It is interesting to discuss what 'athletic development' means to each person and what do they think a workout program with such an objective would look like?
By 'athletic development' we generally speaking talk about performance enhancement by means of different exercises.
A lot of people would say that an 'athletic development' program has a lot of power elements, speed and agility, strength exercises, plyometrics, sprints, metabolic conditioning and so forth...
What do YOU see when you picture the main exercises for 'athletic development' in your head?
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It is pretty interesting that day after day in the trenches of training all sorts of people with all sorts of objectives, one component of human movement rises up from among the others...
So when do I see the most acute responses and positive adaptations in terms of athletic development?
And what kind of drills or exercises elicit the best visible response?
Sometimes the answer comes to me as a surprise....the exercise that elicits the best response might not look or smell much like power, plyometrics or lactic acid...but it looks and smells something else and that is PROPRIOCEPTION.
Proprioceptive activation and recruitment of the desired chain in the body within an active warm-up or movement preparation has probably been the most valuable training tool I have learned about.
Movements that wake up the glute complex can be immediately seen in the vertical jump or in single leg balance.
Movements that actively engage the SSC of the ankle complex can be seen right away as improved foot contacts in the sprint or in the ladder.
Movements that reflexively acticate the stabilizers of the trunk result in better coordination and agility and power.
So, back to the beginning.
Most of the movements that do all these things do NOT look like 'athletic development' at all but could potentially change the outcome of all the other exercises performed during the session...
It is all about creating an optimal adaptation...and I can't do that without appreciating PROPRIOCEPTION.
It is a fascianating thing....can't really see it...can't really point out where it is...can't really tell exactly what it is.....can't even say how it truly works....but it is there and it is important.
Have a victorious day!
Tommi
PS: The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. Anonymous.
