Research A Program
Programming is something that is left up to the coach. However many athletes find themselves without a strength and conditioning coach. It could be that they do not have the means to hire one, or that they are not near anyone that is qualified. It does not matter the reason why an athlete has no access to a coach it only matters that they are left without someone to make them a program.
The internet is filled with information now. We are talking about downloadable programs left right and center. Ones from famous coaches that are cookie cutter and very much copy and paste approaches to training which is excellent for beginners. However, the web is filled with potential programs that are going to work as long as they are stuck to.
Take the time to look into programs, the people who made them and how legitimate they are. It is important to make sure that you are diving into something that is legit. Not something threw together with very little research done. It should fit what you are trying to do as an athlete and make sure the one who created the program has at least some credibility. Do not follow a program by someone you do not trust.
Be Resourceful
If you are in the position that you can not afford to buy a program, you may not be able to afford a coach. All of these are legitimate reasons as to why you are left without a program. I get it. I have been there. Much of my youth in athletics involved me having not the slightest of clues as to how to train.
What do you do? When do you do it? How much weight? The questions go on and on. The answers to them are found in a variety of ways. You can take the time to learn to program on your own. Go to your closest library. Find some books on it. Get online and use google to find real credible sources. Teaching tools as to how to get yourself on a program.
Now let’s say you manage to gain enough knowledge to form your own program but you are missing one critical aspect of the entire thing. An environment to actually train in. Many athletes cannot afford a monthly membership to a gym. Again I have been in this boat before as well. You need to use your environment. Find tires to make into sleds, use stones, find hills, make some equipment if you need to. Your ability to get after it is only limited by two things. Your desire to get it done and your level of resourcefulness!
Reach Out
If you are in high school there is a chance that you have some teachers, or coaches that care for you on some level. If you are on a team in high school there will be someone willing to give you a hand. Whether it is the coach or a teammate. All you need to do is put the pride to the side for now. Ask the questions. Ask for help. It is not a sign of weakness to ask for some help sometimes. Especially if it means that you can be a better player. I do not know one high school sports coach that is going to turn away one of their athletes because they asked for some help.
If that coach decides to say that they can’t help you then that is the sign of a coach that is either too lazy to help, doesn’t have the knowledge to help, or simply a coach that does not care for the advancement of the team or the individual. Be willing to ask for help when you need it most. It will get you to the next level faster if someone with real knowledge can lend you a hand on some level. It could be full of guidance, a program, helping you get a membership. Doesn’t matter but it starts with you being ready and willing to reach out for that help!
Work Hard
Ok so you have yourself a set of circumstances, whether they are good or bad is not the issue. Your character or handling toward the circumstance is what matters most. If you are put in a situation where you need to be resourceful then good. You will grow from that. If you are in a position where you can train in the best places with the best coaches, well that’s good as well.
What is going to matter the most, however, is that you apply grit to your training. The guy or girl training in the state of the art environment that lacks real commitment, real hard work is not going even to touch the guy or girl who has minimal but gives 100% effort towards that training. Your circumstances do not define you. Your ability to navigate through them however is!
Back To Basics
When all else fails to go back to the basics. Get your sport specific skills in. Do your push-ups, do your sit-ups, do your pull-ups, run your hills. Learn as much about the sport as possible. Learn whatever it takes to be the best. Get in your body weight squats. It does not matter how you work as long as you are working hard at it.
The basics, the things that are being taught to you the first time you step out into practice. Make sure those are second nature. There is always something that you can be doing. You do not need to have the membership to that fancy athletic performance gym, you don’t need all that equipment, and you do not need the best coach to train you. what you need are 3 things, Your mind, your body, and your basics.
Follow this article and you will find yourself doing things you never thought possible using tools you didn’t even think were meant to be used for sports training. Hell, I use them. They got me to be one of the best offensive linemen in my province. I am not the most gifted athlete on the planet. I simply used the loved of a sport, some grit, and some mind power to come up with ways to get myself to the best I could be within the circumstances that were laid before me. You can too!
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
