I was once was practicing my starts for the 400m dash in college in an effort to improve the weakest part of my race. I never was a person who was extremely explosive in my previous sporting endeavors, but I always had great top end speed. In any case, I was with a coach who was observing my technique and critiquing my mechanics. After about an hour of starts, starts, and more starts my coach took me aside and said I made some good improvements in my mechanics and that I only lacked one big important part to that part of my race. I asked him, "what am I missing?" and he told me, "The sprint start from blocks is a very mechanical and technical skill to develop, but all those angles and body placement indicators mean absolutely nothing if you don't explode and charge out of the blocks. The sprint start is violent, chaotic, and powerful." Not saying that I was walking out of the blocks, nor not trying hard to run fast, but rather the point he wanted to make was that all the technique and proper form in the world does nothing for you if you don't put intensity into the skill. Every sport and every discipline requires some form of power and intensity. And you can't be too focused on the mechanics as to forget about your training intensity.

When you train there is a principle that is extremely important in every workout program... Progression. Progression can be measured in many different ways; More reps, more sets, heavier weight, more resistance, less rest, quicker completion time, etc. There are an abundant amount of ways to measure progression. You don't need to get caught up on the increasing your weight every week, or you have to perform more reps every day. No, you need to adapt your progression to your own goals. The kind of progression you measure for your workout needs to correlate directly with the kind of goal that you are pursuing. A marathon runner has no need to be lifting weights like a powerlifter and constantly increasing his maximum lifts. Comparatively, a power lifter has no need to run miles and miles below a certain pace per mile. So make sure your goals are defined and that you are progressing toward YOUR goals, and not someones idea of universal progress.

I am finding it hard right at the moment to narrow my goals down. I need to find something that I want to compete in... I'm not sure if I want to do something individually or as part of a team. Soccer still holds my utmost passion, but I am also interested in Taekwon-Do, there is also track cycling that has caught my attention, mountain climbing, hell... I really don't know. But I guess there's a part of me that knows what I want to do and I just need to set my schedule and use the time I can to work towards that goal. Take this as a lesson that you all need to make your goals something concrete in your life and meaningful for your future, one of my biggest struggles has been this since I left college. I no longer had a direct link to clubs and teams and now finding this outlet for training is becoming difficult for my motivation. But there are NO EXCUSES. We train to be better and stronger every day!

Every Day... A Little Stronger