The Difference Between "Good" and "Great"

Over the past week, I've been fortunate enough to spend time with 2 very high level athletes.  I spent a little over an hour training one of them, a college infielder looking to be drafted in this upcoming MLB draft, and sat down for coffee with the other, a professional triathlete looking to break into the top-tier ranks of the sport.  I'm incredibly lucky to have both of these opportunities, and they turned out to be two very eye-opening experiences... ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Oftentimes, when you think about professional and higher-level college athletes, you put them up on this pedestal.  You may view them as heroes or individuals who you may have absolutely nothing in common with and who wouldn't waste their time on a conversation with you, but this really isn't the case.  In reality, they are very normal people, just like you and me.  They enjoy good movies, they have relationship issues, they absolutely despise the smell and taste of mustard (maybe that's just me).

You'd be surprised how much in common you may have with your favorite athlete, but, the fact of the matter is, these people reside in the upper echelons of their profession.  They are the best of the best.  They're professionals in every sense of the word.  What got them there?  Were they lucky?  Did they know somebody important?  Were they bitten by a radioactive spider?  The answer is actually quite simple...

These people are DRIVEN.  They live and breathe their profession, and understand that they have no room to slack off if they want to achieve their goals.  They refuse to let others get in their way, and they truly believe in themselves. This drive is what fuels them, and it's what motivates them to take that next step, allowing them to inch closer and closer to success.

During his training session, I asked the baseball player what's changed for him over the past year.  What has he done differently this year than any year before it, and how has that led to the success he's had this season?  Mind you, he is currently leading the nation in triples.  He's playing at an extremely high level and has been generating a ton of interest from MLB scouts.  His answer had nothing to do with improving his bat speed.  It didn't involve keeping his eye on the ball a little longer, or generating a more powerful first step.  His answer: meditation.

Before each game, this kid puts on his headphone and sunglasses, turns up "Lord of the Rings Radio" and falls into this relaxed, meditative state while his trainer stretches him out.  He doesn't think about the opposing pitcher.  He doesn't analyze his week of practice, or the last game he played.  He literally relaxes every part of his being, including his mind, and, in his words, "goes to sleep."  Afterwards, he "wakes up" prepared to play just another baseball game. It's this focus, this passion, and this dedication to self-preparation that has allowed him to have his best collegiate season thus far.

There are so many high level athletes out there that will never make it to the big leagues.  They're too jacked up in the head, over-analyzing every situation and getting in their own way.  At the elite level in sports, athletic abilities are almost identical.  Sure, some people are slightly stronger, some are a little bit quicker, and some have greater raw power.  However, at the end of the day, it all comes down to what's between your ears.  You can have all the athletic ability in the world, but everyone messes up at some point.  What really makes you great is how well you rebound from that mistake.  Are you the type of player that absolutely dominates in practice, but then goes and makes an error during the first play of competition and absolutely falls apart?

Now, I'm a strength and conditioning coach.  I relate everything to athletics and sports performance, but this lesson applies to EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON PLANET EARTH.  Whether or not you're a computer engineer, a recruiter, or a sales executive, you have the ability to get in your own way when that bad day comes your way.  But guess what?  You also have the ability to reach deep down, grab your proverbial sack, and keep on chuggin'.  All you need is that drive, that passion, and that unwavering focus that is going to push you to the next level.  No one gets anywhere in life by having a defeatist, "boo-hoo," "woe is me" attitude.

Youhave what it takes to succeed.  You just need to accept it, harness it, and use it to push through the hard times.  Be the person you've always wanted to be, even if you don't know exactly who that is yet.  Chances are it includes the following attributes: hardworking, friendly, dedicated, passionate, exciting, innovative, useful, successful, compassionate, creative, inspirational and self-reliant.  Everyone fails in life, but the best learn from that failure and use it to improve themselves and prepare for their next set of challenges.

See you next time.

The Lateral Lunge

https://youtu.be/GqpL0jDXHiM Today I had the opportunity to go into the gym and reconnect with some of my favorite exercises of the past with one of them being the goblet lateral lunge. Too often in modern times gym goers and athletes alike have restricted themselves to movements in a strictly forward or backwards pattern.

https://youtu.be/IpO6TaLBg5E

One of my favorite attributes with the lateral lunge is that like the goblet squat the placement of the weight puts athletes in a counterbalanced position that can allow them to perform the exercise safely and confidently. During the exercise if an athlete feels as though he or she is about to fall backwards they can simply move the weighted implement away from their body to regain their balance.

https://youtu.be/OMMX4F8zxdU

This exercise also does a tremendous job of helping the overall development of the stability of the knee joint and improving the dynamic flexibility of the adductor muscle group responsible for moving and stabilizing the leg and pelvis.

Key Points:

• Try to maintain an upright torso throughout the movement
• Allow your leading knee to stay in line with your toes

Training With A Chronic Illness

I had another awesome opportunity to write a guest post for Dean Somerset's blog. If you haven't yet read his stuff, you should do yourself a favor and start today. He is extremely intelligent and posts useful and so-that's-why-that-happens type stuff.

If you have a chronic illness or recovered from a long-term injury, I hear ya.

Most of fitness literature out there focuses on on training methods to get stronger, bigger, leaner, healthier, etc.,– which is exactly what you’d expect an industry called “fitness” to talk about.

There is, however, a small-ish (or perhaps not- so- small) portion of the population that has some form of chronic illness. Training for us is, well, different.

My aim with this post is to provide encouragement and practical strategies to anyone out there who is either battling a chronic illness, or may be dealing with a long-term healing process from a prior injury. Continue reading...

How The Powerlifts and Sport(s) Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly

Few things combine so fantastically as peanut butter and jelly. Oreos and milk.

Spaghetti and meatballs.

Jedis and lightsabers.

Powerlifts and sports are up there in the hall of fame. But Kelsey, whatever do you mean?

I had the opportunity to wax poetically over at my friend Tony Gentilcore's blog today. Continue reading HERE.

Common Beginner Mistakes - Part 2

Aaaaand we're back!  Today marks the 2nd post in a truly unforgettable series of blog posts.  Last week, we discussed a few mistakes that beginners often make, and this week we will be dissecting a few more!  But first, let's watch some awesome videos of SAPT athletes and coaches moving some heavy weight.

Mistake #4: Not Having a Goal in Mind

You should always have an end goal in mind when it comes to your training.  That goal should be specific to you, and should guide the exercises that you choose, the frequency with which you train, and the importance that training has in your life.  Your goal may be to run a marathon, your friend's goal may be to squat 500 pounds, while your mom's goal is simply to stay active and move around more often.  These are all very valid reasons to train, and will require vastly different approaches.  Your workouts will need to include large amounts of running, while your friend will need to spend much, much more time inside of a squat rack.  Your mom, well she just need to get off the couch and exercise a little more often, whatever that means to her.

Not only is it hard to stay motivated when you don't have a target to shoot for, it's difficult to make progress, and it's even harder to measure your progress.  You need to know what you want to achieve in order to achieve it, right?  At the end of the day, the reason that we train doesn't matter, but it's important to have a reason.  Once you understand and are comfortable with your motivation for training, then you can pick a program that will help you achieve that goal.  If training simply isn't a priority in your life, then own that decision, and live with it.  This just means that your "training plan" will be less frequent than someone who prioritizes physical activity and has a fitness goal that they want to achieve.

Mistake #5: Using an Inappropriate Program

Now that you understand your goal, you need to pick a program that is geared towards achieve it.  It makes no sense to jump on Johnnie Walker's Maximal Mass Building Program if your goal is to run a sub 2:30 marathon.  That program in no way, shape, or form is going to prepare you to run 26 miles at a 5:45/mile pace, no matter how much effort you put into it.

Specificity is one of the key training principles that dictates physiological adaptation.  Specificity simply means that your body will adapt to whatever stimulus you apply to it, whether that be the stimulus of sitting on the couch eating potato chips or squatting with a heavy load on your back.  In the first case, you will get very good at eating potato chips and utilizing very low amounts of energy.  The second individual will in turn become better and better at squatting with a heavy load.  Due to this reality, your training program needs to be specific to your goals.  It needs to be structured in a way that fosters intelligent and consistent progression in whatever area of fitness/health that you are trying to achieve.  Simply put, if your goal is to run long distances, you need to spend time running long distances.  If your goal is to jump incredibly high, you need to spend time jumping and increasing your rate of force production.

Mistake #6: Having Too Many Goals!

Building off of all of this, it's counterproductive to focus on a ton of goals at one time.  I find myself making this mistake far too often for my liking.  I want to be strong.  I want to be fast.  I want to have the ability to run 20 miles whenever I want.  These goals are all well and good, and may very well be achievable, but it's incredibly difficult (read: almost impossible) to try and achieve all of these things at once.  That's not to say don't shoot for the stars.  You just need to realize that Rome wasn't built in one day.  Instead, it took a series of events, a ton of effort, and the blood, sweat, and tears of thousands of men to create arguably the most formidable and influential empire ever created.

Now, I realize that you are a person, not an empire.  What this means in terms of your athletic and fitness goal, is that you need to periodize your training.  Develop training blocks that are focused on building maximal strength, then blocks concentrated on improving your power production, then blocks where you're concentrating on increasing your aerobic endurance, not necessarily in that order.  It's much easier to make progress this way, and may save you from spending month after month spinning your wheels and making no progress at all. ____________________________________________________

Finally, we'll wrap up this segment with a couple of quotes on the importance of goal setting:

"If you don't know where you're going, you'll end up someplace else." - Yogi Berra

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." - Confuscius

"Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history.  Give me a man with no goals, and I'll give you a stock clerk." - J.C. Penney

Get A Grip

The quest for added grip strength is a never ending battle in life or sports and whether you are looking to catch more balls in a game or just have a handshake that stands out from the crowd training this quality should be considered in your program. In today’s post we will discuss two of my favorite exercises for athletes looking for added gripping strength.

Thick Bar Pull Ups

If you find yourself blasting through sets of pull ups these days try adding a Fat Gripz like tool or a thick bar as a way to concurrently develop the upper back and forearm muscles. Don’t be surprised if you don’t accomplish your usual amount of reps on the first couple times but you will over time build up and feel like a monster when you get back to the standard pull up bar. If you a not good If you can’t do about 5 pull ups on a standard pull up bar I would recommend starting with the towel grip inverted row discussed below.

Towel Grip Inverted Row

I like this exercise because of its simplicity and versatility. The exercise can be progressed and regressed in numerous ways by rather lowering or raising the bar. Shortening or lengthening the lever arm of this exercise by having the athlete bend or straighten their legs can also be done to adjust the difficulty. Along with working the grip I recommend trying to pull the towel apart as you rise for an added challenge.

https://youtu.be/H-8dzDGEEJ4

If you are up for an increased challenge you can perform these with your feet elevated as Steve does in the video. Give these two exercises a try and I'm sure they will help stop any balls that come near your baseball glove.