To get good at something, you need to put in the time.
This idea must be professed to young athletes, especially in a “results now” culture. Putting in the time teaches commitment and accountability. Show up and keep showing up.
We must profess this idea carefully; however, to not entertain destructive expectations.
Elite youth athletics are becoming costly on many fronts:
Literal dollars $
Physical demand
Mental demand
There is a lot to consider when going all in. This does not mean that exploring athletic talent from a young age is wrong. It clearly works out great for some who make it to the highest level.
What it does mean is the youth athlete often seeks or pushes for maximal gains at an early phase of development, potentially blunting responsiveness to gains in the later phases.
A post on X from Gordo Byrn, featured below, refers to this as LoadMax. If Merriam-Webster ever inks LoadMax in the dictionary, my name is all over that definition. I have lived it and know what can happen when you LoadMax and not LoadOptimize at 16 years old.
What does LoadMax look like?
It is fascinating to think about the level of swimming I was doing as a high schooler. We had a school-year training and competition schedule like the following:
5-6:30 a.m. and 4:00-7:00 p.m. M/W/F
4:00-7:00 p.m. T/Th
7:00-9:00 a.m. (sometimes 10:00) S
Off Sunday and it was needed
Multiple weekends on the road at meets
2-3 weeks off in August. A 48-week sport!
I do not illustrate this to be braggadocio. In fact, it is common in other sports such as soccer, gymnastics, baseball, basketball, etc. I am no longer impressed with the schedule because it only created a vat of fatigue. I got some positive results at competitions, but nothing that would cause one to say “he did that because he trains like an animal!”.
Let’s apply the main tenets of Gordo’s post:
Doubles in the school year? Yep.
Yes to other interests? Nope.
Time for sleep and school? It happened, but was not ideal.
How does it happen?
Part of the problem is that we [many of the athletes in the group] enjoyed most of what we were doing. We loved to train, never missed a workout, and viewed crawling out of the facility as a hallmark of honest work. There also seems to be a promise of success when you set forth high expectations and go all in, but that is not necessarily true. You might get what you want or you might not.
In my case, I put the expectations on myself, but many others had external pressure from parents, high-level colleges, or coaches to exhaust all of their resources in pursuit of athletic success. The parenting landscape in youth sports is an area worth examining, but I will save that for perhaps a different article.
It’s hard to justify holding back a motivated youth athlete when the acute effects of LoadMax manifest as feeling like a rockstar. The ill effects of doing way too much did not show up for me until 4-5 years later when I was in college.
Having a coach or facilitator who understands the temptation and how to deflect the temptation in a direction that fosters growth is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Not everyone is fortunate to have this.
Avoiding temptation
There will always be kids who are forcing themselves to LoadMax or have parents who are pressuring them to do so. This is tempting to follow suit and the reason is two-fold:
You’ll get really good
You’ll stay on pace with the other LoadMaxers
What you won’t get is breathing room for growth later on. It is called LoadMax for a reason. The ceiling is being reached.
What happened when I went to the next level; to college? I swam out of my mind freshman year. I finally got my year of rest because what we were doing was LESS than I was accustomed to. Traditionally, the college level is where the preparation and commitment ratchets up a notch.
I consider this my grace period because it eventually came to an end. I was mentally and physically spent by the end of my second season. More so in the mental arena.
The development process had stalled. I kept swimming all of the way through, but the limit pushing done at age 15, 16, 17 had caught up.
Where to look
This is not a sob story or a soliloquy for me to complain. Rather, it is a way to illustrate what is happening to more folks than myself.
With a more rational view nowadays, I can identify some important areas that a parent or coach may want to keep in mind:
Always be setting up the next step
Decide when you want to be your strongest. This requires guidance. A 16 year-old does not have the foresight to do this.
Leave room for more. Do more as maturity permits.
In a practical sense, this may be as simple as:
Dialing in foundational strength training for a high schooler
Specific strength becomes more important as the athlete ages, therefore, setting up a foundation for optimizing strength is a sound strategy. Strength serves a lifelong functional purpose too.
Fostering a positive relationship with the game or sport
Leaving a sport at the end of a career and wanting nothing to do with it is unfortunate. Play and compete with appreciation.
Expanding versatility
Specializing in a particular event or position can wait. Opt for the diverse skillset.
Doing something “else” outside the sport!
Other interests matter. There is a lot to explore with friends and at school. These opportunities should be capitalized on.
Athletic excellence at a young age is not inherently bad.
The benefits of a structure and a time commitment are a teacher that extends beyond the athletic realm. Exploring talent should be fun and celebrated.
The problems begin to occur when it is taken too far. While not apparent initially, the potential downstream effects are undesirable.
Put in the time. Understand the costs. Keep a leash on it. Don’t Load like Max.