What are the hurdles we face in sports performance? What hurdles do we face in getting a job, in supporting athletes, and in moving profession forward? Steve Ingham has looked closely at all of these questions as both a sports physiologist and consultant. On this week’s episode he joins us to share how he approaches these issues, as well as his new book and online community.
Over the last eight months we’ve heard from high school coaches, professional coaches, and others about how they’ve adapted their training to pandemic. One voice we haven’t heard from is NCAA coaches. The NCAA system puts some unique restrictions on coaches and athletes, and on this episode we invite on several NCAA coaches to discuss how they’re planning in uncertainty and dealing with other uncertainties like program cuts.
The best teams in the world aren’t just teams, they are systems. A system lends order and structure to enable the coach and athlete to focus on the process. It provides a framework to build on. On this week’s GAINcast we look at the power of systems, what makes a good system, and how systems fall apart.
In September our site theme focused on return to performance and rehabilitation. Our team of contributors shared their best practices to help athletes get back to where they were, and ideally go beyond that. In total we published 1 new video, 3 podcasts, and 4 articles on the topic. You’ll find all the new resources below.
At some point in their life, nearly everyone will experience back pain. For such a widespread issue, you would think that treatment options would be pretty clear cut. But traditional approaches like improving strength, mobility, or endurance don’t show much relation to back pain. Dr. Eyal Lederman has been one of the leaders in criticizing the traditional treatment model. Lederman and athletic trainer Joe Przytula join this week’s episode for a roundtable discussion on back pain.
Every few years the periodization debate heats up. Periodization is an essential component to success in any sport, but traditional approaches need to be adapted to keep up with modern science and the changing demands of modern sport. On this episode of the GAINcast, we look at our own evolution when it comes to periodization, including both criticisms and solutions to the problem of planning.
It’s easy to think about injury from a medical point of view and focus on what is broken. But you can also view it from a performance point of view: what type of plan will take the athlete is at point A to point B. Donie Fox is both a physiotherapist and athletic development coach. He joins this week’s podcast to discuss his thoughts on rehabilitation, including assessment, variation, shapes, and more.
During last month’s GAIN Master Class Series event, Grace Golden spoke a lot about shapes. “Shapes” has become a bit of a buzzword over the last few years. The concept is great: if you body can’t make the shapes your sport needs, you don’t stand a chance. By focusing on shapes, we start shifting the focus from muscles to movements. But what is often missed in the message is that shapes are not enough. Shapes are just one piece of the performance puzzle. To reach elite performances, you have to go beyond shapes.
Traditionally the rehabilitation process chases pristine movements. Grace Golden has a different approach: explore permutations of each movement and force the athlete to respond to their environment. After presenting at last month’s GAIN Master Class, Grace Golden joins this week’s GAINcast to discuss her principles of rehabilitation, as well as how to create a team approach to returning athletes to play.
In August we launched a new section of our site dedicated to sharing training programs. The monthly theme also focused on training plans as we compiled 8 new training plans, 5 new articles, and 2 podcasts on the topic. You’ll find all the new resources below. Be sure to join HMMR Plus to get access to our complete archive.
