Comparative Training Studies of Traditional Prescriptive Coaching and “Ecological” Approaches
Keeping a running log of training studies that have made direct comparisons between approaches
| Study | Method | Sport | Findings | |
| 1 | Beckham & Schollhorn 2003 | Differential Learning (DL) | Shot put | Greater distance in DL group |
| 2 | Savelsbergh et al 2010 | DL | Speed Skating | Faster times for DL group |
| 3 | Schollhorn et al 2012 | DL | Soccer | Greater shooting and passing accuracy for DL groups |
| 4 | Lee et al 2014 | CLA (Constraints Led Approach) | Tennis | No significant performance differences but larger variety of solutions (degeneracy) for CLA group |
| 5 | Hossner et al 2016 (Expt 1) | DL | Soccer | No significant differences |
| 6 | Hossner et al 2016 (Expt 2) | DL | Shot Put | No significant differences |
| 7 | Gray (2018) | CLA | Baseball | Greater launch angle, exit velocity and more home runs for CLA group |
| 8 | Gray (2020) | DL, CLA | Baseball | More hits for the CLA group |
| 9 | Orangi et al (2021a) | CLA, DL | Soccer | Both CLA and DL lowered risk factors for ACL injury |
| 10 | Orangi et al (2021b) | CLA, DL | Soccer | More original and creative actions in the CLA and DL groups |
| 11 | Oftadeh et al (2021) | DL | Futsal | Better shooting and passing after DL training |
| 12 | Lindsay et al (2022) | CLA | Weightlifting | No significant differences in performance or degree of movement variability (exploration) |
| 13 | Ghanti et al (2022) | DL | Jump landing (S&C) | Greater reduction in knee abduction angle and GRF (markers for ACL injury) as compared to prescriptive external focus instructions and feedback. |
| 14 | Aoidogo et al (2022) | DL | Volleyball | Better performance at post-training and retention compared to a random practice, prescriptive group |
| 15 | Valenca et al (2022) | DL | Golf | Greater improvements in club head speed, attack angle and shot distance with DL as compared to repetition based training |
| 16 | Deuker et al (2023) | CLA | Soccer | Compared repetitive, decomposed training for learning the “fundamentals” of dribbling and passing with learning these things through playing SSG. Found no significant group difference (and some evidence of better retention for the SSG). |
| 17 | Caldeira et al (2023) | CLA | Volleyball | Better blocking performance after training for CLA (task simplification) group as compared to a traditional (task decomposition, blocked) group |
| 18 | Orangi et al (2023) | CLA, DL | Basketball | Greater reduction in makers for ACL injury following both CLA, DL as compared to a prescriptive, linear group. Effects larger for CLA. |
| 19 | Domenico et al (2023) | Co-design, self regulation | Countermovement Jump (CMJ) Performance | No significant group difference in training benefits for standard CMJ test. Significantly better results in CMJ – arms free test which allows for more variability in execution |