When working with athletes, we hear the same three goals over and over:
I want to get bigger.
I want to get faster.
I want to get stronger.
Fair enough. Those qualities matter.
But how we pursue them should vary dramatically from athlete to athlete. No two athletes are built the same — and even athletes who look similar on paper often move, adapt, and express force very differently.
As performance coaches, we spend a lot of time improving output-driven metrics. We chase strength numbers, power outputs, sprint times. In other words, we spend a lot of time building the engine.
This is what we might call upgrading the athlete’s hardware.
And to be clear — hardware matters. Force production, strength, speed, and power are foundational. You can’t fake them.
But here’s the catch.
A BIG ENGINE DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU CAN’T DRIVE IT
Training force output doesn’t just improve muscle tissue. It also improves “software” qualities:
neural patterning, timing, coupling, sequencing — everything the central nervous system needs to access that force.
Still, an athlete can possess tremendous force-producing capacity and yet fail to express it when it matters most.
They can have a Ferrari engine…
…and stall at the green light.
That disconnect is often coordination fatigue.
WHAT IS COORDINATION FATIGUE?
Think about playing a fast-paced video game.
Early levels are simple.
Then the speed ramps up.
More obstacles.
More timing demands.
Less margin for error.
At some point, your character misses a jump and falls into the fire pit.
Not because your thumbs were tired.
Not because your hands gave out.
You just couldn’t keep up with the pace and precision demanded by the game.
That’s coordination fatigue.
Your nervous system is still firing. Your muscles are still capable. But the ability to sequence actions accurately, rhythmically, and repeatedly under speed starts to degrade.
The limiting factor isn’t strength.
It’s control.
WHY THIS MATTERS IN SPORT
As competition improves, the window for error shrinks.
Game speed increases.
Decision time decreases.
Precision becomes non-negotiable.
At higher levels of sport, success isn’t about who can produce force — it’s about who can produce the right force, at the right time, in the right direction, under pressure.
Many “fatigued” athletes aren’t actually physically exhausted.
They’re coordination-exhausted.
They still have horsepower.
They just can’t apply it cleanly anymore.
Missed cuts.
Late reactions.
Poor timing.
Sloppy execution.
Not hardware failure — software overload.
HOW DO WE IMPROVE COORDINATION CAPACITY?
The solution isn’t flashy.
It’s mastering fundamentals and then intelligently adding chaos.
Athletes who are fundamentally sound move more economically. They don’t waste bandwidth thinking about how to move — they can focus on what needs to be done.
From there, coordination capacity improves when we gradually increase:
- Speed of execution
- Reactive demands
- Decision-making under time pressure
- Variability within familiar movement patterns
This can be as simple as:
- Adding reactive cues
- Tightening time constraints
- Introducing targets or completion standards
- Progressing from closed to open environments
The goal isn’t randomness for the sake of chaos.
The goal is controlled exposure to increasing precision demands.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY
When an athlete looks “slow,” “late,” or “unathletic,” don’t immediately assume they lack strength, speed, or power.
They might have plenty of engine.
What they lack is the ability to coordinate under fatigue, speed, and pressure.
Build the hardware.
Respect the software.
Train both — or neither works when it matters.
Because in sport, performance isn’t just about how much you can produce.
It’s about how well you can apply it — repeatedly — when the game speeds up.
Matrixx Ferreira, Director of Strength & Conditioning