Archive for the ‘Conditioning’ Category

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Sunday Morning Performance Training Sessions

Monday, January 11th, 2010

I will be holding sports performance training sessions at College of The Canyons track/football field on Sunday mornings.  One training group is specifically for baseball athletes.  All athletes are also welcome to join other training sessions, either before or after the baseball group.  Training sessions will be one hour in length and always in morning.  Exact time slots will be determined before the weekend so athletes can plan their schedules accordingly.  Cost is $20 per session and athletes are not required to purchase a package of training sessions ahead of time.  If you are interested in training or know other Jr. High, High School, or College athletes that are interested in training send me an email or give me a call.

Train Hard- Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Conditioning, Flexibility, Speed/Agility, Strength Training | No Comments »

A Call Out To All Coaches

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

The great coaches have goals for their teams/athletes and devise a plan that will accomplish those goals.  For example if the goal for a basketball team is to win a championship the coach will put together a strategy for each opponent, teach technical and tactical skills, create a season long practice schedule, and motivate/inspire his athletes.  This leads me to my main topic…This same approach (guiding athletes to success) should be taken by strength and conditioning coaches as well.  A game plan needs to be in place if the athletes are going to consistently improve throughout the training program.  I see too many coaches (many times it’s the head coach because the team doesn’t have a qualified strength and conditioning coach on staff) take the approach “no pain, no gain” or “100% intensity every time”.  Of course you want your athletes to work hard, but it should be a planned routine consisting of high, medium, and low intensity days.  There should be days were you teach your athletes (low intensity) and days where you condition the heck out of your athletes (high intensity).

Going along the same lines…Soreness is not necessarily a sign of great workout.  Anyone can make an athlete sore (literally anyone that knows how to talk – just say “run 100 sprints uphill” or “do 500 push ups and sit ups”).  I love to hear athletes say things like “my coach has the hardest workouts” or the “the training sessions are so intense”.  I ask the athlete what they did during the training session and usually their response is something like this “first we did a mile run, 100 sit ups, bench press and lat pull downs and finished with the leg press/leg extensions/leg curl for 5 sets.  I couldn’t move my legs for 3 days”.   There are definitely ways to make the training routine more sport specific.   If an athlete only has only X number of training sessions before the season starts, the coach should make the workouts as sport specific as possible.  There are times to work on general fitness and conditioning, but make sure it follows your yearly plan.  Every training session should follow the game plan and help the team/athletes accomplish their ultimate goals.

Remember “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Fitness Anywhere: Make your body your machine.

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

Recovery Methods

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

I have posted numerous blogs on how counterproductive low intensity/long duration cardio exercise is for athletes who compete at fast speeds and require explosive movements during competition.  This does not mean I never recommend low to moderate exercise for athletes though.  In fact, after an intense training session, hard competition, or tournament I encourage my athletes to speed up their recovery process.  One of the most effective means to speed up recovery is taking an active approach.  Active recovery includes easy to moderate cardio such as jogging, biking, using the elliptical machine, or swimming.  Lower intensity exercise actually helps with lactate removal (by product of high intensity training), muscle soreness, and cools down the core temperature a slower rate.  Most importantly, many researchers have shown that active recovery improves the next bout of performance more than taking a passive approach (no exercise or activity)  to recovery.

Other forms of recovery are just as important and beneficial.  Proactive recovery methods would also include stretching, massage, myofascial release (self-massage), hot or cold bath, and proper nutrition strategies.  These methods also help with lactate removal, muscle soreness, and improving future performance.

Passive recovery (no exercise) is important and worth discussing.  I am specifically speaking about quality and quantity of sleep.  Athletes require more sleep than the average person who sits around all day and does not push their body to their limits.  All other recovery strategies do not mean anything if an athlete is not getting enough quality sleep.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Conditioning, Injury Prevention, Program Design, Research | No Comments »

ASAP On The Radio

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Be sure to check out last weeks on-air interview on KHTS about sports performance and the ASAP Baseball Academy.  http://hometownstation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18658:lifestyle-fitness-december1-2009&catid=100:lifestyle-fitness&Itemid=173

khts_christmaslogo_greenoverred

Train Hard – Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in ASAP Teams, Conditioning, Program Design, Speed/Agility, Strength Training | No Comments »

Bioenergetic Specificity

Sunday, November 22nd, 2009

Fancy term, but an easy concept to understand. Athletes should train to develop the appropriate energy systems for their sport. I still see way too many athletes (usually instructed by the coach) do aerobic exercise to “get in shape” for their sport (usually in the form of running laps or riding the stationary bike). The coaches’ philosophy is that this type of training will improve their endurance and help them during the latter stages of their match or competition. However, this is the furthest thing from what really happens. Remember – Your body adapts to the type of training stimulus you provide it. With aerobic training you are teaching your athletes to be really good slow runners. This would make a terrible baseball, football, tennis, volleyball, basketball, soccer or softball athlete (just to name a few sports). In fact, aerobic training has been shown to decrease anaerobic power output. Any high intensity/change of pace sport would suffer from aerobic training (on a regular basis).

Intervals is where it’s at:
High intensity interval training has been show to increase metabolic enzyme activity (both aerobic and anaerobic), improve short-term power output, and increase maximal aerobic power. In other words, you will get all the aerobic benefits you need from high intensity interval training and important benefits needed for quick/high intensity movements.

Until I see this switch in training philosophy from coaches and players, I will continue to write posts on this topic.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com



Posted in Conditioning, Program Design, Research, Speed/Agility | 1 Comment »

Interesting Research Articles – Part II

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Researchers at Appalachian State University looked into the possible relationship between maximal leg strength and sprint speed.  Most strength coaches would assume that lower body strength training ( this study investigated back squats) would have a positive affect on sprinting speed.  This study confirms this the relationship between maximal strength and speed.  (It’s always great to see when science supports real world application)

This is important for youth athletes to understand as well.  If you want to get faster there a few things to do on a regular basis:

  1. Work with a sports performance specialist or an individual who understands sprinting mechanics to develop basic technique – leg action, torso position, and arm action.  Then practice this technique over and over again.
  2. Get stronger!  This can start a young age by doing body weight strength training exercises.  By the time an athlete is in 7th/8th grade they should be doing resistance training with weights.  The emphasis is always on the movement patterns though.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Conditioning, Research, Speed/Agility, Strength Training | No Comments »

Athletic Core

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Many times core resistance training looks like this:

Sit ups BASEBALL/ Side Crunches

However, it should look something like this:

Read my previous post on core training for other great functional core exercises with medicine balls. Notice how the cable and medicine ball exercises have something in common – you use your entire body and you  are in a standing position.

Take a look at these athletic movements below and notice the commonalities between each movement.  With exception to the volleyball player, they are all standing on either two feet or one foot (however, remember the volleyball player jumped off two feet or one foot to get in the air).  It is important to notice the amount of torque (rotation) throughout their core during these movements.  Their core is not working in isolation – the big powerful muscles of the legs and hips or working.  The muscles in the back, shoulders, chest and arms are also involved in the movement.  If you are an athlete or coach looking to strengthen or enhance the power of these movements, I would suggest the exercises I demonstrated in the video or the medicine ball exercises.  The medicine ball exercises are great because the athlete must generate force throughout the entire movement – even during the release of the ball which is extremely sport specific.

Tim Lincecum 030122-O-9999J-028 Tennis Volleyball

Train Hard- Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

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

Information About Youth Baseball Pitchers

Friday, August 28th, 2009

As an trainer who works with a large number of youth baseball players I know the story.  Your son takes pitching lessons and now has amazing delivery on the mound.  He is also apart of sports performance program to increase his relative strength and flexibility.  Here’s the thing…it doesn’t matter your son still has to be on a strict pitch count.  Because if he is not, he is increasing the risk of injury to his elbow or shoulder (scientifically proven!).  Here are a few amazing stats from this article I’m recommending all parents and coaches should read.  Here’s the article.  Here’s the facts according to this article:
In a study by Andrews and Fleisig (1999) 476 youth pitchers between the ages of 9 and 14 were closely examined.  “Over the course of the season, more than half of the pitchers experienced shoulder or elbow pain.  For each increment of 25 pitches thrown after 50 pitches, the percentage of pitchers experiencing pain increased as fatigue set in.  Those who threw curveballs were 52% more likely to feel shoulder pain.  Those who threw sliders were 86% more likely to endure elbow pain.”

bfe23ball5

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

Posted in Conditioning, Exercise Demonstrations, Flexibility, Injury Prevention, Program Design, Research, Strength Training | 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/

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

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

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