Alex Ignon

As far back as 3000 years, the Greeks used medicine balls to help post-injury stages of recovery. Nowadays, medicine balls (MB’s) have become popular among athletic trainers, sports performance coaches, and athletes themselves due to the major benefits this equipment provides.Using MB’s can increase the rate of force development, neural recruitment, coordination, balance and provides an effective plyometric movement that ads some variety to an athlete’s training regimen.Throughout the article, we will expand on the benefits and highlight important factors of MB training.Develop Explosive Power and StrengthExplosive power is the ability to produce a maximum amount of force in the [...]

Speed and agility are game-changers. Whether on the court, field or ice, we all want our athletes to be faster, quicker and more agile.The key to improving speed and agility in young athletes is to adopt the right strategy and mindset.Train kids like you would an adult, and your program will fail for most.Drill them incessantly without time to play, and you will burn them out.Make it fun while making it challenging, and you’ll not only develop a better young athlete but also a motivated one.Back to BasicsAs a young athlete—whether they are the fastest player on the field or [...]

The conventional wisdom regarding the perils of eccentric training has been around since the days' strength and conditioning was primarily influenced by the body-building culture. “I’ll get sore,” or, “I’ll get slower and tighter”. These myths are largely due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what eccentric training is and its benefits.What is Eccentric Training?Eccentric training is simply the focus on the lengthening of a muscle during the negative phase of the movement. The idea of it and its application needs to be updated and stay in sync with the current research.Before, eccentric training was primarily viewed in gym terms and [...]

How well an athlete can react to changes on the field and control their body, as a result, is based on dynamic balance. You may think it’s just a fancy term for athleticism or agility – improved just by playing or getting in their “reps.” But just spending a minimal amount of time training balance, an athlete can supercharge their improvement in sports skills and performance.The Role of Balance in SportsBetter balance means more efficient use of strength, says Louis Stack, a Canadian national speed skiing team member, and balance training expert. “Balance conditioning is a way to train the [...]

First-Step and Quickness are two important elements of speed development and are vital to all athletes, no matter what sport they play. First-Step can be defined as the first 2-5 steps of an athlete in any direction (Linear forward, linear backward, lateral sprint, lateral shuffle, diagonals).By our definition, the first-step not only includes movements from a standstill but also from moving and changing directions. Quickness is simply rapidity of movement and is also necessary for athletes. Being able to train the muscles to fire quickly will help make any athlete more explosive and ultimately faster.Most court and field sports involve [...]

Get Faster by Improving Your Ability to Slow DownYou read it right the first time – one way to get faster is to improve your ability to slow down or stop altogether. Unless you’re strictly a track and field athlete, chances are you play or coach a sport that involves some form of cutting and juking. The faster you can cut or juke, the faster you’ll get to where you need to be, and that often involves slowing down or stopping to change direction.Why Deceleration Should be Part of Your ProgramWhile it might sound counterintuitive to train to slow down [...]