This was a relatively cheap addition but worth it’s weight in gold for the benefits my athletes get from it.  Just trying to climb the rope takes a vast amount of strength.  A typical climbing workout would look like this:  I would have the athlete sit on the platform and grab the rope with a tight grip.  They would then be instructed to try and keep their legs straight and go hand over hand climbing up to the top of the rack and then work back down as many times as they are able.  Many athletes are not able to do this the first time they try and many female athletes might not ever reach this level.  This is where progression comes into play.

One way to make this a little easier is by lessening your body weight.  You can do this easily by keeping your feet in contact with the floor and then work on hand over hand techniques.  I normally have an athlete grab the rope and place their feet against the rack and lean back lowering themselves little by little and then climbing back (as demonstrated in the video).  The lower you go back towards the floor the harder it will be to climb back up to vertical.  You can see how this would be productive and everyone can work within their capabilities.

Another simple progression is to just stabilize your feet and lie back extending the arms and then without changing the grip or hand positions pull yourself back towards the rope like a rowing motion.  You can repeat for reps or until fatigued.  Make sure for variation you change your grip so that you are not always rowing with the right hand higher than the left or vise-versa.

You should always focus on keeping your core tight and you will feel the muscle tension build in the upper body as you squeeze your grip as tight as possible for each climb variation.

There are many ways to utilize ropes into a training program.  Really your imagination is only your limiting factor.  Get creative with ropes and have fun challenging yourself.  I hope this helps give you some ideas and potential variation that you can include into your training program.

To your health,

Jerry

I want to explain how to set yourself up to do incline and decline push-ups on a stability ball properly and then some solid reasons why you would want to supplement them into your training program every few phases.

Stability Ball Decline Push-up:

• Position yourself behind the ball so you are on your knees
• Place your chest on the ball and straighten out your legs
• Your feet can be placed close together or spread apart.  The closer together they are the more stabilization will be needed
• Place your hands on the ball just below your chest to make a 45 degree angle in your armpit
• Push into the ball evenly with both hands as you push your body away from the ball.  Really focus on stabilizing as much as possible to limit any shaking you might experience
• Hold for a full second or two and then lower back down to the ball under control
• Again stabilize and repeat for the desired number of reps or until fatigue or improper technique sets in

If you find this is to advanced for you, start by placing the ball up against a wall or bench.  This will keep the ball from rolling around but you will still feel the need to stabilize throughout your body as you execute the movement.  When I talk about stabilizing, I am talking about in the shoulders and core.  Really there will be many muscles working throughout the body to do this.  This has MANY injury prevention benefits as your neurological system tries to coordinate and stabilize your body during the exercise.

Stability Ball Incline Push-up:

• Position yourself behind the ball so you are on your knees
• Place your chest on the ball and roll out onto the ball with your hands on the ground.  Walk out with your hands and keep your legs straight
• Roll out until the ball is under your shins.  For the advanced position, continue to roll out until your toes are on the ball (much harder to stabilize)
• Hold in this position and place your hands so they are outside of the chest and below your shoulders with the arms straight and on the ground
• Perform the push-up by lowering your upper torso towards the ground by tucking the elbows back, again looking for a 45-55 degree angle in the armpit
• Bring your nose to the ground making sure your mid-section stays tight and does not sag
• Stabilize and return back up until the arms are straight
• Repeat for the desired number of reps or until fatigue or improper technique occurs

Stabilization exercises call in and get the smaller intrinsic muscles of the body working to help support the major muscle groups trying to perform the exercise.  Not only is this desirable for athletic movements and preventing injuries; but this will also aid in being able to do more weight on emphasis lifts.  These stability ball push-ups for example, would aid with the bench press.

So do not ignore certain training tools that might be available to you.  The benefits just might be worth your time exploring and adding a bit of variety into your training program.

Hope that helps,

To your health,

Jerry

Think about this for a moment; a wrestler has to shoot in for that take down or a water polo player needs to elevate themselves high out of the water for a shot.  These are both extremely explosive movements that we want to recruit as many muscle fibers as possible to get a maximal result.  Sprinting, especially the first couple of steps, is all out power and explosion which propels the weight of the body forward.  I think it is easy to see a correlation and benefit as to why these athletes should supplement sprinting types of workouts.

This is the last installment of a three part series that was filmed at 6am with a variety of Bucknell athletes, including wrestlers and water polo players, who all participated in the same workout.  Per NCAA rules, all summer workouts are voluntary.  This shows great dedication that these athletes have given up some of their summer, not only to stay and train for their upcoming seasons; but to do it at 6am 5 days a week!

The sprinting sequence for this day was a 1:3 work to rest ratio.  Basically that means what ever the average time was for the group, for the distance they sprinted; they would get three times that time for their rest period before they would sprint again.   For example, if they sprinted 10 yards in 2 seconds, they would get 6 seconds rest before the next sprint.

I ran this days sprint workout on the football field and used the yard lines as markers.  They started on the goal line and was instructed to sprint out 10 yards, through the line and then walk back to the 10 yards line and be ready to sprint back 10 yards to the goal line.  They then would get there, rest and I moved to the 20 yard line.  I ran this sequence in 10 yard increments back and forth until I reached the full 100 yards.  The rest times got longer each time as the distance increased.

As you can see, there is nothing fancy or overly complex about this workout.  Good attitudes and a will to improve with a high work ethic, made this workout successful.  Exactly what every athlete should strive for no matter what the workout or challenge is for each training session.

We then did a cool-down with a light jog and walk followed by a old school static stretching session.  Some days we will use jump stretch bands to stretch with as well.

I always pull the athletes in before they leave and tell them my thoughts of that workout and give them information of what the next days workout will consist of.  I want them to be mentally prepared in advance so they can perform to the best of their abilities.  Just like they should mentally prepare for a game or match.

Hope that helps!

To your health,

Jerry

This is Part II of a three part post.  We filmed video clips of a 6am workout that I ran a mixed group of athletes through. There were athletes from wrestling, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s water polo, and field hockey who participated in the voluntary workout.  Per NCAA rules, all workouts held by a college strength coach in the summer are voluntary.

The set of video clips in this post is of our quick feet line drills.  I put our athletes through this right after our functional or dynamic warm-up.  I also ended these drills with some basic deceleration and landing drills.  These are great for learning body awareness and preventing ACL tears.

Most of these drills are very short and quick.  Roughly 7-12 seconds each depending on the exercise.  The athletes are instructed to perform each exercise to the best of their ability and as fast as possible without compromising technique.

Here are the drills:

• Two Foot Line Hop-Both feet hop Shoulder width forward and back over the line
• Two Foot Side To Side Hop-Feet together, both feet hop side to side over the line
• Right Foot Line Hop-Just the right foot forward and back over the line (then left)
• Right Foot Side To Side-Just the right foot hop side to side over the line (then left)
• Right Foot 45 Degree Hop Out and Back-Keep your toes forward and hop across the line in a 45 degree angle away from the body.  Land with the toes forward not pointing in the direction you are hopping.  Then hop back (then left)
• Right Foot 45 Degree Hop In and Back-Keep your toes forward and hop across the line in a 45 degree angle across the front of the body.  Land with the toes forward not pointing in the direction you are hopping.  Then hop back (then left)
• Straddle Line Sumo Stance-Straddle the line with the feet wider than shoulders with one foot in front of the line, the other foot behind the line.  Quickly hop feet back and forth over the line.  Swing arms at the shoulder joint as well in a running motion and maintain a wider stance
• Straddle Line Semi-Lunge Position-Stand over the line with one foot on each side and get into a 1/4 lunge position or deeper.  Maintain that position as you hop the feet side to side over the line (then switch feet position)
• Step Over Forward-Stand with both feet on one side of the line, step with the outside foot over the inside foot and the line, quickly bring the other foot around as you step back over the planted foot and the line.  Repeat quickly without trying to mover forward
• Step Over Backward-Stand with both feet on one side of the line, step with the outside foot behind the inside foot and over the line, quickly bring the other foot around as you step back behind the planted foot and over the line.  Repeat quickly without trying to mover backward
• Command Step Over Forward & Backward-Start performing the step over forward but this time you travel down the line forwards.  On the “backward” command, from the strength coach, quickly reverse the movement and start stepping over backwards moving backward down the line.  The strength coach will continue to give directional commands
• Deceleration Tuck Jumps-Stand with both feet on the line shoulder width apart, squat down and explosively jump straight up into the air tucking your knees towards your chest.  Try to land back down on the line very softly as you decelerate into a squatting motion contracting your glutes.  Reset and go again.  This is NOT done in quick repetitions like the previous drills.  I usually do 2-3 sets of 10 jumps.  Athletes are instructed to do each one to the best of their ability and not to rush through them
• Deceleration 180 Degree Tuck Jumps-Stand with both feet on the line shoulder width apart, squat down and explosively jump straight up into the air twisting your body 180 degrees as you tuck your knees towards your chest.  Try to land back down on the line very softly as you decelerate into a squatting motion contracting your glutes. You will be facing the opposite direction.  Reset and go again.  Athletes are instructed to perform 2-3 sets of ten reps, 5 reps in each direction per set

These drills are not meant to be conditioning drills and are not run in a continuous circuit style fashion.  I will run a few in a row giving some rest in between each one.  After three or four drills, I will stop them and tell them to shake out their legs and give them some additional rest.  I will vary how many of these type of rests depending on how the group is doing.  I will also keep them focused on breathing through their nose an out their mouth for all the drills.

These are great drills that can be done anywhere.  These are also just a few variations of line drills.  Your imagination is the only limit as there are hundreds of different footwork patterns you can do with a line.

In Part III of this series, I will go over the rest of the workout which will include a sprint set workout and cool-down.

Hope this helps,

To your health,

Jerry

There is nothing wrong with static stretching (holding a body part in a stretched position for time) but I believe it should be done at the end of a cool-down after practice or a training session.

This is Part I of a three part post.  We filmed video clips of a 6am workout that I ran a mixed group of athletes through.  There were athletes from wrestling, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s water polo, and field hockey who participated in the voluntary workout.  Per NCAA rules, all workouts held by a college strength coach in the summer are voluntary.

The set of video clips in this post is of our Functional Warm-up.  I know the term “functional” gets thrown around a lot now days but I was calling it that 15 years ago and still do till this day.  Most strength coaches today call it a dynamic warm-up and there are hundreds of different movements that could be implemented.

This is the exact routine, I do with my athletes on our speed, agility, and track training workouts.

• Jog one lap around the football field and line up on the goal line
• High Knees Forward-Drive alternating knees up towards hip height as you move forward, swing arms at the shoulder joint
• High Knees Backward-Drive alternating knees up towards hip height as you move backward, swing arms at the shoulder joint
• Butt Kicks Forward-Lean slightly forward and kick your butt as you move forward, swing arms at shoulder joint
• Butt Kicks Backward-Lean slightly forward and kick your butt as you move backward, swing arms at shoulder joint
• High Knee Grab To Toes-One step at a time, grab a knee and pull it up towards your chest as you raise high on the toes of the opposite leg
• Walking Lunge Elbow To Opposite Ankle-Forward walking lunge and during each lunge you take your elbow down towards the opposite forward ankle
• Reverse Walking Lunge with Opposite Hand Reach-Backward walking lunge and during each lunge you reach with the opposite hand towards the ankle of the leg lunging backward
• Side Lunge With Twist-Side lunge with trail leg straight, sit deep into the movement keeping the knee behind your toes and then twist in your mid-section, stand and repeat for 10 yards and go back in other direction
• Monster Walk-Hold arms straight out in front of you and try kicking one leg at a time up to your hands.  Try to keep your legs straight
• Side Shuffle For Speed-Get in a sumo squat stance with feet wide and shuffle across quickly while staying low.  Then do other direction
• Carioca-If going to the right; drive the left knee up towards your hip and across your body and twist throught the mid-section as you drive the left foot back to the ground. Then quickly step the right foot out to the right and repeat with the left leg.  Then do other direction
• Tapioca-Just like carioca but you just step over your foot instead of driving the knee.  You want to focus on making a lot of quick contacts with the ground and twist quickly trough the mid-section.  I typically have the athletes go for 5 yards and then turn 180 degrees and continue for another 5 yards.  Then repeat back
• High Knee Power Skip-Drive the right arm and left knee up at the same time to get height, land and quickly alternate to the left arm and right knee
• 75% Forward Run Out-From a standing position, explode forward at 75% of your perceived maximum first step acceleration
• Regular Back Peddle-With a slight forward lean, back peddle back
• 85% Forward Run Out-From a standing position, explode forward at 85% of your perceived maximum first step acceleration
• Back Peddle With Extended Reach-Back peddle back but with each step, kick back to gain depth in the back peddle
• 90% Forward Run Out
• Back Peddle With Extended Reach
• 95% Forward Run Out
• Sprinting Back Peddle-Back peddle as quickly as you can
• 100% Forward Run Out-Then repeat the 100% forward run out back

All these are done for 10-15 yards per movement and should be done to the best of your ability.  I will bring the athletes in to go over the day’s workout.  At this point they are not just warmed up but sweating and breathing; something I call, “feeling alive”.  I will then give them 2 minutes to get a drink and mentally prepare for the upcoming workout.

This warm-up has done very well for me over the years and it is extremely rare for any athlete to pull or tear a muscle during the workouts.  Sometimes I will vary the movements up or add some additional if I know the athletes are sore or stiff from a weight training session.

In “Part II” of this three post series, I will be showing and sharing a quick foot line drill session.

Hope this helps!

To your health,

Jerry

We will many times discuss in advance the topics we would like to cover or sometimes we will just get together and Chris will allow me to come up with certain topics depending the time of year.  For example, covering a fat loss segment to prepare to get back into that swimsuit for the summer.

As you will see in the video, we have built a good working relationship and really have a good time during these filming sessions.  I typically go over with Chris what I am going to have him do before we actually film the segment. Sometimes I really work him hard but he is always a good sport and the goal is to really supply the viewers with quality information that they can apply.  This is exactly what Variety Trainer (website) is all about.

I really hope you enjoy the footage we shoot.  I know it is not the typical post you are used to seeing but some of it is comical and you will see some of our bloopers that no one else would ever see.  If you would like to view past episodes that we have filmed or these future finished segments go to http://www.ccn-news.com .  Most of these episodes we have done are also posts that I have shared with you as well.

Remember, If there is ever a topic or training question you would like me to cover just let me know!

To your health,

Jerry

Basic techniques of a lunge:

• Always be in control of the movement with or with out weight
• The “lead” knee will bend to 90 degrees
• The majority of the weight will always be placed on the heel of the lead foot with the toes pointed forward
• The trail leg will normally come close to bending to a 90 degree position with the knee never touching the floor (within a 1″)
• Keep the core tight and stable throughout the entire movement
• Movement should come from the hips not the waist and work on maintaining your chest held high
• Never swing weight for momentum-you want the muscles to do the work
• Aways return to your original position under control

Sports and life is not always done in a linear fashion so make sure you are adding in some variety when doing lunges through the phases of your training program.  Here are some examples of how to change it up:

• Forward Lunge just one side at a time
• Alternating Forward Lunges
• Walking Forward Lunges
• Reverse Lunge
• Walking Reverse Lunges
• Alternating Forward Lunge To Reverse Lunge same leg
• Alternating Forward Lunge T0 Reverse Lunge Alternating legs
• Walking Forward Lunge 15 yards then right into Walking Reverse Lunge for 15 yards

I think you get the idea and can see how small changes can really make things more difficult and productive.  You can continue on by substituting or adding in 45 degree, 135 degree, and side lunges as well.

Just pay close attention to the form and technique and enjoy the positive results that lunges will provide.

To your health,

Jerry

Training the hip complex is one area of the body that is usually not emphasized enough in most weight training programs.   I also see many muscle imbalances across the hip complex and that can lead to other areas of the body getting stressed.  Most of the time, athletes have mobility issues and lack in range of motion.  This is usually due to tight hip flexors.

Let’s face it, athletes now days tend to train hard during practice or a workout session but then suck at being active.  We now live in a society of athletes that go to practice and then go home and sit behind a computer, on the couch, or play video games all night.  They are just not active outside of training and to many people are preaching to them about recovery.  I got news for you that is not recovery!

I can remember going from high school straight down to the track for track practice, then getting to the soccer field for soccer practice, then home for dinner, and then usually doing something outside like kickball, capture the flag, etc.. with others in the neighborhood until it was time to come in for a shower and then off to bed.  To many athletes focus just on one sport these days and that literally is all they do for activity.  Everything else is spent sitting on their butt; which will lead to shortened (tight) hip flexors that turns into more problems and potential for injury.

So by now you are saying, “Jerry where are you going with this?”.  Well I am glad you asked.  I put together this post to show you a body weight hip complex that will help most gain mobility and also strengthen up some of those smaller intrinsic muscles that might be getting neglected.  The best part is, there is no equipment needed and you can do these any where.

The first movement is the fire hydrant.  Get on all fours (knees and hands) and place your core in the neutral position. Once in this position you will try to stabilized your torso so there is little to no twisting through the spine and pelvis area.  ALL movement should be focused through the hip joint.  Keep your knee in a 90 degree position and just raise the leg up laterally as high as you can without twisting.  Go as far as your range of motion will allow for and squeeze for a one second hold, then return to the original position in a controlled manner.

The second movement is the donkey kickback.  Again, keep the knee in a 90 degree position and bring the leg straight back as far as you can.  Hold for a second and return.  Watch that you do not drop your pelvis and belly button down towards the floor to gain more motion.  The idea is to do it all from the hip joint.

The third movement is the circle in.  You will start like the donkey kick and then straighten the knee out and bring the leg around horizontally until you are in the peak position of the fire hydrant.  From here bring your leg down to the original starting position.  (Please refer to the video for a good visual)

The forth movement is the circle out.  Start like a fire hydrant and then horizontally bring the leg back while straightening it until it is in-line with your torso.  Finish by bringing the knee back down to the “all fours” position.  Note:  you will not bend the knee to 90 degrees before returning it down.  (Again, please refer to the video for a good visual)

Start by trying to do 10 reps in each position like a circuit.  You will feel a burn and that is a good thing as long as you can maintain good technique.  If you have to stop and rest that is OK.

Aggressive hip workout:  Try challenging yourself by doing each exercise in order as described for a set period of time like 3 or 6 minutes depending on your level.  You get one point for each time you can complete one entire cycle through both hips.  Key here is to maintain good technique and focus.  Hint-make sure you stretch really well afterwards!!

Hope this helps!!

To your health,

Jerry

The workout seen in the video accomplished both of these at the same time.  There were only three exercises but when repeated in a circuit style approach over a five minute span; they become very taxing on the athlete.  Oxygen debt and muscle fatigue, which result in “burning” muscles quickly sets in.  An athlete’s mental toughness will quickly present itself.

The team was divided in half, with one half of the team always resting while the other half competed.  That’s right this was a competition!  Make something competitive and athletes work harder.  Every time they completed a circuit they got a point.  The circuit was 10 body weight touch squats to a D-Ball, then push a 45 lb plate across the weight room, and finally do 20 speed jacks (jumping jack done quickly and the hands must touch above the head).  They had 5 minutes to accumulate as many points as they could.  The girls resting kept track of the girls competing.  At the end of 5 minutes, the girls resting now got to compete and the others got to rest.  We did this for two full rounds for both groups.

After the workout was completed and the points added up; the 5 athletes with the fewest points had to do a fun challenge that the rest of the team came up with.  These are fun and a good way to reward the team for challenging themselves and working hard.

This workout, although not long, is demanding on the body and mind.  Give it a go and really try to push yourself.  You may just find out the 5 minutes feels like 10 minutes!  Repeating the whole thing again 5 minutes later makes it feel like 20 minutes!!

To your health,

Jerry

If your excuse is that pull-ups are boring then Monkey Pull-ups might just be what you are looking for.  I learned of this exercise variation years ago from the Diesel Crew guys (Jedd & Smitty) and have used it with my athletes ever since.  I am not sure if they called it monkey pull-ups back then, but they demonstrated it on a cable cross machine, climbing around back and forth on the crossbar.

Monkey Pull-ups:  Basically, you are performing a pull-up and each time you complete a rep you take one hand and change the grip position.  As you can see in the video, I have adapted this into my half racks with all my different pull-up grips, climbing rope, swivel grips, and the rack frame itself.

This is extremely taxing on the upper body, core, and grip.  By challenging my athletes, they really start to try and better themselves each time they do a set.  These are not easy.  If you are looking for some variety and you are pretty good at pull-ups; give these a try.  Ironically, you will find yourself starting to think they are fun.

If you have any other pull-up variations to add to this post; let me know or put it in the comments section below.  It is great to share training information with each other.  The benefits are for everyone!!

To your health,

Jerry