This week’s education involved evaluations of all the interns. We gave each other feedback in three areas on how we coached movement and then three areas on how proficient we were with the movement ourselves. The pressure from demonstrating the exercise makes for an interesting experience. It is one thing to know a lot about strength and conditioning on a scientific basis but learning when to apply certain modalities and strategies to improve movement patterns is truly an art. After brutally analyzing everyone’s squat pattern, it comes glaringly obvious when a compensatory pattern is performed to complete the movement successfully.
The criteria for our first proficiency checklist of the demonstration category were: start position, demonstration and compensation. Each of the three aspects had to be perfect in order to receive a checkmark. For everyone, start position was decent. Improper pelvis and neck position seemed to be the biggest starting position issue. It was from here where things started to unhinge. Dozens of compensatory issues sprouted up. Common faults that were seen were poor ankle and hip mobility and the often common inability or previous improper coaching of starting in an extended lumbar and neck position. The compensation category required that three perfect repetitions be completed to receive a checkmark.
The second aspect of the exercise was to assess other interns coaching ability of the squat movement. Three interns were paired together, one scoring the seconds coaching ability and the third being the squat performer. Coaching the start position, proper coaching cues and where the performer felt the exercise were the three areas being scored of the coach. Coaching the starting position was as basic as, feet shoulder width apart or a little wider, eyes forward and squat. There is a fine line between overloading an athlete with cues and getting a positive end result. “Pack your chin, shoulders back, rib cage down, squeeze your glute, screw your feet into the ground and a big breath…go!” That may be the better way to perform a squat under heavy load but the biggest, most dangerous issues need to be spotted and resolved first and foremost. If the athlete is not putting him or herself at harm some of the other cues will be saved for later sets when they can processes more. There is a point when you lose the athlete as a “subscriber” and they check out. This is why understanding how each individual athlete likes to be coached is important. I have had athletes that can grasp four or five different cues, while others can only handle one, or maybe only need just one! Olympic lifts are the type of exercise that if executed in the wrong start position, yields horrendous results. Simply rewinding the athlete back to their start position and giving one cue often fixes a lot of ugly pulls.
After coaching cues are fired off and the athlete still cannot perform a movement such as the squat, there are probably clear compensatory patterns giving me hints on what the issue might be. For most, a quick test of stability vs. mobility can be done using the pressure of my hand or a band. By setting up the athlete into a good start position and then placing my hand on the back of their head and pressing firmly while they resist, it becomes more clear whether that individual lacks mobility or stability. It’s not uncommon to see an athlete that immediately can sink all the way into a deep squat position fairly easily while maintaining the counter pressure with my hand. This is clearly a stability issue. While they may have other issues regarding some tissue quality discrepancies or mobility of the ankles or hips, my first area to attack is their use of their core.
I think this exercise made it apparent that very few people have great looking squats and that all compensatory patterns are not created equal. Coaching is far more than just “rah, rah, good job” and requires a much deeper level of understanding to be successful. If something doesn’t look good, it probably isn’t good and therefore should not go un-coached until it looks perfect. Everyone knows the ABC of sales…Always Be Closing. I learned that the ABC’s is even a part of being a strength and conditioning coach but with a small twist…Always Be Coaching.