What up everyone! I hope you are all  staying healthy, training hard, and dominating the game we all love. So the other day a father  asked me that if I had to recommend three strength training exercises  that anyone can do to improve their sprinting speed, what are they!?!? After I answered I thought to myself, “that it would be a good topic for this here blog”. (western accent need for the quote)

Before I get into the exercises, keep in mind these are STRENGTH exercises…not sled sprints (which I love), plyometric exercises such as bounding and hopping,  or any other sprinting drill or loaded exercise that involves movements closely related to sprinting.

In determining the exercises I wanted to make sure that anyone regardless of age or body structure can perform them and get a result immediately without risking injury. While squat variations offer huge returns on athletic development (see last post), I have seen so many poorly performed squats that I decided not to include them in the three. If you do know how to squat properly then by all means go for it and the exercises below will only add to their impact on your game.

Ok, the muscles primarily responsible  for speed that many soccer athletes are underdeveloped in are the glutes, hamstrings, and hip flexors.  Here is a brief explanation why-

1. Glutes- Biggest and strongest muscle involved in hip extension- responsible for driving your leg into the ground which ultimately propels your body forward. While running with good form at top speed the glutes get a great stimulus. Many soccer players never reach top speed when playing and even when they do, they run with too much use of the quadriceps. Therefore I decided to (in a way) isolate the glutes with my exercise selection below.

2. Hamstrings-Assist hip in extension and are very important for the actual ground strike part of creating force.  They must be elastic and powerful especially in an eccentric function meaning when the muscle is lengthened. In sprinting this happens two ways-  a. when your knee drives up and the leg kicks out (the hamstring lengthens in order to snap back down to the ground) b. when the foot hits the ground the hamstring lengthens while contracting. This is when many hamstring pulls occur. Many soccer players, especially midfielders have over-developed quads and lack hamstring development because they play the game in a low position with many changes of direction.

3. Hip flexors- Responsible for bringing the knee up in order to drive the leg back down. Would you hit someone harder with your fist one inch away from the target or 10 inches? The higher, faster,  and more easily you can drive your knee up, the more power you can generate back down. Power into the ground in a given direction relative to your body weight is what movement and speed is all about.

Alright, now that you have the reasons, here are three exercises I chose that anyone can do…  I have seen many athletes get faster as they got stronger and become able to move selected weights faster within the exercises presented (that is power my friends)

1.  Exercise targeting the glutes- Hip Thrusters

Credit must go out to Bret Contreras who popularized this exercise and it’s variations. He even has EMG studies that showed that no other exercises target the glutes harder.

“If a coach prescribes solely axial lifts for his athletes like squats and deadlifts without prescribing anteroposterior lifts like hip thrusts and back extensions, then the athlete will be robbed of maximum glute and hamstring activation and sprint speed development.” -BC

Use a barbell and a pad and elevate your upper back on a bench that is stable and won’t move. From there, place a barbell on your hip bones (with a pad there to take some pressure off) and you will now perform glute bridges by driving your hips up and lowering them down.

2.  Hamstrings- Singe leg RDL or Single leg good morning.

Single leg RDL- Can use one dumbell, two, or a barbell when you get strong!!!!

Single leg good morning-(he goes a little low but other than that good form)

3. Hip flexors- Cable knee drives.  These can be performed various ways. 

Lying Version-

Standing version-

Try adding those three exercises into your routine for awhile and watch your speed improve like a mofo. Start with light weights and progress as you may. Like Charles Poliquin says- “you have to coax your muscles into getting stronger, not force them”. What he means is add weights slowly over time and before you know it you will be a beast of soccer!

Peace and blessings

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With the World Cup all wrapped up it is time to get back on track and help soccer players from around the world improve their speed, overall athleticism, and mindset.  Regular readers of this blog should all know by now that being strong for your own body weight is at the foundation of lazing fast soccer speed, power, and injury prevention. (Check out Robben’s video just below.  He was one of the most explosive players in the Cup with and without the ball.  Too bad he whines a lot and could not finish the chance after toasting Puyol in the final.  I was glad though as I wanted Spain because they play beautiful.  Bet you Robben’s legs are strong!)

In this post we will examine two different strength exercises and see how they may fit into your preparation as a soccer player. Below is an abstract about a study comparing a modified single leg squat with a bilateral back squat in female soccer players. Why am I so interested in this? Well, there are a few reasons. One of them is the fact that my thesis project for my Master’s degree is also a comparison of single leg squats (with the rear foot elevated) to bilateral back squats and their relationship to sprint time, agility, vertical jump, and a single leg bound test in male college and professional soccer players.  The other reason which is why I chose to study the topic, is that I have noticed over the years that there is a difference in performing exercises on one leg versus two… a big difference.  The study below explains some of that difference by demonstrating that single leg exercises place more demands on the stabilizing muscles of the hip and the hamstrings while bilateral back squats place more demands on the quadriceps. In sports such as soccer, most movements occur on one leg. When you shoot, pass, dribble, cut, sprint, etc.,one leg produces force at a time. As I learned years ago during my work with Athletes’ Performance Institute in Carson, CA, if an athlete is not aligned properly they will not be able to put force into their movements because they will have “power leaks”. The car analogy is often used here stating that if you had a car with a big motor (analogous to strong muscles) but poor alignment in the form of a flat tire or actual bad alignment mechanically, the car will not drive nearly as fast as the motor’s potential. The same holds true for the human body in movement; if some muscles are either dormant or over-active causing you will not be able to display the force that your muscles are capable of producing because efforts get wasted.  Not what you want.

Unilateral Squats (she aint weak!)

Looking at the two exercises, bilateral and single leg back squats, it is safe to assume that single leg squats will provide more bang for your buck when it comes to teaching hip stabilizer recruitment, balance,  and alignment.  Does that mean you should throw out the back squats? In my opinion, no. In a different study, it was actually demonstrated that heavy bilateral back squats recruited the gluteus maximus muscle more than the single leg exercises. The glute is the major muscle responsible for powerful hip extension needed for sprinting and jumping. This increased recruitment occured because when balance is removed the athlete can focus more on producing power and less about not falling over. While the spinal load on a bilateral back squat will be much higher because you will have to use more weight to load the two legs versus one at a time, this is not a bad thing. Heavy spinal loads teach your torso to stabilize and the muscles surrounding the spine get stronger which is good for total body strength and growth hormone release.   Of course there is more risk involved during the movement but at long as you progress the weights safely and have good form (chest up, shoulders back, no spinal flexion or rounding,  sit the hips back) you will be fine.

In our quest for speed and athletic domination in the sport of soccer we must be smart about what exercises we include and why we use them. In this case, both forms of squats are great exercises to get stronger which will ultimately make you run faster, jump higher,  change directions quicker, and win all of your 50/50 battles. If you are a knowledge hound like me, the study is below.

To compare EMG activity of selected hip and knee muscle groups in female athletes performing a modified single-leg squat and the 2-leg squat using the same relative intensity. METHODS: Eleven Division I female athletes from a variety of sports (soccer, softball, and track) completed the study. EMG measurements were taken as the subjects completed 3 parallel repetitions at 85% of their 3-repetition maximum on each exercise. Mean and mean peak EMG data from the gluteus medius, hamstrings, and quadriceps and the quadriceps:hamstrings EMG ratio were compared between the 2 exercises. RESULTS: Statistically higher mean (P < .01) and mean peak (P < .05) gluteus medius and mean and mean peak (P < .01) hamstring EMG activity occurred during the modified single-leg squat. The 2-leg squat produced higher mean and mean peak (P < .05) quadriceps activity and a higher quadriceps:hamstrings EMG ratio (P < .01). CONCLUSION: Muscle-recruitment patterns appear to differ between the 2 types of squat exercises when performed at the same relative intensity by female athletes.

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By Andy Murphy

Press quotes:

London Mayor Boris Johnson –     What was that? That was diabolical,’

One fan said: ‘At this rate, Capello (the manager) will be looking for a new job in the morning. It’s rubbish. Rooney couldn’t trap a bag of cement.

‘And the team looks like it just doesn’t care. There’s no energy. 0-0 is just terrible.’

Nice to see your own fans booing you. That’s what loyal support is,               – Wayne Rooney (England striker)

All of you die hard world-cup football addicts out there, you can relax and understand that this is only a perspective … it is time to open your mind to another view of the world.

Like any problem,/ people only ever see the symptoms; people getting constantly sick from too much stress at work, a performer drunk on and off stage because of unmanageable nervousness, the list goes on. However, to fix the issue we have to get to the root cause-change the beliefs and perspectives.

With England they don’t belief they can win, the fans don’t believe they can win, and the press remind everyone every day that they can’t win. Everyone is focusing on the specific mistakes and only remembers the unsuccessful times from the past.

My belief is that you either support your team or you don’t. When you work with professional athletes, performers,  or even someone becoming a non smoker or someone looking to lose weight,  there is no place for second guessing.  Negative thoughts  directly affect your confidence, your belief about yourself or your opponent and your outcome. In addition, there is no place for being anxious or nervous, otherwise your mind is not in the perfect winning mind set-   “I don’t want to lose”, “I don’t want to let this corner kick in“  “I don’t want to make the whole of England angry and get bad press“.

If you were focusing on those things, how would you feel?

5 key points for athletes & life success

1       Beliefs aren’t real. That is a fact. A belief is something from your past experiences that you have decided you trust is real,but it isn’t. The only belief you should have is you can belief anything you want to. As I always say, people once believed the earth was flat. If you change your belief about what is possible it will change your motivation, passion and drive to get that result. Make sense?

2      Understand that you have a filter system in your brain which literally has a belief filter in it. Millions of bits of information come in through your 5 senses every second. Someone’s outside story is determined by their belief program that is running on their inside.

3       What is the quantum mind set?  t is just a belief, and it doesn’t even matter if quantum physics is real or not.- if you take on and hold the belief that you create everything in your life and you take 100% responsibility for your outcomes, then you have to adopt the new belief.

4       The power of words. “Don’t mess this up”; “don’t let this goal in”. The unconscious mind doesn’t process a negation. What does that mean? Don’t think of a big blue elephant? Don’t think of England messing this up? Don’t think of England lifting the World Cup high above their heads and the entire crowd cheering with passion. And absolutely don’t think about how amazing it would feel and all the headlines in the press congratulating them! I am kidding of course on the last one, that is what you should think!

So then you have to ask yourself  “fans”,  what would happen if you just kept believing and got behind them again? What if the press only supported England? There is always a choice. There are always 2 sides to a coin, right?

It is the same in life. If you give yourself as many options as you can, your unconscious mind will always choose the one that excites it the most. If your belief is that you expect to fail then you are right and you get what you expect! You have to be strong in your decision.

Maybe England can win? Maybe not? Maybe you can keep working in a job that bores you or what else in life could you do that excites you? At the end of the day the choice is yours? And it is same with the England players and fans. Whatever you expect to get out of life, you probably will….

Reference:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1287311/World-Cup-Wayne-Rooney-forced-embarrassing-apology-rant-booing-fans-following-Englands-dismal-draw-Algeria.html#ixzz0rONymeXp

For individual Mind Set coaching contact Andy for a chat & see how you can change your future.

Click here to find how to Become World Class with Andy`s Personal Mind set Coaching

Easily contact Andy at:

Andy@PerfectStateU.com

Facebook.com/perfectstateu

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Below is a video of a  cross training session with a team I train/coach, Hollywood United FC from the PDL. I apologize in advance for the lighting and some of the skipping. This is an atypical workout that I decided to throw at the players just to test their mental game and keep them on their toes. I also wanted to take some of the impact off of their bodies they  endure day in and day out from playing on turf and from the movements that occur in soccer.  Soccer players (as you all know) change directions a lot and this can cause tightness in the hips and  quads, back pain, etc.

The exercises I chose in this workout are all pretty low impact on the joints  minus the hops in and out of the tire. However, the hops are (or were meant to be until they started rotating mid air which I let go because it was impressive- not gonna lie!)  performed in a controlled, linear fashion and are not for maximal height so the impact was really not a big concern. The tires they flip are light and I will come out and say I am not a huge fan of the exercise, especially for soccer players.   Tire flips certainly have some benefits which vary based on the load and reps.  Heavier flips will work glutes, quads and hamstrings quite well much like a deadlift and then it turns into a nice full body drive forward to complete the flip.  Light tire flips like you see in the video are good for work capacity and to teach a fast application of force against another object.   Notice some of the rounded backs just before the lift- not good.  Many people will use crappy form on this exercise especially when they are in a team environment and trying to show off.  Since the tires were incredibly light,  I figured it would not cause any harm and I was right. Ideally  the players would have had flat backs with their chests up and hips down before lifting but like I said in a competitive environment like that sometimes form will go bye bye.  All in all, work capacity, aggressiveness  and mental toughness were the emphasis and I believe it turned out to be a fun and rewarding session for the team.

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In soccer you need to be able to sprint full speed, stop on a dime, and go the other direction. If you do not have this ability down pat specific to the demands of soccer (aka not another sport), you will be left in the dust.  Even if the best cornerbacks in the NFL who have tremendous agility were to defend a great dribbler like Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, they would be in the ER with broken ankles! (hence the title) Why? Because each sport has unique  visual stimuli and movement patterns! Trademark aspects of agility for soccer include actions such as dribbling and making a cut to elude a defender or changing speed and directions  to stay with an opponent defensively.  So,  how can it be improved? Lets take a closer look shall we- Can the footladder improve soccer agility? Minimally is my answer. World renowned strength coach Charles Poliquin says “the footladder is good at preparing your for the footladder”.  While I think there are some benefits related to soccer  agility such as balance and coordination from the footladder , the movements of the footladder are just too non-specific to the sport of soccer.

If I asked you if you think agility is related to speed in a straight line and jumping ability, what would you say? The answer is surprisingly , not much. Agility stands somewhat alone as an athletic ability. In a study conducted using male physical education students, researchers compared agility performance not only to jumping ability but also to lower body strength using various types of squats (Marcovic, 2007). The results of this study suggest that most measures of strength and power are poor predictors of agility in physically active men. In another study looking for relationships between agility and other factors such as strength and power, semi-professional male Ausralian Rules football players were tested for 1-RM strength, power in a hang clean exercise, jumping, sprinting and agility performance (Hori, 2008). The researcher used the top performers in the hang clean to differentiate two groups. The hang-clean performance is considered a good indicator of lower-body power specific to jumping. The top performers in the hang-clean exercise showed greater maximal strength, greater performance of jumping, and faster sprint times. However, there was no significant difference between top performers and bottom performers of the hang-clean with agility performance. The investigator concluded that this occurred possibly because of important contributing factors to agility other than  strength and power.

What are these contributing factors? Agility comes down to being able to stop your speed going in one direction horizontally and then immediately being able to go the other way. In other words, putting on the brakes. This involves a lot of eccentric strength, or strength during the stretch phase of muscle contraction. When making a cut or a plant, whichever you want to call it, your muscles will be put on a stretch and then they will stop their stretch for a brief moment before contracting  and producing force for you to move a different direction. The less they have to stretch and the quicker they can contract and get you going the other way (also related to positioning which I’ll get to in the near future) the better. Vertical jumping, sprinting, and the hang clean all involve more  power of the hips and do not call for as much eccentric strength of the total leg.

So is speed related at all? While it doesn’t hurt to be  fast since after the change of directions portion of the movement you must accelerate or run to the next action, the key to successful agility performance and true soccer speed is that ability to cut on a dime as if you have springs for legs IN RESPONSE TO EXTERNAL STIMULUS.  I put that part in caps because you need to be able to recognize in advance what action to take. Call it soccer specific anticipation.

What does this mean for you, the soccer player? Like I said above, each sport has specific demands for changing directions and it all has to do with recognition from the eyes to the brain to the body. It is possible that if an athlete already has a lot of experience with changing directions, adding strength and power in the vertical plane can add to agility performance. If an athlete does not have a lot of experience playing soccer at a high level and changing directions at high speeds, the ability to produce high levels of vertical force may not transfer to soccer agility performance very well. Some of the best ways to improve soccer  agility are as follows:

-Run different patterns at full speed and get used to cutting hard (extra resistance can be used in the form of a weighted vest or a band to create an overspeed effect where someone pulls you even faster into the plant phase)

-Multi-directional plyometrics- lateral bounds, hops, using boxes to jump on or over, dot drills (these can be loaded as well with  a weighted vest, holding a medicine ball,   holding light dumbells)

-1 v 1 games with and without the ball at high speeds (mirror drills, tag games, follow the leader who runs in a spontaneous pattern around cones, 1 v1 penetration, 1v 1 to goal games, etc.)

-play soccer  at high speeds with emphasis on agility (this will generally involve playing small sided games at a high speed with rest between plays)

Other than that it takes a mental decision to say ” I am going to stay with everyone on every play”.  If you have any questions don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

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Some people say that in soccer you only need to be fast over 20-30 yards.  Maybe in indoor soccer!!! The soccer field is long, and during plays like counter attacks, breakaways, and recovering on transitions having good top speed can give you the ability to cover lots of ground fast.  This is necessary to score breakaways or be the hero by stopping one by chasing down a player on the opposing team.

Top speed is much different from acceleration since the forces that are needed to run at high top speeds are primarily vertical.  This was proven in an experiment in which a sprinter tried to accelerate on ice and he slipped due to the absence of friction.  He then ran on a runway with friction to get up to top speed that transitioned into ice and he had no problem running without slipping. The reason he did not slip is due to the vertical direction in which force was applied during top speed.

Due to the different forces necessary for top speed, different qualities take precedence, some of which are out of our control. Limb length and tendon length which are both out of our control are more advantageous in top speed than during acceleration.  It is also advantageous to have a high hip axis and long legs to cover more ground per stride, and good tendon length and strength  in order to “bounce” down the field.  In addition to those factors, top speed comes down to trainable qualities such as hamstring and glute power more so than the quadriceps  due to the more upright posture in top speed running.  It is also advantageous to have strong hip flexors that lift our knee up in front of our body each stride.  If high knee lift is not achieved, we will not create enough distance between our foot and the ground each stride to strike hard.  Think about a punch, would you hit someone harder from 1 inch away or from 15 inches away? (15)  We can definitely improve our strength in those areas and we can also improve our reactive ability to increase the power generated and thus stride length during each ground contact phase. A runner with good top speed mechanics will look like they are floating down the field due to upright posture, high knee lift, good glute and hamstring strength, and the ability to spring off the ground.

Check out world class sprinter Maurice Greene in the image below.  Notice the upright posture, high knee lift, and hip extension coming from glutes and hamstrings.

Maurice Greene- one of the fastest sprinters of all time

Here is a list of some of my favorite exercises for top speed.  Videos with explanation coming soon but in the meantime try typing them into youtube for a better idea. Then, get after it!!!

In no particular order:

Low level hopping drills- teach the calf/ankle complex to act stiff and springlike.

Flys- great for quality top speed sprinting

Bounds- difficult to to properly in my opinion  but I love them when executed well

Prime time runs – upright running with straight legs only taking the quads out of the picture. Stay on the balls of your feet and actually think about squeezing your glutes on ground strike.

RDL variations on one and two legs -reactive and regular tempos- (make sure you keep your back flat and bend your knees slightly as you drop your chest and straighten them out as you extend your hips. This will ensure the use of your glutes and not just your hamstrings. You want that!!!)

Good morning variations on one and two legs (reactive and regular tempos)

Pull phase of olympic lifts – the catch phase of the lifts  is not going to help top speed much as it is not very similar biomechanically but the pull phase is.

Back extension variations-reactive and regular tempos (This is one of my favorite exercises and can be done a million ways- make sure to use your glutes and not extend by hyper-extending or arching your lower back.  The  lower back will work but it is more of a stabilizing function. The glutes and hamstrings generate the force

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Alright this is the non-politically correct version of what coaches look for in players. If you REALLY want to know why you are not getting recruited or selected this is why with some  tips to help you set a new tone for yourself and start making things happen.

Roy Keane - Proof that toughness pays off

1. Your standards are too low. Mommy and Daddy may not know a damn thing about soccer and just because they think you are All-Word doesn’t mean its true. If after the match you wonder if you made an impact in the game then you probably didn’t. If you are a midfielder or a forward and you don’t create or score a goal on a very consistent basis then you are leaving more to be desired. If you are a defender and you are not shutting down the opposing team AND creating a few offensive chances for your team a game then you  are not making an impact! Thats right, you better be dangerous on both sides of the ball even as a defender  (set plays, regular attack picking your moments to get forward, etc.).

2. You are slow. If you do not have a certain level of physical speed you are a liability. Speed is not everything, but if you are not fast that means the coach has to find someone extra fast to play around you, at least at higher levels. I cannot stand when people say that speed cannot be taught since that is just not true, but most coaches do not have the know how to develop it so they just recruit it.  If you are slow-  get stronger, work on your running form, and you might want to change your nutrition. In most cases strong and lean will equal speed.

3. Your work rate sucks News flash to those of you with the purple shoes; you are not Cristiano Ronaldo!!! No one, especially in America  is exempt from working their ass off. Offensively you outta be working hard running to get into dangerous spaces where you can receive the ball and be dangerous. Smart coaches will recognize good runs. The days of attacking midfielders or forwards playing offense only are gone and the first defensive pressure starts with the front line.  Making a good chase goes a long way in the eyes of coaches.  Be relentless and do not give up on any plays.    Defensively you should never be lazy and let someone make a run without informing a teammate or following the runner. (in most cases you pass off horizontal runs to other defenders if playing zonal defense and track them yourself if it is a horizontal run) Be alert with your head on a swivel and be there first on every play. Of course high work rate requires high levels of fitness.  Two days of training may not be enough to reach or even sustain the level of physical contribution I am talking about.  What are you doing on the other days? Remember when you are not training, someone else is!!!

Landon Donovan-mentally and physically fit

4. You are not mentally or physically tough enough. If you back out of tackles or lose the majority of your fifty-fifty balls then you need to  make a change. At Indiana University they call it “tustling”.  One of my old coaches used to say certain players were “killers”.  Often I will hear aggressive players described as “hard”. Whatever word gets you going, it is time to add some bite to your game. Go through tackles and do not come up short. Its an attitude and it will take some time to develop it, but my advice is do not wait like I did until you lose a bad tackle and have to sit out  for six months  to realize that you should have went in harder.

Injury prone? Injuries can come from anywhere so its hard to pinpoint a reason, however I am going to say  they either come from a. poor biomechanics b. dehydration (muscle strains especially) c.psychological issues d. overuse injuries. While I have posted about biomechanics and dehydration and overuse are pretty self explanatory, psychologically I have something to say;  Are you injured because you want to be? Seriously, is it easier for you to imagine how good you would have done than actually take the risk and play? Fear of failure may be the underlying reason you are sick or hurt.  The mind is powerful and if you are really scared to play bad or avoid the high  pressure, you can actually create an injury. This happened to me in Dallas Cup when I was 17 years old. I knew that college coaches were coming to watch and it was a high profile tournament with teams from all around the world. The morning of our first game was against Tecos from Mexico and I woke up feeling weak, nautious and dizzy. I was pale white and couldn’t even make it out of bed to eat breakfast with the team. When my coach Afshin Ghotbi, a psychological genius and the current head coach of the Iranian National Team realized I was not down stairs he immediately came up to my hotel room.  In his hand were an envelope and an orange. He said to me “this is your plane ticket home, I cannot have sick players on this trip.”   I panicked of course and begged him to let me stay. He continued, “Either you get up and eat this orange and come downstairs to breakfast or you are going home. “  Needless to say I ate the orange, suddenly felt much better (and angry) and had a great game that day.   Of course people actually do get sick, but that story  demonstrates the power of the mind.

Afshin "The genie" Ghotbi

5.   You are dwelling on mistakes Top players do NOT keep track of their mistakes.  They simply do not give much energy to their mistakes and  instead they put focus on how they can change the game and make an impact.  Everyone makes mistakes, so who gives a damn. If you mope around about it coaches recognize it and it is just unnecessary negativity for yourself and your team.  Get on the ball, go at players, take risks.  Knowing you gave it your best and left it all on the field is a great feeling. Hiding is not.

Wrap up- Train to  be tough, fit, and play without fear of failure. Let your skills shine.  Say “no” to any negative or doubtful thoughts.  You can and you will.

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There are many resources out there on soccer training of various kinds. Books and DVD’s galore on soccer skills and tactics training and more than a handful about athleticism for the beautiful game. While there are certainly some good resources out there on the skills and tactics side of things, I cannot say I am very impressed with what is out there for the athletic development side and believe me, I have seen a lot of it! In fact the best athleticism for soccer product I have ever seen was the old Ajax (most popular soccer club in Holland) Speed Training

Tape Series.  They did a tremendous job differentiating between the different types of speed related to soccer. The footage of former superstars like Patrick Kluivert, Dennis Berkamp, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars, Nwanko Kanu, and Clarence Seedorf was incredible to watch. The physical speed, technical sharpness, and motivation in each exercise they displayed was incredible. Compared to today’s standards their strength training methods are outdated as they used a lot of isolation and machine training but nonetheless, it was a great video. You can find them here – www.lacancha.com/Soccer_V2963.html

Old School Ajax, One of the most athletic teams ever

If you are a soccer player, coach, or trainer looking to improve your individual or team’s performance, you are in the right place. The following are 5 of the most common mistakes I see in a soccer player’s preparation.

1. Soccer players don’t play enough small sided

I know we’ve all heard about how the South Americans play street soccer and there is something to be learned there. When I was 15 I started playing pickup soccer and small sided (1 on 1 included) as much as I could and within no time my performance shot up. Its simple- as your skills continue to improve from so much time on the ball in game situations and you become used to being in certain “soccer dynamics” (shielding the ball, finding a free player under pressure, etc), those improvements will transfer over to games and magically you are all of a sudden a better soccer player.

2. Soccer players don’t work on their specific skills enough

Shooting, passing, dribbling, and individual defense all require time spent perfecting them. Europeans spend hours on passing with the right weight, at the correct angle, and to the correct foot. The outside players spend hours perfecting their serve of the ball into the box. Strikers finish and defenders work on getting their long balls to resemble a lazer beam. On tv in the English Premier League they make it look easy because they put in the time when the cameras are off.   Sorry but twice a week at club practice  aint gonna cut it. You need reps.

3. Soccer players are weak

There are definitely some soccer players out there who are strong, (usually they are the fastest on the pitch), but for the most part, soccer players are far too weak.  How does strength help? Well, strength is the foundation on which all other athletic attributes are built on.  Strength is highly related to power since the stronger you are the faster you can move a significant load such as your body.

From famous sports scientist and Powerlifting champion Dr. Fred Hatfield:

Elite athletes develop the ability to generate maximum tension in less than three quarters of a second, perhaps even in as little as a half a second. That’s one of the factors that make them so great. They’re able to reduce the amount of time it takes to generate maximum tension.”

Hopefully you realize the importance of getting strong so that you can generate a lot of force. Then it is a matter of getting good at developing that force in a short amount of time specific to the movements of your sport. But if you never have the strength or force to begin with, you will be pissing in the wind!

Another benefit of strength training is that you will also be improving your body’s resistance to injury and its ability to recover.

4. Messed up ankles, knees and hips

Too many players rely on ankle taping. Unless you are just coming back from an ankle injury, it might be a good idea to toss the ankle brace or tape. Your ankle is designed to be mobile and if you take it away by restricting it there, you will have to compensate by finding mobility at the knee. Last time I checked, your knee is designed to hinge, so not a good thing when you increase the chances of your knee twisting and bending other ways.

Lift weights and get your glutes and hamstrings strong (hip thrusts, glute ham curls, good morning and RDL variations, back extensions done properly, etc.) Do some barefoot work or get the vibram five fingers. Finally, do some dynamic movements to improve on your foot stability, balance, proprioception and quickness simultaneously. Low grade plyos work great where you are hopping around on one leg different directions.

5. No Recovery Work

I am always amazed at how many soccer players don’t know that the positive things that go along with training hard occur when you’re not training.  You basically damage your body while training, then rest in order to come back better. Rest is when your body repairs the damage and in an attempt to better handle the stress it knows is coming in the near future, it super compensates.

Foam roll your quads, calfs, groin and adductors, tensor fascia latae, and ITBand. Do mobility exercises before each training session and stretch after training to reduce recovery time and restore tissue length.

Sleeping enough in the right environment, eating well, static or dynamic stretching, icing, foam rolling, massaging, napping and contrast therapy if you have the pain tolerance are all great tools. Don’t pass them off! ..they are integral to your complete development!

Well my friends, that’s a wrap. Til next time!

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I am generally a pretty laid back guy and I am open to the many differences in the world. However, I do have a few pet peeves and one of them is going to addressed today. I cannot stand watching athletes whose knees come together during squats and whose heels kick out to the side when they run. Forces do not get transferred well into the ground but there sure do get transferred into the knees and hips (not good!).  Look at the following pictures and see if any of them describe you.

Squinting patella             Knee valgus (they cave in)    Heels kick out (look closely at heels)

If your patellas squint together, it means your femur, or thigh bones are internally rotated.   This is the opposite of when you see people with bow legs who look like they were born riding a horse. The thighs are moving into internal rotation because certain muscles are not activating properly or certain muscles are tight.  Tight muscles that need to be released of adhesions and lengthened include ITB and TFL, adductors, pectineus, gluteus medius (anterior fibers) and gluteus minimus) and also muscles that pronate the foot including the peroneal longus and brevis.  Weak muscles include the obliques (usually the opposite side of the knee that is caving in, or both if they both do) gluteus medius on the same side of the knee that caves in, the illiopsoas (hip flexor), and the muscles that support the arch of the foot including the posterior tibialis and the deep foot flexors.  When running at top speed and the thigh comes up internally rotated, this can occur because the TFL is tight (flexes the hip and internally rotates the femur) in order to compensate for weak hip flexors and/or  because at foot strike the knee caves inwards which forces that movement pattern. The following soft tissue work done every day or every other day will help.  Just google image the body parts below and you should have a good idea about how to get after them.

Foam roll or use a softball or baseball to release the following:

IT band

TFL –(baseball or softball is best)

Adductors

Pectineus

VMO

Peroneals (use baseball)

Calves- (gastronemius and soleus)-

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Pro soccer players have about a fifteen minute break between their actual on field warm up and the start of the kick off. The same time frame may occur during half time. That is a long ass time and I am sure that unless some action is taken on the player’s part, their bodies get cold and much of the entire warm up becomes useless. After watching certain teams time and time again start the match or the 2nd half slow I decided to to shed some light on this topic.

Even in college with about a 10 minute break between warm up and kick off (back to the locker room, change, speech, 1-2-3 win cheer, make sure your eyebrows are straight (sadly not a joke for everyone) etc. ) and even more during half-time, I remember feeling like I tightened up again when I got back out on the field. This was especially true if it was a cold day and I was not fully recovered (i.e. muscles were a little fatigued from the week of training and/or the first half was demanding).

Man U getting ready

Stiff, tight, cold- not good things to be feeling when the whistle blows. Not only are you more likely to get injured in the first few minutes, but your performance including touch on the ball and speed will not be nearly as good as it would if you were warmed up. Many players believe the type of game they have will be determined by their first touch on the ball (unless you allow superstition to reign hold over you this is untrue, especially since the game is 90 minutes long) but it never hurts to be sharp from the get go. Blood flow and heat throughout the body are extremely important prerequisites to high level performance. Movement produces heat which increases blood flow which delivers oxygen to muscles and lubricates the joints. Heat increases the speed, power, and ease at which your nervous system fires to contract and relax your muscles. The tissues lengthen and contract with more elasticity meaning you will move with more fluidity, and the proprioceptive mechanisms (ability to find your body in space) are heightened. That means you are more likely to protect yourself in tackles, falls, and landings as well as run faster and control the ball with more precision when your body is warm.

The more fatigue you have obviously the more a proper warm up is needed. Do not rely on the adrenaline dump for a warm up. In big games you may feel that extra pep in your step that comes from being a little nervous or excited, but trust me, you still need to warm up. In fact, for a sport like soccer a good warm up may be even more important for big games to help your body and mind calm down and let your heart rate settle in so you are not gasping for air right off the bat. For many of us when we get nervous, we become blinded on the field and rush our decisions.

My advice is to do everything in your power to start the kickoff or the 2nd half prepared to sprint and change directions at full speed. Not close to your full speed, but your fastest when you are firing on all cylinders. This means you are sweating, your heart rate is elevated, and you have just sprinted and changed direction close to your maximum. A good dynamic warm up that incorporates lunges in different directions, activation of the glutes, leg swings for the hamstrings, and ankle mobility exercises is crucial, especially during a long break for those of you who have one. If it was just half time, get on the field early and warm up again. During half time stay loose with some stretches. Don’t be the cool guy and act like you don’t need to warm up.

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Hulse Strength

Elliot Hulse of Hulse Strength is someone I admire for his “never say die” attitude and his no bullshit approach to training.   He has a relatively new product out called Lean Hybrid Muscle that claims that you can gain muscle and lose fat quickly and easily even when you’ve tried everything else and failed.  Why is it important to have low levels of body fat? Aside from being unattractive (please spare me the “everyone is beautiful” speech) body fat levels above the minimum range (around 5-10% for men and 8-14% for women) is not only unhealthy, but  also slows you down when it comes to running fast, jumping high, etc. Why is muscle important? I am not a bodybuilder (far from it) and I like nothing more than athletes who exhibit high levels of relative strength (strength compared to bodyweight) since that is what the best movers in sport possess. However some athletes, soccer players and basketball players in particular, think that having too much muscle mass will slow them down and prevent them from being athletic. Now if we are talking about a huge upper body with a small lower body aka top heavy,  then I would have to agree that it is not conductive for sports (and it looks stupid).  But if that muscle mass is developed where it matters (legs, trunk, back, and upper depending on the sport) in an intelligent way, then athleticism will only improve. Muscles equal force which equals movement. Elliot’s program promises to deliver fat loss and muscle gain and the results from people have been outstanding.  Check it out:

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Everyone wants to jump higher. Defying gravity, a universal law, with no special equipment and just the help of our own athletic ability is a feat that both entertains and exhilarates people around the world.  I remember dreaming with all of the other sports minded kids  what it would be like to float in the air like our favorite stars. Adults I know to this day look up at the 10 foot high hoop every time they play basketball with a combination of  regret and wonder, only  wishing they could go back in time and had what it takes.   Most people do not understand what it takes to jump higher and that is why few ever reach elite level jumping abilities.

The concept is really pretty simple: one must develop a lot of force in a short amount of time into the ground compared to their body weight.

The methods, however, are not always so straightforward. For example, many people make the mistake of training for increased jumping ability  by doing countless plyometric exercises.  What they end up with is sore knees and a short-lived improvement that plateaus fast. If I were to ask you who you think on average has a higher vertical leap, athletes in the NBA or the NFL, who would you say? Most people would guess the NBA players since they do more jumping in their sport. The answer however based on combine tests is that NFL athletes have higher vertical jumps on average, including the heavy ass lineman!!! Why!? Because they lift weights and are stronger. That’s why.

While my goal is to continue bringing you valuable tips, if you really want to eliminate the guesswork on your way  to defying gravity, have a look at this very well reviewed product. Many people have significantly improved their jumping ability and vertical leap by using this program.

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Alright I know I said I would talk about food choices that will actually help you lose fat, build muscle, think clearly, etc. etc. but today I feel the desire to talk about mental game.

Being athletic is important, but at the end of the day it is the mental game that creates champions. A certain mental fortitude, a never say die attitude, a willingness to endure pain, a supreme confidence no matter how bad a mistake or how bad a first half …those are the qualities that  separate the great ones from the rest.   You might be wondering if people like this are born or made?  The answer is clear, champions are made.

The 50th Law is a book released by Fifty Cent and the author of The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene. I just started it, however it has already grabbed a hold of me and said “WAKE UP MAN!”. The book talks about growing up in the street and how the hard life develops an attitude of fearlessness and a hustler’s mentality. It talks precisely about how winners in life go through key life experiences that build mental toughness and an open mind. When Fifty was young and unsure of his future a mentor explained to him that the greatest danger he faced is not the police or some nasty rival. It’s the mind going soft.

With the clarity provided by great teachers such as Michael Beckwith Chris Watson, Steve Hochman, and many others, it has become clear to me that a soft mind begins the instant we stop counting our blessings.  Strength in mind starts with generating an attitude of gratitude in every moment, especially the ones we initially regard as tough,. This is a  video post Read the rest of this entry »

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In sports and in life, if we can create a brain environment that is relaxed, focused, and motivated, it will be much easier to succeed. Would you agree?

Serotonin is the brain neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger responsible for that happy feeling we sometimes get. Serotonin acts as an important neurotransmitter that helps to relay messages from one nerve cell to another giving us this sense of well-being. In many protein rich foods we find the component tryptophan which converts to 5HTP (5-Hydroxytryptophan) which in turn converts to serotonin. If serotonin is high, you are more likely to be positive, confident and optimistic. If it’s low, chances are you will be worried, sleepless and crave sugar.

It’s important to eat quality, high protein foods like organic meats and nuts to stock up on tryptophan. These foods are the key to maintaining adequate amounts of the amino acids necessary for proper neurotransmitter function. Adding these foods sounds simple, but it is easy to become serotonin deficient since these days there is less quality protein available since non-organic meat supply feeds on low tryptophan grains like corn instead of the grasses and plants that wild game used to eat. Aside from choosing higher quality meats, one option is supplementing with 5HTP. Doing so bypasses the need for tryptophan and immediately converts to serotonin. Other added bonuses: 5HTP improves the quality of sleep, is less expensive than antidepressant drugs, better tolerated and has fewer, milder side effects. (If you are currently on an antidepressant and are considering 5HTP, do not go off of your medication or start any supplements without first talking to your doctor.)

An improved diet will significantly improve mood. Poor dietary habits including low calorie dieting, low protein diets and too much sugar are the primary reasons why people suffer from low serotonin. Many studies confirm that eating sweet carbohydrates can temporarily increase serotonin levels, but then that ‘‘high” dissipates quickly and leaves us craving even more sugar. This process sets us up for a cycle of sugar addiction that’s hard to break. Julia Ross, author of ‘‘The Mood Cure,” says that ‘‘carbohydrate addiction, like alcohol and drug addiction is primarily a brain chemistry problem: the neurotransmitters that produce normal appetites and moods are too depleted to do their jobs.” And our diets are filled with temptations. ‘‘We can’t go around eating the American diet and remain unscathed,” Ross says.

In your quest to become a super athlete, do your best to cut out junk food, cookies, chips, crackers and as many sugars as you can. Make sure that you include a good multivitamin with adequate amounts of B vitamins. Vitamin D, Folic acid, zinc, chromium, selenium and fish oils to provide a solid foundation for your mood health, as several studies indicate that these nutrients have a directly beneficial effect on depression.

Change your diet, change your brain. We are supposed to have energy, focus, and ambition in all endeavors.

Posted in Diet and Nutrition, Mental Performance | 69 Comments »

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To many old school baseball and football lovin’ Americans, hating on soccer is something they love to do. Jim Rome, the sharp tongued sports reporter, is a great example of a proud hater of the beautiful game. Try as they may, they have no argument against the fact that soccer is the world’s most popular sport and no other event garners as much attention as the World Cup. The World Cup, like the Olympic Games, comes every four years and it is the ultimate combination of national pride, international festivity, and extremely high levels of skill, strategy, fitness, and athleticism. With excitement I say, we are only months away from World Cup 2010, South Africa!
The United States has come a long way in their development as a soccer nation with the likes of Landon Donovan (La Galaxy and Everton, England), Oguchi Onweyu (AC Milan, Italy), Freddy Adu (Benefica, Portugal), Clint Dempsey (Fulham, England) Damarcus Beasley/ Maurice Edu (Rangers,Scotland) and the list goes on. In the names above you will find at least one of two common denominators: skill and/or speed.
Landon Donovan has both, Dempsey has more skill and less speed, and Onweyu is more speed and athleticism and less skill. One of the two qualities must be in place, but in top players, some degree of both necessary to compete at high levels.
While developing skills has less of a genetic component than athleticism and comes down to how much time you are willing to put in, the quality of coaching you receive, and the frequency and quality of competition you are exposed to, athletic development has its own factors that make its acquisition unique. For instance, anyone can get educated, dedicate themselves to eating and training properly and make significant gains without relying on anyone else.
World renowned Canadian track and field coach and speed developer Charlie Francis has a saying, “if it looks right, it flies right.” In other words, there are certain physical prerequisites to being super athletic and fast. To test Coach Francis’ idea, let’s look at some of the best soccer athletes (and players) in the world and see if we can find some patterns.

In no particular order:
Ribery. Drogba, C.Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Samuel Eto, Nicolas Anelka, Pato, Kaka, Messi.
1. They all have low levels of body fat. (Rooney may be an exception, but even he can get faster)
2. They all have muscular legs, especially big gluteal muscles and hamstrings. (big quads are overrated)
3. None of them are particularly top heavy (having a big upper body and weak legs- makes changing directions and sustaining high work rate throughout the match more difficult).

Where is the Body Fat?

Where is the Body Fat?
With that miniature checklist, you can now ask yourself, do I have low body fat? Are my glutes and hamstrings big and strong? Is my upper body too developed compared to my lower body?
In the upcoming posts, I will tackle each number off of the the checklist and provide you with ways you can start developing your athleticism. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check out this awesome soccer site called culturefc I was recently turned on to by clicking on the link below.

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Bret Contreras is someone I really wanted to do an interview with the minute I finished reading his first article on www.t-nation.com, called Dispelling the Glute Myth. He simply has a ton of knowledge regarding training for speed, power, and strength, and has been cutting edge when it comes to training the muscles of the posterior (glutes and hamstrings). I knew that both I and the amazing readers of Empowered Athttp://www.empoweredathletes.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=663&message=1hletes would learn a lot from Bret so I am happy to present this interview.
To find out more information about Bret, visit his blog at http://bretcontreras.wordpress.com, and his websites at www.thegluteguy.com and www.skorcher.com.

1. You have been coined “The Glute Guy” because of your investigation and evolution regarding training the glutes. In fact, you were trained by Noraxon on how to use their Myotrace 400 and Clinical Application Software so you could measure and record the muscular activity of various exercises and their impact on the glutes. What is one glute fact you can you start us out with that most trainers and athletes are in the dark about?

Bret: One thing that many trainers don’t realize is that the various regions of the glutes do different things. Axial hip extension exercises like squats and deadlifts target more of the lower gluteus maximus, while anteroposterior hip extension exercises like hip thrusts and reverse hypers target the entire gluteus maximus. In addition, the upper gluteus maximus is more involved in abduction and external rotation than the lower gluteus maximus.

2. In your article on T-Nation entitled Dispelling the Glute Myth, you mention that in resistance training, there are two distinct types of hip extension exercises; those that mimic vertical jumping and those that mimic sprinting. In most team sports, athletes must have excellent acceleration ability in the first 0-30 yards. What category do you feel the acceleration phase of a sprint falls in?

Bret: Correct. Hip extension exercises that mimic vertical jumping are axial because the load is vertical, while hip extension exercises that mimic running are anteroposterior because the load is horizontal. As you mentioned, acceleration sprinting involves a forward lean and contains a vector that is half-way between axial and anteroposterior. This is why it’s important to include both axial and anteroposterior hip extension exercises in one’s routine and to train both the vertical and horizontal components of the cyclical sprinting action. There are certain exercises that mimic acceleration sprinting because they contain both vertical and horizontal components or have around a 45 degree vector like walking lunges, 45 degree back extensions, reverse leg presses, and the power runner, as well as plyometric exercises like power skips and stadium sprints.

3. Being a soccer player and coach myself, I have trained a lot of soccer players and one thing I often see is the tendency they have to be quad dominant. This is especially common in central midfielders since they are constantly changing directions in a low squat position. The eccentric action of braking definitely places high demand on the quads. What role do you feel the glutes play in changing directions and what advice can you athletes of any kind to improve their ability to change directions?

Bret: Lateral change of direction involves simultaneous hip abduction and knee extension. While squatting will transfer to lateral agility especially if the lifter forcefully keeps their knees out, specific abduction exercises like standing cable abductions and band seated abductions as well as slideboard lateral sprints should be employed, though not with a lot of volume. The upper glutes need to be very strong for lateral agility. For linear deceleration and backpedaling speed, exercises like forward lunges and backward sled drags are valuable.

4. Many coaches value the use of Olympic weightlifting for non-Olympic weightlifting athletes claiming that there is nothing else in the weight room that can match the power and athleticism of the lifts. Other great coaches argue there are safer and more effective ways for developing power (Joe Defranco, James Smith, Buddy Morris, Eric Cressey, Kelly Baggett). What is your opinion on the integration of Olympic lifts for non-Olympic lifting athletes?

Bret: I love Olympic lift variations like the power clean, hang clean, power snatch, and split jerk. Of course there are safer ways to develop power, for example plyometrics and medicine ball work, but when you hold onto a relatively heavy load and accelerate it as fast as possible, the force has to transfer through the core so the erector spinae are targeted more substantially. I consider jump squats, spit jerks, and most plyometrics to be quad-dominant, while I consider power cleans, power snatches, and sprints to be posterior chain-dominant. Proper programming has a blend of all kinds of speed-strength exercises. I could actually argue both sides of this issue, as sometimes Olympic lifts can become a logistical nightmare if training many athletes at once.

5. You have also mentioned that just because someone’s glutes are big, it doesn’t mean that they’re strong. Do you feel this holds true for all parts of the body? What role do you feel muscle size, or training for bigger muscles plays in the quest for strength and speed?

Bret: First, size can be deceptive. If someone is in anterior pelvic tilt it can make their glutes appear larger. Some cultures are known for possessing more developed glutes, while other cultures are known for possessing virtually no glute development. While glute size is very genetic, everyone can grow their glutes by acquiring core-control, glute-activation, hip mobility, and glute strength via different patterns of hip extension, abduction, and external rotation. Most muscles are strong if they look strong, but the glutes are governed by a lot of different factors due to the complexity of the lumbo-pelvic region and are more prone to inhibition than other muscles.

Charlie Francis said on many occasions, “Looks right, flies right.” He was referring to the posture, body type, and muscularity of a sprinter, but in particular he hones in on the glute and hamstring regions. A bigger muscle has more cross-sectional area (CSA) which is directly correlated to increased rate of force development (RFD). However, this does not mean that one should train the glutes like a bodybuilder with slow movements and high rep ranges. Numerous studies show that the glutes don’t like to be activated by simple tasks like standing up from a seated position or walking. The heavier and more explosive the hip action, the greater the glute involvement. By performing the right movements, an athlete can develop functional hypertrophy of the gluteals which will transfer directly to improved athleticism.

6. If I am not mistaken, there is a picture of you performing the Barbell Hip Thrusts with 4 plates on each side of the barbell. That is 405 lbs! Since the glutes are the most important muscle involved in sprinting, please tell me that you are fast?

Bret: I have actually used 455 for 3 solid reps on the hip thrust. I would not consider myself slow, but I’m not very fast either. I am 6?4? tall and currently weigh almost 240 lbs, and I train heavy and slow almost year round (for strength and hypertrophy). However, every year I ditch the heavy weights for two months and perform plyometrics, sprints, jump squats, Olympic lifts, and speed lifts (including speed hip thrusts) and my speed and power goes through the roof. In eight weeks I can put 6 inches on my vertical jump and 10 inches on my broad jump, and I can shave .2 seconds off my 40 yard dash and 1 full second off my 100 meter sprint. I would love to see what would happen if I trained explosively and athletically for several years straight but I love powerlifting and bodybuilding so much it’s hard for me to part ways.

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Mental Strength
Many of the top performers in sport and life have a mentality that is unique. To those who do not have it, it is almost incomprehensible. In my quest to find out why some people are so successful (can be measured many ways- pick yours) I continue to find common factors in each of them. Gratitude, a do or die attitude, hard work ethic, attacking fears, and the practice of affirmations,visualizations, and meditation; all of these concepts sound so simple but the majority of people do not execute them on a daily basis. That is the difference. Anyone can name the qualities and practices, but the incomprehensible part, the part that leaves the majority envious, is the fact that some people actually live and carry them out. Here is a man, like him or not, who not only talks the talk but walks the walk. The video is 10 minutes long, but it might be worth it if it ignites any sort of fire inside of you. Below the video I share a quick rant on the role (or lack thereof) of repetitions during weight training.?

Physical
When training for muscle strength and size it’s not about the reps, it’s about the rep range. More than that, its about providing a certain stimulus to the body and by proposing a hypothetical number people are wasting valuable time. I give athletes and clients a range of repetitions they should probably achieve, mostly so they have an idea about what they should accomplish. The heavier the load the tighter the range I will give them. What is the point in telling an athlete to give me a set of 5 reps with 225 lbs on the squat when only 3 reps is what they are capable of? The last two reps will be forced jeopardizing safety and effectiveness, and the athlete will also feel like a failure. At the same token, if I tell an athlete to bust out a set of 8 reps on the squat with 225lbs and at rep number 8 they have 5 more reps in the tank (that would total 13 for those of you that failed 1st grade math), why should they stop? I am not advocating training to failure every set, but get something out of it by pushing! If I had a penny for every time I heard the client ask their trainer “how many reps?” or during the lift ask “how many more?” I could insert your own I am rich joke here. Regarding reps, make a call when to end a set based on the feeling and quality of movement. Feeling and quality of movement are important due to safety and getting the correct muscles to contract for a given movement. If something hurts, stop immediately. When assessing quality of movement, pay attention to postural changes and speed of movement. Speed is related to quality of movement because when speed slows down you can usually expect a drop in quality coming. As certain muscles are fatiguing your body will change positions to fire different ones. This can be dangerous with heavy loads and not what you want. The key is in finding a coach or developing the ability yourself to know when enough is enough each set, and why.

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When it comes to training for speed, jumping ability, and overall

Standing 5'9, Kelly Baggett getting UP!!!

Standing 5?9, Kelly B gettin’ UP

athleticism, Kelly Baggett is in my opinion, one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet. He delivers results, plain and simple. Kelly works as a performance consultant designing programs and providing guidance for athletes and people who participate in various sports and activities throughout the world. His clients include athletes in football, basketball, boxing, volleyball, powerlifting, and bodybuilding, as well as plenty of people who just desire to look better. He has a website called Higher Faster Sports where you can find his infamous Vertical Jump Bible. I recently had the great fortune of picking his enormous brain, so enjoy:

1. A lot of coaches talk about the importance of having high levels of relative strength for athleticism. What is your definition of relative strength?

Kelly Baggett: Well strength is really just the ability to exert force. Movement in sports
is all about force. The more force you exert, the faster and more forceful
your movements. Honestly though I’m not really concerned about the
“relative” part of relative strength. Relative, or strength per pound of
bodyweight, infers the notion that an athlete should be as light as
possible. My general recommendation for most athletes is get as muscular as
possible within reason while staying fairly lean. Do that and the relative
strength will take care of itself. Hell, Lebron James weighs 260-270 and runs
and moves like an alien cross between a greyound and a pit bull. Put
on a tape of an NFL game from 10 years ago and take a look at the receivers
then compared to now. You’ll see bigger, more muscular receivers who are
also a lot more explosive, and that’s largely due to their dedication in the
weight room.

2. You have mentioned that the Olympic lifts are not necessary for non-olympic lifting athletes. Often times jump squats are said to be a replacement however, the pull phase of the lifts seems to have unique qualities due to the reliance on the posterior chain (glutes and hamstrings) to generate power. Do you feel that the pull phase of the olympic lifts is unique? Or are jump squats or any other exercises you have in mind a viable alternative?

Kelly Baggett: I don’t think there’s anything really special about the pull phase of the
0-lifts for the posterior chain and here’s why: From a standing position
the muscles of the posterior chain are primarily designed to propel the
athlete horizontally. In other words, when you’re standing up you’re
fighting vertical forces and the gravity in an o-lift is pulling on the bar
vertically. Thus, trying to optimally engage the posterior chaiin is
difficult and requires a lot of technique…In other words, engaging the
posterior chain from a standing position with a bar hanging from your hands
is sorta like standing up vertically with a barbell and doing a horizontal
bench press from that position and trying to engage the pecs. The resistance
is coming from the wrong direction.

So, if you wanted a more physiological correct no brainer exercise for the
posterior chain, put the body in position where the posterior chain has to
naturally work against gravity. Figure out ways to load the posterior chain
when you’re either on your stomach, on your back, or you’re using a device
that requires you to work against horizontal force. Thus reverse
hyperextensions, barbell hip thrusts (popularized by Brent Contreras), or
sled towing/dragging/marches are better exercises for the posterior chain
for the average trainee IMO. I’ve always been a big fan of reverse hypers
and I thought the general indsutry movement to phase them out the last
several years was a mistake.

Having said that, if you can do the O-lifts with correct engagement of the
posterior chain they’re viable. That requires some technique though. There
has to be some horizontal movement of the hips. The hips have to move back
and explode forward. The Romanian deadlift is basically a slower o-lift.
Done correctly it should target the glutes. However I’ve always thought it
is the hardest exercise in existence to teach and do correctly. I pretty
much gave up trying to teach it to my training clients. There has to be some
emphasis on pushing the hips back and pawing back on the ground from that
position (like a bull pawing the ground), even though the feet won’t move.
The average trainee doing o-lifts and RDLs uses way too much back and not
enough glute.

One good way I’ve found to get good posterior chain engagement with o-lifts
is doing them from the hang in rhythmic fashion for fairly high reps (~8-10
or so). Some people call these speed cleans or speed snatches. I’ve always
thought of them as “rhythm” cleans or “rhythm” snatches because in order to
do them rapidly you have to use the correct muscle groups. If you don’t you
lose your rhythm and the weight won’t go up. Kettlebell swings are also
pretty good.

“Well if the muscles of the posterior chain are primarily designed to propel
the athlete horizontally and the resistance in a squat is vertical doesn’t
make the squat a useless exercise too?”

Well in the squat the hips have to go back and at the bottom the glutes get
stretched. Therefore they have to contract to blast you out of the hole.

3. There have been contradicting studies about the benefits of using of resisted sprinting for training acceleration. What is your experience with the results of using resisted sprinting?

Kelly Baggett:I LOVE resisted sprints and have seen great results in athletes using
variations of them Not just resisted sprints, but resisted sled walks,
marches, car pushing, truck pushing, you name it. Anything you can do where
you’re on the ground working against horizontal resistance is good IMO.

Recently I even had a pro BMX racer experiment with some ideas I had for
using sleds attached to his bike and he reported great results.

I like to separate resisted sprints used for strength and those for speed.
A sample training cycle I’ve been using recently with speed seeking
athletes looks like this:

Phase 1: 3 weeks (do twice a week)

Sled Pull x 150-400 lbs x 20 meters x 2 reps followed by Sled sprint x 45
lbs x 2 reps – Go thru the series 3 times for a total of 12 sprints

Phase 2: 3 weeks (do twice a week)

Sled sprint x 45 lbs. X 20-30 meters (or enough resistance to cause about a
10% drop in times) x 2 reps followed by bodyweight sprints x 20-30 meters x
2 reps. Repeat 3 x

Guys are really boosting their acceleration with that 6 week cycle.

Sled pulls are more of a “pull” then a sprint. You should be able to move,
but not really sprint. How much weight you use depends on your strength.
Experiment with the poundages and don’t be afraid to load it up.

4. There are so many sources on diet and nutrition that all seem to claim
to have the answer to increased health and athleticism. Two philosophies
making sound arguments that seem to be at odds are the Paleolithic Diet
(theory based on eating like our ancestors) and the Metabolic Typing Diet
(theory based on the fact that each person is different and must find out
what foods work for them, in other words some are carbohydrate types while
others are not). Where do you weigh in on this issue?

Kelly Baggett: You’re exactly right and I could literally write for days this topic, but in
general either diet will have you eating more of the foods you know are good
for you and less of those you know are bad. If you wish to get away from
pigeon holing yourself into any specific group, simply eat more good stuff
and less bad and everything will tend to take care of itself.

If your heritage is mainly darker skin or naturally bigger muscles (pacific
islander, african, eskimo etc.) you probably do better with more fat in your
diet.

If your heritage is mainly lighter skin or smaller muscles you can probably
get away with more carbs. (european, asian, hispanic)

6. You have stated that long limbs athletes will express strength gained in the weight room more efficiently on the field or court than shorter limb athletes. For the shorter limb athletes, in order to get very strong I am assuming this means they will have to develop much larger muscle mass than longer athletes. Can you elaborate on this concept?

Kelly Baggett: Well shorter limbed athletes tend to naturally have more muscle mass than
their longer limbed counterparts and they also tend to be stronger. In
general though they need more strength to get the same results of longer
limbed athletes, because longer limbed athletes “leverage” their strength
better. In terms of the difference, it helps if you think like a hitter in
baseball. Imagine if you had 2 Mark McGwires. One has to hit with a 16 inch
bat and one has to hit with a 32 inch bat. Their strength is the same, but
which one is gonna hit the ball further? Logically the one holding the 32
inch bat right? Now, how can the one with the 16 inch bat hit the ball just
as far as the one with the 32 inch bat? He’ll need to have a lot more power
going into his swing, so he’ll need to be that much stronger. But for each
unit of strength the one with the 32 inch bat gains he’ll be able to
leverage it better into hitting performance. Which helps explain why for
absolute levels of speed and jumping ability longer limbed athletes tend to
excel.

Sticking to that same example, there obviously becomes a point where longer
bat length doesn’t help hit the ball further and in fact hinders hitting
distance. Which also explains some gangly long limbed people in sport. Think
of Manute Bol or Chuck Nevitt. You’ll rarely see guys like that flying up
and down the court and jumping over buildings because they’re too weak for
the length of their limbs.

7. What are you thoughts on the barbell thrusters popularized by Bret Contreras on T-nation? http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_interviews/glute_boy_speaks_an_interview_with_bret_contreras

Kelly Baggett: I’ve corresponded with Bret and I think he’s done a lot of good things for
“glute awareness”. One thing I like about his EMG studies on the glutes is
he’s really verified my feelings about the effectiveness of the reverse hyper
exercise. His EMG studies on glute recruitment have reverse hyper variations
rated ahead of every other exercise. It’s funny but over the years I’d
actually experimented with quite a few of his funky exercises at some
point just messing around in the gym. He took it to another level though so
kudos to him. I’ve added his barbell hip thrust into my arsenal. That one’s
a good one IMO for those who don’t have a reverse hyper bench. I think he’s
spot on when he says that the posterior chain (and the hamstrings) are more
important for the sprints then the vertical jump. However, the glutes are
still very important for the VJ. Although they don’t contribute as much as in
the sprints, I’ve yet to see a study that showed the quads contributing more
than the glutes in the VJ. More importantly though is how being “glute
dominant” influences the optimal posture and recruitment patterns needed for
VJ success.

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Mark Sisson, 56 years young

Mark Sisson is a former world class triathlete, runs the excellent blog www.marksdailyapple.com, is the author of the Primal Blueprint, has a company called Primal Nutrition, and is basically a damn smart guy who practices what he preaches. He goes against “conventional wisdom”, as he calls it, and recommends a lifestyle and diet that our ancestors evolved on. A true scientist, he has no agenda when it comes to finding the truth and delivering it. Mark was kind enough to answer a few of my questions, so read on!!!

1. Many readers may not know anything about the Primal Blueprint and what your philosophies are about diet, exercise, and lifestyle. What are some of the basic principles?

Mark Sisson : Basically, most of us have gotten it all wrong. We eat the wrong foods, exercise the wrong way and most of us who are trying to do the right thing are messing it up. The idea behind the Primal Blueprint is that we can literally reprogram our genes to lose weight, have more energy and get sick less often. Our genes today are essentially the same as those of our hunter-gatherer ancestors 10,000 years ago who ate lots of plants and animals, exercised frequently, got regular sun exposure, slept well, and played. But our genes have not adapted to our lack of sleep and sun, our couch-potato ways or our eating modern foods like grains, legumes, high amounts of sugar, processed oils and other things we find commonly in today’s diets. As a result, we have sent signals to our genes to make us overweight or obese, diabetic, arthritic, depressed and susceptible to heart disease and cancer. The Primal Blueprint is about eating, exercising and otherwise living the way our genes expect us to live. Our genes want us to be healthy and happy.

2. You have created quite a following at your site(www.marksdailyapple.com) and with your book, the Primal Blueprint. How exactly did you get turned on to the Primal lifestyle?

Mark Sisson: I was a top endurance athlete doing “all the right things”. I was logging many miles in training, eating a complex high-carb diet and basically following Conventional Wisdom. I could race fast and was considered extremely fit, but I was actually falling apart on the inside. Tendonitis, osteoarthritis, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic upper respiratory tract infections and seasonal allergies eventually forced me to quit competing at a young age. I started researching what went wrong with me and how the human body was really designed by evolution to eat and move. I started playing around with this Primal lifestyle at a time when modern genetic science and evolutionary biology were converging to give us all the answers that modern drug-based medicine couldn’t. The secrets to health lay in giving our genes the right signals, and the clues were in emulating what our ancestors did over two million years of human evolution. In a twenty-first century context, of course.

3. What do you feel is the number one problem with most American’s diets?

Mark Sisson: Too much sugar and too many grains. If most people were to simply eliminate grains and sugars completely, they would normalize blood sugar and energy levels, start to burn off stored body fat, have more energy throughout the day, get sick less often, reduce their risk of virtually every major disease and most likely live longer. There is no reason at all to include any kind of grains in anyone’s diet (except as a cheap source of calories that immediately converts to sugar in the bloodstream).

4. You talk about the need of certain athletes (soccer, triathlons, MMA) to include some starchy carbohydrates for fuel. Arthur DeVany, a colleague of yours, expresses the opinion that athletes will adapt over time to a very low carbohydrate diet (no starch, no grain), even during high intensity bouts. What’s the deal, do athletes actually need carbohydrate for fuel?

Mark Sisson: Actually, I agree with Art that most of these athletes don’t need starchy carbs in their diets if they are able to train “Primally” and eventually adapt to deriving more energy from stored and dietary fats. It’s just that most of these athletes aren’t willing to slow their long days down and make their hard days even more intense. It’s not an easy transition for athletes who have depended on carbs for fuel their entire lives, but it is possible, and it has the potential to create a more efficient athlete. Until they can adopt true Primal training methods, they will probably need to depend on added carbs.

5. A lot of people seem to be suffering from some form of anxiety these days. Anxiety is the cause of many problems including OCD, depression, anxiety attacks etc. What role do you feel today’s diet plays in producing and combating anxiety?

Mark Sisson: Diet is most likely the proximate cause of most of what you list above. I have seen miraculous turnarounds in people eating Primally in as little as two weeks. Something as simple as increasing the amount of healthy Omega 3 fats and cutting out the sugars has been shown to have a profound effect at mitigating depression – more so that many or most of the powerful anti-depressant drugs. Add in some exercise, sunlight, good Primal sleeping habits and you have a universal prescription for reversing many of the mood-related issues people suffer from.

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Many people love to talk about who the best athletes in the world are and from what sport. Kobe Bryant and Lebron James (for those of you born yesterday, basketball), Adrian Peterson (football), Usain Bolt (track), George St. Pierre (MMA), Cristiano Ronaldo (soccer), are some names that come up a lot. Each of them possess levels of speed, power, and skill, in addition to having the mental toughness that allows them to rise to the occasion when the the pressure is on. It’s really hard to say who is the best athlete since a lot of it will come down to preference over what attributes define athleticism in someone’s mind. If we are talking speed, then Usain Bolt takes the cake. However, I doubt he could get low and tackle a rushing Adrian Peterson. I would also put money on the fact that Adrian Peterson would not last 2 minutes in the cage against the smaller George St. Pierre. You get my point.

Fabricio Werdun, Marcus Kowal, Me, Cris Cyborg post training at the beach

The concept of “hard” is an easier concept to define. Hard, although still subjective, can be scaled. In other words, something is either not that hard and you can keep going with no problem, or so hard you have to slow down and eventually stop. In my opinion, when it comes down to being just plain hard, no sport compares to fighting. Having trained athletes from a multitude of sports, combat athletes are by far the athletes most willing to endure. It defines their sport; enduring pain, fatigue, and nerves, and coming out on top.

If you have ever ran a timed race with the grit and determination to push yourself beyond the pain barrier, you know how demanding running can be. Running is damn hard, but fighting at a frantic pace feels just like an all out run, plus someone is trying take you out with strikes, takedowns, and submissions. While running can be excruciating, the only pain is the pain you are willing to inflict on yourself.

Football is a tough sport without question, but there are elements that make it easier than fighting. A quote from former NFL star Johny Morton BEFORE his first and only attempt at MMA in which he got knocked out in the first round (credit to Johny as he showed massive heart and courage for even trying) :
“I think many of the NFL players will be able to transition into MMA as long as they have the desire and the discipline, because the training is a lot harder. Fighting is something that I might have second guessed knowing the training was going to be this hard.”

Football has a lot of rest time in between plays including sitting around waiting for your line of duty, either offense, defense, or special teams. You also go to battle with numerous teammates, so the responsibility of success and failure is shared. Same with other team sports. In fighting, you’re on your own.

I have been the strength and conditioning coach for a few professional MMA fighters recently by the names of Fabricio Werdun and Marcus Kowal. I also had the privilege of training the number one female fighter in the world, Cris Cyborg. Fabricio Werdun is 5 x World Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion – IBJJF, World Cup Champion – CBJJO, World Cup Champion- Open Class – CBJJO, European Jiu Jitsu Champion, Abu Dhabi Champion – 2007- Heavy Weight, UFC 80 and 85 Champion / Pride Champion/ Strikeforce Champion. He is currently preparing for a bout in May with the number one ranked heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Marcus Kowal (you can see his videos in the testimonial section and on youtube) is a World title holder in kickboxing, Golden Gloves Boxing Championship 2x runner up, and a current MMA pro who is 2-0 at 135 lbs. His next bout is sometime in May.

Fabricio Werdun, Marcus Kowal, and Cris Cyborg endure. Their schedules are crazy, sometimes training 3-4 times per day working different elements of their game (boxing, muay thai, wrestling, jui-jitsu, strength and conditioning). Each training session, as I find ways to increase their fitness and pain thresholds, the look on their faces tell all as they embrace the pain with the only option being to conquer it by pushing through. They are lions, so much so that it makes my decision about the hardest sport easy. It is fighting.

Now its your turn to share your opinion. What do you think is the hardest sport?

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It has been awhile since I posted as I have been busy training my soccer teams and fighters.  Today I want to talk about soccer athleticism and dispel the notion that strength training is not important for improvements in speed and power.  It is time that all of you soccer players who think that lifting heavy weights is for football players only to think again! It seems like so many soccer players and athletes in general favor cool looking exercises with fancy equipment thinking it will give them the “cutting edge” when the truth of the matter is they just need to get stronger using basic exercises. (of course biomechanics or how your body is aligned is important in order to display strength because if your alignment is off, its like driving a race car with a flat tire.  In other words, your muscles have strength and power but since you’re not aligned properly the force you produce gets dissipated upon ground strike.  More on alignment in the upcoming days.) Today I want to talk about strength and use a few studies to  convince you of its importance.

Soccer is a game that places many demands on the athlete;  high levels of power in short bursts including accelerating up to 20 yards, longer distance sprinting, changing direction, and jumping. While the energy requirements for soccer players with the exception of the goalkeeper are more towards the aerobic side of things than a sport like football, it is the moments of powerful expression that often determine the outcome of the match.
The results of studies using male high school aged soccer players up to professional players as subjects exhibit a strong relationship between leg strength in the back squat exercises and the various field tests. Maximal strength in the half squat exercise has a significant correlation with speed in distances measured up to 30 meters and vertical jump ability (Ronnestad, 2008; Wisloff, 2004). In high-school-aged soccer players as well, it was found that leg muscle volume (overall muscle size) and maximal half-squat strength are significantly related to 5-meter sprint times (Souhaiel, 2009).  In a group of female soccer athletes utilizing high-load back squats as the means of strength training (average increase of 33.7%) they demonstrated an increase in rate of force development by 52.3%, and running economy at anaerobic threshold improved by 4.7% while no changes were observed in the control group (Hoff, 2001).

One study on soccer players concluded that maximal power in a half-squat exercise was attained with a load of 60% of 1-RM strength, representing 112% of the athlete’s body weight. Performance in the speed and power tests selected was significantly related with all the half-squat variables measured, especially with loads of 75 – 125% of body weight. Therefore, if an athlete improves their maximal strength, they may be able to increase the load and still move the weight at the same speed producing more power across a broad range of loads, including their own bodyweight.  Hello more speed and power!  (Requena, 2009; Wisloff, 2004).

Aren’t plyos better for soccer than lifting weights?
For athletes already training a lot, extra plyos may not help as much as strength training. Using a control group, a squat plus jump training group, and a squat only group, researchers wanted to determine if strength training would lead to gains in speed and power, and whether adding in jump training to the strength training would serve as an added benefit to professional soccer players (Ronnestad, 2008). Jump training or plyometrics as it is often called, is considered to be a more specific means of strength training since the time of execution more closely resemble that which is seen in the sporting events themselves. However, the results suggested that heavy strength training is the most important aspect that leads to significant gains in strength and power-related measurements in professional soccer players. There were no significant performance-enhancing effects of combining strength and jump training in professional soccer players concurrently practicing multiple times a week compared to strength training alone. There is no better plyometric exercise than playing the game itself.

Bottom Line
Hopefully now you realize you need to improve your strength if you want to get faster and more powerful. I want to add- don’t be fooled by people that are very fast who have never touched a weight. There is such a thing as natural strength.  But even those lucky folks can get faster if they put in the time and effort in the weight room.  For those of you without natural strength, you can do speed training and plyos all day but without adding strength, your ceiling for improving speed and power will not be very high.

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