Danny O’Dell’s

Explosivelyfit Training News

Strength and power knowledge

15-April-06

ISSN: 1550-2643: Library Of Congress, Washington D.C.,

Welcome to this edition, I hope you enjoy the contents.

You are an athlete and interested in keeping yourself strong. This is strength training information. Do your friends a favor and forward this or refer them here so they can sign up too.

Topic discussed:

     Testing spatial orientation and reaction time

     Persistence Indeed from our foreign correspondent

     Strengthening with stretching by Daniel Pare

Testing spatial orientation and reaction time

Spatial orientation is a component of coordination. This aspect of athleticism has its greatest influence on boys and girls between the ages of 12-14. This is the time when they are the most susceptible to the training of the various athletic attributes. The physiological basis for this tremendous absorption of ability is due in part to the synchronization of the neurological processes going on within their bodies during these sensitive times of their lives.

The keys to successful spatial orientation and reaction time program design and physical/neurological adaptations lie in these two statements: Training should stimulate maturing processes but not overwhelm them. Moderation of training load and intensity of practice must be coupled with learning correct movement patterns.

Testing spatial orientation is conducted on a cross apparatus set up in this manner:

Two perpendicular rows of seven lights which will when finished form possible coordinate matches of 47 buttons. This is a complicated set up that relies on preprogrammed turning on of the different combinations of light pairs. The athlete has to press the right buttons to shut off the lights and this in turn is counted along with the reaction time to do so.

A second method is to these lights turn on and off in increasing speed increments from 30, 50, 70 or 90 times per minute regardless of accuracy. The correct responses are noted in the machines internal parts.

Reaction time can also be easily measured with instruments that are built with supplies from a local electronic store. In the first instance the set up gives off a sound or displays a light that requires a response from the athlete. As soon as the signal is given the circuit has to be broken with a touch to the target.

A second method that works well is gathered by an estimate made from a measuring stick with stripes placed around it. The stripes are graduated in the time desired. For example if the time to be measured is in intervals of 0.05 seconds then the stripes will be in this order and space configuration:

Stripe one is 0.024m (0.94 inches), the second one will be 0.025m (0.98 inches), the third at 0.061m (2.40 inches) and the last one at 0.086m (3.39 inches).

The test starts out with the stick held vertically between the thumb and forefinger of the person being tested. The bottom of the stick is kept level with the top of the tested person’s hand. This stick is dropped without warning between the fingers of the athlete.

Part three 15046 from our foreign correspondent

It is the March Break. I have purchased a book on Yoga, in the hopes that it will stimulate some balance in my body as I try to lift heavier weights in a happier fashion. I have also treated myself to a book describing in great detail each and every muscle that is involved in a particular weight training movement. I continue to enjoy reading material that is positive and stimulating and will help me accomplish the current goals I aspire to as well as some new pinnacles that I might strive towards. I do have so much to learn! That is absolutely the best part of this entire journey!

So here is an invitation to enjoy life one step at a time. Set goals and be confidently motivated to see them through to their completion. As my strength coach often says, “How badly do you want it?” I dedicate and recommit this new chapter in the history of my journey to him!

Cheers to all our journeys! May they end happily ever after!

Strengthening with stretching

By Daniel Pare, NCCP, CSO.

Strength Coach

How important is a full range of motion? It is the foundation of strength. If you are getting injured regularly I would not spend too much time on trying to find out why you got injured, I would go right to the source and check the range of motion of what is painful. More times than others a shortened muscle will not respond very well to exercises and daily life requirements. You cannot strengthen a muscle or become stronger if you have muscular tightness.

How do you strengthen a muscle? You could use a heavy dumbbell and or load a heavy barbell and train with that, but the basic problem has not been addressed at all. You need to strengthen by stretching it through a full range of motion, because the muscle has shortened and putting that same muscle under load is not so much a good idea. What kind of stretching should be used? That has become a subject for debate and that is the precise reason for this article. According to what I have been experiencing with my clients and members the results speak for themselves.

How do you stretch to lengthen the muscle and increase its strength? You have static and you have *active/dynamic stretching. Remember that we are looking at strengthening, so we need to stretch to create a full range of motion actively to strengthen that or those muscles. In order to strengthen a muscle you need an increase in blood flow. For that to happen movement needs to take place. I have experienced great benefits by using a more active or dynamic form of stretching. Here is how to proceed.

Let’s take the shoulder joint, the most butchered joint of all. You should be able to move in all kinds of directions without a slight bend at the elbows. You have a bend at the elbow… something is tight. You cannot do a full circular rotation with a straight torso and straight elbows, a few muscles are tight in there. It could be several things like the biceps tendons that have shortened, the brachialis and the biceps not sliding to allow proper range of motion, it could be all kinds of things. You will compensate with everything you have to do an exercise, if you have flexibility issues or weakness issues. Just look at someone do a barbell curl or bench and watch the shoulder going up and or back.

If you find yourself struggling and experience a slight discomfort, you need to increase your flexibility. The range of motion needs to increase. You need to locate and single out that specific muscle or more than one and stretch them is a way that they are doing something. Once this has been diagnosed, you begin your stretching. Surprisingly enough, in most cases, the pain will go away and you will be able to return to normal activity very quickly (that is exactly what I am seeing with my clients and members).

What happens when something starts to hurt? If we look at the shoulder joint we have 4 rotators (subscapularis, infraspinatus, supraspinatus, teres). If one of them does not do what it is supposed to do, i.e. work in unison with the others, the shoulder joint (head of the humerus) will not sit properly in the shoulder cavity and now it starts to grind. This needs to be diagnosed properly then the work begins.

It’s like a tire out of alignment, it’s going to start grooving unevenly. The best part about the tire is that you change and it is O.K., but what happens if the same problem reoccurs? It’s not the tire anymore is it? Quite frankly, it never was!

Daniel Pare NCCP, CSO.

Strength Coach

St. Thomas Ontario Canada

*The Mattes Method

Coming up soon: *near completion ** in the works

-* Coaches’ Guide to Strength Training for young athletes interactive book/DVD (copyright pending)

-** The Squat, the complete guide to proper form and technique (copyright pending)

-** Strength Training, the Daniel Pare method, 5 reps to weight loss (copyright pending)

-** B.A.S.S.Ò Sports Performance Training Principle

That’s all for this time. I hope your training is going well and wish you happiness in your life.

Stay strong, and remain passionately committed to your hearts chosen path.

By Danny M. O’Dell, MA. CSCS*D