Top 10 Programming pitfalls for ACL's

Recently I've been talking about programming nightmares in regards to the ACL and how common they are. Many athletes reading this will probably be able to empathize with some of these types of training. Programs right now should be better than they were 10-20 years ago and really they should be vastly better than they were 3-5 years ago. Yet I still see coaches and parents and even other athletes trying to implement these same type of programs. It makes sense though, they are just doing what they were taught in the endless circle of training under unqualified instructors. I realize most people mean the best but almost all the time it's better to leave it to a specialist (though some of those 'specialists' are still doing some of this stuff). Each of these could be books just within themselves, which is why I'm going to devote a full article on these later. So for now, I'll save you some reading time, but don't be afraid to ask questions.

1)Plyometric programs without a solid strength base
I probably see this one more than any other, and it amazes me. I still see way to many contacts, coaches having kids with close to zero training age doing Touches and even depth jumps. Over doing plyos is the quickest way to overtraining and injury. Plyometric or reactive type exercises like jumps, hops, box jumps, squat jumps, depth jumps etc. are all very very hard on your body, especially your nervous system. Your nervous system works everything, it is the strongest and most stable system in our bodies, if it is off we are off. But also if the body does not have enough strength and intra + intermuscular coordination your athletes are going to have some big problems.
If an athlete does not have enough strength than doing plyometrics will not lead to any gains, will most likely produce poor movement patterns and can be very harmful to his/her body.

2)Poor warm up, stretching and muscular activation techniques
-You are still the dumbass static stretching before training and competition. Wake up! You are literally weakening your athletes as well as dramatically increasing their risk for injury.

-You're the person that has athletes jog/bike for 10 minutes pre workout. Again, this significantly hampers an athletes ability to perform in training and competition. (I'll explain this further in the article.)

-You're not doing anything to active the muscles your athletes need, lengthen the others that are inhibiting them, or increase their efficiency before hand.

-You haven't figure out that your athletes cannot be leading their own warm-up

-You have no understanding of lung volumes, breathing, heart rates, and/or core temperature. You need a rise in core temp, the lungs need to expand by working, and the body needs to feel like it has already played for at least two minutes.

-And now for the worst one, You DON'T EVEN WARM UP!!
I should not need to say anything here, but coaches STILL DO IT. Ridiculous.

3)Low-No glute/hip dominant exercises
Your glutes have the ability to make you faster, stronger, larger, healthier and decrease your risk of injury. If you haven't figured this out yet it is time to either get out of training or open a book because you are either an idiot or you just have not applied yourself in too long. Either way, not good.

4)Too much static stretching of the hamstring
One of the functions of your hamstring works on the knee in almost the same way as your ACL does. To static stretch the hamstring you are decreasing it's ability to contract, and therefore decreasing its strength. For now, just stop stretching it all the time. Especially with female athletes.

5)Too much hamstring flexibility.
I know this is similar to four but they are different even though they run across each other.Too much length of the hamstring causes a decrease in function and can help your athletes go further into anterior pelvic tilt. Instead of working on flexibility of the hamstring work on it's strength but only in a functional way. ABSOLUTELY NO LEG CURLS.

6)Training in the same way you play. With ankles taped, knee sleeves on, while wearing high tops Bad Bad Bad.
During training is the most controlled environment you are going to experience. Take this time to strengthen the areas that are weak by not using these supportive cruches.

7)Too much attention to the knee itself. Look above and below the joint.

8)The VMO is not everything.
A program full of TKE's are not going to solve a knee problem.

9)Get off the isolated leg exercises

-Leg Curls: the hamstrings never work independently of the glutes in movement, so why would you train them that way. You also do not want to deal with hamstring dominance.

-Leg Ext's: I shouldn't need to explain this. How about, if you want knee and all other kinds of injuries keep doing non functional idiot exercises like these.

10) Not enough work on Dorsiflexion.
If the lower half of the leg cannot dorsiflex enough the rest of the chain will make up for it somehow, and many times it will result in the knee.


These are not all specific to just the ACL. They affect all kinds of things. More important is: Are you still doing stupid stuff? One weak link can damage the entire body through injuries and compensation patterns. Look at your programs, you might find some flaws. Replacing these flaws with good things can make a huge difference in your athletes success.

Back Pain

Around the holidays my brother Joe returned home from Montana. I hadn't seen him in a few months and it was nice to catch up, at the same time its kind of like he was never gone. I actually got him to workout with some kettlebells for the first time.

From left to right: Julia, Maggie, Joe, and Mom. Yep my mother is not only rough enough to have kids like us, but also throws around some pretty respectable weights as well. 

It was good but what concerned me was that he had back pain that I did not know about. At some point out in Montana he'd developed some problems with his back, which many of you out there can empathize with. I'm his brother and doing what I do I should be able to help him out but I had no idea. So now this blog is kind of devoted to him. 

Now Joe's problem is multifaceted, like most back pain really is and it is fairly rare to see this but Joe actually has posterior pelvic tilt. And yes I did say pelvic which would mean that I'm saying there is absolutely nothing wrong with his back muscles or spine. It is all due to his hip alignment. The pelvis should be sitting level instead it is being pulled downward on the posterior (or back side) by some ridiculously tight hamstrings, which is misaligning the natural curve of the lumbar spine making it too flat and causing some big problems. 

Joe is also out in Montana where everyone seems to wear cowboy boots all day. Now I'm with him, if I were out there I'd probably wear cowboy boots too but in this case Joe's GastroSoleus region (or the large muscles that make up your calves) is also really really tight, and this is causing problems up the chain as well. Take this even further, he has some pretty tight hip flexors as well. Sorry Joe your getting it from every angle.

So big problems because Joe's hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors are so tight that even if he wanted to he couldn't get close to getting into a good squat position without some major compensations. On top of that he cannot recruit his glutes to do any work for him because they are being inhibited by the tightness. That means every time he sits in or gets up from a chair, ties his shows, takes out the trash he's creating new poor movement patterns. Okay check that he is in Montana, so every time he rides a horse, puts on his cowboy boots, and brands a calf. 

What does Joe need to do? I wish I had some good pictures for you, I will work on that in the future. 

First, Joe needs to get some soft tissue with a foam roller or tennis ball work in on his calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, and quads, but it would be beneficial to work on the upper back, lats, and chest also. 

Second, Do some glute activation stuff, or even just some simple hip mobility drills. shoulder bridge would be great, but a few lunges every morning would work wonders as well. 

Third, Stretch. Lengthen out those muscles, especially if each of these are done consecutively. When stretching the hamstrings keep the back as straight as possible. I like to use a belt and lay on the floor pulling my toes back towards my face with my leg straight doing one leg at a time and then go out to the left and the right hold each position for about 30-60 seconds. In my humble opinion this is the best hamstring and hip stretch for this type of scenario as it works on dorsiflexion and the hamstrings and calves are in a relaxed position while the spine remains neutral (see perfect). 

Now I dont know how much Joe works out in Lewistown, Montana, but even if not he could really help himself with about 10 minutes of this a day. Actually most people could get about the same. Now most people don't need to and many should not stretch out their hamstrings constantly, most of the time back pain is a matter of tight hip flexors and weak glutes. So I'd work on that first.  

"Life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you respond to it."

Sleds

I hope everyone had a merry christmas and is looking forward to a new year. 2009 will be upon us soon. This is the first change of year for High Impact Training and that is exciting. Thank you to all of those that have supported us so far. 

Something that comes to mind as I look out my window today is the snow. Right now we have more than plenty of it and I hear a lot of the blame game being played that you can't exercise outside with the snow. 

Now, I enjoy the cold even less than I enjoy long distance jogging. But the snow gives a great avenue that we can use to get some real exercise in. Best part you can get some real FUN along with it, even better if kids are involved. I'm talking about DRAGGING SLEDS.

 

Rocky does it.

Pulling a sled around is great for your body in numerous ways. We get a ton of work on our core, posterior chain, and I typically dislike the word 'cardio' for its common misusage but this is the perfect type of cardiovascular work. You get a total body workout in a very dynamic, safe, and physically taxing way. Nationally recognized Strength Coach Mike Boyle rates Sled work as the king of exercise. He labels pushing a sled as the #1 exercise if he could only choose one. When I look at someone pushing a sled I see a single leg squat, core and shoulder stabilization, I see huge force production and power development, I see dynamic effort and I could go on for awhile here, but this is a blog. 

Get outside, rip a sled around for awhile. If you have a partner take turns pulling each other around, if not throw something on the sled that will act like weight. You'll see what I mean very quickly. For an add exercise carry around a sandbag or some heavy at the end while pulling the sled this will get your body worked fast. Have fun, try it out. 

"Life is 10% what happens to you, 90% how you respond to it."