Athletes don’t need to back squat. Athletes shouldn’t do HIIT. Athletes shouldn’t clean. Athletes shouldn’t do this. Athlete’s shouldn’t do that. I’ve said it all. And I’ve caught flak for it all too because exceptions always exist. Athletes from different sports have different needs. So when I say athlete’s don’t need to back squat, I [...]
Athletes don’t need to back squat. Athletes shouldn’t do HIIT. Athletes shouldn’t clean. Athletes shouldn’t do this. Athlete’s shouldn’t do that. I’ve said it all. And I’ve caught flak for it all too because exceptions always exist. Athletes from different sports have different needs. So when I say athlete’s don’t need to back squat, I have to preface with, “well, except powerlifters.” Shouldn’t clean? “Well, except for Olympic weightlifters and, in my opinion, powerlifters.” Shouldn’t do this? “Well, except for that…”
Throwing out general blankets of advice is difficult for me because of these contraindications. Over at Freak Strength there’s a mega-ulta-super-cool dude named David. He’s smarter than I can fathom. (But fathom someday, I will.) Everyone is in a tizz because he’s bashing Joe DeFranco’s WS4SB, citing that it’s “incomplete.”
The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
Re: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
Continued: The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth
And I agree. It lacks energy system work, it over-emphasizes maximal strength, it over-utilizes the maximal effort method, and it has no regard for individuality. Such happens when you make one program for millions of people. Sure, it gets people jacked and strong (to a point). But, for most athletes, there’s more to success that being jacked and strong. And for some, those two things matter little.
USING THE QUADRANTS TO CLEAR CONFUSION
Dan John and Pavel, in Easy Strength, use four quadrants to categorize an athlete’s needs. So there’s no longer “athletes,” there’s “athletes of certain quadrants.” Which quadrant an athlete falls in depends on two things:
1. The number of qualities the athlete needs to master the sport
2. The relationship to the Absolute Maximum of each quality
So with that, we have this (starting at the top left and rotating clockwise):
QI: A bunch of qualities at a low level of maximum
QII: A bunch of qualities at a high level of maximum
QIII: A couple qualities at a decent level of maximum
QIV: Few (or one) qualities at maximum (or near max)
THE FIRST QUADRANT
Dan and Pavel describe the first quadrant as well structured physical education. Being a physical educator, America fails at accommodating this quadrant. But this is about letting children play, teaching them gymnastics and body awareness, having them play as many sports as possible, and soaking up as many motor and movement patterns as possible. Chances are this quadrant has long since passed you. Ever teach a twenty year old how to throw? It’s difficult. First quadrant failure.
THE SECOND QUADRANT
Most team and collision sports are second quadrant. Hockey players need a bit of muscle to protect themselves from hits, they need speed to get to loose pucks, they need aerobic capacity to sustain good effort through out the game, they need lactic capacity to sustain longer shifts, they need strength to battle on the boards, they need skills to play the game, and this list continues. A lot of qualities, most of which need to be well developed. Well. Not maximally. Think of QII as decathlon athletes. They need to be good at a lot of things, not excellent at one thing.
THE THIRD QUADRANT
Most off-season athletes and general trainees (like me) reside here. QIII can get confusing. It’s just trying to better yourself for whatever task you have in queue (if you even have one). This is where the old Robby Robinson saying applies: stimulate, don’t annihilate.
Any idiot can smoke an athlete. But can you make him win?
-Pavel
So, there is only one rule in QIII: Do what you say you need to do.
-Dan
THE FOURTH QUADRANT
Few athletes make it to the fourth quadrant. It’s a highly specialized, highly developed place. These are the 100m sprint athletes. The Olympic weightlifters. The high jumpers. The people that only do one or two thing, but they do them exceptionally well.
I mentioned that QII athletes were decathlon-ers. A decathlon athlete will never throw discus as far as the specific discus athletes. The specific athletes have an advantage: they only need to worry about one thing. If the decathlon athlete only worried about one event, they wouldn’t be much of a decathlon athlete. This is why Olympic weightlifting for QII athletes causes confusion. Sure, Olympic weightlifters are strong and powerful, but they have a narrow focus. A football player, a QII athlete, has more to worry about, more to do. They’ll never be as technically proficient, so they’ll never see the same benefits.
WHICH ONE ARE YOU?
Understanding what quadrant athlete you are is important. And since I like this classification system, I’m guiding my advice by filing my blog posts under specific quadrants. If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you’ll see “filed under…” followed by specific quadrants. For instance, Power Cleans Suck, Here’s Why is filed under QII and QIII because my teaching method was designed for athletes that would never specialize in Olympic weightlifting (QIV).
TL;DR
To better accomidate for each athlete’s needs, Dan John and Pavel in their book, Easy Strength, created a four quadrant system that revolves around two concepts: the number of qualities an athlete needs, and the level to which each quality needs developed.
What do you think about this system? What quadrant athlete are you? Confused? Bring it all to the comments section below.