• Fitness & Health
• Sport & Exercise Science
• Physical Education
• Strength & Conditioning
• Sports Medicine
• Sport Management
• Dance

First-principles thinking is foundational for science

This is an excerpt from Training Sport Teams by Tim Caron.

One key attribute of science is the foundation of logic and reason. Science is the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. The big question is, do we consider strength and conditioning a science?

There can easily be a typecasting of strength and conditioning coaches as either scientists or motivators (figure 1.2). The phrase “knowledge on ice or passion on fire” should resonate with those who have been placed in this black-and-white picture of coaching. This binary categorization is dangerous because it threatens the desire to adhere to first principles. It becomes our insignia, and it is difficult to break a certain typecast.

Regardless of how you view our role as strength and conditioning coaches, we need to appreciate what we do within science. Your appreciation, or lack thereof, does not change the fact that we are attempting to change someone’s physiology through the intentional use of stress. Understanding true things is a prerequisite to applying stress safely and effectively.

All scientific disciplines have gone through a maturation process. Physics, chemistry, and biology at one point or another have dealt with human biases and perspectives that were not based on logic and reason. As these sciences matured, the evolution of thought shifted from opinion to fact. Arguing whether gravity exists on this planet is not something physicists spend a lot of time on daily.

As we evolve as a science, principles (figure 1.3) will become more foundational and will need to be discussed less. Innovation at this stage of our profession is more novelty than improvement. Innovation in more mature sciences is based on standardizing procedures, which improves efficiency. We lack consistency with our nomenclature. In more mature sciences, there are standardized units of measurement and classification to communicate clearly. We have an extremely low barrier to entry for coaches. Professions associated with mature sciences have standardized curricula and accreditation requirements to meet for employment. We have made so much progress yet have so far to go to be considered a legitimate science.

First principles of physics or principles of training are true regardless of whether we accept them or not. Maturing into a science will take first accepting that we are a science. Modern medicine was once not as regarded as it is today. There are downsides to increased regulation, but that should not slow down our maturity. At the moment, we have coaches who do not appreciate the harm they may be inflicting on their athletes. Good intent does not outweigh bad outcomes. Skipping principles is inexcusable; they need to be embedded into every program.

More Excerpts From Training Sport Teams

---