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Sunday 5pm
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There are tons of things but I will try to stay somewhat organized and coherent in my ramblings on this topic. The first thing I would say is coaches need to take it upon themselves to want to be a better coach, whether that be reading articles, books, going to seminars, certs, etc…But the problem I see at times coaches can get too caught up into one style or way of thinking that they are tuned out to anything else. Let’s use CrossFit as an example, but this can definitely go for other organizations as well. Many crossfit coaches will do their level 1, read the journal and crossfit content, maybe do a few specialty seminars through crossfit and think they have this whole strength and conditioning world figured out. When you put blinders on it’s easy to be ignorant as to what else is out there and what other educational platforms could help you grow as a coach in order to relate to more of this world.
Conversely, I see coaches that the next thing they learn is gospel and they throw out everything else as if “yes this is the new thing, the secret sauce.” This is also the wrong approach, all new things learned is another tool in the shed to utilize when appropriate. However for both of these issues presented so far there is a simple solution. Learn about the S&C world from the inside out or “reverse engineer” if you will? Within this class we are learning so many of the ends and outs of they “whys”. Once we can understand that it is great to go get info and techniques from multiple sources, but also be able to call bullshit easier when needed.
Much like my comrades have already stated coaching complacency is a major issue. We have all probably had experience with the guy who thinks he has it all figured out and has his set way of doing things and it’s the only way. Or the coach that is looking at this field as a hobby and they grab what ever is necessary but nothing beyond and they have no interest in furthering their knowledge base.
Some people cry poor when it comes to continuing education. Certs and seminars aren’t cheap so they must do their research and try to get the cream of the crop and rely on reading books, articles, and other content they can get their hands on. This is one I don’t have a lot of sympathy for as far as crying poor. When I started in this field I lived on a friends couch and I was a personal trainer at golds. I got my ISSA (yank) to get me by until I raised my client base and could afford an apartment after 4 month of living on a couch. Over about an 18 month span I took out the only credit card I ever owned and racked up about 5 g’s in certs and seminars and a little equipment. So in short, go into debt like every other red-blooded american when you are first starting out. Once the credit card was maxed I cut that bitch up, paid it off and haven’t owned one since.
Bottom line is this an industry that you must stay current on, which in a funny way being “current” could take you back to things that have been known for a long time but were supposedly dis-proven but proven to be right all along. We can not let barriers hinder our progress as coaches, if you want it bad enough take it.
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@mcquilkin so rather than putting our 3 points in one post you would like 3 different posts? Or are you looking for 1 major post that drives home our points then more entries in responses to others much like our normal discussions in the academy? I find it would be odd to put 3 separate posts in a row when I could include it all into one.
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Assuming you are training an amateur athlete since we are concerned with base level of strength development it is important to understand how volume and intensity can affect their progress or adaptation. It has a major impact on safety concerns (which I file recovery into this category) as well as accelerated adaption. “The greatest training adaptation to a standard stimulus occurs when muscles are recovered from previous training periods and best prepared to tolerate the greatest overload.” (Zatsiorsky,V.p96) Recovery comes down to a couple different things: Sleep and nutrition, volume and intensity. I am going to ignore sleep and nutrition and stay on topic here, besides the volume and intensity of training is what gives you something to recover from in the first place.
“The mechanism of generalised adaptation as a universal quality of a biological system establishing a balance between its state and external conditions, is determined primarily by the automatic selection of an accommodative strategy which is most appropriate in that situation.” (Siff,M.p.351) In other words this is why we do the Amateur Program with novice athletes to develop a base level of strength, we find it to be the most appropriate accommodative strategy given the situation thus providing accelerated adaptation. If intensity is too high the athlete will not be able to lift the weight effectively, safely, or possibly not at all thus affecting their ability to achieve the volume of 15 reps on our major lifts we are after. Conversely if the intensity not enough we will not drive adaptation efficiently.
“The magnitude of the volume is determined, first of all, on the basis of the athlete’s qualification. The higher the qualification, the larger the volume of loading over the year and each stage of preparation.” (Siff,M.p.356) Novice athletes do not need to be hammered with volume or intensity, it needs to be a set volume with a steady trend upwards of intensity (linear progression maybe?) until one has achieved a Base Level of Strength. This will ensure the athlete continues to progress in a safe and effective manor that is both manageable for he/she and the coach.
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Not happy with my performance here. Misspoke multiple times, explanations should have had better flow, excuses, excuses, excuses…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDAhXXpMjPI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NWBJrwwQpQ
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@mcquilkin @luke Going to post my activity video on the Amateur Progression here so I get it up, do you want to add a ACTIVITY WEEK 8 tab in that section?
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*Week 8 Discussion*
“The overall long-term cyclic structuring of training and practice to maximise performance to coincide with important competitions is known as periodisation.” (Siff, M. p.314) This is a great definition, but an open one that I can see can lead to some of the intimidation factor Hatfield points out in his chapter. Setting up a periodized long term program for court and field sport athletes can be very challenging and intimidating on the surface, but if we don’t panic, follow some general guidlines and have “contingency” plans in order for unexpected occurrences it becomes a more manageable task.
I think many people can look at it in a negative light for a couple reasons. Coaches may stick to the same thing all the time because it worked great on one athlete or group and continues to “work” on others thus developing some monotony. Also, I use “work” much like Luke described in his video about if you do his chest blast program and gained 15 lbs on your bench that programmed worked but if John’s programmed added 200lbs then that obviously worked better and had a higher rate of accelerated adaptation. Or some programs may be installed on a group from a coach that just borrowed it from another coach without doing their due diligence on the type of athlete that was being worked with, training age, level, etc. Others may look at it as not enough variety and that it could not “constantly confuse” the muscles, a popular fucking tagline these days, so people will adapt to quickly thus it wouldn’t be effective.
There are valid points to be skeptical of periodisation, but that doesn’t mean you throw it out. Skepticism should drive corrections, innovation, and improvements not necessarily saying fuck it though. Siff lays out some great points, going back to the definition though it is really just a system of organization. He even states, “Whichever system of organisation is chosen, the underlying principle to be applied is that of optimal stress and restoration.” (p.312) Code for whatever you choose to due with a trainee, make sure it is optimal for them to reach their goals!
Have a plan, take into account the athlete’s schedule, figure out if the plan can be organized in such a way for the athlete (given their schedule) can efficiently reach said goals.
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*Week 8 Discussion*
“The overall long-term cyclic structuring of training and practice to maximise performance to coincide with important competitions is known as periodisation.” (Siff, M. p.314) This is a great definition, but an open one that I can see can lead to some of the intimidation factor Hatfield points out in his chapter. Setting up a periodized long term program for court and field sport athletes can be very challenging and intimidating on the surface, but if we don’t panic, follow some general guidlines and have “contingency” plans in order for unexpected occurrences it becomes a more manageable task.
I think many people can look at it in a negative light for a couple reasons. Coaches may stick to the same thing all the time because it worked great on one athlete or group and continues to “work” on others thus developing some monotony. Also, I use “work” much like Luke described in his video about if you do his chest blast program and gained 15 lbs on your bench that programmed worked but if John’s programmed added 200lbs then that obviously worked better and had a higher rate of accelerated adaptation. Or some programs may be installed on a group from a coach that just borrowed it from another coach without doing their due diligence on the type of athlete that was being worked with, training age, level, etc. Others may look at it as not enough variety and that it could not “constantly confuse” the muscles, a popular fucking tagline these days, so people will adapt to quickly thus it wouldn’t be effective.
There are valid points to be skeptical of periodisation, but that doesn’t mean you throw it out. Skepticism should drive corrections, innovation, and improvements not necessarily saying fuck it though. Siff lays out some great points, going back to the definition though it is really just a system of organization. He even states, “Whichever system of organisation is chosen, the underlying principle to be applied is that of optimal stress and restoration.” (p.312) Code for whatever you choose to due with a trainee, make sure it is optimal for them to reach their goals!
Have a plan, take into account the athlete’s schedule, figure out if the plan can be organized in such a way for the athlete (given their schedule) can efficiently reach said goals.
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Understand the time commitment coming into the Academy. Plan on about 20 hours a week of extra work on top of your normal schedule.
Get started on the reading asap after it is posted on Wednesday nights and take notes while reading rather than simply relying on highlighting sections.
Have a class work schedule template to follow the best you can. Don’t freak out when you can’t stick to it but try to have a plan in place for when unexpected things come up to still get your work done.
Spearhead group study sessions and note comparisons from day 1. This will help with retention of materials rather than just plowing through to get the required work done.
Participate, participate, participate in class discussions. It’s okay to be wrong but this will leave you with your questions answered. If a question is not answered get into the pre-class sessions with Tex!
Re-read as much of the power athlete original content before the class starts as you can. Tie in as much of that original content to the readings when you start the class as you can.
Prep your significant other for the lack of time you will be spending with them before the class starts, so they have the same time commitment expectations as you. This will help them be more supportive and not pissed off at you.
Prep your staff to help pick up some of your slack with this time commitment as well.
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I am going to stick primarily to my athletes here as general population opens up a shit storm of emotional issues.
Barriers:
- too busy
- didn’t meal prep
- Don’t know how to cook
- Don’t do the shopping
- Can’t eat that much
- not hungry after practice, weights, games, etc…
- don’t like vegetables
Solutions:
- How bad do you want it? Make it happen and stop making excuses!
- Learn how to cook, mommy isn’t going to college with you so you might as well start now.
- Go grocery shopping with your parents or tell your parents to schedule a meeting with me to go over proper nutrition lists/items.
- Just like you practice your shot, or steadily progress in the weight room, you must practice eating and steadily progress to eating more if you want to gain weight.
- Utilize a shake after activity if solid food isn’t immediately appetizing.
- Be a grown up, learn to cook them so they taste good and eat them.
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@conorwlynch I totally agree with putting our coaches coaching development on us as leaders. Having regular staff meetings, subsidizing seminars and certs, team outings, “what are you reading” conversations. However, we also must monitor their buy-in and if they are getting complacent their motivation all around is probably doing so as well. Then a sit down of is this the right career path or what is going on in your life that may be causing this?
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@menacedolan I would agree with that.
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@train608 to play devil’s advocate that we are “always thinking about sending the bar to orbit”, I don’t know if that is true. In the amateur program we don’t talk about introducing general speed of the lift and taking advantage of CAT until the reset occurs. So I think @menacedolan makes a good point here.
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@benkuch great job tying in the Submaximal Effort Method with the amateur program. It was right there staring my in the face if it were a snake it would have bit me, but then I would have had to have @mcquilkin suck the poison out of my ass cheek!
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This is a very solid and fair point @conorwlynch, as the “solutions” I put forward on mine only work a small percentage of the time. Nutrition with our athlete’s is the next stage in our evolution with The Athlete Factory, however, dealing with kids is a totally different beast. I like the idea of a folder of essentially a picture book of recipes and guidelines. I/we need to do a much better job of getting through to them on nutrition and not using the excuse that they are kids. Any and all ideas/help is definitely wanted. A big thing is to have more staff available at the times of our groups as it is chaotic currently given our numbers to do anything other than manage, organize and coach the workouts. This is a work in progress and thanks for bringing a serious approach to make a difference with the question that was posed.
