This is the best resource on Force Plate evaluation I have personally seen. For context, at first, I did not love Quadrant System, Bove’s first book, which I will go into in this blog post. Why that matters is that this blog is not a fluff piece, I respect the hell out of anyone who has the courage to write their thoughts and take money out of their own pocket to publish a book. In a lot of ways the simple act of writing and publishing should be applauded and appreciated, but let me unpack why I thought Takeoff was so good and why that made me rethink Quadrant System. 

One of the hardest things about writing is context. For instance, this blog post, if you were to read it and you lack the context that I am personally familiar with Force Plates in my own practice, in graduate school, and have spoken/written on the subject (Strength Deficit & Practical Guide to Strength Deficit) you would think my perspective is unwarranted or unfairly assessing the situation. Or let’s say that I wrote something, but I learned more or changed my mind. More than likely that original perspective will be the one that sticks with you. Perhaps the reader was in a state that does not allow for fully grasping the premise of a book. The written portion of something becomes a permanent perspective on you. For instance, at the time of writing Strength Deficit, I was more familiar with jump mats or vertec, and then I dove into Force Plates in more depth. I leveraged Force Plate research over my own personal experiences. This is why if you read the book numbers like RSI are so different from when I lecture. I simply know more now. The context in which I look at Force Plates has changed. 

This was the case with the Quadrant System book, I lacked context on how it integrated into the training plan that Coach Bove created. At the time of reading it, I felt like he was holding back with his writing. I had a feeling that he was simplifying to a degree that made the information feel less valuable. I am not one to say that his writing style was good or bad. Also I am not the one to say that flow and structure was good or bad. It just felt like he was either withholding or dumbing it down too much. Which at the time, and context does matter here, made me think less of the book. This was in hindsight premature. 

What Takeoff has taught me about Daniel is that he is an incredibly intelligent person that has a real talent for taking something complicated or complex and making it applicable. Takeoff did a remarkable job of taking hard to describe things like physics and biomechanics and made them digestible and understandable. The review of physics leading into how it applies to Force Plate metrics and then practical applications was impressive to say the least. You get all perspectives of why something works, how something works, and what you can do to make it work. Which made me go back to Quadrant System and revisit what Daniel was saying. One the real talents Daniel has is his ability to create visuals that tell a compelling story. It taps into a different experience that helps with retaining information more readily. 

Happy to say my perspective on the original book was improved. It could have been recency bias or a better perspective on the system. I see the bigger picture better now and appreciate the integration of testing with Force Plates on four directional quadrant systems based on readiness and context to prescribe volume and intensity. When you think about it, it is attempting to take objective information to make a non binary decision in a very complex environment. Anyone that has worked in the team setting has to appreciate the system being created here. This is such a difficult task and when you read Takeoff and Quadrant System together, you get a really solid system of evaluation and intervention. 

Takeoff, Quadrant System, Quadrant System Course and all of Coach Bove’s resources are phenomenal! Highly recommended: Athlete Framework.