Yesterday one of our athletes that we rarely see came in to lift. He has been inconsistent at best, making the gym once a week maybe. Slightly alarming considering he needs to make the jump this season from Midget to Junior. Last week he made it in three times, which is a 200 percent increase in average attendance. He is on pace to match that number this week provide he showed up today. Although not overly impressive it is a start and personally I am pretty happy with it. The flip side of him making it in is that has been coming in Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Really not the best split for muscle growth or recovery. When my boss saw him and heard the days he was coming in he started to launch into a lecture on spreading his workouts out for optimal recovery etc. At which point I felt obligated to back up Mr. Consistency. "Let the kid eat his Pop tart, at least he is having breakfast now"
I cannot remember exactly where I heard this line, I think it was Jon Torine, the Indianapolis Colts strength coach but the source is irrelevant for the story. When I heard it originally I tended to disagree, why put garbage fuel in your car if it is only going to go half speed. But, when this situation came up in my personal interactions I couldn't help but side with the author, at least the car is moving. It may not be going 60mph but 30mph is a lot better than 0.
The lesson I took from this? It is important to take steps, even if they are baby steps. Try and commit to one thing until you do it without thinking about it. After that becomes habit take it a step further and expand on the original adjustment. If the first three weeks are spent eating a pop tart for breakfast instead of skipping it all together that's fine. The next three weeks have toast. Then oatmeal. Then eggs, fruit and yogurt. You will get there eventually even if you have to start with the pop tart.
Everyone has been there, when you really want to crush a lift. You are staring at the bar like it's the third grade bully that stole your chocolate milk and hitting this lift is the knockout punch that leaves you free for the rest of your elementary school career to enjoy that chocolaty goodness with you PB&J sandwich. The gym quiets down and everyone turns in as you step up to the bar. You set yourself, take a deep breath and ... for the 47th day in a row the bully has your chocolate milk and you are left struggling through a sticky PB&J sandwich. What happened? You had attended 6 months of boxing lessons and had watched non-stop Tyson montages for the last 2 days in lead up for your Monday bout.
You Overtried. No that is not a word I realize but it should be. We could point to the bell curve for arousal and discuss how peak performance occurs at the apex between lack of arousal and excessive arousal. I think it is easier to state that you Overtried. Your technique was likely off because rather than carefully checking each system like a pilot you hoped in the simulator at the Galaxy Cinemas and tried to beat your friend to the first gold hoop in the sky. I see it most often in heavy Olympic lifts, rather than allow the hips to do the work and keeping the same body mechanics the arms and shoulders become the major mover and we try and beast mode the bar up.
The lesson here, relax a bit. Know exactly what you did to hit the 4 previous lifts before and do the same thing. Don't alter any section of your lift from set up to finish. if you always tap you heels three times and recite the alphabet then do that. Pick short mental cues for yourself as you set and then lift don't over think or over-hype the process. Don't Overtry and chances are you get to drink your chocolate milk.
Hey guys, had a busy weekend with Steel City MMA making the big debut, Brent won in the 1st Round against a real tough opponent. Hoping to get this post out earlier but unfortunately got caught up doing other stuff.
I want to talk about a great (and underutilized tool) that I have recently been incorporating into my coaching arsenal and personal lifting and it has made an immediate impact.
Real Cool
What is this mystery object that will add pounds to your clean, squat and dead lift? A camera. I believe that all athletes should have tape of their practices, especially if their competitions are spread apart. For weightroom purposes I am going to advocate the Flip Camera. I received one for my birthday and began implementing it immediately.The Flip is small, easy to carry/hold and I love the frame by frame option for breaking up the videos. It has really allowed me to help the athletes break down their lifts and view where they are going wrong.
From a pure weight room perspective (you are concerned only with your lifts) this is going to help you tighten up technique. I filmed a set of Deadlifts today and could have sworn I had a nice tight back through the full ROM but on camera saw that my shoulders were sagging and I was "reaching" for the ground on the last 3 or 4 reps. This pointed out an issue that I was unaware of and I will be adding some more upper back activation and strengthening work that I would not have otherwise. From an on-field perspective we can use this to teach an athlete to recruit the correct muscle groups which will relate to a on-field power increase. Take for example a box jump, the athlete is bending at their knees and using their quads only to propel them onto the box. We tape this and show them how their hips need to push back and then extend. The athlete now performs the box jump but this time with glute (the bum muscles) recruitment. This ability transfers to speed and power in their respective sport and we were able to accelerate the athletes learning curve through the use of video.
Below is a video of one of our athletes learning to hang clean. Following there are some of the screen shots that I pulled out of the video to show him.
Now the screen shots...
Poor, poor, poor starting position
Elbow Fexion to early
Turn the bar over to early/Elbows back (which we can link to two previous images)
Catches the weight forward with low elbows
I am really not bashing on John Kyte, the athlete in this video. He is a real hard worker and since being shown this has corrected a lot of the issues seen here. I wish him all the best next year when he goes away to play hockey. The point I am emphasizing is that by using video technology you are able to break down the move and focus on a different area with each viewing, instead of trying to see everything once through in real time. It also gives the athlete a frame of reference to work from and to view the progress. If you are a trainer I would suggest spending the 130 dollars and investing in a camera. It is something that will only benefit you and you clients moving forward.
I wrote an article about a week ago called Trust Your Coach, since then I talked with the player and he has been doing much better this week, hopefully it stays the same. I have elected to take a different tone in this post and talk about a kid that does everything you ask and more. Every coach has go to players...ones that stay later, work harder and raise up those around them. Players that everyday lay the brick perfectly on their way to creating the wall. If you had a team of these type of players I believe you would be close to unbeatable. They raise the energy and expectations, as Timo Cruz said from the movie Coach Carter, "And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."
We have one of these players at the ACC, well more than one, but the player I am currently referring to is Ben Sexton. It is unlikely that he will read this blog until I leave. At that point I will tell him to check it out, but Ben is one of those special players. He plays for Clarkson University and was drafted by the Boston Bruins in the 7th round in the 2009 entry draft. Ben spent the last week at Bruins camp where by the sounds of it he tested well. However in a meeting with management Ben was told that he needed to increase the speed of his first three strides. The very first thing that Ben asked when he got into the gym today, how can I get faster in my first three strides? What can I do everyday that will make a difference? I cannot speak to his on ice performance but off the ice Ben has a manic work ethic. The moment he was told he had a weakness he asked how to fix it. Not disregarding the comment out of egotistical reasons as many people do. He ate his humble pie and asked for seconds.
Today something happened that really embodied Ben's attitude and work ethic. It was something that most in the gym probably didn't notice. While front squatting Ben had just increased the weight and dropped the bar on his second rep of 6. As we put the weight back on the rack I said drop the weight and finish the set. He looked at me angerly, said "F*** Off, I'll struggle" and proceeded to hit his last 4 reps. He then walked over to one of the other guys in the gym that was sittting exhausted on the bench, and placed more weight on the bar. The player looked up and said how he was already grinding to get through that weight. Ben's reply, "Your cracking the line up this season."
All this happened in about 2 minutes and it wasn't a show but rather Ben Sexton being himself. I was more than happy to have my comment of 'lower the weight' shoved back down my throat and could only smile at the character display. The funny thing about people with that work ethic is that it carries over into other aspects of life and those people typically find success because they are willing to out work other people.
Take a lesson from Ben Sexton and go work on your first three strides.
It is Saturday morning at the gym which means pure silence until about 10:30 at the earliest so to occupy my time I manufactured another blog masterpiece. Not really just my thoughts.
Stuff To Read
Quick links to the articles I have been reading and think are important. The first one is pretty cool and I would really suggest taking a look at it. Helped influence the shoe purchase I am going to make today. The second one is more from a business/ marketing perspective but it transfers over to all areas not just a job in the fitness industry.
If you happen to read Mike Boyle's site you will know that he did an article on this a few weeks back, I really try not to cover a topic that I have read recently in another blog just for originality sake but I feel that this issue needs to be addressed. At the ACC we have a nine year old member, just one (maybe two now but I am not positive) the next youngest is 13. This is a 4 year age difference while the majority of our clients are between 16 and 19. Why is this relevant? I am trying to highlight that we do not train young kids here. The boy I am talking about comes in twice a week for an hour and it is a struggle to keep his focus for even half the time. His guardian came to me yesterday and said that he has been skating for 3 hours a day Monday - Friday, playing lacrosse and summer travel hockey starts next week, he is already active for somewhere between 18-21 hours a week. No kidding all he wants to do is sit around and play games. He has already been through 5 hours of structured practice that day. He then asked if we could shift him to more of a power/acceleration phase. I nodded my head while internally screaming, Are you ****ing kidding me? His power/acceleration phase should be off the ice, running around at camp, throwing a football, kicking a soccer ball or playing with a dog.
Children are not miniature adults and need to be trained and coached differently, something that we do not do here. I will be the first to admit that I have a knowledge gap in reference to child development and appropriate training strategies. I hope to close that gap but at this moment my focus is elsewhere. I am in no way saying that kids do not belong at a gym, in fact I would encourage more parents to get their kids active based on the the growing obesity rates. However, find a place that tailors to your child and will give them the opportunity to run, jump, climb, crawl, and roll. The comparison I would use is that of a car mechanic. He deals with cars all day and his mindset when he arrives is car oriented. He knows how to approach each problem and improvise based on the results. Then you bring in your bicycle. The mechanic can probably figure out how to fix your bicycle and give it a tune up but it is unlikely that he will be in the correct mindset or be able to do the job half as well as a bicycle repair man.
One of our CIS football players said yesterday, "When I was nine I paid less for my babysitter" Perhaps it is a personal knock on my coaching but I couldn't help but agree. Find a gym that has program for teaching youth and where your child has coach, not a babysitter and it will be more rewarding for everyone involved.
V.
Want something awesome for your kid to do? See the video above and then call Mitch Fryia at Steel City MMA and Catalyst Fitness
Press play on the video above you can spare the 14 seconds especially to watch the beautiful cinematography Lucas has created. Go watch it now. Although General Ackbar is referring to the evil plot by the Imperial Forces to catch the Rebel Alliance unaware and not the human muscle it does create a nice lead up to this post. The focus of this post is the trapezius muscle. Chris Cooper shared an article that Adam Ball (who I have not had the pleasure of meeting) posted on the the mid trap last month and its importance in maintaining a neutral spine and correct posture, something I talked about earlier in Death of a Situp. I would like to expand on this idea but highlight the importance for athletic performance.
A classic body building style routine usually contains some sort of upper trap activation, shrugs being the most common exercise. As a result of poor knowledge the upper trap is often the only section being stimulated and will develop an over dominance. As a result the upper trap will fire almost automatically on all lifts, talking away from the actual exercise the athlete is trying to perform. Quick lesson here is avoid the shrug- the upper trap will get lots of work through other lifts, specifically Olympic lifting.
When dealing with the shoulder the rotator cuff often gets the bulk of the emphasis in shoulder health. The RC is exceptionally important but if the scapula is not stabilized to begin with the muscles of the RC are going to have a really tough time doing their job. I first came across the idea of mid-trap importance when working with LSSU volleyball team. I was doing research into shoulder health and came across an article by Mike Robertson. (who has an awesome blog btw) The article talked about the scapula needing proper support to allow for correct function through out the rest of the upper body. Since arriving in Ottawa I have had this idea reinforced and expanded upon by the trainers that I work with.
This is where the Middle and Lower Traps. enter the physiological picture. Their role is to stabilize and manipulate the scapula. The mid/low trap. are the foundation upon which the house is built. You can create a beautiful three story home with balconies off every window and a pool on the roof but if you neglected to lay a solid foundation all of your work will come tumbling down sooner than later. As a strength coach or even just a weekend warrior it is important to select exercises that highlight this area and focus on strengthening the mid back muscles. If a pitcher is required to throw a ball at 85 mph he is going to put serious stress on his shoulder and if the scapula is not secure the potential for injury increases dramatically.
Exercise Selection
One of the best exercises....the push up. The push up is a great closed kinetic chain exercise for your upper body. Although you are performing a "push" type lift, if done correctly the push up yields considerable posterior activation. Be sure to place specific focus on the bottom of the movement by forcefully contracting your shoulder blades then driving up. (Picture pulling yourself to the ground rather than just falling.) Actually research how to do a push up properly, I had an athlete tell me yesterday that she always thought she at least knew how to do a push up, not so. I thought I knew how to paint a wall, brush up then brush down, until I went to work with my Dad. Do the research.
Exercise 2 - Black Burns
Beside is a video from Defranco's place it is easier to watch the video than me explain each segment of the lift but keep in mind squeezing the shoulder blades and relaxing the upper trap. The girl on the right does a better job of staying face down and maintaining a neutral spine during the whole exercise. Plus the AC/DC that starts playing partway through the video is motivating in itself.
The overall message is that just because it is not the biggest muscle or the most visible does not mean it is not equally important. As stated earlier a beautiful house on a shaky foundation will likely lead to a homeless family. Take the time in your workouts to emphasis your mid/low traps and all of your core lifts will increase as a result. Here is this article simplified in 7 words, "Squeeze the scaps, relax the upper trap"
-Our Strength grows out of our weakness. - Emerson
