Functional Path Training

Optimizing Training

It seems there is a lot of lip service given to the concept of optimizing training, but what does it mean? It certainly is not writing the weight workout on a white board or posting the track workout on a bulletin board. I do know (learned it the hard way) that each individual athlete is unique – essentially a case study of one. So why do we persist in prescribing generic programs that assume one size fits all? I know it is difficult to design and write an individual program when you have large numbers, but individual needs can be met. You can group athletes by needs, you can assign training partners to address individual needs. There are many ways and it can be done. Generic programs are not optimizing training; all athletes are not the same. Don’t be a supervisor, be a coach. It takes time, detailed planning and effort, but it can be done.

The Bottom Line

At the end of the training session, at the end of the training cycle is the athlete getting better? Are they making incremental progress toward their goals? Is what you are doing in training producing results in competition? How are you measuring the effect of training? What is working? How do you know? What isn’t working? How are you doing what you do? Why are you doing it? Do you have a system? Is it the system that is producing results?

Bias

Do you have a bias in training? Do you have a bias when you are evaluating an athlete? Come on, admit it, you do and I do, we all do. It may be a concious or sub consciuos. I am clearly biased toward speed. When I evaluate an athlete the first thing I look for is speed, speed of movement and speed of thought and action. When I design training everything is subservient to my bias toward speed. That has served me well at times, but as with any bias, it has haunted me. The longer I coach the more I realize that I must guard against my bias. I must account for it and in some cases compensate for it. I must insure that training is balanced and meets the needs of the individual athlete. It is a simple proposition, admit your bias and be sure to account for it to insure optimum return from the training investment.

The Box

There is no more confining place to be that the box. Don’t think outside the box, yes you heard me correctly, don’t think outside the box, get out of the box altogether. Throw away the box. I am not sure why we ever get in the box in the first place. To just think outside the box does not get you outside the box. It is too easy to go back to the warm fuzzy comfort zone of the box. Get outside the box and never go back in there. Innovate, think, and challenge yourself and those you work with to make constant prototyping the way you coach and teach. Focus on the process with a strong bias toward action. Use conventional wisdom and so-called best practice as a launching pad to move into unexplored territory in human performance. Use quantum thinking; get away from Newtonian reductionist, linear, cause and effect thinking. Think of linkages; use a nonlinear approach to make connections. The body is a self-organizing living organism not a machine with interchangeable parts. To grow the athlete to their fullest potential you the coach must grow. Challenge yourself to get better so that your athlete’s can get better. Look at familiar movements with different eyes. If you watch the NCAA Basketball final four, challenge yourself to look at the game differently. Look at the game as soccer with the hands. Conversely if you watch the EPL Football game of the week see if you can see it as basketball with the feet. See the world with different eyes, you will be surprised what you see, a whole new vista will open up. Throw away the box there is a whole new world out there waiting to be explored and discovered, a new frontier.

Some of My Coaching "Classics"

I do not propose that this list is complete by any means. Rather these are books that read in the first ten to fifteen years of my career that I learned from or influenced how I coach. The list is heavily weighted toward track & field because that is where I started. As you will see there are some biographies, I think you can gain many insights into training, competing and the mindsets of champions and great coaches by reading biographies. Please feel to drop me a note and I would love to get your recommendations.

The Inner Athlete by Bob Nidefer

Problem Athletes and How to Handle Them by Tom Tutko and Bruce Ogilvie

Psychology and the Superior Athlete by Miroslav Vanek and Bryant j. Cratty

Scientific Principles of Coaching by John Bunn

What Research Tells The Coach About Sprinting by George Dintiman

Track & Field Omnibook by Ken Doherty

Modern Track & Field by Ken Doherty

Modern Training For Running by Ken Doherty

The Science of Swimming by James E. Counsilman

The Mechanics of Athletics by Geoffrey Dyson

Better Athletes Trough Weight Training by Bob Hoffman

Hidden causes of injury, prevention, and correction for running athletes by John Jesse

Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation: Patterns and Techniques by Dorothy Knotts and Margaret Voss

Scientific Principles and Methods of Strength Fitness.  By Patrick O’Shea

Total Body Training by Richard H. Dominguez and Robert Gajda

Kinesiology by Gene Logan and Wayne C. McKinney

Skill In Sport  By Barbara Knapp

Acquiring Ball Skill – A Psychological Interpretation by H.T.A. Whiting

The Thinking Body by Mabel Todd

 Run Run Run by Fred Wilt

How They Train by Fred Wilt

Mechanics Without Tears by Fred Wilt

No Bugles, No Drums by Peter Snell

The Unforgiving Minute by Ron Clarke with Alan Trengove

Run to the Top by Author Lydiard

Franz Stampfl on Running by Franz Stampfl

The Jim Ryun Story by Cordner Nelson

Another Hurdle by Dave Hemry

Run To Daylight by Vince Lombardi and W.C. Heinz

Track and Field Dynamics by Tom Ecker

Championship Track and Filed by Tom Ecker

Biomechanics of Athletic Movement by Gerhard Hochmuth

Sports Physiology by Edward L. Fox

Interval Training – Conditioning for Sports and General Fitness by Edward L. Fox and Donald K. Mathews

Biomechanics and Energetics of Muscular Exercise by Rodolfo Margaria

Textbook of Work Physiology by Per Olof Astrand

Biomechanics of Sports Techniques by Jim Hay

Introduction to biomechanic analysis of sport by John W. Northrip, Gene A. Logan and Wayne C. McKinney

Principles of Sports Training – Introduction to the Theory and methods of Training by Dietrich Harre

Fundamental of Sports Training by L. Matveyev

Sports Training Principles by Frank Dick

Training Theory by Frank Dick

Track Speed – Hurdles, Sprints and relays by John Le Masurier

Track and Field – Textbook for Coaches and Sports Teachers Edited by Gerhardt Schmolinsky

Olympic Track And Field Techniques by Tom Ecker, Fred Wilt, and Jim Hay

International Track and field Coaching Encyclopedia by Feed Wilt and Tom Ecker

Track in Theory and Technique Edited by Thomas P. Rosandich

The Hurdlers Bible by Wilbur Ross

Mechanics of the Pole Vault by R.V. Ganslen

The Triple Jump Encyclopedia by Ernie Bullard and Larry Knuth

Tendinitis: it’s Etiology and Treatment by Sandra Curwin and William D. Stanish

The Sweet Spot in Time by John Jerome

Weight Training In Athletics by Jim Murray and Peter V. Karpovich

Weight Training in Athletics and Physical Education by Gene Hooks

Circuit Training by Manfred Scholich

Circuit Training by R. E. Adamson and G.T. Morgan

The Miracle Machine by Doug Gilbert

The System of Physical Education in the USSR Edited by G. I Kukushkin

The Soviet Road To Olympus – Theory And Practice Of Soviet Physical Culture And Sport by N. Norman Shneidman

1000 Exercises d’ Athletisme by Kurt Murer and Walter Bucher

Winning Volleyball – Fundamentals, Tactics and Strategy by Allen E. Scates

The Pursuit of Sporting Excellence – A Study of Sport’s Highest Achievers by David Henry

The Athletic Revolution by Jack Scott

Meat on the Hoof – The Hidden World of Texas Football by Gary Shaw

Out of Their League by Dave Meggyesy