I‘m responsible for more than a dozen teams at Notre Dame High School. A lot of universities would be jealous with the facility we have, but no matter how large the space or fancy the equipment, the biggest constraint in session design is time. We typically get a group of 30+ athletes for just 45 minutes. The biggest question for us is: how can we accomplish the most in this time? It all comes down to organization.
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Why do we persist in prescribing exercises that isolate individual muscles? Instead, we should be focusing on the coordination of movements and muscle synergies that involve those muscles.
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Following a strength training template is easy. Taking it, making it your own, and adapting it to your program is the hard part. It’s an art, and one that Nick Garcia has mastered. On this week’s podcast he joins us to talk about a case study of how he took and integrated elements of the 1×20 methods to meet the needs of one sport. We also talk about post-lockdown training considerations and returning to competition.
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In strength and conditioning we often have a “more is better” concept. A minimalist approach, on the other hand, has many advantages and can help make sure we are efficient with training time. Rather than doing more, we can also try to get more out of the work we’re doing.
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Summer is in full swing and we’ve got a lot of different ideas on our mind: why social media turns us into absolutists, how every tool has a place, what we are doing to continue adapting training to COVID-19, and how to make the best brisket. We cover them all on this week’s episode, with a few rants mixed in as well. Read more
Last week I wrote about programming in the time of coronavirus, with a focus on athletes that had access to at least limited equipment. This week on Instagram I have been posting videos of the general strength circuits I have given athletes that have no training equipment. The objective of each circuit is to cover the lower body, upper body, core, as well as all three planes of movement (sagittal, frontal, and transverse). I learned these from my college coach Glenn McAtee and find them just as useful nearly two decades later. Read more
What is one simple, cheap and versatile fitness tool every athlete should have? Lets start with Mini-Bands. Mini-Bands for those who don’t know can be found typically in yellow, green, blue and black colors. The colors are related to their resistance. Yellow is the lightest resistance and black is the heaviest resistance. I believe every athlete you should have a set of green and blue bands as those seem to be the colors that seem most versatile for exercises. A yellow band might be good for learning some of the more challenging exercises. Read more
Whether you are building or rebuilding an athlete, you have to start from the ground up. Begin with what they can do and build upon it until you get them doing the things fundamental for their sport. Matt Siniscalchi has worked at all levels of the sport, from youth football academy players, to his current role helping world champions back from injury. The challenges are always changing, but the philosophy remains the same. On this week’s podcast Siniscalchi joins us to discuss this philosophy, and dive in detail into progressions and strength training for athletes recovering from injury. Read more
Every year I become more and more convinced of the effectiveness of the Gambetta Leg Circuits. A simple combination of four exercises ticks so many boxes for me in training: it is efficient, improves coordination, and develops strength all at the same time. For those familiar or unfamiliar with leg circuits, I hope this article explain a bit about how they work and some new variations that can make them an even better tool for training. Read more
No matter the sport, no matter the athlete, everyone needs to begin with a foundation. Read more
