#3 Software Vs Hardware - When Mass Matters Most

The dominant trend is for software dominant training.

The focus on getting more out of the existing hardware caps potential in many athletes.

This is like training snatch TECHNIQUE to a world class level while only being able to back squat bodyweight.

Because of this athletes who play volleyball or do tricking will often progress well in weightlifting because they have a foundation of tendon strength and the ability to switch on the nervous system very fast.

Both systems must be developed but if they software outpaces the hardware then injury risk will always be very high.

If the hardware (muscle & tendon strength) is ahead of the software (ability to put the physical structures to use) then injury risk will be low.

If the software is maximised (neural drive) relative to structural strength, injury rates will be high.

Charles Poliquin had the best system of hardware development and his athletes won many medals. This is particularly valuable for winter olympics athletes, field sports and combat sports. Women who have more masculine physical traits have a competitive advantage.

If you send 15 year old to play rugby against 12 year olds the 12 year olds get hurt.

Only muscle can drive force into the tendons and fascia.

#4 Resilience unlocks elite

Injury is the biggest barrier to the high training volumes essential for elite performance. If you can stay healthy and practice better more often you have a massive advantage.

The body is always protecting itself from injury by using less than maximal muscle contractions. We get past 50% of our potential by practicing using closer to maximal force and by increasing the connective tissue strength reserve.

Investing significant training energy towards improving reaction times doesn’t make sense if it’s not very trainable. Elite players have already been training their abilities to react to the scenarios on their sports.

Muscle gain and fat loss can often be optimised significantly.

Athletes will often gain 300-500% strength in going from untrained to world-class.

Every performance has an optimal body composition.

Optimal muscle mass relative to height is key.

Close to optimal body fat is also important.

Being significantly below the required muscle number for a sport makes technique obsolete.

In lightweight sports maximal strength & improving tissues tolerance to training loads can significantly enhance performance.

Lever lengths and height are less clear… the fastest man in the world over 100m was told he was too tall. The fastest man over 60m was talk he is too short. Stefan Holme was told he’s too short to be a high jumper and yet he won many international competitions. Messi is an outlier as a short player and yet is known as the best player in the game.