Thursday, December 22, 2005

Golf Swing Weight Training A New Approach

Golf Swing Weight Training A New Approach

Golf swing weight training is as specific as you can get in regards to golf training to improve power, distance and iron yardages with every club. Wouldn’t you love to add 10 yards to every iron? Instead of a 150 6 iron, you’re hitting a consistent 7 iron the same distance.
This alone will greatly improve your “greens in regulation” and getting more shots closer to the pin. The end result is a much lower score.
Golf swing weight training shouldn’t be new to you. You’ve heard all the pros train for their game. So why shouldn’t you? Here’s one secret that can add a quick 20 yards to your driver in less than a week or so.
Swing a weighted club!
This is not revelating stuff, but I’m here to tell you it’s one of the quickest and most effective ways to increase your distances with all clubs.
The benefit is developing the exact golf swing muscles from a strength and flexibility standpoint within your golf swing. You'll improve your backswing and follow through range of motion, as well as your power through the hitting zone.
In all my dvds, books and websites I preach the importance of a balanced routine of both golf stretching and strengthening exercises for all your golfing muscles. This is critical for your long term success.
I am an advocate of this approach, and strongly suggest you be too. There are many muscles swing the weighted club don't hit that can be affecting your game. Like the hamstrings, lower back and even abs.
But how about a little shortcut along the way?
Golf swing weight training is something I’ve personally been doing for over 10 years and I’m fortunate enough to say I can consistently drive the ball over 300 yards. I don’t say that to brag, but to say this type of training and approach is effective and works!
Because I’m not a big guy like all those long drive competitors, golfers are surprised when they see me hit a drive. They all seem to ask how can I do that? Immediately I go into my golf trainer mode and precede to tell them the importance golf swing weight training and working on the “machine” to hit longer drives.
Within a couple of holes they are hitting me with a ton of questions they want answered. By the time I’m done, I wished I hadn’t told them what I do for a living.
No I’m just kidding.
By doing a golf swing weight training program that incorporates strength, flexibility and weighted clubs you will see the quickest results that last long term.
Your golfing buddies might think your crazy, but you’ll get the last laugh.
The winning combination is swing technique and golf swing weight training!

The 7 Steps To Huge Pitching Velocity Gains

The 7 Steps To Huge Pitching Velocity Gains

Now we all know that pitchers can get hitters out without throwing the ball with Nolan Ryan type speed. But why are most of us so obsessed with throwing the ball with obscene velocity? In visiting with good friend and Minor League Pitching Coordinator of the Washington Nationals, Brent Strom, I recently asked him “What are professional scouts looking for in baseball players?” His response, “The first thing we look for in a pitcher AND a position player is ‘speed…arm speed…bat speed…foot speed. For pitchers in particular, we are looking for a live, dynamic, loose, whip-like arm action. Bottom line, if the young man’s arm isn’t explosive…even if he is great at getting people out…he will never, ever get on our radar screen.” Let’s take a look at the significance of what he just said. In all frankness and candor, if you’re a pitcher and you are not SERIOUSLY developing and enhancing your ability to throw harder…and harder…and harder on a daily, weekly and monthly basis…your already slim chances at professional baseball evolve to almost zero. That probably sounds harsh. Nevertheless, it is the truth. It is the reality of moving up at almost any level in baseball. You know that on a team of 12 year olds or the high school varsity team…the one who throws the hardest will be treated differently…he will be given more time to get lined up…he will be given more chances to fail. Another 12 year old or varsity pitcher who is identical in every other performance measure (strike %, ERA, BB/K ratio, Hits/ Innings pitched etc.) but throws slower…will be pulled sooner… and will get far fewer chances to ‘right his ship’ if he struggles. THAT is simply reality. Fair or unfair, that is the way it has always been…and that is the way it will always remain. Doesn’t matter if it is a 12 year old, a high school varsity player or a college level pitcher, the harder throwers will always get more opportunities in baseball. The 3 Little Secrets About Throwing Velocity If you know velocity is critical…& I know it is critical…surely other baseball people also have to know it. Why then do most instructors never seem to talk about how to improve velocity? The 3 little secrets about velocity that nobody talks about are… 1) Most instructors & lessons givers certainly do realize that velocity is critical…and although most would never admit it…they really aren’t sure exactly how to improve it. They say…it will come in time. The standard, boring and make-that-person-go-away answer. 2) To a vast majority of all instructors of pitching, velocity is a mystical, mysterious discipline. When talking about improving it, most will say something vague and smacking of profound conventional wisdom like… ‘use his legs and hips more…get longer on the back side…lift weights…drop and drive…more over the top…push off more…throw more long toss…use weighted balls, etc. The same old warn out excuses. 3) Another small group of instructors simply throw up the white flag and try to talk you into the fact that ‘velocity is genetic’…or ‘you can’t teach speed’…or…sound like a Real Estate Agent and say the key to pitching is ‘location, location, location’. And the Truth IS…. Velocity is indeed a very complex part of pitching. Location is important, but velocity is too. Most athletes never work on this discipline. We’ve been told all our careers, just throw strikes! Here are some facts about velocity: • Velocity comes from many factors…namely baseball pitching specific strength, momentum and inertia, pitching mechanic sequencing and most importantly, body part synchronization. With the right pitching program, you can address all of these simultaneously. • Velocity coming from a pitcher’s are is certainly genetic. But most athletes under achieve when it comes to velocity. Nobody can break through their genetic ceiling, but most grossly under achieve. Since we may never be able to quantify our true genetic potential, we must work on this discipline disregard any estimates or limitations we personally put upon ourselves…or worse, what others may put upon us. • Many, many times our preconceived, self-imposed limitation of what is possible is the problem. We most often get in our own way. We underachieve. We convince ourselves that we can’t throw any harder. • Velocity can be improved. • Velocity is by far and away the number 1 determining factor in whether a pitcher moves up to the next level or not. It doesn’t matter if that level is club ball, HS, college or professional. The conversation between coaches, scouts, pitching coordinators and GM’s begins with velocity. Now is it the only factor? Heck no! But anyone who would suggest velocity isn’t the number 1 factor is simply not being truthful. The 7 Steps to Huge Velocity Gains Pretty simple really. It’s just not easy. It takes consistent and dedicated effort. No quick fix here. 1) First you need to examine your existing level of fitness. 2) You then need to set up a pitching specific fitness program. This program should include exercises for explosive power work, flexibility, stability, and endurance. 3) You need to evaluate your current throwing mechanics to determine inefficiencies and energy leaks. 4) Begin a principle centered throwing mechanics program. Principle centered is a concept that is not based on old school or conventional wisdom, but a program that looks at all disciples of pitching. 5) Test and quantify your progress. Both on the conditioning side and the throwing mechanics side of being a pitcher. We all need to keep score to see how we are doing. 6) Break your throwing and conditioning regiment into at least 4 segments. Segments such as: off season, pre-season, in-season, and post-season. 7) Set specific attainable goals. Not just for velocity, but all disciplines of pitching and physical conditioning. Throwing harder takes a dedicated effort, planning and discipline. For some it comes easier than others, but don’t let that deter you. Make it a challenge to reach your genetic ceiling. Dominate your competition! Bill Mooney

From Bare Bones To Big Bucks - The Evolution Of American Football

From Bare Bones To Big Bucks - The Evolution Of American Football

By the end of October, baseball fans pack up the party with the boys of summer, and prepare for the cold months ahead with a long list of hard-hitting heavyweights ready to take the field as the Sunday afternoon, Monday night, and holiday highlight for the winter months. But, football as we know it today started as a bare bones game, evolving through continents, colleges and contracts over the years.
Like most things, football can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who played a version of football which then carried over to medieval Italy, where a game called “calcio,” the Italian word for “soccer,” began to flourish. Years later, in England, a young man at the Rugby Boys’ School got tired of kicking the ball around the field, and decided to pick it up and run. That was the beginning of Rugby.
Rugby merged back and forth through different sets of rules from Australia to England, and eventually to the States in 1869, when Rutgers and Princeton played a game that resembled something more like soccer than football. It wasn’t until 1875 that the ball came off the ground. Harvard and Yale fixed a field meeting of the Ivy Leagues, and the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) was created to finalize the match up in 1876.
In upcoming years, a prominent Yale player named Walter Camp convinced the IFA to change a series of rules that pushed the game closer to the version of football we know today. Intercollegiate football evolved through the 1800’s, until the downfall of the IFA in 1895. In 1920, organizers from 10 professional football teams across the country met, and the American Professional Football Association was born. It was reorganized a year later, and in 1922 renamed the National Football League, and that was just the beginning.
The rules changed, the league expanded with conferences and changed again with the addition of conference divisions. In the 1970’s throwing the ball accompanied the traditional run, and in the 90’s the emphasis moved from field goals to two-point conversions.
Today, football is big business. Players demand more money, entertainment is a regular part of televised games, and the retail industry makes a fortune helping fans maintain team loyalty and personal nostalgia for a game they grew up with. Sports Nostalgia Company, Mitchell & Ness sells everything from jackets to pennants to remember unforgettable moments of games past, and the players that made them happen. Mitchell & Ness’s business was born out of fans’ desire to remember the old days with throwback jerseys of NFL favorites like Joe Namath, Marcus Allen, and Steve Young.
Although baseball is known as America’s favorite past time, football is certainly in the running for taking the title. Football has become as much a staple at Thanksgiving as turkey and pie. Sunday tailgates are planned months in advance, and office pools change weekly with team standings.
Football is a modern game with ancient roots. It’s a game with loyal fans that brave the cold, suffer defeat, and turn up in droves to one of the most watched sports showdowns in February, right before the boys of summer head south for spring training.