AthleteSpecific.com

People Want Every Excuse Not To Do More With Their Lives

2008-08-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

I called into a radio station today where I heard a gentleman talk about why he wasn't a fan of the Olympics.

He said it's "tainted." "You don't know if the guy is on drugs or not. There's money. It's tainted."

Well, my friend. If you're not a fan of the Olympics then you sure as hell better not be a fan of the NFL, the NBA, NHL, CFL, Nascar, and any other sport you can think of. Because in your mind they are all tainted.

As humans we really don't like it when people around us are doing better than us. It's in our nature that we don't like to feel uncomfortable and that's a problem. As an Olympian I don't have that problem. I see someone doing great things and I think, "Damn! I've got to get my ass in gear!" But most people try and find some excuse that makes another persons acheivement wrong. Illegal. Whatever you want to call it.

If we go through life assuming that great achievements are somewhat tainted we take away the ultimate pleasure from witnessing the event as well as the ultimate lesson that the acheivement provides.

Don't look at someone breaking a world record and dismiss it with an, "Oh he's/she's on drugs." Think, "Man! That's amazing. To think that the human body can do that. What can I do with my body?"

Dara Torres is (hopefully) that example. She's clean at this point. And she is therefore an example of what the body is capable of becoming if it is taken care of properly. Nurtured. Trained. Recovered. Rested. Inspired. Motivated. Meditated. Etc.

That is the lesson that I'm walking away with and the one I suggest you walk away with too. Don't dismiss it as, "Oh she's got a ton of money that's why she can look like that." Why don't you go out and make that kind of money so you can do that. I am.

Get Ready To Be Inspired

2008-08-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

I just read this fantastic article about John Dane who just made the Olympic team in the Star class in Sailing.

He is 58 years old.

It was his sixth attempt at making the team.

But what he did when his company was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina was even more remarkable. Read it here.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=720/news/newsid=121393.html#his+lifes+work

I Get More Excited About The Summer Games Than The Winter Games

2008-08-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

Being a winter Olympian you'd think I'd get more excited about the winter Olympics than the Summer Olympics.

But I don't.

I think it comes down the the fact that the summer games are so much bigger. Eleven thousand athletes compete. The Olympic village is like a city, not a college dorm like it is in the Winter.

I also find that the summer sports are sports you can relate to. Running. Jumping. Strength sports. Sports played with balls.

The Winter Olympics has been called the "elitist" Olympics because there are so few countries competing at the "expensive" sports. Skiiing. Skating. Ice Hockey.

The summer games is all about skin too. You can't complain watching womens volleyball. Or even the track and field events. The bodies are gorgeous. It's hot. It's sweaty. I mean come on! It's just awesome. In the Winter Olympics everyone is covered up with a speed suit or snow pants.

I'm excited for the Beijing Olympics. I think this is going to be a watershed Olympics. It's going to be political. Hot. Smoggy. Protesty. Should be a fun one.

Jonathan- Olympian

Please Please! Let This Be True!

2008-07-06T21:58:00.000-07:00

This is Dara Torres

She's a mom.

She's 41 years old.

She's in the best shape of her life. Just set the American Record in the 100m freestyle and the 50 meter freestyle at the US Olympic Swimming Trials.

She just made her fifth Olympic team and didn't just MAKE it, she's a threat for a medal.

Wow!

Now first off, everyone is thinking, "She has to be on drugs to be able to compete at this level at her age."

Well, that's a very valid question and one that she's not trying to avoid by being in an optional drug testing program that the USOC does over and above what the US Anti Doping Agency tests. I don't want to talk about if she's clean. I want to focus on what she's doing to compete at this level. Talking about clean or "dirty" isn't positive and I'm a positive guy.

When I was competing in the Olympics I had thoughts, almost daily, about what I could really do with my body if I had the money to do everything I needed to do. We're talking about things like enough sleep, the perfect diet served up by a personal chef. Custom supplementation geared to my body. Bloodwork to see how all of this custom nutrition was affecting my insides. A sports psychologist. A personal trainer to work out with. A custom workout program. A massage after every workout and someone to stretch me.

In a couple words it would be "athlete heaven."

From what I've been able to find out on the net about Dara that is exactly what she is doing.

So let's hope that this is truly an example of what the body can look like and perform like at 41.

Many people say that feats like this shouldn't be happening at the age of 41. And you know what, for the average person they are right. But what we may be witnessing is that person who is above average who is tilting the scale. There are plenty of underachievers in this world. We barely notice them or talk about them. It's not really interesting to say, "There's Jane at three hundred pounds bobbing along like a bloated whale in the 50 meter!" That's just disturbing. But it sure is a lot of fun to look at a woman like Dara who is potentially making the rest of the World look lazy and accuse her of doing drugs.

This isn't like watching a baseball player who sits on the bench and shoots himself with two shots of Human Growth Hormone.

Swimming is one of those sports that is so technique and body-type dominant that I can see how after ten years of an advanced stretching program, oodles of massage, and a fair bit of "wisdom" that comes from being forty that she can be faster than when she was in her twenties. I think every athlete with any longevity would tell you that at some point in their career they went from "muscling" it to "finessing" it and had better results. That is what you have here with Dara.

Dara, about ten years ago, hooked up with a guy named Bob Cooley. (She didn't literally "hook up") Bob is a flexibility guru who wrote a book titled The Genius of Flexibility and she credits Bob with helping her win five gold medals at the Sydney Olympics as well as getting her to her fifth games in Beijing.

There are a couple of great points to take to heart when you watch Dara compete this Olympics:

1) It is amazing what the body can do when it is trained, and recovered properly. Dara takes the time every day to feed, strengthen, stretch and recover her body to its maximal potential every day. She is a walking example of what the body can do if it is well cared for. Granted Dara spends a lot of money on this particular task. She claims it's upwards of $100,000 to do so. But don't read that and think, "Well that's great for her but I can't afford that." What if you went out and started a business that allowed you to do that? What if you found a way to compete on that level with those resources? Don't just be another mouth that dismisses that whole thing as, "Lucky for her!"

2) Dara is a great example of what can happen when you continue to find out what your body is capable of. Most athletes are competing trying to figure out when their peak is and expecting it to be when they are 28. But Dara is continuing to figure it out. Too many athletes are looking for reasons to quit and trying to figure out when your body is supposed to decline gives them that excuse. Oops. Just saw a study that said you're going down hill when you're 25. I'm 26, Time to shut it down!

While everyone in luge was telling me that if you don't make it by the time your 21 you're done a guy by the name of Georg Hackle was kicking everyone's ass all the way up to his 40th birthday. If everyone would just shut up and find their own potential I think a lot of wasted energy would be focused on the right things, competeing.

I want to talk more about Dara in another post. But for now it's late. Congratulations Dara. You're an inspiration to all of us.

Jonathan -

The Best Thing a Parent Can Give To Their Young Athlete

2008-06-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

The best thing a parent can give to their young athlete is a good example. I see too many parents living the dream through their kids that it makes me sick. I hope that I'm not like when my son is playing sports. But what I plan to do to keep that from happening is to have my own goals and my own dreams still percolating.

When a parent tells a young athlete that they need to train, or they need to eat right, or they need to stretch, I rarely ever see the parent doing those things. It's like when you drive down the road and you see the two little kids on their bikes with helmets falling off their head followed by the parent who isn't wearing a helmet at all. What the hell? Is your brain somehow not as important as it used to be? I saw a parent once fall off his bike trying to help his daughter readjust her helmet as they were riding down the road! (Here's your stupid sign, sir.)

Parents get out and get your own dream. I don't care if you're forty years old. Get out there and get going. Find something. ANYTHING! You will now have better conversations at dinner. You can talk about what you're trying to overcome. Read some books to help you through it and share that information with each other. Your relationship with your athlete will be better for it.

Most Athletes Are Like A Two-Wheel Drive Pick Up Truck Towing a Trailer Full Of Junk

2008-06-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

Ahh...the two wheel drive pick up truck trying to act tough.

You see those guys on the road. In their "little pick up." Trying to play with the big boys towing around the big trailer. Maybe it's got some gravel on it. Or some lumber. Or may be it's got a pile of junk on it. Odds are that that pile of whatever isn't centered causing the wheels to rub and the truck to pull to one side. It looks like it should be cool but it isn't. Far from it.

That's what most athletes look like to me. That two-wheel drive pick up towing a bunch of crap on a crooked trailer.

But what do we do here in North America? Us strength and conditioning folk look to beef up that truck. We try to beef up the engine. Maybe beef up the shocks. Put some chrome on the damn thing and send it out to try and run circles around the big boys.

But if we could just take care of some of the shit on the trailer we'd be faster. More efficient. And more productive without spending an ounce of time on the truck itself.

You see if you look at this truck-trailer analogy and apply it to the athlete you're working with (or maybe that athlete is you) you'll get further, faster with your training.

If you take a two-wheel drive pick up and you at least get the load centered on the trailer it's going to run straighter right? The load on the trailer is like imbalances in the athlete. Maybe it's tight hamstrings or hipflexors. Tight internal rotators. Or bad posture. Whatever the ailment if we can remedy those loads that truck/athlete is going to be faster and more efficient almost immediately.

What happens if you put a souped-up 350 pick up on a trailer that's got junk on it? You're probably going to rip the trailer to shreds. That's what happens when you try and load up an athlete with more weight, more power, without taking care of the imbalances..

So once the load on the trailer is centered then you can start working on the truck itself. Maybe you've got to work on the engine (cardio/endurance). Maybe you need to upgrade the tires (strength work) or the shocks (plyometric/reactive work). Or maybe the chassis needs some beefing up (lean muscle mass).

Ideally we'd like to get all of the junk off the trailer. But that's rare. I don't know a single athlete who is as flexible and aligned as he/she should be. All of us are nicked up and banged up. I've got a hole in my left quad from a lacrosse injury that I never let heal right and that was in eighth grade. I'm thirty-six now and I'm not going to ever get rid of that. But I try and keep that trailer aligned and running right.

Another way to instantly improve the mileage and effectiveness of that truck is to pay attention to the fuel (nutrition). Even if you're towing a bunch of crap you can at least improve the whole thing by fueling up right. But so many athlete work on all of the things I've listed above and forget about what's going into the tank.

If you treat yourself like you would that two-wheel drive truck in this analogy you'd probably turn your current training regimen on its head.

And remember, form follows function. You're not going to take a Jaguar off roading. And you probably wouldn't take your F350 with the 6 inch lift to the race track. So stop trying to race the truck and haul ass with the Jag. They just aren't meant for that. Train for what you need and turn yourself into the vehicle you need to be for the job at hand.

What I love seeing now, especially in football, is guys who have the body of a truck but who can cut, weave, and accelerate like a Ferrari. It's fun to watch. But what you're seeing is that souped up truck with no trailer. No issues. No junk. It's just flawless and it leaves guys looking for their jock when they blow right by them.

So keep this in mind as you work through your current, and future training programs. I think it will help you understand just what you need to be working on, and why.

Kick ass.

Jonathan Edwards - Olympian

Success Doesn't Come In a Straight Line

2008-06-09T00:52:00.001-07:00

The late great Dr. Maxwell Malz said that success rarely comes from improvement that happens in a straight line. For most of us the line is a jagged line of ups and downs. Successes and failures. But what strikes me the most about this is what Malz said next. He said, "But the majority of peoples stresses and frustrations come from when you think that your success should come in a straight line.

How true!

If we just planned for the ups and downs as part of the journey we'd be fine! It would be easy. The highs and the lows would come, and they would go. But through the whole thing we would focus on the goal in mind with a sense of ease. Sure times will be tough, but times will be good too. Keep that in mind in whatever it is that you do and your stress will be reduced. Your anxiety will be held in check. And you will be able to focus on the things you need to do to succeed. Keeping your mind focused on the positives and not the negatives that are just part of the journey.

Tell me about a time when you had a rough go of things but were able to put it aside because you knew it was just part of the journey.

Jonathan -

The High's Aren't So High and the Low's Aren't So Low

2007-12-28T18:45:00.000-08:00

Early on in my luge career I was given this advice. Doesn’t seem like much but it was some of the best advice I ever received. But what exactly does it mean?

When you work so hard for success it’s easy to overreact once that success comes. For us we had difficulty putting two race runs together. We’d get one run down clean but we’d seem to always screw one of them up. Disaster! We’d be down in the dumps. And down there often.

When success did come, and two runs came together, we would be ecstatic. I mean jump-out-of-your-skin giddy with excitement. This wasn’t the answer either. Our ups and downs looked like the readout on a heart beat machine. Up and down. Up and down.

But when my coach Lin Hancock told us, “Guys. The highs aren’t so high. And the low’s aren’t so low. You need to stay even,” It all started to make sense.

When you adopt this attitude of consistent persistence your approach becomes more businesslike. It’s just a matter of getting it done. You can celebrate little victories but you must quickly get back to work as usual.

And the same approach goes for the failures as well. You must not have them ruin your day. They are just a blip on the radar of success. Learn from them, and move forward.

You might think that Lin gave us this advice when we were down in the dumps. Actually, he gave it to us right after one of our greatest victories. We had struggled and struggled and finally things came through. I was a huge success. But Lin took us aside and said, “Boys, the high’s aren’t so high, and the low’s aren’t so low. Keep your head straight and get back to work.”

One Thing Every Parent Should Understand

2007-12-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

It's ok to not do what every other athlete is doing.

In every industry there is a "herd" mentality. Do what everyone else is doing. Don't stray too far from the pack. Don't rock the boat.

If you do what every one else is doing won't you get the same results as everyone else? Of course you will. It's like baking a cake. Follow the recipe and you'll get the cake. But what if you don't want chocolate? What if you want...let's say...a carrot cake? Are you going to do what all the chocolate cake people are doing? Of course not!

I see this with all of the athletes I coach. They are afraid to stray from what the rest of their peers are doing. Whether that's team fitness training (Which I think is the WORST thing you can do.) To not doing things like massage,physical therapy, sports psychology etc. These are all the things that will make you special. That will seperate you from the pack, ever to be independent and special.

Don't be afraid to think of yourself as unique, special. Your athlete sure is. Treat them as such.

Jonathan -