Optimal Strength

del.icio.us Tags: Vern Gambetta, optimal, strength, conditioning, athletic performance, functional training

 

I read posts on many strength and conditioning forums, professionals and weekend warriors alike asking questions and supplying answers in an open way.  What has struck me as odd in the last couple of months is how so called "functional training" has fallen out of favor.  I remember reading a couple of different posts about how functional training is all about standing on stability balls, and shoulder pressing standing on one leg.

Functional training in my mind is a combination of modalities that leads to increased functionality of the human in their chosen activity.  That activity can be playing recreational golf, professional football player, or picking up your grandchildren.  All of these activities require a different level and sequence of training methods that hopefully lead to increase in ability to accomplish the task. 

In any of the above mentioned tasks maximal strength plays a part, but is not the whole story, not even with a football player.  The down side to having our gurus in the conditioning world be those that have spent the last ten plus years working strictly with Olympic caliber athletes, is that the programs that get published in the magazines only show a part of their overall training, what Vern Gambetta calls the 24 hour athlete.  Mr. Gambetta tours the world giving lectures to coaches all year long, but still keeps his skills ready by working with high school athletes in his local area.  I respect that a great deal.  It keeps him current on the fact that most high school athletes need maximal strength work to be lower on the priority list.

In a society where kids don't actually play any more, we are missing out on the  balance, agility, hand eye coordination, flexibility and athleticism that is built over years of dabbling in many different sports. 

We specialize our kids in football at 5 years old, get them in a weight room by 8  and can't understand why Johnny can't change directions or reach around and scratch his own butt by the time his 15. 

Optimal strength is a term I think coined by Mr. Clark at NASM, and it means to produce optimal strength for the activity, and then move on to other facets that are lacking, instead of staying put.  Something we are missing in America, and something that is being preached all over the world by true coaches like Mr. Gambetta.....and the rest of the world is listening.

"First step speed"

Technorati Tags: first step speed, functional training, athletic enhancement

 

The latest in a string of problems that I and most other coaches, is the partially educated parent.

As a parent myself I fully understand the need to be part of the solution with any problem that my child has, and on occasion (more often then not) find myself cruising the Internet trying to find a solution to a problem, be it a illness symptom, or what ever. 

The problem with this type of learning is you search for bullet points in steady of the theory behind the teaching.  Because of that you can only implement the shallow perimeters that are given in the article or book.

Conditioning solutions are a lot like that, in that there are many parts to the solution, and usually the parent is only aware of a few of them. 

When a parent looks to me to improve just their child's first step speed, or something similar, I can almost guarantee that there are many more glaring problems with the overall athlete, and one of the symptoms of those collective problems is a lack of first step speed.

I am in firm agreement with people like Vern Gambetta, who has steadfast contended that we no longer teach or coach, the athlete, we teach too specific too fast looking for the quick fix. 

Athletes taking $300 worth of supplements a month, but eat fast food all day are prime examples of trying to put a band-aid on a glaring chest wound.

Teach the child to run, jump, throw, catch and balance, and they will improve as an athlete regardless of their sport.

Variety Shields Pain and Injury

Technorati Tags: injury prevention, functional training

 

Recently, two of my athletes have been downed with injury and it has encouraged me to analyze the methods in which I train my sports participants as well as the adult populations I train.  After much soul searching I came to these conclusions:

1.  Injury is inevitable.  Prevention is not a certainty, it is only some armor against minor to mid level threats to the body.

2.  Pre habilitation exercises have their place, and should be used, but again are not a cure all in and of themselves.

3.  The more angles you attack a joint, the better the chance you will stave off injury.

It is often seen that soccer coaches run their athletes into various lower leg overuse injuries, or swim coaches put off a dry land program to swim more.

Bringing new modalities or movement patterns into an overall athletic program will lead to enhanced coordination, muscle/joint synergy, and of course injury prevention

Mental Toughness

Technorati Tags: sports, mental training, football conditioning, best ranger competition

 

It amazes me how many athletes or parents that I talk to that are convinced there is a secret weapon, a Soviet sprint, a Bulgarian jump or something to turn their child from a mediocre to a super athlete.  The basic concepts of athletic conditioning or performance enhancement are 1. explosive strength or power 2. maximal strength, 3. flexibility or mobility, 4. aerobic and anaerobic endurance.  The fifth concept that is missed most often is 5. tenacity or mental toughness. 

A good example of tenacity or metal toughness would be what I like to call the "football wall programs".  Each school has one, written on the weightroom wall, and is called the super or the power (insert mascot name).    The workout themselves are killer hard, and more often than not, really not specific to the sport they are attached too, but the one thing they do show is mental toughness, the ability to keep going when you know you should and could probably stop.  

The supreme example of this would be the best ranger competition.  I watched it this weekend.  The interesting thing that struck me was one of the top 3 finishing ranger's said, "the events one at  a time aren't what kill you its the fact you know you have to keep going for 2 days straight, and telling yourself you can do it".   That is mental toughness.

Eat Less Work More

Technorati Tags: Diet, functional training, body fat

 

This title is an incredibly broad statement, but at its heart it is true.  In order to loose body fat, weight or mass you need a calorie deficit, that is you need to be at negative calories by the end of the day.  This doesn't mean don't eat all day, only that the calories you do take in need to be used by the end of the day.  You need to eat to support you energy needs, not try and make up for over eating with exercise, because you will never catch up, or have consistent body composition changes.  Try using pasta as an accent to a dish instead of the main item, make open faced sandwiches, etc.   Substitute in multi-colored vegetables and lean protein to counter balance the change or loss of carbohydrates.

 

On a lighter note the movie today was taken at random this morning with three clients doing interval programs, here is a short example of what we do.  This grouping's ages range from 26 to 60 years old, so it goes to show you age is only a barrier if you let it be.

athletes at work

Technorati Tags: athletic performance, athletic enhancement, football conditioning, abdominal exercises, tire filpping

 

Just a couple of movies to show some of our athletes at work.  Athletic enhancement for any sport is a combination of intensity and tenacity.  All three of these athletes show these values.

 

Day One of the Blog

This is the first day of posts for the Power Enterprises Inc. Blog. The purpose of the blog is to educate and entertain present clients and new potential clients alike. We will be posting movies and pictures of workouts and anything else that makes me chuckle.