Protein: The Key to Sustainable Weight Management
Don’t be fooled by the title. I’m not talking about the high-protein low-carbohydrate fad diets like Keto and Atkins that have been buzzwords in the weight loss community for a while now. Not only are these diets unsustainable and unnecessary for the general population, the American Heart Association actually notes that there is no long-term evidence to support that these diets are effective and/or safe. Many health professionals will argue against them due to their association with an increased intake of total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol, which can increase
Golfer’s Offseason Training: Improve your Strength, Power, and Mobility
The winter can be the end of the typical golf season in New England. With the gap of time between now and the warm spring, it is the perfect time for golfers to train like any athlete does in their offseason. Offseason training should be specific to each individual, working on your weaknesses and emphasizing certain parts of your golf game. Below, you will learn two exercises for strength, power, and mobility that golfers can perform during their off-season to elevate your game for the spring. Strength Having a solid foundation of
Ways to Make ACL Recovery Smoother
The journey back from an ACL injury for an athlete can be long and mentally draining. For a couple of months, an athlete will be sidelined and won’t be able to participate in their sport. It’ll seem like most of their world is shutdown and life is a little dark at the moment but I promise there’s light at the end of the tunnel. While athletes can’t work on their sport skills or play in games, there are things athletes can do that can benefit them in the long run.
Get More Bang For Your Buck!
We often talk about the importance of strength and conditioning in optimizing your sports performance. Sadly, just showing up for your session isn’t enough to see any improvement in your game play. Here are three ways you can optimize your sessions every time you step foot in the gym. Do It Right Your strength and conditioning coaches write programs with a purpose. Every movement is selected for a specific reason, but that is only achieved when you perform every exercise properly. Here are some ways to ensure you’re doing a movement “right”! Proper
Did The Pandemic Cause Us to Lose Sight on The Importance of Strength Training?
When closing mandates went into effect during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic we experienced life without gyms / fitness centers. At the time, most of us didn’t have a decent “home gym” so we needed to find ways to keep active with minimal to no equipment at our disposal. Over the past two years, I have met a handful of people who either lost motivation to work out or shared with me that they only do cardio. This cardio-only trend made me want to dive a little deeper
3 Fun & Effective Exercises For Basketball Youth
Regular physical activity can have many health benefits for children. Frequent exercise will help develop strong muscles and bones and build confidence at a young age. One of the main barriers why kids may not want to exercise, or go to the gym, could simply be because they do not enjoy what they are doing. It is very hard for a child to understand the benefits of proper movement and strength training. The more engaged they are during their training program, the more likely they are to enjoy their gym
3 Shoulder Solutions for Golf
Your shoulders are more important than you think in the golf swing. They’re certainly not the primary driver of your swing like the hips. They are very close to the connection between your body and the golf club though, so they must move properly. Here are three problems (and solutions) that can be addressed in your shoulders that can affect your golf swing. The Problem Posture Source: www.mytpi.com One of the most common address position issues that we see is a rounding of the upper back. This position will actually decrease the amount of
3 Posterior Chain Exercises to Prevent ACL Injuries
The posterior chain plays a tremendous role in not only making athletes powerful and strong, but also keeps them healthy and safe, especially from ACL injuries. Studies have shown athletes with greater hip strength and lower body were also athletes who responded smoother to unanticipated cutting and landing tasks. This is important because most ACL injuries are from just that, non-contact injuries such as cutting and landing. With this all in mind, athletes should focus on strengthening their posterior chain muscles (glute, hip muscles, hamstrings, and calves) and below I’ll
The Equation for Improving Sprint Speed
Many athletes enter the gym with the goal of getting faster. As strength and conditioning coaches, how can we make sure that happens? There are two variables that we can manipulate to help an athlete get faster. Speed is a simple function of the distance an individual covers with each step (stride length) and how quickly those steps happen (stride frequency) (1). If you improve either variable, your speed will increase. Stride length is often increased through developing power through the legs. Power development is a common theme in strength and
Adductor Strengthening For Athletic Performance
Adductor training is frequently neglected or undervalued when designing programs for athletes. Stretching these muscles is important to maintain flexibility and decrease risk of injury, but there should also be an emphasis on the strength component. Strength programs tend to focus on outer hip strengthening, or the hip abductors, with minimal attention to the inner thigh. Placing more attention to this area can reduce the risk of groin injuries while protecting the knee from injury. In order to understand the importance of the adductors in relation to sports performance, we