|
Name a sport, not either lifting sport, that you are only using two arms or two legs at time, go ahead, I’ll wait ....damn near impossible isn’t it? Hence if you train athletes or are an athlete of any sort, you better be sure there are single arm and single leg variations of exercises in that program. I want to focus on single leg, specifically single leg power. Speed kills in all sports, speed & power are things you can separate from each other. Hence, if you’re spending a lot of time on one leg, or using one leg, in your sport and you want to be fast because well...can never have too much speed, then yeah single leg power should be addressed as well as that strength thingy. Launching from one leg, landing on one leg, jumping laterally on one leg, yes it all comes into play. Of course, I’m going to circle this back to that sport I love of organized grab ass, also known as rugby. Taking off from one foot is a big thing in rugby especially if you play one of the back 3 positions (wings and fullbacks). Those high kicks that those pain in the neck scrum-halfs and fly-halfs are putting up, it's better to take them at their highest point possible, which means getting up in the air and often launching from one leg. Have a look at the video I’ve posted, the guy in the funny helmet (scrum cap) is Liam Williams, nicknamed Bomb Defuser in Chief, because he is so good at collecting these high kicks in rugby, aka bombs or high bombs. Have a look at what he does both going up for the kick and coming down from collecting it. Didn’t see 2 feet used much there did you? The 2nd video you see me doing a one leg jump, note the strong landing. If my ogre ass can land without shaking the camera/earth too much, you can too. Not getting lazy on this is important because not only can you save yourself a bit of pain by catching yourself when you land, it enables you to get yourself back int he game and make a move, those chasers aren’t going to make themselves miss after all. 2 other things you’ll see in training, with me especially, are single leg landings, which should be introduced early and Heiden jumps (or skater hops). There’s about 1001 variations (ok maybe over estimated there) of these exercises that you can progress and pregress, program them accordingly. Of course, let’s not forget that in order to have power, you need to have some strength to pair with it. My favorite one leg strength exercises include, Bulgarian split squats, 1-leg squats (either off box or to a box to start), 1-leg RDLs, reverse lunges, and 1-leg hip thrusts. As you can see, 1-leg power is kind of important for sports. Heck, it’s even important for those that are getting older. One thing that goes down hill in older adults is power, and when it gets bad enough, you end up doing one of those cartoonish slip and falls on the ice. Best to be getting everyone a bit of single leg power in that case. Find what variations are working for you, both in landing & taking off, as well as going in different planes. Hopefully this can help someone out with their training or programming and give you that little extra. Any other thoughts, questions or things I missed? Feel free to comment or hit me up. Thanks for reading and have a good Thursday!
0 Comments
My name is Jarrod Dyke, and I am a nobody, but that does not make me wrong in what I'm going to say.
Haven't written one of these in awhile, and was going to restart this thing with some stuff about training athletes and how it applies to my favorite pass time. This feels like something that needs to be put into the ether first. Coaches We have power to change our industry, and it starts with not pedaling those that have chosen to be less than stellar people, just to stay relevant, some even got to be ‘a name’ by being the biggest asshat versions of themselves. At what point do we stop giving coaches a free pass for being doing this, just for the sake of open exploration, or whatever colorful bullshit term we want to put to it? To me it’s no longer enough to just not be a jerk. You have to speak out about these coaches that are out there. Is whatever minute bit of information really worth letting the super jerks of the industry remain on the their pedestal without being called out? Especially if they’re only remaining there because they are jerks or controversial? Does it really need to take someone getting the level of Greg Glassman for us to call someone out and say no that’s not alright and I’m not having it? I’m not having it anymore, where abusing your partner is given a pass because you WERE a good coach. I’m not having it anymore where assaulting women because you’re a ‘name’ and you think you’re untouchable, is given a pass. Their knowledge, which is likely just repeat information from somewhere else, is not worth that part you. Let the asses of the industry work with their likes or folks that have lost their morals, I can’t stand by any more though. I can get the information elsewhere without having to let a piece of me eat away. Thanks to anyone that read this, I'll try for something more productive soon. Later! Happy Thirsty Thursday all. Everyone is still being safe with their health & going out to places, and not super cavalier like some folks I know. If you are, please consider others out there. Alright, today I wanted to share a post about mobility and warmups that went up on social media from me, and now I'm sharing it here for those that aren't into that type of thing. Let’s face it, most of us hate warming up, and I’m in that boat too. It’s not exciting, it’s not sexy, but it’s necessary. For sure, no one wants to have their warm-up take much time. For some, you may only have 20-30 minutes to get something in, why would you wan to spend half to a third of that time on warming up. Here are through movements that can give you more for less time (and aren’t going to require 10 specialty pieces of equipment). 1) World’s Greatest- Hips, Hamstrings, T-Spine
I am a fine of digging that elbow down towards your front ankle and others would prefer you push the knee out with that elbow, depends on your limitations really. Also, I personally like to switch legs through the pushup position to get those shoulders going too. 2) Bridge with Reach- Glutes, T-Spine, Hip Flexor Gotta get some glute activation and this will just make a few other things work or stretch like your t-spine, those smaller glute muscles and your hip flexor. 3) Squat to Overhead- Hips, Scaps, T-Spine This things humbled me once upon a time…and still does. I just suck at it a little less than I use to. Some will choose to do rotations here and that’s fine too. I just figured we’ve hit that movement enough with the firs too, maybe get those scaps to work a bit more instead. So next time you need to get loose and warm without burning tons of daylight, add one of these babies in and do 5 each. |
AuthorJarrod Dyke, CSCS Archives
January 2021
Categories |
RSS Feed