Larry Jusdanis – Page 8

5 Things That Are Making You Less Agile as a Soccer Player – Part 1

Agility is a skill which becomes invaluable on the field, court, or pitch! It is often the person who can change directions the fastest that will be the first to the ball. Also, being agile can be immensely helpful if you are not the fastest runner, as a good change of direction can allow you to keep up with a faster player. And if you are both fast AND agile, the opposing team better watch out, because you will be impossible to contain! However, like I said earlier, agility is a SKILL, which means there’s a right way and a wrong way to do things.

Here is a list of 5 MAJOR MISTAKES athletes make when changing directions:

1. 1. Foot position: If your need to change directions quickly and your plant foot (also the push-off foot) is either open (toes pointed out) or closed (toes pointed in), you are not going to re-accelerate as well as you could be. Having your toes pointed outward allows the ankle to flex in the direction opposite to the one you want to re-accelerate in. This creates an energy leak which means that energy will be lost at your ankle because it is not stable enough to absorb the force you are placing into the ground when you’re pushing off the foot to re-accelerate.
    Having your foot point inward creates the opposite problem: Your ankle is not in a good position to absorb the force you place in to the ground when you plant your foot. This is actually potentially injurious as having the foot turned in can easily lead to a rolled ankle. The best position for the foot is to be square, neither in nor out.
  2. Shoulder sway: This is another energy leak which occurs as a result of the core muscles not being strong enough to stabilize the upper body as you change directions. This will make your change of direction slower as your shoulders will have to stop swaying before your body can begin moving in the direction that you want to re-accelerate. A strong core will provide better shoulder stability thus helping change of direction.

Are you making any of these mistakes?! If you are, realize that you have the potential to be a lot quicker, which could make a huge difference in your on-field performance!

BTW – Make sure you see our “Femal Xeleration Speed Camp” CLICK HERE

Q&A – Soccer Speed Coach Delroy (Owner – SST Oakville) – Part 2

Last week we talked female soccer training with SST Oakville owner Delroy aka Coach D

Click HERE to see – Part 1

Can you add some insight into your strength coaching style?

My style of coaching stems from the type of coaches I had growing up as a young athlete to the coaches I had as I trained while playing on the Canadian pro Beach Volleyball Circuit. It was a “no nonsense” work hard, give a 110 percent and leave it all on the field. I have taken this approach with all my athletes and adult clients. I am tough and I expect you to give me everything you have while you are on the training floor. I have had athletes and adults see my car in the parking lot and tell me we know it is going to be a tough day when “the dark over lord is on the training floor.” I treat everybody the same, I want the same for every one of my clients. Results…. period. I approach every training session with energy that fills up the facility. I want all my clients to have fun, challenge themselves and most of all work hard. For my athletes I treat them like family; my goal is help them all understand from my own experience and the experience of my high level staff what it takes from a training stand point to get to the next level. Mentoring is so, so important to me for my athletes. As I move around the community nothing makes me more happy than to here an athlete shout to me “ Hey Coach D “ . I absolutely love to train!

You have had many girls in many sports on scholarships…is there a key to your success?

I believe you need to understand the female athletes in order to get the best out of them. We have had much success with female athletes who have received scholarships, because we have created an environment at SST Oakville were these ladies feel like they are at home. We have seen other facilities focus on “just the boys” and at SST Oakville we treat everybody the same. The female athletes who come to us for a few reasons; One, because we push them and two, we discuss their goals. We are not afraid to have them try complicated movements and they see the results of their hard work. Communication, Communication, communication is the key ingredient when dealing with high performance athletes. We take the time to explain, critique and most importantly coach and this seems to work really well as our female athletes respond and get tremendous results.

To find out more about Coach D’s exclusive Female only Xelerate soccer program – Click Here

Q&A – Soccer Speed Coach Delroy (Owner – SST Oakville) – Part 1

Delroy- thanks for taking your time and speaking with me

So Delroy why do have so much success with Soccer teams?

I really enjoy training soccer teams. Soccer was one of the first team sports we had come to us for training when we started SST Oakville. My staff and I have spent many hours with soccer athletes and have a great understanding of what is required for a soccer athlete to succeed. Our reputation and our results with soccer athletes have spread through the soccer community. We have teams from Burlington, Oakville, Mississauga and Brampton comes out to train with us. The coaching staff of these teams trusts us and understand our facility is “no nonsense “training center, as we build our soccer training programs to get their teams prepared for the season. We have worked with many soccer athletes who have gone on to play NCAA, CIS and professionally. We soccer athletes playing at University of Miami , University of Maine, Memphis University , kent State , Eastern Michigan , Louisiana State , Miami – Ohio , Carleton University , University of Western Ontario, Mc Master University to name a few. Today, we have Dianna Matheson from the Canadian Women’s National training in our facility to get her prepared for the FIVB women’s world cup. Here is what Dianna has to say about why she trains at SST Oakville:

“I use SST Oakville when I am a home because it has everything Ineed to train at the highest level. I go not just for strength training, but to be a stronger, faster, and more complete athlete.” – Thanks, Diana M

Can you add some insight into your strength coaching style?

My style of coaching stems from the type of coaches I had growing up as a young athlete to the coaches I had, as I trained while playing the Canadian pro Beach Volleyball Circuit. It was “no nonsense” work hard, give a 110 percent and leave it all on the field. I have taken this approach with all my athletes and adult clients, I am tough and I expect you to give me everything you have while you are on the training floor. I have had athletes and adults see my car in the parking lot and tell me we know it is going to be a tough day when “the dark over lord “is on the training floor. I treat everybody the same, I want the same for every one of my clients. Results -period. I approach every training session with energy that fills up the facility. I want all my clients to have fun , challenge themselves and most of all work hard. For my athletes I treat them like family , my goal is help them all understand from my own experience and the experience of my high level staff what it takes from a training stand point to get to the next level. Mentoring is so, so important to me for my athletes. As I move around the community nothing makes me more happy than to here an athlete shout to me “ hey Coach “ . I absolutely love to train.

For more info regarding our Girls Xceleration soccer speed camp please click HERE

Soccer and Stretching – Increase speed or not?

The other day I was on a field watching a bunch of kids practicing soccer it reminded me that soccer season is now starting to ramp up with pre-season training. It made me think of the research article I just read in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning regarding static stretching and the effects it has on soccer players during a match.

With so many different training methods out there for soccer players one that is still used by many coaches is static stretching…yes the kind where we ask the athlete to sit on their butts and stretch their hamstrings or stand on one leg and pull their leg back to stretch their quadriceps muscles!

The article by Sayer, et al looked at the sprint performance of soccer players after static stretching. Data was collected on 20 elite female soccer players from a soccer team that participates in the Women’s Professional soccer league. The impact of static stretching on sprinting for soccer players is important as sprints occur approximately every 90 seconds during a match.

What did they find in this study? Well, any type of static stretching had a negative effect on sprint times for soccer players. Sayer, et al discovered that there was a significant difference in the acceleration phase between the stretch and non-stretch groups. What is the acceleration phase?… it’s the part of a sprint when a player goes from a standing start to full speed – somewhere around 20 meters. The study found that static stretching diminishes maximal velocity as well. It was discovered that an athlete could lose up to .39 seconds after static stretching and with sprints lasting only 4-5 seconds to complete, this is Significant! This may be the difference between one player getting to the ball before another and recovering defensively to avoid a potential goal-scoring opportunity. In elite soccer, the ability for each player to be at their best may be the difference between winning and losing!

Wow, that means that not stretching has more of a profound positive effect on sprinting for soccer players than stretching does. This is an important article for all coaches, player’s educators, and other administrators who are involved with soccer players.

So what do you do? Stop wasting your time pre-practice or pre-game with static stretching and get into dynamic stretching.

I will look into the benefits of dynamic stretching for soccer players in part two of our series. As well, in the upcoming weeks, we will be showcasing videos on our website for all soccer players to view!

For more information regarding our soccer speed camps please contact us at sst@sstcanada.com

1 minute workout for fat loss- can it be done?

It sounds ridiculous but there is some very valid research to back this claim up!

Dr. Martin GIbala from McMaster University studied the effect of a 1 minute of all out maximum effort workout. Subjects would perform perceived maximal effort exercise for 20 seconds and take a short rest – repeated three times. What did they find? 12 weeks- 3 workouts per week increased the subject’s fitness level by 20%!!

This is significant for two reasons:

One of the main excuses people have for NOT exercising is TIME…well this squashed that excuse like a good 1 minute round of sledgehammer work
Maximum effort- most people think they are working out hard…but if we can provide a program which can pretty well guarantee you results in one minute….would you not to join with a friend?

Looking to lose fat?

Personal Training Challenge

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Get Fit For Soccer

Have you ever noticed that soccer players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Henry are all extremely fit and lean? Well it is no coincidence, strength training is a vital part of any successful soccer player’s regime. Whether it is fighting an opponent off the ball, or taking a fall or just sprinting, physical strength is the key to a player’s success.

Soccer is for the most part an anaerobic sport, on the contrary to popular belief of it being an aerobic sport. A majority of the movement in soccer is short bursts of speed towards the net on a scoring opportunity or chasing down that feisty forward, which is ultimately followed by an active rest. With that being said; the key element in developing sprinting is strength within the posterior chain and shoulders. A whopping sixty five percent of sprinting success is contributed by the strength of the glutes, lower back and hamstrings. An additional fifteen percent comes from shoulder flexion and the rest comes from quadriceps and gastroc/soleus (calves).

Here at SST various exercises we have used with many of BYSC’s teams are; split squat variations, lunge variations, dead lifts, squat variations and our soccer favorite- THE SLED!

SST believes a stronger athlete equates to becoming a better more efficient athlete. The stronger an athlete becomes the more force they can put in to the ground resulting in less ground contact time thus reaching the ultimate goal of becoming a faster sprinter.

The next time you want to go take a five mile long boring jog, think again, and think strength training for soccer!

BTW… Check out our latest eBook created especially for you mobile folks out there – Nutrition on the Road.

Strength Training for Swimmers at SST Milton, ON

If you want to be a better swimmer, you just have to swim more, right? Well, you do have to work on perfecting technique and that requires practice … lots of practice, but you also need to get stronger. That means work in the gym, on dry land … lots of work.

In discussions with James Brough, Head Coach of the Milton Marlins, it has become clear that an important part of the swim stroke is lost if the swimmer drops the elbow under water. His explanation made it very clear that athletes with weak backs are forced to drop the elbow in order to recruit other muscles to finish the stroke. It is not by accident that the swimmers we saw competing in Rio have backs like barn doors! Exercises like chin-ups and rows will build a strong back and allow the swimmer to correct their arm path through the water. An added benefit of this increased strength is the increased efficiency with which the swimmer can now move through the water. Increased efficiency means less fatigue and less fatigue means more in the tank to finish the race! In our testing sessions, we found only a very few athletes that were capable of chin-ups in their programming with less than a handful being able to perform more than 1 repetition, if at all. To put a point on this, swimmers should be able to perform at least 6 reps of strict, tempo chin-ups with our preference being 10-12 reps! This leaves a large gap between performance and expectation … needless to say, our programming will include significant back work! Chin-up variations and rows of all kinds will be staples of swimming programming at SST Milton.

Another point of discussion between Jamie and myself was “core stability” … a term that I’m trying to lead people away from, my preference being “trunk stiffening”. Swimmers spend a significant amount of time in a near weightless environment which leads them to have weak trunk stiffeners, much to their coach’s lament! A swimmer needs to be able to maintain trunk stiffness in order to be able to stroke and kick without leaking energy with “snake-like” trunk movement. One must, simply look to the very tight, full body suits that acted like a girdle for proof of the need for a stiff trunk. Those suits led to a number of World Record times – maybe not in putting them on, but certainly in the water! So, how does one increase their ability to generate trunk stiffness? Squats, deadlifts, planks, and loaded carries done correctly in a safe and supervised gym environment. In testing and early training, we have seen a number of swimmers who cannot control their trunk on dry land with only bodyweight as resistance! How can these athletes be expected to maintain a stiff trunk in the nearly weightless environment that they train in everyday? Swimmers should be working consistently on trunk stiffeners with loaded carries, in particular – at SST Milton, EVERYONE has loaded carries in their program! We feel that strongly about this type of exercise.

With consistent work in the weightroom, swimmers can become faster and more efficient when they get back in the water. At SST Milton, let us show you how!

If you need more info regarding this post please contact Jeff Jensen at our Milton location or email Jeff – jjensen@sstcanada.com

Do You Train Yourself? Time To Fire Your Trainer – Part 2

Just in case you missed – Part 1 to this series CLICK HERE to read the post.

SUPPLEMENTS

If clients are interested, I will suggest some proven options for fat loss.
Even if they say they are interested they often have tons of excuses why
they can’t do squats, dead-lifts or resistance training and why they would never
do high intensity interval training. They tell me that eating too much protein is
bad for people and that high quality food is too expensive. They believe that
boxed cereal is a healthy choice because the cereal is fortified with nutrients.
Many of these clients tell me that because fish oil is fat, it should be avoided.
They contend that the leg press machine is better than split squats because
the knee never travels past the toes and that since the cardio class they do with
their girlfriend helped them drop five pounds, doing it twice a week should help
them drop 10. It goes on and on.

What I find very surprising about this attitude is the high level of buy-in the client demonstrates. It doesn’t matter that I look exactly how they want to look, they JUST KNOW that what they are doing is going to be effective REGARDLESS of how little impact it is having on their body. Evidence doesn’t enter into the equation when faced with overwhelming emotional commitment – the feeling that it will work.

I understand there is a lot of psychology involved in all of this, and that these people who desire to change their body composition have, at some level, an emotional issue or two that led them to their larger self in first place. But, the fact that they hold on to their issues during their efforts to change their body composition is regrettable and it is wasting a lot of their time. Let’s face it, someone who has 50 pounds of fat to lose is very good at one thing, gaining fat and they aren’t very good at the opposite thing, getting rid of fat. But they can’t grasp this obvious relationship. However, if they could, they would end up in a much better place.

The hard, fast truth about improving body composition is that you need an expert to help you do it. If you are going to the gym and you are not trained by an expert, it’s time to fire your coach and hire an expert. SST’s individualized programs or the Satellite Program may be exactly what you need. Give SST a call and find out how we can help you!

The Pear – Dreaded Estrogen – Part 2

In Part 1 I dealt with – the best form of exercise for people who have high levels of estrogen, strength or aerobics or pilates?

Here is a 6 week sprint program. This is to be followed only twice per week as the intensity levels are too great. If you are pushing yourself then you will feel the delayed onset muscle soreness for days thus unable to do this workout daily. It makes me laugh when I hear people sprinting everdyday!! I undertsnad there are varying abilities and starting poitns for everyone so I composed a step Interval program.

Day	Distance	Intensity	Sets/reps	Rest in between reps
1	10 yards	80%- moderate	2x 10	30 sec rest with 2 min rets in between sets
2	100 yards	80%- moderate	1×10	75sec
3	10 and 30 yards	80%- moderate	1×10 x 10 yards 1 x 10 X 30 yards	45 sec 60sec
4	100 and 150	80%- moderate	1 x 5 x 100 yards 1x 5 x 150 yards	75 sec 2 min
5	10 and 20 yards	100%	1x 8 X 10 yards 1x 6 x 20 yards	60sec 90sec
6	100	80%	1x 15	2min
7	20 and 40 yards	100%	1 x 8 20 yards 1 x 6 x 40 yards	2 min 2min
8	100 yards	100%	1 x12	3 min
9	40 yards	100%	1 x 12	2min
10	100 and 150 yards	100%	1 x 8 x 100 yards 1 x 4 x 150 yards	3min 4min
11	40 and 60 yards	80%	1 x 8 each	2 min
12	150 yards	80%	1 x 8	3min

Are you an Apple – Part 2?

What can be done to control insulin?

Well, let’s look at that professional football player I mentioned earlier. When tested, he was an apple. In fact he was a large Granny Smith! What did we recommend for him? He eliminated all refined carbs, increased his protein to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight and consumed 25 grams of fish oil each day (Must be wild pacific salmon oil). He maintained this protocol for eight weeks with built in cheat days where he could eat pizza, ice cream, cookies and anything else his mouth could find. What person wouldn’t love being able to have a pizza once in a while and still make such excellent changes in his body composition?

Cortisol? What’s that?

Stubborn abdominal fat is linked to high amounts of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is an energy hormone, which should be elevated when an individual wakes up and should decrease throughout the day. Unfortunately Apple types have a difficult time in a viscous cycle of yo-yo cortisol levels. Excess stress such as job, family, financial issues all contribute to an increase in cortisol. But, what I have found to be the main contributing factor to excess cortisol is what people put in their mouths on a daily basis. Yes, refined carbohydrates and any food that leads to an insulin spike will increase cortisol levels, which then lead to that stubborn abdominal fat.

We tell all of our ladies that everyone has abs; it’s just that some people have fat covering them! Increased cortisol not only leads to abdominal fat but also is linked to a decrease of up to 50% in free testosterone! The hormone testosterone is anabolic (meaning growth) while cortisol is catabolic (breaks down muscle tissue). Do you now know why I frown upon rhythmical cardio – it causes a breakdown of muscle tissue and decreases testosterone! Heck, we work too hard in the gym to let this to occur.

The problem with the stress hormones is that they follow the same path as testosterone. In fact when someone is too stressed the hormone pregnenolone is being stolen to produce cortisol and lowers the levels of testosterone.

WHAT TO DO?

When an Apple type comes to us for help we put them on a Paleolithic type nutritional system. Humans have been around for 2.5 million years and our DNA is 99% the same as our prehistoric ancestors. These hunters and gatherers consumed foods that were fresh and natural not processed or canned. They consumed organic types of meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds and some fruit. Only after the agricultural revolution did we start to eat foods such as cookies, chips and Coke. By consuming highly processed foods we are causing increased levels of insulin and robbing our raw resources to make more cortisol, which has led to our society being fatter than ever. Right now obesity is at epidemic proportions and is one of the most serious medical issues of our time.

Remember this: When you go grocery shopping, stick to the outside aisles and only go down another aisle to get your toilet paper.

All SST clients start on a similar type of protocol for 14 days. They consume large amounts of fish oil, a high quality multi vitamin, 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight and follow a strength training program to increase their cross sectional muscle fibers. What should be expected? We’ve seen menopausal women lose 3% body fat and 5-10lbs in only 2 weeks by following this protocol!

Just in case you missed Part 1 of this series – Are you an Apple? CLICK HERE