3 worthwhile topics from Dr. Dan Cleather’s Little Black Book of Training Wisdom:
- Skill v Capacity
- Constraints Based Learning
- Arousal states
- Bonus: Attractor states
Skill v Capacity
I appreciate the distinction Cleather makes between skill and capacity. As hitting coaches, we’re used to dealing more with the skill of the swing (ie coaching swing mechanics). I’ve come to increasingly value the capacity aspect because I see capacity as the basis for skill - similar to the saying regarding a pyramid where a wider base will allow for a higher peak.
Constraints Based Learning
Here’s a (multi)million dollar question in the world of professional baseball: “How do we teach or learn skills like those described above without hampering the development of automaticity or the use of reflexes?”
The concept of constraints based learned offers several answers to this question. THIS CHAPTER ALONE IS WORTH READING THE BOOK!
Guiding or nudging athletes instead of “fixing” and fostering a better learning environment that allows athletes to discover solutions on their own is a big shift in mindset and departure from what it typically seen and expecting from coaches.
Arousal States
It’s become more popular recently to practice closer to game speed. There are more articles and videos of players using the machine, for example. Game velo is going up, up, up so it only makes sense to train at correspondingly high speed/intensity. But how much? And how come some players still don’t like it or can do just fine without it?
Arousal states has, at least, something to do with it. These are the types of concepts I appreciate from the strength training and psychology disciplines which emphasize the mental aspect of training in combination with programming percentages. It makes me think of potential value in matching training intensity to arousal level in the cage as a strength coach might in the weight room.
Attractor States
***This is from Cleather’s second book: Force. I originally included it on this post and decided to leave it…***
A movement attractor in the swing demonstrates “convergence” according to Dr. Cleather. In other words, an attractor would to common, visible and valuable to essentially ALL swings. A swing attractor would qualify, to me, as fundamental to the swing. I’ve also heard this concept as “universal validity” - valuable in that it gives a fundamental anchor to coaching a movement that has so many inherent variability in styles and execution.
Using Cleather’s example below of the crater, imagine different players with different swings and styles at all points around the crater, but once each hitter begins moving, they’re pulled to the center of the crater with a movement pattern that is very similar despite differences in starting point.
