Strength development for athletic performance is one of the most overused and misunderstood tools there is. While it is true that strength training has the most potential to do good for an athlete, by natural law, it has the most potential to do harm as well.
This ax doesn’t just swing one way. Coaches and parents who are completely against strength training are just as dangerous. To make sure you have all the information you need to make great decisions about your athletes, we are going to give you FIVE nonnegotiables for strength development in athletes.
To fully understand endurance training, you must understand the different means in which it can be accomplished. Some people believe endurance work is super long sessions on a piece of cardio equipment or really long runs. While this can be part of a complete endurance program, it is definitely not where most people should start or what their entire program should consist of.
What metrics do you use to determine if you or your child is getting great training?
With the promise of a new American Girl doll, my 9-year-old daughter can easily give any athlete a workout that will be super hard, have continual movement, and be really fun.
If my young child can accomplish the indicators by which you measure great training, don’t you think it’s time to rethink your metrics?
We have all seen the fancy marketing videos for “speed training”. Speed ladders, training in the sand, and a million different cone drills run one right after another.
The problem is, none of the activities listed above actually build any speed.
In this blog, we will walk you through the different types of speed, how they are trained, and most importantly, how we measure them to know if the athlete is actually getting faster.
If you see what floats around social media, you’ve probably heard one, if not both, of two extremes. Something along the lines of “EVERYONE should stretch EVERYTHING, EVERY day,” or gaining more popularity these days something like this… “Stretching is useless, and carries no benefit. Have you ever seen a dog stretch before it chases a squirrel?” For starters, I watch my dog stretch his legs every time he gets off the ground, but that’s besides the point. You and I have enough common sense to know there’s a pretty significant difference of anatomy and physiology between myself and my dog.
Strength: The cure for what ails you. It’s a critical component in longevity and leading a healthy lifestyle. To me and many others in the fitness industry, strength is our home base. It is the thing on which we can build the rest of our goals, it is what helps us perform better in our daily lives, and it’s the one thing that everyone needs.
Shin splints can be an extremely frustrating injury for runners to deal with! Not only can they derail your upcoming race but they can cause you to quit running all together! A common mistake that runners make is that they treat their symptoms instead of identifying and addressing the true cause of their injury. There are many factors that can contribute to shin splints but most often they can be traced back to excessive overload and poor running mechanics. If you are a runner and you are experiencing lower leg pain, please read on for some tips that will help resolve your pain and get back to running!
In life, there are two constant forces; they are both positively inescapable and destructive by their very nature. The first is Time, which I humbly propose no solution for. The other is Gravity, which, despite being constant and universal, can affect us differently over time depending on our body’s structural alignment.
When I was a beginning lifter, I made a ton of mistakes that I am trying to help you avoid. One of the biggest that I wish I could go back and change, is testing my max every week. You need to understand that getting stronger doesn’t happen under maximal loads or by maxing out all the time, it happens by being consistent with submaximal loads. This takes patience, it isn’t sexy, but it is how real results and strength gains happen and in this article I am going to tell you where I went wrong and how you can learn from my mistakes.
You don’t have to be in a tactical career field (i.e. military, law enforcement, firefighter, etc.) to know that their day-to-day demands are far different than most other career options. In my time as a Combat Arms Instructor in the Air Force, I had the chance to train and teach many other military police, firefighters, and special operations men and women. In addition to tactical weapons training, I was a Physical Training Leader for my squadron of around 200 people. To make sure that our squadron was always as mission ready as possible for any short-notice deployments, I would focus on 5 key components to their tactical training regimen; movement prep, strength and power, anaerobic and aerobic capacities, mobility, and nutrition.
This month's MetCon for a Cause is to benefit Nationwide Children's Heart Center. Coach Leanna is not only competing in the Nationwide Children's Columbus Half Marathon, but also taking an active role to fundraise for a department that is very near to her heart. Coach Leanna chose this cause because when her sister was born, she had a heart condition that required surgery. If it wasn't for the amazing people and the resources at that hospital, her sister likely wouldn't have made it. Though it was a different hospital, Leanna wants to make a difference right here in our Columbus community so that other families have the chance to help the most precious members of their families.
Congratulations, you have just enrolled in your first session at The Spot Athletics! This is a huge step toward your health and fitness goals and you could not have picked a better place. Our staff has something most other gyms do not offer, passion. At other gyms, trainers give you a workout and they take a paycheck. At the Spot Athletics we want to help shape your life around your health and fitness goals. Now, joining a new gym can be intimidating, and rightfully so but, here are a few tips to help get you in the right mindset to begin your journey.
As coaches, we are instantly hurled into a leadership position, but how do we know if we are actually being effective leaders or if we are just throwing around our assumed power for the sake of self-gain and accolades? It’s simple: we need to take a look at ourselves first and then look at our athletes. Are our athletes confident and joyful or are they lacking confidence and miserable? Reading where our athletes can be a great indicator as to whether or not we are leading them well.
The sports shoe market is heavily saturated. There are countless options, relying on different styles and different marketing angles to encourage consumers to buy their products. All too often, athletes are easily misled by silly gimmicks such as “Air", or a particular type of weaving pattern that promises to take athletes to the next level. Unfortunately, these flashy and expensive shoes often offer very little real benefit to athletic development.
One of the most phenomenal abilities of the human body is its ability to adapt to external stressors, including the temperature of the environment. This adaptation is called acclimatization, which refers to being exposed to the natural environment. It is not to be confused with acclimation, for that type of adaptation requires exposure to an artificial environment to create a natural response (e.g., altitude chamber or tanning beds).
If there is one thing that I firmly believe, it’s that you must hammer the basics until they become so second nature, you don’t even have to think about it anymore. Then, and only then, do you begin to introduce new methods. If you can’t squat correctly, why would you add chains or bands? If building a birdhouse seems daunting, why would you attempt to build a skyscraper?
The client/coach relationship should never be a difficult relationship. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes, coaches can be hard to deal with; other times, so can clients. However, the root of the problem lies in poor communication. Here is a list of things that will help you maximize the time you have with your coach or trainer, so that you can get the results that you are paying for.
The main goal of transformational leadership is to create a self-sustaining system of individuals. It aims to empower and inspire confidence. Transformational leaders utilize the concept of idealized influence by acting as appropriate role models, following a core set of ethical values, and leading by example through embodiment of their personal beliefs
First, let me give attention to the athletes. You want to be the best athlete that you can be? Great, because we coaches want you to be that, too. You’re probably wondering what sort of magic methods I’m going to share about getting faster or stronger, what tips I can give to make you stand out among your teammates. Well, you’re in luck, because I’m going to share with you the one thing that will make you stand well above everyone else:
