I should have put this post together a long time ago. But I guess better late than never right? So, here it goes…
Most people in our community who have heard of ELP associate us with baseball; which we are very proud of. However, we do actually train athletes from other sports in case you’re wondering before you start to read this.
This post is going to focus specifically on Athlete Training and how our system is structured. It will briefly touch on points of our wellness and health coaching services.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IF YOU DON'T LIKE READING...
- If you only want the training system, feel free to skip to the bottom of the post.
- It might be worth your time to take the 3 minutes to read the whole article b/c it all works together.
One of the fundamental beliefs of our program is that we are working with athletes first and skill players second. Unfortunately, our society have flipped this paradigm upside down. Parents and athletes alike are led to believe athleticism is secondary and skill is primary. When in reality it’s the other way around. The bottom line is if you can’t squat to the ground like a baby, you have no business putting a barbell on your back.
Now that is not to knock skill work. We’re all in favor of that. And we partner with some great organizations in the area who do an excellent job at helping their players develop their skill. But skill shouldn’t come at cost of athleticism.
Now that that is out of the way, here is the breakdown of our training system. It has two distinct areas of emphasis:
- Step One: Muscle Activation
- Step Two: The Training Program
Muscle Activation
Muscles have two distinct roles: strengthening and absorbing force. If a muscle cannot properly absorb force, force will travel to areas of the body that are not designed to absorb it. This can lead to a host of problems including injury. So, before every training session, we test each athlete to make sure muscles are firing in the correct patterns and are absorbing force properly.
This is a critical component to our training, because muscles can become inhibited very easily. Muscles are fairly unimportant on our body’s hierarchy of needs; so, when a muscle repeatedly tests weak it’s a clear indication the body is diverting energy elsewhere at the expense of the muscle. So, through testing each athlete, every session, we can learn a lot about what’s going on in their body. There can be inhibition in firing patterns due to a variety of factors ranging from: neurological disorganization, digestive issues, foot dysfunction etc. This is where John’s wellness work and Mandy’s health coaching play a big role in identifying these factors that are contributing to muscle inhibition and working to improve them. In the meantime, we can continue to activate them so the athlete can reach their fullest potential.
THE TRAINING SYSTEM
The ELP training system is a blend of Conjugate and Triphasic Training Models. It is ultimately centered around three primary elements:
- Position
- Absorbing Force
- Producing Force
The Conjugate Method is a system of training that allows us to train a variety of properties along the force velocity curve (absolute strength, strength speed, speed etc.). Within this model we can rotate and adapt exercises based on the athlete’s sport, time of year, and physical needs with relative ease.
We typically train 3-4 days a week with two days focused on “strength” and 1-2 days focused on “speed – or dynamic effort” work. Speed is not to be confused with cone drills and agility ladders, b/c that stuff doesn’t work. Our speed/dynamic work is about utilizing submaximal loads and moving them at max velocity.
In our 3-4 day conjugate model, we utilize a triphasic training approach for each microcycle. Dynamic movement (i.e.: jumping) has three distinct actions: the eccentric (lengthening), the isometric (static position) and the concentric (shortening). We always use the example: which ball is going to go higher? The one you drop on the ground, or the one you throw on the ground? Obviously, the answer is the one you throw on the ground. This is because it absorbs more force (eccentric) allowing it to then produces more force (concentric). I like to think of the isometric as the postion of the ball; the fact that it was able to maintain it's structure without exploding. Well, the human body works the same way. If you have the prerequisite strength/mobility to produce force the limiting factor is likely how much force you can absorb and translate into production.
So, in a standard 9-12 week mesocycle, each phase (or microcycle) would be between 2-3 weeks emphasizing a different property of the muscle action. Care is obviously taken to address the individual athlete’s needs and design their programs accordingly.
Within this macro view of our system there are a number of micro components to it that I won’t dive into in this article. This could range anywhere from the lifts we utilize, the mobility protocols, how we teach position etc.
Hopefully this answers some questions for those that were curious. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
-John