Notes from the Editor: It’s a bit of the classic Rocky versus Ivan Drago style debate, in the sense of creative and intuitive training versus a data and analytic driven method. The truth is that coaches can utilize both schools of thought and ability to give athletes an optimal experience, and shouldn’t get buried completely in either one. If I had to say which area is underdeveloped in young coaches, it is that creative approach to coaching that not only can fuse existing methods in a new way, but also is the soil that allows flow-state to be better cultivated in the course of a training session. Flow-state in training is what makes us human, and was never the result of a lab experiment.
In the world of coaching these days, creative ability, and the ability to hone flow states in training is on the bottom of the list of instructional materials for many young apprentices. Personally, I was on the reverse end of this; having creatively created my own training for a decade before being formally taught anything. I’ve had many instincts from this period of my life amplified by working with coach Paul Cater, who wears the hats of master flow-state creator (vibe), training sequence inventor, as well as a user of modern sport science and data tools.
In our Q&A today, I explore the mind of a man who has taught me exponentially more than 6 years of university ever did in the process of coaching and creative training methods.
What are your thoughts on creativity in coaching? How important is it to cultivate this and what are practices that can enhance this?
Paul Cater: The basis of creativity really has to be self-discovery. Copying someone else’s plan or format is difficult before the root cause of why it was developed isn’t personally understood. One becomes locked into a progression for a long time that was good for someone else or most likely what was mass marketable and deliverable. Cross-Fitters that can come into they gym don’t last because maybe I can’t deliver their cultural context, but despite the good bars and bumpers and good technical sense, they simply can’t unlearn a system they learned usually late in their adult life. They can’t see the forest from the trees. There is such a strong tie to a learned system and feeling of first doing it.
First loves are always hard to get over. So, to maintain a creative ability, or lets say skill-set– I think we need to be cautious with athletes, and model our own learning process by not simply “painting by numbers” or just copying a Bob Ross method without wrestling with and crafting our own process first. Because entire cultures spring up around certain methods, the cultural tie can override the context of the method. This will ultimately limit a coach’s ability to adjust to any situation.
The inevitable group-think in this day and age of abundant information leads to forced and systematic tempos upon everyone- which in my mind is the major cause of injury when athletes are getting stronger and have better resources and constructs of training in general. Without coaching creativity, athlete individualization is difficult, especially with the advent of so-called predictive analytics and technology to determine training pathways. And as organizations opt for machines to make coaching decisions over qualified coaches to work with their athletes, rate of injury may not get any better.
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“A creative over-speed training setup, based on facility constraints and available equipment”
Cultivating creativity on a daily basis will avoid the inevitable pit-falls of strength coaching (that is the yearning to codify, simplify, certify, and demonstrate on a mass level. I don’t know exactly where that point of diminishing returns is, but I know that an athlete who comes from another program comes to me and is un-teachable and not open to other methods of delivery, has been a part of it. And the trend I have seen with interns coming out of their undergraduate degrees is that they are completely devoid of any creative thought process. They are forced to memorize principals, then resource the internet for training discovery. The come to my facility with their gym bag, shoes and belt but won’t even train with me while they resource their online program they downloaded for 20 bucks.
The young coaches that can embrace vulnerability in their own learning process will inevitably go farther and better gain trust from athletes later down the road. Self discipline in adhering to a plan shouldn’t be mistaken as the same thing.
Now more than ever I believe creativity is a daily discipline, rather than something you’re born with. The simple fact that coaches have to start work so early gets in the way of this process. There has to be a daily engagement of 1. Purpose and 2. Identity. No level of coaching is immune to this. I know that when I got up everyday for 40 days in a row at 5 am at Spring Training, my creativity would diminish exponentially. There was no time or room to think by yourself. The car ride maybe. Many times in the coaching world, creativity is supplanted by camaraderie. There has to be equal parts, but in a specific order. Its hard when people are on top of you immediately in the day. I have found there needs to be something with the hands to unlock the creative juices in the morning. I paint now in the morning. I used to write more in my journal, hand written with a fountain pen. There is a tempo and rhythm of writing with a pen that slows the mind enough to process thought, not just ingest other peoples thoughts. I don’t think listening to podcasts counts in this regard. At the risk of sounding too abstract, I think this imbues, saturates us with an understanding of the day’s rhythm which inevitably translates to training choices for the athlete.
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“(Above: One of Paul’s AM Paintings) There needs to be something with the hands to unlock the creative juices in the morning”
Then there is one’s own physical outpouring of creativity. Training without a program. Feeling the climate, the rhythm of the day… understanding what the athlete is waking up to..the soreness, the adaptations from the prior day by which the technical data points can only corroborate. This at times completely guides my process of thinking and decision making for an athlete- or group of athletes for that day. So I guess my training is extremely biased, but not a bias from years ago or what is simply good for my own body type and sports experience. You have to be in the moment with the athlete. Of course this isn’t quite mass producible is it. The idea that training can become automated is going to lead to more problems. The human factor will always be there. The best directors will err on the side of having more qualified coaches, than putting their resources in more data mining.
What are the key things that a strength coach should seek to accomplish in a training session? KPI’s and beyond?
Paul Cater: There has to be a memorable feeling of accomplishment with the desired physiological outcome. I always think that the entire training session comes down to one set- maybe 5 minutes where everything aligns and there is a mind body connection and exactly right load, tempo, velocity to harness the purpose of the exercise to ultimately translate to the field.
Was there a point where the athlete felt purpose beyond the session itself? I am careful and take the risk of not making in gym accomplishment the outcome. There has to be link to their sport, but more-so greater life as the key KPI in a session. Did they prolong their career for their family, did they link into encouraging others? This goes into deeper spiritual meaning I suppose, but there is great physical power unleashed with there is a feeling of overcoming evil; it is greater that than the emotive drive from personal gain or vain glory. This somehow has to come to the session or week somehow.
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“Did they prolong their career for their family, did they link into encouraging others? This goes into deeper spiritual meaning I suppose”
A sense of challenge is inherent in creating the memorable 5-minute moment and finding deeper purpose. And to truly draw out these, the athlete has to engage with their own inner coach and encouraging spirit. It is not a one way street, but a co-laboring effort by which the athlete becomes the encourager. This goes into my belief that our deepest well of inspiration, creativity and power comes from a place of encouraging and sacrificing for others. It’s not just about having a coach beast someone else, but an interchange of encouragement to channel optimal peak and average power markers. Especially true with more accomplished athletes who could invariable train themselves. But how can one mass market the 5-minute lasting muscle- memory connection induced by linking into purpose through shared encouragement paradigm?
A good strength coach has to be patient for this- not pandering, or conjuring, but vulnerable enough to enter into this together. It is almost easier when they are coming back from injury or alone away from their teammates. But, you have to cultivate these moments- maybe over a series of weeks or months. When deeper purpose is linking with neural drive, there is a forever moment when the athlete is changed and another level of confidence and performance occurs.
My training facility has multiple ages, genders, levels, sports, at times all together which helps foster inspiring moments. When my senior athlete class dubbed “Elixir” can inspire an Olympian during her session, that is a powerful moment.
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“When deeper purpose is linking with neural drive, there is a forever moment when the athlete is changed”
What is the balance between structure and routine, and then a more spontaneous and flowing element in a training session, as well as a series of training sessions
Paul Cater: Finding balance between structure and routine has been the thing I’ve pondered and wrestled with the majority of my career. I’ve always had that burning question whether my desire to create is in fact an issue of rebellion, or even lack of understanding or knowledge. It was definitely a product of the self- discovery aspect of my education and the fact I back-loaded my formal education. But I am careful to not let the need for creativity be misled by the very human thirst of autonomy. We have to stay within certain scientific boundaries- fence posts if you will- in a training session and series of sessions to create the desired adaptation. I think where the creative process- including the necessary linked purpose and memory making- can be misled when it turns into a vendetta or sustained rebellion. I call this the Robin Hood Complex; being an underdog and working with a chip on your shoulder is empowering for a certain amount of time, but inevitably leads of closed thinking and self-fulfilling prophecy. You are what you become. To play the disadvantaged misanthrope can have a panache and identity which an athlete can identify. But, in the end can become a road block to greater achievement in the face of inevitable bureaucracy and politics organized sport. Because in reality we do not control the purely substantive decisions in your life, its a poor choice to let creative process turn into a rebellious spirit.
I have struggled personally with knowing the boundaries of personal creativity and being approachable and understandable to the team constructs. This is the real art I suppose. You don’t want to appear to be recluse or disapproving of the mechanics that help an organize function, especially if they are paying your salary. Yet, you have to dive into that shared space of purpose with an athlete- who may be working against the very management powers of that organization. That’s why encouragement- though cliché and corny has to be the compass point- the true north of all creativity, autonomy and purposeful drive. As opposed to just rebellion against a man or organization. I have learned the hard way in this a couple times, in both being the rebel and dissuading other coaches from going too far down that path. We wear beards, hats backward, headbands, tights, baggy sweats and flaunt convention many times because it is functionally correct, but, when the identity overrides the purpose and chops away at our ability to achieve the greater goal autonomous creativity has a limit.
If I could’ve understood that our greatest expression of creativity, autonomy and rebellion is extreme service of the athlete, then I think I could’ve expanded my reach- and potentially kept jobs a little longer.
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“Encouragement- though cliché and corny has to be the compass point- the true north of all creativity, autonomy and purposeful drive”
Tangibly, an athlete wants me to break my personal routine and come in early or late. The decision to get over my own rights in fact initiates the creative space. It embodies the death-life exchange of any great story, any great memory. Every session needs to be seen as a masterpiece, an epic, a heroic life from death interchange. While we have bodies to give, we must lay them on the line. Until we are like Doctor X in a wheel chair who can simply coach blind and lame, we have to lay our bodies on the line to build the trust and embody the sacrifice we demand of the athlete. Paradoxically this is why strength coaches continue to be undervalued; the endgame is total sacrifice whereby self-preservation is in direct opposition to achieving greatness for the athlete and team as a whole.
The irony is that, at least in MLB, strength coaches are not in the collective bargaining agreement, there is no pension. The strength coach in general spends more time with athletes and lays their bodies on the line more that any other coach. I have been tackled by English rugby legends in warm ups, broken my nose and got cauliflower ear from on pitch wrestling and returning to play contact sessions. My hands have been bloodied taking hundreds of swings just to feel what it is like before I ask them to go lift weights on day 40 of Spring Training. To be creative we must feel and understand the athlete’s circumstances. We submit to gain the freedom of decision-making and compliance that comes in a trusting relationship, deeper than that born from the shared rebellious spirit.
Again, We have to have the boundaries of the canvas established. Routine is very important to players- necessary in building fundamentals but also the psychology of repeated failure and sheer amount of variables that are presented on a day to day basis. Of course Major League Baseball deals with a huge amount of routine. When you play 162 days in a row, it is the routines that help players survive. I remember on days off were even difficult because the routine was broken. Hitters depend on establishing set routines to be able to be able to autocorrect and simply deal with the thousands of split second adjustments on every pitch.
Though the weight room can be, and needs to be a place where control can be regained. Yet, providing the necessary structure and semblance of control, while breaking the monotony for both body and mind is predicated on that coaching relationship where the player believes you know what is best for them on that day. This is almost impossible to periodize and plan for. It will be only after many strength coaches are replaced by AI, and athlete injury and success rates don’t drastically improve that the human factor will be revered again. Computers can’t enter into that mystical death cycle which determine that rebirth moment which occurs in the moment of adaptation- that 5 minute take away moment where victory is gained.
“To be creative we must feel and understand the athlete’s circumstances”
The guide-posts need to be established subliminally. Especially talking about youth development, the non- negotiable, fixed ‘systematic’ elements need to be indoctrinated without an overt effort to have them memorized. Though Danielson from Karate Kid had to paint the fence over and over, he didn’t know how exactly what it was for. It was just as much a test of compliance as engraining movement patterns for chaotic combat. If an athlete truly doesn’t want to give up control, and a strength coach plays into that, breakthrough may never happen. This is probably why so much of coaching at the pro sports level devolves into babysitting or just pandering to the athlete to make them happy, never truly instituting the career altering adaptations. Extreme control of routine will only be balance by extremity of creativity- or lack of control in other parts of their life that may not be healthy. This is why the weight room, the session, the phase needs to be a place of creative freedom, to unlock adaptation, find balance and release of control, and engage with deeper purpose not born from rebellion, but life.
So to answer the question more briefly, a coach has to show that the guidepost boundaries are there to create safety and trust- especially for those athletes more inclined to cling to routine as a crutch or as part of their learning process- and then become vulnerable by sacrificing themselves, to enter into a communal flow or creative state where the most relevant exercises and loads are chosen within the goals of that particular session.
The balance between structure and routine hinges on trust. How quickly trust is entered with an athlete is a matrix of experience, ability, advocacy from management, the environment itself, but i suppose the level of personal sacrifice for the good of their cause.
What do you think the role of a strength coach really is? On the pro level? High school and youth?
Paul Cater: Having worked at every level now, I have to accept that the role of the strength coach is 50% cheer-leader, or let’s say vibe-coordinator. I have fought so hard to be an early adapter in the analytics age, but in the end what pays is bringing the motivational game. That looks a little different for everyone and every situation. Even with more stringent adherence to required certifications (another topic entirely) it still boils down to being a cheerleader. This is why there are specializations with designated sport scientists, analysts, etc.
After seven seasons with the Orioles, my greatest achievement was when the manager announced me as the official vibe-coordinator. I had laid down my desire to be any technical guru and just embraced why I was still asked to come back.
Now that I am in the private sector I have to embrace this even more; embrace my true nature I suppose, because this is what the general public and aspiring athlete needs. When I was building my training center over the last 7 years (concurrently while working for MLB) I thought I could just go the hard science route. It was unapproachable and not understandable (yet) to the general public. They still wanted to puke in the corner after excessive footwork ladders. It always boils down to athletes (and parents) coming away with a feeling.
I am horrible at marketing, making T-shirts and apparel, the general hype factor. But I have always been good at the vibe factor for the session itself. The more I went down the data route, the more I was not understandable and caught in between marketing. I want to believe I was working at the top level of European Rugby and Major League Baseball because of my technical expertise, advanced technological application and load management and return to play protocol acumen, but it was because I brought energy and encouragement on a daily basis.
I always thought there is a 10-year lag time for trends to reach the US. Jeans, power measurement, flywheel, load management, whatever: what was uniquely American is the energy and confidence in coaching, based heavily on the depth of personal application a coach may have. This is a blessing and curse. I think the US Strength coach scene may run up against a little bit of identity crisis once the analytics age fully hits over here. It will be a new low barrier to entry when every velocity is measurable from a device you can buy at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Everyone is a sport scientist, or an Instagram guru…. or has a CSCS.
Experience will always be king, yet paradoxically continue to drive biased robotic thinking: the most dangerous trend will be ex-athletes who regurgitate what their coach told them to do, slap some data around it and call that experience. Memorization. The experience must come from a mix of personal application and teaching from a creative place, but with a depth of understanding the progression.
“The most dangerous trend will be ex-athletes who regurgitate what their coach told them to do, slap some data around it, and call that experience”
SO, the role fortunately (or unfortunately) of the strength coach is as a master motivator, vibe master. The top paying jobs tell the story- both at the professional and private level. Eliciting one more rep, safely I suppose, is the KPI, more than the absolute PR or delta of change or even wins/losses.
This is an interesting time. I think the strength coach- and their primary function- is being challenged in this data era. Look at MLB managers. They are somewhat becoming controllable figure0heads of the analytics department. The strength coach will be interviewed by the Sport Science Director. Functionally, taking the data out of the hands of the one applying it. It’s a bit of a paradox: they want you to be a master motivator, a vibe master, but be well versed in data, analytics, quantifying every rep. The feel – the art and science if you will- is a bit at odds. The ones who can MOVE the data points will be the valuable ones and surviving strength coaches in the end once the pendulum swings back to the middle. Again, that comes from personal experience in finding the way in and out of injury, pushing the envelope but not crossing it
About Paul Cater
Founder of The Alpha Project
Salinas High School, Varsity Baseball, Football 1995
UC Davis: Studied pre-law while playing UC Davis Varsity Football 2000
NSCA, Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist 2001
Poliquin Certified Level, 2
Internships include UCLA, San Jose State, San Francisco 49ers
Graduate Degree Exercise Science, Human Performance, Brunel University, London 2010
MSC Strength & Conditioning from Middlesex University, London 2011
Over 18 years of experience as an International strength and conditioning coach working with London Wasps Premier Rugby, Baltimore Orioles, USA Rugby and consulting numerous other High School, College & Professional Athletes
Late Stage Rehab Specialist
Phd Candidate focusing on Eccentric Overload through Rotary Inertial Flywheel Training, Recovery and Performance
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