As an athlete or even as a human being strength plays an important role in our performance. As a culture we are driven by performance and productivity it’s actually affecting our long term ability to perform. Consider the majority of conversations parents have with their kids. It’s usually centered around “How was school” or “How was practice”…
Without knowing it they are asking their kids how did you perform today? It makes sense why so many kids are getting in the car, turning their backs to their parents and staring out the window.
It’s kinda like getting a report card in grade school and having your parents sign off on it. Except typically report cards are distributed every quarter or semester. Now they are getting a report card every single day from mom and dad! How exhausting!
Strength is similar to the performance. Such as the example above in today’s culture the only type of strength that gets measured is physical strength!
Every coach and parent correlates physical strength with the ability to perform at a high level. While this can be the icing on the cake and give an athlete a competitive advantage it should not be the only focus.
Why? Because kids are craving connection and physical strength training should be used as a platform to build that personal connection.
It’s part of the exact formula and unique mechanism that I have spent decades researching, analyzing and refining that high performance in sports and life is centered around Mentorship – Mindset – Strength…
The ability to perform in whatever you do does not just require you to work really hard in the weight room or practice field. That helps and can produce results in the short term but can and is having devastating effects on today’s younger generation!
Strength Beyond The Weight Room
The weight room or training facility is used as a platform to build young athletes and kids Inner, Emotional and Mental Strength…
The STRENGTH to chase after your own goals, being strong enough to tell parents or coaches you do not care about X goal. Maybe that’s the parents or coaches goal for the child.
Emotional strength to walk away from a group of friends because their values do not align with their own. Maybe even the Inner strength to wake up in the morning and wear the clothes you desire. Not an outfit that allows you to fit in with the crowd.
Consider the mental strength to stand up for yourself maybe through a conversation with a trusted mentor. Not allowing yourself to bottle up all those feelings, never speaking with anyone because you think it makes you look weak.
You see there are layers and layers to the concept of strength! I do agree that physical strength plays a role in all this and should not be overlooked. Because building physical strength can give you confidence or ignite a fire for kids to see more of their true value. Leading to a spillover in other areas of their lives.
Building Rapport
Without the ability for today’s youth to feel a sense of connection they are turning towards numbing their stress and pain. Sadly, a staggering number of individuals today are turning towards suicide to deal with life’s worries, stress and anxiety.
For instance in a recent study done on average a person commits suicide every two hours in the state of Texas. Even worse it’s the second leading cause of death in the state between the ages of 10-34 years old.
Maybe it’s time for us to make a cultural shift on how we look at strength and performance. Because this generation is dealing with problems we were not exposed to. It’s not ok for us to just go with the concept of “suck it up”…
As you can see in the above statistics that approach is not working. Actually the problem of things like bullying are far greater than we know because in a different study 64% of kids in school say that they never reported being bullied!
It’s a major reason why even many successful athletes become depressed or lost in life because their entire life they were valued based on their performance on the field.
Now that their playing career has come to an end whether that’s in high school, college or the professional level people now see them as washed up. Or they are on to rooting for the next big name. People now pass them by in the streets hardly noticing them.
It leaves them with a feeling of emptiness and hopelessness!
Using The Training Platform Differently
This is the exact reason our platform is centered around not just building the physical body but the mind through providing a strong mentor for your child.
We have all heard from various speakers and authors the idea that you’re an average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. I genuinely believe there is a lot of truth to that…
That’s why our mentors stay involved in kids’ lives outside of the gym and NOT just talking to them about sports. They are looking for someone to confide in and build rapport while trust must be built first.
Strength Progressions
It’s a very subtle progression. The connection starts to build during their workouts. The small talk between sets. Taking time 5 minutes before the lift and 10-15 minutes after the workout to get to know them on a personal level.
It’s NOT about offering them advice and telling them everything they need to know or do differently to be successful! That’s where every coach makes the mistake and immediately starts offering advice.
It’s about allowing them to understand that they have a voice by someone listening. It’s showing them that their text messages and phone calls outside the gym genuinely matter and mean something!
Once they know they can trust you because you have taken an interest in their lives the strength to become vulnerable begins to increase. Vulnerability is like a muscle and can be grown and built.
As the connection between mentor and individual continues to grow it spills over into all areas of their lives. I have not only witnessed growth in the athletes I have mentored but in the parents as well.
Their emotional strengths begin to skyrocket and begins one of the most liberating feelings in the world.
You begin to understand that you are not shackled to what society, peers, or coaches might have taught you before.
The Path We Seek For Our Kids
We all want what’s best for our kids but oftentimes to steer them away from their hearts desires. Not because we are bad people, bad parents or they have bad teachers. More so because they just do not understand what they are saying or doing.
Parents get caught in the performance race especially in sports to send their kids to the big name facility. The reality is that that model continues to fail parents and kids in the short and long term.
Kids are not reaching their full potential. More importantly they living with stress, worry and anxiety they continue to bottle up for years even decades.
Statistics show you that young adults are seeking an outlet but no other place is delivering it for them.
They are not teaching them to build emotional strength to see their own true value and worthiness.
The mental strength to walk away from groups or talk to someone about getting bullied, their sadness or loneliness.
Or the Inner Strength to create the life they desire and deserve.
We are all creators and that’s why this unique mechanism of MINDSET – MENTORSHIP – STRENGTH is so successful!