Unleashing the Power of Protein for Effective and Sustainable Weight Loss
We use the slideboard everyday at Decater Performance. It's versatile It's fun It's Challenging Its easy to modify It's the Swiss Army Knife of exercise equipment.
When athletes and parent first come into the gym the goals is almost always to increase speed, power and explosives. To get there, all of our athletes need to build a foundation of strength and stability. As an old coach once told me, "You don't want to put a new engine in a car with no brakes." Once athletes have the strength and stability to produce AND control power then the fun begins. The problem with building power in the weight room is that traditional exercises don't translate well to field sports. Both from a movement and mechanical perspective. But also from a physiological perspective. When your sport requires, sprinting, cutting, jumping, throwing, rotating etc the options are limited with the typical barbell and dumbbell. Also with traditional weight-room exercise the athlete spends more time decelerating than actually accelerating. Not what we want if our goal is to optimize power production. Enter the Medicine Ball. With the medicine ball, or anything that can be thrown, the athletes are able to accelerate all the way through an exercise. There's no need to slow the barbell or dumbbell down. They learn how to produce power from the ground up and transfer that energy efficiently. With a medicine ball you are also able to train power in planes that would be difficult with traditional weight room exercises. So... Grab a medicine ball, watch the video below and get to work.
I recently taught a beautifully hot and sweaty Pilates class, and as my clients were leaving the room - a yoga instructor entered the room eager to get ready to teach the next class. "Is this just Pilates?", she asked.
Exercise is fun, at least, it’s supposed to be. Many people think of exercise as a chore that involves going to a gym and lifting weights or using the cardio equipment. Understandably, that doesn’t appeal to most people. The good news is that exercise does not have to be a chore, a grind, an endless suffering, something you have to force yourself to do. Yes, there’s going be a little bit of that if you want to improve, but overall, if you don’t find some level of enjoyment in physical activity, it’s not likely to last and your health will suffer, or worse, you’ll be stricken with boredom.
Normally I don't do this.. But I'm going to poke a little at some of the speed advice I've been seeing out there... Google speed drills, and you will see a list of all sorts of wacky drills and advice. Most speed advice you will see will fall into one of two categories. They either overcomplicate the speed situation. Or don't address the root of the issue.
If you are struggling to perform better on the field or court... not seeing results from your training.... Stop looking for the program or supplement that will help your performance... You will only be wasting your time, energy and money... Because if you aren't taking care of this one thing you will ALWAYS be leaving performance on the table... This is one of the biggest issues I see affecting all athletes and those who are looking to improve performance...
The simple answer is yes. It has been proven to boost physical and mental performance. Creatine has a ton of myths with it, which is surprising because it is the most researched supplement available. Like any supplement, if you are not working hard, and recovering harder it probably not for you. Make sure to dial in your sleep, nutrition, and hydration before adding it in. Creatine is produced in the body (liver, pancreas, and kidneys) but at extremely low levels. Other ways to add Creatine in your diet is through consumption of red meat. But 60% of people are deficient in Creatine. Creatine is a fuel source for short duration high-intensity movements. Think sprints, jumps, athletics and weight training. Here’s the quick version of how it works. ATP is the energy currency of the body. When used ATP splits into ADP + phosphate when used for energy. What Creatine does is bind with the phosphate so that it can be reused without tapping into the aerobic energy pathways. Creatine usage also has been linked to small increases in growth hormones such as IGF-1, which helps increase muscle mass. Creatine also has cognitive benefits. It has been linked to minimizing the effects of neurological diseases and brain injuries (concussions). As well as increase short term memory and memory recall. It is not a miracle drug or anything that will change your life. But it can be used to help slight boosts in performance. When taking Creatine there is no need to load initially. 5g a day is all you need. Make sure you are taking Creatine monohydrate. Creapure is the way to go, make sure the bottle has the Creapure logo on the back to make sure you are getting the highest quality available. I throw mine in my daily smoothie. --
