Reps are the key to training…and life

If you want to get better at a particular skill or movement, it makes 100% sense that you would to perform that skill over and over until you become better.  

You may begin slowly and even walk through a particular pattern over and over again, but if you are persistent and continue to work through things, you will get better.

This is a simplistic view point of motor learning but also how an athlete learns a particular skill, weather it be a an exercise (strength, speed, power, mobility, etc) or life skill (staying positive, not showing bad body language, being a great teammate, encouraging, etc.).  

The key to how much an athlete progresses in these tasks is how often the skill or behavior is repeated.  

These reps must be done on a daily basis if the skill or behavior is to be improved.  

These skills and behaviors need to be performed with focus, intensity and a great amount of effort if they are to be displayed all the time (HABIT).  

I like to think and talk in principles and often find that those who understand principles are able to apply these principles to anything.  

This principle is very simple but often forgotten when looking to improve athletes and ultimately people.

If you want to get stronger in a particular movement, then it makes sense to perform that movement daily.  Notice I didn't say to load it daily, but you can perform the movement everyday, sometimes even multiple times a day depending upon what you do.    

If you want to improve somebody's deep squat pattern, then perform it daily; choose exercises designed to improve the mobility in the hips and ankles and demand excellence when performing these movements.  

If you want your teams to have great energy and enthusiasm when they train and to always work hard no matter what is asked of them then that needs to be demanded on a daily basis.  

It all comes down to reps and you as the coach must figure out how to implement and program "reps" into your program and culture.