Yes, it is true. A simple change in the way you move can
make you significantly faster…immediately.

We, here at TREO Sports, have seen it time and time again
with the athletes we work with. It’s usually evident by the
athlete gaining a burst of energy and sort of bouncing with
a mild and cool, of course, excitement after they successfully
nailed a much faster movement.

This immediate increase in speed comes from more efficient
and effective movement by way of better mechanics. Although
specific mechanics such as shin and trunk angle upon ground
contact during movement stays about the same with nearly any
acceleration there are differences in the set up.

A volleyball and tennis athlete are similar in that they both are
in a static position prior to reacting to the ball but how they get
to the ball in terms of set up is entirely different in most situations.
The set up for field and other court athletes that are typically in a jog
prior to a sudden burst of acceleration is completely different from a
static start but also very different based on the subsequent movement
the athlete needs to make. A linear burst forward is much different
than an acceleration at a 45 degree angle and much different still
when a change of direction and re-acceleration is required.

So, with all that said one thing should be clear…the setup matters and
can significantly add to the speed and acceleration an athlete can make.

Although there are many different things that influence and dictate solid
mechanics I am going to mention just two because if you can apply these
two changes to your acceleration work on the court or field you will feel
an immediate difference and if you don’t, well, your not doing it right.

They are a positive shin angle and a 45 degree trunk angle.
A lot of athletes overreach on their 1st step and as a result create a
negative shin angle which essentially slows them down because the foot
is striking the ground in front of their body.

Take a second and stand up tall, lift your knee so your thigh is parallel
to the ground and now bring your heel towards your thigh (hamstrings).
That is a positive shin angle.

Now, while your standing tall, push your heel forward so it is in front of
your knee. That is a negative shin angle.

Now imagine maintainng the position of that negative shin angle at a 45
degree body angle, which is the angle you should maintain during the
first phase of acceleration. With your foot forward you will strike the ground
in front of your body or center of mass which will undoubtedly slow you
down.

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton’s third
law of motion). Stand tall and push your heel into the ground in front of
your body. Did you go anywhere? If anything you pushed yourself backwards because
the angle of your force into the ground created an equal and opposite force
towards you.

As you sprint from a static position or from a jog, assuming you are at
a 45 degree body angle to the ground, drive your knee forward but keep
your heel tucked to your thigh with the intention of driving the ball of your
foot into the ground behind your center of mass in order to quickly
propel your body forward.

If you do this correctly you will immediately feel a burst of speed forward.
The best part is, once you add in other essential mechanics you’ll be even faster.

Play around with this for a bit and you’ll feel a great difference.

I am participating in a 10 week program to help increase my strength, agility, speed, and vertical. I am only half way through the program and I already feel results. When playing, I feel I can jump higher, get to the ball quicker using different techniques, and can hit the ball harder. Jason and the instructors teach helpful techniques to improve all of your skills. They are so nice and never let you give up. I had never done a workout program before and I didn’t know what to expect. I was so glad to find out that my 1st experience of a program like this would be as great as it is. Specifically, I have increased how hard I hit the ball, and how fast I get to the ball. The instructors have taught me ways to get to the ball without using wasted movements. When we work on our upper body strength, I can feel my muscles getting bigger. When I go to hit the ball, I feel more force behind it. The experience of working with the Treo team is wonderful. They help you do the exercises right so that you will benefit from them. I love coming to workouts and I am so glad I chose to do it.

-Riley Moll, Age 14
Immaculata, Volleyball

I just returned from my Phoenix trip a few days ago Sunday, where I attended a certification course. With the addition of that course I am now a Z-Health Movement Performance Specialist (R,I,S,T).

My wife Emily has been making regular blog post to our boot camp website for several months now and we’ve had a positive response so, needless to say, I will be adding several post each month as well with topics ranging from nutrition, explosiveness, speed, agility, motivation, and almost any other sports and fitness related category that will ultimately help you and/or your children learn and achieve more.

Through the course I attended over this past weekend I’ve come to a further appreciation for the nervous system and how it ultimately governs everything we do. It can either facilitate performance or inhibit it.

Most conventional training systems focus on getting more horsepower out of each and every athlete; some by solely focusing on improving strength, others on explosiveness, and still others a combination of the two.

While this is well and good, if the primary objective is to improve strength and explosiveness, maybe we should not just look at what methods can be employed to generate more horsepower and facilitate performance but also at the factors that may inhibit performance and put the brakes on the nervous system from further improving strength and explosiveness.

Think of it this way.

Your body is the corvette and the brakes and accelerator is your nervous system. If you slammed your foot on the gas pedal you would be moving extremely fast. That gas pedal has the ability to facilitate performance and make you faster when the right methods are applied. The reality is that most athletes may be pushing on the gas pedal but, whether they like it or not, the brakes are applied as well.

In some, the nervous system is significantly inhibiting performance and putting a lid on an athlete’s potential because the brakes are almost fully applied. The reason this happens is for another blog post. The important thing to realize is that no matter how much you may push on the accelerator (get stronger, more explosive) there will always be a limit to how fast you can go or how much better you can perform UNTIL the brakes are removed.

Brakes to the nervous system can be applied by means of the visual system, vestibular, neuromuscular system, skeletal system and more. Scars, broken bones that are now healed and a host of other things can be enough to hold you back.
For months now we have been improving dozens of athlete’s vertical jump ½ – 4” in just several minutes of 1 Movement Efficiency Assessment session while also immediately improving their strength, range of motion and even speed by simply removing the brakes.

Just this past weekend I witnessed similar performance improvements through a very effective, unique and innovative way to address scars, bones, and a host of other things.

If you think you have reached your peak I can guarantee you your probably not even close. The human body is capable of incredible things and will perform greatly when all the right tools are implemented. Continue to train hard but begin asking yourself how you might be able to train smarter.

Jason

One of my clients this past week had a granola bar prior to her workout with me while another one had just an egg with a piece of fruit.  Some of our athletes had their last meal before our workout at lunch time, leaving at least 3 hours with no food before what should be an intense workout.

So, has your energy ever been in the dumps during a workout, practice or competition?

Maybe your energy levels and workout intensity are good, just not great.

If so then I’m sure your nutrition needs similar work to a few of the clients I mentioned above.

Whether the goal is to burn as much body fat as possible or take your performance to the next level one thing is certain – either goal cannot be achieved with mediocre effort and less than optimal intensity.

Most folks have a hard time realizing and understanding the importance of actually eating a fair quantity of calories (i.e. fuel) each day when they are trying to lose body fat and get leaner which is why a couple of my clients I mentioned above practically starved themselves prior to their workout.  As far as our high school and college athletes are concerned I’m certain they just don’t realize that the more fuel they have in their tank, through better and more frequent eating, means not only a more intense workout overall but also an improved ability to sustain a higher intensity for a longer period of time.

If you eat correctly YOU WILL have significantly more energy during your workouts, recover faster between workouts, and ultimately get better results in the end.

The solution:

• Eat frequently, about every 2-3 hours.  This will help maintain your blood sugar levels and contribute to a more consistent level of energy throughout the day.
• Treat each workout and/or practice as game day.  Meaning you need to be at your best.  If you place that level of importance with your workouts and/or practices you will then give it the necessary planning and preparation required TO be at your best.
• Time your meals and snacks better.  That means if you know you are working out at 9:00 am and it personally takes you at least a solid hour to digest your food then make sure you’re done with breakfast by 8:00am.  If your an athlete who won’t be working out until 4pm then make sure you have a decent sized snack after your lunch (i.e. 12pm).  If the workout won’t finish until after 5pm and you won’t be home until 5:30 then you have a lot more planning because you need to fuel your tank every 2-3 hours.  Check out the example below.
• >  Lunch at 12pm.  Around 2:30 consume a sandwich or another starch/protein that has a decent amount of calories.  At 3:30 have a piece of fruit, Kashi TLC bar or another small snack.
• Give your body enough fuel (calories).  Instead of just a granola bar for breakfast before your workout and only adding about an 1/16 of fuel to your tank try actually filling your tank up.  You can better do that with a couple eggs and a bowl of oatmeal.  To better ensure you don’t gag on the whole rolled oats try adding some sliced banana and a little fruit.

All of the things mentioned above can have a huge change on the quality, effectiveness and overall results achieved from your workouts and training sessions.  Be sure to take a few minutes and think about your past workouts and how they felt.

Was it really the exercises that were not intense OR was it the effort exerted during them that wasn’t intense enough?

Prepare whatever food you need to make it happen.

In another future post I’ll get more specific with pre/post-workout nutrition and the best carbohydrate to protein ratio to further improve your workout time before you fatigue, improve recovery, tissue repair and growth.

To your health and performance,

 

Jason

p.s. If you want to significantly improve your performance and have not yet registered for one of our Summer Performance Camps check out the link on our homepage at www.TREOSportsFitness.com.  The early bird special ends May 31st.  We GUARANTEE you WILL improve your performance and take your game to the next level.

 

 

And we thought weight control was tough in the summer! HA!

Well, without further ado, let’s take action to prevent a Christmas gift of 10+ pounds this year, shall we?!

1) Mindfulness: First of all, why do I say “Mindfulness” instead of just “Mindful eating”? Most of us during the Holidays set ourselves to auto-pilot. We shop on auto-pilot, we drive (aggresively, mind you) on auto-pilot, we wake up and cook and clean on auto-pilot. Many of us are just trying to get through the holidays.

However, falling into a seasonal-stupor will do nothing positive for yourself, OR your health. You will also EAT on autopilot. And can you guess what your body will crave during this stressful time? That’s right, carbs, sugar, carbs, sugar, and carbs. Oh, and sugar, too. The reason I’m mentioning MINDFULLNESS as a whole, is because the more mindful you are of your every action and every decision, you may actually find that you enjoy this season! Try to be present everywhere you go. Take in all the colors, the snow, the beautiful Christmas music, and all the JOY that comes along with the holidays. The more mindful you make these events, the more control you will have over your stress levels, and therefore the more control you will have over your eating habits. Remember, health is not just about losing weight. That, in fact, is only a small part of it! Creating a stress-free environment for yourself is one of the best things you can do. Be Mindful, this season.

2) Eating: Of course we have to discuss this. There isn’t much that I can say that you don’t already know. But maybe I can touch on something that might encourage you to make good choices. Let’s say you’ve mastered #1 (which, by the way, is going to be an on-going thing. You may have to re-start your goal to be mindful every 5 minutes for weeks until it becomes habit), well if you are TRULY acting mindfully, then you will be much more likely to conquer #2. Since they are both a work in progress, we need some proactive ways to enable ourselves to be healthy this season. Which brings me to my next point…

3) Proactivity: (Not sure if that’s a word.. but I think you know what I mean) That means, do you REALLY need to bring cookies to the party? Are you SO worried that there won’t be enough cut-outs for everyone to eat the 85 that they normally eat? Maybe you are known for you special “decadent double chocolate and raspberry with high fat cream and rolled in extra sugar” cookies that you make every year. That doesn’t mean they need 12 dozen of them (or YOU, for that matter). Just be reassured that there will be PLENTY of junk to go around this year without your contribution. I realize that cookie-baking is a big tradition, but the problem is that we all end up with dozens more than we need. Enjoy your traditions, but consider creating new ones, too! (because seriously, your husbands and children, and relatives really don’t need them either!)

Consider being “that person” who everyone can count on for the healthy snacks at the party! How about fresh hummus and raw veggies, or a low-fat yogurt dip (instead of sour cream) with veggies or Kashi Crackers. If you are hosting the party, consider a lower carb, lower fat dish like chicken breast with a steamed vegetable and a side of couscous, quinoa, or  risotto. Dessert can be fresh apples, sliced and baked with a sprinkling of cinnamon, sugar and a little whipped cream. There ARE ways around things, you just have to find them.

4) Liquid Calories: That’s wine, beer, liquor, juice, punch, soda, champagne, etc. Truthfully, much of the weight that is gained during the holidays is due to these drinks. They are  much higher in calories, and are not as filling. You can probably throw 4 or more down before dinner even starts, right?! And then a few after. The worst part is, alcohol acts as a carb and a fat. Your body doesn’t know what to do with it, so it stores it and decides to deal with it later (I’ll let you be the judge of whether your body ever gets to it or not). Going back to number one, drink mindfully. Oh- And the whole things about red wine being good for you?! Well, first of all, that’s ONE glass ( which is 4 oz, not 12). After that it’s health benefits are overtaken by the negative results of drinking too much alcohol. And Secondly, berries, fruits, and veggies in their most natural state are JUST as potent in antioxidants. Don’t be fooled by marketing ploys and media. It is NOT your friend.

5) Stay Active: DUH! And no, running around your kitchen, parking far from the store, etc really doesn’t count. I know every other health magazine will tell you that, but I disagree. You might burn like 5 extra calories from parking a few cars further away from the door. Let’s be realistic. I’ve never heard of anyone losing weight, or preventing weight gain from doing that. Taking the stairs is a little bit better, but still not enough. Get a GOOD, metabolic workout in. That means intervals, high intensity workouts. It doesn’t even have to be in a gym. If you are looking for something besides spending a pointless hour on the treadmill, then maybe you’ll be interested in checking out one of our programs or personal training options. We kick butt (and thighs, and bellies, and arms, etc).  But whatever you chose, just chose something. Something more than 5 extra steps.

So start by being Mindful, and if you truly are, the rest will be much easier. YOU CAN DO THIS. Already the ladies doing my drop 2 jeans sizes by 2011 jeans challenge can button their jeans after just 4 weeks of the challenge. (And that was the 4 weeks of November- including Thanksgiving). So many of them told me how they were mindful about what they ate, and they felt satisfied and AWESOME afterwards. Not full and gross. It is worth it, so stop being so lenient with yourselves, and get going! 

Sincerely Your Coach,

Emily Long

We all know it’s best to have a healthy snack after working out. Studies have shown that eating a small meal of protein and healthy carbs helps increase the benefits of your workout and speeds up the fat loss process.

So what’s your favorite post workout meal?

Leave a comment below and tell us your favorite healthy after-workout snack.