Mason: Hi Coach, so tell us a little about your background and how you became interested in sports training!
Coach Doyle: Well, I suppose like many other youngsters living in America, I was introduced to sports and other activities while in grade school and on the play grounds. I would have to say however, that it wasn’t until I was introduced to American Football in Junior High School that my level of interest became much more prevalent. At that time, my father was kind enough to purchase my first starter weight set, a bench and a book on teenage weight training. I guess I would describe this as the beginnings of my quest for strength and power. I pursued football as my sport of choice and competed in high school and college. Although I enjoyed football, I realized in college that I felt more passion for what it took to prepare for sport rather than playing the sport itself. I would say that the roots of my strength coaching career began while training myself and others in the weight room and on the field during my college days.
Mason: Pretty cool Coach! So, from your perspective, what would you say about kids involved in sports today? How different is their experience from when you were a kid?
Coach Doyle: I actually see this from a few different perspectives Mason. I’ll mention two of them here. As an American citizen I see our young people and think how abundant their lives must be with all of the things they have at their disposal. Yet on the other hand, with all of these choices it seems they may be prone to act very entitled, indifferent and lack the drive and motivation to improve. Who knows, maybe it’s that they are simply overloaded and distracted by so much information and choice that confusion sets in. I’m sure there are plenty of theories on why this is so, but I believe the kids of today could do themselves and society a good service by reading classic books like “As A Man Thinketh” or Think And Grow Rich in order to get their minds back on a more positive path. As a Sports Performance Coach I see too much emphasis placed on how naturally big, fast or strong kids are perceived to be. Everyone seems to want instant gratification and parents and coaches seem to buy into this as well. What I mean is that there is less emphasis placed on developing strong minds and bodies in athletes over time and more emphasis placed on who the next LeBron James will be. As a result, I see lots of unnecessary injury and plenty of burn out well before potentially great athletes should peak. I guess both of these perspectives have a common theme, we live in a society where everyone wants it now and delayed gratification is a lost concept. Not sure that answers your question succinctly Mason but hope it gives you some perspective.
Mason: Interesting! Lets’ change gears a little Coach! Can you tell me about the evolution of sports training in terms of things like methods used or new innovations?
Coach Doyle: I would describe my take on this as “coming full circle”! In other words, I have been involved in studying, organizing and implementing training protocols for nearly 20 years now. I have also consulted exercise equipment manufacturers who design new equipment. Although I believe innovation can be a good thing, much of what we see today on infomercials and in magazine ads are less about substance and more about marketing. A saying comes to mind while I’m answering this question Mason and it is one of our mantras at our business. It states, “Methods are many, principles are few. Methods may not last, but principles always do!” Now, with that said there have been some good tools made available throughout the years that I have found useful in some capacity for training athletes. Whole body vibration units have become more prevalent in Biomechanics labs as well as commercial gyms. I find that interesting since I participated in a study on this technology years before it became known to the general public when my roommate did his Master’s thesis on the use of whole body vibration. Now, do I think it is the ‘end-all’ of training? Absolutely not! Do I feel it has merit and can be implemented into a well designed training program? Without a doubt! So, in my own case, when I say that I have ‘come full circle’, I am referring to the fact that I have been open minded enough to use new innovations and methods throughout my career, yet at the same time I have been able to focus on the fundamental keys in my field that help the athletes that I work with become successful. Fundamentals may not be fancy, but when done excellently, the evolution of any individuals training experience can be quite profound! It seems that everyone is seeking the holy grail of sports training, but in my experience there is no single best program, practice or training method. Rather, there are more appropriate methods at any given time during the process of sports conditioning.
Mason: How does the mental aspect of training affect the physical aspect of it?
Coach Doyle: This is an area I find quite fascinating! My undergraduate degree was in Psychology and after I graduated I began training more and more athletes. I always felt that this aspect of training was misunderstood and I often observed well-intended coaches trying to motivate athletes with methods that seemed, shall I say, less than optimal! I was privileged enough to meet one of my mentors when I was invited to a small training camp that he put on at his home in Colorado back in the late 90’s. His name was Dr. Mel C. Siff and he was a sports scientist with an incredible background. Among the many things I learned from Mel, one conversation we had dealt with areas in training that he felt were under-developed and needed to be studied both in the lab and in the field. One area in particular that we discussed was mental training. He had done extensive research on brain rhythms and also worked together with well-respected Russian scientists to help their Olympic weight lifters and other athletes. He taught me about different forms of mental rehearsal, including one called Autogenic conditioning which I still use to this day! Although I feel this area has been mentioned often in the literature and there are plenty of books on Psychology available, I don’t see it put into practice to the same degree. To give a more concrete example, I can think of athletes I train where this aspect is of paramount importance. I occasionally work with boxers and mixed-martial artists who must train extremely hard for upcoming fights and we use meditation to calm the nerves and deep breathing methods to control heart rate. There are many responses the body can go through right before an actual fight. Most of us have heard of the ‘fight or flight’ response. Without going into great detail, it is important for my fighters to keep this in check before a fight in order to prevent the hormone adrenaline from increasing too highly in their system. In a nutshell, if this happens it could be a recipe for disaster for my fighter because it may drop very low during the first round of the fight leaving them susceptible to a very bad outcome.
Mason: What is it like being a sports training professional?
Coach Doyle: Well, I was recently interviewed by a magazine that is distributed globally and they asked what a typical day was for me as a sports conditioning specialist. I think I said something to the effect that I don’t believe I have ever had an average day while coaching. Each day brings new challenges when you are in this great field. The example I used was how I often mention to our athletes why we write their daily program modules down in pencil. The reason we do this is so we can make changes ‘on the fly’ based on which athletes show up and how prepared they are for that particular session. If for example, they had a stressful day before, this could invariably affect how they perform the next day. We pay particular attention to them during warm ups to see how they are moving, how their feet sound (loud and heavy or light and explosive) and if they present with good energy or tiredness. These things will affect the training session and we will make changes accordingly. I have a true passion for what I do and a commitment to continue learning. I have been studying and practicing the craft of sports performance coaching for over 20 years and I still feel like there is so much more to learn. It is a profession that for me is really about helping people to achieve what it is they want! That is the most rewarding part about this field! I tend to lean towards the old saying, “if you love the work you do, you will never work another day in your life!” Don’t get me wrong, I can have some incredibly hard work days, but the process is so fun for me that I just cruise through each day and look forward to the next!
Mason: Is there a right and wrong way an athlete should train?
Coach Doyle: In my experience I have learned probably as much about the ways that don’t seem to bring good results as I have about those that do. You see Mason, one point I like to make when speaking with new trainers is that in my years of study, I have found no holy grail in sports training. As I stated in one of your previous questions, there are more appropriate methods at given times within the training process but I have found no single best program, practice or training method. In my view, programs that may look good on paper may not cut the mustard when put to the litmus test of a real training environment. In other words, there are many variables that may come up during live training sessions that may not be accounted for in a printed program or book. Now, does that mean the written program or book information is useless? Absolutely not! I use many information sources as a kind of guide or template of sorts to help in my programming all the time. Again, they are tools to be used appropriately by a good coach, trainer or athlete. I will say however, that in recent years my experience with local sports coaches in our area has led me to believe that they tend to over condition their athletes and don’t realize what types of energy system work is suitable for the types of athletes and teams they are assigned to coach. In general, I see athletes that are forced to run excessively either because a coach thinks this is good for them or in many cases because they are punishing athletes for game losses or let downs. So, as one of my mentors in training would say, “Athletes are often un-made rather than made.” What he meant by that statement was that athletes who are genetically predisposed to be fast, strong or powerful are all too often made to run excessively and in effect lose some of what made them fast, strong and powerful in the first place. As sports performance coaches, we are then expected to remake these athletes into the types of athletes they were meant to be.
Mason: What goes into designing a training regimen for an athlete?
Coach Doyle: Since I could conceivably write a book on this very question Mason, I will attempt to give you a Cliff’s notes version. The variables involved in designing good programs can be as complicated or as simple as one makes them. I don’t mean for this to sound cryptic or confusing, but my simple answer is “it depends”! It depends on the particular athlete I am working with. It depends on their goals, their training age, their chronological age, their sport, their position, their level, their injury history, their time and much more. Are they in-season, mid-season, post-season, early off-season or late off-season? Within all of these variables there are sub-variables. Are you still with me Mason? Ha-ha! The fact of the matter is no coach can control every variable. A good program is one in which we can live with the compromises we will have to make. Initially, I know where to place emphasis with each athlete that comes to us based on the above information as well as several days of physical testing. I get to know each athlete in the days and weeks during the first month of training and this sheds more light on the direction the training must go in order for them to achieve their goals. Training is a combination of Art and Science and I enjoy both the creative as well as the scientific aspects when designing programs for our athletes. There is so much more Mason but I think this is my best short answer version to your question.
Mason: What is the difference between athletic training for sports and say, bodybuilding or recreational lifting?
Coach Doyle: In actuality, many areas in training are more like a continuum rather than completely separate entities. I find it amusing when I hear or read things from those who either work specifically in the training world or are around it explain the supposed vast differences between training for these different endeavors. Remember what I said earlier about our mantra, “Methods are many, principles are few. Methods may not last, but principles always do!”? Well, the body doesn’t really know which muscles are doing what but rather what movements it produces. Does it really know it is doing a squat exercise to focus on the Quadriceps for bodybuilding, recreational lifting or simply to gain strength for Football? There is a time and place for different methods including each that you mentioned in any individuals program. The term synergy essentially means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! Or as I like to say, it isn’t the exercise, method or category, it is the entire program.
Mason: Thanks Coach Doyle! I appreciate your time and openness!
Coach Doyle: You are quite welcome Mason! Hurry up and get back to our facility so we can whoop you into shape! All my best to you!!
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