NEWS & EVENTS
 
Last week’s email on aerobic training/testing for athletes sparked a few questions that I think need to be addressed: To your success, Kevin Neeld
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A couple weeks ago I got a very sincere thank you from a parent of one of the teenage athletes we train. He was appreciative that the training was paying off, as evidenced by his son doing very well on his testing over the previous weekend, including coming in tied for first in the “aerobic” test. After hearing the words “aerobic test”, I could feel my blood pressure rise. Finished in first? Must be all the aerobic training that we NEVER do! Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate the thank you and am sincerely happy his son tested well. I’m extremely confident that his training (and hard work) was beneficial and instrumental in his great test performance. With that said, let’s not forget that: 1) Most positions in most team sports rely primarily on anaerobic energy production, which is built through interval training…not distance running 2) Distance running trains your body to move slowly for extended periods of time. No team sport athlete wants this. In a nutshell, performance on aerobic tests doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean anything for what team athletes need to do. It’s frustrating to hear people perpetrate the benefits of aerobic training that don’t understand the science underlying what they’re talking about. Look at the results of a few of these ground-breaking studies: 1) Six weeks of training for 60 minutes/day for 5x/week at 70% VO2max resulted in a significantly smaller increase in VO2max (the marker of aerobic capacity) and smaller increase in anaerobic power (what matters for team sport athletes) than an interval training program involving 7-8 sets of 20s of all out effort followed by 10s of rest. In other words, 6 hours of training per week produced worse results than 20 minutes (5 days of the interval training totals 20 minutes) of training, even in measures of aerobic capacity! This, by the way, comes from a study that is nearly 15 years old. (Tabata et al., 1996). 2) When comparing two weeks of training with either 4-6 30s bouts of all out cycling followed by 4 minutes of recovery (total work: 2-3 minutes; total time including rest: 18-27 minutes) and 90-120 minutes of cycling at 65% max, there was NO DIFFERENCES in: 1) performance improvements (e.g. similar significant reductions in times to complete a cycling task); 2) increases in muscle oxidative capacity; or 3) increases in muscle buffering capacity and glycogen (carb stores) content. The authors of this study also noted that the sprint-interval training required 90% less training time than the endurance training. 90%! (Gibala et al, 2006) Take Home Message I understand that everyone is doing the best they can with the information they have. I’m not trying to “throw anyone under the bus”. It’s important for us, as athletes, parents, and coaches, that we continuously adapt as we learn new information. Distance running (and tests that involve distance running) are both senseless and a waste of time. Sometimes it’s not about working harder; it’s about working smarter. In the last 2 weeks we’ve had over 30 new athletes sign up at Endeavor. In the next 2 weeks, we have over 30 more athletes committed to sign up. These athletes get it; they understand the benefits of quality training and the impact it can have on their careers. They’re hungry. When I say that training slots are filling up quickly for this summer, I mean it. PLEASE do not wait. To your continued success, Kevin Neeld, MS, CSCS Director of Athletic Development (856) 269-4148 References: Tabata, I., Nishimura, K., Kousaki, M., et al. (1996). Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 28(10), 1327-1330. Gibala, M., Little, J., van Essen, M., et al. (2006). Short-term sprint interval versus traditional endurance training: similar initial adaptations in human skeletal muscle and exercise performance. 575(Pt 3), 901-911.
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As I’ve mentioned in the past, speed is hands down the most highly sought after athletic ability. As such, we’re constantly bombarded by so-called “speed training experts” about the best ways to develop speed. Before we jump into the essential speed training elements, it’s important that we understand what factors into speed. Athletic speed is determined by: 1) Movement pattern/technique quality 2) Core stability and energy transfer 3) Full body strength and power 4) Reactive ability Of these, a high quality sports training program can really make drastic improvements on the first three. Reactive ability is inherently improved by increasing your body’s capacity to decelerate and change directions more quickly, but is also dependent on the athletes’ ability to read the play and make the best movement decision. The Fatal Speed Training Mistake One of the biggest mistakes the sports world (parents, coaches, athletes) make is assuming that the above factors work in isolation. For example, I had a parent email me recently about his daughter that runs with a bit of an awkward swagger that looks unnatural and is slowing her down. She was told that she needed to work on her running technique. While I won’t argue that her technique wasn’t perfect (that was the whole reason I received the email in the first place!), I will argue that technique work isn’t the best place to start. The truth is that she wasn’t STRONG enough to run with the right technique. In the first three works I worked with her, she made good strength gains, and her running technique improved without me ever addressing it. Technique and strength go hand in hand. Strength Training for Speed Development With that in mind, building speed-enhancing strength isn’t as simple as doing a machine circuit to “strengthen all the major muscle groups”. First, I haven’t had a single person use a fixed range of motion machine since I started with Endeavor, but I’ll save that rant for a different day. Second, research has shown that speed correlates highly with hamstring strength. This makes sense since the hamstrings are one of the most powerful hip extensors (this is what happens after your foot hits the ground while running and throughout the entire push-off during skating). In general, most athletes are very “quad dominant” and don’t have good hip strength/control. Combining these two things leads us to the conclusion that training to improve speed should include a greater proportion of exercises to strengthen the glutes and hamstrings. One of my favorite ways to train this complex is using a Slideboard Hamstring Curl Progression. Check out this link for videos and instruction on how to perform this exercise progression: Posterior Chain Exercises for Speed Development To your success, Kevin Neeld P.S. If you haven't yet (I know most of you have!), you REALLY need to call me today at (856) 269-4148 or send me an email to get signed up for our Summer training programs. Many of our "optimal" time slots are already filling up!
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This is our slideboard hamstring curl progression, which emphasizes strengthening the posterior chain muscles (glutes, hamstrings, calves). Training programs should include a greater emphasis on posterior chain development (opposed to "quad" work) to help improve speed and restore balance across the hips and knees. Slideboard Hamstring Curl I didn’t put up a video of this because it’s essentially the same as the one below. The only difference is that you straighten both legs at the same time, then pull them in together. Focus on keeping your hips up and toes pulled up toward your shins at all times. This is a great exercise to strengthen the muscles on the backside of your hips and lower body. This can be progressed to the 1-leg variations below, which have more functional applications for improving speed in athletes. Slideboard Hamstring Curl (1-Leg Negative) Anytime you’re on one leg (in this video and the one below it) it’s important that you keep your toes pointed straight up toward the ceiling. This ensures that you’re training your medial and lateral hamstrings evenly, and not exacerbating existing imbalances. 1-Leg Slideboard Hamstring Curl To your success, Kevin Neeld P.S. For more exercise videos, subscribe to us on YouTube at http://YouTube.com/EndeavorPerformance !
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I’ve always wondered why people run so much. What I mean is why do so many people use running as their first mean of getting in shape? Why do so many people decide to participate in 10Ks, marathons and half marathons when they decide to get in shape? In reality, we need to get fit to run, not run to get fit because distance running leads to a multitude of overuse injuries. In fact, I probably don’t know a single person who has been running consistently for months who hasn’t dealt with some kind of injury (e.g. shin splints, sore knees or back). I could go on and on about the arguments of why distance running is not good for you, but I know Kevin has beat that to death already, and that is not the point of this post. Knowing all of this, so many people keep doing it, so there’s got to be something to it. Yeah, it’s convenient and you don’t need much equipment. But I don’t think that’s the main reason people do it. The main reason why people run and take part in marathons and other distance events is because it gives them a goal. Whether it’s to run a 5K, 10K, a ½ marathon or a full marathon, these people set a goal of making it through the finish line. A lot of people will run through pain and injuries to attain their goal. I’m not saying that it’s the smartest thing to do, but they won’t quit no matter what. I’m not telling you to start distance running today either, as I feel you have other more beneficial options, like High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for example. What I want to convey to you is that having a goal is the most important part of any training program. If you do not set goals (realistic ones), most of the time you won’t be motivated to train, since you are not sure what you are training for in the first place. If you do have something to reach for, you will most likely have that goal in mind every time you train and you’ll be a lot more motivated. Set goals. Train harder. -David Lasnier
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