Band Resisted Lateral Walks

 For the lateral athlete such as a short stop or defended who primarily moves in a lateral or side to side manner it is important to strengthen these patterns to help the athlete move more efficiently. One exercise I like to help develop the hip abductors would be the Band Resisted Lateral Walks. It's an incredibly easy to set up as you just have to step into a band and because the band is around the back of your neck it serves as a constant reminder to keep your head and torso upright throughout the exercise..

Here are a few quick cues to help get the most out of this exercise:

• Keep your chest up. Stabilize against the band which is working to pull you down. If someone was looking at you they should have no issue seeing the design on your shirt
• Your working leg will be the leg opposite the direction you are moving. For example push with your right leg when moving to the left and focus directing yourself across the ground as opposed to moving vertically
• Focus on staying low throughout the movement

http://youtu.be/0A44Oy2Jaoo

Concussions- How Can We Protect Our Athletes

The Washington Post ran a great article a few weeks back on Concussion Rates in Female Athletes. Spoiler alert: women/girls suffer a higher rate of concussions than their male counterparts. The main push of the article is the need for a greater awareness. The NFL concussion hooplah brought concussions in sports, particularly football, to the forefront and calls for better equipment and stricter safety standards. Unfortunately, the laser-focus on football has yet to encompass other sports such as lacrosse, soccer, rugby, and cheerleading.

The Journal of Athletic Training found in a study that looked at 15 NCAA sports across 16 years. The majority of the injuries reported were ankle related (which is not surprising) but the second highest were concussions- particularly in women. This Table is a great snap shot of concussion rates in NCAA sports. Take note that in all the sports that involve both genders, the women have higher incidences of concussions!!

If these rates are pretty high in NCAA athletes- who are arguably stronger and more skilled than the younger teenage athletes- imagine what the concussion rate is amongst our middle- and high school athletes!

The WP article postulates on both the reasons for the increase rate and what we can do about it. I don't know much about the rules of the various sports so I cannot offer a valid opinion in that department. I, too, agree that we need to have prominent female athletes to advocate for awareness and change to the system. As a strength coach, I can speak to the area of strength training. To quote the article:

The greatest attention has been directed to their head and neck size and musculature; researchers speculate that girls have smaller, weaker necks than boys, making their heads more susceptible to trauma.

Being weaker stinks, doesn't it? (They blame our higher rate of ACL tears on this too.) Now, naturally we don't have as much of that awesome muscle-building hormone testosterone nor are we encouraged to be strong. This is a risk factor we can reduce dramatically. Doesn't it seem obvious that providing strength training opportunities for females, both for school and club sports, would be a no-brainer (no pun intended)? We can't help it if we're smaller but wecancounteract it if we're stronger.

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As coaches, we need to be aware of this information and freakin' do something about it. If your athletes aren't strength training, they're only getting weaker as the season progresses. This increases their risk of sustaining an injury and increases their recovery time. If you don't have access to a facility, ask us- we can help!! We can come to you. We also have a distance training option: we can send you the programs to incorporate with your teams. Our passion is to make athletes stronger and prevent injuries such as concussions.

For example, a while back I wrote up two training circuits for one of my volleyball players who had two concussions  in a row. Note: A "chin tuck" is pulling the neck into a neutral position by pulling the chin back as if you're making a surprise face.

Circuit A:

1. 4-way neck ISO holds, lying on ground*

-       Supine neck flexion x 10 with :03 hold

-       Lateral neck flexion, left and right side x10/side, :03 hold

-       Prone neck extension x 10, hold :03

2. DA Band Row x 8, hold :02

3. Scapular Wall slides, head against wall x 12, hold :01

4. Quarduped Chin Tuck and hold x 8, hold :02

5. Side Plank with chin tuck x :30/side

6. DA Farmer walk x :30-:60

Repeat 3-5 times through

Circuit B

1. Towelor Band-Resisted 4-way Neck ISO holds, forward, back, left, and right x 10 each :03 hold
2. Facepulls with external rotation x 10
3. 3 Pt Row, ensure chin is tucked, x 8/side, hold :01
4. Banded Ws x 12
5. PUPP with chin tuckx :30-:60
6. SA Farmer walk x :30-:60/side

Repeat 3-5 times through

* As neck is strength improves, increase ISO hold to :05, then :10.

Incorporating drills such as this, even if it's only in the warm-ups, would go a long way to strengthening necks.  Also, Jarrett wrote a great article on concussion prevention techniques that are more generalized.

Bottom line: GET. STRONGER. Strong people are harder to kill and are more useful in general. And seriously, ask us, we can help.

Quick Thoughts on Chewing Gum While Training

Recent research within the field of human movement has put more of an emphasis on the temperomandibular joint and its global affects to the body. Elite athletes have started utlizing neuromuscular dentistry to create mouth-pieces to hold their jaw in the precise spot to hold the jaw for maximal power output, performance and repeated maximal efforts. Studies have also shown that the extra stabilization provided to the TMJ of any mouthgaurd can actually decrease the likelihood of concussions. And of course, I can't forget the recent articles that have talked about the muscles of the jaw and their relating to posture, neck stability/position and weight shift patterns.

With all this hub-bub buzzing around, I think it's important, as a coach, to take a look at the information and apply it. My main thought was, "how does gum affect this?" I know this sounds silly, but the evidence is there..

Chewing gum creates a dynamic position of the jaw, always moving and never symmetrical as the gum stays to one side. This can not only create a fixation that, after enough repetition, it may have an impact on neuromuscular control. It can also inhibit certain cervical stabilizers to engage during the movement. Of course most people are going to chomp down and clench that trident as they pick up heavy things, but even this can cause the TMJ to be slightly out of position and possibly affect the head position and recruitment of stabilizers within the frontal plane. And as the information from the neuromuscular dentists has told us, this can impede training.

Though this may seem like a minor detail, it's a detail that you can control in your weight room. With TMJD on the rise in the general population, I think separating any jaw fixations from our training is a detail that we can't just ignore. Some people may claim that gum actually helps their training, but for these people, I would argue that they probably have some compensatory patterns that the clenching is feeding. I'd be willing to bet that these are the same folks that grind their teeth at night and get tension headaches near the tempal.

Internships Part 2: SAPT

Hello cherished SAPT blog readers!  In last Thursday's blog post, we reminisced about my experience as an Olympic sports intern with Virginia Tech's strength and conditioning program.  The big takeaway from last week's blog post is this:  Ask questions, and be engaged.As an intern, I realized that my job was, first and foremost, to learn.  Asking questions was the way I accomplished this.  It showed I genuinely wanted to learn more about training, and that I valued what these coaches had to teach me.  During my internship with Virginia Tech, I started looking for more opportunities to get involved in the field of sports performance.  I was referred to SAPT by a local high school football coach who spoke very highly of the internship program, so I decided to check them out.  After filling out an online interest form and sitting through an interview, I suddenly found myself locked in for a summer internship following my college graduation.

Obviously the internship went extremely well or I wouldn't be writing this blog post.  I couldn't believe how lucky I had gotten to have found SAPT.  I moved from my unpaid internship to a paid one, and subsequently received an offer to come aboard as a full-time coach.  I've now had the opportunity to coach through 2 semesters of interns, and understand what it takes to succeed in the position.

Below is a short "How-to" list that will help you with your next internship.  I hope they help you succeed during your next learning experience, whatever that may be.

• ASK QUESTIONS!  If a coach is busy when a question comes to mind, write it down and save it for later.

• Watch the clients lift.  Take note of the individuals proportions and observe what adjustments they have to make to accommodate their genetics.  Perfect technique is not one-size-fits-all.  Optimal form will vary greatly based on individual proportions. 

• Spend at least 2-3 hours a week on continuing education.  Whether you're reading blog posts, strength and conditioning books, or established strength programs and the philosophies that they're based around, make sure you're putting time in outside of the internship to learn.

• Introduce yourself to every client who walks in the door.  Not only is this common courtesy, but it will be way less awkward if you know Alice's name when you're watching her perform glute bridges.

• Get to know the clients.  Get to know what they like doing outside of the gym.  Ask them about their day, their kids, their dog. Showing you care about the clients as people will go a long way towards getting them to enjoy their experience at your gym.

• Help the clients with their session.  Help them set up their next exercise, put equipment back where it belongs, make sure they're comfortable and enjoying their session.

• Show up to work in a good mood.  Even if you're having a crappy day, come in with a smile and greet everyone who talks in the door in a warm, friendly manner.  Be infectiously upbeat.

• Be aware of your surroundings, and take the initiative to help the coaches organize the floor.  Put away misplaced equipment, keep the training floor neat and organized, and take the initiative to ensure a safe workout environment.

• Train at your internship facility.  Most internships will allow you to lift during your working hours.  We put  interns through our assessment process, write them programs, and have them lift during client hours.  This allows us to coach them, get their technique up to speed, and familiarize them with the exercises.

• Use common sense.  Don't put yourself or your clients in danger.  The weight room can be a dangerous place if used improperly, so have respect for the iron.

The Art Of Pull Ups: After The First Rep

Last week's post had thoughts on conquering the first pull up. It's always the hardest, but the subsequent reps are much easier to accumulate. As an avid pull-upper, below are tips I've used to increase my max pull up number.

1. Do more pull ups.

The best way to get better at pull ups is to do more pull ups. Halt! Before you leap onto a bar, I don't mean rep out as many as possible until the pull up resembles a raw, wriggling fish.

Practice makes permanent, not perfect. 

I really like doing reps throughout my training session. It's a sound way to accomplish a higher volume without sacrificing form because each set only has a few reps. Two years ago, I set a goal to be able to perform 10 pull ups at the drop of a hat (or an off-hand challenge). Note: I could already do about 5 pull ups at this point, but the idea remains the same. This meant that 10 pull ups had to be easy and my max needed to be in the teens. I needed to build up both strength and endurance. Once per week I would perform pull ups throughout my workout until I hit my total rep goal, for example on week 1 I started with 7 sets of 3 working with a goal of 21 total reps. Week 2, 27 total, Week 3, 30 total. Once I hit 50 total, I upped the reps to 4. And I started back with 7 sets of 4, then 8, etc. Each time I hit my top-end total reps, I'd increase the rep count.

Fast forward a year, and I could comfortably hit 10 reps any time I wanted. Huzzah!

1.5 Grease the Groove.

This is how one should implement "do more pull ups," and whynot maxing out works. (Thank you Pavel Tsatsouline) Instead of providing a long-winded explanation, click HERE for a much better one. The bottom line of Grease the Groove training is neurological training to create a more efficient movement pattern. I'll say it again, practice makes permanent, not perfect (so practice perfectly)!

2. Do more pull ups. And be patient.

Seriously, there isn't a magic trick to this. I planned on having a couple different tips, but really, it just comes down to practicing and performing more pull ups over time (and doing them well!). Over the past year, I incorporated them into ladders, wove them throughout my regular training sessions, and did a pull up every time I went to the bathroom (that only lasted a week, though, because I drink a lot of water).

Essentially, the grease the groove article explains it well. Start small and work your way up.

It takes a while to get "good" at pull ups, especially for us ladies, and so patience is key. Remember, it took me a whole year to have a solid 10 pull ups in my back pocket. Be patient and do more pull ups.

Here's my post-workout let's-see-how-many-I-can-do

Internships: Part 1 Virginia Tech

If you're cracking into the field of strength and conditioning, chances are you'll be enrolling in an internship at some point soon.  If you're serious about the profession and truly want to succeed as a strength and conditioning coach, you better be making the most of these experiences, because if you don't, you're letting valuable time and knowledge pass you by.  Let me tell you a little bit about my experience as an intern.  Hopefully, you'll learn something and it will help you in your next endeavor. My Internships

I've completed two internships (so far) in the field of strength and conditioning, and 2 in other sports-medicine related fields.  As a Human Nutrition, Foods and Exercise major at Virginia Tech, I was required to complete 2 field studies to earn my degree.  The first took place at The Jackson Clinics shadowing a physical therapist.  I completed the second as a student athletic trainer at VT. Both were fantastic opportunities, and I learned an incredible amount during those semesters.  One of my long-term goals is get my doctorate in physical therapy, and these two experiences played an instrumental role in forming that vision.  I really enjoyed the fact that both professions use exercise as medicine.  Although you don't often see a knee replacement or ACL repair patient performing Romanian Deadlifts, a good PT or Athletic Trainer will ensure that, by the time that patient is finished with their rehab, they've been taught how to execute a proper hip hinge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHamIPidrc

If my memory serves me correctly, I started these internships right about the time that I had "recovered" from my own back surgery. My family has been plagued with disc herniations, and I was determined to not repeat the experience.  I became obsessed with weight lifting.  Pouring over strength and conditioning blogs, rehabilitation studies, etc. I decided that the most effective method of preventing future back injury was taking the initiative to strengthen my body and make it as resilient as I possibly could.  During my time as a student athletic trainer, I began developing a growing interest for what these athletes were doing in the weight room. Were they still training with these injuries?  How were the strength coaches modifying their workouts in order to prevent re-injury from occurring? How were the coaches progressing them back to the core compound movements that make up the bulk of a proper strength and conditioning program?  I had to know.

Virginia Tech Strength and Conditioning

Near the end of that semester, I walked up to the weight room and sought out the first authority figure I could find.  He was a massive human being, and little did I know, he would be one of the most influential people in my life thus far, although he may not even know it.  I introduced himself, and told him my intentions.  The next semester, I was a strength and conditioning intern for Virginia Tech.

I interned for Olympic Sports, under coaches Ryan Shuman, Terry Mitchell, and Megan Evan, and it changed my life.  Growing up as a competitive swimmer, I had absolutely no formal weight training experience.  In high school, I tagged along with a friend a handful of times and he showed me a couple of very basic things, but that was it.  I was lucky that I had found some fantastic resources online. Eric Cressey, Kelly Starrett, and Mike Boyle to name a few.  I read EliteFTS and T-Nation like it was my job.  In class, after class, before bed.  I was always reading, but being an intern that weight room is what really helped me grow.

Most of the other interns needed a certain amount of hours to be filled for class and they all had assigned hours, but I was a volunteer. I wasn't interning for school credit, so I had no benchmarks to hit.  Coach Mitchell left it up to me for when I wanted to come in.  I ended up spending upwards of 15-20 hours a week in that weight room.  At least 2 days a week I would be up at 5:00 AM and in the weight room for the baseball lift at 5:30.  I'd stay through tennis, stay through wrestling, and go to class around 8:30.  I would get out of class around 3:00, and head right back to the gym for more sessions.  They couldn't keep me out if they tried.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG-WIZ9heX8

Now keep in mind that I had no real expectations from a supervisor, no papers to write or assignments to complete, no one to really report my experiences to.  How did I keep myself busy, you might ask?  I asked questions.  I remember on the first day of my internship I asked Coach Evans about how she plans the season of training for her softball team.  She took me into her office and spent at least 30 minutes breaking down the entire year.  It was awesome.  Obviously she couldn't cover everything, but I was so grateful that she took the time to talk to me that I didn't care.  This conversation led to five more questions, and then five more.  I ended up keeping notecards in my backpack at all times, and I'd scribble questions down as they popped into my head.  Almost every day I was knocking on Coach Mitchell's door with another question, usually more then one.  I bet I was probably pretty annoying, but at least I wanted to learn.  It got to the point where Coach Mitchell was surprised if I wasn't the one knocking on his door.

Looking back, my only regret is not volunteering in the weight room sooner.  I only had the pleasure of spending 1 semester with VT Strength and Conditioning.  If I could travel back in time and give the Charlie of 2009 one piece of advice, it would be to skip that stupid ice-breaker you're forced to do during freshmen orientation, and head straight to that weight room.  That's where I belonged, and I'm so fortunate that I was able to spend that small amount of time shadowing those incredible coaches.

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As you all have probably realized right now, I'm pretty long-winded.  I like telling stories, and this post is no exception.  Unfortunately for you all, you'll have to wait until next week to see how this particular story unfolds.  Until then, I'll leave you with this...

"The most important days of your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why." -- Mark Twain