Physical Presence Speaks Volumes

Basketball season is upon me once again. As I walked into the Patriot Center last Sunday at 5pm (read that again… SUNDAY at 5PM) for our first team practice, I sighed to myself as I noted this is where I will be spending enormous chunks of my days for the next seven months. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy working with this team and staff… but, it does mean I will often end up working 7 days per week for weeks and weeks at a time. Right about now, it may have dawned on you that I’m not a basketball coach, so what do I do at these practices that result in 7 day workweeks, you may be wondering. My role during practice is to conduct the team warm-up (which I previously wrote about here), monitor practice volume and intensity (this is a topic I will post on next week as it is critically important for strength coaches to write effective and complimentary programs), watch practice to see where our team has room for improvement (speed, strength in certain planes of movement, conditioning, etc.), and simply to show support for the team which results in a tight bond between myself and the players and coaching staff.

That last part is the one I want to focus on for this post: one’s physical presence demonstrates support for both the team and coaching staff that will eventually manifest itself into an excellent working relationship between all parties. Clearly this can be applied well beyond college athletics and is the backbone to why you show up for your child’s recitals and various events. Taking it a step further this is a great example of how you can show support for a spouse of coworker. Simply by being present.

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Over the last three seasons I have been able to keep a constant pulse on the team and the long-term result is that this year I have put the strongest, fastest, and most well conditioned team on the court (up to this season, at least). This has come from small, but critical, insights to the game I’ve garnered ONLY from hanging around.

What can you learn today by “zipping your lip” and simply listening and watching?

Would you have considered this?

I was asked today by the GA at the university I work at why I haven’t backed squatted the baseball or softball teams since they’ve been under my watch.  My feelings are as follows: When you do the cost to benefit ratio of the movement (back squat), as any strength coach should do when programming, in my opinion there just isn’t enough benefit to outweigh the potential risk or cost I could potentially incur by selecting it.  Understand that properly positioning the hands during a back squat requires a significant amount of shoulder external rotation (especially with close grips), and abduction of the humerus (especially with wide grips).  Because either positioning pose a unique risk to the shoulder, the first anterior instability and the latter cranky rotator cuffs and biceps, I’m not about to roll the dice.  Also consider that most overhead athletes possess some degree of labral damage, are at a higher risk for impingement, and possess less than stellar scapular upward rotation and thoracic mobility, and you’d have to be feeling pretty sassy to program the back squat.  Note that I am working diligently to improve their structural shortcomings because I do intend for them to back squat at some point in their yearly preparation as, in my opinion, the back squat is king when trying to develop strong, powerful badunka-dunks and pork chords. 

I think it’s important for those reading this post, whether you’re a young strength coach, or parent shopping around for the best training facility to send you’re little leaguer, to take note that there really is no such thing as an “insignificant detail” when attempting to develop the safest, most effective training program possible.

That's a picture of me hitting the pill a long way...or maybe I swang through it...at least I looked good...

Chris

Long-Term Development of Athletes

Let’s suppose you are putting together a team composed of 18-22 year old athletes – any sport will do, pick your favorite – you have already filled out the roster with the exception of one remaining spot. Thus far you have a balanced player profile: everyone has better than average levels of physical and psychological attributes. For that last open spot you’ve got the decision down between two players – Athlete A is clearly a physical specimen (i.e., they look dominant and are extremely fast/powerful), but has very little formal training in the sport or organized physical preparation. Athlete A can best be described as a good project, a blank canvas, or a risky bet with potentially a huge upside. This player will need much formalized physical training and sport specific technical instruction/drilling to become a team asset.

Athlete B will fit in well physically with the team and this athlete has excellent decision making abilities. You know this athlete has been involved in a long-term development program that has covered both sport specific and physical preparation. This player will provide consistent practice and game efforts and be solid foundation for the rest of the team by being an example of superior work ethic, positive attitude, and maturity from which the rest of the team can learn. However, Athlete B does not have the “star power” of A.

Which one do you choose to round out your team?

Before I come out with MY answer, I’ll give you more detailed background information on the long-term development model and answer the following questions:

How does the long-term model look? When does it begin and why?

To achieve what is TRULY high performance, six to eight years of preparation is required (here I am referring to both general physical and sport specific preparation). So, this process will actually start as early as age 10. And, believe it or not (well, you should believe it), the DETAILS of the planning day-by-day, week-by-week, and year-by-year make THE difference in seeing an individual achieve their true potential or falling a little short by the time they are 18 years of age.

Training can be divided into four main sections during the six to eight years of preparation:

Training Classification	Age Range	Goals
Basic Training (3 yrs)	Ages 10-12	A general, non-specific approach with all-round balance. Variety is the key as children are developing multiple motor coordinative abilities along with strength, speed, and mobility. Technique MUST be precisely learned and part of the program must include developing sprint mechanics.
Build-Up Training (3 yrs)	Ages 13-15	Aims to develop a large catalogue of techniques and general motor-coordination skills. Other goals include development of endurance, speed, reactive ability, all-round strength, mobility/flexibility, and a high standard of performance in a mult-event test (Heptathlon).
Connecting Training (3 yrs)	Ages 16-18	At this point the athlete has decided about his/her specialty (the sport). The main goal at this point is to extract sport specific performance abilities utilizing NON-SPECIFIC training means and increasing the proportion of maximum strength training methods.
High Performance Training (2-3 Olympic Cycles)	Age 19 and older	Having developed to this point, the athlete is now prepared for high level performance training that can involve numerous means, methods, and theories to extract the needed performance.

Hopefully, you can see from this table how involved the athlete development process should be. Europe has had an amazing talent development process in place for decades, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the United States. I regularly encounter parents, athletes, and coaches with little respect for the power, importance, and impact that an appropriately developed strength training and conditioning program can have on a developing athlete (and, more importantly, a quality person). Why is there a difference? Well, it is simply a by-product of how physical education programs are run in schools and how the club sports model has developed.

But, back to my question: between Athlete A and Athlete B, which one would you choose to fill out your roster?

In this scenario, I would choose Athlete B every single time. Athlete B has a solid skill set with a great deal of experience in formal training to complement that experience. Additionally, by understanding their long-term physical preparation approach, I would also feel comfortable in knowing that there is little chance this athlete would incur overuse or non-contact injuries at a higher level of competition.

In my opinion Athlete A is too far behind in the development process to see a big upside with only a few short years of development. A’s motor patterns are already completely set and it is unlikely A could make the changes in faulty motor patterns that are essential for technical execution in sport. In addition, there is a high likelihood that their mental toughness and attitude will not be up to the rigors of all the challenges to be encountered in a fast-tracked development program. It could be like trying to stuff 10 pounds of sand into a 5 pound bag… it just ain’t gonna happen.

Before I wrap up, I do want to note that if your child does not start this process at age 10 or even by age 12, all is not lost! You can fast track the process just a bit. The real key is to try to get children into this type of formalized training before all of their motor patterns are established and “set in stone” – this happens around age 15 or 16. In this case, the “ideal” model above will be adjusted to the following:

Training Classification	Age Range	Goals
Basic Training & Build-Up Training Combined (2 yrs)	Ages 16 and 17	Although the athlete may already be specialized in their sport, time must still be spent on very general physical preparedness and learning exact technique.
Connecting Training (2 yrs)	Ages 18 and 19	The main goal at this point is to extract sport specific performance abilities utilizing NON-SPECIFIC training means and increasing the proportion of maximum strength training methods.
High Performance Training (2-3 Olympic Cycles)	Age 20 and older	Having developed to this point, the athlete is now prepared for high level performance training that can involve numerous means, methods, and theories to extract the needed performance.

We regularly begin formal general physical preparation for our athletes around age 14-16 and see phenomenal performance results over time. But, if you have the means or your own knowledge base, you should strive to get your kids started between ages 10-12.

In the end, the physical performance is rewarding, but short-term. The personal development and increased confidence a young person gains from this process is the real benefit that will last a lifetime.

Action Thinking: Your Million-Dollar Advice for the Week

Admittedly, one of my greatest weaknesses is my tendency to over-analyze a given topic. In high school, I was "the geek" in my circle of friends, and they frequently joked on me for the fact that I enjoyed doing Calculus, Physics, and Philosophy homework more than I liked sitting down to watch the next Friends episode in the evenings. I never considered that "thinking" could actually be done in excess and become a negative thing until my lacrosse coach pulled me from the starting line-up. Upon asking him what I could do to improve, he told me: "You think too much. Your technical skills, speed, and game sense are all sound but you often freeze up. Stop thinking and just start doing."

Fast forward to college. I was going through some difficult times, and I called one of my old-time mentors for some guidance. As usual, he pulled through. However, this particular bit of advice stood out over almost everything he had ever told me:

It's easier to act yourself into healthy thinking than it is to think yourself into healthy acting.

The more I thought about it the more profound it became. Heck, I'm convinced that psychiatrists could make millions off this piece of advice alone as it can be applied to just about every sphere of life. Given that SAPT is in the business of augmenting the physical prowess of athletes and non-athletes alike, I'll touch on this particular subject for a quick moment.

How many of the world's best athletes do you know that appear to be over-analyzing their craft while in the middle of a match or game? It's almost always the opposite, right? Rather than thinking too much, the greatest athlete's just "do." Take a look at the snatch of a proficient Olympic lifter, or the take down of a #1 ranked Division 1 wrestler, and you'll see that it just "happens." It's like they're not even thinking about it. Take a quick look at Dwayne Wade in the video below (I'd x-out the red boxes); do you think he's carefully scrutinizing every nook and cranny of each play before he makes it? Conversely, it's as if he's just floating along the court, allowing his instincts to take over and make his opponents look like children:

Similarly, you can apply the healthy acting ==> healthy thinking advice to a simple gym routine. I often tell those struggling with remaining consistent in the gym that "the most difficult step is getting off the couch." More times than not, once you get inside the gym and begin your warm-up, you're home free, no matter what your thoughts were telling you before you stood up in your home to get in the car.

Earlier this year, one of my friends was waiting for me to get back to him on some advice for a good workout routine. Rather than sitting around and waiting for the "perfect program" to pop in his email, he just started going in the gym! Even though he didn't have much experience, he went in, did some squats, split squats, and pullups, and then left. He didn't worry about following the wrong set-rep scheme, or become paranoid about which form of periodization he would utilize, but instead just got it done because he knew that would take him a step closer to his goal than sitting at home.

Looking at the dietary realm, the same principle applies. Those that spend countless hours researching various diets, meticulously count all their calories, weigh themselves every day, toy on and off with intermittent fasting until they're blue in the face, refuse to buy a fruit/vegetable until they know which has the most antioxidants, etc. nearly always experience less successes than those that just go out and take an ACTION step.

Having trouble with your intake? Here's a million-dollar first step: If a food is from the Earth, this = good. If man has tinkered with it, this = bad. Start with this and don't think about anything else.

The point of all this is that it's near impossible to think yourself into a healthy mindset. Just begin by taking an action step, and before you know it you'll become a steely eyed, barrel chested freedom fighter.

7 Days of Insanity

Over the past 7 days I’ve had multiple experiences every day that I think most Strength & Conditioning Coaches would kill to experience with NCAA Division 1 athletes. Last week was one of those special weeks when I’ve got a couple of my teams in-season, a couple teams in pre-season, and several teams just getting started for the semester with testing. The last week was extremely rich with everything from recovery sessions for soccer, 1RM squat testing, conditioning for two teams, and working out the details of a new research project. I even saw an ACL completely tear and another one we thought tore, but – thankfully – did not. My point in this post is to give you a weeklong peek into the life of a college strength coach… and let me tell you, it is WAY different than the private sector.

Tuesday, September 6:

• 8:30a – women’s soccer in weight room for a light total body lift, capped on either end of the session with active & static stretching and SMR (foam rolling).
• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stairs.
• 2:00p – on the field with women’s soccer to run their warm-up and conditioning routes.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.
• 3:45p – throwers testing 3 vertical jump variations: counter-movement, static start, depth jump (from low box).
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.

BBallRoutes copy

Wednesday, September 7:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in weight room to lift. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 2:00p – on the field to warm-up women’s soccer.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing on single leg broad jump, vertical jump, and 3RM front squat to BELOW parallel depth (we had a freshmen hit 170 x 3 – yikes!)
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press (one guy pressed 305lbs)

Thursday, September 8:

• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and posts ran a low impact total body conditioning circuit.
• 2:00p – lead an on-field body weight only training session for women’s soccer (technically it wasn’t “on-field” due to the monsoon outside… we were in the Field House).
• 3:00p – rowing team in weight room for first day of training – big team with 15 new athletes means lots of instruction.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room to test bench press 1RM and review lifts for following week.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM.

Friday, September 9:

• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stair sprints with full recovery.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing for seated MB Toss, Perfect Pushup Assessment for 1 set of 10, Yo-Yo Intermittent Beep test.
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room for 1RM back squat test with introduction of following week’s lower body lifts.

Saturday, September 10:

• 10:00a – on-field with women’s soccer for practice.

Sunday, September 11:

• 1:00p – women’s soccer game. Witnessed a member of the opposing team destroy her ACL during a contact situation. I’ve seen this before and I’ll see it again, many times I’m sure. It’s always terrible to see this type of season ending injury that, because of my background and experience, I know will affect her for the rest of her life.

Monday, September 12:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in the weight room for lifting. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and Posts ran stairs for speed work with full recovery.
• 1:30p – Single lacrosse player in to lift.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse in for first lifting session. Lots of teaching.
• 3:45p – throwers in for first lifting session. We did some serious volume with some serious low rest periods. No one threw-up, amazing! They must have been ready for it!
• 4:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in for first lifting session.
• 5:30p – male sprinters in for first lifting session.

Congratulations, you made it to the end of my 7 days!!! I don’t have the time or the patience to convey the details that were left out of this recap, but trust me when I tell you I think I garnered an additional year’s worth of experience in just 7 days.

As I’ve seen many very talented strength coaches completely leave the field over my 7-years of experience, I have learned that being a college strength coach is not everyone’s cup of tea. But for some sick reason it seems to be mine. I thrive on the stress and intensity. If you’re thinking of stepping into the college environment, reread my week above one more time and factor in having a life (and in my case a business, too) on top of all that – can you handle it?

How to Deal with Suboptimal Training Situations

Over the weekend I put together a possible program for some athletes who are in a bit of a pinch to pass a 400m repeat test (that they just failed) in one month. Before you get all excited and scroll down, let me qualify this program with a few points:

1. This program is NOT ideal –track style training should be undertaken when one has around 12-weeks to dedicate, minimally.
2. These athletes are not long-distance sprinters (or anything close), they just need to pass this test.
3. Bottom line, the athletes in question could use some overall general physical preparation and aerobic improvement (i.e., why they failed in the first place). So, regardless of sport specificity, this program will provide worlds of improvement for their baseline conditioning and that’s good for any athlete.
4. The “Q” workouts stand for Quality and to get best results should be combined with 20-30min non-impact cardiovascular training on the other days of the week. These sessions will be recovery/base building sessions and heart rate should be monitored to stay within the suggested zone.
5. General strength training 2-3 days per week should be undertaken in concert with this program.
6. Because these athletes are not accustomed to running on a track for these extended distances, all efforts should be made to encourage recovery and regeneration. SMR (foam rolling), static & active stretching, dynamic warm-ups, ice baths, and post-training (all day would be even better) nutrition should all be addressed to stave off any potential problems.

WEEK 1 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 3 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 3x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 2 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 4 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

Oftentimes as a coach or an athlete you get caught between a “rock and a hard place.” Training variables and conditions are rarely perfect and you constantly have to find the right fit for the safest and most effective training plan given a suboptimal situation to yield the greatest result. Personally, I think this is a big reason why my “job” is pretty much nothing but fun all day, every day.

Anyway, as a strength coach (or an athlete designing his/her own program) you have to rise to each unique situation, analyze it, acknowledge that it is not ideal, then move on to create the best program you possibly can give the restraints. I wish “good luck” to the budding, but short-term 400m repeat sprinters over this next month!

As a side note, Arabella is already showing signs of her future status as an elite athlete. Here she is pictured furiously searching Daniel’s Running Formula for training paces associated with her VDOT score - Haha. She really did look through that book around for about 5-minutes.