One of the great things about having a background in sports, and being a strength & conditioning coach in elite sport, is that we still work with our fair share of athletes. Youth athletes, Masters athletes, weekend warriors and even current professonals. We get to work with them all. The performance mindset of these individuals means that coaching them can look very different. Here we look at ways in which we as one of the best fitness trainer to athletes in Ascot we work with them.
We do as little as possible!
Yep, we do the least amount of work possible to help them reach their goal. That may sound strange. You would be forgiven for thinking elite athletes do more gym work than everyone else. But it’s not the case. High performing athletes want to excel at their sport, not the gym. They don’t need to be elite in the gym – they need to use the gym to be “strong enough”, “athletic enough”. A common mistake when working with elite athletes is assuming that they will be elite at everything – trying to turn them into gym bunnies can be counterproductive to their sport.
Laser focussed.
Athletes can be under different time contraints. The time dedicated to their sport, as well as life in general, means that gym time is limited and precious. High level performers can also have very specific goals. Limited time and specific targets make sessions with competitive athletes very focussed. If it wont improve performance then we simply don’t do it.
There are lots of ways to approach strength and conditioning for competitive athletes. All have their merits. We will adopt what we feel is the most suitable and direct approach for the individual.
Repetition and high boredom thresholds.
The old saying that “we are what we repeatedly do”. In keeping with being laser focussed, athletes often need to perform certain movements very well. The strive for perfect form and execution requires lots of reps to be done. Therefore, you’ll often see us drilling movements and perfecting techniques. High level athletes can thrive on this and you therefore need to have a high boredom threshold if you want to reach the top of your sport. Practice makes perfect!
Say what you see and say it how it is.
We’ve already established that there’s no time to be wasted, and any approach must be specific to the requirements of the athlete. Therefore, it’s important that we are able to let athletes know what needs to be done in order to get the most from their fitness trainer to athletes in Ascot. You’ll see a lot less ‘chit chat’ during a focussed S&C session as the conversation becomes dominated by technical and tactical feedback. In sessions where there is a lot of rest required and the athletes are perhaps professional, dont be surpised to see a lot of ‘banter’. The elites spend so much time in high pressure environments and situations. We like to make S&C fun for them.