How much core training is REALLY necessary?

Postural endurance is foundational at Pair & Marotta.

Many coaches will ask, how much core training do I really need? Often times its completely dependent upon the moaning and groaning of their team. But at that point, you're letting the team run the practice. And that's just your first worry. 

In addition to that, consistency will lack and so will results. But if you have a plan that is scheduled and gradually progresses the exercises, then you can guarantee that your team is all meeting a minimum level of performance. So once the plan is established all you have to do is keep raising the bar!

So how much is really necessary?

Well Dr. Stuart McGill talks about this in his book, "Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance," he states that the core muscles that stabilize the back are type-I, slow twitch muscles that are meant to make small, adjustments to keep the spine steady instead of making large range of motion adjustments. So core stabilizing muscles should be trained for muscular endurance. And as the coaches who attend our "On-Field Core Training" workshop last weekend saw, there are many ways that we can do this. But think about how the abdominals are used during throwing and swinging a bat. They act like any other muscle does, requiring a strong, fast contraction to allow the larger muscles of the hips and shoulders to pull from. Basically they have to act like an anchor. So those muscles need to be trained to react quickly to a stimulus. 

Think about how the core must contract at the moment that the baseball hits a bat? The core must contract and stiffen the spine to prevent any absorbing of force. If this is done correctly, the batter will be able to transfer up to 90% of his power back into the ball to create a hard hit.

So in prescribing exercises for this type of contraction, you can prescribe it just like you would any other plyometric exercise, intensity of the exercises will play a large role. For our capability of using only body weight, a partner or a bat,  2-3 sets of 8-20 repetitions per exercise is optimal. A good method would be to operate in phases. 

Cable lifting is near the top of the core training pyramid.

 For example phase 1 would be 2 sets of 8. Phase 2 would be 2 sets of 12-15. Phase 3 would be 2 sets of 15-20. Phase 4 would be to add another set and decreasing repetitions. So 3 sets of 10-15 would be optimal and then finally phase 5 would be to have 3 sets of 15-20. But as a coach you CANNOT let form and technique deteriorate. Remember, you play how you practice. This goes with core training too!

The forest and the trees...how to treat an overuse injury

Many athletes who play a single sport will begin to develop an injury. I use the term "WILL" because it is almost a certainty that if an athlete performs the same motions over and over, certain "links in the chain" will begin to breakdown due to being used too much. 

Delivery car? You mean delivery "trike."

Think of a delivery car that drives in stop-go traffic every day for 8-10 hours per day, for the life of it. Now compare that to a car that is used to drive to work, sits in the parking lot and then is driven home at the end of the day. In addition this car is used on longer trips up and down the interstate highway on an every other month basis.

Young athletes who play the same sport year round are basically driven like that delivery car. Eventually the hardware is going to break down from being overused. 

Usually at that point parents become very concerned with their child's injury and are scavenging the internet looking for solutions. 

Here's a quick tip: look at the injury. Its called an "overuse" injury for a reason. Assuming that no structural damage has been done, the primary way to let an overuse injury heal is to stop doing whatever they were doing. 

Lets say we've got a baseball pitcher experiencing shoulder pain. The young athlete will most likely want to know how he can rehab but still pitch. Or sometimes the parent wants a second look at their child's mechanics because "they have to be doing SOMETHING  wrong, right?"

The truth is even major league pitchers get 4-5 days between starts. Yet many young kids will have a busy summer tournament schedule and pitch every other day.

How many pitches am I at coach?

Some will counter that with, "well they aren't throwing as hard or as many pitches as major league pitchers!" I will respond with the obvious statement that these are not 25 year-old men who are pitching every other day, nor do they have the bone density, muscular density or muscular endurance to tolerate that throwing schedule. In addition to that, many coaches and parents don't even know how many pitches their kids throw in a game. Do they count warm-up pitches before each inning? These things need to be considered.

The first response by ANY parent, coach or doctor to an overuse injury is to stop doing what you were doing. Don't get so overwhelmed by the injury, its possible treatments and the "threat" it poses to a 10- year old's "college potential" and let your kids heal. Stop looking for the forest past the trees. It's right in front of you.

Let your child play multiple sports throughout the year. This will prevent many overuse injuries on its own. A child who is playing baseball in the spring, football in the fall and basketball in the winter will RARELY have any overuse injuries.

I hate seeing kids not being able to play the game they love. But us as parents need to know that overuse injuries are almost certain if we don't give our kids a significant time off during the year to heal, recover and develop other motor skills Your kids will thank you as will their long term health and enjoyment of a sport..

Endurance Training: Do we really even need it?

Many people are unclear on the benefits of endurance training. And that can be partly attributed to the fact that most people automatically think 10k run or running a marathon. That's just the notion that endurance training brings up.

But in the past few years to many coaches have gotten away from anything associated with endurance because the thought is that it isn't "fast-twitch" enough for sports. But endurance training takes on many forms.

There is cardiovascular endurance, which is what most people think of. This is the ability to produce a high rate of energy through aerobic metabolism for a prolonged period of time.

The next is muscular endurance. This is where the concept of endurance gets tricky because most kids DO actually need endurance. Actually we all do. Endurance of postural muscles to maintain spinal stability can greatly reduce back injuries and chronic pain. Also, low weight, high rep muscular endurance training is often necessary for teaching proper movement patterns such as squats, pushups, lunges, etc.

The third is psychological endurance which is essentially what we call mental toughness. But this cannot be pounded into kids. It needs to be cultivated and trained just like other parts of performance.

Cardiovascular endurance is the one type of endurance that although great for the heart, lungs and circulatory system, can have negative muscular effects if done incorrectly. Running is the basic cardiovascular endurance exercise. But it certainly isn't the only.

Instead we can do a body weight circuit of pushups, squats, bear crawls, lateral lunges, sprint and repeat, for a period of 5-6 minutes. This would train muscular endurance as well as cardiovascular endurance without overtraining the way jogging does.

It is this type of training for youth athletes that we do at our Summer Speed, Strength & Power Camp. This performance camp has a junior group and a high school group. Both groups get endurance training but only in the appropriate methods, and durations to improve performance. In addition, a stronger core with more muscular endurance WILL improve sprinting, agility and quickness.

Sign your young athletes up by filling out this form and dropping it off at Pair & Marotta Physical Therapy at 5337 Truxtun Ext before next Friday! Let your youth athletes open next sport season with a refined set of athletic skills that will truly set them apart from the competition!