Building the Perfect Athlete

Exercise as the Fountain of Youth

2011-03-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

For those of you interested in the endless benefits of fitness, take a look at this article from the NY Times that suggests exercise might be the fountain of youth that not only keeps us young but can also reverse the effects of aging as well.

In an experiment conducted with laboratory mice genetically programmed to age at an accelerated rate, professor of pediatrics at McMaster University Dr. Tarnopolsky found some interesting results that deals largely with Mitochondria – the microscopic power generators that “combine oxygen and nutrients to create fuel for the cells” – and their ability to repair itself.

According to the article, “Many scientists consider the loss of healthy mitochondria to be an important underlying cause of aging in mammals. As resident mitochondria falter, the cells they fuel wither or die. Muscles shrink, brain volume drops, hair falls out or loses its pigmentation, and soon enough we are, in appearance and beneath the surface, old.”

The mice, which carried a genetic mutation affecting how well their bodies repair malfunctioning mitochondria, “were extremely frail and decrepit, with spindly muscles, shrunken brains, enlarged hearts, shriveled gonads and patchy, graying fur” by the time they were 8 months old, or in their early 60s in human years. All were dead in less than a year of age….

Except the mice that exercised!

Yes, it’s true: Dr. Tarnopolsky found that half the mice that were allowed to run for 45 minutes 3 times a week since the age of three months had full pelts of dark fur, no salt-and-pepper shadings unlike their sedentary counterparts, and “also had maintained almost all of their muscle mass and brain volume. Their gonads were normal, as were their hearts.”

The most surprising finding is that the mice who exercised “had more mitochondria over all and far fewer with mutations than the sedentary mice had” despite harboring the mutation that should’ve affected mitochondrial repair: Proof that exercise had aided these mice repair and reverse the effects of aging.

But perhaps the most appealing benefit of exercise even attracts the young; “While Dr. Tarnopolsky, a lifelong athlete, noted with satisfaction that active, aged mice kept their hair, his younger graduate students were far more interested in the animals’ robust gonads. Their testicles and ovaries hadn’t shrunk, unlike those of sedentary elderly mice.”

Remember, it’s never too late to start exercising and reversing the effects of aging – contact Titan Sports at info@titansb.com or 805-683-1231 to start today!

Stop While You Still Can: The Perils of Carbohydrate Addiction

2011-02-23T19:40:00.000-08:00

With his thought-provoking article entitled "Are Carbs More Addictive Than Cocaine?", Paul John Scott explores of the most invasive yet silent addictions facing Americans today: Carbohydrates. "It has no use for the drama and the carnage you associate with cocaine and alcohol," Scott writes, "It's slower to show its hand, more socially acceptable - and way more insidious. "

In addition to causing cravings just like cocaine, carbohydrates wreak havoc of its own:

"Unlike cocaine, this does more than rewire your neurological system. It will short-circuit your body. Your metabolism normally stockpiles energy so you can use it as fuel later. A diet flush with carbohydrates will reprogram your metabolism, locking your food away as unburnable fat. When you get hungry again you won't crave anything but more of the same food that started you down the path to dependency. Think of this stuff as more than a drug—it's like a metabolic parasite, taking over your body and feeding itself."

Read the entire article here.

Are you ready to finally kick the carb habit and have that body you've always wanted? Contact Titan at 805-683-1231 or info@titansb.com for a free trial workout and get started today!

Intervals, Intervals, Intervals…

2011-02-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

This will be the first of many discussions on the subject of intervals. Intervals are one of the most misunderstood areas of training yet one that attracts great attention. The word is usually accompanied by a groan. However, if the progression of the intervals is modulated appropriately the intervals become a welcome challenge. Athletes quickly understand that if done correctly large increases in fitness can be obtained.

The dictionary definition of an interval is a period of time between two points of time, events, etc.; intervening period. In exercise it is a period of time that an exercise is performed at different levels of intensity for different amounts of time. Most people think of intervals as the High Intensity Interval (HIT) which is typically measured in seconds or a short number of minutes. However, intervals could be much longer dependent on the desired outcome. The challenge, from a coaching perspective, is to determine which length is most appropriate. This is determined by level of fitness and the needs of a particular sport. I think most people look at intervals as training that is more suited to aerobic sports. However, at Titan we have found that it is very helpful for anaerobic types of sport as well. The benefit is seen in the speed of recovery of athletes during training and competition. At Titan, we usually start at 20 seconds or less and then determine rest by the speed of recovery and the desired outcome. At the Titan Center we have an Intermittent Hypoxicator which simulates altitude, we utilize this equipment to test athletes and help us determine levels of aerobic fitness. Duration of the interval is then adjusted so that time under intensity is either lengthened or shortened as the level of fitness changes. Really short duration intervals tax the anaerobic energy system while longer duration intervals require more aerobic capabilities. There is a balancing act in this training because one energy system helps to support the other. We will marry the length of the intervals to the needs of the particular sport. The mistake that most people make is either going too long or too hard early in the development of fitness so that the subsequent pain is so great that the athlete never wants to think about this type of effort again. There is definitely a psychological aspect of intervals that must be considered when incorporating this type of intensity into a workout.

When starting interval training spend some time on developing baselines so that you know what type of output you are capable of in a maximum effort and for longer periods of time. If you want the most sophisticated measure you may find lactate testing and VO2 max testing helpful in determining these baselines.

This leads me to one of the most important parts of utilizing intervals: measurement of output! Typically this is where the wheels come off the workout. You must measure the amount of output! If you do not, then the intensity of an interval late in an interval workout will diminish in output to such a point that there is little value. I call this no man’s land training. It is not hard enough for overload, but leads to overtraining and valueless fatigue.

How do you measure output of an interval? Time and distance is the poor athlete’s power meter. For example you are doing sprint intervals for 20 seconds on the track. Measure the distance you are covering during each interval. This will tell you whether you are producing more power than the previous interval. On a slide board we use number of touches in the time of the interval and record it. More touches mean more power produced and now you have a way to measure improvement. It also allows us as coaches to determine if the interval should be shorter/longer, or whether there should be more rest between the intervals and also how many total intervals to perform. The quality of the interval is of great importance. Poor output in your interval sessions will just make you fatigued with little performance value. This can lead to the start of overtraining. Intervals are also an excellent window into your fitness. If you have in the past been performing much greater power outputs than the interval currently being performed then maybe you have not had enough rest since your last workout. If we observe this lack of output we would skip these intervals and pick them up again after the athlete has had adequate rest to perform at the desired output. In many cases if I see athletes drop off dramatically in the output of an interval they will many times be sick in the days following.

If you are going to perform intervals in your training, one of the first things you need to think about is determining your baselines and then coming up with a method for recording the output on an ongoing basis. This will allow you to see what type of training outside of your intervals is adding or subtracting from your performance in an interval and also what type of intervals are adding to your performance outside of the intervals.

More to come….

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques DeVore, CSCS

President Titan Sports Performance

www.titansb.com

Why Routine and Rituals are Important in Training

2011-01-26T12:39:00.000-08:00

Training can be boring at times because of the repetition that is sometimes necessary dependent on sport, level of fitness and training objectives. Overload and adaptation lends itself to routine (http://titanathlete.blogspot.com/2010/05/overloadadaptation.html). However, there is an important place for routine and ritual in training.

Early on in the training our athletes, I want them to go through a mental checklist or routine prior to executing any particularly difficult exercise. In competition, preparation instills confidence and confidence produces winning performance. This applies not only to sport, but to anything in life. They call it the practice of medicine for a reason. It is something that is practiced ongoing. The last thing NASA says before liftoff of a space shuttle is “All systems are go”. A lot can be learned by this systematic check list in both training and competition.

With that in mind let’s say an athlete is performing a heavy dead lift at Titan. I have the athlete develop and execute the same routine prior to every lift. How they approach the bar, visualizing a successful lift, how they grab the bar. It may be left hand first, then right hand, foot position, breathing, etc. It doesn’t really matter what is in the routine. What is important is that a conditioning response system is developed that prepares the mind for success in training. Do not forget that the idea of training is not just strength, power, endurance, etc. It is also the time that you learn to take risks without anything at stake. To create an environment that is comfortable so that when game time comes around you know you are prepared and you have already been at this point many times before. You do not know how many times I have seen great athletes make major changes in things very close, or immediately before competition. This is a result of lack of confidence and poor preparation. Including rituals and routines prepare you mentally during training so that game time is relaxed and you play at your best.

So next time you approach an exercise, develop your own personal routine. Stick with it, and utilize it to get great gains in training and also on the field.

Sometimes routine is not so boring.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques DeVore, CSCS

President Titan Sports Performance

www.titansb.com

The VersaPulley!!!

2011-01-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

Our latest addition to our list of equipment is the VersaPulley, http://www.versaclimber.com/VP_sport.htm . It is a wonderful piece of equipment that allows us to create exercises horizontally with both eccentric and concentric loads. This allows the athlete to produce huge amounts of power in a movement pattern that is typically difficult to get more than body weight loads. It is excellent for anyone who moves laterally in their sport. We are very excited about this addition to our already long list of equipment for sport. Please see below the highlights of this equipment.

What Is VersaPulley?

VersaPulley is a high/low strength exercise pulley machine that combines speed, power and functional mobility through any range of motion with accommodating inertial resistance at any speed, just like sports. The VersaPulley was designed to enhance sport movement and athletic performance. The resistance used is based on patented MV² technology. This technology provides responsive resistance and a true stretch-shortening cycle for closed chain, multi-plane, multi-joint exercises as well as isolation or open-chain routines. MV² technology is a mechanism utilizing rotational inertia and an infinitely variable cam (cone). One can perform a vast array of exercises across the force-velocity spectrum ranging from high force and low velocity to high velocity and low force.

Who is using VersaPulley?

World-class athletes at Mark Verstegen’s Athletes’ Performance Training Centers in Tempe, AZ and Carson, CA. Verstegen are Director of Performance for the NFL Players' Association. He and his staff work with top athletes competing at the highest levels in football, basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, and many other sports. Noted speaker and regular NSCA columnist Juan Carlos Santana uses the VersaPulley with his athletes and clients at the Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton, FL. Additionally, other top professionals such as Mark Roozen in Fort Worth, TX are using the VersaPulley.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques DeVore, CSCS

Why should you care about Physics?

2010-12-16T09:35:00.001-08:00

Power = Force x Distance/Time =Force/Velocity, Force = Mass x Acceleration +Weight of Mass, Rate of Force Development= ∆ (force)/∆ (time)

They say that you cannot defy the laws of physics. That is true, however sometimes when you watch athletes in sport you wonder if that is always true. The three equations above are of great importance in training athletes and must be addressed in the training and evaluation of athletes and the development of training strategies.

I have mentioned in the past that different sports require the body to produce power at a multiple of an X factor. In other words how much volume and how much intensity of power does a particular sport require? These differences in the type of power place different metabolic energy needs on the body. The X factor is determined by the requirements of the specific sport. For example a shot putter has an X factor that is very small. There are only a handful of throws at maximum power necessary to compete in a track meet. A boxer has an X factor that requires power to be produce in much greater volume. The boxer has to produce power in punches hundreds of times in a match. Understanding this X factor and how the body produces power is where the understanding of how physics comes into play.

Let’s start by looking at the first equation. People confuse power with strength on a regular basis. Strength is the ability to generate a force. If you were pushing against a wall with your hands you are creating a force. The force could be measured using a force plate to determine how many units of force you are creating. Force is a measurement of Mass x Acceleration plus the weight of the mass. It is typically measured in Newtons. Once again, strength is the ability of an athlete to generate a force. If you look at the equation for power it takes Force (strength) and incorporates the time it takes to generate the force over a particular distance (velocity).

Think about getting out of a chair. You rise up and generate enough force and velocity to overcome the weight of your body and gravity to lift you out of the chair. If you continue to increase the speed at which you go from sitting to standing eventually you would increase the speed to such a point that your body would leave the ground. In each subsequent time out of the chair you are producing more power as you increase the speed of rising up. So it is one thing to have the ability to produce enough force (strength) to rise from your chair and overcome the weight of your body and gravity. However, once velocity is increased you will rise higher and higher as you rise from your chair generating greater and greater amounts of power as the velocity increases.

Rate of force development equals the change in force and the amount of time to make that change. What influences your velocity greatly, and subsequently your power is the rate in which your muscles produce the force. If the rate of force development is increased then you will be producing force at a faster rate and velocity will increase if all else is equal. If you have ever played the game when one person is standing with their hands clasped in front of them, and the other person is facing them with hands to the sides and then you try to slap the person’s hands you have a little idea about force development. Ouch, if you are slow at force production in this game. We used to play this as kids and someone was walking away with red hands. If you were the hitter you would stand there and concentrate to try to increase the speed at which your body moves your hands. The faster you were able to fire the muscles and produce a force the faster your hands would cover the distance delivering a resounding slap. In boxing they call this beating your opponent to the punch.

Why are these physics equations important to training? When evaluating an athlete at Titan we look at all of the parts in these equations to see where the athlete has the biggest gaps. Much of the short term gains in strength training are neuromuscular in nature. In other words we see strength gains in an athlete before we see size gains. If you were to focus on nothing but strength gains there would be gains in strength but not necessarily in rate of force production. Rate of force production increases are seen more readily in explosive types of exercises where high levels of power are being produced. (Hakkinen et al., 1985) A strength coach needs to determine the best course of training needed for a specific sport, and tie that to the athlete’s current strengths and weaknesses. This type of evaluation is ongoing with the athletes training at Titan to determine areas of fitness that need the most attention. For example, an athlete may come to us with a good base of absolute strength, but is lacking in the velocity side of the equation. In many cases you can eyeball this lack of velocity. With more highly trained athletes we utilize our Isokinetic equipment to measure the time to peak force and get specific measurements of our starting point and subsequent progress. This piece of equipment can measure time to peak force and give us a window into the rate of force development. The faster an athlete gets to peak force the faster the rate of force production. With this information we can develop a training program that will improve the athlete’s ability to generate a force and subsequently more power for their specific sport.

In previous posts I have discussed tipping points in training. These are gains in fitness that have a huge impact on an athlete’s performance and are visible after a short amount of training. Utilizing the equations above in the evaluation of your fitness can oftentimes lead you to an area of training that could result in a big improvement in your performance on the field.

Understand the physics and you will be able to better utilize the training time you have available.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques DeVore, CSCS

Why each training session should have a Primary Training Objective:

2010-11-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

At Titan, we not only look at the long term strategy of the training based on a well developed evaluation of the athlete’s strengths and weaknesses, we also spend a lot of time on the tactics of each training session. The long term or grand strategy evaluates the long term objective of the athlete for the off season training and beyond. If someone is not an athlete we like to create seasons for them. This allows them to “peak” at different points in the year and give them psychological breaks from training year round.

Each individual training session is another rung in the fitness ladder. In order to make the next step up in fitness, each of these sessions must be developed in a thoughtful manner. At Titan we have Primary Objectives for each training session. The Primary Objective may be lower body strength, power, stability etc. The Primary Objective may be active recovery. The point is that if you do not have a Primary Objective you may want to look at incorporating this concept into your workout. The Primary Objective of a workout allows our training staff to focus on one area of training that is the most important part of the grand strategy for that day and choreograph a workout accordingly. This will improve performance and move the athlete forward at the most rapid rate possible. The Primary Objective must be dynamic. In other words, if the Primary Objective was to obtain an overload in lower body power utilizing plyometric exercises, and the athlete was not able to perform at a level that produced the overloads necessary, we would need to change the session and revisit the Primary Objective. We would determine what factors are impacting the athlete’s inability to perform at the expected level. We would determine if it is the intensity of the exercise being too great, maybe the rest between reps and sets is not long enough, volume may be too great etc. There are a number of factors that may be in play. Typically, the lack of performance is driven by recovery time or some exigent factor (a cold about to come on) . We would then make adjustments to accommodate the athletes lack of performance and not blindly complete a particular session. We would reschedule this session into the future and evaluate why the performance was not at the level we expected making the necessary adjustments.

Time is the real enemy of an athlete who wants to compete at the highest level. Establishing Primary Objectives for each workout insures that workouts are not wasted or contributing to overtraining.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques DeVore, CSCS

Why do we perform high force activity on legs prior to training for lower body power?

2010-11-11T11:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had a conversation with a talented basketball player about the "Whys". My last blog entry discussed this concept and I gave him the example of how we will train legs with high force production exercises prior to leg power workouts and he asked “Why?”

I told him that it is based on the principle of Post Activation Potentiation or PAP. As athletes become fitter and fitter it becomes harder to get overloads when training. PAP helps to increase the ability of an athlete to produce greater amounts of power in exercises subsequently to a high force activity.

Most of the research has revolved around jumping. The act of jumping is a good measurement of power production in an athlete’s lower body. The research looked at performing hack squats at 90% of the athlete’s one repetition prior to jumping. Subsequently the ability to jump was increased when the intervention was utilized. This also has validity in a number of other power exercises. The optimum time between the heavy lift and the power exercise seemed to be around 12 minutes.(Andy V. Khamoui, MS, CSCS, Edward Jo, MS, CSCS,and Lee E. Brown, EdD, CSCS,*D, FNSCA ) At Titan we utilize this science in training the body for many different types of power production training.

Keep this idea in mind the next time you perform your plyometric workouts both for upper body and lower body exercises. The practical application of the science allows a strength coach to experiment with different types of loads and rest dependent on the athlete and the part of the body you are training.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques DeVore, CSCS

The WHY!!

2010-10-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

In a previous entry I touched on the discussion I have with my trainers about what separates a great strength and conditioning coach from an average coach. Unfortunately, many fitness professionals are taught using a particular training method and never really understand the Why? What is the Why? A good example starts by picking an exercise that you have performed during your last workout. Let’s say it is an interval session on the Versaclimber. By the way, this piece of equipment is an integral part of our training and we use it regularly at Titan. I feel it is one of the best pieces of cardio equipment anywhere. If you can find a commercial center that uses one it is a good sign. In most centers this equipment collects a lot of dust. So, you are going to do intervals of 30 seconds with a 15 second rest for a total of 6 min. When you start evaluating this exercise the whys add up quickly. For example, why 30 seconds? Why a 15 second rest? Why not a shorter interval and a longer rest or vice versa? What intensity will you produce and why? How many 6 min intervals will you perform and why. Why did you perform an exercise or did not perform an exercise before the intervals and why will you do what you do after. Why is it on this day of the week? Why are you performing these intervals 1-2-3 times or more per week if at all? Why are you performing them at this level of volume and intensity this time of the year? What will follow in the days and weeks to come and how and why does this session impact those exercises.

The answer to these questions and understanding the science behind the answers is typically where the wheels come off in training. If you are looking for the best use of your training time you better start asking why you are performing a particular exercise. Ask a trainer and you will be surprised at the answers or lack of answers. In many cases it is similar to when you were a child and your mom or dad did not have an answer so they said “because”. Intensity of a workout is oftentimes the smoke and mirrors and the “because “of poor training. Many trainers make a workout so hard that you will crawl out of the session and the perceived value will be greater so you will not ask why.

Developing higher levels of human performance is a dynamic process. There are so many variables that affect the progress of an individual that if a trainer cannot answer the why progress will slow dramatically.

With the concept of “Why” in mind I am going to change the format of the blog. I am going to begin with a concept that is important to training and discuss the why.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques DeVore, CSCS

The Evolution of Your Fitness: Getting Fit Enough to Get Really Fit!

2010-10-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

At Titan I always tell our clients that I have to get them fit enough to get really fit. This morning I was working with two women who are fit enough to get really fit and their training is reflecting this fact. As a trainer it was enjoyable to train them because we can create workouts that allow them to make great strides in improving their fitness and the impact can be great on their daily lives. In addition they can have an hour workout that would bury the average person and then head off to the rest of their day feeling great about what they just accomplished. So how do I measure this level of fitness?

In all honesty fitness takes some work and a measured amount of suffering. Those of you who are training at a level that never gives you some higher level of stress on the body will walk in the no man’s land of fitness year after year. The main culprit is the marketing of fitness today. Most individuals want a magic trainer that will tell you that you do not have to work hard in order to accomplish your goal. This person can magically transform their client’s body into the body they want without any real work. It is a bunch of nonsense. What a great trainer can do is regulate the progression of the training to ease some of the pain; however there will be some measured amount of suffering. If regulated appropriately this suffering can be very tolerable and overcome.

The evolution of fitness that we have seen with our athletes and our non athletes is that first we must obtain a general level of fitness. That means that the body has the ability to stabilize and mobilize. This takes a minimum level of strength, balance, flexibility, power, and cardiovascular fitness in order to perform certain exercises correctly. This minimum ability greatly reduces the risk of injury. We define minimum as the ability to control the body with body weight only. Control does not mean being able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

At the start of a workout we utilize a dynamic warm up (Peak Performance Online has a great explanation of a dynamic warm up, ) Titan’s dynamic warm up would be considered by some as a workout within a work out to prepare the body for more intense forms of movements. After we have established that body control is sound then we start to focus on the ability to produce more intensity and volume in the movements. Intensity can be defined as movements that are more complex or at higher speeds or under greater loads. These speeds require a minimum level of strength and power production as well as the ability to stabilize the body so that the athlete is not injured. We want the ability to stabilize effectively engaging the core, adequate balance, strength, and power. There are very few movements of the body that do not employ the core in stabilizing the body. However, the type of complex multi-joint exercises we utilize are regularly taxing the core and forcing a client’s body to stabilize effectively. If this cannot be accomplished the exercise would be determined to be too advanced. To get a better understanding of engaging your core, imagine a 100 meter race on your bicycle but you have to sprint without your hands on the handle bars. You would be hard pressed to beat your opponent without gripping the bars. Once you grab the bars you have a kinetic chain that starts from your hands and travels all the way to your feet and back. If your wrist was injured the kinetic chain would be compromised and your performance would be affected. This is a good example of core strength. It does not just come from your torso. It is the coordination of multiple muscles that all tie to the center of your body. The contact points are sometimes different and in some cases we see examples of body control by elite athletes in mid air that are absolutely incredible and leave us jaw dropped with the body control displayed.

Volume is the amount of a particular exercise that is performed. It can be measured in repetitions, time, foot pounds of power, wattage, miles, feet etc. I like to define it as total time in the zone. The zone to me is the training goal of a particular exercise and how much time you spend producing that particular goal. For example you are doing short intervals on a bicycle of 1 min at a power output of 350 watts. The volume would be the total time spent at 350 watts. If you did 10 of these intervals then the time in the zone or total volume would be 10 min at wattage of 350. So volume must be measured and tied to the intensity in order to have any relevance in your training. It is for this reason that recording workouts is so important.

I have talked about the no man’s/woman’s land of training where many spend hours and hours of training time. This is a training level that is too hard for recovery and not hard enough for an overload. Without recording volume and intensity most fall into this type of training. Overloads can come from both volume and/or intensity.

When we train a professional athlete they typically have an adequate general level of fitness that is well developed. However, even the best athletes of the world have dimensions of their fitness that need to be addressed to lower the risk of injury in the future.

Once you have obtained this general level of fitness the workouts change and the focus begins to narrow. Both intensity and volume can now be increased and major changes in fitness can be obtained and we can begin to get someone really fit. We incorporate exercise that will focus on energy systems necessary for that particular sport. We begin to stair step to higher and higher levels of fitness. Periodization and long term strategy become very important as well as tactics to produce greater and greater overloads as the client becomes fitter.

All of these are wrapped into a dynamic training package that allows a client to become really fit and not just what I call average man fit. When you get to this level of fitness you will know it. People will call you a fitness nut and you will start looking at yourself as an athlete, not just someone who works out.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail.

Jacques

Strength training and the Female Athlete and Non-athlete

2010-10-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

The commonly held myth that I constantly encounter when training women is that they do not want to lift heavy weights for fear of gaining bulk. This is NOT accurate for a number of reasons; however it is one of the hardest hurdles that I often encounter with our female athletes and clients at Titan.

First of all women are not men. I know it sounds crazy but women see male and female bodybuilders and think that they will look like that if they begin a weightlifting regimen. Second, men have much greater levels of testosterone, the primary hormone necessary for building large muscle mass. Secondly the hours of lifting necessary to build that type of muscle is enormous. Even if you are a Man! Women typically have 1/7^th the level of testosterone than men. The women that are seen all bulked up in magazines will in many cases be supplementing the level of testosterone in their body to achieve this bulk. So, all you women out there try to remember that gaining bulk is a full time job for men and is even more difficult for women to do because of the lower levels of testosterone.

Once we have established that our female athletes are biomechanically sound and functionally capable (see last post) we want to establish a good foundation of strength. We utilize multi-joint lifts for all the major muscle groups. The mistake that many women make is to lift too light at 10-20 repetitions thinking that this will keep them small. In fact these number of repetitions produce hypertrophy (increase in size) of the muscle. This type of training comes from a body building mentality.

The weight necessary to establish strength in an athlete is typically an amount of weight that is difficult enough so that only 8 or less repetitions can be executed with flawless form. We have our female athletes perform as low as 3 repetition sets that produce a neuromuscular response in strength and do not increase the size of the muscle. In other words more of the muscle that is already there is recruited in order to accommodate the heavier load. This is also the protocol we use for any athlete where power to weight is of great importance. You cannot believe how many endurance athletes are also afraid of bulking up by lifting and subsequently lift light with larger number of repetitions.

The first reaction of most women and heavy lifting is they will get big. They have been fed a body of knowledge from trainers who do not know what they are doing and continue to have women do the old 3 sets of 10 or more routine. In the past I have even encountered female trainers who are hesitant to lift heavy and reluctant to have their clients do the same for fear of getting bulky.

It is amazing once we do start lifting heavy with women and they actually get toned and lean as a result of the heavy lifting. Not only does it promotes lean body mass they have much greater functional capabilities and a wonderful sense of empowerment. In addition the metabolic increase as a result of heavy weightlifting is wonderful in obtaining optimum body composition.

So all you females out there that wonder about why you have not been seeing the change in you bodies that you would like should take a page out of how Titan trains women athletes as your first step to that toned, lean, and athletic body.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques

Functional strength, movement and what does it all mean?

2010-09-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

My definition of functional fitness for an athlete is really no different than the definition for the layman. The difference lies in the fact that the layman’s sport is everyday physical challenges that present themselves and the athlete’s ability to function is tied to an athletic challenge.

For an athlete the idea of being functionally sound is of great importance. At Titan we devote a lot of time and effort into making sure that our athletes are functionally sound before we begin higher levels of volume and intensity in training. Functional capabilities in an athlete are demonstrated in the ability to move the body through space with a strong base of overall body control. This control comes from overall body strength, flexibility, coordination, and endurance. This control of the body allows this movement to take place with a minimal amount of stress to the body. In other words, if an athlete cannot adequately perform certain multi-joint combination movements then we have to determine where the gaps are in their fitness and take the proper steps to improve those weaknesses. Gray Cook and Lee Burton developed the Functional Movement Screen (FMS) as a tool to gather objective data on an individual’s ability to perform movement patterns and identify areas of weakness and prevent injury.

At Titan we utilize the FMS to help us establish a starting point for developing the overall strategy of training an athlete or non athlete. The data generated from this screen coupled with a biomechanical screen and additional fitness evaluation gives us a good window into the fitness of an individual prior to the start of training. This is VERY important information. Any individual starting a fitness training program should spend time gathering this data.

The FMS helps to reduce injuries, identify muscle imbalances, provides benchmarks for evaluating training, and areas where a sport may be leading to chronic injuries or movement impairments.

In the last entry I spoke about periodization. The start of all of our periodization is functional movement capabilities. Depending on the individual’s ability to perform functionally will determine the amount of time in the periodization devoted to correcting imbalances that are discovered in these screens. Even if an athlete is determined to be functionally sound all of our training is driven by a foundation of human movement and the ability of the individual to perform movement at higher and higher levels of output for the given sport.

We utilize the FMS throughout an athlete’s training time to give us an ongoing tool to make sure that athletes are improving their ability to perform movements efficiently.

Train smart, have fun and you will prevail.

Jacques

Periodization

2010-09-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

I apologize for the long break in writing this blog. However August is a great month for some rest and recovery from all that life throws at you. That sets up a perfect transition into discussing the concept of periodization.

Periodization is a concept that can be viewed in a very simple fashion or at very complex level. In theory it is the management of work, stress, volume, intensity versus rest in a systematic fashion. The objective is to create a strategy for the training that produces the maximum amount of improvement allowing athletes and non athletes to reap the greatest benefit from training. It also integrates training into the competitive calendar of athlete during the competitive season.

As mentioned before one of the most important parts of a successful training program is the strategy developed around the training to reach a particular goal. The tactics are the day to day training modalities that support this strategy. If the strategy is weak then the tactics do not have as much of the intended effect and the athlete’s progression is slowed or reversed. Therefore, periodization should be a large part of the strategy for an athlete. From my experience you see endurance athletes or cyclic sports paying the most attention to periodization. I think that is because the volume of training time is typically greater. Also with cyclic sports the training and the sport are often times the same. Think of cycling. In other sports or non cyclic sports the strength and conditioning is usually much different than the sport. Think tennis. However, non cyclic sports would be well served to look closer at periodization to maximize training results. At Titan we utilize periodization principles in the training of our athletes in both cyclic and non cyclic sports as well as with personal training clients.

So in principal periodization is a well planned, systematic, methodical training plan that maximizes the concept of overload and adaptation. This periodization should address the neuromuscular requirements of a sport, the metabolic requirements, and the cardio respiratory requirements.

I have found the most effective method to creating an effective peiodization is to work backwards. The training should be based on an evaluation the current fitness level and how these relate to the goal of training. The eastern bloc countries during the 1960s and 70s were structuring 10 year periodization. I think the periodization should be long. Today’s fast food mentality makes this difficult for many and increases the risk for overloads that are too great and subsequently injure or over train the athlete. It is important that the long term perspective is evaluated even though many would state that 10 years from now is not that important today. That is a naïve perspective that will hurt the progression of the athlete in the long run. By working backward and understanding the starting point, coupled with a goal a periodization can be developed.

Overloads and regeneration must be monitored and managed through the periodization. This progression and regeneration both in the short run and long run must be monitored and measured. This also allows the strength coach to better understand total stress on the body, plus how athletes and individuals adapt and respond to training stress. Training stress is cumulative and must be measured both on a macro basis and a micro basis.

The periodization is usually broken into micro cycles and macro cycles. The coach must understand the energy systems utilized by the athlete for a particular sport and the time it takes for the athlete to recover. Without this understanding training becomes a patchwork of stresses and recovery that does not maximize training time. The goal should be both physical and psychological. The psychological aspect is of even greater importance with an athlete.

I will be addressing the different approaches to periodization in future posts.

Train smart, have fun and you will prevail.

jacques

Thinking About Recovery

2010-07-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

If you have not spent much time thinking about recovery, you need to start thinking about how this impacts your performance and training gains. I discussed earlier the idea of overload and adaptation and the need to obtain greater and greater overloads with appropriate rest to illicit a positive training response. This is the idea of supercompensation. If the body has adequate time for recovery from overloads it will adapt and become stronger. ( Bompa, T. Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics (2001) Much of the adaptation takes place when you are not exercising and recovering from the stress that exercise puts on the body. This stress is not just physical, but psychological. Many athletes today have very busy lives outside of their sport and do not take into account the toll that mental stress has on the performance and recovery of the body. Make sure you keep this in mind when looking at your own recovery strategy.

There are a number of areas of recovery that must be thought about. When people think of recovery the first thing that usually comes to mind is the time between training sessions. Next people think about the rest between particular sets of exercises. For example someone does 10 squats and then rests before performing more repetitions of the same exercise. The area that many people spend no time thinking about is the time between repetitions within a set. At Titan we have spent a lot of time focusing on this recovery period to maximize our training efforts. All of these are areas of recovery need to be addressed to allow the maximum overloads and the quickest adaptations from the overloads. The area that must also be considered is the competition stress and recovery. In many cases the physical stress may not exceed what is experienced in training, but the mental stress of game time environments must be taken into account when recovery time is being considered.

The objective behind the tactics and strategy of recovery are to allow the individual to adapt and improve from training and competition.

Below is a table that outlines some of the different methods of recovery between workouts and what are some of the pros and cons. At Titan we have had great success with active recovery for our athletes. Active recovery also helps in the athlete relaxing from mental stress as well as physical. The idea of just going easy is great for an athlete when training and competition become intense. It is a great relief when a coach tells an athlete to go easy.

Recovery Pros and Cons

Passive Rest Recovery
Pros: Requires minimal effort
Cons: Not effective for quick recovery

Compression Garments
Pros: Requires minimal effort, good for travel
Cons: Expensive, requires correct fitting, inconclusive data

Contrast Water Therapy
Pros: Works well, quick
Cons: Requires facilities, difficult for large squads

Active Recovery
Pros: Free, easy to do, effective
Cons: Bad Weather and team talks can distract or delay

Cold water immersion
Pros: Passive, effective
Cons: Can shock the player and actually be stressful, requires facilities

*Table from Peak Performance Newsletter, June 2010

The strategy of rest between sets and rest between reps is something that needs to be addressed. This is a subject that I will have to address at length in another entry because it is an important component in getting the greatest value from every workout. Utilizing the appropriate time between these efforts allows the athlete to maximize the training overload within individual workouts.
I will go into more detail on this subject in a future post, but if you are reaching plateaus in your training start adjusting and experimenting with the rest between exercises and repetitions. Small changes here can result in big gains in your performance. I have found that most of the time there is inadequate rest in these areas, especially as athletes become fit.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail.

Jacques

Short Term Training Tactics & Specificity in Training

2010-06-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

In the list of building the perfect athlete I talk about strategy and tactics. Strategy is the longer term road map or plan to get you from where you are now to where you would like to be as an athlete. This includes the establishment of goals, the timing and measurement of the progress. What are your strengths and weakness as an athlete? Are there any external factors effecting your performance and how are they addressed. It answers the why of a workout on any particular day. It is the architectural training plan so that that the outcome satisfies your goal as an athlete.

The tactics are many. What particular exercises? What is the volume and intensity of a particular training methodology? Does the exercise enhance the ability to perform the particular movements required in the sport? The answer to that question revolves around the idea of Specificity of Training. At Titan, we believe that winning in sport is derived from the development of power (moving your body through space) in a fashion that suits a particular sport. This is (power x X Factor) The X factor is the amount of times or level of absolute power required to perform a task. For example: Swinging a baseball bat is a much different X factor than throwing a punch for a boxer. The boxer has to produce a smaller amount of power numerous times in a fight than the hitter of a baseball. The mechanical requirements and metabolic requirements are much different and the training must be adjusted to accommodate the different requirements of the different sports.

This accommodation and differences in the trainings is defined as Specificity of Training. This accommodation ties directly into the concept of correlation and training that I discussed in a previous post. The focus of the training should be on exercises that modify the body’s complex neuromuscular systems to overcoming movements that apply directly to the particular sport.

This requires the analysis of a particular sports movement pattern. Looking at baseball again, the training must evaluate the movement patterns of hitting, throwing, and running bases. What are the biomechanical adaptations necessary? What type of movement pattern? What is the type of muscle contractions necessary? What are the metabolic requirements of the baseball? These requirements are just a small list with many more factors to be considered and addressed when training a baseball player.

So you get the idea of specificity. This is not to be confused with simulation. Many strength and conditioning programs are developed to try to simulate the sport and just add a level of resistance to the movements. This can be helpful in certain movements, however if done without foresight the training can actually confuse the neuromuscular patterns that have been developed and therefore result in a diminishment of sport performance especially of a very high level athlete. Simulating the sport with resistance does not take into account all the physics of movement like center of gravity, inertia etc., so be thoughtful and understand the difference between simulation and specificity.

Think about the X factor of your sport and train in a way that addresses the specific needs and requirements of that particular sport. Your tactics should be adjusted so that it addresses the specific requirements of the movements and metabolic requirements of your sport.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail.

JD

ISOKINETIC TRAINING “VERT” TRAINING:

2010-06-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

If one looks at our website you will see a video with one of our athletes doing jumping squats on a machine with a computer screen. This is an isokinetic machine which we call the Vert machine. We have utilized isokinetic machines in our training since our inception almost 8 years ago. There are a number of advantages that these machines provide in the development of power in an athlete. The machine that you see is multipurpose and can be used for both upper body exercises as well as lower body exercises.

Isokinetic machines have been around for some time and the resistance overcome in an exercise is a function of the force applied. In other words the faster you move the greater the amount of resistance the machine provides. The machine also measures the velocity of a movement and the force production of each individual repetition. It also allows us to have a ton of additional data to evaluate our entire training protocol to ensure that the athlete is progressing at the optimum pace.

There are a number of advantages to utilizing isokinetic training in sport.
• This method of training forces the muscles to work with maximal effort all the time and renders a larger, faster increase in strength. This accommodates the athlete’s capabilities throughout the range of motion. This training also lowers the risk of injury dramatically when training for power. (James Counsilman 1971,1972)
• In my previous post I spoke about overload and adaptation. Small incremental overloads on a regular basis increase the body’s ability to perform a particular movement with greater levels of performance. I indicated in earlier posts that the biggest enemy of an athlete is time. There is only so much time to devote to training, so wasted time carries a substantial cost to the career and performance of an athlete. In most instances when athletes have adaptations to particular training the strength and conditioning coach is unaware of these changes until time has passed and the athlete tells the trainer that the exercise regimen is too easy and is no longer overloading the athlete. The isokinetic machine eliminates the cost of lost time. The minute the athlete starts the exercise the machine recognizes the increase in performance and increases the overload immediately. There is no delay!!
• Isokinetic equipment eliminates training in “no man’s land” No man’s land training is the rut that most good athletes fall into. The training is too hard for recovery and not hard enough for an overload. The athlete is taxed and tired but is not improving performance. This is where a lot of good athletes stop progressing. They dig themselves into a hole, working harder and harder but see no improvement in performance. The isokinetic equipment provides us with data to see the force production, velocity, time to peak force, and a ton of other data that allow the trainer to see if the athlete is not training at optimal levels to elicit performance improvement.

At Titan we have utilized isokinetic training for a wide spectrum of athletes. If power is a necessary component of a sport, we have developed methods that are of great impact on the production of power.

One of the most interesting areas we have spent great time on is Maximum Sustained Power. (MSD) Most coaches are very focused on absolute power. Absolute power would be displayed when a volleyball player tests there vertical jump. A 40+ inch vertical jump would be very important to a volleyball player in a game. However, what wins a tournament is the ability to jump close to 40 inches in the last game of a tournament. Most athletes will train for absolute power to get their vertical jump as high as possible. Then they do endurance training separately. At Titan we have developed innovative training to not only maximize the absolute power of one jump, but to allow the athlete to produce maximum or close to maximum power for hundreds of jumps with the use of the isokinetic equipment. An absolute jump is great, but being able to continue to produce that type of power over a long period of time is what wins games.

This idea of maximum sustained power applies to all sports just at different levels of output. When organizing your training think about your ability to produce power not just once but for a sustained period of time.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail.

Jacques

Strategy Development: How is a training strategy determined based on the sport?

2010-05-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

In the last entry I discussed overload and adaptation. The idea was that incremental overloads on a regular basis, allows the body to adapt to these increases in stress by a physiological change in the ability of the body to perform the specific task at greater and greater levels of output.

When training a particular athlete, how is this idea of overload/adaptation implemented?
The training, both tactically and strategically, must be specific to the sport. This statement is obvious but becomes much more complicated and tricky as the athlete becomes fitter.

A good example would be in training a 100 meter sprinter. It makes sense anecdotally that having a really strong grip is not going to make you a great sprinter. So spending large amounts of time on one’s grip would not be the best use of training time for a sprinter. Now a wrestler would look at his grip as an important part of the sport, and a weak grip would be something that would need to be addressed. The correlation of grip to wrestling has a much higher relationship than the correlation of grip to sprinting.

The above example demonstrates the concept of correlation and how it relates to training. If one had the time and the inclination, correlation coefficients could be measured on different performance measures to rank the value of training exercises relative to a sport. The correlation coefficient is a number between -1 and 1. If there is no relationship between the predicted values and the actual values the correlation coefficient is 0 or lower (the predicted values are no better than random numbers. This would be the example of grip strength to sprinting). As the strength of the relationship between the predicted values and actual values increases, so does the correlation coefficient. A perfect fit gives a coefficient of 1.0. Thus the higher the correlation coefficient of an exercise to the specific needs of the sport, the greater the value of the exercise. A negative correlation number would be actions or exercises that actually take away from the performance of a specific sport. These correlations are really measured by the experience of the coach or through trial and error of an athlete.

Strength and conditioning coaches must think through this idea of correlation, and determine what aspects of a training strategy have the most impact on the performance of the athlete in a sport. If this is not being evaluated then precious training time is being wasted on areas that have little impact on the performance of the athlete. At Titan we look for “tipping point” fitness gains. These tipping points are areas of fitness that with small gains can produce huge changes in the performance of the athlete during the game. In most cases the tipping points present themselves after evaluating an athlete for functional fitness. Many tipping point fitness issues can be identified in this evaluation. Another area that has this type of fitness leverage is found in movements where power needs to be maintained for longer durations of time. There are a lot of athletes that have great vertical jumps; however they can only execute a handful of jumps at a high output level. Training the athlete so they can maintain 90-100% of this output for a longer duration creates champions and changes their performance dramatically in competition.

In summary, think about the correlation of your training to your performance in sport. Constantly be evaluating where this concept can help your performance. In addition, if you want faster results look for areas of weakness that would provide you with that “tipping point” performance progression. These are both game changers.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail!

Jacques

Overload/Adaptation

2010-05-06T10:01:00.001-07:00

I am going to spend some time in the next few entries discussing some training principles that are necessary for anyone training today at any level of sport or fitness.

I am going to start with the concept of overload /adaptation. On the surface this principle is simple. An overload is a stress on the body over and above what is normal. If the body is stressed at this level on a regular basis it will adapt to that stress by altering the body to accommodate this new above normal stress level. Once the adaptation accommodates the new stress level there is a new normal level of performance.

On the surface this seems like a very simple concept, however without the appropriate training infrastructure to support this concept there is great amount of time that is wasted. At Titan we understand that the real product we provide to our clients is time. I know that sounds funny coming from a strength and conditioning center. An athlete has a limited amount of training time in a career. Let’s assume they start their sport at 12 years old and if they rise to the highest level of sport and become a professional they typically retire at 30-35 depending on the sport. This is a best case scenario. Most athletes have a much shorter career, but I just want to demonstrate the impact of poor training on an athletic career. Now let’s assume that an athlete has 12 weeks a year that is off season. This is the time where they can really focus on improving their fitness. By the way, this is usually much less than 12 weeks. That is 276 weeks over 17 years. This is the best case scenario excluding any downtime for any reason. Life has a tendency to get in the way and training time is regularly compromised. The purpose of a strength and conditioning coach is to maximize the athletic performance during this time. If an athlete has subpar training for one of the 17 years there is a 4.34% loss of training time. In other words the athlete is 4.34% less fit in the 17th year of their career if all else is equal. If you lose 2 off seasons the loss is 24 weeks and the loss goes up to over 8%. Of course this is a very general way of looking at the idea of time, and is not exact, but you get the idea. The impact in the first 8 years of an athlete’s career is even more damaging. In addition, early in a career when an athlete is less mature and has just begun to realize their genetic potential, the gains can be substantial and also contribute greatly to the mental game of the athlete. As fitness improves confidence grows.

How does all of this relate to your overload/adaptation and training as an athlete? First it should be a wake-up call for the necessity of developing an overarching strategy for your training. In the 1960’s the eastern bloc countries would identify athletes with genetic potential and then create strategies that would cover 10 years in length. This was in the form of a structured periodization. I do not think it is necessary to look forward 10 years, however the idea of understanding where you want to be and how you are going to get there is of great importance in being successful in sport today. Today most strength coaches are usually good at the tactics of training, but not so good at the strategy. In other words, if you go to the gym and workout with your trainer, you will have a good workout with all types of innovative functional training techniques but most of the time there is no strategy to answer the question as to why you did this workout. Why are you doing heavy squats today? Why are you doing deadlifts? How many reps, rest, why? How will today’s workout impact tomorrow and how did yesterdays influence today’s and next week? How will this week’s workout impact 5 weeks from now? Every workout is a link in a chain of a champion.

All of this brings me back to overload /adaptation. As stated earlier an overload must be over and above what is normal for the body to make an adaptation. In other words, if you always do deadlifts with 200 lbs your body will never need to make the changes necessary to lift 400 lbs. This is where the wheels usually fall off in training at the elite level. The funny thing about training is that any change in the normal training routine will typically result in some type of adaptation. That means that any new training routine will show some progress. However, your body usually adapts quickly and then the changes stop once an adaptation is made. This is typically where time slips away in a career. Unless the training program has a structured strategy that is monitored and recorded precious time is lost.

All of our trainers at Titan are required to share with the client the daily workout strategy and also the longer term strategy which was developed when the client started training at our center. This allows the athlete to have a window into why we are training or resting in a particular fashion, and also forces us to constantly be articulating and reviewing our training strategies. The strategy is dynamic and personalized, and will change with increases in fitness. Weekly reviews of the strategy are made by the whole training staff, to insure relevancy and maximize progress. Some athletes recover at different rates of speed and this must be accounted for in the workouts. In fact, as the athlete gets fitter the strategy has to be more precise and the tactics become much more important. Tactics are very important in getting overloads during a workout with an elite athlete.

The work/rest ratio becomes very important in generating overloads in an athlete. I call it training like a lion. A lion hunts to survive. They rest all day long allowing their bodies to recover so that when they hunt they are at optimum speed and ability. If the lion was to half heartedly chase down prey they would become tired and not catch their prey and eventually starve. The lion lays in wait and slowly stalks its prey, then with all of the energy available, chases and pounces on the prey to insure the capture. Athletes can learn something from this. If the athlete is regularly training at sub optimum overloads then no adaptation will take place. They will eventually fall into a no man’s land of training. This training is typified by workouts that are too hard for recovery, but not hard enough for an overload.

The work rest ratio must be vigilantly monitored to determine if the athlete is generating the optimum overloads. As an athlete gets fitter, the rest needs to be greater and the intensity higher in order to obtain an overload. This is why most athletes stay at good and never become great.

The overarching strategy and the monitoring of work rest is one of the most important aspects of quality training. This insures proper overloads and subsequent adaptations.

I will talk more about the tactics of training which are of great importance in obtaining overloads during a specific workout.

Train smart, have fun, and you will prevail.

jacques

Character:

2010-04-15T10:34:00.000-07:00

In today’s world of gossip and news at the speed of light, character and sport are closely linked and becoming an issue that will have greater impact on all individuals and especially those performing in sport. (Tiger Woods is an excellent example) I believe that just as animals play fight to learn about how to survive as adults in the wild, sport for humans is a way to develop character for the future. Class, honesty, respect, teamwork, and loyalty through sport can be developed in an environment that is safe and controlled. Character is not learned. It is developed through experiences that test an individual. It is easy not to steal when one has pockets full of money. Character is tested and developed at crossroads in sport and in life. The great thing about sport is that it allows one to have numerous occasions to develop character on a regular basis. Great lessons are learned through these experiences. Unfortunately in some instances parents want their children to have good character, but do not allow them to develop character through experiences in sport. One of the biggest complaints of coaches I have worked with over the years is that parents want to control the outcome of their children in sport. The idea that everyone is a winner does not allow a competitor to experience what failure feels like and how to understand that failure is nothing more than a reward for having the guts to compete in the first place. It is also a disservice to the athlete to not allow them to find their true gifts.

I loved football when I was young. Throughout elementary school all I could think about was playing football. The problem was I was a skinny kid that could out eat anyone but could not put on a pound. As time passed all the other kids got bigger and I continued to eat and continued to stay skinny. Football was no longer an option as the coaches were afraid I would get hurt. I was devastated as football was everything to me and I wanted nothing else. Unfortunately there is not a position for a skinny 98 pounder. By not being able to play football I found my way to wrestling where they just happened to have a 98 pound weight class. Wrestling was the best thing I ever did for myself. It was a sport that taught me so much. All through high school and throughout college wrestling gave me lessons in life that I have carried into the present. Had my mom or dad went to the football coach and insisted that I be able to play football, to protect my self esteem , I never would have found my gifts and would not have been lucky enough to find a sport that changed my life forever.

Failure is the best thing that can happen!

The moral of the story is that failure is sometimes the best option. Building self esteem does not come by only winning. It comes by learning how to fail. Understanding that taking risk may result in failure, but the act of taking risk allows a young athlete to learn that failure is not the end of the world and that the lessons you take away is where the true value exists. A young athlete must learn how to win, not be given a win. Time training and the subsequent improvement is where the lessons start. Coaches tell me all the time that most young athletes today want only to play in the games not do the training necessary to play well.

I think the idea of character is best described in the following quotes. Needless to say character and integrity is the difference between a good athlete and a great athlete. Sometimes things are not fair, sometimes we are let down. How we deal with this is the true value of sport and the training for sport.

In training athletes at Titan we are demanding of our athletes and it is our job to help the athlete develop their bodies but also the character necessary to be a champion. We develop this character through training and the sacrifices, failures and successes that come with training. We are demanding of the athletes we train. We want the athlete to be the best they can be physically, but we also want to instill the idea of character that today is oftentimes given little importance.

My hope is that through sport and training you will allow yourself to learn lessons that will develop the character that will serve you well your entire life.

The last quote by Thomas Jefferson is very appropriate today. When I was in high school after a wrestling meet we could not wait to see our name in the paper, because wrestling was pretty much an anonymous sport. However, in today’s world of technology the internet allows any public action to be recorded for the whole world to witness. It is a great medium because someday you will be able to show your children and grandchildren what a stud you were. Just remember that bad actions are also now a permanent record in cyberspace for all to see forever.

Honesty:

BE MORE CONCERNED WTH YOUR CHARACTER THAN YOUR REPUTATION, BECAUSE YOUR CHARACTER IS WHAT YOU REALLY ARE, WHILE YOUR REPUTATION IS MERELY WHAT OTHERS THINK YOU ARE.

John Wooden

THE MEASURE OF A MAN’S REAL CHARACTER IS WHAT HE WOULD DO IF HE KNEW HE WOULD NEVER BE FOUND OUT

Thomas Macaulay

Loyalty:

Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.

Woodrow Wilson/Twenty-Eighth President

Respect/Unselfishness:

A Philosophy of Life by Thomas Jefferson—

In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current. Give up money, give up fame, give up science, and give up earth itself and all it contains, rather than do an immoral act. And never suppose that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing. Whenever you are to do a thing, though it can never be known but to yourself, ask; yourself how you would act were all the world looking at you, and act accordingly.

He who permits himself to tell a lie once finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells a lie without attending to it, and truths without the world believing him.

Train smart, have fun and you will prevail.

Genetics and Sport

2010-04-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

I think the most overused and one of the most dangerous terms in the athletic vernacular is “gifted”. Of course there are certain body types that are much more appropriate to certain sports and movements than others, however the term gifted is often overused and in many cases discourages individuals from the recognition that hard work and diligent training will overcome most gifts. Genetic athletic gifts are like a glass. It is true that some people are born with bigger glasses (DNA/Genome). However, the size of the glass is only a measurement of potential; training is the act of filling a glass (Epigenetics /Phenome). Athlete A is born with a glass that is 25% larger than athlete B. The athlete with the smaller glass fills his to the top and the “gifted” athlete only fills his half way. The non gifted athlete will prevail on the field. My point is that we are all born with different DNA which we have no control over. There is a whole body of research which has identified different athletic genes. We all know individuals who are just natural at a given sport. However it is the expression of the gene (epigenetic) that we have the ability to influence through smart training. This is one area that we have a great ability to control.

The best way to understand this is by thinking about identical twins. Identical twins have the exact same DNA or genome. In many cases it is almost impossible to tell them apart. However, if one of the twins pursued long distance running and the other twin was a power lifter the differences would be very pronounced. Why is this difference so pronounced if their genetics are identical? The expression of the genes is seen in the phenome of the twins. If both twins have identical genomes, what causes the differences in the body types of the marathoner vs. the power lifter? The different forms of training have expressed the identical genes differently in the physiques of the twins. It seems obvious from this example, but how do you influence your own genes?

The word epigenetic means over the gene. In other words the expression of the gene over the underlying DNA that you are born with is the epigenetic of the gene. The study of epigenetics is one of the leading areas of genetic research today. What the research is finding is that different stresses on your body (training would be one stress) will mark your genes to behave in a particular way. Much of the research has revolved around mapping the markers that result in negative expressions of the genes that subsequently express themselves through diseases of the body. Researchers are trying to determine how to remark your genes to block particular diseases. The same principle of gene expression is also evidenced on the training side. In fact the scientific community is finding that a lot of the training adaptation of an athlete is more a result of the epigenetic marker than the training itself.

Now I come back to the”non- gifted” athlete and how the concept of DNA and Epigenetics plays into training. By the way, I do not think there are any non-gifted athletes. These are just athletes who have not found a sport that supports their gifts. I will discuss the subject about the disservice that is done to youth today in the interest of self esteem and sport in a future entry. Youth athletes do not discover their gifts because they never “fail” at a sport.

Genetics are important for certain types of sports. Height can be very important in the game of basketball. However, I believe that epigenetics are the bigger determinant of performance in sport today. The science is finally catching up and showing that through training an athlete can change the expression of the gene to produce a result that supports performance in a particular sport. This concept is far reaching to curing disease. It will also have huge impact on an athlete’s ability to perform through a better understanding of what specific stresses result in a particular gene expression that improves sports performance. In the past this gene expression has usually happened by default.

So the moral to the story is that there is hope for individuals who do not believe they have the gifts to perform at the highest level of a particular sport. Of course there are limitations, but it is amazing what can be done with the proper training strategy. With proper motivation, desire, and the most effective training, an individual can produce the most effective genetic expression to match a particular sport!

Is there a secret way to train to accomplish this gene expression? What are the strategies and tactics necessary to mark your genes and develop the desired result?

I will begin to answer in subsequent entries. In the meantime train smart, have fun, and you will prevail.

Sport is War! Are you ready for the battle?

2010-03-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

At Titan Sports Performance and Physical Therapy, we have trained some of the best athletes in the world and through this training have a window into what are some of the most important ingredients to make a champion.

This Blog is devoted to evaluating what goes into the training of a world class athlete and also what lessons can be learned from these experiences and our study of human performance.

At Titan we categorize the ingredients of peak athletic performance into the following categories. Each of these categories has an important role in sport and in life.

1. Character and Integrity
2. Discipline
3. Attitude, Motivation, Desire
4. Long term training strategy
5. Biomechanical integrity
6. Functional Movement integrity
7. Functional Power
8. Maximum Sustained functional power
9. Sports specific Cardiovascular fitness
10. Short term training tactics
11. Recovery , Nutrition, Structured Rest
12. Genetic and Epigenetic influences

These 12 broad categories are individually important and collectively necessary to produce championship levels of performance. I believe the ingredients above are in order of importance. Oftentimes the first three categories are overlooked today. Ask any coach and they will tell you that you can have all the genetic gifts in the world and that without the right mental approach you will not reach the pinnacle of performance or life.

I will be discussing these subjects in an order that I think is the easiest to understand and will help someone develop a strategy for realizing the maximum of an athlete’s genetic potential.

With that in mind let’s introduce the concept of genetics (genome) and how you influence those genetics through training to elicit an adaptation that supports performance in a sport. (epigenetic) How can training result in a positive expression for sport in the genes that you have inherited? How important is this?
To be continued…….