Tip of the Month -- January 2007

The 5 Pillars of Team Weight Room Performance

by James Dub

Buildings are held together with strong pillars.  Without these pillars, the building would collapse and cease to exist.  Similarly, team weight room performance is held together by 5 important pillars.  Without these pillars team weight room performance will decrease quickly.

Attitude

Attitude starts the moment a team walks into the weight room.  Either the attitude is positive or negative.  At any rate attitude is contagious.  Therefore, one bad attitude can bring the whole team down.  It boils down to being either a positive leader or a positive follower.  A positive leader is the individual(s) who sets the tone for the group.  The positive follower is the individual(s) who decides to jump on board.  Take your choice, but do not bring the negative.

Focus

Without concentrated focus nothing positive can be accomplished.  Weight room focus ought to duplicate both competition and team practice focus.  The bottom line is that if focus is lost during competition, team practice, or weight room sessions, negative consequences occur.  Be aware and do not lose focus.  

Effort

Effort 100 percent of the time is essential for team weight room performance.  Every moment during competition that is lost due to lack of effort may be the difference between winning and losing.  This holds true in the weight room: Every set and rep that is lost due to lack of effort may be the difference between those small gains that make the big difference. 

Discipline

Discipline in the weight room is about consistently staying on task, keeping others on tasks, listening to and following the coach’s instructions.  The key with discipline is consistency, because without consistency discipline does not exist. 

Productivity

Both team and the individual productivity play a major role in deciding the outcome of weight room performance.  Productivity is about efficiency and concentrating focus and effort on the proper tasks.  Productivity allows the group to accomplish more in a timely manner. 

So ask yourself:

Do I have the right attitude?

Is my focus concentrated on the task at hand? 

Am I giving 100 percent effort throughout the session? 

Do I consistently demonstrate proper discipline? 

Is my weight room productivity high?