Athletic Performance Academy – Latest news & updates from Athletic Performance Academy

How to Get Faster- what does world class look like?

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In this week’s blog we are summarising some of the points I made on my recent Episode 7 of Daz Dee TV.

A lot of the content is already for everybody to see on this website so I’ll save myself some time and tell you all to go to the Education section of the website and look at the Speed section.

For those of you who just want to get the headlines of the 20 minute show we covered:

  • Something to ponder for another show- why S&C coaches need to get better at communicating your message- it’s not just about the ‘what to coach’ and the knowledge, and why do S&C coaches get so concerned with brand equity and self-promotion.
  • Definition of speed- difference between speed, velocity and acceleration
  • What does world class look like? How fast do the fastest sprinters in the world run?
  • What other factors can affect speed

 

In this episode we are setting the scene for Speed, it’s definition and some factors to consider.  In the next episode we will talk about the Means and Methods to actually improve it in everyone!

 

Definition of Speed

Speed, being a scalar quantity, is the rate at which an object covers distance.  Speed is ignorant of direction. On the other hand, velocity is a vector quantity; it is direction-aware.

Speed is the distance covered in a unit of time while acceleration is the rate of change of speed. The unit of speed in the metric system is meters per second (m/s) while that of acceleration is meters per second squared (m/s2).  Speed is a scalar quantity while acceleration is a vector quantity.

With respect to the subcategories of Speed I covered this on the Education section of the website so go check out the page for the full definitions.

  • Straight ahead Speed
  • First step Speed
  • Multi-directional Speed
  • Sport specific Speed (Footwork)

What does World class look like?

This graph shows a couple of interesting things- it shows two clear phases.  The first phase is the acceleration phase. This is defined by a significant drop in the time it takes to cover a 10 metre split over the first 50m or so. When you are no longer accelerating you have officially reached top speed.  It is often said that the person who wins is the person who slows down the least so this speaks to the concept of speed endurance.  What made Usain Bolt’s word record so amazing was that he was able to hold on to his top speed from 50 to 100m.

Break down of the splits

The Table above shows the actual data that I was referring to above.  The part of the race that no one has been able to compete with was Bolt’s performance of 0.82 m/s from 50-80m.

Until Bolt came along, 0.83 was the fastest top end speed recorded. 0.83 seconds per 10 meters translates to 12 meters per second (m/s) or almost 27 miles per hour (mph) or 43 kilometers per hour (kph).

 

Tennis Players versus Sprinter

In the Table above I highlight the first 0-20m splits.  If you look at Mo ’01 he was fastest over 20m taking 1.83 seconds to cover the first 10m and then 1.00 to do the next 10m.  This gave him a total time of 2.83 seconds.

The fastest time I have ever recorded for a tennis player was 2.73 seconds!!!!!!

 

What other factors affect Speed?

Any performance you evaluate needs to take into consideration

=> Mental

=> Physical

=> Tactical

=> Technical

 

Before you jump to conclusions that someone who ‘appears’ slow is actually in fact slow, test some of your assumptions.  Perhaps they are not mentally ‘focused’ and concentrating.  Maybe they are not showing the desire to try hard and run as fast as they are physically capable of.  Are they starting in the right place and do they have the most efficient technique??

What next?

If you would like to discuss these topics in more detail then come along on June 4th to my next Speed, Agility & Quickness for Sports workshop.  Book online HERE

How to write a Strength Training Programme

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In this week’s blog I take you through the three elements you must consider when designing a Strength training programme.

  1. Three types of Strength– muscular endurance, maximal strength and maximal power
  2. Seven types of Exercise classification
  3. Five components of a training session

Three Types of Strength

This links to a previous episode of Daz Dee TV- Episode 5 where I talk about writing an Annual plan. In that episode I stated that I follow a Linear periodisation model with less experienced athletes meaning they progress from focusing training on muscular endurance => maximal strength => maximal power.   But, at the same time we are ALWAYS working on all components of strength all of the time; it’s just the focus that changes.

So you might have a 12-week training cycle and spend 4 weeks focusing on each one.

weeks 1-4: main focus- muscular endurance

weeks 5-8: main focus- maximal strength

weeks 9-12: main focus- maximal power

More advanced athletes who have progressed through these training cycles will follow a concurrent periodisation model meaning they would train all of the components in almost equal amounts in each training week.

So in this example:

Training week:

Monday: muscular endurance focus (high volume low intensity)

Wednesday: maximal strength focus (high intensity low volume)

Friday: maximal power focus (medium high intensity low volume)

 

Seven types of Exercise Classification

Below are two versions of an Exercise classification.

The first time I came across exercise classification was through Paul Chek and his CHEK Institute, and then Kelvin Giles where they referred to Squat- Push- Pull – Brace- Rotate- Gait.  This has been divided further into Horizontal and Vertical Push and Pull and Hip and Knee dominant exercise categories.

Proformance- James Baker

As I explained in Daz Dee TV Episode 6 below James has identified 10 categories of exercise classification/movement pattern

Athletic Performance Academy

As I said in the video I have broken it down into 8 categories (but technically it’s 7 as the last two are both core variations).  To be honest I still do have programmes where I will be working both on the vertical and horizontal versions of upper body at the same time, but I like to focus on press up then bench press then overhead press.  I also like to focus on lying pull ups, bent over rows and then chin ups.  So I guess you could say I emphasis horizontal strength before vertical strength.

Five Components of a Training Session

Here I break down a session into various subcomponents of strength and power.

  • Maximal Power     => 5×3
  • Maximal Strength => 5×5
  • Secondary Strength => 4×8
  • Accessory Strength => 3×12
  • Core

Hope you have found this blog interesting.  Remember, we are running a Level 2 S&C qualification in June so if you’d like to learn more about these topics and MORE then get in touch.

Athletic Performance Academy

How to write an Annual Plan for Dummies

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In this blog I am going to be summarising the latest Episode of Daz Dee TV- Episode 5 Periodisation.

I am slowly getting better at giving the elevator pitch- the 30-second summary of what APA’s Training Philosophy is all about.  Only this week I had decided to put a four page summary up on the notice board at Sutton Tennis Academy.  I’ll share it with you here

The Elevator Pitch- what is APA all about in 30-sec

When you play sport at the highest level, you need to be in peak physical condition.  We aim to maximise your athletic potential meaning we make you Fitter, Faster and Stronger so you can excel at sport.

We believe in the 5 S’s of Sport

  • Suppleness
  • Skill
  • Speed
  • Strength
  • Stamina

The Delivery of our Training Programmes comprise of: 

Complex Sessions (suitable for those coming 1-2 times per week and those with lower training ages).  Each 30-60 minute session will have elements of:

=> 10-20 minutes Skill/Suppleness

=> 10-20 minutes Speed

=> 10-20 minutes Strength

 

Focused Sessions (suitable for those coming 3 or more times per week and with higher training ages).  Each 1 hour will prioritise a specific component of fitness such as:

=> Speed

=> Strength

=> Stamina

=> Injury Prevention (comes under the Suppleness component)

Annual Planning:

Complex Sessions– For the athletes coming 1-2 times per week we believe in training all the components ALL YEAR ROUND however it is important to have a Key Focus.  Typically this will involve progressing from basic skills to more complex ones across three x  12 week terms.

Focused Sessions – For the athletes coming 3 times per week or more we believe in training all the components ALL YEAR ROUND however it is important to have a Key Focus.  Typically this will involve changing emphasis from Endurance => Strength => Power => Power Endurance over six months and repeating this cycle twice in the year

Linear versus Concurrent Periodisation:

Linear Periodisation:

At APA you might say that at first glance the training plans we use for our more committed athletes are based on LINEAR periodisation.  I can’t deny this as we clearly progress over time from those qualities that we can do in greater volume at lower intensity to those that we do at higher intensity in lower volume.  This sets the direction of travel horizontally over time.

So using the example of Strength above- we might work from Strength endurance => Hypertrophy => Max Strength => Power

However, the danger here would be to assume that we take this concept literally.  That would mean we don’t do any power work at all until we come to the end of the training cycle.  This is NOT what we do at APA.  Rather, the Linear route map only informs us as far as what the main focus of TRAINING is.  In any given moment we will also be TEACHING Max Strength exercises such as Back squats and TEACHING Olympic weight lifting exercises for Power such as the Clean.

Concurrent Periodisation:

At APA we always train all components of fitness all of the time.  Concurrent periodisation is based on the premise that we train every component of fitness each week.  However,  again the danger here would be to assume that we take this concept literally.

If you tried to overload ALL the components equally, if that were even possible, you would get a blunting of the training effect as there would be an interference effect.

Interference occurs when the improvement in any one component being trained is reduced in relation to what would have been achieved if this area was trained on its own.

Stafford (2005) Coaching for Long-term Athlete Development, p44. Sports Coach UK

Therefore we choose one or two things to TRAIN and others to TEACH.  The exception is with our advanced athletes where we might TRAIN multiple components in the same session, or at least in the same week.  But we would need to plan the week smartly so as to ensure we don’t try and hit too many qualities in any one day.

Strength Cycles: Volume versus Intensity Deloading

I just wanted to finish with a quick tutorial on how to manage your strength loading schemes for different levels of athletes.  Please watch the video in full to see exactly what I am talking about here

I want to give a shout out to James Baker of Proformance who is doing a great job in Youth S&C with his group in Gloucester, and I refer to an example of his training programme here.

Hope you enjoyed the show!!

Don’t forgot I am running a 1st4sport Level 2 S&C Certificate in June where we talk more about these concepts.  Head over to the website to find out more!!!!

Why Masters degree graduates are still on Minimum Wage!

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It’s getting to the final stages of the academic year for many under graduates and post graduates.  I have a number of interns working within Athletic Performance Academy and it got me thinking about what kind of opportunities there are on the horizon for them as they go into the job market.

So this post will make a comment on the state of the industry from the perspective of a few different people I have spoken to.  I want to give a well rounded view so I have spoken to a current Masters student, a coach currently working in the industry and I throw my opinion in too!

The Student

Let’s start with the view of a  student- Tom Green wrote a blog on it which I have posted below:

What Am I Worth As An S&C Coach?

His concluding remarks:

How do we solve this problem? It can’t come from the bottom up as we’d have to cut off our own noses, knowing full well that others would happily gain that valuable experience for free. However, I do believe it’s time that as interns we ask for more opportunities (CPD and expenses) so we become part of a discipline that contributes to performance and receives the respect and commitment back that we put into it.

The Coach Practitioner

Rob Anderson: Owner Athletic Evolution, UK

In a reply to the idea that we need to ask for more opportunities which is predicated on the industry to provide this Rob says:

Nice idea but realistically supply outweighs demand. Been a victim of the system myself as someone who couldn’t afford to move back in with parents and get funded by them to do an internship. As a result my career has stalled, whilst those able to do so have far surpassed me. But no point moaning. We make our own luck and if we are good enough and stick around long enough, something will come. At the end of the day the only people who have the power to change it (uksca) won’t…. It’s foolish too because if the bottom guy is worth minimum wage then how much can top guy be worth? In contrast if bottom of the tree is worth a decent some it must increase the worth of the top guy? But they don’t seem to take this perspective!

Unfortunately my experience is that as much as we would all like it to be, s and c is not a meritocracy. It is a survival of the financially fittest. The latest “state of the nation” survey from the UKSCA makes for sure reading and if I were them, I would be embarrassed to publish the data. What I took from it was essentially you need to be a white, male with another substantial source of income to make it in s and c.  Outside of that, you have your work cut out!!!

 

Download the Full article in PDF Below:

UKSCA State Of The Nation

 

The Company Owner

So where do I stand on this?  Let me first give you my opinion on the state of the Nation.

Entry level jobs now need YEARS of experience!

Our industry is still relatively immature.  I was on the Sport Scotland Olympic weight lifting workshop at Stirling University in 2004 lead by Cliver Brewer and Gil Stevenson, which later was the spring board for the UKSCA in 2005.  So we are only 12 years in since coaches like Clive and Gil took the step to safeguard standards of practice in elite sport with the formation of the UKSCA organisation and the Accreditation process.

At the time I graduated from my Masters degree in Exercise Physiology there were just as many students graduating from University then as there are now (I would guess)- I heard it is something in the range of 20,000 sports related degree graduates every year.  Only back then you were either a sport science or a sports studies graduate.  Now there are several institutions which offer a specific strength & conditioning degree programme.

The upside for me is that (in my opinion) there are a lot more strength & conditioning jobs now than ever before. However, as Rob said earlier the supply (of graduates) still massively outweighs demand (jobs).

As a result, you have to make yourself stand out from the crowd and no doubt this means gaining significant experience before you even start your first full time job!!!!!!!!

Where professionals in our parents’ generation could finish university armed with nothing but an arts degree and walk into a job that would train them, “entry level” jobs now require years of experience.

 

According to Alex McClintock- see the full article HERE

This is totally unfair: not all young people can afford to work for free, so organisations fill up with more of the same rich, white people who can.

Virtually every job applicant now needs to have ‘already’ developed their skills in multiple volunteer or unpaid roles.  It’s an arms race: when an entire cohort gets experience this way, those who don’t will slip to the bottom of the pile.

Bank of Mum and Dad

Now when you strip down the UKSCA State of the Nation survey, this probably explains why such a high percentage of coaches are unpaid (22% of coaches are unpaid), and a third are on less than £20,000 per year.  A lot of them are current or recent graduates doing the job for little or no pay.  Look at the average age- 55% of the coaches in the industry are below 35.   Now as I enter my 36th year on this planet I am now in the minority of coaches still in the game.  My role has evolved into a management/HOD and consultant role.  I will say that I have done my fair share of paid and unpaid work experience along the way.  But I went to university when it was free for my first two years and only in my final year 2001 did I have to pay £1,000 tuition fees.  Now with £9,000 tuition fees IF you are going to do unpaid internship type work during your degree to get the vital experience you had better have a pretty good Bank of Mum and Dad.  Or just do the interning during the day and hustle working in a bar in the evening!!!

There is no doubt organisations are capitalising on this hungry workforce and offering salaries which wouldn’t be considered commensurate which the skills, qualifications and experiences of a student graduating from a course in another industry.

Constant technological disruption means it’s a tough time to be in the early stages of your career, but so many young people now have to respond with incredible flexibility and a willingness to learn new skills.

At the end of the day we now have so many great people apply for our jobs that it was difficult to choose a shortlist, let alone successful candidates.

As an employer, that’s a great problem to have. As a millennial, not so much.

Do I think it’s fair?

No it’s not fair- but it’s the situation right now.  If UKSCA and other NGBs decide that they want to pay more for the roles and set minimum salaries for degree graduates and UKSCA accredited coaches etc then I’m all for that.  But while the state of the industry is what it is now- you have to just get the f#@k on with it and hustle and grind more than any of the other boys and girls in the game and make sure you are getting yourself out there.

The other massive upside is that with social media now it is sooooooo much easier to find the people you want to engage with.  If you show them value and ‘romance them’ a little before giving them the right hook in the face and asking what they can do for you- you might get in the door and walk through it by being an awesome coach!!!!!!!!

Do I pay interns?

For the purposes of this answer I will refer to interns as being students and recent graduates BUT I recognise an intern could be from any background- anyone wanting to do an entry level role in an organisation to gain experience.

If they are going to do the same role as an advertised ‘job’ AND they are going to commit to doing it for a period of time then I think you should pay them.

But I will give you full disclosure- I have interns who ‘work’ for my company on an unpaid basis, and I also have paid positions, for which students make up part of that work force.  I have relationships with local Universities some of which take the position that they will not advertise an ‘unpaid’ internship to their students and I totally respect that.

Something to consider when using students (in my experience) is that they do need the flexibility around exam periods which means they may want to take time off during these periods, or when a big assignment is coming.  This does have an impact on my company if I can’t get a replacement at short notice.  So I often feel that offering an unpaid opportunity to experience a High Performance environment can be a WIN WIN for both the student and the company because they have the flexibility to come in and out of my company as and when it suits their academic schedule- and I don’t have to pay them.

However, if they going to do a role where they are going to take on a level of responsibility and commitment which effectively meant they would fulfill the criteria for an advertised role then I would look at paying them. One thing I do to strike a balance is agree a set number of unpaid hours (10 hours per week for example) and if they work over that I will pay them.   Or if I ask them to work outside of an agreed number of hours for that day (ie stay past 5pm) I will pay them.  They also become the first port of call if one of my permanent members of staff is off ill/injured etc and I’d pay them in that case too.

 

 

 

 

Peak Height Velocity- Maturity Estimation Calculation

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Why is Peak Height Velocity (PHV) important?

For many years I have tracked the height of the young athletes I work with.  I would do it by simply observing how many centimetres each year an athlete had grown.  I was taught that a typical amount of growth per year for a child was around 5cm.  If it shot up to 7-8cm that was a good indicator that child was going through some accelerated growth.

But of course to know what their ‘PHV’ is you would need to track it for a number of years to get a feel for what is normal? Right?  Well no….actually.  I talk about the Maturity Offset Calculation in my latest  Daz Dee TV episode 1 where I refer to Peak Height Velocity (around 4:00 minutes in).

”The maturity offset can be used to calculate a child’s age of PHV, which is commonly used by strength and conditioning coaches and sports scientists to adapt their training prescription. Thus, understanding PHV and monitoring your athletes’ maturity offset (age of PHV) is highly-encouraged. It is also recommended that the maturity offset is calculated approximately 2-3 times per year.” Science for Sport.

Shout out to Science for Sport for doing the work on excel here.  Go visit the site for your own FREE Maturity Offset (PHV) Calculator

Gosling Tennis Academy: Case Study

I’ve punched in some real data so you can see the information that comes out.  See below:

By the way I used a 40cm high box so you’ll see I had to add that into my own template- which you can download as a PDF below to see my example.

Template Maturity_Estimation_Mirwald_2002_ (1)

Basically, I have 8 boys in the Full-time Junior Academy group at Gosling Tennis Academy that are between 12 and 16 years.  I have listed them from youngest to oldest.  Not surprisingly three of the four oldest boys have a positive Maturity Offset value indicating that it is >1 year since they have ALREADY HAD their Peak height velocity.  However, interestingly one of the boys who is nearly 15 is still one of the smallest and is ‘predicted’ to go through his growth spurt any time soon.  The rest have negative offset values indicating they haven’t yet had their PHV and the it is predicted as just over a year away for most of them, and nearer 2 years (1.81) for one remaining athlete.

Here is the picture: Unfortunately one of the boys stood in the wrong place!!!  The tallest boy in the shot should have switched with the 14 year old in red shorts- I have corrected the scores on the right side to correspond with the place they are in the picture.

Ignore me- I just wanted to photo bomb the moment.  I’m far left so don’t count me when you’re scanning Left to Right!!

Hope that was useful.   Try it out with your own athletes!!!

 

Child to Champion 2017 Conference Review

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Last weekend, I attended the Child to Champion LTAD conference in Gloucester. It was hosted by ProFormance which is run in the UK by James Baker & in the US by Mike Young.  For those of you who couldn’t make it please find below a few bullet-point notes from the sessions I attended.  I will go on record and say this is probably the best conference I have attended.  Every presentation was insightful and I took something away from every single one!

And as a special bonus I have also included a review from my colleague in British Tennis Arran Peck who attended the inaugural conference in 2016!!

2017

First of all shout out to Andy Bruce who did a cool conference review with a summary of the twitter feed that was blowing up on the day #childtochampion

You can see his review HERE

Here are my top take home messages from a few of the 16 presentations that I heard throughout the weekend.

Pre Conference Friday April 7th

Dr. Mike Young – Owner & founder of Athletic Lab Sports Performance Training Center – ‘Means and Methods of Eccentric training’

  • Eccentric training increases concentric strength but concentric strength training does not increase eccentric strength levels
  • An athlete’s ability to resist yielding is the key to athletic success
  • We typically assess strength using concentric assessment such as 1-Repetition Maximums (RM).  But the better question to ask is how strong someone is eccentrically
  • Many methods to develop eccentric strength: Eccentric training- controlled descent with submax loads (@85%1RM) => Accentuated loading (110-120% 1RM) => Shock method (snatch balance) => Flywheel => Partial reps

Saturday April 8th

Alex Natera – Senior S&C coach at Aspire Academy, Qatar – ‘Strength and Power in the Elite Student Athlete’

  • Relentless pursuit of maximal strength when you’re already strong may be a waste of time
  • Advanced lifters can continue to get stronger by making skill development improvements rather than capacity improvements
  • Use ‘link’ assessments to gauge transfer of strength- a loaded skill that is very similar to the sport skill i.e., timed prowler push for assessing strength gains in acceleration
  • Single leg loaded squats can be a clever way to overload the system while using lower loads- keeps the technical coach happier nearer important competitions
  • Eccentric training- use it or lose it. After 4 weeks it detrains so don’t assume sprinting will be sufficient to maintain the strength gains made in previous cycles- it won’t

Allan MacDonald – Senior S&C coach at British Judo – ‘The Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence’

  • Reverse engineer the behaviours we want to see in our young athletes.       Banning mobiles from the gym doesn’t the challenge self-awareness and self-regulation
  • Trauma creates talent (psychologically)? Do you have to go through adversity to grow and learn to cope with stress? Trauma only helps if you can come out the other side i.e have the psychological tools
  • Learn to reframe (before) – Positive self-talk (during) – Self reflect (after)

Matt Depledge – S&C coach at Southampton AFC– ‘The Application of Growth and Maturation in Academy Football

  • Use Khamis & Roche (1994) Method to calculate Percentage of Predicted Adult Height (PAH)
  • Use Mirwald (2002) Formula to calculate Maturity offset value

Paul Caldbeck – Senior S&C coach at West Bromwich Albion FC – ‘Carpe Diem- Are Academy Footballers Fit for Purpose’

  • The stronger and fitter you are the faster you recover
  • Pre-season versus In-season: Less High Intensity running volume and More lower intensity running
  • For young players coming up into First team besides the overall higher training loads the biggest challenge is the speed of the game. It is faster and there is higher volume of sprinting

Sunday April 9th

Des Ryan – Head of Sport Science and Medicine, Arsenal AFC – ‘The Arsenal Physical Development Framework’

  • Increase complexity of an exercise (as opposed to just adding load) when kids are going through peak height velocity
  • FMS scores seem to stall during PHV but soon pick up afterwards
  • FMS scores do not predict injuries but are important way to monitor quality of movement which is related to athletic performance. Better movers are better able to acquire more complex skills

Dr James McCarron – Head of Academy Performance, Sunderland AFC– ‘Implicit and Explicit Aspects of Athletic Development’

  • Implicit and explicit both effective. Explicit learning seems to be more effective as athlete matures. Both can be periodised in training week and effective for athlete undergoing rehab to increase cognitive load when physical load is low.

Pete Atkinson – National Lead for S&C at England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB).– ‘An Insight to the ECB Pace Programme: Preparing the next generation of International Fast Bowlers’

  • Player-led not programme-led strategy
  • If we measure it- we report it!
  • Bernstein’s (1967) theory of repetition without repetition- variability by another name!

2016

Dr Rhodri Lloyd – Senior Lecturer at Cardiff Met University – ‘Plyometric Training & the Young Athlete’

  • Extensive evidence of increase in bone mass, bone mineral accrual & bone mineral density resulting from plyometric interventions BUT beware of intensity, volume & fatigue. Technical breakdown is most reliable ‘red-flag’
  • Plyometric exercises play an important role in injury prevention and economy NOT JUST increased explosive qualities
  • “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future” (Franklin D Roosevelt, 1940)

Dr Mike Young – Founder of EliteTrack.com & owner of HPC Athletic Lab – ‘Best Practises For Developing Speed Across the Developmental Continuum’

  • Speed has both mechanical & physical constraints: <MASS + >FORCE + <TIME + right direction = RUN FASTER
  • You need a functioning athlete before you equip them to run ‘insanely’ fast – design, build, optimize and only THEN maximise!!!
  • Reduced total VOLUME, increased rep DISTANCE and increased REST between reps as athlete gets better / faster

Dr Neil Potts – Head of Athletic Performance at Scottish Rugby – ‘Building & Implementing A System To Produce International Rugby Players’

  • Focus on the CONTROLLABLES and maximise the ‘bang for your buck’
  • Do the simple things VERY well & create a legacy that survives you in the role
  • Develop an EXCELLENCE culture in particular self-reliance, professional standards & continual evolution

Dr Ian Jeffries – Director of Athletic Performance at Powys Sports Academy, Wales – ‘Effective movement in sport’

  • Why tunnel athletic development with the use of ‘Long term’??? Need to see change now, not at some far away point in the future
  • Beware the EXECUTION gap (there are too many models and not enough action) as well as the “perilous allure of the new!!!”
  • Start with the sport & / or a skill and identify opportunities to improve it

Shane Murphy – U21’s Sports Scientist, Manchester City FC – ‘Peak Height Velocity & Injury’

  • Weekly player ‘case conferences’ scheduled to discuss player attitude, development & performance
  • Normal, modified and restricted training resulting from Training Load monitoring
  • Strong advocates of ‘alternate’ and ‘education’ sessions throughout Academy week & season

Kevin Paxton – Head of Academy Sports Science, Leicester City FC – ‘Age-Related Performance Benchmarking’

  • Importance of good recruitment – need staff who are good TEACHERS & want to work with young players
  • Data collected must inform practice & improve performance otherwise irrelevant
  • SIMPLIFY your plans and programmes otherwise trainers, coaches and players won’t stick to them

In closing, it is important to note that the whole weekend was well organised, everyone was extremely generous with their time, experiences and intellectual property and the delegate cost was very reasonable. I would definitely recommend you follow both James and Mike on Twitter for discussions and updates on the subject of LTAD and would encourage you to book onto the 2018 conference as and if one is proposed.  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any clarifications on the comments above or have any questions about.

Motor Learning Concepts all coaches need to know about

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Streamed live on 18 Nov 2015

Dr. Mike Young: Motor Learning Concepts All Coaches Should Know & Understand

I encourage everyone to have a look at this webinar.  Below are the summary notes I have written having watched it myself.

What is Skill?

In the field, ”be able to accomplish a task with great movement efficiency.”

But…..performance alone is not indicative of skill.  You could be a seriously fast runner but highly unskilled at running- with poor running mechanics.  They may have great genes and a really big engine.

On the flip side you can have a highly skilled athletes but lacks the physical parameters- they don’t have the strength or the stamina but they do have the movement patterns correct

Performance is ultimately the intersection of your mechnical proficiency and how big of an engine you have.

Muscle memory does not exist– i.e., learning a skill and storing the information in the muscles.  The skill itself (motor pattern) and the neural connections occur in the brain.

However, Movement memory does exist

Many of the things that hold true for cognitive learning are the same for motor learning.

TRUE LEARNING IS ASSESSED BY RETENTION– usually in the 48 hour period post practice

For a coach: they may assess Practice versus Competition ability? Can they do it in a match?

The Skill acquisition paradox

– many of the things we think we are doing to benefit our athletes may actually be hindering their long term performance when it comes to motor learning

– A lot of the things we do with cueing and feedback etc get in the way of long term continuous improvement

 many of the tactics that we use to enhance skill actually impede true skill acquisition

-The reason is that we are fooled into believing that immediate improvements are indicative of true learning

-The very things that improve performance acutely are often the opposite of what should be done to enhance true skill acquisition

Feedback recommendations

  • Type– Knowledge of Results (KR) versus Knowledge of Performance (KP)
  • Timing- Concurrent (during) versus Terminal (after)
  • Quantity
  • Frequency

Type:

KR- Tell them what they did (Outcome- 3.00 sec for 20m sprint) versus KP-How they did it (Process-you got into a great acceleration position)

It is best to focus on the KP- actionable processes that they can change

Timing:

During repeated cyclical continuous task- such as running you could provide feedback during the task.  But generally it is best to give feedback after the task especially for acyclical task.

It is generally better to wait to provide feedback at the end.

Quantity:

Quality over Quantity: Clear- Concise- Concrete

Can it be understood by a young child?

Frequency:

Yes beginners will benefit from more feedback but we need to wean them off it!

-Less frequent feedback may be beneficial

-May create dependence on feedback

-Figure it out on your own!

If you give lots of feedback it will help short term performance (in the practice) but not help longer term performance

Attentional focus

Internal (reference to the body- bent your arms to 90 degrees) versus External cueing (provide a global reference- ”push the ground away from you”, ”jump and touch the ceiling”) .  Our tendency is to provide internal cues but the research is overwhelmingly in support of providing external cues to improve both skill acquisition and performance.

”Jump to this point” or ”Push the ground away from you” is better than ”when you take off I want you to straighten your legs fully”

Internal references that are typically popular to talk about in textbooks when discussing the technical checklist such as angles at the joints, body positions etc need to be translated into external cues.

Contextual interference

Blocked practice versus Random practice

Blocked:

It is well documented that Shaquille O’ Neal followed this regime and it allowed him to make 80% of his free throws in practice.  But in matches he was only able to make 50%.  This may be suitable to beginners.

Random:

More suited to athletes who are increasingly skilled

Movement variability

Don’t keep movement patterns the same all the time!

Summary

  • Performance is ultimately the intersection of your mechnical proficiency and how big of an engine you have

  • Many of the things we think we are doing to benefit our athletes may actually be hindering their long term performance when it comes to motor learning

Job Opportunity with APA- Sutton Tennis Academy

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Coaches- please give your attention to the Job Advert below.  Anyone interested should contact me immediately and submit their CV for consideration as this role is for an immediate start.

APA JOB ADVERTFeb17 Sutton

Youth Training ideas- Fundamentals of Movement

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For anyone who follows this blog you know that I am passionate about Youth Strength & Conditioning and applying sound principles based on Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) models.  At this part of the training phase (term 2 in the academic timetable) January-April, it is a pretty fun time.  All my interns have spent the first term bedding in and learning about the ‘art’ of coaching- learning how to improve their communication skills.

This term is more about giving them more ownership of their session plans so I have been giving them some insights into the thought process behind the syllabus themes.  They then need to write their own plan. I thought I would share those insights here.

Youth Training with Athletic Performance Academy

Our after school programme caters for all ages from 5 year olds up to senior high school athletes.

>Mini Academy

>12U Junior Academy

>18U Junior Academy

All the sessions are 1 hour and we run a daily session before the tennis squad, so there is the possibility to attend all five sessions.

Session Plan Structure

SUPPLENESS Part of warm-up:
Raise pulse raising game
Activate/Mobilise bands/crawling
Potentiate widths / reaction speed
Main session: 
SKILL (coordination) > (balance)
SPEED    (First step speed)>(Straight ahead speed)
AGILITY  (multi-directional speed) > (sport specific speed)
STRENGTH  (Animals/Gymnastics/Partner work/Bars)
STAMINA GAME

What is Skill?

One of the things that I am really passionate about is Skill development- I honestly think it is a part of the physical literacy spectrum that coaches understand less well.  I think we have all heard of ABCS- but how many of us are working on it?

It might be worthwhile some of you checking out some of these videos for some inspiration.

**Author’s Caveat**

I am NOT endorsing all exercises, in all situations and some of the quality of execution is not of a level I would be satisfied with.  You can debate which exercises might be too advanced, but that is ultimately based on your own beliefs.  But take away the principles of Multilateral development (general instead of early sport specialisation) which is advantageous through :

  • Expanding repertoires of behaviours and experiences
  • Harmonious development of the structures of the central nervous system and all the senses
  • Prevention of asymmetries and pattern overload
  • Variation to avoid early burnout

Sports coach UK 

Ajax Football 1990s

 

Russian Ice Hockey

 

Club Brugge 

Putting it into an Annual Plan

Following personal communication with James Baker (Proformance Strength & Conditioning) we discussed which types of fitness we like to focus on throughout the year.  James has a little bit less contact time with his athletes than I do.

To use Speed as an example, he works in a High School where the summer term is focused on Athletics so there is a natural build up to top speed work.  Whereas with my athletes in tennis we focus on shorter distances with a build up to more specific tennis footwork.

Proformance S&C:

Term 1: Mobility => Jump Training => Term 2: Straight Ahead Speed (Linear)- Accelerations => Multi-Directional Speed  =>  Term 3: Straight Ahead Speed (Linear)- Max Velocity => Energy System Development

Athletic Performance Academy:

Term 1: Multi-directional Speed (Intro to stopping/turns)=> First step speed => Term 2: Straight Ahead Speed (Linear)- Accelerations => Multi-Directional Speed (cutting)  =>  Term 3: Multi-Directional Speed (cutting) => Tennis Footwork

Find Out More

For more information on the different types of speed and the drills we use with Youth athletes sign up to the next APA workshop

Date: February 19th 2017 9am-1pm

Venue: Gosling Sports Park, Welwyn Garden City

Cost: £40

 

What is sport specific fitness?

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If you’re like me you love to play sport, the competitive challenge of testing your skills and physical attributes against a worthy opponent. Sport is a fast paced affair- and anyone who plays sport loves the speed of the game.

 

I was recently talking to one of my coaches and he was raving about some of the more ‘sport specific’ speed drills and medicine ball drills he saw me doing with some tennis players.  I was worried that his take away message was that all tennis players should be doing for training is just very specific speed and strength drills.  This debate is a bit like the one about free play and fitness – where it is argued that the best type of fitness for a sport is just playing the sport itself.

 

 

The essence of sports activities lies in the movements of the human body.  A sport movement is a complex motor action (movement).  In team sports or sports like Tennis it may be necessary to solve many motor tasks.  To do this we have to learn ‘movement patterns’- a sequence of movements arranged in time and space- which when put together make up a familiar sports movement.  This requires coordination.

 

In general, we all aspire to increase the speed at which we can perform these sporting movements. So if the name of the game is mastery of the sporting movement at speed why don’t we just imitate the sporting movements in the gym all the time? Well you see, speed of movement is really only the outcome of the ability to do something very important first. To change your body position (gravitational centre of mass) or modify limb position in space, an athlete has to overcome the forces of gravity and inertia.

 

In order to increase speed, the athlete must develop an adequate level of force.

 

Therefore the final goal of training is always related to the capacity to express power– produced by:

 

  • Force of overcoming external resistance
  • Skill to coordinate the effort
  • Speed of movements

 

This capacity to overcome resistance at speed is known as your ‘motor potential.’

 

One of the most important training principles is that an increase in your motor potential must precede your capacity to utilise it in a sport specific regime.  In layman’s terms you can think of your motor potential as your general fitness.  If you prepare your body in a general sense first- you will be able to carry out the more explosive sport specific exercises later with a higher intensity and less injury potential.

 

General Fitness

 

General fitness is also known as Health related Fitness and incorporates five key aspects- cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility and body composition (the proportion of muscle and fat you have).  To be truly fit- either for everyday living or for sports performance- requires that all these elements are worked on and are either maintained at a healthy level or are continually improved beyond that level.

 

 

With focus on qualities such as suppleness, strength and stamina the body can adapt safely to gradual increases in intensity.

 

It’s about developing your motor potential.

 

The types of training methods to get your global muscles and energy systems prepared are quite similar across sports.  Hence the term ‘general.’ Younger athletes and those with lower training histories would risk injury if they are exposed too early to too much sport specific fitness- which by it’s nature is very high intensity.

 

With these athletes I tend to train with linear periodisation (a topic for another day!) and bring it some more specific training nearer important competitions.

 

Sport Specific Fitness

 

Being fit for sport means being able to meet the physical demands of that sport.  This can be thought of sport specific fitness.

 

To be fit for sport involves additional sport specific skills and physical attributes such as speed and power but these should be developed on top of a broad base of general fitness.

 

 

Athletes with high levels of preparedness will already have high levels of general fitness.  I like to think of it as they have already filled their bucket of motor potential to the top.

 

Image result for filled bucket

 

Their strength, speed and stamina capacities are already very high so their training needs to be focused on more sport specific explosive training, and for more of their training time.  This is about expressing their motor potential.  With these athletes I use more concurrent periodisation which means there is always some power work in the programme but the bias shifts to more sport specific power and speed work nearer important competitions.

 

It is true that these sport specific attributes will help you to play harder and last longer.  You will be more consistent and make better decisions under fatigue.

 

A lot of people who want to improve their sports performance for these reasons believe that they need to focus their time here- but be warned, if you don’t do the preparatory training and try and concentrate on these explosive methods of training such as sprinting, throwing and jumping you could injure yourself.

 

Play Sport to Get Fit

 

Also, even worse a lot of people believe will get all the speed and power work they will need by playing the sport.  Firstly- this is a myth.  There is no single sport that can fully develop one quality.  Even a 100m sprint requires multiple types of speed.  Instead check out these top tips to keep you on the right path.

 

5 Top Tips for getting Fit for Sport

 

Top Tip 1- Do a fitness test

Seek out a sports performance specialist such as a UKSCA accredited strength & conditioning coach who can assess your current levels in sport specific fitness.

 

Top Tip 2- Do Strength training

Let’s not forget that the demands from most sports place very high stresses on the body.  Most people are not well conditioned to cope with these demands, but they can be handled better by doing appropriate strength training.

 

Top Tip 3- Do speed training

To fully develop speed and power you also need to train these attributes in isolation when you’re fresh to maximise their capacities.  Playing sport isn’t enough.

 

Top Tip 4- Work on addressing your imbalances

To develop sport specific fitness without maintaining general fitness across all these parameters can lead to physical imbalances and even injuries.  Most sports are one sided or over work certain muscles from repetitive use.  So it is important to do work outside of the sport to correct these imbalances by following an injury prevention programme.

 

Top Tip 5- Plan your workouts

Working on general and sport specific fitness doesn’t mean you need to do seven different workouts to develop all the fitness attributes.  Many fitness activities work one or more of these attributes at the same time.  You just need a qualified coach to help you put the training programme together.

 

In summary

 

Sport places high demands on your body.  Many of the injuries incurred are preventable.  Make sure you invest in your fitness and get fit to play sport!

 

If you would like to be trained by a team who work with professional athletes which will assist you improve faster and win more then contact APA Director Daz Drake at: [email protected] www.athleticperformanceacademy.co.uk