Why You Aren’t Getting Faster

Speed training is a very hot topic. Hell, it always has been. In sports such as football, baseball, and soccer, the faster players almost always have the upper hand on their opponents. Speed literally does take the life out of another team. No matter how well you prepare yourself for a given team, if they have a couple more speedsters than you do, they automatically have the upper hand.

How often have you been on the other side of being beat deep for a touchdown by a player who just was flat out faster and more explosive than you? How frustrating is it to race for the ball in the middle of an open field during a soccer game and get beat every single time by a player who had a better set of “wheels” than you? These are just some examples, but do you get the point?

I wanted to address this topic because of a comment I heard last night from one of the announcers during a high school football game. It was along the lines of “you can’t teach speed.” I’m sure we’ve all heard this before. I used to believe in this. No matter what I did in high school, it seemed that nothing worked to get me faster and more explosive. I was told I’d probably never break 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash. My freshman year of college I ran a 4.66 40-yard dash weighing 208 lbs. A little over a year later (after some hard and smart training), I ran a 4.59 40-yard dash weighing 215lbs while being significantly stronger!

What is the point of all this? Speed is a skill that can be taught to any athlete. Anyone can get faster than they previously were with some smart planning and hard work as well as just enough work to create an adaptation. Quick tip: Do enough to stimulate, not annihilate.
Here are some reasons why you may not be getting faster.

1. You’re doing too much: If you’re going out and running endless 100-yard sprints every single day, your body will start to break down. Injury will happen soon enough, or you’ll get frustrated as fatigue starts to accumulate and you get slower. My general rule is keep a speed session above 200 total meters/yards but no more than 500 total meters/yards in a given session and do no more than three speed sessions per week. The rules are rough guidelines, so follow them loosely. If your form starts to break down or you feel fatigued, call of the session. This leads me to my next guideline…

2. You’re not focusing on quality: If you try to turn these speed sessions into a conditioning session, you’re defeating the purpose! In order to facilitate improvements in speed, you must achieve complete recovery after each repetition in order to teach your nervous system what a fresh, full speed sprint feels like. You won’t be able to achieve the types of speed you’re looking for if you’re resting 30 seconds between 60-meter sprints. The effort might be there, but the times will show otherwise. Take home point—rest enough to make each rep quality.

3. You aren’t lifting weights: Yes, most young (and even some college) athletes are flat out weak. If you aren’t strong enough to apply force to the ground, absorb force (each sprint stride places around 4–5 times your body weight on each limb upon foot strike), and consistently do that rep after rep, you aren’t going to be as efficient as you need to be. Again, like number one, don’t overdo it and go and lift five days a week and expect to get faster. My rule here is lift after speed sessions (if speed is your main priority, this must be emphasized as supplemental to speed work) and keep it simple.

Often times, you may be too drained from a great speed session to lift. You might only be able to perform a few sets of heavy squats, cleans, or chin-ups. That’s fine as long as you’re striving to get strong and aren’t afraid to pay your dues in the squat rack. Most fast athletes are also very strong. (Ben Johnson, former world record holder in the 100 meters is said to have squatted approximately 600 lbs for two sets of six and bench press 440 lbs for two sets of five at a body weight of 175 lbs. He ran 9.79 seconds in the 100-meter dash.) Think about it like this—you need to add some horsepower in that engine of yours, so get stronger!

4. You aren’t warming up properly: A thorough warm up is critical in order to generate the heat necessary for your muscles to perform optimally. Because sprint training is such a high velocity activity, you must be warmed up prior to engaging in this type of activity. No, this doesn’t mean static stretch for five minutes and expect to be ready. I’m talking about a full dynamic warm up (lunges, hip circles, leg swings, skips, jumps, throws, push-ups, sit-ups, and drills). This shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes. Not only will you be ready to sprint, but you’ll notice a decrease in some painful problem areas such as your back, knees, and shoulders. Quick tip: Don’t turn the warm up into the workout itself. This should be something that gets you “warm” and lightly sweating before activity.

5. You aren’t resting: Your body adapts to training while it rests in between high intensity bouts of training, not during the training itself. A training demand of this nature requires you rest so your body can repair and come back fresh for the next session. The nervous system generally requires 48 hours in between bouts. So if you’re going to sprint on Monday, wait until Wednesday or Thursday to do it again.

6. You’re out of shape: Yes, even sprinters and team sport/power athletes must have some sort of general fitness in place. The key here is to keep this type of training in the lower intensity range. Low intensity activities can include extensive tempo running (“rhythm running” or strides at 60–75 percent of your best time over a given distance with short recoveries), body weight/calisthenics circuits, jump rope, incline walks, swimming, and even an extended warm up of 30–45 minutes without resting. The benefits of these types of activity are that they improve capillary density to promote greater blood flow and recovery between training bouts, increase the amount of high intensity activity you can tolerate (work capacity), decrease recovery time the day after a hard training session, keep the athletes “fit” with a low body fat percentage (ever seen a fat, soft, pudgy, weak guy who could run really fast? Not very often!), and promote rhythm through cadence. This can be done in between high intensity days. The younger or less fit you are, the more this type of work should be done. Start out with 2–3 times per week.

Note: There is a time and a place to partake in those gut wrenching, ball-busting conditioning training sessions, but keep in mind, the further away you are from your competitive season, the less you should do this type of work. (This is my opinion. Others may think I’m full of crap, but what are you going to do? You can’t please ‘em all!)

Putting it all together:
Ok, so we’ve established some general guidelines, but how the hell do you put a sample week together or a given training day? Here’s an example of a speed day:

Full dynamic warm up: Light jogging for 400 meters, leg swings, hip circles, knee hug/quad stretches, walking Spiderman lunges, crossover lateral lunges, A-skips, B-skips, pogo jumps, medicine ball throws; practice starts.

Speed work (acceleration focus): 5 X 10 m, 4 X 20 m, 2 X 3 X 30 m (complete recovery)

Jumps: Standing long jump 2 X 6, standing triple jump 2 X 5

Weights (full body): Back squat, 4 X 5 (increase the weight on each set to a heavy set of 5 on the last set); bench press, 3–4 X 5–6; one-arm dumbbell row, 3 X 10 supersetted with pull-ups, 3 X max reps; glute ham raise, 3–4 X 8–10; front/side planks, 2 X 60 seconds.

Regeneration: Foam roll for 5–10 minutes, static stretch for 5 minutes, consume a post-workout carb/protein shake, take a contrast hot/cold shower.

Getting Started...

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been in transit from Okinawa, Japan since Feb. 20th. Now that I'm home, I have taken on the full time role of parent and trainer. I will add student to that in the summer. So stay tuned for more articles and workouts....

How to Increase Your Speed & Acceleration

It's true - genetics do play a part in how fast you can run. But don't let that discourage you...
Everyone can get faster. And anyone can improve their speed off the mark.
And just a small improvement with training relates to a significant improvement on the field.
With that said, what does it take to increase your sprinting speed?

1. Increase Your Strength The more powerful your leg muscles are the more force they can apply to each ground contact. Power is a product of both strength and speed of contraction. If you make improvements in either of these components you WILL become a faster athlete.
Improve both and you double the effects - and this it what speed training for football is essentially all about. Assuming strength training already contributes a significant amount to your schedule, lets look at the other side of the equation...

2. Improve Your Speed of Contractions Any increase in strength will only translate into gains in speed IF you can still contract your muscles as quickly - ideally even quicker.
Sprint training over short distances will help you do that. So will some light plyometrics exercises. The science behind plyometrics or jump training can get a little complex but the actual training is straightforward. Be careful with plyometric training...
It's easy to overtrain without knowing it. Too many of these exercises (particularly the intense types) can cause stress injuries.

3. Improve Your Running Mechanics Most football players, in fact most sports men and women have never been taught correct sprinting form. All other things being equal, the more efficiently you can run, the faster you can run. There are basically two phases to sprinting - the acceleration phase and top speed phase. Remember acceleration is probably more important in speed training for football than top speed. Here are some pointers for good acceleration form:
Drive off the balls of your feet never the toes or heels.
The whole body should be leaning forward, not just from the waist.
Strides are short and powerful, pushing off the ground.
Pump the arms vigorously throwing the elbow back hard rather than forward
Keep the head still and square to the shoulders.
After the first 10-15 yards, running mechanics change noticeably as you gain speed...
Foot strikes should still be from the balls of the feet.
There is still a slight forward lean from the ground but much less.
Strides are longer and more relaxed. Don't try to push away from the ground.
Arm action is still exaggerated but more relaxed.
Head remains still.

As part of a season long plan, speed training for football features heavily in late pre-season preparation and gradually increases over the whole of pre-season. It should also follow a period of base strength training for maximum results.

Strength vs Power

So today I hung out on the range with my old team at the rifle range and happen to get into a pretty funny debate with a Marine about strength and power. He told me that as a Marine he would rather be strong than have power. As he told me this I almost fell to the ground in disbelief. So this brings me to this post about Strength vs Power.

The word power is commonly misused or misunderstood. The true meaning of power is the ability to generate as much force as possible. Examples of power are a golf tee off, a vertical jump, Olympic Clean and Jerk, and swinging a baseball bat. Basically if you do this things slowly, they just wont work out well for you. Strength, on the other hand, is the ability to generate as much force as possible with no concern for the factor of time. A 1RM bench press or a 1RM deadlift are examples of pure strength movements. It doesn't matter how long it takes to complete these tasks. All that matters is that it gets completed- doing it slowly doesn't take away of the success of the lift.

Power, which is often referred to as speed-strength, is an important factor in sporting activities, but it is also used in daily activities such as moving fast, running up a flight of stairs, keeping of with your kids, moving to a shooting position under fire, increased work capacity, and increased overall body strength.

The simple equations to determine the strength and power in a specific exercise are as follows:
Bench press performance..
Strength (work) = mass x distance
Example: 300 pound bench press that moves 2.5 feet
300 x 2.5ft= 750 units of work
Power= work / time
The same bench press takes about 3 seconds to complete
750 work units / 3 seconds= 250 units of power

Now let's compare that performance to 100lb power clean
Strength (work)= mass x distance
100lb power clean that moves 5 feet
100 x 5ft= 500 units of work
Power= work / time
Same power clean takes 1 second to complete
500 work units / 1 second= 500 units of power

Power exercises will always have higher amounts of power units than traditional strength exercises regardless of load simply due to the time factor.

So after explaining this to the Marine he had a better understanding why his 300lb bench press wasn't an awesome feat of strength in my eyes( plus I have a 385lb bench that I didn't tell him about when he out weighed me by about 20 pounds). Post to comments...

Six Rules for Building Athletic Linemen

I’ve heard many strength and conditioning coaches say that they “train their lineman like throwers and their skill guys like sprinters.” In my opinion, this is a great starting point for building strong and athletic down linemen. Elite level throwers are some of the strongest, fastest and most powerful athletes on the planet. They are this way because they train for these skills and they not only possess great strength, they (for the most part) have superior body composition to NFL linemen. There are far too many football coaches and athletes, especially at the high school level, who put too much emphasis on bodyweight and maximal strength. Just because college and NFL linemen weigh over 300 pounds, doesn’t mean that a high school athlete will succeed because of a number they read on the scale. Great linemen at every level are great athletes and need to be trained as such. Here are six rules to follow when you want to build athletes who can make blocks at every level, run down plays and dominate their opponents.

Who would you rather have protecting your QB's back side?

1. Run
Linemen need to be able to pull, get downfield to make blocks, play in space to make blocks on screens, run down plays from the back side and chase down ball carriers. All of these necessary skills have one thing in common - running. Short sprints (under 20 yards), sled resisted sprints, band resisted sprints, hill sprints (less than 5 seconds in duration) and tempo runs (under 50 yards) will help your linemen develop the short area speed and quickness necessary to make plays and win games.

2. Jump
Great linemen all share the quality of a great get-off. The ability to explode off the line into your opponent will help your players win battles at the line of scrimmage. To develop a great get-off, linemen must develop their rate of force development. Jumping is the best way to develop this. The best jumping variations to use for linemen are seated box jumps and kneeling jumps. I prefer these jumps because they have a static start. They require static-overcome by dynamic strength, just like exploding out of a stance. With heavier athletes, I suggest jumping out of foam and landing on foam. This will force the athlete to recruit more muscle fibers, as well as teaching them balance and saving their joints. Kneeling jumps can be performed in a variety of ways. After bodyweight is mastered, adding a weight vest, holding a weight, or putting a weight on the back are all good options. Performing a second jump or a throw upon landing the kneeling jump is also effective. My favorite combinations are Kneeling Jump+Box Jump, Kneeling Jump+Long Jump, Kneeling Jump+Vertical Jump and Kneeling Jump+Medball Chest Pass. These variations will teach your athletes to explode repeatedly, the way they need to in order to finish blocks and explode through blockers.

3. Throw
Having great feet and explosive lower body power is useless if it can’t be transferred through the torso and into a powerful punch. Med ball throws are the best way to teach the transfer of power from the legs, through the torso and into the punch. Chest passes from a variety of positions should be utilized. Chest passes into a wall for reps - or time - should be done from the feet and knees. Chest passes for distance from the knees, or a seated position, are effective builders of explosive punching power. Once athletes master these variations, they can progress to two-footed hops into a throw. Another great option with these throws is to have the athlete leap, head first, onto a pad after completing the throw. This will allow your players to achieve full extension through the hips, without the inhibition of falling on their face.

4. Strongman Training
Strongman training will teach your athletes to move forcefully against heavy loads, exactly what they have to excel at if they want to be great players. They will learn leverage and build grip strength, as well as total body strength and power. My favorite strongman exercise for building great linemen is the tire flip. The weight of the tire doesn’t need to be excessive - it needs to be something they can move at a relatively high velocity. A favorite variation of the tire flip I use with my athletes is flips followed by a sprint. For example, the athlete will perform 2-3 flips, then sprint for 10-15 yards. The yoke and farmers walk are also great options for training linemen. They’ll build grip strength, torso stability and strengthen the entire lower body. These should be used over short distances, with weights that are challenging but can be moved quickly. Rest periods should be kept short.

5. Box Squatting and Bench Press Variations
Do them. Lots of them. Linemen must be strong from every angle and at every grip, so use lots of variations. For the squat, I prefer squatting with chains. For the bench, become strong at every grip width, incline, floor, off of boards, with chains/bands and from the chest. Always put emphasis on pushing the bar with maximal force. An athlete who can bench 250 with great velocity, but only has a 1 RM of 350, will be more effective than another athlete who may have a 1 RM of 400 pounds, but doesn’t move submaximal weights as quickly. You must generate power from a wide variety of positions, so you must train to be powerful from a wide variety of angles.

6. Don’t be fat
I tell my athletes “Fat doesn’t fly.” I could amend that statement to say that it doesn’t get off the ball fast, make downfield blocks well, run down plays from the back side, or put pressure on the quarterback, either. Linemen, particularly at the high school level, often have poor body composition and need to clean up their diets. At the high school level, a lean and athletic 235 pound player is going to be much more effective than a sloppy 280 pounder. Teach your athletes how to eat properly. Then their training will be better, they’ll be better players and for high school guys particularly - they will get more girls (that’s why we play anyway, isn’t it?).

Don’t let your linemen fall into the trap of thinking that good linemen are fat SOB’s. Great linemen are great athletes, so train your guys to be great athletes.

Top 10 Speed Training Myths Revealed

Every day someone asks me a question about training speed. So here are those questions heard most frequently as well as the answers to them.

1. Static stretching prepares you for competition/practice.
Static stretching actually reduces power output. Athletes should prepare for practice by doing a dynamic warm up that progresses from basic, low intensity movements to faster, more explosive movements as the muscles loosen up. The goal is to simulate movements that athletes will be using in practice or a game. What happens when you try to stretch a cold rubber band? You can think about your muscles the same way.

2. Strength training makes females too bulky
Many of the female athletes we train have this popular mindset. However, look at some elite female athletes like Mia Hamm or Lisa Leslie. They certainly train with weights, but no one would accuse them of having manly physiques. Strength training will improve performance and reduce injury if done correctly.

3. You can’t train speed.
For some reason, the popular belief is that you’re born with a certain amount of “speed” and you can’t improve it. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most young athletes are so physically weak and mechanically out of tune that significant improvements in speed can be made often just by working on technique and form. Athletes at any age and any level can improve speed when implementing a complete speed training program designed to improve and develop the entire athlete. {Use the link http://www.completespeedtraining.com/ for the words “speed training” in the last sentence.}

4. Training slow makes you fast.
I don’t think coaches directly think this way but their training techniques imply otherwise. This is especially true in sports that involve a higher aerobic element such as soccer, field hockey, or lacrosse. I see kids out running mileage and doing long, slow intervals of several minutes of continuous running. This will get them in shape. However, in games, I see kids jogging, jogging and then sprinting at full speed for 20–30 yards. Then they run, jog, and sprint for 20–30 more yards. If you want kids to improve their acceleration and top speed so that they can get to the ball faster or get back on defense, you have to train by running at full speed in practice.

5. You must train hard every day.
The workout itself is only a piece of the training puzzle. It’s the time between intense workouts—the recovery—where athletes make their improvements. Generally, it takes 36–48 hours to recover from high intensity training. If athletes are doing too much too often, they become overtrained. Coaches can expect to see an increase in injuries, complaints about being sore more often, decreased performance, and higher levels of fatigue earlier in games. It’s always better to under train an athlete than overtrain. Err on the side of caution to get maximal results.

6. Strength training will stunt a young athlete’s growth.
This is another myth held over from a different time. On a daily basis, kids as young as seven years old are playing organized sports year round. They’re tackling, getting tackled, sliding, and falling. These loads on the body can have a much greater physical impact than a well-designed strength training program. Though we don’t usually begin training with weights with prepubescent athletes, they can benefit from body weight exercises such as push-ups, lunges, and sit-ups. This will increase muscular efficiency, speed up recovery, and improve coordination and overall speed.

7. The harder the workout, the better the result.
Some athletes (and coaches) have this mentality that if a workout doesn’t reduce them to complete exhaustion and/or make them vomit, it wasn’t an effective workout. I can tell you that those who have this mentality probably see many injuries and frustrating performances. The purpose of a workout is to stimulate an adaptation by the body. If the body is forced to do too much work in a given time period, it will break down. The skill in coaching is to stimulate the adaptation in the body without reaching a point of diminishing returns.

8. Interval training is the same as speed training.
Repeatedly running 100s, 200s, etc. won’t improve top speeds. Even running repeat 40s with short recovery periods won’t improve acceleration and top speed. Speed work is defined as 2–8 seconds of maximal intensity running with full recovery. That means there should be at least two minutes of light dynamic movement between each effort. This goes against the experience of some coaches but is the only way to improve speed. An athlete must be able to focus on proper form and maintain intensity in order to get faster. If they don’t recover properly from each interval, they won’t be able to replicate proper mechanics with consistency and they can’t improve.

9. Flexibility won’t help you get faster.
Both coaches and athletes spend so much time on the skills of their sport, speed training, and conditioning, they often forget a fundamental component of success—flexibility. After practice or a game, the muscles are warm and loose. This is the time to work on increasing flexibility. So many athletes suffer injuries or compete below their capacity because poor flexibility inhibits their range of motion and speed. We see this in the hips and hip flexors where the stride lengths of athletes appear conspicuously short. Most often we see this in male athletes who will lift weights, train hard, and then skip out on their cool down and flexibility work.

10. Lift your knees.
When parents and coaches want their kids to run faster or when the kids are beginning to fatigue, I hear many yell at the kids, “Lift your knees. Get your knees up.” This is one of the most backward cues that we can give to athletes. The way to run faster is to apply more force to the ground. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction so the more force that you apply to the ground, the more the ground will give back. So when we cue athletes to lift their knees, we’re doing two things incorrectly. One, we’re telling them to use their hip flexors to lift instead of their glutes and hamstrings to drive down. Just think about the size of your hip flexor versus the size of your glutes and hamstrings. Now which muscles do you think can create more force and therefore more speed? Second, we’re cueing them to do a movement that is in opposition to what generates speed. If an athlete learns at age seven to lift his knees when he needs a burst of speed, the improper cue will be hardwired into his brain. To unlearn that as a teenager and to do the opposite and drive down will delay the athlete’s progress. He or she will have a difficult time coordinating an entirely new way of running and will potentially have to take a step or two backward. That’s why it’s critical to learn proper form early and get an advantage over those who still aren’t getting the best instruction. So cue athletes to step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground with the foot landing underneath the hip.

The Top Five Mistakes Made by Basketball Players

There is a cornucopia of training information for almost every athletic endeavor that you can imagine partaking in. This information can be found online, in books, and from seminars. You don’t have to go very far to learn about training for your sport. Whether that’s football, mixed martial arts, bodybuilding, powerlifting, track and field, soccer, baseball, hockey, or anything else, the information is out there and can be obtained fairly easily.

Unfortunately though, for many basketball players and coaches, there isn’t much information readily available specific to basketball. Sure, much of the “other” information is fairly general and applicable to many sports, including basketball. But that’s not good enough. There’s a lot of information—most of it pretty bad—on training for the vertical jump, but the vertical jump is a small part of becoming a better basketball athlete. An important part but a part nonetheless. (If this is something you’re interested in, check out Kelly Baggett’s, Vertical Jump Bible. It’s the best, bar none.)

So, if you’re a player or a coach interested in improvement, start reading, researching, and experimenting. But first get your feet wet with this list—the five most common training mistakes that I see in basketball players today.

Basketball players play too much basketball.

You might read that and think I’m crazy, but I’m not. Basketball players play the game, whether it’s five on five, three on three, or one on one, every day for hours on end. And I’m sorry to break this to you, but there is such a thing as diminishing returns.Because they play so much, players are constantly in an overreached state. What does that mean? It means their performance will consistently be sub-par, and their motivation will wane. Something they used to love to do sucks now because they often don’t play as well as they used to or normally do. Playing becomes a chore, not the fun activity it used to be. How often should they be playing? I recommend two to three times a week at most. For most athletes, twice a week is optimal.

Basketball players don’t practice enough.

Right along with playing too much, they don’t work on their skills enough. We’ve all heard about how the Europeans spend hours every day training their skills. While I don’t think it’s nearly as big of a deal as some make it out to be, there is something to be learned here. Time needs to be spent perfecting skills such as shooting, passing, dribbling, and man-to-man defense. As these skills continue to improve, those improvements should transfer over to games. Then, voila! You’re looking at a better basketball player.How should you balance playing with practicing? Like I said, I think most players would see the most benefit from playing two to three times a week and practicing two to three times a week on the days that they’re not playing. Combined, basketball players should be playing/practicing no more than five times a week.

Basketball players are weak.

When I say weak, I mean weak. There are definitely some players out there who are strong, and it definitely helps their game. (They’re really easy to spot, too. Just look for the fastest guy who jumps the highest.) How does strength help? Well, strength is the foundation on which all other athletic attributes are built. There are several important attributes that I’m referring to, but the two big ones you might be very familiar with—speed and explosiveness—absolutely fall under the “determined by strength” category. Get stronger and you’ll be running faster and jumping higher. Not only that, but you’ll also improve your body’s resistance to injury and its ability to recover. What’s the lesson here? Get stronger!

Basketball players have jacked up ankles.

Between high-top basketball shoes, ankle braces, and zero ankle mobility work, basketball players have some of the stiffest and most injury prone ankles that you can find. The problem lies mainly within the three things I mentioned above—footwear, ankle braces, and a lack of mobility.With those three culprits working together, its no wonder every basketball player has ankle issues. What can you do to help prevent ankle issues? First, get a pair of lower top basketball shoes. They’ll feel strange at first, but that’s because your ankle actually has to do some work now whereas before it was doing almost nothing while the shoe took care of everything. As with anything new, work your way into them slowly.Second, unless you’re just coming back from an ankle injury, it might be a good idea to toss the ankle brace for the same reasons that you should toss the high-top shoes. Again, work into it slowly as you gradually become more comfortable with it. Then, start working on your ankle mobility. It would take a few pages to describe everything you should be doing, so start by moving your ankle through all the ranges of motion and work from there. Finally, do some dynamic strengthening movements to improve on your balance, proprioception, and quickness simultaneously. I like two- and one-footed speed line jumps for sets of 20–30 and pogo jumps for sets of ten.

Basketball players don’t work on recovery.

With all this playing, practicing, weight training, and injury prevention work, you’re going to have to do something to help tolerate all of it, which falls under the category of recovery work. Something that always blows my mind is that most people don’t know that the positive things that come with training happen when you’re not training. That’s what recovery is. You basically damage your body while training and then “relax” temporarily for 24–48 hours (or however long you have between sessions) where your body repairs the damage and, in an attempt to better handle the stress it knows is coming in the near future, overshoots where it was before the initial training session and builds itself back a little stronger and a little better.What can you do to assist the recovery process? Make sure you’re eating a proper diet, especially after workouts, and perform some static or dynamic stretching. You can also ice sore areas, do some foam rolling and massaging, take a nap, or practice contrast therapy (if you’re really brave) to name a few. Don’t ignore this one. It’s integral to the training process!

A bonus tip!
Basketball players are weak!

Yeah, I already said it, but I didn’t say it loud enough! Above all else, if you want to become a better athlete, get stronger. If you’re a beginner, lots of body weight work will suffice. If you’re a little older and/or a little more advanced, get your butt in the weight room and find the squat rack!

The Problem with Crossfit for Athletes

This is post is from a friend of mine in California that has his own sports specific training center. I asked him to try CrossFit and tell me what he thinks about it and if he feels it could be used solely for training an athlete. This is his response.

Crossfit gyms are popping up across the world. I think they are great for the general population who are looking for something more than a commercial gym experience, but it greatly concerns me that now many athletes are turning to CrossFit for their performance training. CrossFit’s website states, “Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.” The statement that many sports punish the specialist could not be further from the truth. Elite athletes must be elite in their necessary skill set. This skill set may encompass many traits. For example, a linebacker in football must possess maximal strength, explosive strength, speed, agility and some level of aerobic lactic conditioning. These skills though are not needed in equal proportion, so why would he train them all equally? Cross fit aims to do just this, which is not sound or economical for the athlete.

Another issue that arises with CrossFit when used to train athletes is the lack of specificity and transfer of training. There are specific movement patterns that athletes must master for their sport, CrossFit and their “Workout of the Day” neglects this. Greg Glassman, the creator of CrossFit wrote in a CrossFit Journal article, “We’re asked for workouts for baseball, karate, swimming, dance, boxing, but they all get the same thing: CrossFit.” Whatever sport you play requires specific skills, probably different skills than the athlete from a different sport, who is performing the same workout next to you requires, so why are you doing the same training?
The programming-or lack thereof- exhibited in CrossFit workouts are also troublesome when trying to apply them to athlete’s training. Some prominent strength coaches chimed with the following thoughts about CrossFit for athletes. Alwyn Cosgrove, owner of Results Fitness in Santa Clarita, CA said, "a recent CrossFit workout was 30 reps of snatches with 135 pounds. A snatch is an explosive exercise designed to train power development. Thirty reps is endurance. You don't use an explosive exercise to train endurance; there are more effective and safer choices. Another one was 30 muscle-ups. And if you can't do muscle-ups, do 120 pull-ups and 120 dips. It's just random; it makes no sense. Two days later the program was five sets of five in the push jerk with max loads. That's not looking too healthy for the shoulder joint if you just did 120 dips 48 hours ago." Mike Boyle, a prominent Boston-based strength coach and combine preparation specialist added, "I think high-rep Olympic lifting is dangerous. Be careful with CrossFit." Finally Charles Poliquin, owner of the Poliquin Performance Center and trainer of over 100 Olympic athletes across various disciplines stated, “"If you try to do everything in your workout, you get nothing. CrossFit is different, and maybe even fun for some people, but it's not very effective. No athlete has ever gotten good training like that."

The workouts discussed above and other CrossFit “WOD’s” are certainly challenging, but a hard workout and a training session that will maximize your athletic performance are certainly not the same thing. For a speed/power athlete, why waste your energy developing your aerobic capacity to an unnecessary level? For an endurance athlete, why waste your time developing your explosive power and maximal strength to an unnecessary level?
CrossFit workouts have merits, they are challenging and combine many good methods. Athlete’s though need to focus specifically on the skills that will help them succeed at their sport and CrossFit fails to do this. If your goals are to be competent at everything, then CrossFit is for you; if your goal is to excel at your sport, than I suggest you find a training method focused on developing the skills you need.

Chad Smith, Juggernaut Training Systems LLC
23541 Ridge Route, Suite C. Laguna Hills, CA 92653 (949)215-7378

Do You Know What the 7 Primal Movements Are?

We are always talking about eating Primal like, but do you train Primal like? Technology, research, exercise prescription and doctor advancement has come a long way in the last 20 years but we still have an alarming rate of orthopedic injuries still occurring. Do you screen your clients to the 7 Primal Movements or do you just screen them for movements that you are going to use?

The concept of the “Primal Movement Patterns” was developed by Paul Chek, who while developing his exercise philosophy, identified 7 specific groups of movements. These movements mimic the actions done in ancient times.Chek’s philosophy moves away from the conventional approach to exercise and focuses on stimulating the body, and the mind in an environment similar to nature.

1-Squatting: Involves bending at the knees and the hips, while keeping the back straight, and lifting a weight from the ground or pushing a weight that is placed on the back or chest. Imagine your primal ancestors squatting down and lifting a heavy rock to dig for grubs, or using the legs and hips to lift a heavy log up onto a primal structure. Exercise examples: Barbell or Dumbbell Squat, Squat to Press.

2-Bending involves flexing and extending at the waist, preferably in a standing position. Often this type of movement would have been combined with a squatting, lifting, or rotating motion, such as hoisting a heavy rock out of a field. Exercise examples: Medicine Ball Overhead or Side Throw, Deadlifts.

3-Lunging: Involves stepping forward with just one leg, and bending that leg down. This motion would have been used for either traversing terrain (i.e., carrying hunted game over a log), or stepping into a throw (such as hoisting a spear). Exercise examples: Walking Lunge, Barbell or Dumbbell Weighted Lunge, Medicine Ball Lunge with Twist.

4-Pushing: Involves using the arms, chest, and shoulders to force a weight out and away or up from the body, an action that might have been used, for example, when herding animals, pushing a plow, or hoisting a weight overhead. Exercise examples: Standing Cable Press, Push-up, and Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press.

5-Pulling: Involves using the arms, chest, and shoulders, as well as the legs, to drag or pull a weight towards the body. This type of motion would have been used to pull heavy game animals, row a watercraft, pull a bow, or quickly pull onto a tree branch for safety. Exercise examples: Standing High, Mid, and Low Cable Rows, Pull-ups.

6-Twisting: Involves turning and rotating with the torso to apply a force, and would have usually been combined with most of the other primal movement patterns for actions such as pulling, pushing, or lunging. For instance, a twist combine with a lunge and push would comprise a throwing motion, such as hoisting an object like a spear or heavy rock. Exercise examples: Medicine Ball Throws, Cable Torso Twists, Medicine Ball Woodchops.

7-Gait: Involves moving over terrain, whether walking, jogging, or sprinting. This action would often have been interspersed with other movement patterns, such as walking to track a wild animal, sprinting to hunt it down, then twisting, lunging, and pushing to throw or thrust a weapon. Exercise examples: Sprint to Medicine Ball Throw, Dumbbell Lift and Press to Power Skip.

So next time you screen a client or get a new client see what their Primal Movement is like and you might see more chinks in their armor than a regular baseline assessment might show.

17 Reasons Your not Losing Weight from CF Asia...

This is an awesome post that CrossFit Asia has on their Lean Up Challenge website. Enjoy and thanks CF Asia crew.


Effective, healthy weight loss isn’t only due to the simplistic calories in, calories out paradigm. Nor is it solely reliant on diet and exercise. It’s everything – it’s all the various signals our body receives from the environment that affect how our genes express themselves and thrive. How we approach the subject matters, too. Our mood, our methods, our temperament. Our conscious decisions and our willpower. It’s setting good habits and expunging bad ones. Most of all, it comes down to keeping our genes happy by providing an environment that approximates evolutionary precedent.

1. You think you’re eating healthy, but aren’t.
Does your diet consist of a massive amount of “products”? Low-carb or not, you want to eat real food. Flagons of diet soda, plates of pure fiber in the shape of noodles, and loaves of 1g net carb “bread” do not a Primal diet make. You’re just feeding an addiction and consuming empty calories – sound familiar? Disregard the labels and look inside for what you know to be true: this crap isn’t food, and you shouldn’t be eating it. It’s about way more than just low-carb.

2. You’re under too much stress.
The stress response system is subconscious; it responds to stimuli and nothing else. Emotional stress, physical stress, financial stress, relationship stress – I hesitate to even make these distinctions, because the body does not differentiate between sources of stress. They all cause the body to produce cortisol, the fight-or-flight hormone that catabolizes muscle, worsens insulin resistance, and promotes the storage of fat. For 200,000 years, stress meant a life or death situation. It was intense and infrequent, and the cortisol release was arresting and extreme enough to improve the chances of survival. Today, our body responds to a stack of paperwork the same way. Traffic jams are like rival war bands. A nagging boss is like a rampaging mastodon, only on a daily basis. Take a step back from your life and take stock of your stress levels – they may be holding you back.

3. You need to watch your carb intake.
Carbs are key, as always, especially when you’ve got weight to lose. Veer closer to the bottom of the curve, taking care to avoid all processed food (hidden sugars). You might also try skipping fruit.

4. You’re adding muscle.
I always tell people not to get hung up on the scales so much. Those things are useful – don’t get me wrong – but they never tell the whole story, like whether or not you’re adding lean mass. The PB will spur fat loss, but it also promotes muscle gain and better bone density. If you’re feeling good but failing to see any improvements register on the scale’s measurements, it’s most likely extra muscle and stronger bone from resistance training. You wouldn’t know that just from the bathroom scale. If you absolutely need objective records of your progress, get a body fat percentage test (although these might not even tell the whole story) or try measuring your waist.

5. You’re not active enough.
Are you Moving Frequently at a Slow Pace for three to five hours every week? Remember: the near-daily low-level (between 55-75% max heart rate) movement should be the bedrock of your fitness regimen. It’s easy to do (because every bit of movement counts) and it doesn’t dip into your glycogen reserves (making it a pure fat burner, not a sugar burner). If you’re on the low end of the spectrum, crank it up toward five weekly hours and beyond.

6. You’re lapsing into Chronic Cardio.
Of course, you can go too far with the low-level movement – you can begin to lapse into Chronic Cardio. When you stay above 75% of your maximum heart rate for extended periods of time, you’re burning glycogen. Your body in turn craves even more sugar to replenish the lost stores, so you polish off a heap of carbs, preferably simple and fast-acting. You can continue down this route if you wish – I did, for a couple decades – but you’ll gain weight, lose muscle, release more cortisol, and compromise any progress you might have made.

7. You still haven’t tried IF.
Results vary, but if you’ve seemingly tried everything else, intermittent fasting can be a great tool to break through a weight loss plateau. Make sure you’ve fully transitioned onto a Primal eating plan and start small. Skip breakfast and eat a late lunch. If that feels okay, skip breakfast and lunch the next time. Just take it slow and pay attention to your hunger. Eventually, try exercising in a fasted state to maximize the metabolic advantage. If all goes well, your hunger won’t necessarily disappear, but it’ll change. A successful IF tames hunger, makes it less insistent and demanding.

8. You’re eating too much.
Low-carb isn’t magic. It reins in wild hunger and tames insulin, but calories do still matter – especially once you approach your ideal weight. In fact, those last few pounds often don’t respond to the same stuff that worked so well to get you to this point. Eating nut butter by the spoonful and hunks of cheese without regard for caloric content may have gotten you this far, but you’ve got to tighten things up if things aren’t working. And that’s the real test, isn’t it? There is a metabolic advantage to eating according to the PB, but if the weight isn’t coming off, something’s up – and calories may need to come down.

9. You haven’t overcome bad habits or developed good ones.
Be brutally honest with yourself. Do you engage in bad habits? If so, identify them. Make tentative, loose plans to disengage from their clutches, and tell people close to you. Make it public, so you can’t back out without losing face. You’ve also got to develop good ones. Follow roughly similar guidelines as when kicking a bad habit – identification, planning, publication – and you’ll be on your way.

10. You haven’t purged and Primalized your pantry.
Out of sight, out of mind; out of reach, out of mouth. Keep the crappy junk food out of your pantry, if not out of your house altogether. Go down the list and toss the stuff that doesn’t apply. As for the rest of your kitchen, check out the fridge interiors and grocery lists of some other Primal folks for inspiration.

11. You’ve reached a healthy homeostasis.
It may be that your body has reached its “ideal” weight – its effective, genetic set point. Reaching this level is generally painless and effortless, but it won’t necessarily correspond to your desired level of leanness. Women, especially, tend to achieve healthy homeostasis at higher body fat levels. Breaking through plateaus can be hard enough, but plateaus ordained by the body itself can be nearly impossible. It’s probably going to take some serious tinkering with carbs, calories, activity levels, sleep, and stress. If everything else is on point and accounted for, you may be looking at healthy homeostasis. Then, the question becomes: do you want to mess with a good thing?

12. You’re low on willpower.
Willpower is like a muscle. It must be used or it will atrophy. You’ve also got to provide fuel for your will – little victories to start out. Go for a walk if you can’t muster the will for the gym. Take note that willpower, or lack thereof, might actually be an indicator of your body’s needs. If you truly can’t muster up the will for the gym, it may be that your body needs to recover. When that’s the case, overtraining is a bigger danger than lack of will.

13. You’re full of excuses.
If you find yourself having mini self-contained internal arguments throughout the day (and you lose), or (even worse) lying to yourself about what you’re eating and doing, you’re probably also full of excuses. Read this, maybe twice, then follow up with this.

14. You haven’t actually gone Primal!
We get a good number of new readers on a regular basis, and not all of them take instantly to the Primal concepts. And yet they come back. They read the archives, the comments. Something draws them near, while at the same time keeping them at arm’s length. Why is that? What’s stopping them? If that describes you, what are you waiting for? Take the plunge. Go Primal for 30 days and see how you like it. I assure you; the many enthusiastic community members are here because it works.

15. You’re not getting enough sleep.
Chronic levels of sleep deprivation cause the release of cortisol, our old fat-storing friend. The biggest spike in (fat-burning, anabolic) growth hormone plasma levels occurs in deep sleep. And a recent sleep study showed that truncated sleep patterns are linked to weight gain. Get seven to eight hours of sleep a night.

16. You haven’t given it enough time.
The Primal Blueprint is a fat loss hack, undoubtedly, but it isn’t always a shortcut. Some people get instant results from dropping carbs, grains, sugar, and vegetable oils, while others have to take a month to get acclimated and only then does the weight begin to slide off. Either way, though, this is a lifestyle. You’re in it for the long run. Approach it with the right mindset and you won’t get discouraged.

17. You’re eating too much dairy.
Some people just react poorly to dairy. We see this time and time again listed in the forums; dairy just seems to cause major stalls in fat loss for a good number of folks. There are a couple speculative reasons for this. One, folks coming from a strict paleo background may not be acclimated to the more relaxed Primal stance on dairy. Reintroducing any food into the diet after a period of restriction can have unintended consequences on body composition. Two, dairy is insulinogenic, which is why it’s a popular post-workout refueling tool for athletes. Does a non-strength training PBer need to drink a few glasses of milk every day? Probably (definitely) not.

Bonus Reason: Sprinting is not part of your fitness routine.
I’ve found that many assume that they’re getting everything they need from their workouts from plenty of low level aerobic activity and a couple of strength training sessions each week. Sprinting is often overlooked, but it’s one of the Primal Blueprint Laws for a reason. Nothing shreds you up faster than sprinting. I’d ease into sprints if you’ve never done them or are extremely out of shape or overweight. That is, I recommend you have some measure of fitness aptitude before you jump into a routine. But once you’re ready do 6-8 all out sprints (with short breaks between) once a week to break a weight loss plateau when all other attempts have failed.

Agility Drills for various sports.

Basketball Agility Drills

Agility Drill #1 - Super Shuttle
1. Starting underneath the basket with your back to the court.2. Shuffle backwards with hands in a defensive ready position to point A.3. Sprint backwards from A to B focusing on minimizing the time to change direction. 4. Side step facing the court from B to Start position (again keep hands in defensive position).5. Jump to touch the net or backboard.6. Repeat the back shuffle from Start to C.7. Sprint forwards from C to D.8. Side step with back to court to Start position.9. Jump to touch the net or backboard.10. Repeat for 6-8 repetitions with at 60-90 seconds rest between.

Agility Drill #2 - Weave In Weave Out
1. Place 4 markers out in a straight line approximately 3 yards apart (see right).2. In between each set of markers place another marker only 3 yards to the left.3. Sprint to marker A and then side step/shuffle to marker B leading with the left leg.4. Side shuffle to marker C this time leading with the right leg.5. Repeat to the finish.6. Walk back to the start and repeat for up to 6-8 repetitions.

Football Agility Exercises

Drill #3 Sprint Lateral Shuffle Set up a series of markers similar to the diagram below. Starting at the first marker sprint to the second marker and side step to the third marker. Continue until the end. Rest and repeat in the other direction so side steps lead with opposite foot.

Lateral Feet Drill

The ladder agility drills require more practise and greater coordination. Be sure to give yourself several dummy runs before attempting at speed.
Start with both feet outside of the first square and to the left
Step into the first square with your left foot first, immediately followed by your right foot... in a 1-2 motion
Step to the right, outside the first square again with your left foot fist, followed by your right
Now step diagonally left into the second square, with the left foot leading always keeping the same 1-2 motion
Now step out to the left-hand side of the second square and repeat for the full length of the ladder
If you perform several sets of this drill start at different sides of the ladder so your lead foot changes each time

These are just of the many agility drills that you can use for sports specific agility training. Just remember that agility is moving in one direction and being able to decelerate and quickly re-accelerate in the opposite direction.

A Debate on Agility.....

So in my many years of sports, training, and coaching their has been a silent debate over what is agility and how to train it. After some extensive research I think I might be able to define what agility is and how it pertains to human performance in training and sport.

Wikipedia defines agility as: the ability to change the body's position efficiently, and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, endurance and stamina.

CrossFit defines agility as: the ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.

I've come to define agility as: the ability to change direction without the loss of speed, strength, or power. The ability to perform fluid changes of movement with the whole body in relation to speed, strength , and power. The ability to move well in any direction in a rapid fashion using speed, strength, and power.

So now that we have defined agility how can we train it so we become more agile in training or sport?

Bio motor Characteristics

1. Relative body strength- most important- If the athlete is not strong enough for their body weight, it is impossible for him/her to be agile.

2. Speed- whether it be lateral or straight line.

3. Motor Coordination(timing)

4. Balance(stability)

5. Motor Programs(technique)

Approach to Agility Training

1. Acceleration


2. Deceleration


3. Stopping


4. Re-acceleration


5. Conditioning


6. Injury Prevention

Pre-conditioning for Agility Training

1. Base of Support: Base of support(BOS)is critical for balance, stability, and proper change of direction. Trainers must be able to identify weaknesses in clients BOS stance during training.


2. Center of Gravity: Keep the center of gravity(COG) closer to the base of support to increase stability and the opportunity to change direction. Trainer must be able to assess the relationship of the COG and BOS during athletes change of direction technique.


3. Muscle Force Vectors: The direction of the muscle force vectors(MFV) will influence the direction and quality of change of direction movements. The trainer must address the relationship between COG, BOS, and the MFV during agility training.

The Formula for Agility Training

1. Acceleration: is the increase in speed in any direction. This movement involves concentric contraction. COG must move away from BOS in direction of movement. This action will set the muscle force vectors in the correct alignment.


2. Deceleration: is the decrease of speed in any direction. This movement involves the eccentric contraction. COG must move closer to and behind the BOS in the direction of movement. This action will allow for the proper force reductions contractions to occur.


3. Stopping: is a brief absences of movement in any direction. Involves the isometric contraction. COG is stopped in a position over the BOS that sets up the re-acceleration. This action will allow the proper balance and change of direction to occur.


4. Conditioning: Agility training is an excellent anaerobic condition tool. Trainers must control quality and proper rest periods during training. This will allow athletes to develop their hearts, lungs, mitochondria, and capillaries over time.


5. Injury Prevention: athletes must develop adequate bio motor requirements for agility training( relative body strength, speed, timing, stability, and technique). Trainers can not progress to levels of training that the athlete are not prepared for.

Tomorrow I will cover some drills that will increase your agility in sport and training. These drills will cover acceleration, deceleration, and overall conditioning.