Results matching “thumb”

This is a guest post from the inimitable Fight Geek - Training Partners. Enjoy.

Watching this commercial got me thinking about training partners. Training partners are an essential part of most sports. They provide encouragement, friendly competition, the odd rebuke and of course--help you train the aspects of your sport you can't train by yourself. Or that's what they're supposed to do. Unfortunately, sometimes training partners can prevent progress rather than foster it. So it's important for athletes to be discerning. Over the years I've learned two important lessons about training partners . . .

1. You will become like the person you train with. I can't over-emphasize this point. If your training partner is a lazy, ignorant, excuse-filled, thumb-sucking, moron--you'd do better to train by yourself (unless Homer Simpson is your athletic ideal.) Only a high-quality training partner can provide high-quality training. Sounds obvious, but I've seen more than a few athletes blow their careers (and health!) by selecting the wrong training partner. This point leads on to the next . . .
2. To get an awesome training partner, you have to be an awesome training partner. For the vast majority of my 'training life' I've had great training partners. I'm convinced one of the reasons I've been so 'lucky' is that I 've made it my business to work on my partners development just as much as I work on my own. I've always viewed training with others as a means of mutual improvement.

So what should you be looking for in a training partner? I think there are three must-haves . . .

Watching this commercial got me thinking about training partners. Training partners are an essential part of most sports. They provide encouragement, friendly competition, the odd rebuke and of course--help you train the aspects of your sport you can't train by yourself. Or that's what they're supposed to do. Unfortunately, sometimes training partners can prevent progress rather than foster it. So it's important for athletes to be discerning. Over the years I've learned two important lessons about training partners . . .

1. You will become like the person you train with.

   I can't over-emphasize this point. If your training partner is a lazy, ignorant, excuse-filled, thumb-sucking, moron--you'd do better to train by yourself (unless Homer Simpson is your athletic ideal). Only a high-quality training partner can provide high-quality training. Sounds obvious, but I've seen more than a few athletes blow their careers (and health!) by selecting the wrong training partner. This point leads on to the next . . .



2. To get an awesome training partner, you have to be an awesome training partner.

   For the vast majority of my 'training life' I've had great training partners. I'm convinced one of the reasons I've been so 'lucky' is that I've made it my business to work on my partner's development just as much as I work on my own. I've always viewed training with others as a means of mutual improvement.

So what should you be looking for in a training partner? I think there are three must-haves . . .