A Common Mistake in Speed Training

I am excited to have the opportunity to present at the NSCA Sports Specific Conference and the NSCAA Conference in January. I will be speaking on the '5 Biggest Mistakes of Speed Training'. Below is mistake #4:

'Drill' rich and 'Situation' poor

Just what do I mean by this statement? The majority of speed development programs on the market today spend most of the time teaching athletes drill after drill. Yet there is little transfer to the actual game.

Are you overly biased in 'drill training' in your program? If so, you may be limiting your athlete's potential to get faster.

By including more task-oriented situational exercises into your program, the athlete will see a greater transer to their game as well as heightened levels of self-confidence!

Evaluated Experience

Last week I received a response from the post titled "It's not just about experience". This particular coach made the comment that after having coached for the past eight years, he believes he has dramatically improved without having anybody else evaluate him because he has tried to create multiple experiences for himself.

While I am sure some improvement has happened, it is a fact that individuals cannot effectively evaluate their own competencies. Why is this? Well, because our own incompetencies prevent us from identifying our own incompetencies.

In fact, we all (me included) have a bias towards overestimating our own abilities. Maybe it's becuase our friends don't tell us what they truly think. Or better yet, we all too often take credit for our success but point fingers for our failures.

The right kind of feedback is important if you want to continually evolve. Here are a few suggestions for having a friend or colleague evaluate your coaching:

1. Know Yourself- Identify your strengths and areas of weakness using a tool such as the InnerTactics Profile
2. Focus on the individual's actions not their character
3. Do you make it easy for your athlete's/client's to feel bad? Or do you make it easy for them to feel good by the end of the workout?
4. Are there clear objectives for each particular training session?
5. Is the workout a task-oriented environment?
6. How do you start and end each training session? What do you have them do? How do you want them to feel?
7. What is your communication style? (feeling, doing, or thinking biased)

These are just a few questions to help get you started. Get with a colleague this week and each of you evaluate the other. You will be amazed how this simple exercise can take your coaching to a completely different level!

It's not just about experience

Over the past few months I have heard the phrase about experience used in many of the more popular coaching and sports performance blogs:

"On coaching experience- is it the same thing repeated each year for ten years, or are you creating differenct experiences each year for ten years?"

I am paraphrasing here but I think that you get the idea. Well I am going to take it a step further. Quality coaching experience is even more than simply repeating the same experience over and over each year or even creating different experiences each year.

It is about EVALUATED Experience. In fact, here is the ultimate coaching question for you...

When was the last time that you had another coach evaluate one of your training sessions?

Without having another coach occasionally evaluate you, it is way too easy for you to stay biased in your training methods, no matter how much you continually read or add a new exercise to your workout.

I just recieved the latest newsletter from a Div. I college men's soccer program. The coach is an individual whom I highly respect. Although the team had an unsuccessful season compared to making it to the finals the previous three years, here are the section headers for his own coaching and team evaluation (my comments in italics):

• Here are the primary realities following the Fall season (be truthful to yourself and your athletes)
• Insights and Learning Points: (reflection/ could have's)
• The Path Ahead (future direction/ should be's)

As you can see being truthful to yourself is a MUST if you want to make yourself and your program better. If not, than you and your team will never have a sense of game reality.

He then spends some time reflecting on both the positives and negatives from the season as well as listing some 'could have done...'. This step is important because it let's both you and your players realize that success is a possible reality and allows you to identify those areas that are in your control that you did poorly in.

Last he makes a great transition from concrete changes in the upcoming offseason that will directly effect next years season. But he then spends some time playing the 'what if' game and the 'this team should be...' game. Painting these types of pictures in your athlete's mind is important because it helps to bring the impossible future to the possible present.

Take a few minutes during this holliday and go through your own evaluating experience before getting started into your Winter training sessions. It will be time well spent!

Economics of Coaching 101

Over the past few weeks I have received a number of emails from coaches and trainers worldwide wanting to know what are the keys to operating a succussful sports performance business. And before providing my opinion, I think it is important to first take a look at the bigger picture of business.

Just turn on your television to any station or pick up any newspaper and you will quickly find out that we are in a troubled economy. In fact, chances are that your own bank account is feeling the heat if you are even brave enough to take a look.

And just what is it all based upon? The Law of Scarcity, the Law of Supply and Demand, the Principle of Values, and the Principle of Influence. After over fifteen years of coaching , I believe these same four components apply to running a successful coaching business as well.

The image below represents each of the key success factors needed to sustain a competitive advantage:

1. Financial Capital (money, tangible assets)
2. Social Capital (trust, relationships, network)
3. Human Capital (skills, knowledge, education)
4. Experience Capital (variety, exposure)
5. Values Capital (self-esteem, self-identity)

Lacking in any one of these areas can keep you from operating a successful coaching practice. In fact, name two or three of your biggest competitors and list in which of these five areas are they the strongest and in which of these areas do they struggle the most. Next, perform the same exercise with your own coaching practice.

Over the next few posts I will go into greater detail in each of these areas.

Random Thoughts

I just got back from a morning workout with two of my clients, one a professional baseball player, and the other an extremely strong and fairly fit fifty year old businessman. It was during our training that I had the following random thoughts:

Our athlete's and clients don't need a process, they need a result.

Ask yourself what is your athlete's ultimate outcome in their sport ? What is your client's ultimate outcome and how do they see working out will help them achieve this?


Make it a team effort. Who can you bring on to your team that will add more value to your services? It's too tough to try and do it all alone!

Are you truly willing to take responsibility for producing results for your athlete or client?

Are you giving your athlete or client what they want or what they need? In other words, are you giving them a bandaid when they really need an operation?

We offer advice and even design programs for our clients, but do you also include accountability measures outside of your training program? if so, how?

My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE piece of Cardio Equipment

As many of you know I am hardly a fan of cardio equipment in gyms for varying reasons including keeping your psoas locked short while riding a recumbent bike to running on treadmills (way too many negatives to list here) to unwanted shearing forces on the knee using elliptical trainers.

However, I was recently introduced about a month ago by my good friend Paul Juris to an ARC Trainer created by Cybex. With two degenerative discs, an ankle injury, and now a partially torn meniscus from a car wreck, my body is sensitive to using cardio equipment as it leaves my back sore after a hard workout. So I was extremely skeptical when I first tried it out. Using the ARC three times a week I am now more fit than I have been in over six or seven years.

I still run short sprints, agility drills, and 110's with my athletes, but the volume is always limited. This piece puts virtually zero unwanted shear force on my lower body and I have felt great after every single workout! Better yet, I have used it with a few of my pro athlete's returning from injury as well as adult clientele who want to still train hard but their bodies have been torn down from their 'old football' days. Same result...no pain or unwanted shear force.

Okay so i know this sounds like a testimonial but it is rare that I promote equipment. I am so pumped about my own personal results and seeing it's benefit from working with my athlete's returning to play that I simply felt I must share the good news!

Take home message for coaches- If you presently use any sort of cardio equipment for recovery workouts, injury protocols, or fitness routines for athlete's with a history of injury, I guarantee you that no other piece of cardio equipment will even come close! I hear pro athlete's all of the time complaining about step mills and elliptical trainers bothering them than helping them in trying to get fit while returning from injury.

In fact, here is a scientific study comparing the biomechanics between the ARC and an elliptical machine:

http://www.cybexintl.com/Products/Data/Docs/350A/Arc%20Trainer%20vs%20Elliptical%20Study.pdf

Try one out and let me know what you think!

Developing Athletes

"Coaching releases talent, it does not create it."

All too often I think coaches (including myself) get caught up in the mindset that we are creating talent in young athletes. However, this is far from the truth! How are you releasing talent with your athletes?

Is it through a specific training system? A unique philosophy/methodology? Is it focused on a relationship first?

Kids and Lack of Sleep Report

Okay so I recently posted an a news report from NBC Nightly news and then tonight my wife calls my attention to another alarming report that can have SERIOUS implications on children. Here are some highlights from the report:

• Kids who do not get enough sleep are more likely to become obese
• Every additional hour of sleep in the 3rd grade can reduce the risk of obesity in middle school
• The breakpoint seems to be 9.5 hours
• example- so if 100 third graders get less than 9.5 hours of sleep each night, 20 of them will be obese by the 6th grade
• Bodyweight (under or over) of third graders at that time was not statistically significant as to the outcome of obesity by the time they get to 6th grade

Hey folks, make sure your young athletes and more importantly their PARENTS get the message of the importance of sleep! In case you missed it, here is the link to the video:

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-US&brand=msnbc&vid=89c442a8-c211-4d28-8e59-5b4663762837

Persistance?

I just read an article on coaching that made the following statement:

"Persistance is the number one intelligent behaviour."

Specifically the article was discussing teaching mental toughness relative to young athletes. My thoughts are:

• Persistance is definately an important mental attribute.
• However, I know many athletes who are less talented and skilled than others but are unbelievably persistant. At the end of the day though they still lose the game.
• So should it be the #1 intelligent behaviour? I certainly do not think so!

Thoughts?