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Before
a new building can be erected on a site where an older building exists,
the older building must be demolished first.
In much the same way, I'm going to start this article by demolishing a
dearly-held myth that many trainees have regarding their avocation of
choice:
“I'll finally reach my goals when I find the perfect training (or
nutritional) program.”
WRONG
Look, it's not your fault— I've been there too. I've had the experience
of discovering some unique program in the latest muscle magazine that
some super stud athlete supposedly used to transform himself from
nothing to something. Even today, when I run across a unique training
concept or program, I still salivate at the discovery...anticipating the
workouts, the novelty of a new program. Problem is, you have to clarify
your objective: is your passion in life intellectual masturbation, or
breaking through long-standing plateaus to new PR's? If you answered the
latter, read on.
 Performance
(or progress) Improves Only When Weak Links Are Identified And Fortified
It's pretty much this simple: if you want your chain to lift heavier
weights, you've got to inspect that chain link by link, and identify the
weakest segment in that chain. Then you've got to find a way to make
that segment as strong, if not stronger than the others. Then you've got
to find the second weakest link and repeat the process, which,
incidentally, never ends. NOTE: Aside from avoiding habituation (the
body's ever-decreasing reaction to repetitive, unchanging stimuli), the
most important reason for altering training programs is to account for
the continuous introduction of "new" primary weak links).
Hunting For Kingpins
In the logging industry, professional loggers have a very effective way
to figure out how to clear huge log-jams as they attempt to send large
numbers of trees down the river. What they do is to go downstream and
find the "kingpin:" this is the single log which, if re-positioned ever
so slightly, will restore the flow of logs down the river.
In much the same way, you'll need to find your own personal kingpins if
you ever expect to accelerate your own rate of progress.
Some theorists suggest that one should ignore weaknesses and instead,
focus on strengths. However, from my experience, a strength overused
becomes a weakness. In assessing your own situation, determine whether
or not the weak link is CORRECTABLE. If not, don't worry about it. If
so, make it the number one priority until it is no longer your weakest
correctable link.
The Staley Equation:
This is a strategy that I developed from my work with Olympic and
professional athletes, as well as members of my private coaching group.
In essence, the rule states that one should prioritize training elements
(which could refer to habits, behaviors, muscle groups, motor qualities,
etc) which are:
• Needed
• Under-developed
• Highly trainable
• Foundational to other elements
• Given available resources
As a brief explanation, let's look at the motor quality of maximal
strength. For many athletes, it is needed AND underdeveloped. It is also
quite easily improvable compared to some other motor qualities (such as
speed, which has significant genetic constraints). Maximal strength
creates a base for the development of speed strength, hypertrophy,
strength-endurance, and can also help athletes avoid injuries. Finally,
maximal strength can be developed using very rudimentary equipment such
as barbells and dumbbells. So, it's clear that for many trainees,
maximal strength should be prioritized according to the Q2
Prioritization Rule.
Most People's Weak Links Relate To BEHAVIORS, Not Activities
Most people, when examining their own training experiences, will notice
that they have made acceptable levels of progress using all manner of
training systems and approaches. Most will attribute this phenomenon to
the fact that ANY new program will provoke an adaptive response (at
least temporarily), simply due to it's novelty. However, I do not
believe the novelty of a new training stimulus is sufficient to explain
this observation. Instead, I propose that whether or not someone is
successful during any given training program has less to do with the
program per se, and more to do with the PERSON (and specifically, his or
her behavior) as the program is carried out. Now, of course, I’m not
saying that intelligently-designed training programs aren’t important—
after all, I’ve created a career out of designing programs and teaching
program design. I’m simply saying that for many people, developing
better behaviors will have a greater payoff than looking for better
programs (activities).
Click here to read part 2 of this article, "The Seven Behaviors of
Highly Successful Athletes"
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About The Author:
Charles Staley, B.Sc., MSS: His colleagues
call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients
call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other
coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in
Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles'
methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious
results. His counter-intuitive approach and self-effacing
demeanor have lead to appearances on NBC’s The TODAY Show and
The CBS Early Show. Find Charles online at
http://www.CharlesStaley.com |
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