Should Young Kids Throw the Curve Ball?
I was listening to a sports talk radio show the other day hosted by Dan Patrick. He mentioned he saw an article the New York Times about a study done on if coaches really do need to be careful about letting young pitchers in Baseball throw the curve ball.
Squats Part #3
A great comment was made that I made a mistake and simply said that squats were one of the worst moves I have seen. It is an old habit of many years in the weight room of automatically assuming this meant the typical barbell squat. There are several squats that I am a big fan of but none of them have you placing weight on your shoulders.
Squats, The Discussion Continues
Alright so let me start with some basic philosophy about the human body first. Keep in mind this is my opinion and the way I look at how to train the human body. It is a combination of 20 years of dedication to understanding the best way to train the human body for performance. Not just performance in sports but just in general how do we keep our bodies working efficiently.
SQUATS!!!
Looks like I finally got some of you to come out and defend squats so know we can really get a good discussion going. I will try to discuss as many of your comments as I can in this but if I miss something let me know.
How can we improve our Nations Physical Education Classes?
I have been working quite a bit at curriculum for my Physical Education Classes for next year. Through Elementary School we really use Physical Education to work on team building, fundamental skills of a huge variety of games, and fitness testing. Then in Middle School we move into a chance to get more into team sports, continuation of Fitness testing, and the chance to get exposure to swimming, dancing, and even gymnastics in some cases. High school has sadly become more about the team sports and weight training mentality.
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P.E. Classes Warm-ups Part 6
So the last group is for the Elementary school kids. Again like we did on the others lets look at a few differences in the age group we are working with. First this age group is far closer to the other two to still having a fairly high level of efficiency. The 1st through 3rd graders in particular should still have decent control over their skeletal system. Assuming their parents did not park them in front of the Nintendo all day growing up. Thats a different topic we can discuss later. So here is a good general warm-up for the Elementary age Kids.
P.E. Classes Warm-ups part 5
Next I am going to give you an example for the middle School Class. Lets discuss just a few differences between this routine and the High School one. First look at the age factor. What do you need to take into account in the ages of 10-13 that is typically not as severe from 14 on. In my opinion it is growth spurts. Remember I said typically. Obviously some kids will still make major growth gains in High School but Middle School is where they typically get to that awkward stage. It becomes difficult for them to move as efficiently due to the bone growth rapidly out pacing the muscular system. I think you can agree that a majority of kids go through that phases where they lose coordination and flexibility.
P.E. Classes Warm-ups Part 4
I am going to do the high school one first. This one is to prepare their bodies for a basketball game. I will list the exercises then also break them down and explain why I chose them and how they fit the model we discussed in the earlier posts. I also would like to send you out a hard a 
copy and will do so in the Newsletter soon. Sign up for the newsletter for these and other workouts to come to be sent out in a pdf format.
P.E. Classes Warm-ups Part 3
Lets use 3 different examples of warm-ups. I am going to put a hard copy for you to look at or print and I will be adding a video for you to download as well. Keep in mind that on each of these you will need to use your judgement in regards to whether or not certain kids should do them. Injuries need to be addressed as do other various physical disabilities some of your students may be suffering from. These are not ballistic in nature but will provide a certain challenge to your students. Some will do better than others on various exercises. That is one of the things I like best about them is that it teaches kids to not criticize based on an inability to perform an exercise because it is quite possile that the individual trying to criticize will be unable to do the next without really struggling.
P.E. Classes Warm-ups Part 2
The other areas you want to make sure you cover in your warm-ups include lengthening the muscles, especially the hip flexors (iliopsoas) and the hamstrings. These two areas typically a very tight prior to a warm-up, especially if your students have been sitting in a few classes before they get to yours. Also think about their spine. You want to make sure you work the flexion/Extension and Rotation of the vertebrae. Finally make sure you do some exercises that introduce proper vertical load into each of the structural joints and finish with movements that are activity specific. Also do not forget that you want to try and follow the strength progression we talked about in the philosophy (supine, prone, crawl, walk).