You know what’s worse than working really hard, trying your best, putting your heart and soul into something, and then getting absolutely nowhere with it?
The only thing worse than that is to work really hard, try your best, invest your heart and soul, and then getting WORSE.
Unfortunately, athletes shoot themselves in the foot like this all the time.
They work hard, spend time, effort, sweat, heart and soul in training and sport, but they just don’t get any better, and in some cases, they actually get worse!
At the end of the day, the point of training is to make you better at your sport. Not to get better at the weight room, or the barbell, but your sport.
Here are the top five reasons how athletes destroy their athleticism in training—even though they have the best of intentions!
1. Training Too Much And Not Taking Care of Your Body
Working out is kind of like growing a plant (stay with me here–I promise this is going to make sense).
Once the seed is in the soil, you water it with the right amount (not too much, not too little!), and then let it sit. If the conditions are right—temperature, enough sunlight, nutrients in the soil, etc.–the seed grows a little.
Repeat this process enough times, and the seed sprouts. You continue tending to it, and it eventually becomes a full blown, mature plant.
But what would happen if you watered the plant…then ten minutes later, watered it again….then added more water an hour later…you get the picture. The seed doesn’t grow.
What happens if you water it well, but the soil has no nutrients? The seed doesn’t grow.
What if the water and soil is great, but the environment, like temperature / humidity / sunlight, isn’t right?
You guessed it…the seed doesn’t grow.
Athletes make this mistake ALL THE TIME with their own training.
They start a little seed, full of potential. Then they add water (exercise). But before their body has recovered, they add more water (another training session). Then another. And another. Because more is better, RIGHT? WRONG!
A high school athlete I recently spoke with has the following training schedule:
· Monday: Sprint training with me
· Tuesday: Private weight lifting workout in the morning, then weight training with his football team at school
· Wednesday: Private weight training in the morning
· Thursday: Private weight lifting workout in the morning, then weight training with his football team at school
· Friday: Private weight training with a third trainer
· Saturday and Sunday: 7 on 7 football practice and games (tons of running)
This kid literally doesn’t get a single day off, and does, at minimum, 9 workouts per week.
That’s too much water! The seed never has time to grow.
In more precise language, his body isn’t recovering from his workouts, and since recovery is when your body actually improves, this kid is destroying his training results.
To be clear: he would get bigger, faster, and stronger by cutting workouts out of his week.
Isn’t that crazy? By working out less, he’d get better results.
The more obvious ways athletes shoot themselves in the foot is with poor nutrition and not enough sleep. These also kill results, and should be monitored closely by athletes serious about getting better.
2. Never Sprinting
Sprinting is arguably the hallmark of athleticism.
Strength is great. But you’ve probably not watched someone do a heavy squat and thought to yourself “Wow, what an athlete.”
But if you see someone hit the jets on the field and absolutely burn everyone around them with speed, that’s a head turner.
Even though everyone knows this—how many athletes (and coaches / trainer) prioritize sprinting in training?
In my opinion, sprinting should be the center of any athletes program (except for maybe swimmers, wrestlers, etc.).
If you aren’t getting faster in training, is your training even worthwhile? Think about this with me…if your sport is soccer, or lacrosse, basketball, or even football, how does getting stronger in the weight room help you, if you aren’t also getting faster and more explosive?
Hear me clear: I am NOT suggesting strength is unimportant or that athletes shouldn’t lift. I’m saying it’s a means to an end, and that end should be, more times than not, speed and explosiveness.
Here’s the other big factor: sprinting is the ultimate explosiveness exercise. Sprinting is an exercise, in and of itself. If you want more explosive legs to jump higher, change direction faster, and yes, to run faster, sprinting is a magnificent exercise.
Just like everything else, there’s a good way and a bad way to do it. Good technique and bad technique. Good training plan, and bad training plan. The dominoes have to be in the right order for training to work. But if you line ’em up right, good things happen.
3. Training like a Powerlifter
Strength benefits athletes. There’s no doubt about that.
BUT—there are many types of strength, and they are all important.
Athletes who hyper-focus on increasing their bench press, back squat, and deadlift might become really good at these lifts, but what about what actually matters: playing their sport? These aren’t bad exercises, but if they are the ONLY focus of training, athletes will likely lose speed, explosiveness, or sport-specific skills along the way.
Again, being strong is a good thing. Athletes should be strong. But those “big lifts” are meant to be an ingredient—not the whole training menu!
4. Training like a Bodybuilder
Leg day. Arm day. Back day. Repeat.
Great strategy if you want to get a spray tan, stand on stage in a speedo or bikini, and let others judge your appearance in a bodybuilding competition.
Really terrible strategy if your goal is to become more athletic.
Packing on muscle has a time and a place, no doubt. But, as with powerlifting, if your sole focus in training is on getting big, and you never do any athletic movements or explosive training, you’re probably going to become a worse athlete at the end of the day.
Bigger isn’t always better. Better is better.
5. Not Lifting With Aggression
The previous points might be fairly obvious. This is one that often flies under the radar, but makes a huge difference in strength and explosiveness gains while training.
First, what the heck does “lifting with aggression” mean?
We’re talking about effort. Just going through the motions, getting the reps in—that doesn’t cut it. To get the most from the lift, you have to lift aggressively.
Say the workout of the day calls for three sets of eight repetitions on your exercise. Really, the first two or three reps are probably pretty easy and you can kind of go through the motions, moving the bar relatively slow. Then it starts getting harder and it requires more effort to actually finish reps seven and eight.
Going through the motions and moving slowly through the first few reps leaves a ton of improvement on the table. You can get faster, stronger, and more explosive if you actually give 100% effort on those “easy” reps than you would if you just went through the motions.
Imagine this. You go through an 8-week training cycle, and at the end, you’re able to lift 20lbs more than you could at the beginning. Pretty good, right?
Now imagine that, in an alternate universe, you did that same exact training, but you gave 100% effort and moved the bar as fast and explosively as possible on every single rep. Every. Single. Rep.
You’d probably add 40-50lbs of strength instead of just 20—all while doing the same exact workout!
I don’t believe in “hacks,” but if there were to be a hack, this would be it.
Always move as fast and explosively as possible. Slow breeds slow. Fast breeds fast.