We love the word “simple.”
I hear it often from strength and conditioning colleagues when they talk about rep schemes or conditioning workouts. It is now becoming borderline bro-ish.
3×10….Simple.
5×5….Simple!
Tempo 200’s… Bro, the Simplest!
I sit back and listen — wondering if coaches actually understand simple? Or are they using “simple” because it takes the critical step of planning out of the equation?
I mean c’mon it’s just words and numbers on paper, and for some their time is better spent focusing on tight coaching shorts and yelling “man shit” in the weight room rather than teaching, studying, or creating a performance environment. They are the quintessential thieves of simple.
The Path to Simple
In the beginning you steal, regurgitating words stolen out of your mentors mouths. Then hopefully somewhere between being average and complacent you decide to dig into the details — the complexities. This (Dazed and Complex) period marks the most frustrating along your path.
You feel as if there is no end.
Very few signs along the way signal the end of your research. Instead, two more roads branch off and dammit if it would not drive you insane if you didn’t travel both — and at the same time. No Robert Frost feel good “and I — I took the one less traveled” in S&C. You take both roads because you can’t stand the fact that there is another coach, say… in Iowa, who is constantly reading more than you.
Not only will this phase be the most frustrating it may also be the most inconsistent coaching you will do, for a couple of reasons:
- You will immerse yourself too deeply into study. Though this obsession is needed to devour information it will not allow you the clarity to connect the dots in real time. You can’t see the forest through the trees.
- You will lack patience. It’s during this time that you will be more apt to change things on the fly. You may be tempted to play with your shiny new toy. Whatever you are into, chances are you will want to incorporate it. Big Mistake.
Then randomly, after spending an unspecified amount of time banging your head against a wall trying to make a breakthrough, a small crack appears, the clouds lift, and the waters part. It’s in that moment it all makes sense. You can see known variables and hidden intangibles equally.
This is where “Artistically Simple” resides… where choices are made that make the training time most efficient. Where an athlete’s adaptive capacity and the work programed meet and are complementary — it looks simple. Like most things in life it’s all about timing.
It is at this moment you understand the Why, When, and How of “simple” — just as your mentors do. This only leads you to have more respect and understanding of their work.
I wish I could say the cycle one day come to an end — but it doesn’t. Instead, understanding in one field only leads you to possibilities in another and it all starts over.
I am always reminding myself and other coaches that time is our greatest ally. So what if you don’t completely understand the subject matter the first time you read it? Read it again. Then another book on the same subject. Sooner or later the complexities will fade away.
Be Patient.
There is no such thing as failure when you devote yourself to learning. The only failure is satisfaction in mimicry and stealing “simple”.
By: Aaron Davis
