What is keeping us from going faster? Ironically, a lot of times it is what we are doing rather than what we aren’t doing. What we other think is helping our speed can be counterproductive. On this week’s GAINcast we discuss some concepts that might be limiting your speed training, as well as methods and planning tips for getting faster.
All sports have rules. Rules are there to standardize competition, making it both more safe and fair for the competitors. Rules define the playing area, implement, procedures, and more. Rules can go overboard, but the idea is that the rules make sure the winner determined by physical and tactical components, rather than luck. In the throwing events various rules define the size and weight of the implement, where it must be thrown, the design of the cage, and the structure of the competition. However one there is one big gap in the rules: the throwing surface.
uncertainty leading into the games was left fans unsure of what was to come. But once the throwing started, historic performances arrived daily. On this week’s episode guest Shaun Pickering joins us to break down the performances in each of the throwing events, look at what made the Tokyo Olympics different, and draw out some key lessons for coaches and athletes from the 2020 Olympics.
Every year l write a memorial to Harold Connolly on the anniversary of his death. When l started to think about this year’s topic last month the theme was going to be mission accomplished. America was sending its strongest team to the Olympics in a century. Harold Connolly’s work to resurrect American hammer throwing has been showing progress for a long time. Now, 11 years after his death, we were on the verge of seeing the ultimate fruits of his labor.
The Olympic Games just wrapped up last week. Along with some amazing performances comes some great lessons on performance, coaching, sport, and life. On this week’s GAINcast we sit down to share some of our insights after reflecting on the Tokyo Olympics.
High performance comes in many forms: winning a gold medal, fighting a pandemic, or simply managing people. Dr. Michael Joyner has experience across all of these areas as a research on the limits of human performance, and the lead research on breakthrough COVID therapies. He joins this week’s podcast to share some insights on the principles of high performance.
The site theme in July was individualization. Throughout the month we shared a variety of new content looking at how, when, why to individualize training. Our archives have even more in depth content on the topic. Below we have links to all our new and archived content on the topic.
Three-time Olympian John Godina knows a thing or two about competing at the highest level. From being the favorite, to only making the team as an alternate, his wide range of experiences can help share what Olympic athletes will encounter in Tokyo. On this week’s episode he joins us to discuss his own experience, his approach to technique, and how he assesses the current generation of throwers.
Ask me 10 years ago about the key to successful coaching and it was all about individualization. Ask me now, and I think most coaches individualize too much. Maybe I’m just getting set in my ways, but the longer I coach the more I see individualization as simply the icing on the cake. It’s nice to have and can make all the difference, but the true substance is the program underneath it.
Coaching is about meeting the needs of your athletes, and micro adjustments to meet special needs of individual athletes can make all the difference. What is described as the art of coaching is often just how we make decisions to individualize or not individualize a program. On this week’s episode Dan Noble and James Gardiner from GRIT Athletics Toronto explain some of the factors that go into their decision making, along with examples of individualization in practice.
