Ask any player or coach who has experience at the highest level of rugby, and they will undoubtedly discuss collisions. You will often hear things like “fronting up,” “winning the gain-line,” “gaining momentum,” “dominance,” “physicality,” and so on. There are obviously many factors—physical and psychological—that go into performing and succeeding at the highest level of…
“I don’t know who modified RSI, or why there was a need to modify RSI” Episode #497 of the Pacey Performance Podcast brings together Phil Graham-Smith, Paul Read, and Matt Jordan to explore the murky art of force plate data collection, interpretation, and standardisation. This conversation is essential for anyone using force plates in athlete…
If you work in rugby, you already know that head impacts are an unavoidable part of the game. But the growing concern around concussions and long term brain health, especially from repeated sub-concussive impacts, means we need better ways to track these collisions [1]. This is where instrumented mouthguards (iMGs) come in. These aren’t just…
Blood flow restriction (BFR) training has emerged as an innovative technique that offers significant potential for enhancing strength and hypertrophy, aerobic capacity, and recovery. This method, once confined to niche rehabilitation settings, is now gaining widespread attention in athletic and fitness communities for its ability to deliver results comparable to high intensity training while using…
Electromyography (EMG) is no longer confined to research labs — it’s becoming a practical tool in elite sport for guiding training, rehab, and return-to-play decisions. In this roundtable, leading practitioners Mike Sonne (Chicago Cubs), Emidio Pacecca (AC Milan), Marcus Ahrens (Atlanta Braves), and Mark Jamison (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville / Oro Muscles) share how they’re…
Infrared thermography represents a significant advancement in athlete monitoring, offering a non-invasive method for collecting crucial temperature data. Sports organizations increasingly recognize the value of this technology for athlete care programs, particularly for injury surveillance. Infrared thermography devices capture thermal information through heat sensitive sensor arrays, displaying it as a thermogram that reveals temperature variations…
Most data in sports performance focuses on external stress: GPS, isometric dynamometry, and motion capture, to name a few. For internal stress, practitioners have had to rely on more subjective measures in wellness or rate of perceived exertion screens. While these are helpful, anyone who’s distributed them to their teams knows the challenges they present,…
While blood flow restriction has gained recognition in rehabilitation and hypertrophy training, its application as a performance enhancing tool during warm-ups and pre-training preparation is still largely untapped. Pre-ischemic conditioning (PIC) via blood flow restriction deserves more attention. Pre-ischemic conditioning involves temporarily restricting blood flow to a specific muscle group using blood flow restriction cuffs…
The anaerobic speed reserve (ASR) is an increasingly popular tool for optimizing training and performance across various sports. It not only allows practitioners to individualize training prescription but also enables a tailored approach to recovery within and between sessions. ASR is the difference between an athlete’s maximal sprinting speed (MSS) and maximal aerobic speed (MAS).…
Daniel Cohen My three favorite force plate countermovement jump (CMJ) metrics not only tell us something about neuromuscular performance, but they also drive at why we do this assessment, how it is performed, and why we get some of the numbers we see. Flight time:Contraction time (FT:CT) My main reason for assessing most athletes using…
Blood flow restriction (BFR) is commonly used in sport performance settings, and is gaining traction in rehabilitation. Blood flow restriction entails applying external mechanical pressure to the upper or lower extremities at the proximal regions of the limb, limiting blood flow to and from muscles [1]. This reduces venous return and creates an ischemic state…
Definition and mechanisms of proprioception Since the term proprioception was introduced, there have been various interpretations and ongoing debates in defining exactly what proprioception is. This has likely contributed to the misunderstanding and misuse of the term “proprioception” by sports performance practitioners. So what is proprioception? The contemporary definition describes proprioception as the perception of…
We’ve brought in six experts to explore a key question in workload monitoring: What are the most overrated and underrated GPS metrics, and why? With diverse perspectives spanning different sports and contexts, they share insights on what these metrics really tell us, what they miss, and how they can be used effectively. Ben McKay Measures…
Visual observation of an athlete’s motion lies at the core of sports biomechanics. For decades, biomechanists have used photographic, videographic, and opto-reflective motion capture methods combined with an array of digitisation and analysis procedures. Whatever the tools, the aim is always the same: to quantify the motion of the underlying skeleton. This is no mean…
When preparing athletes for what could be the most significant competition of their careers, your “game day” as a performance coach isn’t the actual event — it’s every single training session leading up to it. These are the moments when you need to be at your best, shaping not only the physical condition of your…