How to be More Athletic
Written by Lalo Torres

You might have heard your coach *lovingly* yell at you to “BE MORE ATHLETIC.” Okayyyyy… but how do you become more athletic and what does being athletic even mean? 

It is no secret that athletic athletes are able to learn and acquire skills faster and better than the non-athletic athlete. 

What is a non-athletic athlete? 

This is someone who might be able to lift a million pounds and/or squat 5 million pounds. They have annoyingly raw strength. They can be on one week of a squat cycle and they PR by week 2 (okay that’s a little of an exaggeration but you get my point). 

Cool cool. So this person is strong and generally fit…how are they not athletic? 

Ask that person to balance on one leg, climb up a wall, or even perform a snatch. They can’t? It’s because they have not taken the time to develop their SKILLS. Eventually their lack of athleticism will be their downfall. Injury, lack of progress or burnout will lead to the death of their fitness goals. 

Socially Conditioned to Focus on the Sexy

When we start getting strong it’s easy to be attracted to that strength and how we go about acquiring  that strength. And I would even go as far as to say we can partly blame social media and social bias towards strength. Hear me out. 

What do you see on IG? PR’s, lifts and “impressive” efforts. You rarely see athletes working on and developing their “skills.” 

  1. Because they DON’T or are unaware. Which many of you don’t… 
  2. They practice and work on their skills until they get bored and impatient like spoiled children. 
  3. Strength is glorified and praised more than developing or fostering skill work. You never compliment people for doing their plyometrics or working on their hand-eye coordination. So we have been socially conditioned to focus on the sexy things. 

What or who is an athletic athlete?

Athletic athletes spend equal or just as much amount of their time working on developing their skills. Do you ever wonder why gymnasts, dancers and other “skill-focused” athletes are so good at CrossFit, weightlifting or any other sport they start learning? It’s because they have practiced developing SKILL. Ask any gymnast and they will tell you horror stories of painful hours spent practicing ONE single skill. Maybe not even the full skill. Holding positions for extended periods of time, working on one portion of a skill for hours and hours. It’s not always fun, but when that athlete is ready to showcase their flips and tricks, they can rely on the skills and mechanics they have embedded in their being. Anyone can get strong. But not everyone gets strong the right way or the sustainable way. 

Don’t fall for the social media strength bias. Have agency in your training and do what you must to develop sustainable fitness goals. Want to know how to focus and develop your skills? Let’s find the right Invictus Athlete supplemental program for and figure out how to make you more athletic! Check out a sample day of programming and let us know if you have any questions about which program is right for you.

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