SAPT Spring Sport All-Met Selections
I just wanted to take this time to give a HUGE shout out and congratulations to a few of our Spring sport athletes who made the All-Met selection for 2012: -Jessie Ferrari (Soccer, signed to University of Virginia) -Taylor Heasley (Softball, signed to Ohio Wesleyan) -Kent Blackstone (Baseball, signed to New Mexico State University) -Red Dowdell (Baseball, signed to VMI)
Not to mention, SAPT athletes Daniel Whitaker, CJ Herold, Kent Blackstone, Red Dowdell (baseball), and Taylor Heasley (softball) are in the Northern Virginia's Top 50 for home runs this past season! Soccer goalie Jessie Ferrari also ranked 13 in the entire region for number of saves (78 total).
This is an enormous accomplishment, and we're proud of each and every one of them, along with all of our other athletes who won All-Region and All-District selections, as well.
Getting Stronger In-Season
One of the coolest things for us coaches at SAPT is to see the athletes continue to arrive at our facility to get after it, even when in-season. We have the special privilege of working with a large group of HIGHLY motivated individuals.....those individuals that are willing to drive 30 minutes (and more) to SAPT to train late in the evening immediately after they get out of their sports practice.
Sometimes they show up ready to kick down the doors of the gym, and other times they arrive feeling pretty beat up, but the point is they understand that the season is a great opportunity to get a leg up on the competition. While many of their friends and rivals are going home to lie down on the couch after practice, they drive over to SAPT to get their trainification on (yeah, I suppose I made up that word....).
Similarly, when their practice/game is canceled because of bad weather, they schedule in a last-minute appointment at SAPT to become stronger, more powerful, and undergo recovery modalities while their competition takes the time off to sit on the couch and watch late-afternoon sitcoms.
I think it goes without saying that it's extremely motivating to us coaches to watch them remain consistent throughout the demands of in-season sport, and it certainly makes our long days worth it, to have an opportunity to help further the physical qualities of our athletes.
As an example, catcher Red Dowdell (recently selected to the *All-Met baseball team for 2012, and will be playing DI baseball at VMI next year), has been driving 30+ minutes, 3 days a week, out to SAPT to train late in the evening after practice. Just this week he hit a 405lb deadlift, a 80lb increase compared to what he was pulling before the season!
And who says you can't get stronger in-season? This showed on the field, too, as his poptime decreased from 1.95 to 1.88, the speed of his throws increased from 80mph to 86mph, on top of the fact that his doubles, triples, and RBIs shot up. Not too shabby if you ask me.
He is just one example of MANY of our athletes who has made enormous strength/power gains throughout this past season, and we couldn't be more proud of each and every one of them.
I say all this to drive home the point that it is certainly possible, and should be desired, to get stronger while in-season, be you a high school athlete or even an adult runner/triathlete (where the "season" tends to last 6+ months).
Many people assume that training will only make you sore and tired for your sport-specific practice, but this is only if you don't understand how to design+implement the training plan appropriately, and fail to manage the competing demands and training stressors throughout the week. If you have a qualified coach to walk you through the process (Wink wink, nudge nudge, click HERE), the sky is the limit with what can be accomplished. While your opponents strength gains are diminishing rapidly by the time playoffs arrive (assuming they haven't trained since pre-season), you're only stronger and more ready to go than ever.
*A pretty freaking huge deal, for those of you who live outside the Metro/DC area. SAPT is also extremely proud of our other athletes who made the highly coveted All-Met teams, to be announced next week
The Do's and Don'ts of Being an Intern
Internships are the bridges that lead into a career in strength and conditioning whether it’s at the collegiate level or the private sector. If you want to pursue a career in this industry at some point you need to do an internship. If you don’t then you won’t gain hands on knowledge and you won’t be able to learn from people more experienced and smarter than you. Internships are almost a rite of passage. They mean you paid your dues. If you successfully completed an internship it means you worked hard every day, you cleaned equipment, you organized storage closets, you woke up at 4:00AM to be in the weight room for a 5:00AM team and then worked till 4:00PM, you read endlessly, you watched some of the most knowledgeable people you’ll ever meet coach, you got to ask those coaches questions, you got to listen to those coaches answer your questions, and if you were lucky those coaches threw you to the wolves and told you one morning “hey, I’m going to let you run women’s soccer today to see how you do” then they watched you fail miserably which gave you the opportunity to find out what your made of, then they showed you how to learn from your mistakes and how to do it better the next time! And you did it all for no money, just for the experience, the knowledge, the pride and to see if you had what it takes. It was all for the opportunity to gain the ability to help people and athletes become better versions of themselves. Or at least this is what it should be about; sadly a lot of people just want to get by. You’d be amazed by the amount of people who want to say they put in the work rather than just putting in the work. People who do the internship because they need the credit to graduate so they try to put in as little effort as possible instead of taking advantage of a great situation in which they can learn.
With all that said here are some do’s and don’ts to follow in order to get the best possible experience out of your internship…
1) Be Quiet
You are there to learn, not socialize. The coaches don’t care about how “crazy” your weekend was. Unless your asking questions there is no need for you to talk, until the coach states otherwise.
2) Understand That You Know Nothing/Be Open Minded
It’s important to grasp the concept that unless you have coaching experience your opinion doesn't hold much value. There’s nothing worse than someone who spouts off exercise science trivia but can’t goblet squat to save their life or teach it for that matter. It doesn’t matter what your training methodology is because it’s over for the time being. Take this time to step out of your comfort zone and learn something new. Is your internship somewhere that is Olympic based? Well if it is guess what? You are going to train the Olympic lifts for the next semester or year. If you go into the whole thing thinking you know it all then then you’ve demonstrated that you truly know nothing.
3) Do as Your Asked and Do it with a Smile on Your Face
Your job is whatever the strength coach you’re working under deems it to be. If they want you to go reorganize the whole storage closet then do it and whistle while you work, trust me it helps. If they want you to observe a training session then you need watch intently and have questions ready to ask them when the session is done. It’s a privilege that these coaches have taken you under their wing so show gratitude by performing each task no matter how minute it is to the best of your ability
4) Show Initiative
Sadly, this was my biggest problem during my internships. If someone told me to do something I definitely did it to the best of my ability. That was the problem though, most of the time I had to be told when to do something. If you see plates unorganized then go organize them before someone tells you. Is everything organized in the storage closet by the end of the day? If not, take it upon yourself to organize it. If the strength coach is running behind schedule and has a collegiate baseball team getting out of line then put your big boy/girl pants on and go lay down the law. One of your jobs is to assist the strength coach so they can focus on their job. If they have to stop what they’re doing in order to tell you what to do all the time then you’re just making things worse. Taking initiative shows leadership qualities and that you can handle yourself in all different situations.
5) Have Fun
I know that sounds a little hard after all the things I just mentioned BUT I promise you that if you observe the other rules listed number 5 will come naturally. If you can successfully observe the previous rules then the strength coach you work under will probably make your job a lot more enjoyable. If you don’t heed the other rules you’re going to have a really angry strength coach as a boss. Working under Sarah I learned this quick, that’s not a person you want angry at you; I have nightmares to this day…. joking…. But seriously. In all seriousness though, depending on where you end up for your internship you have been given a great opportunity to change yourself for the better. It’s important to do everything in your power to seize the opportunity.
Runners and Resistance Training
It's unfortunate, really, that distance runners - and endurance athletes, in general – could benefit more from a solid strength training program than nearly any other population. I say this is unfortunate because the majority of distance runners tend to be more adamantly opposed to strength training than almost any other group of people I’ve witnessed. I’ve heard it all:
- “But I’ll get slower if work out in the weight room”
- “I’ll become ‘big and bulky’ if I lift weights!”
- “Strength training will interfere with my running” (yes, it certainly could, but only if you don’t understand how to design the program appropriately)
- “Won’t I gain body fat if I cut back on running and replace it with lifting?”
- “Well, I get all the ‘strength training’ I need for my lower body through running!”
- “I don’t have time to strength train”
I can see why these concerns may arise in a distance runner, especially if he or she has never experienced the value of a professional designing his or her strength training program (p.s. most of those programs you read in the magazines don’t count). However these qualms with strength training tend to be grounded upon emotion, misconceptions, a bad experience, and/or erroneous propaganda as opposed to reason and approaching the topic with no presuppositions.Now, I can’t necessarily blame them, as there are many factors outside their control constructing their belief of the relationship between resistance training and running. However, understand that as a performance enhancement specialist, I write this series in an effort to help the endurance community – not deride them.
Why is it accepted - rather than vehemently challenged - that the majority of runners will experience an injury in the next year?
Christopher McDougall, the author of Born to Run, cites multiple statistics claiming over 66% of runners will suffer a serious injury in a given YEAR. Yet this is just shrugged off by the endurance community as the norm??! Stress fractures, IT Band syndrome, plantar fasciitis, patellofemoral knee pain, low back pain, and tendonitis plague the bodies of distance runners and yet this seen as “the consequence of the sport??”
I used to work as a Physical Therapist Aid, and an astonishing percentage of non-surgical patients in therapy were runners! And you know what the advice of the physical therapist was (on top of rest, ice, and soft tissue work)?
STRENGTH TRAINING.
Now, I’m aware that when you hear the words “strength training” the first image that comes to mind is a bunch of college boys bench pressing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and incessantly bicep curling away in front of the mirror. I can’t blame you.
But understand that a good training plan incorporates movement preparation, corrective exercise, dynamic flexibility, resistance training, core work, cardiovascular work, and recovery/regeneration. This can be accomplished in as little as two, 75-minute sessions a week (even less if you’re really pressed for time).
Most distance runners tend to approach their training by punching the accelerator while the emergency brake is on.
As Alwyn Cosgrove says:
“All of us in the fitness industry, trainers and trainees alike, have been brainwashed into thinking that the only way to improve results is to push harder. If you aren’t making gains, it’s because you aren’t training hard enough or often enough…The answer to every problem is to punch down harder on the accelerator.
But think of a car with the parking brake on. If you push harder on the gas pedal, you’ll only run out of fuel quicker, right? But if you take off the brake, the car will go farther and faster, and probably use less fuel in the process."
With runners, this couldn't be more true. Most runners assume that the answer to faster times, enhancing cardiovascular capacity, and improving running economy is to run more, more, and some more.
Need to improve my 5k, 10k, or marathon time? Add more miles each week!
How do I lose that extra five pounds to make me faster? Increase my weekly running frequency!
This will keep going. More miles. More days per week. Just continuing to press down on that accelerator while your body is trying to tell you that there is a parking brake lifted and you need to release the brakes before you continue to burn fuel and eventually sustain an injury. Maybe not even accrue an injury. Maybe just continue to go about your training in a sub-par manner, requiring your body to do more work than is actually necessary to achieve your goals.
As Mike Boyle says:
"In endurance training, the emphasis is usually high on the quantity side and low on the quality side. This is the main mistake of endurance athletes in training."
Well, what are the "parking breaks" in endurance athletes, you ask? The list includes, but is not limited to:
- Stiff/immobile ankles. Poor ankle mobility and ROM is strongly correlated with ankle sprains, tendonitis, and pain/deficiencies further up the kinetic chain (think knees and hips). Everything starts from the ground up, so don't ignore this area.
- Unstable knees and hips. Honestly, I want to cringe when I drive by people jogging on the side of the road. Knees and feet flailing about since they don't have the hip stabilizers required to keep everything in line and move proficiently. Knees landing way out of alignment with their feet. It's terrible. Not because they look goofy, but because I wonder how long it will be before they need to schedule a visit with the physical therapist.
- Weak/dormant Glutes. I'm sad to say we live in a society plagued with "gluteal amnesia." Steady state running does absolutely nothing to strengthen the glutes, which is a death sentence to running efficiency, low back health, proper knee tracking, and overall structural enhancement (in more ways than one :) ).
- Terrible thoracic mobility. Think range of motion about your spine in the upper back region. Have problems with the low back, shoulder joint or neck? Look at what's going on at the thoracic spine.
- Poor Running Form. Every mile you run requires roughly 1,500 plyometric repetitions with forces of 2-4 times bodyweight. Better make sure each of those reps is done correctly.
The list goes on, but my point is you have to release the breaks. And you can't release them by just tacking on those miles to your training weeks.
You need a solid resistance training program. The tricky part is ensuring that the program addresses your needs and, does so with the appropriate frequency, intensity, and volume so that it
enhances
your body as a running machine as opposed to hindering your training sessions. Unfortunately the professionals that know how to do this are few and far between.
I've been there.
I want to make sure you're aware that
I have personally competed in endurance races in the past
. So I'm not just preaching at runners from a completely removed standpoint. My training weeks frequently entailed NO MORE than 2-3 running sessions a week. How did I do this? I released the breaks through appropriate strength training, followed the 80-20 rule, and ran
smart
, not hard.
I can also tell you that every runner that has trained with us at SAPT has seen a DROP in their running times, along with decreased (sometimes eliminated) pain associated with all the "nagging injuries" they had when they first walked in our doors. Something is working.
To any endurance athletes in the crowd that need that extra boost to their training, click
to get started, whether it be in our training facility, or, should you live across the country, through our distance coaching program!
Happy Tuesday!
Happy Tuesday? I know, who says that.
Apparently, ladies who just gave birth.
I'm pretty low on sleep and have about a million work things to do before the next set of relatives join us for the rest of the week (t-minus 30-min, not looking good for me getting everything done).
So, I'm just going to do a short round-up of some miscellaneous posts and a personal update:
- Alex Hutchinson has the breakdown of an interesting study regarding diet and hydration relating to workload at Sweatscience. It's title says it all: Nutrition and Hydration: Science 1, Experience 0. Pretty cool info, especially if you think your body operates on some different plane than everyone else (it doesn't).
- This morning I received a link from Brian Levenson directing me to a Ted talk called Philippe Petit: The journey across the high wire. If you've got about 20-minutes to spare check it out, the main points are about magic (yes, like magic tricks), pursuing your passion, and doing the impossible.
- My new favorite equipment supplier for both commercial and home applications is Rogue Fitness. Their stuff is made is the USA, comes at very reasonable prices, and - best of all - they don't "bend you over" on shipping rates. Sorry for the imagery. I just ordered a few things for our backyard and anticipate using them heavily for SAPT orders in the future.
Personal update: I know most people who read Saptstrength.com also frequent Stronggirlswin.com, so you're probably aware of the "self-experiment" I've been running on myself throughout this pregnancy.
Now, that the birth is over, I'm beginning a new self-experiment that will last from Duke's birthday of May 23rd through the beginning of the fall semester at Mason (August 27th). That's just short of 15-weeks.
My personal goal is pretty darn simple:see if I can get myself into a BodPod measured and confirmed 14-16% body fat level. Why? Well, over the last 3-years I've been pregnant for a total of 20-months and spent the other non-pregnant 16-months learning how to balance being a mom with work.
But, another EXTREMELYimportant goal for me is to provide proof of success and, eventually, a framework for other new moms to gain motivation and direction from.
I simply don't agree with the idea that once you have kids you have to accept a body that you don't really want.
I'm quite excited and anxious to spend some serious and focused time working on ME. I'll be documenting this process and progress over at Stronggirlswin.com.
Whoooo Hoooo, Happy Tuesday!
It's the little things....
It's not uncommon for us coaches at SAPT to receive "thank you's" from our clientele, whether they be through emails, Facebook, or during conversations in our facility. Usually the gratitude will center around something tangible such as an improved vertical jump, faster baseball pitch, lower poptime, reduced bodyfat percentage; or, "intangibles" such as reduced knee pain while running, leaping and bounding, and general sense of improved movement proficiency. We cherish each and every one of these moments, as there are few things more rewarding than seeing our hard-working athletes and clients feel the results of their efforts and tasting the fresh fruits of their labor. However, every now and then we receive something that holds a special place in our hearts, and this past week was no exception. I got so fired up and excited that I had to share it here.
Below is a Facebook message we received from one of our old high school athletes (I changed his name for confidentiality purposes):
"Hey, this is Adam, ive been in your summer program for 2 summers and i just wanted to thank you, you guys know that as recent as last year i couldn't do a single pullup, but by this year i was able to the one ton pull up challenge (weight * number of pullups= 2000lbs) so i did 11, right now i can do as many as 15!! then i did the 3000lbs dip challenge, i did 19 dips for that, and right now i can do almost 30, thanks without your help i would not have been able to any of that! and I'm one of the few people in my school to successfully do both"
Two years ago, I vividly remember when Adam was in here with a large group of athletes. He was very hard-working, but wasn't the strongest of the group, and was struggling like crazy to do pullups even with a fair amount of band assistance.
A couple months into the program, Coach Chris and I spotted him standing up on the 
pullup platform, looking up at the bar. There were no bands attached the apparatus, so it became quickly obvious that he was going to attempt a bodyweight chinup (his program definitely said band-assisted chinups, 3x5), and his body language and facial expression was similar to that of a child about to jump into the deep end of a swimming pool for the first time.
However - after a few moments of standing on the platform, looking at the bar - he turned around and jumped off, confidence wavering and and a slightly defeated look on his face.
Chris acted on this very quickly, and directed his voice over to Adam:
Chris: Adam, were you about to try a bodyweight chinup?
Adam (*looking a bit scared, like he just did something wrong and was about to be pounded by Chris, the 230lb powerlifter*): Umm, maybe....yeah, well I was thinking about it....
Chris: Well then GET BACK UP THERE and go for it dude!!
Adam gets back up on the platform, hesitates for a second, and then goes for it. He gets about one third to halfway up, gets stuck, fights for a while, and then drops down.
*Cue end of short story.......
Anyway, I say this because it was HUGE for me to read the above Facebook message to us, knowing full well where he was at in his training just a couple years ago. To know that he went from not being able to do a single chinup, to being one of the only kids in school to successfully complete that pullup/dip challenge....brought happy tears to my eyes.
People often ask me if my dream job is to work with a professional sports team, and my answer is simple: Absolutely not.
Don't get me wrong, there's something to be said for having the opportunity to train some of the "best of the best"; but, in my personal opinion, working with professional athletes doesn't give near the reward of working with the not-so-genetically gifted individuals.
Professional athletes will typically learn a movement within one set of an exercise, while your typical high schooler may take MONTHS before he or she is even ready to squat or deadlift with a barbell, let alone safely perform plyometrics or movement training drills.....and this can take incredible patience and perseverance from BOTH the athlete and the strength coach. Yet, there's something about this process that continues to allow me to wake up on Monday morning, excited to go into work for the day.
Receiving a message like Adam's, in which he thanks me and the SAPT staff for playing a pivotal role in his accomplishing something great, gives me fulfillment that few other things can provide, and I'm extremely blessed to work with people like him....and hear stories similar to his.....on a weekly basis. I dunno...there's just something that makes me tick from being able to help the people who AREN'T used to "getting it right" the first time, to get from Point A to Point B.
One of the reasons I love SAPT so much is that I do have the opportunity to work with professional athletes, but the majority of my time is spent teaching your average high school kid how to do something great with his or her life, both inside and outside of the weight room. And it's not something I plan to give up anytime soon.
