This is a guest post by Jackson Frey.

I always hear older coaches talk about how they got their start in the field. It often involves an article from an old bodybuilding magazine or being gifted a strength and conditioning text book. These coaches had to look for text books at the public library or local bookstore or look up well known coaches and call them on the telephone and hope they’d return their call.  It used to take effort to learn as a young coach in the field of sports performance. Oh, how times have changed. Today we have every fitness website you can think of, numerous podcasts for just about any topic, e books, digital courses, in person courses, consultations, mentorships, Instagram, Twitter, even Tik Tok. There used to be too little content readily available to performance coaches, now there is WAY TOO MUCH! So, what can we as coaches do to combat this inundation of information? Strengthen your filter.

This is a concept I learned from an old Mike Robertson podcast. He talks about improving your ability to “filter” through the excessive amount of information to find content that is

1.     Based in scientific literature

2.     Successfully practiced

3.     Applicable to your situation

This can be very difficult to do. There is so much conflicting information out there. A young coach can read about the benefits of Olympic lifting on Monday and read about why Olympic lifting is unnecessary for team sport athletes on Tuesday. That is not to say what he read on Monday is right and what he read Tuesday is wrong. In the end it all comes down to context. You must understand who is providing the information and WHY they are providing that information to you. A coach who was mentored by Charles Poliquin is going to put out much different content than someone who was mentored by Mike Boyle. A coach who trains professional baseball players is going to put out different information than someone who trains Olympic weight lifters.

It is very easy to get sucked into “sexy” training videos of elite athletes doing supramaximal eccentrics or the French Contrast Method. Those are very effective methods but those methods being used on a 16-year-old soccer player who cannot perform a loaded split squat is completely unnecessary and can be extremely dangerous. There is a lot of good information out there, that doesn’t mean every piece of information is applicable to the athlete demographic you work with. It all comes down to understanding the context of the information and being able to determine if it fits within yours.

There is also a lot of bad information out there. I am not going to name any specific examples because that is not constructive nor the purpose of this post. I see a lot of content, particularly on social media, that is small minded, attention seeking or purely confrontational. This content can be very dangerous if you have not developed a strong filter. My filter is a constant work in progress but I have developed a few tips to identify red flags.

1.     If the post leads with trying to sell you something without any legitimate explanation of what you are looking at, KEEP SCROLLING! This is especially true for those who are not well-known members of the strength and conditioning community. If you or your colleagues have never heard of this person, it probably isn’t worth your time or money.

2.     If the information is speaking in absolutes (ex. ____ method is the ONLY way to develop power), KEEP SCROLLING! There are no absolutes in the world of sport performance. A fixed mindset surrounding something that complex can be very dangerous.

3.     If the information is posted solely for the purpose of attacking or disproving other works or opinions, take a step back and read up on the other side of the argument before coming to your own conclusion on that given topic.

This list is by no means a finished product but it has helped me strengthen my filter as I continue to learn and grow as a performance coach in this information rich world we live in.  

Please reach out to Jackson if you have any questions and give him a follow as he is putting out some great content.
Jackson Frey
Performance Coach- Chicago Sports Institute
Jackson.frey@chicagosportsinstitute.com
IG: CoachJ_Frey
Twitter: CoachJ_Frey