Conditioning for Team Sports: Strength as the Foundation
In our multipart Team Sport Conditioning series, Sarah Walls goes in-depth on the various factors impacting team sports' fitness and conditioning.
My career began and grew in the college strength and conditioning setting, where I was very fortunate with the strength coaches that I worked with and under. The structures and procedures I use today as well as my coaching philosophy were taught to me by these coaches, and I believe that is a big part of what has moved my career forward. I am thankful everyday for the mentors I had early on in my career, what I learned from them has helped me become the coach I am today.
I monitor everything that happens during a single heartbeat. It’s that important.
One of the things I quickly learned from these mentors was that strength is the foundation for performance on any level and of any type. No matter the sport and the dominant motor ability, strength is the base that affects all other qualities. This can be taken to the extremes of endurance by looking at cross country or marathon runners, where likely the most successful ones are stronger in the very specific ways they need to be stronger. Obviously strength is not the dominant motor ability in the case of a largely aerobic sport, but once those dominant qualities are evened out like they are at the top level, it is the stronger athlete who wins.
The same can be said for team sports as well.
If we are to believe that strength is the foundation of any performance training program, then you have to make sure that your athletes are strong in appropriate ways for the sport. Louie Simmons says “It does no good to be strong in the wrong exercises.” Applied to more endurance based sports we could say it does no good to be strong in a way that does not benefit sport performance.
Supporting the development of strength in all athletes, regardless of the sport, doesn't mean that we're trying to build everybody into powerlifters or olympic weightlifters. We are, in fact, trying to make them pretty darn strong, just not to the extremes. So with that said, there's still a lot of room to develop an enormous amount of strength that is appropriate for the sport. The bottom line is make yourself of your athletes as strong as you can, without it negatively affecting the sport performance.
Upper Body Blowout: Push-up Negatives
BlowOUT and BlowUP your upper body at the end of your next training session with this push-up variation that improves work capacity, conditioning, and strength.
Finishers are a great way to complete your training on any given day. Depending on what you select, you can bring up weak points by improving work capacity.
One of the keys about conditioning is that we are generally pushing the body pretty hard. So, you expect to see some break in form, but you need to know what is acceptable failure in form and what isn’t.
For example, if I were having an athlete perform a shuttle run, unacceptable failure would be when we reach ANY biomechanical failure - we can only condition as long as we’re being safe - acceptable failure would be from the standpoint of the aerobic system (times get a bit slower) or because the muscles start “burning” and times slow.
Once failure of form is reached - and this applies to conditioning scenarios as much as lifting - the set must stop immediately.
The other rule is that we don’t want to burn in movement patterns that - while they may be highly unlikely to cause injury - are an incorrect pattern we are working on correcting through other parts of our training. A great example is the push-up. Push-ups are often butchered resulting in way too much strain on the lower back and shoulder than they should when done with “perfect” form.
If your push-ups don’t look like the ones in the video, then you are probably not ready for Depletion Push-ups. To get some tips on how to troubleshoot your push-up, check out SAPT’s guide to Diagnosing the Push-up.
Depletion Push-ups + 90-Second Negatives
This sweet little combo of Depletion Push-ups + 90-Second Negatives are best used for areas of the body that are already fairly strong. If you’re just learning to keep your hips elevated and hold a brace, this would not be a recommended finisher.
I think this is a perfect variation for athletes who may lack work capacity in the upper body, but can solidly hold a brace for… well, close to forever. Since it’s easier to control the body as it’s lowered to the ground, we can still accumulate a ton of volume to improve work capacity if the upper body.
Progressions
Add more sets: starting with one set of :90 is often plenty, but you can add another 1-2 sets to get even more volume. Keep rest times minimal.
Add weight to the back to increase difficulty: using a plate, chains, weight vest, or even making these band resisted will ramp up the challenge.
Full Depletion Push-ups: once you’ve maxed out progress on the negatives and are certain your form is excellent, go ahead and remove the emphasis on the slow negative to knock out as many push-ups as possible with PERFECT form for 1-3 sets of 90-seconds.
Give these a shot if you feel like you’re ready! I bet you will be surprised with all the muscles that get involved and get sore the next day.
Bowler Squat for First Step Speed?
The Bowler Squat is an exercise you generally see in a physical therapy setting and is used as a basic way to teach multi-planar single-leg stability.
We’ve used these at SAPT for quite awhile as a regression for athletes who are struggling with single leg balance to the point that they can’t execute a single-leg hop with a balanced landing. But who are more advanced than limiting exercises to side-lying clam level.
This is an athlete who has excellent lateral hip strength and can demonstrate a safe, controlled landing. For athletes who aren’t able to display control, we look to regress, often with the Bowler Squat.
If you take a look at the pictures above you will see both a knee cave and a large hip drop in the example of the Bowler Squat illustration. Most importantly, you will see the same hip drop translate over to running stride - this is a giant red flag signifying weak lateral hip musculature on the support leg (the leg opposite of the dropped hip) and a VERY REAL risk of injury (groin, ankle, knee, hip, etc.).
Beyond using the Bowler Squat as a way to teach stability and balance, I also like to use the Bowler Squat as a part of my dynamic warm-up with elite athletes as a way to prime/activate their core muscle function. We’ll do several variations of them: straight forward Bowlers with a lateral knee touch, eyes closed, or as part of a single leg balance sequence (again I use a few variations of these).
The 1-Leg Balance Progression is a great warm-up sequence for runners that challenges balance.
Up until recently, that’s about as far as I had ever taken the Bowler Squat both in theory and practice. But, Tim DiFrancesco (formerly the head strength coach for the Los Angeles Lakers) posted about the Bowler Squat being a great exercise for first step speed development. I had never thought of the dutiful Bowler Squat in such grand terms! It gave me an opportunity to reframe the exercise as I watched some of the athletes I work with play their sport of basketball. To be clear, I am taking this post further than what Tim’s initial post suggested, so these are my own conclusions based off of a simple thought he posed.
I didn’t have to look long or hard to find the Bowler Squat in action and came up with an almost endless list of ways the Bowler Squat can be woven into performance exercises.
Over the past couple weeks I’ve started experimenting by using certain variants of this with athletes who are already and must continue to perform plyometric movements, but who struggle with stability, control, and tension.
With only a couple weeks to consider and experiment with a mental reframing of the Bowler Squat as possible driver for first step speed, I would hesitate to assign it too great of importance.
I really like the balance challenge and how it naturally forces an athlete to focus and tighten up with a few reps prior to a jump, but the real workhorses behind first step speed continue to be the Bulgarian Split Squat and all it’s variants as my number one choice - with all other lunge, squat, and deadlift variations following closely behind.
Ensuring an athlete has the ABILITY to execute a perfect Bowler should be a prerequisite to any single-leg plyometric activity. But, being as strong as possible is always the foundation for durable, resilient, and effective performance.
If you are a coach and have any experience utilizing these types of combos, I’d love to hear what you use and how you feel about the results.
7 Tips for Exercise Consistency for You and Your Family
Ever wonder what the number one quality of the most successful and elite athletes is? Learn about consistency and some tips for you or your family.
I love helping people reach their full athletic potential! That’s the business of helping make dreams come true for amateur athletes and the very big business of helping professional athletes stay on the court or field for more years so that they may earn bigger contracts, accolades, and championships. Over many years and thousands of athletes, I’ve enjoyed being a part of these achievements and successes.
These successes result from the individuals who toil away in their training day after day, hour after hour for YEARS on end. I’ve had a front row seat in watching how the most successful athletes work. The best high school, college, and professional players SHOW UP and get to work. They possess a number of qualities, but the number one attribute to their success and achievement of goals is consistency.
I think that's great news! The idea of CONSISTENCY is something that requires absolutely no special talent. You can't write it off saying, well my genetics aren't good enough for CONSISTENCY. All you have to do is put in the work.
“AT SAPT WE’RE SO CONFIDENT, WE GUARANTEE MEASURABLE PROGRESS! Many great performance professionals, physical therapists and personal trainers exist to help you, but you have to uphold your end of the bargain.”
Lately, I’ve noticed an upsetting trend: lack of consistency. What ever happened to the idea that if you commit to something and you say “okay, yes, I will do this thing…” that you actually fulfill your part of the agreement? You shouldn’t have to be dragged along the way when you have willingly said, yes, let’s go, I’m in.
And yet that is what happens daily. People are quick to commit to the idea of helping themselves or their children reach their athletic potential by enlisting experts in sport performance development to guide them. To help reach dreams.
But, it’s started to become apparent that when another *something* tugs at your sleeve… cue (home)work and social opportunities… the first thing to go is what ISN'T saying “hey look at me!!! I need your attention!!!” Thus, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Or rather, and I get this - believe me - the thing that seems more mission critical at the time gets your attention, with non-critical things like working out quickly labeled as a luxury that you don't have time for.
“WE’VE PROVEN TO PROVIDE THE MOST EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE TRAINING PROGRAMS OVER AND OVER AGAIN… BUT NOT WITHOUT CONSISTENCY.”
I don’t understand this and I’ve begun to wonder: is consistency going the way of the “dinosaurs" of social conduct such as politeness and courtesy? Does everyone let themselves “off the hook” for the commitments they make because it’s only THEMSELVES they are hurting? Is everyone genuinely too busy with their over scheduled lives and can only possibly handle dealing with the little daily fires that crop up in their lives?
“I’m here to tell you that if anyone can help you or your child reach their goals, it’s us! But not without... you’ve got it... consistency.”
I remember growing up and watching my mom or dad wave to every neighbor we passed in the car on the way to our house. Nowadays, I certainly have seen way more middle fingers and profanity mouthed behind the safety of a rolled up window than I have a polite “excuse me” coupled with a wave.
How could you not be compelled to be consistent with an exercise program with all of the benefits unmatched by virtually anything else you can do with your life?
The benefits of consistently training include:
Run faster, jump higher, improve body composition, increase lean muscle mass, reduce injuries, improve hormone profile, do more push-ups, do more pull-ups, lift heavy things off the ground, carry more grocery bags in from the car than ever before, increase body awareness, become more flexible/mobile, become more resilient when injuries do occur, improve accuracy at any sport.
There are even some HIDDEN BENEFITS:
Improve self-confidence, improve self-esteem, improve body image, reduce days of depression, reduce risk of disease, improve cognitive function, improve general sense of well-being, learn to enjoy the process, learn to enjoy a steady approach, enjoy permanent positive changes in your body, living longer, extending your quality of life as you age!
Hey, these are HUGE benefits!!! What else in life can deliver you all of that?!?! I can't think of anything.
What’s the objection? It’s hard? It takes too much time? It’s just “not for me”? Are you kidding me? The payoff is too great!
SAPT is not the place for quick fixes (they don’t exist) and it’s not the place that is going to tell you that you did a great job if you didn’t, we’re not going to just “give you a workout” and we don’t do hard for the sake of hard. We only progress people towards their goals one step at a time. Depending on where you start, sometimes that’s boring or really, really hard… but whatever it involves from the trainer’s side it always requires consistency on your part. If you think you’ve got that then this might be a good fit.
If you’re still on board at this point then I’ve got 7 tips for maintaining exercise consistency for you and your family - these aren’t easy they all require effort, but they will work for everyone in your family:
- Stop overthinking your progress: sadly, progress doesn't happen overnight. It can take months or even years to achieve certain goals. If you or your family are new to exercising consistently, then your #1 goal should be to do just that: Exercise Consistently. I promise the results will follow, but try focusing on that number one requirement before getting too focused on the details of the training program.
- Prepare for success: a training session is something to look forward to and to mentally prepare for. How will you succeed today? Will you lift more weight? Will you feel more successful at the outcome? Have you eaten well up to the start of the session to ensure success today? Just showing up and not being ready mentally or physically is not going to get the job done.
- Accept the discomfort: you or your child may not feel like going to your training session sometimes, that’s okay. Believe it or not, most people who train don’t LOVE the session itself - after all, the more advanced you get, things only get harder and harder. What we love is how we feel afterwards and the longterm positive effects (see benefits list above).
- Trust the process: you did yourself or your child a HUGE favor by hiring an expert with proven results in the field of sport performance development, now let us do our job while you do yours: show up for your training sessions at the agreed upon frequency.
- Commit to a schedule: even though this is our policy at SAPT, it’s shocking how many clients simply claim they “can’t” commit to a schedule. Again, I totally get this, but I'm going to push on it a bit: What are we teaching our children when we squeeze in training for ourselves or our children at the last minute? We’re not teaching commitment… just like when we curse at someone through the glass is not teaching politeness or understanding.
- Try honestly making training a priority for 3-months and see where it takes you! Really commit to it… dare I say even be willing to cancel or decline other opportunities for social events, dinner, practices in favor of this first commitment?!?
- Visualization: this is one of the most powerful tools we all have at our disposal. Spending a few minutes on the drive over to the gym or while getting dressed to prep your mind for a great session will effectively get you more excited for the work to be done and will certainly make it easy for a great session.
I’ve been totally honest at this point. There are a host of benefits but some pretty big challenges. You or your child have to put in the work on a regular basis. In fact, I guarantee you will see positive, measurable results. Yes, I actually guarantee it! The results from our clients who live up to their end of the bargain see astonishing results. Results that blow my mind every single day. Because when you combine consistency and effort with biomechanically sound, individually tailored program design, the results are astounding.
Recovery Workouts: Good, Better, Best
Anyone who is focused on training hard to achieve specific goals through weight training, sport play, conditioning or a combination, is going to need to be smart about planning in some recovery sessions.
Anyone who is focused on training hard to achieve specific goals through weight training, sport play, conditioning or a combination, is going to need to be smart about planning in some recovery sessions.
An appropriately planned recovery session will take a body (and mind) that may feel somewhere between achey to awful and leave it feeling markedly improved.
I like to use a recipe for good, better, best in terms of recommendations for these types of sessions.
***Oh, and it should be noted that for the scope of this post I'm only mentioning actual movement for recovery. Other components that must be considered are: sleep, nutrition, hydration, etc.
GOOD
Everyday chores can be a part of a "Good" recovery session... mopping is one of my favorites (I'm so serious).
Get out and move! Go for a walk, ride a bike, mow your lawn, take a yoga class, etc. This type of light activity will get blood moving and thus a little recovery for your body. This is an adequate option for people who are relatively new to exercise or who only train 1-2x/week but find themselves quite sore, lethargic, or achy in the following day or two.
BETTER
To be a little more precise, we want to take the body through some full range of motion activities. This helps stretch out the muscles and move the joints dynamically while also getting some light conditioning work.
Activities in the Better category could include a dynamic warm-up, followed by some light strengthening exercises, and finished off with 20-min or so of light aerobic work. This is appropriate for recreational lifters and athletes.
BEST
For the competitive athlete there is not much time to waste. The more advanced an athlete, the more it becomes necessary to find an experienced coach to help aid in every aspect of their physical preparation (and recovery!).
Daily training sessions mean recovering as quickly as possible is crucial to continued improvement and success. In the instances of professional athletes or those who like to train like them, you will want to get a very specific recovery plan tailored for you through the intense blocks of competition or preparation. This will generally include:
- soft tissue work via massage or SMR
- breathing drills
- dynamic stretching
- light prehabilitative work
- 20-30 min of HR zone aerobic work via a combination of traditional biking, jogging, etc and things like light medicine ball tosses, and calisthenic work
- explosive weight lifting movement (just a few sets and reps here, folks)
Using heart rate to efficiently manage either performance or recovery is the way to go for serious athletes. Here is a session that I conducted on myself. While this might not fit a usual "recovery" protocol, for me that's what this session was. You can see fairly even peaks and valleys staying within the zones I wanted to train that day.
This graph shows my heart rate variability during the same session shown above. You can clearly see the exactly inverse relationship that HRV has with HR through a training session by comparing both graphs.
When possible, Best recovery sessions should take place on a day when no other training is scheduled. However, for elite athletes who may be competing several times a week and practicing in between, a workout like this should be placed the morning after competition and before practice. It will require minimal energy and serve to wake the body up and reenergize it before practicing.
Any of the above options should to be tailored to fit the individual's needs, but these are the ingredients for a successful recovery!
Runner's Knee: Who is at Risk and How to Prevent it
As an athlete, jumping, pivoting sports or jogging is standard practice. While at it, you could experience tenderness and dull pain behind your kneecap (anterior knee pain). Also, squatting or running downhill increases the discomfort, all who are symptoms of “runner’s knee”
This is a guest post by Elizabeth Wangari.
As an athlete, jumping, pivoting sports or jogging is standard practice. While at it, you could experience tenderness and dull pain behind your kneecap (anterior knee pain). Also, squatting or running downhill increases the discomfort, all who are symptoms of “runner’s knee” – patellofemoral pain syndrome.
Runner’s knee pain is due to higher subchondral bone stress due to articulation stress or the abrasions on your distal femur or patella.
Here’s the deal: Today I’m going to discuss the significant strategies that I believe can
prevent the occurrence of runner’s knee. Also, I’ll share how you can get back after a runners knee incidence.
What Causes Runner's Knee?
Trauma, knee overuse, hip muscle dysfunction, patellar malalignment, and other intrinsic risk factors are the significant contributors to patellofemoral pain syndrome. Other potential causes include tightness of the iliotibial band, quadriceps, and hamstrings, weak core-muscle endurance. Recent research shows that over 50% of running injuries, particularly ones in lower extremities, happen in the knee.
How to Prevent Runner's Knee
If the runner’s knee is diagnosed early enough, the proper short-term remedy can include RICE technique – rest; ice; compression; and elevation, plus other corrective exercises. For most people, runner’s knee can be prevented by having excellent flexibility, strong muscles, and adequately fitted running shoes. However, if you’re unsure of finding a proper running shoe, you should book professional gait analysis or shoe fitting services.
1. Strengthen Your Gluteus Medius
One key method to determine presence of muscle imbalance is checking your squat.
Therefore, if you notice that your knee is turning inward, you could be having a weak gluteus medius (hip abductor muscle).
Gluteus medius forms part of three muscles making the gluteals. Together with the gluteus minimus, your Gluteus medius contract to rotate your hip internally stabilizing the pelvis and the femur.
To prevent Runner's Knee, you’ll need to focus on increased mobility, flexibility and strength on your hips. The Journal of Athletic Health reports that about 3 weeks of hip-strengthening exercise can help you reduce pain from runner’s knee. Thus, it’s worth a try! Therefore, we’ll need to select about 4 simple exercises that you can take weekly to prevent or reduce pain related to runner’s knee.
a. Side leg lifts - While lying on your lefty side, stack your legs on top of each other and straighten then. Rest you left hand on the ground or on your hip and rest your head at the top of the right arm to help stabilize your body.
Next, lift the leg on top straight to the farthest comfortable height and lower it back to its
place. Repeat the exercise 10 times, and then change sides.
b. Hip abduction - While standing, open your feet at a distance shoulder-wide and have a strong post or chair to left side of your body. Loop some resistance band around your right ankle and the post or chair.
Next, maintain your leg in the straight position, raise the right leg sideways to the farthest you feel comfortable. Finally, return the leg to its initial position, and report 10 times before switching sides.
c. Glute bridges - Lie on the ground, on your back, and place your arms on your sides. Bend you knees and rest the feet flat on the ground. Next, you’ll lift the back from the ground up to a point where you create a straight line from the shoulders to the knees.
Push the heel to the ground and feel the glutes that are balancing your body. Stay in this
position for 3 seconds, and then lower your body, and finally repeat 8 times.
2. Change footwear - Going down the kinetic chain to your foot, let’s examine the role of footwear in knee pain. Notably, having footwear that won’t appropriately support your feet can aggravate the knee injury. This phenomenon is common among both the underpronaters (inadequate ankle and foot roling) and overpronaters (excessive ankle and foot rolling). Therefore, ensure that you get footware that will cushion the underpornators or support the overpronators. Usually, underpronation pain happens at the outside of your knee around the IT Band attachment. However, overpronation pain occurs at the bottom or along the inside of your knee.
3. Running stride - Even though you might keep stretching, strengthening and having the right footwear, there is a possibility your knee could still have some problems. Therefore, you’ll need to consider your training surface and plan as well as your running stride.
Notwithstanding the increased flexibility and good strength, over-striding may triggers knee pain. Therefore, you’ll need to place your body in an efficient position to take advantage of your flexibility and strength. It’ll also be helpful to adopt adequate progression in your training to strengthen and heel any broken down tissues. Therefore, you’ll need to gradually increase the intensity, frequency and run mileage. Notably, if you’ll be running or jogging do not increase your mileage by over 10% per week.
Conclusion
Despite that come people choose to use devices such as knee sleeves or a Tendon Trak, I would advise that you first concentrate on treating the underlying causes of the runner’s knee.
