Rotary Stability for the Overhead Athlete and Cyber Revolutionist

  Ever have trouble standing on one leg for a given time? How aboutbalancing a book on your head as you walk? Crawling under wire in an obstacle course without having your hip bump up and graze the wire? If so, you could be suffering from the condition many health professionals have deemed: Poopy Rotary Stability.

If you are an overhead athlete, this could be HUGE. Many of the things listed above may sound like they have nothing to do with serving or throwing a ball, but in essence they’re all accomplished with having a…. dare I say it…. Functional Core.

Yes, that’s right, I just dropped the F-word. Having Rotary Stability is all about having a core that functions correctly. Now usually I stray away from using the f-word because many functional zealots have lost the true meaning of functionality, probably somewhere in their pile of bosu balls and vipers, and I don’t want to be mixed in with them. But, if you look into the true meaning of functional movement as defined by Gray Cook and several other great coaches, you will see that there is something to this stuff. Functional is the absence of dysfunction. Dysfunction is when things aren't working the way they were designed to. So if your core has poor rotary stability (when it's deigned to have great stability), then it's reasonable to say it's dysfunctional.

So today’s post is going to be about the seemingly undefinable, “core” and its rotary stability component. I’ll walk you through what it is, what it does, and how to be less poopy. As an added bonus, I watched, "The Matrix" the other night and have been inspired to make it today's theme. So swallow the red pill and lets see how far the rabbit hole goes.

Rotary Stability is essentially the torso’s ability to resist rotation. Not all resistance is the same, however. When we use our core musculature, it is usually put into two categories: The Hard Core and the Soft Core.

The Hard Core is what is used in a maximal brace. The Hard core helps you when you pull a maximal deadlift, it overrides your breathing pattern and gives max effort to keeping your spine in place. This can be used in place of rotary stability at times, but if this is all you have to rely on, then there is no way you would be able to dodge Agent Smith’s bullets. When we use our hard core, we stop breathing, our blood pressure spikes, and we even temporarily lose range of motion in the torso. You can’t have very efficient movement using just your Hard Core, especially if it's repetitive.

The Soft Core is what is used at all other times. It consists of your deep core muscles that act as pelvic and spinal stabilizers. These muscles should work AUTOMATICALLY. In sports, the soft core is what is predominantly used in athletic movement. If these are poopy, then just imagine what is going on in that throw, serve, or punch.

Rotary Stability is a characteristic of your soft core. It helps to give your limbs a base of movement and transmit forces through your body. If you do not have sufficient Rotary Stability, then you are essentially shooting a cannon from a canoe. If you were to try to, the canoe would wobble and a lot of the force would be lost, the canoe may even topple. Whereas if you shoot it from an aircraft carrier, that cannon ball is going to fly.  In the case of the overhead athlete, the force production of the hips and/or torso needs to travel through the core to be transmitted to the arm and eventually to the ball. So having their core be as stable as an aircraft carrier will ensure max power transference.

So the importance is obvious, but how do you commandeer that aircraft carrier? Well I have laid out a path for you to follow that even the oracle would approve of.

1. Make sure your mobility is in check. As I said in my mobility post, poor hip or thoracic spine mobility can really limit your core stability. Many of us lose mobility from sitting in our desks/pods and it goes hand in hand with losing our stability. So we need to remedy this first!

2. Work on Rotary Stability by itself. You need to start small and make sure you are not putting fitness on top of dysfunction. There are many exercises that do this: bird-dog, static anti-rotations, or even rotary planks.

3. Make it a dynamic stabilizer. Once you've established that base from step 2, you can start doing more advanced exercises. These exercises should put some sort of asymmetrical force on the body to make the soft core to turn on. Some that I like are: bent-over single-arm rows, single-leg RDL, single-arm rack carry, single-arm overhead press, single-arm rack squat.

4. Take down the Matrix. With Rotary Stability uploaded into your movement arsenal, you should now be ready to join Neo. You will be stronger, more injury-resistant and better at doing slow motion, three-dimensional stunts!

Energy Systems Training

Energy systems training, or EST for you acronym lovers, has come to the forefront of SAPT"s training programs for our high school athletes as new research has manifested about the importance of specifically training those systems. I advise you to grab a cup of coffee, this is a heavy one! (no pun intended)

Definitions first.

ATP- the currency, if you will, of energy within the body. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is an adenosine molecule with three phosphate molecules attached. The bonds that hold the phosphate molecules to adenosine are considered "high energy" bonds, meaning when their broken a large amount of energy is released. This energy is harnessed by the cells within the muscle to drive function. Simply, ATP makes muscle contraction possible and thus the glorious thing we call athletic movement. (And, well, movement in general.) The soon-to-be-mentioned energy systems regenerate fresh sources of ATP (through metabolic processes not important to know at this point) and their ability to produce ATP varies upon the duration of the exercise, the length of the recovery period, and the number of activity bouts.

PCr/Alactic system- Provides immediate energy. The first couple explosive steps during a sprint or an approach and hit, the alactic system kicks into gear. it"s important, for example, for our baseball and volleyball training programs to include exercises that challenge the alactic system. (think jumping drills, acceleration drills, MB throws, etc.) Thankfully, near SAPT Fairfax, we have a turf field that we can perform running drills for our baseball, volleyball, and youth athletes.

*note* PCr stands for phosphocreatine. This is a molecule each of phosphate and creatine. The bond between them is weak, and the creatine will quickly relinquish it"s phosphate to reform the ATP. Part of that metabolic process I mentioned earlier. So, theoretically, an athlete that can replenish PCr faster, can use their alactic system to a greater capacity.

Glycolitic/lactic system- Provides intermediate energy. For example, in a 100 m race, the alactic provides for first 6-10 seconds and the glycolitic takes over as the predominate source of ATP production for the remainder of the sprint. Or, in a prowler race, the second pass is entirely glycolitic.

Aerobic system- Provides long-term energy. This can be anywhere from taking a long, leisurely walk with your dog, to the brief rest period on the field between plays. Technically, watching TV is an aerobic activity since all your energy is being produced by the aerobic system. But, for purposes of this post, we"ll consider aerobic system as the energy provider for the recovery time betwixt exercise bouts in athletics.

The initial thought was that energy systems turned on successively: the alactic system fired up it"s ATP production for the first 6 seconds or so, then the glycolytic system took over until the 90 second mark, followed by the aerobic system for any activity lasting longer than 90 seconds. Recent research disproved this and demonstrated that all systems are working simultaneously full tilt to produce ATP as fast as they"re capable of from the outset of activity.

The amount of ATP a system can contribute is dependent upon the power of the system and it"s capacity. Power = the rate which a system turns on and can produce ATP. The alactic system can start up the quickest, which is why it contributes so much at the onset of activity, while the aerobic system is a bit slower to get rolling. Capacity = duration at which the energy system can produce ATPs at a given activity level.  The alactic system can produce a lot of ATP at a high level of activity, but only for short while; in contrast the aerobic system sustainably produces the most ATP at lower levels of activity. Which is why one can"t just sprint forever: the activity level exceeds the capacity of the alactic system to keep up with the energy demand. (good thing breathing doesn"t exceed the aerobic system"s capacity!)

The 1999 study but Parolin et al. asked the subject to perform three, 30 second sprint bouts on a bike followed by 4 minutes of recovery. The researchers sought to discover what was going on at a cellular level. One would postulate that the glycolitic system would be the predominate supplier of energy correct? Hold onto you hats, the curious researchers found that, over the course of those sprint bouts, the glycolitic system"s contribution decreased! Check out this graph from the study:

As you can see, the alactic system still provides the bulk of ATP for the first 6 seconds or so of the sprint, but the aerobic system steps it up in the last sprint and the glycolitic"s contribution is paltry at best. It"s suggested that the accumulation of the glycolitic by-products limits it"s ability to continue functioning, thus the aerobic system is tapped into in order to supply the online casino ATP. There"s another study here demonstrating similar effects if you care to check it out.

Ok, geeky strength coach, how does this relate to me and my training? A majority of sports, outside of the endurance sports (cycling, cross country, swimming, etc.) consist of short, intense bursts of activity followed by longer periods of rest. Think of a volleyball player on the court, for the most part, she"s shuffling around but not sprinting (aerobic mostly) this court movement punctuated by a spike or dive (alactic). Same thing with any field player, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, football, etc. are all short sprints followed by longer periods of low intensity jogging.

Even lifting is an alactic/aerobic sport!

Gotta recover from that pull!

If a majority of athletes rely on the alactic and aerobic systems for energy production, why employ training methods like windsprints, suicides, and sprinting 400s, usually I might add, utilizing little to no recovery? Training the glycolitic system (which all these methods tend to do, since the activity bouts are usually longer than 10 seconds with inadequate recovery) actually hurts these athletes. Without a well-developed aerobic system, the athlete has no choice but to dip into the glycolitic system for energy production over repeated bouts of activity, and as demonstrated, the glycolitic system is limited because of the build up of by-products. Fatigue and decreased power output are the only options at this point. Not good.

Since this month"s articles are dedicated to training our overhead athletes, conveniently are mostly power athletes: volleyball, baseball, softball (with the exception of swimmers, athletes, sorry. Though the information STILL applies to you since the aerobic component of your sport is pretty high!) this is a game-changer when it comes to training.

Remember the PCr from up top? The essential ingredient to a high-capacity alactic system? Guess what replenishes PCr the best during the recovery periods... the aerobic system. Not only does the aerobic system contribute ATPs, it indirectly supplies ATP by helping out the alactic system by providing it the substrate (PCr) it needs to function. Power athletes NEED a solid aerobic base in order to perform at a high-intensity level without fatiguing before the end of the game/match.

Whoa, now, Kelsey, it sounds like you"re advocating long-distance running for power athletes. No, I"m not. Let"s be clear, a jog now and then won"t hurt (especially if it"s a REEEEALLLY nice day) but it should NOT, I repeat NOT, be the main focus of aerobic training. This especially applies to athletes that already stress their joints repeatedly during their sports. At SAPT, we help build the aerobic base, then back off to a maintenance level while focusing on the power/strength component of athletic preparation for our high school athletes. I wrote about the benefits of training sprint work here.

To build the aerobic foundation, at SAPT we like to throw in cardiac out put circuits as a joint-friendly conditioning for our baseball and volleyball athletes. Since this post is insanely long already and Steve did a spectacular job of explaining and providing samples of cardiac output circuits, I shall direct you here. The biggest take away is this little gem:

Perform the following in circuit fashion, keeping your heart rate roughly in the 120-150bpm range. Many people like to get way too crazy with these and push their heart rates through the roof (due to all the rage of high intensity training). Resist this urge, and take a moment to rest if your heart rate shoots above the desired range.

That keeps the athlete OUT of the glycolitic system"s domain and in the alactic (the exercises) and aerobic (rest in between). Ladders are another great way to train your aerobic system without stressing the joints too much and build strength.

Another option is High-Intensity Continuous Training, or HICT. Once again, my amazing other half has a post on it (video included! Bonus!) here. AND here should HICT tickle your fancy.

Am I saying that you should never run repeated sprints? No, especially if you"re a track athlete, but for the power athletes (including weight lifters!), maintaining a solid aerobic system while training strength will produce ideal effects.

Main Points to Remember:

- If you"re a power athlete, the bulk of your conditioning work should focus on building the aerobic system through cardiac output circuits, ladders, or sprints/hill sprints (with full, adequate rest). A little goes a long way, so don"t go crazy and sacrifice your strength for your aerobic training. Once the foundation is laid, one or two training sessions a week (max!) should be dedicated to training the aerobic system (especially if the sports season is in play, in that case, athletics will take care of most of it).

- The glycolitic system is not evil, and still needs to be respected, however, training modalities that rely on the glycolitic system (repeated sprints/exercises with little to no rest) are not as useful to power athletes a) do not mimic most athletic energy demands, b) cause fatigue faster (thus masking true fitness or strength) and c) due to fatigue during the training session, injuries are more likely.

- It"s still all about strength!

Shoulder Range of Motion for the Overhead Athlete

Okay. So today’s post is on the shoulder and range of motion needed for the overhead athlete. Things may get a little hairy, as I’m about to nerd out like a 90’s kid on some old Pokemon cards; the path ahead may become science-y and there may be instances where you say, “I think he just made that joint up…” but trust me, it’s there and it’s important! The shoulder girdle is a very complicated series of joints fixed upon the thoracic spine. Many factors actually play into shoulder health that are often overlooked and unaddressed within traditional "injury prevention" routines. I will go over those factors to help promote a more thorough and global understanding on how the shoulder is affected by specific movements and adaptations of overhead sports.

Most people view the shoulder as just the glenohumeral joint, this is where your humerus (upper arm bone) sits inside the glenoid (socket, on the side of the scapula). But many times they forget that the scapula glides around the ribs and is suspended by several muscles to the thoracic spine. It is also attached to the clavicle at the Acromioclavicular joint; the clavicle is attached to the sternum by the Sternoclavicular joint. Of course the sternum is attached to the ribcage which is also suspended by the, drum roll please, thoracic spine. The thoracic spine is comprised of 12 vertebrae and is supposed to be the more mobile part of the spine. All of this comes into play when assessing shoulder issues and creating preventative maintenance.

First let’s start with the obvious, the glenouhumeral joint. This is an important area because it is where most of the mobility of the shoulder is orchestrated.  The scapula changes its angle to help add mobility, but the glenohumeral joint, the actual ball and socket of the shoulder, is the most mobile joint in the entire body. This mobility can be altered, especially in overhead sports. The shoulder girdle will undergo soft tissue and bony adaptations due to the high velocity, extreme movements imposed on it; we generally see the result as having more external rotation and less internal rotation in the throwing shoulder. This phenomenon is known as Retroversion. This is a somewhat needed adaptation in overhead athletes. But if there is an asymmetry in total range of rotational motion between shoulders, that is known as Glenohumeral Internal Rotation Defecit(GIRD). This is not a needed adaptation.

It's theorized that a healthy, "perfect" shoulder should have 180 degrees of total rotation (90 degree external rotation + 90 degrees internal rotation). Someone with Retroversion typically loses some internal rotation on the dominant arm and gain extra external rotation. However, they will not always have the total 180 degrees of rotation due to the tightening of the tissues or bony adaptations. This is not a huge issue, unless Retroversion on the dominant arm becomes so bad it causes GIRD. GIRD early in an athlete’s career has been associated with Impingement Syndrome and Labral issues.

Traditional prehab approaches for overhead athletes seem to focus on the internal and external rotation of the humerus in the glenohumeral joint. It's pretty well known that the muscles of the rotator cuff undergo the most stress in the deceleration phase of the pitch. These muscles are forced to slow that arm down over and over again and tighten as up as a result. This is an important aspect to address, but when a pitcher throws a pitch, or a volleyball player spikes a ball, is it only that joint that comes into play? No! It’s a series of joint movements that ride and feed off of each other to translate into the action that the athlete needs to accomplish. So for that reason, we should not assume that when we find a case of GIRD, that it’s only an issue of the rotator cuff needing the proper stretching/strengthening. The rotator cuff does need extra treatment, but we can't pretend that that is the only factor needing to be addressed.

Having excessive external rotation has always been a usual thing among most overhead athletes. In fact, it's needed to add speed to a pitch or spike. However, we really can't say how much external rotation is needed for performance versus how much is too much and will increase the likelihood of injury. Even researchers haven’t been able to truly establish an, “acceptable” range of motion for glenohumeral rotation in baseball players or any other overhead athlete. I hypothesize this is because you can't try to quantify the effects of a total body movement on a single joint. When you watch a pitcher throw, you see some borderline exorcism-like external rotation occur in that shoulder. Immediately you can see that that repeated movement is going to cause an adaptation in the shoulder girdle to allow a crap ton of external rotation. But, is all external rotation created equal? What if the pitcher has poor thoracic extension, giving him a hunched posture? Or sub-par upward scapular rotation?  Would it not then cause a compensation further down the chain of movement? That arm would need to cock back for the throw, but the thoracic spine wouldn't extend and the scapula wouldn't upwardly rotate properly. It would require even more movement out of the glenohumeral joint through external rotation, causing the glenohumeral joint to lose congruency between the ball and socket. This would mean that his shoulder or even elbow, would burn out much faster than the other team’s pitcher who has been training as SAPT.

Our first job as Strength and Conditioning Professionals is to create a program that will essentially "bullet proof" the athlete from the demands of their sport and give them the strength and power to excel. That pitcher with the exorcism arm isn’t going to stop playing baseball, and continuing to throw through an entire season has shown to increase external rotation. It’s hard to say at what point it will become an issue since, again, there is no established norm. But from common sense we know that too much of anything can be a bad thing. So giving him drills to increase his internal rotation should help. Yet, I think addressing his global movement restrictions to ensure he is not compensating through even more external rotation in his throw will help too. Put them together with some scapular stabilization and eccentric external rotation drills and you’ve got a pretty effective prehab program.

Now I’m sure all the volleyball and tennis players are sitting patiently, waiting for their sport's turn. These concepts apply to all sports. If your thoracic spine is locked up and you slouch in your posture, it’s going to affect your entire, global, shoulder movement when you serve that ball. All overhead sports require thoracic extension, flexion and rotation as well as scapular upward rotation. Without it, the rotator cuff is going to take a larger brunt of the work. So when GIRD shows its ugly face, don't drop all the blame on your rotator cuff, it may not be the only root cause. If you have lost mobility in one area, it will be reciprocated elsewhere. Never look solely at the one joint in question, look at the movement.

"Hello Sir, why do you hate lunges?"

Okay, I have to admit something - I receive the Parillo Performance Press magazine in the mail. I ordered from the company years ago and am seemingly on their mailing list for life. If you've seen this publication before, you'll no doubt have noticed it can be a little light on the science backing their articles and recommendations. I'm not saying the advice is bad for physique athletes, I'm not qualified to say that, I'm just pointing out it's a bit light on science... that's all. Over the weekend I got a new magazine in the mail - for August - well, I hadn't actually looked at one in a while, so I flipped through it. I landed on the Q&A section with Iron Vic. I don't know who this is... if it's someone I should know, please feel free to enlighten me in the comments section.

One of the questions was asking why Iron Vic hates lunges. I just thought the answer was too good not to post (my highlighted points are below if you don't want to read the whole thing... but seriously, read it):

The high... okay, low... points in this for me are:

• The idea that the lunge is a "strange stupid exercise" - as if to suggest a lunge is some exotic variance or something more useful.
• That the lunge was "devised by Olympic weightlifters." Hmm, interesting... I sort of think of it as a basic movement pattern that all humans go through naturally in any number of a variety of situations for both daily life and sport.
• I truly appreciate his italicized emphasis on how if a lunge is done correctly "the back knee touches the floor on each rep." as if to say with that extra emphasis "can you even imagine going all the way down?"
• More great quotes: "lunges are worthless"
• "I am no fan of this pathetic exercise"
• "The lunge, on the worthless exercise scale..."
• "Ditch the lunge."

Wow. Just wow.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. For whatever it's worth, Parillo products are actually pretty good.

Give Me Strength: Monthly Wrap Up

Today is the last day of July 2013 and marks the conclusion of SAPT's first month of pre-planned and themed content for you, our precious readers, to gobble up! Throughout the 14 total posts we put up, you'll find information on everything related to the importance of strength as it relates not simply to athletic performance, but also to fitness enthusiasts, distance runners, and desk jockeys (like I am now!).

If there is one thing we're passionate about at SAPT... well, there are about infinity things we're passionate about... but, if I had to pick just one, it would be that STRENGTH is the most important factor in reaching virtually any goal. I mean, after all, there is loads of research pouring out validating the importance of strength training and exercise for everything from mother-fetus health during pregnancy to impacting the way the brain functions to everything in-between.

We've got a new and very sport specific theme for the month of August. Please check back on Friday for Stevo's killer introduction to the month!

You Want To Be Fast, Huh?

Intern Post By Goose & Josh:

                      Get infinity times faster by going beyond your understanding of speed.

Humans have an addiction to speed. No matter what we do we are never fast enough. Whether it is from running to jets flying over the open sky we build/engineer these bodies to go faster. The question is how do we engineer speed and how do we do it properly? We can break it down into 5 parts strength, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, form, and genetics. Having a firm understanding of these 5 elements will allow you to harness a power that the human race strives to attain.

Strength

Being strong does not mean being able to lift heavy things and put things back down. It is the matter of building a foundation for speed. Without strength speed cannot be accomplished. Strength determines the rate of force development (RFD) meaning how fast your muscles contracts to produce a maximal amount of force. With minimal strength there is low RFD meaning that the muscles in your body will not be able to get you to the finish before the guy that can produce the same amount of force is a shorter period of time. Strength training, done correctly, can and will excel your RFD to the next level.

Strength training is also vital to injury prevention. It is much more beneficial and time efficient for the athlete to prevent and injury versus recovering from one. Resistance training strengthens one’s connective tissue and increases the size and strength of ligament. Strong ligaments especially in areas such as the Achilles are necessary for an athlete to keep running at top speed. The physical stress from resistance/strength also increases bone density, which will help prevent overuse injuries such as stress fractures.

                    Did you know that the Hulk can run at least 215 mph? That is pure strength.

Well some of you also may be thinking, “I lifted once and I got hurt…” Well yes improper lifting can hurt anyone just like improperly can cause stress fractures. Make sure you know exactly what you are doing and if you do not ask people who do. I’ll admit it is difficult to find people who know how to teach lifts properly and this requires research. Well you might be thinking this is a lot of work just to pick things up and put them back down. Let me tell you this, if you truly want to get faster then you will do whatever you can to get it done.

P.S. As strength coaches it is our responsibility to understand that we are responsible not just for making them lift more weights but for the athletes overall health and well being.

P.P.S. If you still are not convinced about building strength and its obvious benefits then check out this great article: http://saptstrength.com/2013/06/17/lifting-running-monster-benefits-an-intern-post/ It should help clear up some doubts.

Cardiovascular Endurance

What’s the point of running fast if your heart cannot keep up? Cardiovascular endurance determines how long your heart rate can pump at a high rate. The heart is the most important muscle in your body and without it there is no life, thus no speed. To have a healthy heart can mean to add more years to your life, which means more time to go fast!

Yes sure a healthy heart is great and goes without saying, but honestly how does this effect my force production to create more SPEED!? Well let’s put it this way, your heart pumps blood through out your body right? Well that includes your muscles too. What muscles need in order to function is oxygen. Well guess what is in the blood going to your muscles, OXYGEN!

So that being said if your heart poops out and pumps less blood after 10 seconds, your muscles start getting less and less oxygen. If your muscles are not getting enough of oxygen then the they will have a much harder time contracting thus = less force production. So the longer the heart can pump blood without straining the longer your body can propel itself at full speeds.

Having strong cardiovascular endurance is also vital for recovery between your bursts of intense speed. The aerobic energy system is responsible for full recovery between bouts of sprints, so that you can sprint fast on each successive sprint rather than seeing drops in performance. It clears out metabolic byproducts of anaerobic work such as CO2. Clearing out the waste allows for ATP to be produced and ATP is what we use for energy to create explosive speed.

             Long story short DON’T skip cardio day! Never know when a zombie will show up

Muscular Endurance

    The body derives its energy from three different energy systems, the Phosphagen, Anaerobic, and Aerobic Systems. Generally speaking the Phosphagen System provides energy for all out efforts lasting 6 to 15 seconds, depending on the nature of the activity. Meanwhile the Anaerobic System provides the energy for submaximal bursts of speed lasting 30 seconds to2 minutes. Finally the Aerobic System provide a low but constant flow of energy for long lasting activities such as distance running. Whenever you exercise all three of the energy systems are turned on however the amount of energy you get from each one varies depending on duration, intensity, and the nature of the activity.

When sprinting you primarily rely on the Phosphagen System and the Anaerobic System for energy. The Aerobic system is being utilized during the activity but its main role is providing energy for recovery. This is why it is important to have a strong cardiovascular system, it’ll help you recover faster so you can sprint for longer. Muscular endurance training teaches your body how to push the limits of these energy systems and how to recover faster. This can be done through interval workouts, fartleks, hills, and bleacher/stair workouts. By continuously putting a high energy demand on your body and teaching it to keep working under stressful conditions you are actually pushing your Lactate Threshold back further and further.

Your body naturally produces lactate throughout the workout but when you do high intensity muscular endurance workouts you get to a point when the lactate overwhelms the system which gets rid of it. Once lactate production exceeds the removal capacity of the body it starts to accumulate in the blood stream. This is bad news because it interferes with the production of energy by the 3 systems I mentioned before. This begins the downward spiral to you ending up on the ground with vomit all over yourself. During workouts you push your body to its Lactate threshold but not passed it, this paired with your body’s awesome ability to adapt to new stresses over time will keep pushing the threshold further back. This is how people “get in shape”, they constantly put stress on the body which causes it to adapt until the previous level of stress is no longer as challenging.

Mental Toughness! My personal definition of mental toughness is being able to push yourself to do what you have to do even when it hurts. My favorite example of this is the 400m dash. The 400 meters is a great but terrible race for no matter who you are/how fast you are the last 100 meter are ALWAYS going to hurt. The high school scrub who runs 53 seconds and the all-star who runs 46 seconds are both hating life during that last straightaway. The difference being that the all-star has taught himself to ignore the pain and maintain form, meanwhile the scrub is thinking too much about the burning in his quads while his arms flail everywhere and everyone flies by. It’s the mental fortitude to ignore how tired you are and being able to remain focused on the task at hand that separates champions from benchwarmers. Only by constantly putting your body in this tired state, through running workouts, and testing your mental fortitude will you get tougher.

                                           Only the toughest person wins the race!

Form

    The reason why coaches are such sticklers about form is because bad form sacrifices efficiency. There’s a reason why all the fast people on TV look the same when they run! Good form allows you to use you’re body’s levers to your advantage and to properly direct the force you’re putting on the ground. In layman’s terms, it lets you do work while expending less energy. This makes the difference in the end of the race/game when everyone is tired. Whoever has the most energy left will win 9 times out of 10. The simplest running form drill that will work wonders when performed correctly are:

-A Skips

-B Skips

-High Knees

-Butt Kicks

-Straight Leg Bounds

-Alternating Quick Leg

-Falling Starts

These drills not only work on running form but also coordination. They can do wonders for kids and adults who lack the coordination to run properly.

**Front pack = world class times, stragglers = average times, form made the difference!**

Genetics

    As much as I would love to say we are all equal and have the exact same potential, that would be a lie. I’m a firm believer in genetic superiority. We all knew that guy in high school or college that had the drive to work hard but barely improved every season. On the flip side, we all had that friend who never tried hard at all and was still the best on the team. You can only fight your genetics so much! HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you can’t achieve greatness! Sure you may not be a national champion but being All-State or Conference Champ is still pretty awesome. There is still plenty of glory to be had, you just have to go out there and get it! Even if you don’t win but set a personal best, that still means you are now better than you’ve ever been, there should be some small amount of satisfaction there! So what if you’re genes aren’t the best it doesn’t mean you can’t get faster! Odds are you’re not even close to hitting your genetic ceiling, aka you’re body’s full potential. Do work and worry about the factor you can control.

                        **We can’t all be the greatest athlete in the world, but we can try ;)**