Get Stronger with Fit Tips

RADICAL TRANSPARENCY WITH OUR OWN FITNESS

Where to Focus During Your Workout: New Research on Mind Muscle Connection

I Love To Be Coached - Supervision yeilds better results

The coaches I have had throughout my youth and high school athletic career have made a significant impact on the person I am today.  My father coached me as an amateur boxer for eight years.  We spent a tremendous amount of time together in practice and training as well as traveling around the country for bouts and tournaments.  I prided myself on listening to everything he had to offer and tried to execute in the ring according to his instruction.  During my sophomore year of high school, I looked up to our defensive coordinator of the football team, Reed Boltmann (former head football coach at Edina High School) so much that I dressed up like him for "hero day" during homecoming week.  My desire to be coached and my understanding of the importance of coaching only increased as I started my career.

As a young assistant strength and conditioning coach for the MN Vikings, we coached every player in the weight room on a 1-on-1 basis. To be clear, my experience with the Vikings taught me that a strength and conditioning coach didn't exist to simply "supervise" the weight room and the workouts of athletes (a paradigm that is still prevalent today), but instead, to COACH every aspect of what the players did.  More coaching and better coaching always led to better results.  As a business leader, we utilize a coach, Greg, who helps us implement a business operating platform (we have also utilized coaches to specifically develop leadership abilities).  I look forward to my once per quarter, day long meetings with Greg as much as I look forward to anything I do. With respect to my own workouts, one of our trainers trains me during each and every one of my workouts.  

I simply love to be coached and I have always seen a direct correlation; dare I say causation between working with a coach and the results I end up producing.  This is the underpinning of Discover Strength.  We produce better results when we are coached.  

Ask Yourself This Question: What is My Objective?

I will argue that most exercisers, even the most dedicated and hardworking fitness enthusiasts fail to ask a simple question before they commence an exercise program, an individual exercise, or a general mode of exercise.  That question is this: What is my objective?  The answer to this question delineates what type of exercise to perform and HOW to perform it.  Everything starts with this question.  The reality is most people exercise because they simply understand that exercise is good for them… but they fail to dig a little bit deeper.  Answers to “What is my objective?” might include: prevent injury; increase lean muscle tissue; increase bone mineral density; reduce body fat; improve running speed; etc.  Whatever the answer, exercise should be performed in accordance with that stated objective.  And here is the key: Your objective shouldn’t be to get better at exercise.  Stated otherwise, your objective shouldn’t be to raise a weight from point A to point B.  We don’t receive credit for how much weight we lift, how many times we lift it, or how many times our chin elevates above the pull-up bar.  Exercise is a means to an end, not an end in itself.  Some critical examination and contemplation of this question will change the way you exercise forever (and dramatically improve your results).