You have an athlete that repeatedly falls out of control with her body every time she does a shuffle change of direction or a shuttle run change of direction. As she plants her outside foot to change the direction, her shoulders rotate toward the plant leg, and she shifts her upper body in that direction …
Isn’t it funny how we typically look at the feet, legs, and hips when we talk about speed and ignore the upper body, arms, and especially the head and eyes? I’m not going to talk about the upper body (arms, thorax, core…); however, I will dive into the influence of the head and eyes. When …
I can’t tell you how much I love watching old clips of the great lateral movers in sports- Barry Sanders, Roger Federer, Steffi Graff, Mia Hamm… Of course, I love watching today’s younger athletes, as well! The ability to create space for themselves or get to the ball quickly with one or two quick lateral …
Sprinting and Muhammad Ali Have One Thing In Common… Have you ever had the chance to stand next to a great sprinter and watch him or her strike the ground? It is quite remarkable. The grace at which they do it, and the power that comes from it is what makes them great sprinters. While …
I often see coaches having their athletes perform “Quickness” drills for way too long. And, they wonder why their athletes don’t “develop explosive laser-like speed.” Simple drills, such as line drills, dot drills, ladder drills, box drills, etc., are excellent ways to train the neuromuscular system to adapt to faster speeds. The proprioceptive system learns …
Many of us are stuck in a world of quick access and immediate results. It’s so bad that high-level collegiate and professional strength coaches are looking at YouTube before a training session to “get more drills.” We are just not being thoughtful enough as a profession to understand why we have to follow a system …
Thoughts on Program Design Here are my thoughts on program design. Please understand these thoughts are not standards, but simply additional concepts that can make your programming more thoughtful. Remember, training is not just a science; it is an art. Program design may be the single most important area when it comes to training athletes. …
How often do we see athletes performing running arm drills in positions inconsistent with arm action during acceleration or max velocity? Actually, quite a bit. The problem is, we have been taught wrong from the get-go. How many times have you heard “arms should always be at 90 degrees”? I am here to tell you …
Know your “stuff” before you preach it and teach it! I just watched a performance coach, on video, teach three different areas of deceleration. I can honestly say, he went zero for three. The bottom line is you have to understand laws of movement and stop trying to change human movement to look pretty in …
This is a topic that has been hot for years… Why should kids play at the park, or with friends, in an unorganized play structure versus having all their sports and activities organized by a coach? Have you ever watched a 30 for 30 on ESPN or a documentary about star athletes? Without fail, it …
