Published November 6, 2009By Ned Simerlein, Integrated Athletic Performance
September 29, 2007
Tell me if you have ever experienced this before: Your son or daughter comes home after a game and says, “My shoulder hurts.” What is your answer? Put ice on it. It’s funny that society thinks that the universal answer to fixing pain is ice and aspirin. Do ice and aspirin work? Yes they does but only as a TEMPORARY fix. It is just like putting a can of “fix a flat” into a tire that has 80,000 miles on it and is completely bald. It will temporarily fix the problem, but if you don’t resolve the root of the problem and replace the tire, you will have the same problem recur and it may be even worse (a blowout and/or accident).
In this article I will cover the anatomy of the shoulder, why shoulder stability is important and some simple exercises that can help prevent shoulder related injuries.
Before we can fix the problem we have to know what the problem is. In my experience athletes who have “Upper Crossed Syndrome” have the most anterior shoulder/rotator cuff pain. “Upper Crossed Syndrome is characterized by rounded shoulders and a forward head posture,” ( Clark , p65). More basically, Upper Crossed Syndrome appears clinically as bad posture. Below is a diagram of someone with Upper Crossed Syndrome.
Upper Crossed Syndrome is caused when large primary muscles (such as the chest) are tight and smaller stabilizing muscles (such as the rotator cuff and medial/lower traps) are weak. The large primary muscles are overtrained for two main reasons. 1. They are on the front of your body and people tend to train the muscles on the front of their body because that is what they can see when they look in the mirror. 2. Old school training methodologies focus on benching and pushups; both front side based exercises. The smaller stabilizing muscles are weak for two reasons 1. They are on the backside of the body and, if you read my last article you know that people don’t usually work the backside of the body because they can’t see the backside. 2. Old school training methodologies focus on benching and pushups; both front side based exercises, and neglect to address the back side muscles. This combination of factors is what has contributed to your son or daughters upper crossed syndrome.
Let’s look at those small stabilizing muscles that are being ignored.
The rotator cuff is composed of four tiny muscles on the back of the shoulder, the infraspinatus, supraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. These little guys are what decelerate your arm after you release the ball when throwing. If you didn’t have these muscles your arm would rip out of it’s socket! Other small muscles are the rhomboids and medial/lower traps located between your shoulder blades. These guys play a big role in scapular retraction, which allows you to sit up straight with good posture. When you tell your child to sit up tall and pull his/her shoulders back, the rhomboids and lower traps are activated. The reason why your child can only hold proper position for a couple short time is because these smaller muscles are too weak and his/her chest is too tight so it fights against the movement trying to snap back into a relaxes position.
Now that we know what the problems are, how do we fix them? The first step is to implement flexibility into our strength training program on a daily basis. Stretching the tight muscles such as the chest, Trap 2 and lats is going to help. Here are some examples of good stretches:
(PB CHEST STRETCH PICS)
On your hands and knees you should have a stability ball to your side with your arm at a 90 degree angle on the ball. You will then push the ball out and drop your chest down at the same time. Hold the stretch for 5 seconds and repeat four times.
PB Lat Stretch (pictures 1-2)
On your hands and knees, put the ball in front of your body with your arm straight on the ball. You will allow your arm to roll forwrd and simultaneously drop your chest and head down. Hold the stretch for 5 seconds and repeat four times.
The two exercises above will help improve the flexibility in your chest and lats.
In addition to stretching the tight primary muscles, we must also strengthen the smaller stabilizing muscles that have been ignored and weak. Here are two exercises that will help strengthen the small stabilizers on the backside of the body.
Prone T’s (pictures 1-2)
Lie on your chest on the floor with two 2 pounds weights to your sides. While holding this position, slowly raise your arms off the ground pinching your shoulder blades together. Keep your chest on the ground. At the top of the movement, hold for one second, then lower their weights slowly. perform 8-12 repetitions for 2-3 sets. Make sure that only light weights are used – never more than 4 pounds.
Side Lying External Rotation
(pictures 1-2)
Lie on your side holding a light dumbbell (4-8 pounds). Keeping your arm at a 90 degree angle and your elbow tucked into your side, raise your arms through it’s normal range of motion. Be sure not to externally rotate your arm further than you safely can and do not rotate it further than you can while keeping your elbow tucked into your side. Perform 8-15 repetitions for 2-3 sets.
By correcting the problem of Upper Crossed Syndrome we can help prevent shoulder pain in throwing athletes. Above are four examples of exercises that will help achieve this goal. However, if the problem worsens, I recommend seeking the care of a credible physical therapist in your area.
Remember, ice is the easy answer, not the correct one!
Published November 6, 2009By Ned Simerlein, Velocity Sports Performance
August 29, 2007
With inspirational movies, infomercials and health magazines it has become easy for people to believe they have all of the answers and are experts in the field of sports performance training. If you are reading this article, you are taking a a great step away from mainstream media to learn more about PROPER core development and progressions.
Movies are made to entertain, infomercials are there so you have something to watch at 2am, and magazines are for reading at the checkout line in the grocery store. What all of these have in common is they are geared toward entertainment than education!
In this article I’d like to cover some myths, some basic anatomy and proper progressions of the “core” or what I call the “Lumbo Pelvic Hip Complex.”
Let’s first go over some myths of core training that I’m sure you have heard at some point. I know that I’ve read them in magazines while waiting entirely too long in line at the grocery store!
It is oayk to train the core every day- The muscles of the core are made up of the same fibers that are in any muscle in your body. Just as you would for your chest, legs, arms, etc., you still need to take 36-48 hours for your core to recover after a work-out.
Your core is your six pack – There are actually 29 muscles in the Lumbo Pelvic Hip Complex. Some of them include your glutes, hamstrings, transverse abdominus, spinal erectors, and obliques. It’s not just your six-pack!
By performing lots of reps, you will work your core better- By performing 100 crunches you are training local muscular endurance which is not really necessary unless you are a marathon runner. To improve strength of hypertrophy (size) you should perform 6-12 repetitions.
Now that we have debunked some myths, let’s start with some basic anatomy so you can better understand your core.
As stated above, there are actually 29 muscles in the LPHC. Athletes and adults tend to focus their training on just one, the rectus abdominus (six-pack) because that’s what you see in the mirror. You don’t see muscle-heads in the gym turning around and lifting there shorts up so they can see their huge hamstrings. In fact, people generally work the muscles in the front of their body because that is what they see everyday and neglect the muscles on the back of the body. At one point in time I was guilty of this too. But the problem in ONLY training the front of the body is that imbalances occur and imbalances cause injuries. Lower Back pain, knee tendentious and hamstring pulls are only a few examples of injuries directly correlated to this tight front-side and weak back-side problem in the LPHC.
Below are commonly neglected muscles of the core and their function in the human body:
Gluteus Maximus and Medius- The glutes are some of the stabilizing muscles for the hip. By having strong glutes you can:
1. Stabilize the hip to prevent rotation of the pelvis and keeps your hips in alignment. (This can prevent lower back pain)
2. Properly stabilize the knee and prevent knee adduction (knees coming in when squatting or standing/running on one leg).
3. Improve hip extension which will improve jumping ability and power output (first step quickness and change of direction).
Transverse Abdominus- The transverse abdominus is the muscle under the rectus abdominus that is activated by pulling your belly button in. When you are trying putting on a pair of pants that don’t fit anymore and you suck your stomach in, you activate your transverse abdominus. By strengthening the transverse abdominus we can:
1. Stabilize the hip and take pressure off the lower back.
2. Improve standing and seated posture.
3. Protect the back when lifting weights.
4. Assist in the proper transfer of power from the lower to upper body to improve running mechanics, change of direction and increase ball velocity in any throwing sport.
Biceps Femoris- More commonly called your hamstrings. The Biceps Femoris is located on the posterior chain (backside of the body below the waist). it originates at the hip and attaches at the knee. Strong hamstrings can:
1. Dynamically stabilize the hip during running and prevent low back pain.
2. Dynamically stabilize the knee during running, which helps keep the knee in alignment with the hip to help prevent knee injuries.
3. Use as a powerful hip extensor in running to help improve maximum speed.
Now that we know some basic anatomy of the LPHC let’s look at some strategies of how to implement various exercises into our program to improve performance and reduce the risk of injury.
When choosing exercises to train the LPHC, we have to remember to start with easy, low level exercises and gradually increase difficulty as mastery occurs. By progressing too fast, we will increase the chance of injury. If our athlete is not out on the field, he is not going to get that scholarship that will save you thousands of dollars. Here is an example of some level one exercise’s that will safely improve the core.
You should be in a pillar position on your forearms and body in a straight line. You can achieve this straight line position by pulling in your belly button and squeezing your glutes together. This is a great exercise to strengthen the transverse abdominus, glutes, and stabilizing muscles in the shoulder. You should hold this position for 20-30 seconds and perform 2-3 sets.
You should be lying with your back on the ball having only your head and shoulders on the ball. Then bridge your hips up so they are parallel to the ground and “Draw In” (activate the transverse abdominus). The motion of the exercise is rotating the core by pushing your shoulders into the ball. Go through a full range of motion rotating until your arms are parallel to the ground. After reaching parallel, your should return to the starting position in a slow controlled manner. You should use a smaller weight in the beginning and progress to a heavier weight when the movement becomes easier. This exercise strengthens the internal and external obliques, transverse abdominus, glutes, and stabilizers of the shoulder. You should perform 6-8 repetitions on each side and do 2-3 sets.
One thing these two exercises (Core Bridge and PB Russian Twist) have in common is they have more than one function unlike the basic crunch which only strengthens one muscle – the same one we have been strengthening since we were 5 years old in gym class. Your exercises should always have more than just one function.
Finally, I will address proper exercise progression. In order to continually improve your core strength, power and stability you have to use something called the overload principal. If your body does the same exercise with the same weight over and over it adapts to the motion and weight. The end result is that you will no longer get a training benefit and no longer get a stimulus or training effect. Is essence, if you don’t change your sets, reps and exercises, you are just burning calories and not strengthening muscles.
Here are samples of progressions for the 2 exercises above.
PB Hands On SL (progression for Core Bridge)
You should hold a push up position with the shoulders in alignment with the hands. You should draw in and squeeze you butt together. While doing this you can lift one leg about 2 inches off the ground and hold this for 20-30 seconds. Do 2-3 sets
Straight Leg Windshield Wipers
You should lay on your back with your legs straight into the air. Then slowly bring both legs to one side keeping your back on the ground at all times. Still holding the draw in tight, make sure the lower back does not leave the ground. Continue to bring the legs back to the center of the body and go to the other side. Perform 6-8 repetitions and do 2-3 sets.
Ok, now I hope you have a better understanding of your core – the LPHC. You know the myths, anatomy and basis of proper progressions. The next time you are watching a Rocky movie, you will now know that he is not training his “core” to the best of his ability!
Published November 6, 2009By Ned Simerlein, Velocity Sports Performance
February 09, 2008
“We do a lot of ‘Plyometrics’ in our program.” Ah, once again we have someone who read an article online and is now an expert at developing explosive power for their athletes. Many athletic trainers or coaches hear or see their favorite professional athlete on ESPN jumping on a box a couple hundred times and they decide that they want to play the role of a strength coach and have their athlete do the same thing. The problem with this is that they don’t know the science behind the movement and don’t know how to properly implement plyometrics into a program.
When used correctly, plyometrics can be a great way to improve power output (vertical jump), change of direction and first step quickness. In this article, my goal is to give you the science behind plyometric training so you can better decide if and how to successfully integrate this into your training program.
The word Plyometric can be broken down into two meanings:
Plyo- more/increase
Metric- measure/length
It follows, then, that a plyometric is an exercise that causes a muscle group to quickly cycle through a lengthening phase and a shortening phase.
A plyometic movement is broken down into three phases.
1. Eccentric Load Phase- This is when the body loads and stretches the muscles, such as when the body drops down and loads the hamstrings and glutes in anticipation of jumping. In this phase, the muscle lengthens and starts to store elastic energy.
2. Isometric Pause Phase- This starts when the muscles have completely lengthened and they are getting ready to recoil (or shorten) into the concentric push phase. For example, the short pause between when your body is dropping down to generate power for a jump and when your body is springing back upward to jump.
3. Concentric Push Phase- This is when the muscle begins to shorten using the stored elastic energy generated in the Eccentric Load Phase. For example, when your body begins to spring back upward when jumping it uses the stored elastic energy of the hamstrings along with the concentric (shortening) of the hamstrings, and glutes to achieve FULL EXTENSION!
Assuming that we go through these 3 phases quickly, we will maximize the use of stored elastic energy and the amount of force driven into the ground and increase the power generated through the hips.
There are three misconceptions about plyometrics.
1. Plyometrics will help an athlete get big.
Plyometrics train the CNS (central nervous system), not the musculoskeletal system. More simply, plyometics trains the brain, not the body. An athlete looking to increase size should perform slower movements with more repetitions (8-15) and shorter rest periods (60-90 seconds)
2. Plyometrics shouldn’t be performed until you are a teenager.
Children reproduce these plyometric movements on the playground and in sport all the time. I work with children as young as seven years old and expose them to low level plyometrics after an initial acclimation phase which can last between 1 and 4 week
3. More is better.
Because plyometrics are high neural activity, performing more than 5-6 repetitions for an exercise can actually decrease power output. By performing excess sets and repetitions (more than 15 repetitions per exercise), the CNS becomes fatigued. When the CNS works in a fatigued state you can decrease Power Output and stabilization strength and increase the risk of injury.
When performing plyometric exercises it is important to use the proper progressions and at the right time. When working with an athlete, it would not be beneficial to have a beginner athlete perform a high level plyometric since their body is not used to the movement. I recommend a double leg jump, skip, bound progression that has worked well with my athletes. Once they have mastered these three levels, I have them switch to the same progression using only one leg. It is very important not to progress too quickly as this will increase the risk of injury and minimize the results you’re trying to achieve. Additionally, it is important to introduce plyometrics soon after the warm up instead of at the end of a session to ensure that the CNS is not fatigued. As stated above, a fatigued CNS can lead to poor results or injury.
Now that you know the basics of plyometic tranings you can start to apply this to your program in a safe and effective manner. For example, if your focus for the day is to work on movement mechanics, you may choose to implement some plyometric progressions after an active dynamic warm-up.
Published November 6, 2009By Jason Perrone, Velocity Sports Performance
October 31, 2007
It doesn’t matter if you are learning to play piano. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to learn karate. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to get higher SAT’s. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to maximize your athletic potential. If you want professional assistance beyond reading a book, you have to be sure of two things. Is the person teaching the skill qualified? Do they have a sound structure, playbook or curriculum for success?
Just because someone was really good at their particular craft that alone does not make them qualified to teach that specific skill. When searching for a teacher it’s important to know that they have a track record of success when working with students. If they are new then they need to be trained by someone who has a track record of success training teachers.
Coaching credentials start with one of a number of possible certifications. Go beyond the “alphabet soup” of possible certifications. Ask whether a particular college degree is required to obtain the certification; who offers the certification; how extensive is the exam required for it, and are there additional steps needed to maintain the certification. Being in the fitness industry I know that not all certifications are created equal.
Understand that even more important than the “bells and whistles” of a particular program the person leading the lesson is the deal breaker. Good teachers recognize when a student needs to advance or be pulled back a bit and try something new. Ask how many students have you worked with? What’s your track record of success with those students? If you don’t have a game plan no matter how talented a teacher may be they will have limited success. How important is it that the people educating your children have a sound curriculum? Sometimes it can be overlooked but there must be a roadmap for success for any skill development. If you are going for training for any skill be sure they can show you the written game plan for success. Some trainers like to think that they can develop a structure on the fly, but I will tell you that is a recipe for limited success. If all the coaches in a center are not coaching from the same playbook, then how can an athlete be assured of success regardless of who his or her coach is for a particular session? A good curriculum alone does not make a sound program. If you don’t have a teacher that can make adjustments to the given game plan then you will have sub optimal results.
A good teacher alone does not make a sound program. Without a roadmap in place you will be lucky if you ever reach your destination. The roadmap is guide for a good teacher; not the be all end all. Remember just because you are concert pianist it does not mean that you can create one. Don’t be lured by someone’s personal success in a particular field. Education does not make the teacher but is absolutely necessary; it at least shows commitment to professional development. Without a game plan the team will not be successful. In looking for any type of tutoring, training or coaching service I urge you to ask several questions about the two most important things…teacher and curriculum.
Published October 31, 2009By Catherine Saint Louis, New York Times
July 19, 2007
BRACE yourselves, parents. Besides shuttling the kids to cello lessons, algebra tutoring, soccer matches and basketball practice, there’s one more activity emerging to give prepubescent go-getters a leg up these days: sports performance training.
Because many team coaches don’t have the time or the expertise in exercise science to make their troops faster and stronger, specialty programs — part gym, part pro-training camp — have stepped in to fill the need. For roughly $35 a session, they provide rigorous conditioning for any aspiring child, regardless of ability, using the kinds of practices that have set apart athletes like Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters.
Sports performance training is becoming de rigueur for ambitious stars in the making or unfit youngsters whose parents want to shore up their confidence. Great athletes aren’t born, they’re made — or so goes a slogan for Velocity Sports Performance, one of the leading centers that aim to treat Jack or Kate like Steve Nash or Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Velocity, at more than 75 locations, had almost 47,000 children participate in 2006, four times the enrollment in 2004. Athletic Republic, until recently known as Frappier Acceleration Sports Training, worked with roughly 36,000 children last year, up from 27,000 in 2005. CATZ, a chain in four states, trained 6,500 youngsters for the year ending June 2007, up 150 percent from the same period in 2006.
Although some as young as 8 participate, 12- to 15-year-olds make up the bulk of participants at national chains like Velocity and CATZ (Competitive Athlete Training Zone).
Sports performance centers resemble a pro-training camp — except there are no five o’clock shadows or tattoos. Clusters of children (some knobby-kneed, others ripped) alternatively warm up, hoist weights and do plyometrics or speed work supervised by coaches.
Some of the agility drills resemble amped-up neighborhood games: participants, for instance, jump diagonally over lines on the ground. Hopscotch anyone?
Other tasks are more grueling. Running while dragging a weight is not for the fainthearted, nor are the super-fast treadmills at Athletic Republic. Faces clench as the machines force legs to go quicker than they could on their own. One result is that eventually children “are able to generate those same velocities by themselves,” said John Frappier, the founder of Athletic Republic, who has a master’s in exercise physiology.
Fitness matters more than ever, since talent alone is no longer enough to make varsity or win a Division I scholarship.
Which is not lost on today’s athletes. “You can’t get by with sitting around anymore,” said Jordy Christian, 18, a hockey player who is the oldest of three children who have all worked out at Frappier in Fargo, N.D. “Once you settle into a sport, you make it your life.”
Parents, too, realize that preparation is key. “I’m not the only dad watching the N.F.L. draft,” said Troy Medley, chief executive of Velocity. Players “are constantly talking about how they train.”
John Maiolo from Monroe, Conn., said he saw what Velocity could offer his daughter, Marissa, who plays three sports but likes soccer best: “The way I see it, if they can get the kids in there young enough, and get them to understand how to run, how to pivot, how to turn, how to jump, how to excel at all these basic movements, it becomes second nature when they are on the field.”
Sports performance training teaches athletic fundamentals during the “skill hungry” years of neuromuscular growth. It also helps single-sport players avoid injuries by broadening their abilities, advocates say.
This world attracts its fair share of hard-charging mothers and fathers. “I had a parent introduce her daughter to me as the next Mia Hamm,” said Jim Liston, the president of CATZ. “That’s not a lot of parents. That’s just a few.”
Although sports performance outlets strive to be chummy and supportive, parental pressure coupled with the ethos of continual improvement wears down some tender-age athletes.
“It’s really easy to see the difference between kids that handle the pressure, and kids that aren’t able to,” said Melanie Michaud, a former Velocity coach who now works for CATZ in Needham, Mass. “The ones who can’t handle it, when they reach junior year of high school, they’ll be tired of playing.”
Parents who say “we are not going to give Billy or Mary a chance not to do this” need to reassess, said Fred Engh, the president of the National Alliance for Youth Sports and author of “Why Johnny Hates Sports.”
Jim Schultz, of Waldwick, N.J., encourages his daughters, Renee, a Velocity year-rounder, and Lauren, who goes twice a month, to think of their sessions as a job. “If you go there and you fool around, you won’t last long,” he said. “These people aren’t there to joke around. Renee is serious about it. That’s what’s good.”
Renee, 14, who plays soccer for her school, her town and a competitive travel team, said signing up for Velocity was her dad’s idea. “At first I didn’t have a choice whether I wanted to go,” said Renee, who is also a basketball guard. “After a while, I really liked going there.” What won her over? The emphasis is on fun, and people in the sports performance field downplay the grit the work demands of the young. (“What we really sell are smiles,” Mr. Medley of Velocity says.)
This is not every child’s idea of fun. The coaches I observed at three centers, including a new Athletic Republic at Chelsea Piers, offered guidance and didn’t yell. Still, how can workouts be lighthearted when the point is to make quantifiable strides? Kids are videotaped sprinting and their flaws critiqued. Benchmarks — distance for a medicine ball throw — are tracked, too.
Mr. Maiolo, a controller for a venture capitalist firm, had to overcome his reservations. After all, Marissa had a full plate as the captain of Everton, a premier club soccer team. She also played basketball, soccer and softball for her middle school.
Wasn’t she in adequate shape? “In the beginning you think to yourself, am I one of those parents who must have their daughter be perfect, and have all the opportunities possible?” said Mr. Maiolo, who swam in his heyday. “Am I going overboard? Am I trying to be the athlete I never was? You second-guess yourself, and that’s good.”
Ultimately, the Maiolos went for it, and Marissa has no regrets. “If I didn’t go to Velocity I’d still be what I was before,” she said. “I needed to go there. It’s not like I was horrible. It made me better.”
So good that after three years of Velocity training, Marissa, now 14, says she’d like to be a professional soccer player one day.
Do trainees improve? “The answer is a qualified yes,” said Avery Faigenbaum, an associate professor of exercise science at the College of New Jersey. “If we put a 10-, 14-, 15-year-old in a sensibly prescribed program, the child will get faster, jump higher, she’s stronger and she’s faster on the court.” But gains should be taken with a grain of salt, he advised, since children naturally improve with age. As Dr. Faigenbaum puts it: How to improve the vertical jump of an 8-year-old? Do nothing. “She’ll jump higher at 12,” he said, barring drastic changes in body composition.
Overtraining is a concern, since parents often don’t realize the importance of recovery between hard workouts.
“They need to look at the total stress being placed on their kids,” Dr. Faigenbaum said. “If you believe the only way to make gains is if it hurts,” then “you’re getting set up for an overuse injury.”
At the other end of the spectrum, some participants only break a sweat at performance centers. Suzanne Holder, from Pasadena, Calif., said that it took signing up for CATZ to awaken her 11-year-old daughter Maddy’s interest in activity. “In sports, you may be the one who the goal got past, or who didn’t catch the fly ball,” Ms. Holder said. “But at CATZ your only goal going is to have fun, and suddenly you realize you’ve accomplished 20 push-ups you couldn’t before.”
As word of mouth spreads from parent to parent, it may only be a matter of time until performance training is as widespread as SAT prep. Mr. Schultz, the parent from Waldwick, N.J., hopes not.
“Hate to say this, because I’m a competitive person and I don’t want everybody to get a competitive advantage,” he said, “but you can send your kids to all the camps in the world — if you put them in this program, you know they’ll improve.”
