Are we losing sight of the big picture by focusing on minutiae and triviality? Movement is not a solo performance, it is a symphony, all the pieces must play in harmony. If you just work on the pieces and never put the whole orchestra together how do you get them playing together? [...]

I think theongoing dialogue in regard to my posts about getting it and the musclehead mentality has really been quite good and interesting. In the next week or two I will post more on the concept of adaptability and creating adaptable athletes. Manyof you have asked me to give specific examples and some ideas andprogressions of things I've used and things that I've seen to achievethis. [...]

I was privileged to attend the USA Track & Field Coaching at Loyola University in Chicago from June 30 to July 3. I attended the presentations by Frans Bosch to Sprints and Jumps group. He did six presentations on six topics. I found them all very thought provoking and stimulating. He is an individual who literally combines art and science. He is an artist and brings the creativity and the eye of [...]

We have all heard the axiom that more is not better. But within each of us there is a fundamental insecurity that we are not doing enough, so we do extra work. This seems to be especially true in an endurance dominated event. The result is that we lose sight of our objective in training which is to become a faster cyclist, runner or a swimmer. The work should not be an end in itself but a means to [...]

The following are common questions & concerns from coaches on training and fitness: When is it appropriate to begin formal speed training?A common mistake many coaches make when beginning formal speed training is to prepare their players for a track meet and not for the game of they are training for. Speed training for sport should always have a game-like emphasis. Typically, younger players bet [...]

Calvin is National Fitness Coach with British Rugby Football Union. Calvin has a PhD. In Biomechanics and has an extensive background in track & field. I think Calvin is one of the brightest minds in the field. He does a great job of combining science and practice. He and Dave redden make a great team working with British Rugby.What are most essential requirements for a successful conditioning pro [...]

Buzz words are good for gorilla marketing ads trying to sell new flavors of nachos but they need to be removed from our industry. What if your heart surgeon was dropping buzz words and was into looking at cool scalpels from a conference and  new cutting "exercises" from a DVD with no idea of how to perform an opperation in regards to anatomy and physiology? Mobility training is noth [...]

As coaches we tend to use words that take on a life of their own. I know I over use the word spectrum and spectrum training. Another word that I am getting a lot of questions on is matrix. When everything is a matrix then what is a matrix? Remember words create images and images create action. In my mind I Have a very well defined use for the word matrix in my system, it is a particular dumbbell r [...]

There is no doubt that hitting a baseball is a very difficult athletic skill. Last night I was listening to Joe Morgan babble on about hitting and it triggered a flash back to my years working in pro baseball with the White Sox and the Mets. I agree hitting is difficult, is was, it is and it always will be my contention that that the methodology of teaching and coaching hitting is 90% of the probl [...]

I was asked by a reader to comment further on so called HIT Training. For those of you who do not know this is characterized by one set to failure on machines that isolate single joint movements. In essence they are training muscles not movements. As far as I can see the main benefit of this methods in significant in muscle hypertrophy. I question whether this transfers to performance. I am presen [...]