High Performance Athletes

JI Row,
Here we are, dead middle of the summer, and the heat is on! Last Thursday you got a small taste of what the summer heat will be like, so stay hydrated! Drink water all the time. If you just drink water at summer sessions, then you are already dehydrated when you get there and this will severely hinder your performance and its dangerous. Bring a water bottle! You can even just take a cheap bottle and refill it.

TREAT TRYOUTS AS IF IT IS AN ATHLETIC COMPETITION!
Seriously, the BEST advice I can give anyone is to treat this like a sport. This summer you have great examples of high level sporting competitions on TV all of the time. Watch the Olympic Trials, Olympics, Tour De France, etc. (baseball not so much for the direction I'm going with this). These athletes spend countless hours working on being able to execute the perfect form every time the step up to the block. They perform countless drills to reinforce the MUSCLE MEMORY of every movement so that no energy is wasted. They spend all of the time they are not practicing thinking about their performance and how to improve. They have a sense of bodily acuity, where they know exactly what every part of their body is doing at any time. They also have proper nutrition. Stay away from foods with bar codes (think Twinkies vs. Banana - go for the banana). Do NOT drink Gatorade because it tastes good, it is a training/ competition TOOL. Gatorade AM is a bad concept unless your a D I swimmer getting up and swimming hard for 2 hours at 5 am. Do NOT work out for an hour and think you need a powerbar. Those are good if you're on a 2+ hour tempo (medium to hard effort) bike ride.

These high level athletes also recover properly. If you work out nonstop and don't get the nutrition you need, then your body can't heal itself properly and be stronger for the next workout. Note: it is unlikely any of you are close to this point of overtraining.

Most importantly though, they practice EVERY DAY. Because they know that if they aren't practicing, then someone else is and becoming stronger/ faster/ better.

So be smart, if you have questions then ask. Katie is a massage expert, I'm well versed with training and nutrition and Jordan is a jock too. So we know what we're doing.

OSU Football is a top athletic organizations, they deserve the band that works just as hard. Do not insult this band, the row, alumni, fans, football team, past and present coaches, people of Ohio by being out of shape or not giving your full effort all the time. They call us the best because that is the respect that this band has earned. But simply to earn it once is not enough, we must work tirelessly and strive to be the best. Records were made to be broken, reputations fade, but legends live on. You may make mistakes, but Drive Through It!

Be Safe. Train Hard. Train Smart.