The Long Game

The Long Game to Greatness

These past two weeks I’ve talked a lot about the mindset and approach to Development, and although they are of vital PART OF THE PROCESS, developing and balancing discipline with passion are always a WORK IN PROGRESS. You will hear this said often in Higher Tactics, but there is plenty of room at the top, but not necessarily a place where you can sit down. 

The previous conversations are what brings us to today. We will talk about what I believe is the cornerstone of our mission at Higher Tactics. Playing the Long Game towards Greatness vs. Shortcuts or BioHacking Success. 

Even though we love cutting-edge-technology and new and revised methods, we understand one very important thing: 

There are tried and true methods that support not only scientific research, but anecdotal evidence from the athletes Higher Tactics has worked with and coaches that we have collaborated with over the last 20 years. 

Sometimes things don’t have to be new and improved to be powerful and effective. 

In the development of a youth athlete, it is important to understand that ANY training modality whether it is sport, skill, strength, speed, agility, conditioning, etc is going to generate a change at the beginning.

But as the old adage says, “Use it or lose it…” This is where the scientific principle of Residual Training Effect comes into play. It’s the WHY behind how you help your athlete prepare and plan for the rigors of a full-season of multi-sport or specialized sports calendar. 

Residual Training Effect refers to the lasting benefits or improvements your body retains from a specific type of skill or stressful event, even after you've stopped doing that said activity. 

For example, if you do strength training for a few weeks, your body doesn't immediately lose all the strength you've gained when you switch to a different type of training. Instead, those strength gains can stick around for a while, which is useful when you're focusing on different goals, like endurance or speed.

These effects can last for days or weeks, depending on the type of training and how intense it is. The idea is to manage these residual effects so you can plan your training and workout sessions more effectively and keep progressing toward your goals.

Here is the table that was developed by Russian performance coaches Bondarchuk, Issurin & Kaverin in 1985. That was 40 years ago. I told you, TRIED and TRUE. Not always new and improved.

To briefly explain this Residual Training Effect infographic, each one of these qualities has a “shelf-life” before they start to decrease in their potential. The column on the left with icons represents the qualities that are important to performance. The column on the right represents the days (+ or -) that your athlete can maintain their current quality WITHOUT any further training of that quality BEFORE it begins to decrease from its current “potential”.

This should bring about questions that Higher Tactics seeks to test and teach for athletes, parents, and coaches.

What is my potential in each of these qualities?

This is why Higher Tactics does cutting-edge tests and sports-specific assessments so that assets and liabilities can be identified for each individual athlete we work with. There is a cliche’ saying that is still true which states “If you’re not assessing, you’re just guessing.” It is important to know where you are so can get to where you want to go right?

how can i ensure that i don’t lose these qualities that i trained so hard for?

This is where the secret sauce is for great sports and performance coaches. To discover the answer to that question, you’ll have to read Part 2 to discover what Long-Term Development looks like for athletes and what Higher Tactics approach is. Thanks for tuning in!