“You run completely different than we do!”
By Athletes' Acceleration | June 24th, 2008
I have a couple athletes preparing for a summer meet.
Since I’m competing in the same meet, I agreed to
meet up with them at the track since I had to work
out any way.
Both kids are inexperienced, having never been taught
anything about sprinting before this year.
They’re both at the second level of skill
acquisition - Conscious Incompetence (they understand
what they’re supposed to do, they’re just not very
good at it).
Since my body no longer recovers like it used to,
they finished their entire session in the time
it took me to do my warm up.
As a teaching tool and for my own benefit, I told
them to critique me as I was running a few 40s
out of blocks on the turn.
The first thing they said to me was:
‘You run completely different than we do!’
I smiled and asked them to explain.
‘You do all the things you tell us to do, but that
we can’t actually do. You tell us to explode out of
the blocks, but you cover more ground in 5 steps
than we do in 7 or 8′.
‘You say sprinting is like bounding (not the entire
truth, but in the context of our conversation it
was an accurate statement), but when you
run I can see how you apply force through the ground
and how much faster it is and how much more distance
you cover’.
‘You tell us to ‘crack the egg’ (a cue for faster
heel recovery, reducing backside mechanics and
allowing for greater force application) but you
actually do it and then actually step over, drive
down’.
‘You talk about being patient and shifting gears
as you get to full speed, but I can actually see
you shifting gears instead of just running as
fast as you can from the start’.
There were a few more examples, but it was an
important moment for me as a coach and for them
as athletes.
I was proud I had taught them enough that they
could make such distinctions. A year ago, before
I arrived, when they were at the first level of
skill acquisition - Unconscious Incompetence (you
don’t even know that you don’t know), they wouldn’t
have had anything valuable to say.
But watching me run (relatively) correctly provided
the missing link between conceptually understanding
what they were supposed to do and actually *knowing*
what it looked like so they could make adaptations
to their own running to imitate mine.
Now, before you non-track coaches roll your eyes
and dismiss this as being entirely different than
training for (insert your sport here) and therefore
irrelevant, you’re missing the point.
This experience reinforced just how critical
it is that you SHOW your athletes how to perform
certain skills…not just TELL them what to do,
but now HOW to do it.
You can have a million and one cues for everything
from speed drills to agility to plyos and
weight training. But if you don’t actually SHOW
your athletes how to do it correctly, then they’re
not going to be able to maximize their potential.
You can’t pull one drill from youtube, then grab
another drill or two from a training Newsletter
or regurgitate a workout from some website and
then expect to actually get consistent results
from your athletes.
You need a unified system of movement skill
progressions that are demonstrated and explained
correctly so you can actually TEACH your athletes
how to do them correctly.
–> http://www.CompleteSpeedTraining.com
Otherwise it’s not really coaching, it’s babysitting.
If you’re not currently doing that
I understand why you aren’t. Maybe you don’t want
to buy an expensive program or don’t believe the
information will work. Maybe you used to be a
pretty good athlete and don’t think you need an
entire program.
Believe me I’ve heard all the reasons and I don’t
fault anyone for any of them.
But newsletters, sample workouts and video clips
are best served as a supplement to your base training
program. They just don’t work as the answer to
your current questions.
To get lasting, long term results for your athletes
you need a program that covers it all - all the
drills and exercises your athletes need to do,
specific cues for teaching them and video progressions
of them being done correctly. So you can learn them
yourself or so you can have film sessions showing
your athletes what it *should* look like.
Where do you find such a program?
You know what I’m going to say…
–> http://www.CompleteSpeedTraining.com
To your success,
Latif Thomas
P.S. Post your comments below.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 3:25 pm and is filed under Speed Training . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 25th, 2008 at 3:49 am
this is a great article, amd once again latiif, (if you don’t mind me calling you that) i can see your point exactly,
As you said in that piece, it is vital that you have a complete training method, ie, through books and video.
However, i am currently working with an ex marrathon runner as my assistant, although he may not know some of the methods that you have tought me, i find his one of the key essentials to my PEP’s.
i believe that although books and videos are a great source of information, don’t you feel that someone who has seen the high’s and low’s of a proffesional sporting career is more valuable thn just someone who has written about it, and is not actualy in physical cotact with you?
many thanks
June 25th, 2008 at 6:22 am
latif,
Not only do I show all of our sports athletes how to do it, I still compete against them. Either on the watch or out of the blocks. Your doing it “walks the walk!
I’ve had kids go to major chains for speed and spend alot of money only to have them all say the same thing. “They didn’t teach me how to run!”
Tim Graf
Graf Speed Enhancement
June 25th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hi Latif
They are very observant beginners you have there. I get your point anyway.
I have already purchased your program. I am actually using it for my group of 11 kids aged from 10-15 and they hate me for it. ha ha.
We are doing 2 days a week with Tuesday being strength and Thursday running. Our season, in Australia, for Little Aths starts Oct 4 and I am looking forward to the start. I would not be surprised if everyone PBs on their first day. I would be very disappoiinted if our group didn’t break at least 7 records during the year, for the local centre.
The kids are getting much stronger (even with 1 day of strength training) and completing the exercises much more efficiently. We haven’t implemented the medicine balls yet either. They do love the hurdles exercises.
All is going very well. I totally enjoy reviewing your program and use it for myself also. Keep up the good work.
Wayne
June 26th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Latiff, I certainly co-sign with showing your athletes, as you pointed out, they get to see the visual and make a connection. Also it helps with credibility, buy in, which is crucial in relating to your athletes, I am a 50 year old coach and I still demonstrate, in the jumps, hurldes as well.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Latif, I am not a coach (at least, not officially) but I am very impressed by your videos and what you have been saying. I am a senior athlete and in my youth I have never had any training, except what I picked up from watching and obeying my body. You will probably laugh when I tell you that all of the errors which you point out your inexperienced youngsters make, I have made and didn’t even know (Unconscious incompetence). I used to think when you run, you just go full tilt from start to finish until you reach the tape. Now I understand why I hardly had any movement in my legs as the end of each race approached. Even recently, running the 200m I was comfortably in the lead with about 50 m to go. That last 50 felt like another 200m I was begging the finish line to come to me I did not seem to be making any progress at all, just sort of “clawing the air and getting nowhere”. Over the last two years, I could not run because of illness and injury (kidney removal, pulmonary embolism in one lung, hairline fracture in hip/femur, and most recently, arthroscopic surgery on the left knee) but I took the time to read all the emails and articles etc. from Peak Performance and Athletes Acceleration. I never thought I would be able to run again, but by the Grace of God, I did not give up, but slowly, gradually, started to walk, then jog a little, use the treadmill to assist my running movements. I have tried to do the things you recommend, but I cannot see myself. However I try, and I think I am being successful. I follow your guidelines as well as I can, and just this evening, our Senior Athletes coach said to me, Gerry you’re looking good and running fast. I was very pleased to hear that because I was simply trying to do what you recommend we should teach our youngsters to do: accelerate, float, step down drive over, etc. I wish I could see what I was doing, but even so, the comments I got made me feel that at least I seemed to be doing something right! Latif, as soon as I am able, I am going to get your complete Speed training. Your free demonstrations have already been very helpful to me and make me feel that there is still some spark in the engine. I am 63+ and feel like 32!
About your article: It is splendid and as an educator, I can tell you that what you did is excellent pedagogy. It also helps your athletes to do self-evaluation, which they did admirably and provides feedback to you which allows you to evaluate your own effectiveness, not only as a teacher, but also as a fellow runner. You exposed yourself to the scrutiny of your athletes so they could relate to you directly and could see what you were talking about. Excellent. Full marks to you. I wish there were more teachers and coaches like you.
All the very best to you.