You should take the time to read Part 1 and Part 2
Todd Pratt of 7Athlete sends…
A kinesiologist by trade, my medium is movement…which is abstract to many of my athletes but actually quite quantifiable with applied math/physics. After many years of coaching athletes from all walks of life, beginner to pro, here’s the way I see it: All humans have a genetic “passport” which often (but not always) determines which level of sport/duty they can achieve…especially when said environments require high levels of speed/power and size. Now there are occasional outliers but they are rare, definitely in the outer fringes the bell curve. The more athletic the endeavor, the more important the genetic passport is. The less athletic the endeavor, there’s room for fudging the numbers via training, willpower, luck, equipment, etc.
For example, in the NFL there’s a port of entry which is completely dependent on an athlete’s combination of speed/power and size (sans punters/kickers). Same with the NBA. I love my sons and think they’re capable of great things in life but they just didn’t inherent the necessary genetic passport to get into NFL/NBA country. There’s a little more hope for them in MLS, MLB, and the NHL but they’re still gonna need some exceptional hand/foot/eye coordination to get in. There’s even more hope for them in PGA, USA Track, MMA, etc… My point is this, nature is king in regards to the true speed/power sports. There’s more room for nurture in the “slower” or “more skill-dependent” sports. So really when it comes to nature vs nurture, it all depends on the sport/endeavor.
But it’s not hopeless for the athlete who may not possess the best genetic passport, and that’s where I make my living: I would venture that 95% of the athletes that I encounter are functioning at nowhere near 100% of their performance potential. Heck, most don’t even come in at 50% of what they’re capable of. I always tell my athletes, “Don’t worry about what he/she is doing. Let’s maximize your physical potential and let the chips fall where they may.” Now Ash, here’s where we can significantly improve shooter performance…
1) Neuromuscular Efficiency: A lot of folks think fitness is a hardware game but it’s not. I deal in software. Most of the time, no matte what genetic passport walks in my door, I start by “re-wiring” the athlete to eliminate neuromuscular static and start functioning as one neuromuscular language rather than multiple disconnected/competing signals. Simply harmonizing movement makes for much more efficient athlete = more speed. So there we’ve increased gas mileage. Now for horsepower/torque…
2) Neuromuscular Power: Most athletes have trained for endurance or strength but never power…and certainly not power endurance. Here’s the rub though: If an athlete is not properly prepared then they cannot sustain training for power without injury. Proper preparation (in chronological order of importance) includes correct biomechanics, mobility, endurance base, strength base, strength endurance base, power base, and finally power endurance capability. These precedents must be achieved or the athlete won’t be able to handle repetitive power and hold together. This is where the best genetic passport in the world won’t help you and brings up the subject of conditioning…
3) Neuromuscular Conditioning: Most athletes have never been trained specific to the unique physical demands/challenges of their chosen sport/endeavor. I reverse-engineer them a custom program to accustom their re-wired nervous system to become comfortable in the discomfort/chaos of their chosen sport/endeavor. I then systematically (read: intelligently) help their nervous system thrive in the discomfort/chaos of their chosen sport/endeavor. At this point, the athlete’s training is so biomechanically challenging/chaotic that their chosen sport/endeavor becomes simple by comparison.
In summary, yes a great genetic passport always helps. Especially in the sports/endeavors where speed/power/size is king. But those sports/endeavors are actually pretty rare. Most sports/endeavors are such that the average Joe can be “nurtured” to a high level of success through proper training. The problem here is that most training programs are garbage…ignorant of kinesthetic truth or unwilling to do the work to learn it. It’s a lot easier to take a prehistoric football/bodybuilding program, slap the word “tactical” on it, and sell a million copies. If I come off harsh here, it’s because my profession has miserably failed the LE/Mil/Shooting community for years. I would even go so far as to say that my profession has carelessly endangered the lives of countless operators because it was too arrogant/lazy to provide them the professional level of training that they deserve. This is something that I humbly, but passionately, intend to change.
Now I know what I am and know what I’m not. I’m in the physical software business. But my new friend Joe is in the mental/emotional software business and to be transparent, I believe that there’s as much or more opportunity for athletic improvement there than my atmosphere. I agree with much, no all, of what Joe said.