Article recommendations week #51 2016
When I was working for the British Tennis Association I had the chance to not only meet Dailey Thompson, but also speak to him. For those who don’t know who Dailey Thompson is, he was a British Decathlete and he had a big german rival, named Jürgen Hingsen.
While both seemed to be equally good, Dailey Thompson always had the upper hand during major competitions.
Somehow my conversation with Dailey Thompson also touched on the topic, why he was able to beat his opponent during the major competitions and he answered
‘I always trained at Christmas Eve, that gave me the mental edge.’
In that spirit here we go, we have searched the web for the most valuable and interesting articles of week #51 2016
Strength Training Articles
Breaking Muscle explained
- How Accentuated Eccentric Loading Leads To Greater Strength Gains accentuated eccentric loading is definitely a consideration if you want to push through new levels of strength. In my experience you need to be careful with training volume and training frequency, it’s easy to push athletes over the edge.
- how breathing can help relaxation and how to learn the correct breathing techniques in the article Don’t Forget To Breathe
- How To Sequence Your Strength And Conditioning Program a really great, simple and easy-to-implement-approach to writing your strength & conditioning program.
Elite FTS shared
- an article on The Development of the Russian Conjugate Sequence System a great application of the concept that training is a planned process spanning over multiple years, explaining the concept of motor control and how it transfers to the sport-specific application as well as debating the concept of early specialization and late specialization and much more. Great read!
- Overtraining: A Molecular Perspective a very interesting outline on the changes that occur on the hormonal and molecular level during overtraining syndrome
- WATCH: Strength Training — Simple or Complicated? A great discussion on focussing on the basics and keeping things simple. I like the quote from Dave Tate ‘The basics done over a long period of time, will take people much further than they ever thought it will.’ I can definitely subscribe to this and my guys are probably the living proof of that. Check out the video and discussion
In my opinion, the use of a Bird Dog is debatable, however, I like the logical progressions outlined in the article Bird Dog 2.0 – More Than Just A Rehab Move from The Barbell Physio I could actually throw a few more variations to the mix.
Men’s Fitness shared Terron Beckham just pulled off a crazy squat-deadlift-bench move or better titled Artistic meets Powerlifting, check it out
Eric Cressey shared 5 Lessons on Coaching some good thoughts on the role and impact ha coach has on the athlete(s).
Dr. John Rusin explained why Strength Training Will Save The Physical Therapy Profession the why and how of the application of strength training in rehab and physical therapy.
Science For Sport shared an insightful infographic from BelievePerform on What Makes A Great High-Performance Environment interestingly all the points mentioned in the infographic don’t require a big budget.
Fitness & Power explained the different types of supersets and how to use them in the article Supersets: What They Are and How to Use Them
Muscle & Fitness broke down one of the most basic strength Training principles in their article Push Your Weight Training To The Max For Greater Gains the Overload Principle. If you want to know more about the Overload Principle check out the article
Men’s Health explained The Fastest Way to Make Your Muscles Grow with Occlusion Training if you want to see how occlusion training works, check out the video
Plyometric Training Articles
The Athletic Built followed up on the article featured in last week’s article recommendations
Where they discussed Box Jumps and the potential problems associated with misusing Box Jumps and published The 3 Best Jumping Exercises outlining a short contact plyometric exercise and two long contact plyometric exercise, one bi-lateral plyo exercise with a linear emphasis and one uni-lateral plyo exercise with a lateral emphasis.
Speed Training Articles
Stack shared How to Supercharge Your Speed With Resistance Bands using resistance bands to enhance speed, acceleration and overspeed and touching on the concept of accommodating resistance. For more information on Accommodating resistance, check out
The Elite Performance Institute shared a great article on Max Velocity Sprint Mechanics offering a great overview of the most important variables affecting maximum sprint velocity
Back Squat and Front Squat Articles
Stack shared
- 4 Simple Tips to Fix Your Front Squat good and solid advice and a great explainer video.
- 6 Back Squat Variations to Challenge Your Lower Body outlining some useful variations of the Back Squat
Dr. John Rusin showed The Best Squat Variation You’ve Never Used Before, the Landmine Goblet Squat, which can serve as a good variation at times, check it out
Deadlift Articles
T-Nation offered a Tip: Improve Your Deadlift with Jefferson Curls the Jefferson Curl is actually a very helpful exercise to strengthen the lower back. The key to this movement is the precision in the execution of the exercise over the loading. Check out the Jefferson Curl here
If you are interested in more information on the Jefferson Curl and how to apply it, Tim Ferris had an interesting discussion in his Podcast episode The Secrets of Gymnastic Strength Training, Part Two — Home Equipment, Weighted Stretches, and Muscle-Ups with Coach Summer from Gymnastic Bodies.
Power Clean, Power Snatch, and Olympic Lifting Articles
Catalystathletics discussed
- Jumping Backward in the Snatch & Clean: When & How to Fix It a nuanced discussion on the controversial topic whether jumping backward is acceptable or not. Catalystathletics explains when it is acceptable and when not.
- Maximize The Stability & Security of Your Snatch Overhead Position, in my opinion, this is a big one, especially the dynamic stabilization and securing the bar overhead during a Power Snatch and Snatch.
Highlights of the week
As I have probably mentioned before at this point, I am a big Pyrros Dimas fan, not only by his awesome achievements but by the way he has pulled some of his Olympic victories off and for his big heart!
Therefore, this week’s highlight has to be the next part of the Dimas video series. Less focussed on his athlete’s career, more giving an insight into his personality, check it out
Check out the previous videos here
