Exercise and Adolescents, 5 Reasons Why It’s So Important
Most of us would agree that exercise is important, whether we put theory into practice or not is another story entirely. Physical activity has special importance and benefits for adolescents, not just for their physical well-being, but for their emotional state as well. Here are five scientific reasons why: 1. Exercise helps to release endorphins, aka the “happy chemicals” that the body produces naturally. While you may feel worn out after an exercise session, there is also a sense of accomplishment and a natural high that you get when you exert yourself
Field and Court Athlete Agility
Knee Injury Prevention So why am I getting hurt? Welcome back, nerds. This blog will focus on the agility field/court athletes with lateral movements that include (but are not limited to) soccer, football, rugby, field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse. These sports are specifically called out because they often have non-contact knee ligament tears that can occur due to either muscular imbalance, muscle fatigue leading to joint instability, or improper/lack of prehab. Muscle imbalance just means to strengthen all the muscles around a joint. SO don’t just focus on your quads - do
Overhead Athlete Injury Prevention
... So why am I getting hurt? Welcome back, nerds. This blog will focus on athletes that do an overhead (throwing) motion, which include (but are not limited to) baseball, softball, soccer goalkeepers, football quarterbacks, and cricket players. These sports were specifically called out because they often “short arm” their throwing motion – which means they don’t use the full range of motion to accomplish the task. When the full range of motion isn’t used, muscles are forced to fire harder and quicker. Mix that with fatigue from overuse, and it’s
Agility Injury Prevention
Basics of Injury Prevention Do you know the caution signs? If you listen well enough, your body typically alerts you when an injury is imminent, giving you a window of time for prevention. The easiest way to listen is to first understand the 3 categories of caution signs. We’ll use the basic rules of a traffic light, meaning that there will be RED signs, YELLOW signs, and GREEN signs. As I hope you understand, RED signs means STOP, YELLOW means proceed with CAUTION, and GREEN means you’re good to GO. Let’s start
Pacific Ridge School Athletes Develop Community and Character
Developing Healthy Student-Athletes at Pacific Ridge School by Macaroni Kid Carlsbad According to non-profit Common Sense Media, teens consume an average of nine hours of entertainment media per day, with tweens averaging six hours. With that kind of online connectivity, it’s important for adolescents and teenagers to develop healthy physical, mental, social and emotional skills. School athletics can help build all of these, and the best environments are those in which students are supported by athletic and academic mentors, along with their peers. The athletic program at Carlsbad’s Pacific Ridge School is
The Phases of ACL Injury Recovery
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears are one of the most common knee injuries among the young athletic population, with the highest incidence affecting males and females ages 14-25. ACL injuries occur most in physically demanding sports, such as soccer, football, basketball, and lacrosse. The ACL has an important role in keeping the tibia (shin bone) from moving anterior or forward in relation to the femur (thigh bone). In other words, the ACL is an extremely important ligament that keeps the knee stabilized while doing anything athletic such as running, jumping,
NAKOA has innovative approach to train Pacific Ridge athletes
NAKOA coaches are working with Pacific Ridge athletes to incorporate strength, conditioning, speed and agility into the school's PE classes. CARLSBAD – In December, Carlsbad resident and Pacific Ridge School sophomore Kai Kelly was playing for his club lacrosse team when his hip suddenly tightened up during a game. "I could tell right away something wasn't right," he said. Kelly and his family turned to Carlsbad's NAKOA Fitness and Physical Therapy for help and he soon started an extensive rehab program for what turned out to be a labral tear in his hip. After 12 weeks of
Science + Perspective When Training Action Sports Athletes
I'm not a huge fan of terms like "skate specific work out" or "strength and conditioning for surfers." At the end of the day, action sports athletes require improvement of the same physical qualities that conventional athletes require. Qualities such as strength, power, flexibility, and energy system development. For example, a skateboarder may not need a 400-pound deadlift, but he can absolutely benefit from improvements in strength. It's not just his or her muscles that get stronger. The integrity of ligaments, tendons, and bone density improve. This means when high impact landings occur,
Common Kettlebell Workout Mistakes
The Kettlebell can be one of the best exercise tools available when done correctly and when done incorrectly the Kettlebell could be one the most hated exercise tools available. Like any exercise worth its weight or worth doing, doing Kettlebell exercises is a skill that needs to be practiced and honed in. Something that requires skill is not always something people like doing because of the “I feel like a fool” or “I just don’t understand this” effect on the ego. Regardless, the Kettlebell has been used for over 300 years for a reason, it
The NAKOA Experience: FMS
Would we be allowed to jump in a car and drive along the freeway at 80 miles an hour without having obtained a driver’s license and/or understand the rules of the road? How about deciding to just start your Ph.D. with no Masters or bachelor’s degree? Dream on… So, how about loading a new client with a 200 lbs barbell compound exercise with no understanding of their current movement literacy? This type of coaching is not only unrealistic, it is dangerous. Insert -> NAKOA Experience <- here! Our NAKOA Experience is an hour-long introductory session
NAKOA Introduces MyZone Technology
So, what’s the big deal with this heart rate tracking and why is it a tool that NAKOA has so strongly backed for 2018? If you’ve been around NAKOA within the last month and a half, you have no doubt seen the new TV on the wall with the fancy color changing tiles and leaderboard. You have also probably heard us coaches mention MyZone and heart rate straps numerous times, but do you really know why? Whether you have already purchased your MyZone belt or are still on the fence, keeping
NAKOA System vs Methods
Famous 19th century essayist and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The men who grasp principles can successfully select their own methods. The man, who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” The fitness industry has been built on a foundation of methods. We have witnessed most of these methods disappear into obscurity while others have stood the test of time. It is a time of evolution in our industry. We have enough science and