One of my favorite Blogs is Functional Path Training by Vern Gambetta. This post was largely taken from one he wrote.
If you don’t get the basics right then everything that follows will be compromised.
In my experience the difference between good and great gymnasts tends to be that that the great ones always pay attention to the basics and have flawless mastery of the basics. They never stray far from the fundamentals; in fact no matter where they are in their career they touch the basics everyday.
Sure it is mundane, some have called it boring, but to be the best requires mastery of the basics. Advanced skill and technique is built upon sound fundamentals. The most basic of the basics are fundamental movement skills – pull, push, squat, bend, extend, rotate, reach, step, leap, starting, stopping, jump etc. It may not be as exciting as trying to master a double back but it will serve you well in the short and long run. The great John Wooden felt that most mistakes under pressure in games was caused by weaknesses in fundamental basketball skills. Each day in each of his practices a significant amount of time was devoted to proper execution of fundamentals. You will NEVER really Rise to the occasion. You will sink to the level of training which you have mastered.
A base of fundamentals is the foundation for more complex skills and creativity in movement. Keep it simple, link and connect basic movements to achieve advanced skill and training. If you don’t know the alphabet you can’t spell a word, if you can’t spell you can’t write sentences, if you can’t write sentences then you can’t compose paragraphs or write an essay much less write the great American novel. Master the movement ABC’s and go higher faster and stronger.
