NEWS & EVENTS
Blog - Athletic Development
  Endeavor Hockey After a long summer of training at Endeavor, Eric Tangradi was awarded with his first NHL appearance on Tuesday. Eric, playing on a line with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz, had a great debut laying a crushing hit on an unsuspecting Blue Jacket and wracking up two assists. We're all very proud of the progress Eric has made over the years and wish him the best of luck moving forward through this season. Endeavor's FIRST EVER Skating Treadmill Giveaway In last week's Hollydell Hurricane newsletter, we were excited to announce our first ever Skating Treadmill Giveaway. This was a great opportunity for one family to win a 10-session package on one of the only Woodway Blade Skating Treadmills in the world! Without further ado... Congratulations to the Cogbill Family! You're the official winner! Alan Cogbill also receives free entry into our Hurricane Parent exclusive "Fall Into Fitness" program, which includes a complimentary 30-Minute Fitness Coaching Consultation, Free 30-Minute Training Session, and Free Meal Plan! Over $500 worth of free "stuff", all for printing out the newsletter and bringing it in on time. I can't wait to see the progress you make! Prodigy Baseball Program One of our new members of the Prodigy Baseball training program had an impressive accomplishment of his own this week. Three weeks after 15 year-old Casey Bray was taught how to deadlift, he lifted 205 for 3 reps. Not bad for a 150lb high schooler! Ridiculous Quote For the sake of this young man maintaining some semblance of self-dignity, I'll leave his name out of this one. "I don't understand why the weights make it harder." -Kevin Neeld
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With Fall sports getting underway, this is a question I've been getting a lot recently. "How young is too young to start training?" My answer surprises most people. There
is a preconceived idea that 13 is the magic age. Once someone turns
13, THEN they can start lifting. That was the rule when I was growing
up, as if the first teenage year is some magical marker of development. Does this make sense though? We're
all aware that everyone develops at different rates. Is an absolute
age really the best marker of physical readiness to train then? It
wouldn't seem so. Regardless, the research in this area says kids can start doing some form of resistance training at the age of 6! While
reading this research, I was surprised to learn that everything I heard
about fractured growth plates and stunted growth was completely
unsupported. It's one of those long-standing myths that people have
come to accept as true, but really isn't backed by anything except
speculative theory. Scary when you think about how many people have
steered away from training because of this "theory". Six
still seems young though. It probably is, but consider this: while
running ground reaction forces (which matches the amount of force a
person puts into the ground) can exceed 3 times a person's body weight.
Forces at the ankle, knee, and hip joint can be even higher. The
truth is that all movement is a form of resistance training. In some
instances a well-structured resistance training program may put LESS
stress on the body than a youth game of soccer (and injury rates in
lifting are actually lower than in soccer). Not to pick on soccer, I
think all kids should play as many sports as possible; however, I think
we have a false understanding of the stresses training places on the
body relative to sports. In reality the
appropriate age for someone to start training has more to do with
social maturity than physical maturity. If a child is mature enough to
follow instructions and grasp the importance of proper movement
patterns, he/she is probably old enough to train. At Endeavor, I train
an 11 and 12 year old that make great progress every week. They get
it. In my experience, younger kids do better
when they're trained one on one or in very small groups (4 or less).
The larger the group, the more subjected kids are to negative behavior
influences. As always, if you have any questions about this please don't hesitate to ask me at Endeavor or shoot me an email. -Kevin Neeld
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Results comes to those that refuse to accept anything else. This quote comes from my colleague Mike Robertson from his article My 5 "Ah-Ha" Moments. "The thing I always tell my clients and athletes is this: I don't care where we're starting from. Whether you're squatting 600 or benching 150, your current state is irrelevant to me. What I'm concerned with is your drive and desire to achieve your goals. If you're willing to dedicate your time and energy to becoming a better lifter, then you're exactly the kind of person I want to work with." I feel the same way. The perfect Endeavor client is the one that has unparalleled motivation and refuses to accept failure. Those are the clients that change their lives. Happy Monday. -Kevin Neeld
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Most people understand that the quads are made up of four muscles. For those of you that have an unhealthy fascination with human anatomy (like me), those four muscles are the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and vastus medialis. All four of these muscles are strong knee extensors, meaning they help you straighten your knee (as in standing up or squatting). One of the four muscles, the rectus femoris, is also a hip flexor (think bringing your knee to your chest). No, this is not just an anatomy lesson. Understanding that your one quad muscle is also a hip flexor is important if you're going to stretch your quads. I actually think that most people probably don't need to stretch their quads, but just about everyone needs to stretch their rectus femoris. Hear me out. Most people stretch their quads while standing. They grab their foot, pull it to their butt, and hold it for a bit. The problem with this is that the hip is usually flexed, meaning they're only really stretching three of the four quads, and it's mostly the three that don't need to be stretched. The key to stretching the rectus femoris is to make sure your hip is all the way extended (think straight from your knee to your shoulder). The picture below illustrates the only quad stretch I really use with my athletes and one of the only stretches that I think everyone should do. If it feels awkward to get into this position, you can also set your back foot on top of a small box and leave both hands by your side. It may also be more comfortable to throw a small pad (or your shoe if you don't have a pad) under your knee. If you have any questions about this, feel free to shoot me an email by clicking here.  -Kevin Neeld
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Have you ever asked that question? I know I have. As I read more and more about the way the body works, I realize that the question is foolish, or at least incomplete. Your body NEVER works in isolation, ever. Let's look at a couple examples. Think of a commonly performed "biceps curl". This movement, elbow flexion, involves force production from 5 different muscles: the biceps brachi, brachialis, brachioradialis, pronator teres, and flexor digitorum superficialis. The "groin" as most people call it, is actually composed of 5 muscles as well: the pectineus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, adductor magnus, and gracilis. Don't worry too much about the confusing anatomy talk. Just think about the "isolation" approach to training. You have a great day in the gym planned. you're going to do 3 sets of 10 for your gracilis. Then 3 sets of 8 for your adductor magnus. Then 3 sets of 8 for your adductor longus... ...15 hours later, you'll leave the gym having gotten a decent workout for the muscles on the inside of your thigh. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Luckily the body doesn't work that way, despite what you may read in the "muscle magazines" on the news stand. Anytime you do a squat, you're working over two dozen muscles on all sides of your lower leg, thighs, hips, and core. Anytime you do a chin-up, you're working a similar amount of muscle, including all the muscles in your upper back, your elbow flexors, and the long head of your triceps. These large muscles group, multi-joint exercises also result in more fat loss, and greater gains in strength and size. Depending on your training goal, the set/rep/intensity of these exercises can be manipulated to suit your needs. I could ramble on about this stuff forever, but I don't want to bore you. If you're interested in how you can make your training programs a bit more effective, check out an article I wrote called "Bodybuilding Without Isolation Exercise". As always, feel free to email me by clicking here if you have any questions. Keep training hard. Keep training smart. -Kevin Neeld
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