AUSSIE RULES TRAINING

AUSSIE RULES TRAINING & COACHING ARTICLES / PROGRAMS / DRILLS

TAKE YOUR FOOTY TO A LEVEL YOU NEVER KNEW YOU HAD

IT'S HERE!! aussierulestraining.com

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Need for Speed Part 5

So I got my prowler the other day so it's time to alter my plan.

In part of 4 of The Need for Speed series, I posted a video of general transfer training made popular by Joe Defranco where I did back squats x 2 reps at 90% of my Monday squat weight then followed up after about 1 minute with a 10m sprint.

The basis of this is to activate the muscles used in sprinting through the squat then use that heightened activation in an actual sprint.

To bridge the gap between the gym and the football field we can take this 1 step further with specific general training, again popularised by Joe Defranco.

This is where you use a prowler to replicate the action of sprinting with some added load which acts as a loaded sprint so that when you go to a traditional sprint with body weight only, the increased neural activity makes the sprint feel almost effortless as the residual neural activity of the loaded sprint is still present.



And here's a HASD (heavy ass sled drag) at 145kgs external load



Background Song - Baba O'Reily originally by the Who but performed here by Pearl Jam.

And shit Good Friday is boring!!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Essendon's 2 Knee Injuries

Yesterday we saw not only a match of the year candidate between Carlton and Essendon, but also 2 ACL tears in the space of 10mins, both to two of Essendon's best run and carry players, Jason Winderlich and then Courtenay Dempsey.



Here's my quick take on it all.

If you've been a follower of this blog since its inception then you would know that I abide by the stability-mobility continuum where some joints require stability, and others require mobility for optimal performance.

You would then also know that when 1 joint isn't as mobile as it should be that when you need that extra mobility during movement, the body will go to another joint to get it. This is where the trouble starts.

The knee is a joint that requires stability, or the ability to resist forces and unwanted movement coming up the leg from the ankle to the hip, both of which are joints that require mobility for optimal performance.

The ankle and hip joints are both joints that more often then not, present with less mobility then they require. Couple this with ankle taping and you're in trouble.

Yes taping is used to prevent ankle sprains and rolls, but it also puts an extraordinary amount of pressure on the knee to provide the range of motion that you've taken away from the ankle.

When you tear an ACL, the knee buckles inwards, which in geek terms is hip internal rotation. Another prevalent postural flaw, and even more so in sports that require plenty of running is quad dominance. This means that your quadricep and hip flexor muscle groups become overused and thus tight and the gluteal muscle group becomes weak and inhibited (switched off).

So where both muscle groups work opposite each other, you require optimal strength levels from front to back so that the pull is of equal resistance each way. When it isn't then the muscle that is stronger and dominant, in this case the quads and hip flexors, will pull your hips out of alignment (down to the front towards your toes).

This posture flaw results in what is known as excessive pelvic tilt and a by referral movement deficiency of this postural flaw is excessive hip internal rotation.

So now we have in adequate ankle and hip mobility, ankle taping resulting in even less ankle mobility and now excessive hip internal rotation. Now add running at high velocities and volumes, and the need to be able to decelerate yourself and change direction, and you have an ACL tear waiting to happen.

If you look at the Courtenay Dempsey incident you will see that he lands with his foot turned out, or external rotation. To "straighten" his landing up his knee buckles in. Winderlich's and similar.

So what should you do to avoid the fate of the ACL tear?

1 - Improve you ankle mobility with the first exercise from this video and the improve hip mobility with the second and third exercises from this:



2 - Activate your glute muscles



3 - Strengthen the glute muscles



4 - Improve your core stability





As far as ankle taping goes I have never taped my ankles, even after I rolled them. I don't do tape at all as I feel it restricts me. I would suggest if you don't want to play without tape then try and train without it so you can use your new found ankle joint range of motion during game simulated conditions.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Tell Me Your Progress

I think everyone must have started footy by now so let me know how you've gone.

In particular, what was your aim in the off and pre season and what did you do to improve it?

And now that the season has started, how is it helping during a game?

I'm still up for a game if I can find a team that needs a player that can't train!!

As for my speed training phase I'm about to start week 3 tomorrow where I'll do a max set of 3 for back squats at a minimum.

I'll try to remember to record the plyometric and activation portion of my workouts as well as my upper body workouts this week and put them up.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Join the Aussie Rules Training Blogspot Facebook Page

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105772399457004

And please forward to any of your friends.

Poor Suns and the Swans to win by 19pts against the Bombers tomorrow.