Message Board

kayaking

talquinpaddler — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:19:07 GMT

I'm looking for feedback how this technology applies to kayaking. Are there specific exercises known to improve the particular core stability needed to keep a racing kayak moving efficiently?

Throwing training case study remarks

stevedavison — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:35:34 GMT

Throwing training management

Weve had a lot of questions about what we do when we train adolescent throwers for increased velocity and in particular what we did with the athlete in our upcoming case study. While we did not test batting velocity we know from experience this workout regime will enhance bat acceleration and hence velocity.

The following is a general description of our training process with specifics about the case study with our 13~14 year old athlete. (Through out this reported training period our athlete stood 63 inches tall and weighed 103 to 105 pounds in early May he suffered from Osgood-Slatter hence a growth spurt followed)

We start with the stabilization program as the only developmental exercise program. We omitted the serratus leg raise exercise where the pulley is at the ankle position from the very first session on. The program was executed on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday regime in the late afternoon. The weight on the sled is always 7.5 pounds. The program begins with each exercise performed for 30 seconds periods with STAR as the prerequisite. Allow no more than 5 seconds between each exercise. Intensity of exercise is not important during this period of training.

The reps per second (RPS) are not really important at this point in the training as form of motion is the most important criteria. However expect about 1.5 RPS for most exercises with someone weighing over 100 pounds. The tonic technique is incorporated in all exercises and well as when testing.

In my coaching technique I incorporate visual and verbal cues to redirect the athlete back to proper form. I stand or sit well within his range of motion so he can pick up cues with his periphery vision. I dont want him to lose his targeting. If he loses his targeting Ill say target. When he fails to keep the balls of his feet nailed to the ground I point my index finger repeatedly at the ground like Im driving a nail with it. I slouch my back and bring it to good posture when his posture and head position slack. If his hand moves off his head or his elbow moves forward Ill mimic the correct position.

Testing: The first day the subject was introduced to the Impulse, and its technology, we tested our athlete using our FMS and the IET in a sports specific throwing action where peak force would be generated at the ball release position prior to teaching the Stabilization Program, with STAR. The motion was from the back of the cock with the hips opened entirely and through hip rotation up to the release position of the ball. The hand appliance was our high performance strap. We then tested this same test every 2 weeks. The test was performed with no weight on the sled to maximize acceleration forces. The test consisted of 30 seconds of repetitions. Within 4 days of each FMS test our athlete was tested for throwing velocity by radar gun, throwing at a catcher pad target from approximately 66 feet away with the gun just behind and off the right side the athlete pointing at the target. To view power charts, data, and start to end test positions go to:

http://www.impulsepower.com/its/Throwing-performance-review.pdf

The rules of performing the stabilization program were as follows: Stance must be preformed with foot weight distribution of 80-20 front to back on each foot. Stance is the first priority in STAR and it is very important to observe and develop the athletes skill in maintaining this. With the exception of the scapular lift, press and core rotation exercises all exercises performed with the foot stance position heel to toe and in line as if walking a tight rope (Example, when using the left arm the right foot will lead the left and vice versa). The athlete must be careful to keep the heel of the rear foot on the ground with a 20 percent load while maintaining the 80 percent load of the leading foot.

When the athlete can perform the entire program flawlessly the regime is changed to 30 repetitions per exercise. This is a judgment call on the part of the coach (Depending on the athlete this may take 3 sessions and as many as 12maybe longerwhen it happens it will happen quicklyone day he wont have it and the next he will). Generally the two areas of failure will be scapular mobility (protraction and retraction) and knee mobility (balance during hip adduction and abduction). Good stance, posture, targeting, activation and release while performing the exercises in the correct type of motion for each exercise is the rule. Cheating on this motion development will deprive the athlete of the benefit of the art. Dont be in a hurry and youll get there faster. With our case study our athlete mastered the program in 9 sessions and we moved on.

With the 30 rep program again perform the entire program with form as the most important aspect of exercise for the first 30 rep session. With this foundation behind you the next session is where the real work begins. Have the athlete add power to each rep during these sessions (this will increase his reps per second). Expect his form to fall apart. There is a lot going on in his head just now so I always remember what Yogi Berra said Think! How the **** are you gonna think and hit at the same time? At this point we are training the motion to be natural, automatic, and correct in form for each exercise. Use your coaching cues during each exercise but dont stop for corrections of motion just finish the exercise. If he gets it ok if not move on to the next exercise. If he continues to lose form, back off of the power to the point he can maintain form. RPS will vary with each exercise (ie. Shoulder adduction at 90 will be about 1 RPS) but expect about 2.5 RPS over all. Continue each session pushing the power envelope right up to the edge without losing form. As each session passes, new power skills will develop. When testing expect the RPS to be about 2 ~2.3 RPS.

When testing for the first 4 tests I always remind the athlete about good form. The front foot toe should point at the target (stance) with the hip leading the shoulder which leads the elbow with the head held highand elbow level or just above the shoulder and eyes locked on the target. This assures the power will come from the core and the arm will just follow.

Some interesting test results

Tested 11/19/2008 rotation forces of 23.4 pounds and throwing velocity of 61mph

Tested 1/26/2009 rotation forces of 53.4 pounds and throwing velocity of 71mph

Tested 3/23/2009 rotation forces of 79.7 pounds and throwing velocity of 74mph

Tested 4/23/2009 rotation forces of 102.5 pounds and throwing velocity of 79mph

Scoliosis

MikeH — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:04:07 GMT

Hey Steve,

Any recomendations for someone with scoliosis? I tried doing kneeling serratus along with some medial trapezius work, that made a nice impact on his posture. Any other recomendations?

Thanks
Mike

Gymnast

MikeH — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:38:45 GMT

Steve,

I recently bagan working with a gymnast. I have begun teaching her the STAR program, as well as some basic stuff to help with some flawed movement patterns she had. My questions are, are there any basic recomendations for training an athlete of this type? Also, she suffered a navicular fracture a while ago, and still shows some issues. (Knee crashes medialy whe performing a squat.) Do you recomend any exercises to help repair and reabilitate that area. Thank you.

Swimmers

MikeH — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:15:35 GMT

Steve,

Do you have any recomendations for training swimmers with a basic, or dual setup impulse? I'm guessing the STAR system would be invaluable as scapular mobility is paramount for swimmers. Thanks again.

Jay Schroeder and Isometrics

Symsimma — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:38:16 GMT

I have recently come across some information about Jay Schroeder, primarily from the Wannagetfast forum. His ideas seem a bit far out but interesting. Supposedly he also uses impulse technology. What do you think of his methods, is there any merit or research backing long duration isometrics, especially the claim that moving as slowly as possible activates fast twitch muscle fibers? Can it be a good adjunct to inertial training? Thanks.

Further Investigation into exercise science

Symsimma — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:56:59 GMT

Thanks for the detailed response in my questions. I have been doing more research into the physics of movement and found that there are several things that I have overlooked. The most obivious one is inertia. To make a long story short, its a underappreciated phenomena, one masked by friction, and I know fully understand the logic behind inertial training. I presented this info to my brother, but he is not buying it. He thinks weight training is more effective because "all the top athletes weight train." But because they all do it dose not mean weight training is effective. So I did some more digging and discovered, to my surprise,that there is very little evidence to support a positive effect of weight training on performance. The proponents usually counter by saying that its not being performed correctly or with just plain ridicule. My own personal experience with weight training led me to question its utility, I only saw an improvement once, in my vertical leap, and it occured after my first session. Subsequent sessions confered no benefit. Interestingly, the largest improvements in my performance, in basketball, came during a period when I did not lift any weights at all, I just figured out how much force to use for a particular task, funny- the harder I tried to run or jump, the results were negative, when I just used enough force to get moving, the results where explosive.
That leads me to these questions:

What benefit dose weight training really have, how and when is it appropriate to use
Why is it now so pervasive with very little being said about alternatives
Is there anywhere in New York, I'm in Westchester County, that has an I.E. trainer, no gym has it
I found some other inertial training devices, namley the XCO Trainer and the I.K.E. What's you're assesment of these tools.

What you mentioned about maces is true. In just about all cutures the weights of these weapons where within the range you described. The Greek halteres weighed from 2.5-10.15 lbs. Interestingly, the description of how halteres were used is similar to Bruce Lee's straight hand lead, where you cast the fist, allow its inertia to carry you towards the target, and deliver the blow after you become grounded. People who witnessed Bruce perform this attested to its devastating speed and power. Its sounds like he was intuitively manipulating his mass according to inertial principles. Thanks again.

Interest in impulse trainer

Symsimma — Thur, 16 Oct 2008 16:20:03 GMT

I've been doing research on the impulse inertial trainer and I'm sold, I am saving up to get a high performance dual machine. The latest youtube video raised some questions.
Most importantly, who said 90% of what we do earth is gravity free? I find this fascinating. Are there resources that go into to greater detail on this topic? What activities are gravity free and what are gravity bound? Should this knowledge affect how we train? Stephen M. Levin developed a way of modelling biological systems called biotensegrity: http://www.biotensegrity.com/ Tensegrity systems are also relatively gravity independent. What do you think of this model?
Aslo, what about weights that one swings instead of lifts like clubbells? How would this compare to impulse inertial training? A video link to a clubbell user is below. He is doing mills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLMfRXM2S2Y

Are technologies such as the versapulley and bodyblade similar, they also claim to be gravity free training devices.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bRs0uTeAFY versapulley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPZgCZN7NBU&feature=related bodyblade

This technology is really exciting and I would love to become a participant soon.

Does HP Have to be bolted to the floor?

techbasketball — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:40:59 GMT

What limitations would exist if one did not bolt the HP impulse to the floor? Would it be unsafe? I ask this because the area where I would like to place the impulse is a concrete floor.

Also is it easy to move an unbolted hp impulse a couple feet, so one could like put it in a corner after use?

Could you get a basketball attachment?

techbasketball — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:19:11 GMT

Could you get/make a basketball attachment, similar to how there is a baseball attachment? Could I just super glue an attachment to a basketball?

What is difference between left and right hand hp models?

techbasketball — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:15:29 GMT

What is difference between left and right hand hp models?

Can one use just the right handed model for the stabilization program? What limitations would one have by not having the left and right hand models?

thanks

NEW IMPULSE NEWSLETTER

billdavison — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:53:00 GMT

We have just started the Impulse Newsletter. It has a wide variety of articles about the industry, and the Impulse.
If you would like to join click here.

Please select which topics you are interested in so we can put in more articles that you are interested in.

The back issues are located from our website under About Us - News/History.

Stroke Rehab

arightious — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:09:29 GMT

Can anyone give me some direction on how to use the OSG to rehab a stroke post-stroke client.

The trainer who was working with him is no longer with our club and I will be working with him now.

Speed Training on Impulse

Jaybird — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:01:50 GMT

Steve-- I am implementing the 3 exercises for speed improvement and would like

your input on sets/duration and the like. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Jaybird

Swim teams using IET

Butch — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:24:31 GMT

Steve, Do you have a list of schools and Athletes that have used the IET with any articles?