The Zen of Training: Why exercise selection matters and why it doesn’t matter

Many times is not what you do, it is how you do it. When I think of that in terms of exercise and training, I believe that it is so true.

I’ve always held to the belief that when it comes to training and preparing my athletes, there are a host of ways to prepare them to play in the competitive arena. Whether it’s dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls in the weight room or the vast variety of speed and agility drills on the turf, there are a ton of ways to prep athletes. 

In fact, you could work out every day for a year and never repeat the same exact work out given the variety of training tools and methods there are.

So it almost becomes a Zen riddle to me: everything matters and then nothing matters. Exercise and drill selection matter, BUT they don’t really matter.

You of course want to select the proper exercises and drills for the desired effect, but it means nothing if that exercise and or drill is not done with great effort and intent. Without those two things, WHAT you do doesn’t matter. It matters more with how you do it.

So be selective and very calculating when it comes to building your training programs for yourself or for your athletes/teams. But don’t stress thinking that the perfect program is “X”, and that it matters so much what you’re doing. Focus on the quality and effort put into the training/workout. 

That’s what matters, and that’s how you solve the zen riddle.