Real-Time Programming for Coaches: What you need to know

As always, we try to identify and discuss trends in the strength and conditioning industry that we witness from our customers. I recently heard about a very interesting concept called "real-time programming" that strength coaches believe will play a bigger role in weight rooms in the years to come.

Real-time programming can be defined as: The assignment of different workouts or exercises to difference athletes based on some sort of test or survey feedback given before the workout begins. For example, a small D-III college has a simple questionnaire that every athlete fills out before their lift:

• How many hours did you sleep last night?
• How do you feel today (1-5)?
• How focused are you (1-5)?

The sum of this survey's answers makes a total score. If the total score is below a certain threshold, the athlete will perform a "red" workout, or a workout that accommodates the fact that the athlete is not doing too well - both physically and mentally. If the athlete scores a high number, then they will be performing a more challenging "green" workout that day.

In a college scenario, this seems ideal to account for the various external factors that affect college athletes such as lack of sleep, dense study schedules, mistakes in nightlife, etc. In fact, tracking the survey scores over time can unlock signals for conversations that need to be had with athletes.

For example, take the survey scores and average them out on a per team basis. Then measure individual scores against the baseline average. If an athlete consistently scores poorly against the team's average, that's a signal to reach out to the athlete or the sport-specific coach directly to discuss how to improve the athlete's lifestyle. Perhaps this is a conversation that would never have taken place otherwise.

If you see this, real-time program his remaining sets. Quick.

We have also seen real-time programming at the professional level. During a recent trip to visit clients and prospects in Arizona for spring training, one MLB client of TeamBuildr's specifically requested that we incorporate the ability for coaches to edit workouts on our Weight Room View interface. This particular coach changed workouts based on an athlete's performance earlier that day in an exhibition game. Additionally, the strength coach would even edit the workout on the tablet display during the athlete's workout based on feedback from velocity trackers.

The beauty of real-time programming is that it can be as complex or as simple as it needs to be. This allows high school strength coaches the opportunity to quickly gather survey feedback on a handful of questions and assign slightly different workout programs. We will continue to gather feedback from customers and other professionals on how they use real-time programming. If you use some sort of real-time programming, please tell us about it in the comments or email me at htomlin@teambuildr.com.