Michael Cook

Lead, Strength & Conditioning/IST, Volleyball Canada Men’s Indoor.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@EamonnFlanagan Thanks Eamonn. Did you look at the influence of some form of maximal strength expression on reactive strength endurance in this group? Thanks

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@carmenbott I could not agree more. TBH I am having a really difficult time when other practitioners “bucket” athletes into “force” vs “velocity” programming right from the beginning........

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@lahti_johan Im thinking in relation to a volleyball athlete wanting to spend more time on the ground in order to manipulate their body to the position of the set and therefore having more time on the ground (vs the UNC) might be a preferential jump strategy.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@lahti_johan This is really interesting, Johan. I understand what these authors are getting at by stating the UNC is has greater/efficient SSC outcomes but Im wondering would we maybe prefer to see the BIC (with greater impulse imparted over time) for certain sports? i.e. Volleyball.

[Jeremy Frisch @JeremyFrisch]

My apologies for sounding like an old fart...
But
Keep it in perspective:

A million programs out there touting elite athletic development. Everyone has the secret sauce to elite athleticism, speed, and agility. Exercises to break things down, build back up, special exercises, corrective exercises, endless form running drills all from your favorite speed guru to the stars...

But it's not lost in me that my generation and the ones before had no speed training gurus to work with. Many of the kids I grew up with were good movers who could stop, start, and sprint just fine. We simply played lots of sports, pick up games in the neighborhood, wrestled, ran through the woods, climbed trees, and rode our bikes to our friends house...we also had to mow the lawn, shovel the driveway and rake the leaves as landscaping companies just didn't exist. You and your siblings were your own landscapers!
I saw many great athletes growing up and can't recall one ACL or Tommy John surgery during my younger years.
Fast forward to 2023, and it's a different world. One of early sports specialists and over organization.

If you work with kids, look to the past for inspiration. Take a step back and let them play, explore, and figure things out. You'd be surprised when you put a young athlete in the right environment how well they naturally move.
#LTAD
Looking for material on youth athletic development? DM for details.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@Nick_Holt_1 @cholt2022 What a great concept!

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@EamonnFlanagan Great conversation. As others have eluded to, weak is weak and I have always wondered, when, is the appropriate time to evaluate an athlete utilizing these ratios? The first ratio I read about was Zatsiorsky (explosive strength deficit) and there were different exercises used.

[Eamonn Flanagan @EamonnFlanagan]

Following the reference trail can be a good way to establish the empirical strength of certain recommendations within "strength science".

Take the Dynamic Strength Index (or Dynamic Strength Deficit)….

(1/9)

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@missEmitche11 I’m in a situation where I am bringing awareness to volleyball athletes, who have aspirations of becoming pro/international, to consider doing some form of strength training 4/5 times per week (year round) to build their tolerance to handle increasing jump volumes. Necessary.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@carmenbott Hi Carmen. Personally, I have loved the way @dr_jump_uk defined the differences/cross over of skills vs capacities in his little black book of training wisdom. Dan goes into more depth later in the book but this is the initial explanation.

[Jeremy Frisch @JeremyFrisch]

Might be one of the best things I ever read on youth athletic development...this is coming from an Olympic lifting coach Don McCauley.

"I'm not going to spend a lot of time in this book writing about the developmental holes I believe most U.S. athletes have because of improper preparation for high level sports performance most have received. Let me state this. If you are a pre-teen or teenage athlete who competes in four or five sports per year or unending competitive seasons, you are in an abusive situation, not athletics. If you haven't taken or been given time to run through the woods or streets or alleys with your friends, jump up on rocks, jump rope, wrestle anyone that came by, skate backwards, play hop Scotch, bale hay or chop wood, climb trees, jump off a swing for height and distance, play dodge ball, climb over a fence, play Sandlot football and do back flips and cartwheels for fun, you haven't been properly prepared for high competition levels in true power sports." (Don McCauley: Power Trip)

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

Excellent advice from @carmenbott . Small turns of the screw. You don't have to make drastic changes in order to drive improvements and adaptations.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@Joe_Eisenmann @coachgambetta I would add that UG, in my experience, have been conditioned to recite these text books for an exam and have little confidence in answering more “open” or problem solving based questions. I’d also get away from standard evaluations as part of their degrees.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@danielpguzman Great discussion. Personally, the more I learned over 10-12 years about the lifts and their derivatives, the more selective I got with who did them/when/and why. Initially, almost everyone did them. Once I stumbled upon dynamic correspondence theory it really helped decisions

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@TommyEliBright @j_d_hughes @handford_matt @ProfJLake @Peter_Mundy @NicolaTheis @ChrisSmietanka Great idea!!!! Thanks Tommy.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

Testable Hypotheses: Athletes who engage in a spectrum of accentuated eccentric activities, which expand the repertoire of landing ability, are able to perform change of direction drills better than athletes who focus solely on methods to improve jump height.#SAC7200

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

Operational Theory: Volleyball S&C should move towards developing greater capacity, both acutely and chronically, for landing and not always trying to make athletes jump higher. #SAC7200

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@DrChrisBishop No problem, Chris. Thank you for letting me know.

[Michael Cook @MackemStrength]

@Peter_Mundy @andy_badby @HawkinDynamics @EFL @ForcePlateCoach @PaulComfort1975 @bennetwats @SalfordUni @RoblesPalazon @NickJRipley @MarcosASoriano1 @STreNgthP_RG @Clarke_ND @PaulAJonesUoS Thanks so much Peter. Thankfully, I read @ProfJLake “ODS” blog post when we first got the plates and I consistently go back to it to remind me of the exact thing you have mentioned. As I continue to work through this I will post again in this thread. Thanks again.