OA Athletics

In Pursuit of Performance, Part #2

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*This is part #2 in a 3 part series on how I see the current state of “performance” or “strength and conditioning facilities”. Check back for part 3. Click HERE for Part #1.

40 in 4.38 seconds, 10’8′ broad jump, a crazy 42″ vertical, and a whopping 33 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. Vernon knows all about performance.
40 in 4.38 seconds, 10’8′ broad jump, a crazy 42″ vertical, and a whopping 33 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press. Vernon knows all about performance.

In the previous post we talked about the various aspects of performance that we can aim to increase in both the Athletic and Technical/Tactical realm. While each attribute was explained, we didn’t discuss how you can go about increasing each one specifically. This post will outline how.

Athleticism

This is the group that Strength and Conditioning improves. Before we get to it though, I must stress that many of these strategies will only work once a base level of strength and stability are mastered. I recently read a great article by Eric Cressey on Why We’re losing Athleticism that highlighted America’s failure to keep standards of fitness at an acceptable level. It truly blows my mind how many athletes I have come into my facility who can’t do a pushup, pullup, or squat right off the bat. If that is the case, fix those issues first.

Don’t run before you can walk.

With that said, here we go.

Strength

As we discussed previously this is a large portion of the athleticism equation. If you want to run fast, jump high, and change direction quickly then you must be strong. Now, being strong by itself does not mean you will have those previous attributes, but it is a prerequisite.

[Tweet “Strength doesn’t require speed, but speed always requires strength.”]

How do we get stronger?

[Read more…]

In Pursuit of Performance Part #1

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*This is part #1 in a 3 part series on how I see the current state of “performance” or “strength and conditioning facilities”. Check back for part 2.

perfomance

A week ago, I received an email from a parent interested in bringing his son to train at my facility, OA Athletics. He had a lot of questions on the methods I used, and what I do for my athletes. After communicating over a couple of emails, I realized that sadly, he knew more than about 80% of the strength coaches out there and is my inspiration for writing this article.

Before we begin, let’s get a few things out of the way. First, what is the definition of performance? [Read more…]

NFL Combine Takeaways

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The 2014 NFL combine is over.

The testing, judging, poking, and prodding of the best and brightest of NCAA football is finally over, and here are some of the things you should take from it.

No one cares how much you bench

Seriously, no one. Jadeveon Clowney is 6’5 and 265 pounds and benched 225 for 21 reps. He also ran a 4.53 40-yd dash. Unless you’re an interior lineman, it doesn’t matter. And, even if that is the case, it is FAR MORE impressive to bench a heavy weight fast for 1-3 reps. A play in the NFL lasts about 5-7 seconds, benching 225 for as many reps as you can is not an accurate predictor of your ability to ‘punch’ at the line. Which brings me to my next point… [Read more…]

Moving Forward…

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HOC

Last night I was watching a show called House of Cards on Netflix (If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out). During one of the episodes I heard a quote that I absolutely loved. And, I believe it’s a quote that applies to a lot of things I see in my industry, as well in life itself.

If you’re someone who…

…is “waiting for the right time” to get in shape.

…is an athlete too lazy to train until you’re a month out from the season.

…always jumps from one diet/training program to the next without giving either the opportunity to work.

…abandons your diet because you ate one bad meal.

…trains really hard for a few weeks at a time, but never show any sign of consistency…

…Then this is for you.

“Forward! That is the battle cry…Leave ideology to the armchair generals. It does me no good.”

Look, you’re either getting better or your getting worse. If you’re searching for the perfect training program or diet but still eating shit and not training, then you’re wasting your time. If you’re THINKING about starting to train for your sport, then you’re wasting your time. If you allow yourself to get frustrated after training for a few weeks and not improving and decide to quit, then you guessed it…you’re wasting your time.

Learn to love your plateau

I recently took up learning guitar and let me tell you, it is hard. Hitting the right chords, strumming the right pattern, and making your right and left hands do everything in sync is tough. During the first month or so, it was an incredible struggle to play even the most basic chords. I kept practicing and moving forward however, and eventually I got to the point where I can play a decent number of songs, and I continue to practice and improve every day.

I love it, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to do this some days.
I love it, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to do this some days.

When I first started learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, I consistently got my butt kicked by guys who weighted 100lbs less than me. I kept going though. Day upon day, week after week, until eventually I took silver at the NOGI World Championships. It was by no means a short process, but I just kept moving forward.

I read a book called Mastery years ago and one thing that stood out to me was the phrase “Love your plateau”. Basically all that means is, you will not make MASSIVE improvements and breakthroughs everyday. In fact, many times those massive improvements and breakthroughs happen when we are the most frustrated or fed up. The key to achieving them is to move forward.

Success is not linear

Consistent hard work and discipline in small things now, leads to big things later.

A small 1″ increase in a vertical jump every 6 weeks leads to an increase of 8-9″ a year.

Weight loss of only 1lb a week leads to a 50+lb weight loss a year.

Adding only 5lbs to your squat every month is a 60lb increase in a year.

Many people lose sight of the long term. We all want results and things to happen now. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. Thankfully there’s a solution: move forward. Stop over analyzing and giving in to frustration. Instead, stay the course. It may not seem like it now but in time, it will be worth it.

When you feel like you hit a brick wall and stop improving...keep moving forward
When you feel like you hit a brick wall and stop improving…keep moving forward

 

#raisethebar

 

Do your pullups

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I recently had a conversation with a prominent researcher in the wrestling community and we both agreed that if you could do only ONE exercise for wrestling, it should be pullups. Weighted, unweighted, neutral grip, overhand, rope, grenade, it doesn’t matter…if you want to be a Stronger Wrestler, you should be doing pullups. Here are a few reasons.

1. Fat, un-athletic people can’t do pull-ups

Great athletes have great relative strength. In other words, a 200 lb athlete who can squat 400lbs is far more impressive than a 300lb athlete that can squat 450lbs. This also holds true with body weight exercises. More often than not, athletes who can do a large amount of pullups tend to be powerful, fast, and quick. This is simply due to the fact that pullups are hard, and you must be strong and not carry a lot of body fat to be able to do pullups.
[Read more…]