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Ever been to a get-together and someone brings a dish that is absolutely amazing? It seemingly has the perfect ingredients in just the right amounts, but when you ask them for the recipe they decline, responding, "It's a secret." Well I loved that cheese dip that I never learned how to make and I hate secrets so today I am going to reveal one to you.

The secret to building a complete athlete follows a specific and very logical progression. Every step in the process is just as important as the other and no steps can be skipped. Before I get to the secret sauce, consider this question.

If I am an athlete who needs to get faster, would I benefit the most by?

a) Committing the majority of my training to speed development.

b) Use an integrated training approach which addresses multiple important factors of overall development.

Why did you pick what you picked? Logic would say if we wanted to get faster we would commit ourselves to speed development, but sometimes logic assumes too much. We'll get back to this in a few minutes, until then let's examine the 6 steps to building a complete athlete via the developmental hierarchy.

Mobility > Stability> Work Capacity > Strength > Power >Speed

1) Mobility is the ability to move unrestricted through full ranges of motion. We cannot stabilize our bodies if we do not have adequate joint range of motion, as alignment and therefore, the ability to resist unwanted movement will suffer. Mobility allows us to drop our hips, bend our ankles and obtain complete hip separation during a sprint. Full range of motion is not achieved without adequate mobility.

Lynch John Bootsrapper

  • Athletes commonly need more mobility in the ankles, hips and thoracic spine.

 

2) Stability is the ability to stack our joints in a way that will create stabilization or the ability to resist motion. We will not have much work capacity (endurance) if we do not move efficiently. Think of it as riding a bike with a leak. You can still ride the bike but it will take a lot more energy to ride it.

Band resisted bird dog

  • Athletes commonly need more stability in the foot, knee, lumbar spine and shoulder joints.

 

3) Work Capacity is the ability to perform work without accumulating fatigue. To build strength the body must be conditioned in a way that allows for recovery to occur before the next bout of high intensity effort. If work capacity is suffering so will the body's ability to recover between sets and the strength numbers will display that fact.

E2 Prowler pull plank 2

  • Athletes commonly need more anaerobic training as most practice and "training" sessions are unknowingly aerobic or glycolytic in nature.

 

4) Strength is the ability to generate force. Since power is a function of strength, if the body is unable to produce high levels of force it will always have trouble moving with power or rapid force. Strength must come before power or speed.

IMG 5493

  • Athletes always need more strength, namely pattern strength. This means instead of having a stronger chest they need more pushing power or instead of stronger hamstrings they need stronger hip extension strength.

 

5) Power is the ability to produce large amounts of force as quickly as possible (Impulse). Since speed is the rate at which distance is covered one must be able to produce fast and forceful muscle contractions before speed is ever achieved (aka rate-of-force-development).

IMG 5530

  • Athletes need a high ability to generate large forces in small windows of time. Power development is essential for high-level athletes.

 

6) Speed is the rate at which a distance is covered and is a direct product of the summation of all other five developmental limiting factors. Fix the first five and speed will follow.

Zeman J. band start

So there you have it, complete athletes have great mobility and dynamic range of motion, this enables them to stay better aligned when they move which in turn creates great stability.

This stability, or ability to resist unwanted movement, allows their bodies to be more efficient when training as they will not wear out as quickly and their work capacity will increase.

This increased work capacity will allow them to train at a higher intensiveness while additionally recovering between sets and reps, which will increase strength.

The increase in strength will give them the ability to produce larger forces which when applied with acceleration will increase power.

When power increases our ability to go faster also increases.

So what's your answer now? Now obviously everyone is different. This is why performing some type of baseline assessment is so vital. Some athletes need to start at tier 1) mobility, while others are at tier 5) power. It is also important to know that just because your mobility may suck doesn't mean you can't get, stronger, more powerful or faster. It just means you won't improve at the rate or amount you would if your mobility was up to par. For an athlete is always about extinguishing limiting factors and in the case of building a complete athlete there is a very specific pattern to follow.

Remember athletes are not built overnight, over a few months of over a year or two. Complete athletes are developed over the long term. Be patient and address what needs to be addressed, I guarantee it will pay off in the long run.