Training leads to a healthier lifestyle

Many local athletes are benefiting from the choice to live a healthy and active lifestyle and one man is reminding them to find the right fit for themselves.

While athletes are showing more awareness of the need to stay healthy, Patrick Szpack, strength and conditioning coach for the Toronto Blue Jays Minor League system, believes strength and conditioning can be a hit or miss.

According to Szpack, whether you’re an athlete or not, staying healthy provides anyone who works out and trains with the opportunity to function at a high level.

Luke Willson, LaSalle native and tight end for the Seattle Seahawks agreed with Szpack saying he has to make sure his body is in tip-top shape, ready to perform at the NFL level.

“Just take care of your body, especially athletically,” said Willson. “It can really prevent a lot of injuries.”

Though staying healthy and training is becoming increasingly popular in the world of sports, Szpack said the Internet, where everything can be attained so easily, is his biggest worry.

“At the end of the day there are certifications and then there are people out there who take strength and conditioning as a career,” said Szpack. “There’s a lot of weekend courses that people can take, pay $500-$1,000 and all of a sudden they become recognized as this, that and the other. Unfortunately, a lot of that doesn’t provide credibility and reliability for the athletes.”

When it comes to hiring someone to train the athletes, Szpack said there are many misconceptions and he suggests treating it like any other profession.

“When you’re going to hire someone to train you, you’re hiring them, you’re their employer,” said Szpack. “Ask for their resume, find out their experience, what it can offer you and why they are qualified to offer that to you. It’s going above and beyond what people say and actually finding out if it’s the right fit for you.”

According to Szpack, more times than not children are told what to do. People take that word of mouth as the top knowledge base and go from there. He said young athletes need to invest the time and effort into understanding what they are getting themselves into and what the impact is going to be on them.

As well as mentoring for a year at the University of Michigan under the Director of Olympic Sports Strength and Conditioning, Szpack has also held an assistant mentorship with the New York Jets. He said his time working with several major sport teams has made him realize how detrimental a lack of proper training can be.

“Athletes who try to diet and try to lose weight here and there because they think it’s what they need to do without getting proper instruction or direction, it can be very detrimental,” said Szpack. “It can have an impact on their performance, they might sleep poorly and they won’t have the energy level necessary to compete at 100 per cent.”

Despite the number of training videos online, the Jays’ Strength and Conditioning coach said he urges athletes to take what they do seriously.

“At the end of the day we’re all individuals and we all have the opportunity to kind of carve our own paths and go our own routes and by having those opportunities as an individual you should take that and run with it. Don’t let anybody stand in your way or dictate what’s right or what’s wrong. You find out the information that’s right for you and run with it.”