Happy Monday everyone, hope all are feeling good after their weekends and are ready to attack the week ahead. Today’s babbling discusses training to help cut down injuries and still finding a balance so to stay in the game, not on the sidelines.
 
For those that are often injured or find themselves dealing with some sort of nagging issues, especially of the soft tissue variety, they’re often told to “just take it easy”, especially athletes (youth or otherwise). Most strength coaches and physical therapists that have been around the block more than once will call this absolute nonsense. I personally would say if they are picking up injuries that are constantly nagging, with the previously mentioned soft tissue variety usually being the biggest culprit, the athlete needs to get themselves in the weight room. If they’re their already, up the frequency, especially if it’s less than 3 training sessions a week in the off-season.
 
A balanced strength training program will give an athlete more confidence out on the playing surface (ice, field, court, etc…) and that they aren’t going to just pull up lame for the 10th time in 5 years. More confidence means they become better players and they reach their full potential, to some extent at least, and I don’t see a downside to that. Of course, there is absolutely no way to prevent an athlete from ever picking up an injury, but you want to keep the nagging ones at bay as best as you can.

I do want to say, there is a balance to all this though, because as much as many strength coaches and such, would nod their head to the above, they’d likely also agree with this. Athletes (youth, recreational and everywhere between) need to remember that if you are training to get better at your given sport/activity, you’re there to do just that, not see how much weight you can pile on to the bar before you crumble. I know I’ve had to stare a hole through some of my players to remind them of this when they’re lifting more than their current strength and technique level allows them to.
 
Finally, building on the above, there is such thing as too much of a good thing. Coaches and athletes should keep in mind volume and intensity is going to have different thresholds for different people. You’ll often see athletes that are monsters in the gym, but can’t stay healthy because let’s face it, they probably left it all in the gym. All that training doesn’t do you a ton of good if you pick up an injury because your body gave out too soon in the season, no?
 
In the end, train so your body can handle the stressors of your sport or activity, find yourself a coach that’ll help you manage the balance of too much & too little, and enjoy the confidence that comes with having a resilient body that’s not going to give you a new tweak every other contest.
 
Hope this all found folks nodding to some degree and if there’s something you want to discuss, I’m all for discussing and learning from each other. Have a great week everyone!

Happy Monday everybody and a happy spring too. We all have those periods of our life, or at least, the year, where the schedule is jam packed. Training during busy times, and in an athlete’s case in-season, is very important and there are a few reasons why.
 
Stress Management- When you’re in season or in a busy period of your life, you will undoubtedly be stressed out. Unless you are perfect when it comes to managing your stress (no such thing really), then you are going to need a way to relieve it to some degree, before you have some sort of break down. Strength training might not be the cure all, but it does the job well for most. You exert yourself, you get back some of your confidence, release some of those endorphins, pretty good stuff if you ask me.

Keep the Sick Bug Away- Not unlike above, when you train during your busy blocks of life, assuming you don’t train to absolute train-wreck-failure, you can keep that little sick bug away that tends to pop up when we overwork ourselves and our body breaks down. Adjust the weights and your intensity of your training to match your energy, and you’ll keep your immune system in good shape, let alone your body.

Building and Maintaining Strength- Yes, even in busy times of your life, or in-season for athletes, you can build some strength. Even if you’re not quite getting the training in that builds your strength, you’ve likely taken a lot of time and care to build your strength, you don’t want to go back to square one if you can help it, right? Just 1 training session a week, though I’d recommend 2, can help you at the very least maintain what you’ve built.
 
There, now the next time you know the schedule is about to get jammed, whether it be practice, meetings or whatever, you know the reasons to try to keep at your training. Thanks for reading today everyone, have a great week!

A good Monday to everyone out there, wake up wake up, the clock isn’t your enemy, no matter what happened this weekend. Today I’ve got a subject matter, that I’ve hit on a few times, but I think is worth repeating. I also hope it helps put some minds at ease and calms down the chaos that the training world can be.
 
We don’t HAVE to do any exercise in particular, but there are certain patterns that need to be done regularly when training, otherwise, we’ll find ourselves having issues down the road (hinge, squat/lunge, push, pull, carry). Unfortunately, coaches tend to get VERY stuck in their ways, and I’m not immune to it, I’ve done it in the past, and I’ll do it in the future likely. Just the same, if you hear a coach saying that one variation, example; a back squat, is the only true variation of a movement pattern, keep scrolling, hit next or whatever it is you need to do to end your listening of that foolishness.
 
Are there some movements that fit the bill for most people out there? Oh yeah.
 
Are there some movements out there that are appropriate for very few as well? You bet

Just the same, some folks insist on hammering the round peg into the square hole, or whatever shape, and it ends up being a hindrance. What I’m telling you here today is, if you have been doing goblet squat for your squat/lunge patter or KB swings for your hinge pattern, and you’re still seeing progress, with no interest in moving on to things more advanced, keep doing it. I would encourage everyone to TRY a more advanced variation of a movement, if it suits their body (literally the way some bodies are put together, some movements will be very bad fits).
 
Apart from the little nudge into the next advancement of a movement, rock on with your trap bar, your Bulgarian split squat (you evil person) or your dumbbell bench press. Push those boundaries when it’s appropriate or find someone that can help you assess if it’s appropriate. When you’re in a good training sweet spot, where you’re enjoying the movements AND seeing progress, don’t rock that boat I say.
 
Hopefully this can make training less confusing for some out there and affirm what some are doing already. If you enjoyed the content in this e-mail, I just ask you forward it to a friend that you think will like it too. Hope everyone has a great week and thanks for reading!