CB
ATHLETIC CONSULTING TRAINING REPORT - www.cbathletics.com
ISSUE
#74
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE...
-
"Want to learn? Check these websites..."
- "Covering all the angles in 'Sport-specific'
athlete preparation."
- "The 2001 Speed-Agility program"
- "The hope for 2002"
1
- WEBSITES FOR ATHLETES,
STRENGTH, & WEIGHT LOSS
www.sportspecific.com
This site has been around for a couple of years,
but just recently underwent a major improvement. Ryan Lee,
MS, CSCS, has added more programs and more tips on improving
athletic ability. Subscribers will have the opportunity
to interact with experienced strength coaches such as Mike
Gough, CSCS, (former Interim Strength Coach of the Toronto
Raptors) from www.optperformance.com. Ryan promises at least
3 new cutting-edge training articles EVERY WEEK and much
more in addition to the articles that were already there
and articles that aren't posted on www.cbathletics.com.
Men's
Health
Want to lose your gut? Subscribe to this newsletter
from Men's Health. It provides USEFUL suggestions on how
to lose body fat and improve your health. These are not
"run of the mill" suggestions, but are rather
tips based on research to help overweight men lose body
fat, gain muscle, and improve their health. This is a great
resource given the current incidence of obesity (see Issue
70).
Deep
Squatter
This site contains excellent articles for athletes
and strength trainers seeking information to help increase
maximum strength. These articles are written by guys that
bench over 500lbs and squat close to 1000 pounds. The authors
write not only from experience, but also use sound science
to back up their programs.
Swis
Symposium 2001
Plan to be in the Toronto area on the weekend of
November 16-18th, 2001. Dr. Ken Kinakin, a chiropractor
in Mississauga, has assembled an all-star cast of speakers
for his 3rd annual conference. The above link will take
you right to the schedule of events. Recommended speakers
include Drs. Sale and MacDougall for scientific facts on
strength and hypertrophy training, as well as coaches Charlie
Francis, Charles Staley, and Istvan Balyi for practical
applications of sport science. There will also be some controversial
nutritional presentations, and finally there will be three
very entertaining "strongman" speakers to round
out the conference, Bill Kazmaier, Dorian Yates, and Bill
Pearl.
2
- HOW TO MAKE AN ATHLETE INJURY-FREE
The
timing could not have been better. During the summer of
2001, the CB ATHLETIC CONSULTING "Groin-specific speed
& agility" program was refined over many training
sessions, and now there is academic research to support
the necessity of "groin-specific/sport-specific"
training. In the September 2001 issue of Medicine and Science
in Sports & Exercise, researchers Carolyn Emery and
William Meehuwisse from the University of Calgary investigated
the risk factors for groin injury in NHL players.
The
study found that players participating in less than 18 sport-specific
training sessions during the off-season had a 3-fold greater
risk of groin injury than players that performed at least
that number of training sessions. More specifically, players
that reported less than 12 sport-specific training sessions
in August were more likely to have an injury in September's
training camp. Amazingly, 13.5% of players interviewed (115)
reported performing NO sport-specific training at all! In
addition, Emery and Meehuwisse reported players with previous
injury and veteran players were at greater risk of injury.
Not
surprisingly, neither peak isometric adductor torque ("static
groin strength") or flexibility were a predictor of
injury. One would not expect a measure of isometric strength
to reflect injury risk because isometric refers to force
production without a change in the length of the muscle.
Since the adductor ("groin") muscles are constantly
shortening and lengthening in sport, the measure is not
representative of actual performance.
Groin
injuries have been found to be much greater during training
camp when compared with the regular season but injuries
were not found to occur earlier or later in a game or practice
session. Of note, it was determined that for every 1 year
increase in NHL experience, the athlete performed 1.3 fewer
sessions of sport-specific training. Therefore, the decrease
in training by veterans seems to correlate with an increased
risk of injury for the veteran player. Time for the older
guys to decrease the gold and increase the hard work in
the off-season.
The
authors concluded, "Low levels of off-season sport
specific training and previous injury are clearly risks
for groin injury at an elite level of hockey." In contrast,
the chance of injury decreased with increasing levels of
sport-specific training. In the research paper, "sport-specific"
training was defined as "any training session (>30min)
in the off-season including hockey, power skating, in-line
skating, off-ice skating machine, or slide board".
However,
it is suffice to say that sport-specific is a term that
can be misused. The definition of "sport-specific"
training should be expanded to include agility training
in athlete preparation for most conventional sports. For
the purposes of this training article, any lateral speed
and agility training exercise will be considered as sport-specific
despite the fact that this training is not done on a hardwood
court, ice surface, or tennis court. There is NO doubt that
the results of this study has a broad application to the
preparation of all sports that combine explosiveness and
lateral movement as groin injury is possible under these
circumstances.
Therefore,
performing 18 sessions of sport-specific training (or at
least 12 sessions in the 4 weeks prior to training camp)
will help prevent groin injuries in the pre-season. It is
not unacceptable to apply this conclusion to all other sports
that include lateral movement and explosiveness. Therefore,
a proper off-season conditioning program should begin with
1-2 sport-specific training session per week and progress
to at least 3 sessions per week in the final 4 weeks before
training camp. The bottom line is to get out and get training
specifically for your sport!
Emery,
C., and W. Meehuwisse. Risk factors for groin injuries in
hockey. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 33: 1423-1433, 2001.
3
- 2001 SPEED-AGILITY PROGRAM
Here
are some training ideas from the 2001 version of the CB
ATHLETIC CONSULTING "Groin-specific speed & agility"
program. If you have questions about the drills, email cb@cbathletics.com
or check out more comprehensive articles on www.sportspecific.com.
All training should be performed on a dry field or baseball
diamond. Even though these drills are completed on grass
and dirt, many players that use these drills agree that
they help on-ice performance. The outline of the program
is as follows and must be kept in this precise order to
prevent fatigue from interfering with "explosiveness":
*
Warm-up (Form work & dynamic stretching)
* Plyometrics
* Ladder drills (Quickness/Acceleration)
* Groin Agility drills
* Groin Conditioning drills
WARM-UP
Athletes
should go through this circuit a minimum of 3 times. These
exercises comprise dynamic flexibility drills, meaning they
move the limbs through a full range of motion and it also
provides a progressive warm-up. Athletes should start out
lightly in circuit 1 and increase the intensity of each
movement with each successive circuit.
*
High-knee (10 yards)
* High-heels/Butt-kicks (10 yards)
* Skipping (10 yards)
* Side-shuffle (10 yards each way)
* Side-step & pull (10 yards each way)
* Diagonal lunge walk (10 yards)
* Hurdle-walk Rotate-In (10 yards)
* Hurdle-walk Rotate-Out (10 yards)
FLEXIBILITY
Stretching
and flexibility is a very controversial issue. Check out
this previous
newsletter (Issue 60) for more information and guidelines
for static stretching should you choose to incorporate it.
PLYOMETRICS
("JUMP TRAINING")
Plyometric
training helps develop strength and power and hopefully
balance and agility, all at the same time. There really
isn't any other training technique that addresses so many
levels of athletic performance. Please note: Plyometric
training should only be performed by an athlete that has
been evaluated and cleared for "jump training"
by a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist.
For
the 3 groin specific plyometric drills listed below, perform
1-5 sets of 4-8 repetitions. Individuals with no plyometric
experience should perform fewer repetitions and sets and
rest for longer intervals. Advanced athletes may be able
to rest as little as 15 seconds between sets. Some plyometrics
that target the groin area include:
*
Wide-stance long jump
* Split-squat (lunge) jump
* Alternate-leg diagonal bounding
SPEED
LADDER
The
speed ladder is an excellent training tool for helping an
athlete increase foot speed, quickness, and agility. If
you don't want to buy a speed ladder, you can simply draw
out the squares on a baseball diamond. To purchase the ladders
and find more information on speed ladder drills, check
out the Ryan and Mike's websites. You can be creative and
create many drills to improve your speed, agility, and balance.
Remember to stay on your toes throughout the drills, keep
your knees bent, and pop up every time you land. Here's
just one of many possible drills:
*
Lateral 2-touch (fwd & bkwd)
Start
in the "athlete" ("ready") position
on the left side of the first square of the ladder. Step
your right foot into the first square and land on the ball
of your foot. Now step your left foot in and land on the
ball of your foot. Then immediately step your right foot
outside to the right side of the first square and land on
the ball of your foot. Now step your left foot out and land
on the ball of your foot. Next, diagonally step forward
and left with the left foot into the second square of the
ladder and then bring the right foot in. Continue to move
along the speed ladder in this fashion. The drill should
last about 5 seconds with an emphasis on moving as fast
and as correctly as possible.
LATERAL
AGILITY
Agility
is a measure of acceleration, deceleration, and change of
direction. These are demands placed on almost all athletes,
regardless of the surface they play on. These agility drills
can be done on any playing surface as well (ice, grass,
court). Agility drills should last about 5 seconds with
an emphasis on moving as fast and as correctly as possible.
Choose 2-5 variations and do 1-5 sets of each, depending
on your training experience and fitness level. Rest as necessary
between sets.
*
Small box runs (shuffle; forward; backward; crossovers)
* Star runs (from kneeling position; from push-up position)
* Lateral shuffles or crossovers (5-yd each
way)
* Shuffle or (5-yd) and then turn into a 10-yd sprint
* Box runs (Set up a 3m x 3m box)
Start
at the back left corner and sprint forward to the top left
corner. Touch the ground and then shuffle to the right,
touching the ground and then backpedal to the back right
corner. Touch the ground and shuffle left to the starting
position.
Star
runs (Set up a 3m x 3m box)
Start
in middle of the box and sprint to each corner in a specific
order using a pre-set movement pattern. Return to the center
position after you touch each corner. Try to incorporate
lateral movements such as shuffling and crossovers as much
as possible. For variety, you can perform a very quick and
simple sport-specific drill at each corner (i.e. vertical
jump, shot, throw, etc.). You can also add another dimension
of difficulty by having the athlete start from the kneeling
or push-up position.
GROIN
CONDITIONING
Metabolic
conditioning (intervals) should always remain at the end
of a training session that incorporates "explosiveness".
If you fatigue the athlete with conditioning, you can't
expect the athlete to perform explosively and you may even
compromise safety. Like all other aspects of the program,
in order to develop "groin-specific" adaptations,
you must incorporate lateral movement into the conditioning
drills. This means short, high-intensity intervals that
include lateral shuffling, crossovers, and sprints into
and out of lateral movement. Intervals can range from 10
to 60 seconds (or more). Rest intervals will vary, but one
option is to rest an equal amount of time to the work interval.
*
5-10-5 yard shuttle using lateral movement for a set period
of time
* 5 yard shuffle for a set period of time
4
-THE HOPE FOR 2002 - SPEED-AGILITY PROGRAM
The
goal of CB ATHLETIC CONSULTING for 2002 is to create a series
of weekly training session for elite athletes in the Hamilton/Burlington/Toronto
area. It would begin with the speed-agility program (outlined
above) and would culminate in conditioning at the end. Not
only would conditioning include sprint and shuffle intervals,
but it would also include sled pulling and wheelbarrow pushing
to enhance "work capacity". There would also be
light exercise for restoration and recovery.
Each
evening of training will cover all bases of athletic development.
As well, each participant will also be provided with additional
strength training programs and fitness testing evaluations
to compliment their sport-specific training. Each player's
strengths, weaknesses, sport, and position will be addressed
on an individual basis.
Athletes
will be looked after on all fronts with multiple instructors
present and adequate fluids made available. After training
a scientifically formulated post-workout drink will be provided,
a crucial element often neglected when athletes choose to
train on their own. This training program is not limited
to hockey players, males, or University-aged athletes, but
rather any and all athletes with the motivation and dedication
to commit themselves to becoming an elite athlete in their
sport are welcome. The sky is the limit on participation.
Any
and all feedback on the goal for 2002 is welcomed.
CB
ATHLETIC CONSULTING
www.cbathletics.com
cb@cbathletics.com
