Build Your House on Solid Grounds
I’ve been focused on my fitness clients while blogging to help get them off and running along their fitness journey.
However, my skill development clients need some love too; we’ve been committed to getting our brand off and going with blogging once a week while developing the website to keep the systems optimal. With that, this post will center around developing skills even though the principles do cross boundaries, hopefully, you all don’t mind sharing the love. Fundamental development speaks for itself, but we’ll break down the importance of it here shortly and how to get through the dog days of your program.
Full disclaimer, I was the guy that just wanted to ball, let’s play; I did not care about technique, form, or even touching weights. Then something changed after ninth grade (freshman year) going into the tenth grade (sophomore year). Since I could remember playing basketball was my goal; unfortunately, most see professional sports or any performing arts career path as a pipe dream. Side note, wonder why? People throw out random stats like it is over seven billion people in the world, and there are only so many roster spots on any given professional team.
I’m sure you are determined, and you may have heard something along those lines. Whether it is for motivation or to prepare us for the challenges we’re up against, either way, only one person has to hold on to the faith. That is the solid ground we must build because it is a continuous process. Let’s not mentally beat ourselves for the mistakes/ failures that help us get closer to our desires. (If we learn from them)
While having faith and working that faith is important, practically speaking, how is that executed? That is also key to getting through the dog days of the in-season or off-season. Find a way to stick with the fundamentals, and when the competition is on, your natural creativity will take over. Your confidence will be built, from drilling the exact same movements/drills over, over, over, over, and over again. It’s exciting how advancement in technology has come. Thus tempting us to chase the next best shiny drill/ gadget, and don’t get me wrong some of these improvements have been designed after years of toiling inefficiently. The fact is the pound dribble drill series improves your ball control after drilling it consistently over a long time.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into the reason why, after over twenty years of developing skills and nearly fifteen years of strength and conditioning experience, I still stick with the basics. Outside the fact, the basics are backed by science with decades of proven studies; technique and form are always the keys. With any new movement, exercise, or drill, the basic fundamental techniques should apply. For instance: staying on balance, breathing properly, changing directions from the hips first, et cetera.
When it comes to performance, which I probably should blog about at a different time, however, after all the internal chatter is silenced, and the fatigue is fully kicked in, habits take over. That’s why when we’re training, we practice good habits, whether it is boring or old fashion exercises and drills. We must build our house on solid grounds. The roof of a home can get costly if seriously damaged but can be replaced, walls, and flooring alike. Yet, if there is a crack in the foundation, it is only a matter of time before that housing collapse. Live life free and stay fit!
J’Nathan Bullock CSCS