TRAINING
TRAINING
TRAINING
MOVEMENT PATTERNS
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CONTENTS
For ew or ds......................................................................4
In t r odu ct ion ..................................................................6
Needs An alysis..............................................................8
Tr ain in g in Pr o Foot ball................................................9
Wh at ar e M ovem en t Pat t er n s?.................................10
For ces & In ju r y.............................................................12
Dr ill Videos...................................................................16
Pr ogr am s......................................................................20
Th an k you !...................................................................24
Ref er en ces...................................................................25
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Yannick Bolasie
Before we get started, I thought I'd save a few of you some time. Are you an athlete and only bought this E book for
the videos of what to do and how to do them? Scroll to the end for a library of drills I have assorted in a private You
tube channel, drills I believe every athlete should have in their toolbox.
If you're a coach, then read on! I essentially wrote something that I would have loved to read myself (I'm a geek) - a
combination of thoughts of the industry that I've collated, my own deductions, as well as sound principles and
information gathered from various journals and other mediums.
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Ryan Tafazolli
TH I S E-B O O K I S N O T:
- A program to get you ripped for your Summer holidays to Dubai, Miami or L.A. (or anywhere
else!)
- A selection of drills that literally just make you tired.
- A mish mash of things I've not tried and tested on myself or with professional athletes.
- A strength / power E-Book......that's the next one! Keep your eyes peeled!
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I N TRO D U CTI O N
Firstly, thanks very much for purchasing my very first E-book! I?ve worked in 3 commercial facilities and with excess
of 100 trainers...the turnover in fitness is crazy, and people find it difficult to stay afloat, let alone making a living.
Pro sport was always my aim, back when I didn?t even know what I wanted to do! I?ve worked in the industry for
over 10 years, with 4 years of Uni, over a year of unpaid internships in pro sport, rejected from roles I wouldn?t
entertain now for £100k, to now be in a position where I am doing something I am so passionate about, making
athletes better at what they do, 1-1 and online around the world. The fitness industry is tough, and working with
professional athletes can be even more of a challenge.
I dipped my toe in the water for the Under 18's at QPR after my MSc in Strength & Conditioning where I spent about
1 hour a week handling urine, 20 hours in the rain, 3 hours putting equipment in/out, 1 hour doing warm ups, 2
hours coaching younger athletes, 10 hours doing absolutely nothing because the job was a joke, and a whole 4
hours doing what I actually wanted to do, coach athletes and optimise performance. It didn?t help that the head
coach I reported to got me writing his programs and he didn?t actually train himself, but there we go... that's Pro
sport for you!
I had the opportunity to experience working in the states (Harvard University, Boston, MA), where any coach would
jump at the chance. I wanted more hands on experience, and I didn?t want to spill any more piss on me....so no
brainer really. My day started at 4am, where I had contact with about 5 or 6 different sports throughout the day,
and then getting back home at around 8pm - yeah, it was a long day! I picked up various methods and exercises I
still use today, and it really taught me a lot about work ethic and the kind of attitude of athlete that I want to work
with.
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When I came back to the UK, I knew that I wanted to work in pro sport, but not within a club, because 1) the pay is
about as bad as Nando?s, 2) PISS 3) you have very little control (whether that be from your boss, if not you have
Physios who usually wrap their athletes up in cotton wool.) This predicament led me into basing myself out of a
commercial facility in central London, and finding my own work privately with athletes initially in the area, and now
venturing out around the country.
Whether it be training general population clients, Harvard University athletes, through to Olympic Snowboarders or
Premier League stars, I have always enjoyed writing. An unfinished novel (I?ll finish it one day) and blog posts that
only my Mum has read (she says) and even a cheeky diary of my world trip are just a few of the things I have
attempted over the years.
I get quite a few requests for generalised programmes, as opposed to individual tailored ones I also construct, so I
thought I would create a product that will give you some insight into how I construct programs, and how important
having a base bank of movements where all of my drills build from really are.
Harvard University
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Conor Washington
NEEDS ANALYSIS
The first thing I do when I'm due to work with a new athlete is to identify the needs of the athlete in their given
sport. I mostly work with footballers, so I'm very familiar with what they need, but every now and then I have to do
some research on a peculiar sport/ position (like when I had to work with my first Goalkeeper). When this happens,
my first port of call is always You Tube! Here, I get out my white board and analyse different scenarios and jot down
various attributes required. Once I've done this, I then cross reference my brainstorm with journal articles written
about the sport/ position.
Chris Haigh
A quick 'Google Scholar ' search pulls up "Strength & Conditioning Considerations for Soccer Players" by Anthony
Turner (who was my MSc lecturer back in the day) and Perry Stewart. Initially, this outlines the cold hard facts: what
the sport comprises of, and then training considerations to optimise performance within the sport. Anyone that
doesn't back up their work with science are frauds. Pretty simple really. There are enough of them out there, and
it's getting embarrassing. I could write a whole chapter on the frauds of the industry and what frustrates me, but
my resolution this year is to worry about me, and let the frauds get found out on their own :)
Needs analysis' are crucial in constructing a plan for any athlete, and is a topic I'll delve into detail over in my next
E-Book, but for now, I'll focus on the foundation movement patterns that are so instrumental in athlete
development.
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TIM ES H AV E CH A N GED
My Dad always talks about Bert Trautmann, the German Goalie who broke his neck during a game and carried on,
whenever we watch a game and it's full of 'soft' players.....this is extreme, but it just highlights that the game has
changed, from safety and precation, to nutrition and performance. That being said, on the performance side, it still
is years behind where it needs to be.
Just today, I saw a post on Instagram showing the "strength" work being done by Chelsea, the second best team in
London (Arsenal <3 ) - needless to say it was absolutely shocking. Players were just going through the motions
because they've been told what to do, and what they were given was too easy (and performed wrong). We train to
cause the body stress, and the body reacts by adapting. In this case, the players are literally wasting their time and
just getting a bit tired!!
St r en gt h & Con dit ion in g in Foot ball is decades beh in d spor t s su ch as Ru gby,
Am er ican Foot ball an d At h let ics u n f or t u n at ely. M y t im e in t h e USA in
collegiat e spor t w as ver y eye open in g - t each at h let es t o m ove, an d m ak e
t h em st r on g - sim ple!
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Moses Odubajo
The fitness industry is a funny one; there are many roads that lead to Rome, meaning that in some respects, there
are no wrong answers or methods (with logical explanations...). The title and subject of this particular Ebook is
"Movement Patterns", but what do I mean by that exactly? Essentially it's how I see "optimal movement". At the
end of this Ebook, I have a library of foundation drills or movement patterns that I want all my athletes to be able to
perform (and eventually function as so autonomously) as pre requisites to more advanced drills I prescribe as they
progress.
FIFA 11+
In 2009, FIFA promoted a planned football specific warm up to be rolled out to clubs worldwide after 2 years of
research. This research found that when compliance was met (minimum of twice per week), that injury rates
significantly reduced in young athletes (Soligard et al, 2008) and Steffen et al, 2013). Most professional academies
have the FIFA 11+ as part of their warm ups for their young players, but as it was only introduced 10 years ago,
many top professionals playing now would not have been exposed to it. Most players I've worked with have
struggled with basic movements in terms of where their centre of mass is; what leg they are pushing from and their
sequencing when firing muscles to carry out a movement. If movement patterns can be better, players are likely to
have a higher neuromuscular control of their lower limbs and core (Impellizzeri et al, 2013), leading to less energy
leakage and better transferrance of force throughout the body.
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WHY ARE THEY IM PORTANT?
Movement in everyday life is governed by the brain, in which it tells our muscles to generate force. Even simple
movements need to be trained. In football, movements are fast - a player changes direction every 2-4 seconds
(Verheijen, 1997) and makes 1200-1400 changes of direction during a game (Bangsbo, 1992). These movements are
often complex, where players have to quickly absorb tremendous amounts of force, and are asked to produce high
amounts of force as fast as they can (if they want to beat the opposition to the ball). Think of a few of the most
skillful players playing nowadays....Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo, Isco, Mahrez - now how much do you think these
players practiced with the ball at their feet, practising skills they can use in a game? A lot right? Yep. The amount of
time and effort players put into these skills, players should also put as much time into movement skills. Landing,
turning, accelerating, rotating. These movements are carried out in training every day, but rarely with the same
concentration as drills WITH a ball/ done so under the watchful eye of a coach who understands the human body.
Connor Wickham
When players move quickly on the pitch, during these complex contractions, the amount of force produced is now
not the only important factor. Players must produce force in such a coordinated way much like an orchestra. It?s not
who plays the loudest, but how to coordinate tempo and volume of all the instruments to create the perfect blend
as a whole. ?The more complex a movement pattern becomes, the less strength can be seen as a separate
phenomenon? (Bosch, 2018).
In a study by Spiteri et al, (2013), athletes performed 10 pre planned 45° changes of direction, with 3D analysis and
ground reaction force data being collected. The authors found that the stronger athletes (relatively by body weight)
produced higher foot kinematics and modified lower body positioning while producing faster COD performances.
This tells us two things - the first being we want to create stronger athletes. If you have followed me for a while you
will know I constantly reinforce the fact that football players generally are not strong enough / can be a lot stronger
to improve performance. Secondly it tells us that those players that got into better positions were able to generate
more force, therefore propelling them faster to complete the task. Some individuals are more co ordinated than
others and will autonomously adopt correct patterning without being taught - look at players with grace and skill
like Lionel Messi or David Silva - hardly the most imposing players physically speaking in the world, but both possess
good relative strength, and good awareness of their own body that they can put themselves in advantageous
positions to generate optimal force to accelerate away/through (!) defenders.
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FORCES & INJURIES
The number one aim of a Strength & Conditioning coach isn?t to make you fast and powerful or as big as Akinfenwa,
it is simply to keep you available for selection. If you?re available all season - fantastic, job well done. If I?ve done that
by also making my athletes more efficient in movement, stronger and more powerful, that would be amazing ~
most athletes find it difficult amongst the rigors of full time training and playing to be able to improve on top of all
the stress they are exposed to. The off season is where you make strides and lay down big improvements...not rest,
in my opinion.
I'm no physiotherapist, and believe that every practitioner should know their scope of practice, but I?ve come across
enough cases and worked closely with superstar Physio, Jonathon Codling (@jonnycod) to know that inefficiency of
movement is often the quick road to his office. In sport, tremendous amounts of forces go through the body - as
per Newton's Third Law "Every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" - so for every time a player jumps for
a header and lands, the body must absorb force; every time a player dribbles and quickly cuts in on one leg, the
body must absorb force. The amount of force depends on how fast the player is travelling and on the mass of the
individual. In a study by Dorn et al, (2014), muscle forces during running were identified as follows:
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If M ovem en t Pat t er n s ar e in ef f icien t :
- Poor mechanics formed (due to poor motor patterns being ingrained,) which could lead to overuse of
various areas, leading to injury;
- The amount of force the athlete can produce could be compromised
In football, players have to manipulate their own body mass against gravity to accelerate, change direction etc, as
well as any physical tussles with opposition (their opponents body mass), plus an external object (being the ball
when they strike it). Football, like all field/ court sports are open game skills I.e. everything is reactive off opponents/
the ball so apart from pre planned routines for set pieces, most of the movement skills you see are also reactive.
Generally speaking, bigger and faster are often better - first to a loose ball, faster to cut to beat an opponent, jump
higher to win a header etc, so it would make sense that players want to optimise their chances of winning each of
these individual battles.
Although this EBook?s subject is on Movement Patterns which is integral to building athleticism, the above
paragraph outlines that strength and power are the traits that are then worked on to allow players to compete at
the highest echelons of the game.
?Strength training is coordination training against resistance? (Bosch, 2015) - this reinforces the need for good
coordination to progress the resistance against. If bad habits are made when learning how to move, you are more
likely to encounter problems down the line. Much like when learning to drive, if your dad teaches you initially, you
are likely going to pick up his bad habits and he?ll have to spend more money on your lessons to fix them anyway!
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The Stretch Shortening Cycle (SSC) is a phenomenon in human locomotion where elastic potential energy is utilised
to aid the expression of force by sequentially lengthening and then shortening the muscle. If movement quality is
poor, the SSC can be compromised and it is possible that less force is produced. This would lead to the chances of
winning the above battles to be decreased. In a study by Finni et al (2001), the vastus lateralis generated more force
with a pre stretch, compared with no pre stretch. The force enhancement could be due to a longer muscle or
fascicle length before the concentric phase, placing the muscle in a more advantageous position to produce force
according to the length tension relationship (Flanagan and Harrison, 2007).
Conversely, if a player is competing and jumps for a header but has poor mechanics when he does so, it is possible
that less force is produced due to this same length tension relationship.
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Gedion Zelalem
The best analogy for movement patterns vs getting strong and powerful are as follows. I?ve taken this from my
friend Chris Gamperl (@strength.coach on Instagram) who puts it as follows. Movement pattern drills (such as
those in this Ebook) are like upgrading your software. You need these to be able to run your machine smoother and
more effectively. Every single player I?ve worked with could do with more software work, it?s something that has to
stay sharp so everything moves smoothly and efficiently on the pitch. There comes a point, though, where you just
need a whole hardware upgrade as you aren?t producing much force. We have a hardware upgrade by working on
our strength and power, and physically changing our muscle architecture. The movement patterns again come into
play here, because we can have a very strong athlete, but unable to transfer that strength to the pitch. We must now
bridge that gap and learn how to use this new strength and power to tear up the competition. Having only one
quality or one style of training will get you so far, you need the whole pie to build an efficient and scary machine.
There is no point in being able to develop force fast, if there isn't much force being produced in the first place.
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VIDEOS
I'm sure many of you have skipped all the text and are just wanting the juicy videos so here's to you! I have created
a Private Youtube page that you'll get taken to if you click on any of the stills below. This bank of drills are all
movements that I have my athletes perform - when, depends on their training age and patterning. As I touched
upon earlier, I see these drills as part of your foundation as an athlete that build towards more complex movements
and drills. These are your "software" drills that I believe are paramount in your athletic journey.
CO NLan
Dr op CLU SIO
ds an d DrN
op Ju m ps (boxes r equ ir ed)
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Squ at Deadlif t (h in ge) Rever se Lu n ge
Cor e
SA Deadbu g High Plan k sh ou lder t aps High Plan k Sh ou lder Tap- Flye
- All 3 point exercises are anti rotation, so aim to stay as controlled at the hips and
shoulders as possible.
- Adapt difficulty level by widening base of support (feet) to make easier / narrower for
more difficult.
- In Deadbug, press lower back into the floor and brace with shoulder/arm before
extending your leg away. Breathe out as you extend the leg.
- Press lower back into the floor (and brace against your hand) before extebding leg away
in deadbug
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Locom ot ive
Lat er al Sk ips
SL Hu r dle Hop (st ick ) SL Lat er al Hop (st ick ) SL (Con t in u ou s) Hops
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Br oad Ju m p (t o 90 deg st ick ) Dr op Cr ossover t o St ick Dr op Cr ossover t o Spr in t
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REPS & SETS
While I didn't want this to be a set program, (because we are all different and may need our own tailoring within) I
am also aware that people will still ask how many reps and sets they should do of each drill. A good way of
incorporating these drills into your workouts would be using these as "filler " exercises, where you pair them to drills
you already perform. Alternatively, I've written some workouts below at varying levels (some of the drills I've shared
above are at varying difficulty). These workouts develop fundamental movement patterns that I see as imperative
to building an elite athlete. Every workout can be completed without the requirement of weights, and despite many
of the exercises perhaps being seen as elementary, I still use many of them as filler exercises to World class athletes
every week.
Begin n er :
Exercise Sets Reps
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In t er m ediat e:
1a) Squat 5 5
Advan ced:
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"The sessions with James have been brilliant
- they're very well thought out and are very
much quality over quantity. I'm going into
pre season feeling strong, quick and
powerful which is something I've not had
from trainers previously. James' knowledge
is second to none and he's always looking for
ways to improve his athletes, and himself as
coach too."
~ Conor Washington
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Thanks for reading!! As I mentioned, this is my first EBook. I'm no designer, so I'm sure it could look
prettier, slicker, edited better.....but hopefully I delivered the kind of content you'd expect, which is all that
matters, right? :) Anyway, if you did enjoy it, please share it on IG and tell your friends! If you didn't,
please get in touch - more feedback the better! Keep an eye out for my next EBook where I'll breakdown
the strength and power requirements within Football and what you need to #GetTheEdge.
A T H LET ES ED G E
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THANK YOU...
First of all to YOU for being interested in what I do enough to fork out your hard earned money on this
EBook. It has been fun for me to write, but as I mentioned I am a bit of a workaholic (something I should
probably work on!!). Secondly, I'd like to thank Jonathan Codling (@jonnycod) who is not only hands down
the best physio I've worked with (and who fixed my shoulder after my nasty dislocation last year), but
also one of the nicest guys around. I trust him with my most high profile athletes, and he definitely has
brought my service up more than a few notches having him to consult over what he does best. I'd also
like to thank the lovely Regina Hunt (@regina_hunt) for filming all the videos in this EBook...even though I
obviously nailed them all in one take......(I definitely didn't). A last minute edition is a shout out to Eddie
Norris (@intial_e) who decided my Promo video for this Ebook was rubbish, so took it upon himself to
make it what it is today...AMAZING!! Expect a LOT more videos from him on my Insta!!
Any questions you may have, my emails and DM's are always open and I look forward to hearing some of
your feedback!
#Get Th eEdge
M en t or sh ip
Com in g soon ...
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REFERENCES
- Bangsbo, J (1992). Time and motion characteristics of competition soccer. In: Science Football 6:34-40.
- Bizzini, M and Dvorak, J (2015). FIFA 11+: an effective programme to prevent football injuries in various
player groups worldwide- a narrative review. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 49, 577-579.
- Bosch, F (2015). Strength training and coordination: An integrated approach. Rotterdam, Netherlands:
2010Publishers.
- Dorn, T.W, Schache, A.G, Pandy, M.G (2012). Muscular strategy shift in human running: Dependence of
running speed on hip and ankle muscle performance. Journal of Experimental Biology. 215: 1944-1956.
- Finni, T, Ikegaw, S, and Komi, P.V. (2001). Concentric force enhancement during human movement. Acta
- Flanagan, E.P and Harrison, A.J (2007). Muscle dynamics differences between legs in healthy adults. Journal
- Impellizzeri, F.M, Bizzini, M, Dvorak, Jet al (2013). Physiological and performed responses to the FIFA 11+
(part 2): a randomised controlled trial on the training effects. Journal of Sport Science. 31:1491-1502.
young female footballers: Cluster randomised controller trial. British Medical Journal. 337:a2469.
- Spiteri, T, Cochran, J.L, Hart, N.H, Haff, G.G and Nimphius, S (2013). Effect of strength on plant fit kinetics and
kinematics during a change of direction task. European Journal of Sport Science, 13(6) 646-652.
- Steffen, K, Emery, C.A, Romiti, M (2013). High adherence to a neuromuscular injury prevention programme
(FIFA 11+) improves functional balance and reduces injury risk in Canadian youth female football players: a
- Turner, A.N and Jeffreys, I. (2010). The stretch shortening cycle: Proposed mechanisms and methods fo
- Turner, A.N and Stewart, P.F (2014) Strength & Conditioning considerations for soccer players. Strength and
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