Training plans are written with the intent to progress athletes to the top level of performance. Coaches take time to write out detailed programs of different exercises, reps, sets, rest intervals, and manipulate all different types of variables to elicit a training response we feel is beneficial for the athlete. We also look at each sport or event as a whole and break down every part to make sure we have hit every possible avenue we can control in training. Where some coaches or programs are lacking is an essential part of most if not all sports: eccentric specific training. Eccentrics are a type of muscle contraction, in which the muscle increases tension as it lengthens. This is in contrast to a concentric contraction where the muscle shortens while producing tension. Concentric training is often the focal point of most training programs. For proof, just look at the testing in a typical strength and conditioning program. They are almost always all tests of concentric contraction strength. I use all the same tests most coaches use, but just because the test is a concentric movement, we should not forget about the very important eccentric component that is also present. I like to use the back squat as an example of how under appreciated the eccentric component is. When we test athletes we focus so much on the ascent of the squat. However, if we focus solely on ascending, we have missed out on half the movement, the eccentric portion. Eccentric contractions are considerably stronger than concentric contractions (Higbie, Cureton, Warren, and Prior 2173-2181) so during the eccentric component of concentric movements we are not maximizing the training stimulus for eccentric contractions like we should. To get [...]

The New Year is here and it brings new beginnings, new thoughts, and hopes of an even better year. Along with these things also come so many New Year's resolutions. Everyone has something that they swear off or make the choice to begin, but how long does it last? Being a sport performance coach at Athletic Lab I see/hear the same resolutions. They are all along the lines of more consistent workouts, changing their diet, or just making a healthier lifestyle change. These all sound like great choices to me, I mean getting healthier and stronger could never be a bad thing. The problem isn't the choices we make as New Year's resolutions, it's how we commit and plan for the change. "Failing to plan is planning to fail". People assume that they can just jump into a huge lifestyle change and it isn't going to be that hard. Small steps need to be taken towards the overall goal. Often people envision the end of the journey and never think of the steps in between. If the ultimate goal is to lose 40 pounds, don't think of it as 40 pounds. The end goal in the beginning looks insurmountable as a whole. Plan on losing 2.5 pounds a week for 16 weeks, sound a little easier? Everyone makes the same mistake with their new year's resolution by jumping in full force when they may not be ready for such a drastic change. My opinion of a New Year's resolution is something that we can sustain throughout the New Year. This can only be done, if handled correctly. Here are some other tips to sustaining your 2013 New Year resolution: Make team resolutions- Get a workout [...]

When people come through the door of Athletic Lab for the first time we always give them a warning before training. We tell people to take it at their own pace and use rest days wisely between training sessions. This is because of the intensity of training and how long recovery can sometimes take. But what happens after this 'break in' period? Once a person has reached certain fitness level the body needs to be pushed to the next level. Think of it as stairs, when starting we are at the bottom stair. At each stair we train for a certain time with a certain stimulus. If nothing is ever changed then we stay put on the same stair. This is sometimes known as a plateau. To continue to see positive gains/results something needs to be changed in your training, either the intensity, frequency, or mode of exercise. The two ways I feel are the easiest and simplest to change at Athletic Lab are to increase intensity and frequency. Increasing intensity could be adding weight during the strength portion or strength class, working at a higher intensity of your aerobic capacity, or decreasing the rest between sets or reps during conditioning. Increasing frequency is simple, come to more classes. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Slentz, Duscha, and Johnson 31-39, 2004) states, ...a clear dose-response effect between amount of weekly exercise and decreases in measurements of central obesity and total body fat mass, reversing the observed effects in the control (non-exercising) group. The close relationship between central body fat and total fat and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension lends further importance to this finding. Basically, dose-response effect means more exercise produces greater [...]

Everyone has opinions or reasons why they train at the place they do, or do they? Many times the question why will get brought up about certain training centers but people have no answer. As a sports performance coach many people in my field claim to be "experts", so I have been conditioned to question everything first, research, and form my own conclusions. People should do the same with the people they chose to have train them. Athletic Lab is a place that is built from education, research, and the highest standards of training. The standards that we have set for ourselves manifests itself in our education, continued learning, and experience. These things make us the most qualified staff in the area. We know that training techniques and programs are being researched every day, so we take pride in continuing our education to make sure our athletes achieve the best possible results in the safest manner. The high standards are also seen in our facility. We want our athletes to get to the next level and to do that we make sure our facility is kept up date with the gold standard of equipment. You can see this in our top competition bumper plates for Olympic lifts to our indoor track for teaching running mechanics and proper speed work. We have everything any athlete needs to reach the next level and we're always improving the facility with new upfits and more equipment. Athletic Lab has the most experienced and qualified staff, the best equipment, and high standards but what makes Athletic Lab special is the people affiliated with it. We put our heart and soul into every program, every workout, and every single athlete's progression. [...]

Are you training harder than ever but getting slower and weaker? Maybe it's time you looked at a very important concept when it comes to training. This concept is overtraining and could potentially be a serious problem when it comes to performance and your adaptation to training. If you do not let the body adapt to the training stimulus, then the training is not aiding in performance but actually hindering it. Overtraining is caused by too great of a training load without enough recovery and can be influenced by other training and non-training stressors (Fry, Morton, and Keast 32-65).Overtraining can be achieved through unplanned training programs, insufficient rest between exercise, or too much of a training stimulus for a detrained individual. If you run a tight program and the training is in order, it is important to be aware of the non-training stressors that might also push you in to a state of overtraining: Stress Insufficient or poor quality sleep (varies between athletes) Poor diet Dehydration Knowing what overtraining is and how it happens can be very important to a coach, but it is even more important to know how to identify it. When overtraining occurs, the athlete most likely won't know it and they won't have a sign around their neck to display overtraining either. Understanding the signs of overtraining is vital: Ventilatory and cardiac efficiency Suppression of the immune system Indicators of muscle damage Depressed muscle glycogen reserves A depressed psychological profile Poor performance in sport specific tests (Fry, Morton, and Keast 32-65) As coaches we need to be aware of outside non-training stressors and also be aware of the signs of overtraining so we can step in and not let the silent [...]

Post activation potentiation (PAP) is the bodies potentiating response to a near maximal activity prior to a different movement. The effect is a higher rate of force output and this response can last from 2 to 12 minutes. Several mechanisms can cause this effect. The first reason is the amount of motor recruitment in fast twitch muscle fibers is greatly increased. The second reason is increased myosin light chain phosphorylation. This means that myosin has a higher rapid rate of binding to actin, which in turn means faster muscle contraction. Now, if you are a speed-power athlete then you could see how PAP can help. Faster muscle contraction for a 100 meter dash could be the difference between winning and losing. A higher amount of fast twitch muscle recruitment could mean a new personal record for the clean and jerk. So what can you do to take advantage of this phenomenon? There are multiple ways to achieve this, near maximal quarter squats prior to a power activity, resisted sprints before un-resisted sprints, or heavy dead lifts prior to Olympic lifting. The key is to make sure fatigue doesn't cause the performance to be hindered. A recovery period should be implemented prior to the competition lasting longer than 2-3 minutes but shorter than 12 minutes. PAP is also better used for athletes that are highly trained and can handle what is effectively a training stimulus prior to a competition. An untrained individual won't elicit the same response and may be too fatigued from the potentiating exercise to compete at a high level. PAP may be a mouthful and also a new technique for many, but is very beneficial for speed-power athletes. When it comes to elite [...]

The title has an intentionally sarcastic tone. The reason is that many 'experts' claim to make athletes faster. These same 'experts' like to pull out fancy gimmicks and gadgets to train people for speed. The funny thing is that every athlete was born with the greatest piece of equipment to get faster, themselves. The best way to get faster is to just like the title states, run faster. Many of the new techniques out today are sort of "gimmicks" to advertise to lure people in. Just have athletes sprint, sprint, and then sprint again. Sprint short. Sprint long. Sprint with resistance. Sprint up a hill. You get the point. Athletes being coached on correct running mechanics will become faster and more efficient runners. Athletes being coached on proper work to rest ratios will increase speed, because the athletes are not fatigued and are focusing on speed development. Other training can certainly contribute to faster times (strength training, plyometrics, etc.) but in the end if you want to run faster, run faster!

Many times you see athletes before they compete or maybe people before they are about to train and a lot of times you see a common theme, they are getting in some last second static stretching. If they have learned anything about current research on static stretching they would ultimately know that they are actually hurting themselves and most likely hindering their upcoming performance. Why is that? Well before getting into why this method of warming up could prevent the athlete from a stellar performance, static stretching needs to be defined. Static stretching is defined as a slow and constant stretch, with the end position held for 30 seconds (1). The amount of time a stretch is held can fluctuate between 10 to 30 seconds with very minimal movement, if any. Now that static stretching is defined, what is that makes this type of stretching harmful to an athlete's performance? This type of stretching being done as part of the warm up is wrong for two main reasons. First it is going against the grain for what a warm up should be doing and that is preparing the body ready for the physical demands of competing or training. A warm up should be dynamic in nature with sport specific movements that increase's the body's core temperature and the synovial fluid of the joints, hints the name "warm up". Secondly static stretching done before competing affects the elastic energy stored and also the stiffness of the tendons. The static energy capability is decreased due to the fact that the static stretching causes the stiffness to decrease, hindering the capability for the body to use the elastic energy stored. The final consequences of this is a lower [...]

There are so many structures that are attached at the hip joint but often times they are neglected when stretching. People often stretch other muscles that actually weren't used nearly as much as the different hip muscles. At the end of a workout, how many can actually say that they spend adequate time stretching their hips? Often people neglect the hips until they feel pain or some injury occurs. Now if anyone has had an injury to your hip whether it is the adductors, rotators, or the iliopsoas group knows that once it occurs they can be very slow in healing and one bad movement can set you back weeks. Why wait until an injury occurs? Instead be proactive in getting the hips loose and improve the range of motion so that an injury is less likely to occur. In a study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research about hip joint range of motion improvements using different interventions, they found that after 6 weeks of traditional hip stretching and also core endurance exercises the groups that started in the 30th percentile for hip mobility jump into the 75th percentile. The 30th percentile would be in the "limited" hip mobility category, with the 75th percentile putting the groups in the "average" to almost "excessive" hip mobility. This shows that it takes time a dedication the hip joint for longer than a week or stretching before an injury occurs. Tight hips or hip injuries are an issue and will continue to be a problem until a proper stretching protocol is done for tight hips. Athletic Lab frequently implements Olympic lifts, a squat variation, kettlebell swings, or all three in workouts every single day. If [...]