The Fine Art of Team Warm-ups

Designing a warm-up for a large team looks easy if you're watching passively from the sidelines. Unfortunately, this ease is quite deceptive. There are actually several critical aspects that need to be taken into account if you want you're warm-up to go from adequate to Fine Art status:1. Time: how much do you have? I usually try to end a minute or two before I told the coach I would be done (think under-promise and over-deliver, coaches LOVVVVVE that!). 2. Efficiency: you never have much of #1 and you may have as many as 30+ players. So, how do you keep them all moving, engaged, and organized? You gotta be efficient! 3. Effectiveness: Numbers 1 & 2 are components of this, but effectiveness speaks to the QUALITY of what you’re doing. Are you getting the most “bang for your buck” per movement? If not, go back to the drawing board. Be sure to take into account the 3 planes of motion, what the team’s first drill of practice will be, and general fatigue level (where are they within the season and within the training week?).

Beginning this past Saturday, I’ve been standing on a soccer field for about 5 hours a day working hard on the start of, what is certain to be, a legendary sock/farmer’s tan combo. Regardless, that’s just a fantastic by-product of my point: We just started the preseason training time period for women’s soccer and I’ve put together several warm-ups I think are pretty darn good. I’m going to share the two I used on Monday, August 8th and point out a couple important things about the two of them:

AM Session (the 5th practice within 48 hours):

Team Jogs 1 Field Lap in two lines

Upon return have two lines split apart on the 18

(one line on end-line other line on 18, lines face)

65% Builder Sprint to Back Pedal (long reach)

• Walking Spiderman to Overhead Reach

• Yoga Pushup x5

• Skip backwards with Heel Lift

70% Builder Sprint to Gate Openers

• Knee Hugs

• Cross-behind Overhead Reverse Lunge x5/side

• Frankenstein Kicks

75% Builder Sprint to Walking Opposites

• Walking Quads

• Bowler Squat x5/leg

• Skip for Distance

80% Builder Sprint to Alternating Side Shuffle

• Walking Toe Touch

• Split-Stance Kneeling Adductor Rockbacks x5/side

• Cradle Walk

Lateral Broad Jump x3 to Turn & Sprint (both directions)

Stretch on Own

Notes:

• This practice was the tipping point for the team. At the time it started, it was the 5th practice they would be attending within 48 hours – that’s a lot of soccer in a short window!

• The previous two days had a portion of testing (think non-contact) that was significant enough that I knew they would still be feeling pretty good for this session.

• My warm-up “template” typically consists of 3 levels of warm-ups. One is fairly intense and is for pre-match or other situations when the group is fresh, the second is a mid-level warm-up that respects the training volume the team is currently enduring (or the point in the season), and the third is a very low-level warm-up that is appropriate for recovery and respects the teams general level of fatigue but still preps them for the drills to follow.

• The AM Session warm-up was a Level 2.

PM Session (the 6th practice within 54 hours):

Team Jogs 1 Field Lap in two lines

Upon return everyone grabs ball and circles up

Soccer Ball SMR :20-:30/location:

Calves

Hamstrings

Quads

Adductors

IT Band

Glutes

Squat Mobility Series x1

Team Lines up on Sideline:

2 Tuck Jumps to 65% Builder Sprint to Gateopeners

2 Tuck Jumps to 70% Builder Sprint to Frankensteins

2 Tuck Jumps to 75% Builder Sprint to Skip for Height

2 Tuck Jumps to 80% Builder Sprint to Alternating Side Shuffle

Stretch on Own

Notes:

• After a morning training session that lasted a full two-hours and was jam-packed with intense sprinting and full contact, I knew the team would be starting to get very sore and tired.

• I gave them as much time as I could (in this case only 8-minutes) to do some self-massage with the soccer ball and a mobility circuit before we started moving around to get the heart pumping.

• The PM Session warm-up was a Level 3.

Orchastrating an excellent warm-up day after day is certainly one of the less "sexy" aspects to the job of Strength & Conditioning Coach, but it is nonetheless extremely important. Keep in mind a solid dynamic warm-up on a regular basis is the opportunity to improve general fitness and work on power, strength, speed, change of direction, mobility, flexibility, and injury prevention... I think anyone would agree that's a great opportunity to have on a daily basis, so don't waste it by not planning properly!

As a side note, if you train with us in Fairfax, you may soon get to experience warm-ups similar to the AM session - did you hear we got TURF last week?!? If you don't already train with us and wish to experience the excellence that is SAPT, please contact us here for information on in-house performance coaching, distance coaching, Buttkamp, or any combination of the three!

A Little Bit About Knee Injuries

Why Do Knee Injuries Occur?1. Poor biomechanical alignment 2. Suboptimal muscle function and strength 3. Poor mobility at adjacent joints 4. Poor strength in surrounding musculature 5. Excessive tension in surrounding muscle and fascia 6. Overuse Types of Knee Injuries 1. Acute knee injuries are those that occur in a moment – as in "if you blink at the wrong moment you’ll miss it" kind of thing. Acute knee injuries result in ligament tears, meniscal tears, etc. By taking a small mental step forward, acute knee traumas can further be classified into two separate categories: contact and non-contact injury.

Anytime I find out an athlete I work with has sustained the ever popular ACL tear the first thing I want to know is if it was a contact situation or not. Why? Because in the situation of a contact injury, there is really nothing that can be done to avoid sustaining that ACL tear (or insert your own injury of choice). In fact, the knee in question can often be functioning perfectly without any strength imbalances or deficiencies whatsoever. And that means that there was an outside force that initiated the injury sequence. A good example is that of a soccer player who is slide tackled. If the foot is planted as the impact occurs, say goodbye to continued knee health and hello to months of therapy. Even the most “perfect” knee will usually not make it out of that situation unscathed.

ACLTear

On the other hand, a non-contact injury typically occurs because the athlete is not strong enough to decelerate his or her own body mass safely. For example, if a basketball player goes to plant and cut and the knee simply “goes-out.” In this instance there was no contact to blame, instead the cause is simply lack of strength (with probable issues of joint restriction about certain joints, too). Chronic Myofascial Injury This is another extremely popular knee injury amongst young athletes. This one is very general and more of the “my knee hurts” kind of pain in which there are no signs of traumatic injury of any kind. In reality, this isn’t so much a knee injury, as a problem with the muscle tissue. My caution here is if you are a coach be sure you don’t write off these types of complaints as unfounded because this is a real problem that should be addressed by improving movement techniques and taking a look at the volume of work (so, think improve strength and address overuse). Chronic Joint Injury These are the old injuries that really settle in as we age and usually affect people that have had serious knee pain or have been dealing with a traumatic injury for and extended period of time. “Current literature indicates that a one-time trauma (such as an ACL tear) significantly increases the probability of knee osteoarthritis, pain, and functional limitations later in life.” – Bulletproof Knees In the case of chronic joint injury, performance improvements are no longer important. At this point the emphasis must be placed on improving the comfort of daily living, longevity of the joint, and avoiding major surgery.

10 Things You Must Do for Healthy Knees 1. Get your glutes firing!!! 2. Strengthen the posterior chain 3. Lots-O-Single-leg work 4. Strengthen the quads 5. Work frequently to improve hip mobility (like it’s going out of style) 6. Address ankle mobility 7. Maintain and improve tissue length 8. Maintain and improve tissue quality 9. LEARN TO ABSORB FORCE CORRECTLY!!! (This one is crucial, but you must have already gone through a focused period working on numbers 1-8 before attacking force absorption whole-heartedly) 10. Improve diet and supplementation (when appropriate)

So, where/how should you get started? The obvious answer is to click here and start training with us in-person or via our distance program. Buuuuuuut, if you're really eager, here is a great starter exercise that will knock out at least 5 or the 10 listed above: Stepback Slider Lunges

Many thanks to Mike Robertson's excellent source on all things knee related in Bulletproof Knees - I've referenced it many times over the last two years and leaned on it heavily for this post, too.

The Best Mobility Series You're Not (Yet) Doing

This series is from Grey Cook and I absolutely LOVE it. It's a staple mobility movement for all my teams at Mason, especially while they're in-season. The very first and very last portion that gets cut off is simply an overhead stretch (lift your chest and straighten out your arms).

The sequence is very time efficient and takes care of mobilizing everything you need to prior to a squat session like these NAAAASTY speed squats I did a couple years ago: ...I used to be able to move some weight.

This mobility series also works great at home should you find yourself monitoring a small child's breakfast and not actually eating yourself: Okay, I know that was a reach, but I really wanted to post an Arabella video - it's Friday, after all!!

Give the Squat Mobility Series a go - your entire posterior chain and your hips will thank you!

Tips on Training for a Hike

Irony of all ironies, I had planned on writing a post about hiking for today (I’ve been getting requests) and what did Steve do yesterday?!? A hiking post… unbelievable! Maybe this week will be SAPT's unofficial training for a hike week or something. So, I'm sticking with my post for today and felt is was appropriate to post a picture of one of the hikes I went on last week - this one is in Red Rock State Park. Tips on Training for a Hike

1. Single Leg Strength Work is Essential! A large percentage of training should be dedicated to Step-up and Step-down variations. This is pretty much what a hike is after all. The step-up will help you get up to the peak, but what about when you’re on your return trip and your legs are fried? That’s when the step-downs will become crucial. Having exceptional eccentric strength in a fatigued state will not only allow you to return safely, but more quickly, too! I’m afraid I may sound like I’m hopping on Mike Boyle’s anti-bilateral movement crusade with this, but I think ditching the squats and deads may be a great move for a focused time leading up to an important hike.
2. Bracing Variations. As Steve pointed out in his post yesterday, hikers will usually be loaded up with all kinds of gear (think added weight) and they need to be able to easily brace and stabilize to carry the loads without undue fatigue. How can you train this in the gym? Give BB Squat Hold Variations, Mis-Loaded BB Hold Variations, Plank Hold Variations, and Band Swing Hold Variations a try.  Notice the theme word for these exercises is “hold” a.k.a. isometric – a hiker needs to have an extremely strong “core” (gasp, I can’t believe I just used that word) to ensure the muscle groups that should be doing the bracing do their jobs.
3. Mobility Work. This will be critical for the entire body. Especially considering that hikers often stay in a fairly upright position, so when they need to call on some extreme hip mobility to traverse certain terrain you want that mobility to be present. Otherwise, injuries will pop up.
4. Lastly, if I seriously wanted to show my hiking prowess off, I would implement Steve’s HICT training. Add this in twice a week plus a long hike on the weekend.

***I'm going to get some videos up this evening, so please check back if you want to see some of the variations I mentioned!

Don't forget, if you're out of the DC/NoVA area, we can still get you prepared to destroy your next competition, event, or just life. Find out more by requesting information on our distance coaching program!

Time For Some Basic Body Maintenance

We lose mobility as we age.

When you were a baby, you were able to stick your foot in your mouth. Think about that. Sticking your foot in your mouth. Try to do that now, and every 49 out of 50 of you will most likely find this to be laughable.

Why does this even matter? Well, an extremely simplified way of putting it is that if you're unable to draw ROM (range of motion) from a joint that is supposed to be able to provide it, then you're going to compensate at a joint that is not supposed to move. A quick example of this is that many people with low back pain tend to have stiff hips (their back is moving to pick up the slack, due to lack of mobility at the hips).

• If you’re a weightlifter, better mobility will improve your positioning during the set-up, thus giving you a greater mechanical advantage. This will allow you to move even heavier weight, and, more importantly, do it safely.
• If you’re an athlete, greater mobility is going to help you produce more force (a quick example being that improved dorsiflexion ROM at the ankle will prevent you from prematurely drifting on to the ball of the foot, thus allowing more force to come from the powerful posterior chain).
• Heck, even if all you care about is tending your garden well into your years, you’re be at reduced risk of back pain due to the fact you can sit into a deep squat without significant rounding of your lumbar spine.

LB FaceOffjpg

I recently came across an old picture of myself getting ready to face-off, back in my competitive lacrosse days, that brought home the very point I addressed above (I'm in the red/black on the left): As you can see, I'm as low to the ground as possible. When getting into position for a face-off in lacrosse, it's generally accepted that one of the keys to gaining an immediate advantage over your opponent is to be lower than they are.

When looking at this picture, I was promptly struck by the fact that it was much easier for me to get into this position back in high school than it would be for me today. I didn't know it at the time, but I was asking my body to provide quite a bit of ROM at my ankle and hip joints, and also throughout my entire thoracic spine. This, in turn, would put me in better position to utterly destroy him win the face-off.

Anyway, this picture gave me a pretty large "pillow womp" to the face. I realized that, while I do perform about 10 minutes of mobility drills before my lifting sessions, it's not even close to the quantity I need to undue the hours of sitting (in my car, in coffee shops, at my desk, etc.) each week. Gradually, over time, I have lost mobility and created more positional problems for myself. I decided to make a greater effort in prioritizing my movement quality via some quality drills (which I show below).

Given that most of you spend 40+ hours per week (and this is probably giving you more than deserved credit), you'd be wise to listen up. This past Sunday I spent a good deal of time fixing up all the sticky junk restricting my motion. I took some pictures of some of the drills I've found to be the "best" in hopes that you can benefit, too.

Spend two minutes per side for most of these drills. Remember, doing some quick bodyweight squats before your lifting session isn't enough to undue the abuse you give your body from sitting (aka "the slow death position") 160 hours a month.

Before I begin, I can thank Kelly Starrett of the Mobility Project for a few of these drills. He's doing a great thing over there (to put it mildly) by encouraging people to daily work on their grody joint mobility.

For the first three, you can use any table or bench. The last picture shows a variation I'll use in coffee shops (not kidding), as it keeps my foot off the table. Think "chest tall" for all of these. You'll cover hip flexion+external rotation, throracic spine extension, and get in a bit of adductor work, too (in the first photo).

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Next, we'll receive a bit of improved dorsiflexion ROM (in the top left photo), as well as some much-needed work on the iliopsoas and rectus femoris (a few of the hip flexors) in the right and bottom photos. You can use any wall or elevated surface for ankle drill, and can use a couch, chair, etc. for the right one. You'll need a sturdy resistance band for the bottom mob shown.

DCIM100SPORT

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And, lastly, enjoy some extension of the thoracic spine (and perhaps a bit of stretching in the lats), by propping your elbows up on a bench:

DCIM100SPORT

For all of these drills, think "contract....then relax." Hold the stretch for about ten seconds, relax, and then repeat for two minutes or so.

You'll feel like a million bucks when you're done, not kidding.