Words of the week.....
This week I am going to stick to one common theme that Mentality, Attitude, Focus, and Adjustments are the keys to becoming a better for focused athlete, not just baseball player. I feel that we as a society have tried to accomplish many of our personal and professional goals in such a quick amount of time that we lose sight of the process of learning along the way. If we are so focused on the outcome, and not so focused on the process, then the result will be poor and the goal may be attained but not to the level and or dept as if we would have taken our time and done it right. Mentality is something that I use to stay centered on my goals as a teacher, parent, and coach. I am going to keep a personal mentality statement in my head to manipulate my personality, attitude, and mood. The current most up to date mentality statement is that, "I am the most motivated/hard working individual; I am a creative upcoming individual that has a solution based mentality in the face of life." Attitude is linked and connected to mentality. If my personal mentality statement is changing then my personality and attitude will suffer or be inconsistent. The best baseball players are the ones that don't get too high and don't get too low in their mood or personalities on the baseball field. So make your players commit to a mentality statement and they will be more level in their behaviors. Focus relates to the vision or sight of the target and the abilty of an individual to stay centered on their personal or team goals. I am always setting new goals to attain and center my focal point on. Here are three of my most recent that help me with my focus:
Adjustments are going to come through the process of attaining my goals and knowing that they are not hard and fast rules. I can adjust my processes, products, and at times my vision so that I am being realistic in my vision. If I do not have the ability to get tot the video every day or I don't get all the drills accomplished then I know that I will need to adjust things so that I can feel that my goals are realistic. Here I have given some examples of big picture goals, mentality, and focal points. If I am leading a team I can create these for weekly practices, daily practice plans, or long term season goals. I do want my players to create something similar but I doesn't need to be as particular as mine. I think that placing these team individual goals on a chart for each player to read can make all people more accountable and it can help you as a coach realize some of the motivation or internal wants of your players. Article of the Week........ Szymanski, D. J. (2007). Resistance training to develop increased bat velocity. Natl Strength Cond Assoc Perform Train J, 6, 16-20. First, this article supplies information that relates bat velocity to the implementation of a full-body “general” resistance training program for high school or novice baseball players. Next, combined methods of resistance training may provide the greatest training effect. Finally, “specific” overweight and underweight bat swing training protocol will fully transition the program toward increased bat speeds. Advanced players should incorporate all three forms of resistance training into their program. If not using a combined method, the best approach to increase bat velocity seems to be “general” resistance training for high school plarers or “specific” (underweighted and over weighted bats) resistance training for more advanced (collegiate and professional) players. Based on previous research, do not use loads that are any more than 4 oz lighter or heavier that your game bat (i.e., 30 oz for a college player) when implementing “specific” resistance training. Specific” resistance loads progress gradually by 1 oz heavier and light- er every 3 weeks over a 12-week training cycle. One big point that the article makes that intrigued me was that although advanced players are getting stronger, their on-field (bat velocity) performance may not be any better than if they did not resistance train, since their bat swing mechanics are already advanced. Drills of Week...... Link- Front Toss Hitting Drills Closing Comments..... Good week coming up please have a great Thanksgiving, connect with friends and family, and commit to being a better person. Coach Brassfield
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Blog Post - The Importance of Research and Understanding History of Strength and Conditioning
It has been a couple of weeks since I have done a post but this week I wanted to focus on some research in regard to the origins of strength and conditioning in sports. I have felt that most individuals don’t have a great idea of when and how strength and conditioning has evolved over a relatively short amount of time. In a book that I was reading, Bill Belichick referred to Boyd Epley as one of the first and Nebraska football being a pioneer in starting off-season training in the early 1970’s (Halberstam, 2005). Also in addition to this, more off-season training was occurring at the college level than at the pro level in football. Floyd Reese, an assistant coach in the Detroit Lions organization with Belichick, pioneered the first off-season training program for the Lions in 1975 (Halberstam, 2005). Strength and conditioning was something that started in professional/college football far ahead of baseball. So at this point baseball is far behind other sports like football etc. Here is an interesting article that I read pertaining to Epley and Nebraska Football. “The Strength of Nebraska”:Boyd Epley, Husker Power, and the Formation of the Strength Coaching Profession This article relates to strength and conditioning program development by describing the great strength and conditioning coaches that applied a systematic way of studying the field of strength and conditioning. Boyd Epley was the pioneer in advancing the utilization of strength and conditioning to enhance football performance and injury rehabilitation (Shurley & Todd, 2012). He worked through injury in his life and utilized strength and conditioning to rehab a low back injury. By doing this he initiated a string of events that allowed him to research and catalyzed others to research in the field of strength and conditioning. As a result of his own personal rehabilitation program he felt the effects of strength and conditioning and found benefit in the amount of time for recovery after injury. He also felt as if his body was stronger and more conditioned for physical activity than before the injury. During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s coaches and physicians alike believed that resistance training and strength and conditioning would muscle bound an athlete leading to reduced athletic ability (Shurley & Todd, 2012). Epley changed this perspective through numerous personal case studies on the campus of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was hired by Tom Osborn under the head coach football coach and athletic director Bob Devaney (Shurley & Todd, 2012). Nebraska assistant coach (at the time) Tom Osborn had seen him on campus on many occasions working out with football players and aiding in their strength and conditioning. Due to Tom Osborn’s amazing insight he decided to inquire about how Boyd Epley was training his athletes and hire him to be the team’s strength and conditioning coordinator. In his time as the strength and conditioning coordinator Epley started the great Husker Power Club weight-lifting traditions, he coordinated a network of strength coaches through The National Directory of Strength Coaches, and started a national weight lifting epidemic in sport by the late 1970’s (Shurley & Todd, 2012). Through the National Directory of Strength Coaches, he also created the first annual meeting of the National Strength Coaches’ Association (NSCA) on July 29th, 1978 (Shurley & Todd, 2012). He would become the unanimously voted president of this now very prolific association. Boyd Epley and others at this time worked very diligently to systematically research, publish articles, and collaborate to form a united front in reconstructing the strength and conditioning reputation. Without Boyd Epley and his leadership skills the field of strength and conditioning could have seen many more years of unapplied science to sport and competitive exercise events. References: Halberstam, D. (2005). The education of a coach. Hyperion, New York: Hachette Digital, Inc. Shurley, J. P., & Todd, J. S. (2012). "The Strength of Nebraska": Boyd Epley, Husker Power, and the Formation of the Strength Coaching Profession. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , 26 (12), 3177-3188. This weeks post has the emphasis of drills that are specific to strength training and baseball. I have been absolutely consumed with exercises that are specific to baseball movements. Here are some that I have found to be the best exercises for baseball.
Eric Cressey- Individualizing the Management of Overhead Athletes from Eric M. Cressey Video -There are tons of great exercise examples in the video. -There is good on-field examples of exercises that are useful for the baseball specific exercises. -"Individualizing the Management of Overhead Athletes" seminar presentation. When you head to this link, please just enter the password "cresseyperformance" (no quotation marks) to get access: https://vimeo.com/65528750 http://www.ericcressey.com/my-top-5-powerlifting-mistakes Check for absolute strength/speed continuum. What the video and base program off of the four components. Baseball Specificity Power Exercises/Notes
Work Absolute Strength (muscular st.) Strength Speed (power exercises) Speed Strength (power endurance) Absolute Speed (SAQ) Exercise Tradition Strength Training (Weight Room) Med. Ball Exercises and Plyometric (Weighted tug ropes, weighted jump ropes) Plyometric Exercises (body weight) and Weighted Balls (Throwing) Non weighted exercises (5 oz baseball, linear running, agility, etc…) Duration 30-45 seconds 20 sec -1:15 min 20-45 seconds 10 sec -1 min Recovery Complete recovery 1-2 minute between 1:1 - 1:3 work/rest ratio Complete Recovery Rep. Volume 2-10 repetitions each set 10-20 repetitions each set 15 - 20 repetitions each set 2-10 repetitions each set Set Volume / exercise 3-6 2-3 2-3 2-5 Exercise Volume 5-6 2-4 2-4 2-4 Weekly Frequency 3-5 2-3 2-3 2-3 Absolute Volume / week 450-1500 total reps 60-360 total reps 120-360 total reps 60-150 Exercises: Close to wall- Rapid sequence to catch and throw against the wall.
Dynamic Stretching: (1 second hold to 3 step to opposite leg)
Dynamic Speed Work Exercises- Perform the drills after you have completed your initial warm up, or at the middle or end of your run. Do each drill for 10 to 20 meters, and go through the sequence at least once. If time permits, you can repeat the sequence 2 to 3 times. Aim to incorporate at least one to two drill sessions into your running program each week. http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/drills-for-proper-running-form
Work Agility and Acceleration Drills Speed Agility & Speed Endurance Distance 8-60 sec drills | 30-60 ft sprints 90-300 ft sprints 60-150 ft sprints and agility drills Recovery 1 - 2 minutes 2 minute between sprints 1:1 - 1:3 work/rest ratio Bouts 2-10 repetitions each 4 - 10 sprints 10 - 20 sprints Speed Work Exercises
Agility Exercises (change in direction)
What are some of the mandatory requirements for creating a strength and conditioning program specific to baseball? There are many individuals out there that have some small amount of experience in the weight room with their high school strength coach, but now feel as an adult they have an expert level of knowledge to help young athletes. Baseball is a very technical sport and the professional that trains this type of athlete must have a sound understanding of human anatomy, energy system requirements, biomechanical movement, and experience playing the sport. One important practice that relates to strength and conditioning program development in the area of overall validity is the quality of science based practices. EBP (evidence-based practice) is a systematic approach in which practitioners use the most widely supported available research to based training on (English, Amonette, Graham, & Spiering, 2012). The overall quality and validity of strength and conditioning programs should be based upon EBP that is formulated in a systematic manner. In the healthcare field there was a realization that practices needed to be based upon EBP, after 1990 over half of the field used outdated and unsupported research (English et al., 2012). In an article by English et al. (2012) EBP is defined, 5 steps of the EBP process are described, the usefulness of EBP in strength and conditioning is discussed, and the recommendation that involving science practices and experiences to the area of strength and conditioning is a must. EBP has been defined as a systematic angle to approach a question/purpose based on evidence, reasoning, and individual preferences of the athlete. English et al. (2012) redefines this definition and directs it toward strength and conditioning by stating, “that EBP is a systematic approach to the training of athletes and clients based on the current best evidence from peer-reviewed research and professional reasoning (p.1).” EBP should always be directed toward the context of a specific needs analysis within the sport you are training in. EBP starts with systematic based group of steps to include developing a question that is specific to the population that is targeted. Next, is searching for evidence that is peer reviewed and discussing it with other coaches to find truth and support. Thirdly, the evaluation of the evidence without using personal bias under EBP rules for evaluation. In the fourth step coaches must incorporate the evidence that is supported into their practice. These decisions need to be based on a variety of principles including the amount of quality evidence available, the player preferences, the amount of money available, and the personal judgment of the professional. The final step is that the coaches and strength coordinators need to stay current on literature that is researched and peer reviewed in order to reevaluate their program to stay at the leading edge of the field (English et al., 2012). I have put together a list of principles to use in order to design a strength and conditioning program for young athletes.
References English, K. L., Amonette, W. E., Graham, M., & Spiering, B. A. (2012). What is "Evidence-Based" Strength and Conditioning. Strength and Conditioning Journal , 34 (3), 19-24. |