Train The Body as Well as The Skill Part 1

In sports today everyone is in a race to get ahead. The competition is much more fierce then it was years ago. Working with athletes of different ages, sports and levels for so many years has allowed me to observe many phenomenon. One of the most notable trends is for athletes, parents and coaches to spend the majority of their time focusing predominantly on sport specific skill development. I acknowledge that this is vital for athletic success but this brings me to the point of this post and that is "what about the body?"

Today in order to get ahead many athletes hire professional instructors to teach them the specific skills of their prospective sport. This is extremely beneficial because back when I was growing up many years ago these types of coaches were hard to find and rarely existed in most areas of the country. Sure high level athletes had this luxury but for many of youth sports this wasn't the case. If you have access to great skill coaches and can afford it hiring one of these coaches is well worth it.

Now that I have acknowledged the benefits of skill training I will discuss the overall problems with placing too much emphasis on skill development. The main concern is that people fail to realize that to perform any athletic skill the body has to be capable of supporting and executing this task. The unfortunate fact is that far too many athletes, coaches and parents see the value of skill specific instruction but not in proper instruction in the physical aspect of training performed off the field. This leads to the body being ill prepared or incapable of properly executing specific skills optimally. To use an analogy it would be like a race car driver hiring a driving coach but having his Joe Schmoe neighbor who is good at helping to get his lawn mower started work on his car instead of a qualified high level mechanic! Sure his driving skills will improve but only to the extent that his car can perform. Weight room training has all too often been overlooked for its importance in producing a quality athlete. Far too often coaches, parents and kids train the way they were trained or worse yet put young athletes on programs they see on the internet or in magazine articles with no regards to the specific needs and abilities of the individual athlete. This hit or miss approach can often do more harm then good. Some possible negative effects are injuries from improper technique, developing faulty motor patterns and causing or increasing muscle imbalances to name a few. These problems all lead to decrease in performance and injuries. This is the exact opposite effect of why they trained to begin with!

The purpose of part 1 of this post is to create an awareness of the importance of training the physical side of the athlete. By realizing the value of training both the skill set and physical set athletes will optimally prepare themselves to perform at their best on the field! Stay tuned for part 2 when I will explain the two most important factors to optimally train athletes.