Understanding what we need to change to improve acceleration, and how we go about coaching it with James Wild

On this week's Pacey Performance Podcast Rob is speaking to James Wild. This is James' third time on the podcast and you can check out parts one and two here. James is another speaker at the Sportsmith speed conference in March and we got him on not only to give us a teaser of his presentation, but to take us through, using a hypothetical athlete, his process of understand what is required to improve acceleration. So in the first half of the episode, James explains what he would do when first meeting an athlete. This may surprise some people but its not a lot. No extensive profiling, no in-depth screen. We also get an insight into how James' philosphy has changed on this too over the last 5-10 years. In the second half of the episode, James details how he takes the learning of the more subjective first phase into a more objective second phase. We hear what gym based assessments he conducts to understand areas for potential physical improvement and then how he goes about actually trying to manipulate technique. This was of my favourite episodes on speed and was incredibly refreshing to hear James's points of view on some polarising topics. Main talking points - What information is needed when meeting an athlete for the first time Setting expectations of speed development The subjective phase of "assessment" What to look for using video and other low tech tools What gym-based assessments James uses when moving to a more objective phase of understaning Why making someone faster in one session is "bullsh*t" Understanding the variability of certain metrics and how that should effect interventions Knowing when an improvement in speed is really an improvement