Our Featured Story of the Week examines new research published just yesterday on sprint interval training and explosive performance. Across 27 studies involving high-level athletes, researchers found improvements in measures of anaerobic power and jumping performance, with some improvements in sprint performance as well. More importantly, the research reinforces a principle every coach and athlete should understand: explosiveness is trainable, but the training stimulus matters.

Inside the Performance Lab, we’re taking that idea one step further. Being strong isn’t enough in many sports. Athletes often have only fractions of a second to apply that strength. We’ll explain Rate of Force Development, why the nervous system plays such an important role in explosive movement, and why two athletes with similar strength can perform very differently when they’re asked to move quickly.

In Coach’s Corner, we’re tackling a coaching tradition that deserves a closer look: automatically finishing an already grueling practice with conditioning. We’ll share a cautionary story about an athlete whose season ended with a serious ankle injury during post-practice bleachers and discuss why fatigue, movement quality and the actual purpose of conditioning all need to be considered before telling athletes to “get on the line.”

Finally, The Daily Edge gives athletes something simple they can apply immediately: using short sets of high-intent explosive movements with adequate recovery to train speed of movement rather than exhaustion.

The theme connecting everything this week is simple:

Great training starts by understanding what you’re trying to improve, selecting the right stimulus, and then measuring whether it’s actually working.

Train Smarter. Play Harder.

A new systematic review and meta-analysis published September 8, 2026 gives coaches another reason to think carefully about how they develop explosive athletes.

Researchers examined 27 studies involving high-level athletes to determine how sprint interval training, or SIT, affected anaerobic power, sprint performance and jumping ability. Rather than looking at one small experiment, a meta-analysis combines results across multiple studies to get a broader picture of what the research is showing.  

And the results were interesting.

Athletes completing sprint interval training significantly improved both peak power output and mean power output. Peak power increased by an average of about 61 watts, while mean power increased by roughly 30 watts. The researchers rated the evidence supporting those improvements as moderate certainty.  

But the findings went beyond power.

Countermovement jump height improved by an average of 2.73 cm, while vertical jump performance improved by 2.89 cm. Standing long-jump performance improved as well.  

That’s noteworthy because sprinting and jumping might look like different athletic skills, but both depend heavily on an athlete’s ability to produce substantial force rapidly.

And that’s where this research becomes relevant far beyond track athletes.

The researchers also found clues that how the training was programmed mattered.

Programs lasting approximately 7–9 weeks and training 2–3 times per week were associated with descriptively larger effects, although differences between those subgroups were not statistically significant. Different exercise modalities and work-to-rest structures also appeared to influence different outcomes.  

That’s an important coaching lesson.

You don’t develop athleticism by randomly collecting difficult exercises.

The exercise matters.

The intensity matters.

The volume matters.

The recovery matters.

The athlete matters.

And most importantly:

That’s also why we don’t believe every performance session needs to leave an athlete lying on the floor.

If we’re trying to develop explosive movement, we need repetitions where the athlete is actually capable of moving explosively.

Fatigue has a place in training.

So does recovery.

TRAIN SMARTER. PLAY HARDER.

Walk into almost any gym and you’ll hear athletes being told to get stronger.

Lift more weight. Build stronger legs. Get a stronger core.

Strength matters. A lot.

But sport doesn’t always give athletes several seconds to produce that strength.

A hitter has only a fraction of a second to recognize a pitch, make a decision and organize an explosive swing. A pitcher has to coordinate the lower body, pelvis, trunk, shoulder, arm and hand into an extremely fast sequence. A defensive back has to recognize movement and react. A volleyball player has to transition from the floor into the air almost instantly.

Sport happens fast.

That’s why developing an athlete isn’t simply about increasing how much force they can produce.

We also care about:

This is where concepts like Rate of Force Development, or RFD, become important.

In simple terms, RFD describes how rapidly force rises after an athlete begins producing it.

Imagine two athletes who can eventually produce the same amount of force.

Athlete A gets there quickly.

Athlete B takes considerably longer.

If the movement only gives them a few hundred milliseconds to act, Athlete B may never get the opportunity to use all of the strength they possess.

That’s one reason an athlete can be strong in the weight room without necessarily appearing explosive on the field.

Your muscles don’t operate independently.

Movement begins with the nervous system sending signals that recruit and coordinate muscle activity.

When we’re developing explosive athletes, we’re not just trying to build bigger or stronger muscles. We’re teaching the athlete’s entire neuromuscular system to coordinate movement effectively at high speed.

That’s why some performance training should include movements performed with very high intent:

Quick ground contacts.

Plyometrics.

Jumps.

Throws.

Rapid changes of direction.

Short accelerations.

Explosive rotational movements.

Reactive drills.

The objective isn’t always to exhaust the athlete.

Sometimes the objective is exactly the opposite.

Once movement quality and velocity deteriorate substantially, we’re often training something different.

This distinction is particularly important for young athletes, where training should remain developmentally appropriate and emphasize movement competency alongside progressively more demanding athletic tasks. Current youth-performance programming and research continue to emphasize structured movement development, jumping, landing, acceleration, coordination and multidirectional movement rather than treating youth training as miniature adult conditioning.

TEST. MEASURE. TRAIN. REPEAT.
Train Smarter. Play Harder.

There is a coaching tradition that has somehow survived for generations:

Practice is over. Athletes are exhausted. Their legs are heavy. Technique is deteriorating.

So naturally, we decide this is the perfect time to make them run.

Bleachers. Sprints. Gassers. Whatever makes everyone miserable enough that practice apparently counts.

But what exactly are we trying to accomplish?

I was reminded of this by an athlete who suffered a major ankle injury while running bleachers at the end of an already grueling practice. Her legs were tired and sore, she lost control during the conditioning work, and the resulting injury cost her the rest of her season.

It’s one story, but it’s hardly an isolated cautionary tale.

As fatigue accumulates, force-producing capacity, coordination and neuromuscular control can decline. Muscles don’t just create movement. They also help control joints, absorb forces and stabilize the body.

So when we take an already exhausted athlete and ask them to sprint, cut, jump or run bleachers, we’re increasing the movement challenge at a time when their ability to execute it well may be deteriorating.

That doesn’t mean fatigue automatically causes injuries. Injuries are multifactorial. But adding demanding movement under severe fatigue without a clear training objective can create unnecessary exposure to risk.

Athletes absolutely need conditioning appropriate for their sport. There are even times when we deliberately want athletes to perform while fatigued because competition requires it.

But there’s a big difference between:

“We’re intentionally training the athlete’s ability to perform under fatigue.”

and:

“Practice is over. Everybody get on the line.”

One is programming.

The other is tradition.

If athletes need conditioning, program conditioning. Know what you’re trying to develop, choose the appropriate volume and intensity, and place it intentionally within the training plan.

We need to stop using exhaustion as the scoreboard for whether practice was productive.

A productive practice might leave athletes exhausted. Another productive practice might not.

The question isn’t:

“Did we wear them out?”

It’s:

“Did today’s practice create the adaptation we intended?”

Coaches control the drill, volume, intensity and when athletes perform it. Our responsibility isn’t to prove how difficult we can make practice.

It’s to prepare athletes to perform.

So before sending everyone to the line at the end of your next practice, ask yourself:

If you have a good answer, program it appropriately.

If the answer is simply “because that’s how we’ve always ended practice,” maybe practice is already over.

Coach Ryan
APEX Batting Cages & Performance Lab

Wednesday Nights | 7 PM - 8 PM | $40 Drop In or Sign Up for Monthly Pass

Athletic performance starts with movement. This session focuses on improving mobility, balance, stability, coordination, and body control. Athletes will learn how to move better, reduce injury risk, and build the foundation needed for speed, strength, and power development.

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Every Night | 7 PM - 8 PM | $40 Drop In or Sign Up for Monthly Pass

Athletic performance starts with movement. This session focuses on improving mobility, balance, stability, coordination, and body control. Athletes will learn how to move better, reduce injury risk, and build the foundation needed for speed, strength, and power development.

Find out more here

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Our summer flag football development program is designed to help athletes improve their football IQ, route running, quarterback play, defensive skills, speed, agility, and overall athletic development. Whether your athlete is new to the game or preparing for the upcoming season, this program provides a fun, competitive environment focused on long-term growth and confidence.

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Here’s something athletes can try today.

Grab a very light medicine ball appropriate for the athlete.

Get into an athletic position.

Perform 3 explosive rotational throws per side with maximum intent.

Rest approximately 30–60 seconds.

Repeat for 3 rounds.

That’s only 18 total throws.

The objective isn’t fatigue.

It’s:

Move the ball as quickly and explosively as you can while maintaining control and good mechanics.

If every repetition becomes slower because you’re exhausted, you’ve missed today’s objective.

TODAY’S EDGE:

3 reps → Rest → Repeat

Sometimes getting faster means doing less work with considerably more intent.