Page 35 - Flipbook

Intro to Athletic
Literacy
by Orlando Griffith
First we need to find the inner athlete in you for improving athleticism. This begins with changing a mindset that you first need to be a good athlete to be athletic. This isn’t quite accurate because you can look athletic but be unathletic, and you can be an athlete and still be unathletic. Sadly I get to see this regularly where I’ve had many Olympians who are functionally incompetent and professional athletes that can’t perform some of the most basic fundamental tasks that are part of my prerequisites when trying to develop an athletic foundation in their strength and conditioning programmes. It is however in fact amazing how well they adapt to be great at their specific sport, but they could be so much better if they were athletically literate.
“I’m not your typical fitness magazine writer and this isn’t your typical fitness magazine; I do things differently and we at WEFITNESS Magazine do things differently too. I don’t care about your chalky textured protein shakes, the definition in your triceps, what you’re doing on chest day, and how good you think you look in your gym selfies, but I do care about performance! It might be cool to push a couple forty fives in your bench or squat a few times your body weight but I’m more concerned about how fast and explosive you can be and how well you can apply your speed, power and athletic ability to your life. My goal is to not only make you bigger and stronger but fitter, faster and powerful outside of the gym.”
Coming from a background in athletics I’ve always been searching to find ways to improve my abilities because performance doesn’t lie, you either won or you lost, and along the way I’ve had coaches who perhaps had the best intentions but weren’t competent to be effective and game changing. Looking back, they didn’t understand energy system development; they couldn’t develop a training plan and they couldn’t marry the technical aspect of the sport with the physical requirements so the athletes could be competitive.
With that challenge I narrowed my focus into understanding how to be a better athlete through study and observation and I situated myself in the presence of some of the world’s best Athletic Development and Strength and Conditioning Coaches so I could gather as much knowledge as possible. Some of these coaches have improved the physical attributes of multiple Olympians and professional athletes and I’ve been able to witness this first hand. Now as an athletic development coach, I am able to apply the theoretical and practical knowledge gained from the classroom and field and use it to help improve the lives of the athletes I’ve had the privilege to work with. So what can I do for you?
The point is you shouldn’t be athletically illiterate either and I hope what I’m able to bring to the table would be applied into your lives to improve other dimensions of your fitness. Good luck!
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