“All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but none can see the strategy out of which victory is evolved.” - Sun Tzu⁣

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“Strategies require thought. Tactics require observation.” - Patton⁣

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The terms tactic and strategy are often confused: tactics are the actual means used to gain an objective, while strategy is the overall campaign plan, which may involve complex operational patterns, activity, and decision-making that govern tactical execution⁣

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For our athletes, we start with their goals, then backward plan the strategy, and lastly, layer in the tactics.  ⁣

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In this episode we discuss:⁣

- Coaching strategy versus random tactics⁣

- Training for long term progression vs training for the ‘Gram⁣

- Well-meaning coaches who don’t understand the difference between strategy and tactics⁣

- ‘Accidental’ progress is different than sustainable improvement.⁣

- Tactics vs strategy in the world of strength and conditioning.⁣

- Tactics vs strategy in the world of CrossFit⁣

- The law of the instrument. Aka if you only have a hammer in your toolbox, everything looks like a nail. ⁣

- Our own lessons learned and changing our mental models. ⁣

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Take a listen and let us know what you think! 

In Episode 10, we discuss the highly polarized topic of injuries in athletes.⁣

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Anyone who has been training longer than a day knows that it is a matter of time before an injury occurs.  Whether it is a blistered hand, strained muscle, or something much more serious, it is not a matter of IF but WHEN you will deal with an injury.  ⁣

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In this episode we discuss how we use training to prevent injuries where we can, minimize them if possible, and return our athletes to full function after they occur.⁣

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Some topics we cover are:⁣

- The training and injury paradox.⁣

- Training smarter AND harder.⁣

- Training load, allostasis, and injury prevention.⁣

- Methods for optimizing recovery.⁣

- Bridging the gap between rehab and performance.⁣

- Leading Indicators of injury⁣

- Defining individualized movement.⁣

- The gift of injury.⁣

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Rapid Fire Q&A from our social media questions:⁣

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Adapting Mindset while training alone - Maintaining intensity ⁣

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REFERENCES for your own research.⁣

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Assessment of fatigue and recovery in male and female athletes following six days of intensified strength training. J Strength Cond Res. RAYSMITH, B. P. & DREW, M. K⁣

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 The relationship between training load and incidence of injury and ilness. RAEDER, C., WIEWELHOVE, T., DE PAULA SIMOLA, R. A., KELLMANN, M., MEYER, T., PFEIFFER, M. & FERRAUTI, A. 2016. ⁣

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 Has the athlete trained enough to return to play safely? The acute:chronic workload ratio permits clinicians to quantify a player's risk of subsequent injury. Br J Sports Med.⁣

HULIN, B. T., GABBETT, T. J., BLANCH, P., CHAPMAN, P., BAILEY, D. &ORCHARD, J. W. 2014. ⁣

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Spikes in acute workload are associated with increased injury risk in elite cricket fast bowlers. Br J Sports Med, 48, 708-12. HULIN, B. T., GABBETT, T. J., LAWSON, D. W., CAPUTI, P. & SAMPSON, J. A. 2015.⁣

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The acute:chronic workload ratio predicts injury: high chronic workload may decrease injury risk in elite rugby league players. Br J Sports Med. PIGGOTT, B. 2008.⁣

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Assessment of fatigue and recovery in male and female athletes following six days of intensified strength training. J Strength Cond Res. RAYSMITH, B. P. & DREW, M. K. ⁣

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Performance success or failure is influenced by weeks lost to injury and illness in elite Australian Track and Field athletes: a 5-year prospective study. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.⁣

SAW, A. E., MAIN, L. C. & GASTIN, P. B. 2015. ⁣

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Monitoring the athlete training response: subjective self-reported measures trump commonly used objective measures: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med.

We dedicated this entire episode to 2 questions we received on our IG story this week:

- What are common things your athletes do that get under your skin?

- What trends in the fitness/coaching industry do you dislike?

AKA - What are our coach/athlete pet peeves? 

In this episode, we cover:

In the end, we finish with some of the things that our most successful athletes do on a daily basis.  There is enough complaining in the world so we wanted to end on GOOD things that you can replicate with your daily habits to help you succeed in the long run too!

For this episode, we took 5 of the top questions we've received recently and answered them for you.⁣

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Well, we started with 5 questions but split one of them into a two-part answer.  Plus we added a little bonus question for you at the end.⁣

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1 - With COVI19, what programming changes have you made for athletes?⁣

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2a - Exercise selection & dosing - How do we prioritize? ⁣

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2b - Neuromuscular efficiency - What does it mean and how do you use it as a coach?⁣

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3 - RX vs scaled in a competition. How do you choose?⁣

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4 - Nutrition timing - does it matter?⁣

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5 - Training females - How do we program around their menstrual cycle?⁣

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Bonus Q&A: Waffles or pancakes?⁣

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As always, send us your questions and feedback.  It only makes us better! 

This episode was incredibly fulfilling to record.  It was a time warp over the past decade or so where Evolution Athletics went from concept to reality and touches on multiple growth points along the way. It was amazing to sit down and jam with a great friend, insane workout partner, and all-around awesome human being.⁣

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Pop the headphones in and give it a listen!⁣

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Highlights of this episode:⁣

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- Introductions, backgrounds, and general storytelling.⁣

- Our evolution as both coaches and athletes.⁣

- The power of a team approach.  Environment, balance, and accountability.⁣

- Concurrent training models - theory vs reality.⁣

- Modified Conjugate methods applied to competition CF and Tactical Athletes⁣

- Knowing the difference between training and competing.⁣

- Understanding the criticality of right time, right place, right athlete.⁣

- Real-world: We would never use the WZA Gauntlet workouts with people who weren’t training for the WZA Gauntlet.⁣

- Where we got it wrong.⁣

- Don’t code failure.⁣

- What we want our legacy to be (Hint: it isn’t about winning)⁣

- Eating humble pie - good for both coaches & athletes.⁣

- Making people (and hopefully the planet) better through our platforms (EAX Worldwide, RuckWrap, GoRuck)⁣

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This was a whirlwind of topics, timelines, and emotions. We hope you enjoy it!⁣

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If you’d like to find more info about Dan, please take a look at the following locations.⁣

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IG: @DanSkidmore11 / @RuckWrap / @KeshExperience⁣

FB: CadreDS

This week we are joined by one of our Tactical Athletes, Taylor.  He is a world Class rower who, in a former life, competed for the US National Rowing Team. Now Taylor is a  Green Beret and getting ready for the job demands ⁣

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We start with our definition of a Tactical Athlete. We believe they are highly reliable decision-makers. ⁣

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They are NOT necessarily physical phenoms. Their physical skillset is a tool that allows them to use their cognitive skillset to its maximum potential. ⁣

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Some other topics we dig into are:⁣

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- Difference between Combat Focused and Domestic Response tactical athletes.⁣

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- Periodization for Tactical Athletes - After selection, we move to a team-based fitness approach⁣

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- The Biomechanical Demands of rucking and how we build the chassis to support it. ⁣

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- The pitfalls of taking a Sports Science approach to training tactical athletes. (No stats, unknown demands, subjective vs objective needs, too much emphasis on testable metrics without building durability for daily demands)⁣

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- The pitfalls of taking a CrossFit approach to training tactical athletes. (Too varied, the poor transference of training, increased injury potential, competing recovery demands)⁣

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- Programming for humans is COMPLEX. The Space Shuttle is a COMPLICATED system. 1 faulty O-ring makes the whole thing explode. Humans are COMPLEX systems. They can lose an organ or a limb and still live a long life.  Pretending we understand everything about COMPLEX systems is a false narrative.⁣

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- Economy of motion + Economy of effort = optimal performance⁣

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- Increasing the optimal career window.  You can’t “buy experience” but you can keep that individual around to share their experience for a long time. ⁣

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- How someone prepares physically for selection events has correlations to long term career success.⁣

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This is a long episode and for some reason, the audio changes around the 1-hour mark!  Sorry for that, but grab some popcorn and dig in either way! 

Episode 5 is part 3 of 3 in our deep dive into the methods that we utilize within the EAX Framework of Athletic Progression. In this episode we discuss:⁣

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*Training Effects (Acute, Chronic, ⁣

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*Coach-Athlete Communication - Sorting through perception and reality. ⁣

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*Removing limiters versus increasing compensatory mechanisms. ⁣

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*Theoretical models (RPE/RIR/Autoregulation) require cross validation with objective measures⁣

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*Visualization for the performance athlete. ⁣

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*Increasing mental thresholds to unlock physical performance. ⁣

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*Hierarchy of competence. ⁣

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*Intrinsic vs extrinsic focal points and how they impact movement.⁣

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*Training versus testing - know the difference.⁣

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*Handrails of performance on the competition floor. ⁣

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*Optimizing versus maximizing stress.⁣

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The ends-to-middle approach. Aka. Strength AND THEN Conditioning vs Strength WHILE conditioning.

Episode 4 is part 2 (of 3) of our deep dive into the methods that we utilize within the EAX Framework of Athletic Progression. ⁣

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The talking points in this episode are:⁣

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*Program Triage - What is the most lethal?  What is the most likely?⁣

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*Coach development - The short order cook vs the baker vs the chef. ⁣

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*Linear periodization and coach centric programming versus auto regulation and athlete centric systems. ⁣

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*Athletes are dynamic organisms NOT bar graphs. ⁣

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*Every session is a question.  Every workout is a data point. Connecting the data points is the key. ⁣

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*When we use Ratings of Perceived Effort / Exertion (RPE) & Reps In Reserve (RIR). ⁣

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*Assessing athletes and prioritizing training - Pattern, position, & power output needs analysis. ⁣

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*The importance of coaches being life long learners. ⁣

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*The pitfalls of applying research findings incorrectly. AKA Evidence based practice vs practice based evidence.⁣

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*When are 2 a days appropriate?⁣

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*Bio-psycho-social model and realistic goal setting. ⁣

Methods In episode 3, we dig deep into the methods we use with our athletes. ⁣⁣

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Let me tell you we went DEEP in this episode!  We are joined by one of our athletes, Taylor Norfleet, and the dialog we had was nothing short of amazing!⁣⁣

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The goal for this podcast was 30 minutes but ended up hitting 90 minutes without even being close to slowing down!   So, we are going to split this podcast into 3 episodes but will release them over the next week to make it easier to digest!⁣⁣

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We continued to build off of the quote from the last episode:⁣⁣

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“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” - Emerson⁣⁣⁣

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Principles are the fundamental set of philosophies, propositions, assumptions, laws, and rules concerning a topic, problem, or circumstances. The principles can teach you why something works the way it does.⁣⁣⁣

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Methods, on the other hand, are merely devices to apply those principles in a particular circumstance.⁣ While principles are immutable, Emerson reminds us that there can be many methods to interpret and apply those principles.⁣⁣

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Topics we cover in episode 3 are:⁣⁣

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*Defining periodization - How we use agile periodization to structure training. ⁣⁣

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*Training program characteristics - Overload, specificity, variation, specificity.⁣⁣

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*⁣Physical qualities - The Dynamax 10 physical qualities & how we use them.⁣⁣

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*⁣Training variables that we modulate to individualize a person’s program.⁣⁣

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*Using Lean 6 Sigma & emergency medical triage concepts to deliver training.⁣⁣⁣

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*How we use data to validate what everything that we do. ⁣⁣

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*Where linear periodization, traditional training templates, & engineering concepts work and where they fall short. ⁣⁣

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*Balancing a qualitative edge vs quantifiable gains. The time and place for both. ⁣⁣

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*Setting expectations between athletes & coaches. aka Goals vs priorities.⁣⁣

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*Knowing the difference between training & testing. ⁣⁣⁣

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*Pursuing peak performance is NOT healthy. ⁣⁣

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Episode 4 and 5 are jam-packed too!  Look for them later this week!

In episode 2, we dig deep into 5 key principles that we use with our athletes.  ⁣

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“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” - Emerson⁣

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Principles are the fundamental set of philosophies, propositions, assumptions, laws, and rules concerning a topic, problem, or circumstances. The principles can teach you why something works the way it does.⁣

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Methods, on the other hand, are merely devices to apply those principles in a particular circumstance.⁣

While principles are immutable, Emerson reminds us that there can be many methods to interpret and apply those principles.⁣

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1: Context is king - Every athlete is a different story.  We must know our athlete’s goals as well as WHY they want to achieve those goals.  It is our job to combine biology, psychology, and social elements to help them achieve those goals.⁣

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2: Limiter Biased programming -  Limiters must be identified through an assessment and then systematically eliminated through training.  This DOES NOT mean “just do what you suck at.”  Programs that follow that mantra typically create horrible compensation patterns in their athletes instead of actually removing the limiter. ⁣

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3: Bandwidth performance model - Movement, mindset, nutrition, and recovery.  You can only spend so much bandwidth from each of these on your performance. If you’re ‘wasting bandwidth’ on poor social choices or letting toxic people ‘steal bandwidth,’ you’ll never reach peak performance. ⁣

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4: Tension is the common denominator - All athletes have a specific tension profile. Powerlifters, marathon runners, and CrossFitters all carry tension in different ways.  Mastering that tension is what helps or hurts them - literally and figuratively - during performance.  Our programming aims to modulate tension according to the needs of the athlete. ⁣

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5: “Adaptation Currency” is the make or break metric. A program is only as good as the athlete’s ability to adapt to it.  By taking this approach, we can better dial in the specificity of programming to the needs of the athlete.  If they are not ‘adding currency’ to their bank through adequate sleep, nutrition, and recovery, we need to temper the program accordingly.  This concept goes way beyond sets and reps.⁣

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We will get into those next week.⁣