Dr. Yessis Sports Training Blog

I recently ran across this exercise called Ninos, which plays a major role in the training of Ryan Hall, one of our premier marathoners. According to the article, it is a “rarely- seen core stabilizing move… and one that encourages hip stability and overall coordination.”

I agree that it is rarely seen and I hope it will be seen even less. The reason for this is that this exercise has the potential to injure the lower back. Bending and twisting as occurs in this exercise is one of the main causes of low back problems. This is why it is recommended that you maintain the normal spinal curvature when doing any twisting. Read more… »

You know that football season is here in earnest when you begin reading about all of the player injuries. Most teams just accept the injuries and say that they just have to weather the storm. Players, teams, coaches and fans, all believe that injuries are a part of football.

Is this, however, an accurate assessment or valid belief? From past experiences in working with many football players the answer is a resounding no. Most of the commonly experienced injuries on the team are preventable. Some of course, are not, but most are. Read more… »

A gait analysis is very useful in determining muscular-skeletal problems that can create joint injury. For example, problems with the feet can cause problems in the knee, hip, or lower back. Merely treating the knee, hip, or back will not resolve the problem.

For proper treatment it is necessary to know the underlying cause. This is where a gait or running analysis would be very important. It can help identify poor mechanics that may be creating the problems or a joint action that can create problems in other areas. Read more… »

One of the most common myths in running is that the hamstring and gluteus maximus muscles are involved in the push-off. There is no questioning the fact that these muscles are strongly involved in running but not for pushing you forward at the end of the support phase.

The glutes and hamstrings are used to bring the leg down and back to make contact with the ground to start the support phase . This action is known as pawback and takes place after the hamstring and gluteus maximus muscles are activated (pre-tensed) during the forward swing phase of the thigh (knee drive) and shin swing-out. Read more… »

Many articles extol the need for balancing the muscles. Much of this is warranted. The problem lies in how to do this and when it should be done. In some cases it is necessary to look at what actually constitutes an imbalance.

For example, many people recommend balancing the quads and hamstrings with a one-to-one ratio. This however, is not substantiated by kinesiologists who maintain that is necessary to look at the size of the muscle as well as its function, i.e., what actions does it perform? Read more… »

Shift the hips sideways (forward) for weight shift. Hip or trunk rotation does not shift weight!

This recommendation is not always easy to execute. If in fact many golfers have great difficulty in isolating weight shift to the hips. They also have difficulty in sequencing weight shift via hip abduction with hip rotation to set up the X-factor.

To assist in learning and mastering these actions read Explosive Golf. Also of great benefit will be viewing the DVD Explosive Golf.

Contract the abdominals. I feel confident that you will see this recommendation with just about every exercise that is being described for you to execute. It appears with regularity in many newspapers as well as fitness magazines.

For reasons that I have been unable to determine, the proponents of contracting the abdominals state that is necessary to maintain good posture, protect the spine, prevent arching of the back, create greater force and most importantly, for safe and effective execution of the exercise. But yet, I have not seen any substantiation for these statements. Read more… »

First, before going into detail on the concept of individualization, a few words must be said about Anatoly Bondarchuk. He is a former Olympic champion in the hammer throw, most outstanding Olympic hammer throw coach in history (his athletes took first, second and third place in four consecutive Olympic Games) and is presently national throws coach in Canada.

According to Bondarchuk, individualization applies to specificity of learning, improving exercise technique, developing the needed physical abilities and planning the workouts for a specific training cycle. This means that for each athlete learning of the skills, improving technique and development of physical abilities must be individualized according to their fitness levels and mastery of the sport.
Read more… »

In all my writings I try to be as explicit as possible. I define each word that may have complex or unique meanings and explain terms that may be misleading or used differently in the literature. Clarity and understanding are two objectives I constantly strive for and for which I receive many compliments.

I expect this in all books that I read dealing with the training of an athlete. But I find it increasingly difficult to find such books. Many of the more popular — notice I did not say most informative or state of the art — seem to do just the opposite. They are written in such a way that the true meanings are well hidden. Read more… »

Do not hold your breath. This statement keeps appearing regularly in newspapers and magazines. When describing exercise execution 9 times out of 10 you will read that you should not hold your breath during execution, especially during the exertion phase.

But is it warranted? The answer is yes if you have heart or circulatory system problems. In such cases only very light weights should be used and breathing should be regular so that there are no interruptions in blood flow. If you are an athlete or a healthy individual, the answer is no.
Read more… »

There is one action in the golf swing that sets you up for a powerful and accurate hit. It can significantly improve the distance and accuracy with which you hit the ball and perhaps even more importantly, will minimize the possibility of back injury. What is it?

It is clearing your hips on the initiation of your down swing. First your body weight transfers onto your forward leg and you then rotate your hips around an axis in the forward leg hip joint. The more forcefully you drive the hips forward and rotate them, the greater the power you can generate in the hit. Read more… »

In an article dealing with ways to improve your running it was brought out that a significant amount of time should be given to learning how to improve running mechanics. If you have been reading my blogs on running you will know that I am in full support with such a recommendation.

It was brought out that one of the primary ways to learning to run better is by doing form drills that encourage optimal running form that ultimately improve running economy. This is where I strongly disagree even though this can happen in some cases. Read more… »

In many cases, buying nutritional supplements is poor use of your money. If you eat a well-balanced nutritious diet and your workouts are not very intense or prolonged, then your diet should be able to supply all the necessary nutrients.

However, as you improve your abilities and move onto advanced levels, supplements are needed to help the body grow and restructure and to recover faster after workouts. Studies done with athletes have shown quite conclusively that the best diets will not supply the necessary nutrients or the amount of nutrients needed to help the body recover quickly. Read more… »

To develop the ability to hold the neutral spine position and trunk angle during the swing, you should do the good morning exercise. As an added bonus you will develop greater strength of the lower back muscles and greater strength and flexibility of the hamstring muscles.

For more information on this topic, see Explosive Golf. For visual demonstrtion of this and other exercises specific to the golf swing see the Explosive Golf DVD

To be most successful in strength, speed and explosive training for football you
must continually increase the intensity of your workouts. There is no getting
around this fact.

In weight training you must regularly increase the amount of
resistance that you are using, especially for linemen. If you are in the backfield,
you must also train explosively to run faster and to be quicker after developing a
strong strength base. Read more… »

It is amazing how one definition of specificity is often used to replace all other aspects of specificity. For example, according to exercise scientist and runner Richard Gibbens “the principle of specificity teaches us that nothing is better for running than running”. This however, is inaccurate.

Specificity is not related to comparing the value of something with some thing else. There is nothing in the law of specificity that states it is better than something else. It merely means that in order for an exercise to be specific it must duplicate or come as close as possible to duplicating, the competitive event. Read more… »