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Athletic performance is a complicated beast. Without question each sport and individual position has different demands and requires a different level of preparedness and combination of the biomotor
abilities. In training and coaching for optimal performance, it is
important to realize that the best outcomes result from more than just
stimulus and adaptation, contrary to what you may believe.

While applying a stimulus and allowing for adaptation are critical and the first two steps in the training process, we must also know as coaches that the two components that follow are equally
important–stabilization and actualization.

Once an athlete adapts to a stimulus, we must be sure to provide them ample time to become accustomed to the new level of performance ability before using these performances to set training loads. In terms of the weight room, we cannot immediately begin scheduling lifts
at 90% of a 1RM that an athlete set yesterday. Instead, we need to
allow the the slower-adapting musculoskeletal system and it’s component
parts to catch up to the nervous system.

Additionally, we need to be able to have our athletes reach a state of competitive preparedness and put them in the best position possible to transfer their newly acquired proficiencies directly to the track or
trail.

If any of the four requisite components to smart programming are foregone, there is little doubt that your athletes will fail to achieve a performance level of which they are capable.

Stimulate, adapt, stabilize, actualize.

Best regards,
Carson Boddicker

Boddicker Performance

By Scott Damman, Myotest, Inc.

(This is the first in a series of reports from Scott as he experiences the 2010 Olympics firsthand.)

Well, it is my first full day in Vancouver, and I am just getting into the feel of

the Winter Games. I must admit, it is a bit strange walking around a city where
rain jackets and umbrellas replace snow jackets and gloves. Vancouver is one of
the places that could just as logically host a Summer Olympics. But the
Canadian spirit is alive! Home country Olympic wearable sales are well over
expectations, and apartment balcony hanging flags are abundant. Numerous
languages are heard along the streets, and the Vancouver public transportation
is running full tilt — buses, Sky link trains, and the unique Sea Bus
connecting the Downtown to North Vancouver where the freestyle and snowboard
events take place.

Bode is back! After a goose egg in Turino, Bode Miller came back with a Bronze medal
today, in a downhill race where all of the big guns were running fast and
competing at a top level.

I am now off to the Swiss House to attend a reception celebrating Swiss technology
contributions to the Olympic Games. Dartfish CEO Victor Bergonzoli is the
keynote speaker. The Swiss House is the official gathering place of all things
Swiss related during the games, including receptions and medal celebrations.
Tonight will be special as Didier Defago won Gold today in the prestigious Men’s
Downhill.

Stay tuned for more from Scott as he provides his first-hand view of the 2010
Olympic experience from Vancouver.

For more information on how Myotest is helping athletes around the world to achieve
their own personal “Olympic” potential, visit their website at: http://www.myotest.us/

For more unique information from the realm of strength & conditioning and sports in general visit: The Strength Performance Blog

It was first described to me during the summer of 2005 when I visited my good friend Mike Potenza, who was working at the time as the S&C coach at the University of Wisconsin for both the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams (by the way, both teams won national championships that year). He introduced me to Steve Myrland, a former strength and conditioning coach at both the professional and collegiate level and a guy that I now describe to others as simply “the strength Zen master.” While having coffee one morning, Steve was describing to Mike and I the frustration he was having with a college strength coach who only “saw the world through the hole in a 45 pound plate,” and the coach’s inability to see and embrace the importance of movement, function and anatomy. Now, all of us have taken a 45 pound plate from the rack, lifted it to squat bar height, peered through the tiny 2 inch hole and loaded it up onto the bar. The view just prior to loading is exactly what Steve was talking to me about. The world, (or weight room or even more simply your athlete’s performance continuum) has a very limited offering if only viewed through this hole, compared to the massive area that the plate encompasses, which basically equates to the entire rest of his or her development.

Up until that point in my very young career, I considered myself a “strength” guy. If it wasn’t heavy, it wasn’t training. If it didn’t have chains hanging off of it, or if your training partner didn’t have to pull the bar off your throat, then you simply weren’t working hard enough. About two minutes into our conversation I realized that I was one of the strength coaches that Steve was talking about. I guess the hole in the plate which I was coaching through at the time never allowed me to see the epidural injections that some of our athletes were getting due to their back pain, or the multiple ACL injuries our female athletes were incurring on a yearly basis. Steve challenged me to remove the dense piece of iron that obscured my vision and allowed me to evaluate and prescribe a training program that reflected the whole athlete (with respect to his/her sport, previous injury, movement impairments, volume at practice or games, current and future goals and yes, even strength development) and not just the athlete I once saw through the hole in the 45 pound plate.

Now, I’m still a strength guy, but my view on strength development (what really matters – a future blog) vs. numbers improvement (by any means necessary) has changed dramatically. The next time you load the bar and you peer through that tiny hole, I simply challenge you to think about athletic development in its totality. If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail; if all you do is load plates, then the window in which you have viewed the world, and the development of your athletes have been limited. Believe me, the world looks a hole lot different when you begin to look at it with a pair of fresh eyes; or at least a pair not obscured by only iron.

It activates the serratus anterior. If you didn't know, the serratus is a commonly inactive muscle that is extremely important for any overhead athletes, throwing and non-throwing. Dysfunction in the serratus causes the scapula to wing out, and creates instability where we want stability at all times. The function of the serratus is to help assist in upward rotation of the scapula. We want upward rotation in order create space for the glenohumeral joint and avoid impingement when we raise our arm. Very very important for overhead athletes! aka: pitchers, throwers, etc.

In altering a person’s posture or movement patterns, stress will be transferred to previously unloaded (or minimally loaded) tissues that will then be challenged. Soreness in this case can be an indicator that there are changes in patterning being made, and that you may beheaded in the right direction.

That said, it is critical to understand that as performance specialists, our goal is not to create soreness. No, our goal is instead to bring about changes in patterning, joint centration, and strength with an intelligently designed and sensibly progressedprogram. Soreness is not the goal, it is just sometimes a byproduct ofchange.

Best regards,

Carson Boddicker

Boddicker Performance

Distance runners are an interesting group. I know no other group of athletes who are more willing to train for hours on end for improvements as small as a fraction of a second. Many are so dedicated to the sport of running, their entire training volume consists ofrunning long miles with a few weekly sessions of higher intensityrunning over distances of 400 meters to several miles. While this doeswonders for the energy systems required to run fast and turn left, itonly serves to perpetuate movement dysfunction. If we are to succeedin the long term, we need to recognize that there is a demand forincreased physical preparedness beyond the traditional runner’s programoutlined in the above sentences. To achieve complete development, wemust be sure to touch on many aspects of fitness.

One area where a traditional runner can stand to improve a great deal is simply the introduction of faster running in his program. Now, I’m not referring to faster running in the form of 400m reps or even strides, but referring to faster running in the form of 40-60m repswith maximal recovery.

This is for a number of reasons including biomechanical, muscle activation, and also potentiation of longer distance runs.

During an easy run, the amount of hip flexion is significantly lower than during faster running. This creates a disproportionate pattern of activity among the hip flexors. Those that are most active in hip flexion from neutral to the first 75 degrees of hip flexion receive fartoo much work while the hip flexors that work above this range ofmotion (which is somewhat arbitrary), particularly the psoas andiliacus, do not do their fair share. Over time, the psoas becomesweakened while the low range hip flexors become excessively trained.When this athlete approaches the season and begins to run faster, wemay see these overworked muscles “give out” and lead to missed trainingtime with “pulls” or potentially problematic iliotibial bands (TFLhypertonicity).

By introducing a progressive speed program, we are able to facilitate the iliacus and psoas to a greater extent and achieve greater balance between all hip flexors. Given that the iliacus also has an attachment to the acetabular labrum, it may also play a role inhelping reduce capsular impingement between the labrum and femoral neck.

In addition to the hip flexors receiving better development, running at higher velocities helps ensure greater activation of the gluteus maximus which may be of use in preventing lumbo-pelvic-hip dysfunction and subsequent LE injury. This increased activation may be helpful inreducing femoral anterior glide due to the facilitating the gluteusmaximus’s ability to pull the femoral head posteriorly in the capsule.Also, increased activity of the gluteus maximus, a chief hip extensor,can potentiate faster running speeds.

It should be noted that no athlete should immediately jump into 40-60m runs with a flying start as their musculoskeletal system needs time to adjust to the stress. A progressive increase in speed of runs should be undertaken with the end in mind of running at 95-100% maximalvelocity. Also, distance runners have the tendency to believe thatrest is bad. In the case of maximal velocity training, rest can andshould be extensive to ensure adequate CNS and substrate recovery.

Stay tuned for more.

Best regards,

Carson Boddicker

www.BoddickerPerformance.com