind. Calm body = calm mind. You can even have the athletes add affirmations while breathing: My body is calm and relaxed, or I am calm and relaxed. Incorporating daily breathing activities into warm-ups or warm-downs can help athletes tremendously.

Fear of failure prevents many athletes from reaching their full potential. This year, I had a sprinter who was coming back from an injury lose a race before even getting to the starting line. During warm-ups, I saw it: fear in the eyes, sweating, dilated pupils, distraction. When checking in with them, they were feeding the “bad wolf” by remembering the last time they raced on that track and got the injury, complaining about being in lane 1, etc.

The sprinter went out and ran just as I expected—not reaching their full potential because their mind had convinced them otherwise. This fear can manifest itself by an athlete not trying as hard as they can or not trusting a coach and doing what is asked of them. These individuals may already have excuses for why they can’t do something, setting themselves up to fail.

Some athletes also exhibit a fear of success. Fear of success—who fears success? I know it may sound strange to some, but this is real. Some individuals are worried about the increased demands and expectations that accompany success. These athletes will do just enough to be good but will not push themselves further: They like to stay in the comfort zone.

With the fear of success also comes the fear of failure. Once an athlete succeeds, they may worry that this will be expected of them: What if they can’t do the same thing again? Someone who experiences this may compete in a very guarded manner, never really giving 100%. They never let themselves and others know what they are actually capable of.

There are a few strategies that can help in overcoming fear and getting your brain in the best mental shape possible:

1. Define what success is to you. Weed out what you think others want and expect and zone in on your definition of success.
2. Set goals and objectives to reach them. When setting goals, a good tool to use is SMART goals. These are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-framed. Make sure goals and objectives are realistic and individual—think about how good you want to be and how much effort you want to invest in the sport.
3. Break goals into daily, monthly, seasonal, and career goals. It is good to start with the long-term goal or the big goal and work your way backward. Then, look at the steps/objectives it will take to achieve this goal.

I like to encourage clients and athletes to make a vision board or map. When they can see what they are working toward, it motivates them and makes the goal more tangible.

It is important to expect setbacks and plan for them, says @jovif10. Share on X

Sometimes an athlete can have a setback, which is an event that they can’t get past: a missed ball, false start, getting beat in a race, missed pass, fumble, or an injury that they can’t seem to get out of their mind. When this happens, they are not fully present and hold themselves back. It is important to expect setbacks and plan for them. All athletes have setbacks and failures, so they should embrace this concept. Every setback has a setup—look for the setup.

Utilizing Guided Imagery

“Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.” –Michael Jordan

Another popular strategy among elite athletes is visualization, or the use of guided imagery. Webster’s defines visualization as the “formation of mental visual images” and “the act or process of interpreting in visual terms or of putting into visible form.” Guided imagery is a relaxation technique based on visualizing pleasant things and body awareness to help individuals create sensory-rich images in their minds and bring about a desired physical response.

Including all the senses—sound, sight, smell, tactile, and taste—will deepen the experience and make it more realistic in the athlete’s mind. Research has shown that when an individual imagines themselves performing a task, the brain sends out electrical signals comparable to when the person actually does the task. Other studies have shown the practical impact that utilizing guided imagery can have on performance.

Athletes can use guided imagery or visualization by consciously controlling a script in their head as a technique to build up their best mental game. They can do this by spending time building resources of past successes and key performances, building future templates, and walking through the event step by step and practicing the skill perfectly.

A few years ago, I worked with a middle distance runner who was having some performance anxiety during competition. This athlete realized how her thoughts were holding her back and causing a lot of unpleasant physical sensations as well. As she was getting ready for the state meet, I helped her develop the perfectly imagined 800-meter run. It was important to incorporate all the senses and make it as real as possible, integrating her own language in the imagery and walking through that ideal race, step by step.

We brought in the temperature, the sounds of the crowd, the feel of the track, the sound of the starting gun, and the sight of the scoreboard, along with some other specifics just for her race. We also came up with key phrases that were unique and important to her, like “turn and burn,” to add to the guided imagery. We ran the script from the morning of the event all the way through the finish, experiencing the feel of winning the state meet.

The idea was to make it as authentic as possible, so it felt like it was really happening when she listened to it. I encouraged the athlete to listen to the script over and over, so that by the time of the big event she’d have already run it 100-plus times in her mind and would feel calm and confident. Can I just tell you the excitement and joy I experienced watching on TV as she ran the exact race we scripted? It was unbelievable! She then gave an interview to a newspaper and used the terms she came up with in the script when describing the race. When we talked later on, she didn’t even remember saying any of it—it was that automatic!

Guided imagery is not something you try once and hope it works, but something you must develop and practice regularly. Guided imagery is also perfect for athletes who are limited in practice due to injury or the amount of practice space. Incorporate guided imagery daily to be at your very best!

Exercise the Brain

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.” –Vince Lombardi

To be at the top of their game, athletes must exercise their brains daily: visualizing and mentally rehearsing how they want to feel, think, perform, and be. Coaches can encourage athletes to stay mindful and be in the present moment, teaching them to let go of the past, learn to be flexible, and adjust to surrounding conditions.

To be at the top of their game, athletes must exercise their brains daily: visualizing and mentally rehearsing how they want to feel, think, perform, and be, says @jovif10. Share on X

Have them change their internal dialogues and fill their brains with positive talk. Have them come up with a mantra and practice deep breathing daily. Tell them to be confident and always believe in themselves—great things will come if you work your brain like you work your body.

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 last several years, there has been an apparent divide on social media about the best ways to train to obtain certain results. What has also become apparent is that, while both participants in the argument have typically had great results, they each advocate for polar extremes of training. Sprinting, for example, has a growing divide over whether to program excessive amounts of submaximal, high-volume tempo work or maximal intensity, low-volume sprint work. As discussed in my previous article, each approach has its pros and cons, but why does training have to be polarized? What makes one training approach right and another training approach wrong? One word: context.

When we talk about context in these conversations, we are often ignored by both training groups and swept under a rug in the discussion. If I approach the monotonous tempo crew and ask “Hey, what about max speed?”, I may get a sarcastic retort consisting of “What about it?” or they may disregard my argument by saying “We get our speed work in at meets!” If I approach the max speed crew and ask “What about endurance?”, I again get a sarcastic response of “What about it?” or my argument is met with the same solution: “We race into shape in meets!”

The irony of all of this is that they each answer my questions similarly, yet totally resent one another’s approach to training and refuse to entertain a happy medium. This middle ground approach, where I tend to be, allows me to use a more holistic training model that revolves around the context of the sport and each individual athlete. I tend to take valuable pieces from both camps of thought in order to design a more well-rounded program, addressing all aspects of speed development rather than one extreme or the other. It doesn’t have to be an either-or approach, and I think that is important to note.

While there is no single approach that will universally apply to everybody I train, I do have several foundational principles that I use when designing a training program. These pillars of my program help guide which approach I use while also encouraging constant reflection in order to refine decision-making to best serve the athlete. There is not an exhaustive list of principles in my training model, and it isn’t meant to devalue core concepts in anyone else’s program, but it contains just a few things that I’ve found particularly valuable over time. Here are six principles that are central to the way that I approach training.

1. Athletes First

A program centered around the athlete allows for you to home in on the most important qualities in the training equation. This is very multifaceted and can be as simple or complex as you make it. Ideally, you use the context around the athlete to direct your initial programming thoughts and build from there. This list contains (but is not limited to): training age, injury history, sport, position, practice schedule, prior training successes and failures, structural variance, current level of performance, and much more.

Contextual programming means that you address the things that matter most to the athlete and their performance in their respective sport(s). With this approach, you may choose to address similar qualities in different athletes with different workouts. Conditioning a soccer player should look much different than conditioning a football player. While speed training for track athletes may look similar to speed training for ball sports, there are components specific to track and field that may not be very useful for ball sport athletes.

Additionally, an athlete who has poor speed might be trained differently than an athlete with great speed. Younger and older athletes may not respond the same to similar training stimuli. While one might bounce back great, another might take a week to recover or even get injured. All of this is to say that a one-size-fits-all approach to training has not generally worked for me personally nor for my athletes. Taking the time to process information, backgrounds, and goals for each athlete I work with has helped guide my training and make it more meaningful overall.

Being mindful of the context behind what the athlete needs from me versus what I need from the athlete has made a large difference in individual responses to training stimuli, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

An athlete with an injury history, especially a lingering injury, should have a unique approach to training compared to an athlete with a clean bill of health. This is not to say that we need to necessarily baby the athlete, but there need to be attempts to strengthen any glaring insufficiencies in training prior to layering on a large workload. These training qualities include movement, strength, stability, endurance, balance, coordination, and much more. Being mindful of the context behind what the athlete needs from me versus what I need from the athlete has made a large difference in individual responses to training stimuli.

This same principle has held true for me in the physical therapy world. Many practitioners (me included) have fallen into a routine where they see a patient with a given ailment and give them similar treatments regardless of their current level of functioning and goals. When shifting the view to see the patient as a whole and providing holistic care, many notice patients are willing to do more, including doing their exercises at home and performing functional tasks as instructed more consistently. In my experience, it also seems to yield much better results both subjectively and objectively. Making the program make sense to the athlete sets you up for more trust in training and subsequent follow-through overall.

2. A Foundation of Movement

To me, sport and overall human performance are based around principles of various movement qualities to achieve success. Centering the way I train around this very basic idea has enabled me and many of my athletes to improve overall efficiency and decrease risk of injury.

One tendency I’ve seen frequently is for football players, and high schoolers in general, to be extremely devoted to the weight room. They train themselves to produce massive amounts of force, yet their performances tell me there is a disconnect somewhere. Focusing on movement economy allows these athletes with high force capabilities to recruit, orient, and utilize their force in more meaningful ways. Conversely, in my experience, poor movement and high forces have been recipes for disaster when it comes to unfavorable situations regarding hamstring injuries, shin splints, sub-optimal performances, and the like.

I have seen many schools of thought on social media try to discredit the importance of movement in overall performance; however, I just can’t see a situation where teaching an athlete to move like the fastest athletes in the world is detrimental. In my opinion, you need to learn the rules of sprinting prior to breaking them.

I just can’t see a situation where teaching an athlete to move like the fastest athletes in the world is detrimental. You need to learn the rules of sprinting prior to breaking them. Share on X

Help an athlete enhance their mastery of sprint technique and understanding of when to apply it, as this is a useful tool for them to have. For example, in team sports we hear a lot about how athletes rarely hit max speed positions that resemble elite sprinting in games. While I agree to an extent, there are times that having that ability is beneficial, especially as it pertains to making open field plays or breaking free against a defense. When in traffic, it is useful to have lower heel recovery, lower knees, and a generally lower center of mass as an athlete reads and reacts to an ever-changing situation. However, once the athlete has made their way out of traffic and has daylight to run, elite top speed mechanics would likely benefit the athlete more to break away rather than the stereotypical team sport movement patterns.

Video 1. While keeping an eye on movements live is effective and meaningful, being able to break down video of an athlete is critical. Not just to understand their habits, but video analysis can also help you determine potential sources of movement insufficiencies and direct your interventions.

3. A Supportive Environment

I attribute a lot of my personal success at both the high school and college levels to a training environment that was conducive to success. Successes were framed in a way that inspired me to keep working hard to improve, whereas things that may usually be seen as failures were presented by the coaches as opportunities to reflect, learn, and grow. My high school coach sent me a message after tearing my ACL and hitting rock bottom: “The way you handle adversity defines your character, you’ve got this!” This type of training environment has a reach that is greater than any single or group of training days. It extends to the person an understanding that while training in most locations is simply a sheet of paper or set of ideas that are tactfully implemented, there is more that goes into the training equation than just doing work, recovering, and repeating.

Athletes are humans with everyday issues like the rest of us, and these issues may manifest outside or within a given training session. This includes problems at home, school stresses, relationship problems, lingering injuries, social disparities, and much more, along with the pressures to perform well every day on their shoulders. Understanding how these complex experiences interact to disrupt sleep, diet, intent, motivation, execution, and other aspects of training may help you provide support in a more meaningful way to really bring out the best in your athletes in the face of all of these potential barriers.

Support does not have to be verbal but being able to read the room and having the ability to adjust your programming on the fly may prove to be more valuable than you might think. A good example is when an athlete clearly lacks energy, is unfocused, and seems tentative or distant. While asking probing questions may be beyond your comfort level, you can certainly adjust intensity, rest durations, overall volume, and the general content of the program to accommodate. You may be surprised at how well they respond to this approach.

Emulating this type of empathic, humanistic approach is very fulfilling and has been one of the biggest staples in my program for what I consider to be success. Surely there are a million ways to approach these delicate situations, and different coaches may feel more comfortable using one approach versus another. I think simply being aware and making safe, easily applicable adjustments in these circumstances will be beneficial to the athlete in some way.

4. Data Collection

The athlete-centered approach I take has led me to develop new ways to frame the training process for the athlete. While it is clear that the goal of training is to improve personal bests and peak performance, I also feel it is important to be consistently competitive with yourself on any given day of training. What I mean here is that while we are raising the ceiling, sometimes athletes can be consumed by the pursuit of hitting personal bests and, eventually, failure to do so may result in a negative sense of self.

I went in-depth on this in my previous article, but the premise is essentially that we can use data to change the athlete’s perception of what constitutes success, concern, and failure. While some may not consider these mindsets to be very important, I would argue that everything that precedes movement is influenced positively, neutrally, or negatively by the psychological state of mind, including things such as self-competence, self-efficacy, self-worth, excitement, motivation, and much more.

This is why I began to track rolling averages in addition to personal bests. When an athlete produces marks in training that are consistently above their rolling average, the personal bests will take care of themselves. The training progression is not linear, which is okay. Helping athletes understand that performances will ebb and flow has helped me keep overall intent, motivation, and performance levels high while also earning athletes’ trust in the process.

When an athlete produces marks in training that are consistently above their rolling average, the personal bests will take care of themselves, says @BrendanThompsn. Share on X

Celebrate all personal bests, but be sure to also celebrate those who consistently perform above the bar that they’ve set for themselves. More opportunities, along with wider windows for success, have helped my athletes have more positive training experiences overall along with improved psychological states throughout.

5. Adaptability

During any given session I monitor several things with each athlete to decide how to proceed with them individually or as a group. Sometimes this consists of 0- to 10-yard starts, jump testing, medicine ball throws, or just an eye test in general. As the data rolls in, I can compare it to their averages to understand more about their current state of performance as it stacks up with previous days, weeks, and months of information.

If it trends above their rolling average, I can continue things as planned and assume that the athlete is in a good physical state to perform that day. If the trends go in the wrong direction, I should be fluid in my plan for that day and opt for something with lower intensity and less volume and figure out how I’m going to make that day productive without negative consequences.

To me, low trends might indicate an athlete is sore, fatigued, burnt out, or having issues outside of the session. Some of these issues may consist of their diet, stress levels, sleep patterns, or other influences that may contribute to their relatively lower outputs. While there is nothing on any given training day that is going to exponentially accelerate the progress of performance, there are an infinite number of things that can totally derail any progression that may be occurring. In the end, it is not worth pushing an athlete to their limit when they are in this physical state. There is much more to be lost than gained in these situations, and in my experience, it is more beneficial to opt for a “less is more” approach to combat what I see.

If the athlete is not ready to adapt to the training stimulus for the day, you may cast them further into a training deficit and prolong their eventual recovery and subsequent readiness to train at a high level. The CNS may just need an additional day of lower workloads or to take time away completely in order to bounce back. While this might be frustrating for the athlete, I believe it lowers the risk of injury and prevents more long-term training complications.

6. Self-Reflection

Many coaches have what they call the “bread and butter” of their program. What I mean by this is there are typically a few aspects of training that are staples in a given program and are uncompromisable and irreplaceable. For me, those staples include improving maximum speed, acceleration capabilities, movement economy, and overall power, among a few other things. Another concept that is important to me is pursuing the minimal effective dose in training the athletes I work with. I always look to maximize my return on investment, as I typically have very little time with them to work on various things.

A pitfall I eventually ran into was continuing to invest time into things that yielded diminishing returns. At one point, athletes coming to my sessions knew that they would either be doing fly 10-yard sprints or 40-yard dashes along with an array of other things on any given day. When the time I invested in this training structure began to show a plateau in results, I was stubborn and continued to implement the same training strategies over and over. I mean, these were my staples! This is what I was known for! Surely compromising these aspects of programming would be too costly to my identity. It was a difficult situation to navigate.

Eventually I was able to see that even though these metrics are extremely valuable, there may be a better use of time in other domains that would still complement the important qualities I was after. We still sprinted at high intensities and frequently, but I had to scrap my simplified approach because athletes were hitting a wall. I thought to myself that the emphasis had to change periodically, similar to the way that we see many coaches periodize programming in the weight room. What I mean by this is that I began changing the overarching themes so that all of my eggs weren’t in one or two baskets all the time.

Had I not possessed the ability to admit I was wrong, my athletes would have wasted time pouring their hearts and souls into workouts that were not yielding the results they used to. Share on X

By cycling through various themes and training densities, accessory components to speed began to improve along with speed itself. This isn’t to say I’ve gotten away from max sprinting, just that I’ve decided to complement the max speed work with other components. I’ve found that when training athletes this way, they tend to tolerate greater volumes of high-quality training while also improving beyond the plateau we seemed to hit with a relatively one-dimensional approach.

Understanding that my niche approach wasn’t universally applicable was the first step in addressing this issue. Initially, it hurt my pride to change my approach, but now I hold very strong feelings about self-reflection and using it frequently to grow. Had I not possessed the ability to admit I was wrong, my athletes would have continued to beat their heads against the wall as they wasted time pouring their hearts and souls into workouts that were not yielding the results they used to.

Develop Your Own Principles

These six principles have helped me become more well-rounded and mindful, and in tune with the athletes I work with, so that I can program in such a way that lays my ego aside in order to do what is best for them. It has helped me hold myself accountable and pushed me to continue evolving as athletes continue to come to me with unique circumstances and individual needs. Being able to identify these needs can be a challenging process but doing so allows me to prioritize certain elements of the training program to push the athlete in a meaningful direction.

I challenge you to come up with a handful of principles of your own that will push you to continue to grow and provide better training opportunities and experiences for the athletes you work with. Share on X

I understand that these principles may not be universally applicable or practical for everybody, and that is okay. I challenge you to come up with a handful of principles of your own that will push you to continue to grow and provide better training opportunities and experiences for the athletes that you work with. Please share them with me if you do, as I know that I don’t have the perfect program, and there are valuable lessons to be learned from everyone. If you consistently stay informed and are able to choose a training approach that works for you and provides objective results for your athletes, I think you will be well on your way to success. There are many roads to Rome—never forget that!

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

Track and field has always been interesting to me due to the nature of the sport. We are the purest form of athletics. We do not rely on a team, ball, or score. The clock and the measuring tape do not lie, and thus every detail must be cultivated and cared for properly.

For me, the weight room has always been a major part of the puzzle. While there may be no one-size-fits-all coaching, the weight room certainly fits into programming for every athlete I have ever coached, whether they are competing on the world stage or developing in their events.

I have had my athletes in a weight room up to five times a week in my career with three days focused on neural training design and two days focused on general training design using regional lifts. I am not shy about being in there often.

The improvements in injury prevention, coordination, blood chemistry, and sprint and jump performances cannot be overlooked. While I believe in a multilateral training system, and that the parts always have to line up to create a complimentary and compatible system, weightlifting cannot and should not be left out of the equation at any level.

Weightlifting cannot and should not be left out of the equation at any level, says @Jake_co. Share on X

In his Freelap Friday article, Todd Lane said track coaches are just full-time strength and conditioning coaches. I couldn’t agree more. If I were doing my same job with a football team that’s what I would be called, and I wouldn’t have to do things much differently except account for athletes with bigger bodies.

Like most track and field coaches, I have always felt it was important for me to have a hand in our weight room programming. Early on in my career I realized I was going to be working in the weight room with my athletes and wanted people to take me seriously, so I earned a CSCS from the NSCA.

I was lucky to start my career as a volunteer for Amy Deem and Calvin Robinson at the University of Miami. In my opinion, they are two of the best in the business. I went through the coaching education system and could not even have begun to write an article like this without the wisdom of Boo Schexnayder.

I am blessed now to work with Chase Madison under the guidance of coach Mike Turk and our head strength and conditioning coach Jim Zielinski, all of whom not only support the work we do in the weight room here, but believe in it as well.

We agree: sprinters and jumpers should all be in the weight room.

Historical Context

Weight room topics of conversation always seem to turn into a debate. However, no one has reinvented the wheel in quite some time, and similarly most weight room protocols were created decades and sometimes even centuries ago. What has changed significantly, though, especially as of late, is the accessibility of these resources, and the increased number of people trying to prove why their methods work.

The human body is a collaboration of many systems, and every practitioner knows that every athlete is different. Between various training ages, misinformation, the influence of performance-enhancing drugs, and the absence of objective evaluation of training systems, defining what works and what doesn’t is subjective. Many coaches have a success story that is attributed to some magical workout or exercise, when in reality, a full picture is needed to properly evaluate it.

Many coaches have a success story that is attributed to some magical workout or exercise, when in reality, a full picture is needed to properly evaluate it, says @Jake_co. Share on X

The arms race of the sport performance and sport science industry has muddled the picture even further. Plenty of strength coaches have begun to market themselves and create catchy names for their systems. This coupled with social media has turned many coaches more focused on being marketers and entrepreneurs than trying to improve sport performance.

I may be the old man yelling at the clouds at this point, but from what I have seen over the years, most of the things people think are cool or new on social media are the opposite of that; they are small parts of an already-existing training program that people package as a miracle drug for the masses.

Why Lifting Matters

When I send my athletes into the weight room, they are leaving the track. It is a weight room. It is not a track room. Things that go on in the weight room do not have to look like the 100-meter dash or the long jump. The goal of the weight room is to supplement what is happening on the track to help reach your key performance indicators.

It is a weight room. It is not a track room. Things that go on in the weight room do not have to look like the 100-meter dash or the long jump, says @Jake_co. Share on X

Weight room velocity is another topic of debate. I have consistently heard bad opinions about athletes not being able to move a bar in the weight room fast enough to be relevant to track speeds and velocities. People will muse about Carl Lewis not lifting and directly apply that to their rationale to keep their athletes out of the weight room.

I am lucky enough to have a Vmaxpro along with some other velocity-measuring devices available to me, but I have never once looked at any of our velocity tracking devices and thought to myself, Man, that is close to our top-end speed.

Intensive tempo running, medicine ball routines, general strength, and many other commonly-used training modalities also do not employ speeds near top-end for a sprinter or jumper, but that doesn’t mean they’re not effective. We simply use technology to make sure we are on track with the factors we are looking for.

Metrics

While I am not looking for weight room movements that mirror those on the track, I am looking for metrics that will improve performance. Power development, absolute strength, and rate of force development are the main contributors to movements that will occur on the track.

Yet if you do not have a well-rounded system that teaches mechanics, employs intensity and plyometrics, and builds track-related skills such as acceleration development, absolute speed, and speed endurance properly, none of this matters. However, if you are building athletes properly on the track, these will improve your athletes’ sprinting and jumping skill.

Power Development

I am in the position of training athletes with experience. While I often joke that some people who arrive in college with decent marks act like they just began training, the obvious truth is that they have more mature bodies and have generally been competing for some time.

We start power development from day one. Even if I was working with younger athletes, I would do the same thing. Power development pairs well with acceleration training and is the major factor in overcoming inertia. We use Olympic lifts in the weight room to help develop this along with our multi-jumps, multi-throws, and intense sprinting. We utilize this all year to some degree.

I liken it to my North Star, as no matter how far we are away from home base, I always return to power training through Olympic lifting protocols. Power development lays the groundwork to build strength for the rest of the year.

I liken it to my North Star, as no matter how far we are away from home base, I always return to power training through Olympic lifting protocols, says @Jake_co. Share on X

The nice thing about Olympic lifts are there are basically no short-term or long-term negative effects. The fatigue or loss of coordination that can come from bilateral static movements is nonexistent with these lifts. While peak power is gone after step three, we are still trying to move the ceiling on this all the time.

Absolute Strength Development

Absolute strength is one of the more debated topics I find on my timeline. Sometimes people aren’t even trying to attack it on purpose but end up doing it because of misunderstandings.

I believe my weight room approach could best be described as meat and potatoes. I say that because we will only do two-to-three lifts per day on our main lifts that have major central nervous system involvement. We get in and get out.

We squat. I mainly use the squat to build up to absolute strength development. Early in the year, we have protocols that use adequate recovery times to maintain power outputs throughout the lifts. Because we load these pretty adequately throughout the year, I keep things simple.

I’m flexible, too: I could probably find a way to do anything anyone has ever talked about in the weight room. It just depends when and how it fits.

Once we have gotten through absolute strength protocols, I discontinue use of heavy statics for the rest of the year. We will switch to ballistic movements like the squat jump, always weighted appropriately depending on depth, to maintain these levels of strength we built while not having to deal with the fatigue, soreness, and potential loss of coordination.

I think it is important to address an elephant in the room on squats, because they have gotten a bad reputation in some circles due to their negative side effects.

One of the most debated topics with squats is depth. We employ below-parallel-depth squats once a week in our general prep and specific prep periods to create tissue tensions at ranges that are not generally stressed in track and field.

All the protocols I employ are specific to the time of the year and what we are doing on the track. We discontinue squats once we start competing to protect the athletes from getting hurt.

That does not mean squatting hurts athletes, but squatting at improper times of the year can. Employing max-velocity runs in-season with too high of a density level can cause the same issues, so this is not just a squatting issue—it’s a training plan issue.

Metabolic and Blood Chemistry

One of the biggest misunderstandings about weightlifting is what is trying to be accomplished. Compatible training designs can vastly affect blood chemistry and the neuroendocrine system. To me, this is one of the most important reasons to be in a weight room. Nervous system activation is right along with this, and the nervous system is generally the biggest difference between higher-level athletes.

While people have begun to understand that you cannot necessarily separate out energy systems, they have forgotten that the complexity of the body requires all of its systems to work together to be successful. When viewing the weight room specifically through the types of contractions or muscles used, people often forget that you are causing other systems to work and be expressed as well.

Steroids are often still thought of as something that makes you stronger, but in most cases they just give you the ability to recover faster to train harder. By using the weight room, we can elicit similar legal effects if used properly.

Power schemes early in the year such as 6×5 on Olympic lifts coupled with slightly lower recoveries than full can teach the body to buffer low levels of lactic acid. Testosterone is often produced on neural-based training schemes in the weight room that have high intensities with plenty of recovery.

The proper use of body building motifs (12-24 exercises x 10-12 reps with no more than 90” recovery) can help facilitate recovery from hard running sessions on a more general training day. Higher-repetition schemes with lower intensities can facilitate growth hormone production which is even more important for younger athletes.

Too many coaches take credit for their athletes’ success when it was really just due to natural maturation of the body; however, employing these training schemes with youth can speed up training age and maturation effectively. And, if done properly, will not add unnecessary mass through hypertrophy.

Adaptations that you are looking for can be directly facilitated through proper schemes in the weight room with proper planning.

Injury Prevention

Athletes can absolutely protect their bodies by being in the weight room. When I see injuries on the track, they usually come from one of three places: poor lifestyles, poor mechanics, or poor training design by the coach.

When I see injuries on the track, they usually come from one of three places: poor lifestyles, poor mechanics, or poor training design by the coach, says @Jake_co. Share on X

The intensity of training in the weight room and high levels of tissue tension will help the athlete get ready for the rigors of meets and higher-intensity work as the season progresses. Many injuries to soft tissue that occur during the competitive season are due to lack of planning in the fall. By utilizing the weight room effectively, you can start to mitigate soft tissue injuries.

High levels of tension in muscles will not only improve nervous system function and its ability to send electrical signals to the muscle, but will help the whole system. This also will create benefits to connective tissue. While this can also be done through some higher-level plyometrics, these changes can start occurring immediately upon training instead of having to build long-term plyometric planning.

Plyometrics should also be done, but those are to be done on the track. Intensity can also be manipulated throughout the year by increasing bar speed, not just by manipulating the load on the bar.

Coaches should keep things simple in the weight room but still provide variability. With the repetitive nature of track and field training, slightly changing stimuli can keep athletes hitting a proverbial wall. The body craves new stimuli, and adjusting a lift, rep ranges, or even starting or catch positions are easy ways to keep the body learning and changing.

Moving in different planes and in larger ranges of motion, with or without weight, are great ways to maintain soft tissue and connective tissue health. We constantly must find ways to fight the repetitive nature of most track and field training and this is a great tool to do so.

We constantly must find ways to fight the repetitive nature of most track and field training, says @Jake_co. Share on X

However, these plans can be limited by mobility issues. We address these on a case-by-case basis with the long-term goal to reach our desired range of motion. We will not put athletes in positions where they show lumbar lordosis.

Ankle mobility is another limiting factor in squat depth, but Carl Valle wrote a great article on why this is not as big of a deal as people think. We also never work to the point where we are specifically trying to get tired, so maintaining these positions is generally not that difficult.

Finally, track and field is a sport known for having bone issues in many populations, especially with female athletes. Lifting weight, especially above your head, and catching an Olympic movement have shown a positive correlation to bone health and density. Having to yield a fast-moving bar in a position can have many benefits to learning and skill development.

We are not in the days of throwing medicine balls at people’s stomachs anymore, but the idea of catching a clean still can provide feedback to the body that will help it stay healthy and get used to absorbing shock.

Other Benefits

Coordination loss may be a short-term issue in bilateral static lifts, but over the long term gains can be accelerated in the weight room through Olympic lifts. While Frans Bosch has pushed the idea of using lifts specifically to be coordinated resistance work, I think base Olympic lifts cause enough proprioceptive awareness and are complicated movements that push the envelope, and help the nervous system learn aiding in coordination.

Core strength is another overlooked outcome of the weight room. Many people spend hours on the track doing various flexion, extension, or bracing movements, but refuse to go into the weight room even though core strength can be improved there.

Track to the Rack

The weight room is an important part of any well-balanced training program. While I do not believe you can be successful with just the weight room, it needs to be part of your plan.

Unfortunately, people have moved away from the weight room mostly due to misunderstandings and improper timing of the stimuli being trained, but proper programming makes the weight room a huge advantage for those who are willing to walk onto the rack.

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

Gone are the days when a single factor is touted as the holy grail of hamstring injury prevention. Hamstring injuries are multifactorial, meaning strength coaches must take a broad approach to injury prevention.

The only thing worse than a hammy pull is more than one. Unfortunately, hamstring injuries are notorious for being consistent problems, with a recurrence rate as high as 63%.¹ A single hamstring injury can spell doom for an athletic career, robbing an athlete of training and game time both now and in the future.

The only thing worse than a hammy pull is more than one. Unfortunately, hamstring injuries are notorious for being consistent problems, with a recurrence rate as high as 63%, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

A recent paper by Lahti et al. describes a unique, individualized approach to hamstring injury prevention that can be implemented at the team level.² I believe the intervention was underway when the COVID-19 pandemic struck and unfortunately ended the study, so the group instead published the protocol with intention to complete it when the pandemic ceases.

The intervention looks promising, covering many topics including mobility, sprint mechanics, and strength, among others. It will be exciting to see the completed project and understand how effective the protocol is.

In the meantime, we’re left with the approach the intervention takes, the two novel assessments the authors put forth, and the thoughts the paper provokes.

Screening and Intervening: the Exercise is the Rehab and the Rehab is the Exercise

One striking aspect of the Lahti et al. paper is how the intervention addresses the players deemed at-risk for hamstring injury. What should those athletes do?

The same as the athletes who are not at-risk. Just more of it.

The protocol calls for all athletes to receive a healthy dose of range of motion, strength, lumbopelvic control, and sprint work, but those who meet the criteria get a double dose compared to those who don’t.

This underscores the necessity for well-balanced, well-planned training. There is no magic bullet or fancy exercise that vaccinates against hamstring pulls. Instead, there are basic foundational qualities and competencies that should be practiced, maintained, and improved upon throughout the training year. Rather than waiting for a red flag to pop up, strength coaches can nip these issues in the bud by training these qualities before they become problems.

Asymmetrical Presentation Calls for Asymmetrical Loading

Asymmetries in force production are thought to be contributing factors to hamstring injury.^3,4 At least one study has directly linked eccentric hamstring strength with risk of hamstring injury.⁵ The authors tested glute hip extensor and hamstring strength in elite sprinters and followed up with them over a one-year period. Each of the six hamstring injuries observed happened in the weaker hamstring. Thus, symmetrical force production capabilities appear protective against injury.

As mentioned above, the protocol in the Lahti et al. paper calls for several aspects of performance to be assessed. If asymmetries were present in strength or range-of-motion (ROM), athletes performed extra work on the lagging leg. There was not a magical intervention to “correct” asymmetry; rather, all athletes perform strength and mobility work, and athletes with asymmetries simply do more of it.

All athletes perform strength and mobility work, and athletes with asymmetries simply do more of it, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Misdiagnosing asymmetry and mistakenly programming more work on one side could actually cause asymmetry, and valid and reliable measurements are critical. The old pull-into-my-hand, this-side-feels-weaker muscle test isn’t going to cut it as a valid measurement and probably won’t be convincing when trying to persuade an athlete why they should perform three sets of single-leg deadlifts on one leg and only one set on the other.

Isokinetic dynamometry or another valid, reliable assessment that clearly and objectively shows force production capability is the best way to get athlete buy-in, to be fully informed as a practitioner, and to prescribe efficacious training interventions.

The Jurdan Test

How much ROM is necessary to reduce the risk of hamstring injury? This question is not currently answered, but we can safely assume that possessing enough mobility to enter archetypal maximum velocity positions allows an athlete to effectively reach said positions and is therefore protective against hamstring injury. A little extra ROM to add wiggle room and ensure the athlete isn’t hitting end range with each stride is also probably a good thing.

The authors of the Lahti paper introduce the Jurdan test, a novel sprint-specific mobility assessment named after its originator Jurdan Mendiguchia. The test places the athlete in an artificial toe-off sprint position, which becomes clear when you rotate the picture 90°, and assesses swing leg hamstring range of motion and stance leg hip extensibility in relationship to maximum sprint mechanics.

For the start position of the test, the athlete lies supine on a table with a posterior pelvic tilt, their bottom leg hanging passively off the table, and their top leg femur set plumb vertical. From there, the athlete extends their top leg knee as far as possible while keeping their lower back visibly flat and pressed into the table.

Appropriate scores do not yet exist, as this test is brand new, but there are obvious implications: if an athlete cannot extend the knee to achieve a desirable strike position then their hamstring mobility is a liability, may increase injury risk, and should be addressed.

Moreover, without adequate ROM at the knee or hip, affordances are limited and athletes will never reach the desired maximum velocity kinematics, leaving you frustrated as a coach and the athlete slower than they should or could be. Perhaps this is one cause of chronic backside kinematics: the ROM at the hip or knee simply isn’t available for the athlete to perform ideal frontside mechanics.

Be aware when scoring the test that the same score may be achieved via two movement strategies. For instance, a shin angle of 60° – (-10°) hip extension yields a score of 70°, but so does a shin angle of 73° – 3° of hip flexion. The latter circumstance occurs if an athlete cannot enter hip extension.

The Kick-back Method

If you’re reading this article, I don’t need to convince you that sprint mechanics matter.

Lahti et al. present a novel method to quantify frontside versus backside mechanics: the kick-back score.

Although there is not a definitive answer at this point, the hypothesis is that backside mechanics increase risk of hamstring injury more than frontside mechanics. The kick-back score provides an objective method to track progress in technical improvements and allows coaches to separate athletes into groups of frontside and backside dominant for training purposes.

Exposure to High Speeds

Track and field sprinters usually sprint at maximum velocity weekly, but team sport athletes do not always reach maximum velocity regularly. Malone et al.⁶ found a U-shaped relationship between high-speed sprint volume and hamstring injury risk. Not enough exposure to high-speed sprinting increased the likelihood of hamstring injury, but so did too much. There appears to be a sweet spot in the middle that is protective.

Not enough exposure to high-speed sprinting increased the likelihood of hamstring injury, but so did too much. There appears to be a sweet spot in the middle that is protective, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

This seems to make sense both on an intuitive and a physiologic level. Mama always said too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and sprinting itself is eccentric exercise for the hamstring group, which will be discussed in greater detail later in this article.

The only problem? We don’t have a handbook to tell us exactly how to program high-speed programming to prevent injuries. How much is too much? How much is too little?

The authors of the Malone et al. paper do highlight two important factors: athletes with high chronic training loads are at reduced risk, and players who experience “large weekly changes” in high-speed sprint exposures are at higher risk. In other words, iron forges iron, and consistent high-speed sprinting forms a robustness against hamstring injury, while doing very little followed by a ton of it increases risk.

Iron forges iron, and consistent high-speed sprinting forms a robustness against hamstring injury, while doing very little followed by a ton of it increases risk, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Classify Strength Training by Joint Angle

It is well-known that strength training adaptations are joint-angle specific and some exercises strengthen a particular ROM of a movement more than others. This is why the general rule of thumb is to train through a full range of motion, so athletes experience strength gains in the largest ROM possible.

Lahti et al. separate hip extension training into three categories: 0-60° (extended position), 60-90° (mid-range), and 90-110° (deep). Below are a few exercises they name for each:

• 0-60°: hip thrust, glute bridge, back extension
• 60-90°: deadlift, trap bar deadlift, high sled push, high step up
• 90-110°: split squat and split squat variations, RDL, low sled push

What is the value in categorizing exercise as such? Perhaps exercises are most transferrable at specific joint-angles.

For instance, in the initial steps of an acceleration—whether out of blocks or from a two-point stance—the knee and hip travel through a greater range of motion during ground contact than in upright mechanics, terminating in complete or near-complete hip extension for at least the first few steps. Thus, all three categories of exercises are applicable, as the hip moves through all three ranges of motion. If strength training neglects any of these ROM categories, improvements in acceleration may be compromised.

Similarly, archetypal front side maximum velocity mechanics call for a relatively high swing leg knee at toe-off, with the thigh at roughly 90°. Perhaps exercises in the deep and mid-range categories are most appropriate for building the base of strength needed to achieve high angular velocity of the thigh as the foot travels downwards to initiate ground contact.

Further, hamstring exercises are sub-categorized into “knee over hip” movements and “hip over knee” movements. “Hip over knee” describes movement in which the hip extends with a relatively fixed knee angle. Romanian deadlifts, straight leg cable pulls, and isometrics in an extended hip position fit into this category. These exercises seem to mimic the hip extensors driving the foot down towards the ground during swing phase.

In “Knee over hip” movements, knee flexion is the driver of the work. Nordic hamstring curls (eccentric knee flexion) and hamstring sliders fall in this category. These exercises seem to contribute most to preventing the knee from extending open during the swing phase so the foot is in position to be effectively driven towards the ground.

Lumbopelvic Control

Tilting the pelvis anteriorly lengthens the hamstrings and encourages backside sprint mechanics. Lumbopelvic control—in this context, the ability to maintain a neutral pelvis while sprinting—is thought to be a key kinematic protector of hamstring injury. Higher relative activity of glute and trunk musculature (the muscle groups that prevent anterior pelvic tilt) during flight phase has been negatively associated with hamstring injury risk.⁷

Video 1. Pelvic tilts. Pelvic anterior / posterior tilts are a basic motor control exercise. Without conscious control of the pelvis independent of the lumbar spine, pelvic control cannot be expected at all. This drill serves as an introduction to lumbopelvic training and awareness.

Whether anterior pelvic tilt is the result of a motor control or a strength deficit, lumbopelvic exercises provide the context and physiologic requirements to maintain a neutral pelvis while sprinting.

We’re essentially talking about strengthening the hollow body position: ribs depressed and pelvis neutral or in a slight posterior tilt.

I group lumbopelvic control into four basic categories:

• Basic motor control
• Static isometric strength
• Dynamic isometric strength
• Competition movements (like sprinting)

In my experience, many athletes (especially youth athletes) lack the awareness to move the pelvis independent from the lumbar spine. They need to be taught how to tilt anteriorly and posteriorly as opposed to leaning forwards and back. Basic motor control competency is often the starting point of training.

Video 2. The deadbug teaches lumbopelvic disassociation and strengthens the trunk musculature that prevents anterior pelvic tilt while sprinting. Athletes begin on their back, posteriorly tilt the hips and depress the rib cage, and then flatten the lower back against the ground. This position is held as the knees and arms are put into the air. For bonus points, exhale forcefully as if blowing up a balloon while actively depressing the ribs.

Below are a few examples of exercises in each category.

• Basic motor control: pelvic anterior / posterior and lateral tilts
• Static strength: hollow body holds, deadbug, planks, side planks
• Dynamic strength: overhead step ups, overhead A-skips, stir the pot, marching deadbug, split squats
• Competitive movement: sprinting

Video 3. Overhead step-ups act to strengthen hip extensor musculature while promoting a lumbopelvic position appropriate to upright sprinting.

Video 4. The overhead A-skip challenges the coordinative abilities necessary to maintain a neutral pelvis while sprinting.

Any exercise can be a lumbopelvic control exercise if the goal and focus is directed there. Plyos like skips, hops, split jumps, and single leg bounding could be considered advanced dynamic strength exercises, so long as the athlete is encouraged to maintain a healthy relationship between the pelvis and lumbar spine.

Video 5. The marching deadbug is a progression to the standard deadbug. The key is to hold the position while the legs are moving. That is, do not allow the pelvis to tilt or the ribs to rise while marching. To make this drill more challenging, reach the heel further from the body.

Video 6. The hollow body hold is another advanced version of the deadbug. Maintain a posterior pelvic tilt and depressed rib cage while assuming a V-shaped posture. Hold it steady.
Any exercise can be a lumbopelvic control exercise if the goal and focus is directed there, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Eccentric Strength

I would be remiss to not mention the Nordic hamstring curl. It is not going to single-handedly prevent all hamstring injuries, as was perhaps once thought, but the data is clear that when added to a well-rounded strength and conditioning program it does have a preventative effect.^8-11

It is not entirely clear why this is, and skeptics are quick to point out that the exercise does not visually appear to have much transfer to sport (it doesn’t look functional). While it does not resemble a sport-specific movement, it does replicate the eccentric demands placed on the hamstring musculature during the swing phase of sprinting. Further, eccentric exercise is known to induce sarcomerogenesis, the lengthening of fascicles, which allows for greater force to be produced at longer muscles lengths.

Given that hamstring injuries are thought to occur at lengthened positions, the ability to generate (or withstand) high forces in lengthened positions has a strong physiologic rationale as protective against hamstring injuries.

The beauty with Nordics is that they don’t take much. As little as two or three sets of five reps two-to-three times per week will decrease the likelihood of hamstring injury.

Triceps Surae Strength

A history of ankle sprains have been linked to increased risk of hamstring injury.¹² It is not clear whether the ankle sprain itself makes the hamstring group more vulnerable or if both injuries are manifestations of the same underlying causal factor(s).

Video 7. Split stance heel raise iso holds: The hardest easy-looking exercise you’ll ever do. Prop the ball of your foot up, assume a split stance so that the thigh is parallel to the floor and the shin is vertical, and raise your heel as high as possible. Hold for 30s on each side.

Strengthening the triceps surae group may be protective of ankle injury and can certainly have performance benefits. Concentric, eccentric, and isometric exercises are all beneficial, but isometrics are of particular relevance to sprint performance. Lahti et al. outline isometric holds at 90°, 110°, and “high plantar flexion,” presumably instructing athletes to raise the heel as high as possible.

Video 8. Split stance heel raises: Same setup and the split stance heel raise iso holds, but with a 1-1-1-tempo. Raise the heel as high as possible, and control it on the way down.

Further, isolating the soleus is of interest. The gastrocnemius is a highly active plantar flexor when the knee is extended, as in standing calf raises, and the soleus is less of a contributor in this position. The gastroc produces less force when the knee is flexed, making the soleus the heavy hitter in this position. Isometric holds and calf raises from a flexed knee position, like a split stance, are great ways to build soleus strength and improve fortitude against ankle and hamstring injury.

Aerobic Health

Aerobic health has also been linked with decreased risk of hamstring injury.⁶ Why might this be?

Fatigue changes things. Mental processes like decision-making and mechanics are modified by fatigue. This is evident to anyone who has ever trained or played hard.

Greater aerobic fitness delays the onset of fatigue, which delays injurious alterations to kinematic and decision-making processes. Less game time in fatigued conditions means less time spent in the danger zone of injury. Likewise, lower absolute fatigue during intense gameplay also reduces risk.

Less game time in fatigued conditions means less time spent in the danger zone of injury. Likewise, lower absolute fatigue during intense gameplay also reduces risk, says @KD_KyleDavey. Share on X

Developing “cardio” in athletes who play sports predominated by anaerobic processes is often criticized. However, understanding that athletes who are in “better shape” are less likely to get hurt certainly warrants aerobic training during the offseason.

Team Programming: the Percentile Approach

It would be nice if absolute values existed for the several risk factors discussed in this article. But they don’t.

To accommodate for this, one can take the percentile approach. This is particularly useful when working with a large group of athletes, like a team, but can also be applied to individual athletes once enough data points have been collected.

The method is simple: measure everybody and split them up into thirds or quartiles and prescribe individualized programs from there. For instance, say you’re measuring hamstring strength with a dynamometer or ROM with an active straight leg raise. You can predetermine that the bottom quartile—the weakest and least flexible athletes—will get more strength and mobility work than the others.

If you don’t have a whole team available to test, begin testing your athletes one-by-one and eventually you will have a database you can use for a ranking system.

While not a perfect system, it does provides an avenue to identify the top and bottom performers within a group and program from there.

Putting it all Together: Programming for Hamstring Injury Prevention

If hamstring injuries were simple, this article would have one subheader. Needless to say, there’s a lot to consider when programming with the intent of preventing hamstring injury.

Recognizing every athlete, sport, and time of year will look different, throwing out a sample calendar with a daily training gameplan will be of little use to you.

What you can do, however, is run through the below checklist to make sure you’re hitting each of these categories once per week at an absolute minimum:

• Hip and knee ROM
• Sprint mechanics
• High-speed sprinting
• Strength training at different working angles
• Eccentric strengthening of the hamstrings
• Lumbopelvic control
• Triceps surae strength
• Aerobic development

If you don’t tick each of these items off the list as you review your training plan, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Hamstring injuries are nasty, recurring injuries that stifle, if not end, athletic careers. The time lost in training and gameplay can be irrecuperable.

To best protect yourself and your athletes, take a multifaceted approach and cover all your bases. Your hammies will thank you.

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. De Visser, H. M., Reijman, M., Heijboer, M. P., & Bos, P. K. (2012). Risk factors of recurrent hamstring injuries: a systematic review. British Journal of sports medicine, 46(2), 124- 130.

2. Lahti, J., Mendiguchia, J., Ahtiainen, J., Anula, L., Kononen, T., Kujala, M., … & Edouard, P. (2020). Multifactorial individualised programme for hamstring muscle injury risk reduction in professional football: protocol for a prospective cohort study. BMJ Open    Sport & Exercise Medicine, 6(1), e000758.

3. Girard, O., Brocherie, F., Morin, J. B., & Millet, G. P. (2017). Lower limb mechanical asymmetry during repeated treadmill sprints. Human movement science, 52, 203-214.

4. Brown, S. R., Feldman, E. R., Cross, M. R., Helms, E. R., Marrier, B., Samozino, P., & Morin, J. B. (2017). The potential for a targeted strength-training program to decrease asymmetry and increase performance: a proof of concept in sprinting. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 12(10), 1392-1395.

5. Sugiura, Y., Saito, T., Sakuraba, K., Sakuma, K., & Suzuki, E. (2008). Strength deficits identified with concentric action of the hip extensors and eccentric action of the hamstrings predispose to hamstring injury in elite sprinters. Journal of orthopaedic & sports physical therapy, 38(8), 457-464.

6. Malone, S., Owen, A., Mendes, B., Hughes, B., Collins, K., & Gabbett, T. J. (2018). High-speed running and sprinting as an injury risk factor in soccer: Can well-developed physical qualities reduce the risk? Journal of science and medicine in sport, 21(3), 257-262.

7. Schuermans, J., Danneels, L., Van Tiggelen, D., Palmans, T., & Witvrouw, E. (2017). Proximal neuromuscular control protects against hamstring injuries in male soccer players: a prospective study with electromyography time-series analysis during maximal sprinting. The American journal of sports medicine, 45(6), 1315-1325.

8. Ishøi, L., Krommes, K., Husted, R. S., Juhl, C. B., & Thorborg, K. (2020). Diagnosis, prevention and treatment of common lower extremity muscle injuries in sport–grading the evidence: a statement paper commissioned by the Danish Society of Sports Physical Therapy (DSSF). British journal of sports medicine, 54(9), 528-537.

9. Longo, U. G., Loppini, M., Berton, A., Marinozzi, A., Maffulli, N., & Denaro, V. (2012). The FIFA 11+ program is effective in preventing injuries in elite male basketball players: a cluster randomized controlled trial. The American journal of sports medicine, 40(5), 996-1005.

10. Sugiura, Y., Sakuma, K., Sakuraba, K., & Sato, Y. (2017). Prevention of hamstring injuries in collegiate sprinters. Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 5(1), 2325967116681524.

11. Seagrave III, R. A., Perez, L., McQueeney, S., Toby, E. B., Key, V., & Nelson, J. D. (2014). Preventive effects of eccentric training on acute hamstring muscle injury in professional baseball. Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 2(6), 2325967114535351.

12. Malliaropoulos, N., Bikos, G., Meke, M., Vasileios, K., Valle, X., Lohrer, H., … & Padhiar, N. (2018). Higher frequency of hamstring injuries in elite track and field athletes who had a previous injury to the ankle-a 17 years observational cohort study. Journal of Foot and Ankle Research, 11(1), 7.

Most of us who have been in the field of athletic preparation for a while are familiar with Vern Gambetta. For those who aren’t, Gambetta is a 40-plus year veteran in the athletic development profession. His experience has run the gamut in terms of levels (professional, Olympic, high school) and sports (baseball, soccer, swimming, track). Gambetta’s ability to keep things simple and help his athletes master the basics has made his insights and applications timeless.

One such application I’ve employed and adapted is the leg circuit that bears his name. He developed the Gambetta leg circuit in the mid-1980s as a tool to serve as a foundation for lower body training for all athletes, at all levels, at various points in their training. Leg circuits develop general strength and work capacity in the lower body for explosive, speed, and power athletes. These general qualities will form a foundation for more intense work in the future (i.e., absolute strength and plyometrics). As we’ll learn, the pace and progression of leg circuits (LCs) are key to developing local hypertrophy in the muscles, resiliency of the connective tissues, and efficiency of the vascular tissues.

According to Gambetta, the benefits of leg circuits go beyond horsepower and engine size; he has also employed LCs as return to play criteria in lower extremity injury rehabilitation. Share on X

According to Gambetta, the benefits of leg circuits go beyond horsepower and engine size; he has also employed LCs as return to play criteria in lower extremity injury rehabilitation, bridging the gap between physical therapy and athletic preparation. The goal for athletes is to complete five full leg circuits uninterrupted, with elite performers clocking in at just above five minutes. Although this is rare, we are looking at 250 reps in that amount of time.¹ From a practical standpoint, this makes complete sense, as the first load any athlete (or person, for that matter) should be able to handle is their own body weight in an athletic manner.

The Classic Progression and Execution

The Gambetta leg circuit consists of four exercises, performed in order:

1. Squat
2. Forward lunge
3. Dynamic step-up
4. Squat jump

Repetitions have three level distinctions—the mini, half, and full—that you can use as progressions and adapt to needs (think short-long spectrum here). The mini leg circuit consists of five reps in the squat, three reps per leg for the lunges and step-ups, then three squat jumps, and it serves as the entry point for leg circuits. The next level is the half LC, where repetitions increase to 10/5e/5e/5, respectively. The full leg circuit consists of 20 reps of the squat, then 10 reps each leg for lunges, the same for step-ups, and 10 squat jumps.

Gambetta views the full leg circuit as the standard and the pinnacle, if you will. For Gambetta, performance of the full LC for five consistent sets (no rest between sets) serves as the hallmark of an athlete’s general fitness and readiness to play, existing as a test and a goal.²

For Gambetta, performance of the full leg circuit for 5 consistent sets (no rest between sets) serves as the hallmark of an athlete’s general fitness and readiness to play. Share on X

Leg circuits progress via a systematic increase in volume and decrease in rest intervals. The first session consists of three sets of the circuit with 30 seconds of rest between exercises and one minute between completion of each circuit. Each subsequent session calls for adding one more set of work, culminating at five sets after three sessions. If athletes can complete the circuits with proper technique and make the rest intervals, then the next session will start again with three sets with the rest between exercise eliminated but preserved between circuits. The final progression would be three, four, and five circuits without rest between exercises and circuits.

The key to the effectiveness of the leg circuits goes beyond sets, reps, and the volume progression. Gambetta espouses that the rhythm, tempo, and speed of the repetitions are key to mimicking the eccentric loads seen in practice, play, and higher intensity preparation. In my understanding, the fast-down/fast-up pace (with the goal of one rep per second on squats and one rep per 1.5 seconds on lunges and low step-ups) accentuates the eccentric forces without having to resort to riskier tactics. This makes LCs ideal as a prerequisite for external loading and withstanding landing forces, cutting forces, and impact forces.²

Vern Gambetta warns that this fast-eccentric work may result in extreme soreness; although not the goal, soreness will give the athlete and coach feedback that the proper exercise tempo was executed.¹ I’ll add that coaches can use this to drive buy-in in this ever-growing age of those who equate the value of the work with how bad their body feels afterward. Many young athletes (especially endurance-based) are about “feeling it,” and I can say from experience that they surely will!

Even without the use of external load, intensity is raised by the consistent exposure to rep pace and the gradual accumulation of work density via the dwindling rest periods. In my experience, this is what makes the Gambetta leg circuits a tremendous tool to raise several critical general qualities at once without having to get too fancy.

The beauty of the leg circuits lies in the versatility of the concept. As much as the mini, to half, to full leg circuits are progressions, they can also flow the other way when employing more advanced means or when having to scale them back a bit during a peak or taper phase. We will also find that the ability to stretch, condense, and vary training cycles (based on these circuits) can help coaches scale their plans to fit training age, needs, and time of season.

LDISO Leg Circuit

One variation I discovered is marrying long-duration isometric holds into the circuit at the onset of a beginner’s program. Readers of this website should be familiar with the benefits of LDISOs, and I won’t go into all of them here, but I will add that their placement in this variation serves as a building block for brain and body. Physiologically, LDISOs are paramount for building the musculo-tendon, musculo-fascia, and neuromuscular structures. Targeted long duration isometrics re-educate the tissues to target optimal fascial lines to establish neural networks. The LDISO attacks the origin and insertion points in the extreme lengthened position. The thickening of these points increases the durability and elastic response.³

Psychologically, this increased exposure to time (in the “weakest” joint position) builds a tolerance for discomfort and “slows” things down enough for the athlete to garner familiarity with proper position and posture. In turn, coaches can teach in “live time,” cueing and correcting the athlete’s technique as well as encouraging their effort in the struggle to hold. As most of us intuitively know, tolerance to pain is as much mental as it is physical, and it is a bit of a lost skill in most of today’s athletes.

In the LDISO variation of the leg circuit, the squat, lunge, and jump squat with body weight begin with an isometric hold that precedes five repetitions (the lunges serve as two exercises to train each leg). The first session is comprised of 15-second holds, followed by five repetitions of each respective exercise. We add five seconds to each hold every session, culminating with 30-second holds. Volume is not waved over the four sessions, as we are in an introductory phase and will remain at three sets of each circuit per session.

I discovered the value of marrying LDISOs to the leg circuit while training an athlete via Zoom—the LDISOs allowed them to get a feel for the proper position via physiological signals. Share on X

Believe it or not, I discovered the value of marrying LDISOs to the leg circuit while training an athlete via Zoom this past spring. The lack of physical presence, as well as my normal equipment, called for some critical thinking skills to figure out a way to teach without being there. In my experience, the LDISOs allowed this athlete to get a feel for the proper position via physiological signals.

The Broken Leg Circuit: Put It on the Clock!

The next step in my progression resembles the order of the standard leg circuit, with a few new caveats. We keep the squat as the first exercise, followed by alternating leg forward lunges, then we introduce the dynamic low step-up, and finish with squat jumps. Accompanying the slight change in exercises is the introduction of the “broken” format, where each exercise is performed on a certain clock interval, as opposed to continuously. (I’m borrowing the term “broken” from the swim world, which denotes breaking up a specified distance with short periods of rest. It is used to train distances in more intense chunks usually above a race pace.)

The clock does a couple of things for us here:

1. Athletes can keep an eye on the clock to gauge rep pace. In the first phase, the fatigue from the ISO hold may inhibit the speed of the rep pace, which is okay in my book at that stage because our focus is technique and tolerance. Now, we can give them a goal of rep pace.
2. The clock keeps our rest periods honest. The preference here is an EMOM interval, where each exercise is done on subsequent minutes. If we keep the rep goal of one per second on squats and one per 1.5 seconds in lunges and step-ups, then we get a work ratio of 10-20 seconds for the half leg circuit and 20-30 seconds if we use the full leg circuit.

This format allows us to train the aerobic and lactic zones for a prolonged period, as the work-to-rest intervals lie in the 1:2 and 1:1 ratio for the half and full leg circuit variations.⁴

In broken leg circuits, we do not take an extended rest period; rather, we stay on the interval until the prescribed number of sets is complete. The micro progression (session-to-session) follows Gambetta’s volume prescription, adding a set of work each week. In session 1, the three circuits are done within a 12-minute time, then four circuits in 16 minutes, culminating with five circuits in 20 minutes in the third session (for the sake of milking the slow cooker, we apply a fourth session at week 1 volume).

The macro progression (every four sessions) follows the short-long spectrum, leading off with the half leg circuit for four sessions before applying the full leg circuit for the next four sessions. A cyclic progression will look like this:

• Sessions 1-4: Broken half leg circuit with body weight
• Sessions 5-8: Broken full leg circuit with body weight

From here, I’ve found two places we can go:

1. We can add 15-25% bodyweight load and repeat the format. Loading options include dumbbells, sandbags, or weight vests. I’ve found this helpful for athletes who need a bit more strength or need to preserve power.
2. We can condense the interval to bridge the gap to continuous leg circuit. I prefer the E45O45 (every 45 on the 45) as this seems to fit a 1:1/2 work-to-rest ratio that will allow athletes a lead-up to the pace of the unbroken circuit.

The amount of time you have with your athletes and the time of season will determine the frequency of the sessions. A compressed progression calls for biweekly leg circuit days, which will get you through each cycle (phase) in two weeks. If you decide to apply the broken EMOM, broken E45O45, to “unbroken” (short-long) progression, you will complete the three levels in six weeks as long as you adhere to the technical execution.

For athletes who have a short time to prepare for practice and play, this compressed model serves as a great general lead-up into competitive season. For the beginning athlete, the compressed model will quickly develop work capacity adaptations and faster learning via frequent practice.

Putting the leg circuits on the clock allows coaches to scale the stress based on needs while checking off many boxes on the GPP list in a fraction of the time. Share on X

Coaches can also stretch this on a weekly basis, doubling the time to complete each cycle. This situation would be ideal in longer preparation periods or an in-season model. Putting the leg circuits on the clock allows coaches to scale the stress based on needs while checking off many boxes on the GPP list in a fraction of the time.

The Rapid-Fire Leg Circuit

Another variation—based off of Gambetta’s mini leg circuit—that I’ve applied with power or explosive development in mind is what I call the “rapid-fire leg circuit.” Three derivatives of this variation that cover the force-velocity spectrum have evolved for us over the years and have served us best with athletes nearing peak competition or entering a camp. The force emphasis variation is hallmarked by heavier loads in the squat and lunge and intensive efforts for the jumps—this influences the exercise selection for appropriate loading. The idea here is to produce high outputs for repeated efforts along a spectrum of high-force muscle contractions.

The heavier loads in the squat and lunges potentiate the output of the jumps by priming local muscular activity as well as the CNS globally without a high level of fatigue.⁵ The versatility of this variant allows coaches to adjust exercise selection based on which end of the force-velocity spectrum they are working.

The force emphasis rapid-fire leg circuit is executed using concentric-based movements to emphasize “force-based” output. For the squat exercise, I prefer the bottom-up squat (squat from pins) with the barbell. I keep depth at half or quarter depth to further draw adaptations of higher transfer. Some coaches may argue that the experience and skill level of the athlete need to be high enough to handle a barbell, and I don’t disagree. Movement precision under load is a must so that athletes maintain technique and posture as fatigue mounts, especially in this format.

This where I believe the bottom-up squat can serve as a self-regulator of sorts. Each rep commences from the weakest position of leverage from a dead stop position. Not only does this enable maximal concentric output, but (as practical experience has shown me) it allows athletes to squat correctly without the fear of missing. In other words, if they miss the lift, it won’t budge; the goal is simple—“Push!” For those coaches who use percentages of 1RM, 70-80% for the squat works well.

The lunges call for the classical forward lunge technique:

• Project the hips forward with the back leg.
• Reverse your forward momentum with your front leg.
• Explode back to standing position.

If using a barbell, 50-60% (of squat max) for the lunges is more than enough. And again, we can add “transfer” here in the form of horizontal force by selecting cord lunges, per Dr. Yessis. In this case, you would use a cord that slows you down a bit, minimizing displacement of the body after the rep.

In keeping with our force priority, the dynamic step-ups and squat jumps can be done with external load in the form of a weight vest or sandbag for the step-ups and a kettlebell for the jumps at about 15-25% body weight. By nature, the dynamic step-ups begin with the jump leg in the position of weakest leverage, so we do not have to make any tweaks here. The preferred jump squat calls for the non-countermovement version where the kettlebell (or weight) will start from the floor. The athlete can jump onto a box of moderate height or keep it floor level. The Just Jump mat is a great tool to keep intent honest, as the visual result of their efforts will show them the story.

You can also adjust the format of this variation to fit preservation of higher quality of output or the ability to repeat it. Our rep template is based off of four squats, two lunges each leg, two dynamic step-ups each leg, and two squat jumps (14 reps total). If we train for increasing output, then we simply go through the circuit continuously and rest at least double the time it took to complete. If this is the case, then using the jump height to manage overall volume may be a wise application so as not to tip the CNS bucket too far over, especially during periods of quality retention or in-season. We typically cap the number of sets to five or cease sets if an athlete cannot maintain 90% of their best jump. The intent is to hit personal bests on a session-to-session basis while preserving that higher end quality.

For specific work capacity development, we repeat this sequence continuously three times and time the duration of the set. Rest runs about half of the running time before repeating. You can certainly track jump height here, but accepting a larger drop-off (80% of best) will help your athletes reach the volume necessary to develop the repeat quality.

In this variation we attempt to wave volume by adding a set of work each session. In week 1, the groundwork is laid with three rounds of the circuit done at a 1:1/2 work-to-rest ratio (126 total reps). The next session we aim for an extra round through as long as the athlete can maintain that 80% of jump height, and on week 3, we’ll attempt to culminate the cycle with five sets (168 and 210 reps, respectively). If we have more time, we’ll give a six-session limit here for athletes to earn the five sets or just simply see what we can do in three sessions. (The 80% marker is akin to the 20% bar speed drop-off that was found to better increase vertical jump height and overall growth of the type II explosive muscle fibers discovered by Dr. Mann.)

Video 1. Featured here is a lite version of the above, used with younger athletes who don’t have a large experience with higher force movements, but you can get the idea.

If we really want to prime the system for higher outputs with higher intensity via speed, then we can break this down a little further. In this Cal Dietz-inspired variation, we ratchet the exercise selection to the velocity end with loaded jump squats (at half or quarter depth), split jumps, dynamic step-ups (low box), and the countermovement jump. (For more qualified athletes, you can substitute the lightened split jump and the depth jump for the CMJ.)

The reps go down to a scheme of two, one each, one each, two, and repeat this sequence 3-5 times (24-40 reps), à la the potentiation clusters seen in the triphasic high-speed methods. The rest between rounds should be double the duration of the set or more, to allow for adequate rest so that outputs can increase each set or be preserved, at the very least. The high-quality emphasis dictates a volume limit, so we do not add a set per session but rather aim at setting bests in jump height (or at least preserve our day’s best).

Video 2. Creating higher intensity via speed in the “rapid-fire leg circuit.”

The genius of Gambetta’s leg circuits is that they allow for bilateral and unilateral lower body training across a variety of muscular contractions. Adding elements such as long-duration ISOs, interval based, and adjusting the exercise selection can give coaches viable options along the general-specific spectrum. The marriage with LDISOs adds benefits to developing the aerobic base, as well as technical learning.

The genius of Gambetta’s leg circuits is that they allow for bilateral and unilateral lower body training across a variety of muscular contractions. Share on X

Bridging this gap by putting the base movements “on the clock” gives athletes a progressive segue to the “right of passage” earned in the continuous circuits. The rapid-fire variations offer a more specific training option for explosive leg development that coaches can adjust along the force-velocity spectrum to meet needs.

Some of the greatest coaches in history have a simple catalog of “plays,” but myriad effective variations of them. For those with leg circuits in your catalog, I hope this writing adds variations to your creative arsenals.

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. Gambetta, V. “The Gambetta leg circuit.” HMMR Media. 12/18/10.

2. “Legs, legs, legs.” GAINcast Podcast #187. 4/27/20.

3. Fox, E.L. and Mathews, D.K. Interval Training: Conditioning for Sports and General Fitness. W.B. Saunders Co., 1974. pp 40.

4. Demayo, J. The Manual Vol. 3. Central Virginia Sport Performance, 2018. pp 138-139.

5. Schmarzo, M. and Van Dyke, M. Applied Principles of Optimal Power Development. E-book, 2018. pp 17.

A pervasive narrative runs through the discussion around training for the sport of surfing—circulated both by coaches of elite surfers and surf websites appealing to recreational surfers—which is to only use surfing to get better at surfing. This does not help surfers, as many surf sessions can in fact be unremarkable. Dictated by fickle swells, tides, and wind, the sport itself isn’t always the best stimulus for physical development.

Yoga and bodyweight-only training are other infatuations in the surf community, with many convinced that these methods alone can keep them aligned, believing you only carry your body weight when you surf, so that is how you must prepare. This camp seems to underestimate the sheer force and power of the ocean.

Finally, there are the Indo Board and balance ball fanatics, who are convinced that the sensorimotor demands of balancing on a plank or ball replicate an ocean because they share an uncanny visual resemblance.

My fellow surfers may be quick to label me as well when they know I work as an S&C coach for a rugby team: in the meathead camp? What you must understand is that I am not in denial about the potential benefit of the above elements for training in a surfer’s program. Instead, I am disillusioned by the narrative of being married to one approach at the expense of all others. Monogamy does not apply to training methods.

I am disillusioned by the narrative of being married to one approach at the expense of all others. Monogamy does not apply to training methods. Share on X

Additionally, I am curious and observant. As a coach, I am constantly challenged to find evidence-based ways of improving performance. As a surfer, I still see surfing’s resistance to effective preparation lingering at all levels of the sport, despite its inclusion in next year’s Olympic Games.

It may be that people in the sport are just trying to keep it soulful and carefree, while sticking their fingers up at the jocks (an integral part of its culture). I love it and salute it. As coaches, however, we need to show that we’re not here to wring the fun from the pursuit:

• If you find yourself getting better at something, does this give you a sense of fulfillment?
• If you love something and you’re forced out of it with an injury, do you feel less fulfilled?
• If you know you’re preparing effectively for something, do you not feel more confident in your abilities?

These key questions provide the catalyst for surfers to understand that training for their sport aims to provide more fun, for the competitive and recreational surfer alike. With this in mind, and with the hope of slowly chipping away at the current narrative, I’ll provide training tips for surf athletes from the evidence base. I believe much of the content I will cover in this article would also be applicable (with some tweaks) to other board sports (skateboarding, snowboarding, and paddleboarding, etc.). Today, we kick off with dryland strength and power training tips and what I see as six essential exercises.

Warning! Before delivering any of this content to a surfer, you may have to counsel them through their unease.

Luckily, I’ve created a quick cheat sheet of replies:

• “You won’t get big and bulky, unless your diet is out of control and you’re taking special ‘vitamins’.”
• “You won’t become as stiff as your board if you train through a full range of motion.”
• “World Surf League (WSL) surfers aren’t the only ones who are allowed to train for their sport.”
• “If there’s waves, get in the bloody surf.”

For Paddling

(Photo courtesy of Sebastian Potthoff.)

What’s Happening Here?

Believe it or not, 44-54% of the time in a surf session is spent paddling.¹ Paddling into the lineup. Paddling across to the peak. Sprint paddling into waves. Paddling happens a lot.

Faster. Move faster. C’mon, for #$@&% sake! These are the thoughts that rush forward when a big set rolls through and a surfer gets “caught inside” and is paddling for safety. And then, reaching the lineup after having had to bail their board as the wave dumped its payload on their head, there is relief mixed with annoyance that “just two strokes more and I would’ve made it over the back of that one.”

Faster paddling has been found to be a determining factor between different levels of surfers…thus, paddling is perhaps the most important quality to improve through training. Share on X

Faster paddling may not only spare the anguish of getting caught inside; it has been found that it is also a determining factor between different levels of surfers.² In WSL competitions, surfers with a higher sprint paddling speed achieved better competition results. Those surfers with a sprint paddle of <1.7 meters per second tended to be eliminated before round 5, compared to those who had a sprint paddle of >1.9 meters per second, who reached the quarters at least and could go on to win the final.²

Higher sprint paddling allows competitive surfers to paddle into steeper waves with a faster entry momentum into those waves, increasing the number of maneuvers and therefore enhancing fun and/or scoring potential.³ Thus, paddling is perhaps the most important quality to improve through training.

How Do We Improve It?

Paddling will increase paddling ability. But increasing strength will also massively improve this skill. In paddling, you anchor your arm in the water and “pull” and then “push” your body across the surface. There is no contest as to which are the best exercises for improving this action: pull-ups and dips are the most integral movements that mimic this movement pattern and activate the correct musculature.⁴

These two relatively simple exercises should of course be trained through a full and comfortable ROM. Surfers new to strength work may need assistance through the use of banded pull-ups from higher to lower elasticity. For those better versed in training, bodyweight reps and then additional plates added through the use of a weight belt should be the goal.

Standards of upper body strength that can be targeted are outlined below. Some of the world’s best male surfers can have a pull-up of 1.4 times their body weight. For an 80-kilogram surfer, that would mean 35 kilograms extra weight added for a total weight of 115 kilograms. This is not a huge pull-up relative to other sports, but highly sufficient for the demands of surfing. However, even a progression from doing three reps with a band to three reps at body weight should give appreciable improvements in paddling ability.

For Turns, Snaps, and Carves

(Photo courtesy of Sebastian Potthoff.)

What’s Happening Here?

Turns, snaps, carves, or cutbacks all look and feel best when there’s spray fired all over the lineup. Achieving maximum spray in these maneuvers requires adequate lower body strength and power to displace as much water as possible through the application of force through their legs and onto their board.⁵

If a surfer can apply more force, or apply it more quickly to exhibit this, competitive judges have the potential to score maneuvers more highly. For recreational surfers, those paddling back out into the lineup will be thinking Jesus’ juice is falling on them. They will not fathom that, in fact, it’s just them hitting the lip.

How Do We Improve It?

Talent, technique, and timing clearly have significant parts to play for flowing yet powerful turns, but a surfer having adequate levels of lower body strength will go a long way toward better displaying these skills. In these maneuvers, the surfer compresses and loads up their legs before extending their hips at just the right moment. The best exercises for improving these actions would be two bread-and-butter strength movements: barbell back squats and Romanian deadlifts (RDLs). They are often done, and rightfully so, because there are few better movements to load the ankles, knees, hips, and the powerful musculature of the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes.

Talent, technique, and timing clearly have significant parts to play for flowing yet powerful turns, but a surfer with adequate levels of lower body strength will better display these skills. Share on X

Like any athlete, but particularly surfers who may have never entered a gym, it is imperative that they master technique before piling on load in these two exercises. My cues for the squat: With a just-outside shoulder-width stance, sit down as far as is comfortable in between your hips. Think about pushing your knees out slightly as you go down to activate your glutes and push through your quads on the ascent.

For the RDL: Pick up a bar with a just-outside shoulder-width grip and pull the shoulder blades back and together as if you were trying to crack a nut between them. Unlock the knees and push your rear-end back as far as you can (like the Insta models do) while dragging the bar down the thighs to mid-shin before coming back up again. For both movements, keep a controlled tempo on the descent of about two seconds (loading up) and fire back up as fast as possible with control (extend) on the ascent, just like a turn.

Those new to strength training can perform a standard progression of goblet squats and dumbbell hinges before moving on to using the barbell. Lower body strength standards are outlined below.

For Aerials and Floaters

(Photo courtesy of Sebastian Potthoff.)

What’s Happening Here?

Airs and big floaters are obviously advanced moves incorporating a multitude of complex skills, but the evolution of the sport has entered the territory of skateboarding and snowboarding and is set to stay there. Shouldn’t every surfer prepare for the day that they begin to dabble in these dark arts? For the day that they get 0.1 seconds of air that does not include falling off the back of a wave?

Essentially, airs can be broken into three phases: takeoff, flight, and landing. The take-off and landing phases of airs and the landing phase of floaters are the ones we can most affect with physical training, as that is when the body meets the most impact.

How Do We Improve It?

This “impact” I am talking about is clear: stomping airs and floaters provide the greatest potential risk for injury of any maneuver⁶ (two-time world champion John John Florence’s ACL injury is just a recent example), particularly if surfers don’t possess adequate lower body strength and power. While landing one of these maneuvers, surfers commonly absorb forces of up to 4-6 times their own body weight through their ankles, knees, and hips.⁷ Having well-developed strength and power will also enable surfers to launch themselves higher off the lip of the wave, getting some of that sweet, sweet hang time.¹

You have to be strong and powerful to get a heavy bar off the floor quickly with good technique or to come up with a heavy weight on your back. Therefore, the squats and RDLs above will allow surfers to absorb this weight, just like air and floater landings. But to go one step further, we must also replicate the movement pattern of these complex movements and their landings on land to develop injury robustness through proper joint alignment. 

Video 1. Drop & Stick, Jump & Stick, and Rebound & Stick.

A box or step that is around knee height (~50 centimeters) is required. The progressions start with a basic drop and stick (D&S), replacing the drop with a jump (J&S) and then finally onto a rebound and stick (R&S). For all of these, “sticking” the landing in a surf stance/quarter squat position without excessive knee valgus is desired (there will be some knee valgus in the back leg, as this position is essential in the sport). The aim of the landings here should be to land softly, as if you didn’t want to wake up someone sleeping in the next room, which is especially hard after a chaotic rotation. This will teach absorbing the force of landings and better coordination of the body in space when in the ocean.

To help in applying that force off the lip in the take-off phase of airs and getting some tasty height, jump training replicates these movements and will be highly effective in improving them due to the development of vertical power through the lower body.

Video 2. CMJ, rotational CMJ, and loaded CMJ.

The key exercise here is progressing a basic countermovement jump (CMJ): In your squat stance, in one flowing movement, go down to a comfortable depth (~quarter squat depth) and jump as high as possible to the ceiling. No need to bring the knees up, but aim to get hips as high off the ground as possible. Land as described above. Progressions (below) aim to add complexity through surf-specific rotations before finally adding load in the barbell CMJ.

Strength and Power Work Can Be a Lucrative Performance Enhancer

(Photo courtesy of Sebastian Potthoff.)

Just like yoga, bodyweight, and balance board training, strength and power work is only one small element of the performance model to improve surfing performance. However, it is especially important to adopt due to the current narrative within surfing culture that steers most surfers hastily away from anything gym-based. The six exercises above—coupled with finishers of supplementary work for torso/core strength and power, ankle and hip mobility and rotator cuff robustness—will provide a great foundation for the training of surfers.

Considering surfers’ low training ages, increases in whole body strength & power through these generic exercises may be particularly beneficial for performance enhancement. Share on X

Furthermore, considering surfers’ low training ages, increases in whole body strength and power through these generic exercises may be particularly lucrative in terms of their potential for performance enhancement.

Join me soon for another part in this series, which will take a look at energy system development for surfing.

All photos courtesy of Sebastian Potthoff, Instagram: @saltwatershots

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. Tran, T.T., Lundgren, L., Second, J.L., et al. “Comparison of Physical Capacities Between Non-Selected and Selected Elite Male Competitive Surfers for the National Junior Team.” International Journal of Sports Physiology & Performance. 2014.

2. Sheppard, J. “Masters & servants: How the preparation framework serves the performance model.” UKSCA Conference Presentation. 2017.

3. Farley, O., Harris, N.K., and Kilding, A. “Physiological Demands of Competitive Surfing.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011;

4. Coyne, J., Tran, T.T., Secomb, J.L., et al. “Maximal Strength Training Improves Surfboard Sprint & Endurance Paddling Performance in Competitive & Recreational Surfers.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2016.

5. Secomb, J.L., Farley, O.R.L., Lundgren, L.E., et al. “Associations between the Performance of Scoring Manoeuvres and Lower-Body Strength and Power in Elite Surfers.” International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching. 2015.

6. McArthur, K., Jorgensen, D., Climstein, M., and Furness, J. “Epidemiology of Acute Injuries in Surfing: Type, Location, Mechanism, Severity, and Incidence: A Systematic Review.” Sports (Basel). 2020;8(2):25.

7. Lundgren L.E., Tran, T.T., Nimphius, S., et al. “Comparison of impact forces, accelerations and ankle range of motion in surfing-related landing tasks.” Journal of Sports Sciences. 2016;34(11):1051-1057.