A long term approach to the athletic development.
Over the years coaching young athletes, I evolved my progressive stages of athletic development with the ultimate goal to gradually improve motor skills, performance and lay a robust foundation upon which athletes can stand with confidence.
Irrespective of the chronological age (the one you find on your birth certificate!) an athlete will enter this program at a level appropriate to his/her abilities and training age, which is defined as the number of years the athlete has been partaking formalized S&C training.
So you might have a 12 year old athlete who has been moving exceptionally for 2 years already and will progress a further stage, but also an 18 year old one with only 2 months’ experience who needs to master the basics first!
Explore
At the earliest stage, during the Explore phase, athletes are exposed to a variety of movements (squat, hinge, lunge, lift, push, pull, brace, rotate, jump, land, carry, throw) and patterns (animal flow, gymnastics, calisthenics, parkour, tumbling,…), in order to develop their Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) and a solid foundation. Speed, agility and power are introduced through simple jumping/landing and acceleration/deceleration tasks. Athletes explore and find their own “solutions” to these “problems”, all in a fun, age-appropriate environment. The main goal is motor learning and skills acquisition.
Develop
Once they reach the Develop stage, athletes have grasped the fundamental patterns and will challenge them through different variables (tempo, implements, limbs involved, weight distribution, levers) and planes of motion. Fundamental movement skills development is still the main focus of this phase, but now volume of trainings is increased to improve work capacity and tissue tolerance. Speed, power, and agility are progressed through more complex drills and plyometrics. Depending on the biological age the athlete stepped into the Pathway, maturation and growth spurt related injuries are a major factor to consider when coaching and programming at this stage, while movement quality is the determining factor for progression to the next stage.
Perform
At the third stage, the Perform phase, athletes can safely and efficiently perform a broad set of fundamental patterns and progressively aim to overload them through external loads like barbells and dumbbells. Following increased hormone concentration, strength and hypertrophy become the main outcomes. Power, speed and agility tasks’ complexity is progressed, while Olympic lifts and derivatives are introduced. Performance is now assessed through objective measures of strength relative to bodyweight on selected lift and exercises and a battery of tests appropriate to the athletes’ goals.
Achieve
At their final stage, the Achieve phase, athletes can produce a considerable amount of force and they have reached strength relative to bodyweight standards. Focus is now on more sport specific skills and on the ability to produce and reduce such forces in the quickest and most efficient way. Speed, power and rate of force development have a major role, as strength levels are maintained and programming structure matches the athletes needs and competition schedule. As adulthood is approached, fitness and metabolic conditioning (simply developed through sport participation in the previous stages) now is more individualised and has a bigger role in the program. Key performance indicators are now highly specific and matched to the sport needs analysis.
Despite a major emphasis on strength, power and advanced training means during the latter stages, we always prioritise movement quality and apply the principle of “Simple is the new Complex”: keep it simple and master the basics first, before approaching the more complex strategies – everyone needs to earn the right to progress!!
