On the tenuous strength and conditioning link line of thinking again, this week I went along to the royal observatory in Greenwich. Now, having previously posted a somewhat abstract blog about time, I have to look elsewhere. So then, space it is.

One of the exhibits at the royal observatory was the planetarium, it was basically a tour of the universe (a very small part of it iI guess) showing you around some constellations, the solar system and some highlights of deep space. Apart from a nagging feeling of how inconsequential and small we all are, something else stood out to me. N.B. Incidentally, if you are prone to bouts of depression, perhaps avoiding the planetarium and maybe physics in general is a good idea.

The interaction between the very big and the very small is what stood out though. The gravitational forces at play. Moons orbiting planets, planets orbiting around stars and stars around galaxy centres but also electrons around nucleii in atoms. It’s all connected. It’s exactly the same thing in the human body. We strive to know the interactions and how certain things impact upon each other. A lack of flexibility in the big toe for example completely alters running efficiency, the muscles that become active and dominant, the direction of ground reaction forces and the torques placed on joints. The better we understand those connections, the biomechanics, and use them, them better we do by our athletes.

After another demolition of India this weekend, England’s cricket team are now the number 1 test team in the world. How have they done it? What’s the secret to their success, that silver bullet that perhaps we can apply to our athletes? I’ve been doing some deep thinking, research and analysis and I think I have it. Over the next few paragraphs I’m going to divulge those secrets. For only £25 you too can learn the secrets to success….ok, that bit’s a joke unless you do want actually want to pay, then please get in touch.

Now I’m sure a lot of commentators and writers will talk about the cyclical nature of the sport and the dissipation of a great Australian team and the coming to an end of a very good Indian team. Those though are external factors not under the control of the England team, I’m going to concentrate on things they have done themselves. So timing of development, for me, isn’t the secret of their success.

One thing the England team does do is work very hard. On all aspects of their game. Their fielding, batting, bowling, psychological skills and their conditioning. They work hard at all of them. Secret 1 is hard work.

The other thing the England team does is that they work hard over a long period of time, they do it consistently. Not just for a couple of weeks or a single series. They work hard, consistently. Secret 2 is consistency.

There we have it. Apologies if it’s not what you wanted to hear or you were expecting a quick and easy solution to make it to the top. There isn’t one. For coaches, athletes or anyone who wants to get better at something, your silver bullet solution is consistent hard work.

I don’t know heaps about art. It was never my favourite subject at school although I once did a pastel drawing of Waisele Sirevi I was quite proud of. I dropped the subject at the earliest opportunity because I didn’t have any desire to be an artist. Little did I know at the time that my career of choice would involve so much artistry.

I’m going to use a well known piece to illustrate, or sculpt, my point. If we view Michelangelo’s David as our goal. A complete athlete at their peak. Flawless perfection. In order to attain that, we strength and conditioning coaches have to start with a piece of stone. We will work with athletes at various points throughout their development. We might be starting at the beginning or adding to another coach’s artistry. At any rate, we are all working towards that same goal.

We chip away with our hammers and chisel’s, we refine, we smooth and we polish. Maybe we work on a certain area a little more at first because we view that as more important to the individual and their sport. Maybe we’ll get one area to a point we’re fairly happy with, in our minds eye it has a little polish and so we focus on another area a little more in the knowledge that we have to come back because the polished area will scuff.

This process is ongoing, maybe infinite. For some of us, it’s our job get some basic shape and pass over to another artist to add more detail, for others we are polishers adding the finishing touches. Sometimes we’re having to repair major flaws so the whole thing doesn’t collapse.

At any rate, there isn’t one set route of development from lump of stone to the finished article, there are so many variables that it’s very difficult to lay out a path or set of intructions for everyone to follow. I’m kind of glad of that because whilst I didn’t want to be an artist at school, I definitely didn’t want to work on an assembly line.