We might think of coaching as being about training methods, science, and physiology. But don’t forget that more than anything coaching is about communication. We are teachers: it does not matter how much you know if you are unable to convey it to your athletes. With that in mind, I assembled a few quotes I’ve jotted down on my notebook on the theme of language and communication. Read more
With the holiday season here I am in a bit of a philosophical mood. So for this Words of Wisdom post I decided take a look at a few quotes that get to a key point at the heart of my own training philosophy. Read more
Our jobs would be a lot easier if we could just copy and paste training programs for our athletes. But that is rarely what works to produce results, as Nick and I discussed on the HMMR Media Podcast last month. It also is boring; a robot can copy and paste results after all. What makes coaching so fun and interesting is that it is challenging. In this Words of Wisdom I bring together some quotes I have come across recently that demonstrate the importance of finding your own unique solution as a coach, and a unique solution for your athletes. Read more
Rather than talking about training methods or training plans, this roundup brings together some great articles and quotes on equally important topics that build the foundation of a coach’s approach: the importance of multidisciplinary learning and other soft skills that go into coaching. Take a read below. Read more
There has been a lot of great content online in the past month about periodization and planning. The whole spectrum of the topic has been covered, from articles about the basic science of training to posts about the art of individualization. Below are excerpts and links to six articles that are must reads for any coach. Read more
Last week I posted some links and quotes about data collection, analysis, and use in training. This week I thought I would post some more excerpts from what I’ve been reading on training methods and planning. Read more
Our new author Craig Pickering has brought together his background as an Olympic sprinter, coach, and sports scientist to start a series on understanding science for coaches. His latest post covers the differences between good and bad sports science articles and is well worth a read.
It has been months since my last “Words of Wisdom” post and I’ve read a lot since then. So to keep with the theme of sports science and data collection I pulled out a few quotes related to the topic from mostly non-athletic sources. Read more
There has been lots of good material online over the last month about training. Below are some excepts from my notebook with some of the quotes and articles I found most insightful.
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In Riga last week one of the Swiss sprinters asked me when I would run out of things to write about. That will happen as soon as I stop learning. When will that be? When I keel over.
As I’ve talked about before, continuous learning is something I picked up from my two biggest mentors, Harold Connolly and Anatoliy Bondarchuk. I am reading and talking about training with others daily. And I keep a daily journal with notes on what I learned, what I’ve observed in my own training and coaching, and other commentary on life in general. Just a portion of what I note makes it online or inspires me to write a post.
As the internet track and field community has grown over the past few years, so has the amount of great training content available online. I tend to post links to the best articles I find on Twitter when I run across them, but I thought it would be good to regularly share some of the nuggets of wisdom here too. Below are some highlights from my June journal that I’ve grouped into some loose categories.
