Functional Path Training

Training Do’s and Don’ts #3 – Warm-up (Preparation)/Cooldown(Reset)

Warm-up and cooldown are essential parts of the whole training process. It is helpful to think of the warm-up as preparation for training and cooldown as a reset to prepare the body for the next training sessions. The workout begins with the warm-up! The subsequent training sessions do not actually begin with that sessions warm-up rather it begins with prior sessions cooldown. Conceptually this is based on the unity of training sessions and that no workout stands alone.  

Warm-up sets the tempo for the workout to follow. It is the bridge from normal daily activities to actual training. Conversely cooldown is the transition back to normal daily activities. There is too much emphasis in warm-up on raising core temperature and heart rate. The main physiological objective is neural activation, getting everything firing and connected to prepare for the more intense work to follow in the actual workout. From a psychological perspective the warm-up should almost be a ritual. This can serve as a security point or anchor for the athlete. Try to stay away from stationary bikes and stair steppers as part of warm-up because of the restricted range of motion. Above stay away from jogging. All jogging does is reinforce poor running mechanics.  Use jump rope or progressive striding instead (See Example).

The warm-up can vary in length from as short as ten minutes for the warm-up before a second session to as long as thirty minutes. The length ultimately will be determined by the objective of the subsequent workout. The warm-up should be “active” not continuous. That distinction is important. Active refers to the fact that the warm-up consists of movements that are active as opposed to passive. Continuous means that the there are no breaks between warm-up activities. Continuous warm-up means that warm-up goes for a set time with all the exercises fit into that period. This can be used occasionally, especially on a recovery day or on a work capacity emphasis day where the subsequent workout is of low neural demand. The warm-up should build progressively in intensity into the workout. The emphasis on joint mobility not on static flexibility. Flexibility is trained as a separate training unit, after the workout. In a cold environment proper clothing can greatly prolong and enhance the effect of warm-up. After warm-up it is especially helpful to be able to towel off, hydrate well and change into dry clothes for the actual workout. Of course, this may not be practical in many situations.

Active Multi-Stage Warm-up (Example)

1) Progressive Strides 6 – 8 x 50 meters

This serves to raise core temperature. These are not jogs but relaxed strides that serve to enhance good running mechanics. The last thing we want is to have the athletes start the workout by plodding. Start at 60 % and end at 80%.

2) Leg Swings

a) Swing Forward & Back b) Side to side across the body (This dynamically loosens the hip girdle)

3) Mini Band Routine (12” band above ankles)

a) Sidestep b) Walk - Forward/Back c) Carioca d) Monster Walk (This is designed to strengthen and activate the small intrinsic muscles of the hip. This segment is a key factor in prevention of low back and groin injuries.)

4) Balance & Stability (Alternate Static and Dynamic)

         Static - Single Leg Squat (Hold each position five counts)

                    a) Straight 2 x ea leg b) Side 2 x ea leg c) Rotation 2 x ea leg

Dynamic - Balance Shift

                  Shift & Step Right - Shift & Step Left

                  Forward Step Right - Forward Step Left

                  Back Step Right - Back Step Left

(The single squat addresses static balance and the balance shift addresses dynamic balance. This segment serves to help with neural activation and increase body awareness.)

5) Walking Rotations (3 Kg Med Ball)

         Wide Rotation x 20 - Forward & Backward

         Tight Rotation x 20 - Forward & Backward

         Side to Side x 20 - Forward & Backward

         Figure x 20 - Forward & Backward

         (This segment activates the core in functional positions)

6) Lunge & Reach Series (2 reps in each plane – Forward/Side/Rotational)

         Reach Up   Reach Out & Down               Reach Across

This series is designed to work through wide ranges of motion to promote mostability.

7) Active Stretch

The emphasis here is active stretching in three planes of motion for the key target areas that are needed by that individual. Every individual should have their own routines based on their individual needs.

8) Crawls

Inchworm x 5

Spiderman x 5

(To work the core and reinforce opposition)

9) Hurdle Walks (Five Hurdles)

         Hurdle Walks – Over

(This segment addresses dynamic hip mobility)

10) Coordination

Coordination One (Two reps of each exercise)

Skip

Crossover Skip

Sidestep

Carioca (low & long)

Carioca (short & quick)

Backward run

High Knee Skip

High Knee Skip w/Rotation

Coordination Two (Two reps of each exercise)

         Serpentine Stride 2 x 30 yards

         Crossover Skip with rotation 2 x 30 yards

         Angle Sidestep 2 x 30 yards

         Carioca Quick Change 2 x 30 yards

         360 Turns 2 x 30 yards (Four Turns)

Line Touches 2 x 30 yards

Forward into Backpedal 2 x 30 yards

Backpedal, Turn and Go 2 x 30 yards

The coordination segment is just that, it is designed to promote coordination and body awareness. There are two modules coordination One which is more linear and coordination Two which involves more change of direction. Alternate the two based on the objective of the subsequent workout.

The cooldown is designed to calm the nervous system and restore muscles to resting length. Once gain – No jogging! Design a routine that fits your situation that includes a yoga flow routine, some easy crawls, rhythmic leg and arm swings and trunk rotations. My experience is that static stretching with holds up to twenty seconds is best done up to two hours post workout to alleviate soreness.

Don’t forget the cumulative training effect from all these activities, it is significant especially in the area of development of foundational movement skills.

Warm-up sets the tempo for the workout to follow. It is the bridge from normal daily activities to actual training. Conversely cooldown is the transition back to normal daily activities. There is too much emphasis in warm-up on raising core temperature and heart rate. The main physiological objective is neural activation, getting everything firing and connected to prepare for the more intense work to follow in the actual workout. From a psychological perspective the warm-up should almost be a ritual. This can serve as a security point or anchor for the athlete. Try to stay away from stationary bikes and stair steppers as part of warm-up because of the restricted range of motion. Above stay away from jogging. All jogging does is reinforce poor running mechanics.  Use jump rope or progressive striding instead (See Example).

The warm-up can vary in length from as short as ten minutes for the warm-up before a second session to as long as thirty minutes. The length ultimately will be determined by the objective of the subsequent workout. The warm-up should be “active” not continuous. That distinction is important. Active refers to the fact that the warm-up consists of movements that are active as opposed to passive. Continuous means that the there are no breaks between warm-up activities. Continuous warm-up means that warm-up goes for a set time with all the exercises fit into that period. This can be used occasionally, especially on a recovery day or on a work capacity emphasis day where the subsequent workout is of low neural demand. The warm-up should build progressively in intensity into the workout. The emphasis on joint mobility not on static flexibility. Flexibility is trained as a separate training unit, after the workout. In a cold environment proper clothing can greatly prolong and enhance the effect of warm-up. After warm-up it is especially helpful to be able to towel off, hydrate well and change into dry clothes for the actual workout. Of course, this may not be practical in many situations.

Active Multi-Stage Warm-up (Example)

1) Progressive Strides 6 – 8 x 50 meters

This serves to raise core temperature. These are not jogs but relaxed strides that serve to enhance good running mechanics. The last thing we want is to have the athletes start the workout by plodding. Start at 60 % and end at 80%.

2) Leg Swings

1. 1. a) Swing Forward & Back b) Side to side across the body (This dynamically loosens the hip girdle)

3) Mini Band Routine (12” band above ankles)

1. 1. a) Sidestep b) Walk - Forward/Back c) Carioca d) Monster Walk (This is designed to strengthen and activate the small intrinsic muscles of the hip. This segment is a key factor in prevention of low back and groin injuries.)

4) Balance & Stability (Alternate Static and Dynamic)

         Static - Single Leg Squat (Hold each position five counts)

                a) Straight 2 x ea leg

                b) Side 2 x ea leg

                c) Rotation 2 x ea leg

Dynamic - Balance Shift

                  Shift & Step Right - Shift & Step Left

                  Forward Step Right - Forward Step Left

                  Back Step Right - Back Step Left

(The single squat addresses static balance and the balance shift addresses dynamic balance. This segment serves to help with neural activation and increase body awareness.)

5) Walking Rotations (3 Kg Med Ball)

         Wide Rotation x 20 - Forward & Backward

         Tight Rotation x 20 - Forward & Backward

         Side to Side x 20 - Forward & Backward

         Figure x 20 - Forward & Backward

         (This segment activates the core in functional positions)

6) Lunge & Reach Series (2 reps in each plane – Forward/Side/Rotational)

         Reach Up   Reach Out & Down               Reach Across

This series is designed to work through wide ranges of motion to promote mostability.

7) Active Stretch

The emphasis here is active stretching in three planes of motion for the key target areas that are needed by that individual. Every individual should have their own routines based on their individual needs.

8) Crawls

Inchworm x 5

Spiderman x 5

(To work the core and reinforce opposition)

9) Hurdle Walks (Five Hurdles)

         Hurdle Walks – Over

(This segment addresses dynamic hip mobility)

10) Coordination

Coordination One (Two reps of each exercise)

Skip

Crossover Skip

Sidestep

Carioca (low & long)

Carioca (short & quick)

Backward run

High Knee Skip

High Knee Skip w/Rotation

Coordination Two (Two reps of each exercise)

         Serpentine Stride 2 x 30 yards

         Crossover Skip with rotation 2 x 30 yards

         Angle Sidestep 2 x 30 yards

         Carioca Quick Change 2 x 30 yards

         360 Turns 2 x 30 yards (Four Turns)

Line Touches 2 x 30 yards

Forward into Backpedal 2 x 30 yards

Backpedal, Turn and Go 2 x 30 yards

The coordination segment is just that, it is designed to promote coordination and body awareness. There are two modules coordination One which is more linear and coordination Two which involves more change of direction. Alternate the two based on the objective of the subsequent workout.

The cooldown is designed to calm the nervous system and restore muscles to resting length. Once gain – No jogging! Design a routine that fits your situation that includes a yoga flow routine, some easy crawls, rhythmic leg and arm swings and trunk rotations. My experience is that static stretching with holds up to twenty seconds is best done up to two hours post workout to alleviate soreness.

Don’t forget the cumulative training effect from all these activities, it is significant especially in the area of development of foundational movement skills.

Daily Observation

I got this from Jimmy Radcliffe at University of Oregon. Every session during warmup it is imperative to observe and evaluate the following:

Posture

Balance

Stability

Mobility

Design your warm-up so these qualities are emphasized and evaluate them constantly. Never lose sight of the fact that Testing=Training and Training =Testing, also that the training session start with the warm-up and you MUST coach the warm-up.

To learn how all of this works in a comprehensive training system, join us on the GAIN Master Class at https://thegainnetwork.com/. If you interested in hearing Jimmy Radcliffe watch the first Master Class here: https://thegainnetwork.com/developing-the-adaptable-athlete-master-class-may-2020/

GAIN 2016 Reflections

In the past years I have written my reflections a day or two after GAIN ends. For various reason I have waited for almost two weeks. GAIN IX was the by far the best ever. I looked back on my reflections from past GAIN”s and I always say that the most recent was the best ever. No I am not given to hyperbole. This GAIN was the best; it was a giant leap forward in all respects. The content was great as expected, but it was more than that, everything clicked I think we really struck at the essence of GAIN which is the interaction, the sharing and the learning. If you are interested you can watch my opening GAIN talk at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWoVevqPSEA

GAIN is not a conference nor was it ever intended to be a conference. The presentations are meant to facilitate, provoke and stimulate thought, even to get people thinking differently. What makes GAIN special is the people from diverse backgrounds, sporting cultures and areas of expertise.

The 2016 GAIN Faculty

Here are some of the things that made GAIN 2016 special for me:

Steve Magness sharing his “mistakes” from this past year and lessons learned.

Jim Radcliffe and Bill Knowles sitting in the front row of every session, taking notes and asking questions.

It was the morning “wake-up” sessions at the track that woke up the brain and the body with the high quality teaching and information presented in an environment where you could feel it and experience it.

The meals where you had a basketball coach from Bulgaria talking to a cricket conditioning coach from Trinidad, where you had NFL and NBA coaches sitting with high school coaches.

It was Dean Benton and Grant Duthie showing they use Tactical Periodization and GPS data for prescription not restriction of training.

Wade Gilbert underscoring the importance of culture and of reflective coaching.

Bill Knowles sharing his work with the Philadelphia Union Academy and his athletic development model of reconditioning and return to play.

Randy Ballard sharing his solutions for transitioning the “broken and bent” incoming athletes into effective Division One athletes.

Ken Clark showing how he is turning his research on speed into practice.

It was Brain McCormick talking about the realities of LAD and making Dynamic System theory as it applies to skill acquisition understandable.

I could go on forever. I leave GAIN every year very tired and overwhelmed by the quality and volume of information. Now that I have had two weeks to decompress, review and recuperate I can’t wait for GAIN 2017, which will be our tenth GAIN. The challenge is to make it better. To make it better demands better people. If you are interested in becoming part of the GAIN experience applications will open in January of 2017. Slots for new attendees will be limited and each year it gets more selective.

We are staring GAIN events throughout the year. The first event will be GAIN swimming September 15 to 18 in Carmel Indiana. Check the website in a couple of weeks for more details.

GAIN Odds & Ends

Check out the first GAIN Whitepaper on Athletic Development – Defining the Field. This is my attempt at defining the field and moving away from the restrictive nature of the name and concept of strength & conditioning. Go to www.thegainnetwork.com and scroll down to GAIN White Paper. Download the PDF, share it, reprint it use it as you see fit. There will be more to come from the GAIN community.

Also another resource from GAIN and HMMR Media http://www.hmmrmedia.com/ are the GAINcasts. Listen to the GAINcasts for insights into athletic development and coaching. Listen to the latest episode for my thoughts and ideas on what is strong and how much strength is enough http://www.hmmrmedia.com/2016/04/gaincast-episode-10-what-is-strong/

GAIN IX – 2016 will held June 14 to 18 at Rice University in Houston Texas. There are a few spots still open for the right professional – Apply now at http://www.thegainnetwork.com/

Injury Prevention – Getting It Right

In so many ways injury prevention programs are a lost cause. My sense of it is that the more time spent on injury prevention the more injuries there will be. Do I have proof with hard numbers? No rather it has been my observation over the years. The current emphasis on injury prevention has led us down a one-way dead end street. More time devoted to so called “injury prevention” to the exclusion of time spent on actual training. Therapy & corrective exercise does not make up for good consistent training. The best way to prevent injury is to not have an injury prevention program. Let me suggest a more proactive approach. Design, implement and hold players accountable for a comprehensive athletic development program that addresses sport demands, meets the athlete’s individual needs and addresses the pattern of injuries in the particular sport. Injury prevention should be an implicit and transparent part of this comprehensive program. This is the approach I have always taken. It has worked in a variety of sports. Try it and you will see the difference. It is much more work than rolling out a packaged injury prevention program. It requires thorough planning and total buy in from all involved. Good sound comprehensive training goes a long way toward bullet proofing the athlete.

The GAINcast Podcast

Join us on the new GAIN cast podcast

• Website for GAINcast: http://www.hmmrmedia.com/gaincast/
• Subscribe on iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-gaincast/id1076641143
• Subscribe with other apps link: http://gaincast.libsyn.com/rss

Thanks to Martin Bingisser at HMMR Media for hosting the podcast. Over the next weeks I will have some of the GAIN faculty members on as guests. I would like to hear from you about topics of interest to you.

Last Week in Oregon – Observations & Lessons

Oregon City Swim Team - Matt Crum head coach of Oregon City swim team spoke the phrase of the week to his team: “Embrace Chaos” when he was introducing a new training set in the water to his swimmers. This really resonated with me. Essentially training is preparing to race and no race goes perfectly according to plan. OCST does not have perfect facilities and unlimited pool time, in fact their facilities are limited which leads to some chaos but Matt has turned that into a positive. Learn from the chaos by embracing it. This is a good lesson for us all.

Breakfast meeting with Jon Marcus – Jon is a young coach who gets it. It was great to visit with him and share ideas and talk coaching. Jon coaches a group of elite middle distance runners in Portland but he is far from being a specialist. He coaches all aspects of their training, not just the running. One factor that gives him this skill set is that he has coached other sports and other events in track & field, definitely old school in this day of uber specialization.

Training Session with Ashton & Brianna Eaton - Their coach Harry Marra, has done a masterful job preparing and progressing them. I met with Harry before the workout and he showed me a training summary that Ashton gives him at the conclusion of each month. It was well beyond a training diary, it was his feedback and reflections on what they worked on each day. It was full of terrific insights in to the whole process. It was obvious watching the session that this is a real coaching partnership. I love watching great coaching/teaching sessions like this. Mind you these are the best of the best and they are still learning and growing. Harry started the session with a two-minute lesson on the concepts he wanted to reinforce in the high jump and the shot put. The amount of time Harry puts into preparation is amazing. He gets there and sets up for the session no less than one hour before. In planning the session he reviews video and is constantly looking for cues and things to fine tune. His key is communication; he knows his athletes and coaches them as people. Watching Ashton and Briana was special, they approach training with a laser like focus. They are on task and know what they need to do. No training session is excessively long nor do they do double sessions everyday. They live by the mantra that less is more. Just putting in time is not training.

Oregon football morning training session – I have been privileged to watch several Oregon football practices over the past few years This morning training session conducted by good friend and colleague Jimmy Radcliffe was amazing! It started in the dark and cold with Jimmy leading an extensive warm-up that reinforced the movement concepts that would be the focus of the session. They then broke into position groups for various athletic development activities, linemen where throwing logs, skill positions were doing plyo’s etc. What followed was one of the most impressive team speed sessions I have seen in all my years of coaching. Speed is the Oregon game and this was FAST! They broke into position groups and did what Jimmy calls position sprints (Nothing unique here) which consist of various patterns and angle runs imitating the movements that occur at their positions in the game. The speed and precision of execution was what was impressive – faster than game speed with perfect effort all led by a player in each group. You play the way you train – train fast to play fast!

Sierra/Cascade Symposium – This is a biannual event organized and hosted by Jimmy Radcliffe. It is open by invitation only. It was a great experience to exchange ideas about coaching with this group even though I do not work with football. Coaching is about people so it was easy to connect. What impressed me is that all the coaches coached another sport, mainly track and field, definitely not the norm today.

What is Functional Training

Functional training is a label for a concept. As with any label it is subject to various interpretations. I originally conceived it as multi lateral training integrating various training modalities (medicine ball, stretch cord, weight training, dumbbells, body weight etc.) to produce significant adaptation in specific performance parameters. It trains all systems of the body while recognizing and respecting the wisdom of the body. The end result is a highly adaptable athlete who is able to perform without limitations in the competitive environment. Contrast this to biased one- sided training that results in adapted athletes who are inconsistent in performance and prone to injury.

GAIN VIII June 17 to 21, 2015

We are almost there to the start of GAIN 2015 our eighth gathering. Each one has better than the previous one, this year is shaping up to be the best ever with new delegates from all over the sporting world. It has developed into the professional development community/network I hoped it would be when I started it. We have three areas of focus 1) Physical Education 2) Sports Medicine/Rehab 3) Coaching/Athletic Development. There is no better experience than top professionals in these three areas asking questions, challenging each other and sharing.

GAIN Mission

To focus on the possibilities for enhancing human movement with no limits or limitations and emphasize connections and links between all disciplines in the same manner we emphasize connections and linkages in the body.

GAIN Goals

      Provide a career defining educational experience for all involved

Define the field of Athletic Development

Reinforce the concepts that:

Training = Testing and Testing  = Training

Training = Rehab and Rehab = Training

GAIN VIII Theme

Applying practice based evidence to ensure a difference in performance.

Each day we have a theme that directs out teaching and attention. The daily themes for this year are:

Day One – Getting Started

Day Two – The Foundation

Day Three – The Application

Day Four – The Next Level

Day Five – Bring It Home

Hopefully next year you will be able to join us for GAIN or a GAIN specialty event starting next fall.

Free Your Minds - Training Sense & Nonsense

Yesterday in three different situations I saw the nonsense of training.

Randomly putting together a series of exercises with no connection to each other and inappropriate for the athlete and calling it functional training is nonsense.

Stupidly trying to imitate sport movements, in this case swimming, outside the realm of the sport is nonsense. By trying to do that you are not preparing for the stress of the sport you are adding to the stress increasing possibility of injury. That is why you train for the sport.

Making everyone do Olympic lifts with the bar is nonsense. Use the Olympic lifting movements and find an appropriate mode (dumbbell, kettlebell, sandbag) that fit the athletes.

It is discouraging to continue to see this kind of nonsense when we should know better. Sometimes I think it is just laziness on the part of the people implementing these things, I hesitate to call them coaches, to think and analyze, to take the time to get to know the athletes and the sport to train appropriately.

Wise words from Bob Marley’s Redemption Song are particularly appropriate:

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfil de book.

Just because everyone does it does make it correct. Free your mind, break out, dare to think differently and above keep learning!