DVD Review - Bicycle Dreams
By Scott Dunlap | February 9, 2010
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Swimmers Need Strength and Power
By Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT, Former NCAA Div. I Athlete | February 8, 2010
Physiologist Dave Costill says:
“Most competitive swimming events last less than two minutes. How can training for three to four hours a day at speeds that are markedly slower than competitive pace prepare the swimmer for the maximal efforts of competition?”
To optimize strength and power, swimmers need to follow an exercise program out of the water that closely mimics their actions in the water. In other words, swimmers need to go workout in the gym too!
Research has proven that there is no speed advantage gained by swimmers continuing to do high-volume swim training (long practice sessions).
Swim coaches continue to do high-volume, low-intensity training no matter what research has proven.
The disadvantages of high-volume swim training are:
1. Depletion of glycogen muscle stores which hampers performance.
2. Fatigue and depletion of fast-twitch muscle fibers which reduces force production.
Sport-specific strength training should be combined with high speed swim training to improve swimming times. Here are some strength exercises for swimmers:
Arm pull down exercises:
Cable rotational front and back pulls: boosts forward propulsion by training the internal rotator cuff muscles by replicating the arm ‘pull down’ through the water.
Rear pulls: promotes balanced strength around the shoulder joint by training the external muscles. This technique avoids shoulder injuries and helps train your core stability skills.
Medicine ball single arm overhead throw: develops the power of the latissimus and pectoral muscles to improve the rate of force production in the shoulder by accelerating the arm hard. The focus is on producing the power from the shoulder and pulling across the body as you do in the crawl.
Swiss ball body pulls: helps to develop core and shoulder strength. A closed kinetic chain movement where the moving limbs remain in contact with a fixed object, it is regarded as functional for sports performance. Uses the stomach muscles to support the spine, using a strong pull of the shoulder muscles to raise your body back to the parallel position.
Leg kick exercises
Hip extension and flexion kick: each leg is worked independently to increase the specificity for swimming. Mimics the upward and downward phases of the swimmers kick action, where the glutes and hamstrings extend and the hip flexors flex the leg at the hip.
Dive start and push-off turn: The dive start and push off turn involves dynamic ankle, knee and hip extension.
Squat jumps (pictured above): improves vertical jump performance by involving dynamic extension of the ankle, knee and hip joints and trains the calf, quadriceps and gluteal muscles. Helps you generate peak power by adding weight to the squat, so when you perform the jump squat with body weight only, the jump will be very fast and high.
Swimmers can also benefit from using sprinting exercises on the running track. A more diversified swim training program will improve swimmers' competition times.
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Long Run Revelations, Part I - There Is No Such Thing as Work/Life Balance
By Scott Dunlap | February 6, 2010
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Good Morning Exercise For Strength Or Flexibility
By Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT, Former NCAA Div. I Athlete | February 4, 2010
The hamstrings are often a nagging problem area for athletes. Prevention of hamstring injuries is best.
1. Start by placing a bar or stick handle across your shoulders.
2. Standing on one leg, bend forward keeping your back flat and your leg on the ground straight. This should be a controlled, smooth movement (no bouncing).
3. Maintaining your balance, return to the starting position and repeat for the desired repetitions.
4. Repeat with the other leg.
You can strengthen your hamstrings with this exercise by increasing the weight on the bar.
Try this stretch/strength exercise the next time you workout!
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Play The Game Faster
By Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT, Former NCAA Div. I Athlete | February 3, 2010
Mr. Rice played the football game fast. Why? He practiced fast. During practice, he was legendary for running full speed after a catch all the way to the end zone (even if it was 80 yards). Some players play the game slow even if they are fast.
Besides having good practice habits, here are some other things you can do to play the game at a faster pace:
Because you will rarely reach maximum speed during the game, playing speed is critical. No matter what sport you play, there are only 5 ways to improve playing speed:
1.Starting ability is critical. You can improve starting ability by practicing starts from 3-point, 4-point, standing and moving positions. At this point, it is important to accelerate to maximum speed (or as close as possible).
2. Increase your stride length. One good way to improve stride length is to effectively pump your arms as fast as possible. Leg strength and power also improve stride length.
3. Improve your stride rate (the number of steps you take per second). Leg strength and power improve stride rate. There is one running technique that is often overlooked. One way to run faster is to apply more force to the ground with your feet. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The more force you apply to the ground, the more the ground will "give you power." When you run, don't lift your knee past your "thigh being parallel" to the ground. This way, you will use your "power center" (glutes and hamstrings) to apply force to the ground instead of the less powerful hip flexors. In other words, running "with high knees" is not the best way to run. Also, step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground to create maximum force.
4. Improve your speed endurance. Speed endurance will not make you faster but it will keep you from slowing down when you are fatigued after repeated sprints.
5. Improve your running mechanics. You should practice running mechanics every day.
Your goal should be to play the game faster than your opponent!
Get your copy of my eBook "Sports Fitness Hut's Speed Training for Athletes" to see a full discussion on speed training!
"Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!"
Check out my other great blogs:
Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!
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Track And Field Jumps vs. Ballplayers Jumps
By Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT, Former NCAA Div. I Athlete | February 2, 2010
Track and field athletes use heel-to-toe push-offs when doing the long jump, triple jump and high jump. Ballplayers in sports like basketball, football, baseball, etc. jump using the balls of their feet.
Track and field athletes jump after taking a prerun. Ballplayers jump in reaction to unexpected situations or they must jump quickly from a standstill position.
So, your plyometric program should include exercises that closely mimic movements in your sport (sport specific exercise or transfer-of-training effect). It makes no sense for a track and field athlete to practice squat jumps or standing long jumps. Ballplayers do these exercises all the time.
Plyometric exercises should also progress from simple to complex. For instance, you would practice simple bounding exercises before progressing to depth jumps.
Practice exercises that prepare you for your sport!
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Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!
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Muscular Balance Improves Sports Performance
By Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT, Former NCAA Div. I Athlete | February 1, 2010
As it is with most clients---one side of the body is usually stronger than the other. If you are right-handed, your right side is probably stronger than your left side. Two other problems I have seen in other clients: One side of the body doesn't align with the other side and one hip is looser than the other. Proper training can help correct these type problems.
It is important for your body to be in muscular balance to prevent injuries and to help you perform better. For example, the frontside of your body should not be significantly stronger than your backside. And, your quadriceps should not be significantly stronger than your hamstrings.
Four effective ways to keep your body balanced are:
1. Full body strength, power and speed training,
2. One-legged and One-armed strength, power and speed training exercises,
3. Doing exercises in all 3 planes of motion and
4. Keeping all areas of the body flexible.
Training with bodyweight and dumbbell exercises force each side of your body to do its share of the work. And, you see right away if one side of your body is weaker than the other. Some of the best exercises for this are:
--Step ups
--Lunges
--Single leg squats, deadlifts and good mornings
--Single leg/arm cable exercises
--Pushups
--Two-armed and one-armed dumbbell presses and rows
--Single leg arm and leg curls
--Medicine ball exercises working all sides of the body
Train hard and smart!
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"Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!"
Check out my other great blogs:
Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!
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So lactic acid is good now?
By Scott Dunlap | January 31, 2010
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Long Run Revelations, Part I - There Is No Such Thing as Work/Life Balance
By Scott Dunlap | January 31, 2010
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Improve Agility During Pick-Up Games
By Mark Dilworth, BA, PES, CPT, Former NCAA Div. I Athlete | January 30, 2010
You can work on your agility and speed during any pick-up game. You don't have to wait until your formal team practice to get better. Matter of fact, I learned much about how to compete by playing pick-up games with older guys. You either got better or embarrassed!
Improve your agility with these drills and then apply them during your movements in a pick-up game:
1. jump rope (one foot, two feet, slalom, Ali shuffle, backpedal)
2. speed ladder drills
3. cariocas, tapiocas, back pedals, shuffles, toe taps
4. hip turn and hip flexibility drills (like leg swings)
What are you doing to improve your agility and speed to become a better athlete? Let us know!
Get your FREE 2 week sports fitness training membership!
"Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!"
Check out my other great blogs:
Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!
My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!
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