Our method of classifying athletes is rooted in individual movement solutions. To begin, we will determine whether an athlete is anterior chain (push) or posterior chain (pull) dominant. In addition to this, we also determine whether an athlete is single or double-leg dominant.
From this we now have 4 “boxes” that athletes may or may not fall into (some athletes are “hybrids” and will not fit neatly into one of the 4 quadrants).
How do you determine which quadrant an athlete falls into?
We have replaced the use of movement screens to type our athletes with simple observation and discussion. Through these methods you can gather all the information necessary to fit them into the appropriate category. By observing body type and the fashion in which an athlete moves you can gather information to assist the classifying of that athlete. For example, individuals who spend a lot of time on the ground when sprinting are pushers and those who appear to pull themselves down the track are obviously pullers.
In addition to observing, asking the athlete, “Would you rather squat (push) or deadlift (pull)?” and “Are you more comfortable on one leg or two?” will more often than not lead you in the right direction.
What is the benefit of classifying athletes?
It essentially comes down to facilitating better decision making as a coach. This manifests itself primarily in two areas – exercise selection and cueing.
In terms of exercise selection, classifying your athletes allows a coach to decipher where their strengths and weaknesses lie. A single-leg push athlete will prefer a single-leg squat where as a double-leg pull athlete will prefer a standard deadlift. Therefore, as we near the competitive season we will select exercises that fit into our athletes strengths. We want them performing movements in the weight-room that they are comfortable with and that give them confidence. Likewise, if we are working with an older athlete, we will spend less time on their weaknesses and more time on their strengths throughout the year. The same goes when thinking in terms of a quadrennial – year one will contain more work directed towards weaknesses and year four will contain more work directed towards strengths.
With an understanding of an athletes’ preferred movement type you will also gain direction on where to target your cueing. For instance, ground-based cues such as, “Push the track away” or “Run away from the starting blocks” will have a higher success rate with athletes under the Push category. Air-based cues such as “Drive your thigh up to the sky” will have a higher success rate with Pull athletes.
What about the athletes that do not fit neatly into any of the quadrants?
As I briefly mentioned before, some athletes are “hybrids” and it is impossible to accurately define them as a single category. These athletes are a bit more difficult to coach from a standpoint of it takes more trial and error with exercise selection and especially cueing to uncover the effective strategies to employ.
Is there an optimal movement type you attempt to shift your athletes towards?
It appears that high-level sprinters tend to occupy the Single Leg Pull quadrant. That being said, we do not attempt to shift an athlete on the movement classification spectrum. The movement solutions an athlete exhibits are so innately ingrained within them that the risk of trying to alter those patterns does not outweigh any potential benefits.