When pursuing athletic performance, it is important to be efficient and intentional with how you spend your time, whether this be within training or outside of it. It is important to have clarity and an understanding of what actions or decisions are propelling you towards your goals. Identifying which actions have the biggest return on investment and committing effort to these is where you will see real results. It is very easy to get caught up with smaller details. Arguably this is what performance is, working to achieve an extra one or two percent improvement in output. But this is meaningless if the other ninety-nine percent isn’t being accounted for. Therefore, emphasis should be heavily placed on consistently performing the main priorities and tasks that make up the bulk of that ninety-nine percent: the Big Rocks.
The idea of ‘Big Rocks’ comes from a philosophy lecture which went like this:
“A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks right to the top, rocks about 2″ diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.
So, the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them in to the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The students laughed. He asked his students again if the jar was full? They agreed that yes, it was.
The professor then picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. “Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other things in life that matter, but on a smaller scale. The pebbles represent things like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff. If you put the sand or the pebbles into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, material things, you will never have room for the things that are truly most important.
“Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter.”
We can apply this same concept to athletic training. What are the big rocks? What are the foundational tasks that must be performed consistently and to a high standard to achieve improvements in athletic performance.
1. Stimulus
Adaptation is driven by stimulus. Training stimuli refers to the specific conditions created by the type of training that elicits a particular response from the body. When pursuing a particular athletic goal, we need to ensure we are appropriately dosing an appropriate stimulus. Meaning we need to ensure we are training in a manner specific to our goals. Going for a 10km run everyday isn’t going to drive adaptation to be able to dunk a basketball. We also need to ensure we are training with appropriate volume, intensity and frequency. Load management of these variables is paramount in allowing us to overreach and create the conditions for adaptation without crossing into injury risk territory. Without stimulus we do not move the dial with regards to improving. Regularly performing training sessions that provide such a stimulus is essential when pursuing athletic performance.
2. Rest
Rest and recovery is the vehicle for adaptation. In order to adapt, there must be a period of time when training stress is no longer applied. As an athlete, it is very tempting to keep your hands firmly on the grindstone, training long and hard through gruelling sessions. While there is a time and a place for such sessions, if they are not accompanied by an appropriate period of rest the pain and suffering won’t be rewarded with the desired adaptations. Therefore, a significant emphasis must be placed on rest and recovery. You should apply the same intentionality you do to your rest as you do to your training. The main thing to consider when it comes to rest is sleep. Striving to maintain a high standard of sleep hygiene, focussing on both sleep quality as well as quantity, will aid the body’s adaptation processes. While awake, efforts should be made to relax post-training and as much as possible throughout the day.
3. Fuel
Nutrition and hydration form the third big rock of athletic performance. These are required both for real-time performance, during a training session or competition, and to facilitate adaptation post-training. For nutrition, consideration such be given to your overall caloric, macronutrient and micronutrient intakes. Energy is required for the adaptation process and as such your caloric intake should reflect this. Emphasis should be placed on protein when considering macronutrient intake given its involvement in repair and rebuilding of tissues damaged during training. Micronutrient intake should be prioritised to ensure healthy cellular function. Achieving this through eating a balanced diet consisting largely of whole, single ingredient foods is a good approach. Hydration plays an important role in performance, injury prevention, and recovery for athletes. Fluid needs vary based on activity, intensity, environmental conditions, body size of the athlete and training status. Electrolyte intake should also be considered alongside fluid intake. Making an effort to be conscious of these factors when striving for athletic performance will pay dividends.
Actionable Summary
- Focus on the Big Rocks first!