To sum up the last blog…OR just go HERE and READ IT…
REMEMBER THAT:
1). There is a gradient and that tendons are more elastic (like muscle) at the MTJ
2). As the tendon migrates towards the bone, collagen fibers line up more and tissue becomes more stiff.
3). The force production AND speed of contraction, or lack thereof, determines architecture of these tissues and therefore must be understood as part of a quality training program.
So what does this all mean for injury? We know that the stiffer the tendon is, the more power and velocity we can produce. Ballistic movements help to make that happen in the tendon architecture. However, is too much of a good thing still a good thing? Gathering information on your athletes and how much work they are doing is very important when building a program. Most people only look at whats done in the weight room and fail to add in the rest of what the athlete has done or is doing. If you have access to GPS data, excellent! Most people don’t have that luxury so asking the athlete, calling the coach, or watching a practice could do wonders on figuring out athletes intensities and volumes of work.
What are some other variables we could look at in order to aid in the development of a more well rounded, program design to aid in helping athletes become more anti fragile?
1). Total volume & intensities (mentioned above)
2). Growth spurt in youth athletes
3). Hydration
4). Previous injury
5). Hormone Levels in female athletes
Building a program, we need balance. Fast ballistic movements are awesome for power development, and from a tendon standpoint, makes them more stiff and conducive for the expression of power. Slow, relatively heavy strength movements breaks the crosslinks at the MTJ, and helps keep them more supple. One is not greater than the other. Knowledge of this makes us better professionals and gives the athletes a greater chance of staying healthy and competing in their sport / activity. Knowing your population and their needs allows you to better develop a program to maximize performance. Lets look at a program to see how this can be accomplished.
This athlete is preparing for the high school soccer season (Spring Sport). Training volume has gone up drastically during practice. Talking to the coach, we were able to give him a week of rest during training. He was given some homework to be done and our training sessions emphasized pain free movement, slow eccentrics and isometrics, and progressively, moved to more explosive movements. Some soft tissue treatments we utilized on top of SMR were a HyperVolt and Rock Tape. Communication with parents, coaches, and trainers AND educating the athlete on what they are doing as to increase the buy in.
Here is the workout we gave one of our athletes. Nothing proprietary or top secret, just coaching and cuing the basics! He comes three times a week (Monday / Wednesday / Friday). We adapted our exercise prescription to aid in his Achilles issue. Warm up and Movement Prep start us off followed by Strength, Auxillary, and Core.
| EXERCISE | VOLUME | NOTES |
| SMR FEET, CALVES, HIPS, THIGHS | 3 – 4 MIN | |
| ASLR | 1 X 10 EL | |
| ANKLE ROCKS | 2 X 10 – 15 EL | |
| 90 / 90 BREATHING | 2 X 5 B | |
| TRX ROWS | 3 X 10 | |
| TRX SQUATS | 3 X 10 | |
| HIGH KNEE PULLS | 3 X 10 YDS | |
| SL CALF RAISE | 2 X 5 – 8 EL | TEMPO 5 -5 -2 |
The Warm Up / Movement Prep takes around 10 – 12 minutes. It allows the to work through some soreness and get moving what needs to be moving. For the Achilles, we added some slow tempo Single Leg Calf Raises. Tissue tolerance was not a problem and he was able to do these pain free.
As the weeks progressed, we tried bringing back higher intensity movements to see how the tissues responded. We transitioned from HIGH KNEE PULLS ➡ HIGH KNEES, and added JUMP ROPE weeks 3 and 4.
| WK 2 | WK 3 | WK4 | |
| EXERCISE | VOLUME | VOLUME | VOLUME |
| SMR FEET, CALVES, HIPS, THIGHS | 3 – 4 MIN | 3 – 4 MIN | 3 – 4 MIN |
| ASLR | 1 X 10 EL | 1 X 10 EL | 1 X 10 EL |
| ANKLE ROCKS | 2 X 10 – 15 EL | 2 X 10 – 15 EL | 2 X 10 – 15 EL |
| 90 / 90 BREATHING | 2 X 5 B | 2 X 5 B | 2 X 5 B |
| TRX ROWS | 3 X 10 | 2 X 10 | 3 X 10 |
| TRX SQUATS | 3 X 10 | 2 X 10 | 3 X 10 |
| HIGH KNEE PULLS | 3 X 10 YDS | 3 X 10 YDS | 3 X 10 YDS |
| HIGH KNEES | 2 X 10 YDS | 2 X 10 YDS | |
| SL CALF RAISE | 2 X 5 – 8 EL (5-5-2) | 2 X 5 – 8 EL (5-5-2) | 2 X 5 – 8 EL (5-5-2) |
| JUMP ROPE | 2 X 1 MIN | 3 X 1 MIN |
For this article, I have shown the workouts we did with a LOWER BODY / PULL emphasis workouts. The program for Week 1 was done Monday and Friday that week. Exercises we utilized and progressed throughout the 4 weeks were:
- SPLIT SQUAT HOLDS ➡ REVERSE LUNGE ➡ REVERSE LUNGE 2 FIRST STEP, ➡ REVERSE LUNGE TO FIRST STEP AND DECELERATE
- SPLIT STANCE MB THROWS, ➡ FALSE STEP 2 MB THROW W/ ACCELERATION ➡ TOWED ACCELERATIONS W/ STICK OH
All exercises progressions were pain free, but not stress free. Made sure we were getting a training effect and the athlete was comfortable with the movement.
Carter Peak Performance
Communication is KEY when working with any athlete or group of athletes / clients. Being able to progress, regress, OR lateralize exercises is key to success. In the above program, we worked on maintaining some strength we had gained in the off season to get him ready for the preseason and season. Taking concepts we know to better enhance tendon health, we implemented them for success with our athlete. Our ideas emphasized during training were;
- PAIN MANAGEMENT DURING TRAINING (DO NO HARM)
- PROPER JOINT POSITION (PRI PRINCIPLES)
- PAIN FREE MOVEMENTS; SLOW TO FAST
- INTEGRATION BACK TO SPORT
In association with the parents and coaching staff, we got this kid back to his sport relatively quickly. He has been doing his homework (movement prep, stretching, and breathing work) on his own, and is as close to 100% as any athlete can be! In the last installment, I will go over the supplementation we used to help aid in recovery from his tissue issue!