Should you look to the top athletes for how to train?

There’s not much more exciting than watching top athletic performers.

Ridiculous jukes, catches, and hits.

Skillful grappling and striking.

Draining the clock and sinking a game winning shot.

Smashing a world record lift.

Seeing athletes do their thing can be awe-inspiring.

It’s easy to look to them not only for entertainment and inspiration, but also for direction as to how to train.

Sometimes they deliberately contribute to this effect.

They release a book.

They share their training on social media.

Perhaps even their coaches are promoting their training strategies.

But do these athletes serve as the best examples of how we, ourselves, might train?

Sure, some of them started in situations similar to our own.

Sure, many of them are effing workhorses who’ve shown up, day in and day out, and put in the work.

There’s no denying that.

Many of them, though, aren’t necessarily successful because of their training strategy, but despite it.

They’re gifted enough to succeed regardless of their training strategy, they’ve been lucky, or a combination of factors such as these.

The point is, you aren’t them.

You don’t have their body.

You don’t have their time.

You don’t have many of the resources that they have at their disposal.

Be cautious when looking to the top athletes for how to train.

You have no idea how, or even if, they designed and built up to their current volume, intensity, frequency, and strategy.

Look to the basics.

Mastering those will give you plenty of work to do.

Work on pushups, pull-ups, lunges, and mobility work.

Find a tried and true progressive barbell routine.

Seek out an established nearby yoga studio with beginner classes.

Whatever training modality floats your boat, start with the basics.

This might not sound exciting at first.

Wait till you see the changes in how you look, feel, and perform.

Nothing’s more exciting than steady, consistent, progress.

You’re going to do great.

You’ve got this.

Originally published at https://coachroba.com on September 2, 2019.