This week in the world of sports science, here’s what happened…
- Mike Boyle’s coaching advice
- Why does Paul Skenes use a water backpack in his warm-up?
- New submaximal fitness testing technology
Mike Boyle’s coaching advice
A recent Instagram reel featuring the legendary S&C coach Mike Boyle shared an invaluable coaching tip! In the reel, Boyle starts by emphasising, “People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
He connects this insight to coaching, noting that many environments, especially those for youth athletes, tend to be negative, focusing more on athletes’ mistakes than on their successes. Interestingly, the number of young athletes who thrive on negativity as motivation is much lower than we might think.
Boyle wraps up the reel with a powerful phrase that every coach should keep in mind: “Shout praise, whisper criticism.” If you would like to learn more about empowering athletes, check out our course Growing a Motivating Training Environment.
Why does Paul Skenes use a water backpack in his warm-up?
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes has been making waves online with his unusual pre-game warm-up routine that involves a unique water backpack! A recent YouTube video from Playbook HQ shed light on the rationale for Skenes’ warm-up equipment.
What Skenes employs is a hydro vest equipped with a water-filled cylindrical backpack that rests on his shoulders. By wearing this vest and water backpack, he boosts core engagement to stabilise the weight and mimic the mechanics of a baseball throw without actually pitching a ball. This approach not only helps him warm up effectively for his games but also minimises the risk of arm overuse injuries, which are all too common in baseball.
If you want to dive deeper into elbow injuries, be sure to check out our blog The elbow injury ‘epidemic’ and how to rehabilitate successfully and our previous feature on baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s elbow injury (see here).
New submaximal fitness testing technology
Firstbeat Technologies has unveiled its latest submaximal fitness testing software, which could be a game-changer and a significant time-saver for S&C coaches and sports scientists.
This innovative software enables practitioners to monitor key metrics, such as heart rate, percentage of heart rate maximum, and heart rate recovery, in real time during submaximal fitness tests. Furthermore, it generates comprehensive test reports almost immediately after the assessment, eliminating the tedious task of manually creating reports.
If you’re interested in learning how to implement this software effectively, Leicester City F.C.’s first-team sport scientist, Tom Joel, recently shared insights in a webinar on how he leverages Firstbeat Technologies’ submaximal testing software (see here) to enhance workflow efficiency and player monitoring.
From us this week:
>> New course: Socially Supporting Athletes
>> New podcast: ACL Rehab: Acceleration, Plyometrics and the Transfer to Performance
>> New infographic: V02 Max
>> New article: Hydrotherapy
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