Training
information is easy to find, go anywhere on the internet and you will all kinds
of information, some valuable, some trivial and some downright useless and
misleading. How can you separate the wheat from the chaff? Maybe it just
reflects my age, education and the era when I grew up. A good sound base of
knowledge is so much more important than information. I think to be able to
sort through the mounds of information that is available today it is necessary
to have a good foundation in the principles of training and sport science. You do
not have to be a sport scientist, but you should be able to understand the
application of the concepts. For me it means going back to basics, which is
something I try to do several times a year. Go to classical texts in
biomechanics, exercise physiology, motor learning, read current research, seek
out people who are doing applied research. Don’t chase rainbows, there are no
secrets, virtually everything that I have seen touted as the latest and
greatest in the last four years was twenty to thirty years old, everything old
is new again! I would like to let everyone in on a little secret; training did
not start in 1998. There were great athletic performances 30, 50, 80, 100 years
ago. Wiser men than me have said learn from the past. I might add but don’t
live in the past. I think it is sad that in our society we are so focused on
now and instant results that we do not seem to want to learn from history and the
people who paved the path for us. In short seek knowledge not information, read
books, go to the library and read a journal. Ask someone to come to one of your
training sessions and have him or her critique it. Knowledge is about self improvement
in order to be the best you can be.It goes back to having a good working compass that is oriented to true north. That in essence is your bullshit filter that will enable you to sort the information, to find what is valuable.
