CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

One Drill to Build Athleticism?

Today’s guest post is not only the last guest post of 2014 (sad face), but comes from good friend and regular contributor, Michael Anderson.

Enjoy!

When you are in your first year of damn near any Exercise Science or Strength and Conditioning program in college, one of your professors will inevitably ask you to define “athleticism”.

One guy will always raise his hand and say “it’s being athletic” and you will laugh at him but really he’s sorta right. Having “athleticism” (to me) means that you contain and exhibit the traits of coordination/balance, power, strength and suppleness (the ability to absorb external forces and remain uninjured) as well as being able to tie those all together into the context of your sport.

As strength coaches, many of us are out there trying to figure out the best ways to improve and fine-tune the athleticism of our athletes. There are a ton of drills that you can use to try and do this, but my personal favorite is the medicine ball shot-put.

It, through several variations, can really do a lot in the way of increasing the way an athlete performs.

Note from TG: Not to take away from Michael’s thunder…..HERE’s a video I shot for Stack Magazine on how we coach some popular med ball rotational drills at Cressey Sports Performance.

Through the several variations I’m going to present, your athletes will be challenged in several ways.

– They will be required to exhibit a good base of balance in their lower body will producing a ton of force through their upper body.

– They will also be asked to demonstrate some coordination and proprioception while throwing the ball hard. If they are missing any of the “links” that connects their feet to the arm pushing the ball then they are going to get a pretty lame sound when the ball hits the wall. When an athlete is able to figure out how to connect each piece of the exercise they should get a really satisfying “pop” from the MB slamming against the wall.

On another note, I believe you should always err on the side of light when performing medicine ball work. I’m 6’1” and 210 pounds and in the following videos I’m using a 6# dynamax ball. Using a ball that is too heavy will result in the movement looking a helluva lot less crisp and explosive.

Half-Kneeling Shot Put


This variation is great for beginners because it takes the lower body totally out of the equation; the fewer things for a novice to think about, the better.

The half-kneeling position will allow the athlete to create a strong position to keep their hips stable while allowing for good torso rotation if you have the requisite mobility. Without the proper mobility, this drill won’t feel quite as powerful as it should and you’ll want to work a little more on your upper body and hip mobility. Athletes who have a tough time figuring out how to brace their lower body to create power will benefit from this drill as well.

Base Position Shot Put


This is the seated box jump variation of the shot puts. It requires the athlete to start in a complete stable base position and create forward propulsion of the ball without any countermovement whatsoever.

The big benefit I find with a static start like this is that athletes are forced to learn how to brace and fire muscles without just relying on momentum to get things going. Weaker athletes who tend to rely on their springs rather than muscles will find this drill awkward and will probably hate it a lot. This will also be a good opportunity for you to teach them how to drive off their back leg and snap their hip to create force from the ground up.

Rockback Shot Put


This is probably the first variation where your athletes are going to feel like they can produce some serious power. Start them in the base position and have them transfer their weight over their trail leg and load up their back hip.

Once they feel comfortable with their weight shift they can explode forward and pound the ball into the wall. This is my favorite drill to teach athletes how to drive off of their back leg to initiate the movement. This drill will allow for enough force production that they will start to need to bring their trail leg around for a little bit of a decelerative effect.

I like the rockback to be a controlled movement rather than just all-out ballistic. I feel that this allows the athlete to understand the movement that you’re looking for better than just trying to bounce off of their back leg to take advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle as much as possible.

Step-Behind Shot Put


All things considered, this is my favorite medicine ball drill. From the first time I learned it (from a CSP blog, surely) I knew it was a good way to produce a bunch of power. It took me a little longer to understand just how useful a drill it was to get athletes doing athletic things.

It’s a very complete drill: the footwork requires more coordination than you’d think, the forward momentum created plus the power from the throw requires the athlete to decelerate properly, and the lower body and upper body are doing two different things at the same time.

If the athlete is unable to link all of these pieces together they are going to end up performing a pretty flaccid medicine ball throw. Much like the rockback exercise, I think the step-behind portion of this is best performed with a measure of control rather than being completely explosive from the get-go.

Crow Hop Shot Put


This is the most technical medicine ball drill that I’ll give to most athletes; if they can’t perform the step-behind shot put without a high level of proficiency then asking them to perform this drill is going to be like watching a monkey hump a football.

The “crow hop” is a movement that baseball players use to gain some momentum in a short amount of time/space to create more power to deliver the ball further/harder.

We can use that same movement to our advantage to teach athletes how to create a bunch of power as soon as their feet hit the ground. This requires a high level of reactivity from the athlete, or else the movement will become awkward and cumbersome. Teaching an athlete how to transfer fluidly from one movement (in this case, a hop) into another one (a lateral push to throw the ball) will have a great carry over effect to their sport of choice.

Sport Specific?

I hate the phrase “sport specific” because it’s been so bastardized in the last few years, but these are some of the most sport specific drills that you can do in the weight room. Teaching athletes how to move laterally, create rotational force starting at the their feet and transferring it up into their torso and how to decelerate their body after force production will help just about any athlete in any sport.

Spend some time working these drills into your athletes programs over the next several months and take some measures to see how their performance increases. Have a great day and go lift some heavy shit!

Additional Commentary from TG

How we implement med ball work in our programming depends, in large part, on where we are in the year. In the very beginning stages of the off-season, our baseball guys are pretty banged up and the idea of throwing anything, much less a med ball, is about as enticing as a colonoscopy. That said we’ll still implement *some* med ball drills, albeit at a very low volume.  However, it’s not uncommon to OMIT then altogether depending on total innings pitched, etc.

Once we enter the meat and potatoes of the off-season we’ll hammer a TON of med ball drills. We’ll typically try to hit one rotational drill and one overhead drill (per training session) 2-3x per week. Although we’ll also divide it up like this:

Monday: Overhead Med Ball, Box Jumps, Lower Body strength training.

Tuesday: Rotational Med Ball, Upper Body strength training.

Wednesday: Movement (skipping, marches, linear sprint work)

Thursday: Overhead Med Ball, Box Jumps, Lower Body strength training.

Friday: Rotational Med Ball, Upper Body strength training.

Saturday: Movement (heidens, change of direction work)

Sunday: eat dead animal flesh.

As we inch closer to the competitive season and guys start throwing bullpens and preparing for Spring Training, we’ll tone down the med ball work and reduce volume significantly.

However, outside of rotational dominant sports (where it’s almost mandatory), placing med ball work into the mix regardless of what sport you play or if you don’t play a sport and you’re just Ron from Accounting or Hillary from Scottsdale, can be highly advantageous and fun!

What’s more, I’ve found that med ball training is about as close to a self-limiting modality as you can get. Meaning just about anyone, regardless of experience (and assuming there’s no contraindications), can implement it into their program without much of a learning curve and risk of injury. Granted you make look like you have two left feet out of the gate. But as with anything, with a little practice and consistency, you’ll look like an athlete before you know it!

Author’s Bio

Mike Anderson is a graduate of the UMass Boston Exercise Science program and spent a year interning with Boston University Strength and Conditioning. After spending five fun years physically developing absolutely savage doctors and teachers as a personal trainer in Brookline, MA he is now residing in sunny Cleveland, OH and works as a Performance Coach at Michael Johnson Performance at the Spire Institute in Geneva, OH. You can read his blog HERE or email him at [email protected] if you have any questions.
CategoriesUncategorized

Why I Don’t Use the Olympic Lifts

Blogging is funny sometimes.  There are instances where I feel I put a lot of time and effort into a post thinking to myself that I’m easily going to win some kind of blogging Pulitzer or that I’m going to step outside my apartment and a ticker-tape parade will just spontaneously erupt complete with a Stealth Bomber flyover and Kelly Clarkson busting out the national anthem in my honor.

Low and behold that’s never even come close to happening (yet), but still…I’m often bemused at which blogs actually catch on, gain momentum in terms of traffic and shares, and which fall by the wayside.

Take for example one of my posts last week, Success = Strength. This was something I wrote in like 30-45 minutes and something I just tossed up on my site because I didn’t feel I had anything important or revolutionary to say that day.

Funnily enough, it’s a post that, despite not getting a ton of “Likes” (which doesn’t really mean all much anyways), did result in quite a few people reaching out to tell me how much they enjoyed it and that they enjoyed the overall message.

In addition, I also had a fair number of clients at the facility walk up me throughout the week telling me they really liked it. Go figure!

And with that, today’s post, I feel, is another one of those hit or miss scenarios which may resonate with a few people and win me a few internet high fives; or maybe more appropriately make people want to throw their face into their keyboard in a fit of rage.

I’m hoping for the former.

One of the more prevalent and frequent questions we receive at the facility from other coaches and trainers who visit is: Why don’t you include any Olympic lifting into your programs?

Seemingly I think many who visit are under the impression that we (or more specifically I) don’t find any efficacy in their use and that we feel they’re a waste of time, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

I don’t feel I need to insult anyone’s intelligence and delve into the in’s and out’s of why Olympic lifting is efficacious or why it’s a superior way to train speed, power, explosiveness, and overall athleticism.

They work. Nuff said.

I’d be a complete moron to state otherwise.

That being said, and I’m speaking on my own behalf here (and not for the rest of the CP staff), I have my reasons why I don’t use them in my programming.

Numero Uno

I know I’m going to catch some flak some of the internet haters and gurus out there, but I’m going to say it anyways. Point blank:  I know my limitations as a coach.  

I don’t have a lot of experience with the OLY lifts personally, and I just wouldn’t feel comfortable pretending otherwise. That said, it doesn’t make much sense to me to spend an inordinate amount of time coaching/teaching something I don’t have a lot of familiarity with.

It’s certainly not going to do my athletes and clients any good. And it most certainly won’t paint me in good light.  At best I can probably get by and fudge my way through coaching a half-way decent hang-clean.  At worst I end up hurting someone.

And I don’t feel any less of a person or coach admitting that this is a weakness of mine.  If anything I wish this is something more coaches and trainers would admit to themselves. That they’re not Superman and that they DO have weaknesses.

Hi, my name is Tony Gentilcore……and I don’t know how to coach the OLY lifts.

Of course this isn’t to say I’m never going to improve my OLY coaching prowess.  I’m sure at some point I’ll ask someone to coach the coach and take me through the ABC’s. But until that happens I’m most certainly not going to pretend I’m something I’m not.

Numero Dos (<=== That’s About the Extent of My Spanish)

There are other, more “user friendly” ways I can train power and explosiveness.

I never quite understand why some coaches and trainers take an “elitist” attitude towards any one modality or way of thinking. One of the more common examples would be some people’s gravitation towards everything kettlebells.

I like kettlebells, I use them with my own clients. But I also believe they’re a tool in the toolbox and aren’t the end-all-be-all-panacea of health and fitness.

I can use the same train of thought with regards to powerlifting, CrossFit, Zumba, Yoga, the Shake Weight…..you name it, and you’re bound to find your zealots.

Okay, maybe not the Shake Weight…but you get the idea.

When talking about power and explosive training, as paramount as OLY lifting is, when working with a specific population like baseball players, I feel we can serve them well by implementing med ball training into the mix.

Hell, I’d argue it’s more “specific” to their needs in the first place and a lot less detrimental in terms of joint distraction forces on both the shoulder and elbow:

And this doesn’t just apply to baseball players either. We use med ball training with our general population clientele as well.

Numero Three

Pigging back on the point above, I don’t necessarily know how long a particular athlete or client will be training at the facility.  Some have been with us for one, two, three, four+ years.  But more common are those who may come in for a 1-3 month span.

Teaching and coaching the OLY lifts (well) can easily take months to accomplish, and if I only have a limited amount of time with someone I have to be overly judicious with my time with them.

With that I tend to opt for med ball training, skipping drills, heidens, sprint work (when applicable), and the like to get my “power” training in.

And not to blow sunshine up my own arse, but I feel the results that I (and the rest of the CP staff) have been able to accomplish speak for themselves.

And That’s That

Hopefully I didn’t offend anyone or cause someone to blow a gasket.  Just to reiterate, I understand that OLY lifting is important and that it works.  So save the hate mail.

I just don’t feel that you HAVE to include them to be a successful strength and/or performance coach. As the saying goes – there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

Maybe even most important of all: I think we can’t be afraid of knowing our own limitations as coaches.

It’s nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it something to cower away from.

It’s as simple as that.

CategoriesExercise Technique Program Design

Med Ball Training Do’s and Don’ts

Today’s guest post comes to you from Michael Anderson, Boston based strength coach and personal trainer.  Mike has contributed a handful of posts on this site, and this one is yet another fantastic piece.

Enjoy!

The medicine ball is often seen as an archaic tool because they’ve been around for so long. Sand filled balls were used as training tools for wrestlers 3000 years ago in Persia and Greece. Savages who were preparing to do hand to hand battle were using these, and now they’ve been relegated to this; being used by dorky personal trainers to load their weak clients in a crappy exercise.

<=== Ahhhhhhh, My eyes. MY EYES!!!!!!!

Frankly, this is B to the S. This makes me as mad as seeing people using kettlebells instead of dumbbells for regular exercises like biceps curls or triceps extensions. The 18-pound kettlebell you’re curling with shouldn’t even be considered a real kettlebell! But I digress; that’s a topic for a different day.

Medicine balls can, and should, be used to make you explosive as hell. Notice that I used the word “explosive” and not “strong”. Medicine balls should be used in a forceful fashion; save the nice controlled tempo for barbells and dumbbells.

Note from TG:  although, to be fair (and I think Mike will agree), I’ll always encourage people to be “explosive” with their DB and BB exercises as well – particularly on the concentric or overcoming portion of the lift.

It’s just that with med ball training, the objective – ALWAYS – is to be explosive and to help develop power.

These things are strong (or should be). They are made to be tough, rugged and to take a beating. Unless you’re a medicine ball that is unlucky enough to be destined for Cressey Performance.

Note from TG (again): There’s no question that we absolutely crush med ball at Cressey Performance.  We used to use First Place med balls exclusively (pictured above), and had great success with them, but at some point they changed rubber manufacturers and their durability went down the tubes.

What once took a few weeks (if not months) to eventually break, turned into days…..sometime hours.

Now we use DynaMax med balls and love them.

Here are some of the most common medicine ball mistakes that I have seen during my time in both commercial gyms and strength facilities:

Not throwing the damned ball.

More often than not, when I see someone doing a medicine ball drill, they are simply completing the exercise in a fashion that could most aptly be described as “flaccid”.

Moving a MB with a submaximal force does nothing besides make you look like a turd. When you step up to do a drill, you should be prepared to produce the maximal amount of force that you can for the given exercise. This is not the time to be gentle: act like you are trying to kill something with the ball. Anything less and you won’t be getting the right training effect.

Hey there!  It’s me again, TG: Two great cues we like to use at CP when people are quote on quote “being turds” while throwing the med ball are:

1.  “It’s a ball, not an egg – THROW IT!”

2.  “Try to break the ball.  If you do, here’s a $20 bill with your name written all over it.”  Note:  you should actually have a $20 bill….;o)

Here is an example of how different they will look: one is powerful and awesome. One is lazy and foolish.

Using a ball that is too heavy.

A ball that is too heavy is going to limit the amount of velocity (v=d/t…check me out with the equation!) that you can produce.

The name of the game when throwing a medicine ball is to move it as quickly as violently as possible. Yes, you can argue, that throwing a heavier ball will result in the produce of more force (f=m*a).  This is true in theory, but not in practice.

Using a heavy ball will simply make you move slowly, and you want to move fast. If it doesn’t look fast, it’s not fast. Mike Boyle used to tell people to “make it look athletic”. Clumsily throwing a ball thats too heavy certainly doesn’t look athletic.

Using the bounce

This is a personal preference, to be honest. I find that it’s analogous to jumping back down after completing a box jump. I want each rep to be a separate entity so that you are only concerned about being able to produce as much force as possible for each rep.

Using the bounce of the ball allows you to move faster through the exercise, but not produce more force. While there is nothing wrong with the other way, I simply think too many people rely on it. There may be instances when you want your athletes to learn to quickly receive the ball and return it forcefully, but it’s a more advanced variation that has a more limited application.

Using them to mimic sporting movements

This is one that falls on the coach specifically. If any coach or trainer starts telling you, as an athlete, that they will be utilizing medicine balls/loaded balls to strengthen your sporting motion, tell them to sit on a blender. Throwing or shooting a weighted ball will do nothing but murder your mechanics and probably inflict some serious injury to your joints. A baseball weighs 5 oz and a basketball weighs 20 oz, performing your mechanics with a ball that is twice the weight will simply butcher anything you go do on the court afterwards.

Note from TG:  We do implement SOME weighted ball drills with SOME of our pitchers – typically at the end of their throwing session at a distance of 10 or so feet into the matting. But as a whole, they encompass a fraction (10-15 throws total) of their total throwing volume.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JQWyRk0n1MM

Thanks for reading today! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you get a chance please go check this out (http://operationrun365.blogspot.com/) and help a great cause. Have a great day and go lift something heavy!