Charlatans will try to get you to pay handsomely to bypass strength, but it’ll never work. It will only cost.
“In the modern era we have access to every gadget and type of ‘trainer’ under the sun.
This has led people to chase nuance, expensing time that should be spent getting strong(er).
Remember, sports are still and will forever be games where the strongest and fastest people win.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
“It’s not all about strength!”
Of course not.
But here’s the problem, friend… Our kids aren’t strong enough.
I know everybody (including me) is after “Speed! Power! Explosiveness!” however, without getting strong, I mean actually strong, you’re physically not allowed to access the qualities most youth athletes are after.
Strength is the main course you have to shovel down to get to the dessert you want. Call it “first step quickness” or whatever you want, but strength holds the keys and it ain’t giving them up until you pay for them.
Our kids, who are playing sports are playing an abundance of sport, right? They are getting all the sport specific/skill work they need.
Many are getting too much and still not getting the results they’re after. You’d think this would trigger in the rational mind, a course adjustment, but what do most do? Pile more on top of what isn’t working, you guessed? Great guess.
What is the definition of insanity, again?
And then, the best part, if and this is a big IF people choose to partake in any form of training, the vast majority of them choose the cookie cutter weight lifting class, bro splits at the globo gym, or my favorite, the “guru” marketing “Hyper-Fast Explosion Agility Training”
While that to me sounds like a phrase associated with having to haul ass to the bathroom after your buddy convinces you to try his homemade hot sauce, the naïve jump at this type of “training”.
Training that often dances around the primary quality (strength) responsible for enhancing the qualities our young athletes are after.
They have the bands, cones, hurdles, and nuance, but not the strength that is responsible for making any of the flash work.
“Yeah, but Ray what if the kids are already strong enough?”
Do you know how many kids have “too much strength”. It’s a decimal that starts out like this .000%
Strength isn’t the be all end all.
I’ve known this forever.
But it is HIGHLY important to prioritize in our kids who are prioritizing (real) strength training less and less.
Fortunately for those who drown out the noise and take their strength and sport work seriously, they’ll just continue to further distance themselves from those wasting their time staying in their own way.
