GameSpeed RPM's

No, we are not Globo-Gym and this is not a “True Underdog Story”!

But we did engage in a fun game of dodgeball this past weekend!

We know that dodgeball has been around for over 200 years and was originally played in Africa, with much different rules and throwing objects.

However our goal with introducing this fun game to the young athletes, was two-fold. Bryan and I wanted to once again create a fun, competitive atmosphere and force the athletes to utilize the skill-sets that we have been working on during the training sessions.

This simple game requires young athletes to breakdown, change directions and move in multiple planes of motion.

They are reacting, adjusting and strategizing! All components of sport!

With young athletes, one of the biggest limiting factors that I have observed over the years is their ability to laterally change directions without creating a faulty torso position.

This week we introduced the young athletes to short lateral bounds with a short rest/pause between transitions.

A large majority of the public is mesmerized by top athletes that have the ability to slalom back and forth between defenders as they progress forward or backward on their sporting court or field.

Our short lateral bounds teach the athlete to absorb their bodyweight while maintaining a proper sporting posture.

Once again simple drills like this performed properly and accurately over years of training can help athletes avoid injury and enhance their sport skill.

We wrapped up Week 6 already!

If you watch the initial warm-up for each session, you will notice that Coach Bryan and I slow the athletes down while performing specific movements.

Remember our goal is to educate the athlete and create a motor pattern that will enhance their movement capabilities and transfer to their respectable sport(s).

Young athletes have a tendency to rush the process.

We are looking to solidify the “mechanics”.

Just like learning to throw a baseball...

Regardless of your training level or sport level, proper progressions must be implemented in order to evaluate and measure an individuals response and adaptability.

It’s no different than the educational process for schooling. We must first understand the basic principles of math before moving on to trigonometry or calculus. We progress and adapt at different rates.

In a previous post I described and reviewed the Decel drill technique that we utilize to teach young athletes to “put the brakes” on. This enables them to transition from a sporting posture and project themselves in a different direction.

Click on this link to a video demonstration:

http://tinyurl.com/deceldrill

This past week we progressed to the M-Drill. The M-Drill still focuses on the ability to decelerate at a specified point, but then requires that athlete to “gather” themselves and sprint in a different direction.

Our goal is to never rush the progress... we refuse to “push a round peg into a square space”.

As we finished up week 4 of the program, some of you may have noticed that we have the athletes perform several drills by hopping on one leg.

I was given a greater in-depth look at hopping integration and progressions from Coach Dan Pfaff, when I went to visit him in California as he prepared his athletes for the Beijing Olympics.

Our young athletes perform the single-leg hops to a specific cone, transition to the other leg and then transfer their gate into a run/sprint.

Single-leg hopping forces the athlete to maintain proper center of gravity and coordination in space all the while strengthening the connective tissue and requiring balance and synchronization of the upper and lower body.

Often times in sport, athletes are forced into unilateral hopping movements to avoid defenders or to transfer into a cut or turn.

Please let us know if you have any questions!

So, as we enter Week 4 of our RPM program, I wanted to share a tip and the purpose of our decel cone drill.

Athletes at any age and at any level will need to change directions, and change directions rapidly.

The ability to do so is dependent on the athletes capacity to accept their weight and absorb the force properly into their joints. Body position is one of the primary key components to this capability.

The foot is slave to the hip... if the hips do not change levels at the reference point ( the cone or the opponent ), then the foot and torso will be out of the optimal position to change direction.

If this same action is repeated over and over, not only will the athlete be at slower changing directions, they also risk injury.

So, we teach the youth athletes to change levels, sink their hips with good foot position and accept their body weight, before thinking about changing directions.

So we are into our second week and slowly the athletes are starting to understand the structure of the sessions and the purpose.

This week I want to discuss the purpose of one of our static isometric hold positions that we make use of in the training session. The “bird dog” or sometimes referred to as the “horse pose”.

This position requires the athletes to extend their opposite arm and leg while maintaining a stabilized bi-lateral ground contact.

We are teaching and looking for the athletes to extend in a linear fashion keeping in line with the body, and avoiding projecting the arm or leg away from the midline.

We are also looking for athletes to maintain good balance and pressing the finger tips away from the heel to create tension.

Last week I discussed the importance of arm and leg synchronization during the arm swing action of running.

The bird dog corresponds with this action by: • Increases kinesthetic awareness (where your body is in space and time)  • Increases core strength in both abs and lower back • Improves stability

It’s a go-to stabilization hold for anyone at any age, athlete or non-athlete.

So Week 1 is in the books! The athletes did a fantastic job and we were happy to see them excited and ready to GO! We are establishing the foundation of better movement patterns that will transfer to their sports, help them become better athletes and at all costs avoid injury.

We spoke to the athletes about the importance of arm position, arm drive and efficiency. The faster the arms drive, the  legs will keep up! Bryan and I illustrated the comparison and flying speeds of a jet fighter vs. a helicopter. Obviously all of the athletes agreed that the jet fighter is faster... it’s engineered that way. Our goal is to get the young athletes to think like the fighter jet.

You’ll notice in this photo of one of our GameSpeed athletes that his arm position and movement (although in still photography) illustrates the pattern we are looking for.

To reinforce this action we include seated arm swing exercises for an allotted time. Arm swing action is important in many actions of human movement, sprinting is one of them.

A little more science info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_swing_in_human_locomotion