The Performance Spectrum

Ankles - Critical Exercises We Take for Granted

2010-04-05T15:37:00.000-05:00

Ankles - Critical Exercises We Take for Granted

Are We Injuring Our Athletes

2010-03-02T22:32:00.000-06:00

http://www.nsca-lift.org/AllNews.asp#news1399

Our athletes have entrusted their careers and love of sport in the hands of the performance/strength coach that manages their training program. My question is, are we doing more long term damage to our athletes bodies by training under heavy loads and maximum velocity all the time. OVERREACHING:
o·ver·reach (vr-rch)

1. To reach or extend over or beyond.
2. To miss by reaching too far or attempting too much: overreach a goal
3. To defeat (oneself) by going too far or by doing or trying to gain too much.
4. To get the better of, especially by deceitful cleverness; outwit.

I fear we have trained our athletes and casued repetitive microstrain by constant heavy loads with out proper alignment or control. Over my 10 year career I have seen a shift to add more physical therapy to the training program and I beleive the shift is well deserved. Performance Therapy maybe the future of this profession and training may involved a higher percentage of low intensity exercise with a low percentage of high intensity exercise. According to the NSCA report this would be the opposite of the current training trends.

Nutrition Advice

2010-03-02T22:15:00.001-06:00

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/day-1

Dr. John M. Berardi, PhD, CSCS has some great basic advice for a healthy eating plan! Good stuff here.

Strength and Speed Training

2010-02-28T09:52:00.000-06:00

Interesting methods for developing strength for improved speed. This goes along the lines of keeping training very simple. I believe that many track coaches are keeping strength training very basic.
http://www.dragondoor.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?rm=mode3&articleid=269

Good Better Best

2010-02-26T22:52:00.002-06:00

If you want to get in the ballpark, buy a ticket.If you want to get into the game, make a commitment.If you want to win, make it a passion.

Movement Efficiently for Improved Energy Sustainability

2010-01-23T22:17:00.000-06:00

If you are looking to enhance your endurance capability then one may want to analyze how efficiently they move. Performance specialist are very aware of the need of training to be based on multiplanar movement application but do we understand then importance of energy conservation. For the most part we add aerobic or anaerobic training as an attempt to fill the energy tank but the more effective way maybe to use less of what is in the energy tank by utilizing efficient movement patterns. Nutritionist have discovered the importance of conservation of muscle tissue in the new pre-workout supplements fortified with BCAAs. This concept is dedicated to reducing the breakdown of muscle tissue for quicker recovery and enhance performance. For example, with starting and sprinting mechanics I teach athletes to pre load their ankles by foot placement and shin ankles. At first glimpse we think we this is essential for teaching the athlete how to move quicker and get better times. However, think of the phenomenon of the stretch reflex which utilizes stored injury vs. mechanical energy. Stored injury is reflexive and does not cost nearly as muscle energy as mechanical energy does. If we can load the ankle by dorsi flexion, proper foot placement and shin alignment then the achilles tendon will respond within the parameters of the stretch reflex phenomenon thus reducing the energy cost of locomotion. Many athletes are producing fatigue themselves with a lack proper movement mechanics.

Combination Movements

2010-01-04T22:43:00.000-06:00

The IYCA was the first organization that defined combination or hybrid strength training. This style is a series of exercises performed in sequence. Physics defines work as force x distance. Combination movements train the distance component of the equation. Combination exercise strings reduce the absolute load placed upon the athlete which can allow greater number of movements to be performed. The concept is very useful for developing athlete and enhancing work capacity.

I believe these type of movements are great for athletes that require high levels of work capacity. Wrestlers, basketball, soccer, football and hockey are good examples of athletes that should do combination lift training.

Some examples of combination movements:
Deadlift-Clean-Row
RDL-Snatch-Upright Row
Front Lunge-Press
Squat-Good Morning-Press
DB RDL-Row-Curl Press
DB Step Up-Single Leg RDL-Row

Setting the Floor

2010-01-04T22:10:00.001-06:00

I believe there are essential 2 ways to stabilize the lower body muscular while performing various strength movements.
1. Base Stance: The feet are parallel with the shoulder girdle in front of the hips. In this position instruct the client to press the floor laterally. Imagine a bunched up towel on the floor and then separating the floor until the towel become taut. These method will activate the glute muscles, tensor and peroneals muscles. The lower body will now be prevented from slipping into a medial knee drift.
2. Split Stance: There is some debate on which way to squeeze on this stance. My opinion is to push back with the lead leg and pull forward with the back leg. This follows a natural human movement of hamstring contraction with hip flexor contraction which is also known as the cross-extensor reflex. Some coaches preach the pushing away of the lead and back leg to create the separating effect of the legs. In human movement this could mimic the initial step in walking

Foundation of Agility

2009-11-22T00:35:00.001-06:00

I recently read an journal entry by Holmberg, Patrick M and I thought he did a great job of breaking down agility parameters in his entry. He speaks about the interference involved in placing two or more tasks together into a complex of agility drills. This past week I witness the destruction of a training session of a football skills coach who tried to teach a player to become more agile by doing a series alphabet named drills. The fundamental mechanics have never been set and then a multitude of problems occurred at every part of the drill. You fall into one of those modes where you don't know what to fix first.

After reading Patrick's entry on the NSCA he speaks about progression of agility tasks from low interference(one skill) to high interference(multiple skills). I can't stress the importance of mastery to what I believe is the critical zones. Most critical zones in agility is the collision with the feet on the floor and the rebounding action that occurs after(this is why jumping is so important to agility). Identification one skill that makes or breaks the movement is usually landing and taking off. If you do this well you win if not you lose. Identify that and train that all the time in different and challenging environments. Then place that skill in the context of a more complex arrangement of various dynamic movements.

Patrick also talks about the presences of pre-programmed drills. I wonder when is this training concept of doing cone drills to improve agility going to fade away. I have seen very little transference from these drills to sport performance improvement. I am not sure what 101 speed ladder and cone drills really do for athletes. One point to remember is that time is ticking with our athletes and it is very important that we make the most of each session. Discard anything that doesn't make athletes perform better in their sport and stick to what transfers over to the game. Athletes only get better at what you practice so why practice every drill in the book...remember the SAID principle. The cone drills can only be teaching methods to support the critical zone. I rarely even see error correction of mechanics in the drills only measurement of the stopwatch. In my opinion true agility can only be improved by strength development(stability/mobility), jump training(withstand/creating force) and reactive competitive mirroring(practicing).

I still believe that the appropriate progression for agility is skill acquisition, closed drills and partner mirroring. First identify the critical zones for success, then challenge those tasks with high interference or multiple movements and finally allow them to perform in an open environment against a partner. The combination of jump training which will help with the raw ability to change direction effectively and strength development will assist with forcing the body to stabilize.

Nike Mini FB Camp

2009-10-21T12:47:00.001-05:00

Here is a group dynamic warm up for the Nike mini camp. Our format consist of General Movement, Muscle Activation, Dynamic Flexibility and Specific Movement. Our goal is to increase core temperature then progress to activating under utilized muscles in the ankle, hip, spine and shoulder. Mobility training can serve as a method to lengthen and shorten muscles by active stretching which will further increase blood flow by compressing and opening the vessels. Isometrics can serves as another great method to increasing flexibility deep in the musculature to aid in more comprehensive stretching. Finally, I like to teach mechanics of speed, agility and movement while the body is relatively fresh.

New Training Equipment

2009-10-09T21:45:00.001-05:00

Interesting space age design. Seems to be very functional. href="http://www.technogym.com/us/viewdoc.asp?co_id=133&target=home">">

Are we making a difference???

2009-10-05T13:27:00.003-05:00

They say that we when address a group that only 1/3 are listening. I wonder what the response is when that group watches us perform. See is believing. I read a quote from Jeremy Boone's blog that read "Don't worry that children never listen to you;worry that they are always watching you." Robert Fulgham

http://www.innertactics.com/Blog/tabid/256/EntryId/139/What-Imprint-Are-You-Making.aspx

Personal Training vs. Group Training

2009-09-18T09:32:00.003-05:00

Now research is being done on the benefits of group training. This is why team training has been so successful and why boot camps are flourishing. However, I know that everyone responds differently to exercise and specific exercises must be prescribed to correct inefficient problems. So the answer may be to work out large groups with a large amount of supervision as well. If we combine this with a vast of arrange of exercise progressions on many different levels then every client can be addressed effectively.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8257716.stm

Review of Phasic Training

2009-09-10T23:49:00.005-05:00

I did a similar post on Phasic Training and I really like the phases of the program. How many performance systems are moving through phases. Coming soon I will post about priority training and switching emphasis in the training sequence. This is why I don't like doing station and flip flopping groups albeit sometime it is inevitable. I would rather sequence training units such as speed, explosion, strength and endurance is an ordered format that has a charted flow. Please review the API method. http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledge/training/training-phases.html

Foot Strengthening and Dorsi-Flexion

2009-09-10T23:15:00.002-05:00

Check out this resource for getting strength development in the feet and lower limbs. I am looking into the role of the range of dorsiflexion of the ankle on athletic ability. I would like to give this product a shot with my athletes and see the results.

http://www.barefootscience.com/us/index.php

Young Athlete Development

2009-09-10T23:14:00.002-05:00

A review of an article that I wrote on developing a beginner athlete.

http://www.helium.com/items/634057-best-training-programs-for-beginner-athletes

ustream video

2009-09-10T22:48:00.001-05:00

Texas Highschool Football

2009-08-30T23:01:00.003-05:00

Really looking forward to following highschool football this year and supporting all of the players that we trained all year. Old School Coach does a great job promoting highschool football in TX. Check out the site http://theoldcoach.rivals.com/

Sport Axiology

2009-08-30T22:39:00.003-05:00

This may be the final piece of the puzzle. As we continue to train for speed, agility, endurance, flexibility and strength there is the sometimes forgotten aspect of the cognition. The way we think and our attitude maybe the most significant contribution to sport success than any other physical biomotor ability. I am currenty working with Coach John Murray the strength coach from the Golden State Warriors and he states that the seperation from the athletes at the highest level is the mental attitude. He states that's the reason why Kobe Bryant is what he is.

I have been in contact with Jeremy Boone of Athlete by Design and he has established an incredible program that involves sports axiology. This may change the landscape of how to assess and train the mental aspects of sports conditioning. http://www.innertactics.com/SportsAxiology/tabid/252/Default.aspx

Young Athletes and Rest

2009-08-30T22:08:00.001-05:00

Young Athletes and Rest

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National Physical Activity Plan

2009-08-26T00:04:00.002-05:00

New reports on adult and youth obesity are staggering. Government, corporation and insurance will have to fund training as a resource for preventive medicine for degenerative disease. The future is upon us.
National Physical Activity Plan

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Return Of The Full Sit Up

2009-07-28T22:58:00.004-05:00

Have coaches, trainers, and therapist caused a generation of athletes to become weaker in spinal flexion by virtually elimitating the full sit up. The motion has fallen out of favor due to the concern that full situp places a high amount of shearing force on the low back verterbrae. Based on the structure of the spine and pelvic girdle, the full sit up can cause increase disc pressure and strain. This increase pressure will occur if the feet are locked and imobilized during the sit up motion.

The solution for this problem is to unlock the feet, place the legs on a wedge/bench with knees bent to 90 degrees and activate the hamstring muscles by pulling down on the wedge/bench. We instruct our athletes to tuck the chin, round the back, compress the belly button into the gut and place the chest to the thighs. This allow the following benefits: deactivates the hip flexors, activates TA, lengthens erectors and strength gastor/hamstring complex. Our coaching staff has noticed the inability for many athletes that are perceived to have strong core strength ability, not be able to perform one feet elevated sit up correctly.

Below is a link to some of the issue with lower crossed syndrome that may general population and athletic population suffer from. Tight hip flexors, tight erectors, weak abdominals, and weak gluteal muscles are the characteristics of the lower crossed syndrome.
http://iyca.org/wordpress/acl-injuries-and-young-athletes

Volleyball Injury Prevention Training

2009-07-24T10:02:00.004-05:00

Just finished an article for VB low back injury protection. Stack magazine has some great information from some of the top trainers.
http://magazine.stack.com/Sport/85/Volleyball.aspx

Strive to be a different coach

2009-06-19T23:58:00.005-05:00

Have a passion for what you do
Become an expert in your craft
Never settle for your current level of knowledge
Listen to the athlete body signs
Know the critical zones of performance
Error detect
Error correct
Utilize teachable moments

Success will never reach any man who does not have a burning passion for his mission in life. My personal mission is to help as many athletes achieve their goals of playing at their highest level of competition and in the back drop I am always try to notice potential injury pitfalls that can determine the fate of their sport career.

The best coaches are usually the most knowledgeable and have the best insight of how to effective get their perspective across to the athlete. In the performance training field it is critical to be around alot of different philosophies and try to self educate so that when the situation arises and your theories and the application meet there will be a cohesive blend between the two.

You can never belief that you have got it all figured out at any stage of life. There must be a constant rehashing of knowledge and willingest to learn something new. The ability to challenge your own philosophies takes a element of humility and meekness.

Coaches have to look at the signals of the athlete and read what the athletes is not saying. Elite coaches have stated that you as a coach can see sign of over training and CNS system fatigue. The eyes that wander and lose focus, slumping posture and lack of focus during instruction are all critical signs. I always looks for where the athletes touches for signs of pain. The athlete subconsciously will touch an area that hurt as a self-healing mechanism This must be some sort of innate way that humans have learn to massage ourselves to assist in pushing pain hormones away from the site. I am constantly looking and recognizing these signs.

I am currently developing a chart to will allow coaches to define what are the critical zones for success in movement. This the most important attribute of the movement skill that will determine the outcome of the movement. This is what needs to be coached during the technical

warm up on a daily basis.

Error correction is impossible to do if there is no error detection. Recognizing errors is typically the result of coaching experience and a keen eye for typical movement problems. When athletes don't see improvement typically coaches haven't defined what the correct problems are and may be wasting time correcting the wrong problem.

At times athletes are not coachable and are not willing to accept and comprehend coaching cues. A coach must be skilled and tactful enough to sense when the athlete is open to accepting coaching instruction. If the athlete is closed off and not focused on the instruction then there is no reason to waste time coaching them.

Why Multidirectional SPEED

2009-06-19T23:36:00.003-05:00

I get asked and questioned all the time about why do we need to run backward and sideways full speed. My answers to that concern is that the body needs to experience speed in every direction and that these high velocity movement patterns can enhance neuromuscular coordination and prevent injury by allowing a new level of mobility to the athlete.

Placing multi direction speed training on max speed is ideal for me. Especially the ability to run backward at full speed. The body goes through a shorting of the hip flexor and micro trauma of the hamstring due to high velocity contraction and impact with the running surface. So running backward really allows the lengthening of the illopsoas(hip flexor) and a lessen eccentric load on the hamstrings. The quads really receive the brunt of the work in backward running and unique training effect from high velocity sprinting.

Usually, our training system will insert lateral running as well with a straight leg side run. The entire medial leg receives a good training stimulus from adduction and the lateral leg muscles receive receive a stimulus from ankle, and hip abduction. Great drill for training high velocity ankle speed and agility for chronically injured athletes.

Analysis of Shuffle Deficiency

2009-06-19T23:13:00.004-05:00

I have been noticing a lack of stability and postural strength in the frontal plane. As I think of possible solutions I notice the lack of training in this plane. Mike Boyle has stated that training in the saggital plane(forward) should be mastered before any training in other plans should be initiated. I generally agree with that statement and I do believe that lateral elements need to be implemented into a training schedule on a consistent basis.

I have begun to implement frontal plan training for the ankle, hip, trunk and shoulders. I am now training lateral leg strength with side step up with a lateral reach upon stepping down from the step box to engage adduction strength with the involved leg. I like the k or 1/2 kneeing overhead side bend for trunk strength. I have noticed a lack of ability to maintain posture at the trunk during shuffling. Most athletes display a lateral sway in the trunk when accelerating and decelerating. This must be corrected. During the acceleration phase of the shuffle I believe there is a lack of confidence in the hip strength of the weaker athlete and there is a lateral trunk bending reaction that gives a mechanic advantage to the range of motion of the lead leg. This advantage is negated by fact that the lead leg in the shuffle is elevated too high and cost the athlete time that is critical in moving laterally.

Next I like to do lateral straight arm pull down and overhead lateral raises. These drill can be progressed from kneeling to a dynamic squatting action. Then I would progress to a Valslide or slide board lateral lunge that emphasis a pulling/adduction action toward the body to strength inner thigh movements. The Keiser equipment is great to add a variation of speed to the movement.

Our athletes are not training at their highest level of performance if we are not training them for balance in all planes of motion. The frontal plane is critical for success in sport and can benefit the athlete allowing them more success in their sports. The ability to cut effectively, explode with good torso/shin angles and prevent lateral movement injuries is critical to virtually athlete that plays sports

Phasic Training

2009-03-20T23:14:00.003-05:00

Part 1

Phase One-Technique Acquisition
Phase Two-Ballistic Development
Phase Three-Work Capacity
Phase Four-Taper

Here is an outline that I use for training both developing athletes and elite athletes. I believe that training should be done in blocks of weeks that have dedicated objectives. In phase one the training units should be separated and well defined to allow the learning process to occur. Flexibility, Speed, Ballistic, Strength, Endurance and Restoration training units are isolated and trained independently with the session. There is no BLENDING of training unit like subsequent phases. Movement speed is always done first and takes priority over all other training units during this phase. The ultimate focus in phase one is quality training and perfecting of fundament technique for each training unit.

Phase 2 is now focused on increasing power or speed-strength. After the warm up I go right into power development which utilizes med ball throws, jumps, plyometrics and plyometric-agility drills. After ballistic training then speed development, strength development, endurance and finally restoration. During this phase is where the most progress is made due to the body ability to draw from the benefits of increasing power creation. This training allows athletes to increase speed and increase strength simultaneously. During the end of this phase I will begin the process of BLENDING. I will typically blend the speed and blast training units to assist in booting the nervous system for enhanced speed development. Super setting is the method used to blend the training elements.

The ability to perform with explosive speed in a fatigued state is the objection of the work capacity phase. I typically begin with strength development and work down to body weight training towards the conclusion of the session. I always try to hit as many points on the strength to speed spectrum in every training session. This is the reciprocal of phase 1 training where the athlete would start with body weight, speed training and finish with slower strength training. Again, I will begin to and the BLENDING concept to the strength and ballistic units in this stage. At times I will blend the strength, ballistic and speed in a tri-set or add in flexibility within this unit as well. I have seen athletes perform well in progress testing in this phase. Positive testing results shows that the body has adapted to training in a fatigued state and super-compensation has occurred. If testing in explosive movements is low then the body is still down and the nervous system is shot.

The finally training component is to reduce the training volume for the athlete to further encourage super-compensation. Elite athletes need fewer days to recover than novice athletes and this concept needs to be taking in consideration when training in this phase. The order of training units that I use is to go back to phase 1 format and focus on quality and intensity with a reduction in volume. Speed development and high quality again take precedence over all other training units.

This training system has two great qualities. The system is consistently variable. Athletes have enough time to get a training stimulus from the phase and then as the training becomes stale the specialist should switch to a different phase to offer confusion to the neuromuscular system. This is where the greatest results and significant training effects can take place.

Static and Dynamic Acceleration

2009-03-07T22:50:00.001-06:00

As a student of the mechanics of sprinters and concepts of sprint coaches I am very intrigued by the level of knowledge that these coaches possess for sprint mechanics and error correction. One concept that I am challenged with is static acceleration vs. dynamic acceleration. Where should most of the training time be spent between the two training elements?

As I look at athletes running in team sports what I see is dynamic body position where athletes are in motion and are required to accelerate. In general I spend most of my time teaching athletes static position acceleration patterns and attempting to increase 1st step explosion and force application. Is there a transfer of these static positions to dynamic movement acceleration? Well the answer is no, due to training results being very specific to training demands. Armed with this concept I have adopted the need for dynamic acceleration where the athlete is required to change gears from linear, angular or lateral position. Dynamic acceleration in my opinion must mimic game situations where there isn't a gradual increase in running speed but a rapid change in acceleration that must be created extremely quickly.

I am convinced that performance coaches need to initially teach static acceleration in a very well controlled environment for learning but must progress to include dynamic acceleration at some phase of training. There needs to be some research done on the percentage of static running and dynamic running per sport. Then training protocols can be designed to replicate that percentage based on the athletes sport. The technique requires the athlete to shift from a comfortable stable position to one where the angles of the shins and torso need to become sharper to allow for a less stable platform which fosters better acceleration mechanics.

The athletes that have the ability to move at a fast pace and then accelerate into a faster pace are game breakers. The ability to have multiple gears can in my opinion can be trained with enhancement of energy systems, mechanics and the ability to have a neuromuscular speed reserve. The dynamic acceleration concept can give athletes an advantage to create deceptive speed and the ability to change speeds while moving. I believe dynamic acceleration will become a major factor in my training routines and I plan on implementing with linear, lateral and transitional acceleration sessons.

Change of Direction:Collision and Rebounding

2009-02-16T11:01:00.000-06:00

Many coaches have expressed the importance of the ability to stop the running momentum. A former collegiate coach said that a tremendous flaw of athletes is the inability to stop. I beleive that deceleration-stopping-re-accelerating are the keys to success in sports.

Physics defines inelastic collision as a colliding action where objects stick together after impact. Elastic collision(rebounding) is a collision in which objects rebound from each other with negligible loss of kinetic energy . Athletes must train to perfect both skills, stopping and changing direction.

I teach inelastic collisions initally. Upon mastery of inelastic collision then athletes can proceed to elastic collisions. The ability to have positive shin angles in the opposite direction of the preceeding direction is the critical component in stopping. Next, the angles of the shin after the intial collision is a critical aspect in the rebound ability to change direction. The better the angle after the collision the better the launch to change direction will be. Some athletes can progress within a very short time period and some may take weeks to progress. Intra-progress is what I term short term progress within a set and while inter-progress will develop much longer, possibly weeks. In my experience inter-progress works better with younger atheltes and intra-progression is better suited for more experienced athletes.

Collision and rebounding can be done in many different angles and planes. Typically, most movements are performed in the frontal plane and emphasis lateral movement. I like to teach a 2 step collision with simulatenous hip decent for balance. Then I like to progress to a 1 step collision which provides a greater change of direction ability. The 1 step cut is a more skillful task to perform and requires more strength and training. The essentials of stopping and reaccelerating with 2 feet is that 1 foot must be underneath the body and one foot outside the hip. The ankle and hip joint must be extremely stable upon the colliding impact to have an effective change of direction. To properly execute a 1 step cut the athlete must place one foot outside the witdth of the hips in the opposing directions of movement.

I would incorporate specific ankle strength exercises that range in speed from very slow and controlled stregnth exercises to fast ankle jumps. I have seen athletes with great technique and angles lose the ability to make effective cuts do to the lack of a stable ankle and knee position due to weakness. This leads to faulty rebounding mechanics and destroys the push off ability of acceleration.

If athletes are struggling with the ability to stop I also take away all auxillary lead up movements and just isolate the collision mechanics. I work a lateral cut, cross-over cut, angular cut, reverse angular cut, transitional cut and foward/back cuts. To change the environment of the cuts external resistance can be applied to make the cuts more intensive. After the fundament cuts have been mastered then I like to apply traditional cone drills. Finally, the ultimately mastery can be displayed during open agility drills versus a partner.

Movement Spectrum

2009-02-12T10:06:00.000-06:00

There are essential 6 trainable performance units that coaches should focus on.

1. Linear acceleration is the ability to propel the body forward with strong driving leg actions. This unit is absolutely essential to learn for every athlete and all sports. The body position is typically the only difference between athletes in different sports. I would advise athletes to experiment with multiple stances to challenge the muscle to adapt to different stances. We put athletes in push up positions, kneeling, seated and defensive stances. Once athletes become good at the basics then we change the environment by adding resistance bands, hand weights and vests.

2. The next unit is transitional speed. The ability to rotate the hips in my opinion is under trained and needs to be a big priority in training. Being in position with the hips squared in the direction that the athlete wants to go is critical to making a play. The athlete who is able to turn his hips the quickest will be the most successful player. Our training philosophy is geared to working hip rotation from a standing position and working hip rotation while the athlete is moving. The goal is to work hip rotation with a drop step move where the legs open apart or from a crossover move where the legs travels in front of the body sideways.

3. Multidirectional acceleration is primarily focused on shuffling and cross running motions in all directions. The ability to stay low, keep the body square and feet low to the ground are all critical criteria for successful lateral, backward and angular movements. The primary difference between the sports is the requirement of distance. Depending on the size of the field played on this will dictated how much distance of multidirectional acceleration is needed. I focus on training for acceleration in an environment where the body can learn to move fast, similar to fundamental speed training. Far too many coaches are using this unit for conditioning only and are not developing the ability to accelerate faster in these multiple directions.

4. I describe the ability to change directions as collision and rebounding. Changing direction is a make it or break it item for all athletes. The ones who have mastered deceleration and re-acceleration are the crème of the crop in the sport world. Reggie Bush, Dewayne Wade and Derrick Jeter are all examples of athletes who have mastered the art of cutting with precision. This is a process that has a slowing down, stopping and overcoming component. The faster the athlete can move through this process the better he has of making plays consistently. I train the fundamental process of the feet colliding with the ground and I have termed this a collision. Collisions are the foundation of changing direction and needs detailed attention. Next, is the ability to stop momentum created by the athlete’s movements. The ability to stopping is founded in the strength level of the athlete. Barry Sanders had great stop ability and there is no surprise that his leg strength was phenomenal with a 40 plus vertical jump. The final aspect of changing direction is the ability to rebound or spring out of the stopped positing with high impulses. Athletes need to learn that the angle the body is in as they are accelerating out of a cut is the essential last step to changing direction effectively. I believe that athletes should train change of direction in every direction possible. There is a pressing need to move beyond throwing out the cones and running pre-determined agility patterns.

5. Max speed is still the unit that turns the head of fans, parents and coaches. We all like to see that blazing 40yd or 100m sprint time. Performance coaches all know that track speed usually does not mean automatic success in most team sports but there are some reasons to train top speed. Max speed does teach relaxation of the body so that all systems work together in concert. There are additional benefits for improving the ability to reduce the contact time of the foot on the ground. The more time you spend with the foot on the floor then usually this translate into being a slower athlete. Speed training can reduce the contact time and teach the athlete to apply force quickly. Another benefit is the elevation of the knee in effect sprinting. Most sports rarely require the knees to lift very high during movement. That pattern over time can lead to weak and tight hip flexors. The result of weak and tight hip flexors can lead to spine issues that will reduce the ability to compete on a consistent basis.

6. Finally multidirectional speed is similar to max speed training but it is done in other directions besides forward. This unit is very much un-related to most sports and I have never seen a football player run 60 yards backward to score a touchdown. However, I do believe that athletes need the additional balance, coordination and body awareness that multidirectional speed can provide. Not to mention the introduction of movement variation. Many program and sports are so one sided that the same patterns are done over and over. This is a sure method for chronic injury and burnout. This training unit can provide a different stimulus to muscles and assist with the activation and mobility of muscle seldom used.