After a 4 day course with the folks from
FaCT Education I (Peter) came away with confidence that we (SNP) have been doing a great job and that Steve has been a great mentor for myself.
The
FaCT methodology, beyond the
lactate testing protocol we have done for many years now, looks at training not for a time of year or certain race but instead tries to evaluate the limiter for an athlete and then target that limiter to let the athlete as a whole improve. This would be analogous to a chain being only as strong as its weakest link. The FaCT test has advanced to include many cutting edge tools over the last few years that once available to the public could really change the way we test and train.
Steve Neal Performance, and many other smart coaches around the world, have used this strategy in some form for many years but looking for ways to optimize and improve our assessment and targeting of limiters is necessary. A basic FaCT test (lactate + HR + performance(wattage/speed)) can give an decent start to see where your system gives out but what system causes that limitation is where we can continue to improve our accuracy of assessment. For arguments sake we can look at race situations and field tests like CP20s and reap information about where our bodies tend to fail, the 'link in the chain' that fails first is what we want to know, and where hopefully FaCT can help in the coming months - years.
In the meantime what can we do ? Steve and I have spent many hours, including a couple of hours just recently while stretching & drinking espresso on the floor of
CROSSFIT ORANGEVILLE discussing the many different places we and our clients are limited. For many people there will be a system in the body that will give out and cause our performance limitation but beyond the physiological systems most people, especially working adults, have major limiters in 'non-physiological' systems that once addressed can see major improvements. These are less easy for athletes, and sometimes coaches, to admit because of the obvious business stress provided by the realization that for many people coaching (ie. a weekly plan) is not really going to help. Rather, for many athletes taking some lessons on stretching, breathing, bike skills, bike maintenance, strength training, psychological counseling, sport psych training etc. would do a much better job then a simple training program.
Consider the working athlete who sits all day, drives to much, eats to little. Technical bike skills (including mechanical skills), Chronic stress, limited flexibility, strength imbalance, psychological factors, nutritional deficiency/sensitivity are but a few areas that athletes, even pros, often need to address before or perhaps in-conjunction with formal training of the physiological systems.
So the goal of a good coach and/or a smart athlete is to examine and address limiters. This process should include physiological testing, as it should demonstrate improvements in performance even with the strengthening of the non-physiological limiters. So decide on a test that evaluates your limiters and ideally the demands of your goal sport and then objectively decide on the 1 or 2 things holding you back. 'Train' those 1 or 2 things and then retest.
That is largely what I had reinforced this weekend ... I hope these ideas help you. I will try to put up a few cases studies and more ideas about addressing limiters over the next few weeks.
Feel free to post to comments if you have ideas or questions about limiters.
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