Archive for July, 2009

Training in High Altitude

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

The idea for this post came to me this weekend when I was in Big Bear.  Most individuals understand that is harder to exercise in higher altitude.  Also, it is well known that if you train in higher altitudes for a period of time your body will adapt.

altitude

The purpose of this blog is to provide some of the scientific background behind training at higher altitude.  Here we go…Your body needs oxygen to survive.  When you are at higher altitudes, there is a smaller percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere compared to sea level.  Therefore, there is less oxygen uptake with each breathe.  Hemoglobin in the blood transports oxygen to the working muscles.  At higher altitudes, the hemoglobin molecules are not saturated (filled) with oxygen molecules.  Because of this, your body signals your heart to beat faster, so the oxygen can circulate to your muscles (working organs) quicker.  In addition, your ventilation (breathing) rate increases to try to get more oxygen into your system.  This is why you feel your heart beating faster and you breathe heavier when you travel to higher altitudes.

Individuals adapt to high altitudes by producing more hemoglobin molecules, which equals more transporters of the oxygen molecules circulating through your blood.  Therefore, you control your heart rate and ventilation rate better.

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Posted in Research | 2 Comments »

Donuts aren’t healthy or beneficial for your swing research shows

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

A great article recently came out on the effects of using a weighted bat (donut on the end of the bat) as a warm up.  Here’s the link to the research article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19593220?dopt=Abstract.  (I came across this article from Eric Cressey’s Blog.)  Here’s an article written on this same topic: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=baseball-bat-speed-all-star

It’s known in the sports science community that if you practice swinging a heavy bat (using a donut) before going up to the plate you will decrease your bat velocity.  Your goal as a hitter is to increase your bat velocity so that you can wait longer on a pitch (see if it has late break or see if it stays in/out of the zone) so that it gets deeper into your zone and you can still drive the ball.  This article suggests (as well as many other research articles) that you should not take cuts with a donut on your bat in the batting circle because this will decrease your bat velocity when you get up to the plate.
baseball bat
I spoke on this same topic about two years ago on the radio while working with Angels minor league system.  Here’s my advice as a sports performance coach…you can use a donut to loosen up the upper body and core in the on deck circle (arm circles , trunk rotations, and other general warm up movements with the donut on the bat).  Just be cautious about swinging with your regular mechanics with a heavy bat in your hand becuase your hitting mechanics will change as the load changes.  This simply means that you will alter the mechanics of your swing with a heavy bat which will have a negative impact when you go up to the plate to hit live pitching.  It’s like you’re training your body to be slow when you warm up with a donut.
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Posted in Fitness Equipment, Research | No Comments »

Any other ways to do cardio?

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

This is probably one of the most common questions I get from the average gym-goer.  It seems like many individuals who work out at the gym and even do cardiovascular exercise outside get bored easily with their exercise program.  I always explain to these individuals how they should be doing interval training to spice things up and the benefits associated with interval training. Many of them find this more exciting then their regular routine, but still look for alternatives for burning calories.

You do not have to do traditional cardiovascular exercises (run, bike, elliptical, stairs, swim) to get a great conditioning workout.  You can get just as great of a conditioning/metabolic workout by alternating high intensity exercises.  If you have access to kettlebells, medicine balls, agility ladders, TRXs, or other free weights you can easily put together a great high intensity circuit.  This is great for athletes who are looking to improve their conditioning for sport or a housewives looking to shred fat.

Here is an example of a basic conditioning circuit:

  • 30 seconds TRX Rows
  • Rest 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds kettlebell swings
  • Rest 15 seconds
  • 30 seconds medicine ball chops one directions
  • 30 seconds medicine ball chops other direction
  • Rest 15 seconds
  • 4 laps of an agility drill on the ladders
  • Rest 30 seconds
  • Repeat this circuit 4-5 times

This workout would take you about 15-20 minutes to complete.  It’s a great alternative to typical cardio training.

Posted in Conditioning, Exercise Demonstrations, Program Design, Strength Training | No Comments »

Just Run to Get Faster

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

If you are currently doing very little sprinting and then decide to begin a sprint routine on a regular basis you should improve you conditioning and work capacity but not necessarily your absolute speed.  Running is a movement that requires a certain amount of skill if you wish to be great at it.  Think about it…would you tell your kid to just go swing the bat in the cage to be a better hitter or throw the ball at the basket to be a better shooter.  It would be much more beneficial to correct and perfect their technique with an expert coach before you have them do high volumes of repetitions.  Perfect practice makes perfect!  This concept holds true with movement training.

Most athletes I train have zero sprint training experience.  It would be extremely beneficial to teach these athletes the correct sprinting technique before I tell them to go out there and run.  Just like any other sports skill I implement remedial drills to emphasize form and technique.  One drill that is great for demonstrating correct sprinting mechanics is the wall drill.

wall drill

Once the athletes understand this body position and how the legs and arms move in space, then it is appropriate to say, “Go out there and run to get faster.”

You can teach kids to be faster – check out a previous post on this topic – http://blog.matthank.com/2008/10/03/mlb-leader-in-stolen-bases/

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Posted in Conditioning, Exercise Demonstrations, Speed/Agility | 1 Comment »

Deadlifts Will Help My Bench…

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

I was trying to explain this concept to one of the regulars I see at the gym and the way he was looking at me, he must have thought I was speaking another language.  It’s really not that hard to understand.  When you perform a multi-joint ground-based movement such as a deadlift, you are developing more than just a few muscles in the legs.  The core (not just the abdominals but the entire torso and hips) is working extremely hard to maintain spinal alignment to allow your large hip extensor muscles to perform the deadlift.  Being able to maintain that rigid body alignment is critical for many multi-joint movements such as the bench press.  During the bench press, you want your torso to be rock solid and you want to drive your legs into the ground to maximize leverage on the bar.  It will be much easier to maintain core stability and lower body stiffness if you core and legs are stronger as the result of deadlifting.

Let’s have some common sense – I’m not saying that you only need to be doing deadlifts to improve your bench.  It comes down to specificity of training – if you want a strong bench then perform bench press exercises to develop your horizontal pushing strength.  If you want to improve your core stability and leg strength (which will help with your bench press), than do deadlifts or squatting movements.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Side Bridge Core Progressions

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

This post is a continuation from the Front Bridge Core Exercises post from last week.  It is important to train for lateral core stability, and this short video will guide you through the movements.

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Posted in Exercise Demonstrations, Injury Prevention, Program Design, Strength Training | No Comments »