New Website for Athletic Coach Education

Hello,

I know it has been a very long time since my last post, but I have a new website I have been working on in the meantime to help educate sport coaches of all backgrounds and competition levels. I look forward to everyone becoming a member and following my blog at the new site, found at: www.AthleticCoachEducation.com!

Thank you everyone for following and we will see you shortly at Athletic Coach Education!

Under Construction

For those of you who have been following, I want to apologize for not posting in an entire month! I will be moving and revamping the site shortly and hope you all come back to join the next site whenever it is up and running, more details will be posted here.

Thank you very much for reading, and I look forward to your future input.

Necessity Fosters Innovation

This morning I was reminded of a great quote I heard this Summer.. "Necessity Fosters Innovation". This is saying, when you have to make adjustments, new ideas are sparked and innovation is abundant. Here are two examples:

Strength and Conditioning: When the size of a weight room is compromised, you have to make adjustments to your programming to compensate for the lack of space, height, etc. This may lead to a new idea about training or conditioning as a whole. I think this is how circuit training came to the forefront and is now a staple in most training facilities.

Ice Hockey: With increasing costs of ice in the United States, teams began using half a sheet of ice to split the costs. This was done because of financial strain, but then realized everything can be accomplished using only half a sheet and there was really nothing lacking. Today, you can go to many places and see half-ice practices being utilized regularly by youth teams.

The Lesson: If you feel restrictions are holding you back, think outside of the box and you may be creating something new for everyone. Thanks For reading and Happy Halloween!

Precision Nutrition Recommendation: Hydration

Earlier this month (October 5th) I wrote a post about living healthy to, and through, age 10o. In that article, Dr. Ni recommends a few tips for us all to reach the elusive century mark. Of these recommendations, the one I was personally most surprised with was staying hydrated by maintaining a proper liquid balance in your body.

Then, just this week, I received my Precision Nutrition Tip of the week and it addressed this exact fact. Here is Dr. John Berardi's Tip #21:

Sedentary individuals should drink at least 2L of water (about 8 glasses) per day.

Athletes should drink at least 3L (about 12 glasses) per day.

Athletes in a hot climate should drink 4L (about 16 glasses) per day!

I think we have all heard the first recommendation, but how about the adjustments for atheltes and the considerations necessary when practicing in different climates? Not only does proper hydration help you live longer, but it can also assist fat loss. If you think you will have trouble adjusting to this new volume of water in your diet, here are some tips Dr. Berardi suggests to improve water intake:

1. Drink cold water- Cold water is more palatable improving mouth feel and ingestion.

2. Add a lemon- Lemon increases the urge to drink and kills bacteria.

3. Chuggables- Always carry some sort of container around with you to ensure you are drinking.

To learn more about Precision Nutrition and what you can do to improve your diet visit:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/

Wednesday Review: Mike Boyle's Functional Strength Coach Volume 3

It has been a very long time since I have had a Wednesday review on here and I apologize to all the readers, but today I am reviewing a DVD set I had the unique opportunity to see filmed live and truly believe this is one of the BEST Strength and Conditioning products on the market. If you are a coach looking to improve a team's strength, fitness, flexibility, etc. you want to be a part of this product!

This DVD set includes 11 CDs and 1 training manual of information based on today's Strength and Conditioning practices by Mike Boyle who is often regarded as one of the most forward thinking and successful strength coaches in the industry all-time. Coach Boyle's resume speaks for itself as he has over 25 years of experience in the field and has become one of my dearest mentors. I can not speak anymore about this product, I want you to see it for yourself. You can check out Coach Boyle's Functional Strength Coach Volume 3 Here:

http://www.functionalstrengthcoach3.com/

Train right, not necessarily heavy

Some of the atheltes I am working this year have been confused at times with the amount of weight they are lifting and seem to be operating under the traditional understanding that strength training is about lifting as much weight as possible when it really is not!

The old methods of "no pain, no gain" are long gone in my mind and I thought most people also believed this, but I suppose this notion of pain and heavy lifting are still present in some sport cultures. A more appropriate method of strength training would be to use periodization methods to adjust training volumes (therefore not training heavy at all times) and peak for certain times during the season. Also, including the correct exercises that stress muscles that will be used as prime movers during the sport activity.

Team Cohesion

A few different kinds or cohesion to think about within a team are as follows:

Social Cohesion- Involves bonds made between team members based on social aspects and personal beliefs. Members often enjoy each others company and may engage in activity outside of the sport setting. Commonly referred to as unity, balance, chemistry.

Task Cohesion- Team members are bonded by a strong desire to accomplish a common task or goal. Team members may not have a high affinity for each other outside the sporting arena.

Although both of these are important, I think a fully functional team will often have high doses of both, but can a coach develop both?

I think a coach may have some impact and influence in task cohesion is because I believe a coach can educate athletes and practice things relating to task cohesion such as teamwork, effective communication, and player roles. All of these improve your ability as a team to accomplishing a task and therefore task cohesion, so there can be some impact from a coach in this respect.

Like task cohesion, social cohesion can have a significant impact on any team's ability to perform and the level of enjoyment within an activity. However, in contrast to task cohesion, I do not think a coach plays much of a role in social cohesion. Unfortunately the social cohesion of a team lies primarily within it's team members and individual personalities. Social cohesion, like any group dynamic, will likely involve individuals, groups within the team, and the entire team as one. All of these different groups are important in the social cohesion of the team in general.

One of the most dangerous situations in sport and social cohesion is the formation of opposiing groups (clicks) within a team. This can ruin a team's social conhesion because opposing forces and ideas will erode any healthy energy. If a coach can do things to avoid clicks forming, this would be a huge success. The fact that coaches understand the importance of social cohesion is very good, but a coach's over interaction in the formation of positive social cohesion is not. Try and stay reserved when it comes to social cohesion and let the athletes come together primarily on their own.

Thank you for reading today, best of luck with your practice this week!