What metrics do you use to determine if you or your child is getting great training?
The most common we hear are:
It was hard
It was fun
I never stopped moving
With the promise of a new American Girl doll, my 9-year-old daughter can easily give any athlete a workout that will be super hard, have continual movement, and be really fun.
If my young child can accomplish the indicators by which you measure great training, don’t you think it’s time to rethink your metrics?
It’s really not your fault that you use these metrics, most people do. Heck, sometimes I even fall back to asking my son if a workout was hard or fun. These questions are easy to answer and we generally understand what they mean. The issue with this is that neither question actually has anything to do with how good the training is. Additionally, our industry knows these are the metrics people use.
To take advantage of this, many people design their training around these arbitrary metrics, instead of what is best for the athletes. Doing so creates training that is easy to sell and takes no real knowledge or programming. One of our main goals is to help educate people so they don’t accept this subpar type of training.
To help parents and athletes assess whether they are getting great training or not, I outlined some criteria below.
Is there flexibility work?
Is there absolute speed work?
Is the strength work appropriate?
Is there a plan that serves your goal?
Is there flexibility work? Unfortunately, flexibility has fallen out of favor in training over the last 20 years. It is no coincidence that the rates of injuries have sky rocketed during this time. Some of the reasons for the lack of flexibility work is that it is not “fun” or “tiring”. The point of your training shouldn’t be to make you tired or to have fun, it should be to make you better. The level of flexibility varies per sport, but all athletic development programs must have some flexibility work in them.
Is there absolute speed work? There are many qualities of speed that can be trained but an athlete can not get faster without absolute speed work. What we mean by this is maximal sprinting of 15-50 yards that include a full recovery after each sprint. If someone is sprinting and not resting until full recovery, they are not doing absolute speed work, they are doing speed endurance or conditioning work. Absolute speed work is the king of all speed work and must be part of any athletic development program.
Is the strength work appropriate? The number of reps, the weight and exercise used should all be selected according to the athlete’s training age, strength and technical proficiency. There should be clear variations used based on all these factors. If someone isn’t utilizing these variations for specific athletes, this is a big red flag. If you are unsure, it is important to talk to your coach and find out how they are handling all these factors.
Is there a plan that serves your goal?: If a coach can not explain to you how they plan on progressing you from where you’re at, to where you want to go, this a sign of poor training. Athletic development is about having a long term plan, not randomly coming up with hard workouts each day. Whether it is hard or not is inconsequential. Just because a workout is hard, does not mean it is good. A good workout must serve your goal and in order to know this for sure, it must be part of a long term plan. It takes expertise and experience to effectively design such a plan. Luckily for you, you don’t have to come up with the plan, just find out if there is a plan and if it’s geared towards helping you or your child reach their goals.
I truly hope this blog helps you reshape the way you judge training for athletic development. I know that these criteria take a little more time and work to assess but isn’t anything worth doing, worth doing right? By reshaping your lens of how you judge training you can ensure you are getting the best training possible and reach your full athletic potential.