Blogs: 2013-06-17T11:38:23Z Copyright (c) 2013, Carl Valle ExpressionEngine tag:elitetrack.com,2013:06:17 tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8076 2013-06-17T10:07:21Z 2013-06-17T11:38:23Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com try to relax, or backfire! Cues during a squat like "screw your foot into the ground" can improve a lift but as the speed of the movement gets faster the cues become less effective. I read on social media all of the cues and magic words, and some are indeed magic as I have seen some great responses with some coaches. If we are such magicians why are we still seeing experts in coaching drop the olympic lifts because they are too complicated and take too much time? Shouldn't the cuing work? Think twice cue once. Sometimes it's plan once cue never. Just like a pill or magic exercise, a focus on external or internal cueing is a lost cause. Sometimes the right demo, a video clip, the sequence of practice, the right training group, is better than the cue stuff. Eventually we can't cue the big game and need to look at who is doing the best just teaching and that is is likely physical education. I strongly suggest before boarding a flight to a far away land just swing by an elementary school and see a gifted teacher in physical education. Good teachers are out there and you just need to look deep enough.

]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8069 2013-06-14T13:05:35Z 2013-06-14T15:21:36Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com
Medical Records-You can't remember everything and others in collaboration can't read your brain. Sorry, but if you are writing a two, or other FMS scores on a piece of paper you are missing the opportunity to get better and get better information. Video the session and use a checklist and score it right. Sorry PCA users but I don't like the 1-5 either. This day in age with technology we can do more with less time and make it more effective. The wrong technology is not practical and the best is intuitive and human like. I have seen some PCA reports and I am frankly shocked that nobody is taking advantage of open source software or doing something that encourages proper scoring. The scoring uses radar or spider graphs and that is the only time I think they should be used for data visualization. I like the Thomas tests (1-3) with the PCA as they are great ways to see trends and problems. Just use range of motion with degrees if you can. You can still place it in a radar graph, just use smaller units instead of 1-5 and convert them into percentages.

Medical Imaging and Diagnostics- If I hear MRI doesn't mean anything I am going to explode. Nothing is everything, but something is not nothing. Not agreeing with an MRI is very risky and true they "might reveal injury" but what are you revealing to everyone. It's easy to point fingers but I like the idea of comparing. If I don't like a piece of equipment, I usually break down a comparison chart. When someone disagrees with something that is great, just share your information to compare. I have seen bad positions win because of rhetoric, not because of evidence. For example does anyone think that early ankle spurs will show up using movement screens? Duane Brown's surgery is something that is not as uncommon as we think.Perhaps if they are later stages, but the etiology of ankle spurs are not clear in research but they are starting to become more noticed by progressive medical staffs with relations to pedobarography. Sometimes it's too late and a surgery is required. When I share surface cartilage damage with coaches after self mobs, the response is anger at me instead of asking questions. I love mobility and I am glad people want to be supple leopards, but I think people should be screened deeper with more joint evaluation to see capsular issues and more specific problems versus leg lifts and hurdle steps and self diagnostics. Google Docs is a great online office suite, not a solution for modern sports medicine with a virtual physician. Any movement screen is limited, so why not share those limits? Nobody wants to talk about the limits then we have problems.

Geometers don't blame protractors for poor performance! Goniometer is not a bogus tool, and yes skill maters. Sorry but I don't blame Spaulding because my shooting percentage is not as good as Ray Allen. The same argument I have is that because one is using " duplo blocks assessments instead of technic legos" don't blame me. If you can't do a proper assessment with a goniometer then learn and get better. It's ok to do a Thomas test in addition to conventional movement screens. Like GPS being used for pitching, it's likely that the right tool is the issue, not the attempt to get more information. I agree with Joe Torine with the phrase you don't manage what you don't measure, just make sure you measure the best ways.

Wrapping up this blog. I know I perhaps ranted too much but this last paragraph will likely clear up the confusion. When having medical issues go to a medical specialist for evaluation and use objective tools and good reporting. Ankle mobility exercises are not always the solution, and often they are part of the problem. Where are all the basketball players crushing "3"s in the overhead squat with loads? If 2 is acceptable why are people not improving if 3 is better? Is it a case of lowering standards to treat the symptoms or inability to achieve criteria? I see more corrective exercise videos than corrected athletes doing the basics with polished techniques. Stop the insanity. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8068 2013-06-13T23:34:41Z 2013-06-14T01:30:43Z Ryan Banta rbanta@pkwy.k12.mo.us
One of the key issues I have had is forgetting some of the small things we used to do that strengthen our program in the past. Last year we didn’t have a day were we expressed our set rules to the group. Needless, to say two seasons ago we had a lot of issues with personalities and kids taking advantage of the program. This year we clearly stated the rules and it made a tremendous difference in the discipline of our group. Did it fix every issue? No. You will always have athletes that test your patience and your limits but the overwhelming majority of the kids were much better.

Evaluating your performance is something all of you should and must do as a coach. When looking at performances there are a number of things you must consider. We all know a number of factors influence our statistical outcomes for a particular season. Weather, motivation (Athlete/Coach), training plan, talent recruitment (walking the hallways), commitment to training, injuries, rehab, and competition all play a role in our statistical outcomes. One of the best ways to check how you are doing is compare your own program year to year. Take a look at your team from the previous years and see how you stack up. I always use bench marks for my program to measure improvement and overall season’s best. For example, in the 200 dash I want to see how many girls I have less than 28 seconds. Every year you’re not going to have a ton of big studs but the more kids you can get under a certain goal time each and every year the better. It shows you are not just recruiting talent but developing it too.

Another way to evaluate your season is to compare your team top to bottom with a similar program you respect. For example, many of you who read this blog often read Latif Thomas or maybe even bought his videos! Latif actually coaches at a school almost the exact size as my school. He coaches at Bishop Feehan High School and I coach Parkway Central High School. Since we all know and respect Latif I figured his school would be useful when evaluating how my kids did in a given year. Even better would be to compare our two programs over a number of years.

Are schools are similar in size, academics, extracurricular options, and both schools have enthusiastic coaches. Each of our schools has enrollments of 1200 kids. Having a little over a 1000 kids gives you the chance of a decent sized team. However, not a so large you can just grind kids leaving only the strong to survive. Academics are important at both schools every year Parkway Central has a dozen or more national merit finalist. Bishop Feehan has earned similar awards. Both of our schools offer everything from robotics to underwater basket weaving. This means in order to maintain a certain level of success we are in constant competition with other programs are our school. Finally, I think it is fair to say both Latif and I are both enthusiastic about the sport beyond even some of the most obsessed track geeks.

When you evaluate your team versus someone else’s it is important to clarify the differences. The differences between programs often give you answers to the disparity between events. For example, our schools are different in the sports we compete against, private vs. public, weather, and competitive seasons. The first difference between our programs is girls’ soccer. In Massachusetts girls’ soccer is in the fall. In St. Louis soccer is king, has deep roots, and girls soccer is in the spring. If you have a fast girl in your school its extremely likely they played soccer at some point in their childhood. Given a choice many of our girls choose soccer. Soccer’s popularity hurts our numbers especially in long distance. Another major difference between Latif’s and my program is the length of our season. As many of your know living in the Northeastern corridor indoor track is a big deal. In Missouri we don’t have an official indoor season and only a handful of indoor meets are kids can run during our coldest months. To make matters worse we are not allowed to coach those kids at those meets. On the flip side our spring months tend to be better for outdoor track definitely sprinters. Enclosed below are the top performances between both programs in comparable events. You will notice that Bishop owns us in distance. At the same time we show our strength in the horizontal jumps, sprint relays, and 100 high hurdles.



100HH Bishop Feehan High School

17.13 Yoder, Tereasa Massachusetts (MIAA)

18.40 O'toole, Caitlyn MSTCA Girls Coaches

18.63 Mulligan, Bridget Catholic High School

18.64 Harmon, Maddie Eastern Athletic

19.92 Copley, Jenna MSTCA



100HH Parkway Central High School

16.08 Booker, Alissa Class 4 Sectional 2 2013-

16.80 Frazier, Tasha Class 4 Sectional 2 2013-05-

17.12 Riordan, Raven Lindbergh Classic 2013-

17.70 Abernathy, Kayla Kimball/Wintermeyer

18.34 Walton, Rae Parkway Quad 2013-03-28





100 Dash Bishop Feehan High School

13.03 Luongo, Megan MSTCA

13.08 Scharland, Riley Massachusetts (MIAA)

13.30 Whall, Danielle Massachusetts (MIAA)

13.33 Bruno, Arianna Catholic High School

13.45 Mahoney, Jess 46th Glenn D. Loucks



100 Dash Parkway Central High School

12.91 Jones, Amia DeSoto Dragon Invitational

12.94 Thompson, Taylor Parkway Quad 2013-

13.02 Hayes, Jasmine DeSoto Dragon

13.24 Nelson, Paige Red & Black Time Trial

13.32 Frazier, Tasha Holt Invitational 2013-03-



200 Dash Bishop Feehan High School

26.71 Murphy, Julia Massachusetts (MIAA)

26.89 Silveira, Morgan Catholic High School

27.85 Scharland, Riley MSTCA

28.03 Bruno, Arianna Bishop Feehan

28.34 Mahoney, Jess Eastern Athletic



200 Dash Parkway Central High School

26.84 Jones, Amia Lindbergh Classic 2013-04-06

27.50 Thompson, Taylor McCluer-South

27.69 Mogley, Peyton DeSoto Dragon

27.90 Hayes, Jasmine Holt Invitational 2013-03-

28.04 Foster, Taylor Northwest JV Quad 2013-



Two Mile Bishop Feehan High School

10:47.69 Mcnulty, Abbie Massachusetts (MIAA)

11:23.24 Cutillo, Jackie Massachusetts (MIAA)

11:45.51 Svensen, Kate Massachusetts (MIAA)

12:14.87 Amato, Sara Massachusetts (MIAA)

12:26.46 Berube, Elena Massachusetts (MIAA)



3200 Run Parkway Central High School

11:23.31 Friesen, Kayla Class 4 District 4 2013-

12:23.17 Gibson, Elizabeth DeSoto Dragon

12:40.53 Stark, Kara Suburban South

13:17.64 Howe, Teresa DeSoto Dragon

13:48.54 Goldman, Julia Kimball/Wintermeyer



400 Dash Bishop Feehan High School

1:00.84 Silveira, Morgan 46th Glenn D. Loucks

1:03.89 Murphy, Julia 46th Glenn D. Loucks

1:04.71 Butler, Meredith Bishop Feehan /

1:05.33 Kawa, Ellie Bishop Feehan /

1:05.45 Luongo, Megan Catholic High School



400 Dash Parkway Central

1:04.06 Jones, Amia Kimball/Wintermeyer Girls

1:04.23 Mogley, Peyton Lindbergh Classic 2013-

1:05.02 Hamill, Jillian Class 4 District 4 2013-05-

1:05.83 Okpara, Anyaku DeSoto Dragon

1:06.54 Thompson, Taylor Red & Black Time



4x100 Bishop Feehan High School 49.60



4x100 Parkway Central High School 48.66



4x200 Bishop Feehan High School 1:48.57



4x200 Parkway Central High School 1:45.14



4x400 Bishop Feehan High School 4:18.86



4x400 Parkway Central High School 4:15.31



4x800 Bishop Feehan High School 9:29.47



4x800 Parkway Central High School 9:54.23



800 Bishop Feehan High School

2:20.40 Harum, Brynna Eastern Athletic

2:20.60 Hannon, Elizabeth Eastern Athletic

2:31.40 Wood, Julia Eastern Athletic Conference

2:32.37 Spellman, Meg Massachusetts (MIAA)

2:32.48 Santoro, Adrienne 46th Glenn D. Loucks



800 Parkway Central High School

2:23.72 Madsen, Sarah Class 4 Sectional 2 2013-

2:28.42 Stark, Kara Kimball/Wintermeyer Girls

2:31.94 Friesen, Kayla DeSoto Dragon

2:46.95 Mcdowell, Tyler Kimball/Wintermeyer

2:47.37 Jeong, Hanna Suburban South



Mile Bishop Feehan High School

5:13.30 Mcnulty, Abbie Eastern Athletic

5:13.46 Harum, Brynna Massachusetts (MIAA)

5:22.74 Santoro, Adrienne Bishop Feehan /

5:25.45 Hannon, Elizabeth Notre Dame Rt. 228

5:34.35 Carmody, Meghan MSTCA



1600 Meter Parkway Central High School

5:27.60 Friesen, Kayla Kimball/Wintermeyer

5:41.88 Stark, Kara Suburban South Conference

5:49.77 Madsen, Sarah Kimball/Wintermeyer

6:05.00 Gibson, Elizabeth Northwest JV Quad

6:07.29 Sartori, Danielle Suburban South



Discus Bishop Feehan High School

92-7 O'toole, Anne Eastern Athletic Conference

88-11 Smith, Jackie Massachusetts (MIAA)

67-1 Collins, Michaela Catholic High School

64-3 Bessette, Megan Eastern Athletic

60-0 Gaughan, Sarah Bishop Feehan /



Discus Parkway Central High School

109-11 Majee, Rumbi Class 4 District 4 2013-05-

78-8 Bleyer, Marge Kimball/Wintermeyer Girls

74-9 Davis, Diane Lindbergh Classic 2013-04-06

69-5 Olivier, Jamie Kimball/Wintermeyer Girls

68-1 Bobo, Kenisand Suburban South



High Jump Bishop Feehan High School

5-3 Yoder, Tereasa Massachusetts (MIAA)

4-2 Mulligan, Bridget Bishop Feehan /



High Jump Parkway Central

4-8 Frazier, Tasha Hillsboro Joe Mccraith JV

4-8 Nelson, Paige Parkway Quad 2013-03-28

4-4 Rother, Piper Henle Holmes Invitational

4-3 Abernathy, Kayla Holt Invitational 2013-03-

4-2 Wilson, Ashley Suburban South Conference



Long Jump Bishop Feehan High School

15-1.5 Luongo, Megan Eastern Athletic

14-8.5 Donahue, Lauren Catholic High School

12-0 Teixeira, Cassidy Catholic High School



Long Jump Parkway Central High School

17-8.5 Hayes, Jasmine Parkway Central vs.

17-2.25 Frazier, Tasha Class 4 Sectional 2 2013-

16-2.5 Abernathy, Kayla Parkway Quad 2013-

16-0.5 Nelson, Paige DeSoto Dragon Invitational

14-0.5 Love, Janat Parkway Quad 2013-03-28



Shot Put Bishop Feehan High School

31-10.25 O'toole, Anne 46th Glenn D. Loucks

31-6.5 Smith, Jackie Eastern Athletic Conference

27-3.75 Collins, Michaela Eastern Athletic

24-6 Prosper, Kyla Eastern Athletic Conference

20-2 O'neill, Kathleen Bishop Feehan /



Shot Put Parkway Central High School

34-7.25 Thompson, Taylor Lindbergh Classic

28-4 Majee, Rumbi Kimball/Wintermeyer Girls

27-10 Bleyer, Marge Northwest JV Quad 2013-

27-5 Davis, Diane Lindbergh Classic 2013-04-06

26-11.5 Monroe, Marilyn Holt Invitational 2013-



Triple Jump Bishop Feehan High School

33-5 Harmon, Maddie Eastern Athletic

32-8.5 Bruno, Arianna Bishop Feehan /

30-5 Mulligan, Bridget Eastern Athletic

29-1.5 Teixeira, Cassidy Catholic High School



Triple Jump Parkway Central High School

38-8.75 Nelson, Paige Class 3 & 4 State Track &

36-6 Hayes, Jasmine Class 4 District 4 2013-05-1

34-1.5 Abernathy, Kayla Suburban South

27-3 Schmitt, Eleni Suburban South Conference

27-3 Truong, Amanda Suburban South



]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8067 2013-06-13T11:53:46Z 2013-06-13T13:19:48Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com "Piggybacking off Catapult’s experience with dozens of football programs around the world, the goalkeeping algorithm will be the first of many specified approaches to performance analysis on the cards in the coming months – with specific algorithms for Australian Rules football kicking, American football quarterback movements, and baseball pitchers all in early development."

-Catapult Sports

Baseball pitchers and GPS? I specifically warned that using GPS for baseball is like the IAAF or IOC using a sundial to do splits for Usain Bolt during London. The hardware is too limited to see issues with limbs, and no matter what think tank they get in Australia, nobody is going to see that time of sensitive impact on throwing in the MLB. Algorithms are used a little too much now and we are putting a big expectation on such equipment. On the other hand, l like the fact that coaches are talking about this and trying. Catapult is the leader in GPS systems currently, but after using a 80 Euro opensource product with better hardware, GPS companies like Catapult sports are going to get a little crowded by 3-D printers at colleges making them inhouse. In fact, one college is investing into a Makerbot and using DIY plans from super users. Disruptive innovation is coming, and pricewars and software features are going to be expected.

Don't worry if your team doesn't use GPS and Tracking, or have the hottest consultant selling dashboards and medical software. The reality is logic and math can help you sort workouts and training to get adaptations, not just glorified chess pieces on a computer screen. I believe that GPS is a great way to look at distribution and output, but not sensitive enough for anything beyond volume and general velocities. In fact, here is a table freely available to look at how velocities can help with training for Tempo running or looking at how horizontal jumps can be converted from max speed testing. When someone says 7 meters per second is sprinting, only if it's the first 15 meters of acceleration. I can nearly run a mile at that speed at peak form, hardly a sprint, and using calorie tables down to the fraction of a calorie is strange when meals need to be looking at micronutrients instead of micro calories.

The strange thing is the marketing art with game data in the NFL. Unless sport changes and allows coaches and staff to make adjustments on GPS and tracking data, what is the purpose of showing small sided games and walk through half court practices in the NBA? Using TRIMPS isn't perfect, but how much better is GPS and Indoor Tracking options when they are using center of mass. Even with the new foot sensors by new start-up ShadowStep, one has to be very knowledgable about foot structure and EMG to make an intervention. Showing data on a dashboard is like a rocket scientist showing the problem of getting a shuttle to the moon and walking away. One needs to anticipate what one can do with the data to start creating intervention push lists or it's just autopsy data. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8065 2013-06-11T11:51:36Z 2013-06-12T18:27:37Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com listening our bodies and using science to help with that sixth sense. I find myself not in the middle, but on both sides at the same time. No coach is perfect, but the advantage is being closer in accuracy in running the program versus your competition. How do we know what is real? I don't think any coach worth their salt will say that they don't listen to their athletes, but athletes are human and not perfect either. It's collaboration and we need to do both. Subjective and feedback with objective and logic. They are not incompatible, but symbiotic. In the future I see more harmony as (wo)man and machine is not polar opposites but in fact the same. We create technology, and humans need to listen to both voices to get better. This is why an old school "Dances with Wolves" journal is sometimes useful, because equipment assists the coach and we must careful not to be consumed by it. I recall Paul Bergan sharing that Jonty Skinner became a slave to his lactate tester, and now I see the same with other data sets. Still, it's not about one or the other, it's about harmony. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8063 2013-06-10T12:33:09Z 2013-06-12T18:27:10Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com
-bleedinggreennation.com

In the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles is getting a lot of attention for integrating sport science into their program. One comment I will say is sport science is a process, not a position. Having a guy, usually from another country or far away land, creates an illusion of change. While the effort to bring someone in and change things is noble, I think it's good to start talking about fully leveraging sport science versus getting a sport science. Any time someone uses principles of sport science one is likely to be a scientist in a way. I am not saying one should not hire someone to direct the process as boots on the ground is vital, but separating science should not be done. What I do like about the Eagles is the efforts to get nutrition integrated in a controlled fashion with the team. This is not new, and we must be careful not to jump on any bandwagon with practices such as GPS systems and other methods from AIS.

Sport Science should not be viewed as "internal affairs", but a part of the team and a way to communicate needs. Since much of the talk is about eating and nutrition I will focus on my thoughts of viewing the best practices I have seen internationally.

Body Composition, Weight, Anthropometry- Simple measurement of weight, bodyfat, and body size and shape is a great way to see growth or atrophy. Just doing two is not enough, and the frequency can't take too much time. One team in soccer integrated a wifi scale for each athlete at the locker room so they can get hydration changes and frequent weighing. The problem with wifi scales is that the size is small for NBA feet or large NFL guys. Girth is a great way to see atrophy (nerve or recruitment issue) and how the program is affecting the body mass in general. With the new cameras, one can get this without adding

Biochemistry (blood, urine, saliva)- I reviewed options with blood analysis, but urine is another options that is valuable with small pilot studies. Frankly with urine it's a near impossible way to do it in an American environment, especially pros. Good private clients is valuable to see nitrogen balance, a crude and very simple way to see possible breakdown but this is very interpretive and not always conclusive. Blood Analysis is a great way to see trending with meals and audits the "self reports" with the nutritional logs. Blood analysis can really help athletes be compliant beyond the subjective reporting stuff, because it measures the effectiveness of interventions. Blood does't lie. Sometimes saliva is good for cortisol, but I find that it's only good for a few pilot experiments and is a pain to administer. HRV seems to help with relationships of stress better.

Performance of Training and Testing- How is the athlete performing? Simple question right? Good HRV done at 8am is much different when an athlete has a bad weekend and skips breakfast before a hard conditioning day. I know intermittent fasting is gaining popularity, but I am not a fan of athletes tinkering with this when overtraining is real. Sprinters maybe as I have seen some medal while eating and living like Lions (don't ask details!) but the team sport guys should eat normally if possible. If the athlete is lean and have good biomarkers, one still needs to look at the training to see if they meal patterns are driving performance. Sometimes without blood testing poor training can trigger a test, but then it's usually too late. It's good to share training and competition with a time line. One can see why certain factors are working and some are not. I am a fan of having a wide variety of data sets to screen out possible reasons why things are not working.

Intervention Credits or Units- Finally the interventions are measurable options to see what one is doing about the problems. Having a great dashboard is like having beautiful fonts and diagrams of a geometry problem. It's nice to have but doesn't solve the problem but you need to have the right questions. Intervention credits are simple, they can be doses of things that match problems we are facing, be it catered meals, vitamin d supplements, or measured post workout drinks. For example pumpkin seeds with a nice set of spices is a great way to get sodium in when athletes are not drinking sport drinks as well as helping with iron. Like dried apricots, they can be saved in a car for snacks when athletes are not getting meals in with classes and side jobs in college. When one collects a receipt from Whole Foods each week when shopping for themselves, once can get an estimate of foot content. In the future I hope paying through a smart phone will help collect and aggregate the data easier, along with GPS of eating locations. Units is a great way to know what is administered, but one should separate validated (observed) versus reported (what athletes say) to ensure compliance and accuracy.

Kudos to the Eagles for doing the right things, but the Denver Broncos in the 1990s were doing similar methods and didn't need the GPS tools, like Chelsea last year winning the Champions League, to win the Superbowl. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8061 2013-06-09T17:36:33Z 2013-06-12T18:26:35Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com Yo-Yo tests and 30-15 IFT, but do something basic and get a baseline. One counter argument is that it's not the game or other excuses to create fuzzy reality, but the game is chaos and we need some clarity. I hate the rhetoric with specific and game simulation. If that were the case, most keepers in soccer would get 10 touches a practice, a slow way to get that mythical 10,000 hours. Like the people that use olympic lifting is a sport excuse because they can't coach the lift or they have athletes that are not interested in training, what if I told a football coach in the NFL that we didn't sprint because we are not training for the olympics in track? Rugby athletes too light? We are not training bodybuilders! Tennis athletes too tight? We are not training for yoga class. We can go over and over again with this.

Testing removes much of the interpretive variables by creating a simple benchmark. Sure motivation and recovery status is real, but it's always a factor during games so what is new? I hate the fact that athletes will raise their game come show time. True, when the game is on the line you will see a better effort, but you must get break some eggs during the week if you want a cake over the weekend. Here are some random interesting factors to consider.

Power Testing and Speed Testing- Without 30m acceleration and Jump tests, conditioning is a little foggy with how an athlete is producing the test. Remember that the heart and lungs fuel the legs, and the legs are powered by strength training. Out of shape legs will render conditioning on the bike impaired, so more power is part of the context of things. The crutch of having guys with speed and power with poor aerobic testing is a cop-out. Even the most explosive sprinters have good fitness and can jog sub 5 minute miles with just recovery runs. Going 75 second laps if you can run a 46 is not impossible.

Blood Analysis- One needs to look at aerobic power stemming from iron status and other factors contributing to oxygen transport. I think many athletes suffer through training and dig themselves into a hole because they are not healthy with vitamin and mineral status. Good screening can see factors contributing to conditioning performances and we need to do this to ensuring we are weeding out the wrong red flags.

HRV and CNS testing- A talk about HRV reserves and slopes was a hot topic recently, and HRV can potentially help see training load over phases. CNS testing may be parallel to HRV, but some times an athlete is ready aerobically but their legs are flat. I will be testing this more this summer.

I think testing conditioning needs to be simple and clear, and training methods need to support the changes in the test. I am interested in seeing what Ronaldo's fitness is as he is extremely quick and it would be interesting to see how he is doing it without compromising his speed. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8053 2013-06-08T12:10:57Z 2013-06-12T18:25:58Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com Kettlebell blog post on the craziness of corrective exercise. It was nice to see another voice in the dark here, but we need to start looking at the issue more now that we are heading towards a data driven and evidence based therapy world. Craig Liebenson had this link on social media and it's nice to see therapists driving out of the nonsense. Instead of longwinded blog posts on this, I am going to attempt to just have some soundbites for twitter ammo and responses to the approach here. I think that more and more talk about what is effective is going to help coaches get out of the overly conservative approach to patients (I mean athletes) and start getting practical here.

Corrective exercise is popular because it sells exercises. DVD exercise catalogs or youtube channels are popular here and I do think we need to have taxonomy for resources, but most coaches like the turnkey simplicity that an exercise can "correct" faults. Exercises are part of the process but it's about corrective approaches, not just a convenient movement of a few reps doing the trick. In fact, too much parlor tricks in my book are going on. Quick to fix quick to return.

The body must play in an environment that has massive ground reaction forces. If the loads are therapeutic, it's early rehab, not a solution to handle professional sports. Doing wall slides are fine, but if they are working so well why are we doing them for years? Let's think about impact approaches such as lifting loads that force the body to adapt morphologically and neurologically. If you want to save up for a sports car, think wire transfers not loose change.

This leads to barefoot science and other training nonsense. I understand it's good to have some barefoot work but with all of the leaders talking about this why are some facilities having a rash of foot fractures? Where is the "data" there and how is the barefoot working now? Crickets.

Good training is corrective so think about the macrocycle and how joint range of motion and posture is evolving over a season and a career. Use benchmarks for goal setting and good record keeping to see context. Anyone can test great during the offseason but measures should be audited over each phase to see how chronic loading can interact with those scores.

Good lifting is corrective in nature. I find it interesting how so many corrective exercise people can't get clients to do the basics really well. If they tried to do the basics and do simple things like full range lifts, balanced program design, smart sequencing, and sufficient loads, we would see better results.

Measure posture with real tools. Talk is cheap and all of the PRI talk is great but show me the data. Don't post a cued athlete before and after, show me video of motion and a 3-D posture scan. You don't need to buy a system, just go to the area university and get it done to show us how all the rib work is working. I still believe that posture has an effect with athletes, but measuring it is just as important as a DEXA scan and bodyfat. Show me the data of motion and static postural changes.

I like that Mobility Wod exists as I am a fan of personal maintenance, but we need less of the fixers out there. Now that athletes are seeing this stuff on youtube, we are seeing hypochondria zombie plagues where athletes must be resurrected with massive amount of mobility tweaks to function. Why not address this by getting to the root of the problem like seeing a real therapist and finish rehabbing the problem. Most of the time I see this because self mobility is treating symptoms and not addressing core issues. The less self fixing and assisted corrective exercise the better the program is. Sometimes elite sport requires a lot of artificial support so I am not discounting it!

In time we are going to see more of a balanced and sane approach to training continues. I prefer less tinkering and more purity, but we will at time need to address problems because of the nature of the beast. Let's not get carried away with this stuff and try to do what is necessary, not what is available. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8052 2013-06-08T11:56:18Z 2013-06-12T18:25:19Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com Sub13 as it's a great resource and I hope more global sharing occurs with training and coaching. I have met Benke a few times and love his approach to training and hurdling technique. You can scroll down to the bottom and download the videos and also get some great footage of Hakan Anderson, the man who I refer to with sprinting sport science and applied methods. Remember, what happens on Vikingline stays on Vikingline! I still enjoy the punk elves disco dancing at 2am with the sun beaming and watching Javelin at the ship bar. It was like yesterday. Enjoy the content and use google translate if necessary. It's worth it. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8050 2013-06-07T14:08:43Z 2013-06-12T18:24:46Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com
The central themes were gait, foot mechanics and functional evaluation of the hip, soft tissue modeling, and medical timelines. Each presenter spoke for about 20 minutes on a very narrow topic followed by light discussion. Here are the highlights-

Hamstrings and Small-Sided Games- The best way to set-up injuries for athletes is to overdose on SSG and skip the weight room. While I do agree that team sport is about optimizing and not maximizing, allergies to iron create a big problem long term with hamstring development. Athletes must do short speed work weekly at least to get the nervous system firing at high rates. The big boys are almost hitting 40 kph and that means a few reps could be a hazard in games if one is just doing tap dancing with the ball. Look at all the ANS proponents and soft tissue injuries. Sure one can blame the coach, but without just tastes of sprints one is just sending one to war without practice shooting and I don't mean the ball.

Tensiomyography- Monitoring experts are getting a lot of attention, and I see a focus from physiological to biomechanical and anatomical data sets in the future. I was surprised on how respected Jose Fernandez is with his work with TMG, as he is the world leader on the subject matter and his work was highlighted by a private therapist. Last year at the BSMPG conference Jose spoke, but even major organizations are still in the dark with TMG. I had an athlete tested by Jose last year and some follow up tests that are in the Kinetics Manual in super detail.

MRI is an attempt to get structural damage to estimate repair. The body is more complicated and imaging such as MSK ultrasound is very practical to do at high frequencies but local site specific diagnostics is a must. The nervous system and function is key, not just structure. Testing the athlete takes two minutes a day and can help get an indication of the methods and approaches are working. Tensiomyography is practical if set up right. Those that look at are often intimidated but I have tested athletes with the device and wall arm systems with guided cameras. Anytime someone says it takes too long think stock car racing and pit crews. You can get a lot done if you are creative. A multimillion dollar athlete should not go out to the field if they are injured and get hurt again. Professional Baseball is simply embarrassing themselves (research wise). Look the Nationals. Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg injuries are setting up the organization for a doomed future.

Thermography can be used if set up right to get hot spots or potential problems. Teams can cross-validate as the false positives are high with thermography but the speed of collection and the practical side of IP cameras make it like a high speed airport security set-up. Thermography was brought up by Dr. Sands at an earlier BSMPG, but people are not acting on this. Dr. Sands ran the USOC regeneration center and was excellent in his keynote a few years ago.

Speaking of Normatec, one needs to remember that passive recovery is still passive. This means that active pool workouts are vital for changes in HRV and tissue adaptations. It's good to have a split of 50/50 with Normatec and pool training so that insulin sensitivity and angiogenesis is maintained. Normatec is worth 12-24 hours a week in regeneration units. Over a season those that don't use it are weeks behind and are going to feel it in the playoffs.

Biomechanics of Injury- Foot mechanics and total body gait analysis is the future, and pressure mapping will eventually become mainstream when the hardware and software start to jive. I am not a fan of Novel's Pedar system, but the German approach to hip and foot mechanics is interesting. The thought is that a chicken and egg relationship exists with foot and hip structure and podiatrists must test the hip better to ensure the orthotic is not treating a poor landing position. More information will be posted later, but if you are not scoring the foot for function besides a basic foot typing you are going to see problems that are "mysterious". Look at the total amount of jones fractures in the NFL. Note the facilities that are using FMS screens and not seeing the obvious of fracture risk.

The details and research will be on my dropbox later when I have the time, but I figured I would showcase what is valuable in my mind. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8049 2013-06-06T13:43:58Z 2013-06-12T18:22:59Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com
When Frans Bosch talked about the technique of Powell and pushed his exercises as the solution, many people in the audience asked if Powell got there by the drills and exercises Frans talked about. If the Dutch were producing other sprinters besides Henk's athletes, I would be experimenting more. I don't care who endorses what, evidence is proof in the pudding. So what to do differently? I think the key is to keep it vanilla and straightforward. No need to be cool, just do the most obvious like if the athletes are weak, try lifting weights. Start with sandbags and lunge like activities and keep driving force production. Contractile strength supports the brain, so if you are not strong enough to do what your mind says, get stronger. Functional legs is just making sure the foot hits the ground and the the exercises are multi-joint. Let's not complicate with matrix stuff or get talking about synchronization. If it's not measurable it's opinion or guess work. When measurement is attacked, think Galileo and science being "vehemently suspect of heresy" because he was being logical and following smart science. We often want to believe something is happening because it suits our feelings.

Sport Specific and Functional rehab should be the focus. Many sports have unique demands that are enough for people in the medical field to support such as pitchers in baseball or running backs in football. Soccer hamstring injuries are often do to lack of lifting, so while it's good to do gait analysis or nordics, perhaps we should get a attendance log beyond Bosu Balls and TRX "stuff". Are you doing leg training? If so how is it creating more power? What has the athlete done over the last three years to get better? Are we buying time and looking busy or driving development? Lots to think about. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8047 2013-06-05T15:36:21Z 2013-06-12T18:22:22Z Vern Gambetta vgambetta@aol.com http://www.gambetta.com
Less Functional>>>>>>Most Functional

Sterile – Artificial         Non Sterile - Real Life

Foreign Function        Real Function

1   2   3   4   5  6   7   8   9   10

To determine placement on the continuum of function there are basic evaluative criteria:

Plane(s) of Movement - If the movement involves multiple planes of motion as opposed to movement in one plane then it is more functional.

Joint Involvement – If the movement involves multiple joints as opposed to isolation on one joint then it is more functional.

Speed of Movement – If the speed and tempo of movement is as fast as can be controlled then it is higher on the continuum of function.

Proprioceptive Demand – If the movement is of high proprioceptive demand thane it is higher on the continuum of function.

Mindful – If the movement is mindful, demands attention and concentration then it is higher on the continuum of function, as opposed to being to put the mind on autopilot and not having to concentrate to execute.

Carefully look at he movement that you are trying to enhance. What are the forces involved? What is the dominant plane of motion? Movement occurs in all three planes of motion simultaneously: Sagittal, frontal, and transverse. Therefore it is important to train movement in all three planes. It is imperative to understand the movements and then design the training program accordingly.

Sport performance regardless of the sport is a multidimensional activity. It takes place in a dynamic environment, that forces movement to occur in all planes of motion using multiple joint movements to produce the desired movement mechanics. We move period! Performance involves the whole kinetic chain - Toe Nails to Fingernails – to reduce and produce force. This process ensures optimal neuromuscular control and efficiency of movement.

Movement is a complex event that involves synergists, stabilizers, neutralizers, and antagonists all working together to reproduce efficient triplanar movements. Therefore the basic foundational principle of functional training is to train movements not muscles. Sport scientist Roger Enoka put it best: “The function of a muscle depends on the context in which it is activated.” Different movements use muscles differently. The muscles are slaves of the brain. The brain does not recognize individual isolated muscles; rather it recognizes patterns of movement in response to sensory input. The Central Nervous System is the command station that controls and directs all movement. The CNS calls for patterns of movement that can be modified in countless ways to react appropriately to gravity, ground reaction forces, and momentum. Each activity is subjected to further refinements and adjustments by feedback from the body’s proprioceptors. This process ensures optimal neuromuscular control and efficiency of function.

Functional training is not about measurable strength. How much you can lift or how many foot-pounds of force you can express on a dynamometer are meaningless numbers. Instead quality of movement, rhythm, synchronization and connections are what is important. The goal is always the ability to apply the strength that is developed in the actual sport performance. How is the force expressed? Can you produce and reduce the force? Force production is all about acceleration, but often the key to movement efficiency and staying injury free is the ability to decelerate and stabilize in order to position the body to perform the desired movement. A good functional training program will work on the interplay between force production, force reduction and stabilization. The end result is functional strength

Over the years I have derived basic principles to guide the training. These are the foundational principles of functional sport training. Use these as you guide and you will have consistent results.

Functional Athletic Development Principle One – Train movements not muscles

Functional Athletic Development Principle Two - Dynamic postural alignment and dynamic balance are the foundation for all training

Functional Athletic Development Principle Three - Train fundamental movement skills before sport specific skills

Functional Athletic Development Principle Four - Train core strength before extremity strength

Functional Athletic Development Principle Five - Train bodyweight before external resistance

Functional Athletic Development Principle Six - Train joint integrity before joint mobility

Functional Athletic Development Principle Seven - Train strength before strength endurance, power before power endurance

Functional Athletic Development Principle Eight - Train speed before speed endurance

Functional Athletic Development Principle Nine - Train to build work capacity appropriate for your sport or event

Functional Athletic Development Principle Ten – Train Sport Appropriate - You Are What You Train To Be

The body is incredibly smart, it is highly adaptable and self-organizing which gives it an amazing ability to adapt to radical extremes in terms of environment and all the various stressors that can be placed upon it. Look around and see movement with different eyes. Recognizing that the body is smart will open a whole mew vista in training and rehab. There are no limits beyond your imagination and creativity as a coach, teacher or rehab specialist. Look for possibilities not limitations and dysfunctions; give the body credit for its wisdom and then coach, teach and rehab accordingly. Enjoy the process and marvel at the discoveries.

Understanding and applying a functional approach to training is a challenging process. It is often contrary to conventional wisdom as represented in mainstream sport science research. In order to move forward this should not limit us. We need to use conventional wisdom as a staring point and move forward to think and act outside the box. Follow your instincts and allow your creativity to be expressed through movement. Follow the functional the functional path to improved performance. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8046 2013-06-05T11:54:55Z 2013-06-12T18:21:56Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com Neil's Kinetics Manual and is going to be a interesting topic down the road. A systematic review of the Physiology of Small-Sided Games Training in Football was done and it was ripped apart by several high performance and medical experts. One of the issues that was a primary focus on physiology such as heart rate and estimated training loads of player tracking tools such as catapult options. While total training loads were estimated, they didn't replicate the eccentric estimations because lactate and accelerometers are not sensitive to see muscle fatigue patterns like TMG. So what is the solution? I was very surprised about the responses being focused on intense weight lifting and plyometrics being factored as solutions in soccer. When I was talking about time in the weight room with Liverpool, Fergus Connolly found it funny that lifting was talked about. I didn't. Athletes are not stupid, and they think about what they need every day and if they see Rugby guys running around and lifting weights, they wonder why bosu balls and TRX circuits are used to keep them busy. Everyone wants soccer athletes to lift more, but fatigue and starting points make it very difficult and risky.

When I talked about periodization recently in workshop, everyone asked about GPP and microcycles. My progression was very contemporary, low risk to more risk. That resonated because all the exotic Bondarchuk is great but I never see the Triple Matrix Rehab Cycle in any of the power points when athletes are chronically hurt. Conservative training is the start, and as the athlete becomes more fit and stronger, then risk (intensity,density, and volume) can be manipulated. Too slow of a progression one is not ready to play, too much too soon you are hit by friendly fire.

Nordics was a discussion point brought up because many are using them to reduce injuries to hamstrings. When one strength coach barked about RDLs, everyone talked about how weak the cores are when only is living only on a steady diet of planks and bird dogs. While I respect Stu McGill, I suggest listening to what he says not to do versus what to do with high level core training. I don't know if Bob Alejo was right about squats and pitchers, but he can boast that he didn't have an oblique issues during his tenure. This is backed up by the sEMG studies that sport does stress muscles of the core and must be accounted for. I don't think KB swings or pulse swings are going to help a running back avoid Patrick Willis, but similar movements perhaps can help in circuits to get some core conditioning. I think we need to research more total body movements and see how the core is used, outside strongman movements. I find the pelvic motions are too specific for bilateral loading even if asymmetrical options like "suitcase" carries are done.

Another discussion that was surprising was one leading physiologist talking about biomechanics of loading, not just energy system nonsense. I have switched to a Wolfgang Meier approach because fatigue is a drop off of power, not a multicolor energy system chart. I do think Mike Bottom's color coded energy system collection and the list provided by Gary Winckler is valid, but those are descriptors of what is taxed, but it still comes back to the watch and tape. How far. How fast. How long (rest), and how much (volume). I was expecting the physiologist to talk about lactate or Heart rate but he went into muscle fatigue and eccentric responses causing structural damage and shared Tensiomyography studies of positional responses. That is not the future, but it needs to be the current standard. Bar charts of training load is nice for research studies, but if they worked we would see far less injuries.

A cool discussion is estimation of crashing during the season with athletes that are injured. Estimating how much preparation and what level of risk is what everyone is interested in. You can be fresh and fit (readiness and preparedness) from a good offseason but when you see the stars on the websites drinking on boats it's because the season is so long making the preparation so short. Training monotony is a huge physiological and mental issue with seasons in the NBA and NHL. What happens in elite soccer is researched to show that athletes may not show drops in performance but some physiological and morphological changes will decrease conditioning and increase risk of injury. I brought up the capillary changes over a football season and the relationships only found in biochemical and HRV testing. They were all in agreement that small-sided games need to be manipulated to do a few different options or one is going to have a slow death in conditioning. One can do that with more pool workouts and slower velocity tempo runs.

Small-Sided games are not the problem, but they are not the holy grail. I don't know enough about the sport of professional soccer but I do know the problems that the smart people are sharing. I think training load will evolve to body internal and external load and how we share this information and collaborate is going to change the game. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8045 2013-06-04T23:02:47Z 2013-06-12T18:20:48Z Vern Gambetta vgambetta@aol.com http://www.gambetta.com Kinesiology, Knott & Voss and their work on Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation and John Jesse and his approach to performance training and injury prevention. It was a move away from a linear reductionist and segmented view of the body to a holistic, synergistic quantum approach. In so many ways what evolved as functional training taps into old tried and true concepts and methods that were once the norm and then fell out of favor for various reasons. The saying that everything old is new again could not be truer.

Unfortunately the concept of functional training as it has evolved and been co-opted by the “fitness industry” has been bastardized and compromised into a weird amalgamation of crazy exercises without any logical progression or justification. It is more than exercises; it is a systematic sequential and progressive approach to training for the rigors of competition. There is no magic or mystery, just application of basic principles that are proven and have stood the test of time. It is more than just a bunch of exercises thrown together that are different; it is variety with a purpose. The key to a good sound functional training program is progression. You must carefully assess where you are at the present time and carve out a step-by-step progression to achieve specific realistic training objectives. Know where have you been and where are you going. Then fill the gap with a logical functional progression that will move forward only when the previous step has been mastered.

In today’s high tech world we sometimes forget the basics. The farther away from the body the less functional we become. The human body is a beautiful finely tuned organism that far surpasses the most finely tuned high performance machine created by man. It is the ultimate high tech machine. Despite all its complexity the body is also incredibly simple. In order to take advantage of the body’s wisdom we must focus on how the body actually functions. We must understand the movements in sport in order to understand functional training for sports. A thorough understanding of function will allow us to design and implement a comprehensive training programs for each sport and athlete.

The body is a link system; this link system is referred to as the kinetic chain. Functional training is about linkage – it is how all the parts of the chain work together in harmony to produce smooth efficient patterns of movement. Conventional academic preparation still focuses on studying individual muscles based on classical anatomy. This is where the confusion begins as to what is functional movement. We must remember that we do not function in the anatomical position. The anatomical position is static; it provides us with the perspective of mental convenience to arrange of all the individual muscles for ease of study and observation. In order to truly understand functional training we must get away from the focus on muscles and focus instead on movements. It is important to emphasize that the brain does not recognize individual muscles. It recognizes patterns of movement, which consist of the individual muscles working in harmony to produce movements required by the sport.

In order to completely understand function we must understand the role that gravity plays in movement. The fact that we live, work and play in a gravitationally enriched environment cannot be denied. Gravity has minimal effect on the body in the anatomical position, but maximum effect on the body in movement. We simply cannot ignore gravity, it is essential for movement, and it loads the system. Therefore we must learn to overcome its effects, cheat and even defeat it occasionally. Over reliance on machines for training will give us a false sense of security because they negate some of the effects of gravity. Gravity and its effect must be a prime consideration when designing and implementing a functional training program to prepare the body for the forces that it must overcome. ]]> tag:elitetrack.com,2013:blogs/6.8044 2013-06-04T17:24:20Z 2013-06-12T18:20:21Z Carl Valle carlfvalle@gmail.com www.elitetrack.com Kinetics Manual was the different conditioning tests versus monitoring. I am convinced that testing matters and monitoring training as some believe is letting the inmates run the asylum and is just trying to pan for gold with GPS and HR data. The key differences between monitoring recovery and monitoring conditioning can be summed up is the following statement:

Monitoring recovery is looking at changes in fatigue markers with athletes and most of the efforts is on decay rates. Monitoring conditioning is the performance changes that must exist in order to see biological adaptation or improvement.

Mixed training environments done conservatively just keeps the athlete at the same point of development and time just seems to drift by, missing the opportunity to get better. Now I am interested in seeing changes in a Yo Yo test or 30-15 from training, and seeing modified SAHRRT (South African Heart Rate Recovery tests) use with HRV testing to see how training loads and specific running velocities work to make adaptations. Neil is looking at various arguments and testing research studies by internal testing. I strongly suggest his work to help crowdsource and crowdfund innovation. ]]>