Improving Movement

All training is about improving movement. Training movements
not muscles is not my idea that comes from the literature, neurologically the
brain does not recognize individual muscles, it recognizes patterns of
movement. I think the mistake we make is thinking that training is an end unto itself;
training is ALWAYS a means to an
end. We have to focus on the fact that we are preparing the athlete to thrive in
the competitive arena, to be highly adaptable and efficient in all aspects of performance.
That demands a multifaceted training program that challenges the athlete to
solve increasingly complex movement problems. There is nothing wrong with measuring
strength, or jump performance or any other physical quality that can be
measured, but those measure must be put in context. Just because you bench
press X amount or jump Y height does not necessarily mean you will be a better
player. The problem is that it is easy to get caught up chasing numbers like
this and be fooled. Essentially these are random numbers unless placed in
context. We
must also remember that most of our classical performance tests
measure one part of the performance paradigm – force 
production. We know from
biomechanical analysis and experience that force reduction is a bigger limiting
factor and proprioception lends quality to the movement. Both are more difficult
to measure, so they are often ignored.  Sound training should balance out all elements
of training and recognize that we do not train various systems of the body
independently, the endocrine, hormonal, nervous, muscular and cardiovascular
system all work together synergistically to produce performance.