Evolutionary Athletics

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I want to establish through this post the “proper equation of jumping”. Yes, I know, I’m starting to sound more and more like a marketing guru but bare with me on this one.

The problem I have found with whatever there is in this strength&speed “industry” (although I have hardly understood where the word “industry” should fit – oh wait – marketing gurus just reminded me) is that simplicity is the worst enemy of any quality idea. Whenever you go simple about a thing the guy you’re trying to train is like “hey man, cut me this bull, I want real training”. Because, like the industry word suggests, “real training” is “complicated training”.

Now for those that think that know me, they’ll be like “yeah man but you’re the first to overanalyze stuff”. That’s true. But am I the first to overcomplicate training? I don’t think so. My training journal should be pretty obvious about my training and it’s simplicity. The overanalyzing comes just from the pure curiosity of understanding. I can’t just say “yeah man, it just works like that and that’s it”. That’s like saying “yeah man, I’m just stupid and can’t understand things, I’ll just leave it at that”. Doesn’t work that way for me.

But enough with this chit-chat. What’s up with this “equation thing”? Nothing else than a fancy name for simple stuff.

Before we get to it, I want to make a geek analogy, like I sometimes do.

Let’s suppose you work into computer graphics. Nothing to do with athleticism, right? (I actually work in the domain, by the way).

Say I’m a Photoshop beginner. But I want to become the best photoshopper I can possibly be. What are my possibilities for improvement?

Well, for one it would be just working in Photoshop. You know, working in it, playing with tools, see what they do, what the menus do etc. Read the help. Whatever.

Another possiblity would be to watch tutorials, read advanced books etc.

Once I get decent at it, I could go out with deadlines on my projects. I have to finish this stuff in 2 hours or ELSE. Etc.

1) What would happen if I only read books/watch tutorials but never actually practice working in Photoshop itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good. I could become very good in a very short time though, working in Photoshop.

2) What would happen if I would only work in photoshop and not read anything/watch any tutorial? I could become good, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/it would demand too much time to discover stuff on my own out of hazard.

3) What would happen if I would do deadline work without knowing the program well/having the background to do quality work? Well, for one I’d probably be very slow and for another – I’d probably be very limited.

So how the heck does this correlate with jumping/athleticism?

Well, the same thing happens in this field. The muscle is your potential. Practicing your movement is a SKILL. Overload exercises are your “deadlines” (think depth jumps).

To make a comparison:

1)What would happen if I only strength train but never actually practice jumping itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good at jumping would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good at jumping (especially running jumps, regardless of them being unilateral or bilateral). I could become very good in a very short time though, practicing jumping.

2) What would happen if I would only jump and not do any strength training? I could become a very good jumper, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/building strength would demand too much time using only jumping (because the time under tension is too low to optimally help build muscle).

3) What would happen if I would do depth jump work without jumping/having strength? I’d probably be very bad and my depth jumping advancement would be very limited.

The equation is build muscle + train movement + overload ever now and then with supramaximal exercises like depth jumps to increase the tension threshold that the CNS is/is not accepting in the eccentric phase.

So, again: build muscle to increase your potential of tension, train your movement to learn to apply/access your potential of tension in your jumps, do depth jumps to increase the amount of tension the CNS accepts.

It’s really that simple. Once this is settled, the only downside is bodyfat. If that is in check (say around 10% maximum) then you can’t help but jump high. Really. Notice I haven’t mentioned the relative strength factor in here because I’ll talk about it in the next article. You really have to be aware of what relative strength tells you/what can mean for you/how to read it.

I want to establish through this post the “proper equation of jumping”. Yes, I know, I’m starting to sound more and more like a marketing guru but bare with me on this one.

The problem I have found with whatever there is in this strength&speed “industry” (although I have hardly understood where the word “industry” should fit – oh wait – marketing gurus just reminded me) is that simplicity is the worst enemy of any quality idea. Whenever you go simple about a thing the guy you’re trying to train is like “hey man, cut me this bull, I want real training”. Because, like the industry word suggests, “real training” is “complicated training”.

Now for those that think that know me, they’ll be like “yeah man but you’re the first to overanalyze stuff”. That’s true. But am I the first to overcomplicate training? I don’t think so. My training journal should be pretty obvious about my training and it’s simplicity. The overanalyzing comes just from the pure curiosity of understanding. I can’t just say “yeah man, it just works like that and that’s it”. That’s like saying “yeah man, I’m just stupid and can’t understand things, I’ll just leave it at that”. Doesn’t work that way for me.

But enough with this chit-chat. What’s up with this “equation thing”? Nothing else than a fancy name for simple stuff.

Before we get to it, I want to make a geek analogy, like I sometimes do.

Let’s suppose you work into computer graphics. Nothing to do with athleticism, right? (I actually work in the domain, by the way).

Say I’m a Photoshop beginner. But I want to become the best photoshopper I can possibly be. What are my possibilities for improvement?

Well, for one it would be just working in Photoshop. You know, working in it, playing with tools, see what they do, what the menus do etc. Read the help. Whatever.

Another possiblity would be to watch tutorials, read advanced books etc.

Once I get decent at it, I could go out with deadlines on my projects. I have to finish this stuff in 2 hours or ELSE. Etc.

1) What would happen if I only read books/watch tutorials but never actually practice working in Photoshop itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good. I could become very good in a very short time though, working in Photoshop.

2) What would happen if I would only work in photoshop and not read anything/watch any tutorial? I could become good, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/it would demand too much time to discover stuff on my own out of hazard.

3) What would happen if I would do deadline work without knowing the program well/having the background to do quality work? Well, for one I’d probably be very slow and for another – I’d probably be very limited.

So how the heck does this correlate with jumping/athleticism?

Well, the same thing happens in this field. The muscle is your potential. Practicing your movement is a SKILL. Overload exercises are your “deadlines” (think depth jumps).

To make a comparison:

1)What would happen if I only strength train but never actually practice jumping itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good at jumping would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good at jumping (especially running jumps, regardless of them being unilateral or bilateral). I could become very good in a very short time though, practicing jumping.

2) What would happen if I would only jump and not do any strength training? I could become a very good jumper, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/building strength would demand too much time using only jumping (because the time under tension is too low to optimally help build muscle).

3) What would happen if I would do depth jump work without jumping/having strength? I’d probably be very bad and my depth jumping advancement would be very limited.

The equation is build muscle + train movement + overload ever now and then with supramaximal exercises like depth jumps to increase the tension threshold that the CNS is/is not accepting in the eccentric phase.

So, again: build muscle to increase your potential of tension, train your movement to learn to apply/access your potential of tension in your jumps, do depth jumps to increase the amount of tension the CNS accepts.

It’s really that simple. Once this is settled, the only downside is bodyfat. If that is in check (say around 10% maximum) then you can’t help but jump high. Really. Notice I haven’t mentioned the relative strength factor in here because I’ll talk about it in the next article. You really have to be aware of what relative strength tells you/what can mean for you/how to read it.

I want to establish through this post the “proper equation of jumping”. Yes, I know, I’m starting to sound more and more like a marketing guru but bare with me on this one.

The problem I have found with whatever there is in this strength&speed “industry” (although I have hardly understood where the word “industry” should fit – oh wait – marketing gurus just reminded me) is that simplicity is the worst enemy of any quality idea. Whenever you go simple about a thing the guy you’re trying to train is like “hey man, cut me this bull, I want real training”. Because, like the industry word suggests, “real training” is “complicated training”.

Now for those that think that know me, they’ll be like “yeah man but you’re the first to overanalyze stuff”. That’s true. But am I the first to overcomplicate training? I don’t think so. My training journal should be pretty obvious about my training and it’s simplicity. The overanalyzing comes just from the pure curiosity of understanding. I can’t just say “yeah man, it just works like that and that’s it”. That’s like saying “yeah man, I’m just stupid and can’t understand things, I’ll just leave it at that”. Doesn’t work that way for me.

But enough with this chit-chat. What’s up with this “equation thing”? Nothing else than a fancy name for simple stuff.

Before we get to it, I want to make a geek analogy, like I sometimes do.

Let’s suppose you work into computer graphics. Nothing to do with athleticism, right? (I actually work in the domain, by the way).

Say I’m a Photoshop beginner. But I want to become the best photoshopper I can possibly be. What are my possibilities for improvement?

Well, for one it would be just working in Photoshop. You know, working in it, playing with tools, see what they do, what the menus do etc. Read the help. Whatever.

Another possiblity would be to watch tutorials, read advanced books etc.

Once I get decent at it, I could go out with deadlines on my projects. I have to finish this stuff in 2 hours or ELSE. Etc.

1) What would happen if I only read books/watch tutorials but never actually practice working in Photoshop itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good. I could become very good in a very short time though, working in Photoshop.

2) What would happen if I would only work in photoshop and not read anything/watch any tutorial? I could become good, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/it would demand too much time to discover stuff on my own out of hazard.

3) What would happen if I would do deadline work without knowing the program well/having the background to do quality work? Well, for one I’d probably be very slow and for another – I’d probably be very limited.

So how the heck does this correlate with jumping/athleticism?

Well, the same thing happens in this field. The muscle is your potential. Practicing your movement is a SKILL. Overload exercises are your “deadlines” (think depth jumps).

To make a comparison:

1)What would happen if I only strength train but never actually practice jumping itself? My POTENTIAL of being very good at jumping would increase a lot, but I wouldn’t be good at jumping (especially running jumps, regardless of them being unilateral or bilateral). I could become very good in a very short time though, practicing jumping.

2) What would happen if I would only jump and not do any strength training? I could become a very good jumper, but probably never great because my potential of greatness would be limited/building strength would demand too much time using only jumping (because the time under tension is too low to optimally help build muscle).

3) What would happen if I would do depth jump work without jumping/having strength? I’d probably be very bad and my depth jumping advancement would be very limited.

The equation is build muscle + train movement + overload ever now and then with supramaximal exercises like depth jumps to increase the tension threshold that the CNS is/is not accepting in the eccentric phase.

So, again: build muscle to increase your potential of tension, train your movement to learn to apply/access your potential of tension in your jumps, do depth jumps to increase the amount of tension the CNS accepts.

It’s really that simple. Once this is settled, the only downside is bodyfat. If that is in check (say around 10% maximum) then you can’t help but jump high. Really. Notice I haven’t mentioned the relative strength factor in here because I’ll talk about it in the next article. You really have to be aware of what relative strength tells you/what can mean for you/how to read it.

It’s funny how western guys take things for granted. In all domains. But since we’re talking athletic things in here, let’s keep it at that.

Whenever I look over youtube, say, searching for squats, plyos, or whatever training “events”, I see all kinds of fancy gyms, apparatus, machines, bossu-balls, tens of squat racks, power racks, Gatorades, stability balls, med balls, kettlebells, GHR machines, plyo boxes, aerobic boxes, pink dumbbells and stupid instructors. This — in the USA.

Whenever I look around me here in Romania, when I go to train either in gyms or on the track, I see trellises, old tracks, mud, dirt, spounges, broken bars, rusty plates, rusty bars, wooden boxes with spikes in them if you’re “lucky” to have some in the first place, rusty pink dumbbells and stupid instructors.

The point is — if the western guy would change place with an eastern guy for one week… oh man!

It’s harder when the stupid coach gets crazy ideas though.

A friend of mine that I was training with got into high jump and bobsled training. One day when he was training for the high jump he was doing jumps in the sandpit over a metallic, NON-COLLAPSABLE hurdle. Sure, a small 40 cm or 16 inch hurdle. But he was doing technique jumping where he was told “how to jump”. Needless to say — his jumping was different than what the coach was trying to make him do. So he blowed up the jump and blown his leg up in the hurdle.

Truth is, stupidity + lack of conditions are the mother and father of the injury. What can be said about the water “dive-bomb” Olympic team? They don’t have a dive-pool to train in the WHOLE COUNTRY and, to still train, they dive into spounges. Can you imagine that? They don’t jump into water until they’re in the competition itself! One guy still got 10th place in the World Championship. Can you compare that with the US conditions?

Really, even doing depth jumps is a real problem here because you don’t have any boxes (yes, those square wooden things) to do depth jumps off! But when I look over youtube in the USA everybody has nice all sizes boxes to do them from. Oh, and GHR machine? I never ever seen one here. Never. I don’t think anybody knows what a GHR machine is to be frank.

Never seen a power rack where you take the pins and put them to suit your height/squat depth. Never. I know only one gym that has kettlebells, and they have only 2. As for plyo boxes that I was talking about? They have only like 2 in the Olympic athletic training facility in which I trained for a short period. That’s the only place I’ve seen them.

Oh, not to mention that the only Olympic high jumper (2.30 m personal best / 7′7) has a salary of about 175 euros or 200 $ per month. Yup, you heard right. A good way to be performant, I guess. He borrowed 15 euros about 4 months ago from me and hasn’t given them back yet. No money to do it.

Check out how I do my depth jumps (what I use to do them):

Think about that when you’re complain about the training conditions!

When people talk about isometrics in the training world, they don’t really associate isometric stuff with dynamic efforts for athleticism. Truth is, the isometric concepts/benefits/volume/intensities etc are barely known in the training world.

One could go on and think “why the hell should I train isometrically when the aim is doing dynamic movements?” and, well, he’d be right from a specificity standpoint. That’s not the issue though.

Let’s take a quick example for a more “specific” approach in terms of jumping and dynamic movements. The “athlete” in cause would be, you guessed it — your favorite athlete — me.

Whenever I take a running jump or do any kind of change in direction or whatever dynamic effort, I always am “ready” for the shock of that particular event. I don’t know if you’ve figured it out already, but a lot of people talk about “be ready!” for these kinds of things yet nobody ever defines what “ready” means. Besides of the usual “be aware” definition, “ready” also means “tensed”. So you basically get “tensed” before a dynamic event occurs. According to Yuri Verkhoshansky, this can lead up to a 20% increase in performance in the dynamic movement.
Really, the next time you jump at high speeds be aware of your “preparedness” before the jump. I bet you’ll find out that you’re already tensed up (pre-tensed), just that you haven’t thought about it before.

If not, try to isometrically tense your BODY muscles and see the difference. Notice I haven’t said “leg muscles”, and that’s because it’s a whole body tensing that’s the important thing. The reason for that is the muscle irradiation effect the other muscles have on your stability and power output. This has been bought to my attention by Pavel Tsatsouline but I have found out that I have already been doing all the things he talks about in his book “The Naked Warrior”.

So basically, tensing isometrically before an athletic feat (or a power/strength lift etc) is very important. That’s why the isometric training can/must have some emphasis in training for overall athleticism.

One of my favorite isometric holds is the split squat iso hold using a barbell. Here’s me doing it:

You should aim for sets of 10-20 seconds for strength gains. You want to bring real intensity and LEARN to tense up good so the next time you tense for jumping it will happen quickly and provide you with good stability for the leg muscles to exert power against the ground, but also (and more importantly) for the leg muscles to properly and effectively absorb the ground shock in the amortization phase.

Good luck!

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

The end of the Competitive Season is among us for the majority of high school and small college schools.

That means the start of  Off-Season GPP programs in hopes of increasing the development of the specific adaptations via anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology that are necessary to excel in American Football.

A general overview of these means are:

Functional Hypertrophy (be it Sarocplasmic of Myofibular) of the Skeletal Musculature via proper anatomical movements of the associated joints surrounding the muscle.

Proper Bio-Mechanics of all joints (via mobility of the joints along with sufficient fascia flexibility) of the body with special attention to Ankle, Knee, Hip, & Shoulder Joints as these are the joints most commonly stressed.

A highly developed Anaerobic-alactic energy system, along with a supplementary development of the aerobic system.

The quote “Many roads lead to Rome…” is appropriate in the sense that there are many ways to develop these three areas.

Functional Hypertrophy may be developed via the use of strength training defined by Vladimir Zatsiorsky in four different categories:

Maximal Effort: using maximal loads in regards to the trainee’s Fmax

Dynamic Effort: using sub-maximal loads with an emphasis on high velocity during execution

Repetition Effort: use of sub-maximal loads trained to neuromuscular failure

Sub-maximal Effort: use of sub-maximal loads for an intermeddiate amout of repetitions & not achieving failure

Personally I have no adherence to specific exercises when trying to isolate a specific muscle via its anatomical movement (i.e. when training the Biceps Brachii, elbow flexion is the associated movement to this muscle and any exercise involving elbow flexion is a proper way to train this movement).

Methods associated with isolation are the Repetition and Sub-Maximal Effort

When it comes to Compound Movements, I have my reasoning for which exercises I select to train multiple joint movements.  But with that being said, there also is to a certain degree my belief that a Squat is a Squat & a Press is a Press and that as long as you achieve proper extension for the lower/upper extremities where no extra stress is placed on the joints, that one can properly utilize any type of Squat or Press variation via the Dynamic & Maximal Effort.

Proper Bio-Mechanics are fairly self explanatory. One must be able to properly mobilize joints and muscles in order to achieve optimal performance.

Many different methods can be utilized to achieve this, and are extremely individual.

The individualization comes from the need to specifically diagnose and properly treat conditions that may have accumulated during the season.

These methods are performed via Dynamic, Static, or Isometric/PNF Stretching, Calisthenics, Prehabilitation/Rehabilitation, and Mobility Exercises.

Staples of every football player should be the use of exercises for the  External Rotators, Scapular Elevators, VMO and the Muscles surrounding the neck.

That along with Hip & Shoulder mobility drills should be done prior to training.

Post training stretching of the muscles can be done on a needs basis for muscles that are tight and may compromise proper movement.

Next is the development of the Anaerobic-alactic Energy System.

This system is associated with high intensity, short duration bouts.  Think about the game of football, the plays last 4-10 sec. and are at a very high intensity be it sprints by Wide Receivers, Quasi-Isometric Contractions of Lineman, backpedaling of Defensive backs, etc.

Training this system can be achieved with the use of many different exercises, be it Compound Barbell, Jumps, Throws, Sprints, Agility drills, drills designed to develop the Competition Exercise, and the Competition Exercises themselves.

Then there comes the difference between GPP and SPP.

In the off-season utilization of basic sprints, med-ball throws, maximal effort squats or press, and jumps serves as a sufficient way to develop the alactic system, along with some minisucal amount of competition specific training for the alactic system.  Once the season approaches the training of the alactic system must morph to fit the requirements of the sport.

As you can see the development and retainment of these three areas are vital in the performance of American Football.

Those who have read this post, I urge you to expand your knowledge on how to properly and specifically develop the areas presented with regard to you individually via the under-developed areas of your body.

All the best in your off-season training,

Ryan