Specialization in Sports

I'd like to think at 27 years old  that I am not too far removed from youth sports, but they have dramatically changed since I was a member of the Boston RedSox for the better half of my little league career.  Now I ask kids what team they play for and they reply with names unfamiliar to me.  These aren't names like the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants.  They have their own teams.  Club teams and super league teams that travel and play year around.  Baseball overlaps with football which overlaps with basketball.  These kids go from one competitive season to the next without a break year after year after year.

"John what are you saying?  My athlete should choose 1 sport and drop the rest???"

Well... It depends on the age of the athlete.

From a very young age it is very important for kids to do as many activities as they possibly can.  Baseball, basketball, football, tennis, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, etc.  The more the better.  Each sport has its own skill set that will add to the overall coordination of your child.  The hand-eye coordination your son will get as he learns how to hit a baseball will carry over to football when he learns how to watch the ball  all the way into his hands.  There is a ton of good that will come about playing as many sports as possible, non more important than keeping the amount of time sitting on the couch playing video games as low as possible.  It is sad when you see a young kid at 10 years old who cannot do a body weight walking lunge without falling down.  The most coordinated young athletes are always the ones who are busy with many different athletic activities.

It is in the best interest of the young athletes to continue competing in different sports throughout their youth.  The skills they get from a variety of sports will benefit them greatly as they transition into high school sports.  In fact, there has been many studies about good athletes who specialize in one sport at young ages.  From these studies it has been proven that these young athletes reach their "peak" much sooner than athletes who are involved in many sports.  These "specialized" athletes will be all-stars in middle school but fizzle out by the time their senior year rolls around.  Of course this is all ok if your daughter is Maria Sharapova and tennis was decided for you at an incredibly young age due to the fact that female tennis players turn professional at ages 16 and 17.  If your dream is to play in the NFL this is not the case.  It is physically impossible to play professionally until you are in your 20's.  It would not be wise to specialize and reach your "peak" at age 16 when you should still be improving all the way up to your mid 20's.

Fast forward a couple of years to the beginning of high school.  Lets look at two examples of two athletes similar in athleticism and build.  Athlete number 1, Billy, plays basketball, baseball, and football and is good enough to make each team.  Like I mentioned earlier there is no breaks in between sports anymore.  As soon as basketball is done baseball starts and so-on and so-forth.  Billy will probably be a little above average in all three of his sports for the rest of his high school career and will undoubtedly battle a few injuries along the way.  College ball in any of the three sports probably will not become a reality because he wasn't exceptional in any one of his sports.

Meet athlete number 2, Tommy.  Tommy is similar to Billy in every way and has played the big 3 sports his entire life.  When he gets to high school he realizes that baseball and football are his two best sports and he decides to drop basketball even though he is good enough to play on the team.  Now he has an off-season in which he can rest and get ready for his other two sports.  During this off-season Tommy realizes that it is his dream to play college baseball.  For a good three months  he is dedicated to become bigger, faster, and stronger.  He goes from a 155 lb skinny kid to 175 lbs during his first offseason and his fastball went from 82 mph to 85 mph.  He repeats this cycle every year while Billy is still busy playing basketball.  By the time Tommy is a senior he weighs 205 lbs and can throw 90 mph.  He has many offers from many different schools and playing college ball is not a dream but a reality.

While these are two hypothetical stories you see these examples all the time in real life.  Specializing at the high school level is very much recommended.  At the max athletes should choose 2 varsity sports unless they are a freak of nature and will get a scholarship regardless.  These athletes are few and far between.  The off-season is a time to rest from your sport while you attack every weakness in your game.  Your body should be priority number 1.  Athletes need to get into the gym and become bigger, faster, stronger, and more explosive by the time their sport rolls around again.  In doing so they can relax their minds for a little while, rehab nagging injuries, and turn their bodies into an indestructible machine.

If the athlete's goal is just to enjoy high school and college is something that is not important, then by all means play every sport possible.  But if your dream is to play at the next level you better think about your whole body of work.  Your game has to be real nice and so does your body.  Athletes cannot get continually better when they are playing in competitive seasons year around at the high school age.  They will burn out, get injured, or stay average.

Dad vs. 776 lb tire

There are those that will

and those that won’t

Those that do

and those that don’t

The video I posted is of my 52 year old father flipping a 776 lb tire at my training facility Flex Athletic Performance.  My dad has worked his ass off for many years for a trucking company in which he drove a truck and lifted heavy shit up all day long for more than 30 yrs.  From these experiences day in and day out my dad developed what I like to call "Man Strength."  Man strength differs from strength from lifting weights in that my dad might not be able to bench 300 lbs, but I'm pretty sure he could knock the hell out of most people who do so regularly at places like Golds Gym!  

It was Super Bowl Sunday and my family and friends were watching the game at my house.  We started talking about the kids who were flipping a "450 lb" tire at my facility and about some other people who have tried and failed.  My dad looked at all of us and "Guaranteed" that he could flip the tire!  Said he had delivered those things in the past and could flip it with ease!  We weren't gonna argue with him so we just nodded.  I didn't think he would come close.

Next day my dad came into the gym and told us that he was there to flip the tire.  He told us that he was only gonna do it one time and to "Get the camera ready!"  

Wow... Thats about the worst tire flipping form you are gonna see on a successful flip!  I wouldn't have wanted it to go down any other way though.  The "Man Strength" that I was trying to describe earlier jumps out of that video.  There have been way too many things that were hard in my dad's life that he overcame to just let go of that tire when it got heavy.  Make no mistake about it,  that was one helluva struggle!

Now, let us finally clear up a major detail about this story.  The tire most definitely does NOT weigh 450 lbs.  It weighs 776 lbs.  After his triumph my dad was determined to figure out exactly how much the tire weighed.  A shot in the dark guess is how we arrived at 450.  He took the model number and make of the tire and printed out the results.  Our tire was one "heavy, expensive bastard."  It's weight was 776 lbs and the price of it brand new was $3,500! Had my dad known beforehand exactly how heavy the tire was he would have never tried it in the first place.  

How powerful is our mind?  

My dad's mind was made up in my living room on Super Bowl Sunday that he could flip the tire.  That's all it took.  My dad goes to the gym on occasion (wish it were a little more).  He cannot bench press 200 lbs and he definitely wont even attempt to squat or dead lift more than 135!  He knew that he could flip the tire and he did it.  Plain and simple.

There have been a few people who have flipped this tire and many more who have gotten stoned cold by it.  Some of the guys that have been successful are not as "strong" in lower body strength or upper body strength as some of the people who've had NO success flipping the tire.  The kids that do it are the kids that know they can do it.  They walk up with confidence and explode into the tire without thinking about it.  "There are those that do and those that don't." 

While training you can learn a whole lot about somebody from something as simple as flipping a tire.  You see qualities in men that seem as if they are pouring right out of their skin.  Attitude, desire, determination, and in my dad's case; resilience.  I have great respect for people that are able to overcome obstacles in life.  Sometimes its the strength we have learned from experiences outside the gym that help us most inside of it.  Some guys get it.  Some guys don't.  Life is not about flipping tires but it's about never quitting.  I've learned way too many things to mention from my dad and this was just another reminder that he is still king! 

Tire Hall of Fame:

Mitch Bingham (Alta)

Nik Wolford (Alta)

Landon Fisher (Riverton)

Zane Smith (Brighton)

Zach Miller (Jordan)

Rob Gueck

Sr. John Madsen

Yours Truly 

Come give it a try!