Yesterday I made the mistake of not setting the correct pace and mindset for a client’s training session. My client is a 20 year old left tackle, who is getting ready for his move into another season of JC level football. We typically BS for a bit while he is foam rolling and stretching before his training, but this particular session, I told him about the crazy weekend I had flying out to an east coast wedding. This story dragged on for a little bit, and cut into the first few minutes of his warmup and mobility work. While he enjoyed the story, it did not benefit him as far as training is concerned. He started the unfocused, laughing and goofing off. I let the banter continue during the warmup, until I realized the pace I had set. At this point, as much as I tried, I was too late to start him in as much of serious and focused training mindset as I would have liked. As a result, his training session was not as effective as others in the past.
Moral of the story? Always remember that the way that the warmup goes will play a large part in how the rest of the training session goes. Start out screwing around and it will be harder to reign in the correct attitude and focus needed for a good session. Start out with drive and purpose, and the rest of the training will have an easier time falling into place.