Most people’s idea of “training” or working out is based in the idea of overcoming something at any cost — lifting a weight, running a distance, beating an opponent, or just getting through a workout.

My approach has evolved into one that is based in the idea of efficient self organization and self management — the ability to meet challenges not by pushing yourself through it laboriously and enduring unnecessary pain, but by handling yourself intelligently, and trying to find the most energy-efficient, sustainable strategies and solutions to go forward without causing unnecessary damage or grief to yourself in the process.

When the focus is on the process, not the outcome, you do not limit yourself by preconceived outcomes, and new possibilities emerge.

It’s also important to understand the most important quality for an athlete in sport, or any person in life, is responsiveness.

Responsiveness encompasses many different qualities and abilities, but it’s certainly not limited to the ‘boxed’ strength and conditioning practices that are typical of performance training.

Lifting more weight in the gym, jumping higher or running faster — it does not mean you will possess the qualities and abilities needed to respond to irregularity, variability, unpredictability, pressure, chaos, etc in sport or in life. In fact it may cause the opposite, because if your reflexes become constrained to only dealing with specific scenarios, you may sacrifice the ability to respond to new challenges.

The strongest person doesn’t win the fight. The most intelligent and responsive fighter wins the fight. If you’re training for a very specialized, very predictable event that is one thing. But most sports are not like that. And life certainly isn’t like that.

So my approach to “athletic training” involves much more than just making a strong and fast athlete. Athletic Engineering is not about creating robots, it’s about providing the tools, inspiration, and insights to develop efficient, intelligent, RESPONSIVE athletes and human beings. The development of the brain and body greatly depends on HOW you interact with the environment.

If you do too much linear training and thinking, like in conventional strength and conditioning, you will limit your reflexes and responsiveness. You will miss opportunities to develop, because you do not actually know what you’re capable of yet.