July 2011 Blog Posts (24)

Brown Athletics Reports:

Providence, Rhode Island - Roger Marandino, the head strength and conditioning coach at Brown since 1995, has stepped down to become the first assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Philadelphia Eagles.

 

Marandino was responsible for the coordination of all strength and conditioning programs for Brown's 37 varsity sports. He utilized a hands-on approach to…

Dear Strength Coach,

CINCINNATI – Tuesday, July 26, 2011 – Performance Enterprises officially entered into a joint venture partnership with TSS Technologies this week, resulting in the creation of Dynavision…

Running the 40 yard dash is a skill not a race. Most people just line up and go about running the 40, but do they really understand how to line up correctly and take off in the right manner? Well, we at the Parisi Speed School in Fair Lawn NJ understand every single aspect from 0-40; training over 1,000 athletes over the past decade and decreasing every single 40 yard dash time that came in through the door. Not only in high school athletes, but in college and pro as well.  Here I have 10…

What are faults and flaws in an athletes movement skills and what is their movement signature that gives the athlete their athletic identity? Each individual has a unique individual way that they solve movement problems. It can be as simple as running gait or as complex as pitching a baseball, individuals can achieve the same result while looking quite different doing it.…

There is a trend today to identify muscular imbalances in static positions and seek to correct them. Once again these supposed “imbalances” are measured statically. What happens to these “imbalances” when the athlete is asked to move? We must remember that the body is fundamentally asymmetric. It is unrealistic to think of muscular balance right to left or front to back. The body is just not designed that way. We must…

Musclebound Women                                                                  

It was assumed in the early era of weight training that athletes would develop inelastic overdeveloped muscles.  The condition was deemed 'musclebound'.  Becoming musclebound dominated the early conversations of strength training.

The newly created position of Strength and Conditioning Coach in the 1970's was dubious.  Strength Coaches not only had to…

It hardly seems possible that over the past several weeks I have been even more immersed in coaching than normal. Starting with the GAIN Apprentorship, then work in Trinidad and Tobago and finally last week at the California Coach’s Conference at Concordia University in Irvine it has been more coaching coaches rather than hands on coaching athletes. As I progress in my career it seems that the coaching path is leading me…

The individual training session is the cornerstone of the entire training plan. Essentially a long-term plan is a succession of linked individual training sessions in pursuit of specific objectives. Because the session is the cornerstone of a training program, it should occupy the most amount of attention in the overall planning process. At the conclusion of each workout, the session must be carefully evaluated and the…

The drill or exercise is the smallest component of the entire training process. Basically a workout is a blend of carefully selected drills and exercises designed to achieve a specific objective. Special consideration must be given not only to the selection of the individual drill but also to the sequence of the drills. There is a definite synergistic relationship between drills. It is imperative to be very specific with…

     For the past week and a half I have had the opportunity to work with an offensive lineman (6'6, 290lbs) for a football team in the nearby area.  With most offensive lineman or any other really big athletes it may present different obstacles to how you want to incorporate unilateral leg work since these guys are used to only bilateral leg work.  Since they are used to mostly bilateral leg work, we can infer that they definitely need some unilateral leg stability & strength.  This…

Developing coordination, ambidexterity and concentration are key elements in training of an athlete.  Meet Flo Master, Usher’s lead Breakdancer in the 2011 World Tour.  He is the epitome of athleticism and being creative.   Check out the video of him training in every plane with resistance from the VertiMax.  This is one of his go to routines in helping him stay light and explosive.  We had done several sets so he was fatigued on this one, as you will see at the end of the video.  We…

Periodization is a viable concept that certainly will help improve our sport development system, but we also need trained coaches to plan and then implement the plan. A productive sport development system is coach driven and athlete centered. The solution lies in educating our coaches in the principles of planning in order to optimize resources and time. To achieve athletic success in a systematic manner, certain…

The United States is no different than any other country in that sport is a reflection of the socio-cultural milieu in which it exists. For many years up to 1976 the United States was able to dominate the world in athletic competition. The basis of our “non system” was a well-defined comprehensive physical education program. Physical education was mandatory in the schools from K-12. The physical education programs…

I have been thinking a lot about Periodization lately. I see the term misused and abused. I see blind imitation of a model that is outdated and passé. These outdated and antiquated concepts pervade the coaching literature and are taught in the “Training Theory” section of coaching education schemes. Any connection with current reality is purely coincidental. The following three-part post is my attempt top shed some light…

     This past weekend I read over the position statement on creatine by the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (JISSN), (a top sports nutrition journal) and…