Sarah Walls 10/11/17 Sarah Walls 10/11/17

October is Depression Awareness Month

October is Depression Awareness Month. Find out how exercise can help beat the blues.

5 Ways Exercise Helps Beat the Blues

If this topic hits close to home, please check out my interview on the topic here.

Sarah Walls 9/4/17 Sarah Walls 9/4/17

Add this to your warmup ASAP

Add this to your warm-up routine today for big benefits in your training session. Great for athletes, powerlifters, weightlifters, CrossFitters, and everyone else!

Have you ever spent 10-minutes thoroughly warming up your entire system: mind, body, and even soul only to still feel deflated as you walk over to the barbell to start your workout?

You're not along. Often we get so wrapped up in increasing blood flow, mobilizing joints, and carrying out our injury prevention protocol, that one of the most important components of the warmup gets swept under the rug.

CNS Activation

I think we can all agree the central nervous system is truly the foundation of any training session - without its responsiveness not much is getting done. But does it have degrees of responsiveness? Degrees of readiness? Or is the nervous system always ready to fire at 100% efficiency and effectiveness?

Exciting the Central Nervous System is a crucial final component to anyone's warm-up. It turns out, the CNS is NOT always ready to go and needs some "priming" of its own.

A bit of proper CNS activation is the final step to warming up that will allow the athlete to feel ready to go - reactive, fast, excited.

How to:

Any gentle rotational work, builder sprints, light plyometrics will do the trick. The key is to do a couple of sets of 3-5 reps and allow the body to build from about 70% effort to 90% or so. It is key to adjust effort based on how the athlete is feeling on that particular day. If the athlete can't get through this part and "wake up" you should take note as it is a sign the body is not be ready to train that day... but that's another topic.

Upper Body Days - my favorite way to get ready for an upper body training day is to finish my warm-up with a light medicine ball circuit. I tailor effort to how I'm feeling. Sometimes the throws stay fairly light and fast, while other times I end up close to 100% effort by the last couple of reps.

Lower Body Days - Box jumps are my favorite to prime for a deadlift or squat day. You can minimize the impact from landing quite a bit and that helps this feel easier on the body while still doing its job to fire up the CNS. Another great option are very small hops/jumps: side-to-side, front-to-back, and single leg hops are all great options.

Give your CNS some love the next time you warmup and see if you feel your readiness to perform on the field, court, or gym changes.

Sarah Walls 7/21/17 Sarah Walls 7/21/17

Sarah Walls Interview with Dr. Pam Peeke on RadioMD

Sarah Walls was recently interviewed by Dr. Pam Peeke for HER podcast on RadioMD to talk about Sarah's top exercises for getting Fit & Fabulous.

I had the great opportunity to chat with Dr. Pam Peeke a couple weeks ago for HER podcast on RadioMD.

Dr. Pam has built an incredible resume over her career, but the part that struck me was this is a physician could talk-the-talk with me (as physicians can rarely do with fitness professionals). Plus, as a lifelong competitive athlete - now at the masters level - she has a great perspective on the process of competing or simply getting fit for the first time.

I highly encourage you download and listen to my episode on getting Fit & Fabulous - I go over some of my favorite exercises - plus, you'll learn about my tips on getting started and maintaining progress.

Coach Sarah Walls, founder of SAPT, is a professional performance development coach and personal trainer with over 15-years experience. SAPT offers athletic training programs for individuals of any age and background. Please contact us below if you'd like to learn more.

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Sarah Walls 7/19/17 Sarah Walls 7/19/17

How to Dominate Off-Season Baseball Training

Learn how to set up an effective training schedule for the off-season baseball months and make big performance gains.

The best time of year to make major gains for baseball is in the fall and winter. For the serious (and still developing) athlete, here is a sample weekly breakdown that could be used to maximize the off-season:

Day 1: Plyometrics + Linear Speed + Lower Body Lift

Day 2: OFF

Day 3: Medicine Ball Drills + Upper Body Lift

Day 4: Plyometrics + Lateral Speed + Lower Body Lift

Day 5: OFF

Day 6: Medicine Ball Drills + Upper Body Lift

Day 7: OFF

This sample plan focuses on power, speed, and strength development (and, of course, injury prevention). There will be an appropriate and adequate cardiovascular conditioning effect through each session itself. If desired, extra low-level aerobic conditioning can be completed in the form of walking for 15-30-min at a time several days a week.

Within each individual training day, each drill/exercise that is selected should be chosen to specifically enhance the very specific needs of a baseball player. Position players will have different needs than pitchers and those needs should also be a major priority when planning each training day.

By following training plans that are safe, effective, efficient, and written to the individual’s needs, athletes will make significant strides towards their performance goals that will be directly transferred to the field.

Learn More

Sarah Walls 7/17/17 Sarah Walls 7/17/17

Basic Power Development Drills for the Contact Sport Athlete

Develop explosive power for contact athletes with these excellent alternative exercises to the clean and snatch.

For sports that require explosive bursts of power against outside forces (like other athletes) you will want to look towards loaded plyometric movements to get the job done.

Most athletes and coaches think that the clean, snatch, and their variations are the only option for power development. Fortunately there are many alternative exercises that are both safe for athletes new to this type of training and extremely effective.

Medicine Ball Keg Toss

Good for: Beginners

Virtually any athlete can safely use this movement. The primary goal is to make sure triple extension of the hips, knees, and ankles is achieved on each toss.

Explosive Medicine Ball Push

Good for: Intermediate Skill Levels

For athletes that need explosive starts, this is a great option. You will need a medicine ball and something soft to fall onto.

Dumbbell Box Jump

Good for: Intermediate Skill Levels

Before adding weight to the box jump, the athlete should be able to demonstrate correct mechanics of an unloaded box jump. There is no need to select a high box for these to be effective. Instead focus on the box appropriate for the athlete to use about 30-40% of their body weight.

Hex Bar Jump

Good for: Advanced Skill Levls

Prior to using this movement, an athlete should be proficient in the barbell or hex bar deadlift. They must also be comfortable with hip hinge mechanics and be able to maintain a neutral spine. With this movement, start with about 50% of body weight and progress up as long as mechanics are maintained along with speed.

Try adding in one of these movements on your next leg day after the warm-up and before the main lift of the day. Keep everything crisp and fast to rack up the power production benefits.

Guest User 4/18/17 Guest User 4/18/17

2nd Annual Longest Day Fundraiser- Lifting Weights for a Great Cause

SAPT is excited to announce our second annual Alzheimer’s Association’s Longest Day fundraiser! We’ll fill all of the daylight hours on June 17, 2017 with free workouts In return, we’re asking for donations that will go to support the Alzheimer’s Association’s vision of a world without Alzheimer’s.

Did you know

Over five million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s.
Every 66 seconds someone in the United States develops Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s is currently the 6th leading cause of death in the United States.
As many as 16 million people will have the disease by 2050.

The Alzheimer’s Association helps to fund support for those with the disease and their caregivers. They also fund research into treatments and a cure for the disease.

The staff at SAPT feels strongly about supporting the Alzheimer’s Association’s mission. Our owner, Sarah Walls, lost both of her grandmothers to the disease and our office manager Emily Rusch’s mother passed away in 2015 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. Read more about Emily’s family here.

Everyone at SAPT knows that exercise can improve your quality of life in many ways. Scientific research has proven that exercise is one of the best ways to reduce improve your brain health, so join us for a day of lifting heavy things!

Want to join our Longest Day team and help us towards our fundraising goal? Visit our team page and sign up! Everyone that joins our team and raises $500 or more will get a free t-shirt/! Want a faster way to get to that free t-shirt? Donate $150 and the t-shirt is yours!

We raised over $5000 last year! Help us beat that this year by joining our team and help us raise money, donating to our team in advance, or working out and donating on June 17!