377: Boo Schexnayder on Elasticity, Proprioception and Motor Learning Concepts in Athletic Development

Today’s podcast features Irving “Boo” Schexnayder. Boo is regarded internationally as one of the leading authorities in training design. As co-founder of SAC, he brings 42 years of experience in the coaching and consulting fields to the organization. He is most noted for his 18-year term on the LSU Track and Field staff and has coached 18 Olympians and 7 Olympic/World Championship medalists. Boo has also been very active in the consulting field, working in NFL player development and combine prep and consulting for individuals, high school programs, collegiate programs, professional sports teams, and several foreign NGBs in the areas of training design, jump improvement, speed training, rehabilitations, and specialized programs. He is a routine podcast guest and a listener favorite on topics of athletic development. Boo has greatly influenced my view of training and human performance. He is one of my favorite guests and is an incredible teacher who has a skill for taking complicated ideas and putting them in perspective for coaches to use in a straightforward manner. On today’s podcast, Boo and I talk about proprioception in light of complex training, problems with obsession with drills versus high-speed, whole athletic movement teaching, reflexive leg action in jumping and sprinting, pelvic and lumbar mechanics in running, Olympic lifting thoughts, and much more. Today’s episode is brought to you by Lost Empire Herbs, TeamBuildr and the Plyomat. For 15% off your Lost Empire Herbs order, head to lostempireherbs.com/justfly. To try Pine Pollen for free (just pay for shipping), head to: justflypinepollen.com. The Plyomat is a functional, intuitive, and affordable contact mat for jump and plyometric training and testing. Check out the Plyomat at www.plyomat.net TeamBuildr is an online software for coaches and trainers. 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Timestamps and Main Points 2:41 – Where contrast works its way onto the track, and the nature of a “complicated” training stimulus 9:59 – The nature of proprioception as a key training variable 18:58 – Boo’s take on the work of Giles Cometti and Jean Pierre Egger, and coaching creativity 23:35 – Boo’s take on drills versus doing the entire skill 36:31 – What Boo considers to be the basics, or fundamentals that is taught, versus things that are up to the athlete 41:56 – Favorite setups in speed work, such as plyometric contrast 45:29 – Thoughts on reflexive action of the swing leg coming down towards the ground, versus forcing it down 54:55 – Pelvic mechanics, and the “center” of where speed is produced in athletics 1:02:07 – Heavy wave-loading and potentiation with Olympic lifts specifically 1:04:07 – Boo’s take on Olympic weightlifting in light of track and field, as well as team sports Boo Schexnayder Quotes “A lot of these contrast methods, what they do is play proprioceptive games… and as a result of that you get a complicated training environment, and a certain sharpness, and adaptation comes as a result” “Variety in practice improves transfer to the test, yet variety in practice often decreases the level of practice performance, so what I’m saying is that mixing these things up is likely to make them struggle in the practice environment, but when you put them (out in competition) it all gels and they shine” “I don’t think complexes are good or applicable at all times of the year; because sometimes they are at such a high level from a proprioceptive and complexity standpoint that they are out of reach at certain times of the year. I use them at late specific prep, and at some extent during your peaking times” “If you start training on September 1st, what’s the point of doing a complex, when everything is new to them anyways?” “I see proprioception as an extension of the nervous system; some types of training sharpen that, and some fatigue it” “Weight room complexes, like French Contrast stuff, they alternately damage and restore prioprioception within context of a single workout” “I use (proprioceptive supercompensation) on a regular basis in my speed program; we’ll squat on Monday and fatigue these propriopceptors, and you are back ready to sprint on Thursday and Friday you are even sharper and I always felt that was due to proprioceptive bounce-back… I find that athlete is even sharper than if you didn’t “wreck” the proprioception on Monday” “Coaches, for years and years have found that multi-throws, some types of Olympic lifts, and skipping, seem to regenerate proprioceptors” “(In basketball, etc.) The change of direction is a long contact plyometric activity, then you got the responsive jumps and so forth” “Motor learning research is unanimous that whole learning is better than part learning” “Ultimately we as coaches like drills because they are easy to teach; it’s a comfort zone” “The skill will never be perfect until there are higher levels of intensity” “Things that harm us in the short term tend to strengthen us long term” “A lot of coaches know how to teach things at slow speeds, but don’t know how to teach them at fast speeds… you need to know how to teach things at the speed of sport itself. As things speed up, you need to have different cue systems” “Many times I see tiny details being addressed that are paralyzing athletes” “Maybe you take a freshman through an assembly line of drills and progressions, and get them to a certain point, but at some point, your coaching becomes more reactive and a little less hands on” “The thing I really like that I’ve made my money off of is contrasting plyometrics with ballistic lifting; a jump movement loaded with 10-15% bodyweight, contrasted with a jump movement unresisted” “I know when I go to places in consulting work and I see bad change of direction typically what I see is lack of diversity and poor organization in the plyometric programs in most cases” “Any time you are trying to attack the ground, in the incorrect manner (forcing the leg down), what you’ve done you are going immediately to concentric, and you eliminated the isometric and eccentric phases, and the opportunity for elastic response” “In bounding and hopping and those types of exercises, if you actually measure the speed of the foot, you see the foot slowing down prior to impact, instead of speeding up prior to impact” “To simplify it, I tell my athletes, don’t use your leg like a hammer, use it like a spring. It’s the natural way to do it, it’s our default” “Back when we were on the farm, we would cut a chickens head off and it would still run around the yard, so it’s not like sprinting is something high tech that requires all of this brainpower” “If negative foot speed is excessive, we sacrifice, then now, what we sacrifice is the elastic responses at impact, and we see a flattening of the sinusoidal curve of the center of mass” “I say the wrong thing in practice all of the time and get good results” “Running really originates in the area of the lumbar spine and the pelvis; that’s where the engine effectively is, and the legs are amplifying the action of the pelvis” “What happens when you really get into “hit the ground hard” type cueing, there is a bracing effect that takes place in the vicinity pelvis, and basically you shut down the pelvic engine you need to be effective” “If I am coaching you in acceleration correctly, you will not have anterior tilt issues in maximal velocity” “The thing that Olympics lift do, that you cannot match anywhere else, is the sequencing, the hip, knee and ankle sequencing” About Boo Schexnayder Irving “Boo” Schexnayder is regarded internationally as one of the leading authorities in training design. As co-founder of SAC, he brings 42 years of experience in the coaching and consulting fields to the organization. He is most noted for his 18 year term on the LSU Track and Field staff. He has coached 18 Olympians and 7 Olympic/World Championship medalists. He has served on coaching staffs for Team USA to the 2003 Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo, the 2006 World Junior Championships in Beijing, and was the Jumps Coach for Team USA at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Schexnayder is certified at Level I, II and III, and owns the prestigious Master Coach Designation from USA Track and Field. He is also certified by the NSCA as a Strength and Conditioning coach. An educator by profession and a mentor of hundreds of coaches, he has been very active in curriculum development for Coaching Education programs, and has lectured nationally and internationally on speed/power training programs, biomechanics, track and field specific training and rehabilitation. He has also authored several publications covering these topics. He has also been very active in the consulting field, working in NFL player development and combine prep and consulting for individuals, high school programs, collegiate programs, professional sports teams, and several foreign NGBs in the areas of training design, jump improvement, speed training, rehabilitations, and specialized programs for football, basketball, soccer, golf, and volleyball.