That should be changing today with the accumulation of knowledge and experience. I want my players tough on game day. That should be the goal of training A thoroughly conditioned athlete who is supremely confident in his or her physical preparation will be mentally and physically tough. Physically and psychologically an athlete can only go to the well so many times before it will begin to deplete their reserves. There is no doubt in my mind that a good sport coach or a strength and conditioning coach can get athletes to train and perform beyond levels that the athletes ever thought possible. To achieve this does not mean you have to inflict pain. Certainly pushing the envelope is uncomfortable. Athletes in training must get comfortable with a certain level of discomfort. As coaches we are teachers. It is our job to teach the athletes how to train. Training is more than feeling the burn . It does not take a genius t o devise a workout that can bury someone, that is not training. Good lifts require effort, concentration and intensity. It is not body building. I have found that this is the hardest lesson to get across to today’s athletes. I certainly do not want to discourage an athlete from working hard in the weight room, or anywhere for that matter, but I must teach what training is. Training is cumulative, it is more than one heavy max session in the weight room, it is the cumulative effect of many sessions over a period of week’s and months. I emphasize that the workouts in the weight room must in context of the whole program. It is hard for a young athlete to think ahead and see the big picture so we as coaches have paint a very clear picture so they can see where they are going and the steps they must take to get there. There is no substitute for purposeful directed work. More is certainly not better. It is important to recognize gains the high school athlete can make. If you understand the growth and development process and follow good progressions it is possible push them to the edge, not over the edge. The key to negating the no pain, no gain mentality is to understand progression. Too much too soon without establishing a good base of general strength will negate the possibility of greater return later on. To make gains it is necessary to achieve certain stimulus threshold. This threshold is dependent on the individual and the objective of the training. Keep the big picture in mind – to achieve the training objective, it is more than one workout. Train, don’t strain, focus on the process and remember time is on your side.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 08:24:45 +0000
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