Medicine ball (MB) use can be traced back to Ancient Greece when they found a therapeutic use for a crude sand filled ball. Athletes and coaches have been using them every since. Just as it is important to classify your MB exercises by the area they improve it is also important to classify them [...]
Archive | Strength & Conditioning Exercises
RSS feed for this section
Isometric Training for Specific Results by Adam Gentry
I was having coffee with a friend of mine the other day. He’s a basketball strength coach at a Big East school, and as you would assume, he has his hands full with long, lengthy athletes, with poor postural control. If you’ve ever worked with basketball, you know what I’m talking about, a bunch of [...]
Football is Coming!! : In-Season Metabolic Conditioning
I’m sitting through my second round of Sportscenter…I should be in bed. Seeing the football camps going on reminds me that high school camp is starting up tomorrow. We’ve got a total body lift a couple times this week to start out the In-Season strength training program at one of our high schools. It was [...]
Hip Mobility
Flexibility is a very common issue with athletes, especially young athletes who are still developing. When range of motion is compromised in the hips, power output and performance are limited. The hips allow movement in a many planes, but one of the most common planes of motion is in the sagittal plane. If range of [...]
For the Best Traps, Do More than Shrugs
Trap Training When most of us look at the trapezius, we see the lump of muscle directly over the shoulders. It’s probably one of the most intimidating muscles when trained correctly and developed. Not too many guys pick a beef with the hoss that has traps growing out of his ears. Everyone remember Goldberg? Yup….nobody [...]
Albion College Football Takes Steps to Improve Neck Training
Strength and Conditioning professionals and sport coaches might sit around at the end of the day and discuss how the numbers are going for the squat, maybe how the technique needs to get better on the bench press, or even how the slant-board is kicking ass at promoting dorsal flexion for the ankle. It’s all [...]
Don’t Do This….Ever
We’ve talked about neck training several times, and you’ve probably heard us talking about some of the crap that’s out there or unsafe exercises. If you haven’t been looking closely, you may not be aware of how bad it actually is. Well, this is an example of something you SHOULD DEFINITELY NEVER DO, but it’s [...]
Allowing Poor Technique
In no way am I a perfect rep freak, but coaches should strive for good technique in most cases. Certain exercises have a low risk for injury if performed with poor technique. I’m not saying you shouldn’t practice good form, but exercises like curls, pushdowns, pulldowns, side raises, etc. probably aren’t going to get you [...]
Glute Ham Lean with Tube Pull Combo
There are certain exercises that have a huge “bang for the buck” factor. For example, the trap-bar squat uses a lot of muscle fiber per repetition, so it has that factor. The Glute Ham Lean with Tube Pull is another one of those great exercises that can get a lot done with minimal time and [...]
Tough (Haphazard) Vertimax Conditioning
There’s dozens of ways to overload triple-extension. Olympic movements, jumping movements with dumbbells, weighted vest jumps…the list goes on. Some ways may be safer than others, easier to implement, easier to coach, or even more efficient. It’s all up to you. The Vertimax fits several of the criteria we look for, for the movements we’re [...]
Battling Ropes: Great When Not Silly
Jim and Adam take a brief moment to discuss an exercise tool that can be great when used correctly and silly when not. Battling ropes have been around for decades. Over the last couple years they have certainly been much more commercialized than ever before. We do believe there are plenty of great things about [...]
Important Coaching Tips and Principles for Beginning Plyometrics
Plyometrics have been implemented for decades and still there there are some common misconceptions about what they are and what sort of benefit you may be able to get from them. Jim and Adam go over some basic concepts and coaching points for beginning plyometrics. If this is something that you are interested in doing [...]
Power Exercises Video: Several Alternative to Olympic Lifts
“Power” exercises or exercises that allow for a rapid rate of force production are often implemented into strength and conditioning protocols. So, the guys at Ultimate Strength and Conditioning put together a quick video with several examples.
Trap Bar Squat Instruction – Adam Stoyanoff
Adam takes Frank through a few good reps to demonstrate how the trap bar squat should be executed. They also talk about the common errors lifting the bar and some gripping mistakes.
How to Squat Instructional Video – Adam Stoyanoff
The squat is one of the most common movements included in strength programs. Unfortunately, we see a lot of young athletes doing it with poor technique and a lot of coaches not understanding how to correct these errors. Doing the squat with poor technique will not only limit it’s effectiveness as a strength building exercise, [...]
Glute/Ham Raise
The glute/ham raise is an extremely effective method of increasing hamstring strength. For many female athletes, hamstring strength is a major issue that is often a factor in ACL injuries. Hamstring strength is also a major factor in speed development especially top-end speed, and increased hamstring strength can help prevent injuries. A glute/ham bench is [...]
Nordic Hamstring Exercise
The Nordic Hamstring exercise requires almost no equipment besides some sort of pad to rest your knees on. Sorinex makes a great device they call the Poor Man’s Glute/Ham Raise which is perfect for this exercise and only costs a few hundred dollars. As much as possible, try not to break at hips. You can [...]
Lunge Variations
Jim Kielbaso shows a few lunge variations that can be used with or without weight. Keep coming back to Ultimate S & C for the best strength and conditioning information on the net.
Subscribe
Follow USC on:
