Tag Archive for: Physical Education

Martin Bingisser

GAINcast Episode 267: From east to west (with Bogdan Poprawski)

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The 1980s were a time of global awakening in track and field. As coaches experimented with new training methods, ideas started spreading all over the blog. Coach Bogdan Poprawski was at the center of that process, moving as a young coach from Poland to Canada and helping Gerard Mach set up a new system. On this week’s GAINcast he joins us to share some stories about becoming a coach in a different era and culture, the transition to Canada, and much more.

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Martin Bingisser

GAINcast Episode 266: Training camp (with Chris Webb)

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The training camp is an integral part of the training process in many sports. But how can you get the most out of it? On this week’s GAINcast we share ideas around planning training camps to get the most out of them with swim coach Chris Webb. In addition, we look at optimal planning of multiple short training sessions, strategies to increase training quality, how much warmup is needed, and more.

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Martin Bingisser

GAINcast Episode 265: Creating better movers (with René Wormhoudt)

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Being a better mover solves a lot of problems: it makes it easier to pick up skills and adapt to new situations, which also helps reduce the risk of injury and increase the level of performance. Rather than focusing on your next injury prevention exercise, most athletes would be better off just becoming better overall movers. Dutch national football team coach René Wormhoudt joins this week’s GAINcast to discuss his training approach which builds upon this philosophy for both youth athletes and the world’s top athletes.

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Martin Bingisser

GAINcast Episode 264: Redefining LTAD (with Joe Eisenmann)

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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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Martin Bingisser

What coaches can learn from watching kids throw

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Recently James Marshall wrote about the need to develop general throwing skills before specific throwing skills. The topic of general throwing skills is worth diving more into. Thankfully this is a task that GAIN faculty member and award-winning physical education teacher Greg Thompson has to deal with every day at the primary school level. Watching his teaching progressions can help coaches of all levels in several areas. Below I show two key lessons we can take from Thompson: how advanced coaches can improve their understanding of movement by breaking it down to its basics, and how to balance constraints and cues in teaching movement.

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James Marshall

Teaching general and specific throwing skills

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Somehow the way we learned basic movements became reversed over the last few decades. Kids used to learn movement through play, then apply it to sport. Now, more often than not, kids learn movement through sports clubs. We’re not going to turn back time, but understanding the evolution of youth physical education and activity (or lack thereof) can help us improve our teaching skills going forward.

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James Marshall

Coaching speed for children

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Most people assume genetics are the factor that determines sprinting. As the cliche goes: sprinters are born while marathoners are made. That may be accurate if your goal is to become a world-class sprinter. However, if you are an average human being and your goal is to run faster, then environment and coaching become important factors too. This is especially important with children.

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Andy Stone

Using mini workouts to improve physical intelligence

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Look back in time and the everyday demands of the world automatically traditionally created a physically intelligent person. To be physically connected to the natural world through the body and culture used to be vital for survival. Then came industrialization and the information economy. Now we don’t have to be physically sophisticated to eat, survive, or earn a living. That’s great to some extent, but the byproduct is that most of us have become more alienated from our deconditioned and objectified bodies.

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Martin Bingisser

July 2020 in review: physical education

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Our focus in July has been physical education. Physical education has long defined society’s foundation of movement, and there is a lot that coaches in all areas can learn from it. Below is a summary of all the new resources we’ve put together on the topic, including 2 new videos, 2 new podcasts, and 7 new articles. Read more

James Marshall

Are you a teacher or a trainer? Lessons for S&C coaches from the PE classroom

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Are you a teacher or are you a trainer? The difference might seem trivial, but it is fundamental in how you approach your athletes and sporting environment. Read more