Cutting Edge Sports Performance | Speed, Agility, Balance and Athletic Conditioning

Is Doing Abs a Waste of Time?

I can’t even tell you how often I hear someone at the end of
the workout say something like “I need to do more abs, I
want to get a six-pack.”

Speed Training – Doing it Right

Whether you are an athlete in training or an “amateur” who enjoys working out and pushing the envelope, you might very well want to look into “upping” your training – bringing it to the next level through speed training.

Discover Who You REALLY Are

It seems as though being healthy and fit is something we hear about everywhere. There is no arguing the fact that health and fitness are subjects that are on many people’s minds. Of course, this does not mean that we are all following the healthy guidelines that have been set out for us. While many of us would just love to ignore the whole “eat well, stay away from junk food and make sure you move your body regularly” warnings, the truth is that, in order to get healthy, toned and happy, we do have to incorporate some type of fitness training into our daily lives – all the while keeping a sharp eye on what we eat.

Football Training Can Help You FIND That Edge

Football season seems to come around very quickly, each year, and whether you are a pro or simply like to “throw the ball around” with friends in a weekly Sunday game – getting in shape BEFORE the season starts is the only way you will stay healthy throughout the season, but it is also the only way you can make sure you get that “edge” – the one that will make you the MVP of your team!

Interval Training- HIIT or Miss?

I think every fat loss article we read espouses the value of interval training for fat loss. In fact the term HIIT ( for High Intensity Interval Training) is thrown around so much that many people just assume they know what it is. However among all the recommendations I see to perform HIIT, very few articles contain any practical information as to what to do or how to do it. I have to confess that I stumbled into this area somewhat accidentally. Two different processes converged to make me understand that I might be a fat loss expert and not know it. In my normal process of professional reading I read both Alwyn Cosgrove’s Afterburn and Craig Ballantyne’s Turbo Training. What struck me immediately was that what these experts were recommending for fat loss looked remarkably like the programs we used for conditioning. At the time I was reading these programs I was also training members of the US Women’s Olympic Ice Hockey team. It seemed all of the female athletes I worked with
attempted to use steady state cardio work as a weight loss or weight maintenance vehicle. I was diametrically opposed to this idea as I felt that steady state cardiovascular work undermined the strength and power work we were doing in the weightroom. My policy became “intervals only” if you wanted to do extra work. I did not do this as a fat loss strategy but rather as a “slowness prevention” strategy. However, a funny thing happened. The female athletes that we prevented from doing steady state cardiovascular work also began to get remarkably leaner. I was not bright enough to put two and two together until I read the above-mentioned manuals and realized that I was doing exactly what the fat loss experts recommended. We were on a vigorous strength program and we were doing lots of intervals.

The Joys of Training…..The Choices are Endless

We have certainly come a long way when it comes to gaining a better understanding of health and fitness and of what it takes to actually get and stay healthy. Of course, the nutrition side of the equation is extremely important, however, the second facet – the movement/exercise aspect can also, arguably, be considered as important and vital, towards our quest for a leaner, healthier body.

Discover Who You really Are…

Functional Training is not a Fad…

Many of us, no doubt, remember the “good old days” when working out or training simply meant doing some stretches, some weight training and maybe a little bit of cardio on the stationary bike or rowing machine.

Being a Well Rounded Athlete Means Adding to Your Training Sessions

Sure, walking on the treadmill a few times a week can be fun and, for some of us, is actually a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately, while some people seem to have been born athletic, others have to struggle to get themselves to the gym on a regular basis.

Movement Based Training

When we think of training (strength, speed, etc.) we think of weight training and running sprints but do we ever think of movement based training. Most coaches train their athletes on a linear level not knowing that athletes use all planes of motion in a chaotic enviornment on the field or court. The most obvious plane of movement is the transverse plane. Deceleration, acceleration and lateral movement are part of the transverse plan and happens more often than any other plane of movement.