Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I rolled on the floor laughing first time I saw this movie with John Candy and Steve Martin. Thats not what we are talking about though. Listening to Walter Norton give a great talk this weekend at a clinic in SoCal, he reminded of an analogy I like.
I'm going from Los Angeles to Chicago to coach a lifter in the Pan American Championships this week. I could get there by any of these three means. Each has some advantages and dis-advantages, but in the end, each could get me there.
The plane will get me there fastest without a doubt. Now I will probably pay more (although not recently with gas and cheap flights). I won't see much, will be relatively uncomfortable and confined to my 2' x 2 1/2' space. Cant chnage my mind once we start and doesn't work well if you are afraid of flying. Still its the fastest and most direct route.
The train is faster than car but significantly slower than the train. I can see a lot more scenery and have more freedom to move around. Since someone else is driving, I can read, relax, work or whatever I want to do. I can't however, change the route we our taking or have flexibility in the schedule once the journey is started.
Going by car will take longer and I will be driving. This means I can change the pace or the route whenever I want during the journey. I can see the scenery and detour if I please. Of course I have to do the driving, can be affected by weather more, and if there's a breakdown it's up to me to deal with it.End of the day each of these very differnt methods will get me the final results I desire, getting to Chicago. Training methods are often the same. We have coaches in sports performance that argue ad-nauseum that there is only one method and they are the keeper of the secret (available for $19.99 on there new DVD).
There is nothing wrong with believing in your methodology. You had better. You also had better realize that there is more than one way to get to Chicago. It seems like too many belive that for their methods to work, all the others can't. Not true. There's more than one way to Chicago, they are just different and which is better depends on the circumstances.
