Good to hear about you on the slopes - great family fun.
With regards to snowboards for children, virtually all the top companies make great boards, boots, bindings for kids.
So obviously I’m going to do the “hard-sell” on you now and try to convince you and your wife to get out and snowboard with them. LOL
Seriously if you need some help with prep for board sports or just ideas to keep the “fun-factor” going, just let me know. BTW, what part of NJ are you from? And yeah the season is only 3 short months away up in VT!!!
I should point a few things very quickly. First with the “wheel”, no component (“spoke”) is of greater importance and thus no point can be ignored. To mastery your sport skills, you need a foundation of athletic development. Conversely (and this has become a major issue) for an athlete any training is incomplete if it doesnt involve SPP.
Therefore in answer to your question, your program without question needs to be directed to the needs of combative athlete.
From there the question of specificity and how to manifest performance enhancement comes into play. Typically and this isn’t an problem restricted to your sport but many athletes now train to basically train. Weight room numbers are quoted in length but rarely does it get to the bottom-line of how it improves performance.
First, any training mid-season must focus directly on dealing with restoration needs and getting you ready for the next game. It also needs to reflect your general training history basically meaning in-season is not the time to start something radically new. In other words those extreme depth jumps I normally use are out of the question (just kidding btw).
Why don’t you tell me a little of your present condition, training history and I will try to be of help.
Wow, that was fast. (This is regarding the rugby training during a 3 week midseason break)
Current condition ? 5?11?, 193lbs, approx ? 15% bodyfat. I?ve cleaned with 165, snatched with 115, both for reps and have never tried to max out on either. My max squat and bench were 375lbs 260lbs, respectively (about eight weeks). I run 4.7/40. My aerobic conditioning is good, but I don?t really have a quantitative number reflecting that ? except that I know I can run a 1km in under 4min without difficulty.
Training history ? Very sporadic, I’ve gone hardcore for several months at a time, but usually can’t maintain as well as I’d like during the season. I?m 28, am comfortable with olympic and classic BB lifting, plyometrics, and just about any other movement to be found on T-Nation. My flexibility is above average. Uhmm?not sure what else you?re looking for, but I hope this info does the trick.
Thanks,
Mike
“The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.” G.Santayana
Coach, we recently moved to Cranbury NJ. It is in the central part of the state, about 10 minutes east of Princeton. Now that we are done having kids, the range of activities to do as a family starts to improve - especially as the kids get older. The wife and I mountain biked a lot when we were first married and we are talking about getting a kid cart to pull the smallest ones with and the 2 biggest can ride with us. We have an acre yard now and the kids do the usual kid things - tag, hide and seek, and we are starting on kickball.
In this part of the country, the kids are so scheduled already. Somethimes I think they are missing out on play!! My 6 year old does soccer and ballet. She has fun at both of them and all the neighborhood kids play soccer too. I thought long and hard about starting her so young on activities, but my concern is that if she waits a few years to start doing an organized sport, she may be far behind the others and get frustrated. Her personality is shy and we thought she might get discouraged if she was not at the same ability level as the other kids. Sometimes I feel everybody pushes their kids too damn hard - let them be little kids for crying out loud!!
Sorry about the rant - thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Coach Davies,
We greatly appreciate all the time you’re putting in to this Q&A, it’s not easy to read and respond to so many emails I know. I have a couple quick questions for you.
One, regarding your cert.program in NYC area in Oct. Do you have an exact location set, so that i can find lodging nearby?
Two, on another subject, what’s your opinion of contrast showers or baths for recovery after hard workout days. Any other recovery methods you recommend besides sleep and nutrition?
Thank’s greatly for your time.
Chris T., Louisville, KY
I don’t really consider it a rant as much as a insightful observation and one that I share similar opinions of.
I will spare you my rant, it is a bit more “colorful” and venomous towards the very industry that I am known in. I tend to think the last thing the “health and fitness” industry is about is in-fact health and being able to enjoy an active lifestyle. For those who have read my editorial writings or listen to me speak, they quickly learn that I believe exercise was meant to add value to our lives and our society as a whole yet I rarely hear that mentioned.
I understand your situation and of course you need to balance both sides of the equation. One thing I always like to recommend is for concerned parents always to try and share activities with their families. I can’t tell how many emails / letters I get from parents and their children talking about how great it was to go surf/skate/snowboarding, mtb as a family. I suspect you understand a little better now what my real motivation was to write a book towards the “Xtreme” sports.
Let me know how I can help - I’m always available.
Bonovox…btw - another great id name. I really have to change mine : )
Re recovery methods - I have always been a big user of contrast showers, cold water dousing and to some degree epsom salt baths. Personally I’m lucky as I swim in the ocean year round and that includes fairly chilly conditions.
Also don’t underestimate the value of GPP and static rom work.
Re the weekend seminar and cert program - please contact us directly. We have set the location but prefer to give that information privately.
Thanks again and let me know if you have any questions.
I have often wondered if there is a common feature to all successful sprint programmes. For example C.Francis training periodisation is very similar to Carlo Vittori (Pietro Minnea’s coach) or Yuri Verkhoshansky’s (“the father of plyometrics”) concentrated strength phase training in that you go from long to short emphasising max strength then maintaining it whilst developing speed endurance qualities and elastic strength.
What is the common feature that all these training regimens have?
Mike, now might not be the best time to undertake a enormous change in your training methodology but we really need to build up your leg / hip drive based upon the numbers you provided.
You certainly seem dedicated so just let me know where / we can go from here. I’m happy to be of help as much as possible.
I’ve seen you using a lot of Detroit Barbell equipment, so I have to ask - what do you think of their loadable KB’s? Have you used the DragonDoor KB’s at all? Opinions would rock. I want to add KB’s to my fitness training but they’re really expensive, so I want to make an informed decision.
Yes, I use Detroit Barbell products extensively for a variety of reasons and have used others. In fact, I will say I’m proud to be associated with them because of there commitment to quality and I know a lot of other coaches are starting to sit up and take notice. I am actually meeting up with them in a few hours to go over some new items they have just finished.
What I like about Detroit Barbell is two things - quality of products and the integrity to hand-build rock-solid items. I could go on and on about there quality but I don’t want to bore you but some of the benefits to there items are:
variance in loads (you dont need to use shot, it can be rice, sand or anything). This also allows to alter the weighted and save on unneccessary product.
I prefer a destabilized load. It provides a greater benefit wit an imperfect “shock” effect.
There products typically have thicker bars and there is a broad based series benefits with them from grip strength to elicting motor recruitment.
My favorite pieces are the 2 used for the pics in this article. The short barbell is incredible and the dumbells are irreplacable.
My question is about adopting “Fat to Fire” for use in a crowded, commercial gym. Would the results be similar if the supersets were all completed before moving on to the next set. For example, could I do A1/A2, rest 60 sec., repeat 6 times, then move on to B1/B2.
I would really like to use Fat to Fire to drop some fat, but can’t with my gym situation.
Also, how could I incorporate some running in to the program, or should I skip it all together?
Lastly, should the daily warmup of jumping rope be done before the GPP also?
I appreciate the feedback. I?ve been toying with the idea of getting the ebooks from speedexperts.com that is linked from your website for my offseason speed work. Since it?s on your website I?m safe to assume that it?s a product that you strongly endorse?
Now that you?ve mentioned the need to build my leg/hip drive, I?ve only got more questions. Primarily, what my focus should be to bring up that weak point.
I guess my original question still stands (what training to focus on during my 3 week break with sprinting speed as my priority) and I was hoping that I?d given you enough info to point me in the right direction. When you say that I shouldn?t ?undertake an enormous change? in my training, does that mean I should just add volume/intensity to the type of training I?m already engaged in, as opposed to starting a brand new program?
Thanks for your time.
Mike
“The body is an instrument, the mind its function, the witness and reward of its operation.” G.Santayana
How to vary the Volume and the Intensity during 8 PreSeason weeks in order to improve the Strength/Power(pyo and weigth) and like for to improve the Acceleration on the 3-35 meters?