Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Oh Internet, How I Miss You!

I apologize for being MIA for that past week. My cousin and I recently moved into a house together and we are still without Internet and cable. Needless to say, I do a lot of reading. Anyhow, I made a trip out to my parents house to get my Internet fix. I caught up on some blog posts from fellow strength coaches and trainers, checked out some T-Nation and found a few articles that I plan on reading this week.

Had my first session at Urban Active earlier this week. Two older gentlemen who are looking to get in shape and build a little muscle. We talked and did some evaluations Monday and started training last night. They are both new to resistance training and haven't been as active as they would like over the past couple of years. I plan on getting these guys to where they want to be, starting with building a solid foundation. This means a lot of stability work in the core and mobility work in the hips and shoulders. Once I can improve these areas then we can start to really get into some good strength training. We did some basic exercises last night to check form and see where these guys are and the form is something we will definitely have to focus on. Both of these guys are really great and fun to work with so I am excited to see the progress they make.

I have also been training a 12-year-old for the past couple of weeks. He is involved in pretty much every sport he can get into and is just wanting to get stronger since he is nearing high school. We have been working a lot on coordination and body control. Many kids don't have the body awareness to notice how their body is positioned during movement. Basic strength exercises using minimal (or no) external load makes up the foundation of his workout. My main goal with him is to strengthen his shoulder and hip joints while keeping the large range of motion he has. At the same time we want to get him using proper form during these movements so that we can keep him healthy and moving properly during his athletic endeavours. He has been learning very quickly and form has dramatically improved each week. Since he is younger, I don't want to overload his joints and cause problems, but strength training with body weight at that age is a great way to improve performance and strength.

I don't know when I will have Internet at my house but hopefully it will be soon and it won't be 10 days before I post again.

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