The Stan Lee Principle

The Stan Lee Principle:

Every comic book is someone's first issue. 

Every max effort workout is someone's first.

Whether it's Spider-Man, which is thousands of issues deep, or some brand new hero/heroine, Stan Lee and Marvel Comics always started the comic with a quick sentence or two that describes the story and who the hero is. Because even if millions people knew who Spider-Man was, someone out there did not. 

Context is everything.

Your workouts should be no different. You need to understand why it is that you're moving the way you are moving in order for them to be effective. 

The Russians had a word for it, as I learned recently from Mark Bell, called the "Principle of Awareness." If they didn't know why they were working the muscle, or the movement, it hindered their ability to make the mind muscle connection. Most importantly, it makes us all students.

It also contributed to higher morale if you knew why you were doing something, which increases compliance. When you have athletes or trainees who don't comply with a program, you have the biggest problem in a training program's effectiveness... 

Thus, I train by what I call the Stan Lee Principle and always explain in just a few short sentences to people why they're doing the exercise they are doing. You don't need to be a know-it-all or condescending (also- use normal words, not kinesiology text book jargon). When you do that, you build better clients and athletes because they are also being educated. They'll start asking better questions and use better training practices on their own. 

Results will improve. 

Be well,

Mark DiSalvo