Mastery

By now most people are familiar with the 10,000 hour rule. In essence the rule (sometimes called the 10 year rule) states with 10,000 hours of practice, deliberate practice, anyone can become a genius at pretty much anything. And while there is some debate on how accurate the 10,000 hour rule is, whether it accounts for all of the variance in performance or just some of it, what can not be debated is its requirement to be really great at anything. It is unlikely for any expert to not have put in this time.

This is absolutely true of great coaches. You would be hard pressed to name a coach in any endeavor, particularly in sport, who had not himself put in hours upon hours of deliberate practice. Some of the greatest coaches in sport put in years of playing their respective sports at a pretty high level long before they began coaching it. The coaches pictured are no different (clockwise from top right):

• John Wooden while at Purdue was named All Big 10, as well as All Midwestern and was a three time consensus All American. He later played for several years in the National Basketball League, a predecessor to the NBA.
• Vince Lombardi was a two way lineman at Fordham University, and during his senior year his team challenged unsuccessfully for a chance to play in the Rose Bowl.
• Scotty Bowman was part of the Montreal Canadiens’ system beginning in 1947. By 1950-51, Bowman was playing with the Montreal Junior Canadiens but a head injury (actually a stick to the head) ended his playing career prematurely.
• Dean Smith was a three sport letterman at Kansas University. During his time on the varsity basketball team, Kansas won the national championship in 1952 and were NCAA tournament finalists in 1953.

What all these coaches have in common is “time in” as players in the sport they are coaching. Time in the sport informs like no book or apprenticeship can. The unexplained and difficult to teach nuances of the sport, no matter what sport, can only be learned by engaging in it at a high level over a long period of time. Probably at least 10,000 hours worth of time. I know this is true in the sports I’ve played.

So how does this relate to a sport like competitive fitness that’s barely been around for 10,000 hours. IMHO, the rule still applies. Being a sport that draws on different disciplines, I believe those who are successful in both playing it and coaching it have a background in multiple sports. While there are some single sports which seem to correlate well with athletic success in competitive fitness (gymnastics, wrestling, middle distance endurance events), coaches need to be well heeled in several areas.

But because the sport of fitness is so new and discoveries about how best to play it are made all the time, coaches in the sport of fitness must also be ACTIVE players. It’s not enough to draw on experience from “related” sports. Coaches in this sport must be in the trenches, performing the workouts themselves to be able to speak at all intelligently about how to perform and prepare for them. This is not to say he needs to be a top performer in the sport. I believe it’s well known that many great coaches were mediocre athletes. But again, because the sport is so new the coaches in this sport don’t have the luxury of drawing on years of direct past experiences as the coaches in other sports do. So he has to be in the trenches, participating in this sport as an “athlete” to continually learn and be able to convey what he has learned to the athletes he coaches. Is this the case with your coach? Does he participate competitively himself? (Even if he’s an old fart competing at the masters level?) If not, how can he or does he make up for this potential defiency?

That said, and what has been suggested by some follow up observations on the 10,000 rule, practice only may not make you great. I believe that to be the case with coaching. Great coaching. Great coaches need more of course. Otherwise, any long term player would be a successful coach. And we have plenty of examples where this is not the case.

I’ll talk about the other factors in subsequent posts.

Next up: Nerdery

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Strength A
1) front squat: 1×5 @ 60%, 3×5 @ 70%, rest 2-3 minutes
2) 10 minutes to a heavy, not maximal, power clean

move quickly to Conditioning

Conditioning
Every 90 seconds for 15 minutes, alternating between:
3a) 5 – 7 power cleans, as heavy as possible with good form
3b) bike (AD) ME distance for 1 minute

Note: On power cleans, feel free to increase or decrease the weight during the workout based on how you’re feeling, as long as good form is maintained. If an Airdyne bike is not available, use a rower.

rest exactly 5 minutes

Stength B
4) front squat: 1 x 15, as heavy as possible

Accessory
NOT for time:
4 rounds
8-10 glute ham raises (video)
12-15 ab rolls