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When managing a training program, one of the most important, and often overlooked, considerations is how the foot interacts with the ground. Every sprint, jump, cut, and change of direction begins with this interaction. The quality of that connection influences how effectively an athlete can control their center of gravity, organize force, and express movement.
The foot is far more than a simple contact point. It’s a dynamic sensory and mechanical system that constantly receives information from the environment while simultaneously transmitting force back into the ground. How the body organizes around that system determines movement quality, balance, rhythm, and ultimately athletic performance. For this reason, developing propulsion is not simply about making athletes stronger. It’s about teaching them how to interact with the ground more effectively. Understanding the Rhythm of Propulsion During gait and athletic movement, propulsion unfolds through a sequence of coordinated stages. Each stage reflects how different regions of the foot interact with the ground to accept, manage, and redirect force through the body. These stages are commonly described as:
Together, they create the natural rhythm of movement, a cycle of yielding, producing, and releasing energy. Rather than viewing movement as isolated muscular actions, this perspective emphasizes how the entire system coordinates around ground interaction. Each stage contributes to the athlete’s ability to move efficiently, maintain balance, and transition seamlessly from one action to the next. When one stage is poorly organized, force leaks occur. Timing becomes inconsistent. Movement efficiency decreases. Over time, athletes may compensate with excessive stiffness, poor sequencing, or inefficient strategies that limit performance. Training these phases intentionally gives athletes access to more adaptable and effective movement solutions. The Three Stages of Propulsion 1. Early Phase — Force Acceptance & Initiation The early phase begins the moment the athlete contacts the ground. At this stage, the body transitions from yielding, accepting force, into organizing for propulsion. This phase is often overlooked because it appears subtle. However, it lays the foundation for everything that follows. If an athlete cannot organize shape and alignment during initial contact, force production later in the movement becomes compromised. Key qualities developed during this phase include:
The goal is not simply to accept force, but to organize it. Athletes who struggle here often collapse through the foot, lose trunk position, or shift excessively through the pelvis before propulsion even begins. Teaching athletes to manage this early stage improves both movement effectiveness and resilience. 2. Mid Phase — Max Force Production As the center of mass progresses over the foot, the body enters its strongest mechanical position for producing force. This is where propulsion becomes highly dependent on:
In many athletic tasks, this phase represents the athlete’s highest force-producing opportunity. The body must create enough stiffness to transmit force effectively without becoming too rigid or disconnected. Smooth athletes don’t simply push harder into the ground. They organize the body in a way that allows force to transfer through the system. This stage becomes especially important during athletic movements. The better the athlete can manage force through this stage, the more effectively they can express power. 3. Late Phase — Energy Transfer & Force Release The final phase of propulsion occurs as the athlete transitions toward toe-off and releases energy into movement. At this point, the forefoot becomes the final contact point with the ground. The body shifts from producing force to redirecting and transferring it into the next action. This phase relies heavily on:
Athletes who struggle here often appear “stuck” in the ground too long. Their movement loses rhythm, transitions become delayed, and energy transfer becomes inefficient. Effective late-phase propulsion creates smooth acceleration, fluid transitions, and dynamic movement qualities that are essential in sport. The body isn’t just pushing anymore, it’s releasing energy with precision and timing. Applying Propulsion Concepts in the Weight Room While these phases occur naturally during movement, they can also be trained intentionally within the weight room environment. One of the most versatile tools for exploring propulsion mechanics is the split squat. The split squat provides a unique opportunity because it allows coaches to manipulate:
By adjusting setup and environment, coaches can emphasize different stages of propulsion and expose athletes to specific movement problems. This transforms the split squat from a simple lower-body strength exercise into a powerful tool for teaching athletes how to organize force. Instead of merely chasing load, the athlete learns to feel:
Each variation teaches a slightly different solution. Split Squat Variations Through the Lens of Propulsion
Beyond Strength: Teaching Athletes to Interact with the Ground The split squat is often viewed purely as a unilateral strength exercise. But when examined through the lens of propulsion, it becomes much more than that. It becomes a teaching tool. A way to expose athletes to:
Rather than training muscles in isolation, we train the athlete’s relationship with the ground. This is important because sport does not happen in ideal positions. Athletes constantly transition between yielding and overcoming while adapting to changing environments. The more movement solutions they can access, the more adaptable and smooth they become. Final Thought Training propulsion isn’t simply about building stronger legs or producing more force. It’s about improving how athletes organize and transfer force through the ground. Every phase of movement depends on the interaction between the foot and the environment. The athlete who understands how to accept force, organize shape, and release energy efficiently will move with greater rhythm, balance, and intent. The split squat offers a simple yet highly adaptable framework for developing these qualities from the ground up. When programmed intentionally, it becomes more than an exercise. It becomes a staple for teaching athletes how to own their movement signature.
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Sport Is a Problem-Solving Activity
Sport is not a collection of isolated techniques. It’s a constantly evolving problem-solving environment. Every possession, transition, collision, acceleration, deceleration, and change of direction presents the athlete with a question:
The "best" athletes aren’t simply the strongest, fastest, or most technically polished. They are often the best problem-solvers within the chaos of the sporting environment. That reality should shape the way we train. Training Should Resemble the Sporting Ecosystem If sport is fundamentally about solving movement problems, then training and practice activities should reflect that reality by exposing athletes to situations that:
Too often, agility training becomes overly scripted:
While these methods may improve isolated physical outputs, they often remove the most important component of athletic movement: Context. In sport, movement is rarely pre-planned. Athletes must continuously perceive information, interpret changing conditions, and organize movement solutions in real time. That’s where contextual agility becomes essential. At The U of Strength, we use agility as a vehicle for exposing athletes to realistic problem-solving opportunities that mirror the demands of their sporting ecosystem. Rather than treating agility as just “change of direction training,” we view it as an adaptive movement process shaped by perception, decision-making, timing, pressure, and interaction. To help organize this process, we classify our agility activities into five primary situations. 1. Defensive Transition
These are some of the most chaotic moments in sport. A turnover occurs. Spacing changes instantly. Athletes must rapidly reorganize while under pressure. This situation demands:
Defensive transition environments often create:
The athlete is solving the problem of restoring order before the opponent capitalizes on the scoring opportunities. 1. Offensive Transition
This is the opposite side of the transition equation. Now the offense must recognize and exploit temporary disorganization before the defense stabilizes. These situations emphasize:
Athletes are constantly searching for solutions:
The environment is fluid, fast, and highly adaptive. 2. Defensive Organization
Once organized, the defensive task changes. Now the challenge becomes maintaining structure while adapting to offensive manipulation. These situations emphasize:
The athlete is no longer solving emergency problems. Instead, they’re solving strategic movement problems within a stable framework. This often requires:
2. Offensive Organization
These are often the most tactically demanding situations. Both sides are structurally organized, meaning solutions become more complex and less obvious. Athletes must:
The offensive athlete is constantly searching for:
This is where deception, tempo manipulation, and movement variability become extremely valuable. The goal is not simply movement for the sake of movement. It’s movement that creates new problems for the opponent. 3 & 4. Advantage & Disadvantage Situations
The environment becomes unstable because one side has either:
This creates unique problem-solving demands. For the advantaged side:
For the disadvantaged side:
These environments are incredibly valuable because they amplify:
Athletes learn how to function when conditions are unfavorable, which is often where games are decided. 5. Fatigue Management
Fatigue changes movement behavior. As physiological and cognitive fatigue accumulate:
That’s why athletes must experience problem-solving under stress. We create fatigue-management environments through:
The goal is not “conditioning” for the sake of conditioning. The goal is preserving movement organization and decision-making quality when the system is under stress. Because in sport, the athlete who can still solve problems under fatigue often gains the greatest advantage. Agility Is More Than Change of Direction Agility is not just about cutting mechanics. True agility is the ability to perceive, decide, adapt, and organize movement solutions within a constantly changing environment. It is a deeply cognitive and coordinative process. The athlete is continuously:
That’s why context matters. Without context, movement can become disconnected from the actual demands of sport. But when training environments replicate the informational and behavioral demands of competition, athletes develop solutions that transfer more effectively to game performance. Training Athletes to Become Better Problem-Solvers The ultimate goal is not to create robotic movers. It’s to develop adaptable athletes capable of navigating chaos with effectiveness, creativity, and control. That requires training environments that encourage:
Because sport will never unfold exactly as planned. And the athletes who thrive are usually the ones who can solve the movement problems in front of them faster and more effectively than everyone else. What’s one thing every one of our pre-training 1v1s have in common?
Deceleration. Not by coincidence, but by design. Most of our 1v1 scenarios finish the same way: in a deceleration stance. That final moment, when the athlete has to accept force, organize their body, and come to control, is where the real work happens. It’s also where things tend to fall apart. Because while speed gets the spotlight, it’s the ability to slow down that often determines both performance and durability. Where Performance Breaks Down In sport, athletes are constantly navigating chaos, accelerating, reacting, changing direction. But very few actions exist without an end. Every sprint, every cut, every response eventually demands a reduction of force. And that’s where inefficiencies show up. Poor deceleration often looks like:
These aren’t just technical flaws, they’re missed opportunities to manage load. When athletes can’t organize themselves to decelerate effectively, stress gets distributed poorly. Over time, that’s where injury risk increases and performance consistency drops. Training What Matters Most Instead of isolating deceleration into drills or treating it as an afterthought, we embed it directly into the environment. Every rep has an ending. Every ending has intent. In our pre-training 1v1 setups, athletes aren’t just trying to “win” the rep, they’re responsible for how it finishes. Whether it’s a lateral mirroring task, a chasing scenario, or a competitive moment, the expectation is the same: arrive under control.
From Speed to Control There’s a common misconception that speed training is purely about producing force, getting faster, more explosive, more powerful. But in reality, speed is only useful if it can be directed and controlled. Acceleration gets you into the play. Deceleration determines what happens next. By consistently finishing in a deceleration stance, athletes begin to:
These aren’t coached into existence; they emerge from the task. Designing the Right Problem We don’t rely on cues to force “perfect” mechanics. Instead, we shape the problem so that effective solutions become the most efficient option. A simple constraint, like requiring a controlled stop, a shared endpoint, or a positional finish, can shift the entire intention of the rep. Now it’s not just movement. It’s perception. Timing. Decision-making. Ownership. The athlete is no longer performing a drill, they’re solving a problem in real time. This Is the Training Traditional warmups often focus on preparation in isolation: rehearsing movements, raising heart rate, checking boxes. But sport doesn’t happen in isolation. So instead of separating preparation from performance, we blend them. These pre-training 1v1s aren’t just a lead-in to the session, they are the session. They establish the physical, perceptual, and behavioral demands we want to see carry over. Because when you consistently train how to stop, you don’t just reduce risk. You improve everything that comes after it. We don’t just train athletes to go fast. We train them to control it. Most change of direction work lives in a vacuum. Set cones. Prescribe angles. Demand “clean” cuts. Repeat. It looks organized. It feels productive. But it often misses the point.
Sport isn’t about executing a pre-planned cut. It’s about solving a problem under pressure, where space, timing, and opponents are constantly shifting. If the environment never asks real questions, the athlete never has to find real answers. That’s where a Constraints-Led Approach, built through small sided games, changes everything. Change of Direction Is a Solution, Not a Skill in Isolation We often treat change of direction (COD) like a standalone quality:
But in sport, COD doesn’t exist on its own. It emerges from context. An athlete cuts because:
The movement is a response, not a command. When you shift from isolated drills to small sided games, COD becomes what it actually is: a solution to a problem. Athletes aren’t thinking about technique first, they’re organizing their bodies to achieve an outcome. And that’s where real transfer begins. Small Sided Games: Where Movement Becomes Meaningful Instead of running one perfect cut every 20 seconds, they’re exposed to:
Now change of direction isn’t rehearsed. It’s discovered. But simply playing small sided games isn’t enough. The design matters. Constraints Shape Behavior In a constraints-led approach, the coach’s role shifts from instructor to designer. You don’t tell the athlete how to move. You shape the environment so the movement you want becomes the most effective solution. Change the constraint, change the behavior:
The key is subtlety. You’re not forcing outcomes, you’re nudging the system. Over time, athletes self-organize into more adaptable movement solutions because the environment demands it. The Missing Piece: Consequences Here’s where most training falls apart. There’s no cost for failure. In many COD drills:
Without consequences, there’s no urgency. Without urgency, there’s no real adaptation. Small sided games solve this, if you let them. Consequences create meaning:
Now every step, movement and repetition matters. Athletes aren’t just moving, they’re solving under pressure, where poor solutions have immediate outcomes. This is what drives skill transfer. Why Consequences Drive Transfer Transfer isn’t about repeating a movement. It’s about recognizing when and why to use it. Consequences sharpen:
When athletes experience real outcomes tied to their actions, learning sticks. And that’s what shows up in competition. From Control to Chaos (With Purpose) This approach can feel messy compared to traditional drills. You’ll see:
That’s not a flaw. That’s the process. Because in sport, there is no single “perfect” way to change direction. There are only effective solutions relative to the problem. As a coach, your job isn’t to clean up every rep. It’s to design environments where better solutions emerge. Practical Takeaways If you want to improve change of direction with real transfer: 1. Start with the game, not the drill Build from contextual scenarios where COD naturally appears. 2. Manipulate constraints intentionally Space, rules, player numbers, each one shapes behavior. 3. Add meaningful consequences Make actions matter. Tie decisions to outcomes. 4. Accept variability Different athletes will solve the same problem differently, and that’s a strength. 5. Coach the environment, not just the athlete Less micromanaging. More designing. The Bottom Line Change of direction isn’t trained through repetition alone. It’s developed through exposure to problems that demand it. Small sided games, guided by a constraints-led approach and reinforced with real consequences, create the conditions where:
If you want athletes who can cut, respond, and adapt under pressure, stop rehearsing the answer. Start designing better questions. In athletic performance, repetition is often treated as the foundation of skill development. “Get your reps in” is a phrase heard everywhere, from weight rooms to practice fields. But repetition alone isn’t the answer. If the goal is to prepare athletes for the unpredictable nature of sport, we need to rethink what kind of reps actually matter.
Not all repetitions are equal. To build adaptable, game-ready athletes, we have to move beyond “dead” reps, and start prioritizing “alive” ones. What Are “Alive” Reps? “Alive” reps are dynamic, variable, and rooted in context. They reflect the reality of sport, where space shifts, opponents respond, and timing is never perfect. These reps require athletes to read the environment, make decisions, and adjust their actions in real time. “Dead” reps sit on the opposite end. They’re controlled, repetitive, and stripped of context, like running pre-set cone drills with no external stimulus. While they may clean up technique, they often fail to develop adaptability. The Ecological Dynamics Lens From an ecological dynamics perspective, skill isn’t something athletes store and replay. It’s something that emerges through interaction with the environment. Athletes aren’t just executing movement, they’re constantly perceiving information and acting on it. Every movement is shaped by affordances, or opportunities for action, that exist in the moment. Skill, then, is alive. It’s adaptive, responsive, and constantly evolving. Why “Alive” Reps Matter 1. Variability Builds Adaptability Sport is never the same twice. “Alive” reps expose athletes to constantly changing conditions, forcing them to adjust, recalibrate, and find new solutions. This builds flexibility, not just consistency. 2. Perception & Action Stay Connected In competition, movement is always tied to information. “Alive” reps preserve that connection. Athletes learn to move based on what they see, feel, and anticipate, not just what they were told to do. 3. Decision-Making Becomes the Skill Execution alone isn’t enough. Athletes need to solve problems under pressure. “Alive” reps embed decision-making directly into training, blending physical and cognitive demands into one process. 4. Learning Is Nonlinear & That’s the Point Progress doesn’t happen in straight lines. There are mistakes, regressions, and off days. “Alive” reps embrace that reality. The variability creates deeper learning, even if it looks messy in the short term. 5. Transfer Is the Standard Clean reps in practice don’t guarantee performance in games. “Alive” reps better match the demands of competition, making it more likely that skills hold up when it counts. Real pressure. Real decisions. Real context. That’s what carries over. The Bottom Line Repetition only has value if it reflects performance. “Alive” reps respect the complexity of sport, the intelligence of the athlete, and the unpredictability of the environment. They challenge athletes to adapt, not just repeat. So, the question isn’t whether your athletes are getting reps. It’s whether those reps are preparing them for reality. Because it’s not about how many you do, it’s about how alive they are when you do them. |
AuthorJamie Smith is a proud husband and father, passionate about all things relating to athletic development and a life long learner, who is open to unorthodox ideas as long they are beneficial to his athletes. Categories
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*By accessing this website and/or purchasing or utilizing the articles, emails, programs, images, videos, services and/or products, you are agreeing to this disclaimer in its entirety. The content on this website and the educational products sold within are the intellectual property of The U of Strength, LLC and may not be replicated, reproduced, or sold without prior written consent from The U of Strength, LLC. Website, social media and product content provided is for informational purposes and meant to be utilized by athletes, sport coaches, and fitness professionals at their own discretion. It is not meant to substitute advice or guidance from qualified medical experts, and misuse of the information can result in serious injury. Any fitness program should be administered under the discretion of qualified professionals who take into account individual differences in health and ability. While our programs have found success with the athletes who train at our facility, individual results vary and we do not guarantee any specific results. The U of Strength, LLC assumes no liability from the misuse of the content provided or products purchased. Users assume all risk when implementing our ideas in theirs or their clients’ real life training experiences.
Email: [email protected]
*By accessing this website and/or purchasing or utilizing the articles, emails, programs, images, videos, services and/or products, you are agreeing to this disclaimer in its entirety. The content on this website and the educational products sold within are the intellectual property of The U of Strength, LLC and may not be replicated, reproduced, or sold without prior written consent from The U of Strength, LLC. Website, social media and product content provided is for informational purposes and meant to be utilized by athletes, sport coaches, and fitness professionals at their own discretion. It is not meant to substitute advice or guidance from qualified medical experts, and misuse of the information can result in serious injury. Any fitness program should be administered under the discretion of qualified professionals who take into account individual differences in health and ability. While our programs have found success with the athletes who train at our facility, individual results vary and we do not guarantee any specific results. The U of Strength, LLC assumes no liability from the misuse of the content provided or products purchased. Users assume all risk when implementing our ideas in theirs or their clients’ real life training experiences.