Welcome, to Coaches Corner!  Our goal is to provide coaches with effective, easy-to-implement, training and nutritional advice that will help their athletes and team perform better.  The Coaches Corner page will be updated, monthly, allowing coaches access to the information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Be sure to check out our Online Training System.  It is the perfect opportunity to affiliate your team with our Professional Strength and Conditioning staff.  Our S&C staff is the official provider for the Providence Bruins and Brown University and The Online Training System was developed, specifically, for these teams. It provides teams and individuals with a sensible, low-cost alternative to ‘hands-on’ coaching sessions.  Many teams opt to use the Online Training System in conjunction with 'on-site' visits by our Strength and Conditioning Coaches.  Simply, click the Online Training System tab to see more details. Do not hesitate to contact me at mmacchioni@aol.com. All comments and questions are welcome.

EXERCISE OF THE MONTH:  Bodyweight Sport Squat

Description:

In sport, speed wins.  Most coaches and players would ‘give their right arm’ to improve speed.  However, these same coaches and players dismiss or half-heartedly embrace strength training.  From a physiological perspective, it is important to understand that speed is a product of power, which, in turn, is a product of strength.  Think of strength as the base of the athletic performance pyramid.  The layer above this is power and speed is on top of that.  The wider each athlete’s base of strength is, the higher the pyramid will grow.  Without improving ones strength level, there can only be marginal improvements in speed.  Incorporating sport-specific strength exercises into your training regimen is one of the quickest and best ways to significantly, improve speed.  The squat and its variations are the most effective ways to develop functional strength of the legs and hips; crucial for faster sprinting, higher jumping, and greater hip rotation for throwing, shooting, and swinging.  A great ‘side effect’ of developing improved leg and hip strength is preventing injuries in the ankles, knees, and hips.  Don’t worry about adding weight.  Technique is what is important.  As you gain experience, increasing weight will become more important.  There are plenty of heavy lifters, out there.  However, good squatters are far and few between.

Execution:

1.  Assume an athletic position in front of a box, bench, or chair.

        Feet shoulder width apart (better balance & stability)

        Knees slightly bent (activate the calves, quads, and hams)

        Pelvis rotated back ( stick butt out to engage core muscles)

        Chest high and wide (spinal muscles maintain normal curve)

        Arms by your side (palms facing each other)

        Head in neutral position (look straight ahead)

2.  Start, by pushing the hips backwards (not by bending the knees).  You should feel your weight transfer to the heels of your feet.  Keep your back arched during the decent, as this will force your knees to bend.

3.  During the descent, raise your straight arms to shoulder height to aid in balancing.  Touch your butt to the box, but do not sit on it.

4.  Pause for 1 second.

5.  Start the upward motion by pushing your heels into the ground, while maintaining the high, wide chest and arched back, and return your arms back down to the side.

6.  Continue until the ankles, knees, and hips are fully extended.  You will, actually, do a calf raise at the top of the motion in order to fully extend.

7.  Return to the athletic position and repeat.

Progression:

Hands behind the head / PVC pipe overhead / one leg squats / lateral squats

For more information on squat variations, sets and reps, or other sports-specific exercises, go to our online training system tab, located on the left menu.  All coaches and players can take advantage of our FREE, one-week trial.  Email me a request for username and password at mmacchioni@aol.com

NUTRITION TIP OF THE MONTH:

The Importance of Protein in the Optimum Eating Plan for the Athlete

Practice, workout, compete.  Practice, workout, compete.  Practice, workout, compete.  For the competitive athlete, this may be the typical scenario during the season.  Include a long school day, attention to homework, and less than perfect sleep habits, and you have a potential disaster on your hands.  Although such activity levels are necessary in the quest to become the best you can be, have fun and play to your fullest potential, build mental confidence, and prevent sports-related injuries, this type of schedule can reek havoc on the body.  Especially, if you are not taking the proper steps to rebuild, repair, and recover.

We know that practice, workouts, and games stress the body, physically.  Although each of these components is needed to compete successfully, the actions performed during these events, actually, traumatizes the body.  At the molecular level, muscle tissue is broken down, pulled, strained, and frayed.  The joints and connective tissue around them are bruised, inflamed, and swollen.  Blood plasma is ‘thinned-out’ and vital organs, like the heart, kidney, and lungs, along with various systems such as the respiratory, hormonal, and central nervous system, are stressed to the max.  The result is anything, but optimum performance conditions.

Although these practices, workouts, and games are physically traumatizing to the body, they are needed in order to acquire the skills needed to compete successfully, improve physical capacities, and are, just plain, fun.  When performed correctly and at the right intensities, they send signals to the body to rebuild itself.  Not, simply, to the state it was prior to the event.  You see, the body is not a machine that just takes ‘wear and tear’, slowly breaking down over the years.  The body is a smart organism that, when sent the right signals (progressive workouts / gameplay) and given the right recovery tools (rest and proper nutrition), can rebuild itself to a state better than before such activities.  Think of the practices, workouts, and games as the catalyst for making the body faster, bigger, and stronger.  When proper recovery strategies are taken, these stresses are rewarded, positively.  However, if the body does not have the right nutrients available for repair, the stresses of the practices, workouts, and games becomes a negative situation for the body.  Repeated trauma and less than optimum recovery tactics manifest themselves as overtraining; the body cannot rebuild and repair itself.  To the contrary, it starts to breakdown, performance declines, and susceptibility to injury increases.

Adequate protein intake is vital to the rebuilding and recovery process.  Protein delivers all of the raw ingredients needed by the body for repair.  Various protein sources are made up of different amino acids.  These amino acids are the molecular building blocks of our body.  When proteins are digested, our bodies break them down into amino acids that the body can use to rebuild itself as needed.  As you can see, protein is critical in the rebuilding and recovery processes of the body.  Inadequate intake of protein, inferior protein sources, and inadequate intake of other nutrients, such as carbohydrates, which leads to the use of protein as fuel instead of repair, will lead to a state of overtraining and degeneration; anything but, optimal performance conditions.

Although it would be wise to read as many food labels as possible, purchase a book that details nutritional breakdowns of food, and educate yourself, as much as possible, in the science of nutrition, we have been able to reduce eating strategies, down, into an easy to understand form.  The Optimum Eating Plan for Athletes simplifies nutritional goals and presents them in a way that is easy to implement, immediately.

Nutritional Goal #1:  Include a quality source of protein with each meal and mini-meal or snack.  Every, three to five hours.

Key Phrase:  “The less legs, the better”.

Translation:

1st Choice Proteins = no legs

Eggs / Egg Whites

Low-Fat Cottage Cheese

Fish

Protein Powders

2nd Choice Proteins = 2 legs

Turkey

Chicken

Duck

3rd Choice Proteins = 4 legs

Lean Beef

Lean Pork

Lamb

Be consist ant with your nutritional goals.  Include a quality protein source, regularly.  Missing a protein source at one meal is not going to doom your efforts.  Likewise, consuming a quality protein, once, is not going to make a significant impact on your development.  Consistency is crucial.

Quality sources of protein can easily be chosen by remembering our key phrase.  You don’t need to memorize endless food lists or count and measure everything you eat.  Select a protein about the size of the palm of your hand and include it at each meal or mini-meal / snack.

Although, quite simplified, we find our athletes are able to interpret and understand the material, well, and are able to comprehend and make wise food choices, immediately.  Two, of the key components, needed to successfully modify your food intake, favorably.

For more information about protein intake or a copy of the ‘Optimal Eating Plan for the Athlete’, email a request to Mike Macchioni at mmacchioni@aol.com.  Our Online Training System (top, left menu tab) has a sophisticated, yet, easy-to-use Diet and Nutritional Planner that creates custom designed meal plans, performs nutritional analysis, and provides weekly grocery lists.  All coaches and players can take advantage of our, FREE, one-week trial by requesting a username and password at the same email address.