Performace4

VertiMax Training at American Top Team Coconut Creek American Top Team S&C coach Brian Harris putting UFC fighter Shawn "Savage" Jordan and Steve Montgomery through a MMA circuit workout utilizing the VertiMax.

First CrossFit Study: It Works Wonders, If You Can Survive - Blog

* A general, aerobic warm-up or a general aerobic warm-up followed by dynamic stretching are the best types of warm-ups for optimizing countermovement jump performance
* Static stretching leads to reductions in performance, irrespective of where it is placed in the warm-up.
* The position of static stretching in the warm-up has a significant effect on countermovement jump performance. Positioning the static stretching at the end of a warm-up causes a large reduction in jump performance, while the addition of static stretching to the beginning of a warm-up causes a small reduction.
* Where warm-ups must involve static stretching in order to achieve full joint range of motion, static stretching is best performed at the outset of the warm-up.

Let’s be honest– initially most of us feel pretty stupid sitting in a quiet place and “visualizing.” Despite a preponderance of evidence that visualization works, despite it being a staple of professional teams and Olympians, it just seems like it belongs to people sitting on a rock in Sedona instead of being an integral part of sports training. I played Lacrosse at Air Force Academy where we were well taught to strategize, pre-think and predict, but at the core I felt like visualizing was something that should be relegated to Quidditch players at Hogwarts.

Well guys, get out that rock,and start practicing how to use your mind as a training tool. Visualization should be practiced as religiously as any sports practice; there’s a ton of solid, scientific evidence that it works and is a significant competitive advantage.

Basically, Visualization can be used in three ways:

To Learn – to develop a movement or sequence of movements correctly. Once the brain understands the sequence, the brain “teaches” the muscles to perform the action(s).

Building Confidence – visualizing the details of successful sequences or events in the past builds the psychological confidence of an athlete.

Run throughs of different possible scenarios. Visualizing the different options you have in a given playing situation sets you up to be able to execute those scenarios.

This is how Learning Visualization works:

When you do something for the first time, let’s say run the 40, your brain builds a neurological pathway. It’s not a sturdy road at that point, think of it as a dirt trail beaten through the woods. Each additional repetition of that sequence of movements lays down another layer of dirt, more repetitions lay down gravel, more repetitions pave it with asphalt; with enough repetitions you have a smooth road. Just as driving on a smooth highway is easier and more efficient than driving on a rutted dirt trail, it’s easier to do anything that is a “smooth road” in your brain. When you visualize a movement sequence in detail you are building that roadway in your brain. Visualization induces a specific pattern of autonomic (involuntary nervous system) responses, so your muscles know what to do. Your physical practice consciously carries those actions out and strengthens the muscles needed to do so.

Now the kicker – visualization takes practice. Some people can visualize a movement or sequences in detail immediately – most of us can’t. Visualization requires concentrating on just one thing in great detail. For most of us that means we have to be physically relaxed and really work on relaxing our minds. A lot of us find it easier to block out the rest of the world if we have a mind routine, a kind of pre-visualization warm up. For me it was visualizing walking out of the locker room, opening the door, stepping out of the door and starting to walk down the hill. Once I had mentally walked down the hill and reached the practice field then I went through the skill or sequence visualization numerous times. For another athlete the visualization warm up might be building a mental image of getting ready to practice- you have to experiment to see what works best for you. Practice Visualization 10 minutes each day, it seems to work best early in the morning, but that’s not practical for most of us so just pick a time to mentally practice and stick to that time the same way you would a physical practice. And, keep at it. We’ll go over the competitive advantages it can give you and examples from the sports world next week.