Off-Season Update

OFF SEASON, TESTING, AND RESULTS

Over the past few months, it has been a very busy time with training various teams, people, and reading. Now that Spring Ball has started it is time to look back and analyze the progress from the previous off-season programs.

What Was New?
Through new experiences, reading, and research it is expected that programs, methods, and progressions will change. Here are some of the changes we made this off-season in attempt to yield better performance and decreased injury potential.

1. Team FMS
One of the tools that I was able to get implemented school wide with all sports teams was FMS screenings. By partnering with the athletic training department, one of which has been through a mentorship for SFMA, we did all our preliminary screens this winter.

What we noticed was, a majority of the female athletes performed poorly in Stability push-ups and In- Line lunge. Of them, a majority complained of hip pain. For the football team, following the season, performed poorly in the Shoulder and Rotational tests. Of them a majority had anterior shoulder pain.

→Corrective approach
Following is an example of what was required for the athletes whose programs I was in charge of (Football, Volleyball). These would be typical of what we would do prior to team warm up for a shoulder priority.








Also for active rest, certain exercises were paired with corrective stretching to increase relaxation between sets as well as serving to reinforce the postural corrections. The subjective feedback has been great. Many are gradually being alleviated of tightness and the follow up to the test will be performed as they go through athletic physicals in a couple weeks.

2. Speed/Plyo Progressions
This off season I focused a particular amount of attention to our anaerobic power sessions, which were in separate session Monday, and also Wednesday mornings we would have a session completely dedicated to developing this capacity. We then would be transitioning into anaerobic capacity. Our session would mirror what was being reinforced in the weight room such as Starting strength, acceleration mechanics that were utilized heavily and with great success during our emphasis on anaerobic power (AP). AP plays and especially important role the shorter the competitive distance, which is enhanced while developing maximal strength and reactive ability.

Example of exercises for this development of anaerobic power and reactive ability:
→Resisted running from Crouch/Split stance start.
Keys: powerful take off using active movement of swing leg. This reinforces the flexion/extension reflex (Bosch), which will greatly enhance starting power.
Distance/Time: 25-35yds depending on position. Nothing over 8-10 seconds.

→Jump Training divided into “short” consisting of 4-6 maximum force take offs. We used a progression of Non-Countermovement, Countermovement, Double Contact, Continuous, Depth Jump (depth never exceeding jump height).

→Jump Training divided into “long” consisting of moderate take offs with emphasis on advancing ahead as fast as possible. Distances usually 40-80 yards. Jumps used were six fold leg to leg and bounds.

3. Paying more attention to the specialized strength training (SST) of specific groups of athletes.
It is well known that movement pattern specificity has a great deal to do with transfer of training (Stone). This is realized by how intramuscular and intermuscular movement pattern specificity is accounted for. The functional roles of groups of muscles can change in various multi-joint movements and needs to be considered in various kinetic and kinematic roles during performance tasks. This basically meant simple emphasis on certain means for a particular position. Take into consideration a lineman who is static from start of position. Requirements would yield highly toward starting and yielding strength. This opposed to a linebacker who engages an opponent following a countermovement.

→ Special consideration should take place to emphasize Movement pattern specificity:
- Type of muscle action (eccentric, concentric, stretch shortening)
- Accentuated regions of force production (accommodating resistance)
- Complexity, Direction of Movement
- Ballistic vs. Non-ballistic

RESULTS

Developing athletes does not rely solely on the development of muscular strength. Performance outcomes are by far the most reliable way to tell whether or not a program is successful. This involves longevity, speed of execution for a given motor system, and ability to recover is factors that you should use to determine the ultimate success of your athletes improvement from a yearly cycle. For now however, seeing improvements of certain test are a reliable why to determine if certain means are achieved to set up the potential for subsequent training. I am satisfied with average from the first 5 weeks of the Winter sessions. Here are average increases from testing after 5 weeks:

→Bench- Avg. 30# increase
→Hang Clean- Avg. 20# increase
→Squat- Avg. 30# increase
Thrown out were some outliers that test increased above 50.

These are pretty constant with the average increases from the previous testing after our post season lifts before this 5-week block. Strength values are where they need to be and should result in a good transition into a greater emphasis on explosive abilities leading into the summer months.

Building a Foundation

Building the foundation for subsequent training means can not be neglected. Being so far away from the next season, it is no better time than now to begin expanding the potential for the work to come. This involves extensive conditioning, tempo work, and assessing postural imbalances very intensively.

The aim of the tempo work is to increase the aerobic capacity for Type II fibers as well as hypertrophy of type I. Here is an example of an upper body tempo exercise protocol we use.

D-Lineman: 6'2" 240 lb
Tempo: 2/0/2
Duration:2-3 series of 3 x 40 sec or 8-10 reps
Rest: 60 sec between sets, 5-8 min active recovery between series

This is his last set. It is very hard for them to control the concentric portion when fatigued so constant supervision and cueing is important to maintain protocol. Always have a stop watch in hand. You can do this after high intensity strength work or in series for a workout on its own.

It is important to remember that this is also the best time to reinforce proper mechanics especially scapular. Important cue to really condition the lower fibers is to make sure athletes are relaxing the upper trapezius. It is key to be hands on so you can feel what they feel. Here is a defensive lineman utilizing these scapular cues during a pull down, ensuring proper activation of the lower fibers.

Give Back to get more!

After settling into a comfortable routine and with all my strength and conditioning duties set, I realized I had a lot of time on my hands. I figured if I want to be getting to seminars and buy the continuing education resources some extra cash flow would be a good idea. So what better way then to pick up some clients.

I figured for the advertising/marketing I would go with the cheapest(free) method available...flyers, and a free ad. The response was fairly well. After the one week I got several replies and was off to a good start. The best form of marketing however, word of mouth, was what I needed to utilize in order to establish a name for my programs so that I could be sure to gain more clients throughout the process.

Usually this process is one that takes a while. Typically you get your clients, train them, if your successful by the end they will tell friends and coworkers. Well, I was a little impatient and wanted to kick start this process so I decided to add some extra incentive to spread the word a little more quickly. Initially, I charged them the fee for the program and while meeting with each client for a consultation I let them in on a plan to help motivate them and spread the word. After establishing there goals and evaluating their initial training history I flat out gave them a money back guarantee. If my program did meet the needs of the clients goals (specific) they would get a fair percentage of the initial fee back no questions asked. My hopes were that eventually the word would get out and I would re-open at the halfway point and see how many others would like to join. Well, it really did not take that long. Recently, I have gotten several emails from husbands, wives, fathers of the clients all wanting to join and some of their friends who might want to join.

By no means am I a genius, super star, celebrity trainer, but I am confident in my coaching and that with the goals established this will be a great experience. It just simply demonstrates that in many cases marketing does not have to be an investment that takes a lot from the initial profit of your current fees. Not only with this hold me incredibly accountable for making progress but this will get my clients to realize how serious I am about getting them to where they want to be. Of course there are stipulations with attendance and effort but finding ways to establish a clientele has more to do with what people have to say about you over what you can say about your skill. Find ways to get people talking and you will never have a problem generating a clientele.

Missing Reps=Missing Out

Everyone who has ever been a part of the iron game for an extended period of time knows what missing reps can do for your progress. Often, inexperienced lifters will set themselves up for failure when they see a prescribed amount of reps with out any inclination as to what weight they will be using. Usually the athlete will load the bar with some absurd weight and fall short by a couple reps or call on the great spotting assistance of their partner to finish them out. This is why it is hard for me to simply prescribe lets say 4x5 and expect all the athletes to take progressive fatigue, subjective readiness, and RPE into account and complete every rep. Because when you miss reps the thing you are missing out on is progress.

The solution that I utilize is relative intensities. As stated before I use a form of the 531 method to prescribe the reps for the athletes. In the first cycle we used 90% of their one rep max to calculate the intensity of the lifts which is called their workout max. They then find the percentage for the lift based off this number. Here is an example of a running backs current set up:

Max Bench 310
Workout max:280

The significance of working under your max is that it makes it nearly impossible to miss the recommended reps prescribed. But you may ask how then do they attain progressive overload? The beauty of this system is that on the last set you perform until technical failure. This takes care of subjective readiness by giving them an easily attainable weight that they should get at least the prescribed reps. So if they are not feeling great that day they should still be able to complete the reps. But when feeling great this also allows them to push up the RPE by working the last set up to a rep max close to or passing the previous PR. In the end we don't get missed reps, guys are setting PR's because they are able to get in the needed volume to progress, and the psychological aspect of knowing you have to get as many reps as possible makes the athletes focus hard on surpassing previous PR's. Here is that same running backs results from today's workout:

2 weeks later
Prescribed reps-3
Prescribed percentage-98
Last set-275x6=320 PR!

This has been a regular occurrence with many athletes on many of the lifts many whom had plateaued coming into the season. This has been largely due to the fact that they are no longer missing reps. Not only does missing these reps on a prescribed set render it nearly useless, the mental tole from the shear disappointment has a negative effect on the rest of the workout too. Remember, competitors hate to fail at anything. Missing reps is failure. With the next cycle coming on quick and therefore the increase in relative intensity, I am excited to see the numbers continue to climb.

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

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.

Limited Resources

There are many times when you are traveling and you don't have a barbell in sight. Or when you are working out at a facility that just does not do it for you in terms of lack of equipment/poundage. The worst is the unpredictable factor being the weather. You should always have an option B. Here are a few of my past B options that still got the job done.

Option A: was Hill Sprints
Limiting factor: was the rain
Option B: Stair sprints. Stair sprints would be a great option for replacing hill sprints. The benefit of a consistent incline and being able to still sprint. If you need more resistance throw on a 10 # vest and go at it. All you have o do is find a local gym or if you house has steps of reasonable length.
Option A: 1 arm DB rows with 85 #
Limiting Factor: Only 60# DB's
Option B1 (long term): Buy Adjustable DB. These were one of my best purchases I have made. I was in a weight room with only 60 # of DB weight and got these form EliteFTS which allowed me to load them with more weight then I could dream of using.
Option B2 (Short Term): Use a EZ curl bar. This was something I could of gotten by with but since I was in a long term situation I bought the adjustable DB's. This did work well after you find the Center of gravity.

Option A: Lift Heavy weight
Limiting Factor: No Spotter
Option B: Change lift. Lifting without a spotter isn't always bad if you are doing some dynamic effort work or repetition work where you know where to cut it off and still get a great workout in. But lifting maximally without a spotter is asking for injury. But there are safe movements that a spotter really can't do much anyways. Here are a few safe alternatives for the basic Maximal movements.
Squat=Anderson Front Squat
Bench=Pin Press
None: If this is going to be a one time occurrence, drop the ego and work on some weak areas this day. It will pay off in the long run, you won't do something dumb without a spotter, and you and get back at it in no time with heavy work.
Option A: Weight Vest
Limiting factor: Don't have one
Option B: Back pack. I used this before I had a weight vest and it worked great for me or things like chins, short sprints, and jumps. Take a SMALL back pack and put a small blanket on the bottom. Place a durable object on top for desired weight and place a blanket over top. Without the padding the object/weight will bump against you uncomfortably. The pack that worked best for me was a smaller back pack I got with a pair of sports shoes pictured here.

Ending the week STRONG

Day 4
Plyos-Jump Rope, 1 leg dot drill-various patterns on one leg x3
1A) Speed Bench-5x5 sec@ 135, 155, 165, 175, 185, 195, 225, 205
2A)Heavy Pull Up-4x3 @ 45 +BW
2B)NG DB Military-3x8@ 75
3A)1 arm face pull-3x12 @ 60 3B)Grappler Anti-Rotation-3x12@ 25#plate

Day 5
1A)Power Clean- 3x5@225, 255, 275 1B)Bound to box-3x3
2A)Squat w/ safety bar-4x5@255, 275, 315, 335
3A)BB Hip Thrust- 4x5@225, 255, 275, 305 3B) Ab Roll outs-3x12

This week was very challenging in terms of Readiness to train. Sleep quality was very poor due to late night studying(midterms this week). Other than that I was satisfied with my squat. I was at that weight this summer but for 3 reps and my power clean is getting back to where it was before my injury. Over all I have a good feeling about how this block is going and as my ankle feels better my lifts and power keep climbing. I have been very militant with mobility work and rehab this week and it paid off because although sleep quality was poor, I still kept my heart rate from climbing too much. At the beginning of the week it was still at 51 but has gone up slightly to 54/55 which is a jump but not to the point of needing to back off. Primary upper/lower exercises switch next week to Floor Press and Front Squat. This weekend will involve lots of regeneration and HAWKEYE FOOTBALL!

My workout..MAX STRENGTH!!

I'm not going to lie, I love lifting heavy. So going from Tempo work and sweating more profusely than ever before (Tempo squats left puddles!!) I am glad to be "stuck" in this max strength focused block. The only bad part about these last couple weeks was that mid terms have hit hard and so have the test. So sleep quality is a little down but, my heart rate continues to stay pretty low (51-53 avg.) I have hit the recovery hard recently getting in my fair share of long duration stretches, foam rolling, and some trigger point work.

Week 2
Day 1
Plyos: Low to high box jumps 3x5
1A:1 Board press-4x5 @275,285,295,305,315
2A:CG Band Push up-3x12 @ Green Band
2B:1 arm SS row-4x10 @ 75/85
3A:ITY
3B:Bilateral PNF D2 flexion
3C:Sidelying Ext Rotation

Day 2
Plyos: 1 Leg Med ball chest pass-3x15, Side Tosses-3x15
1A:Speed Squats- 5 in 5 sec @ 135, 155, 175, 185, 205, 225x2, 205x1
2A:BB Bulgarian SS: 3x8 @ 185
3A:GHR-3x10 @ 10
3B:GHR Pulsing-3x20 @35

Day 3
Recovery work
Various Mobility and Activation Drills, Low intensity Circuit

Day 4/5:Will post when complete

Block 2 Complete!

My training the last couple of months or so have been primarily focused on enhancing potential of my oxidative capacities and localized muscle endurance while maintaining strength and power. So far all has gone great and the results prove it.
All taken upon waking up:
AVG HR-56
Peak HR- 60
Low HR-51
This has been a great and practical indicator of eccentric cardiac hypertrophy. Following this week I will begin my next block with Max strength being the main focus. I am planning on great increases in numbers and will post my results ever couple weeks to track progress. Some other qualities I will address is increasing FT capacity and introduction of speed strength. I will maintain the aerobic/endurance components by a mini-block as well.

Day 1,2,3 Getting up early!!

Teusday
1 Leg low box jumps
Med ball throws
1A)Heavy front squat-3x3@315, 2@335,1@355
2A)Tempo squat-3 series of 3x60 sec
3A)GHR
3B)GHR Pulsing
ESD- Concentric hypertrophy 2 min on 35 off @ 2.5 trips

Weds- ESD- FT Capacity: Heavy bike 3 series@ 20 min, 10, 19 PK HR-157

Thursday
1A)Tempo Chin up- 3series @3x30-45
2A) Floor Press-3x10 @85
2B) 1 Arm face pull-3x10 @50
3A)L-lateral raise to ext rotation-2x12
3B)Ab roller- 2x12
3C)Standing PNF D2 Flexion

All my workouts were at 6AM so I'm trying to get used to working out in the morning. This allows me the rest of the day to get in and coach and do homework. I may also start working out later at night for my ESD once im done with home work.

Football Season Kicks off...and ends for some.

With the beginning College football comes long anticipated excitement for the early powerhouse match ups, first look at new players, and realizing what you can expect your favorite team to accomplish. Sadly, in recent years, what you also can expect is a handful of injuries. More evident in preseason camp than opening day, injuries due to failure of preparation is seen in the countless non-contact ACL tears, Achillese tendon ruptures, and various strains, are more prevalent now than ever. Lets look at why?
Diagnosing Football
A typical play last all of 6 seconds. In between you have about 30 or more seconds to recover. This would make football a very alactic sport. Expanding on this system would require a higher fast-twitch capacity. That would mean high intensity loaded bouts of 10 seconds or less with approximately 30 or so seconds to recover. You can build this by repeated sprints until you are unable to stay below anaerobic threhold when recovering. Eventually reaching to about 40+ sprints in a session. Not the typical 10-15.
Missing the Boat
Anymore, the majority of work you see year round is constant glycolitic ESD until the athletes can no longer move. The major downfall to this ESD is that you can expand on this capacity for only 4 weeks before it produces a diminished return. This system is also rarely used on the playing feild. Best time for development would the weeks leading up to the season.
Conclusion
The main contributor to injuries in most sports is fatigue. When your tired you compensate and get sloppy. So avoid the heavy breathing and playing your way into shape. Get your energy systems in line and take care of it so your athletes are ready to dominate before the first snap!

Week 3 Day 1 Upper Body and FT Capacity

AM:ESD-Fast Twitch Capactiy
KB Jumps @ 35# 3 series of 10x10 seconds on 45,30,30 off.

PM: Strength
Dot Drill and various ladder drills
1A: Bench 3x3,2,1 @ 330,350,350
2A: Chest Supp. Row 3x5 @145
3A: Cable Lift 2x12
3B: Face pull 2 ext rotation 2x12
3C: GHR Trunk Pulse

Peak HR for ESD was 140 which makes me feel like I have improved my capacity a lot in this short time.

Day 1 Upper Body Strength and FT capacity

Warm Up and Foam Roll
1A:Bench press-2x3@315,350

2A:Chest Supp Row-3x4@125 all

3A:Face pull w/ ext rotation
3B:Cable Lift
3C:GHR Abdominal pulsing

ESD:KB Jumps: 3 series of 10sets X 10sec/60 off all under AT
Workout preparedness:8
PWO fatiue:7
Quick and easy for my first workout of introductory week.