New book by Nunzio Signore “Velocity-Based Training, How to Apply Science, Technology, and Data to Maximize Performance”, published by Human Kinetics. Continue reading “Velocity Based Training (new book by Nunzio Signore)”
How to Create the Best Prescription for Power
When I first started training, I like many others believed that if we just keep improving absolute strength our athletes would continue to get bigger, faster, and stronger. Fast forward to many years later, and I can tell you with a great degree of confidence (and experience) that most metrics crucial to sport such as speed, explosive ability, and change of direction can only be improved for about the first year simply by increasing absolute strength, as in getting stronger, by utilizing big compound lifts under high load. However, Continue reading “How to Create the Best Prescription for Power”
The Best of 2019 – Strength Training Articles
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
As we get closer to a new year I would like to look back and get a bit reflective. A few years ago, I started a series in which I posted the most popular blogs of the year. These are the articles that received the most traffic, according to our hosting statistics. It seems to be a favorite of everyone, so here we go again with the most popular of our strength training articles for 2019. Continue reading “The Best of 2019 – Strength Training Articles”
In-season Baseball Workouts with Velocity-Based Training
With baseball season quickly approaching, we are beginning to see everyone’s idea of what a great in-season baseball workout is being posted all over the internet. While some of these are quite good, unfortunately others are either too heavy on volume and intensity or are so light the athlete is better off taking the day off. I always tell my athletes that once the season begins, what we are really doing is managing a controlled fall. In other words, playing sports technically makes athletes better at playing their sport, but it does not make them stronger or even able to maintain specific training adaptations as the season progresses.
In my opinion, baseball players can and should be training hard in season, as long as throwing and exercise selection are taken into consideration and they’re training in the correct strength-zones. Enter velocity-based training (VBT) for in-season baseball workouts. Continue reading “In-season Baseball Workouts with Velocity-Based Training”
The Best of 2018 – Strength Training Articles
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
As we get closer to a new year I would like to look back and get a bit reflective. A few years ago, I started a series in which I posted the most popular blogs of the year. These are the articles that received the most traffic, according to our hosting statistics. It seems to be a favorite of everyone, so here we go again with Part 1, covering the Top 5 most popular strength-related articles of 2018. Continue reading “The Best of 2018 – Strength Training Articles”
Velocity-Based Training for Pitchers and Baseball Players
Baseball is an explosive sport where things happen fast and hard. This requires massive amounts of power and finding the best methods to get our athletes there is our number one priority. In this article, I will be reviewing force-velocity profiling in athletes which I believe to be a “game changer” in programming. I will also highlight how you can pinpoint and train the specific strength zones needed with Velocity-Based Training to help maximize the potential in not only baseball players but all athletes to create power / explosiveness. Continue reading “Velocity-Based Training for Pitchers and Baseball Players”
Improving Speed and Power from the Stretch
The back leg is the initial power source in pitching and when pitching from the stretch, the ability to load and the unload the back leg gives a pitcher the greater advantage with runners on.
Faster more elastic athletes can stretch their tendons quickly and better harness energy while loading without requiring high levels of strength. But for more “strength-based” athletes who like to load slower in order to maximize power mostly from their muscles contracting, the stretch can be a nemesis, especially you have runners on base. So, training to get more elastic can go a long way in putting another essential tool such as getting quicker in the stretch into their toolbox, which brings us to the concept of Reactive Strength and how you test it. Continue reading “Improving Speed and Power from the Stretch”
Baseball Strength Training at RPP, Why and How it Works
Every off-season I see dedicated athletes spinning their wheels and settling for ineffective baseball strength training programs, simply because the location is convenient, or they’re feeling pressure from the travel coach. The reality is that often they’re experiencing mediocre gains or no gains at all when they should be improving dramatically. Bottom line is if your performance has remained the same year-over-year your training probably SUCKS! A customized baseball strength training program goes a long way towards improving your level of performance. Continue reading “Baseball Strength Training at RPP, Why and How it Works”
Training Force- vs. Velocity-Deficient Athletes… Giving Them What They Need
Knowing the adaptation that needs to occur and knowing what adaptation will occur are powerful decision-making tools when designing a program for an athlete. You need to first decide what effect you want the body to produce and then match it with an appropriate stimulus. This is referred to as the “SAID” principle. It stands for “Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands” and is the blueprint that we build off of when programming for our athletes here at RPP.
The first question that needs to be answered is “what does the athlete need?”. Continue reading “Training Force- vs. Velocity-Deficient Athletes… Giving Them What They Need”
Training with VBT… Understanding and Training in the Zones (Part 3)
In Parts 1 (click here) and 2 (click here), we talked about what the Force-Velocity curve is and why it’s important. We also introduced VBT (velocity-based training), discussing how it’s different from conventional 1RM testing and some of the benefits in using it to train your athletes. Today, we’ll dive a little deeper and talk about the specific “zones” used to train different traits on the Force-Velo curve as well as how they relate to specific movements on the field. Continue reading “Training with VBT… Understanding and Training in the Zones (Part 3)”