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My apologies for my dog he’s get very jealous when I don’t pay attention to him. He was trying to ruin my flow.
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After review and editing I see that the exercise examples of the upper body were cut. We did go over it but we really focused on the hips, axis and planes.
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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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Why do we lift weights? Since @train608 stole my answer, I’ll take another route. The most concise way to answer this question in my opinion is: with all other factors equal the stronger athlete wins. As Hatfield states “strength determines the extent of force you are able to apply” and the means to developing said force (strength) is lifting weights.
Since this course focuses on amateur athletes the selection of exercises is not as important as in an elite level athlete. We must begin the adaptation process by exposing the athlete to an external load that he/she must overcome. By consistently and thoughtfully doing this the athlete will develop the ability to create force, learn coordination, and develop movement patterns that will correlate to his/her sport (the latter is assumed that you have picked exercises that correlate to the task the athlete will be asked to complete). In general amateur athletes will see benefit in increases of maximum maximorum force (Fmm) so weight training should be exhausted as a result. As the athlete progresses and accommodation begins the challenge becomes: how do you adjust the training to continue to drive adaptation? This is where training specificity comes into play and in my opinion rate of force development becomes key.
Zatsiorsky talks about explosive-strength deficit (ESD) or the difference of your Fmm and Fm (max force reached in a given condition). To me this is the expression of your strength on the field. We talk all the time about how weight room numbers mean shit if you can’t play, this is it. Being able to express your strength is what separates and as an athlete progresses the rate of force development helps bridge that gap. As Zatsiorsky states almost all sporting movements on average take place faster than one can create max force (pg. 26-27) so it lends to being more explosive. The 2 ways to positively affect force output in explosive motions is to increase Fmm or decrease ESD. Increasing Fmm would be my approach with an amateur athlete and decreasing ESD via rate of force development for the elite athlete.
In either case we lift weights to improve our ability to express strength in an athletic setting, the method and priorities change based off of where the athlete is in his/her progression.
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So after watching my video and reading the above comments I’m also an “OK” whore (@chobbs I’m not calling you a whore). I knew I used the term but didn’t realize it was to this extent, something I def need to work on. I used my Sat. morning class as the audience so you you’ll see me relating some of the positions to stuff we do in the gym. It’s also quite clear that my dog is not a fan of my presentation.
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@nono I agree completely, that is why I stated skill or coordination is an integral part of the strength equation. In your example all the person has done is coordinate his/her muscles to display his/her strength. Unfortunately for HQ they did not make that person stronger by teaching them a muscle up.
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@menacedolan right on about reading posts first, I stopped about halfway before I got overwhelmed with view points.
@train608 I agree and do believe that on field performance is an indicator of strength. Anybody that plays a sport is using training as means to an end, to win. So if you can’t display the strength you busted your ass for in the weight room congrats you just wasted an off season. Anybody in this group knows that winning is part of the deal so your training, or more to the point for this question, your strength training better help you win.
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To answer a very broad question I like (agree with) Siff’s version: “as the ability of a given muscle or group of muscles to generate muscular force under specific conditions.” We also know that’s not what is being asked here so let’s go a little deeper. As PA followers we’re all familiar with WRYTF, as it has shown up in our answers already, so it’s safe to say it’s different depending on your goals. So as a power lifter absolute strength “roughly equivalent to maximal eccentric strength” is of priority so training, beliefs, understanding, etc. of strength typically align. If you’re an Oly lifter speed strength is priority so again training, beliefs, understanding, etc. of strength typically align. The point is this: there are multiple types of strength and your goals dictate or shape this worldview. As your coach my job is to get you stronger and 2 things that jumped out to me as consistent across all types of strength are mental strength and “skill” or coordination.
From the previous responses, and I agree, you can’t have a truly strong athlete if they lack mental strength. Whether its pain tolerance, “focus”, arousal (all part of Hatfield’s psychoneural factors) a strong athlete has those in droves. What I believe can and should be focused on more is skill or coordination “synergists, stabilizers, and prime movers must be variably activated, in an efficient sequence, in order for maximum strength to be displayed”. This is what separates strong athletes from the rest of the pack. This ability to display strength (i.e Field Strong) is key is my book. If you want to win you have to have the ability to display your training when the lights are on.
So strength for me is: the ability to exert ones force, physical or mental, onto an object or person in conjunction with skill to overcome opposing force.
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3 month goals:
1) To successfully complete Phase 1 of PA Academy. It may seem simple but I’m taking nothing for granted and fully expect this course to challenge my coaching limits.
2) To develop a deeper understanding of the science of strength training. Knowing things is not the same as understanding the “why’s” and that is what I’m after with this course.
3) To take the knowledge gained from this course to refine my class structure at Alpha Athletics. Better warm ups, more thoughtful programming, improved technique all in an effort to improve the results my members achieve.
6 months (or longer) goals:
1) To work as a S&C coach for a local rugby team. I’ve been working on a local rugby team trying to get them to train with me for their upcoming season. My hope is that the academy will prove to myself and this team that I am the right person to take them to the next level.
2) To build my coaching staff at Alpha Athletics. The less time I spend in general population classes the more time I have to spend in team training and athlete training. My ultimate goal is to train athletes/teams ~75% of the time and gen pop ~25% of the time.
3) Complete PA Academy and train on the CFF seminar staff.
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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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@conorwlynch that’s a lot of units
