I was recently golfing with a fellow strength and conditioning coach and had a fun little statement about what is going on with my swing. Normally, I am long with my irons. This isn’t to toot my own horn, it’s simply because I swing out of my shoes and throw a little extra bicep curl into the swing. Here’s the problem: I was falling way too short. I was making great contact with the ball and everything looked the way it was supposed to (to my own standards), but I was way short.

I know that my infrequent visits to the golf course are part of the issue. However, I have also not worked on any piece of the spectrum of lifting except strength for the last few months. A little bit of bench, some accessory work, maybe sit on a bike and think about cardio for a few minutes, call it a day.

In the world of strength and conditioning, personal training, physical therapy, etc. there are some potential short-comings. With PT, the general consensus is to get them long, get them strong, then get them fast. That’s great, but you can’t really do that with your athletes efficiently. Especially if you’re only going to see that athlete for 12-36 weeks.

If you want to be the biggest dude to walk the planet and still not be able to pick up a spare tire for your car, go get your pump on. If you want to move a house, go lift the heaviest things you can. But, if you want to be fast and explosive, you better train that too.

Traditionally with strength and conditioning and personal training, you would train absolute strength to develop a base to build off. True. But most people coming in off the street have some strength. Quite the assumption I know. Most athletes, believe it or not, can already jump or run. The idea is to make them jump higher or run faster. Program plyometrics, speed-strength, strength-speed, and power (not all in the same day perhaps) as well as your strength. This way you’re a little more efficient with your programming.

You can allegedly hold 98 per cent of your strength for a month of not training it. But, those numbers drop much more significantly with power where you can hold roughly 98% for about a week before you see large drops.

Don’t throw the kitchen sink at your athletes. Still program intelligently. But make sure to train some expression of power even if that isn’t your emphasis. This will allow you to not swing a golf club like a nana.

Some of the speed-strength/power exercises that I like to use with my programming include: olympic lifts, kettlebell swings, kettlebell snatches, loaded jumps, loaded bounds

You can also place an emphasis on speed with the tempo of the lifts that you are comfortable teaching or that you’re already using. This would simply require that athlete to explode through the concentric portion of the lift. I like to remember the “do no harm” phrase here.

I would love to hear what other coaches are using out there. Please share if you have a different philosophy.

Today I have a guest post from a good friend of mine, Nick Esposito. Nick is a strength and conditioning coach in Waltham, MA at Champion PT and Performance. He also happens to be a pretty smart kid. Here is a link to the original article if you have a chance to check out some of his videos too!

How To Program Med Balls into Your Workouts

Med Ball Exercises are a great way for a rotational athlete, such as a baseball player, to develop power and strength from their lower body to their upper body.

You often hear about rotational power or kinetic linking…but how do we maximize that?

How does that relate to athletes, especially baseball and softball?

Movements often found in sports are considered ballistic.

What is Ballistic Movement?

“Movements that are performed with maximal velocity and acceleration can be considered ballistic actions. Ballistic actions are characterized by high firing rates, brief contraction times, and high rates of force development.” -Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.

SO, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF MED BALLS?

Improved coordination in movements demanding high rate of force development in all planes of motion (rotational power)
Improved ability to control and decelerate rotational forces
Improved kinetic linking through which helps the ability to generate and transfer force through the body.
There is also injury prevention qualities as well. Controlling rotation and deceleration.

After seeing some of those benefits, you can see why Med Balls are commonly seen in sports performance programs.

SETS & REPS

When done right, med balls can be a very demanding on the body, and the central nervous system. We program all med ball work to be done BEFORE any lifting for that day.

We will pick 2-3 med ball drills per workout day that will benefit the athlete the most.

Taking that into consideration, here is a how we commonly program for our athletes:

2 Days a Week Strength Program:

3-4 sets of 5-8 reps

3 Days a Week Strength Program

3 sets of 5-8 reps

4 Days a Week Strength Program

2-3 sets of 5-8 reps

TOP 5 CONSIDERATIONS FOR MED BALLS

STANCE

There are several positions you can begin your med ball exercises in. Typically, I work from the ground up with new athletes. This gives less room for error with form, and a progression to reach in the short and long term goals.

Tall Kneeling (TK)
1/2 Kneeling
Iso-Hold Stance
Split Stance
Athletic Stance
Single Leg

DIRECTION & BALL PATH

Where is the athlete and med balls intended path. Taking the stances from above, now add in the follow 3 items:

What direction the athlete is facing…are the facing the wall, or facing sideways, etc.
Where the ball is starting from. Is the ball starting above their head, at their side, at their hips, etc
Where the Ball is Going. What is the intended target or direction you want to slam/throw the ball?

INITIATION

There are typically 3 initiation methods for med ball exercises:

1. Non- Counter Movement

This will be your traditional slam method. Accelerate at the wall, floor or target from a specific starting point.
2. Counter Movement

This will be a movement initiated by a partner or a coil motion. The ball is moving in a against you so that you must stop, load, and then unload in your intended direction.
3. Continuous

This will be a rapid movement…quick and precise. You will commonly see a plyo based or rubber bouncy ball for continuous med ball exercises.

MED BALL TYPES

There are several types of med balls out there. Some have handles, some are large, and some are small. Here are the common types we use with our athletes:

Jam Balls – These balls won’t have much bounce. They are very dense, and can be on the heavier side.
Plyo Balls – These are commonly smaller, and offer a bouncing recoil when you slam it. These are great for continuous and rapid med ball type exercises, and even single leg stance exercises.
Soft Toss Med Ball – Commonly seen in gyms as Dynamax or PB Extreme Balls, these are great for slamming, tossing, and offer many uses.

INTENT

This may be the most important one. For athletes, one of the common goals is becoming faster, and quicker, something med balls are great for. However, many can check their ego at the door and grab the heaviest possible ball to throw or slam…VERY SLOWLY!

If the med ball is going slow, are you truly gaining the benefits of ballistics and what med balls have been proven to help develop…probably not.

You have to put full effort and intent into each throw. Med Ball exercises are truly a “You get what you put into it” exercise.

FIND MORE ABOUT NICK

For more articles like this refer to the link above. There you can check out some pretty cool videos, articles, maybe even grab some swag.

Month: September 2018

Fitting the Puzzle Piece Together