The Paterno Rule

Dr Dave Joyner MD one of our GAIN Faculty members shared with us the Paterno Rule during his presentation. Dave was an All –American lineman who played for Paterno. The Paterno rule is simple – You remember the last thing you do, a very simple statement with complex implications for both cognitive and motor learning. My good friend and colleague, Gary Winkler one shared with me a similar concept. His idea was that the last thing  you do in a training session will be how you will begin the next training session. The implication being that if you want them to start the next session hammered and beat up then end the current session hammered and beat up. I always try to end a training session with something light quick and explosive.

Comments

[Patrick McHugh]

On our team, our middle distance runners always end an aerobic distance run with 6x100m striders at approximately mile race effort on the grass. Referring to this practice as the Paterno Rule is a great way of describing why we do it -- besides Coach told us to -- and drawing on commonalities between sports.