Keys to Building Healthy Athletes

This is one of the best emails I have ever sent here.

Today’s email is about raising athletes to be great. Not overworking them and making them resilient and durable for them to complete at their very best.

It is so great you are all going to want to sign up for our mentorship program to be advised by athletes and coaches at the highest level, go ahead and do that by becoming a paid subscriber.

We advise hundreds of parents and athletes to be their best, there’s no reason to go this journey alone.

THE KEYS TO RAISING HEALTHY ATHLETES:

Make sure to do enough work, its not all “don’t overwork them”

Everyone likes to talk about “workload management” and “Pitch Counts” or “Minute Limits” and all of the like. But less people talk about building a work capacity that is equal to or bigger than the necessary workload.

Let's take a runner for example. A marathon is 26.2 miles. In order to build a necessary work capacity, a runner would need to run at the very least some long distance before attempting to run the full marathon. Marathon runners don't just run the 200m sprint repeatedly to prepare for marathons.

And on the flipside, you don't need to run tons of miles in order to prepare for the 100m dash. Interestingly enough, a story recently came out that Usain Bolt, multiple time gold medal winner and world record holder of the 100m dash never ran a mile in training. Yes, you read that correctly, the best sprinter ever never ran a mile in training. Usain prepared for the specific task, which was less than 10 seconds of max effort printing.

Take days off and make them off

Now that you've done enough to make sure your body can safely complete the task, let's talk about letting your body recover from high effort days. Recovery days are super important, and we have touched on them in past newsletters but it's crucial to recognize that the days you take off need to be just that: off. My favorite activity for recovering is: nothing. Not a single thing. I sit on my couch and watch movies. I eat a lot of food, drink a lot of water and don't do a whole heck of a lot. 

“OH BUT MY KID IS SO ACTIVE HE ALWAYS HAS ENERGY HE DOESN'T NEED REST DAYS”

Okay couple things: 1- relax, maybe your kid is superman, but they are probably not. 2- Stop reading this for a few minutes, open up a new tab in google and search “Pars Fracture in youth athletes” , read for a few minutes and come back whenever you've gotten your fill.

For those following along at home, Pars Fractures are stress fractures of the spine. And if you didn’t google search (I appreciate your faith in my explanation), stress fractures occur in youth athletes due to high chronic workload. So probably give little Timmy the weekend off before you sign him up to “guest play” for the 13th weekend in a row. Guest playing for teams that your kid doesn't have friends on might be the most ridiculous thing in youth sports today.

Semi related but also not related point: You're not a bad parent for not wanting to wake up at 6 am on a Saturday to drive your kid 45 minutes to play an 8 am game against the same team for the 3rd time this month. In fact, 8 am games are absolutely heinous and should be banned. Okay, my mini rant is over. 

The next piece of advice I have is this: don’t make your rest days active. Make them lazy. Be the laziest family on the block. Go to the store and buy cookie dough, make some cookies and watch college football, or Harry Potter, or Star Wars. Or… hear me out… all of the above. If your kid plays 2 weeks in a row and you get a weekend off, make the most of it, ESPECIALLY during the school year. 

The best part about all of this advice is that it makes your life easier. You literally need to do less and your kids will be better off. It's a win for everyone. 

Food and Sleep

I Could give you cookie cutter advice about fruits and vegetables, which is all great advice. Or I could give you much more applicable information, which I generally try to do. If your athlete is extremely active, and plays multiple sports where they burn tons of calories, good luck getting them to eat enough calories when they’re stuffing themselves with super clean meals every day. 

I am going to say something that might get some of you up in arms but here goes:

“Fast Food is okay.”

 Not only is it “okay”.... most of the time it’s necessary for building athletes with high body weights. It’s better to have enough calories from bad food rather than try to compete with no energy source. Calories at a scientific level are literally the unit of energy, so you’d better have enough of them if you want to compete at a high level. 

Hydration 

Proper hydration is paramount for the optimal performance and well-being of young athletes. During physical activity, the body loses fluids through sweat, and it is imperative to replenish these losses to maintain physiological balance. The general guideline is for young athletes to consume an adequate amount of water gradually throughout the day, not solely relying on thirst cues to start chugging.

The intensity and duration of exercise vary across sports, leading to differences in sweat rates and electrolyte losses. For activities involving prolonged and intense exertion, such as endurance sports, consideration of sports drinks containing electrolytes may be beneficial to restore the body's electrolyte balance. However, it's crucial to avoid excessive reliance on sugary beverages.

Nothing like this is cookie cutter, and every young athlete needs to be able to make their own plan to get enough fluids throughout the day. As a 225 pound adult male, there are rarely ever days in which I drink less than 1.5 gallons of water. 

Consistent Sleep Habits:

This next thing is where most of you wont take it seriously, it’s the thing that most athletes don't do and what consistently gets them in trouble. Sleep and fatigue is the #1 indicator of injury in controlled spaces. There are some studies that show injuries increase 200% when athletes compete in a sleep deprived state.  

First things first, you gotta nail down a sleep routine. Aim for 8-10 hours a night – yeah, I know, it sounds like a lot, but trust me, your body needs it. Next, try to get to bed and wake up at the same time every day. It helps your body get into a groove, like having your own built-in alarm clock.

Also: make your sleep space dark and quiet, I generally keep my room around 68 degrees, and black out curtains are a must. And here's a pro tip: try to chill out before bedtime. A little routine like reading, stretching, or even just taking a few deep breaths can tell your body, "Hey, it's time to wind down."

Oh, and screens? Yeah, they're cool during the day, but not so much at night. The blue light messes with your sleep hormones. So, give yourself at least an hour without staring at your phone or laptop before you hit the hay. I know you want to stay up all night reading my amazing newsletters, but let’s keep our screen time to before 10pm.

The biggest thing to realize is this: the athlete that does the most at 17 won't necessarily be doing the most at 27 (which is the goal). Take the steps to protect them, and it will pay huge dividends. 

As always, it's your life. Do what you want, I can't stop you and I certainly won't try to.

But here's some stuff I would apply to my kids:

2 full off nights on weekdays MINIMUM

1 full weekend completely off per month MINIMUM

1 Weekend where 1 of the 2 days is completely off. (1 Day tournament)

Mandatory movie night/lazy days. 

These will also make them enjoy sports more, making them work harder because they are not forced into it. 

All this info is for your own benefit, but it's exactly what I tell my athletes.

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All the best,

John