Well I thought that it would be appropriate for me to write an article that was based on what our focus here is. So this article will be an overview, which is hopefully not to general, on how and maybe more importantly how not to train an athlete. Now I will preface this by stating that I do not know everything about training. In fact the more I learn the more I realize that I don’t know. I do however, feel that from my own training experience and my experience in training other athletes that I have a knowledge base to pull from. A good example of this is the fact that at least 3 days a week I am on the phone with someone I would consider an expert, asking questions, and engaging in conversation. By the way, the real experts don’t have to tell you they are the best at what they do, they can show you.
So I will start off with the catch phrase "sports specific." If you have been reading my articles prior to this, you will know that the only thing that is specific to the sport is the sport itself. In other words, if I am a baseball player, the only sports specific training that I can do involves playing baseball. Throwing a heavy ball or swinging a weighted bat will not increase you performance. What will help you is identifying the muscles that are used in the common athletic movements of your sport and train those. For example if I am training a wrestler, I know that the chest has little to do with wrestling. Therefore, I would never tell a wrestler to bench, but if you look at the power of a single leg, where does that come from? The power for the movement is generated from the glutes, hamstrings, quads, etc. So how do we training those muscles, well they function together in the sport so we should train them together in the weight room, a squat is a great exercise for this. Look at your sport, or have someone else do it, and decide what the main muscles used are. I will give you a hint; they are pretty much the same across the board, with the minor muscle groups differing from sport to sport.
The next thing I will look at will be the speed at which the athlete has to perform; again for the most part this will be the same across the board. You want your athlete to be explosive. What good is a basketball player that can't jump? I have two ways of dealing with this. The first way is to use the Olympic movements. I know that every athletic program should have these implemented in it in some way. The O-lifts teach triple extension at a high velocity, which is sports. There are other parts of training that you can do without or supplement for but this is not one of those. The worst thing about the O-lifts is not just anyone can teach them, you really need to know what you are doing or an athlete will end up injured.
The second method of teaching explosiveness is to have your athletes perform lifts at a weight that they are able to move dynamically. This will differ athlete to athlete which is why I hate using percentages, there just inaccurate. A good place to start will be around 45-55% of one-rep max. This is the lowest that I have seen, but also have seen kids that can use 80-90% for a dynamic lift. The key to remember is that it must be done fast. If my movement is the dynamic squat, my goal is to get from the bottom position back to a standing position as quick as possible. A note to remember; the eccentric or lower portion of a dynamic lift does not have to be overly fast, in fact a lot of kids speed up the eccentric and keep the concentric the same and think that they are lifting dynamically but are not.
The next item up would be to make sure that I am focusing most of my attention on multi joint movements. Watch any sport, any real sport I should say, and show me where an athlete does a movement that requires the functioning of only one joint. I have been sitting here for about 10 minutes trying to think of one, to cover my butt from getting angry e-mails, and can't. So if you do think of one, politely send me an e-mail and let me know. Back on topic. Our bodies function as a whole, so that is the way we should train them also. Why do leg extensions when you can do a step up or lunge and train multiple joints, plus balance. The example that I usually use is with people is this; I may be able to grab you and pull you with just my arm but I also have all the muscles of my back so why not use them, this lengthens the time to fatigue. If I am a general of an army and I need 10 soldiers to take a hill but I have 30 at my disposal I am going to use all 30 and reduce my casualties. A real world example is my dad; he won the bar curl in the NFL strongest man contest and never did a curl in training. How is that possible? What he did do was a lot of pull ups and towel pulls which also train the bicep and even more so than a curl. Moral of the story, it is not bad to do single joint movements, but your time and effort can be better spent with multi joint lifts.
After writing for a while I think that I will divide this article up into at least 2 if not a 3 part series. I don’t like to think that I am such a provocative writer that I can hold someone's attention long enough to read all the way through this so I will divide it up. This will give you a place to start, really how much information can you really digest at once anyway.
Any questions or comment please e-mail me at tkolb@northermichigansportsmed.com
Monday, May 7, 2007
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Single...
Single…
I thought that I would write an article dealing with the difference between doing an exercise with one extremity or both, and what benefits or drawbacks we can by doing such exercises. I will first list some examples of exercises that I am talking about so you get the picture of what I am talking about:
-squat vs. single leg squat
-bench press vs. single arm DB press
-snatch vs. single arm snatch
Ok, I assume you get the point and can think of more exercise that you can manipulate to make a single leg/arm lift. These lifts have both benefits and drawbacks as far as your training goes. There are different ways to increase strength, and one of these is to decrease stability. That is exactly what is happening when you go from two to one leg. You have decreased your stability and intern increased the amount of muscle function that is required in the lone leg. This decrease in stability is exactly why I can not do a single leg squat with half of my full squat. Last Friday I had two athletes squat 400 for the first time, which is very impressive considering there body weights are 178 and 204, but I know neither one of them can do a true single leg squat with a 45 pound bar let alone half there max which would be 200.
So we will stick with the single leg squat (SLS) for a little bit. This is not the SLS where you have a leg on a box behind you; in the true SLS or pistol you only have one point of contact. With the version with the leg up behind you, you will not get the same transfer muscle function, because there has not been a drastic change of stability. By doing a SLS we are in a sense teaching the leg to function by itself, without the aid of the other leg. This should make sense to all athletes, since this is what happens very often in sports, you are required to change directions, jump, or sprint off of one leg.
Now let us turn to the upper body for a bit. When performing a DB press you are in fact using your arms separately, but they are still doing the same movement and typically at the same speed as each other. In basketball if you are guarding someone are both your hands doing the same thing? If so, it is rare. So what I will have athletes do is a DB press where only one DB is allowed to move at a time. So one will go all the way up and then back down, and come to a complete stop before the other one moves at all. You do not want to do the scissors motion where one is going up and the other is going down at the same time, when this happens we you are training momentum, not muscle. This movement is great for all athletes and helps with shoulder preservation. Another bonus, if you are like us and your weight room does not have DB's over 75, having your stronger guys do this will still help improve strength without having the bigger bells.
There are countless exercises that we can change to work our bodies in this way and if you need more please let me know, the key is that it must be a free weight movement to have a great effect. There needs to be a decrease in stability by only using one appendage. Doing a single leg, leg extension is not going to do anything worth while, more than a regular leg extension to help you athletically. Even with doing a leg press, there is nothing to stabilize, so reducing legs does not change the muscle activation for these exercises.
Through this training you are required to stabilize your appendages and they will function better independently. So why not do all movements like this? As I have said before everything has its place, but as you add something in, some other movement must come out. If all you did was single movements you would miss out on the increase in absolute muscular strength. In addition to this there would typically be a decrease in speed of the movement, depending on what lift you are doing. What I am trying to say is that there must be a balance, and the hard part is that it is different for everyone, and it is greatly effected by weak points. Again, if you have questions feel free to e-mail me tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com, I try to get to all e-mails within a day or two unless it becomes an article.
I thought that I would write an article dealing with the difference between doing an exercise with one extremity or both, and what benefits or drawbacks we can by doing such exercises. I will first list some examples of exercises that I am talking about so you get the picture of what I am talking about:
-squat vs. single leg squat
-bench press vs. single arm DB press
-snatch vs. single arm snatch
Ok, I assume you get the point and can think of more exercise that you can manipulate to make a single leg/arm lift. These lifts have both benefits and drawbacks as far as your training goes. There are different ways to increase strength, and one of these is to decrease stability. That is exactly what is happening when you go from two to one leg. You have decreased your stability and intern increased the amount of muscle function that is required in the lone leg. This decrease in stability is exactly why I can not do a single leg squat with half of my full squat. Last Friday I had two athletes squat 400 for the first time, which is very impressive considering there body weights are 178 and 204, but I know neither one of them can do a true single leg squat with a 45 pound bar let alone half there max which would be 200.
So we will stick with the single leg squat (SLS) for a little bit. This is not the SLS where you have a leg on a box behind you; in the true SLS or pistol you only have one point of contact. With the version with the leg up behind you, you will not get the same transfer muscle function, because there has not been a drastic change of stability. By doing a SLS we are in a sense teaching the leg to function by itself, without the aid of the other leg. This should make sense to all athletes, since this is what happens very often in sports, you are required to change directions, jump, or sprint off of one leg.
Now let us turn to the upper body for a bit. When performing a DB press you are in fact using your arms separately, but they are still doing the same movement and typically at the same speed as each other. In basketball if you are guarding someone are both your hands doing the same thing? If so, it is rare. So what I will have athletes do is a DB press where only one DB is allowed to move at a time. So one will go all the way up and then back down, and come to a complete stop before the other one moves at all. You do not want to do the scissors motion where one is going up and the other is going down at the same time, when this happens we you are training momentum, not muscle. This movement is great for all athletes and helps with shoulder preservation. Another bonus, if you are like us and your weight room does not have DB's over 75, having your stronger guys do this will still help improve strength without having the bigger bells.
There are countless exercises that we can change to work our bodies in this way and if you need more please let me know, the key is that it must be a free weight movement to have a great effect. There needs to be a decrease in stability by only using one appendage. Doing a single leg, leg extension is not going to do anything worth while, more than a regular leg extension to help you athletically. Even with doing a leg press, there is nothing to stabilize, so reducing legs does not change the muscle activation for these exercises.
Through this training you are required to stabilize your appendages and they will function better independently. So why not do all movements like this? As I have said before everything has its place, but as you add something in, some other movement must come out. If all you did was single movements you would miss out on the increase in absolute muscular strength. In addition to this there would typically be a decrease in speed of the movement, depending on what lift you are doing. What I am trying to say is that there must be a balance, and the hard part is that it is different for everyone, and it is greatly effected by weak points. Again, if you have questions feel free to e-mail me tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com, I try to get to all e-mails within a day or two unless it becomes an article.
Female Training
One question that I get all the time from parents and even coaches is, "what should our female athletes do?" It is true that most of the focus of strength and conditioning is on males, but I don’t think it should be that way. It is necessary for all athletes to strength train, and the training of men and women should not differ to the extent that most think it should.
Muscle fiber is inherently the same, without regard to typing, regardless if it comes from a male or female. This was shown in a study done by Fleck and Kraemer(3) stating, "Female muscle has the same physiological characteristics as male muscle and, therefore, responds to training in the same fashion." The main difference is the amount of response that comes from training. When I coach, my main goal is to increase the strength of the athlete. Some athletes are not allowed gain weight and others do not want to gain weight. This is reflected in females, who frequently give their excuse for not wanting to train as, "I don’t want to look like a guy." What a load.
I hear this all the time, as I assume any other person working in the profession does, but what it comes down to is that this just will not happen. In my research I found a host of articles that showed little or no increase in muscle size and still having significant increases in strength(3). The reason that men grow so much larger than women is due to higher levels of male hormone. Hormones such as testosterone are produced at amounts of 5-10 mg/day in men and 2-4mg/day in women. Testosterone is one of the main hormones responsible for protein synthesis and the increase in muscular size. In addition to this, female hormone levels do not peak following a training session the way that men's do, explaining why women gain strength slower(4). So ladies not only would you need hormone supplementation (which is illegal), but you would also need to take in an equivalent amount of calories to that of a mans diet, which I also think is unlikely. Lastly on this topic is the fact that you will not wake up one morning and be huge. It takes time and I think that if you feel that you are getting too large you can slow down, although I doubt this will ever come up.
OK, I think that I have exhausted that subject and need to move on to the "meat and potatoes" of the article, and that is "why should women strength train?" There is a plethora of information out there showing the increases in sports specific movements in women due to strength training. Some examples are increased muscular strength and power, increased vertical jump, improved standing jump, improved agility, and increased sprinting velocity and acceleration(5). So our main reason is that women should strength train because it will make them a better athlete, and in my opinion if you don’t want to be a better athlete, don’t play at all. When an athlete is reluctant to begin a strength training regime I will ask them if I gave you the ability to jump higher, move faster, and control your body better would you take it? This is exactly what strength training will do, amongst other benefits.
The next reason is prevention of injury, and specifically injury to the ACL. Women are predisposed to greater trauma to the ACL than men, and it is partially due to a greater Q-angle. The Q-angle is the angle that the femur makes as it comes down from the hip to the knee. The problem is made worse because women also typically have a muscle imbalance between their hamstrings and quads. This problem can be easily remedied from strength training, and studies show that the functional ratio between the two muscles can be brought to 1.0 with in 6weeks of training(3). I stress the training of the posterior chain to all of my athletes, but for these reasons it is even more important for females.
In recent years there has been a surge in female athletic participation; it is time that the training of females makes a similar surge. Females must prepare for competition the same, if not more than their male counterparts, but we need to move past the stereotypes and focus on the benefits.
"Females can still train like Tarzan, yet look like Jane" Joe Defranco
1. Defranco, Joe. (2007) Should Females Train Differently Than Males? www.defrancotraning.com.
2. Holcomb, WR et al. (2007) Effect of hamstring-emphasized resistance training on hamstring:quadriceps strength ratios. J Strength Cond Res. Feb 21(1).
3. NSCA (1989) Strength training for female athletes: A Position Paper: Part I. NSCA Journal 11(4).
4. NSCA (1989) Strength training for female athletes: A Position Paper: Part II. NSCA Journal 11(5).
5. Peterson, MD et al. (2006) The contribution of maximal force production to explosion movement among young collegiate athletes. J Strength Cond Res. Nov 20(4).
Muscle fiber is inherently the same, without regard to typing, regardless if it comes from a male or female. This was shown in a study done by Fleck and Kraemer(3) stating, "Female muscle has the same physiological characteristics as male muscle and, therefore, responds to training in the same fashion." The main difference is the amount of response that comes from training. When I coach, my main goal is to increase the strength of the athlete. Some athletes are not allowed gain weight and others do not want to gain weight. This is reflected in females, who frequently give their excuse for not wanting to train as, "I don’t want to look like a guy." What a load.
I hear this all the time, as I assume any other person working in the profession does, but what it comes down to is that this just will not happen. In my research I found a host of articles that showed little or no increase in muscle size and still having significant increases in strength(3). The reason that men grow so much larger than women is due to higher levels of male hormone. Hormones such as testosterone are produced at amounts of 5-10 mg/day in men and 2-4mg/day in women. Testosterone is one of the main hormones responsible for protein synthesis and the increase in muscular size. In addition to this, female hormone levels do not peak following a training session the way that men's do, explaining why women gain strength slower(4). So ladies not only would you need hormone supplementation (which is illegal), but you would also need to take in an equivalent amount of calories to that of a mans diet, which I also think is unlikely. Lastly on this topic is the fact that you will not wake up one morning and be huge. It takes time and I think that if you feel that you are getting too large you can slow down, although I doubt this will ever come up.
OK, I think that I have exhausted that subject and need to move on to the "meat and potatoes" of the article, and that is "why should women strength train?" There is a plethora of information out there showing the increases in sports specific movements in women due to strength training. Some examples are increased muscular strength and power, increased vertical jump, improved standing jump, improved agility, and increased sprinting velocity and acceleration(5). So our main reason is that women should strength train because it will make them a better athlete, and in my opinion if you don’t want to be a better athlete, don’t play at all. When an athlete is reluctant to begin a strength training regime I will ask them if I gave you the ability to jump higher, move faster, and control your body better would you take it? This is exactly what strength training will do, amongst other benefits.
The next reason is prevention of injury, and specifically injury to the ACL. Women are predisposed to greater trauma to the ACL than men, and it is partially due to a greater Q-angle. The Q-angle is the angle that the femur makes as it comes down from the hip to the knee. The problem is made worse because women also typically have a muscle imbalance between their hamstrings and quads. This problem can be easily remedied from strength training, and studies show that the functional ratio between the two muscles can be brought to 1.0 with in 6weeks of training(3). I stress the training of the posterior chain to all of my athletes, but for these reasons it is even more important for females.
In recent years there has been a surge in female athletic participation; it is time that the training of females makes a similar surge. Females must prepare for competition the same, if not more than their male counterparts, but we need to move past the stereotypes and focus on the benefits.
"Females can still train like Tarzan, yet look like Jane" Joe Defranco
1. Defranco, Joe. (2007) Should Females Train Differently Than Males? www.defrancotraning.com.
2. Holcomb, WR et al. (2007) Effect of hamstring-emphasized resistance training on hamstring:quadriceps strength ratios. J Strength Cond Res. Feb 21(1).
3. NSCA (1989) Strength training for female athletes: A Position Paper: Part I. NSCA Journal 11(4).
4. NSCA (1989) Strength training for female athletes: A Position Paper: Part II. NSCA Journal 11(5).
5. Peterson, MD et al. (2006) The contribution of maximal force production to explosion movement among young collegiate athletes. J Strength Cond Res. Nov 20(4).
Warm Up
Well I have had my first topic request, and it is about warming up. So I thought that this week's topic would be in response to that request. To me this is a very important part of a workout that is typically overlooked by many athletes, and all too often coaches overlook this as well. The warm up that I am speaking of specifically is that prior to a strength training session.
Ideally before beginning a strength training session you would want to get the body's core temperature up and this can be done a number of ways. Some examples are a light jog, shooting some hoops, or even a spin on an Air Dyne bike. No matter what your modality, you want to make sure that you have a bit of a sweat going before you begin your actual workout.
Following the activity of your choice for raising your core temperature I would then have you go through a "dynamic warm up." This is the part of the warm up where the muscles get stretched and shortened, but it is done in a dynamic and athletic way. I will almost never have an athlete do any type of static stretching, (stretching where you hold a stretch for a specific amount of time). In fact, the only people I suggest static stretching to are those who are severely inflexible.
Getting your body temperature up and the dynamic warm up done should together take only about 15 minutes, so it is not a huge time commitment. Also, up to this point, this is the same warm up I would use if it was a conditioning or agility/plyo day. Now you are ready to begin the actually lifting portion of the workout.
Example Dynamic Warm Up Drills
Duck walk
Lunge walk
Side step kick hip open
Side step kick hip closed
Power skip-height
Power skip-distance
Squat jumps
Skates
Backward reaching kick
Carioca- I really don’t know how to spell this.
Side shuffle
Back pedal
Sprint
Not an exhaustive list but enough to definitely get you started.
In a later article I will discuss programming of a workout, but in general I start with the quick explosive movements, such as a clean, then core movement, such as a box squat, and then on to auxiliary/ supplementary movements such as a bench press. Every workout my athletes will perform 2-3 sets of jump shrugs or clean pulls. This just helps get the body ready to do the explosive movements of the Olympic Lifts and is then followed by an ascending set/rep scheme. When moving to the core lifts I require that the athlete perform 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions at gradually increasing sub maximal weight. Obviously this is very generic, but in a weight room of 80+ athletes it is a good guideline to keep them on task.
As with anything else, when working one on one you are able to better tailor your warm up to your specific needs and weaknesses. The above listed example works well across the board. As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at: tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com.
Ideally before beginning a strength training session you would want to get the body's core temperature up and this can be done a number of ways. Some examples are a light jog, shooting some hoops, or even a spin on an Air Dyne bike. No matter what your modality, you want to make sure that you have a bit of a sweat going before you begin your actual workout.
Following the activity of your choice for raising your core temperature I would then have you go through a "dynamic warm up." This is the part of the warm up where the muscles get stretched and shortened, but it is done in a dynamic and athletic way. I will almost never have an athlete do any type of static stretching, (stretching where you hold a stretch for a specific amount of time). In fact, the only people I suggest static stretching to are those who are severely inflexible.
Getting your body temperature up and the dynamic warm up done should together take only about 15 minutes, so it is not a huge time commitment. Also, up to this point, this is the same warm up I would use if it was a conditioning or agility/plyo day. Now you are ready to begin the actually lifting portion of the workout.
Example Dynamic Warm Up Drills
Duck walk
Lunge walk
Side step kick hip open
Side step kick hip closed
Power skip-height
Power skip-distance
Squat jumps
Skates
Backward reaching kick
Carioca- I really don’t know how to spell this.
Side shuffle
Back pedal
Sprint
Not an exhaustive list but enough to definitely get you started.
In a later article I will discuss programming of a workout, but in general I start with the quick explosive movements, such as a clean, then core movement, such as a box squat, and then on to auxiliary/ supplementary movements such as a bench press. Every workout my athletes will perform 2-3 sets of jump shrugs or clean pulls. This just helps get the body ready to do the explosive movements of the Olympic Lifts and is then followed by an ascending set/rep scheme. When moving to the core lifts I require that the athlete perform 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions at gradually increasing sub maximal weight. Obviously this is very generic, but in a weight room of 80+ athletes it is a good guideline to keep them on task.
As with anything else, when working one on one you are able to better tailor your warm up to your specific needs and weaknesses. The above listed example works well across the board. As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at: tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com.
Sled Dragging
So for today’s exercise I am actually going to give a series of different exercises that can be done using the same piece of equipment. Now this list will not be exhaustive by any means but will help to build a sufficient base to begin.
I am referring to sled dragging, which can be used more than just for strengthening but for conditioning and endurance training as well. What I mean is that if you are struggling in the final minutes of a game, then the sled may be something that you want to add into your regime. I would classify sled dragging as GPP, which means General Physical Preparedness, and there will soon be an article on that. This exercise is working the main athletic muscles of the posterior chain, the muscles that are responsible for jumping and sprinting.
So I will give a list of dragging exercises and then show you how to implement them into your program.
Ankle Dragging- forward and backward
Belt/harness dragging- forward and backward
Rows
Flys
Shoulder punches
Pull Throughs
Reverse dragging
Shoulder dragging- forward and backward
Sled dragging can be used many different ways. I really like it for conditioning and recovery, but is also good for warming up, cooling down or it can be used as a workout by itself. To add dragging into your workout, I would start slow and just do some light dragging as a warm up 2-3 days a week. Maybe distances of 15-20 yards using 3-4 exercises and 3-4 trips with each exercise. You could also drag for time, by just tossing some weight on the sled and start pulling and go for 5 minutes.
Try some of these out, and if you get bored with these and need some more, let me know and I will do a follow up to this article.
OK, so since the time that i wrote this article I have lost the demo pics that were originally in it, so I will try and remedy that within a few days.
I am referring to sled dragging, which can be used more than just for strengthening but for conditioning and endurance training as well. What I mean is that if you are struggling in the final minutes of a game, then the sled may be something that you want to add into your regime. I would classify sled dragging as GPP, which means General Physical Preparedness, and there will soon be an article on that. This exercise is working the main athletic muscles of the posterior chain, the muscles that are responsible for jumping and sprinting.
So I will give a list of dragging exercises and then show you how to implement them into your program.
Ankle Dragging- forward and backward
Belt/harness dragging- forward and backward
Rows
Flys
Shoulder punches
Pull Throughs
Reverse dragging
Shoulder dragging- forward and backward
Sled dragging can be used many different ways. I really like it for conditioning and recovery, but is also good for warming up, cooling down or it can be used as a workout by itself. To add dragging into your workout, I would start slow and just do some light dragging as a warm up 2-3 days a week. Maybe distances of 15-20 yards using 3-4 exercises and 3-4 trips with each exercise. You could also drag for time, by just tossing some weight on the sled and start pulling and go for 5 minutes.
Try some of these out, and if you get bored with these and need some more, let me know and I will do a follow up to this article.
OK, so since the time that i wrote this article I have lost the demo pics that were originally in it, so I will try and remedy that within a few days.
Overtraining
“Everyone wants to be the best!” How true is this statement? Very true, and if it wasn’t then I probably would not have a job. In athletics there is such a constant battle within ones self to constantly be improving. So what is the result of this battle? Constant training and practice to become the best athlete possible.
Training is good, I love to train and also to train others, but what it comes down to is that it may be the time that we are not training that has the most effect on our athletic ability. Those hours in the day when you are at school, home, or just hanging out with your friends can be very valuable to your success as an athlete. All of this combined with your athletic training adds up and will have an effect on your ability, and this can be positive or negative.
In my opinion, and I am sure that some would argue, but I think that it is near impossible to overtrain. I think that the problem actually occurs from under recovering. Our bodies are amazing machines that are capable of withstanding harsh treatment. Look at the Navy Seals who go through “Hell Week.” Their bodies are put through an amazing amount of stress and are able to adapt and recover. The key to this is the amount of recovery that you allow yourself after a training session.
Ok so you get the point, your body needs rest, but how do you know when and how much? For most people, that are not elite level athletes, a week is sufficient for recovery. Some will get the needed recovery from what I call “active rest.” Active rest is great right after a season also. What is Active Rest? It is activity that is substantially less than your normal activity levels. For example if you are used to playing basketball everyday of the week and lifting 3 times a week and you want to take active recovery an option would be playing racquetball 3 times a week. This will allow your body to heal from the stress of your sport but you are still able to be active.
If you are in the off season and all you are doing is weight training, you need to think about deload weeks. A deload week allows the body and your central nervous system to recover from the stress of strength training. This should occur at least every 4-8 weeks depending on the athlete and their training age. Now this rest time doesn’t need to be a complete break in the action. Some options that I have used in the past are to have my athletes perform their core exercises the same as normal and drop all supplemental and accessory work. The opposite can also work, drop the core exercises and keep the supplemental and accessory. If you test your athletes strength gains this is a perfect week to do it. Again, like everything it depends on the athlete and their specific situation.
Let me stress that deload weeks and active rest are not to be used as excuses to get out of doing some real training, they are serious tools that can help you become a better athlete. In some cases where the athletes don’t have the proper guidance or even poor guidance this could make the difference between a injury and a successful season.
Training is good, I love to train and also to train others, but what it comes down to is that it may be the time that we are not training that has the most effect on our athletic ability. Those hours in the day when you are at school, home, or just hanging out with your friends can be very valuable to your success as an athlete. All of this combined with your athletic training adds up and will have an effect on your ability, and this can be positive or negative.
In my opinion, and I am sure that some would argue, but I think that it is near impossible to overtrain. I think that the problem actually occurs from under recovering. Our bodies are amazing machines that are capable of withstanding harsh treatment. Look at the Navy Seals who go through “Hell Week.” Their bodies are put through an amazing amount of stress and are able to adapt and recover. The key to this is the amount of recovery that you allow yourself after a training session.
Ok so you get the point, your body needs rest, but how do you know when and how much? For most people, that are not elite level athletes, a week is sufficient for recovery. Some will get the needed recovery from what I call “active rest.” Active rest is great right after a season also. What is Active Rest? It is activity that is substantially less than your normal activity levels. For example if you are used to playing basketball everyday of the week and lifting 3 times a week and you want to take active recovery an option would be playing racquetball 3 times a week. This will allow your body to heal from the stress of your sport but you are still able to be active.
If you are in the off season and all you are doing is weight training, you need to think about deload weeks. A deload week allows the body and your central nervous system to recover from the stress of strength training. This should occur at least every 4-8 weeks depending on the athlete and their training age. Now this rest time doesn’t need to be a complete break in the action. Some options that I have used in the past are to have my athletes perform their core exercises the same as normal and drop all supplemental and accessory work. The opposite can also work, drop the core exercises and keep the supplemental and accessory. If you test your athletes strength gains this is a perfect week to do it. Again, like everything it depends on the athlete and their specific situation.
Let me stress that deload weeks and active rest are not to be used as excuses to get out of doing some real training, they are serious tools that can help you become a better athlete. In some cases where the athletes don’t have the proper guidance or even poor guidance this could make the difference between a injury and a successful season.
Mythbusters
So I have had some questions recently about what I would call fitness fads. This is not a first for me. I used to train athletes in a fitness center and I would periodically get questions from all types of people on the latest fitness fad. So since I did not get an article out last week I thought that I would do this one in addition to the kettle bell article.
I will try to touch on several different fitness fads in this article and shine as much light as I can. I am sure that I will not answer all of the questions that you have but if you shoot me an e-mail I can follow up in another article. I kind of feel like I am on Mythbusters.
First let’s deal with all of the products out there that claim they are the greatest exercise for your abs. As a colleague of mine says, "anything claiming to give you a six pack should set off your B.S. detector." These products have a few major flaws: 1. there is no such thing as localized spot mobilization. So just because you are working your abs, doesn’t mean that you are burning fat from there. In fact you are burning the same fat that you would be if you were jumping up and down, which coincidently will burn a greater amount of calories and will actually give you a six pack faster than the AB BLASTER 2000. 2. Isolated movements only work one muscle group. This is a waste of time. Why work just one muscle group if you can work 5 or 10 at once? Besides working multiple muscles at the same time is the way that our body naturally functions. So why not exercise the same way? In addition you will be burning a heck of a lot more calories, and working close to the illusive "rock hard abs."
The next topic I really didn’t want to touch on. But since I have had a list of questions about it, here goes. This topic involves pills. Let me first say this, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DIET AND EXERCISE. That should be all I have to say, but I know that I will get e-mails that want me to explain so I will save you the time. Good old fashion exercise: you can not replicate the benefits of this, period. Exercise increases your resting metabolism, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, gives you higher energy levels, better sleep, and so on. The list is almost endless. Have any of you read or heard the myth that you can get a great workout in less than 10 minutes. That is just false. You really need to elevate your heart rate for at least 20 minutes, if not up to 60 minutes a day. Exercise is great for you and will have lasting benefits in your life. DO IT!!! As for the diet, you can not eat a bunch of junk, take a pill and expect to loose weight. This requires self discipline, which in today's culture is a four letter word. It is a simple equation that if the number of calories taken in is less than the number of calories that are burned, you will lose weight, and you do not need to spend a small fortune on gadgets to make this succeed.
Kcal in < Kcal out = weight loss
To stay on this topic, let me say that no matter what you take you will not change your resting metabolic rate, and the only way to change it is through exercise. Now there are things that temporarily raise it, but nothing that does it in a healthy way, and nothing that you will not eventually become used to and stop responding to, with the exception being exercise.
There is a lot more that I could cover on just these topics and an almost endless supply of crap out there, so if you want me to go over anything else let me know.
tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com
I will try to touch on several different fitness fads in this article and shine as much light as I can. I am sure that I will not answer all of the questions that you have but if you shoot me an e-mail I can follow up in another article. I kind of feel like I am on Mythbusters.
First let’s deal with all of the products out there that claim they are the greatest exercise for your abs. As a colleague of mine says, "anything claiming to give you a six pack should set off your B.S. detector." These products have a few major flaws: 1. there is no such thing as localized spot mobilization. So just because you are working your abs, doesn’t mean that you are burning fat from there. In fact you are burning the same fat that you would be if you were jumping up and down, which coincidently will burn a greater amount of calories and will actually give you a six pack faster than the AB BLASTER 2000. 2. Isolated movements only work one muscle group. This is a waste of time. Why work just one muscle group if you can work 5 or 10 at once? Besides working multiple muscles at the same time is the way that our body naturally functions. So why not exercise the same way? In addition you will be burning a heck of a lot more calories, and working close to the illusive "rock hard abs."
The next topic I really didn’t want to touch on. But since I have had a list of questions about it, here goes. This topic involves pills. Let me first say this, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DIET AND EXERCISE. That should be all I have to say, but I know that I will get e-mails that want me to explain so I will save you the time. Good old fashion exercise: you can not replicate the benefits of this, period. Exercise increases your resting metabolism, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure, gives you higher energy levels, better sleep, and so on. The list is almost endless. Have any of you read or heard the myth that you can get a great workout in less than 10 minutes. That is just false. You really need to elevate your heart rate for at least 20 minutes, if not up to 60 minutes a day. Exercise is great for you and will have lasting benefits in your life. DO IT!!! As for the diet, you can not eat a bunch of junk, take a pill and expect to loose weight. This requires self discipline, which in today's culture is a four letter word. It is a simple equation that if the number of calories taken in is less than the number of calories that are burned, you will lose weight, and you do not need to spend a small fortune on gadgets to make this succeed.
Kcal in < Kcal out = weight loss
To stay on this topic, let me say that no matter what you take you will not change your resting metabolic rate, and the only way to change it is through exercise. Now there are things that temporarily raise it, but nothing that does it in a healthy way, and nothing that you will not eventually become used to and stop responding to, with the exception being exercise.
There is a lot more that I could cover on just these topics and an almost endless supply of crap out there, so if you want me to go over anything else let me know.
tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com
Keepers and Throwbacks
Keepers and throwbacks, kind of a catchy name, well I have to admit I stole the title from an article written by, Glenn Buechlein, but the topics which I am proposing are different than that which Glenn talked about, and so I wanted to pass my thoughts on to you. I am going to start out with an analogy; imagine you are at a buffet, but the catch is you can only go up one time and take only one plate. Well what can you do? You only have one choice fill the plate up with the most important food and forget the rest until next time. Well the same is true in your training, you can only fit so much into one training workout or cycle. When you add something, there is inevitably something that is going to need to decrease. That is just the way it is, if you don’t you will end up overtrained, injured, or burnt-out, none of which are productive for a successful season.
“But Tanner you keep giving me exercises to do?” That’s right I do and the reason is that I want to offer new variety to your workouts. “If you always do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got.” Different people need different things, player A may need to work on his explosiveness so we will show him a new exercise to do that, while player B may need to work on his endurance and so we will add in some more GPP for him.
If you see an exercise here or anywhere else that you think will help then by all means add it in, but you will need to take something out. Over time you will find out what exercises work the best for you and which ones don’t do a thing, and you will be able to decide the most effective path for your training. Working smart is more important than working hard.
Your body will respond differently to different exercises, and not only that, it will respond differently to the same exercises at different training ages. I will give you an example of this; when I first started training I responded very well to hex bar dead lifts. It seemed that when ever I did these I just got stronger, great right? Well today if I want the same effect I need a new exercise, like good mornings. So as your training age increases what you need to do changes, so get with someone who can help you figure out the best thing for you at this time in your training.
“But Tanner you keep giving me exercises to do?” That’s right I do and the reason is that I want to offer new variety to your workouts. “If you always do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got.” Different people need different things, player A may need to work on his explosiveness so we will show him a new exercise to do that, while player B may need to work on his endurance and so we will add in some more GPP for him.
If you see an exercise here or anywhere else that you think will help then by all means add it in, but you will need to take something out. Over time you will find out what exercises work the best for you and which ones don’t do a thing, and you will be able to decide the most effective path for your training. Working smart is more important than working hard.
Your body will respond differently to different exercises, and not only that, it will respond differently to the same exercises at different training ages. I will give you an example of this; when I first started training I responded very well to hex bar dead lifts. It seemed that when ever I did these I just got stronger, great right? Well today if I want the same effect I need a new exercise, like good mornings. So as your training age increases what you need to do changes, so get with someone who can help you figure out the best thing for you at this time in your training.
GPP
A topic that I thought that I should touch on early, is that of GPP, which stands for general physical preparedness. In simple terms it means that you are able to accomplish those tasks that you choose to set for your self. For example if I need to be able to make it through 32 minutes of play but I am getting tired as I get into the 4th quarter then I need to increase my GPP work. This means that I am unable to accomplish a task that I set for myself, specifically playing through a basketball game.
Ok so now that I have defined it, what can we do to increase it? There are many options that you can use to help increase your GPP, but it is not as simple as just going for a run. By the way, I think this is a good thing, because who really likes to run? GPP training should incorporate variety, and not just from day to day, but even within a single training session. We need to incorporate as many muscles and movments as possible when we are training for GPP because "athletics is not isolation." This is why just going for a run doesn’t work, unless your sport is distance running.
Some examples of GPP are sled dragging, which is one of my favorite ways to increase GPP, due to the endless possibilities. Other options are box jumping, which can be done for time or reps, sand bag shouldering, again done for time or reps. Many other "calisthenics" exercises can be used also, such as squatting. When doing this I would work with the Tabata interval of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of 8 sets lasting a mere 4 minutes. If running is your only option for your GPP training then do some type of interval sprinting.
There are other exercises but this should be good to get you rolling. Most of the advanced GPP exercises look like stuff you see on the Worlds Strongest Man, and are great for team competitions, or extra Saturday workouts. Again if you have any questions shoot me an email at tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com and I will address them as soon as possible.
Ok so now that I have defined it, what can we do to increase it? There are many options that you can use to help increase your GPP, but it is not as simple as just going for a run. By the way, I think this is a good thing, because who really likes to run? GPP training should incorporate variety, and not just from day to day, but even within a single training session. We need to incorporate as many muscles and movments as possible when we are training for GPP because "athletics is not isolation." This is why just going for a run doesn’t work, unless your sport is distance running.
Some examples of GPP are sled dragging, which is one of my favorite ways to increase GPP, due to the endless possibilities. Other options are box jumping, which can be done for time or reps, sand bag shouldering, again done for time or reps. Many other "calisthenics" exercises can be used also, such as squatting. When doing this I would work with the Tabata interval of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest for a total of 8 sets lasting a mere 4 minutes. If running is your only option for your GPP training then do some type of interval sprinting.
There are other exercises but this should be good to get you rolling. Most of the advanced GPP exercises look like stuff you see on the Worlds Strongest Man, and are great for team competitions, or extra Saturday workouts. Again if you have any questions shoot me an email at tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com and I will address them as soon as possible.
Good Morning
The Good Morning is in my opinion one of the best non-explosive exercises that an athlete can do. When it is performed correctly you will work essentially every muscle from you calves all of the way up into your traps. I would call that a full body exercise. In addition we are working the muscles that we use in sprinting and jumping, our glutes and hamstrings. Now to begin this exercise, un-rack a barbell just as you would for a squat, or simply place the bar on your upper back where it is comfortable. Due to the amount of hip flexion you will want a high bar placement. Set up your feet so they are slightly wider than shoulder width. Get into a tight position with your back arched and shoulder blades pulled together; I call this “bullet-proofing” your back. Knees should be straight or slightly bent and your abs contracted. If you choose to have some bend in your knees, make sure that the angle of the knee joint stays the same throughout the entire movement. From this starting position slowly bend forward at the waist until your back begins to round or hump, as soon as this happens reverse the movement to return to the starting position. Your goal is to have a straight or slightly scooped back throughout the entire movement. Never let your head drop and back round, as this can lead to injury.
The first time that you do this you will probably be a bit sore the next day so ease it into your workouts. Once or twice a week is sufficient to bring up the posterior chain. In the future I will add some other variations to the good morning to keep some variety in your workouts.
The first time that you do this you will probably be a bit sore the next day so ease it into your workouts. Once or twice a week is sufficient to bring up the posterior chain. In the future I will add some other variations to the good morning to keep some variety in your workouts.
Goals
I don’t know about you but I really need to have a reason to do something and stick with it. For example, how many people would go to work if they didn’t get paid? How many kids would go to high school if they could just be accepted into college and get a great job? I think the answer is, not many. People do things because they have a reason; in other words they have goals. The same should be true in your training, you need to have goals.
For me I love to get in the gym and work out, but there are days that it is just hard to walk through the door. On those hard days I really have to look at the goals that I have set for myself. If you are an athlete you should have goals that you set for yourself. It is helpful to have goals that you set for different timelines. Try asking yourself these questions: What do you want to accomplish in the next workout, the next month, or in this up coming season? When you have answers to these questions, then it is time to decide exactly what you have to do to accomplish those goals, and then go do it. Mike Hanley said, “if you walk into the weight room with no agenda except to workout, then you won’t achieve much.” This could not be more true! I don’t think that I have ever talked to a coach that went into a game saying, “Oh, we will just see what happens.” You need to have a game plan for your training also.
When you go in for a training session, whether it is in the weight room or on the court your goal should be to work harder, to lift more, to be more accurate, or whatever it is you need to work on. You need to have a goal and a plan, and then aim for that goal. Being successful in the weight room is directly correlated to how an athlete perceives himself on the court. There is no formula that says “if I squat 400 I will be a state champion,” but I can tell you that if you start the off season squatting 200 pounds and increase your squat to 300 pounds, you will be a better player. Not only a better player, but you will have gained self confidence and will have started the process of gaining a good work ethic.
For me I love to get in the gym and work out, but there are days that it is just hard to walk through the door. On those hard days I really have to look at the goals that I have set for myself. If you are an athlete you should have goals that you set for yourself. It is helpful to have goals that you set for different timelines. Try asking yourself these questions: What do you want to accomplish in the next workout, the next month, or in this up coming season? When you have answers to these questions, then it is time to decide exactly what you have to do to accomplish those goals, and then go do it. Mike Hanley said, “if you walk into the weight room with no agenda except to workout, then you won’t achieve much.” This could not be more true! I don’t think that I have ever talked to a coach that went into a game saying, “Oh, we will just see what happens.” You need to have a game plan for your training also.
When you go in for a training session, whether it is in the weight room or on the court your goal should be to work harder, to lift more, to be more accurate, or whatever it is you need to work on. You need to have a goal and a plan, and then aim for that goal. Being successful in the weight room is directly correlated to how an athlete perceives himself on the court. There is no formula that says “if I squat 400 I will be a state champion,” but I can tell you that if you start the off season squatting 200 pounds and increase your squat to 300 pounds, you will be a better player. Not only a better player, but you will have gained self confidence and will have started the process of gaining a good work ethic.
Core
Core
It is kind of ironic, since the title of this article is a word that I absolutely despise. The reason is this. I think that every "Joe Shmoe" out there who is trying to sell a fitness product will attach the word "core" or "functional" to it and “wa-la” you have a ground breaking apparatus that is really a piece of crap. In addition to that, having a strong core does not equate a six pack or visa-versa, nor does it mean that you are a great athlete. OK I know that I have digressed a bit, but I think you see where I am coming from. The only reason that I use the term, “Core”, here is so that way everyone can relate and know exactly what I am talking about.
First of all I think that it is important to talk about what exactly the core does, and what muscle groups it is made of. Generally speaking the core is where the power of the body is initiated for almost all athletic movements. In addition, this is where our support comes from as we carry out our athletic endeavors. Your core is also where the majority of your balance comes from. The muscles that make up the core are most notably the abdominals, but also include the lower back muscles, your hip flexors, hamstrings, and all of the glute musculature. It is easily seen in the diagram below; the most important muscles are those in the center, and as we work our way out the muscles become less important.
After identifying the musculature, the next step is to look at how it works, especially when we are in the midst of athletics. Obviously in basketball we use our hip flexors, hamstrings and glutes in jumping and sprinting. Some other musculature that I did not mention earlier would be that of our hip abductors and adductors, which are critical in all lateral movement. So for the most part all of these muscles do quick explosive movements, thus they should be trained using quick explosive movements. Some examples of these are Olympic lifts; clean, jerk, and snatch. Also plyometrics work very well for developing quickness in muscles.
Finally, I would like to touch on the muscles of the abs and low back. These muscles function quite a bit differently than those mentioned before. Their primary action is an isometric contraction otherwise known as a static hold. They do not need to lift vast amounts of weight, but do need to be able to support and stabilize your body all day long and while performing in athletics. In my opinion the best way to train these muscles is to do overhead lifting. Anytime you do a lift where you use your upper and lower body at the same time you are required to use you "core" in order to connect them together.
As for balance I will touch on that in a later article specifically about the topic, and how to improve it. Questions and comments always welcome, tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com.
It is kind of ironic, since the title of this article is a word that I absolutely despise. The reason is this. I think that every "Joe Shmoe" out there who is trying to sell a fitness product will attach the word "core" or "functional" to it and “wa-la” you have a ground breaking apparatus that is really a piece of crap. In addition to that, having a strong core does not equate a six pack or visa-versa, nor does it mean that you are a great athlete. OK I know that I have digressed a bit, but I think you see where I am coming from. The only reason that I use the term, “Core”, here is so that way everyone can relate and know exactly what I am talking about.
First of all I think that it is important to talk about what exactly the core does, and what muscle groups it is made of. Generally speaking the core is where the power of the body is initiated for almost all athletic movements. In addition, this is where our support comes from as we carry out our athletic endeavors. Your core is also where the majority of your balance comes from. The muscles that make up the core are most notably the abdominals, but also include the lower back muscles, your hip flexors, hamstrings, and all of the glute musculature. It is easily seen in the diagram below; the most important muscles are those in the center, and as we work our way out the muscles become less important.
After identifying the musculature, the next step is to look at how it works, especially when we are in the midst of athletics. Obviously in basketball we use our hip flexors, hamstrings and glutes in jumping and sprinting. Some other musculature that I did not mention earlier would be that of our hip abductors and adductors, which are critical in all lateral movement. So for the most part all of these muscles do quick explosive movements, thus they should be trained using quick explosive movements. Some examples of these are Olympic lifts; clean, jerk, and snatch. Also plyometrics work very well for developing quickness in muscles.
Finally, I would like to touch on the muscles of the abs and low back. These muscles function quite a bit differently than those mentioned before. Their primary action is an isometric contraction otherwise known as a static hold. They do not need to lift vast amounts of weight, but do need to be able to support and stabilize your body all day long and while performing in athletics. In my opinion the best way to train these muscles is to do overhead lifting. Anytime you do a lift where you use your upper and lower body at the same time you are required to use you "core" in order to connect them together.
As for balance I will touch on that in a later article specifically about the topic, and how to improve it. Questions and comments always welcome, tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com.
Box Squat
Box Squat
The box squat is my absolute favorite way to squat; not only is it my favorite way, but it is probably the best way to learn to squat correctly too. When you perform a box squat correctly you must sit way back onto the box and this will teach you to load the hips, glutes, and hamstrings, which are all essential in quality athletic movements such as sprinting and jumping. In addition this will help you push your knees out and allow you to keep correct muscle alignment for all athletic movements.
To start you will want to select a box height, which can be very confusing for most people. I will typically have beginners use a parallel or slightly lower than parallel box. Parallel is where the crease of your hips is lower than the top of the knee. With advanced lifters I will cycle through different size boxes, from 12” boxes to taller boxes.
Now that you have the right height box you are ready to begin. To start the box squat you will want to unrack the bar from the squat rack; you can use either a high or low bar position, or just wherever the bar is comfortable. Once in a standing position with the bar on your back squeeze your shoulder blades together. The result of this is that you stick out your chest. I call this “bullet-proofing” your back and it is a position that should be used in many different lifts. From your “bullet-proofed” position fill your chest with air and harden your abs and then stick your butt back. You are now ready to descend. Sit down and back onto the box while pushing the knees out in order to recruit your hips. When on the box your knees should not be past your toes, and ideally your shins are perpendicular to the floor. While on the box keep your back arched and relax your hips. Now keeping your back arched and your knees pushed out “push the floor down” and stand up in a powerful movement. Squeeze your butt as you stand.
Typically when you first start you will have a tendency to drive the legs and not keep the back arched. This can cause you to go into a good morning position which is not ideal for this exercise. Also it is common to not sit back far enough on the box resulting in the knees being past the toes. So these are some things to watch out for. The box squat is a great exercise that trains the posterior chain and is key in all athletic activities.
E-mail me and let me know if you have any questions on form or technique and I will answer your questions. tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com
The box squat is my absolute favorite way to squat; not only is it my favorite way, but it is probably the best way to learn to squat correctly too. When you perform a box squat correctly you must sit way back onto the box and this will teach you to load the hips, glutes, and hamstrings, which are all essential in quality athletic movements such as sprinting and jumping. In addition this will help you push your knees out and allow you to keep correct muscle alignment for all athletic movements.
To start you will want to select a box height, which can be very confusing for most people. I will typically have beginners use a parallel or slightly lower than parallel box. Parallel is where the crease of your hips is lower than the top of the knee. With advanced lifters I will cycle through different size boxes, from 12” boxes to taller boxes.
Now that you have the right height box you are ready to begin. To start the box squat you will want to unrack the bar from the squat rack; you can use either a high or low bar position, or just wherever the bar is comfortable. Once in a standing position with the bar on your back squeeze your shoulder blades together. The result of this is that you stick out your chest. I call this “bullet-proofing” your back and it is a position that should be used in many different lifts. From your “bullet-proofed” position fill your chest with air and harden your abs and then stick your butt back. You are now ready to descend. Sit down and back onto the box while pushing the knees out in order to recruit your hips. When on the box your knees should not be past your toes, and ideally your shins are perpendicular to the floor. While on the box keep your back arched and relax your hips. Now keeping your back arched and your knees pushed out “push the floor down” and stand up in a powerful movement. Squeeze your butt as you stand.
Typically when you first start you will have a tendency to drive the legs and not keep the back arched. This can cause you to go into a good morning position which is not ideal for this exercise. Also it is common to not sit back far enough on the box resulting in the knees being past the toes. So these are some things to watch out for. The box squat is a great exercise that trains the posterior chain and is key in all athletic activities.
E-mail me and let me know if you have any questions on form or technique and I will answer your questions. tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com
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