Environment dictates behaviour…
..or at least it has a sizeable hand in contributing to it.
Along with the individual in question
The below picture (not taken during lockdown I hasten to add) highlights this point both metaphorically and literally.
If you want people to put their weights back on the rack, it helps if the plates can physically go on the rack in the first place.
On a side note, I can't help but think that gym owners would revolutionise the efficiency at which their customers use their gyms if they actually trained in them themselves.
Any coach or teacher worth their salt will insist on their athletes putting their weight back…but a missed opportunity lies in communicating EXACTLY why this is important.
And it's not because it helps keep the facility tidy (although this is a non-negotiable when I’m training anyone).
An athlete's time with a coach is precious.
Even in the case of professional athletes, who may have more time to be able to dedicate to training than your average Joe, there is the opportunity cost associated with wasting time.
Opportunity cost is a concept from economics, which explains that every time you choose to spend (money, time, effort, etc) on one thing...that is time/money/effort that cannot be spent on something else.
If your athlete/s spends 5 minutes looking for a mini band or plates to go on the trap bar every session, this is 5 minutes they cannot get back in pursuing their goal of a higher vertical jump (or whatever is meaningful to them in their sport)…the same is true for when kids need to do their school work, that 5 minutes spent looking for a pen that works is 5 minutes they can’t get back on their games console or having a kickabout.
Last year I delivered a CPD session on warm ups to a group P.E teachers whereby I asked if they would be confident they could improve a pupil's ability in a sport of their choice if they had 52.5 x 2 hour lessons with said pupil.
Of course they all agreed that 6,300 minutes (or 52.5 lessons) was enough time to have a significant impact.
What I was truly getting at was that 5 minutes, whilst it may seem like an insignificant amount of time…
…when you add up 5 minutes of warm ups every session, when the pupils had up to 6 sporting practices a week, for 30 weeks of the year, for 7 years...this seemingly insignificant portion of time becomes something you need to become ruthless with.
5 minutes per lesson…for 6 lessons a week…for 30 weeks of the year…for 7 years...
..all of sudden 5 minutes spent either letting kids do whatever want (although there is a time and a place for this…just not every session) or simply spending 6,300 minutes jogging laps is an extortionate waste of the athletes time (and yours for that matter)
Dan Lonsdale, in Shift Movement Science podcast, makes a cracking point in stating that coaches need to "reinforce what you want your athletes to buy in to"
If we want our athletes to buy in to putting their weights back…on the premise that their time is precious, then we also need to make sure we stay true to this 'why' when we are coaching our athletes.
One of my favourite coaches, Dan John, justifies his use of loaded carries as teaching integrity.
What I mean by this little detour, is that our actions must communicate this ‘why’…not just our words.
And to preach to our athletes about the importance of not wasting time…but to allow the gym set up to deteriorate to the states often seen in commercial gyms, would lose our athletes trust quicker than they could spell out i-n-t-e-g-r-i-t-y.
If our athletes are to believe us when we say their time is precious…then the gym environment must be set up to maximise the return on time investment:
avoiding changing the pin heights on squat racks (plan your sessions so you don’t have Two foot Timmy and Six foot Sammy paired up to use the same squat rack)
avoiding taking weight off a bar (this ONLY happens at the end of the session, when no other athletes need that piece of equipment; the bar should only ever go up in weight to eliminate time wasted needlessly stripping a bar of weight only to put a different weight on
having to spend an inordinate amount of time looking for equipment (not cool, everything should have a logical and specific place that everyone is aware of, this also makes it easier to spot when something has been misplaced).
In order to make habits stick with our athletes. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, explains that we need to minimise the steps involved in this process.
Think how easy it is to cave on your pledge to eat less refined sugar when someone from work brings in cakes to the office…vs if you physically have to get in your car and drive to the shops to purchase the same sugary snack.
Likewise, if your child has to turn the gym upside down and waste 5 minutes trying to find the foam roller how likely do you think they are to persist in the habit of regular foam rolling?
Finally, if keeping our athletes accountable is important, which most coaches will agree it is, then we need a means of measuring what matters (again to quote Dan John).
Why?
As Rob Anderson elaborated on in the Platform to Perform Podcast (yes a shameless plug, sorry not sorry)…what gets measured gets managed
An incredibly small % of athletes make it to the professional ranks, I am starting to place more emphasis on developing psychosocial factors, and not just physical qualities, including
The ability to positively influence others
The discipline to execute the program as
The ability to communicate (both with teammates and coaches)
Only a finite number of athletes progress to the professional level
Sorry, it’s just the way it is
This is why making youth athletes better people, and not simply better athletes, is a key part of my philosophy.
Athletes who can take instructions and respond to feedback as well as criticism, sees young children grow into employable adults with the mental resiliency to deal with setbacks.
Something today’s 'trophies for all' society often neglects to develop.
Before you criticise your athlete’s behaviour, have a look at the training environment you have created, and evaluate to what extent this is helping or hindering them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Todd Davidson is a UKSCA accredited strength and conditioning coach who has gained experience with Olympic, Paralympic and professional athletes. Todd's passion for improving the physical literacy of the next generation, and athleticism within adults, comes from his belief that strength and conditioning should not be a service that is solely reserved for the sporting elite. If you would like discuss anything in the content presented, or have any questions relating to your own performance goals, please get in touch.