Simple Things Done Well

People always ask me what am I currently introducing to the athletes I work with. What is the latest “innovation”? Deep down I smile and have a little chuckle. Why is that? In my eyes performing at crucial moments and in the big occasions is what separates the good athlete from the best athletes. Often athletes and coaches will look to complicate the preparatory process in a bid to gain the “edge” in these high pressure situations. All too often this has quite the opposite result.

For a long time now I have seen some of the best performances or best adaptations to training occur with solid structure and familiarity. When I first started working with athletes 20 years ago I was young, inexperienced and ruled by numbers! How things change. I use to change sessions daily or weekly to “stimulate” and “stress” the athlete. Yes there was always associated DOMs with new exercises but never the increases in strength, power or speed I was after. The athlete never got the chance to repeat the session and push for improvements.

Adaptations within a training cycle or performance at the end of a preparatory phase is all about “simple things done well”. Repetition of the skill, repetition of the most effective training session, repetition of the nutrition plan, repetition of the full nights sleeps is what will bring intensity, adaptation and ultimately performance. The structure of the training / performance plan needs to allow the athlete time to become familiar with the task or session so that they can genuinely push the intensity and improve the quality of performance!

If the training session content keeps changing how can the body adjust and adapt? How will it improve? How will the skill improve? Performance on the big stage is all about accumulation of these small improvements that should occur day upon day, week upon week, month upon month.

Good structure with consistent routines will provide the ideal foundation for optimum performance. And ensure “simple things are done well”.