Stu and Henk have two very different posts in regards to working with athletes. I find it difficult each week to blog about something such as the difference between 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.
Carl Valle
Latest posts by Carl Valle (see all)
- Thank you EliteTrack! - September 7, 2013
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- How fast can Usain Bolt run the 40 yard dash? - September 4, 2013
- Matt Harvey- Superman to Clark Kent - September 4, 2013
- Rotten to the Core? - August 31, 2013