The following goals are some of the more common that we hear in consultations from prospective customers: lose weight, increase lean muscle mass, improve general health and fitness, increase strength, increase motivation and energy level. While 99% will not admit it, the aforementioned goals usually stem from a desire to improve self confidence and self worth. As a destination fitness company we then encourage individuals to establish a destination which will anchor the focus of their training and produce the desired results along the way.
There are times when we face resistance from customers who listen to our advice only to revert back to the program that they are familiar with. We recently faced a situation where a new customer was gung-ho about training for triathlons and running. A month later they completely changed their mind and stated that they were going to quit if we didn’t start giving them heavy weights and a hypertrophy program. They were apparently worried that they were going to get skinny from all of the endurance training. When it boils down to it they second guessed themselves, refused to trust our expert opinion and resorted to their default (lifting heavy weights was all that they knew). We were able to retain the customer after revamping their program but unfortunately they aren’t exactly on the road to reaching their goals. We failed to educate before it was too late. Next time this situation happens we need to have a plan to convince the customer that strictly body building isn’t the answer to becoming an all-round athlete and improving fitness. Here is some information that can be used to reinforce why we believe in leading people to run, cycle, hike, swim, kayak, and train functionally and sport specifically:
Identifying the world's greatest athlete is pretty much impossible to answer empirically. No matter how impressive, world-class athletes mostly excel at single tasks. Olympic gold medal weightlifter Hossein Reza Zadeh can, in two quick motions, lift 580 pounds over his head. Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie can run a mile in an astonishing four minutes, 45 seconds, and repeat the performance 26 times in a row. Place either man at another sports venue and they won’t have a hope in fitting in and competing.
Sports physiologists don't have a system to rank all athletes. University of Texas exercise physiologist Ed Coyle said doctoral students have tried in the past "only to have their professors shut them down after months of continuous work." The Wall Street Journal sought to identify the world's greatest athlete with an approach that, while not completely scientific, took a number of measures into account. A panel of five sports scientists was given a list drawn of 79 top male athletes. Candidates had to be active in their sport and among the all-time best. (Women were featured separately in another article.)
The panel weighed individual performance stats, along with their subjective judgments about the relative difficulty of each sport to give an overall grade to the athletes. The judges graded athletes on speed, reflexes, stamina, coordination, as well as power, strength and size. The finalists, they said, exhibited a wide range of athletic skill in highly competitive environments.
There were some surprises. Tiger Woods, a dominant figure in professional sports, didn't crack the Top 10. Panelists said they didn't give golfers much weight when assessing overall athletic ability. Michael Phelps, one of the greatest U.S. swimmers of all time, also missed the top tier because the judges felt that “swimmers generally don't perform well out of the water”. Such endurance athletes as marathoners and Tour de France cyclists also failed to impress. “Too one-dimensional” the panel said. For overall athletic ability and fitness the key seems to be training in various disciplines.
Check out the study:
Which athletes are 'fit'? VO2 Max Descriptive Data for Athletes in Various Sports (Baechle & Earle, 2000)
Extremely High: (M 70+ / F 60+) X-country skiing, Mid-distance running, long-distance running
Very High: (M 63-69 / F 54-59) Bicycling, Rowing, race walking
High: (Males 57-62 / Females 49-53) Soccer, middle-distance swimming, speed skating, skiing
Above Average: (Males 52-56 / Females 44-48) Basketball, Football (offensive/defensive backs), gymnastics, hockey, sprinting
Average: (Males 44-51 / Females) Baseball/softball, football (quarterback/linemen), Olympic weight lifting, bodybuilding
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