I recently heard Dan Pfaff talk about acceleration being a complicated neuromuscular equation.

I recently heard Boo Schexnayder say acceleration is about finding the ‘resonant frequency of oscillary patterns’ in terms of developing and improving the efficiency of locomotive mechanics.

I recently heard Gary Winckler say, “90% of speed development is technique.”

I once heard Will Smith talk about understanding how the universe works by ‘studying the patterns.’

Well, I’ve been studying the patterns, and, in doing so, one fact has become overwhelmingly clear:

Our athletes will be faster when they develop this quality.

Our athletes will be more explosive and powerful when they develop this quality.

Our athletes will be on the board (instead of over and behind) and won’t trip over hurdles (or themselves) when they develop this quality.

Our athletes will consistently hit their times during tempo runs and race modeling sessions once they develop more of this quality.

So, if all I’ve said here is true, then what is the most important word in all of speed training?

Coordination.

Everything we do in practice is designed to improve the ability to express technique in order to positively influence performance. An athlete’s inability to express said technique simply boils down to lack of specific coordination.

Of course, I didn’t invent this concept. I heard Gary Winckler talk about it. Then I thought about it. Then I stole it. Now here we are.

Here’s an example. Last week I ran the exact same workout with two different athletes.

One was a 16 year old high schooler with a 200m PR of 26.1. The other was a 22 year old post collegiate with a 200m PR of 24.7.

The high schooler has been doing consistent technical work all summer and fall, going back and forth between me and another great sprints coach, Marc Mangiacotti. (He and I will be running a sprints clinic this summer, so, when they come, your sprinters will get to learn what we’re doing first hand…)

In our last session, she looked incredible. Her bad runs are now vastly superior to what good runs looked like in June. She can break down her own technique before I say anything which, to me, is a sign of wildly improved kinesthetic awareness and skill acquisition. Her confidence is light years ahead of where it was 6 months ago. I’m very proud of her and can’t wait to see her reap the rewards of her hard work.

The post collegiate, on the other hand, comes from a (Division I) college program that did absolutely no technical work, no speed work and sent 200m specialists out for 30 minute runs on a routine basis even in the middle of the competitive phase. She came from a good high school program (cough, cough), so that’s roughly the last time this athlete had good technical instruction (a 25.02 HS PR vs 24.71 collegiate PR is not a comforting improvement over the course of 4 years at the D-1 level).

Needless to say, this athlete was some sort of Hot Mess. She could feel it wasn’t right.

It wasn’t lack of effort or focus. And it sure wasn’t lack of ability. It was pure lack of coordination.

She lacked (’lost’ might be a better word) the strength (coordination training under resistance), endurance (coordination training under event specific time constraints), speed (coordination training to express highest force in the least amount of time and resulting in optimal displacement) and mobility (coordination training to dynamically express forces through desired/required ranges of motion) to accelerate to top speed and maintain that velocity with any semblance of efficiency or consistency of execution.

Once she acquires the coordination that the high schooler currently possesses, I know one thing for sure, she won’t be grinding to dip under the times she ran when she was 16.

My point is pretty simple. If you want to run a 21^st Century program, it’s not enough to just run fast in practice. As coaches we have to have our own process for solving the acceleration equation. And, just as importantly, we have to be able to help our athletes solve it themselves. Because we can’t cue them or engage in technical feedback once the gun goes off. Their success fundamentally depends on the ability to feel what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ and make corrections in real time, under the stress of competition and with 6-7 other athletes trying to beat them. Or with a crowd of people staring at them while they barrell down the runway.

It’s not enough to send kids into the weight room if you don’t have the same technical standards for a squat or clean as you do for coming out of blocks or doing phase work in the triple jump.

But if you reframe your training perspective with coordination being the ultimate goal and strength, speed, endurance and mobility being interdependent qualities, it will be easier to connect the dots between movements, event groups and specific skill development.

At your next practice, watch your athletes perform all the drills and exercises that make up their practice with this concept of ‘coordination as the ultimate goal’ in mind. It will be both liberating and overwhelming at the same time.

Here’s the first step to solving the coordination equation:

How to Build Champion Sprinters

To your success,

Latif Thomas

UPDATE (March 24, 2011): I will be running a sprints/hurdles clinic this summer with ‘Building the Perfect 100m Sprinter’ creator Marc Mangiacotti. It will be for athletes AND coaches. I will have a website up with full details and we will begin taking registrations (we have a limited number of spots available) in the next 2 weeks. However, this much is confirmed: The clinic will be held in Massachusetts  on Saturday, July 23 and Sunday, July 24, 2011. Send your athletes and/or attend yourself.

Pass this on!

In an upcoming Master Class, I’ll be bringing in UTEP jumps/hurdles/sprints coach Kebba Tolbert to present on developing your horizontal jumpers.

Knowing Kebba, I know he can speak to us in terms of dealing with developmental jumpers or he can go way, way over our heads with stuff that will make our brains melt.

I’m cool with both, but you might not be.

So, if you coach jumpers, please take this quick survey and let us know what you want to know so we can deliver the best possible information.

Thanks

Latif Thomas

Pass this on!

Because it’s the #1 Question I get asked and it’s something I’ve had to deal with many times over the years, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we, as New Breed coaches, can do right by our athletes and help our less evolved colleagues entertain the possibility of a better way than regurgitating the same ‘Repeat 200′ program for the 15th year in a row. So, based on my personal experience and countless conversations with frustrated parents, coaches, athletes and trainers from all over the world, here is what I *know:

If you want your ideas to be heard, you can’t come in with a ‘Shock and Awe’ campaign. Coaches who are comfortable doing the same old crap will recoil in horror like a 7 year old girl who just walked in on you eating the cookies she left out for Santa Claus. Nice job Dad, you ruined Christmas for little Sally. Nothing will ever be the same again. Now she’ll be working at Hooters by her 18th birthday.

It’s simply too overwhelming to have to treat coaching like a real job. So you can’t overwhelm people with your fancy pants ’coaching education’ and ‘certifications’ and ‘knowledge’. Especially when dealing with coaches who have been around a while and fundamentally believe their ways and long standing Traditions are the only way.

Do that and you’ll get to experience the human version of a rat trapped in a corner. (They bite. Hard.)

You can’t necessarily use Logic and Reason, either. Or, what’s it called? Oh yeah.

Science.

Studies show that most people will tightly hold onto their belief systems, even when presented with overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Want proof? Just take a look at how people vote against their own best interest election after election. (Perhaps we are not as evolved a species as we like to give ourselves credit for.)

‘Logic, Reason and Science’ works better than a ‘Shock and Awe’ campaign. But, chances are, all the  A Workout Program Signed by Jesus Couldn’t Get Me to Change My Ways Coach hears you saying is, “Hey Ass Clown, you’re wrong! I’m right. You are inadequate as a human being.”

And you may be right. But you’re not going to get anywhere with these types of people unless you handle the situation without emotion. You can’t train speed in a state of fatigue and you can’t sway someone to your point of view if you’re bordering on murderous rage.

Truth is, a lot of coaches aren’t really interested in developing skills in their athletes or learning anything new. They just like hanging out with some kids after school and collecting a couple grand to do it. Success is directly proportional to the what the Law of Probability dictates because they’re not developing skilled athletes, they’re just managing talent. Doesn’t make them bad people, just bad coaches. And I don’t really have a problem with that under the following condition: If you’d rather be a babysitter than a coach, just be upfront about it. Then take 2 weeks off. Then quit.

No matter where you live, high school sports are a highly Socialist, nepotistic, Good ‘Ol Boy construct. You don’t get paid for getting results. You don’t get fired for not getting results. And you don’t have to be qualified to coach. Generally, you just have to be a carbon based life form who works at the school, and, ideally, be able to pronounce the name of the sport you want to coach in three tries or less. Doesn’t matter if you can currently fit 6 of your high school selves into your current body as long as you’re a Good ‘Ol Boy and you know whose ring to kiss. As an entrepreneur and a New Breed coach, I find this offensive. But it is what it is. And its par for the course all over the world.

So if the ‘Shock and Awe’ campaign makes you a pariah, the ‘Logic, Reason & Science’ approach gets you the stink face and you’re not willing to kiss the ring of some hobbit with a Napoleon Complex, what do you do?

I’d love to get your thoughts and stories in the comments section below, but I really only see two options, neither of which are exciting if you want to get results in the near future:

First, you can try the ‘Boiling Frogs’ approach. This will probably work if you’re really skilled and patient. But I look at it as a multi-year process. And that doesn’t help you if you’re a parent or an athlete with a narrow window of opportunity.

But if we, as New Breed coaches, want to institute foundational, positive, long term change to the way young people are developed – physically, emotionally, technically, etc., we have to adopt the second option…

Become living examples of a philosophy espoused by those rare individuals who have reached levels of consciousness far beyond the average human:

 I’m not trying to get preachy or self righteous. I don’t have the moral authority. And I’m no stranger to the ‘Shock and Awe’ approach, as well as several others that don’t work. I am not a perfect person by any stretch of the imagination. And, if you know me, you know I’ve never claimed anything of the sort. But I do try to learn from my mistakes. Like Jay-Z says, “It’s all about progression.”

When you invest in your athletes through ongoing coaching education and create a positive, exciting, cutting edge training environment, you’re going to start getting eye opening results.

Because kids want to be the best they can be. They’re silently begging to be heard and to be led. New Breed coaches provide that experience and that is why we’re successful. It really has very little to do with how many 40s we do (or don’t do) today. 

The bottom line is: Kids don’t want to be left on their own every day so practice turns into Romper Room. They don’t want to have barbecues and pizza parties every other week. They want to get better. They want to run varsity, stand on the podium, get a medal (seriously, kids will chew through concrete to earn a $2 medal at a meet), see their name in the paper and, did I mention kids love winning medals?

They’ll follow you if you make them feel good about themselves. And a little individual attention goes a long way. Because I run a serious program, I’m often accused of being an elitist. Of only paying attention to the top 10%. That a focus on ‘winning’ has no place at the high school level. (I will address this absurdity in an upcoming article or video.) I don’t just give individual attention to the kids breaking records. I pay attention to the kids who pay attention, no matter where they fall on the food chain. Kids will pretty much do what they’re told by the adult coach in charge. They have no other choice. But it doesn’t mean they like it. And it doesn’t mean they believe in their coaching.

(Want to win over your team? Memorize the seasonal goals of your JV kids and then, one day, when one of them is half-assing, say, “Your goal sheet says you want to achieve X GOAL. Not gonna happen with that kind of effort.” JV kids don’t think you’re paying attention to them. But if you are and they know it, all you have to do is look at them and they know you know. And the overall effort of the program goes up. Your program operates just like the food chain:  Survival at the top doesn’t happen without a strong, healthy population at the bottom.)

But if you run a ‘Group Individualized’ program (I stole that from Tony Veney) athletes will quickly start to compare your program (and relationship with them) to their experience in another sport/coach and choose to spend more time with you. They’ll tell their parents about how much fun they’re having and the performances speak for themselves. Kids talk. Parents talk. Your program will grow in a positive direction, as will your reputation.

Just be prepared for the backlash. Because everyone hates a winner. (Don’t believe me? Name one highly successful person you know of, famous or otherwise, who doesn’t get hated on with regularity. That’s right. You can’t.) So the haters will be out in full force. And by ‘full force’ I mean they’ll smile to your face, talk trash behind your back and/or send you unsigned letters in the mail. You just have to accept its going to happen. People I’ve known my whole life have said some hurtful and obnoxious things about me (behind my back, of course). There’s no point in freaking out about it. Because I’m a firm believer in the Law of Karma, also known as ‘You reap what you sow’.

So you’ll be accused of ’recruiting’ and stealing athletes from other sports. You’ll also be the cause of Global Warming, the reason babies poop their pants and, nice try asshole, but we didn’t forget what you did to little Sally.

Of course you’re not doing any of these things, but to those with no concept of a world where kids are capable of making independent, autonomous choices about where and how they spend their free time, it will seem that way. People drunk on Hater-ade aren’t going to hear your point of view or acknowledge all of the good things you do. But what do you expect? You are the one who ruined Christmas.

And what’s that smell? Good God, man. You just made another innocent baby crap itself. What’s next on your list of abominations? If you melt a few more glaciers, maybe you can kill off the last polar bear. Jerk.

I’m a firm believer our actions define who we are. And other peoples’ reactions say far more about them than they do about you. Remember that the next time someone slanders you behind your back. 

Your supporters (parents, coaches and athletes alike) will see right through their BS. So if, in your heart of hearts, you know you’re living your life in service to others, persevere and continue to be the change you want to see in others.

It’s not easy. And you might be up against a status quo so firmly entrenched you have to take your talents elsewhere. But fighting, arguing and belittling your adversaries only serves to teach young people all the wrong things. No matter who thinks they’re in the right. So don’t go down that road. Gandhi also said, “There is no path to peace, peace is the path.”

Let that marinate in your mind for a while.

If the people around you can’t get on board, you’ll have no choice but to find people who will. That’s ultimately the choice I made. Now when I go to the school, I feel energized and excited instead of feeling like I’m going to lose my lunch. It’s awesome. And that’s how it should be. For everyone.

That’s all I’ve got! If you have a better solution to this fundamental problem in the world of athletics (and world in general), I’m all ears! Post your comments below.

Signed,

Latif Thomas

Check it out! In 2011, I’ll be pontificating at:

1. Wisconsin Track Coaches Clinic (February 11-12)

2. New England Track and Field Clinic (March 18-19)

*There’s at least a 50% chance that everything I think I know is 100% wrong.

Pass this on!

Because your team’s results are directly proportional to the number of tools you, the coach, have in your toolbox, I thought I’d provide you with the Top 5 Best Selling Track & Field resources we have here at Athletes’ Acceleration (since September 1, 2010) with my quick two cents as to why it’s the vehicle to get you to your destination this season.

Check it out and, as always, ask questions if you have them:

#1 Best Seller: Complete Speed Training Volume 2

Sure, I’m biased because I created it. But, if I didn’t know what I was talking about, you wouldn’t be reading this right now, would you? And, here’s the bottom line:

CST2 has sold more copies than all the other programs on this list….combined.

If you don’t have CST2 yet, I’m sure you have lots of great reasons, all of them involving the word ‘price’. And that’s cool. I totally understand. But, it takes money to make money. All of the coaches I go to for advice get  results because they have more tools in their toolbox. Common sense says I should go out and purchase the same tools. And I do, which is why I get results. And you can be sure the elite coaches I study didn’t get those tools from scavenging the interwebs for free sample programs.

If you’re offended, my bad. Really. But I bet no customers are offended. It’s just that you’re probably picking rusted wrenches out of dumpsters and I won’t apologize for recommending a pair of Channellocks.

But, in truth, it’s a win/win for me. If you get a copy, I get the satisfaction of knowing you’re going to help a lot of kids. If you help kids, then I help kids and that’s the reason I started doing this in the first place. If you don’t, it just means even more of my kids get to stand on the podium at the big meets. And kids love that.

Click here to learn more about Complete Speed Training Volume 2.

#2 Best Seller: Complete Program Design for Sprinters

Again, one of my core programs. CPD is more advanced than CST2 because it’s not about showing you how to teach drills and exercises. So I wouldn’t recommend this for novice coaches.

Instead, I get into the science of workout planning, training phases and managing energy systems. I go into the psychology of getting kids to buy into your program hook, line and sinker.

If you already feel good about how to teach the mechanics of speed, but want to know more about where, when and why to do various types of speed work based on training age, event group and training phase, then you’ll be pretty excited about CPD.

Click here to learn more about Complete Program Design for Sprinters.

#3 Best Seller: Complete Track & Field Conditioning for the Endurance Events

At first, I was surprised to see the #2 most popular event group of my list of coaches isn’t jumps or hurdles. It’s the distance events. Then I realized that I live in New England and 9 out of 10 head coaches is a distance coach. (Which explains why so many sprinters around here run on their heels, but I digress.)

Scott Christensen is arguably the top HS distance coach in the country, a 14 year lead instructor for USATF Level II Endurance school, has had 7 Minnesota State Champions at 800 and 1600 since 1996 and has had 4 former athletes go on to run sub 4:00 in the mile since 2003.

So, yeah. That’s pretty solid, don’t you think?

If you’re a distance coach and that doesn’t get you salivating then I highly recommend checking yourself for a pulse because you may have inadvertently ingested some puffer fish.

Seriously, I don’t even coach middle distance/distance runners and I study Scott’s information. That’s all I’ve got to say about that.

Click here to learn more about CTFC for the Endurance Events.

#4 Best Seller: Complete Track and Field Conditioning for the Jumps

If I have a question about the jumps, I’m calling Boo Schexnayder. If you’ve been involved in USATF Coaching Education, you’re a Boo disciple. If you get involved in The Academy…Boo.

Not only is Boo one of the kindest human beings I’ve ever met, he’s also one of the smartest. (No one draws a series of stick figures like Boo Schexnayder!) And he’s probably the best jumps coach on planet Earth.

So if you’re looking for some introductory level information in regards to workout planning, training inventories and progressions for your jumpers, you would be crazy not to have this book in your library. It’s not Level II school, but if you’re still lumping your jumpers in with your sprinters every day and then just separating them on ‘jump days’, my good friend, please come join us in the 21^st Century.

Click here to learn more about CTFC for the Jumps.

#5 Best Seller: Complete Track and Field Conditioning for the Sprints/Hurdles

I was on the phone with Tony Veney last week and, listening to him talk, I felt a bit like the younger Bizarro World version of…Tony Veney. I agreed with everything he was teaching me, he just has a much bigger toolbox full of better tools. That is the value of experience combined with open mindedness.

I’ll admit it’s a bit frustrating talking to guys like Tony because they understand things on levels I have yet to reach. But, then again, it’s not nearly as hard to humble myself now as it was when I was 22 and knew everything…

At the same time it’s great to know that a USATF Master Coach reads my emails and has positive things to say about my training philosophy. Tony is one of my ‘go to guys’ when I have a question about my sprinters or hurdlers. (And we both agree that speed and power is the key to fast 400 times…yeah, yeah Clyde Hart. Isn’t that what you were going to say?)

Here’s the truth: If you already have CST2 or CPD, then you’ll probably find Tony’s book a bit on the basic side. But if you don’t or you can’t bring yourself to spend the money on those programs, please do your athletes a favor and get Tony’s book on developing programs and training progressions for your sprinters/hurdlers.

Tony’s knowledge is as good as it gets. When you’re shopping for new tools, not every job requires a Sawzall. But that rusty hand saw ain’t gonna get it done either.

Click here to learn more about CTFC for the Sprints/Hurdles.

Got questions about which program is the right fit for you? Ask below.

To your success,

Latif Thomas

Oh yeah…

Clear your schedules my friends. In 2011, I’ll be taking my talents to:

Wisconsin Track Coaches Clinic – February 11-12

New England Track & Field Clinic – March 18-19

Pass this on!