Quarterbacks Improve Throwing Arm With Power

Quarterbacks are always looking to improve their throwing arms. Just lifting weights and increasing arm strength won't do the trick for you. What you need is more power and explosion, or speed strength. Improve your arm speed.



What's the best way to improve your arm speed? You need strength and power in your legs, core and arm (particularly a strong shoulder).

Power needs to be transferred from your legs through your core to your throwing arm. This will increase your arm speed and throwing distance. Many athletes have strong, powerful legs but weak cores.

Along with your weightlifting program, you need to include power exercises like squat jumps, vertical leaps, sport-specific plyometric exercises and sport-specific medicine ball exercises. These power exercises should be performed at FULL SPEED.

Three medicine ball power exercises that quarterbacks should do are the medicine ball rotational throw, medicine ball soccer throw and medicine ball one-armed throw.

Quarterbacks, improve your throwing arm by "powerizing" your entire body.

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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!

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Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Improve Speed Acceleration For Football

Training with towing sleds will improve your speed acceleration for football but not your overall speed. Speed acceleration training with towing sleds is not the place to start when training for acceleration.....it is an advanced training method that can cause more harm than good if your body is not ready for it.

Speed acceleration is important because you rarely reach maximum running speed during a football game. So, the player who can accelerate the quickest will make the plays that win football games.

Greek researchers found that athletes training with towing methods (sleds, tires, etc.) improved their running velocity over the first 20 meters (i.e. acceleration) but that overall maximum speed did not improve.

The researchers found that unresisted sprint training techniques improved maximum speed velocity more. So, resisted and unresisted training has a place in the overall speed training program. Finally, the researchers found that towing sleds that were too heavy forced the athletes to use bad running mechanics.

So, for developing acceleration speed in the first 20 meters, towing methods teach you to drive force into the ground, use arm drive and overcome gravity and ground forces. Many football plays take place within 20 meters, so acceleration and quickness is critical.

If you use a tow sled that is too heavy, it will affect your running mechanics. Start with a sled about 10% of your bodyweight. As you progress, you can use heavier sleds as long as your running mechanics are correct.

What's the take home lesson? Experienced football players with enough strength and power should use speed acceleration training with towing sleds.

Get your copy of my eBook "Sports Fitness Hut's Speed Training for Athletes" to see a full discussion on speed training!

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

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Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Improve Your Speed, Quickness and Coordination

Improved speed, quickness and coordination will help you to be a more competitive, high-level athlete!

Improved dynamic balance will help you "stay on your feet like a cat" and make more plays!

Here are some more training tips:

Incorporate many one-legged exercises such as power step ups, single leg squats, single leg good mornings, single leg medicine ball exercises, etc.

Include exercises with your eyes closed to improve limb position sense (proprioception).

Train your body in all 3 planes of motion to improve multi-planar balance. An example would be a grouping of walking lunges, side lunges and transverse lunges.

Train on different surfaces such as grass, sand, astro-play and soft surfaces. You will rarely play on a perfect surface anyway.

Do combinations of one-arm and one-leg exercises such as single leg squat-to-single arm shoulder press.

Jump rope every day using different variations---two feet, one foot, shuffle, etc. Jumping rope is one of the best body coordination exercises out there. And, speed jump rope is even better.

Better muscular balance will give you better dynamic balance. For example, your quadriceps should not be significantly stronger than your hamstrings.

Quickness and agility drills will improve your dynamic balance.

Balance training also improves your core strength. Balance exercises should closely mimic those actions required by your sport.

Train hard and smart!

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Bodyweight Strength And Power Workout

Bodyweight strength and power workouts are great for sculpting your body without your joints taking a pounding from lifting heavy weights!



To get your muscles to improve power (how fast your muscles can produce force), do some or all of the exercises full speed.

Getting stronger and stronger won't help you much if your power doesn't improve. Also, you will really burn fat when doing exercises at full speed!

Bodyweight workout circuits are a tried and true method to burn more fat, increase strength/endurance and improve heart health.

Do each exercise (10 repetitions) one after the other with little or no rest between exercises. Rest 2-3 minutes and do the circuit 2 more times. Here is a good bodyweight workout:

--Bodyweight squats, moderate pace
--Pullups, moderate pace
--Pushups on medicine ball, moderate pace
--Squat jumps (pictured above), full speed
--Back extensions, moderate pace
--2-Handed medicine ball chest pass, full speed

Use correct form and get after it!

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Improve Lateral Sports Power

Improve your lateral power (side-to-side power) and you will explode out of your cuts and side shuffles! You won't be a great athlete without lateral speed and power!

The medicine ball side lunge exercise works the often neglected frontal plane (lateral movement) of motion.



The medicine ball side lunge forces you to decelerate movement through one hip at a time, placing greater emphasis on the gluteals and hamstrings. It trains you to move correctly in the lateral direction.

Many knee ACL injuries occur when athletes place too much stress on their knees and not enough stress on their hips during deceleration. In other words, the hips are often under-used during sports activities.

You will improve your lateral speed and power only if you have adequate strength in the frontal plane of motion. And, you will leave the defender eating your dust!

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Nutrition For Champions!

Don't take sports nutrition lightly! All champions have the right sports nutrition! Fuel your body with the right foods to help you compete at a high level!

Sue Bird is an elite athlete by anyone's standard. She has been a champion at every level from high school to the UConn Huskies to the U.S. National Team to the WNBA's Seattle Storm! She has been a WNBA All-Star and All-WNBA in each of her four seasons! Sue is known as a fierce competitor. Following is an interview of Sue on the WNBA's website:



Q: What is your motivation when don't feel like working out, running that extra mile, or waking up early?

Sue: "My motivation is actually thinking about the feeling I get once working out is over. Working out can be hard sometimes. Especially if you're tired, your muscles are sore. But whenever you're done working out, there is always that relief that it's over, like ahhhhh, and you feel really good about yourself. And that helps me to get through it."

Q: Was there a time in your career or lifetime of playing basketball when you thought about giving up the game?

Sue: "No, never. I'm too young for that."

Q: How important is a healthy diet and good nutrition for your overall success?

Sue: "When I was in college, and even my first few years in the WNBA, I took nutrition for granted. I didn't pay attention. I ate McDonalds and stuff.

But when I went to Russia this past offseason, I made a concerted effort to eat right. I made my own food, not just relying on fast food. Kamila actually helped me with that a lot. So when I came back, I was in the best shape of my life and I really felt the difference. So now I'm a big believer in watching what you eat."

Q: What are some snacks you like or favorite meals?

Sue: "As for snacks, I don't really snack as much as I used to. When I do, it's mostly things like cheese and crackers, fruit."

As I always tell my clients, YOU NEED TO EAT LIKE AN ATHLETE! Case closed!

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Baseball Training Tips From Derek Jeter, World Champion

You need baseball training tips from Derek Jeter, captain of the New York Yankees! He is a champion with 5 baseball world series titles, the latest being this November 2009! Jeter won 4 titles in his first 5 years in the major leagues (1996-2000)! Enough said!

Jeter is also my favorite baseball player so I will listen to what he has to say about baseball training tips. He is an admitted hard worker and plays the game hard every play, every day! Young players need to follow Jeter's example! If the King of New York plays the game "with all-out effort," you should too!



In the April 2008 issue of Men's Health, Jeter talks about his training regimen. He plays one of the most demanding positions in baseball (shortstop) so he must be in peak condition for the long season. He doesn't go into a lot of detail about his workouts but he does list some workout principles.

1. Do a thorough, dynamic warmup before each practice or game like jumping jacks, lunges, arm circles, pushups and bodyweight squats. Research has proven that a dynamic warmup will prepare your body best for competition.

2. Jeter does a balanced weight training workout in order to prevent injuries and muscle imbalances. Some examples are deadlifts, pullups, rows, squats, lunges, shoulder presses, bench presses and core training. Rotational core training is critical for baseball players.

3. For his explosive training, Jeter does sprints and jump training (plyometrics) to keep his fast twitch muscle fibers tuned and working at peak performance. Fast twitch muscle fibers are crucial for speed and power and also the ones you lose the quickest as you get older.

See this post that discusses other baseball training exercises.

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Train Like A Champion!

So, you want to train like a champion? Read this article about a true champion!

No training tips article would be complete without talking about the work ethic of legendary football player Jerry Rice! When you are the best, what else is there to do? If you're Jerry Rice, you just work even harder! That's almost not fair! Even his peers admit that Jerry worked harder than every one else. Here is an excerpt from a Men's Fitness interview:



MF: Your off-season training routine was the stuff of legend. What was the hardest thing about your workouts?

Rice: The hill sprints were about two-and-a-half miles up, and the last 800 meters were completely uphill. We ran it for time, and if you could get around that 15, 16 mark, that was excellent. A lot of guys came to train with me over the course of my career, and a lot of guys fell by the wayside.

You know your body is going to be sore, and you know there's going to be some days where you don't want to get out of bed, but still, you're obligated to do that, and that was my approach to the game. I enjoyed every second of it. A lot of guys dreaded going to training camp. I looked forward to it, because I had already prepared myself.

I was in top shape. Whenever I stepped into that stadium, I felt like I owed the people something. I wanted them to walk away with something special on that given day.

MF: How important was your weight while you played in the league?

Rice: One year I might come in weighing 189 or 190 pounds, so I really had to focus in on what I was putting in my body. Then, if I wanted to get a little bit heavier, I would start eating a little bit more protein to put me up in the 200-pound range.

A lot of my teammates thought I was crazy because during the season, if I didn't weigh 188, 189 pounds—under that 190-pound range—right before the game, I would go to the stadium early and do the stairclimber for 45 minutes or an hour or ride the bike.

I had to be at the weight that I felt comfortable at, and I think that was very important because when I stepped on the football field, I felt good. I was ready to go, I was at the weight that I wanted to be at, and then I just had to go out there and perform.

MF: What kind of supplements do you take?

Rice: I think the thing that really helped me is that I started using Elations during the off-season, and it really took me to the next level. It's a product that's good for your joints. If I wanted to play football all over again, I think I could do that. You can check out elations.com for more info.

MF: What do you remember about setting the all-time TD record against the Oakland Raiders on MNF?

Rice: Yeah, you know, they threw it up, and we just went up and fought for it. You know, it's funny, Bill Walsh taught me that. He would always say, "Look, you always want to attack the football at its highest peak."

So when the ball's up in the air, everything slows down. It was unbelievable. The ball slowed down, and I started thinking about what Bill Walsh said, to go up and attack the football at its highest peak, and I was able to catch it. I came down with it, and I had guys trying to wrestle me for it, but I was able to hold onto it.

MF: As someone who's been highly motivated for his whole career, what kind of tips can you offer our readers as to how they can stay motivated?

Rice: You just have to want to do it because you know it's going to benefit you. I feel so much better when I go to the gym. Even those days where I feel like I don't want to go, I still push myself to go and I feel so much better after. It puts a very positive spin on your day. That's going to help you in the long run.

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Speed And Power Kills!

Powerful athletes make more plays! Teams with speed and power usually equals winning teams---AT ANY AGE GROUP!



Getting stronger and stronger won't help you much if your power (how fast your muscles can produce force) doesn't improve......power improvement also improves your running speed.....

Here are 2 tips to improve your sports power:

1. Do your exercises in a standing position because most athletic movements are done standing and moving....you will also work all the trunk and hip stabilizer muscles and not just the abdominals.

Your core muscles are crucial for power movements like throwing, jumping and hitting. Many players lose power because of weak cores. For example, when throwing, power must transfer from the legs through the core to the arm. When your body is adequately strengthened and stabilized, do exercises full speed to develop maximum power!

2. Your training program needs to include exercises in all 3 planes of motion since sports movements happen in all 3 planes. This would include your sport specific training.

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Metabolic Training Improves Speed Endurance

Use metabolic training to improve your speed endurance.

Interval training for speed endurance is different than regular speed training. Speed endurance sprint intervals last from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Also, recovery time is reduced to prevent complete recovery by the athlete. Here is an example of speed endurance training:

Shuttles - Place cones at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 yards. You would sprint to the 5 yard cone and sprint back to the start. You would then sprint to the 10 yard cone and sprint back to the start. The same would be done at the 15, 20 and 30 yard cones. That is one set. Rest for 2 minutes between sets. Do 5-6 sets.

Metabolic training can also be used to improve speed endurance. Metabolic training simulates actual game time activity. An example would be for an offense in football to simulate the entire game in practice (i.e., huddle, run a play, huddle, run a play).

Many sports such as football, basketball and soccer require different levels of strength, speed and power.

For example, soccer requires constant running---jogging, half-effort sprints and maximum effort sprints. Football requires short bursts of power, sprints, jogs back to the huddle and endurance. Football also requires relative strength, which is the strength level per unit of bodyweight. Basketball requires repeated sprints, jumps and sub-maximal effort runs and cuts during the game.

No matter the sport, metabolic training can get you in peak condition for your sport.

Metabolic training means that you are being conditioned at the cellular level. You can make improvements in resting heart rate, cardiac output and blood volume. Your body fat will also decrease.

Metabolic training will make you a better conditioned athlete and will allow you to use your skills more efficiently for a longer period of time (speed endurance). The strongest and fittest players and teams at the end of the game usually end up as the winners.

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Improve Leg Power To Improve Speed

Improve your leg power and your running speed WILL IMPROVE! To get your best time in the 40 or 60 yard dash, you need an explosive start to accelerate as quickly as possible.

Improving your leg power means that your leg muscles will produce more force in a shorter period of time (fire faster). Leg power helps your speed acceleration.

The standing long jump (or broad jump) is a test of your explosive leg power. The NFL Combine uses the standing long jump as one of its test for athletes.



Use a soft athletic surface such as grass, astro-play or rubber floor to perform the long jump.

1. Stand behind a marked line.

2. Swing your arms back and bend your knees to propel your take-off.

3. Use a 2-footed take-off and landing. Jump as far as you can and land without falling backwards.

Your jump is measured from the take-off line to the nearest point of contact which is the back of the heels.

Results of your long jump:

Excellent:

Male, 8.5 ft. and above
Female, 6.5 ft. and above

Average:

Male, 7.5 ft.
Female, 5.5 ft.

Poor:

Male, 6.5 ft. and below
Female, 4.5 ft. and below

Include standing long jumps in your training to improve your leg power and running speed.

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Too Much Speed Training Leads To Injuries

Have you been over-training with your speed drills? With speed training, less is many times better than too much! Avoid injuries by wisely planning your speed work.

"Quality speed training" work is better than just "quantity of speed trainig" work. Speed training for 5-6 days a week will break down your body and lead to injuries.

When you do quality speed training, like 3 days a week, you give your body the needed time to recover. If you've had a very intense speed workout, your body needs at least 48 hours to recover.

Speed training, unlike endurance running, will not benefit you more by doing more and more speed work. Choose quality speed work over quantity of speed work (less gives more benefit). So, doing sprint training every day will eventually give you mental and physical exhaustion.

Also, if your body is exhausted, you will not be able to give the "maximum effort" it takes to improve your running speed. You have to train fast to get faster.

Even during a quality speed training workout, you need adequate rest between sprints. So, if you are doing 80 yard sprints, rest about 8 minutes between sprints (about 1 minute of rest for every 10 yards sprinted).

Finally, speed training should be done at the beginning of your workout when you are fresh. Your body's neuromuscular system is highly fatigue-prone at high intensities.

Train smarter and not just harder!

Need more sports training tips? Subscribe to my Sports Performance Tips eNewsletter and get my Free eBook, "10 'Must Know' Speed Training Tips!"

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!

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!