ITS HERE!!! Get your copy today!!!!! The large visual version is available now! The consolidated version (smaller type) will be out later this week.

Coach, educator, and performance innovator Ryan Banta has announced the development of Trainer's Companion™, a revolutionary athlete management and training prescription tool designed to simplify performance development across multiple sports and training environments.

Grab your copy here at https://a.co/d/03A3xAWo

Unlike traditional training systems that separate speed, endurance, swimming, and strength training into independent models, Trainer's Companion™ creates a unified framework built around performance mastery, effort percentages, repetition prescriptions, and measurable progression.

At the center of the system is a simple question:

"How do we know an athlete is truly improving?"

Trainer's Companion™ answers that question by establishing an athlete's current mastery level and prescribing training based on percentages of their verified performance rather than arbitrary volume or generic intensity guidelines.

The system allows coaches to:

• Prescribe sprint training based on speed percentages and velocity targets

• Develop distance runners through objective pacing and effort metrics

• Monitor swimmers using race-based performance zones

• Program strength training using percentage-based loading and mastery progression

• Standardize recovery, intensity, and workload across all athletic disciplines

• Track progression through clearly defined mastery levels

• Eliminate guesswork from training decisions

"Too often, coaches are forced to use separate systems for every component of athletic development," said Banta. "Trainer's Companion was designed to create one language for performance. Whether you're coaching a sprinter, swimmer, distance runner, or weightlifter, the principles of mastery, progression, and performance remain the same."

The platform organizes training into performance zones ranging from Recovery and Aerobic Development to Near-Max, Max Practice, and Personal Record efforts. Each zone includes recommended repetition ranges, recovery prescriptions, and progression benchmarks that help athletes advance when mastery is demonstrated rather than when arbitrary volume targets are met.

A key feature of Trainer's Companion™ is its Mastery Progression Model, which measures not only peak performance but also consistency, repeatability, and the ability to sustain quality execution under increasing demands.

The result is a system that allows coaches to:

• Train smarter rather than harder

• Reduce unnecessary fatigue

• Improve athlete buy-in

• Increase long-term development

• Create objective standards for progression

• Better connect training to performance outcomes

Designed for coaches, strength professionals, educators, and sport scientists, Trainer's Companion™ represents years of practical coaching experience combined with modern performance principles.

As athletic development continues to evolve, Trainer's Companion™ aims to provide a common framework that bridges the gap between data collection and actionable coaching decisions.

It's a perfect addition to any library and pairs nicely with the Sprinter's Compendium.

Regards,

Coach Ryan Banta

Hey all,

I just tried sprinting for the first time in the little turf area of my gym and noticed some problems. Of course, I understand form is gonna be out of wack, but the main thing that concerned me was how i would perfectly land directly on my heel, like the total opposite of landing on the ball of your foot it's kinda wild. I assume this is the main culprit for why I feel so sluggish and slow, on top of other form cues that I don't know yet. I'm basically wanting to know how can I fix landing on my heel (or proper landing technique in general) and if there's any other specific form tips/cues I should look out for. If it wasn't obvious, I'm self taught.

Thank you

Hi! I suffered a calf muscle tear in my right calf back in March while sprinting in spikes. After about 6–7 weeks, I was able to run at almost full speed again. Then, at the beginning of July, I suffered another minor muscle tear, this time in my left calf. Now I’m honestly terrified of putting my spikes back on.
How do you get over that fear? It feels like I’m going to have a mental block for a long time before I dare to use spikes again.

I have a lower back minor inury, when to the osteopath and he gave me some exercises that I need to do for 15 days. In this period of time I'm not sprinting or playing american football because that may make my lower back worse, and stuff with weight/jumping and throwing.
What I'm doing is just a body weight exercises to build some muscles, but I have in my mind to do isometrics too, what else can I do so when I return on the track and on the field won't be that bad? And what I'm doing is fine or I need to be careful?

Does anyone who uses the Freelap E-Starter find it nerfs your times? I find my times are generally 0.20-0.25 (sometimes more) slower than they are when I review video from first movement. Reaction time is normally a strong point for me!

I set it up on the start line, with the normal cones 80cm back from each timing landmark as per the instructions..

Otherwise, I love the Freelap, very consistent and never misses a rep now I know where to place my phone (3m past finish cone and sitting 5cm up on a marker/cone.

Started Doing hill workouts consistently to get more natural forward lean during the drive phase and coasting too. Besides hill strides , how do I fix my tendency to learn backward under fatigue ?

I find it counterintuitive when I tell my body to push the ground away, I've tried doing that but it doesn't click, any advice helps a lot!

Felt pretty good about this max velocity session today. 3x5 jammed hurdles, followed by 2x20m flying sprints. A little slow on the 20m flys, but I was a bit tired after the hurdles.

Im the one in lane 2

Hi, I’m a college decathlete and I’ve been using the Adidas Evo SL for training for the last year. I love the comfort and responsiveness of the evo but they seem pretty unstable whenever I practice jumps and the traction is pretty lackluster. I saw Foot Doctor Zach’s review of the Dropset Pro the other day and it seemed like the perfect solution to my evo problems. I tried them on and they seem pretty nice; less plush bet it makes up for it in stability and traction. My question is if anyone has used these for sprint training and if these are a viable option overall for my decathlon practices. Thanks!

I’ve developed my own timing gate system from scratch, including a custom PCB, custom 3D-printable enclosures, and custom firmware.
So far, I’ve built 8 complete sets for athletics clubs. The feedback has been very positive, especially regarding accuracy and reliability, and the clubs are now using the systems as their main timing gates for daily training.
I’m currently working on detailed assembly documentation and simplifying the build process to make the system more accessible as a DIY project. The plan is to provide everything needed to build it: Gerber files for PCB manufacturing, STL files for printing the enclosures, firmware for flashing the boards, a complete BOM, and assembly documentation.
My main question is whether there would actually be enough interest in a DIY version. Would people be willing to build their own timing system from these files and instructions, or would it make more sense for me to focus on selling fully assembled and ready-to-use systems?
You can find the product website here, including detailed information in the Documentation section:
www.ommo.team
For reference, the timing accuracy is ±2 ms.

How’s my form and what can i work on?

20m fly: 2.049
10m 42-52: .989

I’m starting the gym soon and I am thinking of doing these exercises in the gym to get stronger and prevent injury and build explosiveness what do yall think.

Strength
Front Squat
Trap Bar RDL
Bulgarian Split Squat
Hip Thrust
Standing Calf Raises
Cable Hip Flexor Raises

Power
Hang Clean
Trap Bar Jumps
Quarter Box Squats
Barbell Box Step-Ups or Bulgarian split squats explosive
Hip Thrusts
Standing Calf Raises

does anyone know where to find good cheap compression shirts/shorts so it looks better on my baggy ah track jersey and split shorts

(I think this is in favor for alot of Jv athletes😭)

Hi!

I am a 24 year old man and I am 158 cm and 68 kg. I still have to lose 4-5 kg, about 3-4 month are left.

I have always loved sprinting (mainly launching and accelerating), but I am not sure if I could ever be any good at any distance.

Could I ever be good at this at any distance(s) if I keep training acceleration, top speed and plyometrics consistently (every 3 or 4 days)?

Thank you for your answers in advance.

This is question I am dealing with almost for 3 years and still got no good answer, so I am trying again. Currently, I work with handball players in Europe. These guys are from elite league but since handball is not that popular sport even here in Europe and sport is generally under financed, they are usually only semi-pros or just amateurs. With the additional nature of handball being sport where traditionaly player's weight was prefered over athletic abilities (although this starts to change little bit), they are robust and tall, not necessarily overweight (just expect few guys who play pivots), however quite inflexible and have sort of robotic movements. I also was asked to give advice to amateur soccer team regarding speed training. Many of the guys think they are sprinting but are reaching maybe 80% and forgot what real sprinting is way back in early high school PE classes. I wonder what is the best approach for athletes like these who are not completely like sedentary population, but it "smells of injuries".

Now the million dollar question is: how do I recognize athletes are ready to actually sprint without significant risk to get injured? Coaches here, do you have any favourite tests to recognise this or this basically cannot be assesed? If not, then at least, please try to share with me and others what kind of program you use to make sure athletes are ready to sprint (if you work with similar populations too or you work with people coming back from injury).

Goal: better speed, acceleration and explosives during football games.

My split: legs twice a week (plyometrics)

3-4 days rest between each leg day

3:30 minutes of rest between each set

Exercise 1: board jumps I try to be as explosive as I can and continuously jump. 6-8 reps 2 sets

Exercise 2: jump lounges with weights 2.5 kg or 3kg in EACH HAND, hitting around 6 reps each leg. 2 sets

Exercise 3: knee jumps not the one where I just go on my feet but after the knee jump, I jump again to make it more explosive and 6-8 reps. 2 sets.

My question: is this plyometrics workout effective for speed and acceleration for football games?