In the architecture of human performance, we stand perpetually at the threshold between the ancient and the avant-garde. Those of us who have dedicated our lives to the craft of speed and power find ourselves bombarded by paradigms — each claiming to be the singular truth, each seeking to shape the philosophy of the body we hold so dear.
Each year, the river of knowledge floods with distinct currents, each demanding our allegiance:
1. The Flash of the Moment (Trends)
Delivered via the dopamine-loops of social media, these are the sparks of “quick implementation.” Here lie the tricks, the novelties, the easily digestible fragments designed not for depth, but for consumption. Like the Klippot (shells) concealing the fruit, they are attractive, demanding attention, often repackaging the ancient as the revolutionary. Their purpose is to gather followers, not necessarily to build masters.
2. The Logic of the Lab (Science)
As the study of kinesiology expands, so too does the volume of empirical light. New studies, metabolic pathways, and technological monitoring tools emerge daily. This is the realm of Bina (Understanding) — the dissection of the whole into its mechanical parts. It offers us supplements, load-regulation theories, and gadgets that promise to quantify the unquantifiable.
3. The Scroll of the Elders (Books & Experience)
The practitioners — the coaches in the trenches — who have chosen to etch their wisdom into books and films. This is intimate knowledge; the journey of the soul through the medium of coaching, where principles are tested not in a petri dish, but in the arena of sweat and ambition.
4. The Digital Surrogate (Apps)
The attempt to automate the ineffable connection between master and student. A trend accelerated by global isolation, where the algorithm seeks to replace the intuition of the watchful eye with a progress bar.
5. The Great Assembly (Conferences)
The marketplace where these four winds meet, often overwhelming the seeker with their cacophony.
These streams are not inherently good or evil; they are simply energy. Yet, the practitioner cannot drink from all simultaneously without drowning. To build a Kli (vessel) capable of holding this light, one must establish a hierarchy of values. Without it, there is only chaos and the discomfort of cognitive dissonance.
Consider the paradox:
A coach sits in a university lecture hall, absorbing data on power output. The science is clear: 90% intensity, low reps, maximum force is the path to strength.
The next day, he stands on the track watching Asafa Powell — a king of speed — perform lunges for 10 repetitions. A protocol that defies the very lecture he just attended, yet produced a legend.
A week later, he meets a novice, seventeen years old, whose body is a riddle of restrictions, unable to perform even the most basic squat.
In one week: three contradictions. Who is lying?
No one.
Each speaks from their own dimension. The burden of synthesis falls upon the coach. Exposure to the infinite does not mandate the adoption of the infinite. To know everything is not to do everything, and certainly not all at once.
The familiar maxim that “the professional never completes their education” is true, but not because we are chasing secrets. It is because we are continuously acquiring tools to turn different kinds of “athletic screws” without stripping the threads.
The Celestial Mechanics of Mastery: The Sun and the Earth
After years of remaining curiously present in this industry, a cosmic pattern emerges. The dynamic between the Fundamental (Yesod) and Progress (Hitkadmut) is not a battle, but a dance.
If the Athletic Fundamental is the Sun — the burning, constant source of gravity that determines the orbit — then Progress is the Earth.
The Earth (Progress) requires a full cycle, a long orbit of 365 days, to receive the light of the Sun. Progress is slow. It requires the “seasons” of testing, failure, application, and verification before it can claim a place in the sky. Only progress that has withstood the fire of application can inscribe itself upon the foundation.
How do we distinguish the two?
The Academic defines the “Fundamental” as that which is most cited in the literature, the principle with the highest p-value.
The Coach defines it as the principle which has survived the decade — the method that has been used intensively and has consistently produced champions.
Conversely, “Progress” to the Academic is the hypothesis yet to be proven. To the Coach, it is the jazz of improvisation — the solution invented in the heat of the moment to unlock a specific athlete’s potential because no existing tool would suffice.
The master’s task, therefore, is to build a fortress of Fundamentals — stones hewn from the quarry of history and trusted experience. From this stable platform, we sift through the advancements. We rummage through the box of the “new” like a crate of old vinyls from the 90s: most will be noise, mere filler, but a select few possess the soul to penetrate the fundamental core.
As the sages teach: “Know from where you came, and to where you are going.”
The path is linear and circular at once. We anchor ourselves in the roots (the past) so that we may grow safely toward the sky (the future). To leap randomly between disciplines in the internet age is to be a leaf in the wind.
Every solid foundation must contain a small portal that permits worthy “progress” to enter — progress that has proven itself through results and the test of time. For just as we must know from where we came (the foundation), we must also know to where we are going (progress).
That portal carries inherent danger; harmful information may also infiltrate, often disguising itself attractively to appear worthy of entry. Yet the hope is that with the perspective outlined above, you will be better equipped to filter the information surging like a massive wave toward the future.
