I’m sure the title of this post got your attention. I just saw this awesome video hosted by Tedx by Mel Robbins. Her presentation is called F— YOU – How To Stop Screwing Yourself Over and is perfect for everybody. Coaches, parents, athletes, loved ones, business executives, married couples, you name it.
Do yourself a favor and take 20 minutes out of your schedule to make yourself a little better and open your eyes to how you can get what you want. I’m sending this to all my athletes as it always helps when they hear the same message that I preach from another voice.
Enjoy.
B
This morning I dropped a container of blueberries and they fell all over the kitchen floor. At this point I could have one of two things…gotten pissed off at the fact that I had to take the time to clean up the mess or laughed at my clumsiness and picked up the blueberries. I initially started to get frustrated and then realized that it wasn’t wasting the time or energy getting upset at such a miniscule thing.
I think this was a simple lesson that so many of us as coaches and athletes make day in an day out. We get upset and mad at a little thing that we couldn’t do or upset at an athlete for a mistake that they made. I’m all about doing little thing right and holding yourself and athletes accountable for doing little things, but I think we have to put things in context as every situation depends. If an athlete is making a mistake for a lack of effort, I will probably get upset and tell the athlete what they need to do and how their lack of effort isn’t going to help them succeed. But if they make a mistake but they are working hard, you have to realize that it’s not worth getting really upset over. Tell them what they did wrong, correct it and praise their effort. Too many coaches lose sight of the big picture and get upset over every mistake. If you scream and yell at every single issue that comes up then athletes will soon tune it out and when you really need to make a point about something it will go in one ear and out the other. If you don’t correct these things they will come back to haunt you, but realize that every mistake isn’t intentional and isn’t the end of the world. It will be better for your health, sanity and your athletes will respect you as well.
My good friend and strength coach at Wisconsin, Ray Eady, sent me this video yesterday and it got me thinking a lot about mobility and how training has changed over the years. Do yourself a favor and watch the video first before continuing to read on.
That was pretty impressive stuff and goes to show you what the human body is capable of doing in terms of mobility and stability. If you don’t know, mobility is the quality of moving freely…the key word is MOVING! It is not static flexibility (length of a muscle), but rather relies on the CNS to control how much movement is available at each joint. Stability is the ability to control movement…it does not mean, no movement, but rather controlling motion.
Breakdancing was extremely big in the late 70′s and throughout the 80′s and goes to show you what the human body can do….or could do at that time. You don’t see breakdancing as much as you used to back then and could it be attributed to the sedentary nature of our lives these days???
I’ve been a strength and conditioning coach at the Division I level for about 12 years now and know for a fact that my programming has changed over that time. Most of it has changed to structure in more mobility work and emphasize corrective exercise – not only because I’ve learned more about it over time, but because simply our athletes these days NEED it to handle the demands that are placed upon them by the requirements of their sport. They need it to play but also to be healthy even when they’re playing days are done.
What exactly is corrective exercise?
As some love it, and some frown upon it. Corrective exercise simply is exercise that is designed to restore and improve in-efficient movement patterns. It can be drill that you do in your warmup or between sets of your heavier movements. It can be things you do on a recovery day or things that you prescribe as “extra work”, but the goal is the same; we should be looking to improve movement and the quality of it.
How do we know if a movement pattern is in-efficient?
We assess and watch our athletes and clients move. We as fitness professionals should have an understanding of what ideal biomechanics are – not everybody is going to be the same, but we should have a fundamental understanding of what’s good vs. bad. Pain is another sign of somebody possibly having a movement dysfunction. Assessments such as the FMS, or drills from Assess & Correct, gives us a reference point to where somebody is initially before training them. If we don’t know where we are, how can we know where we are going or how we are going to get there? Assessing is part of the testing protocol along with performance based testing such as power, strength, and conditioning.
Mobility and adhering to the Joint By Joint approach has become a bigger part of my programs and every year I see new freshman come into our program, it re-affirms the changes that I have put into my programs. We emphasize it in our pre-work before our warmups, in our warmups, in between sets of speed and power work and in between sets of our strength work. There are a number of methods that we will use as well: soft tissue work using lacrosse balls, sticks, cobblestone mats and foam rollers, dynamic flexibility, band work, isolated mobility, integrated mobility, isometrics, PNF techniques, and full range of motion resistance training.
As our society has changed and the athletes we see may have different issues that impair their quality of movement, we as fitness professionals have to address these issues to help prepare them to be successful in sport and life.
B
This post is long overdue. The season has been extremely busy but finals just ended and hockey will have a bit of a break until after Christmas while each hoops team still has a game this week. The last couple weeks were filled with lots of games, workouts and preparing for the end of the semester. I haven’t been able to sit down and really digest a good book, but what I try to do is read some articles and one very good one is Why Shoes Make Normal Gait Impossible? This is a very good read about the effect that shoes has on the human body. This goes along with another great read by a good friend of mine, Art Horne, who put out a book on barefoot training, entitled Barefoot in Boston.
I also just picked up a copy of an outstanding book regarding gait from Dr. Thomas Michaud, called Human Locomotion. I’m excited to delve into this one as the topics in the table of contents really jump out at me. Dr. Michaud has published numerous book chapters and journal articles on a variety of subjects ranging from biomechanics of the first metatarsophalangeal joint and shoulder, to the pathomechanics and management of vertebral artery dissection. In 1993, Williams and Wilkins published Dr. Michaud’s first textbook, Foot Orthoses and Other Forms of Conservative Foot Care, which was eventually translated into four languages and continues to be used in physical therapy, chiropractic, pedorthic, and podiatry schools around the world. In addition to lecturing on clinical biomechanics internationally, Dr. Michaud has served on the editorial review boards for Chiropractic Sports Medicine and The Australasian Journal of Podiatric Medicine. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Michaud has maintained a busy private practice in Newton, Massachusetts, where he has treated thousands of elite and recreational runners.
Dr. Michaud is offering the book at the student price, which is $20 off the regular price of $100. That’s a great deal for a book that covers many gait related issues that plague so many athletes. You can pick up a copy at www.HumanLocomotion.org, when you click on “The book”, be sure to click the link asking for student pricing. I put the synopsis of the book that is on the back cover below if you want to find more info about the book.
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In the course of a year, more than 1.9 million runners will fracture at least one bone and approximately 50% will suffer some form of overuse injury that prevents them from running. Despite the widespread prevalence of gait-related injuries, the majority of health care practitioners continue to rely on outdated and ineffective treatment protocols emphasizing passive interventions, such as anti-inflammatory medications and rest.
With more than 1000 references and 530 illustrations, Dr. Michaud’s text on human locomotion presents a logical approach to the examination, assessment, treatment and prevention of gait-related injuries. Beginning with a complete review of the evolution of bipedality, this textbook goes on to describe the functional anatomy of each joint in the lower extremity, pelvis, and spine. This information is then related to normal and abnormal motions during the gait cycle, providing the most comprehensive description of human locomotion ever published.
Human Locomotion also discusses a wide range of conservative interventions, including a detailed guide to manual therapies, a complete review of every aspect of orthotic intervention, along with illustrated explanations of hundreds of rehabilitative stretches and exercises. The final chapter summarizes state-of-the-art, proven conservative treatment interventions, providing specific protocols for dozens of common gait-related injuries, including Achilles tendinitis, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures and hamstring strains. Whether you are a chiropractor, physical therapist, pedorthist or podiatrist, this text provides practical information that will change the way you practice.
My good friend Art Horne mentioned to me the other day about a presentation that Angela Duckworth put on and absolutely loved her message and the research that she conducted. Do yourself a favor and check out what she has to say:
B
I am the strength coach to many high-level high school and collegiate basketball players. I am constantly researching and looking for the best and most-effective ways to design their programs to improve performance and keep injuries at bay. I can confidently say that this DVD is the most comprehensive resource on basketball strength and conditioning that I have ever seen. The templates for the weekly workouts are invaluable to a strength coach. Often times, with so much information out there, it can be very confusing as to which program is best. Coach Patel explains the best program outline based on what he has found to work over the years.
I loved the part on Coach B’s warm-ups and soft-tissue work and particular attention to loosening up the hips. Tight hips will take the explosiveness right out of a player’s game, but Coach B shows you things you would never have thought of and that can be implemented with minimal equipment, anywhere!
Coach B takes you through a program start to finish with multiple options to fit your current needs and weight room specifics. I have come across many other basketball DVDs that are not practical, take too long and just won’t work in the real world setting. I have noticed our workouts are becoming much more efficient and effective based on player feedback and the quality of the movements. I am presenting at a state basketball clinic in a few weeks and I will highly recommend Coach Patel’s DVD to all the coaches in attendance.
This DVD has it all: program templates, visual examples and explanations and more. You are getting the experience and expertise of one of the best basketball strength coaches in the world in a matter of 3 hours’ worth of highly instructive DVD! This is a ‘must have’ investment for any basketball coach, player or strength coach. I have already implemented many of the things that Coach B has in his DVD with my players. I highly recommend this DVD to any coach or player that is looking to gain a ‘secret advantage’ over their opponents!
To pick up a copy of the DVD click here and scroll down the page.
Kyle Newell, MS, CSCS, CISSN
This post has been a long time coming as I see too many people in the industry lacking critical thinking skills when it comes to training, rehab, and ultimately making our athletes and clients better. We shouldn’t be sheep and follow blindly what others are preaching and teaching us. We need to think critically to take the information that we learn at seminars, through reading (online and books), and speaking to other professionals to really try to understand how principles are implemented and how it fits into your philosophy and your system. We shouldn’t blindly copy what others do if we don’t understand the message/principle and how it is applied to each coach’s own individual situation.
Critical thinking skills aren’t being developed in our young professionals and we need to emphasize teaching our assistants, volunteers, interns, co-workers and students how to apply principles and develop a system of training. If principles are understood than creativity will be your only limiting factor…often times exercises are seen without the understanding of how they ultimately fit into the entire program. Don’t blindly copy others without understanding the true meaning. Seek first to understand and then decide if the new exercise(s) can fit into your system, philosophy, facility and if it will fit with your athletes.
Hopefully we here at SBCC allow you to think critically and make you think about what you do, why you do it and how and when you might be able to implement some of the ideas we share with you into your programs.
B
My good friend and one of the best Strength & Conditioning Coaches in the industry, Eric
Cressey and I go way back. We were at UCONN together for grad school and I like to think that I helped him get really into strength and conditioning when he came to volunteer in the varsity weight room. He’s someone who’s been great to bounce things off of and learn from and he just put together an awesome video detailing why you’re not:
:: Getting Stronger
:: Getting Leaner
:: Adding Muscle
:: Becoming More Athletic
You can check it out here:
Eric is one of the most respected coaches in the world and works with over 70 professional athletes, including Major League All-Stars. He also is a regular contributor to Men’s Health, has been featured in ESPN and Yahoo Sports, has written/created
best-selling books and DVDs, and is one of the world’s most sought-after experts on performance training.
With many of Eric’s clients having millions of dollars on the line based on their performance and him only having a few months each year to maximize their results, he’s made a science of studying what holds people back from getting stronger, leaner and more athletic in a hurry…and he’s found one limiting factor that is the difference between a training program’s failure and success 99% of the time…and he share it on this video:
If you want to get more out of your training, there may be no more important video that you will ever watch than this one:
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I recently did an audio interview with Kyle Newell over at www.newellstrength.com which has some really good training information along with some other interviews from other prominent coaches.
Check it out here and just scroll down the page or you can download it here.
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