Seth's Blog: A definition of a leader...
Simple but to the point. Just do it!
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
S.A.I.D.--Vital for Masters Athletes
SAID is the acronym for Specific Adaptations for Imposed Demands and is a fundamental principle of training. You will play as you train, or more accurately, your performance will be limited or enhanced by how you train.
To illustrate the point, many athletes, young and old, have been misinformed as to the extent of "cardio" they need for their sport. So as result every summer you will see college athletes out jogging with their iPods on to relieve the boredom. But unless they are cross country runners are they really preparing themselves for their respective sports be it soccer, field hockey, football, or volleyball?
In any SAID needs analysis of a sport you have to analyze the movement patterns and nature of the game and most are power based, intermittent burst sports. In addition, these sports are played in 3 planes of movement and require multiple changes of direction So how does jogging prepare you for the conditioning and movement demands of those types of sports? The answer is that it doesn't.
The same can be said of many so-called sports specific strength programs which use machines, pay little attention to multi-directional movement, or to improving functional movement.
The SAID principle is of particular importance to the Masters athlete as they are of an age where they can't make up for poor training programs or lost time. They don't have the luxury of time that a younger athlete may have at their disposal.
So take some time and look at your respective sport, it's movement patterns and energy system demands and then ask yourself if your training program is addressing those issues.
Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links
To illustrate the point, many athletes, young and old, have been misinformed as to the extent of "cardio" they need for their sport. So as result every summer you will see college athletes out jogging with their iPods on to relieve the boredom. But unless they are cross country runners are they really preparing themselves for their respective sports be it soccer, field hockey, football, or volleyball?
In any SAID needs analysis of a sport you have to analyze the movement patterns and nature of the game and most are power based, intermittent burst sports. In addition, these sports are played in 3 planes of movement and require multiple changes of direction So how does jogging prepare you for the conditioning and movement demands of those types of sports? The answer is that it doesn't.
The same can be said of many so-called sports specific strength programs which use machines, pay little attention to multi-directional movement, or to improving functional movement.
The SAID principle is of particular importance to the Masters athlete as they are of an age where they can't make up for poor training programs or lost time. They don't have the luxury of time that a younger athlete may have at their disposal.
So take some time and look at your respective sport, it's movement patterns and energy system demands and then ask yourself if your training program is addressing those issues.
Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Self Myofascial Release/soft tissue Work: Mandatory for Masters Athletes
I think everyone in the athletic community appreciates the value of massage as it relates to recovery and performance.
But the problem with massage, or any manual therapy, is 3 fold:
1. It's expensive: $45-100+ per hr.
2. Convenience or time issues: have to go to wherever to get the session done
3. Skill set of practitioner. As with any profession there are some good and some not so good practitioners and you could spend some time and waste some money on those who don't work for you.
So let's take a step back and see why soft tissue work, of any sort, is so valuable. Over time, and as we age, we accumulate micro-trauma to our tissue, both muscular and fascial. Our training creates microscopic tears in muscle tissue which if left unattended can turn into spasms and eventually trigger points. All of those impair optimal muscle function and contraction, create pain, inhibit recovery and hurt performance.
I think I've made it clear as to how much I believe in massage therapy and a good practitioner is worth their weight in gold IMO. But we can't always do massage therapy as much as we would like so we need to find alternative soft tissue work.
The solution is in Self Myofascial Release (SMR, from now on).
This involves the use of sticks, foam rollers, and small ball work to "iron out" those kinks and muscle spasms and try to preserve tissue quality and thus function. Essentially, you are using your body weight to allow the tool to "iron out" the knots and kinks that accumulate over time.
SMR should be a regular, consistent part of any Masters athlete's training regimen as important as mobility, strength, power or any other facet of athletic development. You will feel better and move better if you do it consistently as part of your training or at other convenient times of the day. And much like mobility work, a little will work wonders and you can even do it several times a day.
Your body will thank you for it.
Next week we will have a YouTube demo of some of the devices and also show a quick foam rolling regimen.
Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links
But the problem with massage, or any manual therapy, is 3 fold:
1. It's expensive: $45-100+ per hr.
2. Convenience or time issues: have to go to wherever to get the session done
3. Skill set of practitioner. As with any profession there are some good and some not so good practitioners and you could spend some time and waste some money on those who don't work for you.
So let's take a step back and see why soft tissue work, of any sort, is so valuable. Over time, and as we age, we accumulate micro-trauma to our tissue, both muscular and fascial. Our training creates microscopic tears in muscle tissue which if left unattended can turn into spasms and eventually trigger points. All of those impair optimal muscle function and contraction, create pain, inhibit recovery and hurt performance.
I think I've made it clear as to how much I believe in massage therapy and a good practitioner is worth their weight in gold IMO. But we can't always do massage therapy as much as we would like so we need to find alternative soft tissue work.
The solution is in Self Myofascial Release (SMR, from now on).
This involves the use of sticks, foam rollers, and small ball work to "iron out" those kinks and muscle spasms and try to preserve tissue quality and thus function. Essentially, you are using your body weight to allow the tool to "iron out" the knots and kinks that accumulate over time.
SMR should be a regular, consistent part of any Masters athlete's training regimen as important as mobility, strength, power or any other facet of athletic development. You will feel better and move better if you do it consistently as part of your training or at other convenient times of the day. And much like mobility work, a little will work wonders and you can even do it several times a day.
Your body will thank you for it.
Next week we will have a YouTube demo of some of the devices and also show a quick foam rolling regimen.
Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links
Saturday, July 2, 2011
College Football Coaches Decry Prep Sport Specialization
College Football Coaches Decry Prep Sport Specialization
More ammo for those of us who believe early sports specialization is not a good thing.
More ammo for those of us who believe early sports specialization is not a good thing.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Seth's Blog: "Why wasn't I informed?"
Seth's Blog: "Why wasn't I informed?"
It would seem this concept would be common sense but evidently not! Should be applied to all aspects of one's life.
It would seem this concept would be common sense but evidently not! Should be applied to all aspects of one's life.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Power: a Must Have in Any Program
We lose power at roughly twice the rate we lose strength yet it is amazing to watch how many Masters power athletes don't do any power training.
Now I am talking about intermittent, power based sports/athletes not endurance athletes like triathletes and marathoners. Thouh a strong case could be made that they need power training as well. Even in an endurance event there is still the element of speed which is based on power.
The key for a Masters athlete is how to intelligently and judiciously add power training to one's training program.
First, let's be clear on what power training is and isn't. Power can be simply defined as: speed x force/distance. In other words how quickly can you move or move something with force over a given distance. True power training is max effort, max speed training with full recovery between bouts to optimize recovery. Whether you are doing plyos, med ball work, or Olympic lifts you have to do the movement explosively and with optimal technique. Fatigue through inadequate recovery will compromise those factors. So Crossfit , for example, is very seldom true power training for this very reason.
You should not feel wiped out after power training but energized and ready to go. If you're wiped out you are confusing conditioning with power training which is a common mistake both coaches and athletes alike make far too frequently.
One of the beautiful things about power training is that it doesn't/shouldn't take a lot of time. 10 minutes twice weekly will get the job done for virtually anyone. Much more than that and you are risking injury and diminishing returns.
Power training should be done early in a training session after your dynamic warmup while your central nervous system is fresh and ready to go. Doing it at the end of the training
session compromises all that you are trying to achieve.
Now I am talking about intermittent, power based sports/athletes not endurance athletes like triathletes and marathoners. Thouh a strong case could be made that they need power training as well. Even in an endurance event there is still the element of speed which is based on power.
The key for a Masters athlete is how to intelligently and judiciously add power training to one's training program.
First, let's be clear on what power training is and isn't. Power can be simply defined as: speed x force/distance. In other words how quickly can you move or move something with force over a given distance. True power training is max effort, max speed training with full recovery between bouts to optimize recovery. Whether you are doing plyos, med ball work, or Olympic lifts you have to do the movement explosively and with optimal technique. Fatigue through inadequate recovery will compromise those factors. So Crossfit , for example, is very seldom true power training for this very reason.
You should not feel wiped out after power training but energized and ready to go. If you're wiped out you are confusing conditioning with power training which is a common mistake both coaches and athletes alike make far too frequently.
One of the beautiful things about power training is that it doesn't/shouldn't take a lot of time. 10 minutes twice weekly will get the job done for virtually anyone. Much more than that and you are risking injury and diminishing returns.
Power training should be done early in a training session after your dynamic warmup while your central nervous system is fresh and ready to go. Doing it at the end of the training
session compromises all that you are trying to achieve.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Spending "Break Time" Wisely
By a series of scheduling circumstances I happen to have a 2.5 week hiatus from baseball right now which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I will continue to go to the cages and hit off a tee to maintain my hitting form but what I do with the rest of the "break" will be key in maintaining performance and decreasing my chance of injury.
I have a few nagging nicks: several hit by pitch "reminders" as well as a mild ankle sprain to pay attention to and in 2.5 weeks those should be back to "normal."
But I am also going to work on some more SMR (self myofascial release) through foam rolling, stick work and small ball work to improve soft tissue quality and pliability. That is a continual struggle as we age as we tend to lose moisture from our tissues which impacts tissue pliability and elasticity.
I will also continue to work on my strength/power, movement work and conditioning. It is known that we lose power at twice the rate as we lose strength yet so few Masters athletes do little, if any, power work.
In my strength work I emphasize "big bang" exercises. Currently, I have front squats, deadlifts, inclines, chins, and KB swings amongst others, in my strength program.
My power work currently includes box jumps, long jumps, and med ball work. I also do sprint/agility work at least twice weekly even in-season.
I do mobility work daily as it is critical to maintaining at least some mobility/ROM esp. in my ankles, t-spine, and hips.
I am more convinced than ever that you either keep moving and pretty soon you won't be able to move. There is no magic pill that will replace movement and the human body is designed and meant to move.
I playing and observing both my teammates and other teams play baseball this summer and in the past 10+ years that I have been playing senior men's baseball it is apparent to me how limited one's game becomes when you can't move. Even in a game where many think movement is not important if you can't move in baseball you can't: steal a base, your fielding range is severely limited, you are easy to "double up", you can't get an infield hit, etc.
I hope to avoid that fate by being diligent in my training and maintaining my ability to move. So should you!
Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links.
I have a few nagging nicks: several hit by pitch "reminders" as well as a mild ankle sprain to pay attention to and in 2.5 weeks those should be back to "normal."
But I am also going to work on some more SMR (self myofascial release) through foam rolling, stick work and small ball work to improve soft tissue quality and pliability. That is a continual struggle as we age as we tend to lose moisture from our tissues which impacts tissue pliability and elasticity.
I will also continue to work on my strength/power, movement work and conditioning. It is known that we lose power at twice the rate as we lose strength yet so few Masters athletes do little, if any, power work.
In my strength work I emphasize "big bang" exercises. Currently, I have front squats, deadlifts, inclines, chins, and KB swings amongst others, in my strength program.
My power work currently includes box jumps, long jumps, and med ball work. I also do sprint/agility work at least twice weekly even in-season.
I do mobility work daily as it is critical to maintaining at least some mobility/ROM esp. in my ankles, t-spine, and hips.
I am more convinced than ever that you either keep moving and pretty soon you won't be able to move. There is no magic pill that will replace movement and the human body is designed and meant to move.
I playing and observing both my teammates and other teams play baseball this summer and in the past 10+ years that I have been playing senior men's baseball it is apparent to me how limited one's game becomes when you can't move. Even in a game where many think movement is not important if you can't move in baseball you can't: steal a base, your fielding range is severely limited, you are easy to "double up", you can't get an infield hit, etc.
I hope to avoid that fate by being diligent in my training and maintaining my ability to move. So should you!
Train hard and train smart!
http://fitnesstogether.com/media for our website and all of our links.
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