Programming Beyond the X’s and O’s
Written by Conquer Athlete Coach Ryan Bucciantini
The more experience you gain, the more you learn, and the more time you spend in the "trenches" of coaching, the more you'll begin to see that programming for your athletes goes far beyond sets and reps.
If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of program design, you have to not only understand the principles of strength and conditioning but what aids the body in recovering, adapting, and continuing to stay at a high level of readiness.
I'm confident in saying that any seasoned coach who has coached a wide spectrum of athletes would and can argue that it's not about the training itself, but rather what the athlete responds to and can adapt from.
That being said, I want to share some of the pitfalls I see coaches fall into and some ideas to help keep your athletes moving in a positive direction.
Blind Overload
Progressive overload is important. We know its required to continually stress our athletes in a strategic manner. Often times, maybe for lack of knowledge or laziness on the coaches part coaches just adjust the overload week to week by adding more intensity or volume to program without having any built in markers to see if the athlete is responding or we're just blindly adding more fatigue to the athlete. When coaches get in the habit of not tracking day-to-day markers of training load, intensity, and bio markers, they're missing a huge opportunity to refine their programs and create more wear and tear on their athletes by continually adding unnecessary junk volume into their athletes training program because that method said it was the next "step".
Reactive Deloads
Deloads are a great tool to keep training intensity high but give our athletes short periods of mental and physical reprieve to keep them feeling good and injury free. Often times coaches proactively schedule deloads every 4-6 weeks based on what they've read. Although there is some merit to that and some deloads can be scheduled based around competition blindly scheduling them based on something you've read is wasting your athletes time and waisting valuable training hours for the athlete. Consistent conversation and detailed client feedback with athletes is the best thing I've used to determine when an athlete needs to deload. There is nothing worse when an athlete is feeling good, adapting to the training and you as the coach puts the brakes on and slow the athlete down, not based on physical factors but a paragraph in a book.
Programming Reviews
When was the last time you looked at a block of training that an athlete just finished? Looked back at your progression strategy, the athletes feedback, exercise selection, total volume, etc. This is something that I think is so undervalued. Yes you can't change the past but you certainly can learn for the future. Is there anything you would have done different? Was there any signs from the athlete that things were or weren't working and you could have pivoted sooner? Is there a different strategy that could've worked better. The only way to get better is reflection and what better way to do it than look at the athlete at the start and where they ended.
Creativity
At times, especially if you carry a high athlete load we loose creativity as coaches. Creativity is important, it keeps us engaged, and although there are strong foundational principles in strength and conditioning, that doesn't mean we can't test the waters and try something new if it makes sense. If something isn't working you have to be able to think outside the box. What haven't you tried? What "tools" are available to you, how can you change up training stress the athlete and drive adaptation in a way they have not been overly exposed to yet?
Data
Personally I believe data is KING! Without data points it's very hard to pilot a long term program. Data can also be one of the most overwhelming thing for a coach. You have to ask yourself what data is helpful for you to interpret your athletes deficiencies and training results. Anything else should get pushed to the side (not thrown away). At some point in your coaching evolution, it may be helpful to come back to that data once your knowledge has grown and you can digest and interpret more training data. Some data points I personally like to track are:
Resting or waking HR (daily or weekly)
HR recoverability in a training session (session dependent)
Recoverability score (daily)
Session Training Load / RPE (daily)
Athletes strength markers and standards of the athletes specific sport
Athletes conditioning markers and standards of the athletes specific sport
Mental State (weekly)
Nutrition & Sleep compliance (weekly)
To wrap this up, training athletes can be as "simple" or as detailed as you want it to be. But simple doesn't always mean it's going to be effective nor does being complex. If something isn't working, you have to be able and willing to pivot and try something new. When trying something new, review the old, look at your data points, talk to your athlete and allow that to drive your next decision.
If you have any questions or want to learn how we work with athletes with our Individual Design coaching, email help@conquerathlete.com. Or, check out our website www.conquerathlete.com and set up a free discovery call.
