Summer sessions are now in full swing and that means a lot of hot and sweaty training sessions. We've found one of the best ways to maximize recovery and battle the heat is with protein popsicles!
These bad boys knock out 2-birds with one stone and the best part… They are amazingly easy to make!
It only takes 2 ingredients and about 5-minutes of prep time to get these things made
The Culprits
6 Scoops Orange Vanilla Rec-4 Protein - Find it HERE
4 Cups Orange Juice
Popsicle Sticks or Get One Of These Suckers
Steps
1. Stir/Shake Protein and Orange Juice for about 30-seconds.
2. Let Settle for another 30-seconds.
3. Pour into your ice trays
4. Stick in Popsicle Sticks and Freeze overnight
That's it! When you finish your workout, open your freezer and viola… a cool protein popsicle is ready for you.
Each popsicle (in my trays) has about 15g of protein. This all depends on how many ounces your ice trays can hold. Try to shoot for about 12-20g of protein per serving.
The Orange Vanilla Rec-4 Protein is truly the best for this recipe. It tastes like a orange push pop and it mixes well. You can experiment with other vanilla or orange brands of protein, but they won't mix as well.
The other great thing about the Rec-4 is it's produced by Dietetic Advantage. They get all their products 3rd party NLEA tested, so what they say is in their product - is EXACTLY correct!
This is especially important because just recently a research study came out showing how popular brands, such as GNC, Optimum Nutrition, Muscle Milk, Cellucor, and Isoflex, all mislabeled/lied about the amount of BCAA's in their products! It's pretty sad when you pay for something, expecting to receive the labeled amount of nutrients and you get shafted by a LARGE amount! You can read about that HERE
Not only are they the best in the market, but they're are also designed by BBA Nutrition Consultant Sean Casey and he's a stifler about the quality of products he puts out.
For anyone that has done research or submitted to a journal, knows the amount of time, detail, revisions, and head-ache that goes into writing and researching for a paper.
For those of us who are full-time coaches, it is difficult to find the time and energy to dedicate to this type of consistent research.
With that being said, I do think every S&C coach should strive to produce a real scientific paper and be published by a journal.
There are a couple of reasons for this.
We have access to real, high level athletes - something a lot of research is missing
Give back and further the education of our field
Appreciating and understanding of how difficult, tedious, and in-depth research can be. It's a pet peeve of mine when coaches, who have never published research, criticize those that do. You'll be humbled when you go through this process
While I do enjoy the process and the opportunity to have work published, I also know there are simply not enough hours in the day to get all the data I track published into a journal.
So instead, this is the BBA Journal of Sports Performance. This will be where I can dump research that we're conducting at BBA, but aren't working to get published into a journal.
With that being said, this work will all be conducted in a scientific manner - clear procedures, proper set-up, data collection, and data analysis. There will be less detailed introductions and discussions - just want to present the data with a few closing thoughts.
The overall goal is for this data to be more than anecdotal and more than the usual, "We've seen great results from INSERT EXERCISE/TOOL/MODALITY". Yet, they cannot produce results, a control group, or inferential statistics to validate their claims.
So without further ado, let's go into this BBA Journal Study.
EFFECTS OF ACTIVATION EXERCISES ON SUBSEQUENT HORIZONTAL JUMP, SPRINTING SPEED, AND EXPLOSIVE MED BALL THROW
INTRODUCTION
There is a specific sequence we follow when we warm-up our athletes. We perform soft-tissue, then alignment, next dynamic warm-up, and finally we finished with an activation period before starting our actual movement practice.
Today we're going to dive into why we activate at the end of our warm-up. A lot of athletes and clients wonder why we do these low level "activation" exercises, and this is what we tell them.
"We activate to deeper engage specific musculature we want to use during our session. Essentially we want to "wake-up" and learn how to engage and feel these muscles being active"
In our mind it helps establish a pattern, position, and posture for that days workout. It can also help improve performance, which is an added bonus. Crow et al. (2012) demonstrated low level gluteal activation resulted in significant improvements in peak power production and vertical jump when compared to a control group (4)
McGill (2010) demonstrated that core training may be beneficial to enhance performance and reduce risk of injury by allowing the trunk and pelvis to transmit forces between the lower and upper body and maintain proper alignment (7)
Mills et al. (2005) looked at a 10-week training program focused on improving lumbo-pelvic stability/activation. After 10-weeks, the training group improved agility and lower leg power compared to the control group who did not do the lumbo-pelvic training program (8)
Connelly et al. (2006) studied the role of the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius on limbo-pelvic stability, and their results indicate that gluteus maximus may be important in the control of frontal plane stability of the hip on the pelvis, which may lead to reduced lower back pain and enhanced performance (3).
Many others have also shown the higher gluteal activation leads to faster running speed (1,2,5), throwing velocities (9,10), and may help jumping and landing (4,6,11)
Due to these findings, we typically approach our activation to attack a couple of areas.
Glutes/Hips - These are our prime movers and we want them doing their job
Core - Engage our deep core and surrounding core stabilizers
Shoulder Girdle - Even though the activation we used didn't specifically attack this area, we make sure to include plenty of scapular/posterior shoulder work whenever we are doing upper body work or dealing with OH athletes.
CNS Output - We try to cater our activation drills to the specific work we'll be doing on a given day. This allows us to start ingraining some movement patterns, and increase CNS output. Often times to further enhance CNS output, we perform a couple of moderate to high plyometric exercises.
Stability on Mobility - Our dynamic warm-up attacks ROM and mobility pretty hard, but with activation we like to add stability to that increased mobility. So things like the 3-way lunge not only challenge our mobility, but also make us control and be strong in those ranges of motion.
SUBJECTS
This study included 34 male subjects (age = 17.9 years); 19 College Athletes and 15 High School Athletes. All subjects had at least 4-months of resistance training experience (avg. = 1.5 years of training experience).
PROCEDURES
On testing days, subjects went through the same dynamic warm-up which consisted of active mobility and dynamic movements (Appendix A) and then either the activation routine or directly moving onto testing.
On day 1 of trials the College Athletes performed the dynamic warm-up and activation routine (Appendix B). The High School Athletes performed just the dynamic warm-up. On day 2, these procedures were flipped.
Following the given protocols, subjects were then tested in the broad jump, 10-yard dash, and reverse med ball throw. Each subject was given 3 trials of each test and all trials were recorded for each athlete.
Subjects were given 1-minute of rest between each trial and 3-minutes of rest between each test.
RESULTS
Overall there were 102 data points (34 subjects x 3 trials) for each WITH activation and WITHOUT (control) for each performance test. Student t-tests were used to assess statistical significance between the different sample means of each group. The significance value was set at p=0.05.
*Statistically Significant
DISCUSSION
After testing the 3 different qualities, it appears that activation may be beneficial for improving non-cyclical power specific exercises. It, however, did not significantly effect the cyclical performance, the 10-yard dash.
Broad jump improve by over 3cm (+3.5%) and the reverse med ball throw by 17inches (+4.4%), but only improved the 10-yard dash by an average of 0.01seconds (no difference).
A potential reason for our activation series not having the same effects on 10-yard times as compared to the broad jump and reverse med ball throw, is the 10-yard acceleration requires greater amounts of elasticity, coordination, and shorter ground contact times. The 10-yard dash is also cyclical in nature and more technical requirements than the broad jump and reverse med ball throw. It may also be due to acceleration requiring slightly higher degrees of elastic qualities and more "plyometric" than the standing long jump and reverse med ball throw. This may call for adding in some low-to-moderate "plyometric" exercises to firing up the CNS and elastic properties of the body.
Given the results, this tested activation series may be beneficial to prime athletes for non-cyclical bouts of powerful performance such as the broad jump, vertical jump, and/or med ball throws. More research needs to be done to determine weather this increase in performance can be seen in longer sprints and agility performance, which are incredibly important for team sports.
- 3-Way Lunge x3ea
- Glute Bridge x15
- Bird-Dog x6ea
- Naughty Dog x10ea
- Glute March x10ea
References:
1. Bartlett, J. L., Sumner, B., Ellis, R. G., & Kram, R. (2014). Activity and functions of the human gluteal muscles in walking, running, sprinting, and climbing. American journal of physical anthropology, 153(1), 124-131.
2. Brughelli, M., Cronin, J., & Chaouachi, A. (2011). Effects of running velocity on running kinetics and kinematics. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 25(4), 933-939.
3. Conneely, M., Sullivan, K. O., & Edmondston, S. (2006). Dissection of gluteus maximus and medius with respect to their suggested roles in pelvic and hip stability: implications for rehabilitation?. Physical Therapy in Sport, 7(4), 176-178.
4. Crow, J. F., Buttifant, D., Kearny, S. G., & Hrysomallis, C. (2012). Low load exercises targeting the gluteal muscle group acutely enhance explosive power output in elite athletes. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 26(2), 438-442.
5. Dorn, T. W., Schache, A. G., & Pandy, M. G. (2012). Muscular strategy shift in human running: dependence of running speed on hip and ankle muscle performance. The Journal of experimental biology, 215(11), 1944-1956.
6. Hart, J. M., Craig Garrison, J., Casey Kerrigan, D., Palmieri-Smith, R., & Ingersoll, C. D. (2007). Gender differences in gluteus medius muscle activity exist in soccer players performing a forward jump. Research in sports medicine, 15(2), 147-155.
7. McGill, S. (2010). Core training: Evidence translating to better performance and injury prevention. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 32(3), 33-46.
8. Mills, J. D., Taunton, J. E., & Mills, W. A. (2005). The effect of a 10-week training regimen on lumbo-pelvic stability and athletic performance in female athletes: a randomized-controlled trial. Physical Therapy in Sport, 6(2), 60-66.
9. Oliver, G. D. (2014). Relationship between gluteal muscle activation and upper extremity kinematics and kinetics in softball position players. Medical & biological engineering & computing, 52(3), 265-270.
10. Plummer, H. A., & Oliver, G. D. (2014). The relationship between gluteal muscle activation and throwing kinematics in baseball and softball catchers. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 28(1), 87-96.
11. Zazulak, B. T., Ponce, P. L., Straub, S. J., Medvecky, M. J., Avedisian, L., & Hewett, T. E. (2005). Gender comparison of hip muscle activity during single-leg landing. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 35(5), 292-299.
I keep a journal of notes in my phone, by my bedside, and in a word document on my computer. Here's where I'll dump all of those ideas into an incoherent lists of things floating around my head.
Science confirms, good ideas happen when you are mentally switched off. Taking a vacation, taking time off, sleep, and procrastinating can help in solving complex problems
Everybody should be taking naps, I think schools should even promote 30-minutes to a midday nap. The research is clear on this topic as well, if you want to live longer, be more creative, receive a burst of energy/focus, improve performance - then NAP!
Add stress or other cognitive function during decision making to enhance sporting performance: Like performing math equations, memorizing colors/patterns, watching something, listening to something, or any kind of mental processing while performing a task may enhance motor learning.
1000 good reps cannot undo the work of 100 bad reps. Start doing things correctly, don't wait for breakdown
S&C coaches need to voice input and feedback of basic physiological truths to sport coaches when it comes to practice, structuring, intensities, and nervous system optimization. For example, a normal football practice week should really look like the top chart - and not the bottom chart, which is the traditional method in the football world
All athletes seek autonomy, competence and connection. Does your program provide these things?
Autonomy is the need to be free to choose your own goals and do things because you like doing them for their own sake. Autonomy is the freedom to set your own goals, choose your own path and not feel pressured by other people or outside forces.
Competence is being good at what you’re doing and feeling confident in your abilities to perform the task at hand. We all want to feel like we are learning, increasing our skill and growing. This basic need for competence and pursuit of mastery drives us, and makes us feel good when we achieve a difficult goal.
Connection is the desire to bond with and relate to other people. Goals that have you interacting with others, giving and receiving help from others and nurturing relationships are going to fill your innate need for connection.
Some of the most important things we can do as coaches and parents is let kids figure things out on their own. This means if there is a dispute in grades, or playing time, or social aspects - the kid should figure them out - don't step in and try to solve the problem - this isn't benefitting anyone
Nutrition is emotional. The more I think and work on nutritional things, the more I see a need to address emotional ties to eating habits and decisions - not just plain x's and o's of nutrient breakdowns
It's combine season for many of our HS athletes, so we thought we'd throw together a video on the most important part of the 40-yard dash - the stance and start
Athlete training needs to be individualized - especially the higher the level of the athlete. Think about this - if you give a group of 10 athletes the same program - why do 3 get a ton better, 4 get a little bit better, and 3 see no change?
Many fast-twitched athletes (think corvettes) need much LESS work, while less genetically gifted (think pintos) may thrive on more work
Check out this FREE Human Behavioral Biology Course from Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky. Seriously this is a FREE course from Stanford University - ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
Sometimes we need to step back and let athletes and the human body do what it wants to do. Often times coaches step in and make corrections on things that don't look correct. For example, the false step - often times coaches try to rid athletes of this movement, but in actuality it's the bodies natural response more effective than not using one. We aren't smarter than the human body.
When programming for your athletes - do you take into account what style of play their team is? If I'm training a football player that plays in a "spread offense" with a play every 20-seconds, this is much different than a player in a "pro style" offense where they may use the whole play clock. This not only changes the energy system demands of the athlete, but also the total volume and in some cases the intensity of work done by the athletes. The same could be said for other team sports like basketball, soccer, football, lacrosse, rugby, hockey. So do your homework, talk to the athlete, call the coach, watch a game and find out what style of play the team emphasizes.
Continuing on our theme of business from the past few articles, we'll continue with another important aspect of what we do at BBA, and that's educating young coaches!
Every year we host 3 Internships - Summer, Fall, and Spring. We typically host between 2-6 interns during these blocks, and in total over the past 3-years have mentored 34 young professionals looking to break into the coaching, fitness, or S&C world.
Having been an intern at a Big 10 school and now managing a ton of interns, I have seen my fair share of the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to internships.
Our goal is to have our internship experience be the most valuable thing these students do in their collegiate career. That and actually coach! During my time spent as an intern, I was mostly a glorified spotter - with most of my duties being set-up, tear down, observation, and cleaning - not a whole lot of actual coaching.
Pair that with my an undergraduate degree that left a TON to be desired in terms of practical information. In fact, I'd say that what I learned during my time as an undergrad, none of that is used in my day-to-day work. I learned far more doing my own personal research, talking with coaches, reading for hundreds of hours, and soaking in everything I could during my internship. Don't get me wrong, the basic of anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics are learned, but not in an application type sense. It's one thing to know what muscles extend the hip - it's another to know how these actually work during movement and how to train them. It's one thing to know the regions of the spine and how many vertebrae in each region - it's another to know how to apply spinal mechanics during movement and the varying jobs of each region.
I see it with all my interns, their applicable knowledge of biomechanics, anatomy and physiology, exercise technique and prescription, and coaching/cueing/communication is poor.
Students come to as juniors and seniors and we have to spend hours talking about exercise technique, communication and cueing, how to spot global movement errors, what a neutral spine looks like, what a good lower leg alignment looks like, what a valgus sign is, and how to actually coach a group individual and groups of athletes!
All this is fine and dandy, as we take responsibility to educate these students on the nuances of S&C. Almost every intern we've ever had, during our exit interview, states they learned more about specific coaching and S&C information during the past 4-months then the past 4-years at school! - That's our goal.
We also use our internship to potentially hire or recommend for future positions. We won't hire someone who hasn't interned or volunteered a quality amount of time so we can see first hand how well they interact with the athletes and their ability to coach in our environment. Remember the internship is basically a long interview process.
Second, as our web of contacts continues to grow - we love to see our past interns go on and do great things. Currently we have 3 past interns working with Division 1 schools, 2 working in Division II schools, 3 are High School sport coaches, 2 are in graduate school, and 1 is a health coach for a large business.
We take pride in helping our interns in any manner possible, BUT we also have very high expectations for our interns and as past interns can tell you we are very particular when it comes to work ethic, body language, and attitude.
Here are 6 things, that take NO extreme levels of knowledge, all interns should exhibit if they want to stand out.
1. Don't Be Lazy!
Seriously, there is nothing, I mean NOTHING more frustrating than an intern that just stands there or walks around and doesn't say or do anything. In our environment, interns should have a light sweat going from constantly moving, spotting, stripping weights, demonstrating, coaching, etc.
We don't like lazy athletes as coaches - so don't be a lazy intern!
2. Be There Early, Stay Late
This is an old saying, but it's tremendously true. We take notice who is consistently here first and who stays around asking if there is anything else to do. We also take notice who strolls in at JUST the last second and who is asking if they can leave.
For the latter, please don't ask for a reference because you will not get one.
3. Mirror What The Head Coach Says/Does
We expect our interns to come in with a lack of practical knowledge, but that doesn't mean they can't be effective.
The greatest thing an intern can do is be adaptable and be a keen observer to how the head coach coaches.
It drives me nuts when I lead a couple of groups through a movement practice and I use specific cues, specific mobility exercises, specific rest periods, and demonstrate/coach a specific way with a specific language and when it's the interns time - they don't do the same.
It takes no skill to observe and apply specific coaching that you JUST SAW multiple times. It's called being a student and learning.
I go bonkers when I lead 2-3 groups, and when the intern is up they ask what's next, what should I say, what should I be looking for?
Do things and mirror in the manner the head coach wants - it'll make everyones life easier.
4. You're Opinions Don't Matter - On The Floor
Every once in a while we'll get an intern that has read some things or follows blogs or has some actual experience under the bar. This is great - except when they then try to teach something in a manner that we don't want to be taught.
Let's get this clear - you are the intern and you do things OUR way. I don't care what you read in the latest article on T-Nation, this is MY facility and we'll do things MY way.
I would never walk into another coaches environment and start critiquing the way they are coaching or say they should be doing a technique like this - not that.
If you want to piss off a coach in the baddest way - this is a surefire bet.
This doesn't mean you can't have questions - but on the floor, in front of athletes is NOT the place. Especially in a combative or questioning manner. Trust me, I have far more experience and far deeper reasons for the way I coach, and just because you read something doesn't mean you overstep our coaching cues/techniques.
We have weekly staff meetings for this, and that is the appropriate time to bring up questions.
5. Anticipate
Anticipation is every coaches dream. When I don't have to say something, and I turnaround and see a drill set-up or a piece of equipment out and ready - it's amazing.
Every program has a specific flow and progression to it. Every program has the training sessions written on either a whiteboard or athlete card - read the training, anticipate when things/equipment will be needed, and have things ready for the head coach.
The head guy has a hundred other things to worry about and having a piece of equipment out and ready without having to tell somebody makes their job soooo much better!
6. Be The Good Guy
Every once in a while we'll get that intern that wants to be a badass and show how much of a tough, meathead he/she is.
Guess what - you're not and the athletes can see right through that.
You're responsibility is to help carry out the head coaches programming, assist in set-up tear down, apply specific coaching cues, spot, and most of all - BE THE GOOD GUY.
I'll be the dick and play mean cop if the athletes need a kick in the ass - that's not your job nor your place.
You should be the supportive, positive coach and do the little things for the athlete. The head coach will provide the discipline and control when needed.
If you do all of these things, you will impact the athletes, impress the coaches, and leave a lasting impression on the environment.
You know how I know if my interns leave a lasting impression... This simple checklist is an easy way I know if my interns impacted the athletes in a positive manner.
Each popsicle (in my trays) has about 15g of protein. This all depends on how many ounces your ice trays can hold. Try to shoot for about 12-20g of protein per serving. 
Each popsicle (in my trays) has about 15g of protein. This all depends on how many ounces your ice trays can hold. Try to shoot for about 12-20g of protein per serving. 
