Under Armour and IMG Academies announced today that they are forming a partnership to develop a unique comprehensive athletic training platform that will establish a global measurement standard for improved sports performance, health and fitness called “Combine360.”

By utilizing the performance and training expertise of Under Armour and IMG Performance, Combine360 will measure and record sport-specific ability and mental aptitude, nutritional level, ability to communicate and a variety of other performance disciplines allowing athletes of all abilities from across the world to compare their scores.

As part of this new venture, beginning in early 2010, Under Armour and IMG Performance will host over 100 combines at regional sites across the country. Staffed by some of the world’s top performance specialists from Under Armour and the IMG Performance Institute, the combines will lay the foundation for a consistent platform for athletic analysis. This partnership will also help establish testing metrics, training methodology, certification standards and continuing educational programs to maximize athletic development and performance potential.  The focal points of this integrated training platform are at three levels: 90 (Core Physical), 180 (Sports-Specific Physical) and 360 (Advanced Elements). These tests will include physical conditioning, muscle regeneration, nutrition, sports medicine and anthropometric assessments.

To kick off the partnership and showcase the multi-sport applications of this joint initiative, Under Armour and IMG Performance hosted a special grassroots combine for dedicated football, soccer and rugby players (ages 8-18) this past Saturday, October 24^th at London’s Finsbury Park Stadium in conjunction with the NFL game in London between the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Over 250 talented athletes participated in this first-ever program. The head of the IMG Performance Institute’s Strength and Conditioning program, Jeff Dillman, along with performance specalist Corey Stenstrup, and the Head of Mental Conditioning, Dr. Angus Mugford all crossed the Atlantic to work with some of the UK’s young athletic talent. Athletes attending the combine got some hands on coaching and sport skill work from some of the best coaches out there, including IMG’s own Director of the IMG Soccer Academy - Tom Durkin, in addition to Drew Brees’ Strength Coach and head of the Under Armour Performance Training Council Todd Durkin, Big E, Eric Ogbogu, who is the face of Under Armour and Under Armour Combines coach Noel Mazzone.

To see video of the UK Combine click here.

Rip G’s

It is what every athlete on the offensive side of the ball wants to do in the sport of lacrosse.   Translation, score a goal. Offensive players are always looking for a way to improve shot velocity. Along with strengthening the muscles of the lower body and the midsection, improving stabilization of the shoulder will allow for greater shot velocity.  Shoulder stabilization is just as important for a lacrosse player as it is for a baseball pitcher (or any other throwing/striking athlete). Here are some exercises to add to your routine.

 

I-Y-T:

 Lay face down on a flat bench at a 45-degree angle.  Holding a weight (keep it light 3 – 8 pounds) with your thumbs extended, let your arms hang at each side of the bench.   Keeping your arms straight, raise them in front of you so your thumb is pointed toward the ceiling.   You will resemble an “I”, hold the position for a 2 second count.   Get a good squeeze of the muscles between the shoulder blades.  Return the dumbbells to the starting position and repeat the motion.

 

From the same position raise your arms at a 45-degree angle, forming a “Y”.  Lastly raise your arms out to the side, forming a “T”.

Sets:  2 sets for I, Y and T

Reps:  12 – 15

 

Scap Push-Up / External Rotation:

Start in a plank position.  Lower your body toward the ground (from this position your shoulders will move closer to your hands).  Squeeze your shoulder blades together.  Push yourself away from the ground and allow for a stretch of the muscles at the top of the movement.  Repeat this motion 12 – 15 times.

 

Immediately following the push-ups, stand up and perform the following motion.  Let you arms hang below your waist and rotate each one so your thumbs point toward your midsection.  Begin to raise your arms in front of you.  Simultaneously, rotate your arm so your thumbs begin to point up toward the ceiling.  Continue to raise your arms until they are above your head.  It will resemble the “Y” position mentioned in I-Y-T’s.  Keep your head in a neutral position throughout the movement; avoid pushing your head forward.

 

Scap Push-Up:  12-15 reps

External Rotation:  25 reps

Sets:  2

 

Crazy Driver:

Hold a plate or bumper plate at 9 and 3 o’clock.  Keeping your arms straight, hold the plate in front of you (chest height).   Turn the plate side to side (like a steering wheel) while keeping good posture (stand up straight, shoulders back).  Continue to turn the plate back and forth.

 

Duration:  30 seconds

Sets:  2

 

 We all are aware of things to do to prepare for competition such as; weightlifting, conditioning, flexibility and speed training to name a few. However, I would like to emphasis the importance of utilizing various recovery strategies to ensure that one has achieved physical readiness for the next game. You see, as a competitive athlete it is highly important to put together a recover game plan for post practice and competition. Achieving an appropriate balance between training and competitive stresses and recovery  is important in maximizing an athletes performance. A wide range of recovery modalities are now used as integral parts of the training process to help athletes maintain this balance.
 
Lack of appropriate recovery may result in an athlete being unable to train at an the required intensity or complete the required loads at the next practice session or game. Higher levels of fatigue may increase an athletes  risk of injury. To enhance the recovery process, here are a few techniques that an athlete  can utilize to aid in recovery.
1.      Compression Garments- UnderArmour makes  compression garment which is very effective wit helping the body recover from strenuous exercise.

2.      Massage-an excellent tool to fatigued muscles recover from a hard workout or game. Deep tissue works well within 24 hours after a contact sport.

3.      Active Recovery-It is highly recommended to perform light running immediately after a workout. It helps to cool the body down, remove lactate, and gets the regeneration process started.

4.      Cold Tub-It is comprised of 10-20 minute cold water immersion at about 51 degrees after a competition or hard work out. It helps reduce inflammation.

5.      Stretching- It is recommended to engage in light stretching after the cool down to re-lengthen muscles.

Under Armour Training Council member Steve Hess has hopped a plain with his Denver Nuggets for a brief exhibition tour in China. Here were his thoughts before leaving the States:

"About to go to China for pre-season; what an incredible opportunity to travel the world! I love my life; I get to experience the greatest places on Earth, training some of the greatest athletes around! We have to adapt and create every day, so on this trip we will create some of the greatest workouts going. I'll keep my Under Armour family updated throughout the trip with our experiences and workouts.

Working out and getting better are two things that wait for none of us. We have to take the opportunity every day! Take this example: as we're at the airport, we've been delayed for an hour. Instead of sitting around and waiting, I took one of my players on a brisk 45 minute walk in the terminal. Now that's how to fit your cardio in for the day!

Checking out and heading to China. Live and train the Under Armour way, baby, its the truth!"

October kicks off Breast Cancer Awareness month and Under Armour's Power In Pink campaign. Today Council member Diane Vives speaks about specific exercises for our female athletes:

This past month I had something hit close to home here in Austin, TX.  One of my adult athletes was diagnosed last Thurs. Sept 17th.  It came as quite a shock to her because she was just going in for a routine annual examination.  Rochelle is only 34 and was preparing for the next stage in her life which was starting a family.  She is a marathon runner who lives for organic food, enhancing her training through every healthy practice she could wrap her mind around for the last 7 years.  The reality is that genetics can sometimes trump a healthy diet and lifestyle.  With a great attitude we sat down, talked about her training, and realized that she has a great chance to fight the cancer because of her dedication to healthy living and very conscious healthy eating.  So I wanted to share one of Rochelle's training hurdles that she leaped over this past year.   

Often times athletes think that speed development occurs a result of a particular drill, combination of drills, a focus on a particular part of the speed development cycle (gait, leg lift, arm action), then adding resistance to these drills or mechanical focus via rubber bands, parachutes, partner resistance, etc. The reality is, when enhancing speed, you need to not only create movement efficiency by enhancing speed mechanics, but also provide the strength and power to enhance ground contact force so the athlete is able to apply these mechanics to overcome gravity and cover ground each contact and stride. The analogy to this would be placing a go – cart engine in a Ferrari frame. The body is slick and pretty, built in an aerodynamic manner, but the engine is not strong enough to power the automotive athlete. The moral of the story is speed development is derived from an integrated training model of strength, efficiency, and power. When all  three are working together, speed is the end result.

Throughout the last 20 years, I have trained thousands of athletes in over 20 different sports and it has been truly gratifying, to say the least. Although, I currently work with professional athletes and I must say, it is awesome to help our players' improve their physical performance, for the most part, they are pretty much finished projects upon arrival to the National Football league.

Nevertheless, it is truly rewarding to actively watch developing athletes strive to reach their full athletic potential. I formerly owned Lightning Fast Training Systems, a sports performance company, that had the privilege to have trained over 1000 Division 1 scholarship athletes in over 14 different sports. It was an incredible feeling to share in the excitement of our athletes realizing their athletic dreams to play sports on the collegiate level.

I have 3 athletic boys who are ages 16, 12, an 8 and they play a variety of sports. Since, 100% of my time is focused on training our team, I allocate my off -work time to helping develop my boys athletic talent. First and foremost, I am a Dad first and their coach second ,which means we strive to have fun while getting better in the area of speed, quickness and agility etc. The most important athletic skills which are a staple of all of our workouts includes, but are not limited to ; speed development, balance training, and coordination.

I introduced my oldest son, Amir, to fundamental movement skills when he was 8 years old. He used to jump in the speed training workouts with my 8-12 year old group at LF. He played soccer, football, track, baseball, and basketball and seemed to never get enough. I believe being a multi-sport-sport athlete early in his youth helped him broadened his athletic skill set for football and basketball, which are the sports he currently plays in High School.

This summer, Amir was offered a full scholarship to play football in 2011 by Stanford University and has committed to attend. I was incredibly excited for Amir to realize his dream. One statement that Amir made to me in the aftermath of his committment was" Dad, I guess all the stuff we did over the years really did work because the coach said he really liked my quickeness".  Thank God, he received validation that performance training actually works, otherwise, he would have looked back over the years and think...my Dad has us doing some really dumb stuff!!

In my last blog, I talked about the most important meal of the day … breakfast.

And a great question came in from a reader. 

Q: How soon after you wake up should the first meal be consumed?  Is it okay to do a cardio session before eating breakfast or is it better to eat it before?

A: There is no “set” time frame, but I would recommend fueling your body with nutrients within the hour after waking.  There are times that I wake myself up because I’m so hungry; others, I’m not as hungry until 30 or 40 minutes after I wake up.

What is more important that a specific time frame is actually fueling before any time of physical or mental activity.  If you’re going to hit the iron and trying to focus on improving your physical performance, you need to eat something.  Likewise, if you’re just heading off to school for the day and won’t train until later, you still need to get food into your body before you try to focus.  Your brain feeds off the nutrients you give it.

As for the cardio session prior to eating breakfast … I still prefer putting some nutrients in your body.  It was popular to “fast” before morning cardio to burn more fat, but that theory went out the window and lacks any scientific rationale.

Remember that “breakfast” doesn’t have to be a sit down, 3 course buffet that you may imagine.

Here are some quick, easy ideas that will fuel your physical and mental performance.

·      String cheese with fruit

·      Homemade smoothie

·      Raw nuts with fruit

·      Greek yogurt with fruit

·      Natural Peanut butter and an apple or banana

·      Rolled oats with fresh fruit

·      Hardboiled eggs and fruit

·      Whole grain English muffin, slice of tomato and an over easy egg

·      Scrambled eggs in a whole grain tortilla

Moral of the story – eat soon after getting out of bed.  Never try to do any physical or mental tasks without fueling your body first.

The supine barbell bench press is a very popular exercise for developing the musculature of the upper body, which in turn can be a valuable tool for improving athletic performance in many sports applications.  The bench press is also a very popular exercise for measuring upper body strength to determine an athlete’s preparedness for athletic competition.

There are three primary muscle groups that are utilized to perform the bench press.  The pectoral muscles of the chest region, the front deltoid muscle of the shoulder, and the tricep muscles of the back of the upper arm.  All three of these muscle groups are essential for developing maximal bench press strength and must be trained accordingly.

The following are some tips for improving bench press strength levels:

1)    If you want to be a good bench presser, you need to bench press! Performing this movement twice a week as part of your upper body strength development program is perhaps one of the most effective ways to improve your bench press.

2)    Always use good technique when training the bench press.  Lower the bar with total control to a point at the base of your pectoral region. With your butt in constant contact with the bench and feet on the floor, press the barbell to a point directly above your shoulder joint.  Be sure to completely lock out each rep as this will ensure maximal tricep development.  Various hand spacings can be successful with the bench press, but a medium grip where your little fingers are aligned with the outer rings of the barbell, is a good starting point for equally involving all muscle groups when performing the lift.

3)    Including relevant assistant movements into your bench press routine can be a very effective way to improve your strength in the lift.  Incline press, military press, dips, front deltoid raises, and various tricep movements are great exercises to improve the 3 main muscle groups involved with the bench press.

4)    Be careful with “overtraining” the bench press, and the muscles used for it’s development.  This is a very common occurrence, especially with younger athletes, and can actually lead to a weakening of the affected muscles in some cases.  Keep missed reps to a minimum, take at least 48 hour breaks between bench workouts, and limit your training volume to 3-4 working sets of benching per workout.  Also be sensible when training the assistance movements as excessive training here is often the primary cause of overtraining the muscles of the upper body. 

Next month, we’ll discuss some specific training programs that can be utilized for improving bench press strength.

1)    Introduction

2)    Proper technique

3)    Musculature involved – pecs, triceps, deltoids

4)    Typical bench press routine

5)    Assistance movements -

6)    Common problems – overtraining, poor technique, poorly designed program

What a great time of the year.  Football season is in full swing, all Fall sports are now in-season, and school is back in session.  It’s now time for you to get into a “championship” routine.  There are several key components to having a success fall campaign, regardless of your sport or situation.

1.     Increase your strength.  It is important to think about actually improving your strength during the season.  Get in two solid workouts and one light workout during the week.  If you play on Friday nights, you can get a good training session in on Saturday or Sunday, another good session in on Monday or Tuesday and a have a lighter day on Wednesday.  I like doing a good tempo workout within 48 hours of the game, a heavy full body lift on Monday or Tuesday, and another tempo lift on Wednesday.   At Under Armour, the mindset is “We don’t train to maintain, we train to get better.”  This is no different during the season as it is during the off season.  Keep training to improve your strength and conditioning and it will pay large dividends throughout your season.

2.     Sleep.  This is so important since you are now balancing out school and sports.  The more sleep you get before midnight, the better.  Remember, your body actually repairs itself and grows when you sleep.  It is ideal for your body to get at least 8 hours of sleep per night and you must prioritize your sleep patterns.  It takes great discipline to get into bed every night by 10 pm and still get your homework done, but I encourage you to structure your time.   Immediately after dinner get on your school-work and get your home-work and studies done.  Don’t turn on the TV and no talking on the cell phone.  Just focus all of your attention to getting your work done.  This is called discipline and it will really set you apart in all aspects of your life.   

3.     Eat to win.  Now that school is back in session, it is easy to skip breakfast and skimp on your lunches.  Once again, if you want to maximize your athletic and academic performance, you must eat four to six times per day.  Examples of your nutrition should look something like this:

Breakfast choices (choose at least one):

·      Oatmeal

·      Cereal (whole grain cereal that does not have a cartoon figure on the box)

·      Eggs

·      Protein Shake

·      Pancakes/Waffles

·      Yogurt/Fruit

(accompany any of these choices with fruit:  blueberries, bananas, strawberries, peaches, etc.)

Lunch Choices:

·      Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

·      Turkey or Tuna Fish Sandwich

·      Salad (buy it at the cafeteria)

(accompany any of these choices with at least fruit (apple, orange, pear, etc.) and at least one vegetable (carrots, celery, etc.))

Pre-Practice Snack:

·      Protein Bar

·      Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

·      Chocolate Milk

Dinner:

·      Whatever Mom and/or Dad chooses to serve (ideally chicken, fish, or whole-grain pasta)

·      2-3 servings of vegetables

Pre-Sleep Snack:

·      Protein Shake

·      Fruit & Yogurt

Also, be sure to drink a lot of pure water.  I advocate that you drink ½ of your bodyweight in fluid ounces of water.  So if you weigh 200 lbs, you should drink approx. 100 oz. of water per day.

4.     Go to class and apply yourself.  It is one thing to go to class.  It is another thing to apply yourself and be a leader in your class.  Take personal responsibility for your grades, your assignments, your homework, and the work you produce.  Your schoolwork ultimately determines your options at the next level and I encourage you to not only “show up” to class, but to really apply yourself.  Read books, do more than the “minimum requirements” and challenge yourself to see how great you can be in the classroom.  Your education is one thing that no-one can ever take from you.  If you are wise and want to set your future up, don’t be afraid of standing out in the classroom and having your school-work shine even greater than your performance on the grid-iron or field of strife.

5.     Avoid distractions.  It takes a lot of great time management to do well as a student-athlete in high school and at the college level.  Do yourself a favor and eliminate or avoid distractions that could ultimately rob you of attaining any dreams or goals you have academically or athletically.  Partying, wasting time, playing video games, talking or texting too much on your cell phone, having an excessive social life, and watching too much television are all examples of distractions that will prevent you from focusing your time and attention on school and sports.  Make a commitment to yourself to stay focused and this will put you in the best position for success.

These five key components will give you the energy to succeed and put you in the best position to do well.  It is said that “proper preparation produces peak performance.”  By adhering to these “simple” yet critical steps to success, you are putting yourself in the best position to win in the classroom and on the field.  Commit to success and do all that is necessary to stay focused on your schoolwork and sports and you will not be disappointed in the end-result.