Different strokes for different folks — BASC

Take home message

THE TRAP IS THINKING THERE IS ONE WAY.

For Coaches

You need a sound plan. You also need to accept that a lot of ways work for different athletes. Treat all athletes the same at your peril.

For Athletes

There are well developed guidelines. Your job is to learn which ones apply to you.

Principle: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behaviour or for a chain of reasoning (thanks Google).

Gravity is a principle. It is a foundation understanding in physics. Unchanging, unarguable. You can try, but invariably, gravity always wins.

Sport science also has principles of training: specificity, reversibility, individualisation, overload. Sport and exercise science students are taught these from the start. Principles. A proposition that serves as a foundation. Black and white.

Or are they? Could they just be really good guidelines that apply most of the time. Guidelines as opposed to principles. Gravity does not apply some of the time. Guidelines do.

Do we get wedded to these beliefs, especially specificity (it’s gotta be specific) and develop a tunnel vision that impedes us? Because a contradictory principle is individualisation. It can, to a degree, contradict specificity. If I want to be specific to the sport, I am potentially disregarding the individual. If I learn how an individual responds and prepares best, it may actually be in contradiction to their sport and I lack specificity.

Black and white answers are important. Often, they simplify decision making to the fundamental concepts, removing doubt and encouraging buy-in and engagement. After all, the most simple answers are usually the best. However, as we gain experience, there is so much more grey that it becomes hard to see any black or white.

Recently a program design for an athlete required a different approach. One that was quite different to usual, but we (the athlete and I) decided it had merit given the circumstances. When I had to explain it to another coach, it raised eyebrows for its lack of specificity. I agreed, because as the athlete and I were planning it, I too was hesitant, feeling those first year sport science lectures telling me in black and white terms to be specific. I am not suggesting reckless abandon of our sport science principles, just an open mind that sometimes, something else also works.

The main point is that we have very good guidelines to guide our exercise prescription and coaching. But we must be cognisant that we cannot always be right and that not every principle applies to everybody (remember, one of the principles is individualisation!). Lots of approaches can work, especially with team sport athletes. As soon as we think we have the only one answer (or the secret!), we are in trouble as coaches and athletes. This is especially true if you want to take an exercise program from soccer and apply it to hockey or weightlifting programs to rugby. There are certainly elements of application, but they also require appreciate for context. Remember, lots of things work. You can have a focussed approach. You cannot have a narrow mindset.

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.” Richard Feynman, physicist

There are so many ways to get fit, get strong and eat well. Adhere to the guidelines and modify to suit the individual where required. We are working with people, not algorithms.

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Thanks again. BA.