Looking back on 2020: top training resources
If I had to chose one word to define 2020 it would be chaos. If I had to choose another word, it would be growth. Through all the chaos HMMR Media saw a lot of growth this year: personal growth, educational growth, as well as new members and new content on the site. In 2020 our 31 contributors produced 68 podcast episodes, 215 articles, 12 premium video lessons, 8 training programs, 12 monthly themes, 106 research article summaries in our Sports Science Monthly, 4 member hangouts, and dozens of new exercises to our movement library.
To help you sort through all the great content, we’ve assembled our top 25 articles, 10 podcasts, 5 videos, and 5 training programs from the year. If you want more, you can browse our archives and also check out our top content from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
If you aren’t already a HMMR Plus member, join now to get access to everything in our site archives and all the new content we have planned for 2021 as well.

Videos, training programs, podcasts, and themes
Each month this year we focused on a different monthly theme. Find links to each monthly theme below, as well as our top new videos and podcasts. For more content, become a HMMR Plus member and visit the HMMR Classroom.
Monthly themes
- January: the future of training
- February: skill acquisition
- March: quarantraining
- April: legs, legs, legs
- May: changing direction
- June: performance health
- July: physical education
- August: training programs
- September: return to performance
- October: rethinking periodization
- November: technology and sport
- December: communication in coaching
Top new video lessons
- GAIN Video 11: Legs, legs, legs – Vern Gambetta’s approach to training the legs, with demonstrations of more than 75 exercises training the legs.
- Lesson 23: Feedback, instructions, and constraints in coaching – Professor Kevin Becker shares tips from the latest research on effective feedback, cueing, and using constraints in training.
- GAIN Video 12: Agility fundamentals – Jimmy Radcliffe and Vern Gambetta walk through their progressions for helping athletes learn and improve change of direction skills.
- GAIN Video 14: Embracing shapes and manipulation – Grace Golden looks at how to embrace shapes and manipulate shapes to achieve repetition without repetition on the rehabilitation setting.
- GAIN Video 13: Teaching movement and rhythm – Greg Thompson shares ideas from the PE classroom about teaching movement and rhythm.
The GAINcast
HMMR Podcast
Articles and training programs
Our roster of world-class coaches contributing to HMMR Media has grown to 31 this year, including 4 new authors: Andy Stone (wrestling coach and PE teacher), Patrick McHugh (track coach and athletic director), Xavier Roy (strength and conditioning coach), and Accademia Preparatori Fisici.
We’ve categorized our top 25 articles and 5 training programs by topic below.
Training programs
Agility, sprinting, and jumping
- All about depth jumps by Nick Lumley
- The importance of sport-specific stimulus in training agility by Warren Young
- Training for the demands of curved sprinting by James de Lacey
- Three-dimensional agility by James Marshall
- What coaches can learn from Frans Bosch’s Anatomy of Agility by Nick Lumley
Planning and periodization
- The principles of preseason planning by James de Lacey
- Periodization in uncertain times by Xavier Roy
- 4 lessons learned on planning and periodization by James Marshall
- Developing strategic pillars for success by Craig Pickering
Training methods
- Mastering bodyweight circuits like a Jedi by Nick Garcia
- Revisiting spectrum squats by Tracy Fober
- Progressions in lunging by Donie Fox
- Finding transfer in training the legs for team sports by James de Lacey
Interviews
Physical literacy
- Preparing the body to change direction by Donie Fox
- The warmup: where PE and athletic development meet by Andy Stone
- Learning movement: a framework for coaches by James Marshall
- A quick start guide to coaching movement by Donie Fox
High performance
- The mundanity of excellence by Craig Pickering
- Developing strategic pillars for success by Craig Pickering
- Consistency versus excellence by Craig Pickering
Sports Science
- The role of stress in performance by Craig Pickering
- A critical look at player tracking technology by Martin Bingisser
- Understanding injury causation through injury models by Craig Pickering
More sports science research summaries are available in the Sports Science Monthly archive.