Peak Performance Camp

Posted by Jason on November 10, 2008. Filed under Blog.

Youth Sports- Early Specialization

Posted in Youth Training on October 24, 2008 by mboyle1959

There was a great article in the NY times about Elena Delle Donna,

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/sports/ncaabasketball/19athlete.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

It prompted me to post an old article I wrote. PS- Youth sports

is a mess we may never be able to clean up,

kind of like the economy.

Early Specialization

I’m not sure when the phenomenon of early specialization was born.

At some point a parent decided

“why not just fast-track our kids right past Little League and Pop

Warner and right into the Pros”. Parents in all sports felt

they could follow the lead of Earl Woods ( Tiger’s dad)

or Richard Williams ( Venus and Serena’s dad) and

just concentrate on one sport. I love to tell parent groups

that I speak to that for every Tiger Woods

or Venus Williams there are probably 5000 kids who hate

sports and resent their parents for all the pressure.

As a parent, ask yourself this question. Have you ever told

anyone “ I don’t push _(insert your child’s name)____ he/she

really wants to do this?” The latest one to fuel the early

specialization fire is tennis star Maria Sharapova.

The TV folks couldn’t wait to tell us at Wimbledon that she

had been holed up in Fla since age 7.

Check out this quote from LA Lakers Coach Phil Jackson:

“40 million kids play sports, and most of them are between

7 and 12. By the time they are

13 more than 70 percent of them have stopped playing

because it’s not fun anymore. All of a sudden when

kids get into junior high, we feel this need to have them

become professionals, and the coaches

become professionals… The message I’d like to get

out to them is to honor the game. The goal, or the victory

is important, but team sportsmanship, the

athletic endeavor itself is just as important.”

One of the problems is that most team sports are what

are called late specialization sports. This mean that early

concentration/ specialization has actually been shown to

slow development rather than speed it up.

Historically the great players in team sports seem to hone

their competitive instincts and develop their athleticism

in a number of sports and then begin

to specialize in their teens. In addition early specialization

often leads to dysfunctional parent/ child relationships.

The early search for the Holy Grail places undue pressure

on a young athlete who should be learning that sports are

actually fun, not just about winning. Believe it or not,

kids play for fun and, will actually attempt to make the teams

fair and encourage competition when

left to their own devices. Remember when you were a kid

and the teams were uneven. You made trades to create

a competitive game. The thrill was competition, not winning.

For many youth sport parents the idea

of fair teams is an anomaly. Stack the team. Get the best

players. Annihilate the competition. Get a scholarship.

Make money.Lets look at the following examples

Nomar Garciaparra ( Boston Red Sox)- played football,

soccer and baseball in high school. He actually attempted

to play football as a kicker while on a baseball

scholarship at Georgia Tech

Mia Hamm ( All Time Leading scorer in US soccer history)-

multi-sport star in high school

Kristine Lilly ( Leads the World in International Soccer Appearances)-

captained three sports at Wilton, Conn HS.

Brendan Shanhan ( Detroit Red Wings) outstanding

Box Lacrosse player prior to entering the NHL.

Katie King- ( US Women’s Ice Hockey, two time Olympian,

current Boston College Women’s Hockey head Coach)

played both Ice Hockey and Softball at Brown University in

Providence, R.I..

And the list could go on forever. Early specialization

is a phenomenon created by self-interested and financially

motivated adults. It has little basis in fact and, the data

seem to support the opposite. This is just

some parental food for thought. There is no evidence t

o support the theory that early specialization leads to

long-term success. In fact, there is evidence to the

contrary as stated above. If you want your

child to be a great athlete, don’t focus on one sport,

play a different sport each season. The people who

encourage early specialization are all people with a

financial interest in your child playing

one sport year round. Those encouraging early

specialization usuallyrun the leagues, camps and skill

sessions and they fill the parents full

of ideas that have no basis in fact. None of the

players mentioned above left home at 14 to go to prep

school or, just played one sport from

age 6. The definition of insanity is doing the same

thing over and over and expecting the result to change.

Maybe we should just try the way that

worked in the first place?

Posted by Jason on . Filed under Blog.

Five Questions Every Athlete Should Ask Themselves

Jonathan Conneely

See below for Audio interview

How bad do you want to be a great athlete? So many people talk about it but very few actually do it. I once heard a quote that I will never forget and that I use on a weekly basis while working with athletes: “A great athlete does every day what a good athlete does occasionally.” You see, a great athlete does whatever it takes on a daily basis, while a good athlete does it when it is convenient. A great athlete trains every day, while a good athlete trains when it’s comfortable. A great athlete goes out of his or her way to eat right so that his or her body recovers faster, while a good athlete eats whenever and whatever is available.

Many athletes enjoy playing their sport. That is not what I am talking about. I am not talking about just making the varsity team; I am talking about being a contributor on the varsity squad. I am not talking about just getting a scholarship; I am talking about being an All-American. I am not talking about just being a professional; I am talking about being an All-Star or a Hall-of-Famer. I am talking about being great! A lot of good athletes are out there, but very few are great. The difference between the good ones and the great ones is what they do on a daily basis. It is called consistency, hard work, and dedication.

If you are an athlete, I want you to ask yourself five questions. These five questions will determine if you have what it takes to be great or if you are satisfied with just being good.

1. How Bad?

How Bad Do I Want It? How bad do you really want to be great? Do you just talk about it or are you doing what it takes on a daily basis to be great. Michael Jordan once said, “Some people want it to happen; some wish it would happen; others make it happen.” You have got to go and make it happen. You have got to go and take it. How bad do you want it?

2. Why?

Why Do I Want It? Do you want to be great so people notice you? Do you want to be great to be famous? Do you want to be great to make money? Do you want to be great so that you can help others? Whatever it is, you need to know why. Why do you do what you do on a daily basis to be great? What is it that motivates you?

3. What?
What Am I Willing To Do Until I Get It? What are you willing to sacrifice? A lot of athletes say that they want to play professionally and that’s great. However, do you know what it takes now for you to get there? What you need to do on a daily/weekly/monthly/annual basis to reach that ultimate goal to play professionally? To be a great athlete takes a lot of sacrifice. You may have to go to bed early when your friends are out at a movie. You may have to tell your girlfriend you can’t hang out because you need to train. Are you willing to make those kind of sacrifices?

4. How Much?

How Much Do I Really Invest Into It? How much time do you put into what you do? It takes time to be great at anything. How much time do you put into practicing? How much time do you put into studying so that you can master your sport? Be honest with yourself. Are you really ready to invest the time necessary to be great at what you do? There is no substitute for hard work. Are you willing to put the time into practice? Are you willing to work? How much are you willing to work at it?

5. Do You Really?

Do You Really Love It? Is this your passion? Your passion is what is going to drive you. It is what keeps you going when times get tough. Things will not always be easy. The road is going to get rocky and if you do not love what you are doing, you will quit! If you do not have a passion for this, you will throw in the towel. You really need to ask yourself: is this what I love to do? If not, hang it up and find something you love to do. This is what life is about!

Now that you have asked yourself these questions, go and get it. Go and take what you deserve, and don’t look back until it is yours!

About The Author:
Jonathan Conneely — “Coach JC” — is one of the most recognized Strength and Conditioning Coaches in the Midwest. He has helped thousands of athletes increase athletic ability to achieve peak performance in their respective sport. Coach JC is the Founder & President of Dynamic Sports Development, www.TheDSD.com. You can view more of Coach JC’s articles, give feedback, or ask questions at www.Thedsd.blogspot.com

Posted by Jason on November 4, 2008. Filed under Blog.

Preparing Young Athletes For Competition by Robb Rogers

1) What kind of overall conditioning/strength building program would you recommend we implement for our 7-9th grade teams and our 5th and 6th grade teams?

Conditioning will depend on the tempo and duration of practice. The key to basketball is the first 3 steps, repeat transitions and the ability to recover with stoppage of play. With the younger athlete’s we recommend circuits using various implements stressing strength, core, power development and jumping. Games for fitness fun and some sprints with goals that are age appropriate are excellent means to mix it up, keep it fun and increase strength and fitness.

(2) What are the key elements (distance running, plyometrics, weight training, core work, agilities) that we need to be focusing on in regards to speed, agility, quickness, and conditioning?

All of the above except distance training are needed in order to enhance their performance tools. Distance tends to dampen the speed and power abilities of the nervous system over time, especially at their age. Children are very sensitive to the stimulus of training. We want to increase their potential. An excellent book is “Children and Sports Training” by Drabik. It covers much of this in depth and is a good read. There are a variety of parameters to train, so that is where the circuits come in.

(3) When would you start a conditioning program? First week of school, 6 weeks before the season, etc…?

It would depend on the group. If they are pretty fit then begin to teach the various tools (circuits, sprint drills, games) as a part of the practice plan. If practice is all they can handle, wait until they adjust to the demands of practice before introducing the tools.

(4) What frequency would you do it?

2 times a week, 3 times a week etc… Again, it would depend on the team. Older athletes have a greater work capacity and ability to focus compared to younger athletes. It would also be dependant upon the frequency of practice, if they practice prior to, if this will be an extension of practice, etc.

(5) How long would you go for each session?

Same as above, older kids will be able to maintain high quality repetitions longer than the younger kids. That is the key to volume, density and frequency of practice, conditioning, etc — the ability to maintain the quality of the rep!

Training Youth Athletes

Posted by Jason on June 29, 2008. Filed under Blog.

Training Youth Athletes: Performance or Development?

Brett Klika C.S.C.S

For anyone who watched this year’s Kentucky Derby, the tragedy of the injury and resultant euthanization of “8 Belles” after a second place finish left us wondering “Could this have been prevented?” I watch the sports and news stations interviewing prominent veterianarians and horse experts talking about how often these horses are not mature and developed enough to handle the demands of the sport. The money involved, however, incentivises trainers and owners alike to push their horses to win with little or no focus on safety or long-term health. This process often ends in injury, and in horse racing, that usually means death. I preface the following by saying I have never been on a horse, more less trained one to race. With the epidemic of injuries we are seeing in youth sports however, I can’t help but observe some interesting parallels.

The pressure is high for young athletes to perform. Success in athletics results in a host of accolades, college scholarships, pro contracts, endorsements, etc. As more young athletes become involved in sports, the more competitive it is to “rise to the top”. With the pressure to win growing, America as a youth sports community has developed a very dangerous “win right now” view of training young athletes. This has resulted in an exponential growth in athletic injuries in both males and females. Numerous theories exist as to why this is happening, particularly with females. The true answer boils down to one fact. In America we have a poor, nearly non-existent model of youth athletic development. We are interested in training to “win right now”, regardless of age or developmental level.

The purpose of this article is not to say that winning is not important. It is. In high- level sports it is everything. My goal with all of my athletes is to create champions. Creation however, takes planning, time, patience, and a colossal dose of reality. The reality of athletics states that most “sports stars” are born “sports stars”. They received great genetics, and as long as they don’t get hurt, they will always be great. For those that were not born elite, the components of athleticism are skills, not gifts. Skills have to be learned, practiced, and progressed. It is often a long term process. Many parents and athletes, however, don’t like to accept this reality. They know their twelve year old has a tournament in 6 weeks, and they need to play the best game of their life, or the world as they know it, will cease. A training plan is created to stack as much mental, emotional and physical stress on the youngster as possible in that short amount of time to get them to “be their best”. Forget how physically adept they are before and after the tournament, they have to play the “game of their life” for some reason at the age of 12.

This flawed thought process is what is shaping our youth athletic performance model in personal training and coaching. An expectation for high performance in a short amount of time in a competitive market has created more of a circus venue than a training methodology. Trainers get as caught up in the mess as the parents and athletes. After all, they need to make a living, and that is made by making parents and athletes happy. They rush the kids into programs and methodologies that they are not ready for, because if they don’t, the trainer down the road will.

Everyone needs to take a deep breath. If its college scholarships are the point of concern, I don’t care what team or club an athlete is on, or what high school their parents moved to the district so they could attend, you can’t even sign a college letter of intent until your junior year. For most athletes, that’s at age 16 or 17. So in reality, the aforementioned 12 year old has more like 4-5 years to perform at their best. If they have been training properly all along, they started a development program at about age 7-8. By the time they are 16 or 17, they have learned and practiced the physical skills of athleticism on a regular basis. They have improved and progressed in sync with their natural maturation process. New skills have had the adequate time and amount of repetition to become part of their playing repertoire. After all, research suggests a new skill takes well over 10,000 repetitions to become automatic.

So what needs to happen? We need to start thinking more long term about our young athletes. In order to create champions when it counts, we need to shift our focus from winning and performance at a young age to teaching and development. This translates to a higher level of performance with a lower rate of injury during their mature athletic career. The former Soviet Union, had more Olympic success than nearly every other country in the world, did not let their young athletes compete until adolescence. Starting around the age of 6, their focus was on skill and overall physical development. They aimed to get their athletes coordinated, strong, and fundamentally sound. In turn, upon reaching the appropriate age, these youngsters were able to compete at a much higher level than their Western counterparts that had much more “competitive” experience. While this model worked great in Communist Russia, I agree it wouldn’t thrive in our Capitalist system. After all we do not institutionalize our athletic youth. Their system does, however, provide valuable insight as to a safe and effective system for training youngsters.

Young athletes should start an organized development program at about age 7. This is the age the neural system starts to improve efficiency and can retain new skills effectively. Focus should be on coordination, general movement technique for speed and strength, basic fitness, and fun. The criterion for advancement is quality of the execution of skills. As the youngster approaches pre-adolescence, the volume and intensity of drills can increase appropriately. Still, more time should be spent on developing general, overall physical preparedness than developing skills for a single sport. As athletes enter and undergo puberty, their new and more adult-like neural, muscular, and physiological systems can now respond to higher level demands. This is the age to introduce competition, load, and a focus on absolute performance. Quality of execution of drills is still the primary criteria for advancement, but at this stage, the magnitude of their performance becomes of greater relevance. Developing specific skills for the sport, and consequently “winning” becomes more significant.

By following the above system, the physical development program matches the youngsters’ natural maturation process. Since the two systems are in tune, injuries are dramatically decreased and ultimate performance is increased. One part of the system builds on the next. This program, like any good education system, takes patience, diligence, and hard work. There is no short-term fix. You cannot do in six weeks what the body needs many years to develop.

Let’s be the ones who make a difference, educating our young athletes to be happy, injury free champions for life.

Brett Klika is the Director of Athletic Performance at Todd Durkin’s Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, CA. He specializes in youth fitness and athletic performance, overseeing a staff of 8 strength coaches developing programs for over 300 youth per week, both athletes and non-athletes. He presents around the world to both trainers and corporations with Todd Durkin Enterprises on a variety of health, wellness, and athletic performance topics. Brett can be reached at brett@fitnessquest10.com

Over Specialization?

Posted by Jason on May 28, 2008. Filed under Blog.

An interesting look at young athletes who participate in ’sport specific’ training. Are they specializing too much?

Any parent, in just about any part of the country, on just about any given day of the week, can find courts and fields filled with kids playing sports. Youth sports is a staple of American Culture as daily family operations tend to revolve around practice schedules, game schedules, and parents sacrificing their schedules to make time for the sports their children love.

But, what we don’t see out on the fields or in the schedules, are childhood obesity rates that estimate nearly 30% of all U.S. children under age 19 as overweight, youth sport injuries at an all time high, steroid abuse seen in children as early as 10-years old, and scholastic Physical Education programs that have been financially reduced to near nothingness.

In 2004, the Wall Street Journal projected that approximately 5 billion dollars are spent annually on youth training and development programs. The astronomical sum of money spent on youth strength and speed development would afford the reasonable assumption that the above issues should carry a prevalence percentage comparable to a mediocre batting average.

Ultimately, a major fault of the system resides in the training itself, and thus the title of this article. While kids are being exposed to sports at an all-time high, the development taking place isn’t truly meeting the physical needs of our youngsters. Physical Education programs in the U.S. have been downgraded to the simplest form of sport—provide the equipment, and let them play. On the opposite side of the spectrum, organized clubs hire professional coaches, participating in practices and games, year-round, leaving available time for academics and recovery, very scarce.

The result, kids receive little instruction, get little results, and lose interest in sports. The other demographic will quit one sport to focus specifically on another sport, typically at an early age, most likely to suffer from injury, fatigue, and mental exhaustion. “We’re putting too much emphasis on physically gifted athletes instead of developing all those who want to participate…it’s no wonder that we lose more than half of them by the time they are teenagers”, said USA National Staff Soccer Coach, Gary Allen.

Consider that the average child wakes up around 6am for school, typically getting only seven hours of sleep that night, possibly skipping breakfast, and if they do have time for breakfast, it will most likely consist of nutrient devoid food. Lunch will come around noon, followed by a 3 hour practice after school. After practice there will be another poor-quality meal, homework, television, and back to bed for the cycle to repeat itself. It is easy to understand why these syndromes appear. Less than adequate sleep, poor nutrition, poor timing of meals, and improper training practices all contribute to the demise of our youth.

The European model of development is a polar opposite to the typical practices taking place in the U.S. A model based on global physical and skill development, instruction, and a reduction in competition time. For instance, many European countries can spend up to 75% of training time on physical development and only 25% on competition—a far cry from the U.S. ideology of adolescent baseball players participating in over 100 games per year, volleyball and basketball clubs that will play as many as 8 games or more in a given weekend, or soccer teams that practice and play year-round. It is not surprising that athletes all over the world are now being signed to professional contracts, for all sports, right here in the U.S. As our children burn out, they are quickly replaced by their international counterparts.

The solution needs to be rendered in such a way as to off-set the shortcomings of the collective U.S. philosophy of development. Physical development takes precedent over skill development of sport, but has to be done in such a way that is consistent with developmental timelines. Developing proper movement patterns, strength, coordination, flexibility, and other athletic attributes should no longer be shown a back seat to practices and games. Schools, clubs, and other sports organizations have to WAKE UP and find the means necessary to support athletic development programs at the youth level. Proper instruction provided by qualified, educated, and experienced professionals is a great solution. Drill sergeants that train police, fire, and military personnel, running kids through “bootcamps” isn’t a solution. A personal trainer working with adults at your local health club is not a solution. A former professional athlete giving workout “instruction” is again, not the solution.

Young athletes need to find qualified trainers that understand the needs of the young athlete. These kids need to find time to train and develop physically so that can they can perform better, stay healthy and have fun. At Peak Performance that is exactly what the goal is. June 21 is right around the corner and I can’t wait.

Youth Speed Development

Posted by Jason on May 6, 2008. Filed under Blog.

The Truth About Improving Speed in Young Athletes

Discover the 3 necessary guidelines you need to implement to increase the speed of your young athletes. This part of the ongoing series shows you how to increase ‘athleticism’!

Understanding the simple fact that ‘hard work’ does not necessarily equate to ’smart training’ is of the upmost importance. Many sport training facilities and individual trainers pride themselves on providing excessively hard training sessions that leave the young athlete feeling exhausted at the end. Now, there is nothing wrong with working hard and I certainly have no objections to young athletes training to the point of fatigue; the problem however, is that more often than not, the ‘hard work’ is just that… hard work. Training sessions need to be developed with the long term needs of the athlete squarely in focus. Remember, we want ALL of our young athletes to have long and successful athletic careers, with the eventual goal of becoming a functionally fit and healthy adult. There is NO short term solution for that.

To give you an idea of how growth spurts affect sports performance, as the distal and proximal ends of a bone grow apart (during growth) the muscles acting on that bone are placed under extreme stress. Because bone grows faster than muscle, as the bone lengthens, the muscles are placed under significant tone. A toned muscle CANNOT be optimally strong or powerful considering that both strength and power require pliability at the muscular level to either exhibit or be improved optimally.

Strength training, for example, increases the tone of a muscle. In growing athletes, the muscular system is already under significant tone. The dynamic needs of power and speed training also become problematic with growing athletes. A young athlete with a toned body and lacking coordination should NOT be performing endless repetitions of jumping or sprinting exercises.

Herein lies the difference between ‘HARD WORK’ and ‘SMART WORK’. Hard work occurs when trainers, typically not familiar with growth and development, take young athletes through fitness-based conditioning sessions aimed at improving the FITNESS of the athlete in a short period of time.

These sessions often include machine-based strength training, plyometric drills, high speed treadmill sprint drills and basic ‘ab’ or ‘core’ work. Smart work involves developmental-based conditioning sessions aimed at improving the overall ATHLETICISM and DEVELOPMENTAL CONDITIONING of the athlete over a prolonged period of time. These sessions will often include bodyweight or technical elements of strength training, technical aspects of jump training, technical components and developmental drills associated with speed training as well as integrative strength work (designed to improve the synergistic and harmonious nature of the body working as a unit).

No one would expect a young student to pass grade four in six weeks. In fact, to become good in ANYTHING typically requires a concerted effort over several years. Why then, do we insist on training young athletes with HARD WORK over a short period of time?

Enough about what we SHOULDN’T be doing, let’s move on to what young pubescent athletes SHOULD be doing. Here are some easy guidelines -

(1) Static Flexibility:
Young athletes, in my experience, do not stretch enough. Static stretching has come under a lot of fire recently having been labeled as ‘unnecessary’ - unfortunately, it seems that message has filtered its way down to our youngsters. While I would not argue with the fact that static styles of flexibility are not important (perhaps even limiting) to a pre-game routine, static flexibility as a whole cannot be ruled out as important… especially in this age category. Common sense should prevail within the body - if it is weak, strengthen it; if it is tight, stretch it. Pubescent athletes, as we have already mentioned, are typically under significant tone due to growth.

Having said that, elongating these restricted muscles becomes key for both performance enhancement as well as injury prevention. A 10 - 20 minute routine of static flexibility should be apart of EVERY young athlete’s daily habit.

(2) Technical Aspects of Strength Training:
This particular topic has a degree of opinion attached to it. Personally, I feel as though all athletes benefit from power-based lifting exercises (pushes, pulls, cleans etc.). Many professionals disregard power lifts as necessary; I, obviously, disagree. The fact remains that all strength training exercises (at least USEFUL strength training exercises), have a degree of technique attached to them.

Squats, for example, can be a VERY beneficial exercise or a VERY detrimental exercise depending entirely on your technical ability to perform them (technical ability in this case is considered in conjunction with the health and work ability of your anatomy). Having said that, how many trainers or sport training facilities take the time to critically teach the intricate techniques associated with performing strength and power exercises? That can be likened to the fourth grade teacher ‘glancing over’ the specifics of math for a couple of days and then expecting the students to understand and perform the intricate aspects of algebra later in their academic careers. Lifts must be taught to be performed optimally and without the risk of injury. Pubescent athletes are in a perfect time frame to be taught lifts; they are on tone due to growth so shouldn’t be handling too much load anyway and are typically a little less than optimally coordinated, therefore slowly re-learning basic movements will ease their transition back into solid coordination.

(3) Technical Aspects of Speed Training:
The exact same argument resides in this aspect of training as it does in the above points. To be optimally fast and powerful, a young athlete must have good technical ability. Classically poor running technique (including a ‘bobbing’ head, eyes down, bent forward from the waist, ‘winging’ elbows) accounts for why many young athletes do not transition well from JV to Varsity athletics or high school to College athletics.

Having said that, how many trainers and sport training facilities impart the technical elements of speed on to their young athletes? When working with young athletes, make them understand the importance of good technique. Slow movements down and work on things at a decreased pace, eventually adding speed to movements until the athlete can exhibit high quality form at an increased pace.

Building a superior and injury-free athlete should be likened to developing as a good student. It takes a prolonged amount of time, requires the leaning and exhibiting of good habits and is built on a foundation in which skills and abilities are taught and perfected over time.

I hope everyone enjoys that article. A friend of mine, Brian Grasso, sent me some information for that article. He is a nationally known youth training expert. You can check out his site at htp://developingathletics.c

Here is a nice motivational clip from the head football and strength coach at USC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3I9SqRP6ec

In Season Program

Posted by Jason on April 7, 2008. Filed under In Season Strength.

Here is an in season program that can be used for both male and female athletes. It is a 2 day split with warm-up and pre hab (injury prevention). Ultimately you want to try and lift 2 days before the game and the day after.

Warm-up:

1. 5 min body warmup on any machine

2. 3 min static stretch ( spiderman or handwalks)

3. Active Warm-up

a. high knee walk x10yds

b. heel to butt x10yds.

c. back lunge x10yds

d. 1 leg stationary SLDL x5 each

c. high knee skip x10yds

d. high knee run x10yds.

e. X over skip x10yds

f. X behind skip x10yds.

g. lateral skip x10yds.

Day 1 Strength

Clean 3×5 or Jump squats w/ MB

Pair 1:

Elevated or floor Split Squat w/ chin-ups - 2-3×8

Pair 2

Db Incline w/ 1 leg SLDL - 2-3×8

Incline YTWL - 1×10 no weight.

Day 2 ( warm-up the same)

Light Clean or Jump Squat - 3×5

Pair 1:

Bench Press w/wall slides pair w/ Slide Board or SB leg curl - 2-3×8

Pair 2:

Alternate Lunge w/ DB Row 2-3×8

Band or thera band pull aparts - 10 behind/ 10 in front.

Core Routine to be done every day :

Front Bridge - 30-45s

Side Bridge - 30-45s each

OH MB throws x10

Side MB throws - x10 each

MB Slams - 2×20.

This workout should take about 40 min. Don’t skip the warm-up and do it in order if possible. If you are unsure of what the exercises are please let me know or you can go to youtube.com. Once you type the name in it should come up. I am working on the video library and all of these exercises will be posted.

Jason

In Season Training

Posted by Jason on March 21, 2008. Filed under Blog.

By now the spring sports season is a week in full swing. Hopefully everyone has showed up in great shape in preparation for the spring season. The athletes who played a winter sport had 2 weeks to get geared up for the spring. Those 2 weeks should have been preparing the body for the next sport whether it be baseball, softball, lacrosse or track. If you did not show up in shape there is one statistic you need to be aware of. Research has shown that pre season injury rates are more than 3x higher than those of the in season and off season period. If this research had been done on spring sports in New England I bet it would have been higher. Think about this, it is still 20′ F and snowing 1 month before the season starts.

So with that said you need to make sure you warm up properly or else you are risk of hamstring, groin, or hip flexor strains. Some drills that should be included in the warm up are light jogging, high knees, butt-kicks, shuffles, cariocas, and skips prior to sprinting all out. These warm ups should be continued all season.

I also recommend dressing in layers and not removing them until you have broken a sweat. It is also a good idea to wear compression shorts underneath your sweats.

Sprint Mechanics:

On sprinting make sure you focus on landing your foot under your hip and pushing the ground away from you. Avoid “pawing”. Don’t try to pull yourself along, try to push. Remember force into the ground equals linear speed. Run with a slight lean forward and move your arms from hip pocket to eye socket. The faster your arms move the faster your feet move. The pre season is not a time to run all out in sprints. The distance should be 15-20yds with full recovery. 2-3x per week. As the season progresses you want to be at your fastest in April and May.

Nutrition:

Pre-season and in season nutrition can be summed up in two words - quality calories. If you need to add weight increase calories, if you need to lose reduce. But you need to recognize that you need quality protein and carbohydrates during/after training sessions and practice along with plenty of water. As far as post practice/training depending on the workload, Biotest Surge and Cytofuse are good for the older athletes. Chocolate milk works well and you can’t go wrong with fruit/yogurt combinations or fruit/cottage cheese combos.

In Season Training:

In the professional ranks athletes lift 4x per week. In college it is 2-3x per week. There is a reason for this - IT IS IMPORTANT!

Maximal strength is the foundation upon which power improvement occurs. Keeping strength up is important for maintaining the peak power you need for throwing, hitting, sprinting, diving, you name it. Resistance training enhances strength, and it also has endocrine immunity, injury prevention, and bone density benefits as well. If you are a middle school, freshman, or varsity player, your # one goal should be long term development. To that end, physically, you should treat the in season as if it is the off season. In other words, keep training as much as your schedule will allow. I know that things get busy with games, practices, homework, social life etc (school always comes first), but just realize that you don’t need to modify the workouts that much. Don’t worry about being sore for games or practices. It seems hard to appreciate now but you will thank me later.

So how many sessions in the weight room. Male or female athletes should shoot for 2-3x per week based on their practice and game schedule. In season frequency, not duration, is the name of the game. You don’t need to be in the gym for an hour. You will be amazed at what you can get done in 20 min., 2-3x per week. Basic strength, core and flexibility/mobility exercises should be done. Next week I will put up a sample workout that both male AND female athletes can use. I receive a lot of great info from my friend Eric Cressey of cresseyperformance.com, including some of the above.

Good Luck This Season