When Will The Sports Training Confusion End?!

A Note to the reader before we start:
This here comes directly from the depth of my black coaching heart:
I write this straight from the gut, so to speak.

When Will The Sports Training Confusion End?
Maybe never.

Those of you who know me are well aware I’m not a complainer, and I’m gonna try hard and keep it so, EVEN when addressing this here issue.

I mean, come ON! OK, OK.

But it really is like this: Even though the right training info is out there, and a-plenty, there’s still SO MUCH BS around, it’s just crazy! What is this, Marketing? Laziness? Thickness?

OK, deep breather, calming down …
 
I’m not gonna be negative, but here’s the situation, and that’s just how it is at the moment:

I see an elite athlete, millions of $ a year contract, in the gym and it’s just a joke what his “trainer” has him do!

Is that an exception? Unfortunately not.

I see yet another top competitor ruin his career, by doing the wrong training. AND another one. THIS latter one is a hero of mine, so now I’m getting aggravated …

I hear what he’s doing and I think: “Uh-Oh, that’s gonna cost him … ” And sure enough, when staging his comeback, and after training real hard for it, he gets gassed in the competition.

All that effort, for naught.

These guys train hard. They bust their butts. And to what end? To train themselves into the WRONG SHAPE for their sport.

Training the wrong biokinetic chains, with the wrong exercises, and most of all doing the wrong energy system training.

I really think it’s quite easy to train hard. I mean every nitwit can do that: “Gimme 50!! And another 50!!”
That doesn’t take any brains at all, and unless you’re real lucky, it also doesn’t give you any results.

No, it’s quite necessary to train hard AND smart, meaning safe and sound and right for your sport and your individual goals.

Otherwise the results you’re getting are not gonna be the results that you want.

Instead of victory, you will end up with this:

A bunch of wasted time, effort, sweat, blood (and possibly tears! ) Injuries Your career down the drain.

And why is that?

Hate to say it, but quite evidently because of amateurs training pros. Because of folks calling themselves sports trainers, coaches, and NOT knowing what the blue they’re talking about.

You really can’t blame the athletes. They act in good faith, they work hard, and they don’t know better, because this is not their expertise.
No, it’s supposed to be the coach’s expertise, that’s why they hire them!

And unfortunately, more often than not, these “experts” are lacking in just that: professional knowledge and experience.

This is a little hard for me to write, because I’m a positive guy, and this is a very negative issue.

But I feel it has to be addressed.

And to finish on a positive note, do not despair, all’s not lost; there is hope!
I will give you a list of some real coaches, so whether athlete or trainer, if you want to learn how to train properly, here’s some sources:

Joe DeFranco
Al Vermeil
Charles Poliquin

There’s quite A LOT of good coaches out there, and several training approaches that work well to prepare you for your sport.
Just please be sure you’re on the right track to make the most of your time and effort, to make it count!

And if you wanna talk to me, I also know a thing or three, as I’ve learned from some of the above.

Mark

P.S.
Now, I’m not advertising DeFranco, but I must admit: I just friggin’ LOVE his STRONGER Movie Trailer!
Check this out, this is one way that real training for athletes can look like: