Effective Coaching in Strength and Conditioning Pathways to Superior Performance

This book takes a radically different approach to the challenge of coaching in strength and conditioning. In doing so, it addresses many of the paradoxes of strength and conditioning, providing new perspectives that shed light on to the many questions that challenge coaches.

Rather than focusing on methods, it delves into the questions of what makes a coach effective. It examines the conditions that are necessary for training applications to become optimal, and the skills necessary to create these conditions. It provides coaches with a flexible pathway towards understanding the challenges of strength and conditioning and by which they can develop the craft of coaching to maximise their effectiveness and potential.

The book is essential reading for anyone wishing to pursue a career as a strength and conditioning coach, acting essentially as a prequel to the many scientific and applied texts in the field. It will also appeal to more experienced coaches providing a wider perspective on the challenges they face and providing potential solutions not traditionally considered.

Introduction, Part I: Finding the Path, 1. The Nature and Challenges of Strength and Conditioning, 2. Our Knowledge Illusion: The Challenge of Evidence-based Practice, 3. Towards a New Way of Thinking: The Training Ecosystem, 4. Thriving in a Performance Ecosystem: The Five Minds of the Modern Strength and Conditioning Coach, Part II: Preparing the Path, 5. Know Thyself: The First Step on the Path to Coaching Success, 6. Building a Successful Ecosystem: The Forgotten Rock of Effective Practice, 7. Building the Coaching Toolkit: The Personal Skills Needed for Ecosystem Construction, 8. Making Effective Decisions and Generating Workable Solutions: Key Tools for the Modern Coach, Part III: Planning the Path,9. Using the Generally Accepted Training Principles: The Pillars of Effective Training, 10. Reverse Engineering the Path to Success, 11. Where Are We Now: Assessing Performance, 12. Skill: The Forgotten Aspect of Strength and Conditioning, Part IV: Taking the Path, 13. Developing Gamespeed: Improving Context Specific Movement, 14. Developing Gameforce: Improving Context Specific Force Capacities, 15. Developing Game-sustainability: Improving Context Specific Work Capacity, 16. Developing Your Gameplan: Strategic and Agile Planning for Performance, 17. The Next Steps: Moving Towards Mastery of the Craft of Coaching

Ian Jeffreys is Professor of Strength and Conditioning at the University of South Wales, UK and a prolific coach, author and educator, consulting extensively with several professional sports organisations. He is also on the Board of Directors of the NSCA. He is Editor of the UKSCA Journal, Professional Strength and Conditioning and on the Editorial Board for the NSCA’s Strength and Conditioning Journal, and the Journal of Australian Strength and Conditioning.