Special guest article by triathlon champion Ben Greenfield

Compared to their running and cycling brethren, triathletes certainly tend to have slightly more muscular shoulders. But when you actually look at a triathlon junkie from the side view, you’ll see a rather unsightly phenomenon: a hunched back, slouched shoulders, and ugly curvature in the upper spine.

These slumping triathlon shoulders (which can turn into a permanent fixture on your body) come from a combination of spending long hours hunched over the saddle of a bike, working the internal shoulder rotators during swimming, while neglecting the external rotators in the weight room, and often a job spent sitting at a desk or computer.

So how can you get nice shoulders and still be fast at triathlon? Here’s what to do:

How To Get Nice Shoulders Step #1: Stretch Your Chest

Tight chest muscles can come from sitting a desk for several hours with your hands on a keyboard, from riding a bike in the aero position, and from swimming. Once tight, and especially in the presence of weak external rotators, these muscles pull your forward into a slouch.

To stretch tight chest muscles, try a doorframe stretch, in which you reach for the top of a door frame, place your hands on it and lean forward as far as you can. If you can’t reach the top of a door frame, just place one hand over the other hand, and lean into a wall.

How To Get Nice Shoulders Step #2: Strengthen Your External Rotators

Although the most popular exercise for “strengthening” the external rotators is to grab an elastic band and do dozens of repetitions of rotation for the shoulders, most of us don’t have time to stand around doing that. Bigger, multi-joint exercises like pull-ups and rows work far better, and have the added advantage of burning more calories and working your arm muscles.

I’ve personally installed a pull-up bar in the door of my office (it cost me about $25), and I try to do at least 25 pull-ups each day (usually one set of 5 whenever I walk under the bar). You can also include regular or assisted pull-ups as a weekly part of your gym routine. Also include lat pull-downs, seated rows, cable rows, and single arm dumbbell rows – focusing on squeezing your shoulder blades back and maintaining a tall, proud posture as you do each exercise.

How To Get Nice Shoulders Step #3: Train Your Core

Blah, blah, blah, work the core. Sure, you’ve heard this before. But think about it this way: when you’re riding a bike, swimming, or sitting at your desk, there is one thing that has to happen before you begin to slouch: your core has to get tired first.

But if your core is strong, it takes a massive load off your shoulders, and allows you to maintain much better posture. I personally recommend planks as the best way to strengthen your core and shoulders at the same time.

Try this: get into a front plank position, hold for 3 deep breaths, then switch to a side plank position left side, hold for 3 more breaths, then side plank right side for 3 breaths, and finish by holding a full push-up position for 3 breaths. Do that entire sequence without your knees touching the ground. See how many rounds you can do before you core collapses. If you can get to 10 round (about 7-9 minutes of planking), you’ve got a solid core. Otherwise, do this routine once or twice per week until you can get to 10 rounds.

Now that you’ve learned the 3 easy steps to get nice shoulders, you can be one of those triathletes who swims fast, but also cuts an impressive figure, and doesn’t have that notorious slouch, especially when people look at you from the side.

If you want to learn more about how to swim, bike and run lightning fast, but also have a nice body, (and get access to the other 6 articles in this series) then head over to Tri-Ripped Training System for a brand new approach to training for the ultimate triathlon body.

I’m working on the workout plans for the new Wold Tactical Fitness Bootcamp (Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday 6:30-7:30pm) and thought it would be fun to share some of the exercises we’re going to be using to reach the next level of fitness….

Reverse Bridge Push Up:

Twisting Planker Push Up:

Bootstrapper Squats:

Scorpion-Style Shin Box:

Suspended Hamstring Curls:

Tripod Switch:

Tight Burpee:

Kettlebell Split Snatch:

Box Jumps:

Kick-Through Side Plank:

Tiger Push Up:

Hip Touch Twist:

Shoulder Roll:

Deadlift/Pushup Combo:

Modified Rope Climbs:

Twisting Mountain Climbers:

Reverse Wall Walks:

Suspended Triceps Extension:

One Armed Burpees and Deck Squats:

Clapping Dive Bomber Push Up:

Handstands and Handstand Push Ups:

Arm Thread Push Up:

Rocky IV Flags:

Kettlebell Snatch and Windmill:

Spiral Squat:

Shin Box Flag:

Kneeling Jump:

Kick Through Squat With Pillow Twist:

Ok, there’s lots lots more to post, but I’ve got to go set up for tonight’s bootcamp!

Catch ya later!

~ Luke Wold

PS – This is what I look like when we’re done filming these videos for you:

When I was first introduced to the kettlebell, it was in the winter of 2002/2003.  Kettlebells hadn’t yet entered mainstream fitness and a guy at my gym had picked one up at an expo somewhere.

We pieced together the Turkish Get Up through experimentation.

Now, the TGU seems like a simple exercise… Just go from laying down to standing with your arm straight.

Simple?  Maybe.

Easy? Definitely not.

At the time I was bench pressing 400 pounds and deadlifting over 700.  The kettlebell only weighed 35.

Of course, I was shaking like a leaf and the ten or so ugly reps I managed left me so throughout my torso for an entire week.

Since then, kettlebells have really picked up steam as a fat loss tool.  But they are a phenomenal way to train for mixed martial arts fighters in Carson City as well.

You see, kettlebells strengthen your core like crazy – and an MMA fighter with a weak core isn’t going to win any bouts.

Kettlebells also train you to use your body as a unit, the type of integrated training you won’t get from any machine training.

Grip strength is also built in almost every kettlebell exercise.  This leads to not only greater grappling power, but stronger wrists, hands, and forearms to deliver devastating strikes to your opponent.

And don’t forget neck strength.  Swinging, flipping, jerking, and snatching the kettlebell develops your neck at all angles, making you harder to control in grappling and tougher to knock out with a strike.

If you’re training to step into the ring and you want to WIN, add these Carson City kettlebell exercises into your program.

Carson City Kettlebell MMA Exercise 1: Fighter Swing

This kettlebell swing variation trains all the posterior muscles used in punching.  When you do this, your nervous system will allow to to strike much harder.

In addition, the Fighter Swing teaches perfect shoulder stability for striking – no extended, loose shoulder punches like you would see in a bar fight.  Just deadly surgical strikes with your full power behind them

Carson City Kettlebell MMA Exercise 2: Renegade Row

The renegade row is not only a good back and arm exercise, stabilizing your core as you move the heavy kettlebells up and down will give you unparalleled ab strength.

Carson City Kettlebell MMA Exercise 3: Get Up

The Get Up trains stability and tension through your whole body, essential for all MMA techniques.

You will also get more efficient at returning to your feet after a scramble or knock down.

Carson City Kettlebell MMA Exercise 4: Rocking Chair

The rocking chair build on the figure 4 position used in many different submissions.  It also trains you ability to stand up without using your hands, leaving you free to shoot, strike, or guard your face.

Adding in a press gives you even more core training, with the bonus of shoulder and arm strength:

Carson City Kettlebell MMA Exercise 5: Snatch To Windmill

Snatching is a full body explosive move that trains power like no other.  Adding in the windmill for core stability makes this one of my favorite kettlebell combinations.

Carson City Kettlebell MMA Exercise 6: Side Hop Swings

Lateral movement is under-trained by many aspiring MMA fighters.  Side hop swings are a great supplemental exercise that help you build your ability to move sideways for dodges and attacks.

It is also a great conditioning circuit add-in.

Carson City Kettlebell MMA Exercise 7: Bootstrapper Squat

The bootstrapper squat trains full range of motion squatting that rally works your hamstrings, hips, and ankle mobility.  Areas a fighter has to take care of.

For a bonus to your grip and arms, try it “gun grip” style:

There you have it!  7 excellent kettlebell exercises for Carson City MMA fighters.

Now remember: Use excellent technique, but keep in mind that you are a fighter who uses kettlebells to improve your strength, skills, and endurance in the ring.  Don’t spend all of your time becoming a kettlebell expert.  They are an invaluable tool, but JUST that.  You still need to be spending 80% of your training time working on fighting skills if you want to dominate your opponents.

Which needs to be stronger, your foot or your footwear?

Barefoot training is one of the biggest mindset shifts happening in the training world today.

We’re finding out that people are having a very hard time getting rid of foot pain.  What do people do when their foot hurts?  They stay off it and put on a tougher shoe, which further weakens their foot and deadens their proprioceptive abilities.

What’s really weird is that in places where people don’t wear shoes, they don’t have any of the foot and arch problems we have in America!

Go to a drug store in the US and there is a whole aisle dedicated to pads, supports, and orthotics to get rid of foot pain.  I posit that all of this support and padding is just making things worse!

In my volleyball athletes, much of our training is directed towards putting force through the feet and into the court.  (You don’t actually “jump.”  You shove against the Earth and according to Newton’s Law of Equal and Opposite Reactions, the Earth “shoves you back” just as hard and propels you into the air.)

The ability to put force into the ground and move your body through space is ultimately reliant on the strength and your control of your feet.

It’s a big problem that we never train our feet and that they just get weaker and worse as we get older.

If your hands are weak, it will limit your strength and skill in upper body exercises.  The same is true for your feet and training your legs.

Now, how does a weak foot link up with ankle braces and knee injuries?

Simple

In my exercise seminars, I teach people the “Stack of Joints” theory.

The stack of joints theory is that your body is a bunch of joints stacked on top of each other, and we look at it from the ground up.

Some of your joints need to be stable, and some need to be mobile.  They alternate with each other:

Ankle – Mobile

Knee – Stable

Hip – Mobile

Low Back – Stable

Upper Back – Mobile

Shoulder – Stable

If a joint is messed up, a good physical therapist will look at the joints above and below it.

As an example, if your low back hurts, it is probably because of a lack of mobility in your hips and upper back, and your low back has to take on their work loads.

That’s why if you have low back pain, we do a lot of HIP exercises.  By fixing the joints sandwiching your pained areas, we can fix the cause of the problem.

Now, a weak foot and a locked up ankle CAN’T be mobile.  I mean, if the ankle is in a SPLINT, it obviously can’t move.

This splinting of the ankle forces the knee the take on all the mobility that was meant for the ankle.

A study that was released last month looked at non-contact ACL tears in female athletes:

Koga H, Nakamae A, Shima Y, Iwasa J, Myklebust G, Engebretsen L, Bahr R, Krosshaug T. (2010). Mechanisms for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injuries: knee joint kinematics in 10 injury situations from female team handball and basketball. Am J Sports Med. 2010 Nov;38(11):2218-25. Epub 2010 Jul 1.

The researchers found that the mechanism for injury was rotation at the tibia:

(click picture to enlarge)

So instead of the ankle and hip taking on the rotation, the knee took it and “popped” the Anterior Cruciate Ligament.

This happens more often when the ankle is locked in a splint.  A weak foot and stiff ankle may sustain some injuries from a quick twist, but as a strength and conditioning coach, I’d much rather deal with a sprained ankle than a torn ACL.  If you’re confused why, here’s some simple math:

Sprained Ankle: Two weeks off, Can tape up and play if it’s a big game

Torn ACL: 6 months to two years off, might never be the same again, $50,00 surgery

The study I mentioned above also had these points:

- Non-contact knee injuries happen during cutting or one-leg landings

- At foot contact the knee pointed in (valgus)

- The tibia rotated internally then externally

Here are some ways to prevent non-contact knee injuries:

1.  Do all non-volleyball court training barefoot or in “barefoot shoes.” This lets your foot and ankle strengthen.

2.  Avoid splint-type ankle braces. Go with a softer lace up brace.  It might not protect the ankle as much as a splint, but a softer brace protects the knee much more.

3. Focus on prevention. Prepare physically for the demands of your sport.  A strength and conditioning program can take as little as an hour a week (in season).

4.  Train the around the joints as dictated by the mobility/stability continuum (stack of joints theory). Knees should be trained for stability, ankles and hips for mobility.

5.  Learn proper technique. Jumping is a skill, and it should be trained with as much detail as any other sports skill.

6.  Deceleration training. The knee injuries in the study above occurred during landing and cutting movements.  Training the ability to stop with perfect technique and strength would have prevented ACL injury.

7.  Nutrition nutrition nutrition. There are two keys to nutrition, the first is obvious:  Any extra weight in the form of fat will increase the force through the knee joint and will precipitate injury.  The second key is that a diet high in inflammatory foods such as grains, sugar, and dairy will diminish the integrity of your joints.

8.  Don’t try to substitute energy and enthusiasm for preparation and technique. An athlete throwing themselves around the court will break their body.  If you want to perform at a higher level, train at a higher level.

9.  Posterior Chain Training. The hamstrings, butt, and low back are all key areas that need to be strengthened in any athlete.  Sadly, these muscles are often totally neglected in training.  Simply firing up your butt muscles with the humble glute bridge during your warmup will help.

10.  Keep your eyes on your goal. It may feel weird and awkward and scary to exercise without ankle splints, especially if you’ve been wearing them for years.  Soon the discomfort will pass and you’ll be a stronger, better, healthier athlete.

Thank you so much for reading.  Let me know if you have any questions in the comment box below.

~ Luke Wold

Carson City Personal Trainer

I love wrestling.

And I like judo, sambo, jiujitsu, and other grappling sports.

Today I want to share some of my favorite wrestling exercises using the freakin’ sweet ValSlide training tool.

Wrestling demands a full body strength and mobility that you don’t find in ball or net sports.  The positions are unnatural and the forces applied are extreme.

The ValSlide is made-to-order for wrestling training outside the mat room.  Below are exercises that will strengthen your neck, core, arms, and legs in grappling specific ways.  Check ‘em out:

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 1: Ball Spins

In wrestling your opponent can hunker down and block you on one side when you’re down on the mat – and to do anything you have to spin over the top to the other side before you have an opening.

The ValSlide Ball Spin helps you train the “body awareness” that you need for a fast spin.

Basically, you put a ball under your sternum and spin yourself in circles.  You can time how long it takes to get 10 rotations in one direction and try to beat your time.

You can hit a specified number of reps back and forth.  You can progress to using one arm or one leg at a time.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 2: Hamstring Curl To Reverse Bridge

Hamstring strength is VITAL in grappling!  And while in MMA fights you aren’t worrying about getting pinned, so the bridge isn’t as common a technique as it is in pure wrestling, you still need to strengthen your neck and work on the back bridge motion for throws.

If you’re in advanced condition, you can hit these without arm support, use one leg, or wear a weighted vest.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 3: Crippled Dog Push Up

This is a great way to train upper body strength and explosiveness.

The Crippled Dog looks way easier than it really is, I had a high school team give them a shot last week and several managed epic faceplants trying to reach too far too fast.

As a progression, I’ve used one leg in the air or else worn a weight vest, but I bet if you were a freaking maniac you could do these with one arm.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 4: Front Bridge Push

A weak neck will equal a wrestler who loses.  Strong neck = strong defense.

When I was a heavyweight wrestler in college, I used to ride all of my weight on my opponent’s head until their neck got tired, then I could have my way with them.

I actually used to train this movement on basketball courts while wearing a beanie, but the ValSlide makes it possible to do these anywhere.

TIP: Place the slider halfway between your forehead and the crown of your skull.  You’re less likely to flip yourself over.  Trust me.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 5: Forward Plank Walks

These are also called “Army Crawls” after the motion used to get under low barbed-wire fences.

Once these become too easy, push yourself backwards with the same arm motion.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 6: Lizard Crawl

Keeping low and driving with the legs is how you flip your opponent on the mat.

If you lift your hips as you drive forward, your center of gravity is too high and they can reverse your push – pinning you instead.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 7: Plank Walk Up

These help when getting up from referee’s position in wrestling, but even if you’re not a wrestler this exercise is one of my favorites for the arms and core.

You don’t have to have your feet on ValSlides for this, but ValSlides are the bacon of exercise: They make everything better.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 8: Tiger Push Up

These are a triceps KILLER!

Start off in a plank position with your feet on the ValSlides.  Now press down through your hands and straighten your arms.

You’ll feel a strong pull through your ab muscles and a delicious pump in the back of your arms.

When most athletes do a Tiger-style pushup, they push themselves back instead of up.  Putting your feet on ValSlides keeps you from pushing back, since you’ll just start skidding and won’t be able to do the exercise correctly.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 9: Bucket Push

Rather than having a specific sport carryover, these are a phenomenal conditioning tool.

Keep your butt as low as you can on these and DRIVE yourself forward.

Know why I call these bucket pushes?  You’ll be looking for a bucket after a few trips up and down the court

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 10: Push Back

I actually use these to teach the “hips back” part of a sprawl defense.

It’s very common to use a sprawl to defend against a take-down, but younger wrestlers seem to want to take the impact on their arms and chest instead of on the hips.  (I prefer going for the cross-face and twisting their neck instead of sprawling, but that’s because I’m mean)

This exercise gets them used to the backwards motion with their hips down.

It is also a good upper body conditioning exercise in it’s own right.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 11: Deficit Lunge

When you shoot a low single leg takedown, you’re DEEP on your front leg and you have to build enough drive and speed to get through your opponent’s defense:

The deficit lunge is a great way to train this movement in a progressive loading style, instead of just having your coach tell you to do it faster or better, you can now qualify your training on the motion.

And once you have the movement down, you can start loading (I’m holding dumbbells, but I also like kettlebells in the clean position or a sandbag to bear-hug)

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 12: Walk Walks

I like the wall walk without a valslide, but when you through in the lack of traction on the wall, this becomes an intense core and shoulder challenge.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 13: Kettlebell Alligator Walks

You can do the alligator walk with your hands in pushup position and no weights.

For a great core, grip, and shoulder stability challenge though – use the kettlebells:

Advanced athletes can add a row to the hip after each step.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 14: Accordion Side Planks

In a perfect world, everyone’s pike out from underneath their opponent would be smooth and beautiful.

Unfortunately, everything goes to hell in a handbasket when the ref starts your match and all of your pretty moves become uglier than this guy:

The accordion side plank allows you to train stability as you pull your feet in to your body while they’re trying to slide awsy from you everywhere.

Advanced trainees can do these with either a straight arm or a weighted vest.

ValSlide Grappling Exercise 15: Wall Runs

This is less a single exercise than a drill I use with grapplers.  It consists of a bucket push, valslide handstand pushup, and slide back pulls – all in a row.

In this vid I’m staying in close, but we often lengthen the distance for the bucket pushes and drive backs so everything gets taxed, not just the shoulders.

Word.

It would rock to have some comments below with your favorite ValSlide exercises, and what you use them for.

Thanks, talk soon.

~ Luke Wold

Special Guest Article by Carson City Chiropractor Dr. Brian Russell

It is no secret that Chiropractic adjustments help not only athletes in pain, but also those who are seeking to improve their performance.

Speed, agility, and flexibility are key components that can make the difference between breaking a world record by 1/10 of a second or coming in last place. Nerves fire our muscles and it is our muscles that move our bodies to action. If the signals that fire our muscles are incomplete or are signals transmitting messages of pain instead of contraction, you can bet that the contraction of that muscle will also be incomplete or possibly inhibited.

So how do we make sure that these signal pathways are clear? Get adjusted. When a joint is adjusted properly there is a neurological resetting of the nervous system. Most often this is noticed by greater flexibility, lessening or disappearance of pain, also a feeling of being lighter and looser. These are sure signs that the bombardment of the firing of the sympathetic nervous system has eased and that the muscle is now ready to receive a complete or uninhibited message of contraction.

Check out a couple of these studies showing that Chiropractic adjustments help to improve athletic performance, especially with increases in quadriceps strength as well as their vertical jump.

Jon Schwartzbauer, D.C.,Jason Kolber,Mitzi Schwartzbauer, D.C.,John Hart, D.C.,John
Zhang, M.D.,Ph.D, Athletic Performance and Physiological Measures in Baseball Players
Following Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care: A pilot study, Journal of Vertebral Subluxation
Research, Vol. 1, NO. 4 1997

This first study evaluated male university baseball players. They were divided into a control group and a Chiropractic group. The participants were evaluated on vertical jump, broad jump specified, standing broad jump, and muscle strength. The participants were tested prior to receiving treatment, at 5 weeks and at 14 weeks. The Chiropractic group showed a distinct improvement in muscle strength, long jump distance, and vertical jump distance.

Bernd Hillermann, MChiro, Adrian Neil Gomes, MChiro, MMedSc, Charmaine Korporaal,
MChiro, Dennis Jackson, BS, A Pilot Study Comparing The Effects Of Spinal Manipulation
Therapy With Those Of Extra-Spinal Manipulative Therapy On Quadriceps Muscle Strength,
Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics., February 2006 (Vol. 29, Issue 2)

This second study evaluated the effects on quadriceps strength with and without Chiropractic adjustments. Those who received Chiropractic adjustments saw a 10% increase in quadriceps muscle strength.

Whatever your situation may be, getting adjusted regularly will help you improve your game and increase your ability to dominate your competition.

About the Author:

Dr. Russell is from the island of Kauai and would like to extend his Aloha to all of his patients. He is a graduate of BYU-Hawaii and received his Doctorate from Palmer College of Chiropractic. As an intern in the Sports Injury and Rehabilitation department at Palmer College he received extensive training in the treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal dysfunctions/complaints. He is also trained in the treatment of herniated and degenerated discs having received specific instruction in the application of spinal decompression to treat chronic low back pain and sciatica during his graduate studies.

To contact him visit: http://www.chiropracticcarsoncity.com/

One of the coolest dudes around is a guy named Martin Rooney.

He is a fitness and martial arts expert, and the chief operating officer of the Parisi Speed Schools.

I have ALL of his books and DVDs – they rock.

Martin Rooney

He recently posted two cool pull up exercise routine videos, and they were so awesome I had to give them a shot right away.  Check it out:

TRAINING FOR WARRIORS: 15 “THE HARD WAY

The routine is:

• Feet to ceiling
• Cannonball Pull Up
• Leg Raise
• Knee Raise
• Pullup
• Repeat 2 more times

Here’s me giving it a go:

It’s a fun circuit (even though I can’t talk at the end!)

TRAINING FOR WARRIORS: SKIN THE CAT

This series is:

• 3 pike pull ups
• Skin The Cat
• 2 Pike Pull Ups
• Skin The Cat
• 1 Pike Pull Up
• Skin The Cat

Here’s me again (I forgot to pike my legs, whoops!)

Listen closely and you can hear my shoulder pop into place…

The bottom line is, I’m always looking for new training ideas, techniques, and methods – and Martin Rooney is the best source around.

If you’re looking to build up your training library, start with Ultimate Warrior Workouts (Training for Warriors): Fitness Secrets of the Martial Arts, it’s an encyclopedia of exercises from around the world.  I guarantee you’ll head straight to the gym and hit it hard as soon as you take a look at this book!

And I recommend that ALL of the parents, athletes, and coaches I work with get and read Train To Win: 11 Principles of Athletic Success.

Get the books, give the challenges a try, and get into freakin’ awesome shape!

Talk soon,

~ Luke

Last week I asked some of my friends, co-defendants, and fellow strength & conditioning coaches for their top 3 tips for higher vertical jumps.

After you read this post, be sure to leave a comment letting us know…

1. What was your favorite tip

2. Any training for the vertical that’s working for you right now

Don’t be lame and just read the post, be sure to take part by leaving a comment. Successful people are the ones who get involved, and they make up less then 5% of the population, but it’s the same 5% who leave blog post comments, so take action and leave a comment.

Be in the small percent of people who are kickin’ ass in life and the gym

And if you haven’t done so already, before digging into this post be sure to opt-in for my free health and fitness updates:

[EDIT: For latest blog posts, "like" Wold Fitness on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/woldfitness ]

And here we go!

TOP 3 VERTICAL JUMP TIPS FROM

LUKA “ONE ARM CLAP PUSHUP” HOCEVAR

1. Landing – female athletes have a really high incidence of ACL injuries because they do not have the mechanics, strength and or stability to decelerate, which in jumping would mean the landing portion. This means that the legs will look “knock kneed” at landing – this causes huge stress on the knees. Before you can drive the car fast you have to know that the brakes are working. Deceleration (landing) is the brakes!

Make sure you improve stability, mobility and strength in the hips and teach landing mechanics.

2. Relative Strength – How much force you can apply into the ground will determine how much force will be applied upwards. It’s important that you have a great relative body strength if you want to have a great vertical jump. For most female athletes, getting stronger will improve their vertical jump. SO don’t be scared of scarier weights. Lift heavier and other players will be scared of you because of your performance.

3. Jumping and Rate of Force Development – Yeah so I had to pick more than 3, oh well, do something! You have to be able to apply the force you produce quickly otherwise it won’t transfer to sport. If that wasn’t the case powerlifters would have the highest verticals. We want to train the speed of application through exercises like olympic lifts, plyo’s, med ball throws, every type of jump imaginable (make sure the exercise is right for the level of the athlete).

And in all honesty to get better at jumping, you have to jump – but check on the brakes first!

Luka Hocevar is one of the top sports performance coaches in the country. He was a professional basketball player who has now dedicated his career to helping others excel in their athletic endeavors. See more at http://www.Hocevarperformance.com

TOP 3 VERTICAL JUMP TIPS FROM

RYAN “VOLLEYBALL MONSTER” GOLEC

1.  I think it’s a sequential combo progressing from multi-joint power movement to multi-joint explosive power movements to plyometric movements. My favorite sequence is power squats to power cleans to box jumps emphasizing the speed of transition from hitting the ground to jumping back to the box.

2.  Avoid letting the heels hit the ground.

3.  Explosive vert is absolute power, so optimal training would be low reps with heavier loads. Jumps should be performed on a height that allows a max effort at 5-8 reps.

Ryan Golec is a personal trainer in Reno, NV.  He can be reached by phone at 775 846 2894 or email at Ryan@FitUBuilt.com

TOP 3 VERTICAL JUMP TIPS FROM

ISRAEL “NO NONSENSE” SANCHEZ

Wazzzupp Gang! So you wanna jump high huh? I’m sure you will receive many awesome tips on what to do, so I bear with me as I add my two cents:

1. Stop overdoing the Olympic Lifts. So much monkey-blah in here! I have encountered many overuse issues with well intentioned folks who in their eagerness to jump high overdo the Olympic Lifts. “Have you seen how high the top Olympic Lifters can jump?” is their justification. Do the Olympic Lifts have anything to do with it? Up to certain extent, yes, but let’s not forget these gifted athletes have the innate ability to produce those forces and that’s how they excel in the sport. Will the Olympic Lifts be beneficial? Yes! Should you add them? Yes! But don’t do it to the point that you forget what your main goal is to learn to jump higher and not necessarily lift heavier, which brings me to the next point.

2. Wanna jump high? Then LEARN to jump! Seriously! I remember a couple of folks who added 1 and 1.5 inches to their vertical in one session. A miraculous exercise? No, simply correcting their technique! Having a faulty sequence, faulty position, etc, will without a doubt affect the outcome of the jump. Eat your pride and make sure to get a qualified coach to fine-tune your technique. You’ll be grateful you did.

3. Take a break! Yes, yes, I understand about tenacity and perseverance. Very admirable qualities though it could quickly lead to overuse. If you feel like you reached a plateau and are not going anywhere, it is time to look for something different and give the body a little break from the same repetitive motion. 2 or 3 weeks seem to be more than sufficient and most folks returning are able to break past the sticky points.

There you have it! May the ground beneath your feet keep getting further away from you. Happy and Safe training!

Coach Izzy is Bainbridge Island’s top expert in the subjects of strength and conditioning. He helps his clients recover from painful overuse conditions, regain their health, and reach levels of fitness they never thought possible. You can visit his blog at www.coach-izzy-talks-fitness.com

TOP 3 VERTICAL JUMP TIPS FROM

DAN “BREWMEISTER” WOLD

1. Do NOT overtrain! Keep legs fresh and injury free. Injuries from overtraining cause the athletes to lose time and enthusiasm, negating any positive effects.

2. Train the arms. Legs follow arms; learn to use the arms to “load” the legs then “block” at the moment before leaving the ground. All this while remaining athletic and balanced.

3. Make drills fun and/or competitive. When I was a college high jumper, our Monday workout was 50 dunks; fun AND competitive. Find something(s) similar, and do not over-use it (see #1).

Dan Wold is a life-long educator and coach.  While in college he not only played basketball, he cleared 6’10″ in the high jump!  Listen when he talks about jumping

TOP 3 VERTICAL JUMP TIPS FROM

LUKE “FEEL THE FORCE” WOLD

1.  Fix your nutrition.  This probably isn’t politically correct, but… fat athletes don’t jump as high.  Eating right also lets you train harder and recover faster.

Just cut out the crap and eat more good stuff.

2.  Prioritize your strength training.  Everyone who wants to jump higher spends a lot of time training their calves.  I blame this on those idoitic “strength shoes” and “jump soles” or the 1990′s.

Instead, use this formula to see what you use more in a vertical jump:

15% of your jump is your armswing.  Train your shoulders and you’ll jump higher.

10% of your jump is your quads – the muscles on the front of your thighs.  Don’t ignore them, or you’ll lose out on that 10%!!

60% of your jump is your posterior chain – hamstrings, butt, and low back.  This is the moneymaker zone if you want to jump out of the gym!

And the final 15% of your jump is your calves.  To really get the most bang for your buck on calf exercises, keep most of  your weight on your big toe.  Doing it this way will really stress your “jumping calves.”

3. Fix your “leaks”. A leak is a wobbly knee or rolling ankle, hips tucked under or flappy arms.

You don’t actually jump off the ground.  You apply force to the ground and the ground applies “equal and opposite” force to your body, propelling you into the air.

Any misaligned joints allow energy to leak both ways – you won’t apply as much force to the ground and the ground won’t throw you as high into the air.

You can fix your leaks by getting your body stronger, into alignment with corrective training, and learning the right way to jump!

Alright gang, there ya go

Now… be sure to leave a comment letting me know…

1. Which was favorite tip AND…

2. Add any tips of your own we didn’t cover here that are working in your training right now

It’s important to do this so I know what you like AND to show all these guys support and thank them for giving of their time and energy to put this KILLER blog post together for you guys

The Tour de France is all over the news right now.  (This is the race Lance Armstrong won after his battle with cancer)

Professional bicyclists from around the world meet in France for this killer 21 day race. And with the exciting and dangerous terrain, the high drama of the event… not to mention the competitors’ impressively toned calves and thighs, this race makes for great entertainment.

Want to get into bicycling, improve your cardiovascular fitness, and get legs like Lance Armstrong?

Here are 3 Fast And Simple Tips:

1. Visit Your Local Bike Shop

Most bike shops have bulletin boards, flyers, and knowledgeable staff that can advise you on beginner to advanced group rides, mechanics that can teach you about your bike, and locals who’ll teach you where to ride. Pick a shop, become their friend, and just like at your favorite restaurant, they’ll take good care of you.

2. Buy a Used Bike

There’s nothing like a weekend bike ride outdoors with the wind in your hair, the birds singing, and nature all around. Often, serious cyclists are serial bike buyers, and they’ll sell their nearly new bikes on Craigslist for a fraction of the original cost. This is a great way to get a nice bike, but be sure to look for scratches, dents, cracks, or any other sign of a  crash.

3. Get Your Gear

Some of the equipment that will make your cycling more enjoyable and safe is: a headlight night riding, a well-vented helmet for keeping your head cool and protected, padded gloves and cork tape for preventing hand numbness, a cycling computer to tell you how fast you’re going and how far you’ve ridden, and special cycling shoes that attach to the pedals and allow you to have a much more efficient pedaling stroke.

A crazy mom a few years ago wanted to hire me to train her baseball star son.  She wanted me to work on his rotational strength and forward speed.

No problem for the Lukester.  Until I found out she had also hired:

• a hitting coach
• a throwing coach
• a conditioning coach
• a lateral speed coach

And that was in addition to his normal baseball practice!

Oh, did I mention he was 8 freaking years old?!?!

I declined her offer.  (I tend to rub other coaches the wrong way )

Also, I think sports should actually be FUN for kids.

Before puberty is the best time to play all sorts of sports, to build a wide base of motor skills and movement patterns.  Kids who specialize too early are at MAJOR risk for burnout and injury before they ever get to college.

Here’s a quote from The Development Of The Russian Conjugate Sequence System (Myslinski):

“At an early age (approximately 6.5-9 years old+ 1 year), the initial preparation stage begins. This stage is the cornerstone in the pursuit of PASM (Process of Attaining Sports Mastery) and is characterized by the progressive development of motor skills through a traditional multifaceted motor preparedness and the creation of a functional groundwork for specialized perfecting of motor abilities. Its exclusive goal is to expose young athletes to a wide variety of physical skills, thus stimulating a healthy development and increasing their functional capacities, motor abilities and knowledge base. Additionally, exposing the pre-adolescent sportsman to a well-rounded curriculum negates the effects of early specialization and elevates their overall adaptation level”

Or, to put it another way, children should minor in all sports and major in none.

What practical advice do I have?  (This Fitness For 10 Year Olds Series could just be a rant about overweight kids, but I want everyone to have some things to take action on)

1. Sign your kid up for all sorts of different classes.  6 weeks of karate, 12 weeks of soccer, a volleyball seminar
2. Lock up the Wii and XBox.  WiiFit doesn’t count as exercise.  Make kids spend time outside playing to earn time inside sitting.
3. Play sports yourself.  Your kids will follow your example.
4. Understand that sports have winners and losers.  Learning how to handle a loss is a valuable skill, don’t let your kids quit just because they can’t handle losing.
5. Read the Youth Fitness Solution.  It’s a nutrition and exercise program for parents to use with their kids.

That’s it!  The take-home message for today is: Kids should play sports, and play a lot of them!