Registration opens Jan 1st, 2014 for the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar
Early bird rates end at the end of December 2013. Seats are already starting to fill. SPINE - Boston May 2-4, 2014
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Topics: BSMPG, Andreo Spina, Functional Range Release
For six weeks now, we shared the needed terminology and concepts to help practitioners develop their own fast and comprehensive approaches to screening, with the goal of helping athletes to reduce injuries. Surface EMG and Motion Capture is growing and evolving with colleges and professional teams each year. What this blog will share is what some of most innovative teams and performance specialists are doing to get an advantage on the field and improve internally with rehabilitation, and more importantly, accelerated communication. Data is flooding everyone involved with the athletic performance and medical space, so teams are looking to find better ways to get information that is relevant and actionable, versus interesting and redundant.
Building a Performance Lab
The data found from a team or clinic's internal use of surface EMG and motion capture every day is shaping the changes in rehabilitation and training. Commonly though, coaches and medical professionals still just read already published research and try to decipher only what is useful and practical, thus claiming they are evidence based. This stunts the growth of new and true evidence based improvements and performance – which are demanded real-time. Better would be for us to create our own, however, historically the problem with research has been that even though much of it is applicable, only the researchers with intricate and complicated lab equipment have the set-up and time to perform the experiments, thus making innovation very slow. With that being said, the ivory tower disconnection between those involved in science, and those working in the trenches, is now a thing of the past. Clinicians and coaches are doing their own real time studies now, and using their own methods to find better ways to help athletes. This is performance. This is staying ahead of the curve. And this is evidence based.
Using Surface EMG to Predict and Prevent Injuries
In the past, rehabilitation and pain management was the primary role of sports medicine doctors, but as strength and conditioning coaches have evolved and become crucial to injury prevention as well, they are now looked at as experts in screening to identify risk and use interventions to decrease risk. Coaches are expected to predict and prevent injuries as much as humanly possible, and whoever is more successful at doing so is far more valuable than those that focus on better rehabilitation programs. Screening is more powerful when the results tell where and why something is not functioning, rather than getting an empty score, void of detail - cause and effect. Interventions are more effective when you know why something in the body is impaired, not a vague summary of a movement pattern. Mentioned earlier, squatting and jumping are excellent movement screens but the true question is now the movement results but the movement causes and contributions. Is a muscle group not firing fast enough? Is the ratio or contributions from different muscle systems off? Is the joint system not supported by enough activity in the area? Countess questions can be answered when comprehensive objective measurements are included. Corrective exercise becomes a laser-guided application versus the shotgun approach which is unavoidable without these tools.
Using Surface EMG to improve Performance
The same data from screening can be used for performance monitoring of athletes for improvement in training. Currently teams are interested in getting the most out of warming up for training and seeing what exercises and training programs change the activity in areas that may be over-recruited or under active. Coaches are looking at EMG metrics from training to see how resistance training and speed development is influencing outcomes.
Example Performance Protocol for NCAA Division I Soccer
A sport specific and skill specific battery of tests was constructed to screen athletes functionally. Similar to an obstacle course, teams save valuable time by including an array of tests strung together to get a lot of key data in a very short period of time. By screening general athletic movements paired with specific soccer actions, the performance staff could see relationships between movement screen results in the clinical assessment, and the findings of their sport specific test series. Relationships like this that are performance based (time or distance) are now bolstered with the information from EMG and kinematics to illustrate how they achieved scores in speed, agility, and power. Five tests are explained in detail and include example risk and performance scoring that leverages inclusion of surface EMG and motion capture.
Agility Station (with or without dribble)
Athletes can see if ball control and general body agility is changed or improved year to year by dribbling and or running through choreographed patterns set by both team and performance coaches.
Performance Example: Improvement in time and muscle coordination.
Risk Example: Lack of deceleration and acceleration, balance, and poor recruitment in muscles that help reduce force in cutting activities.
Short Speed Test
Timing gates set up between 0-15 yards/meters is an excellent way to see if MSS or maximum sprinting speed is improving year to year from strength and speed development.
Performance Example: The change in muscle activity such as the quadriceps, from resistance training programs, and peak activity or silence periods (relaxation).
Risk Example: The inter- and intra-activity of adductors compared to baseline, different team members, and different sports.
Single leg Rotational Hop and Stick
The athlete initiates a single leg vertical jump and turns 90-180 degrees both right and left to the same leg. The athlete must exhibit control on the landing with a minimum hold or “stick time” of the same joint angle, roughly 90 degrees, without having the other foot touch the ground for balance. Coaches can modify this test with displacement horizontally in different patterns as they wish.
Performance Example: Improvements in flight time and contact time to pause, improvements in knee and hip kinematics and symmetry
Risk Example: Lack of normal activity to muscle groups during initiation of jump to poor co-contraction activity and knee collapse during landing.
Bilateral Kicking from Specific Distances
Players perform shots on goal or general kicking patterns in position specific scenarios both legs from different field locations. Shots are scored based on targeted requests and velocities can be seen with laser timing devices or radar gun.
Performance Example: Ball Velocity and Accuracy with both legs
Risk Example: Muscle coordination patterns that change after injury or fatigue that accompany with lack of performance and increase in joint/soft-tissue injury.
Vertical Jump (with or without approach)
A simple vertical jump can be made into a fantastic ACL screening solution, a strength training evaluation method, and performance indicator for player’s ability to get to the ball in air spaces specific to crosses and corner kicks. A gross jump, with counter movement or from static position, is a quick and convenient tool that is timeless and well established.
Performance Example: Wattage or center of mass displacement, muscle activation timing and triggering.
Risk Example: Valgus collapse from lower extremity weakness, due to specific muscle groups.
With the performance lab tools these and other various sequences, movement patterns, and skills can be optimized. You are now able to comprehensively monitor and thus, manage, how athletes are moving. Teams should be encouraged to create their own tests based on their unique environment and ability to provide interventions with their staff. For more information on how EMG is making a difference with teams please visit us at www.noraxon.com
Registration for the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar opens on Jan 1, 2014!
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Topics: BSMPG Summer Seminar, Noraxon
by Gil Blander
A recent article about the Los Angeles Lakers nutrition program has created a firestorm, with different opinions weighing in on the dietary practices of NBA players. Any time blood analysis is brought up, we tend to get many coaches and nutritionists requesting more information about our blood analysis services and our thoughts on the articles in question. As the Chief Science Officer of InsideTracker, I felt compelled to speak my mind on the matter of athletic diets and biomarkers for sports performance. We have a massive database of athletes and have tracked professional athletes for years using our service. Several athletes, including NBA players, have come to us to get the full window inside their bodies in order to perform at their best.
Because we service different sports, we have the responsibility of looking at a wide range of athletes with unique demographics, training plans, and of course diets. Nutritional habits are difficult to change and improve, but this is precisely why sharing blood test results with the athlete can help with compliance. In the recent article, Dwight Howard’s high sugar intake, the nutritionist’s fear of diabetes, and his election to lower his intake were discussed. His intake of candy and sugary drinks was out of control, but he looked like his nickname, Superman, fooling everyone into thinking his nutrition must be fine. Many athletes look amazing on the outside and perform miracles on the court and on the field, but internally their bodies are very much mortal and some are dangerously unhealthy. We love the fact that blood analysis led to behavior modification and eating healthier foods. The questions we are getting now include whether all athletes should be following 25% carbohydrate intake diets, and what happens over a season with different diets such as Paleo and low carbohydrate options. Nutrition is the hardest area to monitor, but we have experience looking at the complete picture — and agents, private coaches, and teams are seeing the results when blood analysis is part of the program.
It was great that Los Angeles decided to do blood analysis, and the biomarker glucose was mentioned. Anticipating that teams and athletes would ask similar questions about biomarkers, I wanted to explain the importance of testosterone and share how carbohydrate factors in.
Testosterone is a hormone that is widely known, for good reason. It’s one of the most important biomarkers to athletes and we track both total testosterone and free testosterone with our Ultimate Panel, soon to be released to the public.
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See InsiderTracker and other top Performance and Tech companies at the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 16&17, 2014.
Registration opens Jan.1, 2014.
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“Muscle activity for the latissimus dorsi during the first pull showed a statistically significant increase when lifting heavy weights.
-S.-K. Chen et al., Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology
A lot of confusion occurs when professionals interpret research and try to apply the findings from it to the clinical or performance setting. Electromyography terms, such as mean and peak activation create confusion at times, especially when Maximum Voluntary Contraction (MVC) is thrown into the mix. In this article not only will we explain the differences between the three, but show how using surface EMG (SEMG) can unlock more than a few mysteries with training and rehabilitation. Practitioners need to migrate away from interpreting publications to actually implementing their own methodologies.
Electromyography Terminology Made Simple
A quick synopsis of Electromyography can be summarized into three primary terms to clarify how surface EMG experiments are usually conducted and how practitioners can create their own methodologies internally.
▪ Maximum Voluntary Contraction - MVC is thought of as the maximal work a muscle can do during isometric contraction - voluntarily. Researchers and practitioners use MVC for normalizing comparisons of contractions and training. The MVC value can created in different ways, ranging from just tension of the muscle to very specific joint angles in an all-out isometric exercise like a mid-thigh pull for leg strength.
▪ Mean Activation – The average level of activity of a muscle over a specific period of time is the mean activation. The period of time can be anything the user wants to define, such as an entire repetition of a weighted exercise, an average of these repetitions, or movement patterns such as running, jumping, and throwing.
▪ Peak Activation – The maximal activity value of a muscle over a period of time is called peak activation. Peak activation is very useful for evaluating how intense an action is and comparing peak activation to mean activation is a common approach with EMG interpretation.
Now that those terms are explained let’s take a look using surface EMG to see how popular exercises such as the power clean and snatch can help both rehabilitation and performance enhancement.
Musculature Contributions in Weightlifting
Sports medicine and sports performance is fusing together as an inverse relationship exists with performance and injury. When performance drops, often a risk to injury can increase if the body is compensating or using poor movement patterns. The traditional uses for weightlifting exercises have been thought of as only lower body power developers, not ways to increase injury resilience. The first pull in power cleans and snatches provide a lot of distraction forces to the shoulder that are great stimulators of the muscles around the joint system. One problem is that when a shoulder is dysfunctional and or the movement is done improperly, athletes miss the benefits of the exercise and increase risk of getting injured.
* Chen, Shen-Kai, et als. The Analysis of Upper Limb Movement and EMG activation During the Snatch Under Various Loading Conditions. Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, Vol. 13, No 1 (2013)
Using Noraxon’s wireless SEMG, researchers observed how increased loading recruited the latissimus dorsi in the first pull more than any other phase of the lift. It can be assumed that heavier loads will increase the recruitment values but preserve similar patterns of muscle activity.
From a clinical and performance perspective, the information on musculature recruitment of the upper body suggests using only the lift off part of the exercise, but heavier weights. Additionally, comparing bilaterally is very useful to ensure that asymmetry was reduced, providing an objective way of tracking rehabilitation and return to play.
In the past, only researchers could complete analyses because the equipment and time demands were unavailable to clinicians and performance coaches. Now, however, with more powerful MyoMetric software it is possible, and even reporting and report comparison is fast and comprehensive. With less than a minute of set-up, users can get lab quality data real time, and make decisions that would not otherwise be possible. Many therapists and coaches are using SEMG to create protocols internally that improve patient outcomes and improve performance of their athletes.
Registration for the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar opens on Jan 1, 2014!
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Topics: BSMPG Summer Seminar
“Observation-based assessments of movement are a standard component in clinical assessment of patients with non-specific low back pain. While aberrant motion patterns can be detected visually, clinicians are unable to assess underlying neuromuscular strategies during these tests.”
-E. Nelson-Wong et al, Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology 2013
Clinicians and coaches wish or sometimes believe they have X-Ray eyes and can see muscles “fire” with just the naked eye. While the human eye is an amazing organ, muscle recruitment does not always manifest with visual hints from the patient’s or athlete’s body and EMG is our guide to underlying neuromuscular activity. An essential part of working with athletes who have experienced chronic or acute injuries is the managing their avoidance of pain, and the neuromuscular changes that compromise outcomes associated with it. Guarding of joints and compensation is talked about in the literature, but the most direct way of solving movement impairments is to see the actions of the body and neuromuscular strategies employed by the athlete relearning after injury. Surface EMG provides clarity to what is happening below the surface, and the information gleaned from its use can accelerate the process of improving performance.
Improving Neuromuscular Recruitment Strategies
Several approaches work with improving movement quality, using Biofeedback makes a mind to muscle connection that bypasses the struggle of learning or changing motion. Finding the right sequence is not easy with athletes who are injured and are in pain, but simple activities can be enhanced with patient and athlete assisted EMG techniques. A simple guideline to ensuring optimized movement is to think of the acronym D.O.T.S. Below are the four factors in that practitioners should think about in athletic movements when performing return to play strategies.
▪ Duration of Near Peak Activity - Mean and Peak values for EMG are two very powerful metrics that reveal how the muscle is working overtime and how successfully it was engaged. Looking at both the average work during mean activation and the top end range (peak) is an excellent benchmark when devising early post-surgical rehabilitation programs or return to play protocols.
▪ Order of Sequence - A simple path to neuromuscular enhancement is ensuring the right order of muscular recruitment is displayed when an athlete performs a sporting action. Success in joint integrity is highly dependent on the right order of muscle recruitment.
▪ Timing of Activity- Precise timing of activity to muscle groups will determine if a joint is prepared for landing during gait or able to increase the power potential of general movement. Timing and order of muscle firing are not isolated qualities, and are highly dependent on each other for the right interaction.
▪ Silence Period- The select time when muscles are resting is a perfect way to screen for guarding or fears of pain or dysfunction. Athletes will not trust their bodies and resort to protection strategies, causing early fatigue and possible re-injury.
Lumbopelvic Stability Enhancement with EMG - Example of Current Options
Low back pain is a complex and very common problem with athletes and the general population, and most approaches can be enhanced with the use of surface EMG. Several strategies exist with low back pain and common approaches can be made more effective, starting from the screening process and finishing with a discharge report, all done rapidly and easily with surface EMG. Examples of integrating and pairing EMG with your existing treatment processes are the following:
▪ Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization - Neurodevelopmental aspects of motor control are supported with a combined approach, and practitioners can see how reflexive actions are involved in the rehabilitation process. Normally the approach is very qualitative and subjective, but a combined approach with surface EMG can accelerate the rehabilitation and increase patient awareness.
▪ Chronic Pain Therapy - Emotional or Cognitive perception of threats, specifically pain, can be reduced through mindset changes when athletes have confidence in the therapy. Practitioners can see therapeutic milestones of restored norms when athletes are able to remove fear avoidance tendencies and guarding patterns. Biofeedback with therapist support breaks through mental and physical barriers and normal patterns of activity can be restored or acquired with surface EMG techniques.
▪ Postural Enhancement Training - Proper spinal positioning can be fine-tuned with EMG by either biofeedback of the core and lower extremities or by scoring visual and EMG readings later. Sport or training postures can enhance performance and reduce injury, making the combined approach effective for both coaches and therapists.
EMG integration is only limited by the imagination and goals of the therapy and training. Adding a simple set of sensors with the process unlocks the doors of better information and is currently improving patient outcomes and athlete performance.
For pre-training or further information visit www.noraxon.com
Registration for the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar opens on Jan 1, 2014!
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Topics: BSMPG Summer Seminar
BSMPG is proud to announce Ben Prentiss as a speaker at the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar - May 16-18th, 2014. Last year was a sell out and the only difference this year will be us announcing a sell out a month in advance! This will be one of the greatest performance and therapy seminars of all time!
Seriously, this will sell out - Registration will open January 1st, 2014. Members of the BSMPG family will receive an opportunity to reserve their seat in advance - stay tuned for details. With speakers and attendees traveling from around the world, this seminar will close in record time.
Be sure to save the date and reserve your hotel room well in advance.
See you in Boston next May!!!
BEN PRENTISS
SPONSORED BY:
Strength and conditioning coach Ben Prentiss has been working with professional and Olympic hockey players for over 14 years. Ben's unique training system encompasses speed, strength, power, agility, and flexibility, along with body composition and nutrition. This approach has allowed athletes to achieve their personal goals and reach optimal physical shape. Ben opened his own training facility, Bodytuning, twelve years ago in Darien, CT. Bodytuning, home of Prentiss Hockey Performance, is a 2,000 square foot gym containing unique equipment that has helped produce three Stanley Cup winners, NHL All-Stars, a Hart Trophy winner, and a Hobey Baker finalist .
Over the years Ben has trained professional hockey players on 21 of 30 NHL teams as well as members of the OHL, QMJHL, USHL, AHL, DEL (German Ice Hockey League), NLA (National League A Switzerland), FEL (Finnish Elite League), NCAA, Olympics, and World Championships. Ben's off-season training program has been recommended by coaches, advisors, and agents. Over two dozen media outlets have featured Ben's training techniques with his athletes, including Sports Illustrated, Men's Health, Fox Sports, and The Hockey News.
Registration opens on January 1st, 2014 - Book your Hotel in Boston Today
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Topics: BSMPG Summer Seminar, Ben Prentiss
The inclusion of wireless surface EMG and motion capture is growing in popularity with Functional Movement Screen providers. Those using a combined option of surface EMG and movement screening, both basic and individualized, are getting direction from the data beyond what was thought possible. Both conditioning coaches and sports medicine professionals can see reports that identify specific muscle function and add more quantified analysis to testing. Leveraging the speed and simplicity of the Functional Movement Screen, as well as feedback benefits and easy adoption, athletes can get the right interventions with confidence.
Getting More Out of the Hurdle Step
Using the existing criteria provided by Gray Cook, specific movement impairments and muscle function can be scored with surface EMG by placing just a few electrodes to key muscle groups and using motion capture. Within minutes a professional can perform the FMS, score the screen conventionally, and report the details instantly. Using surface EMG, the athlete, the team, or entire facility and collaborators can quantify things like:
(1) Lateral bending of the spine from improper torso recruitment
(2) Lack of dissociation ability during hip flexion with compensation
(3) Hip hiking with low gluteal activity during stance
The above three examples are just the tip of the iceberg, and baseline testing can grade the effectiveness of corrective exercise strategies and show a clear cause and effect with training interventions. Recently national level athletes were screened using the FMS and a combined motion capture and surface EMG solution.
After scoring the FMS with surface EMG, actionable interventions in training and sports medicine can be directed more effectively. For example, an increase of single leg exercises and target muscle strengthening can augment hip abductor recruitment and strength can reduce hip hiking. Marching exercises placed in the movement preparation section of a training session to help learn to “create silence” to flexors of the spine for better dissociation during hip flexion. Finally, stability and relaxation can be improved by incorporating multi planar chops in both kneeling and split positions.
Without immediate, accurate, and motivating biofeedback, corrective strategies are not be as effective and athletes may be slower to show improvement. The live streaming option can accelerate learning, allowing athletes to get visual guidance and assist professionals in pinpointing the root cause of poor movement patterns. The combination approach of using the FMS and surface EMG with motion capture is a rapid and effective methodology for those looking to increase accountability, improve athlete performance, and even prevent recurring injury. Scoring movement and coordination using surface EMG is no longer just for research, it’s a clinical and performance option that is growing in the industry.
Learn more at: http://noraxon.com/
Registration for the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar opens on Jan 1, 2014!
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Symmetry and asymmetry are natural occurrences in sport, but the real insight to what is acceptable and what is an injury risk is unknown in the research on clinical ranges of motion, Electromyography, strength and power evaluation, and video analysis. One of the primary reasons Electromyography (EMG) is revealing is the specific details of why asymmetry may be present when visually the athlete appears to be symmetrical. What we do know is that asymmetry with injury is a valid etiology to muscle groups and joints of the lower extremity. Electromyography can easily add value to any existent movement screen or evaluation method or assist in designing new assessments if needed.
Etiology of Injury and Return to Play Strategies
Athletes may not be prone to injury just because of one imbalance or asymmetry, but as more factors elicit an symmetry, the probability increases. It is widely accepted that when an athlete is injured he or she will need the injured limb to exhibit less than a 10% deficit (1,2) between the uninjured limb, especially on strength. Maintaining symmetry is not just ensuring the strength is equal between limbs or sides, it's also important that range of motion and coordination is following the same guidelines. Removing symmetries is about reduction versus prevention, since most athletes will have anatomical and other technique styles that may encourage internal asymmetry. Performance and and medical specialists are to manage areas that may not be high risk and find areas that are likely culprits to the problems of non-contact injury, such as joint overuse syndromes and muscle strains. Following the 10% rule is a bit arbitrary as athletes in movement are not relying on just one muscle or system to create motion, but creating symmetry by revealing incomplete rehabilitation or unwanted training responses is necessary. While 10% may not be a true threshold, the act of measurement may reveal even higher deficits in functional movement such as jump tests, screening activities, and full sport movements. The goal of comparing limbs, especially the lower extremities, is to decrease the rate of injury by finding clear flags for further investigation. Injuries are common, but the they are often avoidable, especially in non-contact form.
Adding Surface Electromyography to Screening and Sport Movement
Visual compensations may not be present when significant neuromuscular dysfunction is present, due to the fact that most movements are a composite of multiple muscles systems. Flexibility, isolated strength, jump or movement tests, are all highly visible and most qualitative and quantitative information is limited by what the clinicians see. Other important insight is not visible, and kinetic data or EMG is a way to see what is below that surface. Coordination is hard to see, just the end result of motion, not the individual messages from the brain. Information from EMG shows activity of muscle groups or the lack of recruitment in joint activities, even when the resultant movements look normal. By looking below the surface a practitioner can see the root issues as symmetry visibly may be misleading when a specific firing pattern could be causing pain or malperformance. Noraxon <insert product> provides support to the the following options.
(1) Movement Screening- Any screen can be enhanced with EMG when used in combination, since movements are the result of the functional state of the neuromuscular system. Symmetry visually can be audited by the added data of EMG and determine if the movement screen is providing false negatives, common with athletes that are doing low force mobility screens. Movement screens can enhanced with incrementally higher speeds and forces to find what specific thresholds that can be problematic for that specific athlete, and improvements in training and therapy will raise the scorers over time if done properly.
(2) Power Tests- Simple lower, upper, or total body power tests are excellent ways to see if a functional imbalance is present with athletes. Power tests are normal part of training and athletes are comfortable doing them without any specific preparation or instruction. With absolute power tests coaches can combine risk factors with performance measures to get more information with the same tests, something especially necessary with limited time.
(3) Rehabilitation Exercises- Exercises in sports medicine studies are frequently validated with the use of EMG. Unfortunately many of the studies use exercises or movements that are not the options medical and performance staff need, and a gap exists to what is happening precisely besides estimated visuals. Sports therapists can create their own libraries of exercises and their variances internally when EMG is added to the movements.
(4) Sporting Actions- The most straightforward approach to evaluating possible dysfunctional movement or injury risk to look at the sporting movements the athlete is doing in practice or game simulation to see if something is compromised. Sporting actions are familiar with nearly everyone, so glaring problems can be clearly identified and knowledgable sport coaches can be part of the collaborative process.
In conclusion, the use of surface EMG is a gold standard in both performance and in modern rehabilitation. EMG explores and reveals what is beneath the surface visually and presents meaningful data when making comparisons in symmetry that could be troublesome if beyond the ability of the athlete.
References
- 1. Augustsson J, Thomee R, Karlsson S. Ability of a new hop test to determine functional deficits after anterior cruciate ligament recon- struction. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2004;12:350-356.
Orchard J, Best TM, Verrall GM. Return to play following muscle strains. Clin J Sport Med. 2005;15:436-441.
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1. Long Jump Run-Up Velocity
Freelap USA – A lot of the long jump performances have been stagnant or regressed over the last few years, and many point to the run up velocity as being part of the cause. You have several testing parameters that address max speed and acceleration, but include 150 m test. Can you share how they interact with both the Triple and the long Jump?
Boo Schexnayder – You have a limited time frame over which you can maintain high levels of fine motor control, so the ability to accelerate powerfully is prerequisite to high performance. This explains which some fast people can’t convert on the runway, because too much energy is expended to get to optimal velocities. Maximal velocity correlates with performance more than any other parameter for obvious reasons. The 150 is important to me because it is a good indicator of the ability to maintain motor control under duress and at high levels of power output. The ability to move freely through takeoff without guarding, tentativeness, or deceleration is directly related to 150 m performance for this reason.
2. Injury Prevention in Long Jump Traning
Freelap USA – When designing the actual jump training coaches have a huge set of options but must individualize the application of plyometrics or athletes may get injured from the wrong sequence and loading pattern. What are good general precautions that could guide us beyond contact totals and rest periods? Progressions are talked about but is there something deeper?
Boo Schexnayder – I really don’t think there is much dark and deep there, I think the problems arise from moving the coaching eye off the target. It’s very simple, over the course of time you must increase the impact values and levels of tension applied to the tissue, and employ some variety to give yourself some room for error and reduce injury risk. All decisions on exercise choice need to be on target in that regard. I think most injuries result from (1) fear of regression during rest phases, therefore loading values don’t fluctuate enough, (2) poor evaluation of the intensity associated with each individual exercise used, and perhaps, the most common of all, is (3) failure to progress. Each type of plyometric exercise serves a specific purpose in the progression and once that purpose is accomplished, it should go away. Many coaches fear losing something, and continue it in spite of its expired usefulness, and it becomes a new boulder in the bag of training baggage rather than a contributor.
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See Coach Schexnayder at the 2014 BSMPG Summer Seminar
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