Slow Cook Your Athletes

For the last few years it has been a lot of fun preparing younger athletes for sporting seasons. One athlete that I have been working with since 7th grade has really come a long ways toward complete athletic development.

Starting Slow
Starting out there was really no point in putting a bunch of external load and just hoping that he would get stronger. There was a lot of time spent at Very modest weights and adjusting form and building up his Kinesthetic awareness and Proprioception.

There was one exercises that I really loaded him up on and that was the sled push. This was physically demanding as well as mentally. This was also a great way to develop lower body strength with out having to much time spent on form and positioning. If you get in the push position on a sled your body almost lines up itself automatically which I feel makes this one of the most useful moves when developing some sick lower body strength while teaching the more form intensive movements.

Now as a freshman we are still working on basic movement patterns, never losing form, and never getting to specific at such a young age.

Two ways in which I like to teach Explosiveness to younger guys is utilize the hang clean. Along with this on a different day I will usually include an unloaded explosive movement which would be a wide array of box jumps, broad jumps, and other various body weight jumps.

Once developing a solid base of strength and reinforcing technique the loading of the movements began. Here is couple of movements we used and are sticking to for a while. Here are a couple of his warm-up sets on a Front Squat and 1 leg RDL and for upper body loaded push ups.

Pretty much everything we do stops once form is compromised. Does this mean he doesn't load up and lift heavy...Hell No! He benches more than anyone in his grade, loves to pull some heavy Hex bar Deads, and rep out some heavy chins as well. The only difference between him and most other younger athletes he developed a solid base of movement through a multitude of dynamic drills. He also took the time to LEARN the specific movements before he blindly threw on too much weight and failed. But, one of the biggest keys is progressive overload. At this age if you build them up slowly, even if it's adding 2.5# weights per week, this adds up to some serious weight over the course of a year. People just have to realize that when working with younger athletes it is a long term plan to athletic development not a head start on pressing more weight.

Anterior Core Progression

As important as it is to train the "core" it is just as important to know what not to do as well. As many know the phase in which endless crunches being the go-to remedy to shape up those "ABZ" is a thing of the past. So here is a few photos and some video of me after a workout this morning demonstrating what we are going to do for our anterior core progression.

Front Plank











Probably one of the most boring exercises of all time but builds for a solid foundation for stability. Key points to remember are 3 Points of contact as demonstrated with stick. McGill's newer work will say to go for multiple ten second holds.

Stability Ball Roll outs











This is a great bridge between the static plank and a more dynamic roll out which give the added benefit of an eccentric/concentric action and you may also utilize an isometric hold at the end of your reach.

Ab Wheel











This is a great example of how length of the lever can make a HUGE difference in difficulty. If you were to jump to this right away, besides not being able to prevent excessive extension, you will feel like you took a brick to your abs. A good tip would be to gradually work your way out within each rep until you know can keep form.

Med ball Roll outs

This adds a sort of pulsing type contraction to the movement. Also to a small degree some anti-rotation. If you let your stomach go soft on this, your face will meet a not so soft ground. I like this also because a lot of times people use there momentum with the wheel and sort of rush through the movement. With this you have to stay controlled in order to maintain the correct form.

If you can perform these movements at arms length you are probably one your way to a very stable core. There are many ways even from here you can make these movements more difficult by use of bands, external load, and holds but these should definitely not be rushed into however. If your lacking in this area start with the foundation and build your way up.

A brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.

Once you find the one thing that you know will be the career of your choice, hopefully it's your passion, it is your responsibility to seek out any resource that could potentially help you obtain your goals. I have been pursuing my passion for a very short time compared to many of those out there but there are reasons I am the coach, person, student I am today. Also it is the reason I have the opportunity to be heading the strength and conditioning for a sport a college sport I am supremely passionate about.
Where I have Been
In the last couple years I have been across the better part of the nation seeking out those who are doing what I love to do in the best ways. I have been to California, Nebraska, Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, Nebraska, and Iowa over the course of the last couple years trying to seek out any valuable information that will provide me with the tools necessary to advance my knowledge and abilities.
Things to keep in mind
One of the most important things you must remember as a student of the industry is that your mindset is the key to everything. You must approach all aspects of learning with a beginners mindset. If you ever think you are to advanced or know everything you are going to fall behind. One of the first things I remember being told at my internship before any much conversation with Bill or Mike this summer was "You don't know anything." And they were right. There will ALWAYS be someone out there who knows more than you or is doing something better than you. It is never wise to think that you can't learn anything from another coach regardless of your age/experience. Boyle speaks in his presentation about not being young enough to know everything. Regardless of your age there will always be more information out there as you get older. With the availability of resources now on the Internet information almost doubles by the year.
How to retain what you learn
The first thing that everyone needs when visiting a coach, interning, or attending a seminar must have. It is a notebook. I can sometimes resemble a news reporter when I am learning from a coach. Following them around with my notepad or hurriedly scribbling down any bit of advice or instruction given while on breaks at internship or between seminar sessions. In the words of Lil Wayne "I've forgot better S*** than you ever thought of." This by no means applies to me but to the many coaches and mentors I have spoken with. As a student in the industry you can't afford to rely on "memory" when you receiving such valuable information.

When your not with a coach learning first hand you should be reading or watching DVD's and so forth. Alwyn Cosgrove always says 1 hour a day for a year and you will have mastery over the material. That's 4 session of 15 min a day which is easily attainable and almost minimal in some respects. If your young and you have a passion for this field, you should definitely get you priorities in line. This is where budgeting comes in. Gradually put money aside that will allow you to get out and receive first hand information because there is nothing that can trump seeing the best trainers out there in action. And one last thing that is key into getting your feet wet is volunteering. Find a good trainer and ask them if they would like help. See if you college or a local high school would have a need for your services and do it for free. No one is going to pay you in the future if you don't have any experience and many trainers and S&C coaches would be hard pressed to deny free labor.

If people are serious or passionate about any field they should do whatever it takes to be better than they were the day before. If anything you should always learn at least one knew thing a day. The accumulation of what you will learn throughout a year will pay off and before you know it your confidence to get out and start doing what you love will be a reality.

Re-Building the Efficiant Athlete

The Importance of Assessment

Now that the team is in the off-season there is plenty of time to address any movement issues, pain, and pay respects to injury prevention. It is very typical in American football that athletes who get hurt find a way that will allow them to play through an injury. Understandable, but as they continue to play on an injury, most likely the implement allowing them to play is doing serious harm to the joints above or below.

For example, here is a picture of our running back. He had complaints of bad back pain and played the season with knee pain in his left leg all while earning all-conference honors. Clearly by the photo of some static assessment positions you can see the significant lordosis in overhead reach. He admitted to me that he hurt it lifting something over his head. The is a clear indication that not everyone is qualified for overhead lifting. In his case he lacked the needed thoracic extension and it was way to much stress on his lumbar region.

On his single leg lift he showed a significant tilting of his pelvis (he actually leaned much worse prior to photo.) This being on the same side of his knee injury led me to anticipate some poor glute function in the test to follow. Through the multiple ROM and strength test revealed a significant lack of internal rotation on left side, very delayed glute function with lumbar rotation, and in his Thomas Test his TFL pretty much dominated him on his left side especially.

So, all those underlying issues add up to the described pain sites and were putting him at some serious risks. Luckily he as plenty of time to get this sorted out and will be feeling much better in no time. This goes to show the importance of a assessment in regards to identifying faulty movement patterns and reason for pain. All things that are negative towards athletes and everyday people. After prescribing certain corrective stretches/exercises and avoiding a couple patterns until he is ready, he should be better in no time. I will be sure to post his progress as he continues.

My workout numbers: Block 4

I am rapidly approaching the end of the 4th block and will already be in my Strength Endurance mini-cycle tomorrow (dreading every minute). So far, My strength numbers have been continually increasing and am very confident in my next block that they will continue to get much higher although that is not the focus.

Bench:360x1 :just missed 375 for major PR :(

Squat:455x2: probably could have squeezed out three but this lift has been climbing very steadily and is the first time in several months since I have heavily loaded up a full back squat.

High Incline sprints: 37: Feel like the first 15 are a breeze but after about 20-25 it hits hard.

In just over a week or so i will move on to my next block focusing on POWER. I love max strength work but being explosive and fast is something I love training for. This will be an exciting block to log. Ankle is feeling great and the ROM is getting better by the week. I have really been focusing on some long duration stretches for my quads and lateral rotaters and hitting the foam roller (PVC) hard as always. Will be sure to post results in the near future and am guaranteeing some increases...hopefully.

Off-Season-Transition/Regeneration

After a solid week of recovery following the season it is finally time to undergo the off season program for football. This being my first year as the teams strength coach there are some things in which we are doing that they have never done, things we are doing better, and things we are not doing anymore.
Some things we are doing that they have never done
Hip thrust
Unsupported single leg work
RFESS
Various Corrective exercises
Foam Rolling
Various Activation drills
Things we are doing better
Squats
Clean Variations
Core Stabilization
Plyometric Progressions
Things we are not doing anymore
Behind the neck presses
Repeated Crunches and sit-ups
Depth Jumps
Bad Form!
Missed Reps!

So it is pretty much a program overhaul in terms of philosophy, means, and methods. Something that this team has never been exposed to is a lot of single leg work. Also the previous program was lacking in posterior chain work. Also this is the first time these guys have foam rolled and already after the morning session they could tell a difference in readiness to train. Ill try and get some video up as soon as possible.

Multi-Stage Sprint Development

There are certain things you need to take into account when developing sprint capacities in athletes. First is the age of the athlete. Second, is whether there body permits them to be able to sprint without risking injury.

Now lets focus on age. The age puts you in one of the 5 stages and with in each stage there are certain guidelines that you need to be aware of.
The stages

1. The preliminary preparation stage (9 to 10 yrs),
2. The first specialization stage (12 to 13 yrs),
3. The deeper specialization stage (boys 14 to 16 yrs),
4. The elaboration stage (boys 17 to 20 yrs),
5. The high performance stage (men 21 to 26 yrs.)

Stage 1
At this age the highest stride frequencies are noted. You have to keep in respect the quality of muscle balance and must train the athlete with an overall physical development in mind. Also, with physical development in consideration variation is key but loads should not be too significant.

Stage 2
This is the time period in which focus starts to specialize towards sprints. It is a favorable time for speed and explosive power. Stride length increases at this age and balance favors the extensors of the lower body. Training should still vary (Bounds, Sprints, Jumps...) and load should increase gradually.

Stage 3
At this stage the functional capacity is high and assymetry is greater. Strength, Explosive, and speed development should favor weaker musculature groups. Volume and intensity of training should be elevated as well as you may see a jump of almost %10 in performance. There is also a gradual leaning toward more specific work.

Stage 4
This is when you push the athletes capacities to reach elite level. You functional capcites reach max levels and muscular balance, due to previous preparation, has improved. Training levels in this stage are at near maximum and a large amount of specific drills are planned. They should have a norrow focus in which the characterstics mimic the desired goal.

Stage 5
At this stage of maximum performance the main goal should be to avoid stailness. This is the main competition stage and musclar balacne should be at its best. There isn't much difference in training besides increased intensities and heavier emphasis on specific training. You won't see as high of improvements but performance shuold still increase slightly as

As you can see there are several important factors when considering speed or sprint training depending on age. If certain things were not taken into account it could be determinal to performance.

Notes from Charlie Francis, T. Jushkevitch, Y. Verkhoshansky

Book Reviews

There are a couple of books that I have read recently that I really thought were educating as well as inspiring. It doesn't take me too long to find a great book to read, I usually enjoy most genre so here are some books from training to fiction that I think people should check out.

Transfer of Training in Sports
By: Dr. Anatoliy P. Dondarchuk, Translated by Michael Yessis
-This text is great at representing the importance of the training process and how perfection of a given discipline or sport skill is where focus should be set. Often times coaches and athletes get wrapped up in measuring a certain lifts increase as a marker of sports improvement, a heavy power lifting influence. Though this should be a goal, there is yet to be a lift where you can say that as the lift increases, performance does as well.
-This book is full of data and results from numerous athletes worldwide. Based of this data he shows where the greatest transfer occurs in regards to a particular means of training. Whats great is with each table he gives observations of which exercises are most transferable.
-Overall this book was pretty good. I found myself re-reading a few paragraphs due to a lot of syntax complications and so forth.
Season of Life By: Jeffrey Marx
-Author Marx, gives a glimpse of his life as he was a ex-water boy for the Colts. One of the most memorable players while there was Joe Ehrmann, who was a little different than most typical NFL guys. Joe was often less concerned about tackling technique and more about lessons learned off the field. Marx follows the high school football team Joe coaches, providing the kids with valuable and priceless lessons. These lessons eventually influence the author who ends up being inspired enough to reunite with his father.
-This book does an incredible job at making you realize how important things can be overshadowed in the midst of fame, success, and everyday life. Marx gives a great insight on Joe "Building Men For Others" which can be utilized no matter what profession you are in. I picked out several incredible leadership qualities and found it very entertaining as well.

A Winning record but a losing season.

So, unfortunately the football team has unexpectedly ended the season too early at 7-3. We lost our last game of the regular season in the final minutes which will keep us out of the playoffs. But anyway, after a solid week of meetings and regeneration/recovery work we will start the beginning of our early off season program. It will be a lot of teaching and introducing some new things while getting stronger and of course working toward our goals for next year. I will be sure to keep everyone updated on what we are doing and get some great video and workouts up.

Generating Force

Some of the most technical lifts are the ones in which you have to pick up any type of load off the ground. For example the power clean or dead lifts would be two very difficult lifts in terms of mastery. But one of the things that make my back about explode is when I see someone blow up a bar from the ground as fast as possible without being under control. It would make sense that if you are power cleaning or dead lifting that you want to stand it up as fast as possible to reduce time under tension but that isn't taking strength curves into account.

The body has favorable positions for force generation in which they can apply force to the greatest extent. This is due to muscle/joint moments being at the most specific angle, and muscle tension forces in favorable length for exerting maximum force.

Taking the dead lift for example the most favorable position is when the bar is at the knee joint. This is where you would want to accelerate and exert maximal force. From the bottom is then you want to be as stable as possible pushing feet hard, but under control, through the ground until reaching the knee joint which your cue would be ACCELERATE!

A great example of this would be from a clip at Joe Kenn's you tube page. Listen to the cues. There are only 2 or 3 which is good because they are simple cues and effective. Push/accelerate.
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/bighouse77#p/a/u/0/J3TQ0EXPpfA

Block 4-MAX STRENGTH 2.0

This week marks the beginning of block 4 which is similar to the max strength block previous but more intense and more emphasis on speed strength. So far since using the block periodization model I have seen incredible results. Not only has it whipped my ass into incredible shape, it is allowing me to actually recover. Previously, I used a very concurrent type program in which I was trying to accomplish almost every aspect of training. Now my focus is very concentrated on about 2 tasks and it sets me up for the sequential blocks following. So here is my block 4...ill post results at the end of the week.

Day 1
Plyo: Box jumps
1A:Power Clean
2A:Back Squat
3A:Rev Lunge
4A:BB Hip thrust
4B:BB Anti Rotation

Day2
Plyo: Low Intensity hops, jumps
1A:Plyo Push up
2A: Bench Press
3A:DB Floor Press
3B: 1 arm Row
4tri-set: Standing ext rotation
ITY
Rear Dealt

Day 3
Plyo:Max Vert jump
1A:Speed Squat
2A:RFESS
3A:Dynamic GHR
3B:GHR Pulsing
4A:Core Rolls
TKE
Ab Rollouts

Day 4
Plyo:180 & 360 degree jumps
1A:Speed Bench
2A:CG bench
2B:Heavy Pull up
3A:Explosive Pull up
4tri-set:Kneeling PNF D2
Int Rotation
Front plank to push up

My Gym Bag

I am very fortunate to lifts in a fairly good sports facility here my college. We have a Glute Ham Raise, plenty of platforms and racks, and loads of weights and dumbbells. There are 3 essential things that I bring along that are critical to my training that are not provided and I can't do with out.

Bands
I personally think that these are one of the most versatile tools ever. With all the variety of resistances you can get ones for dynamic work, activation, prehab, and they come heavy enough that you can use them for an intense workout. You can also attach the minis around your back and add accommodating resistance with DB work.
Sample Band Movements
Act-Lateral Band walk
Act-Standing hip Ext Rotation
LB-Band Good Morning
LB- Band Pull Through
UB PUll- Bent over Rows
UB Push-Push ups

Heart Rate Monitor/Stop Watch
This device I utilize for my own training in regards to whether I am over anaerobic threshold or not. This is also a great gauge to see how you are recovery between bouts of exercise. For example: Track the peak heart rate following an exercise, lets say the squat. If you do 3 reps and HR is at 140 and then in the following weeks your 3 reps peak HR is above or blow that you can track whether or not your work capacity is increasing. The stop watch is to keep honest with rest intervals and keeping track of how long certain bouts of exercise take.

Nike Frees
This is my personal shoe of choice because they are so dang light and comfortable. I also like the "bare-foot" feeling you get from them. Personally it doesn't really matter the shoe as long as the heel isn't to big. Also the more feeling you have in relation of foot to ground contact, you seem to get better proprioception and awareness of foot position.

Things you may want to consider that you might not have provided: Foam Roller, Tennis ball, Tiger tail, Lifting Straps, Airex pad, Boards (for board press), TRX.

Block 3 Complete!!!!

This last week concluded my block 3 max strength mesocycle. Overall I was very pleased with the result but know I could have made it much better. I had some pretty poor sleep quality in the beginning as well my Readiness to train sort of suffered. With the emphasis being on load intensity compared to endurance this block I had to do more restorative works. I routinely stretched quads and external rotators for longer durations which seemed to help my hip mobility a lot.

Some highlights were that I was able to complete 50 reps (sprints, backpedal, shuffle) of 6 sec on 30 off with weight vest. My floor press has also gone up around 10 pounds from a few months ago. Finally my speed strength increased each week at a steady pace.

My main focuses are getting my back squat back up to where it was prior to injury. I haven't done a full back squat since Spring. My ankle mobility is well enough that they shouldn't be that bad any more. I will also have to do some more restorative work to make sure my HR doesn't climb too much. My average this month is up almost 4 from my last block. There is also a higher emphasis on speed strength and strength work will be more intense. Ill be sure to post my first week when it complete.