i need a little help here. i'm trying to find an appropriate way to categorize (and help coaches self-categorize) along the gradient of old to new school. it occurred to me that you can't just lump everyone into one or the other. maybe there are 10 steps, or 7, or 12, or 5, that get you from altogether old to altogether new.
and i'm not trying to be cute here. i'm really looking for some help, and i think it might be easier for athletes to choose coaches who can have a numerical score, or a color coding, or something, showing where they are along the gradient.
i don't know who might be altogether old school, maybe molina. strictly old school, it seems to me, would be:
- no web interface workout log.
- no training software
- no workouts based on training with power
- no blood lactate analyzer
- no speaking in acronyms (WKO, TSS, LT, AT)
- uses easy/med/hard or % of max HR, but does not refer to zones like Z1, Z2, etc.
- may use a workout point score, but something home-grown instead of training peaks' TSS score
- believes in periodization, but would not be caught dead using that word.
strictly new school might be:
- subjects get their workouts via a web interface workout log, and use it log their workouts.
- uses training software to analyze, plot, plan.
- is an adherent of training with power on the bike
- subjects have portable blood lactate analyzers for use during interval sessions
- uses every acronym in the book
- after having been coached by this coach, subjects could teach intro to exercise physiology
furthermore, and perhaps most importantly:
- old school relies on and believes and trusts in experience over scientific evidence generated in a lab, that is, he believes that science will catch up to and validate training theories elite athletes already know through decades of experience.
- new school believes that what we read in scientific journals about training show us the way to better methods, allowing us to embrace what works, and to cast off the the mythic, the subjective, the anecdotal.
what am i missing? are there traits i'm omitting, or is there a better way to differentiate between old and new school that gets nearer the heart of the differences between them?
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
and i'm not trying to be cute here. i'm really looking for some help, and i think it might be easier for athletes to choose coaches who can have a numerical score, or a color coding, or something, showing where they are along the gradient.
i don't know who might be altogether old school, maybe molina. strictly old school, it seems to me, would be:
- no web interface workout log.
- no training software
- no workouts based on training with power
- no blood lactate analyzer
- no speaking in acronyms (WKO, TSS, LT, AT)
- uses easy/med/hard or % of max HR, but does not refer to zones like Z1, Z2, etc.
- may use a workout point score, but something home-grown instead of training peaks' TSS score
- believes in periodization, but would not be caught dead using that word.
strictly new school might be:
- subjects get their workouts via a web interface workout log, and use it log their workouts.
- uses training software to analyze, plot, plan.
- is an adherent of training with power on the bike
- subjects have portable blood lactate analyzers for use during interval sessions
- uses every acronym in the book
- after having been coached by this coach, subjects could teach intro to exercise physiology
furthermore, and perhaps most importantly:
- old school relies on and believes and trusts in experience over scientific evidence generated in a lab, that is, he believes that science will catch up to and validate training theories elite athletes already know through decades of experience.
- new school believes that what we read in scientific journals about training show us the way to better methods, allowing us to embrace what works, and to cast off the the mythic, the subjective, the anecdotal.
what am i missing? are there traits i'm omitting, or is there a better way to differentiate between old and new school that gets nearer the heart of the differences between them?
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman