Acceleration Training w Athletes of Different Skill Levels

Here is a video of NY Giants WR Dan Depalma continuing to improve his Acceleration techniques despite having trained with me for over 4 years already. Motor Skill Development is something that continually needs to be adressed. In this video Dan is training with former Temple University Standout Amara Kamara who is relatively new to our program having been with us for a few months. Tho at totally different stages in mastering the mechanics of acceleration they can work effectively together as there are 4 levels of Motor Development Mastery. Inrtoduce a Skill, Rehearse a Skill, Review a Skill and Refine a Skill. So you can have a seasoned vet training with someone who is new or relatively new and still provide the appropriate level of teaching to each person. This is the same philosophy we use when training our adolescent athletes.

Wether you are a pro athlete or still in Elementary School the goals remain the same...Move Better, Play Better!!!

CrossFit Training

As i posted a few weeks ago i had planned to write a blog on my feelings about CrossFit Training. Just as I sat down to begin writing I came across a piece written by Mike Boyle on the same subject. Now I do not always (or that often) agree with Mike on everything but his blog here pretty well sums up my thoughts so I figured I would just give him the credit and pass along a link to his Post. Mike Boyle's Blog on CrossFit Training...good read

It's Been A While

Wow I cant believe how much time has passed since my last post. So much has happened since then let me bring you up to speed. In the summer of 2011 I rejoined the New York Islanders (I was there from 1996-2003) in a new role, as the teams Director of Sports Performance overseeing the Athletic Training and Strength and Conditioning Departments. During this time I remained on at Velocity Sports Performance as a Consultant. All good things come to an end though and after almost 7 great years I have relinquished my position at Velocity Sports Performance of Mahwah and entered into a new opportunity as a partner at Ultimate Athletic Performance inside the Ultimate Sports America facility located in Oakland NJ.

Look for blogs coming soon on:
How much fun it is to train Victor Cruz
How to Improve Jumping and Landing Mechanics
Why most Strength and Conditioning Coaches focus too much on strength.
My thoughts on Cross Fit

So much more to come very soon!

Sean

My Favorite Agiltity Drill - Lateral - Crossover Run (Mathias Kiwanuka, Ryan Grant)

If you breakdown what agility is you get 2 movement skills, Deceleration and Re-acceleration. Sounds easy right? Not really, in order to efficiently Decelerate you must first train the Central Nervous System (CNS)  to utilize the appropriate muscle groups in the appropriate sequence (Look for my blog about Jumping and Landing Mechanics later next week). After that we need to make sure that the athlete has the unilateral stabilization to control the movement and then the strength and power to be able to absorb the force and reapply it into another direction.
The Lateral - Crossover Run Drill Challenges an athletes ability to control body position, change levels, and get in and out of the direction changes as quickly as possible. Take a look at NY Giants DE Mathias Kiwanuka performing the drill below.

Notice how the body position and angles change as the drill is performed, in order to put ourselves in the optimal re-acceleration position we have to maintain control of our body angle upon the start of deceleration. In order to progress this drill we then add a pure acceleration component to the drill. This drastically increases the load to the plant leg and helps to promote the shorter amortization phase which we are emphasizing on the change of direction component of the drill. Below you will see both Mathias and Ryan Grant do an excellent job of maintaining body control and rapidly decelerating and re-accelerating off the plant leg as they transition to acceleration.



I would say Grants ankle looks pretty good!

Jay Alford Sled Row.........and a great moment!

Seattle Seahawks DT Jay Alford makes rowing 630+ lbs for 25 yds (14 plates + sled) look pretty easy!

Remember this name cause Jay is going to have a BIG year for the hawks....you may remember the last time you saw him............!

Applying Acceleration Mechanics to Game Play Situations

fig 1

Ever put an athlete into a wall drill (fig. 1) while working on acceleration and heard the following question..."Coach what does this have to do with my sport?" I get this all the time from athletes, and I understand where they are coming from. It can be difficult for an athlete to understand how something so fixed and stationary can help them in their dynamic and chaotic sport.

What I tell my athletes is that once they master proper movement mechanics in stationary and unobstructed drills they can then learn how to utilize these new or refined skills into actually game play. This all comes down to motor learning, and there are 4 levels of motor learning 1. Unconscious Incompetence 2. Conscious Incompetence 3. Conscious Competence 4.Unconscious Competence.

Unless you run track you will likely not often be in a stationary position and then run completely unobstructed to an endpoint. So therefore the key to using or applying acceleration mechanics is to learn how to get back to proper positions if you wind up getting into a bad spot due to the chaotic nature of sport.

Allow me to illustrate my point with the pictures and video below. A few years ago I had the privilege to work with Juan Pablo Angel who at the time was the Captain of the New York Red Bull (MLS) and currently plays for the LA Galaxy. We had just finished working on Acceleration Mechanics and he wanted to do some drills to integrate the acceleration work into his game. So I stood about 10yds away and delivered a ball to him that he played through his feet and sent it off to his left and began to accelerate after it.

Well what I had failed to realize until I kicked the ball was that it was darn near flat.....so after he made his first touch on the ball it did not travel nearly as far as he was expecting it to go. The end result was that he had to hit the brakes to adjust to the ball and as you will agree the position he got into was far from an optimal acceleration position.(fig 2)



fig 2



The significant part of this drill was not that he got into a bad position....that happens all the time in sports. The real beauty of this drill and the proof that he was working at a level of Unconscious Competence came from what happened after he adjusted to the ball, and he RE-ACQUIRED his acceleration position (fig 3).



fig 3


 The better an athlete moves, the better an athlete plays! Speed, Agility and Quickness are all part of movement and movement skills can be taught, improved and refined. Take a look at the video below to see the sequence with JP Angel in real time.

Ryan Grant and Brandon Jacobs Metabolic Core Work

Post Leg Workout Ryan and BJ getting in some work focusing on shoulder and core stabilization with the added benefit of Energy System Development.....(partial clip of the drill)