David Siskind | Sunday, 19 January 2025
This past spring, in the course of my continuing casting education, Paul Arden recommended a few titles (by Rob Gray et. al.) on modern athletic coaching to support his emphasis on external cues versus internal monitoring of body position. There’s a substantial body of research on this, mostly pointing to the efficacy of developing a set of constraints or metrics for a student anchored in observations and orientation of relationships outside their body rather than devising detailed instructions for bodily movement. As far as I can tell these insights have bled into fitness training as well. For example the capacity and measured performance of an athlete doing push ups improves if the motion is visualized as pushing the floor away rather than as forcefully straightening their arms. Waiting for the butt section of the rod to appear vertical in the caster’s peripheral vision is preferred over attempting to guide the caster’s hand along an ideal path.
All this, according to the literature, points to a new role for the coach. Apparently this is happening everywhere. Modern coaching uses terms like “constraints led training” and “self organization of movement solutions.” There is less emphasis on prescribing precise motions and more on exploration of movement possibilities, harnessing external cues and observations of results in search of a unique approach to mastery for each student. It replaces the training of muscle memory of an ideal motion with a more reactive training, accepting variable movements.
As I work on my casting, and it’s application to fishing, I’ve realized that this is a long project. Maintaining a level of fitness and mobility is also necessary. I’ve got to be able to clamber over rocks, walk miles on the beach, or stand for hours on the foredeck of a skiff. It’s not getting any easier so I train. Mostly swinging kettlebells, adding in squats, snatches and deadlifts. But recently the ALGORITHMs have led me to another possible training path. I’m seeing this in my google searches and YouTube feeds. It’s movement and mobility training. Similar keywords pop up. Trainers discuss variability and movement organization. I’m seeing it all over the place while scrolling. The underlying theory is that ALL movement capacity is desirable. Moving trunk and limbs out of alignment, through their full possible range of motion with and without load, enhances proprioception. You will know where your body is and how to organize its movement. Movement flows can then be improvised and strength training will be guided by a more instinctual understanding.Everything wakes up.
Without getting too far into the weeds, this does seem to dovetail with the new coaching approaches. I’m giving it all a try and will let you know how it goes. If I like it I’ll post some good links down the road.
David Siskind