Elite Performance… What Does It Really Mean?

Elite Performance has a different meaning for every person on the planet. To define the word performance is “Activities of importance where you must excel.” For some, this is elite level sport. For others, this could be working a physical job and having the capacity to get through the day, running a business and maintaining your energy levels throughout the day, or simply being able to keep up with your grandchildren. Interestingly enough, for any of the performance goals I just described, training comes down to the same principles.

When done properly, the goal of elite performance training is not to crush you into the ground session after session. It is to set you up to perform. For a high level athlete, if they have a practice on Monday morning, the goal of a Sunday training session will be to work on their movement patterns and help prime the body for what they need to do at practice the next morning. If this athlete comes into the gym and is crushed with a hard weight session and conditioning session and cannot perform at practice, the strength and conditioning coaches job was NOT done properly.

This is just the same as if you work a physical job every day. If we know that you need to go to work the next morning and spend your day lifting heavy objects, you can’t be going into that sore and tired. That means, as the conditioning coach, our job is to make sure that your muscles are firing properly and your base strength levels are as high as possible to ensure that you are not risking injury during your work day.

In order to make sure we are properly addressing the needs of each individual there is a lot to consider. As the conditioning coach, we must break down what the client/athlete’s daily activities look like, and what problems may arise from this.

For example, for a high level hockey player we will look at what their weekly practice & game schedule looks like, as well as their current sleep habits & eating habits. Are they travelling a lot with sport, do they have any current nagging injuries or aches and pains? Whatever information we are able to take away from this, we must then create a plan to ensure that the athlete’s training is optimal considering all of the other variables. Once we set out a plan, this is always adaptable to fit how the needs of the athlete change.

Now, the same principles apply to someone working a physical job every day. Taking into account the fact that this individual is spending their days lifting and carrying, our job is to complement what they do during their day, not to over power it. This means building proper stability through joints and muscles, helping improve muscle balance through carefully thought out and precise lifting techniques, as well as develop overall strength in the body to ensure that the individual is always able to output what they need to during their work day.

It is not about what you lift, it’s about how you lift it.

To sum up, Elite Performance Training is not a scary term. The programs of elite level athletes looking to make a career from their sport will certainly contain more volume and complexity, however before writing off coming to work with an elite performance coach, consider the fact that performance has a different definition for everyone. Think about the activities you need to excel in every day and ask yourself… What if I could perform better? There is always a way to improve performance, but sometimes you just need someone to dig deeper for you to help that happen.