Sometimes reading blogs inspire me to learn more about a subject but most of the time it is a warning of what misinformation is out there. The standard of presentations now seem to be more David Copperfield recently and I have decided to share a nice way to filter out what is just parroting research or making stuff up at Starbucks versus presenting the truth with beautiful evidence. If you need to see the truth the easiest way to do so is do the following.
Request Seasonal Workouts- Before the internet coaches in olympic sports would share workouts via fax and many strength coaches made summer programs with actual workouts in them. Ironically enough I see more highlights of workouts or representations of the training in power point slides. One conference had a european soccer fitness coach called about by an Aussie when the powerpoint slide mentioned a bunch of buzzwords without example workouts. Common responses are:
Claim:Due to the Medical information we can’t share the data at this point
Reality: Everyone was playing hurt but the games missed looked good on the new reports!
Claim: We are the most fit team in our league.
Reality: They are weak and slow but can perform like that all day and night!
Claim: We have the most sophisticated player monitoring system in professional sports
Reality: They make personal trainers that work with seniors look like Westside Barbell , comb over random GPS and HRM data for job security, and do sloppy track drills before standing on the sidelines during practice.
Claim: I read research every night or wake up to 5 journal articles before breakfast
Reality: They are not coaching enough athletes to be physically drained or waking up to train teams like D1 Strength Coaches
Claim: We are constantly on the bleeding edge of innovation
Reality: They are never in shape, fast, or strong and wonder why.
Claim: We are using the Romanian Super Max Block Cycle Phase Model System
Reality: Our squats never go near 90 degrees and our TRX push-ups look like the Three Stooges Marathon on Channel 38.
Claim: We use a special custom whey protein with fast acting carbohydrate blends in our post workout drinks
Reality: They have no water bottles and rely on the gatorade cooler and dixie cups
Claim: We don’t believe in testing as it’s not specific to the sport
Reality: They test poorly and never improve.
Claim: I never share workouts but you are fine to visit and observe my system of preparation
Reality He knows you will not fly to see him and if you do it’s closed to the public when do you do!
Finally if you do visit the coach it’s because he or she has been honest and has share insight. My suggestion is to look around and see the culture and environment of what is going on and visit twice to see the change. Often visiting once you see just a small sample and that is deceptive. It’s not what we know but what we get our athletes to do. Most of us are not able to do the things we want to do and often settle for what we can do. A combination of both improving what we know and what we can execute usually drives success. Recruiting talent helps as well!
Discuss entry