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Whooo weeeee, it's an exciting day as we have Shawn Myszka with us! Shawn is a performance coach in Minneapolis and he works with many NFL athletes on improving their performance.
But even more cool than that sounds, he takes breath of fresh air (IMO) approach to training. Less about weight room numbers and more about ON-FIELD performance. His approach is one of movement, efficiency, and on-field performance; not absolute strength, weight room numbers, or a meat head approach.
If you work with athletes, this approach is a must because your goal is to improve athletic performance, not solely on improving say a squat or bench. These have a time and place, but the question has to be how do these improve or transfer to athletic performance? This is the question Shawn asks and his answers bring light to some important aspects coaches need to take into consideration.
Let's take a look and be prepared to take notes. So get you pen and paper out and enjoy!
1. Could you give us a little information about your
background?
Though I don’t really like to talk
about myself…oh wait, yes I do (everyone does at least a little right?). Haha.
Anyway, I digress.
I am a former National-level
bodybuilder who has always had a passion for taking others and myself to the
brinks of human performance. I have a BS in Health Promotion and a MS in Sport
Science & Performance Enhancement.
I have owned my own business in the
Minneapolis, MN area since 2007 where my facility has overseen the physical
preparation of athletes of all levels of qualification and mastery. This crop
of athletes our staff trains ranges from developmental level athletes all the
way up to professionals from all sports. Personally, at this point in my
career, I am only responsible for exclusively working with and/or consulting
for players from the National Football League and have done so now for about
the last 5 years. I am humbled by some of the ‘names’ that have trusted me over
the years as well as the impact that we have been able to make with each of
them. Though I rarely mention those guys by that name, my present philosophy
and the thoughts I hold currently regarding the optimal preparation for sport
is a result of each of them and their trust in me. For that, I am forever
grateful to each of them.
2. You talk about a movement first training approach. Tell our readers what this means and what
this means in terms of a training approach?
Well, like the name would dictate;
everything, starts with the athlete’s movement behavior
in-sport and stems from there. Though many in our industry have gotten
sidetracked chasing different things (such as maximum strength numbers or speed,
etc), I believe that as sports performance professionals our sole purpose
should be the improving upon the athlete’s ability to perform within his/her
respective sport. That’s why they come to us! Each and every athlete walking
the planet dreams of having full realization of their sport-specific potential
where it counts and this place is in the sporting arena.
I believe that the above-mentioned
purpose starts with optimizing movement patterns respective of that sport in
congruence with the level of mastery & trainability that the athlete
resides. This movement optimization process revolves around us all (coaches and
sports performance professionals) deeply understanding what I refer to as the
most optimal biodynamic structure of the movement important to success in the
athlete’s respective sport. This biodynamic structure is our way to knowing and
understanding the athlete’s kinetics, kinematics, and the true kinesiology
involved in the sport so that we are able to develop that individual’s
biomechanical and neuromuscular efficiency more fully to meet the demands of
the sport. Does that all sound complicated? Well good…it should…because movement
in sport IS complicated!
So more simply put, the movement
mastery or movement first approach is really about how to determine what is
optimal for that given athlete based on who he/she is. I have found that what
is perfect for one is not perfect for another though this is contrary to
popular belief. However, every athlete in every sport is going to have a very specific
path towards optimizing his or her movement specific to the sport as well as
who they are as an individual.
3. You talk a lot about preparing athletes for the actual
demands they see during competition. How
do you breakdown the demands athletes see during competition? Do you breakdown film, time work: rest
periods, talk to position coaches?
Great question. Well, I ALWAYS begin
with breaking down the player’s film…LOTS & LOTS of film (more than I like
to admit for my own social life’s behalf). This way I can see how the athlete
is performing when & where it counts. This displayed movement outcome that
is witnessed, occurring in its natural & organic environment, is my true
screen for that which is to come in the athlete’s individualized physical
preparation/movement optimization program specific to that which I see
happening on Sundays (for the NFL player at least) for that position &
level of qualification. I use this to guide everything I do as I can watch an
athlete perform, see his comfort level (or discomfort) with certain movement
patterns, and then attempt to speculate why that given movement behavior may be
happening the way I am witnessing it.
As far as applying specificity to
the demands of the training environment, it all depends on the time of the
training year that we are in and what type of adaptation I desire for the
particular athlete. Some are ready for the control of very specific factors
& demands whereas others are not…but the movement is always something I am
attempting to change at the forefront. Making appreciable change to that (the
movement pattern) is my litmus test.
On your final point, unfortunately,
many of the position coaches out there aren’t really great resources. They
comprehensively understand strategic and tactical demands very well. However, in my experience, even with many of
those at the “top” levels they don’t truly understand the technical demands of
the movements that their players must perform let alone how to optimize it
based on the athlete playing in that role. This is weird to think of I know but
it’s the norm.
Honestly, I don’t know how the role
of the Movement Specialist/Movement Coach hasn’t been founded as of yet. At the
NFL-level, there is someone in charge of everything…EXCEPT optimizing movement
which is likely the very thing that could make the biggest differences on-field
on Sunday (this is something I prove with each one of my athletes). Now, I
won’t get too much onto this tangent because we will be here for a LONG time if
I would but it’s crazy to me that we don’t have anyone who is working with
players to help them specialize their movement patterns based on who they are.
4. Being able to absorb and reproduce force, often in
unnatural positions is very important for athletic success. How do you train these qualities and what
progressions do you like to use?
With the level of athlete that I
work with, they almost always possess the ability to exert tremendous amounts
of force and usually this happens in a very rapid fashion (notice I said
“almost always” and “usually). In fact, this really happens with most athletes
of nearly every mastery level because of our profession’s overreliance on
training methods which emphasize the concentric actions and display of
movement. Now, I will still try to optimize that force exertion for that
particular pattern because often times athletes haven’t worked on those
specific strength qualities in a specialized developmental fashion but I find
it’s not usually going to pay the biggest dividends at first. Instead, I find
that the key determining factor for the desired movement outcome to occur is
the fashion in which that athlete is able to absorb force.
I believe that my athletes and I
work on force absorption more than any other facility across the country
(that’s a challenge). Here’s the rub: you can never absorb too much force. It’s
like having too fast of car or too hot of girlfriend….it just doesn’t happen!
However, you can exert too much force if you don’t possess the capabilities to
control and stabilize it. Thus, we address it over and over and over again…in
some way, on a nearly daily basis. And as you mentioned in your question, this
force absorption (and of course the redirection of the force after that)
usually doesn’t happen in nice & neat positions in which we can often
possess a high degree of control and stability. Thus, I feel it’s necessary to
train the athlete (in a controlled setting such as in training or practice), to
help his/her body to become accustomed to it. This way, he/she will be much
more comfortable being able to do the right things at the wrong times.
That all said, to answer last piece
of the question, I have to give you something more arbitrary that is likely to
piss people off when I say, ‘it depends.’ My progressions, as well as the exact
training means & methods we utilize have a wide range depending on the
athlete’s particular level of trainability and exactly what displayed
characteristics of the movements we see occurring. Of course, I always start
more basic and establish a strong foundation for general movement preparation
before moving on to more focus on specialized patterns. So for one athlete,
this could attempting to remove lots and lots of compensation patterns before
we can even begin to work on some more of the right ones…whereas, for another
athlete, it may involve doing a lot of shock-type drops off of very high
heights that would make some queasy. See…it all depends!
5. Great coach Charlie Francis used to say he could tell
when an athlete was fatigued or lost their efficiency by the sound of their
feet hitting the track. How do you
evaluate an athletes’ movement efficiency and ability to absorb force? Are there things you look for?
It’s been said that fatigue makes
cowards out of all of us. In fact, I notice that when fatigue (or pain is
present), the display of movement as well as subsequent learning goes down the
drain and the athlete resorts back to old, well-set-in-place movement
behaviors. This is a sensitive process. Of course, only perfect practice makes
perfect and practice makes permanent (I am sucker of clichéd quotes)…so, I must
take the reins of this animal as much as humanly possible. With whatever
movement pattern we are working on, I need to have that athlete’s specific
deficiencies and compensations in mind, and then keep close watch as to what is
occurring (I will often use quick video analysis for this too so I don’t have
to rely on my own eyes to detect these quick changes).
If I start witnessing drastic
changes to the displayed characteristics of the particular movement pattern
then the workload has to be modified immediately or ceased completely. These
characteristics I am referring pertain to the relationships between stability
& mobility like force absorption & exertion, dampening efficiency, base
of support and center of gravity control, etc. If the athlete lays down a
suboptimal pattern for any reason, it is entirely my fault.
Finally, I am constantly talking to
the athlete regarding what he feels. I know…what a novel concept! But I want
him or her to be so cognizant of what’s going on in their environment and how
they are reacting to it that they can become very self-sufficient with knowing
when they ‘hit the sweet spot’ of any movement behavior they display. In
addition, I want him to be so sensitive to subtle changes in his own patterns
that he knows when something can or cannot be done any further.
6. Training means that once worked for an athlete will lose
the effectiveness as time carries on.
What are some ways you look to make training more specific and intensive
to the game so you improve the athlete’s biomechanical and neuromuscular
efficiency? How do you make sure the
training means are not losing their effect?
Do you change exercises, or very sets, reps, tempos? Do you cycle training?
First of all, I must give credit
where credit is due with your acknowledgement of a concept that most people in
this field seem to forget: just because something worked at one time, doesn’t
mean that it will continue to work in the same way or to the same magnitude as
you subsequently use it. I believe that if more in our field realized that I
think we would all see a whole lot different battery of exercise & drill
activities being selected & prescribed.
In fact, that training activity that
the athlete is currently adapting to will never work like that again because
the athlete is not the same as he/she once was when you used it before. This
seems so intuitively obvious to me but I am dumbfounded by how many in our
field seem to miss the boat with this concept and continue to beat their head
on the wall because the athletes are progressing as we anticipated or promised.
It’s really the athlete who should be doing that (beating their head against
the wall) as well because they are the ones who are putting in tremendous
amounts of time, effort, and energy with the damn methods!
When I am looking at prescribing the
right exercise & drill combinations to elicit the most optimal training
stress response at that given time, I believe that we must first be aware of
that which we are expecting & anticipating from the training stimulus. Some
means/methods will induce an almost immediate response and appreciable change
to the movement (usually tweaks or adjustments to movement
positioning/execution and motor learning responses). Other means/methods will
have a delayed adaptation only after the body has been given sufficient time to
positively adjust and recover from the stimulus (usually more about the motor
potential & work capacity). No matter what anyone may tell you I find that
both of these are really more of an art than a science especially when we
acknowledge that every human being walking the earth will react differently
from a particular blend of the exercise programming that we are prescribing.
Thus, you have to trust yourself to a certain degree and always pay close
attention to how the athlete is reacting at all times (of course I just made
the most obvious statement of the day there).
7. You talk a lot about improving movement and making
athletes better at what they are required to do on the field. Does this mean strength work takes a back
seat? How does strength training fit
into your program?
I have found that most traditional
approaches focus on increasing maximum strength or other general motor
abilities or what have you and then keep our fingers crossed that it is going
to directly correlate to greater success in-sport when in many cases this is
like playing the lottery. Instead, the movement mastery approach is about
utilizing and increasing upon more specific motor abilities in the actual
technical execution of particular movement patterns. When people initially hear
about the movement mastery approach they think we neglect strength and the
training of it. However, this is simply not true. Instead, we are attempting to
develop strength in the exact same way that it is going to be used and
displayed in movement so it is more functionally specific to those tasks that
we wish to complete more efficiently.
At the end of the day I feel as
though I have had to overcome these traditional mindsets to see something that
everyone saw before but through a much different lens…this lens is one that is
focused on truly investigating what is happening when an athlete moves and more
importantly why this movement is occurring this way. From there, this new found
understanding allowed me to get to the bottom of the athlete’s movement
patterns and determine the most effective possible how-to way to make a drastic
and immediate impact on the athlete’s performance because we are able to
address the exact aspects of the athlete’s existing weakness that is detracting
from his or her movement in the sport.
Thus, I utilize many training means
& methods directed towards increasing strength but it is never at the
expense of movement efficiency (like strength is so often developed by many).
To combat this most of my inclusion of strength activities (at least with the
level of mastery of athlete that I work with) is about teaching the athlete to
more fully use their strength more closely to their potential. One of my
favorite ways to do this which I often employ is the design of conjugate
sequence complexes where I will have the athlete perform several (1-4)
exercises of part/local motor structure which will be representative of a piece
of a larger, global pattern. After the sequence of local activities is complete
I then have the athlete perform the whole/global activity so he/she could put
that strength to use in the technical execution of a sport movement pattern.
HERE is a great article by Shawn talking about specific movements and example complexes he may employ for Running Backs.
8. Athletes are required to stop, absorb, change direction,
and reaccelerate in many different body positions at many different
angles. How do you approach this during
training? Do you set athletes up in
open-chained/reactive environments or how can you make the unnatural or
unfamiliar, natural and familiar?
Well, this is a loaded question
because the answer is quite complex. And when I said ‘it depends’ up above on
the earlier question pertaining to a similar topic, it can probably apply here
once again. That said though, as I attempt fully analyze and then further
optimize movement, these angles and positions based on the athlete’s
environment conditions are imperative to not only understand but attempt to
then develop our movement around. At all times, I am we are trying to master
that kinesiological pattern and display of the biomechanics based on any
changes that occur in the conditions.
We start by ‘flossing the motor pattern’
so the body can feel how it should be executed in a slower, controlled fashion
before progressively overloading (through a change in the task demands in
training) the execution & use of the pattern. Of course, if it then never
translates to the in-sport, unconscious competence of the display of the
movement then I haven’t done my job…so that is always our end result goal…where
the athlete doesn’t need to think about it at all any longer and it occurs in a
specialized, optimized, and efficient fashion in the sport. Because of this, it
is imperative that I do progress it but not ever at the expense of the
displayed outcome that we are deeming as optimal for that athlete at the
respective time. Meaning; if the athlete can’t reproduce the pattern and its
actions in the way we desire we must slow it down or back off on the stimuli we
are requiring him/her to react to.
9. Who are some coaches that have had a big influence on
your career? What reading/books have
helped shaped your career? Can you
remember an instance when BOOM, it hit you and it made you rethink training
philosophy?
Like any coach or specialist in this
field, there are a good number of coaches who have had a major influence on my
career. And I can attribute much of my success (OK; most of it) to that
influence they have had. I would be here all day if I listed each one so I will
just list a few such as a few of the heavy hitters such as Verkhoshansky, Siff,
& Bondarchuk. I do read anything and everything that I can get my hands on.
Tried and true things that every sports performance professional should read authored
by the individuals just mentioned would include Supertraining, Special Strength
Training Manual for Coaches, and Transfer of Training in Sports. However, I
would implore professionals to read a few other things that may appear to be
outside the realm of training philosophy and prescription that can give a
professional added perspective from a variety of angles. I believe we can learn
way more from those in other fields that could allow us to do our jobs
better…essentially; never stop learning and don’t limit who/where it is that
you get information from.
If you haven't already these books are a MUST for performance coaches
As far as that BOOM moment as you
call it…yes, yes I did. My epiphany didn’t come from anything anyone said to me
by someone else or something that someone sought out to teach me…instead, it
occurred by accident or I should say as a by-product of my own sheer stupidity.
But what I learned during this BOOM moment is what is responsible for my new
focus on dissecting and training around the optimization of movement for sport.
Thus, it’s important to share. Long story short…
Back in 2008, I had an NFL player
come to me to direct his offseason physical preparation plan and at the time I
was still utilizing what I would refer to as more traditional or conservative
methods like we discussed just a bit ago. And the thing is, this athlete
excelled and improved leaps and bounds.
By the end of a 12 week period this
guy had made what I thought to be a total transformation. He had increased
every physical quality imaginable. He gained 10lb while losing 4% body-fat. His
maximum strength on his squat went up by 70lb. His 40 time went down by 0.25
seconds while he increased his vertical jump by 9 inches and his horizontal
jump by 15 inches. All of these values got to the point where they easily
exceeded his combine numbers that had dropped down considerably since he had
been in the league.
When he left for training camp after
our training was complete I thought he was going to absolutely revolutionize
what was happening in the NFL and people were going to be blown away. However,
I was the only one who would be blown away because when he stepped on field
that preseason what everyone saw on the field did not look any different than
the player that everyone saw 8 months prior when the guy had completed the
previous season. And when this happened I was confused…I was shocked…I was
dumb-founded…you fill in the blank. I just couldn’t believe how much I had let
the guy down.
Fortunately for me then I had my
reality check which revolved around my conclusion that I MUST change my
approach and truly began to investigate what it is that makes athletes tick
where it counts; which is in their sport and more specifically while they are
performing the actual movement tasks that are important for their success while
in the sporting arena. I started to really deconstruct movement and get to the
bottom of it to know how exactly I should build it back up in the most optimal
fashion for the individual at hand. In the process this began to ensure that I
was using methods for the athlete that was only going to equate to positive
transfer on the field.
After I had this reality check and
changed my approaches towards athletic development I actually helped the
athlete in the story to hone his craft and attain greater mastery in his sport
demands, and ultimately reach much fuller levels of his potential and he
actually still trains with me now to this day because of it. So much so that it
was very noticeable the next time he stepped on the football field and
continues to be every year that more mastery is solidified.
But the story is the one of the
reasons that I felt that the Movement Mastery brand must be founded. I almost
feel like we have all accepted the old way as the norm across all sports and at
all levels. We have all at least witnessed an athlete who will make what
appears to be stellar progress, and they knock it out on our cute little
standardized tests, AND still then don’t seem to have it when it counts on the
field…or court…or track. But this isn’t optimal in my mind.
Since then, I have helped not only
NFL players perform at the heights of their potential through this approach
change but really it extends much further than that. Numerous other
professionals have started to learn some of these methods and ideas from me so
they are impacting athletes of all sports and across all levels achieve more
specific results for where their current level of mastery resides and where
they want it to go. It’s because of this BOOM or ‘Ah-HA’ moment that I knew a
paradigm shift was needed across our professions and why I started
www.optimizemovement.com.
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Wow, that was awesome! Be prepared to go back, as I did, and take notes and little pieces of gems! Also check out some of Shawn's work here at
Football Beyond the Stats. This site is incredible, and being a footballer at heart, this topics discussed are especially of interest including NFL player movement breakdowns, the NFL Combine, and Play of the Week breakdowns. Football fans take notice and check it out!
A big thanks again to Shawn and for his great analysis of our questions!
Go Get 'Em!
