Outside the weight room non-traditional training drills. (Powerline 2002).AT MICHIGAN STATE, we like to challenge our athletes with a variety of strength and conditioning activities. As long as every possible safety consideration has been examined and approved by our entire staff, we remain very open-minded about non-traditional training techniques. In addition to our regular outdoor practice fields nearby, we have the luxury of an indoor football
Some of these drills are for conditioning; others are for strength/power, flexibility, and mobility. The accompanying illustrations depict several of our favorite drills. The Sand Pit Last summer, we built a large sand pit 50 yards long, six yards wide, and eight inches deep, in our outdoor practice area. It enabled us to design an exceptionally productive and metabolically challenging workout of running, agility, and jumping drills performed in deep sand. The leg and hip muscles are forced to work much harder when planting and pushing off in the sand. Leg lift also becomes more of a chore, adding to the development of the "knee punch" in sprinting. Many athletes use balance boards for stabilization and proprioceptive Proprioceptive Pertaining to proprioception, or the awareness of posture, movement, and changes in equilibrium and the knowledge of position, weight, and resistance of objects as they relate to the body. (neuromuscular neuromuscular /neu·ro·mus·cu·lar/ (-mus´ku-ler) pertaining to nerves and muscles, or to the relationship between them. neu·ro·mus·cu·lar adj. 1. receptors) purposes. A sand pit offers a natural alternative to balance boards with many more exercise possibilities. We perform a multitude of straight ahead sprints, jumping drills (Photo 1), and lateral movement Lateral movements are movements made on a horse that are used for training purposes, that involve the horse moving in a direction other than straight forward. They vary in difficulty, and should be used in a progressive manner, according to the training and physical limitations of drills in an interval fashion. All of the principles and guidelines for interval training Interval training is broadly defined as repetitions of high-speed/intensity work followed by periods of rest or low activity. This training technique is often practiced by long distance runners (800 meters and above) although some sprinters are known to train using this that we have described in past articles apply to our sand-pit work. Trap Chute Our offensive linemen use a device called the "trap chute" for many of their blocking drills. It is a steel device, 28 feet long and 5 feet wide, with an adjustable top so it can be raised or lowered to fit the drill and height of the athletes using it. We use it with athletes from many different sports for drills involving a good knee bend posture. In Photo 2, two of our basketball players are performing a lateral shuffle drill. A coach will give a right or left direction command and the players must react with speed while maintaining the correct body position. Other drills include a straight-ahead "duck walk The Duck Walk is a guitar move made famous by American guitarist Chuck Berry, and adopted by others such as Angus Young from the band AC/DC and the Swedish rock musician Ulf Dageby of Nationalteatern. ," which is simply walking with the knees bent at approximately 90 degrees, and a backward duck walk. To apply overload, the players will wear weighted vests or hold medicine balls while performing the drills. Spartan Sleds These are harnessed, steel sleds (Photo 3) that have a horn for adding weight plates. They are excellent for resistive resistive /re·sis·tive/ (re-zis´tiv) pertaining to or characterized by resistance. running drills and we use them in a variety of interval sprint drills. When using these sleds, we do not use the kind of weight that would negatively affect the running mechanics (check our Feb. '01 issue). Simply put, we want to incorporate an overload aspect to the running drill without compromising correct running techniques Running is the most natural of all athletic activities in sense that most of us often start out running as a little kid and continue throughout the course of our lives. The beauty about running is that all you need is a good pair of shoes, shorts or tights and a t-shirt or a vest and . Hurdle Series Track hurdles are great for developing leg/hip flexibility and strength, knee bend, and as a general warm-up activity. Photo 4 shows members of our basketball team squatting under the hurdles, which accomplishes all of these goals. We also perform a variety of both straight and bent leg drills while walking through the middle of the hurdles. Note: We have 12 hurdles lined-up for these drills. Two of our favorites hurdle drills: * Straight-leg scissors scissors Cutting instrument or tool consisting of a pair of opposed metal blades that meet and cut when the handles at their ends are brought together. Modern scissors are of two types: the more usual pivoted blades have a rivet or screw connection between the cutting ends . Face the front of the hurdles and walk through the middle while kicking the leg as straight and as high as possible to the side as you step over each hurdle. Repeat with the other leg. * Bent-knee lead. Face the front of the hurdles and walk through the middle while lifting and bending the leg and leading with the knee over the hurdle. Repeat with other leg. Plate Pulls A simple, yet very effective exercise. All you need is a long, sturdy rope and a couple of heavy weight plates. We make a secure knot through the holes in the plates and perform the arm-over-arm pull from both the standing (Photo 5) and seated positions. This is an excellent strength movement for the upper back, arms, and, most assuredly, hand/grip strength. It is also a favorite with our ice hockey ice hockey: see hockey, ice. ice hockey Game played on an ice rink by two teams of six players on skates. The object is to drive a puck (a small, hard rubber disk) into the opponents' goal with a hockey stick, thus scoring one point. players, including the one pictured, for these reasons. Clydesdale Pull Following the same basic theme as the Spartan Sled sled, vehicle that moves by sliding. A sledge is typically a heavier, load-carrying sled drawn by a horse or dog, while a sleigh is a partially enclosed horse-drawn vehicle with runners that has seats for passengers. , the Clydesdale Pull incorporates our large wooden sleds. Two or three players can be hooked-up to them (Photo 6) with additional weight (plates or sandbags sandbags small sacks containing sand used to support an anesthetized animal in dorsal recumbency and prevent it from rolling sideways during anesthesia or surgery. ) being added to the sled's platform. Each player is forced to pull his own weight, otherwise the sled will not drag evenly. This aspect of the drill adds a touch of accountability for the athletes. We have four of these sleds, which allow us to conduct sprint interval relay training -- a great, competitive conditioning tool. We often match-up offensive and defensive players for relay races that cover the length of the field. Stretch Bands Another way to incorporate resistance running over shorter distances (i.e., 10-15 yards) is with the use of thick stretch bands. Shown here is the use of these bands from the sprinter's start (Photo 7) and upright (Photo 8). They can also be used for backpedaling and several combinations of all of the above. We normally perform 3-5 sets of 5-8 rapid-fire reps of the given movement with short relief intervals (20-30 seconds) between sets. Final Rep Variety, competitiveness, and good old-fashioned fun are the operative words when taking the conditioning program to a different environment with the use of odds and ends that are slightly out of the ordinary. Both you and your kids can enjoy these activities, while at the same time attaining excellent strength and conditioning results. Coming up in the January issue: How we combine these implements with some other fun stuff to create our Team Building Competitions. SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO: Ken Mannie Michigan State University Michigan State University, at East Lansing; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1855. It opened in 1857 as Michigan Agricultural College, the first state agricultural college. Duffy Daugherty Hugh "Duffy" Daugherty (born September 8, 1915 in Emeigh, Pennsylvania; died September 25, 1987 in Santa Barbara, California) was the head coach of the Michigan State University Spartans football team from 1954 to 1972, where he compiled a career record of 109-65-5. Building East Lansing East Lansing, city (1990 pop. 50,677), Ingham co., S central Mich., a suburb of Lansing, on the Red Cedar River; inc. 1907. The city was first known as College Park, but was renamed when it was incorporated. , MI 48824 (517) 355-7514 mannie@msu.edu |
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