Todd Jones Strength & Conditioning

How to Avoid Overtraining

2012-01-31T18:21:00.000+11:00

Earlier this month I wrote a piece on overtraining, if you missed it you can read it here.

Before we move on to some great techniques on how to avoid the overtraining syndrome let's briefly touch up on what overtraining is. As we defined in the previous post about the overtraining syndrome (OTS) it can be defined as when the stress of training is excessive and compounded with life’s other stressors followed by insufficient rest and recovery leading to losses in performance and can affect one’s health adversely. Some of the symptoms of OTS include depressed mood, general apathy, decreased self-esteem, emotional instability, impaired performance, restlessness, irritability, disturbed sleep, weight loss, loss of appetite, increased resting heart rate, increased vulnerability to injuries, hormonal changes, and a lack of supercompensation.

So it is of extreme importance we do everything in our power to avoid OTS and hopefully through the following article you will gain some techniques to do so.

Poor bloke is overtrained

Monitoring Training Load

When trying to avoid OTS it's imperative that we monitor our athletes and players. This meaning we record their daily training load. One of the most cost efficient ways of doing so is the session RPE multiplied by the session duration method. In this we ask the athlete to record how difficult the session was on a scale of usually 1-10 but scales of 6-20 have also been utilized. The number does not matter so much, just as long as the athlete has been educated on the exact meaning of each number in the scale. This measurement is labelled the "Session RPE" meaning the "rating of percieved exertion" for that session.

Once we have the Session RPE we multiply this by the session duration in minutes.

So an example of this may be as followed:

Player 1: RPE = 8
              Duration = 60 minutes
              Training Load = (8 x 60) 480

Player 2: RPE = 6
              Duration = 60 minutes
              Training Load = (6 x 60) 360

This is a cost effective and easy to administer method of monitoring athletes. It's important that the athletes are educated on the scale and that the data is maintined. With this data we are able to adjust the training based on how an athlete is responding to the load.

There are multiple ways to employ this method in a team setting aswell. It is not as easy as monitoring a single athlete or player but with proper organization the data can be gained. One option may be to may approach every player singlely after a session and ask them how difficult they found the it. Otherwise you may provide a box, upon which each player fills out a brief form and posts it in the box or you may place a large whiteboard in the locker room where each player is responsible for filling out their data before leaving. Whichever method you choose be sure to properly educate the athletes and persist with it.

Lastly when taking session RPE, it is reccommended to wait 30 minutes post session before recording. This may not be quite applicable to your situation but the longer you can wait to record the better. As you may know yourself when finishing a session you always feel you worked a lot harder directly upon completion then 30 minutes later.

Questionnaires

They are slightly more time consuming and require more organization but once a system is in place employing brief player questionnaire's regarding things such as sleep quality, nutrition, hydration levels, muscle soreness, general health and stress levels can provide valuable information when tailoring a program or that day's session. By taking this information and adjusting the session in accordance with the data we can go a long way to avoiding OTS.

A great example of a monitoring questionnaire can be found here.

Biochemical Monitoring

This technique will be out of reach of many coaches out there but it's worth mentioning as we are seeing it's prevalence increase in the athletic setting. Monitoring an athletes hormonal markers via either blood samples, muscle biopsy or saliva can tell us so much about the physiological state of an individual.

Muscle Biopsy... Doesn't tickle

It's important to note these results should be used in conjunction with the psychological measurements to gain the best idea of the state of an athlete.

Testing

The final technique we will mention is athletic testing. This may be as simple as conducting a Vertical Jump, 20m sprint, Yo-Yo test or Strength testing. There's an infinite number of tests a coach can employ but it is deciding what will give you the best results with limited load on the athlete and transfer to the athlete's given sport.

Testing should be conducted periodically throughout a training program to provide consistent data. Too often coaches will employ testing with no plan. If we were to write out a training year for a team sport we may test an athlete at the beginning, mid pre-season, end of pre-season and during the middle of the season during such time as a mid-season break before conducting testing to upon season coompletion. By doing this we can monitor to see if the program is working or if an athlete is entering an OTS state.

Conclusion

It's extremely important to monitor our athletes to avoid OTS and to subsequently ensure the program is working. It doesn't make sense when sporting teams are paying players to pull on jersey each week and nobody is monitoring their health to ensure they are getting the most out of their investment. Because ultimately that is what the player is, an investment towards achieving team success and when a club doesn't take the time to ensure the player is performing optimally it always baffles me.

Take a minute each session to monitor so your players can reach the promise land

Great TEDX video

2012-01-24T15:27:00.000+11:00

Came across this on the SB Coaches College website, great little TED Talk from Mel Robbins.

Crossfit

2012-01-22T17:35:00.000+11:00

I have sat on this for sometime now, the topic of the ever increasing fitness regime that is "Crossfit". Although originally opening the first Crossfit gym in 1995 on the west coast of America, it has only been in recent times that the fad has taken off on Australian shores. More and more Crossfit affiliated gyms are opening around the country as fitness enthusiasts look for the newest craz in training.

First and foremost a full disclaimer: I have never participated in a Crossfit Workout. But for what I see as very good reasons not to. I have taken the time to read and watch Crossfit workouts, I have colleagues and friends who are affiliated with Crossfit and I have heard some very alarming stories coming out of the Crossfit (CF) camp.

In no way do I claim to have the greatest program on the planet, I can be constantly learning new things, researching, studying, talking to other coaches to help build my programs into well rounded workouts and training plans to help develop the most efficient athlete I can.

Second disclaimer: There are some really smart people associated with Crossfit that should be considered for their talents on their own merit, instead of bearing the same banner as CF which is enduring alot of negative criticism. For one is Kelly Starret. This guy is freakishly smart and creative, check out his YouTube page sanfranciscocrossfit. To be half as smart as this guy would be a great achievement. But the issue is, guys like Kelly are few and far between in the CF crowd and it's leading to crazy workout routines that are endangering peoples lives.

Just in case you think I'm over exaggerating that last comment, take a few minutes to watch the following;

Just skip to 1:50 mark and watch the end to see what we are talking about.

I realize we could all patrol YouTube for classic weightlifting accidents, so I will save you the trouble;

What should be highlighted here is that yes, weightlifting can be dangerous. But in the correct environment, with trained coaches, safe equipment and taking the time to ensure technique and safety, weightlifting can be an amazing tool.

The problem with Crossfit is it encourages extreme challenges of human performance that puts the individual at heighten risk of injury. This is not what training is all about. I've said it before but rule number one when it comes to training is DO NO HARM! As you can see in the previous video's, the trainee is at an extremely increased risk of injury.

To add to the CF mantra, here is a picture of their mascot

He is called "Pukey the Clown" or "Uncle Rhabdo" and is apparently suffering from Rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis is the breakdown of muscle fibers that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents (myoglobin) into the bloodstream. Myoglobin is harmful to the kidney and often causes kidney damage. This is a big deal. And the fact that the CF encourages such extreme training for it's followers is absurd. CF makes no apologies for this aswell, it's creator, Greg Glassman even stated this in a New York Times article "It can kill you," he said. "I've always been completely honest about that."

Here are some take home points when considering Crossfit.

1. Crossfit does not take into account any pre-screening for injuries, movement pattern faults or even previous training history. As you can see in Video 1, the trainee's are nowhere near proficient in proper lifting technique. Watching that video predominately makes me feel the following emotions.

2. Once again touching on the first video, the Olympic lifts should be used as a low repetition, high intensity movement. At TJSC we never go above 5 reps in an Olympic Lift. They are a power movement and should not be trained in a fatigued state or to failure for that matter. The concerning thing in these video's is that from repetition 1 technique is deplorable and injuries are going to occur. It might not be on that exact rep but an injury will occur eventually.

3. From what I have listened to from my friends and colleagues who participate in CF along with what I have watched and read about CF it becomes more and more apparent to me that CF is for healthy trainees only. And even then they must have a solid fitness base to begin with. As with the Box Jump video above and the elderly lady featured performing box jumps. That alone is one of the craziest things I've seen. In no way, whatsoever would I have that lady performing box jumps. A box jump is an enhanced athletic movement that I only use with trainee's who are strong enough to handle such impact. It takes us sometime to build towards performing box jumps to ensure we get the correct adaption from such an advanced exercise. There is a great progression in performing plyometric exercises, to which the box jump is one and to see beginner trainee's performing such movement really grinds my gears.

I had the opportunity to listen to one of my female colleagues relay the story of how she severely bruised her shin performing box jumps. She had performed copious amounts of heavy leg work prior to performing box jumps. Then whilst performing the box jump was asked to hold her hands behind her head. This is to me once again seems ludacris

4. Crossfit is a randomized workout program. It has no progressions or regressions and certainly does not periodize itself. The CF "workout of the day" is often a high intensity workout with little to no structure not only based on itself but also the workout of the day before or the day after. One thing CF does do well is employ some high intensity workouts. But these high intensity workouts consistently performed over an extended period with little structure or respite will lead to overtraining and injury.

In Conclusion, I see Crossfit as a very dangerous training program that lacks some serious programming fundamentals. But I will be the first to admit I am probably over cautious when it comes to the safety and well being of my trainees. If you are healthy and undertaking Crossfit, enjoying yourself and are getting results then in no way can I refute that. But please just be aware you may not be injured now but you have a much higher chance of an injury occurring in the future with these extreme workouts that sacrifice technique.

If you would like to read a little bit more about Crossfit from some well respected coaches then be sure to check out Justin Levine's piece and also Dewey Nielsen's post.

Take care and lift strong,

Todd.

Cramp

2012-01-12T14:22:00.005+11:00

Straight out of the gate, nobody has a definitive answer on the cause of cramp. Done. Let’s go home.

The cause of cramp is a lightly researched topic and is often left alone because of the sheer difficulty to define what causes cramp and how to prevent it. It is difficult to consistently study cramp in a lab as it is hard to reproduce a cramp in a controlled environment.

There are many myths to what causes cramp, the major one that most folks are familiar with is a lack of salt in ones diet and also loss of salt through sweating during exercise. This theory originated over 100 years ago. Labourers that were working in the mines that suffered cramped would be studied, in particular their sweat was monitored to which they found it to be high in salt. Later workers on the Hoover Dam recovered from their cramping via ingesting salty milk. This begun the theory that salt loss was to blame for cramp.

Then Gatorade took the electrolyte theory further, really pushing their marketing behind the idea. Funding studies and research that was always going to result in Gatorade telling the world that they must drink more Gatorade to prevent electrolyte loss. What would have happened to sales if Gatorade came out and said “it’s ok folks, you don’t need Gatorade to assist in electrolyte loss, all is fine”???

Gatorade win back some points with a Jordan Commercial

So why may the salt depletion theory not be on the money??

One major issue with this theory is when one sweats during exercise, you lose a lot more water than salt. This in turn will increase your salt concentration compared to your water concentration. Have a bucket with 5 cups of water and 5 cups of salt. Now poor a greater amount of the water out, what’s left? A greater concentration of salt... Why would be need to replace the salt then??

Another issue that arises from the salt depletion theory is where do we most often cramp? In the Head? Forearm? Glute? No, we cramp mainly in the Quadriceps, Hamstrings and Calves. In fact in a 2004 study on a 56km run, 95% of cramping in runners was from the Quadriceps, Hamstrings and Calves.

The Boys at The Science of Sport did an excellent job of summarizing that 2004 study and the 2007 follow up study of Ironman Participants in which they made comment that “When the crampers were compared to the controls---who were matched for body mass and finishing time---the only differences were that the crampers had lower sodiums (salt) and higher magnesiums. The problem with this is that a lower sodium concentration suggests overhydration and not dehydration, and also if magnesium deficiency is meant to cause cramps then surely the crampers should have been lower here?"

"The relevance of this study is that if dehydration and electrolyte disturbances really play such a large role in cramps (as they are proposed to), then the crampers should have much higher electrolyte concentrations since they would be losing fluid and causing the concentrations to rise. Yet instead we see something entirely different, first that the crampers had lower sodium concentrations, and second that the crampers were not really different compared to the controls."

"What is also noteworthy from this study was that the crampers had an average loss of body weight of 2.9%, compared to 3.6% for the non-cramping controls. In otherwords, the people who did not cramp lost more weight than the people who did. It goes further than this, because Schwellnus et al were able to measure the change in plasma volume as well - a more direct measure for what is happening to fluids. Here, they found that the crampers actually gained a small amount of 0.2% during the race. The non-cramping control subjects lost 0.7%. So the sum effect of this data is that it suggests very strongly that cramping is not associated with dehydration, or with lower serum electrolyte (Salt) levels”

So as we can see, the electrolyte depletion theory is not holding much water (yeah you like that one).

So where to from here?

Where to from here Captain???

The latest theory originates from a 1997 paper from the same author as the 2004 and 2007 studies, Professor Martin Schwellnus and his colleagues. It is that of the muscle fatigue and spinal reflex theory. I am going to attempt to keep this as basic as possible.

But be sure to hold on to your panties this is going to get serious!

Muscle contraction occurs by being intiated by a nerve (alpha motor neuron). The nerve receives a message from your brain (when you choose to make a movement) to get to work. Movement can also occur from the spinal reflexes to which you cannot control.

The reflexes provide protection for your muscle against overstretching or taking too much load. When you are under fatigue there is an increased firing in the nerve (muscle spindle) that tells the muscle that you are overstretching and a decrease in firing from the structure (Golgi Tendon Organ) that tells your muscles you are overloading.

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Basic Diagram of the Spindles and GTO

Put this all together and you have a fatigued muscle working its guts out.

With the decreased activity in the Golgi Tendon Organ that is supposed to tell your muscle that it’s overloaded and the increased firing rate of the muscle spindle we suddenly have a muscle that is contracting flat chat with no Golgi Tendon Organ to tell it to slow down.

End result: involuntary contraction

Once again the boys over at The Science of Sport

Firsly what we spoke about earlier in this piece, which muscles are more likely to cramp? Well those muscles most active of course. The electrolyte theory does not hold up here because if such was true, then we would cramp all over our body, from head to toe, not just the muscles that have been working overtime.

What kind of muscles cramp? “A muscle that crosses two joints (like the quad, hamstrings and calves) will cramp more often because if a muscle spans two joints, then it means that the muscle is going to be in a shortened position when it contracts. When a muscle is in this position, then the activity of that Golgi tendon organ is going to reduced even more than normal. Add to this the contraction, which stimulates the muscle spindle, and the end result is that the activity of the motor neuron is reduced even further, predisposing one to cramp.”

“When will cramping occur? Once again in the 2007 Ironman study, it was found that triathletes who paced themselves poorly and tried to cycle or run faster than they were capable of (based on previous performances) were going to be the ones to cramp.” Nothing to do with electrolyte balance or fluid loss, simply their body was not prepared for the increase in intensity, resulting in higher amounts of fatigue and ultimately cramp.

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Classic Ironman Battle!

Finally the boys at The Science for Sport reported evidence that the fatigue theory is closer to the mark than that of the electrolyte depletion theory. To paraphrase “The electrical activity of the muscles of cramping runners was measured after the 56 km marathon, and it was found that the alpha motor
neuron activity was higher than in non-cramping athletes.

Even more important, with 20 seconds of passive stretching, the EMG activity goes down. This means that stretching relieves cramps. The act of stretching restores the normal balance, after stretching the Golgi tendon organ activity increases, and the muscle eventually relaxes.”

All this is by no means proof that the muscle fatigue theory is the correct one, as stated in the first line of this article, nobody has a definitive answer. But what has hopefully been demonstrated here is that the loss of salt and electrolyte replacement theory is not the main culprit for cramp. Whilst there shows no reason not to consume the Gatorade’s in this world, there is more to cramp than simply consuming salt.

References

Schwellnus et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, vol 37, 2004

Schwellnus MP. "Muscle cramping in the marathon : aetiology and risk factors." Sports Medicine. 2007;37(4-5):364-7

The Science of Sport. (2007). Muscle Cramps Part I. Available: http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/11/muscle-cramps-part-1-theories-and.html. Last accessed 12th Jan 2012.

Yoga: Risks and Rewards

2012-01-09T13:32:00.000+11:00

A great read from the New York Times in regards to yoga. I quite often get asked about my thoughts on yoga or someone will say the following "I've got a sore (Insert injury here), think I'll do yoga" to which I try and relay pretty much what is outlined in the article, check it out, lengthy but top shelf writing.

How yoga can wreck your body

Overtraining – Part One

2012-01-05T16:28:00.000+11:00

The Issue

So it’s that time of year where the vast majority of sporting teams are on a break from their pre-season program, enjoying quality time with family and friends. I hope your festive season was a safe and enjoyable one!

I’m very fortunate in that I enjoy almost every sport available and always love talking shop when it comes to training theories and methods. But I’ve noticed something very alarming during this pre-season coming from two different camps in two different sports with two different genders.

Mammoth Overtraining

How big? Mammoth Big.

The old adage that “more is better” runs rampant still in this day and age in some sporting circles.

In speaking to athletes from both that of a semi-professional based Australian Rules football club and that of representative women’s basketball team there is no doubt in my mind that these athletes are being driven into the ground through highly inappropriate training methods. Driven might not even be the right term here, World Championship Wrestling “Pile Drived” may better suit!

Piledriver!!!

I’ve said it in a previous blog, but I do truly dislike commenting on other coaches programs. When overtraining is as blatant as what I have witnessed in these two instances, It really grinds my gears.

Firstly what is overtraining??

“Training can be defined as a process of overload that is used to disturb homeostasis which results in acute fatigue leading to an improvement in performance” (p.243 Cardinale, 2011).

Basically that statement means training is where a stress is placed on a healthy body, it is allowed time to reover from that stress to an improved level and performance is ultimatley increased.

In a well structured training program the athlete will undergo a stress or stimulus leading to fatigue, they will then have a recovery period to which the body adapts to this stress above their original baseline called compensation then supercompensation and this is where the next training session would take place. Of course that example and the graph below depicting this represents the ideal world and cannot always be achieved when dealing with schedules, head coaches etc.

The basis of periodization.

As you can see though, there is a major difference between that of the graph above and that of the one below depicting overtraining occurring through inadequate recovery and too intense training stress.

Overtraining occuring

The issue of overtraining arises when the stress of training is excessive and compounded with life’s other stressors followed by insufficient rest and recovery leading to losses in performance and can affect one’s health adversely.

To improve performance in the athletic population over an extended period in which they are preparing for competition is both that of an art and a science. For the body to improve it must first undergo a stress from a stimulus to which with the proper recovery it will adapt to and compensate (super compensation) leading to an increase in the body’s ability to handle the previous stress.

Overtraining is when an athlete has insufficient rest and recovery from the stress of training, games and general life. Thus the increased stress of all these things compounds and reaches a point to which the body cannot continue to adapt to the stimulus in a positive manner and it begins to break down. Similar to if you drove you’re car flat chat on the limit for an extended amount of time, in the beginning you’re car could handle some serious punishment but after some time it needs to time to cool down, fresh oil, water and petrol to maintain its performance. The body is exactly the same, if an athlete is going to train at extreme stresses (as we are seeing with these training methods being employed by some sporting teams) then it is going to need ample recovery.

It should be noted that there is a concept called "Functional Overreaching" in which teams/players may increase a given workload for a short period when faced with either time off or an easy fixture. The training stress will be increased resulting in a short term performance decrement usually already allowed for by facing an easier opponent or by having a bye week and the resultant supercompensation puts the team/player at a better baseline than before without the overtrained state.

So what happens to the body when it reaches an overtrained state?

“The symptoms of overtraining include depressed mood, general apathy, decreased self-esteem, emotional instability, impaired performance, restlessness, irritability, disturbed sleep, weight loss, loss of appetite, increased resting heart rate, increased vulnerability to injuries, hormonal changes, and a lack of supercompensation.” (Kellman, 2010). An important clinical feature of overtraining is the increased susceptibility to infections aswell. An overtrained state may last weeks to months.

So what’s the issue?

Here’s the 411, Teams are slowing grinding their players into the ground for no reason, performing idiotic (I'm sorry but it's true) training sessions carrying logs up sand dunes, flipping tyres, running 10km’s in a single session when their sport never requires more than 7km of high intensity - intermittent running in a single game or conducting 90 minutes of high intensity conditioning sessions followed by 90 minutes of technical/tactical work when the gametime never exceeds 35 minutes for a single player.

It’s Ludacris.

Take that and wind it back, Luda!

Too often I see (and personally have been one) player’s burn out by the first intra-club practice match in whichever sport it may be, suffering niggles before the regular season has even begun because they are in an overtrained state. Majority of players will undertake whatever is put in front of them by the coaching staff and will not question it. And that’s perfectly fine, that is a player doing whatever it takes to earn the respect of their coaches and teammates. That is where it is on the coaching staff and the conditioning staff to monitor the player and team to avoid overtraining and we will discuss how to do so in part 2.

References

Cardinale, M (2011). Strength & Conditioning - Biological Priniciples and Pratical Applications. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. p244-251.

Kellmann, M. (2010). Preventing overtraining in athletes in high-intensity sports and stress/ recovery monitoring. Scand J Med Sci Sports . 20 (Suppl 2), 95-102.

Make Me Sweat

2011-12-26T13:21:00.001+11:00

I’ve always tried to steer clear of critiquing other coaches and trainers programs due to the fact that until you are faced with the same constraints as that coach is you cannot truly comment on the situation. But lately I have aimed to step outside my bubble as such and gain a glimpse of what other coaches are doing in the strength & conditioning field around my local area.

Firstly, I know a number of really smart minds out there in the field that are switched on and are achieving great things with their athletes and teams. But it would be wrong of me to say that for every great coach I come across, I don’t discover numerous coaches that are putting athletes and teams at great risk with their chosen methods.

I’ve always subscribed to the idea that if you can justify an idea, theory, method or program to yourself and the athletes undertaking your program with proven research, logical thinking and/or experience then you are well on the right path to success.

But what I have noted occurring lately is a blatant disregard for the number one rule in this field:

“Do No Harm”.

Too many coaches are subscribing to the “Quantity over Quality” philosophy. Making the error of mistaking pain for progress and soreness for adaption. Any fool can make an athlete sweat and sore but to improve an athlete’s physical capacity over an extended period with the aim of improving performance on the athletic field is both an art and a science.

Any fool can make you sweat

As a coach I make it my priority to understand the where’s, what’s, why’s, who’s and how’s of a program. If an athlete or fellow coach approaches me and asks a question about why they are undertaking this exercise or how come they must lift this much that many times or run this distance in that time or perform this movement and I cannot answer their question then firstly I have failed as a coach and that part of the program should be deleted.

The following is a checklist compiled from that of two of my favourite books in the field “Block Periodization” and “Supertraining”. I have attempted to list the variables that must be considered when designing a program and addressed before each individual training session. I’m sure I have left a few out but it’s a great starting point.

Considerations

Training Goal

Training specific to sport/goal/game plan
Load
Number of Repitions
Number of Sets
Type of strength fitness required
Type of muscle contraction involved (isometric, concentric, eccentric)
Speed of movement over different phases of movement
Acceleration at critical points in the movement
Rest intervals between repetitions, sets and workouts
Active versus Passive rest
Sequence of exercises
Relative strength of agonists and antagonists, stabilisers and movers
Development of optimal static and dynamic range of movement
Strengh deficit of given muscle groups
Training history of the individual
Injury/Medical history of the individual
Level of sports proficiency of the individual.
The energy system at work
Safety of environment
Athlete’s state of well being, mood, sleep, nutrition.
Is athlete being monitored
Does Training fit in with rest of athlete’s commitments

As a coach or trainer are you taking into consideration all of these variables? As an athlete can your coach justify the when’s, why’s, what’s, who’s and how’s of the program? Don’t be afraid to question yourself or your coach, doing so will allow us to develop standards in a fairly standard less field as it currently stands.

Remember, any idiot can make you sweat but it takes a special coach to assist a team or athlete gain the ultimate prize.

TJSC Christmas Present to Everyone! We're Back!!

2011-12-22T14:08:00.001+11:00

That's right, Todd Jones Strength & Conditioning is back and ready to help build diesel athletes!

But first I would like to share a feel good Christmas story with everyone to comeback on the right note. I came across this just today on Coach Bob Starkey's Hoop Thoughts blog. The story is titled "The Last Day of School" and it was authored by Roy Exum:

It seems that there was a lady named Jean Thompson and when she stood in front of her fifth-grade class on the very first day of school in the fall, she told the children a lie.

Like most teachers, she looked at her pupils and said that she loved them all the same, that she would treat them all alike. And that was impossible because there in front of her, slumped in his seat on the third row, was a boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed he didn’t play well with other children, that his clothes were unkept and that he constantly needed a bath. Add to it the fact Teddy was unpleasant.

It got to the point during the first few months that she would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold ‘X’s and then marking the ‘F’ at the top of the paper biggest of all.

Because Teddy was a sullen little boy, nobody else seemed to enjoy him, either.

Now at the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s records and--because of things--put Teddy’s off until last. But when she opened his file, she was in for a surprise.

His first-grade teacher had written, “Teddy is a bright, inquisitive child with a ready laugh. He does work neatly and has good manners … he is a joy to be around.”

His second-grade teacher wrote, “Teddy is an excellent student and is well-liked by his classmates--but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.”

The third-grade teacher wrote, “Teddy continues to work hard but his mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class. His is tardy and could become a problem.”

By now Mrs. Thompson realized the problem but Christmas was coming fast.

It was all she could do, with the school play and all, until the day before the holidays began and she was suddenly forced to focus on Teddy Stoddard on that last day before the vacation would begin.

Her children brought her presents, all in gay ribbon and bright paper, except for Teddy’s, which was clumsily wrapped in heavy, brown paper of scissored grocery bag.

Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents and some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet, with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of cologne.

But she stifled the laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and she dabbed some of the perfume behind the other wrist.

At the end of the day, as the other children joyously raced from the room, Teddy Stoddard stayed behind, just long enough to say, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my mom used to.”

As soon as Teddy left, Mrs. Thompson knelt at her desk and there, after the last day of school before Christmas, she cried for at least an hour.

And, on that very day, she quit teaching reading and writing and spelling. Instead she began to teach children. And Jean Thompson paid particular attention to one they all called Teddy.

As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded and, on days that there would be an important test, Mrs. Thompson would remember the cologne.

By the end of the year he had become one of the smartest children in the class and … well, he had also become the “pet” of the teacher who had once vowed to love all of her children exactly the same.

A year later she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that of all the teachers he’d had in elementary school, she was his favorite.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. And then he wrote that as he finished high school, third in his class, she was still his favorite teacher of all time.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, that he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and graduated from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson she was still his favorite teacher.

Then four more years passed and another letter came.

This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. That she was still his favorite teacher but now that his name was a little longer. And the letter was signed, “Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.”

The story doesn’t end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said that… well, that he’d met his girl and was to be married.

He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering … well, if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the pew usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether or not she wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing.

But I bet on that special day, Jean Thompson smelled just like … well, just like she smelled many years before on the last day of school before the Christmas Holidays begin."

Have a Merry Christmas everyone and stay safe during this festive season!

Altitude Training

2011-06-19T20:31:00.001+10:00

Much has been made about altitude training in mainstream media of late, thanks mostly to the Collingwood Footballs club's decision to send four of it's players including a superstar of the game in Dane Swan to an Altitude training facility half way across the globe mid-season. They were sent to Flagstaff, Arizona which is perched at 7000ft above sea level. This has raised much debate over the effects of altitude training and whether or not it is worth the investment.

First and foremost it should be noted that when discussing altitude training and its physiological effects the term 'inconclusive' and that definitive results are elusive seem to be mentioned consistently in the literature. Some coaches will swear by it and contribute their successful results to such training methods but unfortunately we still don't have a clear cut vision of the mechanisms of altitude training.

What is altitude training?

Training or performing at altitude is stressful to the human body because less oxygen is available. Barometric pressure decreases with increasing altitude, resulting in less oxygen per volume of air, but the percentage of oxygen in the air is the same as at sea level. There are several ways in which the human body will adjust to a hypoxia state (low levels of oxygen) but oxygen transport capacity decreases steadily as altitude increases.

Maximal oxygen consumption which most people will identify as Vo2 max begins to decrease in majority of people at approx 5000ft (1524m). In the beginning, ones Vo2 max will decrease by approx 3% for every 1000ft (300m) increase in altitude, but this rate increases rapidly as higher altitudes are reached.

One of the main factors of training at altitude is although the oxygen cost of work is the same as if at sea level, that means the work on the body will be exactly the same but the perception of how hard the work is increases. As we already know that as altitude increases, Vo2 max decreases, we then find a given level of work at sea level will seam a lot harder at altitude.

When did altitude training begin?

The study of altitude physiology begun in the late 1800's into the 1900's by researchers who combined their research with their alpine climbing activities. Research then increased with the aviation issues occurring in WWII and by the many climbing expeditions there after and came to great prominence around the 1968 Olympics held in Mexico City. It was later reported that every gold medal in the running events from 1500m to the marathon in the 1972 Munich games were won by athletes undertaking altitude training. It has since become of use in many preparation programs for elite athletes.

What are the physiological changes that occur whilst training at altitude?

What was once the main thought process behind altitude training in that increased oxygen is delivered to the muscles via the delayed effect of increased erythropoietin (EPO) release but it has since been discovered that these changes quickly return to pre-altitude levels upon returning to sea level. Other explanations for the performance enhancements include adaptions at the cellular level of the muscles, increased muscle capillarity and increased buffering capacity of the muscles.

It's important to note, there are both short and long term responses to altitude training lasting from a few hours to two-five weeks with possibly a little longer time frame as well.

For those looking for a more in depth look at the main response that occur immediately upon training at altitude they are as follows:

Increased pulmonary ventilation due to reduced oxygen content,
Increased HR at rest and during activity, but a decreased max HR
Reduced stroke volume
Reduced cardiac output
Increased lactate accumulation after intense training
Reduction of maximal oxygen uptake
The hypoxia state accelerates glycotic reactions
Increased catecholamine level, release of erythropoitin that stimulates production of erthocytes and hemoglobin
Plasma volume and total blood volume increases
Dehydration can occur due to increased respiratory rate and urinary water loss
Decreased immune function (physicians must be wary of upper respiratory tract infections

A consequence of intense altitude training for a week or longer is from the increased release of cortisol that stimulates catabolic reactions. This may lead to a loss in muscle mass, so it may be wise to go into a camp with a sufficient level of muscle mass.This cortisol reaction also decreases immune function to which physicians must monitor as discussed earlier.

What was interesting to note is that long term; heart rate, stroke volume and maximum oxygen uptake (Vo2 Max) all return to pre-altitude levels.

How do we program Altitude training?

After identifying the potential benefits of altitude training as that of improved oxygen delivery to the muscles, enhanced utilization of this oxygen within the muscle cells and an increased anaerobic capacity via improved buffering in the muscles, how do we then program to take advantage of these possible adaptions.

Firstly it must be identified that according to many world class coaches who utilize altitude training there are "responders" and "non-responders" to altitude training and that the non responders be identified as they will have no performance gains or physiological adaptions. It's important to separate the two groups.

I was also introduced to the growing in popularity concept of "living high-training low" by Alessandra Ferri from the University of Milan. The live high-train low (LHTL) method has gained popularity as athletes are avoiding long extended periods in an hypoxia state. These long periods at low oxygen effect training work rates but by employing a LHTL method athletes are able to conduct training sessions at regular velocities whilst still undergoing acclimatization when at rest.

According to Vladimir Issurin in his sensational text "Block Periodization" of which has been heavily referenced to share this information with you he states that as coaches it's important to consider the following principles;

1. What is the general goal of altitude training?

a)Is altitude training employed to prepare athletes for competition at altitude
b)Is altitude training employed to prepare athletes for sea-level competition
c)Is altitude training employed to diversify and activate annual preparation

It's important to identify what the goal is for your program as a coach as each on of the three have different loading protocols, phase of mesocycle to be employed, no. of days of exposure at altitude etc. to gain maximum benefits.

2. As we discussed earlier, selecting the athletes who will positively respond to altitude training. Taking into account athletes preferences, previous experience and medical reports, especially looking into the athletes genetics.

3. Structuring the training program in the appropriate phases of altitude training. Pre-altitude activity, current condition of athlete, altitude conditions will all affect length of each phase

4. Structuring post-altitude training program being sure to include re-acclimatization to sea level.

Issurin went on to state that "the most influential factor in adaption is the accumulated experience from previous camps". Thus stating that athletes with greater experience at altitude acclimatize better and that this accelerated adaption after multiple altitude exposures is because of physiological factors such as a more favorable hormonal response.

For a much greater in depth look at the phases of altitude acclimatization and training program design I strongly encourage you to pick up Vladimir Issurin's "Block Periodization".

I have only scratched the surface here in regards to altitude training, and could go on and on but there is not enough space on the Internet to expand on advanced design on altitude training. What is difficult is to transfer the findings of the studies completed on altitude training to that of alactic-aerobic and anaerobic sports as most research is conducted on endurance athletes.

So for those relating this back to the Collingwood trip there are still so many unknowns in regards to altitude training. What should also be noted is Collingwood, like an increasing number of other AFL clubs have done is installed a hypoxic chamber at their training facility to maintain adaptions during the in-season.

Highlighted in Issurin's text is the favorable states in the re-acclimatization phase. It's been reported between 5-10 days re-acclimatization the athlete is in a negative state which is to be expected upon returning to sea level, but the literature or the lack there of to support it, states that from day 28-36 the athlete is also in an unfavorable state, which can lead to a decreased performance during this time, this is immediately followed by the last positive post altitude phase up to day 45.

This time-frame can be extended with the use of the previously spoken about hypoxic chambers to which many clubs attempt to take advantage of.

In conclusion, the jury is still out in regards to altitude study, some coaches support it, others don't, some studies support it and other don't. But the fact is many successful training methods currently being used where at sometime or another unproven and as Mick Malthouse, Collingwood Coach said "Sending four players to Arizona mid-season may seem extravagant, but it is a small price to pay in the grander scheme of things. We are in the business of trying to win premierships and we will go to any length to get that extra advantage over our opponents if we can". In another article Geoff Walsh went on to comment about the trip ''Is it drop-dead necessary? Absolutely not, But do we think we'll get a benefit from it? Yes, we do. Footy these days is about trying to get an edge"

Director of Sports Science at Collingwood FC David Buttifant discussing the High Altitude camp.

Collingwood took the risk and may now reap the rewards, you have to be ahead of the game in sports medicine, constantly educating yourself to ensure your athletes are the best they can possibly be. Scott Watters, Collingwood assistant coach and sure to be head coach at some point in the future stated himself that just the psychological benefits alone make the trip worth while.

Until next time, Liftsrong

Todd

References

Issurin, V. 2008. Block Periodization. Ultimate Athlete Concepts; Michigan, USA

Levine, B.D, Stray-Gundersen, J. & Mehta, R.D. Effect of altitude on football performance, Scand J Med Sci Sports 2008: 18(Suppl. 1): 21–28

Levine, B.D & Stray-Gundersen, J. Live high, train low at natural altitude, Scand J Med Sci Sports 2008: 18 (Suppl. 1): 76–84

Robertson, E.Y, Aughey, R.J, Anson, J.M, Hopkins, W.G, and Pyne, D.B. Effects of simulated and real altitude exposure in elite swimmers. J Strength Cond Res 2010. 24 (2): 487-493

Pay It Forward

2011-06-07T12:53:00.000+10:00

For a while now I have been thinking about how do I repay all the great minds in this field for the time and effort they put into sharing their knowledge with the young coaches like myself?

We can't really offer much knowledge back because we are still working hard to learn it ourselves,

We can't offer any "In the trenches" knowledge because we only have a fraction of what some of the great coaches have,

So how do we repay the massive favour they do us in this field???

"Pay It Forward"

Take the time to pass on the message, teach someone else that may not be fortunate enough to know where to find this knowledge. We can make sure that the great principles, thoughts and methods in our field get to the people that really need it, including the training population.

I can't offer much to the great coaches other than a great enthusiasm to learn and hard work, but I can help those in the greater training community by passing on these great messages.

Side Note: Bon Jovi didn't get enough credit in this movie!

Until next time,

Pay It Forward

Busy Beaver!

2011-05-29T14:48:00.000+10:00

Firstly the new schedule is out team!

Find it here

Secondly, It's been great to have so many folks on my case about relaunching GPT (formerly TJSC). Definitely keeping my honest guys and its great to have all the support!

I hope to have some good news in the coming fortnight and getting everyone on the gym floor again.

My apologies for taking much longer than expected but with study commitments I have been one busy beaver!

Lastly, I do have some fantastic articles coming up which I hope everyone out there will gain something from, they include pieces on hamstring issues, the individualisation of recovery protocols and sleep for performance among others.

Until next time,

Liftstrong!

Semi-Private Training

2011-05-10T12:45:00.000+10:00

This is where it's at team!

We are super excited to offer semi-private group training to you.

Why should you care about semi-private training?

Let's look at the main reasons causing a person to stop training towards their goal:

1. Motivation
2. Lack of Results
3. Finance

Today, Semi-Private training grabs that three headed beast (lack of motivation, lack of results and low finance) and teaches it some respect!

What is Semi-Private training?

Semi Private Training is just like personal one to one training with a quality coach but with the added advantage of working in a team, building relationships, great camaraderie and all for close to half the price.

If the sales person at Mercedes Benz offered you the same luxury car for half the price but with extra comfortable seats and an outstanding sound system to share with your friends you would take it right??

That's group training, it's the Mercedes Benz for half the price but with more fun.

Sexy Mercedes!

There is also a common myth in regards to Semi-Private Training in that everyone does the same program, this is far from true, at least at Geelong Performance Training it is.

We still offer individualized programs as this is the only way to get the optimum results for YOU. There is still the same quality coaching that GPT is renowned for but the added advantage of being pushed by your teammates and friends!

Groups are small, being capped at 3 people for the moment to ensure we can offer the best coaching possible to ultimately ensure the best results possible

I could go on and on about Semi-Private training, and for those who know me, they know not to get me started because it's hard to stop me!

If you have any enquires about anything in regards to Geelong Performance Training please feel free to call us on Mob: 0401 655 419 or alternatively e-mail at: toddjonessc@live.com.au.

Until next time,

Todd

Love a good team celebration!

Soccer Warm Up

2011-05-05T19:43:00.002+10:00

As promised yesterday it is our soccer warm up, of course this does not change much at all for other athletic events.

Mobility (5 Repetitions and Progressing)

1. Ankle Mobility- Wall Drill

2. Leg Swings (Kicking Motion and Cross Body)

3. Split Squat

4. Lateral Squat

5. Rotational Squat

6. SLDL

7. Seated T-Spine

8. Walking Push Ups

Activation

1. Goblet Squat

2. Hip Flexor Pulsing

3. Glute Bridges (Bi and Uni-Lateral)

4. Plank Progression Series

Skipping and Marching (15-20m, Slow Jog Return)

1. Walking Quad

2. Walking Lunge to Hip Flexion (Knee Hug to Chest)
3. High Kicks (Kicking Opposite Hand

4. Walking SLDL

5. World’s Greatest Stretch

6. Step over Lunge

7. Hip Rotator Stretch

8. Heel Flicks (Kicking to middle of Hamstring Muscle Group or Bottom of Glute)

9. Single Leg Heel Flicks

     10. Hip Flexion
      11. Single Leg Hip Flexion
      12. Laterals + Acceleration

13. Backpedal + Acceleration

      14. Skipping
      15. Bounding
      16. Sprints Increase Intensity (60% to 95% focus on technique)

After this it depends on the session, we may go into further preparation for a high intensity session or go into our specific conditioning.

As you may have noticed, this warm up can be conducted in an outside environment with no equipment. Many coaches may only have access to a set of cones or markers and an athletes body weight, so this warm up will work wonders.

Remember though to constantly alter the warm up, the body adapts quickly to a given stimulus and if we use the same warm up protocol over and over the athletes will not be experiencing the same benefits.

We may only need to alter the amount of repetitions of a given exercise, progress exercises or add/subtract new exercises provide new stimulus.

Todd

Celebration!

2011-05-03T12:56:00.000+10:00

To celebrate our re-launch and my 23rd birthday, tomorrow we will post the exact warm-up protocol we use before our soccer game day and also training sessions!

David Luiz will also help us celebrate!

Soft Tissue Injury Protocol

2011-04-28T11:09:00.001+10:00

The following is the basic protocol we outline for any soft tissue injuries our athletes experience either on match day or at training. It's important to note that most of the athletes we have a relationship with are either amateur or semi-professional so budget and time can be an issue. We may not be able to provide the elite recovery that a professional club or institute can offer but we have had great success when implementing this protocol. The following is taken directly from the sheet we give to our athletes, so language is basic but we believe this helps educate players who the majority of have very limited knowledge in the reasoning behind such things as ice and compression.

Injury Recovery and Rehab Protocol

Follow the Icing Procedure for the next 48-72 hrs.

1. Rest: Cease training or game immediately and notify coaching staff.

Why: An injury occurs for a reason, whether it is a faulty movement pattern, deficits in strength and flexibility or fatigue. Injuries occur not only in the affected area but most likely in the surrounding musculature which was supposed to assist the injured area in movement. Quite often pain site does not equal pain source.

What not to do: Do not stretch the injured site at all. In a muscle strain or pull you have stretch the muscle fibres and caused a tear, by stretching you are only adding to the pull which will add to your time on the sidelines

2. Ice: There are many different recommendations from many different studies and to be honest there is not a proven strategy although there is an abundance of literature available. We have always recommended that an athlete apply the ice for as long as possible in 90-120 minute cycles. Too often we see athletes applying a small ice bag to the affected area, don’t be timid with the ice application. We usually encourage athletes to have 2-3 plastic shopping bags full of ice cubes in the freezer at any given time. A great tip is to apply the Ice bags to the affected area then wrap it in glad wrap thus holding it in position. Continue for 48-72 hours post trauma.

Also have a coach passively move the muscle through its normal range of motion on the sidelines. It’s important that the athlete does not activate the area themselves; this technique will re-align the fibres and prevent initial blood pooling in the area.

Why: Applying ice has been shown to significantly reduce the bleeding in between the muscle fibres along with reducing the inflammation which allows the fibres to recover and regenerate quicker.

Alcohol: Soft tissue injury management requires reducing blood flow to the area in order to contain the injury. Consuming alcohol has the opposite effect. It increases blood flow to the area, which is likely to extend recovery time following injury.

3. Compression: Compression via bandage has been shown to reduce intramuscular blood flow to the affected area and it has been recommended that in between ice applications an athlete applies compression. As with the Ice don’t be timid. Apply the compression above and below the area as well. The compression is not supposed to be tight, but a slight compression is to be felt.

4. Elevate: the rationale for its use is based on the basic principles of physiology and traumatology; the elevation of an injured extremity above the level of the heart results in a decrease in pressure and reduces the amount of fluid pooling in the injured area.

Treatment during following 3-5 Days

Movement, Massage, Nutrition and Heat

1. Movement: Movement is important. Not training or exercise, but mobility drills around the affected area. It’s important not to let the joint or muscle becomes inflexible during this stage of recovery. Also movement will reduce muscle loss and strength during this time.

2. Massage: Following trauma the injured are will repair itself by generating scar tissue. This scar tissue causes a severe restriction in movement and hence why massage is important to imperative to reduce time on the sidelines. In many cases when an athlete re-injures a muscle it can be contributed tearing of the scar tissue that was used to regenerate the muscle in the first place. By addressing the formation of scar tissue we can reduce chance of re-injury.

3. Nutrition: Protein (almost any animal product from meat to dairy), Fish Oil and Vitamin C. Vitamin C can be obtained via citrus fruits like oranges and kiwi fruits, along with broccoli and tomatoes among other foods.

4. Heat: Heat acts as a natural therapy but its timing is important. Applying to early in recovery causes issues. Heat should be applied to assist massage and the forming of scar tissue.

During and after this period it’s important to have the correct rehab protocol in place, it is different for every athlete. Be sure to consult your coach or medical professional.

References

1. http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/basics/alcohol_and_australian_sport

2. http://www.strengthcoach.com/members/cfmbb/messages.cfm?messageid=825E77BD-188B-8204-AEB184293D9A19A6#825E77BD-188B-8204-AEB184293D9A19A6

Power Bands or Power Scams???

2011-04-22T14:14:00.000+10:00

In the hunt for every inch of advantage over an opponent an athlete will go to almost any length to find it, some legal and some not so legal measures. It's understandable when, for most athletes, professional sport is their life and career. The pressure to support families, live up to expectations and gain success for their respective organizations can be overwhelming driving them to extreme measures to win.

Recently, one measure some athletes turned to were Power Bands. The power band 'technology' utilizes "high grade silicone and embedded with 4 nFIT holograms to improve, Strength, Balance, Flexibility and Endurance." Athletes such as sure to be NBA MVP Derrick Rose, Superbowl QB Drew Brees, Dustin Pedroia, Brandon Jennings, Hunter Mahan, The English cricket team and surfer Bruce Irons are on the Power Balance roster and it's hard to argue with these athletes, they have all had great success.

In modern society, Professional athletes are seen as role models for the young and old alike and we have seen an influx of Power Band wearing recreational athletes and gym goers. The Power Bands retail for approx $50.

But on the 22nd of December 2010 the Australian Competition and Consumers Commission (ACCC) intervened with the US based Power Balance Company and ordered both the US parent company and worldwide affiliates to withdraw its marketing and advertising claims. The ACCC also ordered the company to offer a refund to any dissatisfied customers of the power bands.

In the ACCC statement it was recorded "Power Balance has admitted that there is no credible scientific basis for the claims and therefore no reasonable grounds for making representations about the benefits of the product."

Power Balance later published this statement on it's website. Which included this declaration from Power Balance “As with many early technologies, especially one involving Eastern origins, we recognize the potential for confusion in the marketplace, and concede we got ahead of ourselves with claims about our first product. While we have yet to fully document its benefits, we are wholly committed to the continued development of Power Balance products in association with athletes around the world.”

I think there are a few take home lessons from the Power Bands case;

1. In today's marketing and advertising world it's easy to become swept up into a new product, especially if its marketed towards helping you reach your goals faster and more efficiently. But I encourage you to do the work, research and study before parting ways with your hard earned. It's interesting to note, on the Power Balance website, the first tab on the homepage is "shop". Alarm bells should be ringing already, the majority of reputable companies will have an "About Us" and "History" tab first, what is a company hiding and whats their number one mission if "shop" is the first tab???

2. Nothing will ever replace hard work. Of course there are more efficient ways to work but when training for either athletic success or personal success there are no short cuts to the top of the mountain.

3. Lastly, I don't think we can blame the athletes in this case. I have no idea what sort of money Power Balance and affiliates were offering in sponsorship to the professional athletes, But as stated earlier in this article, many athletes will feel the pressure of supporting a family via their athletic potential at some point in their career. Not many individuals would reject the sort of money being offered to these young impressionable athletes, it's important to remember that when buying a product endorsed by your favourite athlete.

Todd

Training Soccer Champions

2011-04-21T13:18:00.000+10:00

The Following is a Book Review I just finished for a coaching development unit at University. I thought I'd share some of my lessons from my of the great coaching texts available. This is printed exactly as it was submitted so you may notice a few university specific notes.

Introduction

I opened the full gloss black cover with the title “Training Soccer Champions” in gold text not knowing what to expect. It had been recommended to me by one of the leading Strength & Conditioning coaches not only in North America but worldwide in Mike Boyle. I opened arbitrarily to page 67 and began reading. It was discussing the viewing of video tape in game evaluation. The first sentence that leaped off the page read as “Videotape for the sexes should be used in completely contrasting models”. The author was discussing the point in that males need to be shown video footage of a mistake because they will not believe you as a coach if you verbally pint out a mistake has been made, whereas in direct contrast, if making a general point in a women’s team meeting that a mistake has been made every female in the room will believe it is her fault. Video needs to be utilized to point out the positives in the team’s play to build the female athletes confidence. All I had read was Page 67, I was standing there in the library and I knew I was onto a winner. Here was this plain black book with copyright 1996 on the inside cover and it looked close to new. There had been only a select few sets of eyes to devour this book. I had stumbled upon the little black book of secrets and I was excited to read more.

The author of my secret book was Anson Dorrance. Dorrance has been the North Carolina Tar Heels Women’s Soccer Head Coach since 1979 and one of the most successful coaches of all-time not only in college sports but professional aswell. Also having lead the National US women’s team to claim the initial women’s world championship, Dorrance is no doubt one of the finest coaches all of sports has seen. But Dorrance did not have the typical development as a Soccer coach like most in coming through the academies, being tutored by the best or playing the game at the highest professional level. Dorrance was born in Bombay, India. Over Anson’s early years his family would move to Kenya, Ethiopia, Oakland, Singapore, Back to the US and Belgium. He attended boarding school in Switzerland before enrolling to undertake an Arts Degree at a US College. Many Journalists would later use this mass of relocating as the reason Dorrance was so successful, it was thought he had learnt many secrets on his travels. But Dorrance himself does not accredit any of this to his soccer knowledge, although it is in fact where he fell in love with the game he also makes comment about the vast array of other athletic endeavours he participated in. Touch Football, Basketball, Softball, Hockey and Rugby were all sports Dorrance had tried his hand at, leaving no doubt he was a jack of all trades, master of none. It wasn’t until Dorrance attended the University of North Carolina where his soccer ability started to prevail; He was later named one of the Top 50 players of all-time in the ACC conference and accredits his time under Men’s Coach Dr. Marvin Allen as to where he truly learnt the game of soccer.

Anson Dorrance would later take on the role of active men’s head coach at UNC (University of North Carolina) during his mentor Marvin Allen’s final year. In 1976 Dorrance was an unproven 24 year old coach and he states his early mentors and influences “were a collage”. Wishing to be able to “speak like Cliff McGrath, Organize like Joe Marrone, the tactical understanding of Jim Lennox and Jay Miller, the presence of Bob Gansler and the class of Bill Schellenberger” (Dorrance 1996, p.10). It wasn’t until 1979 when Dorrance took over the start up women’s program. What can be a great challenge for most male coaches when transferring from the men’s to women’s game was fairly seamless for Dorrance.

With the constant movement of his family as a youth Dorrance had a lack of television exposure to sport and along with his mother and younger sister being star athletes he credits this to encompassing no pre-conceived notions that men and women are different athletically. Although according to Dorrance the men’s and women’s game are tactically very different the work ethic and standards required to compete at the highest level of both games are identical. But the biggest challenge in coaching women is being that of creating high levels of intensity at practice and adhering to high standards.

Competitive Cauldron

It was in the search for a blueprint on how to increase intensity in practice and adhering to the standards needed to be successful that Dorrance came across a system being used by one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all-time in UNC men’s coach Dean Smith. Smith was having everything recorded in practice, any statistic that could be recorded was. Every time the players stepped on the court they were scored, rated and ranked. It was at these basketball practices in which Dorrance would sit in, marvelling at how well organised the training sessions were that he stole the recording idea.

This leads to what Dorrance describes as “The Competitive Cauldron” that gives his players “the best outside competition available”. Both Coach Smith and Coach Dorrance make comment that in the ranking of these statistics it almost mimics the order both coaches would subjectively rank their players even without these statistics. These statically based rankings are published for the all players to see and this is what creates the competition, players do not want to be on the bottom of these lists. Not every skill in the player ranking matrix is weighted the same and only the pre-game day sessions are the not recorded.

With the recording of these statistics the intensity increases also, but it’s the setting and adhering to a high level of standards to which Dorrance credits being the separating factor between the good and great teams (and players). Standards are set by highlighting extraordinary moments in practice but it’s imperative to wait for these moments and don’t heap praise early as this will lead to sub standards. The challenge lies with getting players to transcend the ordinary training effort. The standards that most players will set for themselves will usually be in a comfort zone that is well below their own personal potential and the standards required for team success.

Age and Youth in Coaching

Dorrance makes comment about two dissimilar coaching situations in relation to standards in which the underlying factor is very similar. The first involves new coaches in who most will select an easy training plan so it would appear that practice runs smoothly but the core issue being players only train in what they are already competent at a comfortable level. He attributes this to young coaches not having the security in themselves to address lower standards. In top level coaching it’s do or die and young coaches find it easier to play conservative than to play an attacking game and risk being humiliated. At the opposite end of the scale are older coaches who become burnt out. This mostly occurs due to not having the energy or willingness to make the emotional commitment to motivate people to attain the standard required. Dorrance makes comment that there is a constant emotional battle when trying to take players to higher levels beyond a comfort zone to which some older coaches just can’t manage.

Teaching

Coach Dorrance credits the book “Greater Expectations” by William Damon as having the biggest impact on him as a coach. It addresses the setting and adhering to standards in discussing “Overcoming the culture of indulgence in America’s homes and schools”. A whole chapter out of this black book of secrets was named after Damon’s book and I myself now have it on order.

Developing players as people is something Dorrance takes great pride in. When it comes to the tactical portion of the game of soccer he believes every player requires an understanding of the reason behind every tactical option. And this is why “In four years, all of our players are basically ready to coach because they not only understand the game, they have an understanding of how to verbally explain the game”. The coaching staff at UNC employs the Socratic method of teaching. This encourages players to become incredibly focused through fear of humiliation. This social pressure these young women endure proves the Socratic method very effective in the teaching of the tactical game. Dorrance was raised as a Catholic and attaches the great memorization of the principles in Christianity through catechism. Describing the way in which his players learn over their four years at UNC much the same, by being constantly exposed to the tactical situations and being quizzed regularly the players start to understand.

Another chapter in Dorrance’s secret black book is labelled “Having An Effect” it revolves around how coaching is about ‘effect’. In particular the way in which messages are delivered. “There is a difference between telling somebody to do something and teaching them to do it” (p.42). Seems obvious to the contrary but most inexperienced coaches believe ranting and raving from the sideline is what coaching is all about. “If you have to yell at them from the sidelines, you haven’t coached them”. Dorrance believes the best coaches are the ones who make the chosen sport seem simple and don’t confuse players with “long-winded theories”. He goes on to state language such as “great stuff” is not expansive enough for players to understand what has been achieved and more importantly the ‘why’ of a tactical event. Emphasis must be placed on the exact reason something went right so the players can replicate it. Dorrance also understands the importance of his senior players when building a team culture. By having an effect on the leaders they then will set the standards for the rest but this will take time. Team cultures are not built in a single pre-season.

Following on to having an effect is Dorrance’s thought process behind the popular theory that the best players make the best coaches. He challenges this theory by stating great players possess “natural abilities (which) preclude them from an understanding of the process of typical player development”.

Again in this chapter Dorrance refers back to parenting and the similarities it has with coaching. Dorrance makes comment that the parents, who have some of the greatest kids he knows, were “unbelievable knags... in a positive sense”. Referring back to the setting and adhering of standards the greatest parents are constantly reminding their children what to do so much that they are constructing their children’s behaviour to become natural. It’s this constant effort to instruct which leads to great kids and in athletics, great players. Dorrance makes note that ‘telling a player to get fit, for example, is not good enough”. A coach must instruct the player upon the process how to reach a certain goal, not just deliver the goal.

The Female Athlete

One section of the book that really stood out revolved around Dorrance’s approach to leading the female athlete. Noting the difference between male and female leadership styles he makes a clear statement “you have to drive men, but you lead women”. Female leadership is a more civilized form of leadership and thus it’s not about coaching through the intensity of your own personality as such with males, but allowing females to experience a coaches humanity and understand how much the coach cares about an athlete as a person first, player second. Women need to know how much you care before they care how much you know. You can destroy your leadership of a women’s team if they perceive that your relationship is built upon athletic success. Males have a very hierarchical leadership style, very top to bottom, whereas a female’s style is to build a network and let the players feel they have a personal connection with the coach that is unique. Dorrance makes comment about the book “The Female Advantage” by Sally Helgeson, in it the author notes that successful female leaders all give the impression everyone is connected to the leader/coach. While a males form of leadership is driven through status, memorandum and intimidation.

Dorrance briefly discusses his understanding of coaching youth player’s aswell. Making the point that boys need to be dominated and it’s about two things; Intimidation and aggression. Whereas coaching a Men’s outfit is less about personal rapport and more about respect. Women’s teams are also much more willing to at least give a look into your system.

Just as interesting as the way Dorrance understands female leadership was the way in which he would witness female relationships effect their four year stay at the university. Players would enter the program wanting to be a part of a great program but at the same time also want to be accepted personally by their peers. He states that women have a superior understanding that their relationships are more important than the game itself. This leads to the challenge of female athletes not wishing to compete in practice against friends and teammates. Thus brings us back to the competitive cauldron. As discussed earlier in this review, the players don’t want to land themselves at the bottom of the rankings so this competitive cauldron entices the girls to compete. A freshman might come into the program and be fearful of upstaging a senior leader in practice, but shortly after being in a competitive situation with one of the already drilled leaders they quickly understand what’s required. Now they are being given mixed messages and wanting to be socially accepted but it being beaten into them that they must destroy their opponents.

Communicating with Female Athletes

Probably one of the sections I gained the most from out of my secret book was the correct way in which coaches need to communicate with female athletes. A big statement that stood out to me was women will listen less to what you say but more about how you say it. Although a positive tone is always needed, it’s the body language that is imperative. A humorous moment from the book came from the note Dorrance makes regarding “men speak in English, women speak in hidden agenda”.

Also in the communication section of the book was how Dorrance approaches addressing the team or player negatively. And this brings us back to the first page I read earlier in the library. To reiterate what was stated earlier, Dorrance found that if pointing out an error in a men’s team it will make every male in the room have a similar thought process; “I was doing my job, it’s everyone else letting down the team”. This is where video footage is required. To stop the footage and point out the who, what, when and where of the error to the player is critical. Dorrance states even then the male will always have an excuse; it’s an ego defence mechanism. The issue with addressing women’s team’s errors is females struggle to separate between a coach taking her game apart and taking her life apart. When watching an error via video footage females will more often than not take blame emotionally. An in contrast to a men’s team they will often take blame for the mistake individually instead of deflecting it to teammates. This is why a women’s team needs to be shown the positives via video footage.

Preparation

Under Dorrance the UNC women’s program has been one of the most successful intercollegiate athletic programs of all-time, this dominance of the program can lead to various games on the schedule against far lower ranked opponents. This could lead to lack-lustre performances but Dorrance battles this by encouraging the women to crush every team, this, he believes is showing respect to the opponents. By constantly trying to add goals on the scoreboard it shows the other team you don’t take them lightly. He also makes note that the motivation for an underdog can often bring the talent and skill gap closer as they strive to upset Goliath. Still it can be expected some players will still take things lightly and this is where Dorrance employs setting team goals throughout the game to combat complacently. As a team they will employ goals such as being one goal up in the first 15 minutes, two goals in 30mins and three by half time. This ensures intensity is high as they aim to reach the team goals. I think it’s important to note this can tactic can also be used by the raging underdog. Quite often taking on a much stronger opponent can be overawing and setting sub goals that will eventually lead to achieving the overall goal can simplify things.

The great UNC leader also puts high emphasis on the warm-up. Not only for physical preparation but he can tell if his team is mentally ready to go during the warm up and this is the only time throughout the prep as he believes. The warm-up is a physical and mental rehearsal and he is more than happy to substitute intensity for perfection. He wants to see clean, crisp play during the warm up. I found this very interesting myself, as I would have preferred to have high intensity pre-game to ensure we came out of the blocks strong. I am still unsure where I stand on this principle but I understand that with the high level of competition and intensity Dorrance demands during the training week that there should not be a loss in intensity and focus during a controlled warm-up.

Team Chemistry

In developing team chemistry Dorrance once believed it was pure luck that a team would have great chemistry, he now knows very different and understands that positive team chemistry is built on multiple factors. But the great college coach believes it boils down mostly to a single concept; the reserve player’s attitude and how the senior group view and treat the reserves. Making the realistic note that rarely is a team filled with co-operative personalities, stating they are usually split between starters and reserves. Dorrance makes not of the British (and Australian) system of sports in that programs will have a 1st and 2nd’s team, ensuring everyone gets to play and develop. In North American sports it’s not uncommon to have permanent to have 4 year reserves who will ride the bench for their career. And Dorrance believes this is where issues can arise in both the reserves players not being managed properly and also the starters viewing the reserves as second rate. To combat this situation Dorrance employs a few principals. Firstly Dorrance makes sure every player understands their role and how they can play more and eventually start. He also always tries to ensure there is at least one starter and one reserves player he is close to, stating women can see right through your relationship with the best athlete on the team.

The problems Dorrance discovered early in his career with handling the starters and reserves lead the coveted coach to develop a team community where all are equal. Respect for each other is first measured by one’s contribution as people. In the community it’s not about competing for an athletic standard rather a human standard. Dorrance took the community idea from Scott Peck’s book “The Different Drum” where he talks a lot about community. It was also an outside influence which assisted Dorrance employ a peer evaluation system into the community in the mid 90’s. Dorrance had witnessed a peer evaluation program implemented with the UNC men’s lacrosse team by David Allen. Allen introduced the idea to Dorrance but he was very reluctant to utilize the system as the team was travelling so well at the time. I was very surprised when I read this. In high performance athletics I believe it’s imperative to stay ahead of the competition, look for new techniques AND implement them into your program. Dorrance later utilized the system when he felt there was a real split in the team. He found that through the system some players would be forced to face harsh realities in that they are a negative force on the team, and nobody wants to hold that position. I found it interesting to note that in the following year Dorrance once again waited to administer the peer evaluation program. He wanted to wait and only give it if he felt the team chemistry was suffering. Although Dorrance witnessed his patience with the peer evaluation program be successful I would still be attracted to the idea of utilizing with every player from starters to reserves. I believe this would truly create a team culture of honesty. Just because a player may not be a big enough distraction to the team to warrant a peer evaluation, everyone, no matter if they are the finest leader in the team could benefit from a peer evaluation. Players love feedback, they crave it; this is a great way to administer feedback.

Lastly in creating the team community, the program headed by Dorrance tries to involve the parents as much as possible. This is was a real eye opener, many a times a team and coaching staff will distance themselves from the parenting fraternity, fearful of having 22 assistant coaches. But at UNC it’s a tradition now. A collection of parents make it to everything from pre-season to NCAA tournament and often act as surrogate parents to all players. The UNC program tries to make the parents apart of everything and the coaching staff try to demonstrate to the parents that they value their daughters. Making sure to let the parents know they value their daughters as people, and not where they stand in the team talent hierarchy.

Team Organization

Finally Dorrance discusses “Tactics” and “Team Organization” in the final chapters of my secret black book. Without delving into too much detail I’ll outline some basic principals Dorrance employs with his UNC program. Firstly the great coach is convinced part of his success is due to he and his coaching staff separating the men’s and women’s game. Admitting some coaches attempt to take the evolution of the men’s game and adapt it to the women’s game, but Dorrance notes the women’s game has not evolved as far.

At the time of printing the women’s game used the same size ball as the men’s game. This leads to a lot of parries and rebounds from the goal keeper because of course the females have smaller hands than the men. To capitalize on this, the way in which Dorrance organizes his strikers is very intelligent. The UNC team plays with a 4-3-3 formation. This means 4 defenders, 3 midfielders and 3 forwards. The beauty lies in how the forwards are organised to take advantage of goal keeper rebounds. It’s called “framing the goal” and to keep it basic, when a cross or free kick is being played from a wing position the three forwards organise so one forward will run to the near post, one will run to the far post and one will run straight towards the goal keeper or centre of the goal depending on situation. Thus all 3 players are in a position to take advantage of any rebound. This is a choreographed play but all players in the forward structure are involved and taught how to adapt to their position on the pitch at any given moment. No forward will run to the same position every time the ball is kicked forward.

Secondly the coaching staff at UNC like the 4-3-3 formation because very few teams employ this structure. It then causes the other teams to alter their game plan to adapt to the 4-3-3. Dorrance makes note that the key to consistent victory is having numbers in the attacking box; this is related to players having the ability to cover the field effectively. The 4-3-3 formation also allows players to cover the pitch more effectively and assists in getting numbers in the attacking box.

Team organization also refers player management and recruiting. Dorrance goes into great depth when describing “The Take-On Artist”. The take-on artist is the player who loves to go one on one with the opposition and try to get past any and all in defence. He describes having to protect this player from many external influences. Although this player may turn over the ball more than any other player it’s the upside that the take-on artist gives that far outweighs the negatives. The ability to move and shift the defence with unpredictable play is a great advantage. When describing how to handle take-on artist’s turnovers Dorrance states if you have a take on artist it’s your job to preserve and nurture their creative quality and psychological traits by gentle suggestions. Too many coaches squash this quality in take-on artists and suddenly a player you recruited from high school because she destroyed the competition loses the quality due to the constant criticisms from teammates, coaches, parents and media. But Dorrance employs a rule with all his players in that if they are one on one with the opposition they are to take them on every time, this breaths confidence into the players. This also allows him to protect the take-on artist and help their teammates understand that they don’t want the take on artist to lose this quality.

Conclusion and Lessons

“Training Soccer Champions” or my “black book of secrets” as I like to refer to this hidden gem is the sort of book that if you came back and read every 6 months you would pick up something new every time. The book is littered with coaching and life gold and I am more than excited to implement a few of the strategies and principles that Anson Dorrance outlines in this wonderful piece of coaching literature. I have in fact already begun utilizing Dorrance’s major principle outlaid in the book in that of developing a “Competitive Cauldron”. I’m from an Australian Rules football background and competition has not been an issue but with me entrance into soccer strength and conditioning it has been a real culture shock. The intensity level is quite low and much of the training is 10 years behind that of modern sport science. So implementing a “competitive cauldron” like philosophy has reaped dividends and the coaching staff has really prized the added focus and intensity at training, which from a professional stand point, allows me greater freedom in coaching because they are seeing results.

In a very interesting turn of events, only days after turning over the final page of “Training for Soccer Champions” I was offered a position as conditioning coach for both Under 18 and Under 15 women’s soccer teams. I cannot wait to test myself when coaching the female athlete. With Dorrance describing stark differences between coaching the male and female athletes I believe it will develop my coaching skill set even further. If I was to conduct a SWOT analysis there is no doubt I would identify communication as my weakness and being that communication is the pivotal component of coaching it will be great to be thrown in the trenches and practice what I have read. Having already acquired the knowledge and understanding that a different form of leadership is required to be successful before beginning the process of coaching the female athlete is priceless. By taking the time to devour “Training Soccer Champions” I have the opportunity to build powerful relationships with the female athlete that may have gone begging if I had engaged a male orientated leadership style. Building a connective leadership style compared to the hierarchical dictatorship seen within men’s leadership in conjunction with being aware to value the person not the player are principals I look forward to practicing myself.

In today’s sporting teams I believe building team chemistry and a team community is vital to success both on and off the sporting arena. I was really pleased that Dorrance placed great emphasis on this and it has sparked me to research even further into the subject. But I don’t think Dorrance appreciated the peer evaluation process enough (at the time of print) and I believe through the evidence teams such as Sydney and Geelong have shown with success in the AFL that peer evaluation has such a strong place in today’s team chemistry.

Lastly, returning to the leading strength & conditioning coach from North America, shortly after he recommended this book to me he posted a short article on his blog, encouraging everyone to read the “black book of secrets” as it’s the best coaching text he has ever read. In my circle of mentors and friends from around the world it sparked a great hunt to find copies of this book. It turns out “Training Soccer Champions” is no longer in print. Dorrance has since penned another text “The Vision of a Champion” which from what I understand is an expanded version on “Training Soccer Champions”. There is also a Documentary on the UNC women’s soccer team released in 2009 titled “Winning Isn’t Everything”, from a team and coach who have won 21 National Championships from 1979, I believe we should all take something from that title, Winning isn’t everything.

Dorrance, A. 1996. Training Soccer Champions, JTC Sports, NC, USA.

Anson Dorrance Bio

Head Coach Anson Dorrance is now in his 32nd season as the Tar Heels' head mentor. His teams have an all-time record of 696-36-22 (.938). Under Dorrance, UNC has won 21 national championships, including 20 NCAA crowns and one AIAW title, 19 regular-season ACC titles and 20 ACC Tournament championships. During his tenure, Dorrance's teams are 139-10-4 in ACC regular-season games, 57-0-3 in ACC Tournament matches and 106-7-1 in NCAA Tournament games.

My New Favourite Blog

2011-01-17T11:39:00.000+11:00

This blog by Mladen Jovanović is easily my new favourite blog. I was familar with Mladen's work but stumbled across his blog by accident and am very thankful for it. Mladen is very thourough with his writings and he is a very smart man. The latest series on the 8 Week Soccer Pre-Season Plan has been invaluable, Do yourself a favour and search around his blog, it's a hidden pot of gold!

Todd Jones

Strength Coaches Drinking the Hatorade

2010-12-21T16:34:00.000+11:00

African Proverb: "Cutting down your neighbours crop won't make yours grow any better"

Recently I have been consumed by a raging argument on Twitter between some pretty well know professionals in their respective field. I’m going to re frame from identifying these people as the argument is neither my place nor business to be involved in. Never the less it has been going on for quite some time and getting rather heated. Some might put this down to professionals being passionate about what they do, but from the outside looking in it’s becoming quite ugly for those involved.

I’m writing this article to expand on something that has plagued the industry for some time and in my initial days in this amazing field I was definitely guilty of this, so I believe I’m in a pretty good place to make comment on the issue, and the issue being that of coaches and trainers “bad-mouthing” other coaches and trainers. I can confidently say at one point or another nearly every professional would have been guilty of this in some capacity. But for this field to gain the credibility it deserves and needs it imperative for coaches to show basic respect for their fellow coaches because at the end of the day we are all chasing the same pot of gold, just using different maps to get there.

It’s disappointing to hear coaches talking poorly of a fellow coach, sometimes they may not have even met face to face but through the magic of the Internet it allows for some very expressive conversations to take place.

But what’s really damaging the field is whilst these coaches are off utilizing social media to attack someone personally, or harming a fellow coach’s image via spreading negative word of mouth amongst athletes and clients, it is ultimately taking away from time the coach should be investing in themselves or their athletes. If that coach took the time and passion they were utilizing whilst making unkind remarks about another professional and used it to better their knowledge of a weak point in their game or learnt something new then at the end of the day they are achieving their goal. Because whether it is getting that better position or gaining more trainees the professional will achieve this by bettering themselves rather than ruining others.

I subscribe to the philosophy of as long as you can justify what you are doing to you and your athletes then you’re right. Don’t allow another individual to attack your thought process because they don’t agree with your game plan, some of man’s greatest feats were achieved in the face of adversity and “naysayers”. Some lines of thinking will be better than others, and I myself am going to disagree with many fellow professionals but it’s my duty for the greater good of this field to keep those beliefs to myself. In the end it’s about being confident in what you are delivering.

Some might believe by me penning this article that I am contradicting myself and I’m taking time out of improving my skills to comment on non-issues in the Strength & Conditioning field but in my eyes this is a wider issue than a little bad-mouthing between professionals. It’s to the greater good of this field that we understand it looks terrible when coaches publicly disagree. And we use our time productively, improving ourselves so our athletes and trainees can reap the benefits.

I understand as coach’s we are very passionate about what we do, if we were not passionate about our jobs and athletes then we should not be in this field, but what happened to the age old idea of “live and let live” or in our field, “train and let train”.

Unitl next time, Stay Classy,

Todd

We're Back!

2010-12-20T19:57:00.000+11:00

Merry Christmas and welcome back to the Todd Jones Strength and Conditioning site. I really hope to make this site a Strength & Conditioning hot spot to share the ideas of many of the leading professionals in this field. It's where I will share any knowledge I gain from my personal study and research along with so much of the quality information I come across on my travels. I hope to post articles, book reviews, product reviews, personal program updates, recipes, videos, ideas and much more. Please feel free to post comments or share your thoughts on this site, it's an open invitation, this is how we grow as individuals. If you have any topic that you would like discussed on this site please feel free to contact by myself or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

Once again welcome and have yourself a safe and Merry Christmas!

Todd