1. Prepare Your Body
Ever feel like you’ve hit a wall just five minutes into your workout? “Think of it as an oxygen debt,” says Alwyn Cosgrove, author of The New Rules of Lifting. “Your body isn’t able to transport oxygen to your muscles quickly enough so it builds up lactic acid and you start to really feel it.” The solution: Always perform a dynamic warm-up, before you run, bike, lift weights, or play sports. “By ramping up the intensity slowly, your body uses oxygen efficiently so you’ll avoid sputtering out early,” says Cosgrove. Try this 7-minute routine before your next training session.

2. Train Fast to Move Faster
“Quickness isn’t just about how big and strong your muscles are, but how efficiently your brain can communicate with your body,” says Anthony Slater, head performance specialist at Core Performance Center. At the end of your warm-up (a.k.a. Movement Prep), tack on a couple “rapid response” drills. Watch videos of three super fast moves to add to your routine.

3. Update Your iPod
Here’s a simple way to improve your running performance: Add up-beat songs to your iPod. British researchers found that runners who listened to songs with 120 or more beats per minute (BPM) boosted their running capacity by up to 15 percent. Download Core Performance collection of 120+ BPM tunes.

4. Hit the Showers
You can actually speed up your body’s recovery process by alternating between hot and cold temperatures in your post-workout shower. Sue Falsone, director of physical therapy at Athletes’ Performance in Arizona, says it works because “the blood vessels dilate and constrict, so there’s a pumping action. This increases blood flow, which is important for muscle recovery.” Build up to longer durations under cold water if you work out in the morning. It’ll leave you feeling energized, focused, and ready for the day.

5. Hoist Iron to Run Faster
Dedicate yourself to lifting weights if you plan on pounding the pavement. Since you run with your whole body and not just your legs, you need to strengthen it all in the weight room. This is especially important as you undertake a new goal like completing a 5K or half-marathon. Your weight workout can help reduce the risk for running injuries and increase strength and power that you need to finish faster.

6. Train on One Leg
Work on balancing your strength by training your legs with unilateral movements, or exercises that work your legs individually, such as split squats, lateral lunges, single-leg squats, and single-leg Romanian deadlifts. These movements not only strengthen each leg individually, but also improve the overall strength of your legs together to give you better stability, balance and power.

7. Prepare for Your Next Workout
Pay attention to sleep, massage and nutrition. While this may not seem like a training tip, rest and regeneration will help your body bounce back stronger the next day and stay mentally and physically fresh.

Portions of this post were provided by Core Performance.

“Parts of a CNN newsfeed”

Childhood obesity experts mention common solutions for reducing childhood obesity: require more physical education classes (training), improve the nutritional value of school meals, encourage kids to play more sports and put away the video games and cell phones.

Pate, the Heart Association spokesman, says parents can do their part by telling their kids to go outside and play.

But what about parents who are afraid to send their kids out to play? Pate says that statistics show that kids are safer than they’ve ever been, despite the lurid headlines on cable news.

Unless parents live in an awful neighborhood, they should encourage their kids to play outside with others and take common-sense safety precautions, he says.

“I do worry that with the 24-hour news cycle and the tendency to expose everyone to very unfortunate incidents that occur in one place, that some parents become hypersensitive to safety concerns,” he says.

Pate doesn’t just draw on his medical expertise to advise parents. He cites his own life. He grew up in upstate New York, where his family didn’t own a television until he was 5 years old, he says.

“I don’t really remember what I was doing before 5, but it wasn’t watching TV or surfing the Internet,” he says. “Staying inside was not very interesting.”

Pate’s kept his active lifestyle as an adult. He’s 62 now, but he’s never abandoned his desire to keep moving. He has run in three U.S. Olympic Trials marathons and in the Boston Marathon.

But when he drives through America’s silent communities now, he doesn’t see many kids running. He’s sorry that more kids don’t live the life he once did.

“I really do think the norm was that kids came home from school at 3 p.m. and the mom said, ‘Get out of here and be home for dinner,’ ” he says. “There were a lot of good reasons for that norm.”

1. Drink up!
No matter what week of the training schedule you’re on, practice proper hydration. Place heavier emphasis on downing drinks when you’re in warm, humid environments. Here’s a good rule of thumb: whatever half your body weight is, consume that many fluid ounces every day. Water is your best option, except during longer bouts of exercise, when a sports drink, like Gatorade, is perfect.

2. Eat consistently
You can’t afford to skip meals throughout the day. You need to maintain your energy levels for training and recovery. Develop a regular eating plan that has you fueling up five to six times throughout the day, including before and after workouts.

3. Eat a balanced and varied diet
Each food group provides specific nutrients needed to support your training. For example: breads, grains, cereals, pastas and starchy vegetables load you with carbohydrates, which fuel activity; meats, poultry, eggs and low fat dairy products have valuable, complete proteins, which prevent muscle breakdown and speed recovery. Fruits and vegetables contain beneficial phytonutrients and antioxidants, which fight the free radicals your body produces during heavy training. As the training program intensifies, increase your antioxidant intake to combat the added stress on your body.

4. Pre- and Re-Fuel
The most important eating periods are before and after exercise. Consuming carbs and a small amount of protein before helps you perform and reduces muscle damage that occurs as a result of training. No longer than 45 minutes after a workout, refuel with a minimum of 15 to 20 grams of protein and 45 to 60 grams of carbs to restore glycogen levels and facilitate recovery. You can slightly increase or decrease your carb intake based on the intensity and duration of a particular workout. A protein shake can be a convenient post-activity option, if taken in combination with carbohydrate-rich foods.

5. Eat enough quality calories
This tends to be the most neglected nutrition goal. The main objective of Fitlife’s training plan is to improve strength through a combination of explosive work and weightlifting, which means you need more total calories than in-season. As calories increase, so will protein intake. You need to make sure that the protein comes from quality meals and snacks—rather than consuming straight protein.

You can fulfill your caloric needs by spreading meals throughout the day

Ask a Fitlife Trainer how our customized Meal Plans can help get you the results you want.

Too much size can reduce your range of motion, restrict your quickness and agility and hamper your execution of skills. But strength training for baseball is very different from bodybuilding…

The main priority for baseball players is to develop maximal strength and then convert those gains into explosive power — in particular hitting and throwing power (as well as acceleration). It’s important to remember that bigger muscles are not necessarily more powerful muscles.

Of the relatively few players and coaches (outside the professional arena) who incorporate strength conditioning, most take a less than efficient approach…

They follow the same routine week after week, month after month always trying to lift heavier and heavier weights. And if their routine DOES change, it usually comes straight from a glossy fitness magazine. Not the best approach for developing outstanding baseball-specific strength.

Here’s a far more effective way… 

The Four Phases of a Baseball Strength Training Program

Each phase has it’s own objective and builds on the phase previously. So, for example, the first phase might build a solid foundation of strength, preparing the body for more strenuous training down the line. Another phase might focus on developing maximal strength or muscle bulk. The phase following that might aim to convert strength into sport-specific power of muscular endurance.

In baseball we can split the year into these 4 phases:

• Off-Season – Also called the “closed season” or transition phase, when little or no competitive baseball is played
• Early Pre-Season – This is the period when players first return after the break. Training is typically more general and gradual eases into more intense sessions
• Late Pre-Season – Training should be at its most intense during the late pre-season. The aim is to peak as the competitive season begins
• In-Season – Training in the competitive season is about maintaining the gain developed during the pre-season. The amount of training tends to be lower to accommodate games

Splitting an annual program up like this is an example of perdioization.

The 12-month program is the big picture, which can be broken down into smaller periods or phases (as in the list above). But periodization doesn’t end there…

Each phase can be split into smaller phases again (often called cycles) and the smallest cycle – the microcycle – is usually one week of training. Within each phase, each cycle and each week, the intensity and volume of training varies. Compare that to the typical bodybuilder who aims to lift heavier and heavier weights for more and more repetitions indefinitely.

Don’t worry if it sounds a bit overly complicated. 

Fitlife-PEAC Performance has the plan for you and will help you execute it to your fullest potential! 

That the guidelines for when an athlete can perform weight training has changed over the years?

A number of years ago youths were deemed ready to initiate strength training when they began to develop secondary sexual characteristics, such as a deeper voice and facial/body hair in boys, and wider hips and breasts in girls. These changes usually coincide with the arrival of the so-called “adolescent growth spurt.” It had been believed that doing any strength training prior to this developmental stage would damage the growth plates and thus, impair or “stunt” growth. While these fears were certainly well intended, it turns out that they are unfounded.

There’s no clear-cut line for determining an appropriate age to begin lifting weights. Research has shown, though, that children as young as 10 can participate in strength training without risk of injury. Caveat: It’s of utmost importance that the strength training be supervised closely by competent and qualified individuals. Also, before strength training is permitted, a youth must be able to stay focused and follow directions.

Speed, Agility & Strength Training

Still have a few more weeks until your season starts?
Want a workout that will compliment the workout you are already doing?

Sports Performance Training…just for those athletes “In Their Season”

Call the location nearest you to get started!
Ewing, NJ – 609-882-0054
Newtown, PA – 215-968-3737
Ivyland, PA – 215-322-1499

Because every year there are 200,000 ACL injuries…many that could have been avoided with Performance Training.  Do you know how to keep your athlete clear of ACL injuries leading to doctor visits, surgery and months of rehab?  Copy and paste link below to find out more!

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/injuryprevention/a/ACL_prevention.htm