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Frequently Asked Questions: There is a ton of information out there on training for sports. Some of it is very useful and some of it is not. Each month I would like to take one question that I hear frequently from the athletes and/or parents and provide an answer based on experience, research, and practice. There are many ways to train for athletics and if there was a superior method then everybody would be using it. But that is just not the case. - Coach Haubrick Current Month's Question : March 2010 "Will gaining weight slow me down?" There is a common misconception that gaining weight will slow you down. The myth should state that gaining fat will slow you down. Speed is largely determined by one’s relative body strength. Relative strength is your strength level relative to your body mass. There are three ways to improve relative strength ratios. One could get stronger while maintaining the current bodyweight. Another way would be to drop body mass while maintaining strength. Finally, an athlete could gain strength and drop body mass. Depending on your current situation any one of these scenarios might work. It is possible weight might have to be gained in order to increase one’s strength. This gain in lean muscle mass will not work against your speed but may improve your relative strength ratio. If it were advantageous for sprinters to be skinny then the elite track sprinters would all look like marathon runners. This is obviously not the case. The elite sprinters all have considerable muscle with very little body fat. Sprinting is a bodyweight exercise, although forces at ground contact far exceed that of your bodyweight which gives the need to add external resistance other than just your bodyweight while training. Sprinting is a combination of stride length and stride frequency. The stride length is arguably the easier of the two to improve. The stride length is largely determined by flexibility and ground force development on contact. The ground forces enable the body to be pushed (not pulled!) forward. The stronger you are relative to your body mass the more force you can apply to the ground. Two great tests of relative body strength are the vertical jump and the pull up. Both tests rely on the athlete to propel their body mass. Both tests can also serve as good predictors of speed. Given two athletes who are equal, often the one with the higher vertical and better relative strength will be the faster of the two. _______________ February 2010 "How much variation?" Most articles you find in "strength" magazines will all insist that variation of the workouts is key. They all point to some sort of periodization to improve strength levels. This is all true for advanced athletes but when dealing with youth or novice trainees this isn't always the case. With beginners or very young athletes too much variation from workout to workout will actually slow down the time it takes to reach the desired adaptation for a particular movement. At first, most strength gains come from the neural response to the movement and the body "learning" how to do it. Since the weights for beginners are so low, these movements can be repeated almost every workout for a few months. This will allow faster adaptation as the body will quickly learn the movement through quality repetitions. There are elite powerlifters that may only deadlift once every two weeks or even a month because their body knows how to do the movement and now the muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments are all working together. This is very taxing on their body and a long rest period is usually needed before attempting it again. However the novice has not learned how to use all available resources to lift that weight yet, so the longer rest periods are not needed, but more repetition of the movement is required. The planning of workouts will be day to day for novice trainees. As their level of adaptation rises then the planning becomes weekly. As time goes on and the more advanced the athlete, the longer the planning period. Professional athletes are usually on a yearly plan, while some Olympic athletes are on a four year training cycle. _____________ January 2010 "Why are warm - ups important?" Last February I covered why it is necessary to warm up before any training session. This month I'm going to talk about the importance of properly performing warm ups. Too many times coaches let the players run their own warm up or believe that is a time to just set things up for practice. In fact warm ups should be an integral part of practice where the coaches are coaching right from the start. This not only sets the tone early but also gets the players in the right frame of mind for the ensuing practice. The major problem with an athlete not taking the warm up seriously is that they are completing reps that are less than perfect, thus practicing bad habits. A lot of warm ups include some type of form running. By name, form running includes "form". Take for instance the ever popular high knees. If an athlete never brings their thigh to parallel during the movement and they take sixty strides each day, that's three hundred reps per five day week of incorrect form. That thigh will never touch parallel when they actually sprint because it is not practiced. Even the warm up sets for strength training exercises must be performed with the intent for perfect technique. Our athletes always start the bench press with the 45 lb bar regardless of what they bench. During this set they must, set the back, dig the feet in, squeeze the bar, big breath, and perform the reps as if they had 80% of their 1RM max on. These sets are "priming" the body for the work it is about to do. Both players and coaches should be diligent about warm ups and their form. ______ September "Why is In-Season training important?" Too many athletes train very hard in the off-season only to see those gains go to waste during the in-season. An all too common myth among many high school and younger coaches is that in-season training will negatively impact the athlete's performance. If done correctly, in-season training should improve an athlete's performance. Why be really strong and really fast only at the beginning of the season and then at the end where it really matters, lose most of it? Within seven days of not training, a detraining effect will begin. At times this is planned into the yearly cycle but if the training is not picked up for months then your gains will be lost and performance may suffer. The volume, intensity, and duration of the workouts all need to be situated to fit into an overall plan with the sport coach. Practice time and intensity, game schedule, and lifting schedules must be coordinated correctly to insure maximum performance improvements. Training age of the athlete is also very important to consider. An athlete who has never lifted (as can be common in high schools) may have a temporary drop in performance because of soreness after a "new" training is added. Likewise, someone who is highly trained, may decrease in performance if all lifting is stopped. So the training also needs to be very individualized to provide for the needs of all of the team members.
____________ (August) "Why use bodyweight exercises?" Many people believe that common movements such as push ups and pull ups can be mimicked using weight lifting equipment. For push ups some will use the bench press and pull ups they may use the lat pull down machine. Until one has actually spent considerable time doing both, the differences are not so clear. When looked at from a mechanical standpoint and experience the differences are obvious. Let's look at the push up. One reason athletes do not like push ups is that they do not know how much "weight they can do" like in a bench press. The second reason is because it takes stability and core strength. The two are fundamentally different in that the push up is a closed chain exercise, while the bench press is an open chain. A closed chain exercise is one where the joint through which the force is applied remains stationary. (ie. the wrist in a push up). An open chain exercise allows free movement of the working joint(s).(ie. the wrist in the bench press). Although both exercises play an important role in an athletes regime, believing that the bench press is a better alternative for push ups is incorrect reasoning. I've seen athletes that are very strong in the bench press and cannot do twenty good form push ups. Even holding the perfect push up position is difficult for many athletes because of the lack of core strength. Some of the basic movements like push ups and pull ups that you learned in grade school are still a must have in any athletic training plan. ____________ (July) "Why train for maximal strength?" First, let me define maximal strength, sometimes referred to as absolute strength. Maximal strength is the maximum amount of force a group of muscles can lift or hold iso-metrically. Often this is a slow moving lift because of the high resistance. That is why this is only one component to your sport training. Starting strength, acceleration strength, speed-strength, strength-speed, relative strength and explosive strength are just a few of major objectives that should be trained along with maximal strength. The decision of which to apply the most requires a knowledge of the sport to which you are training. Maximal strength training at or around 90%+ of your one - rep maximum (the amount you can lift one time) activates the largest motor units available. Training with light weights will not activate these processes. The body will do what it has to do to lift the load applied to it. One point that has been argued, but is valid especially among medium to lower level athletes, an athlete with a higher absolute strength will be able to complete more reps of a given weight than an athlete whose absolute strength is lower. For instance, athlete A benches 300 lbs and athlete B benches 250. Which one will be able to rep 225 lbs the most? The athlete who benches 300. This type of training is only for experienced lifters. Young athletes should never be training at or above 90% of their 1 RM. The rates of adaptations are different for the muscles, tendons and ligaments. The muscles may be ready for more weight while the ligaments are not and injuries will result. A solid base of general physical preparation exercises as well as a decent level of muscular hypertrophy training will enable safe and longer lasting gains with maximal strength training.
_______________ (June) "How do I become more agile?" Agility is a skill almost every sport program recognizes, but often trains improperly. Often the word speed applies to straight line running (40yd, 100m) and quickness refers to side to side movements associated with agilities. Change of direction is more applicable to most sports than straight speed. Usually, the athletes that look fast on the field are not the fastest in a straight line, but can start, stop, and change directions better than anyone on the field or court. Agility, like speed, can be trained. Setting up four cones and running around them for 10 minutes straight is not agility! Agilities should be trained at the beginning of the workout and before weight training to get true, full speed results. Full recovery between reps is also suggested. They can be used as conditioners at the end of a workout but speed will be slower, form will be compromised, and bad habits may result. Change of direction drills can be set up for left to right, forward and backward as well as diagonally. Mechanics on the starts and stops must be perfect with limited wasted movement. Beginners should perform "closed" drills where they know exactly where to go. After technique improves the athlete should start "open" drills where they are given a visual, or auditory cue of where to go. In sports, the athletes perform agilities by reacting to some stimulus, so the training methods should be similar to ensure maximum carry over to the game.
_____________ (May) "Does running long distance help build a conditioning base?" It is still a common belief and practice to run long distance for "conditioning". Even in sports that require more anaerobic (short, fast burst) type of movements. For a novice athlete, any workouts will improve their fitness levels including long distance running (2-5 miles). Although fitness levels will see some improvement, it still may not be the best way to train for sports requiring explosive and fast movements. Long distance running requires slow speeds with very little range of motion with the hamstrings and hip flexors. Over time this repetition coupled with little stretching can reduce the stride length by tightening those muscles. One way to run and still maintain good stride lengths along with improving conditioning is with interval training or Fartlek runs. These combine a fast run for a short period followed by a walk or slow jog until rested for another burst. Hill running, medicine ball circuits and sled pulling can all be used to improve cardiovascular conditioning. A key point to remember is that running distance will not improve your short sprints but short sprints will improve your distance time. Your workouts for conditioning should be specific to the sport that you are training for in terms of intensity, duration and mechanics. Adhering to those principles will make a better carryover to the game and thus increase your playing performance.
______________ (April) "At what age can a child safely lift weights?" A lot of parents will ask me this question. Often the high school athletes will have little brothers or sisters that would like to start training. The "old school" thought was that training with weights would stunt growth, injure growth plates, and make the kids "tight". Despite all of the research to the contrary, this perception still exists. In the interview with Coach Hoy (on this site) he mentions a child working on a farm picking up bags of feed. Gradually as the child grows stronger he lifts up heavier bags of feed. This is a simplified version of the gradual resistance model that any beginner should adhere to. These young (8-12 year old) athletes should not be attempting maximal weights in exercises. They should also not be attempting exercises without the proper supervision from a coach who understands the intricate details of the movement. One flaw in the movement pattern could create imperfect technique that will be very hard to break, or worse yet, lead to an injury. Improper youth training is dangerous and can lead to injuries, but a properly designed program can lead to productive and healthy adolescents. One of the common beliefs about resistance training is that the resistance is from barbells and dumbbells. Resistance can be bodyweight, medicine balls, partner resistance, bands, water or just about anything that can be thrown, pushed or pulled. A well designed program will have a variety of movement patterns, mixed with work capacity development, proper warm up methods and various bodyweight exercises. These skills will help create the solid foundation for the increase in work and sport skills these athletes will face in the high school years.
____________ (March) "When should an athlete start sport-specific training?" Sport specific training can mean many methods depending on who you ask. For the purpose of the question we will assume it means training in the weight room. Most all high school athletes here in the U.S. already do sport specific training with "open gyms" and off-season clubs. This is very specific training because they are actually playing their sport and often scrimmaging during those sessions. With this high volume of sport training, the need for time in the weight room becomes even more important. The constant repetition of the same sport movements creates muscle imbalances, fatigue, and often nagging injuries. A well developed strength & conditioning program should complement the sport training to create balance, strength, coordination, mobility and flexibility necessary to improve their sport form. For beginning athletes, any training is sport-specific because there will be a large carryover between the general exercises and their sports performance. As the athlete increases their level of preparation, the general exercises will not provide the same improvements in their sport. The exercises will become more specific in terms of muscles used, intensity, speed and duration so that they closely mimic the sport skill that is trying to be enhanced.
_____________ (February) "Is it necessary to warm-up?" Response: Warm-ups are an integral part to any well designed training program. In our program it is one that cannot be skipped. If there is not enough time to warm-up then there is not enough time to train. Warm -ups have been shown to decrease injury and improve performance in sports. There are two main types of warm-ups, the general and specific. The general warm-up is typically any activity to raise the core body temperature and transition the body from a resting state to an active one. After the general warm-up, more movements that are specific to the task that day will be performed. This might be anything from running drills to light sets with the bar before lifting heavy depending upon the workout for that day. The warm-up is similar to warming up an engine. It is very hard on vehicles to take short trips all the time, but a well warmed up engine has fewer problems and is more efficient. The fluids are more evenly spread throughout the engine creating less wear on the parts. The warm-up for the body is similar. Blood begins to flow into the working muscles, creating better oxygen exchange at the cellular level. Like a car, it is possible to lift many times without a warm-up and not experience any adverse effects, but over time the negative effects can add up into an injury. The warm-up method we use is dynamic. It has been shown through research and experience to be superior to other methods. The warm-up can be used to work on sport movements, weak areas and a primer for the central nervous system. Just like priming an engine, the body needs prepared for the more intense work that is about to follow.
____________ (January) "Why can't I just use this program from this professional athlete?"
Response: Instead of pro athlete you could also substitute any college program. If it works for them and they play really well, it will work for me, right? WRONG! This would be comparable to giving a third grader calculus problems because that's what the "smart" kids in the high school are doing! First of all I'd like to say there are very few bad programs, but many are applied in the wrong way. Any program will work - for a while! There are no magic programs. But there are principles that applied the right way, in the right situation, that will produce the results that are desired. The systematic implementation of different training means have to be applied correctly given the athlete's level of preparation, time of year, and desired goals. The athlete's level of preparation is the big key that separates high school athletes from the professionals. As an athlete's level of preparation increases so does their need for more advanced programming and sport specific means. On the contrary, beginners can benefit greatly from general exercises with little variation to their programs because their level of adaptation is very low. There are some high school athletes who reach a high level by their senior year and do benefit from a more advanced program. The duration, volume, and intensity of the workouts for an advanced athlete are not suited for an athlete of low preparation. The novice athlete may experience overtraining, loss of interest, or no results from an advanced program. For an athlete to reach the higher levels proper implementation of the basics along with a strong desire to succeed will pave the way for a bright future.
______________________ (December) "How can I gain weight?"
Response: This question arises many times while working with younger athletes. This response is purely from my experience and education, but I am not a dietician or nutritionist. For more of a detailed nutritional plan contact a local nutritionist. I am going to assume while answering the question that the athlete is also participating in regular strength training and/or a sport. My response is simply "consume more calories than you burn". This is an oversimplification but it is true. There are three questions that our athletes are reminded of daily: 1. Did I eat breakfast? 2. Am I hydrated? 3. Did I sleep at least 8 hours? The first two are very important in weight gain. If the athlete does not currently eat breakfast, they should start out small and then gradually keep adding. Staying hydrated is also very important for all athletes whether trying to gain weight or lose it. Sleeping enough can also give the body adequate rest and recovery which can stimulate growth while participating in regular strength training. The most important thing is to eat right! It is not complicated. Determining good foods from bad foods is not hard. It takes discipline and a desire to want to do it!
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(November) "How do I get faster?" Response: I hear this from almost every athlete I've ever trained. That is good because they realize that almost every sport that one can participate in, speed is a critical component. Whether you are leading a fast break, running for a TD or swinging a golf club, being fast has advantages. I will not get into, in this month, the different types of speed, but instead give a general response assuming the athlete is talking about linear speed. To be even more specific, I will only discuss top speed or maximum speed. Dropping a minute in your mile time may be "faster" but it does not have anything to do with your top speed. Speed is a function of stride length, stride frequency, and ground force development. Any high school athlete can become faster than what they are right now. A common myth abounds that you cannot coach speed. This could not be further from the truth. Speed can be improved!! Speed is a skill like any other sport skill. Unfortunately, it is usually the least practiced. The myth comes from the fact that much of your speed is dependent upon your percentage of type II fast twitch muscle fibers. It is true that one could not train themselves into an Olympic sprinter without first having the genetic make-up of an Olympic sprinter. Enough about genetics, let's talk about improving speed. From my experience, the first thing most 14-17 year olds need to do to improve speed is to get stronger. Technique at this age is important and should be learned correctly, but the biggest improvements will come with added strength. Specifically, I am talking about improving relative body strength. There is a reason the top sprinters in the World are very lean with very low body fat percentages. Sprinters are also very large (in muscle) in comparison to the distance runners. Some athletes may have to gain lean muscle mass to become faster while others may have to lose excess body fat. For strength training, nothing can replace the basics. Any beginner must master the basics. Bodyweight exercises are a must along with the basic weight training squats, deadlifts, bench, lunges, rows, etc.. Once sufficient mobility, stability and strength is attained the incorporation of plyometrics can also be introduced to help bridge the gap between the strength and speed. There are so many programs that could be utilized but the key underlining principle is to be explosive, you must train explosively, if you train slow you will be slow! Conditioning programs for beginners must improve the General Physical Preparation (GPP) of the athlete. Increasing the athlete's work capacity will allow better and more efficient use of the body's systems to increase top speed. One must remember that running is not running is not running! Running three miles to get faster is a myth but unfortunately one that I see all the time. You are basically training the body to run slow. If you want to run fast then run fast! This involves much shorter distances with long rest intervals. Finally, I believe that for one to become faster it must start with the brain. Think, act, and behave as if you were fast. Do things fast! This is as simple as going full speed in full speed drills at practice. Sprint from station to station at practices. Eventually, your thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes become habit and your speed at practice will carry over and you will have another gear at game time! ______________________________________________________
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Revised: 02/28/2010 07:17 PM -0500 URL: http://www2.mcsdk12.org/lahs/strength_cond
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