Top Ten Workout Killers, by Ganon Baker

Posted by admin Posted in Ganon Baker's Thoughts, News Posted on 01-08-2009
Our business succeeds because we are good at working people out. We are known all over the world as great workout trainers because we make training fun and challenging. Think about this concept, the majority of players really don’t want to work hard for free, and what is remarkable is people pay us to take their body and mind to a place it’s never been. That being said, this article is about things that may kill an athlete’s workout.
If you can overcome these Workout Killers, then as a player you will get better and as a coach you will gain the trust and dependence of your athletes. Because, let’s think about it, you have three times as many practices as you do games.
1. BOREDOM If your athletes get bored, they begin to hate the workout. And you should not have a negative connotation to any exercises you are doing.
2. FATIGUE Anytime an athlete continues to be out of shape and gets tired, you start to lose the player’s bio-mechanics. The player will start to teach the muscles incorrect memory. In other words, their form will be off in everything they do. John Wooden said it best “Perfect Practice Makes Permanent Results”. There is a difference between being tired and being winded. If a player is winded they can continue to go through each exercise hard and correct.
3. LACK OF GAME SPEED If a player does not simulate game speed, the practice is not truly authentic. I always have my players practice a little bit above and beyond game speed. If the practice is hard the game will be easy. Now obviously there will be times when you are just working on form and mechanics. And those practices are necessary and different.
4. NO GAME-LIKE DRILLS Anytime a player is practicing and studying the wrong notes, he won’t be ready for the test. What I mean by that is a coach has to give the players the correct drills in order to have congruent skills in the game. For example, in basketball you can’t have a kid spinning two balls and expect him to improve his ball handling. Also you must stay in progression. The skills and drills must build up. For example, if an athlete has trouble shooting layups, they shouldn’t spend all of their time shooting 3 pointers.
5. TOO MANY PLAYERS, LACK OF EQUIPMENT The key to getting your players better, once they learn, is repetition and conditioning. You can’t have 6 players in a drill and only one ball. What have made our reputation good are our results. We get results from making sure that every player in our workout has a ball. This way players are getting enough repetition. We also make sure there is no standing around or down time. We implement two skills in multiple sequence drills. Players are always on the move.
6. A NON-PASSIONATE INSTRUCTOR Whether the player is instructing themselves or being trained by a coach, they must have contagious enthusiasm and passion. Passion is the divider between good and great. If you do not have passion in your workouts then all of these killers take place. A great coach will actually sweat with his players.
7. NOT HAVING A GOAL OR PRACTICE PLAN Each player and/or coach must have a purpose in that session, whether it is 10 minutes or 60 minutes each time out. Each drill must be specific to that player’s strength but more importantly to their weakness. Each player must continue to develop and find a solution in the game. Solutions are found in practice. There must be a short term goal to be obtained every practice. In my experience, I have been around some great NBA Players and watched them work out. Whether it was Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, Chris Paul, Amare Stoudemire or LeBron James, they had a purpose every time on the floor and they were maniacal about getting better.
8. LACK OF NUTRIONAL AND HYDRATION SUPPLEMENTATION. In layman’s terms the players must eat properly before and after each workout. They must learn how to drink enough water and hydrate themselves so they can get more oxygen to their muscles and they don’t cramp. If they cramp they get hurt, if they get hurt they can’t finish the workout, if they can’t finish the workout, they don’t get better. Eating right, getting enough fluids and getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night is vital and is a must in building the athletes temple. I know it’s elementary but I have worked out several professional athletes that skipped breakfast before our workout.
9. PARENTAL/GUARDIAN OR POSSE INVOLVEMENT There should only be one voice that the player hears in a workout and that is the trainer or the coach. What bothers me more than anything else is having a player being worked out and he hears “riff raff” from his posse or his people sitting in the stands waiting for him. I say “riff raff”, because in my experience it never helps the athlete. If the people in the stands are so knowledgeable, then let them train the athlete.
10. LACK OF INSPIRATION BY THE ATHLETE A lot of players play for the wrong reasons. A lot of people push the player to workout and train when all the player wants to do is something else. I have seen very disinterested players go hard, do all of the right things, listen and are very dedicated to the workout, yet don’t have the true love for the game. They are pushed so hard, they eventually burn out and resent the game all together and destroy relationships of their inner circle. Unless an athlete truly loves the games and dedicates and sacrifices to workout because they truly want to get better, they eventually will burn out and they won’t rise above adversity.
I am a basketball skills trainer. I travel all over the world to train basketball players. My antennas are always up when it comes to these workout killers. However, I think any coach can apply these workout killers to their sport. Thanks for reading.