Paul Revere

As I transition back into fall coaching mode I have more time to train myself and have been taking advantage of that for the past 2 weeks. I feel like the time I spent this summer working hard on my snatch, clean, and jerk technique has helped but as is typically the case I focused so much on that I find myself lacking in the areas that I simply could not fit as much time in to address properly. For me squats and pulls are very taxing so I decided to not stress my recovery by keeping up with everything (squats/pulls notably) and compromising my coaching work (by walking around crippled and not being able to physically demonstrate or adjust athletes); I could have attempted to "cocktail" things more or used split sessions but I felt like this was a more appropriate step and one that should help me improve faster given the extra time/work I will be able to now put in. I would have definitely used split sessions if I felt my technique was better. Anyway, to the test:

Officially, I have beaten my record of 3157 watts @ 4.13 m/s (40.5 watts/kilogram) by jumping 3249 @ 4.25 m/s (41.7 watts/kilogram), and I am as awesome as I thought I was... The reality is that I have most of my female volleyball players in the 30's in the watts/kg average. Highest recorded volleyball female is 36.7 watts/kg (20y.o., 50k bodyweight) and highest volleyball male is 40.1 watts/kg (18 y.o., 68k). I'm still trying to create more of a baseline on which to base performance and readiness but feel like I'm on the right track with this testing/training.

An important point on this training/testing is the warm-up through the kettlebell swings (detailed below) did not prepare me properly for the power test (this is why I tested twice, indicated above as test 1 and 2). This brings up a couple of thoughts/points:

-If the goal was not to "test", but rather was to express speed/power at near maximum in training then a more effective means of warming up is required. Specifically, the gap in speed/power performance was simply too large. There's a continuum and too big of a jump was made and I was, in this case, ill prepared. It's going from 70% to 95% in 1 jump. Ridiculous, most of the time... but more on that later (hint: a story I have heard, but not confirmed, about Dragomic Cioroslan and Pete Kelley)

-If the goal was to test maximum speed/power then a more specific means of warming up is required. Force/velocity specificity considered, something I did before testing should have been done to make my body more aware of the demands of the test. Not including this is the equivalent of leaving numbers out of the formula taught and then testing students. An even simpler comparison is giving someone a phone number with the right area code but wrong prefix. I try to be specific to these problems as this helps to educate the athlete on issues such as why "I jump better in a match than I do in training" (which by the way I have tested athletes during scrimmage play and practice before with no difference typically).

Also, when it comes to weightlifting and/or training olympic lift variations I see coaches using many poorly executed complexes and lift variations that are not complimentary to lift performance meaning:

-they do not aid lift performance beyond as a general warm-up, and/or

-they do not help improve the specific expression of a quality/skill that can aid lift performance (eg speed/timing of extension in a power snatch/power clean demonstrated at a high level with a series of hurdle jumps, box jumps, dumbbell snatches, etc). If it's too slow/fast or in the wrong area code with mechanics then you will unlikely see improvements (especially in session).

I re-test after performing the med ball circuit for 2s x 3/3/5r (caber toss, hop + toss, slams) with a more positive result. For my purposes, the med ball throws work effectively because they accentuate a specific point in the movement's performance (eg the initial push from the bottom of a jump accentuated with the between the leg caber toss and the faster turnover from the trunk/hips with the hop + jump toss). Caber tosses were a little off technically but were not poor, in speed or mechanics, so we continue to move in the right direction.

Now here's a little story, I've got to tell
About 3 bad brothers, you know so well...

Warm-Up/Movement Prep/Greasing the Wheels/Putting the Cape On/Prepping to "Do Work"/Going from Peanut to Just Nuts/From Weak Sauce to Hot Sauce
I. Jump Rope - 90 Seconds (That thing's just a rope, man, you have to make the jump thing happen - Mitch Hedberg)
II. Foam Roll - "300" Seconds
III. Floor/Mat Warm-Up
A1. Reach, Roll, + Lift
A2. Kneeling Rotations
A3. Kneeling Prone 1-Arm Wall Slide
A4. Floor Bridge Variations (I will continue to invest the 30 seconds here even though some think it's a waste of time because I waste a hell of a lot more time blogging, sleeping, saving the world, etc)
A5. 90/90's, Plank, or Rolling Variations (Gray Cook)
A5. R/L Kneeling Lunge Position Shoulder Warm-Up - Arm Circles F/B, Shoulder Angels, Opp. Reaches (like Apley's Scratch Test), Should PNF (call them thumb high/thumb low for players), Arm Swings
IV. Movement
RNT Prisoner Split Squats, S-L RDL/Balance, Lateral/Transverse Squats, Cook Squat Progression, Spiderman (fewer reps than most I'm sure)
V. 4 x 30-Yard Skips to Accelerations
VI. 2 x 15-Yard R-L and L-R Shuffles or Crossover/Carioca Variations
VII. Kettlebell High Pulls + KB Swings
VIII. Power Test
IX. Med Ball Circuit - Caber Toss, Hop + Toss, Slams (2 s x 3/3/5r)
X. Power Test

Order typically gets switched based on needs but you get the idea... So where did the warm-up end and the training begin?

Low Battery

What I thought was a record-setting performance (previous best of 3157 watts @ 4.13 m/s) for a triple turned out to be a major disappointment (major in a 'I'm not as awesome as I thought I was' kind've way). With that said, it's hard to say if I achieved the in-session progression I was looking for on this power test (a bodyweight squat jump test using the tendo unit attached to a piece of pvc) or if the low-battery warning that flashed at the VERY END OF THE SET, upon completion of the jumps, was also an indicator that the tendo readings were inaccurate (as I have learned they are when the unit has low batteries).

I think you will see a significant difference in performance between Set 1 and Set 2 and this was the focus of the warm-up (although I will continue to argue with myself about the potential inaccuracy of the testing on this training day). I've learned that if an athlete, including myself if I can be so bold, does not start a session sharp better to extend the warm-up, sharpen the blade, and get 60 minutes of quality work (assuming an average training session of 90 minutes) then rush into things and get 90 minutes of average work. Having begun this session feeling relatively average, having a low battery of my own if you will, I was happy with my lifting performance on this day.

"If I had 6 hours to cut down a tree, I would spend 4 hours sharpening the saw." -Abe Lincoln

Tell me what you see?

The Funny Angled Triangle

More on this later, but hopefully an image will help at least spark a thought process (one that I'm sure is consistent with good problem solvers, whether it's via the same example/demonstration or just in thought).

Med Ball Mastery

Near completion for my Med Ball Mastery presentation that I am doing for Anthony Renna's new website Strength & Conditioning Webinars. Being able to present via the internet is a great way to maintain my secret identity so I'm pumped about the opportunity. Anthony is also just about the nicest guy I inter-know so I'm glad I can help him continue to develop his website.

The thing I love about showing what one knows and does not know is I am just arrogant enough to want to make sure that I know my stuff (at least specific to the topic). Some of my programming concepts are honestly works in progress and while I'm confident in what they do for development it would be a flat out lie to say that it has had this tremendous impact on LTAD (Long Term Athlete Development) or similarly hard to reach goals that are the true test of a coach beyond a basic return to fitness/conditioning.

Also have had the time this weekend to:

-Continue reading the IOC Medical Commission publication 'Volleyball'. The chapter on 'The Elite Athlete' is freakin' sweet. Really, the whole book has been excellent although I would disagree with much of the methodology presented in Bompa's chapter on 'Peak Conditioning for Volleyball'. I will save most of the disagreement's for my book. At least those that go beyond what one can pick up from what I have written so far (which ain't much).

-Sit down and review several dvd's that have stimulated some great thought. DVD's were the HPC Elitetrack Gold Medal Track Clinic and Developing a Dynamic Warm-Up Program for Speed-Power Athletes. Presentations from Dave Kerin, Will Wu, Tom Tellez, Larry Judge, Dan Pfaff, and Mike Young on the HPC Elitetrack Clinic DVD were all just fantastic for me. I do have to say that it seems like I cannot get through 1 track/field seminar or DVD without an attack on the agility ladder. While I do not use these much at all I find it incredibly ironic that track coaches would attack these when their own 'sprint' drills do not even serve the purpose their name describes. Ask a good track coach what these drills do and often you will get the answer that while they do not help actual sprinting, they do help with postural alignment, dynamic flexibility, or as a good way to extend the warm-up/transition into sprint work. That sounds like the same thing an agility ladder can do if used properly. I like to use sprint drills and skips in the warm-up, however, most of these drills utilize a vertical posture. This vertical posture is not seen frequently in sport. Whether one uses the agility ladder or not in the training of the team sport athlete is not important. The important thing is that we address postures specific to shin angle and plane of movement in the warm-up and in the training. The appropriate use of the agility ladder can help to do that.

- Had a 60-minute battle with about 20 yellow jackets. I wanted to barbecue (including beer can chicken) and drink a beer or two and these suckers were out to ruin it for me from the beginning. Underprepared but highly motivated, I was determined to take every one of these things down. This ended up being much more fun than just sitting there toasting my excellence.

Summer Prep

Always an exciting time for me. The 'Volleyball' text above has me as excited about reading as I have been in a long time. The chapter on 'Biomechanics of Jumping' alone is worth the price of the whole book.

In the picture you can also see the bottom half of Dan Pfaff's General Strength DVD to the right. Dan Pfaff is my current man crush and his thought process alone paralyzes me. His presentations for the TCACC (2005) on training theory/chronic loading where he discusses 'enzymatic routing and fascial connections' made so much sense to me and yet requires so much more study to really make the concepts concrete and applicable. Many experts can have this effect on others where they can communicate something so eloquently you feel much more confident in your knowledge of the material than you should be.

Also on my list of reading for the new couple of weeks:

Oschman, James. Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis (A Pfaff Recommendation)

Wooden, John. Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life (Just the connection of brick and mortar life qualities hit me hard)

Ericsson, K. Anders. Expert Performance in Sports. (The Reference everyone references when it comes to expert performance)

Collins, Jim. How The Mighty Fall. (Good to Great was, ha, great so this should be a good, no, great read. The five step-wise stages of decline introduced on the book's jacket was enough to lock this one in my sights)

Stone, Michael H. Principles and Practice of Resistance Training. (Reading through this one for the 3rd time. My reading pace is either much slower than everyone else or I have less confidence in my mastery of the material. A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B...)

As for summer training, I am looking at this summer as improving on and extending our performance from the spring. Some of my plyometric progressions have developed much differently than those of my mentors but I have confidence in my ability to manage the distribution of intensity/volume appropriately. Some of the work we have done in the spring has helped my practical understanding of said management skills and I will apply this knowledge as best as I can to our summer programming. To say that I am not always fascinated and always learning would not give the body's adaptive processes enough credit...

One methodology concept I have been working hard on is that of stable variation. I plan to elaborate much more on this later but essentially I rotate the speed/power stimulus in nearly every session on a weekly or bi-weekly basis while stabilizing our strength work by using sessions with more consistency in the stimulus (more linear to slightly non-linear depending on several factors). My feeling is that when we are evaluating the complexity of physical development we have to not just think of the weight on the bar (although this is an obvious indicator for success). There also must be concern for an appropriate level of coordination development that teaches the athlete to be flexible in the performance of motor tasks. When athletes lack this level of coordination you will find less transfer from general to specific work.

I am also finishing part deux of my principles of volleyball performance training article focused on methodology. Part I was a little lengthy for most readers so I'm hoping I can be a bit more brief.

Inspiration

"You have to ask yourself, 'Who am I being if my players' eyes are not shining?'" - John Kessel, USA Volleyball

Short and Long-Term Progression:

I'm all for kaizen but don't mind seeing technical adjustments and good training processes feed the organism's machinery. For example...

Today had one of my very serious collegiate athletes (as serious as one can be with the schedule they have this month) begin with a series of seated vertical jumps and med ball vertical tosses (2s x 3r per movement in combination). We moved past that into elasticity jumps (a hop onto the contact mat into an explosive vertical jump) paired with elasticity throws (a hop into a vertical toss). Same set/rep combination. After that we loaded the movement with the vertimax for 4 s x 2r and kicked things into high gear. Once we made the technical and positional adjustments the focus shifted to maximize the elastic response and finishing the jump. So the progression led to about a 3" increase in jump performance through the session. That 3" represented the performance this athlete is capable of if the right adjustments are made in combination with the right speed/power development methodology.

So in total, the jumps performed today were in this range:

A1. Seated Vertical Jumps - 2s x 3r (21.5 avg)
A2. Med Ball Vertical Tosses - 2s x3r (3k med ball)
B1. Elasticity (Single-Response) Jumps - 2s x 3r (21.5-22-22 avg)
B2. Elasticity Tosses - 2s x 3r (3k med ball)
C1. Vertimax Elasticity Jumps - 4s x 2r
D1. Elasticity (Single-Response) Jumps (Test) - (24.5, 24.7)

Not exactly a high volume of ground contacts (36 g.c.'s if you count the med ball throws; as an aside, I have noticed that the transition from a med ball throw into landing parallels the simple adjustment process off of a maximum vertical jump) but certainly high quality. We did all of this after an extensive warm-up (around 25 minutes today). Training finished with bb f split squats and trunk/abdominal work. Bonus to high quality programming: athlete has no more complaints of knee pain or stiffness in the outer quad/hip area.

I'd put money on us with a 27-28" average at the end of summer. If my stats on our training numbers are consistent so far, this should positively correlate with approach jump performance.