Warm Up to run faster!!

The pre-event warm-up is often the most overlooked aspect of training for improved performance. Take a look at what a "warm-up" is to most coaches and it looks a lot like effortless stretching from players while they joke around and laugh.

But realize that warm-up is not just A time to get faster, it is THE time to get faster on field. And their are many exercises and skill development techniques that can be used as part of a warm-up to make you or your athletes FASTER.

The truth is that great returns can be made on small time investments as long as the effort of exercise is VERY high

Now to avoid the longest blog post yet, I have put together a FREE manual for you titled:

Peak Preparation: A guide to movement preparation

This spring it will be available for purchase. But I want to give it to you for free! All you have to do is send me an email at aaron@pairmarotta.com titled warm-up and I will send you back a copy of the manual in PDF format.

All you have to do is print it off, put it in a binder and BANG...it's ready to take to the field and get put to use THAT DAY. This free manual offer is up Sunday January 25th.

Pair & Marotta Peak Performance is dedicated to improving the fitness of baseball and softball players all over Bakersfield! That is why we are GIVING this away. I'm not trying to make money off of this (yet).

You have only yours and your player's health at risk here. How much is that worth? Hopefully it's worth the time it takes to send me an email and read a 25 page training manual!!

Again, send email aaron@pairmarotta.com and I will email it back to you THAT day!!

Rotating your diet

When it comes to nutrition for weight loss, it is often easy to overlook the fact that your energy needs will vary from day to day. Otherwise, some day's you might take in too much energy, and other days you may not take in enough. Some days you might take in the correct TYPES of energy and other days you may be eating the wrong foods! So the key is to plan your eating around your planned exercise.

1. After calculating an estimate of your resting metabolic rate (daily caloric requirement), use 80% of that total as your caloric goal for your non-exercise days. On your the days you are scheduled to exercise take in 100% of that number. Remember, your resting metabolic rate is your estimated number of calories required if you were to only sit all day long. If you are exercising and reducing caloric intake below that number you run the risk of your body breaking down muscle to use as energy.
2. The type of energy you take in should vary from day to day based on scheduled exercise. Because grains are primarily carbohydrates they provide a lot of usable energy. But if you are having a heavy grain day on a non-exercise day, where do you think all that energy goes? That's right. Your body stores it as fat. On the days when you are going to exercise, do not hesitate to include grains in your breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.
   
3. Protein intake should increase the evening of and the day after exercise because the resistance training you did earlier that day, broke down muscle and it needs to be repaired ASAP.

Below is an example of a schedule you could follow with each type of food as the primary food for the day.

• Day 1 - Resistance Training - Grains, Fruits/Veggies, Meat (Beef/Chicken), Dairy
• Day 2 - Cardiovascular training - Fruits/Veggies, Meat (fish), Dairy, Grains
• Day 3 - Rest - Fruits/Veggies, Meat (Pork), Dairy, Grains
  
• Day 4 - Resistance Training - Grains, Fruits/Veggies, Meat (Beef/Chicken), Dairy
• Day 5 - Cardiovascular Training - Fruits/Veggies, Meat, Dairy, Grains
• Day 6 - Recovery - Meat (Eggs), Veggies/Fruits, Dairy, Grains
• Day 7 - Rest - Fruits/Veggies, Dairy, Meat, Grains

This doesn't have to be exactly how you schedule your meals. But hopefully you can see how the kinds of macronutrients (fat, protein, carbohydrates) coordinate with your activity level. All of the food groups are necessary and the wider the array of foods you eat, the better your body will respond to the training methods you use.

SAVE YOUR SEASON!!

Sports these days are the most intense they've ever been. That is until next year roll's around.

However, there are ways to prevent fatigue, acute injuries and overuse injuries over the course of the season. Research on strength training in youth athletes improves strength, balance, coordination: all of which combine to improve sports performance.

As muscles fatigue and breakdown over the course of a season, the potential for disastrous injuries such as ACL tears, meniscus tears, ankle sprains and ROTATOR CUFF strains. An in season strength program serves to strengthen the muscles and nervous systems, that are stressed during the course of a season.

Exercises such as a Single Leg Squat, Plank to Pushup and Dumbbell chest press, strengthen muscles that act on key joints (knee, core, shoulders, respectively) and help protect those joints from the injuries stated above.

Aside from preventing physiological fatigue, strength training also has the potential to reduce psychological burnout by incorporating a new stimulus into the "everyday" routine of playing baseball or softball.

So perhaps the question is not why SHOULD you enroll your child in our In-Season Baseball/Softball strength program, but rather why WOULD you not?