How to Maximize Movement and Performance for Young Athletes

Strength and conditioning for young football players is a bit, oh how do I put it…. Outdated When you take young kids who are just starting to figure out their bodies and start benching, squatting, deadlifting, and cleaning with reckless abandon, problems often ensue. Let’s face it, when’s the last time you saw a pretty back squat come from a freshmen in high school? Perhaps this area needs a shift in focus. There is an incredible amount of research showing that beginners can get fitness improvements with just about anything, so why not teach kids to master movement fundamentals? Why go for the bazooka when a handgun will work just fine. This topic is one of many that we discussed on the QB Docs Podcast. Below is the list of topics we covered: We know that starting strength and conditioning at an early age is a myth. What should kids start out doing at an early age? Where does breathing fit into performance? Is breathing a learned skill?How do I know if I’m limited in my breathing ability? How does breathing affect mobility? In what ways? Why is this important for athletes? What does hyperinflation mean for performance of the athlete? What are the specific implications for a rotational athlete such as a QB? For the high school athlete out there that is struggling with some basic movement skills,what would your advice be for him/her? Do we really have to perfect the bodyweight squat before we load the movement? The

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Kettlebell Mashup 2018 Course Review

I recently attended a wonderful kettlebell instruction class put on by the folks at Ice Chamber Gym in the Bay Area. This course was taught by none other than my boi Jimmy Yuan (who teaches every class ever, an incredibly sharp cat), my new boi Steven Khuong (the cat behind Ice Chamber), and Jen Cord (a freaky good kettlebell athlete). This course compared and contrasted the two most popular styles of kettlebell training: Hardstyle and Girevoy Sport (GS), teaching how to perform movements within each technique. I am familiar with some of the Hardstyle methods, but never even heard of GS. Attempting the movements were a little, ahem, awkward for me, but I found this style of training to be quite rewarding. All of the instructors were excellent at their craft, and I definitely learned some great technical tips to performing many of the kettlebell movements. Take a class from these peeps has my strongest recommendation. Go ahead and check out the video review below, then get into them notes to get your learn on. A pre-apology, I’m still learning some of the moves, so my technique is not perfect. I tried to use videos from the class itself (Kudos to Ice Chamber to letting me use), but unfortunately I did not film in landscape mode. Fam ain’t perfect (but close).

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