Training Density

Actually revising this article because I went in a completely different direction but thought it was still worth sharing. A little abstract...

“The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. He is supported on crutches, but lacks so much support of muscle. He has a fine Geneva watch, but he fails of the skill to tell the hour by the sun.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The irony of having improved knowledge, systems, and methods available to us in this day and age only to have the demands on those same things squeezed for every ounce of efficiency is something many of us struggle with in the day to day management of teams and athletes worldwide. For everything we gain that helps us do our jobs better it seems we lose something else along the way that makes doing our jobs equally challenging in a different way. It seems obvious that at the highest levels sports have never been played at a higher level however when we evaluate ourselves, and our programs, most of us have a very good idea of just how much we feel is being left on the table. Most often this is absolutely by necessity but one of the absolute truths that gets lost in the shuffle is this, “More is not better. Less is not better. Only better is better.” 

So I submit now that the very best of what my programming has to offer fails in comparison to what has been lost for the youth athlete of today: growing up to learn the value of diversity in movement and activities, in learning to push their bodies hard but also knowing what it is to just walk or run when you have “nowhere to go but all day to get there”, to understand that failure is not something you can opt out of in the learning process but is there for us because our growth requires it. No, our program cannot give these kids that environment back yet but our programming can take steps that will impact their value systems in such a way that they can, with time, grow to appreciate these things. Then mindfulness perhaps becomes the center. Not upgrades. Not efficiency. Just, perhaps, simple awareness that what we value grows with us.

“You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect and just paint naturally. That’s the way all the experts do it. The making of a painting or the fixing of a motorcycle isn’t separate from the rest of your existence. If you’re a sloppy thinker the six days of the week you aren’t working on your machine, what trap avoidances, what gimmicks, can make you all of a sudden sharp on the seventh? It all goes together.” – Robert Pirsig (from “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”)

There are no shortcuts. The voodoo? The crazy skills of that manual therapist you hear legendary stories about? They are just paying attention. Perhaps better attention. But still nevertheless they didn’t spontaneously develop those skills. The movie “Miracle” and Herb Brooks? No way! Every account we have of the tremendous process of identification and development of that team says that there were deliberate steps taken every step of the way to let everyone know this was possible. The only miracle may have been in getting people to believe. We don’t need our clients/athletes to know right now that they can do it. All they have to know, and believe, is that it is possible.

And perhaps if we had been taking better care of ourselves, or our clients/athletes of themselves, then the necessity of such magic would be reduced. Irrefutable. Qualifying what is important about what we pay attention to is certainly necessary. But we still have to understand the value system and way of thinking that led our clients/athletes to this point: what is it that you thought was so important that it allowed you to make your health/performance less important? That is a message aligned with quality and with excellence. That is a conversation I will gladly take part in.

“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” – Haim Ginott

The gaps present in the development status of our clients/athletes require that we develop a similar value system in learning how to identify and address key strengths and weaknesses in their performance. These gaps are where plateaus happen and where everyone gets stuck. We have to be able to address these gaps competently but we have to remember these gaps are not where our clients/athletes live it is just where they get stuck. We may sell the correction of these gaps as a major part of our process, because they are, but if we do not first and foremost offer up our work’s quality and excellence as the umbrella under which everything else lives then we leave people with the idea that their fix is transactional. We have to be able to lay the groundwork on the need for transformation. For a majority of us having that standard of excellence as a transactional figure in their lives is the only thing that gives us the ability to help these people make transformational changes (for more on transactional vs transformational please read “InsideOut Coaching” from Joe Ehrmann). We cannot and will not be able to “rah rah rah” our way out of some of these problems. Enthusiasm is always required but in the absence of the necessary skills to help others make positive changes it is a shallow form of connection. We will still have to accept responsibility for not being able to identify those things that limited someone in their pursuit of achieving their full potential.

If we can instead use this message of transformation, of quality, and of excellence to take progression and growth as a step-by-step process we will better understand the things that limit ourselves and our clients/athletes. The simplicity of this process should not be underestimated. There is a story about JP Morgan that says he offered a large sum of money to any person who could share with him the secret of success. After many failures a man came to his office and offered an envelope. JP Morgan opened the enveloped, read its contents, and gave the man the money. What was in the envelope? “1. Write down the things you have to do today. 2. Do them.”

If we attempt to aid our clients/athletes in their growth and use the power of our connection as the driver I think we will have found a far more powerful way to get things done. Instead of discussing the ankle joint and why it fails we should instead be as specific as possible and discuss “13-year-old Emma’s ankle” and the things we absolutely have to do to keep Emma healthy. Use this process to do what we can to help Emma and others, learn what we have to in order to do what we cannot currently do, and then do them. 1. How do we address Emma’s ankle properly? 2. How do we make Emma unstoppable?

Katalyst Shoulder Training Review

Headed out to PHX-AZ recently for continuing education from the Katalyst Shoulder training group at EXOS (formerly known as Athletes’ Performance). Got word of this from Sue Falsone, formerly lead physical therapist at EXOS-AP (as well as the first female PT-ATC in Major League Baseball as she has spent the past few years with the LA Dodgers). I was willing to register for this knowing that what it looked like was modified Indian Club training. In Sue’s own words that is exactly what it was to be except with progressions and programming specific to overhead athletes and consistent with the scientific literature on the shoulder joint in these athletes.

The Katalyst group, including primarily Doug and Jeff Larish, did not disappoint. Doug’s research on overhead athletes and the shoulder joint is beyond extensive and this is the real heart of his expertise. The information he shared on energy transfer, interaction torques, and movement efficiency was all top notch. Going through the literature with him to establish the variables critical to successful programming for training clients and athletes was fantastic and I will continue to dig deep into his references to further my own understanding. Doug and Jeff definitely have complementary styles and it helped to see that even though they work together their implementation strategies varied some. Many ways to Rome as they say and I will spend the second half of this piece breaking down how I believe I will be able to successfully apply the techniques in a way specific to my training program for volleyball players.

We also went over postural assessment, anatomy, and the nature of arm injuries with Sue. Her expertise and presentation style is always a breath of fresh air (I have seen her speak on the thoracic spine previously). Hearing such an expert speak on how throwing/hitting athletes believe there is something special about their arm when it really does have to be an extension of proper function occurring through their entire body was refreshing. That statement does not read as anything more than exactly what it says for those who choose to be contrarians. No one said it does not take a tremendous amount of effort to keep these athletes healthy and functional at a high level. It is the edge of the blade after all. What I consistently see amongst such experts is a refinement of the process and details that others consider as too tedious or difficult to manage. Like I tell everyone, “That is the job!” The job is not as the description entails. The job is doing all of the things that you have to do to make sure that you consistently deliver the results you need to. Some of the specific ways Sue has experienced this are amazing and I encourage everyone to see her speak whenever you may have an opportunity to.

In the videos below I am highlighting a basic organizational sequence I have started practicing with a few athletes based on the progressions from the Katalyst shoulder training group (although I modified part of the activation series to integrate the half-kneeling posture). I can see implementing indian clubs as a specific focus of the shoulder training programming done with my group to be immediately beneficial as a successful link in the efficient organization of training done with the kinetic chain in mind. To write that more clearly using indian clubs in order to highlight the need for stability of the shoulder joint in dynamic, overhead, 3D motions (using the Katalyst group language there haha) really just turns the arm into a pendulum, which given the necessary concentration on posture and scapula stability, increases the demand on the shoulder and trunk musculature. This provides a nice training effect that shows you what kind of control/coordination (successful integration of stability and mobility qualities) your client/athlete has in a relatively low-intensity environment that can be modified simply to be a specific movement and shoulder warm-up progression, a cool-down/modified mobility session, or its own specific session entirely where you have a client or athlete with very specific limitations. Very interesting stuff that I will be working to fully understand and utilize for quite some time. In the videos there are some specific goofs on my end, including letting my inside shoulder drop on the posterior reaches, but as with everything these were best efforts so critiques should be viewed as they are given the opportunity for correction. My next session will be better still :) 

Cheers!

Mobility and Activation 

Indian Club Activation Series

Indian Club Variations

Committed To The Conversation

These days it seems far too many administrators and coaches at the high school and club volleyball level are intent on discussing parent and player behavior without the knowledge of either of those parties. They are willing to say things behind closed doors and between themselves that they will never say or openly admit to saying to parents and/or their daughter/athlete. This is not only common to social media like facebook and twitter (where people openly write things they would never allow themselves to say to another person directly); but common to much of our communication as a whole. One club director from my area commonly confronts issues with a player's development by saying, "Well she is not getting playing time so they will just throw some money at it." Meaning that if they want to address the issue they will pay for extra coaching, training, and support or it is their problem. That is not the way I look at it nor is it the way that any real professional in any field looks at it.

1: If you are responsible for the development of an athlete then you have to provide the coaching and the dialogue that supports that development. To discipline yourself as a coach I personally believe that you have to assume that you have no other support or resources outside of the time and energy you spend with each athlete (excluding time needed to address dysfunction related to pain). You obviously have to account for outside work they are doing when developing their training program but I have never counted on any work that I cannot personally observe as something that I know will aid in their development. One of my most significant mentor's Michael Boyle says, "If the athletes you coach cannot perform either you cannot coach, or you will not coach, and either one of those is a problem."
2: You can never make decisions about someone else's behavior without their knowledge and insight. This is an assumption and a mistake. Instead openly share your thoughts and concerns with them and even though the response you get will not always be positive you will take a big step forward in better understanding what kind of barriers you face in helping teach someone to do their best.
3: Because a parent and/or player is not necessarily doing their job doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility to do yours. I tell parents and players often that I am committed to making the correction, and to having the conversation, so I am NEVER GOING TO STOP. If they are not attentive to their task and its performance then we address it as necessary but I never check out as a coach because they seemingly don't care or are disinterested in the work. In using this approach for years now I can honestly say that I have only ever had one kid outright reject my feedback in the beginning (she rolled her eyes at me and shut down further after we addressed it). But even she slowly grew to trust me and eventually worked harder and became a more responsible athlete in her training and development.

I tell people that with coaches, parents, kids I coach, and with my own kids I am "committed to the conversation" required to help them achieve their best. If there is an issue I will be honest and discuss it as openly as I possibly can. This is not always an easy thing to do. But the alternative of me accepting the fact that there is a problem in the dynamic of my relationship with someone and I do not have the courage to address it is, for me, simply unacceptable at this stage in my life. I AM NEVER GOING TO STOP! 

If others within high school and club volleyball would openly admit to some of the problems that we have involving coaching expectations/behavior, helicopter parenting, inappropriate communication, and other issues common not only to volleyball but to our culture in the United States across the board I believe we could take significant steps toward improving the expectations everyone would have about their participation in high school and club volleyball. Instead the dynamic tends to be more tit-for-tat and transactional; thereby reducing the opportunity for great coaching to be transformational for all those involved (for more on transactional coaching versus transformational coaching I encourage people to read "InsideOut Coaching" by Joe Ehrmann).

Fascinating

Scot Morrison was kind enough to post live twitter updates from my friend Patrick Ward's seminar performed at Drive495 this past weekend.  Here is the page. How awesome is technology?!

Certain things really jumped out at me from following the feed:

1-I have said before, when discussing Dan Pfaff's work previously, that sometimes an expert's mastery of a topic can give us more confidence in our own knowledge of the material than we probably should have. Patrick clearly has that ability. Yes knowledge on any given topic discussed within Patrick's seminar was probably able to be fully grasped by the audience there. But I say that the amount of time spent applying this knowledge and the ability to make effective decisions in both the planning and adjustment processes is what will take significantly greater time in our development as coaches and, by extension, the development of our clients and/or athletes. Again Patrick is on another level when it comes to this ability.

Many of the points discussed will have a majority of the audience members at Patrick's seminar, or at any other educational event, saying to themselves, "There is no way I can apply this model (or technique) in my practice." At the clinic I recently put on at Rise Volleyball Academy a key point that I make consistently through my presentation is that there is not an unimportant part of your program and if you accept that then our job really is to reconcile the difference between ineffective practice, effective practice, and BEST practice. I will continue to count on Patrick as an effective guide for doing so.

2-Because of my current coaching environment I have some pretty severe restrictions on things ranging from schedule availability to equipment/space limitations and more. It seems that this is always the case! My situation is not special or unique and most coaches and trainers would complain about the same thing with completely different problems (Public vs. Private Practice, Small Group/Individual vs. Large Teams/Groups). The idea of opening up a new facility soon and reducing these restrictions really gets me excited. But that doesn't mean that for what I am able to do and with what I am able to do it with that I cannot be doing the best job that I can do right now. If I sat down with Patrick and went over the restrictions that I have there is no doubt in my mind that Patrick would not just sit there feeling sorry for me. Instead he would do his best to help me focus on what it is that I can and should be doing to make the training environment work better for me and for the athletes that I coach. Reconciling these differences will essentially help to bring us closer to nailing our hedgehog concept (assuming that the work we are already doing we are both passionate about and effective at).

(I LOOK AT THIS PICTURE AND SEE MYSELF)

So the real lesson for us here is we have to be capable of reducing the noise in order to get our signal to come through loud and clear. If we've never been moved by a sign that what we are doing is making a major difference in the lives and the training of those in our care then we have some major adjustments to make. If we have been moved in such a way then it becomes that much more important to us to work as hard as we can to continue to GET BETTER!