Posts Tagged ‘athletes’

Young Athletes: 7 Tips for Achieving Peak Performance

Friday, August 26th, 2011
Young Athletes
Young Athletes

Today’s society is keener on converting young athletes into peak performers overnight by just winning competitions. The people behind these young athletes i.e. parents and coaches, fail to understand that there is much more than just winning.

Peak performance is not only about winning a competition or two. The athletes should be able to perform well for a long while in their field of interest.

The training program thus, should comprise of a comprehensive plan that combines various elements pertaining to the body, mind and spirit, so as to improve the performance of the athletes both on and off the court. What are the factors to consider while devising such a training program?

Here are some tips for young athletes to achieve peak performance:

(more…)

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Fitness Tips, Kids, Sports, Weight Training | 1 Comment »

To Build More Power Train Your Antagonists Eccentrically

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Plyos, Olympic Lifts, and Dynamic Efforts are not the Only Ways to Increase Speed and Power

Baseball Pitcher

Strength coaches around the world prescribe plyometrics and Olympic lifts to increase force production – to build speed and power. Powerlifters around the world utilize dynamic effort lifts – box squats, speed deads, board presses – to increase their speed and power.

We can all learn A LOT from those methods, but there is one constituent of force development that the above methods don’t take into account. Consider reversal and/or starting strength, acceleration, and stretch reflex actions of the muscles that act as the antagonists to the primary sports movement.

(more…)

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Martial Arts, Sports, Weight Training | 6 Comments »

Athletes Should Only Train Sport Specific Movements

Friday, July 8th, 2011

Should Athletes Train Individual Muscles or Only Sports Movements?

Adrian Gonzalez

As a trainer, I have to know how to train people from all walks of life. I’ve seen bodybuilders, strength athletes, middle aged men, obese housewives, trained athletes, newbies, weekend warriors, and about 100 other types of people and athletes. No one routine can be designed for everyone.

Even in niches like baseball athletes, strongmen, and Olympic lifters, there is no one-size-fits-all training routine. You can’t take a baseball pitcher and train the pitching motion for 5 hours a day, 7 days a week. It just won’t work. So how do you train athletes that only need a small variety of movements to be successful at their sport?

The Myth

A long standing myth about training for sports, is that you should only train the common movements for your sport, so that you can get better at those movements. If you know nothing about physiology, kinesiology, or basic physics, then logically that makes sense.

However if you think about how the body really works, you will realize that the body will always find a way to perform any intended movement. Have you ever bench pressed and altered your shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, or foot position in order to eek out that last rep?

(more…)

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 4 Comments »

All Athletes Must Train to Failure

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

Should Bodybuilders Train to Failure?

“No pain, no gain!”

You hit the gym like a maniac. You want every rep to burn. Every set has to be a max rep attempt. Maybe you even enlist a spotter to help you eek out an extra rep or two. Is training to failure or past failure a good practice for bodybuilders?

The Myth

“The only rep that counts, is the one you can’t finish.”

To grow as a bodybuilder you need to push every set to failure. That’s how Arnold and all the great 70′s bodybuilders trained, right?

Some of the following techniques, called “Weider Training Principles” are used to take each set past failure:

  • forced reps
  • forced negatives
  • rest pause
  • partial reps
  • drop sets

This is how bodybuilders have trained for years and it’s how bodybuilders should train today. Is it right?
(more…)

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Bodybuilding Myths | 4 Comments »

How to Turn Your Teenage Athlete Into a Sports Legend

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
Your Questions
Your Questions

I get plenty of questions in various comments throughout the website, but I also get comments and questions via the Project Swole Contact Form.

Generally I address those questions through e-mail, but often I do not have the time to reply to each and every question personally.

The category, Your Health Questions is a more proactive approach to answering your questions so that everyone can benefit from the Q & A.

Jim wrote:

“I wanted to know about how much protein my 14 year old should be having.

He is playing football and weightlifting at school. (Freshman). He is 5’8 and 112 lbs.

He wants to add some weight and muscle but we heard that you should not give your teen protein because they will start to grow outward instead of height-wise.

What do you recommend?”

(more…)

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Your Questions | 12 Comments »

12 Mistakes All Athletes Have Made While Training

Thursday, September 11th, 2008
Franco Columbo
Franco Columbo

Inexperienced athletes do dumb things. Most people look for the easiest way from point A to point B, and sometimes they become obsessed with trivial details. I did it; you did it… or maybe you still do it; and the newbie that jumps on the bench after you will do it too.

Hell, when I first started training, I was following a 6 day per week, 2 a day program, written by some professional bodybuilder. It took me a year to learn how to do barbell back squats and even longer to start deadlifting. I thought I knew what I was doing just like you do.

In order to take that first step towards knowing everything, we must first realize that we know nothing. This is what I want you to do before you read the rest of this article. Once you can admit that you know nothing about weightlifting, you can read these tips and apply them to what you have been doing, in order to start doing what you should be doing.

Once you have the proper train of thought, you may proceed…

(more…)

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Conditioning, Weight Training | 5 Comments »