purposeful training.

raw material

just as a carpenter may start work with an axe, and move to a saw, a rasp, a file and finally to scrapers and progressively finer sandpaper, each tool has its function, its order, and its appropriate time line.

there was a picture posted recently by the gym jones twitter feed (http://ow.ly/i/2QZO)

its a simple idea with profound implications. when an athlete is beginning, anything works. the more out of shape the individual, the more general this can be. the change from doing nothing to doing something is hard enough, and as long as there is proper volume (and dietary care) changes come rather quickly. as one progresses; passing the standard idea of “healthy” or “balanced” it becomes a quest for high level foundations, to be balanced – in excess. more care is necessary to correct minor (or major) imbalances caused by ones profession or sport, the training becomes more structured to solidify the athlete, to sharpen the tool. beyond high level foundation is specialization, in more technical arenas, the gym – in my mind – is primarily used to increase ones work tolerance and balance their training to allow the proper amount of technical work to occur. malcom gladwell and others posit that roughly 10,000 hours are necessary to excel at a task. hockey, running, even computer programming and hostile takeovers. it is the practice of technical skills that will get us to the next level. there are no shortcuts, and one finds that so called “talented” individuals simply logged those hours early. practice makes habit. the gym is supplemental, it is an enabler. time is finite. put it where it counts.

Trackbacks