I received many of their coaching and research journals from which I translated selected articles and published them in the Soviet Sports Review.
JS: Dr. Yessis, allow me to welcome you and your insights to EFS and our audience. Please provide us with some background regarding your field of expertise, athletes who you have assisted in their development, and a timeline outlining your professional accomplishments.
Dr. Yessis: To give you all the detail would take many pages, which
I’m sure the readers would not want to wade through. Suffice it to say that I
was a university professor for over 30 years specializing in biomechanics
(sports technique), kinesiology, and exercise science. In addition, I have been
to the Soviet Union on many occasions and have studied and worked with many
Russian coaches and researchers such as
Yuri Verkhoshansky.
I received many of
their coaching and research journals from which I translated selected articles
and published them in the Soviet Sports Review.
For the last 25 years, I have been president of Sports Training, Inc. and have worked with many professional athletes in baseball, football, volleyball, boxing, tennis, golf, and basketball (Anaheim Angels, Rams, Evander Holyfield, Todd Marinovich, and beach volleyball player Diane Denecochea). I have also worked with many high school and college players, mainly in the area of technique and the enhancement of their physical abilities specific to their technique.
JS: Dr. Yessis, it is clear that you are an industry professional who deserves the special attention of coaches and trainers of athletes. An interview such as this one grants you a fairly large degree of exposure to varied populations of coaches, trainers, and athletes. I thought we’d get right to the point and find out which individual or sporting organization you would like to assassinate if you were granted impunity for a day.
Dr. Yessis: There isn’t one individual or organization. The entire system isn’t set up to develop qualified coaches who are then able to develop high level athletes or simply develop athletic potential. From the universities, which should be turning out expert coaches with scientific expertise, to the sporting organizations, which should be requiring expert coaches, there is no process for research with coaches and high level athletes. Nor are there applications of research findings or ways of working on a sound basis with athletes. Every coach is left to do his own thing in his own way.
I would also criticize sports writers for simply buying what the sporting organizations feed them and not investigating what teams and athletes do. Sports reporters, sports talk show hosts, commentators, and sports writers merely serve as parrots for the teams and players. They know nothing about player performance and refuse to even examine what it specifically takes to be a good athlete.
JS: Indeed. Dr. Yessis, after having reviewed certain publications of yours, it is clear that you harbor a certain degree of discontent towards the misinformed and misdirected efforts of many western sport coaches and trainers. Perhaps you could briefly elaborate on this perspective for the readers of EFS who are not familiar with your publications.
Dr. Yessis: My main complaint is the lack of qualification. Coaches are put on a pedestal as being experts in their sport when in reality they know very little about how to improve player performance except in the area of strategy and psychology. Many trainers become experts merely by association with a particular athlete, not because of what they do. In addition, there are too many books written by individuals having poor understanding of the material. There are so many experts it is difficult to tell them apart!
JS: Dr. Yessis, in regards to “sport specific training,” we both know that this term and training regime has been greatly bastardized by many coaches and trainers. Would you care to share your thoughts as to why so many coaches and trainers fail in their attempts to “specifically” prepare their athletes for sport?
Dr. Yessis: Most coaches use “specificity” to mean that the exercise involves the same muscles as used in the sport. But what I mean by specificity and what has been demonstrated in the research as being necessary for true transfer of the exercise to the sports performance is that the exercise must duplicate the same technique (neuromuscular pathway), the exercise must develop strength in the same range of motion as it is displayed in the sport, and the exercise must duplicate the same type of muscular contraction as seen in the competitive event. There are other criteria, but this is a good start.
JS: Accordingly, if you were given the option to throw either a pickle or a cream filled donut at some of these coaches, which food weapon would you pick and why?
Dr. Yessis: I don’t think I would throw either one. I would try to find a way to get into their heads so that they could do an even better job than they think they are doing.
JS: I admire your reasoning. Dr. Yessis, in regards to developing a masterful understanding of the science of sport and its training, what is your opinion as to why the majority of western academics, sport coaches, and trainers (as a collective) have not taken more of an active interest in what our former Soviet and Eastern Bloc counterparts have so thoroughly explored and pioneered for the last half century?
Dr. Yessis: They bought into the myth that Soviet and East German expertise was based on drugs and robbing the cradle. The media sensationalized these aspects and, in fact, they still sensationalize drugs. They did not report on how these countries trained their athletes (nor do they examine what is presently being practiced).
JS: I couldn’t agree with you more, doctor. To this day, I repeatedly encounter individuals who, when discussing how meaningful the sport science/training advancements made in the former USSR is to me, immediately demonstrate their ignorance by claiming that drugs were/are the only glaring difference that distinguish the Russian/Eastern European and western sportsmen.
Dr. Yessis, which individuals have inspired, and perhaps continue to inspire, your thought process as it relates to the training of athletes?
Dr. Yessis: I would have to say that many of my new ideas come from the work done by the former Soviets. We still haven’t come close to fully absorbing or even knowing all of the great things that they did in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
JS: I have stated the exact sentiment numerous times myself, Dr. Yessis, regarding your role as the editor of the former Soviet Fitness and Sports Review International series. How did you come to acquire this position and your relationship with Dr. Verkhoshanski and any other associates of yours from the former CCCP?
Dr. Yessis: I started doing the translations of the Soviet training system while I was getting my doctorate at USC. My translations evolved into a publication in which I was not only the editor but also the publisher and everything else associated with it. There was no support from any sports organizations. I met Dr. Verkhoshanski on one of my trips to the Soviet Union. We developed a good relationship mainly because I had a good understanding of their system and could have some intelligent conversations with him. It should be noted that I grew up speaking the Russian language but learned the sports terminology and scientific terminology when I started doing the translations. If it weren’t for my personal and professional sports background, I would never have been able to do this.
JS: Dr. Yessis, having seen you present in person, I know that you place great importance in performing a biomechanical analysis of your subjects during their respective sport acts. You then make subsequent adjustments/modifications to their training. Please explain why this process is integral to your coaching/training model.
Dr. Yessis: You are correct. The biomechanical analysis is the cornerstone for my training. Player performance is based on how well the athlete can execute the skills involved in competition, not how fast, strong, or flexible he is. This means he must have good technique and the physical abilities specific to his technique. The analysis tells me immediately what techniques need improvement, and it also tells me where he is weak in relation to his physical abilities.
JS: Dr. Yessis, when I was a child my father and I used to play a game. My father would lock me out of a room, and he would build log cabins out of Lincoln Logs. Once he was finished with his masterpiece, he would then unlock the door, and I would bull rush into and destroy the log cabin that he so meticulously created. My father and I would then laugh and laugh and laugh. How does this make you feel?
Dr. Yessis: I think I knew he did that. When I was a youngster, I built model airplanes out of balsa wood. We used rubber bands which when twisted served as the motors for the propeller. After making the plane, we would admire them and simulate dogfights as they occurred in WWII. After one or two weeks, it was time to play the role of Red Baron. We would find a high hill, wind up the prop, set the plane on fire, and let it fly until it crashed and burned. All good things can be appreciated for awhile, but you must move on to bigger and better things.
JS: You paint a very clear and funny picture of your experience. There’s something about the pyromaniac stage all young boys go through that is very entertaining in a reckless way.
Dr. Yessis, we all have our own perception and understanding of the special strength training process as it relates to developments in sport form. Please describe your perception of and the significance you place on the development of special strength preparedness as it relates to the perfecting of sport/contest results.
Dr. Yessis: To fully answer this would be too complex for this interview. It is suffice to say that special strength preparation is the key and most important aspect for perfecting or improving sports results. Most training today is general conditioning. It does not relate specifically to player performance, except in general ways such as gaining more endurance to last longer. But to improve player performance, you must use specificity in training.
JS: I appreciate your response doctor, and I encourage all readers to fully grasp this concept of specificity and NOT confuse it with the misdirected practices we may observe in most western publications, internet discussions, training certifications, and gyms.
Dr. Yessis, what insights would you like to offer any individuals who are responsible for assisting a sportsman in his/her strength preparation?
Dr. Yessis: I think most individuals do a very capable job in the area of strength preparation. My one recommendation would be to use a greater variety of exercises to develop both the large and small muscles when first beginning training. Also, back off with high intensity training in-season or when working on speed.
JS: Dr. Yessis, where can interested readers find out more about your publications, speaking engagements, products for sale, and so on?
Dr. Yessis: I recommend visiting our website, www.Dryessis.com.
JS: Dr. Yessis, on behalf of all the disturbed and forward thinking viewers of EFS, I would like to thank you for your time. Please leave us with the parting words of your choice that may further serve to heighten the awareness of those who dare to rise above the status quo.
Dr. Yessis: Over the decades, I have never met an athlete who couldn’t be improved. All athletes can be improved, regardless of sport or level of expertise. By better preparing yourself, you can better prepare the athletes you work with.
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James Smith is a student of former Soviet and Eastern Bloc training methodologies and is engaged in the constant pursuit to further his own physical conditioning and coaching abilities. James has worked with athletes who participate in American football, track and field, basketball, baseball, and wrestling as well as MMA, the US Navy SEALs, the US Army Special Forces Trainees, the US Navy Divers, Australian SAS trainees, and Federal Air Marshals. He currently works as a physical education advisor at West Valley High School in Cottonwood, California and is the strength coach of their football program. He is the founder and gym owner of Power Development, Inc. in Anderson, California (www.powerdevelomentinc.com) and a writer and Q&A staff member for Elite Fitness Systems.
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