Evolutionary Athletics

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This ( http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/546/ ) just went up on the dragondoor page. It details my use of kettlebells with my athletes. It shows a couple of my former athletes Tanya Torres and Juliet Moss. These two girls are studs and will be playing over seas very soon.

Recently on the WGF Forum the Doc’s have been discussing ankle rocker and posted some videos on YouTube regarding the 5 compensation strategies for a dysfunctional ankle rocker.  This is new topic for me, but watching the video, I was able to identify several of my athlete’s movement compensations.  Compensation pattern 5 was exhibited by several of my young female water polo due to wearing sandals often.  Several of the female volleyball players also exhibit some major movement dysfunction that could definitely be caused by ankle rocker dysfunction.  Three young ladies have a common posture with internally rotated, valgus knees, while their feet are slightly externally rotated.  I believe it’s due to the years spent with ankles braced up taught to play defense in the internally rotated valgus knee position..  With “function dictating structure” and ankle braces hindering dorsi flexion (to a certain extent), it’s no surprise the issues that these girls have.  This posture exacerbates the forces at the knee upon landing, which will lead to an increase in ACL tears.  ACL tears are already a plague of the female jumping athlete, but with ankle rocker dysfunction, which leads to hip instability, it is even worse.  The foot is the beginning of the kinetic chain so returning the foot and ankle to proper function needs to be the first assessment made when looking to help an athlete.  Literally, a “ground up” approach needs to be taken when looking a performance assessments.  The ground is the start of the kinetic chain, so it all starts there.

With ankle rocker issues recently coming to light for me, I took some football athletes who had issues with their squat depth and elevated their heels.  This takes ankle rocker out of the equation and bam, a rock bottom squat maintaining great neutral spine position.  This however, is a band-aid and not a fix.  I realize this, I need to re-educate ankle rocker and strengthen foot and anterior tibials musculature.  This is slightly above my knowledge set at the moment, so the new DVD’s from the Doc’s can’t come soon enough for me.  It amazes me how many hat’s performance coaches have to wear.  I remember when I was extremely naive I just thought, all I had to do was get athletes stronger.  The good old days…

Tell me what you’ve experienced…

Jeremy

Recently there was an article published on Dave Tate’s site Elite Fitness busting speed training myths. In this article the first myth that was “busted” was that agility training improves football agility. The author went on to state that running through agility drills may help a beginner but the return on investment is almost nil and then goes on to suggest that doing power cleans and jumping rope will improve your agility. This is a common belief in the strength and conditioning field. I have heard Charlie Francis espouse the same concept. Essentially the belief boils down to the fact that playing a sport is a read and react situation and thus the mechanics are a hind brain activity. The athletes do not consciously think about how to change direction.

Very interesting but is this true.

Yes and no. Yes, in sport the athlete should not be thinking about their change of direction mechanics. However no because teaching proper mechanics is important for one primary reason…

Motor Learning

It seems that people tend to forget this aspect of training. Buddy Morris has said that the quality that is least trained is least retained. Or maybe you have heard that practice makes permanent. In essence the more you practice a skill the more ingrained or hard wired it gets in your nervous system. So much so that at some point it becomes reflexive and a hind brain activity. For example think of typing. When you first got to a computer you probably typed very slow. After years of typing papers for school, e-mails, instant messaging, writing reports for work your typing speed increased well beyond the old hunt ‘n peck style you used when you began. Now most typing is a hind brain activity for you. Your nervous system has learned where the keys are and now your fingers know where to go when you type without even having to look at the keyboard. This is motor learning. Best part is the more you type the better you become.

Agility drills are the same thing. Now most people have coaches just put cones out and say “run around the box” or “run in a zig-zag pattern”. I believe this is why people think they are worthless.

Thing is these coaches don’t actually coach change of direction mechanics. It’s not their fault, they never learned how and are just doing what their coaches did. Changing direction efficiently is a foreign thing and many people have learned how to do it the wrong way. The only way to turn properly is to consistently practice quality repetitions. You need to get more right reps in than wrong ones you have done in your life. Think of how long you have been playing sports. That’s a lot of wrong repetitions. That means you need to do a ton of correct reps to master the skill. How many? I don’t know but the Soviets believed it took 10,000 reps to master the Olympic Lifts so that may be a good guideline. You need to follow the rules of motor learning and work so hard on changing direction properly that it becomes hard wired in your system.

What is the right way? I’ll give some pointers but be on the lookout for our DVD that we are working on. This will show you how to turn properly, help you identify what your athletes, or yourself, is doing wrong, and give you a periodized program.

1. Drop your center of gravity

2. Get your heels in the ground

3. Look where you want to turn before you turn

4. Open step towards your target

- Alex

In all my years as a coach I have read and tried as many scientific programs as anyone else in the business. As I grow older I am realizing that one of the big secrets to success in athletic preparation, the foundation that all programs are built upon, is actually quite simple…

Yup, in the words of former President Bush it is HARD WORK. With out the proper work ethic no program will be successful. You must dedicate yourself to your goal. Without hard work even the best program will fail. Ever wonder why athletes progress so much during NFL combine prep.

Hard work.

Even the laziest athlete will be dedicated and train their ass off with the prospect of millions of dollars being dangled in their face. They will commit to the program 100%.

Are you going to be successful in achieving your athletic dreams?

Then get in the gym and on the field or court and train your ass off.

Remember, all things worth having are worth working for. Now get to work!

A very prominent and highly debated topic in the field of Physical Preparation is if the use of Olympic lifts & the associated variations are applicable for a means of developing Explosive Leg Strength &  Power for various Sporting Disciplines (a la American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Volleyball, etc.)

Here are two articles, both of a conflicting opinion to an extent, on the implication of Olympic lifts for General development of Explosive Leg Strength and Power. One is by Jim Wendler of Elite Fitness Systems and the other by James Smith of Power Development Inc.

http://elitefts.com/documents/olympic_lifts.htm

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/olympic_lift.htm

If you have read or are familiar with either of these two articles you will understand that there is no definite answer to solving the problem of whether Olympic lifts should be implemented or not.

To solve the problem, one must have a greater schematic view of the Sport Training Process, and look at a broad list of background information regarding the individual and their specific Sport.

Take into account the holistic considerations of the individual & their sport.

Ask Who am I training (male, female, biological age, level of qualification, specific position of the sporting game etc.)? What are we training to develop (in this case Explosive Leg Strength and Power)? When & Where is this training place in the annual cycle of the sport (in-season, off-season, etc.) Why have I selected this exercise, jump, throw, lift, etc. specifically as the OPTIMAL method of developing (in this specific case) Explosive Leg Strength and Power? How am I going to utilize all this background information to properly construct the best plan in hopes of developing the athletes Explosive Leg Strength and Power. This is just the tip of the iceberg of the holistic considerations, the thought process must be much more in-depth and extensive than what is presented. Specifically these could be orthopedics of the athlete, height, weight, relative strength levels, etc.

Once a careful collection and analyzing of the information has been executed, then the coach can make the best decision to select what is optimal for the athlete in hopes of further developing Explosive Leg Strength and Power.

Now lets consider a few specific groups of athletes with the thought of implementing Olympic lifts for their general development of Explosive Leg Strength and Power.

Examples of those with reasons for not using Olympic lifts (based of a very minuscule and general consideration of information) would be those with improper  technical/tactical execution of the Olympic lifts, Baseball Pitchers, American Football Quarterbacks, Athletes who have poor bio-mechanical leverages for these lifts, those who have improper mobility or flexibility of the muscles surrounding the trunk, lower back, knees, ankles, or hips, and other athletes with individual pathology to the shoulder, arm, and wrist.

Examples of those who can/could/should utilize Olympic lifts, athletes with good leverages for performing the lifts, proper technical & tactical execution of the Olympic lifts, American Football Linebackers, Running Backs, and Defensive Backs, those with sufficient mobility or flexibility of the muscles surrounding the trunk, lower back, knees, ankles, or hips, and other athletes with no pathology of the shoulder, arm, and wrist.

For the first group of athletes, those who for one reason of the other should not utilize Olympic lifts as their method of developing Explosive Leg Strength and Power, there is still a plethora of other methods of developing Explosive Leg Strength & Power, which will be discussed below.

Development of Explosive Leg Strength & Power can also be achieved via various jumping exercises, be it vertical jumps, horizontal jumps, jumps with a prior counter movement or run up, throwing medicine balls, plates, or other implements in a variety of ways, simple bounding, sprints w/ a sled, etc. etc. Some of these exercises most notably vertical jumping & OH Throws, from an anatomical and bio-mechanical stand point achieve the same movement as Olympic lifts (a la extension of the three joints of the lower body, being the ankles, knees, and hips, along with respect to human movement, in a vertical plane.)

There is no study or research to my knowledge that deems Olympic lifts as a better way of  developing Explosive Leg Strength & Power compared to other Methods such as Jumps & Throws, or in contrast Jumps & Throws better than Olympic lifts.  Until a study or research proves one to be more optimal for General development of Explosive Leg Strength & Power for sporting disciplines that require this ability, it lies in the job of the coach and/or athlete to take into consideration the individual trainee (holistic, orthopedics, training background, etc.) and the sport discipline (Football, Basketball, Baseball, etc. & the specific position of the game), to make the best educated decisions on selecting a method of development.

Caveat Emptor,

Ryan

Isometrics

When was the last time you heard the term Isometric? When was the last time you heard of a coach or athlete who used Isometrics in their training? If you are like most people, your father and grandfather were the last guys that who utilized iso’s, doing countertop curl holds before bed time.  Most view this training method as another passing fad that has died a slow and meaningless death.  The remainder of this article will shed some very interesting and exciting light on this underutilized yet powerful training method.

Isometric, meaning constant (iso) meter (metric), or no change in muscle length during a muscular contraction is part of the “classical” repetition.  If we look at the three phases of movement, there is the pliometric or eccentric loading phase followed by the isometric, coupling, or amortization phase and lastly the miometric or concentric phase.  As you can see in the down and up repetition, you are performing a brief isometric contraction whether known or unknown, but typically not emphasized.  The misconceptions that isometrics are not beneficial or challenging enough are profound.  The underlying research has stated that the only strength gains made from isometrics are fifteen to thirty degrees from the joint angle trained (not entirely true), thus filing this method up there with bosu strength training in the beneficial category.  

The first major benefit from isometric training methodic would be to teach proper position.  It never fails, every year, a new crop of freshmen who of about eighty percent have no training background at all.  Worst is, of the twenty percent that have training background, they have the worst technique and movement patterns known to man.  Of the two, I’d always rather start with the clean slate then try to re-wire bad motor programs to adolescents who think their dad knows everything about training and couldn’t have been leading them down a dark path.  But, none the less that is the job description.  First thing in teaching newbie’s or the dysfunctional is to teach proper position.  Proper position means correct technique and injury free training (To learn more on proper position read Dan Fichter’s article on the subject The Purpose Position ).  Pavel Tsatsouline says, “Strengthen the top position and bottom position and everything in the middle will fall into place.”  Isometrics, even if brief in duration, accomplish this goal and can easily be administered to a large group.  Using the isometrics, trainees have less distraction and more time under tension in those particular positions to “feel” the proper muscles working and understand how to get there. 

“Feeling” the proper muscles fire brings me to the second great benefit of this methodic, proper muscle recruitment patterns.  When a trainee has less distraction and more time to put his “mental intent” on the correct musculature (as long as position is maintained), he/she develops a better body awareness or kinesthesia.  In teaching dynamic movements right out of the gate, often times, too much is going on and the trainee typically will just go through the movement as best as possible without really getting a chance to make it internal.  That internal process is always what leads to a greater understand and depth of mastery for any new skill.  Jay Schroeder of Evo-Sport and Ultra-fit, might be the master at this with his “Extreme Isometrics.”  Don’t let the name fool you too much, what truly seems to be going on here is an active yielding isometric hold in the deepest position possible for (what seems to me the longest time possible) five minutes.  This in actuality becomes a quasi-isometric action; As you pull down into the deepest position possible you start to fatigue and slowly pull yourself deeper and deeper.  Regardless, Jays trainee’s are learning how to actively pull themselves down instead of just giving in to gravity and fall into position.  This is one of the biggest obstacle for most as we are accustomed to collapsing into the car seat or “plopping down” on the coach.  We don’t move like the yester-years of our childhood anymore and we should be ashamed.  We first off taught ourselves how to do it right as we started to crawl and walk, but shortly after that , we got lazy!  We gave in to the status quo and now we can’t squat down without knee or back pain.  In trying to accomplish Jay’s five minute “Extreme Isometrics” your body is forced to find the most optimal firing patterns as your body fights to maintain position for the insanely long duration. 

Next benefit in line would have to be active flexibility.  Note that this is only the case when the isometric contraction is at the deepest joint angle possible (while maintaining position).  Going back to Schroeder’s Extreme Isometrics, as fatigue sets in, you’ll pull yourself lower and lower developing greater ROM using strength.  Active flexibility is the only type of flexibility that has any carry over in to actual performance settings.  Schroeder’s Extreme Isometrics it has been theorized increase fascial length, which in turn has been correlated to increased running speeds or ability.  The increase in lactic acid and metabolites at the extreme end ranges of motion has also been theorized to increase fascia thickness in elongated states.  Once again, possibly increasing your ability for ROM and speed! 

Getting down to the fundamentals there are two basic types of isometrics, yielding and overcoming.  Both have very separate and distinct training effects.  Yielding is holding a given load at a particular angel (typically bottom of movement) for a designated time.  As previously covered this becomes a super slow eccentric  or quasi-isometric movement with enough fatigue and has a major training effect on your connective tissue or series elastic component of the muscle.  This is great for strengthening tendons and fascia and is an excellent preparatory stage for speed strength or plyometric work.  Typically longer durations work best, holding for 15-35 seconds in length is most beneficial. 

Overcoming isometrics on the other hand is for sticking points and generating power.  Overcoming isometrics have also been referred to as sticking point training, where the trainee will exert maximal force against an immovable object at a particular joint angle that is a weak point of the movement.  Louie Simmons’s conjugate method of training which has produced some of the most prolific powerlifters ever is all about, “training your weakness” and overcoming isometrics is one of the most specific ways to accomplish that.  This can be very stressful and demanding on the connective tissue so, durations are typically short.  No more then 5-15 seconds in duration would be recommended due to the stress and strain.  Doing a set or two of overcoming isometrics followed immediately by a set of the regular lift can also have a potentiating effect on the lift.  Performance plateaus and sticking points can be a thing of the past. 

Continuing on to the potentiating effect of isometrics, Dr. Yuri Verkhoshansky has stated that an isometric contraction followed by a concentric dynamic movement will increase the force of the movement by up to twenty percent! This has help given rise to the static-dynamic method of training, which most intermediate and advanced trainee’s due to some degree automatically with most lifting movements.  Prior to performing a big lift, you can witness advanced lifters pre-tense their bodies and develop full body tension to help rip the weight off the floor or explode the bar up.  In “Inno-Speak” this is your Isometric Miometric (ISO-MIO) work, which develops that explosive rapid acceleration like jumping or throwing.  Hang cleans are also utilize this effect (if done correctly) and that is why they can be beneficial.  Jay Schroeder has his Explosive Dynamic Isometrics (EDI’s) which utilize this effect as well.  This potentiating effect is extremely beneficial in developing “Starting Strength” and “Acceleration Strength.”  These two factors make an athlete explosive off the line and lighting quick!

Potentiating complex’s for you to try on your own at the gym.

Movement: Bench Press

Try performing 3-5sec. maximal Overcoming Isometrics then rest for 2-5minutes before performing maximal bench press singles.

Movement: Pull Up

Try holding a 10 sec. Yielding Isometric then rest for 2-5 minutes before performing pull ups. 

Movement: Glute Ham Raise

Have a partner manually resist you as you try to pull up for 5-15 seconds, them rest for 2-5 minutes, followed by reactive glute ham raises. 

Using Iso’s and complexing Iso’s into your training will enhance performance during training primarily which will cultivate to a better performance on the playing field.  In the group teaching settings where equipment and space are usually a limiting factor, isometrics side step the problem as equipment and space are typically minimal at worst.  Skill retention and mastery are aided with the utilization of Iso’s first or mixed with other methods to enhance understanding and performance.  Try giving the complex’s above a try during your next workout and see the benefits first hand. 

Until next time

Jeremy Layport, MA, RKC TL, C.S.C.S., USA WL1

Ok, let’s say you have a 30 inch vert. Now I come and tell you : jump 34 inches. You listen and go try it: you begin your approach, you plant, you bend, you jump, and I measure 30 inches. Ok, fine, but why can’t you jump 34?

Yeap, I know, pretty hard to tell, ain’t it? We certainly don’t know what is the weak point in your body. But we can figure it out quickly, to a certain extent.

Now don’t get me wrong: I ain’t telling this is a sure thing, but we can speculate around it, in a logic manner I suppose. But enough with this, let’s get started. First, let’s review what you did to jump 30 inches.

You began your approach… this means you used an “X” amount of speed. Could be fast, moderate, or slow. Then you plant. You could jump off one or two legs. Then you bend. You could’ve bent more or less, depending of the plant (1 or 2 legs) and your specific technique. Then you jump…

That X amount of speed is very important. I believe that the “Eccentric Strength” i’s the most important thing in a running jump.

1) Coming up with a high speed and jumping high means you are having (or probably having) a very good technique and having (for sure) a very good eccentric strength.

2) Coming up with a high speed and jumping low means you are either having a a) bad technique (or wrong movement patterns) or b) you have bad eccentric strength, or c) both.

3) Coming up slow and jumping “relatively” high would mean you have good technique and strength and bad eccentric strength.

4) Coming up slow and jumping low would mean you have both bad technique and bad eccentric strength, period.

Now we need to correct these scenarious, one by one. The correct approach, in my oppinion (remember, these are not proven facts) would be the following:

1) Increase strength to jump higher;

2) a) Go into plyometrics, low intensity, focusing on the correct movement patterns; b) Get into strength training, then go into drop jumps to improve eccentric strength; c) both;

3) Get into strength training, then train with drop jumps.

4) The same as 2) c), training first low intensity plyometrics, then strength, then high intensity plyometrics.

By saying “training first”, I don’t mean to do that type of training first in your session; what I mean is to prepare yourself focusing on that kind of training, without mixing them up. This means you must do (or focus almost entirely) on that kind of training (either low intensity plyometrics (LIP), strength training (ST) or high-intensity training (HIT)).

Ok, we are done with the approach part, let’s move on.

Now this is another important part. You jumped 30 inches right? Now what muscle, or movement stopped you from getting higher?

Well, other than regular strength, sometimes there are certain muscles that collapse before the others do. For example, when I approach my jumping spot with a very high speed, I lose eccentric strength in the vastus medialis and jump a mere 8 inches or somewhere around. This happened because the proprioceptors kicked in, in the absorbtion phase. I felt quite confident in my other muscles that they can handle that speed, but the vastus medialis in my quads didn’t. What I am saying is that, for my case, strengthening the vastus medialis would provide a very good boost for increasing my vert. But this is just my case.

You could lack strength in the calves, so if you feel you collapse at the calf point, you need to train the calves for more eccentric strength.

If, however, you can get a lot of power in (move trough the absorbtion and stabilisation phase) then it becomes just a matter of lowering the coupling phase time (where the switch from eccentric to concentric happens) and increase overall strength. Taking a lot of power in without collapsing is the definition of an efficient nervous system, as the proprioceptors don’t kick in to shut down the muscle. However, it is also dependent of muscular strength, so you gotta have a combination of both strength and an efficient nervous system. We hear a lot about “combinations” and how you can’t separate the muscle from the mind, and that’s because it’s true.

There is another thing I must add: from my experience I have found out that the eccentric strength is also specific. What I mean by that is that eccentric strength can exist in a movement but can lack in another, even if the load on the muscles is similar.

The reason for that is movement efficiency. Say you train to jump off two feet. You go out and practice that for 2 hours everyday. What happens over time is the body (CNS) starts to accept the forces of the amortization phase and starts to get better in that movement, accepting higher and higher levels of speed (becoming efficient and “trustful” that the movement can safely be performed). You can therefore conclude that your eccentric strength has improved and you would be right (although you have to first define what EXACTLY does eccentric strength means). If it means that you’re able to use more speed in the jump without collapsing then yes, you have increased it. If it means you’re going to be able to lower a heavier bar in the squat than before… I’m not so sure. If it means the “newly found” eccentric strength is going to be properly used in change of directions, cuts, decelerations while playing basketball… I’m not sure about this either.

What I have found out on my own self is that you can be great at jumping and still suck when it comes to decelerating, cutting, changing directions etc, even though it feels like the same loading of the muscles is being applied during these movements. Even more, when you think about it, in high speed jumps there are forces that are highly superior vs. some low speed changes of directions.

So, in my mind at least, the eccentric strength also carries a specific “value”. Here in Romania the high jump coaches are really obsessed with specificity by the way, in whatever they put their athletes do. Everything has to be specific. There are little things not specific to every parameter of a one-leg jump.

What this means is that you’re most likely see the high jumpers do a lot of plyos, 1/4 squats, few full squats (because they are not specific when it comes to the knee/hip angles of a one-leg jump), low ROM step-ups (for the same reasons) and bounce squats (where you drop down and use the plyometric effect to get up, a killer for the knees by the way).

Well, this is it about the collapse points and eccentric strength and it’s specificity. Watch out for new articles soon!

One thing I am constantly amazed at is the lack of emphasis on physical strength for female athletes. Even nowadays, when I think that, for the most part, the myths about weight training making you muscle-bound and “manly” have been busted, most female athletes either do not strength train or have a terrible strength training program. I will see girls doing “plyo programs” and “conditioning workouts” until the cows come home. The funny thing is that, almost without exception, the top female athletes that I have worked with all possess very high levels of relative strength.

I coach for one of the top club teams in the mid-Atlantic area and we held our tryouts recently. About 40 or so girls tried out for 10 spots on the team. The funny thing is, if I had simply done nothing else other than observe them doing pushups and walking lunges and taken out the top 15 from that… all 10 girls that were eventually selected would have been in that top 15 from a relative strength standpoint. Compared to the average female, the average male is faster, jumps higher and is overall more explosive from an athletic standpoint. Why? Because the average guy is stronger than the average girl. So then why have most male-dominated sports embraced weight training, but trainers and coaches of female athletes still lag behind?

The number one thing (other than improve skill) that a female athlete in the 13-16 year old range can do to improve her sports performance is to improve her relative strength. This doesn’t require any fancy programs or weight machines or special bands or shoes. Pushups, pullups and walking lunges will do to start. The majority of girls I start working with for the first time cannot do a full-range pushup with good technique. Eventually, all of them get to the point where they can do sets of 5 with perfect technique. Without exception, this has resulted in improved performance on the court.

I will do a follow-up explaining some of the progressions I use for developing relative strength for a beginner athlete.

Well it is time for the new announcement.

We have added some new writers to our staff!

They were all hand selected and represent some of the brightest performance coaches and athletes in the business.  Please join me in welcoming them!

Joe Trinsey of Prep Performance is a coach and trainer based in Deleware.  His articles include Time to Dance, Lazy Sunday, and an excellent piece on The Importance of Strength and can be seen here.

Jeremy Layport is a Division I Strength and conditioning coach based in the San Francisco Bay Area.  His Bio and upcoming articles can be seen here.

Ryan, aka “qb0708“, is a collegiate football player and a very bright young mind in the business with a promising future.  You can find his most recent article Off Season Football GPP here.

Robert Ruxandrescu, more prominently known as “Raptor” is a student of sports performance training and vertical jump training.  You can find his article To Jump or Not To Jump? about… jumping here.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  More writers have agreed to contribute and, of course, you will be notified as they begin writing.

Enjoy!

-Alex

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