Have You Ever Asked Your Athlete's This Question...Part 1

Over the past several weeks I have had the opportunity to talk with quite a few performance coaches regarding testing and identyfying talent.

This has been an especially hot topic that comes up every year about this time due to the NFL Combine. And why should we test you may ask? Well the primary reason is to identify the athletes physical strengths and weaknesses.

After testing and evaluation is completed usually a common scenario goes something like this:

"Johnny let's sit down and go through your testing results. Out of these 6-8 tests here is where you stand, overall you performed very well. In fact, your agility times were one of the fastest yet!" Okay you get the idea from here.

The Coaching Trap

Now here is what's crazy, practically 100% of the time coaches will 'tell' the athlete what their strength is based on their testing results. However, this should not always be the case. What if the athlete simply just had a bad day? What if the athlete was not allowed to have a warm-up?

The point is, as coaches we need to be careful not to place too much emphasis on testing in order to determine an athlete's strengths. In fact, how about trying the following:

Before actually testing an athlete ask him or her what they think their own strengths are! Now there's a novel idea.

In my experience the majority of young athletes will just give you a blank face followed by wanting to ask what their choices are. They don't even know their own strengths! (another post coming)

Then there are a few who can answer you immediately with one or two specific areas.

Ask Before You Tell

The take home message is ask your athlete's what they think their own strengths are before telling them. Doing exercises such as this will encourage self-reflection which rarely occurs in young athletes.

One of the first principles that my athletes are taught is to 'know your own body'!

Try this with your athletes and I would love to hear some their responses as well as your thoughts!

Fit for Soccer

What does the following image have to do with your soccer players?


Getting fit for soccer is always a challenge for any player. Why? Because for most players a conditioning program is guesswork at best or the phrase ‘the pros use this program so I should too’ often comes up. However, this is rarely the case and the key to getting fit for soccer is including interval training into your program.

The heart rate graph above is taken from a 16 year old female soccer player during an actual game. As you can see this player has multiple bouts of higher intensity efforts followed by periods of brief recovery.

In addition to interval based patterns, we also know from recent research that soccer players perform a variety of fundamental movement skills before and after turning with the ball. These skills include walking, jogging, shuffling, skipping, jumping, backpedaling, etc.

Taking these two variables into consideration, the Center of Athletic Performance recently performed a study looking at different interval programs and how closely they mimic the movements and cardiovascular demands of the game.

Below is a graph of the same player performing a variety of specifically timed fundamental movements over a ninety second period. These include:

· Walking
· Backpedaling
· Shuffling
· Jogging
· Running
· Sprinting

Although the graph below does not exactly mimic the random nature of a game, the wave-like heart rate patterns do mimic the heart rate peaks, valleys, and duration very closely.

So what’s the best way to get fit for soccer? Other than play small sided games, the interval workout above is a great place to start! For more information on this workout and other challenging drills with the ball checkout the Fit for Soccer DVD at http://www.athletebydesign.com/.

'Taking Play Seriously'

Are you integrating 'play' into your workouts? I just finished reading a great article in the New York Times titled 'Taking Play Seriously'. If you have not read it yet click the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/magazine/17play.html?_r=1&em&ex=1203397200&en=7&oref=slogin

All too often it is easy for coaches to get caught up in the technical aspect (structure value) and results aspect (extrinsic value) of program design. In other words, did the athlete perform the movement correctly? Or, is the workout solely focused on getting a result?

Don't get me wrong, why even compete if you don't want to win right? However, a winning only focus is short lived and ultimately has narrow value.

Workout Audit

Take a look at the graph above. Are your workouts primarily focused on 'proper technique'? Maybe they are primarily focused on getting a result? (i.e. losing weight, improving your 40 yd dash, etc.) However, without adding fun and play to your workouts your athletes will quickly get bored and lose interest.

So just how can you add creative fun and play to your workouts? How about playing a game of rock-paper-scissors tag? Click the link below to see a live example:

http://www.audioacrobat.com/playv/WMWNvjMQ

Movement Based Games are great for a variety of groups including:

• sports teams



• individual athletes



• adult bootcamps



• clients in the gym

The point is that 'play' has tremendous value and should definitely not be ignored in your program design!

For more examples of fun games visit http://www.movementbasedgames.com/. There is a $10 discount for the next three days!

An IMPORTANT Question to ask Yourself...

I had the opportunity to present at the NSCA NC state clinic here in Charlotte, NC this past weekend. They had a record number in attendance and the event was jammed packed with strength coaches, therapists, and primarily personal trainers.

I gave a short 25 minute lecture and hurried quickly to the gym to finish up with some hands on movement progressions. On my way to the gym one of the attendees asked me what was important when meeting with an athlete/client for the first time.

My response was to ask yourself the following question after the first session is over:

"How much do I really know about my new athlete/client?"

Too many coaches and trainers are in way too much of a hurry to perform a few quick tests and then impart their training methods onto a new client solely to prove to them that they know what they are doing. (Their true intention is to say 'it is because of this workout that I am the best coach/trainer in all of XXXX).

However, taking the time to gather the answers to the question above in the beginning of your initial session will serve to establish a long lasting relationship!

Do Your Athlete's Value TEAMWORK?

check out this post at http://innertactics.blogspot.com/

Can Eli Manning take his team all the way?

I just read a short article on http://www.msnbc.com/ titled 'Eli's decision making becomes super'.

Throughout the article there seems to be no doubt that Eli has a great work ethic. But this attribute alone is not the cause for his end of the season and post season success compared to the first half of the Giants season. So just what could be the difference maker in his decision making ability?

Without a doubt his teammates have stepped up to contribute but it is something else. In my recent presentation on Athletic Intelligence, I stated the two main qualities of decision making:

Eli Manning has improved his ability to cope under pressure and resolve the situation he is in more quickly and with more clarity. But just how has he improved these qualities?

For one, he has found his rhythm that is best for him and the rhythm of the game that best suits his team. Second, his is able to remain task oriented (focused) even under the most highly pressured of situations. Third, he is playing with more self confidence. This in turn allows him to make bigger plays in part because he has raised his awareness of his environment (teammates, competition, game field, etc).

There are a number of other reasons I am sure, but these are the ones that first come to mind. So how about you or your athletes? What is presently being done to improve your ability to make clear and quick judgements? How are you improving your capacity to cope and/or resolve different game situations?

For more information on athletic intelligence visit http://www.innertactics.com/ and checkout the newly release Sports Profile.

A Recipe for Successful Coaching

Many of you who read this blog either coach a specific sport, train athletes, or rehab athletes. The common thread between these three scenarios is coaching, while the only real difference is the environment in which you may work with the athlete.

Coaches (using the term loosly here), are constantly striving to find ways to improve their program and/or their athletes. But just how can a coach add value to their program? Below are a few key areas that contribute to coaching success:

• the Coaching Method


• the Coaches Skills


• the Communication Process


• the Needs of the Athlete

Over the next few days I will write a specific post on each of these areas along with suggestions to help increase value in each

NSCA Conference Download

I recently presented on the '5 Biggest Mistakes of the Could Be Fast Player' at the NSCA Sport Specific Conference and the National Soccer Coaches Convention.

To download the presentation for those who may have missed it visit www.athletebydesign.com.

NSCA Sports Specific Trip- Part 1

Just returned home from the NSCA Sport Specific Convention. Although it rained the entire time it was wonderful to see old friends and make new ones. Below are a few thoughts looking back on the weekend:

• I am bummed that I missed Steve Myrland's presentation (due to we presented at the same time). His information is always timeless and extremely insightful
• Althought mostly dominated by the football crowd, it was exciting to see a great representation of those who work in soccer as well
• Many of the presentations sounded similar with the 'you must dynamically warmup' routine followed by the same speed training tips that have been around for quite some time.
• There are still some coaches out there that advocate running with high knees during acceleration! Not sure why
• Personality is important if you are going to be a presenter. There was more than one or two who were quite arrogant to say the least.
• I enjoyed listening to David Sandler's presentation. Especially getting to see the 'behind the scenes' video clips from his involvement with the Fox Sports television show 'Sports Science'.

I will soon be posting my thoughts on some of the presentations that I was able to attend!

Circus Training for Athletes

Yesterday I had the brief opportunity to spend a few minutes in Border's Book Store (which I wish that I could do more often).

I finally made my way to the sports section and came across a newly released book on training pitchers in baseball. Here is a summary of what I noticed:

• a few good lunge and reach progressions (adapted from the Gary Gray camp)
• mention of the chop and lift cable exericses (adapted from Gray Cook's methodology)
• some interesting research on the mechanics of throwing

There was obviously more but nothing else that peaked my interest. However, as I neared the end of the book I thought I would pick it up just as a resource to see what the author(s) training progression was and then at that moment when I turned the page I could not believe what I saw.

One of the author's had suggested along with exercise pictures that pitchers need to balance on both knees on a stability ball while performing shoulder exercises. It was right then when I instantly knew I wanted to put the book right back on the shelf!!

I thought our industry was past this circus training philosophy bu apparently this particular author is not. Don't get me wrong I am all about incorporating stability ball work into an overall program but not exercises that are extremely high risk and have no valid proof of actual benefit on the mound.

Just because an exercise looks hard and might be challenging doesn't mean it is at all appropriate to include in a training program.

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?

Reponse to the NCB Nightly News

I just received an email from a high school coach who posed some great questions that I think should be posted here:

• What is all of the training and work really for?


• Is it winning alone? Then have I wasted all of my time if we don't win a championship.


• What is it that we accomplish on a grander scale when we do that extra rep, run that extra sprint.


• If we develop the habit of sound work ethic, is that all over when the season ends?


• What do they carry with them into their future.


• What am I doing to train them for future success?

Coach Statom raises some important questions here that are great for every coach, including myself, to ask on a regular basis.

In fact, if any of you would be willing to answer these and email them to me I would love to share them here for other coaches, trainers, and therapists to learn from !