Lateral Speed and Agility: It Starts in The Gym
Lateral speed and agility is a concept that can easily (and mistakenly) be overlooked when developing a sports performance program for an individual or team. It’s easy to get caught up in dropping an athlete’s 40 yard time and shuttle times. It can be harder to step back and notice that many sports are played in side moving patterns and at various angles requiring athletes to turn and change direction multiple quickly and frequently. The first portion of this post will focus on the strength training techniques to help the lateral athlete. Because we expect the body to move in a variety of planes on the field or court is important that we train the athlete in a manner that supports this. The basis of lateral speed and agility will be strength. Just like straight-ahead speed, the greater the amount of force one can apply to the ground the faster he or she will move. Here at SAPT we use a variety of tools and exercises to enhance an athlete’s ability to apply force and change directions. Below I’ve listed a few of the simple exercises that could add value to your program with videos courtesy of the crew at Concentric Brain.
Abductor Wall Slides
http://youtu.be/f_hYfkzJ1c0
This is probably my favorite exercise to program for beginners. It takes minimal equipment, works like a charm, and is novice friendly. The range of motion for this exercise may start small and increase over time but it is important extremely important the athlete does not rotate away from the wall with their low back or hike up their hip to find additional range.
Lateral Lunges
http://youtu.be/OMMX4F8zxdU
Lateral lunges are a fantastic exercise to build strength in the quads, hips, and hamstrings. These are all key players in getting players to effectively move side to side.
Lateral Sled Drags
http://youtu.be/hLzmj29I65s
Sled drags are a beginner friendly exercise that allows for many different training outcome based on the loading. For strength days a heavier load could be pulled with a crossover step shown in the video while lighter loads can be reserved for technique days.
Mini Band Lateral Walks
http://youtu.be/JdJWmgu-_iI
Mini bands walks are a fun way to train the muscles of the hip while also challenging torso strength and stability. Two cues I like to hammer home when having athletes perform this exercise is to keep tension on the band throughout the entire set and keep the torso tall and limit rocking.
Check back next week as we take a closer look into some of the drills and exercises we use outside of gym to help lateral athletes get better.
Powerlifting Training for Sports
You must clearly understand the difference between basic training and special physical preparation. [SPP] is different for everybody; one beats up on a tire with a sledgehammer, another does figure eights with a kettlebell, and someone incline presses. Basic training is roughly the same in all sports and aims to increase general strength and muscle mass. Powerlifting was born as a competition in exercises everybody does.
— Nikolay Vitkevich
Don't you want to know more?
I wrote a guest post over at Concentric Brain you can read it HERE.
3 Overhead Press Variations You Aren't Doing
There's nothing more rewarding or manly than taking a heavy weight and shoving it overhead. It's actually a requirement for boys before they can start growing their beards. How the weight gets from point A to B can make a huuuuuge difference on the training effect and your orthopedic health. Many newbs will make the mistakes of hyperextending their back, getting some push from their legs and fidgeting the weight up, not respecting the technique and poise it requires to to execute a strict overhead press. **Just a note, if you're an overhead athlete or if you do not have proper mobility/scapular mechanics, you should not press overhead. It will most likely end up hurting you. If you're not sure if your shoulders are up for it, I recommend reading this article by Todd Bumgardner to find out.**
What's more is that many trainees will often times only stick with one overhead press variation, limiting their progress and shoulder function. Walk into any commercial gym and you'll mainly see peeps pressing dumbells overhead. If you're lucky, you might spy a barbell press. These are both fine variations, but if they're the only two overhead pressing exercises in your repertoire, you're really missing out on optimizing your shoulder mechanics and strength.
Do you like to push a kettlebell overhead every once in a while? That's great! The off-centered load and more centripetal movement of kettlebell pressing, in my mind, makes it more advantageous than it's dumbell counterpart. The traditional movement of the exercise covers more plains of motion and challenges more wrist and rotator cuff strength. Do you turn the bell upside down now and then for a bottoms up press? Awesome! You're training total-body tension, grip strength, and teaching yourself how to drive through the weight's center of gravity(which is a very useful skill for moving weight). These are also great variations that everyone should know about. For today though, we are going to cover 3 press variations that not everyone knows about.
The Z Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqcauQS0U6s
Pressing strength, anterior core stability and hip mobility, oh my! This variation seems to challenge it all. It's become a favorite of mine for really reinforcing good torso mechanics during the press. It also will reveal your actual limitations by preventing any excessive extension of the back(which seems to be everyone's go-to cheat) and taking out the legs. This clearly shows any sticking points you may have during the movement so that you can program to break through them accordingly.
If your hip mobility is lagging, then you can try sitting on a 45 lb plate or two to decrease the amount of hip flexion required. If you find that you all of the sudden can't lock out your press when trying this variation, then it's a sign that you probably haven't earned the right to overhead press yet. Back to Todd's article you go!
The video above shows me using a barbell, but you can really lift whatever you want: swiss bar, dumbell(s), kettlebell(s), I've even heard of people getting crazy with some sandbags.
The Javelin Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t5shgOhKyE
Remember how I was saying that it's very useful to learn how to lift through an object's center of gravity? Well here ya go! This variation will also help you with your wrist strength and challenge your shoulder stability in a very unique way. The long bar will be teetering at your wrist, this will cause you to have to shift weight and adduct/abduct your wrist to adjust very minutely. You can also press the bar similar to a kettlebell, going from a neutral to slightly externally rotated position. I find myself doing this during higher rep sets(old habits die hard). The momentum the bar gets from this slight rotation will need to be stabilized within the transverse plane, at the shoulder, wrist and elbow.
Whereas the Z press may help you overcome torso and leg cheats, this is going to help the overall efficiency and strength of the drive from your shoulders. One thing that I found to help get accustomed to this movement is to position the exact center of the bar closer to the ulnar side of my hand, it makes it waaaay easier to balance. You will also want to make sure that you do not lose good torso and hip positioning while pressing, especially if you maintain a neutral grip position such as shown. This is made harder by the bar's teetering. You may not be able to tell, but I am actually squeezing my butt and maintaining tension through my anterior core to maintain a neutral pelvis.
The Bent Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hSaCTLnYE
For those that don't know, that's a 48 kilo kettlebell he's got. He's called, "The Iron Tamer," for a reason. This movement takes advantage of structure and position, making it by far one of the most technical overhead press variations. For that same reason, once you've mastered the technique, you can use some pretty ridiculous weight. It's actually an exercise that the old-school strong men used to use to showcase their manliness.
If you haven't yet noticed, a large part to the overhead press is keeping the weight in line with your center of gravity so you have a better line of push. The bent press capitalizes on this and teaches you to really get yourself under the weight, keep tension and use your whole body as a driver. Think of it as a turkish get up mixed with a press in terms of actual goal of the movement. You will need very good hip mobility, thoracic rotation and healthy shoulders to accomplish this exercise. It puts your body in a very unique position to challenge loading of the hips, core tension and shoulder stability/strength; Because of this, it will carryover to more than just your press.
This is definitely not an exercise I would just try to go out and muscle it up. Most people will require some coaching to get it right. I personally am still in the infancy of training this movement and stay relatively light. It serves as a great extended warm up while you're still learning. If you're interested in making this move part of your next program, I'd recommend reading Dave's Book.
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Developing Rotational Strength, Speed, and Power
Developing Rotational Strength, Speed, and Power Developing rotational strength, speed, and power is an incredibly important skill in many sports. Baseball, softball, lacrosse, and certain field events, such as the shotput or discus, are the obvious sports that require rotational proficiency, but nearly every athlete will benefit from putting in their due diligence with rotational movement training. Today’s blog post will dive into SAPT’s methods for developing these attributes, and how we use Concentric Brain to develop templates to expedite the process
Step 1: Develop proper mobility – especially through your thoracic spine!
It’s extremely important to assess your clients/athletes prior to having them train with you. SAPT’s Evaluation Specialist, Jarrett Brummett, developed our movement screen using the FMS and SFMA. The evaluation allows us to assess our client’s level of preparedness before starting them on a strength and conditioning program. It ensures that we start them with the appropriate level of intensity and it provides us with information to indicate or contraindicate certain exercises.
A lot of the time, people walk in our doors with fairly immobile thoracic spines, compensating by rotating through their lumbar segments. One of the first things that we’ll work on in these instances are increasing their ability to move through their thoracic spine and hips, as well as improving their scapular glide and control. Below are a few of our “go-to” thoracic spine and shoulder mobilizations.
Step 2: Develop sufficient core stability.
I don’t think I need to harp on the multitude of reasons why core stability is important, but what you may not know is that your core is built to resist, not necessarily create, movement. Imagine a running back hitting the hole, 200+ lb defenders clawing at his shoulder and hip pads trying to bring him down. He’ll need to be very strong through his midsection to resist these forces, break the tackles and keep plowing forward. Concentric Brain provides a long list of anti-movement core exercises, and I’ll list a few below.
- Anti-Extension: Planks, Ab Rollouts, Deadbugs (also contains a rotary component)
- Anti-Rotation: Pallof Press Variations, Anti-Rotation Medicine Ball Throws, SA PUPP Holds
- Anti-Flexion: Good Mornings, Deadlifts, Hip Hinge Drills
- Anti-Lateral Flexion: Side Planks, SA Farmer Carries
As you can see Concentric Brain’s 11,000 exercise library is categorized in such a way that you can easily pick exercises based on the movements (or anti-movements in this case) they consist of. The software also makes including these anti-movements in a “Core Stability for Rotational Power” template incredibly easy!
Step 3: Introduce Rotational Movements
After ensuring the athlete has adequate thoracic mobility and core stability, we will begin introducing rotational movements to the athlete’s program. These include medicine ball throw variations and single-arm rowing variations that include some thoracic spine rotation. Medicine ball “power” oriented movements are great to incorporate in the beginning of a session when the athlete is first learning them. As they become more proficient, gain strength, and begin to enter intermediate status, these exercises can be used in conditioning circuits or as “finishers” to teach the fast-twitch fibers how to produce force repeatedly, even in a semi-fatigued state. You can set up templates in Concentric Brain for both of these situations; making an “Intro to Rotational Movements” and an “Advanced Rotational Athlete” template that will allow you to plan ahead and include the movements at various times in the workout to target different physiological adaptations.
Step 4: Introduce Advanced Rotational Movement
If you’ve reached this point, you’re on the right track. Your athlete has great core stability, enabling them to generate and transmit force through their torso, and has developed an awareness for rotating through their thoracic spine and hips while keeping their lumbar spine neutral. The neural changes that take place in the early stages of skill development have occurred, and it’s now time to work on some serious rotational force and power development.
Although the volume will ultimately be left up to you, Concentric Brain does provide suggestions. The software also has quite a few advanced variations that should not only satisfy your athletes craving for variety, but also develop rotational speed and power in a variety of different ways. Below are a few video examples of the variations we like to use at SAPT.
Guest Post: Preparing for Race Season
He's back! Our friendly Mid-Distance Runner has tips to preparing for your race season!Well it’s officially race season!
I was a high school and middle school track coach for many years, and the official start to the spring outdoor track season was March 1st. This date was the mark for sanctioned training and conference races. For myself, as a competitive distance runner, this time of year means serious training and preparation for events that occur from now through late fall. (I don’t know about you, but I like to take the winter off from races!)
Even in March, the weather in many areas can still present a formidable barrier for runners to get outside and run, but with a little creativity, race goals and preparation need not be sacrificed. I personally hate training on treadmills, however, using them beats sustaining an injury from slipping and falling on slick surfaces outside. The lousy weather offers a perfect time for other modalities such as weight training. Spending some time in the weight room will help runners develop muscle strength, speed, and stamina. Strength training will also help develop connective tissue in the body, which will go a long way to prevent injuries during the race season.
Now when you read "weight training," some may conjure up mental images of Arnold Schwarzenegger, but runner’s weight training is all about developing strength and power, not necessarily mass. (Note from Kelsey: Charlie wrote a splendid series (an epic novel, really) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) Utilizing resistance training to develop overall strength is very beneficial for racing. Shameless plug, but I recommend talking with the dedicated folks at SAPT for exact exercises and proper weight lifting form.
What is the best way to train for a 5K or 10K road race? The advice pertaining to success are as numerous as the different courses one can run. A specific training plan might not be perfect for every runner, but there are some collective preparations that will help almost every runner do his or her best on race day.
First I recommend a basic 5K or 10K training schedule such as the one outlined here from Jeff Galloway: http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/5k10kschedules/ This training schedule is from running legend Jeff Galloway so you know you can trust the information on it. On a side note if you are interested in training for a marathon this site also has some great training schedules for that distance too.
Next item to consider is proper nutrition as optimal fuel is essential for optimal performance. There is a plethora of runner’s diet suggestions, but I find they all universally agree: avoid trans fats and refined sugars as much as possible, limit alcohol consumption, avoid large amounts of caffeine-I personally love my coffee so this one is hard for me. (Note from Kelsey- by refraining from copious amounts of caffeine, you body will become more sensitive to it. Therefore, on race day, one cup of coffee will go a long way.) Eat plenty of starchy carbs as well as lean protein sources such as clean-source fish, lean beef, and chicken.
The last major consideration for race success is quality sleep. In order to perform at your best you need to get enough sleep for your body to efficiently recover daily. Check out this article on sleep quality for more information. Rest up folks, and don’t try to burn the candle at both ends!
If you get plenty of rest, train right, and eat right you are setting yourself up for success by using best training practices. In April I will discuss effective training versus logging lots of physical miles. Well until our next conversation take care and enjoy the run!
The Middle-Aged Mid-Distance Runner
Training Tip: Eliminate the Useless
I have been working my way through Easy Strength by Dan John and Pavel. If you are a coach, of any sport, reading it should prerequisite to taking that job. If you're an athlete or self-trained person (like a weekend warrior), this book will change the way you approach training- definitely for the better. Between the two men, there is much wisdom packed into their words that I find myself taking notes on every page. Seriously, if you're serious about training, you need to read this book.
Dan John posited a fantastic question regarding training priorities that I wanted to pass along to our SAPT readers.
"Let's say, for some reason, you've found that you can only train for a total 45 minutes a week. Maybe you've become a political prisoner or something. You'll only be able to get in three workouts of 15 minutes each. What will you do?"
Not only does it put my own training into perspective, but that of the athletes I coach. The answer to the question reveals where you should be spending the majority of your time and energy. As Dan John says, "Training sessions should put your on the path of progress toward your goals."
We humans are finite (this isn't going to get metaphorical so stick with me) and therefore have a finite amount of energy, time, and capacity for adaptation/recovery. In contrast to our in-born capacity, we live in the age of programs like p90X/Insanity (do everything as fast as you can), Crossfit (train everything to the max all the time), and the pervasive mentality that a "good" workout or practice should encompass every possible variation of an exercise/drill and should last a long time. But remember, we're finite!
Thus, anything you're doing that does not directly relate to your overall physical goal will only take away from your ability to achieve your goal.
Refer back to Dan John's question, if you only have 15 minutes to train/practice, what are you going to do? If you're an athlete (or the coach of athletes) what skills would most benefit you/the team to master? If you're a regular trainee, what exercises will bring your closer to your goal- be it lose 10 lbs, or bench 225, or compete in a Sand Race. Find these core elements and devote your energy and time to them.
I'll use myself as an example.
My goal: deadlift 300lbs and perform 20 pull ups in a row.
Conveniently (or not), I also have chronic Lyme disease and over the past year, I've found that I only really have enough gas in my tank for about 20 minutes of hard training. (This is a far cry from what I'm used to.) Even before reading Easy Strength I had to pare down my training considerably base on my energy levels and joint pain. So, Dan John's question was perfect! It did two things: 1) trim my workouts down a bit more, which I believe will make them more effective and 2) encourage me that I'm not being a wimp for eliminating excessive accessory work. My capacity for recovery is also inhibited, so I need to be extra careful with exercise selection as, again, anything that is outside of my goal will only take away from its accomplishment.
Therefore, here is my training split:
Monday
Deadlift- currently I'm in a higher volume cycle, so I perform 2-3 series of (1, 3, 5, 7) reps.
Handstand pushups, skater squats, band rows- 3 easy sets of 6-8 each
Tuesday
BB Front Squat Grip Step Back Lunge- (the only single leg movement I can perform without pain). My weakest link in my deadlift and pull ups is my upper back. This variation keeps my legs balance (because it's unilateral work) but also nails my upper back. - 5x5
NG Chin Ups= total of 50 reps. I'm working at increasing the number of chin ups per set and reducing the number of sets I have to do.
BB Back ele. Glute Bridge- stronger butt = stronger deadlift 3-4x8
Band-resisted Pushups 3x8
Wednesday
Aerobic Power Circuit, performed for 15-18 minutes:
Heavy swings x 10
Pull ups x 4-5
Feet Ele. Push ups x 12
Weighted Crawls x 4 trips
Thursday
Snatch Grip Deadlift- I chose this because of my stupidly weak upper back, so this variation hammers it. I also focus on moving the bar fast to work on the speed of my pull.
GHR, weighted pushups, inverted rows- 3 easy sets of 8 each
Friday
Easy movement day and crawling- I use this day to move around and work out any kinked up joints but nothing terribly difficult.
I also start each session with some kettlebell swings. I like them because they warm up my nervous system and get my glutes firing on all cylinders. All of my accessory work aids in deadlifting and/or pull ups (glute work, upper back, and core strength). I train my core through my pushups and crawling. I perform step back lunges because a) I can't deadlift every day (darn!) and b) I can't squat any more and these fit the bill for challenging my upper back, core, and glutes.
On all of my days, the main focus (the deadlift or the lunges/chin ups) take only about 15-20 minutes, including my warm ups. The accessory work I keep at a lower intensity and I use primarily for focusing more intently on my "deadlifting" muscles. It's not a perfect plan by any means, but it's all geared towards increasing my deadlift and pull ups.
I encourage you, reader, to find out what you would do with your 15 minutes.
