GAINcast Episode 264: Redefining LTAD (with Joe Eisenmann)

Long-term athlete development models are often packaged with convincing narratives and buzzwords. But they’re also full of a few myths as well. Dr. Joe Eisenmann’s career has combined his academic interests in pediatric physiology with his practical experiences in youth coaching. Combined he’s helped bring some common sense to the topic of LTAD. On this week’s podcast he talks about some of the history and misconceptions of LTAD, as well as his own approach to the area.

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Dr. Joe Eisenmann is an Associate Professor and Director of Sport Science at Lakeland University. He has over 30 years of experience as a professor, researcher, sport scientist, coach educator, strength coach, and youth sports coach. After earning his doctorate in exercise physiology, he has worked at various academic positions and coaching roles. Before taking his current position at Lakeland University he served as Head of Strength & Conditioning at IMG Academy.

The following links were referenced in the podcast or provide some additional reading material on the topic:

• The GAINcast is sponsored by GAIN. GAIN 2023 will take place from June 13 to 17 and registration is open.
• We are also sponsored by HMMR Media. Join HMMR Media to get access to a vast library of online training resources, video, articles, podcasts, and more.
• You can follow Eisenmann on Twitter (@Joe_Eisenmann). You can also learn more about him on his webpage and subscribe to his newsletter for frequent updates and essays.
• Video Lesson 18 in the HMMR Classroom share’s Steve Myrland‘s approach to understanding and putting LTAD into practice.
• We discussed LTAD on GAINcast 250 and also shared some thoughts with Donie Fox on the topic on the recent GAINcast 261. GAINcast 79 looked at talent development and Paula Jardine joined us on GAINcast 189 to look at talent identification. On GAINcast 160 we looked at going beyond pathways with James Marshall.
• Vern has written about LTAD several times: letting kids be kids and how LTAD has become cliché.

Key quotes and topics

• 0:00 – Introduction.
• 2:00 – Background: “We have to understand how kids grow and mature because before we can start looking at changes in performance parameters or putting training programs in place.”
• 10:00 – History of LTAD: “LTAD looks nice on paper and the reality is it often falls apart when it gets off the paper and you’re trying to implement it within a community.”
• 16:45 – Chronological age
• 20:00 – Lessons from PE: “I think long-term athletic development is just good old-fashioned physical education.”
• 22:30 – Adolescent awkwardness: “We use this period of peak height velocity as an excuse to allow people to be uncoordinated instead of saying what do we do?”
• 26:00 – Boy-girl differences.
• 29:00 – Talent identification: “The other part of a really good long-term athletic development model is keeping as many in the pipeline as long as you can to see what happens.”
• 33:00 – Early specialization: “I really think that some parents push their kids to specialize early because it’s the only way for their kid to get on a team.”
• 37:00 – The athletic development.

Complete transcript

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