At TrueFitness one of our motto's is "We train athletes like athletes". So the question can be what exactly is an athlete? Is an athlete someone who merely plays sports? Does an athlete have to play within the confines of a structured and controlled game? After you play your last game and retire are you still an athlete? Can you be an athlete even if you have never played in a game at all?
We at TrueFitness in San Diego,CA believe that EVERYONE is an athlete. Whether you play professional sports, pick-up games with friends, chase down a bus or merely try to carry all your groceries in one trip from your car to the house. All of these people are athletes. Everyone is an athlete capable of athletic moves and performing athletically.
How we train is therefore the same for everyone. If everyone is an athlete and we train like athletes then our training must be athletic. So we train in a manner that can be called athlete training. We train and improve the movements of an athlete and how to move better, smoother, faster, quicker, more powerful, more agile, and in turn more athletically.
This does NOT involve the traditional lifts performed by most people. Train like that. It may work for you. We do not disparage anyone in their approach. It simply isn't for us and the results we desire.
You will not find us doing bicep curls and tricep pulldowns. Bench press is not in our workouts. We never do flyes and if your doing a leg curl it is for speed with no weight and in a standing position. Those exercises are for bodybuilders. We are not bodybuilders. We are performance improvers and body developers. We want to move better, not look better. So we train in manner different from traditional bodybuilding because are goals are not to be a bodybuilder. Big muscles and slow movements are not what win in sports. Looking bad and winning is better than looking good and losing!
Looking better is a side benefit result of training hard to be a better athlete. Developing a muscle is never our goal but yet our muscles and bodies are lean and sleek, low in body fat and developed muscularly.
Some may find our methods controversial or even ridiculous. How can you be more athletic if you are not the strongest you can be? Well the answer to that is the strongest athlete doesn't win so why do we need strength to be our focus? The athlete thats wins is the fastest, more agile, more powerful, quicker, better conditioned, mentally tougher and with better body control. This is what makes an athlete an athlete. How many times you rep out 225 on a bench press means nothing if that power doesn't transfer to the standing position pushing someone away form you in football. Training in a standing press position will transfer to the football field more specifically than bench press. The same reasoning goes for leg press. Is there ever a time when you drive someone away from you in an inverted position? Yes,if you got pushed onto your back and are kicking the person who did it off you. If that is the case you already lost. So why train to lose. Train in a standing athletic position to learn to be more athletic on the field and let that transfer to your athletic abilities.
We use that thought process and mentality to train our clients and athletes. We train different to become better. We want to be the best at what we do so at TrueFitness in San Diego,CA we train the best method that we know. And after training like everyone else in the past we realized better ways are out there and now we are bringing them to the public.
This is our Blog to help educate and change the way athletes are trained. Life is a sport, be your best. Train athetes as athletes and stop applying bodybuilding techniques to sports performance.
Very interesting training concepts. I like your definition of an athlete.
ReplyDeleteIf you're kicking somebody off of you from your back "you've already lost"? I can think of many MMA and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu practitioners who not only would passionately disagree with that but actually thrive from their back! If these "bodybuilder" create big muscles and slow movements then why do you see free weights, benches, squat racks, ets, in multi million dollar training facilities owned by NBA and NFL franchises? Why do NFL players bench press in NFL combines and squat and lift weights on a regular basis? Because if they didn't they'd be bulldozed and carried off the field in a body bag, that's why! Of course there are many non free weight, sport or goal specific exercises of tremendous benefit but this article's stance on the most basic compound exercises used yes by bodybuilders but also by virtually every athlete in virtually every tough sport on earth is completely uninformed and sounds like an attempt to differentiate your business in an effort to make a buck off of people who don't know better. A little pathetic to take a swipe at the most effective strength building exercises known to man, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteP.S. I say anything that gets people active, gets the heart pumping and gets people sweating is of tremendous benefit and I hope you guys are contributing to a healthier america which in the big picture is what really counts, but don't try and talk about weightlifting as though its ineffective because for people who know better it doesn't make you sound like you know a whole lot about fitness or have much experience in the gym because anybody who weight trains is made aware of the benefits immediately if they can stick to the routine for a while.
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