- Posted by: Bobby Congalton
The reward of being strength and conditioning coach
There aren’t many professions out there where you can have a profound impact on a kid’s life that lives 3000 miles away... Here’s a quick story that will explain.
The reward of being strength and conditioning coach
There aren’t many professions out there where you can have a profound impact on a kid’s life that lives 3000 miles away... Here’s a quick story that will explain.
The fastest sprinters have an optimal stride length, stride frequency, and very short contact time with the ground. What if I told you that you can take steps to becoming a faster sprinter just by jumping? No, that’s not a typo… I said jumping. That may seem absurd, but it’s true. You could perform a 4-week plyometric program and become faster without running a single suicide, as long as the program is designed properly. It must include:
1.) Single leg jumps
2.) Broad jumps
Carbohydrates and athletes should have a life-long bond like peanut butter and jelly. Life as an athlete should be simple. Go to school. Practice. Eat. Watch sports. Do homework. Sleep. And compete. I wish it were that simple. My goal is to at least make one thing a little simpler by the end of this article – nutrition. To make this as easy as possible, I'll even break this article into sections.
Overtraining is a common phrase we all hear, but not many understand. Imagine feeling sluggish for weeks straight, having a cold, lean body mass being stripped from you, feeling depressed, reduced appetite, running a temperature, unmotivated, nervous, headaches, elevated blood pressure, and slow reaction time. I don’t know about you, but this sounds a little like death to me.
Resistance training does not cause females to get bulky. After working with many female athletes, that is one of the biggest concerns that I run into. Let me dispel that myth right now. Girls were not created to get bulky, and performing a sports performance program will not make you the next Ms. Universe.
Living in San Diego you see different types of people, which means many different ways of working out. One common theme when it comes to people working out in gyms out here are bicep curls in the squat racks, which might be the single worst use of the squat rack you constantly see, and subpar gym etiquette.
One Repetition maximum. One rep max. 1RM. They all mean the same. The world record for the bench press is a smidge over 1,000 lbs. That means that with one repetition, some behemoth of a man can press 1,000 lbs. That's right, his 1RM (or 1 rep max) for the bench press is 1,000 lbs. We didn't decide to call ourselves 1RM performance because we are looking for the next World's Strongest Man... we chose 1RM because it is the epitomy of mental and physical strength.
Only 15% of the game of basketball is spent cutting, sprinting, and jumping, which would be considered as high intensity exercise. So how do you train specifically for basketball? If you consider the fact that the majority of the game of basketball consists of low to moderate work, you would think that's how you would train. But, it is those quick actions, the first steps, the change of directions, the quick jump for a rebound, which make the difference between a good basketball player and a great basketball player.
Baseball is not an endurance sport. I have been asked 4 times in the last 12 hours whether baseball players should run cross country to stay in shape for baseball. My answer? Absolutely not. If your goal is to get in shape for baseball, DO NOT RUN CROSS COUNTRY. Baseball is an extremely powerful sport; a 3.2 mile run does not stress the same energy system! Specificity is key! Hopefully by the end of this article, you will learn how to properly train a baseball player to drastically improve sport performance
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