7 Days of Insanity

Over the past 7 days I’ve had multiple experiences every day that I think most Strength & Conditioning Coaches would kill to experience with NCAA Division 1 athletes. Last week was one of those special weeks when I’ve got a couple of my teams in-season, a couple teams in pre-season, and several teams just getting started for the semester with testing. The last week was extremely rich with everything from recovery sessions for soccer, 1RM squat testing, conditioning for two teams, and working out the details of a new research project. I even saw an ACL completely tear and another one we thought tore, but – thankfully – did not. My point in this post is to give you a weeklong peek into the life of a college strength coach… and let me tell you, it is WAY different than the private sector.

Tuesday, September 6:

• 8:30a – women’s soccer in weight room for a light total body lift, capped on either end of the session with active & static stretching and SMR (foam rolling).
• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stairs.
• 2:00p – on the field with women’s soccer to run their warm-up and conditioning routes.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.
• 3:45p – throwers testing 3 vertical jump variations: counter-movement, static start, depth jump (from low box).
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room for power clean 1RM testing.

BBallRoutes copy

Wednesday, September 7:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in weight room to lift. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 2:00p – on the field to warm-up women’s soccer.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing on single leg broad jump, vertical jump, and 3RM front squat to BELOW parallel depth (we had a freshmen hit 170 x 3 – yikes!)
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test 1RM bench press (one guy pressed 305lbs)

Thursday, September 8:

• 10:30a – women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and posts ran a low impact total body conditioning circuit.
• 2:00p – lead an on-field body weight only training session for women’s soccer (technically it wasn’t “on-field” due to the monsoon outside… we were in the Field House).
• 3:00p – rowing team in weight room for first day of training – big team with 15 new athletes means lots of instruction.
• 3:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room to test bench press 1RM and review lifts for following week.
• 4:30p – male sprinters and jumpers in weight room to test ½ Squat 1RM.

Friday, September 9:

• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for an upper body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Post players ran routes on the court and guards ran stair sprints with full recovery.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse testing for seated MB Toss, Perfect Pushup Assessment for 1 set of 10, Yo-Yo Intermittent Beep test.
• 3:45p – throwers in weight room for 1RM back squat test with introduction of following week’s lower body lifts.

Saturday, September 10:

• 10:00a – on-field with women’s soccer for practice.

Sunday, September 11:

• 1:00p – women’s soccer game. Witnessed a member of the opposing team destroy her ACL during a contact situation. I’ve seen this before and I’ll see it again, many times I’m sure. It’s always terrible to see this type of season ending injury that, because of my background and experience, I know will affect her for the rest of her life.

Monday, September 12:

• 8:45a – women’s volleyball in the weight room for lifting. The start and finish of the lift involved active & static stretching and SMR.
• 10:30a - women’s basketball in weight room for a lower body lift. We then go over to the Patriot Center to begin conditioning by 11:15a. Guards ran routes on the court and Posts ran stairs for speed work with full recovery.
• 1:30p – Single lacrosse player in to lift.
• 2:30p – women’s lacrosse in for first lifting session. Lots of teaching.
• 3:45p – throwers in for first lifting session. We did some serious volume with some serious low rest periods. No one threw-up, amazing! They must have been ready for it!
• 4:30p – female sprinters and jumpers in for first lifting session.
• 5:30p – male sprinters in for first lifting session.

Congratulations, you made it to the end of my 7 days!!! I don’t have the time or the patience to convey the details that were left out of this recap, but trust me when I tell you I think I garnered an additional year’s worth of experience in just 7 days.

As I’ve seen many very talented strength coaches completely leave the field over my 7-years of experience, I have learned that being a college strength coach is not everyone’s cup of tea. But for some sick reason it seems to be mine. I thrive on the stress and intensity. If you’re thinking of stepping into the college environment, reread my week above one more time and factor in having a life (and in my case a business, too) on top of all that – can you handle it?

How to Deal with Suboptimal Training Situations

Over the weekend I put together a possible program for some athletes who are in a bit of a pinch to pass a 400m repeat test (that they just failed) in one month. Before you get all excited and scroll down, let me qualify this program with a few points:

1. This program is NOT ideal –track style training should be undertaken when one has around 12-weeks to dedicate, minimally.
2. These athletes are not long-distance sprinters (or anything close), they just need to pass this test.
3. Bottom line, the athletes in question could use some overall general physical preparation and aerobic improvement (i.e., why they failed in the first place). So, regardless of sport specificity, this program will provide worlds of improvement for their baseline conditioning and that’s good for any athlete.
4. The “Q” workouts stand for Quality and to get best results should be combined with 20-30min non-impact cardiovascular training on the other days of the week. These sessions will be recovery/base building sessions and heart rate should be monitored to stay within the suggested zone.
5. General strength training 2-3 days per week should be undertaken in concert with this program.
6. Because these athletes are not accustomed to running on a track for these extended distances, all efforts should be made to encourage recovery and regeneration. SMR (foam rolling), static & active stretching, dynamic warm-ups, ice baths, and post-training (all day would be even better) nutrition should all be addressed to stave off any potential problems.

WEEK 1 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 3 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 3x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x600m (3-4min Walking Rest) 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (1min Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 2 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 3x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 1x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

WEEK 4 Q1 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 1x600m (4-min Walking Rest) 2x400m (2-3min Walking Rest) 4x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q2 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 20-min Steady Pace 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down Q3 Workout: 10-min Jog at Easy Pace to Warm-up 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 2x800m (3min Rest) 6x200m (1-2min Walking Rest) 5-min Jog at Easy Pace to Cool-down

Oftentimes as a coach or an athlete you get caught between a “rock and a hard place.” Training variables and conditions are rarely perfect and you constantly have to find the right fit for the safest and most effective training plan given a suboptimal situation to yield the greatest result. Personally, I think this is a big reason why my “job” is pretty much nothing but fun all day, every day.

Anyway, as a strength coach (or an athlete designing his/her own program) you have to rise to each unique situation, analyze it, acknowledge that it is not ideal, then move on to create the best program you possibly can give the restraints. I wish “good luck” to the budding, but short-term 400m repeat sprinters over this next month!

As a side note, Arabella is already showing signs of her future status as an elite athlete. Here she is pictured furiously searching Daniel’s Running Formula for training paces associated with her VDOT score - Haha. She really did look through that book around for about 5-minutes.

The Fine Art of Team Warm-ups

Designing a warm-up for a large team looks easy if you're watching passively from the sidelines. Unfortunately, this ease is quite deceptive. There are actually several critical aspects that need to be taken into account if you want you're warm-up to go from adequate to Fine Art status:1. Time: how much do you have? I usually try to end a minute or two before I told the coach I would be done (think under-promise and over-deliver, coaches LOVVVVVE that!). 2. Efficiency: you never have much of #1 and you may have as many as 30+ players. So, how do you keep them all moving, engaged, and organized? You gotta be efficient! 3. Effectiveness: Numbers 1 & 2 are components of this, but effectiveness speaks to the QUALITY of what you’re doing. Are you getting the most “bang for your buck” per movement? If not, go back to the drawing board. Be sure to take into account the 3 planes of motion, what the team’s first drill of practice will be, and general fatigue level (where are they within the season and within the training week?).

Beginning this past Saturday, I’ve been standing on a soccer field for about 5 hours a day working hard on the start of, what is certain to be, a legendary sock/farmer’s tan combo. Regardless, that’s just a fantastic by-product of my point: We just started the preseason training time period for women’s soccer and I’ve put together several warm-ups I think are pretty darn good. I’m going to share the two I used on Monday, August 8th and point out a couple important things about the two of them:

AM Session (the 5th practice within 48 hours):

Team Jogs 1 Field Lap in two lines

Upon return have two lines split apart on the 18

(one line on end-line other line on 18, lines face)

65% Builder Sprint to Back Pedal (long reach)

• Walking Spiderman to Overhead Reach

• Yoga Pushup x5

• Skip backwards with Heel Lift

70% Builder Sprint to Gate Openers

• Knee Hugs

• Cross-behind Overhead Reverse Lunge x5/side

• Frankenstein Kicks

75% Builder Sprint to Walking Opposites

• Walking Quads

• Bowler Squat x5/leg

• Skip for Distance

80% Builder Sprint to Alternating Side Shuffle

• Walking Toe Touch

• Split-Stance Kneeling Adductor Rockbacks x5/side

• Cradle Walk

Lateral Broad Jump x3 to Turn & Sprint (both directions)

Stretch on Own

Notes:

• This practice was the tipping point for the team. At the time it started, it was the 5th practice they would be attending within 48 hours – that’s a lot of soccer in a short window!

• The previous two days had a portion of testing (think non-contact) that was significant enough that I knew they would still be feeling pretty good for this session.

• My warm-up “template” typically consists of 3 levels of warm-ups. One is fairly intense and is for pre-match or other situations when the group is fresh, the second is a mid-level warm-up that respects the training volume the team is currently enduring (or the point in the season), and the third is a very low-level warm-up that is appropriate for recovery and respects the teams general level of fatigue but still preps them for the drills to follow.

• The AM Session warm-up was a Level 2.

PM Session (the 6th practice within 54 hours):

Team Jogs 1 Field Lap in two lines

Upon return everyone grabs ball and circles up

Soccer Ball SMR :20-:30/location:

Calves

Hamstrings

Quads

Adductors

IT Band

Glutes

Squat Mobility Series x1

Team Lines up on Sideline:

2 Tuck Jumps to 65% Builder Sprint to Gateopeners

2 Tuck Jumps to 70% Builder Sprint to Frankensteins

2 Tuck Jumps to 75% Builder Sprint to Skip for Height

2 Tuck Jumps to 80% Builder Sprint to Alternating Side Shuffle

Stretch on Own

Notes:

• After a morning training session that lasted a full two-hours and was jam-packed with intense sprinting and full contact, I knew the team would be starting to get very sore and tired.

• I gave them as much time as I could (in this case only 8-minutes) to do some self-massage with the soccer ball and a mobility circuit before we started moving around to get the heart pumping.

• The PM Session warm-up was a Level 3.

Orchastrating an excellent warm-up day after day is certainly one of the less "sexy" aspects to the job of Strength & Conditioning Coach, but it is nonetheless extremely important. Keep in mind a solid dynamic warm-up on a regular basis is the opportunity to improve general fitness and work on power, strength, speed, change of direction, mobility, flexibility, and injury prevention... I think anyone would agree that's a great opportunity to have on a daily basis, so don't waste it by not planning properly!

As a side note, if you train with us in Fairfax, you may soon get to experience warm-ups similar to the AM session - did you hear we got TURF last week?!? If you don't already train with us and wish to experience the excellence that is SAPT, please contact us here for information on in-house performance coaching, distance coaching, Buttkamp, or any combination of the three!

Depletion Pushup Eccentrics

It’s really great how some exercise variations come about. Every once in a while an athlete I work with will misinterpret an exercise in such a creative way that the misinterpretation becomes a new variation in its own right. Here’s an example: for Mason Women’s Basketball I programmed Diminishing Pushups for the team’s very last movement of the week. I wrote about these here a few weeks ago.

Trust me, they’re a pretty punishing way to finish a hard training week, but what one of the girls came up with as her interpretation is a sick and twisted variation. So, sick and twisted that I will likely cycle these into their program in the future.

Diminishing Pushup Eccentrics

***To be done at the end of a training week***

3xAMAP :03-:06 eccentrics in 90 seconds (rest :90 between sets)

John was kind enough to finish off his training this morning with this insanity. John did a great job making these look smooth as butter and just as easy! But you should know John just finished his D1 wrestling career and is generally in outstanding condition at any moment in time. He benches close to 300lb and I’d be can rep out well over 100 pushups in a row. But you can see even with the seemingly innocent 25lbs on his back he’s having a rough time at the end of his first set.

Consider giving them a try without using the concentric (the push back up), so just lower yourself slowly to the ground over and over for time.

Good Luck!

Tips on Training for a Hike

Irony of all ironies, I had planned on writing a post about hiking for today (I’ve been getting requests) and what did Steve do yesterday?!? A hiking post… unbelievable! Maybe this week will be SAPT's unofficial training for a hike week or something. So, I'm sticking with my post for today and felt is was appropriate to post a picture of one of the hikes I went on last week - this one is in Red Rock State Park. Tips on Training for a Hike

1. Single Leg Strength Work is Essential! A large percentage of training should be dedicated to Step-up and Step-down variations. This is pretty much what a hike is after all. The step-up will help you get up to the peak, but what about when you’re on your return trip and your legs are fried? That’s when the step-downs will become crucial. Having exceptional eccentric strength in a fatigued state will not only allow you to return safely, but more quickly, too! I’m afraid I may sound like I’m hopping on Mike Boyle’s anti-bilateral movement crusade with this, but I think ditching the squats and deads may be a great move for a focused time leading up to an important hike.
2. Bracing Variations. As Steve pointed out in his post yesterday, hikers will usually be loaded up with all kinds of gear (think added weight) and they need to be able to easily brace and stabilize to carry the loads without undue fatigue. How can you train this in the gym? Give BB Squat Hold Variations, Mis-Loaded BB Hold Variations, Plank Hold Variations, and Band Swing Hold Variations a try.  Notice the theme word for these exercises is “hold” a.k.a. isometric – a hiker needs to have an extremely strong “core” (gasp, I can’t believe I just used that word) to ensure the muscle groups that should be doing the bracing do their jobs.
3. Mobility Work. This will be critical for the entire body. Especially considering that hikers often stay in a fairly upright position, so when they need to call on some extreme hip mobility to traverse certain terrain you want that mobility to be present. Otherwise, injuries will pop up.
4. Lastly, if I seriously wanted to show my hiking prowess off, I would implement Steve’s HICT training. Add this in twice a week plus a long hike on the weekend.

***I'm going to get some videos up this evening, so please check back if you want to see some of the variations I mentioned!

Don't forget, if you're out of the DC/NoVA area, we can still get you prepared to destroy your next competition, event, or just life. Find out more by requesting information on our distance coaching program!

HICT: A "Secret" and Powerful Method of Aerobic Training

Watch the video below to discover a very powerful, yet unconventional, method of developing the aerobic system: (Note: If video is not your thing, I wrote down the bullet points from the video down below.) 

This method is referred to as High Intensity Continuous Training, or HICT.

• Great for military folks, wrestlers, fighters, endurance athletes, or anyone that needs to be able to produce a reasonable power output for an extended period of time.
• Start with one, 10-minute set, and gradually work you're way up to two, 20-minute sets (be warned, twenty minutes is a loonggg set).
• It is both high intensity and high volume, which is what makes it so different than other forms of aerobic training.
• The intensity is based on resistance, rather than speed, which is why it allows for such a high volume of stimulus. Most high intensity aerobic intervals are based on speed, ex. a 15-60 second sprint, so you can only maintain that level of effort for so long before you fatigue and have to slow down.
• Your heart rate should stay in the 150s or low 160s during these, which is under most people's anaerobic threshold (for example, mine is about 174bpm).
• Because the heart rate remains under the anaerobic threshold, there is adequate oxygen supply (and thus it's possible to enhance the aerobic abilities of your fast twitch fibers).
• If you're doing step-ups, as I am in the video, the preferred method of loading would be a weight vest. I'm using a backpack in the video because, at the time, I didn't have access to a vest. Don't use a barbell (trust me, I tried it).
• If the weighted step-ups isn't a viable option, you could use a high quality spin bike. Just crank of the resistance on that thing so you're at 20-30rpm (this is very slow). You should literally be coming off the seat a bit on each push of the pedal.

It was 10:15pm - past my preferred bed time - when I filmed this, so forgive me for my tired expression and somewhat scattered thought process in the video.

HICT is an extremely powerful tool when used appropriately.