Why I Became a Trainer

I do get asked a variety of different health, fitness and training questions almost every week.  How can I get faster, what should I do to jump higher, what is the best exercise to (fill in the blank)?  One of the most common questions I have been asked by my middle and high school athletes is, “So what made you decide to become a trainer?”

I take this question seriously because I still like to believe in the innocence of youth, that they are in the formidable years where they are looking for roll models while they ponder what they want to be when they grow up.  Maybe I am giving myself too much credit, however I do get asked that question often so I will answer it here in this article.

The Early Years

As you readers may know, I have a great drive towards participating in as many sports as I could.  All day every day I just played and played.  I could even remember my mom telling me to get into the house to stop playing and get my summer reading done.  Of all the sports I played, soccer was my favorite, and as I got older my passion for the game grew.

In my years leading up to high school I remember practicing and playing about five days a week.  We didn’t have all of the specialty club teams like there is now so most of us played AYSO and then winter club soccer.  Our training consisted of practicing 3-4 times a week and playing one match on the weekend or going to a two-day tournament.  I was in great shape and had plenty of soccer skills training but that was the extent of my training (more on that later).

I went to my dream high school, Junipero Serra, known for being the home of some great athletes including: Lynn Swann, Greg Jefferies, Barry Bonds and Tom Brady.  I made the soccer team my freshman year and continued through my sophomore year.  I was having a blast making new friends and competing against some of the best high school soccer teams around.

The summer before my junior year my club team went to Germany to participate in a summer soccer tour.  My second week on tour, in my third match, I got kicked in my leg and felt the most excruciating pain I have ever felt in my life.  My knee was injured and my summer play overseas was done.

I remember getting it checked out at a German hospital, something I hope none of you have to go through, and they ruled out that nothing was broken so I just had to get the swelling down and then I could start playing again.  Little did I know I had a much bigger problem on my hands.

I slapped on a knee sleeve for support and started training again; some days were better than others but I could tell my knee was not like before.  I tried to play my junior year and my knee was giving out on me every time I cut laterally.  It turns out my problem was not the knee joint but the ligaments of the knee; an MRI revealed an ACL tear.  At the time I had no idea what it was but I was told it would require surgery and I would miss the season.

Rehabilitation and Education

I had the surgery and began my physical therapy program and it was then that my interest was peaked in the intricate workings of the human body.  I had a great physical therapist and I learned a lot about the rehabilitation protocol for the knee.  I gained such insight that I decided to pursue a degree in physical therapy starting first with kinesiology at the University of San Francisco.

While obtaining my undergraduate degree in kinesiology, I had to get to school early to find all day parking so I hit the gym at 6am.  It is then I began to learn about weight training.  I never really lifted weights in an organized manner before, though I wish I did while I was playing soccer.  I felt the proper strength training program I developed not only made me stronger but more balanced.

Upon graduating I got a job for a year at a local physical therapy clinic where I worked closely with physical therapists helping patients with their rehabilitation modalities, strengthening programs.  Also, because of my weight training program knowledge I was asked to write post PT programs for the patients so they could increase and maintain their strength after their therapy sessions were finished.

My education in both kinesiology and my personal learning for strength and conditioning led me to achieve my goal into getting into a physical therapy graduate degree program.  My first year of physical therapy school was eye opening in more ways than one.  The academic classes were intense and highly educational and I gained much more knowledge in anatomy and physiology but I began to realize that I enjoyed the strength and conditioning aspect of physical health rather than the rehabilitation component.

First Personal Training Job

I left PT school after a year and headed home to finish my graduate degree in Kinesiology all the while I was racking up more personal training knowledge and certifications.  I started a job at a local commercial gym and began to hone my training skills during the day while going to school in the evening.  As I began to gain experience in personal training I also began to learn more about specialized forms of training. I gravitated towards types of training used to enhance athletic performance.  I saw the need to meet the physical and performance demands that athletes have to play at a high level while minimizing their risk of injury.  An injury cut my high school career short and hurt my chances of playing in college, however if I could help other athletes achieve their goal of playing high school, college and beyond that would make me feel better.

The Sports Performance Era

Along with working in the commercial gym, I started training a few athletes in my apartment garage and when I got big enough, I studied up on basic business skills and decided to go for broke and open up my own small commercial space: Rise Above Performance Training which is where I am to this date.

You will hear people in your life say to find a job that you love to do so you will be happy while doing it and I could not agree more.  Most days are great and there are plenty of challenges but at the end of each day I truly feel that I am contributing a small piece of the puzzle towards helping people achieve their goals and dreams whether it be in life, sports or simply to answer their curiosity.

Tags: Personal Trainer

Training for Winter Sports: Best Exercises for Soccer and Basketball Players

The weather is getting colder and the seasons are changing.  With these changes comes the beginning of new high school and college sports seasons with two of the biggest being soccer and basketball.

I have had the privilege of training both soccer and basketball athletes this past offseason and we have used many different training protocols to make sure they are strong, agile and more resistant against injuries going into their seasons.

Both soccer and basketball share similar movements in their sports; stop and go running, deceleration, cutting and acceleration and jumping components.  In this article I am going to share with you some of my favorite training exercises I use to get these athletes ready for their season.

Deadlift

There has been a timeless debate in the “strength and conditioning world” regarding which exercise is better to build strength, size and game speed; the squat or the deadlift.  Both exercises are great and should be used but if I had to pick one over the other for soccer and basketball players it would be the deadlift.

Like the squat, the deadlift is a highly effective movement to train the hips to extend.  Most sports are dependent on the athlete’s ability to extend their hips, whether it is to sprint, change direction or jump.  Being able to move and accelerate and object from the ground using one’s hips leads to great strength and power development essential in sports.

The one advantage that the deadlift has is the ability to train starting strength which is the ability to move the body quickly from a dead stop.  Many athletes, parents and coaches ask how they can improve their child’s “first step.”  This first step development comes from training to move deadweight quickly and effectively.

Forward Lunges

This is one of those exercises that I had used in the past, forgotten, came back to it while training at Cressey Performance.  When doing forward lunges again, I realized how weak I was at it and then realized the huge value it has.

I have had many of my athletes primarily performing reverse (step-back) lunges because I felt they were able to get into proper position easier and they could use the back foot explosively to train the first step.  This movement was great for that however I was neglecting one huge component necessary in both of these sports: deceleration.

Most deceleration during soccer and basketball comes when the athlete is moving forward and the front leg needs to slow the body down to change direction.

Forward lunges require the front leg to decelerate.  The forward lunge trains the hamstring muscle group to slow the body down through the eccentric contraction much like it needs to do when playing a sport like soccer and basketball.

During sports the body must decelerate loads greater than the body weight alone due to the acceleration of the body creating a greater force vector.  When doing this lunge variation with added resistance the body learns to deal with forces great than body weight alone much like what occurs when playing sports.

Kettlebell Swing

The kettlebell swing has several advantages when it comes to training for soccer and basketball; namely training the posterior chain (primarily hamstring and hip muscle groups) for power production, it can also be used as a conditioning tool.

Many strength and conditioning coaches utilize Olympic lifts (clean and snatch) to train the power element of sports; while these lifts may be great for power generation, they take much longer to learn the technique when compared to the kettlebell swing, and they are good for maximal power production whereas soccer and basketball are sports that utilizes repetitive bouts of sub-maximal force production.  Sports like soccer and basketball consist of a series of repeated sprints and stops; not an all or nothing explosive movement.

Kettlebell swings can be done within a strength program for repetitions if training posterior chain power production is desired or it can be done for time intervals if training for conditioning.

Core Stability

Core stability for soccer and basketball are crucial for the athletes to perform optimally.  Not only must the core be stable for the athlete to perform their dribbling and shooting skills effectively they also must have a strong core to be able to fend off all of the knocks and fouls that opponents will perform to steal the ball or disrupt a game winning shot.

Training the core for stability is quite simple and I recommend a variety of core stability exercises within a particular training program.  Plank variations, ball or wheel rollouts, strap fallouts, Pallof presses are all great exercises to train the core through stabilization.

Conditioning Circuits

This is one component that is not used frequently enough in strength training protocols.  It is one thing to make your athlete strong and perform well in the weight room, but if they cannot perform better at their sport then the job you’ve done is not complete.

In my article, Get with the Circuit, I touted the need for solid conditioning programs for athletes that needed both strength and endurance.  Adding a conditioning circuit into the program once a week will greatly enhance your soccer and basketball athlete’s strength transfer from the weight room to the field and court.  It is important that these athletes gain the strength endurance necessary to perform repeated measures of sprinting, stopping jumping, and cutting.  The athletes who are able to maintaining this strength endurance cycle will most likely be in better shape and perform the best at their respected sport.

Some of my favorite exercises to include into circuits are jump rope, kettlebell swings, pushups, body rows and the Prowler.  Time should be suited close to what would be done during a game situation.  I like circuits of 4-6 stations doing 20-30 sec. of work and resting for 10-20 sec.

Conclusion

Soccer and basketball players are just like any other athletes in respect to the fact that they need to be strong, stable and conditioned.  The details within a program should be tailored for each specific sport and specifically designed for the individual athlete for optimal success.

Tags: athlete training, athletes, athletics, basketball, training

Kettlebells for Young Athletes: Part II

In the first installment of this series we briefly looked at studies concerning weight training for young athletes and the potential risk associated with it.  Though the notion of strength training itself was not seen as potentially dangerous, implementing improper protocols and exercise selections may have negative effects on the growth of the body and may increase the chance of injury.  I have also found that upon creating proper training programs for young athletes the use of kettlebells is extremely advantageous for teaching proper set up and lifting mechanics used in major lifts.  In many cases kettlebells are much easier and safer to progress than using the traditional bars and dumbbells.

In this second half of the series I will highlight some of the advantages that the kettlebells have over bars and dumbbells especially when it comes to progression of the exercises.

Kettlebell Deadlift Variations

The first installment explained how the kettlebell deadlift is essential for training hip extension and how it could be much safer to implement than a traditional barbell deadlift because it is much easier to set up and execute with proper technique.  Once the technique is mastered and executed with the weight the trainer has established as the goal, then small variations of the movement can be used to further enhance strength gains.

The Single Arm Alternating Deadlift is executed like the standard kettlebell deadlift but uses only one arm at a time and switches at the top.  The challenges come with maintaining proper body alignment by keeping the shoulder back and chest up.  Also, on the single side there may be an urge to shift body weight to the side of the kettlebell and the athlete should not allow for this.  The single arm alternating deadlift forces the athlete to completely activate the core muscles to resist this shift and maintain proper body alignment.  Lastly, the individual grip strength is trained.  Grip is usually much stronger on one side compared to the other side.  By only using one arm to maintain the kettlebell in proper position it is possible to focus entirely on the one arm for the given repetition and the other on the next, in order to narrow the strength deficit between the two arms.

After the young athlete’s technique is stable and consistent you may find that the kettlebell may become too light to elicit a proper training effect for the athlete.  Most kettlebells only reach around the 100lbs. mark; but instead of jumping directly into the barbell version of the lift, the strength coach may opt for one more variation before.  The Double Kettlebell Deadlift is great for the young athletes whose technique has become solid and their strength is progressing.  This variation offers all of the benefits of the other kettlebell deadlift variations; being able to keep the weight very close to the body for the initial set up, training each arm (grip) individually allowing for balancing out the sides all the while being able to increase the weight to a fairly heavy level.  Once the athlete is able to perform this variation with weight totaling around 135lbs. successfully then they can consider the barbell deadlift.

Kettlebell Squat Variations

As discussed in the first installment, the squat is a very important exercise for athletes to improve core and hip strength, however a traditional barbell squat calls for loading the bar and placing it on the back of the athlete which increases the risk of injury to the less experienced lifter and also may compress the spine.  After mastering the bodyweight squat using kettlebells, the kettlebell goblet squat is the next step in the training process.

After the athlete gains experience in the standard kettlebell goblet squat, like we explained in the first article, the movement can be altered to take it to the next level.  Double Kettlebell Front Squats simulates a barbell front squat without having the athlete hold the barbell in the initially awkward fashion.  Using two kettlebells allows for an increase of weight used which can enhance strength gains and it also challenges the core muscles which must be engaged fully to maintain proper body alignment during the execution of the movement.

The Single Kettlebell Front Squat is another great option for young athletes, which is similar to the double front squat version, however when using a single kettlebell racked on one side of the body there is a much greater need to focus on proper technique and balance between the two sides of the body.  The single kettlebell will not only pull the chest down and forward, it wants to cause a shift towards the side of the body where the weight is.  The athlete must counter this motion and keep the chest up and the weight distribution equal on both legs.

Kettlebell Swing Variations

We established the kettlebell 2-arm swing as an excellent alternative for Olympic lifting for the young athlete to improve hip drive and power.  When the 2-arm swing technique has become consistent, then swing variations can be introduced.

The 1-Arm Kettlebell Swing is performed the same way as the 2-arm version, however the single arm version will stress the grip on the working side much more.  It is also a useful movement to balance out the strength and movement coordination between sides.  Usually one side of the body will be stronger and more coordinated and this will be quickly evident when performing this movement.  When executing this movement I recommend to swing the free arm along with the kettlebell side which helps maintain the shoulder in their proper position and also facilitates easy transition to the next variation, the alternating swing.

In the Alternating Kettlebell Swing the athlete will be switching hands.  This allows the athlete to increase their coordination and their work capacity as they begin to get fatigued in one arm, they can switch to the other side and keep the movement going.  The frequency of the hand switch is only limited by the coach’s imagination.  If you want the athlete to train strength and coordination you can have the athlete go heavier and for shorter duration.  If you are training the conditioning of the athlete, keep the weight lighter and switch hands every few repetitions.

Conclusion

Once the young athlete has mastered the basic kettlebell movements these above variations allow for safe progression in programming.  In the third part of this installment, I will go into some of the variations of the single sided movements that kettlebells have to offer.

Tags: athlete training