Training Optimization Using Neuromotor Thresholds RYAN MARKLEWITZ
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ou’re browsing your Instagram feed when suddenly there it is. A drill so innovative that you just have to try with your team. A series of complex exercises strung together that will give your athletes an edge. The best in the world do it, so it must be good. You likely have an athlete or two thinking the same thing. We are in an age of information oversaturation in the world of athletics. Social media like Instagram have become an endless fount of knowledge. Everyone from professional athletes to fitness gurus seems to share glimpses into their training. What’s dangerous about this unabashed sharing of knowledge is that it
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usually comes without context. You have no idea what series of skills that athlete needed to master before that drill became effective. You have no idea how many years of training it took that fitness expert to need that level of complexity. So how do you determine which skills are appropriate for your athletes? Without knowledge of your athletes’ cognitive development coupled with their training ages, this is quite a difficult task. Much of this involves coaches’ intuition. However, in the competitive atmosphere of athletics, we want to be grounded in tangible measures of our athletes’ progress. That’s where neuromotor thresholds come in.
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