NEWS & EVENTS
  Nutrition plays a huge role in allowing athletes to express their true ability AND in providing the fuel to maximizing training efforts and recovery following intense bouts. Last week I outlined some of the science behind what I think is the best sports drink you've probably never heard of. If you're sucking down Gatorade, Powerade, and other traditional sports drinks, I highly encourage you to read the last post, which is available at our site via the link below: 3 Tips for High Performance Athletes Many of the greatest coaches of all time (in every sport) drill the importance of fundamentals. While this message is typically delivered regarding sport-specific technical and tactical abilities, it also has a ton of merit regarding more general preparation techniques. Below are three tips that are easy to implement, and will have a huge effect on an athletes performance. 1) Regulate Your Sleep Cycle Sleep is a time for recovery and regeneration. It's a time for your sympathetic nervous system, also known as your "fight or flight" system, to down-regulate, and for structures within your body to repair themselves from whatever physical or mental stresses they were exposed to throughout the day. Sleep is essential. Most people are familiar with the idea that too little sleep can negatively impair performance. The same can be said for too much sleep (although I'd err on this side!). Many people, however, have never been taught how important it is to regulate your sleep cycle. In other words, you should attempt to go to bed and wake up at the same times every night/day. Because this isn't always logistically possible, it's okay to give yourself an hour window on either side. For example, if you typically go to bed at 11pm and wake up at 7am, it'd be okay for you to go to bed from 10pm-12am and wake up between 6am-8am, as long as you get the same total amount of sleep each night (8 hours in this example). A sporadic sleep schedule is interpreted by the body as a source of stress, meaning the very time that should serve to help you recover is actually pushing you in the opposite direction. Regulating your sleep cycle will help maximize your recovery and regeneration, and ensure that you're continually making progress and not slowly breaking down. 2) Pack A Lunch Athletes spend an average of around 8 hours per day at school. Within this time span, they're provided roughly 45 minutes to eat, and offered a variety of fried and highly processed foods to fuel the students' brains and bodies for the rest of the day. Frankly, these aren't appropriate meal choices for a sedentary, goal-less sloth of a student, but they're DEFINITELY not appropriate for serious athletes. Even choices like chicken caesar wraps, which are generally considered healthy choices by students" consist of a processed white tortilla, nutrient-less lettuce, caesar dressing which is full of fat (with no upside), and chicken of variable quality. In other words, it may be better than the chicken nuggets and tater tots your friends are eating, but not much. The reality is that very few schools provide even reasonably healthy food options for their students because they're more expensive, tougher to mass produce, and less likely to stay preserved for prolong periods of time. The system is less about optimally fueling students for mental and physical performance and more akin to mass-producing feedlot level nutrients to adequately stuff them until the next day. Pack a lunch with a couple pieces of fruit or vegetables, a water, bag of almonds or cashews, and a meat sandwich on sprouted grain bread. It takes about 5 minutes to throw something like that together, which you can do the night before. It's a simple change, that will cause you to feel, perform, think, and look better. 1) Take This AMAZING Supplement Everyday! A couple years ago I spoke at a group of youth lacrosse players at the Wells Fargo Center for an event hosted by the Philadelphia Wings. Addressing the athletes, their parents, and a portion of our staff at Endeavor, I mentioned that there was an amazing supplement that was scientifically proven to improve speed, agility, strength, power, conditioning, and mental processing. Does that sound appealing? You bet. More than appealing, it sounds like magic. Too good to be true. When I asked what people thought it was, I heart responses like "creatine" and "beta alanine", which are actually well-educated guesses. At least, it's better than the "Nitric Oxide" powders, and all the other crazy supplements who's advertisements are borderline illegal and incredibly morally suspect. The truth is that all of these results can be expected simply from drinking water.  The world's most effective supplement Even minimal dehydration (1% of body weight) can have a profound influence on physical and mental performance, and the majority of youth athletes (and their parents for that matter) live their lives in some relative state of dehydration. Some do so out of a lack of awareness; others because they don't like the taste of water. Keep in mind that the average water requirement for inactive individuals to avoid dehydration is 6-8 cups of water. I tell our athletes that that recommendation doesn't apply to them. They're HIGHLY active and are looking to do more than simply avoid dehydration. 12-16 cups is a bit safer. I encourage athletes not to think of "if" they can drink that much, but think of "how" they can get it in throughout the day. 16oz of ice water when you first wake up is a great way to start the day. Drinking 2 16oz bottles of water throughout the school day is a great way to stay awake. 16oz within an hour before practice, 8-16oz during, and 16 oz after will help ensure you're properly hydrated to perform your best. 16oz bottles aren't that big, and if you stick to that schedule, you'll have consumed 11-12 cups of water. If you don't like the taste, try adding some flavor like lemon or lime juice. Remember, it's not candy, it's water. You're going to need to drink it in copious amounts for the rest of your life, so get used to it! Simple tactics. Huge payoff. Start building positive habits to pursue athletic excellence today! Also, if you're not actively enrolled in a sports training program, now you can start training with us for only $89! We're currently offering an $89 30-day trial for all new athletes and personal training clients. Call us today at (856) 269-4148 to take advantage of this incredible offer! To your success,
Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS, USAW
P.S. Save 10% on all Generation UCAN sports drinks here: Generation UCAN
P.S.2. Please forward this to your friends, family, and teammates that you think will benefit from the information. If they're interested, they can sign up for our weekly newsletter here: Endeavor Sports Performance Newsletter
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I hope you and your family had a great new year! I'm back from an awesome week working with the US Women's National Hockey Program, and ready to start getting to work in 2012. On that note, there's a lot for you to be excited about this year. If you missed all of the announcement's in last week's newsletter, make sure you check them out at the link below!
>> Looking Forward to 2012! <<
4 Pillars of Athletic Success While I was in Minnesota, I had an opportunity to hear Dr. Colleen Hacker speak to the players and staff about mental preparation. Her entire 2-hour talk was nothing short of riveting, and was one that I think every athlete should hear (probably more than twice). One of the things she mentioned was the idea of there being four pillars to athletic success:
Simply, a failure to fully realize any of these categories will widen the player and/or the team's "Performance Gap", the difference between their current performance level and where it could be. Focusing on the last category, there are a lot of athletes that make huge sacrifices to train hard in the off-season and even during the most rigorous times of their season to ensure that they are continually progressing toward their goals and toward their full potential. A HUGE proportion of these athletes go on to practice and compete with a COMPLETE neglect for proper nutrition. The same can be said for athletes that work exceptionally hard (and smart) all season long for a complete neglect for proper nutrition. They're passively widening their Performance Gap.
Proper nutrition can mean a lot of things-food selection, food timing, consistency, etc. One area that I think is especially important is activity-related nutrition. In other words, to perform at their best, athletes need to properly fuel themselves before, and even DURING the event. In this regard, I think there is one solution that is far superior to the alternative options out there! Perform Better, Lose Body Fat, and Have More Energy!
Generation UCAN offers a revolutionary sports drink that is taking professional, collegiate and recreational sports by storm, and for good reason. Typical sports drinks provide a simple carbohydrate source (basically energy in the form of a sugar derivative) that causes a fast, relatively large spike in bloog sugar levels. Unfortunately, this energy supply is short-lived, can have a negative rebound effect (lower blood sugar than before the drink), and blunts the body's ability to burn fat in the process.
In short, Generation UCAN has created a safe, healthy supplement that provides long-lasting energy AND promotes fat burning. It's the perfect solution for all athletes, and even for the "desk jockeys" out there that may need a mid-day energy boost. Until the end of the month, Generation UCAN is offering an exclusive 25% discount for you on ALL of their products. To take advantage of this great offer, simply follow these 4 easy steps:
Nutrition can have a profound impact on your performance, body composition and overall energy and well being. Generation UCAN offers a truly revolutionary option that will have you playing, looking, and feeling better than ever before!
To your continued success in 2012!
Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS, USAW
P.S. Please forward this to your friends, family, and teammates that you think will benefit from the information. If they're interested, they can sign up for our weekly newsletter here: Endeavor Sports Performance Newsletter
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I hope you and your family enjoyed a great holiday weekend! My "break" was cut a bit short, as I had to be up at 5:30am yesterday morning to catch a plane to Minneapolis to help out with the US Women's National Hockey Team Winter Camp for the week. I was hoping they'd host the camp in Miami, but what can you do! Looking Forward to 2012 2012 is going to be a huge transition year for Endeavor, which means a lot of new exciting things that will help benefit you. Here's an inside look at what's coming in the new year. Endeavor Sports Performance 1) New Services Starting in January, we'll be offering new services to help more athletes achieve their goals. This includes Personal Training, Semi-Private Training, and Athletic Development Training, each of which has unique characteristics to help support the varying needs of our members, but ALL of which come with our same results guarantee! You can read more about these programs here:
2) Advanced Assessments for Injury-Riddled Athletes
Over the last several months, I've been working with a Division I lacrosse player that had undergone 5 hip and lower abdominal surgeries over the last few years. Very much due to his unwavering determination, I'm proud to say that he is once again "game-ready" and will be returning to the field in the next couple of weeks. As a result of "word getting out" about this player's success, I've had several people from along the east coast reach out to express an interest in driving or flying down to Endeavor in order to be assessed. Knowing the true cause of your limitations, which may or may not cause pain, is essential to restoring optimal performance. Many of these injury-riddled athletes have gross restrictions in their hip and upper body mobility that can be significantly reduced within a few minutes using specific exercises and breathing techniques. We look forward to being able to provide some relief for the athletes and post-surgery cases that haven't been able to find answers elsewhere. 3) Our New Location! Early in 2012, Endeavor will be moving to our new location within Total Turf in Pitman, NJ. Total Turf is going to be a HUGE indoor turf sports complex, and the homebase for many of the areas youth athletic programs. We're extremely excited about the opportunity to work with all of the athletes at Total Turf and are proud to be associated with the outstanding youth sport programs they will have there. If you're interested, check out their site for more information: Total Turf Experience Endeavor Performance Online Over the last year, we've been working to put together an online resource that would allow people to reap the benefits of our professionally designed training programs from remote locations. Our new website will an incredible resource for prep schools across the country that have built really nice training facilities, but don't have a full-time strength and conditioning coach to train the kids. The site allows athletes from different teams to log-in to a personal calendar, which has workouts on specific days. Each exercise within the workout has an HD video of the exercise being performed correctly with a few coaching cues to ensure the athletes do everything with perfect technique. The site then allows the athlete to log his/her weights so that our staff and their coaches can track their adherence and progress! We're in the final stages of beta-testing the site now, and are excited to launch it on a wider scale in the upcoming months! You can get a sneak preview here: Endeavor Performance Training Endeavor Performance Gear You may remember that several months ago I mentioned we were in the process of developing a TRULY revolutionary sports apparal brand. I emphasize truly because much of what is marketed as "high performance apparel" is really relatively basic fabrics that are chemically treated to have some short-term performance benefits that generally wash out over time. In contrast, our apparel uses 100% GREEN technology that:
These are all incredible fabric qualities that will have a huge benefit for all athletes. After several months of refining the fit of the shirts to get it just right, we have our first shipment of men's and women's high performance t-shirts in the production lines now. Read more about our Endeavor Performance Gear here: Endeavor Performance Gear
That's a wrap for today. As you can see, there's a lot to be excited about in 2012. We are constantly working hard to improve the level of service we can provide you, and look forward to helping you achieve your goals in the new year! To your success,
Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS, USAW
P.S. If you want to pick up some UCAN, you can save 10% by purchasing through this site that we set up for our Endeavor clients: Generation UCAN
P.S.2. Please forward this to your friends, family, and teammates that you think will benefit from the information. If they're interested, they can sign up for our weekly newsletter here: Endeavor Sports Performance Newsletter
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2011 is rapidly approaching a close, which means the time for New Year’s resolutions will be upon us shortly. When deciding on resolutions, or more generally, in setting goals of any sort, it’s helpful to know what qualities will help ensure your success. In other words, what change do you need to make, psychologically, to help ensure you stay on track and achieve the goals you desire. Last week’s post highlighted THE quality that has been shown to lead to success in both academic and physical endeavors. In fact, after watching Dr. Angela Duckworth’s video, I think you’ll find that this is truly the quality that underlies almost all great successes in any field. If you missed it, you can check it out at the link below: Our Holiday Sale is almost over! I just wanted to remind you that this is the LAST week for you to save $100 on ANY of our Winter Training Programs! Whether your primary goal is to shed fat and get stronger in the New Year or develop game-changing speed to dominate in your sport, our individualized programs and coaching are guaranteed to help you achieve your goals! Call us at (856) 269-4148 today to register for the program that best meets your needs and save $100! Endeavor Feature Athlete: Dan Tracy Periodically we like to take a second to recognize the outstanding achievements of our athletes. Dan Tracy first came to Endeavor when he was 11 years old. Right from the start, he showed that he was both very coachable and extremely hard working. His maturity and focus were and continue to be admirable for this age. Two years of consistent work later, Dan continues to be a pleasure to have around the gym, and is a great source of motivation for the coaching staff and the athletes around him!  Dan Tracy with Endeavor's David Lasnier Dan recently wrapped up a terrific baseball season for Washington Township. His team won the New Jersey State Championship, and made it all the way to the semifinals in the North-East Regional Tournament. Dan was a star on the mound, pitching three wins, including a no hitter and a complete game in the championship match against Mt. Laurel, and closing a 4th as his team went 5-1 in the State Championship Tournament. Dan continued his success at the Regional Tournament, pitching a shutout against the Pennsylvania State Championship Team. The entire Endeavor Coaching Staff is very proud of Dan. His hard work has really paid off. Keep up the great work Dan! If you’ve trained at Endeavor in 2011, we’d love to hear about your athletic successes! Shoot me an email at KNeeld@EndeavorFit.com and tell me about how your season has gone. You could be the next Feature Athlete! To your success,
Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS, USAW
P.S. Don't forget that your chance to save $100 off one of our seasonal training packages ends December 25th!
P.S.2. If you want to pick up some UCAN, you can save 10% by purchasing through this site that we set up for our Endeavor clients: Generation UCAN P.S.3. Please forward this to your friends, family, and teammates that you think will benefit from the information. If they're interested, they can sign up for our weekly newsletter here: Endeavor Sports Performance Newsletter
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With the holidays upon us, everyone is look for gift ideas for their friends, family and coworkers. It's the time of year for "deal hunting." In last week's post, I announced a special new offer we're running at Endeavor for first time members. We've never done this before and frankly, I'm not sure how long it will be around so make sure you spread the word to anyone you think might be interested in training to improve their performance or body composition! Any one of our training packages would make a GREAT gift, and now they're more affordable than ever. If you missed it, you can check it out at the link below: Predicting Long-Term Athletic Success As you likely know by now, I think the athletic development model that most youth programs follow is entirely backwards. It drives early specialization without even a loose consideration of psychological and physical readiness. It forces commitment, instead of letting a developed love and passion for the game naturally reveal it. Working smart is replaced by working harder, longer, and more frequently. Burnout and "overuse" injuries are at all time highs. It's not a pretty picture, and I commend the parents, coaches, and organizations that have taken a stand against this ludicrousy. Coinciding with the emphasis on early specialization is an emphasis on early talent identification. After all, you want the kid to specialize in whatever sport they're best at, right? Again, as a seasoned reader of this newsletter, you now know that early athletic success has ZERO correlation to later athletic success. There is superfluous evidence for long-term athletic development sitting right in front of us. That Tom Brady guy has done pretty well for a 6th round draft pick. Michael Jordan, a multi-sport athlete (baseball, football, and basketball) was cut from his high school varsity basketball team as a sophomore because he was too short. He turned out pretty well too. The reality is that these cases are the norm more than the exception. In the cases where early identification DOES work, it is largely because these athletes are then put in programs with more practices and better coaching, not because of some inherent gift that the individual has. There is now research in academic settings that has been extended to military settings regarding what truly predicts future success. If you're familiar with the character of athletes like Tom Brady and Michael Jordan, the trait identified in this research probably won't surprise you. Is it ability? No. The quality found to be most predictive of future success is grit. Grit can also be described as "stickwithitness", or an ability to not let short-term barriers interfere with long-term goals. As you may be thinking, early talent identification undermines the very quality that produces top performers. Check out the short video below from Dr. Angela Duckworth, who is responsible for plowing the path of the influence of grit on performance. This is a message that needs to be heard by every athlete, parent, coach, and organization head. Help pass this along by forwarding this email to your friends, family, coworkers, and teammates! Angela Duckworth on Grit To your success,
Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS, USAW
P.S. Don't forget that your chance to save $100 off one of our seasonal training packages ends December 25th! Call (856) 269-4148 to take advantage of this special offer today!
P.S.2. If you want to pick up some UCAN, you can save 10% by purchasing through this site that we set up for our Endeavor clients: Generation UCAN P.S.3. Please forward this to your friends, family, and teammates that you think will benefit from the information. If they're interested, they can sign up for our weekly newsletter here: Endeavor Sports Performance Newsletter
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