Years ago when I was lecturing and speaking 15-20 times per year, I started beating this drum that EVERYONE is an athlete.
Now as you can imagine, this wasn’t initially well received.
Close to home, our admin then was a middle-aged woman who had never played a sport in her life and had always struggled with her weight.
“Mike – I’ve never done anything athletic in my life. How on Earth am I an athlete?”
But the response online was even worse.
Remember these were the days pre-social media, and the trolls and their Internet forums ruled the land.
“Max effort box jumps for housewives” I remember one user writing.
“Can’t wait to see his middle-aged, overweight men popping hamstrings when they run 40’s!” Another user quipped.
And looking back, that was at least partially on me – because I didn’t do a good enough job of explaining my viewpoint and vision on the topic.
So let’s start basic….what makes an athlete athletic?
If you watch any sports whatsoever, it’s impossible not to be drawn into the athletic skills that get athletes posses.
Bryson crushing a drive down the middle of the fairway.
Messi beautifully bending a free kick into the upper 90.
Steph going on a heater and making 9, 10 or even 11 or more 3’s in a game.
But underneath those athletic skills are movement qualities and physical capacities that must be developed for optimal performance.
Speed.
Strength.
Power.
Mobility.
Conditioning.
Those underpinning physical qualities drive and optimize the sport skills above them.
(Note: While you could argue that Steph and Messi may not be the best athletes in their respective sports, I think all high-performers find the blend that works best for them. But I digress…)
So let’s take sport skill out of the equation – what if you were to train your clients in a more athletic fashion?
Or develop more of the physical qualities necessary to be athletic?
That’s the crux of my argument here – great athletes train multiple physical qualities and strive to find some semblance of balance in their routine, and so should our gen pop clients.
But let’s take this and go the other way, using basketball for example.
If you took a basketball player and ONLY had them squat, bench and deadlift for a year, how would that impact their performance?
What if they just trained like an endurance athlete day-in and day-out?
Or what if they just bought wholesale into yoga and did poses for their training everyday?
Do you see where I’m going with this?
None of these physical traits by themselves are bad – in fact they’re all incredibly beneficial.
But great athletes find balance in their physical development – and I think that’s something we should strive to do with ALL of our clients – whether they consider themselves to be athletes or not.
I tend to group these qualities into 3 big buckets:
- Mobility and Movement Quality,
- Neurological Outputs: Speed, Strength and Power, and
- Metabolic Health and Conditioning
And my goal as their coach is to have a vision for what physical tools and abilities someone brings to the table, and then maximize their strengths will minimizing their weaknesses.
Now if this sounds interesting at all to you, I’m hosting a FREE masterclass next week that’s going to focus on the 2nd bucket: Neurological Outputs.
If you train gen pop clients, return to play athletes, or just people who want to feel more athletic, then you’re going to love this masterclass – because I’m going to show you exactly how I train speed, strength and power in these populations.
To learn more, just follow the link below and make sure to register ASAP.
==> Register HERE for the Everyday Athlete Masterclass <==
Even if you can’t attend live, you’ll have replay access for 3-4 days after the event.
But after that, you’ll have to purchase the recordings to watch the masterclass.
Thanks so much for reading and MAKE IT a great day!
All the best,
MR