Articles
Breaking Down Silos … An Overview of the First ALTIS All-Women ACP
We all had an amazing time last week with the Thorne Apprentice Coach Program - women’s edition. This was our 46th ACP in our 7th year of operation, and most certainly ranks up there as one of the best thus far! “It was an opportunity to honor the uniqueness of training a female athlete as well as the complexities that...
ACP Podcast with Nate Shaw of the Arizona Diamondbacks
Hosted by Jason Hettler, the Second Thorne ACP Podcast of the 19-20 season is now available. This episode features Nate Shaw - the Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks - who will be presenting at the December edition of the Thorne ACP. Coach Shaw is currently entering his 11th season as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the...
Statistical Analysis and Historical Context of the new 400H World Record
When Kendra Harrison broke the 100 hurdle world record in 2016 PJ Vazel wrote a great analysis of this race. So when Dalilah Muhammad recently broke the 400 hurdle world record at USAs there was a clamoring for PJ to write another analysis. Congratulations to both Dalilah and her Coach Boogie Johnson on a fantastic performance. This article provides a...
“Coach to the athlete’s solutions; not yours”
This is a saying that I probably repeat weekly in some way or another. It essentially means that each athlete has their own unique way of moving; that our jobs as performance professionals (in this case, coaches, therapists, and sport scientists) is to appreciate and understand athletes’ ‘movement signatures’, and train them in a way that best aligns to this....
Efficient – Correct – Optimal …. who really cares?
Do you think that you can tell how efficient an athlete is by watching them perform? If you ask most people, Paula Radcliffe had a pretty inefficient running style. Yet she has ran the fastest time of any female in history, in one of the most competitive events - the marathon. In each of her 20,000 plus steps, Radcliffe nodded...
The Need for Problem-Driven Solutions
Each of us comes from chaotic environments with different constraints, challenges, and bottlenecks. Even though we all share a similar goal - performance - it is challenging to directly help solve each other’s specific problems. The complex worlds we live in consist of unique interactions between the elements that make up these worlds. Our context is different. Therefore, the most...
Does How You Move Even Really Matter?
ALTIS CEO & Sprint Coach, Stu McMillan writes: Do you think that you can tell how efficient an athlete is by watching them perform?If you ask most people, Paula Radcliffe had a pretty inefficient running style. Yet she has ran the fastest time of any female in history, in one of the most competitive events - the marathon. In each...
Track and Field is Hard
So you’re a college junior, and you are setting PRs every other weekend. This track & field thing is easy! Right? Not so fast. While it may feel like that, a very high percentage of professional track & field athletes set their personal best performances while they are in college. That’s right - most athletes are at...
ALTIS Communication: Social Media, Transparency, and Authenticity
Last week, Ben Bloom of the British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph wrote a short profile piece on ALTIS sprinter Jodie Williams. The story outlined some of the challenges Jodie has faced over the last half dozen years. An elite junior athlete, Jodie once went over 5 years between defeats, winning 151 straight races. Since beginning her senior career, Jodie has...
The Critical Nature of Thinking
This article is written by ALTIS Intern Matt Kline. Before joining ALTIS as an Intern in the Spring of 2019, Matt worked as a Director at Power Train Sports & Fitness in York, Pennsylvania. This role came after completing a B.S. in Health and Exercise Science from Messiah College. In this article, Matt shares with us his thoughts on Critical...