"We bust ours...so we can kick yours!"

Training Versus Talent

By Paul Caldwell

Times have changed a great deal since I last put on pads and a helmet back in 1990. I guess I'm becoming an old man because now I look at these lazy kids and think, back in my day... However, no matter how old these thoughts make me sound or feel, my analysis has much truth to it.

Athletic Engineering is about building the ultimate athlete. We expect those who walk into our facility to be committed and dedicated to the task at hand. The majority of our clientele are animals in pursuit of their athletic goals. They come in when they're supposed to come in and they bust their asses until it's time to leave.

It takes a special individual to commit to achieving the highest levels of personal excellence in sports. These individuals must have a laser sharp focus on what they want to accomplish. They must work harder than everyone else...and then a little harder to ensure that they are, indeed, the best. A true athlete is always in search of a better performance, better conditioning, and better preparation. A true athlete lives to accomplish goals through every action, every day.

Over the course of working with hundreds of clients from different backgrounds and sports, I've noticed a disturbing phenomenon. I've become even more aware of this phenomenon since I started scouting and training athletes. More often than not, the talented players don't put forth a fraction of the training effort that their less talented counterparts do.

If you're an athlete or a coach, pay attention to those around you and even yourself and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Usually, the stars of a high school team are already fast and/or naturally gifted. They already perform well in most of the school's outdated testing because they're already fast. This means that for their body mass, they're already explosive, which means that they already have a decent base of strength. But how many of them actually push themselves to get better, faster, or stronger?

Many of the naturally gifted high school athletes that I've seen and have heard about in the local school district seem to believe that they've already arrived at a state of greatness. This is because everyone around them has been telling them how great they are. Every single one of the Division-I prospects that I've trained, proclaimed that by themselves, their parents, or their coaches, has wilted under the strain of true hard work. They have opted for the safety of their weak, field house workouts where they can excel in front of their weaker teammates and bask in the praise of their greatness.

I can't blame these athletes for their Hollywood view of themselves. For their entire young lives, their parents and coaches have been lying to them about how great they are. The concept of hard work has been stripped away, and everyone has become an expert on what needs to happen in order to attain a successful outcome. I've seen and heard of stars whining, talking back, and even slapping their coaches. The slapper not only gets to finish the season, but he also gets a ride to a D-I college. How can I blame the athletes though when they're rewarded for their actions by the very people who are supposed to be teaching them the true lessons of the gridiron?

I've also seen athletes who don't have the natural gifts and/or parents to kiss the coaches ass with accolades, gifts, and perks go unnoticed and unpromoted. I've seen workhorse athletes who paved the way for the superstar go unmentioned and unappreciated. I suppose that's the politics of youth sports that won't ever go away.

In the battle of training versus talent, I'm talking about raw materials. I'm talking about athletes who are willing to bust their asses training to become the best versus athletes who are naturally talented and do the bare minimum, if any, actual hard training. In this battle, I'm going to take the training athlete every single time.

Training beats talent if talent doesn' train. Most of the above referenced high school D-I Hollywood athletes are getting by on pure, natural talent. For a very small portion of that population, this will be enough to carry them through into college. However, the majority of these lazy stars will be exposed and/or broken if/when they move to the next level where everyone was a star in high school.

Those whose work ethic in training earns them a ticket to the next level will always be successful. That's because these athletes want to improve, and they won't accept anything less.  Their mental toughness and drive make them dangerous and steady. A team of this type of athlete doesn't lose, regardless of the physical obstacles in front of them. The number one, nationally ranked Southlake Carroll in Southlake, Texas, is a perfect example.

In my opinion, the most dangerous combination is a naturally gifted athlete who has the work ethic to match the gifts. These athletes have the ability to set the bar as high as their will to achieve it. These athletes are truly the great ones.

As an athlete or a coach, you should measure yourself along this scale. If you're a coach who has coddled your stars at the expense of your team, perhaps you should reevaluate your program. If you're an athlete who has fallen into the category of lazy and content, perhaps you should find a warrior's heart and challenge yourself to take advantage of the gifts that you were blessed with instead of believing your own hype. Even Michael Jordan strived to get better over the course of his career. What would make you believe you were any better?
 

Shut Up and Train!

By Paul Caldwell

Being a new owner of a training facility, it's imperative that I come up with constructive ways of keeping a constant flow of clientele coming through my doors. One of the ways in which I accomplish this is by humbling myself enough to go work out at my local commercial gym, which I hate doing. However, every time I show up there to train, I inevitably pick up another client. So, for now, this is my game plan for keeping the lights on and my belly full.

One of the reasons that I hate going into these commercial facilities is because the essence of strength training has been totally lost by the fitness industry. As a young lifter, I remember going into the gym and seeing some really big, strong dudes lifting heavy weights, clapping chalk, and making a lot of noise. The music playing on the stereo made you want to work out the moment you walked inside. This has been replaced by a bunch of pencil neck trainers with extra-medium muscle shirts and small shorts running around with clipboards having their clients balance on top of a swimming pool ball, juggle dumbbells, and recite their ABCs backwards. Noise is encouraged as much as it is at the library, and the music seductively makes you suicidal.

The invention of the I-Pod and the ability to tune out the gayness of the gym makes these things easy to ignore. What is difficult to get past is being interrupted in the middle of my training session by the house master, duck-certified, professional certification acquisition trainer who knows every different way that you can use a stability ball and stretch bands telling me that what I'm doing is dangerous. As much as I try to restrain myself, it's difficult to remain politically correct when you're listening to Marilyn Manson and have set your mind to accomplishing a new 5RM on low box squats.

The last time I was at the gym, I finished my workout with some neck work. Because the gym doesn't have anything to accommodate this type of work, I brought my own neck harness. I strapped a few plates up and started doing my thing. After my first set, the master guru trainer came up to me with a sweatband pulled halfway up one forearm and a stability ball cradled in the other. He proceeded to tell me, Hey buddy, that's old technology and is going to hurt you. And those jumping squats you were doing are going to kill your lower back. Let me show you the new method for building neck and leg strength …he then proceeded to show me some isometric holds against the wall that I've used since I was a kid in football practice …TWENTY years ago! Before he could ask me to do anything freaky, I had to ask him to go play with his balls somewhere else.

While I believe that education and evolution are essential for attaining success as a fitness professional, the information age that we're in has infected the fitness industry like a virus. There's too much information put out there because everyone is trying to set themselves apart from the pack. There are too many self-proclaimed gurus giving advice who know everything but have never really trained themselves, let alone anyone else.

After the master trainer walked away with his ball in hand, I noticed that just about everyone else in the gym was staring at me like I was some kind of freak show. I couldn't help but notice how many of them were working with some new school piece of equipment that was designed to mimic an old school compound movement. Equally noticeable was the widespread Humpty Dumpty physique among both sexes and apparent weakness. While they stared at me wondering why the hell I would be working out like that, I was wondering how the hell they weren't!

It seems that the fitness community has become retarded by all of the information that's available. With all of the talk about complex compound super periodization, proper activation of the flactoid musculature, and all of the dietary hype, the information super highway has created a society of physical zombies with funny-shaped, weak bodies.

I listened to the conversations going on throughout the gym, and I was amazed to hear all of the training talk. So-and-so heard that doing Smith machine leg presses were better for bulking up. Ms. Cardio was preaching the dangers of women lifting weights. Mr. Can anyone else see my lat spread?! was preaching the importance of taking 5 mgs of super cow testicle juice before squatting 135 lbs with knee wraps. As I listened to this madness, I realized that each one of these people thought that they were educated about what they were saying because they had either heard or read it somewhere. Retarded might be putting it mildly.

There is no secret to achieving results in strength training and dietary matters. The foundation lies in constant hard work and discipline. What works isn't complicated at all. There's no question that squats are far superior to leg extensions for leg development. That fact has been proven in the trenches for years. Yet, the squat rack is still more often used to accommodate the 37-year-old high school football star's four plate shrug and yell fest because he saw Jay Cutler doing it in a magazine …and he scored three touchdowns in his final game as a senior.

If you're reading this article, you are undoubtedly in search of information that will help you in your training efforts. Here's everything that you need to know. Focus on the simple things and get really strong on them. The simple things have been the staples of strong men, athletes, and impressive physique development from the very beginning. These are your squat, bench, deadlift, chin-up, and overhead pressing variations. The simple things have never changed, nor has the fact that they are and will remain superior to any gimmicky circus exercises that are sold in the fitness industry as technology/advancement. Besides, chances are really high that neither you nor your clientele are truly ready to tackle more advanced training methods anyway. You don't need to focus on super high altitude weighted vests or reactive depth jumps for 100 reps when you can't even squat your body weight without becoming a contortionist.

By no means do I have the experience or the knowledge that some of the authors on Elite FTS have, nor do I claim to. I do, however, have over 20 years of in the trenches experience and experimentation. Over that period of time, I have tried just about every training system, diet, and supplement in the pursuit of my own goals as well those of my clients. What I've come to learn is that the simple things, done consistently and with intensity, are what work. And, when you get to the gym, it's important to shut your mouth and train.