The conversation starts out like this after Joe Blow wins a
world championship. “Yea I heard that every other day he ran backward up a
400-meter hill wearing a snorkel while he was barefoot. Wow I think I need to
have my cross-country team do that.” So we throw away our shoes, buy snorkels
and find a very steep 400-meter hill and proceed to do Joe Blows workout three
times a week. You might say that is absurd, well look around. This goes on all
the time, I call it the monkey see, monkey do syndrome. Did you ever stop to
think that what Joe Blow or whomever you are copying might have achieved in
spite, not because of what they did? Look at in context, why did it work for Joe Blow? Just because it is on YouTube or on a
popular exercise forum does not mean is it something your athletes should be
doing. Remember the training you are doing with your athletes should fit
your athletes. It should be appropriate for their training age and
stage of development. Don’t copy, innovate, learn what you athletes need and
find better ways to meet their needs. Chances are you will find that it is pretty
basic and seldom more than one standard deviation from the mean. Don’t play
monkey see, monkey do.
3 Comments
Gjalt
Agreed, you should design your training to the needs of your athletes. If what someone else does makes sense you can copy it, but you first have to think about how it fits in your program.
And just a fun article about the ‘Monkey see, monkey do’: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/13/science/13essa.html?_r=0
Tim Vagen
Vern! That is so true. You see it in nearly every sport. It is the consistent, correct training that wins out every time. Hope all went well in Spain.
CNY mud run
Hello Gjalt & Tim Vagen!!
Some really great articles on this website , thanks for contribution. Very interesting details you have remarked, appreciate it for putting up.