Nutrition,the new drug of choice

Awesome article on the use of food as another modality of performance enhancement.  All my young athletes listen up, and my beat up college athletes, change your diet, improve your performance and recovery!

Where did Crossfit go wrong?

Greg Glassman has made a permanent impression on the face of how we look at fitness, this is a fact that can not be questioned.  And while I don’t train in a “crossfit style”, I do track and read where the community moves and progresses.   I have great respect for the community as a whole. 

 

I found it troubling while looking at the winners of the 2011 crossfit games today, and I wonder how crossfit has gone from producing fit women like the picture of Jolie Gentry above to who won the 2007 crossfit games, and Nichole Caroll below to the picture of the winner this year (she is on the right of the bottom picture).  Four short years has changed the direction of the philosophy has gone from this:

To this:

It would seem to me that the allure of a large payday has changed the sport to friendly competition to win at all costs…..

End of a Great Sprint Session

A combination of women’s soccer players and basketball players after they gave their all on a particularly difficult sprint sequence.  Great Effort Ladies!

Squat Clean done the right way

quick video of training this afternoon, Claire has been doing Olympic Lifts for about 10 days, weighs about 120 pounds and pulls 3 perfect squat cleans at 135 pounds.  Not bad, not bad at all

How far are we from this in America?

 

I was sent this disturbing picture by a friend, and at first I was self righteous about it, saying “how could they do that to those children”, then it dawned on me how close we are to doing this type of training with very young children in this country.  Wake up people, a 4 year old shouldn’t be lifting weights or seeing a speed coach!

The amazing things humans can do….

 

Introducing PowerStroke High Intensity Circuit Training For Active Adults.

This week we at PowerAthlete rolled out the latest in Adult Fitness Training.  PowerStroke High Intensity Circuit Training is a sequence of exercise placed in such a way to create the most beneficial workout possible.  The circuits themselves include traditional dumbbell exercise, along with various sporting and plyometric movements.  This combination of exercises done in the correct order, with short rest breaks, and a surprise set at the end of each circuit give any adult the results they are looking for.  Each series of exercises is tailored to the individual participant, so we can maximize result!

Come give it a try, first workout is free for new clientele.Z

Amazing Quote

Fitness Journalist Chris Shugart writes

 

“Working through difficulties carves you into a strong person. Doing things that are painful make you less susceptible to pain. Calluses are good. Scars give you character. Grit your teeth and juggernaut through those walls life builds up in front of you. Don’t look for the work-around. Go through”.

Running Distance, this is how I feel……

Work Hard and Smart, and You Will Have Success

Our own Lane Breyer winning his weight class in a recent wrestling tournament as a Freshman.

I’m behind on my blog….

Coming off of some great successes by our athletes, we have increased our population significantly (which is awesome).  Because of this I am a little busy training right now to post anything, new videos and pictures to come soon!

So your too tired to workout…

quadruple amputee swimming the English channel….

Speed, Agility, Reactive, Quickness

This was a joint concept dreamed up my myself and Mr. Frank Pirrello (engineer extraordinaire).  Along with all the other forms of agility and speed work we do as part of our athletic conditioning programming, this adds a reactive agility concept into the works.

Don’t Forget Athletic Movement

As trainers or coaches we spend a great deal of time breaking down movements, trying to find parts we can “train” or improve.  Watching this vintage film of Sugar Ray Robinson prepare for a fight, it struck me that the training isn’t complex or complicated, movements aren’t broken down or over analyzed.  Fluid motion, changes of direction, acceleration/deceleration, stability from the core radiating out (the medicine ball throws at his abdomen were and incredible display of balance and trunk stability).  Amazing.

Old Man Hurdle Jump

Working on the jumping aspect of my athlete’s programs, so therefore, I am jumping.  Took this video today playing around with Hurdles compared to Box Jumps.  We have had problems in the past with damaged shins with box jumps.

Measuring improvements in hip external rotation strength/power

I am looking into measureable ways to show improvements in strength and power in the hip external rotators, as increasing strength in this musculature has shown to prevent or repair knee valgus (knock knees).   Knee valgus characterizing medial collapse might be associated with knee injuries 1,4,5.  It has been shown that increasing strength in the hip and hamstrings combine to show significant injury prevention qualities for patellofemoral, IT and ACL type injuries 1,2,3.   In addition the Leetun Study, showed that athletes who did not sustain an injury were
significantly stronger in their hip abduction and hip external rotation muscles hip external rotation strength was the best predictor of injury 6.

With this in mind I am going to track the effect on landing/deceleration from a shallow depth jump effect on knee valgus compared with distance improvement on measurements of a maximal lateral broad jump or lateral bound.  Because the lateral bound is explosive, compound (using the entire leg but emphasizing the external rotators) I think it is a real world way to look at hip strength and power improvements and how they may effect lower body biomechanics

 

 

1. Clin J Sport Med. 2000;10:169-175.treatment programs incorporating exercises designed to address hip impairments have demonstrated positive short- and long-term outcomes on knee injuries.

2. Ferber R, Davis IM, Williams DS. Gender differences in lower extremity mechanics
during running. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2003;18:350–357.

3. Markolf KL, Burchfield DM, Shapiro MM, Shepard MF, Finerman GA, Slauterbeck
JL. Combined knee loading states that generate high anterior cruciate ligament forces.
J Orthop Res. 1995;13:930–935

4.Nakagawa TH, Muniz TB, Baldon Rde M, Dias Maciel C, de Menezes Reiff RB, Serrao FV. The effect of additional strengthening of hip abductor and lateral rotator muscles in patellofemoral pain syndrome: a randomized controlled pilot study. Clin Rehabil. 2008;22:1051-1060. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269215508095357

5. Powers CM. The influence of altered lower-extremity kinematics on patellofemoral
joint dysfunction: a theoretical perspective. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2003;33:
639–646.

6. Leetun D, Ireland M, Wilson J,  Ballantyne B, Davis I.

Core Stability Measures as Risk Factors for Lower Extremity Injury in Athletes

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine
Volume 36(6), June 2004, pp 926-934

Never stop learning….

I had the honor and pain of getting into a biomechanics conversation on a facebook yesterday with three strength coaches that are way above my pay grade, Charlie Weingroff, Dewey Nielson and Daniel Martinez.  I ended up being totally wrong in my assessment of the situation, and the three of them graciously explained my mistake.  Just when you think you know what is going on, life figures out a way to show you otherwise.  Keep reading, keep learning, keep correcting and improving.

Strong correlation of maximal squat strength with sprint performance and vertical jump height

In this research article the researchers found strong correlation between sprint speed, vertical jump and squat strength.  If you are an athlete, and one, or more of these things are important to your performance, practice these skills.  Forget the agility ladders, and the other toys, get strong first, practice sprinting and jumping, and watch the improvements happen.  You have to build a stronger engine, before you make a faster car.  

Battle rope training for swimmers

The use of heavy ropes for cardiovascular/strength endurance work has become a staple modality for conditioning power athletes such as rugby and football players.  We have been experimenting, with great success, using the ropes for conditioning other sports, most notably swimming.  Using the ropes we can reproduce a similar motion to the swim strokes, with an explosive component, at the end of the rope stroke, with the strike on the ground.  Here are examples of two of our fantastic swim athletes working the ropes,

Alex Osterhage Does a free style movement

Eric Limkeman Coach, Pro Triathlete and Washed Up Swimmer, demonstrates the Butterfly method

You don’t have to be a teenager to work hard. Just work smart!

 

 

I am posting this video in an effort to show the possibilities of achieving your fitness goals if you do it in a smart way.   The person in this video is:

1. vital as anyone I work with
2. isn’t a teenager
3. has had knee reconstruction earlier in her life
4. is able to accomplish high intensity work sets
5. works smart, most of the time, using recovery techniques, foam rolling, static stretching, dynamic warm ups, etc

Don’t hold yourself back because of lack of knowledge on how to proceed.  Find a qualified trainer to help you achieve your goals!