The Four Pillars for Atheletic Success

                                                 “Nothing will work unless you do”

                                                                                ~ John Wooten

1. Genetics

2. Training

3. Nutrition

4. Mind

 Genetics:

We can’t pick our parents, so we all come biologically designed with potential. Our potential is limited by three things.

~ Will (mental fortitude)      

~ Fast twitch fibers (muscle fiber type for speed and strength)    

~ Slow twitch fibers (muscle fiber type for endurance) 

Darrell Royal, a famous Texas Longhorn coach once said, “Potential means you just ain’t done it yet”

So…how can we maximize our potential?

Training:

We may not be able to pick our parents, but we can choose our training.

The two key components to any successful exercise program are specificity and overload. 

If you’re a basketball player…specificity is dribbling the ball…its shooting the shots.

Overload is the relentless repetitions of basketball mechanics. These patterns of movement become so hard wired that they become instinctual.  The athlete that can react, rather than think, will be the first to the rim.

 Nutrition:

Doctor David Costill, a world renowned exercise physiologist once said, “apart from genetics and training, the most over looked component in maximizing an athlete’s performance is nutrition.

Athletes are like dragsters. And what do dragsters run on? Jet fuel!

The jet fuel for an athlete is…             

 ~ Complex carbohydrates

~ Lean proteins       

~ Healthy fats      

 Mind:

Henry Ford once said, whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right”

The greatest thing we can ever do is not what we can do to our bodies, but what we can do to our mind.

 I have had the privilege to work with many physically gifted athletes…they could jump higher than anyone on the court…they could run faster than any one on the field…they could lift more than anyone in the gym.

But the one thing some of these athletes lacked was drive. Some people call this drive heart…I like to call it will. 

Whatever we want to call IT…that IT preside here…right here in our brain.

Some are born with IT…some develop IT.

In closing I want you to think of the four pillars like you would think of four legs on a table. If one is weak the table will fall. Take these four suggestions and write them down…I’m sure some of you will see where you have work to do. I will guarantee you, the individual that takes the time to work on his or her weaknesses, will be the one who succeeds.

 These are the ones whose signatures will one day become an autograph.