When you go to a workshop, I bet you have been told that if you want to be fast you need to make sure you don’t step back first.  I read this on an American Baseball website recently:

”Standing up on the first step before accelerating is a common mistake that players make when breaking from a base and moving to a batter ball. Another mistake is taking a false or drop step.”

What everyone probably didn’t expect to hear at this latest APA workshop was that this advice and other comments like it are quite frankly totally wrong.

This blog is a summary of the recent APA Speed, Agility & Quickness Training for Sports Workshop, May 24th 2014 covering a lot of different hot topics and dispelling some myths along the way.  Buckle up!!

So what did we cover?

We started in the classroom and covered some training principles first

 

 

The APA  3 S System (copyright)

Then we went through some videos to better understand what good movement looks like.

 

Before we get to the videos just a few points.  The key to getting faster is:

 

1. The amount of force that an athlete puts into the ground (relative to body weight)  

2. The direction of that force  

The amount of force that an athlete puts into the ground is improved through strength and power training.  In biomechanics they call this ‘kinetics.’  These are trainable qualities.   The direction of that force is where the “skill of speed” comes into play. This can be improved through proper positioning and practice and these are coachable qualities .  This is known as ‘kinematics,’ and it is here that the workshop was targeted.  What does proper positioning look like, and how can we coach that?

 

Straight ahead Speed

 

Acceleration:

 

We looked at proper start position and acceleration mechanics for a 20m sprint.  We discussed the differences between a 3 point start and a block start.    

Key points:

 

The stance and start sets the athlete’s force angles for the entire 20m and thus, improving these things will have the greatest improvement on overall 20m time. The key emphasis is to get the athlete to focus on driving (not stepping) out and pushing the ground back with as much force as possible.

 

 

We then looked at an example of how this acceleration position might be applied in the sport of Tennis, since the majority of attendees were Tennis coaches.

 

 

Top Speed:

 

We looked at proper foot position for the Top speed phase of a 40m sprint.  

Key points:

 

According to Carl Lewis’s coach (in a pod cast Interview with Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre) the heel DOES come down at foot strike when running at top speed.  But I know Dan Pfaff has said that it doesn’t.  My opinion is that the foot makes initial contact with the ball of the feet.  What we certainly don’t want to see is athletes making initial contact with the heel!!!

 

What do you think?  Leave me your comments below.

 

 

First Step Speed

 

We looked at a 5m start which focuses on the first two explosive steps.  Unlike Straight ahead speed used during the 100m sprint, we will typically express first step speed in multiple directions and in response to a random signal to move quickly.

 

Key points:

 

I need to give credit to Lee Taft and the IYCA for introducing me to what they call the ‘Plyo Step.’  In Tennis we call it a ‘Dig Step.’  Other coaches call this a ‘False Step.’  Like me, Lee Taft was never satisfied with the irrational explanation that it is a mistake to do this.

He says: ‘I think you will find the logic and the scientific basis of biomechanics and physics will offer enough backing to see the purpose for allowing the Plyo Step to be the way the athlete moves during a reactive setting and from a non-track stance.’

Innovation and creativity is to be congratulated.  I always say, ”be an innovator not an impersonator.” Coaches have looked at the plyo step (which is a natural stretch reflex) with this desire to improve sports performance  and said, well, this is surely a wasted step, and it must take longer to move forward.  But I think they are wrong!

 

 

Lee Taft explains:

”The fact that coaches call it a step back just isn’t true. If it were a step back, then the hips would have to travel back as well. This clearly doesn’t happen. Look at the picture of the Plyo Step and notice the position of the hips just prior to the Plyo Step and when the Plyo Step occurs.   It can be clearly seen that the center of mass only moves forward. The fallacy the movement brings the athlete backward first just isn’t true. Next, the old timers use to say, “It takes longer to get moving forward”. Wrong again. The reason I named this movement a Plyo Step is because of the stretch shortening action that occurs when the foot aggressively contacts the ground. There is a quick response (action reaction) that occurs from the ground which helps to move the athlete forward much quicker.”

 

 

It must be stated that the best position to be able to respond in all directions is the basic athletic stance, with a slight adjustment.  The key words here are’ slight adjustment.’  We use the plyo step to reorganise our body position so it is set up to produce force in the correct direction.

 

Who says, the first step is always going to go forward any way?

 

Detractors of the plyo step would say you need to step out of the athletic stance by pivoting forward from the ankle. That theory only works if you know the intended direction is going to be forward and you can already lean over the front foot to get into the optimal position to explode forward.  Yes, this is correct when talking about a rugby forward or a lineman in American football whose sole job is to move forward and make a tackle.  It is also fair to say that this is fairly common in Tennis too when the player knows where the ball is going.  But for other sports it has to come from a more neutral athletic stance!

 

First Step Lateral

 

In Tennis 80% of all movement is lateral so lateral first step speed is particularly important.  Ben Linder, Head Physical Trainer for the Swiss Tennis Federation, calls this ‘1-2 step movement’.  This refers to the first two steps being the most important.

 

Split Step: Jump into First step

 

In Tennis before the first step takes place the athlete will normally do a jump in the air as the opponent is about to strike the ball.  This is yet another example of using the stretch reflex to store and release additional elastic energy in the muscles to explode to the ball.

 

For this part of the classroom presentation we therefore looked at proper mechanics of the first step as it relates to the sport of Tennis.

 

Let’s look a bit closer

 

For me the first step is a powerful step in the intended direction.  By step I mean a powerful contraction of the quadriceps and glutes often using a pivoting type action.  However in Tennis, prior to this step there will usually be one of a few things that can happen before this powerful step takes place.

• The body jumps in the air and the feet land simultaneously known in Tennis as a ‘simultaneous split step.’  This is usually followed by a pivoting action of the foot- the way most coaches would like you to teach it!  
• The foot/hip nearest the intended direction opens up slightly- common when you are in motion or have read the situation- is usually part of a ‘staggered split step’  (see below)  
• The foot nearest the intended direction falls under the body in the opposite direction- common when you are moving from a very wide foot position  
• The foot furthest away the intended direction pushes in the opposite direction to the ball known as a ‘dig step’- common when your feet are quite close together or you’re quite upright and are reacting to the play.  

 

Staggered Split step

 

I wanted to focus on the staggered split step as it is similar to the plyo step/dig step but requires explanation

 

For me a plyo step or ‘dig step’ is a reflex response to a random signal to move.  The ‘staggered split step’ is applying the same laws of equal and opposite forces but it is more of a ‘conscious’ push with the foot furthest away from the direction of travel.   This happens when you read the game and can anticipate the direction of your first step.  The dig step will come into play when you have to react to the direction of the ball and is a reflex.  Somewhere between the two is the simultaneous split step where the athlete is able to pivot off the foot-like most coaches will want you to do in your first step!!

 

If you watch the clip carefully of Andre Agassi moving laterally above, you will see his left foot slightly hits the ground before his right.  This is known as a ‘staggered split step.’

 

Multi-directional Speed

 

We looked at a Pro Agility Shuttle (5-10-5) which focuses on the explosive change of direction.

 

 

Key points:

 

Again credit goes to Brian Grasso of the IYCA who showed me the 4 steps to a good body position for changing direction.

 

1.  Feet slightly wider than shoulders or ‘outside the box’ made by the shoulders and hips.  

2. Feet turned slightly toward direction of travel  

3. Hips back  

4.  Shift weight towards inside leg closest towards direction of travel  

 

Then we looked at how this would apply to the tennis court

 

Notice how after hitting the ball Djokovic is initially out of balance and in no position to effectively apply the forces in the correct positions.  But then he quickly reorganises his body so he can find the correct position to push himself back towards the centre of the court.

 

Practical

 

After about 40 minutes in the classroom going through these videos we went on to the court to look at some drills to develop the three types of Speed of the 3 S APA Training System (Straight ahead Speed, First step speed and Multi-directional Speed).

 

I will upload some videos to give you a taster in another blog but if you can’t wait to then, then you can get more information on these topics and over 200 video clips of drills at my new EBOOK.  Click HERE for more details.

In the mean time I want you to do three things:

1. If you’re not subscribed yet, click here to get free email updates, so we can stay in touch.  
2. Share this post using the buttons at the top and bottom. As one of this blog’s first readers, I’m not just hoping you’ll tell your friends about it. I’m counting on it.  
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I’ll read the comments. I’ll think about them. I’ll plan the entire future of this blog around them.

 

Daz

This blog post is inspired by a really interesting Discussion Forum that recently took place at one of my visits to the National Strength & Conditioning Workshop, at the Lawn Tennis Association.  One of the perks of being the Head of S&C at Gosling Tennis Academy is getting the chance to go to these workshops 3 times a year to share best practice and learn from each other.

 

 

During one of the ‘break out’ sessions my friend and colleague Dominic King, lead a discussion on a number of key topics that come up as part of our interaction with coaches, medical professionals, and parents.  I thought I would select my Top 3 ‘Hot Topics’ and give you my opinion on them.

 

1.  LTAD Model

 

Check out this link HERE for a full text downloadable journal article: ‘The Long-term Athlete Development model: physiological evidence and application.’ 

 

Key points:

 

In this article, it highlights that there are key physical developmental processes that occur during childhood and adolescence that might influence short- and long-term athletic performance  

• These  ”sensitive” developmental periods are known as “windows of opportunity”.  
• There is a lack of empirical evidence upon which the model is based, questionable assumptions and erroneous methodologies.  
• Fundamentally, this is a generic model rather than an individualized plan for athletes.  
• It is crucial that the LTAD model is seen as a “work in progress”

 

My opinion:

 

Yes, there are accelerated periods of biological growth; in childhood athletes become more coordinated and in adolescence puberty creates gains in strength and aerobic/anaerobic performance and potential losses in flexibility.

 

Need Proof?

 

 

 

But I don’t like the term “window” because it suggests that the periods open and close, when in fact they may open and remain so on to and throughout adulthood.  Is an athlete suddenly going to reach a speed plateau or have a speed barrier when doing speed training at 16 because the speed window is now closed, I’m not convinced.

 

One critical biological marker is puberty.  I do feel that this is a good indication of when someone may be able to handle more intensive training methods (pre-supposing they have good movement efficiency and an appropriate training history).  For the period of training before puberty I still believe in training all the biomotor abilities including strength. I’m more inclined to have training priorities based on what my assessment of the athlete shows, rather than basing it blindly on a windows of opportunity framework.  A young athlete could already be lighting fast but lack stamina, but if I just hammer away at speed I will never be addressing their stamina until they are much older.

 

2. 10’000 hour Rule

 

The 10,000-hours concept can be traced back to a 1993 paper written by Anders Ericsson, a Professor at the University of Colorado, called The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance.

 

Check out a great review of the topic HERE

 

Ericsson has pointed out that 10,000 was an average, and that many of the best musicians in his study had accumulated “substantially fewer” hours of practice. He underlined, also, that the quality of the practice was important.

 

Malcolm Gladwell places himself roughly in the middle of a sliding scale with Ericsson at one end, placing little emphasis on the role of natural talent, and at the other end a writer such as David Epstein, author of the The Sports Gene. Epstein is “a bit more of a talent person than me” Gladwell suggests.

 

My opinion:

 

I’m inclined to sit somewhere close to Gladwell.  I do believe that natural talent plays a big role.  I like the idea of ‘Nuturing Nature.’  I believe everyone has the capacity to improve and achieve their peak performance potential but I believe only those with an amount of natural talent will be able to perform at the elite level.  For some sports this is clear cut; a wannabe sprinter needs natural speed and a wannabe marathon runner needs natural endurance.  Other sports need high levels of skill requiring lots of practice- how much is the more difficult question to answer.

 

One of the difficulties with assessing whether expert-level performance can be obtained just through practice is that most studies are done after the subjects have reached that level.

 

It would be better to follow the progress of someone with no innate talent in a particular discipline who chooses to complete 10,000 hours of deliberate practice in it.

 

At Gosling Tennis Academy the parents are advised that the Tennis journey is a 20,000 hour one.  You need to aim to get to the first 10,000 hours in around 10 years so someone who starts at 5 years might reach expert level in the skills of Tennis by around 14 yrs old.  Then expect to spend another 10, 000 hours transitioning from junior ranks to professional level.

 

I personally feel that this guide needs a massive ‘caveat.’  That there is no guarantee that you will become an expert (read that as ‘professional’) if you commit to doing 20,000 hours.

 

I also feel you need to state that it is an individual journey and I believe that those who have more talent will need less hours of practice.

 

I prefer to say, you need ENOUGH practice to develop the skills of the sport to a competent level- so you have skills that will stand up to the demands of the game under time, space and fatigue pressure.  Those children who have less talent for the sport of Tennis may need to spend more of their time practising Tennis.  Those children who pick it up sooner can spend more of their time practising other sports.

 

I’m not prepared to say that everyone will need 10,000 hours to become an expert, and I’m not prepared to say that even if you do 10,000 hours you will become an expert, assuming for the sport of Tennis, for example, that expert means becoming a Pro.

 

3.  Sport Specialisation

 

Getting straight to the point I believe that all young athletes (pre-puberty) should be doing other sports, in addition to their favourite one.  My big 3 are:

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Swimming

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Gymnastics

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Athletics

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I also think that every child should ideally have exposure to a team sport environment, such as playing for a football, rugby, cricket, netball team etc.  This doesn’t have to be part of a sports club it can just be representing the school team.   

Ideally 2-5 hours of ‘other sports’ in addition to their main sport.  

 

Typically I find Tennis players are committing to playing Tennis any where from 3 hours at 5 years up to around 15 hours at 12 years.  But you do need to find time to get the other sports in.   At some point down the track, a young emerging athlete may need to specialise and the hours of other sports will be cut to just 1 or 2 so they need to be in sooner rather than later.

 

Early specialisation vs. Late specialisation

 

Some sports require more concentrated practise at an earlier age to develop the necessary skills. These are high skill dependant sports like gymnastics and diving.  From my experience I would also include Tennis in there too.  For example, we are seeing a growing number of younger players (pre-puberty) joining the Tennis Academy full-time, which can involve up to 20 hours of Activity per week (including Tennis and Strength & Conditioning/Other sports).

 

Is 20 hours a week too much for a young athlete?

 

Think ‘optimum’ not ‘maximum.’ 

 

If an athlete wants to develop the necessary skills in the sport of Tennis then this will require a certain amount of practice, more than the couple of times a week squad practice that you might normally commit to in a sport like Football.  But how much more is up for debate.

 

There are a couple of reasons for this.  Firstly, as said above, the skills are more complex.  Secondly, the amount of ‘free play’ opportunities  in sports like Tennis is less than in sports like football.

 

But……I believe that not all athletes will require the same amount of hours of Tennis to achieve the same level of skill. I’m not afraid to say that I believe that the more ‘talented’ players will pick things up quicker.

 

These young athletes have a long career ahead of them.  If I can work on an ‘optimum’ programme for them (that looks at the least amount of Tennis I can get them to achieve the desired skill level) I will do that over giving them the maximum amount available.  More is not always better.

Well we finally get to the last blog of the series on Periodisation- this one is about the actual exercises I think are appropriate for Tennis, from a more specific stand point.  If you haven’t read the previous blogs I suggest you do otherwise some of the terms I describe here might not make sense.

 

• Periodisation for Tennis- Part 1  
• Periodisation for Tennis- Part 2

 

The majority of my time is spent with developing athletes who are still fundamentally poor in the basic exercises. Having said that I now have the privilege of working more and more with professional athletes.  This means I need to reflect on how their preparation period needs to differ to a younger developing player.

 

Intensity vs.  Specificity

 

For the last few years I have focused less on the use of the word ‘general’ and ‘specific’ when referring to preparation phases.  I preferred instead to just say ‘preparation‘ and talk about whether the athlete was working on more ‘basic’ or more ‘advanced’ exercises. An advanced exercise implies it is of a higher intensity.  Therefore, the main variable I was changing was ‘intensity,’ as the athlete advances.

 

From my recent reading it is clear the training process, especially of high level athletes, must be highly specialized: the athlete must not perform useless activity that can’t positively contribute to the attainment of the specific objective.  So as well as increasing intensity we must also increase ‘specificity.’  This blog will develop some of my recent thoughts on how to do this.

 

Let’s get Specific

 

If people take this principle out of context (like a lot of trainers have done with ‘functional’ training) you end up with coaches just doing therapy band tennis serves, medicine ball throws, and jumps over hurdles.  Now these may all have a place but they are never a substitute for our bread and butter exercises that we know work!!!!

 

This does not mean that each training exercise must reproduce the competition exercise; it’s about the whole training means system.  But we do need some exercises which are closer to the actual sport skill!

 

Check out this video- it’s a training camp in East Germany and it shows great examples of very specific exercises for elite Javelin and Discuss throwers.  Please don’t judge their training by the 80’s style aerobics at 6:15 minute in!  They knew no better then!  But it illustrates the point of how specific you can be with your exercise prescription.

 

I particularly like the javelin contraption for measuring power output at 4:00 minutes in!!!

 

 

The APA system includes a large spectrum of exercises aimed at improving different determining factors for increasing the power output of competition exercises. We can use different exercises to focus on improving different strength abilities and different functional properties of different muscle groups.

 

It’s usually at this point that coaches may start to trade arguments about which method or methods are better for a particular sport/athlete and I don’t want to come across in that way, championing one exercise or method over another. In fact I think I already said in the last blog that:

 

”An important consideration to keep in mind is that sports movements are usually executed in a mixed regime of muscular contraction.”

 

But what can we take from the realm of Track & Field which the Soviets and East Germans dominated in the 1960-1980s and apply to other sports?  Clearly these coaches knew all about how to develop high levels of maximal strength and explosive power.

 

Take Tennis for example.  When you first look at Tennis you could be forgiven for thinking that it doesn’t require a great deal of strength and explosive power. After all you are hitting a tennis ball; it’s not like you’re in a contact sport having to throw around another athlete or throw a weighted implement like a shot putt.

 

However, look a bit closer and you’ll see there are many different types of forces in play; some that you produce in order to overcome your own inertia, or to forcefully plant your foot down before you complete your stroke (both require maximal strength).  Or consider the ‘take off’ from the ground to jump up into a high ball or ‘take off’ to leap into a wide ball (explosive power) or the landing forces when you come back down (maximal strength).

 

When it comes to exercises this means that there can’t only be one tool in your tool box.  As Vern Gambetta says, ‘if the only tool you have is a hammer then you had better hope you are working with a nail.’  As it relates to Tennis this is particularly true.

 

What exactly constitutes the competition exercise for Tennis any way?  

 

Tennis involves elements of:

 

• sprinting- acceleration
• jumping and hopping
• changing direction
• rotations of the body

 

The Force-Velocity Curve  

 

By using the Force-Velocity curve I can look at the actions that take place in the sport and attempt to position them on the Force-Velocity curve.

 

I generally break my these actions down according to whether they mostly require:

 

• Maximal Strength (to maintain a solid athletic look when hitting, to overcome inertia, to plant foot into the ground before a stroke, to absorb landing forces)
• Explosive Strength (to generate power on take off when jumping up into a high ball or a wide shot
• Reactive Strength (to generate elastic energy during use of stretch-shortening cycle on most ‘action’ events in Tennis- such as serve, normal ground strokes, accelerating to ball out of a split step, changing direction etc)

Speed-strength is pretty much the same as explosive strength accept the external resistance you are working against is less so it’s without the display of great power- but it is high speed

 

So you might do 8-10 reps with a lighter load, or do 8-10 hurdle jumps or 10 bounds (progressing to 50-60m bounds) for speed-strength but you would do half that if you were working on explosive power.

 

In terms of ‘specificity’ I’ve written down a few examples of ‘specific’ actions that happen on the Tennis court that require different strength  and speed characteristics:

 

 

Video: Hitting on the run- Explosive Strength during take off force (right leg) and Maximal Strength during the Impact force (left leg)

 

 

Jumping up into high ground strokes (Explosive Power)

 

 

I then like to have a categorisation of ‘specific’ exercises that I can use to develop the physical qualities mentioned above. Some of the exercises below would be appropriate for a range of sports and could be thought of as a general exercise, while most of the exercises are more specific to Tennis. If you’re not sure if an exercise is more ‘General’ or ‘Specific’ just ask yourself the question, ‘would it look appropriate for an athlete from another sport to do it?’  If the answer is yes then it is probably more general.

 

 

Resisted footwork

 

 

Drop back and jump- for training first step acceleration

 

 

Lunge return Hops– for developing reactive power when getting back into position after a serve

 

Progressing the Training Means throughout Preparation

 

Now clearly there are a lot of exercises above and you can’t expect to master them all at the same time, so you have to have a focus.

 

The shift in focus should move gently from more general to more specific means.  

 

Considering the important aspects of specificity, the means must be introduced in the following sequence for solving the following training tasks:

 

1) enforcing the main muscular synergies and the other body’s working mechanisms, involved in the competition exercises; (i.e. hypertrophy of gross muscle actions)

2) increasing the magnitude of force effort in the key movements; (i.e. maximal strength)

3) increasing the speed of the force employment in the key movements (i.e. explosive power)

In Fig. 3, it can be seen how this rule is applied for increasing the power output of the Track &
Field jumps through the following phases:

 

 

1) bounds – for getting the motor apparatus ready for executing the subsequent training loads;
2) barbell exercises – for increasing the force component of the take-off power output;
3) kettlebell jumps – for increasing the speed component of the take-off power output;
4) depth jumps – for increasing both the force and speed components of the take-off power
output through the use of highly intensive training stimuli.

 

So how would we apply that process to Tennis?

 

1) low intensity jumps (slow-fast SSC)- for getting the motor apparatus ready for executing the subsequent training loads;
2) barbell exercises – for increasing the force component of the take-off power output;
3) explosive jumps (split clean/snatch) – for increasing the speed component of the take-off power output;
4) depth jumps – for increasing both the force and speed components of the take-off power
output through the use of highly intensive training stimuli

 

This rule also implies that one type of exercise is gradually replaced by another.  For me this means that for my young athletes I am doing a lot of work to reinforce the main muscle synergies (such as hypertrophy work in the gym or light bounding for runners) but for more advanced athletes they are doing a lot more maximal strength and power development work in the preparation period, and need to progressively add in more specific power modalities that replicates the demands of the competitive exercise (spending a lot more time doing the exercises in my categorisation list above).

 

The ‘general’ exercises are usually aimed at increasing the level of maximal strength of the primary large muscle groups involved in competition exercise; they are fundamental for the subsequent increase in working effect of the main force producing movements of competition exercise.

 

Summary

 

We have finally got to the end of this Blog series on Periodisation.  I hope you have enjoyed reading it.  The key take home message from this last post is to know your sport.  Think about what skill or skills are most needed in your sport and then plan the appropriate training means, working from a more general foundation of strength to more explosive activities and finally the sport skill itself.

 

To follow up the last post I thought I would give some key take home messages from the second presentation at the Lawn Tennis Association HPC S&C Workshop.  As part of my role as Head of S&C at Gosling Tennis Academy I get to go down to the National Tennis Centre (NTC) three times a year to discuss a range of topics relevant to S&C practitioners working in Tennis.  This next presentation was by Richard Blagrove (Programme Director, St Mary’s University) all about enhancing Tennis Performance with Running drills.

 

Before I get to the presentation I just want to touch on the reading I have been doing on the former Soviet block work in the area of Plyometrics.

 

If you have read part 1 and part 2 of my Blog posts on Periodisation for Tennis you will know I’ve got right back into my reading on the old Soviet Block Periodisation concepts from the 1960s-1980s.  While there are many people who have criticised aspects of Russian training models (myself included) I strongly encourage you to have a look at ‘Special Strength Training for Sports’ by Yuri and Natalia Verkhoshansky.  I now have a new appreciation of how incredible they are as applied sport scientists and an even greater appreciation of how far ahead of its time the USSR sports programme was.

 

The birth of Plyometrics:

 

The whole concept of plyometrics evolved from Yuri’s work with his athletes because he was looking for a way to overload his high jumpers.  He knew from his research that a high jumper could experience up to 300kg in impact loading forces at the point of take off on the single leg.  He was searching for ways to prepare his athletes for this and experimented with heavy explosive jump squats.  But due to the long lanky frames of the high jumpers this caused back pain.

 

Now one winter he was forced to train his athletes in a small space in a corridor as there was no gym and he couldn’t go outside so he decided to get his athletes to lift barbell weights and jump off some boxes during the winter months. Through experiments he found that the ‘shock’ of jumping off a high box had an amazing effect on the explosive power of his athletes and the term ‘shock method,’ was born.  The term pliometric was the original term used in Russian literature to describe the yielding or eccentric phase of the stretch-shortening cycle.  An American coach later took this term and came up with ‘plyometrics’ and the rest is history!! Get the book; it will blow your mind!!

 

Any way back to the topic at hand:

 

Richard is clearly a very smart guy.  He set the scene really nicely and took us through his training philosophy which basically highlighted the need for a thorough analysis of the sport, using appropriate tests to determine basic fitness level, strength characteristics and movement quality, and having an understanding of the adaptation process.  Only by understanding how the body then adapts to different types of stressors can you begin to choose appropriate methods to overload the right type of neuro-muscular qualities.

 

Then he put up a nice slide on biomotor abilities and their inter-relatedness.

 

 

Richard made the point that Perceptual and Decision making skills are vital, and are the most important aspect of Agility or Gamespeed.  Using this overall model of Agility Performance Richard said he was going to show us some drills that would principally focus on three aspects of the model:

 

• Foot placement 
• Posture  
• Reactive Strength  

 

Before we got to the running drills that we would be going over we were able to hear Richard give a really good introduction to the different types of muscle contractions taking place in the body during physical tasks such as running and jumping, and specifically explain what he means by ‘reactive strength.’

 

 

I wrote about Reactive Strength in part 2 of my Blog post on Periodisation for Tennis and I will be covering more in Part 3 which is coming up in a few weeks.   Richard talks here also about muscular contractions as being on a continuum with Eccentric contractions (Eccentric control) to the Left side and Concentric contractions to the Right side (Extensor Explosive strength).  In the middle are the Isometric strength qualities.  All of these contractions need to be utilised when performing exercises which make use of the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC), but in different amounts, depending on the type of exercise.

 

The eccentric component on the Left side is related to the quality of ‘Muscle/Tendon Stiffness‘ and the concentric component on the right side is related to the quality of Muscle Compliance.  You could make an argument for saying that runners/sprinters need a higher level of Stiffness and less compliance whereas the opposite could be said for Tennis. This is because  in Tennis there is a wider amplitude of movements required.  Runners just need to keep their hips extended and run on the balls of the feet.  Tennis players will go in and out of triple flexion/extension.

 

What constitutes a ‘True’ Plyometric exercise?

 

The gold standard is 3.0 on the Reactive Strength Index (RSI) which could typically be achieved by jumping 60cm in the air with a ground contact of 0.2 seconds.

 

For it to be a ‘true’ plyometric exercise ground contact needs to be less than 0.2 seconds

 

A plyometric jump with a ground contact under 0.2 seconds is also known as a ‘Fast SSC jump.’  A plyometric jump with a ground contact over 0.2 seconds is known as a ‘Slow SSC jump‘ or a ballistic jump.

 

It is also worth considering the following when choosing which type of plyometric task to use for testing/training/monitoring:

 

• Testing: Method: Single Depth jump from 30-40cm height box  Aim: Measure overall neuro-muscular efficiency/fatigue using Fast SSC jump

 

• Monitoring: Method: 4 Repeated Jump test: Aim: Measure Peripheral fatigue using Fast SSC jump

 

• Training: Method: Counter movement and Squat Jump Aim: Measure Concentric power during slow SSC jump

 

You may decide to test the Counter movement jump and squat jump as we invariably do for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) test battery but also consider where the fast SSC jumps may fit into testing, monitoring and training.

 

Then we went on court and went through some running based drills to develop the following qualities:

 

• Hip mobility  
• Tendon stiffness  
• Posture  

Richard qualified that while these movements were not Tennis specific they developed important athletic qualities that could help support an overall athletic development programme for a sport that is based on running.

 

The drills were broken down into:

 

• Hurdle drills- for mobility  
• Ankling drills- for stiffness  
• A march and A skip drills- for top speed running technique  
• B march and B skip drills- for top speed running technique  

 

 

Below are a few short videos of the S&C coaches doing some of the drills.  There were a lot of the typical hurdle and A march/Askip/B march/B skip drills that we all do with our athletes but I thought I would include some of the less often used ones that I saw.  Sorry for the mobile phone video quality but it should give you an idea!

 

Hurdle drill: Scissor

 

 

Ground contact (stiffness) Pogo catch- walking then lift up onto toes

 

 

Ground contact (stiffness) Pogo catch- on the move

  

 

Sotos (alternate 4s)

 

 

Foot tack

 

 

 

Ankling

 

 

Double/Triple tap skips

 

 

As ever I hope you enjoyed the Blog and please share and Like the Facebook page and leave a comment if you have any specific questions

This post is a follow up to my previous post on Periodisation- Part 1 which you can see here.

 

In this post I would like to share with you some of my recent thoughts on the topic of Transfer of Training.  The holy grail of strength & conditioning in my view, is taking an athlete and training them so that the physical gains they make actually enhance their sports performance- this would be a successful transfer of training.

 

I originally came across some of the work of the old Soviet regime from looking at a great website all about the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre which you can see here.  It was here that I first had the chance to read articles written by authorities like Verkhoshansky and Matveyev.  But I kept hearing about a coach called Dr. Anatoly Bondarchuk who was working with hammer throwers at the time and was applying his concepts of ‘Transfer of Training’ to his training methodology.  I bought a book of his work in around 2009 but at that time it was not well translated from his native language and I felt I had an incomplete understanding of his concepts.

 

 

This also coincided with a chance discussion with Dr Mike Stone at the UKSCA Conference around the same time.  He was a little critical of the statistics which Bondarchuk had used to determine the correlation between all kinds of different exercises and their effect on specific performances in an event.  (Or at least that is what I took away from our brief discussion- as I don’t want to misquote Mike Stone!).  Therefore I never really followed through in this area of my learning and for better or worse kept going with my training system as I understood it at that time.

 

So fast forward to the present day, April 2014 and I now stumble across the website of Central Virginia Sports Performance (click here) and his name amongst others comes up again, as well as Natalia Verkhoshansky who is continuing the great work of her father, Yuri.  Now 5 years later their work is becoming more accessible thanks to the power of the web and better translations, so I figure it’s time to take another look.

 

For this post I just wanted to run down on my application of the concept of Transfer of Training and how it fits into the APA Training System.

Clarifying the Objective

 

As I already said above, I think the holy grail is getting outcomes where it counts…on the sports field.  Natalia Verkhoshansky articulates it slightly better than me:

 

”The final goal of competition exercises in Olympic sports („Citius, Altius, Fortius‟ – „Faster, Higher, Stronger‟) may almost always be related to the capacity to express power produced by the speed of movements and by the force of overcoming external resistance.

 

Consequently, the training process, focused on improving the sports result, could be defined as the process of increasing the power output of competition exercise”

 

Every sports skill without exception can be thought of as a complex motor action which is created in order to solve a particular movement task specific to that sport.  This motor action is often called the motor pattern (as it is usually the combination of separate motor actions) and sports coaches often refer to it as a ‘movement pattern’ when referring to the physical aspects of the motor skill.  As it relates to the work of the Soviet researchers this motor pattern is called the ‘Competition Exercise’ or (CE).

 

Analysing the Competition Exercise from a Biomechanics point of view

 

Like any good S&C coach ought to do, a Needs Analysis will help determine what types of training are most suitable for the athlete in order to prepare them for their event or sport.  It’s important to start with some basic laws of motion and look at Kinetics and Kinematics:

 

• Kinetics – is one of the branches of dynamics, concerned with what body movements are produced under the action of particular forces. Not to be confused with kinematics, the study of motion without regard to force or mass.

 

Analysing every competition exercise from a kinetics perspective, it may be assumed, that during its execution, not only are active driving forces being produced by muscular contraction, but also reactive forces, which are activated as a consequence of the impact of active forces with the external environment: We can break these forces down into:

 

– gravity force (body weight or its links);

– reactive forces arising as a result of the interaction between the active forces and the environment;

– force of body (or its links) inertia;

– force stored in the muscle-complex as elastic energy during the preparatory phases of movements.

 

Therefore, increasing the power output of competition exercise regards increasing the body’s capacity to generate enough active force to overcome the external and internal opposition which will enable the acquisition of specific skill to control the body movements.

 

Now I am definitely not going to get into the ‘How Strong is Strong Enough?’ debate in this blog.  At this point I merely want to draw attention to the fact that we should be starting to work back from knowing what the competition exercise is that we want our athlete to be really good at and also understanding the types of forces needed to excel in it!!!

Increasing the Force Generating Capacity of the Body

 

”To obtain a necessary kinematic characteristics of the complex motor action, the motor control system operates not at the level of single muscle, but at the level of innate functional components of the human motor apparatus, called working mechanisms, involving them in appropriate ratio to solve a given motor task.” Verkhoshansky, N (2011).

 

In basic terms this means that in order to prepare to produce the forces required during the competition exercise we need to train movements not muscles.  Sound familiar?  These movements can be sub divided by the different mechanisms of the motor control system they utilise:

 

• Muscular system- voluntary contraction of agonist and antagonist muscles to produce synchronised movements of body segments  
• Muscular system- involuntary contraction of key postural reflexes
• Elastic properties of muscles – the force stored in the muscle complex as elastic energy;

 

The higher the functional level (force generation capacity) of the working mechanisms involved in a given competition exercise, the higher the athlete‟s motor potential, which determines his capability to execute this competition exercise with higher power output.  What this basically means is that the more we can train the general functional capabilities of the muscular system the higher the power output potential we can achieve on a very specific competition exercise.

 

It’s now that we can start to discuss the terms ‘General’ and ‘Specific’ as they relate to the types of exercises we might want to use in the ‘Preparation’ phase.  I deliberately didn’t want to talk about exercise categorisation in the last blog as this is a massive topic in itself.  The best way I can describe the way I approach my training preparation phase is I start with a greater focus on general training means early in the preparation phase and increasingly focus on more specific training means as we progress through the preparation phase.

 

Track & Field coaches use the classification adopted from the Soviet researchers.

We can now start to think in these terms, starting with the end in mind and working back to choose the exercises that we need to start with.  Using this concept most sports will have similar training means at the general level of exercise classification and they will diverge as the methods become increasingly specific.

 

As it relates to the APA Training System I like to group the classifications noted above under more simple headings:

 

• General or Specific
• Basic or Advanced

 

Typically the more General the exercise in nature the more ‘global’ the muscles that are recruited such as the large muscles of the quadriceps, hamstrings and glutes in the barbell back squat.  The more specific the more ‘local’ the muscles that are recruited such as the upper fibres of the latissimus dorsi during explosive shoulder extension as would be performed in a weighted barbell pullover.  I remember Calvin Morris saying he used to do this exercise with Steve Backley as part of his specific exercise regime for the javelin throw.

 

 

My personal reason for wanting to differentiate between Basic and Advanced exercises is because a General exercise can be a very high level exercise in terms of loading parameters but it just doesn’t have much relation to the competitive exercise.  So for a very experienced Tennis player they might start with maximal strength back squats in their General Preparation.  But seeing as I work with a lot of children I need to make sure my coaching team are taking into account the loading and if it is generally lower in intensity such as Hypertrophy work we will classify it as ‘Basic.’

Key point: Not all athletes will do Advanced exercises in their General Preparation.

 

If you would like to look at the terminology described above I would definitely check out the Canadian athletics Coaching Centre website and also have a look at a great website called ‘Complimentary Training’ by Mladen Jovanovic and a blog which goes into detail on these topics.  Click here for a link to one of his blogs on this topic.

 

Increasing the Power of Key Movements

 

Now that we have set the scene for the importance of the competitive exercise we need to go back to the science. The different conditions under which the neuro-muscular system works during the execution of different competition exercises recall different mechanisms for assuring these changes.  For example the main competition exercises for a jumper, a thrower, a sprinter, a middle distance runner, an MMA athlete, a tennis player and a soccer player all place different demands on the body.

 

These mechanisms are related to the activation of different functional characteristics (options) of the neuro-muscular system (motor unit recruitment, motor unit activation frequency, motor unit synchronisation and others), which are usually associated with different strength capabilities.

 

The basic forms of these functional characteristics can be identified as basic strength capabilities:

 

• Maximal Strength (P0) – the greatest magnitude of the voluntary force-effort, which the athlete is able to display in isometric regimes when there is no time limit to complete the task
• Explosive Strength (J) – is characterized by the athlete‟s capability to achieve maximal force-effort (FMAX) in the shortest time (TMAX): J = FMAX/TMAX.
• Starting Strength (Q) – is characterized by the athlete‟s capability to produce rapid increases in force-effort at the start of muscular tension. It is measured by the so called Starting Strength gradient: S-gradient = F0,5 MAX / T0,5 MAX).
• Accelerating Strength (G) – is characterized by the athlete‟s capability to rapidly achieve the maximal value of force effort (FMAX) in the final phase of muscular tension. Usually, it is measured by the so called Acceleration Strength gradient: A-gradient = F0,5 MAX / (TMAX – T0,5 MAX).

 

Verkhoshansky explains that ”In movements executed with different levels of external opposition the basic strength capabilities do not have equal relevance in obtaining the highest power output of the competitive exercise.

 

For example, when the force-effort is displayed in high speed movements with a small external resistance, its magnitude is determined by the so-called High-Speed Strength (Fv), strictly correlated with Starting Strength (Q). As resistance increases, Explosive and, after, Accelerating Strength become more important.

 

Basic strength capabilities expressed in different regimes of muscular contraction usually require activation of different functional options of the neuro-muscular system. For example, the capacities to generate maximal force in isometric and dynamic regimes of muscular contraction are assured by different neuro-muscular mechanisms, which are relatively independent of each other in their functional display and development.

 

Also the capacities to generate force in overcoming (“concentric”) and yielding (“eccentric”) regimes are related to different neuro-muscular functions: “The greater cortical signal for eccentric muscle actions suggests that the brain probably plans and programs eccentric movements differently from concentric muscle tasks.” (Yin Fang et al., Journal of Neurophysiology, 2001, vol. 86 n. 4).”

 

However, an important consideration to keep in mind is that sports movements are usually executed in a mixed regime of muscular contraction.

 

For example, during a single explosive movement in which the athlete has to displace a heavy load from a standing position, before initiating the movement, the muscles work in an isometric regime (e.g. shot putt).  As soon as the developing isometric force-effort achieves the level of the opposite resistance force, the movement starts and the muscles begin to work in the dynamic regime.

 

In the so-called ”starting movements” executed without a ”countermovement” against heavy resistance (for example overcoming the body’s static inertia), the major role is played by Maximal Strength (Po) and Explosive Strength (J), expressed in an isometric regime (e.g., Power lifting and Olympic weightlifting).

 

When the explosive movement is executed with a ”countermovement”, i.e., in the reversal yielding-overcoming (“eccentric-concentric”) regime, the major role is played by Explosive Strength (J) expressed in the overcoming (“concentric”) regime.

 

In reversal movements, executed in the rapid transition from the yielding (“eccentric”) to the overcoming (“concentric”) regime, two other functional characteristics of the neuro-muscular system are used: the Reactive Ability of the neuro-muscular system ( the capacity to develop the highest value of force in the overcoming phase due the stimulation of muscle proprioceptors during the yielding phase) and the Elastic properties (potential) of muscles (which provides an extra source of energy assuring the enhancement of the subsequent muscular contraction.” These would be more associated with methods used with runners such as drop jumps and methods that have a very short ground contact such as repeated hurdle jumps.

 

Therefore, to reiterate the original point, different training means, used together in the training process can elicit an integrated functional adaptation (Cumulative Training Effect), using a pre-determined combination of different means.

 

How does this apply to Tennis?

 

Clearly Tennis places a wide variety of demands on the body.  At first glance you might think that because the Tennis player is working against a relatively insignificant external resistance (tennis ball)  that there is no need to do ANY explosive weightlifting exercises at the higher end of the Force-Velocity spectrum (Olympic lifts at >70% 1RM); they should just lift everything light and fast.

 

But one of the things I learnt from reading Verkoshansky’s work is that ‘impact’ forces are extremely high and some of the explosive movements in Tennis, especially when returning wide serves and flat out running out wide do place significant load on the body which we must prepare for.  It’s not just as simple as saying that because they only have to overcome their own body mass and that of a tennis ball that they don’t need to work against any significant loads!

 

Below are some of the different examples:

 

• Maximal Strength:  when overcoming the body’s own inertia and when absorbing the massive impact forces from landing during flat out running and take off
• Explosive strength: when applying a hard impact into the ground in order to ‘take off’ the ground during a powerful ground stroke using the ‘power step’
• High Speed-Strength: during the majority of high power tennis shots when hitting the ball!
• Reactive Ability: use of the stretch-shortening cycle during rapid push off when changing  direction
• Reactive Ability: use of the stretch-shortening cycle during the split step with a rapid counter movement

 

Summary

 

My summary of this blog is that you need to know your sport.   You need to know what the competition exercise or exercises are and you then need to plan appropriate training methods that will enhance the physical mechanisms that will overload and subsequently improve performance in these skills.

 

In the final Blog post on periodisation coming next I will attempt to analyse the competitive exercises needed for Tennis and the most appropriate training methods for these.

 

In the mean time I highly recommend you check out the two books below.  The ‘Secrets of Russian Sports Fitness and Training’ is an easy read and you can blast through it in a day.  The Special Strength Training Manual,’ is equally compelling but it a bit more in depth and would definitely need a bit of background understanding of training theory.

Hope you enjoy the post.

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