474: Joel Smith on 12 Reasons Athletes Plateau in a Performance Program

Joel Smith speaks on 12 reasons why athletes and coaches may hit a plateau in their performance programs. These include: 1. Lack of stimulation in the training environment 2. Too much stimulation in the training environment 3. Not enough creativity or novelty 4. Lack of a clear plan 5. Too much weightlifting 6. Not enough weightlifting 7. Monotony from failing to wave training loads 8. A lack of representative play and exploration 9. Deficits in skill learning 10. Programs that feel too constricting 11. Athletes not feeling truly seen or heard 12.  Gaps in belief and motivation In this episode, we’ll unpack these elements one by one, while also exploring practical methods coaches and athletes can use to break through these plateaus and unlock new levels of performance. Today’s episode is brought to you by Hammer Strength. View more podcast episodes at the podcast homepage. (https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/) Timestamps 1:10 – Lack of Stimulation in the Training Environment3:18 – Too Much Stimulation in the Training Environment6:00 – Not Enough Creativity or Novelty7:36 – Lack of a Clear Plan10:20 – Too Much Weightlifting12:12 – Not Enough Weightlifting13:44 – Monotony from Failing to Wave Training Loads16:00 – A Lack of Representative Play and Exploration18:25 – Deficits in Skill Learning20:47 – Programs That Feel Too Constricting23:00 – Athletes Not Feeling Truly Seen or Heard25:03 – Gaps in Belief and Motivation Quotes “Lack of this stimulation threshold can be the thing that's keeping an athlete from breaking through to the next level of their performance.” “If you simply put a timer out, you’re timing your sprint now, maybe you’re still by yourself, but it’s actually timed. If I took an untimed sprint and a timed sprint and I put a GPS on that and you weren’t aware of it, but those timed sprints are typically, unless you’re overthinking, going to be faster than just running fast for the sake of running fast.” “When I take competition as well as a task and a little bit of a problem to solve and I mix those together, I can get things that really can stimulate athletes almost beyond what the individual pieces can do.” “The art of creating stimulus within a single training session is a very powerful thing.” “One of the best ways to warm up to dunk a basketball is to play pickup basketball 20 or 30 minutes. You’re feeling more activated and ready to go than just about any traditional canned activation series.” “I believe in those systems that actually are overly stimulating that a lot of that is also a coach is super intense, but can’t shut it off. You need to be stimulating, you just have to be able to shut it off and understand when and how to rest.” “Creativity in coaching and training is simply the ability of a coach to reinvent themselves in their training program and to deliver the basics in a new and fresh way.” “A lot of times those switches to another training group are met with instant gains and progress, and a lot of that instantaneous gain is just simply the novelty. It’s the change.” “Before you can break the rules you have to know the rules.” “Weightlifting itself initially is going to be a really powerful and good stimulus to the athlete, but you’re going to get to a point where the continued strength gains are more about squeezing and stiffness and compression than they are stimulating neuromuscular coordination.” The goal is to rely on the sport itself, to rely on speed itself, to rely on jumping itself, primarily more than how can I lever this weightlifting exercise to get me a little bit more.” One of the biggest deficits in ultimate athletic performance is how we learn, how we put together skills, and how we use things such as differential learning, constraints, analogies, and amplifying the error.” About Joel Smith Joel Smith is the founder of Just Fly Sports and is a sports performance and track coach in Cincinnati, Ohio. Joel hosts the Just Fly Performance Podcast and has authored several books and coaches in both the high school and private sectors. Joel was a strength coach for 8 years at UC Berkeley, working with the Swim teams and post-graduate professional swimmers, as well as tennis, water polo, and track and field. A track coach of 17 years, Joel coached for the Diablo Valley Track and Field Club for 7 years and also has 6 years of experience coaching on the collegiate level, working at Wilmington College, and the University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse. He is currently coaching high jump at Milford High School. Joel has coached 4 national champions, multiple All-Americans, and NCAA record holders in track and field. In the realm of strength and conditioning, his programs have assisted 5 athletes to Olympic berths that produced 9 medals and a world record performance at Rio in 2016.