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Additional Roundtable Answers From May/June 2010 Issue
Our strength and conditioning roundtable (May/June 2010) respondents took extra time to address the topics of mobility and motivation. As a refresher, here are our respondents and their credentials:
Ken Mannie — Head strength/conditioning coach, Michigan State University
Mike Nitka — Director of Human Performance, Muskego High School, Wis.
Bryan Miller — Head of the Sports Performance Center staff and strength and conditioning coach, Oregon State University
Brad Arnett — Owner & Director of Performance NX Level Pro Performance Center, Waukesha, Wis.
Alan Stein — Owner of Stronger Team and head strength and conditioning coach for the Nike Elite DeMatha Catholic High School (Md.) boys basketball team
What is the role of “mobility” in today’s athlete in terms of efficiency of movement and efficiency in the weight room?
ARNETT: “Mobility” is the basis of strength. You can only stretch a band with a knot in the middle so far.
Mobility starts with soft tissue quality improvement. This is done by starting every workout and finishing every workout with some time on a foam roller or fit ball doing self-myofascial release. This is a precursor to static mobility. The tissue must become more pliable and softened in order for static stretching to take effect and feel therapeutic and not painful.
Any exercise you can do in the weight room with a full range of motion without restriction is all the mobility you need. If there is breakdown in a static environment of the weight room with mobility issues forcing load parameters to be dispersed to the wrong joint or musculature, this will lead to injury and lack of efficiency in dynamic movement.
The more an athlete fights themselves in the simplest of tasks, it takes twice the effort, thus leading to injury, body comp gain and strength loss. Twice the effort is a huge deterrent in recovery, which leads to fatigue and ultimately injury.
Use the weight room as a tool to integrate movement, otherwise you will be saying the same thing over and over again and your athlete cannot physically do it because of lack of mobility and proper strength development. All the exercises we do in the weight room are without a doubt beneficial, but when not done correctly and load is managed with the wrong musculature, you are missing the boat when is comes to developing an athlete.
MANNIE: We seem to have come full-circle on the “mobility” front, a statement that those who are a bit long in the tooth will affirm. Back in the mid-60s to mid-’70’s, there was a huge push in elementary, middle school and high school physical education programs for what was termed “movement education” (ME). ME was a departure from the team and individual sports skills emphasis, in that it was geared more to the constituents of kinesthetic awareness, balance, flexibility, and rhythm (dance) types activities.
A good number of these concepts have been resurrected — with good intent, purpose, and resulting productivity — and given new life under the moniker “functional training.” Many of the initial ME concepts have morphed into more intricate and sophisticated maneuvers, replete with an ever-evolving cadre of associated equipment. While there are differing opinions on some of these offerings, I believe that many of them are useful and enable coaches to incorporate the key component of variety.
MILLER: Mobility, from top to bottom, is one of the most critical “missing links” in training. Correcting mobility and improving mobility dramatically improves an athlete’s efficiency and effectiveness of their movement pattern, their ability to decelerate and accelerate and consequently their overall skill set. Not only is a proper and comprehensive mobility program going to improve their movement but it also will reduce the risk of injury while training and during competition.
NITKA: Athletes today must learn how to start and stop, jump and land in preparation for the next movement series.
STEIN: Proper functional mobility (and stability) plays a huge role in efficiency of all movement…on the court and in the weight room.
What motivational strategies and techniques do you use for developing a strong individual work ethic, team building and for leadership? Are these motivational strategies different for males and females?
STEIN: My No. 1 motivational strategy is to try to get to know each player I work with and find out what makes them tick. I try to build trust with them immediately so they will buy into what I am doing. Once you have a solid foundation, a collective trust, and a sense of what drives them…then you can motivate them accordingly.
I try to encourage (and then praise) players to show leadership and a great work ethic. Lastly, I try to develop drills and exercises that require communication, competitiveness, and toughness. This way I am reinforcing great work habits every day!
MANNIE: We stress a “Team First” approach and attitude with all of our athletes in everything that we do. This mentality is expressed in our adopted theme of “Iron Sharpens Iron,” which, in essence, embodies our commitment to each other.
Our athletes are expected to bring energy, toughness and enthusiasm to all sessions. Workout groups are extremely organized and structured, with a premium placed on the athletes assisting, coaching and motivating each other.
On occasion, we insert a Spartan Challenge, which pits small groups of players against one another in a multitude of strength and conditioning activities, to encourage competition and team unity. Upon the completion of every workout, someone offers the “winning thought” — which can be any positive message that person wishes to deliver. It’s all about hard work and the sign above our weight room door says it all: “Only those with a championship work ethic need enter.”
MILLER: We only have one quote posted in the Sports Performance Center: “You must win today to win on Saturday”.
This means each and every workout is a “game” or a “competition” within itself and each workout is an opportunity to either get on the field or court. We educate our athletes on the importance of attacking each workout like they would their competition, because a big component of training is competition with yourself and your teammates.
These motivational strategies are the same for males and females. The athlete as an individual has to make the choice for themselves to “win” each workout to give themselves and their team the opportunity to “win” on Saturday.
NITKA: I monitor each lifting session by being in constant motion on the floor once a class or team arrives. If I notice a lack of effort I do not hesitate to bring it to their attention. I also test the athlete on a regular basis. This keeps them accountable for their individual improvement and helps them stay motivated. After testing I set realistic performance goals with them, their inclusion in the goal setting process seems to work.
ARNETT: When it comes to programming or motivational strategies there is no difference between genders. Females are athletes and need to be trained as one.
Screaming and yelling does not motivate athletes, all is does it force them to tune you out and eventually lose them. We motivate athletes by consistent expectation. All athletes will do it right every time, or not, and move on. They soon realize that if they do not want to hear the same thing 50 times in a row, focus and get the job done.
Now, that statement is a catch 22. Put your athletes in positions you know they can handle from a progression standpoint. Don’t put a freshman under 400 pounds in the squat rack and scream at them to get it up or scream at them when they fail.
Create an intense environment that cultivates work ethic and attitude but also allows them to relax and learn how to self monitor. Consistency becomes habit when your athletes start seeing success because at this point, they don’t mind the discipline anymore.
