Brandon's Rules of Training: Rule #4

Safety

Why is safety #4 and not #1 when many places and organizations make safety their first priority? That is a great question. Are we trying to get people hurt to drum up business for the rehab side? No, not at all. The reason it is #4 and not #1, is that to me Safety is impled in everything we do.

As we train kids, safety is emplied in everything that we do. From the first test to the 25th visit, whether we are teaching an athlete a basic drill or loading an advanced drill, we do it safely. Safety is intertwined in everyting we do, and if we are doing our jobs correctly we can limit any unsafe situations. Effort, Consistency, and Focus on the other hand, are characteristics that we have little to no control over. This is the main reason why they rank higher.

Another reason, is that we limit our numbers at any given time so that we maintain a 3:1 athlete to coach ratio. We can't do 1-on-1 training, but this is as close as you can get. This helps ensure safety, and gives us more control to manipulate each workout on a daily basis so that we get the best results possible.

From a programming standpoint, again safety is implied. On our initial evaluaation, every athlete goes through the FMS. The FMS is a very valuable tool that tells us what movements each athlete can do safely and which movements have a likely hood of causing harm. This information is then used to help safely select appropriate exercises for each athlete. Alot of our athletes -and truthfully, mostly parents- want to do things that they consider "harder" in their workout. Every athlete has to earn the right to do a challenging exercise. Harder does not equal better - look at the staggering injury rates of some training facilities that hang their hats on being hard on their clients. More is only better when more is done correctly, otherwise injury risk rises.

So, while safety may be #4 on my list of rules it is the #1 thing we as a staff work on everyday without anyone really noticing it. But then again, who notices an athlete that doesn't get hurt while training or while taking part in their chosen activity?