The rigors of the season can take a toll on the body and the mind. Despite this, its important to maintain and if possible, continue to build muscle and strength, as well as rehab current injuries and utilize prehab exercises to make sure the body doesn't break down during the season. With that in mind here's an example of an in-season football workout for building full body strength and muscle while not beating the body up so that the athlete can concentrate on improving their position specific skills on the field.
General Warmup
Dynamic Warmup
Knee Hop Underhand Backwards Med Ball Throws--10x1 (Full Recovery)
Snatch Grip Deadlifts--5x3 (Submax)
Abductor Band Resisted Reverse Lunges--3x8 each leg
3 Rounds:
Side-To-Side Plyo Pushups--10 each side
L-Sit Pullups--8
Band Resisted Front Plank--3x30 seconds each side
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday, August 13, 2012
There's More Than One Way to Build Explosive Power in Athletes!
One of the biggest concerns of strength coaches and athletes (whether they know it or not) is known as "rate of force development." Essentially this means, how quickly can an athlete activate their muscles to achieve maximal force output. This amount of time can be shortened through training. An offensive or defensive lineman can be trained to explode off the line of scrimmage faster, a runner in baseball can reach top speed on the base path quicker, and a basketball player can change directions and reach max height on a jump at a faster rate, if they are trained properly.
In most sports that require explosiveness, the lower body, especially the hips, are responsible for generating most of the power. Therefore, the most important aspect of generating power and force is known as "triple extension." Triple extension is the simultaneous extension of the ankles, knees, and hips, which is one of the most common and important movements in all of sports. Consider this: When a linebacker wraps up a running back to make a tackle, he is taught to shoot low and drive from the legs by exploding through the ball carrier. When taught properly, the linebacker should extend at the ankles, knees and hips, and drive the ball carrier through the ground. When a basketball player jumps, whether it be for a 15 foot shot, a layup, or a powerful drive and dunk, they bend at the ankles, knees, and hips, then forcefully extend all three, producing the force that allows them to leave the floor. For that matter, what is running? If you watch a world class sprinter, each step is an explosive extension of the ankle, knee and hip of the individual leg. The point is, triple extension may be the most important movement to develop in sport!
1) Some strength coaches will tell you the only way to truly improve rate of force development through triple extension training are the classic olympic lifts. These include the snatch, the clean, the jerk, and their variations. There is no doubt, the olympic lifts will build incredible power and improve rate of force development. The problem, and its a HUGE problem, is that the olympic lifts are extremely hard to teach. They are unbelievably technical. If you read enough interviews with world-class olympic lifters, you'll begin to see that even they admit, after decades of practicing these techniques every single day, that their technique still needs work. So, with that in mind, I think that depending on the athlete, there are better ways to work the triple extension.
2) One such way to do this, is odd object training. Some might call this strongman training. Essentially, you take an odd object, like a heavy stone, atlas stone, sandbag, kettlebell, or other object, and perform exercises like loading, shouldering, or a variation of the olympic lift. These are great because they force the athlete to adjust to the odd object which will improve grip and athleticism. They are also much easier to teach than the classic olympic lifts. Some of my favorite odd object exercises are kettlebell snatches, sandbag shouldering, and stone clean and press. They build full body explosive power and muscle and it's just goddamn fun to throw around heavy shit!
3) Another way to build power is through throws. Medicine balls are a great tool to build explosive power and speed. Before your strength training, or on its own, medicine ball throws force the muscles to activate quickly through resistance. However, the biggest advantage to medicine ball training is that you don't have to decelerate the resistance. Anytime you're using a barbell, a sandbag, a rock, a kettlebell, a dumbbell, or any other object that will be staying in your hand or hands the entire movement, you have to decelerate the object even if its just slightly at some point. That forces you to control the object which compromises power output. With a medicine ball, there is no deceleration. You throw the damn thing as hard as humanly possible! Some of the best medicine ball throws are overhead medicine ball slams, broad jump chest passes, underhand backwards medicine ball throws, underhand forward throws, and twisting throws for rotational power. Check out the world-class athletes at the great Defranco's gym training explosively with medicine balls!
4) The final, and most controversial way to build explosive power, is plyometrics. Plyometrics is a big buzz word in the fitness industry today. Everyone wants to do plyometrics, and the world of Crossfit has encouraged people to use plyometrics as a conditioning tool. However, plyometrics ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE. Originally developed by the Soviets, plyometrics are intended for well-trained, high level athletes, who already possess athleticism and a high level of technique in basic strength exercises like the squat. Please, for the love of God, if you have been out of training for awhile, or are new to training, don't start by doing depth jumps, where you jump off one box and immediately onto another! Now that I got that rant out of the way, here are the positives. Simple jump training for athletes, or plyometric training for advanced athletes, is a great way to improve rate of force development and triple extension. You can't jump slowly. Try hard as you want, you have to contract your muscles quickly and explosively in order to jump. If done properly, jump training can be extremely beneficial for developing speed and explosiveness in athletes. Some of my favorite jumping exercises are box jumps, hurdle hops, broad jumps, and kneeling jumps.
In my opinion, variety is key here. Athletes should be able to explosively lift odd objects, throw medicine balls, perform jumps with just their bodyweight, and perform SUBMAX olympic lifts with good form. This will provide a basis of overall athleticism and power through triple extension of the ankles, knees, and hips. If you want to improve your speed, athleticism, and explosive power on the field or the court, you need to be training this way. Learn to properly train the triple extension and watch your athletic performance improve like never before!
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| Usain Bolt--Triple Extension of the left leg |
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| Olympic Snatch--"The Finish" |
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| Elliott Hulse--Atlas Stone Loading |
3) Another way to build power is through throws. Medicine balls are a great tool to build explosive power and speed. Before your strength training, or on its own, medicine ball throws force the muscles to activate quickly through resistance. However, the biggest advantage to medicine ball training is that you don't have to decelerate the resistance. Anytime you're using a barbell, a sandbag, a rock, a kettlebell, a dumbbell, or any other object that will be staying in your hand or hands the entire movement, you have to decelerate the object even if its just slightly at some point. That forces you to control the object which compromises power output. With a medicine ball, there is no deceleration. You throw the damn thing as hard as humanly possible! Some of the best medicine ball throws are overhead medicine ball slams, broad jump chest passes, underhand backwards medicine ball throws, underhand forward throws, and twisting throws for rotational power. Check out the world-class athletes at the great Defranco's gym training explosively with medicine balls!
4) The final, and most controversial way to build explosive power, is plyometrics. Plyometrics is a big buzz word in the fitness industry today. Everyone wants to do plyometrics, and the world of Crossfit has encouraged people to use plyometrics as a conditioning tool. However, plyometrics ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE. Originally developed by the Soviets, plyometrics are intended for well-trained, high level athletes, who already possess athleticism and a high level of technique in basic strength exercises like the squat. Please, for the love of God, if you have been out of training for awhile, or are new to training, don't start by doing depth jumps, where you jump off one box and immediately onto another! Now that I got that rant out of the way, here are the positives. Simple jump training for athletes, or plyometric training for advanced athletes, is a great way to improve rate of force development and triple extension. You can't jump slowly. Try hard as you want, you have to contract your muscles quickly and explosively in order to jump. If done properly, jump training can be extremely beneficial for developing speed and explosiveness in athletes. Some of my favorite jumping exercises are box jumps, hurdle hops, broad jumps, and kneeling jumps.
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| Ridiculous Triple Extension on the Broad Jump |
In my opinion, variety is key here. Athletes should be able to explosively lift odd objects, throw medicine balls, perform jumps with just their bodyweight, and perform SUBMAX olympic lifts with good form. This will provide a basis of overall athleticism and power through triple extension of the ankles, knees, and hips. If you want to improve your speed, athleticism, and explosive power on the field or the court, you need to be training this way. Learn to properly train the triple extension and watch your athletic performance improve like never before!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Breakin In the New Cleats With a POWER Workout
Warmup
Dynamic Warmup
Anabolic Power Training--8 Rounds
1a) Submax Throw--100 Pound stone from ground over shoulder x 2
1b) Sprint--Hill sprint
Gymnastics Static Strength/Prehab--3 Rounds
2a) Handstand Progression
2b) Single Leg Glute Bridge x 10 each
This is a great way to condition for most sports, (in my case football) because it trains your body in the glycolytic system. In football each play is a burst of high intensity followed by an elongated period of rest. This is why it makes absolutely NO SENSE for a football player to run long distances at a slow pace to condition. When do you ever see a football player run two miles at a jogging pace? Absolutely never. This kind of explosive training increases your body's capacity to operate in the glycolytic system, which is your body's energy system of choice after the body's ATP supply (its first source of energy) is burned up. It would take an entire book to explain the body's energy systems and specifically how they operate, so to put it simply, identify the movements and duration of movements in your particular sport and train for them. Don't waste your time doing long slow cardio because you see everyone else doing it. High intensity interval training and anaerobic power training is the best way build explosiveness, muscle, and increase work capacity without sacrificing power output which is EXACTLY what slow sustained cardio does!
Friday, August 10, 2012
Random Muscle Building Workout!
I woke up today at 10:45 am to a bitch black house. Completely confused, I walked around to see if it really was morning. It was, but some of the darkest storm clouds of the entire summer had moved in and dropped teeming rain and bellowing thunder. This completely destroyed my plans to hit a bodyweight workout at the park or playground. But, as in life and sport, things don't always work out the way you plan, and you just gotta keep grindin' and find a way around the obstacle.
Today's workout was a perfect reflection of this. I asked my brother what reps and sets I should hit for my random muscle-building bodyweight workout after deadlifting heavy yesterday. This is what he came up with...
Warmup
Dynamic Warmup
1a) Gymnastics Rings Dips--10, 8, 6, 8, 10
1b) Gymnastics Rings Elevated Rows--20, 16, 12, 16, 20
This up and down ladder concept was absolutely hellish. However, it was a fantastic workout because it took me out of my comfort zone. It increased my work capacity and endurance, as well as building muscle and mental toughness. All I needed was my fucking awesome pair of gymnastics rings that hang from a pullup bar in my bedroom doorway. I'd highly recommend searching them on Google and getting your hands on a pair of rings if you want to take your bodyweight training to another level.
Now, I could have stopped and gotten ready for work right then. But in the spirit of this random and completely improvised workout session, I had to finish with some explosive training. Most strength trainers would tell you to ALWAYS start your workouts with explosive training before strength and muscle building training. I'm inclined to agree with them. However, sometimes you need to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself when your sore and tired. Your mind and your body must be ready even when things don't go your way, or your tired, or life laughs at your plans and throws you a curveball. With that in mind, here's the second half of my morning session.
5 Rounds
2a) Kneeling Jumps--5
2b) Full Body Plyo Pushups--5
Embrace the Grind!
Today's workout was a perfect reflection of this. I asked my brother what reps and sets I should hit for my random muscle-building bodyweight workout after deadlifting heavy yesterday. This is what he came up with...
Warmup
Dynamic Warmup
1a) Gymnastics Rings Dips--10, 8, 6, 8, 10
1b) Gymnastics Rings Elevated Rows--20, 16, 12, 16, 20
This up and down ladder concept was absolutely hellish. However, it was a fantastic workout because it took me out of my comfort zone. It increased my work capacity and endurance, as well as building muscle and mental toughness. All I needed was my fucking awesome pair of gymnastics rings that hang from a pullup bar in my bedroom doorway. I'd highly recommend searching them on Google and getting your hands on a pair of rings if you want to take your bodyweight training to another level.
Now, I could have stopped and gotten ready for work right then. But in the spirit of this random and completely improvised workout session, I had to finish with some explosive training. Most strength trainers would tell you to ALWAYS start your workouts with explosive training before strength and muscle building training. I'm inclined to agree with them. However, sometimes you need to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself when your sore and tired. Your mind and your body must be ready even when things don't go your way, or your tired, or life laughs at your plans and throws you a curveball. With that in mind, here's the second half of my morning session.
5 Rounds
2a) Kneeling Jumps--5
2b) Full Body Plyo Pushups--5
Embrace the Grind!
Thank God For Sumo Deadlifts!
Sumo deadlifts saved my ability to perform the deadlift. I was never able to get my back into a proper position to do conventional deadlift, and I think that that played a role in the back injury I suffered in the spring. I believe this has as much to do with my body composition as anything else. So I began testing out the sumo deadlift, and it has allowed me to maintain a neutral spine position and utilize my hamstrings and glutes much more than my lower back which has saved me from further injury. Deadlift like a freak!
I recorded this workout but unfortunately I cut off my own head so I'll just have to try again some other time.
Warmup
Dynamic Warmup
Heavy Barbell Lift--Deadlift
5x2--Started with 250lbs and used 40 pound jumps until I finished with 410x2
Conditioning--3 Rounds
2a) 100 lb Stone Walking Lunges--16 steps
2b) Band Resisted Pushups--15
2c) KB Carry--Variety
Finisher--3 Rounds
3a) Suitcase KB Deadlifts--5 each side
3b) L-Sit Pullups--10 (Varied Grips)
I recorded this workout but unfortunately I cut off my own head so I'll just have to try again some other time.
Warmup
Dynamic Warmup
Heavy Barbell Lift--Deadlift
5x2--Started with 250lbs and used 40 pound jumps until I finished with 410x2
Conditioning--3 Rounds
2a) 100 lb Stone Walking Lunges--16 steps
2b) Band Resisted Pushups--15
2c) KB Carry--Variety
Finisher--3 Rounds
3a) Suitcase KB Deadlifts--5 each side
3b) L-Sit Pullups--10 (Varied Grips)
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
"Hey, what are you training for?"
"Hey, what are you training for??"
"Life, motherfucker."
It's amazing to me every time someone asks me this. As if to say, "you must be playing a sport or doing a grueling competition, otherwise why aren't you on the couch like the rest of us!" I train because I love it. I train to be strong. I train to build my body, my mind, and my spirit. I train because in life, as in sport, there will come a time when you can either push through or you can back down and quit. What will you do when this time comes?
It's incredible what you can do with a 70 pound kettlebell, your bodyweight, and alot of pent-up anger towards the people involved in FDU enrollment and housing.
General Warmup --Jogging
Dynamic Warmup--Band pull aparts, animal movements, lunges, reverse lunges, lunges w/ twist, skipping, sprinting, pushups, divebomb pushups, bounding, etc.
Power and Strength Circuit--5 Rounds
1a) KB Snatch--3 each arm
1b) Consecutive Broad Jumps--3
1c) KB Weighted Parallel Bar Pushups--10
Conditioning--3 Rounds
2a) Single Arm KB Split Squat--8 each side
2b) KB Row Variation (Hand Alternating)--12
2c) Bound for 5 yards sprint for 10 yards
Finished with some quick lever training. Short on time so cranked alot in the time I had. Hit me up with comments about why you train and what you think of the workout. Keep grindin'.
"Life, motherfucker."
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| KB weighted pushups |
It's amazing to me every time someone asks me this. As if to say, "you must be playing a sport or doing a grueling competition, otherwise why aren't you on the couch like the rest of us!" I train because I love it. I train to be strong. I train to build my body, my mind, and my spirit. I train because in life, as in sport, there will come a time when you can either push through or you can back down and quit. What will you do when this time comes?
It's incredible what you can do with a 70 pound kettlebell, your bodyweight, and alot of pent-up anger towards the people involved in FDU enrollment and housing.
 |
| Alternating KB Plyo Rows |
Dynamic Warmup--Band pull aparts, animal movements, lunges, reverse lunges, lunges w/ twist, skipping, sprinting, pushups, divebomb pushups, bounding, etc.
Power and Strength Circuit--5 Rounds
1a) KB Snatch--3 each arm
1b) Consecutive Broad Jumps--3
1c) KB Weighted Parallel Bar Pushups--10
Conditioning--3 Rounds
2a) Single Arm KB Split Squat--8 each side
2b) KB Row Variation (Hand Alternating)--12
2c) Bound for 5 yards sprint for 10 yards
Finished with some quick lever training. Short on time so cranked alot in the time I had. Hit me up with comments about why you train and what you think of the workout. Keep grindin'.
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| Single Arm KB Split Squats |
Training Around an Injury
If there is one thing I know, it's injuries and how to train around them. Since 2008, I've had four major surgeries. Not some little meniscus tear or getting your wisdom teeth out. I had the labrum in my left shoulder repaired, then tore and had the ACL in my right knee reconstructed (as well as my MCL and meniscus the first time) three consecutive years, then last season I suffered a high ankle sprain with ligament damage, and then three months ago, I herniated two discs in my lower back. All of these are considered serious injuries and in the case of the ACLs and disc herniations, some doctors and athletes might even consider them career ending. Yet, I'm about to enter my fifth year at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where I'll continue playing football, and I haven't stopped training at ANY point in the last five years.
Now, I often talk to athletes and just regular gym-goers and will hear, "I can't train, I hurt my shoulder," or "my backs bothering me so I had to take a few months off," or "I have to get knee surgery I can't do anything." I ask you, if your shoulder hurts, what's wrong with your legs? If you knee is busted, does your upper body shut down? If one of your ankles hurts, didn't God give you another leg? The fact is injuries are just an excuse for lazy people to sit on their ass and get fat and out of shape, and then when people ask them why they're shrinking or gaining weight, they have a "legitimate" reason to help them rationalize it.
The fact is, there are NO legitimate excuses for not training when you're hurt or injured. Only days after my ACL surgery, I was rolling off the couch to do pushups with my healthy leg as support. If you have a serious shoulder injury, there is no reason you can't do bodyweight squats or lunges, or even do single arm training with your healthy arm. If you have a bad back, there is no reason you can't use bodyweight training or tolerable weight training as I did three months ago when I injured mine.
Too many people hear their doctor say, "you need to rest," and think that is a free pass to do absolutely nothing for awhile. When the doctor says that they mean rest your injury! The truth is, studies have shown that the more active you are while injured, the faster your body will recover, and that if you continue to train your body or your uninjured appendage, that you will continue to make gains in strength and muscle in the injured area for a period of time. You are doing your body and your mind a disservice if you use an injury as an excuse for not training. I truly believe that my back healed much faster, (I'm back to squatting 355x3 and deadlifting over 400 pounds) due to the fact that I didn't take any time off, and began utilizing bodyweight and odd object training after the injury occurred.
The point is, stop making excuses because there are none and take action. If you have suffered an injury and would like ideas about how to train around it, message me or email me. If you still don't believe me about training around an injury, check out this video about a man who was given a bad break but has NEVER let it stop him.
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| Bodyweight training less than two months after back injury |
The fact is, there are NO legitimate excuses for not training when you're hurt or injured. Only days after my ACL surgery, I was rolling off the couch to do pushups with my healthy leg as support. If you have a serious shoulder injury, there is no reason you can't do bodyweight squats or lunges, or even do single arm training with your healthy arm. If you have a bad back, there is no reason you can't use bodyweight training or tolerable weight training as I did three months ago when I injured mine.
Too many people hear their doctor say, "you need to rest," and think that is a free pass to do absolutely nothing for awhile. When the doctor says that they mean rest your injury! The truth is, studies have shown that the more active you are while injured, the faster your body will recover, and that if you continue to train your body or your uninjured appendage, that you will continue to make gains in strength and muscle in the injured area for a period of time. You are doing your body and your mind a disservice if you use an injury as an excuse for not training. I truly believe that my back healed much faster, (I'm back to squatting 355x3 and deadlifting over 400 pounds) due to the fact that I didn't take any time off, and began utilizing bodyweight and odd object training after the injury occurred.
The point is, stop making excuses because there are none and take action. If you have suffered an injury and would like ideas about how to train around it, message me or email me. If you still don't believe me about training around an injury, check out this video about a man who was given a bad break but has NEVER let it stop him.
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