11 comandments of athletic development

© 2011 Anthony Mychal of http://anthonymychal.com

THE 11 COMMANDMENTS OFATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT

how to build an athletic body, play like a pro, anddominate the competition


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I wrote this eBook with a certain crowd in mind. Not to be

egocentric, but I wrote it for others like myself. Does this describe

you?

I want an athletic looking body

I want to perform like an athlete

I want to dominate my sport

I want to coach athletes

If so, then you’re in the right place. Of course, each of those

items on the list requires a different focus. But to simplify, I wrote

my top eleven most important things that I would want anyone

having any dealings with athletics to know. Before I get into them,

let me tell you a little about myself.

I’ve had many experiences with sports. One of my most

shattering experiences was missing out on an opportunity to play

college basketball because of a transfer situation. Nevertheless,

my love for athletics remains. As of now, I only dabble in “old

man” recreational sports like softball and ultimate frisbee. They

provide enough motivation for now.

Competition runs in my blood, as it does with most athletes. I

can’t get enough of it. I fiend for it. I love talking performance,

sports, athletics, and anything of the sort. I love it all. It doesn’t

matter if its American Football or Jai Alai, if there are athletes

trying to win, I’m there. As a friend of mine put it, it’s basically

porn for me.

To me, pursuing the looks of a bodybuilder was never my only

goal. I’d look at athletes on the field of battle and say, “I want

that.” I never wanted to pose on stage in a thong. I wanted to look

good in a t-shirt and dominate anyone in any sport that I could


play. That’s not to say looking good was never a part of the goal,

it’s just that it wasn’t the only goal.

Bodybuilders set out to dominate others based on looks. I

wanted to dominate others, period. Aesthetics was just a nice side

effect.

Growing up, I idolized the athletes that had it all. The ones that

were strong, powerful, and fast. Currently, I have a man-crush on

cornerbacks and safeties in the NFL. You won’t find one that isn’t

close to their genetic muscular potential, and the reaction time

and speed they showcase is inspiring.

The bottom line is that looking good isn’t enough for me. I’m

not shortsighted enough, however, to say they don’t matter at all.

They do to all of us I think. I’d bet that 99% of people that start

picking up barbells and dumbbells probably did so in hopes of

improving their physical appearance. There’s nothing wrong with

that. But, for me, it didn’t end there. I wanted more.

I started looking into how to train athletes, and I fell in love

even more. I switched my majors in school about twelve times,

specifically trying to niche my way down to an athletic field that

suited my passion.

Physical therapy was cutesy, and my internship stint proved

that to me. I didn’t want to end up working with old folks in a

hospital (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I didn’t want to

relocate broken bones on the spot, so athletic training was out.

Then I found strength and conditioning. Of course, it was an

immediate love.


At first, I thought athletes needed to train like hardcore

powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters with a heavy dose of

squatting, benching, cleaning, and deadlifting. But I was smart

enough to shadow with different sports teams. To finish out my

undergraduate degree, I had to do an internship. I was set to

complete it under James Smith and Buddy Morris with the

Football Team. To prepare myself, I researched their ideas and

methodology about a year before I went down there.

Holy shit.

I was in for it. They talked about coaches from across the globe

that I had never heard of before. They didn’t call themselves

strength and conditioning coach—they called themselves

“physical preparation coaches,” to better encompass what they

did.

Everything I had learned was turned around, upside down,

backwards, flipped, rotated, and any other object manipulation

technique you could think of. The more I learned, the more I

realized that what they did was real athletic preparation, and what

I used to do was more apt to be called injustice.

Today, the more the internet expands, and the more “arm

chair” fitness experts join the blogging world, the more injustice

there is. Truthfully, it’s not anyone’s fault. We are taught different

things in America. We have no sports training curriculum. Our

health and physical education curriculum isn’t tailored to athletics,

and our fitness curriculums are tailored to the obese.

What I wrote below are the eleven commandments of athletic

development as I see them. They aren’t like what you’ll learn in

school, so be prepared. Welcome to the other side.


COMMANDMENT #1

Thou shalt respect the energy systemsThis is a big one. Energy systems work is the “conditioning”

part of strength and conditioning. But truthfully, no one really

knows what “conditioning” is anymore. To me, it’s a word that

says, “if you’re huffing and puffing, you’re conditioning.” But that’s

far from reality.

A common misconception is that high intensity interval

training, like Tabata intervals, are the best way to “condition” an

athlete. Most that follow this line of thinking are obsessed with

doing some kind of “finisher” to a workout, in order to get a

metabolic fix and completely exhaust themselves. These people

are violating more than the first commandment, as you will see.

Athletes have specific demands, and energy system work is

not created equally. Distinguishing between anaerobic and

aerobic isn’t enough. Here’s some further guidance:

Alactic anaerobic – Short term speed and power events that

usually last less than 30 seconds, and that don’t accumulate

any lactic acid (or “burning” sensation).

Lactic anaerobic –An intermediate between the two

extremes. It’s performed at a high enough intensity to not

fully enter the aerobic zone, and a low enough intensity to

not be completely alactic. This energy system is stressed

heavily during activities lasting 90-180 seconds and is

usually accompanied by a burning sensation in the muscles.


Aerobic – Low intensity muscular contractions, usually

lasting beyond 180 seconds.

Although each zone is given a time range, they all turn on

regardless of the duration. A vertical jump activates the aerobic

system, but because the contraction is short lived, the aerobic

system isn’t heavily involved.

In general, the longer an activity lasts, the more aerobic it

becomes. And I’m talking about more than distance running. Take

repeat sprint athletes (American Football, European Football) for

instance. These sports consist of fast sprint-like bursts, usually

lasting less than 10 seconds, followed by a longer period of

standing or jogging around.

Not only is the alactic anaerobic system stressed because of

the short duration explosive movements, but the aerobic system

is also stressed because the sprints are repeated over time.

Notice that the anaerobic glycolytic path isn’t involved, rendering

Tabata Intervals an insufficient way to train the energy systems

for these sports.

Yet because of the hatred for long-distance running,

everyone has resorted to HIIT to “conditioning” athletes. Most

times, however, field and repeat power athletes need a host of

alactic and aerobic work, not glycolytic work.

One of the arguments HIIT proponents will throw out there is

that aerobic work decreases power output, and that the “high

intensity” in HIIT increases power output.


But HIIT and anaerobic glycolytic work do not increase

power output. The intensities involved with this kind of training

aren’t high enough to develop top end speed.

Legendary sprint coach Charlie Francis advocated against

running sprints at 75-95% of one’s best times. He felt that it was

too slow to develop top end speed and too fast to serve as a low

intensity workout. By running in this zone, you essentially make

yourself slower.

Think about doing one 100 meter sprint. You’ll move pretty

fast. Now compare that single 100 meter sprint time to one done

on the fourth round of Tabata sprints. It won’t come close. And if

there’s one thing we know about speed and power development,

it’s that we need to be fresh in order to improve. This is why we

don’t do 10 rep sets of cleans. How does, then, performing

fatigued and ugly sprints help one become more explosive? Oh

yeah. They don’t.

In conclusion, HIIT doesn’t make you explosive. In fact, it

does the opposite. By training under such intense conditions and

with such little rest, you can’t go “all out.” So while you may be

moving as fast as you can for your given conditions, in reality, it’s

nowhere near your actual fast times.

Aerobic development doesn’t have to be long distance

running either. And its reduction of overall explosiveness

shouldn’t be concerning because these athletes need to be able

to maintain top end speed throughout the duration of competition.

Running a four-second 40-yard dash is nice, but if your time

drops with every subsequent heat, you’re going to be a lousy

player near the end of the game. It’s much better to run a


consistent 4.2 over the duration of the game, and this is

something aerobic work can help you do.

But aerobic development isn’t necessarily done with

traditional long slow distance (LSD) training. The preferred

method is through tempo runs. Because they are of a lower

intensity, they don’t compete with the same speed reserves like

HIIT does. This means they don’t cut into absolute power as

much as everyone thinks.

Of course, everything that has been said so far has been a

debunking of myths. If you’re a hockey player or another athlete

that needs anaerobic glycolytic work, you would be a fool not to

include it. Know your demands, and train them accordingly.


COMMANDMENT #2

Thou shalt respect gpp and sppMost of what is done in the weight room is general physical

preparation (GPP) for athletes. Success in the weight room,

although nice, doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good athlete. If

you’re on the leader board in bench pressing strength, you may

be on the actual bench during games as a benchwarmer because

you’re just not good enough. Having the skills to play the game

means having better special physical preparation (SPP).

GPP is important because it aids in the overall development

of the organism, heightening the potential for athletic

development. Yuri Sedych, Soviet Hammer Thrower, was said to

have the highest GPP of his career when he won the gold medal.

Ultimately, those with better SPP are going to prosper.

Feats of maximum strength (ie: performing a one repetition

max) isn’t something that athletes do on the field. Most of their

environmental interaction doesn’t involve maximally exerting

themselves against a load. Even linemen in American Football

aren’t “maxing out” every play. If they were, they would only last

one play as a maximal effort is rarely repeatable within a

reasonable time period, let alone a one minute span.

This is why athletes shouldn’t be beaten up in the weight

room. Whether or not to use the maximal effort method is

debatable for the reason above, especially since progress

happens with less intensive means. It’s always best to develop


GPP in the safest way possible. The motto “do no harm” works

well here. Ultimately, competition is what matters.

With regards to strength development, Buddy Morris once

said, “we slow cook it, but never get too far away from it.” Take

your time to develop. It’s a process. Think long term, not short.

Beginner athletes will get SPP by playing their sport. It can,

however, be incorporated through specific drills as you advance.

This has to be approached on a sport-by-sport, player-by-player

basis.

While I’m here, I should touch on the dynamic effort training

method. Most people resort to overspeed squats and deadlifts to

run faster and jump higher for their sport. But remember, squats

and deadlifts are GPP. You’re never bound by a barbell during

sport.

You know what else is dynamic effort training? Jumping and

sprinting. They are more towards the SPP side of the spectrum

too.

Keep in mind, however, that everything can work, especially

since there are so many sports, positions, and needs considered.

In general, most athletes could do without the dynamic effort

method with a barbell. Instead, I prefer the dynamic effort method

with their body—sprinting, jumping, hopping, and bounding.

This brings about the topic of Olympic Weightlifting for

athletes. The following is a former PDF that used to be available

through my newsletter.


The Myth of Olympic Weightlifting for Athletes

Of all of the weight training modalities, nothing compares to

the art of Olympic weightlifting. The snatch and the clean and jerk

lull with their fluidity, grace, and majesty. As Mark Rippetoe said,

“The snatch is gymnastics with a barbell.”

I don’t disagree. I love the sport. I watch it during the

Olympics, not to mention at random times on YouTube. But this is

the confusing part. You see, I love the sport whereas others love

the method. Loving the method neglects the competitive aspect

of the sport. It spells t-r-o-u-b-l-e when you’re training an athlete.

A LITTLE HISTORY

Back in the days of physical culture, there were no training

limits. Powerlifters did the Olympic lifts. Olympic weightlifters did

the powerlifts. Bodybuilders experimented with everything. Even

gymnastics were sprinkled into the mix.

Although these glory days were refreshing for the three

barbell sports, they were disappointing for the athletes that

thought heavy things made them slow and bulky. Over time,

pioneers like Bill Starr showed the world what weight training

could do for an athlete.

When athletes caught on, they looked to the experienced

physical culturists. Since they didn’t limit themselves, athletes

didn’t either.

Athletic preparation has changed since then. There is an

industry for it. It’s studied. It’s profitable. It’s more important now

than it has ever been. Athletes can’t blindly follow the physical


culturists of today’s world because sub-optimal results could

affect their career, which means millions of dollars are on the line.

Despite the realization of its importance, few people share

identical ideas about athletic preparation. One of the biggest

debates, however, is centered on the Olympic lifts and whether or

not they are beneficial from an athletic standpoint.

You want some clarity, I understand. That’s why most of you

are reading this, so I’ll get right to it. Instead of creating my own

argument, I’m going to break down the most common proposed

benefits.

#1) THEY MAKE YOU EXPLOSIVE

Perhaps the most sought after result that the Olympic lifts

can bring is explosiveness or – even more general – moving a

heavy weight fast.

This benefit was driven from the 1964 Olympic Games,

where researchers supposedly found Olympic weightlifters to

jump the highest and run the fasted 25 yard dash of any athlete.

Eye catching stuff.

Results like this leads to athletes sprinkling Olympic lifts into

their program once or twice a week in hopes of seeing the same

performance benefits. But doing this fails to consider the totality of

training. It’s validating an end product by unknowns.

World class Olympic weightlifters train the lifts multiple times

per day, with the only goal of improving their total in the snatch

and clean and jerk. Their explosiveness is a byproduct of training

frequently with maximal force and power. But an athlete from


another sport can’t replicate this schedule because of the

technical demands of their own sport. The moment an athlete

gets thrown on a true Olympic weightlifting regimen, they be

become an Olympic weightlifter and not an athlete of a different

sport.

It’s like an Olympic weightlifter doing two ten minute dribbling

sessions per week in hopes of handling the ball like an NBA point

guard. It doesn’t work that way because basketball players

practice those skills daily. Doing them in a program here and

there won’t get you comparable results.

Start thinking of strength, power, and explosiveness as skills.

The more frequently they are practiced, the better you become at

them. Javelin throwers are explosive. Football players are

explosive. High jumpers are explosive. But when do you see

Olympic weightlifters play football to get more explosive? It

doesn’t happen because each sport has specific demands that fail

to carry over.

I don’t doubt that the Olympic lifts make you explosive. But

so does jumping, running, and medicine ball tosses – three things

that allow the body to move in a more natural way that are less

stressful on the body.

#2) IT HELPS FORCE PRODUCTION

This is similar to #1, but I’m going to address a specific

argument, and that is that the highest force production ever

recorded during sports is during the second pull of the snatch.

Again, pretty convincing stuff.


But you have to consider technical proficiency. These

measurements are taken from Olympic level weightlifters. Their

technique and neuromuscular efficiency is maximized. They are

operating near 100% of their capabilities, whereas Joe Average,

who can only clean 50% of his deadlift, is working way under his

genetic potential. The load he is moving is considerably low and

so is the rate at which he is moving it.

The only way to improve the above is to treat Olympic

weightlifting as a sport and not as a method. But once you do

that, you become an Olympic weightlifter. It’s impossible for a

wide receiver to devote the time and energy necessary to become

a master Olympic weightlifter. Besides, there’s no need to. He

gets paid to catch the ball and run routes, not snatch or clean. In

other words, he gets paid to be a football player and not an

Olympic weightlifter.

#3) IT TRAINS TRIPLE EXTENSION

Triple extension is when the ankle, knee, and hip joint

extend simultaneously and is a characteristic of most explosive

movements like jumping and sprinting.


Another supposed benefit of the Olympic lifts is that they are

the only thing in the weight room that can train triple extension.

But this doesn’t hold up because most high class Olympic

weightlifters don’t hit triple extension the way it is envisioned. The

bar gets most of its acceleration from the legs and hips. When it

is time for the gastrocs to give a little push, it has traveled high

enough for the lifter to catch it. Most Olympic weightlifters stop

their ankles short of extension, and those that don’t only hit

extension to reposition the feet, Not to give the bar an extra push.


#4) THEY ARE SPORT SPECIFIC

There is nothing sport specific about the Olympic lifts.

Picking a balanced barbell off of the ground from shin height,

squatting underneath it, and hoisting it in the air doesn’t happen in

many sports.

From a speed of movement standpoint, they are done faster

than more classical lifts. But this doesn’t make them more specific

because it only addresses the “speed” aspect of movement.

Really, consider anything you do with a barbell in your hands

fairly non-specific to anything not involving a barbell. When you

think about it, it makes sense. A basketball is specific to

basketball. A football – football. A soccer ball – soccer. A barbell –

barbell sports.


The Olympic lifts are predetermined movement patterns that

happen in closed environments. Most team sporting movements

are the opposite.

A basketball point guard needs to dribble well, pass well,

and shoot well all while reacting to an ever-changing atmosphere.

Those are his sport specific demands. What can the Olympic

lifts do to improve them? Yeah, maybe they’ll help him jump

higher. But that’s all. It’s not going to make him a better

basketball player. It will only enhance his general physical

abilities, not sport specific needs. There are a lot of people in the

world that can jump high and clean 315 pounds that will never

play in the NBA.

If Olympic weightlifting affected the sport specific aspect of

basketball/baseball/soccer/football/etc., then

basketball/baseball/soccer/football/etc. would affect the sport

specific aspect of Olympic weightlifting. Basketball, then, could

make you a better Olympic weightlifter.

OTHER ISSUES

Even though I touched on four big myths, I’m not finished.

There are a few more issues that have to be discussed that deal

with the execution of the lifts.

First, is the use of the power versions. Keeping the Mexico

study in mind and what I mentioned in #1, you have to consider

the totality of training. The full squat and catch is a big part of an

Olympic lifter’s training. So big, in fact, that it could be the main

reason why Olympic weightlifters are so damn explosive.


Depth jumps and other shock training methods are known to

increase explosiveness because the muscles quickly shift from a

relaxed state to a contracted state. When an Olympic lifter

catches the barbell, his body is totally relaxed to help him

descend faster. Realistically, he has to fall faster than a 500+

pound barbell. But as soon as the bar is caught, the muscles

rapidly turn back on. It’s like a depth jump on steroids. The power

version of the lifts doesn’t incorporate this.

Second, is form issues. I’m not talking about the wrist

problems that unskilled lifters get, but rather the use of the hips to

finish the pull. I posted a YouTube video that explains this more,

but most athletes can’t get their hips to power the lifts. This is

because athletes can’t become as technically proficient as true

Olympic weightlifters. They have their own technicalities to worry

about.

If you watched the video, a characteristic of using your hips

is powering through extension – nearly looking like an air hump.

Below is a still taken from a YouTube video. There’s not much

wrong with this clean from a safety standpoint, but his finished

position reveals two things: he doesn’t have triple extension and

he leaves his hips short.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYLukftHEP0&feature=channel_video_title

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYLukftHEP0&feature=channel_video_title


This is how most people will look because of the double

knee bend that happens during the lift. Their knees shoot forward

and they are told to think “up.” It places a tremendous amount of

stress on the knees, quads, and gastrocs. Yet the hips are larger

and more powerful – one of the reasons why the pro’s use them

effectively. They practice enough to know how to use the hips.

Who wants to rely on the tiny gastrocs to lift hundreds of pounds?

Compare the picture above to Taner Sagir (below).

Remember that Sagir is doing the squat version, which

automatically alters his form. The power version doesn’t prepare

for this kind of hip extension.


Fourth, is the use of the hang versions. Now I don’t know

this for sure, but people say the only reason the hang version

crept into athletic preparation was because coaches couldn’t

teach the full version. But doing the hang version for heavy

singles reflects the second and third point above. Nearly everyone

uses too much lower back and not enough hips, and the reactive

drop and catch is neglected. The picture below is a still taken from

a YouTube video of a hang clean (squat version). Again, note his

finished position. The hips never come through.


CONCLUSION

The truth is that the Olympic lifts aren’t special. If the issues I

mention above can be sorted out, they can be an effective tool. If

not, however, they are best left alone.

I want to leave you with one last thought, and it is a quote

from The Thinker at Elite Fitness Systems.

“For example: as long as the players are trained via the

specialized means, you'll never be able to tell the difference,

from a performance standpoint, if their primary leg extensor

exercise is a front squat, back squat, belt squat, leg press,

split squat, lunge, or whatever.”

Perhaps it’s best to pick exercises that get the job done with

the least potential for error. And as you can see from above,

Olympic lifting’s margin for error could be the highest of them all.

It’s your choice.


COMMANDMENT #3

Thou shalt know that general exercises aren’tabsolute

What’s better: front squats or back squats? Incline pressing

or bench pressing? Barbell rows or dumbbell rows?

Look at your sport. Look at the teams that prosper. Do they

follow the same method of GPP? Hell no. Do they follow the same

method of SPP?

Well, they all grew up playing their sport. They all probably

do sport-related drills. They all scrimmage. They all play the sport

now.

So, yes, kind of.

But you can’t tell whether or not a team squats. You can’t

say, “that team must do power cleans.” That’s because they are

general exercises, and general exercises don’t exist in absolutes.

Again, slow cook the development of GPP, and do it in a

way that doesn’t jeopardize health. As far as exercise selection

goes: it’s moot. Sure, there are different muscular recruitment

patterns between squat variations. But when it’s reduced, a squat

is a squat. Hell, a leg press can be substituted if a problem

prevents squatting. As long as the exercise is accomplishing the

goal, its use is justified.


In the case of GPP, most athletes squat for leg strength.

Does a leg press develop leg strength? Yes. It may not develop

the entire kinetic chain like squats do, but they achieve the goal.

To go back to GPP and SPP, developing the entire chain by

squatting isn’t going to determine your playing time. It won’t

transfer onto the field unless you have the SPP to back it. Being

able to shed tackles and stabilize yourself during contact doesn’t

come from squatting alone. The ability to do those things happens

in a very specialized way.

Certain exercises, like the squat for example, are preferred

because they accomplish so many things at once and are a great

“bang for your buck” exercise. But remember, do no harm. Don’t

force yourself into a box. General exercises are just that—

general. They don’t overly determine specific outcomes.


COMMANDMENT #4

Thou shalt get jackedIf you want to look good, don’t be afraid of bicep curls.

Athletes love direct arm work. But us coach-athletes get

brainwashed and tend to be high and mighty on compound lifts.

They’re important, yes, but if you want to look like you’re a badass

you have to have some vanity. Don’t be afraid to spend a little

time catching a pump, unless you’re a weight-class athlete.

When I was at PITT, I was introduced to the concept of

“getting jacked.” James Smith used to write it on the white board,

which signified doing any low end exercise you wanted that made

you feel good.

Bryan Cushing, NFL Linebacker, tells Joe DeFranco to

program him “TV Training” because he wants to look good in front

of the camera.

LaRon Landry, NFL Safety, travels with resistance bands.

He does an insane amount of curls, pushups, and the likes the

night before games. "I just do what I do," Landry said. "That

makes me feel pumped for the game. It makes me feel swole, you

know what I mean, so I go into the game feeling like He-Man."


COMMANDMENT #5

Thou shalt sprint and shock for speedWith the rash of “conditioning” love via finishers and high

intensity interval training, it seems that people no longer know

how to get explosive.

Want to run faster? Sprint. No, not with a high intensity

interval rest period attached to it. I’m talking about sprints with full

recovery. No more fatigued training.

Sprint a suitable distance for your sport, walk back to the

starting line, catch your breath, wait a few minutes, and then go

again. Welcome to speed training. You also can’t argue with

Verkhoshansky’s shock training methods for increasing your

vertical jump.

Keep in mind that both full speed sprinting and shock

training are two of the most intensive training methods. They

require energy, focus, and proper amounts of GPP. Ease your

way into them.

For maximal sprinting: tempo, hill sprints, and build-ups are

good ideas during a preparation phase. For shock training: lower

intensity hops and bounds are ideal.

Also note than you need to know the rules behind shock

training. It’s an advanced technique, and not everyone needs it

from the get-go.


But the underlying message is that if you seek speed, power

and explosiveness, don’t turn your training into a conditioning fest.

Rest. Fully.


COMMANDMENT #6

Thou shalt development mentallyYour mind is your greatest obstacle. In order to truly be

great, you have to become a leader. No one remembers followers

and role players.

Think of Ray Lewis, NFL Linebacker. He’s an absolute

monster on the field. What else is he? One of the best leaders in

NFL history. Be him. Develop his thirst. Not only is it a thirst for

competition, but it’s also a thirst for being the best in the entire

world. Don’t settle.

Another example of having the right mindset comes from

LaRon Laundry, the NFL Safety mentioned previously. He lifts

weights in a collared shirt because he says it takes a grown man

to lift the weight that he lifts, and that he has to wear grown man

attire.

Your perception of a goal or obstacle is more important than

the goal or obstacle itself. What do you do to give yourself a

mental edge? Do you even have a mental edge? Remember, the

world does not reward average people.


COMMANDMENT #7

Thou shalt master their bodyweightIt’s easy to get caught up in squats, deadlifts, bench

presses, power cleans, and rows. The barbell is the most fabled

piece of equipment in training history. But don’t neglect

bodyweight movements like chin-ups, push-ups, handstands,

muscle-ups, and skin-the-cats. Likewise, don’t neglect movement

in itself.

If you’re an athlete and you’re not spending time on

gymnastics rings, you’re missing out. Not only do they help

strengthen your body in a unique way, they can also teach you a

lot about proprioception—knowing where you body is in space.

Similarly, incorporate elements of gymnastics into your

training. For example, forward rolls, backward rolls, and even

cartwheels. Yes, athletic preparation is about movement. How

well can you jump, spin 180 degrees in the air, and land firmly?

What about 360 degrees?

These kinds of tests tell me a lot about coordination, body-

space awareness, and overall athleticism. In fact, if you can

cartwheel to both sides, you have just about enough body-space

awareness for any sport. Whether or not you can shoot or catch

the ball is a different story.

Andreas Thorkildsen is an Olympic Javelin Thrower. He’s

listed at 6’2” and 200 pounds. Great body for Javelin. Terrible

body for Powerlifting. Yet Andreas can bench 400 pounds. You’re


rarely going to find guys that can bench double their bodyweight

that are above 6” and 200 pounds. Guess what? His GPP phase

consists of a host of gymnastics.

These movements teach you about yourself. They help you

coordinate yourself. This is something every athlete needs. Here

are links to videos of Andreas training.

GPP Gymnastics

400 Pound Bench Press

Back Jerk

Iron Cross

Jumping Hurdles

Five Step Jump

Depth Jump

Gymnastics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2SURPu41Wao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJzJjIMna5E&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jeYPK1frg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-zEYIe0EKA&feature=endscreen&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZL_TGXQj-w&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8yfhovpSks&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn5k_YbNzSo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgZ4FhmAgwM&feature=related


COMMANDMENT #8

Thou shalt account for CNS stressorsManaging injuries is about managing fatigue. Fatigue is

caused by stress. Training is a stressor. So managing injuries is

about managing training stressors.

The human body is a holistic organism. Stress affects it as a

whole. A bench press may only make the chest and triceps sore,

but the act of bench pressing stimulates the entire organism. This

is called general organism strength.

Knowing about general organism strength helps you

understand why heavy bench pressing can help preserve leg

strength in a track athlete that’s tapering for competition.

But, more importantly, accounting for CNS stressors allows

for better recovery, which means you feel better when you need

to feel best. Repeated bouts of high intensity stressors without

recovery screams injury. Stress is finite. That means that once a

threshold is reached, something going to give.

Smaller guys go on Westside because they see big strong

guys doing it. But max effort training is stressful. Dynamic effort

training is stressful too, because you’re maximally accelerating.

This means that you’re training maximally every time you step into

the gym.

Bigger, more advanced guys can get away with this. You

probably can’t. Remember what I said about sprints and shock

training being intensive? Yeah, planning recovery from the sprints


is just about as important as planning the sprints themselves.

Why do you think the NFL only has one game per week?

Stress and recovery are rooted in the nervous system. Enhancing

performance is about balancing stress and recovery, both of

which are controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS).

The ANS has two subsystems: the parasympathetic nervous

system and the sympathetic nervous system.

The sympathetic division excites. It is known for preparing

you to either “fight or flight.” The parasympathetic division, by

contrast, inhibits. It is known for allowing you to “rest and digest.”

Remember being taught the story about being stranded in a

forest and suddenly encountering a black bear, upon wherein

your sympathetic nervous system provides an immediate surge of

jacked up energy so that you can get the hell out of there? And

when you finally make it to a safe place, your parasympathetic

nervous system stops you from feeling like a fiending crack

addict?

Knowing when to excite and when to inhibit is crucial to

performance. But most times, “knowing” isn’t enough because the

ANS regulates itself unconsciously. Most people wax and wane

between sympathetic and parasympathetic control, which is like

idling a car. Sure, you’re prepared for action, but you’re not going

anywhere. And even though you’re not moving, you’re still “on,”

which means you’re eventually going to run out of gas. In other

words, you don’t get shit accomplished and you still pay the price.

Having a dominant parasympathetic system, or “vagal tone,”

allows the body to shut down and begin recovery process faster.

In contrast, someone that has a system that can’t relax—an


idler—never really calms down enough for the recovery process

to kick in.

The easier your parasympathetic nervous system kicks in,

the better off you are as an athlete. You recover from stressful

events faster, which means you can perform at higher levels with

more consistency and frequency.

A lot of world class athletes have dominant parasympathetic

nervous systems, which gets them in trouble because they don’t

stress themselves beyond necessity. This shows when they

apparently “slack off” during practice. But if they’re good enough

to compete with the rest of the team while only playing at 80% of

their capabilities, they aren’t going to use the extra 20%. And

high-strung people aren’t organizing dogfights or carrying around

illegal firearms. You have to have a calming demeanor to think

that everything will always work in your favor.

When the parasympathetic system kicks on, you get greater

blood flow throughout your system. This helps the organs

replenish, meaning that the quicker it turns on after the activity,

the better.

A dominant sympathetic nervous system can make you

more susceptible to injury, cause you to lose muscle, and make

you gain fat (think about being overly anxious and nervous and

the resultant cortisol hit).

This kind of comes down to GPP. The more GPP you have,

the more fit you are. And the fitter you are, the faster you will

recover, which makes sense. If you’re extremely fit, you’ll have a

high ceiling as compared to someone less fit. So you may only be

working at 80% of your ability to do the same thing that someone


else has to work at 100% to do. You don’t stress yourself as

much.

Concluding remarks: the nervous system is the control

panel. Respect it. It’s been said that it took Yuri Sedych,

previously mentioned Soviet Hammer Thrower, three weeks to

recover from his world record throw. One throw. Three weeks of

recovery. Nervous excitation takes its toll, that’s for sure.


COMMANDMENT #9

Though shalt learn the hingeThe hinging movement pattern is essential to just about

anything that can be done in sports. It drives lower body

explosion. In the weight room, the hinge is important during things

like kettlebell swings, deadlifts, good mornings, and the likes.

The hinge’s importance lies in movement. This is a fun test

you can do. Dan John has mentioned it before, but I’ve done it

many times.

Once an athlete knows how to hinge have them perform two

broad jumps.

On the first one, tell them to jump as far as they can. They’ll

likely have a lot of knee bend at takeoff. This puts a lot of stress

on the knee and gives broad jumps a bad name. Often times,

those with knee pain will hate doing them. Record their jump

distance.

On the second one, tell them to jump as far as they can, but

specify the use of the hinging movement pattern. Tell them not to

bend the knees so much, and drive everything from shifting the

hips back and snapping them forward.

Crazy things happen after this. First, their knee pain will

either disappear or lessen considerably. Second, they’ll jump just

about as far, if not further.


COMMANDMENT #10

Thou shalt periodize, block, and planPeople eager to become good athletes hop on standardized

programs such as Westside for Skinny Bastards. This is fine, as

it’s a generalized program that suits beginners well. But that’s

exactly what’s wrong with it.

Athletes have specific needs. Some need alactic power—the

absolute ability to demonstrate short-term explosiveness—like a

shot-putter. Others need alactic capacity—the ability to sustain

high quality short-term explosiveness over a long period of time—

like a footballer.

After you cross the beginner border, things become more

complicated. If you start training for maximal strength,

hypertrophy, alactic capacity, alactic power, and aerobic capacity

all at the same time, you’re not going to get far.

Group the like attributes and work on them in a structured

format while maintaining everything else. After some time, switch.

Of course, you want it to be more logically planned than that. Just

make sure that the demands closest related to competition

demands are at their peak as the season approaches.

The gist is that once you pass the beginner phase, you can’t

serve two masters. Otherwise stated, you can’t ride two horses

with one saddle.


COMMANDMENT #11

Thou shalt find purposeThe question you should be asking yourself is, “why the hell

are there 11 commandments and not 10?” Truthfully, it started out

as 10, but once I finished, I realized that I forgot something. I

didn’t want to take any of the first ten out, so I added another one.

If you’re familiar with my content, you may have seen this on

my blog. In that respect, it isn’t anything new. But the concept is

so important that I had to put it on here. Everything must have a

purpose.

*

To most, I looked like a grungy college kid—a fair estimation

for a twenty-one year old wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, while

standing on the fifty-yard line observing spring practice. To my left

stood another man in comfortable wear, but he was of a bigger

stature, both physically and mentally.

He could boast, if he were of the boasting kind, of a four-

hundred-and-five pound bench press and an even more

impressive, yet less concrete, squat. Six-hundred-some,

perhaps? I never did care to ask. I just knew it was “big enough”

and done without syringes and suits.

If I were apt to say it at the time, he certainly would have

been my mentor. As the assistant coach of physical preparation,

he was always willing to help eager souls that wanted to learn

from him. Part of me thinks it was because he knew everyone that


walked through the doors left a different person. This isn’t such an

egregious estimation because, well, everyone that I knew did walk

out of there that way.

I’m grateful for just about everything the experience entailed.

Grateful to have observed how he trained himself. Grateful to

have seen and learned how he trained his athletes. Grateful to

have watched how he interacted and motivated. Grateful to have

had someone answer my constant barrage of questions.

Grateful to have stood on the fifty-yard line next to someone

I had so much respect for.

So when he asked me what I thought of my experience thus

far, I was a little taken. Originally, there were a lot of things that

had caught my attention. The “half” squats. The lack of overhead

pressing. The emphasis on aerobic development.

But I took my time to formulate my answer. Despite, at first,

seeing things I wasn’t prepared to see, it all had a common

thread: everything had strong purpose.

Notice I said strong purpose, not just purpose. I’m not

talking, “well I saw X coach do it,” or, “Y coach told me so,” kind

of purpose. I’m talking purpose that could be rationalized on the

spot.

Even more impressive was how each element of preparation

was meticulously planned. It was like he was playing Tetris and

placing the blocks as if he knew the next five blocks in queue.

I think he knew that the interns were seeing something that

they didn’t expect at first. Something that they didn’t quite trust.

Until, of course, they all—including myself—were proved wrong.


*

There was three-hundred-and-five pounds on the bar. He

had already blasted past his previous max of two-hundred-and-

seventy-five. Impressive, considering he had a wrist injury that

kept him out of bench press training for a bit.

As the spotter, I helped the athlete lift the bar from the rack,

even though with the ease of the lift’s completion, it probably

wasn’t necessary. James was watching, smirking. He was like a

mad scientist marveling his creation that, for all intents and

purposes, had exceeded expectations even though he knew it

was going to. It always did.

The athlete topped out at three-hundred-and-twenty pounds.

It was a forty-five pound increase in his max after training with

loads primarily in the seventy percent range. I’m not going to tell

you how long the training cycle was because you wouldn’t believe

me anyway.

*

I tell you this story because it exposes every problem that

you have, but more importantly, your failure to put purpose into

your actions. I can assure you that James didn’t use any high tech

gadgets or fancy exercises. No one threw up from gut-wrenching

intensity. Yet there was consistent improvement.

Take a look at everything you do and question every piece of

it. If you can’t answer the simplest question, “Why am I doing

this?”, then either don’t do it or find out why you should do it. This

goes for warm-ups, stretches, exercises, and even silly traditions

that affect your health that have trickled with you through your life.


Why do you hit the snooze button six times before waking?

Why are you doing barbell complexes? Why are you sprinting?

Where does all of this stuff fit into where it is that you want to be

and what you want to achieve?

I have a good question for a lot of people that are sport

training: why are you squatting and deadlifting? Now, it’s not to

say that doing both is bad. But you have to be able to tell yourself

why you are doing both, and your answer has to make sense. If

you’re a football player and your answer is, “because powerlifters

do it,” then you’re on the wrong boat.

Overall, we tend to overdo everything. We bring fifteen extra

appliances with us when we go camping or travelling. We buy that

shirt that looks kind of cool even though we have 30 shirts, half of

which are worn maybe three times per year.

Everything is more moremoremore. But remember that most

of our success is only a result of a fraction of our work. There’s a

10%, that’s actually closer to 20%, window of “junk.” If you can

find the junk and get rid of it you will be happier. The easiest way

to do this is by tossing those things that you can’t rationalize.

Instead of adding on a whim, ask yourself what you can do

to make yourself more efficient, and make sure everything has

purpose. This is the most important thing. If what you’re doing has

purpose, then you’ll enjoy doing it and it will be much more

purposeful.

So ask yourself what you need to do to hit your goals and

start doing it. Don’t add more, unless you’re adding purpose. As

Bruce Lee said, “The height of cultivation always runs to

simplicity.”

11 comandments of athletic development

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