Teaching Triple Extension

Want to work on improving everything from linear sprint speed, power, change of direction, force production, vertical jump, and deceleration strength? I know, who doesn’t, right? These qualities should be included in the very definition of athletic success.

The triple extension is a huge key aspect to unlocking all of these qualities in concert. It is also the component that is common through virtually all the movements that come to mind when thinking about the ideal strong, fast, and powerful athlete. Some good examples are a wrestler shooting, a sprinter coming off the blocks, throwers at the point of release, the vertical jump in a volleyball attack, etc.

What is Triple Extension?

Triple extension is the simultaneous extension of three joints: ankle, knee, and hip. Getting all of these areas to extend powerfully at the perfect moment is a beautiful and natural occurrence. Mess it up and, well, it looks really bad…

Why should Triple Extension be taught, developed, and progressed?

Again, if you’re looking to unlock and develop the athletic potential in yourself or an athlete under your guidance, then triple extension work is a must. Perfection of this movement during training will result in a faster, more powerful athlete on the court, field, or mat. And if you’re faster and more powerful, you WILL be more successful and less injury prone.

Teaching Progressions:

1. Basic Bodyweight Strength Exercises – pushups, pull-ups, body weight squats, body weight lunges, etc. should all be considered foundational portions of any athletic development program and should NEVER be skipped. Trust me, no one is “too advanced” for this type of work. These movements have their place in any program whether they appear in the warm-up or the body of the training session.
2. Medicine Ball Overhead Throw – this particular exercise allows triple extension to occur. However, I like using other MB variations to teach a powerful hip extension like a Scoop Throw. I suggest 2-3 sets of 4-6 repetitions for beginners and 3 sets of 2-5 repetitions for more advanced athletes.
3. Broad Jump and Vertical Jump Variations – these are fantastic because you can add subtle variations almost endlessly to increase or decrease intensity/difficulty for every athlete’s needs. Plus, this is a great opportunity to teach takeoff and landing technique to avoid the dreaded and dangerous knee collapse. Common variations I use regularly include: broad jump, burpee to broad jump, single leg broad jump, vertical jump, hot ground to vertical jump, vertical jump to single leg landing, etc, etc, etc… Sets and reps are the same as med balls at 2-3 sets of 4-6 repetitions for beginners and 3 sets of 2-5 repetitions for more advanced athletes.
4. Sprint Variations – Numbers 1-3 are progressed over the course of at least 12-weeks for beginners (less for more advanced athletes), sprinting variations can be added to encourage exceptional high quality triple extension repetitions. Generally for this application of sprints the distance should be kept quite short. I find 5-20 yards hits the right spot. At this point we should be dealing with an athlete that can, minimally, be considered “intermediate” in level and with that qualification I suggest 6-20 sets of 1-3 repetitions at a distance of 5-20 yards. The higher the number of sets, the shorter the distance and the lower the number of reps should be. Oh, and be sure to allow for full recovery for achieving power and speed development.
5. Speed Squats – Hands down my favorite style of lower body exercise. This movement type teaches athletes how to produce force by pushing hard into the ground and accelerating up as fast as possible. These variations include the traditional Speed Squat, Wave Squat, and Jump Squat. Speed squat variations should ONLY be used with ADVANCED athletes. I suggest 6-10 sets of 2-3 reps with about 45-seconds rest between sets. Weight should be kept at 55-65% of the athlete’s 1RM squat.
6. Olympic Lifting Variations – Please take note that this is the absolute last suggestion of my list of progressions for teaching the Triple Extension, but it is the variation that inexperienced (and in my opinion misguided) coaches frequently jump to first. Olympic lift variations have their place with highly advanced and elite level athletes. However, I rarely use them. Why? Because through my experience I have found that one can elicit faster and greater gains via cycling through numbers 1-5. However, I do use them sparingly with some athletes. I have to admit the athleticism required for Oly lifts can make executing them a lot of fun, but there is a requirement of athleticism!! It makes me sick to my stomach how many coaches are on some kind of auto-inclusion of each and every Olympic variation for each and every athlete. What a mistake! Including these in a program too soon leads to poor form and execution which means you’re not getting that much bang-for your-buck with the movements (i.e., wasting time) and would be better off regressing to something more straightforward. Anyway, some great variations include the jump shrug, high pull, hang clean, etc. Keep the sets moderate and reps LOW.

You really can’t make a mistake if you cool your jets and follow this progression slowly. Remember, untrained athletes will get stronger and faster with very little stimulus. So take your time and learn to enjoy and respect the process!

7 Days of Insanity

Over the past 7 days I’ve had multiple experiences every day that I think most Strength & Conditioning Coaches would kill to experience with NCAA Division 1 athletes. Last week was one of those special weeks when I’ve got a couple of my teams in-season, a couple teams in pre-season, and several teams just getting started for the semester with testing. The last week was extremely rich with everything from recovery sessions for soccer, 1RM squat testing, conditioning for two teams, and working out the details of a new research project. I even saw an ACL completely tear and another one we thought tore, but – thankfully – did not. My point in this post is to give you a weeklong peek into the life of a college strength coach… and let me tell you, it is WAY different than the private sector.

Tuesday, September 6:

• 8:30a – women’s soccer in weight room for a light total body lift, capped on either end of the session with active & static stretching and SMR (foam rolling).
• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stairs.
• 2:00p – on the field with women’s soccer to run their warm-up and conditioning routes.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.
• 3:45p – throwers testing 3 vertical jump variations: counter-movement, static start, depth jump (from low box).
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.

BBallRoutes copy

Wednesday, September 7:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in weight room to lift. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 2:00p – on the field to warm-up women’s soccer.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing on single leg broad jump, vertical jump, and 3RM front squat to BELOW parallel depth (we had a freshmen hit 170 x 3 – yikes!)
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press (one guy pressed 305lbs)

Thursday, September 8:

• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and posts ran a low impact total body conditioning circuit.
• 2:00p – lead an on-field body weight only training session for women’s soccer (technically it wasn’t “on-field” due to the monsoon outside… we were in the Field House).
• 3:00p – rowing team in weight room for first day of training – big team with 15 new athletes means lots of instruction.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room to test bench press 1RM and review lifts for following week.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM.

Friday, September 9:

• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stair sprints with full recovery.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing for seated MB Toss, Perfect Pushup Assessment for 1 set of 10, Yo-Yo Intermittent Beep test.
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room for 1RM back squat test with introduction of following week’s lower body lifts.

Saturday, September 10:

• 10:00a – on-field with women’s soccer for practice.

Sunday, September 11:

• 1:00p – women’s soccer game. Witnessed a member of the opposing team destroy her ACL during a contact situation. I’ve seen this before and I’ll see it again, many times I’m sure. It’s always terrible to see this type of season ending injury that, because of my background and experience, I know will affect her for the rest of her life.

Monday, September 12:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in the weight room for lifting. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and Posts ran stairs for speed work with full recovery.
• 1:30p – Single lacrosse player in to lift.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse in for first lifting session. Lots of teaching.
• 3:45p – throwers in for first lifting session. We did some serious volume with some serious low rest periods. No one threw-up, amazing! They must have been ready for it!
• 4:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in for first lifting session.
• 5:30p – male sprinters in for first lifting session.

Congratulations, you made it to the end of my 7 days!!! I don’t have the time or the patience to convey the details that were left out of this recap, but trust me when I tell you I think I garnered an additional year’s worth of experience in just 7 days.

As I’ve seen many very talented strength coaches completely leave the field over my 7-years of experience, I have learned that being a college strength coach is not everyone’s cup of tea. But for some sick reason it seems to be mine. I thrive on the stress and intensity. If you’re thinking of stepping into the college environment, reread my week above one more time and factor in having a life (and in my case a business, too) on top of all that – can you handle it?

Fall Your Way to Faster Sprint Times: The Falling Start

Who doesn't want to sprint faster? Whether you're a competitive athlete, a weekend warrior, or simply someone who wants to win the next random "tough guy" challenge at a BBQ, the ability to sprint quickly certainly can't be a negative addition to your toolbox.

It's tough to find a better means of true plyometric training than sprinting, and, on top of that, there are few human movements that simply feel more "freeing" than sprinting. There's no denying that it's just plain fun.

However, most of us find ourselves in a devilish conundrum here: Sprinting faster - and safely - isn't just about going out and sprinting. Why, you ask?

1. Most people simply lack the strength to efficiently decelerate (and subsequently accelerate) during each stride. The remedy to this lies in ensuring your involvement in a sound strength training regimen. I discussed the "why" behind the importance of strength for increased speed in the Improving My Son's 60-Yard Dash Q & A I wrote last year (see the third point), so I'm not going to bore you here.
2. The majority of us move like crap. As such, heading out to the track for 100yd repeats for our first "sprint" session is a recipe for pulled adductors, hamstrings, and hip flexors (admittedly, this happened to me in college so I'm allowed to make fun of those that currently do it). Given that most people sit the majority of the day, possess glaring flexibility deficits, and haven't sprinted in a while, going balls-to-the-wall right off the bat is about as intelligent as thinking you can win a cage match against Wolverine.**

This being said, I prefer to ease people into sprinting, utilizing short bouts of 80% intensity to begin with. These will typically be completed at 20-yards OR LESS. This way, the person won't be able to reach full acceleration and reduce the risk of incurring an "ouchie." Not to mention, nearly everyone's sprint times can be lower by working on the first ten yards alone, due to the fact that the start of the sprint is where you lose most of your time.

Here's a drill I like to use to ease into sprinting, on top of helping teach someone how to produce large amounts of force into the ground:

Falling Start

Some of the key points:

• Fall. Seriously, fall forward as far as possible. You want to lean so far that you would literally fall on your face if your feet don't catch up to you. This is critical to creating the momentum we're looking for in acceleration, as well as nearly (but not completely) approximating the body angle required for acceleration one would experience out of the blocks. This is where Matthew (the one demonstrating) is better at this drill than the majority of people I've seen do it, as most tend to think they've leaned further forward than they actually have.
• As you lean forward onto the balls of your feet, be sure to keep the hips forward (i.e. body should be stiff as board, like you're a falling plank...no bending at the waist).
• As you drive out of the fall, maintain that forward lean and be vigorous with your arm action. Drive those elbows "front to back" and keep the palms open/relaxed (again, Matthew does a pretty good job with this).
• Try your best to keep the chin tucked throughout the acceleration, too. The only main critique I have for Matthew's demo is that he looked up - hyperextending his neck - as he drove out of the start.
• Keep your sprint distance to 10-20 yards, especially in the early stages of training. In the video, Matthew only accelerates through the eight yard mark before slowing down.

There you have it. While there are countless drills you can use to "improve that first step," I really like this one for people just starting out with their sprint work, as well as mixing in the programs of those toward the "advanced" side of the spectrum, too.

**unless your name is Magneto.

How to Deal with Suboptimal Training Situations

Over the weekend I put together a possible program for some athletes who are in a bit of a pinch to pass a 400m repeat test (that they just failed) in one month. Before you get all excited and scroll down, let me qualify this program with a few points:

1. This program is NOT ideal –track style training should be undertaken when one has around 12-weeks to dedicate, minimally.
2. These athletes are not long-distance sprinters (or anything close), they just need to pass this test.
3. Bottom line, the athletes in question could use some overall general physical preparation and aerobic improvement (i.e., why they failed in the first place). So, regardless of sport specificity, this program will provide worlds of improvement for their baseline conditioning and that’s good for any athlete.
4. The “Q” workouts stand for Quality and to get best results should be combined with 20-30min non-impact cardiovascular training on the other days of the week. These sessions will be recovery/base building sessions and heart rate should be monitored to stay within the suggested zone.
5. General strength training 2-3 days per week should be undertaken in concert with this program.
6. Because these athletes are not accustomed to running on a track for these extended distances, all efforts should be made to encourage recovery and regeneration. SMR (foam rolling), static & active stretching, dynamic warm-ups, ice baths, and post-training (all day would be even better) nutrition should all be addressed to stave off any potential problems.

WEEK 1 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 3 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 3x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 2 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 4 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

Oftentimes as a coach or an athlete you get caught between a “rock and a hard place.” Training variables and conditions are rarely perfect and you constantly have to find the right fit for the safest and most effective training plan given a suboptimal situation to yield the greatest result. Personally, I think this is a big reason why my “job” is pretty much nothing but fun all day, every day.

Anyway, as a strength coach (or an athlete designing his/her own program) you have to rise to each unique situation, analyze it, acknowledge that it is not ideal, then move on to create the best program you possibly can give the restraints. I wish “good luck” to the budding, but short-term 400m repeat sprinters over this next month!

As a side note, Arabella is already showing signs of her future status as an elite athlete. Here she is pictured furiously searching Daniel’s Running Formula for training paces associated with her VDOT score - Haha. She really did look through that book around for about 5-minutes.

On My Mind

1. One of SAPT’s long-term clients, Conrad, is having knee replacement surgery tomorrow morning. Through his dedication to total body strength training, Conrad has effectively managed to push this surgery off by at least 7-years beyond what his doctor originally predicted. That really goes to show you how important strength training is for the body in ways that extend well beyond superficial goals like looking good. There is no doubt in my mind that his recovery will be swift and smooth. Here is a video of 61-year old Conrad doing a 110-lb pull-up:
2. I’ve been thinking a lot lately of the validity of a general dynamic warm-up prior to competition for certain sports. Think about it, the general dynamic warm-up is designed to 1. elevate the heart-rate, 2. address muscular imbalances, 3. improve ROM and flexibility, and 4. can be used as an opportunity to work on body weight strength exercises. I actually wrote a post touting the benefits of general dynamic warm-ups for practices a few weeks ago. But, why do athletes need to work on numbers 2-4 before a game or match? They don’t. Instead, I suggest a specific dynamic warm-up in which the goal would be to elevate the heart rate and thoroughly warm-up the entire body by gradually progressing the team through sport specific drills that still take the body through all three planes of motion and important ranges of motion.
3. I achieved a bit of a personal milestone on Sunday. For the first time SAPT is able to act as a sponsor for George Mason University athletics. It was pretty cool listening to our promotional piece read over the loud speaker! Please consider supporting Mason athletics, too, this academic year. Our sponsorship money goes directly to the general athletic scholarship fund to directly help the hard-working student-athletes. SAPT signs and banners will be present all year long at: men’s and women’s basketball, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and baseball.
4. Fooducate Blog is one of my new “faves” check it out.
5. Keep your eyes peeled for my two new articles out in the September issues of Experience Life magazine and Volleyball magazine.

Cross-Training by Lifting Weights...?!?

Cross-Training by Lifting Weights – that’s the title of a New York Times article I found online. I like to peruse the Health section of the NY Times in an attempt to stay abreast of what mainstream people are reading regarding the health/fitness industry. Why the NY Times? They present researched information and, it seems, are genuinely interested in helping those attempting to navigate through all things Health related (not trick them into buying products or creating anxiety by twisting facts).

You may want to know if I read “muscle magazines” too – I do not… generally speaking, they’re all full of absolute nonsense.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“A more recent study of experienced runners by a group of Norwegian researchers confirmed that weight lifting could increase performance. One group did half squats with heavy weights three times a week while continuing a running program. The other group just ran. Those who did the squats improved their running efficiency and improved the length of time they could run before exhaustion set in…

… It is not known why weight lifting would improve performance, but investigators speculate that it may train supporting muscle fibers in the legs, allowing runners or cyclists to use them to augment muscles that get tired.”

Did you read the bolded portions?... I’ll wait while you read it again and let it sink in a bit…

1.     It IS known why weight lifting improves performance even in “experienced” (code for endurance) runners: strength training improves endurance by improving the mechanisms responsible for improving running economy. Things like posture, leg turnover, reducing perceived effort, reducing injuries, improving speed (especially up hills and on uneven terrain) are all the amazing and, apparently, “not known” by-products of a strength training program.

2.     Can you imagine the improvements that would have been recorded by having this group use a program that involved more than just 3x/week of half-squats? Well, I can! If this programming were in the hands of an experienced professional strength coach, this group of test subjects could look forward to getting way more bang-for-their-buck. A periodized plan containing unilateral (see example video below) and other accessory movements plus special physical preparation exercises would no doubt blow the control group out of the water!

The NY Times makes a great effort to present unbiased information, but I would love to see more depth in their fitness articles. The research already exists and their readers can handle it!

If you’re ready to join the mighty training ranks of SAPT and be guided by a group of coaches that is not the least bit surprised by the above findings, then don't wait one more second and contact us here!