The Arch of Optimal Athletic Performance: Part 1

Jason Price, MS, CSCS, ATC, LAT, CPT, USAW Club Coach

       As a coach in the strength and conditioning profession it is important that you adopt a philosophy of training which will become the basis of your program design. There is lots of evidence from research that explains the benefits associated with participating in a year round strength and conditioning program. There are also many different ways to effectively train athletes to achieve their specific goals. On top of the different styles of training each athlete is going to have different needs as well as the needs of the sport they participate in. When addressing the needs of athletes and their sport of choice there are numerous variables to take into consideration. This is why one’s philosophy of training needs to be one that is adaptable to all of the different variables and any new information that may be produced from the ongoing research in the area of strength and conditioning. I have constructed my philosophy of training around an idea which I believe will be highly adaptive to all of the needs of the many different styles of training, athlete needs and needs of the sport. The center of my philosophy is helping the athlete to attain optimal athletic performance. This optimal athletic performance is attained by following an idea that I call The Arch of Optimal Athletic Performance. The reason I have chosen this idea is because the arch is a symbol of balance and strength. Throughout my readings and studies I have concluded that without balance an athlete will never achieve their fullest potential. The keystone of the Arch is our goal of Optimal Athletic Performance and what will hold this keystone up are all the aspects of training on one side and on the other all of the aspects that support training. Without balancing these two sides of the arch, the keystone will fall too far to one side and then the Arch will not be balanced. 

       The concept of the Arch of Optimal Athletic Performance is something I came up with when thinking of all of the different aspects that go into constructing an athlete. The Strength and Conditioning professional sometimes will be starting from scratch and introducing the athlete to strength and conditioning for the first time or it will be dealing with an athlete that has a lengthy training history. Either case this concept can be applied. What I believe in is that by utilizing all the aspects that support the keystone of Optimal Athletic Performance you will be able to construct a year round training plan that will be highly individualized for both the athlete and the sport. By having the keystone supported by two separate aspects you are able to achieve balance when implementing a training program for an athlete. If focus is too much on the training aspects and not enough on the support aspects then the arch will not be balanced and optimal athletic performance may not be achieved. When the arch is out of balanced the athlete will be susceptible to over-training or under-training.

Starting on the training aspects side of the keystone of optimal athletic performance, the different parts of the effective training program are stacked up in order of their importance to the training of the athlete. The strong base of training is Periodization followed by proper program design, evaluation and testing flexibility training, and injury prevention exercises to build a solid training program to achieve optimal athletic performance.  We will go into further detail on each part of the arch in the later in Part II to this article.  However for the sake of introduction and to explain why we ordered the arch the way we did we will discuss the training aspects in brief. 

Without Periodization all training programs are flawed.  Periodization is the framework for success of achieving optimal performance.  We need to know when the competitive season or peak season for the athlete is and then when training volume needs to be increased and decreased for example.  Without following a periodized plan then overtraining or undertraining most likely will be the end result not optimal performance.

Next up on the training aspects side is proper program design.  After figuring out the flow and framework of the individuals training plan by periodizing it we need to figure out what our exercise selection is going to be, the intensity, the volume and rest intervals of the training program.  Exercises selection is vitally important, if the wrong exercises are chosen then the individual could be a beast in the weight room but not see any improvement in performance in their sport.  If the volume, intensity and rest intervals are off then overtraining or under training are possible.  For programs to be optimal they must be individualized.  This is very easy in a one on one training setting but for a team it can be more difficult.  But, some individualization must happen to achieve optimal performance.

Testing and evaluation is a key component to the program design because of several reasons.  We need to know where we are beginning, if the program is working and if there are any imbalances that need to be corrected.  Without testing and evaluation the individual before the start of a training program, during the program and after then how will you know if it is working?

Flexibility training is next up.  In my time working with athletes I have found very few athletes that do not have at least one issue with flexibility and mobility within their body.  Athletics breeds inflexibility and tightness so a huge part of any training program should be to maintain flexibility and mobility or try to improve it where needed.  This will not just reduce the risk of injury but improvements in flexibility and mobility alone can be enough to improve strength and performance.

Lastly on the training aspects side is Injury Prevention Exercises.  I have chosen this because of my experience with injuries as a Certified Athletic Trainer.  Most injuries are in some way preventable.  Perhaps it is an injury that your sport is prone to, an injury that your body type or biomechanical mold is prone too, or injury due to weakness, tightness, or immobility.  Early intervention on these issues will significantly reduce the risk of injury.  If 5 minutes of preventative exercises could save days and weeks of injury rehab, wouldn’t you do them?

On the other side of the keystone of optimal performance are the support aspects of training. Here the strong base is Athlete education followed by Goal setting, proper nutrition, adequate recovery, and stress management. We will go into further detail on each part of the support aspects side of the arch in part III.  But, for a brief introduction we will go through them now.

Athlete Education is the strong base of our training aspect side of the arch.  A smarter athlete is a better athlete.  A common sang you here lots of strength coaches, personal trainers and performance enhancement specialists use is “train smarter not harder”.  Well, I believe that if an athlete understands how their body works, how injuries can occur, why things are done in the program, fully understanding each exercise and more can make any athlete and training program much more effective.

Having a goal setting session is important on several levels.  First, without individual goals how can you make a program individualized?  In the team setting it can be difficult but if the athlete has personal goals than you as a coach can better help them attain them.  Also, sometimes the individual will have a goal that won’t help them achieve optimal performance.  A quick example is my 11 year old baseball player I was training a few years back that his main training goal was to have a six pack.  If I never found that out I could never know that was his goal of training.  Now having a six pack won’t help his baseball performance and that is what he was training for.  So, We were able to discuss it and he came up with a new training goal.  Goal setting can be a way to learn more about your athletes so that during training you can provide feedback to them that is more personal.  Needless to say goal setting is a way to help the athlete bridge the gap between training and sports performance.  If their goal is to make All-State in their sport then they will know that it will take more than just working hard in practice for that sport.  They must make life changes to achieve some goals. 

Proper Nutrition is what is going to fuel the athletic machine.  Training performance and athlete performance is directly related to nutrition.  Athletes typically will have no clue how to fuel their body and their needs will be much different from what is on the government’s food pyramid.

With training the need for adequate recovery increases, by recovery we don’t mean between sets, we mean between training sessions.  If an athlete does not know how much sleep they should get, when  should the eat following training, and what activities will help them recover from the stress of training then overtraining will be the possible end result.  Adequate recovery encompasses all of the things an athlete can do to improve performance both in their sport and in training by ensuring that their body is properly adapting to the training stress.

This leads us into the final part of the support aspects of the arch which is Stress Management.  Stress is part of training and sports.  Without stress the body won’t adapt and get bigger, faster, and stronger.  Stress is both physical and psychological.  Handling the stress of training and life is a tight rope that every athlete must learn how to balance so that the negative aspects of stress don’t move to the fore front.  Many athletes who don’t learn this balancing act will suffer from overtraining, fatigue, depression and other illnesses.  Learning how to handle the stress of training and life should be a huge component of achieving optimal athletic performance.

In part II and III we will go more in depth into each part of the arch of optimal athletic performance and how you can start implanting this philosophy into your training or your athletes training.