I was listening to the radio this morning and they were
discussing the reported bust up between a fitness coach and a premier league
footballer Andros
Townsend row, the assistant presenter (an ex-international sportsman)
recalled a time when he was forced to do a weight training session (despite his
protestations) just days before a match because if not he would have been
dropped for the forthcoming game. The said ex-international went on to bemoan
the fact that some fitness coaches do stuff just to justify their very
existence.
And this got me thinking…
How many other people involved in sport (coaches, sports scientists,
personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches etc.) do and say ‘stuff’
just to justify their very existence?
Unfortunately, in my experience quite a few!
Sport is big business, generating lots of money. Unsurprisingly
with all this money sloshing around other supporting industries have grown up
alongside and of course many of these influences have been beneficial.
Improvements in nutrition and physical conditioning are testament to this.
PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS
Sport is of course a very competitive environment and
squeezing out every last drop performance potential is important. But is this
systematic, scientific approach to improving performance causing some of the
performers to suffer from what I term paralysis by analysis.
Now do not get me wrong I am big fan of science in sport,
heck I’m a sports science graduate myself and many of you will be aware that I
am a huge fan of research led training. (In fact I despair at how social media
posts of people performing crazy training stunts seemingly trump scientific
research when it comes to informing the general public of the sensible way to
train). But is this rigid scientific approach to sport having unintended
consequences?
HAPPY ENGLAND CRICKETERS
Recently I’ve heard ex-England cricketers praise the new
management team for their decreased reliance on men with clip-boards analysing
every tiny detail of the players’ performance and preparation, and how this has
increased the general mood and happiness amongst the players.
This got me thinking of my own experiences with talented
young sports people.
On numerous occasions I’ve had youngsters come to me feeling
worried and anxious about the feedback given by a coach or sports scientists. Desperate
to act on this feedback the youngster then sets about completely dismantling his/her
training programme (which has helped them become the success they are) to work
on a tiny flaw in their technique which in all honesty has very little effect
in their performance in the first place!
LIKE A TEENAGE BOY ON A FIRST DATE
I don’t necessarily blame the coach or sports scientist for
this, often they will only see a given youngster once in a blue moon and just
like a teenage boy on his first date feels under enormous pressure to fill the
inevitable moments of silence with idle chit chat, sometimes the sports
scientist or coach feeling under pressure to improve performance can find something,
anything to critique so that they can justify their position and wages.
I’m certain these people offer their advice in good faith
and do so with the best of intentions but sometimes they need to give a little
thought to the repercussions of their advice. If they find a flaw, which if
corrected will improve performance, most certainly inform the youngster. But if
it’s a tiny flaw that will have little or no effect, rather than burdening the
youngster with worry, perhaps its better left unsaid and instead allow the
youngster to focus on the fundamentals their training!
For much more detailed training advice please do not hesitate to BOOK A FREE TRIAL SESSION or pop along to one of my exercise classes, held every Saturday morning 9.00am at Baddow Rec, Chelmsford.
Many thanks for reading,
Many thanks for reading,
