That’s Not Training

Don’t be fooled — not all training is created equal. What most people call “training” is nothing more than sports-inspired fitness.

The Difference:

• Real Sports Training: Built around the demands of a specific sport and position. It develops athletes at any skill level into top-level competitors.
• Sports-Inspired Fitness Training (SIFT): Looks athletic but isn’t. It’s the equivalent of trying to play the violin… on a drum.

How to Spot a SIFT Program:

You’ll know it’s SIFT when…

• The trainer has to drop other trainers’ names to validate themselves.
• The trainer has
• It’s “football training” with no one ever getting hit.
• It’s “baseball training” with no bad hops, missed swings, or ugly throws.
• It’s “basketball training” where no one can use their left hand.
• It’s “volleyball training” without anyone hitting or serving the hell out of the ball.
• It’s any kind of training where athletes are never pushed to go all out — encouraged to fail, adjust, and repeat until they master it.

The Fitness Trap

SIFT glorifies form, technique, agility, footwork, conditioning — all useful, but none of them are what separates a good athlete from an elite one. If they were, every kid with a trainer would be D1, and every sport would be stacked with top-tier talent. They aren’t.

Game Day Exposed

Here’s another tell: the “monster” you see in training rarely shows up on game day. Sure, they dominate against weak competition. But when it’s game time and the opponent doesn’t suck, suddenly, they don’t look anything like what they’ve been posting to social media.

Why? Because SIFT has no real developmental roadmap. Real trainers can show you where an athlete is, where they need to be, and the exact steps to get them there. SIFT can’t.

The Bottom Line

If your kid has “trained” all through high school but still can’t land a roster spot at 1 of the 358 Division 1 NCAA programs… You didn’t get real training. You got SIFTed.