Articles

An analysis of the 100m at the IAAF World Championships indicates the increasing strength of the event. The quality of the heat times reveals that moving on to the semi-finals requires almost an all-out effort. The three semi-final format allows the top athletes a better opportunity to make the finals. And Usain Bolt’s win reveals his ability to perform at his best when it matters most.

The diaphragm, psoas, and glute form the nucleus of the human body.  Movement, correctly done, must initiate from the psoas which partners with the diaphragm.  The glute is the reciprocal muscle of the psoas.

A new book centers around Usain Bolt. It also touches on some of the factors surrounding Jamaican sprint supremacy: cultural, physical, coaching, even genetic. And author Richard Moore doesn’t shy away from questions about drug abuse. Given the frequency with which Jamaicans fail drug tests, the paramount question becomes, is Usain Bolt clean?

Two successful coaches on opposite sides of the country offer three tips on getting the best out of your hurdlers. They start with improving technique, move on to practice modalities, and conclude with sample training weeks. In short, the total package!

Much of what was once considered gospel in coaching sprinters has been subject to revision or even outright abandonment in recent years. Other concepts, however, have come full circle—acceptance, rejection, reacceptance. It is important to keep an open mind in evaluating everything—or “load six” in the parlance of the Old West. That is, less absolute certainty and more willingness to consider the viewpoints of other coaches with whom we share the game goal: faster, more powerful runners.

Though it’s expensive, the Omegawave Team system confers many benefits through its ECG and DC potential measurements. In addition, the Omegawave community—both company and users—is forthcoming and extraordinarily helpful. Like any system, however, it should not be regarded as the final word. It’s still up to coaches to use the data as they set fit.

Whether you travel to an exotic location or stay close to home, a training camp can provide many benefits for your athletes. Kickass workouts are one key to your camp’s success. But you need to devote considerable time and thought to constructing a framework in which those workouts occur. Consider everything from diet and stress reduction to minimizing commute times and outside influences.

I’ve had lots of time to think about the coach I am. My father was a coach for 47 years. From the day I was born, I was a coach’s son. As an athlete, I evaluated and dissected each and every guy who ever tried to coach me. My study of coaches continues as I enter my 35th year in the business.

Endurance runners are pressed to sustain rigorous training programs and optimized nutritional strategies to achieve peak levels of performance. These competitive athletes are also at a greater risk for developing anemia, bone mineral density loss (osteopenia), and a weakened immunity due to the prolonged intensity of training loads.

For some reason, it seems like much of what is thrown around the world of training, as far as coaching athletes is concerned is new exercises and repackaged ways of achieving the same thing. Paradigm shifts in the world of human performance don’t come along very often (and many are afraid of accepting them), but the 60 coaches who gathered in Lombard, Illinois were in for something special.

Developing speed is key to success in team sports. It’s important to have a model of ideal form that athletes can emulate. So is identifying common errors. And speed training needs to fit in with the overall training program.

Faster top-end speeds precede faster sub-maximal aerobic speed; developing a distance runner’s top end speed and anaerobic speed reserve helps to develop sub-maximal power simultaneously, which is counterintuitive to what many long-distance coaches still teach today.