Week Long Balanced Athlete Camp Insights

I just finished teaching a weeklong Balanced Athlete camp for high school athletes. It was a 5 day camp and only one athlete missed a day. The first day, I told them that I thought at least half of them would drop out and not finish.  I told them I was using reverse psychology. They proved me wrong. These athletes represented multiple sports. What amazes me time and time again is the ability of the Balanced Athlete program to quickly create strong and safe movement patterns. These athletes changed dramatically in just 5 days. I will list the major insights:

 

Distraction – Most of these athletes did not have very good focus on Monday. Their eyes wondered a lot which is typical for beginners. They weren’t observing other athletes, just staring off into space. They were very lost in thought. By Friday, their eyes were not wandering—they were focused!

 

Disconnect –There was not much bodily awareness (kinesthetic awareness). I can strongly relate to this. I never really stopped to pay attention to my body until I began the practice of yoga. By Friday, they were very into their bodies and paying attention to the movements. They used the mirrors to make adjustments and follow my cues.

 

Feet – I spent the first 15 minutes on Monday explaining the kinetic chain and the interdependent nature of the mind and body.  I believe this made a huge difference as they progressed through the week.  They began understanding the importance of the feet and engaging the muscles of the legs from the feet.  

All of their feet began working better and one girl who came in with a stress fracture in her shin started to connect to her foot and acutely changed the functionality of her foot, making her shin feel so much better. She also now knows her weak foot had something to do with the stress fracture.

 

Hinging from the Hips – This was another big improvement. Not one of the athletes was hinging properly from their hip. The first day we used broom sticks and hinged back and forth over and over until they programmed it into their bodies. Why is this so important? The hip chain represents the bridge between the lower chains and upper chains. When an athlete, or anyone for that matter, doesn’t hinge from their hips, energy does not transfer effectively from lower chains to upper chains. There is also increased stress placed on lumbar and sacral spine areas. Experiencing injury is only a matter of time when this lack of functionality persists.

 

Shoulders/Arms – They significantly improved their ability to raise their arms straight over their heads,  but this still needs work. This imbalance and lose of function with the Shoulder and Skull chain is primarily due to prolonged poor posture and  tight, weak muscles around the shoulders and neck.

 

Hands – None of the athletes had ever directly trained their hands. At the beginning of the week, their hands were very weak. By the end, they had strong awareness in their hands and improved strength.

 

Conclusion – Most of these athletes were previously working out in gyms using weights.  I believe this is putting the cart before the horse. Strengthening and Conditioning an athlete begins with training movements and not muscles. Unless they are being guided by a Strength Coach, the majority of athletes will move in the gym with poor habits, making them susceptible to injury and unachieved potential. Incorporating the Balanced Athlete Program in conjunction with the weight room can develop a superior athlete. After what I observed this week, it’s hard for me not to believe that.   

Johnny

A Directed Mind has Limitless Potential

“A distracted mind has no power, a directed mind has limitless potential.” 

~ Rolf Gates, Meditations from the Mat.

I am really passionate about this quote, really passionate. I think that the reason I use it so much when I train athletes is because I m certain that, had I been aware of the power of my mind when I was a collegiate runner, I would have met with more success and I would have suffered a whole lot less! 

In my last entry, I wrote about the first half of the quote, “A distracted mind has no power”. As homework, I suggested that you try catching yourself 10, 20, 100 times a day in various states of distraction. It’s often hilarious to notice just how far away we will go from what we need to focus on now! 

Get in the habit of catching yourself in being distracted. You’ll quickly learn how to “reel yourself back in” to a more directed and focused state. This sort of “checking in” with your mental state is the beginning of your mental strength training program. 

Remember that when you are distracted, whether on the court or in the classroom, you are in a weakened state. When you are directed or engaged, whether on the field or at work, you are in a much more powerful and effective state. 

Being focused in this way has been coined by sports psychologists as being in “in the zone” or “in flow”. Wikipedia describes this concept as follows: 

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. This concept was proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi the author of the ground breaking book, Flow. 

Wikipedia continues:

The legendary soccer player Pelé described his experience of being in the zone: "I felt a strange calmness.. . a kind of euphoria. I felt I could run all day without tiring, that I could dribble through any of their team or all of them, that I could almost pass through them physically.

Simply put, when an athlete is in flow, his or her focus is so intense and play elevated, they’re unstoppable. 

Whether you call it being in the Zone, in Flow or being Directed, it all boils down to the same results, being unstoppable. Sound enticing? We’ll continue to review how to become more directed using the training methods of yoga and meditation in the next few entries. 

Peace. Cara