Variability is key (looking ahead)

In this series, I am detailing the goal of our summer: train like cats to become more like cats—built on the pillars of functional variability and a quick central nervous system (CNS). Welcome to part five. In this post, I want to close by reflecting on the summer and detailing where we go from here.

In reflecting on the summer and evaluating what’s still needed after this "pilot program," I focused on two main sources: player feedback and measurable data.

Two key questions I asked players:

1. Did you understand the reason for everything we did this summer? If not, what didn’t make sense?
2. How could I have made this summer more enjoyable?

The feedback was clear: players understood the importance and value of everything we did—and they enjoyed the offseason a lot.

Furthermore, one of Tony Holler’s core principles is to track and publish data periodically. We followed that approach to both drive progress and motivation, while also giving us an objective measure of the training’s effectiveness. For consistent participants, the seven-week gains were:

For consistent participants, we saw the following seven-week gains: speed (+1.4%), vertical jump (+3.6%), hang cleans (+12.2%), front squats (+19.3%), bench press (+7.2%), chin ups (+95.2%).

Even with the positive feedback and objective gains, there are at least two areas I want to push further this fall:

1. Testing measures that more accurately reflect an athlete’s CNS ability to fire quickly

I’m aware that our tests didn't directly measure reaction time or an athlete’s ability to be quick-twitch and change direction based on the environment. Our speed and vertical tests were performed whenever the athlete chose, without external cues or environmental factors. While sprinting and jumping are related to these qualities, it’s worth exploring ways to add tests that more accurately capture reactive quickness and change-of-direction ability.

2. Exploring variability in the weight room in similar ways we’ve used it on the court.

In part four of this series, I wrote about using differential learning to develop shooting. I see the same opportunity in the weight room. Some initial ideas include:

• Uneven loading: Using different weights on each side of the bar to create imbalances
• Props: Incorporating tidal tanks, BOSU balls, yoga balls, varied surfaces, or oscillating barbells
• Differential learning in lifting: Changing grips, angles, widths, depths, and heights throughout a set

Throughout this offseason revamp, I’ve found plenty of tangible applications—but many times these things have only led to even more questions. I've realized that this series was really just an introduction to something I plan to explore more fully in the future. I’m especially excited for this fall, knowing I can fine-tune our approach and be even more intentional with these principles after the experience I've gained over the past few months.

So for now, I’ll be brainstorming exactly how to put this into action. If you have ideas or are doing something similar, I’d love to hear from you. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and that it’s helped you rethink something within your player development programs.

PART ONE: Variability is key (an overview)

PART TWO: Variability is key (warmups)

PART THREE: Variability is key (sprinting, jumping, lifting)

PART FOUR: Variability is key (shooting)

PART FIVE: Variability is key (looking ahead)