Athletic Performance Toolbox

Tendon Adaptations

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Chris Beardsley  graduated from Durham University with a Masters Degree in 2001. He since contributed to the fields of sports science and sports medicine by working alongside researchers from Team GB boxing, the School of Sport and Recreation at Auckland University of Technology, the Faculty of Sport at the University of Ljubljana, the Department of Sport at Staffordshire University, and the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University. He is also a Director at Strength and Conditioning Research Limited 

For more great information regarding strength and conditioning follow Chris on Twitter and Instagram

Tendons tend to get most attention when they are injured.

This is unfortunate, as tendon stiffness is likely a key factor that determines rate of force development (RFD), which is a key component of explosive strength.

In other words, it is not just physical therapists who need to know about tendons. Strength coaches will also benefit from giving tendons some thought!

In rehabilitation programs, eccentric loading is popular for producing tendon adaptations. However, contraction type is not actually very important for producing increases in tendon stiffness.

On the other hand, the load does have an effect.

Heavier loads produce greater changes.

Load is not the only factor that is important for producing tendon adaptations.

Indeed, plyometrics can involve quite large loads (especially if high boxes are used for drop jumps), and plyometrics are often used to promote “stiffness” and “energy storage” in athletes.

But while plyometrics are a great training method, they probably don’t achieve their beneficial effects by producing substantial increases in tendon stiffness.

Short duration, repeated loading types like plyometrics are not able to increase tendon stiffness by very much. On the other hand, heavy loads corresponding to around 3 seconds of time under tension are optimal.

Taking these studies together, it seems likely that conventional, heavy strength training is optimal for producing tendon adaptions, including increased tendon stiffness.

And as we saw recently, increased tendon stiffness will likely then enhance rate of force development.

On the other hand, lighter loads, ballistic strength training, and plyometrics are unlikely to achieve the same results, although they are probably essential for increasing maximum contraction velocities.

Summer Conditioning: Mid Summer Check-in

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This article was provided by Training and Conditioning

By Patrick McHenry

Patrick McHenry, CSCS*D, is the Director of Strength & Conditioning at Castle View (Colo.) High School. He has presented to sport coaches, strength coaches, and physical education teachers at state, national, and international conferences. He is the former Colorado state director for the NSCA, was the chairman for the NSCA High School Special Interest Group, and is currently on the NSCA Board of Directors and Coaching Performance Committee.

In the last article, we looked at building your summer strength and conditioning program. Now we are about halfway finished with the summer and it is time to assess where your athletes’ current training status is, where you want your athletes to be, how are you going to evaluate their current training status at the end of the summer, and where you want them to be before the season starts.

In this new meso-cycle four-week program, it should be designed to maximize power for volleyball, football, and those sports that require power; work on power / metabolic training for soccer; and building endurance for the cross country team. The goal of a periodized program is to develop strength the athlete can use. To accomplish this, the coach needs to change the sets, repetitions, and exercises to maximize the athletes’ time in the weight room.

To increase an athlete’s power, the coach needs to design a program that “increases the rate of force development” or “how fast they can move”. Lifting heavy weights slow will not transfer to a fast powerful athlete. In fact, it can even make the athlete slower and will interfere with the athletes’ performance.

Research shows that to develop multi-effort power (i.e., 3 to 5 repetitions) the athlete should use 75-85% of their one repetition maximum for 3-5 sets of 3-5 repetitions (1). The athlete is working on speed-strength, which means the bar is moving fast, about 1 – 1.3 m/s or roughly 1 repetition per second in a bench or 1 repetition per 1.3 sec in a squat. Dr. Bryan Mann (2) has written about velocity based training in this blog. Remember, your athlete will not have a one time all out maximum effort during a play. Most of the time it will be two or three hits, pushes, or jumps during the play so our training needs to utilize the same energy system and speed strength patterns.

The lifting program is set. Next, the coach will want to look at the athlete’s conditioning level. By developing a conditioning program, the coach will ensure that athlete the is not over-trained or undertrained, yet will be able to meet the demands of the sport.

It is important to know which energy system is being utilized during the game play. An average play in American high school football lasts from 5 to 7 seconds with about 40 seconds of rest between them. Why have athletes running for 40 and 50 yard sprints when the play does not last that long? In volleyball the average rally last about 4-6 seconds with about 11 to 16 seconds rest. In soccer there is a change of play about every 5-6 seconds. This means that the coach wants to train the first two energy systems or the APT- PT and the Lactic Acid system which runs for approximately .6 seconds to 2 minutes.

To work the ATP- PC system or the Lactic Acid system the coach will write out how far to run for and how long the athlete needs to rest. The work to rest ratio is critical. Some coaches feel that if the athlete is not continuously moving it is a waste of time and practice. This is far from the truth. The rest period is critical for development. The body grows when it is sleeping and recovery can help relieve the stress.

Here is an example of work to rest progression for different sports:

 

FOOTBALL conditioning

WEEKS 1-2: 30 yards 4×4:30 seconds between reps, 1:10 between sets

(run 30 yds, rest :30 run 30yds, rest ; 30, run 30yds, rest :30, run 30yds REST 1:10 Repeat for 3 more times)

WEEKS 3-4: 20 yards 4×4:30 seconds between reps, 1:00 between sets

(run 20 yds, rest :30 run 20yds, rest ; 30, run 20yds, rest :30, run 20yds REST 1:10 Repeat for 3 more times)

WEEKS 5: 15 yards 4×4:25 seconds between reps, 1:00 between sets

(Repeat for 3 more times)

 

SOCCER conditioning

3 laps around track run straights jog the curve

5 laps around track run straights jog the curve

7 laps around track run straights jog the curve

 

VOLLEYBALL / GIRLS BB / SOFTBALL conditioning:

shuffle 10 yds x 5 then run up and backpedal 10 yards 5 times

 

1) Essentials of Strength and Conditioning second edition p414

2) Bryan Mann Talks Velocity Based Training https://www.elitefts.com/news/bryan-mann-talks-velocity-based-training/

Monitoring Athletes

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This article was provided by Training and Conditioning

By: Ryan Curtis MS, ATC, CSCS, Associate Director of Athlete Performance and Safety, Korey Stringer Institute

Athlete monitoring is becoming standard practice for maximizing player performance,reducing injury risk, and optimizing competition readiness. For high-performance programs, monitoring load-performance and load-injury relationships are essential for providing insight into how athletes are responding to stresses incurred during and outside of training and competition. Ultimately, how an athlete performs is impacted by the accumulation of stress and the efficacy of training. Therefore, it is important to evaluate stress imposed during training and match sessions, as well as, the strain incurred by each athlete. Understanding the difference between stressors (i.e., intense exercise, heat, cold, altitude, etc) and the strain (body’s response to stress) experienced by a biological system (i.e., human body) is essential to monitoring and manipulating parameters important for athlete preparation. Other benefits to monitoring athletes beyond determining training efficacy, such as gathering scientific explanations for changes in performance or injury risk, enhancing coach and practitioner confidence when manipulating training loads, and boosting athlete-coach- practitioner relationships all contribute to the efficacy and buy-in of monitoring practices. There are four main purposes for monitoring athletes; optimizing readiness, ensuring proper prescription of stress and recovery (periodization), reducing injury risk, and monitoring safe and effective return to play programs (Figure 1). While each of these purposes are important, emphasis and priority placed on these purposes will vary based on team’s load monitoring philosophy.

 

Monitoring Training and Competition Load

When monitoring the dosage of stress imposed during training or competition, practitioners and scientists typically refer to training load. Load is simply the product of duration and intensity of activity. Training load can be further described as either external (work imposed independent of internal strain) or internal (response of the body to external load), as shown in Figure 2. The association between external and internal load can give great insight into the status of the athlete (i.e., fresh vs. fatigued). With advancements in wearable technology, monitoring of athletes’ external load has received a great deal of attention. Specifically, global positioning systems (GPS) capabilities have allowed ease of monitoring parameters such as distance, time, and efforts in multiple velocity zones (0-7.2 km/h-walk, 7.2-14.4 km/h-jog, 14.4-21.6 km/h-run, >21.6 km/h-sprint) used for tracking running performance. GPS-enabled devices use positional differentiation to calculate distance and acceleration.

Beyond quantifying the intensity distribution of session types (i.e., match, training, conditioning, etc.), GPS metrics are often reported as aggregate measures such as high-intensity running distance (distance >14.4 km/h), number of sprints (efforts > 25.2 km/h), and average speed (meters per minute). However, GPS technology is limited in its ability to detect external movement beyond positional change and additionally, has serious limitations with tracking movement indoors. This leaves monitoring of indoor team sports such as basketball and volleyball at a disadvantage. However, modern player tracking technology typically uses integrated inertial sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers to help quantify stress imposed in all three planes. Calculated metrics such as PlayerLoad TM (Catapult) from integrated inertial sensors have a strong relationship with running performance measures such as total distance covered, while additionally estimating general load on the body and therefore stress from actions such as tackling, accelerations, decelerations, changes of direction and collisions. Due to the inertial movement sensors ability to detect magnitude of movement (i.e., g-forces) in 3 planes of motion, a single arbitrary unit of load might give a more accurate display of total stresses incurred during activity.

Both physiological and psychological measures such as heart rate, lactate, muscle oxygen, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) can be used to monitor loads sustained internally. Of the numerous methods of objectively quantifying internal load, heart rate derivatives such as time in heart rate zones, expressed as percent of maximum heart rate, and weighted scores such as training impulse (TRIMP) are most commonly used. These measures allow categorization of training stress into relative zones such as high, moderate, and low. Of the methods to quantify internal load by subjective means, using RPE and session RPE (sRPE) are by far the most common. sRPE is simply the product of session duration and the athlete-reported RPE post-training/competition. This subjective measure has shown good association with external running performance measures.

 

Monitoring Readiness, Recovery and Wellness

Monitoring readiness, recovery, and wellness requires both physiological and psychological assessment in order to gain understanding of an athlete’s true state. These assessments could be as simple as asking the athlete “how do you feel?” or as complex as using microtechnology (telemetry or photoplesthsmography) to ascertain the variability in heart beat to beat intervals during rest or sleep. Monitoring the response to training and/or competition gives the practitioner great insight into individual dose-response relationships and helps to promote precision with recovery practices. For example, if an athlete is excessively fatigued, coaches may prescribe a recovery session or reduce training load for that day. Current practices in monitoring athlete readiness prior to activity include heart rate-based autonomic nervous system assessment (i.e., heart rate variability, HRV; heart rate recovery, HRR), neuromuscular function tests (i.e., counter movement jump, CMJ; reaction tests), and wellness questionnaires/assessments (i.e., stress, fatigue, soreness, anxiety). More extensive monitoring such as biochemical/immunological/hormonal assessment (i.e., blood, saliva, and urine-biomarkers) and psychological inventories (i.e., Profile of Mood States, Sport Anxiety Scale, Rest and Recovery Questionnaire) can give insight into overtraining or maladaptation if assessed longitudinally.

Limitations in Athlete Monitoring

While there is much to gain from monitoring athletes, there are several limitations that must be considered when implementing a monitoring program. Monitoring athletes does not always require large funding sources (i.e. subjective markers of training load combined with wellness reporting), however analyzing data does require time, manpower, and experience/skill. With vast amounts of data pouring in from sometimes multiple technologies and questionnaires, persons experienced in data management and analysis are often needed derive meaning and interpretation beyond simple descriptive reporting. In addition, attaining buy-in from athletes and coaching staff is sometimes difficult if immediate returns are not seen. Regarding technological limitations, very little validation and reliability testing is conducted by parties outside of the technology manufacturer. With that, the way in which raw data is processed and filtered varies by manufacturer and software version. Because software updates can occur quite often and the way in which data is filtered and reported is changed, validity and reliability of the device will change concurrently. This has severe implications when determining the precision and consistency of measurement longitudinally.

Taken together, programs must weigh the benefits and limitations of athlete monitoring together. Without structure in data management, plans for implementation based on data analysis, and athlete-coach buy-in, monitoring athletes can be a waste of time and resources that could be used to gain advantage elsewhere. However, if care is taken in promoting, structuring, and implementing a purposeful and practical monitoring program, teams stand to gain a great advantage in maximizing the health and performance of their athletes.

Plyometrics Exercises with Med Balls

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Plyometric drills are very good for power transfer and teach the body to use the stretch-shortening cycle. Plyometric drills good because they allow the body to mimic what occurs during a vertical jump in sport.

In the video clip below Preston Greene, Strength and Conditioning coach for the Florida Gator Mens Basketball Team, demonstrates 4 plyometric drills that utilize a med ball.  These drill are from a complete dvd dedicated to improving an athletes vertical jump. For more information about that dvd click the link AAU Basketball Skills Series: Increasing Your Vertical Jump.  The dvd includes both plyometric drills and weight training exercises designed to improve the vertical leap of Florida Gator basketball players.

The first drill is the Anterior Leap and Throw.  The athlete begins in a squat position and will load the med ball to the hip closest to the wall. He will leap forward explosively covering as much ground as possible. He will land with the knees bent and the med ball loaded to the opposite hip. Immediately he will rotate and throw the med ball at the wall with maximum power. The athlete should complete 3 sets of 5 reps and then repeat going the opposite direction.

The second drill is the Lateral Leap and throw. In this exercise, the athlete begins with his shoulders perpendicular to the wall, but instead of leaping forward, he will leap laterally as far as possible. Once landing he will rotate and throw the ball with maximum power to the wall. Complete 3 sets of 5 reps and then repeat going the other direction.

The third exercise, the Anterior Lateral Leap Throw,  is a combination of the first two plyometric drills. the athlete will leap forward as far as possible and then leap laterally away from the wall. The drill ends with the athlete throwing the ball with as much power as possible to the wall. Complete 3 sets of 5 reps and repeat in the opposite direction.

The final exercise is the Full Squat Jump and Throw. Here the athlete will begin in a squat position with a med mall at his chest. The athlete will explode up and jump as high as possible while pushing the med ball into the air as high as possible. Complete 3 sets of 5 reps.

The Youtube video below has sound so please make sure your sound is turned on and that you have access to the site. Some schools block access to YouTube

 

Mastering Motivation

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This article was provided by Coaches Network

Matt Chandler, MS, CSCS, RSCC*D, USAW-1, NASM-CPT, has been successful at many levels. He’s currently an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach at the University of Oregon, where he primarily works with the women’s basketball and volleyball teams. He’s also trained athletes at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado.

From 2012 until earlier this year, Chandler, who was previously a Sergeant in the Marine Corps, was the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach at Servite High School in Anaheim, Calif., where he worked with hundreds of student-athletes. In this blog, Chandler details his four keys for overcoming one of the biggest high school weight room hurdles: motivating athletes.

Bring the fire: If you want your athletes to be excited about their work in the weight room, you need to match that attitude. “Think of yourself like a thermostat,” Chandler says. “You control the intensity in the weight room, and athletes, especially high school athletes, will mirror the attitude that you bring in. If you’re not excited to be there, leading them through a workout, why would they be excited to take part? No matter what kind of day you’re having, you need to send your athletes the message that you’re giving 100 percent, and you expect them to as well.”

Learn what makes them tick: Motivating high school athletes isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. Dealing with hundreds of athletes also means dealing with hundreds of personalities. “Some kids are going to respond positively if you’re hard on them,” Chandler says. “But others, you’re going to need to put your arm around them and be more supportive. You’ve got to be willing to take the time to understand the specific ways to reach each player if you want them to be excited to be in the weight room.”

Be consistent: The life of a high schooler is often unpredictable, and that can lead to stress. The last thing you want is for your athletes not to know what to expect when they come into the weight room. “If you’re yelling and screaming at them one day, and the next day, you’re trying to play it cool, your athletes are going to be on pins and needles wondering what version of you they’re going to see from day to day,” Chandler says. “They’ll appreciate it if your behaviour is consistent, and by extension, they’ll be excited to come in every day.”

Give them ownership: This can be a fine line to walk. It’s critical that you are the authority in the program, and your authority is recognized. But at the same time, giving your athletes a voice can be beneficial.

“I always told my high school athletes that the weight room is theirs and that I wanted them to have a say in what went on inside it,” says Chandler. “For example, if in talking to my athletes, I found out that they were going to have a particularly tough practice after this workout, I’d ask them if they wanted to adjust some exercises or rep schemes. All of a sudden, they’d be more excited. Not because they were doing less work, but because I asked for their opinion and showed them that I valued what they had to say.”