strength & Conditioning : keeping altogether

Many coaches tend to view strength and conditioning as two separate entities – “We strength train and then we condition”.

Oftentimes, this sort of thought process leads to a rigid compartmentalization of qualities as the coach is trying to develop too many different and/or competing qualities at one time.  This sort of separation ends up creating an antagonistic environment within the training program and can have a dampening effect on the end result as the individual does not have the opportunity to really develop one thing, but rather, becomes a jack of all trades and master of none.

Perhaps it may be more beneficial to look at both strength and conditioning as a singular entity working together to enhance the physiological state of the athlete.  In doing so, we can efficiently establish training phases that prioritize whatever fitness quality we are looking to enhance.

For example, if the athlete is just starting their training program (perhaps coming back from an injury, the start of offseason training after taking time off, or a total beginner with a training age of zero) your initial goal would be to develop general fitness in order to set them up for more intense training and higher volumes of training in later phases.  Therefore, your training program in this phase should reflect that goal and the methods you choose – whether it be lifting weights or performing conditioning on the field – should work together and not compete with one another.  In this example, the resistance portion of the program should be of a lower intensity (65-75%) for a moderate number of reps and the methods selected for your field work should be lower intensity also (tempo runs, aerobic plyometric activities, cardiac output work, etc).  This does not mean that you cannot work at a little higher intensity/lower reps in resistance training, it does not mean that you cannot work on a low volume of plyometrics, and it does not mean that you cannot work on a more intense method at the field; HOWEVER, these sorts of things are not the priority at this time!  A greater amount of your training should be spent focusing on the goal of the training phase, keeping strength and conditioning as one singular entity, and only a very small percentage of the time should be spent with the other qualities.  This allows you to prioritize your training – give the athlete what they need - without making things too cluttered and having a program that it schizophrenic.  I know block periodization is very popular these days and there seems to be a ton of semantics surrounding that stuff depending on which book you read and which coach you listen to.  I really don’t think it has to be any more complicated than: Train everything but have only one emphasis at a time and rotate that emphasis as the training program progresses on. 

The way that I do it is I set up a spread sheet and put down each phase and the length of time I am looking to spend in each phase (obviously this is flexible depending on how the athlete is progressing) across the top of the page.  On the left side of the page I write down the various qualities and from there, I fill in the boxes determining how much frequency each quality will be trained in a given phase, again, always keeping the goal in mind and the idea that strength and conditioning are not separate and need to work together. 

What about hypertrophy training and general fitness?

A young strength coach asked me a question recently about setting up training phases and was concerned that doing more hypertrophy type of training in the first phase (a quality that some of his rugby athletes needed) would interfere with their development of cardiac output in the conditioning portion of the workout because the hypertrophy work would be more “anaerobic” in nature.

I think it can be easy to get swept away in all of this stuff and writing a training program can be a daunting task as there seems to be so much stuff to consider.  In this instance, however, I don’t see too much of a problem.  First, it is important to remember that most people who are unfit and in need of cardiac output type training are going to make some anaerobic adaptations first.  What I mean by this is that anything they do with any little bit of intensity will push them up into an anaerobic state to meet the demands of the task.  Of course, after a few weeks of this sort of training, they will begin to make the necessary adaptations, their fitness level will increase, and it will take a different sort of stimulus/stress to get more changes and improvements.  For an athlete in need of hypertrophy training, 2-3x/week of hypertrophy specific work with low to moderate volume (when just starting out on the training program) should be sufficient to see those sorts of adaptations.  This leaves a lot of time to develop the main quality of cardiac output and ensure that the athlete is recovering properly and making the adaptations that you seek.

I think the key thing is to look at your training week and ensure that you are managing stress well and that the progressions you are using are sound and not destroying the athlete right from the get go.  Too often coaches will start a training program with incredibly high amounts of volume and/or intensity only to have an athlete that is broken down 3-4 weeks later.  As I talked about in a previous article, Movement Reserve: Enhancing the Physiological Buffer Zone, managing stress and training appropriately are paramount.  An athlete who is just starting their training program should be eased into the process to ensure they are sufficiently tolerating the stresses you are exposing them to and the training program should be created to help them develop a higher level of fitness over several weeks.  Train only as much as you need to get an adaptation and then no more.  The problem of undertraining is an easy one to remedy – simply add a little more work and see if you get the changes you want.  The problem of overtraining can be a bit more difficult as you are always trying to playcatch up with the athlete as they are generally breaking down more frequently from training and needing to take time off only to try and start over again.  Additionally, if the athlete is overtraining because they are slammed from their offseason training program, as the pre-season approaches this presents a serious problem as the athlete is not going to be able to miss practice or pre-season games, causing the strength coach to determine what parts of training the athlete should miss out on or scale back on and then sometimes the athlete will also need therapy (which is an additional stress on the system).

At the end of the day it really comes down to two things:

1) Figure out what you need from your training program and prioritize that.  Don’t separate strength and conditioning, as they should work together.  Separating them causes the program to have mixed messages as there is a bleed over between strength and conditioning when they are trained as separate functions and one will start to rob the other.

2) Manage stress, start slow, progress properly, and only train as much as you need to get what you want.

Can Diet Soda Cause you to Gain Weight?

With so many people drinking soda, coffee or popping diet pills it was a must for me to explain all the positive and negative things associated with this highly addictive stimulant. I’m going to give you the Good, The Bad and the Downright Ugly. Everything we do and eat must have balance. Too much caffeine can have some bad side effects.

The GOOD- (if taken in moderation, 1-2 cups of coffee or tea, and no sugar added)
- You become more alert and think clearer
- Increases your short-term memory
- Can help you stay younger feeling
- Short term improves your mood and overcomes depression, creating an
- Can increase exercise intensity and stamina
- Can be used as a painkiller
- Grows brain cells in the areas of the brain responsible for long-term memory

The BAD-(in excess, drinking it morning, noon and night)

- Mood Swings

- Insomnia

- Weight Gain

- Depression

- Anxiety

- Energy swings

The UGLY-(downright gross)

Many people who are addicted to caffeine were shown to be addicted to another stimulate called tobacco. We all know the risks of smoking such as cancer, emphysema to name a few. Caffeine can be just as addicting and have some negative effects such as anxiety, mood swings, insomnia and periods of fatigue during the day. You want to keep your body balanced energy wise pretty much from the moment you wake up till the moment you go to bed other then your workout where you will need to fuel your body with foods that will spike your energy levels for better performance and when you are getting ready for bed you need to become much more calm and relaxed so you can sleep properly. Drinking things like soda and coffee in excess will cause imbalance of energy levels, which means you will have higher energy levels temporarily but you will crash than will have feeling of fatigue and depression. You want to stay away from soda for another reason, the large amount of sugar and empty calories. Sugar is the one thing that must be eliminated for your diet for you to achieve the body and health you desire. When you take too much sugar in at once your insulin levels spike causing you to store fat that is not burned off. The key is trying to get all your energy from working out and eating the proper foods. Start adding oatmeal in the morning and brown rice for lunch these are slower digestive carbohydrates that are geared to give you long term energy not the super high, super low feeling

Not enough reason to quit yet, ok keep reading.

ADDICTED TO SODA, HOW TO QUIT?

So now down to the nitty giddy… How do I quit drinking soda, IM ADDICTED? Over 5 years ago my mother went through a period of time where she was drinking up to 6 cans or more per day. Each one of these very popular soft drinks had over 35 grams of sugar and 200 calories in them. That’s 800-1200 calories and over 140-260 grams of sugar causing her constant up and downs throughout the day and weight gain over that period of time. When she started crashing she would drink another can to keep her energized. Needless to say I showed her what I used my soda for, I opened my hood on my car to find a corroded battery cable.. I poured my soda all over the corrosion and to her surprise it ate all of it off the battery. I also shared with her a study they did with a bolt and a popular soda that she happened to drink. They placed the bolt into the soda and within a period of time the soda had 100% eaten the bolt. What does this do to your insides? My mother soon quit all sodas and switched to nothing but water. In 3 months she lost 20 lbs just because of the soda and felt far more energized throughout the day. Initially she was tired and told me she was having headaches but it was only a matter of time when even the thought of soda seemed disgusting. PEOPLE GET OFF THE SODA there is no other way to put it. It’s an addiction much like other addictions, you only have control of the situation when you take control, until then your soda will have control and cause a downward plunge. You will look in the mirror one day and ask yourself “what has happened to me”.
Where do soda calories go if they are not burned off? Yep that’s right, your butt, your things, your arms and your stomach, EVERYWHERE. If you are genetically bigger in your butt then your butt is going to get bigger ladies. Men your stomach growing on you and those 33 jeans no longer fit, get off the soda. Soda will make cause highs and lows throughout the day and you will gain extra weight which means you have to buy bigger clothes, is all of this worth it to you all over something that is 100% controllable

The findings come from eight years of data collected by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. Fowler reported the data at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.
Fowler’s team looked at seven to eight years of data on 1,550 Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white Americans aged 25 to 64. Of the 622 study participants who were of normal weight at the beginning of the study, about a third became overweight or obese.
For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:
• 26% for up to 1/2 can each day
• 30.4% for 1/2 to one can each day
• 32.8% for 1 to 2 cans each day
• 47.2% for more than 2 cans each day.
For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:
• 36.5% for up to 1/2 can each day
• 37.5% for 1/2 to one can each day
• 54.5% for 1 to 2 cans each day
• 57.1% for more than 2 cans each day.
For each can of diet soft drink consumed each day, a person’s risk of obesity went up 41%.

There is something within Diet soda that is causing people to become hungrier, it could be the fact they feel they are dieting with the soda so they super size everything or an actual chemical that is causing their brain to increase their appetite.

When you do decide to let this addiction go you will go through a week or so period of time of headaches and low energy, this is common but be prepared by taking your multi vitamins, eat healthy foods and get your workouts in. Substitute your soda for water. Water is yummy and does the body good. We typically eat or drink certain things because we love the taste but you have to look at food and drinks as your fuel for the day and your workouts not short term satisfaction that only makes your life more difficult.

DROP THE POP
SODA IS SUICIDE TO THAT BODY YOU DESIRE