HOW TO MASTER THE PLANK
There is no exercise that works your abs more effectively and efficiently than the plank. All of your abdominal muscles (transverse, obliques and upper) have to work together to stabilize and support your entire body weight.
It also engages your glutes, shoulders, lats, arms and legs. Almost every muscle in your body is being toned and tightened when you perform this power move.
Get ready to flatten and tone your midsection in as little as 60 seconds with all the variations of this super pose.
Master the Plank
Before you try some of the more creative poses it’s essential the you master the basic pose.
Remember:
- Draw your navel towards your spine. Think about really pulling your belly up, no sagging!
- Don’t overarch your back. You want your whole body from the top of your head to your ankles to be in a straight line.
- Engage your glutes. This will help you keep that straight line.
- Keep those angles at a 90 degree angle. This helps your entire body stack correctly.
- Don’t collapse into your shoulders or let them rise towards your ears. Pulling your abs tighter will help you direct the hold to your core instead of your neck and upper shoulders.
- Keep your gaze about 6 inches in front of your face. This will keep your neck from straining.
Work up to a 60 second hold, focus on perfect form. If you need to rest during your plank drop your knees down to the ground and then rise back up again into the pose.
Plank Variations
Once you’ve mastered the basic plank, check out these fun and challenging takes on the basic movement:
Oblique Plank: Moving your legs while holding the plank increases the work your lower abs and obliques have to do, plus it gets your heart rate up burning a ton of calories.
Side Plank: Shifting the plank from one arm to two forces your obliques and lats to engage- say goodbye to love handles.
Mountain Climbers: Want to tone and tighten your abs while ramping up your heart rate? Try this fast paced ab move as a cardio interval between strength moves.
Exercise Ball Planks: Doing this balancing exercise on an unstable surface dramatically increases the challenge to your core by forcing it to tighten and lift to stabilize your body.
DRINK CHOCOLATE MILK POST WORKOUT FOR GREAT RESULTS
Looking for a great recovery drink after a hard workout?
Drinking chocolate milk between exercise sessions may improve recovery. The purpose of a recent study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research was to examine the effects of low fat chocolate milk vs. a carbohydrate–electrolyte beverage (CE) on recovery between preseason practice sessions among 5 male and 8 female Division III soccer players. The study used a randomized crossover design: between morning and afternoon practices, athletes received either an amount of chocolate milk that provided 1 g carbohydrate per kilogram body weight or an equal volume of CE (mean volume of 615 ± 101 ml). After their afternoon practice, they completed a shuttle run to fatigue.
Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon paired rank-sign test (for shuttle run time) and the paired samples t-test (for dietary intake). No significant differences in run time were reported for the group. For the men only, there was a trend of increased time to fatigue with chocolate milk compared with the CE (exact p = 0.03). Low fat chocolate milk may therefore be as good as a CE at promoting recovery between training sessions during preseason.
Spaccarotella, KJ and Andzel, WD. The effects of low fat chocolate milk on postexercise recovery in collegiate athletes. J Strength Cond Res 25(12): 3456–3460, 2011.
LOWER BACK CARE
If you have ever hurt your lower back or strained it, follow these steps to help loosen it up.
1. Lie on your back with your knees bent. Slowly pull your knees up to the chest until you feel a gentle stretch in your lower back.
2. Get on your hands and knees, walk your hands in front of you. Lower your buttocks down to sit on your heels. Let your arms drag along the floor as you sit back to stretch your entire spine. Once you settle onto your heels, bring your hands next to your feet and relax. “breathe” into your back. Rest your forehead on the floor. Avoid this position if you have knee problems.
3. Lie down with your feet on the floor, heels directly under your knees, arms overhead to relax your upper back. Lift only your tailbone to the ceiling to stretch your lower back. (Don’t lift the entire spine yet.) Pull in your stomach. To go into a bridge, lift the entire spine except the neck. The bridge isn’t a lower-back stretch (it actually stretches the abdominals and hip flexors), but it is a mobility exercise for the lower back that relieves lower-back pain. This posture lets the fluid in the vertebrae trickle down to the back of the vertebrae (usually, in a slumped seated posture, that fluid falls forward into the discs). When you move into and out of the bridge, move slowly, one vertebrae at a time.
4. Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Exhale and press the small of your back against the floor. Hold for 15 seconds. Return to the starting position. Repeat 9 more times.
PITCHING: DON’T DRAG THAT LEG!
During my 8 year old pitching group, one of the athletes asked me why do they have to release their back leg after they push off. The answer is pretty simple. POWER. Learning simple moves like releasing your back leg is something that young pitchers need to develop at a young age. Like their arm slot, releasing their leg (although simple) is something that is hard to break the older they get. This is why you need to release the leg:
Have you ever tried walking around like a zombie, dragging your back leg? Try it. Get up and try running or even walking while dragging that leg. Its impossible to to get any speed and it will slow you down. Its the same thing with pitching. If you keep that back leg planted your wont be able to push off with any force. To be able to keep that back leg planted means that at some point during your delivery, you had to slow down your throw in order to keep it planted to the rubber. You wont be able to get any type of power in your pitch.
Solutions: One of the best ways to break a young pitcher of this, is to have him work on how far he strides. If they make their stride to home plate farther, they will naturally want to release that back leg. Their stride home should typically be a 6 inches to a 1 ft shorter than how tall they are. Its easier to keep that back leg planted if you take a really short stride.
8 YEAR OLD PITCHING GROUP
One of the things I have discovered over the years of working with pitchers of all ages, is that it is best to start from the end of the delivery and work your way backwards. The reason for this is simple…..how you finish is the most important part of the whole process of pitching. All the other stuff in a pitching windup will make more sense to the pitcher once they know how it ends. How an arm is brought from the back to the front is the hardest thing to change in a high school kids delivery. It has already been engrained in the pitchers muscle memory, so to change it takes months to fix.
That is why age 8 is the best time for an athlete to start learning how to pitch. They are still figuring out how to control their body, so what better time to teach them the basics of pitching. Its like learning a second language. They always start them young. Same thing with pitching. In the video we are working at the ending. I have the kids keep their legs apart and work on bringing their arm forward. Its a very simple drill but is very, very powerful.
SINGLE LEG DUMBBELL SNATCH
The single leg dumbbell snatch is a very effective exercise for athletes because it incorporates a number of different functional aspects that are critical to an athlete’s game. The snatch component of the exercise is used to develop strength and explosive power. Performing the exercise standing on just one leg adds an element of instability, which allows the athlete to train balance, coordination, core strength and stabilization. Becoming more proficient in these areas can translate to better performance on the field.
8 COMMON NUTRITION MISTAKES AND HOW TO FIX THEM
One of the major things we find wrong with the athletes we train, are their eating habits. Many of them, the first few times they come in, have to be told what to and not to eat. With the hustle and bustle of kids in school, many of them don’t have time to grab a healthy snack before they come to work out. This article will give you a great base for how to eat correctly so you can get the most our of your workout.
ACCLIMATE YOUR BODY FOR COLD WEATHER
With fall here, and winter quickly approaching, it is very important for you to teach your body how to react to cold weather when it comes to training. Just because cold weather is not ideal to exercise in, doesn’t mean you have to stay in doors. This article gives great tips on how to aclimate your body so that the cold weather won’t negatively effect your body.
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GET OFF THE FLAT GROUND TO HELP PREVENT INJURIES
Coach Matt Russ
For Active.com
The shoes we run in today are great for reducing impact. There are a myriad of devices, gels, air channels, etc., designed to lessen the compressive loads on the joints.
One drawback, however, is that if you do most of your running on even, paved surfaces the lower leg muscles and joints don’t have to work as hard to stabilize. Joint stability and integrity are crucial for injury prevention. That’s where trail running comes in.
Running over uneven and varied surfaces makes the muscles of the lower leg work especially hard; think specific strength training for the lower leg muscles. I recently noticed how sore my lower legs were after a competing in an off-road multi-sport event. The tendons, ligaments and muscles all get stronger in response to this type of stress.
Best Time Is in Base
There are a few considerations when integrating trail running into your training plan. Unless you run in off-road events, the best time to incorporate trail running into your plan is in base.
As with any new type of training stress, it’s important to implement it gradually. You may want to start off with one workout per week of limited mileage, and steadily increase the duration.
Off-road surfaces vary from crushed gravel, sand, grass, single-track hiking trails, to rough back-country trails. The more varied the terrain, the more your lower legs and body will be stressed. On extremely rough and elevated terrain, hiking may be just as effective (and safer) than running. You’ll likely enter your aerobic base zones in this type of terrain without having to run.
Use Trail Shoes
Trail shoes offer more support and traction, but much less cushioning. Trail shoes vary from running shoes with a more aggressive tread, all the way up to hiking shoes which may not applicable for running.
Make sure you consult with a salesperson to get the right shoe for your type of training. I don’t recommend doing any road running in a trail shoe, but you can take your running shoes off road if the surface is relatively stable, such as crushed gravel.
Trail running works both the lower legs and all the muscles associated with running, including lateral knee stability, and will help develop coordination. You can continue to incorporate trail running throughout the season for strength maintenance. Trail running adds variety to your training, with better scenery!
Matt Russ (has coached and trained athletes around the country and internationally. He currently holds licenses by USAT, USATF, and is an Expert level USAC coach. Matt has coached athletes for CTS (Carmichael Training Systems), is an Ultrafit Associate.
KETTLE BELL FRONT SQUATS
You don’t need heavy weight, or weight at all, for a squat to be effective. Doing a squat with proper form is a workout in itself. The front squat is a great move for learning balance. Follow this how too video and start strengthening you body today!