The Forgotten Muscles

After two players going down in college football with serious neck injuries, I'm reminded of the importance of strengthening neck muscles.  As Strength & Conditioning Coaches it is easy to overlook this.  We can focus on power, speed, squat, and bench press but we forget to train the neck.  Just like people take aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack, we must strengthen our football player's necks to reduce the risk of serious injury.  Im not saying that strengthening neck muscles will prevent freak accidents on the field.  This should especially be a priority in middle school & high school athletes as they develop proper hitting technique & player awareness.

I pray for all the injured athletes & the Coaches tasked with developing our football players.

Complaints & Excuses

If this offends you then there's probably truth in what you are about to read. There are two types of people: complainers and survivors. Complainers complain to survive. Survivors do what it takes so he and the complainers can survive.

I watched a TV show about cheetahs & they showed a mother cheetah that was beat to hell & back. She had been hunting for days & either the prey got away or the kill was high jacked/stolen. With dramatic music playing in the background, the camera pans to a cheetah cub. Then the camera pans back to the busted up cheetah, who by that time had her head down, tail down, & limping. She looks up to find a herd of gazelle. The camera focuses in on the cheetah & you can see the intensity in her eyes grow. She's not thinking about her last failed hunts or whatever is causing her to limp. She has one goal and that's the survival of her cub and herself. The show ended with the cheetah killing the gazelle & feeding her cub. I remember watching the show & narrating the cheetah..."I'm tired & my leg hurts.". I'm sure she was thinking it, but she wasn't going to let her complaints get in the way of her & her cub's survival. That is something that I've noticed when I talk to people about training. They complain so much that they let their complaints get in the way of their goals & dreams. If I offer up 101 ways to improve their fitness level, they will give me 102 complaints & excuses (I'm too tired, this hurts, that hurts, I'm too busy, I have so much going on in my life right now). Your complaints may be valid but where do you draw the line? When can you cutout your nightly tv show to workout? Why can't you go to the gym & use that time as a getaway from the things that are going on in your life? Why haven't you got the professional help if your are hurt? I've heard it & I've lived it. If you don't want to do something then say you don't want to do it or quit. This is your survival (your health & performance) but don't make excuses.

When my first child was born I had a lot going on in my life. For almost a year it was hit & miss at the gym for me. When I went to the gym my workouts were halfhearted to say the least. I can give excuses for not working out but that's all it will be are excuses. The truth is that I wanted to spend every waking moment with my first born. I finally got to a point where I had to saddle up & get to work. I wanted to be that physically imposing figure that I used to be & run around with my child without sucking wind.

Don't believe your complaints. Don't make excuses. If you want to be the best you can be then do it. There is always someone that has it worse than you do. SUCK IT UP!

Don't Miss the Boat

I have been asked few questions about distance running. I will answer some of those questions & provide some training tips to help improve your performance. I will go out on limb & say that some of you started running as a way to get in shape & lose weight. You may have entered a 3k or 5k charity run with some friends & then the unthinkable happened... You didn't finish last & you have been reacquainted with competition.

Running is an endurance sport which requires little power and you should weight train like a runner. Not like a football player. Max effort weight training has no carry over when you are pounding the pavement. FYI... distance running/endurance training can have detrimental effects on maximum power and strength development. Here are few things to consider when weight training:
Multi joint exercises first
Keep reps between 15 to 25
Rest 30 seconds
Wait 48 hours between weight lifting workouts
No runs on weight lifting days. If you just have to, run at a slow pace & short distance.

Run Training
The limiting factor in endurance sports is lactate clearance. Lactate builds up during prolonged anaerobic activity & interferes with muscle contraction. To improve lactate clearance you must incorporate lactate threshold workouts into your training. This means training at a higher work capacity. One way to do this is run intervals at high intensity for a short distance with short rest/recovery time. Run faster than race pace for 3 to 5 minutes, slow jog for 3 to 5 minutes, and then repeat. I also like to use distance intervals. This is sprinting 200 yards to 400 yards, rest for 1 to 2 minutes, and then repeat. If you have access to a track, you can sprint the straights and walk the curves. I suggest using high intensity interval runs once a week.

Center of Attention Part 2

The core is vital for athletic performance. In Center of Attention Part 1, I hope I clarified that there is more to your core than abdominal muscles. Now I will give just a few exercises to help strengthen your core. I will break the exercises down into beginner & advanced. You can increase the difficulty by adding a little weight or moving from bilateral to unilateral. I didn't just read about theses exercises & decided to write about them. I have been lifting weights & training for over 20 years (I started at age 12). I know that theses exercises can improve core strength & transfer to performance on the field/court. I also know that without proper progression & poor technique you will get hurt. In the advanced lifts the spine is loaded. These lifts require a high level of focus & your technique has to be spot on. I have hurt myself doing some of these lifts but it was not because of exercise. It was because I had my head up my butt & didn't pay attention to my technique. The same exercises that I was doing when I got hurt are the same ones that helped improve my performance on the field. You must maintain a psychotic like focus when performing advanced lifts.

I will not attempt teach technique in this blog but here is an important tip for advanced core training exercises. Do not do long-distance runs, long-distance cycling, or aerobic type classes before you do advanced core training exercises. When you do aerobic activity you are fatiguing muscles & rendering them useless for advanced core training exercises. You may think that you are getting a good lift or "pump" but you are depriving yourself of optimal performance. Think how much more you could lift if your muscles were not fatigued. Do a 5-10 minutes warm up, dynamic stretches, & get on the weights.

Beginner
Crunches
Leg Raises
Bent Leg Glute Bridges
Straight Leg Glute Bridges
Side Bridges
Skydiver
Superman
Bird Dog
Cable Twist (high & low)

Advanced
Dead Lifts
Stiff Leg Dead Lifts
Single Leg Dead Lifts
Trap Bar Dead Lifts
Squats (Back & Front)
Glute Ham Raises
Bent-Over Row

I cannot stress enough how important it is to focus on your technique & not to worry about the weight you are lifting on the advanced exercises.

Center of Attention: Part 1

There is a lot of hype surrounding core workouts and for good reason. Your core is a vital part in sports performance. Unfortunately the term "core" as it refers fitness, has become misunderstood. Even more misunderstood is how to increase core strength. Television has led people to believe that the abs are the core of the body. People claiming to be fitness gurus will tell you to try their revolutionary ab workout using a scientifically proven technique. Usually they will plaster their name on it "JJ's Total Core Zapper". It must be good if they have their name on a product? Right? Enough sarcasm.

Your core is more than sexy abs. The core or lumbopelvic hip complex is made up of 29 pairs of muscles which include the anterior rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, internal & external obliques, posterior erector spinae, multifidus, hips, hamstrings, & gluteus. You may not recognize some of these muscles because they are not the "sexy muscles". Can you imagine telling someone that you are going to the gym to work multifidus & erector spinae? That might sound outrageous but it's a great idea. The core helps to transfer torque when throwing, kicking, & swinging. For golfers & baseball players, your core transfers torque when you swing the club/bat or throw a ball. For field athletes, your core helps you maintain your center of gravity when you have to make a quick change in direction. 

The core is an important link in the kinetic chain. We all know that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. A weakness in the kinetic chain will force your body to compinsate for the weakness. This could lead to nagging pain or injury. Failure to train the lumbopelvic hip complex is depriving yourself of optimal performance & setting yourself up for injury. 

Why?

Have you ever thought about your workout routine?  Why do you work one body part during one session? (which is totally ridiculous unless it's legs) Why do you spend an hour on the treadmill? Why are you using weight machines and not free weights? Are you exercising or are you training? Anyone can exercise even kids. Training is doing specific exercises with a purpose to achieve a goal. Do you have a goal? Why have you not achieved your goal. Let's say you want to increase muscle definition & you give yourself an hour to workout 5 days a week. You run on the treadmill for 40 minutes & hit the weights for 20 minutes. I would suggest spending the bulk of your time on the weights & cut down the time that you spend on the treadmill. If you have done the same routine for years & can't see a change in your appearance or performance, it's time for a change.