It’s More Than An Exercise

It is so easy to get fixed on one exercise or even one training method and lose sight of the big picture. It is how the exercise or training method fits into the system that matters most. No one exercise or drill is the answer, no one exercise is the solution, if fact one exercise can be the problem or the cause of training errors. We all have our “go to” exercises, but the “go to” exercises only have meaning if they are part of the whole system of training. As coaches we have to be skillful in our selection of exercises and methods. Be careful of fads, the latest & greatest marketed as the be all, end all that will solve every training problem. I found when I look at the evolution of my training system over the years that now I use less tools form the tool box, but that I have a better handle on where to use a particular exercise or a derivative of that exercise. So I now use less exercises and focus on the progressions and viable variations of an exercise or drill to keep reinforcing the training quality I want to address in that phase of training. The following quote from Emory Bellard inventor of the Wishbone offense in American football sums up the problem quite well: “ Ninety percent of teams today don’t run an offense, they run plays. A goodly portion of football teams just run plays without a concept.” Are you doing exercises without a concept? Remember the old aphorism if then only tool you have is a hammer, then everything becomes a nail.