John Berardi is one of the smartest nutrition people I know (he’s worked with athletes in every major professional sport: NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL).  I got an email from him the other day with a link to this article.  If you’re a young athlete who is looking to gain weight, this is a great read.  All too often we make it complex; if you want to keep it simple and effective, read this now: www.precisionnutrition.com/6-scrawny-mistakes.

Enjoy the read!

I’m fortunate in that everyday I get to work with motivated  young athletes.  The one question that always comes to my mind is what drives that person to succeed?  All too often I see kids who “like” a sport, or want to play at a certain “level” because of what that brings in other areas (accolades, prestige, etc.).  What most people miss and what I feel is the most important ingredient in truly being successful is one thing: passion.  Pursuing a goal has to be something that you not only want, but more importantly something that you truly desire.  You have to have a burning passion, deep down inside you, to truly bring that out.  I hear a lot of kids say they want to be division 1 athletes; the question then becomes, what are they willing to do to have that chance…will you practice on a Friday night at 10 o’clock while your friends are going out?  Will you pass up fast food in place of something that may be a more healthy option?  Maybe you kind of want to do those things, but in order to actually do them you must have something inside you that makes you want to do it when no one else is around and the awards aren’t there.  I spend everyday in the weight room.  Kids don’t get awards for lifting weights and improving daily.  They get the satisfaction that what they’re doing is part of a bigger picture.  Getting stronger is a means to an end for these athletes.

What’s your passion?

One of the most common questions that I get from parents, athletes, and coaches has to do with setting up a proper program.  Often people think it’s as simple as showing them the “magic” program which consists of the magic formula to get them hy-uge, ripped, and “Usain Bolt-like” fast, all while scarfing down some $5 footlongs and 5-hour energy’s (for the early morning workouts of course).  It’s not that simple, and to be honest, it’s simple and at the same time, not all that simple…make sense?  Great.

It’s often said that the best program for you is the one you’re not doing.  Because the body changes and adapts so quickly to new stimulus, it means that your program should be adapted or adjusted frequently (every 3-6 weeks, I prefer 3) so that your body can keep progressing.  The trick with this is that you must change it, but not stray too far away from what your main goal is.  Don’t think that ditching squatting is going to suddenly help you achieve your goal of packing on 30lbs of new muscle-won’t happen.  What you should do to figure out your program is look at what you did before and what you may do after.  That’s what really matters.

What did you do previously?  What will you do next phase?

Each phase is a progression and stepping stone to work to the next phase.  That means that if you’re in phase 2 right now, you need to know what you did phase 1 and what you “plan” on doing in phase 3.  Since your phase 2 plan will bridge the gap between 1 and 3, it’s important to keep in mind that you need to get there.  Your planning can start with something as simple as outlining the major goal: size.  Then you must map out a given macro cycle or period of time (3 months).  In those 3 months I will go through 12 weeks of training or 4, 3-week phases.  I would outline it like this: phase 1: Movement Quality, phase 2: intensification, phase 3: volume, phase 4, volume.  This is just a simple example, but from there I would start choosing sets and reps, and then fill in lifts one phase at a time.

Remember, it’s important that your training build on each successive phase.

There is lots of debate about the core.  As a matter a fact, I hate the buzz word “core,” and often wish people would remember the concept of the “core.”  The core is designed to be a transmitter of force.  It is the link between the movement of the lower body (whether it’s touching the ground or not) and the movement or motion of the upper body.  No matter if you’re a swimmer, football player, or dart thrower, your core functions all of the time.  What people often forget is what’s so seemingly obvious: it aids in movement(s)! 

This past week I saw one of my athletes (hockey player) who I started with to help rehab a spine fracture.  In order to help prevent this type of an issue again, his “core” work has been hammered home.  He can hold planks for minutes, pass the FMS (pain free), and pass all of his “tests” which allow him to be ready for the ice.  The only issue is that when he’s been back out on the ice, he’s had some issues with tightness.  This simply proves that isolated core stability is simply a baseline for human movement.  His ability to stabilize with his core as he transitions back into skating is NOT great and it has shown.  Some people may watch him hold planks and the like and think “man this kid has a strong core.”  Well…kind of.  He can hold certain positions, but as always, core comes down to being able to stabilize movement.  If he were in the sport of planking, he’d be a champion, unfortunately he’s a hockey player instead.

Make sure to use movements that allow the transmission of force from the feet to the hands.  This means free weight exercises (with dumbbells and barbells) where one must stabilize and balance with the feet and lower body, while at the same time transmitting the force to the arms to move.  In other words, get off the machines and lift some weight!  On this same note, according to a review study done by Behm, et alin the Journal of Applied Physiology and Nutrition Metabolism (vol 35,  Feb. 2010), “For athletes and nonathletes at all levels, ground-based free-weights should form the foundation of exercises to train the core musculature.”  They also noted that resistance exercises performed on unstable surfaces (stability balls, bosu balls, etc.) have a place in low force phases or rehab. 

As we enter this new year make sure you have a good blend of strength exercises (deadlifts, squats, and olympic lifting variations) along with some instability training when it’s needed.  This blend will help ensure a good balance of stability and strength so that you can perform to the best of your ability.

I Hope not!

I saw this video today and thought that the form so bad I needed to post it as a heads-up to people that while the turkish get-up is a great exercise–it should not look like this! This verson looks more like an athlete having a seizure than performing an exercise.

If you’re interested in form for a get-up, try this link instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztTOn0rSMis

Being a former high school coach I’m a sucker for motivational videos, quotes, speeches and anything along those lines.  Here is a great video from an interview with Will Smith.  I’m sure some of you have seen it and some probably haven’t; either way, I think it’s worth 6 minutes of your time.  Enjoy.

If you’re a high school coach you should read my new article up on the Boston Sports Medicine and Performance Group website.  In the article I talk about how simply it can be to organize a training program for high school athletes.  Here is a brief piece of the article:

“The one thing that is consistent with high school athletes is inconsistency.”

 I can’t tell you the number of times that my perfectly constructed training programs have been derailed by kids missing workouts.  Here is a short list of some of the reasons my athletes have missed sessions last minute or had to adjust an entire session: broken tibia at football practice; keys locked in car; stayed late for a test; mom had to drop off brother; practice went over; recruiting visit; I have to pick out my Halloween costume because there’s a dance tomorrow.  Yes, a Halloween costume…I’m not kidding, needless to say I was less than impressed.  There are literally thousands of reasons an athlete may not be able to complete your training program as prescribed. ” 

continue reading the article: http://www.bsmpg.com/articles—resources-0/bid/56021/Periodization-For-The-Next-Generation-by-Shelby-Turcotte

Enjoy.

It’s time to periodize for the next generation of athletes

I just got done a brief training consultation with the Falmouth Boys Hockey Coach Adam Nicholas.  Adam has invited me in to help set-up and organize his off-ice training sessions.   One of the most important questions that I like to ask coaches is what the foundation of their coaching philosophy is.  Without knowing what your beliefs are from a sporting perspective, how can I help to develop a system of support that is made to do just that and support?  The next, and perhaps most important thing to think about, is what movements (athletically speaking) are most important to you as a coach?  If I asked you to list the top 5 positional movements or athletic skills that support your sport what would they be?  As an example, if you’re a hockey coach your answer may be something like this:

Top 5 positional movements: hip mobility (different stances related to hockey), first step explosiveness, core strength, conditioning, and footwork (picture proper skating ability). 

Now that I am aware of what Adam’s beliefs are we can begin to construct the proper format for what he needs.  Based on things like time, space, equipment, etc., we can come up with a time efficient and effective program to help support his coaching.  Simple questions like:

-Where and When can I develop hip mobility? Pre-practice routines are a great time to get some basic everyday movements down.  Sometimes a simple dynamic warm-up can be enough along with basic plyometrics (used as activation movements) can be a great use of 5-10 minutes

-Do you have enough time to properly condition your team on the ice? If you have enough ice-time to get your guys the skills, systems, etc that’s great!  If you don’t, you can fill in your conditioning post-practice with some well designed sport specific based conditioning so that you can use your ice time to practice hockey related skills.

-Where can my guys get their core work, explosive movements, and footwork drills done?  Sometimes it’s during an organized training session at a completely different time than practice.  Maybe you make it a mandatory part of practice that is done at the end of it a couple times a week. 

There are lots of options to construct a proper training system; the number one reason I hear coaches omit it is simply because they feel that they don’t have the time or don’t know exactly what to include.  Sure you can throw in a few push-ups here and there, but are you really doing your team justice?  Athletes are always moving.  For this reason, the movement in the specific sport is key element to success.

So I realized the other day that perhaps the single bonding element between anyone and everyone is water.  While it’s not simply that everyone’s body’s are made up of it, but rather that everyone needs more of it.  If you’ve talked to me or read my writings before you know that I think “more” water is the key, and without actually numbers or gauges (because I think they are impractical for about 99% of the population) I typically don’t know exactly how to prescribe my remedy of “more.”  Because of that I’ve been doing some thinking and some application of those thoughts with a number of people. 

Here is my solution: Drink more water.  As a matter of fact, you should make it a target to drink 32 oz of water during the first half of the day.  For most people the first half of the day can be defined by a certain mark or event.  If you’re a high school kid, it should be the end of school (2 or 3 o’clock).  If you’re a college athlete, it should be before your afternoon or evening practice or perhaps your last class of the day (somewhere around 4ish).  As a college athlete your days are typically later (sometimes much later, but shhh…that secret is between you and I), so therefore your 1/2 day landmark is often around 4 possibly even 5 o’clock.  For the second half of the day you should shoot for the same goal of 32 oz.  On top of that, you should drink additional water during your practice, game, or gym session.  This means that the water consumption during practice or a workout doesn’t count towards your daily total of 64 oz. 

Now, I’m sure there are hands going up everywhere as to how I came up with 64 oz.  Calm down…in simple terms it works out well because 32 oz fits nicely in most Nalgene type water bottles; this means that you can fill one up and gauge your liquid consumption easily by simply trying to drink two of them a day (and no, other liquids don’t count…especially the ones with yeast, barley, and wheat!).  I will make one exception to the rule and say that a sports drink during practice or a workout is fine and actually encouraged, but remember it doesn’t count towards your daily 64 anyways.  The other thing about 64 oz is that while it isn’t specific to every individual person, it is a rather accurate gauge in general terms–and let’s be honest, most people need direction that is simple and easy to follow, not keeping tabs on your urine color or weighing yourself before or after sporting events. 

So here is my challenge to you.  For the next 7 days, simply trying to consume 32 oz in the first half of your day, and then an additional 32 oz in the second half of the day.  Yes it seems like a lot of water at first, but to be honest it is still probably less than you really need.  You’ll piss like a racehorse for the first couple of days, but then you’ll adjust and you’ll be just fine.  And don’t forget that any drinks that aren’twater add on extra water.  That means that your glass of juice sitting by your computer is tacking on extra ounces of water…it doesn’t count in my book-sorry.

Trust me, in 7 days you’ll feel better and function better and all for free!

If you’re a trainer, you’re already having all of your clients roll.  But if you’re a coach, parent, or athlete and you haven’t started foam rolling yet, you’re behind.  That’s right.  My little sales pitch to you goes a little something like this: “All of the cool kids are doing it!”  Need I say more?

Foam rolling actually helps make the muscle and tissue more pliable and flexible (it does this via a process called “autogenic inhibition,” where the pressure basically stimulates the GTO (Golgi Tendon Organ) which inhibits the muscle spindles and consequently allows the muscle to lengthen.   It’s kind of like a poor mans massage.  At first, athletes will be very tender and often hesitant to roll.  After a brief period of regular use (daily for 2-3 weeks) however, they will begin to notice a big change.  Athletes typically fall in love with the roll by week 3 or 4, and after that the two are inseperable. 
The Use: Use foam rolling daily before practice, and/or lifting sessions.  I like to have athletes go through a complete total body roll before they do anything else (before stretching, dynamic warm-ups, or any other type(s) of activation).  This will set the stage for the rest of the workout/practice.  Focus on the problem and painful areas initially, and once they begin to resolve themselves move on to other areas.  I also encourage the daily use of foam rolling at the end of practice as well.  Once done with the workout/practice, put the athlete on the foam roll real quick and then have them stretch after (total body once again on both rolling and stretching!).  It’s smart to stretch before you leave practice because no one wants to stretch when they get home. 

If you are new to foam rolling or want a simple progression to follow with the foam rolls, download my packet below and use that as a guide.  Foam rolls can be purchased online at: www.performbetter.com.  Purchase the black ones.  My recommendation is the 6″ round, 3ft long ones.  If you’re getting it for personal use, cut 1ft of it for traveling with you to games (fits in a bag nicely) and leave the other 2ft section at home.  If you’re a coach, you can either cut the 3ft rolls into 1ft sections or 1.5ft sections if you want to allow more use of them for bigger teams (track, football, etc.).

Foam Rolling