*This is an accumulation of free text I have done over the past few weeks. There is no specific purpose to it other than to share with you free thinking on training, life, and health that may have even the slightest bit of impact on your day upon reading. Cheers*
RECOVERY, SUCCESS, AND SUPPORT
I recently made a post to my Facebook with a video of one of the most recent athlete's I had the pleasure to work with on her recovery from ACL surgery. Throughout the entire process she was very motivated and bought-in that this was going to be a long, winding road which will require discipline and effort. Because of her attitude and dedication, among other things, she was able to return to sport this fall and be a cornerstone piece to a highly competitive soccer team. I couldn't be happier for her. Notice the way I spoke on her success "Because of her attitude and dedication, among other things..." There are a lot of variables that not only go into having a successful recovery experience but a successful physical training experience as well. There are uncontrollable factors in terms of the genes you inherit from your bloodline, and then there are the controllable factors. To name a few controllable factors:
-Discipline/Consistency: Will you stay the course not for a week, or a month, but for 3, 6, 9, 12 months and beyond? Will you do the inconvenient things? Will you show up not just on the days you want to but on the days you would rather do something else?
-Effort: Sort of beating a dead horse with this one. You'll often here coaches tell athletes "just keep showing up" or "you just gotta show up and do the work". At a surface level this make sense. Keep showing up, stack sessions, make progress. However, in reality this is not the case. You cannot just show up. You have to give 100% effort when you show up. Over this past decade I have worked with a lot of athletes who just show up. I've also worked with a lot who show up and give max effort and focus. Let me make this simple: If you just show up and go through motions you achieve little. If you show up and give max effort and focus you achieve a lot. Something I struggled with for a large part of my professional career is not making this clear to athletes/parents. Progress/success occurs when you push yourself outside of your comfort zone. This is where the growth happens.
In my Facebook post a quickly alluded to this next controllable factor that undoubtedly plays one of the largest roles on the road to development and success...
-Supportive parents: I admire so much the positive support system I see given to athletes that I have the pleasure to work with. Being a new parent it is motivating me to continue to work on becoming the best version that I can be in this role of provider. Whenever I can I try to make sure to remind athletes to thank your parent(s) for being the support that drives this developmental process. Everything from providing rides to stocking the fridge with healthy muscle-building food options to funding seeking out professional help in areas of sport performance and physical development. In the specific case of the athlete mentioned above, the first factor I made sure to give credit to when speaking on her success was the support from her parents as it was monumental and inspirational.
UNLOCKING YOUR FULL POTENTIAL
We are all more capable than we think, we just need something (or someone) to show us. Just this past football season I had an athlete (junior in HS) train 3x a week with me for 14 weeks straight which was the entirety of their season. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday he would go to school, practice, and then drive over to see me. While most kids lose strength and muscle from detraining during the season, he actually got stronger. So much so that on his first session after his season that we just had he hit a 3 rep PR on bench press. Imagine that...hitting a PR on the FIRST WORKOUT after a 14-week season of football. 95% of athletes I see return after their season are either throwing up or punching the air out of disgust with how much strength they have lost after their first off-season workout. I remember having a conversation with him appluading his DISCIPLINE, CONSISTENCY, and EFFORT and I made the comment to him that I think is useful for everyone to hear. Was coming to see me 3x a week after a long day of school and football practice/conditioning convenient? No. Was it something he was always thrilled about doing? I'm sure there were some days it was hard to mentally get motivated to train. But nonetheless, he would always show up and give 100%. And the results speak for themselves as he had a stellar season and has developed his body physically to become stronger, faster, more conditioned, and more protected from the physical toll/trauma of football. Again, was it convenient? No. But you know what is really inconvenient? Getting weaker/being weak and playing sports. There were a lot of people shocked by the fact that he was still training during his season with me. But to my opening line of this paragraph: we are all more capable than we think, we just need something (or someone) to show us. This is why we no longer have to be shy about pushing athletes and ourselves. We are all so much more than what we think we are, and I plan to do my best at helping showcase this to anyone willing to give our training the time, respect, and effort it deserves. HUGE thank you to this athlete and his parents for the continuous support of his mission!
COOL TEXT MESSAGES WITH A DEEPER MEANING
Text 1 (from a member of my 'football group'): "Hey Troy I'm thinking about coming back to workout at the gym. Im not sure if I wanna play college football or not but something's been missing this entire week without training and I miss the workouts."
Text 2 (from an athlete that moved away to college who recently stopped in for a session): "I will for sure be back before I go back to school. Monday's workout made me feel so much gratitude. You really do have a great thing going on in the lab."
The deeper meaning: Training is not just about sports performance. It is a lifestyle. It's the drive to be the most physically fit and dominant version of yourself that you can possibly be for the longest period of time in your life. Most athlete's goals when we begin training together are performance related aka be more fit to compete in sport. My goals for them parallel this, however a main goal for me is to get each and every athlete to fall in love with the process. To develop the drive and enjoyment in physical improvement. To provide such a unique experience and stimulus to their body/mind that creates a fire inside to want to dominate their competition, their life, and their goals. So that one day when you are no longer competing in a sport, you have spent the past x amount of years of your life developing a positive relationship with training that you never top the self-improvement process. Currently I have a few people right now, as well as in the past, training in the lab that are graduated from high school (or even college) because they love the atmosphere and the intensity. The feeling of pushing yourself in a competitive and encouraging environment. Something that you can't just get from a going to a "gym". My past few Instagram posts have featured this caption "If you want to workout go to a gym. If you want to train for peak physical condition to dominate sport, competition, and life...you must come ready to work at the lab." In the second text message above she mentioned having so much gratitude for the lab. But I am the one who has the most gratitude to anyone who gives me their commitment, time, respect, and effort to go on this life-long journey together of dominating sport and life.
Which brings me to my next, and final, point. Thanksgiving. The time to be thankful. And I can't help but be thankful for everyone who has been a part of this journey. There was a time many many many years ago I almost ditched this entire field. I was in my undergrad (around the age of 20 at the time) and just had begun training athletes. I struggled. It got to the point that I just thought maybe this wasn't right for me. But I stuck with it. Got better. Continued to fail. Got better. A handful of athletes put their trust in me. Then another handful. Then another. Fast forward a decade later and I can now confidently say this statement...
When you want to become the most physically fit, the strongest, the most conditioned, the most confident version of yourself to dominate your sport and every aspect of your entire life...This program. This little space. The "lab"...stands second to absolutely nothing. And that is the hill I AM willing to die on!!
STRENGTH IS NEVER WEAKNESS. WEAKNESS IS NEVER STRENGTH.
DISCIPLINE. EFFORT. CONSISTENCY.
INTENSITY FOR LIFE!
God Bless everyone and have a great Thanksgiving.
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