Category: Random Thoughts

Thoughts on Specialization

1/19/2019

This past weekend was the NFL Draft, and as this weekend arrives every year, so do the cries from people with daily stats on how may NFL draftees played multiple sports, quotes of college coaches saying they recruit multi-sport athletes, and the claim playing multiple sports is key in them getting drafted.

A HUGE discussion was brought out by Keir Wenham-Flatt with this tweet – I encourage you to read all the branches this tweet spurred

I want to share my thoughts on this topic, as it seems I've been booked into promoting specialization by some coaches because I disagree with their commentary and language used. In today's world, having an opinion that differs from the majority gets you yelled at, called an idiot, or the worse of all... blocked on twitter.

In fact, Tony Holler, a coach I highly respect and enjoy his work, blocked me because I disagreed with his opinion on this topic, and instead of having an intelligent discourse, he blocked me and proceeded to tweet negative things about me... heartbreaking

So, here are some random thoughts on specialization

1. First I want to make it clear, I don’t think anyone is truly pushing specialization - in the terms that specialization actually exists. THIS is where I think many of these coaches go wrong – if they’d actually read the literature on specialization, they’d know that it points to NOT specializing at young ages (7-13), and instead to get involved in many athletic endeavors – and this is something I don’t think anyone is disputing.

Again if you’ve read the literature, it actually points to encouraging specialization around ages 16-18 – well guess what – That’s a sophomore through senior in HS. So if a HS kid is passionate about a sport and wants maximize his/her ability in that sport – the literature actually supports this decision.

So, that’s the difference – when to specialize, NOT if specializing is bad. I think we all agree 7-13 year olds should be exposed to as many athletic events as possible. Understand that a 7-13 year old specializing is vastly different than a 16-18 year old specializing.

2. Let's Try an Example

We have Johnny and Billy - both are HS Juniors.

Johnny was blessed with the genetic lottery - He’s a very gifted athlete. Football is his primary sport, with a scholarship on the way. He also plays basketball and track. Johnny is a 9/10 football player, and even though he only plays basketball during the season (3-months out of the year), he still manages to be a 7/10 basketball player because of his raw athletic ability. Physically dominant kids like Johnny can afford to be less technically & tactically skilled in their lesser sports and still be good – hence why he is a 7/10 with only playing basketball 3-months out of the year.

And remember - When you're a good athlete you get pulled into multiple sports. It's not that playing multiple sports causes one to become a good athlete - it's being a good athlete causes one to be pulled to play multiple sports.

Billy on the other hand was not blessed with superior genetics, he's a pretty average athlete. Billy loves basketball; it’s his passion and his ultimate goal is to play college basketball - ultimately he realizes DI is out of the question and DIII is his likely route - but that shouldn't be any less of a reason to pursue this goal.

Unfortunately for Billy, he’s only a 5/10 basketball player.

So, how can Billy compete with Johnny in basketball???

Well, Billy decides to specialize in basketball. He improves his basketball specific skill set, IQ, specific perception, and learns the nuances of the game that can only come from accumulating time in that sport.

Basketball season comes around and now Billy is a 6.5/10 – he now has a chance to compete with Johnny. If he played multiple sports, he’d likely still be a 5/10 and wouldn’t see the court.

By his senior year, Billy has raised himself to a 7.5/10 basketball player, good enough to be a starter and earn an opportunity to play at the DIII level.

Who is to say this is the wrong path for Billy?

I can hear the critics – But he’ll burnout, that doesn’t sound fun, he’ll never be as athletic if he played multiple sports, etc.

But I ask – who led this situation?

It was athlete led; Billy decided this is what HE wanted, and it is wrong for an adult to criticize his decision – and this is where I get frustrated.

3. The language I see used by coaches needs to change.

Athletes NEED to run track; they MUST play basketball; they HAVE to play baseball. If you're under 6'6 and don't have a basketball scholarship yet - you NEED to be playing football (these are real quotes from coaches - publicly displayed on Twitter)

Ever thought for a second that the athlete just doesn’t like those sports? That they don't like track or football or any other sport?

My argument is how is this any better than the AAU coach saying the same thing?

We get pissed if an AAU coach says - If you want to play college basketball you NEED to play AAU. If you want to get noticed by college coaches you HAVE to play AAU.

It’s the same thing – it’s an adult with an agenda trying to lead the decision.

Athletes should be encouraged to play multiple sports – no doubt. But coaches shouldn’t FORCE or MAKE HS athletes play multiple sports. If a kid doesn’t like a sport, stop trying to push them to do it.

A who cares if a kid wants to play hoops all year long, and they’re only 5’10 – if it’s athlete led and the kids passion – awesome.

4. If a HS kid can start to specialize his/her education, then why not sports?

Junior and senior HS kids are asked what careers they’d like to pursue and encouraged to specialize their schoolwork towards those careers.

My junior and senior year, I don’t think I took an English class; instead I loaded up my schedule in the math and sciences because that’s what I enjoyed.

Why is it different for sports?

Or how about this - why don't college or professional athletes play multiple sports?

If playing multiple sports is the panacea of athletic development - why don't athletes post HS do it?

5. What classifies as playing multiple sports?

I have a number of Jr. & Sr. football players who don’t play another sport but play pick-up basketball 2-3 days a week. I have college basketball players that golf 2-3 days a week. Does playing a wide variety of games in the backyard as a youngster count multiple sports?

Does this negate specialization?

6. A final piece and hardest for people to come to terms with – Specialization works!

When done right, specializing has worked for tons of athletes all over the world. Look at sports like gymnastics, swimming/diving, tennis, soccer, golf, basketball, baseball - the majority of the athletes in these sports have specialized from a young age. Look at countries who send little kids to specialized camps from a young age to groom them into Olympians.

Specialization works.

7. Clearly it is much more complex than
specialization = bad
multiple sports = good.

And that’s how this whole thing got started – coaches with an agenda (yes I said agenda) trying to get better athletes to play their sport.

At the end of the day kids should define their own athletic experience.

Trust me, I played 3 sports in HS and couldn’t imagine only playing a single sport in HS – but I also understand everybody is different and kids should lead the decision-making process.

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The Weight Belt: Should You Wear One?

2/3/2017

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It's common practice in the strength and conditioning world to bash the use of a belt.

Common arguments include

Wearing a belt limits or doesn't allow the person to learn how to stabilize their core and instead relies on the belt to do so.
Wearing a belt "cheats" and allows an athlete with a weaker torso to lift more weight. Coaches state they want their athletes to develop a strong torso, and not using a belt ensures them to develop trunk strength.
Athletes don't wear a belt on the field, so they shouldn't in the weight room.

I've heard recommendations from coaches ranging from - never allowing a belt, to only on max limits, to only on lifts above 80%

All-in-All the trend seems to point to limiting belt usage to heavier loads.

So the question begs, is there any validity to these recommendations; more so, is wearing a belt bad and why do certain coaches resist using belts?

Let's take a look at an old study out of Auburn University back in 1992 (3). This was one of the first studies looking at the effects of a weight-belt on the back squat. This study was also very useful because the participants could actually move a respectable amount of weight.

To qualify for the study, subjects either had to move 277lbs for 8 reps or have an 8RM of at least 1.6x body weight. While these may not be eye-opening numbers, we can all agree moving 1.6x body weight for 8-reps is pretty strong and by all means they aren't newbies, which can be rare to see in most S&C studies.

The researchers measured force output via a force plate, intra-abdominal pressure, muscle activation, and time of each phase of the lift.

A couple of interesting things the researchers found

Intra-abdominal pressure was shown to be 25-40% higher in the belted group
EMG Data Found...
- No difference in spinal erector activity between groups
- Vastus Lateralis activity was much higher with belt than without
- Biceps Femoris activity was also much higher with belt than without
- No difference in external oblique activity between groups
No difference was found between groups in terms of ground forces

What Does This Mean

These findings shed some light on a few things. Most people wear a belt to take load off the midsection, well this study showed that there was no difference between the belted and un-belted group in spinal erector and external oblique EMG activity. All the while increasing intra-abdominal pressure (IAP), which increases spinal stability and reduces shear forces on the spine.

IAP helps to stabilizes the pelvis, helping it resist excessive pelvic tilt (both anterior and posterior). So wearing a belt increased intra-abdominal pressure, which was expected and others studies have also shown this (1,2,4,5), but it did not reduce core activation levels, which is contrary to what most people theorize.

Wearing a belt increased activation levels of both the biceps femoris and vastus laterals. So at the same weight, wearing a belt increased the activation levels in quads and hammies; this sounds like a win-win for the belt. A possible reason for this (only a theory) is that since the lumbo-pelvic region was more stable due to the increased IAP while maintaining muscle activation levels of this region, this allowed more work to be done by the prime movers instead of being wasted on stability.

Overall, this study showed that lifting with a belt allows you to lift heavier weights or maintain current weight load and still increase muscle activation. When you break it down in this manner, it almost seems like NOT wearing a belt would be counterproductive.

The great thing about this study is the group they studied. The subjects clearly have experience lifting and they used pretty respectable loads. Many studies that look at belts look at them in different settings, mainly manual labor settings. Many people have taken the results of these studies on manual labor workers and tried to carry over the results to the strength and conditioning world. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.

Renfro & Ebben (2006) summed it up well... "sport science evidence suggests that lifting belts may be beneficial in reducing spinal compression, stabilizing the spine, increasing motor unit recruitment in prime movers, and increasing exercise velocity as our meta analysis showed 5 of the 8 sport science and strength and conditioning studies supported it's used. Two of the 8 sport science and strength and conditioning studies showed mixed results and only 1 of the 8 studies showed no positive effect" (5).

Different Ways To Implement A Belt

Teach Breathing Mechanics During Different Lifts - Our favorite way to use a belt is to help teach proper breathing technique during lifts. The belt gives feedback for the athlete to feel what creating intra-abdominal pressure feels like and how to correctly stabilize the spine. We teach to feel pressure in all parts of the belts - forward, side, backward - almost like filling up a balloon. Many coach just putting pressure just into the front, but this leads to increase in excessive lumbar extension - so always teach push into the belt in all directions.

Increase Activation of Prime Movers - Wearing belt allows the prime movers to do their job because the pelvis and spine are more stable. This is great for adding intensity and strength to the lifts. We like to throw on belts during max effort movements and during max velocity movements to ensure maximum output from the prime movers.

Just Use It - Honestly, just breaking out a belt every once in a while can be a good mix up and give athletes a different stimulus and feedback when lifting. It's great for teaching, reinforcing, and cementing quality movement patterns, and a valuable tool that doesn't deserve the bad love it receives by many.

References

1. Bauer, J. A., FRX, A., & Carter, C. (1999). The Use of Lumbar-Supporting Weight Belts While Performing Squats: Erector Spinae Electromyographic Activity. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 13(4), 384-388.

2. Lander, J. E., Simonton, R. L., & Giacobbe, J. K. (1990). The effectiveness of weight-belts during the squat exercise. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 22(1), 117-126.

3. Lander, J. E., Hundley, J. R., & Simonton, R. L. (1992). The effectiveness of weight-belts during multiple repetitions of the squat exercise. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 24(5), 603-609.

4. Miyamoto, K., Iinuma, N., Maeda, M., Wada, E., & Shimizu, K. (1999). Effects of abdominal belts on intra-abdominal pressure, intramuscular pressure in the erector spinae muscles and myoelectrical activities of trunk muscles. Clinical Biomechanics, 14(2), 79-87.

5. Renfro, G. J., & Ebben, W. P. (2006). A Review of the Use of Lifting Belts.Strength & Conditioning Journal, 28(1), 68-74.

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Random Thoughts

7/21/2016

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I keep a journal of notes in my phone, by my bedside, and in a word document on my computer. Here's where I'll dump all of those ideas into an incoherent lists of things floating around my head.

Science confirms, good ideas happen when you are mentally switched off. Taking a vacation, taking time off, sleep, and procrastinating can help in solving complex problems

Everybody should be taking naps, I think schools should even promote 30-minutes to a midday nap. The research is clear on this topic as well, if you want to live longer, be more creative, receive a burst of energy/focus, improve performance - then NAP!

Add stress or other cognitive function during decision making to enhance sporting performance: Like performing math equations, memorizing colors/patterns, watching something, listening to something, or any kind of mental processing while performing a task may enhance motor learning.

1000 good reps cannot undo the work of 100 bad reps. Start doing things correctly, don't wait for breakdown

S&C coaches need to voice input and feedback of basic physiological truths to sport coaches when it comes to practice, structuring, intensities, and nervous system optimization. For example, a normal football practice week should really look like the top chart - and not the bottom chart, which is the traditional method in the football world

All athletes seek autonomy, competence and connection. Does your program provide these things?
- Autonomy is the need to be free to choose your own goals and do things because you like doing them for their own sake. Autonomy is the freedom to set your own goals, choose your own path and not feel pressured by other people or outside forces.
- Competence is being good at what you’re doing and feeling confident in your abilities to perform the task at hand. We all want to feel like we are learning, increasing our skill and growing. This basic need for competence and pursuit of mastery drives us, and makes us feel good when we achieve a difficult goal.
- Connection is the desire to bond with and relate to other people. Goals that have you interacting with others, giving and receiving help from others and nurturing relationships are going to fill your innate need for connection.

Some of the most important things we can do as coaches and parents is let kids figure things out on their own. This means if there is a dispute in grades, or playing time, or social aspects - the kid should figure them out - don't step in and try to solve the problem - this isn't benefitting anyone

Nutrition is emotional. The more I think and work on nutritional things, the more I see a need to address emotional ties to eating habits and decisions - not just plain x's and o's of nutrient breakdowns

It's combine season for many of our HS athletes, so we thought we'd throw together a video on the most important part of the 40-yard dash - the stance and start

Athlete training needs to be individualized - especially the higher the level of the athlete. Think about this - if you give a group of 10 athletes the same program - why do 3 get a ton better, 4 get a little bit better, and 3 see no change?
- Many fast-twitched athletes (think corvettes) need much LESS work, while less genetically gifted (think pintos) may thrive on more work

We have a couple of S&C Camps scheduled for this summer and a few more openings available - if you know a team or school that would benefit from this, contact us - http://www.building-better-athletes.com/strength--conditioning-camp.html

Check out this FREE Human Behavioral Biology Course from Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky. Seriously this is a FREE course from Stanford University - ARE YOU KIDDING ME!

Sometimes we need to step back and let athletes and the human body do what it wants to do. Often times coaches step in and make corrections on things that don't look correct. For example, the false step - often times coaches try to rid athletes of this movement, but in actuality it's the bodies natural response more effective than not using one. We aren't smarter than the human body.

When programming for your athletes - do you take into account what style of play their team is? If I'm training a football player that plays in a "spread offense" with a play every 20-seconds, this is much different than a player in a "pro style" offense where they may use the whole play clock. This not only changes the energy system demands of the athlete, but also the total volume and in some cases the intensity of work done by the athletes. The same could be said for other team sports like basketball, soccer, football, lacrosse, rugby, hockey. So do your homework, talk to the athlete, call the coach, watch a game and find out what style of play the team emphasizes.

Go Get 'Em!

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Random Speed Thoughts

2/12/2016

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Enjoy these random thoughts on speed!

Speed is about producing force in the right direction and applying that force in the shortest amount of time - This means neuromuscular efficiency, technical/mechanical mastery, stiffness, usage of elastic components, relaxation, rhythm, timing, coordination are all important

Research has shown that triple extension is neither optimal nor necessary in many of the steps during acceleration or top-end speed - what again is the fascination with triple extension?

The main goal in top-end sprinting is front side mechanics. A common error is what path the foot travels at toe-off. Does it keep traveling backwards & upwards or does it travels forward & upward? Upwards and forward is optimal - backwards and upward is wasted motion and time. Pause the video at 5-seconds and see the difference of foot location.

An easy way to look for efficient front side mechanics is to look where the knees are at ground contact. During optimal and efficient mechanics, the knees will line-up at foot contact. During poor mechanics and backside dominant mechanics, the flight leg knee will lag behind. Pause the above video at 6-seconds and look at the differences in knee location and it's clear to see wasted time and what will be a lack of front side mechanics by the athlete on the right, which will in turn equate to less force production.

A favorite drill of mine to improve front side mechanics and "naturally" develop better positioning at foot contact is wickets

Errors made during acceleration lead to errors in top-end speed. Quality acceleration = quality top-end

Relaxation is key for top-end speed. As Yuri Verkhoshansky stated, "Relaxation is very important for high velocity movements". Being able to quickly contract and relax is vitally important for maximum efficiency - and not being able to relax will lead to early fatigue, loss of mechanics, and tightening up - all equal a loss of speed and recovery. An easy place to look as at the face or shoulders - are they tense and stiff? If so, the athlete needs to work on relaxation. - Also read THIS

A key area I see missing in athletes in ankle stiffness. More ankle stiffness = better stored elastic energy, lower GCT, and more effective force transfer into the ground. This is achieved by better foot/ankle positioning during ground prep and ground contact - mainly dorsiflexion. Also, I'm a big fan of longer duration, low intensity hopping/jumping exercises - This teaches proper ground contact positioning and builds the base of ankle/foot stiffness needed for high speed running.

Speed drills don't directly make one faster - what they do is create context and give the athlete a better understanding and feel of body positioning, trunk and shin angles, tempo, rhythm, posture, and coordination needed to accelerate and reach top-end properly. Drills take time for transfer, but over time, the qualities gained and developed through the context of drills WILL transfer towards better, more efficient mechanics.

Getting faster will increase numbers in the weight room, but increasing numbers in the weight room will not necessarily improve sprinting speed

The foot contacts behind the COM during the first 1-4 step during acceleration = body positioning, shin angle. I keep hearing a big name coach say this doesn't happen and it drives me nuts - Read this MONSTER

Continuing on the dorsiflexion path - can't emphasize enough the importance of getting proper dorsiflexion and gaining dorsiflexion ROM. Faster sprinter's not only exhibit dorsiflexion during ground prep and contact, but they initiate the dorsiflexion signal earlier at toe-off. Ingraining dorsiflexion in as many movements as possible innately teaches the athlete the crossed extensor reflex - which leads to shorter GCT and quicker flexion after toe-off.

Arms are neither a maker or breaker of high running speeds. They do contribute to certain aspects of speed enhancement, but they DO NOT lead the legs and are not going to be the major difference in speed enhancement.

The majority of team sports should focus much of their attention on acceleration speed. They should also do so from various start positions, various stimulus to react to, various movements to proceed the acceleration, etc.

Probably the quickest way to instantly improve speed is to improve body composition/lose weight. As Charlie Francis said, "Fat don't Fly!"

Technique matters:

What we say as a coach can effect speed performance. External cues have been shown to be effective at enhancing speed performance

- Acceleration = PUSH, Drive the ground behind you, Explode like being shot out of a cannon, Drive your knee forward like your breaking a glass window
- Top-End = Stay tall, Bounce, Snap off the ground, Act like your running on hot coals, Imagine your running in knee high grass, Imagine a Lion is chasing you

The Crossed Extensor Reflex is a very interesting concept, and one that I believe plays a big role. The hard part is trying to train or develop this reflex into our athletes. My thought is repetitions and repetitions of dorsiflexion to ingrain it subconsciously.

That's all for now.

Go Get 'Em!

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Thoughts on Specialization

The Weight Belt: Should You Wear One?

Random Thoughts

Random Speed Thoughts

Michael Zweifel CSCS-

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