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GP Strongman Athlete Spotlight: Tyler Mitlo

Tyler Milto (5'11", 200lbs) recently competed in the teenage division of the 2014 NAS Great Lakes Strongman Championships on September 13th. Knowing of GP's experience and background in the sport of Strongman, Tyler came to us back in June with the ambition to compete in his first contest. Tyler already had an impressive strength base for his age. We knew with the proper coaching and programming, he would be able to not only improve all his numbers, but be able to transfer that strength and endurance to meet the special needs of Strongman competition. We formulated a plan and provided Tyler the structure for training and he put it into action. Through his preparation, appropriate changes were made to continually see progress in his performance numbers. Along the way, Tyler impressed us with his display of consistent, hard work throughout his preparation.

All his hard work culminated in Tyler taking first place in the teenage division and turning in some impressive numbers along the way. Here is how Tyler finished in each event:

  1. Log Clean and Press (clean once, press for reps): 150lbs for 11 reps, 60 sec time limit
  2. Deadlift: 235lbs for 31 reps, 60 sec time limit
  3. Farmer's Walk: 150lbs per hand, 60ft course w/ turn at 30ft, finished in 14.2 seconds
  4. Tire Flip: complete 14 flips with 500lbs tire in 60 seconds
When asked about his experience with GP, Tyler had this to say:
Gallagher Performance gave me a competitive edge I would not have had without them. The depth of knowledge that flows from the offices of Gallagher Performance is phenomenal and seems to be never-ending. I saw my strength, power, and speed substantially increase in such a short amount of time that one would assume it was unnatural. Thank you Gallagher Performance. I highly recommend training with them.
Thank you Tyler for the kind words. Once again congratulations on a great showing and for representing us along with Diamond Athletic Club!

The Value of In-Season Training for Athletes

 



The need for focused off-season training is well accepted. However, outside of the professional and collegiate ranks, the same cannot be said for in-season training. This is truly one of the greatest sources of misinformation that exists when it comes to progressive athletic development and minimizing the number of non-contact related sport injuries. Routine in-season training can benefit young athletes in a number of ways.

With the majority of our athletes wrapping up their off-season preparation and starting camps in the next couple weeks, we get several questions from these athletes and their parents about what 'should' or 'should not' be done during the season to continue progressing in an athletic development model.

For starters, we establish how critical in-season training is for any athlete. This is not a sales pitch, it's the truth. In-season training may not have the same public acceptance as off-season training, but that does not mean it is not valuable.

In-season training has been shown to not only maintain or improve physical qualities (strength, speed, power, etc.) developed during the off-season preparatory period, but it can improve the rate of recovery between competition and maintain healthy muscle/connective tissue qualities as well.

What does that all mean?

Continue reading

How to Develop Physical Fitness

Recently, I was having a conversation with one of our clients about what it takes to be ready to compete in sport. The conversation mostly centered around athletics and how to be in the best "condition" possible. Specifically, this client was talking about certain people they know and hold in high regard as having a high level of physical fitness. All was going well until they said something very interesting.

In regards to someone they know, they said, "Man, are they fit. They are probably the most fit person I know."

When I asked them what makes that individual the "most fit" person they know, they just stared blankly back at me. There was no response and you could see the wheels churning away trying to figure out the answer.

Fitness is a craze nowadays. Women want to be fit. Men want to be fit. Athletes want to be fit. People want to be fit. Health clubs, personal trainers, smart phone apps, and infomercials want to sell you on becoming more fit. Slogans such as “Forging Elite Fitness” and titles such as “Fittest Man on Earth” or “Fittest Woman on Earth” make the concept of fitness very intriguing. Many people have come to believe fitness is a complex process. To most, the idea of “fitness” brings to mind someone who is muscular, lean, strong, and has stamina for days. This “idea” of fitness seems to be nothing but mere marketing and often leads people down the road of overcomplicating their exercise or training program.

So, that begs the questions, "What is fitness?"

Physical fitness is actually quite simple if we define fitness as “the quality of being suitable to fulfill a particular physical task”. If your task is to compete in the 100m dash, then your fitness levels must enable you to successfully compete in that event. If your task is to start in the NFL, then your fitness must enable you compete at your highest level possible week after week.

Developing Physical Fitness
Physical fitness is achieved during the process of physical preparation or how prepared you are for competition. The ultimate goal of physical preparation is to have each athlete at their best during competition and is accomplished via a systematic process to promote adaptations that raise levels of both fitness and preparedness. Fitness adaptations thus follow the SAID principle (Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands). Meaning, if you want to gain muscle, get stronger, and be more explosive, you better be sprinting, jumping, throwing, and lifting weights to allow those specific adaptations to occur. The SAID principle also means that an athlete’s level of fitness should always be specific to their sporting demands.

Debating who is the most “fit” athlete or individual on the planet is a ridiculous conversation. How can someone say that an NHL defensemen who plays almost 30 minutes per game over an 82 game is more or less fit than an Olympic caliber decathlete? How is that Olympic decathlete more fit than a Navy SEAL? How is a Navy SEAL less fit than the “Fittest Man on Earth”? How is the winner of the Boston Marathon more fit than the World’s Strongest Man?

Do you see what I am getting at?

An athlete’s fitness levels (strength, power, stamina, energy system development, etc.) will always be specific to what is required by their primary sport form. Just because someone is the “Fittest Man on Earth” does not mean they will have the ability to withstand the demands of competing within another sport at elite levels. Personally, the “Fittest Man/Woman on Earth” title would be better renamed to “Fittest CrossFitter on Earth” because that’s all the title means. The notion that elite fitness in one event or sport is somehow superior to the fitness required in another is either arrogant or ignorant (possibly both).

Understanding Physical Fitness Adaptations
To better understand physical fitness and the specific adaptations that result from training, we must first consider the training system commonly used to achieve improvements in endurance, strength, and power. This training system is known as concurrent training. Concurrent training is defined as, “the simultaneous inclusion of strength training and endurance training within the same program.” Concurrent training may be a necessary means for some athletes and individuals. However, for most, the application of concurrent training is widely misunderstood and poorly organized in the pursuit of all things “fitness”. They want to improve endurance, so they do a lot of aerobic exercise. They may run, bike, or swim for hours each week. They also want to get lean and strong, so they lift weights 2-4 times per week. These are the people who train and train and train, yet fail to see significant improvements in any number of neuromuscular adaptations.

Aerobic and strength adaptations are very divergent. The human body is simply not capable of adapting appropriately to two very different training stimuli. You can go run for a long period of time or you can be explosive and strong from weight training. Now, I understand nobody wants to be both an elite marathon runner and Strongman. However, there are people who want high levels of aerobic capacity while also becoming muscular and strong at the same time. Unfortunately, many of these same people plateau quickly or fail to see significant improvements because concurrent training attenuates muscular growth, strength, and power gains. There is an interference effect created when one attempts to simultaneously improve both aerobic fitness and neuromuscular qualities such as strength and power. The training approach is doomed from the beginning if specificity and attention to detail in training organization does not enter the picture.

To understand why, we must then understand the competing long-term adaptations that occur from strength training and endurance training.

Competing Long-Term Adaptations 
1) Strength Training (short duration, high force output)

  • Neural Adaptations – synchronous firing, recruits large populations of motor units, rapid rates of force development, improve rate coding
  • Endocrine Adaptations – Growth Hormone (GH) and Testosterone release, anabolic environment, stimulation of satellite cell activation and muscle protein synthesis
2) Aerobic Training (long duration, low force output)
  • Neural Adaptations – asynchronous firing, recruits small populations of motor units, slow rates of force development
  • Endocrine Adaptations – impaired anabolic hormone signaling, elevated Cortisol and catabolic hormone production, inhibition of mammalian target of rapamyacin (mTOR), essentially shutting down the pathways for stimulating muscle protein synthesis
This means that regardless of whether you perform aerobic exercise and strength training in separate sessions or during the same exercise session, the results can be negative depending on your “fitness” goals or needs as an athlete.

Fitness is Specific
Physical fitness is thus specific to the end goal of physical preparation. The physical preparation of an American football player should be different than that of an MMA fighter. Football players do not need to have the "fitness" levels of MMA fighters. Each of these athletes must develop their physical fitness qualities to meet the demands of their sport. Consider that American football players must develop power-speed qualities that are essential to their success at high levels of competition. Some trainers and coaches feel that some of their football players need better aerobic fitness or conditioning, so they have them perform high volumes of gassers or long distance runs in the off-season. As said before, this can prove to be a huge mistake. Being "fit" for football has very little to do with how many gassers you can complete, how fast you can run three miles, or what your Fran time is.

The same is true for other power-speed athletes (hockey, baseball, lacrosse, sprinters, throwers, etc.) Senseless and poorly implemented aerobic conditioning will have negative impacts on the neuromuscular qualities needed for successful participation in these sports. These qualities are important to their “fitness” as an athlete. Sure, go ahead and perform endless miles of running or biking. Go on with your absurd amounts of circuit-based training. But when you rob these athletes of their ability to develop higher levels of strength, speed, and power, it should be no surprise as to why it happened. Aerobic fitness cannot be prioritized to the point that more important qualities (strength, speed, and power) suffer.

But, isn’t a decent aerobic conditioning base essential for these athletes as well?

Yes. However, there are more optimal ways to develop their aerobic energy systems to meet the demands of their sport. Don't make the mistake of assuming aerobic capacity is the same as being "fit". Aerobic energy system development will always be specific to the athlete's needs.  Similar to resistance training, aerobic development should be periodized and appropriately dosed to developed the specific energy system demands without impairing performance.

Conclusion
Fitness is not simply achieved by going nuts, but rather being productive in specific approaches to your sporting demands. If you are unsure of how to appropriately address your fitness goals or needs as an athlete, then first start with a knowledgeable coach who understands the complexities of physical preparation for sport and is able to guide you in the process. For some, the concept of fitness requires a bit of a “reality check”. Sure you may want it all. You want the elite level endurance, strength, speed, and power. But, often this is not realistic. Prioritize your fitness goals and address them accordingly in specific phases of training. This process requires patience.

Remember, fitness is a highly specific quality that is ultimately dependent upon the physical preparation process for your sport of participation. Understand your training must mirror your demands for sport. If training is not addressing your specific needs as an athlete, you are wasting your time. Don't let some general or poorly defined concept of "fitness" guide your training.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/physical-preparation-vs-fitness/

https://gallagherperformance.com/the-truth-about-functional-exercise/

https://gallagherperformance.com/ultimate-runners-guide-to-injury-prevention/

Genetics vs. Hard Work

Lately, the age-old debate on the role of genetics vs. work ethic in determining training outcomes has been a popular discussion with our athletes. Recently, some of the results our athletes have seen during their time training at GP has been chalked up to “genetics” by some outsiders. From their perspective, training is all the same. At the end of the day, they are lifting weights, running, jumping, etc. There was not, or could not, have been anything special about our training system that allowed these athletes to excel beyond what they had previously done. In their opinion, the results these athletes achieved had everything to do with being genetically “blessed”.

What becomes apparent with their argument is the lack of appreciation that exists in regards to the sophisticated nature of training methodologies aimed at long-term athletic development. Long-term athletic development is a concept many coaches, trainers, athletes, and parents are either unfamiliar with or don’t have the patience for. They want immediate results; regardless at what expense those results come with.

When athletes approach us for coaching, we have a big task on our hands. There is a lot of information we must gather regarding each athlete in order to design the most effective training program possible. Keep in mind, there is an incredible amount of detail that will influence how each athlete will respond to training and it is our responsibility as coaches to know the details and address them appropriately during training. The information we gather by spending sufficient time testing and analyzing various performance markers before and during training becomes invaluable in understanding what to address with our athletes.

When designing and coordinating the training plan, we also account for each athlete’s current state of readiness to train. There are a number of factors to consider when determining readiness to train and this information is critical to know as a coach. The ability to identify the degree of intensity and volume an athlete can handle during each training session is critical to progress and avoiding unnecessary training loads. We want to ensure that each training session produces quality work, not pointless work. It’s incredibly easy to ruin an athlete; getting them to progress year after year is a tremendous challenge.

What critics fail to see is exactly how much work, quality work, these athletes put in week after week for months. They don't acknowledge the endless hours of discipline and hard work that athlete was put into a training system that addresses their developmental needs. Instead, nowadays, people find it more convenient to simply blame genetics for their comparative lack of progress or dismiss the athlete’s hard work and suspect cheating (i.e. drug use).

This is truly a shame because it is the culture sport has created. It’s unfortunate to have a young athlete become bigger, stronger, or faster and, in turn, have their peers and others in their lives ask them, “What are you taking?”

Let me be clear about something: if you are failing to see progress in your training program or are seeing more time on the bench than on the playing field, chances are you are simply being out-worked in terms of quality of effort and direction in your training.

You really should take a look in the mirror and ask yourself how bad do you want it. If you want to be great in your sport, greatness is not something you simply decide. You must act upon it. There is a lot of discipline and hard work required to become an elite-level athlete.

Roughly, how much hard work?

You may or may not be familiar with the “10,000 hour rule”. The rule basically states that 10,000 hours is the amount of work needed to reach mastery in any discipline or skill. Even thought the rule has received some criticism, the point remains that it at least provides us with a tangible number when understanding how much time is needed to develop a high-degree of mastery in any pursuit.

Let’s break down the 10,000 rule a bit further. If you practiced your sport two hours a day, five days per week, it would take you just under 20 years to reach your 10,000 hours. More commonly, most young athletes practice their sport 1 hour per day, 3 days per week. At this pace it would take an athlete 64 years to achieve mastery. As you can quickly tell, being a “recreational” athlete will never allow you to reach elite status. Mastery requires time, a lot of time, and thus is a serious decision to dedication that one doesn’t make on a whim.

Remember, hard work is only one side of the coin. Anyone can work hard. Anyone can go nuts during a training session and work to complete exhaustion. For novice trainees, this may even produce some results in the beginning. But what happens in the coming weeks or months when you stop developing and hit that dreaded plateau? This is one of the biggest problems we see, especially in developing athletes. Far too often, talented kids stop developing because of poor attention to individual considerations. When working with young athletes, there has to be a period of development that cannot be rushed. This requires an extreme amount of patience on the part of coaches, athletes, and parents. Athletes must earn the right to progress by being consistent in gradual development.

At GP, we consider coaching athletes to be a long and potentially slow process. We also acknowledge that some athletes may not be interested in this approach. However, our interest is not just in creating quick and easy success for athletes, but directing a process that will allow them to reach their true athletic potential. From a coaching stand point, anyone can create changes in an athlete. It’s not hard. Simply having anyone perform an exercise or a routine that is new will create change. But, is that change purposeful? Was it directed towards meeting that athlete’s needs? Or was the change made to simply make a change without an understanding as to why the change was made?

This is where hard work within a well-directed training program, under the guidance of a knowledgeable coach will trump hard work without direction. Our training system tailors each program to meet the individual athlete’s needs, differences, and current level of readiness to train.

It is not uncommon for some of our athletes to tell us they have “worked harder” during training sessions. They are accustomed to coaches running them into the ground and trainers mindlessly make them do high-intensity work with little rest. What else do we hear? We hear these same athletes are failing to improve. Rather many of them feel extremely fatigued and unmotivated. Sure they saw some results to start, but lately they are frustrated and confused.

When first starting at GP, they may feel that our system of training looks “easy”. This is a huge mistake. Our training may appear to be “easy”, but each training session is demanding. Each session is extremely detailed and may move at a slower pace than some athletes care for. News flash: if you’re more interested in going nuts than being productive, there’s not much any training system can do for you. Simply put, if you work hard to get better as an athlete, but also have some detailed thought applied to your training, the results will be greater than you would ever expect.

Yes, athletes with superior genetics do exist. Their genetics will allow them to progress more rapidly and experience great adaptations to training stimuli than athletes with lesser genetics. But they are more rare than you think. When it comes down to it, quality work in a well-designed training program aimed at long-term athletic development, under the guidance of a knowledgeable coach likely has more to do with superior athleticism than genetics alone.

As the saying goes,

“Genetics are the hand you've been dealt, but it's how you play the hand that counts.”
 
More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/6-factors-that-influence-an-athletes-dedication/

https://gallagherperformance.com/attitude-is-everything/

 

Year One at Gallagher Performance

After completing my Sports Injury and Rehabilitation residency in September 2012, making the decision to start up this business with my brother, Ryan, was one of the most daunting tasks I have ever encountered, including all the efforts to get it started and keep it growing. Considering I had offers for some well paying jobs all over the country, why would I possibly want to take the risk of launching a business? As a sports chiropractor with a specialization in rehabilitation, I had job offers to perform patient rehab in established offices, working as little as 20 hours per week. I could do that along with writing, consulting, and putting on seminars – all while enjoying plenty of free time. However, I saw a huge problem. That wasn’t me. As much as I enjoy what I do as a sports chiropractor, I equally enjoy assessing and evaluating athletes, designing training programs, coaching, being in the gym, training, and helping athletes achieve their goals. There was no way I could find personal fulfillment in my job unless I could be directly involved with both the training and therapy of athletes. More money or less hours didn’t matter to me.

About the time I was wrapping up my residency at Palmer College, Ryan was finishing his massage therapy schooling and working full time as a trainer while residing in Ohio with his wife, TIffany. For years, we had dreamed and talked about starting our own business that integrated not only our services, but our educational and professional backgrounds. We knew we had a unique approach and the desire to provide quality in our sports performance training, chiropractic, massage, and nutritional services. We believed that if we did things for reasons that were in line with our values, the business would grow to provide fulfillment beyond just money. We wanted to measure our success by delivering great results to our clients and athletes.

GP opened in April 2013 and has experienced steady growth every month since our opening. Our sports performance training services have become increasingly popular. With the summer upon us, athletes are coming in looking to capitalize on their off-season by improving their abilities (speed, strength, power, agility, etc). Each athlete we have worked with has seen tremendous results, which speaks to our business model, the individualized approach we use with each athlete, and the character of our athletes. We are receiving large amounts of referrals, which, to us, is the greatest compliment our business can receive. Slowly, GP is gaining the reputation for having an approach that is unlike any athletic development program in the area.

We have seen our sports performance training services utilized by athletes who participate in soccer, cross country, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, hockey, and football. We even have a client who is preparing for military special operations in hopes of becoming a Navy SEAL. With that said, our training services have especially become popular among football and hockey players (high school, college, amateur, and junior level).

Reflecting back on the past year, there have been lessons learned and constant reminders of why we do what we do at GP. To begin with, we are consistently reminded that regardless of sport or competitive endeavor, the primary goal of any physical preparation program is to prepare the athlete for the demands of the competitive season and/or higher levels of competition. This sounds simple in nature, but is incredibly complex at times as an overwhelming majority of our young athletes need to master the fundamentals of general calisthenics and body weight exercises before introducing the execution of movements with either increasing resistance using external loads or at increasing velocities.  Some of our programs may not seem “advanced” and it’s for a good reason. Too many young athletes, and sometimes their parents, have bought into the idea that they should be training “like the pros”. Kids need the basics, and a lot of them, before more advanced training can be introduced.

Another lesson we continually learn at GP is the importance of promoting structural balance and recovery for our athletes. At any age or level of competition, it’s imperative to recognize the stress an athlete’s body experiences during their competitive season(s). Often a number of precautions and considerations must be made from the onset of training and throughout the duration of the off-season to restore balance to an athlete’s body and facilitate recovery. This becomes increasingly important as an athlete ages and progresses through higher levels of competition, as they accumulate greater amounts of wear and tear. The recovery and regeneration protocols used at GP have been a welcomed addition to our athletes’ programs, since many of them have never been introduced to approaches that keep them healthy and their performance levels more consistent. We do whatever it takes to keep our athletes healthy and injury-free as they seek to improve specific performance markers.

Something else we have come to appreciate more and more is how valuable the education our athletes receive is to them. In talking with our athletes, we have consistently discovered that they do not understand how or why an athlete must train according to the demands of their sport. This is a foreign concept to many of them. The educational process provides our athletes with the knowledge they need to understand how an athletic development model is applied to their sport. This has proven to be invaluable because our athletes truly appreciate understanding the mistakes they have made and understanding they are receiving guidance that has their best interest in mind, based solely on their needs.

The educational process and witnessing the development/results each of our clients and athletes achieve, to me, has been the most fulfilling part about what we do at GP. The smile a young kid gets when they step on the scale and see that they are 10 pounds heavier or the high-five and genuine enthusiasm shared when they set a new personal best in strength, jumping, or speed makes it all worth it. And as for our clients who are training to lose fat and/or improve general fitness levels, we love to get feedback that their body feels great, they are training pain-free, and are able to enjoy the training process while maximizing the benefits of their efforts.

The vision for GP was an easy one to establish. Ryan and I made the choice to build a business that was fulfilling both personally and professionally. The process has not been an easy one, but it has been rewarding and we are enjoying it.

We also acknowledge that GP would not be what it is without the consistent support we receive. A sincere thank you goes out to all you – clients/athletes, parents, family, friends, social media followers, and professional colleagues – for your continual support over the past year. Without you, GP would not be what is today, and we look forward to many more years to come.

More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-we-arent-popular/

https://gallagherperformance.com/two-years-at-gallagher-performance/

 
 

The Essentials of Keeping Athletes Healthy

The number one priority of any coach or trainer should be the health of your athletes. At GP, we look at any and all entities that should be addressed to increase the wellness of each of our athletes. This takes into account biomechanical/movement quality considerations, exposure to inappropriate training, the compatibility of current training loads and parameters, nutritional considerations, and the coordination of therapy and restoration techniques.

The process of developing athletes and ensuring they remain healthy in the process can present a major problem and one that could be remedied with both higher coaching education standards and the utilization of performance-based therapy.

1. Raising Coaching Education and Qualification Standards
To ensure the health of our athletes while realizing their athletic potential, we spend countless hours on improving movement efficiency as well as balancing workload compatibility during each training session and block. Statistics consistently demonstrate the more mechanically efficient you are, the less injuries you have. Movement efficiency also translates into athletes having higher levels of performance while expending less energy in the process. Expending less energy means less fatigue. This is important since athletes are more likely to get injured in a fatigued state.

Workload compatibility refers to the importance of understanding compatible training methods when addressing a dominant physical ability during a phase of training. For example, this demands that the coach/trainer understand if they are trying to develop alactic sprint abilities why glycolytic or anaerobic-lactic training must be restricted or avoided.

In the attempt to improve any number of physical abilities, most coaches/trainers often fall into the trap of pushing their athletes too hard in training. They understand that in order for athletes to perform any number of biomotor abilities (speed, strength, work capacity) at higher levels, they must push them during training to create a specific adaptation. In the process of achieving adaptation, often times they manipulate variables (intensity, frequency, duration, workload, etc.) without any understanding as to why they are making the change. As a result they compromise the athlete’s ability to adapt appropriately and set the stage for injury.

Simply put, more educated coaches understand workload compatibility and the development of specific biomotor abilities as they relate to an athlete’s sport. They have a system of checks and balances that dictate training variables and they are constantly monitoring their athletes to avoid declines in performance standards and injury.

Movement efficiency and the proper management of training loads/parameters is a relatively poorly understood concept by the majority of trainers/coaches when most of them have simply taken weekend certification courses and are under qualified, with no background in sport and exercise science. This is far too common in the US, as trainers with minimal experience and knowledge of these concepts as they relate to sport often find themselves responsible for the coaching and development of athletes.

This approach is in stark contrast to the coaching qualification process in the former Soviet Union, where the development of coaches/trainers was a scientific and well-planned undertaking. Those who wished to become coaches had to be high-level competitive athletes themselves and were required to take entrance exams in subjects such as biochemistry, physics, biology, and physiology. The applicants who made the cut were entered into one of the country’s Physical Culture Institutes to undergo four to five years of a rigorous, scientifically oriented coaching curriculum. Coaching in the former Soviet Union was not something one decided to do a “whim”. Coaching and the development of athletes was viewed as a career that required specialized education, mentorship, and training.

It doesn’t take long to realize why the Soviet Union dominated international athletic competition for as long as they did once you understand the qualification criteria for their coaches was a serious and intellectual process.

Athletes should seek out coaches and therapists who have the competitive sporting background and accomplishments, educational background and accomplishments, as well as clinical competence, methods, and track record to keep athletes healthy and performing at their best. Period. Anything less, and you should be skeptical about what you are getting.

2. Integration of Performance-Based Therapy
In addition to raising coaching education and qualification standards, excellence in therapy is another component that is often missing when it comes to keeping athletes healthy. Unless you have integrated sports medicine and therapy (sports chiropractic, massage, manual therapies, recovery methods), eventually an athlete will need to reduce the overall volume/intensity/frequency of training. What you are able to learn about an athlete in a therapy session is invaluable and can serve to help guide what you do in training.

As Dan Pfaff said best,

“A top athlete is like a formula one car and have you seen how much fine tuning they do with those things? The ability to run your hands over an athlete and know what is restricted gives you immense inside information into their functioning. You cannot expect the athlete to tell you either because they are terrible barometers when it comes to knowing what they are ready for. Just asking “are you ok for today’s workout?” is not enough because their motivation is so high athletes do not necessarily listen to what their own body is telling them.”
Therapy serves to normalize joint and soft tissue (muscle, tendon, ligament) function and promote movement efficiency by removing dysfunctional movement patterns. Similar to training, therapy cannot be randomly applied. Random application always equals random results. Therapy must be strategically implemented during the training plan. It should not be ignored that therapy provides a stimulus/stress to both tissues and the nervous system and, depending upon the athlete’s needs, must be utilized appropriately.

For instance, some forms of therapy can serve to promote recovery and restoration by pushing an athlete into a parasympathetic dominant state. Conversely, other forms of therapy can up-regulate the sympathetic nervous system and will either heighten performance levels or prolong the recovery/regeneration period depending upon when therapy is applied. Another factor that must be consider is how each individual athlete responds to therapy. Some athletes may respond to intensive therapy sessions just as they do to intensive training and therefore proper rest/recovery must be accounted for accordingly during the training week.

Closing Words
Both higher coaching education/qualification standards and performance-based therapy are necessary components in the health and performance of athletes. The more coaches know, the better they are able to serve their athletes and address their needs appropriately. Failure to integrate performance therapy in a complementary manner can be a mistake, as there tends to be an increase in reliance on other forms of therapy that stress rehabilitation and recovery rather than optimizing performance.

Related Articles:

What is Performance Therapy?
Have You Mastered Your Movement?

Thinking of Taking Your Child to a Trainer? Read this First

In order to meet the demands of working with athletes of all levels of preparation, the services at GP are constantly evolving and adapting on many levels. When it comes to the physical preparation of our athletes, there is no single program or method we use with every athlete. We are constantly assessing each athlete from day to day, learning what he or she is capable of performing during any given training session. Constantly assessing our athletes during their dynamic movements also allows us to identify weakness and address them accordingly from both an injury prevention and performance enhancement perspective.

Our approach can often times be a source of both intrigue and confusion for parents and their young athletes, since the majority of them are all too familiar with a ‘one-size fits all’ approach. Many of these athletes even come with ‘cookie-cutter’ strength and conditioning programs given to them by their coach or previous trainer. It becomes our job to explain our approach to training and athletic development and why these ‘cookie-cutter’ programs fail to address individual needs of each athlete. After explaining why each individual athlete requires their own individualized approach and why no two athletes will respond similarly to the same program, it makes sense to them. They often find this very refreshing. What doesn’t make sense to them is how so many coaches and trainers are ignorant of this fact.

In an interview with Buddy Morris, Joel Jamison addressed the heart of the matter by saying,

“Coaches and trainers maybe don’t do the best job of understanding the needs of the sport and they tend to let their athletes over train because of the….push of this country is more intensity, the quick buck, the fast results. The other thing I think that’s influenced our industry probably negatively more than anything else is the marketing aspect. That there’s products, and there’s training methods, and there’s everything being pushed to athletes and coaches from a marketing perspective. We’ve all seen the cross fits, the P90 Xs, all the functional training stuff. It’s the marketing driving the training rather than the training driving the results or the results being based on something scientific.”
Buddy Morris, now the Head Physical Preparation coach for the Arizona Cardinals, had this to say in response,
”We're trying to create circus acts in this country so, like you said, people can generate revenue. So if you actually read and you understand training methodics and you understand the athlete and training the athlete, you won’t buy into all this stuff out there.”
In my opinion, Joel and Buddy nailed the central issue when it comes properly preparing athletes not just when it comes to training, but ultimately for competition. Within the US, there’s a tremendous lack of scientific influence when it comes to the training and preparation of athletes. This is not always true of each coach or trainer, but it certainly is more common than not. The exact opposite was true of the former Soviet Union and the preparation of their athletes. The USSR’s dominance of international athletics can be attributed to a superior coaching education system and the development of highly sophisticated, multi-year training regimens that focused on long-term development over short-term results.

What the Soviets understood very well is that athletes are never immediately better after the training they just performed. Buddy Morris likens the training process to a ‘slow cooker’, emphasizing that results are best achieved with periods of gradual loading and de-loading to allow the athlete to accommodate to the stress of training. The stress of training is a poorly misunderstood concept as seen by the lack of planned restoration/recovery within many programs. Programs must account for high stressors and low stressors because athletes cannot be loaded with CNS (Central Nervous System) intensive exercises or drills everyday. This is a huge mistake and one that is characteristic of far too many programs.

Young athletes may be able to get away with this for one reason and one reason only, they have youth on their side. Young athletes are capable of handling enormous amounts of volume in training. However, this does not serve as a justification for this type of programming. It only serves as an explanation as to why older athletes who practice the same training methods they utilized when they were younger tend not to see the same results or are more likely to over-train or burnout. You’re not going to be able to train an older athlete like a younger athlete. Older athletes have attained higher levels of mastery, thus they require different training approaches with more focus given to recovery and restoration. This is why consistently analyzing programs when it comes to exercise effectiveness is invaluable. If there’s not a good reason for doing an exercise, get rid of it. The human body has a finite amount of resources, why waste them on unnecessary training?

To illustrate this, Buddy Morris speaks of Bruce Lee and how people could not understand how he continually improved as a fighter, even as he got older. Bruce Lee simply got more specialized in his training, he tossed aside all the unnecessary work in order to be more directed. Bruce Lee was famous for saying, “Don’t fear the man with 1,000 moves. Fear the man with one move that he’s practiced 1,000 times.”

These thoughts and philosophies when it comes to the preparation of young athletes are not at all unique to GP. There is a growing number of coaches and trainers that share these same beliefs. We are simply doing our best to educate the public at large. The more we can help open people’s eyes and get them to understand the broader picture of athletic development, it will only provide more quality training services and allow people to see through the nonsense and marketing tactics.

 
More related reading:

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-specificity-in-your-training-plan-matters/

https://gallagherperformance.com/why-athletes-should-avoid-hiit-programs/

https://gallagherperformance.com/understanding-the-benefits-and-concerns-of-youth-strength-training-programs/

 

Athletes Must Understand This to Be Successful

The emphasis of many athletic development programs is typically rooted in developing the physical qualities needed in the sport of competition. Physical qualities usually emphasized are endurance/work capacity, strength, body awareness, agility, quickness, speed, and explosive power. Improvements made in any of the previously mentioned physical qualities can certainly improve an athlete’s fitness and physical preparedness for competition. But great athletes are rarely defined by their level of fitness and how ‘in-shape’ they are. They are defined by their ability to play the game and perform the skills of the sport. Great coaches and trainers understand this, being able to take an athlete’s newly developed physical qualities and transfer them to into improved skill execution or technical mastery of sport related movements.

This is accomplished by specificity of training.

In order to ensure specificity of training, it is first necessary to determine the exact physical qualities an athlete is in greatest need of. Many coaches and trainers refer to this as ‘identifying the deficiency’. Once the deficiency is identified and an understanding is developed as to how the deficiency is limiting on-field performance, the deficiency can be trained appropriately.

To identify deficiencies, the majority of coaches and trainers utilize tests to determine an athlete’s level of strength, endurance, explosiveness, and even flexibility. While these tests are often necessary and provide quantitative information that will help assess how an athlete stacks up in comparison to others, what these tests fail to indicate is how efficiently an athlete can perform sport-specific skills or maneuvers.

Physical performance tests fail to indicate an athlete’s needs in relation to game performance. To ensure transfer of training into improved sport performance, identifying an athlete’s developmental needs must take into account an analysis of all components involved in successful competition. Often, this involves a complete biomechanical analysis of movements related to sport-skill execution.

For example, the deep squat is often a staple of many strength and conditioning programs. It can be a tremendous exercise for building hip strength and power and for a variety of other reasons. But when you examine the sport-related movements of many athletes, one can come to the determination that the need to deep squat is not a priority for many athletes. Consider hockey and basketball players. These sports require hip external rotation strength and power to execute sport-specific movements (skating, lateral cuts, change of direction, etc.). Rather than placing greater and greater emphasis on improving strength in the deep squat, these athletes will be better served in developing hip external rotation through other exercises which more closely mimic the external rotation demands of the hips in competition.

Again, great athletes are rarely the strongest or the fittest. There are studies that demonstrate Olympic-level athletes and World Record holders are not the strongest athletes (with the exception being in strength sports such as powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting). Athletes on the highest levels of performance do not lift the greatest amount of weight in commonly used exercises, such as the clean, squat, bench, or deadlift.

More commonly, athletes will fall in the midrange of strength numbers. What this is demonstrating is a ‘point of diminishing returns’. Many athletes reach a point at which increases in strength or other physical qualities do not always equate to improved sport performance.

Successful athletes must be able to execute sport skills with technical mastery and precision. Regardless if you are a hockey, football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, tennis or track athlete, you need great acceleration, speed, agility (ability to change direction quickly), and the ability to jump high (which also requires explosive power). But arguably most important is the ability to perform all sport skills with mastery and precision of movement.

An athlete will never be successful if they do not have the ability to execute sport skills successfully. This is why technique must be closely analyzed and why the training of physical qualities must directly enhance the performance of sport-specific skill execution.

Analyzing an athlete’s sport skill technique and the demands of game play becomes a necessary first step to determine exactly what their training program should consist of. Often to correct and/or enhance technique, special strength exercises are implemented to develop the specific strength an athlete needs to execute movements more efficiently.

We addressed special strength exercises in this article. Special strength exercises are intended to replicate the exact neuromuscular pathways utilized in the execution of specific sport skills.

With proper analysis and identifying the ‘deficiency’ of the athlete, it enables the training program to have greater transfer into sport performance. The training program is continually adjusted as improvements in strength, speed, agility, and explosive power are integrated into technical mastery of skill execution.

Related Articles:

Training for Elite Athletes
Common Mistakes in Developing Young Athletes

Why Your Technique is Ruining your Performance

Technique is fundamental and should be the primary focus of instruction when it comes to any new exercise or sport skill. It's essential to the continual refinement of movement skills. Technique also has implications in the rehabilitation process as well.

However, there appears to be a huge gap in terms of what most people acknowledge as proper technique and the technique they actually demonstrate or coach.

1. Sure many coaches and trainers can "tell" you what proper technique is, but are they capable of identifying technique errors?
2. Are they skilled and knowledgeable enough to understand why they are seeing technique errors and how to systematically go about improving technique?
3. Do they understand the joint and muscular actions involved in the complex execution of specific movements?
4. Do they understand that technique can be dictated by your anatomical structure and that there is no such thing as a "one size fits all" approach when it comes to coaching proper technique?
Despite hearing time and time again from coaches, trainers, and clinicians preaching, "Technique, technique, technique", the reality is many in the fields of health and fitness do not understand technique as well as they should. Sure, they may claim to practice or teach 'perfect technique' to their clients or patients. They may agree that technique is important and that it should be accounted for.

But are they actually making sure your technique is what works best for you?

Take for example a high school athlete that was recently seen at GP. His primary complaint was low back tightness and pain following squatting and lower body training days. He had been seeing a local chiropractor for his back pain and training with a teammate at another local gym. He had been receiving care for almost 6 weeks with no change. Despite 2x/week adjustments and performing a routine of abdominal strengthening exercises and hamstring stretches, he continued to have 'severe' tightness and occasional pain in his low back for 3-5 days after squatting.

As I dug deeper into the nature of his low back tightness, the pattern of his symptoms made me increasingly suspicious that something was clearly wrong with his squat technique.

So I asked him, "How's your squat technique?" I wanted to get inside his head and hear his thoughts on his technique. His reply was, "I think it's pretty good. I learned from my training partner who has lifted more than I have and our football team's strength coach gave us tips."

I want to emphasize this point. He believed his technique was not an issue. He believed he had received good coaching when it came to his squat technique. Rather he kept expressing how he had been told he had weak abs and needed to stretch his hamstrings, and that this was the root of his problem. His mind wasn't focused on technique.
At GP, we have the luxury of using the gym to provide real time feedback during our evaluations. This kid looked pretty good doing a body weight squat, but I knew things would change once we got him loaded up. So we took our session to the gym floor. Needless to say, there were a number of technique issues with his squat that were ultimately at the heart of why he was routinely over-stressing his low back. Rather than addressing mobility or strength issues, we simply figured out the technique he must utilize based on his anatomical structure.

This young athlete had structural adaptations that had to be taken into consideration when figuring out the most appropriate squat technique that worked for him. These very same structural adaptations had been previously overlooked, yet they played a huge role in why he was symptomatic.

After cleaning up his technique issues, it was no surprise to me that his back was not a complaint. But it was a huge surprise to him. He had just spent weeks getting adjusted, strengthening his abs and stretching with no results. How could something so simple as technique modification resolve his issue?

Closing Thoughts
When someone is experiencing a weakness in their performance or is recovering from a musculoskeletal injury, determine if the main culprit is improper technique.

Far too often, most will think to only improve physical abilities (endurance, strength, balance, coordination, flexibility, etc.) when dealing with poor performance or injury rehabilitation. While addressing physical abilities is important, physical abilities have limited value without proper technique.

In the ideal situation, technique changes or modifications should be made simultaneously as strength or other physical abilities develop. For athletes, strength should be coupled with skill through what is known as special strength exercises. In other words, strength is developed in the same neuromuscular pathway as used in execution of their competitive skill(s).

Rehabilitation programs that primarily focus on isolated physical abilities without integrating those newly developed abilities into specific movement tasks or sport skill will fail to ensure that athletes are equipped to handle the demands of competition. When it comes to injury rehabilitation and injury prevention, failure to couple strength as it relates to technique will increase the chance of recurring injury.

Consider the relationship between hamstring injuries and sprinting. Several athletes frequently experience hamstring injuries, which can take weeks or months to rehabilitate. However, when efficient sprinting mechanics are coupled with development of the physical abilities specific to the actions involved in sprinting, the chances of hamstring injuries are essentially nonexistent.

This is why experts are convinced several common athletic injuries, not just hamstring injuries, are preventable. This also explains why having a coach and/or therapist who understands technique is invaluable to athletes.

 

Do You Really Need More Mobility?

Mobility is sexy and it sells.

Get your foam rollers. Get your PVC pipe. Get your stretch bands. Let’s get mobile!

Between mobility screens, mobility workouts, mobility tools, and mobility DVDs, there are plenty of opinions and products available for purchase.  The experts are convincing you of how crucial mobility is for health and performance, while doing their best to convince you to purchase their product.

Enough with it.

While some elements of mobility have merit, many of the approaches to mobility (warm-ups, DVDs, seminars, evaluation systems) are very general and cookie-cutter. A lot of it is unoriginal thought simply repackage and over-priced. Many of these products are not impressive. They are systematic programs that are easy to apply. It’s the classic, “If you see X, then perform Y” approach, providing correctives for movement errors and superficially removing a degree of critical thinking. No wonder the products are so appealing. Someone else has done the thinking for you, so just follow the instructions in the manual and you too can be an expert.

Mobility and movement so easy that seemingly anyone can be an expert?
What troubles me is the trend towards ‘simplifying’ movement, when movement is quite the opposite. Movement is complex. It should be recognized that once you add variables such as load or speed or vector/direction, movement changes. Most screens do not account for these variables and I wish more ‘experts’ understood this clearly.

One individual who has a unique, and truly expert, understanding of the complexity of movement is Stuart McGill. McGill is a spine biomechanics professor from the University of Waterloo. He has authored over 300 scientific publications that address the issues of lumbar spine function, low back injury mechanisms, investigation of the mechanisms involved in rehabilitation programs, injury avoidance strategies, and high-performance training of the back. He serves as a consultant to many medical management groups, elite sports teams and athletes, governments, corporations and legal firms. On top of all those responsibilities, he is often referred the most challenging back pain cases from around the world.

Professor McGill sees two patients per week, spending 3 hours with each patient. His evaluation is of paramount importance in relation to the success he has in treating his clients and athletes. The time he spends on evaluation is often significantly more than many providers spend with a patient on their first visit. As a chiropractor, I know doctors that see 15-40 patients a day and don’t have the time to spend on lengthy assessments. Quick and easy ‘systems’ or ‘assessments’ are exactly what many professionals in the fields of rehabilitation and fitness need.

But does ‘quick and easy’ ensure a thorough exam? Does it ensure all variables have been accounted for? Unfortunately, this is what many have to deal with, so 'quick and easy' is certainly better than no assessment at all. But keep it mind there is a huge limitation to operating in that fashion. This is exactly why my brother and I tailored the operation of GP to allow for the necessary amount of time for our assessments.

At GP, we do not perform general assessments. Every single assessment is personalized to the individual, modified to meet their objectives. What we perform during an assessment “depends” on the presentation in front of us. We understand that movement and the action of musculature is not always obvious. Muscle action will change depending on the movement task, having an effect throughout the entire body. Regarding the ability to recognize the muscular demands of movement, Professor McGill has said, “This is the transition point between a trainer and master trainer.” I’m sure he would say that this also separates a therapist and master therapist.

You will not find our approach in convenient DVD and PDF format, leading you step-by-step through our evaluation and corrective process. Why? The approach we take at GP is very difficult to teach and has taken years to develop through mentorship, experience and self-learning. Whereas, most movement screening systems have the advantage of being easy to teach.

Being ‘easy to teach’ is good for business. But is it the best service for our clients and athletes? Certification courses are designed to churn out new coaches or new trainers at a mind-numbing pace. You would be foolish to assume everyone walking away with a certification functions with ‘expert’ understanding. But that’s what they want you to believe since most attempt to position themselves as experts.

Moving beyond the initial assessment, continual re-assessment is a staple of the process at GP. Our approach focuses on continually assessing and fine-tuning the program as necessary. This is why mobility, like any ‘movement fix’, must be applied appropriately with a solid understanding as to why it's being applied.

Just because someone has a tight hip, doesn’t mean you should blindly advocate foam rolling and performing goblet squats.

Can’t maintain your arms overhead during an overhead squat?

Oh, that is totally caused by tight lats. You need some foam rolling on the lats and then band stretch the daylight out of those bad boys.

Heels come off the ground during the squat? Tight calves and limited dorsiflexion, right?

Let’s foam roll those calves and mobilize those ankles.

This thinking is widespread and too simplistic. In my opinion, it’s no different in application than simply telling someone to stretch because they are tight. Do you think it's superior or different because you applied a foam roller? Sure it may get results a percentage of the time, but often there are deeper underlying issues being missed. Let’s consider the following quotes:

“Soft tissue injuries result from excessive tension, so excessive tension in the rehabilitation setting is counterproductive…stretching of…chronically tight tissue is counterproductive. It may give an initial sensation of relief because the muscle spindles have been deadened, but this practice…weakens the tissue further because of the weakened proprioceptive response.” – Boo Schexnayder
“Stop trying to stretch and mobilize, let tissues settle and regain their proprioceptive abilities so they tell the truth.” – Stuart McGill
Movement Presupposes Stability
Rather than jumping to mobility, we frequently start the therapeutic or rehabilitative process with the emphasis on grooving motor patterns while building whole body and joint stability. Specifically, addressing proximal (core) stability. The musculature of the core is not simply your abs, but all the musculature that interconnects your spine, shoulders, and hips. There is tremendous linkage and interdependence between these key joints of the body. The inability to properly stabilize these regions of the body during movement will ultimately impact distal mobility. Distal refers to the extremities, aka the arms and legs and their respective joints (elbow, wrist, knee ankle, etc.).

As the saying goes, “Proximal stability for distal mobility.”
Through their studies, the Prague school of Rehabilitation has discovered/demonstrated that stabilization and movement are global (systemic) events involving the entire body.

One cannot move without first stabilizing, thus making the support function of the feet, hips, and core of primary importance before movement or mobility is considered.

To improve one's ability to stabilize during movement (AKA ‘dynamic stability’) one must not only train the muscles of the trunk, but also the support function of these muscles.

Dynamic Stability
Training dynamic stability is less about maximizing the loads that the athlete can tolerate and more about training (restoring) the ideal stabilization/movement patterns. Ideal movement patterns are more efficient, leading to increased performance and decreased risk of injury. This is the benefit of quality and efficient movement due to ideal support function.

So what are the consequences of inefficiency?

If you cannot stabilize with proper patterns, compensatory movement patterns dominate leading to hyperactivity of larger muscles groups. Hyperactivity of muscles will make them feel tight. You are going to feel tight. You are going to have restricted joints that are taking an unnecessary beating from the increased forces they are trying to handle. You are going to want to reach for that foam roller and mobilize all day long, but odds are you are going to do so without much success.

In other words, the majority of tightness and mobility issues are a secondary reaction to faulty stabilization patterns and poor support function of the musculature in the feet, hips, trunk, and/or shoulders.

Concluding Thoughts
While others say, "Smash those tissues" or "Mobilize that joint", we say learn to support and stabilize first. Truth is, if you are in constant need of using foam-rollers, tennis balls, and mobility drills, chances are your training is 99% to blame. You need to bring more balance (aka stability) to your body and get strong. It's amazing what can be accomplished when neuromuscular strength qualities, stabilization patterns, and synchronization of movement takes precedent over mobility drills.

This article was intended to challenge the current trend of thinking "mobility first" when it comes to movement-related problems. As mentioned previously, movement is very complex and to approach movement from a simplistic mindset arguably is not an ideal starting point. A thorough assessment, tailored to the individual, will ultimately provide the information needed to implement the most appropriate course of treatment and exercise.

For more reading on this subject, check out these related articles:

Why Stretching Won't Solve Your Tight Muscles
Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization: Advancing Therapy & Performance
Rethinking Tendinitis
3 Reasons You Should Train for Maximal Strength

The Importance of Functional Evaluation

In our previous article, Structural Adaptations – Not Just An Athlete’s Problem, we discussed structural adaptations and why they must be accounted for in both training and treatment plans. Clearly, structural adaptations have impacts from a sports performance and clinical perspective.  With that in mind, prior to treatment, our goal is to not simply assess from a structural standpoint, but to also assess functional capacity to determine if there is a functional capacity deficit (i.e. endurance, strength, balance, reactivity, dynamic posture control). It is my job as a clinician to choose the most appropriate evaluations to identify functional deficits. I choose not to limit my evaluations to x-rays or imaging and finding structural abnormalities. It should be evident that treatment based on the findings of imaging alone is flawed when you consider the enormous amount of false positive rates in asymptomatic people. This is why I couple structural evaluation with a functional evaluation that looks at motor patterns or movement, not just isolated joint range of motion or strength.

As a chiropractor, I tend to go against traditional approaches in how much attention I give to static body alignment compared to most of my peers. Reason being is that often times a patient can look a certain way (i.e. “dysfunctional”) in a static stance, but when asked to perform a skill, they nail it. This can be especially true of athletes. What I was able to learn over and over again during the course of my residency is that if someone can’t perform a certain movement (i.e. squat), it may be more practical to coach or educate them on better movement (i.e. motor learning) prior to isolating and treating joint or mobility “dysfunctions”. The reality is, if a patient or athlete is performing a new or unfamiliar movement, sometimes they simply lack the skill to execute it in an ideal fashion. This is the prime reason why I find functional evaluations invaluable in determining the best course of treatment.

When it comes to functional capacity, the assessment is intended to identify the relevant functional deficit of that patient. What is relevant to that patient will depend on their history. What areas are bothering them? What does their injury history tell you? What activities have they been involved in that have provided accumulated stress or strain to their body? This can provide insight into the adaptations or compensations patients may exhibit. As for athletes, it is important to remember: the higher level the athlete, the better they are at compensating. Despite being asymptomatic, those compensations will eventually catch up to them and become symptomatic. This will not only impact performance, but injury risk and longevity as well.

Once a functional capacity deficit is identified, the process of treatment can begin. For example, poor stabilization patterns during movement are a common functional deficit. Whether it is lack of stability during everyday tasks such as walking, carrying, lifting, etc., or sport-related skills such as kicking, throwing, sprinting or jumping, it’s important to understand that the functional capacity of each of these activities has different demands as it relates to stability. Our approach must be tailored to match the stabilization demands in order to normalize movement patterns and improve the load-bearing capacity of tissues involved. This is the goal of treatment. Perfection of movement is not the goal. Arguably, perfect movement does not exist. Consider elite athletes who practice their skills all day, consistently, year after year. Are they perfect with their movement 100% of the time? No. Movement has far too many variables to achieve perfection. The goal is better movement coupled with increased tissue capacity to better withstand overloads when movement goes awry.

As a chiropractor, I possess a license to manipulate and improve the function of the neuromusculoskeletal (NMS) system. I prescribe what I feel is necessary for treatment, whether it is joint manipulation, soft tissue/massage therapy, or exercise prescription. When it comes to the management of the clients and athletes here at GP, we perform functional evaluations prior to all training programs and chiropractic treatment. But the evaluation process does not end on day one. Evaluation is a continual process, from session to session. This is vital to monitor for improvement and knowing when to adapt the current training or treatment plan. Continual functional evaluation enables us to handle physical ailments appropriately when they occur. This is just part of the process of our Integrated Approach. It’s important to understand the rationale for a prescribed course of action. Thus giving both chiropractic and training services a better understanding of what to do for each individual to maximize results. So from a treatment perspective, it really isn’t just about knowing how to manipulate or perform ‘active release’ on muscles. Far too often people may know what they do; they may know why they do what they do; but do they actually understand the effects of what they just did? As a clinician, it’s important to understand the effects of the treatment you just provided and the reasons why they were provided.

Summing it All Up
Functional assessments provided at GP help to identify the most necessary intervention or treatment. It helps to identify the root cause of your symptoms and enables you to function better. Structural evaluations can be valuable, but functional evaluations should not be overlooked. There is important information to be gained from both. If you are experiencing unresolved issues such as joint pain, muscle tightness, or limitation in performing specific sport-related or daily activities, consider seeking out a clinician in your area who is credible and offers functional evaluations as part of their services.

 

Structural Adaptations: How They Impact Training and Therapy

Similar to a growing number of athletic facilities across the US, Gallagher Performance places a significant amount of emphasis on assessing our athletes in order to address structural adaptations and movement dysfunctions appropriately during the course of the athlete’s training program. This trend is seen throughout collegiate and professional athletics as organizations are recognizing the importance of keeping their athletes healthy by promoting optimal training environments.

However, this service is rarely available to young athletes prior to sport participation or a training program. This is truly unfortunate since proper screening of athletes is not available when it arguably matters most, during the early stages of athletic development. Dr. Mike O’Donnell DC, CCSP, CSCS touched on this concept in a recent interview. He states,

“In North America, athletes start playing a sport as unprepared youth with no background in general conditioning. This isn’t always true, but we have no system to condition young athletes besides just playing the sport. In an Eastern model, camps are held without a sport focus to condition young athletes, and the specialization comes later. In general, early specialization is a mistake. This has been proven to limit progress, lead to early burnout, and increase injury rate.”
Certainly in an ideal situation, young athletes would be introduced to general conditioning prior to sport participation. Likewise, prior to the initiation of a general conditioning program and/or sport participation, young athletes should be screened to provide an understanding of any structural adaptations that will require individualized considerations to ensure continual progress in the pursuit of achieving athletic mastery and minimize the risk of serious injury.

Structural Adaptations: How Common Are They?
There are numerous studies suggesting that the majority of people in the general population, especially athletes, have developed various forms of structural adaptations. What are structural adaptations? Essentially they are alterations in the anatomical structure of the body due to repeated physical stresses placed upon joints and connective tissue. These adaptations often occur during the developmental years. Keep in mind, structural adaptations are not pathological in nature, but certainly require their own unique management strategies since they will impact movement mechanics and potentially be a reason for movement dysfunction. It is also important to understand that not all individuals with structural adaptations will present with symptoms, such as pain. In fact, the majority of them will not present with pain.

Below are just some of the findings from a growing collection of evidence that suggests how frequently structural adaptations may occur:
  • 79% of asymptomatic professional baseball pitchers have evidence of shoulder labrum abnormalities on MRI.
  • 40% of dominant shoulders in asymptomatic tennis and baseball players had evidence of partial or full-thickness rotator cuff tears on MRI.
  • 34% of asymptomatic individuals in the general population had evidence of rotator cuff tears. 54% of those 60 years of age and older had evidence of rotator cuff tears - so if you’re dealing with older adults, you could safely assume they are present in almost half of this population.
  • Recent research has demonstrated that high school baseball pitchers from southern, warm weather climates have decreased shoulder internal rotation range of motion and external rotation strength compared to northern, cold weather climate players. This is likely attributed to adaptation from the number of months spent participating in pitching activities during the calendar year.
  • 64% of asymptomatic people that underwent an MRI of their lumbar region had abnormal findings. Keep in mind these are individuals with evidence of lumbar disc pathology (i.e. bulge or herniation) who have NO symptoms and NO pain.
  • 93% of youth hockey players age 16-19 have evidence of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and hip labral tears. FAI is the result of bony overgrowth found at the femoral head and/or acetabulum of the pelvis. FAI has been linked to increased risk of injury for osteitis pubis and sports hernias.
  • 77% NCAA D1 and professional hockey players evaluated in one study had abnormal hip/groin MRI despite being asymptomatic. Hockey players are also more likely to have a structural change known in the hip known as hip retroversion, which allows for greater hip external rotation and reduces the degree of hip internal rotation.
  • 87% of 125 NFL prospects had findings consistent with FAI on MRI. The only independent predictor of groin pain was the degree of bony overgrowth.
  • Evidence suggests that roughly 25% of men in the general population have some degree of FAI despite being asymptomatic.
Conclusion
Structural adaptations are clearly a common occurrence both in athletes as well as the general population. The impact these adaptations have on movement cannot and should not be ignored. For example, individuals with FAI will experience varying degrees of limited hip flexion range of motion. This limitation in hip flexion will impact exercises such as squats, lunges, and other considerations in lower body training methods. If this limitation is ignored or missed, it can have potentially serious implications such as the development of labral tears or lumbar disc injury due to compensations in movement through the hips, pelvis and lumbar spine.

The key point to recognize is the presence of such adaptations have their own unique impacts on posture and movement that influence the design and outcomes of both training and treatment plans. Training programs need to take these issues into account, making considerations for differences in gender, age, level of physical preparation, primary sport(s) participation, and injury history. While some structural adaptations can be impacted by corrective strategies, others simply need to be accounted for in exercise selection and movement education in order to avoid causing them to reach symptom threshold.

References
  1. Miniaci et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the shoulder in asymptomatic professional baseball pitchers. Am J Sports Med. 2002 Jan-Feb;30(1):66-73.
  2. Connor et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the asymptomatic shoulder of overhead athletes: a 5-year follow-up study. Am J Sports Med. 2003 Sep-Oct;31(5):724-7. 
  3. Sher et al. Abnormal findings on magnetic resonance images of asymptomatic shoulders. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1995 Jan;77(1):10-15.
  4. Jensen et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain. N Engl J Med. 1994 Jul 14;331(2):69-73.
  5. Kaplan et al. Comparison of shoulder range of motion, strength, and playing time in uninjured high school baseball pitchers who reside in warm- and cold-weather climates. Am J Sports Med. 2011 Feb;39(2):320-328. 
  6. Birmingham et al. The effect of dynamic femoroacetabular impingement on pubic symphysis motion: a cadaveric study. Am J Sports Med. 2012, 40(5), 1113-1118.
  7. Philippon et al. Prevalence of increased alpha angles as a measure of cam-type femoroacetabular impingement in youth ice hockey players. Am J Sports Med. 2013, 41(6), 1357-1362.
  8. Silvis et al. High Prevalence of pelvic and hip magnetic resonance imaging findings in asymptomatic collegiate and professional hockey players. Am J Sports Med. 2011, 39(4), 715-721.
  9. Larson et al. Increasing alpha angle is predictive of athletic-related “hip” and “groin” pain in collegiate national football league prospects. Arthroscopy. 2013, 29(3), 405-410. 
  10. Hack et al. Prevalence of cam-type femoracetabular impingement morphology in asymptomatic volunteers. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2010, 92(14), 2436-2444.
 
 
 

3 Benefits of Integrated Training and Therapy

Athletic performance is a developmental process, one that ideally involves the integrated efforts of coaches/trainers and therapists in order to maximize results. This is often a complete paradigm shift for many of our athletes and their parents. Unfortunately being focused on short-term results over long-term development is hurting athletes more than it will ever benefit them.

After some recent conversations with our athletes and their parents about the importance of understanding the integrated approach taken to athletic development at GP, we thought we'd provide our readers with a few recommendations. Our hope is that these recommendations help guide the decision making process for young aspiring athletes when it comes to selecting who oversees their training and why an integrated approach may just be what they need.

  1. The ‘watchful’ eye of a coach/trainer and therapist is an invaluable asset to athletic development. This is a skill set that many athletes are unfortunately never exposed to. The ability to identify mechanical faults and implement collaborative strategies between coach and therapist to correct these faults sets the stage for reaching athletic mastery while minimizing injury risk. The ‘eye’ for mechanical faults is one thing, knowing how to manage and correct them is an entirely different story. Athletes require an individual(s) competent in both.
  2. Physical limitations due to anatomical/structural changes and motor control/technical deficiencies require different management strategies in an athlete’s programming. It is the job of the coach/trainer and therapist to recognize this difference. This should be a prerequisite when considering the services you are about to invest in. If they don't understand these concepts, that should be a red flag. Developing movement efficiency is arguably the best way to simultaneously enhance sport performance and reduce injury risk. Understanding how to manage physical limitations will directly impact movement efficiency and athleticism.
  3. When injury occurs, integrated models for “rehab” are better than medically driven models. This of course is dependent on the level and experience of both the coach/trainer and therapist involved. Ideally the athlete’s recovery process utilizes exercises and drills within a modified training program. This serves to minimize time away from the field or weight room and maximize technical improvement of sport-related skills. Dysfunctions of the musculoskeletal system can also be addressed through performance therapy. For more reading on performance therapy, check out this article.
These recommendations are by no means a comprehensive list. When considering the appropriate path for an athlete's development, there can be several factors to keep in mind at any one time. However, these tips cover several of the basic essentials when it comes to improving an athlete's performance while keeping them healthy.

The model used at Gallagher Performance isn't used solely for our athletes. A number of our patients and training clientele have benefited tremendously from experiencing how we integrate training and therapy. We use this model to optimize health and performance while getting to the root of many chronic pain problems. It's why we have adopted the tag line "Experience the Difference".

If you think the model of training and therapy at Gallagher Performance is for you, give our office a call at (724) 875-2657 and Experience the Difference.

 
 

Interview with Mike O'Donnell DC, CCSP, CSCS

GP recently interviewed Mike O'Donnell DC, CCSP, CSCS. Dr. Mike and his wife, Jessica, run Back in Action Chiropractic located in Fort Wayne, IN. Not only do they provide expert understanding of chiropractic and rehabilitative care, they also bring to the table the unique insight as highly accomplished strength athletes. Simply put, their accomplishments would take up an entire blog post. It's rare to find a clinician and staff not only capable of identifying with athletes and addressing their needs appropriately, but also able to apply these same concepts to improve outcomes for patients. I had the privilege of being classmates with Mike during our chiropractic education at Palmer College in Davenport, IA. Once I got the understanding of Mike's background as both a strength athlete and coach, I knew he would be an invaluable resource not only in my training as an aspiring strength athlete, but in my clinical development as well. My brother and I are truly fortunate to have him and Jess as friends and mentors.

Now on with the interview.

GP: Provide our readers with some information about your background as an athlete, competitive powerlifter and strength coach.
MO: The day after 7th grade football ended I began lifting in my basement. I competed in my first powerlifting meet when I was 15 and won the ADFPA teen nationals that same year. Through high school I played football and was team captain. To train for football I simply did more speed and plyometric work. As a high school and junior lifter, I won six national titles and went to the IPF Junior Worlds, taking the bronze in my last year, 1999. I competed against many lifters who are regarded as the best in the sport today. I have lifted in the USAPL Open Nationals several times. As an undergrad at Western Michigan I studied Exercise Science. This did not include enough sport science to make me happy, so I did tons of research on my own. After my bachelor degree I worked under Buddy Morris at Pitt for a short time. That was a great learning experience. Eventually I decided to go get my DC degree and learn much more about chiropractic and rehabilitation.

GP: You are well educated on the training methodologies utilized in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries. Could you explain briefly how those methodologies differ from North American approaches and the impact it has on athletic development here in the United States?
MO: In North America, athletes start playing a sport as unprepared youth with no background in general conditioning. This isn't always true, but we have no system to condition young athletes besides just playing the sport. In an Eastern model, camps are held without a sport focus to condition young athletes, and the specialization comes later. In general, early specialization is a mistake. This has been proven to limit progress, lead to early burnout, and increase injury rate.

GP: You have worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. In your opinion, where are we still falling short in the development of athletes in America?
MO: We fall short in several ways. Early level coaches (high school and below) often have poor qualifications. Also athletes are eager to maximize their results as early as possible. This leads to poor skill development. It is extremely difficult for athletes to unlearn poor habits or a poor work ethic. All too often young athletes look to non-training means (i.e. drugs) for improvement as well.

GP: What would you identify as the fundamental components of effective and efficient programming for athletes?
MO: Once good general preparation is established, the programming should be as specific as possible. Factors like frequency, work load and intensity vary from athlete to athlete and at different phases of training. Weaknesses should be assessed constantly and addressed, but focus should never be taken off the sport form. Overall, one should train as often as possibly but remain as fresh as possible. The programming should never compromise technique.

GP: One common theme you’ll see among trainers/coaches is very little thought that is given to the order of exercise selection/variation during a training plan. It’s almost as if many trainers just ‘make-up’ workouts. Give us your thoughts on the importance of organization of training for athletes?
MO: Organization of training and exercise selection expertise are prerequisites to training anyone. Entire teams should not all be performing the same training. This would assume the entire team has the same deficiencies. There are way too many under qualified "strength coaches" and trainers out there. Even some of the highly regarded strength coaches or online trainers are a joke. This is why I personally have no tolerance for movements and training styles that are fad- based. Put some thought into what you, or your athletes, really need and address it in your training. Further, organizing training should be an ongoing process. There are no perfect programs. Just phases or training blocks. On the other hand, there are some coaches that over coach their lifters/athletes. They are so worried about their own role in the athlete's development that the athlete cannot focus on their performance, or maybe the training isn't being attacked with the mentality that it should be.

GP: What do you see as the most common mistakes coaches and trainers are making in the preparation of athletes?
MO: The most common mistakes - the coach who tries to be the athlete's friend (not hard on them); poor analysis of training needs and the current state of the athlete; and the most important aspect in my opinion (this goes for anyone seeking a great PT, DC, manual therapist or strength coach) is that the coach cannot identify with the athlete because they weren't an athlete themselves. I know several above average coaches that are held back my the mere fact that their athletes cannot identify with them. Either they weren't athletes at all, or they are an unimpressive presence altogether!

GP: What are the qualities and attributes that athletes and parents should look for in a trainer/strength coach before investing in their services?
MO: Sporting background and accomplishments, educational background and accomplishments, and clinical competence, methods, and track record. Period. Anything less, and I am skeptical about what I am getting. I don't care who has the best DVD!

GP: How has the background as a competitive strength athlete and strength coach benefited you as a chiropractor and your ability to manage patients from acute stage to reactivation through active care?
MO: This is a great question, because I tell people that ask that I use my training, coaching, and professional background everyday when treating patients. My philosophy in the clinic is the more accurate the assessment, the more accurately I can apply your treatment, whether its passive or active care. As the phases of care progress, it's important to know what type of care or movements to change to. This assessment or "eye for the deficiency" can take years to develop. Today there are systems and seminars to attend and learn these analytical methods, but learning this way can lead to a lot of limitation and misunderstanding. I would advise students, whether they are professional level yet or not, to use the gym as your lab. Lift and learn!!!

That's a Wrap
Mike, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Your knowledge and insight is truly appreciated. We always learn something from you and hope our readers learned something as well. For anyone in the Fort Wayne area, be sure to check out Back in Action Chiropractic for the best results when it comes to your health or sport-related goals.

6 Tips for Hockey Training

When it comes to athleticism, there is a sad misconception among far too many individuals that athletes are "born not made". People that believe this will often say, “You can’t teach speed” or “That’s just a gifted athlete”. While genetics can play a role in athleticism, arguably the greatest impact on an athlete’s development (or lack thereof) is the training system that is implemented. This would include all elements from its organization to exercise selection and other variables.

While all sports have their own unique considerations, ice hockey demands high levels of athleticism. The transfer of training from off-ice preparation to on-ice performance presents a host of challenges. With the nature of today’s game, proper off-ice training can provide youth and elite level hockey players with the advantage they need to elevate their game.

Here are some tips: 
1. WARM-UP PROPERLY 
In preparation for exercise, the body should be moved through large ranges in all three planes of motion (sagittal, frontal and transverse). Movement prepares the brain and body for exercise by activating the nervous system, warming tissues such as muscles and tendons, and lubricates joints. Movements performed in all planes of motion on a consistent basis will improve stabilization patterns, mobility, coordination, balance, and movement efficiency. Making the time to properly warm-up with allow you to get more out of your training. Simply put, it makes training more productive and will reduce the risk of injury.

2. TRAIN MOVEMENTS, NOT MUSCLES 
The human body operates as an integrated system. Joints and muscles are all coordinated by the central nervous system to produce movement. Muscles never work in isolation, meaning that there is always a pattern of muscle recruitment that occurs with every movement we make. Depending on how we recruit muscles, movement will occur in efficient or inefficient ways. Athletes require mastery of movement. Unlike those who train to for basic fitness or simply to ‘look better’, athletic development and performance-based training programs aim to improve how an athlete moves. Goals focus on strength, stability, mobility, speed, and skill execution with a high degree of movement efficiency.  Sure many athletes look good, but this is often a by-product of their training, not the primary goal.

There can be a mistake in young athletes simply go to the gym and “working out”, either by themselves or with their friends. Especially when they have no plan. If most young athletes are honest, they don’t know what to do during the off-season. Even some trainers have no idea what they are doing with athletes and just “make-up” a training session as they go or select a random workout off the Internet. As the saying goes, “One program on a dry erase board for your group of clients/athletes isn’t training, it’s babysitting.” Higher quality strength and athletic development programs are becoming more available to young athletes; those athletes not involved in those programs will be left behind.

This concept was detailed in our article on Training for Elite Athletes.

3. GET IN TOUCH WITH THE GROUND
This point builds off the previous one. The majority of sport movements and skill execution are initiated by applying force to the ground with the feet/legs. As with land-based sports, the more force a hockey player applies to the ice, the greater acceleration and speed they generate. Strength and power development exercises should be selected based on their ability to enhance ground-force reaction. The same can be said for both speed and conditioning drills.

Utilizing squat and deadlift variations, Olympic lifts, medicine ball throws, jumps, plyometrics, sprints, and hockey-specific agility/change of direction drills would be the most beneficial in developing ground-force reaction. Unilateral movements such as single-leg squats and jumps, lateral bounds, split squats, and lunge variations will also help to develop the movement proficiency need for a powerful skating stride.

4. TRAIN THE CORE FOR FUNCTION, NOT LOOKS
The core is the body’s center of force transfer and movement control. The core is not simply your abs. It includes almost 30 muscles that attach to the spine, shoulders and hips, which function to stabilize the areas during movement. When the function of the core is compromised, inefficient movement results and risk of injury is increased. Hockey and its movement skills require high levels of core stabilization, endurance, strength and power transfer. The demands of athletics on the core will never be met by performing thousands of crunches. Your core training needs a more specific, specialized focus.

Stabilization exercises should focus on things such as maintaining proper lumbo-pelvic posture and the ability to resist or control movement in all planes of motion. Once proper stabilization is achieved, greater attention can be given to rotational power and force generation exercises for increased transfer of training into sport.

5. BE SMART ABOUT YOUR CONDITIONING
The sport of ice hockey places demands on both the anaerobic (alactic and lactic) and aerobic energy systems of the body. For the most part, hockey is an anaerobic game, characterized by intense bursts followed by periods of rest. The anaerobic system is challenged during these intense bursts while the aerobic system is utilized during the recovery period between shifts. This illustrates the need for both systems to be well developed for optimal performance.

Thus conditioning for hockey should focus on an interval-based approach to meet the energy system demand of the sport. Place a priority on developing the capacity and power of the anaerobic-alactic system along with the use of tempo runs/bike sessions to develop the aerobic system. Anaerobic-lactic training is extremely taxing on the body and difficult to recover from. This form of exhaustive conditioning should be used less frequently in the training program.

Remember, conditioning does not mean the same thing as speed training. For more information of developing hockey speed, read this article.

6. RECOVER, RECOVER, RECOVER
Recovery from exercise can be accelerated with proper attention to flexibility, mobility, massage, chiropractic treatment, nutrition and sleep. These approaches facilitate the body’s ability to recover from exercise. Nutritionally, ingesting the proper amounts of whole foods and supplements at the appropriate times during the day can prove to be a huge part of the recovery process. Replenishing energy stores (i.e. muscle glycogen) and providing the building blocks (i.e. protein, fats, vitamins, minerals) for tissue repair and regeneration are just some of the primary goals of proper nutrition. Self-management strategies such as foam rolling and stretching/flexibility work are valuable components in the recovery process. Maintaining proper muscle function and joint range of motion is critically important to minimize injury risk and ensure that you get the most out of your training.

Conclusion
Keep in mind the above tips serve as guidelines. Individual considerations cannot be met in an article of this nature. However, if applied correctly, these guidelines can serve to provide aspiring hockey players with a better understanding of how to go about their off-ice training. For those interested, GP specializes in the training and preparation of hockey players. Contact us for more information.

Advanced Training for Elite Athletes

The concept of sport-specific training has continually gained popularity over the years. It’s a growing market and business-minded individuals are taking notice. Similar to trends in functional exercise, you have a growing number of trainers stating they offer the “latest in sports training”. Frankly, anybody online can say their method or approach is the best. In a competitive market, people enjoy using words to attract your business. There are plenty of gimmicks that exist, namely in the world of speed training. Often times, athletes acknowledge such methods did little or nothing to improve on-field performance. If these gimmicks worked, it's simply because the athlete was a novice or of low qualification. Novices have the unique ability to respond to almost any form of training. But does this mean what was done is most appropriate? Does it mean training was efficient or effective? Not necessarily. When it comes to the training of higher level athletes, previously used methods and/or exercises will eventually fail to produce continual improvements in sport performance. There is a point of diminishing returns and training must adapt accordingly.

For any athlete, sport-specific training must ensure maximal transfer of the training program to on-field results. If exercise selection or organization has little carry over to making athletes better, you are wasting valuable time and money. Transfer of training can be summed up with the SAID Principle (Specific-Adaptations to Imposed-Demands). The SAID Principle has been proven time and time again in both research and training. This principle implies that training is most effective when resistance exercises prescribed are similar to the target activity or primary sport form/movement. Furthermore, every training method will elicit a specific (and different) adaptation response in the body. There must be compatibility between training and sport. This becomes of increasing importance as an athlete reaches higher and higher levels of athletic competition.

As mentioned before, research has demonstrated how exercises that once worked to improve sport performance for an athlete at a lower qualification level, will eventually lose training effect as the athlete gains mastery. For instance, indicators of maximal strength (squat 1RM) often have a direct correlation in low-level athletes, but lose significant correlation with enhancing sport performance in higher-level athletes. Similarly, movement abilities such as sprinting and change-of-direction (agility) are each separate motor tasks, characterized by specific motor abilities. Improvements in linear sprint speed and change-of-direction ability have limited transfer to each other and the degree of transfer decreases as an athlete progresses.

Thus, in order to enhance the sporting ability of high-level athletes, there comes a time when we must get more detailed than simply chasing increased strength and 'quick feet'. It’s inevitable. There is no way to avoid it. The world’s greatest Sport Scientists understood this and proved the need to go beyond traditional training approaches to see continual improvements in performance as athletes reached higher levels of competition. This is where the concept of Special Strength Training (SST) becomes of importance in the training plan.

Introduction to Special Strength Training
Pioneered by Dr. Anatoli Bondarchuk, SST has been incorporated for decades by coaches in other countries, mostly in the Olympic sports. Dr. Bondarchuk is most noted for his involvement in the throwing sports, particularly the hammer, and his results speak for themselves. It was Bondarchuk’s identification and implementation of special exercises with the highest degree of dynamic correspondence to the sporting movement that became the focus of his athletes' training plan. His organization of training allowed athletes to set world records and win numerous international and Olympic medals despite the fact that they did not possess the greatest strength in movements such as the clean, squat, or bench press.

Exercise Classification System
Bondarchuk classifies exercises into 4 categories:

  1. GENERAL PREPARATORY EXERCISES are exercises that do not imitate the competitive event and do not train the specific systems.
  2. SPECIAL PREPARATORY EXERCISES are exercises that do not imitate the competitive event, but train the major muscle groups and same physiological energy systems as your sport. However, movement patterns are different.
  3. SPECIAL DEVELOPMENTAL EXERCISES are exercise that replicate the competitive event in training but in its separate parts. These exercises are similar to the competitive event, not identical.
  4. COMPETITIVE EXERCISES are exercises that are identical or almost identical to the competition event.
It’s important to note that as an athlete rises from general preparatory exercises to the competitive event, each category on the list becomes more specific and will have greater dynamic correspondence to the athlete’s sport. Thus, as specificity increases, exercise selection decreases. There are hundreds of exercises that potentially could be considered Preparatory exercises. Preparatory exercises prepare the body for more specific sport training, while Developmental exercises aim to develop strength and technique. Special Developmental and Competitive exercises have the highest degree of transfer. The greatest focus from a planning and organization standpoint is placed on these exercises in order to yield improvements in sport performance. At this point, exercise selection has narrowed greatly. Often, the competitive exercise is simply the competitive event. In the case of a track athlete, the competitive exercise is considered the event (hammer, shot put, long jump, 100m, etc). This can also include subtle variations to the event. For team-sport athletes, the competitive event  is the game. The classification of exercises as they relate to specific athletes is not the scope of this article. That discussion is far too detailed and is always dependent upon the athlete, their level of qualification, and the competitive event.

In explaining SST, Bondarchuk said,
“General exercises have little relevance to the sporting action. Specialized preparatory exercises use the same muscles that are involved in a particular sporting action. Specialized developmental exercises include single joint actions that duplicate one portion of the sporting action. They also mirror the velocity and range of motion seen in the competitive movement. Competitive exercises are those that fully mimic the competitive movement in more difficult conditions and easier ones.”
Advantages of Special Strength
There are a number of advantages to programming SST within an athlete’s training program. Among many reasons, arguably the most important application of SST is the development of strength as it relates to specific movement and skill execution in an athlete’s sport. This advantage cannot be overlooked since very few approaches train physical qualities (strength, power, work capacity, etc) and technical skill development simultaneously. Programming should provide the avenue for athletes to achieve higher levels of sport mastery. Rather than applying appropriate programming, many trainers get caught chasing quantitative numbers (squat or bench 1RM, 40 yard dash time). While focus on general motor abilities is important for the novice athlete and provides performance-enhancing benefits, they lose their carryover for the more advanced athlete. SST ensures that strength gains will have a direct transfer into sport technique and skill development.

Special Strength is Task-Specific 

The effectiveness and accuracy of exercise selection within special strength training is dependent on a thorough understanding of what a given athlete is being asked to perform in competition. Selecting an exercise is great, but you have to put it into a program and a plan. You need to know your athlete and what exercise(s) works well for them. For team sports, task-specificity also takes into account that you understand the athlete’s position and the physiological/energy demands relative to their sport. Care must be taken to stay within certain parameters, above or below, the sporting movements to avoid yielding negative adaptations on the expression of sport skill. For example, applying loads that are too heavy will negatively influence technique by causing breakdown in mechanics that are important for developing speed strength. Speed strength is essential for throwing, jumping, and sprinting. Conversely, loads that are too light will also have a negative influence on mechanics since the lack of resistance with fail to promote the building of specific strength.

Summing It All Up
This article attempted to offer insight into the concept of special strength training and how it correlates with higher levels of sport mastery. Due to the nature of SST, it’s important to keep in mind that early specialization in training, similar to early specialization in sport, can occur too soon. Athletes like NHL stars Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Henrik Zetterberg (pictured above) don't train like novice, youth hockey players and young hockey players should not be training like them. Research has proven that athletes at low levels of training and physical ability need to focus on increasing general physical qualities such as strength, as strength will carry over greatly to movement speed. In fact, novice trainees have the ability to attain simultaneous increases in strength, power, coordination, speed, core stabilization, proprioception, and reduced injury risk. However, as an athlete reaches higher levels of mastery, effectiveness of basic training methods become limited quickly due to the specificity of movement and skill related to sport.

If you are unclear on how to properly utilize the training methods of SST, you should not blindly implement SST into your training. The incorrect application of exercise and program variables would likely have a negative affect on the neuromuscular actions involved in sport movement. Athletes looking to ensure the best results from SST would be wise to have their training overseen by a coach/trainer who is knowledgeable and competent in its application.

Sources

Bondarchuk. Transfer of Training in Sports. Ultimate Athlete Concepts, 2007.
Siff & Verkhoshansky. Supertraining. Ultimate Athlete Concepts, 2009.
Verkhoshansky. Fundamentals of Special Strength-Training in Sport. Sportivny Press, 1986.
 
 
 
 

The Benefits of Performance Therapy


For those of you that are familiar with Gallagher Performance, you understand the importance we place on the integration of our sports training, chiropractic, massage, and manual therapy services. We feel this model allows for optimizing sport-based outcomes while keeping our athletes healthy and ready-to-train. The model is not completely unique, as chiropractors, therapists, physical medicine providers, and strength/physical preparation coaches are collaborating in similar models to better serve their clients and athletes.

With that in mind, one frequently asked question we receive is,
"How are these services different from sports medicine care I can receive from a physical therapist or other specialist?"
The concept of what is commonly referred to as ‘Performance Therapy’ can be seen as a unique and completely separate approach from traditional sports medicine or physical therapy. To illustrate this, here's a quick look at a comparison of the mindset behind sports medicine and performance therapy.

Traditional Sports Medicine
  • Reactive approach to sports injuries
  • Therapy and rehabilitation focused
  • Emphasis placed on passive modalities, manual therapies, manipulation, therapeutic exercise
  • Tissue-specific
  • Patient-centered
  • Occasional focus placed on "injury prevention" strategies
  • Primary goal is the return to training or sport abilities prior to injury
Performance Therapy
  • Proactive approach between coach, athlete, and doctor/therapist
  • Focus is on mechanical efficiency for skill acquisition and motor learning
  • Continual "tweaking" to optimize performance
  • Manipulation and manual therapies used for facilitation, to enhance the process of building mechanical efficiency
  • Skill-specific
  • Athlete-centered
  • “Injury prevention” is a by-product of the process
  • Primary goal is to enhance sport performance
We are very fortunate to have a skilled and knowledgable team of therapists and coaches working at GP. The dynamic created between therapist and coach allows us to not only screen each client and athlete prior to all training programs, but to also carefully watch their movement during each training session. The goal is identify specific movement qualities that could potentially have a negative impact on sport-specific movements, the acquisition of new skills, or injury prevention methods. This approach continues throughout the duration of the training program and allows movement dysfunctions to be addressed before they lead to greater issues.

Performance therapy becomes not just about normalizing function or "returning to sport", but optimizing the function of the athlete and "enhancing performance". Therapeutic intervention (or "treatment") occurs as needed during training sessions. This can include the use of a variety of exercises to improve stability/mobility or techniques that activate the nervous system to improve movement coordination. Regardless of the intervention, the goal is for athlete to adapt and improve more quickly than if training and treatment were approached separately.

The transition between training and treatment must be seamless. When it comes to performance therapy, we have noticed the following goals are achieved:
  1. Greater Body Awareness. By integrating the appropriate intervention into the training plan, there is an effect on motor control that generates greater permanence on a neurological level. Basically meaning the athlete masters new movement skills faster. The instant feedback from treatment allows the athlete to provide the coach or therapist with an understanding as to how they feel/move during training. Coaching the athlete thus becomes more specific, allowing them to learn and improve quickly.
  2. Optimization of the Training Session.  Performance therapy integrated with training typically involves a lot of “tweaking” in order to meet the demands of the athlete. It provides the framework to keep athletes performing at their best more consistently. Several athletes receive some type of treatment or practice regeneration/recovery methods prior to competition. So why would they not receive similar interventions during an important training phase?  Both serve the same purpose to optimize performance.
  3. Improved Monitoring of the Athlete. Performance therapy provides additional information on the readiness of the athlete to train. Both the therapist and the coach use this information to make educated decisions regarding the details of each training session, allowing for true customization of your training plan. It’s important that athletes are monitored for how well they have recovered between training sessions so you know how hard to push them. Also, athletes tend to have the ability to 'hide' things very well. Being able to identify slight differences in muscle tightness or movement abnormalities not only will allow us to make better decisions about the training session, but also help prevent more serious matters such as injury or overtraining.
Keep in mind that performance therapy is not intended to create athletes who are dependent on this model, but rather athletes who are held more accountable in the pursuit of their own goals. The coach or therapist is provided with the information needed to recommend the most appropriate "homework" for the athlete, such as foam rolling specific muscles, mobility or stability drills, and the use of recovery methods. Furthermore, performance therapy is not intended to serve as a replacement for other forms of therapy. It is not simply moving the treatment room to the training room. Even though the goal of performance therapy is to reduce the amount of time spent on treatment and return to sport measures, there is a time and place for other medical and/or alternative interventions that should be understood and respected.

Closing Words
Both sports medicine and performance therapy are necessary components in the health and performance of athletes. Failure to integrate therapy in a complementary manner can be a mistake. Without performance therapy there tends to be an increase in reliance on other forms of therapy that stress rehabilitation and recovery.

In sports, the term "game changer" is often used to describe an athlete or action that results in a successful outcome that changes the course of a game. The same can be said about performance therapy because of its ability to play an invaluable role in an athlete's development. If you've been experiencing lack of results or just can't seem to stay healthy, performance therapy may just be the "game changer" you have been looking for to improve your abilities as an athlete and GP is where you can find it.

GP Client Testimonial

I have been lifting ever since high school and have been all over the fitness spectrum since then.  In high school it was a simple program 3 sets of 10 for everything.  The programming didn't change much in college.  My results with this left me bulky and with stagnant numbers.  My bench, squat, deadlift max outs never changed no matter how hard I pushed myself with this programming.  So then I decided to leave the strength world and try high intensity interval training or HIIT. I read tons of articles, Internet blogs, etc. for workout ideas.

Fast forward after 5 years of HIIT, 6 days a week, an average workout time of 50 minutes, and the result was a 6’2”, 160 pound weakling with 3% body fat (measured by 7 point pinch test).  I found myself having to force myself to go to the gym. Every workout left me gasping for air and not enjoying it. I was extremely fatigued throughout the day and had difficulty concentrating. When you’re in a Doctorate program, you need all the concentration you can get. I didn't know where to turn because I had scoured the Internet and couldn't figure out how to program. I kept operating on the idea that "more training with higher intensity is better and who needs a deload week".

One day I had enough and set my goal: to get as strong as I possibly can. I heard about GP's training approach, so I went to talk to them to see what they had to offer. If you have read as much as I have on fitness blogs and articles, it is easy to separate those who know what they are talking about from those who don't. After talking with them and even seeing their own performance in the gym, I knew that GP was absolutely the place to turn to.

For the reader who wants to know the results I gained in 2 cycles (24 weeks):

  • Deadlift -  went from 425 to 530
  • Push Press - went from 165 to 270
  • Front squat - went from 175 to 350 (and yes I sat on my heels)
I did this at 235 pounds with 13% body fat (+ 2% for user error).  I also made these gains after 5 years of my own piss-poor programming, i.e. HIIT, which left me with nothing more than diagnosed adrenal fatigue. If that doesn't mean anything to you, Google "adrenal fatigue" and read how hard it is to make gains in the gym or even operate on a functional level throughout the day. For those readers who have been searching for great programming but don’t know where to turn, here you go.

Throughout my cycles I could email them at any time with questions, concerns, or feedback. My workouts were changed based on how my performance was in the gym the week prior. I was excited to go to the gym to see how much I could lift that day.  The new programming translated into better focus at school too. My gains were nothing like they had been before and I absolutely recommend GP's programming to everyone.

- Jared

2 Common Misconceptions In Endurance Training

What you need to know:

  • Many endurance athletes have exhausted their means of improvement with traditional training.
  • Training deficiencies, such as strength, can take your endurance capacity to new levels.
The Problem with Tradition
Similar to any group of competitive athletes, endurance athletes carry their own 'traditional' concepts when it comes to training and program design. Whether they are runners, bikers, swimmers, triathletes, or any combination in between, anyone new to an endurance sport realizes they must improve their aerobic capacity to sustain a specific pace over a specific distance. In order to do this, many people simply take to road and log mile after mile after mile.

After all, this is the accepted way of doing things, right? As a runner, if I have the goal to run a half marathon and I can only run 5 miles, obviously I need to put my time in to improve my running. But, what happens when simply just running or just biking fail to provide you the results you want? For many, this means they decide to start doing more. They think, "I must not be doing enough, so I must do more to improve."

In the endurance community, this type of thinking is the essence of traditional training. But is this training efficient in producing results? Are you wasting your time? What if the reason for your plateau in progress is not your lack of running/biking/endurance, but rather a deficiency, such as strength, that you may not have considered?

Approach enough endurance athletes about strength training and you will hear a lot of myths and misconceptions. However, talk to some of the best endurance athletes in the world and they will acknowledge the benefit strength training has in their performance. With that in mind, let's look at two of the most popular misconceptions.

Misconception #1 - Strength Training is Not Useful
This myth continues to stand the test of time despite the evidence that strength training is beneficial to athletes, regardless of sport. Even to this day, there are endurance sport experts that debate back and forth on whether or not endurance athletes need to lift weights.

Seriously? This is still happening even when we know strength training is a necessity for optimizing sport performance and health? Of special importance to endurance athletes, strength training has been shown to:
  • Maintain and/or promote the building of muscle mass. This is a huge benefit because endurance training negatively impacts muscle mass, meaning many athletes lose precious muscle.
  • Strengthen the endocrine and immune systems. Yet another big plus since chronic endurance training has a negative impact on both these systems.
  • Promote adequate bone density. The importance of this should speak for itself, but this will be of special importance to runners when you consider the risk of stress fracture.
When you take all that into consideration as well as the ability that strength training has to correct imbalances in the body and promote neuromuscular coordination, strength training should be an essential component to your training program.

Misconception #2 - Avoid Heavy Weights and Low Reps
Now that you have considered resistance training as part of your endurance routine, the next misconception to deal with is exactly how an endurance athlete should go about lifting weights. This misconception has its roots in the belief that endurance athletes need to perform high-repetition sets, usually 15-20 or more reps. The idea being high-reps will build muscle endurance, which will have the best carry over to their endurance sport. Again, this may work in the beginning, but as an athlete becomes more experienced and improves, training must adapt accordingly.

Keep in mind that many endurance athletes have exhausted their improvement with traditional training. The key to improvement now becomes identifying any deficiency. For endurance athletes deficient in strength related pathways, they can benefit from maximal strength training. Training for maximal strength requires specialized programming and relies on lifting heavy weights explosively for lower amounts of total reps.

To illustrate this concept, here is an example of a triathlete who utilized maximal strength training in her program with very successful results.

Case Study:
  • Triathlete trained is one of the head researchers for PowerBar, has a PhD in nutrition.
  • 8-10 lifts were performed per month in the 90-95% range of her 1RM (rep max)
  • Special exercises performed were box squats, special deadlifts, good mornings, and a similar variety of pressing movements for upper body.
  • No high repetition work was performed to avoid soreness and a high degree of effect on her traditional triathlon training.  Also, very little time is spent training in this manner.
  • She was amazed at the results this training was giving her. She said that she “could now look at any hill, use muscles she never had, and was able to dig deeper than ever before, and have a posture that was solid as stone,” which made her much less fatigued at the end of the run. She had shaved 1/2 hour off of her Iron man, and did about 4 hours less work per week of traditional training.  She had gained 2lbs of weight from the beginning as she trained this way for 8 months. Her bodyfat went down about 2%, and she no longer had back pain, neck pain, and less nagging training injuries and setbacks.
Importance of Maximal Strength to the Endurance Athlete
What’s the importance of maximal strength to the endurance athlete?  Let's consider two athletes, athlete A and athlete B.  They are both seasoned runners, but athlete A becomes much stronger, relatively speaking, while athlete B stays the same in strength.  Keeping body weight constant, it will take less effort for the stronger athlete to perform the same amount of work.  This increases endurance through strength conservation.

Clearly, the programming of specialized strength training can be beneficial. Also consider that the athlete in the case study above did almost 4 hours LESS training per week. This concept is known as training economy. Training economy is about achieving the greatest sport result with the less amount of time and energy spent in training. Thomas Kurz said it best in his book, Science of Sport Training:
"Training is efficient if the highest sport result is achieved with the least expense of time and energy".
To highlight this concept even further, research performed in Finland at the Research Institute for Olympic Sports found that replacing almost 1/3 of regular endurance training with explosive strength training not only improved strength and speed tests, but also improved aerobic capacity and running economy.

Take a moment to consider how much of your endurance training is unnecessary and whether your time may be better spent on training your deficiencies.

Final Words
The purpose of this article was to provide some insight into the importance of considering alternatives to traditional endurance training. Integrating resistance training to built specialized strength will only compliment your endurance capacity and provide you with a more efficient training program. To become a complete endurance athlete, addressing deficiencies appropriately can be the difference between a season of frustration and one of personal bests.

 


 

Stay Hydrated: How Much Water Do You Need?

What you need to know:

  • Adequate water intake or hydration is determined by many factors.
  • Common advice such as "Drink 8 cups of water a day" or "Drink half your body weight in ounces" are far too simplistic and may not provide you with the water you need.
Why Water is Essential to Health and Performance
"Dehydration of as little as 2% loss of body weight results in impaired physiological and performance responses."
As your body's principal chemical component, water makes up roughly 60 percent of your total body weight. Every system and cell in your body depends on water. Water is essential to normal human function.

Lack of water leads to dehydration, a state that occurs when you don't have enough water to allow your body to perform normal functions. A review published in the Journal of the American Dietetics Association states that "Dehydration of as little as 2% loss of body weight results in impaired physiological and performance responses."

To put that into perspective, this would equate to losing almost 3lbs of water for an individual who weighs 150lbs. That may seem like a lot of water to lose, assuming that one must exercise a lot or resort to extreme measures to lose that much water. But let's take a closer look and see just how easy it is to lose water without exercising.

According to the Guyton Textbook of Medical Physiology, the same 150lb individual will lose about 2.3L of water daily from urine, feces, sweat, and insensible water loss through the skin and breathing. 2.3L equals almost 5lbs of water loss per day from normal body function. This estimation does not factor in a warmer climate. Naturally, sweat rates increase in warmer weather, so this same individual could lose up to 3.3L of water a day.

It should be clear that becoming dehydrated is not a difficult task. There is a common misconception that dehydration only occurs in people that sweat a lot due to exercise or warmer weather. This couldn't be further from the truth. Normal bodily functions can lead to dehydration if water intake is not addressed appropriately.

The importance of adequate water intake has important health considerations as well. There are studies that have demonstrated individuals who stay well hydrated are less likely to experience:
  • Cancers of the breast, colon, and urinary tract
  • Urinary stone disease
  • Mitral valve prolapse
  • Childhood and adolescent obesity
Meeting Your Basic Daily Needs
In sedentary individuals, it appears that men require about 12 cups of water per day and women require about 9 cups of water per day. Whole foods are estimated to provide 4 cups of that daily water total. Another 1 cup of that daily water recommendation comes from 'metabolic water' or water that your body makes from metabolic processes, thus making this water you don't have to worry about consuming.

So for the sedentary individual, they will require about 7 cups of water/fluid per day since the remaining 5 cups of water will come from food and normal metabolic function. This is assuming that one is eating enough to meet their calorie needs.

It's important that any fluid you count toward your daily total is non-caffeinated or non-alcoholic. Caffeine and alcohol raise water needs in the body. If you consume either of these, you will need more water.

Water Needs in Response to Physical Activity
As for athletes, there is strong evidence in the research showing that dehydration will have major impacts on endurance, strength, intensity, and mood. When it comes to athletes, little research has been done to determine exactly how much water intake is needed to prevent dehydration. This likely explains the wide variety of answers one can potentially be given when attempting to figure out how much water they need to rehydrate. The honest answer is, "It depends." The reality is, there are a number of factors that play into understanding how much fluid intake an athletes needs to appropriately rehydrate.

Athletes or active individuals will generally require greater amounts of water due to increased muscle mass, metabolic activity, and sweat rates. So how much water will an athlete require? For starters, we can make a safe assumption that athletes eat more food during the day than the average person and that they have a higher metabolic rate. With this in mind, they will be getting more water from food sources and metabolic function. Depending on the climate an athlete exercises in, daily water intake may need to increase to an additional 2-4L (8-16 cups) on training days. Water intake must be based on factors such as activity level, body mass, sweat rates, and climate.

Bottom Line
A safe, general guideline for athletes and water intake would be to consume 1/2 gallon of additional water on non-training days. When it comes to training days, an athlete may require a gallon or more of water per day to maintain adequate hydration levels.

Source:

Kleiner, S., Water: An essential but overlooked nutrient. Journal of the American Dietetics Association. Volume 99, Number 2, 200-206, 1999.