RSSHow to Power Clean
Feb 23
Building muscle, Football, Functional Training, Speed and Agility No Comments
Why Athletes Should NOT Wear Weight Belts While Working Out
Feb 19
Building muscle, Speed and Agility No Comments
Athletes should not and I repeat….SHOULD NOT wear a weight belt while performing heavy lifts in the weight room. Here are some reasons why:
1. If you don’t wear a weight belt in competition, you should not wear one while performing lifts. Be functional not stupid.
2. By wearing a weight belt to perform heavy lifts you are actually weakening your core. By tightening a belt around your waist, you apply pressure to your abdomen region and your “core” takes a back seat to the demands and does not activate (contract/get stronger). All movement is generated from your core and if do not train properly then your core will not develop accordingly to the demands for your sport. Work the whole body not specific muscles…athletes are not body builders!
3. You back hurts performing the lifts because 1) your core is weak, or 2) you are not using proper technique, and/or you have muscle imbalances that need to be address so that the proper muscles can fire/contract/relax in order for you to perform that lift effectively and safely.
I always use the phrase “Work Hard to Win Easy” but please do it the right way!
The FITT Principle
Nov 22
Building muscle, Cardio health, Losing Fat, Speed and Agility No Comments
To really get the most out of your fitness/strength & conditioning program, you are going to have to learn and live by the FITT principle. Applying the FITT principle to your program will allow you to progress through those frustrating plateaus that everyone faces from time to time. The reason why you are not achieving success in your program is because your body is getting used to the same routine day in and day out. ROUTINE IS THE ENEMY! However, implementing the FITT principle into your program will take you to the next level.
Frequency: Is the number of days you are working out in the week. You may have to increase your frequency or decrease your frequency depending on how your body is adapting to the program. Most hardcore athletes need to decrease their frequency due to overtraining because they are not getting enough rest for the body to repair itself. However, people who are trying to lose weight need to increase their frequency so they are achieving an overall calorie expenditure. This does not mean that you have to “workout” more but, you do have to increase your levels of physical activity which means…
- Walk or bike instead of drive
- Wash your own dam car
- Join a sports league
- Learn a new sport
- Just stop sitting on your ass
Intensity: Training intensity is defined as an individual’s level of effort compared with their maximum effort. This means different things for different goals. If you are trying to lose weight you must cut down your rest time to keep your heart rate up to burn the most calories. For example, circuit training, interval training, and Crossfit do a good job at keep you moving with little to no rest in between workout. However, if you are trying to pack on some muscle you must make sure that every set is to failure. Thus, increase weight = increase in intensity! And for athletes who are trying to make it to the next level, intensity means not to take plays off and practice hard day in and day out. Only the strong will survive in the world of sports and if you don’t work hard at your craft 24/7 you will be left in the dust.
Type: This corresponds to the types of exercises that you are performing in your training program. However, you must understand that the human body is a highly adaptable machine that can readily adjusts to the imposed demands of training. Therefore, exercise selection should be functional and specific to the individual’s intended goal. Make sure to implement variations to each exercise but keep the movements functional, move in all planes of motion, and stay away from isolated movements like bicep curls.
Time: is the time frame of a workout or the length of time (number of weeks) spent with a certain program. A general workout including warm-up and cool-down should take 60-90 minutes. A professor once told me, “If you’re in the gym for more than one hour…you are making more friends than muscles.” Furthermore, Workouts that exceed 90 minutes will lead to rapid declines in energy levels which can lead to discrepancies in hormonal and immune responses that can later have negative effects on your training program.
It takes the body approximately 3 weeks to adapt to a fitness program. However, if you apply the FITT principle to your program, you will be able to break through plateaus and reach your goals quicker. Good luck!
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
Jul 06
Armstrong’s proposed model of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
1. High tension in muscle during eccentric muscle contraction results in structural damage to the muscle and its cell membrane. An eccentric contraction is the lengthening of muscle and happens when you are decending into a squat or lowering yourself down from a rope climb.
2. Cell membrane damage disturbs calcium homeostasis in the injured fiber, resulting in necrosis (death of cell) that peaks ~48 h post exercise. (Calcium is needed for a muscle contration to occur)
3. Products of macrophage activity and intracellular contents (i.e., histamines, kinins and K+) accumulate outside the cell and stimulate free nerve endings in the muscle.
Strength Balance
Jun 29
Anytime you set up a strength training program you want to make sure that you balance your strength so your body doesn’t develop muscle imbalances. However, humans are very frontally fixated and spend so much time training muscles that they can see in the mirror such as the chest, biceps, and abs. I think that if our eyes were placed in the back of our heads, I am sure everyone would want nice glutes (ass) and spend little time on their chest and abs.
When I am training I don’t focus on specific muscles, I focus on the planes that I am performing the movements in . For example, exercises of the upper body consist of horizontal pushes, horizontal pulls, vertical pushes, and vertical pulls. In addition, exercises of the lower body are made up of quad domaniate and hip dominate movements. To balance the body, you must combine a horizontal press with a horizontal pull and a vertical press with a vertical pull. For the lower body, you would want to balance the quad dominate exercises with the hip dominate exercises.
Upper Body Horizontal Press
1. Bench Press (incline, decline, DB, etc.)
2. Push ups
3. Dips
4. Cable press
Upper Body Horizontal Pull
1. Bent-over row
2. Inverted pullup
3. Seated/stadning cable row
Upper Body Vertical Press
1. Sholder press
2. Push press
3. Handstand pushups
4. Jerks
5. DB scaption
Upper Body Vertical Pulls
1. Pullups
2. Lat pulldowns
Lower Body Quad Dominant
1. Squats
2. Split squats
3. Lateral squats
4. Lunges
5. Deadlifts
Lower Body Hip Dominant
1. Good mornings
2. RDL
3. Glute bridge
4. Back extensions
5. Reverse hyper extension
Remember to always give equal attention to the anterior and posterior portions of your body. Too many people spend more time working on the anterior than the posterior and this causes serious muslce imbalances and decrements in stregth and power.
This is a perfect example of someone that does not have a strong posterior chain…
The BASIC Blue Print of a Typical Workout
Jun 18
Building muscle, Cardio health, Losing Fat, Speed and Agility No Comments
Follow these eight steps in order to achieve total workout that involves injury prevention, core, strength, power, speed, agility, and flexibility.
1. General Warm Up: This consist of any low impact/low intensity cardiovascular work to increase heart rate, body temperture, and increase blood flow of the body. Exercises consist of jogging, rowing, versa-climber, jump rope, jumping jacks, bike, etc. A general warm-up take about 3-5 minutes.
2. Dynamic Warm Up/Movement Prep: Multiple joint movements of your own body weight to increase body temperture, stretch muscles, and prepare the body for the movements you will do in your workout or on the field. Exercises include push ups, squats, multiplanar lunges, single leg squat react, etc…This should take 8-10 minutes. For more information about dynamic warm up. (refer to blog “Time to Stretch” June 16, 2009)
3. Prehab: The focus to stregthen the most vulnerable areas on your body that get stressed in everyday movement (Verstegen 2004). These exercises will strengthen your shoulders, hips, and core muscles to allow you to correct any muscle imbalances while also preventing injury. 5-8 minutes
4. Core: This puts a little more emphasis on your core muscles. I believe that you should perform exercise that focus on the transverse abdominis, internal/external obliques, and back extensors. 8-10 min
5. Skills and Drills: Even if you are not an athlete, you should still incorporate plyometrics, speed, and agility training into your workouts. 10-15 min
6. Strength: Incorporating weight bearing exercises will allow you to build muscle while increasing strength and power for you muscles. Make sure you use functional movements that are done in multiple planes. No bicep curls!!! 20-30 min
7. Energy System Development (ESD/”cardio”): Run, swim, bike, jump rope, row, and even elliptical your way to achieve optimal cardiovascular shape. However, in ESD training you must keep your heart rate up through a series of sprint intervals… intensity is the key! When is the last time you have seen a fat sprinter? (Verstegen, 2004)
15-30 minutes
8. Regeneration: Foam roll and stretch to correct any muscle imbalances and help speed up recovery. Takes about 10-15 minutes. (Refer to blog “Time to Stretch” June 16, 2009)
This is just the very basic layout of a typical workout routine that covers all forms of physical fitness. In addition, there is so much more detail that goes into every step of this eight step process. If you have question, please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me at anytime.
Quick Tips about Nutrition
Jun 15
Building muscle, Losing Fat, Nutrition No Comments
1. Eat five to six small meals a day.
2. Stay away from high sugar foods like candy, sodas, or ice cream
3. Eat more fruits, vegetables, and nuts throughout the day
4. Stay away from fast food
5. Eat lean proteins throughout the day
6. If you really want to cut weight, only eat starch-containing foods (bread, rice, cereal, etc) in the morning for breakfast or immediately after your workout.
7. Drink water and limit your consumption of liquid calories (soda, juice, beer, etc.).
8. Have a cheat day in which you can eat whatever you want. However, the best time to pig out is right after you workout (metabolic window)
9. Record everything you eat and the times you eat. This will allow you to keep on track with your diet and stick with it.
10. If you eat out, eat half of what you ordered and take the other half home and consume it at another time.
“Yin Yang” Workout of the Day (WOD)
Jun 14
Building muscle, Cardio health, Challenges, Fun, Losing Fat No Comments
Complete this workout as fast as possible (AFAP) for time. After you have finished your workout, record and post your times.
Run 400 meters
21 Thrusters (squat to overhead press) 30 lbs dumbbells
21 Pull ups
21 Burpees
21 Sit ups
Run 400 meters
15 Thrusters (30 lbs DB)
15 Pull ups
15 burpees
15 Sit ups
Run 400 meters
9 Thrusters (30 lbs DB)
9 Pull ups
9 burpees
9 Sit ups
This workout should not take more than 25 minutes to complete. If you cannot do pull ups, you can regress the exercise to jumping pull ups.
The Best Core Exercise
Jun 12
Building muscle, Challenges, Fun, Speed and Agility No Comments
The fitness world goes through these phases in which certain exercise and theories get the most attention. Today, core training receives the most popularity among people who are trying to shape up their mid-section and achieve 6-pack greatness. However, the core is comprised of muscle located in the center of the body that stabilizes the body when it is in an upright position. When you walk, run, jump, squat, and lift weights you are using your core muscles. These muscles also control the head, neck, ribs, spine, and pelvis (Dominques & Gajda 1982). In addition, achieving a strong core will allow for greater neuromuscular efficiency, an increase in functional strength, and leads to improved performance on and off the field.
I believe that the best exercise to train your core is the overhead squat (OHS). The overhead squat is a very physically demanding exercise that not only challenges your core but, also every muscle in your body. If you have never done an overhead squat before, you must first start out light and focus on maintaining proper form throughout the whole exercise. A good way to practice is to start out using a PVC pipe or a broom stick. Using a wide grip, extend the bar over your head slightly behind your ears by retracting your scapula (shoulder blades) and maintain that position. Set your feet into a good squatting position while keeping your torso upright and your eyes focused straight ahead. Now, take a deep breath and hold it as you descend as deep as possible making sure that your heels are flat on the ground and your hips pushed back. When you are ready to ascent from your squat, stand up slowing and exhale while keeping your chest upright and your heels still flat on the ground.
Practice makes perfect! The more OHS you do will lead to greater flexibility, strength, and core strength. It is also a great way to correct a lot of muscle imbalances you may have, which will help you prevent injuries from occurring and allowing you to move more efficiently.