When an athlete performs a regular step-up, there will be many muscles of the lower legs that will be stimulated.  When you watch the video of my women’s basketball players doing a power step-up, you will see a jump stretch band attached around their waist.  This will have two main functions.  The first will be forcing them to stimulate the torso musculature.  This is desirable as we will want as many muscle fibers stimulated as possible and any additional core activation is always a good thing.  In the second function, the band is holding the athlete back and the athlete is forced to drive the hip forward and move the leg into a more aggressive triple extension firing pattern.  This triple extension will occur in the hip, knee, and ankle.  It is this powerful motion that accelerates an athlete forward explosively.

When performing a power step-up you will need a light or medium jump stretch band and something sturdy to step-up onto at a height of approximately 18-24″.  Loop the jump stretch band around an immoveable object at waist height.  I use my cable machines because there is no sharp edges to cut into the band.  Position a step-up platform about 2 feet from the end of the band.  In the video, the ladies are stepping onto a Legend foam plyo box.  This will give this exercise an added bonus because the athletes will have to stabilize their ankles and maintain balance.  The athlete will then step into the loop of the band and place the loop around their waist.  Place one foot onto the box so that the entire foot is on the box.  In a running motion, drive the heel of the foot that is on the box down hard into the box and drive the body forward.  Again emphasize a running motion with good arm swing and knee drive.  Keep the foot on the box and step back down with the other foot to the floor.  Repeat this motion for the desired number of reps or time of the exercise.

Typically I will have athletes perform 4 sets of 6-10 reps per leg.  An alternative would be to have the athlete step both feet down back to the floor and alternate the step-ups.  In this fashion, I would normally go for a timed session of 30-60 seconds.

If first step acceleration is something you need to improve on then you will want to give this one a try.  As a strength coach, I always believe this is an area that can be improved on.

Hope this helps.

To your health,

Jerry

If you look at the picture of a bicep curl.  Image “A” would be a concentric contraction (muscle shortening) as you bring the dumbbell up and a eccentric contraction (muscle lengthening) as you bring the dumbbell back down.  Image “B” shows an example of a isometric contraction.  The hand is anchored and as you would attempt to squeeze and perform the curl, the arm will not move and as a result much tension will develop in the bicep muscles.

A muscle can generate greater tension with a maximum isometric contraction than with a maximum concentric contraction, but not as much as with a maximum eccentric contraction.  This may seem confusing to a person who just goes through the motions in a weight room.  Now the gym rat, will understand these principles because he/she will put these practices into work and experience the outcomes of their efforts.

What I find great about isometrics is that it can be done in different ranges of motion and with just about any strength exercise.  Let’s go back to the bicep curl.  If we are looking at your elbow and we have the elbow fully extended, the joint angle would be at 180 degrees.  As we start our bicep curl the angle in the elbow will decrease.  You could stop at any angle and perform an isometric contraction.  Most trainers will either do isometric contractions at the mid point, which would be 90 degrees for this example; or at full contraction with the curl all the way up and tight.  I will point out, that if you are using a free weight you should take in consideration for positioning with gravity.

To gain strength from isometric training, the athlete must use an exercise load (resistance) of 60-80% of their muscle’s force-developing capacity and it must be sustained against that resistance for at least 6 seconds to allow time for peak tension to develop and the metabolic changes to begin to occur in the muscle.  Strength will develop at the position or angle degree in which the exercise is performed.  You can see how this could be beneficial if you find a “sticking point” in an exercise.

In the video, you see my wife Trina keeping an isometric contraction in a seated row position with the elbows pulled back and the scapula in a retracted position.  She was told to hold until failure.  I did this at the end of her back training session as a finisher and this was her second set.  She is training for a figure competition and I wanted to get her upper back muscles to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible so when she does her back pose her muscles will “pop” on stage.

If you have never used or tried isometric training, I would encourage you to start experimenting with it.  I covered a few benefits of it but mentioned nothing in regards to the injury prevention and rehabilitation capabilities which I am sure you now can see those possibilities.  If you have any questions or suggestions to share with everyone; please post them in the comments section below.

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

Then I did it; I asked so what all do you do with this thing and then he was like a little kid left in a toy store over night.  You could see his passion and how he really believed in everything he was showing me.  Now you all know how I love to add variety into training but I don’t get to overly crazy with today’s “functional” frenzy, but as I watched Chris and he was explaining things to me as he saw it; I started to think there might more to this than I gave credit for.  I was really impressed at all the different ways he was showing me how to set up the stretch bands with this piece of equipment.   Unlimited possibilities!  Then it happened, Chris asked me if I wanted to keep it for a month or two to play with it and find out for myself.  I am not one to pass up an opportunity and said yes.  I am glad I did because I have been seeing some benefits from incorporating some of his craziness into my workouts.  I guess the moral of this story is not to be afraid of trying new things out on yourself.

This workout I am sharing with you really does not have anything all that crazy incorporated into it but it will give you some inside looks at this new piece of training equipment that is about to hit the mainstream market.  I just happened to have my video camera there that day and had another request for me to film one of my personal workouts again.  I did not have a lot of time so I just through together a quick 6 exercise circuit and ran through it 5 times for a total of 5 sets per exercise at 10 reps each.

• Staggered Stance Chest Press
• Pull Back Into Isometric Hold With Scapular Retraction
• Forward Pull Good Morning
• Alternating Dumbbell Curl
• Cable/Rope Triceps Push Down
• Finger Tip Hang (Each Set Till Fatigued)

Nothing fancy but quick and effective when not having a lot of time.  If you have any training questions about the ARC or anything just let me know and I will do my best to get you an answer or my opinion.

I would like to thank Chris for trusting and allowing me to borrow the ARC for a few months until he makes a trip back down from Canada.  I will probably put up a few more exercises for everyone before he “tries” to take it back.  He has played and still does play Rugby so if I have to get into a scrum with him I might have my hands full!

To your health,

Jerry

They majority of free weight lower or total body movements will have some activation of the glute muslces.   They are working while doing squats, lunges, dead lifts, and step-ups just to name a few.  Many times a good balanced training program will be adequate enough not to have to target or try and isolate and athlete’s glutes.  But there are times when individuals have a hard time getting the proper activation of these muscles which can be a limiting factor in their progression or a higher risk of lower limb injury.

The following exercise that I am about to explain will provide good activation of the glute muscles.  I honestly do not have a name for this exercise but will prescribe it to athletes from time to time.  It basically is like a modified reverse hyper.  Louie Simmons from West Side Barbell came up with the original Reverse Hyper machine, and it really does a good job.  But not everyone will access to this piece of equipment.  Basically it is like a table top that you lay your upper body and mid-torso across with your legs off the table.  Your feet are strapped to a hanging weight almost like a pendulum and you move this weight back by contracting your posterior muscles which has a big emphasis in the glutes.  It will almost look like you are swinging the weight back and forth.  OK, I know that if you are familiar with the reverse hyper machine then you know what I am talking about and trying to explain.  If you are not familiar with it then that description probably has you all screwed up.  That’s OK if you are; you can look up a video of it later if you wish and it will make more sense.

So the exercise I am about to explain will work a lot of the posterior chain muscles but my main objective to to get good activation of the glutes.  You may have to get a little creative in setting this up and the easiest way to do this is by looping a jump stretch band around a power rack.  In the video, I start by using band chords which I attached to an ARC Trainer.  Now the Arc Trainer allows me to pretty much set up any configuration of band chords to do just about anything.  It is a very handy piece of equipment that you will learn more about in the future as it becomes popular.   For now, just use what ever you have available to you to use.  I am going to explain it using a jump stretch band.

Attach the band a few feet off the floor, around waist high.  Then lay down on your back and bring a foot up and loop the band securely around the foot.  Keep your back flat on the ground and then drive the leg down towards the floor (try to keep your leg somewhat straight).  Try to initiate the movement from your glute and when the leg gets to the floor squeeze those muscles tightly.  Return back up under control and repeat for reps or fatigue.

You will really feel this working.  Do not get carried away and do a ton of sets the first time you learn this exercise or you might have trouble sitting the next two days.  Usually 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps per leg is adequate.  You can also attach a second band and do both legs together or alternating movements like if you were walking.  I prefer single leg or alternating reps over doing both legs at the same time.  When doing both legs at the same time; I do not like the tilt of the pelvis and I feel there is some not needed stress placed in the low back area.  I never feel this stress of see the tilt when doing single leg or alternating.

If you feel you are not getting the activation of the glutes or it is your weak link in your kinetic chain, then give this a try.  Heck, just give it a try and you will know what I am talking about.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

As the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at Bucknell University, I work with a number of athletes, and part of my job is to help them remain injury free. To accomplish this, we use a series of Functional Injury Prevention Exercises. These exercises are commonly referred to by my athletes as the F.I.P. (Functional Injury Prevention) and are performed directly after their warm-up and before the core of our weight-training program.

In this article, let’s focus on the shoulder complex, particularly the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff is made up of four muscles and tendons (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and teres minor), which stabilize the shoulder joint. When strengthening these muscles, heavy weight and/or excessive resistance are not required. In fact, too much resistance calls in the bigger muscles that surround the shoulder joint and takes the focus off of these smaller rotator cuff muscles. Defeating the purpose. So I like training these muscles using tubing and/or light five to ten pound weights.

Some of the most common exercises are internal and external shoulder rotation. Internal rotation involves keeping the elbow close to your side, bent at 90 degrees and then rotating your arm toward your body. External rotation is just the opposite: you rotate your arm away from your body. See the photos below for examples of internal and external rotation exercises using tubing.

Internal Rotation

External Rotation

Internal and external rotation exercises are a good start for shoulder health for the common person, but athletes tend to require a more complex circuit in my opinion.

A friend of mine, Mike Winn (Physical Therapist from Evangelical Sports Medicine Center, Lewisburg, PA), developed a shoulder circuit I use with my athletes almost weekly. I believe this circuit has increased the integrity of our athletes’ shoulder strength and has helped decrease the amount of overuse injuries associated with many sports. This circuit is a series of five exercises using rubber elastic tubing.

The first exercise is “Thumbs Out.” This is done with one tube held at arms length with your palms up. To begin, start with your arms parallel to the floor and your thumbs pointing out. Then horizontally pull your arms out to your sides as you retract (pinch) your shoulder blades together and return back to the start position under control.

The second exercise is “Thumbs Up.” Grab a second tube and secure each tube under your feet, so you will be holding one in each hand. Bring your arms forward about 30 degrees. With your thumbs pointing up, raise your arms up until they are parallel with the floor.

The third exercise is “Thumbs Down.” It is the same movement as Thumbs Up but you will switch your grip with the bands, so your thumbs will be pointing down when the arms are parallel to the floor.

The fourth exercise is “High Rotation.” You will start in the same position as Thumbs Down. Then raise your elbows high like an upright row. When your upper arms are parallel to the floor, externally rotate from the shoulder until your forearms are perpendicular to the floor. Return to the starting position in reverse order under control.

The fifth and final exercise is “High Diagonals.” In the Thumbs Down starting position, keep the bands under your feet but switch the bands into your opposite hands. Then cross your arms so your thumbs are pointing into your hips. Extend your arms out away from your body and externally rotate the shoulder as you raise your arms across your body and out above your shoulders. Reverse the order in a controlled manner to restart for the desired number of reps.

I typically have my athletes perform this complex shoulder circuit once or twice a week as part of their Functional Injury Prevention series of exercises. They will perform one to two sets of 10 to 12 controlled reps. For these exercises to be helpful in preventing injuries, the techniques of each exercise must be mastered. I can’t stress this enough.

What you will find when you try this circuit is that each exercise has an elemant of external rotation in the shoulder.  Most of this circuit (as stated above) was developed by Mike Winn, a physical therapist and good friend of mine.  He and I both believe that most athletes need to focus more on the external rotators of the shoulder and spend less time training the internal rotators.  There are so many internal movements in sports that most athlete’s internal rotators are strong enough or in relationship to the external rotators, over developed.  Also, the external roators act as decelerating muscles to help protect the shoulder from throwing movements.

If you are not currently doing any type of rotator cuff training, I would strongly encourage you start.  They work, plain and simple!

Hope that helps.

To your health,

Jerry

For the hip injury prevention exercises, you want to tie about a nine inch loop which you would put around you ankles or just above your knees.  In the past I bought these 9″ x 2″ theraband like loops that you can buy for $1.50-$3.50 a loop.  The only problem I had with them is they would always break after a few dozen uses.  When you tie the tubing it lasts a few hundred uses.  Hey it’s rubber and it will eventually wear out or break, but using the tubing is much less expensive.  It is not as comfortable as the bigger loops you can buy but works just as well if not better.

You can read my complete article on training the small intrinsic muscles of the hip and how to use the loops by clicking here => Injury Prevention – Hip

For doing internal and external movements for the rotator cuff muscles of the shoulders and how to use the tubing click here => Injury Prevention – Shoulder

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

Our goals are simple:

• Stay Healthy
• “Finish” Games
• Win the Patriot League Championship
• Get into the NCAA Tournament!!!

A lacrosse player is a special breed of athlete.  Some have set skills and most hold certain field positions.  They can’t get too big or bulky and they must be strong, agile and explosive.  Toughness, both physical and mental, are required at this level of play.  I try to instill this into my lacrosse athletes each time they work with me in and out of the weight room.

During our conditioning workouts I have a “stand tall” rule.  No matter how tired or gassed you are you NEVER bend over and place your hands on your knees.  If someone does, the whole team gets punished.  This is a mental game (as are most demanding sports) and if your opponent sees you are sucking wind; they will have that mental edge.

We can carry this same physical and mental toughness into the weight room.  For example, this workout is taking place during the schools spring break and there are no classes.  They could have easily slept in but we decided to keep them on schedule and hold the workouts early in the AM.

In the video, I took random clips of the team going through Day 1 of their In-season program.  I personally, was not happy with the team’s performance and intensity of this workout on this day.  Actually, I believe this to be one of our worst workouts of the year and I let the team know about it with some colorful words off camera.  Hey this is reality and this is what I filmed on this particular day.  Here was the workout:

Functional Injury Prevention Work: Internal/External Shoulder Rotation & Scapular Retraction Exercises

Functional Core: Kettle Bell or Dumbbell Oblique Raise (windmill)

Emphasis Work:

• Hang Clean To Split Jerk 5 x 2
• Incline Bar Press/DB Press 2 x 6
• Swivel Grip Pull-up 1 x Failure
• Neutral Grip Pull-up 1 x Failure

Supplemental Work:

• Manual Resistance Posterior Shoulder 1 x Failure
• Dirty Thirty Calves 2 x 10/10/10
• Banded Biceps 1 x 100
• Wrist/Grip Work

Ab/Low Back Circuit w/Strength Coach 7min 30 seconds

Team Static Stretch

As you will see in the video background, some athletes will have other exercises that they are working on in their individual programs.

To your health,

Jerry

PS-Follow us in the NCAA Tourney!!

The majority of strength coaches use bands in some form or another and for good reason.  One band alone can provide you with a vast variety of different exercises and applications for use.  In this video post, I demonstrate how to do seven different exercises for the upper back and core without really moving anywhere or changing any weights.  In reality, I probably could have stayed there and shown you about forty more exercise with just that one band set-up.

So as you can see, bands can be a very valuable and cost effective training tool to have and implement into any training program.  I have used bands for years and encourage individuals to learn how to work with them if you never have.  They are great to travel with and can be set up and used just about anywhere.  Just like any other training tool; you need to respect it and know your limits and the limits of the band to avoid injury.

If you have any questions or comments about band training; please just ask.  Also, be sure to check out the other band training videos that I have posted.

Keep adding Variety to those workouts!!

To your health,

Jerry

This video was put together to show the Legend Fitness Pro Series Glute Ham Developer.  I totally endorse this piece of strength equipment as a solid training tool that is built like a tank.  We have three of them and have put them through the ringer with a lot of athletes for the last four years and they still are just as nice and functional as the first day we got them.  The entire frame is welded together; no bolts and the steel is all American so you know it is sturdy.

I have Legend Fitness Equipment in our facilities and I will say this company is legit.  They stand by their strength products and  emphasize quality by not cutting corners.  If you have any questions about the Glute Ham Developer or any other Legend Fitness Product; please do not hesitate to contact me and ask.

To your health,

Jerry

When I am coaching this exercise, I stress on concentrating on all the muscles in the body and “feeling” them contract throughout the movement.  Never stay fixed in one position.  Just let everything move naturally allowing your feet to pivot from side to side.

I recommend doing 2-4 sets of around 6-8 reps.  Take it slow and don’t force it.  If you do it right you won’t need more than 6-8 reps.

Stay Strong & Fit,

Jerry