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I want to tell you a story. So often as coaches, we find ourselves poring over research articles, attending conferences, and getting into Twitter arguments with each other, and sometimes we need to step back and read stories. We need stories because they remind us of reality: that coaching is a human endeavor, not just a scientific one. Stories remind us that we can suffer hard times, battle with mental health issues, and overcome.

We need stories because they remind us of reality: that coaching is a human endeavor, not just a scientific one, says @litt_strength. Share on X

Strength and Conditioning and Burnout – My Story

On July 6, 2019, in a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina, I got out of bed with the full intention of taking my own life. I would say I woke up with that intention, but to be honest, I hadn’t slept in 24 hours. I don’t think I had slept well in six months.

Thankfully, by a coincidence I am more inclined to consider an act of God, that intention was thwarted by the fortunate presence of someone at the camp I worked at. In the following weeks, like someone who nearly falls off the edge of a cliff, I tried to catch a mental breath and understand how I wound up there in the first place. I went from coaching full teams, clubs, and groups on a weekly basis to a boy’s camp tucked away in the mountains, lacking the desire to live.

While admittedly, I was likely at higher risk for depression based on family history, this is not a story about depression. And it is not a redemption story either. It is a reminder of the nature of what we do as coaches and some of the issues we face.

By anyone’s thought process, I was “too young” to burn out. I was only 25, and I hadn’t been considered a “coach” for long enough. What happened?

When I finished my bachelor’s degree in 2016, I blindly entered a field in which I thought I knew what I was doing. Right off the bat, I got turned down for job after job, and I realized that I was unprepared for the true nature of strength and conditioning.

I had no experience. I had only done one internship and coached weightlifting at a few CrossFit gyms. The first door that opened was working as a personal trainer at a big box gym chain, so I jumped at the chance. I started putting in 10- to 12-hour days trying to accumulate clients and continued to throw my resume into the wind.

I got out of corporate fitness about as soon as I got into it, moving to a job as a performance coach at a youth training facility in November 2017. What I failed to realize was that I was replacing not one individual at the facility, but three, all of whom had resigned their positions in a span of three months. I quickly dove into 60- to 70-hour weeks at the facility, for much lower pay than I had been earning at the big box gym. I entered the facility at 9:00 in the morning and left some time after 7:30 in the evening.

This is not unusual for strength and conditioning coaches. In fact, it seems to be an odd bragging point, showing that they are “committed to their athletes” or that it’s a sign that they “love what they do” so much. Because of this, I thought I was paying my dues in the profession.

Additionally, it did not help my situation that I was in a long-term relationship with someone who was emotionally dependent upon me. And to add fuel to that fire, it was a long-distance relationship. As I’ve continued to meet more coaches, I’ve come to realize that the best coaches have the best life-partners on the home front. Thankfully, caring people in my life intervened and pointed out the disconnect. I ended the relationship, which led to expanding my work hours even more as a poor coping mechanism.

Continuing Down the Same Path

I then continued adding more poor coping mechanisms to my repertoire, first by picking up my endeavors on the weightlifting platform and then by starting to earn a master’s degree. To put it simply, I fell for the game of tight t-shirts, big lifts, and an endless list of initials after my name. In the space of five months, I ended a serious relationship, began competing in weightlifting meets, and started a master’s degree program. I was also still working at the sport performance facility 50-60 hours per week and training a team at a local school five days per week at 6 a.m. I was doing what I thought every coach was supposed to do in their climb up the ranks.

I was doing what I thought every coach was supposed to do in their climb up the ranks…I constantly fought boiling over like a whistling kettle, says @litt_strength. Share on X

As this was happening, I became the go-to guy in our facility for cleaning up the mess made by the frequently poor decisions of mid-level management. The more time went on, the more often those decisions led to more pointing fingers in my face than I should have accepted on behalf of my director. I constantly fought boiling over like a whistling kettle.

By the time May 2019 hit, my life felt like it was becoming a movie playing on a screen in front of me. In three consecutive weekends, I travelled to a sibling’s graduation, competed in the USA Weightlifting National Championships, and was spontaneously given tickets to three days at SummerStrong at Sorinex headquarters in South Carolina. I remember sitting there, listening to coaches tell stories of passion and hardship, and feeling completely alone in a packed room. It was a good experience, but even in a sea of people, I had never felt more anxious or lethargic as I did then.

A month later, I quit my job and disappeared into the woods to work at a boy’s camp as a cook. That was June 30, 2019.

Now, at this point, you might wonder where this story is going. Perhaps this is where I share the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel moment or the moral of the story? Well, I would, but the story doesn’t stop there.

As fate would have it, I found purpose in my pain that summer when the man whose presence prevented my self-harm had his own near-death experience three weeks later. That purpose gave me time to heal, reflect, and formulate a plan for how I could avoid burning out again.

Several weeks after I came back out of the woods, I got a phone call from one of my former coworkers at the training facility, asking if I’d be willing to come meet with them about something. It turned out that the former director’s poor decision-making led to his eventual firing, and in seeking changes to how things had been done, they offered me his position.

Admittedly, I laughed inside when they handed me the job description and the pay associated with it. They were asking me to do almost everything I had previously done for the former director, but at double my pay from before. On October 4, 2019, I started back at coaching in the same facility I had left only three months prior. But I had no idea what was in store…

Job Loss to Life Gain

In the early stages of 2020, the world as most of us knew it turned upside down.

In the U.S., March 13 became the day that I’ve noted as the “Oh crap moment” for what would become a very difficult time for gyms and sport performance facilities. I was in Orlando at a coaches’ summit when the pandemic started to spike, causing the U.S. government to declare a state of emergency. The talk among coaches quickly became the best process for dealing with restrictions on gatherings and how they would adapt their own facility’s policies. The final day of the conference was cancelled, and many coaches headed home to start prepping for the forecasted storm of shutdowns and social distancing.

I prepared for the worst when I got home. However, things didn’t start getting bad until late that week, when I was told that we needed to cut back some of our staff’s hours. The next day, in the meetings with those coaches, I was blindsided when our GM laid them off instead. To date, that was the hardest part of all that has happened this year. Sitting in a meeting and watching two individuals, who are like family, lose their jobs felt like a gut punch. And because the directive to our GM was given by our ownership, I knew there was nothing I could do. I don’t drink often, but admittedly I did that night.

On March 23, the North Carolina governor issued a shelter-in-place order that closed all businesses deemed “non-essential.” This included gyms and fitness centers statewide, though our isolated area in the mountains would not see a single COVID-19 case for another two weeks. The owner of our facility, both the sport performance business and the sports complex in which we were housed, was generous enough to keep us on staff as we navigated online training with our athletes and clients.

As I kept up to date with information from sources that my sister, a lab coordinator with a PhD in infectious diseases, suggested to me, I started to come to terms with the thought that this would be the final nail in my coaching coffin. That what ended my chances of coaching was something so small you’d need a microscope to see it. But the tides would eventually turn in my favor…or so I thought.

We barely pulled through the shutdowns. Despite attempts to provide as much opportunity to continue training as we could, business was slow. When the governor allowed day camps to open in Phase One, we quickly took advantage of the fact we worked with kids and labeled every training group a “day camp.” We went through all of the sanitation steps and even started to grow again. As the program director, I kept an eye on the numbers and knew we still had a long fight ahead.

At the end of August, I got the text that I had been dreading from our GM, asking if I could meet the next morning. In our meeting, I was told that we would be temporarily closing the facility. Due to the economic impacts of the shutdowns and lack of interest in our program, they could no longer afford to pay the staff. We were effectively dead in the water, and in the end, the remaining staff would be without jobs. This leads to today, as I sit at my desk typing away on the first day of not having a job to go to in the morning.

So, where do we go from here? Every story has to have a moral or a lesson to learn, right? Perhaps. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that there is something to be learned here. But what can be taken from a story where there is no hero, or where the traveler winds up in the wrong location? Well, hindsight is 2020.

A Road Map to Hope and Recovery

First, I need to acknowledge that we are not Supermen (or Wonder Women). We have weaknesses, and we can be prone to struggling with our mental health. Coaching is like being an oil wick candle, and if you don’t take the time to put more oil in the base, you eventually burn out. Take time off when you can, spend time with family, invest in hobbies, and be present outside of the weight room. Burnout also does not have to be the death sentence for your coaching career. You can get back in if you want to, or you can choose to move on.

Coaching is like being an oil wick candle, and if you don’t take the time to put more oil in the base, you eventually burn out, says @litt_strength. Share on X

Second, the light at the end of the tunnel is more blinding than you may think. I would have never thought that I would have two “last day of work” moments at the same job, but I did. And yet, within 48 hours of being told I would be laid off, I was asked to interview for a PE teacher’s position at a middle school. A few days after I learned that I wasn’t selected for that position, I got an email from a professor at a local college with an invite to guest lecture in their exercise science department. A week later, a coach I met at SummerStrong called me out of the blue, offering his advice and some opportunities to learn and develop as a coach. This light at the end of my tunnel made me realize that most of us have a light shining brightly for us, but we often shield our eyes from it.

Third, in the past year and a half, one thing has become increasingly clear to me: We should hope for the best while preparing for the worst. Burning out was, and likely will be, the lowest point in my coaching career. But even with the mental stress of the COVID-19 shutdowns and the eventual loss of my job, I am the happiest I have been since I started coaching. I attribute part of this to mentally preparing for the worst: the loss of my job and the closure of the gym. This is not to say that we should dwell on negative thoughts, but rather embrace the multiple outcomes of a situation.

If I leave you with anything, it would be to not give up hope. While we should be prepared for the worst, we should also hope for the best. Have hope that doors will open when others close, have hope that our roles will remain intact, and have hope that there will be a stronger future.

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While not blessed with the genetics to excel at sprinting, I consider track and field to have treated me very well. To offer some perspective, I am a masters athlete, having recently turned 38 years old, and I have never broken 11 seconds for 100 meters or 23 seconds for 200 meters, and at this point I assume I never will. I have spent four years coaching youth athletes in Dubai, and although I’m not currently coaching, it is something I see myself returning to in the future. However, largely due to being in the right place at the right time, I have been extremely fortunate to cross paths with some of the world’s leading sprinters, coaches, and authorities in speed development.

This is not something I have taken lightly, and I am under no illusion that my athletic capabilities warrant the input from some of the great minds that have offered me help and advice over the past 20 years. With this in mind, I have counted my blessings and endeavored to learn something from each encounter and tried to apply any lesson where appropriate as I progressed through my involvement in the sport.

In no particular order, I have decided to offer a lesson learned from some of the athletes and coaches I have interacted with. Some of the knowledge was imparted by extremely prominent names, other wisdom was derived from lesser-known sources, and there are many more names I could add to this list. Some of the lessons I have learned along the way have been fairly specific, but I have tried to reflect upon and share some of the broader concepts I have picked up on. This is due in part to the fact that I think in recent years the speed development community has become prone to consumption by minutiae, and I feel stepping back, considering the big picture, and being more holistic in the development of sprinters could be a positive thing.

1. Craig Pickering – Keep the Big Picture in Mind and Think Critically

When I first joined what was then Milton Keynes Athletics Club, an athlete four years younger than me named Craig Pickering had also recently joined. Many readers will be familiar with his name, as he has written fairly extensively for SimpliFaster and now has a role in high-performance sport with Athletics Australia.

At 14 years old, Craig won the national Under-15 100m title and went on to have a strong senior career, finishing with personal best times of 10.14 over 100 meters and 6.55 over 60 meters. He made the Olympic team in the 100 meters in 2008 and qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics as part of the British bobsled team, before injury forced him to retire prematurely from international sport. In my opinion, Craig has an excellent understanding of the details related to training and athlete development.

Craig and I still speak regularly, and what continues to impress me is his ability to process new information, take a step back, see where it fits, and apply it, without getting drawn down rabbit holes. Prior to his role in Athletics Australia, Craig worked for a company involved in genetic research and testing, and he introduced me to the ACTN3 gene. The ACTN3 gene is also known as the “sprint gene,” and it relates to the body’s ability to produce type IIx muscle fibers, with an individual’s genotype offering clues as to how they may most appropriately be trained to develop speed and power qualities.

Whereas I went down that proverbial rabbit hole, Craig was able to reflect on this and consider that, while there may be some merit in applying some of this information to training programs, a sprinter still needed to be able to clear the blocks effectively, accelerate efficiently, and reach a high maximum velocity that they could also maintain well. Therefore, regardless of an athlete’s ACTN3 status, these qualities required regular development in training.

When I am now faced with some new information, instead of mindlessly attempting to apply it, I try to consider how Craig Pickering may interpret it. Where does this information fit? Share on X

When I am now faced with some new information, instead of mindlessly attempting to apply it, I try to consider how Craig may interpret it. Where does this information fit? Is my context suitable for the application of this information? Ultimately, this has led to a more holistic thought process with regard to my sprint training.

2. Greg Rutherford – Listen to Your Body, and Rest Is Underrated

At around the same time I met Craig, there was another athlete there who was also four years younger than me named Greg Rutherford. When I introduced this article stating that luck was involved in the paths I crossed, part of that luck was joining a club when it was on the brink of becoming a national hotbed for youth athletics talent. Greg was prodigious and won his first European medal—long jump silver—at 19 years old, before going through a golden spell in his career that saw him become Olympic, World, European, and Commonwealth Champion, as well as British record holder in the event with 8.51 meters. Additionally, he was a useful sprinter with personal best times of 10.26 over 100 meters and 6.68 over 60 meters.

One of the key influences (in my opinion, and likely in Greg’s as well) that led to Greg’s golden spell was a reduction in training volume and frequency. At the time, I recall (arrogantly) thinking Greg was lazy. There were times when we were due to train together, and Greg would cancel because he had taken his dogs for a long walk or had been installing windows in his new house, and I recall thinking “Imagine how good he could be if he devoted himself.” Upon reflection, however, I now think Greg was exceptionally in tune with his body and knew when he needed to back off in order to deliver the required intensity and effort when he did train. The reduction in training frequency and volume saw a reduction in injuries, and the rest, as they say, is history.

As I have gotten (a lot) older, I now try to consider this lesson when faced with a training session. Am I ready to deliver the appropriate intensity? If not, is it a better idea to back off and live to fight another day? My circumstances are fairly busy, and around a full-time teaching job and a 3-year-old daughter, my recovery is often not optimal, so it’s become paramount to think carefully about when I can “go hard” or whether I should “go home.”

3. Dave Lease – Train Speed Year-Round

In 2003, I moved to Cardiff to study sport and exercise science at its university, and one of the reasons I chose the institution was its sports facilities. They had an indoor, banked 200-meter track, which was unheard of in those days in the U.K. Those facilities meant that there were elite athletes who made that venue their training hub, and this enabled me to witness high-level sprinters and sprint coaches operating on a daily basis. Dave Lease was known for coaching Jason Gardener to a world indoor bronze medal over 60 meters in 1999 (behind Maurice Greene and Tim Harden) and for helping him to run 6.46 over 60 meters and 9.98 over 100 meters.

Dave was perhaps the equivalent for me of Charlie Francis for many people. In my first year at university, Dave delivered a lecture for my course, and one point that stood out was that he tried to coach Jason as though they were based in Southern California year-round as opposed to an outdoor track in Bath, England. Dave had staple year-round sessions for Jason, such as 3×30 meter fly runs with six minutes’ recovery between the repetitions, or block sessions consisting of runs over anywhere from 1-6 steps.

These kinds of workouts were almost unheard of to me, and up until that point my training had typically consisted of far higher volume. With maximal sprinting, the overall volumes an athlete can achieve within a session are quite limited, and in order to replicate maximal intensity, the recovery intervals need to be extended. Otherwise, you are no longer sprinting maximally, and the stimulus and therefore the adaptation are impacted. Jason had appeared to thrive with this type of training incorporated into his program, and the times mentioned above remained his personal bests for the rest of his career.

Having seen the way Dave Lease constructed his training programs, I have always incorporated some form of maximal intent sprinting throughout the year, and not just in season. Share on X

It stands to reason that if you want to sprint maximally in competition, at some point in practice you will also need to sprint maximally and probably reasonably regularly. Doing so helps develop the body’s physiological capabilities to reach and operate at higher velocities. Having seen the way Dave constructed his training programs, I have always incorporated some form of maximal intent sprinting throughout the year, and not just in season.

4. Linford Christie & Darren Campbell – Not All Short Sprints Need to Be Carried Out with Maximal Intent

Linford Christie is perhaps Great Britain’s most famous track and field athlete after he won the Olympic 100-meter title in 1992 and the following year posted the still-standing British record of 9.87 to win the World Championships. In the winter of 2005, Darren Campbell allowed me, with an (at that time) 100-meter personal best of 11.8 seconds, to join in with his training group. In 2004, Darren had been a member of the Olympic gold winning 4×100 meter relay team, and in 2000 he had won an Olympic silver medal over 200 meters. I was fairly starstruck and ready to soak up knowledge and apply myself in order to improve as an athlete. While Linford was not based in Cardiff, he came down from London fairly regularly to oversee training sessions and set many of the workouts.

One of the concepts that stood out to me from the training sessions was that a lot of the runs were completed as either “good pace,” which was essentially a submaximal effort that felt pretty comfortable, or build-up runs, in which the repetition distance was split into thirds, and each section got faster. Often these formats of runs were all incorporated into one workout, alongside maximal intent sprints, and the distances of the runs containing submaximal sections were as short as 30 meters.

The purpose of these runs was not initially obvious to me, but they were an integral part of the training that year. I beat my old personal best times by nearly three-tenths in the 60 meters and by four-tenths in both the 100 meters and 200 meters, so it was clear that whatever I was doing in training was having a positive impact on my performance, even if I didn’t understand why. Fairly recently, I have had conversations on social media with PJ Vazel and Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo, and both have suggested that motor learning occurs more optimally at submaximal intensities, thus providing an explanation for a potential mechanism behind this type of work.

Although the fact that something works should be enough of a reason to incorporate it, an understanding behind the methodology helps to increase buy-in of an idea, says @SprintFasterDXB. Share on X

This is a lesson I have not done a great job of applying over the years. I think there are two possible reasons for this. First, I did not understand why something could help me. Although the fact that something works should be enough of a reason to incorporate it, an understanding behind the methodology helps to increase buy-in of an idea. Secondly, I think on a basic level it is quite counterintuitive to think that slower running can help an athlete to ultimately run faster. My target has recently been, and will continue to be, to incorporate more submaximal efforts where the foci are rhythm, timing, and coordination.

5. Simon Duberley – One Technical Fix Can Bring About Other Technical Fixes

Simon Duberley is perhaps a name that will not be familiar to a lot of the readers in the U.S. In his day job, Simon works for a company that manufactures ejector seats for military aircraft, and he coaches athletes in the evenings and on weekends. Simon has produced some very successful athletes, including two under-20 athletes: Rion Pierre, who ran 21.23 indoors over 200 meters, and Deji Tobais, who ran 10.30.

While I had considered the importance of technique throughout my early involvement in sprinting, Simon took that understanding to a new level. Based upon his understanding of physics developed through his job, Simon was able to break down the running stride and consider the importance of various biomechanical indicators. I learned that altering one biomechanical aspect can have a knock-on effect and impact other positions.

For example, a dorsiflexed position allows the gastrocnemius to relax, which subsequently allows it to assist in knee flexion throughout swing leg recovery. This, in combination with the fact that the center of mass of the lower segment of the leg is shifted closer to the knee, allows the knee to angle to close more tightly throughout the leg recovery, due to the fact a short lever is a faster lever. The same concept is then applied around the hip. With tighter knee flexion, the center of mass of the leg shifts closer to the hip, which allows the thigh to swing through more rapidly and therefore get into a good position for ground preparation earlier in the stride, thus setting up a more optimal subsequent ground contact, which sets up the following stride, and the cycle continues.

Whenever I analyze sprint mechanics and notice a technical issue, I now aim to consider what happens prior in the gait, and how that may influence what I am seeing. By the same token, I consider what impact the issue may have upon technical aspects later in the cycle. Ultimately, the body is built up of many interrelated systems and effecting a change on one variable will impact many other variables. It is therefore important to understand what other factors you risk changing by making a technical alteration, and the same can be said with regard to programming.

6. Terrence Burke – Coaching Is Teaching

Terrence Burke may also not be a name familiar to some readers. Terrence coached in the Bay Area for many years at the high school and collegiate levels, across various event groups. It is perhaps due in part to his more general background that one of the cornerstones in his philosophy is teaching. I met Terrence more than 10 years ago on the old Charlie Francis forum, and since then he has always shared his wealth of knowledge on programming and the history of the sport with me.

For years, I tended to lean toward effective programming and exercise prescription being the key elements in producing successful results on the track. Terrence often spoke to me about the importance of teaching, and as I am a classroom practitioner, one of the concepts that received a great deal of focus during my professional development was understanding via which method the student is best able to access learning. Some learn simply by being told, others learn using visual props, and some learn through guided discovery.

I believe that placing athletes in scenarios where they are best able to learn makes improvements more meaningful and more likely to withstand the pressure faced in a competitive environment. Many years ago, Terrence first introduced me to the concepts of Vince Anderson, who many readers will know, and who was perhaps the first coach to regularly use “wickets.” I bring this up because I see this as a great example of placing a constraint upon an athlete that brings about a technical change.

In this case, the athlete will not want to step on the mini hurdle (wicket), so the barrier directs where the foot will contact the ground. Many times, this is used to prevent overstriding, and it encourages the foot to contact the ground closer to a point directly under the athlete’s center of mass. As would happen in a classroom, the process can progress as the learner becomes more comfortable and needs to extend. For example, some of the hurdles could be removed from the lane either at the end or, perhaps for extra challenge, in the middle of the run, and it can be assessed as to whether the athlete is maintaining the desired stride length and location of ground contact relative to their center of mass.

It’s worth noting that perhaps the concept of teaching is more relevant the earlier the athlete is in their development. Once they have reached elite status, there will likely be fewer opportunities for an athlete to take learning points away from workouts.

While coaching in Dubai, I worked with youth athletes. I challenged myself to deliver learning points to the athletes I worked with, so that they left as many sessions as possible with an improved understanding of sprinting, or a related activity, in the hope it would ultimately lead to them becoming a better athlete.

7. Michael Khmel – Volume Can Work

In late 2008, Tim Abeyie, a good friend of mine, made a coaching change to Michael Khmel, introducing me to him and his training group in Loughborough. Michael has a list of very successful athletes on his coaching resume, with Joel Fearon, Matt Shirvington, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, James Dasaolu, Craig Pickering, and Leon Baptiste as some of the names that readers may recognize. Very kindly, Michael allowed me to join in with some workouts, as well as observe him and the group and offer input on occasion.

The first workout I did with the group was two sets of four repetitions of 200 meters with a couple of minutes of recovery between each run. First, I had to negotiate the warm-up, which felt like an entire workout in itself based upon any training I had done prior to that. I was generally pretty good at tempo-type workouts and could hold my own with athletes who were far faster sprinters (which is a lesson in itself), and by the eighth 200-meter repetition, only Leon Baptiste and I remained in the workout. The target time for the runs was 28 seconds, and I vividly remember giving it everything I had on the last effort and managing 28.5. Meanwhile, I watched Leon stride way off into the distance and clock 24 seconds. For the next two years, Leon completed these kinds of sessions and improved his 100- and 200-meter times, culminating in a victory and gold medal over 200 meters at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Around this period, I posted regularly on Charlie Francis’ forum, reading posts and information that training runs in the 75-95% intensity ranges should not be incorporated into a sprinter’s training, and I was very much about the concept of keeping track work as specific as possible. If a run was not near-maximal, then I could not see the benefit. However, here was Leon excelling off a program that had plenty of volume of submaximal efforts in the intensity range that I believed was too slow to be specific, yet fast enough to bring about more prolonged fatigue. To provoke more thought, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey ran his lifetime personal best time of 6.55 over 60 meters in 2010 as well.

I do not believe it is the optimal strategy for everyone…but I have seen many athletes who seem to improve when they have more training volume, says @SprintFasterDXB. Share on X

This was another lesson I did not learn right away, but as I reflected upon my experience with Michael over the following years, it became apparent that some athletes responded well to a more volume-based approach. I do not believe it is the optimal strategy for everyone, and I still could not give you a detailed explanation of the mechanisms involved, but I have seen many athletes who seem to improve when they have more training volume, and regress when approaching training with a higher-intensity, lower-volume style of programming. This example, combined with similar others, makes it impossible for me to disregard a higher volume approach as being “wrong”; I simply think you need to be aware of the type of work the athlete responds best to.

8. Tim Abeyie – Maximum Strength Can Have Diminishing Returns

In 2005, I began training with Tim Abeyie, as he was one of Linford Christie’s athletes at the time. Over the next year, Tim improved his 60-, 100-, and 200-meter times to 6.64, 10.22, and 20.66 respectively, earning himself a spot on the British team for the 200 meters at the European Championships.

Around this period, I was under the impression that the power clean was an essential lift for any sprinter, and common questions amongst the British sprint community were “What can you clean?” and “What’s your body weight?”, therefore enabling a ratio to be calculated. I felt the unspoken belief was that, as that ratio improved, your sprint time would improve.

Over the next four years, Tim continued to get stronger, and he was ultimately able to power clean 155 kilograms, more than 20 kilograms heavier than in 2006, with very little change to his body weight. That year he ran 6.74, 10.43, and 20.75. Ultimately, sprint performance is multifaceted, and many variables were at play that meant Tim did not run as fast as he had four years earlier. However, if maximum strength is such a strong predictor of sprint performance, I would not have expected to see significant strength gains coincide with a decrease in sprint performance.

Strength training is one aspect of sprint performance that I understand less than others. My feelings are that for most people, a “baseline” level of strength development is beneficial, but past a certain point, chasing numbers in the gym can be futile for some. I think that all things being equal, the stronger athlete is perhaps the faster athlete, but as I mentioned earlier, sprinting is multifaceted, and a change in one variable impacts many others. As with the volume and intensity spectrum on the track, I imagine the role weight training plays in an athlete’s training varies between individuals, and the qualities that make an athlete successful perhaps determine how important that role is.

My feelings are that for most people, a ‘baseline’ level of strength development is beneficial, but past a certain point, chasing numbers in the gym can be futile for some, says @SprintFasterDXB. Share on X

As a younger athlete, I relentlessly attempted to pursue new personal best lifts in the weight room, under the pretense it would almost guarantee better performance on the track. I would try and lift heavy if my back or my knees were not feeling great, and occasionally I got injured. More recently, I have taken a step back from the gym and view it simply as a means to an end, while keeping the primary goal, times on the track, at the forefront of my mind.

I had no access to a weight room throughout lockdown, and my body seems to be feeling better with fewer aches and pains. This allows for greater intent in track workouts and potentially a decreased injury risk, thus possibly allowing for more consistency, and therefore a better chance of improved performance.

9. Dan Pfaff – Athletes Are Individuals

Dan Pfaff likely needs no introduction to the readers of SimpliFaster, as the coach of Donovan Bailey and countless other elite sprinters and track and field athletes across various speed and power events. Greg Rutherford introduced me to Dan in late 2009, when he moved to England in the lead-up to the home Olympics.

Greg split his training between Lee Valley’s indoor 200-meter track in North London and a couple of venues around his home, some 40 miles north of London, and he regularly trained on a long hill near his home. In a conversation with Greg early on in his partnership with Dan, he explained that Dan had not seen the hill yet, but he was happy for Greg to complete his Saturday workouts on it. Initially I found this strange, as I was not sure how Dan could make this decision without seeing the surface and the gradient of the hill clearly.

I was perhaps getting lost in the minutiae again, and as I grew to understand Dan and his methods better, it struck me that perhaps he was focused on keeping his athletes happy and feeling good. A confident athlete heading into a competition period is likely going to perform well, and it was obvious that Dan did a great job of managing this with Greg, who did not want to move to London, away from his home. Dan saw how important it was that his athletes were in a positive and happy environment and facilitated that within the parameters of his programming.

Dan Pfaff saw how important it was that his athletes were in a positive and happy environment and facilitated that within the parameters of his programming, says @SprintFasterDXB. Share on X

As the athletes I coached in Dubai matured and I got to know them better, I encouraged them to take more ownership of their training. It was possible to guide this within certain parameters by providing them with options and ranges, something I had also learned from Dan. For example, I may have them set between four and six repetitions over 150 meters, so that if they’re tired, they can stop after four, or if they feel great, they can complete six. I believe this empowered the athletes, kept them happy, and as an added bonus, contributed to their learning.

Find Your Own Path and Reflect Wisely

These are some of the lessons I have learned from some of the people I have met in my track and field journey over the last 20 years or so. Some I learned through my interaction with them, and others I learned after some reflection. The whole experience has taught me that there are very few occasions when it is not possible to gain knowledge that can shape future practice.

The whole experience has taught me that there are very few occasions when it is not possible to gain knowledge that can shape future practice, says @SprintFasterDXB. Share on X

More recently, it has come to me that perhaps we are too quick to point out what we see as the flaws in the practice of others who may not agree with our philosophy, as opposed to considering aspects that may be able to help us develop as a practitioner. Finally, it taught me that context is key, and some lessons were applicable in the setting in which I observed them, but perhaps would not be appropriate in different circumstances. I think that this is the art of coaching—knowing when to apply which scientific principle.

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Since March, like many others, I have had a lot more time on my hands. As exercise shifted from the gym to my stationary bike, and activities on evenings and weekends moved from social events to time spent indoors, the amount of time I had available grew massively. The positive within all of this is that I finally had the time to do things I’d been putting off, including making my way through an ever-growing list of sports documentaries.

I enjoy the insights of these shows, as they often demonstrate how sports stars and teams operate on a daily basis and reveal the underlying foundations of their success. There are many lessons we can take from these documentaries, and in this article, I highlight some key take-homes from my recent binge watching of all things sport.

1. All or Nothing: All Blacks

There’s a great moment in Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary series on the All Blacks (New Zealand’s national rugby team): They’re losing 22-20 in a match against Argentina in the Rugby Championship, the annual Southern Hemisphere tournament that also includes Australia and South Africa. Having just scored a try, New Zealand has a chance to level the game by kicking the conversion. Lima Sopoaga, usually the second-choice fly half, steps up to take the kick. In the documentary, he talks us through that moment. As he is setting up, he catches a glimpse of the scoreboard: two points down, this is a pivotal moment in the game, and the All Blacks need him to make this kick. The pressure from his teammates, and even from his whole nation, is on him.

How we react in situations like this tells us a lot about ourselves and our character. Sopoaga, in the face of all this pressure, realizes “these are the moments you ask for.” Instead of wanting to avoid the pressure, wanting to be anywhere else but there, he actively embraces it, and the chance to perform that comes with it. This, to my mind, is one of the crucial lessons from this documentary series: Elite athletes are not scared of being in situations where failure might happen. Instead, they embrace it.

This is one of the crucial lessons from this documentary series: Elite athletes are not scared of being in situations where failure might happen. Instead, they embrace it, says @craig100m. Share on X

Although I was never of the same level as Sopoaga, I have raced in two World Championships finals, and I remember the feeling of nerves, the pressure of potential success, and thinking to myself there is nowhere else I would rather be. For elite athletes, there is often something inherently enjoyable about embracing uncomfortable situations; the challenge for coaches is to develop these traits in their athletes so they can perform without fear on their biggest stage. Overall, the All or Nothing series is a fantastic watch, giving amazing insights into how the best team in the world operates and how the best players carry themselves and prepare for their biggest moments.

Key Takeaway: Truly elite athletes embrace the pressure of performance and want to put themselves into situations where they will be tested. To support our athletes, we need to develop this attitude.

2. The Last Dance

In comparison to the All Blacks, there are many athletes and teams where the culture is less than positive, often with an under-explored or rarely discussed dark side. Within this theme, there is no better place to start than the Michael Jordan documentary The Last Dance.  

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, it’s highly likely that you’ve at least seen clips shared on social media, but the whole series is highly enjoyable. Ostensibly about the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls team, the docuseries covers MJ’s whole career, as well as key moments from the Chicago Bulls dynasty during their period of sustained success.

A crucial lesson for me came from the clips of the U.S. basketball team at the 1992 Olympics, commonly called the “Dream Team.” The videos show how fiercely competitive their practices were, which many players stated were the hardest games they ever played in. If coaches and players can develop training situations in which they have to work harder than in competition, they will no doubt develop the confidence and skills required for success.

A second lesson comes from how Phil Jackson, coach of the Bulls during this period, deals with Dennis Rodman—who we might charitably describe as a free spirit. In the series, Rodman is shown going on a week-long party tour to Vegas, missing some important training sessions. Rather than punish Rodman once he returns, Jackson instead just carries on like nothing has happened. Jackson—whose book Eleven Rings is also hugely enjoyable—appears to be of the opinion that Rodman needs to party and needs to rebel, and that trying to constrain him to “normal” professional behavior would be counterproductive.

In my own experiences, I know of one multiple Olympic medal-winning coach who, dealing with an athlete of a similar disposition, developed one key session for the week. His goal was to get the athlete to do that session—anything else was a bonus. That athlete now has their own Olympic gold medal, demonstrating that sometimes it is better to work with your athletes (and their perceived weaknesses) than fight with them for perfection.

Sometimes it is better to work with your athletes (and their perceived weaknesses) than fight with them for perfection, says @craig100m. Share on X

There is, however, a dark side to The Last Dance. Jordan is clearly obsessed with winning and exhibits some highly toxic behaviors. The question—which is unanswered in the documentary—is how much coaches and athletes should tolerate this as the price of success. On more than one occasion MJ demonstrates bullying behaviors—including actual physical assault—and this appears to be somewhat accepted by his team as the cost of success. Certainly, MJ thinks so, reflecting as such during one tearful soliloquy. Given the recent sporting abuse scandals that have been widely reported, this should be uncomfortable watching for everyone, and it should drive more conversations around what is the acceptable price of success and what behaviors we will and won’t tolerate on this journey.

Key Takeaways:

1. There is an important need to practice like you compete. As a result, coaches should seek to develop realistic training sessions to better support their athletes in being able to perform when it matters.
2. Success often comes at a price. As a society, we need to have better conversations about what that price is and whether it is acceptable to us. Building on this, we need to be clear on what behaviors we will and will not tolerate in the pursuit of winning, and continually reinforce the desired behaviors.

The Edge

The British documentary The Edge details England cricket’s transformational journey from no-hopers in 2009 to the number one ranked side in the world in 2013. Although not necessarily its main theme, the film explores the darker (or at least more private) side of sport. We see Jonathan Trott openly discussing his mental health and anxiety battles, which demonstrates how athletes are people too and subject to the same battles that we all go through. Other players detail the highs and lows of their sporting journey, which further adds to our understanding that all is not always rosy in elite sport.

Like The Last Dance, The Edge asks the question of what is the acceptable price of success—which is demonstrated by Coach Andy Flowers’ relentless drive for it and his own reflection that he has often got the balance wrong. Finally, we see how, once the team reaches its goal of being number one in the world, it is somewhat of an anti-climax. This topic is similar to that of the HBO Sports documentary The Weight of Gold, which covers the mental health of athletes who have reached the top and find it to be much less fulfilling—and substantially more empty—than they thought it would be.

All involved in sport should, as highlighted in this documentary, be increasingly aware of the mental health challenges posed by elite sport, says @craig100m. Share on X

I went through similar, but far less extreme, experiences during my career. After winning a bronze medal at the World Under-18 Championships in 2003, I remember struggling for motivation at competitions I viewed as not at the same level, and I perhaps didn’t celebrate my selection for the 2008 Olympics—the pinnacle of my career—as much as I should have at the time. I think it’s an important reminder for us all that the journey is often more enjoyable than the destination. If we build up the goal result and put it on a pedestal, thinking that everything will be amazing afterward, we will inevitably be disappointed.

Key Takeaway: We often expect that success leads to happiness, but in many cases the journey is more fulfilling than the destination. All involved in sport should, as highlighted in this documentary, be increasingly aware of the mental health challenges posed by elite sport—and winners are far from immune from this.

4. Building Jerusalem

Switching sports, but staying with England, I finally got around to watching Building Jerusalem, which, like The Edge, is a story of how an England team rose from underperformers to world champions. In this case, it is the England rugby team; knocked out of their home World Cup in 1999 at the quarter-final stage, they turned themselves around to become World Cup winners in 2003. The documentary has multiple key themes—one of the main ones is how Clive Woodward, the England coach, led this revolution through innovative thinking and approaches. Matt Dawson, the England scrum half, even comments that if you were a half-decent salesperson with a sports science product, Woodward would likely have bought your services—he genuinely wanted to leave no stone unturned.

One of Woodward’s innovations was hiring a vision coach, Dr. Sherylle Calder, who is still involved with the team today. Calder worked on improving the peripheral vision and spatial awareness of the players, but also had a secondary, unplanned, important role—she taught the England forwards Afrikaans, allowing them to understand the lineout calls of South Africa, England’s opponents in a crucial group game, and subsequently nullify their threat. Woodward is perhaps one of the key drivers of what eventually became known as marginal gains, a now somewhat maligned approach to leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of success.

Building Jerusalem also has important lessons for game day performance. Although strong favorites to win the World Cup, in a group game following their win against South Africa, England was struggling against relative minnow Samoa: At half time, Samoa led 16-13. A key part of this story was England’s ability to grind out results. They might not be playing well, but eventually they proved too much for Samoa, running out 35-22 victors. They then struggled against Wales in the quarter-final—again trailing at half time before turning it around.

While we might expect and desire to win in dominant fashion, sometimes it’s important to ‘win ugly’ and just drag yourselves over the line, says @craig100m. Share on X

This is an important lesson to us all: While we might expect and desire to win in dominant fashion, sometimes it’s important to “win ugly” and just drag yourselves over the line. This belief in the process was illustrated in the final, which went to extra time. The message to the England team at this point was just to do what they usually do—nothing special—and, if they did that, they would be successful. This success came with 26 seconds left, as Jonny Wilkinson kicked the winning drop goal.

Jonny Wilkinson brings us back to the key themes discussed in other documentaries. At this stage of his career, Wilkinson was an obsessive: He couldn’t leave training without kicking six consecutive penalties successfully and would typically take 500-600 practice kicks per week. This obsession propelled Wilkinson and England to World Cup glory, but it came at a price. There’s an amazing moment in Building Jerusalem where Wilkinson describes his emotions in the seconds before the end of the game. He knows that England has possession, and that they’re going to just kick it out to secure victory, but he doesn’t want the game to stop. In those few seconds, Wilkinson knows that they will win the World Cup, but that they’re still on the journey—the process by which he is obsessed—and have yet to arrive at that destination. He knows the referee’s whistle will bring an end to this journey, but he doesn’t want it to end.

The next 18 months were an injury hell for Wilkinson, as his obsession drove overtraining: He played just 940 minutes of rugby during this period. Wilkinson eventually found happiness, embracing Buddhist principles and ending his career with a hugely successful five-year period playing for Toulon in France. In the last match of his career, in typical Wilkinson fashion, he scored 84% of his team’s points, leading them to victory in the Top 14 Final. Nevertheless, this happy ending should not obscure the dangers of obsession with sport, as Wilkinson’s career is a powerful reminder that we should develop the whole person, not just the athlete.

Key Takeaways:

1. Once the basics are taken care of, an innovative approach to athlete development and elite sport can support success. Even if it has no direct effect, if the athletes believe that they are the best prepared, that can give them masses of confidence.
2. Elite athletes are at risk of developing perfectionist behaviors; while this certainly helps them achieve success, it tends to come at a cost. A common symptom of this is excessive training, which may be an important warning sign to look out for.

5. From The Inside Out

Despite having lived in Australia for five years, I’ve yet to truly get into Australian Rules Football. However, in my constant search for interesting sports documentaries, I came across From The Inside Out, an hour-long film that covers Collingwood, an AFL team based in Melbourne, and their 2018 season.

The documentary details a club in transition; in the 2017 season, Collingwood—or the Pies, as they are commonly known—finished 13th in the table, well outside of the playoffs. There were calls for their charismatic young coach Nathan Buckley to be fired. Instead, the club offered him a two-year contract, and in the 2018 season detailed in this documentary, they came in third in the league and made the Grand Final, losing by five points. The documentary, as with others discussed here, has a mental health angle; in this instance, Adam Trealor, a key Pies player, discusses his battles with anxiety. What is really pleasing to see is that Collingwood rallies round him; their Chief of Culture and sports psychologists support Trealor in overcoming his issues, and he plays in their Grand Final loss.

From The Inside Out also deals with a culture change—Buckley is aware that the club has a long reputation for being aggressive, causing them to be disliked. He tries to instill a more welcoming culture, using strong links to the local community and fans to develop the player’s collective story. There are many examples of this in the documentary, including bringing fans with illnesses to speak to the players about what the club means to them. You can see the effect this has on the players—some of them are moved to tears—and it results in an overall change in culture, with the well-being and development of players as good people being paramount. At the end of the documentary, Buckley reads a letter from a lifelong Collingwood hater, congratulating him on the great work he has been doing—an example to Buckley that his process is having a positive effect.

Key Takeaway: Culture change can be difficult and “fluffy”; an important step appears to be defining and then operationalizing the desired behaviors (i.e., what does “respect” look like?), and then promoting these behaviors through a variety of means—in the case of Collingwood, often though storytelling.

Hungry for More?

Similar to From The Inside Out, and sticking with the theme of culture change, Amazon’s The Test tells the story of the Australian cricket team, and their rehabilitation from the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. New coach Justin Langer, a former international cricketer for Australia, is keen to change the perception of the squad, and it’s an interesting watch as to how he goes about doing this—but there is a small hint of propaganda throughout!

Andy Murray: Resurfacing is a very enjoyable documentary that details the rehabilitation process for athletes, warts and all. In this case, it covers Murray’s battles with hip pain, his attempts to overcome and deal with it, failed treatments, and potentially a comeback. It illustrates the psychological toll injuries have on athletes; many times, we see Murray getting frustrated or emotional.

This documentary is a great example of the retirement process for many athletes, and the doubt it causes—making it an important watch for those involved in sport, says @craig100m. Share on X

Throughout, there is a storyline that this might be the end of his career; at one point, we see Murray in his hotel room, considering whether this will be his last competition. He can’t decide: He clearly loves the sport, but his body has had enough, and it’s sapping his enjoyment. Murray calls his wife, who says “If you’re looking for someone to give you permission to retire, this is it.” Murray makes up his mind, but then changes it, before changing it back. It’s a great example of the retirement process for many athletes, and the doubt it causes—making it an important watch for those involved in sport.

Finally, The Australian Dream is an eye-opening account of AFL player Adam Goodes and his battles against racism in sport. It’s really uncomfortable to watch, acting as a strong reminder how sport often acts to intensify social issues, and how, while we think we as a society are doing well, we can always do better.

Let me ask you a question: Have you ever observed or coached alongside someone who just seemed to have a presence? This coach controls the flow of the session in a deliberate way and always seems to have a captive audience. They consistently achieve their desired outcomes, whether that is promoting a high degree of learning, producing incredibly detailed and individualized programming, or delivering a massive amount of energy and “buzz,” no matter the situation.

This experience can be quite hard to describe, but you definitely know when you see it and can almost feel it in the room. Watching good coaches operate—basically the complete opposite of what you see on Last Chance U—you get this feeling of unspoken energy in the room I like to call “session climate.” I use that phrase to describe the intangible factors that go into a good session delivered well.

Watching good coaches operate, you get a feeling of unspoken energy in the room that I like to call ‘session climate’—the intangible factors that go into a good session delivered well. Share on X

There is an old adage that a bad program delivered well will work better than a good program delivered poorly. Now, ideally you shouldn’t ever need to make that choice, but it shows that sometimes what we deliver isn’t as important as how we deliver it and why. Having good coaching processes allows you to achieve a positive session climate consistently.

Bringing the Art of Coaching to Life

This is an area that you don’t really get taught much about at university: You learn the underpinning physiology behind programming decision-making and perhaps why you might use certain training prescriptions. But the major roadblock for many young coaches is finding a way to make the program come to life off of Excel.

Why is this?

Well, unfortunately, there isn’t really any replacement for time spent in the trenches coaching! This is why it is so key for young S&C coaches to spend time coaching, whether that’s with a pro sports team, in a college setup, or just training the general population. You have to go out and coach someone…anyone! This is also why there’s a great benefit to exposing young coaches to multiple environments and contexts—for example, if I spend all my time working with a small group of introverted golfers, I’m going to need to adapt my coaching very quickly if I’m then thrown to the wolves with a group of 30 extroverted rugby players!

To develop this “coaching art,” there aren’t many alternatives outside of spending large amounts of time coaching, often developing your craft through trial and error. This is where working outside of pro sport can be so valuable. It might not be as glamorous, but it is a fantastic opportunity to improve your coaching skills. I worked for a few years at a university and coached so much with such varying groups that I couldn’t help but improve my coaching craft!

One helpful resource is a growing body of literature looking at the “science of the art,” with outstanding work from the likes of Nick Winkelman with his book The Language of Coaching and from Brett Bartholomew and his concept of “conscious coaching.” But as coaches, our default setting when furthering our own learning tends to be to look deeper at set and rep schemes, or to look at why we should or shouldn’t do certain exercises. We often know the what very well, but we tend to let the how develop by accident.

Proper Planning: Checklists & Notes

A way of combatting this problem is to take a personal look at our own coaching processes. It sounds simple, but actually sitting down and working out your own process for coaching is worth investing time in. If we have a good coaching process, we can foster a session climate that is appropriate for the session and the athletes we work with, which will lead to us being much more successful. From there we can develop a coaching checklist that ensures we get the most out of every session, every time.

It sounds a bit silly and certainly isn’t the most interesting of topics, but as some of the great work from Atul Gawande shows, implementing checklists can have dramatic effects^1. (See this short clip from his TED Talk—a coaching checklist may not save lives like in this example, but it will certainly save you from delivering a poor session!)

Not only can writing checklists help better prepare you for the session, but it provides a framework for you to more effectively self-evaluate post-session as well, reinforcing the loop of constant refinement of your own coaching process. These might include things you do naturally, such as where you stand in the gym to control the group, or in warm-ups whether athletes go in single file, in small groups, or all at once. Putting some thought into these things helps to sharpen the sword of your own coaching and also allows you to do the “pre-mortem,” as Daniel Kahnman explains in his book Thinking Fast & Slow.

Checklists help better prepare you for the session and provide a framework for you to more effectively self-evaluate post-session, reinforcing the constant refinement of your own coaching process. Share on X

Forecasting to spot the car crash before it happens allows you to be aware of any potential threats to your session climate and put a plan in place to combat them. For example:

• If I’m coaching one player who really struggles with a lift in a large group of 40 athletes, how much one-to-one attention should I give him if it steals from the rest of the group? Do I have a plan for how I deal with this athlete?
• If I have all my athletes do an exercise, but there are only two pieces of equipment for them to do it on, how do I combat the choke point to the session this might cause?
• If I coach a client one-on-one among a large group of the general population, how do I ensure I still achieve the best session flow?

From making mistakes, you can’t help but find better answers to these questions, which allows you to achieve better session climate, because you are better prepared.

One of the things that I have found helps me personally with my own coaching is to have something to refer to while I am on the gym floor or on the field. I would say the most important tool I have in my coaching toolbox is the Post-it Note…yes, the Post-it Note! I now use small Post-it Notes in pretty much every single session that I deliver.

I am not claiming this will work for everyone, but for me at least, the notes help bring clarity in my own mind of what I’m going to do, what I’m going to say, and key themes (or issues I need to look out for). Just the simple process of writing things down—even if you don’t refer to the notes in session—is said to better commit things to memory², so at the very least it can help you be more prepared. Sometimes it may be a plan with themes and cues I want to get across; other times I might write an outline of the gym program so I know what the session flow will look like. (An unintended consequence is that I now have the ability to write so small that if I ever went to prison, I’d certainly be the guy tasked with smuggling notes between inmates!)

A formalized coaching checklist doesn’t necessarily have to be written down, but it is good to think about chronologically, so you can visualize the flow of the session. Prior to the session, consider:

• Is the gym well laid out?
• Do my drills on the field flow from one to the next without choke points?
• Do I need a session briefing at the start?
• What themes should I bring up?
• Will I be doing any education?
• How am I progressing the session from the one before?
• Will the athletes know whether they have been successful in the session? How?
• How am I “packaging” the session?

All of these things help the athletes buy in more to what you’re delivering and grow the session climate.

A Bit of Branding

Packaging sessions can be a great way to liven up a generic session, helping to drive training intent. For example, a standard hypertrophy session could be named “Flex Friday,” or you could have certain athletes enroll in “Speed School.” These packaged sessions add an extra bit of window dressing, tend to be more fun, and give the players much greater ownership of the session.

At times, the athletes will see themselves as custodians of that particular group. For example, to join Speed School, the athletes might first need to earn the right to be there (as judged by the players already “enrolled”), performing a particular rite of passage before being permitted to join the group. One example of this from my coaching was a hypertrophy group that required a Great British Bake Off in order to join, where an athlete had to bake a protein-based snack for the rest of the group (with the players of course judging whether the baked goods were good enough to merit entry!). Another example was a speed session with Premier League-style relegation and promotion to the top group, complete with Champions League music playing before the final sled race!

Competition = Intent

One of the easiest ways to affect session climate is by including elements of competition in a smart and simple session design. This is a surefire way to ensure a positive session climate and drive training intent. Adding external rewards such as prizes can work well—for instance, in a rugby environment, I’ve found the players are more motivated to stitch their teammates up than they are to win prizes! So physical punishments or embarrassment for not winning often helps drive banter in the group, as the players are motivated to see their mate have to do something embarrassing or face some hardship.

Structuring sessions to include game elements or challenges is also a great way to put a bit of special sauce on a session that can otherwise be quite generic, says @peteburridge. Share on X

Structuring sessions to include game elements or challenges is also a great way to put a bit of special sauce on a session that can otherwise be quite generic. For example, when upper body sessions get stale and 5 x 5 becomes too monotonous, a challenge between players to do as many reps as possible in an allotted period of time can be a great change-up.

“Energy” is a term that gets thrown around a lot by coaches, but it is a real thing and the “vibe” of a session can either help give energy to a group or take it away. Energy is a hard thing to put a finger on at times, but it can be controlled by the coach. Depending on your own coaching style, you may be the lead energy guy/gal (think of your college football strength coach in a SMedium polo!), or alternately, you may help certain individual athletes express their own personality to give energy to a group.

This is where allowing your extroverted players to express their personalities can be really useful to provide energy to their teammates. At times, this can be even more powerful than a coach having to always be the driver of energy in the session. The coach can then settle into the role of a conductor, letting the orchestra make the music while you subtly influence the behaviors you want from them in the background.

Being solely reliant on yourself or a few athletes to bring the energy every day is a big ask, so you can make your job easier by letting the environment or task help drive the session climate if the energy is wanting. In a warm-up to get athletes going, playing a couple of fun games that still lead to physical outcomes can be a very effective tool to drive energy and foster a positive session climate.

Videos 1 & 2. Who says warm-ups have to be boring?! You can still achieve maximal accelerations or prepare the players to handle deceleration…it just so happens they are playing naughts & crosses (tic-tac-toe) or running after a rubber chicken! Again, your imagination is the only limiter here.

Gamification of sessions can be a good way of taking the session climate to even better levels. For example, turning a Wattbike session into “Le Tour de Leicester” or having WWE-like Tag-Team Elimination Chamber style max rep challenges with the right group, at the right time, can have a great impact.

This isn’t limited to the gym either; in fact, this strategy works more fluidly on the field in agility and speed games with rules and constraints such as “game-breaker moments” and “power-ups.” This gamification may start out quite abstract in basic tag-based evasion games, but you can actually use it in quite sport-specific drills in a more game speed setting.

Video 3. Gamification works best on-field when tied to the sport. In this game the physical outcome was a max effort acceleration over a large distance, whereas the rugby outcome was kick chase intent and high ball catch skills. In an attempt to tie the two together, the players are in teams that have to score points by cleanly catching the ball in the zone. The further the zone (and so harder the kick and bigger the distance to accelerate over), the more points for your team.

Using exercises that are measurable and then displaying that feedback through leaderboards is a great way to generate competition. This is where exercise selection can be dictated by the ability to drive energy and competition within a group. For example, broad jumps feature significantly in my programs because we have measurement lines heat transferred into our floor—it’s quick and easy to use competition to see who has jumped the furthest because it’s there for all to see.

Another easy way to get athletes to compete is through the use of VBT: Having an iPad feeding back scores is an effective method of creating competition. To optimally improve power, we know that maximal intent is needed no matter the load on the bar³, so finding ways to dictate the environment to get that behavior is key.

A Dose of Our Own Medicine

Once you’ve implemented your ideas and understood your own process, the next thing you want to do is work on refining that process and look for ways to improve it further. At times, this can be tough to do if it’s just you in the gym with your athletes, because you don’t really have anyone but yourself to evaluate how the session went. This can then quite easily lead to you falling into the trap of doing what you’ve always done. But putting some thought post-session to how it went can be key to making improvements.

Sometimes coaching with a GoPro on or at the very least setting up a camera in the corner of a gym can help you understand elements of your own coaching process, says @peteburridge. Share on X

An even better method is to actually record your sessions: We often challenge our players to analyze their performances and watch film of their training and games, but when was the last time you sat down and analyzed your own coaching sessions? It can be quite an awkward proposition to do self-analysis, but sometimes coaching with a GoPro on or at the very least setting up a camera in the corner of a gym can help you understand elements of your own coaching process:

• Have you stood in the most effective position to coach?
• Do you control the group?
• What is your body language toward the players?
• Are there blind spots with athletes’ technique that you miss or don’t see?
• Have you verbalized your coaching in a way that’s easy to understand?
• Do you say enough to impact a player’s movement quality?
• Are you saying too much? (This is where having access to a mic or the Voice Memos app on an iPhone can be very enlightening.)

I’ve found, especially with my on-field coaching, that hearing what I’ve said allows me to be more concise and have clarity with my words the next time I use them. This ultimately improves my ability to coach and allows me to get better at my craft in the same way that I challenge my players to do.

Don’t get me wrong, at times you can get some funny looks if you do coach with a GoPro on or with glasses with a camera attached. But when you get over the awkwardness, the footage you get is fantastic for analyzing your own coaching. Matching this with more formal self-evaluation can be a powerful method to judge your own coaching or model another coach’s style.

I have adapted the SPICE system used in teaching and public speaking⁴ to help me better evaluate my own coaching, and from time to time to improve my own coaching process.

Being equipped with higher levels of self-awareness around your own coaching process will allow you to more consistently achieve a positive session climate. This helps what you deliver become a more emotive experience for your athletes and provides the backdrop for so many more positive outcomes. With higher levels of engagement, our athletes buy in and are better primed for more education on what to do and how to do it. This allows us to further influence our athletes’ behaviors (whether in the gym or on/off the field). It is also likely that our athletes will develop greater autonomy over their own development and the training process.

Being equipped with higher levels of self-awareness around your own coaching process will allow you to more consistently achieve a positive session climate, says @peteburridge. Share on X

The methods we use to achieve this, whether through competition, fun, greater challenge, or more stimulation doesn’t really matter, as long as it ultimately leads to us being able to better connect to our athletes. If better session climates allow us to do all of that, then we set ourselves up with the best possible platform for our players to succeed…no matter what we decide to program!

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. Haynes, A. B., Weiser, T. G., Lipsitz, S. R., et al. “A surgical safety checklist to reduce morbidity and mortality in a global population.” The New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:491-499.

2. Mueller, P. A. and Oppenheimer, D. M. “The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking.” Psychological Science. 2014;25(6):1159-1168.

3. Tillin, N. and Folland, J. “Maximal and explosive strength training elicit distinct neuromuscular adaptations, specific to the training stimulus.” European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2014;114(2):365-374. doi:10.1007/s00421-013-2781-x.

4. Jahangiri, L. and Mucciolo, T. A Guide to Better Teaching: Skills, Advice, and Evaluation for College and University Professors. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2017.

Mehh! Mehh! Mehh!

The alarm creates a cascade of cortisol, jolting me awake from a much-needed rest.

I check my phone—there’s no way it can be 4:30 already—but sure enough, it is.

To add insult to injury, it is pitch black outside. Not to mention, cold enough to turn my spit to string cheese as I hock when clearing my throat.

A warm shower would be nice. But it would soothe me, not “start” me. I pass on the hot water and instead, take a 10-minute walk in sub-zero temperatures to wake the hell up. Why? Because I’m a strength coach and gym owner. People like us do things like this, or so I’ve been brainwashed to believe.

Lucky me. It’s also the first of the month, meaning the gym gets paid today. Everyone’s credit cards and ACH get run. As I hear the crunching sound my shoes make on the snowy path, it reminds me of the sieve I’ve created for my bank account. The gym gets paid. The rent gets paid. The staff gets paid. And only then do I get paid, if you want to call it that. What’s left for me after taxes is pennies compared to the amount of work I put in.

“What the hell am I doing?” I mutter to myself. “I work so hard. Everyone is prospering except me. And I’m the damn owner!”

Sound familiar? This is the life of today’s strength coach and gym owner. Change is needed. And soon. Sooner than the day before yesterday.

While coaching athletes and seeing growth in your business is invigorating, it may come at a cost. Yes, you get fulfillment out of building relationships with each youngster who walks through your door. Yes, it is a damn good feeling to see your membership and monthly ACH increase each month. But while coaching and building a business, you are burning the candle at both ends, whether you know it or not.

If the grind this industry wears as a badge of honor is starting to wear on you, this article is for you. And if the work feels unrelenting, ruining any semblance of balance in your life, this article is for you. But if nothing changes, then nothing changes. More of the same leads to more of the same. And as a result, you may stay on the proverbial hamster wheel, or worse—want to leave the industry altogether. Call me crazy, but I believe you deserve to make not just a decent living, but a great one. This is exactly why I felt compelled to write this piece, so you can give up the grind.

Unfortunately, those who have paved the way for you now are blocking it. I may take some flak for this, but I know it is for your good and the betterment of the industry. The “old guard” preaches a do the work attitude day and night, saying things like:

• “If you’re waking up at 6:30 a.m., then you’re already too late.”
• “You need to decide if you’re going to be a business owner.” (Which means, “Your hobbies, workouts, and other things that fill you up need to be set aside.”)
• “If you’re going to try and be an expert then at least be in the game for five years first.”

If you would rather keep staring at your laptop screen until three or four in the morning because that’s what you were told to do in order to be successful, don’t let me stop you. However, if you would rather get in the driver’s seat of your life instead of daydreaming in the passenger seat, then follow and trust.

Imagine achieving financial freedom instead of living paycheck to paycheck. Imagine actually enjoying your mornings again rather than getting in the car half-asleep as you drive to the gym.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for hard work—trust me. But I’m also a huge advocate for doing nothing, and a lot of it. The irony in the latter is that when I find myself doing nothing—sprinting, reading, meditating, etc.—these are the times when some of my best ideas spawn. Then I can implement those new revelations into my deep work sessions, getting way more done in far less time.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for hard work—trust me. But I’m also a huge advocate for doing nothing, and a lot of it, says @huntercharneski. Share on X

Having owned a small private training facility for several years in West Michigan (excuse me, having a small private training facility owning me for several years), I’ve been where you’re at. But I also got out. My life is simpler now. I work way less and make more money than ever. Even when our small space served more than 100 athletes. But more importantly, I am helping others get off the hamster wheel and have some freedom, for Pete’s sake.

I live a bicoastal life now between Arizona and Michigan. I write every day. Some of that writing helps coaches and gym owners clarify their message, because most get embarrassed seeing their gym half-empty. Which results in working more hours and getting paid in frustration. And yes, I still coach. But I have built coaching around my life. Far too many do just the opposite. I can say, for the first time in my life, I am actually happy. And it didn’t take as long as you might think. Let’s break down how you give up the grind. 

The “Go-To” Coach

Becoming a “go-to” coach for something is relatively easy.

I used to think becoming a “go-to” coach—much less, being seen as one—would take more than half my life to achieve. Not to mention, the knowledge one must have would be astronomical. But here’s something you won’t find in any university, textbook, or business class: in order to be seen as the authority on a subject matter, all you need to be is one chapter ahead of those you’re educating.

Toward the end of 2017, the subject matter I wanted to plant my flag on was speed. Sprinting and all things helping athletes “get there first” was a hot topic at the time. Having owned a facility in which we prided ourselves on the one biomotor ability everyone wanted more of, I had credibility at the micro-level. But I knew my “reach,” so to speak, would have to be at the macro. 

Near the end of October, and with the new year fast approaching, I decided to host the first-ever #SPRINTORDIE Six-Week Speed Masterclass. (Some of you reading may have been part of it.) I would administer it in a private Facebook group. In the weeks leading up to the class, I posted an “Ask Me Anything!” story on Instagram. This was important for two reasons: anyone who asked a question was granted free access to the class, and the most frequently asked questions gave me insight into what people were struggling with. And thus, those questions became the modules for each of the six weeks (week one: drills; week two: footwear considerations; week three: hamstring rehabilitation; etc.)

The class exploded. Having more than 50 coaches and practitioners in the group eager to learn from me was a huge boost in confidence—something that is incredibly important if you plan to be an expert. To buy myself more time for engagement with the class’s attendees, I pre-recorded all the modules via Microsoft PowerPoint with a Camtasia add-in. This feature allowed me to present each slide and lesson without losing the human aspect, as Camtasia provides a small space for the consumer to see your face on their screen.

In order to increase engagement in the class, I assigned homework at the end of each module. These assignments included their biggest takeaway, which was important. When you ask someone what their biggest takeaway was, or what was most helpful to them, they’re going to provide positive feedback. It’s an honest admission that you provided value to them. They, and you, start to slowly see you as an expert. I also asked people to share videos of their drills, runs, and sprints. They wouldn’t be vulnerable and post a video of themselves if they didn’t trust you, right?

Gather Social Proof

Serve first, sell later.

If you’ve read Influence by Robert Cialdini, then you know how strong the human condition for reciprocity is. Remember, I did not charge any of the attendees one red cent for the class. I was simply building trust, relationships, and most importantly, competence. At the end of the six-week class, all I asked the attendees was:

• “If you think what you got out of this class is worth more than $500, will you please provide a brief video testimonial of your experience?”
• “How could I make it better?”

Since these coaches had free admission, of course they were going to provide testimonials and suggestions for future classes. And they did.

Start a Side Hustle

Repackage your free offering and sell it.

Repackage your free offering and sell it, says @huntercharneski. Share on X

With the first class ending mid-February, I decided I would host another just weeks later in early March. I re-recorded the modules based on the suggestions the attendees made in order to deliver a better experience. And then with the dozen or so video testimonials I had gathered, and not an ounce of marketing experience, I started posting them.

Cialdini also touches on the power of social proof. When your prospective clients see others having success with your product or service (add a smiling face too for extra credit), they will be more likely to buy. And that’s all I did. I posted a video testimonial on Instagram and Facebook every Monday, with a direct call-to-action, and when next Monday came around, I would post a different video testimonial.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

As people started signing up, I added them to the Facebook group one by one. Once added, in order to instill more excitement, I asked them to tell the group what they were most excited about heading into this class. My goal for the first paid master class was 10 individuals. Nine signed up. The price tag? $597 each. More than $5,300 for six weeks. Not bad. I’d say the first class (which was free, remember) was well worth it. I would go on to host several more master classes before moving to the next chapter of my life. But let’s discuss what you’ll do next.

Create a Product

You’re feeling good about the money you’re earning from this new side hustle of yours. But in order to truly give up the grind, you have to put your “income on autopilot,” a la Tim Ferriss. The process is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

The good news is you’ve got all the lecture material from PowerPoint and Camtasia. In other words, you’ve got the “why” on your subject matter. The bad news is you’re missing the “how” with your product. People will buy the “why,” but they’ll form a line around the block for the “how.”

Either with your phone and a tripod, you will need to film the “how.” In other words, you need to have video evidence capturing that you not only know what to say, but how to coach your skillset as well. Don’t hold back on this part. Coaches love adding exercises to their database and will search high and low for cues they’ve never heard before. This will be the backbone of your product. Make sure it’s got plenty of meat on it.

They know the why. You’ve taught them the how. Now your buyers need a filter. Basically what this means is they want you to show them how to take what you’ve given them and apply it to their specific situation. They want to create their system, not duplicate yours. They want autonomy. Provide them with anecdotal evidence you’ve found in certain situations, examples including (but not limited to):

• How to apply this with youth athletes
• How to apply this with time constraints
• How to apply this with a small gym space
• How to apply this with bad weather
• Team setting considerations
• Private sector considerations

After you’ve created the product, the process goes quickly. Find someone who’s good with ClickFunnels or Infusionsoft to “house” your product, and then craft a lead-generating PDF to grow your email list. (I’m a fan of ConvertKit, personally.) This will allow you access to your potential customer’s inbox, so you can build that relationship and move them closer to the point of purchase when you’re ready to launch your new product.

Now, before my inbox overflows with contrarians, let’s discuss this strategy.

1. This strategy is meant to expedite, not overnight, your grind.

The problem with only being one chapter ahead of those you’re educating is you could be reading the wrong book. In other words, there are a lot of “experts” on social media who are anything but. They’ve been reading the wrong books for way too long. Hell, they’ve been in a different library altogether. Don’t be those folks.

You actually need to have some depth and experience with the subject matter. I hired Derek Hansen as my coach so I could literally immerse myself in sprinting. Yes, it gave me knowledge. Yes, I practiced what I preached. But what it did for me above all else is grant me empathy. “Knowing what it feels like…” is a secret weapon if you’re to be seen as an expert.

Remember: expedite, not overnight. I don’t know about you, but I’d take 18 months to grind if it meant my freedom got expedited by several years.

I don’t know about you, but I’d take 18 months to grind if it meant my freedom got expedited by several years, says @huntercharneski. Share on X

2. “This ain’t a diss song.”

It isn’t my intention to bash the industry’s greats who have been here long before most of us. It is only my intention to show that your path isn’t binary. The message preached about grinding for passion and pennies doesn’t sit well with me. Nor does the assumption, “If you aren’t willing to do so, then you’re in the wrong industry.” There is another way. This is another way.

Ironically, it was a member of the “old guard” who pushed me to become an expert on speed and take the leap into my new life: Jorge Carvajal. Jorge, I apologize for calling you old, my friend, but you’re a guy who’s been around for 30 years who too few know about!

3. Money isn’t everything.

At this point you might be thinking, “Dude’s a sellout,” and while you’re entitled to your opinion, I strongly disagree. If you think this article is purely about making more money, then you’ve missed the point. This is not an article about accumulation, but rather a shift in paradigm. In a word, freedom.

Was money important for me to extricate myself from Michigan and move to Arizona? Absolutely. Did it take a lot less money than you might think? You bet. Money can be a vehicle to drive you toward your dreams, no doubt. But it isn’t everything. John D. Rockefeller, who had more money than any of us ever will, once said, “A man’s wealth must be determined by relation of his desires and expenditures to his income. If he feels rich on $10 and has everything he desires, he really is rich.” Having a “rich” life is easier to obtain than you think.

What If I Still Want to Coach?

I think it is safe to assume the majority of us got into this industry because we love coaching. If you’re like me, your affinity for kids is what lights a fire inside your coaching heart. This is why I am not advocating you give up coaching all together. I am hoping you will give up the grind of it, though. Allow me to explain.

When I still owned and operated my facility in Michigan, there was one class per day I lived for: the 5 p.m. middle school group. It was at the perfect time of day, for starters. I’m a lark, and so my cognitive functioning peak is in the morning. This allowed me to work on the business between 7 and 9 a.m. Then came self-care (something else the industry seems to frown upon, but that’s for another article), which for me was sprinting. After I ate lunch, it was about 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I would take a nap, so I was charged and refreshed for the 20 or more rugrats who’d come barreling into the gym.

Anytime this didn’t happen was no one’s fault but my own. I would try to cram more work into the afternoon and/or early evening. Or worse, I would push aside the vital few tasks in favor of the trivial many. This might upset some, but those less important tasks usually were coaching all the classes. As the business owner, I was under the delusion that wearing every hat was possible, and even worse, worth it. In either case, this affected my love for both the business and coaching, which resulted in the middle schoolers not getting the best of me, but the rest of me when 5 p.m. rolled around.

So I was stuck. I loved coaching. But I also knew as the business owner (and now writer and marketing consultant) coaching every group was not a good use of my time. In fact, it cost me money. Before leaving for Arizona, I put systems in place so I could grow the business as well as coach the kiddos in the evening more often than not. Fast forward to life in Phoenix—my daily schedule looks almost identical. If I have clients in the evening, I train them. Or if it’s track season, off to Pinnacle High School I go.

My point is this: A coach’s life can be stressful., but it doesn’t have to be. You shouldn’t have to choose between coaching and owning a business. It’s just plain wrong to expect yourself to do everything if you’re in the private sector or in small team settings. You ought to have the freedom to pursue opportunities while still being a coach. You can have it all.

Getting Started

How will you be seen as a “go-to” coach as 2021 looms closer by the day? Kettlebell maestro? The plyo guy? Deadlift Debra? The possibilities are endless. My advice? It is easier to fill a need than create one.

• Ask yourself what subject matter you understand—and can teach—better than most.
• Once determined, announce your free master class, take questions, and convert FAQs into modules for your course.
• Anyone who asks a question gets admitted. Create a private Facebook group, and you’re ready to go come 2021.
• Change your FREE class into a paid one.
• Repackage your class into a product and put income on autopilot.

I look forward to watching you give up the grind and take the leap into the next chapter of your life. Or perhaps you’re more comfortable in the passenger’s seat, staring out the window as life passes you by? It’s your choice.

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

For numerous decades, the Olympic lifts (the clean and jerk and the snatch) and their various exercise derivatives have been a mainstay in many strength and conditioning (S&C) programs. Recently, there has been some controversy with regard to the validity of the benefits and the advocacy of including the “catch” during the execution of these exercises. While a formal instruction in the technical performance of the Olympic lifts is not the intended content of this commentary, provided are considerations for the inclusion of the catch during the performance of the Olympic lifts and their derivatives (i.e., power clean, power snatch).

I would like to thank Hall of Fame S&C coaches Al Vermeil, Johnny Parker, Al Miller, and Don Chu, and Coach Mike Gattone, Senior Director of Sports Performance and Coaching Education for USA Weightlifting, for their years of friendship and for all they have taught me about the technical aspects and benefits of Olympic weightlifting, as well as the overall training and coaching of athletes. I have included some of this information in this article.

The value of the Olympic lifts to enhance the physical qualities of both strength and power (rate of force development, acceleration impulse) is well supported in the scientific literature as well as numerous other educational materials. Publications by prominent researchers have compared the Olympic lifts that include the constituent of the catch to the pulling derivatives of these traditional exercises that exclude the catching of the barbell. Some of this research has found little difference between the two techniques, while others report greater performance potential utilizing the weightlifting pulling derivatives.

I am not aware of any recommendations in the research to omit the catching of the barbell during the execution of the Olympic lifts. Share on X

Regardless of these reported outcomes, I am not aware of any recommendations in the content to omit the catching of the barbell during the execution of the Olympic lifts. In fact, many researchers have recommended a combined inclusion of the Olympic lifts, comprising the catch, along with the pulling derivatives during the athlete’s training. I should also note that there are outstanding S&C professionals who have been successful utilizing the pulling derivatives without the catching of the barbell in the training of their athletes. Thus, the question arises, “Is the catching of the barbell during the performance of the Olympic lifts really advantageous?”

Prior to discussing the advantages of catching the barbell, it is important to recognize that no single exercise or exercise derivative is a safe “cut and paste” application for each individual athlete. If the athlete presents or historically reports a medical contraindication and/or orthopedic pathology that prohibits their participation in the performance of the Olympic lifts, the catching of the barbell, or any derivative of these activities, or any other exercise(s), they should not be a consideration for the athlete’s program design.

When presented with a contraindication for specific exercise(s) performance, there are likely alternative corresponding exercises that may be safely appropriate for inclusion for the enhancement of the same desired physical quality. However, in the absence of any exercise contraindication, why wouldn’t those athletes who are inexperienced in performing the Olympic lifts, including the catching of the barbell, participate in these activities as long as a viable process for a safe exercise teaching progression via an experienced and reputable coach is available? As with any other unfamiliar or poorly executed exercise or drill, the Olympic lifts may be taught, improved, and perfected over (training) time.

Exercise intensity is an additional consideration in regard to the application of unaccustomed stress, a requirement for physical adaptation to take place. High-intensity programming of any exercise also has the potential for vulnerability to the athlete. “High intensity” does not necessarily assume substantially heavy loads or maximal velocities but denotes an appropriate programmed level of intensity to which the athlete is unaccustomed. The exposure of an athlete’s vulnerability relates to all exercises executed with a programmed application of unaccustomed levels of stress (intensity).

During the sports rehabilitation and training of an athlete—especially during the training of the post-rehabilitated athlete—whether teaching a complex exercise, activity, or drill, including the programming of high exercise intensities, empirically the concern for athlete vulnerability is reduced if the sports rehabilitation and S&C professionals:

• Are aware of the athlete’s medical history, psychological state (i.e., the presence of kinesiophobia), and important environmental circumstances.
• Have an organized system of exercise advancement to safely and appropriately address and coach (teach) this undertaking.

Triple Flexion During the Olympic Weightlifting Performance

The discussion for the inclusion of the Olympic lifts during the course of the athlete’s training frequently includes the concept of triple extension. Triple joint extension occurs at the hips, knees, and ankles for the appropriate application of a directed force in such athletic activities as starting from the blocks, the initiation of a jump, etc. The same triple extension transpires for an effective application of an acceleration impulse during the performance of the Olympic lifts (figure 1). This acceleration impulse is produced with the intention of creating a high-velocity vertical displacement of the weighted barbell to overcome its inertia.

During these same conversations, the advantages of triple flexion are not often considered. Deceleration is a fundamental constituent of multidirectional speed to allow athletes to effectively change their state of momentum. High-velocity eccentric muscle contractions, along with the associated eccentric rate of force development (ERFD), are required for optimal high-velocity deceleration efficiency and effectiveness during such activities as landing from a jump, change of direction (COD), arm deceleration during throwing, stride leg braking forces at the time of the penultimate foot contact, and the transition of the lower extremity from the swing phase to ground contact in sprinting, to name a few.

The reversal of high-velocity movements requires the production of great eccentric muscle tension for efficient and effective deceleration, including at times the complete halting of the body and/or extremity(ies). The highest level of eccentric muscle tension correlates to movements that occur at high velocity as exhibited in the force-velocity curve (figure 2).

Many athletic injuries happen during the deceleration component of a high-velocity task including, but not limited to, landing from a jump, COD from a high linear velocity, and rapid deceleration braking-type tasks. The catching of the barbell transpires through a coordinated effort between the lower and upper extremities during a deceleration (triple flexion) of the athlete that occurs following an initiated high-velocity task (triple extension). Upon completion of the applied acceleration impulse, the athlete attempts to appropriately position themselves under the barbell by reversing their direction via a high-velocity descent and rapid change in posture (figures 3a and 3b) in preparation for receiving the barbell.

The greater the barbell’s ascending velocity, the faster the corresponding eccentric velocity of the athlete’s descent to assume a correct body posture for a successful catch of the barbell. Barbell velocities can be significant, and those for elite weightlifters that occur during the second pull of the snatch can be found in figure 4.

The initial high-velocity descent of the athlete that occurs prior to the catch carries on as the athlete continues to decelerate the “system” of the barbell weight in addition to their body weight to eventually assume a deep knee bend position. During the descent there is also a synchronous stabilization of the torso and upper extremities to catch and suitably maintain the proper position of the weighted barbell. The athlete then ascends to conclude the exercise in the erect standing position. The ability to decelerate at high velocity with accompanying strength and stability is essential to ensure a safe and optimal athletic performance when confronted with the required deceleration that transpires during various athletic endeavors.

Enhancing the athlete’s ability to produce high-velocity concentric (acceleration impulse, RFD) and eccentric (ERFD) qualities will also help to instill confidence in the application of force, as well as the acceptance of ground reactive forces. This is especially significant for the post-rehabilitated athlete who may present with kinesiophobia during training. Participation in competitive athletics requires the athlete to accept and redirect high levels of force.

Weaker athletes tend to rely more on ligaments for joint stability in high-intensity situations when compared to stronger athletes. Stronger athletes avoid a condition known as “ligament dominance,” a term coined by researcher and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) expert Dr. Tim Hewett. Ligament dominance takes place when the knee joint (or any joint) is more dependent upon the structure of ligaments for stability than the supporting joint musculature while resisting high levels of applied stress. Placing an emphasis on the ligaments instead of strong supporting musculature for joint stability may often result in undesirable orthopedic consequences.

Deep Knee Bend Exercises’ Relationship to Strength Development

Conversations with S&C professionals include declarations that the same eccentric contraction progression (descent) of the catch, and subsequent deep knee bend, that occurs during the Olympic lifts also transpires during the execution of other exercises such as the squat. Squatting-type exercises provide similar triple flexion eccentrics that are essential for the athlete’s strength enhancement; however, these eccentric exercise movements do not require or produce the same high-velocity descent, resulting in the eccentric muscle tension and associated ERFD that is produced during the Olympic lifts.

While squatting-type exercises provide similar essential triple flexion eccentrics as Olympic lifts, they do not require or produce the same high-velocity descent. Share on X

As an analogy, athletes traveling at maximum linear velocities would have to produce a greater ERFD and associated eccentric muscle tension with a very short deceleration runway requiring an abrupt deceleration and/or stopping of the body when compared to the presence of a very long runway allowing for a gradual deceleration. The catch component of the Olympic lifts has a very “short runway” to rapidly reverse (decelerate) the athlete’s body position as compared to the extended “long runway” of the squat exercise, which is performed at a lower velocity of descent. The squat-type category of exercises, although important for an athlete’s training, does not provide the additional benefits of the anticipation of the catch or preparatory exercise movement to enhance barbell velocity prior to the athlete’s deceleration.

The Triple Extension Relationship to Triple Flexion

The execution of the Olympic lifts requires an appropriately applied and directed accelerated impulse to propel the weighted barbell in the proper vertical direction (figure 1). The triple extension that results from the applied impulse may be considered the front-side mechanics of the Olympic lifts, resulting in a suitable backside mechanics where a rapid descent and appropriate posture transpire to safely catch and secure the barbell during the clean and snatch exercises. An optimally executed triple flexion is directly correlated to the athlete’s optimally executed triple extension as is synonymous to the sprinting cycle where optimal backside mechanics is contingent upon optimal front side mechanics.

Ideal triple extension is not just about applying a concentric acceleration impulse to the ground surface area, but also ensuring a precise high-velocity reversal of the athlete’s posture for an appropriate and safe barbell catch, support of the barbell, and deep knee bend triple flexion exercise conclusion.

Exercise Preparatory Movement and Exercise Depth

The preparatory exercise movement is an important component of the Olympic lifts. Bearing in mind that the resulting eccentric muscle tension (backside mechanics) directly corresponds to the concentric barbell velocity (front-side mechanics), a preparatory movement prior to the acceleration impulse will result in a greater overall barbell velocity when compared to exercises initiated from a stationary (dead stop) position.

Dr. Loren Chiu, an outstanding researcher, former competitive weightlifter, and friend, provided me with an analogy of this preparatory movement component of the Olympic lifts years ago. In the sport of drag racing, the drag racer accelerates from a dead stop starting position, as a race starts from a velocity of zero. In comparison, NASCAR racers exhibit a preparatory movement via their established pace velocity while circling the racetrack. Prior to their attempt to pass the race car directly in front of them, NASCAR race drivers will initiate their acceleration velocity from a higher preparatory movement (pace) velocity. Thus, the race car velocity at the precise moment of acceleration is higher in the NASCAR vehicle when compared to the zero velocity of the drag racer.

During the performance of the Olympic lifts, the first pull is the preparatory movement that occurs prior to the greater acceleration of the barbell that ensues at the initiation of the second pull. The preparatory movement of the first pull allows for a greater barbell acceleration velocity at the time the ascending barbell reaches the same height as a barbell exercise initiated from a stationary position upon blocks.

In both exercise conditions the weighted barbell will eventually decelerate to a velocity of zero at the moment of peak barbell height. However, a higher-velocity barbell will achieve a higher peak height, and the anticipation of catching a higher-velocity barbell affords a higher-velocity triple flexion of the athlete to position themselves under the barbell. The preparatory movement of the first pull results in a higher-velocity barbell when compared to non-preparatory pull velocities, resulting in a higher-velocity triple flexion descent. This high-velocity triple flexion descent will only occur with the inclusion of the catch.

The exercise depth distance that transpires during the post-catch descent has a significant influence upon muscle activity. Relative muscular effort (RME) is the term for the absolute muscle effort as related to the maximum strength of a muscle.^7,8 As an example, the RME of the deltoid and rotator cuff muscle groups of the shoulder complex would be lower during the task of placing a book on a high bookshelf when compared to pressing 200 pounds overhead. The gluteal as well as the quadriceps muscle groups are significant contributors to the athlete’s ability to optimally and effectively decelerate and redirect (COD) from high-velocity eccentric forces to high-velocity concentric movements. Greater exercise depth (distance), along with the associated applied barbell weight (intensity), has been demonstrated to best influence gluteal and quadriceps muscle activity.⁸

Exercise depth also improves and maintains joint mobility, joint stability, and the soft tissue compliance (flexibility) of the body. When performing the clean and the snatch exercises, the athlete assumes a deep knee bend position while supporting a weighted barbell. In the snatch, this deep knee bend position occurs with the arms positioned (extended) directly overhead. The overhead squat is a commonly utilized test to determine an athlete’s joint mobility and soft tissue compliance. The snatch mimics an overhead squat performance, thus maintaining both mobility and soft tissue compliance qualities. The athlete’s support of the overhead weighted barbell in this deep knee bend position also requires joint stability. Joint mobility, stability, and soft tissue compliance are significant attributes of the Olympic lifts that occur only with the inclusion of the catch.

Joint mobility, stability, and soft tissue compliance are significant attributes of the Olympic lifts that occur only with the inclusion of the catch. Share on X

Most athletic endeavors require the athlete to be able to frequently decelerate and change direction during competition. The athlete will only travel at velocities that directly correspond to their “braking” abilities. This is observed frequently in the sports rehabilitation setting, where the presence of kinesiophobia is prohibitive in the application and receiving of ground reaction forces. This is especially true in the case of the postoperative anterior cruciate ligament reconstructed (ACLR) knee athlete.

The inability to tolerate ground reaction forces has negative consequences for the ACLR athlete’s ability to produce high-velocity movements and redirect. It is very unlikely that anyone would drive a car over 100 mph if the car’s brakes couldn’t effectively stop it from these velocities. The clean and the snatch provide the qualities of strength and exercise velocity both concentrically (RFD, impulse) and eccentrically (ERFD), as well as the benefits of a deep knee bend exercise depth, all within the performance of a single exercise. However, for all of these physical quality benefits to materialize during this single exercise performance, it is necessary to catch the barbell.

Arm Length Discrepancy and the Snatch Grip

It is fairly common to work with athletes who present with leg length discrepancies, especially in the rehabilitation setting. However, there are also occasions, although less common, when athletes may present with upper extremity (arm) length discrepancies. When an athlete presents with an upper extremity limb length discrepancy, the snatch grip is a consideration for exercise performance.

The modified hand placement adjustment of the wider snatch grip allows the athlete to execute any exercise performance, including overhead tasks, while maintaining a parallel position of the barbell as related to the ground surface area. This is especially important when making the catch during the execution of the snatch exercise.

The Double Peak in Muscle Activation

It is acknowledged that intended exercise muscle activation produces both force and stiffness. Pinto² and McGill^2,3 have demonstrated that muscle activation and relaxation must be coordinated and precise to regulate movement while enhancing performance that requires both strength and velocity. As the muscle force generated creates a higher-velocity joint movement, the associated muscle stiffness slows joint velocity. Therefore, to increase levels of joint (limb) velocity, and in the case of a “striking” impact force (e.g., a hand, fist, foot, or body delivering a blow), the activation of muscles occurs in pulses.

These pulses are initiated by means of muscle activation, followed by a brief period of muscle relaxation, and conclude, once again, with muscle activation. This double pulse specific sequenced pattern phenomenon is introduced as muscle activity (force) initiates limb motion; however, as corresponding muscle stiffness attempts to reduce limb velocity, an immediate rapid relaxation transpires to enhance limb velocity. A concluding additional muscle activation then reestablishes muscle stiffness, resulting in an effective mass at the moment of high-impact strike force.³

Superior athletic performance has been linked to the rate of muscle relaxation in world champion golfers and Olympic sprinters⁵ and, yes, Olympic weightlifters as well⁶. Therefore, how is it possible for this double pulse muscle activation process of initial contraction (first pull), relaxation (at the conclusion of the acceleration impulse of the second pull), and second contraction (catching of the barbell) to occur during the execution of the Olympic lifts without the inclusion of the catch of the barbell?

The anticipated “impact” of the weighted barbell prior to the catch requires a second muscle activation and resulting stiffness that some coaches describe as bracing and stabilizing. The stiffness that occurs during the second pulse of muscle activity, resulting in a more effective mass, may be beneficial to enhance the ability of those athletes who commonly deliver a strike force (e.g., an MMA fighter, a football linebacker making a tackle) or better protect the athlete at the moment of receiving a strike force (e.g., an MMA fighter, a football running back being tackled).

Optimal limb and joint velocity is not only dependent upon the athlete’s ability to initiate high-velocity force (strength, impulse), “but by the rate of muscle activation and relaxation.”⁴ Coach Vermeil reminded me of the words of Coach Charlie Francis, who stated that great athletes not only activate their muscles rapidly but have the ability to relax them rapidly as well.

A simple analogy for this concept would be the cracking of a bullwhip (figure 5). The applied “double peak” wave observed with the bullwhip transpires with an initial muscle (activation) force peak (A) applied to the bullwhip, followed by relaxation (B), and concluding with a second force activation (C) to result in the high-impact force (crack) of the whip. The double peak force applied through a bullwhip is substantial, as a cracking sound is heard as the tip of the bullwhip moves faster than the speed of sound, creating a “mini” sonic boom.

The Body Position When Receiving the Barbell (the Catch)

As the athlete anticipates the “catching” of the weighted barbell by bracing and stabilizing their body, the lower extremity joint angles assumed (especially during the power clean) are very similar to the lower extremity joint angles that occur during the following activities:

• The initiation and application of a forceful impact to an opponent (e.g., boxer throwing a punch, football blocking).
• Accepting an externally applied forceful impact from an opponent (e.g., boxer receiving a punch, football linemen striking each other).
• Jump landings, as the catch may be considered and employed as a lead-up to plyometric activities.

The Split Jerk

Conversations about the catching of the barbell are usually linked to the clean and the snatch exercises and their exercise derivatives (i.e., power clean, power snatch). Fewer discussions include the catch of the barbell during performance of the split jerk.

The split jerk is an exercise that accompanies the clean (clean and jerk), or it may be performed as its own exercise entity. The split jerk, like the clean and snatch, is primarily a lower extremity exercise that starts via an acceleration impulse initiated by the lower extremities. As occurs with both the clean and the snatch, the execution of the split jerk also includes an exercise preparatory movement.

After completing a successful catch of the barbell, the jerk is initiated from the front racked position. At this point, the athlete dips a few inches by bending the knees, keeps the body erect (figure 6a), and reverses direction by applying an acceleration impulse into the ground by rapidly extending their knees to propel the barbell upward from its racked position on the shoulders (6b). The “dip” performed by the athlete prior to the execution of the jerk is an exercise preparatory movement resulting in high levels of peak power (6923 W) as well as mean power (4321 W)^9,10 of generated forces by the lower extremities. What is just as significant as the power produced is the rate of the work done during the execution of the jerk.¹⁰ These forces are then transferred through the kinetic chain of the body to the upper extremities as the barbell travels overhead.

As transpires with the clean and snatch exercises, the athlete reverses their direction after the upward takeoff of a high-velocity barbell by rapidly dropping and decelerating the body under the barbell (figure 6c) to assume a position of an anterior stride leg, a posterior extended opposite lower extremity, and extended arms directly overhead (figure 6d). They should align the extended arms with the ears (olecranon of the elbow) as they stabilize the torso with the weighted barbell positioned overhead. The athlete then concludes the split jerk exercise to assume a bilateral erect standing position with both arms maintaining their overhead extended position (6e).

The split jerk helps the overhead athlete (i.e., pitchers, javelin throwers, volleyball players, etc.) enhance arm velocity. High-velocity deceleration (braking) transpires from the anterior extending lower extremity to conclude in a stable stationary position. Pitchers with higher baseball (arm) velocities were those who demonstrated the following:

• Greater stride leg extension.
• Higher braking ground reaction forces from the extended stride leg.
• Posterior directed landing (braking) forces of the stride leg landing foot, reflecting a balance of inertial forces of the body moving forward to create baseball velocity.
• The landing (stride) leg serving as an anchor, transforming forward and vertical momentum into rotational components.
• The ability to “drive” the body over a stabilized stride leg.
• Increased forward motion of the trunk via stride knee extension during the acceleration phase of pitching.

The split jerk provides the following benefits for the overhead athlete during exercise execution:

• Enhanced stride leg extension.
• Enhanced stride leg landing (braking) ground reaction forces.
• Enhanced stride leg landing stability as well as overall body stability.
• Enhanced eccentric rate of force development to decelerate and “brake” the stride of the lower extremity from an initial high velocity.
• Maintaining a fully extended (shoulder flexion) overhead arm range of motion since deficits in throwing arm flexion of 5 degrees or more have resulted in an almost 3x increase in elbow injuries in throwers.¹¹

The split jerk can also play a significant role in the preparation of the athlete for optimal COD capabilities. The ability to change direction effectively includes the significant role of the penultimate foot contact. The penultimate foot contact is the second to last foot contact with the ground surface area prior to moving in the new intended direction.¹² The penultimate foot contact serves two main purposes:¹²

• Facilitate the ideal body position for an effective push-off during the final COD foot contact.
• Serve as a braking step to reduce the body’s momentum prior to the final foot contact push-off for COD. This is especially important in COD angles greater than 60 degrees.

The split jerk, which is advantageous for the development of arm velocity and safe and ideal COD capabilities, can only be performed with the inclusion of the catching of the barbell. Share on X

The enhancement of the athlete’s breaking force capability during the penultimate foot contact also ensures the athlete maintains a higher entry velocity, resulting in a faster COD speed with a corresponding reduction in in the ground reaction force on the turning plant step limb¹³. A reduction in ground reaction force has significant implications, as non-contact ACL injuries often occur on the planted lower extremity turning limb during sudden deceleration prior to the athlete’s attempted COD. The stride leg extension and associated braking force components of the split jerk are advantageous for both arm velocity and the safe and ideal COD capabilities of the athlete. The split jerk can only be performed with the inclusion of the catching of the barbell.

The Many Advantages of the Catch

Sports rehabilitation and S&C professionals have successfully utilized various exercises and training program designs to enhance an athlete’s physical qualities during their rehabilitation, as well as their athletic performance training. There certainly isn’t any single exercise that is “one size fits all” in the continuum of exercises available for both sports rehabilitation and training. Athletes are individuals who differ from each other with regard to their various medical, physical, psychological, and environmental circumstances, and training experiences. If there was one absolute best exercise and training program design, all sports rehabilitation and S&C professionals would utilize it.

Often, there appears to be a perceived exercise taboo, or assumption that certain exercises are dangerous for inclusion in an athlete’s training. It should be acknowledged that all unaccustomed training exercises and all unaccustomed applied exercise intensities present vulnerability to the athlete. We have rehabilitated many athletes in our physical therapy clinics who have been injured performing many various types of training exercises including single leg exercises, double leg exercises, and even the Olympic pulling derivatives without the inclusion of the catch.

A professional’s poor judgement and inappropriate selection/programming of an exercise for a particular athlete sets the stage for vulnerability, not the exercise itself. Share on X

If an exercise was truly “safe,” as would occur in the routine application of accustomed exercises and exercise intensities, how could physical adaptation possibly take place? What is truly unwarranted is a professional’s poor judgment and inappropriate selection and programming of an exercise for a particular athlete’s sports rehabilitation and/or performance training. These are the conditions that set the stage for vulnerability, not the exercise itself.

The intent of this article was to present the benefits of the catch component of the Olympic lifts for consideration and inclusion during the training of athletes. The Olympic lifts, as well as the catching of the barbell, provide many advantages for an athlete, as shown in figure 7. In order for the athlete to take advantage of all the benefits provided by the Olympic lifts that transpire during a single executed exercise performance, they much include the catch of the barbell.

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. Sandau I and Granacher U. “Effects of the Barbell Load on the Acceleration Phase during the Snatch in Elite Olympic Weightlifting.” Sports. 2020;8(5):1-10.

2. Pinto BL and McGill SM. “Voluntary Muscle Relaxation Can Mitigate Fatigue and Improve Countermovement Jump Performance.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2020;36(4):1525-1529.

3. McGill SM, Chaimberg JD, Frost DM, and Fenwick, CMJ. “Evidence of a Double Peak in Muscle Activation to Enhance Strike Speed and Force: An Example With Elite Mixed Martial Arts Fighters.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2010;24(2):348-357.

4. Cormie P, McGuigan MR, and Newton RU. “Developing maximal neuromuscular power: Part 1—Biological basis of maximal power production.” Sports Medicine. 2011;41(1):17-38.

5. McGill SM, “What I have learned from the great athletes,” Science Direct, 2011 Symposium on Human Body Dynamics; 128-130.

6. Matveyev L. “Ways of perfecting some functional properties and complex abilities influencing movement control.” In: Fundamentals of Sports Training. Moscow, Russia: Progress Publishers, 1981. pp 152-165.

7. Chiu LZF. “Biomechanical Methods to Quantify Muscle Effort During Resistance Exercise.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2018;32(2):502-513.

8. Bryanton, MA, Kennedy MD, Carey, JP, and Chiu LZF. “Effect of Squat Depth and Load on Relative Muscular Effort in Squatting.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2012;26(10):2820-2828.

9. Campbell BM, Stodden DF, and Nixon MK. “Lower Extremity Muscle Activation During Baseball Pitching.” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2010;24(4):964-971.

10. Garhammer J, “Power Production by Olympic Weightlifters.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1980;12(1):54-60.

11. Wilk KE, Macrina LC, Fleisig GS, et al. “Deficits in glenohumeral passive range of motion increase risk of elbow injury in professional baseball pitchers: a prospective study.” The American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2014; 42(9): 2075-2081.

12. Dos’Santos T, Thomas C, Comfort P, and Jones P. “The Role of the Penultimate Foot Contact During Change of Direction: Implications on Performance and Injury Risk.” Strength and Conditioning Journal. 2018;41(1):1.

13. Jones PA, Herrington L, and Graham-Smith P. “Braking characteristics during cutting and pivoting in female soccer players.” Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology. 2016;30:46-54.

The split jerk (or jerk) is not only a unilateral movement, but among competitive weightlifters, we never change which leg is the lead leg. In American football, a punter/kicker has one job: kick the ball and kick it far. They spend hours practicing that kick with the same leg because it is sport specific.

Weightlifting is no different when it comes to the lead leg of an athlete’s jerk. We look for the most optimal and stable position for the athlete as they try to control max weights overhead. When an athlete finds that optimal position, they not only perform the lift correctly, they demonstrate the ability to change direction and absorb force under load—an element of strength needed by all athletes, regardless of sport.

In the sport of weightlifting, my friend and mentor Phil Sabatini (president of East Coast Gold Weightlifting) is fond of saying, “Clean is for show, jerk is for the dough.” In competition, you don’t get bonus points for having a really strong clean if you can’t jerk the bar over your head. It’s either a make or a miss. Having a strong and technically proficient jerk is the best way to ensure that after doing all that work to stand up the clean, you don’t lose it all, draw red lights, and blow the whole lift by missing the jerk.

Technical Cues

From a coaching perspective, we look for a vertical line from the barbell, down the spine, and into the hips, supported by the athlete’s center of gravity. There is a reason the lift is called a split jerk and not a lunge jerk. In the split squat position, the legs are equidistant from the hips. The hips are vertically in line with the torso, and the athlete’s center of gravity is balanced between both legs.

An athlete cannot maintain the vertical hip position throughout the movement if their back knee is straight or “locked out.” When the athlete lunges into the catch position, their center of gravity shifts forward and back. This makes it vastly more difficult for an athlete to stabilize a barbell overhead, as we now have an added (though unnecessary) vector of force.

A major problem we see in the catch position of the jerk is that lifters often catch the bar overhead with a locked back knee. This is problematic because it will ultimately limit how much weight they can jerk, as they will be out of position and unable to drop low enough under the bar at heavier weights. Coaching the split position is one thing, but performing it dynamically can be confusing for athletes.

Video 1. For beginners especially, I like to focus on the footwork first, then slowly add in the upper body.

The quick footwork drill above reinforces the proper way to transition from a bilateral to unilateral stance. This helps the athlete find balance in the lower body and reinforces the position of the legs before adding a barbell. Athletes must be trained and confident to bend their back knee in the split jerk position because the back knee matters!

Catch Position

As athletes perform the lift, starting from the top-down, the arms should be locked out overhead, with the bar directly over the spine. The shoulder joint is in between internal and external rotation, and the lats are engaged to support the barbell overhead. The scapula is protracted and in a slight upward rotation. Moving down the body, the t-spine should be neutral, and the rib cage should be closed. The shin of the front leg is vertical, and the knee is directly over the top of the front ankle. The back knee should be unlocked and slightly bent.

Some lifters will have more of an exaggerated bent knee than others, but in any case, they should never lock the back knee, says @nicc__marie. Share on X

Some lifters will have more of an exaggerated bent knee than others, but in any case, they should never lock the back knee. For more information on the split jerk position and some other tips for improvement, you can read my article “Split Jerk Considerations.”

A locked back leg causes two big issues for the jerk. Due to the timing of the legs and the barbell overhead, it can be an orthopedic recipe for disaster. The athlete’s feet come into contact with the floor slightly ahead of the barbell being locked out overhead. If the back knee is pushed into extension, it will be more dangerous to receive the load overhead without some type of compensation or shift of the hips. This can cause unwanted hyperextension in the low back and puts more strain on the hip flexors.

From a technique perspective, having the back knee straight makes it more difficult for the athlete to drop low enough under the barbell. The jerk encompasses similar principles of physics as the clean and the snatch. The athlete is moving under the bar, not pressing it up. Without a bent back knee, it becomes a lot more difficult for the athlete to drop underneath, which means they must drive heavier weight higher up into the air. And we all know who wins in that scenario…gravity.

Understanding that the back knee should be bent in the catch position is one thing, but executing it is another. Sometimes it’s the muscular strengths and weaknesses of the athlete that can cause this technical error. When an athlete locks their the knee, it shows that they are either biasing the quad for stability or incapable of stabilizing through the glute. When the athlete locks the back knee, they are trying to find stability in the split position, thinking that a locked or “stiff” back knee will provide them with the ability to stop the barbell overhead and maintain the necessary position before they recover.

If an athlete has less than ideal mobility in their shoulders in the overhead position, they will compensate by opening up the rib cage and extending into the thoracic and lumber spines. As the rib cage opens, one of two things can happen:

1. The athlete will attempt to bend their knee, causing the bar to end up too far behind them and leading to a missed lift.
2. They will be forced to lock the back knee in extension to try and maintain the correct bar path despite their lack of mobility. When this happens, the athlete’s back knee inherently locks—if not, the barbell will end up too far back behind them, causing them to miss the lift.

In order for the athlete to feel comfortable unlocking the back knee, we must address their shoulder mobility and trunk stability issue.

Band and Stability Exercises

A commonly voiced concern from coaches and athletes when considering the Olympic movements is a lack of mobility. However, the importance of overhead stability must be emphasized. Specific to the jerk, the more confident and stable an athlete feels overhead, the more likely they are to drop under the bar and bend their back knee without hesitation. Knowing the shoulders are in a strong solid position allows them to place their focus on the lower half of the body during the catch position.

Specific to the jerk, the more confident and stable an athlete feels overhead, the more likely they are to drop under the bar and bend their back knee without hesitation, says @nicc__marie. Share on X

Crossover Symmetry bands are a great tool to help improve shoulder mobility while maintaining integrity in the trunk. If done correctly, the athlete has to utilize their core to maintain their trunk position and allow the shoulder blades to work independently of the spine. One of my favorites movements to do are snow angels: The athlete must maintain their position and not allow the band to pull the shoulders forward as the arms abduct into overhead flexion.

Video 2. Band y-raise to overhead squat.

As the athlete gets comfortable in a static position, we can move them into dynamic movement with the bands such as a band y-raise to overhead squat (above). The integrity of the trunk is still maintained, but the lower half is now more involved even though the focus is still on building overhead mobility. The athlete must maintain the overhead position as they lower down into the squat.

Bands aren’t the only tool that athletes can use to improve overhead mobility and trunk stability. One of my favorite exercises is the kettlebell halo. Similar to the snow angels, the athlete works on moving the shoulder blades independent of the ribs and torso. A way to progress this movement and make it weightlifting specific is with a KB halo from split. The athlete gets in the proper split position for the jerk and stabilizes as they circle the kettlebell around their head. In this position we are able to see if the athlete is learning to control the neutral spine required in the jerk.

Don’t Bend It Too Much

Now, there are always some exceptions to the “rule.” The caveat to this entire article is that if the back knee is too bent, then the athlete may feel a little less stable than with just a slightly bent back knee. For athletes who habitually shoot their back leg completely straight, I reinforce bending the back knee by cueing “back knee down” or “drive the back knee into the platform.” Does that mean I want the knee to get so low it almost slams into the ground? No! But they are so far into the wrong movement pattern in one direction that by overemphasizing the cue, they will find the proper position we are looking for.

Just like every other movement in weightlifting, various athletes’ jerk positions will all be slightly different based on their biomechanics, but it is important to remember that the principles to train this position are the same across the board. We need:

• Mobile shoulders and a stable torso.
• Strong hip flexors and adductors.

It is simply our job as coaches to understand whether the athlete locks that back leg because they are uncomfortable with the position or because a technique deficiency forces them to do so to get under the bar. In either case, set your athletes up with the tools to fix it and get some bend in that back knee!

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

A well-run middle school track program can be a game-changer for both the varsity track program and the school’s athletic program in general. Middle school-aged athletes are interesting cases in that they don’t primarily need to play any longer, but they also don’t need a high school training regimen. If a coach can find that sweet spot, the kids will fall in love with sprinting, jumping, and throwing and reap benefits for years to come.

A well-run middle school track program can be a game-changer for both the varsity track program and the school’s athletic program in general, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Although I have never directly coached middle school track, I have observed enough practices through the years at Triton and other schools to see what works and what doesn’t. As I see it, the middle school coach, has three very important jobs:

1. Make them want to come back.
2. Teach foundations that allow for a transition to high school track with movement competency.
3. Expose them to an array of events and give a clear picture of both TRACK and FIELD.

That’s it for the big picture. Yes, you will have athletes who instantly love it and will be “trackletes” for life, but for the majority of middle school kids, this will be their first exposure to the sport and one they approach with trepidation. There should be some feel-good fun, but at the core there has to be age-appropriate training.

Here are five tips for a middle school coach to make their athletes’ experiences both productive and appropriate.

1. Lay the Track and Field Foundation

Both practices and attention spans are short in middle school so some deviation from traditional training and rest is okay, but there should be no need for non-stop entertainment.

Because track and field is a novel concept, in the early going we need to take some care in selling the legitimacy of the sport. Middle school kids are already searching for their identity and in some respects are trying to distance themselves from being seen as little kids. Age-appropriate training doesn’t need to be a circus, and there are plenty of ways to make things palatable for young teenagers that still are rooted in purpose. Hook them in, but don’t be afraid of giving them a dose of reality that track and field is a real sport, and one that measures raw athleticism.

Age-appropriate training with middle schoolers doesn’t need to be a circus, and there are plenty of ways to make things palatable for young teenagers that are still rooted in purpose. Share on X

In a four-day training week, the middle school coach can set aside a day of “X-factor” fun that perhaps culminates in a game that gets the kids laughing and breathing hard while applying learned concepts. Games like “capture the flag,” “spikeball,” speedball, obstacle course, and ultimate frisbee will always have a place, but they should not comprise the majority of training. Kids are your best recruiters and ambassadors, and if they feel the program is about games and entertainment, then the program’s reputation is most likely shot when the kids talk amongst themselves. Kids want to feel like they are a part of something, and while relationships are important, in my experience they also want to feel the coach is knowledgeable and provides structure.

Some tips to make the “mundane” have a bit more pop:

1. Utilize various position starts for accelerations. In a set of 10x10m accelerations you can have them start flat on their stomach, kneel, cross-legged, on back, tuck and roll, push-up position, two-point, two-point deep crouch… The coach is really only limited by their imagination, and all variations can strengthen the block start down the road. After a walk back and an explanation of the next rep style, enough time passes to hit another rep. This is a great way to keep them running fast and sprinkle in some track-specific starts as you go.
2. Accelerations relay-style in teams of four or five. Choose a distance 10-30 yards on the turf to have an easy start line. Pick a start position and get off to the races. Tag the outgoing runner’s hand and have them cheer their teammate on. If the races are even, then keep the teams the same. If not, mix them up. Review some good acceleration cues between races, and soon you are ready for another round.
3. There are plenty of opportunities to race or time things that are not purely sprint-based. Things like skip races, hop races, and gallops measured over 10 mini hurdles for time are nice ways to drive intent and competitiveness naturally while not getting ridiculous. It is also a great chance to see who is learning and improving without coach instruction. Review these items and others daily but also allow them to just do it.

“We work hard and have fun” is a nice way to phrase it. Fun might attract them, but results and growth make them stay. Sprinkle in fun, but don’t be afraid to take care of business first.

2. Don’t Worry About the Events – Coach the Athletes

The typical middle school athlete, at least in Massachusetts, is very much getting their first exposure to track and field in middle school. They are not setting the track on fire yet. Even if they were, the eighth-grade state meet is not the end of the road. This is not meant to minimize early success, as success is motivating, but the first goal should be to pass off kids with some movement competency to the high school coach.

My advice to middle school coaches would be to spend a decent amount of time each day drilling sprint drills and allowing for exploration of key movements.

I often hear coaches and trainers say that kids don’t need to be taught to land, skip, and jump, as they can do these things instinctively. From where I sit, I see a huge need for this instruction and exploration now more than ever. With puberty comes increased body mass, which seems to often bring coordination loss, and that can require a second wave of motor relearning. A 60-pound fifth grader can quickly become a 6-foot 150-pound high school freshman who is all arms and legs.

I teach fifth grade, so I see elementary school kids at recess. Recess is short, and there seems to be less play in general. My point is, don’t assume that because they are young, they are not far removed from this. For an eighth grader, it is likely 2-3 years since they have had recess, and even if they play other sports there is no guarantee that the emphasis has been placed upon development.

YouTube has a host of drill videos, but unfortunately, not a lot go in-depth on how to do them correctly. I have yet to see a great basic sprint drill resource that highlights “have-tos” and applications for a given drill. Doing drills and easy plyometrics badly strikes me as potentially harmful, or it can at least cause stagnation if the body gets mixed signals.

I would suggest finding athletes who have the look and the function down on a given drill and cue the rest of the team off of their model. Communicate with the varsity coach or another track coach that you trust and ask them where to start. Staying consistent through these awkward and developing years is a great way to get ahead of becoming fast.

3. Speed Kills, but Rhythm Is King

Rhythm is something I believe needs to be present in all track events from the 100-meter up to the 2-mile. Of course, it is hard to quantify rhythm, unlike velocity, power, and strength numbers, so I do feel that this is kind of glossed over in favor of the more measurable stuff. “Pretty” doesn’t guarantee fast, but fast should always be pretty.

These are prime speed-building years, to be sure, but I have always tended toward pushing them to “earn the fast.” A freshman who displays rhythm in most things will be just fine once they can produce more force, they get older, and their CNS adapts to the speed training.

If I was to explain rhythm, I would describe it as…

1. Legs that switch (remove and replace) at the same time.
2. Arms that move up and down and seem to contribute to movement and vertical forces.
3. An ability to run at different tempos or shift through first gear to the fifth without any coordination issues.
4. Appropriate relaxation, forward lean, and posture with a long spine so that reflexes in the lower limbs can reveal themselves.

Other coaches may have different ideas as to how to define this, but this has been a nice starting point for me. There are many ways to work this with middle school athletes that are fun and not painful.

There is a tremendous opportunity to use drills that utilize buildups in speed, distance, or height. Some of my favorites as of late are:

• Gallop buildups – Five gallops, each making a subtle and progressive increase in distance.
• Skip buildups – Blend loose skips into progressively longer alternating skips until good-looking maximal skips for distance are attained.
• Prance quick to high – Start with short choppy contacts and build subtly and evenly toward a prance with maximum pop without changing posture or foot strike location.

Watch for postural compensations and encourage athletes to take the good habits for the lower-intensity exercise into the longest, highest, or fastest variation.

You can also do this by manipulating running tempos in a kid-friendly way. One of the best workouts I have seen came from our old middle school coach, Dennis Donoghue, a few years back. He used a variant of “Cheetahs, Deer, and Elephants.” I believe he used slightly different animal names.

In this game, each animal that you call out corresponds to a different speed:

• Cheetah = sprint
• Deer = fast-paced run
• Horse = easy run
• Elephant = race walk
• Dog = jog
• Turtle = walk

This is essentially an age-appropriate fartlek with embedded tempo sprints. Coaches can tailor it to event groups as well. For example, for a sprint athlete a coach could design something that is achievable and doesn’t result in a death march. An example set:

1. Cheetah– 5 seconds (fast)
2. Turtle – 20 seconds
3. Deer – 15 seconds (tempo like)
4. Turtle – 20 seconds
5. Dog – 30 seconds
6. Turtle, and talk with friends for three minutes. Repeat as appropriate.

A distance coach could also look at these animals and design a workout geared toward a specific goal. I think exposure to different running speeds is important for developing concepts of rhythm and pacing. In my experience, SOME kids just need to get better at running before they can be good sprinters.

I am much more in favor of running for time rather than distance and watching/cueing the kids to figure out how to best distribute their effort over the whole length of time, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Obviously, this is not the only type of running workout you can do, but I would be much more in favor of running for time rather than distance and watching/cueing the kids to figure out how to best distribute their effort over the whole length of time.

A 5- to 10-second sprint may be full tilt, but a few reps of 15- to 20-second runs approaches 150m rhythm and 20-30 seconds may be closer to 200m+. Variety in these timed intervals with appropriate rest would be a terrific way to encourage fast and rhythmic running. Doing them on grass can also provide a new surface. A session of reps with a mix of times from long to short or vice versa could be terrific.

If there is enough rest between reps, ask athletes how they felt and tell them what you saw. Include them in your coaching and hold them accountable for what they do. For example:

• “How did you feel? You looked smooth. Can you do another exactly the same way?”
• “You went out too fast on that 30-second rep, but I love that you figured it out and ended beautifully.”
• “That 10-second rep looked really easy for you. The next time I want you to run with John.”

You should cue them or use analogies to get them to run with a different feel, but never be completely erratic with the speed and pace. We have all seen the clueless freshman blaze a warm-up lap on the first day of practice or end up carrying a refrigerator on their back the last 75 meters of a 300m because they went out too fast.

The above preparation and learning would help kids understand early without preaching that a workout in their future such as 5x200m has a much different feel than, say, 3x350m (special endurance), 4-6×60 (short speed endurance), and 2x150m (speed endurance). Likewise, a 100m differs greatly from a 400m in race model.

4. Teach the Fundamentals of Field Events and Hurdles

Kids will get taller, faster, and stronger naturally. I have seen kids succeed at the middle school level just because they are tall/big but then have to completely start over when they get to high school. The throwing implements are lighter and the hurdles are lower in middle school.

For example, the boys’ hurdles height at the middle school is 33 inches (6 inches lower than high school) and shot put weight is 8 pounds (4 pounds lighter than high school). It is very possible for a fast or tall kid to do very well in these events without much instruction or technique.

The same goes for the girls, where the shot put is 4 pounds compared to the high school weight of 4 kilograms. Additionally, while the turbo javelin is a great first encounter with the javelin, it hardly flies like a real javelin.

I suggest working key movements and exercises that teach and prime the athletes for the future rather than spending most of the time at the jumping pits, throwing circles, and hurdling at race distance and race height.

Here are some drills and exercises that I think are fun and key to work specific events in conjunction with the other training.

• Long Jump = gallops, gallop buildups, run-run-jumps, short approach pops
• High Jump = circle runs, curve gallops
• Shot Put/Discus = med ball throws (general throws before rotational), cariocas, hip disassociation drills (Dak Prescott “hip whip” drill?)
• Hurdles = single leg A-skips/rain dances, hurdle gallops, trail leg, lead leg skips, cycle ladder with banana hurdles progressing to red training hurdles, low hurdles with discounts, general flexibility/hurdle mobility

Again, there are many ways to address specific event needs without specificity. I think the list above gives an athlete a pretty good chance to learn the event and attain some success in the present but be ready to adjust and build at the high school level.

There are many ways to address specific event needs without specificity, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

5. Promote Middle School and High School Interactions

Our track team at the varsity level has a lot of interactions with the middle school track team. The middle school team practices from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and the varsity team from 3:00-5:00 p.m. That half hour overlap allows the middle school athletes to see what the varsity team is doing and vice versa.

Relationships are underrated, and a star senior track athlete looks like a grown man to a seventh grader and can be a role model for a younger athlete. Sometimes a voice other than the coach’s can change a kid’s mindset and work ethic.

The middle school team has a track meet once per week, so on those days the high school athletes finish practice earlier and help run the field events. This helps the high school athletes learn a little bit of responsibility. The middle school athletes are excited to show what they can do against the competition in front of the older kids.

Occasionally, if it is a light day for the high schoolers and there are some athletes on the middle school team thriving, the high school athletes will pull a couple of the younger kids to the side and give them some tips for their events. As long as the middle school coach is there, the varsity coaches often do the same.

All of this is good for everybody, as names are learned, and bonds are formed that keep everyone coming back. This is great for the culture of the team and rewarding for coaches who can see their former athletes blossom at the high school level. 

Keep the Big Picture in Mind

Being a middle school coach is an important job and one that is often overwhelming because you are short on time. Establish good habits early and keep it simple. Narrow the focus and remember that sometimes the jack-of-all-trades becomes the master of none.

If you do it right, the relationships and training can make the middle school team a farm team that has freshmen ready to do something productive on day one of the season, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Good athletes fill out event rosters, so focusing on athletic development along with speed and rhythm can slow-cook the process. Of course, kids are not ready for university-style training, but showing some reality in an age-appropriate training week can hook kids and make them feel proud to be on the track team.

Focusing on drills and exercises such as the cycle ladder in the hurdles and gallops in the long jump puts the emphasis on the skill needed to do the event even if the athlete hasn’t sprouted to full height or speed yet.

If you do it right, the relationships and training can make the middle school team a farm team that has freshmen ready to do something productive on day one of the season.

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

Paypal investor Peter Thiel has long argued that despite the American love affair with competition, truly great businesses are actually built upon monopolies and that “competition is for losers.” Entities engaged in perfect competition race to the bottom in price until there is no profit left to capture by either side.

Case in point: Modern airlines compete furiously for passengers and now profit less than $1 per passenger (any additional profit is a product of excess fees). Total market size for aviation: $581,000,000,000 annually. Now contrast this to Google, whose proprietary technology has made it the only true game in online search (65% market share worldwide), with greater profits than all the airlines combined at $35 billion for 2019, despite the significantly smaller market size of digital advertising relative to aviation. While these business-world examples are not perfect lessons for a strength coach who wants to improve their career, if we don’t learn our value now, we will continue to be undervalued in the future.

Coaching Capital in Modern Strength and Conditioning

So how is a monopoly built? Thiel argues that all great businesses are built on a secret—something you know to be true that others disagree with you on or have yet to realize. When the opposition knows what you know, they copy you, and most or all of the advantage is competed away.

In parallel, Oaktree Capital investor Howard Marks often describes the concept of the price being “baked into” an asset or security. Following the crowd—investing where the masses invest—bids up the price until there is no value left to capture. He argues that successful investing lies in having the courage to go against the grain, but also having sufficient judgment to know whether the masses are avoiding it because it’s actually a dumb idea!

Sport is no different. There is a constant arms race between teams to gain a competitive advantage. Organizations attempt to unearth “secrets” currently unavailable to other teams, be that an original tactical scheme, training technique, recovery tool, or method of processing and interpreting data. Early adopters enjoy a competitive advantage over the opposition, the opposition figures out what is going on, they either match or nullify the innovation, the advantage disappears, and the cycle repeats itself ad infinitum.

The University of Nebraska strength & conditioning program of the 1970s is a classic example of this in action. At the time, the program was truly cutting-edge, and it coincided with a time when the Cornhuskers won two back-to-back national championships and never dropped below a nine-win season the entire decade. Look at the program now: It’s still a quality program, but the rest of the world caught up by copying them. Many high school programs are even using the same algorithms and scoring from Nebraska today, from testing companies who license the calculations. The goalposts have moved, forcing teams to innovate in other ways.

So, what does this have to do with strength and conditioning being broken? Well, all support staff (including strength and conditioning) serve the broader mission of the organization: to win. If the clearest route to success lies in innovation and uncovering hitherto unknown competitive advantages, it is incumbent upon every member of the team to uncover them where they exist within their area of expertise. We must invest time, effort, and resources into the arms race. We will not stumble our way into the next big thing.

Coaching Better Requires Better Coaches, Not More Hours

Numerous businesses in the “real world” understand the value of research and development (R&D) and invest vast resources into making it happen. The annual U.S. military budget for research and development now exceeds $150 billion. Google dedicates a full 20% of the work week to the pursuit of free projects that will push the company forward; if you’ve ever used Gmail or Google Maps, you’ve benefited from this initiative. Warren Buffet spends 5-6 hours per day just reading and gathering information.

At its worst, the collegiate system of strength and conditioning is set up to produce coaches who get better and better at delivering the same program year after year. Share on X

Now let’s contrast this to the average collegiate strength and conditioning coach. Most coaches spend around 12 hours per day at the facility, for a total of 60 hours per week. The following are estimates based on my experiences and those of my colleagues in the collegiate sector:

• 30 minutes for lunch per day, and we’re down to 57.5 hours.

• Take away eight hours per day for time spent on the floor coaching, setting up, or breaking down sessions, and we’re down to 17.5 hours.

• Estimate one hour per day for using the bathroom, transitioning between training locations, and other miscellaneous activities like correspondence and interacting with coaches, equipment maintenance, budgeting, etc., and we’re down to 12.5 hours.

• Take another hour per day for programming, planning, data gathering and processing, and meetings. Now we’re down to 7.5 hours.

• Spend three hours per week training yourself, and all that is left is 4.5 hours per week.

That’s 55.5 hours spent IN the system, and only 4.5 hours spent ON the system.

Coaches spend less than 8% of the working week on learning, developing, and innovating for the future. (It might not even be this much, as I tried to use generous estimates.)

If you’ve been coaching any appreciable amount of time, you probably know a veteran coach who has been in their post for 20+ years. They’re well-liked, and their interpersonal manner with the staff and players is effective, but the program simply doesn’t change. Rather than 20 years’ experience, it is simply one year of experience repeated 20 times. At its worst, the collegiate system of strength and conditioning is set up to produce coaches who get better and better at delivering the same program year after year.

And the time that we do have available to innovate comes piecemeal throughout the week: 30 minutes here, 15 minutes there. The more distributed this time becomes, the harder it is to use it productively. The natural reply may be that dedicated coaches should take their work home with them to make time, but the average coach is already overworked, with a strained family life and deteriorating physical and mental health. More work on top of that is not the answer, and it typically just leads to coach burnout, dissatisfaction, and staff turnover.

Beyond Football Strength and Conditioning

Those coaches on the Olympic side are doubly set up to fail by being assigned an inordinate number of sports and athletes to oversee. Double the responsibilities and you double the administrative load of scheduling, programming, testing, and meetings. We expect breadth not depth from our coaches. It is tough to get lost in the weeds and push the envelope of a program when it competes with multiple other sports where there are 100 athletes for every qualified coach. The relationship between athlete numbers and coaching quality is an inverse one, and institutions that want to develop Rolls Royces need to understand that they cannot achieve this with a production line mentality or budget.

Institutions that want to develop Rolls Royces need to understand that they cannot achieve this with a production line mentality or budget. Share on X

There are a limited number of productive working hours in the week. It follows that every hour spent IN the system (any activity unrelated to long-term innovation or development) competes for time spent ON the system (unrelated to the day-to-day operations but serving the long-term competitiveness of the organization). There is, of course, a place for both, but the balance clearly needs to shift if we are truly about what we say we are. Three primary barriers currently block the path:

1. Schools have an economic incentive to maximize the number of athletes per strength and conditioning coach within legal, moral, and logistical limits, to maximize the number of “on the floor” hours per day and move the greatest number of athletes per day through the gym. Most schools secretly believe, but would never publicly say, that a bountiful supply of labor and telling the staff to just work longer and harder is a much cheaper solution than hiring more qualified coaches or building weight rooms that can handle larger volumes of athletes.
2. Glaring inefficiencies exist at nearly every level of every athletic department, in even the most well-staffed and spacious weight rooms. Physical preparation is always an afterthought, at the mercy of class schedules. Endless repetition of the same session for small groups repeated throughout the day is the norm.
   
   A staff member relayed to me one example of a nationally ranked team in which there were two coaches and interns on the gym floor for every athlete in the group. If the expectation is that all coaches are on the floor for every session, it only exacerbates the waste of time and energy. Ask yourself: If the head coach had to deliver the same practice six times per day, how long do you think it would take before a new class schedule was worked out? I would guess not long.
3. There is a broken culture that prizes activity over productivity. In a highly competitive field like strength and conditioning, it can be easy to succumb to the pressure to be seen to be working. More hours on the floor, more hours in the facility, ABC—Always Be Coaching. The conundrum is that while research, innovation, and working on systems are less-tangible forms of work than guarding your desk, the most successful performance directors in the field make their salaries for their influence exerted and contributions made outside of the weight room.

So, what must change? First, we must force institutions to realize that the prevailing wisdom is penny-wise and pound-foolish. Saving money by flooding the floor with interns and GAs looks good for athlete ratios but is simply adult babysitting in disguise. The closer the ratio of athlete to strength and conditioning coach can be brought in line with that of sport coaches, the greater time and attention to detail the athletes will receive and the more the program benefits.

For those coaches who are salaried, the standard practice of hiring the lowest level of competence and paying the lowest wages that you can get away with is great for balancing the books, but it hijacks the ultimate goal of long-term development. As much as institutions like to tell the story that their high-performance system is theirs, the truth is that when the senior staff members leave, it leaves with them, forcing the department to start all over again from square one. If the seats on the bus are always changing, the program will never gain any momentum.

Commit to a High-Performance Model

True high performance should be about hiring sufficient coaches to give each athlete the care and attention they need to fulfill their potential in every factor of their athletic development. Clear their path of unnecessary and repetitive work. Pay them enough to make them want to stay. Is money the only factor? No, but it’s a major factor when your staff live paycheck to paycheck. Play the long game, outspend the competition, and you’ll take this issue off the table.

True high performance should be about hiring sufficient coaches to give each athlete the care and attention they need to fulfill their potential in every factor of their athletic development. Share on X

The argument that “the money simply isn’t there” falls on deaf ears when coaches see buildings being built that run into the tens of millions of dollars. If “you win with people,” why don’t we allocate a portion of donations to sponsoring staff positions, giving bonuses or raises to the staff, or funding long-term education? The truth is probably simply that donors want to see their name on a building, not a person, but institutions should be more forthright in advising donors on where they ought to spend their money.

Second, institutions must understand the long-term value of innovation. If we are not creating and respecting time, education, research, staff development, and innovation that moves the team toward its stated mission, we are not serving the athletes at the highest level. A few minutes of reading grabbed here and there and a couple of weekend seminars per year will not move the needle.

I’ve personally implemented the policy that before we add anything else to the schedule, we block out half a day per week for each coach. The expectation is that they remove themselves from the building, make themselves unavailable to the athletes and other demands on their time, and work on a project that moves the department forward. These are presented to the team on a “midterm-ly” basis, and we incorporate the best into the departmental structures on a permanent basis.

Where inefficiencies exist, you should remove them whenever possible. Anything that can be done once should not be done twice. Exert as much influence as possible on the institution to organize class schedules around training and competition, not the other way around. The school pays each athlete tens of thousands in tuition alone to excel at sport when representing the university, let’s see the scheduling reflect that.

If a technology doesn’t offer more insight for the same amount of work, or the same insight for less work, save your money. Share on X

Furthermore, systems and technology should be implemented where possible to automate repetitive tasks such as data collection and processing. If a technology doesn’t offer more insight for the same amount of work, or the same insight for less work, save your money.

Invest in Performance Gyms – Not Equipment Showrooms

When checks are being written for new facilities, let’s be honest that equipment manufacturers and recruiters often do more to drive weight room design than strength and conditioning staff. “One of every machine” typically trumps floor space and athletes flowing through the facility. The footprint of a four-way neck machine for guys to do a couple of sets of neck once per week could be occupied by as many as four athletes every session every day if it was another rack. Forgoing cardio mezzanines, country club locker rooms, and other recruiting eyewash means you can add to the square footage of the gym and bring down the unnecessary repetition of work.

The best example of weight room efficiency I have come across was a nationally ranked program from Texas that reduced their physical preparation work during the off-season and pre-season to one session per day. All hands on deck, focus and intensity for 2-3 hours, then handle all your other business for the day. If you could cut just one two-hour session from your day, you could replace that with anywhere from 60-100 pages of reading. Three sessions per week? Forty weeks of training per week? You’re now reading an extra 12,000 pages per year. For reference: War and Peace is 1,200 pages long.

That is a LOT of learning and development that gets lost to needless repetition. Do we all have the potential to run just one session per day? No, but many inefficient teams can, and we can all make more time for much-needed innovation and streamlining regardless of our resources.

Lastly, the culture within collegiate strength and conditioning is overdue for much-needed change. Humans have a habit of orienting their behavior toward what gets rewarded. If “hard work” is what catches the boss’s eye, don’t be surprised if coaches try to one up each other by spending longer and longer at the office.

Humans have a habit of orienting their behavior toward what gets rewarded. Share on X

The Results Only Work Environment, or ROWE, is not new in the business world, but it is extremely rare in the sporting world. In a ROWE, staff are free to dictate the duration and schedule of their work. They are not rewarded for hours, only for productivity on an agreed-upon set of metrics.

I would suggest that player availability, speed, strength and power outputs, reinjury rates, and swiftness of return to play relative to historical averages are good places to start. The indication is that such an approach doesn’t actually reduce hours worked. They’ll work hard regardless; the work is fun, and there’s simply a mandatory amount of work that coaches and athletes have to perform to be successful. But the “results first” mentality encourages efficiency, creativity, and momentum and reduces staff turnover.

Take the Road Less Travelled

If you’re reading this and thinking “this sounds like a lot of work” or “but nobody else does it like this,” that’s the point. Small improvements or variations on exactly what the opposition is doing secures a marginal benefit at best. Unless you are already the champions or perennial challengers, marginal change will not cut it.

Wholesale change is required, particularly in a field where contracts are short, and results need to come fast. Rapid improvement will be earned by those with the courage to do what everyone else isn’t doing, and who exercise the judgement to pick winning strategies and see them through to their logical conclusion.

Down the road, we need to collectively make a change for the profession to be valued and to mature. You don’t have to leave a job or boycott, just remember to be firm on what you believe so the next person that replaces you is in a better situation. If we all do that, in time we will all be better off.

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