This is the cornerstone of my training philosophy and something I adopted quite early on in my career as an athlete. It came about when I was active in futsal and was obviously practicing my sport a lot, but alongside that strength training and doing other training modalities in the gym. What really gave me an eye opener into versatility was when I started practicing yoga, moving my body into different yoga postures was not only good for peace of mind but also adhered in flexibility and mobility (+ the feeling of activating muscles and tissues in a way I never had before), which had carryover to my ability to move efficiently in Futsal. Yoga became a part of my morning routine and I did it religiously for over a year, in some ways I still feel as if I carry the effects from practicing Yoga in my life & training. It gave me a new base level of flexibility, which I have maintained through my training since.
By this point, some of you might be wondering what versatility means..
"the ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities."
That is perfectly summarised in my opinion and it is such an important statement, especially as it relates to training. Most people that start up a training routine do so around a specific activity that they enjoy, pursuing what is joyful and what they want & like. That is amazing in itself and something I always encourage, BUT (that is a big but) over time it can lend to backfiring if we are not dilligent with other forms of movement and looking at our movement capacities holistically. For instance, a runner that only runs day in & day out eventually starts having problems with their knees, hips, and feet because they lack the awareness & knowledge of what they need and how other training modalities could support their body and running practice. The body tends to respond poorly to the same stimulus being repeated too frequently and intensely over time, which could lead to pain and injuries (very often does...).
Versatility gives you range, rather than being specified in one direction you have the ability to do more and put your body into various different environments and handling them well. Oftentimes when we are focused on a narrow set of abilities, let's say "strength training" for this example, increasing your strength in a squat or deadlift has a limit and pursuing a higher number on the bar compromises other abilities that might actually be more applicable to your life, overall function and performance. It is different if your sole focus is to improve in a sport like powerlifting, but even then it could be useful to take some precautionary actions to support yourself for the long-term.
How to train for versatility?
Training for versatility is really looking at the various capabilities of the body and centering a plan around that. It does not have to be as time consuming and complicated as it could feel and look from the outside. You will be miles ahead if you have played any sports growing up as a youth, as they generally challenge many of these abilities.
Let's look at some of the biomotor abilities that our body has:
Coordination
Speed
Power
Flexibility
Strength
Agility
Balance
Endurance
These are things that each person can improve upon, and no we don't have to separate each of them into individual sessions, i.e "agility training", "balance training". The biomotor abilities should be included in different exercises that have a versatile input, doing a deadlift on a single leg will challenge balance, coordination, strength and other abilities depending on how the exercise is executed.
It is important to keep in mind that the body is capable of reacting and adapating to multiple stimulus at once, so the training can occur in a concurrent fashion, where we are doing everything within the same program in different ways.
Train to be strong, mobile, endurant, agile, fast, powerful, coordinative.. Essentially with this versatile approach to training, the goal is to be as good of an athlete as you possibly can be.
If you are someone looking to compete in different events, your training might be altered into the requirements of the event, let's say you are running a marathon. The bulk of your training will most likely be focused on running but you should still have a strength training regimen for injury prevention and keeping your other abilities and markers at bay.
Versatility gives you longevity and health throughout life. Training in a varied way ensures that you are maintaining and improving the body's different abilities overall, which helps offset disability and aging. Therefore, it is important to lay this foundation early on, when we are investing more time into our practice and more malleable towards improvement. People who's training background and experience solely consists of gym training & bodybuilding, generally gets this wake-up call a few years in, even though they have improved the aesthetics of their physique, they are not more mobile, limber, conditioned than prior. Some are forced in new directions, whilst others keep hammering the same nail and stay the same, furthering problems & dysfunctions to their bodies.
This could be your wake up call, whether you are not training at all or if you are not training versatile, to do just that. You owe it to your potential..
Comments