6.25.18 - 6.29.18 Coaches

Monday 6.25.18

Double Unders

Stacked

Staying organized while jumping up and down makes it more effortless to leave the ground. A tendency during double unders is for athletes to drop their shoulders back or kick their legs in front of or behind their body. If we were to draw a straight line through the body from head to toe, we want to be stay balanced on that line throughout the jump. Head, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles will all be stacked over one another.

Movement Prep

:15 Seconds Tight Hopping
:15 Seconds Single Unders
:15 Seconds Double Under Attempts

Movement Substitutions

Reduce Reps
60 Single Unders
30 Seconds of Double Under Attempts

Strict Handstand Push-ups

Neutral Head

Controlling body position will be an important factor on all three movements today. When we press overhead in the strict handstand push-up, it is common to see athletes arch their neck and look towards the ground. Whether we are using dumbbells or flipping upside down, we want to pick one spot to look at throughout the movement. Finding a point of focus will help keep the head and neck neutral and prevent athletes from falling off the wall due to a a rounded body.

Movement Prep

10 Second Lockout Hold (Handstand or Dumbbells Overhead) 
2 Lowers to Tripod or 4 Dumbbell Strict Press (Light Weight) 
2 Strict Handstand Push-ups or 4 Dumbbell Strict Press (Workout Weight)

Movement Substitutions

Reduce Reps
Dumbbell Strict Press

Deadlifts

Flashlight

On the deadlift, keeping the head neutral often leads to a better back position as well. One of the biggest faults we see is an arching of the neck. Tucking the chin helps keeps everything in one line, from the head to the lower back. Athletes can visualize a flashlight taped to the back of their head. If their head doesn’t move and the neck arches, the flashlight will stay pointed straight up at the ceiling. If their head and torso track properly together, the flashlight would be drawing lines back and forth on the ceiling and walls.

Movement Prep

3 Hip Hinges (Bar to Knee) 
3 Full Deadlifts

Tuesday 6.26.18

Talk with other coaches

Wednesday 6.27.18 

Run

Degree of Falling

Running is all about using as little effort as possible to move forward. We’ve talked recently about the idea of falling to initiate forward momentum. But to what degree do we fall? Is there such thing as falling too much? Yes there is. When falling forward, we are looking for a gradual lean forward at the ankle. When athletes lean too much, they end up over-striding to put the brakes on and prevent an actual fall. This ends up defeating the purpose of the fall altogether. A quick change of weight support from right leg to left leg allows athletes to fall faster and run faster due to an increase in cadence. We’ll get there shortly, but first we can focus on the degree of falling.

Movement Prep

With a Partner: 
Lean Into Buddy
Run 50 Meters

*Buddy 1 will be running while Buddy 2 is there for support. Buddy 1 will lean forward at the ankles, with Buddy 2 supporting them with hands on their shoulders. At the call of “Go”, Buddy 2 will get out of the way and Buddy 1 will jog it out for 50 meters. Complete twice each.

Changing Support

In order to not “put on the brakes” and use as little muscle/energy as possible, athletes want to transfer weight from leg to leg right under the body. With the same partners from the first drill, athletes will now lean into their buddy and work on unweighting one leg at a time. When athletes pull their leg up, we are looking for the heel to track right under the center of mass, not out the back.

Movement Prep

With a Partner: 
Lean Into Buddy
5 Pulls (Each Leg) 
50 Meter Jog

Tempo

Finally, the way to run faster is to fall faster. The way athletes fall faster is to increase the cadence of their foot strike, rather than reaching further with the feet. We’ll complete the same drill as we did in the changing support section, but this time much quicker to work on an increased tempo.

Movement Prep

With a Partner: 
Lean Into Buddy
5 Fast Pulls (Each Leg) 
50 Meter Fast Jog

Thursday 6.28.18

Talk to other coaches

Friday 

Row

Tug of War

If you’ve every played tug of war, it is all about being in the most powerful setup position to pull the other team towards you. You would grab the rope with long arms and shoulders forward of the hips before driving with the legs and leaning back with the torso and pulling with the arms. Same goes for the rower. The better you can get back to a solid catch position, which very similarly resembles a solid tug of war position, the more power you can get into each stroke. When rowing for calories, power is more important than when rowing for meters. Pretend there is a team of people on the other side of the rower and pull them towards you!

Deadlifts

Press Through the Floor

Instead of thinking about pulling off the floor, think “press through the floor”. This creates a great deal of power with the legs and keeps from overusing the back muscles. It will be difficult to press through the floor if the knees do not bend. Although the weight is light for a deadlift, bending the knees once the bar passes them gets all the leg muscles involved. 

Movement Prep

With Empty Barbell
5 Hip Hinge Deadlifts (Hip to Top of Knee) 
5 Full Deadlifts

Hang Power Cleans

Sponges

We’ve used the cue “close the armpits” before on cleans. Today, we are looking to accomplish a similar task in keeping the bar close. Pretend that there are wet sponges placed under your arms between the rib cage and the armpit. Visualizing squeezing out those sponges throughout the pull will help keep the bar close during every phase of the pull.

Hook Grip

Although Hook Grip might be slightly uncomfortable for athletes who aren’t used to it, utilizing it in the olympic lifts is vital. First, it is the more secure grip that will help athletes hang on to the bar. Second, having a secure grip on the bar will help athletes avoid an early arm bend and prevent excessive forearm fatigue.

Movement Prep

Hold Finish Position – 5 Seconds
High Hang Power Clean – 5 Reps
Hang Power Clean – 5 Reps

Push Jerks

Forearms

Wherever the forearms are pointed while in the front rack position is where the bar will end up overhead. If our elbows drop in the dip or are behind the bar from the start, the bar will finish out in front of the body. Placing the elbows slightly in front of the bar will result in the forearms pointing directly over the middle of the body, where we want it to go.

Jump and Drop

With the forearms in a good position, the jump is the most important part of the push jerk. This aggressive hip drive straight up is what puts momentum into the bar. Once the bar leaves the shoulder as a result of the hip extending, athletes can then drop fast underneath and catch with locked out elbows. Thinking of jumping and dropping as opposed to pressing the bar to a locked out position.

Movement Prep

Hold Finish Position – 5 Seconds
Hold Dip Position – 5 Seconds
3 Push Jerks

7 minutes to build in weight.