I want to share one of my favorite quotes applying to the sports training process. It comes from Thomas Kurz and his book the Science of Sports Training.
“Training is efficient if the highest sports result is achieved with the least expense of time and energy.”
I think this is one of the most important concepts that any coach, strength and conditioning professional, or sports coach can adhere to. Watch any football practice that is about to start up at NCAA schools all over the nation and ask yourself if they’re following this philosophy. How many times do we see a coach do something only because that’s how they did it or that’s how it’s always been done? I actually think this philosophy is one of the dumbest things I see in sports. If there isn’t any purpose for something being included in a training session or practice, why waste a kid’s energy doing it? I’ve actually been told before by coaches to run athletes during practices so the coaches will have more time to work with someone else. It was a “make up a run for them so we can buy some more time” technique. This type of attitude and misunderstanding of the sports’ training process is part of the problem in athletics today.
When programming an athlete’s training, everything in the plan should have a reason and a purpose with the end result being an increase in the sport. The sports’ training process isn’t about random exercises performed throughout a week with little thought about the endpoint. Saving the body’s energy by eliminating excess training becomes paramount for the adaptation process to occur.
One reason Charlie Francis, famed sprint coach, loved the Olympic lifts was because of the high amounts of motor unit activation. Instead of spending an hour or more in the weight room after a sprint training session with exercise after exercise, Charlie felt his athletes could hit the majority of the motor units within the body with a few Olympic movements and get out quick. This way the majority of the time was devoted to adapting his athletes to their speed sessions with the weight room serving as an accessory to the ultimate goal of being faster. He didn’t want to impede results by fatiguing athletes even more in the weight room. Often times, they might only perform one or two exercises, depending on how their track session went. However, in the end, he believed in utilizing the least amount of volume that could produce the results he was after.
Hypothetically, if an athlete can achieve the same goal necessary with a 50 percent reduced workload, it’s a far more efficient route to take. Not doing so takes much more energy. We don’t want this when that energy could’ve been used for the adaptation process. Gone should be the days of running ten 300-yard shuttles in a row or timed two miles because that’s what you did 15 years ago for “conditioning” and you haven’t thought of anything better.
Athletes adapt to a stimulus away from the training arena. When too much stress is created without enough time for recovery, the body can’t compensate and becomes further depressed. Over time, an athlete becomes overtrained and proper adaptation can’t take place. There are also delays in future adaptation. Recovery and restoration are just as important as the training means. Too often, athletes and coaches forget this important fact. It is simply the “more is better” attitude. More isn’t always better, and in fact, in sports performance training, I generally say less is better. I would rather under train an athlete than overtrain one.
Many times, breakdowns occur when coaches and athletes are unable to properly ration training means, sports training, rest, recovery, and nutrition. Understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing is paramount. I’ve been ridiculed before for my approach to training athletes. I don’t frequently use high volume because I believe the weight room acts only as a supplement to the sport. The energy one spends in the weight room takes away from the actual sport itself. Obviously if you’re an Olympic lifter or powerlifter, you’re exempt here.
Account for everything when programming an athlete’s training. Make sure that it will lead you in the direction you want to go in the most efficient manner with the least amount of time and energy expenditure. Know the whys, whats, and hows to creating an athlete’s training and it will give you a great chance to succeed.
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Zach Dechant is an assistant strength and conditioning coach at TCU. He oversees the development of baseball and assists with football. Zach is certified through the NSCA, CSCCa, and USAW. For more training information for strength and conditioning professionals, athletes, and parents, visit his site at www.zachdechant.wordpress.com. 
You know it’s funny, my buddy and I were actually discussing this exact same topic just a couple of hours ago when I saw my University’s Mens Basketball Team warming up for a cross country run. And people wonder why they haven’t been to the playoffs in about a decade. I just wonder why we haven’t ponied up for a S&C coach and instead leave it up to the sport coaches.
“Understanding why you’re doing what you’re doing is paramount.”
That has to be the quote of the day. Zach I have a hard time convincing my clients that this is important. And it always bothers me when athletes do some mindless exercise that their coach taught them in middle school, well into their adult years.
I think this is the most important part of the entire article.
“When too much stress is created without enough time for recovery, the body can’t compensate and becomes further depressed. Over time, an athlete becomes overtrained and proper adaptation can’t take place. There are also delays in future adaptation. Recovery and restoration are just as important as the training means. Too often, athletes and coaches forget this important fact. It is simply the “more is better” attitude. More isn’t always better, and in fact, in sports performance training, I generally say less is better. “
“Training is efficient if the highest sports result is achieved with the least expense of time and energy.”
What great quote!!!
“Hypothetically, if an athlete can achieve the same goal necessary with a 50 percent reduced workload, it’s a far more efficient route to take. ”
I totally agree, I’ve been telling my guys that we always want to find the way to be the best, with the least amount of work. I really appreciate the article!
Great article! Couldn’t agree with you more.
As much as I agree with you, this is one of the hardest concepts to hammer home to athletes in this country. “More is better” is about as American as apple pie and the 4th of July. It takes a tremendous amount of tact and communication skills to get your athletes and clients to buy in to the “more isn’t better, better is better” philosophy. As right as you are, if they’re not buying in, than they’ll either seek out other places to train or just do more useless volume on their own time. I think the more we as a training community can continue to preach quality and purpose behind what we do, sooner or later that will hopefully become the norm, because we’re definitely fighting an uphill battle when it comes to convincing the majority of sport coaches and athletes to scale back on volume.
Absolutely love it. The minimalist approach is what I think we should see more and more of for optimal results. Its not what you do in the weight room that counts…it’s what you do on the field. The weightroom is just a piece of the puzzle. I would like to see what your training template looks like and what you include in your approach. Thanks.
I disagree with what you are saying. Louie Simmons the great strength mind and coach of Westside Barbell has proven track record. Dave Tate can attest to that as well as Jim Wendler. More is better as Louis states. We all know that testosterone levels falls off 45 to 60 minutes in the gym. If you want to become better at your sport you have to do more but how? As louie states, ” Common sense tells us that longer workouts are not the answer, but we need to spend more time in the gym. This can be done by adding more workouts.” Extra workouts can consist of restoration as well as raising work capacity. The more special workouts that you do, the harder the main workouts can be without them experiencing ill effects. If you want to do more, your workouts must be continually harder. This means higher intensity and greater volume. Obviously restoration is huge, this can consist of sauna, whirlpools, ice, massage, electric stimulation and so forth. These workouts have the advantage that work can be done on a particular muscle group, one that needs attention for either strength building or restoration. Special workouts are designed to bring up lagging body parts. These workouts only last around 20-30 minutes. Main purpose is restoration and raising the weakest muscle groups up to or surpassing the stronger ones. We must learn to train scientifically. Louie quotes, “The man whose mind won’t change will also have a total that won’t change.” It’s all about General Physical Preparation (GPP) and Special Physical Preparedness (SPP) Louie states, ” The more advance you become, the more special work is required. Powerlifting is like any other sport. To become better, you must do more work.” I will leave you with one example in Louie’s book that states this, ” If baseball pitching coaches understood this, perhaps they would use a three-day rotation, working half the staff every three days for a month and then the other half for a month while resting half would go through a series of restorations. It is almost impossible to win 30 games with a five-day rotation. Yet, there used to be 30 game winners.” As mentioned above ladies and gentleman it is all about GPP and SPP. I have always thought that less was better before too till I talked to Louie on the phone and really opened my mind to becoming a better strength coach. I have recovered faster and have also brought up lagging parts faster and have gotten stronger. My athletes love what we do and they too have seen great results in this form of training. If you want to be the best you have to train, train, and train! There is no short cuts to training. There is a reason why Louie has trained several world record holders in Powerlifting and also a consultant for several NFL teams. You have questions go to his website and give him a call. Very humble man that will take the time out of his busy day to talk to anyone. He is a great man!
Mike you missed the point of the article which is to cut out things in training that serve no purpose.