(Little) Girls and Kettlebells!

Hey! It's never too early to start swinging! Kettlebells, that is!

Emily and Madison show you how it's done! At 11 and 10 years old, respectively, they're already on the right path!

Take a look:



Kettlebells offer unique training variables. Good swings create effective glute activation and better knee stability for girls and women.

What does this mean for you (and your daughter/sister/teammate?)

The opportunity to VIRTUALLY ELIMINATE non-contact knee injuries like the ACL tear and even sprains and strains!

Contact us here to find out more about how we help girls play stronger, faster and longer without knee pain and injuries. I want to be faster, stronger and injury-free!

How about you? Are YOU swinging in the Athlete Underground?

Joint by Joint

That's the way.

The way to approach a solid warm-up.

Ankles, knees, hips, lumbar spine, thoracic spine (upper back & neck) and shoulders.

These are the areas that should be addressed in every warm-up. But it's not enough to just "get them moving," as we hear so many coaches say at practices.

Each joint has different needs in warm-ups. Ankles, hips and thoracic spine need to be mobilized, while the knees, lumbar spine and shoulders need to be stabilized.

In full truth, shoulders need mobility as well, but never without stability!

Here's a simple, joint by joint warm-up progression you can do anywhere:
1. Ankles (mobility) - Stand facing a wall, hands on it at chest height. Slide one foot back, keeping the heel down. Bend the rear knee so it moves toward the wall until it feels "stuck." Then rock it back and forth without allowing the heel to come off the floor. Push just a little past the sticking point each time. Do 10-20 reps on each side.

2. Hip Mobility (Knee stability) - Stand square, with the feet under the hips. Take a short step to one side, making sure the hip moves out over the heel/knee as you do. Squat about 1/4 of the way down, then push through the heel coming up. Reset and go the other way. Do 12 in each direction. Hip Circles - Stand near a wall. Lift one knee up to belt height. Move it out to the side, without turning the body. Making a circle, return it to the front without putting the foot down. Repeat 10 times on each leg. Put hands on the wall for balance if needed.

3. Lumbar Spine (Stability) - Do not do rotational stretches for the lower back! They destabilize the spine, creating MORE tightness and pain, not less. Try single leg floor bridges for lumbar spinal stability: Lie on the floor with your knees bent and your bellybutton tucked in. Press your low back to the floor. Cross one ankle over the other knee. Press the other heel into the floor, squeeze the glute and slowly lift yourself off the floor. Keep the low back flat and the abs drawn. Repeat 6-8 times on each side. If you have trouble with this on one leg, put your hands on the floor for stability, or do them on 2 legs.

4. Thoracic Spine (mobility) - Poor mobility in the upper spine will lead to pain in the neck and reduced shoulder and neck mobility. Use a high density foam roller between the shoulder blades, with the hands interlocked behind the head. This will open the scapula and allow access to the T-spine. 30-60 seconds each for 2 reps.

Order Your Own

High Density (Black) Foam Roller Here

5. Shoulders (stability) - Wall slides work very well for the complex relationship between the gleno-humeral joint and the scapula. Stand with your back to a wall. Flatten and retract the shoulder blades, and lift the arms so the elbows are at your side, with the arm flat against the wall. Slide the arms up, without losing contact with the wall, while keeping the shoulder blades retracted and against the wall. Use the fullest possible range of motion you can without losing wall contact with the forearms and scapula. Don't be surprised if you can't do it at first, or you cramp up trying. Do 8-10 reps.

Using a joint by joint approach to warming up will assure that your system is ready for whatever you throw at it. Treat your joints right and they will respond by increasing athletic performance and letting you improve faster than ever before!

If you're interested in learning more about amazing athletic performance, contact us for a complimentary one week trial in any of our breakthrough programs!

Click here: All-Star Sports Academy One Week Trial!

Teacher's Convention Basketball Camp!

All-Star Sports Academy&

Jersey Shore Hurricanes Basketball


present

2008 Teacher's Convention Drillz and Skillz Basketball Speed, Agility and Skills Camp!

November 6th & 7th, 2008, 9 AM to 1 PM at the North Dover Elementary School Gym!

Camp Fee only $75.00! (Current All-Star Sports Academy Athletes receive a 50% rebate - email us for details!)

In this unique, fun and highly effective 2 day camp:

You'll discover the fastest way to dramatically improve your vertical leap!

You'll uncover the keys to electrifying court speed!

You'll find out how the most accurate shooters in the game got that way!

You'll unearth the secrets to dominating "in the paint!"

You'll find out how you can become a slippery and elusive "ball thief!"

You'll expose the secrets of the best rebounders in the game!

You'll (finally) have the simplest and most effective injury prevention secrets known to the basketball world revealed to you!

Note!! Space in this camp is strictly limited!! If you want to become a game-changing player, you need to be here!!

Call 732-597-3725 to register or go to: http://www.allstarsportsacademynj.com/basketball and follow the link to this Camp!!

Pre-Seas0n Training for "hoops"...because you asked!

Basketball season in our area is right around the corner. It starts right around Thanksgiving, and will run through March. As Sports Fitness Specialists, our task is to assist players in their quest to prepare for this grueling run.

The season is demanding; several games a week, long practices and little rest time. The beginning of the season can include 4 hour practices.

Needless to say, we're getting lots of requests for "Pre-Season" training, so we thought we'd share some of our training ideas with you.

Players must understand that in-season training will help maintain strength, speed, power and agility levels, but only if the player is properly prepared.

A basketball court is only about 30 yards long. Most of the highest-demand activity takes place within 8 feet of the basket. This is also where some brutal physical contact can occur.

So why would coaches “prepare” their players with high levels of slower, longer distance running?

Good question! The answer is probably one of the deadliest phrases in athletic conditioning: “That’s how we’ve always done it!” OUCH!

Think about the best teams in high school, college and even pro basketball. What’s the one weapon that’s deadlier than any other? SPEED! Especially multi-directional speed!

Combined with agility, full-body power and injury resistance, speed can help a player become a weapon of opponent destruction!

During the last 4 weeks before the season, it’s a good idea to structure a 4-5 day per week training program, splitting time between strength/power training, speed/agility training and flexibility/movement mechanics.

Typical strength/power training sessions will include functional and dynamic warm-up, flexibility training, movement mechanics training and joint stability/mobility work, and circuit training variations that incorporate full-body strength workouts.

Circuit training helps acclimate the players to a high volume of work and is specific to the requirements of pre-season practice. Variations may include timed work/rest stations, gross-rep programs completed in minimal time and volume loading variations to create anaerobic and aerobic intensity.

Core training is incorporated into strength training days, with an emphasis on lumbar stability during rotational movements, as well as frontal plane movement and load deceleration. This mimics what happens in traffic when bodies collide, and when players need to explode out of a crowd for a shot or rebound.

Generally, athletes would perform speed & agility workouts, either supervised or self-managed (that depends on the temperament of the athlete), on the other 2 days of the week.

These workouts include speed & agility exercises that last only 5-10 seconds at a time. Each exercise is performed at maximal effort with 10-20 seconds of rest. The goal of the speed and agility workout in the final weeks of pre-season is not for cardiovascular conditioning, rather, to work on the efficiency of movements that will translate to the basketball court.

Conditioning, or aerobic/anaerobic endurance development during sport-specific activities, is crucial during the pre-season phase of any sport. Basketball is no different.

It’s appropriate to use shuttle and interval drills to develop sprint endurance during this phase. This should not, however, be confused with speed and agility work. Shuttle and interval drills develop endurance; speed and agility work reinforces good functional movement patterns during high speed, highly dynamic sports movement.

Shuttle distances of 150 and 300 yards seem to work well. Work time for 150 yards should be 24-30 seconds, with 300 yards taking 57-63 seconds. A work to rest ratio of 3:1 is suitable.

Interval running can be done in 100-110 yard, 200-220 yard or 300-330 yard bursts.

Use a work to rest ratio of 1:2 or 1:2.5 for the 300-330 yard work, and 1:3 to 1:3.5 for the shorter ranges. Shorter distances will allow for more intensity in sprinting, and it’s important for the neuromuscular system to recover at least nominally before repeating.

A well conceived, well managed pre-season preparation program will maximize the last 4-6 weeks before the season begins. This will let the player, and the team, start the season with full energy and force.

From there, a combination of good team leadership, smart coaching, hard play and a good in-season training program will carry the team to its’ goals.

Flexibility, healthy knees & sports success!

In the last post, we talked about a good warm-up and how it helps build injury-resistant knees. This time, we go to the next step in the process: flexibility training.

You'll note that we don't refer to it as "stretching!" That's because we're more interested in the extensibility of a joint. Extensibility is the ability of a muscle to extend to it’s proper length, shorten (flex) maximally and then return again to proper length. Extensibility is critical to proper joint stabilization, flexibility training is part of developing this innate physical ability.

Stretching/Flexibility training
1. Kneeling hip flexor. Kneel on one knee, with knees at 90°. Keep head and chest high, and bellybutton drawn inward. Squeezing the glute (butt cheek) of the kneeling leg, gently push that hip forward until you feel a stretch on the front of the kneeling leg. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Switch knees and repeat. 2-3 reps on each knee.

2. Lying Hamstring Stretch. Lie on your back with your knees bent only enough to put your feet flat on the ground. Draw your belly button inward and put your low back flat on the floor. Bring one leg up and put your hands around it, just above your knee, on your hamstring. Your upper leg should point at the ceiling through your knee when it’s bent.
Without letting your leg move toward or away from your head, fully extend your leg toward the ceiling, squeezing the quads, or muscles in the front of the thigh, hard. Hold for 5-7 seconds, slowly lower your shin by bending your knee. Keep holding your thigh in place. Repeat 5-6 times per leg.

3. Lateral Lunge Stretch. Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder width. Step softly to one side, widening your stance. Press your weight onto the heel and mid-foot of that leg and shift your hips until your hip, knee and ankle are aligned. Keep the "trail" leg straight and foot flat on the floor. Slowly lower your butt toward your heel on the "step" side, until you feel a stretch on the inner thigh of the "trail" leg. Hold for 20-30 seconds, then switch. 3-4 reps on each side.

4. Prone Calf Stretch. Assume a push up position. Once stable, lift one foot off the floor and cross it over the other. Now push back slowly onto the foot on the floor, putting pressure on the calf. Go slow and steady, until the stretch sensation is about 7-8 on a scale of 1-10. Hold for about 20-30 seconds, or until the stretch pain subsides by about 50%. Switch feet and repeat. Perform 2-3 reps on each leg.

The warm up and stretching should take about 10-15 minutes total. Generally, we integrate the exercises to strengthen the knee and leg into the athlete’s workout. You should try to do the same. Integrating flexibility training into your workout protocols will improve even the lamest, most neanderthal lunkhead training programs.

If you're not sure you're doing these movements right, or you just want help, contact us at allstarsportsacademy @ gmail.com.

And don't forget, there's still time to enroll your baseball/softball players in our 2008 Toms River Little League Camp (July 23, 24 & 25) and the 2008 Manchester Little League Camp (August 11, 12 & 13!) Our Camps are the best...just click here and see what "Vanilla" said about our Black Sox Spring Break Camp!

We'll see YOU at All-Star Sports Academy!