S Phase Wrap Up!S Phase is the Unfair Advantage!
Below are my comments/thoughts on it. Remember, these are MY interpretations of the course and events and may or may not be the same as Dr. Cobb. When possible, I have put quotes around exact quotes.
For a brief overview, also check out my first post on it here
No one is really taught to be an athlete
Mental note to myself-work on motivating clients/athletes to earn the basic R Phase drills and that it gets even more fun! R Phase is just the beginning
Use can start to see immobility after only 2 weeks of little to no movement
"There is really no true focus on high-level athletic skill development for 98% of our culture" UNTIL NOW!
"Movement is a skill and skills are trainable."
One of the basic movements we learned was the plyo step, or a fast step back to go forward. This was a debate recently on the Strength Coach podcast also. Check out episdo #9 here
Athletic development is a LONG TERM process! Even the best athletes with great parents (read:genetics), correct coaching and training, motivation, etc still take YEARS to reach a very high level. Nobody really wants to hear this in today's "fix me now" society. Ben Johnson, drugs aside, worked for almost 10 years with elite sprint coach Charlie Francis before he broke any records (ref conversation Aaron S)
Visual information from the eyes is of huge importance! 20/20 vision is not enough! If your are eyes are sending your brain "bad" info, you are screwed for starters! We learned different assessments and fixes for them! Remember, the eyes are controlled by muscles and muscles can be trained.
We saw some video of a football player running sprints before and after just visual work and the difference was amazing!
Working with a metronome really gives you an idea of speed and forces you to work outside your comfort zone. I think mine may have a horrible "accident" soon.
"People only see what they are prepared to see" --- Ralph Waldo Emerson
I will have a post on this at some point, but the more I learn, the more I "see". If I can't fix it or do anything with it, I will not even "see" it. The explanation of this is probably related to the reticular filter in the brain. A little part of the brain that decides what info to let in and what to keep out. Click here for some quick further reading on it.
Want to do things you never thought you could do? I can help! Email me or see this link for info.
Depending on your eye alignment, you may fall asleep while reading because it is so taxing on the eyes or the opposite is that you may be ADHD like if you are the other extreme. Again, this probably can be corrected if the eyes are the source of the issue.
There is a good reason why there are some basic eye drills on the Neuro Warm Up 1 and 2 (you can pick up a copy at the link on the upper right here).
Movement
Reviewed the static athletic ready stance (weight on the inside).
Reviewed the three point sprint stance
Reviewed the 4 point stance
Practiced movements (pivots, crossover, t-step, plyo step, hip turn) to transition from any direction--forward, backward, lateral and angular
Plyometrics
Classic plyos
1) eccentric component (muscle lengthening)
2) amortisation (no change in muscle length per say, going from eccentric to concentric)
3) concentric (muscle contraction)
Goal is to increase RATE of force production, so max force in min time
Eccentric component and range of motion (number of joints involved) are probably the most important components
Given the above info, plyos should be QUIET not loud.
Life is plyometric, so this applies to EVERYONE! Last time I checked, I did not see any fall in slow motion, so everyone needs to work up to be able to do some form of "plyos" (again, progression is key)
Linear Speed
Sprinting!
This was actually FUN! I can honestly say this was the first time that running at a higher speed was actually fun and felt good. More work to do of course, but it was great.
Combos
Everything can be combined, including the visual work.
Overall it was a great time and I am already looking forward to going back to S Phase again
Any questions, let me know.
Rock on
Mike N
