Injury Prevention In-Season

How do we keep athletes from over training their CNS and muscular systems during season? How do we continue to progress strength, power, and speed while they are practicing and competing?

This is the struggle of a strength and conditioning professional. I am responsible for the Womens basketball teams strength and conditioning program here at Hardin-Simmons University. This year we made it to the ASC conference tournaments final game and lost by 2 points.

How did we get there? By keeping our best athletes on the court. Basketball is a long season starting practice in October and we just finished up march first.

To keep our athletes healthy all season long is a difficult task. First movements must be perfected, mobility must be improved especially in the Hips, ankles, and shoulders. Then stability must be progressed. Then we can start to add strength, power, and speed.

After mobility is addressed we begin to teach jumping and landing technique. Plyometrics are a great way to strengthen the tendons and ligaments and teach the body to absorb force. Then creating strength at all ranges of motion and the entire body was next. After the strength phase we began to train power. All the while we worked on running and change of direction mechanics while improving conditioning levels.

As season began we backed off of the volume in the weight room and focused on moving the bar fast to train power. Less is more when it comes to off-season training. Progression must be slow to prevent CNS over training. Proper recovery must be in place between sessions.

The success of this training program was because of how hard we trained to make sure we stayed healthy.

Backing off volume but still training with heavy intensities is important to prevent de-training.

Thanks for reading.

Plyometrics

The topic I am going to write about this week will be plyometric training. Plyometric training is essentially different jumps, hops, bounds, and medicine ball throws done explosively.

Definitions:

• Jump- Two foot take off and landing
• Hop- Single leg take off and same leg landing
• Bound- Single leg take off opposite leg landing

Plyometrics train the stretch shortening cycle and go through 3 stages: Eccentric, Amortization, Concentric. The stored elastic energy from the eccentric (counter movement or landing) is realized and potentiated into a concentric explosive action.

Plyo’s can help strengthen the tendons and ligaments to absorb force which can help with injury prevention. They can also improve power output. Power output is often measured by a maximum counter movement vertical or broad jump. Being able to produce and absorb force in all movement planes is important to athletic performance and injury prevention. Plyos must be done vertically, horizontally, laterally, and rotational.

I do plyometrics in 4 phases. Each phase is done for at least 3 weeks before progressing to more difficult exercises.

First phase will be our basic jumps where we stick the landing and reset before the next one. This teaches the body to absorb force of a landing. Phase one jumps will be box jumps, broad jumps (stick), Hurdle jumps, Lateral hurdle jumps, etc. Everything will be done sticking the landing.

Phase two will involve hops and bounds in all planes of movement with a stick as well. This will help create single leg landing strength before progressing to phase 3.

Phase 3 will involve continuous jumps in all planes of movement. This will train the body to absorb force and quickly reapply it.

Phase 4 will involve continuous single leg hops and bounds and weighted jumps in all planes of movement.

I had success with doing my plyometrics this way with womens basketball this year. I followed my progressions as i just outlined above and while i did not get to re-test our vertical jumps before season started because of the short time frame. I do believe based off performance this year that our jumping and power output had increased but most importantly we have had very few soft tissue injuries and I believe our plyometric training had a big part in that.

Until next time.

Coach Gannon

Stretch-Shortening Cycle. (2019, December 16). Retrieved February 23, 2020, from https://www.scienceforsport.com/stretch-shortening-cycle/

Triphasic Training

Today I am going to talk about Triphasic Training for athletic performance. Cal Dietz Wrote a book called Triphasic Training which popularized the topic for strength and conditioning coaches.

To put it in simple terms, Triphasic Training is training all 3 actions of a movement: Eccentric, Isometric, and concentric. Concentric movements are the most popular in traditional strength training programs. But to create a well rounded more explosive athlete it is important to include all 3 types of movements in our training programs.

Cal Dietz recommends 3 blocks during the strength building period of a teams training program (Dietz, Peterson, et al., 2012). The first block involves training your core movements with an eccentric tempo. An example of this would be the back squat performed with a 5 second eccentric. This eccentric block would last 2-3 weeks. Next would be a 2-3 week isometric block for core exercises. An Example would be to do the back squat with a 5 second isometric hold at the bottom. Finally would be the concentric block which is what we are used to seeing in the weightroom.

After going through a triphasic period improvements in strength, size, power, and speed are expected to be seen because the athlete should now be stronger in all areas of movement.

Eccentrics can assist with strength, muscle size, and the ability to absorb force. Isometrics have tissue remodeling effects and also assist with the ability to absorb force and switch from the eccentric part of a movement to the concentric with out losing any energy/power.

This past off season I had my Womens Basketball team perform a a 6 week triphasic program consisting of three 2-week blocks. I used the template by Cal Dietz using eccentric, then isometrics, then concentric for my core exercises. I was unable to re-test because of season starting shortly after but I have recorded great increases in strength and power in the squat and hang clean. Also to note We have had only one major soft tissue injury that resulted in missing games so far this season. (Knock on some Serious Wood).

Reference:

Dietz, C., & Peterson, B. (2012). Triphasic training: a systematic approach to elite speed and explosive strength performance. Hudson, WI: Bye Dietz Sport Enterprise

Movement Screens

Today I want to talk about assessments and screens in the sport performance world. Movement screening is a great way to help prevent/reduce injuries in athletics. If we can identify a movement deficiency or compensatory movement pattern we are able to help correct it.

Injuries often occur because of poor movement patterns. In the weightroom we see a lot movement. The weightroom is a great place to evaluate movement patterns and help correct them. Often times movement patterns are poor because a lack of strength or mobility in a certain area or side of the body. By identifying and prescribing corrective exercises to restore proper movement we can help reduce the chance of injury.

In the weightroom great movements are always the top priority over weight used for an exercise. How can we screen for poor movement patterns? I am constantly screening my athletes every day with every exercise. But a formal series of test can be an effective way to screen and give corrective exercises for poor movement that cant be coached up technique wise during a short session.

A screen I often use is the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). This is a series of test that assesses the athlete in 9 different movements which help give the coach an idea of where the athlete lacks mobility, stability, flexibility, or strength. Based off of the results of the FMS I will prescribe corrective exercises to address those areas of concern.

One of the test I always do with every athlete in the weightroom is the overhead squat test. This test will show me if the client lacks hip or ankle mobility, thoracic mobility, and overhead strength. When an athlete lacks mobility the entire kinetic chain is thrown off and the body compensates at areas where they shouldn’t. This is why identifying mobility, stability, and uni-lateral imbalances is so critical to preventing injury (Parchmann, et al., 2011).

Developing a screening tool is important for a strength coach to address the needs of each athlete to help optimize performance and prevent injury.

Parchmann, C. J., & Mcbride, J. M. (2011). Relationship Between Functional Movement Screen and Athletic Performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(12), 3378–3384

Stretching for Sport Training

Stretching and flexibility are important aspects of sport and sport training. Dynamic stretching is preferred for before a workout/practice/game, and static stretching is usually preferred after. This week we talked about the importance of including dyanmic stretching before training as part of the warm-up.

Dynamic stretching is a type of functionally based stretching exercise that uses sport generic and sport specific movements to prepare the body for activity (Haff & Triplett, 2016, p.324). Dynamic stretching is similar to mobility work. I always prescribe a lengthy (8-12 minutes) dynamic warmup that includes mobility work before strength and conditioning training sessions. I usually start with slower movements such as lunge twist, reverse lunges, and knee hugs. Then mobility or activation stretches/movements such as lateral lunges, walking RDL’s, and shoulder circles. Finally the warmup gets into faster dynamic movements such as high knees, butt kicks, a-skips, and jumps. Michael Boyle emphasizes this strategy of slow moving to fast moving movements being effective (Boyle, 2014, p. 30). Dynamic movements get the muscles ready for more sport specific movements and weight lifting by priming the CNS, warming up the muscles for increased blood flow, and actively moving the joints through specific ranges of motion. I use dynamic warmups for all of my athletes to get the body and muscles and joints ready for more strenuous activity.

We created a warm-up for our athletes pre weight lifting this week. The warm up included a series to warm up the CNS and increase core temperature. This was a series of different quick foot steps onto a plate followed by jumps in place. Then dynamic movements that mimicked the lift: included a upper body push and pull, and a lower body push and pull. Then a core movement to get the stabilizers active. Finally we did some activation of the glutes, shoulders, and core.

          Another active form of stretching is the PNF Method. This is assisted stretching. This is a method of increasing flexibility with the use of a partner. This method stimulates muscular inhibition. There are 3 common methods the hold relax technique, contract-relax technique, and hold relax with agonist contraction. All of these methods are similar to static stretches but done with a partner and can increase range of motion (flexibility).  These techniques have value for a strength coach for increasing flexibility and hopefully injury prevention in all types of athletes.

Boyle, M. (2014). Functional Training for Sports. Human Kinetics.

Haff, G., & Triplett, N. T. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Electronic Testing Devices

This week we have been discussing possible testing device technology that could improve efficiency and effectiveness of a performance enhancement program.

Some of the items I have worked with before are: 1) Just Jump mat 2) Vertec 3) Push Band 4) Gym aware, Timing Gates, and teambuildr.

We already have teambuildr for programming during the summers so we wanted to discuss adding a just jump mat and timing gates. These two devices are used for measuring sprint/agility times and vertical jump height.

Timing gates/lasers are the gold standard for testing sprint and agility times. They have been found to be more much more accurate then hand times. Professional sports use timing gates/lasers to get the most accurate measurement of speed. Hand timing has human error involved and is not very reliable or valid, especially when a different coach times a test or re-test. (Mayhew et al. 2010) found that electronic timing produced the best measurement of 40 yard dash speed and that using hand times produced significantly faster times. This could be because of the timer anticipating the crossing the line and stopped the time.

Just jump mats are an effective tool for measuring day to day jump height to test for recovery and readiness of athletes quickly and efficiently. The measurements were shown to be reliable and valid. But they did over estimate vertical jump height but there was a formula to use with that number to find a more reliable measurement. This could be a huge time saver and also help by improving intent of different jumps in the workout.

Reference

MAYHEW, J. L., HOUSER, J. J., BRINEY, B. B., WILLIAMS, T. B., PIPER, F. C., & BRECHUE, W. F. (2010). Comparison between Hard and Electronic Timing of 4O-Yd Dash Performance in College Football Players. Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins), 24(2), 447–451.

Work to Rest Ratios

During this week at my internship/job site we began learning about creating a speed/agility/conditioning program for sport teams. First we identify the main needs of the sport. Then we begin building a program with drills, movements, warmup, cooldown. We begin by figuring out the total yardage for the month and figuring out how to distribute that throughout the days that we will have the athletes for training. For soccer I will have 4 days a week and need to improve their agility, speed, and conditioning levels. For conditioning I want to increase their lactate threshold and work capacity both linearly and with change of direction involved. So i created two different conditioning days: a linear one (120 yard tempo runs) and a lateral one (60 yard shuttles with 15 yard cuts). These days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then Monday is a linear speed day that includes sprints, resisted sprints, deceleration drills, technique drills, and other linear drills. Wednesday is a change of direction day that includes 5-10-5’s, agility drills, and change of direction speed work.

Next we need to figure out rest times between drills and conditioning based off of the system we are trying to improve. Work to rest ratios are important to understand.

Phophocreatine ATP system needs the highest rest for the highest intensity sprints so the body can recovery fully and maximal effort can be completed. According to the NSCA, The work to rest for the PCR system is 1:12- 1:20.

According to the NSCA, Glycolysis system needs 1:3-1:5 work to rest.

According to the NSCA, Aerobic energy system needs a 1:1-1:2 Work to rest ratio.

All of the above considerations need to be considered when creating an optimal speed/agility/conditioning training program.

Triple Extension for Power Development

During our programming development meeting we talked about triple extension exercises and their use in developing power for athletes. Triple extension refers to extension of the hips knees and ankles which is involved in running and jumping. The carryover to those activities and producing force can help increase power, speed, and jumping ability.

The power clean is an advanced total body exercise that is effective at helping athletes improve their power output. Because the movement must be completed with speed it and precision it is a very beneficial exercise to developing force output, and deceleration (eccentric force). There are many variations of the power clean including the hang clean, and the power clean from the blocks. Other variations of the clean such as clean pulls and clean high pulls can be beneficial for teaching the movement and eliminating the eccentric loading of the catch phase (Haff, Tripplet, 2016). Different variations are good for athletes of different training experience.

            Positives of the power clean

• Develops Power
• Develops eccentric strength
• Can Improve Jumping ability
• Can improve speed by improving rate of force production
• Can improve overall athleticism
• Works the entire body
• Improves core Stability and strength

Negatives of the power clean and variations:

• Difficult to teach
• Space and equipment restraints
• Higher Risk of injury/accident then non explosive movements

Challenges of the power clean include:

• Getting athletes to keep the bar close to the body
• Coaching the catch position (Elbows Pointed straight ahead)

Haff, G., & Triplett, N. T. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton