Nov 2014 Issue

The Performance Training and Conditioning E-Magazine of Athletes and Fitness Enthusiasts

Track your training with the Fitbit

Training Zen: Be HERE now during training Take the high altitude training mask challenge

Mid-November 2014 Issue

Elevation Training Mask is a patent pending "Resistance Training Device" that helps condition the lungs by creating pulmonary resistance and strengthening the diaphragm.

Elevation Training Mask will help you regulate your breathing, increase lung stamina, oxygen efficiency and increase overall mental focus. Training Mask can help your over all performance in all sports and daily living.

See the Training Mask Here!

in this mid-month issue:

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Editorial: The Year Around Athlete Training Tech: Track training and conditioning sessions with the Fitbit Book reviews: get your core right with Conditioning the Core; challenge your body with High Intensity 300; and get tougher with The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength.

Athlete Zen: Getting better at being “here” NOW Athlete Fueling: Training Recovery Foods Training Tips: Training with a ‘twist’; Front Squat or Back Squat—Choose!

Workout of the Month: DB complex Series, nonstop from exercise to exercise Psychology and Motivation: Don’t wait for your ship to come in

Also:

Pur Motion Wish Bone press variations for successful training applications 14” med ball snatch-slam-throw combo for maximum explosiveness

The Year around Athlete From the Editor It’s a process. Getting up in the morning, grabbing that workout gear, putting one foot in front of the other, and starting that workout. Rep after rep, set after set, mile after mile—-it takes a certain will power. A will power fueled by desire and effort.

Training takes a dedication that is a commitment the entire year. There really is no off season from training. Sure it changes throughout the year, depending on your goals, event you’re training for, the weather, what new training equipment you want to tryout, what new workout you want to sample—training does change throughout the year.

But even though it changes, we still have become the “year around athlete” training 12-months a year. We take time off for those short spaces of rest here and there, but throughout the year for the most part we are grinding it out in the gym, on roadways, or wherever we find our training bliss.

I like to look at year around training as a goal. When I looking back at that calendar year in December of the previous fall, summer, spring and winter it’s a cool way to count up the number of training days and times I’ve had throughout the year. And then doing the math—taking the 365 days that year and seeing how many of those days were spent training. It feels like the best accomplishment.

So as we close in on the end of the year look back and count up those training days. Quite an accomplishment being the year around athlete.

Daimond Dixon Editor, Pro Power E-Mag

The Mission The Pro Power mission is to provide training information to athletes and fitness enthusiasts by sharing training and conditioning ideals from various sources helping individuals to reach their personal performance potential.

Publishing Pro Power E-Magazine is published monthly in an online viewing format along with an accompanying online web site and blog.

Contact Information Editor: Daimond Dixon Web: ProPowerMag.com Email: PerformanceSport21@gmail.com Phone: (616) 633-1883

Training Tech Tech that adds variety to sports performance and fitness training Take your training sessions and life to the next level with the Fitbit.

This slim, stylish device can be worn all the time and gives you the motivation you need to become more active. It tracks steps, distance, and calories burned and shows you how well you’re meeting your daily goals. Even at night, it tracks your sleep cycle, helping you learn how to sleep better, and even wakes you “quietly” in the morning. Your stats can be accessed anytime on your computer, tablet or from smartphones. The Fitbit is idea for your fitness tracking, and a perfect gift for the holiday season!

The skinny on the Fitbit:      

Tracks steps, distance, calories & active minutes Monitors how long and well you sleep Wakes you with a silent wake alarm LED lights shows how your daily goals stack up Slim, comfortable and easy to wear Sold with both large and small wristbands included

Get your Fitbit here today!

What is the Competitive Cauldron? A MUST use application for any coach. See it here     

“Our competitive cauldron is a player development tool. By making the player better, it makes the team better. We don’t use players’ rankings to determine starting positions or playing time. The rankings are for the players’ information. Those that are ambitious will want to climb and those that are content to be mediocre will also be content to remain in the middle to bottom of the rankings.”

Customize your own Categories. Filter by Categories and by Player position.

Create a cauldron from our templates for Soccer, Lacrosse, Basketball, Football, Volleyball or create your own personalize cauldron.

Create and enter your players stats for each training sessions online or via the app.

Printout/Email individual players stats or the entire Team.

Allow players to login online to view only their stats and progress.

Book Reviews: High Intensity 300, Conditioning to the Core, Encyclopedia of Underground Strength From Amazon: If you’re tired of the same old workouts and less-than-spectacular results, you’ll be excited to know you’ve found the remedy to your situation. In fact, you’ve found 300 of them! High-Intensity 300 is the ultimate workout guide. Featuring 300 of the most effective and challenging workouts, it’s packed with programs that push you to your limit and maximize results.

Each workout includes detailed instruction, photos, and training tips as well as variations for types of equipment and difficulty level. Best of all, each workout is designed to be completed in 30 minutes. Challenge yourself with a different workout each day, or take a more focused approach and target goals, such as increasing muscle mass, shedding fat, or maximizing performance.

Get the book here From Amazon:

Conditioning to the Core Serious athletes train for results—results that make them winners on the field, pitch, course, or court. And the key to getting those results, to improving performance in any sport and at any level, is no secret. A strong, well-conditioned core is the lynchpin to athletic success.

Get the book here From Amazon:

Get the book here

Some of the world’s toughest—and most successful—men have endorsed Zach EvenEsh’s Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning as a must-have, go-to resource for developing the supreme athletic durability, multi-functional strength and spiritual fortitude they most prize…Men like JOE DE SENA, founder of The Spartan Race, the warrior-athlete CDR MARK DIVINE, founder of SEALFIT, and revered strength coach and powerlifting world champion MARTY GALLAGHER. The inspirational life lessons shared in this book along with these training methods are what make this book powerful and timeless. If there’s a hardcore, super-functional tool or tactic for maximizing strength, speed or muscle, it’s here—bodyweight, kettlebells, barbells, tires, ropes, sandbags, kegs and sleds. The bodyweight section alone is worth more than the price of the book—it’s a ‘must read’ for calisthenics fans.

No book combines the old-school methods of strength training and muscle-building with the new science of performance enhancement and athletic conditioning better than The Encyclopedia of Underground Strength and Conditioning. And no author delivers his knowledge with more heart and passion than Zach Even-Esh.

The books above are available in both print and tablet versions in our Pro Power Bookstore

Athlete Zen Be here now for better results

Have you ever been in the middle of a tough lifting set of DB walking lunges, or a grinding run and began thinking about how you couldn't wait until it was over. Then all of a sudden it snow balls mentally into you looking forward to the workout being over, and not really enjoying the training session itself and treating it like work, just wanting to just escape it.

How about just staying in that set of DB walking lunges and focusing on every set and rep? How about just locking in during that tough run and focusing on each step that you take, one foot in front of the other?

Be here now. Stay in each moment, not looking forward or backwards. When the moment concludes. Move on the next one, and so on.

The trick is not to spend so much time looking forward to moments into the future or looking backward into the past. Why spend the moment your currently “in” wasting it trying to be somewhere else? You life is more effective when you stay where you are, giving your all out effort and attention to what you are doing RIGHT NOW. When that moment is over, move on to the next. Your results will be much better, not just in your training and fitness endeavors, but in your entire life! BE HERE NOW

Swivel Vision is the ultimate vision trainer for athletes constructed from the finest American made rubber, premium elastic and high quality foam, with a total overall weight under 4 ounces to provide ultimate comfort while training. A perfect training device for athlete!

HOW THEY WORK FOR ATHLETES Swivel Vision allows athletes to utilize their optimal field of vision in order to achieve maximum focus and better hand-eye coordination. Swivel Vision will help athletes train to increase reaction times and develop superior mechanics. With repetitive use, Swivel Vision seeks to strengthen the core muscle memory of the eyes and the mind to help athletes become more successful.

Check out Swivel Vision’s Official Site HERE and see them in action HERE

Training Recovery Foods

by Trevis Trevino (A.T.C., C.P.T., C.S.C.S., L.N.) You have been told countless times that your body is your vehicle and food is its primary fuel. However, not all fuel is created the same. Certain foods can set you moving and going for hours while others will stop you from moving in 15 minutes. So, what should we be eating to truly charge the body through its days of running, cycling, swimming, skiing, dancing, or any type of sustained workout?

It's true that different things work for different people and eating a variety of foods is key. However, there are still scientific facts that focus on the properties of certain foods, and their reactions inside the body when it's "off the couch" for long periods of time.

I have experimented with several of these foods using hundreds of very active people—from olympic runners to professional sports athletes, all the way down to your basic gym rat—and though the portion sizes differed depending on activity and duration, these three nutrient-dense foods are things all active people shouldn't go without.

Coconut Products Around 20 - 25 percent of an athlete's diet should include fat, but just like any therapeutic diet, nailing the amount is only half the battle. We must also pay attention to the types of fats we're consuming, and coconut oil stands out among the others.

Coconut oil contains MCT's (medium chain fats) that get absorbed in the bloodstream more like a carbohydrate than a fat—making it excellent for endurance, recovery, and stamina especially when consumed in small amounts throughout the day. It can be added to smoothies or used for cooking. It can even be thrown into baked goods instead of butter. It can be purchased at almost any grocery store, and stored at room temperature.

Another coconut product great for recovery is coconut water. Coconut water is perfect for electrolyte and carbohydrate replacement and can be consumed before, during, and after any activity. If you're going to sweat for more than an hour, take a drink! Or mix it with one part water and drink throughout the day.

Omega-3 Fats Redness, pain, heat and swelling are the four symptoms of chronic inflammation, the root cause of disease. Over-exercising can take its toll on not just the muscles and joints, but the organs of the immune system, and when combined with stress, illness and poor eating habits, you're left with a large recipe for inflammation.

Because the typical American diet contains pro-inflammatory foods high in omega-6 fats, the body needs the anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats to maintain a balance. Because the body doesn't make them on its own, these fats are considered essential, which means we must get them on our plate.

Fish like wild-caught salmon, sardines, black cod and herring are great sources for omega-3 fats. Algae and fish-oil supplements are also encouraged, since they contain the longer chain EPA/DHA fats. Also try ALA chain fats such as walnuts, flaxseeds and chia seeds.

Whey Protein Yes, runners; it's for you, too! Just because you're not weight lifting doesn't mean the muscles don't need to be fed. Sometimes we focus way too much on the carbohydrates, and we forget what's responsible for not only maintenance and repair, but nearly every chemical reaction that takes place in the body.

Whey protein is one of my favorite forms of complete bio-available protein—meaning it contains all of the essential and non-essential amino acids.

These amino acids are in charge of preventing muscle tissue breakdown. They keep blood glucose steady when combined with a slow-releasing carbohydrate creating the perfect balance of stamina and energy.

The best way to consume whey is in the form of a shake. One scoop should contain approximately 20 to 30 grams of protein.

Feel free to add a small amount of fruit—1/2 to 1 cups—or one tablespoon of a healthy fat—ground flaxseed, raw nut butter or coconut oil.

Trevis Trevino (A.T.C., C.P.T., C.S.C.S., L.N.) is a sports medicine consultant who specializes in Sports Nutrition and has worked with Professional and Olympic athletes across the country.

Training—-with a twist!

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike move and train in more than one dimension. Performing exercises and training drills forward, backwards, and up/down is one thing; now do it with a twist.

Twisting (or rotating) while performing certain movements enhances the actual movements adding stability and balance training to the mix. It also increases the work load placed on the core, as you kill two birds with one stone.

Try adding rotational movements with DB’s or medicine balls next to time you train

Front Squat/Back Squat—choose!

The squat is considered to be the “king” of all strength training exercises according to many performance trainers, coaches and fitness enthusiasts. There are two ways to hold that load on your body—front or back..

Front squats require more athleticism since the bar must be placed on the front part of the body, and staying in balance becomes a challenge as well as lifting the actual load.

Back squats require less athleticism as the load sits on the upper back where less balance is required. Although both have their advantages, athletes involved in performance sports should for sure include the front squats into their training since it will add another dimension (balance and stability) to their training efforts.

Workout of the Month: DB Complex Training Last month we said that Complexes are a fantastic way to combine exercises together for a great training effect.

Another way to Complex is by putting together a few exercises using the DB’s and then going from exercise to exercise non-stop WITHOUT PUTTING DOWN THE WEIGHTS UNTIL THE SET IT OVER. The burn is fantastic, it cuts down training time, and elicits a great cardio strength training effect.

In the video below check out the following exercises complexed together for a great effect using DB’s: Lunge + Curl n Press/RDL/Bent Row/DB Bench Press

Excel Training sell’s excel templates—-the #1 design program for personal trainers, strength coaches, weight loss specialists, as well as functional movement specialists. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Don’t Wait for your Ship to come in

by Brad McLeod SealGrinderPT.com Are you where you want to be in life?

If you are comfortable – you are in decline. In nature it is a fact that you are either growing or dying. There is no in between.

You must always be seeking to improve yourself – make your game better.

If your satisfied with where you are in life then you are settled, you are comfortable.

Comfortable is not good. Anyone that tells you that you need to be comfortable or that you should look for security.. you need to run from them.

Never ever ever get comfortable.

Some of you are waiting for a chance but you don’t want to get uncomfortable to go after it.

You scared and don’t want to have to get in the cold water to face the sharks even though you know that you could possibly find treasure.

Cathy Hopkins said ‘Don’t wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it.’

What the %&#$ are you waiting on? Don’t watch your ship sail off into the horizon.

Tear your shirt off and jump in that cold water.

Swim against those strong currents.

Paddle hard around those hungry sharks and out into the deep water.

Keep going and flag your ship down like it is the last ship that will ever pass your island.

This is YOUR life we are talking about… why do you want to wait and stay comfortable.

Do something…anything..other than what your doing right now.

Make a stand and swim out and take control of your life – now.

Brad McLeod knows first hand about mental toughness after being kicked out of a top tier Spec Ops training unit. He failed out of BUD/S the first time after failing a math test (made it through Hell Week and Dive Pool Comp). He came back a year later and graduated and served as an operator on the Navy SEAL Teams.

Today he is one of the most sought after mental conditioning coaches in the world today having recently returned from Ireland, Southern California, Pennsylvania and parts unknown in north Florida. SEALgrinderPT audios and Ebooks have been downloaded in 20 different countries around the globe. Contact Brad brad@sealgrinderpt.com Check out SEALgrinderPT Coaching to help you step up and take hold of your dreams and realize your goals.

Pur Motion Clean and Jerk tool for Press Variations Pur Motion created a new training tool that is a game changer for athletes!

The Clean and Jerk device allows users the opportunity to create an explosive exercise like the clean and jerk, but without risk to injury while moving along more natural body lines.

Although the traditional lifts for power such as power cleans, snatches and hang cleans can’t be understated, the use of this new device allows for a faster learning curve in developing extreme explosive athletic power.

Wish Bone Push Press

Wish Bone Split Press

Wish Bone Squat + Press

See the three videos to the right on the different press variations that can be used with the Clean and Jerk device, then click the right link to visit Pur Motion and view their entire line of top notch training products.

Med Ball Combo move: ‘Snatch’-Slam-Wall Pass Medicine balls have such a wide variety of applications and your choices on using it for core training, power training, and strength training is almost limitless.

One favorite is to use the medicine ball (14” big ball) in a combo explosive and push combination. In the video below you can see the big ball being used in an exercise first as an explosive tool (snatch and slam) and second as an “explosive-push” tool (push press) towards a wall.

It’s a great way to create explosiveness “Up, Down and Forward”.

If you like the drill and ball, check out our friends at Rogue Fitness below and grab a ball today!

Cardio Strength Circuit with the Training Mask for killer results As an advocate of Cardio Strength Training (combining elements of cardio training with elements of strength training) I wanted to see how well the Training Mask would do it’s job of high altitude training when combined with a kettle bell, dumbbells, jump rope and battle ropes.

The results don’t disappoint! Check out the video below of this killer Cardio strength session!

See the Training Mask Here!