Self Esteem

"Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life, but define yourself."

Change yourself!

"Don't exist.Live.Get out, explore.Thrive. Challenge authority. Challenge yourself. Evolve.Change forever. Keep moving. Don't stop. Start the revolution. Become a freedom fighter. Become a superhero. Just because everyone doesn't know your name doesn't mean you dont matter."

Dont Give up!

"Knowing yourself and coming to trust your feelings and your intuition will open up your life to greater possibilities and keep you moving toward your goals.

What are you waiting? What do you choose today?

"It's up to you today to start making healthy choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind."

Be smart using your time!

"You only have one day at a time to live, so live it and choose well!"

Friday, July 26, 2013

5k Tomorrow: Hour long foam roll and stretch today

Hey everybody!   I'm doing the Crystal City 5k tomorrow in Arlington, Virginia and I have been running a lot lately.  So today I took off from running to rest for tomorrow but I spent an hour on foam rolling, stretching, and corrective exercise.  I will repeat it again tonight with a little less corrective exercise and will repeat it again in the morning so that I feel good when the race starts tomorrow.  After doing all of this I felt great.  Here is the order with which I did everything:

Foam Roll:
Feet
Calves
Quads
IT Band
Hip Flexors
Hip Extensors
Hamstring
Glutes/Piriformis

Stretch:
Calves
Hamstring (modified hurdler)
Hamstring split down the righ left and middle
Hip flexor (knee on ground)
Quadricep Stretch (heel to butt)

Corrective exercise:
Hip bridges 20
Clam shell 10x3 on each side
Balance on one foot 30 seconds each
Balance reach forward 10 each
Balance reach side 10 each
Alternating shoulder T hugs (Stand in a split stance with one arm on wall feet toward wall, stand up right, open chest so that arms make T then close reaching the non wall hand through and under for 10 reps and over the wall hand for 10 reps)
Forward bow hamstring stretch with arms extended overhead to hip flexor stretch lean back (In a staggered stance with one foot forward extend arms over head and lean back flexing the glute of the back leg this will stretch your hip flexor, then lean forward till your torso and arms are parallel to the floor this should stretch the front legs hamstring do for ten reps then switch stance and repeat)
One leg Romanian deadlifts (balance on one foot, bow to a T with your leg extended and hips closed) 10 on each leg


Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Strength and Conditioning: Football

If you are a strength and conditioning coach or a sports coach who needs to motivate their athletes then I suggest using the technique I used today.  After running post weight training for the past three weeks I decided that the speed that they were running at meant their effort wasn't at the level that I wanted.  So to motivate the athletes I split them into three groups based on speed.  Each person within the group had to beat their time and if they didn't I marked them down on a sheet.  At the end of the 12 sprints every mark would mean that student had to re run until they beat their time.  I sort of took this from WVU strength and conditioning for football.  The times I used were relatively easy to hit and running them in 3 groups meant that they would have a lot of time to rest (maybe too much).  It was a great success at motivating their running.  One coach stood at each goal line each with a stop watch.  The coach at the same line would tell the runners to run and the other coach would hit the stop watch on movement.  Only two athletes missed their times and the one due to cramping.  After looking at the times I will in the future be moving each one down a second to increase the intensity.  This was done post weight training (the same as usual for a Wednesday with no pause)  Finally, the athlete that missed his time on 3 occasions learned a lot today about how tough he is and that he is holding back when we work out.  I also saw leadership exhibited by other players who ran the extra ones with him and cheered him on.  

12 Sprints for time.  

First groups time to beat:  15 seconds (skill position)

Second groups time to beat:  18 seconds (middle)

Third groups time to beat:  21 seconds (Lineman)



Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Workout: 7/23/13

Great little circuit earlier.  It was quick got the heart rate up and I can feel a little pump.

Exercise order: (start with the cleans or the ball push ups)

1.  Hang cleans
2.  Sandbell slams
3.  Decline bench crunch with russian twist at the top
4.  Jump rope
5.  Push ups on smith rack bar lowered to the floor.  One foot on a Physio ball (crunch ball)  other foot raised up into the air (video coming)  Second time through use the opposite foot.
6.  Burpee to press of a 20 pound med ball
7.  Speed ladder (go through doing different speed ladder foot patterns each time.)

Repeat

Do each exercise for a minute with a rest break of 10 seconds between each exercise.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Week 2 Football training program: Mass Phase

For the second week of the strength and conditioning program we stuck with the same exercises with the caveat that on these exercises: pull ups, bench, incline bench, and squats, we would do 3 second pauses during the lift.  On the pull ups we would pause for 3 seconds at the top, while on the other exercises it was at the bottom.  Pausing does not mean resting the bar on ones chest or chin on the pull up bar.

Running (always run after lifting):

Monday 10 50 yard sprints 1 to 4 rest rate
Tuesday 5 40 yard sprints 5 100 yard sprints and 5 40 yard shuttle runs
Wednesday:  Mile run.  To challenge my athletes we played a game where if I beat them in the mile run they would have to do 100 push ups and if I lapped them they would have to do 150 push ups.  For every athlete that beat me I would do 10 push ups.  This provided a good teaching experience because I came in second and most of the athletes were lapped or had to do 100 push ups.  During the push up section although according to the game I had to do 10 push ups I did 150 push ups instead.  The athletes complained and no one did more than they were supposed to do and I talked about how leaders would have done the 150 whether they had to or not and then would have provided support for teammates that were having trouble with it.

Thursday  5 40 yard sprints 10 100 yard sprints


Thursday, July 11, 2013

Workout 4: 4th workout for Football team Week 1

This was the final lifting and running day for the team I work with.

We are in a Mass phase so we are lifting at 10 rep max weights with the focus on 90 minute rest between sets.

1.  Bent over row
2.  Pull ups
3.  Deadlift
4.  Squat
5.  Shoulder retractions/Reverse Fly


Additional exercises for groups that end early:  Bicep Curls, Leg Press, Seated row, One arm dumbbell row

Sprints

40 yard sprints 5
100 yard sprints 5

Bonus:  I worked out with them to show off! lol I'm stronger than a bunch of 15, 16, and 17 year olds!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Workout 3: Football team Mass phase

This will be a repeat of the first days workout except that hang cleans will be substituted for the push press.

1.  Hang clean
2.  Bench Press
3.  Incline Press
4.  Romanian Deadlift
5.  Hamstring Drops
6.  Triep extensions or dips
7.  Star Drill

Alternative exercises for people who finish early:  Max repetition push ups.  One leg balance RDLs

Workout 2: Football team Mass Phase

The Second day of the team lift involved back muscles with an emphasis on squatting and deadlifts.  All exercises were done ideally with 90 minutes of rest and at a 10 rep failure range.

1.  Pull up  with partner assist if needed.
2.  Bent over row
3.  Deadlift
4.  Squat
5.  Reverse Fly/Partner Posterior delt flys
6.  Injury Prevention:  Shoulder retractions with a plate

Sprints- All sprints done with a 1:4 rest rate.

30 yard sprints 10
50 yard sprints 5

Monday, July 8, 2013

Workout 1: Football team mass phase

I've started running strength and conditioning at a high school in D.C. and I'm starting with a very abridged mass phase of 10 reps with ideally 90 seconds of rest between sets.  Here is my day one workout designed to Increase upper body pushing strength and lower body hamstring strength/stability.  Exercises were done in order from hardest to easiest.

1.  Push Press
2.  Bench Press
3.  Incline Bench
4.  Romanian Deadlift
5.  Hamstring controlled falls( From knees slowly fall forward with a partner holding your ankles to the ground)
6.  Star Drill

Optional:  One leg RDL 10 on each leg, max rep push ups (these were to be done towards the end of the exercises after all of the upper body exercises were done)

Top athlete optional(for the strongest athletes)  I replaced Push press with a kettlebell clean and press for two athletes who were capable of doing it properly.

Running  1 to 4 rest   (example  10 seconds to run= 40 seconds to rest till next run)
5 40 yard sprints
5 100 yard sprints
5 40 yard shuttle runs (20 yards and back)

Went pretty well.  The kids worked hard and we had an ok turnout of 12.