Performance scientist, Dr. Loren Chiu, works with an athlete in the varsity weight room
Tailored approach to athlete strength and conditioning training focuses on individual performance needs.
Performance scientist Loren Chiu isn't a patient man. Fact is, in the fast and furious world of competitive sport, there isn't time to wait for theories to be proved; coaches and athletes want results but not at the cost of injury. That's where Chiu, who works with the Pandas volleyball team, delivers handsomely.
The former Canadian national weightlifting champion, and strength and conditioning training expert, approaches athletes as individuals: no cookie cutter approach here - and, somewhat controversially, he doesn't train male and female athletes differently. But that's for good reason.
"I train athletes in an individual fashion," he says. "I look at the individual, their chronological and maturational age, their experience in their sport and other sports, as well as supplemental training, such as strength training. So my training programs are individualized to the athlete's needs for performance. There's very little difference between my programs for men and women."
Performance science, says Chiu, integrates many disciplines, including anatomy, physiology and biomechanics - and applies reasoning and knowledge in what he calls a 'theory-based approach.' "We are not looking to find a study that proves a theory we have. We try to understand the underlying physiology, biomechanics or anatomy (of an athlete), then develop and propose a theory as the best way to approach a problem related to injury or how to improve an athlete's performance such as jumping higher.
"We develop a theory and put that theory to practice. We are essentially experimenting with our athletes," he says.
Chiu's programs consists of two major components: an assessment of biometric, biomechanical and physiological measures which he then uses to devise an individualized strength and conditioning program for an athlete, with regular reassessments to evaluate the program's effectiveness.
He thrives on the pressure cooker world of sport culture. "I believe that practice drives innovation," says Chiu. "In the sport culture I'm under pressure. I have to get a result in a short amount of time and it pushes me and my staff to be innovative and create new knowledge."
Chiu criticizes most strength and conditioning coaches in North America that follow or are influenced by body-building methodologies developed in the 50's and 60's. "The problem is there is not a lot of scientific rationale for why training programs are developed this way, so they may not be the best training programs to use."
Similarly the recent push for the use of rehabilitative physiotherapy to address athlete's injury and performance needs has two short-comings: first, it's based on the old, modified body-building methodologies and secondly, evidence-based medicine focuses on clinical trials.
To Chiu this also significantly limits getting to the heart of the problem quickly. "To do clinical studies we would have to compare one training protocol to another to a control group. All that tells us is which of those particular training protocols we compare is better. What about the rest of the protocols? In other words it tells us 'what do we know?'; it doesn't answer the question of 'what don't we know?'"
"That's why the theory-based approach works. If we understand the physiology, the biomechanics and anatomy of each athlete well enough, we can come up with a theory to approach a problem, then test it with athletes and in the (research) lab," he says.
Coaches are vital to athletes' success, emphasizes Chiu, who bases many of his strength and conditioning prescriptions on competitive weightlifting. "We select the right exercises, but learning these exercises takes time. You cannot give the exercise to the athlete and expect them to do them properly. They must have the coach present. If you don't do the exercise properly you don't activate the right muscle groups in the right coordination pattern; they won't get the benefits from doing the training.
"Athletes must work hard - that's why it's called training. So we push them, or pull them back if we think they're doing too much. But we are there working with them," he says. In addition, Chiu believes performance scientists must have the same level of commitment and work as hard as their athletes.
Chiu does more than train the physical body though. "We also teach the athletes how to cope with failure and making mistakes. Athletes cannot be expected to be perfect.
"We have to teach them to do the exercises properly and watch them, so that when they make mistakes we're there to help them. Strength and conditioning training is important for improving our athletes' performance, but coaching is the most important aid in the psychological and physical development of the athlete."
View Dr. Chiu's presentation - one of nine during a four-part series titled, The Elite Female Athlete.