JB Brinkerhoff jumping 11' 5.5'' at The Spot Athletics

JB has been working with The Spot Athletics for the past year and has made some great strides.  He has put 3.5'' on his approach height and keeps getting more athletic.  These are the kinds of things that are possible with a good athlete and good training.

Kids lifting, competing and talking trash

I feel that our society has demonized being aggressive, competitive and rough for young boys.  This is discerning to me as I have a young boy who is 7 years old and I don't want him growing up in a world where he is looked down upon for having the traits that make men, well men.  The skills to grow and be a productive member of society whether male or female take aggressive, competitive and sometimes rough personalities.  I feel that schools and society as a whole are trying to punish the very behavior that will make young boys and girls successful as adults.  At The Spot Athletics one of the biggest joys  we get working with young children is seeing the confidence that is built from training with weights and competing with one another.  This confidence is seen even more so in females than in the males.  Usually when a young girl first enters the weight room she is timid and unsure of what to do.  After a few weeks they want to show their friends who aren't training how to do the things that they have learned.  In the end I feel that not only are we building strong, faster athletes but we are helping to mold young people into better, more confident human beings.

Weight training = Weight loss

So I have to rant today about one of the most illogical things that I hear.  In the same breath a mom will tell me that she really needs to workout so that she can lose weight.  Yet the next sentence out of the same person is that they don't want their daughter to workout because she will gain weight.  So tell me Ms. Illogical, does working out make you lose or gain weight cause it can't do both.  Well the answer is simple, women(this is especially true for young girls/boys) do not have the necessary hormones to create a large amount of muscle mass.  The huge women bodybuilders that people see in magazines eat/sleep and breathe diet and training.  Yet they still can't gain the kind of muscle that they have unless they artificially add testosterone to their bodies.   So I guess if the mom in the above example was injecting her daughter with testosterone then yes she would gain weight from working out. Otherwise the daughter will just end up being leaner, stronger, more explosive and athletic, all of which being very positive no matter what the sport.  The other issue is that bodybuilders train in a way that is purposefully inducing hypertrophy or muscle gain.  The goal of their training is to put on muscle, and that's how they eat and train.  We train athletes to be faster, more explosive and more athletic.  This means that they must be stronger for their body weight in order for them to run faster or jump higher.  Putting on excessive muscle would be counter productive and thus is why that type of training is not used for athletes.  I have been weight training for 20 years and have dedicated my life to the sport.  I eat, sleep and breathe training and have done so for many years.  On top of that I have gifted genetics to put on size for my sport.  All of this being said it kills me when a person says that they don't want to lift weights or let their child lift weights because they don't want to get big like me.  That's like me saying I don't want my son to shoot a basketball becuase I don't want him to be as good as LeBron at basketball.  So the moral to my rant is please stop throwing out illogical statements and ask the experts here at The Spot Athletics if you really are confused because these crazy statements about weight training have to stop.

5K for client who was told she wouldn't run again

Congrats to personal training client Sandy Schluep, for placing 4th in her age group at the Rotary Honors Veterans 5k.  Sandy came to The Spot at 54 years old, after multiple  injuries and being told she would never run again and was determined to turn that disclaimer around  -- proof that when you are determined and committed, you can reach your goals at any age.  Way to go Sandy!

We take care of the Strength and Conditioning and Vitor takes care of the competition

The Spot Athletics is proud of one of our athlete's Vitor Oliveira who fought in his first MMA fight in the US.  Vitor is here from Brazil teaching Jiu Jitsu for Ronin Training Center.  Not only did he win his fight but did so in under 2 minutes.  Vitor's workouts are very intense and he has gained a lot of strength preparing for this fight so the way he dominated is not surprising.  Congratulations Vitor!

Gold Medal for The Spot Athletics Athlete

Vinicius Tavares Marinho won gold at the No Gi Pan Am games this past weekend.  Vinicius is part of GFTeam(Grappling Fight Team), one of the best Jiu Jitsu teams in the world.  Vinicius lives in Brazil but has been training at The Spot Atheltics for his strength and conditioning while in the US.  He made great strides in both strength and conditioning in his time here and will be missed as he is heading back to Brazil this week.  We will post up an interview with him about his training at The Spot soon.  Our motto is "Sweat Hard, See Results" and Vini sweated a whole lot while he was here and at the Pan Am games he saw the results.  Good luck to Vini as he heads back to Brazil and keep training hard.

Ohio State Buckeyes and dead lifting

My daughter Avery isn't 2 years old but she is already a big buckeye fan and knows how to dead lift.  People wonder why Ohio people love the Buckeyes so much but it is taught from such a young age, it just can't be helped.  People also wonder why Ohio has an extraordinary amount of great powerlifters, it's because our kids learn how to lift early.  So here is a video of my daughter wearing her scarlet and grey cheer outfit and doing some dead lifts.  Obviously she is too young to really lift any weight as she can't understand directions but it boggles my mind how parents are scared to let their kids lift any weights in a gym.  Yet these same parents don't think twice when their child is jumping out of a tree, carrying a laundry basket or even carrying around their backpack all day.  These everyday activities place far more stress on the spine than picking up a 10lb weight, yet for some reason their is a negative connotation around weights.  If I do nothing else in this life if I can turn around the illogical stigmatism's about lifting weights then I will have accomplished something very good.  Because proper weight training in young children instills essential motor patterns and improves nervous system function so that our children don't get hurt when they start with competitive sport.

JL 48'' box jump

This is a video of me doing a 48'' box jump today.  In the picture you can see that my hips are at or a little above Stephen's head.   Stephen is 6'2'', which means my hips were at about 74'' or so.  I should be able to land a 65'' box, but because I have had 7 knee surgeries my knee flexion is very poor and I must land box jumps with mostly straight legs.   This shows how important mobility is for athletes and the ability to box jump high as well.   We work a ton on mobility with our athletes and ourselves because being strong isn't very helpful if you cannot use it properly in competition.

CAAT Program

My 20 month old daughter knows what a squat is and we work on pushing her knees out when she squats, the same as I do with my 20 year old athletes.   Teaching the proper movement pattern for these young children ensure that they are successful with these movements as they age.  If a child learns how to use their hips to create force for kicking, throwing and/or punching then they will be successful in any rotational based sport.  Teaching these basic patterns are essential to a child's success in sport and that's why we developed our CAAT (complete athletic ability training) program.  In this program for 6-11 year olds we work on correctly establishing basic movement patterns that will transfer into greater athletic ability as the children age.  Many parents put children in organized sports on a year round basis but most of those sport coaches don't understand correct movement patterns or how to teach them.  This leads to the state of our children today who have poor overall athleticism but have very high sport skill due to the time spent practicing actual sport skill.  I've seen many children who could juggle a soccer ball like a pro but can't run or jump properly so they don't excel at their sport because of the lack of overall athleticism.  Don't let your child fall into this trap and enroll them in our CAAT program so that they have the tools they need to succeed in any sport they choose.

Great Ab exercise!

 

Here one of our young wrestlers is doing inverted abs.  This is a very advanced and difficult exercise.

 

Selecting a Strength & Conditioning coach

Choosing a strength and conditioning coach for yourself or for your athlete can be a daunting task.  How do you know who will help them improve and excel and who will just keep them the same or worse yet, get them hurt.  As a parent I understand that we want the best for our kids, it's just that sometimes we don't have a way of judging what's best.  The first place to start is by selecting someone who is an actual strength and conditioning coach.  Just sending your athlete to a personal trainer will not get them the results that their hard work deserves.  I mean you wouldn't take your Ford to a Chevy dealer to get fixed would you, then why give your athlete to someone who is not qualified to handle them.   Next, realize that your athlete working hard is not an indication of a good program or strength coach.  You could literally hire a bum who is begging for change and offer him a steak dinner if he makes your athlete run till he pukes and I bet he'll get the job done.  Does this mean this bum is a great strength coach or that he has a great program, of coarse not.  A good strength coach realizes that recovery and periodization are part of an athlete making continual, year-round gains.  So don't judge a strength coach on if they are making your kids work hard, judge them on the results at the end of the program.  Lastly, ask the strength coach when they train themselves.  I would never have my athletes do something that I had not done myself, yet these "personal trainers" who don't ever lift a weight are telling an athlete how to squat.  I'm not saying that the strength coach has to be a world class athlete but if they don't practice what they preach then how good of examples are they for your athlete.

So to sum up:  1. Hire an actual strength coach, not just a personal trainer                                  2. Killing athletes every workout isn't a good indicator of a good strength coach, results are.    3. Never hire a trainer or strength coach that doesn't train hard themselves

BJJ/MMA Conditioning

 

Today Vitor Oliveira (black belt in Jiu Jitsu) and Vinecius Tavares Marinho (black belt in Jiu Jitsu) get some good power conditioning in.  This is just a small portion of the workout that entailed one minute each of Sledge hammer, tire flips, scissor jumps, battle rope and 160yrd prowler push.  This is a very metabolically demanding circuit and takes a very high level of conditioning to complete.  Vinny was struggling a little, as it was only his second workout with us, but he has over 15yrs of BJJ experience so it's not like he's starting from zero.  He will be able to complete this circuit without stopping in no time.

The secret exercise for big traps!

A lot of people comment on my traps and usually it's followed up with a question on how I built them.  First I always say genetics, then I say I don't know because most people don't want to put in the work to get big traps.  Your traps aren't just bumps on your shoulders that hide your neck, they are a complex and large muscle group that goes from the base of your skull to the lower part of your back.  The upper traps are what most people associate with big traps and these can be earned by heavy shrugs and upright rows.  But in my opinion the secret to big traps is building the middle traps so big that the upper traps pop out of your shoulders like they are trying to escape.  For middle traps my favorite exercise is lying shrugs.  To do this you need to be high enough off the ground that you can extend your arms but also reach the bar with a little help.  If you add this exercise into your trap routine I guarantee your traps will start to grow.

Favorite Trap Exercise

Fall Programs Starting

It's that time of year again....Back to school.  We have many programs this fall for athletes of all ages.

- Our CAAT(Complete Athletic Ability Training) program (ages 6-11) takes a slice from the old soviet model of building motor patterns at a young ages so that when the athletes get older they can excel in their chosen sport.  We teach proper running and jumping mechanics, body control, proprioception, body awareness, and also work on the athletes mobility.  Studies show that if an athlete hasn't learn a motor pattern by age 13 then they will not learn it.  Don't just put your kid in a "fitness" camp, let the experts at The Spot Athletics turn your child into a better athlete.  The CAAT program is M,W, and F from 4:30-5:30pm starting Sept. 5th.

- Speed, Agility and Quickness(SAQ) training.  We do SAQ work in our total Speed, Strength and Conditioning program but here we take just the SAQ portion and only train it.  Although you can't reach your full potential without a full Strength and Conditioning program this program is perfect for kids who have to lift with their team but are not receiving any proper SAQ training.  SAQ class is held Mon, Tue and Thur. from 4-5pm.

Girls Volleyball Summer Training Results - Dublin Scioto

Check out the amazing improvements from our summer session with Dublin Scioto volleyball team!

Volleyball Girls doing Strongman training

Here the Dublin Scioto Volleyball team does strongman training at The Spot Athletics.

60 Inch Box Jumps

Evan Feltz is the first athlete at The Spot Athletics to land a 60'' box jump.  Keegan Crawford jumped up on the 60'' box before Evan but he couldn't stay up to make it an official 60'' box jump.  Jessie Print also got on the 60'' box but couldn't stay up to make it official.  This is made even more impressive by the fact that they are all 15yrs old.  Keegan could barely jump on the 48'' box when joining us last fall and Jessie has seen his approach vertical go up by 15'' since starting with us.  Evan has had a 7.5'' increase in his vertical since starting with us last fall.   Our system will make you faster, stronger and obviously jump higher.

Strength is speed!

A lot of people have heard me say that I can tell who is the fastest athlete based on the amount of pull ups that they can do.  This works because pull ups are a test of relative strength to body weight.  When we run that is what we are doing, expressing our strength to bodyweight.  The stronger your legs and hips, the further you can move your body with each step, thus the faster you can run.  When an athlete is first learning to run they get faster by improving their sprint mechanics and nervous system activity but this adaptation only takes you so far.  Once you have a little bit of experience running the only way to get faster is to get stronger.  People who say they are "speed coaches" and only address the mechanics and nervous system activity drills are only tapping the surface of your athlete's potential speed.  A true "speed coach" understands that unless an athlete gets stronger they will never get faster.  Yes an untrained athlete will get faster by just working on running skill, but that improvement is very limited and ends very quickly.  Unless the athlete is working on improving their strength then they will never realize their full potential.  At The Spot Athletics we are not concerned with just making minimal improvements.  We focus on developing the total athlete through speed mechanics drills, injury prevention, explosive training, strength training, and conditioning.  This total athlete development allows our athletes to see long term major improvements in athleticism.  Don't get sucked into only working on sprint mechanics, make sure you are working on developing the whole athlete.   It always boggles my mind how people say they are doing "speed" work but their whole workout is what we do in our warm up.

Summer Programs filling up.

If you haven't signed up for one of our great summer programs then you need to do so quickly.  We have summer programs for soccer, volleyball and young kids.  Each of these programs is designed to maximize performance in your young athlete.  Our volleyball and soccer programs are sport specific programs that address the unique needs of each sport.  Our kids summer strength and conditioning camps with work on developing overall athletic ability in your young child.  If they don't acquire the proper motor patterns before age 13 then it becomes exponentially more difficult to make motor pattern changes.