Sport Specific Workout

CHOOSE THE RIGH T EXERCISES FOR A SPORTS SPECIFIC WORKOUT HOW? performwithmvp.com

Strength training and sports specific conditioning has really evolved rapidly over the past 10-15 years as many coaches and athletes search for better ways to train and get every little bit of potential from their body. Yet there is a huge gap in knowledge between elite professional athletes and the amateur or even semi professionals, Especially when it comes to deciding what exercises to use.

THE PROCESS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT EXERCISE Testing and assessing is so important for it gives you a baseline to measure improvement but also to identify strengths and weaknesses.This would be the first mistake people make as they often use exercises someone else was using, they found something on the internet that looked cool or even because a professional player was doing it. To know what is the right exercise for you to do, you need to assess your current ability for general movement and also your ability for your chosen sport.

The most important thing to remember with choosing exercises for your plan is to follow the chart below which I will explain in detail.

STEP ONE - DEVELOP OPTIMAL FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENT PATTERNS This bottom layer is what everything is built from. If you have a problem at this level, it just gets bigger the higher up you move through the pyramid. Notice that strength and power are not fully developed until step 3? We all know that mastering fundamental skills in sports is the key to learning more advanced skills later on, well the same is true for movements in the gym.

What exactly are functional movement patterns? These are the movement patterns your body uses to create movement. Very, very rarely to muscles work in complete isolation or anywhere close to it. When we move some muscles contract, others stretch and elongate to while some muscles provide stability, and all of this is done within a split second without you having to think about it. This is what is known as a pattern of movement and these patterns are like groups of movements linked together in a big chunk of information. The chunk of information is known as a motor program (like software on a computer). These motor programs link many movements together all at once to complete a specific task.

STEP TWO - IMPROVE POSTURE MOBILITY AND STABILITY This step is important to spend a lot of time in for it can really prepare you for the much more intense and rigorous training ahead. It is in this stage that injury prevention strategies are learned and adopted, and it is also in this stage we spend a lot of time in rehabilitation if you do get injured. The main difference is it is much more fun and easier when you are using this phase for injury prevention. Not to mention how much faster you can move through this, so spend the time to do it right as it will be well worth it.

STEP THREE - INTEGRATED STRENGTH & POWER The first thing that comes to mind when mentioning strength and power for sports training is Olympic lifting. I myself love Olympic lifts but the relevance to most sports is not as great as it is all hyped up to be. So while these exercises may be used, I believe there is much more valuable exercises to use that deliver a bigger punch in terms of strength and power where you need it. Here is a look at what most sports do require: Almost all sports require single leg jumping and landing Most sports are multi directional Lateral and rotatory movements are where the real explosiveness must be trainedImbalance and weakness is common in only one leg that wont be detected with bilateral exercises

STEP FOUR - SPORTS SPECIFIC SKILLS We are now at the stage where we try to take all the things we have worked on separately being mobility, posture, stability, movement skills, strength and even power in their simple form and try to make them more specific to what you need. It is in this stage that you need to be clear on what abilities you need. There is 8 abilities you need to rank in importance for your sport and then assess your ability on how well you can execute it.

Here is how to test your BRAKES! Refer to the exercises below and see if you can achieve a 5/5 for each test. 1. Single Leg Squat - (Testing: Balance & Eccentric Strength) Neutral spine/chest up/core and postural control throughout Full range of motion to desired depth Balance control Eccentric control (knee tracking, weight shift, muscle activation) Strong concentric return to start position

2. Balance Board Tuck & Hold - (Testing: Balance, Reactions & Eccentric Strength) Strong tuck position with full range of motion Weight evenly distributed between legs Core set in neutral spine/chest up/core and postural control throughout Adjustments from lower body NOT through counter balance of upper body or arm movement. Maintain knee alignment

3. Balance Board Double Leg Eccentric Quick Drop Squat- (Testing: Balance, Reactions & Eccentric Strength) Board doesn’t touch ground on drop Maintain posture and knee alignment No hesitation on drop Able to hold for 5 sec Full range of motion achieved

4. Dynamic Coupling Lunges - (Testing: Agility, Explosive Speed, Eccentric Strength) Explosive take-off Use of athletic arms Feet land at the same time Land in lunge position Maintain posture and knee alignment

5. Lateral Bounds - (Testing: Explosive Speed, Agility, Eccentric Strength) Balanced athletic take-off position Triple extension achieved during jump (lateral and vertical displacement) Use of athletic arms Triple flexion achieved when landing (lateral and vertical deceleration)Control of balance on single leg landing

6. Hop and BOSU Land - (Testing: Explosive Speed, Balance, Agility) Use of athletic arms Explosive take-off Land with bent knee Stick landing for 3 sec Maintain posture and knee alignment

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Sport Specific Workout