Along with blogging I have decided to video and explain exercises which you can include in your own strength and conditioning programs. I will be calling these Exercise Highlights. Single Leg Step Up (with Hip Flexion)
Performed with either a Barbell or Dumbbells, this is a very simple and effective single leg exercise. As explain in my article about Single Leg Training this is great exercise to develop strength equally in both legs.
Use a box or bench (at a height so that when your hip is flexed your thigh is parallel to the ground and your thigh and lower leg are at a 90 degree angle). Place one foot up onto the box and drive upwards, making sure to ‘drive’ through your heel so you don’t just work your quadriceps. As you drive upwards ensure you squeeze your gluteus throughout. Continue to bring your opposite leg up into hip flexion so that your thigh is parallel to the ground. This helps the initial drive but also develops strength and proprioceptive ability in your ankle joint.
Many people when they train their lower body forget about single leg training. Most commercial gyms you go too you mainly see people doing leg press, leg extension, leg curl with very few people squatting or deadlifting (with proper technique). I’m not saying Squats and Deadlifts aren’t important, people often forget to develop a balance between their two legs. Here I’m going to highlight the benefits of single leg training and over the course of time post videos of these exercises done properly.
1) Balance Between Legs and Injury Prevention
In sports it is very important to have a balance in strength between both legs. With one leg stronger or weaker than the other there is an increased chance of this leading to an injury. By doing single leg exercise you reduce this chance of injury by ensuring that the strength in each leg is equal.
2) Improved Balance and Proprioception
By doing single leg exercises it will greatly help to increase your balance. This is especially important for an athlete as good balance is key. Your body’s proprioception ability will also increase over time, the ability to know where you are in space.
3) Strengthen Knee Stabilisers Single leg exercises increase strength in your gluteal and vastus medialis oblique’s (VMO), these are key muscles in strengthening your knee and reducing the chance of injury to your knee. Studies have shown how ever that these muscles are enhanced the deeper your go, so it’s vital that you do ALL exercises with full range of motion.
These are the key main reasons to do single leg training. It’s vitally important that as an athlete you train your lower body. The lower body makes up for half your body so if your not including it in your training program you should, at least 2-3 times a week in pre-season. By including lower body training and incorporating single leg training into these sessions it will help to improve strength between your two legs and most importantly reduce the change of injury.
Below is one of my favourite single leg exercises the “Single Leg Step Up”. Over the course of the next month I will be posting many more videos of single leg exercises so keep checking back.
I have posted some more photos in the ‘In Action’ page on my website. These photos are from recent training sessions involving Nathan Charles (Western Force) and Nick Stirzaker (Melbourne Rebels). While these guys were on Christmas Holiday i helped them run through their strength programs and helped them with extra cardio sessions.
I have also recently been helping Richard Taylor with his training as he prepares to trial with several Japanese clubs. It has been great to work with Richard over the last few months preparing him for his trials and also the 2012 season.
I wish Nathan, Nick and Richard the best of luck in their respective 2012 seasons and I’m always willing to help with you training in the future.
Recently I have been exploring ways Rugby Union props can traing scrum technique work in the gym environment. This is the 1st of many videos to come of exercises I am adapating constantly for other people to use and see what works with them. This video like others are very trial and error at this stage as I am trying to see what works and what doesn’t.
This first Video is designed to replicate the engage in a scrum. The sled behind provided added weight to the leg drive for the engage. The bar is used to turn on the core muscles of the body and to help chase your feet up after the engage. This is aimed at Props, with more videos for Second Rowers and Back Rowers to come along with many more for props.
I am being aided by Richard Taylor who has been capped by the Phillipines. Any questions or comments about the videos please email me at will@wsstrength.comor comment on the videos.
One thing which many athletes don’t consider when they train is, am I training for my sport or am I just training?
So often I see athletes in the gym training for their sports who are just training like body builders, trying to make their biceps bigger to make themselves look better for the opposite sex whilst claiming it will assist them in their sporting endeavours. What many people don’t do is sit back and look at the sport they are competing in and analysing the movements associated with that sport.
When I am designing a strength and conditioning program for an athlete or team I first look at the sport and look at the characteristics of the sport to allow my athlete or team to be the best prepared they can be. I do this when designing gym programs and whilst developing conditioning drills as well. When designed a strength or gym program for an athlete I look at several things, the athletes’ goals, the sport, their position and their strengths and weaknesses. When designing a strength program I want to have my athlete sports ready. This involves having a different gym program for a Rugby Union player and an AFL player and within that a different gym program for a Prop in Rugby Union and a Flanker in Rugby Union.
I look at the key attributes and demands of the position to see where I can implement strength exercises and strategies to allow the athlete to develop. For Example this may involves making a Prop stronger and more powerful in the legs to increase their hit power in scrummaging. This can also be used to assist athletes who feel a part of their game is lacking or needs improvement. There are many cases where as a strength and conditioning coach I can assist an athlete to become better in their position through an appropriate gym program. This can be done by helping Rugby Union forwards with more strength to assist them to lift players in lineouts or Soccer players to have more acceleration off the mark.
When it comes to conditioning athletes it’s also important to look at the sport and how it is played. Through the advent of GPS devices many professional teams are using this data to see how far players run and at what pace. This information is then used so they can model training to be like games to have the athletes ready to compete. This can be done without the use of GPS software though. By looking at what an athlete does in their sport it is evident to see what type of training is suitable for the sport.
So often we see sports coaches send athletes on lap after lap of an oval in the aim to get them fit. Whilst I see some benefit in this to build an aerobic base I feel there needs to be more thought into the athletes conditioning. When I condition my athlete I look at what happens in the sport to allow me to best simulate a game on the training field so that the athletes are trained in as realistic way as possible. For example when I training Rugby players I have them doing a lot of up and down work to stimulate making a tackle or going into a ruck and then getting on their feet and sprinting and with my Netball athletes I have them doing a lot of intermittent sprint work.
Training sports specificity is one concept which I am very big on as a strength and conditioning coach, I feel by training sports specific movements on the training field it will equate to success on the field. When in the gym I always try and replicate movements on the field to best training my athletes. I often use basic exercises to build size, strength and power in my athletes. But as they become more advanced I feel training sports specific or position specific movements allows them to be better prepared for their sports. With athlete conditioning I feel its best that athletes are trained in as similar to match conditions as possible. By adding a ball to drills which would previously wouldn’t have a ball adds an extra element to training.
So when you are next training for sport or a competition, think, are you training sports specific?
Will
If you have any comments or feedback please email me will@wsstrength.com or find me on Twitter @WSStrength
I have found through my strength and conditioning career, like everything in life, what works well for one person may not work well for another. This is why it’s important to try a variety of recovery methods and devise which one or a combination of recovery methods works best for you. I have found that athletes will respond to different recovery methods in different ways and some will prefer different recovery methods over others.
With recovery it’s not only the body and the physiological aspect which needs recovering it’s also the psychological aspects which needs recovery too. Many athletes will find recovery sessions beneficial to be able to ‘switch off’ after training or a game and able to re-focus on their next task at hand. Some athletes may prefer one method over the other to allow them to have both physiological and psychological recovery, while others use a variety of methods to help them recover fully.
Compression Garments: A lot is written about the effectiveness of compression garments and several university studies have been done with very little proof that they actually work. But many athletes swear by them and rave of their positive effects. This is where it comes down to personal choice, some athletes believe that they work and help them recover, while others claim they do very little or nothing for them. Another alternative to compression garments to use compression tubing which can be bought from the pharmacists, which has a very similar affect to an expensive compression garment for a fraction of the price.
Cold Water Immersion: involves jumping into a cold pool or bath and spending anywhere up to 10 minutes in there. Again the evidence on this practice is still unclear but some athletes swear by it. In research which has been done, it shows that perceived soreness after cold water immersion is lower. This practice can be done by anyone with a bath or pool. Many elite teams use this practice and have fancy centre to do them in. This can easily be done at home with a few bags or ice in your bath or by jumping in the pool in the winter. I advise between 1-2 minutes repeated 3 or 4 times with a 30 second break.
Cool Down: As with many methods the active cool down is one which can be debated long and hard as to whether it has positive effects on recovery. The practice is used to help slowly cool the body down post training or match situation. It generally involves very light exercises, usually on a stationary bike or cross trainer for 5-10minutes. During this time it keeps the heart pumping blood around the muscles helping to rid the muscle of waste products. Some athletes don’t like this practice as all they want to do post session is go home, but by doing that the waste products pool in their muscles making it harder to recover. This method is also seen as one of the best ways to help ‘switch off’ or ‘wind down’ post session as it allows the body to slowly stop training.
Stretching: Stretching post session is something which can be used very effectively with the cool down, after 5-10 minutes of easy exercises its good to spend 10minutes stretching the major muscles used. This helps to eliminate waste products from the body and maintain range of motion. Partner stretching is something I use here, where the athletes pair up and help each other stretch through the use of PNF stretches. This is another great way to help the athletes wind down and switch off from training.
All of these recovery strategies work to varying degrees but it’s about finding the strategy which works for you. Try a variety of these methods to see which one or a combination of these methods works best for you as an individual or your team. Keep a log of which ones you use and in the days after mark how you feel out of 10 to see which method has worked the best for you. Don’t skimp on your recovery because at the end of the day it will ultimately affect your performance. Devise a recovery strategy which you can use and implement into your training.
If you have any questions relating to recovery or any other strength and conditioning matters please email me at will@wsstrength.com
Feedback on my blogs would be extremely beneficial!
This is the 1st in my series of blogs I’ll be writing for good friend and Western Force Hooker Nathan Charles. He’ll be posting the Blogs on his website too. Go to www.nathancharles.com.au to check it out or follow him on Twitter @nathancharles2 !
To be able to get the most out of your day to day training your body needs to be able to recover. Recovery is one of the most important aspects in elite sports in the modern age, with 2 or 3 sessions in a day its vital athletes recover right to be able to train at a high intensity all the time. With no recovery the standard of training drops and places athletes at a high risk of being injured or getting sick.
Recovery is also important for the day to day gym goer or amateur athlete. In this blog I’m going to outline a few methods people can use to help maximise recovery even without access to high tech sports academies or professional set ups.
Diet: Eating the right food is vitally important to help your body recover. I use the analogy if you put the wrong petrol in your car it won’t run, this is the same with your body. If you don’t eat the right foods your body won’t function the way it should. By eating a stable diet, it greatly improves your recovery. Eating the right foods, such as foods high in protein will help your body to recover. Diet can also come down to what type of exercise you’re doing and how much exercise you’ll be doing in the coming days, a Professional Rugby Union player like Nathan he needs adequate protein to help him recover and he also needs foods high in slow burning carbohydrates to give him energy to train and perform.
Fluids: When you train or play you sweat, this is fluid leaving your body. As you train you drink fluids (if you don’t you should) to help keep you hydrated. It’s hard however to replace all the fluid you lose through sweat as you exercise. This is why it’s important to replace these fluids post exercise to help the recovery process. To aid recovery it’s important that you drink 1.5 times the amount of fluid you lost. So for example If Nathan loses 1Litre during training he will need 1.5Litres to make up for the fluids he lost to recovery adequately. This sweat lost is worked out through weighing pre and post training.
Hot & Cold Shower: Hot and Cold showers are similar to the hot and cold baths, that many professional teams around the world use but for non-professional athletes rarely get the chance to use. It’s done simply by varying the temperatures in the shower to have the water hot (about as hot as you can bare) for one minute followed by cold for one minute, this is then to be repeated three times. This hot and cold technique helps to warm and the cool the muscles promoting blood flow through the muscles. This process helps to rid water products from the muscles and pump the muscles full of good blood which contains nutrients to help the muscles recover.
Self-Massage: Self massage post training sessions is a great method I’ve been taught by one of my lecturers Dr Stephen Bird. There are varying methods to self-massage and imagination is the key to discovering methods that work for you. Self-massage helps the body to recover by improving circulation, relaxing muscles, speeding up the removal of waste products from the muscle and improve range of motion. Self-massaging techniques can involves the use of a foam roller, tennis ball, golf ball, pocket physio or your own hands. There are varying techniques used for these methods. Using the foam roller involves placing the roller under your target area and using your bodyweight to gently massage the targeted muscles.
Supplements: Supplements is the biggest growing business in the health world today. With companies making extraordinary claims on their labelling in the aim of making money. My best advice is to speak to a registered nutritionist to advice you on the correct supplements to take. The supplements you take will largely vary depending on the personal goals you have. The main thing to remember about supplements is that they are just there to supplement your diet and shouldn’t be thought of as a miracle cure. If you have the correct diet these dietary supplements will help to supplement your already good diet to help you to recover better.
These methods are designed to be used by everyday gym goers and amateur athletes in the aid to help them to recover better to be able to train longer and harder. I hope this has provided you with some insight into some simple recover methods. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at will@wsstrength.com or on Twitter @WSStrength.
Remember before recovery you need to do the hard work that necessitates recovery!
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