Articles by Brian Grasso on ArticleSnatch.com

Flexibility for Young Athletes- Q & A with Chris Blake

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Chris Blake, MA, LATC, CSCS, YCS What is the difference between Flexibility and Mobility? Flexibility can have two definitions: 1.) The ability of muscle to lengthen during passive movements. 2.) Range of motion about a joint and surrounding musculature during passive movements. Mobility can also have two ways of being defined. The main definition is the state of being in motion. But this state of motion can be looked at within certain joints (subtalar mobility) or as a physical whole (moving from one position into the next during a run). Are both important to young athletes or is one more important than the other? This is a great question. Both are important for the older athlete (ages 14-18+) as athletes within this age group tend to show more restrictions with both flexibility and mobility, often times once you take care of the flexibility then you improve mobility. But with the younger athlete (ages 13 and under) I wouldnât place much importance on either one unless there has been a certain injury that limits each.** End Summary**

About the Author:
Known as 'America's Youth Fitness Coach', Brian Grasso spends all his time training young athletes, children with disabilities and those encumbered with body weight concerns. He has authored two books on the subject and was recently featured in Newsweek magazine for his work in youth fitness and sports training. He has also been named as one of the 'Top 100 Trainers in America' by Men's Health magazine. Brian is the Founder and CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association and can be contacted through his website - www.DevelopingAthletics.com

The Functional & Athletic Aspects of Training Figure Skaters

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

As a given sport evolves and the participants within that sport begin to break records and perform what was once considered impossible, you can be sure that advancements in training and conditioning regimes have occurred within that sport. Very few athletes ever become great sport technicians without the inclusion of a comprehensive athletic development and conditioning program as part of their training package. Over the past decade, the type of training and conditioning performed by young, developing and elite athletes has gone from basic fitness to more functionally- based and developmental activities. Figure skating and all of the disciplines under that umbrella are such examples. Within the sport of figure skating there seems to be a dichotomy in terms of the conditioning efforts prescribed by training experts or professionals. On one side, there exists the 'traditionalists' who tend to offer up basic exercises such as bench press, squats and lat pull down supplemented with off-ice versions of on-ice skills. For example, many training coaches prescribe that their skaters practice landing jumps and performing balance based skills (such as spirals) off the ice.** End Summary**

Global Development vs. Sport Specific Training It's All in the Science

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

The goals of any trainer or coach working with a young athlete (pre-pubescent) should include increasing proficiency of motor ability, developing functional versatility (from a strength, movement and biomechanical standpoint) and lastly, inhibiting the potential negative effects of specialized training. Upon reflection, these points, both individually and collectively, lend to the credence that when working with young, pre-pubescent aged athletes, the mandate should be one of global, all-encompassing development rather than specialized ventures into sport specific training. With pre-pubescent children, muscle innervation is completed by roughly the age of 6 years. Muscle innervation refers to the final expansion of motor nerve endings within a muscle fiberâs interior. The impact of this action on motor coordination is quite profound. At the conclusion of the muscle innervation process (again, roughly by the age of 6, although individual variances occur), children are now able to learn and begin the process of establishing functional proficiency in gross motor skills and movement patterns. It is critical to understand, however, that the innervation process happens more quickly and earlier (chronologically) in larger muscles.** End Summary**

Flexibility for Young Athletes - Q & A with Dr. Kwame Brown

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Dr. Kwame Brown has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and is a founding member of the IYCA What is the difference between Flexibility and Mobility? Well, sometimes this is a confusing issue, as these terms are often used interchangeably. Mobility (also known in some circles as active flexibility) is where weâre talking about CONTROL of the body through a larger range of motion. The muscle group says âI want to move, and I can.â The contrast is passive flexibility, where an outside force will be asking the question, âCan I stretch you?â, and the muscle says âYeah, I guess soâ. There is no skill here, and it is my belief that those who are hyperflexible (too flexible) without motor control are just as prone to injury as those who are Hypomobile / flexible (not mobile or flexible enough) Are both important to young athletes or is one more important than the other? I think that, all things being equal, mobility is a far more valuable goal to pursue for our young ones.** End Summary**

Flexibility for Young Athletes - Q & A with Bill Hartman

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Bill Hartman is a Physical Therapist and Sports Performance Coach in Indianapolis, Indiana What is the difference between Flexibility and Mobility? Technically speaking based on textbook definitions there may be no difference, but I do tend to separate the two. Your simple textbook definition of flexibility is movement about a joint. I would consider that a more isolative concept by looking at a specific jointâs ability to move without any particular context. For instance, if looking at an ankle, how much dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, inversion, and eversion is available. Mobility requires context and considers motion relative to the rest of the kinetic chain typically in a dynamic situation. For instance, take the same ankle and now identify how much range of motion is available in the performance of a squat or a specific activity like during a change of direction at high speed. Because of the influence of parameters such as available strength, coordination, acceleration/deceleration, tissue stiffness, speed of movement, etc., the available range of motion may very well differ from that found during a direct open chain assessment of range of motion as done in a clinical setting.** End Summary**

Flexibility - Are We Hurting Kids?

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Flexibility remains a mysterious avenue within the sport industry, cluttered with myths, half-truths and opinion. Questions purvey in many trainersâ, coachesâ, and parentsâ minds as to the type of flexibility training one should perform, when they should perform it, and for how long. Of critical importance to this conundrum is the young athlete and how flexibility training should be applied to this demographic. This article will not answer every question you may have, but it will shed some light on a few key points. The scope of confusion regarding flexibility can be seen when considering the assessment tools most commonly used to test oneâs suppleness. The standard âsit & reachâ test is most often incorporated into pre-training assessments as the âflexibility testâ. In fairness, many coaches and trainers I have worked with cite the fact that the sit & reach is an indirect assessment of flexibility at best, and does not give a truly accurate picture as to the âglobalâ suppleness an athlete may posses considering that flexibility is joint specific.** End Summary**

The Concepts of Multilateral Development

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Children are not little adults. This statement's basic message is, in a word, obvious. We wouldn't expect our ten year old daughter to find a full time job and we won't be surprised if making the mortgage payment on time isn't the first concern our fifteen year old has when he wakes up in the morning. Why then in the sporting world do we expect young athletes to train, compete, think and react like adults? Young athletes are exposed to conditioning programs that are often well beyond their structural and neurological abilities and taught to emulate elite sporting stars in their mental approach to the game. Is this the way to produce world-class athletes, or are there different concepts that we need to learn, understand and implement? Without question the most mismanaged collection of athletes in North America are young athletes. They are encouraged to emulate professional sporting starts, criticized for efforts that 'don't measure up' and are often guided by well-intentioned yet largely uneducated coaches who don't understand the concepts involved with developmental athletics. Young athletes ARE NOT little adults; they have very specific and crucial physical laws associated with their development.** End Summary**

Sport Diversity - The Application Behind The Theory

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Multilateral development is a theory which urges young athletes to participate in several sports over their childhood and adolescent periods prior to specializing in one. The basis is that varied athletic stimulus will serve to broaden the youngsters' 'warehouse' or 'portfolio' of general athletic ability and develop a thorough or expansive base on which to build and eventually specialize. While the concepts are well known and the research citing success far reaching, it is still not an embraced reality within North American youth sports. By examining elite athletics, you can most certainly see the impact that multilateral development can have - Michael Jordan - played baseball and football as a youth Dave Winfield - a multi-sport phenomenon drafted by the NBA in addition to MLB Gary Roberts - an esteemed NHL veteran, played lacrosse at a high level as a youth Kurt Browning - 4-time world figure skating champion was an avid hockey and baseball player While these are just a few examples, the reality is that elite athletics is dominated by individuals who participated in more than one sport as kids.** End Summary**

Flexibility - More Than Stretching

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Flexibility is a very misunderstood concept. For starters, flexibility and stretching have long been considered to be the same thing, when in fact, theyâre not. Performing basic static stretches (like a standard hamstring or calf stretch) can certainly increase the resting length and decrease the tone of a given muscle, but that may have little to no effect on the actual flexibility that a young athlete has. Flexibility more precisely, refers to the range of motion (ROM) that a given joint can exhibit (as influenced by the muscles surrounding it). This range of motion, as the term infers, involves movement. Holding a static hamstring stretch for a certain period of time has no real impact on how well that muscle moves or to what degree it allows the joints that it effects to move. So why then, do so many youth sport practices start with stretching? One wordâ¦ Dogma. As parents and coaches, you have been exposed to the âpre-practice stretching habitsâ for years and therefore have always assumed them to be right. Your coaches did that with you. Their coaches did it with them.** End Summary**

A Practical Way to Prevent Overtraining

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In far too many situations throughout North America, strength coaches and personal trainers make common errors in their programming for young athletes, many of which can lead to overtraining syndromes - Critical Analysis of Biomotor Ability In working with young athletes, there is very little reason to ever âtestâ their ability at certain lifts or speed variances. Your programming guidelines must be based around instilling proper execution of technique in your young athletes from a lift and movement economy standpoint. Having said that, gleaning 1, 3, 5 or 8 RM values on any particular exercise should be deemed a distant secondary consideration to teaching the proper values of form and function. By using a âTeaching Modelâ of exercise development rather than a âTraining Modelâ you are taking the pressure off of kids to reach for biomotor improvements at the expense of developing sound technique. Changing Exercises to Often Although when training adult clientele, there are neural advantages to altering your exercise selection often, with young athletes the reality is that the initial stages of training should comprise little more than dedicated time to teach and become proficient in the basics of lift and movement economy.** End Summary**

Overtraining - Part 2

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

In my last article on overtraining, I offered the suggestion that as trainers and coaches, we must take a deeper look at how we program for and train our athletes. I have made a career out of advocating for the use of more moderate training intensityâs and volumes with young athletes, but this goes even further - it goes to the route of our programming abilities and skills. How much time do we truly spend in designing, monitoring and dynamically adjusting our training programs? General overtraining syndromes impact both the central nervous system as well as the endocrine system. Given that the regulation of many hormones within the endocrine system serve to oversee and manage our stress levels, it is fair to imply that general overtraining could be considered a stress related issue. Two types of general overtraining have been recognized - Addisonic Overtraining - This version is related to Addisonâs disease and involves a reduction in the activity of the adrenal glands. This class of overtraining impacts the parasympathetic portion of the autonomic nervous system, but shows no striking signs at first. A general stagnation or dip in an athleteâs performance (day-to-day) may be an indication or symptom.** End Summary**

Overtraining - Part 1

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I have long supported the notion that the zeal many Trainers and Coaches show with respect to conducting high intensity training sessions with young athletes is akin to the unsure actor who feels a need to âover-doâ his or her role in a given appearance for fear that the audience may disapprove of his acting ability. Almost like a âthey paid for it and now I must deliver itâ mind set. As a Coach, you sometimes feel as though you must have your athletes walk away from a training session dripping with sweat and barely able to open their car doors. After all, if they donât feel as though you are âtraining them hard enoughâ, they may opt to go and seek the services of a different Coach. The problem is that overtraining syndromes are not hard to develop with adolescent athletes and must be recognized as an issue with respect to programming.** End Summary**

Speed Training

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

As the parent of a young athlete, this is going to be the most important article you ever read. It has to do with speed training and, as a parent, what you likely donât know about that topic. More over, the incorrect information that many other Trainers and Coaches are giving you. Speed for young athletes isnât even about training â itâs about development. Much like you wouldnât expect your son or daughter to pass grade 2 or earn a bachelors degree in just 6 weeks, so to must you understand that optimal and lasting speed improvements donât come in a short period of time. They arenât the result of training on high speed treadmills. They donât come from doing jump or plyometric exercises either. The essence of creating maximal and permanent speed and agility is based on a developmental principal that involves slowly improving all of the biomotor abilities of your son or daughter. Biomotor abilities are strength, flexibility and power. You see, with the human body, increases in one biomotor ability will lead to increases or improvements in all of them. That is especially true for younger athletes. This may seem odd to you.** End Summary**

How to Warm-up Your Young Athletes

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

This may be among the most controversial and misunderstood topics within the entire youth development industry. Warming up for sport or activity is, in essence, preparing the body for the task it is about to do. This includes increasing body temperature and improving the efficiency of the nervous system (which controls movement). Warm-ups can generally be classified into two categories: General â Incorporates a broad assortment of movements in order to prepare the body as a systemic unit. Arousal of an appropriate âmental attitudeâ for the upcoming competition or practice is a valuable component of this phase. Specific â Involves precise actions or exercises relating to the particular sport. This serves as a more accurate neuromuscular preparation for the movements and tasks about to take place in the game or practice. There are two misleading notions regarding warm-up design that are generally believed to be true by many coaches, trainer and parents: Aerobic activity is the best choice as a warm-up exercise. Static stretching must precede all workouts, practices or games in order to reduce the potential for injury. The âaerobic activityâ phenomenon is a wide spread myth to say the least.** End Summary**

Why Do You Test Young Athletes?

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

How to test a group of young athletes has become a popular 'discussion board' question recently. I have seen this query raised on several prominent websites and have been asked about it a great deal over the last few months. Thus... my desire to touch on the subject. The common curiosity surrounds how to test absolute strength ability via 1, 4 or 8 RM (rep maximum). The thought process is that once a trainer or coach has a baseline measurement of a given athletes strength capacity, they can deduce two specific things: 1. The strength gain(s) that an athlete will see following a training program (because inevitably they will re-test the athlete at the conclusion of there 6 or 8 week training cycle). 2. The percentage of absolute strength the athlete can and should perform their training programs (for example, if a 1RM squat equals 225 pounds, than a âtraining weightâ may be 70% of that, or 158 pounds).** End Summary**

Kids and Exercise Machines

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

There is no real danger in kids performing machine based training under the proper supervision and appropriate guidelines. Many studies done the world over have concluded that strength based training programs done on this kind of fitness equipment is very safe for young children (again under appropriate guidelines). My issue is not whether or not kids CAN perform this kind of training, my question is WHY they need to. Back tracking for a second, I have watched (as I'm sure we all have) a very young baby struggle to get to their feet. In terms of strength output, this equates to a near maximal load. No one seems to be concerned about it until that child becomes eight or so years old and wants to lift weights... Then people want to call the police on you because you had the ignorance to let a child perform strength training! The bottom line is that kids CAN handle strength training based loads... heck they do everyday - hopscotch, tag, bowling, ANY sport - all these things require varying degrees of strength. Now the question of why.** End Summary**

The Machine Myth - Get Kids OFF Those Machines!

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Whenever I come into contact with a coach or trainer who preaches the virtues of machine-based strength training for young athletes, the same argument is typically offered â machines are safer for kids because they eliminate the dangerous aspects of traditional free weight training. This is simply a dogmatic mindset and not founded on any scientific or functional principles. It is a classic case of blaming the exercise or activity rather than the execution. In fact, having young athletes train on machines for strength development can actually lead to injuries and a whole host of other concerning factors. All sports are dynamic and require a great deal of systemic strength and stability to perform. More over, the strength/stability interplay needed to perform virtually any sporting activity is based on the body (or its parts) working as a unit, the way nature intended. By isolating certain muscle groups via machine-based training, you are eliminating the bodyâs natural capacity to provide both mobility and stability in an interrelated manner. This can essentially limit a young athleteâs ability to effectively produce force on the field of play while at the same time providing stability in other crucial areas of the body.** End Summary**

Plyometrics - How Watered Down Can It Get?

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Almost without exception, every âsport-performance training centerâ and youth sporting association in North America both markets and incorporates some degree of plyometric conditioning into the routines of the athletes they manage. More often than not, the trainer or coach prescribes an unintelligible series of jumping exercises and can be seen either holding a clipboard and a stop watch as they count and record the number of jumps or foot contacts a young athlete makes within a certain period of time, or barking out commands to âjump higherâ. Plyometric training has become such a âcatch-phraseâ in the vernacular of trainers and coaches that it is often marketed as a sole measure of distinction for a training facility or individual coach/trainer. Do you know how many sporting clubs, for instance, have told me that they would love to have their athletes train at my facility, but their Director of Coaching has a âplyometric classâ that he/she hosts every week and thatâs all the conditioning they need?** End Summary**

Coordination and Movement Skill Development:The Key to Long Term Athletic Success

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The key ingredient to working with pre-adolescent and early adolescent athletes is providing global stimulation from a movement perspective. Younger athletes must experience and eventually perfect a variety of motor skills in order to ensure both future athletic success and injury prevention. Developing basic coordination through movement stimulus is a must, with the eventual goal of developing sport-specific coordination in the teenage years. Coordination itself, however, is a global system made up of several synergistic elements and not necessarily a singularly defined ability. Balance, rhythm, spatial orientation and the ability to react to both auditory and visual stimulus have all been identified as elements of coordination. In fact, the development of good coordination is a multi-tiered sequence that progresses from skills performed with good spatial awareness but without speed to skills performed at increased speeds and in a constantly changing environment. As Joseph Drabik points out, coordination is best developed between the ages of 7 â 14, with the most crucial period being between 10 â 13 years of age. As with anything else, an important issue with respect to coordination development is to provide stimulus that is specific (and therefore appropriate) for the individual.** End Summary**

Teaching Technique - Laying the Foundation for Sporting Excellence

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Demonstrating good technique from a sporting perspective involves applying optimal movement ability in order to accomplish or solve a particular task effectively. A young athlete, for instance, who demonstrates sound technical ability while running is getting from point A to point B in an effective manner. Technical ability in a sport is typically the underlying measure for potential success. Good athletes are more often than not technically sound athletes. This reality, however, does not start and stop with respect to sport specific skills; this fact extends itself into the realm of general athletic development and the promotion or advancement of general movement abilities. The crux of athletic development as a science resides in the notion that before we create a sporting technician or specialist, we must first build the athlete by instilling competency in both basic and advanced movement abilities; this would include not only multi-directional movement skill but also the technical requirements of basic to advanced strength and power training exercises.** End Summary**

Sports ALL Kids Should Play

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

One of the questions that I get asked most routinely is which sports I believe offer the best development capacity to young athletes. This is a loaded question for several reasonsâ¦ First of all, ANY sporting activity lead by a quality-based coach is wonderful for kids. That being said, the true crux and efficacy of that statement is based largely on the âquality-based coachâ comment. It is only when poorly educated and over zealous parents and coaches (i.e. adults) get involved too heavily in youth sports that the experience can become sour. Parents often push too hard and seek success at a young age; coaches often are limited in their understanding of developmental science and routinely âdrillâ kids with âsport specificâ (I hate that phrase) exercises that are too narrow in scope (not to mention that many youth sport coaches donât know how to TEACH specific aspects of movement or speed and yet get annoyed when their athletes donât perform a given drill to a high enough standard). One the most prominent and problematic realities of the above comments is that there donât seem to be many (any?) outlets for kids just to play anymore.** End Summary**

Plan for Success - Youth Training

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

The most common problem facing Trainers & Coaches today with respect to developing young athletes over time is the ability to plan long-term. The personal training and coaching professions are most typically based on a session-to-session consideration - clients pay per session most often and Trainers create training programs one session at a time. The same is true for coaching sport - most Coaches script out one practice plan at a time, rather than create a relative flow for an entire month or even season. Limited Plan... Limited Gain The problem with this industry standard as it relates to youths and adolescents is that this type of shortsightedness serves to limit the potential gains made by a young athlete. It is not unlike running a business or corporation - when business owners take the time to organize their objectives and action steps for a given month or year, they almost always are successful at implementing the plan.** End Summary**

Importance of Play

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

A common misconception within the North American youth sporting world is the concept of 'play' for conditioning purposes. All too often, well intentioned youth sport coaches or trainers follow the leads established by the elite members of there respective sports and configure training programs and sessions into hard-droving or 'endless repetitions of one exercise' type affairs. It cannot be overstated enough how much this practice is counterproductive and impeding to the optimal development of young athletes. Let's examine that from a variety of perspectives - Mental - Young athletes are young CHILDREN. They do not posses the attention span to concentrate on one athletic skill for a prolonged period of time. Understanding this concept is paramount for coaches, trainers and parents - once a child becomes bored with a movement, they will inherently become frustrated and careless. This will lead to poor execution and incorrect form. Incorrect form can lead to acute or chronic injury and repetitive movements involving poor execution will inhibit potential development. Remember, it is all-encompassing athletic skill that leads to proficiency in single sports - not specialization. Emotional - Young athletes require constant POSITIVE and CONSTRUCTIVE feedback from there coaches.** End Summary**

Goal Confusion - Still Confused

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

My article last week on Ã¢â¬ËGoal ConfusionÃ¢â¬' seemed to have sparked a great deal of debate and, wellÃ¢â¬Â¦ confusion! Frankly, I think thatÃ¢â¬'s great. My email box was literally flooded with messages all week long from coaches, trainers and parents worldwide seeking clarification. Let me lay the ground rules firstÃ¢â¬Â¦ Ã¢â¬Â¦ I love it when you email me! I am not like other trainers online who expect you to eat up my concepts unconditionally. I have bragged to industry folks the world over about how passionate and insightful you are and quite honestly, many other trainers who have online newsletters are jealous of the fact that you care enough about the topic of youth sports and training to TAKE ACTION!!!! I canÃ¢â¬'t promise to return each of your emails personally (there were over 125 this past week!), but I do promise to read them all, and certainly strive to address your comments, concerns and questions in subsequent articles.** End Summary**

Goal Confusion

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

You really could open an interesting debate with respect to teaching sporting skills to kids. I did last week during a presentation I gave to area basketball coaches. Some trainers and coaches have decided that the skills required to achieve a certain task should be taught from the beginning. Others believe in the concept of motor patterning allowing the young athlete to find their own style of achieving a task. The debate gets even trickier when you factor in the varying nuances and therefore objectives of different sports. For example, in basketball, if the ball goes in the hoop, it doesnÃ¢â¬'t really matter how it got there. But in diving, you know going in that once you jump off the platform, gravity will pull you into the water the style in which you get there is all that really matters. Where do you sit on this debate? I asked the coaches in my audience the same question. Should you teach or even over-teach a certain style of execution to young athletes from day one, or should you allow the young athlete to learn the relative motor patterning via exploration and natural refinement?** End Summary**