In our program, we are focused on the qualities that contribute to improved anaylytics
“It’s not the squats.
It’s the act of doing hard things.
It’s not 3×5 or 4×8.
It’s the discipline getting all your reps in, develops.
It’s not a faster 40 time.
It’s the accountability required that contributed to faster sprint times.
The game isn’t checkers.
It’s chess.”
-Ray Zingler on X
Most in this game will heavily market the “what you can see” stuff.
The strength. The speed. The conditioning. The, what I’ll just be honest about..
The easy stuff to develop.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to get a beginner athlete faster, stronger, and more physically prepared. And 99% of athletes 12-18 are beginners in the weight room.
It does, however, require the act of doing hard things, discipline, and accountability.
And those are the real challenges plaguing our kids not only in “Strength & Conditioning” but in damn near every facet of their lives.
How could we expect it not to, though?
This is what happens when we create convenience driven instant gratification seeking (expecting) society.
So instead of focusing on measurables in our program (not that we don’t, I am an analytics freak when it comes to measuring and tracking performance so that we can tangibly prove what we’re doing is working) I am focused far more heavily on the actions that improve the analytics.
It’s not the squats themselves, is it?
It’s the action behind getting under the bar and leveraging it out of the rack to squat the weight.
Why don’t people squat? It’s because squats are hard. And people don’t like hard things.
Go into a globo gym. They aint doing that stuff. Hell, there are chain gyms that don’t even have free weights to let you squat if you wanted too.
The squats work. But what the squats do to the mind? That’s what I am focused on.
And as far as the set and rep schemes go? 3×5, 4×8, 5×10.. They all work, but instead of fretting over which rep scheme to choose, I’m focused on the discipline our kids develop when they stick to the plan and get all their reps in.
Did you rack it after 7? Or did you get all 8?
They don’t understand the depth of that 1 rep now, but in due time it will expose itself.
If I can get kids to do hard things, discipline themselves to get what they need to, done, and guide them to hold themselves accountable in the process, guess what happens?
We build more capable, productive members of society.
That’s the game I’m playing.
