I’ve spent the majority of my career in high-level performance environments: Penn State Football, two seasons with the Houston Texans, over six years working with WWE Superstars at the WWE Performance Center, and now over four years working with professional football players across the UFL (formerly XFL).
When you spend enough time in those environments, you start to notice some common denominators. You start seeing the same characteristics in the athletes who make it, especially in developmental environments, where everybody is fighting to get to that next level.
One of those characteristics is that they’re always doing extra work. It’s one of those things that requires zero talent, yet somehow the best of the best are always doing it. These guys are wired to do extra.
Steering Extra Work in the Right Direction
As a strength and conditioning coach, I’ve learned that you’re not necessarily going to stop that — and I’m not sure you should. In a lot of cases, that mentality is part of what got them there in the first place. My job is to help steer that extra work in the right direction.
Maybe we’re attacking a weakness. Maybe we’re giving them something that’s going to help keep them healthy. And sometimes we’re actually giving them less, because the athlete who always wants to do more needs to be protected from doing too much.
Once you factor in practice, competition, training, recovery, nutrition, life, and everything else that starts stacking up, the extra work should be the right work.
Core training is probably one of the best examples of that.
Where the Ab Rollout Goes Wrong
Throughout my career, extra core work has always been a common theme. Football players want it, from skill players to quarterbacks. And when I was with WWE, it was obviously important there too: you’re performing with your shirt off, and looking the part is literally part of the job.
But one of the most common core exercises I’ve seen butchered over the years is the ab rollout. Guys want to go farther than they can control. The rib cage comes up, the pelvis tips forward, the low back starts extending, and suddenly they’re feeling the exercise more in their low back than in their abs.
That’s not the extra work I’m looking for. That’s where I really like ZeroWheel.
Adjusting the Movement to the Athlete
The assistance setting gives us a way to meet an athlete where they’re at. Maybe I’ve got a heavier athlete, somebody with a weaker core, or somebody who simply isn’t ready for an unassisted rollout yet. I can use the assistance to give them an appropriate challenge while making good positioning easier to maintain.
I can cue them to brace, drive the rib cage down and maintain position, while the wheel gives them assistance through the most difficult portion of the movement.So instead of just telling an athlete how to perform a better rollout, I’ve got a tool that can actually help them learn and feel that position.
But there’s another side to it. Let’s say I’ve got an elite athlete who already knows how to brace, can control the rollout, and needs something more challenging. I don’t have to start piling on more sets and reps. I can turn the dial.
In Burn, I can target athletes’ stability by increasing eccentric demand. The motor pulls away throughout the movement, challenging the athlete to control the rollout. With Quicksand, resistance increases as the wheel moves faster, adding a challenge going out and coming back.The same device that helped me teach the movement can now challenge an advanced athlete.
Finding the Minimum Effective Dose
That’s huge to me because we’re talking about the minimum effective dose: enough work to give the athlete what they need without adding more than necessary. If I can give an advanced athlete two or three high-quality sets that actually challenge them, why do I need them doing endless sets of extra core work?
Same tool. Different athlete. Different dose. That’s what I want from extra work. I don’t want guys doing more just for the sake of doing more. I want them getting something that meets them where they’re at, gives them the stimulus they need, and lets them get in, get the work done, and get out.
After spending my career around athletes who are constantly looking for an edge, I’ve learned that they’re probably always going to do extra. My job isn’t necessarily to stop them. My job is to make sure the extra work is the right work. And that’s what ZeroWheel gives me.