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The summer is a terrific 10- to 12-week block of open calendar when many coaches hope their athletes will do a little extra training and come back to school ready for a big athletic year. Nothing beats enrolling in a private facility’s program or working under the eyes of a knowledgeable and watchful coach. You can have periodized training and consistent and appropriate exercise selection, follow a progressive overload, and get deload weeks timed appropriately.

For me, summer programs and clinics have always been less about the preparation for the upcoming season (although that is the draw), and more about promoting independence moving forward. Athletes should carry some sort of basic understanding of why they do what they do into the competitive season. This helps them make better choices in training.

For me, summer programs and clinics have always been less about the preparation for the upcoming season, and more about promoting independence moving forward, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

The truth is that many high school athletes float around untethered each summer without a lot of structured training. They work out by themselves because the cost of some summer training programs is too high, their schedules are already full, or they don’t think structured training could benefit them. With a little more work, these athletes have the potential to help our teams.

Misconceptions about what is needed to take these steps forward are a huge problem. No matter how much coaches explain their philosophy and training methods in season, most athletes don’t internalize these tips or seek out extra coaching. Some end up doing too little; some, too much; and some, nothing at all. The disease of more is just as problematic as inactivity.

Lots of high school athletes who are beginners sign up for gym memberships. From what I observe, it goes one of two ways:

Consistently solid training in the important summer weeks will always yield better results than doing nothing or doing the wrong work, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I am sure there are exceptions to these examples, but not having a plan or seeking out solutions is disadvantageous. This writing doesn’t serve as a specific training program, but rather, a reminder to those athletes who may be flying solo this summer. These athletes can help our programs and should be pointed in the right direction to make good choices. Consistently solid training in these important weeks will always yield better results than doing nothing or doing the wrong work.

Don’t Be Driven Solely by Aesthetics

Whether you call it hypertrophy training, beach muscles, or pump chasing, high school males find it hard to ignore its appeal. They rifle through the latest issue of Flex magazine, pull out a sample week from Phil Heath, and make plans to get “jacked.” We have all heard it before: “Coach, I’m going to get huge this summer.”

Many of us coaches love this training ourselves. It is easier on the tendons and joints and makes us look great in our polos. It is also probably a good base of training for athletes who are new to the weight room and can be a good accessory lift in the right doses and places for others. However, the SAID principle eventually says that if we want to be good at something, then we just have to do that thing, or at least things in the same ballpark. Endless bicep curls and bench presses just adapt us for curling and pressing.

Always lifting this way is a performance killer, especially in the absence of other components of training like sprinting and plyometrics. A bodybuilding split in and of itself won’t get you the results that you need. Single joint exercises are about the muscles and not about the movement. Your body doesn’t think like this. Athletes need to focus on the intention of the movement.

Lifting in the 8- to 12-rep range isn’t heavy enough for main lifts and is too much volume for high intent on power exercises like the hang clean. After learning correct technique, lifting relatively heavy loads or moving them fast will be the key for athletic transfer through a high force output. This matches up better with the goals of most athletes.

Having a strong upper body is absolutely important on the field and during acceleration to help timing and counter rotation. Just make sure it isn’t all ‘show and no go,’ says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Having a strong upper body is absolutely important on the field and during acceleration to help timing and counter rotation. Just make sure it isn’t all “show and no go.” There are plenty of simple multi-joint movements that can create a strong upper body. If an athlete is eating a well-rounded diet (I know, I know—most aren’t) and slightly more than maintenance calories, they will gain muscle while still staying strong per pound of body weight.

You Need to Train Your Legs

This brings me to my next point. As Bret Contreras has said, “Glutes on the ground, hamstrings in the air.” I like this quote because it boils down the complex sprinting biomechanics of the legs to something very simple: Legs are important. This means compound lifts, rather than isolated movements like leg curls, should be the main lifts.

Hamstrings are most active when prepping for the ground and glutes are most active in the stance phase, where they help extend the thigh, stabilize the trunk, and prevent hip drop. This is a little reductionist on my part, but legs help athletes go, slow down, stop, land, and prevent injuries. Yet, many high school athletes avoid training them altogether unless they are with a coach or trainer. Barbell hip thrusts are an excellent way to train hip extension in sprinting and Romanian deadlifts are a great way to eccentrically train the hamstrings for ground contact when sprinting.

I think, compared to most upper body exercises, the technical nature of lower body strength and power exercises is a bit intimidating. I love all types of squats, from goblet and front to back and split squats. I cannot in good faith recommend that someone who doesn’t already know how to squat just go and start squatting. Squatting is very individual and matching up squatting exercises and mobility drills is something a coach should help with. The same goes for all types of Olympic lifts.

Matching up squatting exercises and mobility drills is something a coach should help with. Don’t just go and start squatting if you don’t already know how, warns @grahamsprints. Share on X

I think it is easy for someone to fall into analysis paralysis with the vast array of lower body items making the rounds on the internet. I still think if an athlete is sprinting and doing other athletic work, they don’t need complicated in the weight room, at least for high school kids. It is also perfectly okay to repeat exercises. Variety is good and can be motivating, but not if you haven’t passed Weight Room 101.

For the high school athlete who is by themselves this summer, I think these exercises are fairly easy to learn and still accomplish most of what they need to take a step forward.

In this table, you can find terrific examples of hip extension exercises and lower body power exercises. I am not going to say they are the “best exercises,” but the exercises I feel most athletes could learn and do safely on their own. The hip thrust, even with a dumbbell and single leg, is an excellent way to train hip extension.

I would encourage athletes to still research and look at the videos on YouTube before doing these movements. There is enough variety to motivate an athlete to switch things up when bored while also promoting consistency. When we utilize exercises too soon, we can end up with something unsafe (or at least unproductive), like the reverse curl-hang clean.

The hex bar deadlift jump also gets a lot of love as a power exercise and I can see why. But I would not want an athlete in the off-season to be doing this without a coach/trainer. There have to be prerequisites to advanced items. A careful load selection percentage, the presence of a hip hinge, eccentric hamstring strength, and prior experience with deadlifting are all factors I would want in place before an athlete does these. While a trap bar deadlift is not the same setup or technique as a conventional barbell deadlift, it is a derivative used for roughly the same purpose. Conventional deadlift technique is taught better and, in my opinion, this makes trap bar deadlifts that much easier to master afterward.

I have seen many high school athletes at regular gyms without supervision just squat down, lift it up, and crash down with no eccentric control. This hinders hamstring development and deceleration abilities.

While it is a bit easier to do and add load than a conventional deadlift, the addition of a jump to a hex bar deadlift must be earned. These have an eccentric and concentric portion. If you are not doing trap bar deadlifts with the all-important eccentric phase, hex bar jumps are not an option for you yet. Simple things still need to be coached and you need to be strong before you worry about being powerful. Hold off on this exercise and other shiny objects for a while.

The above four power items are a bit less shiny and concerning due to the bodyweight and lighter weight load used during the exercises. There just are fewer boxes to check first before doing these. Every power exercise above, except med ball throws without countermovements, has an eccentric portion. Pick movements and not exercises. For beginners, learning correct technique on med ball throws is not as hard as Olympic lifts, especially if throwing it hard and fast is progressed slowly.

Rest More Than Before

I am not just talking about sleep. I am talking about rest intervals between sets and reps. Somewhere along the line, we seem to have fallen in love with the notion that constant motion equals hard work. Sweat doesn’t equal intent and, more often than not, doing things fresh with more rest will get the better result.

We seem to have fallen in love with the notion that constant motion equals hard work. More often than not, doing things fresh with more rest will get the better result, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

During our track season, it is not uncommon to have four or five athletes at a rack in the weight room. We do this to force rest. By the time the first person goes again, they typically have rested for three minutes. This is a perfect amount of rest when strength training and they do nothing between sets but talk, spot, and support each other.

The same goes for speed training. The general rule of thumb devised by people much smarter than me is to rest one minute per every 10-meter run in an acceleration or max velocity session. A common introductory session I might use is 6x20m r=2’. If we are doing 10-meter flys with a 25-meter lead-in, I may use four minutes of rest by rounding up from 3.5 minutes. I encourage them to do some sprint drills to stay loose between sets. At any rate, complete rest is the goal.

Dr. Mike Young has noted that people with well-developed aerobic systems (helps ATP production) may be able to handle slightly less rest as long as the intent and speed are still greater than 90%. If you want your body to adapt neuromuscularly to sprinting, you have to train absolute speed. This can be boring and relatively sweat-free, but it works.

Have someone time you or, better yet, compete against a friend. Two sprint days a week can go a long way in developing your speed this off-season. Again, working with a coach on a specific program will always be the best option, but sprinting fast is often a good place to start. While everyone else is on “the grind,” use appropriate rest periods to get your best results.

A beginner athlete lifting smaller loads can probably get away with less rest and have slightly more volume to learn the movements better. As they move into increasing the loads, they may initially need more rest. An intermediate-level lifter will need to stay truer to the rest constraints.

Have Fun with Your Workouts

This is geared more to the intermediate and advanced athletes with some more experience. The pressure of being a serious athlete has to wear on high school athletes at times. Long seasons, early morning workouts, and school work can all have a cumulative effect and resultant burnout. They can become disinterested and experience large drops in performance.

I have an interesting view because I teach fifth grade and see strong athletes enrolled in travel ball, playing soccer through all seasons, and getting private lessons all the time. It is not uncommon for me to discover that when these athletes reach high school, they don’t play any sports at all. Some of this might speak to their peers catching up to them developmentally, but I suspect a few just got sick of it.

Mark Manson said, “Success is often the first step toward disaster. The idea of progress is often the enemy of actual progress.” I don’t see that pushing too hard, too often, and early is good for long-term development. More isn’t always better for growing athletes. Keep doing things really well and enjoy the process.

I don’t see that pushing too hard, too often, and early is good for long-term development. More isn’t always better for growing athletes, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Even professional athletes have time off written into their contracts. As coaches, we need to remember who we are dealing with. Summer is an excellent time to catch up on much needed rest and make some gains, but I also think athletes should make time for things they love that still involve activity.

While good training is very structured, choices provide a mental break that goes a long way. Not everyone has fun running fast or lifting heavy all the time, but the good athletes will still do it.

My track athletes have done some of the following in the summer:

• Skateboarding
• Parkour
• “Tricking”
• Golf
• Dance
• Gymnastics

At the time, some of this stuff drove me nuts. I am learning that choice and variety are great things and can make more-resilient athletes. Some of my favorite gym or track sessions now, at age 36, are completely unplanned, and having that freedom keeps me going. I have never associated fitness with torture or being bored. I want my athletes to consistently work out and they need to authentically enjoy themselves once in a while.

I don’t think it has to be as extreme as some of the above activities.

• A well-placed “arm day” or hypertrophy block that doesn’t have a huge technical focus can provide a little mental break for the strength athlete. Training at high intensities all the time is impossible. Even powerlifters periodize training so they aren’t always training maximally.
• An abs/core circuit is a favorite among some of our female athletes. I think lifting heavy and sprinting address most of the core needs, but this is about mental health, not necessarily athletic gain. Think more along the lines of bear crawls, birddogs, and deadbugs, rather than sit-ups and crunches.
• Go for a run. I know some sprint coaches will have my head, but lots of field sports are aerobic as well. Even extensive tempo workouts like repeat 100 meters @70% or bowtie sprints for soccer players are structured. I’m not saying make running the main thing, but the cleansing effect and stress relief from a run can be a good thing.
• Play a pickup game of basketball, volleyball, football, ultimate frisbee, or something that isn’t your sport. Most sports are probably more similar to each other than different. This is an excellent way to get some agility work in a new setting, which can keep motivation high.

Once September hits and the competitive season begins, you want not only to be physically prepared, but also mentally ready to sustain that higher performance level, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

If you are an athlete whose calendar is already full of games and workouts and you hear a voice in your head or your joints saying “I need a break” every once in a while, take it. This could be active or complete rest. Once September hits and the competitive season begins, you want not only to be physically prepared, but also mentally ready to sustain that higher level of performance.

So, What Now?

An athlete not being coached through a specific program can have an issue seeing progress, but doing something is better than doing nothing. Getting into the weight room in the off-season and not doing any harm is a good second place trophy. They are still at a disadvantage when compared to athletes getting coached.

Realistically, for beginner and intermediate athletes, 2-3 days a week of full body done well is perfect. It is good to have some variety, but ultimately, some consistency with exercise selection is necessary to improve. I am not going to go full Flex magazine and list out sample training, but I will list a sensible daily format. If you are a novice or intermediate-level lifter, you should probably do something that looks more like this:

A1) Power exercise – jump squats

B1) Strength exercise (main lift) – Bulgarian split squat, 5×5 reps

C1) Assistance exercise – incline push-ups, 3-4x 8-10 reps

C2) Assistance exercise – banded pull-ups, 3-4x 8-10 reps

This is an easy way to start thinking about a plan and how long a gym session may last. You can also easily adapt these for bodyweight exercises to do at home. It isn’t perfect, but it is probably pretty achievable and more along the lines of something that will be beneficial. The next time the athlete lifts, they could make the main lift upper body and superset two lower body accessories. Change is a good way to make sure progress is happening.

The problem is that most of the exercises listed previously as being easy to learn aren’t actually considered main lifts (at least, not like squats or deadlifts are). The only exceptions may be the barbell hip thrust and Bulgarian split squat. I still think progressing to heavier weights with these exercises will help.

It also depends on what you want to get out of your assistance lifts. They are commonly used to make the main lifts better with extra work at lower intensities. Combining an upper body push with an upper body pull is a good way to make sure you aren’t becoming too anterior dominant. Symmetry and balance are great to help an athlete stay healthy.

Symmetry and balance are great to help an athlete stay healthy, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I can’t speak in absolutes, so working with a coach obviously helps tailor the pairing of assistance lifts to the athlete and needs of the sport. It also provides more options with an emphasis on better technique. At the very least, athletes should remember that high-volume, split body part workouts aren’t very effective.

The same goes for sprinting. The base of speed is speed. Work short accelerations first and progress to flying sprints. Tony Holler has changed the game by getting the word out across the country with his “Sprint as fast as possible, as often as possible, while staying as fresh as possible” mantra. It is a terrific quote loaded with good common sense, but as Voltaire famously said, “Common sense is not so common.”

I spend a lot of time at tracks in the summer and see lots of athletes training. I see lots of quasi-sprinting under 90% with rest periods that are too short. Sprint first before the weight room and not on days when your legs are already sore. In 11 weeks of this summer, you have the opportunity to do around 20 extra sprint workouts that may bring forth neuromuscular adaptations that allow you to hit greater speeds on the field.

If you are truly working hard, either by yourself or with a coach, you should still plan some less-structured working out. I think being coached and learning are huge for developing as an athlete, but you should be mentally ready to be at your best in season as well. Don’t leave your best performances and mindset in the summer months. Best of luck this fall!

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Sitting in the bleachers behind the bench, bundled up between our team physiotherapist and nutritionist, I tightly squeezed their hands in mine. With the match level at a 2-2 in the 89th minute, our team had drawn a last-second penalty kick. Our 21-year-old striker, one of the league’s top goal scorers (and with both goals in this match to his name as well), adjusted the ball in his hands, settled it on the spot, and took three large steps back.

As we waited for the whistle, the goalkeeper bounced up and down dramatically on his line and the shooter’s eyes shifted just barely from the keeper to the left corner flag. I held my breath as the whistle rang out, silence falling over every spectator in the freezing stadium.

The young striker accelerated forward, striking the ball to the left side of the goal.

Wide left. Not even a save—simply a miss.

He hung his head, standing frozen in the middle of the box. As the other team celebrated their great fortune, a few players ran up to pat our forward’s back and encourage him. From afar, I could see his head shaking in disbelief.

I waited in the hallway outside the locker rooms for the last of the players to debrief and hit the showers. As he passed me, he avoided my eyes and dropped his head. “I bombed,” he grunted in no particular direction. I followed him toward the bus.

“What ran through your mind?” I asked, neither confirming nor denying his seemingly obvious but self-deprecating statement.

“Nothin’,” he huffed. “Said I already put up two. Add one more and make it a ‘hatty.’ Get the win.”

I nodded and shrugged. “What was the difference between the two goals in the run of play and the penalty?”

“Penalty isn’t run of play,” the young forward sighed, shaking his head. “Everyone’s watching. My parents were here. The national team scout was here too; saw him during warm-ups… I really wanted that hat trick.”

“What did you feel and where?” I asked, trying to gather more information about what exactly went on in the seconds before the penalty. “Was it distraction, confidence, stress… something else?”

He shrugged this time. “Nah,” he said as we dropped our bags in the luggage compartment under the bus. “Just thought, oh wow, this is a really big moment. Heart was beatin’ real fast and felt kinda tingly all over… like it was a big deal, y’know?” He smirked as we loaded ourselves into the bus, mounting his cool demeanor again. “Whatever. It’s done.”

Preparation and Performance

The world of performance sport is erratic at best, with its captivating highs and lows. Incredible feats of human achievement occur just as often and just as quickly as devastatingly poor performances. With the inherent instability of the sport world, stress and pressure are an inevitable experience for athletes, coaches, parents, and team staff alike. As such, it is important to understand and prepare for these occurrences, so as to limit their impact on performance when it truly matters.

Stress and pressure are an inevitable experience. It is important to understand & prepare for these occurrences to limit their impact on performance when it truly matters, says @thejulialion. Share on X

Mental preparation is as equally relevant and realistic as physical preparation training, which every athlete (and coach) is familiar with leading up to competition. As a psychophysiologist—or, more simply, a “sport psychology researcher” or “brain-body connection expert”—I teach performers how to manage their stress using a three-phase plan of mental skills training.

Before diving into the mental training portion of this blueprint, it is important to define the term “stress” and then understand how the body’s built-in stress management system works.

Stress, the Brain, and the Body

“What is stress?” has been the topic of some many thousands of research articles, most of which lead to further questions of what stimulates stress in the first place, why we humans most often frame it as an inherently negative experience, and whether there is a distinction between physical and psychological stress.

Dr. Richard Lazarus (1984) famously defined stress as a relationship “between the person and the environment that is appraised by the person as taxing,” “exceeding resources,” and potentially “endangering his or her well-being.”

This definition expands upon earlier research, which framed stress as “a response to any demand placed on the body.”This assumed that everything in life is a stressor and that stress was an answer to “any vigorous, extreme, or unusual stimulation, which, being a threat, causes significant change in behavior”—an interpretation that relies too heavily on an inherently negative reaction (Seyle, 1980; Miller, 1953).

What the human body tells us about stress, though, is that it is neutral.

When the brain and body first receive a new stimulus from the environment, the brain interprets this new stressor and tells the body how to react accordingly.

The brain asks: “Is this environmental stimulus positive? Is it negative? Is it irrelevant? Is there a potential danger nearby? Should we run?”

Let me frame this in the perspective of an athlete—any competitor can attest to how different performance environments are compared to training. For some players, the presence of spectators (which can include parents and scouts), the pressure of achieving their goals, and other environmental stimuli can be appraised as “dangerous” and begin a stress reaction, disrupting their focus during performance. This can happen even if the athlete is proficient in this skill and capable of perfect execution in training. Other athletes thrive under these conditions, using the “hype” as a driver for their performance and experience skill enhancement. And, in the same environment, another competitor may appraise these new situational stressors as “irrelevant” and have no skill disruption at all.

Compared to training conditions, competitive scenarios are just different, and naturally high-arousal athletes who suffer under pressure need to train for these changes.

Compared to training conditions, competitive scenarios are just different, and naturally high-arousal athletes who suffer under pressure need to train for these changes, says @thejulialion. Share on X

So, what exactly happens when the brain receives and appraises the stressor? Depending on how the brain perceives the stimulus, it instructs the body how to respond through the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which controls all of the body’s involuntary functions, like breathing and digestion. Its two branches, the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems, play primary roles in stimulating and inhibiting the stress response.

If a stressor is appraised as negative or threatening, even potentially, the sympathetic nervous system (also known as the “fight or flight response”) is activated. This can be thought of as the body’s gas pedal.

Through a series of complicated brain activity, the hormonal system releases a slew of hormones, namely adrenaline and cortisol, which heighten the body’s senses. The heart rate increases. The body’s attention is diverted from unnecessary systems, like the digestive and reproductive systems, temporarily slowing these processes down. Energy may surge at first, possibly resulting in jitters or stomach discomfort. Arousal is high. This is the built-in survival mode.

As you can imagine, this state is not optimal for peak performance in most sports. A golfer, sprinter, soccer player taking a penalty kick, or gymnast likely cannot perform well under these conditions, because the demands of their sport are specific and require accuracy.

However, there is another branch of the body’s build-in stress management circuitry, called the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for regaining and maintaining homeostasis. You should consider this the body’s brake pedal.

This division of the system essentially inhibits the stress response created by the sympathetic nervous system by allowing the body to relax its muscles, decrease its heart rate, and reinitiate a focus on the nonessential systems such as digestion. The body is low in physiological arousal and thus able to continue its recovery processes. This is the built-in regeneration mode.

Is a completely relaxed parasympathetic state optimal for athletic performance?

Probably not. Very low levels of arousal might be preferred in some sports, such as darts or shooting sports, which only require very fine motor skills. Sports requiring physical fitness, especially in speed, power, and endurance sports, are less compatible with a low-arousal state. The body is required to perform at its maximum capacity for a duration of time; activating the full recovery mode is not possible!

Every athlete has an optimal level of arousal for their peak performance in their sport—some players thrive on the “hype” and need to psych themselves out to a high level of arousal before competing, while others need to calm themselves down from their naturally heightened arousal state (again, perception of threat and thus, stress). It is important that every athlete naturally identifies and can regulate themselves into this zone.

The process of identifying optimal zones for performance and the complete workings of the ANS and its branches are grounds for another article. In the following sections, I will present methods of teaching stress management to these naturally high-stress athletes.

The Competition-Stress Compromise

To begin addressing stress in sport, we must accept that mental and physical arousal (the feeling of stress in the body) is simply part of being a competitor.

As tennis icon Billie Jean King proclaimed, “pressure is a privilege.” The very presence of pressure, of competitive stress, means that an athlete has something important on the line: there is something to lose, but also something to gain. The investment of time, energy, dreams, and (in many cases) money is high. This is an experience that not every athlete, and certainly not every human being, gets to know or feel. It is specific and special.

Once athletes have accepted the presence (and privilege) of pressure, it is time to reckon with competitive stress in an individualized way in order to strike an optimal, replicable balance of “low arousal” and “over-arousal” in performance.

It is here that we introduce the three-phase blueprint for athlete stress management: preparation, maintenance, and damage control

Preparation

Athletes spend a lot of time physically preparing for what is often a very short competition.

Marathoners clock double-digit hours of training in the two weeks before a race. Soccer players pull two-a-days for a 90- to 120-minute match. Sprinters put in weight room and track sessions for events lasting seven seconds to two minutes.

Why? Because, in theory, the best-prepared athletes and teams usually win.

Athletes who are prone to becoming distracted—or even paralyzed—by their stress in competition may report a spiked heart rate and/or lack of concentration, appear lost, or simply underperform in competition as opposed to their normal training output. This requirement for preparation also applies to their mental training and strategies for managing stress.

Here are the facts of the matter:

1. It’s often easier to prevent stress, and thus the distracting response, from happening in the first place, rather than to deal with it once it’s arrived.
2. No athletes, especially stress-prone ones, can outwork a lack of preparation when it’s time to perform.

For athletes who struggle with performance pressure, staying ahead of the game—as much as is humanly possible without causing its own kind of perfectionistic stress—separates high performers from the casual, spontaneous types.

Physical training is a form of preparation. As every coach knows, very rarely can athletes out-perform a lack of fitness. Appropriate physical and mental fitness are as essential to peak athletic performance as oxygen is to human life. Skills, tactics, and technique have to be drilled in advance in order to achieve automated execution, which is less distracting and tiresome than non-automatic skills.

If players put the time, effort, sweat, and tears into their physical and mental training in advance, they can enter a performance situation confident in the execution of their skills, says @thejulialion. Share on X

If players put the time, effort, sweat, and tears into their physical and mental training in advance, it breeds confidence. They can enter a performance situation confident that they are physically and mentally prepared to execute their skills at that time. Coaches must encourage athletes to trust that training and the process.

Planning is also a key factor in mitigating stress in advance. When the time for performance comes, making decisions and handling difficult, cognitively tiring situations wastes mental real estate that should be entirely focused on performing. Encourage athletes to eliminate as many decisions and as much stress as possible in advance. This includes gathering necessary information, packing, planning, asking the right questions, and implementing pre-performance routines as long as possible before “go time,” so that 100% of their focus can be on performing.

The use of mental imagery is a helpful tool in the preparatory phase of a competition. Using their imagination and all five senses, an athlete can create a detailed image in their mind of peak performance: how they look, feel, and experience being in a flow state and performing optimally, even under the glare of lights and an audience and surrounded by noise. Imagery allows athletes to familiarize their brains with potentially new and stressful stimuli in advance of “go time” with the goal of mitigating the perception of threat and sympathetic stress response during competition. When it is time to perform, the brain and body should both say, “I’ve been here before—we’re good.”

Likewise, a solid pre-performance routine can help athletes focus in as the countdown to performance draws to an end. This may be the playlist they listen to, the order of the warm-up, the statements and affirmations they repeat to themselves, a pre-game mindfulness meditation, or the order in which they dress. This ritual or routine assists with concentration by taking away the distractions before a match and the number of decisions athletes have to make, and tells the brain, “Hey, we’re prepared for whatever comes our way. It’s ‘go time.’”

Maintenance

When stressful situations do inevitably occur—even when everyone involved has done their best to prepare—it is just as important for athletes to have tools in their belt to handle and minimize the stress response as it comes.

This is a skill called “coping.” Whether purposeful or not, everyone has developed an intuitive set of coping mechanisms, and they are often positive and helpful. Sometimes, however, they are not beneficial to performance (and, in fact, can distract from or decrease performance).

Thus, it is critical to help athletes develop purposeful, positive coping mechanisms around competitive stress. Like all skills, it takes lots of practice for this to become automatic.

It is critical to help athletes develop purposeful, positive coping mechanisms around competitive stress. Like all skills, it takes lots of practice for this to become automatic, says @thejulialion. Share on X

Remember that the brain perceives stress subconsciously. If the body suddenly slams on the gas pedal, it is worth consciously reappraising the situation; in this case, building a purposeful awareness of the situation so athletes ask themselves:

• What emotion am I feeling and where?
• What am I stressed about?
• Is something dangerous?
• Is it actually negative?

Often, simply helping athletes become conscious of the situation—the stimulus/threat and the psychophysiological response—is enough to relieve their pressure instead of them helplessly drowning in it.

Sometimes, though, reappraisal is not sufficient in reducing the stress response. In the midst of high-pressure situations, athletes may default to over-controlling their movements, doubting their ability to compete, and using derogatory self-talk. It goes without saying that this makes the situation worse!

Through practicing and maintaining positive self-talk, athletes can bolster themselves against external pressure and noise. Encouraging an athlete to repeat positive affirmations of themselves or the training process (i.e., “I’ve trained for this. I am ready”)—or, as a coach, repeating it for and to them—is a straightforward, memorable way to reinforce this positivity. In this case, fake it until you make it does apply.

In situations when stress is not acute, but rather reoccurring or long-term, regeneration plays a vital role in the Maintenance Phase. Some stress, like long in-seasons, tournaments, or multiple back-to-back events, last more than a few minutes, hours, or days. It’s important that, just as in workouts, the rest periods and type of regeneration are adequate for and proportionate to the amount of stress being dealt with. Insufficient recovery can lead to fatigue and illness and, in worst-case scenarios, injury or burnout, all of which are suboptimal for high performers.

An athlete’s ecosystem can also be a valuable coping mechanism. Coaches should encourage athletes to seek out other things to focus on besides their sport, especially when it is a primary source of stress. Taking part in non-competitive hobbies, exploring new things, and having go-to people or places can help remove the constant concentration on sport, develop athletes’ self-awareness and self-concept, and remind them of who they are, regardless of competitive outcomes—they are complete human beings before they are athletes.

Damage Control

In absolute best-case scenarios, stress has been prevented and managed before ever arriving at this point. But sometimes stress, and the resulting performance decrements caused by it, just sneaks up from behind when no one is looking. To minimize the damage and return to mental fitness as quickly as possible, the athlete requires another set of coping mechanisms.

Developing and implementing mistake rituals can assist athletes in releasing distractions and regaining focus when errors have been made. If an athlete is prone to succumbing to their own negative self-talk (and even resignation), encourage them to instead mentally bookmark that mistake to return to later at an appropriate time for self-feedback.

Developing and implementing mistake rituals can assist athletes in releasing distractions and regaining focus when errors have been made, says @thejulialion. Share on X

Instead of dwelling on their mistakes and losing focus in competition, instruct athletes to select a physical cue (shaking out hands, wiping off shorts, running hand through hair, etc.) or a verbal cue (“cancel,” “delete,” “forget,” etc.) to snap out of the cycle of “I’ve made this horrible mistake and now…” They should fight the urge to immediately overcompensate for the mistake, which leads to distraction and fatigue, using the mistake as motivation to continue performing well but not to stay in the past. Once an error occurs, it becomes a piece of the past and nothing they can do will change it. Thus, it is important to help athletes develop routines to mentally refocus on the present and tune into performing to their maximum capacity—no more and no less.

Athletes do not and should not have to handle stress crisis situations, whether seemingly big or small, alone. Athletes should be encouraged to reach out for help and use their surrounding resources, whether an on-staff sport psychologist, a social support network, their immediate team ecosystem (teammates, coaches, etc.), or others. It is also important that athletes are never shamed or alienated from their teams during times of stress—this makes “reentry” to the team, once the situation is solved, much more difficult, whereas peer and leadership support can help expedite the process.

Even in the Damage Control phase, recovery is still important. It is vital to focus on regenerating after large doses of stress. As coaches should know, contrary to the popular motivational phrase in the gym, rest is not earned. It is required for the brain and body to heal from the literal damage caused by stress.

This Too Shall Pass

As the player and I boarded the bus on our way back from the game, the young striker trying to shake off his disappointment from the missed penalty kick, I squeezed his shoulder encouragingly. “You did your best. We’ll work on it this week, so you have some strategies to help you in PKs next time. Enjoy your dinner.”

When we began the following training week, this athlete and I started to implement this three-phase strategy. We included more stress-protective elements in his mental training and practiced skills like positive self-talk and purposeful awareness until he felt confident that, should he feel so isolated in a high-pressure situation again, he would have the appropriate resources to meet the demands.

This mental skills training helped to reduce his stress, as he later reported to me that “even if I do get stressed, I know what it feels like, so it’s not scary and I have stuff to help me handle it now.”

He has not missed a penalty kick in the year since.

Regardless of motivation, determination, or level of mental toughness, everyone faces a stress crisis at some point, whether big or small, in the public eye or in private.

Giving athletes more useful skills and resources to meet the mental and emotional demands of sport can reduce negative feelings that result from pressure situations, says @thejulialion. Share on X

Athletes are no different, especially in the very volatile, commoditized world of high performance. Giving athletes more useful skills and resources to meet the mental and emotional demands of sport can reduce negative feelings that result from pressure situations. Coaches should teach players to maximize resources, prepare, reappraise, and practice productive coping skills, and remind them that all stress does wane and pass at some point.

And they will recover.

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

Gordan, R., Gwathmey, J. K., and Xie, L. H. “Autonomic and endocrine control of cardiovascular function.” World Journal of Cardiology. 2015;7(4):204–214.

Haney, C. J. “Stress-management interventions for female athletes: Relaxation and cognitive restructuring.” International Journal of Sport Psychology. 2004; 35(2):109–118.

Lazarus, R. S. and Folkman, Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. 1984. New York: Springer Pub. Co.

Mellalieu, S. D., Neil, R., Hanton, S., and Fletcher, D. “Competition stress in sport performers: Stressors experienced in the competition environment.” Journal of Sports Sciences. 2009;27(7):729–744.

McCorry L. K. “Physiology of the autonomic nervous system.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 2007;71(4):78.

Miller, J.G. “The development of experimental stress-sensitive tests for predicting performance in military tasks.” PRB Technical Report 1079. 1953. Washington, DC: Psychological Research Associates.

Selye, H. “The stress concept today.” In I. L. Kutash & L. B. Schlesinger et al. (Eds.), Handbook on Stress and Anxiety (pp. 127–129). 1980. San Francisco: Josey-Bass.

“Yeah, they should be fresh for weights,” the coach said. “We’re only running five or six miles before coming to lift today.”

Welcome to the world of weight training with distance runners.

If you’re anything like me, you’re used to working with the traditional stop and go sports like football, hockey, basketball, or volleyball. Not distance and cross country runners. And then one day I found myself—a former heavyweight weightlifter and powerlifter, strongman, and college football player— surrounded by a group of runners with way too little lean muscle mass, wearing way too short shorts, and mud all over their legs.

There we all were, standing in the middle of the gym. It must have looked comical. The standard mix of rock music spiked with the occasional hip-hop song was playing over the radio, and the smell of the 120 football players who’d just finished their workout was lingering in the air, so I did what I always do. I started coaching this group like any other team in for a training session.

Talking in my normal voice and cadence, I started coaching everyone through the basic warm-up, but instead of doing what I was instructing, the runners just sort of stood there blinking at me. Although I was in the weight room I designed and built, I felt suddenly transported into the Twilight Zone. The world didn’t make sense, and I felt I didn’t belong in the gym anymore—this was going to get real interesting for everyone, real fast.

Faster at Any Distance

While that was my first experience working with a cross country team, I’m happy to say it wasn’t my last. I want to document a few of my observations so others in a similar situation won’t have to go through the same growing pains that I did.

Before my staff started working with our distance runners, we would watch them train after practice. From what I saw, these runners wanted to run faster, but their training revolved around their prescribed distance and tempo, followed by a push-up and sit-up regimen. After we were first asked to help the team, we talked to the athletes and their coaches about their priorities. Here is what they asked for:

• Get faster
• Stay healthy
• Work arms and core

As I said, they wanted to run faster, but their training didn’t reflect that. Sure, they had their distance and tempo work, but doing countless sit-ups or crunches as well as push-ups with a super-wide hand position won’t help anyone get faster. So let’s ask the tough question: How do you get people faster?

To me, it starts with three basic ideas:

• Get them to put more force in the ground
• Have them put the same force in the ground, but at a faster rate
• Have them put the same force in the ground at the same rate, but at a lighter body weight

When we strip down a training program, we’re trying to manipulate one of these three variables. Let’s dig deeper into the first two ideas.

Creating Force Through Body Control

Getting strong isn’t simply about increasing your one-rep max of a back squat or deadlift. It’s about body control. Sure, I’m watching the same videos on YouTube or Instagram that you are with people moving very impressive weight, but I’m not showing those clips to our distance runners.

I’ve come to learn that working with distance runners requires adopting a different mindset. No one is going to be taking hits of Nose Tork before cinching up their belts to hit a new PR back squat, and that’s OK. Strength with this population means something else, and it’s all about body control.

Strength for distance runners is all about body control, not hitting new PRs in the back squat, says @CarmenPata. #strength #distancerunners Share on X

When I say that most distance runners are not very strong in the traditional weight room sense, I’m not knocking them. Part of the reason is they lack training, which I hope to help remedy with this article. And part of it is the sport itself. With traditional stop and go sports, a significant amount of change of direction occurs naturally. The deceleration creates an eccentric load, which over time creates a training stimulus that can improve an athlete’s strength profile and body control.

Body control and greater strength are more than having a big squat. They equate to faster running times because the athletes are strong enough to maintain posture and running mechanics over the thousands of foot contacts they experience during practice and competitions. My favorite exercise to access and improve on body control is a take on the classic Turkish get-up.

Video 1. The athlete replaces a kettlebell with a medicine ball to perform stand-ups to train stability and body control.

Video 2. The athlete performs get-ups for stability and body control using a medicine ball instead of a kettlebell.

I understand these are not picture-perfect versions of the get-up, and I’m OK with that. These two variations teach exactly what I hope to get across—how to create force from their hips and express it out through their feet and hands while controlling their body through the entire movement. Maybe one day we’ll transition into the actual get-up with a kettlebell.

Our initial training sessions with distance runners focus on body control with non-traditional exercises, says @CarmenPata. #strength #distancerunners Share on X

In the meantime, putting a med ball on their shoulders or in their hand and telling them to stand up may not be sexy, but it does work. All of the initial training sessions with our distance and cross country runners focus on body control with non-traditional exercises. In addition to the modified get-up, we use the dreaded push-up and renegade row.

Video 3. The renegade row is another non-traditional exercise we use with distance runners to train body control.

Ah, such a simple exercise but so difficult to accomplish correctly. Even our athletes who’ve been doing this exercise for nearly three months haven’t completely mastered the movements. Just watch the hips. During the push-up, the hip is solid with no visible movement happening at that joint, but with the row, we still see some rotation starting at the hip as she begins the row. This is unbelievably better than what it looked like months ago, but not as good as it will look in a few more months.

While these are examples of great starting exercises, if you truly want to see how the athletes are doing, you have to put them off balance. Literally. The single-leg med ball slam is another deceptively simple exercise we use to help teach body control and single-leg strength.

Standing on one leg combined with the speed of the exercise are enough to add instability during the activity. I really appreciate how the medicine ball, going from the floor to overhead, dynamically changes a person’s center of mass.

Video 4. Medicine ball slams force the athlete to try to stabilize and correct their balance during the movement.

As you can see in the video, the athlete’s balance is all over the place. The amount of rotation that’s happening at his knee and hips is exactly what we’re trying to accomplish. Remember, due to the sport or general lack of training, we’re trying to teach general body control during a dynamic change of the center of mass and force the athlete to flex and extend their hips, knees, and ankles.

Developing Strength and Power

Once we start seeing improvements in general body control, it’s time to develop additional lower body strength in these runners. As mentioned, the ability to put more force into the ground is one of three ways to improve running times due to the increased ground reaction forces. When it’s time to start moving some weight, our go-to exercise is the single-leg split squat. Yeah, I know back squats look far more appealing, but it’s not where I like to start people.

Video 5. Our go-to exercise to start moving weight is the single-leg squat.

Look at her depth. Would you be happy with that depth on a back squat? Look at her hip action. Would you be happy with the way her hips are moving on a back squat? Look at the time under tension. Would you be happy with the tension on a back squat?

Let’s stop looking at the exercise and look at what the exercise does for the athlete. In this example, we’re still getting her legs stronger without the mental stress of loading a relatively heavy bar on her back and squatting. Remember, this is a population that, as a whole, doesn’t yet understand the positive benefits of being in the weight room. If these athletes choose not to show up to the gym, it doesn’t matter how good your program is, they won’t get any benefit from it. The first step to winning is showing up.

When the runners have better body control and start developing leg strength, it’s time to focus on developing some power. At the start of this post, I explained three ways to get people to run faster: put more force into the ground; put the same force in the ground, but faster; put the same force at the same rate into the ground, but do it at a lighter body weight.

If you’ve read any of my other articles, you know that I’m a huge fan of doing all sorts of jumps to develop power and rate of force production. Working with distance athletes is no different. Unlike most of the other sports, however, we spend significantly less time working vertically and focus much more on horizontal movements.

With distance runners, we focus on horizontal jumps to develop power and rate of force production, says @CarmenPata. #power #distancerunners Share on X

These athletes want to run faster, regardless of the distance they’re covering. With anyone who runs for their sport, we try to improve the amount of time their foot is in contact with the ground. Without funding to purchase the right equipment to measure ground contact time, though, it’s nearly impossible to accurately measure this other than looking at each person’s time. So while we cannot measure this, we can explain it.

We tell the athletes that one of our training goals is to improve everyone’s foot contact time by 0.01s per contact. As a comparison, your eye blinks at 0.03-0.04 seconds—we’re trying to make changes faster than you can blink. If the runner can sustain this improved foot contact time for ten steps, they took 0.1 seconds off their sprint. If they sustain it for 100 contacts, they improved their time by one second. If they sustain the improved contact time for 1,500 contacts (the average number of contacts per mile), the athlete has improved their time by 15 seconds. Get the idea?

As I said, we can’t accurately measure their foot contact times. Sure, we could simply use their results from training and meets to look for improvements. But there are way too many variables that contribute to their times in both of these scenarios.

This is why I come back to using jumps not only as a test but also as a training tool. While there are so many types of repeated jumps you can use, if you’re looking to have your athletes do one jump as a training tool and a test, I suggest the med ball broad jump shown in this video.

Video 6. The medicine ball broad jump used for training purposes can also serve as an assessment method.

If Video 6 showed a testing session, we would have recorded the distance the person jumped, their body weight, and the weight of the med ball. That way, as the athlete loses or gains weight, we could adjust the weight of the med ball to account for the weight change and then have an accurate comparison of their jump distance.

This, in turn, gives a relative comparison of how their ground reaction force and ground contact times are changing. If the jump distance improves, you can assume these two factors have improved. If the jump distance gets worse, you can assume the two factors have gotten worse. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s the best I can do while trying to measure things that happen faster than a blink of an eye.

Final Thoughts

After that first semester working with our college distance runners, plenty of learning happened for the athletes as well as our coaches. When our distance runners are in for a workout, we do many of the things from that first day. I didn’t decide to drop a bunch of weight to fit in, many of the runners still don’t appreciate my choice of music, and they still show up covered in mud. But at least now they have a change of shoes on.

With this group, I had to remember that the biggest challenge was that they were entering a world they were not only unfamiliar with but also had some very strong negative opinions about. We tried plenty of ideas with all sorts of results to help win over their hearts and minds, but that’s a story for another article (or two). Eventually, we figured out a winning combination. And while we still don’t have a distance runner whose highlight of the day is to get into the weight room (yet), it appears that no one hates being there.

The other big change? We’re beginning to move some iron during their training sessions. You’re probably not going to see many people post these workouts on Instagram, but that’s not the point. The point is that each week, these runners are getting a little stronger, they’re jumping a little farther, and they’re spending less time in the training room.

It’s the result of all of these little things that starts to make a big change, which is happening at their meets when they are seconds off their PRs. While I’m happy about these changes, I know that we can still get better.

Let’s keep the conversation going and find more ways to help distance athletes keep improving by leaving your thoughts or ideas in the comments section below.

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