GOOD COACHING MAKES A DIFFERENCE

GOOD COACHING MAKES A DIFFERENCE

I came across a research study looking at what a difference good coaching can make on injury prevention and performance, both inside and outside the gym.  It compared a group of Fire Fighters performing Movement-Guided Fitness (MOV), where coaching was individualized and a focus on movement proficiency for performance and safety was the goal.  MOV was compared to a control group and a Conventional Fitness (FIT) group.  The FIT group was on a structured program, but rather than being coached with an emphasis on movement quality, they focused on effort. 

Following the 12-weeks study, with 52 firefighters; both groups had significantly improved their fitness levels however, only MOV exhibited improvements in spine and frontal plane knee motion control when performing each transfer task (effect sizes [ESs] of 0.2-1.5). FIT exhibited less controlled spine and frontal plane knee motions while squatting, lunging, pushing, and pulling (ES: 0.2-0.7). More MOV participants (43%) exhibited only positive post-training changes (i.e., improved control), in comparison with FIT (30%) and CON (23%). Fewer negative post-training changes were also noted (19, 25, and 36% for MOV, FIT, and CON). These findings suggest that placing an emphasis on how participants move while exercising may be an effective training strategy to elicit behavioral changes beyond the gym environment. For occupational athletes such as firefighters, soldiers, and police officers, this implies that exercise programs designed with a movement-oriented approach to periodization could have a direct impact on their safety and effectiveness by engraining desirable movement patterns that transfer to occupational tasks.

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For more information check out the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research:

Exercise-Based Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention for Firefighters: Contrasting the Fitness- and Movement-Related Adaptations to Two Training Methodologies