Training Hard Pays Dividends.....?

There's a fine line between hard work and over worked.

The idea of hard work paying off is as American as apple pie. However, the idea of hard work in the gym needing to be "hard" may be a bit of a fallacy. Allow me to explain.
You must put in "work", hours on top of hours of practice is necessary to achieve any goal. I try and teach all my clients technique over volume or "quality over quantity". Training and performing at the level pro athletes do is by definition super human. The methods used to get them and  keep them pro athletes must, in my opinion, follow these broad guidelines:

1. Cause no injury due to: (A) Bad form (B) Fatigue (C)Lack of Knowledge

"I saw it on youtube so it must be good." Not so much.

(A)  The main thing to pay attention to is the lower back. Keep your butt out-chest out- chin neutral- shoulders back- low back with a slight curve inward- slight bend in the knees. ALWAYS!
(B)  You do need to push through barriers like fatigue, but not on technical lifts. Simply use less weight, explosiveness or risky movements and add reps or time once tired.
(C) "I saw it on youtube". This is fine for an educated trainer that understands the human body. I find more videos with horrible form online than with mediocre to good form.

2. Know your client:
 Know their strengths and weaknesses. If you notice toe drift or open scaps, these are huge issues in the con category and you should work on correction. Transversely, if you notice they are using a movement or exercise perfectly but too often, it may be time for a temporary change to promote growth.

3. Make them rest when it's time to rest:
 Sleep is more important than protein. When doing circuit training, sprint drills or tabata style training, upon completion of the round, the athlete should rest for a short period.

Look, you can work yourself to death if it makes you happy but, finding the point of maximum gain for minimum strain should be the goal of every Smart athlete, period.

                                                                           Genius-

We hit 500 page views before I wrote this, yeah!