Day 2.
June 12, 2007.
I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Not quite an 18-wheeler, but maybe a Ford F-150, red with chrome all over. Little sleep, little food, lots of new activity. I’m still adapting to the new schedule which will be changing over next week again as the summer groups come in. It’s great we’re getting in a workout each 4 days we’re working at the facility, if anything I’ll find myself with LeBron James like athleticism at the end of summer…although if you’ve been watching the NBA finals…
Saw some interesting new stuff today in the “Day 2 workout” including a direct hip flexor exercise I hadn’t seen before. The first exercise in the series of progressions would be a low pulley supine lying hip flexion with leg at 90 degrees and trying to bring the knee up past 90 degrees. New athletes start with this to avoid compensating with lumbar flexion in a standing position. Next would be the same movement standing and from there you could add adduction at the same time. I had a short conversation with Mike about the exercise; his thoughts are that there are still groin strains in sports, especially in hockey players (a large portion of his clientele) and when tested many athletes are found weak in the adductors and hip flexors. This open chain exercise mimics hip flexion during running or skating, directly addressing these weaknesses. In my humble opinion this type of exercise would be contraindicated for the general population as most people have overactive and shortened hip flexors due to North American posture and this direct hip flexor work would reinforce these imbalances. That said we’re training the ATHLETIC population and in turn this type of exercise is okay. I believe Mike mentioned he’s trying it out for the first time this summer and he’ll watch the groin strain numbers for next year and go from there.
On a related note, Mike and an NHL player then got into a conversation about this and similar exercises and it was interesting (in a good way) to see Mike watch and take suggestions from the athlete.
None of the coaches at this facility are massive. This is not a bodybuilding facility. Hypertrophy is not goal #1. However, they are all good athletes, coaches and in fantastic condition. It’s interesting to see how different coaches and trainers work in different facilities. These guys don’t have a ton of time to diddle around and eat. I saw people randomly pulling food out of their pockets and that sort of thing and it’s quickly become apparent that my food preparation strategy needs to coincide with the environment I’m going to be in for the summer. This means, quick, portable and nutrient dense foods and with the shear amount of moving around we’re going to be doing we can most likely get away with some “not so clean” foods and still be in single digit bodyfat by the end of the summer (I’m not there yet but I doubt it will take long).
Today was a lateral day. The four-day program is split into linear and lateral days and exercises and warm-ups are tailored to the general movement scheme of the specific days. We did some ladder work today; which certainly isn’t my forte but I picked it up quick enough; I’m hoping there will be crossover to my dancing abilities. Single leg box jumps were also on the agenda as well as some “new to me” med ball work. GLUTES, glutes, glutes. You’ve always gotta be contracting those glutes. And I thought I was bad when one of my clients recently told me he’ll remember me because of my constant urging to “squeeze your butt”. I’m squeezing my butt here in places and positions where I hadn’t thought previously to squeeze my butt. Butt (sorry) it’s awesome because I had been suffering from some glute dysfunction anyway and this is certainly going to show me how to better approach proper gluteal training and functioning. Alas, my ass, it’s sore.
Today was also an “upper body” day. As part of the changes this year to reduce the load on the CNS, Coach Boyle has basically gone from 4 to 2 lower body exercise days and placed more emphasis on upper body on the other days. This means where he had never previously included direct isolation work for the triceps for instance, today we were doing rope pressdowns. I’m digging the stretches and supplementary exercises throughout the workouts and I’ll go into more detail another day about how the workouts are laid out.
One of the other interns heard Mike say that a certain exercises was “the best exercise for core” or something to that effect so of course we had to investigate. It’s hard to describe because it was being done on a Keiser machine I had never seen before, Sort of a round centre with arms every couple feet or so that could be adjusted to point more up or down. Essentially the athlete grabbed two handles one from behind and one from in front and simultaneously did a push, press or punch with the back arm and a pull or row with the front arm. The idea was to keep the hips and torso stable and to resist rotation. Another big theme here, developing core stability and strength by resisting rotation. The movement in this exercise should be coming from the shoulders only.
I think this blog is getting plenty long and although I’m sure I’ve forgotten some world changing, mind boggling tidbit of information I wanted to include I’ll have to save it for next time.
I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Not quite an 18-wheeler, but maybe a Ford F-150, red with chrome all over. Little sleep, little food, lots of new activity. I’m still adapting to the new schedule which will be changing over next week again as the summer groups come in. It’s great we’re getting in a workout each 4 days we’re working at the facility, if anything I’ll find myself with LeBron James like athleticism at the end of summer…although if you’ve been watching the NBA finals…
Saw some interesting new stuff today in the “Day 2 workout” including a direct hip flexor exercise I hadn’t seen before. The first exercise in the series of progressions would be a low pulley supine lying hip flexion with leg at 90 degrees and trying to bring the knee up past 90 degrees. New athletes start with this to avoid compensating with lumbar flexion in a standing position. Next would be the same movement standing and from there you could add adduction at the same time. I had a short conversation with Mike about the exercise; his thoughts are that there are still groin strains in sports, especially in hockey players (a large portion of his clientele) and when tested many athletes are found weak in the adductors and hip flexors. This open chain exercise mimics hip flexion during running or skating, directly addressing these weaknesses. In my humble opinion this type of exercise would be contraindicated for the general population as most people have overactive and shortened hip flexors due to North American posture and this direct hip flexor work would reinforce these imbalances. That said we’re training the ATHLETIC population and in turn this type of exercise is okay. I believe Mike mentioned he’s trying it out for the first time this summer and he’ll watch the groin strain numbers for next year and go from there.
On a related note, Mike and an NHL player then got into a conversation about this and similar exercises and it was interesting (in a good way) to see Mike watch and take suggestions from the athlete.
None of the coaches at this facility are massive. This is not a bodybuilding facility. Hypertrophy is not goal #1. However, they are all good athletes, coaches and in fantastic condition. It’s interesting to see how different coaches and trainers work in different facilities. These guys don’t have a ton of time to diddle around and eat. I saw people randomly pulling food out of their pockets and that sort of thing and it’s quickly become apparent that my food preparation strategy needs to coincide with the environment I’m going to be in for the summer. This means, quick, portable and nutrient dense foods and with the shear amount of moving around we’re going to be doing we can most likely get away with some “not so clean” foods and still be in single digit bodyfat by the end of the summer (I’m not there yet but I doubt it will take long).
Today was a lateral day. The four-day program is split into linear and lateral days and exercises and warm-ups are tailored to the general movement scheme of the specific days. We did some ladder work today; which certainly isn’t my forte but I picked it up quick enough; I’m hoping there will be crossover to my dancing abilities. Single leg box jumps were also on the agenda as well as some “new to me” med ball work. GLUTES, glutes, glutes. You’ve always gotta be contracting those glutes. And I thought I was bad when one of my clients recently told me he’ll remember me because of my constant urging to “squeeze your butt”. I’m squeezing my butt here in places and positions where I hadn’t thought previously to squeeze my butt. Butt (sorry) it’s awesome because I had been suffering from some glute dysfunction anyway and this is certainly going to show me how to better approach proper gluteal training and functioning. Alas, my ass, it’s sore.
Today was also an “upper body” day. As part of the changes this year to reduce the load on the CNS, Coach Boyle has basically gone from 4 to 2 lower body exercise days and placed more emphasis on upper body on the other days. This means where he had never previously included direct isolation work for the triceps for instance, today we were doing rope pressdowns. I’m digging the stretches and supplementary exercises throughout the workouts and I’ll go into more detail another day about how the workouts are laid out.
One of the other interns heard Mike say that a certain exercises was “the best exercise for core” or something to that effect so of course we had to investigate. It’s hard to describe because it was being done on a Keiser machine I had never seen before, Sort of a round centre with arms every couple feet or so that could be adjusted to point more up or down. Essentially the athlete grabbed two handles one from behind and one from in front and simultaneously did a push, press or punch with the back arm and a pull or row with the front arm. The idea was to keep the hips and torso stable and to resist rotation. Another big theme here, developing core stability and strength by resisting rotation. The movement in this exercise should be coming from the shoulders only.
I think this blog is getting plenty long and although I’m sure I’ve forgotten some world changing, mind boggling tidbit of information I wanted to include I’ll have to save it for next time.
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6:41 AM
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