Extreme Athletes: The Greatest Athletes in the World

Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly interested in extreme sports. Like most people I enjoy watching some of the daredevil type acrobatics that these athletes are able to achieve. Athletes such as Tony Hawk, Laird Hamilton, Travis Pastrana, and Shawn White have come along and completely redefined our perception of what is possible. Being that I rode dirt-bikes growing up and currently surf I have some vague idea of the level that guys like Pastrana and Hamilton are reaching and even though I have almost zero interest in skate or snowboarding I am still glued to my tv when Tony Hawk and Shawn White are performing. In fact watching Tony Hawk’s 900 at the ESPN X-Games or Laird Hamilton’s ride at Teahupoo ranks right up there with some of the greatest athletic moments I’ve ever seen.

So how can a guy who has no interest at all in skateboarding rank Tony Hawk’s 900 as one of his favorite all-time athletic moments? When I initially saw Tony Hawk’s 900 I was blown away by the perseverance it took to accomplish this feat. You could see the look of determination in his face, the single pointed focus he had, and what he was doing to focus his mind to accomplish what many had deemed impossible. This single even launched my fascination with the extreme athlete. As I had done to so many athletes in the past I began to study how these athletes thought, trained, and viewed their sport. The more I learned the more I gained a greater appreciation and admiration for these amazing individuals. So much so that I now believe that these athletes are the greatest and most complete athletes in the world. They have found what most major sports including baseball is lacking. The have found that in order to be successful and take their sport to higher levels that they must train their body, mind, and spirit. Why? Quite frankly because their life depends on it!

Unlike in baseball where a mechanical flaw, a cluttered mind, or an ego centered spirit will lead to a hitter striking out or a pitcher giving up a homerun, extreme athletes must deal with the reality that a mistake or lack of focus might equal death. In addition I love how these athletes are continually rewriting our perception of what’s possible. This has lead me to study their training techniques and use these techniques on myself and my athletes. I always think it’s funny how people in baseball are quick to call something impossible. They’re quick to say you can’t teach a person to hit as if mastering the physical skill of hitting is some mystical, God given ability. Yet here we have extreme athletes learning complex physical movements on a regular basis. Once someone accomplishes the “impossible” these athletes then take the impossible movement even farther. Obviously they know something we don’t. Obviously they have figured out how to get their body and mind to do what they want and then perform these skills time and time again.

So what can we learn from them? What is it that we can apply to our sport that will enable us to take our personal game to higher levels and at the same time raise the level of play of baseball across the globe?

• A lack of egoic thinking- Oh sure these athletes are driven to be the best and it can be argued that they walk around with a certain level of arrogance. However unlike most baseball players many of the world’s best extreme athletes see their performance as serving something more, something greater then themselves. Maybe it’s because they’ve been striving for so long to make their sport mainstream but it seems as though they feel a certain level of responsibility to their sport. Many of them in their interviews can be heard saying that what they just accomplished is great because it helps their sport gain more exposure. At the same time they appreciate the feats of their fellow competitors. While they are driven to be the best and genuinely want to win their event they also appreciate when their competitors take the sport to higher levels. You often see professional skateboarders applauding their opponent’s performance. Unlike in baseball where many times we are more concerned with our stats, our results, our playing time these athletes see their sport as bigger then themselves. Sometimes they even take it a step further and feel like great performance was a gift given to them by some higher power. They feel gratitude that they were able to perform at such a high level which ultimately allows them to continue to perform at this level and allows them to continually be blessed with great experiences. Many times after a great game we are quick to think that we did it, that we are the man, and it’s because we are better then everyone else that we were able to produce such an amazing result. In the movie Riding Giants Laird Hamilton was asked about his ride at Teahupoo and his response was, “I was honored to be given the opportunity to have such an amazing experience.” Clearly an absence of egoic thinking, playing for something more then yourself, can lead to higher and higher levels of performance.

• A Holistic Approach to Training- Unlike many of us in baseball or other mainstream sports these athletes have discovered that in order to reach for and beyond the impossible you must train your entire self. They understand that we are only as strong as our weakest link and physical skills are meaningless without a strong mind and spirit. They understand the power of connectivity and how everything is connected, weakness in one creates weakness in another. Many times you can find these athletes engaged in meditation to clear and strengthen their mind, visualization so they can see and mentally practice a new trick or skill (you often hear them comment that, “You must first see the trick in your mind long before you can ever do it physically”), weight training to strengthen their body and allow them to handle the pounding that they must go through, and yoga to maintain or increase the body’s flexibility so they can gain greater range of motion and more control over their limbs. They don’t leave anything out and as such are some of the most well balanced athletes on the planet.

• Detailed, Step by Step, and Progressive Approach to Skill Development- Since the skills these athletes perform are so dangerous and so complex they take the time to break their movements down in easily manageable and safe parts. They take an entire skill break it down into parts, practice and master each part individually, and then put the whole thing together. Compare that to how we tend to learn how to hit or pitch. In hitting we’ll get on a tee or off of a machine and take full swings. Then you get a coach or even yourself to tell you what adjustments to make and you then try to make that adjustment and master that part of the swing while you are engaged in performing your swing in it’s entirety. If you aren’t able to learn it you are then, “just not a born or natural hitter.” Crazy right? In the grand scheme of things a mechanically sound swing or good pitching mechanics are far easier to learn then Shawn White’s Double Front Side 1080 you just need to break the movement down and master it one step at a time. Since poor head position, or a flaw in your posture is enough in extreme sports to get you docked major points or even cause you to be unable to pull off a trick these athletes are very detail oriented and very aware of what their body is doing at all times. Unlike baseball where we have a tendency to not pay attention to what our body is doing or where our posture is in space these athletes know what their body must do in order to pull off their particular trick. Once again they see the connection between poor head position and their body’s ability to perform. Finally they are progressive. They take their time gradually increasing the difficulty of their movements and slowly pushing the limits of their sport. They don’t have a time table like we often do in baseball. We have this belief that if we aren’t so good by such and such a date then we’ll never make it. This adds unneeded stress and negativity to our game and as a result inhibits our development. When Tony Hawk pulled off the 900 he had been trying to land the trick for approximately 20 years. Laird Hamilton didn’t just wake up one day and say, “Hey let’s go surf a 60 foot wave.” He had been in the water his whole life, gradually increasing the difficulty of his skills until a 60 foot was the logical next step. In our sport when we place deadlines we create frustration, comparison, and stress, all of which will slow and prevent your overall development and performance.

• They Perform in “The Moment” and are Process Oriented- In baseball we have a tendency to focus on outcomes. We concern ourselves with our numbers, getting hits, getting strikeouts, but rarely do we take the time to focus on the steps necessary to produce the results we desire. Extreme athletes have figured out that great performance is nothing more then an accumulation of single moments strung together. Why is this? Well once again, if they don’t focus on the moment, if they allow their mind to focus on the future or the past, looking forward to an outcome, or back to a failure, they might die! When Laird Hamilton rode his wave at Teahupoo he was 100% focused on what the wave was doing at the precise moment. As a result he was able to spontaneously come up with what he needed to do in order to stay on the wave. He had to do something he had never done before or had never even practiced before but being focused on the moment allowed his mind to remain clear which allowed him to create and execute the movement. The end result of surfing one of the toughest and most dangerous waves ever ridden was just the accumulation of these singular moments. If we applied this same mentality to baseball not only would we perform at higher levels but we would perform with far greater consistency. How many at bats it’s been since your last hit wouldn’t matter, what a particular hitter has done against you in his career would be meaningless, a bad call from an umpire wouldn’t effect an at bat, and you would be focused on executing the mental skills and physical movements that produce success and wouldn’t be focused on the success itself.

These are just some of the things I have learned from watching and studying extreme athletes. In my opinion due to their approach to their training, to their sport, and by the simple fact that failure results in serious injury or death these athletes are the greatest athletes in the world. Don’t make the mistake of believing that just because they don’t play a sport that has a ball that they aren’t as athletic as we are or that we can’t learn from them and apply these lessons to our sport. I believe that if we did we would not only experience greater personal success on the field but the state of our game and how it is played would be greatly improved. If you want to take your game to higher levels begin to watch and learn from these athletes. Maybe something they do or say will enable you to play at levels you once only dreamed of.

The Application of Knowledge is Power

With the start of the high school season I’ve had the opportunity to get out and watch some of my athletes in game situations. The more games I attend and the more I speak with my athletes I’ve found that rarely to they use many of the mental skills we work on during our sessions. Frustrated by this I’ve thought a lot about why an athlete wouldn’t consciously decide to use the physical and mental skills we work on? Why, when it’s left up to them do they just assume that success will just magically happen? They almost have this idea that success on the field is left up to chance. They go into each game with the intention and hope of performing well but when it’s game time they don’t take the steps necessary to allow themselves to produce the results they desire. The more I thought about this the more I began to realize that the reason that they aren’t able to translate the knowledge they learn in our sessions is that they are stuck in their old way of thinking. It’s easy for them to see the improvements that they’re making but once it’s game time they have a difficult time thinking like the new player that they’ve become.

You see, before a player is introduced to proper hitting or pitching mechanics their entire game is left up to chance. They have flaws in their fundamentals so there are certain things they can’t do and they don’t have the knowledge of what steps they need to take in order to become successful. Once they are exposed to the knowledge they need to be successful they are still stuck in the old way of thinking and as a result have a tendency to believe that the knowledge they have obtained and the work that they’ve put in is enough to translate this knowledge out on the field and magically create the level of performance that they desire to create. But what they don’t realize is success is a process. Success is not something that just happens but is a result of steps you take and the application of the knowledge you’ve gained.

Too often players get into a game and become reactionary. They “see ball, hit ball” and react to whatever comes their way which puts the athlete in a constant state of feeling defensive. When in this defensive state they feel unsure, they lack confidence, and become tense. This tension prevents the athlete from executing the new mechanics they’ve been working on. It’s important that athletes realize that success is not created by chance, fate, or good luck. Success isn’t created by “natural talent” or some kind of God given ability. Success is a creation of physical and mental processes. In order for an athlete to achieve the level of performance that they desire they must be able to detach themselves from their reaction mentality. They must not allow the stress of the moment to cloud their thinking and stay focused on going through the process that leads to success step by step. Athletes must begin to apply the knowledge that they gain in their lessons and practices if they ever hope to achieve success. They must focus on what they need to do to create the success they desire and avoid hoping that they’ll succeed. When an athlete begins to become process oriented and apply the knowledge they’ve learned their performance will skyrocket and become much more consistent. If you find yourself in a game hoping that you will be successful take a step back. Remember what you’ve worked on and begin to apply this knowledge to your game. Don’t get so caught up in the moment that you forget what you’ve learned and just leave your success up to chance. Remember, success is a process and you have the ability to choose to take the steps necessary to succeed.

How Much Does Strength Training Really Help

I was in Vitamin Shoppe the other day and saw a couple players from a local high school shopping for the newest and latest supplement that will to transform a mere mortal into superman. Instantly taking these athletes to high levels of performance. It reminded me of my own career. I, like everyone else, believed that if I busted my butt in the weight room and became the strongest guy on the field then that would mean that I would be the best hitter or the best player. I took all the hot supplements at the time, I took my protein, my creatine, and considered taking andro. I got strong, really strong, and yet my performance on the field never improved. I didn’t hit the ball any farther or harder, I didn’t throw any harder, I didn’t really run any faster.

I see this today with some of the athletes I know. Athletes who workout at the gym I workout at who don’t invest their time in learning proper swing or throwing mechanics. I see these athletes transform physically. They make huge gains in strength tests in the gym, they put on weight, and hardly resemble the athletes they were just a few months earlier. Yet they don’t hit the ball any better and they don’t throw any harder. The question then becomes, Why? Why is it that this strength isn’t translating to better and better performance? The answer has to do with their mechanics. If you are not mechanically sound then gains in strength and size will not help very much if at all.

One of my own athletes proves this all the time. He is small, very small. He might be 135 pounds soaking wet, doesn’t lift weights consistently, yet he produces the most power of any of my athletes. Why? Because he is the most mechanically sound. His bat gets into his strongest possible position at the point of contact. At that moment he and the bat become one. Allowing all 135 pounds and all of the energy he’s created up to that point and all of the strength that he has to instantaneously meet with the ball at the same time, producing much more power then his larger teammates. You compare that to one of my strong, 200 pound athletes and maybe they aren’t as far along developmentally. They don’t get into the same position at the point of contact and as a result maybe they only use 100 pounds of their weight at the point of contact, plus their energy and strength is wasted because they never get to that strong position and the bat and the body never merge as one. Think of a 120 pound person hitting a baseball with an aluminum bat while a 200 pound person hits a baseball with a whiffle ball bat. The 120 pound person will hit the ball farther because the bat is harder and more dense where as the whiffle ball bat doesn’t have any strength behind it. It doesn’t matter how big the athlete is or how fast their bat speed is. If they are swinging with a weaker bat the ball still won’t go anywhere. Essentially what I am talking about is the same thing. If a bigger, stronger athlete never gets to that optimal position at the point of contact they are basically hitting with the whiffle ball bat.

So am I saying not to workout? Absolutely not! There are some tremendous benefits to strength training. Being stronger does allow you to run faster and explode faster. It will help you stay healthy throughout the grind of a season and it does help develop your athleticism. It will also allow you to get away with more mistakes. You might be able to “muscle” a few balls through the infield when your swing breaks down. What I am saying is don’t sacrifice your mechanics for strength. Don’t think by spending hours in the weightroom that this is sufficient to helping you develop as a baseball player. Don’t ignore developing your mechanics simply because you think lifting is going to help. Begin to think of baseball more like golf instead of football. In football being bigger, stronger, and faster clearly helps you, but baseball is a skill sport like golf. Being able to execute skills is far more important then being buff and strong. So if you have to decide between developing your mechanics or developing your muscles choose mechanics. Ideally the combination of both is what will help propel you to higher levels of performance but don’t think that taking creatine is going to get you to the levels you desire to reach. It is only through physical and mental mastery that we can reach the highest levels of performance. Strength training is a good supplement to help us get there it’s just not the answer. Do you need to work hard in the gym? Yes! Just understand that if you are not mechanically sound you won’t gain the benefits of your hard work. Make mastering your mechanics your priority and you will find that you won’t be wasting the hard work you put in the weightroom.