Evolutionary Athletics

For those who don’t know you, if you could give us a brief background about who you are that would be excellent?

I am a speed trainer. I work mostly with people who want to improve their speed ranging from middle school kids to Olympic athletes. I have been involved with Inno-sport which, when died, changed to wannagetfast.com with Dan Fichter.

In a few sentences could you outline your training philosophy?

My philosophy is to try to get an athlete to move as effectively and as efficiently as possible. From that point we try to add a power or speed component. It is a very individualized process and it requires some time and assessment of the athlete to determine their functional deficits so see where their limitations and “power leaks” exist.

You were one of the first inno-sport supporters, do you still use the inno-sport principles and system?

I think the aspect that gets lost over the inno-sport system is that it is what was written in the book. I think what happened was that Dan and I paid someone ( I say someone because I don’t actually know who I was corresponding with but it was someone who knew what they were writing about) to help individualize programs for our athletes. The book came out at the same time which was an attempt to put all of the ideas together. And then you have the people who don’t want to put the time into the book and say it is too hard or it doesn’t work. Novels are meant to be read. Texts are to be studied. I think the book has a lot of good basic training principles that I still use. However, in the last 7 years I have learned how to use the exercises more effectively and when to use them on a case-by-case athlete basis. Everything seems to have some value, but it is how you dissect the information and know where and when to utilize them that gives them value for your athlete in their training.  For example, different foot positions for different exercises, using muscle chains etc. I also have new stuff that I try to sometimes add to my “tool kit”. Some people are not patient and will only use an exercise a couple of times so you can’t really see if anything is working. I really use very few exercises but I use them well. Jay Schroeder has a few. Pilates has a few on different apparatus’. Louis Simmons uses a few. Too many people just aren’t patient.

Some People have criticized the inno-sport system, Wannagetfast, and Slow Guy Speed School as being overly complex how do you respond?

Sorry. My clients, people who pay me, don’t seem to mind.

How has your approach to training changed since inno-sport closed down?

The closing of Inno-sport has had little effect on my attitude toward learning. I have always tried to learn as much as I can and my education with inno-sport was part of my journey. I continue to learn new things all of the time and try to effectively apply them to people I work with. For example, we use line hops as an exercise. But learning the right way of doing them (with attention to proper gluteus medius control at the hip, and proper foot contact as examples here) as well as when to use them is more important for individuals to progress. I think that is why I have a hard time writing articles. The more I learn, the more I realize I do not know and the further away from “universal rules” or “exercises for everyone” I go. For example, just the foot on its own is an incredibly complex body part and its misuse can drastically change a simple exercise. Movements in the hips and abdominals are so complex with timing that some basic staple exercises really make little sense if the athlete is concerned about movement.

Mike Boyle has recently replaced you as the poster child for the anti-squat campaign.  Why are you so anti squat?

I am “anti-squat” if you are using it for speed and power development. I think that coaches get so caught up in the exercise and their power clubs that they actually hurt their athletes more than help them. My guide to depth is that depth of a squat can only be determined by the ability of the athlete to activate their entire abdominal wall (TVA, obliques and rectus). When you break/extend at the waist to get deeper, because you lack the abdominal/hamstring strength/coordination, it becomes a back extensor/quad movement. When your shoulders cannot support extreme weights, posture goes out the window and the carry over to athletic movement lessens. Frans Bosch talks about the depth in the squat creates muscle slack which has little carryover to sprinting or jumping. I think the basic idea is that athletes that move quickly should not be trained like a power lifting athlete. But we like to take something we understand and is easy and apply it to everything. Distance runners use a swimmers template to log miles but swimmers don’t pound on the ground. A squat does not take into account the stability and strength that is needed to support the body on a single leg. It doesn’t take into account the coordination between the core and hips. Nor does ever approach the concept of contact time on the ground. So, for me, it is a exercise that is pretty far down the list when it comes time to develop someone that needs to sprint. Remember, organizations have principles that they push forward. It is difficult to undo their doctrine. And they will fight to protect their doctrine because if they are wrong, it will undermine their credibility. Welcome to the NSCA.

What process do you go through when designing team specific workouts as opposed to individual specific ones?  Since every athlete has different needs, how do you go about deciding what factors to focus on?

I don’t do group programs anymore. I only do them with my track team, not for other people. There are so many people opposed to what I do that they will undermine the program and say that it doesn’t work. Every team that I have worked with has faced this problem. Coaches believe that they did it a certain way and that is the way it will be. I worked with a track team and they broke every school record and placed higher in the state meet than any other time in the history of the school and the program didn’t work because they can’t squat as much. I have an athlete that in the first meet set a school and field house record in the Long jump and 55. He improved his long jump 20 inches and knocked .4 of his 55. His one coach told him that if he started squatting he would be even faster and jump farther. The other one told me all that he did for the athlete in the previous two weeks to get him there. With my group in track, each guy gets a separate workout for what they need. I had one kid sprint once a week and spent the rest of his time on a total gym. He was all-state in 4 events and was 2nd at Outdoor nationals in the 4×200.

You have struck up a relationship with some very smart folks Dr.’s Shawn Allen and Ivo Waerlop.  What have they changed in your approach to working with athletes?

I have learned that I know even less than I thought I knew. Every person is a puzzle to be figured out. I have a hard time writing articles because I know that for the one person that inspired me to write something, I will hurt 20. The Gait Cycle is incredibly complex. The human body is incredibly complex. We know so little. Just a hamstring pull could be a 3 part mini-series on CSI.

You guys talk a lot about getting to your big toe, why is this important for sports performance?

The foot is designed to roll the energy to the big toe. That is why we have smaller toes and one big one. When the extension of the hip occurs, the push should go right through the big toe. If you come off the outside of the foot, you will never get to effective hip extension and thus limit glute power. The big toe also grabs the ground as do the other toes. It even has an eccentric joint unlike most other joints of the body in which the axis of motion is rather fixed.  What I find interesting is the role of the pinky toe (5th toe). If it doesn’t grab (and when i say grab i do not mean claw into the ground like a hook, i suppose i mean engage the ground with force), it can create a spin in the forefoot, which, in turns, creates a power leak and longer ground contact which puts tremendous pressure on the lateral stability of the body. In some cases where this is a major power leak from your evaluation, if you fix your clients little toe, you know, the one that is all curled up into a ball and doesn’t even have a nail,  the client can run faster because the purchase of the forefoot on the ground is solid and action/reaction forces are in sync (Newtons 3rd law).

Is there a neurological link between the big toe and the glutes?

More of a mechanical pattern. Smash your client’s big toe and see how a person’s gait changes. I am sure there is some neuro connection as well. This is where I use Dr. Waerlop’s knowledge.

What kinds of improvements have you seen by fixing foot function?

We have improved sprint times and contact times on the mat. But more important it allows the body to move the way it is designed to move. A lot of what your body does is a response to what happens when your foot slams on the ground in a gait cycle. If you have an injured big toe, your body is going to respond by not allowing pressure on the that toe, much like if you have a hang nail and can’t grip something because of the pain. From there, the next big and logical sequenced question is whether the body can maneuver around the ankle. This is where ankle rocker (aka: dorsiflexion) comes into play. How does 98% of your body weight get over the stick in the ground (leg).

Similarly there is a lot of discussion about getting a solid foot tripod, why is this important?

Neurologically, your body knows if the platform is stable or not. And if it is not stable, it will govern the power allowed to the limb. An extreme example would be to put a tack on the ball of your foot and see how your body responds. This is where the squat thing comes into play. When most people are trained to squat, they roll onto the outsides of their feet. When that movement becomes the strong pattern that is what an athlete will use as the dominant recruitment pattern.

What are some simple drills or exercises one can do to help them achieve a stable tripod and get to their big toe?

In part, the short and long extensors of the toes help keep a stable front tripod so we do single leg squats focusing on foot tripod. In the new DVD, Dr. Allen spends over an hour describing how it works and how to develop the tripod and ankle rocker.

It is my understanding that the foot, neurologically, is almost as complex as the hand so obviously diagnosing and retraining proper foot function cannot be done in a few short sentences or paragraphs.  I know you have been diligently at work with the good Dr.’s filming a new DVD series discussing foot function.  The first of DVD was released recently.  What does the first DVD cover?

In his presentation to the NSCA, Dr. Allen discusses the lower limb and its impact on the rest of the body and how to regain this lost function.

What can we expect from the upcoming DVD’s?

Right now we are in a hold pattern. We aren’t sure what direction we will go but there are some amazing concepts on the table, we are just trying to figure out the next logical progression so everyone can follow our process. So many people are against change and learning new concepts that it doesn’t seem to be worth our time to make new stuff. But we remain hopeful.

What does your current training process look like?

I video the athlete running and jumping to give me clues to weaknesses and  equally important, their compensation patterns for these weaknesses. I also have a series of tests to see how things work. When I have built an efficient machine, I start to add strength or power with isometrics. I have been spending more time on lateral stability. I have found that if you lack the lateral strength, the brain will restrict the power to go out back. Again, standing on two legs to do your work, the lateral single leg stability gets minimal work.

What drives you nuts about the industry?

Inability to accept change. But I really don’t deal with “industry”. I have a little gym that I don’t pay rent with lots of clients. So, I only deal with the industry as much as I want.

Thanks for your time and if any of our readers are interested they can pick up the excellent DVD’s at Wannagetfast

Thank you