Performance. The action or process of completing a task or function. You may be a swimmer who simply needs to swim 100m as fast as possible. You may be a hockey player who needs to evade defenders at high speeds. Whatever your sport, you want to complete the task at hand as effectively as possible. This means your training needs to focus on maximising your performance. As a result, you may need to work on things you are not very good at! This is something I am 100% guilty of NOT doing.
Cherry Picking
You may or may not have heard of cherry picking when it comes to training. Basically you’re selecting all the fun stuff and things you’re good at. This results in training being really enjoyable as you are doing the things you love and your strengths becoming super strengths. However, this can result in gaping holes in your performance. You may feel great and love your gym sessions but you’re not necessarily maximising your performance.
Making Excuses
At the age of 14/15 I prolapsed the disk in my back between L4 and L5. It put me out of rugby for a year and a half. Pretty devastating at that age and something I didn’t deal with very well. Ever since getting myself back to fitness I have avoiding two things in particular. Heavy deadlifting and heavy squatting. Yes, I was right to be wary and approach training carefully in order to not damage myself again. However, I went too far. I would constantly make excuses as to why I couldn’t do them too often (or at all). I managed to get away with it for a good while until I decided I wanted to compete within CrossFit. BAM! All of a sudden I had nowhere to hide, sure I was relatively strong, but in comparison to my competition I was nowhere near (and still am someway off). It wasn’t genetics, I haven’t reached my potential, I simply haven’t done it enough.
I recently started with a new coach and for the first time have put 100% of my training in his control. This means I’ve squatted… A lot. YOu’ll never guess what? I haven’t died, I haven’t broken and boy have I got stronger.
Use Fear As A Comma Not A Full Stop
We can often get so caught up in excuses and cherry picking that we steer totally clear of certain exercises. This WILL come back to bite you if you want to performance to your best. If you have an injury or past injury then yes be wary. However, don’t put a full stop next to those exercises. Adapt, build, progress and slowly introduce them back into your routine. Doing things you are bad at may just be that secret ingredient to maximising your performance.
NK Fitness are experts in performance and getting the most out of you as an individual. Our Leading Personal Trainers in Richmond and SW London, will ensure you have a fun workout but make sure you work on your weaknesses. It’s all about balance and finding what works for you.