Attitude vs. Environment
Great teams create an environment and culture that allow players to unlock their potential. Outside of sport, where we grow up, who we socialize with, and what our family structure is often shapes our personality. There’s no doubt that a strong and positive environment can be a major factor in determining success, however environment isn’t everything.
As a coach, or organization, it is your job to try to create the best possible environment for your players. The signs in the locker room, the practice facilities, and the marketing of the team, can all have a great impact on the performance of an athlete. Don’t take for granted the ability to shape environment and give athletes the best opportunity for success.
As a player you often have little control over your environment. You don’t pick your team, your teammates, the coaches, where you play, etc. In fact, we may be forced into certain environments that we have little control over. It’s often in those situations where excuses manifest and frustration takes over. Examples like, “my team doesn’t care about winning”, or this team “isn’t any good”, or “nobody takes this seriously”, are real examples of environment dictating attitude.
As a player figure out how you can have the best possible attitude even in the worst possible environment. Let your attitude be a driving force in changing the environment for the better. Often when our environment is poor, we fall into the trap of allowing ourselves to blend into that poor environment.
If your environment is a 2 out of 10 and your attitude is a 4 out of 10 then you may be contributing to the poor environment. However, if you take that 2 environment and improve your attitude to a 7 then maybe you can improve your environment. It’s a simple change that can often be the difference between winning and losing. Make the change and improve your attitude and environment today.
As the great Gandhi said, “be the change you want to see in the world.”
Running & Wrestling: Like Oil and Water?
I have this very special file on my computer that is titled "Master Programs" and inside are all the important tidbits of information that have helped define SAPT's training approach and the template variations we have created. Looking through it is like taking a trip through time, as I remember where I was and who I was working with when each variation was put through its paces. There are a number of sub-folders with names like: 400m Training, Agility, Assessment, Healthy Knees, Intensity Tools, Nutrition, PL/WL (that's powerlifting and weightlifting), and Sport Specific. Within the Sport Specific folder I found an old document I put together in 2007 where I polled a number of other active D1 strength coaches regarding their approach to conditioning (specifically running) and wrestling.
To give this a bit of context, SAPT was in its infancy... I think the company was like 2 months old, and I had somehow convinced a high school wrestling coach to let me take his team through a 6-week pre-season training (thanks, Jack).
At one point we touched on the idea of running and wrestling. My stance was (and still is) that long distance running would actually do more harm than good for a wrestler. WELL, let me tell you this was not well received by the guys. So, in case I was crazy, I polled these other coaches. Here were their responses:
What’s the deal with running?
Responses from a variety of collegiate coaches…
“The majority of the AU wrestling conditioning is done on mat. The running is predominantly sprint work on the track at distances of approximately 30m, 60m and 100m. The long distance runs are primarily for recovery or for dropping weight. You need to explain that to those parents as best you can. Maybe you can use this to help you: "Due to the previously discussed increased risk of injury during periods of fatigue (30), designing the injury prevention program to incorporate metabolic system training proves essential. Specific to wrestling are activities that require high levels of anaerobic power and muscular endurance (8, 22, 54). Over the course of a 2-minute period, an explosive attack occurs approximately every 6 to 10 seconds (35). Simulating the metabolic needs of practice and competition is best accomplished through interval training (33). Intervals involving periods of intense resistance exercise, running, or biking interspersed with periods of relative rest should be considered the ideal training method to achieve physiological responses similar to wrestling. If possible, injured athletes should continue conditioning programs that also mimic the physiological needs of practice and competition (Table 3) to prepare for return to competition after adequate healing occurs."
From:
Terry L. Grindstaff PT, ATC, CSCS, *D and David H. Potach PT, MS, CSCS, *D;, NSCA-CPT, *D. 2006: Prevention of Common Wrestling Injuries. Strength and Conditioning Journal: Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 20–28.
Or check this article out:
Zsolt Murlasits MS, CSCS. 2004: Special Considerations for Designing Wrestling-Specific Resistance-Training Programs. Strength and Conditioning Journal: Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 46–50.”
Email response from Jason Riddell, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at American University
“LSD for wrestlers depends on why they're doing it. For performance gains it's worthless, it's like having your sprinters do it for greater speed improvement. But, for improved aerobic capacity to aid in match recovery it has a small place, and I think there are much better ways to improve this capacity rather than going on long slow runs or staying on a bike for a long time, so I would say on occasion it may be okay but not as a regular activity. Last, and probably the one most wrestlers use as their excuse for wanting to do LSD is for weight loss, cutting weight.
There are a lot of variables to this debate, LSD or no LSD?
LSD has been proven to cause:
Decrease in strength and power
Decrease in anaerobic power
Decrease in muscle mass
Last time I checked wrestling relies pretty heavily on all three of those, and a decrease in them will ultimately cause a decrease in match performance.
I prefer the Tabata method of HIIT (high intensity interval training) and this is what we had our wrestlers doing. But, there were always those guys that went on the LSD runs to cut weight.
I hope this answers your question.
Give my best to Handy.
I look forward to meeting you some day. Feel free to come down and visit when you have time.
GW”
Email response from Greg Warner, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at JMU
“First of all, thanks for being an avid reader of Elite. Funny you asked this question, b/c we just had this conversation with our wrestling coaches. They were all about these long distance runs and once we finally explained it to them in a way they could understand, it clicked!
Here’s how we explained it. You know how wrestlers get “heavy leg” syndrome? Well, that’s due to lactic acid build-up. The more that they are trained at lactate threshold, the better their bodies will get at getting rid of and recycling the lactic acid. Running long distance is aerobic. It won’t help them at all when they are in the third period and their muscles are “heavy” or filled with lactic acid. Some longer recovery runs are beneficial on days in between hard workouts or hard practices. We typically do a “2 minute/ 3 minute routine”. Two minutes of running (either done on a football field where they have to make a certain number of yards or on a treadmill at a certain speed…. Heavy weights and light weights are different, of course), then 3 minutes of recovery (walking). This is the longest running we will do with almost any of our athletes. They do need to have some aerobic training, but not 5 miles straight, know what I mean? Most of our training is done in shorter intervals (30-60 seconds).
I hope that helps to explain it. Once we explained it in terms that the coaches could understand (they understood “heavy leg syndrome” not lactic acid build-up), then it made sense to them and they were more open to changes.
Let me know if you have any more questions.”
Email response from Julia Ledewski, Assistant Director of Sports Performance at New York University at Buffalo
“Ok, here is my advice......GOOD LUCK!!! Seriously, this is a tough battle to fight, and one that I think very few can win. Why, because they have been doing it for so long that they are convinced it works.....yet too close-minded to acknowledge that there might be a better way. Also, as I have learned since coming to UTEP, people in athletics really don't like change.....even though if you don't change you will never get better. If you have Jason Feruggia's book, "Tap Out!!!", he gives an excellent description that may help you fairly early on in the book.
#1. I remember when I was wrestling in high school that we did distance runs for the first couple weeks of training, but after that never ran anything that lasted more than 2 minutes. And, these were sprints. How long is a period in wrestling?.....2 minutes. We also had one of the best wrestling teams in Missouri. In fact, after I left they won the state championship 3 years in row. They also place in the top 6 nearly every year. Several of the guys I wrestled with went on to wrestle at the D1 level. In fact, one guy competed at the international level and was expected to go to the Olympics, but had a few distractions. In high school, you don't get to recruit your athletes, instead you have to train the ones you have. For me, that's enough evidence to say that wrestlers don't need to run long distances to be good.
But, to play devil's advocate, what did nearly all of us do on our own after practice? We went for a long distance run. But, that was more to keep our weight down than to stay in shape.
#2. If you walked into a wrestling meet, and had to bet on one of two wrestlers, which one would you bet on? One wrestler looks like a marathon runner....thin, frail, no muscular development, and slow. The other looks like a sprinter.....lean, hard, muscular, fast, explosive. Knowing nothing else, except what you see, which one would you bet on?.........Here's a hint, most high caliber wrestlers have more similar characteristics of sprinters than marathon runners.
#3. Running long distances requires you to be slow. Why would a wrestler want to be slow? Sprinting requires you to be fast. Don't wrestlers need to be fast and explosive?
#4. They might like this arguement. Have the athlete run six 400 m sprints at a challenging pace (1 min 35 sec or less) with only 5 minutes rest, then on a separate day have them do a 1.5 mile run at their normal distance pace. Then, ask them which is harder and requires more mental toughness? If they are being honest with you, and running hard on the 400s, the answer should be obvious. By the way, which one is more similar in energy demands to a wrestling meet? In high school a period lasts 2 minutes, and there are 3 periods per match. Furthermore, I would be willing to bet that you could increase the distance run to 3 miles and it would still not be as hard as the 400s. *(The time I listed is what one of my soccer girls ran her 480 yd sprints in, so it may need adjusted for a male athlete who is only running 400 meters).
#5. You can try explaining the energy systems to them, but I don't think you will get very far doing this. They will not understand, nor do they want to understand science. Even if they say or they think they believe in science, their "honest" opinion is that there is no science in athletics. The only thing they will see is results. And, some are sold on hard work, but carry it WAY TOO FAR in that they will actually tear their athletes to pieces before backing off. These are the people that blame losing on not working hard enough, so that after a loss they kill their athletes in workouts so they are too tired to perform in the next match, and lose again.......from here it is a downward spiral. Again, it all comes down to results that they see (W-L). If you do your running, and they win, you are a genius and they will be sold on your ideas. If they lose, it will be your fault and they will never buy into your ideas, regardless of whether you are right or wrong.
I saw the Thinker's response. That arguement will go nowhere with the people you are dealing with.
All the weights on our racks are in kilos, so I don't bother to do the math on anything I don't think is close to a PR. Also, if I do want to do the math, seeing it in kilos first distracts me from the depressing number of pounds I am lifting, in that doing the math is so fun that it takes the focus off what I actually did. By the way, how can you say "stay" strong when you know how much I am lifting? Shouldn't you be saying "get" strong, instead?
yes, it is depressing,
David”
Email response from David Adamson, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at University Texas at El Paso
“Thinker: How much value (or lack of) do long slow distance runs bring to the table of conditioning for wrestlers? I'm trying to dispell myths among parents and athletes... running seems to be a VERY hot button for them! Thanks so much for your help!
Hello Sarah, Let's consider this from a physiological perspective:?? Long slow runs are certainly a viable means of developing oxidative capacity; and running in general provides a great deal of latitude in terms of how it may be manipulated (intensity, duration) in order to develop a multitude of capacities (developing cardiac power, pushing the anaerobic threshold, developing speed strength, sprint speed, speed endurance, etc).??The question, however, is: is long slow running the optimal means of developing oxidative power for the wrestler???Sarah, the answer is no.?? The oxidative power may much more effectively be developed via the performance of exercises that also develop the local strength endurance of the muscles of the legs, trunk, arms, and shoulder girdle.??These exercises may be performed with the most rudimentary of apparatus (bodyweight calisthenic/gymnastic, barbells, dumbbells, med balls, kettlebells, etc)??The key, however, is that the exercises are performed via the appropriate method (such as circuit or serial), the appropriate resistance, for the appropriate durations, and at the appropriate speed of movement to yield the targeted adaptations (in this case oxidative power). A heart rate monitor is an exceptional tool for regulating such a form of exercise.??In regards to developing oxidative power, most of the literature suggests that heart rate zones 60-70% of the maximum are ideal for recovery purposes and at the higher end (70-80%) you will begin to develop the power of the oxidative system. At you progress into the 70th percentile you are still beneath the anaerobic threshold and continuing to develop the power of the oxidative system. ??So, essentially, any form of exercise beneath the anaerobic threshold (which must ultimately be quantified in the laboratory or with technology like the Omega Wave) is stimulating the oxidative process (the lower the intensity the more the restorative the stimulus- the higher the intensity the more developmental the stimulus to the power of the oxidative system)??Specificity to sport is then imparted via the exercises performed and the work/rest intervals.”
Response from Pitt Performance Department
I have to say, it was pretty cool getting such thoughtful responses from so many of my mentors at the time. The take-away here is whether you are a wrestler or not, you should always examine the reason(s) why you are doing the conditioning you are doing. Is it actually helping you gain a performance improvement? Or is it actually hindering your peak? SAPT's tremendous coaches can, of course, help you reach that peak.
Good Goals
Every athlete has goals they want to achieve. The problem isn’t always the desire to have goals, but in the way the goals are set. I often use Allen Iverson as an example of someone who always talked about his goal of “winning a championship”. Yet, Iverson’s infamous comments about “practice” have long lived in Youtube lore, with close to 6 million hits. There’s no doubt that Iverson was one of the greatest scorers of all-time, and his will to compete when the lights were on was unbelievable, but perhaps his goal of winning a championship never occurred because of his lack of organized goal setting.
Many athletes are misguided in where they direct their attention. Often they focus on outcome goals—win a championship, be an all-star, average 20 points per game, etc. While setting outcome goals can be effective, and I believe they are somewhat necessary, setting practice goals that give you a road map are even more important.
As an athlete you determine how you practice. Sure a coach may have you for an hour or two a day, but after that you can decide how you want to use your time. Create practice goals that you want to accomplish on a daily, weekly, and monthly level. Goals like making 50 free throws a day, 300 a week, and 1200 a month. Create a process for success.
While playing time is largely out of your control, the amount you work on your craft in practice is almost completely in your control. Practice goals lead to improvement in skill, which leads to the best opportunity to getting the desired outcome. The process of improvement should be at the forefront of your mind rather than simply the dream.
What goals do you want to establish today? How can you improve today so that you’ll be better tomorrow? What’s going to give you the best opportunity to succeed a year from now? Know your outcome goals, but direct your attention to your process.
For Your Viewing Pleasure: Bringing Worlds Together
I'm running out the door to head out of town for my brother's wedding, so today is going to be short and sweet. And, I apologize, non-training related. I stumbled across this video a few weeks ago when some friends of mine showed it to me, and I think you all will appreciate that I am sharing it with you (if you haven't already seen it, that is).
Here is a guy, Matt, who's life used to solely consist of making video games and playing video games. Then, through a series of events (you can read the full story HERE), he took on a unique quest to share a message with the world that perhaps hadn't been realized by the many. What kind of message? See the video below for yourself, it will be well worth your time.
Read This! Training Tips from a Toddler
A huge portion of my job boils down to this: teaching adolescents and adults alike how to move with the same precision and excitement that comes inborn for all of us, but that most of us lose over time. Forget about performance or a one-repetition squat maximum… I’m talking about re-teaching the basics of pushing and pulling. It sounds totally cliché, but watching my 2-year old daughter’s development across all platforms is truly a joy for me. I could, of course, talk endlessly about her cognitive development, but I’ll try to exhibit some self-control and keep this limited to the lessons we would all be well served to apply to ourselves in our physical training:
1. Focus: Last week Ryan and I picked up the kids from daycare and were walking home. As we crossed our neighborhood pool’s parking lot, Arabella suddenly shouted “FAST!” and took off running! I laughed to myself and thought how wonderful and meaningful that short exclamation was.
She wanted to run fast, got into the proper mindset, and sprinted. How simple this is! And yet, so often I have to coach athletes in the “how” of getting themselves into this same focused mindset.
2. Go through a full range of motion: Toddlers are notorious for having impeccable squatting form. Part of this is because they’re all built like power lifters (short legs, long torso, and the classic belly), but even after we lose that physique, full-ROM should be the RULE, not the EXCEPTION. You’ll be strong, stable, and have some pretty excellent mobility all around.
3. Pick-up heavy stuff: Arabella walked up to SAPT’s line of kettlebells on Sunday, grabbed a 10-pounder and carried it a few steps. It was definitely heavy for her, but she moved it a few feet and was satisfied.
4. Be athletic: Run, jump, kick, throw. Doing these things every once in a while is fun and inherently human.
5. Show enthusiasm for what you’re doing: Adults who pine all day about going to the gym at night are setting themselves up for failure. Accept that humans are meant to be active and strong. Once you do, maybe you’ll start looking forward to doing something other than being witness to your body wasting away.
The next time I squat, I’m considering yelling out “STRONG!” before the set – I may get a few looks, but I guarantee it would do me some good.
Chronicles from the Intern Experience
At SAPT we've been pretty fortunate to have some wonderful interns since we began taking them only a couple years ago. One who completed his time with us in the spring, Tadashi, has now had a fairly complete look at athletic performance training from three separate sources. Here are his thoughts: I can now proclaim I have been an intern at three different strength and conditioning sites. While this accomplishment is a great addition to slap on my resume, I actually learned a thing or two in the process and gained a lot of experience. What’s special about my cumulative experience in particular is that I have had the chance to work in three distinctly different environments: A D1 school in a mid-major conference, a D1 school in a major conference, and SAPT (a privately owned training facility). Although these are all programs with similar goals of making people big, strong, fast, and athletic, I found that there are some pretty significant differences between the sites.
At the college level, both major and mid-major, time is always a critical factor. A common mantra in the collegiate field of strength and conditioning is “get in, get out.” There are typically multiple lifting groups per day so scheduling and timeliness are crucial. Also, the athletes have class, practice, meetings, homework, and oftentimes jobs, and they simply cannot afford to spend hours in the weight room every day. This means training sessions need to be quick and efficient. In a collegiate team setting there simply is not enough time to go from athlete to athlete and break down exercise technique in intricate detail. Instead, it becomes necessary to choose your battles and address faults that seem to occur across the board. It would be awesome to pull an athlete aside during squats and go over belly-breathing techniques because he/she isn’t bracing correctly, but in a collegiate setting the team might be on their next set and the athlete falls behind.
This was especially true at the major level because the absolute number of athletes was higher, resulting in a disadvantageous coach:athlete ratio per session. We are always maintaining supervision across the weight room floor and keeping a close eye on those we might feel are at a higher risk, such as those coming back from injury, but we can’t catch everything. For example, as I make sure an athlete with shoulder issues is performing dumbbell rows correctly, out of the corner of my eye I might see an athlete on the other side of the room pulling cleans from the floor with a rounded back (and I die a little inside…).
What I found with my experience in the private sector is that quality control and attention to detail become the priority over most other factors. With a better coach to client ratio and much higher standards in terms of execution of movement, very seldom do technique flaws go unnoticed and uncorrected. Well respected strength coaches like Mike Boyle have advised having only one “coaching intensive” movement (think squats/deadlifts/Olympic lifts) per training session, but at a facility like SAPT even a push-up position plank becomes coaching intensive.
I believe a lot of the differences boils down to the fact that in a collegiate setting we are training teams, whereas in the private sector we are training individuals. I feel that there is a level of responsibility for a collegiate athlete to keep up with the program laid out for the team, while in the private sector clients are paying for an individualized program fit for their personal needs. You’re a D1 athlete and your shoulder feels funky? Well, the team is bench pressing tomorrow so let’s hope you’re ready. You train at SAPT and your shoulder feels funky? Time to take a look at your program and see if we need to make some modifications.
There were many other differences I could talk about such as style of programming, exercise selection, testing methods, warm-ups, conditioning work, and so on, but these differences were more a result of the individual coaches’ preferences and not inherently due to the nature of the program (i.e. D1 major conference vs private sector). My experience with these three internships reinforced the fact that this field really isn’t black and white. When I have a question I turn to the experts, but what happens when the experts disagree? Olympic lifts? Linear periodization? Westside? Kettlebells? Barefoot training? Foam rolling? The beauty of having experience in multiple environments was that I could actually see these methods applied firsthand, and come to my own conclusion of what I thought was effective.
For those of you interested in strength and conditioning I highly recommend going out there and gaining some experience with many areas of the field. Whether your interest currently lies in working with elite level athletes, collegiate athletics, children and young athletes, strength sports, endurance sports, etc., jump on every opportunity to work with anyone. You will learn something from every experience, and you might even find your interests shift as you are exposed to different population groups and programs. Even an experience in what you feel might be a “bad” program will teach you what not to do, and will help mold you into a better professional.
