How to functionally condition athletes that dominate

After athletes have been able to get a good hold on the FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS that were discusseed in part II of the "HOW TO FUNCTIONALLY TRAIN ATHLETES THAT WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS", we now move onto the ENHANCEMENT MOVEMENTS.

These are the enhancement variables that stimulate conditioning for the intended activity/sport: 

Functional movement (replicates specfic movement within sport)

Cardiorespiratory training

Speed, Agility, Quickness conditioning

Structural conditioning

Complex conditioning (Power Snatch, Power Clean, Hang Cleans, etc)

As you can see, these movement are a lot more complex than the lunges, squats, skips, jumps, etc that make up FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS. These enhancement movements are as close to the activity/sport as you can get, so having the fundamentals well established will benefit all athletes. It's hard to do Power Clean if you cannot squat properly. The same goes for lunges in 3 planes of motion with Speed, Agiliity and Quickness training. Low mobility and stability (mostability) in the body, in particular the hips, equals `low results from the training. It's as simple as that.

Whenever we take on a new class of athletes, they ALWAYS want to do the sexy lifts like Power Cleans because they think that will get them results faster. Of course they will get some results, but unfortunately, they eventually plateau. As soon as we can convince them to take a month or so off of the "Big Lifts" and focus on the FUNDAMENTAL MOVMENTS, they moan and complain at first, but when they come back a few weeks later, they find that their lifts have skyrocketed WITHOUT them doing any of the lifts. Imagine that!

However, when they do move to the ENHANCEMENT MOVEMENTS we insist that they still do all of the work in 3 planes of motion and not limit themselves to the traditional stances. After all, we are getting them as close to the activity as possible and unfortunately, sports are not predicatble. The movements within the acttivity, must be spontaneous but controllable. The athlete needs to know that they can be in almost any position and be able to decelerate their body eccentrically so that they concentrically accelerate or unload the entire neuromuscular system.

As we look through this functional process, we see that it is a process that when followed, yields results that athletes can take to the field and even to the bank!

I will revisit the ENHANCEMENT MOVEMENTS in future posts to go further in depth on one particular conditioning as well as the various tweaks that can be applied to them.

Here is a video that demonstrates one category of the ENHANCEMENT MOVEMENTS as well as a FOOT POSITION tweak that is applicable to the Complex Conditioning lifts.


This clip is a 3-D version of the Power Clean. Traditionally, the move is taught with the feet facing forward but rarely do we still a symmetrical stance in sports, so we had Tony move into various foot positions to illicit different neuromuscular responses. This should not be attempted until an athlete has a very good grasp on the various positions with low to no weight.


RESULTS: One athlete in particular, as a high school junior (6'2 185lbs- wide receiver), was able to max squat 405lbs  even after he had surgery for a sports hernia about 6 months prior (Note: He was cleared by the doctor for full activity). This athlete did not squat heavy for most of the summer but had been working with the various squats in single, double and triple plane stances, so when it came time for more weight, all of the muscles were able to coordinate to eccentricallly decelerate to a concentric acceleration.

As always I love comments and questions.


Thanks,

Will

NEW VIDEO: 3-D JUMP MATRIX Preview

I am fortunate enough to train athletes of many different sports like football, lacrosse, basketball, soccer, baseball, tennis and wrestling to name a few. Each sport and each athlete come with their own set of needs and desires to get better, so I have to really take a look at each sport and person and break down the fundamental movements.

What I hear time and time again is that FOOTWORK IS IMPORTANT. Many of the athletes want to be quicker and more explosive and that can be challenging given the many variables of sports. However, when we go back to our basics, we look at the JUMPING as a fundamental movement of footwork.  When we talk about Jumping, we are referring to movement from 2 feet to 2 feet. As hopping is 1 foot to 1 foot (regardless if its the same foot or moving to the other foot).

To start building the fundamental movements, we will take a simple jump and turn it into a 3-D JUMP MATRIX.

In the video below you will see that the athletes first start jumping with both feet IN-SYNC, meaning they are going in the plane of motion in the SAME direction. We then tweak the jump to be OUT-OF-SYNC so that even the feet are moving in the same plane, they are moving in OPPOSITE directions from each other.

The benefit is that we are training the neuromuscular system to be able to eccentrically load the muscles of the lower extremities from the intrinsic muscles of the feet to the deep muscles of the pelvic floor(and everything in between) in ALL 3 PLANES OF MOTION so that they are able to concentrically unload in a coordinated manner to ensure maximum SPEED, AGILITY AND QUICKNESS.

Can you get all of this from one matrix? Well, my challenge to you is to time yourself in a agility test and write down your results. Do the 3-D Jump Matrix for 10 days then go back and retest yourself. You will be pleased at your results.

You will need to tweak the timing of the 3-D JUMP MATRIX starting with at least 15 seconds for both in-sync and out-of-sync movements in one plane. So in the sagital plane, you would go 15 seconds in-sync and then 15 seconds out-of-sync for 30 seconds total. Rest 10 seconds. Then move on to the frontal and transverse planes. That is one set. Do this for 3 sets and add a set every other day that you do the 3-D JUMP MATRIX.

I'd love for you to report back and tell me what your results were.


Thanks!

Will

NEW VIDEO: 3-D COMMON AND UNCOMMON LUNGE MATRICES

Here is a new video with Matt, who is demonstrating both common and uncommon lunge matrices.

The COMMON lunge matrix simulates what would be a motion that we would normally do like stepping to pick a box up, or rotating the hips to turn around.

The UNCOMMON lunge matrix simuates movements we usually dont do normally BUT we still see those movements. For instance, crossover steps in basketball.

Matt started with no arm drivers but then as he progressed, he started to incorporate reaches first to his ankle. He then changed to overhead reaches and then finally combined the arm reaches, going ankle to
overhead reach.

I got a great comment from Jugo who added that these lunges could easily be applied to a basketball progression and I fully agree. Thanks for your insight, Jugo!

As always, I encourage comments and questions.

Thanks!

Will

The 3 best exercises that EVERY athlete needs to do

Simple. Easy. Direct.

The three exercises are:

LUNGES

SQUATS

PUSH-UPS

While all three are important just in terms of overall athletic development, I would say that LUNGES AND SQUATS are the ones I have most athletes focus on first. The reason being is that most every sport has a variation of a squat or lunge movement in it.

Football stances are squat positions

Running up and down the court in basketball, soccer and lacrosse are basically lunges.

Heck, even swimming starts are squats to a jump.

These movement are EVERYWHERE in sports, so athletes would benefit by mastering these FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS in all 3 planes of motion.

Of course, squats and lunges are not the only FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS. Add to the list:

Walking

Shuffling

Pivoting

Skipping

Jumping

Hopping

Balancing

Jogging

Sprinting

Pushing

Pulling

Reaching

These FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS are the underpinnings of the next step of ENHANCEMENT MOVEMENTS and finally the ACTIVITY OR SPORT.

In my experience, when basic moves are not solid, there are "holes" in the persons athletic foundation. Again, these holes can easily lead to dysfunction and injury.

Supported by the a sound FUNCTIONAL PREPARATION OF THE STRUCTURE, our athlete is better able to execute with CONFIDENCE anything he is asked to do when his FUNDAMENTAL MOVEMENTS are sound.

In Part III of our "HOW TO FUNCTIONALLY TRAIN ATHLETES THAT WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS" we will go over fun and "sexy" ENHANCEMENT MOVEMENTS that take are starting to look even more like the activity or sport they will participate in.

I WILL POST MORE VIDEOS IN A FEW DAYS OF A LUNGE-SQUAT-PUSH UP MATRIX. CHECK BACK SOON! HERE IS ONE OF THE LUNGE MATRIX.

As always, I love comments and questions.

Thanks,

Will

New video: POWER AND AGILITY TRAINING

Here is a quick preview of our Power and Agility Video!

As always, I welcome comments and questions.

Thanks and Enjoy!

Will

5 simple basic steps to prepare athletes for success

Athletes of any level physically work harder than most people. Bones, joints, muscles, soft tissues and nerves are all working together to ensure that the person is able to complete the task they set out to do.
Unfortunately, many athletes are either injured or do not adequately prepare their bodies for the activity. When this happens, athletes can feel stiff, sluggish, tight, etc and performance suffers drastically. In some cases, the athlete may injure or reinjure themselves.

In Part I of the "How to functionally train athletes that win championships", we cover 5 SIMPLE BASIC steps for FUNCTIONAL PREPARATION.

How to functionally train athletes that win championships

Training athletes is serious business. A good coach can make an average/good athlete into an All-American. However, the flip side of that is that a bad coach can ruin a good athlete. Unfortunately, that happens more often than not.

Many times strength and conditioning coaches just do what they know instead of what the athlete REALLY needs. Putting an athlete through a workout just to get them sweating, grunting and cursing is a waste of time for the athlete and seeks to indulge sadistic coaches.

Do not get me wrong though. I am all for strenuous workouts WHEN APPROPRIATE for an athlete but this is after I've taken them through a comprehensive evaluation that determines what they want as well as their needs.

Yes, wants and needs can be different, and what I've found in 10 years of training and conditioning, is that the athlete will have both. It's the responsibility of the coach to differentiate AND bring them together in a program that benefit that athlete in the short and long runs.

In this series, we will look at a functional progression, that when applied to your athletes, can take them to the next level in their athletic development.

Our 4-part series will cover:

1) Functional Prep Strategies and Techniques: Making sure the neuromusculoskeletal system is in working order using various orthopedic techniques, joint mobilizations, soft tissue therapy and other modalities to properly prepare the body for the upcoming work.
2) Fundamental Movements: Focusing on movements that are necessary for the activity/skill like lunging, squatting, pushing, pulling, jumping, jogging, sprinting, etc.
3) Enhancement Movements: These are the enhancement variables that stimulate conditioning for the intended activity like functional movement, cardio training, speed conditioning, agility, quickness, complex conditioning (Power Snatch, Power Clean, Hang Cleans, etc).
4) Activity/Skill: Seamlessly integrating the athletes training and conditioning into their sport to ensure maximum results

When this progression is followed, we are better able to train our athlete for the demands that they will be required to do on the field, court, pool, etc. It is a step-by step process that is the equation for successful athletic development, but only if it is adhered too in a logical manner.

Thoughts? Questions? Comments? I'd love to hear them.

Best!

Will