Mountain Climbers Develop Hips, Core And More

Use the mountain climber exercise to develop your hips and core which will improve your speed and power. You will be a better athlete.

It is one of the best and toughest exercises out there. Challenge yourself and do this exercise full speed for 3 sets of 25 repetitions (each leg).

It is a compound exercise in that it works the calves, quadriceps, glutes, back, chest, triceps, abdominals and shoulders. You will need high levels of core strength to do this exercise the right way for each set.

Do the mountain climber this way:

From a push-up position, keep your back flat (do not let your back bow) and pump your legs as fast as possible like you are running in place. Don't scrape the ground with your shoes as they run forward. And, don't let your glutes "sag to the ground" when you are fatigued.

There it is! Try it the next time you work out!

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

Explosive Box Jumps Gives You More Speed And Power

Explosive box jumps is an exercise that will improve your speed and power. You will need enough body strength to do this exercise without injurying yourself. So, build your foundational strength first and then proceed to high speed exercises like the explosive box jump.



Speed strength, or how fast your muscles can produce force, is the key to improving your speed and power. Just getting stronger will not continually improve your speed and power. You must train your muscles to move faster with the correct motions.

Plyometric exercises, like explosive box jumps, help you to increase power. Traditional barbell and dumbbell strength exercises don't allow you to move at the speeds necessary to improve power. Strength training gives you the muscular and nervous system development needed to develop optimal power.

When you do box jumps, the platform needs to high enough to challenge you, but not too high. From an athletic stance, bend your hips and knees and swing your arms back to gather momentum.

Explosively jump onto the box and hold for a second. Step off the box. That's one repetition. Repeat for 6-8 repetitions.

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 Training Without Injuries

Over-training with your speed drills will lead to injuries. With speed training, too much work will cause you to stop making progress! Just think about how intense speed drills are for your body. Listen to your body's warning signals. 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!

Elite Athletes Have Dynamic Balance

If you want to be an elite athlete, improve your dynamic balance.



Here are some 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!

Metabolic Speed Training Improves Performance

Use metabolic speed training to improve your performance and speed endurance in your sport. If you can maintain a higher level of speed (for a longer period of time) than your opponent during the game, you will win. Tired, exhausted teams in the 4th quarter will lose games.



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 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 speed training can get you in peak condition for your sport.

Metabolic speed 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 speed 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!

Baseball Offseason Training, October Through February

The offseason is the time to make big improvements in baseball strength, power and speed. Hopefully, you are going strong with your offseason baseball training. If you wait until 2-3 weeks before the season starts, it is too late.

Many young baseball players are too busy playing year-round and don't get in needed strength, speed and power training (that's a hint to dads and select coaches)!



If you don't have foundational strength and stability then that's where your training would start. You should not progress to more risky sport specific training exercises until you build your foundation.

During the offseason, you have adequate time to strength train and recover. Maximal strength is not the goal here. The baseball player's objective is to achieve adequate core strength and limb strength to aid in training for sport-specific power.

So, forget about lifting as much weight as you can (i.e., one-rep max) and concentrate on building full body strength and conditioning.

Exercises such as dumbbell bench press, squats, step-ups, rows, shoulder press, lunges, etc. are used. Also, every baseball player needs a strong shoulder/rotator cuff of the throwing arm. There are a series of exercises designed to strengthen and stabilize this area.

As for muscle growth, you will need a certain amount of muscle growth but not so much as to inhibit playing the game with fluidity. Power is more important to achieve.

Rate-of-force production or power (how fast your muscles can produce force) is one the best physical predictors of success in baseball and sports in general.

Power is achieved by performing resistance and plyometric exercises at maximum effort. This type of training has great potential for injuries. So, it is imperative that you have adequate core and body strength before starting power training.

The speed demands of baseball are: starting ability, acceleration, stopping, cutting, stride rate, stride length, sprinting form and speed endurance.

Most explosive movements occur after some other movement (swinging, sliding, etc.). Maximum velocity is rarely reached except in the case of hitting a triple, inside-the-park homerun or running down a long fly ball. Therefore, starting ability, acceleration and lateral speed should be emphasized during speed training.

Long distance running for position players should be limited. Too much long distance running decreases speed. You must train fast in order to get faster. A better alternative would be to do high intensity interval cardio training.

This type of cardio training would consist of rotating sprints and walking/jogging. A good example would be to sprint for 30 seconds and walk or jog for 1 minute. Do this rotation for 20 minutes. This type of cardio training has been proven to produce superior heart health and fat burning results.

Train hard and smart!

Sports Fitness Hut's All-Star Baseball Power Workout Manual will show you how to improve your strength, power and explosiveness!

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 Muscles To Fire Faster

Train your muscles to fire faster and you will be a better athlete. Get bigger, stronger, faster and more powerful. Explosive weight lifting will improve your power and set you apart from your athletic competitors.



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

....and also for bodyweight exercises, like (6-8 repetitions):

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

......and medicine ball exercises, like (8-10 repetitions):

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

Lift explosively, safely and improve your speed and power!

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!

Build Muscle And Strength For Your Sport

Are you strong enough to play your sport? You should train for the type of strength you will need to compete at a high level. For example, you will probably not need maximal levels of strength to play baseball or tennis.



Even though you don't need to win a strong man contest, you do need a certain amount of strength to enhance your power and speed.

So, here are the different types of strength:

Optimum Strength – The ideal level of strength needed to perform in your sport. Continually getting stronger will not continually increase your power. Every athlete needs this level of strength.

Relative Strength – It is the maximum force that you can generate per unit of bodyweight regardless of the rate-of-force production.

Wrestlers, football players (especially linemen) and rugby players need high levels of relative strength.

Maximal Strength – The maximum force that your muscles can produce in a single voluntary effort regardless of the rate-of-force production. Maximal strength is rarely needed during sports competition.

Limit Strength – The maximum force that your muscles can produce in a single contraction. A few elite athletes have this type of strength.

Endurance Strength – The ability to produce and maintain force over an extended period of time. This type of strength is critical for athletic success.

Stabilization Strength – The ability of your body’s stabilizing muscles to provide dynamic joint stabilization and maintain postural control during athletic movements. All athletes need this type of strength.

Core strength would fall within this category. Many athletic injuries can be traced to inadequate core strength. No athlete will be successful without this type of strength.

Speed Strength – The ability of the neuromuscular system to produce the greatest possible force in the shortest period of time (power). Obviously, every athlete wants and needs this type of strength. While it is very important, other types of strength cannot be ignored.

Functional Strength – The athlete should train movements during strength training sessions. Producing dynamic, multi-planar eccentric, concentric and isometric contractions quickly and efficiently is the goal of training for functional strength.

Do your strength training in all 3 planes of motion.

Strength train your muscles with all contraction types (eccentric, isometric, concentric). All muscles function eccentrically (reduces force or deceleration), isometrically (stabilizes force) and concentrically (produces force).

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 to reduce the risk of 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).

So, where do you stack up when it comes to types of strength? You can't just show up at the gym and do any kind of workout! You need a professional program designed just for you!

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!

Got Thrower's Elbow?

Throwers 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.

Throwers 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 throwers elbow? Overuse of the elbow is the most common cause of throwers 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 throwers elbow. This damage eventually causes a restriction of the throwing motion, inflammation and pain.

Inadequate core strength also leads to ineffective force transfer through your body and places undue stress on your elbow.

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 your forearm could also be pinched. Some numbness may be felt.

Prevention of throwers 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.

2) Strengthen and condition the muscles of your forearm and wrist. This will put less strain on your elbow. Also, strengthen your core and shoulder areas.

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

Get your FREE Report, "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!

Muscle Growth Is Best Weight Gain For Athletes

Muscle growth is the best way for you to gain weight. Be an athlete with high muscle mass and low body fat. This body type will help you be the best athlete you can become. This also takes time to do it right (i.e., no steroids).

Get consistent muscle growth with consistent weight training, healthy eating and hard work. If you are in your offseason program, that is the ideal time to build muscle. You should be following a periodized training program to make sure you peak at the right time (during the season).

You have to not only train your muscles but you must also feed your muscles to get growth. You won't get consistent muscle growth without eating enough calories---every day!!

I was talking to a young athlete the other day and one thing became clear---he was not following his meal plan consistently, day-in and day-out. If you are accustomed to not eating much, 3600 daily calories can seem like a ton of food to EAT EVERY DAY!

If you want your muscles to grow, FEED YOUR MUSCLES CONSISTENTLY! Just lifting weights is not enough to grow your muscles and become a lean, muscular athlete! And, on the days you do lift weights, its best to eat before and after your workout. Read my post on Pre- and Post-Workout Nutrition.

You need a sports nutriton plan geared towards muscle growth. It is not uncommon for some athletes to need 5000 daily calories to fuel muscle growth and recovery!

And, you know my take on supplements: try to get the nutrition you need from food. Save your money! Don't depend on supplements to significantly build your body up!

And, to stop your muscles from breaking down (catabolizing) while you sleep 7-8 hours, a night-time snack or protein drink before you go to sleep is needed. When your body is fasting, your muscles will take the hit.

Get your FREE Report, "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!