by Don Heatrick
@donheatrick
Following on from the last Heavy Hitters Podcast (looking at post fight reviewing and goal setting), this video explains my logic for selecting what your next S&C goals should be… and it’s simpler than you think!!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT & LINKS!
After my last podcast on post fight reviews and goal setting… fellow S&C coach Todd Davidson got in contact asking about how I’d apply this goal setting to other sports, particularly in the weights room.
Effectively, what should my training target next? And when it comes to assessing and improving athletic capability, my answer is the same regardless of the sport.
My background as a mechanical design Engineer means I have a very structured approach to problem solving. And I personally have a Flow chart type logic… Hey it works for me! Todd liked it, and I thought I’d share it with you too!
GOAL SETTING – SUPER EASY POINTS
For example:
1. If either speed, power, OR muscular endurance is lacking, but general strength is lacking too – build strength first!
2. If either speed, power, or muscular endurance is lacking, but general strength levels are good – then target either speed, power or muscular endurance accordingly.
Otherwise, you’re polishing a turd! I think that’s originally an engineering term, but I’m sure you get the meaning!
Foundation strength underpins all these other qualities, if it’s not adequate none of them will be as good as they should be.
So that’s your main take home point, keeping it super simple.
I used this foundation logic to set accurate goals for “Andy” and his clinch performance in the worked example in that Post Fight Reviews Podcast – I’ll share a link to that if you missed it:
15 WINNING QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF AFTER EVERY FIGHT (SO YOU NEVER LOSE)!
As fighters, we’re looking to keep all the plates spinning; speed, power, strength, endurance… We fight regularly all year round and we can’t afford to let anything detrain significantly while we build better general strength.
And I use a conjugate planning approach in my programmes to achieve this, where there’s a quantity of each athletic quality in every block of training. But the focus is on developing just a couple of athletic qualities while maintaining the others. I’ll link into another video that further explains this:
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRAINING BLOCK AND A PHASE?
But that way we can work on getting the strength plate spinning nice and fast, while paying just enough attention to the speed, power and endurance plates to make sure they don’t fall! Then, once that strength plate is spinning fast enough, we can focus our effort into whichever quality needs boosting next.
GOAL SETTING – BONUS POINTS
That leads me to some bonus points…
3. If you’re strong, but lack explosive power, develop power next.
4. If you’re adequately powerful but lack speed, work speed next.
5. If you’re pretty powerful and fast, but lack local muscular endurance then work that next… particularly if you’re approaching an important fight.
Again, in this order you’re working with your physiology. Strength is the base for power, check! Power is the base for speed, check! And if you’re neither powerful or fast, then there’s nothing much to work with to endure (for endurance).
Generally, most fighters default to endurance training. Thrashing out with a relatively limited power base – teaching their body to only endure a smaller power output. And fatigue prevents developing greater levels of power.
The savvy fighter separates out their absolute speed and power training, and builds that up without fatigue, and then purposely shifts the emphasis to enduring these increased speed and power levels for longer.
My training blocks actually work on speed along with speed/power endurance… not in the same session, but in the same weekly blocks. This feeds into the best peak performance for a fight.
So in a nutshell, there’s some simple goal setting logic for your strength and conditioning sessions.
And in my experience, for most fighters, foundation strength is what’s lacking – but of course you can test for that to make sure! And testing is a subject for another time!
If you like a structured approach to your training so you get the best out of yourself, do head over to Heatrick.com where you’ll find all our Heavy Hitters articles, videos, resources and courses so you can discover, practice and become and better fighter.
Catch you next time!
Don Heatrick
Founder of Heatrick Strength and Conditioning
Don Heatrick is a family man from the UK, former mechanical design engineer, European Muay Thai silver medallist, former pro Thai boxer (ranked 4th in UK while aged 40-years), a Muay Thai coach, podcast host, and the go-to expert on Muay Thai performance training with over 25 years of coaching experience.
Don helps ambitious fighters and coaches take their game to the next level by bridging the gap between Strength & Conditioning, Performance Science, and Muay Thai.
Follow Don Heatrick on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donheatrick/
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