With the football season finally starting back up, you want to make sure that at you at least maintain all the size, speed, strength, and power gains you worked so hard in the off-season to attain.  Unfortunately for most coaches, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to be able to coach football, watch film, game plan, and spend time in the weight room making sure the football players are still working out in a way that will help them while in season.

The majority of football players from high school and up (no matter what position), lose an average of over 10 pounds of muscle as the season progresses.  This not only hurts a football team and the athlete in terms of their on field ability, but also increases their risk for injury as they become weaker, slower, and smaller.

A good in-season program should consist of 1 to 2 strength training sessions a week (1 strength and power session and 1 recovery session) and needs to be constantly adjusted depending on how the athlete is feeling, performing, and any injuries they might be recovering from.

For most football players who follow a good in-season training program, they won’t just maintain everything they worked in the off-season and summer to achieve, but continue to get stronger, faster, and more powerful each week.  What does this mean?  Let’s say you and your competition (either an opponent, or even someone you are competiting against for that starting spot) start off the season at the same skill level.  If you put in the extra work during the season and continue to get better as the season progresses and your competition is just concentrating on practice and games, by the time playoffs roll around you will be so far ahead of them that they won’t stand a chance.

By following a good individualized in-season program, you will finish the season dominating all the competition and be just as good on the field in your last game as you were that first practice.

Contact Genesis Athletic Performance today to make sure you don’t get left behind this season.  Email us at Info@Genesis-AP.com, or call (832) 380-5436.

D

The recipe below I created back in college, and was one of the main meals I ate consistently when putting on muscle. It has everything you need. Protein, multiple sources of healthy dense carbs, natural fats, and multiple vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

The dish is called “Mush”, but tastes shockingly well.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground beef – grass fed preferable and at least 90% lean.
• One entire box of Uncle Ben’s Minute Rice (roughly 4 bags in a box)
• 2 cans Ranch Style Beans (or if you don’t live in the south/Texas any type of beans work)
• Your favorite hot sauce/salsa

Preparation:

1. In a non stick skillet brown lean ground beef.
2. While meat is browning, in a pot bring water to a boil. Use enough to cook every bag of rice (follow instructions on box for prep)
3. Once water is boiling cook rice in pot according to instructions.
4. After rice has finished cooking drain pot, open bags of rice, and put back into empty pot.
5. Add browned ground beef.
6. Open cans of beans and pour into pot.
7. Stir thoroughly adding hot sauce/salsa to taste.
8. Split up the pot into either 4 servings to get 50 grams of protein for each meal, or 6 servings to get roughly 30 grams of protein in each meal.

Serve with a side of spinach or broccoli and you have one of the best muscle building meals you could prepare.

Give it a shot and be sure to let me know how it tastes and what you think.

D

Because I don’t want to leave you with nothing, I wanted to share a link to the blog of another top notch strength coach giving you 53 tips to build muscle and get stronger.  Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think.

53 Ways to Build Muscle, Gain Strength, and Be Awesome (Minus the Expletives)

D

The Strong Always Dominate The Weak

Far too early do athletes worry about “sport specific training”.  Because of that their overall athletic development suffers.  Unfortunately it’s not the parents, athletes, or coaches fault, as they just want the best for themselves and feel that these types of programs do that.

But what most athletes and parents fail to realize, is that they don’t need “sport specific training” especially at the junior high, high school, and for the most part collegiate level.  They need to become better athletes.  I know baseball kids who spend hours after hours working with hitting, fielding, and pitching coaches when if they added another 75lbs to their squat instead they would become a way better athlete/baseball player.  You can’t perfect weakness.  It is only after an athlete has a great base strength level should they worry about utilizing workouts and exercises that are geared to their sport.  After all, I have yet to find a sport where being powerful, strong, explosive, and fast doesn’t automatically make you better in it.  If you have please let me know.

The same goes for football athletes who only worry about their 40 times when they can barely jump off the ground or squat more than 135.

You have to be strong and learn how to use that strength in order to be a good athlete. period…  There is no other way around this.

What defines strong especially at the junior high, high school, and collegiate levels?  This is where it gets tricky.  If you have an entire baseball team who can only squat 185lbs, then of course the athlete who can squat over 200 is going to seem strong.  But are they really?

Dave Tate from EliteFTS has put together a great table showing actual numbers regarding the bench press and squat that can be used to find out where you are on an athletic scale compared to other athletes across the world.

This is the bench table that takes strength levels one step further and shows what any male athlete (no matter the sport) should be bench pressing based off their body weight and the level they want to achieve athletically.

The squat table that breaks up strength levels by skill and body weight levels.

Look over these tables and see where you fit in.  Are you putting up numbers that a star would put up?  Or are you failing to even hit the numbers that any varsity letter athlete should achieve.

Now that you have numbers to strive for get back in the gym and get after it or you will get dominated.

D

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want get ahead of the competition and have the work ethic to push yourself, then Genesis Athletic Performance is the place for you.  We take the athletes that are willing to put in the work and make them the best in any sport.

Email Info@Genesis-AP.com or call (832) 380-5GEN today to set up your free trial as there are a few spots remaining.

Don’t roll into football season getting beat because you didn’t train correctly.

D

This is why athletes train their grip nearly on a daily basis at Genesis.  But because of the constant heavy weights, farmer walks, deadlifts, kb swings, keg cleans, etc., everyone’s hands get pretty beat up and calloused.  Now callouses aren’t a bad thing and are great to toughen up the hands, but they need to be treated occasionally so you don’t end up with an inch of dead skin just waiting to be ripped off causing some down time.

Training and Playing Sports are not Fun When Your Hand Looks Like This

For 2 bucks you can have the best of both worlds.  Tough strong hands, without callouses that have the chance to rip off and interfere with your workouts and training.  Go to any drug store, grocery store, Target, Wal-Mart and buy a pumice stone.  They are located where all the nail polish is so act manly when heading down that aisle, but it is worth the trip.

This is What Every Strong Macho Needs in His Shower...

Keep the stone in the shower and before you get out at least once a week just tear into your hands with it.  Scrubbing every calloused spot making sure that you get a lot of the dead skin off.  This leaves your skin tough but without the callouses so you can get back training and playing with the strongest toughest hands out there without worrying about losing chunks of skin.

Suck up your fear of heading into the woman’s sections of stores and grab a stone.  Or if you really can’t man up and do it then you can buy one of those Ped Egg things but seriously…  which looks better?  Rubbing your hands with a raw rock or with a shiny plastic egg thingy.

D

A slosh pipe is basically a 9 or 10 foot PVC pipe filled 2/3 of the way with water and only weighs 30-40 lbs, but makes any exercise harder as athletes now have to stabilize their entire body to keep the pipe balanced while still performing the exercise.

Holding a slosh pipe in a Zercher postion (as  seen in the picture), or an even bigger challenge overhead, turns any exercise into a full body exercise forcing the arms, shoulders, core, upper back and lower back to resist tipping while the water shifts while trying to produce power into the ground off a single leg (especially during lunges).

They can be used instead of barbells or dumbbells for nearly any exercise and by swapping them out you will achieve a different type of strength that works in any situation.

Give a slosh pipe a try if you really want to add another dimension to your sports training and let me know how it goes.

D

The number 1 question I get asked by athletes and parents who are interested in the program is “can you make the athlete faster?”  This is and always will be one of the main components that determine what makes a top athlete.  Unfortunately most athletes and parents do not like my answer – “Yes and No”.   They get this look on their face thinking that the program is totally crap until I sit down and explain what I mean.

Speed on the playing field for the most part is totally different than being fast or having a good 40 or 60 yard time.  Yet that is how we are taught to test speed. This is why athletes flood to chain sports performance places that promote “speed” instead of athleticism.  However, this type of speed does not carry over well to the playing field.  Unfortunately, it’s the athlete putting in all this extra effort that suffers.

Why doesn’t this type of speed training transfer well to a game situation? Ask yourself this – when was the last time any athlete has run a straight line over 20-30 yards without any contact, change of direction, or other obstacles to avoid?  While this happens all the time on a track, on any other field or court it rarely occurs.  Athletes rarely have the opportunity to hit maximum velocity (or even accelerate correctly) because they must change direction, go through or around other players, or only go 5-10 yards.

So, let’s revisit my answer of “Yes and No”.

Yes, your athlete will become faster and quicker on the playing field. I train athletes to become more powerful, have quicker feet, and become more explosive with every motion they do.  This not only translates into making the athlete faster in a straight line, but also (and more importantly) carries over into any athletic situation in a way that will make that athlete faster on the field.

No, I will not teach them running mechanics such as how to maintain the accelerated position or correctly cycle their legs when hitting max velocity.

It takes hundreds of hours of repetition to alter your biomechanics and running form to increase speed. What if, instead, I can make an athlete more powerful every time their foot hits the ground? They will travel a further distance with each stride, automatically making them faster.  Making an athlete faster by teaching them the correct muscles to use for power, strengthening those muscles by lifting weights and making each stride more explosive (using plyometrics, prowlers, and sleds) takes a lot less time and makes them a better athlete on the field.

Some athletes already have a great deal of power (mostly elite collegiate and professional athletes) and with those clients running technique becomes a priority. I do this especially if they are training for a specific drill (like the 40 yard dash) that requires them to run as fast as possible in a straight line. However these are the exceptions and not the rule.

How do you become more explosive, quicker, and more powerful with each step?  You have to go back to the basics and have a good strength, quickness, and plyometric program.  A good program requires the athlete to perform exercises like squats, deadlifts, foot speed drills like ladder and platform drills, as well as multiple types of jumps (broad, vertical, weighted, box, depth, etc.).  Once an athlete starts progressing in all of these exercises, the speed follows closely behind.

Have you ever seen someone who can dunk that wasn’t faster or more explosive than someone with the same physique?  I have yet to see any athlete that has over a 30” vertical get beat in any type of race by someone who has a 25” vertical.  If you look at previous NFL combine results, you will notice that in general, the athletes who have the highest verticals always run the fastest 40 times as well.  This is not a fluke.

By generating more power into the ground, the ground pushes more power back into the foot and body propelling the athlete either further or higher.  This is simple physics, and unfortunately most people seem to forget about it when dealing with speed.  Why?  It is tough as a coach to monitor and teach the correct form on 15 different exercises when you could worry instead about only 3-4 different running drills that build technique and have athletes do those instead.

So if you are looking for that extra edge on the field and feel that it is speed holding you back, stop worrying so much about how you run. Worry instead about how much you can squat and deadlift, how many glute ham raises you can do, and how high your vertical is. In my experience, if you can add 2-3 inches to your vertical, your 40 time will drop roughly .2-.3 tenths of a second and carry over dramatically to your performance on the field.

Another way to get more powerful and become a better athlete is to pack on muscle (not just weight).  If you are slower and skinnier than you would like to be, then be sure to sign up in the top left corner of the website so you can receive your free guide on how to put on 10lbs of muscle in 30 days.

As always feel free to comment or ask any questions you might have.

D

Next time you watch a professional baseball game have a look at the physiques of the players. Take special note of how muscular and strong nearly every single one of them appears. That’s because they are. Compare this to the physiques of players in high school and college. You’ll notice a similar trend: those in the greatest shape (strongest) are the ones that make All-Star games and get drafted. Being muscular and bigger makes you a better baseball player.

So if that is the case, then why are most high school baseball players 150lbs dripping wet with zero muscle?  Likely somewhere in their lifetime they have been told that they don’t want to build too much muscle because it will affect their swings and/or their throwing. They’ve been taught by “traditional” coaches that baseball is a game of speed, grace, and especially hand-eye coordination, and performing only exercises training these traits should be used. It was assumed that traditional strength training would somehow interfere with those coveted traits.

Unfortunately this could not be further from the truth.

Not having any muscle at all and worrying only about “baseball skills” falls on the total opposite end of the spectrum.  If baseball is all about how far you can hit a ball and how hard you can throw one, then wouldn’t power and strength be a big component to the baseball player?  For the high school baseball athlete, this seems to be totally forgotten. This affects not only the player’s game, but their overall health as well. If you don’t have the muscle strength to continually throw a ball as hard as you possibly can, but still attempt to (like 99% of pitchers at the high school level) then something has to give.  Unfortunately the thing that gives is often the athlete’s body. They end up with shoulder or elbow problems, tendonitis or worse – a muscle tear or other serious injury that requires surgery and down time (if they are ever able to bounce back from it anyways).

Baseball is a sport that requires the whole body to be fit and strong. Everything is used to throw, hit, and run. Some areas are especially important for success (both in the activity and in staying injury-free).  Let’s take each spot on the athlete that needs to be powerful and healthy and break down the best way to achieve those results.

Posterior Chain

The glutes (your butt cheeks) are the biggest muscle group in the body and are a part of every athletic movement you perform.  Because of this they not only have to be strong, but everything connected to them must be strong as well.  This is accomplished by performing whole body movements that strengthen the entire posterior chain.  Exercises like Box Squats, Trap Bar Deadlifts, Glute Ham Raises, KB Swings, Good Mornings, Straight Leg Pull-Thru’s, 45 Degree Hypers, Super Mans, and Hip Bridges are the best exercises any athlete can do to strengthen this portion of their body. These exercises will also train athletes on how to correctly utilize these large muscle groups.

If you have strong glutes but weak hamstrings and lower back, then the power that is generated from the glutes unfortunately doesn’t transfer very well to where it needs to go ( For example:  through the hamstrings into the ground during things like  running and jumping; pushing off the rubber/ground to throw; or up through the lower back into your arms to swing a bat or throw a ball).

Some Serious Power Going on Back There

Back

The exercise that every athlete (at any level) loves to do the most is bench press.  Although this is a great exercise for shoulder, tricep, and chest strength, athletes tend to ignore balancing it out by performing any back work. This causes a forward rotation and poor posture of the shoulders.  This becomes a problem especially with pitchers who start losing their range of motion because of a weak upper back (when compared to their chest). They start altering their mechanics to continue to throw as hard as possible, posing a significant risk for serious injury.

Band Pull-Aparts, Pull-Ups, Rows, Shrugs, and Deadlifts are the best exercises to not only make the upper back stronger, but also provide the balance between the chest and back.  Thus causing the shoulders to return back to a more neutral position and providing better range of motion and posture.

Shoulders & Arms

These can be grouped together because so many exercises you perform for one of these muscle groups involves the other.  The best exercises that can be done to not only develop strong shoulders and arms, but also keep them healthy are Push-Ups (weighted, un-weighted, feet elevated, close grip, neutral grip, plus any other variation), Incline DB Press, DB Seated Power Clean & Presses, and DB Hammer Curls.  These exercises not only provide the strength needed to make the shoulders and arms powerful, but they work each muscle group from multiple angles providing muscle balance and stability.

Healthy and Balanced Shoulders are a Must

Grip Strength

Luckily most baseball players have this step down.  They see these professional ball players with big forearms and realize that grip strength plays a huge part in being able to control and power a bat and ball.  So they spend all their time performing wrist rollers or forearm curls. However what they fail to realize is there are three different types of grip strength they need to be working on – crush grip, pinch grip, and support grip.

A crush grip is the form of grip strength most people think of when you talk grip strength.  It is the kind that is attributed to crushing something between your fingers and palm (like a hand shake or squeezing something as hard as possible).  To work this type of strength, athletes need to perform clamp squeezes or use something like Captains of Crush grips to not only provide increased resistance, but also make sure they are performing a full range of motion.

Pinch grip is the grip used when trying to hold something between your fingers for an extended period of time.  When throwing a pitch, this type of grip is most utilized as the ball sits between the fingers and not up in the palm.  So by making this type of grip stronger, you are increasing the power and movement on your pitches and throws in general.  You also utilize this type of grip strength when making a play in the field by catching a ball and squeezing the glove shut.  Common sense says that the quicker you close the glove, the better chance the ball has of staying in there.  You can work on this type of grip strength by performing Plate Pinches.

Support grip is what is used when you are holding onto something.  A combination of this and the crush grip are the main types used when holding and swinging a bat.  The best way to work on this type of grip is Farmers Walks. (Not incidentally, Farmers Walks are also fantastic for working the rest of the body as well).  Grab something heavy in each hand and take off walking for as long as possible.  At Genesis we use heavy kettlebells, sandbags, kegs, dumbbells, and even specially designed farmer walk handles that allow you to add weight as needed.

He Attributes His Longevity to His Time Spent with the Weights

Every baseball player needs muscle to make them a better player. Hopefully by adding in a few of these exercises to your current training regimen you will notice a difference not only in your game, but also how you are feeling between games and as the season progresses.

If you have any questions or are in the Houston area and want to play at that next level, then contact Genesis Athletic Performance today.  You can email us at Info@Genesis-AP.com or call the facility directly at (832) 380-5GEN.

D

Training is only part of the equation to become a great athlete, but nearly every athlete focuses purely on that aspect and wonders why they never see any real progress.

Let’s take eating for example.  I have every athlete I train write down a daily meal log of what they eat for 3 days and bring it to me.  Then I ask them what their goals are and 90% of the time they reply with the answers “to put on some muscle”, or “coach wants me to weigh x amount by start of the season”.  These are perfectly good answers, until I take a look at their food log.  I just look at them and think “Seriously?  You think you are going to hit your goal by eating this?”

Here is an actual food log I received from one of my football guys who plays in college and whose coach wants him to be up to 280 (currently 260) by the time school starts back up (less than 3 months away).

Meal 1:

Chorizo & Egg Breakfast Burrito

Meal 2:

Peanut Butter Sandwich & Protein Shake

Meal 3:

2 BBQ Chicken Legs & 2 Brisket Sandwiches

Drinks:

Water & Lemondae

Now reread the above meal plan.  This wouldn’t put a pound on a kid who weighs 150, much less 260.  Then after I sit down and work on nutrition with them they just say “there is no way I can eat that much…” and every time, I respond with “Well then there is no way you are going to hit your goal weight or add on any muscle.”

So what does an athlete need to do to pack on muscle and hit their goal weight?  It is simple really but it definitely isn’t easy. 

First thing they need to do is stop depending on supplements found in the back of bodybuilding magazines or what supplement store sales people (who have no nutritional knowledge and promote what they read from those bodybuilding magazines) “recommend” to them.  I’m sorry but taking a weight gainer shake that gives you 1000 calories of crap twice a day while eating some pizza and pop-tarts the rest of the day is not going to put any weight on you.  So stop blaming the supplement and start blaming your entire nutritional program.

Since this is one of the biggest problems that I encounter, I put together an ebook that lays out all the basics needed for you to put on the muscle you have been trying to obtain for so long.  Located at the top of the left sidebar on this website, there is a sign up form for you to receive not just the “Gain 10lbs of Muscle” e-book, but some other gifts just for signing up.  So if you want to pack on the muscle, stay up to date with what is happening at Genesis, and/or receive updates, tips, articles, and much more via email, then put your information in the box and get ready to make the changes to your physique you have been trying so long to achieve.

D