Here are the top 3 things I discovered about my (and your) athletes’ nutrition…
#3: Most of Your Athletes Don’t Eat Breakfast
The saying ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’ is not a marketing ploy. It’s a fact of reality.
And your athletes will give you every sorry excuse in the book…
’I didn’t know it was that important!’
‘I’m too tired to make breakfast.’
‘I’m not hungry in the morning.’
‘I got up late.’
Your athletes last ate at maybe 7pm the previous evening and now they’re skipping breakfast. So the space between caloric intake is 15-18 hours. Their bodies are in starvation mode by the time they get something in their systems and their blood sugar levels are in the toilet.
You spend endless hours writing workouts, designing plays, coaching, traveling, etc.
And it all goes out the window when your athletes don’t consume enough calories to finish workouts or focus on executing plays or technical movements.
Nutrition is easily 70% of your athletes’ results and if they don’t even eat breakfast, how far off their best are they falling?
Want better results? Convince your athletes of the importance of breakfast and give them some healthy options on what they should be eating!
#2: The Dollar Menu is a Food Group
Your kids don’t eat breakfast, so they’re starving.
What’s the easiest solution for HS kids with no real jobs or money?
$1 double cheeseburgers my friends. And lots of ‘em.
Half of your athletes eat fast food a solid 3 days per week. What’s most amazing is that your female athletes are often the biggest culprits.
The saying ‘You are what you eat’ isn’t a marketing ploy, it’s a fact of reality.
The cells of your body are constantly being replaced…
…by whatever it is that you’re eating.
Eat garbage and your body rebuilds itself with garbage.
The athletes on my team who get injured most often and stay injured the longest are, without question, the ones with the worst nutrition.
Parents spend countless hundreds and thousands of dollars on camps, clinics, special coaching, clothing, equipment, travel, physical therapy for their injured athletes, etc.
Coaches spend just as much in time and preparation, travel, coaching education (OK, that’s probably not true for most coaches), etc.
Athletes spend countless hours running tough workouts, lifting weights (!), competing, traveling, etc.
And you’re all wasting your limited time and money when you ignore the fact that nutrition lays the foundation for everything they do in *and* out of practice.
If you want top performing, injury free athletes, you’ve got to break their addiction to the dollar menu.
You can’t tell athletes:
’I want you to eat breakfast, eat every 2-3 hours, and stop eating fast food.’
…unless you give them healthy alternatives to eat instead.
Otherwise, eating right becomes a job and they just won’t do it.
Remember: contingent rewards (if/then propositions such as: if you start eating healthy, then you’ll run faster) don’t work!!
#1 Your Athletes Want to Eat Healthy, They Just Don’t Know What to Eat!
The first part of my Team Nutrition Q&A session was debunking myths:
- No, coffee is not OK to drink every morning before school
- Yes, you must eat 5-6 times per day
- No, sports drinks are not a substitute for water
- No, fruit juice is not good for you in large quantities
- Yes, if you feel thirsty you’re already dehydrated
- Yes, you’re more likely to get hurt if you don’t eat breakfast
You get the idea…
I realized these kids aren’t eating junk because they’re trying to make me cry, they really have NO IDEA what they should be eating.
As the discussion went on and kids realized what a hot mess their eating habits were *and* how it kept them from performing at a higher level, their questions fundamentally changed.
Instead, the questions were all based around the idea of:
’Well, what should I…
…eat for breakfast?
…eat for a snack during the day?
…drink instead of juice and Gatorade?
…eat/drink before a competition?
…eat/drink during a competition?
…eat for dinner?
Once you start giving common sense answers to these questions, you’ll start noticing more water bottles at practice.
More healthy snacks before practice or on the way to the weight room.
More kids telling you (proudly) what they ate for breakfast or dinner.
More kids ratting out their teammates who can’t break their Dollar Menu addiction.
And most importantly – more kids finishing workouts, performing at a higher level and NOT getting injured.
Here’s the bottom line:
Your athletes’ nutrition sucks. Even the good ones.
You’ve got to coach them in this arena like you coach them on the track or playing fields. Because they want to play better. They want to eat better.
They just don’t know what to do.
And you spend too much time and energy being a coach to let half of it go to waste because you think nutrition is someone else’s problem.
If you want to get results, then it’s your job to make this a part of your program. Starting yesterday.
Our Behaviors
For our ’sometimes’ behaviors to become ‘all-the-time’ behaviors, there must be a significant internal shift. That is, a permanent emotional and psychological transformation. I’ll say it again – PERMANENT!!! Our behaviors (and therefore our results) are merely a by-product of what’s happening between our ears.
On some level, the vast majority of us don’t actually expect to succeed with our goals and that’s a big part of the problem. We hope but we don’t expect.
Does the guy who starts a new weight-loss regime today (attempt number 457), truly believe (on a subconscious level) that his life (eating, exercise, health, body-fat level, habits, behaviors, results) will be totally different from this day forth? No. Of course not. Does he have the potential to change? Yep. The mindset? No.
Until this guy makes the relevant (life-changing) behaviors TOTALLY NON-NEGOTIABLE he will continue to find himself back at the starting line because consciously or not, intentionally or not, those required behaviors and habits (the ones necessary to create forever results) are optional (for him). Yep, the diet guy always gives himself an escape clause.
When something is TOTALLY non-negotiable our choice (to throw in the towel yet again) is taken away from us. Making certain behaviors non-negotiable removes things like motivation, mood, difficulty and attitude from the equation.
The life-long smoker who ‘can’t’ give up cigarettes is told by the doctor that if he continues to smoke he will be dead within twelve months. He walks out of the doctor’s office terrified and never smokes again. Why? Because his desire to live is stronger than his desire to smoke. He experiences instant massive internal shift (as a result of speaking with the doctor) which results in smoking being permanently deleted from his list of potential ‘things-to-do’! Identify your non-negotiable behaviors and live a life that is a mirror image of those standards. Look for effective, not easy.
I hope this helps.
On some level, the vast majority of us don’t actually expect to succeed with our goals and that’s a big part of the problem. We hope but we don’t expect.
Does the guy who starts a new weight-loss regime today (attempt number 457), truly believe (on a subconscious level) that his life (eating, exercise, health, body-fat level, habits, behaviors, results) will be totally different from this day forth? No. Of course not. Does he have the potential to change? Yep. The mindset? No.
Until this guy makes the relevant (life-changing) behaviors TOTALLY NON-NEGOTIABLE he will continue to find himself back at the starting line because consciously or not, intentionally or not, those required behaviors and habits (the ones necessary to create forever results) are optional (for him). Yep, the diet guy always gives himself an escape clause.
When something is TOTALLY non-negotiable our choice (to throw in the towel yet again) is taken away from us. Making certain behaviors non-negotiable removes things like motivation, mood, difficulty and attitude from the equation.
The life-long smoker who ‘can’t’ give up cigarettes is told by the doctor that if he continues to smoke he will be dead within twelve months. He walks out of the doctor’s office terrified and never smokes again. Why? Because his desire to live is stronger than his desire to smoke. He experiences instant massive internal shift (as a result of speaking with the doctor) which results in smoking being permanently deleted from his list of potential ‘things-to-do’! Identify your non-negotiable behaviors and live a life that is a mirror image of those standards. Look for effective, not easy.
I hope this helps.
TRIPLE CROWN of Success!
Going 3-3; Baseball players love going 3 for 3
When baseball players get a BASE-HIT, it increases their batting average. For those of you who are not aware, if a baseball player is "averaging" .300, he is considered a huge success! In other words, if he FAILS 70% of the time that he comes to home plate to BAT, he is still a success. And more than likely gets paid well over a million dollars for his 162 games that he plays in his 6 or 7 months of baseball season.
Isn't that amazing? What if a Doctor failed 70% of the time that he conducted surgery? Or a plumber failed 7 of the 10 times he attempted to fix a toilet? Even other sports consider a 35% success ration as well, dismal failure!! Tom Brady, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana would not be Hall of Fame quarterbacks if they completed only 30% of their passes! Michael Jordan converting 30% of his free-throws or field goals would have destroyed his greatness. A golfer connecting with the golf ball 30% of the time would not be successful in blind man tournaments. Sorry I digress,, but it never ceases to amaze me when analyzing how difficult it is to hit a baseball.
Ballplayers do have great nights. If a player gets three straight hits, they call it going "three for three".
Life is NOT like baseball, however, you need to go "three for three" to achieve your goals and dreams. Success in life can be attained by continually going, 3 for 3
What do I mean?
Here are the THREE pieces to a simple puzzle... that you must do... to create successes:
1 THOUGHTS: You are the one that controls WHAT you think about. Do you know how to do that? Everything begins with a thought. You think it. If it's important, and you focus on it, it will lead to your having ..........
2 FEELINGS: Your thoughts create feelings. Imagine for a few moments what it is like when you grab a big lemon, slice it into two pieces,,,, grab one of the halves,,,,, tilt your head backward, open your mouth wide open, and squeeze the hell outta that lemon as the juice starts flowing into your mouth, ,,,,,, what does that feel like? You might even pucker up your face as you think of how that would TASTE.
3 ACTIONS: If you just think the thought,,, have some feelings about it,,,, yet never take action...well, you won't achieve. You won't be LIVING the kind of life you could. You have thoughts,, it gives you a feeling,,, and if you want to manifest those thoughts and feelings ,, you must take ACTION.
If you don't go 3 for 3..... it ain't gonna happen.
....remember this: ACTION is reality.
MIND,, and our MINDSET........thoughts,,,feelings,, actions..... the TRIPLE CROWN of Success!
Enjoy the moments!!
..... You only get ONE chance,, and they don't last long~~
When baseball players get a BASE-HIT, it increases their batting average. For those of you who are not aware, if a baseball player is "averaging" .300, he is considered a huge success! In other words, if he FAILS 70% of the time that he comes to home plate to BAT, he is still a success. And more than likely gets paid well over a million dollars for his 162 games that he plays in his 6 or 7 months of baseball season.
Isn't that amazing? What if a Doctor failed 70% of the time that he conducted surgery? Or a plumber failed 7 of the 10 times he attempted to fix a toilet? Even other sports consider a 35% success ration as well, dismal failure!! Tom Brady, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana would not be Hall of Fame quarterbacks if they completed only 30% of their passes! Michael Jordan converting 30% of his free-throws or field goals would have destroyed his greatness. A golfer connecting with the golf ball 30% of the time would not be successful in blind man tournaments. Sorry I digress,, but it never ceases to amaze me when analyzing how difficult it is to hit a baseball.
Ballplayers do have great nights. If a player gets three straight hits, they call it going "three for three".
Life is NOT like baseball, however, you need to go "three for three" to achieve your goals and dreams. Success in life can be attained by continually going, 3 for 3
What do I mean?
Here are the THREE pieces to a simple puzzle... that you must do... to create successes:
1 THOUGHTS: You are the one that controls WHAT you think about. Do you know how to do that? Everything begins with a thought. You think it. If it's important, and you focus on it, it will lead to your having ..........
2 FEELINGS: Your thoughts create feelings. Imagine for a few moments what it is like when you grab a big lemon, slice it into two pieces,,,, grab one of the halves,,,,, tilt your head backward, open your mouth wide open, and squeeze the hell outta that lemon as the juice starts flowing into your mouth, ,,,,,, what does that feel like? You might even pucker up your face as you think of how that would TASTE.
3 ACTIONS: If you just think the thought,,, have some feelings about it,,,, yet never take action...well, you won't achieve. You won't be LIVING the kind of life you could. You have thoughts,, it gives you a feeling,,, and if you want to manifest those thoughts and feelings ,, you must take ACTION.
If you don't go 3 for 3..... it ain't gonna happen.
....remember this: ACTION is reality.
MIND,, and our MINDSET........thoughts,,,feelings,, actions..... the TRIPLE CROWN of Success!
Enjoy the moments!!
..... You only get ONE chance,, and they don't last long~~
Pretend Play for Youth Fitness
This subject can actually get quite complex, because we are delving into the inner workings of the developing brain, with billions of neurons. However, as much as we have to learn, we do know some things. I will try to break down this subject of how pretend can be beneficial for development.
Everyone knows that kids pretend. It’s often considered a frivolous, useless activity. I find this a curious conclusion. Why would kids all over the world, no matter the culture, engage in pretend play if it was so useless? Why are our brains wired to do this if it is so devoid of value?
Have you ever considered the reasons why children engage in pretend play, or “pretense”? Well, cognitive researchers have, and the findings are interesting:
1) Children pretend in order to learn the ability to represent a “strategy map” (if you will excuse my liberal use of that term). Instead of being truly “in” the situation, they can learn to think many steps ahead. It is basically like practice for the problem solving machinery in the brain.
2) Pretense can develop these problem-solving skills in the absence of performance based stress. Think about having consequences to your own safety and the expectations of adults always “weighing” on your decisions. You are most likely going to always pick the “safest”, most familiar solution. You are likely to not be very creative in this situation. But in pretend play, you can be anyone and you can be anywhere!
3) Pretense can even help kids develop empathy, by being able to picture themselves in someone else’s shoes.
4) Pretending can deepen kinetic understanding (a term I will coin here). Pretending, literally, to move with someone else’s patterns and rhythms can promote a much deeper feel for a movement, or what we might call “second nature”.
Now, obviously, children need to learn how to function in the real world. Hopefully, the reasons above give us some pause in wanting to hurry this process. We may want to let the “weapons” of thought processing and creativity develop a little bit more before we send them off to “war”. See, I was just pretending there to understand the process of development in a different way. I pretended that the kids were “life” soldiers in a war to improve the way we think!
How the heck does this relate to athletic pursuits? C’mon, you already know the answer to this. How many of you pretended you were Michael Jordan on the court growing up? How many of you are pretty sure that Michael Jordan at least some of the time, pretended to be Dr. J growing up?
You see, pretending gives us the ability to explore things without the pressure of being “us”.
Try it in a practice. Have the kids on your team pick a name of a sports star out of a hat. They are then charged with moving like that player, and doing what they think that player would do in a game.
Take it one step further, and have them make up their own characters in the next practice. Then talk about what they learned. How successful were their character plays?
Everyone knows that kids pretend. It’s often considered a frivolous, useless activity. I find this a curious conclusion. Why would kids all over the world, no matter the culture, engage in pretend play if it was so useless? Why are our brains wired to do this if it is so devoid of value?
Have you ever considered the reasons why children engage in pretend play, or “pretense”? Well, cognitive researchers have, and the findings are interesting:
1) Children pretend in order to learn the ability to represent a “strategy map” (if you will excuse my liberal use of that term). Instead of being truly “in” the situation, they can learn to think many steps ahead. It is basically like practice for the problem solving machinery in the brain.
2) Pretense can develop these problem-solving skills in the absence of performance based stress. Think about having consequences to your own safety and the expectations of adults always “weighing” on your decisions. You are most likely going to always pick the “safest”, most familiar solution. You are likely to not be very creative in this situation. But in pretend play, you can be anyone and you can be anywhere!
3) Pretense can even help kids develop empathy, by being able to picture themselves in someone else’s shoes.
4) Pretending can deepen kinetic understanding (a term I will coin here). Pretending, literally, to move with someone else’s patterns and rhythms can promote a much deeper feel for a movement, or what we might call “second nature”.
Now, obviously, children need to learn how to function in the real world. Hopefully, the reasons above give us some pause in wanting to hurry this process. We may want to let the “weapons” of thought processing and creativity develop a little bit more before we send them off to “war”. See, I was just pretending there to understand the process of development in a different way. I pretended that the kids were “life” soldiers in a war to improve the way we think!
How the heck does this relate to athletic pursuits? C’mon, you already know the answer to this. How many of you pretended you were Michael Jordan on the court growing up? How many of you are pretty sure that Michael Jordan at least some of the time, pretended to be Dr. J growing up?
You see, pretending gives us the ability to explore things without the pressure of being “us”.
Try it in a practice. Have the kids on your team pick a name of a sports star out of a hat. They are then charged with moving like that player, and doing what they think that player would do in a game.
Take it one step further, and have them make up their own characters in the next practice. Then talk about what they learned. How successful were their character plays?
Decelerate To Go Faster?
Why is it that some kids who are really fairly slow in sprinting but can move so quick on the court? The reason is they have the ability to control their bodies when changing direction better than the rest.
When I teach deceleration I break down the components of it so the athlete is safe and can understand what I am explaining. I show them foot and ankles positions and how the knees, hips and back should be positioned so they can make corrections if need. The single most important part of deceleration is the re-acceleration. If two athletes are changing direction at the same location and get to the location at the exact same time, the athlete that can go from an eccentric load to and concentric load quicker will always be quicker on the court.
Coaches need to be aware of the goal of deceleration. It certainly should be taught to protect the athlete against injury. The most important aspect regarding quickness is to teach the deceleration move so they can get to where they really want to be. In other words, when I decelerate at the first 5 yard mark in a 5-10-5 test my goal isn’t to stop at the first 5 yard mark. It is to get to the next 10 yard mark as fast as possible.
In order to accomplish this mind set we need to educate our athletes on how to decelerate with a purpose and change direction better. Here are some random pointers:
1. When an athlete knows where he or she is going to decelerate to change direction, like a 5-10-5 test, they should begin the deceleration process early before they get to the line. This is accomplished by beginning to lean as they turn and be ready to push off immediately.
2. If the athletes doesn’t know when or when they are going to change direction, like most random based reactionary sports, they have to understand a couple concepts:
a. Play in the tunnel- this means to stay low, control the up and down wasted motion of the hips, control the swaying of the shoulders, and learn to quickly reposition the feet from under the hips to create a great deceleration and re-acceleration angle.
3. Make the athlete practice changing direction on each leg. You might find an asymmetry when they use their left leg compared to their right leg. If this is the case make sure you address the issue and clean up the left foot deceleration move.
4. Be certain that they have adequate ankle dorsi-flexion and can load the ankle properly. This action is the engine that drives the big muscles of the body.
The next time you are teaching shuttle drills or random cutting or change of direction drills make sure your athletes have efficient mechanics, but change the mental approach from being good at decelerate to being great at getting out of the deceleration move. Remember, you don’t receive a blue ribbon for stopping better than everyone else if that is only half the race. Finish the race by getting out of the deceleration move.
When I teach deceleration I break down the components of it so the athlete is safe and can understand what I am explaining. I show them foot and ankles positions and how the knees, hips and back should be positioned so they can make corrections if need. The single most important part of deceleration is the re-acceleration. If two athletes are changing direction at the same location and get to the location at the exact same time, the athlete that can go from an eccentric load to and concentric load quicker will always be quicker on the court.
Coaches need to be aware of the goal of deceleration. It certainly should be taught to protect the athlete against injury. The most important aspect regarding quickness is to teach the deceleration move so they can get to where they really want to be. In other words, when I decelerate at the first 5 yard mark in a 5-10-5 test my goal isn’t to stop at the first 5 yard mark. It is to get to the next 10 yard mark as fast as possible.
In order to accomplish this mind set we need to educate our athletes on how to decelerate with a purpose and change direction better. Here are some random pointers:
1. When an athlete knows where he or she is going to decelerate to change direction, like a 5-10-5 test, they should begin the deceleration process early before they get to the line. This is accomplished by beginning to lean as they turn and be ready to push off immediately.
2. If the athletes doesn’t know when or when they are going to change direction, like most random based reactionary sports, they have to understand a couple concepts:
a. Play in the tunnel- this means to stay low, control the up and down wasted motion of the hips, control the swaying of the shoulders, and learn to quickly reposition the feet from under the hips to create a great deceleration and re-acceleration angle.
3. Make the athlete practice changing direction on each leg. You might find an asymmetry when they use their left leg compared to their right leg. If this is the case make sure you address the issue and clean up the left foot deceleration move.
4. Be certain that they have adequate ankle dorsi-flexion and can load the ankle properly. This action is the engine that drives the big muscles of the body.
The next time you are teaching shuttle drills or random cutting or change of direction drills make sure your athletes have efficient mechanics, but change the mental approach from being good at decelerate to being great at getting out of the deceleration move. Remember, you don’t receive a blue ribbon for stopping better than everyone else if that is only half the race. Finish the race by getting out of the deceleration move.
10 Success Strategies
If you’re serious about creating lasting and significant change in your world – as opposed to merely thinking and talking about it for another year – there are a few things you might want to do in order to help make those intentions a reality…
1. Know what success is. If you don’t know what success is (for you), how can you possibly create it? Success is different things for different people and one person’s success (a pregnancy for example) might be another person’s catastrophe. That’s because success (or failure) is not so much about the situation, circumstance, event or outcome as it is about what that “thing” means to the person in the middle of it. In order to create success, you must first define it – and far too many people haven’t. Be very clear about what you want and don’t want for your life. Clarity produces excitement. Excitement produces momentum. Momentum produces behavioural change. Behavioural change produces different results and eventually, the internal vision becomes an external reality. Giddy-up.
2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Some people will live a life of second-best, of compromise and of under-achievement simply because they are (1) controlled by fear (2) always looking for the magic pill or shortcut and (3) not prepared to do the tough stuff. People who always take the easy option are destined for mediocrity. At best. Constantly avoiding the discomfort means constantly avoiding the lessons and the personal growth. Pain is a great teacher. Not always what we want, but sometimes what we need.
3. Seek to be righteous, not right. The need to be “right” speaks of arrogance, insecurity, ego and stupidity. It’s also synonymous with failure. The person who constantly needs to be right will miss out on much of what life has to teach him and alienate himself from others. Arrogance repels, humility attracts.
4. Seek respect, not popularity. It’s been said that our nature is “who we are” and our reputation is who people think we are. When the two are synonymous, we’re usually on the right path.
5. Embrace mess. To embrace mess is to embrace life because life is messy, unpredictable, unfair, uncertain, lumpy and bumpy. So get used to a little chaos. Embrace it even. While others succumb to the messiness and unpredictability of the human experience, make a conscious choice to be the calm in the chaos.
6. Don’t become your parents. Or your boss. Or anyone but you. The enormity of conformity is a problem for the wanna-be success story. Sure, your parents are great and by all means respect them, love them and learn from them, but please don’t become them; that’s just plain ugly and a little bit tragic. Listen to, and learn from other people, but think, act and decide for yourself. And no, you don’t need anyone’s approval or permission; you’re big now. It’s okay.
7. Use more of what you already have. Imagine what you could achieve if you took all the knowledge, intelligence, opportunities, time, skill and talent that you currently have and absolutely milked it. What if you already have more than enough talent to become wildly successful? Well, you do. There go the excuses. And that voice that’s telling (some of) you right now that you don’t have what it takes to become successful, that’s called fear. Not logic, fear. Not reality, fear. Unless of course, you allow that to become your reality. Be mindful that the voice in your head (the very loud, annoying and persistent one) is rarely a reflection of your potential and mostly a manifestation of your insecurity. And no, you’re not alone in your self-doubt; it’s a universal condition. Many people fail, not because they don’t have what it takes, but because they don’t use what they already have. Successful people typically don’t have more innate potential, luck, time or opportunity than the next person, but they consistently find a way to use much more of what they have at their disposal. While the majority are rationalising their lack of decision making and action taking, these guys are finding a way to get the job done. The question is not “how much ability do you have, but how much will you use?”.
8. Be an innovator, not an imitator. Not too many sheep succeed. Baaah. Sometimes it’s a good idea to build your own team rather than join someone else’s. Don’t let your fear stand in the way of your potential to create, innovate or lead.
9. Do what most won’t. If you want to achieve what most people won’t (happiness, joy, calm, wealth, optimal health, balance) then don’t do what they do. If you want to be like the majority, then do what they do. Producing different results comes from doing different things. Simple really. And effective. Most people won’t persevere, won’t finish what they start, won’t find the good, won’t do what it takes, won’t question their long-held beliefs, won’t be solution-focused, won’t do what scares them and won’t “be the change” they want to see in their world. Choose to be different.
10. Be like water. Powerful. Gentle. Adaptable. Ever-changing. Being static in a dynamic world – like the one you and I inhabit – is a recipe for disaster. If you can’t adapt, you can’t succeed. Our practical, three dimensional reality, and everything in it, is in a constant state of transition, while some of us are in a constant state of “same”. Statues don’t succeed, they just get crapped on.
Watch out for the pigeons.
1. Know what success is. If you don’t know what success is (for you), how can you possibly create it? Success is different things for different people and one person’s success (a pregnancy for example) might be another person’s catastrophe. That’s because success (or failure) is not so much about the situation, circumstance, event or outcome as it is about what that “thing” means to the person in the middle of it. In order to create success, you must first define it – and far too many people haven’t. Be very clear about what you want and don’t want for your life. Clarity produces excitement. Excitement produces momentum. Momentum produces behavioural change. Behavioural change produces different results and eventually, the internal vision becomes an external reality. Giddy-up.
2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. Some people will live a life of second-best, of compromise and of under-achievement simply because they are (1) controlled by fear (2) always looking for the magic pill or shortcut and (3) not prepared to do the tough stuff. People who always take the easy option are destined for mediocrity. At best. Constantly avoiding the discomfort means constantly avoiding the lessons and the personal growth. Pain is a great teacher. Not always what we want, but sometimes what we need.
3. Seek to be righteous, not right. The need to be “right” speaks of arrogance, insecurity, ego and stupidity. It’s also synonymous with failure. The person who constantly needs to be right will miss out on much of what life has to teach him and alienate himself from others. Arrogance repels, humility attracts.
4. Seek respect, not popularity. It’s been said that our nature is “who we are” and our reputation is who people think we are. When the two are synonymous, we’re usually on the right path.
5. Embrace mess. To embrace mess is to embrace life because life is messy, unpredictable, unfair, uncertain, lumpy and bumpy. So get used to a little chaos. Embrace it even. While others succumb to the messiness and unpredictability of the human experience, make a conscious choice to be the calm in the chaos.
6. Don’t become your parents. Or your boss. Or anyone but you. The enormity of conformity is a problem for the wanna-be success story. Sure, your parents are great and by all means respect them, love them and learn from them, but please don’t become them; that’s just plain ugly and a little bit tragic. Listen to, and learn from other people, but think, act and decide for yourself. And no, you don’t need anyone’s approval or permission; you’re big now. It’s okay.
7. Use more of what you already have. Imagine what you could achieve if you took all the knowledge, intelligence, opportunities, time, skill and talent that you currently have and absolutely milked it. What if you already have more than enough talent to become wildly successful? Well, you do. There go the excuses. And that voice that’s telling (some of) you right now that you don’t have what it takes to become successful, that’s called fear. Not logic, fear. Not reality, fear. Unless of course, you allow that to become your reality. Be mindful that the voice in your head (the very loud, annoying and persistent one) is rarely a reflection of your potential and mostly a manifestation of your insecurity. And no, you’re not alone in your self-doubt; it’s a universal condition. Many people fail, not because they don’t have what it takes, but because they don’t use what they already have. Successful people typically don’t have more innate potential, luck, time or opportunity than the next person, but they consistently find a way to use much more of what they have at their disposal. While the majority are rationalising their lack of decision making and action taking, these guys are finding a way to get the job done. The question is not “how much ability do you have, but how much will you use?”.
8. Be an innovator, not an imitator. Not too many sheep succeed. Baaah. Sometimes it’s a good idea to build your own team rather than join someone else’s. Don’t let your fear stand in the way of your potential to create, innovate or lead.
9. Do what most won’t. If you want to achieve what most people won’t (happiness, joy, calm, wealth, optimal health, balance) then don’t do what they do. If you want to be like the majority, then do what they do. Producing different results comes from doing different things. Simple really. And effective. Most people won’t persevere, won’t finish what they start, won’t find the good, won’t do what it takes, won’t question their long-held beliefs, won’t be solution-focused, won’t do what scares them and won’t “be the change” they want to see in their world. Choose to be different.
10. Be like water. Powerful. Gentle. Adaptable. Ever-changing. Being static in a dynamic world – like the one you and I inhabit – is a recipe for disaster. If you can’t adapt, you can’t succeed. Our practical, three dimensional reality, and everything in it, is in a constant state of transition, while some of us are in a constant state of “same”. Statues don’t succeed, they just get crapped on.
Watch out for the pigeons.
Youth Training Facts
>> From a study published in the Swimming Science Bulletin. Authored by Brent S. Rushall & John Marsden.
"The question of whether (young athletes) should specialize in particular sports at an early age have been asked for many years. The evidence now seems to support programming activities that develop overall capacities rather than specialized functions while the young athlete is growing."
The BEST and MOST EFFICIENT means of developing a future champion is through slow progression and multilateral means.
"If resistance training is to be done with children and young adolescents, exercises should involve sub-maximal loads, such as one’s own bodyweight, light dumbbells, weighted bags and/or medicine balls. Sophisticated and restrictive weight exercises, particularly on machines, are not ideal for children".
Trainers or coaches who advocate machine-based training for young athletes are simply not thinking straight.
"All sports require high degree of skill for superior performance. The major emphasis of a (youth athletic) training program should be skill excellence. For skills to be developed, learning should occur in non-fatigued states… It is advisable to schedule auxiliary training sessions either after a (sport) session or at some time that allows complete recovery from its execution so that no residual fatigue is carried over."
Learning how to create appropriate training sessions is crucial to working with young athletes. If you are forced to have the technical practice AND the training session within the same day (as is typical), make sure that the training session comes AFTER practice. This keeps the body and CNS rested and for skill acquisition and demonstration during practice.
>>Neurological stats on learning and neuropsychological explanation as to why multilateral development is crucial.
Look at it from the easiest possible angle… Do you know anyone from another country? What happens to family’s who move to a foreign land, but can’t speak the language? Let’s use an Italian family moving to Canada. Eventually, everyone learns to speak English, but, the young kids will learn to speak it accent-free while the parents, no matter what they try, will ALWAYS have a slight or even pronounced accent. Why?
The answer can be summed up in one word… Plasticity. Plasticity in this context is defined as the ability to be flexible or adapt. The human brain is a structure LOADED with plasticity during its developmental stages, but loses the ability to adapt as we age. Every skill imaginable (athletic, cognitive, language acquisition), is governed by plasticity… There is literally a cap or critical time frame in which skills must be learnt in order to ever be performed optimally. Due to the laws of plasticity, a 45 year old Italian immigrant will never pick up English the way his or her 5 year old son will.
Application to sport and athletics? If you don’t expose kids to it early, they will NEVER be able to develop it optimally.
"The question of whether (young athletes) should specialize in particular sports at an early age have been asked for many years. The evidence now seems to support programming activities that develop overall capacities rather than specialized functions while the young athlete is growing."
The BEST and MOST EFFICIENT means of developing a future champion is through slow progression and multilateral means.
"If resistance training is to be done with children and young adolescents, exercises should involve sub-maximal loads, such as one’s own bodyweight, light dumbbells, weighted bags and/or medicine balls. Sophisticated and restrictive weight exercises, particularly on machines, are not ideal for children".
Trainers or coaches who advocate machine-based training for young athletes are simply not thinking straight.
"All sports require high degree of skill for superior performance. The major emphasis of a (youth athletic) training program should be skill excellence. For skills to be developed, learning should occur in non-fatigued states… It is advisable to schedule auxiliary training sessions either after a (sport) session or at some time that allows complete recovery from its execution so that no residual fatigue is carried over."
Learning how to create appropriate training sessions is crucial to working with young athletes. If you are forced to have the technical practice AND the training session within the same day (as is typical), make sure that the training session comes AFTER practice. This keeps the body and CNS rested and for skill acquisition and demonstration during practice.
>>Neurological stats on learning and neuropsychological explanation as to why multilateral development is crucial.
Look at it from the easiest possible angle… Do you know anyone from another country? What happens to family’s who move to a foreign land, but can’t speak the language? Let’s use an Italian family moving to Canada. Eventually, everyone learns to speak English, but, the young kids will learn to speak it accent-free while the parents, no matter what they try, will ALWAYS have a slight or even pronounced accent. Why?
The answer can be summed up in one word… Plasticity. Plasticity in this context is defined as the ability to be flexible or adapt. The human brain is a structure LOADED with plasticity during its developmental stages, but loses the ability to adapt as we age. Every skill imaginable (athletic, cognitive, language acquisition), is governed by plasticity… There is literally a cap or critical time frame in which skills must be learnt in order to ever be performed optimally. Due to the laws of plasticity, a 45 year old Italian immigrant will never pick up English the way his or her 5 year old son will.
Application to sport and athletics? If you don’t expose kids to it early, they will NEVER be able to develop it optimally.
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