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Why is that some athletes can make great gains from a
training program while others on the same program struggle to make gains?
They may have the same training age, fiber make-up, have the same eating
and recovery patterns, but yet do not make the same increases in training.
The missing variable is often their quality of effort.
In group training, most of the individuals in the group will receive the
same training program with some minor tweaks here and there based on
injury history and/or body type. Even though everybody has the same
training program how come the improvements aren't the same across the
board? The variables I mentioned before obviously play a large role
in how an individual responds to training, but I often see that the major
issue is that the athletes who don't improve as much just don't work hard
enough. Hard work and effort are extremely vital to making physical
and mental improvements in training and life. If these components
are missing in your clients and athletes, you must strive to get this out
of them. I'll admit that can be challenging and mentally taxing for
the coach as you may have athletes who just don't know how to put out
effort. This is where the art of coaching comes into play as you
must find out what motivates and drives that person to train and
eventually succeed.
I have found that there are two types of athletes when it comes to showing
effort. There are the ones that are easy to coach because they give
everything they have in everything they do. They give their maximum
effort on every rep, set and exercise. These are the athletes who
are very special and easy to coach. They make your job easy and are
your natural leaders.
The other type of athlete is the one who gives an all out effort once in a
while. They don't know how to push their limits and thresholds and
actually hold themselves back. They see hard work and their body
begins to shut down. They don't allow themselves to be fully engaged
in what they are doing. These are the athletes who can be fantastic
one second and absolutely garbage the next. Athletes like this need
to be taught to give maximum effort at all times in training and practice.
If you give maximum effort at all times, you're only going to know one way
to show effort and will lead to great results. If you give maximum
effort sometimes, then you'll have marginal results.
Remember the quality of your effort will determine your success in any
endeavor that you engage yourself in. Strive to get your athletes to
reach their full potential by having them give high quality effort at all
times.
©2004 S B Coaches College, LLC. All
Rights Reserved
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