Improve Dynamic Flexibility With Lateral Lunge Steps

Improve your dynamic flexibility with lateral lunge steps. As an athlete, you MUST improve your dynamic flexibility in the frontal plane of motion (side to side movements)...



The exercise is done by shifting your weight to the right and then to the left followed by a pivot. This leaves you facing in the opposite direction and the exercise is repeated.

The frontal plane of motion is often "under-trained" by athletes and that's a big mistake! Many athletic movements are done with side-to-side or lateral motions. Adequate lateral speed depends on strong, flexible hips.

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Spiderman Lunge Improves Hips and Hamstrings

Improve your hip flexibility, hamstring strength, low back flexibility and overall leg flexibility with the spiderman lunge...



a. Begin in the pushup position with arms extended. Lunge forward with your right leg bringing it outside of your right hand.

b. Hold this position and reach down with your right elbow towards your right ankle, lowering your trunk and hips toward the ground.

c. Walk both hands forward until your body returns to the pushup position.

d. Do the same for the other leg.

The hips, hamstrings and low back can hamper your playing career if you don't continually take care of and condition them! That is why I write so much about hips and hamstrings...

The spiderman lunge is one of the best exercises for speed athletes and can be used during your dynamic warmup.

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Strengthen Your Core And Hips

As an athlete, you need to always look for ways to strengthen your core and hips...one good exercise that you may not be doing is the side plank with lateral hip raise....



1. Start with the side plank, keep your body straight and torso braced (as if taking a punch to the gut).

2. Hold the side plank position for 5 seconds.

3. Raise your top leg and hold for 1 count. That's one repetition.

One neglected area of training for many athletes is improving lateral strength and lateral speed. As an athlete, many of your movements in games involve lateral movements like shuffles.

Part of your athletic "power center" is your core and hips...you need to constantly condition and strengthen them so your body is ready to "fire on demand" in the heat of competition!

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Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Preconditioning To Prevent Injuries, 3

I have established that preconditioning or "training to train" should be a major part of your training! Prevent or minimize your injury risk so you can stay on the field and compete! Coaches can't use you if you are always hurt!

Certain weight training exercises are good preconditioning exercises. They include:

1. Lunges (forward, reverse, lateral and transverse)
2. Step ups (front, lateral and transverse)
3. Shoulder exercises
4. Trunk exercises like planks, bridges and cobras
5. Hamstring exercises like glute/hamstring drops and hamstring curls
6. Pushups, Pullups and other back exercises
7. Bench Press
8. Squats (including single leg)

Many of these exercises can be done as bodyweight exercises.

These exercises should also emphasize concentric (force production), eccentric (force reduction) and isometric (force stabilization) contractions.

Eccentric contraction training of muscles can significantly reduce your injury risks. Eccentric muscle contraction weight training is the lowering phase of a lift. For example, you would lift the weight on a hamstring curl for one count and lower the weight for 3-4 counts.

Exercise smart and precondition your body!

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Preconditioning To Prevent Injuries, 2

Preconditioning or "training to train" is important and you shouldn't skip over it! Sports fitness training's main purpose is prevent or minimize injuries while helping you compete at a high level.

Preconditioning can be done all year to supplement your main training program.

Part of preconditioning is making sure your running mechanics are perfected. Bad running mechanics can cause injury when you start to run at full speed. For example, if you over-stride when running, it will cause a "braking effect" which will slow you down and possibly cause groin and hamstring injuries.

Another common running mechanics problem is a "lazy heel" when it leaves the ground. The faster the running speed, the higher the heel on the rear foot should kick up. When the foot leaves the ground, it should follow a path straight up to the buttocks. It should not flail from side to side or lag.

Part of preconditioning is TRAINING YOUR BODY WITH CORRECT BIOMECHANICS (movements) for weight training, speed training and power training!

You can also precondition your achilles tendons after a speed workout because of the increased blood flow to the tendons (this area normally doesn't get strong blood flow).

Another big part of preconditioning is to improve MUSCLE FLEXIBILITY AND JOINT RANGE OF MOTION. A good time to do this is after a workout when the body is warm and blood flow is good. Pre-workout dynamic flexibility exercises are also important.

Stay tuned for more on preconditioning....

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Eat Right And Train Right This Summer

With summer on the way, many of you will be training more to improve for school sports like football, soccer, basketball and wrestling...many of you will not eat right (usually not enough or the wrong foods)!

What are your goals for your body? Do you need more muscle mass? Do you need to gain weight? Do you need to burn fat? Whatever the goal, eating right will help you reach it and haphazard eating will stop you from reaching your goal!

Download your Free Report, "What to Never Eat After You Workout!" Fuel your body all day to give you better results during and after workouts.

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Preconditioning To Prevent Injuries, 1

Preconditioning is "training to train" in order to prevent or minimize injuries. Muscle areas such as the hamstrings need preconditioning because the hamstrings are prone to injury.

Preconditioning can be done all year to supplement your main training program.

Injury risks like torn anterior cruciate knee ligaments, achilles tendon strains/tears and hamstring pulls can be lessened with proper training.

Eccentric contraction training (force reduction) of muscles can significantly reduce your injury risks.

These exercises help build eccentric contraction strength:

1. Running downhill.

2. Depth jumps (emphasize the landing and hold only).

3. Eccentric muscle contraction weight training (i.e., the lowering phase of a lift). For example, you would lift the weight on a hamstring curl for one count and lower the weight for 3-4 counts.

4. Improving your muscular balance. For example, your quadricep muscles should not be significantly stronger than your hamstring muscles. Your frontside should not be significantly stronger than your backside. And, your left side should not be significantly stronger than your right side.

One-legged and one-armed exercises help you to maintain muscular balance.

5. Range of motion should not be restricted. Do exercises with a full range of motion unless you are in rehabilitation. Rehab exercises are done to restore your full range of motion.

More on preconditioning tomorrow.....

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Strengthen Your Weak Knee With Step Ups

I have strengthened my weaker left knee (and the tendons, ligaments, etc. around it) by doing exercises like step ups.



Step ups force you to balance and work one leg at a time with no help (compensating) from the other leg. While playing football in college, my left knee had continually gotten weaker with each passing season. I didn't want surgery and opted to rehabilitate the knee with exercise.

Even today, one-legged exercises like step ups (on knee-high platform) are a big part of my exercise routine. Other one-legged exercises like lunges are great because one-legged exercises use the same pathways that it takes to run and they help improve your balance.

Using the right exercises can help prevent and/or rehabilitate injuries.

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Excellent Vision Is Underestimated In Sports

Excellent vision is definitely an underestimated attribute that athletes need in sports....height, weight, speed, strength, jumping ability, etc. are often mentioned when talking about a recruit or prospect....ever heard anyone mention "vision performance" when talking about a hot-shot baseball, football or basketball recruit? I didn't think so...read my article on Vision Performance.

Athletes need to know which eye is dominate especially in sports that require a ball. If you don't know which eye is dominate, get tested by an eye doctor.

Every athlete also needs to constantly improve hand-eye coordination. You can work on hand-eye coordination every day. Do drills like:

1. I always recommend that athletes jump rope to get better overall hand, eye and body coordination.

2. Playing games like ping pong improve your hand-eye coordination.

3. Play catch with the ball in your sport as much as possible. Training your hands and eyes repetitively can help you even catch a ball without looking, if needed in a game.

4. Improve your vision in these areas:

a. Dynamic Visual Acuity
b. Visual Recognition
c. Depth Perception
d. Visual Tracking or Focusing

There are vision performance specialists that can help you improve in these areas.

Don't forget to improve your vision while you're improving your strength and speed!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Train Your Body During Baseball Season

Just because your baseball season has started doesn't mean that you can stop training your body....the baseball season is long and grinding so you need to continue to strength train between games. If you don't, you will find your body beginning to wear down and your performance suffering.

At the least, you need one day of full body strength training and one day of high speed power training....this will keep you one step ahead of the competition.

If you're playing a 70 to 80 game college schedule or a 162 game professional schedule, you can see how your body will wear down. Don't let all the progress you made in the offseason go to waste!

Your full body circuit weight training should be with light weights and high repetitions (10-15 repetitions per set) and your power training could consist of high speed medicine ball exercises like medicine ball chops, rotational throws, soccer throws, squat jumps and slams (8-10 repetitions per set).

Have a more successful season by training during the season!

Download your FREE All-Star Baseball Power Workout Manual and improve your strength, power and explosiveness on the field!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs

Sports Fitness Hut has been included in Masters In Healthcare's 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs!

Here is a quote from the site:

"Unless you’re a pro athlete with a personal trainer and sports medicine team on call just for you, it can be hard, and expensive, to find the quality information you’re looking for to help you with your training and recovery. These bloggers, however, share their expertise in physical and occupational therapy, pain management, conditioning techniques, and nutrition to help athletes stay healthy and safe while they play."

It is an impressive list of sports medicine and fitness blogs and I'm honored for Sports Fitness Hut to be on the list!

Check out the list!

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Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Sports Fitness Hut's Golf Power Workout!

If you want to swing your golf club with more power (club head speed), then you need Sports Fitness Hut's Golf Power Workout book!

Golfers have not traditionally been "workout warriors" in the weight room. Thanks to golfers like Tiger Woods (a huge advocate of strength training), more golfers are seeking the benefits of strength training for their sport. Strength training not only makes golfers better players, but it also decreases injury recovery time and/or prevents injuries.

Low back pain and various other trunk-related injuries are common to amateur and pro golfers. Since the golf swing is one of the most explosive and biomechanically complex movements in sports, a player needs to follow a golf-specific strength and conditioning program. Failure to do so will inevitably lead to injuries.

With this workout, you will improve core strength, muscle endurance/strength, flexibility, balance, range of motion and power. You will be the best golfer you can be (whatever that may be). Core training is the foundation that improves your overall golfing game. The greater your core strength, the greater your extremity (limbs) strength and power will be. Posture, flexibility, strength, balance, stability and power will all be enhanced with a strong core.

Flexibility will increase joint range of motion which increases your club swing range and time for generation of force.

Strength alone will not do much to improve your club head speed. All the components work together to transfer the power generated in your lower body to your trunk, to your arms and finally to the club head. Finally, strength and conditioning (which includes cardio training) will allow you to have the muscle endurance you need to finish those golfing rounds on a strong note. Golfers, a great golf game starts with conditioning!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Happy Easter weekend!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Core Training Critical For Foundational Strength

Core training is a critical part of your foundational strength training. Here are the basics:

1. Slow to Fast
2. Known to Unknown
3. Stable to Controlled to Dynamic
4. Low Force to High Force
5. Correct Execution to Increased Intensity

You can start at the highest level of core stabilization training that you can control.

The dimensions of core stabilization training are:

Stabilization - The core exercises at this level involve little joint motion and are designed to provide optimum neuromuscular control. An example would be the plank on elbows:



Strength - At this level of core training, isometric exercises are replaced with dynamic, multi-planar and multi-dimensional exercises with the full range of motion. An example would be the ball back extension:



Power - At this level, sport-specific core exercises are used in all 3 planes of motion with the entire contraction velocity spectrum (different speeds). An example would be the medicine ball throw:



Train hard and smart!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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What You Need Before Sport Specific Exercises, 2

As I wrote yesterday, you need a good foundation before beginning sport specific exercises. Strength, flexibility and sports nutrition are keys to your success during competition....

"Sports Fitness Hut's Strength and Power Training for Athletes" eBook is a must read! In it you will learn the fundamentals of:

1) Integrated Flexibility Training
2) Core Stabilization Training
3) Balance Training
4) Integrated Strength Training
5) Power Training
6) Integrated Speed Training
7) Nutrition and Sports Supplementation

As you can see, training for strength and power is a comprehensive, systematic approach and it is much more than “gym science.” If you are a serious athlete, you will want a program that continually challenges and improves your physical skills!

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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What You Need Before Sport Specific Exercises

What you need before sport specific exercises is the foundation of strength, flexibility and sports nutrition....if you don't have this foundation, you won't be very good in your sport!

Promotion of plyometrics and sport specific exercises has gotten out of hand. Don't get me wrong, plyometrics and sport specific exercises are important but only if you have enough strength and joint stability to make these more risky exercises work effectively for you.

I'm seeing more and more young athletes with weak bodies trying to start a program of intense plyometrics. Many of them come to me with injuries they have gotten from group training classes in plyometrics.

A proper sports training system would go something like this:

1. Overall strength training (including core training) to stabilize joints, build muscle, correct postural problems, improve flexibility and implement nutrition program.

2. Progress to power exercises, speed exercises, plyometric exercises and sport specific exercises when your body is ready.

Don't skip to step #2 without adequately doing step #1 or injuries will surely follow!

Don't get your information from commercial advertisements---GET YOUR INFORMATION FROM A PROFESSIONAL TRAINER!

Train hard and smart!

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Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Improve Your Agility With Box Drill

The box drill will improve your agility (change-of-direction), quickness, speed and dynamic balance. Warmup thoroughly because this drill should be done at full speed.

Cones are placed 10 yards apart in a square. See illustration below to perform the drill:



Do the box drill on grass or other soft surface like rubber. Start in a standing 2-point or 3-point stance. Run around the outside of the cones at all times.

Sprint to cone 2, shuffle sideways to cone 3, back pedal to cone 4 and sprint to cone 1 (the finish).

You can also do this drill as a warmup before every practice to work on footwork even more.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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Train Smart And Prevent Injuries

Prevent, or reduce the risk of injuries with the proper sports training techniques.....

Warm-up properly to avoid injuries.... walking for 2 minutes is not a good warm-up. A good dynamic warm-up prepares your body best for intense practices or games. A sample dynamic warm-up could be a 5-10 minute jog, prisoner squats, cone/ladder drills, lunges, etc. Static stretches would be done after your workout or game.

Don't underestimate the benefits of sports massages. The benefits include improved flexibility, tension release, relieving of swelling, alleviation of fatigue and prevention of injuries.

Along the same lines, self myofascial release with foam rolls (SMFR) is a type of self massage that you can do every day and prevent various muscle injuries, strains and tears.

Protect your feet....its amazing how many injuries can be avoided by wearing quality footwear (interpreted: don't wear cheap athletic shoes). If you have flat feet or high arches you definitely need the right footwear.

Avoid various tendonitis injuries (pain, swelling) caused by over-training and wear and tear. Rest and recovery is important. R.I.C.E.R. (REST, ICE, COMPRESSION, ELEVATION, REFERRAL FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE) should be followed immediately after a muscle or tendon injury.

Train to lessen the risk of a knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury....it is the most common injury affecting the knee joint. Do this by having adequate hamstring strength and practicing proper landing, jumping, stopping and cutting techniques.

Continuing on with hamstrings...prevention of hamstring injuries is the best solution. They are tough to recover from so adequate hamstring strength and flexibility is needed to lessen the risk of injury.

Strengthen and stretch your throwing shoulder muscles to avoid rotator cuff, shoulder and elbow injuries.

Strengthen and stabilize your core to prevent injuries such as low back pain, oblique strains/pulls, neck pain, ruptured disks and various other muscle and ligament strains.

Forget about doing situps....there is a correct way to do situps but most people are not familiar with the technique. The hip flexor muscles are preferentially recruited to do much of the work during incorrect execution of situps. This leads to muscle imbalances and low back pain. Because of the injury potential from doing situps, you are better off finding safer ab exercises like planks and bridges.

Avoid shin splints by not over-training and wearing quality footwear.....also exercising on hard or uneven surfaces or excessive uphill or downhill running can cause shin splints. If you over-pronate (foot and ankle rolls excessively inward when running) you are at risk for shin splints (don't wear cheap shoes!).

Lessen the risk of a torn or injured Achilles tendon (the largest tendon in the body). It takes a full year to recover from a torn Achilles tendon. Stretch and stabilize the tendon with one-legged exercises, calf/peroneal stretches and Achilles tendon stretch.

You don't want Plantar Fasciitis (the long, flat ligament on the bottom of your foot stretches too much, small tears develop and the ligament inflames (ouch!!)! Folks, this is serious pain!

Plantar Fasciitis usually develops over time so takes steps to correct the problem when it first occurs by keeping your foot and ankle area flexible. Also, don't wear (you guessed it!) cheap running shoes! Excessive running on steep hills or inclines can also cause Plantar Fasciitis.

The point is this: prepare your body for competition (stabilize, strength, flexibility, etc.) and maintain your body over time. Don't ignore the warning signs---LIKE PAIN!

Train hard and smart!

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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What Middle School Athletes Need Most

I saw again this weekend what middle school athletes need most....

I was watching a client play baseball this weekend and I was talking to his dad about youth sports fitness training....he basically wanted to know what I thought middle school athletes needed most when it came to training.



It was an easy answer.....middle school athletes are usually lacking these 2 things:

1. Inadequate core strength and overall body strength....in other words, most of them are weaklings! Its not their fault, just a lack of strength training.

2. None of them eat as athletes should eat! Again, they just need a sports meal plan to follow.....then, they will understand how little they are actually eating.

These two things are the backbone of my training program for middle school athletes. Your young athlete needs a certain amount of foundational strength to be able to have a chance to compete in high school....and the summer months are a perfect time to get them started building muscle mass and core strength.

Be sure and download your Free Dumbbell and Medicine Ball Metabolic Fat Burner Workouts and start shaping your body faster!

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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