RYAN MARKLEWITZ

Training Optimization Using Neuromotor Thresholds

RYAN MARKLEWITZ

You’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 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.

A neuromotor threshold is a benchmark skill based not only in physical age, but also in cognitive and training age of the athlete. Training age is the sum of an individual’s prior experience performing a specific set of tasks. Cognitive age is the sum of an individual’s ability to execute varying mental tasks of differing complexity. 1-5

Just as a toddler must pass certain neuromotor thresholds before they can learn to walk, so too must an athlete progress through a series of similar thresholds before they can correctly and safely execute specific skills. 6-8 This means that certain skills require more cognitive and neuromuscular ability than others. Therefore, athletes must acquire a hierarchy of skills before others become appropriate and effective. 1,9

Establishing Thresholds

When it comes to determining neuromotor thresholds, it helps to view them hierarchically (see the chart to the right).

Level I Thresholds encompass postural skills. As an analogy, imagine the difference between throwing a limp pool noodle versus a metal rod. A rigid platform is necessary for power, speed, precision, and accuracy. Sound posture, balance, and stability are required for almost every athletic movement. These skills require the athlete to solely focus on maintaining their position in space.

Once athletes consistently demonstrate skills at the Level I Threshold, they can progress towards Level II where they move themselves or objects in a straight line. The postural foundation established in Level I is necessary to run, jump, throw, catch, swim, pull, and push in a linear plane.

From here, athletes then move into the Level III Threshold. Athletes at this stage can translate the linear skills they established in Level II into multiple planes, changing direction or moving limbs in more complex ways to achieve more nuanced movement patterns. Notice that we establish competence in a linear plane (Level II Threshold) before we progress athletes to training in multiple planes (Level III).

Progressing Through Thresholds

There are multiple sub-thresholds within each of these larger categories that you must establish to meaningfully progress an athlete from Level I to Level III. This is where drills fit in, as they allow athletes to learn new skills and progress through thresholds. The training and skill of the coach is a critical factor, not only

NEUROMOTOR THRESHOLDS FOR SPECIFIC MOVEMENT PATTERNS

LEVEL 3 Multiplanar Skills

LEVEL 2 Linear Skills

LEVEL 1 Postural Skills

Movement Pattern A Movement Pattern B Movement Pattern C

in selecting appropriate drills for each threshold level but also in judging when an athlete has met a particular threshold and are ready to advance.

When selecting drills, ask the following questions to ensure they are appropriate:

• Does this drill specifically address the skill I want to teach? • Does this drill make sense given an athlete’s current neuromotor ability? • Does this drill require skills the athlete has not acquired in order to execute properly?

Keep in mind that athletes don’t all pass through neuromotor thresholds at the same speed. We may find that some athletes need more time wrestling with a Level II skill before moving on to Level III, but others may be ready to progress rather quickly. 1,2,5,7,8 This requires us to get creative and differentiate our instruction to support each athlete’s unique progression.

Longevity of the Athlete

While having a more robust training plan is certainly a benefit of establishing thresholds, there are other long-term impacts for your athletes. One of the most significant is reducing the risk of severe injury. While minor injuries naturally occur, the responsibility for season-altering injuries lies solely on the coach. Accelerating an athlete’s training too quickly will overload an athlete’s neuromuscular system ultimately impairing their ability to move functionally and increase the risk for injury. 10-12

Therefore, it is essential to establish specific thresholds that indicate athletes are physically and mentally ready for more complex skills. Athletes will have the space required to not only correctly execute skills critical to their athletic performance, but also to determine the purpose they serve in the overall context of the sport.

Last Word

The next time you scroll past that cutting-edge drill on Instagram, resist the urge to immediately include it in your own coaching tollkit. Remember your athletes. Use neuromotor thresholds to determine whether that drill is developmentally appropriate in terms of both cognitive and training ages. Modify to meet the individual needs of each athlete. While the front-end work can be more extensive, the long-term benefits are paramount to the overall safety and performance of your athletes. That is significantly more noteworthy than a popular fitness post.

Ryan Marklewitz (rmarklewitz@saes.org) teaches Science and coaches cross country, track and field and swimming at St. Andrew’s. He is also Head Coach at Element Performance in Potomac, Md.