The Way of the Physical Preparation Coach

The following is an abridged version of The Way of the Physical Preparation Coach.

Introduction

The content is written for those who seek a higher level of mastery of my approach to physical preparation. Several concepts deserve discussion at this point.

I seek not to teach you what to think, but how to think. Therefore, I choose not to use the word ‘system’ in describing my approach. Instead, I chose the word ‘philosophy’, and believe this is more accurate.

I have divided this book in to five sections. Each section is devoted to key philosophies as they relate to the ‘being’ or ‘thinking’ of a physical preparation coach, although I stress these divisions are arbitrary.

This book is about philosophies that I have arrived at. I trust they serve you as well as they have served me.

Part One – Professional Philosophies for the Physical Preparation Coach

Only results matter.

It doesn’t matter what you, another person, textbook or research article thinks/claims should happen as far as the training outcome – all  that matters is what is happening, what was the outcome. Value this above all else and respond accordingly, with no attachment to your prior perceptions where the message is to the contrary.

Do no harm.

The aim of physical preparation training is to improve the body in whatever specific way the athlete/client seeks. It is your responsibility to understand the impact of the training you provide, and ensure it does no harm. If in doubt, seek guidance or assistance. This may involve referrals to other health care providers.

Do the least amount of training needed to get the result you want.

Seek to identify how little you need to do to achieve your training and competitive results. This approach is less draining on the athlete’s recovery ability and reduces the wear and tear on the body.

The goal of a training session should be to do the amount that will result in the best improvement into the next workout of the same kind, not to do as much as one can.

The underlying deciding factor in how much to do in each workout should be found in the answer to the question ‘What amount done today will give me the best improvement into the next session?’

I don’t know.

I don’t know how to design a program for anyone – until I receive more information from/about that person. I combine my knowledge, experience and intuition with their knowledge, experience, and intuition – then we have information to create a program.

Transfer is far more important than specificity.

Whilst the principle of specificity is important, it is not as important as the principle of transfer. This principle reinforces training that, irrespective of its apparent specificity, transfers more effectively to the specific event.

Flexibility can be trained and expressed statically or dynamically, or a combination of both.

As with any physical performance, there is debate and misinterpretation of how to train for what is seen to be the way it is expressed.  Those who have been misled down the road of over-exaggeration of the role of specificity may see flexibility being expressed dynamically and conclude that this is the only way to train it for that event. This is not so. Remember, transfer of training effect is more important than apparent specificity.

There is very limited correlation between what can be lifted in the gym and the scoreboard.

The only sports where how much weight you can displace in the gym are fully correlated with success are the lifting sports themselves – power lifting and Olympic lifting. From there the correlation slides downhill quickly.  There is no place for justification of the success of the sports strength program based on the amount of weight lifted in the gym when there is no relationship between the two. Rather, the focus should be on the scoreboard.

A model of optimum movement in speed relevant to the athletes’ needs is needed.

The physical preparation coach should have developed a model of movement that is considered in a general sense optimal for each type of speed used by each position of athlete and use this as a guide on which to move the athlete towards.

Fatigue masks fitness.

When people judge performance of an athlete or team in a mixed energy system or endurance-based sport, they are seeing the work capacity. When the work capacity is low, the most common and erroneous knee-jerk reaction is that they are ‘not fit enough’, and the response is to do more endurance-based training.

The training effect is optimized when it is considered as a combination of training and recovery.

The training effect that happens to your body is not simply a product of your training. If combined with recovery, you can achieve a far greater result than the impact of training alone. In fact, the short-term impact of training is to reduce the work capacity of the body. It is the recovery from this that results in potentially rebounding to levels of work capacity in excess of your prior levels.  A new baseline.

Two major focuses of physical preparation coaches are injury prevention and performance or function enhancement. I believe injury prevention to be more important.

When training an individual, first seek to remove or reduce their injury potential, then shift the focus to performance/function enhancement. This does not mean that one needs to be done before the other is worked on. They can be trained concurrently. Simply prioritize injury prevention initially and ensure that any concurrent performance/function enhancement training does not interfere with the injury prevention focus and progress

Part Two – Personal Philosophies for the Physical Preparation Coach

Detach from the outcome.

This final point or mantra reinforces that we should not get attached to the way we do things today. If we find a better way tomorrow, we should feel no attachment to the limitations of our current way and be willing to replace any aspect of our thoughts or actions with more effective thoughts or actions.

When the student is ready the teacher will appear.

This is a fantastic little saying, but it is more than just a sentiment. I have seen the difference between situations where a person is interested, and where a person is truly committed to being a student. If you have a burning desire to learn, you will ultimately find a teacher appearing.  You may be surprised to know how many potential teachers are watching you, waiting to see you show the commitment to learning from them that warrants or motivates them to want to avail themselves as your teacher.

Trust your intuition

I don’t know the answers to how to train – at least I don’t know as much as the individual I train does. Between my abstract ‘scientific’ knowledge, my empirical observations (you know, those secondary to research!), my willingness to form a hypothetical potential cause-effect relationship – only then, when married with the individual’s information, can I even go close to individualizing a training program!  And even then, it is nothing more than an educated guess based on experience and my ability to draw out the information from individuals who in most cases don’t know or understand how they could possibly have the answers!

Part Three – Business Philosophies for the Physical Preparation Coach

Physical preparation coaching is a service-based profession.

Whilst it may seem a simplistic concept, that physical preparation coaching is a service-based profession, I believe the implications of this connection are often overlooked. The upside of being a service-based profession is that if you are suited to be a service provider, you can achieve great self-fulfillment and receive high financial rewards. The downside of being a service-based profession is that if you are not service oriented you may not achieve great self-fulfillment or receive high financial rewards.

The degree of giving you put into every service and product will be evident to the receiver.

It is a very subtle point, but the end results can be massively different – between just doing a job, writing a program – versus taking as much love and care you can in the shaping of a client’s program, in the focus on and achievement of exceeding their expectations.

I see physical preparation being more an art than a science, and in that reality, the provision of our services, the shaping of a program, akin to an artist creating a fantastic result from raw products. Like a fine sculpture from a block of marble. Or a beautiful painting from a collection of different paints and a blank canvass.

The number one marketing method you should use is word of mouth.

One of the reasons I believe you need less marketing in exclusively service situations is based on the proviso that you provide such a truly outstanding benefit to your clients that they become raving fans, telling all they can in totally committed tones about the ‘need’ for others to do as they have done – see you and receive similar benefits.

Yes, you can (and do) sell!

I am amazed at how many physical preparation coaches have the initial mindset ‘I can’t sell’ or ‘I am not very good at selling’ or ‘I am not a salesperson’.  I thought I was the only one who (used) to think that way! Whatever the cause of this belief, the response is the same – you can and actually do sell already anyway!

Competition comes from a lack mentality.

You can choose to operate your business with a mindset of competition, or in a class of your own. When you choose the mindset of competition, you fall into comparing yourself with another business/person, and this is an act of the ego.

Your business/profession does not define you.

Leading a balanced life begins with an understanding that you are not what you do to create income or seek fulfillment. You are you, and at this point in time that is how you are spending a lot of time. But how you currently spend your time does not define you. That is unless you choose it to do so. And I recommend you do not.

Busy is not optimal!

There is a perception in the business world that if you are busy (in business) you must be successful. My philosophy is counter to that. I believe that busy is undesirable. The people in business who I pity the most are those who lead the busiest lives!  Even highly paid busy people are just highly paid rats in the rat race!

Part Four – Financial Philosophies for the Physical Preparation Coach

Your beliefs about money will determine how much you receive and or retain.

No matter how much you strive for or desire a life without financial hardships, if you have limiting beliefs about money, your ability to create/attract income and or your ability to effectively retain that money will be limited by these beliefs.

Ideally, before you go and work in exchange for money or build businesses with the intent to create income and or profit, you should become intimate with your beliefs about money.

True abundant living can and needs to come before money.

The most effective path to creating more money in your life begins with losing the feeling of lack. If you strive for money from a position of ‘I don’t have enough’ or similar lack or scarcity perspectives, you will always feel this way.

This lack mentality can impede the flow of money to you, and may also leave you in a constant search for more. When is more enough?

Physical preparation coaches don’t need to be poor!

I have sensed a belief or perception with physical preparation that being a physical preparation coach means you need to forgo financial success, because we are little more than a community service. Granted the recent history of this industry has been volunteer-based, but those days are gone.

You don’t have to remain poor because you chose to be involved in physical preparation as a coach!

Financial offense is how you play the game to obtain money.

The analogy of money as a game is something we as physical preparation coaches can relate to.  Financial offense is the way we play the game of money and life to obtain money. The way you obtain or attract money is a direct reflection of your values on your worthiness to receive money.

Financial defense is how you play the game to retain money.

The analogy of money as a game was established in the prior chapter.
Financial defense is the way we play the game to retain money. As a custodian of money, you are responsible for the way you manage it. If you give it all away, you didn’t want it. The way you handle money once you have received it is a direct reflection of your values on your worthiness to have money.

Part Five – Spiritual Philosophies for the Physical Preparation Coach

Spiritualism versus religion.

The concept of spiritualism should not be seen to be the same thing as religion.  Religion can be described as adherence to and belief in a collection of beliefs, values and rules.  Spiritualism rises from the concept of the spirit, which Deepak Chopra describes as the source of all creation, and is not limited to the bounds of any one religion, nor does it typically contain as many constraints in perspective.

The concept of universal laws.

Universal laws involve ways of describing and defining outcomes or cause-effect relationships that affect all persons at all times, have always done so and always will. They can be considered ‘generalized principles’. The only variation is how they are labeled, described, or defined, but the concepts are the same. They are considered immutable, and applicable to all, irrespective of whether a person accepts or recognizes them. They relate human’s lives and actions to the universe and provide guidance for all.  The well-known spiritual writer Deepak Chopra (1994) describes these laws as the process by which the un-manifest becomes the manifest.

Spiritualism, universal laws of the universe, and the physical preparation coach.

It has been my experience in coaching physical preparation coaches to greatness that has forced me to confront and better understand the things that stand between each of us and our greatness.  There are many ‘keys to success’, evidenced by the number of texts on this topic. My goal in the following pages is to draw on aspects of spirituality that I believe can assist in addressing some of the common and foundational limiting beliefs and beliefs in habit in physical preparation coaches.

I have seen high achievers in other endeavors use all avenues available to them to fulfill their potential, spiritualism being one of them. I encourage you to investigate and master all of these areas on your path to fulfillment.

Conclusion

This content, as you now know, went far beyond the professional, technical know-how of being a physical preparation coach. It covered areas that truly touch upon every aspect of you, as a person, as well as a coach.

My approach to education is based on this holistic belief that building up only one part of you, such as professional development, is not optimal. Rather, it is far more effective to build balance in your knowledge and abilities, to best fulfill your potential.

I have also learned first-hand many of the factors that hold us back, as physical preparation coaches, from fulfilling our potential.  Between my own personal experiences and the lessons, I have been taught by the coaches in the KSI educational programs over the years, I am all too aware of the human frailties that turn the ease of succeeding into a struggle..

Whilst the mainstream chooses to teach professional smartness, I seek to teach each of the five areas covered in this book – professional, personal, business, finance, and spiritual development.

This holistic focus is just one of the unique features of our program. For everything you were exposed to in this book is integrated in the KSI educational programs at a higher level.

I trust you have benefited in one or more ways from studying this text, and should our paths cross, I look forward to learning of your movement towards fulfilling your potential in physical preparation.

What others have said about The Way of the Physical Preparation Coach

I read the The Way of the Physical Preparation Coach – what a book!!! I think this is my favorite title of yours and I’m now going back through it taking some notes as there is so much wisdom in there.

In particular, I really valued the philosophical nature of the book. I liked that you included the core values of a Physical Preparation coach from your perspective.

I also really valued the holistic nature of the book and the time spent on the spiritual side of the philosophy.  I have been very curious about other perspectives and practices and had previously read the Tao Te Ching (which was very interesting to read, but my understanding was very limited!). Since reading The Way, I’ve just finished listening to the Tao of Abundance audiobook (which had been frequently referenced in The Way), which I must say is life-changing for me. It was fantastic. It has resonated and impacted me so much, that I’m starting to incorporate some daily meditation and also practicing reframing how I view the world (Eg. Life is a gift and acceptance of what is experience).

So in essence, I just wanted to thank you for producing such a great piece of work. It’ll be a resource to base my career around and a reference that I’ll continue to come back to. Cheers!
— Mathew I., AUS

This book takes you ‘behind the scenes’. An amazing insight into the thought processes and philosophies Ian has learned and created in over two decades of physical preparation. The philosophies and methods contained in these chapters have changed the way many people train and perceive training around the world. The wisdom is timeless, powerful and provides life changing opportunity to the reader! –Mike Pimentel, USA

I was able to spend 13 hours of travel from Australia to Los Angeles last week reading Ian’s latest book, time really did fly! I received so much value and insight from reading and will receive more value each addition read. The first page of the first chapter (the training process) is incredibly profound, spoken from so much experience. The words on that page alone are worth the book’s investment! This book takes you behind the scenes of Ian’s thinking – it’s an amazing insight into the thought processes and philosophies Ian has learned and created in over two decades of physical preparation! –Mitchell Kochonda, AUS

Hi Ian, I read “The Way of…” and enjoyed it immensely. Mitch said you don’t sell many of these and now I know why; very few people are ready for such a holistic philosophy on life. Covering the 5 areas you do, allows readers to access to your philosophies on all aspects of a person not just one or two. I would say that your book is a practical guide to philosophy for people with physical pursuits. I found the book of great value and I’m also glad you inserted the references to other books you found valuable, as I can now chase these to read also. A great book; congratulations!!—George V., AUS

I was so touched by the concept you share in ‘The Way’ book. You did a fantastic job compiling all of that great stuff. Everyone should operate in that way! –Sandy Riedinger, Beverly International

The Way of the King Coach is a distillation of Ian King’s philosophies applied to achieving success as a Coach in Physical Preparation, while simultaneously achieving balance in life.

This is a fantastic works ó more of a treatise that will enlighten you to new ways of thinking, new ways of doing and new ways of learning. If you have been seeking answers outside of the traditional sets and reps approach, you will be pleased with the wisdom of the Master. These are powerful words and thoughts from the voice of over 20 years of on the field experience, that has resulting in Ian achieving the highest level of personal and business success.

Ian suggests you choose your mentors with care you will learn the truth from those who have accomplished what they teach, and Ian is the Master in the field of physical preparation and teaching abundance in building your business and achieving balance in life. If you have wondered how you can become successful in physical preparation, how you can earn more money, how you can attract clients that you can’t wait to train – then you need to read this book!

Trends, theories, and science have their place and use. Most coaches are blinded by theories or depend on trends to prove their own credibility or reason for program design and or methods of training they employ. Ian shows you why using your intuition, humility and having a long-term focus on the clients needs (ahead of your own) will ultimately provide the greatest impact on the success, injury-prevention and improved health of the athlete or client you work with. This approach will translate into your own personal and business success, with your clients referring you more business than you can handle!

If you are open to being inspired, to learning why great achievements take time and how personal development can create more income in your business, then the The Way of the King Coach will offer many avenues to pursue, and new ways of thinking that will set you apart from the rest of the pack!—David, USA

I was elated to read in Way of the Physical Prep Coach that you intuitively banned music from your training sessions with athletes. I felt the same way but you’re the first to discuss this that I’ve read. On the rare occasion that my local gym had sound system issues and cut it off, I’ve had my best workouts ever. Smoother technique, better energy replenishment between sets, better focus….I’m not sure my clients appreciated it when I told them there’d be no music in my facility though!! –Scott, UK

This is an excellent work! A master works in fact. As I read this book, I gain a greater understanding of the breadth of Ian’s mastery in that he can reduce complex topics and ideas to simple, short sentences. Ian, I congratulate you! There is nothing like this in the market in relation to Physical Preparation! –Darren, CAN

Ian does it again – another must have book for all physical prep coaches, trainers and those who want to get into the industry! It’s an excellent read and consistent with all his material. Read this book and understand why Ian’s approach to physical preparation leads the way!–Miguel., USA

Rugby’s Holy Grail – Beating the All Blacks

New Zealand is the most successful national team in the international history of rugby.[1]  Every national team seeks to test themselves against the Gold Standard of world rugby, the New Zealand national rugby union team known as the All Blacks.

And Australia is no different. In fact, as they are such close neighbors, the rivalry may be at its peak between these two countries.

The Bledisloe Cup is a rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia and New Zealand that has been competed for since the 1930s. The frequency at which the competition has been held and the number of matches played has varied, but as of 2016, it consists of an annual three-match series, with two of the matches also counting towards The Rugby Championship. New Zealand have had the most success, winning the trophy for the 46th time in 2017, while Australia have won 12 times.[2]

For more than 80 years Australian rugby has pitted itself our nearest neighbor and the most successful team in world rugby history – the New Zealand All Blacks.

To date the win loss record between these two teams is very uneven, with over two-thirds of the games being won by the All Blacks.[3]

Playing Venue

Played Won by

Australia

Won by

NZ

Drawn Australia points NZ points

Australia

83 26 51 6 1270

1675

31% 62% 7%
NZ 74 15 58 1 924

1623

20% 79%

1%

Neutral 5 2 3 0 115

92

40% 60%

0%

Overall

162 43 112 7 2286

3413

    27% 69% 4% 40%

60%

In summary, historically speaking, Australia has about a 30% chance of beating the All Blacks when playing at home (Australia), a 20% chance of winning when playing them in New Zealand (away), and a 40% chance of beating them when playing on a neutral venue. I suggest this last statistic is influenced by the fact that the ‘neutral venue’ games are typically ‘dead rubbers’ – in other words, they don’t matter as much to the Kiwis, as they have already won the series.

The 1980s – A decade of adversity for Australia

Despite the advent of the World Rugby Cup in 1987, when Australian’s want a true assessment of where they are at, you can always look to the trans-Tasman series.

It was 1980 and the All Black’s 24th tour of Australia resulted in Australian dominating with wins in two of the three Test matches and retaining the Bledisloe up. [4]

The Australian Wallabies toured New Zealand in 1982, losing two of the three Test matches against the All Blacks, who regained the Bledisloe Cup from Australia. Australia had held the Bledisloe Cup since 1979.[5]

In 1983, in the single Bledisloe Cup game that was played in Sydney, New Zealand prevailed and retained the Cup.[6] In 1984 during the 25th tour of Australia by the All Blacks, the touring team won thirteen of their fourteen games, including two of the three tests against Australia, retaining the Bledisloe Cup.[7]

In 1985, another year where the Cup was contested in only one Test, New Zealand achieved a narrow win on home soil.  In 1986 Australia took back the Bledisloe Cup winning two of the three Test matches on New Zealand soil.[8]  1987 saw a return to a single Test to determine the Cup. New Zealand convincingly beat the Wallabies 30-16 on Australian soil. [9]  The 26th All Black tour of Australia in 1988 resulted in New Zealand retaining the Bledisloe Cup – again. And the score lines were amongst the worse for Australia during that decade. [10]

1988 30 July Concord Oval, Sydney Australia 9–30  New Zealand
16 July Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane 19–19
3 July Concord Oval, Sydney 7–32

The 1990s – A decade of dominance 

It was 1990 and New Zealand rugby was on a roll. During the second half of the 1980s New Zealand rugby were dominant. At provincial level they won the South Pacific Championships every year of its existence.

At the national level, the All Blacks seemed invincible.  They experienced their longest unbeaten streak in Test rugby of 23 Tests from 1987 to 1990, with one game being drawn and the rest victorious. [11]  For four years between 1986 and 1990, Australia was unsuccessful against the All Blacks.[12]

This changed on the 18th of August 1990 at Athletic Park, Wellington.

Date Venue Score Winner Competition
18 August 1990 Athletic Park, Wellington 9 – 21  Australia 1990 Bledisloe Cup
4 August 1990 Eden Park, Auckland 27 – 17  New Zealand
21 July 1990 Lancaster Park, Christchurch 21 – 6  New Zealand
5 August 1989 Eden Park, Auckland 24 – 12  New Zealand 1989 Bledisloe Cup
30 July 1988 Concord Oval, Sydney 9 – 30  New Zealand 1988 Bledisloe Cup
16 July 1988 Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane 19 – 19   draw
3 July 1988 Concord Oval, Sydney 7 – 32  New Zealand
25 July 1987 Concord Oval, Sydney 16 – 30  New Zealand 1987 Bledisloe Cup
6 Sept 1986 Eden Park, Auckland 9 – 22  Australia 1986 Bledisloe Cup

This was a turning point in the belief for Australian rugby. After half a decade of non-dominance, this result signaled a new decade, one in which they would win many times, including two Rugby World Cups.

We had a turning point against New Zealand in 1990 in the last Test of the tour and from that moment the group knew they had an opportunity or at least the goods to match it with New Zealand on any given day and that was what we built on.[13]

One of the ‘memorable moments’ of that game was described as follows:

The third Test is still implanted in Australian minds. There was only one try scored, and that was by Kearns, who surged over the line and stepped into history as he invited Sean Fitzpatrick to ‘two barbecues’ with a typically Churchillean two-fingered gesture. The 21 to 9 victory ended a 50-match and 23-Test unbeaten sequence for the All Blacks. They showed that New Zealand could be beaten by positiveness and determination.[14] [15]

Another media article put it this way:

The third test, however, would be somewhat of a turning point for both teams. Australia won 21-9, thanks to five penalty goals by Lynagh, but also to that memorable try by Kearns and the even more memorable ‘celebration’ afterwards (see clip below).  The win gave a young Wallaby outfit some real belief as they halted the All Blacks’ record run of victories – 50 games and 23 tests.[16]

Another great example of the shift in self-belief by the Wallabies towards the All Blacks was when back rower Sam Scott-Young took up blowing kisses and winking at the All Blacks as they performed the haka.  In 1992 the Wallabies won the series with incidents such as this part of the fabric.

The Wallabies had gone from a team in fear of the All Blacks and expecting to lose, to a team that respected rather than feared them and expected to win.

Post 2000 – The decline and drought

In 2001 Australian won the southern hemisphere Tri-nations. The only times it has won it since have been 2011 and 2015, which were World Cup Years. In World Cup years the competition is shortened so that each nation only plays each other once, not the usual twice.

August 2001 was the last time the Wallabies have won a test match against the All Blacks in New Zealand.  (Australia hasn’t won a Test match at Eden Park, Auckland, since 1986)

2002 was the last time Australian won the Bledisloe Cup. In a best of two Bledisloe series, Australia retained the Cup with a single win of 16-14 win in Sydney.  That was the fifth year in a row holding the Cup, and the last year as the end of 2022. That’s twenty (20) years of failing to secure the Cup.

Looking at the team photo from the 2002 Sydney Bledisloe match, about half the team spent a lot of their career in my care. Many of them retired soon after.

On November 12, 2005, the Australian scrum was so savaged by the English scrum during a Wallaby tour game that the game ended with uncontested scrums. English prop Andrew Sheridan appeared to ‘deadlift’ the Australian scrum off the ground, and they were marched backwards distances rarely seen in Test rugby.

In the lead up to the 2017 Bledisloe Cup series, Australia Wallaby Coach conducted higher volume training months to ‘prepare the team for the games against the All Blacks. 

Cheika suggested the Wallabies’ sub-standard displays against Scotland and Italy was in part due to their higher training workloads in camp.

“If we didn’t do it over these three weeks and start that, it’ll be too late for later on,” he said. “Maybe that’s taken some of the edge off some of our performances because we’ve been going hard at it. [17]

How effective was this?

The first Bledisloe Cup game was played in Sydney, a great advantage for the Wallabies. They could get off to a first up win as you would expect from a home game, and in the best of three series they had two home games (played in Australia).  This is a recipe for a successful series.

In the first Test in Sydney the All Blacks scored 54 points in the first 48 minutes of play…

If Australian rugby fans needed any further reminding of the poor state of the game in this country it was provided by the All Blacks, who destroyed the Wallabies 54-34 in their Bledisloe Cup encounter in Sydney.

The final score line flattered the Wallabies, who were outclassed at the Olympic stadium by the All Blacks, with the World Cup winners taking their foot off the pedal after they led 54-6 early in the second half courtesy of eight tries…[18]

Here are some unenviable records created by the 2017 Bledisloe Cup results:

* It was the most points the All Blacks had ever scored against the Wallabies;

* A crowd of just 54,846 spectators, the lowest ever for a Bledisloe Cup match at the Olympic stadium, were witnessing one of the Wallabies’ worst performances [19]

* The 2017 loss made it 15 years in a row of New Zealand winning the Cup, the longest unbeaten run in the history of the Trans-Tasman competition.

The Wallabies went on to lose the second Bledisloe Cup game in Dunedin the following weekend, although the score was closer at 35-29.

The third game, a dead rubber, was played in Brisbane, with the Wallabies winning the game 23-18. The media and Australian rugby public did their best to see hope in this result.

Twelve months later, how was that fitness focus working? The following is the one of the headlines from the first match, in Sydney on Saturday 18th August 2018.

All Blacks dismantle stunned Wallabies with clinical second-half display[20]

Bledisloe disaster as All Blacks thrash Wallabies 38-13 in Sydney[21]

It was 6-5 to Australia at half-time. The second half score was 7-33 in favor of the All Blacks.  Interesting, especially in relation to the yearlong focus on ‘fitness’.

The second and deciding 2018 Bledisloe Cup game?

Bledisloe Cup: All Blacks thrash Wallabies 40-12 in Auckland[22]

That made it sixteen (16) years since Australia won the Bledisloe Cup.

Keep in mind this was after the June tour series by Ireland in Australia, where the Wallabies lost the series 2-1.

The rhetoric and blame-game hasn’t stopped. Former Wallaby coach Bob Dwyer jumped on the bandwagon in 2018, following yet another year of dismal Bledisloe Cup performances, the fourth year of Cheika being in charge.

‘They’re not fit enough’: Dwyer takes aim at Wallabies players, not Cheika

World Cup-winning Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer has pointed the finger at Australian players and not under-siege coach Michael Cheika, claiming in the wake of another embarrassing defeat to New Zealand that they are not fit enough.

The fallout has continued from Australia’s 40-12 loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park, which completed their 16th consecutive Bledisloe Cup series defeat, and the attention has now been turned onto the players’ condition.

Last year in June, Cheika put his foot down and stated publicly that players’ fitness was not where it needed to be. He put his men through brutal fitness sessions in the lead-up to the Rugby Championship but, like this year, they were unable to knock off the world’s best team.

Even as recently as Sunday, the day after the Wallabies’ sixth loss from seven Tests, Cheika reiterated his view that fitness levels were superior to 2017.

“[Fitness] still can improve but I think it’s better,” he said. “It’s about the key moments and reacting mentally with urgency to shut those situations down.

Dwyer is a former coach of Cheika’s at Randwick and considered a mentor, for him.  Bob knows all about pressure on national coaches. Unlike Bob, Michael doesn’t have the physical preparation program that Bob had between 1988 and end of his (second) tenure as Wallaby head coach.

There is a great saying in the Australian workers vernacular:

A poor tradesman blames his tools.

The solution – transplant New Zealand Coaches in Australian

It would appear from the last two decades the Australian rugby solution for the challenge of beating the All Blacks was to hire New Zealand coaches.

Is this an effective strategy? We don’t have to speculate. We have three former high level New Zealand coaches who have been transplanted into Australia during the last twenty years.

In 2006 Mitchell became the first ever coach to coach an Australian provincial franchise. John Mitchell coached the All Blacks for about two years between 2001 and 2003, with an 82% win loss record. Not bad, but not good enough for the New Zealand expectations, thus his relatively short tenure.

In his five seasons with the Australian provincial team the Western Forces in the southern hemisphere Super Rugby completion his best result was 7th place, and I estimate his win loss ratio at about 20%.

Next came Robbie Deans. Robbie Deans won two Super rugby championships with the Canterbury Crusaders and on that basis became the first non-Australian coach of the Wallabies. In his five or so years as Australia’s national coach, Deans achieved a 59% win-loss ratio.

Next came Dave Rennie. Dave Rennie won two Super rugby championships with the Waikato Chiefs and on that basis became the second non-Australian coach of the Wallabies, only seven years after Deans had departed.  He achieved a 36% win loss record over his three years.

I’d conclude that this solution failed.

Conclusion

Statistically speaking Australian must win a Bledisloe series sooner or later, and every year passing makes this sooner.

Will the so called ‘Golden Era’ of rugby return?

During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s an Australian player pool was developed that produced what became known as the ‘Golden Era’. It was not the first golden era, but it was the last.

So, what happened that left Australian rugby devoid of golden eras?

When success is created, greed arrives.  I witnessed this firsthand during the mid 1990s when Queensland rugby established itself as the best provincial team in the world.

I witnessed this firsthand in the late 1990s when the Australian national rugby team won its second Rugby World Cup.

Individuals were given or sought to take credit:

Coach Rod Macqueen and Captain John Eales lead Australia through a golden age of Australian Rugby. [23]

“From a sport that was really living on the smell of an oily rag, we became profitable, we held every trophy possible,” O’Neill said.  “It was a remarkable five year period – a purple patch, a golden era that hasn’t been repeated – sadly.”

Let’s be clear – the success of the late 1990s and early 2002s was borne out of period and efforts and systems where neither of those individuals could take any credit for.

The following quote is relevant:

Success has many fathers; failure is an orphan.[24]

Individuals and organizations sought to benefit financially from the success.  Put simply, I believe Australian rugby killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

The 1990s was a Golden Era – not just 1999-2001, where the Australian rugby union team full of players developed in a national talent identification program the likes never seen before in world rugby during the prior decade.

Former Australian National Coaching Director Dick  Marks summed this up very accurately:

“But … the greatest inheritance of all … (was) the 1996 squad of Wallabies, the most talented and best-nurtured ever assembled in this country – and all produced under a pre-O’Neill regime… It is not hard to be seen to be doing a good job when you inherit the best team in history.” [25]

Even an article from published out of Japan more accurately described the build-up that resulted in the peak of 2000 (followed by the immediate decline):

… we take a closer look at the two-time World Champions to give our Japanese fans some insight into the history of Australian rugby, its Golden Generations of the 80s, 90s and early-2000s…[26]

Perhaps if Australian rugby had the character of Canterbury Rugby Union (the Crusaders) there would be more hope to have held on to the greatness that was created in Australian provincial (Queensland Reds followed by the ACT Brumbies) and national (Wallabies) rugby during the 1990s.

But it didn’t.

In my opinion the game was so abused in Australia during the late 1990s/early 2000 period by those who sought to turn its beauty into power that the recovery period has been extensive.

When will Australian rugby experience another ‘golden era’?   Time will tell!

—-

This article is formed with extracts from the book ‘You Can’t Do That! Lessons from a lifetime of helping rugby players, teams & coaches’.

 

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_in_New_Zealand#:~:text=New%20Zealand%2C%20commonly%20referred%20to,Ground%20on%2015%20August%201903.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bledisloe_Cup

[3] History of rugby union matches between Australia and New Zealand, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union_matches_between_Australia_and_New_Zealand  (with percentage added)

[4] 1980 New Zealand rugby union tour of Australia and Fiji, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_New_Zealand_rugby_union_tour_of_Australia_and_Fiji

[5] 1982 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Australia_rugby_union_tour_of_New_Zealand

[6] Bledisloe Cup, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bledisloe_Cup

[7] 1984 New Zealand rugby union tour of Australia, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_New_Zealand_rugby_union_tour_of_Australia

[8] 1986 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Australia_rugby_union_tour_of_New_Zealand

[9] Bledisloe Cup, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bledisloe_Cup

[10] 1988 New Zealand rugby union tour of Australia, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_New_Zealand_rugby_union_tour_of_Australia

[11] New Zealand National Rugby Union Team, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_national_rugby_union_team#Overall

[12] History of rugby union matches between Australia and New Zealand, Wikipedia,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union_matches_between_Australia_and_New_Zealand

[13] Rusty, 2015, Win over All Blacks sparked ’91 campaign,  Qld Reds 30 Oct 2015, http://www.redsrugby.com.au/News/NewsArticles/tabid/581/ArticleID/16873/WIN-OVER-ALL-BLACKS-SPARKED-’91-CAMPAIGN.aspx

[14] Phillip Kearns, Hooker, Wallaby #681 http://www.aru.com.au/wallabies/TheTeam/HistoricalWallabiesPlayerProfile.aspx?pid=763

[15] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiIZ_BZNiUA

[16] Roberts, R., 2010, A RWC Retrospective: 19911 vs. 2011, Green and Gold Rugby, 7 July 2010, http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/a-rwc-wallaby-retrospective-comparing-1991-to-2011/

[17] Wallabies not fit enough for Test rugby, Stephen Moore says, ESPN, 24 June 2017, http://www.espn.com.au/rugby/story/_/id/19724368/wallabies-not-fit-enough-test-rugby-stephen-moore-says

[18] Bledisloe Cup: Wallabies thrashed by All Blacks 54-34 in series opener in Sydney, ,ABC News, 19 Aug 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-19/bledisloe-cup-all-backs-thrash-wallabies/8823162

[19] Bledisloe Cup: Wallabies thrashed by All Blacks 54-34 in series opener in Sydney

,ABC News, 19 Aug 2017, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-19/bledisloe-cup-all-backs-thrash-wallabies/8823162

[20] Morgan, C. 2018, All Blacks dismantle stunned Wallabies, Telegraph, 18 Aug 2018, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/2018/08/18/australia-vs-new-zealand-bledisloe-cup-live-score-updates/

[21] Worthington, S., All Blacks thrash Wallabies, Fox Sports, 19 Aug 2018, https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/bledisloe-cup/follow-all-the-action-as-the-wallabies-v-all-blacks-in-bledisloe-i/news-story/2bd3de728bf9d52916f0660813b8f2b6

[22] Worthington, S., Bledisloe Cup: All Blacks thrash Wallabies 40-12 in Auckland, Fox Sports, 19 Aug 2018, https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wallabies/bledisloe-cup-live-coverage-of-all-blacks-v-wallabies-test-in-auckland/news-story/77e62317ed71a3dc0e509e5247324d33

[23] https://www.legendsunderglassframing.com/product-page/the-golden-age-of-australian-rugby-ru35

[24] https://www.quora.com/Who-said-Success-has-many-fathers-but-failure-is-an-orphan

[25] https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/marks-questions-oneills-success/news-story/b61ecd2fea9da4788805ca548a78b5ea

[26] http://en.rugby-japan.jp/2021/10/20/green-and-gold-rugby-a-brief-history-of-the-wallabies/

The western world’s blind spot to global physical preparation publications

From their commencement in 1978 the American National Strength Coaches Association (NSCA, later changed to National Strength & Conditioning Association) produced very helpful and welcome articles on physical training (mainly strength training). However, one thing stood out at least during the period up to 2000 – referencing of non-US writers was sparse to say the least.

I asked around in the US as to why and the best explanation I could get as to why was that they felt that the non-US research could not be ‘verified’.

I don’t believe it was that simple, however that’s a discussion for another day. Let’s just say there were many nations that have been ahead of America during the modern history of our profession in the area of studying and quantifying physical preparation. And when the US stepped up its game the focus was narrow i.e. strength-centric. And I believe this disregard for non-US training publications created  a blind spot for in this profession.

A recent article highlighted this phenomenon.[1] The polite and helpful comments by a reader shed light on this. Full credit to the article author contribution, however it did reflect what I believe is the western world’s professional blind spot. And provides us all with an opportunity to make amends, to dig deeper and appreciate the origin and history of training theory and methodology globally.

I share this enlightening exchange below:

Reader Interactions – Comments

Anders Lindsjö

DECEMBER 14, 2022 AT 12:06 PM

Thanks for a very good article that hopefully will help coaches to use VBT in the future

REPLY

Giorgio

DECEMBER 14, 2022 AT 5:18 PM

Stepping off a low platform and immediately rebounding was in use in Germany and Poland ten years before Verkhoshansky experiments…

REPLY

Kim Goss

DECEMBER 14, 2022 AT 6:35 PM

Thanks for the comment. Can you give me a published, dated reference from researchers in those countries that I can research to compare their work with the classical plyometrics (i.e. shock training) from Yuri Verkhoshansky’s? I’ve never seen anyone challenge Verkhoshansky’s claim that he was the creator of classical plyometrics. Fun Fact: Dr. Siff told me the East Germans had teams of researchers translating the work of Russian sports scientists such as Professor Verkhoshansky.

REPLY

Giorgio

DECEMBER 14, 2022 AT 10:32 PM

It all begins with a statement by Tadeusz Starzynski, Polish jumping coach, in his “Le Triple Saut”, Editions Vigot, 23 rue de l’ Ecole de Medecine – 75006 Paris, 1987. On page 120 of this publication Starzynski states :
“La plyometrie est connue depuis longtemps et pratiquee dans l’ entrainement des triple sauteurs polonais depuis 1952”

REPLY

Giorgio

DECEMBER 14, 2022 AT 10:43 PM

Continuing my research, I found an old German manual, author Toni Nett, dating back to 1952.
The title was “Das Ubungs und Trainingsbuch der Leichtathletik”, Verlag fur Sport und Leibesubungen Harry Bartels, Berlin Charlottenburg 5, Fritschestrasse 27/28. In the section dedicated to the triple jump, the exercises using depth jumps with rebound appear

REPLY

Giorgio

DECEMBER 14, 2022 AT 10:56 PM

Already in 1962 Mr. Tadeusz Starzynski had published a manual on the triple jump, where he presented the methodologies already used for a long time in Poland (including depth jumps with rebound).
The title was Trojskok, Seria popularnych podrecznikow lekkiej atletyki, pod redakcja Jana Mulaka, Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa 1962.
This publication is in my possession and I can send you a copy.

Kim Goss

DECEMBER 15, 2022 AT 8:03 AM

This is why I played it safe and used the title “A Brief History….” “Rather than “The Brief History.” 🙂

The goal of the article was to recognize a few of those Iron Game pioneers who helped with the evolution of athletic training – I’m sure I left many other deserving individuals out.

With what you’re presenting, we could say that Verkhoshansky did extensive research on depth jumps and helped popularize this form of training in sports other than track and field. That said, your references are intriguing.

In “Supertraining,” the athletic fitness textbook Verkhoshanky co-authored with Dr. Siff, there is an extensive reference list. However, even though Verkhoshanky was a jumps coach, there are no references to the publications you listed. How could he have missed this?

This information will come in handy next time I write an article about plyometrics.

Kim

P.S. Thanks for the offer to share a copy. First, I’ll see if I can find those references through my resources first.

REPLY

Giorgio

DECEMBER 15, 2022 AT 10:39 PM

There’s more : Track Technique – The Journal of Technical Track & Field Athletics, Fred Wilt Editor, no 17, September 1964 Heinz Rieger, Training of Triple Jumpers. The article was translated and synthesized by Gerry Weichert from no 8 issue of “Der Leichtathlet” dated June 6 1963. Rieger was coach of the ASK Vorwarts Club in East Berlin ( former DDR).
Several Depth Jumps exercises are presented in this very old article.

Giorgio

DECEMBER 15, 2022 AT 11:19 PM

Track Technique – The Journal of Technical Track & Field Athletics, no. 20, June 1965
Heinz Kleinen, Winter Conditioning and Training for Triple Jumpers
Translated by Jess Jarver from no 4, January 28 1964 issue of Die Lehre der Leichtathletik, published in Berlin, West Germany
Several depth jump drills in this article.

REPLY

Giorgio

DECEMBER 15, 2022 AT 11:27 PM

In short, in Poland, West Germany and East Germany, Depth Jumps with rebound had already been known and practiced for a long time

REPLY

Kim Goss

DECEMBER 16, 2022 AT 2:09 PM

Good stuff! I’ll be sure to refer to this material in future articles I write about plyometrics when appropriate.

It also could be argued that gymnasts practiced depth jumps long before Verkhoshansky published any of his research. Again, the best compromise seems to be that Verkhoshansky popularized applying many training methods from track and field to other sports. Oh, and that he had a better publicist! 🙂

Thanks again for the references!

REPLY

Giorgio

DECEMBER 17, 2022 AT 3:58 AM

I would like to point out that the Germans, during the execution of the depth jumps, used mats, precisely because of the very strong impact on the ground, very similar if not equal to the “shock” method (and we are in 1950 – 1951).

 

References

[1] Goss, K., 2022, A Brief History of VBT: Iron Game Pioneers Who Revolutionized Athletic Training, Simplifaster,  https://simplifaster.com/articles/history-vbt-pioneers-revolutionized-training/

The English rose and a coaching challenge

On the 11th March 2023 in his first year and 4th game as head coach of the English national men’s rugby union team, Stephen Borthwick set a record. But not the kind of record anyone would want or celebrate. At the spiritual home of English rugby, Twickenham, his team was beaten 10 – 53 by France.

·       England 10-53 France: Steve Borthwick’s sorry side concede their most points EVER at Twickenham in Six Nations[1]

·      England suffer historic humiliation after France’s Twickenham tour de force[2]

·      Post-Eddie England humiliated by France in record Six Nations thumping[3]

·      France humiliates England in record 53-10 win in Six Nations[4]

The game result also came with some unenviable records:

  • A record loss for a home game;
  • The third highest loss deficit in English history in any game;[5]
  • The worse deficit for England in Six Nations history.

The 53-10 scoreline in England’s devastating home defeat to France in the Guinness Six Nations has made the record books for all the wrong reasons.[6]

So, Stephen has a challenge.

Let’s go back a bit in time.

In late 2015 the English Rugby Union hired their first foreign coach in Australian Eddie Jones,[7] replacing Stuart Lancaster. Lancaster had achieved a 61% win/loss record in his four-year, one world cup cycle tenure.[8]

Eddie rewarded this decision in 2016 with an unbeaten record and a Six Nations title.  He also became only the second coach to achieve an unbeaten year record. Eddie backed it up with another Six Nations title in 2017. He achieved a third Six Nations title in 2020,[9] and led the team to the finals in the 2019 World Cup where they were defeated by South Africa.

Jones achieved the title of the most successful English coach ever over his seven year stint finishing with a  73%.[10]

So, what’s that got to do with Stephen Borthwick and the latest ‘record’? Everything.

Some infer that the slump is because Eddie has left, such as this heading:

Post-Eddie England humiliated by France in record Six Nations thumping[11]

I suggest there is potentially a different perspective to this story.

At England Eddie Jones joined that small list of ‘first year winners’.  That creates a new challenge. Some say there is only one way to go from there – down. I like to think there are two. Stay winning, or decline.

Eddie took the former path for his second season, and then took the latter path for the following two seasons.  There’s a story behind that (you can read more about that in my upcoming rugby book), but for now I’m going to stay focused on Stephen Borthwick’s predicament.

The following tables depicts England’s annual Six Nation’s results under Eddie Jones.

Table 1 – Eddie Jones’ England’s 7 Year Six Nations Ladder Results

You can see three phases here- the decline from 2016 peak to 2018, and then the recovery from 2019 into a new peak in 2020, followed by a further decline into 2022.

However, the Six Nations tournament is only part of the picture. The annual win-loss results may be more informative.

The following charts shows this pattern.

Figure 1 – Eddie Jones’ 7 Year English RugbyWin-Loss Stats

Stephen has a challenge. He has been left with downward momentum by his former mentor and predecessor. Will he successfully overcome that challenge?

Some doubt it such as this journalist:

Hopeless England suffer their most humiliating day and worse is to come.[12]

What do you think?

~~~~~~~~~

If you’re a rugby fan and interested in my experience with rugby union specifically over the last 40 years, you might be interested in a book I’m currently writing. Send me an email (info@kingsports.net) or post a comment on this blog and I’ll ensure you’re the first to know about the completed book once finished.

 

References

[1] England 10-53 France: Steve Borthwick’s sorry side concede their most points EVER at Twickenham in Six Nations

[2] England suffer historic humiliation after France’s Twickenham tour de force

[3] Post-Eddie England humiliated by France in record Six Nations thumping

[4] https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2023/03/11/france-humiliates-england-in-record-53-10-win-in-six-nations_6018971_9.html

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_England_national_rugby_union_team_records

[6] https://www.rugbypass.com/news/a-list-of-england-rugbys-heaviest-defeats/

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Jones_(rugby_union)#:~:text=Jones%20was%20named%20as%20the,end%20of%202023%20World%20Cup.

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Lancaster_(rugby_union)

[9] https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/history/roll_of_honour/

[10] https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/england-eddie-jones-record-six-nations-b2239811.html

[11] https://www.smh.com.au/sport/post-eddie-england-humiliated-by-france-in-record-six-nations-thumping-20230312-p5crd7.html

[12] https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/england-france-score-result-six-nations-b2298855.html

What’s missing? The repetitive boom and bust cycle of fitness business models

It looks like the Australian originated, global fitness franchise F45 is getting very wobbly at the business end.

Can’t say I’m surprised, but it’s disappointing. Disappointing for those who have chosen to  put their careers, businesses, and money into this path.

Some background to boom and bust.

The fledging fitness industry was very young in Australia when we witnessed the arrival of a new beast – the US modeled fitness center –

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, slick, glitzy fitness centres modelled on US gyms appeared around Australia at a rapid pace…. Membership agreements and contracts were often deliberately vague and many clients paid hundreds of dollars for badly planned and ineffective courses. [1]

My first personal exposure to this boom-and-bust fitness industry was in the early 1980s when my exercise physiology tutor was hired to consult to a new fitness chain named ‘Vigor’, and hired me to help him.  He must have liked what he saw in the fitness chain because he then purchased a franchise. A year or so later, it collapsed.

The wheels started to fall off the fitness boom in 1983-84….The first significant fitness failure was the Vigor group in NSW and Victoria, which collapsed in 1984. Several small, independently run gyms soon followed. In the second half of 1984, the John Valentine chain of seven clubs (six in NSW) crashed, owing creditors and customers $1.6 million [2]

It was incredibly coincidental that I was part of that history, and very helpful because it gave me a perspective that would serve as many flashy and attractive fitness industry business models boomed – and the busted.

The list of fitness industry boom busts business is long.  Some of the bigger more recent cases in the US have been Bally Fitness (filed for bankruptcy in 2007)[3], and 24 Hour Fitness[4] (filed for bankruptcy in 2020).

What’s missing?

Everyone’s going to have their own theories on what is behind this fitness industry business model boom and bust cycle.

Here are some thoughts:

Business model commission structure

Maybe it’s the commission model of the business structure?  In the case of F45, the CEO Adam Gilchrist apparently earned $500m AUD when the company floated on the NYSE.

F45 fitness founder and CEO Adam Gilchrist has just become one of the wealthiest people in Australia after a staggering result from floating his company on the New York Stock Exchange…F45 is valued at $US1.4 billion ($A1.9 billion) after it was put up for $US325 million ($A437 million) in its initial public offering on the New York Stock exchange at Thursday local time. Shares skyrocketed to $US17.75 ($A24 million) from their $US17 open, before closing on Thursday at $US16.2. Considering Mr Gilchrist holds 28.9 million shares in the company, that means he made around $US371 million ($A500 million) in one day.

And the founder, Rob Deutsch apparently pocked $67m AUD when he sold out in 2019.[5]

Sure, the franchisees made profit along the way – at least until they didn’t – however was the business model sustainable? 

Same product, different packaging

Essentially F45 was another group training fitness model.  With unique color in the logo, clean lines in the branding.  So same package, different packaging.

For decades fitness industry business models have competed on price, equipment, space, and appearances.  If that is all they have to differentiate themselves, perhaps this is not enough?

Serving the needs

Some suggest this group fitness model meets the needs of those who need to be ‘motivated’, and who seek social interaction of group fitness. This is a reasonable argument. But at what stage does value adding stop and start.

Let’s imagine you had 100 people with knee pain. There are going to be individual differences in the needs of each of those 100 people. But let’s say the only alternative they have is to go to a group class for rehab. It’s better than nothing, until its not. Until they realize their bodies specific needs are not getting met. Until they realize they are still in pain. Until someone comes up with a better way to serve their needs.

Perhaps one day the industry will choice the needs of the individual over short-term profit for a few?

Interestingly…

Apparently F45 used my 3-digit timing system as an integral part of their training systems.   Imagine if our industry could adopt the musical or similar creative  industries values and procedures where intellectual property and royalties are taken seriously.

Conclusion

F45 are not the first and won’t be the last in the fitness industry business models to boom and bust  Our goal with our KSI Coach Education is to guide our coaches towards sustainable business models.  Whatever F45 and the others have done is not sustainable. Somethings missing.

What do you think is missing?

References

[1] https://www.afr.com/companies/fitness-industry-gets-back-in-shape-19890811-kaiza

[2] https://www.afr.com/companies/fitness-industry-gets-back-in-shape-19890811-kaiza

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_Total_Fitness

[4] https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-06-15/24-hour-fitness-bankruptcy-coronavirus-gyms-closed

[5] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10678759/F45-gym-founder-sells-three-storey-ultimate-bachelor-pad-Sydney-mansion-18m-Rob-Deutsch.html

The origin and intent of Speed of Movement (SOM) and Time Under Tension (TUT)

Introduction

I began my professional journey training athletes in 1980, and in the 1980s was also personally involved in competitive strength sports.  At that time there were a number of burning questions I had about training including questions about optimal speed of movement in strength exercises

I was not satisfied conducting the speed of movement in strength training aimlessly, or worse, in a way simply to allow myself to lift more weight. I witnessed ample examples of both around me every day. I wanted more purpose, a better understanding, a pursuit of excellence to optimize training for myself and those whose training I was responsible for.

I set out on a journey of discovery. Very little information was available. So I formed my own theories and methods, and set about testing them for over a decade before discussing them publicly.

I had no desire or intention to market or expose the concept. I developed it to serve the athletes as best as I could. Nor did I anticipate the extent to which this concept would travel globally, or how its origin and intent would be misinterpreted.

The purpose of this article is to share the journey of the concepts and methods I developed and refined in the area of Speed and Movement (SOM) and Time Under Tension (TUT). In doing so I provide those historical clarity for those who value accuracy of information and history.

 

What is Speed of Movement?

So, what is Speed of Movement in strength training? I have summarized the answer to this question in my 1998 text, How to Write Strength Training Programs:

Speed of movement in strength training refers to the rate at which the external resistance or body is moved.  Another word commonly seen in North American literature is tempo.  I am not sure whether this is a typical North American word or an attempt to mimic European terminology.  Speed of movement can be measured in various ways including

  1. Angular velocity (degrees per second).
  2. Meters per second.
  • Number of seconds per contraction phase.
  1. Angular velocity: Is suited for comparison to measurements made in clinical settings e.g., the Cybex and Kingcom devices have settings that are measured in degrees per second. However I have not found this a practical method in the field.
  1. Meters per second: Is suited for comparison to movement speed e.g. running speed, which is more measurable and has greater application than the measurement unit of angular velocity for the practitioner. However it is still difficult to measure in the gym and convey to the trainee.

iii.  Number of seconds per contraction phase: I believe is the easiest and most applicable to the practical environment of strength training.  During the early 1980’s I noticed Ellington Darden (an American strength expert writing for Nautilus) write about number of seconds the eccentric and concentric contractions should take to complete on the Nautilus machines.  By the mid 1980’s I had developed a system of denoting and communicating speed of movement in strength training that involved a simple numbering system. [1]

 

What were the dominant paradigms about Speed of Movement (SOM) in strength training in the early 1980s?

My search for the answers to my questions about speed of movement led me to the teaching of a few, the only ones I could find in the early 1980s who addressed this topic. I documented these findings in earlier writings:

During the early 1980’s I noticed Ellington Darden (an American strength expert writing for Nautilus) write about number of seconds the eccentric and concentric contractions should take to complete on the Nautilus machines. [2]

I was first influenced by Arthur Jones and Ellington Darden.  They were the first I had seen to attach numbers to training programs.[3]

They advocated for a controlled speed of approximately 3 seconds lowering (eccentric) and 1-2 seconds lift (concentric). The dominant message was that the eccentric phase should take longer than the concentric phase. There was no reference to the variable of the pause, the duration between the two muscle contraction phases.

I acknowledged that Jones and Darden were predominantly coming from a bodybuilding perspective. At the same time, I noted that track and field athletes and coaches at the highest level advocated all strength movements be executed explosively and with no pause. I can remember watching a national representative throwing athlete performing barbell pullovers at the Australian Institute of Sport, very concerned that his shoulder was to about to dislocate.

There was no common ground or agreement – it was either controlled speed movements for bodybuilders or explosive movements for power athletes.

Whilst I appreciated their respective influences, I felt a number of elements missing. This left me asking the following questions:

  1. What if we applied a pause between the contraction phases?
  2. What if we used various speeds for different exercises or different training outcomes? g., could there be a time for a bodybuilder to lift explosively, or a power athlete to lift slowly?
  3. What if we varied the pause duration for different exercises or different training outcomes?

These questions may seem redundant now, however in the early 1980s they were pertinent, because no-one that I had found was addressing these three questions.

So, I created my own theories and methods about Speed of Movement.

 

What difference does the pause between the eccentric and concentric phases make in strength training adaptations?

When I began competing in strength sports the role of the pause became blatantly clear, at least to myself. I was stunned by the implications of the pause on the chest during the bench press. A competitive powerlifter is required to pause the bar on the chest until the referee signals to commence the concentric (lift) phase.  The duration of the pause was subjective. Some held the pause shorter, some longer.  The duration of the pause had significant implications on how much weight you could displace successfully and be given green lights by the judges (a successful attempt).

I had developed an awareness of the pause or isometric contraction between the eccentric and concentric contractions.  This was intuition, a gut feeling… [4]

I was also surprised that no-one in that era was considering the role of the pause in not only load displacement, but on the training effect.

In forming my position in relation to the pause, questions that I had included:

  1. What’s the difference between an exercise that commences with the eccentric contraction and a movement that commences with the concentric contraction?
  2. What is the purpose of the pause?
  3. When should I pause?
  4. How long should I pause for?
  5. What happens if I vary the pause?

1. What’s the difference between an exercise that commences with the eccentric contraction and a movement that commences with the concentric contraction?

I recognized that you could divide lifts into two categories based on the muscle contraction involved first.  For example, when conducting pushing movements such as bench press and shoulder press, one typically commences with the eccentric phase.  When conducting pulling movements such as rows and pull ups, one typically commences with the concentric phase.

2. What is the purpose of the pause?

My reflections and experimentation with the pause led me to three primary benefits of the pause including:

  1. Negating of the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) contribution from the eccentric phase to augment the load potential in the concentric phase and its implication on muscle recruitment. g., the longer I held the pause on the chest in a bench press following the eccentric phase, the less weight I could lift, however there was a potential that the muscle could be working harder. This benefit is most apparent in pushing movements (movements that commence with the eccentric phase).
  2. Developing joint angle specific strength. E.g., the longer I held the pause on the chest in a row following the concentric phase, the less weight I could lift, however there was a potential that the muscle could be working harder at that joint angle, developing a joint-angle specific adaptation. This benefit is most apparent in pulling movements (movements that commence with the concentric phase).
  3. Developing technique, or joint angle specific co-ordination. When learning a new movement that involves technical cues, a slower speed of movement can assist with the learning process.  Using the pause to contribute to slowing the movement down and allowing the athlete time to refocus on the subsequent body position associated with the upcoming contraction phase is valuable for this learning. E.g., at the bottom of a squat, I teach a certain management of the pelvis position, a concept I have published since the late 1990s yet one of the few to be embraced. To optimize the learning of this pelvic control and associated torso and limb relationship management, a pause is critical.

3. When should I pause?

There are two pause opportunities in a repetition:

  1. At the end of the eccentric phase and before the concentric phase.
  2. At the end of the concentric phase and before the eccentric phase.

Pause i. impacts the role of the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) in a way that Pause ii. does not.  Pause ii. has since been promoted for its potential in energy recovery. However, I believe this is a very simplistic approach and fails to consider the cost implication of holding load in a static position, even if a biomechanically conductive position. My approach was to treat the pause equal at both ends.

4.  How long should I pause for?

In relation to the duration of the pause I had simply concluded that the longer you paused, the harder it was to do the lift.  Typically, I would advocate a pause duration between 0 and 4 seconds. I did not seek to quantify the duration of the pause. Now I don’t pretend to be a scientist. I have consistently said let the sports scientists come along in the future and give greater clarity to my theories. Ironically a few years later science did just that in relation to the impact of the pause.[5]

…My intuition has since been supported by science, especially the work of Australian strength researcher Greg Wilson, whose studies included a study that showed that the elastic energy from the eccentric phase continues to contribute to or augment the concentric power up until the length of pause equals or exceeds four (4) seconds (in the bench press at least).[6]

I don’t believe it is coincidence that the researcher who a few years later gave validity to my hypothesis (at least as it relates to bench pressing) was also a competitive powerlifter!

A point I want to clarify here is that Wilson’s research at that time related only to the competitive bench press, not any other lifts. This is another area that I believe has been poorly dealt with in publications since I promoted Wilson’s research – especially with those who use the ‘open book’ method of publishing (open a book and copy some of the contents, then publish the copy as their own).

For example, one publication claimed Wilsons research showed ‘that it took a 4 second pause before we eliminated the stretch-shortening effect.  So, anything less than a four second pause still involves the use of momentum.’

No reference was made about any given exercise. Had this publication been based on original writing’, perhaps the ‘author’ may have read the original research and had a better understanding of what Wilson’s research said.

5. What happens if I vary the pause?

After recognizing and respecting the overlooked critical nature of the pause, the question was what happens when I vary the pause and when does it apply?

A number of training principles guide this decision:

  1. Specificity
  2. Variety
  3. Periodization

i Specificity: My thinking respected the dominant paradigms in the respective and opposing fields -bodybuilding and power sports. From a specificity perspective, I would use longer pausers for hypertrophy and learning, and shorter pauses for maximal load and explosive power.

2, Variety: However, there is a role in the application of the pause for what many would consider non-specific training.  This is no different than any other program design variables – one is not compelled to be ‘specific’ all the time. In fact, additional training benefits come from variety.

The following is an example of this as applied to repetition range variety.

Variation may also give unexpected adaptations from repetitions. A trainee pursuing hypertrophy, after spending considerable time training in classic hypertrophy brackets (e.g., 8-12) may experience further significant hypertrophy when changing to a higher or lower rep bracket. Whilst this appears to contradict the above table, it shows that variety alone can accelerate gains. Note this applies in both strength (neural) and size (metabolic) training. The message is clear – irrespective of the specific goal, training in too narrow a rep bracket may not be as effective as alternating or mixing with different rep brackets. The key is not which reps to use, rather how much time to spend in each different rep bracket.[7]

3. Periodization: The fundamental principles of periodization recognize the value and need for change throughout a training year (horizontal integration) and throughout a career (vertical integration). For example, an athlete may commence their training year in the General Preparatory Phase (GPP) with less specificity in the pause and move towards greater specificity in the pause duration as their Competitive Phase (CP) approaches. Also, as an athlete advances in their level of qualifications over the years, the athlete may spend less time in non-specific pauses and more time in more specific pause duration combinations.

 

What happens when you vary the Speed of Movement (SOM)?

When choosing my early speed of movement combinations, I was relying on experience and intuition.  There were no quantifiably measured training effects from specific speed of movement combinations, which is no surprise because at the time I developed the Speed of Movement concept during the mid 1980s’ there was no reference I could find in literature on this subject.

I typically used longer duration combinations for hypertrophy and learning technique, and shorter duration combinations for developing maximal strength and explosive power.

These generalizations are summarized in the following table:

The speed of movement combinations suited to various strength training methods. [8] 

Eccentric Speed/Time

(seconds)

Pause Speed/Time

(seconds)

Concentric Speed/Time

(seconds)

Training Methods Most Suited to these Speed Combinations Examples of SOM Combinations
very slow and controlled long slow and controlled stability/control & general fitness; metabolic-end hypertrophy;

strength endurance

8:0:4

6:1:3

4:2:1

3:1:3

slow controlled medium fast/attempt to be fast general fitness; metabolic-end hypertrophy;

strength endurance

 

3:2:1

 

medium controlled short fast/attempt to be fast neural-end hypertrophy; metabolic-end max. strength; strength endurance 3:1:1

2:1:1

fast controlled nil fast/attempt to be fast neural-end maximal strength;

explosive power; strength endurance

2:0:1

1:0:1

fast nil fast/attempt to be fast explosive power;

quickness/SSC;

strength endurance

10*

*0*

*

 

How did I choose to communicate Speed of Movement (SOM)?

My primary focus was coming up with a solution to communicate with the athletes I trained exactly what Speed of Movement (SOM) I wanted them to use. I needed a simple yet effective way to achieve this:

To communicate how fast or slow I wanted an athlete to move the load in strength training, I developed a numbering system in the 80’s. [9]

By the mid 1980’s I had developed a system of denoting and communicating speed of movement in strength training that involved a simple numbering system. [10]

I settled on a three-digit method:

There are three numbers e.g., 3:1:1. All the numbers refer to seconds.  The first number relates to the eccentric phase.  The second or middle number to the pause or isometric contraction duration between the eccentric and concentric contraction.  The third number refers to the concentric phase. 

The fact that the first number always refers to the eccentric contraction can cause some confusion in the trainee as a percentage of strength exercises commence with the concentric contraction, especially the pulling movements such as the chin ups.  However, once they become familiar with the system it works excellently.  In brief, most pushing movements commence with the eccentric contraction, and most pulling movements commence with the concentric contraction.[11]

I also responded to the criticisms of my timing system in my 1998 book How to Write Strength Training Programs: [12]

  • The first criticism regarded the confusion allegedly caused because I say the first number refers to the eccentric, even when the movement doesn’t commence with an eccentric contraction.
  • The second criticism I addressed was about how ‘hard’ it is to count reps and monitor speed of movement.

Around 2010, twenty plus years after publishing the three-digit timing system, I read ‘new’ criticism. Ironically, the person leading the criticism below is a person who chose to teach this concept in a variety of publication over an extended period of time, unreferenced of course, except for the first time they published in, in line with what seems to be an industry protocol – reference it once and you have no need to apply referencing again.

I think the use of the three digit formula is partly to blame…[13].…the idea of controlling rep speed is vital.  You have to do some kind of tempo prescription.  I think the idea of using numbers was based on an over-reaction…[14]

Now heading towards forty years since I developed this concept, the criticisms continue.

In the past, we used this numerical system regularly to communicate tempo; however, we no longer use that method because it isn’t an effective way to communicate how the rep should always be performed.[15]

Time Under Tension (TUT) was such a popular idea for a long time. Here’s why it’s actually useless and what you should consider instead…[16]

As to the specifics of how I chose to communicate the three-digit timing system, I wrote this statement in 1987:

If speed indicators are given, the first number refers to the lowering (eccentric phase) speed in seconds, the middle (second) number to the duration of the pause in seconds, and the last number (third) to the duration of the lifting (concentric phase) in seconds.  e.g. 8:0:4 = 8 second lowering time, no pause, and 4 second lifting time. [17]

And repeated it in countless publications since, such as the below example:

There are three numbers e.g. 3:1:1. All the numbers refer to seconds.  The first number relates to the eccentric phase.  The second or middle number to the pause or isometric contraction duration between the eccentric and concentric contraction.  The third number refers to the concentric phase. [18]

I also provided guidelines clarifying expectations when the number ‘1’ appeared last, or when even faster movement was expected in the program design:

Additionally, when the number one does appear as the third number, the power athlete must have it reinforced – this means to try and go fast!  This is rarely done.  And when the asterisk (*) is used – it must look fast![19]

The first time – and last time – I observed this explanation published by other authors applying appropriate credit was by Charles Poliquin in 1997, over a decade after I had developed it:

Tempo, the speed of your lift, is always expressed in three digits, a formula refined by Ian King, Australias leading strength coach. The first digit is the lowering (negative) portion, the middle digit the pause (isometric) phase, the third digit the return (positive) movement. Using the Front Squat example below, 3 refers to the three seconds it should take the lifter to squat down; 2 refers to a two-second pause at the bottom; 1 refers to the one second it should take the lifter to return to the start.  X is used to denote “as fast as possible. [20]

In the 1980s and early 1990s, in both publication and in programs, I would place a colon or hyphen between the numbers. Considering I was handwriting the training programs for each athlete in the 1980s, it was an effort I will not forget! During the 1990s I morphed this into writing three numbers with no punctuation, more due to time efficiency than anything else. The variation used in unreferenced and uncredited publications indicates which decade of my publishing they are copying.

 

How and why was Time Under Tension (TUT) developed?

I coined the term ‘Time Under Tension’ (TUT) also in the 1980s.  It was not needed as a communication for athletes. However, it was relevant to coach education.

TUT is not a synonym for speed of movement. It is a term used to measure the impact of the speed of movement – i.e., how long were the muscles under tension of the load/lift.

The application of my three-digit timing system made it possible to measure the duration of reps and sets to ascertain where they sat in the TUT table. In fact, without this system, this concept – TUT – would not have been very measurable.

The time from the start to the end of a set I called the ‘time under tension’ (TUT).[21]

This term has gone on to become not only popular but an accepted commonly used term in strength training.

Here’s how I describe TUT:

Time under tension (TUT) refers to the time that the muscle is working continuously.  This is usually measured in seconds and refers mainly to the duration of tension within a set, although can be calculated as total time under tension in the workout.  Time under tension is associated with metabolic adaptations from strength training, and is believed to be highly correlated with hypertrophy training.  For example, a higher number of reps as are used in hypertrophy training, have an inherently higher time under tension (all things being equal) than a lower number of reps as typically used in neural strength training. [22]

 The following provides working guidelines for the application of the TUT concept in strength training program design:

The following table shows a guideline for the training methods and benefits associated with varying time under tension.  As is evident there is a degree of overlap between time ranges.[23]

Common interpretation of time under tension (TUT).[24]

 TUT Dominant Training Effect
1-20 seconds Speed strength/maximal strength
20-40 seconds Maximal strength/hypertrophy
40-70 seconds Hypertrophy/muscle endurance

 

Guideline for time under tension and associated training methods and adaptations. [25]

Time under tension for set (seconds) Dominant Training Effect Training Methods and Adaptations
1-20 secs

N

E

U

Quickness / SSC

Explosive power

Neural-end maximal strength (relative strength)

20-40 secs

R

A

L

 

Metabolic-end maximal strength (absolute strength)

Neural-end hypertrophy

40-70

M

E

T

A

General strength/metabolic-end hypertrophy

Stability/control & general fitness

>70

B

O

L

I

C

Stability/control & general fitness

Muscle endurance

 

TUT was never suggested to be a science per se, rather a guideline.  One day the scientists will have their say for those who seek ‘research’ approval.   Nor was TUT developed to be taught to the end user. It was a professional-level concept aimed at providing some degree of quantification and categorization of the impact of combinations of Speed of Movement on training adaptation.

I am intrigued by the embracement of TUT in academic literature. This concept is referred to in so many articles, yet the expectations of appropriate, professional referencing are not met.

 

What was the publishing timeline of SOM and TUT?

I started using my three-digit timing system in program design with athletes in the mid-1980s.  In the initial years I would verbally explain it to them to help them interpret their written programs.  Keeping in mind that the individualized training program I gave to individual between 1980 and 1989 were hand-written, therefore access to printed documents was not as easy as it has been since the advent of the Information Age in 1989.

The next phase of communication with the athlete about SOM and the three-digit timing system was a printed document, kept loose-leaf in their training diaries. This worked reasonably well with the training diaries that I began producing in 1987[26] for athlete.

In about 1988 I began integrating this printed document into their training diaries.

The first commercial artifact I made available to the broader public was the 1989 edition of the training diary, however sales were by word of mouth, not marketed.

I had no desire or intention to market or expose the concept. Unlike the ‘modern-day’ strength coach, my focus was exclusively on giving athletes in my care a performance advantage and sharing proprietary concepts with others was not fitting with that vision.

This presented a challenge when I began to receive requests to publish training programs. I was not accustomed to writing programs with SOM guidance, so I had to choose between providing what I considered a sub-standard training program for publishing by excluding SOM, or including SOM and providing excellence, at risk of exposing the performance advantage.

I chose a compromise – I submitted the programs for publishing with SOM guidelines in them but intentionally avoided any additional attention to this unique and proprietary concept. You can see examples of this, published and presented in Canada[27] [28] and the USA[29] [30] [31] [32] from the early 1990s onwards.

It was not until 1998 [33], over a decade after I began applying the concept, that I published more openly about it.  The reason this occurred included:

  1. I have a multiple decade tradition of choosing not to publish on an innovation prior to a decade of testing and refinement.
  2. I increased my focus on coach education and this coincided with that move.
  3. The concept was being ‘leaked’ by a certain individual.

Let me be very clear – there were several colleagues who were exposed to the three-digit timing system during the second half of the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. However, in that time there was only one whose modus operandi was to identify excellent, but little know training concepts typically found outside of North America and publish them.

The approach typically used was to publish them in the first instance giving recognition to the original source but claiming to have modified, and from then on drop the referencing to the origin.  This strategy was attempted on the three-digit timing system, however perhaps unlike other original thought providers, my response resulted in a backing off from that approach, and they reverted back to more honest recognition of the source.

Tempo refers to the speed of a lift and can be expressed in a three-digit formula developed by Ian King, one of Australia’s most accomplished strength coaches.[34]

The first time I have found a publication by this individual using my three-digit timing system in program design was in 1997, over a decade after I developed the system.[35]

“It’s always expressed in three digits, a formula refined by Ian King, Australia’s leading strength coach…” [36]

Until then, the programs provided by this coach – either in public domain or in service to athletes – did not contain any digit-timing system. In fact, they did not recognize the pause between eccentric and concentric contractions at all.

However, to this coach’s credit, independent from my works as evidenced by their 1988 article, [37] they were aware of the value of varying repetition speed. However, this was in the absence of any awareness of the role of the pause between eccentric and concentric contractions, and in the absence of any digit timing system. Instead, words were used to communicate the indented speed. (See table below from this 1988 article). [38]

Providing further clarification about the intent and use of SOM and TUT

In 1998 I published content including the following with the intent of providing clarity about SOM and TUT. There had been an over-reaction to the concept, and more (slower reps, longer duration TUT) was being popularized as better:

Where I believe most get it wrong is this…the system never came with a user manual.  The number one use of this system I believe is this.  For those concerned about power, rate of force development, I do not recommend using anything less than a fast or attempted to be fast concentric contraction for some 80-90% of total training time. 

A lack of awareness of the ‘need for speed’ (attempted acceleration) in the concentric phase in the power athlete may result in an adaptation to a non-specific rate of force development.  This is the same non-effective and perhaps detrimental training effect that occurred when athletes first started using strength training and used the bodybuilding methods.  A total lack of awareness of the need for a fast/attempted to be fast concentric contraction.  Therefore, the power athlete cannot afford to spend more than 10-20 % (as a generalization) of their total strength training time using number greater than 1 as the third number.  Additionally, when the number one does appear as the third number, the power athlete must have it reinforced – this means to try and go fast!  This is rarely done.  And when the asterisk (*) is used – it must look fast!

Note that …. programs as published in most popular media are for bodybuilders.  Slower concentric times are used – and this is okay for bodybuilders…Great for hypertrophy, but non-specific to rate of force development.  Use sparingly with the power athlete.  Spend most of the time reinforcing ‘speed’!

The second most common error is for the program writer to compile a sequence of numbers which, when combined with the reps written, result in a time under tension that is not specific to their intended training outcome e.g. 421 x 10 reps (=70 sec) for maximal strength.  This is an easy error to make and simply requires first understanding training effects as they are related to total time under tension, and then analyzing the program before it is given out.

The major groups of speed combinations I use are as follows (see Table 53).  You may note that only one out of five (or 20%) of the combinations use a deliberately slow concentric phase.

Table 53 – The major groups of speed of movement combinations in strength training.

Eccentric Speed/Time Pause Speed/Time Concentric Speed/Time
Very slow and controlled Long Slow and controlled
Slow controlled Medium Fast/attempt to be fast
Medium controlled Short Fast/attempt to be fast
Fast controlled Nil Fast/attempt to be fast
Fast Nil Fast/attempt to be fast

 

The advent of the four-digit system

Following my 1998 ‘user-guide’ about the three-digit system, Charles Poliquin began publishing a four-digit system:

“…I now use a four digit system which is a refinement of a three digit system developed by my Australian colleague Ian King….” [39]

In my response to this ‘refinement of my system’ I wrote:

More recently some have added a fourth number to my three number speed description.  This fourth number describes the pause time between the end of the concentric and the start of the eccentric phase.  My initial numbering system inferred this pause to be the same as the pause between the end of the eccentric and the start of the concentric phase.  There is technical merit to the addition of this fourth number, but I am not convinced that the average athlete or even program designer understands the rationale behind differentiating between the two pauses…. [40]

Note that the four-digit approach arrived nearly 15 years after I commenced using the three-digit system.

Perhaps my expectations are too high assuming that such a time gap would have provided more clarity about the subject. Even so-called ‘industry experts’ struggle with accurate interpretation.

Poliquin preferred a three-number system, while King preferred a four-number system…[41]

 

The industry response to SOM and TUT

It is interesting to note that after the publishing of SOM in Australia, Canada and the US between 1986 and 1996, there was limited uptake of the SOM and TUT concept and method.

For example, as an insight into lay media trends of the time, a program published in Men’s Fitness in 1997, there was no reference to SOM. [42]

This is not, in my opinion, an exception, rather than the rule. Take Dietmar Schmidtbleicher’s accumulation and intensification approach to strength periodization. [43] This method was proposed by the West German strength researcher in the at least the early 1980’s and further promoted by Canadian strength coach Poliquin including in his 1988[44] NSCA article.

It was only when this concept was published in populist lay-person publications that even physical preparation coaches began aware of and adopting the concepts.  Again, I refer to the strength training program in the 1997 Issue of Men’s Fitness – not a single reference to this training method.

However, the awareness of these concepts changed after they were shared through lay publications, such the internet bodybuilding magazine t-mag (as they were known then), and books targeting the end-user such as Poliquin’s 1997 book[45]:

T: A lot of people don’t know this, but you pretty much invented tempo prescriptions, right? (Note: In case you don’t know, tempo prescriptions are those numbers like 211 you see beside most of the exercises listed in T-mag training articles.)

Ian: Definitely. That is my baby….

T: How did you come up with this idea? 

Ian: It was just one of those conclusions I’d reached from my involvement in sport. I knew there was a difference between when someone holds the bar on their chest or bounces it off. So, what I did is control the variable in the pause between the eccentric and the concentric. I created a method for communicating what speed I wanted them to use in each part of the lift. It was, of course, in the form of three digits with each digit representing a certain number of seconds.

I do need to give credit to Arthur Jones and Ellington Darden. They were probably the only people making references to the eccentric and concentric speeds. Some say Arthur only wanted to control tempo to protect his equipment, but I don’t know about that. I just put it into a user-friendly, easy to communicate form for the athlete and I respected the pause. Since then, science has validated that pause, but I created the method from intuition before science validated it. This is what I meant by not waiting on the research. [46]

The father of this numbering system, or at least the uncle, is Australian super coach Ian King. I call him the uncle of this practice because Ian doesn’t take full credit for the numbering system. Instead, he lists Arthur Jones and Ellington Darden as the first to attach numbers to training programs. However, Ian was the first to recognize the role of tempo, or speed of movement, in what’s known as the stretch shortening cycle.[47]

You may not know this, but Ian King invented modern tempo prescriptions, you know, those 311 or 302 numbers you see listed after exercises in most strength coaches’ training programs. Good thing too, since manipulating rep speed can lead to different lifting goals (hypertrophy, explosiveness, maximal strength, etc.)[48]

 

Lack of accurate attribution

It would seem perhaps only a minority seek to determine the origin of concepts.  In relation to SOM and TUT, I rarely see the appropriate attribution.   I suggest two possibilities for this – firstly, the post 2000 advent of the 4th digit to SOM. This is despite that author providing appropriate attribution:

“…I now use a four digit system which is a refinement of a three digit system developed by my Australian colleague Ian King….” [49]

Secondly, I suggest that there has been a concerted effort by certain individuals to disguise the origin of much of their published works.

For example, in 2006, an individual who has worked to position himself as an ‘industry leader’, and who has published my speed timing methods frequently in the absence of any credit, gave an account of the history of the concept, concluding with an alleged rumor that ‘some say it [speed timing system] came out of Australia’.  Yet, in the same publication, this author claimed to have ‘read nearly everything there is to read in the field of strength and conditioning’.

This trend of factually incorrect referencing continues:

The late Charles Poliquin was the first to teach us about tempo, suggesting a three-digit formula to help coaches communicate how reps should be performed by their athletes (later refined to a four-digit formula)…[50]

I expect that ethical and well-researched authors and presenters will appropriately reference and credit the origin of SOM and TUT. They were developed to serve the end-user, not to gain approval from or impress colleagues.

 

Conclusion

I set out in the early 1980s to learn what was the best way to train, both for my athlete clients and for myself.  That journey included a focus on the question of what the optimal speed of movement is. The conclusions I reached from the search led to the two concepts.  Firstly, the creation of a Speed of Movement (SOM) concept for the end user, using a three-digit system to communicate that speed.  Secondly, a Time Under Tension (TUT) concept with guidelines relative to desired training outcomes to guide program design for professionals.

At the outset there was no intention to develop a concept and methods to be marketed or used as a tool for self-promotion, as my SOM and TUT concept and methods have been used by some. Rather it was a personal journey to solve an existing challenge, with no intention of releasing in the short-term.

SOM and TUT were never intended to be ‘exact science’. I leave that to my academic colleagues to qualify the concept. There were intended as methods of communication and concepts to provide framework for training program design decisions.

The fact that some find criticism is of little interest or relevance. SOM and TUT are not created to be obligatory-use concepts, and therefore one can chose to use them or not.

If your training results or those of your clients have or are being enhanced by your application of SOM and TUT concepts, they are serving in the manner intended.

——

NB. Want to dive deeper int SOM and TUT? Check the KSI Short Course – Time Under Tension – Exploding the Myths!

 

References 

[1] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, p. 115

[2] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, King Sports International Publishing, p. 123

[3] King, I., 1999, Get Buffed! (Book), King Sports International Publishing, p. 68.

[4] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), p. 123

[5] Wilson, G.J., Elliott, B.C., and Wood, J.A., 1991, The effect on performance of imposing a delay during a stretch-shorten cycle movement, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 23(3):364-70

[6] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), King Sports International Publishing, p. 123

[7] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), King Sports International Publishing, p. 93

[8] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, King Sports International Publishing, p. 126

[9] King, I., 1999, Get Buffed!™, Ch 12 – What speed of movement should I use?, p. 61-67

[10] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, p. 123

[11] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, p. 124

[12] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, p. 124

[13] xxxx, 2005, The Evil Scot: An interview by Chris Shugart, T-mag.com

[14] xxxx, and xxxx, 2009, Program Design Bible

[15] xxxx and xxxx, 2020, Secrets to Successful Program Design, Human Kinetics

[16] https://www.skillbasedfitness.com/its-time-to-forget-about-time-under-tension-tut/

[17] King, I., 1987 (1st Ed; 4th Ed 1990), Training Diary

[18] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, p. 123

[19] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, p. 123

[20] Poliqin, C., 1997,  The Poliquin Principles, Science of Tempo, p. 25

[21] King, I., 1999, Get Buffed!, King Sports Publishing, Brisbane, Australia, p. 61

[22] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs, p. 129-131

[23] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs, p. 129-131

[24] King, I., 1999, Get Buffed!™, p. 61-52

[25] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs, p. 129-131

[26] King, I., 1987, Athlete Training Diary, 1st Edition (subsequent editions in 1988, 1989 and 1990). (Book)

[27] King, I., and Poliquin, C., 1991, Strength training for Alpine Skiing, Level 3 coach education seminar for the Canadian Association of Coaching Whistler Canada.

[28] King, I., 1993, Plyometric Training: In Perspective (Part 3), Science Periodical on Research and Technology in Sport, 14(2), Canada. (Article)

[29] King, I., 1992, Strength training and conditioning for rugby, Presentation at the 1992 NSCA National Convention, 18-20 June 1992, Philadelphia, PA, USA. (Presentation)

[30] King, I., 1996, The 12 Week Beginning Program Combining Strength Training and Jump Training for Long Term Development – Part 1, Performance Conditioning for Volleyball, Vol. (3):4, p. 4-5. (Article)

[31] King, I., 1996, The 12 Week Intermediate Program Combining Strength Training and Jump Training for Long Term Development – Part 2, Performance Conditioning for Volleyball, Vol. (3):5, p. 4-5. (Article)

[32] King, I., 1996, The 12 Week Advanced Program Combining Strength Training and Jump Training for Long Term Development – Part 3, Performance Conditioning for Volleyball, Vol. (3):9, p. 2-3. (Article)

[33] King, I., 1998, How to Write Strength Training Programs: A Practical Guide, King Sports Publishing, Brisbane, Aust. (Book)

[34] Poliquin, C., 2000, Current Trends in Strength Training – A reference manual,  Tempo, p. 41

[35] Poliqin, C., 1997,  The Poliquin Principles, Science of Tempo, p. 25

[36] Poliqin, C., 1997,  The Poliquin Principles, Science of Tempo, p. 25

[37] Poliquin, 1988, Five steps to increasing the effectiveness of your strength program, NSCA, Vol 10(3):34-39.

[38] Poliquin, C., 1988, Five steps to increasing the effectiveness of your strength training program, NSCA J 10(3):34.

[39] Poliquin, C.,1999, Modern Trends in Strength Training, (draft)

[40] King, I., 1998, How to write strength training programs (book), Speed of Movement, p. 124

[41] Robertson, M., 2010, Old school tempo training for more muscle, t-nation.com, 26 April 2010.

[42] xxxx, and xxxx, 1997, Three‐phase Weight Training Program, Men’s Fitness, Dec 1997

[43] Schmidtbleicher, D., Maximalkraft und Bewegungsschnelligkeit, Limpert Verlag, Bad Homgurg, 1980.

[44] Poliquin C. Five steps to increasing the effectiveness of your strength training program. NSCA J. 1988; 10: 34‐39.

[45] Poliqin, C., 1997,  The Poliquin Principles

[46] King, I., 2000, in Shugart, C., Meet The Press – Coach of coaches: An interview with Ian King, 29 Dec 2000, t-mag.com

[47] Louma, TC and King, I., 1999, 4 Seconds to More Productive Workouts, Fri, May 21

[48] Shugart, C., 2001, The Ian King Cheat Sheets, Part 1 – T-mag.com

[49] Poliquin, C.,2000, Modern Trends in Strength Training

[50] xxxx, and xxxx, 2020, Secrets to Successful Program Design, Human Kinetics

 

 

 

 

Still hamstrung, after all these years

The story goes that back in about the 1970s two high level bodybuilders agreed to a sprint race, and during that sprint race they both tore hamstrings.

This story entertained many, however I took a more serious lesson from it.

Combined with my observations of the shift in posture from the 1960s to the 1970s bodybuilder and took into account that the clients I served displaced further and faster that the average bodybuilder, alarm bells were ringing.

The development of the Lines of Movement Concept (especially the hip vs quad dominant component was a direct response to my concerns about injury potential from muscle balance.  As was the introduction and innovation of bodyweight and unilateral exercises into strength training in a way that was considered unconventional at the time (however since 2000 have become the backbone of the so-called ‘functional training’ movement). [1]

Or you can learn about it second hand, however I suggest the power of the message may have been diluted in these versions.

That’s just not my biased opinion – that an observation of the direction of injuries globally.

So in the 1980s I  committed to ensuring the muscle imbalances evident from mainstream strength training trends would not be part of the life of athletes I worked with.

Decades later I look back with confirmation that my Zero Tolerance approach to injuries, especially soft tissue injuries, has been successful.

Successful for athletes that I have worked with during the past four decades. However, the message, even with the concept being republished endlessly by others, has not been successful.

It appears humans are still struggling to prevent simple yet debilitating injuries such as hamstring strains.

These soft tissue injuries are predictable, preventable, unnecessary and non-productive.

Recently at an off-road motorcycling competition I observed a rider enter the pits prematurely and heard him declare he has torn his hamstring.  I was more than intrigued, mixed with the usual compassion for the athlete.  He had torn his hamstring on a motorbike?

As a student of injury prevention, not only did I provide care and guidance over the next hour, I tested my hypothesis as I typically do with a series of questions to the rider.

My conclusion – just another victim of mainstream training paradigms. He was buffed. Anyone male would be proud of the physique he had developed. But stretching? No, not much of that. I checked out his all-important quads and they were rocks. They looked great.   A real Men’s Health model candidate. However, the rest of the body was suffering for the training outcome he had produced – especially the hamstrings.

At first he was keen to tell me had been tight all is his life. That was shut down quickly with his – and to his credit – acknowledgement he had not done much to change this.

Then he went down the path of ‘I am a rower and that is why I am tight’. That was shut down quickly when I raised some of the elite rowers I had worked with, and that I had failed to observe tightness as a common theme in rowers.

Once we got through the excuses and the defense mechanisms and got to hear how he trained – there were no surprise. He had absorbed the current paradigms of training and was just another victim of the times.

There is no shortage of statistics on the extent of hamstring injury; Here are a few collated by Eirale C. and Ekstrand (2019)[2]:

  • Epidemiological studies assessing sports constantly rank hamstring injuries as one of the most prevalent factors resulting in missed playing time by athletes.[3] [4] [5]
  • Hamstring ‘strains’ account for a substantial percentage of acute, sports related musculoskeletal injuries with a prevalence of 6 to 25%, depending on the sport. [6]
  • Hamstring strains are far more common in positions in which sprinting is more often required.[7] [8] [9]
  • A survey of the UEFA Champions League showed that muscle injuries make up more than 30% of all player injuries and cause about 1/4 of total time lost due to injury.[10]
  • Over 90% of muscle injuries seen in this study involved four major muscle groups of the lower extremity: hamstrings, adductors, quadriceps and gastrocnemius. [11]
  • Injury to the hamstring muscle group is reported to be the most common injury subtype representing 12% of all injuries and more than 1/3 of all strains.[12]
  • A professional male soccer team with 25 players may expect about five hamstring injuries each season, equivalent to more than 80 lost football days and 14 missed matches.[13]
  • In soccer injury to the hamstring muscle group is reported to be the most common injury subtype representing 12% of all injuries and more than 1/3 of all strains.[14]
  • In a track and field sprinting study the most frequent diagnosis was hamstring strain.[15] For example, thigh strain was the most common diagnosis (16%) in sports injury surveillance studies at the 2007, 2009 and 2011 IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) World Athletics Championships.[16] [17] [18]
  • In the American football muscle strains account for 46% of practice injuries and 22% of pre-season game injuries, the second most common pre-season injury.[19]
  • More than half (53.1%) of all hamstring injuries in American football occurred in the 7-week pre-season, before the teams had even played their first regular-season game.[20]

And there is also no shortage of claimed causes and preventions. Perhaps the most popular of these is described in the following statement:“The best evidence for injury prevention is available for programmes designed to increase hamstring strength, particularly eccentric hamstrings strength.”[21]

So, what impact have all these theories and research had on hamstring injury incidence?

“Despite a massive amount of recent research and consequent prevention programmes, hamstring injury incidence is not decreasing.” [22]:

I shake my head as to why the sporting world is still plagued by soft tissue injuries. Everyone now wants to be a ‘injury rehab specialist’ – yet no-one wants to be an ‘injury prevention’ advocate.

Perhaps it is understandable, when you search the ‘web you find so many articles, website and experts purporting to have the education to prevent hamstring injuries. I am very uninterested in theories. I want to know of sporting seasons with high volumes of athletes and minimal if any soft tissue injuries. That’s the only evidence that matters.

Soft tissue injuries such as hamstring strains are completely optional and unnecessary. It’s pretty easy to make them extinct or near extinct. Yet they continue.

Two things are apparent to me – the rise in soft tissue injuries, and the concurrent rise in funding and research on how to prevent them has been ineffective.

Yet the ‘search’ continues. The NFL has just allocated $4m USD (yes, 4 million) to:

“…fund a team of medical researchers led by the University of Wisconsin” to “investigate the prevention and treatment of hamstring injuries for elite football players.” [23]

The NFL has had only one century to solve the mystery of hamstrings…[24]

This statement was made in relation to this research:

“The persistent symptoms, slow healing, and a high rate of re-injury make hamstring strains a frustrating and disabling injury for athletes and a challenge for sport medicine clinicians to treat,” said Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit, PT, PhD, FAPTA, Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, University of Wisconsin-Madison.” [25]

I agree it would be frustrating for the athletes – if they were trained in a manner that resulted in hamstring strains. I agree it would be a challenge for sports medicine clinicians to treat – if they didn’t know how to prevent and rehabilitate them on the rare occasions they might occur.

However, I don’t agree with the following suggestion in relation to the recent NFL funding:

“To truly understand and reduce hamstring injury risk requires a study of an unprecedented size and scope.”

And what will it result in? Will it solve the leagues 100 years search for answers to hamstring strains? Let’s review the hamstring strain stats in the NFL in about a decade. That should be enough time.

I have my predictions, and I am sure they differ from those invested in the ‘research’ of hamstring strains. Our profession has been ‘researching’ hamstring strains for decades, and I suggest that it has not resulted in a downturn in hamstring incidence.

But you don’t need my opinion. The statistics tell the story.

It appears the world is still hamstrung, after all these years.

 

References

[1] You can learn more about these concepts in the original writings of How to Write (1998) and How to Teach (2000), the Legacy book (2018) or the KSI Coaching Courses.

[2] Eirale C. and Ekstrand, J.,  2019, Hamstrings are dangerous for sport and sport is dangerous for hamstrings, Aspetar Sports Medicine Journal, Vol. 8, p. 438-444.

[3] Ekstrand J, Healy JC, Walden M, Lee JC, English B, Hagglund M. Hamstring muscle injuries in professional football: the correlation of MRI findings with return to play. Br J Sports Med 2012; 46:112-117.

[4] Orchard JW. Intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for muscle strains in Australian football. Am J Sports Med 2001; 29:300- 303.

[5] Eirale C, Farooq A, Smiley FA, Tol JL, Chalabi H. Epidemiology of football injuries in Asia: a prospective study in Qatar. J Sci Med Sport 2013; 16:113-117.

[6] Heiderscheit BC, Sherry MA, Silder A, Chumanov ES, Thelen DG. Hamstring strain injuries: recommendations for diagnosis, rehabilitation, and injury prevention. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2010; 40:67-81.

[7] Elliott MC, Zarins B, Powell JW, Kenyon CD. Hamstring muscle strains in professional football players: a 10-year review. Am J Sports Med 2011; 39:843-850.

[8] Ekstrand J, Hagglund M, Walden M. Epidemiology of muscle injuries in professional football (soccer). Am J Sports Med 2011; 39:1226-1232

[9] Orchard JW, Seward H, Orchard JJ. Results of 2 decades of injury surveillance and public release of data in the Australian football league. Am J Sports Med 2013; 41:734-741.

[10] Ekstrand J, Hagglund M, Walden M. In jury incidence and injury patterns in professional football: the UEFA injury study. Br J Sports Med 2011; 45:553-558.

[11] Ekstrand J, Hagglund M, Walden M. Epidemiology of muscle injuries in professional football (soccer). Am J Sports Med 2011; 39:1226-1232.

[12] Ekstrand J, Hagglund M, Walden M. Epidemiology of muscle injuries in professional football (soccer). Am J Sports Med 2011; 39:1226-1232.

[13] Ekstrand J, Hagglund M, Walden M. Epidemiology of muscle injuries in professional football (soccer). Am J Sports Med 2011; 39:1226-1232.

[14] Ekstrand J, Hagglund M, Walden M. Epidemiology of muscle injuries in professional football (soccer). Am J Sports Med 2011; 39:1226-1232.

[15] Jacobsson J, Timpka T, Kowalski J, Nilsson S, Ekberg J, Renstrom P. Prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in Swedish elite track and field athletes. Am J Sports Med 2012; 40:163-169.

[16] Alonso JM, Junge A, Renstrom P, Engebretsen L, Mountjoy M, Dvorak J. Sports injuries surveillance during the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships. Clin J Sport Med 2009; 19:26-32.

[17] Alonso JM, Tscholl PM, Engebretsen L, Mountjoy M, Dvorak J, Junge A. Occurrence of injuries and illnesses during the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Championships. Br J Sports Med 2010; 44:1100-1105.

[18] Alonso JM, Edouard P, Fischetto G, Adams B, Depiesse F, Mountjoy M. Determination of future prevention strategies in elite track and field: analysis of Daegu 2011 IAAF Championships injuries and illnesses surveillance. Br J Sports Med 2012; 46:505-514.

[19] Feeley BT, Kennelly S, Barnes RP, Muller MS, Kelly BT, Rodeo SA. Epidemiology of National Football League training camp injuries from 1998 to 2007. Am J Sports Med 2008; 36:1597-1603.

[20] Elliott MC, Zarins B, Powell JW, Kenyon CD. Hamstring muscle strains in professional football players: a 10-year review. Am J Sports Med 2011; 39:843-850.

[21] Bahr, R., 2019, Prevention hamstring strains – a current view of literature, Aspetar Sports Medicine Journal, Vol. 8

[22] Eirale C. and Ekstrand, J.,  2019, Hamstrings are dangerous for sport and sport is dangerous for hamstrings, Aspetar Sports Medicine Journal, Vol. 8, p. 438-444.

[23] https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-scientific-advisory-board-awards-4-million-research-funding-hamstring

[24] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League

[25] https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-scientific-advisory-board-awards-4-million-research-funding-hamstring

Injury reflections for physical preparation coaches

Sometimes our personal experiences really shape our professional direction. The injuries I suffered in the 1980s gave me a massive kick-start towards solving injuries in athletes, not the least rupturing my ACL when tackled by a motor vehicle at about 20 years of age, before even the advent of arthroscopic surgery for knees in my country.

It was my early rehab of athlete with surgery, specifically shoulder and knee, that gave me more reasons to help athlete avoid surgery.

Then working cases such as a skier that was airlifted off the slopes with a 50% chance of living and working with another who nearly lost the ability to walk (and did lose the ability to be a racer), in part because I remained silent, were further motivators for my strong zero injury policy.

My ‘crusade’ began before anyone in our profession was interested in injury prevention, let alone rehab. The concepts and exercises I published on this subject have since become the domain of many in a way that I question whether it has advanced the profession or retarded it. Like the presenter at a recent convention who flew internationally to share an incredible secret to avoiding shoulder pain from benching – the flutter, an exercise I named and released back in the late 1990s.

The explosion of injury prevention and rehab experts has significantly diluted the original teachings, which means much of the meaning has been lost.

The reality is that the world has gone backwards. Injury and surgery rates have become epidemic. The very country I initially released much of my injury prevention and rehab content in has the highest incidence per capita of ACL surgery in the world. Perhaps in part because Australian’s apparently are ‘all equal’ and only the American’s know what they are talking about. So when my concepts, such as my Lines of Movement, are published unreferenced and slightly ‘tweaked’ to appear original works, the power of the message is lost.

Injury rehab has become a much larger component of my work than it was 20 years ago when I began published decades tested strategies I was convinced would reduce injuries in training and competition globally. For example, in the last 7 days alone, I have worked with:

• A knee replacement
• A case of chronic back pain
• The most extreme case of kyphosis I have worked with (I have seen one worse but he quit before we got started)
• A brain haemorrhage that has been a long term impact on nerve supply to the rest of the body’s musculoskeletal system
• A traumatic lower back injury

Lets go past prevention and rehab. After all, if you surveyed the industry, most would rate themselves fairly highly on these skill sets – which is bullshit and the stats reinforce my cynicism.

Let’s take a look at an area of injuries that no one has in the physical preparation industry has popularized yet and made a ‘new trend’ out of it. I am talking about management of acute injury. And I am not even talking about this work in the heat of battle, during a sporting event. I am talking about a far more garden-variety form that every physical coach (or so called ‘strength & conditioning coach) will face often in their career – managing the acute phase of injuries that occur during training and travel.

Let me give a few examples.

I was supervising the strength training of a North American national ski team doing another coaches program. The program was devoid of pre-training stretching (and this was before the commencement of the stretching inquisition) and warm up sets. Straight into heavy sets of front squats, exacerbated by very questionable technique. No surprise, one of the athletes suffered an acute injury during a work set. As they lay writhing on the floor with a specific condition occurring in the vicinity of their thoracic spine, the team management considered transportation to hospital. I took a different approach, and after many hours of work in situ, the athlete skied the next day, something that would not have happened I suggest had the more conventional approach taken place.

In another case I was moving around the cabin our jumbo jet en route from Australia to South Africa to play the then Southern Hemisphere championship rugby game. This was only the second year South Africa had been allowed back into competition following the apartheid ban and the size and strength of their forward pack was legendary. At the team hotel in Singapore I asked where one of our props was. I was told his neck has gone into spasm and he had been placed in bed rest, immobilized with a brace and sedated. I had just been speaking with him on the plane a few hours ago, and I had a different thought as to how to deal with this. Because the team medics had already been involved, I called a meeting with my suggestions put forward. They were shot down, as expected. I consulted the athlete and acted on their approval. In my opinion, the athlete was at risk of suffering spinal damage and even death had they gone from being immobilized for a few days to then face a forward pack famous for their size, strength and scrimmaging prowess. As it turned out they played the whole game, including winning two scrums against the head (feed) on our 5m line.

I could go on. The bottom line is that as physical coaches we are often the first responders and despite the attempts of division of labour (specialization of profession) we may be the athletes best solution, or at least a strong advocate.

I do have a zero tolerance for injury, but injuries still occur on my watch. So they are going to occur on yours. One difference is my injuries are less often, less severe, and fixed faster. But they occur.

So who is teaching you how to deal with the acute injury?

I would prefer to ask who is teaching you how to prevent the injury, but have accepted that you are all apparently pretty competent, despite the stats suggesting otherwise.

Something to think about. Assuming you really care about the athlete, that is.

The best gift a physical preparation coach can give

At a time of year when giving is on the mind, I want to share that in my opinion the best gift a physical preparation coach can give is the gift of quality of life. And whilst the cardio-vascular benefits have decades of support, and the muscle density has now been raised to the same level of value through recognition of muscle mass loss as a correlate with aging and other risk factors, this is still not what I am specifically referring to.

I am referring to the muscles, bones and nerves.

In the early 1980s as I set out on my professional journey I realized the shift in posture from the 1960s and earlier bodybuilder (Reeves, Park etc) to the post 1970s bodybuilder such as Arnold. Their shape changed, and from my perspective for the worse.  I trained athletes, however I respected the power of bodybuilding as a medium and knew that these ‘dis-eases’ would filter into athlete preparation.  It was not happening, at least not on my watch.

This realization along with a desire to categorize strength exercises led me to the years of reflection that resulted in the Lines of Movement concept. Quite simply I wanted to avoid imbalances, and I ultimately shared this concept so the world could do the same.

Now that has not happened. Despite every ‘professional’ being able to recite the major categories in the Lines of Movement (albeit with that little one word twist that is a reflection of in individual’s attempt to be ‘original’), wax lyrical on the need for balance, and show the vernacular of push pull etc. in their training programs, the results show that knowing something and doing something are not the same.

Not that our Eastern philosophers are surprised, as they were very clear –‘To know and not do is to not know.’

In fact since the 1970s, more ways to create imbalance than I had ever expected have been added post 2000, as I speak about in Vol. 3 of Ian King’s Guide to Strength Training.

I don’t expect to save the world anymore. I have learned to let it go. I even witness young athletes see me one day and then be overwhelmed by the opportunities of professional sport and embrace all that is done to them, including the young highly gifted athlete whose shoulder relationship degraded by another say 10% in as little as 3 weeks. We know which bed he will be resting on soon and it is one with bright lights above and a person standing over him with a scalpel…

The greatest power I have is to identify and empower those rare individuals who are have come to a point in their career when they realize something is not right. Who have the courage to think for themselves, to train in a way that is not supported by the dominant trend or the current internet driven guru. It is these individuals that I now communicate almost exclusively with in a professional sense.

For whilst I have given up on expecting to save the world, based on the failure of the late 1990s teachings to achieve the intended goal in the ensuing 20 years, I have also given up the expectation that any but an incredibly small minority of the professionals in this industry either have the humility and courage to do what is best, or care enough for others to take these steps.

And for this minority, the best gift you can give is the gift of quality of life. The ability to move for as long as possible in the later years. The ability to play with your kids and grandkids in the back yard. And in the perfect world, your great grandkids.

For this gift will be the exclusive domain of those who listen to and are guided by my brutal search for the best way to train and remain injury free. A search I have been on for 4 decades now, and a few more planned!

So it is incredibly rewarding when I receive feedback such as this. And note this person has only just completed our Level 0 Coaching course! A very powerful experience, yet so many move levels to follow. If we can change lives through you, we are fulfilling our potential, for together we can do more than I an on my own.

Really enjoyed it Ian gained a lot of information and knowledge (also when I look back at my training/ injury history it all seems very clear why I had those injury’s now. Incorporating a lot in too my training and clients. so far so good. Really like the way KSI goes about things. I am interested in learning more and progressing to level 1.”—CE, NZ

The Barbell Hip Thrust – Winners and Losers

I was receiving requests from some of my coaches to write about the barbell hip thrust. They knew I didn’t buy into it, yet I had remained silent.  They were tiring of the market pressure for them to conform, and wanted me to make a statement.

So I began to prepare, to research.

Didn’t take me long to realize I didn’t need to write an article about this exercise. There are already enough good ones out there. [1] [2] [3] [4]

What I have chosen to do instead is speak to the generation that ‘invented’, endorsed and more pertinently marketed this concept.

According to the number one advocate and ‘originator’ of the exercise, it all began in about 2006.

Almost 11 years ago, I thought up the barbell hip thrust in my garage gym in Scottsdale, Arizona. [5]

So in about 2008, this coach had a ‘bright idea’, apparently. Coach and writer Kim Goss has a different perspective on the history of this lift. [1]

Since then, I’ve been on a mission to popularize the movement….  took this information and ran with it, posting numerous article links and infographics on my social media channels relaying the news that hip thrusts are very well-suited for improving speed and that the force vector hypothesis was legitimate.[5]

Now the first ‘coach’ referred to above is a great marketer.  I like to give credit where credit is due. The world adopted the movement.  Not that they appear to need my acknowledgement. Enough acknowledgment was evident:

…I recently polled my newsletter list and social media followers and received over 7,600 responses as follow……As a prolific S&C educator with a large online following who gets rewarded for being “ahead of the research,” making bold predictions, and playing to the masses…

Rewards? Sounds like a game of winners and losers. And that may be accurate….

Then the bombshell. Some of his academic colleagues failed to support his own earlier studies.[7] [8]  (And yes, the research undermining this exercise may have its own flaws, but no more than the original ‘research’ used to support it…)

Now the retraction did show humility and gained respect from some quarters.

Unfortunately, I spoke too soon. The combination of 1) my inherent biases as an inventor, 2) my role as an online educator always seeking to provide cutting edge information to my followers, and 3) my greenness as a scientist prevented me from exhibiting a more tempered approach to the emerging evidence.[9]

Here’s my challenge.

How many of the athletes and coaches currently engaging in this exercise are aware of this reversal of support and admission of  ‘jumping the gun’? Not many.

Will the impact of this incredible marketing of this exercise go on for generations? Yes. 

Who takes responsibility? No-one.

Who cares? Not enough people. Their too busy moving on to the next way of becoming significant or popular.

Now I understand no-one really wants unsolicited advice, however to those keen to be significant – I express my hope that a few more may first reflect upon the impact of what they market before they met their needs to be significant.

Now I am not suggesting that validation through science is needed before sharing an innovation. I personally don’t.  Science is often a lagging indicator, confirming or otherwise at a later date.   I would just recommend greater reflection or more transparency. If science is going to be invoked as a validation technique, you might want to have more than one of two ‘in-house studies’.

To the physical coach – please use the grey matter you were gifted by your Maker.  I know this plea will fall for the most part on deaf ears, for the same ailment that Dr. Albert Schweitzer lamented in the 1950s  remains. When he was asked by a reporter ‘Dr, what’s wrong with man today?’ he responded:

Man does not think. [10]

To the athlete – you need to be, and have a greater capability to me smarter about your training decisions than your physical coach. They have many masters – ego, colleagues to professional associations, marketing trends. You only have one agenda – the future health of your body and the fulfillment of your potential. Its okay to reach your own conclusions about what’s right for you, even if it differs from your coaches….

This rush to the market exemplifies one of the key reasons I have chosen historically to test a new concept for about a decade before publishing it….

A coach can ‘change their mind’ (even as they hope for a recovery) after marketing, publishing and endorsing something so effectively. [11] [12]

But the stain remains.

With influence comes responsibility.  


[1] Goss, K., 2016, The case against hip thrusts, The Poliquin Group, June 14, 2016, http://main.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/1478/The_Case_Against_the_Hip_Thrust.aspx

[2] Kavanaugh, J., The heavy hip thrust is ruining our backs and this industry, Speed and Sports Institute, https://www.sportandspeedteam.com/the-heavy-hip-thrust-is-ruining-our-backs-and-this-industry/

[3] Kechijian, D., 2017, Science’ and the Barbell Hip Thrust, Simplifaster, Sep 8, 2017, https://simplifaster.com/articles/barbell-hip-thrust/

[4] Valle, C., 2018, Should Advanced Athletes Use the Barbell Hip Thrust?, Simplifaster, Jan 29, 2018, https://simplifaster.com/articles/athletes-barbell-hip-thrust/

[5] Contreras, B., 2017, Science is self-correcting – The Case Of The Hip Thrust And Its Effects On Speed,  Bretcontreras.com, July 27, 2017, https://bretcontreras.com/science-is-self-correcting-the-case-of-the-hip-thrust-and-its-effects-on-speed/

[6] Contreras, B., 2017, Science is self-correcting – The Case Of The Hip Thrust And Its Effects On Speed,  Bretcontreras.com, July 27, 2017, https://bretcontreras.com/science-is-self-correcting-the-case-of-the-hip-thrust-and-its-effects-on-speed/

[7] Bishop, Chris, MSc; Cassone, Natasha, MSc; Jarvis, Paul, MSc; Turner, Anthony, PhD, CSCS*D; Chavda, Shyam, MSc, CSCS; Edwards, Mike, MSc, 2018, Heavy Barbell Hip Thrusts Do Not Effect Sprint Performance, An 8-Week Randomized–Controlled Study, The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · July 2017

[8] Kun-Han Lin, Chih-Min Wu, Yi-Ming Huang and Zong-Yan Cai, 2017, Effects of Hip Thrust Training on the Strength and Power Performance in Collegiate Baseball Players, Journal of Sports Science 5 (2017) 178-184

[9] Contreras, B., 2017, Science is self-correcting – The Case Of The Hip Thrust And Its Effects On Speed,  Bretcontreras.com, July 27, 2017, https://bretcontreras.com/science-is-self-correcting-the-case-of-the-hip-thrust-and-its-effects-on-speed/

[10] Schweitzer, A., in Nightingale, E., 1975, The strangest secret, Nighingale-Conant.

[11] Contreras, B., 2017, Science is self-correcting – The Case Of The Hip Thrust And Its Effects On Speed,  Bretcontreras.com, July 27, 2017, https://bretcontreras.com/science-is-self-correcting-the-case-of-the-hip-thrust-and-its-effects-on-speed/

[12] Cressey, E., 2017, In defense of the hip thrust, ericcressey.com, September 13, 2017, https://ericcressey.com/in-defense-of-the-hip-thrust