Dr. Yessis Sports Training Blog

The San Diego Chargers football team just fired the defensive coordinator because of poor defensive play. Two days later many of the defensive players said it was not the coach’s fault, it was their bad play. Now even the sportswriters are getting their two cents in by faulting the general manager for hiring the coach..

They now have a new defensive coordinator who is supposed to turn things around by making the players more aggressive and by being more creative with the defense. Even the players are talking about rising up to the occasion by being more “physical” and by “focusing more on fundamentals and the little things”. Read more… »

In the ideal cross country season, all the runners should be ready for long distance running. However, this is not always the case.

Because of this, regardless of each runners individual abilities, it is important that they all do some preparation prior to the first meet to not only enhance their performance but to prevent injury. The training at this time should be very individualized so that each runner can pick up with a stage most suited to his or her abilities. Read more… »

Keeping a muscle under contraction for long periods of time leads to residual tension in the muscle after the workout. The sign of a healthy muscle is one that can contract strongly and then relax as completely and as quickly as possible.

Note that the normal state of the musculature should be relaxed with sufficient tone to maintain body posture. When a muscle is not in use, it should be relaxed. If the muscle does not relax you have residual tension which leads to body tension that can cause headaches or even muscle soreness. A classic example of this is the residual tension in the upper trapezius muscles on both sides of the junction of the neck and shoulder. Read more… »

Block training is a relatively new concept related to periodization. It was first introduced back in the 1980s and has since been refined and used successfully in many sports. However, and this is very important, it is most effective only with high-level athletes. All other athletes should maintain the standard periodization scheme for maximum effectiveness.

In block training the athlete executes highly concentrated specialized work loads. In essence is a compact unit of several elements — usually two motor abilities and one technical (technique) element combined for a specific function or purpose. Usually it is to enhance the athlete’s ability to execute a particular skill with greater strength or speed or explosiveness or a combination of two of these factors. Read more… »

This week we will continue our conversation from last week when discussing strength training. We will take a closer look at how to carry out the strength training program for the layperson, for the recreational athlete and for the serious athlete.

In addition, we’ll take a look at strength training in specific sports such as golf, tennis and running. Join us for another interesting and informative radio show. Call or write us with your comments and questions so that we can address them on this or other shows

The program is broadcast live nationwide and I hope you will join us for another interesting and informative show.

Wednesday, October 29 at 6 p.m. Pacific standard Time (9 p.m. Eastern Time)

Your spine angle, the angle formed by your spine and legs at address is reported to be the key to consistency in the swing. According to Jim Flick, one of Golf Magazines top ten greatest teachers, “. . . if this angle changes during your swing you have to compensate with your hands to square the clubface at impact. That’s a complex way to play.”

Not answered however, is how the spine angle determines whether your clubface is square. You can change the spine angle by lowering or raising the trunk, but in each of these different positions you can still maintain a square clubface whether it be at address or at impact.
Read more… »

A common complaint heard from many sources is that most people don’t have enough time in the day to get done everything they would like. But are most people truly too busy to get everything done or to workout, or is this just an excuse? If you consider just a couple of simple facts, you can see how this “too busy” statement doesn’t always hold water.

For example, it seems that every year, more and more gadgets are coming on the market that “save us time.” For example, the computer enables us to do many things that were not possible five to ten years ago, and it does save time in relation to writing letters and corresponding with other people. Read more… »

Stabilization of the body and/or individual joints when doing a sports activity such as running, jumping, throwing, etc. is extremely important. Because of this, many authors now recommend stability training to improve stability for execution of a sports skill or even an everyday activity.

However, are the two elements compatible? For example, stability training involves maintaining a static position while execution of a sports skill or everyday activity is dynamic. These are two related but completely different entities. Because of this, if you wish to develop dynamic stability, it is important that you develop strength dynamically. Read more… »

Much press was given to Tony Gwynn when he was inducted into the baseball hall of fame. This was great to see since he certainly deserves the honor. He was a great hitter with a distinctive type of swing (swing technique).

At present, Tony is coach of the San Diego State University baseball team that has not been very successful. In addition, he has not turned out any great hitters, at least none that can be compared to the greatness that Tony achieved in his playing days. Read more… »

Recent studies in which the subjects walked at a moderate to slow pace indicate that walking is not very effective for losing fat. It was concluded that you must have more intense exercise such as running in order to lose fat stores.

There is no questioning the validity of these studies, but they may be misleading. Slow walking or moderate-intensity walking or any moderate to slow type of cyclical activity can be effective for fat loss if the activity is maintained for a long period of time. Greater intensity is needed to burn additional calories in a shorter period of time. Read more… »

One of the more common questions that I receive is related to what constitutes an elite player. Many people would like to know how the professional athlete — especially a football player — differs from not only different levels of players, but also between different sports.

The general consensus among fans and strength coaches is that football players are elite athletes mainly because they play on a high level. To a certain extent this is true because on a professional level there is no higher level. On the collegiate level, the top Division I schools are considered to have the best athletes.

However I disagree with this consensus because most of the players can be improved greatly. All athletes, regardless of level can be made better. However, the amount of improvement on the highest levels is usually quite small. When we see many players who can be improved a great deal, it indicates that they are not on the highest levels possible. Thus they are not elite. Read more… »

Many of you have experienced difficulties in getting onto the website and in navigating between the different features. For this I apologize. We have been undergoing a change of servers which will now allow us to do more and better things. As a result, we hope to better serve your needs.

Please send me your comments and suggestions in regard to what you would like to see changed, improved, added, or subtracted. Only in this way will I be able to direct the blogs and other features to better fulfill your desires. I look forward to hearing from you.

Radio show on Wednesday, October 22

This weeks radio show will focus on determining your level of fitness and/or athletic proficiency. When determined, we will then look at what recommendations are best suited for you.

Also introduced will be the concept of modeling and how it can help you achieve your goals. With this background we will then look at a few specific sports and how you can improve your performance in them.

Show time is 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 p.m. Eastern Time) on Wednesday, October 22

It is not uncommon to hear pitching coaches state that they work with pitchers on their mechanics, but they rarely if ever spell out what the mechanics are. Mechanics should refer to throwing technique since the limbs and muscles act as lever and pulley systems which can be evaluated in a very scientific precise manner.

However, instead of determining the exact actions or movements that are in need of improvement, we instead usually hear general terms such as they are working on full extension of the arm. When this occurs is not mentioned. Read more… »

Much attention has been given to the prevention of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in women, mainly because the incidence of such injuries are much higher than in men. The reasons for this discrepancy vary but the most prevalent seems to be that women do not have the same skills of jumping and cutting as do the men.

This is probably due to the fact that most women do not participate in sports from a very early age, especially in a variety of different sports. Understand that the more sports you play as a youngster the more you will develop the coordinational abilities needed to develop the skills needed on a higher level. However, this appears to be changing. Read more… »

The answer to the above question is yes, but it is based on several assumptions. First is that you have an adequate strength base and second, that you do true plyometrics, not simple jump exercises that have come to be called plyometrics. Jump exercises by great for long-distance runners and are used as a lead in to true plyometric exercises

Doing true plyometric drills for most runners would cause injury because they are not ready for such explosive work. They require much strength preparation and a gradual build up. Thus, how and when you use plyometrics becomes very important. Read more… »

To lose fat, it is most often recommended that you run at a slow speed for at least 20 to 30 or more minutes. Is this, however, the most effective? Recent research and practical experience shows that this is only partially effective.

It is now known that the faster you run, the more calories you burn. The longer you run at a faster pace the closer you get to burning the maximum amount of calories possible and in less time. In addition, you still get the aerobic development from faster running even if it is partially anaerobic. Read more… »

Always using the same grip in a strength exercise will not allow you to fully develop the target muscle. Best is to use a variety of grips to produce fuller and more varied development. For example, a pronated grip press-down targets mainly the medial head of the triceps.

A supinated grip targets mainly the lateral head while the neutral grip targets mainly the long head of the triceps. Doing a pull-up with a pronated grip targets mainly the upper lats and a supinated or neutral grip targets mainly the biceps and the lower lats. Read more… »

Athletes are usually told to breathe normally when playing sports. This is a sound recommendation since the body usually makes the necessary adjustments that are needed in your breathing patterns. However, breathing normally should not mean that you constantly inhale and exhale so that there is no breath holding or extended periods of breath holding or forced breathing.

For example, scientific studies have shown without a doubt that athletes change their breathing patterns considerably during execution of a sports skill. In general, during the power phase when the athlete is exerting maximum force, the breath is held. This can often be for extended periods of time depending upon the intensity of the skill execution. Read more… »

In an article discussing elderly runners it was stated that you should cut down stride length, increase frequency and decrease the distance and time that you run. The reason for this is that some trainers believe that running is hard on the knees and ankles.

Even the medical profession is now seeing a big increase in hip and knee arthritis in the vanguard of the running boom. Because of this, these are good recommendations for the average runner who does nothing but run, but this is not the smartest way to run. Read more… »

A recent study showed that the vertical jump best predicted an athlete’s ability in sports that required running. As a result, plyometrics were recommended for the players to improve jump height. Butt kicks was one of the plyometric exercises recommended. In this exercise you leap up and bring the heels to the buttocks. Upon landing, you immediately go into another jump and repeat the butt kick.

When doing the butt kick you must concentrate on quickly bending the knees to have enough time to bring the heels to the buttocks and then straighten the legs for the next landing. Because of this, you often do not get complete extension of the lower extremity joints, especially the ankle joint, on take off, which in turn does not develop the ability to jump higher.
Read more… »

Many books, articles and coaches extol the virtues of stretching and invariably list strength as one of the benefits from static stretching. Not only is this a myth but it has now been shown that static stretching actually decreases strength.

After doing static stretching, you are weaker for approximately fifteen minutes! However, this is not true of active stretching in which you activate the muscles and may make them stronger for performance. You will be able to lift more weight and do more effective exercises. Read more… »

We had some great information on injuries on last week’s show. It included the role of the nervous system, muscular system and stretching. Because of the amount of very important information on this topic we are continuing to discuss injuries this week.

Focus will be on diagnosing injury, finding the root cause of the injury and then figuring out how to fix the cause to prevent another injury. In addition, it will include how to prepare the body so that the same or a related injury will not occur again.

In our discussion we will look at specific injuries to different athletes.

I hope you’ll be able to join us for another interesting and informative radio show.

The show is on October 8 at 6 p.m. Pacific Time, (9 p.m. Eastern Time).

Excerpted from Explosive Running

For an exercise to be specific it must fulfill one or more of the following criteria:
1. The exercise must duplicate the exact movement witnessed in certain actions of the running stride, such as an exercise duplicating the exact ankle, knee, hip, or shoulder action.
2. The exercise must involve the same type of muscular contraction used in the actual run. For example, in the sprinting push-off, the muscles undergo an explosive shortening contraction (after being pre-tensed) to produce maximum force and resultant running speed. After the initial contraction the limb continues on its own momentum until the antagonist muscles undergo a strong lengthening (eccentric) contraction to slow down and stop the limb before an injury can occur. Thus the special exercise must include an explosive muscular contraction as occurs in the joint action. Read more… »

One of the headlines in the newspapers regarding yesterday’s Charger football team lose declared, “Chargers are back to searching for answers.” Does it really require a search? The answers are as obvious as a nose on a face.

The players did not execute the game skills as required during play! For example, the receivers could not get free. This means that their agility (cutting) abilities were inferior to those of the opposing secondary position players. Read more… »

To improve player performance, many baseball teams now use computers to keep statistics on hitting, pitching, etc. for individual players. So strong is their belief in the statistics that very often the statistics dictate what the coach must do with each of his players in almost all different circumstances.

For example, according to a recent article, a certain baseball team was considered to have a “bunch of computer geeks. They jam data into laptops and the team’s CEO, waiting by the printer for the latest revelation to spit out, and then phoning the general manager with marching orders.” Read more… »

Of all the common injuries that athletes experience the most frequently occurring ones are to the fingers or hand. In spite of this athletes, which includes recreational, scholastic, collegiate and professional athletes, as a rule, do not practice any finger strengthening exercises. But yet we hear of finger injuries on a regular basis.

For example, Jody Gerut of the Padres baseball team, was unable to play in the last weeks of the baseball season because of a sprained left middle finger. According to him,” in a precision game like baseball, you’ve got to have your digits. It’s an acute injury that can happen to anyone, so you have to chalk it up to baseball being baseball.” Read more… »

With the end of the baseball season and as the postseason games continue, we are now being inundated with the reasons (really excuses) for why the losing teams did so poorly. If you read the comments carefully and if you have a good memory, you’ll see that the excuses are very familiar.

In fact, you heard them last year and in previous years regardless of the team in question. Simply read about the team that came in last place or close to last place, and you’ll read basically the same comments. For example, “we should all be held accountable … on why we ended up where we are at.”
Read more… »

For years, runners resisted any form of weight training in the belief that it made you muscle bound, decreased flexibility and, in essence, made your running worse. However, research and practical experience have shown that weight training, which is the most effective method for developing strength and strength endurance, is a must for all runners and athletes who must run in different sports.

Strength training enhances your running greatly. In addition, increased levels of strength plays an important role in the prevention of injury. Strength and strength endurance is so important that no runner can do his or her best without at least minimum levels of development. Read more… »