The biggest problem I come across with athletes is their current training regime. Everyone wants to train like a bodybuilder. I don’t know if it’s the current trend in muscle magazines or misinformation, or maybe the athletes simply don’t have the proper goals in mind. Nevertheless, changes need to be made.
Bands are nothing new to most coaches and trainers. They have quickly become one of the most versatile and effective training tools in a coach’s toolbox. Initially, many thought of them only as rehabilitation tools. However, Westside Barbell changed the perception of bands with its innovative techniques for using them for accommodating resistance.
This games didn’t really go as planned. In hindsight, I made some mistakes that really affected my throwing. On the plus side, I won the national caber championship.
A few years after my football career ended, I found myself playing linebacker in a recreational flag football game in Long Island’s Eisenhower Park. This is rarely ever a good idea.
Bodybuilding is here to stay. As long as there is a desire to get stronger, grow bigger, or look better, bodybuilding will remain an invariable foundation in the world of physique improvement.
The latest installment in our “How We Use The Prowler” series comes from Elliott Hulse of St. Petersburg, Florida.
Imagine—you’re a broke kid living in a small town in the middle of nowhere. The closest fitness center is miles away and you don’t have a car to get there anyway. None of your friends know what a weight is. You’ve asked them to give it a try, but they just gave you the middle finger as they sped off to the mall or plopped down in front of the television to play video games.
A few weeks ago, we decided to put together a roundtable-style article about the use of the Prowler…
Rob “Spray” MacIntyre is a strength coach for some top level athletes. Rob, tell me a little bit about your background.
Last summer, I worked with a college running back who was contemplating quitting football because of chronic hamstring injuries.
We arrived at Metropolis (a night club) at 6:00 p.m. The fights were scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. The time had finally arrived—Ryan Farhat’s mixed martial arts (MMA) debut.
For as long as I have been involved in sports and training, I have seen more cookie cutter training programs than you can shake a stick at (and that’s a lot).
The title of this article is a little misleading. It’s not about the balance that most trainers think about such as standing on one foot on a Bosu ball. It’s about building a physically and structurally balanced athlete. These ideas and qualities are what form the exercise selection of our strength program. Our staff has five major goals in mind for our strength program—increasing power/explosiveness, increasing speed, increasing strength, increasing lean muscle tissue (size), and preventing injury.
In keeping with Canadian tradition, our athletes have started counting down the days to next year’s NHL camp. That’s right—the Stanley Cup has just found a home in Hockey Town. (That’s the Super Bowl of professional hockey for everyone in the Southern States. You know, the NHL. It gets its airtime following basketball, bowling, Will and Grace reruns, and the infomercials for erectile dysfunction.)
If you watch runners before a race or if you watch baseball, football, or other athletes warming up before a game, you will see that most of them do the butt kick (quadriceps) stretch.
The elite NBA players of today includes Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, LeBron James, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Dirk Nowitzki and their athletic ability.
When it comes to strength and sports—and how to increase strength for those sports—most of the information out there is about sports such as football, powerlifting, basketball, and hockey. But what about the lesser known sports such as cheerleading, figure skating, and dance?
I understand that not every 8-year-old knows exactly what a glute ham is or how to perform the movement. Few adults know.
Having used the conjugate system in my own training and with professional male basketball athletes, I’ve found it quite easy to “sell” the idea of max effort, dynamic, and repeated effort methods to experienced athletes and lifters.
The concept of metabolic conditioning has to be without a doubt one of the most misunderstood topics in strength and conditioning today. It seems that every fitness guru has some different method for improving your “conditioning” with the aim of burning fat or improving performance for a specific sport. However, none of them really get to the heart of how energy production really works.
There’s nothing fancy here and no expensive machines are needed. More than likely, if you’re reading this article, you probably already have the tools to do it. Okay, let’s rock.
Lifting weights is easy, but preventing injuries when lifting weights is not always as simple. Because of this, it is not uncommon to find many injuries in weight training. To help prevent injuries and make your workouts more productive, here are seven key factors that you should take into account when weight training.
Last night, I was sitting in my office going through some of my training journals and notes that had accumulated over the years.
This strength program is a combination of several styles and programs that I have discovered in my ten years of experience. You will read about systems that I’ve learned from Joe DeFranco, Dave Tate, and Louie Simmons. You will learn philosophies that I’ve adopted from BFS’s Greg Shepard, Mike Boyle, and Paul Chek. I’ve learned a ton by training with Strongman champion, Tom Mitchell, and watching videos from the Parisi School.
Coaches believe that technique should not be touched. They firmly believe that technique is an individual thing that is innate to each individual. However, these ideas could not be further from the truth. One of the most effective ways to improve sports performance is to improve technique.
Chronic shoulder pain is nothing new to lifters or overhead athletes. It can range from something you just live with and work around to debilitating and career ending.
Football coaches know that selecting a player based on combine results is a crap shoot at best. In this article, Dr. Yessis evaluates the tests used to offer a possible explanation of why the combine results are such poor predictors of game play success.
Sports training or sports-specific training is a different beast than competitive powerlifting. However, the “Big Three” have a great impact on the overall strength and explosiveness of the athlete. The $1500 question is how to develop a strength and speed program to help athletes excel in their sport of choice.
On this program, you’ve got to eat. If you are skinny and weak, you need to eat a ton of food. And don’t just tell me that you “eat a lot.” I get this answer from many kids, and when I take one look at what they really consume, it turns out to be nothing more than a few slices of Elio’s Pizza and some cereal all day long.
One of the main distinguishing features of the Soviet system of training athletes is their distinction between general and specialized exercises.
As an athlete, eventually you hit a point where performance stagnates, whether it’s from asymmetries, lack of mobility in certain joints, injuries, or false plateaus. Whatever the specific reason, we have all felt a loss of performance. It’s at this point that you need to go back and check your training, nutrition, and recovery journal. You should be looking to see if there are repeated setbacks.
If you don’t know anything about lacrosse – if you’ve never actually seen a game – chances are you’ve bought into the almost universal, yet severely mistaken, notion that it’s a leisure class sport populated by rich preppie-types from elite private schools in the Northeast.
One week ago I was offered and accepted an incredible opportunity to co-author a book outlining the physical preparation training of 6-time UFC Champion Randy Couture.
A noted sports columnist in the San Diego area lamented the fact that one of the state universities was unable to field a championship women’s volleyball team (they already dropped the men’s program even though it was the only program to bring in an NCAA championship).
Did you ever take a good look at the shape of the Prowler? How about someone giving you the finger?
How I understand, practice, and implement strength and conditioning programs for myself and my clients has drastically changed over the past four years.
Many people refer to the stretch reflex as the key to explosive training. How it is applied, however, is frequently misunderstood. This article takes an in-depth look at this action and how you can better utilize it in any or all aspects of your training.
As a strength and conditioning coach, I feel there’s a duty not only to educate and learn from fellow sport-specific coaches on proper implementation of strength and conditioning programs but to educate and learn from the athletes as well.
Previously I discussed how adding in various training tools can “fill in the holes” of standard barbell lifting. Kettlebells have gained a stronger and stronger following in the strength training community, but sleds and sandbags are two tools that have yet to gain their recognition.
I was introduced to the chiropractic and active release technique (A.R.T.) in 1997 when I first arrived in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Michael Leahy, DC, who is the founder of A.R.T., was my first provider. Yeah, I know, that’s pretty lucky!
Over the past eight years, I’ve had the opportunity to train with many different athletes from all over the country. The most common mistake? Everyone wants to train like a bodybuilder.
Before performing this cycle, you’ll need to take a few weeks to prepare. Don’t try to jump in unless you’re all ready well trained.
Many high school and college pitchers have come to me with the same question—“How can I add speed to my fastball?” First: spend less time shoulder exercises and more time on core training.
Typical bodybuilders and gym rats have forgotten about the old school ways of developing a great physique. Back in the old days, great physiques were made without the use of free weights or machines.
The squat is the unrivaled king of all strength training exercises. It is unparalleled in its overall effectiveness at taxing the entire body. The ankle, hip, and knee joints are all in motion, ensuring that nearly every major leg muscle is utilized. Additionally, the hips, back, shoulders, and abdominals are also stressed.
I have a ton of theories about life, lifting, weight loss, and other things. None of them are based on any scientifically proven truth. All of them are based on my observations of the world and people in general.
Aristotle has been recognized as perhaps the greatest thinker in western civilized history. I once heard that all philosophy is just footnotes to Aristotle. When it comes to maximizing our mental capacities and potential, it would be safe to say that any program or advice that a man like Aristotle could deliver would be greatly welcomed.
Wrestling season is still going strong as of this writing. We have two athletes competing right now at the state tournament, and had several of our guys place at districts and regionals. The team really did well this year and is only losing a few seniors.
As we’ve already alluded to, there are three main components of cardiovascular health that we must improve in order to raise your specific level of cardiovascular fitness—structure, function, and regulation.
Although there are more than 600 muscles in your body making up almost 40 percent of your total body weight, there is one muscle that stands out as more important than all the rest.
Football season has just ended and you’ve quickly realized that you’re only half the man you were in August. Losing 10–20 lbs during the football season is typical for most high school and small college athletes. But you’re not typical.
As a strength coach, a good athlete—let’s call him Johnny—lands in your lap. Do you wonder what brilliant programs you can create to make Johnny bigger, stronger, and faster?
I have employed the conjugate system of training with my throwers’ lifting program for four years with tremendous success. One highlight in the weight room was taking a male thrower with a 385-lb squat freshman year to a 615-lb squat/500-lb front squat as a junior. We also had a thrower make a 60-lb PR in the hang clean after not attempting a single training rep in that lift for six months.
Do you hope to maintain your quality of life as you age? Is it important for you to be able to perform daily tasks, enjoy recreational activities, and care for yourself? You probably want to stay fit, trim, strong, and mobile for as long as possible. You don’t have to accept frailty as you age!
