Youth Training Programs

Attached are your active recovery training and daily nutritional protocols for next week. As you establish your schedule for next week – specific to your training, strive to change thing up.  Choose a different time to train, change the location of your workouts, complete your warm up a little different, etc. – the idea is to offset a performance plateau by doing things slightly different from every perspective possible. 

Athletes live by a clock: whether it is measuring interval times or how many months before a big race, we’re constantly thinking about where the time goes. We not only have to plan when we are going to train, but also all the other things that have to be completed in a day that affects performance: eating, stretching and getting enough sleep. To help you get the most from your daily efforts, here are some reminders on how to optimize your training & racing efforts.

Eat Prior to Working Out

If you eat too soon before you head out, you could be plagued with G.I. (gastro-intestinal) issues. But if your last snack or meal was more than three hours ago, you could run out of energy. The goal is to time your meals & snacks to provide a stabilized blood sugar level throughout your training sessions specific to your intensity levels.  Accomplish this by eating every 2 hours after you wake up in the morning.

Allow 2 hours after eating a complete meal before exercising – this allows for complete absorption and proper purging avoiding cramping.  If you are tight on time, consume 8-10 ounces of Energy Fuel just prior to provide your brain and muscles the easily absorbable carbohydrates and electrolytes necessary for optimum muscle contraction and sweating.  

Foam Rolling

Use a foam roller before your workout and/or before working out. The direct pressure helps vasodilate (open up) the tissue bringing fresh blood to the muscles about to be used.  When you foam roll prior to stretching, you will reduce the activation of the Stretch Reflex, reducing your risk of a pulled muscle.  Click here for more information about the Stretch Reflex.  

Chronic aches and pains like Achilles tendinitis, planter fascia, etc. benefit from direct pressure before exercise because it increases blood flow & muscle elasticity. Training is more productive when tender/sore spots are warm. Start by rolling with a tennis ball move to a lacrosse ball then manual massage then sport specific exercise. Click here for foam roller & trigger point video resources. 

Warm Up

Your warm up is an activity that allows the body to transition from inactivity to activity and to distribute the blood flow into the extremities. This distribution of blood warms up the muscles, tendons, cartilage and ligaments avoiding any cramping or tearing. Click here for more information about the benefits associated with a good warm up.  

Refuel

Immediately after training, your muscles and liver are looking for simple sugar to replenish your storage levels for the next workout. Your window of opportunity is 20-30 minutes after you finish because of an enzyme (glycogen synthase) that is at its highest activity level immediately following exercise. By consuming real food that is easily digestible is the key to optimum replenishment and recovery. 

By implementing these non sweating performance elements on a daily basis, just adds another tool to help you Work Smart, Not Hard and Avoid Overtraining!

Yours in sport & health,

-Coach Robb, Coaches and Staff

Thought of the week:

“Success is knowing what you want; happiness is achieving what you want.”