Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

Go ahead, try and beat Bolt

This is the time of year when championships are won and lost before a game or match is ever played. This is the infamous “pre-season” training period where teams will practice twice even three times a day to get ready for the season starting in late August. I maintain that more games and matches are lost during this period because coaches overwork their athletes during this period. It is too late to positively affect any significant conditioning gains for the fall. The money must be in the bank before the pre-season training begins. That is why summer and off season training is so important. I go by the adage that one workout cannot make an athlete but one workout can break and athlete. This is the time to sharpen tactics and strategy, to work on specific game fitness, not to get them fit. The error often starts with the testing to begin fall camp – often this is fitness testing. Now what do you do if they don’t pass the fitness tests – run them more? Those players have made a choice. Perhaps a seat on the bench next to the coach would be appropriate. The people who win championships during this period are those who approach training intelligently, have a long term plan and closely monitor the athlete’s response to each session. They understand it is a period to be specific. Talent + Intelligent Training + Coaching wins championships.

Today, ELITETRACK and the other sites that I own were down for about 2 or 3 hours. This marked the last straw in a long line of screwups by my webhost. The most notable of these screwups was the 5 weeks that ELITETRACK and the other sites were down for last winter. As a result, it has finally pushed me over the edge to go ahead and move all my sites to a different host. This is a painstaking process that inevitably has bumps in the road. I will be making the move this evening so all of my sites will be temporarily unavailable at around 1am EST. I'm hoping to get things back in order within a couple hours but the DNS propogation for switching webhosts can take up to 72 hours. Please bear with me, the move is for the better. Until DNS propogation has gone through completely, all dynamic portions of this site (i.e. the forum, blog, article updates) will be on hold. Thanks for your patience.

While I was at the USATF Level 2 Coaches Education School 2 weeks ago in Houston, I had several conversations with students about what certifications were important and beneficial. Some heated discussion came up regarding the National Strength & Conditioning Association's CSCS certification and whether it was beneficial and worthwhile. A couple of my fellow instructors were pretty passionately opposed to the entire organization because of the overly commercialized entity that it had become and the lower standards and different market (PTs and ATCs) that it had come to cater to. The general consensus was that the Journals have some gems but are generally an extension of the old boys network that is the CSCS; and that the organization and its certifications as a whole are a necessary evil that you have to have to get a job in the strength and conditioning field. The only reason I bring this up is because a fairly prominent strength coach (Mark Rippetoe) who I respect has just submitted an open letter rescinding his CSCS for the very negatives that I mention above. Will this start an exodus? Who knows but perhaps it's enough for the NSCA to look in the mirror and reflect on what market they are really trying to represent and whether they want to choose integrity over money.

Finally off the road, I have been away from home 23 out of the last 40 days; it is good to be home. I already have gotten in a good bike ride, a swim and a pulled pork sandwich from Choo’s Choo’s barbecue, what could be better. We start volleyball next week, can’t wait. This will be a so-called rebuilding year after losing seven seniors, but I think we will surprise people. These kids have put in the best preparation I have ever had a high for a high school team, in fact their effort and intensity rivals the best teams I have worked with at any level.

I ended the road trip in Madison Wisconsin, one of my favorite places to visit. It is always great seeing Steve Myrland and family. Spend last Thursday doing a staff in-service for the ATC’s and PT’s at University of Wisconsin Sports Medicine. Friday morning I went to “Movement Madness” at 6:00 am in the Middleton high school gym. Instead of working out I took pictures and video of the session, it was spectacular. There were all ages and abilities working out together, former Olympians to a fourteen year boy getting in shape for football. This is something that Steve Myrland started years ago when he was at University of Wisconsin; it was a noon workout group with 10 to 12 people. Steve led the workouts. When he left the University he moved it to different locations until they settled on the high school. This is a community effort, not for profit. They have it Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6:00 am. Steve writes up the workouts, he leads them when he is there. The people donate a small amount each week that goes to the high school booster club so they can use the gym and purchase equipment. It is a great concept, an idea that would help community fitness if employed anywhere. If you are ever in Madison and need something to do at 6:00 am in morning on Monday, Wednesday or Friday stop in, you won’t find a nicer bunch of people anywhere.

Is it just me or has our society turned even more violent. I saw a video clip of elementary school kids doing mixed martial arts, it was alarming to me. Martial arts and the discipline required is one thing but this adulteration called mixed martial arts bothers me. Just this past week a couple of teenagers in our community pummeled another teenager to death. Have we become so desensitized that this violence is accepted. It is all over television because people watch it, that is scary to me. Where are we headed as a society? Can the Christians and the gladiators be far behind?

If you get a chance go see the movie Swing Vote. A good entertaining movie with some threads of truth, it made me think how absurd the whole presidential election process has become.