Kids need physical preparation for sport and rest: Says Top NFL Orthopedic Surgeon

By Zach Gallmann

The link below will guide you to a very informative article about a top NFL orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Andrews.  His message?  Kids need time to be kids. Kids need time to recover. Kids need proper preparation for their sport.  Here at The Spot, we have the same beliefs.  We see it all the time; kids come to us, in middle school and high school, with extreme shoulder issues, knee issues, tight hips, and a host of other issues, and the parents wonder why they aren't performing at the level they should be.  Then, we hear that the child has a hitting coach, or a swinging coach, basically just lots of "skills" coaches, but no coaches who are teaching them to move their bodies properly.  Add to this that they get little to no down time and injuries start to creep in.  What happened to letting kids run free to learn the valuable skill of play?  I know I gained more body awareness and physical readiness from climbing trees and rocks than any sports coach ever taught me.

Another crucial problem we see is that kids are being sent out onto the playing field without any sort of strength training or physical preparation training under their belts.  Would you, as a parent, step out onto a football field without having the proper strength and injury preventative training?  If you did could you withstand, without injury, getting tackled by a linebacker at full speed?  I know I wouldn't.   So why would anyone send their child out onto a playing field without the proper preparation, if they wouldn't want to do it themselves?  This is a question that defies logic and ends up getting a lot of kids needlessly injured.  This is one of the primary reasons that we started our KAAT (Kids Athletic Ability Training) program.  With this program we take kids from 6-11 years old and teach them sound athletic patterns such as running, jumping and most importantly deceleration.  With these patterns we also strengthen these kids thru a properly progressed weight training program that starts with body weight exercises and moves to loaded efforts.  This great program will help these kids not only excel at their sports, but do it without getting injured.

We understand what it's like to want to be a champions, and want our kids to be champions.  Unfortunately, all too often, we see the downfalls of kids being injured from not being properly prepared for sport.  These needless injuries could be prevented if parents would just properly prepare their kids for sport by putting them in a program like our KAAT program.  Our main goal when we train an athlete, at any age, is to make sure they are ready to excel at their sport, safely.  Strength training is one of the best ways to prepare athletes to prevent injury in sport.  An example we use a lot, but I'll throw it out there again is: when a child runs or jumps out of a tree, they exert up to 5x their body weight in compressive forces on their joints.  If that sounds pretty taxing, it's because it is.  Building strength to absorb that force is the greatest way for kids to be able to manage that type of demand and not end up injured.  For more information on our KAAT program CLICK HERE.

Finally, I encourage you to read the article below and think about what Dr. Andrews has to say.  Kids need to be kids.  Kids need time off to recover.  Sure, a college scholarship is great, but not at the risk of blowing out an ACL or two, instead of leading a strong, healthy life.

Click here to read article.

Fitness Class - 4th of July - Columbus, OH - Met Con Class - The Spot Athletics

The Spot Athletics Staff came in on their day off and put together a special holiday Met Con Class for our members. With 80,000 square feet of space at our disposal we created a giant obstacle course with 21 difficult challenges. Before heading out to their holiday barbecues, our members came out in full force to take on the challenge.

Fitness Class Columbus, OH - The Spot Athletics - Met Con Class

Other Fitness classes in Columbus Ohio need to come watch Met Con Class at The Spot Athletics to see how fitness classes are supposed to be done.  These fun, fast paced, and ever-changing classes are taught by world class instructors in an 80,000sq ft facility and are designed to make you tone up, lose fat, get fit, strong, conditioned and look amazing.  If you're bored, sick of seeing no results and not having fun with your workouts, then come try our Met Con Class.  The Spot Athletic's staff has more knowledge, experience and education than any training facility in the area. It is also recognized internationally as one of the top training facilities in the world.

Speed, Strength & Conditioning, Personal training & Fitness Class Training Video Montage 6/24-6/30

Our strength and conditioning, personal training, and metabolic conditioning clients are working extremely hard and making great strides.  Robbie Fusner, a football player entering his sophomore year of high school, front squatted 315lbs for 2 reps, which is by no means, an easy feat, while our Upper Arlington Lacrosse players are getting stronger by the day.  Our college athletes are on the top of their game and we expect nothing but great things from them in the future.  Metcon has been growing fast, with new clients everyday, and our personal training clients are seeing great results.  Summer is in full swing, but that just means it's time to work hard for the fall!  What are you doing to get better this summer?

Save Olympic Wrestling

Why save Olympic Wrestling?

 

In high school my wrestling coach, Bruce Miller, taught me more about life inside the walls of that wrestling room than most kids learn in their whole life.  This is where I learned discipline, respect and responsibility.  The wrestling room is where I learned what it took to be a man.  The Olympics started to show which village had the most discipline, responsibility, and respect for their bodies.  The Olympics started with wrestling.  To take Wrestling out of the Olympics is to take the spirit of the games.  To me, if they do truly remove wrestling from the Olympics then I pledge to never watch any Olympic sport ever again.  Wrestling may not be the flashiest Olympic sport, like skateboarding, but it is the heart and soul of what the Olympics is about.  If you take the heart and soul out of a person then you have nothing but an empty shell left and to me, if they take out Wrestling, then the Olympics is just an empty shell that I never want any part of again.

 

Flowrestling Stone- JD Bergman - Strength and Conditioning

Fresh off his domination at the World Team Trials, JD Bergman is back training as hard as ever at The Spot Athletics.  This Atlas Stone was imprinted with the FloWrestling logo off the screen print on his shirt.  He was so soaked with sweat the whole rock was covered except where the screen print was.  Look closely and you can read Flowrestling.  Also, just so people know, the reason JD can can man handle people is the stone he is throwing around here, repetitively, is 215lbs or roughly the weight of one of his unfortunate opponents.

Better Personal Training is a Choice

by Sandy Schluep NSCA-CPT
Take a look at all of these photos of normal people. These are clients who are not top athletes that are out there winning first place, or young athletes competing for college scholarships. Why?  Well, The Spot is for us “normal” people too.  Take me for example. Yes that’s me with her arm in a sling.  I started as a client; then became an intern; and now I'm a certified trainer here at The Spot.  Why in the world would I be training at The Spot while still recovering from rotator cuff surgery?  Answer: Because I choose to.  I choose to move forward and be stronger today than I was yesterday; not with recklessness, but with proper training, precision and safety.  I choose to not let excuses stop me.  I have a lot of other muscles that still need conditioning and The Spot is the best place for an athlete (including us normal people) of any age (from 6-76) to train and get results.  Why?  Because The Spot Athletics was designed with the individual in mind …. to do one thing, get results.



 

The Spot Athletics is the best place to train in Columbus because we are the best at what we do.  It’s a choice.  We choose to be the best.  We practice what we preach, and we choose to help each individual client with their goals and not let their excuses, injuries, or age prevent them from being in the best shape of their life.  You will always get results at The Spot, because that is what we are experts in.  So, be wise, be smart, and take the right step in accomplishing your fitness goals by choosing to train with us at The Spot!