I wasn't sure if last Thursday peoples fingers were too slippery to type from all the turkey grease, or maybe it was the crippling effects of the tryptophan, but in case you missed it, we are offering some FREE TRAINING; to learn howyou can garner some free SAPT goodness, click HERE!!! Last, the video montage below of Chuck Vogelpohl is aimed at inspiring former SAPT interns John and Shawn, who'll be competing in their second powerlifting meet this weekend. This video is also applicable to anyone who needs a swift kick in the backside this Thursday morning.
Chuck Norris ain't got nothin' on Chuck Vogelpohl,
Greetings,
Six degrees of...say wuh???? You know the game where, for instance, you’d attempt to connect Will Smith to Kevin Bacon in 6 degrees of separation or less…Will Smith was in “Men in Black” with Tommy Lee Jones (1); Tommy Lee Jones was in “JFK” with Kevin Bacon (2)…I win, I’ve done it in less than three degrees…however, there’s still 18 hours left in our cross country road trip…I spy something…sorry, wrong game…anyways you get the gist, right? Great, stay with me!
Many of you know, and maybe some of you don’t, that we’ve set-up shop out in Sterling. It’s a shop of humble beginnings, much like SAPT Fairfax was merely 4 years ago…
Well, we’re coming-up on about a year out in Sterling, and enrollment is still moving a bit slower than anticipated. Maybe it’s something in the protein powder? Or, maybe it’s because Fairfax has grown almost entirely on referrals (yup, not a dime spent on marketing), and, well, it’s hard to grow on referrals when you’ve only had a couple handfuls of people experience “the SAPT goodness,” out here in Sterling…
So, here is my respectful plead to you, in honor of “Small Business Saturday” we’re asking that you think of SAPT…we’d like for you, and those that surround you this long Thanksgiving weekend to play a little game called “Six Degrees of a Sterling SAPT-EE…” You ready? Here it goes:
I am married to my wife (1); my wife works with Tom Shultz (2); Tom Shultz was complaining about back pain when he plays golf, and has three athletic, motivated kids…and the kicker…he lives in Leesburg…8 miles from SAPT Sterling(3)…That’s less than four steps, you win, pat yourself on the back…Next, immediately locate Tom Shultz’s email address and write it down…Repeat the game 4 more times, with the goal to compile a list of 5 of your contacts who could benefit from our services, and live in Loudoun County.
What you choose to do with this list is completely up to you. You can use it to dab the wine stain on the carpet after Uncle Chuck has had a bit too much to drink. Maybe you shoot those 5 people a quick email letting them know that you’re thinking of them in this time of gluttony, and if they’re looking for a training service to help them shed a few after Turkey Day, you’ve got just the place. Or, maybe you email your list of 5 contacts and their respective email addresses to Chris, at chris@studentathletept.com and earn yourself, or your son/daughter, a training session on us (FREE SAPT TRAINING!!!)…I think the latter sounds pretty sweet…Don’t worry, we aren’t going to hound them with spam mail and promises of free “enhancement” pills…we just want to briefly, and politely, let them know we’re out in here in their neck of the woods…This promotion will end on December 31st.
We appreciate you taking the time to read this email, as well as participating in our silly little game. We wish you and your loved one’s a happy and healthy holiday season. Please know that you are one of the "things" we are thankful for this year.
Quite frequently we're asked, "Is this (insert sport here) specific training?" Here's our take:
Understand that all athletes, no matter what sport, need to engage in general movements to enhance their global strength so to speak; these exercise include squats, deadlifts, rows, unilateral movements, horizontal pressing and pulling, vertical pulling etc. These are, and should be, the bread and butter of every good strength training program.
We also blend drills that have a bit more dynamic correspondence, or specificity, to one’s sport. For instance, with our baseball players we incorporate various overhead and rotational drills with light medicine balls to improve velocities on these various planes of motion.
These occur primarily in the offseason as competing for the energy to develop technical abilities is not as significant. When implementing, we're careful to not too closely mimic the intricate movement patterns required by sport, i.e. throwing a baseball, as this can lead to a hindrance in the actual development and create inconsistencies with that particular skill. Read that again; yes, mimicking too closely, or inappropriately weighting a particular movement can actually prohibit technical mastery of specific sport skill. This is why as one gets closer to a competitive season, and certainly as one is engaged in-season, we wean these drills from the student-athletes program as the acquisition and refinement of sport skills are of paramount importance during this time.
From an injury prevention stand point, we are very cognizant of the stressors placed on the body during various sports, and understand that many of these stressors transcend sports. As such we tend to focus most of our efforts on these areas in an attempt to combat the repetitive and asymmetrical nature of sport. Our efforts are also aimed to improve the shortcomings of the individual as each present their own intimate challenges.
Check-out the videos below of a couple of our minor league baseball guys finishing up their training session with some grip and rotator cuff work.
Any deadlift/farmers walk variation will be improve rotator cuff strength through irradiation. Cook and Jones popularized this term, and many others have trumpeted it, so I’m not passing it off as my own. As the guys are “squeezing the snot” out of the trap bar all the nerves get jacked-up along that chain forcing the cuff muscle to pack and support the shoulder into a properly retracted position. The offset component makes it a “two –for” as we throw a little core stability at them simultaneously.
The medball on the wall drill, where they’re tracing the alphabet, is a predictable rhythmic stabilization drill where again, they’re packing the shoulder blades, and using the cuff muscles to stabilize the humeral head. You can increase the difficult of these drills by incorporating gentle perturbations, making them less predictable.
The sledge leveraging drills for are for forearm strength, and conditioning of the wrist and elbows.
A lot more than just sleeper stretches and full cans,
Ready to freak-out…New Year’s resolutions are right around the corner!!! Did you just break-out in a cold sweat? Did you just un-tuck your shirt to more seamlessly blend the muffin top into your lower extremities? Are you slowly moving towards your snack drawer to dispose of the various half-eaten processed delicacies stroon about…ya, I’m on to you.
Folks, this is a call to arms against preventing what you really want for yourself; to once again have a waistline; finally beat your friend “Svelte Jerry” in your weekend tennis match, and not worry about your knee exploding in the process; to not live in fear of your annual check-up.
My friends, climb aboard the SAPT rowboat, and like GW crossing the Delaware, we’re gonna sneak-up and ambush our opposition...failed New Year Resolutions, no more. Don’t wait for the bleating attempts by surrounding commercial gyms to wrangle you into some membership you’ll never use, because at that point it’ll be too late (I’m a poet and didn’t even know it).
HEALTHY HABITS MUST BEGIN NOW. Trust me, it’s the only way you’ll be able to curb, and defeat, your unhealthy infatuation with snickerdoodles, the little cookies with Hershey kisses on top, and the latest “housewives” series? You know why, because GOING COLD TURKEY ON JANURARY 1ST DOESN’T WORK!
What you need is plan, something to guide you through the season of endless fruit cakes. Perhaps something like an SAPT individualized training program? You need some motivation, and a sense of accountability. Perhaps the knowledgeable SAPT staff and encouraging-positive room dynamic created by our semi-private training model would do the trick? What you need is a reason to have only a small slice of cheesecake instead of the entire pan? Perhaps knowing that the SAPT Prowler (our weight sled) is in your metabolic finisher tomorrow and you’d rather not taint our pristine turf with bits of graham crack crust and heavy cream (too far (?)…probably)? Perhaps viewing the incredible physical transformation of SAPT’ee lifer, Ron Reed, in the video below will stoke your fire:
Ladies, and gents, the solution is simple, set yourself up for success by enrolling in one of our adult training structures. We understand that change is difficult, but as it’s been proven to us time and time again, with a little help and guidance, SAPT’ees can accomplish some pretty amazing things. Let us help you.
I was asked today by the GA at the university I work at why I haven’t backed squatted the baseball or softball teams since they’ve been under my watch. My feelings are as follows:
When you do the cost to benefit ratio of the movement (back squat), as any strength coach should do when programming, in my opinion there just isn’t enough benefit to outweigh the potential risk or cost I could potentially incur by selecting it. Understand that properly positioning the hands during a back squat requires a significant amount of shoulder external rotation (especially with close grips), and abduction of the humerus (especially with wide grips). Because either positioning pose a unique risk to the shoulder, the first anterior instability and the latter cranky rotator cuffs and biceps, I’m not about to roll the dice. Also consider that most overhead athletes possess some degree of labral damage, are at a higher risk for impingement, and possess less than stellar scapular upward rotation and thoracic mobility, and you’d have to be feeling pretty sassy to program the back squat. Note that I am working diligently to improve their structural shortcomings because I do intend for them to back squat at some point in their yearly preparation as, in my opinion, the back squat is king when trying to develop strong, powerful badunka-dunks and pork chords.
I think it’s important for those reading this post, whether you’re a young strength coach, or parent shopping around for the best training facility to send you’re little leaguer, to take note that there really is no such thing as an “insignificant detail” when attempting to develop the safest, most effective training program possible.
That's a picture of me hitting the pill a long way...or maybe I swang through it...at least I looked good...
