Before we get the ball rolling on the good reads for the week, I wanted to briefly share an email exchange I had with a colleague who happens to a diesel mom to boot.

Q: I wondered what your thoughts are on all of these youth plyo and conditioning classes popping up all over? I’m at my daughter’s dance class and they offer them here. My gut sat in my throat as I watched a 10 year old perform DB overhead presses LA Fitness style with his arms wobbling all over. I swear he was either going to dislocate his shoulder or knock himself out.

Anyway, this is the first time I’ve watched this. I always balked at the Gym Dad who put their sons through shitty workouts, but these are coaches apparently trained to teach these things. These coaches work with kids in off season and in season to condition them for sports. They sponsor most of the games too.

A: Yeah, the whole idea suspect to say the least. I don’t agree with them at all  <—- and I’m being really good in restraining myself here.

Whenever I have a parent ask me about agility/plyo/conditioning training or how I’m going to make their kid faster I just use my trusted Indy 500 analogy, which is this:

If I were to take a Honda Civic and give it a sweet paint job, new wheels, a spoiler, and make it look fast……would you expect it to win the Indy 500?

Um, no. Unless you increase the actual horse power of the engine you’ll have a better shot at punching a Yeti in the face while on riding a Unicorn.

[Okay, I don’t usually use the Yeti and Unicorn reference, but it worked well here.]

Getting stronger is like increasing the horse power. You get stronger (and focus on movement quality), you’re able to generate more force into the ground, and you’re then able to run faster, throw harder, jump higher, and increase your general level of awesome.

Strength is the basis for everything. It’s really, really, REALLY hard to have agility, power, endurance, speed-endurance, or any other “quality” you can think of (invisibility?) without first having a base of strength to “pool” everything from.

All these “speed camps” and youth conditioning classes, in my opinion, are nothing more than a ploy to give the illusion that *something* is being done and to make the parents go “oooooo” and “ahhhhhh.”

And of course, to make money.  I can’t fault the latter point (I guess).  But, come on….does a twelve year old really need to be doing foot work drills?

And what the heck does a “youth conditioning class” even mean?

Tell your kid to go outside a play some pick-up basketball. Play some kick-ball. Climb a tree.  Anything!

Anything outdoors will be a helluva lot more beneficial than some speed camp that makes kids perform those silly cone drills or ladder drills that most aren’t remotely prepared enough to be doing anyways

Plus, you’ll save yourself $99.

Just my two cents.  Which, coincidentally is a lot cheaper.

Do any of you have any thoughts on the matter???  Sound of in the comments section.

My Experience at the Assessing Movement Conference – Kasey Esser

Recently both Gray Cook and Dr. Stuart McGill sat down to discuss their “differences” in opinion on movement, assessment, and whether or not the second season of House of Cards is going to live up to season one.

This was like the fitness industry’s equivalent of Gandalf and Yoda squaring off.

Kasey was kind enough to send me his review on the weekend, and I thought it was fantastic.  Plus it served as a nice appetizer for when the DVD is available – I can’t freakin wait!

3 Overrated Supplements – Examine.com (via Adam Bornstein)

I really liked this post over on Adam’s site which took to task a handful of supplements that tend to get a lot of press for how beneficial they are, when they’re anything but.

The next time someone asks you your opinion on raspberry ketones (something Dr. Oz made popular) you can refer them to this post.

The Secret to Ab Training – Mike Robertson

Many of Mike’s thoughts on this subject mirror many of the same thoughts we use at Cressey Performance.  As always, Mike drops some knowledge bombs and helps to elucidate on how important EXHALING his to core performance and training.

I know it sounds weird, but it’s definitely worth the read.

Enjoy the weekend everyone!