When delivering strength and conditioning coaching courses, we always discuss coaching philosophy and how to develop a club culture. Two books I have read this year have helped with this process, both by NFL coaches. Here is a brief review of both.
Win Forever by Pete Carroll (recommended by Mike Bahn)
A frank and revealing tale of how Pete Carroll developed his coaching philosophy. Fired by the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, Carroll has gone on to be a very successful college coach at USC and is now with the Seattle Seahawks.
His philosophy was developed in response to adversity, rather than through unparalleled success from the start. As you can see from this picture, the philosophy starts with some simple rules: no whining, no excuses and be early.
It then expands into style of play and practice and beliefs.
When these foundations are in place, the focus on competing emerges with a “relentless pursuit of a competitive edge”.
Where the book might be useful to coaches and people outside of sport is in the application of this philosophy and making the athlete accountable.
“It’s the individual himself who ultimately is the only one who has the power to develop his fullest potential.”
“Getting that across to players is a constant occupation. You have to continually encourage people to the point where they feel empowered to call the shots that will position them to become the best they can be. It’s not any one specific thing but rather than an ongoing process of showing them what they’re capable of.”
I find this is the differentiation between talk and action when trying to implement a philosophy.
Carroll goes on to use words like discipline, effort and diligence in a reminder of what it takes to get it done.
Two years ago a lot of coaches were waving “Legacy” around as a good book, I wonder how many of them have implemented and stuck to a coaching philosophy since?
You Win in the Locker Room First by Jon Gordon and Mike Smith
I have lent this book to several other coaches as a really quick read with good ideas. Mike Smith was coach of the Atlanta Falcons and Jon Gordon has written “The energy bus”.
Together they have written a simple but very clear guide to building a winning team by establishing the right culture.
“Culture drives expectations and beliefs. Expectations and beliefs drive behaviours. Behaviours drive habits and habits drive the future.”
There are 8 chapters, with the first 7 each expanding on a word beginning with C that underpins the culture. It is a bit of an artificial premise, but helps with recall.
For example, the chapter on consistency explains why this is important in coaching.
“If you are not consistent, you will lose the trust your team has in you. When you lose trust, you lose the locker room.”
Players and other coaches need to know that you can be relied upon rather than erratic. Consistently being humble and hungry are important whether you are winning championships or trying to avoid relegation.
Consistency applies to players too who are expected to be stable personalities rather than moody (or at least maintain stable behaviours around their team mates).
The book is littered with anecdotes from the NFL to illustrate the points made in each chapter. Good practice and problem areas are covered, Smith is very good at sharing his shortcomings or mistakes that he has made. This makes for an entertaining and enlightening read.
The chapters have bullet point summaries, plus easily remembered quotes, which make re reading and revising easier.
“To be a great leader, coach and team member you must be more than involved- you must be committed. Your team has to know that you are committed to them before they will commit to you.”
I hope you get time for some summer reading (if we get a summer). I try to read more fiction or biographies of non work related people whilst on holiday, rather than technical manuals.
Here are my Top 5 summer reading books for coaches I have read so far this year (in no particular order):
You Win In The Locker Room First: Jon Gordon and Mike Smith
The Female Brain:Louann Brizendine.
Team of Teams: General Stanley McChrystal
Top Performance: Zig Ziglar.
Winners and How They Succeed: Alastair Campbell.
(full list is below).
The Japanese have a word for the pile of books that have yet to be read: Tsundoku. I seem to gather recommendations quicker than I can read (and I read pretty fast). I struggle to keep up with those given me to me for our monthly book club.
Book club poster
I have a list of books to read after attending GAIN last month. It is great to spend time with coaches who read a lot, rather than the “book of the year bandwaggon” (See Bounce, Legacy, Mindset, Grit et al).
Top 5 book recommendations from other coaches
Here are the Top 5 gathered from GAIN, which I have yet to read:
Just Mercy: Brian Stevenson
You Haven’t Taught Until They Have Learned: John Wooden’s Teaching Principles and PracticesSwen Nater; Ronald Gallimore
Physical Education for Children: Bette Logsdon, Kate Barrett
The Gold Standard: Mike Kryzewski
Win Forever: Pete Carroll
(There were at least 25, but need to filter that down).
Books I have read so far in 2016
Here is the full list.
Must read
Hellicona Spring: Brian Aldiss. Classic British SF novel.
Leading: Alex Ferguson with Michael Moritz. Patchy book from the Manchester United Manager. Some great insights, but poorly written. Epilogue is excellent.
The Dispossessed: Ursula Le Guin. More classic British SF. Thought provoking novel about benefits of true communist, meritocratic society.
This Is Your Brain on Sports: R.E.M. Grand & A.D. Goldberg. Largely anecdotal look at sports trauma stress disorder (slumps, yips, etc.). Some practical exercises at the end.
Anatomy Trains: T.Meyers. In depth look at fascial anatomy. Has many good points, although soft tissue work is outside of my remit.
Canticle For Leibowitz: Walter Miller. SF novel set in post apocalyptic Earth with heavy Catholic bent. Very interesting and thought provoking.
The Hungry Spirit: Charles Handy. Thought provoking book from 20 years ago about quest for meaning beyond capitalism. Much of which has come to pass.
A Void: Georges Perec. Novel without the letter ‘e’. Tortuous in parts, an interesting concept, but hard to read.
My Story: Louis Smith. Lightweight book with some nice pictures, reveals little about gymnastics or training.
Culture And Society 1780-1950 : Raymond Williams. An insightful series of essays about different authors and how they have influenced our (British) culture. Extremely well written and informative.
The Big Gold Dream: Chester Himes. Crime thriller set in Harlem. Punchy, colourful, atmospheric.
The Uses Of Literacy: Richard Hoggart. In depth look at the Northern Working Class in 1957. What constitutes their culture, background and forms of reading. Thoughts on aspirations and constraints of every day folk.
You Win In The Locker Room First: Jon Gordon and Mike Smith. Excellent short read about creating the right culture to help you win. Well broken down with good examples from the Atlanta Falcons.
Hellicona Summer: Brian Aldiss. Sequel SF Novel, more royal drama than SF. Less enjoyable than first.
Simple Rules: Donald Sull and Kathleen Eisenhardt. Excellent book on decision making, goal setting and doing what matters most. Very well written, clear examples, useful tips, humorous.
Secrets of Soviet Sports Fitness & Training. Michael Yellis and Richard Trubo. 1988 book which starts every paragraph with variation of “Soviet methods are better..” Poor.
Pretty Girls in Little Boxes: Joan Ryan. Whistle blowing account of 1990s ice skating and gymnastics in the USA and its affects on the girls involved. Hopefully things have changed since.
Soul On Ice: Eldridge Cleaver. Powerful, intelligent and very well written series of essays written from within Folsom prison in the 1950s-60s. Cleaver was one of the leading lights behind the Black Panthers.
The Female Brain:Louann Brizendine. Excellent book about the developing female brain and how it changes with age. Well researched, good examples, funny.
Hellicona Winter: Brian Aldiss. Concluding part of this SF trilogy. Poignant story about man and relationship with environment and others.
The Modern Writer and His World: G.S. Fraser. Review of prose, poetry, praise and literary criticism from 1890-1960.
Judas Unchained: Peter Hamilton. Overlong SF novel, high on action and scope, but low on dialogue or maintaining interest. Bloated in attempt to become “epic”.
Team of Teams: General Stanley McChrystal. Very interesting book about working in complex, fast moving environments. Uses examples from the Iraq conflict. Must read for people in big organisations.
Sea Harrier Over the Falklands: Sharkey Ward. Insightful book about the Commanding Officer of 801 Squadron and his combat experiences. Details the bureaucracy and inter-service rivalries even when lives are at stake.
Excellent leadership book
Turn This Ship Around: David Marquet. Excellent book about leadership from this USN submarine Captain. Tells the story of how the USS Santa Fe went from worst performing boat to best. Well laid out and written, with clear action points at the end of each chapter.
CEO Strength Coach:Ron McKeefery. Surprisingly useful read about how to become a strength coach at a US college/ pro team. Quite short, but easy to follow. Useful for undergraduates and those aspiring to become S&C coaches.
Enemy Coast Ahead: Guy Gibson. Enthralling book by the Dambusters leader. An account of his 174 sorties over enemy territory, culminating in his most famous mission.
It’s Not About The Coach: Stuart Haden. Great title, but then goes down hill. Self indulgent waffle, badly written with lots of typos and ill constructed sentences.
Nelson Brittania’s God of War: Andrew Lambert. Interesting biography of the great sailor, leader, diplomat and national hero. Inspiring and insightful.
The Last Stand: Nathaniel Philbrick. Detailed account of Custer and Sitting Bull. Revealing story of the poor leadership from Custer, Benteen and Reno amongst others. Very well researched.
Top Performance: Zig Ziglar. Excellent book about developing yourself and others. Written with sales people in mind, but applies well to coaching.
Why We Get Fat and What To Do About it: Gary Taubes. Light weight read about diet and fat. Interesting look at insulin.
Frankenstein Unbound: Brian Aldiss. Timeslip SF novel featuring, Shelley, Byron and Frankenstein. Clever and interesting.
The Energy Bus: Jon Gordon. Interesting, easy to read fable about taking control of your own life.
The Grapes of Wrath: John Steinbeck. Re read after 25 years. Outstanding novel about the Depression struggles of economic migrants in 1930’s California. Resonates today.
A Guide to the Good Life: William B. Irvine. Very useful guide to Stoicism in the 21st Century. Applicable, relevant and meaningful.
Eagles at War: Ben Kane. Historical novel about massacre of 3 Legions by Germanic tribes.
Much better than expected
The Pressure Principle: Dave Alred. A look at performing under pressure by kicking coach/ psychologist. Some good points, but simplistic.
Winners and How They Succeed: Alastair Campbell. Excellent book looking at strategy, vision, will to win and managing in a crisis from Blair’s spin doctor. No Campbell fan, but great use of case studies and interviews from many successful people.
Born to Run: Christopher McDougall. Interesting, but highly anecdotal tale of Long distance running in Mexico.
21st Century Guide to Individual Skill Development: Brian McCormick. Excellent short book for players who are looking for ways to improve their game. Well researched, transferable to other sports.
The Silo Effect: Gillian Tett. Quite academic book about how silos have led to insularity and lack of oversight. Heavy on financial institutions, but also offers insight into Chicago PD, Facebook and the Cleveland Clinic. Interesting, but dry.
Other book recommendations:
If you have read any other worthwhile books, please leave a comment below. It is always great to hear what people have enjoyed, or where they have found a useful insight.
Thanks as always to our Book Club members , Castle Books in Beaumaris, Devon Libraries, Pete Bunning, Chris Brown, Topsy Turner, Andy McCann and Abe books.
(Updated April, includes some excellent coaching and leadership books).
Very useful guide
Hellicona Spring: Brian Aldiss. Classic British SF novel.
Leading: Alex Ferguson with Michael Moritz. Patchy book from the Manchester United Manager. Some great insights, but poorly written. Epilogue is excellent.
The Dispossessed: Ursula Le Guin. More classic British SF. Thought provoking novel about benefits of true communist, meritocratic society.
This Is Your Brain on Sports: R.E.M. Grand & A.D. Goldberg. Largely anecdotal look at sports trauma stress disorder (slumps, yips, etc.). Some practical exercises at the end.
Anatomy Trains: T.Meyers. In depth look at fascial anatomy. Has many good points, although soft tissue work is outside of my remit.
Canticle For Leibowitz: Walter Miller. SF novel set in post apocalyptic Earth with heavy Catholic bent. Very interesting and thought provoking.
The Hungry Spirit: Charles Handy. Thought provoking book from 20 years ago about quest for meaning beyond capitalism. Much of which has come to pass.
A Void: Georges Perec. Novel without the letter ‘e’. Tortuous in parts, an interesting concept, but hard to read.
My Story: Louis Smith. Lightweight book with some nice pictures, reveals little about gymnastics or training.
Excellent read
Culture And Society 1780-1950 : Raymond Williams. An insightful series of essays about different authors and how they have influenced our (British) culture. Extremely well written and informative.
The Big Gold Dream: Chester Himes. Crime thriller set in Harlem. Punchy, colourful, atmospheric.
The Uses Of Literacy: Richard Hoggart. In depth look at the Northern Working Class in 1957. What constitutes their culture, background and forms of reading. Thoughts on aspirations and constraints of every day folk.
You Win In The Locker Room First: Jon Gordon and Mike Smith. Excellent short read about creating the right culture to help you win. Well broken down with good examples from the Atlanta Falcons.
Hellicona Summer: Brian Aldiss. Sequel SF Novel, more royal drama than SF. Less enjoyable than first.
Simple Rules: Donald Sull and Kathleen Eisenhardt. Excellent book on decision making, goal setting and doing what matters most. Very well written, clear examples, useful tips, humorous.
Secrets of Soviet Sports Fitness & Training. Michael Yellis and Richard Trubo. 1988 book which starts every paragraph with variation of “Soviet methods are better..” Poor.
Pretty Girls in Little Boxes: Joan Ryan. Whistle blowing account of 1990s ice skating and gymnastics in the USA and its affects on the girls involved. Hopefully things have changed since.
Soul On Ice: Eldridge Cleaver. Powerful, intelligent and very well written series of essays written from within Folsom prison in the 1950s-60s. Cleaver was one of the leading lights behind the Black Panthers.
Must read
The Female Brain:Louann Brizendine. Excellent book about the developing female brain and how it changes with age. Well researched, good examples, funny.
Hellicona Winter: Brian Aldiss. Concluding part of this SF trilogy. Poignant story about man and relationship with environment and others.
The Modern Writer and His World: G.S. Fraser. Review of prose, poetry, praise and literary criticism from 1890-1960.
Judas Unchained: Peter Hamilton. Overlong SF novel, high on action and scope, but low on dialogue or maintaining interest. Bloated in attempt to become “epic”.
Sea Harrier Over the Falklands: Sharkey Ward. Insightful book about the Commanding Officer of 801 Squadron and his combat experiences. Details the bureaucracy and inter-service rivalries even when lives are at stake.
Excellent leadership book
Turn This Ship Around: David Marquet. Excellent book about leadership from this USN submarine Captain. Tells the story of how the USS Santa Fe went from worst performing boat to best. Well laid out and written, with clear action points at the end of each chapter.
CEO Strength Coach: Ron McKeefery. Surprisingly useful read about how to become a strength coach at a US college/ pro team. Quite short, but easy to follow. Useful for undergraduates and those aspiring to become S&C coaches.
A varied start to the year: heavy SF bent based on recommendations from Brian Aldiss’s “Billion Year Spree”.
Also, big thanks to my own book search engine : Mandi from Castle Books in Beaumaris and to Devon libraries for providing more.
Any recommendations you may have: please leave as a comment.
What are the best books to read about Olympic Weightlifting?
It depends on whether you are a lifter or a coach, and whether you are new or experienced. It might be that you are just interested to learn about the sport. You might be looking for technical information, or for a programme to follow. Here are 7 books I have recently read and used to some degree, it might help you choose the best weightlifting book
Skilful Weightlifting: John Lear. Paperback £7.95
I got this book from my coach Keith Morgan back in 2002 and I still refer to it now. The book starts off with a brief summary of the rules, what kit might be needed and then a section on biomechanics.
It has very clear instructions on how to perform the lifts, with cues for each part of them. It gives advice for coaches on how to manage beginner lifters and what are the key areas to look out for.
There are clear diagrams and pictures throughout, which I find useful to show to my lifters (who are amused by the old school outfits). After the technical section, there is information on assistance exercises and how to fit them into your programme.
There is a section on programmes for 16-18-year-olds, more advanced lifters and also a 5 day a week programme for those who are unable to lift twice a day! This is clear information, set out in loads and sometimes %s. I would say that the youth programme lacks variation, which may be necessary to keep them interested and also to expose them to different aspects of the lifting.
However, this is a very good book, easy to read, contains enough relevant information, a great place to start.
The Weightlifting Encyclopedia: A Guide to World Class Performance. Arthur Drechsler paperback £30.88
A great book that was recommended to me by Ray Williams. It has 11 chapters and 4 appendices that cover just about everything you need to know about weight lifting ranging from technique to equipment to programming.
More to the point, it is extremely well written. Dreschler draws on his own experiences and uses anecdotes to illustrate his points. When dispelling myths about ‘Secret Soviet methods’, he writes:
‘Exotic food supplements, restoration methods and plyometrics are just some examples of these supposed “secrets”. The results have been indigestion, lighter wallets and sore knees.‘
Dreschler analyses several different popular training systems and gives a fair account of what works in each and what is its downfall: pyramiding, circuit training, super sets, as well as those by popular coaches, Dan Hepburn, John Davis and Paul Anderson. This depth gives a great oversight and context for the information that follows.
There are detailed chapters on the classic lifts and a very good chapter on supplemental lifts and their relevance/ usefulness/transfer to the classic lifts. The section on competition preparation and cycling is good and then an excellent section on how to coach at a competition. There also chapters on dealing with injuries, psychological preparation and advice for the junior, female and masters weight lifter.
The highlight for me was the section on periodisation: Dreschler takes apart the classic periodisation model and the studies that advocate it. This book was written in 1998, but the advice about periodisation stands up now:
‘It is simple, easy and foolproof; to make an impressive plan, just pile on the volume and exercises during the preparatory period and cut things back during the competitive period, and you will have a plan that looks good on paper.‘
It is rare to see such a detailed book that is both readable, informative and practical as well as brimming full of research and applicable coaching philosophy in any sport. One of the best coaching books that I have read.
Olympic Style Weightlifting for the Beginner and Intermediate Weightlifter: Jim Schmitz paperback $16:95
This is basically a set of programmes for 1 year of training for those new to weightlifting, or returning from a layoff. The book’s strengths are its description of the assistance exercises and how the programme is laid out.
It is designed around a 3 days a week programme, with each week being on one A4 page which is easy to follow in practice. This does mean that some of the sessions are quite long: over 90 minutes, so be prepared to spend some longer sessions in the gym.
It starts off with very simple programmes for the first 8 weeks, then progresses to the more varied programme which introduces different assistant exercises as well as increasing the load. In total there are 66 different exercises used.
The technical information is limited to a few paragraphs on the major lifts and the quality of the photos is poor. The layout of the book is functional to put it nicely but is basically photocopied sheets bound together.
This book is best for those who have an existing technical understanding of the lifts but want some idea of how to plan their year. It does that well.
The Weightlifting Book; Tamas Feher pdf £29.95
James doing split jerk
This is a very technical book and covers more than just weightlifting. It looks at the overall coaching process as well as talent identification for WL. The book starts with detailed information on training methods, anatomy and physiology and then training processes.
It then moves to an in-depth analysis of the major lifts and their variations. This includes foot positions, hip and back angles and descriptions of how the different muscles are working at each phase. The accompanying pictures are clear but very small.
The next section is about strength development, followed by planning of loads and intensity, then overtraining and how to avoid it. These are well-written and in-depth. The sections on technical coaching for beginners, coaching philosophy and implementation are excellent.
The training planning and training programmes are more difficult to read. Feher is Hungarian, and they use a system where numbers replace the names of the exercises. This results in the programme looking like this:
In a normal book, it might be ok to flick backwards and forwards to see what you are doing, but in a pdf, it is just too laborious. The pdf format is the downfall of this book: I avoid screen time when not working, and carrying my laptop around in the gym is precarious. The other books I can just pull off a shelf and put in my bag, or keep them in the gym for reference. This one is strictly for reference only.
There is a dedicated section on coaching females and another one on the role of the coach. Both of these contain very useful information and philosophies. I am unable to comment on the efficacy of the programmes (Still waiting for Bletchley Park to crack the codes), but the detail of the information around them is excellent.
This book is strictly for coaches only.
Preparing for Competition Weightlifting: David Webster Paperback 1 penny.
This book is from 1986 by the then Scottish Coach. It has some useful technical points, with good illustrations in the opening section. This is the only place that I have seen a weightlifting coach advise that the double knee bend should be coached specifically. Every other WL coach I have met, trained with or read has said to avoid doing that (the UKSCA offers a different opinion, but they are not weightlifters).
Webster offers some useful insights into Eastern European and Soviet training methodologies: remember this was written before the fall of the Iron Curtain and YouTube. He also looks at annual planning and preparation. He borrows heavily from his friend John Jesse (Wrestling Physical Conditioning Encyclopedia) and so circuit-based training and interval runs feature prominently.
At 1 penny, how can you complain? But this book was strictly one of curiosity and historical context with a few useful points.
Weightlifting Programming A Winning Coach’s Guide: Bob Takano Paperback £20.92
(Thanks to Topsy Turner for the loan).
A well-written, well-laid-out book that makes a huge difference to this reader’s experience. Takano offers a unique perspective at the beginning, looking at the Human Body and training systems from a Biology teacher’s viewpoint.
There is almost no technical information on the lifts in this book. Instead, it concentrates on how to develop programmes for different categories of lifters and explains the underlying rationale. The categories are:
Class 3 (85kg lifter Total 170kg)
Class 2 (85kg lifter Total 195kg)
Class 1 (85kg lifter Total 225kg)
Candidate for Master of Sport (85kg lifter Total 255kg)
Master of Sport (85kg lifter Total 295kg)
International Master of Sport (85kg lifter Total 365kg)
The 85kg male lifter gives you an idea of how the classes progress. Takano then devotes a chapter to the programming of each class, followed by a 20-week sample programme from his club athletes. This is very well laid out, easy to follow and well explained. I am unable to verify the efficacy of these programmes, having only class 3 lifters at our Weightlifting Club at present. But, I do like how the categories are subdivided beyond beginner, intermediate and advanced.
The chapter on regeneration is insightful, categorising the different types of restorative methods available. I think Tom Kurz in “Science of sports training” is the other book that covers this well. The nutrition section is very short and lacking in helpful real information, talking about macronutrients, rather than food.
The book finishes on the role of the coach and a call to action for coaches who want to improve what they do. Overall, it does what it says in the title, and it does it very well. One for club coaches I think, and a resource to use over time.
The Sport of Olympic-Style Weightlifting: Carl Miller with Kim Alderwick. Paperback £30
Carl Miller book
An A4 size book with 118 pages of text and charts, no images. The subtitle is “Training for the connoisseur“, It has an interesting start, looking at identifying different limb and torso ratios and giving advice on how to adjust the lifts accordingly.
Miller then briefly summarises Selye’s work on stress and adaptation, before devoting the next few chapters to training programmes. There is minimal technical advice here, just overviews of programmes and a list of exercises that should be included. This part of the book is weak and is done better elsewhere.
The last part of the book is based on weightlifting competition preparation including nutrition advice for making weight and mindset. This is better. I especially like this section on coaching at a competition:
“Any words should be simple and meaningful. Don’t clutter your mind with a lot of thought. You want a few cues that will allow things to happen automatically.
In the heat of the competition, only basic, familiar prompts are meaningful. The rest goes in one ear and out the other.”
Applies to every other sport too!
I got lent this by Topsy, but would have felt aggrieved at shelling out 30 quid for this. Guess I am no connoisseur!
Summary
These are the 7 books that I have read on the subject. If you have any further recommendations, then please comment below. For more technical information, I did enjoy reading Jim Schmitz’s series of articles here.
Our Weightlifting Club is based in Willand, Devon. Please contact me if you are interested (details at the top of the page).
I always share some book ideas with coaches on the courses I deliver. This time the 3 I brought were:
6th Edition of Frank Dick’s “Sports Training Principles“.
Phil Jackson’s “Eleven Rings“.
Randall J. Strossen’s “Winning Ways: How to Succeed In the Gym and Out”.
I said that Winning Ways and its predecessor “Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies” were the best practical sport psychology books I had read.
I liked “Chimp Paradox” by Steve Peters for overall life and underlyng understanding of the person.
However, Andy Ellis said that the Chimp Paradox had become a bit of a crutch for some athletes and he preferred “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.
Dweck talks about growth vs fixed mindsets and rewarding effort over achievement. It is a good read. However, this also has now become a mantra for some people to justify misinformation or disagreement with policy i.e “You have a fixed mindset“.
Because it is a good read, it is easy to forget to be critical this excellent critique of Mindsetis worth reading as a counterpoint. The danger of coaches just reading pop psychology is that they lose their critical questioning skills.
This happened a few years ago with people quoting Bounce and Outliers as “facts” when these books are riddled with errors.
It was great to have this discussion on Saturday. We also talked about the use of External vs Internal Coaching Cues. This was a big part of the Level 3 course, with an excellent presentation by John Brierley on skill acquisition.
I mentioned this book:“Motor Learning in practice, a constraints led approach”: Renshaw, Davids & Savelsbergh (eds). A very useful book on coaching using task and environmental constraints. The introduction and boxing chapters are duffs: pretentious academic twaddle. The other chapters (particularly Renshaw) offer really useful insights and practical examples.
Andy Ellis then brought up that theories change over time, and that he would take evidence from an experienced coach, if what they did worked. This is the key point in coaching. We must challenge each other’s thinking and practices, as well as challenge those who come down from their Academic Ivory Towers and preach.
It is all too easy to get stuck within our own comfort zones, and safe environments and spend time in mutual grooming. I always appreciate the comments, ideas and challenges from Andy and all the other coaches who take part in our courses: it makes me think and question my practice. This then transfers to my athletes, which is most important.
Every coach who comes onto one of our courses is invited into our community of practice. If you want to develop your coaching skills as astrength and conditioning coachthen it would be great to see you.
is a common flaw we can all suffer from: our System 1 brain retrieves instant information and makes decisions based on currently activated ideas. Unfortunately it fails to allow for information outside of that.
(Those of you who watch the immense self belief and ignorance of people on “The Apprentice” may recognise this!),
Our System 2 brain is better at a more systematic and careful review of evidence, but is heavily influenced by System 1.
This is thinking fast and thinking slow according to Daniel Kahneman in this excellent book.
Danger of Overconfidence
WYSIATI leads to overconfidence. If we make decisions based on our limited knowledge, then we build stories around that knowledge to justify our decision making.
If we have made a decision and we feel good about it, then we can easily ignore any further information that comes our way that may counter our initial decision.
In fact, people who only see one side of the argument (or limited evidence) are much more confident in their decisions than people who have seen all the evidence available.
This is due to our brains being good at pattern recognition and formations. It makes sense from an evolutionary purpose to be able to quickly recognise danger and respond (System 1), compared to having to sit down and do a cost:benefit ratio analysis (System 2).
The Muller Lyer illusion is an example of System1/ System 2 conflicts. Our initial impression is that the lines are different lengths.
It is only when we measure them that we realise they are the same. However, we have to keep reminding our System 1 this is the case!
This video shows a few examples of the System 1 and System 2 thinking and some exercises that will help you understand the concept.
Plausable versus Probable
One of the interesting themes of the book was our inability to understand statistics. This has major implications for our lives as politicians and policy makers also fail to comprehend the difference.
People will ignore a statistical fact “50% of children drop out of sport at 16” but will remember individual stories of girls being give short thrift by their schools compared to boys.
We also place a lot of faith in data collected from small samples (The pseudo sport science world is especially bad at this). The variances that occur in small samples mean that they often appear to be the best and worst cases. For example “people living in rural counties of the USA have the highest incidence of cancer“.
Population density is lowest in these counties so a natural variance around the mean causes a blip. We pay attention to the story and so end up with a world belief that is simpler than it really is.
Worst still, we then use System 1 thinking to explain this “fact”: it must be that rural people smoke and drink more than their better educated urban peers!
Luck pays a big part in a lot of events, and Kahneman covers this in a lot of detail.
He debunks the “hot hand” myth in sports: a good run of scores is likely to end with a regression to the mean. Similarly a good player who is scoring below average will return out of their “slump”.
This has nothing to do with skill, changing their shoes, or even (much as I hate to say it) better coaching: it is a statistical anomaly.
Summary
A tough start to get into this book, but worth the effort. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) it has made me question my ability to make any decisions!
What I had previously thought of sound judgement is probably littered with bias and errors of thinking.
The bottom line is that we need to switch between thinking fast and slow: both are necessary for our well being and to thrive. The trick is to recognise when to use which one. For me I can use fast thinking when coaching in the gym, based on my experience and lots of reading.
When choosing a new car, or buying a house, I need to use slow thinking as I have little knowledge or expertise in these areas. In fact, using System 1 to make these decisions could be very costly.
Written by RFU National Academy Fitness Advisor Simon Worsnop this book has over 115 training exercises for improving technique, tactics and fitness.
The book is split into 10 chapters:
Using Games and Drills
Small sided handling games
Small sided kicking games
Attacking and Defending drills
Bag and Shield drills
Non-specific rugby games
Small sided rugby games
Large sided rugby games
Fitness requirements for rugby
Planning for the season
Each chapter has a variety of different drills, enabling the coach to keep sessions fresh, as well as covering a range of different scenarios to test skills in game specific situations. Each exercise also comes with variations in complexity, physicality and specificity.
The drills are set out clearly with both written instructions and visual diagrams to make it easy to follow, with objectives and key coaching points highlighted to maintain focus of the exercises.
Each exercise also has a suitability rating at the top of the page e.g. 12+ or All ages, however they are not necessarily in age order so finding an appropriate drill requires searching (although this is only a minor point, searching won’t take long).
For coaches and players who may be short on time (this is the real world) and need to train multiple skills in on session, e.g. half backs passing/kicking and back row forwards tackling, there is a useful ‘Game and Drill Finder’ at the start of the book which cross references each of the drills with all the skills being worked.
What could be better
The Chapter that lets this book down is the fitness requirements for rugby. There is a lot of detail about the requirements for rugby, from strength and power values to work capacity and speed.
Despite this, there is no practical advice for coaching these components. Simon touches briefly on using small sided games and technical drills to also develop work capacity; however the inclusion of general fitness work is also vital.
I would recommend this book for any coach of junior or senior rugby players looking to improve delivery of technical coaching, as the variety of drills and simplicity of explanations make it a very useful tool.
The Season Planning section would be extremely useful to coaches with information on long term planning (different phases of season) and short term planning (individual sessions), as well as written examples of each.
To read more of Simon’s insights into conditioning for Rugby, see here
A number of books have appeared recently in the USA and the UK purporting to explain the development of talent and excellence in the sporting and business environments. A common feature of these books is that they are written by journalists,who attempt to deal with complex scientific concepts.
Four of the most popular are: “Talent is Over-rated” by Geoff Colvin (Nicholas Brearley2008); “The Talent Code” by Daniel Coyle (Random House Books 2009); “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell (Little Brown & Co 2008) and “Bounce” by Matthew Syed (Harper Perennial 2010).
The common message of these books is that to achieve excellence in a chosen field, all that is needed is hard work and the correct – so-called “deliberate”- type of practice . The books all suggest that talent is not innate.
Through a basic misunderstanding of science, all four books re-open the false dichotomy of the nature versus nurture debate. The authors present stories in order to support their cases but repeatedly confuse correlation with causation.
The books’ messages appeal simultaneously to two opposing ideals: one of the largely American free-market right, who profess that whatever a person’s social and economic circumstances, he or she can get to the top in society through hard work; the other, the liberal left tradition that all individuals are born equal with a “blank slate” that is then molded by society (the environment). One review of Bounce describes it as “banalities for egalitarians” with good reason.
Ordinarily, the topics contained in popular literature would be largely of no concern to the coaching and sports science fraternities, but this is different. These books are increasingly described in reviews as if they were scientific masterpieces on sporting performance and talent development.
First, the general message that talent is not innate, “not in the genes”, “not genetic”.
All the authors suggest that those they perceive as being on the “nature” side of the debate believe that there are “genes for sport” and that a person is born with this immutable advantage. Nothing could be further from the truth; none of the geneticists quoted in their books believes this to be true and to suggest otherwise is the most simplistic form of reductionism
But I am of course not suggesting that small genetic units work in isolation from each other, any more than a chemist thinks that atoms do. ((Dawkins R. The Extended Phenotype Oxford 1982 p 113)
The authors also variously describe DNA as being a “blueprint”, but geneticists don’t believes this to be the case (The blueprint myth is dealt with adequately by Dawkins in The Greatest Show on Earth, chapter 8).
There are approximately 30,000 genes in the human genome. These genes interact with each other and both the cellular and external environment from conception to death. This process is very fluid and some genes switch on or off other genes, depending upon certain environmental conditions; we are certainly not born with a blueprint that remains fixed for the rest of our lives.
There are, however, relationships between certain genes and many human conditions, including certain diseases ; I.Q.; grip strength; VO2max, willingness to train. Some of these can be related to single genes and others not as yet identified but whose heritability is verified through twin studies. To deny this as the authors do, is to deny science in the same way that creationists deny evolution or homeopaths deny chemistry.
What is also very damaging is that genetic mapping is only in its infancy having previously concerned itself with what is known as single nucleotide polymorphisms which is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack, whereas now we are entering the start of “genome wide mapping” which will aim to identify correlations and possible causes across a whole range of human expressions.
Adopting the “not in our genes” stance within sport would retard scientific advancement in the areas of talent identification, development and injury prevention.
The books themselves contain errors:
Here is what Professor Steven Pinker says about Gladwell’s “Outliers”:
The reasoning in “Outliers,” which consists of cherry-picked anecdotes, post-hoc sophistry and false dichotomies, had me gnawing on my Kindle.
Gladwell frequently holds forth about statistics and psychology, and his lack of technical grounding in these subjects can be jarring. He provides misleading definitions of “homology,” “sagittal plane” and “power law” and quotes an expert speaking about an “igon value” (that’s eigen value, a basic concept in linear algebra). In the spirit of Gladwell, who likes to give portentous names to his aperçus, I will call this the Igon Value Problem: when a writer’s education on a topic consists in interviewing an expert, he is apt to offer generalizations that are banal, obtuse or flat wrong.
The common thread in Gladwell’s writing is a kind of populism, which seeks to undermine the ideals of talent, intelligence and analytical prowess in favor of luck, opportunity, experience and intuition. Unfortunately he wildly overstates his empirical case. It is simply not true that a quarterback’s rank in the draft is uncorrelated with his success in the pros, that cognitive skills don’t predict a teacher’s effectiveness, that intelligence scores are poorly related to job performance or (the major claim in “Outliers”) that above a minimum I.Q. of 120, higher intelligence does not bring greater intellectual achievements.
(Gladwell responded in the New York Times (SW) and the stats dept of the NFL intervened – and sided with Pinker)
“Talent is Over-rated” is the least reductionist and dogmatic of the books, and on p 81 the author says:
…but practice proponents do not dispute the possibilities that genes could play a role in a person’s willingness to put himself through the extremely rigorous demands..
In chapter 11 he refers to:
an intrinsic drive working alongside extrinsic forces and practice (i.e. nature and nuture).
He also admits on p196 that many things “remain a mystery”,but he still makes many basic scientific errors e.g.
Since talent is by definition innate, there should be a gene for it… scientists could yet find the piano playing gene or investing gene or accounting gene…..
….genetic changes which take thousands of years.
Genetic changes do not take thousands of years; they happen every generation. This is discussed in Dawkin’s “Greatest Show on Earth”
When talking about mainly sporting potential, Colvin states:
..clear evidence that such non-physical (by this he means “anthropometric” SW) constraints exist has not been found so far …
This simply is not true, since there is evidence for example of differences in inherited VO2 max potential.
They pick an isolated paper and printing its findings as fact.
Colvin refers to a paper “A day at the races” from 1986 and treats the results as fact. This paper was criticised and the results dismissed the following year in the same journal and again by different authors in the same journal in 1988.
He later states:
but it’s important to note that advocates of the deliberate practice framework have never excluded the possibility of a genetic role in high performance. Their stance has been that they have not seen the evidence supporting it.
As Matt Ridley says about personality:
indeed, given that twin studies could find almost no effect of shared environment on personality, the genetic hypothesis should actually be the null hypothesis; the burden of proof was on nurture. If a socialization study did not control for genes, it proved nothing at all. Yet socialization researchers went on year after year publishing these correlations without even paying lip-service to the alternative genetic theory.
The Talent Code
The book is largely about myelinationation i.e. the laying down of myelin (white matter) in the neural pathway via extended practice. What is not mentioned is that this process is highly heritable.
The author describes the birth order of 100-metre world record holders and attributes success to chasing siblings, which myelinated their sprinting neurons. At least one of the men in the list did not grow up with his siblings and another’s birth order is simply wrong.
The Spartak tennis club in Russia that he writes about screens kids at 5yearsold and they continue to screen them and remove them from the program at every stage if they are not up to par. Any population that starts pre-screened cannot purport to demonstratet hat everybody and anybody can become excellence.
For the last century and a half, we’ve understood talent through a Darwin inspired model of genes and environment….Since Darwin the traditional way of thinking about talent has gone something like this: genes…..
This shows complete ignorance of the facts, since Darwin knew nothing of genes.
Nature/nuture has been a terrifically popular model because it’s clear and dramatic..
Iit was to philosophers in a previous era but this model is no longer used. This is followed by a number of pages describing the flawed “blueprint” as the correct model of the human genome. Throughout chapter 2 and 3 the impression is given that genes are static entities (following the “blueprint”):
…their genes do not change, as they grow older.
But this definition is far too simple, as many genes are turned on and off during a person’s lifetime in response to both environmental changes and the action of other genes.
Bounce
Bounce contains factual inaccuracies e.g. the claim on p242 that sickle cell anaemia does not just affect “black” people is plain wrong (see S. Jones, “Language of the Genes” p219-220). The author suggests that geneticists Yannis Pitsiladis and Daniel MacArthur are of the opinion that genes have no role to play in athletic talent development when what their research papers reveal is the opposite. On page 59, he writes:
there is no evidence at the moment for differences in innate specific capacities for mathematics.
There are a number of published papers showing this statement to be wrong. The same is true of the genetic component in children’s reading, IQ, VO2 max, response of muscles to training, inclination to train, response to endurance training and so on. This is part of Syed’s denial of genetic influences against all the available and growing body of evidence.
(For Simon Worsnop’s detailed critique of Bounce, see here)
For a comprehensive overview of the false dichotomy between nature and nurture, see Matt Ridley’s “Nature via Nuture” (Harper Perennial 2004)
For an accessible book on evolution and genetics, see Richard Dawkins’ “Greatest Show On Earth” (Bantam Press; First U.K. Edition edition (3 Sep 2009)
For an accessible book on genetics, see Steve Jones “Language of the Genes” (Flamingo; New Ed edition (14 Mar 1994)
For a review paper, see Keith Davids and Joseph Baker’s “Genes, Environment and Sport Performance – Why the Nature-Nuture Dualism is no Longer Relevant” Sports Medicine 2007:37 (11)
For a magazine article, read David Epstein’s “Sports Genes”, Sports Illustrated May 2010
I am indebted to Yannis Pitsiladis for his review of my original draft critique of Bounce.
We are now counting down to the end of our internship with James at Excelsior, and this is a good point to reflect on what I have experienced!
But before that I just want to mention the events from the last few weeks at Millfiled School.
For the last three weeks we have seen a new intake of girls for next year’s sessions. James has aimed to get them moving correctly over the summer to provide them with good technique and so that he can start then loading in September. We have gone through the 5×5 injury prevention programme with them as well as given them agility and leg exercises to do over the summer. Providing a good base (if they train consistently over the summer) to aid future training and improvement.
Self reflection of an Intern
Throughout this process I have learnt many things, which I will list in a minute, but the most valuable of these has been the chance to gain firsthand experience with quality athletes and coaches.
As Matt mentioned in his last blog it is great to assist a good quality coach and mentor, but it is also important to have the chance to coach by yourself and think for yourself. This is something I have had the chance to do recently and has helped me become more confident as a coach.
If you want to be a coach, or even work with athletes, then I have discovered that experience is the most important factor to consider.
As well as experience, other buzz words I would relate to this internship include:
Reflection
Confidence
Consistency
Goals
Knowledge
Practice
Experience
Recovery/rest
Injury prevention
Women in the gym
Squats
Movement
Technique
Fun/inspiring
These words and phrases have all cropped up in previous blogs over the last year and are concepts a coach should regularly consider.
Although this internship has been invaluable, I know my learning and growth as a coach is far from over.
I shall be reviewing a few of the books I have read so far this year on this week’s blog.
Entertaining, well written.
The first is by John McCallum and is a compilation of articles first published in Strength and Health magazine from 1965-1972. (For students, this is before your expert lecturers in S&C were born).
At some 260 densely printed pages, it contains quite a bit of information. McCallum uses anecdotes and fictional characters to cover various different concepts related to physical training- mostly how to increase mass and strength.
They usually start with him or a friend who is a gym owner looking at a weedy youth who moans that they aren’t progressing quickly enough. It often turns out that the weedy youth has a rubbish diet, goes out late at night, and thinks that working hard involves 3 sets of bicep curls and talking for 60 minutes.
(Nice to see how things have progressed).
The book is full of different programmes, lots of tips on setting goals, improving concentration and working on specific body parts. It has some good dietary advice, and some not so good.
As it was a series of articles over 7 years, reading it in one sitting is tough. Instead it is an ideal book for dipping into.
A frank and revealing tale of how Pete Carroll developed his coaching philosophy. Fired by the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, Carroll has gone on to be a very successful college coach at USC and is now with the Seattle Seahawks.
“It’s the individual himself who ultimately is the only one who has the power to develop his fullest potential.”
I have lent this book to several other coaches as a really quick read with good ideas. Mike Smith was coach of the Atlanta Falcons and Jon Gordon has written “The energy bus”.
I said that Winning Ways and its predecessor “Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies” were the best practical sport psychology books I had read.
is a common flaw we can all suffer from: our System 1 brain retrieves instant information and makes decisions based on currently activated ideas. Unfortunately it fails to allow for information outside of that.
In fact, people who only see one side of the argument (or limited evidence) are much more confident in their decisions than people who have seen all the evidence available.
We also place a lot of faith in data collected from small samples (The
Luck pays a big part in a lot of events, and Kahneman covers this in a lot of detail.
Written by RFU National Academy Fitness Advisor 
A number of books have appeared recently in the USA and the UK purporting to explain the development of talent and excellence in the sporting and business environments. A common feature of these books is that they are written by journalists,who attempt to deal with complex scientific concepts.