What does it mean to be athletic?
Is it about being ‘elite’ at sport? Do you have to be elite to be an athlete? Do you just have to play sport? Is it being good at one particular aspect of fitness or do you have to be good at them all? Is every one who trains an athlete?
I think we can agree on the fact that it means something a little bit different to everyone.
At Principal Athletic, we believe to be athletic is to work on the physical qualities that it means to be an athlete, that is to work on strength, power, endurance, flexibility speed, mental capacity, aerobic & anaerobic capacity, balance and co-ordination and mental capacity.
And whilst our members aren’t training to be elite athletes (I mean, who knows, maybe they are…). What most of them want is to genuinely push themselves to see what their bodies are capable of, and to build a level of strength and capability that carries into every part of their life - like being strong enough to pick up their kids for as long as they want it, to carry the shopping bags from the car in 1 trip, but also driven enough to chase a heavier lift, a faster time or a skill they didn’t think they could do 6 months ago.
Which is why we train all of these qualities in some form in every single class we do - because performance and everyday capability aren’t 2 completely different things, they are the same thing, packaged up slightly differently.
What are the qualities and how do we train them?
Strength - is the foundation of everything we do at PA. Whether you’re following PHT or Athletic, followed consistently and at the right intensity with the right guidance, you will build strength..
Power - is how quickly you can develop force and we train this in many forms whether that is developing your Olympic lifting skills, plyometrics and jumping or sprinting so it’s not how much you can lift, but how explosively you can do it, which is a skill itself that comes with practice and training.
Balance & coordination - this is where gymnastics work comes in. Pull ups, ring work, box jumps all demand actual control over your own body weight. And it’s different to strength because being strong does not automatically translate to being coordinated. It also carries over into everything else we do.
Endurance - anaerobic + aerobic capacity - in other words, your engine. How long you can sustain efforts and how well you handle short intense bursts. We train this through all of our programmes & across various modalities. Essentially building your capacity to keep performing, even when things get uncomfortable.
Speed & flexibility - speed is trained through shorter intense efforts like sprints for example, and fast explosive movement patterns like the snatch. Whilst flexibility is built through the ranges of motion our programming demands of you eg squatting to full depth, the overhead position or a deep lunge.
Mental capacity - this one isn’t as obvious but it’s trained in the same way. It’s showing up when you didn’t want to (this is probably when you need it most!), it’s staying composed when you can’t quite grasp a movement, it’s carrying on when the workout gets hard and it’s helped by the right coach who knows when to push you and when to take the foot off the gas.
So what are we actually training for?
Your every day is full of little physical challenges. Whether that’s picking your kids up off the floor, carrying the shopping, running for the bus, getting up and down off the floor, moving furniture, walking up a few flights of stairs without feeling like you need an ambulance.
Thats why everything we do has a purpose beyond the gym floor. Because being fit isn’t just about what happens inside the 4 walls of PA. It’s about building a body that is strong, capable and useful in everyday life. And if you get a few PBs along the way, for us, that’s the icing on the cake.
That’s what we’re training for at PA. 💪🏽