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Using mean bar velocity to predict 1RM

Using mean bar velocity to predict 1RM

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If you read my post last week you will notice I am going to start measuring the Reactive Strength Index (RSI) during a 30cm drop jump as part of the weekly monitoring with APA athletes.  I believe it will be more sensitive than using a standing vertical jump for this specific purpose.

I have also been looking at the use of the Gym Aware linear transducer for monitoring bar speed and the different applications for training.  The inspiration for this blog is based on sections I have been reading in a round table discussion- Freelap USA Round table: Velocity based training: for the Full article click HERE

 

I have summarised some key points below which I hope will help you decide on whether measuring bar speed is for you:

 

BRYAN MANN:

Training: % 1RM vs Bar Velocity:

If you asked what % of 1RM should you be training at to develop strength-speed, people would tell you around 50-65% or maybe even 70%. But if you tell them a velocity range they look at you like you’re crazy.

If we know we want to develop strength speed, we are looking at 0.75-1.0m/s (40-65ish% of 1RM); for accelerative strength 0.5-0.75m/s (around 65 to 80ish% 1RM); for absolute strength, under 0.5m/s (85-100%). Simply using velocities that correspond to the % of 1RM desired allows you to be right on the load you are utilizing, rather than hoping to be lucky that it was correct on any given day.

MLADEN JOVANOVIĆ:

1-RM Squat Prediction 

Long story short, one needs to know each lifter’s MVT (or minimal velocity threshold, a fancier term than velocity at 1RM) for every lift (or use generalized velocities—they can be pretty stable across different lifting abilities). Bench press tends to be 0.15 m/s (mean velocity) and squat around 0.3 m/s (mean velocity). One can then proceed by performing at least 3 warm-up sets with increasing weights (hopefully covering a range of at least 0.5 m/s) performed with maximal effort. Using simple linear regression, one can estimate weight at MVT. This can be 40%, 60% and 80% or 1RM. This can give one a quick estimation of 1RM (i.e. daily 1RM) that could be tracked over the duration of the training block and used to make adjustments if needed, or to basically see how the athlete is reacting to the training (if the goal is to increase 1RM).

Having heard what Mladen had to say above I decided to do an experiment of my own having read a few of his articles on hiscomplimentary training website.

Example: Pro Tennis player

Here is the example of a predicted 1RM test for a pro Tennis player I work with.  It’s not the best example and I’ll explain why but it gives you an example of the protocol.

The issue we had with my experiment was that we were ‘in-season’ and doing this between two important tournaments.  We hadn’t done a 1-RM recently and given he hadn’t been in a training block for a while we conservatively estimated his current 1-RM at 160kg.  This was because his previous pre-season 1-RM was 180kg.  Therefore we calculated his 3 warm-up sets with increasing weights (as suggested by Mladen) as 55, 65, 75 and 85% of 160kg.  The better solution is to have a more recent 1-RM to base your warm-up sets on. But as we only had a few days training I didn’t want to risk overloading him so I just guessed he would be around 160kg.

For those of you like me who are not mathematically minded I have rearranged the linear regression equation you can get in excel.  If you know the value of Y (0.3 m/s) which is the bar speed at 1-RM you can insert this value into the equation:

0.3- 1.2847 / -0.0055 = 179kg

As you can see I was able to predict that the athlete’s 1-RM was 179kg.  I was therefore able to track his 1-RM without actually having to get him to do it!!!!

 

One thing I would say is to make this assessment valid and reliable Mladen recommended doing 3 reps at each of the warm-up set loads.  He also recommended holding the position at the bottom of the squat for 1-second before lifting back up.  This may need some practice to orientate the athletes with this especially at the lower loads where the temptation is to move the bar much faster.

1-RM Power Clean Prediction Example

I have also wrote a blog previously about the application of using the clean pull to predict the 1-RM for a Power Clean.  J Strength Cond Res 26(5): 1208–1214, 2012.  For the full blog post click HERE

Findings:

  • peak power occurred in mid thigh clean pull at a load of 40% 1RM of Power clean
  • this corresponds to a bar velocity of 1.65 m/s

What I found interesting was that the bar velocity which corresponded to 1RM for the power clean was 1.25 m/s so you could load up the clean pull until you get to 1/25m/s and this would give you an idea of their power clean load.

midthigh clean pull bar velocity

The final section below discusses some further considerations when selecting exercises that are appropriate for training and testing power.

DAN BAKER:

Difference between a Strength exercise and a Power exercise:

Despite the same sort of % 1RM (sets working from about 70 to 80% 1RM), the mean velocities are much different. For the snatch push press, the velocities are around 0.8 to over 1 m/s. For the heavy squats, 0.3 to 0 .5 m/s. For the snatch push presses, the velocities remain fairly stable, despite the increase in resistance for each set. For the squat there is a decrease in velocity with increased resistance.

Strength exercises have a deceleration phase at the end of range when resistances are low (< 50% 1RM)= to avoid stressing the tendons and joints. On major strength exercises like squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, with resistances below 50% 1RM, more than half the ROM is spent in deceleration, making them less than ideal for power training even though at this low level of resistance the velocity may be high. The length of the deceleration phase decreases as resistances go above 65% 1RM. By 85-90%, there is no real deceleration phase, but the velocities are so low at this level of resistance that they cannot be classified as power exercises. So using light resistances below 50% 1RM in traditional strength exercises to develop power is often counterproductive as it is training the body to decelerate for much of the ROM, rather than continuing to accelerate.

So we do strength exercises with heavy resistances to develop force/strength, and power exercises with the appropriate resistance to train the body to use force with high velocity until the end of range. If you want to use “strength exercises” to develop power, you need to use resistances of 50-70% 1RM. Something to dampen the ferocity of a rapid lockout (such as bands and chains) also helps.

In addition, there are two measures of velocity and power—the mean or average of the entire range of (concentric) movement, and the peak, which represents the highest velocity in the shortest measuring time (say 5 millisecs). So there will be a difference between the two measures. When someone is doing a lot of end-range deceleration (because they may be trying to lift 30-40% 1RM in a bench press explosively), there will be a marked difference between the two figures as the body has to severely decelerate the lock-out to protect the joints. In Olympic lifts, which are virtually full ROM power exercises, there should not be a huge difference. If there is a more marked difference for one athlete compared to others, it suggests that they are decelerating near the end of ROM.

Why would they? Because they have mobility or technique problems and the body inherently knows not to continue accelerating (or at least, lifting with high velocity) until catch or lock-out. It may be dangerous to the involved joints, tendons, etc. So there may be a high peak velocity, but the body will slow down the speed to avoid dealing with high force and high velocity at a vulnerable end of ROM in athletes with mobility/injury concerns.

This may suggest that you don’t perform the full versions of the Olympic lifts (or power versions) with athletes who have mobility problems. You may be better off performing a variation (for example, clean power shrug jump instead of power/hang clean).

More than 20 years ago, Greg Wilson called this point—where mean power is highest—the “optimal power load.” It is different for every exercise and there is also individual variation. Some of my published research looks at bench press throws in a Smith machine by professional rugby league players. That “optimal power” (mean power of the entire concentric range) was 55% 1RM for weaker blokes (about 125 kg 1RM), 50% 1RM for the across- the-board normal blokes (about 140 kg 1RM), and 45% 1RM for the strongest blokes (about 150 kg+ 1RM).

Counter movement jump or Depth Jump- which is better?

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For as long as I can remember I have used the standing vertical jump (SVJ) with an arm swing and a squat jump without an arm swing to measure power.  I use the SVJ as a measure of performance first and as a measure of fatigue second.

However, I have always doubted the usefulness of the vertical jump score as a measure of physical preparedness from the point of view of neural fatigue. I have reconsidered some research and also found some new information.  Below is some of my research.

The first part is based on experimental research conducted by Dave Hamilton, who presented his work with the Great Britain women’s hockey team in the three years of preparation for London 2012, at the UKSCA Conference.

The second part are some snippets of interviews that were conducted by Freelap USA during a round table on ‘Velocity Based training.’

Before we get into the findings it will be useful to clarify a few terms.  For ease of understanding I will clarify the difference between a depth jump and a drop jump.

Depth jump vs. Drop Jump

In the use of Drop Jumps, there are some problematic issues. The first issue regards the danger of Drop Jump for the leg joints, especially if performed from a high drop height. In fact, the important condition for efficient recoil of the elastic energy is the muscle’s stiffness during the amortization phase. In order to assure this condition, Drop Jump should be performed with low level of leg flexion at the end of ground contact phase. However, if the athlete “drives as a stake” into the ground, with the straight legs, the ground impact is too hard for his leg joints. This opinion has been confirmed by many researchers (for example, by B.U. Newton, W.B. Young, W.J. Kraemer and C. Byrne, 2001)

To avoid the danger of sharp heel impact, it has been suggested to use Drop Jumps only with low drop heights of 20–40 cm (Bobbert et al., 1987; Lees & Fahmi, 1994). The problem is that the use of 30cm drop height is ineffective at increasing the rebound height: it could assure only decreasing ground contact duration (W.Taube et al., 2011).

Taken from Jump Training 101- Dr Natalia Verkhoshansky

I’ve selected the video below to stress the fact that there needs to be a certain level of athleticism required to safely execute a drop jump.  The high levels of eccentric loading could cause significant stress to the knee joint if not adequately prepared.  Note the knee valgus present.

Part 1:

Dave Hamilton-Drop jumps- Reactive Strength Index (RSI)- DJ-RSI

Dave spent the first year of his role understanding the demands of the full-time hockey programme.  In his second year he focused on Monitoring:

His previous research with soccer players had shown that the counter movement jump (same as SVJ but without use of arm swing) didn’t show promise as a sensitive indicator of neural fatigue as indicated in the figure below.

Performance in the CMJ actually increased across six games.  Several other researchers have supported this.

 

Use of the Drop jump with calculation the RSI showed more promise because as the Figure below highlights, his research showed there was a significant drop off between pre- and post-game scores.

My conclusion: I have concluded that a drop jump from 30cm will be a more sensitive marker of neural fatigue than a standing vertical jump

Part 2:

Freelap USA Round table: Velocity based training: for the Full article click HERE

Bryan Mann:

While the vertical jump used to be the gold standard for monitoring, it really isn’t any longer as it isn’t sensitive enough. Many things can confound the results. Using technology, we can look at multiple factors that go into the jump.

A podcast with Carl Valle—who is also on this roundtable—mentioned using 40kg as the load for the jumps. You are getting weekly longitudinal data and a small training effect. Squat jumps are ballistic in nature and thus have a very minor deceleration phase—if one exists at all. But what’s wrong with getting some ballistics in every week? Nothing. It is going to help improve the athlete’s RFD.

Whatever type of jump you do (countermovement or non-countermovement), be consistent. Do it on the same day or same phase of the week

Mladen Jovanovic:

To use jump training for estimating “readiness” or NMF (neuromuscular fatigue), one needs more sensitive tools and methods. Simple jump height will not do it because one can have high NMF and still perform countermovement jumps (CMJ) to the same height. What changes is the way that height is achieved, or the “process” behind the jump. Height is just an outcome. Please note that I am talking about estimating readiness and NMF is not a performance indicator.

I would also tend to agree that the more “reactive” the jump, the more it might tell you about NMF. Using 20kg CMJ might not be sensitive enough to estimate NMF since athletes can “grind” it through.

Modify the Long term approach

Speaking of using jump testing—or any other “readiness” estimate to individualize training—it shouldn’t happen acutely. In other words, we are looking for trends and creating a longer-term “prescriptive model” for an athlete based on reaction trends, rather than jumping on “red flags” to adjust daily workouts. So what if your HRV is lower by 10 than yesterday, or your jump power is lower by 5%? We need to rule out normal biological/measurement variability

Dan Baker:

When I worked with Olympic divers, we did squat jumps (no countermovement or arm swing), countermovement jumps (no arm swing), and a vertical jump with arm swing that mimicked a dive take-off (BVJ). The SJ and CMJ are just diagnostic tools to improve the most important, sport-relevant jump test, the BVJ. The SJ is thought to represent the contractile capabilities of the muscles. The difference between the SJ and the CMJ is the extent to which the stretch-shortening cycle contributes.

So, if there is very little difference between the two (say <10%), then the athlete needs more SSC-type training such as jumps, plyos, etc. If the difference is large (>20%), then they may need more basic strength work (squats, etc). This ratio will also reflect the recent training content. So if we concentrate on heavy squats and heavy jump squats for a month or two, the SJ may go from, say, 40 cm to 42 and the CMJ from 46 cm to 47 cm—the SSC augmentation decreases from 15% to 12%. But in following up that block with lighter, faster jumps, depth jumps and other plyos, the SJ may remain unchanged. But the CMJ may improve up to 50 cm and now the augmentation is 19%.

We also did loaded jump squats, up to 80 kg. This is pure leg-jumping power and another tool to improve BVJ. If you look at my paper on the training of an Olympic diver from 1993 to 1996, published in the NSCA Journal in 2001, you will see that a 50% increase in squat strength (coming off a low strength level) begets a 25% increase in power in loaded jump squats, which in turn begets a 15% increase in BVJ height.

So jumps can be used diagnostically to develop training strategies or as tools to achieve outcomes, especially for “jump sport” athletes (volleyball, basketball, diving, gymnastics, etc).

For other sports, jumping is associated with things important in the sport and again can be used diagnostically or as a training tool to achieve an outcome. For example, my research on professional rugby league players, with whom I worked for 19 years, shows that the power achieved jumping with 80-100 kg really differentiates those at the pro team level (NRL) from second- and third-division players. Basically the average weight of players is 98 kg, so if you can’t move that weight quickly in a triple-extension movement in the gym (jump squat or hang clean), you aren’t going to move it quickly on the field! To move those sorts of weights with velocity, they needed to be about 60% 1RM squat. Therefore you needed a 1RM squat of >170 kg (much more for the bigger boys, whose opponents weigh about 110+kg!). So testing and training influence each other.

Jump squats with 20 kg did not differ much between teams in professional rugby leagues. But at the end of every power training session warm-up, before the real barbell work started, we would do five jump squats with 20 kg to monitor the state of the neuromuscular system/recovery. An easy test, not fatiguing, and it allowed us to monitor how the squad was coping. A 3-4% deviation (from the best pre-season score) meant nothing. That is just the normal weekly variation, but changes of 7-10+% meant something! If the whole squad is down on average 7%, look out!

Figure 5. Monitoring neuro-muscular recovery through the weekly assessment of jump squat power with 20 kg in professional rugby league players. The mid-season slump corresponds with two key factors—mid-winter and an increase in playing load and intensity for the key players.

Dan Baker Jump squat 20kg

If we take rugby-type sports which need various physical attributes, a lot of blokes are fast-twitch fibre types. But they get beaten down by their opponents through the cumulative fatigue of the high workload imposed on them. Same with many MMA fighters, who get gassed late in the bout and lose. So catering to their strength (explosiveness) is not going to help their weakness (less aerobic capacity). Mixed sport athletes need to work on many things. But can we do a better job on the explosive outliers? Of course! We just need the extra manpower resources!

However, if we take jumpers, divers, sprinters, Olympic lifters, throwers, and others like them, all their training is catered to the fact that they are explosive power athletes. They are on small teams, so manpower aspects of coaching are not as critical as field sports with larger teams. What more could you do that you are not already doing with them? You know they are fast-twitch fiber type people! And you program more individually.

Look at Figure 3. This is the mean bench press velocity lifting for 95 kg (63% 1RM) for three professional rugby league players from the back-line positions—the fast runners, the Ferraris and Lamborghinis. They are lifting at high .8 to over .9m/s for six reps for 2 sets. Yet the González-Badillo et al IJSM 2010 paper suggests that at 63% 1RM, the mean velocity should be < .8 m/s. So why do we have > .9 m/s, when the research suggests maybe .77 m/s for this level of intensity? Because these are our outliers, our superstars. They can’t handle the same volume of work and they are not good at grinding reps because they burn brighter, not longer.

Dan Baker Mean Velocity

One of those players from Figure 3, doing 3×8 on the bench with a RPE of 8, can only use 64% 1RM. Whereas another player (not depicted),a real slow-twitch type, a grinder, does 3×8 with 78% 1RM. They both bench press 155kg for their 1RM (but have different body weights). We take that into account when designing training.

For divers, the velocity or power generated during jump squats with 20 kg, however, is associated with performance levels. So different sports have different relevant performance measures—jump squats with 20 kg is performance-relevant for divers but not for pro rugby league players who need 80-100 kg! S&C coaches will need to determine what measures relate to success in their sports.

So do some testing. What separates the best performers from lower level performers? Use a battery of loads, initially, until you find what loads and velocities are important (power is the product of load and velocity). And I use absolute loads for testing, not % 1RM. So jumps with 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 kg or whatever is most appropriate for the athletes.

For in-season recovery monitoring, we see (Figure 5) that jump squats with 20 kg can give a guide of recovery and adaptation, especially during the in-season for football and rugby players (Australian Football League, National Rugby League, Rugby Union). So we can use this as a measure of recovery monitoring, not performance.

My Conclusion: I have concluded that a repeated jump squat with 20kg will be a more sensitive marker of neural fatigue than a standing vertical jump which may or may not be associated with performance levels.

Life on the Road with a Top 100 Pro Tennis Player

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APA is a company that has built it’s reputation on being the Industry Leader in S&C training for Tennis, which is why we get to work with pro players like Alijaz Bedene, Ed Corrie and Dan Cox, as well as a whole host of pro players hungry to follow in their footsteps!

You might have seen that Alijaz Bedene was in the news recently after he recently became a British citizen.  Congratulations Alijaz!  You can see the full article HERE

So now that we have a Top 100 tennis player on our books and many more pros fast on his heels, it makes me ask the question………………….

What makes us unique?

 

Well for a start……………..

All of our coaches are Tennis specialists.  It is what we do.

We have a proven Training system for getting results that is specifically designed for Tennis

All our coaches understand that coaching is about more than our knowledge.  Yes all our coaches are highly qualified, know about correct exercise technique, nutrition and writing programmes etc. but we also believe in coaching the person as well as the athlete – we go the extra mile to really get to know our clients beyond the hour-long training session so you stay committed.

Now, if you read the last post on Andy Murray you’ll know I promised to follow it up with some insights on working with Alijaz Bedene.  I’m delighted to say that Alijaz’s S&C coach Martin Skinner has agreed to write a guest blog.  In this blog he will share some insights on how he gets the best out of not just Alijaz but any client for that matter.  It links really well to the point above on coaching the person as well as the athlete.

 

Life on the Road with a Top 100 Pro Tennis Player: By Martin Skinner

 

About me

My name is Martin Skinner and I’m a Strength and Conditioning (S&C) coach currently working within tennis. I’ve been lucky enough to work with one of the best teams in British tennis at Gosling International High Performance Centre, which is in my opinion cultivating some of the best young coaches in the country. Tennis director Matt Willcocks, who gave me my break in tennis in 2008, spotted my potential and gave me the opportunity to start my career within tennis for which I’m forever grateful. I started off learning my trade as the apprentice of Daz Drake whom has been very knowledgeable and a great mentor over the years. The guidance of both Matt and Daz has shaped my coaching philosophy to what it is today. That’s not to say it isn’t still evolving, however the values these two people have given me never change. I started my S&C career just like most people having only a few hours of S&C work a week with predominately U12’s and some juniors whom were as keen as I was to improve and learn. From these few hours a week I began to work with some full time players, that is where I got my break in S&C. As soon as you get an athlete whom you can work with more than once a week the rate of improvement will rocket if you seize the opportunity. These are the small gems that get you noticed by other coaches and parents and to cut a long story short this is how I have ended up coaching where I do today.

That’s a little snap shot of how I was given the opportunity to become a full time S&C coach. I had never envisaged that today I would be writing a blog to other aspiring S&C coaches, so for this opportunity I’m very humbled and grateful and I hope you find this useful. Many people are excited by what happens in professional sport and what goes on behind the scenes with elite athletes and teams. I will attempt to give you an insight into what I’ve found makes the difference to a tennis player’s performance.

Aside from having a very effective and consistent physical pre-season, there has been an ongoing underlying factor that cannot be tested during any fitness test. This was the coaching of the person, not the player and instilling belief. These are probably things you have heard before? If not! Then in my opinion these two factors are single handedly, the most important when coaching an athlete. They are not only the metaphorical “icing on the cake” but are key ingredients to the whole cake. I will now attempt to explain how I utilize these two ingredients with my players.

Coaching athletes vs People

Firstly what I mean by coach the person and not the player is you must start to understand how the “Beast” operates throughout their daily life. This will allow you to be able to change their performances on the practice court, gym and most importantly be more effective during matches. For example if your player is always late or just on time to practice, you will find they are the same off the court. This may seem like a trivial matter and simple to rectify, however you may find this tougher than you might think to effectively change the actual person’s habitual behaviors. Many coaches might use punishments in the gym, on the court or a fines system to change an athlete’s time keeping during practices and it may work! But this will probably only change their attitude towards their sport not how they operate in daily life, which is the most important change as they will start to be more professional and demand a higher level of their entire lives. These perceived to be small changes will have massive impact on a player’s every day life, which will serve as a platform to perform further changes in building belief. For example once a matter such as time keeping is under wraps you give your self the opportunity to use phrases such as “no body is working as effective and professional as you right now”. This will massage their ego but will actually start to get them to change what they value and essentially how they operate. Never underestimate the small changes and the platforms they open up for you to improve the person, which supports the development of the player.

Do you have the belief in your players?

Now I would like to discuss the second ingredient to a successful player “Belief”. Belief in your ability and physical attributes is much stronger than that of any 1RM squat or PB in a Yoyo test. Instilling the belief that the player is the fittest and most powerful player on the court and almost superhuman, can give the player that mental strength they require to apply all that hard work from the gym and on the track to the match court. Some players who don’t have that belief can find themselves powerless to putting their physical abilities onto the court. This can be the margin between winning and losing. People may be reading this thinking ok great but where do I start instilling belief? Firstly you get to know the person as discussed earlier then you need to make sure that as a team you are all singing from the same hymn sheet. Not just the coaching team, but the player’s whole support network: parents, siblings, girlfriend/wife, tennis coach, psychologist, physiotherapist. The list may be even longer for your player or team. You need to immerse yourself in the athletes whole life this is the only way to build trust with your athlete. If you’re the coach who is only there when you’re being paid then high performance sport is probably not for you. To enable you to know the “Beast” you are trying to mold you must understand how they tick. So if you can get the support team around the player to believe in them whole-heartedly then the athlete will begin to believe. If you are managing a player and a member of your team doesn’t whole-heartedly believe that this player is capable of amazing things then they can start to be a part of the problem. Therefore everyone needs to tow the line, know the goals, core values of the team and live them if they don’t its probably best you limit this person’s involvement in the team.

A few helpful tips that I got from a fellow coach were to start altering the language you use around a player. For example; if you say “morning bud how are you?” this may give the player an opportunity to think too much about maybe a slightly disturbed sleep etc. We as a team changed this to “Morning champ looking strong today!” or Beautiful morning for winning isn’t it?”.  This may seem extreme to some coaches but these small boosts in positive language start to rub off on the player and the whole team. Never underestimate the power of positivity!! However please don’t think for a second that you can instill belief in a player’s ability without them actually having some substance. So you have to make sure that the attributes of their game that you are trying to build belief or confidence in is actually there. So if your using language like “no one can outlast you on the court, you never miss a ball!!” but your player can’t last 3 sets playing 3 hours in 28 degrees heat, then your words will stop instilling belief and start to instill questions in your ability to see their strengths and weaknesses.

 

Conclusions

In summary you must firstly coach the player not the athlete: players are complex and to get the best out of them you must know how they operate. Secondly build confidence and belief by taking your player’s best physical attribute and reinforce how good that attribute is!! Then finally immerse yourself in their life on and off the court, give them the opportunity to feel part of a family that values and believes in them. These are the two gems I found over my ten years of coaching that are not taught on any course or in any manual, but are what can separate a good coach from a great one.

What makes Andy Murray the best in British Tennis

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Today I had the pleasure of observing the latest Master Performance Coach (MPC) Award taking place at the National Tennis Centre.  The highlight was getting some insights on what makes Andy Murray one of the best players in the world.  Since writing this block APA athlete Aljaz Bedene has been installed as the official British number 2, so stand by for some of our own insights from APA coach Martin Skinner on what makes Aljaz one of the best players in the world too!!!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the National coaching qualifications framework, the MPC is level 5 on the coaching ladder, which is the highest coaching award in Tennis.  Included in the list of candidates were a number of ex professionals including Anne Keothavong and Mel South.  So it was a great opportunity to get some insights from them and Emma Anderson, physiologist to the latest Davis Cup team versus USA, as well as Louis Cayer, Tennis coach to the Davis Cup team.

I went along to sit in on the strength & conditioning module.  There are approximately 8 modules on S&C that the tennis coaches will learn about during the duration of the qualification.  Today I was there to listen about ‘energy system’ training.

After 60 minutes theory on anaerobic and aerobic energy systems the group went into the lab to do a practical.  Six ‘lucky’ volunteers had a go at:

 

  • Anaerobic capacity test- 30-second Wingate test

 

After a 5-minute warm-up the athlete did two short bursts of four pedal strokes to get ready, firstly at sub maximal and then at maximal effort.  Then after a short rest they were asked to stay in the saddle and pedal flat out for 30-seconds.  This test was designed to measure anaerobic capacity.

  • Repeated sprint test / Power depletion test

 

Ema Anderson, the physiologist took us through a Wingate bike version using 6 x (7-seconds with 23-seconds rest).

 

You can also do this using sprinting protocols such as:

 

6 x (30m with 20-seconds rest) or 12 x (20m with 20-seconds rest)

 

This gives you an idea of how much power they can hold on to and actually reproduce.  This is very relevant to Tennis performance.  Unfortunately it is a test which very few Tennis players have done at the NTC.  Often the athlete and their coach aren’t willing to do a test like this fearing it will ruin their tennis training due to its high demand.

Aerobic Capacity Treadmill test: VO2max test

 

I’ve written about the protocol they use at the NTC in a previous post which you can read HERE.

 

So what?

 

To be honest, these kind of tests might not immediately tell you much about someone’s tennis fitness- ie., how well they cope with the demands of the game.  Being efficient on the bike is different to the treadmill which is different to running on the tennis court.  But it is so useful to know what kind of general condition someone is in before they step on the court.

If someone is getting tired on court maybe it is as simple as they are not in shape ‘generally’ and have a low aerobic and anaerobic capacity as measured by the tests above.  Or maybe they have a good capacity but have poor power because they can’t repeat it, and the anaerobic power tests would show that too.  If you at least know this information about your player it can certainly help you rule certain things out if someone is struggling on court to meet the demands of the game.

So what makes Andy Murray so much better than the rest?

andy murray

Louis Cayer commented that he was very surprised that Andy got his heart rate up to 180 bpm when rallying during training at the Davis Cup.  At the same time one of the other younger squad members was at 160 bpm.  Now you might conclude that the younger player was more conditioned.



This is why you need to know your player and know your sport.  Andy is most probably one of the most highly conditioned players on the Tour.  Andy simply has an unrivalled work ethic and even during rallying will work his feet and body really hard to get in the perfect position, bending his knees and being quick with his adjustment steps.  Unfortunately I don’t have a clip of this but here is a clip of another great role model, Kei Nishikori.  This session isn’t necessarily of the intensity I am talking about here which would get his heart rate up to 180bpm, but he is someone who I imagine has a similar desire to work.

When Louis Cayer showed the other player his heart rate (who was hitting with Andy) he started to work his legs more and move his feet and he too was able to get his heart rate up.

What Andy has according to Ema is a desire to work hard during every practice.  Despite being 6 or 7 years older than the younger players in the Davis Cup team he was as determined as ever to set the bench mark for the others to be judged against.

According to Ema, Andy was more ‘comfortable being uncomfortable,’ in that he was able to cope with a high intensity drill of 1-minute rallying which would work him at around 190 bpm.  Importantly he could do two things:

  1. Keep the quality of the ball characteristics of his shots very high- even when working at near his maximum heart rate
  2. He could repeat this quality with only 30-seconds rest, and he was ready to go again

The next group of British Tennis players looking to follow Andy into the Top 100 and possibly Top 50 would certainly do well to take note.   Are they prepared to go somewhere that ‘hurts’ physically, embrace the grind, and if so are they good enough players to be able to keep the quality going over and over?  Andy always had the natural talent for the game.  Don’t believe me- one of my informants tells me Andy only played four hours of tennis per week until he was 15.  You need to be pretty talented to win major junior titles if you only play four hours per week!  But later in his development he trained his ability to out last his opponents with a desire to work hard in training.  That’s one of the aspects to Andy’s character and ability that separates him from the rest.

Train children like the pros?

I definitely encourage Tennis coaches to use heart rate monitoring.  It was certainly a great tool that can inform some really good discussions within the Tennis team.   The group discussed whether children need to be training like this.

Ema said it is important to remember that Andy has trained this tolerance over several years of working at this level of effort.  He has 6 or 7 years training in the bank of this type as a pro working with a full-time fitness team which until recently was Jez Green and Matt Little.

I have no problem with children pushing themselves in similar types of drills at certain points in their training week.  But I believe in an important philosophy:

Minimum effective dose versus Maximum destructive dose

I personally like to keep my ace cards in my pocket for when I need them.  Yes, it is important to expose the younger players to the demands of the game (as it is played at the pro level) by doing some pretty tough drilling.  This way they have an understanding of how tough the game really is at the top level.

But equally, you don’t need this to be the focus of training with younger athletes.  You will find they need less stimulus and will still adapt physically.  Also, this will enable them to execute their techniques optimally during the ‘skill hungry’ years, in the absence of lots of fatigue.

Designing drills

The coaches on the MPC Award were split into three groups and had to design a drill that they thought would bias each of the three energy systems:  

  1. Alactic ATP-CP system
  2. Lactic acid system
  3. Aerobic system

This created some really good discussions and helped raise the coaches’ awareness to the actual physiological stress on the body.

Alactic ATP-CP System

For the Alactic ATP-CP system, the group asked the player to hit four shots on the full run, and have 30-seconds rest between.  The heart rate of the player consistently rose to about 85% -90% maximum heart rate during the recovery period.  The player said they felt they hadn’t had enough time to recover in 30-seconds, so it became more of a speed endurance drill.  It was suggested to either reduce the number of shots to 2 or give them longer rest up to a minute.

Lactic Acid System

For this drill the plan was to make the player run side to side for 1-minute with 30-seconds rest between.  The time of 1-minute is a really interesting value because this represents the upper limit of the lactic acid system (usually around 20-60 seconds).  So it really depends on how capable the player is in keeping high quality for 1-minute.  If they can’t this will quickly become a poorly executed drill or the 1-minute will only be sustained if the intensity is dropped and the drill is done for aerobic work with maybe only 15-seconds recovery to keep heart rate up.

Aerobic system

 

The group wanted to do a continuous drill for 5 minutes in a three, with the person on their own hitting to two players on the other side for the full 5 minutes.

My eye brows raised because I know that 2 vs. 1 is usually done as a Lactic Acid system drill, for 30-60 seconds at high intensity, and they rotate around so the work to rest ratio is 1:3.

 

Not surprisingly the player’s heart rate quickly rose to 92% of their maximum and they stopped after 1-2 minutes and said that it was an unrealistic drill!

The team agreed to keep her moving but in a smaller area either staying in the middle or staying in one corner like you saw in the video with Kei Nishikori

 

Summary

 

Well I hope you found this blog interesting.  I think it is vital that any performance coach has an appreciation of the effect of someone’s fitness level on their ability to perform on the court; and most importantly the effect of the drill on the player’s ability to perform on the court!

Why the midthigh clean pull is all you need to develop power!

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This is the second part of my instalment on the presentations I listened to at the Middlesex Student S&C Conference a few weeks ago!

 

I have written several times about Power.  Check out this blog here.  However, it is always great to hear people speak who are at the cutting edge of the research in strength and power development.

 

So it was great to listen to this next session.

 

Paul Comfort

Programme leader for the MSc Strength and Conditioning (University of Salford)

Head of Sports Science Support for Salford City Reds Rugby League Football Club.

Power and RFD Methods and Research

 

Study 1

 

Paul took his through the findings of his research in the J Strength Cond Res 25(12): 3269–3273, 2011.  This first study looked at variations of the Power Clean.  All variations were carried out at 60% of 1RM Power clean to determine force-velocity characteristics of each.  The variations included power clean from the floor, a power clean from hang (low), and two versions from the mid-thigh hang (high).

Findings:

  • mid thigh clean pull (at 60% 1RM of Power clean) has highest value of Power (Watts), Force (Newtons) and Rate of Force Development (N/s)- see graph below

Discussion points:

  • the reduced bar displacement  from a hang position requires greater acceleration of the bar
  • Other research was cited which notes time to peak RFD during midthigh clean pulls, at all loads (30, 60, 90, 120% of 1RM Power Clean) was shorter (Peak at 30% 1RM, 99.8 milliseconds) than time to peak RFD in both vertical jumps (194.7  milliseconds) and countermovement jumps (263.3  milliseconds).

Application:

  • the use of mid thigh power clean variations to develop Force may assist with the development of sprint speed.
  • mid thigh clean pull and mid thigh power clean have practical benefit in that both are easy for less experienced athletes to learn and require less technical excellence.
  • during a strength-based Mesocycle, it is suggested that the midthigh clean pull be used because this can be performed at loads >100% 1RM power clean, because the catch phase is not required.
  • during a power-based Mesocycle, it is suggested that the midthigh power clean may be advantageous because it results in higher peak power output, peak Fz, and RFD compared with the other variations of the clean.

 

midthigh clean pull power

 

 

Study 2

 

Paul then took his through the findings of his second research study in the J Strength Cond Res 26(5): 1208–1214, 2012.  This study specifically looked at the force-velocity characteristics of the mid-thigh clean pull across a range of loads.

 

Findings:

  • peak power occurred in mid thigh clean pull at a load of 40% 1RM of Power clean
  • this corresponds to a bar velocity of 1.65 m/s
  • peak force occurred in mid thigh clean pull at a load of 140% 1RM of Power clean
  • peak rate of force development occurred in mid thigh clean pull at a load of 120% 1RM of Power clean

 

Comparison of peak bar velocity across loads

midthigh clean pull bar velocity

 

Seeing as there is a lot of current interest in velocity based resistance training it was interesting to note the velocity associated with the mid thigh clean pull during peak power.  According to Paul if you wanted to assess someone’s Power clean 1RM who can’t catch the bar it might be possible to use the weight which corresponds to approximately 1.25 m/s on the clean pull and use that as a guide to predict power clean 1RM!

[column width=”32%” padding=”2%”]

Peak Force across Loads

 

midthigh clean pull peak force

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[column width=”32%” padding=”2%”]

Rate of Force Development across loads

midthigh clean pull RFD

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[column width=”32%” padding=”0″]

Peak Power across loads

midthigh clean pull power2

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Discussion points:

  • these findings are in contrast to the previous findings of Kawamori et al. (2006) who identified that peak power (2,228.9 6 192.3 W) was achieved at 60% of 1RM (power clean) when comparing loads of 30, 60, 90, 120% of 1RM
  • peak power achieved at higher loads by Kawamori et al. (2006) is likely a result of the subjects being experienced collegiate weightlifters who may demonstrate a higher level of competence in such exercises
  • at 140% 1RM there is a 69% decrease in velocity,  in contrast to only a 10.6% increase in Force!
  • stronger individuals maximize power output at a different relative intensity than less strong individuals
  • It is likely that the higher loads (70–80% 1RM) previously identified to elicit peak power output during the power clean and hang power clean are as a result of the additional phases of the clean (first pull and transition to mid thigh, or transition to mid thigh only) permitting greater time and range of motion to accelerate the bar before the second pull phase, technically unloading the bar because of its momentum
  • the load that appears to elicit peak power output during this study is similar to the loads identified during the squat jump by Stone et al. (2003) of 40% 1RM

Application:

  • when training to maximize peak power output, lower loads are recommended. Moreover if the goal is to train force, impulse or RFD higher loads, of 120– 140% 1RM, are recommended
  • such exercises should be periodized to progress from max strength (Force) to peak power, in a sequential manner; therefore, it may be beneficial to begin at high loads (>100% 1RM) and progressively decrease loading to maximize velocity and power.

 

References

 

Kawamori, N, Rossi, SJ, Justice, BD, Haff, EE, Pistilli, EE, O’Bryant, HS, Stone, MH, and Haff, GG. Peak force and rate of force development during isometric and dynamic mid-thigh clean pulls performed at various intensities. J Strength Cond Res 20: 483–491, 2006.

 

Stone, MH, O’Bryant, HS, McCoy, L, Coglianese, R, Lehmkuhl, M, and Schilling, B. Power and maximum strength relationships during performance of dynamic and static weighted jumps. J Strength Cond Res 17: 140–147, 2003.

Middlesex Student S&C Conference 2015 Review

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Like many of us busy coaches, going to a conference represents a time for reflection before we get back to to our respective roles. I had the pleasure to attend the recent Middlesex University Student S&C Conference which I believe is in it’s sixth year, with over 100 delegates in attendance.

If you’re a Strength & Conditioning coach then this is the must go to event. I thought it would be appropriate to feedback a few of the key messages and applied methodologies presented at the presentations I made notes on.  I will discuss two now and I’ll send you the remaining two in a week’s time so watch out for them every Friday!

 

Barry Drust

Professor of Applied Exercise Physiology (Liverpool John Moores University)

Consultant Sport Scientist to Liverpool FC and England National Team

Physical Preparation of Elite Football Players

 

Key challenges:

  • Limited availability of training in-season: 111 days out of 304 days, which doesn’t account for international fixtures so even less time for Premiership clubs to work with pros on S&C.
  • It is imperative therefore to maximise use of small sided games (SSG).  
  • Effective aerobic protocol 4 x 4-minute @90-95% Heart rate maximum

SSG can be effective for high intensity aerobic training but you need to be able to modify the rules to account for differences in players.

Barry is actually moving away from SSG and designing Position Specific training drills.  For example, a slalom course that replicates sport specific movements.

Resistance Training:

Research at Premiership Academies shows that there is no further increase in training load from 15 years to 21 years in footballers.  There doesn’t seem to be opportunities to further load them after they reach 15, and approach pro contracts.  This typically amounts to 2 S&C sessions per week.

Concurrent training:

Ideally he would like players to have several hours between football and S&C sessions but players usually don’t want to leave the training ground and come back in the afternoon.  So they usually either have a short break or go straight into their S&C session after their football.

We know that doing endurance training after strength training can ‘blunt’ the neurological response.  But some times you might want endurance to be the focus, in which case this may be desirable if metabolic gains are a priority.  Also consider that performing a football session followed by an S&C endurance session in glycogen depleted state may limit availability of energy and increase aerobic performance.

Monitoring: 

In his work with Liverpool FC they use:

  • GPS- regularly
  • Subjective questionnaires- less so now
  • Biochemical (saliva)
  • Performance indicators- less often

He said the GPS data has measurement issues as it is not sensitive enough to all the small changes in movements.

(Interesting side note- my friend Alex Cockram said that the EIS are using joint position tools to measure knee angle to indicate how many lunges and decelerations take place in badminton as a way to gauge mechanical load!!!

In season Weekly Schedule: 

Doing high training loads (say >6000m running versus >1000m) limits player availability for the next weekend.

Key take home message- take 2 days recover after match days

Bad approach:  GAME > OFF > Train (High Load)  

Good approach: GAME > OFF > Team recovery (Low load)

Working in Teams:  

Survival in the game is about social skills not just coaching skills!

Are you ‘Organisationally Socialised‘ to understand the world through other’s eyes and manage relationships with key stake holders in the sport.  They may appear to want to work with you but behind your back they may be looking to get you out.

Be aware of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Dave Hembrough

Sport science officer (Sheffield Hallam University)

Lead strength and conditioning coach at Sheffield Hallam University, the head coach of Hallam Barbell Weightlifting club

Coaching Philosophy

Dave works in consultancy, research and teaching and in his role the University expects him to develop viable businesses that can justify his salary.  In simple terms he needs to earn the university double his salary! So this talk was a bit of a philosophical look at building business, friends and success.

 

Getting things done:

He recommended we check out the book ‘Checklist Manisfesto’ (Atul Gawande).  It talks about the importance of using checklists in business to make things work more efficiency.

Often things go bad not because you don’t know something but because you fail to apply the knowledge!  Remember, wisdom is the application of knowledge!

The four D’s:

  • Do it
  • Delete it
  • Delegate it
  • Defer it

Communication:

-ITEAL acronym when managing your team

  •  ‘I’ ncident
  • ‘T’ houghts
  • ‘E’ motions
  • ‘A’ ction
  • ‘L’ earning

This is a good way to help you reflect on situations (incidents) that were either positive or difficult.  What were you thinking? How did you feel? What action did you take and what do you learn from it?

Negotiations:

  • Think Win-Win
  • Be clear and consistent
  • Start nice
  • Stick to your principles [breaks]
  • Be forgiving

Meetings:

To stop meetings getting boring and keep them productive Dave always applies a few simple rules.  Rather than setting an agenda in advance, it is useful for the chairman of the meeting to agree the Top 3 Questions the group will discuss in the time allocated for the meeting, and set a time frame to discuss each question.

There will be a time keeper to keep the people to time and a Yellow card will be issued to anyone who goes off topic!!!!

Why you shouldn't train athletes like body builders!

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Did you know?

 

1st4sport offer over 285 qualifications delivered by over 850 centres, including 192 coaching qualifications, in 39 sports!

 

APA are very proud to say we are one of those endorsed centres qualifying coaches in the Level 2 Certificate in coaching Strength & Conditioning for Sports (L2CCSC).

 

Here’s what two recent attendees had to say about their experience:

 

Had a great 4 days on the Level 2 S&C course with APA, the course was delivered in a fun, practical and easy to understand manner in a great learning environment. Any questions/problems I had were quickly sorted face to face or via email with the course leader. ”  Nathan Atlay.

 

“I would like to thank you for all your work and helping me getting my Level 2 in S&C. I am now confident to safely deliver a program helping my athletes to get stronger and faster and most of all to stay injury free for as long as possible. The course you delivered highlighted my lack of sufficient knowledge in the science behind the S&C and thank to you I will be able to rectify this.”  Sebastien Scaux.

 

If you are interested on finding out more about the next Level 2 qualification then click HERE for more details.

 

In the mean time I thought I would discuss a topic to give you an idea of what kind of things we discuss.  We get lots of questions from the candidates on the course so I thought I would try and answer a common one in this post.

 

Writing training plans for athletes

 

What do you recommend for training?

 
Train a group of muscle per day? I.e. Monday legs, Tuesday arms and shoulders, Wednesday chest, Thursday back  

Train a group and its opposite I.e. Monday back and chest, Tuesday legs, Wednesday arm and shoulders, Thursday core  

Or train everything during the same session? Maybe with an emphasis on a group of muscle?  

And in term of periodisation how much strength would you have compare to SAQ? I personally think it would more strength at the start of a cycle leading to more SAQ when getting close to competing.

 

Well let me start by answering the first part of the question.  The type of approach to strength training prescription you are describing there is something we call ‘split routine‘ training.  This is widely used in the sport of body building.

 

It is important to remember that in our pursuit of athletic performance in certain sports such as tennis, football and rugby, S&C coaches have sought to learn from those sports that are the best in the business at getting strong, powerful and defined.

 

  • Power lifting– the best at developing maximum strength (1 Repetition Maximum in Back Squat, Deadlift and Bench press)  

  • Olympic weightlifting– the best at developing Power (1 Repetition Maximum in Clean & Jerk and the Snatch  

  • Body building– the best at developing the physique of the body.  Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one’s musculature.  An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive amateur and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders appear in lineups doing specified poses, and later perform individual posing routines, for a panel of judges who rank competitors based on criteria such as symmetry, muscularity and conditioning.

 

Going back to your original question I would say that split routines are effective for making physique gains for those athletes who are in pursuit of symmetry, muscularity and conditioning.  The split routines are exactly are you describe it, usually working one or two muscles per gym session.  The exercise prescription usually uses sets and reps schemes we would associate with ‘hypertrophy.’  This is a specific type of strength training that we associate with training adaptations that result in increases in the cross sectional area of the muscle.

 

So the question is should we train athletes who play sports like body builders?

 

 For the majority of athletes my response is…… No!

 

But like most things in life it depends!  I think it’s important to distinguish between functional and non-functional hypertrophy.  If you type these terms into the web you’ll get lots of articles on this topic.  Click HERE for a nice summary of Functional Hypertrophy from the Poliquin (Charles) Education Team.

 

Functional hypertrophy is muscle growth that is strategic so that it grows your muscles in a way so that it will improve physical performance.

 

Functional hypertrophy training:  

  • Strengthens your Type II muscle fibres  
  • Involves heavier and more explosive lifting  
  • Associated with growth of sarcomeres (contractile proteins)

 

The problem with body building routines?

 

The issue is that most body building routines could be considered examples of sessions designed to build non functional hypertrophy! Body builders may have the most impressive physiques but they are not the strongest.  They train you to get big but slow!

Non functional hypertrophy training:  

  • Uses forced reps at a slow speed  
  • Develops your Type I muscle fibres  
  • Associated with growth of sarcoplasm (non contractile elements of muscle cell)

 

Example of Functional Hypertrophy Workout (Poliquin System)

 

A functional hypertrophy technique that I teach at my Hypertrophy Bootcamps is the use of Giant Sets. A giant set is a group of four exercises that target one part of the body. For instance, a lower body giant set would be eccentric-enhanced squats, followed by heel-elevated squats to isolate the quads a bit better, followed by lunges, followed by trap bar deadlifts. This is an excellent way to shock the lower body into getting stronger and it will also train cardiovascular fitness. It triggers a robust anabolic hormone response and is particularly effective for boosting growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1.

Training giant sets and using related training techniques such as varying tempo is the best way to subject your body to something it’s not used so that it has to adapt. The variation of tempo is a complex training strategy in which you alter the amount of time spent on different parts of the lift such as doing eccentric-enhanced squats that use a slow tempo (4 to 6 seconds) for the down motion and a fast tempo (explosive) for the up concentric motion.

 

APA thoughts on this

 

There are a couple of principles that I stick to:

  • Train Movements not Muscles  
  • Unbalanced programmes are needed to get a balanced athlete  
  • Train the entire Force-Velocity curve

 

I think that what Poliquin described above could definitely work as an upper body-lower body split routine.  Doing squats (knee dominant bilateral pattern), lunges, (unilateral hip dominant pattern), deadlift (bilateral hip dominant pattern) respects APA’s first principle of training movements not muscles.

 

Sometimes you need an unbalanced programme to balance out the body.  So often athletes are over dominant in the push and knee dominant movements and weaker in the pull and hip dominant movements.  The example above is well balanced so if someone is very knee dominant you could tweak that to emphasis more hip dominant exercises.

 

Finally, it uses variations in tempo from slow eccentrics to explosive concentrics to work both the strength and power ends of the force-velocity curve.

 

3 is the magic number

 

For far more in depth analysis on programming considerations please check out one of the APA Philosophy blog posts HERE called ‘3 is the magic number.’

 

Thanks for reading!!!

5 days left to apply for a full-time job with APA!

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Hot off the press!

 

Read the advert below for full details.  The closing date has been moved forward to next Wednesday 11th March.

 

For those of you who know anything about APA, you will know our biggest contract is with Gosling Tennis Academy, so we are really experienced with working with elite tennis players.

 

Normally we can only offer part-time self-employed work with APA at Gosling Tennis Academy. However, Gosling Sports Park have decided to create a couple of employed roles which will be made up of gym instructing in the commercial gym and strength & conditioning with APA.

 

This is great news for APA because it means we can offer the successful candidate a full-time opportunity.

 

So if you think you have what it takes to be a great member of the APA team then get your CV to Carolyn asap!

[gview file=”https://athleticperformanceacademy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/APA-JOB-ADVERTMar20152.pdf”]

6 nutrition lessons you must teach kids!

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This week we will be re-introducing some lifestyle education sessions for the full-time junior athletes that APA work with at Gosling Tennis Academy.  A big part of this is education on nutrition.  I have written several blogs on nutrition over recent months.  To be honest these are based on understanding more advanced concepts such as nutrient timing and periodisation of nutrition.

With kids these numbers will just get lost and it’s a lot more effective to talk about foods rather than grams and calories!  We can start by introducing them to the 6 Pillars of Nutrition, which I have taken from the work of Dr Mike Roussell.

The Healthy Diet:

 

1.  Eat 5-6 Times per Day  

2. Eat Minimally Processed Foods Without Added Sugars  

3. Eat Fruit and Vegetables  Throughout the Day  

4. Drink more water and Calorie Free Beverages  

5. Focus on Eating Lean Proteins  

6. Be Strategic About Your Starches  

 

A Picture paints a thousand words

 

Embedded image permalink

One of the key messages we want to get across is that processed foods with added sugar need to be replaced with protein, fruit and vegetables!

Let’s pick a few of the Pillars and go through an example of the kind of things we might discuss with the kids.

1. Eat 5-6 times a day

A lot of people panic at the thought of having to eat this many times.  But actually all we are asking the child to do is add two healthy snacks to their diet.

A Fruit and a Fat snack  = 1 Apple + 1 portion of Nuts (almonds or pistachios)

2.  Eat Minimally processed foods without added sugars

Don’t over complicate this- we have a simple rule that the kids can’t eat the following while they are at the Tennis Academy

  • Fizzy drinks
  • Chocolate bars
  • Cakes
  • Biscuits

 

You might need to have specific conversations about particular types of cereal bars, flap jacks and so on but the above list is a non-negotiable list

3. Eat Fruit and Vegetables throughout the day

4.  Drink more water and calorie free beverages

With adults the issue might be with coffee and tea, and with kids it is often fizzy drinks.  Cutting these out or down might be as challenging as cutting down smoking so you have to wean them off them gradually.  The 4 steps below work for people who are drinking several cups of tea/ cans of fizzy drink per day!

Step 1: remove 1 fizzy drink / cup of tea from your day!

Step 2: replace 1 fizzy drink/ cup of tea with a diet version / decaffeinated version or green tea

Step 3: replace the fizzy drink / cup of tea with a glass of water

Step 4: Drink 2 litres of water per day

5.  Focus on eating lean proteins

When you talk about protein you have to talk about fats.  It’s about getting the kids to recognise that we want them to eat MEAT and FISH.  Now these animal proteins also contain fats so we need to teach them which ones are better.

Good protein- lean meat (chicken, turkey, fish)

Bad protein- fatty meat (pork, bacon, some cuts of beef)

We can then talk about healthy fats and teach them which sources of fat are better.

Good fat- avocados, nuts, fish, eggs

Bad fat- cheese, butter, pastries, fatty meat

6. Be strategic about your starches

Now at some point we can start to talk about nutrient timing with the kids and explain about how they need to increase or decrease the amount of sugar they are eating depending on how active they are.

However, at the beginning we first want them to understand the different types of carbohydrates.

We will talk about the difference between whole grains (starches) and sugars

So there you have it 6 Nutrition lessons for kids and some examples of the way we might go about introducing these topics to kids!  Keep it simple and talk to them about foods rather than numbers. Even better is to get them to work with the foods and taste them by doing cooking lessons.  There are so many cool ways to get them interested in healthy eating!

Good luck!

Working with unmotivated teenagers!

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Today’s post is about motivation, and what to do when you’re working with a particular breed of animal..the teenager, who doesn’t always have much of it!!!

 

I occasionally like to post on aspects of psychology as it is a huge part of what makes a successful athlete and coach.  In a previous blog I spoke about building confidence through results.  Click HERE for the full article.

 

In that post I made the point that the results the player/athlete gets (winning a match or beating a personal best) build confidence that what they are doing is working and therefore are seen as contributing to a sense of achievement and increasing competence (e.g. time splits in swimming or running that are better – that’s what PB’s are about).

 

Achieving Personal bests though is not as easy as it sounds so as well as having confidence you need to be motivated!

 

Most children that start playing sport when they are young do so because it is fun!  Some children might have dreams about being a professional sportsman or woman, but many do not.

 

 

For me, one of the greatest challenges is working with athletes who say they want one thing (e.g. be a Tennis Professional) and yet aren’t motivated to do the work.  Alistair McCaw wrote a great article: ‘What happens when the parent wants ‘It’ more than the kid? – which you can read HERE.

 

”It’s easy for an athlete to say they want to be a professional, or one day win a grand slam championship. However, It’s much harder for them to say they want the struggle, hours upon hours of mundane repetition and the challenge.”

 

 

In the article Alistair talks about Intrinsic motivation, which he refers to as motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside reward. The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task.

extrinsic-vs-intrinsic-motivation

 

Working with teenagers is particularly challenging as they are at a point in their young careers where the stakes become higher.  They are often forfeiting full-time main stream education to afford them the opportunities to practice more in their main sport.  It’s also a time when there are a lot of distractions socially that just seem way more fun.

 

The reality is when you make the kind of commitment required to realise a goal of becoming a professional sportsman or woman you have to enjoy the GRIND!  You need to enjoy the process of doing the work which coaches call GRIT!

 

As Alistair says, ‘To be successful in anything, you need to have a passion for what you do and then have the GRIT, in other words you need to deeply love what you do, and are able to embrace struggle and take challenges head-on.’

 

So how to do you build motivation then? Because to get the PB you have to put a lot of work in and some people just seem to be more willing than others to do it!
 
 

The Challenge:

 
I work with a group of athletes aged 11-16 years for 45-60 minute sessions up to 10 times a week.  I write session plans that they can complete in the allotted time.  But the problem was that (in the past) too often they got distracted and talked and then not complete all the exercises.
 
The solution:
 
I had thought about using the time management idea of High school football coach Shane Nelson, where he has in his weight room,  a 3-foot by 4-foot digital timer that he uses to time his various stations. In his current mesocycle, he set the timer at fifteen minutes and it counts down to zero from there.  There is a horn that sounds to begin and end the “quarter.” The football team uses that term to stay in a football mindset.  See the full article HERE.
 
 
Rather than using the timer I decided I was going to use another way of holding them accountable for getting the required work done.  I was going to use a merit system (reward system),  where I would sign their training diary if they completed the session and did it to a good level.   I said I would award a prize after 6 weeks for the person who got the most merits.
 

Did it work?

 

It had a good effect for the first week but once they realised that they would be out of contention (if they had a few days off ill, or were at a tournament) they said they no longer valued having a merit.  They didn’t care if they got one or not as it wouldn’t make a difference to getting the prize.

 

Why didn’t it work?

 

It didn’t work because I was tapping into Extrinsic Motivation.

 

This is the problem with rewards (and punishments)- when players can’t win they give up! This sends an interesting message about the mentality of some of the athletes I am working with; they are only prepared to push themselves if there is a guarantee of a ‘prize’ at the end of their efforts – rather than the fitness training being an ‘end’ in its own right.
 
This you need to be mindful of because YOU cannot change them, they have to change themselves!
 
 

Is there a more successful extrinsic reward?

 
Yes- the possibility of higher levels of sports performance.
 
These kids need to feel that what they are doing ‘directly’ and ‘quickly’ translates to them achieving higher levels of performance (and that performance is meaningful to them).
 
 
Therefore it is vital that both the S&C team and the Technical Coaching team make the link between being a better athlete and a better sportsman or woman.
 
The bit in brackets here could be a problem, because although they might get better results from doing their fitness, if they do not feel as if they are going to achieve their ultimate aim (however high that might be) then they will easily opt out – because the effort required just doesn’t justify the gains they ‘could’ make! So, the fundamental problem might not even be the fitness training per say, but their lack of confidence in their ability to achieve their aspirations and therefore their tennis goals are not inspiring them.
 
 

So it comes back to intrinsic motivation!

 
Intrinsic motivation will happen in a few of them and it can take time for it to develop (years – when it is already coming from the place of extrinsic reward and punishment based approaches).
You are basically looking for the thing that will ‘trigger’ that intrinsic desire to work out (above and beyond what it will or could do for their sports performance). That will be different in each of them and for a good number of them they probably will never do anything intrinsically – they are too engrained in the rewards mentality – this is no criticism, it is where the world is at (as a result of the last 50 years of change).
 
However tap into other motivations they might have to work hard on their fitness:
 
  • Feeling healthy 
  • Getting a sweat on  
  • Getting a beach body  
  • Getting ripped  
  • Copying their role model’s training

 

Be a great Role Model

 

You need to deliver your passion and have those who are interested go along with you. Give your (most) attention to those who do go with you and stop worrying about those who don’t. Again, remember they are responsible for making their choices. You are responsible for leading by example. If you are not smiling and having fun in the gym – they won’t be either. It will all get too serious and if its not fun it will most often be too much like hard work – and not worth the effort, because their goals aren’t going to be massively affected by any improvements.
 
 

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