CGP Ep138 Myopic Training

Most of us would agree that the best coaches in the world have the ability to see things that the novice coach misses.

As you progress through your career you focus on improving your ability to identify the little things that will make massive performance changes in your athletes.

The problem with this thought process is we tend to get so myopic or narrow focussed we miss the big picture.

I like to look at movement through a blurred lens on the initial viewing. This may seem counter intuitive but it allows me to see the big picture and decide where I need to focus my attention.

Now I can go deep with my assessment of movement and make my corrections. Once I have applied my correction, activation or coaching point I will then pack off and again view the movement as a whole again.

I am sure you have either had this or seen other coaches make the mistake of focusing on the symptom and not the problem.

Let's use the example of a deep squat assessment. Let's say your athlete pitches forward with their heels off the ground and hands sit outside of their footprint. This would be a failed overhead deep squat. I’ve seen coaches instantly go to the dorsiflexion test assuming their heels coming off the ground was the result of limited ankle dorsiflexion.

I ask them why didn't test the arms down deep squat?

They said,"it would be a waste of time because their heels came off the ground." But when they test dorsiflexion the athlete passes.

Now the screener is scratching their head, lost down a rabbit hole that they dug for themselves. When they test the arms down deep squat the athlete passes. Ahhh maybe I should have looked at the big picture first!

Turns out the athlete had tight lats and limited t-spine extension causing the athlete to pitch so far forward that their heels came off the ground to compensate.

This is myopic screening at its finest.