There are so many great resources available on the internet today. Unfortunately, there are also some bogus ones! Any Google search yields thousands of results, and you are left to sort through them to determine what is valid and what is junk. It’s important to consider a few things before deciding if what you are looking at is valid. In the strength and conditioning field I was taught to ask myself:
Why are you doing this exercise?
Does it fit into the overall plan?
What benefits does it give?
What is the risk vs reward for the athlete?
Is there proven science to back it up?
Typically if you can answer these questions then you probably should be doing it. If you can’t than you shouldn’t. My internship at Athletes’ Performance (now EXOS) I was taught a variety of new methods of strength and conditioning. I was even introduced to HydroWorx’s underwater treadmill. Since we were a new development and slightly understaffed, I was thrown into the mix to write programs and run athlete’s through this unbelievable contraption. Nonetheless, my point is that with all these available resource’s how do you know what is right and what is wrong?
Our job as S&C specialist is to assess, instruct, guide, cue, verbalize and demonstrate how to propel you to your desired levels. Is everything obtainable? I believe so. It could take months and/or years of work, but with the right people and right mindsets, more often than not if something is desired it can be reached. Therefore, how would I know where to look for the right resources? I think it starts by asking the right questions and setting the right behavioral goals.
In the athletic industry, youth players look up to their idols in their sports. They see these well built athletes and figure a beach body is the answer and the right way to work out. Well, unfortunately 99.9% of time it’s not. Here is a perfect example from a great resource Eric Cressey’s Blog and a first hand example from James Cerbie.
If you don’t have time to read it all, in summary:
The author preaches 6 things he should have done (or would have known about) during his athletic career:
1) Get Assessed
– Hamstring example “ Stretch it out because it’s tight.” Is this really the cause? Furthermore, you sit in significant scapular downward rotation, and your humeral head dives forward whenever you extend or externally rotate. These are super common in OverHead (OH) throwing athletes. You do not get enough upward rotation when your arms elevate – and thats one thing we will be addressing during warm-ups.
2) Movement Comes First
– Strength does not solve diffencies
3) Focus on the Little Things
– The appealing things are NOT more important
4) Do more single-leg work
– Most to all sports are played built off one leg
5) Get outside the Sagittal plane
– We live in a 3-dimensional world, so train like we do
6) More doesn’t equal better
– Theres a time to train and play. Be deliberate and realistic about activities.
I have chosen to learn from the best s&c coaches in baseball because I don’t want any of my athletes to look back and wonder “what if?” I want them to have the best tools and achieve their goals through intelligent training, focus, and the proper mindset.
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