Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS, USAW
Director of Athletic Development

1. Exercise Progressions
2. Energy System Utilization

While I think most people reading this are familiar with exercise progression concepts, the idea of energy system utilization congruency might be less familiar. Take a quick look at the list of physical quality competing demands taken from Dr. Vladimir Issurin, which provides a structure through which we can begin to understand how to design programs around energy system congruency.

1. Aerobic Endurance: Alactic (Sprint) abilities, strength endurance-aerobic, maximum strength-hypertrophy (after)
2. Anaerobic (Glycolytic) Endurance: Strength endurance-anaerobic, aerobic restorative exercises, aerobic-anaerobic (mixed) endurance
3. Alactic (Sprint) Abilities: Aerobic endurance, explosive strength, maximum strength-hypertrophy (after), aerobic restoration exercises
4. Maximum Strength-Hypertrophy: Maximum strength-innervation, flexibility,
5. aerobic
6. restoration
7. Learning
8. New
9. Technical Elements: Any kind of training modality, but after the dominant tasks

This list refers to a basic physical quality or energy system, and what other qualities can be developed concomitantly without the interfering with each other. Recently there has been an increased focus on high intensity interval training (or "Anaerobic/glycolytic endurance" in the list above) as a primary conditioning method for athletes. If you refer to the list above, you can see that this approach can be used coincidentally with training for anaerobic strength endurance, aerobic-anaerobic endurance, and aerobic restorative exercises. Notably absent from this list are many of the other major qualities that are important for almost all other team-sport athletes: alactic (sprint) abilities, maximum strength-hypertrophy, maximum strength-innervation, and explosive strength. 

Related to last week's newsletter, putting such a high emphasis on anaerobic/glycolytic training, such as that commonly used during high intensity interval training sessions, will not only interfere with the development of other qualities, it will also make the body reliant on the glycolytic system (carb dependence!), which has a limited fuel supply, creates a high degree of stress on the body and has longer recovery times, especially in the absence of a well-developed aerobic system. This isn't to say that the coaches that just have their athletes go for long jogs are on the right track; it only highlights that doing conditioning sessions involving 30-45 seconds of all out effort, followed by rest periods of comparable or slightly longer length should be implemented STRATEGICALLY and need to by progressed to and cycled away from.

Overall, understanding these concepts simply emphasizes the need to followed a structured, purposeful long-term training program, and not just wander around the gym haphazardly. EVERYTHING an athlete does (or doesn't do) will affect their health, performance, injury-risk, and recovery; it's time athletes start gaining mastery of these concepts, so they can TRULY fulfill their potential. It's what every athlete wants. It's what every athlete deserves.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS, USAW
Director of Athletic Development

P.S.Don't forget, if you want to pick up some UCAN, you can save 10% by purchasing through this site that we set up for our Endeavor clients: Generation UCAN

P.S.2. Please forward this to your friends, family, and teammates that you think will benefit from the information. If they're interested, they can sign up for our weekly newsletter here: Endeavor Sports Performance Newsletter

Last week I had an opportunity to give a nutrition talk to the Team Comcast U18 team. The talk went pretty well, as I know the kids pretty well since all but a couple spent their Summer with me over at Endeavor. During the talk, and interspersed Q&A, we touched on a lot of topics:

1. What Generation UCAN is and how their products are better alternatives to typical sports drinks
2. As part of #1-the relationship between foods, blood sugar, insulin, energy levels, and fat burning
3. When to eat a pre-game meal
4. What pre-game meals should be composed of (and what they SHOULDN’T be composed of)
5. What to eat for breakfast and how to prepare it without losing too much sleep
6. What to pack for lunch
7. The reality about the kids that say they eat a lot, but just can’t put on weight
8. How much water to drink everyday and how to get it in for non water drinkers
9. The easiest way to grocery shop and ensure you’re not buying garbage

Overall, I tried to keep the discussion as practical as possible. Kids aren’t nearly as interested in the science as I am. They want to know what to eat, when to eat it, and a brief explanation as to why it matters.

After discussing all of the above items, I felt the team had a pretty thorough understanding of how they should eat, and how they could make better choices a reality (implementation is a major road block). So I wrapped up by asking a relatively simple question:

“How many of you want to play college hockey?”

Every hand in the room went up. Perfect. I then suggested that if I approached each individual and asked what they would do to get there, that they’d probably all say some variation of “I’d do whatever it takes.”

In fact, I think you’d hear a similar response from any athlete that wishes to advance to a next level. Unfortunately, wishing won’t quite cut it, and what most of these athletes really mean is “I’ll do what’s most convenient and least invasive” and in many cases “and then bitch about how much better I am than the worst three players that made it over me.”

There is an optimal way to do everything-eat, hydrate, train, practice, facilitate recovery, etc. Naturally, there is a poor way to do everything as well. It’s a continuum from most ideal to least ideal. No one will be perfect 100% of the time. But if players are truly motivated, they should make a consistent focused effort to live their lives more toward optimal than not, and should quickly get back on track when things slip momentarily.

Everyone wants to take the dynamite approach to development. They want it all, now, and expect it yesterday. The truth is that development is more like erosion. In this analogy, every component I mentioned above can be signified as more water to stimulate erosion (development). Get your nutrition on track-more water. Learn proper recovery techniques (e.g. foam roll, stretch, perform breathing exercises after training, read before bed, go to bed and wake up within an hour of the same times every day, etc.)-more water. Follow a quality, progressive training program-more water. And so on. This is how development works. If the athlete pursues optimal in all aspects of preparation and performance, they will continue to develop over time and eventually have an opportunity to compete at elite levels. If the process is rushed, and/or the little sacrifices aren’t made, development suffers.

Once athletes have the information, it’s up to them to use it. If you say you’ll do anything to achieve your goal, understand what everything means. Amongst other things, it means waking up a few minutes early to make a quality breakfast; it means packing your lunch the night before; it means doing the foam rolling, stretching, and dynamic warm-up routines your strength coach taught you, even when you’re sick of them; it means going to bed a little earlier on the weekends than you’d want and waking up WAY earlier than you want; it means watching the next level above you and studying the game; it means practicing specific skills repeatedly until you perfect them, and then practicing even more to cement them into automacity. These are just a few examples, but it should shed some light on my point. Develop your drive to succeed and then don’t let anything stop you, especially not your own apathy!

Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS
Director of Athletic Development

As you may have noticed, I'm on a bit of a long-term athletic development kick recently. That USA Hockey Symposium really "lit my lamp".  The symposium was largely responsible for sparking these posts, which I encourage you to read if you haven't already:

1. The State of Youth Hockey
2. Hockey Development Resistance
3. The Truth About Practice: The 10,000 Hour Rule
4. Hockey Development Recommendations

*While these posts were written about ice hockey, the implications extend to every youth sport. As I've said, most youth sport governing bodies are re-examining their long-term athletic development models in light of the evidence discussed in these posts, and many are working with programs in other sports during the process.

There are clearly areas for improvement in our long-term hockey development programs, and I think USA Hockey is on the right track with their guidelines and recommendations. As I anticipated, components of their ADM are being criticized largely by people that haven't taken the time to fully understand the intentions, guidelines, and progressions of the system. It's a shame that the people with the loudest voices have a tendency to be the least well-informed.

Getting back to my reading endeavors, I thought Bounce was interesting because it systematically challenged the idea of "natural talent". While this doesn't quite do the book service, I think Bounce was a creative way of explaining the 10,000 Hour Rule, and how seemingly "natural" talents can always, regardless of the chosen field, be explained via dedicated practice. As Michaelangelo said,

"If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all."

Lesson 1: Quality mentors accelerate excellence.

Simply, in every case, peak performers have put forth a RIDICULOUS amount of focused, progressive effort to achieve their excellence. They don't just go through the motions; they attempt, refine, and attempt again until they get it right. Daniel Coyle does a great job of explaining the physiology behind how this eventually leads to automacity (consistent performance without conscious thought).

The secret lies in myelin. Myelin forms a sheath around the axon of neurons. Think of the neuron's axon as a wire, and myelin as the casing around it. Myelin serves to "insulate" the axon, creating a smoother, faster signal. Because all active human movement (and thought for that matter) results from the coordinated firing of vast neuronal networks, myelin has a profound effect on our everyday lives.

Cartoon Neuron. Myelin in yellow.

Think about it. EVERYTHING you think or do involves the firing of a vast network of neurons. When you drink Generation UCAN after your practice, a specific network of neurons fires. When you celebrate after a great game, a specific network of neurons fires. When you get mad because you don't like a coaching decision, a specific network of neurons fires. As a network fires more and more, more myelin is laid down to insulate the connecting axons (the cord connecting one neuron to another). In other words, that pathway is reinforced and becomes more efficient. As I've mentioned, this has tremendous physical AND psychological implications. Essentially, this explains "muscle memory", why highly practiced skills can be replicated with decent proficiency even after a long hiatus. This also explains why it becomes increasingly easy to skip going to the gym to train.

Lesson 2: Every decision or indecision, action or inaction results in a physiological response that makes you more likely to do it the same way again in the future.

You may have heard the expression "It's like riding a bike", which eloquently illustrates the idea of muscle memory. Although, when I got on a bike while at grad school at UMass for the first time in over 10 years, I didn't feel so balanced. I must have not laid down enough myelin.

The key to becoming a world-class athlete isn't just to pick your parents right as is often said; it's to develop highly myelinated high performance neuronal networks. This doesn't mean that performing a movement incorrectly is undesirable. Quite the contrary. In fact, stumbling through practice is NECESSARY to find the right movement, which can be cemented with further practice. The idea isn't to not make mistakes; it's to not overlook mistakes. Mistakes are an important step in the skill development process. But what happens if an athlete, in practically any team sport, makes a mistake that results in a turnover? Instant negative feedback from the coach. A single failed attempt paired with negative feedback causes most athletes to abandon that strategy. Is it any wonder that athletic development experts are calling for more UNSTRUCTURED play amongst athletes at younger ages? These "pick-up" settings typically involve more movement, more "touches" with the ball/puck, and ultimately more opportunities to self-correct. In other words, they have more opportunities to identify effective neuronal networks and start laying down myelin.

Lesson 3: Unstructured play and uncoached small area games create outstanding environments for rapid skill development.

Take Home
At every level of sport, you hear athletes, parents, and coaches talking about how "talented" an athlete is, as if their abilities were developed passively. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that talent, or natural ability as we currently think of it, doesn't exist. Or should I say, the neuronal network that creates the thought that talent may not exist is becoming increasingly myelinated. The trouble in accepting that talent doesn't exist, is that we need to look at two athletes, the best and worst on any given team, and treat their potential for future excellence equally.

To your success,

Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS
Director of Athletic Development