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A little late to this party,
Alpha Athletics – CrossFit 412
412-848-7801
aka Tony Fu – Big Ragu – Coach Beard
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My biggest obstacle is getting people to understand it’s not about the number it about doing it correctly, I think @conorwlynch referred to this as well. It’s especially hard when the come from another gym that focuses on a number rather than position. It’s hard for someone to swallow their pride and strip weight off of the bar and work to improve their squat technique, “But I can squat 300#”, my response “No you can’t and no offense it looks shitty”. We tend to squat a lot in my gym and once they realize they can handle the volume because they’re doing it correctly, ie their knees or back don’t hurt, buy in is achieved. My long time members have learned to love the squat and the majority do so with as toe forward as they can give me.
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When thinking about training athleticism we tend to look at how our program improves it which is correct but not complete. To paraphrase J Welly’s definition of “seamless and effortless primal movement proficiency” it’s clear that training primal movement patterns will have a positive effect on athleticism. To continue to drive adaptation in a trained/elite athlete the SAID principle is necessary. The SAID principle in training, along with skill acquisition will allow an athlete to excel at a given sport BUT athleticism is more than just one sport. Athleticism to me is more the expression of athletic traits in novel or unknown tasks. So how do you train athleticism: opportunity.
To train athleticism our job as strength coaches is to give the athlete as many tools as possible to safely and efficiently complete a task with relation to movement. We train movement patterns, defaults (ie posture and position), explosiveness, etc. This increases an athletes options or “language of movement”. The limiting factor for an athlete should be his imagination (or if we want to be a little more depressing, his genetic potential) not physical limitations. Our influence on this is in the gym, the athlete must be exposed to as many movement “problems” as possible to build his/her athleticism. John referred to the young kid who would benefit from throwing because it would teach him to be explosive. We technically can “teach” explosiveness in the gym but his understanding of explosive movement is magnified exponentially when asked to put a shot. Opportunity trains athleticism – the tools available are trained via the SAID principle.
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The biggest limitation to an Anatomical Movement Analysis is two fold: one as @nono explained is it’s simplicity. We all recognize this as we’ve all said it one way or another above. The second limitation is where we as coaches have an opportunity to capitalize and that is its lack of context for an athlete.
The average athlete has no interest in learning or understanding how muscle action on a joint help them play or prepare for their sport, that’s our job. By utilizing the PA Assessment you have an opportunity to connect and explain some “big picture” stuff to the athlete as you propose a problem for them to solve. You have an opportunity to provide context and explain why mobility, stabilty, movement proficiency, etc. contribute to them excelling on the field. You also have a standard to measure progress. You help them understand/develop kinaesthetic sense by feeling positions and cue corrections. It’s also an opportunity to drive home importance of posture and position, moving efficiently and that it’s not about task completion but about perfect execution. This assessment gives ample opportunity to the athlete to develop his movement language and the coach to connect the dots of his training principles.
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Deadbug:
– Imbalances lead to injuries
– “Oxygen is energy”
– DB working on posture and breath simultaneously
– Ex Rot on way down = tight hips / Ex Rot on way up = weakness
– Stability – control through full ROM – “Don’t go through the motions”
– Hands face away – cleans / Hands face each other – running
– Rotate hips posterior, push LB into floor
– Int Rot starts at hip not knee/ankle
-“Press heels to the ceiling”
– Looking to make athlete active in position
– Add stress through multiple planes of motion
– “Cover ear with bicep”Spiderman
– Knee tracks over instep
– Hip shelf flat, separate hips and shoulders
– Reach with palm to open flexsors and extensors
– “Heel out” cue to keep hips neutral
– Flat hip shelf – separation of shoulders and hips – fire adductors for hip girdle stability
– Straight knee for hip flexor stretch
– Distribute force throughout body instead of one pointSeesaw
-Start with nice long posture
– Stress starts in the hands
– Flat hip shelp – kick heel high
– Chest as low as heel is high
– Active in feet
– This is a movement pattern – complete don’t quit
– Even distribution between quad and hammy
– Works squat initiation and clean efficiency
– Active recovery helps express stability -
So I’m going to take us on a road trip to you’vegottabeshittinmeville. After a short google machine search of different assessment tools I came across this, http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/ignite360-img-academys-new-test-for-assessing-athletes. After reading this article I decided to do some more research and found their website, http://www.ignite360pt.com/, enjoy.
Now to the question at hand the following is the a list of what each athlete is tested for: <strong style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”>broad jump, seated medicine ball throw, vertical jump, 5-10-5, 10-yard dash, 20-yard dash, dominant hand grip, 300-yard shuttle, and sit and reach.<span style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”> For musculoskeletal system and neuromuscular systems: t</span><span style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”>he pressing squat, rotational “T” balance, and push-up opposite test. </span><strong style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”>Visual ability tests are also a part of the test and assess the six basic movements of the eyes, including horizontal saccade, vertical plane movement, and convergence/divergence or near/far testing.<span style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”> Finally, “</span><span style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”>To complete the entire examination, athletes also complete three online standardized tests.</span><strong style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”>The first test is mental toughness, which is based on a total of 35 questions to help determine an athlete’s attitude, concentration, effort, confidence, coachability, composure, and awareness. <span style=”color: #555555; font-family: abel, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: #fcfcfc;”>Nutrition is evaluated based on a food frequency questionnaire, which is a very simplified nutritional assessment. The results are expressed as a ratio of high nutrient/low energy density foods and low nutrient/high energy density foods. The result will give athletes a final “Diet Quality Ratio” that ultimately reflects the state of their current diet. Last, athletes are tested on their communication skills using a 25 question evaluation that assesses self-awareness, body language, humor, conversation, and interaction. Although these questionnaires may not be perfect, they are quick and easy standardized tests to help coaches determine where athletes might need improvement.”</span>
I’ll give you a minute.
I’m pretty sure this is where “battle the bullshit” applies. This assessment is in my opinion at best superfluous and at worst a complete con job. To be fair there are good aspects to this assessment tool ie vertical jump, 10yd & 20yd dash for straight line speed but it is lost in the shuffle of all the gimicky bullshit. This is the kind of stuff that sets back quality programming and progression by selling people stuff they don’t need and tasks they can’t complete correctly. The barriers for this testing is obviously the ability to administer this test (equipment needs, access to assessment tools, etc.) and the ability to interpret the findings requires you to be 4 different things; a strength coach, an eye doctor, a PT, and a psychologist.
The one thing that I will give them credit for is that they’re looking at assessing an athlete in a more complete way. As @chobbs said the combine is great for testing athletic potential but it doesn’t address athleticsm or the expression of it. With this tool it is more complete but unnecessary except for elite/professional athletes.
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Video cuts off the last part of my presentation but all the pertinent info is in it.
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I do not want to be redundant (but I’m going to be) but my belief of being able to identify an amateur athlete is based off the eye test. I know it is not scientific but to a trained coach, and we all are, it doesn’t take long to recognize amateur shit when you see it. It starts with what @chobbs presented which is the demeanor of the athlete; how serious they are about training, how well they take instruction, even wanting to be there. If that is not present everything else doesn’t matter. Once that is established you make sure they can move, as @hashaw stated that should be taken care of with the warm up, and if that checks out get them under a bar. If they lack coordination or proper movement patterns that is signal, if not it’s time to go on a linear progression. I do what @carlcase does and put everybody at my gym, until you prove otherwise (ie failure), on a linear progression. I saw the benefits of the amateur template and I was further along at that time than many of my members. It’s anecdotal I know, but that doesn’t mean it is wrong.
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My thoughts on the biggest limiting factors for the amateur athlete involve more than just physical aspects of training. Siff describes a complete athlete where, “The mental and physical systems interact continuously and it is vital to remember that the highly-shilled, superbly conditioned body is of little value in competition without the right frame of mind” (p.69) From the physical perspective under-development of the neuromuscular system (inter- and intramuscular coordination) is the biggest limiting factor. This point has already been made above but let me take it another direction. Sport is harmony of movement. Whether you take J Welly’s definition of athleticism or simply use the eye test it is clear that the best athletes have complete control of their body and movements. Siff later states, “Sport then becomes a problem-solving activity in which movements are used to produce the necessary solution. These movements are controlled by the neuromuscular system, whose performance is the result of innate characteristics and the long-term acquisition of skills through trainging” (Siff, 96). The development of this system, or coordination in general, is the biggest limiting factor for amateur athletes.
From a mental or psychological perspective Siff lists over 25 factors that can negatively effect strength some being, attitudes towards events and participants in sport, attitudes towards winning and losing, ability to manage distractions, and the ability to relax effectively. All of these traits must be trained and a good coach is key. “The role of a competent coach in assisting the athlete cannot be underestimated in this respect, because ideal physical preparation in sport will never compensate for deficiencies produced by psychological weaknesses which arise during competition” (Siff, 13). This is where the “coach as limiting factor” becomes a reality. It can be a coach that spews misinformation about training protocols or a coach that doesn’t develop the mental side of sport but either way coach’s can hold athletes back. My goal is to never be the limiting factor. Assess my athlete and determine the correct course of action to have him/her excel on the field.
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I too work with fixing my gen pop class degrees at a time. I agree many people’s default (standing, walking, etc.) is toes out and to tell them toes forward out of the gate is mind blowing. I stress that it’s our goal to squat toes forward and constantly work to that end. My line, “toes forward as mobility allows”.
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I believe it is. For me athleticism is more about a person’s ability to complete an unknown task with the tools they possess. If their training is complete, progressive, and on a solid foundation of strength and movement pattern proficiency then the tools available to them should solve most tasks. We all know the guy/gal or is AWESOME at one sport/skill and can’t dribble a basketball. No one ever mistook that person as an athlete no matter how awesome they are at their given sport.
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While I agree that the adherence to the standards set forth is probably suspect, I don’t think the CFT is a bad assessment. For a beginner athlete this test does cover our three basic movement patterns (squat, press, pull) and proficiency in these movements will transfer to sport via base level of strength. I don’t like the lack of explosive movement, like we see in the CFF Total, but that’s why we’re in the Academy because PAHQ knows what’s up.
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Gold! @carlcase. I agree completely and the reason is I was that guy. When I was in the process of opening my gym I had fallen off pretty considerably. @mcquilkin told me to jump on the amateur progression and ride it out. I was on that thing grinding it out for over 3 months. I clearly had not “optimized” my inter and intramuscular coordination as I saw gainzzzz that I hadn’t had in years. The proof for me is I can get back to those numbers with relative ease now, even if I’m a little detrained. The other way of knowing I’m no longer an amateur is I’m deathly afraid of following a straight linear progression because I know the pain waiting for me.
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I am so on board with this thought. I see it the most with sport coaches who think they are strength coaches. The talk we had last week involved us strength coaches “staying in our lanes” with respect to sport skill, well it’s a 2 way street and there are sport coaches severely limiting their athlete’s potential with bullshit training. A quote from my former college football coach Mark Watts and friend of PAHQ, (side note: probably one of the most solid guys I know, he’s from Pittsburgh not a coincidence) “Ignorance and Arrogance is the absolute worst combination of characteristics of any coach. Nothing will harm your team, athletes, and career more”. This is “coach as a limiting factor” to a T.
