Thank you for this post, for the health of kids everywhere. This brutal workout sounds like hazing: pointless suffering that demoralizes and risks harm, for really no reason other than for surviving it. Thank you for being a voice of reason and advocating for intelligent training that moves athletes forward.
When I worked doing the dry land training for the swim, dive, and water polo teams at the Rosebowl Aquatic Club, one of the other trainers was brutalizing the water polo team. The coach of that team was so "impressed" with this person's methods that he hired him to work at U.S.C. At a volleyball gym where I worked the strength coach managed, over the course of my time there, to injure most of the players. It was one of the side effects, that no one talked about, as CF gained wide popularity. Appalling state of affairs.
Exhaustion is easy to produce, which is exactly why it is a poor measure of good coaching. The harder work is matching challenge to purpose, readiness, and the person in front of you.
Trying to beat people down is easy. Teaching them something through hard work that actually matters is more difficult but so much more meaningful. I've seen pointless suffering sold as toughness more times than I can count, and it rarely builds what people claim it does. I’ve subjected myself to it many, many times. Thank you for writing this, brother.
Thank you for this. I read it several days ago and find myself repeatedly returning to thinking about it. In high school, I was all about "mind over matter." I could push myself when running until I fainted -- one time just a few yards before the finish line. Now no one was pushing me to do this. But I didn't have any idea that excellence was about working with my body. I'd picked up notions of "mental toughness" and didn't know other questions to ask other than, how can I do more, try harder. Your book, Winning the Inside Game, sure could have helped me. 💛
I've learned there are so many variables that can affect a person's response to physically demanding tasks. We're not always aware what someone ate or didn't eat. We may not know if they're on some kind of medication. Maybe they didn't hydrate or were out drinking recently? There could be an undetected heart issue. It can be a complicated picture. You'd think everyone would be on top of everything, but there are a lot of moving parts.
I've trained a handful of SWAT operators, Division One lacrosse players, and high-level Division One softball players, and anytime we did a "gut punch" workout, it was not about surviving the workout. It was pushing the threshold or adding a decent amount of volume/intensity to see if the athlete could still execute the reps, sets, times, and weights with a high level of competence. To me, mental toughness is high execution and showing up every day (consistency).
I've always thought that if I push myself or an athlete to the point of utter collapse or throwing up, it's actually my body taking control to literally make me stop. Obviously speculating, but I think it still contains some truth.
Yes. I think this is the key "with a high level of competence."
In running, we push the bounds but look for form breakdown. I think it's the same in other activities. Can you still work through the fatigue while maintaining competence. I think here, based on the video, these poor guys couldn't hold anything close to normal form in planks and push ups. Which tells you a lot sadly.
The "know when to stop" part is what stuck with me. When my health dropped and night came, I dug a hole, covered it, and waited for morning, so I never got to the acacia log. Pushing on would have just meant dying for nothing, and now I'm still walking east.
Thank you for this post, for the health of kids everywhere. This brutal workout sounds like hazing: pointless suffering that demoralizes and risks harm, for really no reason other than for surviving it. Thank you for being a voice of reason and advocating for intelligent training that moves athletes forward.
When I worked doing the dry land training for the swim, dive, and water polo teams at the Rosebowl Aquatic Club, one of the other trainers was brutalizing the water polo team. The coach of that team was so "impressed" with this person's methods that he hired him to work at U.S.C. At a volleyball gym where I worked the strength coach managed, over the course of my time there, to injure most of the players. It was one of the side effects, that no one talked about, as CF gained wide popularity. Appalling state of affairs.
Exhaustion is easy to produce, which is exactly why it is a poor measure of good coaching. The harder work is matching challenge to purpose, readiness, and the person in front of you.
Trying to beat people down is easy. Teaching them something through hard work that actually matters is more difficult but so much more meaningful. I've seen pointless suffering sold as toughness more times than I can count, and it rarely builds what people claim it does. I’ve subjected myself to it many, many times. Thank you for writing this, brother.
Thank you for this. I read it several days ago and find myself repeatedly returning to thinking about it. In high school, I was all about "mind over matter." I could push myself when running until I fainted -- one time just a few yards before the finish line. Now no one was pushing me to do this. But I didn't have any idea that excellence was about working with my body. I'd picked up notions of "mental toughness" and didn't know other questions to ask other than, how can I do more, try harder. Your book, Winning the Inside Game, sure could have helped me. 💛
I've learned there are so many variables that can affect a person's response to physically demanding tasks. We're not always aware what someone ate or didn't eat. We may not know if they're on some kind of medication. Maybe they didn't hydrate or were out drinking recently? There could be an undetected heart issue. It can be a complicated picture. You'd think everyone would be on top of everything, but there are a lot of moving parts.
I've trained a handful of SWAT operators, Division One lacrosse players, and high-level Division One softball players, and anytime we did a "gut punch" workout, it was not about surviving the workout. It was pushing the threshold or adding a decent amount of volume/intensity to see if the athlete could still execute the reps, sets, times, and weights with a high level of competence. To me, mental toughness is high execution and showing up every day (consistency).
I've always thought that if I push myself or an athlete to the point of utter collapse or throwing up, it's actually my body taking control to literally make me stop. Obviously speculating, but I think it still contains some truth.
Yes. I think this is the key "with a high level of competence."
In running, we push the bounds but look for form breakdown. I think it's the same in other activities. Can you still work through the fatigue while maintaining competence. I think here, based on the video, these poor guys couldn't hold anything close to normal form in planks and push ups. Which tells you a lot sadly.
The "know when to stop" part is what stuck with me. When my health dropped and night came, I dug a hole, covered it, and waited for morning, so I never got to the acacia log. Pushing on would have just meant dying for nothing, and now I'm still walking east.