During my time in the fields of Chiropractic, Sports Rehabilitation and Sports Performance Training, I have had the unique opportunity to be mentored by some great minds. I know I can say the same thing for my brother and that is why he holds the title as Head Performance Coach at GP. Ryan and I are consistently working to get better in order to better serve our clients and patients. Whether that is through conversation with mentors, attending continuing education seminars, or simply reading. When it comes to rehabilitation or training of an athlete, one question we continually seek to improve our understanding of is, “How much strength is enough?”

One concern the ultimately comes to mind is whether the reward of high-intensity strength training is worth the risk? Certainly extremely high-intensity loads are necessary for the development of the strength athlete, or those who participate in the sports of Olympic weightlifting, strongman, and powerlifting. But when it comes to athletes who are not competitive strength athletes and are simply utilizing strength training as a means to enhance athleticism, how much strength is needed for optimal performance?

How Strength Relates to Sports Performance
Common sense would allow us to derive that if an athlete possesses greater levels of maximal strength and power compared to an opponent (all other factors being equal), the stronger athlete would have a distinct advantage. Suitable levels of maximal strength should include, but are not limited to the following considerations:

1. Sport of Participation. Requirements of maximal strength levels will differ depending upon the specific sport of participation. The physical requirements of a particular sport will assist to determine the various strength levels that are necessary for the participating athlete. As an example, does the cross-country runner need the same maximal strength requirements as a hockey player?
2. Position of Sport Participation. For athletes who participate in the same sport, the physical requirements based on their specific position will have an influence on their strength requirements. Consider the defensive lineman and defensive back positions in football. These two positions differ greatly in their physical requirements. Is the required maximal strength level going to be the same for both of these athletes to have optimal sports performance?
3. Competitive Level of Sports Participation. Participation at specific levels of competition may require advanced levels of maximal strength. Maximal strength requirements may change considerably when evaluating the demands of a high school, collegiate, and professional level athlete. The same can be said of the differences seen in competitive levels of competition. To illustrate this, consider that NCAA athletics are divided into three divisions (levels) of competition (DI, DII, DIII). One could derive that higher strength levels would be required for athletic success at the higher levels competition and differences in maximal strength and power output levels between DI, DII, and DIII athletes have been documented.
4. Competitive Standards. There are levels of strength that are necessary, not for guaranteed success, but necessary for an athlete to compete. This is common in the strength sports of weightlifting, powerlifting, and strongman. But adequate levels of strength are highly important in other sports as well. This is part of the reason various professional leagues (NFL, NHL to name a couple) hold annual combines. Athletes are tested on various physical and strength qualities and are then evaluated against their peers to predict athletic success. There is a physical “standard” that athletes must meet or exceed for consideration as a draft selection.

It seems almost routine now that we come across parents who are curious about what type of ‘training’ their child should be doing to become a better athlete. Ultimately, the majority of parents are concerned about their child lifting weights. Typically their child is 12-15 years of age and the parents feel that weight training at that age is inappropriate and could be potentially dangerous (e.g., stunt their child’s growth). Since this idea is so widespread, we felt it would be valuable to address the topic and the determining factors of whether weight training is suitable for a young athlete.

To start, let’s set the stage for our discussion by simply stating that weight training is one form of ‘resistance’ training. There are plenty of ways to apply ‘resistance’ to the body. From bands to weighted vests to body weight exercises, they are all considered resistance training. If you asked most parents if they had a problem with their child doing push-ups or walking lunges, the majority of them would likely reply, “No”. Lifting weights, at times, can provide less resistance than common body weight exercises yet lifting weights is somehow deemed more dangerous.

Why?

The majority of parents are primarily concerned about the risk of growth plate fracture and the possible result of stunted growth.

To address these concerns, the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) published a position statement. They determined that resistance training is safe, even for children as young as 6, and that the risk of growth plate fracture and stunted growth is completely unsupported. Simply put, it does not happen and weight training is safe with appropriate coaching and progression. Additionally, research has demonstrated significantly higher injury rates in youth sports (football, basketball, soccer, baseball, hockey, etc.) when compared to weightlifting.
When it comes to coaching and progression, this is where considerations from Long-Term Athletic Development (LTAD) models become invaluable in helping to understand sensitive “windows” during an athlete’s development. These windows identify when to capitalize on certain physical qualities. Looking at LTAD models, children around 12 years old are in a critical window for their speed development. This means that while they can improve in all athletic attributes (balance, coordination, rhythm/timing, relaxation, strength), speed development will experience faster rates of improvement. Speed simply comes down to putting a lot of force into the ground quickly. Explosive movement requires high power output and this relies on your “fast twitch” muscle fibers. Resistance training is one method to efficiently train “fast twitch” muscle. In this context, certain exercises aren’t always what they appear to be. For example, a young athlete performing squats may not be simply performing squats, but rather “speed training” because it’s a tool to teach them to produce force quickly and utilize their muscles in an explosive manner. Improve an athlete’s ability to produce force and they will get faster. Force production is directly controlled by the nervous system. Neural development is very sensitive for children 12-13 years of age. This means that the nervous system, which coordinates all movement, is primed for learning and improving efficiency of complex movements. This is one reason why resistance training is appropriate for athletes during this time period; it can capitalize on a sensitive period of neural development to help kids move with improved body awareness AND coordination, thus resulting in increases in qualities such as strength, power, and speed.
Concluding Thoughts
There are many factors to consider when it comes to “appropriate training” for young athletes. While there are safety concerns, age-appropriate and developmentally specific training methods can be extremely effective. For young athletes, weight training is a safe and effective means to develop body control/awareness and improve athletic qualities, such as speed. Weight training, as part of an athletic development program, should follow a structured approach under the supervision of a knowledgeable and qualified coach.

To ensure the highest quality outcomes and safety, GP understands and utilizes LTAD models in the training of their young athletes.

Related Articles:

Success or Failure: What Are You Setting Your Young Athlete Up For?
Don't Fall for the Speed Trap
Identifying Strength Needs for Athletes

In the attempt to improve athletic performance or prevent sports-related injuries, it is common to read that muscles in the body should be balanced. At times, what “balanced” means is never fully explained and is often assumed to mean that muscles on both sides of a joint should be equal in qualities such as endurance or strength. As a result, trainers and coaches may advise athletes to perform equal training for musculature on all sides of a joint to ensure balance.

The intent is to achieve symmetry. Not just at one particular joint, but often throughout the body. The goal is to see symmetrical movement on both sides of the body. Consider how therapists and coaches will use movement-screening systems to evaluate movement and then apply correctives with the goal to ‘balance’ the body or to reduce the risk of injury.

However, one must question if this the most intelligent thing to do in relation to high-level athletic performance. 
From the few studies done on this topic and from observation, symmetry may not be an effective means of improving performance. Rather, It appears that the majority of high-level athletes are asymmetrical.

This should not be surprising if you have been looking closely at high-level athletes. I recently attended the ACA Rehabilitation Symposium in Las Vegas over this past weekend. Professor Stuart McGill was one of the featured speakers and he has extensively researched the factors which make great athletes great. Professor McGill provided numerous examples from cases he has seen over of the years of athletes being ruined by someone attempting to 'balance' their body. The intent was on improving their performance or ‘correcting’ movement, yet the end result was making that athlete a patient. Essentially, he cautioned us all as chiropractors, therapists, and trainers to be very wise in what we do with our athletes.

One example he provided was Olympic sprinters and how many of them have very stiff, tight ankles. He stated how this is necessary for their performance and ultimately their success as elite level sprinters. Their ankles must be stiff to serve as ‘springs’ for explosive running. Yet, as he stated, many therapists would want to ‘mobilize’ their ankles and ‘release’ or ‘stretch’ the musculature surrounding the ankle to improve range of motion. However, now you have robbed them of the very thing that makes them a great athlete in their sport.

His example brought to mind a high school football player who trains at GP. He is our fastest athlete and his ankles are incredibly stiff. This stood out immediately upon his initial assessment. Did we do anything to mobilize his ankles? No. We didn’t touch his ankles, understanding that his ankle stiffness is what made him fast. Made him incredibly agile and quick.

If you try to balance muscular development or joint function, it can potentially interfere greatly with an athlete’s performance. It’s important to remember that what makes athletes asymmetrical also makes them great. It is not only a consequence of their training, but often what their sport demands. To take time out of their training to balance their body arguably interferes with more productive training.

This does not mean that they do not do exercises to keep their body healthy and prevent injury. We have our athletes perform many exercises for this purpose, but they are typically done during the general preparatory period, not in the competitive or precompetitive periods.

Former Soviet Union sport scientists studied this concept. The Soviets understood that asymmetry appears to be a key to athletic success. Asymmetry that is produced appears to allow athletes to go above and beyond what other ”well-balanced” athletes are capable of doing. It seems that the asymmetry allows the athlete to perform on a higher level.

There appears to be enough evidence to indicate that perhaps we should not be anxious to 'balance' every athlete’s physical development. Keep in mind that this does not mean that you ignore development of antagonistic muscles. But you do not emphasize them to the same extent as you do with the main muscles and joints involved in the execution of the athlete's competitive sports skill.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/athletic-development-will-your-child-be-a-success-or-burn-out/

https://gallagherperformance.com/does-practice-make-permanent-how-practice-rewires-your-nervous-system/

https://gallagherperformance.com/commonmistakesindevelopingyoungathletes/

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a system of training characterized by high-intensity resistance or metabolic training with short/incomplete rest periods in between working sets. An example of HIIT is often advocated by Crossfit WODs (workout of the day) and other similar programs.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, HIIT is now the most popular fitness trend. HIIT has tremendous appeal to those looking to shed unwanted body fat and ‘lean up’ or ‘get in shape’ quickly because of its ability to burn body fat more efficiently. HIIT has been shown to produce greater improvements in both aerobic and anaerobic capacity with less overall training volume when compared to individuals who only perform steady-state aerobic exercise. In the public eye, a huge upside to these workouts is they typically take less than 30 minutes to complete. Sounds too good to be true, right?

However, what is rarely if ever mentioned, is the number of injuries sustained by participants.

In my opinion and experience, which may be similar to what others are also observing, the number of injuries associated with HIIT appears to be on the rise. What is especially significant to note is that these injuries are often debilitating in nature.

Not only is HIIT growing in popularity among the general population, but it also seems to be a growing trend among athletes. The point of this article is to discuss why HIIT is not an appropriate training program for athletes and provide some insight into why athletes should avoid programs that advocate high-frequency application of HIIT methods.

Why Athletes Should Avoid HIIT
First and foremost, when training with heavy weights or performing complex motor skills (i.e. jumps, throws, sprints) it is highly critical that proper technique is learned during the initial stages of training. This is the key to not only continual development in regard to strength and all other physical abilities, but is fundamental to injury prevention.

Proper technique is the key to ensuring that strength developed becomes more useful not just in athletic skills, but also in everyday activities. For athletes, proper technique serves as the foundation for efficient execution of sport-related movement skills.

So why does HIIT fail athletes?

What appears to be most important in HIIT is overcoming a prescribed amount of resistance or finishing a prescribed number of reps in a designated amount of time, regardless of how it is done. From the start, HIIT does not place technique as the number one priority. For your viewing pleasure, Youtube provides numerous examples of this. I can recall watching a Crossfit workout during which a young female participant is doing her best to finish an overhead press. She had to contort her body in every way imaginable in her attempt to get the bar locked out overhead. Needless to say, I did not like what I saw.

What was even more disturbing to me was hearing the other members of the class cheering her on and applauding her when she finally locked out the bar overhead. They were encouraging her effort with absolutely no attention or care about her technique and safety. This is just one example of many that indicates how overcoming the weight was more important than how the lift was performed.
Other daily workouts may prescribe high-intensity metabolic conditioning that often requires participants to train to the point of exhaustion and, sometimes, to the point of throwing up. The mindset and main objective is primarily focused on overcoming a specific quantity of work as opposed to expressing quality in the work.
It is this mentality that can be detrimental to athletes and the general fitness population as well. There is a reason why physical therapists and chiropractors love Crossfit and other HIIT programs. HIIT programs are pretty good at producing patients.

Another unwanted factor associated with HIIT is the high degree of fatigue and lactate training loads. For athletes, how can they master movement and skill execution or build speed and strength in a fatigued state? The answer is they cannot. This is something the majority of coaches and trainers must understand. Lactate-based training is widely over-utilized and misplaced. This ultimately cuts into more productive training methods and increases the need for recovery. When it comes to HIIT programs, recovery is often not sufficient and will potentially push participants into a chronic state of fatigue or create an over-trained individual. Keep in mind, injuries are more likely to occur in a fatigued or over-trained state.

When it comes to HIIT, training principles regarding periodization, progressive overload, mastery of technique, specificity of training, and individualization of training are completely ignored. These principles, among others, are highly important when it comes to the safety and effectiveness of training athletes. They have been proven to be foundational in producing the most effective results from any training program.

Final Words
Training and sport science tells us that HIIT programs or any randomized high-intensity program is not conducive for efficient training and development of athletes in regards to strength, speed, power, and other physical abilities. Sure it may be trendy, but ask yourself does the program or exercise routine provide the development you want? Remember, development is always specific to your training demands. Also, ask yourself if your current training methods are more likely to make you a better athlete or a patient.

Related Articles:

Interval/Sprint Training vs Cardio: Which is Better for Fat Loss and Physique Development?
Training Hard vs Training Smart
Have You Mastered Your Movement?
2 Reasons For Your Lack of Results
Training for Elite Athletes

The emphasis of many athletic development programs is typically rooted in developing the physical qualities needed in the sport of competition. Physical qualities usually emphasized are endurance/work capacity, strength, body awareness, agility, quickness, speed, and explosive power. Improvements made in any of the previously mentioned physical qualities can certainly improve an athlete’s fitness and physical preparedness for competition. But great athletes are rarely defined by their level of fitness and how ‘in-shape’ they are. They are defined by their ability to play the game and perform the skills of the sport. Great coaches and trainers understand this, being able to take an athlete’s newly developed physical qualities and transfer them to into improved skill execution or technical mastery of sport related movements.

This is accomplished by specificity of training.

In order to ensure specificity of training, it is first necessary to determine the exact physical qualities an athlete is in greatest need of. Many coaches and trainers refer to this as ‘identifying the deficiency’. Once the deficiency is identified and an understanding is developed as to how the deficiency is limiting on-field performance, the deficiency can be trained appropriately.

To identify deficiencies, the majority of coaches and trainers utilize tests to determine an athlete’s level of strength, endurance, explosiveness, and even flexibility. While these tests are often necessary and provide quantitative information that will help assess how an athlete stacks up in comparison to others, what these tests fail to indicate is how efficiently an athlete can perform sport-specific skills or maneuvers.

Physical performance tests fail to indicate an athlete’s needs in relation to game performance. To ensure transfer of training into improved sport performance, identifying an athlete’s developmental needs must take into account an analysis of all components involved in successful competition. Often, this involves a complete biomechanical analysis of movements related to sport-skill execution.

For example, the deep squat is often a staple of many strength and conditioning programs. It can be a tremendous exercise for building hip strength and power and for a variety of other reasons. But when you examine the sport-related movements of many athletes, one can come to the determination that the need to deep squat is not a priority for many athletes. Consider hockey and basketball players. These sports require hip external rotation strength and power to execute sport-specific movements (skating, lateral cuts, change of direction, etc.). Rather than placing greater and greater emphasis on improving strength in the deep squat, these athletes will be better served in developing hip external rotation through other exercises which more closely mimic the external rotation demands of the hips in competition.

Again, great athletes are rarely the strongest or the fittest. There are studies that demonstrate Olympic-level athletes and World Record holders are not the strongest athletes (with the exception being in strength sports such as powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting). Athletes on the highest levels of performance do not lift the greatest amount of weight in commonly used exercises, such as the clean, squat, bench, or deadlift.

More commonly, athletes will fall in the midrange of strength numbers. What this is demonstrating is a ‘point of diminishing returns’. Many athletes reach a point at which increases in strength or other physical qualities do not always equate to improved sport performance.

Successful athletes must be able to execute sport skills with technical mastery and precision. Regardless if you are a hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, tennis or track athlete, you need great acceleration, speed, agility (ability to change direction quickly), and the ability to jump high (which also requires explosive power). But arguably most important is the ability to perform all sport skills with mastery and precision of movement.

An athlete will never be successful if they do not have the ability to execute sport skills successfully. This is why technique must be closely analyzed and why the training of physical qualities must directly enhance the performance of sport-specific skill execution.

Analyzing an athlete’s sport skill technique and the demands of game play becomes a necessary first step to determine exactly what their training program should consist of. Often to correct and/or enhance technique, special strength exercises are implemented to develop the specific strength an athlete needs to execute movements more efficiently.

We addressed special strength exercises in this article. Special strength exercises are intended to replicate the exact neuromuscular pathways utilized in the execution of specific sport skills.

With proper analysis and identifying the ‘deficiency’ of the athlete, it enables the training program to have greater transfer into sport performance. The training program is continually adjusted as improvements in strength, speed, agility, and explosive power are integrated into technical mastery of skill execution.

Related Articles:

Training for Elite Athletes
Common Mistakes in Developing Young Athletes

In order to meet the demands of working with athletes of all levels of preparation, the services at GP are constantly evolving and adapting on many levels. When it comes to the physical preparation of our athletes, there is no single program or method we use with every athlete. We are constantly assessing each athlete from day to day, learning what he or she is capable of performing during any given training session. Constantly assessing our athletes during their dynamic movements also allows us to identify weakness and address them accordingly from both an injury prevention and performance enhancement perspective.

Our approach can often times be a source of both intrigue and confusion for parents and their young athletes, since the majority of them are all too familiar with a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. Many of these athletes even come with ‘cookie-cutter’ strength and conditioning programs given to them by their coach or previous trainer. It becomes our job to explain our approach to training and athletic development and why these ‘cookie-cutter’ programs fail to address individual needs of each athlete. After explaining why each individual athlete requires their own individualized approach and why no two athletes will respond similarly to the same program, it makes sense to them. They often find this very refreshing. What doesn’t make sense to them is how so many coaches and trainers are ignorant of this fact.

In an interview with Buddy Morris, Joel Jamison addressed the heart of the matter by saying,

“Coaches and trainers maybe don’t do the best job of understanding the needs of the sport and they tend to let their athletes over train because of the….push of this country is more intensity, the quick buck, the fast results. The other thing I think that’s influenced our industry probably negatively more than anything else is the marketing aspect. That there’s products, and there’s training methods, and there’s everything being pushed to athletes and coaches from a marketing perspective. We’ve all seen the cross fits, the P90 Xs, all the functional training stuff. It’s the marketing driving the training rather than the training driving the results or the results being based on something scientific.”

”We're trying to create circus acts in this country so, like you said, people can generate revenue. So if you actually read and you understand training methodics and you understand the athlete and training the athlete, you won’t buy into all this stuff out there.”

At GP, we get plenty of questions from our young athletes about training simply because they are exposed to more training information and conflicting ideas than ever before. Recently, we had one of our athletes ask us, “A lot of my teammates are training at _______ and the trainers there have them stand on BOSU balls and do different movements, telling them it’s what they need as athletes. I’ve watched them and it seems ridiculous to me. They can’t even do simple movements correctly. Why are they doing that?”

We love educating our clients and athletes, especially when it comes to any number of gimmicks that exist in the sports performance industry.

Whether you wish to refer to it as balance training or unstable surface training, plenty of images can come to mind of people standing on wobble boards, BOSU balls, and even stability balls. These items are often marketed as “functional training”, being capable of not only improving your balance, but also increasing core muscle activation and strength. Athletes are often told that balance training is essential to improving as an athlete and reducing their risk of injury.

This school of thought grew out of the physical therapy and rehabilitation setting. In the rehabilitation setting, there is some efficacy regarding the use of balance training in chronic low back pain and reducing the risk of recurrent injury, particularly when it comes to ankle sprains. Unfortunately, there seems to be a sect of the personal training and sports performance industry that has concluded that information gathered on injured patients is somehow applicable to the non-injured individual and high-performance athlete.

The reality is all exercise is functional, if applied correctly to address the needs of the individual. This takes into account their goals, primary sport form, strengthens/weakness, and imbalances that need attention. If your exercise has no direct transfer into any of these areas, the exercise is not “functional”. Functional exercise should never be determined by how it looks, but rather what it produces.

When it comes to balance/unstable surface training, the above paragraph is incredibly relevant.

Why?

Take a moment and ask yourself this question, “When am I ever on an unstable surface during my daily life? When do I compete on an unstable surface?”

If you answered honestly, chances are very little, if ever. So why are we training people on an unstable surface when they are almost never on unstable surfaces?

The fact of the matter is, the floor works just fine.  Unstable surface training probably does more for decreasing athleticism, strength, balance, and movement quality than it helps.

Here is a quote from an article written by the man known as Kiefer:

“You instantly tense up, you almost literally can’t perform certain movements because the nervous system senses the instability of the environment and fires in resistant ways to keep you balanced. In this process, it also shuts down the ability to produce maximum force….Think about it, if you start to slip in one direction and your reflexes caused your muscles to fire with maximum force against that motion—a motion that may be inevitable at that point, like falling—then you risk tearing muscle or connective tissue. The body is trying to protect you by making you weaker.”

1. Several researchers have demonstrated that there is significant increases in stabilizer activity during movements that require increased force (either greater resistance or higher speed) compared to activity seen in unstable environments [1-4].
2. Performing squats on unstable surfaces will increase core activation, but not necessarily core strength [5] and definitely decreases muscle force production [6].
3. Doing pushups on a physioball does less to activate stabilizing muscles than placing your feet on an elevated, stable bench[7].
4. Unstable surface training contributes nothing that cannot be achieved when performing stable surface exercises [8,9].
5. Stable surfaces are superior for some scenarios involving scapular rehabilitation [10].

1. Freeman S, Karpowicz A, Gray J, McGill S. Quantifying muscle patterns and spine load during various forms of the push-up. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Mar;38(3):570-7.
2. Hamlyn N, Behm DG, Young WB. Trunk muscle activation during dynamic weight-training exercises and isometric instability activities. J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Nov;21(4):1108-12.
3. Nuzzo JL, McCaulley GO, Cormie P, Cavill MJ, McBride JM. Trunk muscle activity during stability ball and free weight exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Jan;22(1):95-102.
4. Willardson JM, Fontana FE, Bressel E. Effect of surface stability on core muscle activity for dynamic resistance exercises. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2009 Mar;4(1):97-109.
5. Anderson K, Behm DG. Trunk muscle activity increases with unstable squat movements. Can J Appl Physiol. 2005 Feb;30(1):33-45.
6. Saeterbakken AH, Fimland MS. Muscle force output and electromyographic activity in squats with various unstable surfaces. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Mar 24. Epub ahead of print.
7. Lehman GJ, Gilas D, Patel U. An unstable support surface does not increase scapulothoracic stabilizing muscle activity during push up and push up plus exercises. Man Ther. 2008 Dec;13(6):500-6.
8. Lehman GJ, MacMillan B, MacIntyre I, Chivers M, Fluter M. Shoulder muscle EMG activity during push up variations on and off a Swiss ball. Dyn Med. 2006 Jun 9;5:7.
9. de Oliveira AS, de Morais Carvalho M, de Brum DP. Activation of the shoulder and arm muscles during axial load exercises on a stable base of support and on a medicine ball. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2008 Jun;18(3):472-9.
10. Martins J, Tucci HT, Andrade R, Araújo RC, Bevilaqua-Grossi D, Oliveira AS. Electromyographic amplitude ratio of serratus anterior and upper trapezius muscles during modified push-ups and bench press exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2008 Mar;22(2):477-84. 

For athletes new to GP, physical preparation is a term that is unfamiliar to them. Sure they are familiar with “strength and conditioning” or “speed and strength” programs. Many of these athletes come from high schools and colleges that have a strength and conditioning (S&C) coach. If they do not have the luxury of having a S&C coach at their high school, they are often familiar with the “Bigger, Faster, Stronger” programs that many coaches hand out to their players, especially our football players.

There is a movement within the S&C industry that has more and more coaches referring to themselves as coaches of “physical preparation”. The concept of physical preparation, as it pertains to athletes, incorporates much more than simply strength and conditioning. Buddy Morris, current Head Strength/Physical Preparation Coach for the Arizona Cardinals, has said:

“We're coaches of physical preparation. What we do encompasses more than just conditioning and strength. There are a lot of variables we have to look at it with each individual athlete and each individual group. In this country, I think if anything, we place too much emphasis on strength. I'm not downplaying the importance of strength, but I think we put too much emphasis on it and too much volume."

• Start/acceleration: 0-30m
• Speed/maximum velocity: 30-60m
• Speed endurance: 60-100m

We have noticed a problem here at GP and it’s likely a problem many others in the sports performance industry have also observed. The problem I am speaking of is rooted in the disunity that exists among specialists involved in the preparation, rehabilitation, and regeneration of athletes. From experience, I’m specifically speaking to the working relationship amongst coaches and physical medicine professionals, such as chiropractors and physiotherapists.

There are coaches who specialize in the physical preparation of athletes while others specialize in technical sport skill development. In the physical medicine world, there are professionals specializing across a broad range of rehabilitative, orthopedic, neuromuscular, manual therapy, and manipulative therapy services. The disunity seems to stem from a lack of communication and understanding as to why specific approaches or services are being provided by specialists involved with an athlete. We have heard similar stories from a number of our new athletes when they speak of previous experiences.

Commonly, the story sounds a little something like this:

Athlete X is being trained by Coach A for physical preparation purposes while also receiving private, sport skill development lessons from Coach B. Keep in mind that Athlete X underwent surgery at the end of their competitive season to repair an injury and has been seeing Therapist C for rehabilitative care. In addition to post-surgical rehabilitation, they also visit Therapist D for chiropractic and manual therapy services such as Active Release, Graston, or massage services.

Now while this may appear to be all well and good, the problem exists in that each individual specialist often has little to no understanding in regards to either the specific work loads or therapeutic interventions being made by the others, resulting in a collective degree of stress placed on the athlete far greater than any specialist is aware of because nobody is on the same page. All the while, Athlete X is either failing to progress in their rehabilitation, consistently dealing with the same nagging aches and pains, or is having inconsistent training sessions.

More In Common Than We Realize
Physical preparation of athletes, sport skill development, and rehabilitative/manual therapy share a common bond and that is the restoration or optimization of movement.

In athletics, the improvement of both sport skills and physical abilities is without question directly related to the systematic planning and organization of developmental protocols. Often these developmental protocols aim to improve qualities such as strength, speed, skill, stamina, suppleness (flexibility), and postural control as they relate to an athlete’s sport(s) of participation.

In the world of physical medicine (manual therapy, chiropractic, rehabilitation), protocols are utilized to promote the restoration, regeneration and recovery of the body’s nervous system and tissues, improve postural balance and control, and aid in the reduction of repetitive injury patterns.

Clearly, efficient movement and postural control should be of importance to coaches, therapists, and athletes alike. Efficient movement mechanics and their respective postures are dependent upon the balance and control of the body’s movement system. The movement system consists of over 200 bones, around 600 muscles, and a seemingly endless network of fascia and connective tissue. This system is monitored and controlled by a sophisticated network of proprioceptors or sensors, which serve as our brain’s guide for learning, establishing, and maintaining correct posture and movement.

Postural Training Considerations
Correct posture, as it relates to dynamic sport skill execution, is essential to athletic success. Posture is not just a static concept, associated only with sitting or standing. Posture is dynamic and must be thought of accordingly. Poor dynamic postural control will influence the development of biomotor abilities such as flexibility, coordination, strength, speed, and any combination of the previously mentioned.

Considering poor dynamic postural control is a recurring theme among many of our clients and athletes, the training and teaching philosophy at GP allows us to focus on postural improvements. This is accomplished through activities and drills that enhance the ability to hold correct postures and positions, promoting the directional strength needed for ideal force application by reducing muscular imbalances and biomechanical weaknesses. We introduce developmental posture drills in our training programs, since athletes who learn ideal postures during simple motor tasks will lay the foundation for more rapid mastery of increasingly complex motor skills while providing the long-term benefit of reduced risk of repetitive injury.

These developmental posture drills are limited only by knowledge of kinesiological principles as they relate to sport dynamics and one’s imagination. As dynamic postural control improves, the result is more advanced movement skills. Similar to any other biomotor ability, when planning for postural control drills in the training schedule, the volume, intensity, frequency, and work to rest ratios will be influenced by factors such as training age, time of the season, medical/injury history considerations, and skill/ability parameters.

Conclusion
Coaches and therapists would mutually benefit to be on the same page since  the goal of any physical preparatory program, including  the integration of rehabilitative or regenerative protocols when required, is nothing more than movement preparation based upon the evaluation of sport requirements. GP’s approach to physical preparation accounts for an inclusive approach when addressing proper movement. Our inclusive approach accounts for what is seen by the “eye” of the coach or therapist and allows us to adapt developmental protocols as needed. We do our best to account for all stressors each athlete is exposed to during a training week as well as over the course of a training cycle. We want to know when and how often they are working with other sport skill instructors and physical medicine professionals. We make our specific considerations for each athlete’s training not just based on their needs, but also on other factors such as outside workloads from practice, competition, skill development, and additional forms of therapy. If needed, we will consult with the other professionals involved in order to keep the athlete’s best interest in mind.

At GP, as physical medicine professionals and performance coaches, we are able to stay on the same page and promote a more seamless transition for our athletes as they progress through specific phases of training and/or therapy. Similar to other high-performance training centers, GP’s approach places a primary importance on feedback and communication between coach, therapist, and athlete to ensure quality and consistency in our services.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/technique_and_performance/

https://gallagherperformance.com/have-you-mastered-your-movement/

What you need to know:

• Training for speed is not the same as conditioning. Speed is an entirely separate physical trait than being "in shape".
• Sport-specific speed requires an understanding of the sport and the individual athlete to help maximize their speed potential.

# 1 - Train Powerful Legs NOT Quick Feet

# 3 - Speed Work and Conditioning Are Not the Same

# 4 - Make Lateral Starts and Transition Drills a Priority