May'17 may17 | Page 14

www.newellstrength.com SPP www.unlockingyourinnerstrength.com An example of sport specific training: Balancing on a bosu ball while trying to juggle a soccer ball. Right? It involves a soccer ball so it MUST be specific to soccer. WRONG. Unless you are training to play soccer on a vibrating field or during an earthquake, the bosu ball adds little benefit. Sport specific training should be left up to the sport coaches. The strength and conditioning coach is tasked with preventing injury, and making stronger, faster athletes. These injury free, stronger, and faster athletes will have a higher potential ceiling because of their increased athletic foundation. It now becomes up to the sport coach to make them better at their individual sport. KISS KEEP. IT. SIMPLE. STUPID. Don’t buy in to the latest trends, buy in to what has worked time and time again. Build strong foundations for athletes: Do no harm, train hard, train smart, and the athlete’s success will follow. 3 Questions for Setting Up a Successful Diet That Have Nothing to Do with Food I’m not sure if it’s the seasonal dieting or the recent discussion I had with my nutrition coach that sparked this article but as we know, summer is right around the corner and for many people this is the ideal time to lock up their nutrition. After all, who doesn’t want to look good in their bathing suit? The question though that we need to ask ourselves is this, do we view summer as the end goal? Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to be beach body ready but are we actually creating sustainable nutrition habits that can be carried out through the year? I admittedly had to ask myself those same questions and get real about what I’m trying to achieve with my nutrition coach. I was clear about my “WHY” when I began coaching 10 weeks ago but I realized that I was losing sight of it along the way. In our most recent check-in, my coach asked me if I wanted to do a mini-cut leading into the summer to get things moving faster. My initial thought was, “YES!” but then I asked myself, “Is that optimal for me?” “Am I trying to achieve a “summer look” or am I in this to restore my health and metabolism?” To be honest, one of my goals is physique related but it’s no longer at the expense of short-term dieting. When I felt that urge to say “YES” to a method that didn’t align with my “WHY” it became clear that I was defaulting to an old pattern that could get me quick results but was unsustainable. You see, without a clear path, there is struggle and that struggle is usually our default, or what we are used to.