Forget Machines! Go with the "Good Stuff"

Stacie's Note: After my own eperience with weight training, I soooo prefer free weights to machines, so I thought thisd article was cool.

The Machine Myth... Get Kids OFF Those Machines!

Brian Grasso is the CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association and is considered one of the premier authorities on youth athletic development in the world. Access Brian's free database of articles and exercises at Developing Athletics.

Whenever I come into contact with a coach or trainer who preaches the virtues of machine-based strength training for young athletes, the same argument is typically offered – machines are safer for kids because they eliminate the dangerous aspects of traditional free weight training. This is simply a dogmatic mindset and not founded on any scientific or functional principles. It is a classic case of blaming the exercise or activity rather than the execution. In fact, having young athletes train on machines for strength development can actually lead to injuries and a whole host of other concerning factors.

All sports are dynamic and require a great deal of systemic strength and stability to perform. More over, the strength/stability interplay needed to perform virtually any sporting activity is based on the body (or its parts) working as a unit, the way nature intended. By isolating certain muscle groups via machine-based training, you are eliminating the body’s natural capacity to provide both mobility and stability in an interrelated manner. This can essentially limit a young athlete’s ability to effectively produce force on the field of play while at the same time providing stability in other crucial areas of the body. By disturbing this innate mobility/stability balance, you are decreasing the ability of the body to protect itself during the dynamic and unscripted movements experienced during a sporting event. Coaches and trainers who incorporate machine-based training into the routines of young athletes in order to promote weight room safety are, in essence, increasing the risk of injury on the field of play. One of the primary goals of a sound strength and conditioning program is to prevent injuries during a sporting event or season – Coaches and trainers who insist on using machines for training purposes are then suggesting that trading sport safety for weight room safety is somehow a good deal.

Here is a look at some of the finer points of machine training –

• Seated vertical pressing machines place a great deal of stress on the lumbar spine - More so than standing vertical pressing exercises. In fact, many young athletes, in an attempt to press as much weight as possible, will actively hyperextend the lower lumbar in order to gain extra leverage.

• Seated leg press machines do not afford backrests that equal the natural curvatures of the spine. Additionally, many young athletes tend to overload seated leg presses with extreme amounts of weight (likely because they perceive the exercise to be ‘safe’). At increased loads during the eccentric or lowering phase of the movement, the lower lumbar will go through a forced flexion. This is a terribly unstable position for one’s lower back to be in and could result in anything from minor to severe injury.

• Hack squat machines can place a great deal of anterior shearing forces on the knee joint. Also, they tend to work primarily the quadriceps muscles and are less effective at training the critical hip extensor muscles of the posterior chain.

• Hip abduction and adduction machines allow minor to excessive spinal rotation during the movement. Here is a perfect example of the mobility/stability interplay factor that I suggested above – as you try to isolate a hip abduction exercise, for example, you will naturally ‘shift’ away from the leg in motion and experience a slight to severe degree of spinal rotation. Due to the body’s natural habits of motion, it is impossible to isolate a movement or muscle without experiencing stabilization dynamics in other parts of the body.

• Smith machines allow for vertical motion only, which is contraindicated in exercises such as the squat (an exercise that many young athletes perform on the Smith machine; again likely due to perceived ‘safety’). In good squatting form, there should be a natural forward lean while the hips are pushing back (do not misinterpret that for me suggesting that young athletes should bend or lean forward during the eccentric or lowering phase of this exercise). This allows one to maintain a sound neutral lumbar spine position and actively generate force from the powerful hip extensor muscles. With Smith machines, this natural and safe motion is eliminated completely and lumbar flexion is promoted.

• In many cases, coaches and trainers use machines in a circuit type fashion and route several young athletes at a time through a machine-to-machine type routine. Whenever young athletes are working on timed events (i.e. the coach allows for 20 – 40 seconds at each station) you can likely be assured that the athlete is attempting to get as many ‘high intensity’ reps out of his/her set as possible; often at the complete disregard of their execution. With machine or free weight strength training, perfect execution is a must – in a sense that makes machines and free weights equal in this argument. Having said that, the very unnatural nature of machines make them even more of a concern from a biomechanical safety perspective with respect to ‘timed’ training sessions or sets.

Functionality in both sport and life is based on healthy movement, certainly not isolation. In that, Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation (PNF) plays a vital role. Often noted as a type of stretching exercise, PNF is actually a diverse and intensive concept that involves movement-based stimulus following spiral or diagonal motions (to reflect that oblique nature of most muscle orientations), with the primary goal of developing motor learning through precise movements. Having said that, machine-based strength training, with its isolated format, is simply not functionally similar to innate patterns of motion that a young athlete would use on the field of play and is quite disruptive to basic physiological factors of movement such as normal timing (which refers to the naturally occurring timing of the phases of movement during a given motion).

Even with cardiovascular training, it is less than optimally productive to have young athletes use either the stationary bikes or treadmills found in most health clubs. Possessing optimal speed, agility or any other reactive locomotor ability is based largely on hip and trunk flexibility and strength. Both cycling and treadmill running serve to limit hip range of motion and can cause decreases in the dynamic flexibility within the hip complex. Young athletes are better served to incorporate rigorous sprinting or movement-base interval training (such as Fartlek) into their training routines.

Learn more about Brian's complete system of developing young athletes - www.CompleteAthleteDevelopment.com

Sports Specialization and Injuries

Many parents and coaches fall into the trap of believing that kids have to concentrate on only one sport to keep up with the best. I do suppose there are a few situations where that may be true and they are mentioned in an article I read about youth athletes.

However, playing more than one sport has it's benefits, even for those striving for that college scholarship. College coaches love "athletes" and being able to play more than one sport shows that you have the coordination, speed, and agility to do more than just play first base. Playing mulitple sports may also help prevent overuse injuries as well. Overuse injuries has risen substantially in the past 15 years.

Do not make the mistake of pushing your players/child(ren) too hard too often. Playing too hard too often can cause some serious damage and, in some cases, end softball careers far before college is even a reality. Click here to read the article that will tell you just how much overuse injuries have risen in the past 15 years.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Grass?

After watching many games over the course of a couple of tournament weekends this summer, I saw something that interests and annoys me at the same time.

What is it?

Middle infielders who are afraid of the big bad grass behind them.

This just drives me bonkers. Some of them seem to have an aversion for going after bloopers that take them away from the safety of the infield dirt onto that plush green outfield grass. Being a middle infielder myself, I just don't understand why some of them don't want to just go after any ball they can get.

Seeing this issue brings a couple of things to mind:

This IS something that needs to be worked on in practice: even infielders need to practice tracking fly balls and pop ups.

Setting up priorities really helps: making it clear whose ball it is when both the infielder and the outfielder are going for it would help when this situation is cause because the infielder doesn't want to run in to the outfielder. The infielders need to have confidence that that ball IS there's unless they hear the outfielder call them off. The outfielder needs to know that when they call for the ball, the infielder WILL back off and give them free reign to charge that ball hard. This also is something that needs to be practiced in practice so that it works during a live situation.

The ones that do it right are so much more impressive: the simple ability for middle infielders to go after any ball and even make a catch deep into the outfield grass makes them look sooooooo much more impressive than the ones that look completely unsure of themselves once they have to take a few steps back. Working on this simple skill can make you, as a middle infielder, look so much better at your position. So if this is something you're weak at, it's a simple area to improve upon. If it's not, keep going after that ball and catching everything you can!

Summer Softball Camps Are Fun

Well, at least the ones I've been to. I have no idea what summer softball camps at universities are like on the mainland US (I do hope to find out one day), but my daughters had a blast at the University of Hawaii camps these past two weeks.

Was it intensive training where they got all their mechanical problems corrected? No. I did hear the coaches giving them great advice though. I love having another source, a fun one at that, give them the same messages I'm also trying to get across when I work with them. Plus, all 3 of my girls who attended camp (ages 7, 8, and 11) all thoroughly enjoyed themselves which is the whole point of being involved with this sport in the first place. That and the fact that I know they all learned at least one new thing at camp makes the experience worth the time and money in my opinion. I just know my girls will be asking to go back next summer.

My oldest daughter even sent me an @reply on twitter to thank me for taking her to camp. Cool beans!

It's all in the FUNdamentals

I'm huge on fundamentals and mechanics - and, as you can see by the title of this post, FUN! You As I've said many times before, fun is so important when it comes to softball, or any sport for that matter. The two times in my life that I SERIOUSLY thought about quitting this game and giving it up completely as a player, the main thought going through my mind was that it wasn't fun any more. I wasn't having fun playing the game and that was the main reason behind dropping the game altogether. That's why I feel it's important to remember that as a coach, especially at the younger ages.

Another thing I'm picky about is fundamentals. I am big on working proper fundamentals, proper mechanics until it's second nature. One of my first softball coaches did this for me and I went back to it time and time again whenever I started to struggle. I've often wondered what kind of player I would have been had that ONE coach not done that because NO coach after her stressed those mechanics and drilled them like she did. I don't know that I would have had that to fall back on if she hadn't been so insistent on going over those fundamentals again and again and again.

Too often I see coaches breeze through the basics. They are so anxious to move on to other more "advanced" skills, but I just don't see the rush if your team hasn't gotten the basics down yet. For example, I've seen 10U coaches want to work on turning the double play when their team has a tough time simply fielding a ball and making a throw. Why even worry about how to turn a double play when you're still having trouble fielding a ball and making good throws? I'm not saying that you should never work on it, but it just seems a little silly to me to drop the work on the basics to "move on" to something like that. I would still work the basics in practice and give it some quality time, then maybe introduce the concept of the double and work it a bit. But to spend all your defensive practice working the double play in that particular situation doesn't make sense to me. Work the fundamentals and those "advanced" plays will come.

Same with when you start pitching. Work those fundamentals! It always baffles me to see coaches/parents/players wanting to go from never pitching before to throwing 5 different pitches in a year. Of course, if you have an unbelievably talented athlete that happens to catch on to the fundamentals and to all of the other aspects of pitching THAT quickly, than by all means, go for it. But most of us don't have that type of superhero ability. Fundamentals is what's going to give you the most power and the most accuracy whether it's throwing overhand or underhand.

If you're looking for a DVD on pitching fundamentals, the one I personally bought is from www.HouseOfPitching.com (Building the House by Bill Hillhouse).

Another one that's currently on special for $19.95 is available at Softball Performance. But that pricing is only going to last for the next day or so. If this is something you've been looking for, now's a good time to get it.

5 Great Tips for Enhancing Performance

This has to do with nutrition too. I guess I'm on a little bit of a nutritional roll right now. I think it's because I'm working on another resource for you that will give you all the answers to the most frequently asked nutritional questions on regards to softball. There's still quite a bit more that needs to be done before that resource is ready for you, but for now, I have another nutritional article that I think you'll like.

This article includes 5 simple tips for getting your body to perform at it's highest level when you're on the field. That's something we all would like right? Read the article HERE.

Free Juicing Information

No, I'm not talking about steriod juicing. I'm talking about the real, fresh fruit and vegetable juicing.

This past year was the busiest softball season I've EVER been a part of. I had virtually no time to cook and my family relied on fast food and take out way more than I would have liked.

Because of the busy season, my daughter's quest to gain weight, my husband's quest to lose weight, our lack of time, and my positive first experience with juicing, I decided that I wanted to learn more about juicing to see if it could help our family.

Are there really health benefits to juicing or is juicing just one of those "health fads?"

Does juicing really provide a nutritional alternative to other beverages and snacks?

What juicer should I use?

What should I juice?

As you can imagine, I had lots of questions. I didn't even know where to start. The one and only time I had tried juicing was at a breakfast buffet and I loved it. However, no one I know juices so I didn't really have anyone to point me in the right direction as far as getting started with juicing. So....I did a bunch of research on my own and put most of it together for you so that you wouldn't have to go searching all over the internet for the information you need to:

~ see how juicing can help you
~ answer your questions about juicing
~ get started with juicing

If you've ever wondered about juicing or wanted more information on getting started, visit www.FastpitchJuicing.com for free juicing information and free juicing articles.

Explosive Power for Softball DVD Giveaway

Did you know that Marc Dagenais is GIVING AWAY his Explosive Power for Softball DVD? I didn't know it either until today when I saw the offer up on his website.

This DVD normally sells for $39.95 and he's giving it away free.

In this video a variety of softball and training experts go into great detail explaining and illustrating plyometrics exercises and medicine ball drills for developing greater explosiveness, speed and power for softball.

The DVD also features

• The best plyometrics exercises to increase explosiveness
• Innovative jump and medicine ball drills that you can do anywhere with minimal equipment
  How many sets and reps you should do
• How long your should rest between each set

Of course, this offer isn't going to last forever....
so check it out at Softball Performance. Scroll down and look for the Softball Performance Achievers Club" link. That'll take you over to this free DVD offer.

Coaches and parents, this is a great way to get ideas for helping your players get faster and stronger. And the really cool thing is that it won't cost you anything, so why not take advantage of it? Get your Free DVD.

Marc is a "Softball Authority"

I just found out that Marc Dagenais from Softball Performance has just been featured on National Forum on Girls Fastpitch Softball. Whew - is that a mouthful!

It's a pretty cool website with some great softball pictures and if you've ever wondered just who Marc Dagenais is and why I recommend his stuff, check out the little write up National Forum on Girls' Fastpitch Softball did on him. His "rap sheet" is even longer and more impressive than mine. ;)

National Forum on Girls' Fastpitch Softball also has a cute little "tweet" feature in the left margin that I think you'll have fun with, so click here to check them out.

Oh, one more thing before I go. You know summer is right around the corner! School's out or almost out and I know my kids are looking forward to it. Anyway, if you wanted to be fit for summer you don't have a heck of a lot of time, but Marc now has a new program available that can get you fit in just 3 weeks! Crazy right? Three weeks to get fit, hit harder, and throw with more power. According to Marc, he can help you get ready by the end of June. Don't believe me? See for yourself at Softball Performance.

Free Performance Program For You

Mr. Tom Hanson of www.GetSoftballConfidence.com has put together a free program for you called:

"How to Overcome Failure and Play as Well in Games as You Do in Practice"

Wouldn't that be great? Do you find yourself (or your players) performing great in practice when there's no pressure, but not quite so great in game situations when the play or hit really counts? Find out how you can take your success from practice field into game situations. After all, it doesn't do a whole lot of good if you can hit the ball out of the park in practice, but can't even tough it in the game. It doesn't matter much if you can throw every change-up just right in practice, but don't have any command over it in the game. And it can be very frustrating to field zillions of grounders in practice just fine (and follow it up with a great throw too), but miss the simple ground ball your team needed you to stop in the game.

This free program can help. It includes 5 Lessons which take you step-by-step through the fundamentals of the mental game. Get it now at
http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/CoachingProgram.pdf

The other day I received an e-mail from a coach who asked for help because his team would often fall apart once errors were made in the game. That made me think of the title of this program "How to Overcome Failure..." Again, this program is designed to lead you through the fundamentals of the mental game which is what needs work if your team is unable to overcome mistakes.

There's no cost, no risk, nothing to lose, just knowledge and simple, helpful tools you can use to improve your softball performance.

Instantly download your free copy of this program at
http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/CoachingProgram.pdf

After you've had a chance to go through this program, please let me know what you think my clicking on the "What do you think" link below an leaving me a comment.

Speed Training e-Book For You

Okay, I did get that e-book uploaded so that you can download it to your computer. There is no charge, no strings, and no credit card required. Simply click on the link and begin reading

The Complete Speed Training Report: Secrets to Dominant Speed in Every Athlete.

This report was created by Patrick Beith of Athlete's Acceleration who gave me permission to give this report away to you for free. Here are the few things you'll learn in this free 35 page report:

***7 secrets to dominant speed
***The importance of strength training
***How To develop explosive power in your athletes (a great asset for any softball player)
***3 Steps to improving agility (another important asset for softball players)
***Find out what one of the most widely ignored aspects in speed development is and what you can do to address this area in your own training
***The RIGHT way to use conditioning to improve speed

Click Here to download get this Free Speed Training Report now.

Free Speed Training E-Book

I just received permission from Athletes Acceleration to give away The Complete Speed Training Report e-book to you for FREE. No strings attached. I'll have the download link ready for you this week.

This 35 page report covers:

***7 Secrets to Dominant Speed
***Importance of strength training
***Using plyometrics to build explosiveness
***3 steps for agility training
***The RIGHT way to use conditioning to improve speed
***and more

So stay tuned here at the blog for more information. I'll be posting the link where you can download this resource later this week!

Finally Getting Heads Up Baseball

Yes! I finally did it. I finally ordered my very own copy of Heads Up Baseball. It's the book that many, many AAF Members swear by and give their team as required reading. It's the book that I have people write to me about. These people often attribute at least a part their team's success to their players having read this book. So, since my taxes are done and I have a little extra spending money, I'm finally getting the book for myself. None of the local bookstores had it and I couldn't find it in the library, so I had to order it online. But, it's on it's way to me as I type, so I can't wait to get it.

I'm also getting Tom Hanson's new book, Who Will Do What By When, which is a great book for anyone trying to lead a team, whether on the field or in an office. I'm actually getting a few extra copies of this one so that the other coaches I work with can read it too.

If Tom Hanson sounds familiar, he is the co-author of Heads Up Baseball and he is also the guy that runs the Confidence website. He helps players and coaches get up to par with training for the mental aspect of the game. You can check out his website and sign up for his free newsletter at www.GetSoftballConfidence.com. He's got some other cool freebies there as well (look for the "Free Stuff" link), like the 5-day course I just finished "5 Steps to Unstoppable Confidence." Go check it out.

Keep Your Catchers Injury Free

I got a question from my good friend Stacie Mahoe from http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com asking me about preventing knee injuries for catchers.

I thought this is information you would like to get.

Yes, catchers have a greater risk of developing knee issues just because catching puts more stress on the knees than any other position.

What can you do to prevent this?

1) Use the Knee Savers. These are support padding that you attach to your shin pads and that gives you good support when squatting down. It takes away close to 85% of the stress when resting before you get into your catching position.

Some people think it makes your catcher lazy. To me, you can't play with knee safey. However, I don't buy the lazyness thing. A good coach will know how to properly train their catcher and if the catcher is hard-working, this is a non-issue.

Now, it is not mandatory to wear them but it can really help to prevent a lot of the stress placed on the knees.

2) Do Hindu Squats - old, silly-looking, martial art exercise that many personal trainers would tell you "It's bad for the kneess" exercise because the heels are coming off the ground but guess what.. every catcher has their heels coming off the ground.

It is actually a great muscular endurance exercise for catchers. I would do 50-100/day several days a week.

After that, you catcher will have the best conditioned legs of any catcher in your league.

Check this exercise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPSVpo4mzNI

3) I would get also get them to do single-leg squats for strength and stability. They are killers but boy do they work.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu-6ywxbu1A


4) Make sure you teach proper catching techniques; especially the basic catching position. You want to make sure that their weight is well-distributed. Teach them good fundamentals and you will take a lot of the stress away.

From experience, most softball players with knee problems are not catchers but former/current gymnasts, basketball or soccer players.

Make your catchers injury-proof.

Who loves ya? ;-)

Marc
"Your Personal Softball Peak Performance Coach"

Get Fast Like These Champs

I just bought another one of Coach K's programs and I just thought I'd share an article with you from Coach K's website (the hill sprinting guy).

Sprinting Hills: 7 Champions Who Found The Quickest Way To Get Fit, Fast and Lean

If you are like most athletes out there, you are looking for a simple solution. You are looking for training that can simultaneously:

Improve your speed

Increase your strength and power

Get you lean and mean

Raise your endurance levels

All without adding huge amounts of time to your already hectic workout schedule.

And if you are like most athletes, in the quest for this perfect training, you have wasted precious time and money on the latest and greatest, hi-tech supplements, exercise equipment, training apparatus and fad diets.

But, the truth is the answer is not really that hard at all. It goes something like this:

1. Find a hill.

2. Start at the bottom.

3. Run up as fast as you can.

4. Walk down.

5. Repeat.

Think this seems too simple? Many people do. But, if you need some convincing, take a look at what hill sprinting has done for these sports legends:

Football legend Walter Payton made hill sprints his bread and butter... they carried him to the NFL rushing record and the Hall of Fame.

Another gridiron great, Jerry Rice ran legendary make you puke hill sprints... and was still playing in the NFL at age 40.

Running back Marcus Allen... all he did was win the Heisman and become Super Bowl MVP with hill sprints.

Linebacker Junior Seau has played 17 years in the NFL and made over 1200 tackles using hill sprints... sometimes while carrying a partner on his back.

Defensive end Simeon Rice stays relentless in the 4th quarter due to his hill sprint training... he has 119 sacks in 11 years to show for it.

Jets running back Curtis Martin - who rushed for 1000 yards in each of his first 10 seasons and has over 100 career touchdowns - regularly runs the hills of Santa Monica, California during the offseason.

Even Lance Armstrong - although on a bike - has made hill sprints a staple of the training that won him 7 Tour de France titles.

And that's not all... besides these incredible athletes, plenty of people who need to stay in top shape run hill sprints. From old time strongmen to police and fire departments, from the elite military forces of the world to Olympic sprinters and from NBA stars to baseball's best... all know the secret power of this training. Yes, the toughest of the tough use hill sprints to stay strong, powerful and in tip-top shape.

Give them a shot and get ready for some serious results.

Run Fast Not Hard

Coach K

Copyright, Tim Kauppinen, 2006


If you think this applies just to sprinters or just to football players...think again. Learn more about Coach K's program and sign up for his free newsletter today - CLICK HERE.

Sale at Softball Performance

I know a lot of you already know about Marc Dagenais' Softball Performance website. If you've been around this site for a while or if you're a fastpitch member, then it's almost impossible for you not to know about it.

Anyway, Marc's site is full of great information for improving your softball performance. However, right now it's undergoing a major renovation and because the site is temporarily unavailable due to the changes being made, Marc is holding a HUGE Renovation Sale! He's offering big discounts on some of his best products right now. Also - for those of you who've been interested in his Softball Performance products, but just couldn't afford the chunk of change all at once, Marc is now offering a Payment Plan to make it easier for you to get his super bundles!

Check it out before all the super bundles are sold! Click here

Get in Shape for 2008

Hot off the press! I just found out that Marc Dagenais, peak performance expert of Softball Peformance, is offering his LOWEST price on his Fully PERSONALIZED, Softball-Specific Program. This special low, low price is available today only.

It's the New Year and you know everyone (including your competition) has their mind on getting in shape for the upcoming season. But who will actually TAKE ACTION and do it? Start today and get Marc's High-Performance, Fully Personalized, Softball Specific program and get into the best softball shape ever. Click Here and get going today. Make it a great 2008! His prices will be going up tomorrow so don't wait.

Functional Training for Athletes

Today I was looking for articles on training for speed because I LOVE using speed in softball. It's such a great asset to have as a player. Of course, it's also nice for a coach to have players with speed. So in my search I came across an article from a guy named Vern.

In this article, there were some interesting tips like:
~ eliminate distance running
~ speed training for youngsters (9-10 yrs old for example) should be FUN
~ hip mobility is important
~ ALWAYS stress proper technique (this is something mentioned here at AAF too)
~ remember to address the CORE in any strength program

I thought some of the point in his article were quite interesting and many of them along the lines of things mentioned here at AAF. So what I found out was that this guy Vern has books and videos out and they are available online. Simply go to Amazon and search for Vern Gambetta. You'll see some of his products. The one I thought was interesting was Functional Training for Athletes at All Levels: Workouts for Agility, Speed, and Power. This book includes helpful icons which show readers when an exercise applies to their sport and when it is useful for specific movements like sprinting, throwing, jumping, or changing direction.

This is just another resource to help you improve your game with speed. There are a bunch out there and a bunch mentioned at this site. I think they all have their strong points and some will connect with you more than others. So this is just another resource for you to check out to see if it's something that will help you. Enjoy!

How to Stay in Shape During Winter

Whew - I'm finally back from our family vacation and we had a blast. Part of our trip was spent in NJ were the weather was quite a bit cooler than here in Hawaii. You can tell that during this time of year, the weather is beginning to change. Summer weather is just about gone and winter weather is approaching. This is also about that time when I get questions like "How can I stay in shape during the winter?"

Well, don't forget, we have