Boo Schexnayder on The Intelligent Simplification of Speed, Power and Skill in the Training Process

Today’s show is with Boo Schexnayder. Boo is a current strength coach and former jumps coach at Louisiana State University, and is regarded internationally as a leading authority in training design. Boo has been a two-time previous guest on the podcast talking about speed and power training setups. In a world of complexity, and nearly infinite ways to train athletes, Boo knows the art of managing athletic performance by using training means that are not more complex than they need to be. In my coaching (and athletic) years, I have loved looking into all of the complexities, and details of the human body, training, motor learning and biomechanics. It’s always been a swinging pendulum in terms of digging in to understand important training nuances, but then zooming back out, to pull along the key pieces of what it really important, both in general, and for each individual athlete. When we over-complicate training, over-coach, and give out exercises that require too much distraction from actual outputs or muscular adaptations, we create a diminished experience for the athlete, and also create a program that is harder to learn from as a coach. Knowing how and when to make the complex simple is a mark of an accomplished coach who can really transmit training to an athlete in a way that allows them to self-organize to their highest potential, both on the level of skill development, and maximal outputs. On the show today, Boo goes in detail on his own upbringing and mentorships in coaching that have led him to become the coach he is today. He speaks particularly how his work in the rehab process gave him increased confidence in his regular coaching abilities. Boo will speak on the process of how far he will go on the complexity rung in the gym, and how he balances coaching skill and technique with the self-organizing ability of the athlete. Finally, Boo gives some of his thoughts on training that focuses on an athlete’s strength, and his take on heavy partial lifts in the gym in respect to the total training system. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster and Lost Empire Herbs. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. Timestamps and Main Points 5:02 – Boo’s early development as a coach, early mentors, and his work in rehab that led him to where he is now 15:30 – Some specifics that Boo learned from the world of rehabilitation that intertwined with his performance coaching practice, and how rehab and training follow the same principles and draw from the same well 21:50 – Boo’s advice on arriving at the place where things can be made optimally simple in coaching 25:10 – Why coaches end up chasing things in athletics that aren’t that important 36:28 – Where Boo draws the line on complexity in the weightroom to the point where exercises aren’t helping to accomplish the primary goal of training 40:26 – The extent of complexity Boo would utilize for single leg movements 46:01 – How athletes must train their strengths in order to potentiate their weaknesses 52:48 – A discussion on how the Buffalo Bills didn’t squat in season and still experienced substantial success 57:20 – Boo’s take on heavy quarter squats and partial step ups in performance training (vs. full range of motion) “The earliest (change) is when I finally understood specificity and I developed a healthy non-respect for coaching culture, I realized that a lot of coaching is traditional and needs to be evaluated” “Another bright light that came on is when I got involved in the rehab field” “I think the key thing to keeping things simple is understanding what you are trying to accomplish” “So much of what we do in traditional coaching cultures is just filler work” “I feel that one thing that holds back lots of coaches is technology, there is so much technology out there that so many coaches have been data collectors, but they really don’t know what they are doing” “Coaches are obsessive over (small pathological issues) don’t understand that those lie outside of the boundaries of what we try to teach” “Once you get athletes in (movement bandwidths) you have to trust them to do what they do…. I never had to coach athletes to perfection, I only had to coach them close to perfection and then allow their movement organization processes to take them the rest of the way and that’s how you keep it simple” “If athletes are training in the right direction, just shut the hell up, and let the athletes movement processes take over and trust them the rest of the way, and get involved when things aren’t going so well” “For everything I coach, I have got it down to 3 or 4 boxes that need to be ticked… I’ve developed this philosophy that all these things are not that complicated, what you are trying to do is build a body in the way to best execute those things” “Feedback addiction is a real thing; it’s not the healthiest thing for you to say something every single time” “When I look at my highest intensities of training, the Olympic lifts are probably about as technically complicated as I would get; that’s my ceiling as I might say” “I always keep it super simple when I’m trying to reach those highest levels of intensity. The simpler the movement pattern, the more muscle mass that is going to be involved” “I’ve experimented with single leg Olympic lifts a bit, they are a nice change of pace, but you can’t build your program around them” “Skinny people are built to sprint, not to lift, so do more sprinting and less lifting. Big people are built to lift, not to sprint, so do more lifting and less sprinting… a lot of times the athlete’s strong point is potentiating improvements in the weak area” “My track athletes, I don’t squat them in season but we do every variation of jump squt you could imagine, we Olympic lift, it’s not like we are not lifting, there are just many ways to do things” “So many of goofy running mechanics and change of direction mechanics go away when you start using full ranges of motion” “There are strategic blocks in my program where we will use super heavy quarter (squats) but they are not my default” About Boo Schexnayder Boo Schexnayder is a current strength coach and former jumps coach at Louisiana State University, and is regarded internationally as a leading authority in training design, possessing 37 years of experience in the coaching and consulting fields. Most noted for his 12 years on the Track and Field coaching staff at LSU, he is regarded as one of the world’s premier coaches, having developed 19 NCAA Champions and 10 Olympians. Schexnayder has coached multiple World Championship and Olympic medalists and has been on several national team staffs, including the staff of Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also possesses 13 years of experience in NFL player development and combine preparations. He frequently lectures and consults domestically and internationally in the areas of speed and power development, training design, motor learning, and rehabilitation. He has operated Schexnayder Athletic Consulting and serves as director of the USTFCCCA’s Track and Field Academy and Thibodaux Regional Medical Center’s performance division. Prior to his collegiate and international career, Schexnayder was a successful prep coach for 11 years, coaching football, track, and cross country.