Matt Hank » Fitness Equipment

Garage Gym

Matt Hank — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 04:14:18 +0000

Before the start of the garage gym:

After Phase 1 – Squat stand, Olympic Bar, and Bumper Plates:

This garage gym will eventually be awesome – equipped with rubber flooring, kettlebells, TRX mounted on the ceiling, medicine balls, and more.

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Ladder Training

Matt Hank — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:43:10 +0000

I have heard some strength and conditioning coaches question the effectiveness of ladder training. They feel like doing ladder drills only gets you better at ladders drills – it does not improve sport performance. I think this is completely ridiculous. If ladder drills are executed properly athletes are improving their foot work, coordination, center of gravity management/control, speed, quickness, running technique, and explosiveness (if performing plyometric drills).

I do see some coaches abusing the ladder – it is the only training tool they use to improve athletic performance for their athletes. For myself, the ladder is simply a tool in my big box of tools just like kettlebells, Olympic lifts, medicine balls, TRX’s, body weight training, hurdles, agility rings, etc. The ladder has proven to be a great training tool for younger athletes to learn movement control and coordination. For my advanced athletes I use the ladders to improve foot work. Most times I have athletes perform ladder drills to a sprint or other agility drill. The ladder alone is just a tool.

Make sure to use the right tool for the job.

Train Hard – Train Smart

Barefoot Running

Matt Hank — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 03:18:35 +0000

One of the hottest trends in the fitness world is barefoot training. This concept has blown up since the release of Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. I just finished the book and thought it was an amazing read. It really gave insight into the world of long distance running and how the body was designed to run great distances. One part of the book that has really hit the fitness world is the idea of training barefoot or with Vibram Five Fingers. The benefits of training barefoot or with the Five Fingers includes improved balance and stability, increased strength and power, improved range of motion at the foot and ankle, and improved athletic performance.

Here are my new Vibram Five Fingers:

I think we will begin to see more competitive athletes train barefoot or with shoes like the Five Fingers. Athletes that first come to mind are volleyball and basketball players. Most court athletes wear ankle braces and supportive athletic shoes when they compete. Practicing and training braces and shoes weaken the muscles in the foot and ankle. This increases the risk of injury not only to the foot and ankle but also up the chain – knees, hips, and low back. Athletes need their foot and ankle to function properly to maximize athletic potential.

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Pierce College

Matt Hank — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 04:32:23 +0000

Here are a few photos of my new training ground.

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Hip Strength

Matt Hank — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:10:04 +0000

The hips need to function properly to maximize athletic potential considering the role hip strength plays in sprint speed, explosiveness, and change of direction. I recently demonstrate a series of exercises to help improve hip mobility. The video associated with this post illustrates how incorporating a mini band into your routine can improve hip strength. Many of the exercises are performed in multiple planes of motion. This is important because many strength exercises are primarily performed in the sagital plane which can lead to deficiencies in the other two planes (frontal and transverse).

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Evaluating training programs

Matt Hank — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:07:01 +0000

I come across a ton of bogus training programs that only use modality, promise unrealistic results, or do not structure their program based on scientific principles. Be a smart consumer when choosing a fitness/sports performance program to be apart of. For example, if you’re an athlete looking to get stronger or improve your speed/quickness it wouldn’t logically make sense to use fancy equipment where you’re in seated, prone (on your stomach), or supine (on your back).

Here is an example of an expensive (I mean $10,000 expensive piece of equipment) machine that is suppose to improve your strength and power while not making you sore. This machine only does concentric movements – you pull then you push. I’m going to clue you in on a secret…athletes don’t function this way. Instead, their movements involve a loading (eccentric muscle action) phase followed by a powerful transformation movement (concentric phase). Therefore, you are training your body on this piece of equipment in a way that you wouldn’t perform during your sport. In addition, last time I checked most sports (besides cycling and rowing to name a few) are performed in upright stranding positions where your body has to react to gravity and move in multiple planes of motion. Again, this expensive, fancy piece of equipment does not allow you to do this.

Here is fitness example about evaluating a training program with some logic before you participate. Many females come into a training with similar goals such as working on their hips, butt and thighs (at least this is what I have seen over the past 9 years of training). Many trainers will cater their exercise by doing a variety of different leg lifts in every position – side lying leg lifts, on all fours kicking your butt up in the air with the small pink dumbbell between their knee, and standing cable leg raises, just to name a few. Want to know a more effective and functional approach to targeting the hips and butt…wait for it…it’s called squats and lunges. Squat and lunge variations are performed in an upright position (more functional) and recruit more muscles than isolate exercises (more effective). Anytime you see a trainer doing special isolated exercises or using a fancy piece of equipment that isolates those trouble spots just remember there is usually a more effective and functional approach.

“Hello lady, do some squats or lunges and stop wasting your time with this silly exercise!!”

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

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

Matt Hank — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:33:24 +0000

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.

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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Sunday Morning Workout @ The Park

Matt Hank — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:13:38 +0000

I got a great total body workout in yesterday morning at the park with the TRX. Check out some of the images.

Train Hard-Train Smart
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Mimicking Sports Movements in The Weight Room

Matt Hank — Sat, 09 May 2009 22:27:42 +0000

You don’t see this often but once in a while I come across an athlete who tries to replicate their sport movement in the weight room using strength training equipment. There a couple classic examples – replicating a baseball swing, golf swing, or tennis stroke with cables or free weights. Once you add weight to your hands and perform the movement everything changes. The kinematics and kinetics of swinging a baseball bat and replicating your swing with a cable machine are vastly different.

I always tell athletes (and design athletic programs) with rotational movements include in their routine. However, I never ask an athlete to replicate a swing in the weight room. It is very important to develop core strength – especially rotational strength but be smart about choosing your exercises.

Check out the following post about rotational training for sport – Here are some examples on video.

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Abmat Sit Ups

Matt Hank — Wed, 06 May 2009 04:22:36 +0000

The gym I work at has just has been remodeled and many of the members are so stuck in there ways that they seem to complain about all the new changes. One women was mad because we didn’t bring the Abmats into the new facility. She said she does ab work on those every time she works out and I guess she felt her workout would be deprived without an Abmat exercise.

Here’s what went through my head while she was complaining:

If you’re doing supine (laying on your back) flexion (sit up) exercises, you’re setting yourself up for lower back pain. Your spine is not designed to do high repetitions of sit ups.
She should incorporate bridging movements as well as standing rotational movements if she wants to target her core.
Train movements not individual muscles.
Take a look in the mirror and realize that your ab routine you’ve been doing for years isn’t working – change it up!
Obviously she does not read my blog – as I have discussed this topic numerous times.

Check out these previous posts on core workouts – Check this one out, or this one, or even this one, and here’s another.

Train Hard-Train Smart
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