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.

Plyometrics, more than jumping onto a box Part 1

Part I will discuss the basic biomechanics of what goes on during plyometrics.

Reactivity, elasticity, and sometimes referred to as buoyancy, plays a very important role in all sports and running. The ability to change direction, sprint, and jump rely heavily on the body’s ability to produce force, relax, and repeat force production.

Taking a look at common practice through visiting professionals, reading material, and learning from other great coaches, a very common variation in each persons approach to development is how they incorporate plyometrics. I hear a common phrase; “most athletes aren’t strong enough so I don’t do them.” Which I will expand upon more later. Some think it is all about how many inches you can jump onto a box. Opposite of that some think it is all about jumping off the tallest box you can. I will also explain why the common test for explosive power (vertical jump) doesn’t quiet tell the whole story.

What Happens When You Jump?
First and for most lets take a look at the biomechanics that come into play when performing a jump in relationship to the stretch shortening cycle (SSC). Taking a look at Hill’s model, two of the three components make a serious contribution. The contractile element (CE) composed of muscle fibers, and the series elastic component (SEC) mainly being the tendon. When performing a jump, these components are stretched, allowing them to store energy, and this energy is released upon rapid contraction. The tendon has the greatest capacity to store energy with little stretch do to it being a rigid structure. Unlike the muscle, which is supple, can stretch much further without storing the same amounts of energy. This would promote the concept that a greater the ability to stretch the tendon during a SSC, the more energy that can be released. This stretch in the tendon would be optimal if the muscle does not stretch. Basically, the more eccentrically a muscle acts within a SSC the less stretch you get out of the tendon.

In part II we will look at how you can apply this information and the specific exercises that utilize this component of the SSC.

Educational Road Trip

Today I had the pleasure of dropping in at the Sanford Running Injury & Performance lab and The National Institute for Athletic Health & Performance in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Each of these places offer unique equipment and are heading some great research involving individual assessment through gait analysis and fatigue related stability issues.

At the running lab they had a force plate treadmill with Zebris software. What this allowed them to do was match slow motion video analysis with an individuals foot strike. Along with this they would hook up EMG to get a look at specific firing patterns up the chain. Take away message:

* The individual may display similar areas of stiffness and/or firing patterns but treatment is different based on the way in which this stiffness occurs. This is based off roll off patterns in the foot, heel motion, and foot structure.
* Single leg stance is still one of the greatest assessments for stability. But with this tool you can measure the parameter in which your center of gravity is displaced. This with EMG can show the degree in which you compensate and with which specific muscles your relying on.
* Many people strike hard on the outside of the heel and almost immediate go to big toe after a hard pronation.

Overall like you would assume, many of these people were stiff anteriorly and externally rotated.
These guys had a fellowship with Gary Gray and use some very integrated corrective strategies as you would guess with Gray.

At the NIAHP, they have easily the best environmental chamber in the US. Here they have done wonders with hydration study and stability.

* Almost everyone losses sweat at different rates. With that, what is lost (different electrolytes) varies quiet a bit person to person. People perform at a substantially higher rate when they replace what is really needed and not as much of what is not.
* After fatigued, athletes showed highest differences in stability in the frontal plane when landing, and in step-downs.
* 50 % of athletes are in a dehydrated state throughout the day. (DRINK SOME WATER!)

A great experience overall. Once again these are just tools. You can come to the same conclusions with different means. These tools however provide a great deal of information allowing you to obtain results with the ability to compare with computed numbers. I see these sort of tools as a use em' if you have access sort of thing.

Defending the Trap Bar

The topic that probably found itself ranking at the forefront of discussion in the industry over the last year was the debate over lower body bilateral movements. This includes primarily variations of the squat and deadlift. Its my feeling that if you want to take something away it should be for a couple reasons. One, there are other tools that could be better benefiting you in progress to your goals. Two, it is causing harm to your athletes in the form of injury due to poor pattern or poor risk reward. When I look at the trap bar deadlift I can not find a way to justify these questions. Let look at just a few reasons why it can be such a useful tool...

Using the trap bar to teach movement:
It is all too common to find people who are unstable on the deep squat. Stabilization is timing. A key component in the TBDL is the isometric loading you obtain in the start position. This allows the athlete to consciously gauge the feeling of firing the stabilizers first before going into the squat pattern from the bottom up. Also when put into proper position, the only way to overcome the isometric load is them to activate the global muscles through hip extension. This action of isometric loading to active hip extension will allow you to gain the stability so many athletes lack in the deep squatting pattern.

It is easy to modify:
Not every athlete has the warranted hip mobility that will allow them to pick a heavy load from the ground and maybe they are just to tall to safely pick up the standard sized bar. The best part about bar is that the weight is close to the base of support (your feet) and can be safely elevated. This can allow you to make sure that no matter the athlete, proper spine alignment can be achieved in most cases.
Without a lift many athletes with poor mobility/stability lock the back into extension and also will extend the neck as they attempt to bring shoulder back.









With a couple plates or aerobic boxes, you can easily find a range in which the athlete will not have to compromise mobility to achieve the pattern.








Also a great way to reinforce this movement pattern is to do a toe touch progression within a super-set to compliment this lift.






Scapular Stability:
Lets not forget that this wonderful exercise requires strength, stability, and mobility from all areas. A key area of this stability is one that is often missing in many programs. The scap/thoracic region can be stabilized in two ways. One of them, compression, is commonly seen with things like planks and push ups. The second, distraction, is greatly developed in the TBDL. This is when the scapula has to resist a load from protraction. One can identify this when an athlete lifts too heavy of a load and the shoulder drift anterior.

Max Strength and Aerobic Capacity

Over the last several months and through talking with many colleuges in the field, I found that one of the most misunderstood concepts with development of athletes in many field sports (football, soccer) aerobic energy system development and its key to strength development is often overlooked. Lets look at some of the several adaptations one can benefit from having a optimal aerobic capacity.
At the heart: Increased Left ventricle hypertrophy (eccentric) leading to higher strove volume, increased vagal tone, higher end diastolic volume all creating a larger cardiac output= Increased oxygen supply. Basically, these adaptaions will improve your bodies ability to move more oxygenated blood to the working muscles with less effort. This allows you to accomplish power aerobically before having to rely heavily on the lactic system which fatigues quickly.

At the muscle: Type I fiber hypertrophy, oxidative ability of type II fibers, Increased localized capillarization, Increased mitochondria. These adaptations will increase your muscles abilities to draw oxygen from blood, increased mitochondria will help your muscle regenerate ATP aerobically. Mitochindrial density has also been linked to improvement of muscle contraction/relaxation speed!

Simply, when lifting for maximal strength your body is utilizing the alactic/ATP-PC enrgy system at its highest capacity by quickly breaking down ATP to supply the amount of power needed to execute a maximal lift. The typical rest is 3-5 minutes between sets. What happens during this rest is where the aerobic system is the star. This relaxation is when ATP resythesis occurs in the ATP-PC system. After an intense bout, ATP is reduced to 70% of pre exercising levels and PCr to 20 % PEL. 70% of this is re-sythesized in about 30 seconds and fully in around 5 minutes. The full recovery can be delayed when muscles are occluded from blood flow. Without getting exteremly technical, this fact shows that the adaptations discussed earlier will greatly increase you bodies ability to resythesize the much needed ATP as quickly as possible within the resting parameters.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't saying that you need to be able to run marathons to be able to do maximal strength work. There is however a great benefit of having "optimal" capacity of the aerobic system to set yourself up for success down the road in maximal strength work. Some of hese methods have been discussed previously in my blog (see alactic capacity, Tempo method/oxidative squats). This doesn't stop at max strength but the benefits carry into repeated sprint ability, sustaing power over time, and the ability to produce ATP rapidly aerobically.

Update!!

Hey everyone!! It has been a LONG time since I have posted. Let me fill you in on what I have been up too and what you can expect for future post.

Summer was extremely busy with lots of hours spent at AP learning from some amazing coaches. College Football season at my school has concluded with a finish of 8-2. There were zero non-contact injuries this year which is what I really am aiming for when developing programs followed by increased performance. The volleyball team is poised to take nationals and also without injuries effecting anything. These were two teams that were plagued with ACL tears and Hamstring strains, both were non existent. One of the high school football teams I was in charge of won the district and made a great run at the state playoffs. Looking back I am extremely proud of these teams and the people in other individual sports that are looking for some great progress in the future. I can't wait to get started in the off season which start today!!

With that being said, I have some great things that I will be implementing with the teams this winter that I am excited to share with everyone. I am also going to be taking a handful of more advance guys and putting them on some different program with more advanced preparations methods more familiar to those who have read up on block periodization. I plan on following these results here showing you everything I am doing with these athletes.

You can also read up on an interview I did early in the Summer HERE!

Hope everyone is doing well and good luck to all those in and out of season.

Means of Sport Form

In today, the strength and conditioning scene is overwhelmed with such variety of tools, methods, and programs. On the outside some look very "advanced" and often involve a multitude of different training methods and tools (strongman, speed cord, and unstable training). These often look attractive to athletes but will often lead to poor development of sport form due to lack of specificity at the given time.

There is typically 3 different means of sports development. General, General-Specific, and Specific. When looking at your annual cycle or training stage, it is appropriate to correlate the specific mean of training for the certain time.

One example of a way to plan the means of your training would be in the Conjugate Sequencing with a distributed load. (Note: This is not the conjugate system familiar with West Side Barbell) This would involve General during your preparatory or accumulation phase, General Specific during the transmutation phase, and Specific during realization/competitive. During the development of a specific means of training the others are developed at low volumes. In other words, if it is the off season in football your General means (basic lifts, first plyo progressions, non competitive drill) will be of main focus while the other two will still be developed but in small volumes.
The reason it is so important to distribute the means of your sport development is because it avoids injury. This is where the general part plays such a big role. In your General development skills and lifts should involve basic movement patterns, and development of skill should look very basic and focus on improving your local muscle capacity for your sport aside from performing your sport tasks. The General part of General Specific would indicate that the skill should be just different enough to Specific drills to avoid accumulative stress on the muscles if the specific drills were used all year. Specific should mirror the sport as much as possible and within reasonable methods. These would be some appropriate Means of exercise for various sports:

Football

• General- Olympic lifts, power lifts, any other lift performed with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells , etc
• General Specific- pushing a weighted implement (e.g. sled, tire, special training apparatus, etc), game simulation wearing a weighted vest, etc for 4-10 second repetitions
• Specific- one on one contests against an opponent for 4-10 second repetitions

Powerlifting

• General- rows with barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, presses/swings with dumbbells, kettlebells, GHR, pull ups, back raises, step ups, lunges, jumps onto a box.
  
• General Specific- bench presses with different grips, board presses, floor presses, box squats, front squats, SS Bar squats, GM’s, deadlift off of boxes, pins, accommodating resistance with bands and/or chains.
• Specific- competition squat, bench press, deadlift with competition gear and varied intensities

The appropriate Means of development is essential to insure that the athlete has developed a functional capacity or potential early on in training to assure that the body can fully develop and adapt to the demands placed on it in the subsequent weeks of development.

For more info see James Smith, Issurin, Bondarchuk

Prep for Competition Phase

With almost every college sport anymore there are pretty much 2 seasons. The actual season (Regular season, playoffs, tournaments), and an off season competition (Spring practice, Fall Baseball, Spring soccer season). These, although shorter than the normal season in terms of duration, the intensity and frequency of practice can seem very similar. Your athletes must physically and mentally be prepared for both of these "seasons." With the football and soccer teams in the beginning phases of the Spring season here are some considerations in your preparation that you should consider:

3 Keys to Preparation for Competition

1. As a competitive phase approaches it is the time to realize the training abilities developed in a sport specific setting physically and mentally. With the football athletes, we did this physically by progressing them from self regulated fall starts to vocal/visual cues into competitive speed and agility. These drills use the same localized muscles and potential body positions an athlete will face on the field. The competition component forces them to focus on the competition aspect and not other biomechanical things relying on previously learned movement qualities e.g. P.A.L. Mechanics. There are a variety of TAG, Chase, CHAOS drills that in some way or another can serve to fill this component.

2. You also want to avoid any acute trauma via equipment. This is obvious for football...PADS. The best piece of equipment to try and acclimate athletes to weighted equipment is a vest. By utilizing a weight vest in training/ESD/and movement prep, you can gradually get the athlete accustomed to a point that you can avoid too much soreness from that first week of pads. This can make a huge difference in fatigue related injuries. Often the second practice can be seen to have several athletes complain about soreness in the shoulders/traps due to helmet, shoulder pads which can be significantly reduced if properly prepared.

3. With any sport, there is unavoidable trauma that comes along with it so why would you add to that with certain exercises. Take volleyball who is in their spring season right now. They are doing so many repetitive jumps, bounds, and landings that the volume of stretch-shortening in there training needs to be reduced to keep the power output at optimal levels. Also with the football guys who face an abundance of trauma to body parts like the wrist and shoulders. Exercises that require extreme wrist extension or provocative shoulder positions should be reduced or avoided. An example would be replacing hang cleans with high pulls, weighted jumps, or any other triple extension exercise for the time being.

It is amazing how such small aspects of training can help you translate your physical skills that much more while making sure you consider the trauma of sport itself can assure that the developed abilities will be maintained without compromising safety. There are many other things which you may want to consider when approaching these sort of phases in your annual cycle but these three things as seen with preparation, observation, and acclimation can help your athletes perform to the highest potential.

Training Log: Preparation for Spring Football

It has been a while since I posted on my training so I figured what better time then at the end of a block. I have used the results from my previous training stage to determine the specific abilities were not where I needed them to be to make up the focus in the stage leading up to spring ball. It is important to note that our spring practices are padded and the spring "season" is pretty much identical to an in season atmosphere. We have pretty intense practices with some scrimmages and a spring game all included. This made it appropriate for me to have to a training stage that would include a accumulation, transmutation, and realization blocks as if I was preparing for one.

NEEDS
After my previous testing my results showed that I needed to improve on my overall power. My strength numbers were where they needed to be so I set my mesocycle/microcyles to use the potential of the developed strength to expand my capacity for producing force at much higher rates. This was obtained through a variety of jumps, throws, Olympic lifts, and some strength speed was still included to a point. Also a fair dose of alactic power work to improve on the speed of my technical, tactical movements in the proper muscle regimes.

RESULTS
Strength
Bench Press- 365-375
Squat-510-540
Hang Clean- 340-355

Skill Test
Vert- 32-35.5
10 yard- 1.8-1.70
Standing Broad Jump-TBD tm

Physical Test
Body weight-210 (same)
body comp- 5%/7% (hydrostatic weighing/Calipers)
RHR-57-60 (varies in this range)

Recovery modalities
Contrast Showers/Baths, Epsom Baths, Cold Plunges, Lots of Foam Rolling, Mobility and Flexibility work, and Tempo Runs with some low intensity recovery work (walks, low intensity circuits, more mobility circuits) anything to get the blood flowing.

Since utilizing the Block Periodization Concept, I have yet to not see improvement in my preparedness which was uncommon in the past. This so far has been a great learning and training experience and will now take what I have attained and use it on the field next week. From here it will be restorative and retaining until the preseason starts. Feeling good about these results and can't wait till final training stage approaches so I can really push the envelope on this.

Key Workouts

During certain times of an athletes training stage, the focus of the training varies depending on factors such as time of year, level of specific qualities, qualities in need of development. etc... This has a significant structural indications for a microcycle. When focusing on developing a limited amount of abilities to a high extent, it is important to know how to execute this training and when to execute it on a weekly basis in order to obtain the desired result. This is where the "Key" Workout strategy comes into play.

A key workout is a session that is highly focused on the current training emphasis. The workouts include the MOST relevant abilities and motor skills that are of central focus. If it was a block geared toward power, the key workout would include you jumps, sprints, throws, and any other power related bioenergenic means. If strength was your focus, your key workout would include the main exercises that you are using to develop strength for your athletes.

Things to consider when planning your key workouts. It is of highest importance that the tools you use in a key workout are NOT unknown or new exercises. The main point of the key workouts is to get the most out of the session and a high mental focus component is needed and the focus should be on the quality of the work and not execution of a different exercise.

Withing a key workout should include a key exercise or tasks. This would be depended on your sport however. Lets say you were a MMA fighter, your main tasks would likely be a training match but your key exercise may be linked to your needed area of weakness and you target muscle regime.

Key workouts/exercises/tasks are important factors that need to be planned out prior to training stage has begun. Determining you key workout and tasks will allow you to mentally visualize, motivate, and determine most relevant means of monitoring training.

Horizontal Pulling: DB Progression

In all the programs I write for the teams we place a great emphasis on the horizontal pulling movement pattern. As of now we do a progression on the blasts straps and one with the use of DB's. This movement pattern is not just extremely important because of its antagonistic relationship to bench, but in many sports like football a majority of the upper body action is pressing. This movement and others similar will go a long way in combating the everyday overuse of the pressing muscles.

Also, a great deal of emphasis needs to be put on the scapular retraction component during this movement pattern. Often time athletes will initiate the pull with the elbow joint when you really should start this movement by retracting the scapula straight back then proceeding with the arm action. This will reduce the anterior translation of the humeral head by maintaining scapular stability.

The basis for these progressions were to gradually add more of a stability component while being able to maintain neutral spine and keep the load or even increase. As the progressions get more advanced, there is a much higher demand to prevent rotation as well.

Kneeling 1 arm DB Row



3 Point 1 arm Row



1 Arm/1 Leg Contralateral Row



Split Stance Row (unsupported)




Parallel Stance Row (unsupported)

Wildcats HS team Killin' it!

I have talked a few times and wrote an article about my work with the local high school sports teams and how great they are doing. So far they are on the right track to a life time of quality physical preparedness and sports dominance!! Take a look!

Anterior Core Progression: Part 2

A while back I posted the anterior core progression I was putting the team through. I must say that they have done a great job at maintaining neutral spine through these movements all the way through the med ball roll outs. Now that they have adequately done this with a tool that is fairly stable it would only make sense to throw some instability in the picture. This can be done in many ways but what we will be implementing is variations with the blast straps. Also a popular choice would be the TRX which set ups would be very similar.


We will start with the first step of the progression:
Fall Out


This can be enhanced to player capability by adjusting how steep the angle.

From there you can add an anti rotation component to the exercise by doing various movements uni-laterally with the arms. (lines, circles, etc...)
Flutters


Finally, an exercise that doesn't include a blast strap or TRX but still serves to be very dynamic and challenges you in multiple planes.
Spider Man Push Up


What is important to remember is that you progress to all of these. Many of the athletes that can now do these would not be near as proficient at them if they didn't start with the standard plank hold->PB roll out->ab roller->med ball roll progression. This was the foundation that allows them to be able to add this dynamic action to these movements while avoiding unwanted compensations.

Team Warm Up-Lower Body 2 of 2: Stick Routine

As I clarified in my previous post, there are so many things that are important to address in order to establish quality movement prior to lifting and performance overall. With large groups or teams, utilizing your simple tools can reinforce proper posture and positioning while performing a wide array of movements without the need for constant cueing.

Speaking of cues, it can make you job much easier by teaching the desired position you want them in with the tool that you are using. For example, with the stick warm up, on the first day they performed it we established what we expected them to do during the movements. Basically arms straight, chest out, belly button in, and knee(s) out. So now every time we do this routine and they are told to get in position, they know exactly what that means and it takes care of having to constantly throw out cues. Here is a example of the routine.

Foam Roll
Stretch
Kneeling Psoas stretch 1x30 ea
Wall Adductor/Hamstring-Lie down, V Legs against wall, actively abduct legs
Hurdle Mobility Forward (Paired with Dynamic Stretch)
"Fish Hook"
Lead w/ R/L
Over/Under
"Grab Stick" aka Homemade cut up PVC and Dowels
OH squat w/ long pause in hole 2x15 sec
Kneeling t-spine Rotation x10 each
OH Squat w/ 1 sec pause x10 "Count out loud"
Single leg good mornings x10 ea
OH Lunge w/ twist x10ea
Monster Walk F/B x 5ea
Glute Bridge- x10 w/ 3 sec hold

From here we will again lead into or movement drills and then it is off to the iron game! You may have gotten the indication from the routine that I love counting reps out loud and them doing it in sync. This just avoids guys trying to slack off on a few reps because if they are not in sync with everyone they will stick out pretty easily. Also that these sticks were all homemade. We cut spare dowels, found old broomsticks and PVC that met the dimensions too. This way we were able to obtain more than enough sticks for large groups for nothing more than putting in extra time to make them and searching.

The thing I like most about this routine is that you can identify progress in mobility and keep weekly note of how there movement patterns are improving. Hope this serves as some help And I will have some video up with the two routines early next week which can help give a better picture at the constancy of the warm up and how easy it is to implement.

Team Warm Up-Lower Body 1 of 2: Band Routine

By now, it has been firmly implanted in to many coaches minds that preparation or warm up for weight training is very important. By participating in sports in just the last 10 years, I can personally remember the concept of a warm up transitioning from "take a lap and stretch on your own" to "after foam rolling and corrective stretching were are going into activation and mobility drill."

With all the great research and recent developments that can help athletes correct movement patterns, activate muscles, enhance stability, regain mobility, improve tissue quality...wow, what a list! And you have to put a team of 80 guys through this in less then an hour?...what...15 min?!?!

This is where systems come into play. A system based off primary areas of need in your particular sport. With a system athletes can memorize. Once this occurs so does efficiency. We utilize 4 routines which we can cover all those things listed above in a continuous and sometimes simultaneously which allows us to accomplish more with the time given.

Band Routine-Lower body 1 of 2
Foam Roll-As I have mentioned in previous post, our team takes personal accountability to show up 5-10 min before the scheduled time to foam roll in order for us to get right into our corrective work.
Stretch- Kneeling Lunge, 3-D External Rotators
Hurdle Mobility Lateral- "Fish Hook", R/L, Over/Under all paired with a dynamic stretch.
Mini Bandx5 each
Straight Leg Lateral Walk
Straight Leg Forward
Monster Walk F/B
External rotations (band on knees)
Wide March/Tight March (around foot)

From here we proceed into Med Ball routine and movement drills. This entire routine including med ball and movement drills take 15 minutes. The first day did take a little longer but once it is learned it becomes very efficient. The key to making this work is keeping the pace up. Guys are always building up a great sweat and getting a lot done in the process. Besides the pace of the warm up, I really like the fact that it addresses a wide array of needs important to football players with extra emphasis placed on hip mobility.

Hope this can give some aid to those trying to find ways to quickly and efficiently move athletes through an effective warm up. Be sure to stop by again when I will post the 2nd Lower Body routine: The stick warm up.

Random Reading, Info, and Workouts

Random Reading

I spend some time with the head ATC here at school, whom also serves as strength coach for a couple other sports, and we often share thoughts and reading. But, being in there often enough has made me realize that a lot of times the treatment modality of choice is ultrasound. Remembering that someone told me this was ultra"scam" I decided to see what some of the research was.

A Review of Therapeutic Ultrasound: Effectiveness Studies

http://ptjournalonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/81/7/1339

A Review of Therapeutic Ultrasound: Biophysical Effects

http://www.physicaltherapyonline.net/cgi/reprint/81/7/1351

These are some of the many studies that pretty much state therapeutic ultrasound's results had an unnoticeable difference compared to natural healing.

Random Info

Is Caffeine Good For Athletes

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/caffeine-athletes

In this video DR. JB of Precision Nutrition talks about how to utilize the right forms of caffeine to add in athletic performance.

From Surgery to the field

Taking an example of a TE on our team who is coming back from a Bankart Lesion. This involves the labrum and usually leads to anterior GH instability. Making great progress in ROM currently his strengthening protocol for his shoulder involves progressive scapular strengthening with a variety of closed chain exercises, scaption work, and latissimus strengthening through some rowing techniques.

Progressive techniques are key with this athlete and also pain free arcs of motion. He has communicated with his PT and is currently ahead of schedule in terms of full recovery. His next Phase of shoulder recovery will involve more aggressive muscular strengthening of muscles aiding in GH stabilization until athlete is pain free in internal/external rotation at elevated positions.

Since he will not be participating in Spring Ball, we will continue to follow up with restoring muscular endurance and shoulder conditioning towards the end of his recovery while avoiding any exercises that would put his shoulder in provocative positions.
Random Workout Info

If there is one thing that is true with all people it is that they find ways to compensate for faulty movement patterns. With athletes who often have some history of injury are bound to doing this with out doubt. Being wary of movement flaws is not only important during lifting, but also when you are doing any sort of mobility, flexibility, or skill work. Example: We do some sort of mobility work with hurdles every day after we foam roll and one cue we use is "fish hook position."


This position takes care of multiple cues. This position, maintained the whole duration of going over hurdles, avoids compensating flexion and tilting while turning the glutes on and keeping the hips extended. All it takes is teaching them the position the first time they come to warm up and every time they here "fish hook" they get right into position which avoids having to cue multiple areas individually.

Off-season football Training

When you are playing college level sports there are a few things you need to consider when training the athlete. One of these things is training age/level. We have a wide variety of athletes coming form programs that have never really lifted in high school to guys that have competed in the sport of weight lifting itself. For these guys, sticking them on a developmental plan just isn't going to get them training effect to reach the highest potentials of there preparedness. Here is a sample day of a Semi-skill Red workout. Red would indicate the higher level of training in that particular skill group.

This group of athletes has the necessary cross-section area, strength, and training age, that they have stopped being able to make progress on a more developmental workout. Our less advanced will do very well on basic progressive overload, very concurrent, and will respond to any form of load given.

It isn't as if I am against everyone following the same workout or progression, but I have the time, equipment, and motivated enough athletes to do this sort of work.

Down the road they will be introduced to some more specialized conditioning and speed work that will hopefully serve to be the tool that can take off that extra tenth to get them putting up some sick times and leaving defenders far behind.

Often times it is very self-motivating to work, train, and play alongside many of these more advanced athletes that have been working at the iron game since they were extremely young like I did. These guys are always ready to start and are running full throttle the whole time they are in the weight room.

Overhaulin: weight room edition

Recently, I have put in an order for some very valuable equipment to be used for the team. Being able to choose between an ever expanding market for variations of bars, bands, and however many other gadgets that get put out anymore you would think it would be a daunting task. It was actually quite simple. Here are a few of the things I received and why I chose them.

Trap Bar

Why: When you perform this exercise it serves as one of the most basic forms of hip extension you can perform. This is important because teaching hip extension, under load, cannot be simpler then sitting your hips back and lifting something heavy. Ok...it's not that simple but you get the point. This exercise allows you to easily adjust height, via rising with plates, that you can attain neutral spine alignment from the start of the movement. And of course, this dead lift variation when dealing with a multitude of athletes saves time devoted for teaching a conventional so you can begin loading it much sooner.

Elite FTS Pro Short Mini Bands

Why: These are a spin on something that has been around for a while. Although they are short bands they can still serve good use for many different dynamic effort works, and they will be a pivotal part of our warm up protocol. The added benefit of size is that there is not more doubling up when applying straps to bar and this makes band tension easier to evenly distribute. This is also one of the most versatile tools as you can use them for a variety of activation, pull apart, stretching, and strengthening. I think we will easily get plenty of use out of these.

Blast Straps

Why: Again, these are a very versatile piece of equipment. The amount of rowing, core, and many other strengthening exercises that are options made this an easy buy. Also one of the biggest benefits is the ability to rotate the handle which allows your shoulders to move freely as opposed to a bar forcing them in a specific position. You can also form many progressions with these straps alone especially for the core (Holds, Rollouts, flutters, etc…) So again, another tool that can get a lot of use.

We also had various other tools such as dowels, foam rollers, and LAX/Tennis balls. The best part was that they were free. We made them! Simple things like dowels can be found anywhere. Maintenance always has various woods, PVC and a variety of rope that they are sometimes glad to get rid of. I’m not saying it would be wise to go make your own bench press or blasts straps but just to utilize your resources. Make sure if you make a big purchase that it is equipment that is needed, and hopefully not a uni-tasker.

Integrating corective exercise into team training

In the previous post I mentioned how important it is to address stiffness/shortness as well as combating the faulty postures that accompany sitting in class all day long. One of the things I have to take into account is that we have around 100 athletes on the team and most have similar issues including stiff hip flexors, poor internal hip rotation, and stiff pec minors.

Ideally, every athlete would wake up, go through their stretching and activation routine, and repeat after workout. Well, that just doesn't happen. Although many do take the time to address there tissue quality and work on flexibility issues, a majority just don't. The simple solution to this is forcing them to do it as part of the workout.

Day 1 UB
Explosive
Snatch- Dumbbell 1 Arm

w/

Sumo Squat to Stand

Horizontal Push
Bench Press
Horizontal Pull- tri set
Heavy 1 Arm Row
w/
Cable Lift (also serves as active hip flexor stretch)
w/
90/90 stretch

Post Work circuit x2
Includes corrective and specific strengthening exercises for players
Regeneration
will address more specific stretches specific to player/position

Really it is as easy as filling there "rest" periods with quality time to address flexibility/mobility issues. Is it going to have a direct influence on gaining outstanding flexibility...no. But it isn't just about gaining flexibility/mobility, but it will help prevent them from loosing it. Some players have gone through a full evaluation already and are addressing length issue head on with more long duration and EQI stretches and have made a great difference. Even if the total time of the stretches is only 1.5 minutes or so per area it will go a long way as opposed to them not dedicating any time at all. We also address mobility and soft tissue in the warm up which I have posted previously allowing us to cover all areas. This was they are hitting these areas at least 4X per week. This is a great way to not have guys just floating around between sets and many times guys are not disciplined enough to just sit around and stretch at the end of workouts. This takes care of it!

Get the most out of your workout

A lot of people don’t realize their potential when it comes to strength. Many times you may miss a rep or you may feel that the weight you want to put on the bar is just outside your limits. In some cases that may be true. You just aren’t there yet. But ask yourself this. Is your warm up sufficient and are you activating the right muscles to boost the potential of a given movement? If there a better technique you could be utilizing to allow you to add more weight? The following are a few techniques and drills that you can do to “turn on the lights” in regards to certain muscles to help give you that boost in a desired movement.

Boost Your Chin up/Pull up

The first thing to bring up about this humbling exercise is that it is a movement for the back and not specifically the arms. This would indicate that you should start the initial pull with arms fully extended as opposed to the ever so popular 90 degree start. The start is key as it will allow the trainee to develop strong retraction and depression of the scapular region. This scapular cue is also the same as the bench press which is why it can be a great supplemental movement.

With that being said, the strength of the scapulothoracic region is paramount to allowing you to get the most out of your vertical pulling exercises. These muscles include the middle and lower fibers of the trapezius, along with the rhomboids, and lats. There are several ways to strengthen and activate these muscles for increased potential of this movement. Here are a few movements you could add to your warm up are workout in order to do so.

Activate

Wall slides

(activation of lower trap)

Isometric Holds

(reinforces scapular retraction/depression)

I's and T's

(activation of lower and mid trap)

Strengthen

Prone Row to External Rotation

(Forces retraction and depression w/ load)

Band Pull Apart

(Direct strengthening of rhomboids)

X Pull Down

(Strengthen Scapular retraction and depression)

Boost Your Squat/Bench

Many general fitness people will blindly walk into a gym and step up into a rack and just go right into their first set immediately setting themselves up for failure. For those who already have a solid warm up of mobility and activation there is an acute adjustment you can make to boost performance.

Keeping the peak contraction principle in mind it is known that the highest requirements for force are at the deepest point of knee bend. This is also the position where your stretch reflex is required to produce a strong concentric contraction to propel you out of the hole. This also is the case for bench press. Pressing the weight off the chest will require the highest amount of force. Here are a couple of pre-workout exercises that can immediately increase the potentiation of the stretch reflex. One thing to keep in mind is not to fatigue during these movements. a few sets of 3-5 with at least 3 minute rest would be ideal

BW Squat Jumps

(Be sure to go full range of motion)

Depth Jumps for those qualified

(Reduce contact with ground AMAP)

Plyo Push up

(Absorb force and initiate press as fast as possible)

Lying Med ball Press

(Do on a bench so that ideal elbow position and set-up can be achieved)

Boost your Cable Hold

A very popular and extremely beneficial core exercise for anti rotation and stabilization is the cable hold. There is really no way to strengthen this movement besides progressing to it and then actually performing the movement itself but there can arise some benefits from making sure you use a good set up.

Most instructions will tell you to bring the band/cable to your chest, press out and hold. This is not bad, but personally I have come across problems with the breaking up of the movement and my arms not allowing me to hold position without the weight dragging me back toward the stack. Personally I like one synchronous movement which allows my core to do the work for my arms. This also gives you a high contraction immediately in preventing recoil of the weight.

There is never a substitute for hard work and just getting after the exercise itself. But, if any one of these drills are foreign or missing from your program hopefully they can serve as great supplementary exercises to help progress your physical preparedness to higher levels!