Today’s quick thought:
In 2017, Jalen Hurts led his team to the national championship, but got benched at half time.
He didn’t throw a fit. He didn’t sulk.
He was ridiculously supportive of his team and of the true freshman that replaced him, Tua Tagovailoa. He has an authentic ear-to-ear smile in the post-game interview.​
To me, it is one of the greatest examples of “controlling the controllables.”
Jalen lost the starting job for good next year. That didn’t matter either. He showed up ready to work each and every day. He focused on things under his control and was ready to ball out when his number got called to lead a comeback in the SEC Championship.
This mindset has paid off for him, to the tune of $255 million dollars, which made him the highest paid player in NFL history at the time.
Find what’s under your control and focus your effort on that. Everything else is just noise.
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Cross-country won’t get you “in-shape” for your other sport
Athlete: “Coach, I’m gonna run cross country this year!”
Me: “Dope! Do you like it?”
Athlete: “No, I just want to get in shape for basketball/softball season.”
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As the great philosopher Lee Corso says every Saturday morning in the fall, “Not so fast, my friend.”
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What does good conditioning look like?
Conditioning isn’t a singular skillset. Conditioning is specific to the demands of your sport.
- Volume:
- How much are you running on game day?
- Work duration:
- How long does an average bout of movement last?
- Work to rest ratio:
- How long do you rest compared to the work duration?
- Essentially tells us which energy system is going to dominate in that sport (1:1-1:2 = aerobic, 1:3-1:5 = anaerobic glycolytic, 1:6+ = ATP-PC (this may need to be much higher, around 1:12)).
- Movement patterns:
- Energy systems development is specific to each muscle. ​​We want to increase the capacity properties of the muscles prioritized in game play. The most efficient way to do this is to use multi-planar movement patterns that are representative of the movements performed in the sport.
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Now, let’s say you decide that you want to run XC in order to be in shape for basketball. Here’s how those two compare.
Not a lot of similarities, are there?
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Negative Consequences
It’s not that it just doesn’t prepare you for your main sport, it’ll actually detract from some important skills.
Evidence suggests that humans evolved to preferentially adapt to long, slow running. We could endure longer than our faster prey.
So, doing a ton of long, slow running (as one would in cross country practice) promotes more long, slow endurance capabilities, but reduces your ability to develop top speed and power.
Time and time again, I’ve watched hard-working, well-intentioned athletes get slower during the cross-country season in an attempt to get in-shape for their main sport.
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​Who should run cross country?
I’m not anti-cross country! There is a really good reason to run cross-country, and that’s because you want to run cross-country.
If it’s a sport you enjoy and something you want to compete at, then go for it!
Just don’t use it as a tool to get in shape for another sport.
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Best,
Zach
Dr. Zach Guiser, PT, DPT, CSCS