I paraphrased slightly to slant this toward strength and conditioning
I believe there are three things we must try to achieve each and every training session: (1) Did the kids have fun, did you see them smile or laugh? (2) Did they learn something? This could be a life lesson, not just a sport lesson, by the way! (3) Do they want to come back to train again? Are you keeping them engaged? If you can answer in the affirmative for these three areas, you have done your job. – Dean Holden Canadian Ice Hockey Coach
Archive for March, 2015
Best Advice I’ve Heard in a While
Posted in Uncategorized on March 31, 2015 by mboyle1959Springfield College Athletic Training Student Workshop June 28- July 2
Posted in Uncategorized on March 29, 2015 by mboyle1959Springfield College will host the 22nd annual Athletic Training Student Workshop June 28 to July 2. The workshop is a residential camp for high school students who want to explore career opportunities in athletic training and related sports medicine disciplines.
The Athletic Training Student Workshop focuses on anatomy, injury prevention, and care of common lower extremity athletic injuries. Students will learn the latest information about athletic injury prevention, recognition, and management, all while participating in hands-on exploration of cadaver anatomy. Three whole body cadavers and a small class size give the attendees the opportunity to explore the human anatomy up close. The students also participate in a presentation about the different career options within athletic training.
Designed like a professional continuing education conference, the workshop features short lectures and demonstrations followed by breakout sessions for applied learning. Practice sessions are built into the schedule for participants to learn and refine their taping skills. Additionally, the instructors create a fun educational environment and provide abundant feedback to the students in a positive manner. With a low student-to-instructor ratio, each participant is regularly engaged with individual attention from the instructors throughout the five-day camp.
To register, click here
Great Advice for Parents from Doc Rivers
Posted in Uncategorized on March 28, 2015 by mboyle1959Here’s a guy that gets it and, his kids have done pretty well.
Breakfast at Denny’s
Posted in Uncategorized on March 25, 2015 by mboyle1959I grabbed a menu at Denny’s a while ago. ( Just FYI, I love breakfast). I think it is really cool that they give you calorie info. Not sure if anyone but geeks like me read them but…
The best advice, at Denny’s is to go the Build Your Own Slam route.
The number one goal at breakfast should be to load up on protein. If you want carbs, get fruit.
Some reminders, particularly is your goals is to lose weight or bodyfat:
- No pancakes, hash browns or biscuits. 2 pancakes is 330 cal, hash browns 210 and 1 biscuit 190. 2 eggs is only 250 calories and gets you 13 gms of protein
- Choose bacon over sausage if you like breakfast meat. 2 slices of bacon checks in at 70 cal while 2 sausage links is 180
- Skip the toast. 2 slices of buttered toast? 270 cal.
So, 2 eggs with bacon is only 320 calories while the All American Slam is 800 calories. To Build Your Own Slam, you get to pick 4 items. You can get double eggs, bacon and even splurge with whole wheat pancakes for less than 800 calories.
Either way, think protein at breakfast as goal one.
Another Reason I Like Craig Breslow
Posted in MBSC News, Uncategorized with tags Craig Breslow, Strike 3 Foundation on March 22, 2015 by mboyle1959For those of you who who don’t follow baseball, Craig Breslow is a Red Sox pitcher as well as a client. In addition, he has been dubbed “the smartest man in baseball” by numerous writers. Craig and wife Kelly are also the founders of the Strike 3 Foundation, dedicated to fighting childhood cancer. While doing some research I found this 2013 letter Craig sent to the Globe and was amazed and impressed by Craig’s ability to take a Globe writer to task for poor reporting. If you have 5 min, please read it.
Globe Needs More Balance in Assessing Athletes Charities
After you read it, considering joining us at Sip Happens and help raise money for the Strike 3 Foundation.
Be Careful With Advice from Armchair Experts
Posted in MBSC News, Strength Coach Podcast, StrengthCoach.com Updates, Training, Training Females, Uncategorized, Youth Training with tags Early specialization on March 21, 2015 by mboyle1959“He who seeks the counsel of fools is a fool himself”
This is a cautionary tale. Be careful with taking advice from your son or daughters youth sport coach. Although today’s example comes from the hockey world, bad advice in youth sports is probably more common than good advice.
Please note: I have the utmost respect for most youth sport coaches. My kids have been lucky to have some great ones. With that said, I have also heard and continue to hear some real horror stories. Here’s the latest.
PS- This a direct quote from an email I received from a former BU athlete. I did not edit this. Please also note, the following advice was given to the parents of a 2007 birth year child, yes a seven year old.
“A lot of parents have asked me what their child can do to become a better player. It starts in the spring and the summer. Hockey is a 12 month sport. If you “put the bag away” I can guarantee you to expect being at the bottom level of whatever team your child makes next year. Kids get better by playing more. If anyone tells you otherwise they do not know the game. I am proud to be apart of program that offers as many opportunities as this one does to have your child on the ice as much as possible. ”
The advice above is absolute insanity that runs contrary to every piece of research we have seen. This guy is 100% wrong. A seven year old should absolutely “put the bag away” and play soccer, lacrosse or baseball in the spring. Please do your homework. Early specialization is the biggest mistake you can make. There are at least 10 blog posts on this site from great coaches and great athletes espousing the direct opposite advice this “coach” is giving. If your child is seven, I beg you, please “put the bag away”.
Defending the Functional Movement Screen
Posted in Injuries, Low Back Pain, Random Thoughts, Strength Coach Podcast, StrengthCoach.com Updates, Training, Training Females with tags FMS, Gray Cook, Lee Burton on March 20, 2015 by mboyle1959One thing that is always in fashion is bashing something that you didn’t invent. I think Velcro is stupid. Not really but, I just wanted to show how silly it is to bash a great idea. Velcro is a great idea. Great for shoes for kids and old people and lots of other stuff. Not so great for adult shoes? But does that make Velcro a bad idea?
The Functional Movement Screen is a great idea. It’s such a great idea that most ( not all) smart people I know have embraced it to some degree. A few people have taken to the internet to criticize it. The thing I like most is that the people who criticize it don’t use it. If you don’t use something how can you be so sure it has little value. Recently Vern Gambetta again took the time to criticize the FMS.
Gambetta states “It is a borderline waste of time that generates random numbers without transfer to real life situations.”
I have trouble seeing how the numbers 0-3 can be considered random? In reality, the numbers have a very simple and easy to follow system behind them. 3 is great, 2 is good ( but not great), 1 is a big problem and 0 is “we need help”. Not too random.
Vern goes on to say “If you force the body to conform to unusual, strange, often uncomfortable positions – Is that a valid assessment?”
Ok, if that was the case I might agree. However I’m just not sure if stepping, squatting, kneeling, being on your back or on all fours constitutes a series of uncomfortable positions?
This last one is a tough one?
“I want to see how the athlete can make connections and transitions not get in positions that are mentally convenient and easy to measure.”
A bit contradictory? Are the positions unusual, strange and uncomfortable or, mentally convenient and easy to measure? Two widely divergent criticisms of the same system.
Bottom line, I don’t think Vern has never taken the time to really study or understand the FMS. In some ways I get it. I wrote an article for my StrengthCoach.com site called Will the FMS Cure Most Communicable Diseases that made the point that the FMS is a screen. That’s all it is. A simple starting point to look at movement and injury potential. The FMS is, for better or worse, the best tool we have now. It has conncected the weight room and the training room and given a young personal trainer a place to begin to understand movement from. Gray and Lee have never presented it to be more than that but, others have. Maybe that’s part of the problem. I use this picture to explain the FMS.
It’s a screen for separating rocks from dirt. The dirt falls through, the rocks get stuck. That’s the FMS. The rocks are 1’s and 0’s. Everything else falls through. Tough to criticize?
A Former NHLer’s Take on Youth Hockey- Watch the Full Video
Posted in Uncategorized on March 18, 2015 by mboyle1959This was the most viewed post on this site ever by a wide margin. Take some time and hear Ray Ferraro’s whole talk.
Should You Be Taking a Probiotic?
Posted in Uncategorized on March 17, 2015 by mboyle1959Should you take a probiotic? Evidence seems to be mounting that gut health may be more important than we ever thought. Celiac disease, Chron’s Disease, inflammatory bowel disease? These are all things that seem to have developed in our lifetime? I wonder about the widespread anti-biotic use in our food and by doctors? People run off for a Z-Pack at the first sniffle? I know I get criticized for my Mercola articles but, he makes me think.
Michael Boyle's Strengthcoach.com Blog 
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