Integrating technology can upgrade your workflow in countless ways, allowing you to train more athletes, connect with your clients, and stay on trend. Though, what you decide to bring into your weight room may vary depending on your clients. EXOS’ Director of Continuous Improvement Stefan Underwood and Jon Barlow who oversees the Pro and Elite Sports at Exos Arizona, share how they balance technology with a human connection in Part II of this Powering Performance episode.

In episode #5 of Powering Performance, we chat with two performance experts to learn about training methodology, rising trends and educating your clients. We break down some of the knowledge gained from EXOS’ Director of Continuous Improvement, Stefan Underwood and Jon Barlow who oversees the Pro and Elite Sports at EXOS Arizona. They share their insight on their philosophies around training and how to create athlete buy-in.

New to the Scene

Things we're focused on...

Here are some topics that are generating quite a bit of buzz. They are not to be overlooked, because hey, if you have made it this far, you must want to stay up to speed.

Performing with & without Equipment 

Body Weight Workouts

Body weight workouts can be used as a way to take a break from a typical weight workout routine. This is also a great trend for building up your athlete's confidence to workout on his/her own. By going over simple, yet effective exercises consistently you can educate each on what to do when they are away from you.

These can be turned into pretty difficult workouts if your athlete needs more intensity. Adding in less rest can be a simple way to increase the intensity and keep their heart rate up.

Body weight workouts are also a tool to utilize for athletes that are coming off of an injury or for new athletes. This is the place where you get back to the fundamentals and really tune in on doing the movements properly.

Bring in the importance of body awareness when teaching movement. They should be aware of how their whole body is working together. Often times, when we are surrounded by weights we have the instinct to keep doing more. But more is not always better, especially if the quality of movement is lacking.

Movement is the building block for progress, so properly educate them on how to move well, and often.

Key Tip: "All great coaches keep it simple." - Michael Cazayoux

Focus on mastering the basic fundamentals. It is easy to get caught up in the newest trends and trying to stay on the cutting edge. But the basics are the core to all the movement progressions your athletes will be learning.

Don't get eager to jump to the next new thing and neglect mastering the basics.

Multi-functional equipment
Let's break this down a bit. What is functional training and why is it so popular? Great question.
Functional training puts an emphasis on movement quality over load and intensity. Just like Tanna Burge does when training athletes at Texas A&M.
"More isn't always better. It's just more. So make sure that what you're doing is really good quality. I would much rather have really solid quality of movement with a load on, than crappy movement quality with a high load, because then you start to get these wear and tear issues."

Group Training

Group training is become more popular than ever before.

Speaking of bettering yourself as a coach and training your athletes more efficiently, let's talk about training athletes together. It can be difficult at times when some members are injured, or if your group is at different levels. Here are a few tips you might find helpful:

Leveraging software
While premier training software is now acting as another assistant coach on the floor with you, the best tools also allow you to deliver individualized training days from 1 program. Meaning, build 1 plan for an entire team or group of athletes, all while knowing they'll each get their individual weight prescriptions. Individualization without wasting time. Checkmate.

Don't be fooled, when you use platforms like Bridge, you're not lacking individualized approaches, rather you're allowing yourself to spend more time on the floor with every athlete all while knowing their plans are automatically adapting to progress. One-on-one time with each athlete was one of AS Roma's biggest accomplishments after implementing an effective structure. Want to know why? Listen here to find out.

Using online training programs such as Bridge in this way makes it easy for unexpected changes. If an athlete gets injured or is sick you can quickly and easily make adjustments to their workout for the day or week. You can spend your time checking in with different athletes while making edits on the fly. Say goodbye to flipping through excel sheets to find what was done a few week's back. This can be especially handy come holiday season when you and your athletes are miles apart - everyone can still be working as if they never left the training center.

Managing Your Methodology
Let's turn to your methodology. Not sure if you have one? Trust us, you do, even if you don't know it yet. This is an area few systems can help you mold, but those that do are complete game changers.

For example, say you're on-boarding a new staff... stressful right? Leveraging systems that allow you to create a robust training structure, defined by your varying training cycles will help get everyone on one page must faster than your current model. Don't believe us, see how EXOS uses our system to enhance their education across 200+ sites globally.

Platforms like Bridge will not only allow you to build a complex training ecosystem, it will also make your life a lot easier. Think back to the last time you did have to onboard a new coach, especially one with little experience. Was it difficult to teach them about the movement modifications you prefer? If an athlete can't perform one level of an exercise, it can be difficult to know which replacement to leverage.

Nutrition

Hot off the stove- our latest nutrition tips! 

Nutrition is always a hot topic in performance because it is so important. With new fads coming in and people changing what fuels them we will cover all you need to know about pre and post-workout eating and everything else an athlete's body needs for optimal performance.

Recovery

How do you think about recovery? 

Work Life Balance 

It can be hard to create a work life balance when your work is your life. Especially when you are just getting started.

Create a winning mindset and you can achieve anything.