Some of you have emailed me this past week in regards to observing coaches in order to see good craftsmanship. This is tricky as many times coaching is small steps that takes time. Any quest to find the holy grail of cues may find yourself disappointed unless you are witness to the rare occasion something clicks. This is the dirty secret that scares off new coaches as many of them are looking for a super coach, super equipment and facility, and super athletes. Observing good coaches I have found that the the details and small things will eventually reap rewards more than the one super workout that transforms 11.3 guys into 10.4 sprinters. Here one example I learned and a while ago and I am adding into the program.
Watching coaches that are involved with strongman type sports tend to add more athletic actions to conventional lifts without disturbing the original purpose. Like I stated earlier I found it somewhat enlightening the amount of steps back some athletes take on stands vs racks. While not a true pattern I found many athletes taking more steps that usual on purpose.With cage type squat racks the steps are minimal because they are confined. With free squat stands the steps were higher with some or the same. Those that decided to walk back more were not fatigued from this but I wonder if over years does the walking with a bar on the back for twice as many steps (6 vs 3) add up to some incidental high intensity core training? I will now go 6-8 steps for intermediate athletes as I believe it does. I am not expecting much but the investment is trivial and why not? The little things add up to the spectacular.
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