Strength

What uncommon or controversial fitness practice do you believe are highly effective?

Unconventional Viper Pro: Boost Athletic Performance with 3D Training

What uncommon or controversial fitness practice do you believe are highly effective? So this isn't controversial but an uncommon one is the use of Vipers. It's called Viper Pro. They have an Instagram and a website, and all that kind of stuff but it's definitely unconventional, and it's very uncommon. But I use it for a lot of basketball athletes, and a lot of my athletes to train the facial lines. And basketball and athletics is 3D movement, we're never just in one plane of motion, we're often in every single one The transverse, frontal and sagittal. So the Viper is a really good way to train those facial lines, strength in those facial lines to help with any sort of athletic movement and athletic endeavor, and enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of those movements.

I believe Vipers to be a highly effective fitness practice, as it helps athletes strengthen their facial lines in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their movements.

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An uncommon fitness practice that I find highly effective is the use of Vipers, specifically the Viper Pro. While not necessarily controversial, it is definitely unconventional and uncommon. I have utilized Vipers with basketball athletes and other athletes to train the fascial lines.

In sports like basketball, movement occurs in three dimensions - transverse, frontal, and sagittal. The Viper is a great tool for training strength in these fascial lines, which helps improve athletic movements and enhance efficiency and effectiveness.

The Viper Pro can be found on Instagram and their website, offering a unique approach to fitness that targets the multidimensional nature of athletic movements.

What is your favorite device for  enhancing performance recovery?

Unlock Performance with Big Rocks: The Power of Nutrition, Recovery, and Strength

So definitely the first one, not a device but I think people go and just giving a different perspective, people go for the devices right away but they forget the big rocks which are nutrition, recovery, strength, training, and proprioception. I feel like those are the Sleek. Those are the big rocks in terms of enhancing performance and then if you got those lockdown, then you can go to the other stuff. And so any sort of Massage P is going to be my favorite personally just because it does provide some temporary relief. Does it actually change the tissues? Probably not. But I do enjoy that for sure.

The big rocks of performance enhancement are nutrition, recovery, strength, training, and proprioception. Massage therapy provides temporary relief but does not change the tissues.

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My favorite device for enhancing performance recovery is not actually a device, but rather focusing on the foundational elements. Nutrition, recovery, strength training, and proprioception are the key pillars that greatly impact performance. Once these foundational aspects are in place, then you can consider other devices.

That being said, if I had to choose a device, I would go with a massage gun. While it may only provide temporary relief and may not actually change the tissues, I personally enjoy the temporary relief it offers.

What is one of the most under utilized lift or exercise in your opinion for swimmers?

Unlocking the Power of Single Leg Strength for Swimmers

I think this can apply to just-- not just swimmers, I think swimmers can benefit from it too. But every sport is just single leg strength. So I'm going to go with a classic rear foot elevated split squat, I think it's very under-utilized. I think people glorify the bilateral lifts, so your trap bar deadlift, your back squat, your bench press, the power lifting exercises, but I think single leg strength is key, and can have more benefit than bilateral. It just depends on what the goal is for you, but I love the rear foot elevated split squat. I think it's underutilized partly also, not just the glorification of the bilateral exercises, but not a lot of people like it. People don't like doing single leg exercises. It's not fun, it hurts. So I think we tend to avoid that. But again, we just glorify weight, weight, weight and load, load, load. But we're looking for longevity, and we're looking for injury reduction, and we're looking for what we do in the weight room to transfer to their sport. And so a lot of the times, our ego gets in the way as strength and conditioning coaches, or strength coaches. And so if we can find out what the movement demands are and what is required for their sport, and then also what's required to be a healthy human being, I think we would change our philosophy a lot.

Rear foot elevated split squats are a great exercise for improving single-leg strength and should be used more often in sports training. They may be uncomfortable, but they can help reduce injuries and improve performance in the long run.

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In my opinion, one of the most underutilized exercises for swimmers (and other athletes) is single leg strength training. Specifically, I believe the rear foot elevated split squat is a highly effective yet often overlooked exercise.

Many people tend to focus on bilateral exercises like the trap bar deadlift, back squat, and bench press, which are commonly glorified in strength training. However, single leg strength can offer significant benefits and may even surpass bilateral exercises in certain cases. The rear foot elevated split squat is a great example of a single leg exercise that can be highly beneficial.

One reason why this exercise is underutilized is that not many people enjoy doing single leg exercises. They can be challenging and uncomfortable. Additionally, there is often an emphasis on lifting heavy weights and increasing load, which can overshadow the importance of longevity, injury prevention, and the transfer of training to the specific sport.

As strength and conditioning coaches, it's important to set aside our egos and focus on understanding the movement demands of the sport and the requirements for overall health. By prioritizing exercises like the rear foot elevated split squat and considering the needs of the individual athlete, we can enhance performance and reduce the risk of injuries.

Unlock Ankle Mobility: Beyond Stretches and Foam Rolling

So I'm going to give a thought on ankle Mobility. So a lot of people will do like stretches to the ankle and all these different stretches and putting force it into dorsiflexion but there's so many factors to ankle mobility. And so what people do is, when we stretch and when we go into a stretch, yes, we may feel a temporary or we foam roll. We may feel a temporary change but within a couple minutes it's going to go right back to what it normally was so you can stretch all you want, but until we change, The limiting factor 1, it could be pelvic orientation. If I'm in an anterior pelvic tilt anterior pelvic tilt. That is going to limit my ankle Mobility. So people just focus on the ankle but it could be because of a pelvic orientation. So teaching our body, how to get into a posterior pelvic tilt? It could be because we have very tight hamstrings, one their over lengthen because of an anterior pelvic tilt or they're just really tight. And so that's going to lengthen everything in the post chain or that's going to I'm sorry that's going to shorten everything in the post chain so it could be short because of that. So, Look at pelvic orientation. Make sure that we're more in a posterior pelvic tilt or try to get into a most more posterior pelvic tilt. We don't want to be in a like 100% posterior but we don't want to be in an anterior. So finding that that neutral pelvis again and then also focusing on a big toe function. So we always think that we need to be in pronation all the time and a lot of people walk with their feet out so they're in supination all the time. So they're on their they're on like their pinky toes. So doing exercises to teach our body, how to get into pronation again is going to be really key for ankle mobility. And then also loading not just doing bodyweight like actually loading through like front squats or through skater squats or through step Downs. That's going to also improve ankle Mobility because now we're loading the ankle with actual low to then change the tissue over time, rather than just jamming it and stretching it and it just goes back to normal.

Ankle mobility isn't just about stretching, there are many factors that can limit ankle mobility including pelvic orientation, tight hamstrings, and lack of pronation. It's important to address all of these issues in order to improve ankle mobility. Additionally, loading the ankle through exercises such as squats or step downs is also beneficial for improving ankle mobility over time.

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To improve ankle mobility, it's important to consider various factors beyond simple stretches. Here are some key points to focus on:

1. Pelvic orientation: An anterior pelvic tilt can limit ankle mobility. Work on achieving a more neutral or posterior pelvic tilt to address this issue.

2. Hamstring tightness: Tight hamstrings, whether due to an anterior pelvic tilt or general tightness, can affect ankle mobility. Address hamstring tightness to improve overall mobility.

3. Big toe function: Many people have a tendency to walk with their feet turned out, which limits ankle mobility. Focus on exercises that promote proper pronation and teach the body how to engage the big toe.

4. Loading: Instead of solely relying on bodyweight exercises or stretching, incorporate loaded exercises like front squats, skater squats, or step downs. This helps to strengthen and condition the ankle, leading to improved mobility over time.

By addressing these factors and taking a comprehensive approach to ankle mobility, you can make significant progress in improving your ankle's range of motion.

What is your opinion on drinking alcohol as a collegiate athlete?

Risks of Alcohol: A Setback for Collegiate Athletes' Performance

Hey Jerry. Yeah, I'm going to agree with everyone else. I think it's a bad idea to drink alcohol as a Collegiate athlete. Unfortunately, it is just increasing in athletics because people, I think a lot of people use it as an outlet for to avoid their stress, or to avoid feeling. And so that's kind of the issue is that we don't really, we don't really, we pull the, we just Band-Aid everything. We don't actually fix the cut itself, so If we can like really work on and the coaches and just the educational rounds, how to cut a cope and have a deal with stuff mentally rather than going for like negative, coping mechanisms, like, alcohol or drugs. But I think it sets you back like, a lot alcohol. Obviously, one its calories that you don't need their, they're not even nutritional count nutritious calories, they're empty calories. They don't make you feel good. After there's so many like negative side effects to it, that I think most athletes should be staying away from all athletes, should be staying away from alcohol, especially if they, they want to increase their performance and recovery and be the best athlete that they can be.

I agree with everyone else, it's a bad idea for collegiate athletes to drink alcohol. It's just a Band-Aid solution that doesn't actually address the real issue, and there are too many negative side effects to outweigh any potential benefit.

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In my opinion, drinking alcohol as a collegiate athlete is a bad idea. Unfortunately, it seems to be increasing in athletics as some people use it as a way to cope with stress or avoid their feelings. However, this approach only acts as a temporary solution without addressing the underlying issues. Instead, we should focus on providing education and support to help athletes develop healthy coping mechanisms and deal with mental challenges.

Alcohol consumption can set athletes back in multiple ways. Firstly, it adds unnecessary empty calories that do not contribute to their nutritional needs. Additionally, alcohol has numerous negative side effects that can impact performance, recovery, and overall well-being. Therefore, I believe it is best for all athletes to stay away from alcohol if they want to optimize their performance and be the best they can be.

Why do you think there is a push to specialize early in a single sport for young athletes?

The Changing Landscape of Youth Athletics: Specializing Early and the Pressure to Keep Up

Great great. Great, great, great question. So why do you think there is a push to specialize early in a single sport for youth athletes? This has been a huge change. I work with primarily basketball athletes. So there has been a huge push because basketball is now played all year round. And so everyone's trying to metaphorically keep up with the Joneses and so if you take a year off or you take a couple months off and not play, you're falling behind so everyone feels like they're falling behind and So everyone's just doing one sport because they think that they just need to do that and so the competition also to get to the next level is Getting Thinner and thinner so it's taking more athleticism more skill. More focus on just one sport not having any other distraction. So the level to get to where you want to add on to, get to where you want to go, in terms of basketball and I'm sure in other sports. It's getting higher and higher, it's not as easy anymore to get a college scholarship, it's not as easy to go pro anymore. There's more and more athletes wanting the same goals than there were ever before. So athletes tend to specialize. And so that's why it's so important that I think that at least until high school that you know, any athlete that I'm training that is younger than High School like that they're doing other sports like play other sports. It's actually going to help you weigh more. It's going to decrease your risk of injury. It's going to increase your movement bandwidth which is going to help with qualities on the court. Or if they do specialize it's important for me as the trainer and as a strength and conditioning And Coach that I'm exposing them to things that they wouldn't get in there sport. So the strength conditioning in the sports performance, training, cannot be specialized, like I got to throw them through different scenarios that they wouldn't see, and then as they get older and they need to specialize more, then we can just talk about the basketball specific stuff. But for me, it's my job to expose them to things that they wouldn't get on the court, especially for my high school athletes and even Collegiate athletes, all the way through there.

There is a push to specialize early in a single sport for youth athletes because basketball (and other sports) are now played all year round and the competition has increased. It is important that until high school, athletes do other sports or get exposed to different scenarios to help them build a wider range of skills and reduce their risk of injury.

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The push to specialize early in a single sport for young athletes has become prevalent, especially in sports like basketball. This is primarily due to the year-round nature of the sport and the fear of falling behind. With basketball being played continuously, athletes feel the need to focus solely on one sport to keep up with the competition and increase their chances of reaching the next level.

The level of competition to secure college scholarships or turn professional has intensified, with more athletes vying for the same opportunities. As a result, athletes believe that specializing in one sport will give them an edge. However, it is important to note that until high school, it can be beneficial for young athletes to participate in multiple sports. Playing different sports can enhance overall athleticism, decrease the risk of injury, and improve movement skills that can translate to their primary sport.

For trainers and strength and conditioning coaches, it is crucial to expose young athletes to a variety of training scenarios that go beyond their specific sport. This helps broaden their physical abilities and prepares them for the demands of their sport as they progress and specialize later on.

In summary, while there is a push to specialize early in a single sport, it is important to consider the benefits of participating in multiple sports until high school. Trainers and coaches should focus on providing well-rounded training experiences that enhance overall athleticism and movement skills.

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Jess Racz is an NBA/WNBA basketball performance trainer. She has helped thousands of athletes unlock their athletic and mental potential, from NBA/WNBA to youth. She specializes in performance training & strength & conditioning.

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