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BY MATTHEW IBRAHIM, AUTHOR OF TRAIN LIKE A PRO: PROGRAMMING TO DEVELOP YOUR INNER ATHLETE
Let’s face it: the deeper you get into life after your high school and college years, the more that piles up on your plate, the less time you have to do stuff, and the harder it becomes to prioritize your training.
Remember when you were playing sports in high school? You’d go for a run in the morning before school, go to your sport practice after school, and then go to the gym after that with your friends to lift weights. Who has time for all of that now? None of us do, which is why it’s important to prioritize the time that we do have with what matters most for our health and performance.
I love lifting weights just as much as the next gym rat or fitness enthusiast. There’s just something about moving iron up and down that feels primal and the right thing to do. Lifting weights, otherwise known as strength training, on a consistent basis on at least 2 days each week (full-body training sessions) is a sure fire way to increase lean muscle mass, become stronger and more durable, and increase bone mineral density. All of these are beneficial for our health and performance. However, getting to the gym or even using your own home gym on a couple of days each week to lift weights is a very low hanging fruit. If this is the only thing we’re focusing on, then we’re missing out on a ton of other valuable health and performance benefits.
When was the last time you sprinted in your training? What about jumping: how often have you performed that? You see, this is the stuff that helps you turn the corner in your health and performance since these 2 qualities diminish the fastest when not performed on a weekly basis in life. Other than your high school days of playing sports, and even college days for some, you don’t really need to sprint or jump. But, that’s where most people make the mistake. Training to be athletic, which heavily leans on sprinting and jumping, doesn’t stop there. Rather, that’s only the starting point.
If your goal is to train to be athletic after your high school and college years, you’ll definitely want to keep lifting weights. However, if you really want to drink the fountain of youth in athleticism, then you’ll also need to keep sprinting and jumping on a weekly basis as well. By doing all of this, you’ll continue to improve your speed, power, and quickness.
Interested in learning more about training for athleticism and tapping into your inner athlete through an educated, systematic approach? Check out my book, Train Like a Pro: Programming to Develop Your Inner Athlete.