Health, Fitness & Human Performance
Getting better at physical skills.
9 topics · 9 curated works
No prior grounding assumed.
What a Coach Can Teach a Teacher, 1975-2004: Reflections and Reanalysis of John Wooden's Teaching Practices
Ronald Gallimore & Roland Tharp · 2004
Codes thousands of hours of legendary coach John Wooden's practice behaviour and finds it dominated by brief, specific instructional cues rather than…
+1 more at this level
Assumes you know the vocabulary.
A System of Physical Education: Theoretical and Practical
Archibald Maclaren · 1869
Argues that physical training should be prescribed from measurement of the individual and progressed in graded stages, rather than drilled uniformly…
+3 more at this level
Primary sources and full treatments.
Motor Skill Acquisition
Karl M. Newell · 1991
Argues motor skill acquisition is better explained as the self-organisation of a perception-action system exploring its constraints than as the…
+2 more at this level
9 works
Ronald Gallimore & Roland Tharp
Codes thousands of hours of legendary coach John Wooden's practice behaviour and finds it dominated by brief, specific instructional cues rather than praise or criticism, against how coaching is usually described.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Jikkemien Vertonghen & Marc Theeboom
Reviews studies of youth martial arts training and finds the psychological benefits claimed for it depend heavily on teaching style, with traditional, discipline-focused instruction outperforming sport-focused approaches.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Archibald Maclaren
Argues that physical training should be prescribed from measurement of the individual and progressed in graded stages, rather than drilled uniformly — the basis on which physical education was put on a scientific footing.
link checked 17 Sept 2026John B. Shea & Robyn L. Morgan
Shows practising several skill variations in random order produces worse performance during practice but better retention and transfer than practising each variation in its own block.
Iñigo Mujika & Sabino Padilla
Argues athletes should cut training volume sharply while holding intensity in the weeks before competition, because that combination clears fatigue without losing the fitness already built.
Stephen V. Hill-Haas, Brian Dawson, Franco M. Impellizzeri & Aaron J. Coutts
Reviews small-sided games research in football and shows that manipulating pitch size, player numbers and rules lets coaches dial in a specific physiological and tactical training stimulus within one drill.
Karl M. Newell
Argues motor skill acquisition is better explained as the self-organisation of a perception-action system exploring its constraints than as the assembly of a stored motor programme.
Jean-Francis Gréhaigne & Paul Godbout
Argues tactical understanding in team sports should be taught by having players solve game situations rather than drilled as isolated techniques, since deciding what to do is inseparable from the skill of doing it.
Javier Fernández & Luke Bornn
Builds a pitch-control model from player tracking data to measure the space a player creates for teammates, a contribution invisible to the passing and shooting statistics most soccer analytics relies on.
link checked 17 Sept 2026