The Wisdom of Coaching II

The Charlie Francis Training System is one of the most powerful books I have ever read. I highly recommend it to anybody who is interested in learning how to train (or become!) a successful athlete. In a previous post, I shared some of the quotes from it. Here I share a few more (all unless otherwise referenced), as well as quotes from other sources:

"The basic principle underlying all training is to bring only a fully regenerated (rested/recovered from a previous performance) athlete to each training element. The element is then performed with the highest quality possible."

"The great majority of athletes are [still] training and performing with hard-spasmed muscle (both organ and skeletal muscle) with the result that a full complement of tissue is not being presented to the training stimulus, let alone involved in performance. This fact becomes doubly significant when one considers that the body must use protective inhibition in the presence of such spasmed tissue in order to survive training and performance without injury."- Paul Patterson

"If you try to communicate with an athlete when he or she is upset, very little of what you say will penetrate."

"I never write programs on paper for an athlete because....this [manner] will prevent the athlete from ever taking responsibility for their own training. Athletes must interpret training programs through their bodies; programs written on paper redirect the athlete's focus and encourage athletes to interpret training programs through their heads."

"Some coaches dump too much information on the their athletes which is either an attempt to prove to the athletes that they are smart or it is a reflection of the coaches' poor communication skills."

"Whenever you are in a really pushy type of program and are always trying to get athletes to do stuff, you can't be listening to them because they are not listening to themselves; they are simply busy trying to do what you asked them to do."

"You must keep the lines of communication with your athletes open, otherwise you are both in real trouble."

"Plan your work, work your plan."

Some thoughts from other authors:

Direction-Specific Leg Power: The traditional test for power has been the vertical jump test, highly relevant considering that we jump quite often for headers- depending on the position, of course. However, to suggest heading is the only place power is utilized in the game is to grossly underestimate its demands. Kicking, running, cutting maneuvers all require power but they are not vertical in direction. As such Jennifer K. Hewit, PhD, CSCS discusses Direction-Specific Leg Power. This seems obvious but we rare quantify power in these 'other-direction' movements, giving them their proper value in the testing process. To quote, "... testing athletes's power capabilities in only one direction limits the amount of information gained from testing that is used to develop and implement appropriate training programs.." "...therefore, assessing athletes' unilateral leg power capabilities across multiple directions is recommended when compiling a complete athlete profile for programming, performance and progression purposes." More info here.