Intern Blogs Part 3

Today's blog comes from SAPT intern Nick Allevato. Nick is in ROTC at Mason and brings us a great post about the state of the physical training requirements of the Army.

The Immobile Army:

Why the Army Fails at Fitness. Why it needs to change.

As I read through past blogs and noticed Mike’s Navy post, I feel compelled to rep the Army (Go Army, Beat Navy).  However, I am going to focus on a major issue I perceive in our Army; it’s the Army’s physical fitness testing and it’s failing our troops.  In fact, when Army fitness specialist Dr. Edward Thomas tested Soldiers on the World War Two era Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) in 2000, the results showed that even the current APFT “studs” could not keep up with Greatest Generation fitness.  So, why has such a decline occurred in Army fitness?  Why are our Soldiers looking like this guy?

Well, it’s all about the “standard” and they’re actually meeting it.

How could that guy be meeting the Army’s standard?! An institution who is supposed to be ready for combat 24/7!  Well, the current APFT involves timed push-up, sit-up, and a two-mile run tests.  Soldiers are to do as many repetitions as possible and run the two-miles as quickly as they can.  It replaced the old APFT in 1992 and has not been modified since.  The events are scored on a point scale, with “60” in each event as "passing" and “100” being "maxing".  So, a minimum of 180 points are needed to pass the test and a solider can achieve up to 300 points.  The point system is scaled to age and gender and is based off repetitions and the run time.  To provide you some perspective of the required “standard,” take a look at the required passing scores for 17-21 year-old males and females:

Gender

Push-ups

Sit-ups

2-Mile Run

Male

42

53

15:54

Female

19

53

18:48

Just to briefly interpret the table, which is based on 17-21 year olds (prime fitness age); males only need to do 1 push-up every 3 seconds for 2 minutes; females only need to complete 19 push-ups in TWO MINUTES; females can average nearly a 9:30 minute per mile pace for the 2-mile and males only need to average around a 8:00 minute per mile.  While it may seem somewhat sad, these are the standards for the world’s greatest fighting force!  Regardless of job description, for example an infantryman or a doctor, all Soldiers train for the same test; this test is the Army's interpretation of proper fitness.

But is this an effective and relevant standard?  Is it accurate to evaluate a doctor stationed in a hospital on the same test as a paratrooper?  Perhaps not, seeing as that would be like taking Spongebob and Squidward both taking a clarinet test when Spongebob’s job is to be a fry cook.  Not to mention that the event techniques aren’t even taught properly!  Just take a look at the push-up image to the left, which is the exact standard from the Army PRT Manual; the elbows flair out, the lumbar spine is in hyperextension, and the hands are not underneath the shoulders. This poor education of proper technique only makes an irrelevant fitness standard even worse.  See for yourself here as Army Drill Sergeants grade a Best Warrior Competition APFT:

Soldiers are simple individuals.  Not as to be interpreted as "stupid," but simple in how they perform, train, and execute.  Give a Soldier is a task with a standard to meet and they will do everything they can to meet and exceed that standard (standard=success).  This is especially true in today’s Army where downsizing occurs regularly.  Adherence to the standard, and only the standard, is how Soldiers ensure they still have a job.  Since the current APFT involves timed push-up, sit-up, and the two-mile run test, Soldiers are going to work solely on improving those scores.

Interestingly, the current Army Physical Readiness Training (PRT) program, which is the physical training doctrine, calls for Soldiers to perform certain crawling movements, hip stability work, and proper techniques.  But as mentioned earlier, Spongebob going to practice his fry cook skill if he is clarinet performance?  Of course not, because he would fail, then lose his job and his pineapple house.  In the same way, Soldiers are going to do push-ups, sit-ups, and running every training session because that’s their test; to them, doing anything else doesn’t make sense.

The result of this terrible standard of fitness is an immobile, unfit Army that doesn’t even realize how bad it is.  In fact, even the Army Master Fitness Trainers seem to lack understanding of how the body should move.

They are supposed to be the “coaches” of their units, yet they do not even understand a basic hinge pattern.

A change in the Army’s fitness standard is long overdue and the Soldiers are suffering as a result.  We are developing weaker, injury-prone Soldiers.  Who knows how many cases of low-back pain are due to the monotonous torque of the spine in the sit-up test? Or how many ACL tears could be with proper agility training? Or how much money the Army could save in rehabilitation costs by simply developing proper movement patterns in Soldiers?

The Army needs to change to a job-relevant, comprehensive APFT that reflects Army PRT and evaluates the basic principles of fitness (muscular strength, endurance, flexibility, etc.).  Recommendations could include an obstacle course, a timed ruck march or step-up test, an agility T-test, a sled push, pull-ups, and shuttle sprints.  These performance tests would be much more reflective of a properly moving, combat-ready Soldier.  At this point, the semantics of scientifically choosing one exercise over another is not as crucial as a simple step in the right direction.  In the words of General George S. Patton, “A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.”  An overhaul of the Army’s PT is needed, and it is needed now.

Useful References:

-“Army Physical Fitness Test is not effective for measuring a soldier’s ability to function effectively in today’s battle space”

http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/collection/p15040coll2/id/3024

-“World War Two Army Physical Fitness Test”

http://www.ihpra.org/1946%20(World%20War%20II)%20Army%20Physical%20Fitness%20Test.htm

-“The Old Army, It Turns Out, Was the Fitter One”

http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/science/health/062500hth-men-fitness.html

Intern Blog Posts Round 2:

Today's post comes from SAPT intern Dalton Barker.  

Resistance training in children (for purposes of this article, let’s say 8-14 years old) has always been a tough subject to approach. I use the term “resistance training” to define a wide range of both body weight and external weight-bearing exercises. There are still remnants of old myths whispering to parents and trainers that warn them of the “dangers” when working with children in the gym setting.

One such myth is that resistance training in children will stunt their growth: the thought behind this was that their bones would compress and growth plates would not be able to align correctly. This has proved fairly effective in convincing the community that children should not train at all. Understandably, inexperienced children should not train as an elite or high-level athlete should. However, early resistance training and proper instruction of those movements can lead to a treasure trove of benefits. These benefits can include: better movement patterns, increased strength, flexibility, stronger bone growth, and increased athleticism in children. This primes them to excel in sports and everyday activities.

The early developmental years, when the brain is young and neural pathways are growing, are the most opportune time to properly ingrain movements such as the hip-hinge, the squat, and push-up that will soon become conditioned into the child's movement map. These basic movements help strengthen muscles and prime the child’s body for more complex and sport-specific exercises later on in their life. These exercises, when taught correctly will help the body program the right muscles to “fire” in the correct sequence, which in turn, helps improve overall force production of the body. Additionally, the child develops a better sense of body awareness. That alone will help them in all stages of their journey to adulthood as the children begin to enter sports or other activities. With this fundamental training, a child’s risk of injury while performing sports is greatly reduced and sets up a strong foundation for more complex movements in the future.

In regards to the “growth stunting” capabilities of resistance training: there is validity to the statement that resistance movement will cause a change in one’s bones. However, this is an adaptation of the body that will only positively benefit the one performing the resistance movements. Wolff’s Law states that the bones will adapt to loads under which it is placed. (Essentially,  bones change in density according to what stresses we place on them). The more strain our bones are placed under, the denser it will become, ultimately strengthening the bone to withstand higher and higher force levels. Resistance training is the best way to produce those same results. Because the child is adding increased loads on their bones, the body responds by making the bones denser and stronger which is a huge benefit.

It should be stated however that this is all relative to the weight and ability of the child. This is not meant to approve the use of turning one’s child into a powerlifter or load their bodies with an absurd amounts of weight. Using poor judgement with training children will produce negative results and potentially cause injury. When using the proper programming however, which can be seen in 100% of SAPT’s workout programs, you will begin to see incredible results.

Ultimately there is no reason other than health issues,that a a child should not be exposed to and taught proper movement patterns and starting resistance training. There is a plethora of benefits and will provide the perfect framework for building a healthy and strong future athlete and adult.

Shoulder Injuries Among Firefighters and How to Prevent Them

This week the SAPT interns will be gracing our blog post. First up is Nora Mady. Take it away Nora! As someone who is just entering the world of fire and rescue, I continue to learn new things on a daily basis, as I become more involved. I recently joined the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in hopes of becoming an EMT and providing basic healthcare to satisfy graduate school requirements. However, within a month of being a new recruit, I had my eyes set on a different goal: I wanted to become a volunteer firefighter. One of the first steps the county requires in the firefighting qualification process is to complete a test called the CPAT (candidate physical ability test) It is an 8-event test that challenges the basic physical abilities and movements that a firefighter must perform should they encounter a fire or emergency situation.

Click HERE for more information.

I distinctly remember someone telling me after I had passed CPAT, “Good job. Now keep working out and stay in shape. We don’t want you dislocating any shoulders in fire school.” Now, having already suffered a dislocated shoulder I began to worry. Did people who dislocated their shoulder just not move functionally? Or was the nature of fire school so brutal that only the lucky ones avoided injuries? I decided to do a bit of research on the topic and found that shoulder injuries are suffered by more firefighters than I originally thought.

Now, you may think the upcoming advice won’t apply to you unless you’re a firefighter, right? The shoulder joint is the most unstable joint in the body, and people from all walks of life suffer shoulder injuries and pain for various reasons. Whether you are a firefighter, a first responder, a public safety officer, an athlete, or someone who just wants healthy strong shoulders, these exercises will help you profoundly. Strengthening the muscles of your shoulder girdle and rotator cuff will help stabilize the joint and maintain integrity of what?. When the larger muscles take over for quick, powerful movements (deltoid, pec major, latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, etc.) your stabilizing muscles do not activate efficiently or quickly. I wouldn’t say that, I would stay that they are “over powered” but they’re on. This pattern slowly weakens those muscles over time, and combined with the load that is applied to the joint, makes it easier for them to suffer injuries, pulls, and tears.

Supraspinatus “Full cans"

While standing, and with no more than a 10-lb dumbbell in each hand (I use 4 or 5 pounds in each hand so that should tell you this is not the type of exercise to load up on) raise each arm out so that it is parallel to the ground and at 45 degree angles from your midline. Turn each hand laterally (to the outside)so that your thumbs are facing up and your palms are turned towards you. Slowly lower your arms down to your sides and raise them. Ensure that sure your hands are never higher than your shoulders. Do this for 20 reps (you can break them up into 2 sets of 10). This exercise isn’t supposed to exhaust you and shouldn’t be performed to failure. Your supraspinatus is a very tiny muscle that your prime movers can compensate for when you perform big heavy movements, so isolating it for rotator cuff strengthening purposes can be really helpful in injury prevention or for rehabilitation purposes.

This guy is performing the exercise prone, on a stability ball, as a variation.

External Rotations

External rotation (a movement at a joint that causes rotation or a limb or part of a limb around its long axis away from the midline of the body) is a movement that is generally a bit more vulnerable than other the shoulder movements . You can perform various exercises that elicit the same movement and work on your teres minor and your infraspinatus (the main external rotators of your shoulder). These exercises can be performed with bands as resistance, a cable pulley machine if you are at a recreational gym, or free weights, as you stand or lie on your side depending on your mode of resistance.Start with your upper arm aligned with your torso, your elbow bent at a 90 degree angle, and your forearm straight out in front of you. Now, with whatever means of resistance you chose to use (dumbbell, band, cable, etc.) internally rotate your forearm a bit so that it is closer to your midline. This will be your starting position, with your thumb facing upwards and the palms of your hands facing your midline. You should pull against the resistance away from your midline. Make sure that this exercise causes no pain, and if it does, stop immediately. You should feel a little burn because these tiny muscles can fatigue very easily. I would suggest sticking a towel between your ribs and your elbow so that you’re constantly aware of keeping it from falling, indirectly keeping your arm from deviating away from your midline.I would choose a weight or resistance level that allows you to perform 2-3 sets of 10 reps for each arm.

nora 2

Things to Avoidin the Gym

Here are a couple of tips for the average gym-goer to protect their shoulders. Sometimes you need to give up looking really cool and tough in front of your friends at the gym so that you can be really cool and tough and pain free when it’s really important, like fighting fires and saving cats from trees.

Lateral and front deltoid raises: just stop doing them, at least with your palms facing down. This creates a really tight subacromial space (a very tiny pocket between the top of your shoulder and the head of your humerus), and that’s bad. It’s where all of your rotator cuff tendons hang out, and when you compress that space, you irritate them. This is a common cause of a lot of shoulder pain and discomfort. If you must do these exercises, I would recommend turning your hands so that your thumbs face the ceiling. This opens up that subacromial space and gives those tendons a little more room to wiggle. They will be happier, and in turn, so will you.

-Overhead exercises are great, but unless you are an Olympic weightlifterdoing super heavy overhead barbell work is killer on your shoulders, and not in a good way. A splendid alternative is using a dumbbell and performing overhead presses unilaterally (one side at a time). This will give your shoulders a chance to 1) not compensate for one another and 2) really engage those rotator cuff and stabilizing muscles when you have a single dumbbell overhead versus a huge barbell whose weight is distributed over a much bigger area. Still, be very careful with these and start out at a reasonable weight. Also, avoid twisting your hands during these (meaning don’t start out with your palms facing behind you and then end, fully extended, with them facing away from you). You sometimes do this with row variations, but when you are dealing with moving weight in the vertical range of motion, it can place a lot of pressure on your poor shoulders. It’s not nice, and it may feel fine at the moment, but over time your body will let you know that it is not happy with what you’ve been making it to. Stick with a single position (I prefer neutral). Another great alternative is the landmine press, which engages the same muscles as an overhead dumbbell press but whose stable axis provides your shoulder with a bit more stability than a free weight. Remember, if you have poor shoulder mobility to begin with, you shouldn’t bother or risk pressing anything overhead.

-Rows are one of my favorite exercises. Landmine rows, seated cable rows, single arm dumbbell rows, I could go on. However, I see a lot of people mistake rows for big, fast, powerful lifts. Rows should be executed with elegance, grace, control, and proper breathing technique. A row that is done by essentially jerking the weight towards your ribcage and letting it fall back to its initial position without control is dangerous. When thee exercises are done too quickly, your don’t give your stabilizers enough time to react and contract to handle the stimulus or the weight. Mind you, this should apply to all exercises: if you can’t do a full set without compensating by jerking your whole body or making really weird faces, then your weight is probably too heavy.

Five tips for firefighters outside of the gym to avoid hurting their shoulders:

1. Warm up your shoulders en-route to your call destination.

2. Don’t tighten your SCBA straps too much (SCBAs are self-contained breathing apparatuses that look like backpack straps with an oxygen tank attached to the back)

3. While pulling a ceiling (refer to CPAT link above for event 8), keep the pike pole close to your body and instead of pulling with your shoulders, use your core, legs and hips to deliver and absorb most of the force

4. While swinging an axe, keep your dominant elbow closer to you and use your hips in delivering the force, rather than your back and shoulders. Remember to also use short, controlled chops. Big swings can result in missing your target, and missing your target can result the tearing of your rotator cuff.

5. Be safe and smart! Yes, you are in an emergency situation, but if you rush your movements and don’t perform them intelligently, you can hurt yourself, only escalating the severity of your situation.

A Trainer's Guide to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome(TOS) is a pretty unnerving condition(you'll get that joke later) that festers our community. It can be the result of trauma, poor posture, overuse or even deformity and should only be diagnosed by a qualified professional. With that being said, it's not uncommon for a trainer or coach to end up with clients who have TOS. In fact, in some sport, namely overhead ones,  you will most likely run across several cases of it. It's always best to refer out when you see chronic signs of TOS, but there will be many times when the client comes back from their rehab after the symptoms may have subsided, but the underlying causes are still present. It's for that reason that you should have an understanding of what is at play to give them the best results possible and try to restore function to the area within your professional means.

Overview

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome is defined as a condition that causes pain in the neck/shoulder and usually consist of tingling or numbness within the hand/fingers and a weak grip. As you can see the classic definition doesn't give you a lot to go off of and as I said earlier, it can be due to trauma, posture, over-use or even deformity. For the purpose of this article, we'll only be looking at that within our scope: posture/over-use and their overlap with muscle function.

The symptoms of TOS are caused by the compression of the neurovascular bundle in the thoracic outlet(area between the first rib and collarbone). This bundle consists of the subclavian vessels and the brachial plexus, which explains the tingling and numbness in the hand. Now when examining the picture below, you can see how this bundle passes through the scalenes and under the pec minor. These are the structures that are often responsible for compressing the bundle.

Two less thought of culprits not shown in the picture above are the subscapularis and coracobrachialis. Both of these tissues can aid in compressing the neurovascular bundle and should be especially examined in overhead athletes showing signs of TOS.

Assessment

Any of these four muscles play a major role in dealing with TOS. Often times if the client is coming from a rehab professional, they will already know where the dysfunction lies and can point you right to the issue. Other times it may not be so obvious and you may have do some snooping around to figure out what fibers seem to be the culprit. This is where movement screens or manual muscle testing can make a world of difference. Palpating tone can also be extremely helpful if that is in your scope of practice(careful trainers). Adison's and Reverse Adison's Tests are two orthopedic tests that you can use to determine if the anterior or medial scalenes are compressing the bundle and Wright's Test to see if it's an issue with the shoulder musculature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FVvOAndbwk

With these assessment tools in your toolbox, it's very important that you remember this: YOU CANNOT DIAGNOSE. That is a clinician's job. Your job is to get them moving and feeling better. Leave the pathologies to the docs and always refer out when the client is in pain or if it persists. But, just as a sit and reach tells about tight hamstrings (Well, kinda..), we can use the information from these tests to help determine what muscles may be shortened and limiting their movements.

Once you feel that you have determined which fibers are the culprits, it's important that you do not go guns blazing and smash the crap out of the pec minor. Again, your job is to make them move and feel better. Muscles get tight for a reason and that reason needs to be addressed. Will stretching those fibers help to decrease the compression? Yes, but unless the reason is addressed, they will tighten right back up before the end of your session. Often times there is a muscle imbalance, movement dysfunction or even fascial adhesion that may be causing that pec minor to increase in tone, shorten up and compress the neurovascular bundle. So once the compressing fiber has been found, put that information together with their subjective movements and work your way to victory through corrective strategy. Just remember that the area of pain is seldom the cause of the pain.

The Scalenes

Increased tone and shortness of the anterior or middle scalene can point to a number of things, especially considering they have multiple functions. Mainly keep in mind that they help to elevate the first rib and laterally flex the neck to the ipsilateral side.

Since the scalenes help to elevate the ribs, this means that they are also accessory breathing muscles. Just another reason why you should always assess breathing. If the client seems to be a neck breather, priority number one should be to restore their diaphragmatic breath. It's no wonder that those muscles are getting tight if they're doing 10,000 reps a day to make sure you stay alive. Now because breathing is so closely tied to the limbic system and sympathetic tone can have a HUGE impact on the quality of breath they take, the root cause of dysfunction may be multifaceted. It may take more work than the usual, "just breath through your belly" drill. Relaxation techniques may be a necessary start and utilizing methods from PRI, DNS or Restorative Breathing can do wonders.

As cervical lateral flexors, the scalenes can also be primo compensators for dysfunctional cervical rotation. If you notice that they tend to turn their head as if they're talking on the phone, that's a pretty likely sign that the rotation needs to be cleaned up. This can get pretty complicated and is good for you to know about when considering exercises for their training. A dysfunction in cervical rotation means there will likely be a dysfunction in lumbar and/or thoracic rotation and you will need to adjust accordingly. Because of the intricacy of the neck, this is a situation in which you should leave all the direct work to the rehab professionals unless you've had special training. Otherwise, focus on creating rotational stability in other segments through oblique and multifidi-based drills. Here are two of my favorite drills:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1l7Rf1dNPc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHsWxdn-kGE

The Pec Minor

The dreaded pec minor. Every trainer has clients with pec minor issues and if they say they don't, they aren't looking closely enough. The pec minor is the main anterior stabilizer of the scapula and assists in downward rotation, depression and protraction of the shoulder blade. It also is an accessory breathing muscle so as stated with the scalene, breathing should be closely examined.

As a scapular stabilizer, pec minor dominance is pretty well known and written about, so I'm not going to spend time discussing it's mechanics versus the traps or lats(if you are interested in learning about that, I recommend checking out some of Eric Cressey's articles). But, I would like to point out how far the pec minor's function can reach.

The pec minor is part of Thomas Myers' Deep Front Arm Line. The Deep Front Arm Line is the layer of fascia enticing the muscles shown below. Because of this, these muscles share a lot of neurological connections and will contract to create tension through the line when there is instability. You'll notice that the connection goes all the way down to the thumb. This means that grip dysfunction can easily place more load on the pec minor and add to it's tonicity. This is another reason why being observant to how your client moves is important. If you notice more protraction/downward rotation as they grip weights, then there is likely a dysfunction in their Deep Front Arm Line. This will require special grip work along with a nice, cozy lacrosse ball to the pec minor.

The Subscapularis

The subscapularis is going to be a critical point to examine in OH athletes. Of course it should be assessed in any client with a history of TOS, the violent movements of throwing puts it at a higher chance of dysfunction than other fibers amongst many overhead athletes. Not only has it been noted to be the most important player in stabilizing the humeral head within the glenoid capsule, researchers have found that it contributes to about 53% of cuff movement through the action of a throw. It contracts especially hard during the acceleration phase of delivery along with with the serratus anterior, pectoralis major and latismus dorsi to concentrically internally rotate the humerus.

Knowing these relationships can be a game changer when evaluating shoulder mechanics and their relation to TOS. If the other rotator cuff muscles are weak or dysfunctional, this will put more of a strain on the subscapuaris which is already doing a majority of the stabilization of the humeral head. This goes the same for the synergists that help to internally rotate the humerus through the acceleration phase. If one or more of these muscles show weakness or dysfunction (cough cough winged scapula cough cough) then the subscapularis will also try to take up the slack and become very taught.

It's also worth mentioning that fibers of the subscap will often form adhesions. This can be for a number of reasons, but in our overhead populations, can usually be attributed to overuse. Palpation will usually help to confirm this(if you can) and often times will be found where the subscapularis runs into the serratus anterior. Friction and other release techniques have been found to be very effective in this situation, but again, only do what is in your scope.

The Coracobrachialis

The coracobrachialis is a hugely overlooked muscle within regards to shoulder function in my opinion. It assists with shoulder flexion and horizontal adduction as well as a little bit of internal rotation. For these reason, it can become taught for many different dysfunctions within the shoulder girdle.  Just like every other muscle that I've mentioned thus far, there can be a large number of relationships to look for. It's been noted that the coracobrachialis is an especially large player in stabilizing the glenohumeral joint when at rest in a relaxed, standing posture. As such, working on general shoulder mechanics and posture can be very helpful.

In Closing

As you can guess, there can be many different relationships that could cause the aforementioned fibers to compress the neurovascular bundle. The examples that I listed are just that, examples. It's up to you to use your tools as a trainer to figure out what movement dysfunction is causing the shortening of the fibers. Working to loosen up the fibers will help an issue, but working to restore function will help fix an issue.

The main point of this article is to always look at the bigger picture. As trainers, we usually see clients more often than traditional rehab professionals and as such, we should be working on total body function, especially as it relates to our client's goals and problem areas. Doing so can expedite progress of any rehab program the client may be in or can even ensure that their pain stays away. Physical therapists and chiropractors are often times restricted by insurance and time as to how much they can truly help with an individual's movements. Their hands are usually tied to getting the individual out of pain and rarely do they get a chance to completely eradicate the root cause for the pain. This is where a good trainer should come in and assist to correct movement and strength to prevent a relapse of symptoms. Working hand in hand with rehab professionals and referring out when needed is extremely important. Sticking to your scope of practice not only protects you, but also ensures your client gets what they need from you. As you can see from this article, there is still a lot you can do.

Part 7: The First Transition Period, cont.

­­The Triathlete Strength Training PrimerPart 7: The First Transition Period, cont.

Ahhhhh, preseason training!  The weather is ever so slowing becoming less and less of a nuisance.  Running and biking outside no longer require 5 layers of clothing, only 2, and you can tell spring is just around the corner. (Note: it’s currently 40o in mid-Nov… writing this article is becoming obnoxious)  The birds are chirping and there’s a very good chance you’ll be able to go for an open-water swim in another month or two.  As the weather gets nicer, let’s not let the gym become a distant memory, and remember what can be accomplished from an intelligent, well-programmed pre-season strength training plan.

Let’s take a minute to revisit last week’s article.  During our pre-season strength training, we want to create a program that will…

• Develop local muscular endurance in the musculature we use to swim, bike, and run.
• Improve our ability to maintain high levels of force production over a pro-longed period of time.  This will allow us to maintain performance over the entire race.  The more force we can create with each revolution or stride, the faster we will be.
• Shift the use of strength training conditioning circuits to focus more on developing aerobic endurance in order to complement our sport training and maintain our aerobic engine.

Now that we have a good idea of what we’re trying to accomplish during the pre-season, let’s take a look at an example template.

Pre-season Day 1

Pre-season Day 2

1rm

You’ll notice that most of our rep ranges have increased.  This ensures we’re primarily training to improve our local muscular endurance.  Higher rep ranges subject our body to stress for a longer period of time, which in turn allows our body to become more efficient at generating force for extended periods.  That’s not to mention that a longer amount of time-under-tension creates a metabolic effect, resulting in the build-up of metabolites in our tissues.  Our body then uses our aerobic system to buffer this build-up of byproducts.  In effect, we’re essentially training our aerobic system’s ability to help us recover from stress.

Day 1

We’ve made the switch to training safety squat bar split squats.  We’ve moved away from the front-rack position to give our shoulders a bit of a break, and tweaked the stability demands by placing the load on the back of our shoulders instead of the front.  The split squat still allows us to train our legs in a unilateral fashion, while also incorporating the 2-0-2 tempo.  The tempo method is something I’ve borrowed from Joel Jamison’s book Ultimate MMA Conditioning, and the purpose is to improve oxygen utilization by the working muscles and trigger a hypertrophic response in our slow-twitch muscle fibers.  A physiological adaptation that is hugely beneficial for a triathlete.  We’ve further applied this concept to the push-ups and pull-ups.  Also, you’ll notice our hinge-dominant movement has been changed to RDLs from last cycle’s glute bridges.  This is to increase the time-under-tension we’re subjecting our muscles to, in an effort to further drive gains in local muscular endurance.

Day 2

Our first series begins with weighted chin-ups, but we’ve moved to higher rep ranges to target endurance in swim-specific musculature.  These are followed up by higher-rep barbells lunges in order to train force absorption in a run-specific manner.  We’ve kept deadlifts to maintain a hip extension stimulus, but moved to the trap bar, which should allow us to take some of the load off of the back and move it to the legs.  Our final series is organized in a circuit fashion and should be performed with little rest in between to create a metabolic effect throughout the entire set and truly work our aerobic system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0aHDFNlRxE

Conditioning Sets

You’ll also notice that both days have a conditioning circuit that concludes the workout.  Day one features an aerobic plyometric method that is designed to improve our explosive endurance by recruiting a high amount of fast-twitch fibers, and then making them work for an extended period of time.  We’re essentially challenging our fast-twitch fibers aerobically.

Day two utilizes a method we’ve discussed many times on the SAPT blog, and is something that we’ve found highly effective for our athletes.  We want the exercise intensity to be high based on resistance, but we want to keep a slower tempo going that will allow us to keep our heart rate under the anaerobic threshold.  This allows an adequate supply of oxygen to be used by the athlete, and helps us focus on improving the aerobic capacity of our fast-twitch fibers.

A tweak that you could make in order to make this triathlete-specific would be to apply this method to a stationary bike.  You would simply want to crank the intensity up to a resistance that doesn’t allow you to pedal past 20-30 rpms, and perform the method this way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSejY4Cl47M

In conclusion…

The pre-season is where we sharpen our skills and finish up our preparation for competition in-season.  Our sport workouts have become more intense, with the inclusion of tempo runs and interval workouts, in order to acclimate us to the rigors of competition.  Our strength workouts are also becoming more sport specific, as we’ve shifted our focus toward refining our local muscular endurance and sustaining high power inputs.  Next week we’ll dive into the competition period, and discuss what changes we should make to our strength work.

The Triathlete Strength Training Primer

Part 1: An Intro to Periodization - Seeing the Bigger Picture Part 2: The Repetition Maximum Continuum Part 3: The Preparatory Period a.ka. the Off-Season Part 4: Off-Season Periodization Part 5: Off-Season Periodization, cont. Part 6: The First Transition Period Part 7: The First Transition Period, cont. Part 8: The Competition Period - In-Season Strength Training Part 9: In-Season Template Part 10: Post- Season Training

Breaking Down The Broad Jump

In the second portion of our football testing series we will take a look at the standing broad jump. This test is a fantastic assessment of lower body horizontal power. This tool works great for football players, who have to explosively move of the line of scrimmage once the ball gets snapped. A common misconception is that you merely stand on a line and jump. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this assessment. Horizontal jumping can be a complex coordination pattern because the upper and lower extremities must move harmoniously in order to achieve optimal results. Let’s take a look at a few factors that can help you or your athletes add a few inches.

The Arm Swing

It’s no surprise that lower body power is what propels you forward during this test but the arms play a vital role in projecting you higher off the ground and further down the tape measure. The most efficient swing technique would be to start in a standing position with your arms out in front of you. As you drop down to “load the spring” your arms should sweep back, followed by an immediate, powerful swing forward as you takeoff.

http://youtu.be/lqc_pyG7ELk

Build Those Glutes

The hip complex packs a lot of useful muscles that are crucial in just about every sport and activity of daily living. Unfortunately, many people do not train this area of the body as much as they should. We often sit in chairs, whether at school or work, and that equates to hitting the “off” switch for this important muscle group. Driving through hips during the jump and getting this area fully extended will propel the athlete further. Simple hip extention exercises like glute bridges, whether bodyweight or weighted, will help bring life back to your butt. Below are a couple videos to help with the exercise selection:

http://youtu.be/pMQV6A8F8Qw

http://youtu.be/8j4kWFHRq9o

Own The Descent

Does it matter how awesome the take off was if a plane crashes near the end of its flight? The same theory (obviously to a lesser extent) holds true during the broad jump test. Height and distance are all based upon the action taken prior to take off but this in no way omits an individual from having to properly land each jump. When landing a jump it is important to land in a position that allows the force to dissipate. This is achieved by bending the knees and sinking back the hips. An athlete should never land in a stiff-legged position. When landing, it is also important that the knees land in a position stacked in-line with the ankles and do not collapse or cave medially. Both of these habits place a high amount of stress on the joints and can lead to serious injury.  Below is a chart with normative data to see how football players stack up in this test and other common tests by position. Check back next we as we move on to discuss the bench press.

Val

Data

References:

Lockie, R. G., Schultz, A. B., Callaghan, S. J., & Jeffriess, M. D. (2012). PHYSIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF NATIONAL-LEVEL JUNIOR AMERICAN FOOTBALL PLAYERS IN AUSTRALIA. Serbian Journal Of Sports Sciences, 6(4), 127-136.