There’s a good chance your athlete is doing a lot of training.
But are they training for what they actually need?
More exercises and more training do not always mean better performance. Sometimes, the biggest opportunity is understanding where an athlete is right now and what they actually need to improve.
At Cohen Health & Performance, we’re proud to be the exclusive physical therapy and performance training partners of Potomac Exiles Rugby Club. One of the ways we work with their athletes is through our Athlete Blueprint, a series of tests designed to give us a clearer picture of how an athlete moves, produces force, and performs.
Looking Beyond Strength
Strength is important, but it is only one piece of athletic performance.
Using our clinical expertise along with technology such as force decks and force frames, we can look at several different qualities that contribute to how an athlete performs.
We can assess:
- Strength from side to side
- Force production
- Rate of force development
- Jumping and landing performance
- Explosiveness
- Potential asymmetries
- Areas that may need additional attention
This information can tell us more than simply whether an athlete is strong.
An athlete may have plenty of strength but struggle to produce force quickly. Another athlete may be highly explosive but lack the strength needed to support that explosiveness.
Those athletes may need very different training approaches.
Turning Data Into Better Training
The goal of the Athlete Blueprint isn’t simply to collect numbers.
It’s about understanding what those numbers mean and using them to make better decisions.
If we identify a meaningful difference from one side to the other, we can determine whether it needs to be addressed.
If an athlete has plenty of strength but needs to improve their rate of force development, we can incorporate more explosive work.
If an athlete has good explosiveness but needs additional strength, we may place more emphasis on strength development.
The goal is to build a more complete athlete while focusing on the areas that will have the greatest impact.
Making Limited Training Time Count
Athletes don’t have unlimited time to train.
Our rugby athletes have jobs, school, families, and other responsibilities outside of their sport. Their training time matters.
Instead of filling that time with exercises they may not need, testing can help us identify where their time is best spent.
This is where individualized performance training can make a difference.
The right training plan isn’t necessarily the one with the most exercises. It’s the one that addresses what the athlete actually needs.
Establishing a Baseline
Another benefit of the Athlete Blueprint is that it gives us a baseline.
We can test an athlete today, identify areas for improvement, and then reassess several months later.
Maybe their strength has improved.
Maybe they’ve become more explosive.
Maybe an asymmetry has improved.
Or maybe they’ve addressed the areas we initially identified and are ready for a new challenge.
The training plan should change as the athlete changes.
For higher-level athletes, testing may be repeated every few months. For other athletes, reassessing every six months may provide a useful look at progress.
The goal is to keep adjusting the plan as the athlete develops.
Building Better Athletes Through Individualized Training
You don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit from this approach.
A high school athlete hoping to compete at the college level, a competitive club athlete, or an adult who wants to perform at a higher level can all benefit from understanding their strengths and areas for improvement.
At Cohen Health & Performance, our approach to sports physical therapy in Bethesda and sports physical therapy in McLean goes beyond simply addressing an injury. We want to understand the individual in front of us and help them build the strength, capacity, and confidence needed for their specific goals.
The Athlete Blueprint gives us another way to do that.
It’s not about finding everything that’s wrong with an athlete.
It’s about finding opportunities to help them become stronger, more explosive, more resilient, and more efficient.
Train With Purpose
The goal isn’t to train more.
It’s to train with purpose.
By understanding what an athlete actually needs, we can make better use of their training time and create a plan that evolves with them.
Whether you’re looking for sports physical therapy in Bethesda or sports physical therapy in McLean, our team can help you understand where you are now and build a plan around where you want to go.
Ready to take a more individualized approach to your training? Contact Cohen Health & Performance to learn more about our Athlete Blueprint and performance training.
