Today’s podcast features sprint coach Jack Edwards. Jack is the coach and company co-founder with Track Speed Development and is experienced in club and high school track coaching. He runs the “Metamorphosis Track Project” page on social media, is the creator of the “Acceleration Monster” training manual, and can often be found at the Bankstown athletics track in Sydney. Jack works closely with individuals from diverse backgrounds and age groups, ranging from national-level competitors to newcomers in track and field. Jack’s coaching approach underscores the significance of individual observation, athlete identity, and tailored strategies to optimize each athlete’s s movement and performance.
It is easy in sprint training (or general athletic performance) to focus on the “micro” or isolated aspects of athletic performance training. It is easy to treat all athletes the same in programming and cueing. Although a general structure must exist in training groups, it must also be understood what drives each athlete’s performance engine, their ideal cues and communication strategies, and related training constraints and exercises.
In today’s episode, we delve into the unique coaching approach of Jack Edwards. He shares insights on painting a comprehensive picture of the athlete, considering the driving mechanisms of their movement, psychological factors, and adaptation in sprint training. Jack also discusses the importance of developing an athlete based on their needs, their “superpower “, and “identity“, bringing the power of story into the sprint training equation. We also explore the concept of coaching based on big picture elements, versus a “micro” approach. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of these topics and more in today’s episode.
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Main Points
2:20– Jack’s Take on “Classical Ab Training” for Sprinting and Athletics
13:02– Natural Movement Evaluation for Optimal Coaching Success
20:51– Athletic Identity Development through Varied Training Programs
22:19– Optimizing Speed Coaching Strategies for Individual Athletes
29:05– Training with Imaginative Superheroes: Inspiring Athletes
39:20– Enhancing Sprint Performance through Strategic Training Approaches
44:29– Enhancing Performance Through Sensation and Awareness
54:49– A Holistic Viewpoint of Speed Training
Jack Edwards Quotes
“I would have just probably reading some old Charlie Francis stuff, and I just started banging out just classic crunches and leg raises for time push-ups, all those sort of body weight calisthenic exercises on off days, and I don’t think it was useless whatsoever. I think that the demands of sprinting and lifting weights and, and getting jacked is such a stressor on the posterior chain, and as someone who has some anterior hip issues historically, I almost felt like the ab circuits were my postural restoration, as silly as that sounds- Jack Edwards
“I think that my goal when I first start working with someone, I guess, is to try and paint a picture as to who the athlete is.” – Jack Edwards
“I think that there are probably common factors which need to be included in the program and the sort of movement styles that athletes probably need to move towards to become faster runners.” – Jack Edwards
“I was working with at a all boys school, and we’re coaching a variety of different athletes. And, like, the one thing I really wanted them to get out of the training experience is sort of like, to be proud of their strengths and to understand them as well, and to not be, to not have shame about what they don’t have, so that they continue to push forward in their athletic endeavors.- Jack Edwards
“Explosive like a firebender. Or if a rugby player, like a prop who’s going to be like a bigger boned kid is next to like a little greyhound, I guess it’s comforting for the earthbender child to understand that in a rugby scrum, this airbender has got absolutely no chance against him, even if he’s going to lose in this 20 meters run. And so, yeah, I really buy into athlete identity because I think it paints a path for success. And we all have a very different” – Jack Edwards
“Fire would be like Christian Coleman, you know, Air would be like Andre de Grasse, perhaps. And Water would be like Alison Felix, where there’s sort of like the metabolic component, perhaps”- Jack Edwards
“So, because it’s sometimes the temptation for the athlete and the coach to try and look for answers in places that they don’t exist, like sometimes athletes, and I see it often, where athletes who have stagnated in their ability to produce more power and more force will try and like, change their block setting, or they will try to do something differently with their hands, or they’ll try to adopt a movement signature of a famous athlete when in reality, like their counter movement jump just might not be good enough to get effective block clearance.” – Jack Edwards
“We can’t do something worth measuring every single session because what’s the point of measuring something sub maximal? Like we’re not going to do 20 meters fly runs every session. We’re not going to be maxing out the gym, whatever it is. So organically, within the training program, there are opportunities for athletes to explore, like, I guess some of the more subjective things, like around how your foot feels hitting the ground when doing some intensive tempo running” Jack Edwards
“Sometimes it could be really tempting to look at a rate limiting factor, improve on it, come back to the sport or performance, whatever it may be, and sometimes even see negative transfer of the intervention. And I guess it’s because the improvement of that variable is based upon the assumption that in isolation, reinserting it into a complex system will reap improvement and that everything almost remains untouched and uninfluenced. But it’s just not, it’s not the case typically” Jack Edwards
“There’s an accompanied psychological stress which can only be challenged through racing against a complete random who’s probably faster than you” Jack Edwards
Transcript
About Jack Edwards
Jack Edwards is the coach and company co-founder with Track Speed Development. Former He is a high School English Teacher by day, and also a High School track coach. Jack is an admitted meathead, has a strong appreciation for the arts of bro-science, and is an “Earth-Bender”, turned “Fire-Bender” in his personal masters track and field performances.
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