In my travels and I get the opportunity to observe a lot of different things. Here are some random thoughts based on things that I have seen over the past few months.
Rethink the use and role of strength coaches- Ultimately the responsibility lies with the sport coach for the athlete’s performance. The strength coach does not have that same responsibility or stake in the athlete’s performance. Often they are chasing numbers with no connection to performance. I think sport coaches should take command of Strength & Conditioning/Athletic development. They need to know what is going on, everything MUST be integrated to achieve optimum performance.
Heart rate by itself is not a very meaningful measure. It must be in context with other measures. Impossible to base training on heart rate, too many variables affect it. 99% of the time RPE is a great window into stress and adaptation.
Olympic euphoria sometimes blinds us. Look into the medals, how were they achieved? Who achieved them? Who were the coaches? What kind of support was necessary? Was it the product of a system?
Strength Training- Don’t try to fit it into a program- build around it. Use it for a foundation.
It is much more important to know how to think than it is to know what to think.
Focus on what you can do, not what you can’t do. Think about what is probable and possible, not what is impossible and improbable.