SAPT Exercise of the Week: Over Hurdle Jump to Falling Start
Note: I leave for a backpacking trip to Europe in a few days (returning October 29th) so this will unfortunately be my last post for a couple weeks. Hang tight, and see you all when I get back!
The falling start is a fairly ubiquitous drill in the strength and conditioning sphere, and for good reason. It creates a fantastic way to train the acceleration phase of the sprint, helping the athlete create momentum via forward lean, and can be employed with very short distances (15 yards or less) to reduce the risk of injury in the early phases of sport preparation.
I won't belabor the point any further, however, as I wrote an entire post on the falling start HERE.
We can progress the falling start through a variety of modalities, either utilizing offshoots of the specific drill itself, or moving on to a different drill entirely (ex. a Rollover to Sprint or a Side Shuffle to Sprint).
One of my favorite ways to progress the falling start is to preface the "fall" portion of the drill with eccentric muscle contraction and subsequent force absorption. This, provided the athlete does it correctly, will lay the groundwork for better-stored elastic energy and augment the individual's concentric strength.
How does one do such things, you ask?
Utilize an altitude drop or hurdle jump variation immediately before the falling start. These will force the athlete to demonstrate dynamic stability, on top of "priming" the muscle spindles prior to the sprint.
Hurdle Jump and Stick to Falling Start
As you can see, you'll simply jump over an object (short or tall), stick the landing, stand up, and then immediately move into a falling start.
A regression to this drill would be to have the athlete perform a Level 1 or 2 altitude drop (less eccentric control required here), stick the landing, then sprint. Either that, or you could simply stand on the ground and perform a "hop-back" into a falling start.
A progression could be applied a few ways:
A) Instead of pausing after the jump (as I did in the video), immediately transition into the falling start.
B) Vary the jump prior to the sprint. This could be accomplished through assorted tumbling drills before the jump, or varying the landing stances of the athlete. No need to get super wild with these, however; simple will be best.
C) Wear a superhero costume, pretending you're leaping over tall buildings and chasing down evil villains.
How To Incorporate It Into Your Program
Four primary ways I like to do this:
- Perform all the sets in a row on an "upper body" focused day, resting a few minutes between every two to three sprints.
- Do them on a lower body day, but complete only HALF of your total number of sets (say, two of four, or three of six), prior to your resistance training, and then finish the remainder of the sets toward the end of the session.
- Utilize a "throughout the session" method. Choose a number of sets x reps (e.g. 5x2) and intersperse them throughout the day as you see fit. For example: do two sprints after your warm-up, two more sprints during your warm-up sets of squats, two sprints in between sets of accessory work, etc. etc. etc.
- Do them on a day completely separated from the resistance training.
I recommend erring on the side of 2-3 "reps" of 10-15 yards per set, ensuring that you're taking your time walking back to the starting line.
SMR: Self-Myofacial Release, Magic Without a Wand
For us Muggles, a foam roller is more effective than a wand.
Yes, SMR is more important than a wand is to Harry Potter. Why? The short answer is we have a lot of gunky junk in our muscles that are impeding movements and causing aches and pains. And who wants to feel like a bag of junk?
Those in the fitness-know-how have probably heard of self-myofacial release (SMR) or at least have seen foam rollers lying around a lot of gyms (or, if you're us, lying around the house). A little rolling here and there does magical things for the body! One can instantly feel the difference even after only one time on that foam roller. What is this witchcraft? Let us delve into the magical world of SMR.
What SMR does NOT do:
- Lengthen tissue/muscle- you'll hear this occasionally and SMR does NOT lengthen the tissues because a) the joint position doesn't change b) the SMR modality (aka foam roller) applies compression at a 90 degree angle to the muscle. Unless force is applied more along the length of the muscle, no lengthening will occur.
- Allow more fluid to the muscle- what? SMR is not open a flood gate of fluid to rush into the muscle.
SMR does not equal flood of Isengard
What SMR DOES do:
- Releases tension in the muscles. How does it do that? Let's say there is a knot in the muscle (ball of fail, junk, gunk... pick you favorite term) and you sit on a foam roller or lacrosse ball and apply pressure to the knot.This provokes the ball-of-fail enough to cause it to release the tension. Kinda like a pesky little brother, he pokes you in the shoulder (SMR modality) until you finally explode out of annoyance (release tension).
How does that happen?
Our muscles are encapsulated in a tissued called fascia (there are SO many trails and tangents I could go on regarding fascia, but we'll stick with this for now). The fascia has little receptors (rufini corpuscles and pacini receptors for those who want to know stuff like that, they sound like Italian food.) that generate and relieve tension in a slow, deliberate pace.
*Side note* Our muscles also have similar receptors, the golgi tendon apparatus and muscle spindles, that react much more quickly to changes in length and tension in the muscle. For example, when the doc tests your reflexes by tapping on your knee, what he's doing is stretching the tendon quickly, which causes the muscle spindles in the quad to react, a signal is sent to the brain and the quad contracts (thus extending the knee a bit). It's actually really cool.
Anyway, these slower receptors also have neural components that govern them. What foam rolling does is short-circuit the neural components and the fascia-imbedded receptors (usually) freak out, shut down and take the tension with them.
Since they're slow-acting receptors then we need to foam roll/use a lax ball s-l-o-w-l-y. Hang out on those junky spots and you should feel them release a bit, then you can move one. Check back on Friday for Part 2 and I'll have some videos of how to roll the various body parts.
Until then, just sit on a lacrosse ball. Your glutes will thank me.
Our New Coach & The Double Knee Bend
Our New Coach
I'm pleased to welcome SAPT's newest coach, Tadashi, to our staff! Tadashi interned with us last spring, then went on to the University of Maryland for another internship, and is now on our staff permanently!
From the word "Go," Tadashi established himself as a coach with an excellent eye for detail and a passion for the field. Please help us welcome him to the blog and the training floor over the next several weeks!
The Double Knee Bend
Have you ever wondered about the elusive double knee bend in the clean? Well, if you want to see what it is, check out my video below. I've attempted to breakdown the footage to illustrate how the legs straighten, then re-bend right before the second phase of the pull. (Bear with me on the video... I just got this program and I'm not super smooth with it yet.)
Some people say the double knee bend cannot be taught... that you either have it or you don't. I can't say I necessarily agree with that, as I was taught to execute it in this fashion. Regardless, this technical point is so fine and specific that it is a PRIMARY reason why some strength coaches (like those of us at SAPT) choose to explore other variations of triple extension and speed/power work well before we would implement a clean or any of its variations.
And, please, if we have any champion internet coaches reading this post... I know my form is not picture perfect, you don't need to tell me!
I Love My Fear
One of my favorite quotes is from Dave Tate. He said, “Real fear makes men do amazing things they would never do without it.” I’ve done a lot of reflecting over the past couple of weeks and what Dave said has really stuck with me. As I lead my life in other directions I look forward to but also fear the future. I fear falling into “that’s just the way it is” mindset, I fear defeat, I fear feeling I put myself in a situation where I can’t make a difference, I fear that I’m leaving a one-of-a-kind place. But just as Tate says, I love my fear. Is that weird that I feel that way? Is it weird to say that yes, I do love my fear. If I was just a normal person who had never set foot in SAPT’s doors then maybe it would be. However, as I leave SAPT I feel ready and able to embrace my fears. Reflecting back on the years at SAPT I remember vividly entering the facility for the first time and being in awe. I was in awe of the work ethic, the drive, the training, the coaching, it was all amazingly overwhelming. I felt like I couldn’t hang with any of them; the coaches, the athletes and clients, they were all above me. What could I offer these people? As I’ve gone on these past couple of years those fears have gone away; I’ve become a good coach and an even better man for being at SAPT. The coaches who I now call family and the athletes and clients I’ve worked with have made me understand that if you embrace your fears you can make a difference. I don’t know if the coaches and people of SAPT understand just how important they’ve been in making me the person I am but I hope they do. I hope they realize how thankful I am to all of them for everything they’ve given me. Leaving SAPT is extremely hard for me and I want everyone to know that I am eternally grateful and I truly wish you all nothing but the best life has to offer.
As I said before I fear the future, I fear falling into “that’s just the way it is” mindset, I fear defeat, I fear feeling I put myself in a situation where I can’t make a difference, I fear that I’m leaving a one-of-a-kind place. However, in reflection I’ve come to understand that I am not truly leaving SAPT because SAPT is not something you leave. Once you’ve been there it becomes a part of you and it is a place that will be with me always. With all this said if there is one thing the people and coaches of SAPT have taught me it’s that, you have to love your fear.
How to Get More Done in Less Time: Parkinson's Law
(Note: In Part 1 we discussed how to save massive amounts of time each day by reducing the frequency at which you check/respond to email. In Part 2 we briefly discussed how to cut out distractions that keep you for working on the task at hand. Now on to the third and final installment of this series...)
Meetings. Putting together a presentation. Writing a paper or blog post. Shuffling papers around in the office. Studying for an exam. Entering data into an Excel spreadsheet.
Ever notice how, at times, you find yourself spending wayyyy longer on a task than you know you should be spending to complete? I know I do. Or did, at least, until I discovered the beauty of using Parkinson's Law to my advantage.
What is Parkison's Law? You can view it here on Wikipedia, but I think Tim Ferriss summed it up quite nicely for us:
Parkinson's Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion. It is the magic of the imminent deadline. If I give you 24 hours to complete a project, the time pressure forces you to focus on execution, and you have no choice but to do only the bare essentials. If I give you a week to complete the same task, it's six days of making a mountain out of a molehill. If I give you two months, God forbid, it becomes a mental monster. The end product of the shorter deadline is almost inevitably of equal or higher quality due to greater focus.
We can use Parkinson's Law to our advantage by setting extremely clear, and borderline impossibly short, deadlines for various tasks and 'To-Do' items. I've been instituting this over the past couple weeks and WOW, I can't quite express how much of a life changer this has been for me.
Personally, I've found E.gg Timerto be an invaluable source for helping me produce more output with less input (time) when doing anything at a computer. Heck, I'm using E.gg Timer right now as I type this. You can set the countdown timer for however long you wish - it will fill up your screen when it gets to zero - and it's amazing how the ticking clock will keep you inexorably focused on action steps instead of deliberation and procrastination.
Again, quoting Ferris:
If you haven't identified the mission-critical tasks and set agressive start and end times for their completion, the unimportant becomes the important. Evern if you know what's critical, without deadlines that create focus, the minor tasks forced upon you (or invented, in the case of the entrepreneur) will swell to consume time until another bit of minutiae jumps in to replace it, leaving you at the end of the day with nothing accomplished.
How else could dropping off a package at UPS, setting a few appointments, and checking e-mail consume an entire 9-5 day?
Many of us subconsciously realize this, but never actually set self-imposed deadlines to force us to get more done in less time.
While I'm not necessarily proud of this, I unknowingly used Parkinson's Law to allow me to get an A on almost every exam I took in high school and college; it didn't take me long to realize that I got the same grade whether I started studying a week out from the exam, or only 24 hours (and sometimes as little as 1-2 hours) before taking the exam.
Why? Whenever I began studying far in advance, I'd inevitably allow myself to become distracted by phone calls, the internet, outdoor games with friends, you name it, as I knew deep down that I still had plenty of time to study. But when I knew I had a major (and quite difficult) exam looming in only 5 hours or less, it FORCED me to shut out anything that would steer me away from doing well on the test.
In fact, I recently received this text from a friend of mine who had graduated from his doctorate of physical therapy program, and was preparing for the physical therapist licensure exam, "So you know how in Undergrad you were the greatest Crammer of all time. Any advice for someone who has an upcoming licensure exam and is feeling really lazy about studying?"
I had to laugh upon receiving that text, as I didn't know which was more unnerving: The fact that I was known in college for being a talented crammer (if we can even attempt to glamorize that "skill") , or that an up-and-coming practicing PT was looking for advice on studying for the licensure exam!
Now, I am certainly not advocating procrastination. And, to clear my conscious....should any individuals be reading this that are currently enrolled in an educational institution, my advice to you is to study in advance for your tests, dang it!
But it brings up a valuable point. Deadlines, whether self-imposed or not, allow us to ignore minutia and focus on the important. So I encourage all of you to begin setting deadlines on those "open ended" tasks that can take hours on end to complete, and adhere to those deadlines!
This is especially true for us perfectionists in the crowd that agonize over every single detail within a project we're working on. Set an unrealistic deadline, and stick to it. The earth will continue to spin, I promise.
Nature vs. Nurture
Darwin’s nature vs. nurture debate has long been discussed in regard to our educational system. But the concept is also relevant to performance and more specifically, athletic performance. Recently, it seems as if nurture has become all the rage. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers helped make Anders Ericsson’s 10,000 hour rule popular which suggests: the key to expertise in any field lies with a person practicing a specific task for a total of 10,000 hours.
When working with clients I always encourage them to lean on their preparation and work ethic. Our preparation is directly linked to our confidence, which is directly liked to our performance. Preparation and work ethic certainly breeds competence. It’s a simple and easy concept that allows people to improve. Golfers need to work on their swing, college students need to study their “major”, and guitarists need to practice their tunes. I tackled this concept previous in my first “Mental Monday” article.
But, what about nature? How do we explain the “lazy” athlete who still makes it to the professional level, the Ivy League scholar who rarely has to study, or the rocker who is more interested in drugs than practicing with the band? Eric Jaffe did a terrific job looking at the pieces that lead to excellent performance. The article sites research, which suggests practice alone can’t account for individual success. Jaffe quotes David Hambrick’s research, which found that general cognitive skills that greatly lead to achievement are largely innate. Hambrick is quoted as saying, “In my opinion, the deliberate practice view has gone about as far as it can go, but it seems clear to me that there’s something else.”
Certainly this debate will go on. Much has been made of the genetics of superstars like LeBron James, Usain Bolt, and RG3. However, all of them will go back to their work ethic and ability to prepare as the reason for their success. There’s no denying that genetics play a role, but there’s also no denying that putting in the work will give you, the athlete, the best opportunity for success.
So whether you are 5’5” or 6’5”, direct your attention to the process of fulfilling YOUR potential, rather than sulking about what you don’t have. For every LeBron James there is Spud Webb, for every Usain Bolt there is Oscar Pistorius, and for every RG3 there is Drew Brees. Nurture your ability and give yourself the best opportunity to be successful.
