Sport-Specific Training Q & A with Charles Staley

Sports-Specific Training Questions and Answers

By Charles Staley, B.Sc, MSS
Director, Staley Training Systems


Got something a little different for you this week! I've put together 5 sport-specific questions that I've received along with my answers to those questions. If you're a coach or athlete, this is really informative stuff that can really help you improve performance.

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QUESTION:

Dear Charles,
My football coach will not let us do curls he says they have no place in training, but I say they do. The biceps must be there for a reason, right?

ANSWER:

Since the biceps is often thought of as a "show" or "beach" muscle, bicep training is often over-worshiped by young male trainees, but also excessively discouraged by well-meaning coaches. To say, as many coaches do, that the biceps has no function for a football player demonstrates a basic lack of understanding.

I understand your coach's sentiments — he's just trying to emphasize function over aesthetics. However, it's kind of like telling school kids not to read the latest controversial book— it’s the best way to guarantee that they will!

The biceps plays a pivotal role in the function of the shoulder and also in the articulation of the hand. It also balances the forces created by the triceps at the elbow joint.

So I hope your coach will someday take less of an "extremist" position about this issue, but in the mean-time, see if he'll allow you to perform more chins— a great bicep movement, but just tell him you are doing it for your back strength!

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QUESTION:

Charles,
I'm a 17 year old varsity wrestler. I want to strength train, but cannot outgrow my weight-class. Can I get stronger without gaining any weight?

ANSWER:

If you're trying to get stronger without a weight gain I would recommend relatively heavy explosive weight training with very little emphasis on the eccentric portion of the lifts.
You obviously should not train the same way a bodybuilder does (unless you want to increase your bodyweight). However, if you do realize a weight gain from low-rep strength training, you probably are headed in that direction anyway.

What I mean by this is that if you gain weight as an adaptation to low rep, high intensity work, it tells me that you are already neurally efficient as you are going to be at that weight and can only see physical (as opposed to technical) improvement with a bit more muscle on your frame.

This commonly happens in boxing where a fighter gradually finds it harder and harder to make it down to their weight class, and then must make the move up to the next class. At your age, this scenario is inevitable, it just a question of how long it's going to take before you have no choice but to move up.

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QUESTION:

I am a young personal trainer that works with high school athletes. I find my athletes get bored with the routine of sets and reps without a lot of change. I do change up exercises as often as I can but some things stay the same because they are effective. I am wondering, what kind of things you tell your athletes to keep them motivated? I would really like to know what you say to an athlete when you are first starting with them?
Most of the athletes that stick with me will stay motivated by the results but it's hard to keep an athlete with me sometimes because I put them on a workout that seems boring to them. I do plyometrics, speed training, and the strength training progresses but I believe its just the routine that bores them and not the actual exercises. So when you give an athlete a workout, how do you prevent them from giving up too early?

ANSWER:

Great question Nick, and thanks for your kind words. Motivation is a "lost art" among trainers. Actually, that's being too kindm I suppose, since many trainers never "find" that art in the first place!
I place a lot of value on connecting with each client personally— in both formal (interview) and informal situations. And very simply, ASK the client, in a sincere way, what they're hoping to accomplish. Then (and here's the important part) LISTEN.

Your client may have a strong passion to (for example) lose bodyfat, gain upper body strength, overcome an injury, or he may want faster sprint times. As your client talks, take note of their body language and vocal tone. If your client becomes excited and animated as he explains his passion to squat 405 pounds, it's a message you need to pay attention to.

Then, in subsequent workouts, when the going gets tough, link the current task back to the passionate goal: "Listen Salvatore, I know this exercise is difficult, but trust me, this is the price that needs to be paid for that 405 squat you're looking for!"

Finally, it's important that YOU are motivated!
Not in an insincere way (which is almost a hallmark of bad trainers everywhere!), but in a sincere way. Nothing is more motivational than your client sees that his coach is genuinely interested in his accomplishments.

Thanks for the great question!


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QUESTION:

Charles: Most people say you can improve your tennis game with strength training; however, I see few top-notch pros with physiques that are above average. Is strength training harmful for tennis players?

ANSWER:

It’s true, few elite male tennis players possess the muscular physiques often seen in other anaerobic strength endurance sports such as baseball, basketball, football, etc...

Even more perplexing, some top female tennis players, such as Venus Williams do possess superior levels of muscularity compared to their male counterparts.

Is there an ideal level of hypertrophy for male or female tennis players? I don’t think so.
I suspect that tennis, the quintessential gentleman’s sport, may have dodged the no- so-gentlemanly iron a little longer than other sports and is just now catching on. There’s no reason that strength training would improve physical capacity in other games but not in racquet sports.

Michael Chang, who champions the case study supporting strength training with his well-developed lower body, developed a hard-hitting baseline game despite a lack of advantageous height.

Tennis requires high levels of starting strength, agility, strength endurance, and flexibility. All of these qualities improve with a properly executed strength training program. Let’s look at them one by one:


Starting Strength
Starting strength, or the ability to recruit as many motor units (all the muscle fibers controlled by one motor nerve) as possible in an instant is required from the first swing of the racquet. It is technically considered a component of speed strength.
It should be obvious that 80-140 MPH serves and furious sprints to the ball are not performed without quickly accessing high-threshold motor units. Of course, muscle fibers usually remain somewhat dormant until presented with tension that "recruits" them in order to overcome the resistance.

This challenge can easily be provided in the form of a well-designed resistance training program. Once the motor units have been trained, it becomes much easier to access them for tasks that require acceleration against small resistances, i.e., the racquet.


Explosive Strength
Explosive strength is the ability to keep muscle fibers activated once they have been innervated— it is the second component of speed strength.
Explosive strength is required for sprinting after a return, or generally, any rapid accelerative movements. This presents the most obvious need for strength training which can be developed in the weight room very easily and safely.

Remember not to mistake strength training with bodybuilding. The development of force can be greatly increased without significant gains in mass. Athletes are recognizing the need for strength training in tennis at a very rapid rate.


Agility
Agility is the ability to integrate starting strength, explosive strength, and balance within a single movement or movement pattern.
A common tactic employed in tennis is to physically and neurally exhaust an opponent by constantly firing cross-court shots, forcing repeated and rapid directional changes, debilitating the opponent’s energy stores and strength levels.

Because it is a complex quality, agility is a trainable characteristic. A strength training program won’t make a player look like Flex Wheeler, but the improvement in agility will save him in the late sets.


Strength Endurance
Strength endurance is the ability to perform sub-maximal efforts over a duration of time.
Tennis matches often endure for four or more hours. Increased levels of maximal strength provide a strength reserve so that, for example, repetitive tasks which used to require say, 21% of a player’s maximal strength might now require 17% of maximal strength. This is what improves the player’s ability to remain effective for a longer period of time.


Flexibility
A great concern among tennis coaches and players is that resistance training will decrease an athlete’s range of motion (ROM). Although resistance training without stretching might limit an athlete’s ROM, performing regular stretching exercises will prevent a loss of flexibility.

Although many athletes believe they are better or healthier athletes when they are more flexible, there is such a thing as too much flexibility.
Limit your flexibility training to ROM development specific to performing your sport, with a bit of room to spare for unforeseen events, such as slipping into a partial split position as you reach for a long ball.

Two things scare me (and Austin Powers): nuclear weapons and carnies! Please don’t show me your contortionist act, save it for the circus.

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QUESTION:

Hi, I'm 25 years old and I've been climbing for two years now, and have been lifting for three years. I've been off the climbing crag for about a month, and just started EDT this week— I wanted to ask you how can I can mix the EDT with the climbing (giving more importance to EDT). I usually climb two to three hours, three times a week. Thanks in advance!

ANSWER:

Thanks for writing! First, EDT is a great way to improve muscular endurance for climbing, or any other sport which requires muscle endurance.
The trick is to develop a schedule that allows you to lift and climb in a way that helps your performance. After all, if you can't recover from your workouts, your fitness levels will decline instead of improve.

In this case, you have two choices: Either perform EDT on "non-climbing" days, or perform EDT on climbing days. In the latter case, you have the additional choice between lifting and climbing in the same workout, or in different workouts (in the same day).

There are a few different ways to arrive at the best decision:


1) If climbing is your primary training concern, and you wish to use EDT mostly to help your climbing, I'd suggest positioning your workouts in such a way that you're most recovered prior to climbing sessions, as opposed to lifting sessions. This can be accomplished by placing your EDT workouts soon after your climbing sessions, to allow for maximum rest until your next climbing session. This arrangement poses an obvious problem however— EDT is difficult enough, without having to do it right after a climbing workout!

2) If you wish to give equal importance to climbing and lifting, I would simply alternate between climbing workouts and EDT workouts, separating each workout by at least one, but perhaps as many as three days— whatever is required to facilitate adequate recovery.


There are a few other "tricks" that you might also consider:


1) Climbing is stressful to the hands and fingers — try to choose resistance-training exercises that are gentle on your hands, and/or use lifting straps to reduce the load on these tissues.

2) Skilled climbers rely mostly on lower body strength, whereas novice climbers tend to over-rely on their upper body to scale their climbs (many years ago I did some climbing for a short while, and I was in the latter category!). In either case, leg training should be emphasized in EDT workouts. For climbers, I like pistols, step-ups, and lunges.

3) Since climbing is an endurance-oriented event, target maximal strength in your EDT workouts: Instead of 10RM weights, use 6RM loads and start your PR Zones with sets of 3, working down to doubles and singles as you begin to fatigue.


I hope that helped!


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About The Author

Charles Staley...world-class strength/performance coach...his colleagues call him an iconoclast, a visionary, a rule-breaker. His clients call him “The Secret Weapon” for his ability to see what other coaches miss. Charles calls himself a “geek” who struggled in Phys Ed throughout school. Whatever you call him, Charles’ methods are ahead of their time and quickly produce serious results.

Click here to visit Charles' site and grab your 5 FREE videos that will show you how to literally FORCE your body to build muscle, lose fat and gain strength with "Escalating Density Training," Charles' revolutionary, time-saving approach to lifting that focuses on performance NOT pain.

Http://www.staleytraining.com

Run the Stadium!

I have been wanting to do this for a while now and finally just pulled out the time to do it. I run the stairs from time to time but wanted something more. I wanted to make it more interesting, so I took my standard keg and filled it with 100lbs of water. That's were it got fun! Running the stairs is a great cardiovascular exercise that will labor your breathing very rapidly and quickly build up the lactic acid in your legs. Adding a keg filled with water makes it 10 times worse! The water sloshes around in a short container making it more violent causing your body to stay tense and react to the opposing forces in all kinds of different directions as the water shifts. Your entire body will feel the burn instead of just your legs and lungs. This is a great conditioning tool that you can use once or even twice a week to build up your muscular endurance. This is potentially very dangerous so if you attempt this please use extreme caution! Especially coming down the stairs. Now how should you set this up? Easy try something like this to start...

Run stadium:
up/down full length stadium X2
up/down 5 sets of stairs
up/down full length of stadium X2
up/down 5 sets of stairs

Now you ask why just 5? Well because first of all your running the entire stadium full length that's both sides if your stadium is split in half were the bleachers do not connect. You do both sides 2 times then go straight into 5 up/down sets of stairs only 5 due to initially trial of running with a heavy keg on the shoulder, its DANGEROUS! Plus it will smoke the crap out of you and make you either want to quit or throw up on the spot! Then start over with 2 more complete runs. Start with this then next week we will get crazy with it and step it up a notch!




Check out Homemade Strength DVD for more innovative ways to build your own strength equipment!

Massive Muscle Building for Your Legs

Quadzilla - Massive Muscle Building for Your Legs




You enter the gym, mind made up that you are going to have the training session of a lifetime. You have your camo Chuck’s on, your Affliction t-shirt two sizes too small, and your head phones blasting DMX. Then you see him. Standing over by the curl rack (squat rack); the inverted triangle of manhood, the one, the only, Captain Upper Body. Pecs pumped, shoulders rippling, back wide as the day is long. Then you look down to see two toothpicks known as legs poking out of the bottom of his shorts. “That just ain’t right”, you think to yourself and get to work.

Seriously, how many of us have seen the scenario go down at our training centers? More often than not right? What many people fail to realize is that the human body, just like trees, grow from the roots up (or legs up in our case). Many people neglect to train legs for various reasons, but the truth is this-you can tell who is serious and who is not in the gym by seeing if they are training legs. So get serious with these three tips and make like a tree and grow!

1. You gotta squat and deadlift:
Sorry, but you MUST squat and you must deadlift. No, leg press is not acceptable (unless you have an injury that prevents you from squatting and/or deadlifting). These two movements utilize a TON of muscle and really work your body from head to toe. Not to mention the insane amount of growth hormone they dump into your blood. Try any and all variations of these two lifts. Box squats, rack pulls, zercher squats, deficit deadlifts. The point is this-SQUAT AND DEADLIFT.

2. Overload to Overcome:
You cannot rep 185 for months on end and expect either your squat or deadlift to go up. It won’t happen. The human body is the most efficient machine at adapting the world has ever known. Coach Buddy Morris has said that it takes the body two-three weeks to adapt to a new training stimulus. With this knowledge plan your workouts wisely. By using progressive overload, you can disrupt this adaptation so that you continue to get stronger and build more muscle. Simply put, add 5-10 pounds to the weights you are using and try to set rep PR’s. Once progress stalls, drop the weights down a little bit and start the same process over again.

3. Single Leg Work:
Make sure to include single leg work into your routine. Not only does it stabilize the knee, it also activates the quads and helps to eliminate any imbalances you may have. Try lunges, step ups, split squats, anything that requires one of your legs to be the prime mover without the aid of the other leg. In addition, it requires tremendous core musculature recruitment to stabilize yourself when doing these lifts so you have the added benefit of getting in a good “core” workout as well.

If you are sleeping on your lower body training you need to wake up and get to work. As your lower body grows so to will the rest of your body. Leg training, the Kryptonite of Captain Upper Body-get on it NOW!

Sample Low body Workout:
1. Squat 5 x 5
2. Rack Pull work up to a 3 rep max
3. Romanian Deadlift: 3 x 8 @ 65% of DL max
4. DB Split Squat 3 x 10
5. Weighted Crunches 3 x 10

Jim Smith, CSCS is a highly sought after lecturer, author and renowned strength coach. Jim is an expert for Men’s Fitness and a member of the Elite Fitness Q/A staff. He speaks regularly at clinics, conferences and seminars about the Diesel Method. His distinctive and comprehensive training approach has helped athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all skill levels attain their goals and "Achieve Beyond Potential". Jim is an active student of strength athletics and is always seeking new ways to innovate and provide a unique perspective for gaining muscle, rehabbing injuries, improving performance and building better athletics.


Accelerated Muscular Development!!!

Real quick, I know a lot of you want this equipment or that equipment but its just to expensive. Joe Hashey of Synergy Athletics and Jedd Johnson from the Diesel Crew are launching a DVD to show you how to make this equipment you NEED. Check it out at Homemade Strength.

Build Insane Muscle with Power Training

Ok Smitty is Re-Launching AMD Tomorrow! Its only on sale this week with a ton of bonuses added in for FREE! AMD changed the way I train and I promise it will change the way you change to. 30 min in the gym 3 times a week and that's it. You will burn fat and build muscle. Its not just a manual that tells you what to do it shows you the science of WHY it works AND how it works. I highly recommend you make this purchase while its on sale this week.

Build Insane Muscle with Power Training Workouts

Have you ever been in a situation where you need to modify your planned workout because of time constraints? If it has not happened yet, rest assured that it will at some point in your training career. Do not fret, with Power Training Combos you will be able to get in a decent workout and you may even be able to add some quality muscle on your frame as well. By combining certain mass building exercises, you will help accelerate your gains and decrease your time in the gym.

While there are limitless combinations you can choose, the following combinations will take care of a huge amount of muscle with minimal time invested in the gym.

1. Horizontal Pull / Vertical Push: Seated Cable Rows/ DB Military Press
2. Full Body / Vertical Pull: Barbell Power Cleans / Pull Ups
3. Vertical Pull / Hip Extension – Barbell Shrugs / DB RDL’s

You will notice that these combos really target the musculature of the posterior chain primarily. This will give you a huge boost of growth hormone and pack on the pounds where it counts. Check out a sample workout below for a way to get your own power building combo training going.

Sample Training Workout:

Warm Up:
1. Foam Roller-IT Bands, Hammies, Quads, glutes
2. Light Static Stretching 3 x 10 s hammies, quad hip flexor
3. Jump Rope

Strength:

1a. Deadlift 5 x 5
1b. Military Press 5 x 5
2a. DB Shrugs 5 x 15
2b. Back Extensions 5 x 20
3. Abdominal Fallout’s 3 x 15

As you can see the work is not involved. Just back sure you perform the sets back to back and then take an appropriate rest period. It will be tough, but you will save time and build strength and some serious muscle.

Jim Smith, CSCS is a highly sought after lecturer, author and renowned strength coach. Jim is an expert for Men’s Fitness and a member of the Elite Fitness Q/A staff. He speaks regularly at clinics, conferences and seminars about the Diesel Method. His distinctive and comprehensive training approach has helped athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all skill levels attain their goals and "Achieve Beyond Potential". Jim is an active student of strength athletics and is always seeking new ways to innovate and provide a unique perspective for gaining muscle, rehabbing injuries, improving performance and building better athletics.



Accelerated Muscular Development

How to Bench Press Correctly

Yesterday Smitty gave you an article on how to up your bench today he gives you a VIDEO on how to do it with a short article. Again he is give bonuses with his upcoming announcement! Check it out you will not be disappointed.

How to Bench Press Correctly



Key Points to Remember

There are very important key points to remember when performing the bench press to ensure healthy shoulders and longevity. In fact, these key points apply to all the horizontal pressing movements in this manual.

1.Keep a tight grip on the bar at all times, a tighter grip equates to more tension in the lower arms, upper back and chest.

2.Keep your chest up (thoracic extension) throughout the movement.

3.Elbows should be tucked and end up at approximately 45 degrees from your side.

4.Unrack the weight and take a deep breath and hold it.

5.Row the weight down to your chest, like a bent over row. Do not relax and let the weight drop.

6.Back, hips, glutes and legs are tight and isometrically contracted.

7.When you touch your chest, drive your feet downward and reverse the movement.

If there is pain with this movement, regress back to neutral grip dumbbell bench pressing. This means that you take a set of dumbbells and do bench press with your hands facing each other. Sometimes this is referred to as a "hammer" grip or a neutral grip. If there still is pain my suggestion to you is to regress further to more of a basic, fundamental movement, such as a push-up.

Push-up are an incredible tool that most lifters don't do because they want to build a big bench and a big chest. So they spend hours in the gym on the bench press, with poor form wrecking their shoulders. Follow the video below to learn how to bench correctly, but don't forget to always include basic movements such as a push-up.



Jim Smith, CSCS is a highly sought after lecturer, author and renowned strength coach. Jim is an expert for Men’s Fitness and a member of the Elite Fitness Q/A staff. He speaks regularly at clinics, conferences and seminars about the Diesel Method. His distinctive and comprehensive training approach has helped athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all skill levels attain their goals and "Achieve Beyond Potential". Jim is an active student of strength athletics and is always seeking new ways to innovate and provide a unique perspective for gaining muscle, rehabbing injuries, improving performance and building better athletics.

Massive Muscle Building for Your Chest

Hey everyone just talked with Jim (Smitty) Smith from the Diesel Crew he has some BIG news coming next week that you don't want to miss out on. In the mean time he shot this article over to me for all of you to learn from and apply to your training. Tomorrow I will put out a article/video you won't want to miss on how to bench press correctly WITH a video! FREE!!! In the mean time check out this:

Massive Muscle Building for Your Chest


Raise your hand if you know how much you bench? I should see all of your hands raised. Whether you have an Internet forum record 900 lbs bench or are still trying to slap on 2 plates and press it up, most of us will always want to know ‘How do I get a huge bench?’. Well, it’s not as confusing as it may seem, but it will require some thought. Below you will find 3 areas that are crucial elements toward developing a monster bench and a bullet-proof chest.

1. Press From Every Angle: How many of you bench and bench and bench some more? If you are one of those types, get your butt off the bench and try pressing from different angles. If you are a raw bencher, shoulder and tricep strength is crucial for putting up monster numbers. Military pressing with either dumbbells or a barbell, will help balance out the musculature of the shoulder girdle and also give your triceps a tremendous strength boost. Also, balancing out your horizontal pressing with vertical pressing variations can actually HELP shoulder problems. However, if you shoulder is shot and you can’t kick you bench addiction, incline pressing also gives the anterior delts, pecs, and triceps a good stretch and will help your bench strength.

2. Row to grow: Many people are lacking in posterior muscle strength. I could go on and on about the posterior chain, but for the sake of this article I will keep it condensed to the muscles of the upper back and the lats. The only way you are going to be able to press big weights is if you create a strong and stable foundation from which to bench from. Have you ever gotten a case of the “wobbles”? You know where you unrack the weight and the weight of the bar throws you to one side and you have to counterbalance before you start to bench? Well, that is a lack of stability because of weak lats. Barbell rows, chest-supported rows, DB rows, chins, pull-ups, all will help you develop a huge bench. Generally speaking, I like to perform 2 sets of rows or vertical pulls for every set of pressing I do, including warm up sets. Get your lats thick and strong and watch as PR’s fall on your bench.

3. Pre-Hab work: It’s not sexy or even cool, but you MUST do some sort of shoulder pre-hab work. The muscles of the rotator cuff play a huge role in stabilizing heavy weights when you bench. The weaker they are or become, the more likely you will stall on your bench progress or even worse, get injured. Band external rotations, DB external rotations, really any sort of external rotation, will help you stay healthy and help your quest for a monster bench. Also, do not forget shoulder girdle mobility as well. Band Dislocates, plate halos etc., will help lube up the joints prior to starting your heavy benching.

Well, there you have it. Three action items you must address in order to get your bench moving and get that chest “SWOLE”. Check out below for a way to tie it all together.

Sample Workout:
Warm Up:
A. Band Dislocates: 1 x 12
B. Plate Halos: 2 x 12
1. Bench 5 x 5 2. DB Military Press 3 x 10
3. Chins 3 x max reps (2 min rest between sets)
4. DB Rows 5 x 15
5. Band External Rotations 2 x 20

Jim Smith, CSCS is a highly sought after lecturer, author and renowned strength coach. Jim is an expert for Men’s Fitness and a member of the Elite Fitness Q/A staff. He speaks regularly at clinics, conferences and seminars about the Diesel Method. His distinctive and comprehensive training approach has helped athletes and fitness enthusiasts of all skill levels attain their goals and "Achieve Beyond Potential". Jim is an active student of strength athletics and is always seeking new ways to innovate and provide a unique perspective for gaining muscle, rehabbing injuries, improving performance and building better athletics.

Have you checked out Combat Core? If not you need to now! 3 BIG bonuses being added to Combat Core for 3 days only! Check it out I promise you won't be disappointed. I have the manual and the 2 disc DVD. Very Professional and informative.

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60D Nail bent

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I have been working on a new website that will bring you the most upto date info and best training tips. I've also been working a lot in my regular job learning the ropes of it. In the mean time I've been doing a TON of grip work mainly crushing grip. I haven't really bent anything for the past few weeks due to the volume of grippers I've been doing but I have been leveraging my sledge hammer to maintain what I've got. Seems its helped a ton cause I don't bend DO hand style EVER. This is my first 60D penny nail since my double umbilical hernia surgury in June. Also in VERY loose wraps. So I've been doing bodyweight training for about 2 months now and JUST started lifting LIGHT weights as of recent.....HUGE PR for me.

Build a base of Strength

When you choose to start lifting weights or you receive a new guy to your team, you must ensure they can handle there own body weight first before they move on to a strength training program. Let them build a foundation with body weight exercises before jumping in to lifting weights. If you skip this step of forming a base or foundation you could cause serious injury to your athlete. I hear it all the time, "I'm going to the gym" I think to my self yes you are but you can't even do a proper pushup let alone that bench press your going to try to attempt. Do us all a favor and build a base of strength before attempting to start a lifting program. Here is a great video of some Body weight pushups that Joe Hashey has his guys do.



Via Synergy Athletics

Gruntman and Geek 8

Finally another issue of your fitness comic. I star in this one again check it out Augusts issue at The Pound. If you've never read any you can also check out the rest there as well.

Want Strong legs and back?

Zach Even-Esh Knows a thing or two about getting strong!