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.
