Tag Archive: confucius quote

1. Willand Rovers FC in F.A. Cup run

   23rd October 2014 10:25 am Leave a Comment

   Good luck to the Willand Rovers against Gosport Borough F.C.

   My local village club is doing really well in the F.A. Cup this year, having made it through to the 4th qualifying round. They host Gosport at Silver Street this Saturday.

   Physiotherapist Sarah has been helping the club for the last 18 months, screening and treating the players when injured. They are a great bunch, and remarkably polite for footballers.

   I took the team through some preparation work earlier this week.

   

   Captain Scott Rogers came to one of my speed training sessions in the summer and liked how we progressed through the warm ups to the speed. We have been trying to fit in training with the team, but due to the cup run, they have had busy mid-week schedules for the last 2 months.

   

    

   The players all work full time: carpenters, tilers, teachers and office workers. My emphasis when preparing them is getting them to be mobile through the hips and groin, plus the thoracic spine (t spine). They have spent all day hunched over desks or a floor space, so they are very stiff when they come to play.

   Footballers tend to suffer from hamstrings, groin and knee injuries. My job is to help these guys prepare properly so they can avoid the non-contact injuries. The lads took to the unusual (for them) exercises with relish on Tuesday night

   Here is what we started with:

   Good luck on Saturday. Up the Rovers! 

   Kick off 3pm, at Silver Street. The Rovers should be on BBC spotlight tomorrow night at 6.30pm.

2. Getting teenagers to take control of their sport preparation

   20th February 2014 10:15 am 1 Comment

   “I don’t have a warm up routine”

   was the quote of the day from a 16 year old experienced competitor on our Athlete Support Day on Monday.

   Another young athlete I work with was a bundle of nerves before a recent competition. I am trying hard to get these young people to establish a warm up routine that is regular, specific and gives them confidence.

   Too often I see the well prepared athlete unravel as the competition approaches: distracted by the venue, other competitors or their own inner demons.

   I got the athletes to divide the warm up into 3 different phases and to come up with exercises that were suitable for each phase:

   1. “Just out of the car”. They have travelled to the comp for 1-3 hours, or been sat down at school. The body has to just move and get warm. General work
   2. “Sporting movements”. Build up to run, jump, throw, tackle in different directions. This can be similar to the event, rather than replicate at this stage: long jumpers can do 2 footed jumps for example, rugby players can do some grappling drills, soccer players can practice pass and move.
   3. “White line fever”. 5 minutes before the event you need to be moving fast and furious, with the warm up looking very similar to what is about to happen. You need to be ready to beat your opponent as soon as you cross the line.

   Despite my best efforts, this is still a work in progress. When asked to show me each stage I often see the default “pull arm across the body stretch” or the “jog“. 

   Regeneration

   Sorry to disappoint Dr Who fans, this is about regenerating the body and mind after exercise and life. We have covered nutrition on other support days, this time we looked at the improtance of getting a good night’s sleep.

   We discussed sleep routines and reasons why sleep may be disturbed. We then did a Progressive Muscular Relaxation (PMR) session (which had a delayed start due to a fit of giggles from the team, laughter being an important part of regeneration).

   PMR is a useful tool to have as an athlete. It helps toward getting sound sleep, and it is also useful in sport itself if practiced regularly.

   Eventually it becomes possible to shorten the relaxation time to a few seconds. This can then be used to calm nerves pre match, or in the match in itself for things like free kicks, free throws and pistol shooting.

   Strong and agile

   I introduced the athletes to the “Squat matrix” followed by either a dumbbell complex or snatch variations. Teenagers seem to be caught between “no weights” or “beach weights” with “adult weights” being imposed upon rugby players somehere in between.

   The squat matrix is designed to develop leg strength through multiple planes, angles and speed whilst challenging balance and coordination. It is somethingI learnt from Kelvin Giles who reminded me recently that it is all too easy to do body weight squats for a few weeks then “load ’em up” with a barbell.

   Young athletes need to fully develop their spectrum of movement abilities as this helps their overall athleticism. It is easy for teachers and coaches to regress to “what teenage boys want” or “what the senior players are doing“. 

   I finished the day with a series of agility exercises, moving over and under things, from two foot to single foot and challenging coordination again. This is something I have been working on the last 4 weeks with the senior footballers I coach.

   It does require the athlete to be strong and agile, but they are seeing the beenfits on the field: where it matters.

   Thanks again to Exeter University for hosting and for the parents for supporting their children.

   Please contact me if you wish to attend our next workhop.

   Further reading

   • Athletic Development Centre celebrates 1 year anniversary 
   • Why your warm up isn’t dynamic  
   • How much sleep do I need after training? 

3. Stuntman Training: warming up

   24th February 2012 2:54 pm Leave a Comment

   How to start training to be a stuntman

   This week I got asked to train a young man who wants to become a Stuntman (next week Batman, the week after Train Driver?). He has been following a running programme, alternating with the ubiquitous beach weights.

   Normally I would start with a screening of some sort, but I thought we could just see how he moves first using some of our varied warm ups that we do. Short of asking him to dive off a cliff or crash a burning car, I thought that might give me an idea of how well prepared he was for stunt work.

   The good news was that he could move, balance and change direction quite well. The bad news was that he was tired after doing the warm ups.

   In last night’s podcast on warming up as part of the Sports Training System I suggest that beginners might start with our warm ups as their exercise programme.

    Little and often, with variety is a good place to start. Your body will get fitter just by doing things differently. 

   Moving more makes you want to move more.