Biomechanics matters when it changes the training decision.
How Cameron Goodson turns biomechanics into athlete training for force, deceleration, rotation, elastic strength, and movement control.
A biomechanics training program uses how the body manages force, position, and timing to guide exercise selection and progression. It is not a promise to engineer one “perfect” technique. Cameron Goodson’s approach uses biomechanics to decide what an athlete needs to produce, absorb, sequence, or control—and then trains that quality under increasing demands.
Three decisions that organize the work.
01
Start with the task
A receiver braking into a cut and a lifter controlling a heavy split squat may share qualities, but the time, direction, and information demands are different. The task defines which mechanical feature matters.
02
Build capacity before complexity
Strength, tissue tolerance, and positional control give an athlete options. Complexity is layered only when the athlete can own the simpler demand and the new variation serves a clear transfer goal.
03
Test transfer honestly
A drill improving does not prove the sport problem is solved. The program should revisit jumps, sprints, cuts, or relevant field tasks and adjust if the expected transfer is absent.
Questions before progression.
- 01What sport action or performance outcome is the program trying to improve?
- 02What force direction and time constraint does that action create?
- 03Which capacity currently limits the athlete’s options?
- 04How will transfer be tested outside the exercise itself?
What this looks like in training.
- 01Develop force production across useful stances and directions.
- 02Progress braking and landing demands before aggressive cutting volume.
- 03Connect trunk control to lower- and upper-body force expression.
- 04Use video and performance history to refine, not merely decorate, the plan.
Evidence informs the method. It does not erase context.
These sources support the broad training principles. They do not prove that one exercise, protocol, or app will produce the same result for every athlete.
Effect of Different Physical Training Forms on Change of Direction Ability
Sports Medicine - Open · 2019
Systematic review and meta-analysis finding that several training forms can improve change-of-direction performance, with task complexity and athlete context affecting transfer.
Core training and performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis
Biology of Sport · 2023
Meta-analysis examining balance, throwing or hitting, and jump outcomes after core training.
The effect of contextual interference on transfer in motor learning
Frontiers in Psychology · 2024
Systematic review and meta-analysis showing that practice order can affect transfer, with important differences between laboratory and applied settings.
Biomechanical observations are context-dependent. A visual difference is not automatically a defect, and remote content cannot replace an individualized clinical assessment.
Short answers, clearly stated.
Is biomechanics training the same as corrective exercise?
No. Corrective exercise often implies fixing a presumed fault. Biomechanics is a way to understand the demands and options of a task; training may build capacity, skill, exposure, or confidence rather than “correct” one shape.
Who writes phorme’s biomechanics programs?
Cameron Goodson, phorme’s founder and lead for research and methodology, authors the training system and public program library.
Related training guides.
Before an athlete redirects force, they have to receive it.
Force absorption training develops an athlete’s ability to accept load while maintaining enough position and control for the next action. In practice, it includes eccentric strength, landing and braking skill, progressive speed, and exposure to the directions and time constraints the athlete will face.
A change of direction is only as good as the entry into it.
Deceleration training teaches an athlete to reduce speed deliberately and efficiently so they can stop, cut, or reaccelerate. It combines braking strength with an approach strategy: earlier preparation, useful lowering of the center of mass, appropriate step placement, and control of the trunk relative to the intended exit.
Rotation is a sequence, not a single body part.
Rotational power training develops the ability to create, transmit, redirect, and sometimes resist force across the body. The useful unit is not “the core” in isolation; it is the sequence connecting the ground, lower body, pelvis, trunk, and upper body under the timing demands of the task.