I have trained Trampoline at a competitive level for 4 years now and have basically done the same basic training program for as long as I can remember. I am starting to get bored on the same structured training and need to change up my style.
I like to be a very efficient athlete in terms of my training. If I can train for an hour and get the same results of training for 2 hours I will do it. I find that the people I train with are more laid back and take their time with their training but unfortunately I am too busy to take time that does not need to be taken. So I started racking my brain to think of how to increase performance and decrease time in the gym. I came up with this conclusion.
I found that when I worked on extremely difficult tricks that no one even competes because they are so hard, that It made my skills that I put into a routine easier. For example I start with a triple front flip in the pike position with a half turn on the last flip. If I train that skill but with four flips it would obviously increase my rotation because my body knows I have to do it or I will land on my head. So naturally and subconsciously I am increasing my rotation on my triple flip half turn out making it easier to do a trick out of it because I have more time to see my landing. Most trampolinists will simple do 10 triple fronts with a half out instead of trying a quad flip. When I tried that repetitive style of training I got bored and found it did not really help as much. After 10 attempts I found that I did improve a bit and the skill was easier but after only 1 or 2 quad flips I felt even faster and steadier on the triples with 20% of the time used in my training. If I take this principle and apply it to every skill then all my skills will seem very easy with very little effort and time on my part. I can increase my twist and rotation of all my tricks in 15 minutes. If I just did the same skill but just tried to force myself to do it faster I found it did not work as well and it took a lot more time.
A routine is obviously not just one trick at a time however. If I am going to take this principle and apply it to a full length routine then what I need to do it try the hardest difficulty I can do every day. Even if the routine is not completed, I still force my body to put a lot more force into the tricks and into the bounce height. I found that I jumped only as high as I felt I had to. If I was doing a simple routine in my eyes, I would naturally jump lower, but If I am doing my 18.2 degree of difficulty (D.D) then I notice I jump way higher because obviously I need to. If I am doing even one or two 17.5 D.D routine and over I still gain a lot of adaptation in terms of jump height , flip and twist power; more so then if I did 7 routines with a 15.8 D.D This saves me time and forces more adaptation then the training that most athletes do.
This principle is not a new phenomenon; it has been talked about before by a few people including Tim Ferriss, the Author of the book “Four Hour Body” (1). This source is only a sample of the book, for more info visit Tim Ferris’s blog which is posted on the right side of my blog (2). It is called the 80/20 Principle (Pareto Principal). It simply states that 80 percent of desired outcome comes from 20% input. These numbers are not exact but the idea is that the simple things that you do in life will get you the most results, instead of wasting time on the little things that do not get a lot of results.
Everyone, not just athletes can use this principle. A business man such as Tim Ferris can use this principle to make their business more functional and easier to handle but still retain profits. When you do anything in life stop and think, is there an easier way of doing this? Most likely there is but you just need to stop and block out what other people tell you and find what works for you. Sometimes a coach, boss, co worker etc. do not know all the answers or have the most efficient way of progressing. I found the best way to get through life in any aspect was to figure out what works for you, not to blindly listen to others because it has worked for them. Everyone is different and everyone needs a different structure of progression no matter what it is in life.
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