Reading should be a cornerstone of practitioners in strength and conditioning and sports performance. From reading comes the opportunity to both gain new knowledge and challenge your existing beliefs, leading to an evolution of your daily practices and providing a higher level of service to your athletes. But with all the options out there, how do you pick the right book? In this multi-part series, here are 8 of the best strength and conditioning books for coaches.

1 . High-Performance Training for Sports 

by David Joyce and Daniel Lewindon [view on Amazon]

This book covers a wide range of topics including speed, agility, jumping and landing capabilities, anaerobic and aerobic conditioning, programming for the in-season and off-season, learning and cueing, and creating a positive training environment. The authors draw on their extensive experience working with elite athletes to provide practical recommendations for coaches. Names of some of the authors who contributed include Loren Landow, Brett Bartholomew, JB Morin, Stuart McMillan, and Duncan French. The book is laid out in a simple, logical flow:

• Part 1: Establishing and Developing Resilience (the foundations of training)
• Part 2: Developing Athletic Capabilities (what to do when actually training)
• Part 3: Enhancing and Sustaining Performance (taking you through a real-life calendar of off-season, pre-season, and in-season training)

This is considered one of the most well-rounded strength and conditioning books available. Alternatively, you can watch a review here:

2. Strength and Conditioning: Biological Principles and Practical Applications

by Marco Cardinale, Robert Newton, and Kazunori Nosaka [view on Amazon]

An excellent resource for S&C coaches and practitioners strength looking to develop a deep understanding of the science behind strength and conditioning. However, this information is also tied into application in practical ways. The 5 main sections of this book include skeletal muscle physiology, neural adaptations to resistance exercise, principles of athlete testing, resistance training modes, and strength and conditioning as a rehabilitation tool. This book will create a solid foundation for the scientific whys of training athletes for all strength and conditioning coaches.

3. The Science and Practice of Strength and Conditioning

by Vladimir Zatsiorsky and William Kraemer [view on Amazon]

Written by some of the most experienced coaches in the field, who combined have worked with +100 world champions, Olympians, and record holders, the authors emphasise the importance of balancing scientific principles with practical experience by incorporating the latest research into training programs. The book also includes a variety of training programs for different sports and levels of experience, making it a valuable resource for coaches and practitioners working with a wide range of athletes.

This book is divided into three parts: the foundational knowledge of strength and conditioning, the variety of training methods in strength and conditioning, and training for specific populations (including women, youth athletes, and seniors). This book is the ideal combination of academic and applied knowledge perfect for any strength and conditioning coach.

4. Strength and Conditioning for Young Athletes

by Rhodri Lloyd and Jon Oliver [view on Amazon]

Lloyd and Oliver emphasise that young athletes are not mini adults and require a different approach to training, as strength and conditioning is not “one size fits all.” The book also emphasises the importance of creating a positive training environment that promotes motivation, enjoyment, and long-term engagement in physical activity; this is considered one of the most important yet least talked about topics. The 3 main sections include:

1. Fundamental concepts of youth development
2. Development of physical fitness in young athletes
3. Contemporary issues for young athletes.

Contributing authors include well-known names like Duncan French, John Cronin, and Micheal Cahill. With over 100 exercises with detailed instructions and pictures, this book offers sample training programs which makes this an essential resource for any coach in strength and conditioning who works with youth athletes.

5. Strength and Conditioning for Sports Performance

by Ian Jeffreys and Jeremy Moody [view on Amazon]

Including detailed information on both how to assess an athlete’s needs and how to design a program that meets those needs, this book covers the foundational science of strength and conditioning among a variety of topics including training flexibility, plyometrics, strength, speed, and endurance.

The book is authored by world-leading strength and conditioning specialists such as Nick Winkleman, Tim Gabbett, Michael Stone, and Bryan Mann. Amongst all their combined experience, this book also includes sport-specific chapters that examine the application of strength and conditioning to various sports, including soccer, basketball, golf, track and field, rugby, and American football. This book is great for strength and conditioning coaches working with a variety of sports.

6. Designing Resistance Training Programs

by Steven Fleck and William Kraemer [view on Amazon]

This book creates a detailed foundation for programming by explaining the anatomy and physiology of the musculoskeletal system, as well as the metabolic and hormonal responses to exercise. Building on this, the book includes detailed instructions on how to assess an individual’s strengths and weaknesses, which is crucial for effective program design.

This book is unique in its approach to some of the more nuanced topics including advanced training techniques, manipulating training variables, and planning rest in long-term training programs. Overall, if strength and conditioning coaches want to take their programming to the next level, this is the book for them.

7. The Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy

by Brad Schoenfeld [view on Amazon]

The most comprehensive guide on the latest research and practical applications of muscle hypertrophy. The book is written in a scientific yet digestible manner, as the author breaks down complex concepts into understandable terms and brings the information back to real-life application. Provided are clear guidelines on how to design resistance training programs that optimise muscle growth, including topics such as exercise selection, volume, intensity, frequency, and periodisation. And to provide even more value, the author covers topics such as nutrition, supplementation, and recovery to build on the training.

The book is well-referenced, with over 800 scientific references cited, providing fantastic information to strength and conditioning coaches looking to learn more about hypertrophy training.

8. Strength and Conditioning for Team Sports 

by Paul Gamble [view on Amazon]

A great read for strength and conditioning coaches who are looking to improve their athlete’s performance in the team setting. Topics include a thorough list covering everything team sport athletes need such as physiological and performance testing, core stability, agility and speed development, power training, strength training, metabolic conditioning, training periodisation, and injury prevention.

With over 200 new references, this book provides evidence-based best practices and recommendations for preparing team sport athletes. It also includes detailed examples of training programs for various team sports to help bring the information shared in the book to life. Overall, this is one of the most important places to start for strength and conditioning coaches who work with team sports.

Conclusion

Hopefully throughout reading the concise summaries of 8 of the top books for strength and conditioning coaches you’ve selected 1 or 2 books to pursue first to help you get closer to your goals. It’s always worth noting that the point of reading books is not just to read, but to make you a better coach.

It is recommended that you keep a notebook next to you and write down any ideas of new exercises to try, different programming principles, or anything that will turn this information into tweaks or modifications to improve your everyday coaching. A big shout out to you, reader, for wanting to level yourself up as a professional.

The post Best Books for Strength & Conditioning Coaches: Part 1 appeared first on Science for Sport.

Hand-eye coordination is the most sport-specific but universal skill you can develop that’s not actually sport. But how can it be developed? Hint: Tennis balls could be the answer.

By Matt Tometz
Last updated: March 5th, 2024
5 min read

The best drills to develop hand-eye coordination

Hand-eye coordination is the most sport-specific but universal skill you can develop that’s not actually sport. Almost every sport requires it to some degree, and many skills go into it.

Developing hand-eye coordination is fun and it’s for everyone, and it can be as simple as tossing around a few tennis balls. I’ve been using tennis ball drills with all my athletes (youth athletes up to college, any field/court sport you can imagine as well as sports like swimming and track and field, both male and female), and there are enough variations to challenge even the highest-level athlete. And I’m sure there are even variations I haven’t discovered yet!

What is hand-eye coordination?

The definition of hand-eye coordination is what it sounds like: the body’s ability to complete tasks with a person using their hands with information gained from their eyes. Taking a step back, coordination has been defined by renowned children’s health professor Dr. Jozef Drabik as “the ability to accomplish movement tasks that demand cooperation of several parts of the body without mental tensions or mistakes, and with minimum effort.”
Although hand-eye coordination seems very narrow in definition, these tasks should involve the whole body.

Why is hand-eye coordination so important?

Without hand-eye coordination, it’s very difficult to be successful in most sports because almost all sports involving a ball require hand-eye coordination. Think about most sports tasks: catching a baseball, hitting a tennis ball, dribbling a basketball … athletes need to use visual information of the ball’s location and trajectory to move their hands and body to complete a task.

You might be thinking “sports like soccer don’t need to train hand-eye coordination because players only use their feet.” Well, that’s exactly the reason soccer players SHOULD do it: they don’t get to develop hand-eye coordination anywhere else. Hand-eye coordination is for general athleticism and is not sport-specific, and developing this skill comes with the bonuses of visual tracking and anticipation. So, athletes can develop hand-eye coordination using tennis ball drills then transfer it over to their sport during practice.

Additionally, there are many other skills that go into completing hand-eye coordination drills that can transfer to sport.

-Coordination: using the entire body (arms and legs) to complete a task; for example, sprinting, wrestling, or throwing a ball. Although hand-eye coordination by definition is using visual information and the hands to complete a task, sports require the use of an athlete’s entire body, as almost nothing is performed just standing still. Tennis ball drills are valuable because the locomotion uses the entire body plus the visual information to complete the task.

-Motor control: performing movements in the right directions and intensities to accomplish a task. This is developed by putting the correct amount of effort into the throw/toss with the right direction to give the best chance of catching the ball, especially if bouncing off a wall.

-Visual tracking and anticipation: using visual information from objects to predict the rest of its path, and consequently acting on it. This is developed by judging the trajectory of the tennis ball and deciding how far and fast to move to intercept the ball.

My secret weapon: Tennis balls

My experience and knowledge using tennis ball drills to develop hand-eye coordination are mainly anecdotal – there’s no official certification or course for tennis ball usage! But I do have many direct examples (and continuous requests from my athletes to do the ‘tennis ball warm-up’) to back up its effectiveness.

Warm-ups: Are they still needed? If so, what are the best options?
For example, an athlete of mine was a high-level soccer player, 10 years old playing on multiple 13U teams. This athlete could not catch a simple (American) football pass or string together multiple successful tennis ball drills when we first started. I consistently implemented these drills over time and the progress has been incredible – this athlete now continually needs more challenging drills. The skills we are developing go beyond soccer and will help them with overall athleticism for years to come.

Below are some of my favourite drills in this space.

Hand-eye coordination drills

The following sections of this article are very visual in nature. The links below feature two YouTube videos of mine on all the drills I do with my athletes. And I must say, I have created even more drills since the filming of these!
Video 1:

Video 2:

How to improve hand-eye coordination

How to start implementing tennis balls for hand-eye coordination into your training? First, you have to understand the different variables that go into a drill. Then, manipulate each variable when implementing these drills to affect the difficulty:

• Number of tennis balls (1 or 2)
• Number of hands (two hands allowed on the catch vs. one hand behind the back)
• Tennis ball movement (non-throwing, such as figure 8’s around legs/torso/head vs. throw and catch)
• Type of throw and catch (small or big throw; above a theoretical target; same-hand throw and catch vs. opposite hand catch; underhand or overhand; inside or outside the body frame etc)
• Athlete movement (in place, in place rotating, in place on one leg)
• Locomotion (walking forwards/backwards; jogging/backpedaling; skipping forwards/backwards vs. shuffling, carioca-ing, hopping, running and stopping on a line)
• Bounce/ricochet (off the ground or off a wall)
•  Including a partner (a partner tosses back and forth with 1 or 2 balls, in place or moving, off the ground or ball or in the air, same or opposite hands)

Hopefully after watching the videos and reading all the variables, your mind started imagining different combinations.

Like anything else in training for sports, start slow then progress from there. The last thing you want is to start with a drill that is too challenging, then the athlete may get frustrated and never want to do tennis ball drills again. Start simple and if the athlete is extremely successful in the first four or five tries, then immediately progress the drill.

Also, if a drill is a little bit too difficult, don’t hesitate to regress it.

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Final thoughts

Your mind is the limit with these tennis ball drills. Every time I do a ‘tennis ball warm-up’ with my athletes, I find myself creating new drills and variations. Also, use your athletes for feedback and inspiration. Challenge their creativity to see what variations they can come up with.

These drills check off many skills of athletic development, break up the monotony of repetitive warm-ups, and are a ton of fun to do. Don’t be surprised if you end up joining your athletes!

Matt Tometz

Matt’s speciality is speed development and he has a fascination for sport science – it’s his daily challenge to integrate the art of coaching with the science of data for his athletes of all ages and sports. His other experiences include being a sport scientist at the Division I level, publishing his thesis in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, and creating educational content for coaches and athletes.

More content by Matt

The post How tennis ball drills can help develop hand-eye coordination appeared first on Science for Sport.

Due to the busy lifestyle that many athletes live, sleep and sport don’t always go together, but it is crucial for recovery and performance. Here’s how sleep can be a difference-maker for your performance.

By Matt Tometz
Last updated: March 1st, 2024
11 min read

Sleep – why is it so important?

“It doesn’t matter how tired I get, because if I can’t get amped up for game day, then I shouldn’t be playing anyways.”

The main premise of sport is to achieve a high level of performance to give the best odds of winning. Within that pursuit of high performance, training and competition requires fatigue accumulation and breaking down the body to adapt to becoming bigger, faster and stronger. Sleep is central to this process, as it’s fundamental to both short and long-term recovery (19).

However, due to the busy lifestyle that many athletes live, sleep and sport doesn’t always go together, resulting in insufficient sleep duration and quality. Inconsistent schedules including practice, lifting, travel and games, late nights and early mornings, and also psychological and physiological stress, can all add up to impact an athlete’s sleep.

Despite some of these inevitable factors, sleep is a must for recovery and performance. Sleep is when the body not only repairs itself from hard training and competition but also grows to be better prepared for the next opportunity to perform. In a study done over 21 months with middle school and high school athletes, 65 % were chronically not getting enough sleep (17). Additionally, within elite sports, insomnia symptoms are highly prevalent (8). As one of the common sleep disorders, insomnia is defined as difficulty falling and staying asleep, which leads to a lack of restorative sleep and impaired daytime functioning (1). Lastly, it is also known that collegiate athletes fail to get restorative sleep(14).

Sleep difficulties go beyond just performance, as acute and chronic sleep disturbances could negatively affect immune function and emotional well-being (19). The insufficient sleep quantity and quality of athletes justifies encouraging and opening the discussion about sleep-optimising interventions (20). Off the court or pitch, sleep could be a difference-maker in reaching that next level of performance.

What sleep does

Between sleep and performance, recovery is foundational to the fitness-fatigue model of training. Fatigue is accumulated during training, and sleep aids in recovery to turn it into fitness to increase performance. Sleep is one of the fundamental opportunities an athlete has to recover from training and improve performance. Sleep is not simply just the absence of being awake, but a state of special brain functioning and activity with mechanisms that affect the entire body (11). The circadian rhythm is an internal clock of the body that controls all biological rhythms of the body (19), including sleep.

Exercise timing: Does it really matter if you work out in the morning, afternoon or night?

Of the four stages of sleep, slow wave and rapid eye movement (REM) are the most important. Slow-wave sleep is when growth hormone is produced and the body recovers, while REM sleep is primarily for the brain and memory consolidation (19). Within one night of sleep, the body goes back and forth between these stages, both recovering from the prior day’s efforts and preparing for the upcoming day (5). However, when sleep deprivation occurs, slow-wave sleep will be prioritised, with REM sleep returning after slow-wave sleep has been recuperated (19). For example, sleep-dependent motor sequence learning depends on that night’s sleep (19), meaning sleep deprivation will cause the cognitive benefits of sleep to suffer first.

‘Good sleep’ can be evaluated by these categories: subjective satisfaction, adequate duration, alertness during waking hours, high efficiency, and appropriate timing (3). Understanding why sleep is important and how to evaluate if an athlete is achieving good sleep or not leads to identifying potential sleep deprivation. Although there is a lack of consistency with sleep recommendations, greater than eight hours has been used as a general guideline for sufficient sleep (17). Sleep can benefit an athlete’s health and well-being, mood, and cognitive performance on top of physical performance (14, 15).

Sleep deprivation – it’s more harmful than you think

Although the objectiveness of how much sleep and the effectiveness of sleep is yet to be officially determined, in this context of athletes and sport, sleep deprivation can be described as the lack of sleep quantity and quality required to recover from sport and perform at a high level.

Now that we understand how sleep aids in the recovery process, it’s easy to see how sleep deprivation can be detrimental to physiological growth and repair (19). However, it is important to note there is a difference between acute (one night) and chronic (5+ days) sleep deprivation. Acute sleep deprivation yields consequences related to mood, cognition, performance, emotions, and behaviour, while chronic sleep deprivation can lead to long-term health problems such as cardiovascular disease, weight-related issues, cancer, and risk of mortality (7).

Sleep problems can include long sleep latency (taking too long to fall asleep), waking up during sleep, short sleep duration, and lack of sleep quality (13). These issues can arise from the increased time demands of athletes pushing other responsibilities to later in the day, which reduces sleep duration. For example, morning training sessions limit the opportunity for sleep and lead to increased pre-training fatigue levels (18). Additionally, the stress (both physical and psychological) and pressure to achieve high performance may cause sleep problems. This doesn’t mean athletes should not train in the morning, neglect outside responsibilities, or have lower expectations, it just means these factors need to be considered when planning out training and daily life.

These lifestyle factors can turn into a vicious cycle of not receiving enough sleep due to early practice, a midday nap affecting later sleep latency, bedtime being pushed back due to increased time demands of practice/games, the inability to stay asleep because of the pressure to perform, all combining to alter the athlete’s circadian rhythm and biological systems required for sleep. When this is accumulated over the course of a month, a semester, a school year, and so on, athletes can experience decreased performance and an increased risk of injury.

Can sleep deprivation lead to higher injury risks?

One of the biggest issues surrounding sleep deprivation is injury risk. Although injury risk is hard to predict and we need to keep in mind correlation is not causation, some studies have started to describe this relationship. It has been shown that both acute stress and coping ability contribute to injury risk (16). A risk factor for adolescents includes the amount of sleep they get per night (17), and adolescents with chronic lack of sleep are more likely to suffer sports injuries than those who sleep well; however, the acute effects of poor sleep are not yet determined (7). Lastly, logically, it can be deduced that when sleep-deprived athletes are in a poorer physical condition and possess less neuromuscular coordination when performing the skills of a sport (7), they could be more prone to injury.

Not only can early identification of fatigue-related performance decrements aid injury reduction efforts (10), but these can also be addressed firsthand by sleep-related issue identification. Valid and reliable questionnaires exist that identify athletes who could benefit from sleep-related interventions (2).

How to sleep better … and what about napping?

Sleep hygiene is a term used to describe the behavioural and environmental factors that promote healthy sleep (13). This is often neglected due to all the other responsibilities of athletes including academic, athletic, and social demands (14). However, it is important to know why sleep is important and the factors that affect it, so good sleep hygiene and sleep habits can be made (16, 19). Similar to how performance can be trained, sleep training is conditioning the body for better sleep.

Action can be taken to improve both an athlete’s sleep duration and sleep quality. There is a three-step approach to improving sleep. Firstly,  understanding the value of improved sleep and why it’s important, then gaining information on the best sleep practices, and finally, removing any sleep barriers that may be present (14).

Here are some of the best rules of thumb to improve sleep (13):

1. The closer to bedtime caffeine is consumed, the more likely it is to negatively affect sleep.
2. The more pre-sleep arousal an athlete has, the more likely it is to negatively affect sleep.
3. The more irregular the athlete’s sleep schedule is, the more likely it is to negatively affect sleep.

Turning these into action can include: not consuming caffeine after noon, adopting stress-management techniques to reduce stress and arousal before bedtime, and keeping both bedtime and waking time as consistent as possible. For example, an athlete can adopt a bedtime routine, read a book to relax, write down their schedule for the upcoming day, etc. to ease the mind before trying to fall asleep.

It is also worth noting more time in bed does not necessarily equate to higher sleep quality (4). This means that more goes into achieving effective sleep than simply spending more time in bed; much more goes into sleep hygiene to achieve the right environment both physically and mentally to get high-quality sleep. Factors such as light, body temperature, and noise can affect an athlete’s sleep (19). Reducing the amount of light in the bedroom, lowering the core body temperature and temperature of the room, and eliminating all noise can promote good sleep hygiene. The optimal room temperature has been recommended to be 66-69˚F (19-21˚C) (9). However, it will depend on what temperature the athlete prefers.

Although there is conflicting research on napping, as it could be up to the athlete’s preference, it is important to consider the effects of sleep inertia when napping. Sleep inertia is the continued feelings of sleepiness and grogginess after waking. If an athlete decides to nap, they should give themselves 30 minutes between waking up and their next obligation to mitigate that side effect (15). Additionally, to reduce the potential negative effects of napping, the athlete should also make sure the nap does not affect their habitual sleep schedule at night (15).

Relative to the training and competition calendar, an athlete should be conscious of when they are at the highest risk of injury to prioritise sleep and recovery. Higher injury rates are experienced during pre-season due to the increased workload and longer or multiple practices (12). With this knowledge, athletes can be intelligent about their training load and extra conscious about the amount of sleep they are getting during that period of time. Additionally, in-season training and games come with the increased physical stress of travel and the psychological stress of competition.

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Final thoughts before you turn in for the night…

Sleep is just as important as training and competition because it’s the body’s opportunity to recover and prepare itself to achieve high-performance next time. Sleep deprivation can reduce the gains and progress made from training, reduce performance, and increase the risk of injury. However, the main issue isn’t necessarily acute sleep deprivation but chronic sleep deprivation (7). The factors associated with being an athlete such as increased psychological stress, irregular schedules, and travel often come at the expense of sleep.

Jet lag and travel fatigue: Tips and tricks for athletes

A study performed on a group of athletes which included an intervention of sleep hygiene education showed the athletes returned to their pre-sleep hygiene education habits within a month of the education ending (4). This shows the habitual nature of sleep, and achieving better sleep goes beyond simply understanding the value of it. Sub-optimal sleep is often not an acute issue but a chronic lifestyle issue. All the factors such as daily physical stress, travel, caffeine consumption, pre-bed routines (or lack thereof), pressure to perform, and irregular sleep schedules over years of being an athlete often accumulate into norms and habits that yield insufficient sleep. The factors listed above are neither inherently good nor bad, but it’ll consequently take the same accumulation in the opposite direction to fix the problem. The subconscious lifestyle choices that appear normal to athletes will take just as much intentionality to reverse them.

Athletes can capitalise on this knowledge of the importance of sleep and common sleep deprivation causes by acknowledging the issue, determining what actions can be taken to mitigate those issues and assimilate those changes into their daily lives to become normal. Sleeping better is just about as opposite as it can be from sport: it’s mundane and slow. Making better choices for sleep hygiene is actively taking the crazy out of daily life wherever possible when much is not in an athlete’s control. But maybe that’s the encouraging part, that there are opportunities to sleep better. And sometimes that’s all athletes can do: give themselves the best opportunity to get an awesome night of sleep. Just as athletes can influence their performance on the court or field, they can influence their performance while sleeping.

Matt Tometz

Matt’s speciality is speed development and he has a fascination for sport science – it’s his daily challenge to integrate the art of coaching with the science of data for his athletes of all ages and sports. His other experiences include being a sport scientist at the Division I level, publishing his thesis in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, and creating educational content for coaches and athletes.

More content by Matt

The post Sleep and sport: Deprivation, training and performance appeared first on Science for Sport.