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https://footballbeyondthestats.wordpress.com/2016/02/06/the-current-state-of-movement-mastery-in-the-nfl/ here is the article I mentioned at the end of class
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@chobbs Thanks homey!
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There is no substitute for “Specific Physical Preparation”. This is practicing the specific skills and demands of your sport. In order to be proficient in your sport you must practice it religiously. Specificity in training addresses limiting factors and will be a primary player in enhancing overall performance provided the athlete is practicing their sport congruent to their training in the weightroom. We’ve established each athlete needs a solid strength foundation built and understanding of posture and position no matter what the sport is. Once that has been addressed, more specific limiting factors must be addressed through specificity in your programming. Siff laid out 10 respective traits to be addressed through specificity: Type of muscle contraction, movement pattern, region of movement, velocity of movement, force of contraction, muscle fibre recruitment, metabolism, biochemical adaptation, flexibility, and fatigue. It is important to know the demands of the sport we are training an athlete for in order to have an eye for their limiting factors while working with them in the weightroom. Also, I am a big believer in ACTUALLY GETTING OUT TO SEE YOUR FUCKING ATHLETES PLAY THEIR SPORT! Sorry I am a little passionate about this, I think if you are working with an athlete it is your duty to go see them compete in there respective arena so you can see their approach to the game and their limiting factors. After addressing these things we can address limiting factors through specific movements in the weightroom.
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I agree that you should come and see your athletes play the sports that you are preparing them for! I love to see S&C coaches in the stands, it shows that they are as much invested in what you have to teach them as you are to their development. Plus, seeing how they apply what you have worked on allows you to see what they have retained, where they fail, and new ways to manipulate both. Please always talk to the schools ATC if you they have one, they are an excellent resource and should work well with you. If not, fuck them they are a shame to the profession.
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Where are you bridging the gap?
I’m picking up that we must know the demands of the sport, watch our athlete to identify limiting factors, and then address those limiting factors in the weight room. Where does SPP and specificity meet? on the practice field, in competition, in the weight room?
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@benkuch the gap is bridged through the constant analysis of abilities and limiting factors, so it could theoretically be “bridged” in both the weightroom and SPP arena. As an example, I have notes on the majority of my basketball players from this season that I took while watching their games. One of the big’s I train has very poor reaction time and also needs to increase his leaping ability. By knowing this I can select the correct training exercises to improve these characteristics, this is what we would refer to as specificity. We will analyze if this works by seeing his improvement on the court during his SPP through observation by myself, his coach, and himself then we can tell if the specificity from the weightroom targeted at improving these areas actually did it’s job.I say that it should be analyzed during the practice of the sport movements because we do not want to wait for games to start again to see, because by then it is too late. I laid out his limiting factors, but what about the “abilities” that I mentioned. Going to watch a player can also be deceiving, he may have honed his style of play to fit whatever he has been working with before a solid S&C program. So let’s say through the training he has developed the explosiveness to have a dynamic first step, but he doesn’t know how to use it. The gap here has to be bridged the constant practice in the sport of that move, he has the muscular proficiency, he now must develop the skill through SPP.
Hopefully all of this was coherent, I drank my sleep cocktail about 30 min ago…
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Specific Physical Preparedness is the “Practice of the specific sport under conditions which are encountered in competition”(Verkhoshansky, 2009, p.25). This the actual practice of the sports, and the skills that make up the required of that sport. This can be working on free throws in basketball, practicing 2v1s in rugby, working on throwing release, etc. This is the job of the the sports coach.
“Specificity training means exercising to improve in a highly specific way the expression of all the above factors are in a given sport” (Verkhoshansky, 2009, p.25). This is done within the walls of our (S/C Coaches) gym. Every demand or stimulus we pick to impose on our athletes are going to drive a certain adaptation. It is our job as a Strength and Conditioning coaches to make sure what we are selecting has a high transfer of training results to athletes given sport.
Where we can bridge that gap between these two is by looking Specific Physical Preparedness and using the S.A.I.D Principle to make sure that specificity of training we are using with our athlete’s is going to have the best transfer over to that athletes sport..-
Diving into the library I see! What book is that from? Spot on sir!
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Both of the definitions that I used came from Supertraining, and transfer of training is mentioned in Science and Practice.
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Do you feel that preparation and preparedness are the same? Our question was specific to preparation, which is the process of preparing. Preparedness is a state of readiness. If we are talking about preparedness, I would generally agree that it is the sports coach job to develop skill. In preparation, I would suggest the it is a mix between the sports coach and the strength coach.
I certainly agree with the use of the SAID principle for bridging the gap but maybe we should look more into what SPP exactly entails. To make sure we, as coaches, aren’t missing out on ways to positively affect the athlete’s performance.
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I agree with you that preparation and preparedness are two different things. I would say that both the sports coach and strength and conditioning are both work on preparation to increase the athlete preparedness or state of readiness. Through S/C preparation we are getting them in a state of readiness to be able to meet whatever demands they may face in their sport. And the sport coach version of preparation is practice to be prepared for the game. So after all that rambling I agree with you that both sports and s/c coach are working on preparation. My main point is the tools that we use during our preparation are different. I am not going to coach my softball player on how to swing a bat or throw a ball.
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@carlcase Totally on board with you on that.
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Special Physical Preparation (SPP) concentrates on exercises which are more specific to your particular sport. This is the actual practice of your sport as well as breaking down the specifics of your sport and working on these skills separately. I’ll use a baseball analogy (even though baseball is organized grab-ass). You can play in simulated games to increase performance in the sport. You can also break it down to catching drills, running drills, and hitting drills to enhance your performance in the sport. You are working on replicating movement patterns and honing the intrinsic factors of your force production.
Whereas specificity concentrates on training relevant muscles to your sport without adhering to specific movement patterns. It has no regards to specificity. An example of this would be performing lying hamstring curls in order to improve your sprinting ability. Or gymnasts performing bicep curls in order to improve their ability to do parallel bar work on ring work. They are working the muscles against resistance according to biomechanical principles and leverages to get them stronger. Siff listed 10 aspects in specificity training: type of muscle contraction, movement pattern, region of movement, velocity of movement, force of contraction, muscle fibre recruitment, metabolism (this is interesting), biochemical adaptation, flexibility, and fatigue.
I feel that the two can be bridged due to the fact that you are learning how to move the body effectively through space by performing their movements. With both, no matter what, you will have changes in gravity, changes in rotation, changes in inertia, and changes in mechanical stiffness. You’re developing the neuromuscular skills to coordinate your body to move effectively. As you sharpen and work towards perfecting the movements your awareness will increase and overall you will be moving the body better.
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Specific Physical Preparation (SPP) “concentrates on exercises which are more specific to the particular sport.” (Supertraining, 2004, p.315) The main point in this definition is the focus on the specific exercise. Siff is driving home the point that exercise selection is important. There is nothing here on how the exercise is executed. which we all now know is a major factor in how an athlete’s adapts to the training.
Specificity means “exercising to improve in a highly specific way the expression of all the above factors in a given sport.” (Supertraining, 2004, p27) The “all above factors” are type of muscle contraction, movement pattern, region of movement, velocity of movement, force contraction, muscle fiber recruitment, metabolism, biochemical adaptation, flexibility, and fatigue. Here we are focusing on the type of adaptation we are trying to drive. Coaches should know the sport the athlete is training for and know how to optimally drive the expression best for performance in that sport.
Where to bridge the gap? Siff talked about two theories in “Supertraining”, “One theory proposes that strength training should simulate the sporting movements as closely as possible with regard to movement patterns, velocity, force-time curve, type of muscle contraction and so forth, whereas the other (theory) maintains that it is sufficient to train the relevant muscles with no regard for specificity. Separate practice of technical skill would then permit one to utilize in sporting movements the strength gained in non-specific training.” (Supertraining, 2004, p.27) With that said, I see two theories to bridge the gap between SPP and specificity. The coach can either take ownership of both SPP and specificity by training an athlete to express specific factors listed above while selecting exercises that are also specific to the sport or the coach can train specific factors and let the sports coach figure out the technical skill acquisition. I would argue it would be a mix of the two theories. simply because some sports are extremely technical (Ex. gymnastics) that it is near impossible or grossly unsafe to execute in strength training. Coaches should do as much as possible to blend SPP and specificity but with an intelligent approach. Some technical skills should be left to the sports coach. All while the strength coach is selecting exercises specific to the sport and driving specific training factors best fit for the sport.
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I think that the two theories that Siff laid out have more to do with what we have talked about previously when looking at the differences between amateur and elite athletes. General exercise would be the way to start, just like a fundamentals first approach to coaching sport skill. As the athlete develops, then more specialized training and skill development would be necessary to see progress.
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Any time there is an implement of the sport involved, the sport coach should drive the exercises and practice.
All else; strength, flexibility, conditioning, quickness, footwork, etc, S&C coach.
Exceptions are only for Weightlifting.
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@menacedolan I will say a caveat to that is a skill coach. I some times double as a skill coach with my basketball guys and not only their s&c coach. If you consider a skill coach to be a sport coach even if they aren’t the coach of the team then we are on the same page.
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I also use the sport implements when doing rehabilitation, but would never diagram X and O’s. Nor would I change a pitcher’s throwing form until there is an injury or during rehab and even then the coach is involved. I’m just stirring the pot, so does the implementation or the use of a skill coach help bridge the gap between what is learned in the weight room and what is produced on the field? Isn’t this what position coaches are for?
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@menacedolan yes that is what position coaches are for, however when talking about amateur and honestly even up to some elite guys based on their situation many times a coach at their level doesn’t possess the knowledge to bridge that gap. Many highschools have volunteer coaches or teachers doubling as a coach that honestly don’t hone their craft as they should. So when a good S&C guy corresponds with a good Skill guy the Sport coach can get what he wants which is an overall better player.
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Specificity is the narrowing of broad movement patterns into finely honed exercises that closely represent the physiologic stress encountered in a specific sport (see Siff’s 10 Specificity of Types, p.27). Specific Physical Preparation is the repeated actions of the sport done in preparation for competition. This requires being in the arena of play and using the implements involved with each specific act of said sport. I believe that the gap between the two should be there, for when we try too hard to bridge it, crazy training gadgets and do-dads that add resistance to the specific acts of the sport show up on the market. See “Battle the Bullshit”. Siff warns against these devices and training methods because “there will usually be changes in the centre of gravity, moments of inertia, centre of rotation, centre of percussion and mechanical stiffness of the system which alter the neuromuscular skills required in the sport. It is a measure of the sport coach on how well the skills of the sport are implemented on the field, it is the preparedness to attack those fields that is the job of the S&C coach.
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Coaches trying to hard to bridge the gap is a great point to bring up. I couldn’t believe it when @mcquilkin showed me the picture of the LFL girl practicing her throws with that banded contraption.
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Which is what Siff lays out as simulation, which we should steer clear of the majority of the time.
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@menacedolan exactly right, our job is to give the coach an empty canvas it’s their job to give them the skills to create.
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This Supertraining translation to Spanish (Super-Entrenamiento), which I think it was done by Google translator instead a profesional interpreter with some kind of knowledge about the subject, is driving me crazy. I guess I’ll have to get the original version eventually if I don’t want my head to explode.
Anyway, after reading through everyone’s comments a few times, I think I’ve started getting the idea and feel ready to add something to the discussion.
I’ll assume @carlcase, @chobbs, @denny… are right when they say taking care of SPP is the specific given sport coach job, and ours, as S&C coaches, is to develop/improve the athlete’s physical capacities required for the practice and success in the field of that sport.
@benkuch mentioned the two opposed approaches to complementary strength training in sports analyzed by Siff and Verkhoshansky on Supertraining, the first being the practice of the specific sport movement patterns or skills with added resistance and the second, working those as clearly “bounded plots”; a strength part with the goal of developing the required modal domains of strength for that given sport in one hand and the mere skill practice on the other.
As Siff and Verkhoshansky already stand up for the superiority of the second arguing that performing any specific sport movement or skill with an added load to it may provoke that movement to get corrupted due to the changes on the leverages, inertia and other variables and therefore decreasing it’s effectiveness on the field; we don’t have much space left to bridge the gap.
At the end, I’d say the only way to bridge it is having the responsibility and knowledge to determine whatever the physical demands of the athletes on their sport field are and addressing those properly.
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I remember hearing @mcquilkin saying that he loved Supertraining and thinking “How is it possible to enjoy anything that dense?” and chalking it up to a childhood spent in Texas with nothing to do but watch sage brush roll through an abandoned landscape the first 18 years of his life. But I’m starting to come around to it as of late. There are three quotes I’d like to reference that I think can help bridge the gap between specificity and SPP.
“It is not only the exercise which modifies the body, or, MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE NEUROMUSCULAR SYSTEM, but the way in which the exercise is performed.” (Page 27)
“…increased performance is primarily a result of improved NEUROMUSCULAR SKILL…” (Page 28)
As Strength and Conditioning coaches, we select and instruct exercises with specificity that we believe most closely correlates with the demands of our athlete’s sport. Even though we know that there will never be a perfectly direct correlation. Sport coaches teach sport specific technique (or leverage) at the individual and group level. Even though they know that perfect technique alone may not be enough to attain victory. We bridge the gap between what may sometimes be regarded as mental and physical training objectives by realizing that
“…all training should be regarded as a way in which the body’s extremely complex computing systems are programmed and applied in the solution of all motor tasks…” (Page 27)
We can engage and educate our athletes in the WHY of the exercises and execution we are leading them through. When the athlete understands what is being replicated in a S&C training session and the intent of the performance improvement, we can accelerate the application of the adaptations and have them mirror as closely as possible the true demands of the sport.
Bridge the gap by coaching your athletes’ minds and bodies.
To quote @chobbs at the Symposium 2.0: “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
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Anytime you come late to this party all the good shit is already gone. I feel like I got to the party and have the choice between warm Miller Lite or some random micro brew that some hipster made in his kitchen, at this point all you can do is shotgun a few Lite’s and hope for the best.
I like @carlcase stance that our job as S&C coaches is to pick exercises with high transfer of training results. I like @conorwlych view that you have to give the athlete’s the WHY if you want buy in. They hit the nail on the head.
My view lies in the belief that our job, or our way of bridging this gap, is to provide the best athlete possible to his/her sport coach. That is achieved through thoughtful programming that not only translates physical characteristics to the chosen field but also strengthens the athletes mind. This belief was confirmed for me with last weeks discussion about what was strength. I believe I’ve succeeded as a S&C coach if the athlete I present is complete.
One aspect I think should be focused more is that strength coaches should “stay in their lane” with respect to training sport specific skill. Our job is to know what is required of the athlete not necessarily how to do it. Giving the coach an athlete that can complete any task asked of him/her is how you win – win the athletes trust, win the coaches respect, win the game. As long as believe the coach is capable, @chobbs referenced how at times that’s not the case, let them do their job and give them a specimen with which to create.
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That’s why gentlemen carry a flask.
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Specificity: Baechle and Earle wrote: And it refers to the method whereby and athlete is trained in a specific manner to produce a specific adaptation or training outcome. For example a design of a resistance training program that is specific to straightening the chest muscles.
Sports Specific Training: Baechle and Earle wrote: The concept of specificity, widely recognized in the field of resistance training, holds that training is most effective when resistance exercises are similar to the sport activity in which improvements sought(target activity).
@carlcase how much do you in the S&C realm of coaching that people know how to apply synergistic accessory work .@menacedolan do you recommend to new coaches to invest time in a rehabilitation techniques and practices to maximise performance?
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I have a simple rule with my coaches: I don’t tell you how to coach, please don’t tell me how to do my job.
I have had the full spectrum of coaching types and as long as you do your job the best that you can, exhaust every resource for the athlete/coach and keep up constant communication they will give you carte blanche. The “stay in your lane” idea is right. When you deviate from your realm, you only have enough info/knowledge to be dangerous to yourself and the athlete.
And then some days its:
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