09/04/2026
LTAD: movement foundations.
spending time on exercise technique is worth its weight in gold. Pun intended. If an athlete learns how to recruit the right muscles properly feel the coordination and balance within the movement and over a lifetime of their training it will translate into proper or improper development. Even if certain movements don’t become a staple in their training, having exposure, increases vocabulary and movement capacity. IT Olympic lifting foundations because they can solve a lot of problems and create an opportunity for athletes to learn something they can all relate to and practice at a high-level. Over an athletes career, you have to think about the potential exposures and what the downstream effective learning things are.
Also consider considering training environments can be very very unique. What are the constraints of a certain athlete or what facilities, equipment and services they might have? If an exercise can solve a lot of problems with minimal equipment it’s necessary to be able to know it. Here you see I am teaching this exercise on a Wrestling mat; not out of preference.
ironically, it actually suits the purpose of teaching the balance and control of this exercise. Considering it’s their first exposure to this movement pattern in this fashion, also requiring a lot of unlearning and relearning, I feel quite accomplished to take this progression into the power sn**ch within one-half session.
This isn’t the flashy exercise for Instagram type stuff - these are the exercises that serve the foundation of an athletes development. To become a great coach, one needs to master these fundamentals and teaching them before becoming more creative. I feel like I have to do it it all over again by teaching in a foreign language.
Follow for the FULL progression.
china
