Strength & Conditioning Ball

Muhammad Ali - Performance & Preparation meets

2010-04-23T18:33:00.002+02:00

Where does it all start. Where does it come from, what we see on the pitches, in the pool or in the boxing ring.

Muhammad Ali, Heavyweight Champion of the boxing world summed it up as follows:

"Before I get in the ring, I have already won or lost. The real part is won or lost somewhere far away from witnesses, behind the line, in the gym, out there on the road, long before I dance under those light."

How many coaches (and here I include myself) teach their athletes this concept or how many rather leave it to how they perform on the day and then criticise the athlete for poor performance? Are we preparing our athletes completly prior to the competition and acknowledge the fact that what we see in the game is a reflection of the training.

This I see time and time again with the athletes I have dealt with. Those that prepare well and prepare completely preform successfully. Those who don't fail. However if we are talking about proper preparation we need to make sure we are cover all the bases. This must include all components that make a sucessful athlete. This should include the physical, psychological / emotional & spiritual preparation. Neglecting one component leads to the potential for poor performance & then we should not be upset.

So remembering that 'I have won or lost' before I have even enter the ring or pool, places a totally different dynamic & perspective on my preparation and how performance meets up with preparation.

SB

Need for speed

2010-03-29T19:31:00.000+02:00

So was listening the other day to a NSCA podcast on speed development for young athletes. Was a good listen, with a few key principles standing out for me.

At the moment my swimmers that i coach is coming off 2 competitions that were important for them, but within the next 2 weeks a few of them will be competing in the SA Youth & senior nationals competition, where the need for speed is paramount.

Speed is somethung I realise cannot only be developed in just the last phase of preparation for the major competition, but rather something that needs to be constantly developed over the entire season & athletic career. It is something my swimmers doing weekly, otherwise they will never know what it feels like when they expected to do it.

So here are the principles they highlighted:
¤ Use logical progressions. Progressive overload is key
¤ Don't turn your back on a young athlete. That is when bad habits are learnt
¤ Slow to fast. Learn the techniques slowly then speed them up
¤ FUN is critical. Young athletes need to have when training especially whilst learning about speed development.
¤ Simple to difficult. Don't start complex, start singular & progress to more difficult components.
¤ Back to basics. We often forget what the basics are by trying to complicate things.

So hopefully this will challenge your thoughts and processes on speed development especially when dealing with younger developmental athletes. This principles can also be applied to older more advance athletes.

--
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by Pinpoint, and is
believed to be clean.

So why have I been so quiet?

2009-07-18T20:47:00.002+02:00

Well, as you will be well aware, the last time I have posted anything on this blog was on New Years day this year. Well for various reasons, however their are two main reasons. One, I have just plain and simply been slack at continuing with what I had started. The other reaason, however, has a little more substance. At the end of last year there occured some changes within my work environment with my changes jobs and job profiles.

As from 1st of January 2009 I officially started in a new position, working full time within the swimming program at a leading Unversity, a leading club in South Africa and in Africa. During the last few months my time has been spent on re-directing, streamlining (no pun intended), and coaching within the program. Days have been long and we are slowly starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel - hopefully it is not another on-coming train :-).

So over the next period of time, I will try and attempt to put more posts on the blog. Feel free to comment on posts, thoughts etc and hopefully the information I place will stimulate all our thought process and in turn contribute to meaningful thought and discussions on various topics. This blog will give you - hopefully - a snapshot into how my mind works.

God Bless

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T01:13:00.000+02:00

So 2009 is but 1hour old here in the southern tip of africa. Here's wishing you and your loved ones a blessed 2009. May God's grace be upon you and your family. May you grow from strength to strength through His guidance and love and may all your dreams become reality according to His ultimate plan for you.

Looking forward to an awesome 2009 and many interesting and entertaining posts.

Keep well

2009 Topics

2008-12-26T16:57:00.000+02:00

2009 is upon us and 2008 is drawing to a very quick end. What a year it has been within the world of sport and I am sure 2009 is going to provide much excitement to all of us sports lovers. I am looking forward to 2009 and I hope that this blog will grow from strength to strength, reach more people, stimulate out-of-the-box thinking, encourage new ideas and ways of doing things and ultimately contribute to the world of sport participation.

2009 I plan on throwing out new ideas, challenging our present way of thinking and implementing ideas and hopefully through the posts and the comments placed we will be able to achieve this. Here is a list of some expected themes, topics and discussion points in the upcoming year.

The Suite vs The Man - what role is the external contributors making to athletic success
The athletic individual as a machine
Recovery methods revised
New trends in S&C
The hype around the swim suites & the contribution to over 100 World Records in 2008
Interviews with individual athletes on all levels
The roles of the athlete, coach, parent & administrator
Strength gains in the gym - does it really help the athlete
Various programs uncovered
Reflections of coaching athletes.

Hoepfully these already stimulate thought and I look forward tol interacting with you over 2009, on these and many more topics. Please feel free to comment and I look forward to it so that we can build interaction between Strength & Conditioning professionals and coaches.

Keep well & watch this space

Steven

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T18:28:00.000+02:00

May this Christmas be a special time for u & your loved ones, a time of reflection on what this special day symbolises(that Jesus was born to fulfill his destiny & save our lives), and a day filled with love, happiness & abundant blessings.

Psalm139 The Lord has a plan 4 each of us, the same He had a plan 4 his son Jesus. Celebrate the start of his destiny.

To all our family, friends, colleagues, clients, faithful blog readers and all who stumble across our blogs, we wish you all much love, and thank you for being part of our lives.

God Bless, Love Steven & Robyn - 'The Balls' (Keep Bouncing!)

Attributes of a Great Coach

2008-10-29T08:33:00.000+02:00

So this morning I received this from a friend and colleague. It is what Bill Sweetenham believes to be the 7 attributes of a Great coach. Bill is a legend in the field of swimming coaching, development of young athletes and performance. He is a dynamic individual, straight to the point, sticks to his beliefs and is out-of-the box when it comes to thinking. So enjoy the read.

Bill Sweetenham's 7 attributes of a Great coach (legendary Aussie/Brit swim coach)

Coaching is convincing the willing and unwilling to give totally, and to be
enthusiastic about doing what they might like or dislike at any given point
in time in any given conditions, to achieve what they previously considered
desirable but impossible.

1. An unconditional passion for the sport
2. An unchallenged love of working with others where anything and everything
is possible
3. A desperate obsession for success
4. An open mind
5. A quest for knowledge and personal development
6. The ability to get the job done no matter the obstacles
7. The ability to sell ice to Eskimos and motivate dogs not to eat bones.

2008-10-13T17:46:00.000+02:00

Making time to train!

2008-09-28T07:35:00.000+02:00

Over the last few months my personal training has been apauling! I have been quite busy and just have not done much physical exercise. This is shocking considering that I am the one promoting good training and training regimes to my clients and athletes.

The reality of the matter is that well, you just need to make time to train. I think we will always find reasons to delay, not do, find something else to instead of doing some physical exercise. We actually just need to make time! Force ourselves! Put it in your diary. Get yourself a training partner! Just find and make a way. So thats what I am going to have to do!

So happy training all!

Steven

Sports Coaching Brain

2008-09-18T17:19:00.002+02:00

Recently Wayne Goldsmith visited us in Pretoria. Man what a great time of hearing and sharing in his knowledge. So he has a blog. Articles, articles and more articles. The latest one is quite a controversial one, in the good sense though.

So go check it out!

http://sportscoachingbrain.com

SB

What makes a champion?

2008-09-17T08:00:00.000+02:00

So what makes an Olympic or Paralympic Champion? What makes one athlete better than the other? What allows an athlete to achieve such great success as we are seeing at present at the Olympics and Paralympics. Is it the suite, is it the mindset, is it the conditioning that has been done, has it been better planning, was one person just more hungry than another? There are so many factors that play a role and hopefully I can outline some of these! It amazes me the sporting feats that we watch! How athletes are able to push themselves and achieve great success.

Many factors play a role in performance and here is a simple list. Often we try and complicate things, make them more difficult than they are and seem. These include:

· Proper Planning

· Good Attendance to training sessions

· Ensuring optimal recovery

· Ensuring optimal Nutritional strategies

· Appropriate use of Volume of training, both large and small

· Following of a complementary strength program dependant on the requirements of the sport

So here are some tips on how to utilise the above mentioned factors:

· KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)! Don’t overcomplicate and under deliver

· 90% attendance is a minimum requirement if we want to see performance improvements!

· Punctuality to training sessions (“5 minutes early is 10 minutes late”)

· Plan & Periodisation (“Failing to Plan is planning to fail”)

· Complex is not always better

· Strength is good but ensure the focus is always first on the specific demands of that sport. Focus on building the work capacity!

o Try and follow ‘the laws’ of strength training (as outlined by Tudor Bompa – Periodization Training fro Sports)

1. Develop Joint Flexibility

2. Develop the Tendon Strength

3. Develop the stabilisers

4. Develop the Core Strength

5. Train Muscles not Movements

· Establish NON-NEGOTIABLES with your athletes. These need to be set up at the developmental ages and reiforced through the elite levels

· Follow a Pathway of development and success. Ensure that the long term development plan meets the requirements of the sport, the individual athlete, the coach (involved with the athlete) and the needs analysis.

· A well known recovery specialist from the AIS, Angela Calder, says that Work hard + Rest well = Best Performance. It is important to ensure that the supercompensation curve is followed, always looking at quality, load managed, smart training and ensuring even better recovery processes are being utilised continously.

· Choose a good Octance fuel! Make sure you are putting in quality pertrol into the tank. Always ensure optimal levels either prior to, during and after training and competition.

· Quantity vs Quality. Quantity is not always better, but makign sure you are using appropriate (sport required) volume (quantity) that never looses the quality is paramount at all times.

So hopefully I have provided some food for thought, some ideas on what is needed to make an Olympian. So keep trying and always make sure you are doing the best you can.

Steven

Lows and Highs of and Elite swimmer

2008-09-07T21:40:00.000+02:00

So yesterday I was at the 3rd day of the SA Short Course swimming championships in Germiston, South Africa. It had been a pretty good 3 days of racing but last night I was fortunate to witness Roland Schoeman set a new world record in the 50m Freestyle! Wow want an opportunity it is to witness something like that. What makes this even more remarkable is that he has just come off, what many will describe as a pretty unsucessful Olympic Games (of course forgetting the fact that in the same event there he improved the SA & Africa record by almost a full 0.3 of a second). So sitting there last night I could not help but asking myself why? Why now the world record? Why now, 3 weeks after a "dissapointing" Olympics? So lets unpack some possibilities.

Firstly, the world of high performance sport is one that oftens rests on a knifes edge. An athlete can move between zero and hero within a few days, weeks or even seconds
Secondly, small changes can often cause big changes. By this I mean that by making a small change to a specific aspect of your strength & conditioning program or plan, it could lead to very slow times or very fast times i.e. big improvements or deterioration. This could include changing of specific training sets, composition of the sets, rest periods between loading and incorporating different variables into the session.
Thirdly, there are often variables outside of the athletes control. This could be technical gear failure (like suites tearing) for example.
Forthly, optimising the supercompensation curve. This includes ensuring good quality training execution and more so encorporating sufficient and appropriate recovery into the training repitoure. Optimising recovery between training sets or days and from week to week is key in performance. As Angela Calder (sport recovery specialist at the AIS) says WORK HARD + REST WELL = BEST PERFORMANCE.
Fifthly, modification or optimsing of technique. Over the last number of years in swimming, we have witnessed the advent of the straight arm freestyle. It works for some and not for others. This stroke developed particularly due to the strong emergance of short course swimming and the swimmers being allowed to push the 15m mark with the underwaters. By pushing this distance underwater, it only allows for around 9-10m of swimming stroke per 25m length. So the straight arm power stroke freestlye which is quite tiring has been used with good success by swimmers. This was also more evident in Rolands performance as he was trying out this version of the stroke and had moved away from his typical stroke.
Sixthly, your time is your time. I strongly believe that we have a time put out for us and we dont alwyas quite understand why we dont achieve when we think we should, and do achieve when we dont expect it. However, what is important to remember is that you as an athlete and coach always need to push the boundaries and attempt to do your best at all points in time.
Seventhly, doing the basics right is key. Always making sure you have done the basic fundamentals correctly, sets you up for good perfomance.
Finally, there will always be an element of luck involved. That perfect day will comprise of everything going just right and it is important to use the luck you get.

So hopefully i have been able to unpack maybe just some of the elements that could contribute to success of an elite athlete. Hopefully that has given us food for thought and maybe will make us look at performace slightly differently.

Drug testing by candlelight!

2008-09-05T15:45:00.000+02:00

So the last two days I have been at the SA short course swimming champions. Swimming has gone well, with some of the SA Olympians making appearances at the meet, after a tough time of racing at the Beijing Olympics.

So on the first evening the local drugs in sport testers came to do the drug testing. Firstly I must say that it is great that this takes place continuously within the sport of swimming in South Africa. Secondly, it is great how the awareness of drug testing has increased and individuals have become more aware of cheats will be caught. Finally, it was amazing to see how many drug tests were done in Beijing. If i remember there was a total of 4500 tests performed, 900 more than in Athens.

So back to my story. As per usual they arrived unanounced resting the appropriate facility for such testing. As I chaperoned one of our club swimmers to the testing procedure I could not help wondering if due to the current situation with electricity in our country, that they had to change their usual procedures. There we sat looking into each others eyes with just a drug testing kit, urine sample and a candle for light! I wonder if the testers are now kitted out with the standard tools and a candle, with matches so that even if our electricity supplier has a blackout, testing will happen. Go for it Guys.

Wayne Goldsmith

2008-09-04T05:48:00.000+02:00

Goldie, as he seems to be fondly known by some of his Australian counterparts has been visiting us at the University Of Pretoria and the High Performance Centre.

What an awesome conference we had. It amazes me at his real world sporting knowledge that he has in the field of sport and applied sports science. Over the last few days I have been fortunate enough to interact with him, listen, question, listen, observe and listen how he advises the various coaches and administrators with real world experience. It has been really inspirational for me!

The main thing that stands out for me is that it all starts with me and try, try and keep trying by keeping the basics in place.

So thanks to TuksSport & HPC for bringing him over.

Steven

Phelps & Olympic glory

2008-08-16T23:11:00.000+02:00

So what makes olympic glory? What makes one athlete stand out from the rest of the crowd? With a few hours to go till Michael Phelps stands on the blocks for the final time at the Beijing Olympics and attempts to become the fisrt person in Olympic history to win 8 gold medals at a single games, the question should be asked - Why Phelps?

Earlier this week he becames the greatest Olympian ever winning a total of 11 gold medals. This is greater than the great athletes of yester year such as Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz, to name a few. This medal tally has already increase to 13 and if all goes according to plan, at around 11 o'clock Beijing time he will stand on the winners podium, once again, and sing the National anthem of the USA.

Over the next few days i will investigate various aspects that could contribute to his success and hopefully be refeing to the only man ever to have won 8 gold medals at one games. So enjoy enjoy watching his final attempt to achieve what he set out to do and keep on asking, what makes him special!

29th Olympiad - the number 8

2008-08-08T08:51:00.001+02:00

Many moons ago the first modern games commenced under the leadership and guidance of Baron Pierre De Coubertin. The revival of the Olympics brought about men competing against one another, fighting for the glory and pride and olive wreath. Today starts the 29^th Modern Olympiad in a place far, far away from Olympia, Beijing China. The opening ceremony commences at 08:08 (PM) in China on the 8^th day of the 8^th month 2008.

The Olympic games is the ultimate multisport event in the world. Where the best of the best compete. Where athletes have the ability to show off their talents, hard work and perseverance that they have had over the last number of years. Many of these athletes have taken between 10 and 16 years to get to this point. Many hours of hard work, planning and preparation has culminated in this point.

The number 8 has significance for the Chinese people however for Christians around the world it signifies new beginnings, moving from the old to the new. So at 08:08 (Chinese Time PM) on this day may we as Christians go into prayer. Prayer for the athletes

· that will be competing at these games and becoming leaders within their countries and communities,

· that they will be able to profess their faith and if they are none believers draw closer to God,

· that this will be the start of new beginnings for me

· that as Christians we are able to celebrate the life that God has given us and the talents he has blessed each one of us, especially the athletes competing.

May these games be a blessing to all and may we all enjoy watching the remarkable feats that these athletes will accomplish.

Speedo vs Arena, Diana vs TYR, Nike vs Mizuno

2008-08-08T07:00:00.001+02:00

So with a few hours to go before the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics the heat is on! Swimmers around the world have been running around to ensure they have the best suite for them to swim in at these games. This has been flared by the fact that the new Speedo LZR suite launched this year has been attributed with 50 world records swum in this suite within this year alone. Other manufacturers have been frantically moving to try and ensure their sponsored swimmers and sponsored countries have the best non-Speedo suite available to them. Other manufacturers have taken a more noble approach and allowed their personally sponsored athletes the opportunity to race in the Speedo suite if they so wish, no strings attached. These include Nike allowing its American guys to race at the US trials in Speedo suites if they felt it would give them an advantage. It also included Mizuno saying to their long time sponsored Japanese swimmer, breaststroke Olympic and World Champion king Kitojima, that he could race in the Speedo suite, which subsequently led to a world record.

Much deliberation and controversy has been sparked regarding the better suite. This has led to disagreements and negotiations between swimmers privately sponsored by Speedo and swimming for a national team sponsored by an opposing company such as Arena. Last week in the Newspaper it even led Roland Schoeman, South Africa’s most successful Olympian saying that if it meant winning the medal at the Olympics, and his sponsor was not able to provide the suite they have been working on (and that it provides the edge of course), he would consider forgoing his private sponsorship with them and use the Speedo LZR. However he did go on to state that he has full faith in his sponsor delivering on time.

It seems that we have now moved into the next era within swimming (and sport) and the technologies surrounding it. Is it the suite or is it the man that wins??? Will we ever know? Is this the changing of the guard? With athletes using prosthetic legs and swimmers using specialised core improved, streamline enhanced swim suites, the modern era grows. I wonder what Baron Pierre de Coubertain would be saying. All he knew was men competing, naked of course, to win the laurel wreath! I wonder if his heart that is buried at Olympia has gone into Artial Fibrillation.

So with a short time to go before the Opening and only one day to go before the start of the swimming events, I look forward to watching closely, as the drama of the swim suite unfolds at the 2008 Olympics. You know what, maybe we should just go back to the suite of late, the woollen woven one – sure none of them will be fighting over that one! So in a world of democracy and freedom of choice may the athlete with the best technology, sorry most money, sorry best training and technique be the victor!

FW: The challenges of a coach

2008-07-28T18:30:00.002+02:00

Saturday saw the last of my swimmers leaving for their home countries for the final camps before they compete at the Beijing Olympics. This brings together the total of 8 swimmers from different African countries and 3 swimmers I worked closely with (them and their coach) that will be representing South Africa. This leaves me with mixed emotions. Different feelings are running through my head and heart. These are most often positive and negative ones. These include:

Having wished them well as I saw them for the last time ever (as some of them from the African countries won’t be returning) and others till after the Olympics
Knowing that everything I could have done was done BUT was it enough?!
Knowing there is nothing else I can do to improve their preparation. As they now enter into the FUNNY phase, we scientists and coaches refer to as The TAPER!!! Now it is just up to their bodies to respond and recover. They need the rest.
Trusting that I have allowed for enough rest for those coming off big volume and those not that the stimulus I am still providing to them with the programs has incorporated enough rest so that they don’t go into the event feeling tired. Rest is such an important aspect of performance and cannot be neglected and is not less important that good volume of training. One soothing thought is that as a top world re-known Australian recovery specialist says – Work hard + rest well = Best performance – and that even God the creator of all worked on this principle. He worked hard at creating the earth (as you know that is no small feat) and then on the Seventh Day he RESTED!!!
Realising that I will not be there for them during the final lead up to probably the most important event of their lives. But having faith that I have prepared them well, imparted knowledge, confidence and the Knowing what to do on them that they will be successful. And letting them have the realisation that even though I am not their with them, that my heart is there with them and every stroke they take.
Hoping / desiring / wishing for contact with them just to hear that all is going well and everything is on track according to plan.
Finally the only thing left to do is commit their lives, the last 15-20 days of preparation (whilst on training camp with the national teams and coaches for their respective countries) and their performances at the games to the Lord, that that if it is his will and he is satisfied with what has been done and what they stand for, their will reach and even surpass the desired and potential achievements there are destined for.

Race well Guys!

God Bless

Fitness Testing

2008-07-25T17:21:00.006+02:00

Fitness Testing - something we do all the time with our athletes. Techniques used and execution of the movements is crucial in the validity of the test results. So keep it accurate.

On the lighter side you always have that one monkey in the group who just knows better. But as the clip shows its a dogs life!!! Enjoy!

Know your equipment!

2008-07-23T06:52:00.004+02:00

One of the most important things for any Strength and Conditioning coach is to knwo the equipment that your are using. This is praticularly important in limiting the risks of injury. It is also thus important that you pass this information onto your clients as well.

This clip shows just one of the instances where the client did not know how the machine operated and the trainer was not assisting properly.

The One Ingredient!

2008-07-16T09:18:00.002+02:00

To be the best athlete we need to ‘Train to Win’. Even more so it is about training smartly that will allow for better performance. To be the best we need to train and prepare like the best. I like to always compare the training and preparation of an athlete to baking a cake. This however does not mean that I am a master chef.

To bake the perfect cake we need to include a whole bunch of ingredients. These ingredients are used in varying amounts and at different times through the baking process. Each and everyone of these ingredients are important to the overall taste and success of the cake. At the end of the day, after all the ingredients have been included and baked in the oven, we place that beautiful red cherry on the top.

Athlete preparation, both elite and developmental athletes, need a variety of components to prepare them for the competition and ultimately the success that we all look to enjoy (Gold Medal, improved performance or Competing internationally can all be seen as that Cherry on the top). This preparation I see the same as baking a cake. We need to include a variety of ingredients such as proper nutrition, psychology, rest, physiotherapy, sports medical services and many others in creating and becoming the best athlete. One very important ingredient is the aspect of Strength and Conditioning.

The athlete is our cake! We use a variety of services or ingredients, putting them in at certain times in the process, leaving the body to react (sitting in the oven) and then optimal performance is the end result. Each and every one of these ingredients are important in the process. Each one of the ingredients (disciplines) has a specific amount that needs to be added during the baking or preparation process. If the ingredients are added in the wrong amounts or at the wrong times the cake can flop!

As a strength and conditioning specialist, we are responsible to the athletes and coaches for developing and monitoring strength programs, instructing proper lifting techniques, cardiovascular, speed and power development and finally evaluating physical performance. These aspects of strength and conditioning are very important in the development of a young athlete, making sure they move through the correct developmental pathways and in so doing optimize there potential performance at an elite level.

Strength and Conditioning specialists have been recognized internationally for many years as professionals able to provide assistance in developing young athletes and optimizing performance of elite level athletes. In South Africa, the awareness of strength and conditioning has grown over the last 5 years with the numbers of individuals obtaining the CSCS (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist) qualification through the National Strength and Conditioning Association in the USA, increasing. This is an exciting trend in the South African sporting performance market and hopefully as the numbers of Coaches, Athletes, Clubs and Sporting Codes realize the value of the CSCS, the performance of South African athletes will increase exponentially.

Strength and conditioning is a very important ingredient in the athlete baking process and neglecting to make use of the CSCS expertise, knowledge and enthusiasm can only lead to a potential flop.

So as part of the sport science, medical and strength and conditioning fraternity we live by what they say on the Tele…

For work we cook and for fun we Bake!

Steven Ball
BA(HMS)(Hons)Biokinetics; CSCS

NSCA Podcasts

2008-07-09T09:19:00.001+02:00

NSCA Podcasts

Why S & C and this blog?

2008-07-04T21:54:00.000+02:00

S&C is a relatively new field of expertise in SA and is developing continuously and gaining recognition continually. So i have decided to launch this blog to provide an insight into this dynamic field of sports performance and development. With this blog I hope to share information, principles and professionals opinions within this profession that forms part of the dynamic world of sport science.

So welcome and enjoy the ride!

Steven