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Online Training and Remote Programming Available Now!

Online Training and Remote Programming Available Now!

Lifetime Performance

Online Training and Remote Programming Available Now!

We have closed our doors temporarily due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, but we remain available for customized programs via our App “Lifetime Performance” found in the App Store! Contact me directly to set up a golf or tennis specific evaluation or if you would like a personalized program custom developed with the equipment you have at home!
Stay healthy and safe out there…do your part!

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The Junior Tennis Player Dilemma

The Junior Tennis Player Dilemma

How Much Is Enough – The Junior Golf Player Dilemma

Working in South Florida as a Sports Performance Specialist, I come across a lot of athletes who play their sport year-round. While this does have its obvious advantages…getting in a lot of practice, more options for competitive play, full time coaching, etc., the never slow down pace can be detrimental to the athlete’s physical health as well as their mental well-being.  Tennis is a great example of a sport where year-round play is commonplace. The concept of more is better seems to be shared all too often by parents and coaches. While on a surface level this sounds like the right approach, when we look at the research, the reality is we might be doing more harm than good.

It is important to remember why our children got involved with the sport to begin with. It was fun! For the child to exceed at the sport long term it must stay fun to them! There is a fine line between motivating your child to stay disciplined to achieve the most out of their potential and becoming overbearing, forcing continuous play. Growing up I played golf in high school. I was not very good my freshman year averaging 46 for nine holes. My sophomore year I improved exponentially, averaging 39. Part of that was due to my father joining a country club over the summer. This obviously allowed me to play and practice more often. I should mention that I grew up in New Jersey, a state known for its high temperatures in the summers and low temperatures in the winter. This made playing and practicing from November till May nearly impossible as it was just too cold.  As a result, I played other sports! By the end of my senior year I earned a scholarship to a division one school for golf. This was accomplished by only playing and practicing for half a year and without much coaching supervision.  Yes, I worked hard, but I had other interests and because of the forced break due to the weather, I was able to become passionate again about the game every spring. This also kept me healthy as I never had to deal with overuse injuries. You would think my performance would suffer, however each summer I improved and won more and more tournaments. In fact, if you do the research you will see that the best athletes of today in all sports were multi-sport athletes up to the age of about 15.

You might be saying well tennis is different…you need to be playing all the time to get better. The competition is just too stiff. There was a study done in Poland taking over 1000 junior tennis players from over 40 countries and tracking them from 1994 to 2002. The average age was 12 to 13 years old. What they found was the better players as adults were smaller than average for their age, were less powerful, were faster and more agile, started playing tournaments at age 11 and only played about 45 to 50 singles matches per year. They also only practiced around 10 hours per week which was below average for the group. Some of the athletes documented in the study were Roger Federer, Kim Clijsters and many other notable tennis professionals. They also participated in more fitness sessions than their peers as juniors during the study. Their parents were supportive but not overly involved.

In another study done taking into account 1200 kids between years of 8 eight and 13, The researcher found that kids who spent more hours a week then their age at that one sport were 70% more likely to have a serious injury or burn out from the sport.

ITF recommendations:
9-11 yr olds: One hour a day, 3 to 4 times a week playing or practicing tennis. 70% of their time on tennis and 30% of their time on other sports.
12-14 yr olds: 2 to 3 hours a day, 4 to 5 times a week practicing or playing tennis with fitness included. 85% of their time on tennis and 15% of their time on other sports.

My recommendation would be to play multiple sports up until freshman year in high school and make sure to take time off throughout the calendar year…that means no tennis. We need to make sure the sport stays fun and that our children continue to play at a high-level while reducing the risk of injury by monitoring their hours each week.

Power and Speed For the Senior Golfer

Power and Speed For the Senior Golfer

Power and Speed For the Senior Golfer

The Facts Behind Resistance and Power Training for Older Adults In The Sport Of Golf

Power and speed for the senior golfer can be challenging, but manageable with the right training. Lifetime Performance understands that as we age, our body experiences certain physiological changes that have a direct affect on strength and power production.  Consequently, we may lose the functional capacity to carry out everyday activities.  In addition, it becomes difficult to maintain a high degree of ability in sports such as tennis, racquetball, and golf.  Golf is becoming an increasingly popular sport with more and more seniors playing later, and longer, in life.  A main concern with golfers is how to get more distance off the tee.  It is theorized that resistance and power/speed training will not only elicit improved functional movements, but also help to increase club head speed even among middle aged and older adults.

Lifetime Performance works with mostly recreational golfers who fall within this age category.  More often than not, the desire to hit the ball further with the irons and driver is the most frequently given reason for beginning a golf specific exercise program.  While flexibility and lower body and core stability are essential and preceding requirements for a powerful and efficient golf swing, let’s face it, the golf swing itself occurs in less than two seconds.  We need to produce a large amount of force quickly if we want to hit par 5’s in two, or par 4’s for that matter!  How do we enhance that ability to produce movement rapidly?  Through strength and power training!

The Physiology of Aging Muscle

As we age, our ability to sustain skeletal muscle mass and produce power greatly diminish.  This drop in the cross sectional area of muscle is referred to as Sarcopenia.  Sarcopenia can greatly impair physical function and contribute to a look of frailty among older adults.  Therefore, it can become increasingly difficult to carry out simple daily activities that require some degree of power, strength and balance.

Recent research has shown that after the age of fifty, men and women lose close to 1-2% of their muscle mass and 3 – 5% of their power potential per year.  Tissue growth can become impaired through age related hormonal changes, such as a decrease in testosterone levels and growth hormones.  The loss of muscle mass because of the death of motoneurons within the spinal cord will lower the muscle fiber numbers.  A muscle fiber without a neural drive from the brain is like a car without a battery.  With the loss of muscle fibers comes a loss in muscle mass affecting our force producing ability.

Muscle power involves a speed and strength or force component.  Within the body, type II muscle fibers are responsible for generating quick, explosive movements.  They can produce four times the power of a type I muscle fiber.  Our trainers utilize explosive and ballistic type exercises to extract the power potential of these type II muscle fibers.  Getting type II muscle fibers to activate becomes increasingly difficult as we get older and are affected by age for a number of reasons.  First, the tension within the muscle fiber decreases as we get older.  This can occur in both type I and type II muscle fibers. This means that our force producing capabilities are reduced.  Second, the speed at which the muscles contract in older adults is reduced by about 25%.  Third, the electrical signal sent from the brain slows down or can become delayed resulting in reduced excitability of the muscle.  This can affect the number of muscles recruited, the muscles’ firing rate, and co-activation of the muscles.

Effects of Resistance and Power Training on Golf Club Head Speed

The sport of golf is widely played by many middle age and older adults and involves a high velocity movement with multiple accelerating and decelerating parts.  To control this high degree of force; the body must possess stability, mobility, and balance, all in the correct areas of the body’s kinetic chain.  If that chain is dysfunctional, both force and power, found in club head speed, may be sacrificed.

In a recent study, eleven middle to older age male golfers’ full golf swing was analyzed for club head speed (CS) and driving distance (DD) before and after an 8-week training program.  The experimental group consisted of 6 participants.  They each did weight and plyometric training twice a week while the control group, consisting of 5 participants, continued their normal training.  The experimental group performed three sets of 6 – 8 repetitions of a combination of free weight resistance training and plyometric medicine ball work.  The control group did mainly cardiovascular work with light machine exercises.  After eight weeks, the experimental group showed an increase of 1.5% in CS, which equated to an increase in DD of 4.3 meters.  The control group showed no improvement.

The affect of functional training on club head speed among older golfers was also published in a recent report.  Eighteen male golfers, mean age of 70.7 years, were randomly assigned to an exercise group of 11 golfers, or a control group comprised of 7 golfers.  The subjects participated in an 8-week functional training program including mobility exercises, stability exercises, core exercises, balance exercises, resistance exercises, and power exercises.  They were all instructed not to take any golf lessons during the program.  The exercise group showed a significant increase in club head speed amounting to 4.9%.  Club head speed for the control group showed a slight decrease.  In summary, this study detailed the significance of functional and power training behind the goal of increasing golf club head speed.

As with all sports, power is dependant on other factors like elasticity of the muscles, tendons and ligaments, rate of force development (ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers), and stability within the joints.  Golf is no exception, placing a considerable emphasis on core and lower body stability.  Since power is produced from the ground up, deficiency in the core area can result in faulty swing mechanics and an altered swing sequence.  To elaborate, from the top of the back swing, power is generated by the initial acceleration of the hips, followed by the trunk, followed by the arms, and finally through the hands at impact.  Each sequential body part must decelerate to allow for force transfer to the next moving part.  This must all happen over a stable base of support.  As part of the aging process, we lose joint space, flexibility will begin to decrease and rate of power development can slow.  However, by engaging in a performance based training program that emphasizes mobility and power generation, the slowing of this decline may be achieved and even improved. Training will make power and speed for senior golfers obtainable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 10 Minute Law School Workout

The 10 Minute Law School Workout

The 10 Minute Law School Workout

One of the few things Law School students have is free time.  If by chance time does happen to free up during the day or evening, it will most likely be spent filled with extra studying or re-fueling with that third cup of 1000 calorie Mocha Latte Frappacino Coolata (made that up, but might actually exist!) from Starbucks .  Either way, that hour just got filled up with extra stress or a sugar high that a 1st grader on Halloween Night couldn’t recover from.  While both options may seem good at the time, energy, focus, drive and concentration will suffer.  This issue hits very close to home as I am currently supporting my girlfriend as she pursues her Law degree.  When I say “supporting” I don’t necessarily mean monetarily, but more in the realm of helping her keep her sanity!

My girlfriend loves to exercise, but like most of us with little free time, working out often gets pushed to the back burner and soon forgotten entirely.  When we encountered this problem we assumed it would be easily rectified by budgeting time towards going to the university gym or using her apartment complex’s gym.  When even this got too difficult, we had to think of other options.  Since time was of the essence, we had to think of a way to fit in a good workout with utmost convenience.  In other words, no traveling to gyms, no long bouts of boring cardio and no expensive pieces of equipment.  What then are my options you might ask??….well, about 10sq/ft, a countdown timer app on your Iphone, a TRX Strap, some dumbells, and most importantly your body.

The 10 Minute Law School Workout goes like this:

Set your timer to countdown from 10 minutes.  You are much more likely to complete a good hard workout if your tell yourself for the next 10 minutes I am going to exercise.  The time itself is small enough to deter your own laziness, as even 10 minutes of doing anything can’t be that bad.  By setting a time you have now also taken away any ambiguity as to how long you will exercise.  You have a set goal, and an attainable one at that.

Next, you are going to select 4 exercises from 4 different categories of exercise.  For instance, category 1 will be pushing or pressing exercises.  This may include pushups, dumbell overhead pressses, or band presses.  category 2 will be a leg exercise such as lunges, squats, dumbbell swings, or single leg squats.  category 3 is a pulling exercise.  This of course is any exercise that you pull either your own body weight or some form of resistance.  Examples are TRX recline rows, bent over dumbell rows, or pullups.  The 4th category is a core exercise like a plank, side plank, glute bridge or stability ball rollout.  The exercises in each category stress or challenge a different form of human functional movement.  By doing all 4 in a workout, you get a good balanced routine that will reduce the likelihood of injury during future workouts and more importantly might help to counteract all those hours of sitting on your rear in the library.

Here are the rules: Complete 10 repetitions of each exercise (excluding the core exercise) before moving on to the next.  Use a timed rep for the core exercise like 30 seconds.  Rest whenever you need it, but fight the urge to look at your timer.  Your goal should be to complete atleast 4 total sets of each exercise.  I can promise you, at the end of 10 minutes you will be sweating.  You will notice that your heart rate has jumped even higher than what it probably gets to when you do your hamster wheel cardio on the elliptical.

While I am sure you know all of the physiological benefits of exercise, what you may not know so much about, is how it affects your concentration, focus and mental acuity immediately after.  The mind and body are not separate entities.  Exercise releases dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephine.  These neurotransmitters help to control thoughts and emotion.  Toxic levels of stress can erode signal pathways in the brain and depression can actually shrink certain areas of the brain.  Exercise helps to release chemicals that can reverse this process and develope the brain much like muscles develope after working out.  When we move and contract our muscles, proteins are released into the blood stream and make there way to the brain to influence our highest thought processes and improve out cognitive function.  John J Ratey talks about this and much more in his book Spark – The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and The Brain.

So, next time you are thinking about waking up an hour early to study before that test, you may want to also include this 10 minute workout blast to jumpstart your concentration levels.  It sure beats the perk of that Mocha Latte Frappacino Coolata 🙂

 

Back Pain And Golf

Back Pain And Golf

Back Pain And Golf

Back Pain And Golf

You don’t have to be a spine specialist to realize the back doesn’t enjoy bending and twisting and it definitely doesn’t like to do both at the same time. Wait a second, isn’t that the golf swing?  In a nutshell, yes.  The two definitely do not mix.  The consistent sheer force and rotational loading of the spine created by the swing is responsible for 36% of the most common golfing injuries.  The HIGHEST.  It shouldn’t be surprising then, that almost all of us have experienced back pain that has kept us from playing at one point or another.  While the lumbar spine is gifted in its ability to rotate, bend and extend, its primary function is to support the upper body, therefore a high degree of stability is necessary for proper back function.  In most cases of back pain, the individual is lacking  gluteal strength, hip mobility and mid to upper-spine mobility.  These limitations and restrictions place a great demand on the lower back to do more than it is designed to do.  The compensation pattern that results is created by dysfunction, which leads to overloading, which will develop into over usage, which will eventually cause injury and pain.

Knowing this, our posture at set up becomes increasingly important.  Making sure our spine is in a neutral position and our bend comes from the hips can be vital to maintaining spinal health while golfing.  A training program focusing on core stability and hip and thoracic spine mobility will also go far in preventing injury.  In addition, make every effort to sit properly and stand up frequently.  

If you are doing the following exercises to “help” your back, please discontinue them asap.

  • The back rotation machine:  the spine is supposed to move in sync with the pelvis.  When locking down the hips and pelvis you are doing more tissue damage than strength building.
  • The conventional crunch machine:  Here is a herniated disc waiting to happen. Replace this exercise with a standard crunch and your spine will thank you for it.
  • The back extension machine:  This is a physical therapists dream.  Keep banging out reps and you are sure to see one.  Replace this one with the back extension on the physio ball.