The Constraints Led Approach (CLA)
Learning New Movement Patterns:
Coaching new movement patterns is a difficult task. It’s not always easy for an athlete to understand what’s needed in order to self-organize and complete a specific pattern with a certain form, like teaching a young offensive lineman how to pass set for the very first time. A common misconception is that there is a one size fits all movement pattern for every athlete. Each athlete is different and not equally capable of moving the exact same way every single execution. Studies have shown that skilled performance doesn’t involve one correct movement technique, but a slightly different technique with each repetition to create the same desired outcome (Gray, 2021). Skillful movers in the same sport don’t all move the exact same way despite using the same techniques. There is a large amount of inter-movement variability from athlete to athlete (Gray, 2021).
Nikolai Bernstein: The Pioneer for Movement Patterns and Motor Learning
If you break down a skilled mover’s movement with a special camera or biomechanics app, you’ll be able to see that each rep is unique. Despite this, skilled mover’s get the same desired outcome each rep using self-organization. A study was conducted by Soviet neurophysiologist, Nikolai Bernstein, on blacksmiths that showed the path of their hammer with each strike. Bernstein pioneered quantitative analysis in human kinetics using cyclography to track the specific movement patterns of the hammersmiths. What Bernstein discovered was experienced blacksmiths were able to hit the exact same spot of the chisel each repetition despite using a slightly different movement pattern each time. Essentially, its repetition without repetition. The biggest takeaway from this study is that there is no one exact movement pattern. Even if an athlete is consistent in their technique, the movement pattern is unique each rep, but the desired result is the same.
The Constraints Led Approach (CLA):
Studies have shown that athletes respond poorly to explicit instructions when coaching movements (Gray, 2021). A new method for coaching athletes that produces better responses is the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA). The CLA is the process of manipulating one or more constraints in practice to: 1. destabilize the existing movement solution/attractor, 2. encourage exploration and self-organization, 3. amplify information and invite affordances, and/or 4. provide transition feedback about the effectiveness of the search (Gray, 2021). Some examples of the CLA are: small sided games, such as playing half court basketball instead of full court, constraint manipulation (ex. Pass setting from a knee to encourage driving off the front leg instead of setting from a stance), deconstructing a movement pattern (breaking it down into parts. Ex. First kick of a pass set as opposed to setting a defender with the ability to redirect) or the use of modified equipment.
A very effective strategy derived from the CLA is the use of analogies instead of explicit instructions. If you tell an OL, “play low to high with your strike in the run game to create leverage”, chances are they may not immediately understand what you’re talking about. But if you tell them, “play low to high like you’re shoveling dirt and trying to dig him out of the ground”, they’ll have a better chance of understanding what the cue is intended to do.
Analogies allow athletes to better understand the task at hand and constraint manipulation gives them the ability to self-organize to complete the said task. Keep this in mind when you coach your athletes. Always have analogies in the back of your head to help trigger a deeper level of understanding and reinforce the concepts that you’re driving across.
Coach Jared
The Rack Athletic Performance Center
