Diesel Crew - Muscle Building, Athletic Development, Strength Training, Grip Strength » athletic training

One Hand Snatch Submissions

Jedd Johnson — Sat, 14 May 2011 02:46:03 +0000

Great submissions this week! We have our first co-winners, Mike Rojas and Manny Cortez from Strong 101 Gym! Great work fellas!

Check it out, below, as Mike and Manny lay waste to a 115-lb dumbbell, paying it no regards – snatching it to the sky and then discarding it like 115-lbs of losing lottery tickets. Absolute domination – forget about it!

Mike Rojas / Manny Cortez

Josh McIntyre

In addition, we had a two-way tie for the next highest weight, 100-lbs. Josh M. hit it multiple times with a normal sized dumbbell and his facial expression remained the same throughout the entire set, as if he were Michael Myers about to slit a throat in the Halloween movies.

Ben Edwards

Ben Edwards ripped out one rep with 100-lbs, but he also used a beautiful thick bar implement that he attained from Al Meyers, a true thing of beauty. Who knows how many he could have gotten with a conventional dumbbell.

Chris Vaughn

Chris Vaughn was right there, close by with an estimated 99-lb Snatch, also on a thick bar handle which looked very easy. I think Chris has the potential to be a force for future challenges.

Christopher Smith

At just 140-lbs, Christopher Smith came in with 80-lbs, but with the exceptional adherence to quality form and multiple reps, I think we can all agree that he had more in the tank. I am looking for Chris to keep sending in videos. Great work.

I hope everybody had a great training week! Enjoy your weekend. If you are training tomorrow or Sunday, set a PR for me, because I will be setting one for you!

All the best.

Jedd

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Strength Coach Resources – Team Grip Training

Jedd Johnson — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:48:32 +0000

I’ve said for years that Grip Training is one of the most important types of training that most people are either NOT DOING or NOT DOING RIGHT.

Grip Training Benefits

Sports Performance

A Strong Grip helps you perform better in sports by being able to hold onto the ball, bat, or your opponent better. Athletes in all sports need to be strong from the elbow down in order to maximize their play.

Strength Training

A Strong Grip also helps you improve your numbers on lifts where the hands are involved, even the Bench Press. By having a firm grasp on the bar, it helps you engage your upper body in the lift much better while also increasing your confidence in the lift, knowing you are going to dominate it with no problem.

Lower Arm Health

Finally, Strong Hands and Forearms are Safer Hands and Forearms. What I mean by that is when you have put in the work to strengthen everything from the elbow down in a balanced fashion, it makes you much more injury-resistant. You are able to take more bumps without having to worry about breaking something and you’re able to give more bumps without having to hold back.

The issue with all this is, how do you get started?

Well, here is one of the things I first began doing when starting out in Grip Training – Face-offs.

DIESEL FACE-OFFS – Team Setting

What most DIESEL FACEOFFS used to look like back in the day
Lots of trash-talking and gesturing

This might just be the simplest Grip Training exercise to perform ever.

All you do is load a bar up with some weight, pick it up off the pins, and hold it for time without touching it against your thigh.

I started doing this when Diesel Crew first learned about Grip Training and the way we first did it was by positioning one person at either end of the bar at a time and we then stared each other down until the other person dropped it.

Naturally, I always won, except for the time I ran my hand through my sweaty-ass hair prior to gripping the bar sleeve. I lifted it up and the thing ripped violently out of my hand, feeling like a giant rubber band had been pulled to its capacity and then let go inside my palm and fingers. My hand hurt for days and I could not close even a #1 Gripper for a couple of weeks.

SO DON’T DO THAT!!!! If you try this movement and one guy is so far ahead of the other people on the team, just load his side of the bar up heavier instead of wetting the hand to make it tougher.

If you are a strength coach and you want to build some excitement and competition into your strength training sessions, the Face-off is a great way to do it.

Just as the image above shows, the guys who truly think they are bad-asses will step up to the challenge.

There will be challenges made. There will be shouting. Guys will try to out-do one another. It will be intense and players will get stronger.

If you have a sizable strength training area for your team, you can set-up multiple Face-Offs at various cages, or just simply load bars up in the open areas and have them pick them up from the floor.

Face-offs can also be instituted as part of a series of lifts or a circuit.

DIESEL FACE-OFFS – Training Alone

However, I also know that many people reading this article, like myself, do not have others to train with, and they are down there hitting it hard solo.

That doesn’t mean you have to let simple exercises like this just slip by. Here is how you do it by yourself.

Start out by setting the bar up in a squat cage with one of the pins slightly lower than the other. On my set-up, I just go one hole down, but if your holes are really close together, set it up so the difference is about 3 to 5 inches.

The reason for off-setting the pins in this fashion is so you can have a challenge when training alone. Setting it up like this does that for you. However, if you just set the pins up evenly and lift one side of the bar up, it will be too easy.

From there, load up the bar. You don’t need to load both sides evenly. You can have just 45-lbs on the higher side and then 90- or 135-lbs on the other side.

Next, all you have to do is pick up the lower, heavier side and hold it for time.

Remember, Grip Training does not have to be super-complicated, but some people try to make it like that.

Bring the hand strength up and the rest of your lifts with come up too.

And if you need more help with the hand strength, then join The Grip Authority. With an unbelievable list of Grip Strength topics already covered and many more to come each and every month, it is an absolute travesty that it only costs $7 to join.

I will get you to your goals. All you have to do is join and work with me.

The Grip Authority < = Kah Kuah!

Check it out right now and by the end of the day you will be blown away by the knowledge you pick up.

There is no site like this on the NET.

Don’t wait for everything to “feel right.”

MAKE it a GREAT day RIGHT NOW.

Jedd

Discover EVERYTHING You Need to Know about Gripper Training
with my Definitive Gripper Training DVD, CRUSH: Total Gripper Domination.

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Juniata Clinic Report

Jedd Johnson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:36:38 +0000

Hard to believe another year has gone by and the Annual Juniata Strength Clinic is in the books. It’s always great to see the other regulars. I have become extremely good friends with many of them and look forward to going every year.

Before I get going too far into this, I first want to thank Coach Doug Smith, the Juniata Strength Coach and organizer of the yearly clinic. This is the most cost-effective clinic I know of for the number of CEU’s that are available, and it is my pleasure to present or conduct a hands-on presentation each year.

Unfortunately, I was only able to attend on day of the clinic this year, as my fiancee got pretty darn sick on Friday night. I drove home to take care of her and missed Saturday’s agenda. However, I attended many presentations and hands-on sessions on Friday and I want to go over them here and share with you all some of the highlights the presenters shared.

If you were there, maybe you can post some of the highlights you thought were most impressive, or maybe let me know what I missed on Day 2, or just respond to my thoughts. Here we go…

A Review of Bioenergetics and their Application to Sport Performance

Willard Peveler, PhD.
Assistant Profesor of Exercise Physiology – Northern Kentucky University

This was an excellent presentation on energy pathways, metabolism, glycolosis, etc. Essentially, Dr Peveler blew me away with this presentation. Really opened my eyes to just how much I DON’T KNOW about this stuff and that I need to work on my knowledge base here.

Dr. Peveler spoke a lot about endurance, and I want to write him a note to get his thoughts on how to maximize strength endurance of the hands and whether he knows if any sort of foods are optimally converted to energy for the hands themselves.

Developing a Strong, Durable, and Resilient Baseball Player

Frank Velasquez Jr ATC, CSCS*R
Pittsburgh Pirates Strength and COnditioning Coordinator

No matter what clinic I go to, if there is a presentation on baseball, I ALWAYS try to attend. Frank had a good presentation and I took a lot of notes. Here are some of the highlights.

“Don’t treat the rotator cuff, treat the scapula”

This is one of the points that Frank focused on for a great deal of time in his presentation. What he was saying was that there is often a knee jerk reaction to do all sort of training for the rotator cuff, but neglect the muscles that support and control the scapula.

This is a great point, and it is something that Smitty and I have focused on since the very beginning of Diesel. We always retract prior to exercises such as rows, pull-ups, pull-downs, posterior flies, etc. We also have an exercise index stashed away on complete shoulder health that we are going to put out for the masses sometime before we retire.

Frank also spoke at length on the importance of correct posture. It’s not just something that grandma thinks we should do – it’s damn important for athletes. Think about it this way. You’re away for 16 hours and your asleep for 8 hours. If during 14 of thos 16 waking hours you are standing and sitting with crappy posture, do you really think a few minutes of a two-hour workout is going to negate all that time spent slouching and protracted? NO WAY! Posture is important not just so you don’t develop thos praying mantis shoulder blades, but also functionally as well. Poor posture results in poor performance of the shoulder, BOTTOM LINE.

“Hustle is a talent. You can teach it and track it.”

I thought this was an excellent point. While hustle is natural for some people and not others, it can be taught and reinforced until it is second nature. So if you have athletes who are constantly sluggish and never seem to have any bounce in their step, talk to them about hustle and how important it is, and then keep after them until it is second nature.

“Hamstrings pull because they are weak.”

Frank said that his ball players do some sort of hamstring exercise everyday, because hamstring pulls happen most often as a result of weakness, not lack of flexibility. He showed some of the exercises they do and they varied intensity from day to day. If you or someone on your squad is suffering from reoccurring muscle pulls, maybe it’s time to look at their strength levels and not so much their flexibility levels.

University of Virginia’s In-Season Training Program for Football

Brandon Houragian
University of Virgina – Strength and Conditioning Coordinator

Brandon had a great presentation. He wrapped everything up with a very cool video as well. During the course of his presentation he had some training clips, but he couldn’t figure out how to get them to play. He wasn’t too worried about it, so he just kept on plugging away, but at the end he really wanted to show his highlight reel, so I went up to help him and we were able to figure it out together.

“Guys that don’t play go through a hardcore program.”

The players who aren’t getting as much playing time go through a more challenging routine. They could very well be starters next year, so at Virginia they take advantage of the limited beating their bodies are taking during game time and work them harder in the gym.

Utilizing Complexes and Segments for Developing Stamina

Tony Decker
Temple University Strength and Conditioning Coordinator

Tony showed us many ways to incorporate barbell, dumbbell and odd object complexes into the athletic training program as we as how to implement this approach over the course of the year, but what I liked the most about Tony’s presentation was his focus on avoiding overtraining.

Tony reminded us that overtraining is a result of too much volume. He specifically pointed to the fact that many people when they feel worn out and overtrained try to reduce the weight and get the reps in when this can actually be counterproductive. Volume is key in fighting overtraining, so keep that in mind whether you are training athletes, clients, or just yourself. ANYBODY can get overtrained.

“We’re not the ones in the pads.”

Tony talked about the importance of listening to the athletes. Are they reporting reduced performance on the field after the workouts we’re putting them through. We’re not the ones wearing the gear and going through the plays, so we have to take their feedback into consideration. After all, the coach isn’t going to be happy with a bunch of overtrained players in-season.

Myofascial Release / Health is Just Skin Deep

Nancy Hawkins Riggs MS, CSCS
Be-Fitness Delaware

Nancy and her two colleagues introduced us to her version of myofascial release, called Mashing. These ladies promote soft tissue health by doing myofascial release on their clients in socked feet!

This presentation was the “Outside of the Box” presentation of the weekend. I am sure most of us have never heard of “Mashing” especially done with the feet. Regardless, when they asked for volunteers, my hand immediately shot up to get my left forearm worked on. It felt great to get worked on, although it is kind of hard to relax with all the people in the classroom watching you get your arm “mashed.”

The idea behind this and the application to a sports team, is that by working one another’s muscle and fascia with the feet reduces the stress put o the hands and more soft tissue work can be done. The ladies demonstrated several techniques, using the toes, side of the foot and even the heel to moderate the amount of pressure applied when mashing.

Balance – Proprioception Training for Performance, Injury Reduction & Lower Rehab

Lori Swaldi DPT, VCS; Tom Swaldi DPT, ATC, CSCS
Star Physical Therapy

Very good presentation. I enjoyed the review on the three balance systems.

Somatosensory System – Maintaining balance by the signals interpreted through the feet (or hands if you’re doing hand balancing)

Visual System – Maintaining balance by the signals received by the eyes and interpreted by the brain

Vestibular System – Maintaining balance by the signals received by the organs of the inner ear

Another cool point Lori brought up was Gaze Stability, which is the ability to maintain focus during movement. These points had my mind racing about how to train baseball and softball players, especially for tracking the ball into the strike zone, and also watching the ball into the glove when chasing down a fly ball.

Now it was time for the hands-on sessions. These are always a great time, because you get to interact with the speakers and often get to try new methods of training. I missed Mike Rankin’s Ring Training portion because I was setting up my hands-on so I missed my opportunity at trying a muscle-up on the rings, darnit.

The very first thing I did during the hands-on sessions was to go find Dick Hartsell. If you don’t know Dick Hartsell, he is the inventor of FlexBands and has built some of the strongest ankles in the world. He puts his ankles through a beating every year at Juniata. I’ve seen him jump straight up in the air, come crashing down on his ankle and say “Any questions on ankle stability?”

Ankle stability and being in a viral video are not why I wanted to talk to Dick. I wanted to touch base with him because I wanted to thank him for fixing my thumb. If you remember, about a year ago I was struggling with thumb pain. I had tried everything and could get no relief. I spoke to Dick at Juniata last year and showed me a compression method that within weeks had brought my thumb back to about 95%, and continuing to do it was a major reason why I broke the record in the Two Hands Pinch and I wanted him to know it.

Next, I went over to my buddy Dan Cenidoza’s hands-on presentation, Steel Bending and Other Feats of Strength. Dan is really dominating the strength feats these days and walked a bunch of the strength coaches through the process of bending nails, horse shoes, long steel bars as well as phone book tearing and other feats of strength.

He also let me try one of his sinister 60D nails that he found in his adventures that he rated near an IronMind Red Nail. I was able to DO it easily with my wraps, which are thick and hard. I also got it with no problem with his thin flimsy wraps. I tried my hand at a horse shoe (not sure what it was) and was able to straighten it pretty easily.

I bounced back and forth between Dan’s Hands-on and Todd Hamer’s Hands-on. Todd spoke with the coaches about using strongman training in the athletic program. Hamer is a good one to speak on this, because he competes in Strongman Competitions and does well.

At this point it was time for my Hands-on Presentation. The Strongest Strength Coach at Juniata!

I expected a ton of competitors, but unfortunately only 5 decided to go after the title: Jerry Shreck (Bucknell), Andrew Jakeyow, Rob Klancher, Tyler Harshbarger, and Dan Cenidoza (BeMoreTraining.com).

There were three events: Keg Press Medley, Sandbag Hold for Time, and Keg Walk for Distance.

For the first time in my experience, all five events were finished in the exact same order every time. Here are the final standings.

1. Dan Cenidoza – 3 points
2. Andrew Jakeyow – 6 points
3. Jerry Shreck – 9 points
4. Tyler Harshbarger – 12 points
5. Rob Klancher – 15 points

These guys did a great job, and the Keg Walk was torture! Two minutes of walking with a keg between two lines – sick! But nobody complained. They just kept moving forward.

So, it’s another Juniata Clinic in the books. It was great to see everybody again and I got to network with some of my closest friends on an upcoming project.

While I am at it, I also want to thank Niki DeSantis for hooking me up with some killer phone books. Nice thick Virginia phone books are always a good tear. THANKS!

In closing, if you’re a strength coach in the state of PA or a nearby state, keep your eyes open for this clinic. It is always a good, affordable time where you learn a lot and meet other good strength coaches.

Until then, thanks and all the best in your training.

-Jedd-

P.S. An Offensive Explosion is returning to the game of baseball. Here’s why = > Ultimate Forearm Training for Baseball

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How to Deadlift the Proper Way

Jedd Johnson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:29:39 +0000

How to Deadlift

How to Deadlift the Proper Way Without Wrecking Your Back

If you’ve been on Diesel for any length of time you have been to our Training Center. If not, look to the right navigation bar and you’ll see a TON of cool information around many muscle building and strength training exercises and concepts.

One section in the Training Center is How to Deadlift.

This post is REALLY important!

It was awesome but it didn’t contain a very crucial piece. The analysis of how to setup on the deadlift. The deadlift is notorious as a back breaker in most peoples minds. When in fact, it is the poor execution of a deadlift, combined with poor mobility / flexibility, improper warm-up, poor core strength and many other factors that led to the acute or cumulative trauma.

I wanted to give everyone a quick, easy-to-understand, easy-to-apply setup for the conventional deadlift. It will give you the perfect setup everytime.

How to Deadlift Video

Here is what you’ll see in the video:

conventional deadlift stance
distance from bar
hip placement / posture
breathing
tension, irradiation
grip considerations
concentric phase
eccentric phase
bracing, intra-abdominal pressure
upper back engagement
head posture

Here is a step-by-step setup guide for conventional deadlifts:

1. Setup with your feet shoulder width or slightly wider than shoulder width apart
2. Toes can be straight ahead or turned outward
3. Shins should be approximately 4-6″ AWAY from the bar
4. Grab the bar with a double overhand grip (until the weight gets too heavy)
5. Legs will be straight
6. Take a big breath and force your abdominals outward and hold
7. Drop your hips as your knees shift forward toward the bar
8. Create tension in your upper back and lats by squeezing your armpits and pulling your arms downward
9. Drive the floor away, keeping the bar against your body all the way to lockout
10. Once bar gets to your knees finish the lockout with a powerful glute contraction, finish in a straight line
11. Move hips backward, keeping the glutes and hamstrings on tension
12. The bar will move downward and once the bar reaches the knees, drop straight downward back to the floor
13. REPEAT

Another consideration I wanted to add to the Training Center was how a deadlift can be modified.

How to Modify a Deadlift

Beyond the Range – pulling through a greater range of motion (ROM) which helps accelerate through sticking points and is done by standing on an elevated surface. It can be either 100lb plates or a 4″ box.

Pulling Against Bands or Chains – forces the lifter to accelerate to lockout which develops greater end range strength and rate of force development (RFD)

Band Assisted Pulling – assists the lifter off the floor and should be setup to deload before lockout, allows supramaximal weights (great than the lifter’s 1RM) to be used

Change the Implement – varying a barbell, a trap bar, dumbbells, odd objects or an axle will modify the tension and leverage of the lift

How to Deadlift Video


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Athletic Training – 3D Ankle Mobility

Jedd Johnson — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:00:49 +0000

Benefits:

By improving the mobility of the ankle, the knee (requires dynamic stability) does NOT have to absorb unnecessary forces.

Typically ankle mobility exercises are thought to be reserved to keep athletes healthy, BUT everyone can benefit from this drill prior to their workout.

Any good workout should be structured the following way:

1. Foam Roller
2. Mobility
3. Activation
4. Workout
5. Recovery / Rehab
6. Restoration

How to Perform:

Sequence:

Ankle Mobility
Strength / Resistance Movement
Ankle Mobility
Strength / Resistance Movement
Ankle Mobility
Strength / Resistance Movement
REPEAT

PS. Don’t forget about AJ’s FREE bench videos