Marlborough's Strength Blog

This post is somewhat of a follow-up to the previous one on ”Why do you go to the ‘Gym’?”

Conditioning for athletes is an integral aspect of all sports and their respective training. If an athlete is “out-of-shape”, she/he will likely not be playing much, or will not play as well. Obviously, being ‘in-shape’ for a sport is very important.

The terms ‘in-shape’ and ‘out-of-shape’ are used as general classifications of condition level. The body is much more complicated than simply in or out of shape, as are the specific (bio-energetic) demands of each particular sport. An athlete can be considered in very good shape for one sport, but poor shape for another. In the ‘old-days’, everyone pretty much did the same types, amounts, and durations of conditioning; it was either long distance jogging, countless sprints, or both. Unfortunately, these same ideas of conditioning are still in place for a number of coaches and athletes.

I won’t get in to the scientific terms used for the different energy systems of the body, but the point of this post is to explain that there are different systems the body uses to perform different activities. Coaches and athletes should at least understand this concept, so the days of conditioning being identical for all sports can end.

Here are a few examples of different sports’ energy requirements:
Volleyball – Very short, powerful movements, followed by short rest periods, continually for about 20 minutes per ‘game’.
Basketball – A fast-paced mix of running and jumping for either 20-minute halves or 8-12 minute quarters. Games consist of several ‘reps’ of powerful jumping and sprints, followed by short rest periods.
Football – Each play in a football game lasts between 5-10 seconds (typically), and is followed by 30-45 second rest periods. The total amount of rest in between plays, series, quarters, and halves is more than most power sports.
Baseball – Very short plays consisting of powerful throwing, hitting, running actions, followed by moderate rest periods. Similar to Volleyball, with the rest periods being much longer between ‘plays’.

These, along with Soccer, Tennis, Hockey, Lacrosse/Field Hockey, Track & Field, and so on, all have specific energy requirements that aren’t necessarily transferable to other sports.

None of these athletes need to go run a mile.

The idea here is that specific-sport athletes need to be properly conditioned for their sport. Being generally ‘in-shape’ isn’t a bad thing, but it isn’t the same as having a high-level of conditioning with respect to the energy system(s) required to excel at a particular sport. It is important to analyze the nature of the sport when setting up conditioning programs.

Train with a purpose.

-Bryan-

There is a general notion that all training can or should be the same. It is a fairly common belief that exercise is exercise and everyone can or should do the same things. This is a very misguided belief that seems to be spread around the community.

All training shouldn’t be the same. If you are training for a specific purpose, your training shouldn’t mirror someone who is training for a different purpose. As a fitness professional, it is my responsibility to take each person I work with and develop an individualized plan based on numerous factors. If I simply create cookie-cutter programs, or use the same template for everyone I work with, I am doing a great disservice to all. Here is a little insight into a few different types of training goals:

General Health:
This would be a broad or generalized workout plan, with the emphasis being placed on the body as a whole. Examples of this would be getting your body to run more smoothly, more efficiently, or to make specific improvements such as lowering blood-pressure, getting off meds, lowering resting heart-rate, etc.

Your training can consist of a variety of exercises/styles. I would recommend incorporating total-body strength training using large muscle group movements with cardiac training of multiple formats. Cardio machines, walking, complex-type exercises, are all good options to include.

Strength:
If your focus is getting stronger overall or for a specific part of your body, focus on challenging yourself with your workouts. The most important aspects of strength improvement are load, intensity, rest periods, progression, and recovery. If you continue to repeat the same weights/sets/reps plans over and over, your strength will plateau.

Your training here should focus on challenging yourself and progressing with heavier weight, shorter rest periods, etc.

Fat-Loss:
This is what everyone wants, but few train correctly to achieve it. Fat-loss training can consist of all or any of the following: metabolic training, interval training, steady-state ‘cardio’ training, and inefficient (see previous blog post for definition of ‘inefficient’) exercise training, along with sound diet plans.

One of the biggest misconceptions I see and hear is that steady ‘cardio’ for hours and hours is the only, or best way to burn fat. Steady-state aerobic work can definitely be beneficial for burning calories and pounds of fat, if it is done correctly and used in addition to a training program. Science has proven in several studies that steady-state cardio for long, slow distances is NOT the most effective way to burn fat.

Sports Training:
The biggest problem I typically see with athletes training for their respective sport is their training doesn’t mimic their sport and/or they train like bodybuilders. If you are a sprinter, train using fast movements, short sets, and multiple muscle groups. If you are an offensive lineman in football, train using heavy weights for short sets that mimic the time and energy used in a single play. There is a lot more that goes into a training program for these respective sports, but the idea is to still train for a purpose.

I want to encourage you all to really think about WHY you are training. What are your goals? How are you different from other people you know or see in the gym with your respective goals?

Working out or exercising just to do it probably isn’t very fun!!

-Bryan-

The Hamstrings group plays a large role in virtually all sports’ movements, especially sprinting. The hamstrings flex the knee, bringing the heel toward the glutes, but they also assist the glutes in hip extension, which occurs in sprinting. For the purpose of this post, I want to look at the most effective ways to train the hamstrings to prevent pulls (tears), and prepare them for the demands of sport performance.

Muscle pulls (tears) primarily occur when the muscle is stretched and it tries to produce a forceful movement at the same time. The hamstring group is stretched during the forceful ‘pushing’ action of sprinting, as well as other athletic movements. This action puts a great deal of strain on the hamstrings, and they will tear easily if they aren’t trained correctly.

Hamstring exercises in the gym are typically knee flexion, like the lying leg curl machine, seated leg curl machine, etc. I focus on hip extension exercises such as squats, walking lunges, split squats, glute-ham raises (eccentric), etc. These movements put the hamstrings in a stretched state, while requiring them to generate force along with the glutes and quadriceps to perform the exercise.

Eccentric Glute-Ham Raises are an exercise of particular interest here, because they basically isolate the hamstrings, while putting them in a stretched-work state. By kneeling on a mat and lowering yourself toward the ground (face first), without bending at the waist, your hamstrings are producing a great deal of force while they are lengthened, which is the eccentric portion of the exercise. The hamstrings are eccentrically contracted during sprinting, so this exercise replicates that movement.

If you want to protect your hamstrings, add eccentric glute-ham raises into your next leg workout.

-Bryan-

There are a lot of opinions out there about the most important things to incorporate or focus on for fitness success. Obviously, goals are going to vary between individuals, but I have the top 5 general rules that would apply to everyone. Here is my Top 5 list:

1): Diet.
The diet is often the missing link between a great training program and overall success. If the diet is lacking in protein, the right amount of carbohydrates and fats, or the overall calories are too high/low, the training program can fail to meet the desired goals. The general First step to take in getting your diet on track is to eliminate processed foods.

2): Hard Work.
This sounds obvious and simple, but it can often be misconstrued as simply going to the gym or doing 20 minutes of light cardio each day. True hard-work is engaging in an activity that challenges your muscles or respiratory system to the point that you KNOW you put all of your effort into it. Just going through the motions at the gym isn’t going to get you the results you are looking for. Diet, supplements, doctors, fancy equipment, videos, or anything else can not take the place of not working really hard at your training.

3): Sleep.
Sleeping is very critical to the success of your training program. When we are sleeping, our body is recharging and repairing itself. Strength training using progressive methods causes your muscles to get inflammed with small tears in their fibers. They need to be rested so they can heal and grow stronger. This is extremely important if you are trying to progress toward a specific goal. If you are working hard, sleep should be the best part of your day.

4): Rest/Recovery.
This is similar to sleep, but the difference is this is resting while you are awake. Taking days off to rest is important for your energy levels as well as your body’s ability to heal itself after strenuous training. Recovery can come in many forms, both passively and actively, and it should always be included in the days after training sessions. Foam rolling is my personal favorite, but stretching, light cardio and contrast baths/cold tubs/saunas are all methods of recovery.

5): Consistency.
Being consistent means sticking with a SOUND program even through the times when the results aren’t being seen as fast as you may want. Changing the body is a long-process. It takes significant amounts of time and energy to lose 50 pounds of fat; it doesn’t happen in a couple of weeks. It takes significant amounts of time to increase your squat max by 50 pounds; it doesn’t happen after a couple of workouts. Sticking with a good program or giving up on it too soon can make a huge difference between getting to those goals and never reaching them.

That is my Top 5 list for fitness success. This applies to all goals, and all of them are fairly simple to implement immediately.

-Bryan-

I want to focus this exercise review on the ‘throwing’ athlete, as well as other athletic movements that are similar to throwing (Volleyball spike/serve, Boxing knockout punch, etc). Pitchers and Quarterbacks are at the forefront of athletes concerned with throwing power/speed. This is a very important aspect of these athletes’ games, but one that is overlooked during training.

The musculature of the upper-back and rear deltoid (shoulder) are incredibly important parts of the throwing motion. The majority of focus given to improving throwing power is on the chest and front deltoid muscles. These muscles play a large role in the throwing process, don’t get me wrong, but I believe the muscles of the upper-back and rear deltoid play a larger role. Band pull-aparts, band rows, bent rows, seated rows, rear flies and external rotator cuff work are found in nearly every workout of my throwing athletes.

Technically speaking, the brain wants to protect muscles and tendons from injury at all times. Golgi Tendon Organs (GTOs) are proprioceptors that inhibit muscular contraction and activity. If the brain senses an injury is likely or possible to a certain muscle or muscle group, it will signal the GTOs to ’shut down’ the muscle or muscle group that opposes the muscles likely to be injured. One of the best examples of this is found in throwing. The muscles involved in throwing are the pectoral, anterior deltoid, and latissimus dorsi to a lesser extent for the purpose of this post. Improving the strength of these muscles will improve the throwing power capability of the throwing arm, but only to a certain extent.

All muscular actions in the human body involve opposing muscle groups working together to perform the action. A simple example of this is bending the elbow. The biceps group contracts while the triceps group relaxes, with the opposite occurring in order to straighten the arm. In the throwing motion, the pectoral and anterior deltoid contract while the upper-back musculature and posterior deltoid (rear) relax. This brings me to the point of this post.

If the brain senses the musculature of the upper-back and posterior deltoid are not strong enough to handle the forceful activity of throwing at maximal velocity, it will signal the GTOs to ’shut down’ the pectorals and anterior deltoids because the opposing muscles can be injured. This creates the need for very strong upper-back and posterior deltoid musculature. Keeping these muscles strong will prevent the muscles that propel the arm forward from being limited in their abilities. This is an important aspect of the throwing athletes’ training program, and upper-back and posterior deltoid work should be included in nearly every workout.

-Bryan-

A very common problem I see is that of lower back ‘problems’, and I have found that the majority of those issues are a result of an anterior tilt of the pelvis. When the pelvis (hips) is rotated forward, it puts added pressure and compression on the musculature of the lower back region. This is typically caused by excessive sitting or weak abdominal muscles; each of which cause the hip flexor muscles to shorten, which in turn pulls the pelvis to tilt forward.

Core Stability is an issue that is directly affected by an anterior tilt problem. This review of the Plank exercise is intended to offer an option to work the core muscles, without encouraging an anterior pelvic tilt.

Traditional sit-ups cause the hip flexors to shorten in accordance with the abdominal muscles, which you definitely don’t want more of if you have an anterior tilt already. The Plank exercise can be performed a variety of ways, but each engage the abdominals and musculature of the back in an isometric contraction, which doesn’t cause the trunk to flex, or bend, or the hip flexors to shorten.

Core Stability is important for a number of reasons, from spine issues to athletic performance. I want to look at it as it relates to athletic performance. I won’t get too deep into the specifics, but I do want to touch on the importance of stability in the core region for athletes. The core area is a transfer point for power and force; coming from the ground, through the legs. This power is essentially lost if the core region is weak or poorly developed, and it won’t get through to the upper limbs for throwing, spiking, hitting, etc. Another important part core stability plays is in balance. Our ‘core’ is the center of the body, and it provides our sense of balance and stability, as it relates to single-leg exercises and athletic movements. Cutting actions and other agility movements require a great deal of core stability to execute precisely and quickly, which is the desired result for all athletes.

The Plank, in all of its various forms, provides an excellent way to work on stabilizing the core musculature. If you desire to be a better athlete, alleviate lower back pain, strengthen your spinal erectors and contribute to an overall healthy spine, core stability should be a primary focus in your workout program.

-Bryan-