USING COMPLEXES IN YOUR STRENGTH TRAINING PART I

by Brad Leshinske BS. C.S.C.S Athletic Edge Sports Performance, inc.

With a lot of articles being geared around strongman training and training with time in mind, I thought we should explore some workouts using complexes. Using complexes in training can have a great effect on your training. They are phenomenal for increasing work capacity and also increasing strength as most complexes involve multi joint movements which in my opinion are the best movements. If your into getting stronger and burning more calories you cannot find a better solution then complexes. So before we give you the first workout lets look at some definitions of what to know before we start with the workouts. You always have to know why and what your doing in your workouts, they have to have meaning.
Complexes- a series of exercise used to elicit high calorie burning effects. Also used for increasing work capacity for athletes.
Run- when you complete a set of the complex workout
Rest intervals- the time between your runs, as you get more efficient you can decrease your rest interval to increase your work.
With these definitions in mind lets take a look at what a beginner would use as complex I
Dynamic warmup as always
Warm up the upper body and lower body

Complex I
Pushups x20
+
Prisoner squat x 10-20
+
Blast strap rows or fatmans x 10-20
+
Lunge walks x 30 yard
+
Skaters or sl rdl’s x 10-20 on each leg
Rest interval is between 4-5 minutes for beginners and for intermediate rest 1-2 min between each run and for high level participants 30-60sec between runs. Beginners would do 1 -2 runs as you get better and more conditioned work up to 4 runs will decreasing your rest period to make it harder.

This version of complex is great for beginners. While all these exercises are bodyweight I firmly believe in increasing the ability of moving ones own body prior to adding load especially to those who don’t have a long training age. Training age being the time you have lifted in years. These are great for younger athletes and athletes looking to have a deload week or change up a Saturday workout.
Adding twists to complex one. If you think this is too easy try adding a weight vest or even better you can add a core movement in between each exercise for example:

Pushups x20
Plank
Prisoner squatsx10-20
Plank
Blast rows/fatmansx10-15
Plank
Lunge walks x30yard
Plank
Skaters/sl rdl
Plank
Each plank would be held for 10 seconds to 20 seconds focusing on drawing the abs in.

This is how you can add some bodyweight core work in with out ruining the system of the complex.
Again complex training is great tool used by many boot camps, mma athletes, fitness enthusiast, athletes and people looking to burn calories. This type of training has been around for a while providing people with great loss in fat but also strength.
As you will see in the next article about complex training you can make these really sport or lift specific. Adding in the bar, dumbbells, multi joint lifts and strongman lifts are just the beginning.
Complex II is going to explore how we add in the bar to complex training and how you go about choosing your exercises for adding the bar into the program.

This article is intended to be of information only and anyone chosing to use this workout does so on their own accord. You should always consult a physician prior to exercise. Athletic Edge Sports Performance inc. and its trainers are not responsible for any injuries sustained while trying this workout. This is for information only and should not be done unless with Dr.’s permission or under the guidance of a certified trainer.

5 Keys To Increaseing Your Vertical Jump

With basketball and volleyball right around the corner many athletes are looking to increase their vertical. Many factors lead to top end verticals; flexibility, proper training, proper jump training, jump technique and enough rest is needed to optimally increase the vertical. What we’re going to do is give you the 5 keys or exercises that we use at Athletic Edge that have helped a dozen d1 volleyball players reach their top verticals in camp this year. Over the summer we get a group of volleyball players that have to attain certain goals most of which have to do with jumping and conditioning. We are going to give some of our keys that have helped them reach their personal bests this year. These are in no specific order and should always be done with a certified sports performance coach to ensure proper technique and coaching ques.

1. Flexibility- Flexibility is key in any program for strength and conditioning. This is because the hip flexors are so important for explosion upward. If we are tight in the hips it is very hard to explode through what is called triple extension (ankles, knees and hip alignment). This triple extension is the power behind the vertical. So we need to be properly warmed up using some various methods: foam rolling, active warm up, muscle activation and cns activation. These four concepts will help improve your vertical immensely.

2. Depth jump landing to depth jumps- learning how to properly land is also key to understanding how to jump. To work on depth jump landing simply stand on a box and step down and land. Making sure your feet are shoulder width and you’re in an athletic position. This is important because volleyball and basketball players all use repetitive jumping and making sure you can land and jump again with the same power is important. We must always learn to land before we learn to jump. Depth jumps are simple and one of the most important exercises to do because of the quick response the body needs and how the cns reacts to this type of training. You start off the same on the box, step down, and then jump up as quickly as possible. This is very intensive on the cns and has been used for many years as a training method to increase verts. To make this even more challenging put some hurdles in front of the box and do depth jumps that way.

3. Resisted jumps- there are many ways to do resisted jumping and some of them are; the Vertimax, resisted cords and vests. These are the basis of resisted methods we use at Athletic Edge. The Vertimax is by far one of the best pieces of equipment you can get. It is one of the few if not only piece that resists the athlete from the waist down. This is important again because of the cns intensive training and triple extension. This resistance makes the body work extremely hard to overcome the interia the weight is putting the body through. Repeated use of resistant training gives the body muscle memory thus increasing the vertical.

4. Strength training specifically squats and posterior chain- squatting, whatever type it may be (back squats, front squats, box squats, safety squats and sumo squats) are one of the best things to do for increasing power in the lower body. Depending on your training history and age you can do anything from bodyweight squatting to heavy band squatting the point is you’re squatting. The muscles used to squat are the same muscles used to jump and explode upward. Again we are talking about overcoming inertia and driving the hips, butt and torso upward. The posterior chain, which is the glutes and the hamstrings, are very important not only in jumping but also acl prevention. This is especially true in women as there is a 5x more likely hood that acl tears will happen compared to men. This is due to poor activation of the posterior chain. Some exercises we do are: bridge series, RDL’s and SL RDL’s.

5. Single Leg training- While duel leg training like squatting and jumping are extremely important we must realize one leg is always stronger than the other. Single leg training (SL) is important to do because we need the most power out of each leg possible. Training in this fashion ensures proper acceleration and power when doing 2 legged jumping. Some exercises we do are lunge walks; rear leg elevated squats, pistol squats and SL RDL’s. These exercises are extremely vital to the athlete and give the athlete not only strength but most importantly power through the whole lower body. These types of exercises also help with prevention of ACL problems as many females suffer from over compensation. We also incorporate SL work into all keys of warm up including SL jump roping, agility ladder drills, mini SL jumps forward and lateral and over objects. We also incorporate SL jumps to double leg landing and Double leg jumps to SL landings.

These 5 keys are very important to incorporate into your training. Remember to always warm up properly and consult with a certified strength and conditioning coach to ensure proper program design and conditioning. Here at Athletic Edge Sports Performance, inc. we make sure that all of our athletes are doing some sort of these 5 keys to jumping. Remember there are many variations we use because of how many different age groups we have. If you have any questions or need descriptions of exercise don’t hesitate to ask. We also do offer on line training now at the Edge in speed, agility, strength training and jump training. Again don’t hesitate to ask. We hope this helps and gives description to how important these 5 keys are to increasing your vertical but also helping secure your ACL.

Coach Brad is a certified strength and conditioning coach under the CSCS with a degree in Exercise Science and owner of Athletic Edge Sports Performance, Inc.

He has been training all types of athletes for 7 years including many division 1 baseball, football, volleyball and basketball players. Coach Brad also deals a lot with youth athletes and athletes coming off of injury. Coach Troy is also CSCS certified and has a degree in Physical Education. He has been in the field for 15 years training athletes from grammar school to professional.

Contact Coach Brad or Troy at 773-610-FAST (3278) or email at llmb@prodigy.net check out the website at www.athleticedgesports.net and stay tuned for prevention of ACL and Jump Training videos.

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Speed Training Workout Design

How to Program Your Speed Training

By Coach Brad Leshinske CSCS

In the first article-How to run a faster 40 yard dash!, we focused on technique and applying principles on how to start and create a fast 10 yards thus creating a faster 40. In this article, we are going to re-visit key terminology and a sample program to help you increase your speed. As we all know, programming is a big key to any sports performance program.

Terminology you should be familiar with is start, acceleration, maximum velocity, speed, endurance, and lateral speed and agility.

The start is one of, if not, the most important thing you can do to increase your speed, as mentioned in the previous article. A short reminder for those who haven’t read the article; the start is overcoming inertia-we have to start at a dead stop and explode forward. Some key indicators are the stance, proper shin, angle, and leg drive. We want to drive our leg up and over, propelling ourselves forward, and breaking that inertia.

Acceleration is the point at which you try and reach your top speed. Top speed occurs around 30 meters or so. So acceleration occurs after the start to the point max velocity comes in. Mechanics wise, the emphasis is on the backside, which is everything behind our center of gravity. We need our ankle, hip, and knees in alignment and in extension to overcome that initial inertia. This takes place around the first 8-10 steps or the first 10 yards. We want to do this effortlessly, and if you watch a good 40 yard dash, the athlete looks relaxed and doesn’t seem to be exerting much effort. You must stay relaxed. In this phase, there is no bending at the waist and the head is in line with the torso and the legs.

Maximum velocity is when the athlete is running at their highest velocity. This phase is the most demanding on the body; also, this is the phase that is rarely achieved. Here you want to be in a more upright position and your head on the target looking straight. You also want to tell yourself not to run hard, you want to glide in the air. Think of it this way, you want to slow down the slowest. As we are in maximum velocity, we can only sustain this for about 1-2 seconds.

Speed endurance is not running for a long time as you might think. It is the ability to maintain your speed even though your body is fatiguing. You want to maintain your speed while tired and you don’t want to decelerate fast. With this, comes good conditioning. When athletes get tired, they lose mechanics; it is important that we train these principles so we can maintain a high level of competitiveness, even though we are fatigued.

Lateral speed and agility is as simple as change of direction and starting and stopping quickly. For this, athletes must maintain good balance and structure, keeping the center of gravity in control and your hips underneath you.

Provided below is an easy-to-use plan focused on speed:

1. Remember to always warm up in a dynamic fashion getting the blood moving. Your warm up should be 15 minutes of activity.

2. Week 1 and 2 should focus on basic techniques: starting position, arm swing work and the first step to 10-20 yards, always maintain good ford.

3. Weeks 3 and 4, keeping refining your technique, but start fixing your technique problems; whether it is not stepping over properly or not in triple extension (knee, hip, and ankle alignment), or simply raising your body up too fast.

4. Weeks 5 through 7, start adding new drills to help with starts and acceleration specifically. For instance, fall to sprints, hill runs, single leg starts, and 3 point starts.

5. Weeks 7 though 10 work purely on acceleration. Raise your volume of sprints and really focus on stride length and frequency.

6. Weeks 10 through 13, start adding in resisted sprinting for an increase in acceleration. Remember to add this only when mechanics are perfected. Another method is using sleds for resistance.

7. Weeks 13 through 17, you can start to increase the intensity and decrease the volume to prepare for your sport or game; the athlete should be at the peak of their training.

Remember this is just a template; everyone is different. How I train athletes is I like to rotate my days of emphasis. For example, I rotate lateral speed and agility, starts and acceleration, and then finally max speed and speed endurance. Remember, you have to take your rest periods when working on max speed, acceleration, and starts. When training speed endurance, your rest periods are shorter, thus your speed percentage is lower. I like to use speed endurance at the end of class, as the body is already fatigued. We will revisit speed and make them sprint when tired, thus increasing work capacity. Finally, here are some examples of drills:

Starts

1. Fall to sprint
2. Split stance to sprint
3. Kneel to sprint
4. Jump back to sprint
5. Jump forward to sprint

Acceleration Work

1. Jog to sprints
2. 30 yard dash work
3. Hill sprints
4. Resisted runs cords/sleds

Quickness Work

1. Tennis ball drop
2. Ball reaction drills (I throw the ball, they sprint on my movement)
3. Push up to sprint
4. Chasers

Speed Work

1. Flying 20’s
2. Flying 30’s
3. Sprint, jog, sprint, jog

Speed Endurance Work

1. 2 sets of 40 yard runs 5x with a 90% run with a minute rest
2. 100 yard dash
3. 10 sprints of 30 yards each sprint under 5 sec., walk back and repeat

Lateral Speed and Agility Work

1. Hurdle work
2. Ladder work
3. Cone drills
4. T drill
5. Suicide work with recovery

Resisted methods to use; sleds, cords, sand and weight vest. Remember this works on stride length and acceleration.

Assisted or over speed methods: pulling your partner, downhill sprinting, tailwind. Remember this works on stride frequency.

Mechanical drills: wall sprints, arm swings, standing leg strides, marching, skipping high knees to sprint.

Remember to always consult a physician prior to working out and always properly warm up the body prior to exercise.

About Coach Brad: Coach Brad owns and operates Athletic Edge Sports Performance Inc. in Chicago, IL. He trains athletes from grade school to college level in speed/agility, jumping power, and strength and conditioning. You can reach him at llmd@prodigy.net or his new blog at www.theedgesports.wordpress.com or call him at 773-610-FAST.

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Hey Slow Poke… Wanna Get Faster?

Then check this out next: The Complete Speed Training System

How to run a faster 40 yard dash

Speed development is one of the hottest topics in sports performance. As a sports performance coach, personal trainer or someone who enjoys speed training, it is always important to know the right methods of training to increase your skill set. For this article we are going to cover the most important aspects of sprinting. The start and the first 10 yards of the sprint. We will also give some recommendations to exercises that have worked well with our athletes in increasing their 10yrd, 30yrd, 40yrd and 60 yard dashes.

With our athletes we don’t run many 40′s, or 60 yard dashes. While we train many football, baseball and other sports that require sprinting over 30 yards it is important to realize were an athlete can get faster. We have to remember that most athletes never run 40 or 60 yards at a given time in their sport usually only in showcases or combines. You must realize that the first 10 yards of any distance is the most important. This is for many reasons, mainly your start is the most important and trainable aspect of the sprint. The better the start the faster the sprint. Second, your first ten yards are the most changeable with regards to decreasing time. Again this has to do with the start and also it has to do with figuring out the right stride length from the start.

The Stance

There are many ways to start a sprint; for sprinters in track a 4 point stance, baseball timing for the 60 is a sideways start, for football combine guys a 3 point start and for softball a 2 point start is recommended. We are going to cover the 2 point stance used by most youth baseball, softball and football guys. This also is a great tool to teach high school athletes because they get the feeling of how to push off from the start. The elite or older football HS athletes will use a 3 point start. The two point stance is relatively simple to do. For right hander’s put your left foot at the starting line. Place your right foot directly behind your lead foot so your toe is touching your left heel. (Figure 1) You then take the right foot and slide it directly to the right so it is lined up with your right hip. (Figure 2) You are then going to crouch down with soft knees bringing your right arm forward and left arm back. (Figure 3) You want to have a flat back and put pressure on the front foot, in this case your left foot. You do this for a couple of reasons. The main reason is to eliminate a false step; a false step can cost an athlete up to .2 a second on a sprint. It also increases force production out of your feet. This is because the body has to press of in a manner that forces the body to explode forward. Next head placement should be looking down. This is important because if you start a sprint with your head up and you take off your hips will pop up causing more resistance, slower time and bad mechanics. As you decide to start your sprint take a deep breath and explode out of the stance driving your left arm forward and right knee forward. This is the start of the sprint.

Figure 1. Heel toe alignment Figure 2. Alignment to Figure 3. Proper arm align

The hip

The First 10 Yards

As mentioned before the first 10 yards is the most important part of any distance in sprinting. As a reminder it is because it is the easiest to decrease time and it is the powerful and explosive part of the sprint. It is important to know how big of a first step is needed to start the sprint. To figure this out, sit on the line with your feet facing outward. With your back straight and perpendicular to the start line. Place a mark were you knees are. This is a simple way to figure out your first step. As you start your sprint you want to take a deep breath and explode out of your stance. As you run you can start to exhale slowly. Keeping your head down and running through the 10 yards keeping a nice forward body lean and keeping the head down. Remember to keep the arms moving as well, nice controlled but fast. Remember your technique for the arm swing is opposite arm and opposite leg. A lot of questions arise on the topic of how many steps should I take to run a good 10 yard time. You want to be in the range of 5-8 steps. This is dependent on height, stride length and stride frequency. These techniques above will help you start better, more explosive and a faster time.

Drills For Decreasing Your Time

Stride frequency

1. Ladder speed runs- hit every square as fast as possible
   
2. Ladder striders- hit every other square
   
3. Hurdle runs- place hurdles from your proper stride length and set them up down the track in slightly spread out each time. Run through them from your start
   

Acceleration techniques

1. Fall to sprint-put both feet together, get on your tippy toes fall down and then go into a sprint
   
2. Flying 20′s- jog the first ten yards and then go into a sprint for 20 yards
   
3. Push up to sprint- lie down and push yourself up to sprint
   
4. Single leg take offs- get in a good stance and then lift your back leg off the ground slightly. Lean forward and sprint. This emphasizes your push off.
   

Resisted sprints

1. Resisted partner sprints with cords- attached to cords sprint out as getting resisted by a partner
   
2. Sled pulls- attached t o a sled go from the start and sprint your ten yards
   
3. And running
   
4. Parachute sprints
   
5. Stairs
   
6. Treadmill or hill sprinting
   

Over speed training

1. 1. Overspeed cord pulls- with a partner and a single cord spread over a distance. Pull your partner down the track. This is great because it helps with increasing your stride frequency
   
2. Wind sprints with the wind
   
3. Decline sprinting
   

The second installment of the article will cover the 3 point stance and how to run an affective combine. Also to be covered will be the other combine drills. These drills are the pro agility shuttle, vertical jump and some other notes on how to run the 40 yard dash.

There are many different exercises for sprinting. These are just a few. Remember to always properly warm up prior to sprinting. This includes a dynamic stretch and also warm up sprints. Remember to consult a physician prior to exercise. If you need any more information contact me via email at llmb@prodigy.net or at 773-610 – FAST

About Coach Brad:

Brad Leshinske BS, CSCS owns and operates a sports performance facility in Chicago. Athletic Edge Sports Performance trains athletes from all sports. His specialty is speed performance, jump training and strength and conditioning. This year The Edge has seen athletes compete in the junior all American combine posting top honors for his athletes in the shuttle and top 5 in vertical. He has also has athletes on the all combine Chicago team for running a 4.5 laser 40. He trains many division one volleyball players and college football players who play at Notre Dame, Cornell, Western Illinois and a host of other colleges. They take pride in preventing injuries while achieving greater speed, agility, increased vertical and increasing their strength.

Athletic Edge Spors Performance, inc.
2700 w 91st Evergreen Park, Il 60805
llmb@prodigy.net
www.athleticedgesports.net