If you improve every area of your game by one per cent the total result is remarkable

IF you could quantify the improvement of a player over the course of a season, what would be a significant gain?

One per cent certainly doesn’t seem like much, but what if a player could improve every aspect of his life by one per cent?

Imagine a GAA player could improve 100 small things in his life.

Now imagine if every player on the team did the same.

In 2010 Dave Brailsford took over as general manager for Great Britain’s professional cycling team. He believed in a concept which he referred to as the “aggregation of marginal gains”.

He explained it as the “one percent margin for improvement in everything you do”. If you improved every area related to cycling by just one percent, then those small gains would add up to remarkable.

Brailsford started with the most obvious areas; the nutrition of the riders, their weekly training program, the ergonomics of the bike seat and the weight of the tyres.

But Brailsford didn’t stop there. He sought for improvements in tiny areas that were easily overlooked; discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection.

They searched for one per cent improvements everywhere.

The results speak for themselves. In 2012, Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France.

This was followed up with a large medal haul from British cycling in the 2012 Olympics and Chris Froome winning the Tour de France in 2013.

Brailsford’s approach changed the British team’s daily habits. A habit is defined as a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur unconsciously.

We all have habits, some good, and some bad. It takes a tremendous amount of dedication and will, but bad habits can be changed. He took a forensic look at each and every daily pattern and habits that the riders had.

Good habits were maintained, and bad habits were changed.

Brailsford’s approach showed he understood that change need not be one ground breaking significant thing, rather a serious of seemingly inconsequential and unnoticeable things.

The British riders worked off a simple philosophy.

For every daily decision they make, however small or seemingly insignificant, they asked themselves a question. How could this affect my performance? If the answer was perceived as positive, they would do it.

If it would adversely affect their performance they would avoid it. If they were unsure, they would find out.

This is all well and good for full time athletes, but how can it translate to amateur GAA players? Some may argue that looking at even a county player’s life in such depth is against the amateur foundations that the GAA is built on.

What is certain is that players love to win, and play to their potential, and any legitimate edge they can get is worth the hardship to them to get it.

The aggregation of marginal gains is an idea that is deeply personal to each individual.

Some players will take the concept further than others, but if all make some small changes then the improvement in the team can be phenomenal.

As well as looking at the most obvious factors that affect performance like diet, flexibility and sleep patterns, coaches could encourage their players to always have their boots, hurley, helmet, gloves etc in good condition.

The coach could ensure that the water bottles are cleaned properly and that the jerseys the players are wearing are comfortable. Players may also take in a little bit more water every day, and do up a weekly eating play.

They may avoid driving for long periods of time if not absolutely necessary, as this have been shown to tighten up a person’s legs. They may begin doing small stretches in the office many times during the day, particularly if seated all day.

The list goes on and on and is unique to every person and their situation. Every day good decisions and bad decisions are made by players regarding performance, and they seem so small and inconsequential that they would not matter.

But it is the cumulative effect of all these tiny decisions of a course of months or even years that will make a significant change to a player’s performance.

We can allow ourselves to be convinced that change is only meaningful if there is some large, visible outcome associated with it.

Improving aspects of your life by one per cent isn’t notable.

However, consider this. Duplicate the same player, one of them strives for the aggregation of marginal gains in everything he does, which the other is in a state of slight decline or (aggregation of marginal losses).

Each prepares for their championship match in two months time. It is obvious who will perform better.

My advice to coaches working with adults is to firstly make the players aware of this concept.

Each player will be different in how much they want to buy into it, however, all will notice improvement if some small changes are made.

Aggregation of marginal gains is not just for elite athletes.

It can even help businesses and families, or if you are trying to lose weight!

I’ll conclude with a few quotes which sum up this concept very well:

“If you keep doing what you are doing, you will keep getting what you are getting”

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

“Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.