Do Workouts Need to Be Long and Grueling?

Answer me this:

Why is it that there are so many coaches out there who think the way to improve their player’s performance is by throwing them up against the wall every workout till the point of sickness?

Why is it that those same coaches shut their minds to any outside information that serves to go against their ideas of a topic that which they have zero knowledge and background in?

Too many coaches out there think that the lacking factor in their player’s performance is “mental toughness” rather than an issue in poor preparedness in things including technique, tactical preparedness, special strength and power, and poor energy system development to name a few. You know, things a good coach should be able to develop, or at least understand.

Of course just telling your athletes to go run a few miles and some gasers is pretty easy and doesn’t require any thinking…so there’s that…

While the accepted term of “mental toughness” is important in sport, it becomes easily overplayed in today’s common sport training philosophy.

Granted there are some kids who truly lack “mental toughness”, however, occasionally an athlete is only showing that behavior due to the reason that they are already naturally gifted in their sport discipline. Doing things that lesser players are being called upon to do seems meaningless to these athletes because they already know that they are better come game day. This is another reason for the need of individualization in the training process.

When it comes to training myself and designing programs for others, I prefer to urge on the side of under-training. My goal as a physical preparation coach is to provide just enough of a stimulus to elicit the desired biological response.

I often times will have workouts that last only 10-20 minutes. Get in and Get out. This is often times known as density training. Working to improve the amount of work you can do within a given time frame, allows for more of your time and energy to be used towards nutrition, psychological recovery, and biological recovery.

If more coaches were to take the time to learn the basics of athlete physical preparation training, the outcomes for their athletes would be far greater than their current level. If we want to increase the proficiency of our athletes here in America, it is ever important for us to further our understanding of effective training means.

No Nonsense Corrective Coaching,
Kyle Bohannon, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Strive Training No Nonsense Strength and Conditioning LLC.