Effects of a Whole Body Compression Garment on Markers of Recovery After a Heavy Resistance Workout in Men and Women   Kraemer, William J; Flanagan, Shawn D; Comstock, Brett A; Fragala, Maren S; Earp, Jacob E; Dunn-Lewis, Courtenay; Ho, Jen-Yu; Thomas, Gwendolyn A; Solomon-Hill, Glenn; Penwell, Zachary R; Powell, Matthew D; Wolf, Megan R; Volek, Jeff S; Denegar, Craig R; Maresh, Carl M   Abstract: The primary purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the influence of a whole body compression garment on recovery from a typical heavy resistance training workout in resistance-trained men and women. Eleven men (mean ± SD: age, 23.0 ± 2.9 years) and 9 women (mean ± SD: age 23.1 ± 2.2 years) who were highly ...

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What does it take to be great? There are many qualities to consider. But what are the distinguishing qualities that separate a good skier from a great skier? In this article we will list qualities of greatness! 5-Site Integrity Excellent Movement Qualities Explosive and Reactive Great Work Capacity (sort of) Deliberateness 5 Site Integrity – To move correctly requires our whole body to work correctly. We can’t look at one joint, when we are developing an entire system. It takes mobility, control, and stability of 5 key areas during all our movements to develop a) movement efficient, b) power, and to c) prevent injuries. These 5 areas from head to toe are: cranio-cervico, scapula thoracic, lumbopelvis, knee and ankle and foot. Whether ...

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The Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies recently published an article by Eyal Lederman: The Myth of Core Stability. Mark Young made mention of it late last year so I figured I’d check it out myself. The following information is a summary of Lederman’s conclusions. But first and foremost… DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER! ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT STABILITY AND THE ROLE OF CORE MUSCULATURE Despite the role of the core musculature in creating spinal stability… Alterations and damage to the abdominal musculature (i.e. pregnancy, post-partum, post-surgery, etc) does not seem to directly influence low back stability and/or pain. Despite the exponential number research studies conducted in the last decade… Low back pain has yet to be directly related to spinal instability.   TIMING While the control ...

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Why do squats help you improve your vertical? Why do people perform exercises on a Swiss ball, and does this help to reduce injury and improve performance? Why should an athlete train their “core.” The answers to these questions are related a concept called Specificity. Understanding this concept is critical. It will reveal whether a program is well designed or designed to fail. While the concepts are not difficult to grasp, using them to analyze a training program will be shocking! So let’s get right into this important concept! Specificity relates to how an exercise translates into the sport performance. According to several prominent Strength and Conditioning Coaches 1-4 several key factors must occur if an exercise ...

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Your vertical, speed, agility and explosiveness are directly related to your abilities to produce force. Therefore developing your abilities to produce force will improve your athleticism. Speed, power, agility and explosiveness are slaves to force, power, and time. These are the dimensions we manipulate and develop to build a better athlete – we call this process Full Spectrum Training. We will discuss five concepts that related to force, power and time. Force Force to Weight Force and Time Force and power Reactive Abilities 1.1       Force  Force is a push or pull that can cause an object with mass to accelerate 3. We produce force from signals developed in the brain and delivered from nerves to control muscular contractions. These signals control the magnitude ...

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Today was the final day of competition, with men's and women's slalom, plus the provincial dual slalom race in the evening at Calgary Olympic Park. The course was set on the same course as the downhill, and so after 7 days of competition and practice on this hill, the snow was very hard and "grooved". The temperature was also pretty cold today, especially when you stand at the start doing a whole lot of not much like I was. The guys ran first and unfortunately, after looking forward to slalom all week, Dylan went out early in the course, he was joined by Tommy Grand, who was having a very good run early on but couldn't keep ...

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Day 7 was an off day for the guys and GS for the girls. After the length of the boys run, the girls were a little nervous about how physically difficult today might be. Thankfully for them, the course was shortened, and although still long, a little more managable. Unfortunately, compared to the boys, mother nature wasn't smiling, with the blue skies of yesterday disappearing, and the snow softening considerably. This made for plenty of DNF's and mistakes during the run from all level of skier. As expected the event was dominated by the national team skiers including Britt Janyk and Marie-Michelle Gagnon. The girls did their best but missed the podium today in both the senior ...

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Today was an interesting day, beautiful weather, new events, but unfortunately not the best of results. The boys had the Super G and the girls the super combined. The girls were expected to do reasonably well today, with good rankings in this event leading in. It was expected to be a tough day for the boys, this event isn't the best for any of the boys, and national team member Erik Guay was recently crowned World Cup Champion in this event. Things went to form for the boys, with all 6 of the team failing to finish, but on the girls side, Devon Clarke had a great result, finishing 4th in the junior women's and 7th overall, well ...

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First day of competition after the last day of downhill training was cancelled yesterday. WOW! All the athlete's did well, a few little errors that cost some people some time, but some amazing results as well. A HUGE congratulations to Kelby Halbert who finshed first in the junior men's and second overall in the senior men's. Let me put this into perspective for you, first place went to the Canadian cowboy himself, Manuel Osbourne-Paradis. Places 3rd, 4th and 5th went to skiers on the Canadian men's national team, including Erik Guay in 3rd who was recently crowned overall World Cup champion in the Super G event! On the women's side, two outstanding results were achieved. Emily Goad placed 5th overall in the women's downhill ...

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Day 1 began early today with a 645am departure for the hill. This is so the team can do their course inspection (see picture below), warm up runs and make sure everything is in order for the actual run. Today is only a practice run for the downhill event, but as with any training session it's important to train as you play. For a sport like alpine skiing, as I'm learning, training is important to work out the best way to ski the course and gather information based on your run, but also those of your competitors. Speaking of competitors, this being the senior national championships, that means competitors for this competition include members of ...

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