James "The Thinker" Smith is a team Elitefts Q&A Coach, Physical Preparation Consultant and the PREPARADOR FÍSICO de Federação Portuguesa de Rugby 15′s and 7′s. These questions have been selected (and completely unedited) from the Elitefts Sports Training Q&A. James has become renowned as one of the best Preparation Coaches in the world so when he speaks coaches listen.
Athletic Monitoring
QUESTION:
Hi,
Just a quick question, in terms of athlete monitoring, what methods do you/have you used? (i.e. RSI, bloods, questionnaires)
And what is your protocol if, at the start of a session, an athletes scores are down or they are a bit 'off'?
For the latter, any research you can recommend?
Thanks,
- Scott
ANSWER:
Scott
Scott, as I've indicated in my presentations, I favor the approach which relies upon complete communication between the athletes and myself and the programming and organization of training.
I have never utilized metrics for the purposes of evaluating readiness because autonomic state, for example, can modulate in minutes.
So my rule is to communicate, adjust the warm up accordingly, then make decisions after the warm up and the vast majority of the time, in my experience, by the time the warm up/pre-training is completed the athlete(s) are ready to proceed as planned and perform as expected.
So I may be in a minority, once again, as I do not subscribe to HRV and other methods of managing training outside of my programming, my mind, my eyes, my hands, and the communication with my athletes.
Girls' Volleyball - "Hell Week"
QUESTION:
Hi Coach,
I am embarking on a new journey as Varsity Girls' Volleyball Coach at the interscholastic level. It is actually my alma mater and we have always been considered a distressed school district. When the opportunity rose with the opening I took advantage of it given my past background as a Physical Preparation Coach. I am pretty much considering this an experimental year as I was just officially named coach late last week. I cannot even get the girls into the gym until next month which only leaves about 8 weeks time to prepare for "Hell Week", then the season begins. However, I still plan to make the most of it and what I am most excited about is I have full control over physical prep, tactics, strategy, etc. I have no one to answer to but myself and literally considering doing a dissertation on the experience. I can honestly say my first week will be spent in evaluation as we do not even have "lost or found footage" of any games from last season. Without my continued babbling I guess my main question to you would how to balance physical prep work with sport skill development with such a time crunch on my hands? I'm afraid to put together such small training blocks on one focused area when probably all will need constant tending too. Obviously, my plan will begin with the competitive calendar and backtracking to our official program start date all the while prepping the nervous system for the sport at hand. The good news is there are some potential athletes and coming from a "hard knocks" background they already have a competitive chip on their shoulders...as always any insight you have to offer is most welcome. In my mind, if I don't sometimes ask the obvious and dumb questions, then how will I evolve...
Best,
-Saint
ANSWER:
Saint,
You are now in an extreme minority of coaches who are in a position to do it right by all accounts.
And because you are the head man the next logical maneuver is to eradicate "hell week" from the girls preparation as it is one of the flagship disasters in all of sports.
Your new perspective must now make clear to you that the interrelated and mutually dependent facets of preparation must not be divided as they are in the conventional sense across most of the world.
What you have is the sport structure, the state of your players, and time. The categories of preparation must become an aggregate in which you simply appropriate a proportionality scheme based upon need and time remaining. Thus day to day you merely ensure workload compatibility, recovery via High/Low methodology, the sequence of movement from velocity to force, and that time is manipulated according to priority and that priority comes first in the order.
I will be presenting on applied programme management in two weeks in Zurich and going over this very topic in more of a "how to" way.
Your girls don't realize how fortunate they are; be sure to do it right. You can start by having a team meeting with them and let them know that they are now part of the process of programming and organization. Educate them on the process and integrate their input into the problem solving. This will instill accountability and ownership and give them even more to fight for then the chips they already have on their shoulder.
Australian Rules Football
QUESTION:
I have recently become fascinated with Australian Rules Football. Upon searching the Elitefts.com Q & A, I found mention regarding certain teams that maintain control over physical preparation of their team.
Do you have any insight into the aforementioned preparation? Can you direct me to studies, et cetera, in order to further my knowledge?
Thank you as always for your time and effort.
- Matthew
ANSWER:
Matthew, here are links to some studies:
http://www.jssm.org/vol6/n2/14/v6n2-14pdf.pdf
http://www.udel.edu/PT/PT%20Clinical%20Services/journalclub/sojc/10-11/Gray.pdf
http://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(09)00186-8/abstract
http://www.jssm.org/vol8/n3/2/v8n3-2pdf.pdf
http://vuir.vu.edu.au/2026/1/millar.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20364877
Jet Lag
QUESTION:
I noticed you briefly mentioned the hormonal effects of jet lag and was wondering what these effects are. How does jet lag/switching time zones affect hormones, appetite, strength etc. and how long does this effect last? I am traveling to China for 10 weeks in a few days and will take the week after I arrive in China off from weightlifting (I won't be near a gym). I will still be doing plyometric exercises during that week and leading up to my departure I have been focusing on increasing the intensity and weight percentages in the gym. During that week after I arrive, is there anything I should do to make sure I keep my weight and strength up (due to the hormonal changes)? I am 20, 175 lbs, 5'9" and would say I am an intermediate lifter.
I really respect the work you do and the effort you put in,
- Evan
ANSWER:
Evan, the longer the flight and the greater one's inactivity during flight, the greater the possibility for dehydration, sleep deprivation, malnutrition, contracting a virus, and adema in the lower legs.
From a hormonal standpoint, the defense mechanisms which are activated as a result of these stressors can take their toll on the autonomic system (hence the greater likelihood of getting sick).
That said, I would never suggest to anyone to take complete time away from training post transcontinental travel.
During flight, I strongly suggest:
- periodic trips back to the flight attendant stations (more room there) and do some standing back/hip/leg mobility movements
- frequent hydration (more than normal)
- do not skip meals
- megadose vitamin C (1-2grams every 1-2 hours) starting before you get on the plane, during flight, up to 48 hours post flight.
If you have time to get them, the compression pants (Skins) are highly effective at combating adema in the lower legs.
Once you get to your destination do not take time off, simply perform sub-max intensity training for up to 72hours post-flight then you should be back on track.
I advise against any high impact jumps during the first 48-72 hours due to their CNS intensive stress
That said, everyone's physiology is different so some people are capable of high performance upon stepping off the plane after transoceanic travel while others are trashed for 3-4 days.