New Articles: Flexibility, Power, and Technique

[coachdavidh]

Here are a couple of new Dr. Yessis articles that may be of some help in training your kids or athletes:

The hamstring muscle appears to be a major problem for both recreational and serious athletes. Most commonly, the hamstring muscle is injured during running and most often at the upper end in its attachment to the pelvis.

To remedy this situation it is most often recommended that you do hamstring stretches to become more flexible in the hip joint. This includes both active but mainly passive type stretches. But, how much flexibility is needed, is never addressed...

Read the rest here: Do You Really Need The Hamstring Flexibility of Chorus Girls?

Many athletes and coaches believe that the power phase - the phase in which you create the force for the throw, hit, jump or kick - should be instantaneous, i.e., all your body actions should occur at the same time. This belief probably stems from the fact that most sport skills are executed in a fraction of a second.

In the execution of most sports skills less than half a second is expended in the power phase. Because it happens so quickly it is believed that all of the body actions, such as hip and shoulder rotation and the arm actions occur at the same time. But they do not!

Read the rest here: Explode Into The Power Phase

When you have a weakness in your performance regardless of whether it is in relation to skill execution or event, think first about a technique to improve your abilities. The same holds true when coming off an injury or simply desiring to better your performance.

Rather than doing this, most athletes think in terms of improving their physical abilities. This is very important but without proper technique it is of little value. Improved or more effective technique will give you greater gains than any type of physical training can...

Read the rest here: Think About Technique To Improve Performance

Thanks!
Coach D