I have been very fortune to have met and been mentored by many world-class tennis coaches. On a recent visit to what I believe is one of the best junior tennis training facilities in the world, the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, MD, I heard Coach Chuck Kriese saying repeatedly, “your comfort bears no fruit.” Now I was really interested in this saying because when it was said to young athletes they seemed to work harder. Interesting isn’t it?

There have been all kinds of books like The Talent Code and Talent is Overrated, which basically state that deliberate or deep practice is the key to continually improving at what you are doing. In my very concise definition deliberate practice is basically engaging yourself to the outer edges of your abilities, which ultimately is what makes you improve. Practicing this way is not easy either, it takes a tremendous amount of mental focus and it is hard to work right at the edge of your ability. I think Coach Kriese summarizes it all by saying, “you have to become comfortable at being uncomfortable.”

Now most of us do not like to practice in this manner because it is mentally and physically demanding not to mention we fail a lot while working at the edges of our abilities. So we retreat to what is comfortable, known, and where we are most successful. The problem with practicing at a comfortable level is that it is no longer deeply challenging. The whole reason to practice at anything is to improve performance and improvement comes from challenging your abilities. I think you see where I am going with this. The young athletes at the tennis center cannot hit balls back and forth and train at a level of comfort all day because it will not make them better. They are constantly reminded that they need to push their limits to continually improve and they understand that. So when Coach Kriese reminds them “your comfort bears no fruit” they are reminded to refocus their physical and mental practice efforts.

Think about how much more you could get out of your athletes or students by teaching them that they need to consistently practice at a level that is mentally and physically demanding in order to continually improve. Now think about yourself when you are training athletes, are you comfortable or uncomfortable in your coaching? I think comfort is a good thing for coaches especially if they are comfortable implementing proven methods and strategies. The coach’s job really is about knowing where the edge for a particular athlete is and taking them there. A coach should not be taking their teaching abilities to the edge each training session. However, I think as teachers and coaches we need to step out of our comfort zone, not in training our athletes, but in educating ourselves. It might be reading a new book, going through an IYCA course, or trying new methods in our personal workouts, either way as coaches our comfort in what we know will not bear the fruit of improvement. The only way to bear fruit of becoming a better coach is to continually grow by becoming comfortable at being uncomfortable.

Alex is a Physical Education teacher and operates a tennis & fitness training business in Pittsburgh, PA. You can learn more by visiting his website at www.AlexSlezak.com.

Speed kills. Speed, agility, and quickness in sport gives an athlete an edge on his/her competition. And the great news is that “SAQ” can all be learned through technique training, proper drills, and hard work. If you’re wanting and willing to get faster, let’s dive (or sprint!) into the action.

In this article, you will learn all about improving your speed, agility, and quickness. You will learn about stride rate, stride length, and proper running mechanics. You will learn several different speed improvement training drills, exercises, and programs that will enable you to reach new levels in your sport.

And you will learn:

• Best strength exercises for speed development
• Top technique tips for speed performance
• Power and plyometrics to develop fast-twitch muscle fiber
• Nutrition for optimal fueling
• Top recovery strategies

So don’t be left in the dust. Dive into the article and find out all the in’s and out’s of improving speed and performance now.

SPEED TRAINING

First off, let’s understand speed training and its components. Here are the phases of Speed Training:

• Dynamic Warm-Up (see below; not really a phase of speed training but essential to include prior to speed training)
• Mechanics
• Acceleration (reaching maximum speed in the shortest amount of time possible)
• Top-End Speed
• Deceleration
• Change of Direction (Agility & Quickness)

As we talk about speed training, it is necessary to understand the following principles:

• “Stride Frequency”: The number of strides taken in a given amount of time or distance. This is improved via technique drills, cycling, towing, sprinting and bungee work.
• “Stride Length”: The distance covered from one stride when sprinting.  Strength and flexibility are the most important factors to improve stride length.

All speed work should be preceded by a great General Warm-up and Dynamic Warm-up. A general warm-up is 5-10 minutes of exercise to begin elevating core tissue temperature, increase heart rate, and prepare the body for a workout or competition. Examples will include running, treadmill, jumping rope, elliptical, or bike.

One would then proceed into the Dynamic Warm-Up

Dynamic Warm-Up:

Should be performed before every workout, practice or competition, and should take approximately 5-25 minutes.

The purpose of the Dynamic Warm-Up is to: Increase tissue temperature, improve flexibility, activate the nervous system, and help coordination and develop body awareness. It also lengthens fascia.

What is Fascia? Fascia is a specialized system of the body (connective tissue) which plays an important role in the support of our bodies. Fascia is a very dense connective tissue which envelops every muscle, bone, nerve, artery, and vein as well as our internal organs including the heart, lungs, brain and spinal cord. When fascia becomes constricted, it becomes tight, creates great pressure on its structures and becomes a great source of tension to the body. 

The methods utilized to perform a dynamic warm-up are:

Movement in Space: (10-20 yards)

• High knees
• Butt-kicks
• Cariocas
• Exagerated Cariocas
• A-Skips
• B-Skips
• Frankenstein Walks (& skips)
• Lunge with rotation
• Reverse lunge with reach over top
• Side-lunges

Stationary:

• Jumping jacks
• Gate swings
• Pogo hops
• Seal jacks
• Arm circles
• Trunk rotations
• Cats & Dogs
• Downard Dog
• Scorpion Kicks
• 1 Legged Windshield wipers
• Bodyweight Squats

Perform each movement approx. 10-20 seconds.

Before a workout or competition, the emphasis is on a dynamic warm-up.

After a workout, the emphasis should be on static stretching and myofascial release.

Flexibility:

Every time after you workout, practice or compete, there should be stretching that involves holding each stretch 20 seconds to 1 minute,  and it should take 10 minutes minimally. Using a stretch rope, you should concentrate on your hip flexors, hamstrings, quads, calves, trunk and opening the chest and shoulders. The methods utilized to stretch are rope chest stretch, standing rotator cuff stretch, kneeling hip flexor stretch, cats & dogs, downward dog, lying rope hamstring stretch, lying rope lower back stretch, lying rope groin stretch, side-lying rope quad stretch, walking soldiers. Foam rolling (ie. The Grid or a foam roller) & a massage stick are essential to do on your own to promote fascia lengthening and recovery. This can be performed both before and after the workout.

When assessing speed, one of the most critical aspects is acceleration. Acceleration is defined as the ability and time it takes for the body to reach Top End Speed. 

Mechanics and technique for acceleration include:

• Foot Contact behind hip
• Body angle at 45 degrees/Straight line from heel to neck
• Chin to chest
• Head down

Some of the best technique acceleration drills include:

• Marches along wall
• Wall Runs
• 3, 5, 7, 9 step wall sprints

STRENGTH, SPEED & ACCELERATION

When training for acceleration, it is important to train and strengthen the posterior chain of the body—glutes, hamstrings, lower back, mid-back, and even the calves & feet. Some of the most effective methods and strength exercises to improve acceleration include:

• Sled Drags & Sled Pulls
• Resisted Towing
• Tire Flips
• Plate Pushes
• Keiser Air Runner
• Bullet Belt
• Super Band Leap Frogs
• Form running in place & move out
• Legged Romanian Deadlifts
• Calf Raises (Double & Single Leg)
• Swiss Ball Leg Curls
• TRX Hip Extensions/Bicycles, Leg Curls
• Hyperextensions (Glute/Ham)
• Barefoot Balance Touches (on airex pad)
• Planks
• Pullups

Once one achieves top-end speed (T.E.S.), the mechanics then change. Now, technique is a bit different:

• Foot Contact now under hip
• Body is upright
• Upper body relaxed
• Arms swinging 90-120 degrees from waist to chin; drive elbows back!
• T.E.S. typically reached at approximately 20-30 yards on a linear sprint

Some drills to reinforce Top End Speed Mechanics/Technique Drills include:

• Arm swing drills
• Fast Claw Drill
• Marches
• Skipping

Some of the best exercises and methods to improve acceleration and T.E.S. include:

• Uphill running
• Stadium Steps
• Resisted Speed Drills (bungees)
• Assisted Over-speed training with bungee
• High speed treadmill

Best Strength Exercises to Improve Overall Speed (& acceleration):

• Squats (2 legged & 1 legged)
• Step-ups
• Lunges (variations)
• Bulgarian Split Squats
• Deadlifts
• Plate Pushes
• Sled Drags
• Plyometrics (squat jumps, lunge hops, Box jumps, leap frogs, vertimax, etc.)
• Olympic Lifts (snatch, clean & jerk, clean, power shrugs) (power development)
• Core Conditioning (ie. hyperextensions, Glute/Ham Raise, Russian twists, Bosu Core, med ball standing twists, med ball standing windmills, med ball seated sidewinders, med ball side-tosses into wall, med ball throws (straight up), etc…
• Pullups
• Weighted arm swings

3 Tips for Speed Performance: (credit to Patrick Beith)

Tip 1 – Drive Phase – Don’t force yourself to “stay low”’
The drive phase happens right after you react to the starting gun. Your initial 8 -10 steps is considered your drive phase. The biggest problem seen with athletes in the drive phase is that athletes are ‘trying’ to stay too low. Keep the body angle at about 45 degrees and keep the heel of the recovery leg low to the ground during the first 8 strides. Drive the foot into the ground and explode powerfully backwards to create maximum ground reaction force. Drive your elbows backwards and keep your head down. You should be in a straight line from your heels to your head.

Tip 2 – Acceleration Phase
In this phase, you want to think “powerful.” Since the acceleration phase (0-30 yards) is associated with a higher stride frequency then at maximum speed, focus on leg drive. You want to keep the feet behind your center of mass so that you can maximize leg drive.  “Head down and drive.”

Tip 3 – Relaxation 
One of the most challenging things to do is to stay relaxed while sprinting full speed. I often look at my athlete’s cheeks to see if they are running with “puppy dog” cheeks. If an athlete is too tense, their jaw will be tight and they will be tensing their entire body.

If you see an athlete with a tight face, eyes squinting, teeth clenched, elevated shoulders, and tight fists, they are actually slowing themselves down. You have to let your muscles work for you and not against to maximize your speed potential. This is a tough concept to learn and MUST be practiced if you want get the most out of our speed.

Relax and let your speed come to you!

Closely related to speed, is agility and quickness. Let’s look at the difference.

Agility is the ability to accelerate, decelerate, and change directions as quickly as possible in the shortest amount of time possible

• Closely related to balance
• Should be able to move forward, backwards, left, & right all very well

Quickness is the ability to react to a stimulus in the environment in the shortest amount of time possible (a whistle, clap, defender, etc.)

• Closely related to reaction time
• Could be foot quickness or hand-eye quickness

Factors affecting Agility & Quickness:

• Ground Reaction Forces
• Reaction Time
• Acceleration & Deceleration
• Starting quickness (1st step quickness)
• Cutting
• Cross-over ability

Drills/Methodologies to Influence Agility & Quickness:

• Line Drills—runs back & forth, jumping jack feet, front hops, side hops, Ali shuffles, 1-legged lateral hops, 1-legged front hops
• 5 dot drill
• Mirror Drill
• Tag Drill
• Cone Drills (cone circles, box drill)
• Bag Drills (shuffles, figure 8’s, shuffle & figure 8’s)
• Agility Ladder drills (1 foot in each rung, sideways 2 feet in each rung, Ali shuffles, Icky Shuffles, NFL crossover drills)
• BOSU foot Quickness Drills
• Deceleration Drills
  • Sprint & stop
  • Sprint & stop and repeat
• Super Band overspeed/resisted speed drills (running forward & backward or left & right with Super Band; works acceleration & deceleration)

* Incorporate hand-eye coordination into any of these drills for additional quickness/reaction time.

To include hand-eye coordination and reaction time, you can include drills such as:

• Reaction ball drills (drops, rolls, into rebounder)
• Card Catch drills
• BOLA catches

Furthermore, if you are needing to increase your agility and quickness, you can use the same aforementioned exercises to improve your speed. Due to the fact that agility often is lateral quickness or involves cutting, it is imperative that the groins & hips are adequately worked also. The following exercises will augment the strength exercises found in the speed & acceleration section:

• Diagonal Lunges
• Slide Board
• Lateral Band Walks
• Side Lunges
• Dirty Dogs
• Horse-Back Riding 

POWER

If an athlete really wants to reach full potential, they must be able to convert their strength into power. Power is defined as the ability of the neuro-muscular system to create a force rapidly. In its simplest term, power = strength + speed

• Strength– the maximal amount of force a muscle can generate under a given set of conditions
• Speed– the ability to move from one point to another point as fast as possible

Methodologies to improve power:

• Olympic lifting
• Plyometrics
• Strength training with speed component

For the sake of this discussion, I am going to concentrate on plyometrics to improve power (along with strength). Plyometrics is a system of hopping, skipping, jumping, or running that works on developing explosive power and maximally recruiting fast-twitch muscle fiber by eccentrically loading a muscle and quickly producing a concentric force. Plyometrics are exercises that enable a muscle to reach maximum strength in as short a time as possible. The faster the eccentric movement (the loading phase), the more stored elastic energy will be released, resulting in a more explosive jump.

Benefits of plyometrics:

• Improves power & elasticity
• Trains the nervous system
• Improves anaerobic conditioning
• Transformation of muscle strength into power
• Recruitment of most motor units and their corresponding muscle fibers
• Develops fast twitch muscle fiber!!!

Rules of plyometrics:

• Perform on soft surface
• Do early in your routine
• Land softly
• Have adequate strength base before introducing advanced levels of plyometrics (approx. 10 weeks of resistance training)
• No pain should be experienced in joints
• Be attentive to form & technique
• Be sure to stretch & work on strength & flexibility when using plyometrics as part of program
• Use a 1:3 work/rest ratio for most plyometric exercises
• Can be performed in many ways:
  • immediately after dynamic warm-up
  • Infuse it during your workout and perform immediately after a strength exercise (complex training)
  • Can be performed on speed days also performed as separate sessions

3 Basic Categories of Lower Body Plyometric Exercises:

• Jumping—taking off on one or two feet; landing on 2 feet (jumping jacks, leap frogs)
• Hopping—taking off on one foot and landing on same foot (single leg hopping over line)
• Bounding—taking off on one foot and landing on other foot (alternate leg bounds)

3 Stages of Plyometric Program Design:

Off-Season (General Conditioning)—2 to 3 times per week; 80-100 foot contacts

Pre-Season (Sport Specific)—2 to 3 times per week; 100-150 foot contacts

In-Season (Sport Specific Maintenance)—1 to 2 times per week; 80-100 foot contacts

3 Levels of Plyometrics

Beginning

• Jumping Rope
• Jumping Jacks
• Line jumps & hops
• Squat jumps
• Tuck jumps
• Skater plyos
• Overhead Medicine Ball Tosses
• Med Ball Chest Passes
• Plyo Pushups on floor
• Medicine Ball rotational ab twists into wall

 Moderate

• Box jumps
• Lateral box jumps
• 1 legged jumps (front & lateral)
• Supine medicine ball push presses (to partner)
• 1-legged lateral bounds
• Plyo situps
• Med ball throws into ground (with twist)
• Explosive pushups onto 2 steppers
• Explosive pushups onto 1 stepper
• Med ball push press to partner into plyo pushup & repeat
• Abdominal leg throws
• Med ball overhead tosses, sprint, and retrieve

Advanced

• Depth Jumps
• Depth Jump with multiple repeats
• Single leg triple jumps
• Smith Machine Bench Press Throws to partner
• Add another exercise to upper & lower body
• Keiser Air Runner or double leap frongs
• Increase height of box
• Incorporate single leg movements
• Use weighted vests

With all this focus on proper training to improve overall athleticism, it is necessary to  address one critical aspect to an athlete receiving maximum benefits from their training. It is called RECOVERY & REGENERATION. The following components play a critical role in determining how quickly an athlete can recover. The quicker the athlete can recover, the quicker they can train or perform again. Let’s take a look at a couple key components of recovery:

1) Nutrition is step one

• Protein is step one; we want to increase protein synthesis. One should consume approximately 1 g per lb. of body weight.
• A protein and carb drink promotes glycogen recovery faster than a carb drink alone following a workout. This helps stimulate protein synthesis.
• Good nutrition controls insulin, glucagon, leptin, and other very important hormones.

insulin—stores nutrients into cells
leptin—follows insulin & caloric intake/deposition
glucagon—releases fat
Nutrient Timing does play a role in overall nutrition

2) Flexibility (see beginning of article)

• Static Stretching
• Yoga

3) Foam Roller or Massage Stick (Self-Myofascial Release)

4) Bodywork (massage, Rolfing, Optimal Performance Bodywork, etc.)

5) Infrared Saunas

6) Supplementation

• Fish oils & Omega 3 Fatty Acids
• Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM
• Multi-vitamin & mineral Complex
• B12

7) Sleep—During sleep, the production of growth hormone, testosterone, and IGF-1 are at their peak. Growth hormone speeds the absorption of nutrients and amino acids into your cells and aids the healing of tissues throughout the body. Testosterone and IGF-1 are anabolic hormones that are important in muscle growth and assist in recovery also. It is recommended that you get at least 8 hours of sleep when trying to optimize hormone-release and recovery.

Now that you have the tools, it’s time to implement the game-plan and begin working towards improving performance. If you combine training hard, the correct methodologies, along with ample recovery & regeneration techniques, it is then that you can maximize your strength, speed, and power development. GO GET IT!!!

Todd Durkin is an internationally-recognized strength and conditioning coach who works with numerous NFL, MLB, and NBA athletes. He is the owner of Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, CA, and the author of The IMPACT! Body Plan. For more information, visit www.ToddDurkin.com or follow him on Twitter at @ToddDurkin. 

The next exercise in the series that we are going to cover, is the all famous Turkish get-up, one of the most challenging full body exercises. The Turkish get-up challenges shoulder stabilization as the body moves through multiple planes of motion as well as tasks the core and lower body.

To start the Turkish get up you always want to begin by being on your side for the safety of your shoulder. Take an underhand grip, then overhead grip on the handle of the kettlebell, hug it close to your chest, and roll back to your back.

Once you are laying flat on your back, press the kettlebell up from the floor on one side. It is ok to use both hands to press the kettlebell if needed. The arm should remain vertical and perpendicular to the floor throughout the remainder of the exercise. The same side leg will be flexed.

Keeping the right shin vertical, drive through the heal that is flat on the floor and sit up at an angle onto the elbow. Keep the kettlebell directly over the shoulder throughout the exercise.

Progress to resting your weight on your hand with a straight arm. Be sure to keep the kettlebell directly over the right shoulder.

Keep your weight in your right foot and your left hand, pick the hips up from the floor into a bridge.

Retract the left leg, underneath the body, and bring the left knee to the ground, close to your left hand. Notice the hips will go from facing the ceiling to facing forward.

Kettlebell continues to sit directly over the right shoulder, the left shoulder and the left hand, while both shoulders are active. Bring the torso to an upright kneeling position.

Position the body so that it is safe and comfortable to stand from the kneeling position. You can move the right foot and the angle of the left lower leg to be able to stand up with good mechanics.

Once you reach the standing position you have completed half of the exercise, know reverse each step. You can watch the video to see the reverse part of the Turkish get up.

Just as with the arm bar and the high windmill it is extremely important to keep the arm that is holding the kettlebell vertical and perpendicular to the floor as the body moves underneath it.

There are several weighs to do the Turkish get-up and while all are valid, they must still be executed with proper form in order to be both safe and effective.  The above is just one variation.

Our last exercise in the series is the gladiator press. You’ll notice in the video and in the photos that the gladiator press starts out very similar to both the arm bar and the Turkish get-up, in fact the gladiator press can be done as part of a Turkish get-up.

In the gladiator press you will perform all of the steps of the Turkish get up exactly as listed out above until you get to the hip bridge position. Once you get to the hip bridge position, you will shift your bodyweight to be on the straight leg.

Take your time here, be sure the left hand is sitting directly under the left shoulder to support your torso and the weight of the kettlebell overhead. Gradually move the right (top) leg to rest directly on top of the left (bottom) leg.

From here, if you can maintain the position, slowly left to the top leg into the air.

Once you have reached this position, you can return to the starting point by simply reversing the steps to get here. You can also return the top leg to the floor to create the hip bridge position and continue on with the Turkish get up.

For all four of these exercises it is recommended to start out with a slightly lighter weight or even bodyweight to get comfortable with the complexity of the movement as well as to determine if you have any imbalances in shoulder stabilization from one side to the other.

Keep the repetitions low on these exercises and place them in the beginning of workouts when the mind and body are both fresh. As you progress to heavier weights, it is always safe to use a spotter.

EEK! Did I really just write that for everyone to see? Coming from someone who constantly talks about picking up more weight this might seem like a partial shock to you. The truth of it is, some kettlebell exercises are better served with lighter to moderate weight especially while learning them.

There are 4 really awesome kettlebell exercises that will help increase shoulder stabilization. The unique thing about these kettlebell exercises is that we’re working on shoulder stabilization while the body is moving through multiple planes of motion. I’ll go over two now and two in another blog post.

Typically speaking we could put more weight overhead and stabilize it than we could actually press overhead. In the four kettlebell shoulder stabilization exercises I’m going to go over with you, you will likely find that you need to back off the weight and use something a little lighter than you might initially expect as I mentioned earlier. This is why we choose to do several shoulder stabilization exercises that are more complex then just overhead holds or walks.

Let us first take a look at the arm bar.

Always start the arm bar by rolling onto your side, you’ll grip the handle of the kettlebell with both hands and hold it close to your chest as you roll back onto your back to press it overhead.

Once you are lying on your back with the kettlebell pressed overhead, raise the opposite side arm overhead on the floor and flex the knee that is on the same side of the body as the kettlebell.

Keep the knee above the hip and begin to rotate to the side that is opposite of the kettlebell. Keep your focus on the kettlebell. Once you have placed the knee on the ground on the opposite side of it’s starting point begin to straighten on the leg and aim to get the front of the hips close to the floor.

Once you have placed the knee on the ground on the opposite side of it’s starting point begin to straighten out the leg and aim to get the front of the hips close to the floor. Once you are stable, you can direct your nose toward the floor.

You’ll notice in the arm bar, the shoulder must be very stable as the body moves around the tall pillar that is created by the arm. The kettlebell sits nicely in the hand as the weight sits closer to the shoulder than it would with a dumbbell.

The next excellent shoulder stabilization exercise is the high windmill. Again, the shoulder is forced to stabilize as the body moves. This particular exercise is also great for strengthening the entire core.

Starting with the kettlebell in the overhead postion from standing, shift about 70-80% of your bodyweight into the same side leg that has the kettlebell overhead. Maintain a vertical structure with the arm that holds the kettlebell and the same side leg. 

While maintaining the weight shift, fold at the hips (similar to the feel of a good morning) and guide your free hand along the inseam of your leg. You can keep a soft bend in the other leg or keep it straight depending on your flexibility.

In all of the shoulder stabilization kettlebell exercises, the two we talked about today and the two we’ll talk about later, the arm always maintains a vertical position to the floor above the shoulder, regardless of where the body is. It is important to keep the shoulder retracted and not elevated or in layman’s terms down and back. If at any point the arm starts to sway and you are unable to hold the weight of the kettlebell directly over the shoulder you should decrease the weight you are working with.

Think about the shoulder being the base of a structure or the foundation and the arm being the structure. The arm must maintain a vertical and perpendicular structure to the floor. There should be no bend in the elbow or the wrist as you progress through these kettlebell exercises. Think of it like a leaning building, at some point the foundation will start to give and the structure will begin to fall.

Check back for the other two kettlebell exercises on increasing shoulder stabilization.

All sports I can think of require basic strength levels, and strength training has recently become a much sought after attribute in the athletic community. Kinesiologists, physiologists, athletic trainers, and professional strength coaches all tell us that if all we did was increase muscular strength by 35-40% in an athlete without changing any of the other attributes needed for the sport, there will be a definite improvement in performance levels.

The doubters may disagree and question how getting stronger can be of benefit in sports where the technique is the priority. Surely though, being a lot more stable or injury resistant when performing the activity is a major benefit.

I have always found that there is a massive transference from doing a proper strength program into improving all the other physical components that a sport requires. Various journals and abstracts on Muscle Activity tell us ‘without sufficient strength, factors such as skill, flexibility, and endurance cannot be used effectively.’

This is not ground breaking information, nor will it allow me to claim that I have discovered some amazing new angle in the fitness industry that I can exploit to become a millionaire overnight! The truth is, millions of athletes all over the world are now participating in ‘strength training’ programs.

The questions I have is whether these programs are actually improving strength or if they are one among the many overhyped fitness programs masquerading as the next best thing. Some so-called strength programs I witness these days resemble a gadget assault course, with all sorts of non essential equipment being used.

Another aspect of these diluted strength programs that winds me up are exercise machines. Equipment manufacturers saw a niche in the fitness market with their highly engineered exercise machines, and boy did they have an impact. Gyms, health clubs, and sports clubs embraced this concept and were covered in rows of fancy machines which had the sole purpose of allowing you to do one exercise!!! Of course we know that this type of equipment is nowhere near ideal for developing useful strength.

There are many other short term fads which are likely to go away as quickly as they appeared.

So how do we get back to actually building strength? I once heard the quote, ‘to get stronger lift heavy rocks.’ That isn’t too far wrong.

I call my approach to gaining real functional strength ‘the bullseye theory,’ which can basically be summarized by saying that throwing 3 aerodynamic darts to try and hit the bullseye is much more favorable than throwing 15 broken ones! In other words it is better to concentrate on a few aspects of training and do them well, rather than trying to cover a multitude of areas. Trying to do too many different things only leads to athletes spreading themselves too thin and diluting what they are doing. This means that despite busting themselves in the gym, they don’t really improve at anything in particular.

This is where I feel a lot of high school strength programs are seriously flawed. Some strength programs I have observed have up to 15 different exercises. The reasoning was that in order to make the athlete stronger, every muscle group needed to be activated individually. This is simply not the case.

In general, when it comes to dedicated strength training, I believe athletes need to focus on only three core movement patterns: Olympic lifts, squats, and deadlifts.

If all our athletes ever do in the gym is work on these patterns and their derivatives, and focus on them all the time, they will drastically improve their strength and athletic performance. My opinion is that to improve athletic performance Olympic lifts are king. Clean and snatch often and do it hard. Supplementing these lifts with squats and deadlifts will go a long way in developing strength in our athletes.

It really is that simple, a strength program does not have to be complicated to be effective. Rather than trying to implement 15 exercises in a program to make sure all the bases are covered, focus on the few that give the greatest return.

Mike McGurn has been a strength and conditioning coach for 18 years. He is currently based in Belfast in Northern Ireland. 

Remember the hot summer days, before we knew what BPAs were, when you would turn the garden hose water on in the backyard and let it slowly trickle out to get a drink? Every once in a while, my friends would crank the water on full blast while I was drinking it and get a good laugh! I hope the title Drinking Water From a Fire Hose gives you an even better visual and maybe makes you crack a smile just thinking of it. But what I have to say next is actually pretty serious. A good tennis coaching friend and I were talking about the world of today, and he used the analogy that there is so much information coming at us that it really is “like drinking water from a fire hose.”

Think about how many emails, newsletters, YouTube channels, Facebook Pages, and websites there are that are constantly bombarding us with information. There is so much information that it makes your head spin. What makes it even worse is that not all of the information is good. In fact, there is a lot of it that is just downright terrible. The people with true wisdom are the ones who can discern diamonds from the rhinestones in terms of the value of information. If you want to get ahead of the curve, stop trolling the Internet trying to learn everything there is and focus on learning from the best in small chucks you can process. In other words you have to turn down the source of the water so you can consume what comes out the end of the fire hose. The IYCA is a great place to start because they have done all the work for you. They went and asked the best in the business to share their diamonds of knowledge with you.

Finally, use this analogy of drinking water from a fire hose with your athletes. It will make perfect sense to them and maybe even make them think twice about picking up their phone every once in a while. Think about how much they get bombarded with in a day. You do not need to bombard them with more rhinestones. Instead start focused on providing them with diamonds. Kids know the difference, and they will dial right into you and achieve results much faster. Once they are able to discern between diamonds and rhinestones, they will never accept anything less of others or themselves.

Alex operates a tennis & fitness training business in Pittsburgh, PA. You can learn more by visiting his website at www.AlexSlezak.com.

Much of the time spent in the weightroom will be dedicated to the coaching of athletes on the proper movements, positions, and providing general technical info needed to safely complete the movements with maximal return on the time invested. The other portion of the time of the strength coach will be spent on determining and helping to select the weights that athletes use.

The beginning stages of the high school athletes‘ career in the weightroom should be spent teaching athletes the right way to lift and train, cueing the right movements, and ensuring technical proficiency. Building these foundations with minimal external loading is extremely important.

Movements, and more importantly, proper movements form the foundation of a good program. Gyms and weightrooms with individuals moving poorly, will limit athletes from getting stronger and staying healthy.

Once the movements have been taught, drilled and perfected, it will be time to load the movements to create more strength. I will outline two effective strategies to do just that. One will be quite intuitive and allow for novice lifters to get great benefit from your program. The second is based on the athletes’ 1RM and require careful planning on your part.

The work up method

The work up method is one that can be used for any athlete for whom you do not know their current 1 RM. This method allows for great freedom in the weights used on any given day, but will always dial in to the perfect weight on a given day.

There are no specific percentages at which an athlete should be working when using the work up method. Instead it uses the ability of an athlete on a given day to reach the proper level of difficulty.

First, work up to your best set of the given reps on any day you are training. Some days will be better than others, but athletes should always work up to the best set that day with perfect form. Counting their sets backwards and count any set within 10% of your best as a work set. So for instance, let’s say snatch was prescribed for 4 sets of 3 reps and the athlete snatched the following sets:

40k x3 
50k x3 
60k x3 
70k x3 
80k x3 
85k x3  92% 
85k x3  
90k x3  
92k x3  100%

On this day you would count the highlighted sets. Each of these sets falls within 10% of the highest load on the snatch that day.

If for instance an athlete did the following sets on a snatch workout you may have to add another set below your highest weight to get the right number of work sets in.

40k x3 
60k x3 
70k x3 
80k x3 86% (do not count) 
90k x3 
92k x3 100%

Because only 2 sets were within 10% of your best on that day you could do the following to get the appropriate number of work sets.

85k x3 
85k x3

The work up method allows for high intensity training at the best level an athlete can reach on any given day. For large groups of athletes with varying levels of confidence and competence in the strength training this is an ideal method to use.

This method of loading is similar to the idea of rate of perceived exertion (RPE), or the Borg scale, that is typically used for aerobic training. While the Borg scale uses values from 6-20 (correlating roughly to heart rate when multiplied by 10), an RPE scale for strength training can be used in a 1-10 range (correlating to percentage used when multiplied by 10).

An RPE scale for strength training based on 1-10 would look something like the following.

Modified from Tuchscherer, Michael (2008). The Reactive training manual.

For training in the work up method using weights on a given day that are between 9 and 10 will ensure the maximum training effect. Lifts in the 9-10 zone for a given rep scheme, will challenge athletes no matter the day.

In line with our need to promote recovery, on some weeks it will be important to coach athletes to train with the work up method, in the 6-7 zone. This will ensure complete recovery prior to a more difficult week of training.

The percentage method

The percentage method is most commonly used with higher level athletes. This method uses known 1 repetition maximums and specific percentages to prescribe training loads.

In a given training period the goals for the completion of the training cycle should be known. That is, what numbers would the coach and athlete like to hit by the end of the cycle. From these numbers all weights will be based.

The model for both linear periodization and undulating periodization that I used earlier both use percentages to estimate the appropriate load to be used on a given day. In that way the percentage (%) method is the most studied and established way of determining loads.

Prilepin’s table, designed by former Soviet weightlifting coach A.S. Prilepin can be used to closely predict the sets and reps used at differing levels of intensity.

These two methods of loading can be used to accommodate nearly all high school athletes in your gym.

Do you recall the days of your childhood when you would meet your friends outside in the morning and play all day long? You made up teams and played tag, baseball, and dodge ball, capture the flag whatever you felt like that day. It was unstructured and while there may have been rules you and your friends made them up to suit your particular situation. Many “experts” are lamenting the lack of free play in current society.

“Remarkably, over the last 50 years, opportunities for children to play freely have declined continuously and dramatically in the United States and other developed nations; and that decline continues, with serious negative consequences for children’s physical, mental, and social development,” Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College.

Gray has presented research showing a correlation between the decline of free play in developed nations and the rise of depression, suicide, feelings of helplessness, and narcissism in children, teens, and young adults.

Gray also notes that the modern segregation of kids into same-age groups, common in today’s classrooms and schoolyards, may not be optimal for child development. He says that during age-mixed play, older, more skilled participants “provide scaffolds that raise the level of the younger participants’ play” and stretch their abilities to higher levels. He cites other studies in which older children were observed exposing younger children to more complex concepts of literacy, math, and sociability. By interacting with younger children, older students develop increased capacities to nurture, lead, and learn by teaching. [1]

On Professor Gray’s last point I agree wholeheartedly! When I was a kid I always had to bring my brother along whenever I would play with my friends, he was 5 years younger than me. We didn’t take it easy on him and he learned how to compete and “survive” against more mature stronger kids. But he was better for the experience; he endeared himself to my friends because he always dusted himself off and got back in the ring. He also developed an enthusiastic group of supporters. It was fairly common to attract half dozen or more teenagers to his little league games. Not only did he earn respect and how to interact with older kids he also developed into quite an athlete. By the time he was in 7th grade I would always pick him first to be on my team and he would run circles around the stunned older kids.

In my 10-14 youth classes I occasionally make allowances for younger siblings (age 9) to make the scheduling easier for the parents. And inevitably the older sibling will “look out” for the younger by giving them a few coaching tips. It’s also very common that non-related older children will take the younger kids “under their wing” by providing a pat on the back or other subtle but powerful boosts to their confidence. This all occurs without any prodding from me I just watch it happen and make a mental note of it, and it’s a beautiful thing for a coach to see!

And therein lies the power of free play the kids take ownership and learn how to create their own culture. As coaches we need to provide a general outline for kids while still allowing and encouraging them to create and find their own unique way of doing things. What I mean by that is there is no one-way or even right way to throw a football, kick a soccer ball, or evade a defender. Kids if given the opportunity will find the way that works best for them and that type of instinctive and reflexive execution of skill is a key element of advanced athletic talent.

Think about the great athletes of all time do you think they honed those skills by playing nearly year round in adult organized leagues? I believe the skill and drive to excel was born at an early age on the playgrounds with friends and neighborhood kids. Once that passion and raw talent is in place then it can be harnessed by coaches and directed by parents. The current youth sport culture compels parents to get their kids involved in leagues and travel teams at a very early age. The idea, though flawed, is that if they don’t start their sport “clock” early their more advanced peers will leave them behind with no hope of catching up. That line of thinking is actually backward but that is a story for another day.

All kids are grieving the loss of free play! Back to my 10-14 class, I was wrapping up a session with the group and while we do all of the necessary speed, agility, core, mobility, and strength training (by the way you can still make this type of training fun) I still like to reward them with free play at the end of the class and they always look forward to it. One of the girls as she was leaving saw two brothers in the next class pulling all kinds of equipment to the middle of the floor. She curiously asked me what they were doing? I said they are building a fort for an active game that we play. She responded with an incredulous look on her face, as if to say, “hey, you’ve been holding out on us!” Yes, even the athletic kids like and crave unstructured creative play.

There is a time for more dedicated focus for young athletes in a single sport/endeavor but only when the time is right (late to-mid teens…), and even then there should be a plan in place to counteract those demands (off-field training and more free play). Until that time free play with as little structure as is necessary should dominate their physical culture.

Phil Loomis 
Youth Fitness/Nutrition Specialist

Reference: 

[1]http://www.stonehearthnewsletters.com/kids-lack-of-free-play-harmful-journal/human-behavior/

Does the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) work with kids?

Both Steve and I were lucky enough to attend the IYCA Summit (International Youth and Conditioning Association) recently. We have been to the past three now, and we are pleased with the direction this organization is heading. This year, however, we were lucky enough to have a booth set up. We were able to talk and interact with all the coaches, trainers, and educators. The question we heard the most has to be about the FMS and its application to children. Does it actually work with kids?

The answer is YES! The FMS works incredibly well with kids. We use the FMS with a heavy majority of the kids coming in to train with us. The information you can get is extremely important and guides you in finding their strengths and weaknesses.

The cool thing about using the FMS with children is the corrective strategies. After identifying a dysfunction, applying the corrective strategy tends to clean up the issue, and FAST.

The majority of the time, when working with our youth athletes, we are able to clear up movement issues relatively quickly. Since they are younger and haven’t been dealing with dysfunction and compensation for years and years, youth athletes tend to clear patterns very quickly. We still take the same approach we always do to fix patterns, but the adaptations tend to happen a little quicker when dealing with youth instead of adults. Here is a rundown of what we do from start to finish in developing each program:

1. Screen each athlete and get medical history - We only work with middle school and up, so as long as they are mature enough, we will run them though a functional movement screen. We also want to use the medical history to find out if they have asthma, previous injuries or surgeries, etc…Feel free to add in some performance based measures if you like as well. Strength, power, body awareness, balance, and coordination are also key factors we’re looking for in our youth athletes.

2. Analyze Screen - After taking the time to run the screen, use it with your programming. The screening process should have given you insight to what the athlete’s limitations are. Now base your program around correcting those weaknesses or dysfunctions.

3. Apply Red Lights - This simply means we eliminate all exercises that can potentially cause harm. If we know the athlete cannot perform a certain task, we will take out any exercises that will only set them up for failure. We want to empower our athletes with a sense of accomplishment, so using the screen to restrict certain things is a vital part to the programming. If they can’t squat, DON’T SQUAT.

4. Apply Correctives - Like I just said, if they can’t squat, DON’T SQUAT. Applying the red light means we take it out. No need to train a pattern that is dysfunctional, so taking it out is the first step. Now, in this portion, we’re going to apply a corrective strategy. Without getting into too much detail about the hierarchy of what we fix first, we find the appropriate corrective strategy to build the athlete and get them to squat. The corrective portion is where we are going to work the limitations found and begin to improve overall movement and build a solid foundation to work from.

5. Strength/Power/Endurance - Does the athlete lack strength, power, or endurance? After identifying the weakness, exploit it. I’m going to train an overpowered athlete different than an underpowered athlete. The strength and stability demands are going to be different athlete by athlete, so base your program around what they need to address most. Again, this all comes back to proper screening and testing.

6. Rest/Recovery - This portion is often overlooked. The kids nowadays are overworked and lead stressful lives. I want to address this in my programming. It’s beneficial to know if your athletes are working off of little sleep, getting slammed for midterms, or taking multiple honors classes. These little things can lead to a buildup of stress. These little stresses can indirectly effect what we see in the movement screen, so we need to address this. We work them hard, so ensure you focus on rest and recovery as well.

The FMS is extremely useful in youth populations. We use it with great success and will continue to use it while designing our programs. This simple screen allows us to gather a deeper look into who we’re working with and what we can do to help them get better. The screen is a great tool from young to old. After all, it’s just movement we’re looking at. The screen was designed off fundamental patterns we learned as we developed, so the principles are the same. We need to push, crawl, reach, squat, lunge, etc… So essentially, FMS is good for just about anyone…young to old.

Let me begin by posing a question for you to ponder aimed at the core of your coaching philosophy. Is training young athletes to get bigger, faster, and stronger a sports science or an art form? Do you believe the science, research or training methods are most important? Or do you believe that the art of coaching and working with youth is more important than any science or training methods?

I have spent the past 9 years of my life training youth of all ages and athletic backgrounds in my physical education classes or through my tennis business. I would venture to say that I have spent on average at least 30 hours each week over the past 9 years directly involved in coaching youth in some way shape or form. That is 14,040+ hours of coaching and counting. I believe that gives me some credentials in giving my opinion on this topic.

I firmly believe without a shadow of a doubt that you have to thoroughly grasp the content knowledge of how to properly training youth. You have to fully understand motor development, anatomy, strength, conditioning, mobility, flexibility, soft tissue work, power, speed, agility, and so on. Then you have all the methods of training like kettlebells, bands, free-weights, body weight, suspension trainers, etc. There is just no way around it you have to fully understand the science of sport and athletic skill development or you are just randomly selecting exercises in hopes of getting results.

On the other hand ultimately you can have all the knowledge and understanding in the world but none of it matters unless you can convey that information to the youth you are working with in a way that resonates with and inspires them. Not just so that a child understands what they are doing in their training but in a way that inspires and ignites them to be the best athlete and person they can be. Each young person we come in contact with is unique and the art of coaching lies in bridging unique relationships with your athletes so you can share your knowledge, motivate, and inspire.

Youth fitness training, in my humble opinion, is both a sport science and an art form. The best coaches in the industry get it. They understand the science behind the methods to their madness while at the same time are able to move their kids from simply being compliant, to committed, and ultimately over time to becoming passionate about their training. Our job is much more than simply getting youth more athletic prowess. Our job is about motivating and inspiring very impressionable youth to challenge themselves to become the best athletes and people they can be.

The IYCA clearly understands this unique balance between sport science and the art of coaching. In all of their courses they provide cutting edge research, methods, and information for coaches looking to get better. The real genius of the IYCA is that they do not mandate that there is only one correct way to apply their methods. They realize that coaching is an art form, each child and coach is unique, and something that cannot be captured purely by science and data. Albert Einstein said “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” The IYCA provides the knowledge and concepts while at the same time empowering the individual coach to be their own person, let their personality shine through, and take ownership of their work. You would be wise to invest in yourself by picking up any one of the many certifications or courses the IYCA offers. Even after 14,040 hours of direct coaching I am still improving at the art of coaching and adding to the depth of my content knowledge.