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,
Exercises To Improve Your Power
Depth Jump: Start by standing on a box with one foot forward and arms up in preparation to snap them back with the hips. Allow yourself to fall toward the ground, and on impact, immediately force the ground away with minimal ground contact. Land on the box in front if you. Your landing position may vary based on goals. Tall, power, or deceleration landings can all be used. Rotation may be used also as a variable as you see @shecks demonstrating below. Speed squats with accommodating resistance: Speed squats with chains or bands
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,
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 Performance Coaching Summit 2017
From June 8-11 NAKOA Performance founder, Jason Waiton, and NAKOA coaches gave insight on how to take your training to the next level, gain the ultimate competitive advantage and ensure success with simple, out of the box programming. Thank you to all of the NAKOA Staff that helped make it such a successful Summit!
Early Preparation for the Lacrosse Season
“The specific training aims of a preseason in team sports include injury prevention, strength and power development, conditioning development and tactical training.” (Burgess, 2014) It is important to establish a general preparatory phase at the beginning of the preseason in order to ensure athletes have the requisite movement patterns, proper techniques, and strength to begin an intensive preseason strength and hypertrophy program. The goal in the preseason is to build “body armor.” This body armor enables the body to better withstand the loads and demands about to be placed on the muscles
5 Mobility Exercises for Injury Prevention in Runners
To understand what joints/areas need the most mobility, you must first understand the different planes of motion: sagittal, frontal (coronal), and horizontal (transverse). Sagittal is the movement of a limb forward or backward (i.e. shoulder flexion, hip extension), the horizontal plane is the rotational movement of a limb (i.e. shoulder external rotation, lumbar rotation), and the frontal plane is the movement of a limb side to side (i.e. hip abduction, side bending). When it comes to running, the most prominent plane of motion is sagittal because the overall translation of your
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
8 Tips to Effective MetCon Training (Part 2)
In part 1 of my article, I talked about my first four tips to incorporating successful and effective MetCon within your workouts. Here are my four remaining points to supporting metabolic conditioning and getting the most bang for your buck. Check out Jason's first 4 tips for effective MetCon training. Rule #5: Benchmark Yourself It is important for coaches and athletes to understand the importance of benchmarking. Your benchmark is a standard point of reference against which things may be compared or assessed. Establishing effective programs for athletes requires testing and establishing benchmarks
Assessing, Programming and Progression Methods for Clients
As the New Year begins, many people are in a mindset that there is no better time to get in shape and be healthy than right now. That’s awesome! Unfortunately, we also see how many of these people fall off the train within a month or two. How do you avoid that pitfall? Here at NAKOA Fitness & Physical Therapy, we believe in the importance of properly assessing individuals, safely programming to their needs and wants, as well as safely progressing them on a continuum in order for them to
8 Tips to Effective MetCon Training (Part 1)
Whether you’re a performance coach or even just a fitness enthusiast, you’ve probably heard of and played around with “MetCon” (Metabolic Conditioning) and "HIIT" (High-Intensity Interval Training). Many well know names in fitness such as CrossFit, Insanity, and Orange Theory base their workouts around this. Here I dive into how to make these techniques more effective. People love instant gratification. That’s why the workout programs listed above are so popular. Most people want to feel like they crushed it in their workout, they want to feel validated for their hard work,