October/November 2019 - 27

STRENGTH COACHES ROUNDTABLE
Johnson: This is primarily offseason data collection for all
of our programs, as it occurs in the summer. We do reference
the data as each team trains throughout the year, as it serves
as a point of reference to the athletes.
Dietz: I would use more data in the offseason to push
the limits of my athletes. I feel most people don't see much
variation between in-season and offseason training loads. But,
I feel in the offseason in a very controlled setting, you can
stress athletes' very specific stressors to help them survive the
stress during the season.
I'm very fortunate to work with coaches who manage
their in-season practice stress very well and really have to
worry about modifications of stress and, if I do it, usually
the athletes fault due to lifestyle, sleep habits, nutrition or
other variables.
Clark: Most of our data collection comes prior to preseason
training and at the completion of preseason training.
Gentry: One of the major values of testing and evaluation is
the ability to use the results to more safely prescribe training
loads and volume during the season. Knowing how much
weight on the bar should provide enough resistance while
allowing good bar speed is important. Having the ability to
measure bar speed is very important in the prescription phase
of physically training explosive athletes. We used Tendo Units
to measure bar speed.
Training methods are beyond the scope of this round
table, but having more information about an athlete's
capabilities should help you more safely prescribe his
workouts. I have learned that it's better to err on the safe
side of injury.
Do you use data to evaluate functional movement vs.
strength/conditioning improvement?
Caralla: We evaluate basic movements like squatting,
lunging and stabilization, and then make adjustments based
on limiting factors. For example, if a guy can't squat with
proper technique, we will use multiple variations of exercises
that work the same muscle groups but take a load off the back
- goblet squats, trap bar dead lift, belt squat or leg press, to
name a few. We would work on his technique before and after
the lift to make sure he continued to progress.
Johnson: We focus on dynamic warmups and functional
movement, as it's integrated in all of our workouts. We do
not record this data, but we do evaluate the athletes on an
individual basis and discuss this with the coaches.
Dietz: I use data to make sure my programs are progressing
my athletes. I do not waste time with movements that are
not important to the sport. I've seen a paradigm shift of
people believing slow, controlled movements can always tell
me about high performers or injury. I find this not to be the
case. If this is true, a majority of high performers would
have the ability to do very sound functional movements, and
we all know that's not necessarily so.
Clark: Yes, we use the FMS to determine and customize our
teams' daily pillar prep (injury preventions protocols). In some
cases, an athlete is given individual pillar prep protocols if they
perform under the desired standard.
Gentry: No, we didn't test and compile data of our football
player's functional movement during my tenure at Virginia Tech.
We did use the FMS with many of our Olympic sports. I believe
that it could have been beneficial to regularly test and evaluate
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October/November 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October/November 2019
