The Ultimate Guide to Training Athletes (In 13 minutes)

Have you ever wondered what truly separates good athletes from the elite? It is often observed that talent plays a significant role, but a deeper understanding reveals that a scientific approach to training athletes is often the real differentiator. By harnessing the power of exercise science, coaches are often positioned to achieve remarkable results, leading to athletes actively seeking their guidance.

The video above provides an insightful overview of the methods refined over a decade, encompassing experience with thousands of athletes, from youth to professional levels. This article is designed to complement that video, delving deeper into the foundational exercise science and the three critical pillars of athlete training: assessment, training, and recovery. The aim is to equip you with the knowledge needed to consistently produce superior performance outcomes.

Understanding the Foundational Principles of Athlete Training

Before any training plan can be effectively designed, a grasp of fundamental exercise science is considered essential. This knowledge acts as the bedrock upon which all successful athlete development is built.

Muscle Fiber Types: The Body’s Performance Engines

It is widely understood that every individual possesses a unique blend of muscle fiber types, primarily categorized as slow-twitch and fast-twitch. These fibers are not merely structural components; they are the specialized engines that power athletic movements.

• Slow-Twitch Fibers (Type I): These fibers are often associated with endurance activities and lighter loads. They are highly efficient at using oxygen to generate fuel (ATP) for continuous, extended muscle contractions. Think of these as a car with excellent fuel economy, capable of long journeys at a steady pace, perfect for a marathon runner. When these fibers are trained, an increase in endurance capacity is typically observed.
• Fast-Twitch Fibers (Type II): In contrast, fast-twitch fibers are recruited for powerful, rapid movements, such as sprinting, Olympic lifts, and medicine ball throws. They are also heavily involved in lifting heavy weights or performing repetitions to failure. These fibers rely on anaerobic metabolism, providing quick bursts of energy. They can be likened to a high-performance sports car, offering explosive acceleration but with a more limited fuel tank. Training these fibers typically leads to significant improvements in speed and power.

It is important to acknowledge a genetic predisposition in muscle fiber distribution. Some athletes are naturally endowed with a greater proportion of fast-twitch fibers, predisposing them to power-dominant sports, while others may inherently possess more slow-twitch fibers, making them naturally better suited for endurance. While training can improve capabilities, working with an athlete’s natural strengths is often considered a strategic advantage.

The Unspoken Role of Genetics in Athletic Potential

Beyond muscle fiber composition, genetics play a more profound role that is often overlooked. Body structure, for instance, is heavily influenced by inherited traits and can significantly impact an athlete’s suitability for certain sports.

• Rugby Athletes: It can be observed that many rugby players tend to exhibit a stocky build, characterized by a square face and a wide ribcage. This body structure is highly beneficial, as it contributes to a low center of mass, which is crucial for stability and generating the raw power required in collision sports.
• Distance Runners: Conversely, distance runners are often characterized by a more slender physique, including a narrow face and ribcage. This allows for a relatively higher center of mass in conjunction with longer legs, optimizing biomechanical efficiency for sustained running. Furthermore, their smaller frames often facilitate more efficient diaphragm movement, improving oxygen delivery to their working muscles.

While an individual can certainly improve any athletic attribute through dedicated training, a greater degree of success or faster progress is often achieved when an athlete’s genetic predispositions are considered. Aligning training programs with an athlete’s inherent build and physiological makeup can greatly enhance their potential for success. For example, a swimmer might be observed to have a longer torso and arm span, providing a natural leverage advantage in the water.

The Body’s Energy Systems: Fueling Performance

The human body is an intricate machine, capable of generating energy in various ways, depending on the demands placed upon it. To simplify, three primary energy systems are utilized:

• Explosive Energy (ATP-PC System): This system is responsible for immediate, powerful bursts of energy, typically lasting less than 10 seconds. Think of a 100-meter sprinter exploding out of the blocks or a weightlifter performing a maximal single lift. It operates anaerobically (without oxygen) and is crucial for high-intensity, short-duration efforts.
• Short-Term Fuel (Glycolytic System): When explosive efforts extend slightly longer, up to about 90 seconds, the glycolytic system becomes prominent. This system also works without oxygen, breaking down glucose to produce ATP, though less efficiently than the ATP-PC system. Examples include a 400-meter dash or a shift on the ice for a hockey player, where powerful, sustained effort is required.
• Endurance (Oxidative System): For activities lasting longer than 90 seconds, the oxidative system takes over. This system is aerobic, meaning it uses oxygen to produce a vast amount of ATP from carbohydrates and fats. It is the primary energy source for long-distance running, cycling, or any prolonged activity requiring sustained effort.

The specific demands of an athlete’s sport dictate which energy system, or combination thereof, needs to be prioritized in training. A soccer player, for instance, requires a sophisticated interplay of all three systems, needing explosive bursts, repeated short-term efforts, and sustained endurance over a match. By understanding these systems, training can be precisely tailored to enhance sport-specific energy production.

Pillar One: Comprehensive Athlete Assessment

Before any effective training can commence, an accurate understanding of an athlete’s current capabilities and limitations is considered indispensable. This initial phase, often viewed as the diagnostic stage, involves two key components: movement assessment and performance testing.

Movement Assessment: Unlocking Physical Potential

Movement assessment is the process by which an athlete’s movement patterns, joint mobility, and stability are evaluated. This is often approached in a joint-by-joint manner, meticulously examining specific ranges of motion and identifying any restrictions or imbalances. For example, specific attention might be paid to:

• Hip Flexion, Internal, and External Rotation: Restricted hip movement can severely impact power generation in sprinting, squatting, or rotational sports. A limited range might suggest tightness in the hip flexors or issues with the hip capsule.
• Ankle Dorsiflexion: Insufficient ankle dorsiflexion is commonly observed and can limit squat depth, affect landing mechanics, and increase the risk of knee injuries during activities like jumping and running.
Lumbar Spine Flexion/Extension: Proper spinal movement is critical for overall stability and force transfer, with restrictions potentially leading to compensatory movements and pain.

The core principle of effective movement assessment, as often emphasized by experienced coaches, is to “test and retest.” This involves identifying a movement restriction, performing a single corrective drill, and then immediately retesting the movement. This iterative process provides immediate feedback, allowing both the coach and athlete to understand what interventions are effective and which are not. Over time, this systematic approach builds expertise and trust, as tangible improvements are frequently demonstrated.

Performance Testing: Quantifying Athletic Abilities

Once fundamental movement patterns are understood, performance testing is utilized to quantify an athlete’s physical attributes, ensuring that training targets the most relevant physiological needs for their sport. This testing must be highly specific, mirroring the demands of the sport itself.

• Sprinters: A sprinter’s assessment might include a 40-meter sprint to measure acceleration, a flying 30-meter sprint for maximum velocity, and vertical or broad jumps to gauge explosive power. These tests directly reflect the critical performance metrics of their sport.
• 400-meter Hurdlers: For a more complex sport like 400-meter hurdles, a broader battery of tests is often employed. This could involve a five-rep maximum back squat for absolute strength, a triple broad jump for dynamic power, and a comprehensive hip mobility assessment, alongside laboratory tests for lactate threshold to understand their capacity for sustained high-intensity effort.
• Cross-Country Runners: Endurance athletes, such as cross-country runners, would typically undergo tests like a 5k run for aerobic capacity, a one-minute push-up test for muscular endurance and postural control, and VO2 max testing in a lab setting to determine their maximal oxygen uptake.

The selection of performance tests is paramount; they must directly correlate with the energy systems and physical attributes critical for success in the athlete’s specific sport. Accurate testing, followed by diligent analysis of the results, provides the objective data necessary for developing a truly effective and individualized training program.

Pillar Two: Strategic Training Design

With a thorough assessment completed, the next critical step is to design a training program that systematically addresses the athlete’s needs and goals. This involves making informed decisions about training frequency, volume, and progression, before even considering specific exercises.

Training Frequency: How Often Should Athletes Train?

Training frequency refers to how often an athlete engages in structured training sessions within a given period, typically a week. This decision is influenced by several factors:

• Goals: Is the aim to build strength, improve endurance, maintain fitness, or recover from injury?
• Training Season: Off-season often allows for higher frequency and volume, while in-season demands more strategic programming to balance performance and recovery.
• Training Experience: Beginners may require less frequency to adapt, while advanced athletes can handle more.
• Life Factors: School, work, travel, and sleep quality all impact an athlete’s capacity to train and recover.

General guidelines often suggest that for those training one to two times per week, a full-body approach is most beneficial. This ensures all major muscle groups are stimulated, maximizing progress within limited frequency. When training three to four times per week, more flexibility is introduced, allowing for splits like upper-lower routines. Beyond four sessions per week, it is often more effective to diversify, incorporating dedicated conditioning and skill training sessions rather than simply adding more resistance training. However, during specific phases like the off-season, athletes may be in the gym five or six times per week, specifically building lean body mass.

Training Volume: The Right Dose of Work

Training volume refers to the total amount of work performed, often quantified by the number of challenging sets per muscle group per week. It is crucial to count only those sets that truly challenge the athlete, excluding warm-up or submaximal efforts. Different volume targets are suitable for different goals and experience levels:

• Low Volume (8-10 challenging sets per muscle group per week): This range is often ideal for beginners, athletes in maintenance phases, or those with significant time constraints. For example, two sets of squats and two sets of lunges performed twice a week would accumulate 8 challenging quadricep sets. This can be compared to planting a few seeds; enough to start growth or sustain a small garden.
• Moderate Volume (~15 challenging sets per muscle group per week): This is frequently considered an optimal range for most athletes seeking significant gains in strength and hypertrophy. An example might be three sets of squats, two sets of lunges, and two sets of leg extensions, performed twice weekly, totaling 14 sets. This is like having a productive garden with a good variety of plants, yielding consistent returns.
• High Volume (20+ challenging sets per muscle group per week): This intensity is generally reserved for specific phases like bulking or planned overreaching, where the aim is to maximize muscle growth. For instance, four sets of hack squats, three sets of lunges, and three sets of leg extensions, twice a week, would equate to 20 sets. This represents an abundant harvest, but also requires careful management to prevent overtraining. If an athlete is performing significantly more volume than this, it is often indicative that the “challenging” nature of their sets may be compromised.

Progression: The Key to Continuous Improvement

Progression is the systematic increase in training stimulus over time, compelling the body to adapt and grow stronger. For most athletes, particularly once they have built a foundational level of strength, progressing intensity is often recommended. This means keeping exercises, sets, and repetitions relatively consistent while gradually increasing the weight lifted. Beginners, however, often benefit from increasing sets and reps until they reach at least a moderate volume.

However, once moderate to high volumes are established, continuously adding more sets and reps typically yields diminishing returns. Instead, the focus should shift to adding more weight to the bar, ensuring that the working sets remain challenging and stimulate adaptation. Coaches often observe that prioritizing intensity and quality of effort within a controlled volume range is more effective than simply piling on endless sets and exercise variations.

Integrating Plyometrics, Mobility, and Conditioning

Once the core decisions regarding frequency, volume, and progression are made, specific exercises can then be selected. However, a holistic program also necessitates the strategic inclusion of plyometrics, mobility work, and conditioning, guided directly by the athlete’s assessment results.

• Plyometrics: These exercises involve rapid and forceful muscular contractions to improve power and explosiveness (e.g., box jumps, broad jumps). If performance testing reveals a need for greater explosiveness for an athlete’s sport, targeted plyometrics can be integrated.
• Mobility Work: If movement assessments identify restrictions in specific joints, such as limited hip mobility, then targeted mobility exercises (e.g., hip internal rotation drills, spiderman lunges) are introduced. The principle of “test and retest” remains vital here, ensuring that only effective drills are included.
• Conditioning: Based on energy system demands and conditioning test results (e.g., low lactate threshold for a field sport athlete), specific conditioning protocols can be implemented. This might involve interval training or tempo runs to improve aerobic capacity or lactate tolerance. For example, programming four 8-minute runs with 2 minutes of rest, aiming to increase pace each week, directly addresses a lactate threshold deficiency.

This systematic, assessment-driven approach ensures that every component of the training program serves a specific purpose, leading to measurable results that athletes can both observe and feel. It removes guesswork and replaces it with a logical, evidence-based strategy.

Pillar Three: Optimizing Athlete Recovery

Recovery is often considered the unsung hero of athletic performance. It is during this crucial phase that the body adapts to the stresses of training, rebuilds, and strengthens. A common pitfall is to immediately focus on passive recovery modalities, while overlooking more impactful, active strategies.

Active Recovery: Training as a Tool for Restoration

Instead of merely resting, active recovery strategically uses low-intensity activities to aid the recovery process. This approach is highly effective and often underutilized:

• Low-Intensity Aerobic Work: An easy spin bike session, a light jog, or swimming at a relaxed pace can significantly increase blood flow, which helps deliver nutrients to fatigued muscles and flush out metabolic byproducts. This not only aids physical recovery but also contributes to cardiovascular health and aerobic fitness. It’s like gently stirring a muddy pond to help the sediment settle more quickly.
• Mobility and Movement Prep: Dedicated mobility or movement preparation sessions, performed at a low intensity, can improve range of motion, reduce stiffness, and mentally prepare an athlete for subsequent training. These sessions can double as a form of mental relaxation, helping athletes transition from daily stressors to a focused training mindset.

Mental Preparation: The Pre-Training Ritual

The mental state of an athlete entering a training session has a profound impact on performance. Distractions from emails, social media, or other life stressors can lead to reduced motivation, lower force output, and a higher perceived effort for the same work. To combat this, a brief, simple routine can be implemented before training:

• A five-minute walk followed by five minutes of specific movement preparation exercises, performed without distractions, can help athletes mentally “shift gears.” This ritual fosters focus and mindfulness, ensuring that when the actual training begins, the athlete is fully present and engaged. This is especially vital for online training clients who must cultivate a higher degree of self-discipline and mental preparedness to maintain consistency.

By integrating these routines, athletes can experience less burnout and a reduced need for intensive passive recovery, as their bodies and minds are consistently prepared for the demands of training.

Passive Recovery: Strategic Application

While active recovery and mental preparation are foundational, certain passive recovery techniques do have their place when applied judiciously.

• Overrated Techniques: Some modalities, such as saunas, while often feeling good, can sometimes lead to dehydration if not managed properly. Non-specific foam rolling or “lazy” mobility work, without targeted assessment or retesting, often provides minimal benefit and can be a waste of valuable time. These are sometimes viewed as broad-stroke solutions that lack precision.
• Effective Techniques: Techniques with stronger research backing include massage, which can aid in muscle recovery and reduce soreness, and surprisingly, compression boots (like Normatec), which are thought to improve blood flow and lymphatic drainage. Crucially, foundational elements such as post-training nutrition (adequate protein and carbohydrates for muscle repair and energy replenishment) and sufficient, high-quality sleep are paramount. These are the cornerstones of physiological recovery, without which other modalities offer limited impact.

The successful training of athletes is ultimately a symphony of precise assessment, intelligent programming, and thoughtful recovery strategies. When these three pillars are meticulously managed, consistent progress is not just hoped for, but systematically achieved, paving the way for superior athletic performance.

Beyond the 13 Minutes: Your Athlete Training Questions Answered

What typically makes an athlete elite instead of just good?

Beyond natural talent, a scientific approach to training is often what truly differentiates elite athletes. This method harnesses exercise science to achieve remarkable performance results.

What are the three main parts of training an athlete effectively?

Effective athlete training is built upon three critical pillars: comprehensive assessment (understanding the athlete’s current state), strategic training design (creating targeted workouts), and optimizing athlete recovery (allowing the body to adapt).

Why is it important to know about different muscle fiber types?

Understanding muscle fiber types (slow-twitch for endurance, fast-twitch for power) helps coaches design training programs that best suit an athlete’s natural strengths and the specific demands of their sport.

Why is recovery important for athletes?

Recovery is a crucial phase where an athlete’s body adapts to training stress, rebuilds, and strengthens. It is essential for improving performance, preventing injury, and avoiding burnout.