The (sometimes) Top 5 (sometimes more) Of The Week

 *I had the opportunity to work with a D1 hockey goalie last week before she returned to her home in New York, which was cool for me because I am such a fan of the sport. She had the strength and speed of an athlete who spends time in the weight room and, it turns out, her team trains all year, even in season.

 Most athletes I work with are only in the gym 3, maybe 6 months out of the year. It takes them 2 calendar years to reach the same “gym age” as an athlete who trains all year and it takes their entire high school career to reach the same “gym age” that the year ‘round athlete reaches after their sophomore year.

Why does this matter? With an increased gym age comes increased strength levels, which increase speed and power potential on the field. More time accumulated under the bar can help prevent injuries and minimize annoying knee, ankle and hip pain. More time spent improving movement mechanics will help the athletes agility, speed and conditioning on the field. None of this has to take time away from sports performance, studies or social and family life. We just need some forward thinking people to step up and consider a new model.

 *Speaking of year ‘round training, preventing ACL injuries cannot be a 3-month endeavor. Female athletes need to spend a considerable portion of the year improving posterior chain (Glutes, hamstrings, lower back) strength and landing mechanics. Landing mechanics can easily be placed at the beginning of each practice as part of the warmup and the strength work can be completed in 25 minutes, 2 to 3 days per week. Injury rates are steadily rising, something has to be done. I am going to put together some material to send out to some local athletic directors and coaches, if anyone has a contact that might be interested, please let me know!

 *The number 1 limiting factor in terms of an athletes speed is way too much slow training at an early age. Well, actually, genetics plays the biggest role of all, but large doses of long distance running early on doesn’t help! I often wonder how much faster our athletes would be if they didn’t spend as much time running laps as youngsters. Could we replace the mile run with 20-yard sprints in gym class??

 *We time 10-yard sprints often through the summer. An athlete might set a PR one day and run 2-tenths of a second slower a week later. How does this happen?

 How well did she sleep last night? Did she get a full 8 hours of sleep last night or was she out with friends, sacrificing quality rest for a social life?

 Has she fully recovered from the previous workout? Is she still recovering from the squats or deadlifts she performed 24-48 hours ago? What you do today will have an impact on what you can do tomorrow.

 It has been hot the past few weeks and hydration, or lack thereof, can make or break your training. If you aren’t properly hydrated you aren’t breaking any records.

 Setting a PR is easy when you are just getting started; as your speed improves it becomes harder and harder to continue improving. You have to sweat the details if you want to keep pushing yourself to new heights.

 *Should you count calories? Yes because otherwise you are just guessing. It can be a total pain in the ass to track everything you eat, even with all the apps available to help you out. I get that. But if you really want to see a change in your body, you need to make some modifications to what you are shoving down your throat. But how do you know that you need to eat less to shed bodyfat? You might not be eating enough, which will only make it harder to shave some inches off your waist. You do not need a specific breakdown of carbs/fats/protien, although protein intake is important, but you do need to know how many calories per day you are consuming.

 If you are like me, you probably eat roughly the same foods and quantities most days. So you really only have to spend a few days tracking to get a fairly accurate intake. Onceyou have a baseline, you can accurately figure out how many calories per day to add or subtract. Set this new calorie intake and track again for a week or so until you can eye up your new portion sizes.

 At this point, take a couple weeks away from the calorie counting and assess your progress. You do not have to count every calorie you consume for the rest of your life but it does help to have a baseline whenever you want to make a change!