What is ‘high gear’ and why is it an important target for many young female athletes?

Intensity of movement and quality of movement are not comfortable bed fellows. The basic reason is obvious: the harder I work, the harder it is to maintain fine control.  Athletic development and sport have the ultimate goal of maximising both but practice requires that we separate them to ensure that the contamination of fatigue and intensity doesn’t impair skill development.  The reverse is also true and we need to ensure that practice also involves opportunity to ‘open the throttle’; to push the boundary of how hard we can work.

It’s uncommon for female athletes not to understand and buy in to the importance of finesse and control in athletic endeavour (low gear) though it can be a challenge for boys.  Conversely, boys take risks and embrace competition, and this means I don’t often have to ask them twice to rip into something at full noise – high gear. 

True 100% is hard to achieve, even for experienced athletes.  What most of us think of us as 100% effort can be as low as 70-80% of what’s possible.  There are several reasons why but not the least of them is regular practice and a clear sense of purpose.  In short, we can’t be concerned about what others might think or be restricted by low self-perceptions of ability if we wish to properly work in high gear.  All athletes need a balance of intensity and control in their physical conditioning.