ARROW Movement Academy

What constitutes a base of training?

A base of training is determined by the amount of time you spend developing the physical qualities, technical skills, and tactical awareness. Once an athletes has reached a particular point in their development they will likely begin to switch their attention from many sports and activities to one or two. A common mistake I see athletes make is that they spend a majority of time developing the physical qualities as opposed to the skills associated with the sport. Common examples of this are soccer players hitting the roads and hills for mile and after mile of long distance running or rugby lads spending endless hours in the gym trying to get there bench up. Do not get me wrong, the physical components of your sport are important. However, it should not be how you spend the majority of your training hours. Get on the field or court and get the most important work done.

Keep the main thing the main thing.

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When is the best age to start lifting weights?

Now that is a difficult question, I would say whatever age you feel like they are mature enough to pay attention to the important details being described by the strength and conditioning professional working with the athlete.

There are many benefits to starting strength training young. When I think of most of the athletes I worked with at ARROW, they were usually late developers relative to their peer group. There were also some concerns expressed by parents about their ability to keep up with their team mates or competition as a result of their maturation status. I can totally relate to that concern, between the ages of 12-15 have the largest drop out rates in youth sport. There is no doubt that the inability to keep up with your team mates is a primary contributor to that.

However, what we seen with these athletes, that were consistent with strength training activities, was that before too long they were physically dominating their larger peers in tasks relating to speed and strength.

These changes did not happen over night. It was with consistent training and practice we seen these astonishing results.

“Hit the gym.”

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“Push the floor away”

When preparing athletes for the multidirectional movements that accompany team sport the lateral shuffle is one of the first specific warm up exercises on the sheet.

The common misconception with this movement is that the lead leg is pulling us forward. This typically leads to a sort of gallop like motion.

However, the main driver of this movement should be that outside leg. We get our athletes into that athletic position and allow the cue to work its magic.

“Push the floor away”

Cueing movement does not have to be complicated.

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Conditioning for team sports

When it comes to conditioning athletes involved in team sport many coaches and athletes are under the perception that to prepare accordingly we must run 5 or 10k’s.

I get it, getting better at an activity that allows you to run more continuously seems like it would be helpful for sport that lasts upwards of 90 minutes. However, it is important to bare in mind that the successes in team sport is not based on who can continuously run at sub maximal speeds but in-fact who can repeat high speed runs frequently. Therefore, our aerobic system must be able to allow us to recover between these efforts.

More on how to do that next week..

Now and again I will have the privilege of going to a commercial gym. I will look around for some 20kg plates (45lbs in dog years) to find there are less than there should be. Suddenly I hear a clambering sound coming from afar. Someone is banging out BB Hip Bridges, with almost all the 20kg plates, and that bar is flying. Good for them. But I can’t help but feel they may doing themselves a disservice. I have known some NOT very strong people that get upwards of 180kg on a BB hip bridge but can barely manage 1x16kg chain doing them with a single leg.

Performing this exercise with a single leg is a brilliant intro to single leg training. Developing those stabilisers around the hip joint and lighting up those hamstrings so that you know they are there.

But you can do whatever you want to do.

But you should probably join the movement.

The key characteristics that discriminate faster sprinters from slower sprinters are peak vertical forces upon initial ground contact. When we look at the data it is interesting to see a significantly larger spike in forces in the early stages of the contact then the output will diminish in the later stages comparable to that of the slower sprinter.

To develop these characteristics ensure speed and power is at the forefront of your training program.

Want to develop blistering pace?

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I have recently had an appreciation for how difficult it can be for many people to perform a hinge pattern competently.

I am the type of coach that is focussed on managing the athlete in front of me. However, there are some movement deficiencies that can be expected in most cases. With the hinge pattern the most common challenge is the ability to separate the movement from the hips from the spine.

This will usually result in curly spines and that is not ideal if the long term plan is to load the bar and become very strong.

Like with all skills it is important to be consistent with your practice. Start simple and increase the complexity once key markers have been attained. For example, none of my athletes will ever pick a barbell off the floor until a proficient RDL has been executed.

Want to master the basics?

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"To create a training effect we must induce fatigue."

There is a disparity in the interpretation of this quote between low-quality coaches and high-quality coaches. Low-level coaches will think that to get the best return on the training they must create the highest amount of fatigue-like sensation.

The better coaches will understand that fatigue is multifaceted, we must be specific in the manner it is produced. For example, your pursuit to develop speed will not be achieved by depleting metabolites through minimal rest periods. You will be fatigued but not the way you intend to be.

The better coaches will also understand that fatigue masks fitness. Therefore, if you spend one session trying to get as fatigued as possible it will undermine your performance capabilities for many days after the session. This is particularly concerning when it comes to developing athletes. This approach won't just affect your other strength and conditioning sessions, it will also hinder you in your sport as well.

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Respect Thy Rest Periods

It is expected that fatigue will accompany training. However, high intensity training activities will allow for the accumulation of fatigue at a faster rate. An example of this is sprinting, intensive plyometrics, and heavy strength training. If I asked my athletes to perform 6x30 meter sprints with minimal rest periods, let’s say 30 seconds, very quickly the athlete would learn that their running speed has diminished to the point they are no longer targeting speed as an adaptation. The same goes for strength training. I know strength specialists, such as power lifters and weight lifters, that rest for several minutes between working sets. Now this is unnecessary for strength generalists like team sport athletes. However, to elicit a specific adaptations such as increased speed, power, or strength an imposed demand relatively close to a max threshold is pivotal - especially as training status increases over time.

Train smarter.

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