Functional Path Training

It’s a Big Dance

Every sport skill has a basic technical model that a beginner can master in a relatively short time. What is the difference then from that and the master – the Roger Federer in tennis, Usain Bolt in sprinting, Simone Biles in gymnastics or Michael Phelps in the pool? What makes them masters of their craft? Certainly, they have refined technique, that is a given. The longer I coach and the more I reflect on this I am convinced it is rhythm and tempo. Like great musicians it is the space between the notes that makes the music special. Like great authors it is the choice of words and punctuation or lack thereof that distinguishes their work. Great athletic movement is a highly choreographed dance with effortless control characterized by rhythm, flow and smooth connections seemingly without tension. Often it is not as apparent to the untrained eye. When you are in proximity whether it is the court, pool or track you can feel it, you can hear it – it is special. The question for me always has been, can you coach it or is it just a gift that these great ones have? I like to think you can coach it to a degree. It all starts with how these skills are taught. Too often we take a young athlete and try to fit them into a mold instead of letting them explore and feel the movement. Let them experiment and forget about getting it right, instead work on getting a feel. You don’t teach running mechanics, instead you make it a game, a dance an exploration of how the body moves. It may look messy and chaotic at first, but it will quickly smooth out. It’s all just a big dance.

Team Speed

When I the so-called experts talking about team speed and all they emphasize is acceleration, I just scratch my head. Are you watching the same game I am? Top end speed, max speed is important for team sport players and must be trained. The key concept is that in athletics you accelerate to top speed, in multi-directional sports you accelerate to optimum speed.  Top speed obviously assumes more importance depending on where you play on the pitch/field. If nothing else, it will inoculate you against hamstring pulls. I plan on expanding on this in a future episode of the GAINcast, it definitely will be a topic of discussion at GAIN.

Training Speed Appropriately

Plow Horse, Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred (Race Horse) you can’t train them all the same. They all have different inherent qualities that must be taken in consideration. Too often I am seeing Thoroughbreds being trained like Plow Horses with extreme workloads, heavy sleds & heavy lifting. Never forget we are what we train to be. Also, something I learned many years ago – It is much easier to make someone slow than is to make them faster. I was a master of that early in my coaching and with myself as an athlete. You must train fast with high quality to be fast!

Movement is a Symphony, not a Solo

For the body to execute efficient athletic movement all parts and systems of the body need to work together in harmony. Movement is a symphony not a solo. You can’t do a “cardio” workout, just like you can’t do a “neural” workout. It is impossible to isolate various systems of the body. All systems of the body work at all times with the demand on a particular system determined by the intensity of the activity. To continue the symphonic metaphor a section of the orchestra is featured or highlighted while the other parts of the orchestra are still playing, albeit in the background.

Training Speed In

Let not overcomplicate this. You coach speed into the athlete by training speed at the appropriate time in the workout, using an appropriate method and dosage for the time of the training year. You train speed out by doing all sorts of general nonspecific work and slow “base building” type of work, in short emphasizing volume. Remember you are what you train to be! To be fast you must train fast. When I hear a coach say I have not started speed work yet, I just smile, and I hope we can compete against those teams or individuals often. You train speed from the first day of training until the last. Remember the stimulus for speed is high quality intense work. It does not take much to dull speed.

Random Thoughts on Training to Wrap Up 2016

Volume is not a biomotor quality. Anyone can do more; the path to success is doing it better.

Train speed in – It is precious. Very easy to compromise by speed by doing too much

Strength as a motor quality is easy to develop and even easier to stabilize (Maintain)

Consist work is more important than an occasional spectacular workout

Train to your strengths and minimize the weaknesses

So-called “Reactive Agility” is best trained within the context of the actual technical and tactical sport practice. Coaches pointing to cones and flashing lights do not get it done.

The majority of “Programmed Agility” is actually injury prevention (working on force reduction ability) and rehearsal of complex movements in a controlled rather than chaotic environment

Use drills selectively, specifically and sparingly. Drills do not equal skills

Understand and apply the distinction between General, Special and Specific Strength

Injury prevention work should be a transparent part the regular training sessions.

Recovery is important but first you have to do enough work to warrant recovery

Strength as a Skill

We need to rethink how we conceptualize strength. It would be helpful to conceptualize strength as a skill, a finely tuned skill at that. Think of it not as a sledgehammer that delivers a blunt blow. Rather think of it as a pinprick, a very high force concentrated in a very small area. To do that demands incredible coordination and synchronization.

Anyone can get measurably strong in the weight room fairly fast (A certain amount of that kind of strength is necessary, but not as much as we have been led to believe), but applying and using that strength is another matter. A huge aspect of performance is closing the gap between strength you can measure and strength you can apply. To better apply strength think of it as a finely tuned skill that is highly trainable in a variety of situations using the interaction of the body, gravity and the ground. You might not be able to measure it but you will quickly see the difference where it matters most, in the competitive arena with a healthier more mobile, adaptable ant-fragile athlete.

Speed First

Most people agree that speed wins, then why if that is the case isn’t it made a priority. You must work on speed first and foremost.  You must incorporate some elements of speed from the first training cycle through to the peak competition. That is true if you are training for a marathon or 100 meters, basketball or rugby. It must be part of every training cycle. I find it quite amusing when I hear a coach say that we have been working on base work, but I have not started speed work yet. What are you waiting for? The problem with that approach is that they are not training to be fast, they are training to endure, and then magically they hope that the fast will come. They are essentially training speed out that is easy. The inevitable result is undue soreness and greater risk of injury because of the abrupt change in the training program when they do start to emphasize anything fast. The key is to never get too far away from running fast. Always train speed in.  It should be part of the first training cycle of the year and be a part of each subsequent training cycle. Speed development work can be as simple as sprint drills, light acceleration drills, or for a distance runner simply finishing each run with 8 –10 x 100 meter fast strides, but it must be there all the time. Speed first to be first.

Take A Different Look – Skill & Athleticism

In order to effectively train athletes for a sport or to rehab them from an injury demands a thorough and complete understanding of the demands of the sport. Each sport demands a certain amount of athleticism and a certain degree of skill. Athleticism is defined as the ability to perform athletic movements (run, jump, throw, push, pull, bend, extend etc.) with precision style and grace at optimum speed in the context of the sport. Skill is the ability to execute the movements of the sport with a high degree of proficiency. As we look at sports and the various positions and events in the sports require different degrees of athleticism and skill.

In order to further classify and hone in on the sport and position demands I have come up with a rating on a continuum. I call it the SA Rating. The continuum is a 1 – 10 scale for athleticism and skill on two different parallel lines. 1 on the left of the continuum indicates a low level of either athleticism or skill and 10 the highest rating.

S ₁  S ₂ S ₃   S ₄  S ₅  S ₆  S ₇  S ₈  S ₉  S ₁₀            S = Skill

A ₁  A ₂  A ₃  A ₄  A ₅  A ₆  A ₇  A ₈  A ₉  A ₁₀           A = Athleticism

Use American football as an example, overall the game rates around a 6 – 7 for athleticism and about the same for skill. (My opinion based on my analysis, but subject to debate) Then break it down by position to get a clearer picture of what the sport is about. As an example lets look at the positions in American football. For example a quarterback is a high skill demand position so he would rate a 10 in skill demand and a 7 in athleticism. So for a quarterback the SA Rating is S₁₀ - A₇. An offensive lineman on the other hand would rate  a 5 – 6 on skill and possibly a 6-7 on athleticism for an overall SA Rating of S₅ – A₆. Eventually it would be valuable to have a Skill/Athleticism (SA) rating for each position or event in each sport. The athleticism rating should correlate to the physical performance indicator testing battery that is used. The Skill rating should be determined by the commonly accepted parameters of good skill for the respective position or event.

This is not just an exercise in intellectual gymnastics, the SA Rating  will help to determine the direction and emphasis in training. It has profound implications for test selection and skill evaluation. This should be part of the overall athletic development process to determine training direction and purpose.

Australia Observations & Conclusions

The following are some conclusions and ideas stimulated by what I saw and what I gathered from conversations with coaches, sports scientists and athletes during my visit down under. I want to emphasize that these are my opinions and conclusions and I certainly have a bias so factor that in as you read this.

Conclusion One – It is about people, making connections with the athlete and other coaches. Technical expertise is important but if you cannot relate it to the athletes and to your co-workers it is for not. It is so easy to get caught up in the training design and the X’s and O’s that you lose sight of the human element. Coaching is not something you do it is something you are and coaching is not something you do to the athlete, it is something you do with the athlete. You coach people who run, jump, and throw.

Conclusion Two – Have a nutrition plan. The nutrition plan just like the training plan must be tailored to the needs of the individual and to the demands of the particular training cycle. Fuel appropriately.

Conclusion Three – External means of recovery can be overused, especially with the developing athlete. Just like everything else recovery should prescribed individually. Too much use of external means of recovery interferes/disrupts the normal inflammatory response that is a key part of the recovery process. That being said sleep including naps between training sessions trumps all else. Recovery should not be a crutch.

Conclusion Four – The weight room is only one part of the much bigger picture. Chasing numbers in the weight room makes you a better chaser of numbers in the weight, unless it transfers to the field, track, pool or court it is not time well spent. This is a balancing act and it changes with training age and experience. Everything in the strength-training spectrum must be carefully correlated with all other training elements to achieve optimum results.

Conclusion Four - So much of what we do in agility with programmed drills using cones, poles, ladders and other toys has very little transfer to performance in the chaotic environment of the actual game. My take home point form conversations and observations is to add a reactive component early and increase complexity as you see the athlete’s ability to solve the movement problems increase. Possibly what we do with the traditional approach is prevent injury by mimicking aspects of the game movements. I know I need rethink my whole approach to agility including testing.

Conclusion Five – Movement screens and physical competency assessments must be designed to fit the sport and the position or the event in the sport. Whatever movement screen or evaluation you use must emphasize what the athlete can do, not what they can’t do. It is important that it provide a clear starting staring point in the training progression. One size does not fit all, seven tests can’t predict injury and fit all sports, positions and events. Be careful with what you look for, becuase you might find it, then what do you do? The same is true with performance indicator tests.

Conclusion Six – Sport science and sport scientists need to support the coach. They should be in the background, not the forefront. Sport science must be coach driven and managed. All the scientific data must be translatable into coachese so that it becomes actionable.  In this realm it comes down again simply to the choice between nice to  know and need to know. There is only so much information that can be applied, so focus on that.