When Consistency Counts, and when it doesn't

We've all heard that old adage, "Practice makes perfect." You can hear it echoing across practice fields, weight rooms, and during film study. It is the nail that hammers home the point that consistency is important. Growing up my dad had his own personal twist on the statement.

"Practice does not make perfect, it makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect."

As a child I just nodded my way through the million different times I heard him retort this. As a strength coach it is a concrete fact that grows my business and creates the best athletes possible. More times than not I get high school athletes who have already been working out. They're "in-shape" and "workout all the time." A high school coach taught them what to do, or their friend is really into fitness. They have the consistency part down - they've been practicing and now they're almost "perfect." But for some reason their knee hurts, they aren't as strong as they wish, and they can't jump to save their life.

It's about 30 minutes into their first evaluation with me that they realize they had been putting in hours a week of work the wrong way. It happens. It's like assuming that because you watch a lot of TV you can tear your new flat screen apart and put it back together without any instruction. A wire or two might still make a connection, but in the end your left with a lot of pieces that probably should be attached to the screen. And there is a good chance that after a few dozen tries, that TV is no better off than when you started.

Strength and Conditioning is the art of taking an athlete and milking all of the genetic potential out of him or her until you have a stronger, faster, more durable, and more explosive individual for their coach. Because it's an art, there is a skill involved. But it is not an overnight process. At our facility we can normally add 2 inches to your vertical jump in 4 weeks. But that is 4 weeks of hard, regular, and very consistent effort. As the weeks go on and the workouts add up, that perfect practice slowly produces perfect results. If there is one thing that we can guarantee, it is that we will continually create programs that allow for long term gains - but only if the athlete is willing to put in long term effort. This is when consistency matters, when the program has a long term plan with guidance that has proven itself effective.
Coach Drew