Thrower's Elbow Prevention

Prevention of thrower's elbow is the best policy! Thrower's elbow can put you out of game action and cause other compensation injuries.



Thrower's elbow affects both sides of the elbow. It is a common injury for any sport that requires a throwing motion---baseball pitchers, football quarterbacks, tennis serving or volleyball spiking.

Thrower's elbow is distinguished from tennis elbow (usually affects the outside of elbow) and golfers elbow (usually affects the inside of the elbow).

So what causes thrower's elbow? Overuse of the elbow is the most common cause of thrower's elbow. The throwing motion stretches the structures on the inside of the elbow and compresses structures on the outside of the elbow.

Poor throwing mechanics is also a leading cause of this injury. Damage to the muscles, bones (fractures and spurs), ligaments and tendons around the elbow joint and forearm causes thrower's elbow. This damage eventually causes a restriction of the throwing motion, inflammation and pain.

Pain is usually felt on both sides of the elbow joint and may even be felt as far down as the wrist. If your elbow doesn't get treatment and rest, blood flow could be cut off. The nerves that control the muscles in the forearm could also be pinched. Some numbness may be felt.

Prevention of thrower's elbow is the best solution. Here are some tips:

1) Warm-up and stretch adequately. This should not have to be said but many don't take this advice seriously. It is important to increase blood flow and oxygen to the areas you will be using (forearm and elbow).

Without a proper warm-up and stretching routine, the muscles and tendons will be tight and stiff and more susceptible to injury. An example would be the rotator cuff stretch.

2) Strengthen and condition the muscles of the forearm and wrist. This will put less strain on your elbow.

3) Avoid overuse of your elbow and get adequate rest from sports competition.

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In Season Strength And Power Training

In season strength and power training is crucial for you to perform at peak levels all season.



Some coaches have their teams do little or no strength, power and speed training during the season. This is a huge mistake and the effects of it is seen as players wear down towards the end of a long season.

For some sports, increases in strength and speed may still be needed during the season (as in track and field). In other sports, such as baseball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse or football, strength and power needs to be maintained during the season.

You don't won't to lose any of the hard-earned strength, power and speed you improved in your offseason program!

In general, a weekly training program that includes 1 strength, 1 speed and 1 plyometric workout during the season will maintain your strength and explosiveness for competition.

The strength workout doesn't need to include "max out" lifting but should include full body strength training in the 8-10 repetition range for each exercise.

The speed workout can also be as simple as running ten 60-yard sprints at maximum effort before practice. Players should also perform all drills, scrimmages, plays, etc. at full speed. This way, you will continue sport specific speed training during the season.

The plyometric workout should include exercises for the upper and lower body such as medicine ball throws, depth jumps, squat jumps, tuck jumps, etc. During the season, some coaches incorporate plyometric training into regular team practices.

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Metabolic Training For Peak Conditioning

Metabolic fitness training will get you in peak condition to play. It 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.

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.

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

Metabolic training for football players could be set up to mirror the actions, plays and situations found in a 4 quarter game. That is, the training would mimic every play in the game as well as rest periods and time between plays. The same could be done for any sport's game. The goal is for you to be physically fit to play your sport at the highest level.

Train hard and smart!

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Hip Extension Exercise Improves Athleticism

Do the hip extension exercise to improve your athleticism. You MUST continually condition and strengthen your hips and glutes. You won't be very much of an athlete without strong, flexible and powerful hips!



Your core consist of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex. So, it is important to strengthen the hips, shoulder girdle and core areas. The Hip Extension exercise (prone position) is one that you should add to your athletic exercise program if you are ready for it.

1. Start by placing your hands on the ground and your feet up on the wall.

2. Proceed to bring one knee in towards your chest and then kick your leg back to the wall using your glutes.

3. Repeat for the desired repetitions and then repeat with the other leg.

Train hard and smart!

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Train Planes Of Motion, Not Just Muscles

You should train planes of motion (or movements) and not just muscles. If you move like a strong robot, you have probably just built up your muscles without training movements. If your movements are not fluid, you won't succeed much in sports.

As an athlete, you need your body parts to be "in tune" with each other. This way, you function as a "smooth-operating" athlete with little or no wasted motion.

Your kinetic chain (human movement system) consists of the muscular system, skeletal system and neural system. Postural problems and muscle imbalances cause these systems to "malfunction" and you won't play as well......you will probably also end up injured.

You need your body to be operating smoothly in all 3 planes of motion:



1. Frontal Plane – imaginary bisector that divides the body into equal front and back halves. The motions primarily involve abduction and adduction (side-to-side motions). Abduction takes a limb away from the midline of the body and adduction takes the limb closer to the midline of the body.

Examples include exercises performed on a hip abductor and hip adductor machines. Other frontal plane motions would be side lunges, dumbbell lateral shoulder raises and lateral spinal flexion. Quickness and agility movements made by athletes require adequate frontal plane stability, strength, power, flexibility and balance.

2. Sagittal Plane – imaginary bisector that divides the body into left and right halves. The motions involve forward-backward and up-down movements relative to the body and/or joint.

Examples would be walking, running, bicep curls, leg curls and seated back rows. Traditional training techniques (such as training with machine weights) have focused on the sagittal plane of motion. This is not an effective training technique if the other planes of motion are ignored during training.

3. Transverse Plane – imaginary bisector that divides the body into top and bottom halves. The motions are primarily rotational. Obviously, this will be a dominate plane of motion for many athletes. Baseball players (swinging, turning, pivoting, etc.), football defensive backs (hip rotations, quick turns, etc.) are just two examples.

Are you making the progress you should be with your sports career? If not, do something about it now! Your sports fitness program should be designed and directed by a professional. Click on the link below to get started on your way!

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Get Athletic Power With Core Power

Get more athletic power and explosion with more core power. Power exercises are done at full speed to train your body to move faster with control and strength.



Great dynamic core strength and power allows you to generate more power when you are tired. This allows you to defeat your opponent or outrun your opponent.

One of the first signs of fatigue that I look for in an athlete is whether he or she can remain strong and upright towards the end of the game. If your core is weak, you will start to "bend over" and lose power and explosiveness when you run.

Next, your arms will start to "flail" instead of pumping powerfully to fuel your running.

Adequate core strength helps your speed endurance, which is the ability to maintain maximum velocity or a percentage of maximum velocity for a prolonged period of time or in a fatigued state. The best players and teams have excellent overall body strength, core strength and speed endurance (and they win the most games).

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Burn Fat During Football Offseason

Football training in the offseason is the time to burn fat, get stronger and improve speed and power. If you are too fat, you won't be the football player you could be...you would not reach your potential!



Stop me if you've heard this phrase:

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!

I am seeing too many "fat athletes" on every level of competition--from the professional ranks to the kid ranks! If you want to be your best playing football, you need to control your body fat. Offseason training is the perfect time to improve your body and skills.

The best way to burn body fat is to increase muscle mass through regular weight training (including power and bodyweight exercises). Body composition is the key to peak athletic performance. Stated another way, how much lean mass does your body have in relation to fat mass. One major athletic goal should always be to decrease fat mass to an acceptable level for your sport.

Have you ever seen an overfat football player who was performing at a high level. That same player would perform at an even higher level if his body fat was at an acceptable level for athletes.

Acceptable levels of body fat for football players are between 6-13%. Running backs, receivers, defensive backs and some linebackers should be on the lower end of this body fat range. Linemen would generally be at 13% or above.

The point is this: if you are serious about your athletic performance on the football field, being overfat will not help you achieve your highest athletic potential.

Blast the body fat and become a better football player!

Train hard and smart!

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Sports Massage

Sports massage is another tool you can use to improve performance. The purpose of your massage will determine what type you get. A massage can help you prepare for competition, recover from competition or rehabilitate an injury.



The sports massage therapist has many techniques available. For instance, techniques used in deep tissue and swedish massage can be combined with other techniques like neuromuscular therapy, myoskeletal alignment (postural distortions), proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF stretching) and myofascial release techniques. There are also specific massage techniques for injuries of the ankle, hamstrings or other muscle groups.

Sports massage can help you reduce stress, tension and adhesions built up in the soft tissues (muscles, skin, tendons, etc.) during intense competition and overuse. Some of the benefits of sports massage include improved flexibility, tension release, relieving of swelling, alleviation of fatigue and prevention of injuries.

I will discuss two popular sports massage techniques in use today. As I stated earlier, the massage therapist can also use other techniques to enhance the massage process.

Swedish Massage - Its purpose is to increase circulation and oxygen flow in the blood. The massage strokes are often in the direction of the heart. This massage also releases toxins from the muscles such as lactic acid and uric acid (decreases recovery time from muscle strain).

Shiatsu - This massage technique uses finger pressure to stimulate the body's energy flow. The therapists can also use the thumbs, palms, knees, forearms, elbows and feet to provide pressure.

Some of the physical benefits of Shiatsu are stimulation of the circulatory, lymphatic and hormonal systems. The nervous system is also better regulated after a Shiatsu massage.

One tool that the massage therapist often uses is proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF stretching). This technique is effective when dealing with hamstring muscle problems.

If you are an athlete, give sports massage a try. It will give you one more competitive advantage you need to compete at a high level.

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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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Knee Injuries And Rehabilitation

Knee injuries happen to athletes. You might sustain a knee injury. Rehabilitation of a knee injury can be a long process but you can recover.



If you rush the rehabilitation process, you will reinjure yourself! One of the most devastating knee injuries is a knee ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injury.

A knee ACL (anterior cruciate ligament tear) injury rehab is a process that can take 8-12 months. And, if you play a sport, it will probably take another year for you to regain your former speed and power (or as close as you can).

Your knee injury rehab will probably start with you and a physical therapist. The rehab process is a team approach---you, your physical therapist and your personal trainer.

You should rehab the injured knee area as follows:

1. Restore the range of motion.
2. Restore flexibility and strength of the injured knee area.
3. Regain balance lost because of the knee injury.

Stop any exercise that causes sharp pain. Continuing an exercise in pain will only set your rehab back.

Restoring the range of motion is critical because it lays the groundwork for future training. Range of motion should be restored in all 3 planes. If you had a knee injury, you might have to begin your exercises with partial range of motion (working towards full range) in one plane. You would gradually work towards including exercises that required sideways, rotating, twisting or turning actions.

Once range of motion is restored, you can then begin to introduce light weight training exercises and stretching exercises to strengthen the injured muscles, tendons and ligaments. It is also important to stretch and strengthen the areas around the injured area. Use of machine weights, isometric exercises (the injured area contracts but doesn't move), resistance bands or bodyweight exercises are all good in the rehab process.

Balance and proprioception (limb position sense in 3D space) must be restored or the injury will probably reoccur. When a part of the body is injured, the nerve cells in that area are also damaged. This affects your control and the stability of the joint structures. Once you have regained some strength and flexibility, you should begin to do balance exercises. You could start with simple exercises like walking in a straight line and progress to one-legged or closed-eyed exercises. You would then gradually progress to stability ball exercises, foam cushion exercises, BOSU exercises, etc.

The rehab process should not be rushed. Trying to come back too fast from a serious knee ACL injury will almost certainly lead to reinjury.

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Stabilization Strength And Power For Athletes

Stabilization strength and power are critical for your athletic success on the field or court. As an athlete, you should be involved in a comprehensive training program to prevent injuries and burnout. The three building blocks of integrated training for the athlete are:

STABILIZATION (2 Phases) – Primary goals are to correct muscle imbalances, joint dysfunctions, postural distortion patterns, improve kinetic chain integrity and reconditioning/rehabilitation.

STRENGTH (3 Phases) – Primary goals are to improve stabilization strength/endurance and increase muscle hypertrophy (growth) and strength.

POWER (2 Phases) – Primary goals are to enhance neuromuscular efficiency, increase power production, increase speed strength and create neuromuscular adaptations throughout the entire range of motion.

All seven phases of training may not be necessary for all athletes. For example, some sports do not require optimum levels of muscle hypertrophy.

The training program is Multi-Planar (sagittal, frontal, transverse), Multi-Joint (exercises such as bench press, squats, lunges), Multi-Dimensional (stabilization, strength, power), Proprioceptively Enriched (high neural demand) and Sport-Specific.

You should follow a systematic approach with the following goals in mind: injury prevention, body fat reduction and increased lean muscle mass, strength, endurance, flexibility and performance. Rate-of-Force Production (muscles producing force in the shortest period of time) is one of the best physical indicators of the level of an athlete’s performance and future success.

Muscle Contraction Spectrum and Contraction Velocity Spectrum

You should train using the complete muscle contraction spectrum (eccentric, isometric, concentric). All muscles function eccentrically (reduces force), isometrically (stabilizes force) and concentrically (produces force). Furthermore, eccentric contractions are able to produce the most tension development followed by isometric contractions and lastly, concentric contractions.

If eccentric contractions are able to produce the greatest tension development, then more time should be devoted during training for eccentric contractions. Concentrating more training time on eccentric contractions would decrease injuries such as knee ACL tears. Also, strong eccentric contractions are critical for athletes to produce maximal power since all force production (concentric) must be preceded by force reduction (eccentric).

Athletes perform movements during practice and games at different speeds. Therefore, your training regimen should include sport-specific exercises that incorporate eccentric, isometric and concentric contractions at different speeds.

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Speed Training Is Effective With Recovery

You can only run full speed when your body has recovered. That means you need adequate rest between sprints in order to run each one at full speed. About 1 minute of rest is needed for every 10 yards sprinted. So, if you are running 40 yard sprints, rest 4 minutes between each sprint.



You have to train fast to get faster! This might sound simple but how many times have you seen coaches have their players run "sprints" after practice. That IS NOT speed training---that is general conditioning!

Coaches, instead of having your players run sprints after practice, make sure that they practice at full speed during practice and drills. And, a better tactic would be to run sprints before practice when your player are fresher (they would still need adequate recovery between sprints).Metabolic training and speed endurance training is also important for athletes.

The same holds true for plyometric exercises such as squat jumps. These drills need to be done at full speed with adequate recovery time between sets. Drills like squat jumps help improve speed and power.

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Overstriding And Braking Slows Speed

Overstriding and braking are two of the most common running mistakes that slows your speed.



When you overstride, your heel lands first with your foot well ahead of your body's center of gravity. This causes "braking" and slows you down. Its also a good way to get injured. The heel should never touch the ground when you sprint.

Make sure your feet land under your hips (your center of gravity) and you'll improve your running speed! You'll generate more power running this way.

When the foot leaves the ground, it should follow a path straight up to the buttocks. It should not flail from side to side.

Strengthen and condition your hips, glutes, thighs and hamstrings. These groups make up your athletic "power center" and great athletes dominate with these muscle groups.

Train smarter and not just harder!

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Squat Exercise Max Out?

Don't "max out" on the squat exercise. There are better, less risky ways to determine your 1 rep maximum on the squat exercise. Some have experienced injury from doing the squat exercise because of incorrect technique or from "maxing out" on the squat. I don't ever recommend "maxing out" because you are asking for low back and knee injuries.

The squat exercise (with or without weights) should be a part of your workout regimen. It is an exercise that requires leg strength, core strength and good posture. It is a great exercise to build muscle and burn fat. And, squatting is something we do in every day life. Unfortunately, the squat exercise has gotten a bad rap from some people.

1. Get a tight grip with the bar resting on your shoulders. Your elbows should be pointed downward to help you keep your upper back (trapezius muscles) contracted and to keep your back from rounding. Lift the bar off the rack, step back and stand with your feet a little wider than shoulder width. The toes should be turned slightly outward to keep undue pressure off of your knees.

2. Take a deep breath and begin the lift. Push your head and shoulders up and back (keeps the bar from coming forward) and push your hips back as you bend your knees. The bar, knees and feet should be in a vertical line. Sit back on your heels as you lower the weight. Maintain the normal arch in your lower back at all times while keeping your posture as upright as possible (don't let your shoulders fall forward). You don't have to lower your thighs to below parallel.

3. Don't let your knees cave in at any point in the squat exercise. As you lower the bar, try to push your feet outward without actually moving them. This will keep your knees aligned properly. Once you have lowered to the desired squat position, contract your glutes and thighs and explode upward to the starting position and exhale. You have done one repetition!

Don't substitute the squat exercise with lunges, leg presses, leg extensions, etc. Instead, supplement the squat exercise with these other leg exercises. And, there are many variations of the squat exercise such as single-leg squats, body-weight squats, dumbbell squats and prisoner squats.

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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Explosive Strength Training Improves Power

Explosive strength training will improve your power and game performance. Just as you can do medicine ball exercises, plyometric exercises and light dumbbell exercises explosively, you can also lift heavier weights explosively.



Lifting weights explosively is an advanced form of exercise and shouldn't be done by beginners or youngsters. Your body should have the needed stabilization and strength before beginning explosive lifts.

It doesn't help you improve as an athlete to continually get stronger if power development is not there also. Power, or speed strength (how fast your muscles can produce force) is one of the best physical predictors of success in sports.

Research has proven that only lifting heavy weights at a moderate or slow pace will not improve your explosive power.

Especially at the start of the lift, explosive lifting can be done for exercises like (5-6 repetitions):

--Bench press
--Shoulder press
--Squats
--Leg press
--Hamstring curls
--Calf raises

Bodyweight exercises, like (6-8 repetitions):

--Power step ups
--Bodyweight squats
--Pullups
--Pushups
--Inverted rows

Medicine ball exercises, like (8-10 repetitions):

--Throws
--Chops
--Slams
--Rotational exercises

Lift explosively, safely and improve your power!

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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