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25th March 2025
The father of a 9-year-old boy asked me if I could coach his son 1-1 with his running technique. I said, ‘No.’ Boys that age should be playing outside with their friends, not stuck in an awkward situation with an experienced coach and an expectant father watching on. Unfortunately, the boy attends a private school […]
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Juking the stats 3- recovery
Not all that can be measured is important, and not all that is important can be measured.
I keep mentioning this, but it must be borne in mind when we consider what we are doing.
Recovery is an example of this. Everyone recognises the fact that if we train we must recover in order for adaptation to take place. But is recovery an active process that we can accelerate, or is it just the absence of training, in which case should we call it rest?
If we train harder or faster or longer, then the recovery should be proportional, but no good indicator of the recovery process has been found. For all the talk of sleep, ice baths, massages, vibration platforms and the like, it still comes down to personal management.
Is it possible to quantify the recovery process?
Some ideas might include:- hours of sleep
- a subjective scale of sleep quality
- non sporting enjoyable activities taken part in
- number of times you have laughed today?
- amount and timing of food and fluid
- urination- amount and colour
- bowel movements- changes to normal.
None of these could be scientifically measured, some amount to common sense, but that doesn’t mean that they are not important.
I put the number of laughs in there because again this could be an indication of fatigue and general state of mood. Also, if we fail to have time to laugh or smile, then what is the point?
There is a pretty good review of the recovery literature (this is the abstract- the full article goes into detail) and the summary is that no single indicator has still been found that identifies the current state of recovery.
I never get athletes to report on this stuff to me, instead I make them aware of the things that may be affecting them, and how to measure their own feelings. Trying to quantify it on a spreadsheet is just making work for all concerned.
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Robin Williams GB Footballer Paralympian
I have been training with James for over four years now and firmly believe he has played a key role in my transformation as an athlete and therefore as a footballer. It’s fair to say I was in poor condition in various aspects when we first met, however, James’ ability to focus on the most important things and eliminate the baggage from training has enabled me to develop rapidly, having missed selection for the 2009 European Championships I am now a regular in the starting lineup.
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