Real World S&C for Professional and Amateur Fighters
Tommy Halligan is a S&C Coach in the UK working with a range of fighters. He is currently a mentee of mine on the group mentorship programme and agreed to write this article to highlight the real world constraints he faces daily with respect to his programming decision making! Thank you Tommy for your write up! It fits perfectly with a recent post of mine about principles driving methods, but not forgetting constraints or barriers in the process. This piece brings that to life perfectly!!
The application of S&C in the fight game has for a long time been compared to that of the Rocky sequel movies. The glitz and glamour of two warriors indulging in physical, physiological, and psychological preparation prior to entering the ring for combat.
Although these blockbusters may hold some truth, the constraints faced by the S&C coach, skills coach and fighter, make for more rigorous planning being required.
The Causation
Combat sports require significant time dedicated to mastering multifactorial skills to reach elite status. Unless all interventions (Skills/physical/physiological/lifestyle development) can be under one roof such as well-established Olympic institutes or recently well renowned UFC PI, fighters will be pulled in multiple directions across the working week. Alongside the latter, the potential of holding down a job (early career) to meet financial obligations and balancing family life can negatively impact the intended adaptations from a training schedule
The Dilemma
With progressing fighters, the aforementioned is not usually the case. They will be part of either a professional or amateur stable, amongst fighters from all different backgrounds under one or two head coaches. These coaches often imitate multiple coaching disciplines by wearing the caps of the S&C coach, nutritionist, psychologist as well as being the technical coach. By no means is this the technical coach’s fault, but more a lack of resources, potential knowledge, and funds to further develop their athletes.
The S&C coach enters this environment as a frowned upon ‘outsider’ who wants to ‘science’ an old school sport where training replicates more of a physical grit and grind look compared to structured evidence/practical based methods.
The Solutions
Before slandering the form of training witnessed, think about the emotional intelligence aspect. You are already seen as the outsider and maybe the science guy/girl, so trust must be earned before applying anything you’ve learned from the textbooks or years spent in academia. I recall from the book ‘How to Support a Champion’ Steve Inghams first meeting with Sir Steve Redgrave. Previous physiologists had entered this environment with total disregard of the multiple gold medals previously won by the group. They portrayed ignorance and tried to implement their academic/textbook approach and fell short to provide little to no buy-in from the group. Steve Ingham took a different approach and listened over talking for a few weeks. He went on to gain the trust of Sir Steve Redgrave and the group by sitting and having a cup of tea and asking what they thought should be done. Interpersonal skills won that day over ‘Let me show you what I know, I don’t care what you’ve done’ mentality
As a coach, I know what principles I want to adhere to in order to create desired outcomes and adaptations. However, these are going to only look great on paper and limited in their effectiveness, if you dont consisder the constraints in world of a fighter:
1. Buy-in Constraints
Look to watch and understand the athletes involved and their sport. A simple way to gain quick and lasting trust is through showing appreciation of what others go through or do and to seek to understand. Opposite end of the spectrum it seems the quickest way to lose it is to be completely ignorant to the fighter and their sport and schedule. Through personal experience it was my participation in combat sports which resonated with a lot of fighters who I trained as they potentially seen me understanding what they went through to some extent.
2. Schedule Constraints
These are interventions where S&C coaches can apply their knowledge and help a fighter progress a long way without stepping into the training room. As mentioned previously, negative stress can play a part in effecting positive adaptions through a mismanaged schedule. Sitting down with a fighter and technical coach and organising their training schedule to benefit the athlete can gain huge bonus trust points. Two birds, one stone scenario where your relationship grows stronger, potentially leading to more free reigns within S&C. You may then earn the right to apply your knowledge through affecting underlying mechanisms behind training adaptations. Be patient, there will be points in time where S&C is prioritised and other times it is complimentary. This won’t be a magic fix but a starting point with the aim of mitigating chaotic schedules.
3. Time Constraints
The benefit here as S&C coaches is the normality that most fighters have little to no experience with true structured strength and conditioning. Their sporting skills are superior to their training age within a gym environment, which makes sense as sports practice rules all. This narrows the margin down of complex thinking behind programming for fighters in a chance to gain significant differences with building foundational methods. Figure 1 highlights two weekly S&C sessions which for most well-trained individuals may seem low, although an already chaotic schedule with multiple commitments and a low training age, this may be the sweet spot for positive adaptation. If we treat a fighter with the same thought process as a strength athlete, we may be on the path to overfilling the stress bucket. The commonly used phrase of ‘more is not better, better is better’ fits nicely into this scenario. You can get a lot out of a little with this population.
4. Environmental Constraints
Paralysis by analysis is a phrase used to explain someone’s lack of intent or go, by overanalysing a situation to the extent of doing nothing. The reason I mention this is because we live in a society of information overload, and my early S&C days I believed without the perfect training location or up to date testing protocols/devices, there was no way I could prepare a fighter. How do we know what to do and how to progress fighters by not doing anything at all? Let me tell you, training through subjective decision making is better than no training due to no accessible objective measures. Decisions should be based on how we can get the fighter from point A to point B with whatever tools available. As mentioned earlier, there will be a lack of resources, funds etc when dealing with this specific population. Tools don’t make a good coach but rather a good coach makes tools work in their favour.
Putting this into a Real Practical Microcycle Example (Based on work with a current fighter):
Athlete Synopsis:
Training age: 2 years implementing S&C
Injuries: Repetitive elbow issue and poor shoulder/hip/t-spine mobility. Caution in exercise selection.
Template: Concurrent training based on 2-day velocity split grouping similar stressors together to limit accumulated fatigue throughout the week (Tip my hat again to Geoffrey Chu for introducing this method to me).
Summary:
Developing real world S&C structure for fighters is more rigorous than regimented. Be prepared to make regular adjustments, it’s always good to have a plan A, B, C, D…
Involve the multi-disciplined coaching team with the preparation and planning to gain further trust, alongside knowledge outside of S&C and if this isn’t possible reach out and communicate. If all else fails have a solid relationship with the fighter/s. Understanding schedules, the sport, surrounding team and having strong interpersonal skills will take you further than knowledge of sets, reps and weight ever will.
Tommy Halligan
As mentioned Tommy is a current mentee with me in the Collaborate Sports Group Mentorship Programme. If this is something you’d be interested in joining, click the button below to book a free discussion with me to see if this option could suit you!
All the best, Dan