Articles
4 Reflections from the ALTIS Community in 2020
It is typical of our staff (and I’m sure many of you) to spend time in the latter stages of December reflecting on the past 12 months. For us, this is often centered around our programming, the successes and failures of the athletes we work with, areas we need to improve upon, and so on. This year though is a...
Strength and Endurance – Strange Bedfellows?
The following is an excerpt from the digital Course, Coaching the Endurance Events. Check it out here! “What about the added body mass? Won’t this make my runners slow?” This question highlights a legitimate concern, and has been used as justification for distance runners to not lift weights for decades. The most simple explanation for this is that the majority of...
Top-Down or Bottom-Up?
How can we employ a Performance Therapy Methodology (systems thinking) in a team sport environment? I have been thinking about this for a few years now and our team here at ALTIS recently sat down to discuss it at some length. While I think I’m pretty confident in how this could be done effectively, we first need to understand the...
ALTIS 360 Highlight: From Research to Performance – Practical Considerations for High Performance Sport
We have reached out to our neighbors here in Phoenix, AZ quite often over the last year to have discussions around bringing practical sports medicine to the forefront of human performance. As part of this initiative, we have secured two video presentations (with more to come!) from our local network in professional sport. These videos can be found for FREE...
Sprinting: It’s Just Like Riding A Bike … Until It’s Not
“It’s just like riding a bike” This is a phrase that refers to a learned skill that is retained over time; if you learned how to ride a bike as a kid, even years later, it's hard to forget. You have probably ridden a bike, and can attest to the above — but have you ever taught someone else how...
Jumping: A Skill and A Science
Current ALTIS Apprentice, Mohammad Nourani, drew from his experiences competing and working in multiple sports to put together this comprehensive resource on various jumps. This article will examine the basics of jump biomechanics, as well as compare and contrast jumps in separate sports, to show commonalities. Enjoy! Despite the purpose, intent, and outcomes of jumps across various sports being different,...
Guest Post: How to use the ALTIS Kinogram Method in Tennis
This post comes courtesy of Matt Kuzdub. Matt's best known for creating www.mattspoint.com - an online platform for all things tennis training - including coaching, articles and ebooks. He also coaches a small group of elite players (college & pro), both on and off the tennis court. Previously, Matt was the lead sport scientist at 'Train with PUSH' and holds an MSc...
A Practical Guide to Training during Ramadan
Written by Mohammad Nourani — current intern coach at ALTIS and former NCAA collegiate athlete. Every Ramadan is said to be unique, and 2020 is no exception. The current global pandemic has added additional hurdles for Muslim athletes, who now have to find even more creative ways to train, on top of dealing with the challenges of Ramadan. Not that...
ALTIS Connect Highlight – Coach Like a Caveman by Nick Winkelman
With the recent release of his book, The Language of Coaching, I thought it would be a great time to share a snapshot of this presentation from Dr. Nick Winkelman, currently Head of Athletic Performance and Science for Irish Rugby. Titled Coach Like A Caveman, this ALTIS Connect presentation comes from a past Thorne Apprentice Coach Program and as Dr....
Hurdle Spacing Considerations – A Primer
In the article following, world renowned hurdles Coach - Andreas Behm shares an excerpt from the ALTIS Track & Field Series Course - Coaching the Sprint Hurdles. Learn more here. A couple of questions I often get asked by coaches are: 'what hurdle spacings should I use during short hurdle training?' and 'how do you determine what to use?' I'll...