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z Press

The Z Press will build strength and mobility in your shoulders as well as your core. You’ll also need to [Read More]

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Sprinter Stepups

Train your hamstrings and develop explosive starts with this challenging movement.

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Romanian Deadlifts

Build strong glutes and hamstrings. Remember to maintain a slight arch in your low back, and never to round forward.

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SupermanS

Use this core exercise to strengthen your posterior chain. You’ll work your low back, shoulders, glutes, and hamstrings.

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Modified “Sissy” Pushups

Here is a basic pushup variation for beginners. Start here if you’re learning the basics. Progress to pushups from your [Read More]

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Stability Ball Hamstring Curls

Don’t neglect training your hamstrings. This exercise is especially handy if you’re training in a garage, or a gym without [Read More]

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Stick Assisted Hip Flexor stretch + Shoulder Press

Use this funky exercise to combat tight muscles on the front of your body, especially from sitting for long periods. [Read More]

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Glute activating Groin Stretch

This exercise focuses on glute activation to externally rotate your hip, and a stretch of your adductors as you shift [Read More]

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How can I manage my time Better?

I’ve read tons of self improvement essays, self help books, and watched 100’s of YouTube videos on time management. Still, I tend to procrastinate or lose track of time. Here are some of the best tips that I’ve found for staying on track and on schedule.

The biggest battle for a lot of people is their phone. It’s scary how much time can be wasted staring at the screen of a smart phone. Most smart devices automatically track your usage, so you can easily see how much time you’ve lost to your technology. I was the worst, so I’ve been trying to limit my screen time in the following ways:

  • Uninstall social media apps. I’ve been trying to access social media for only a few minutes per day, and only on my laptop. By eliminating mindless minutes of scrolling through timelines, the screen timer on my phone started to drop immediately.
  • Keep your phone on Silent or Vibrate, and don’t keep it in your pocket. This made a huge difference for me. Rather than taking out my phone to check every notification, I started putting my phone in my bag. Since it’s always on vibrate, messages won’t easily disturb me when I’m focused on another task. I can check my phone at designated times, and I only turn the ringer on when I’m available to answer phone calls or reply to messages, immediately.
  • I don’t use the calendar in my phone. Your mileage may vary here, but this works for me. Instead of getting lost in my phone, answering old text messages, etc., I’ve switched back to a paper day-timer. I keep my schedule on a paper calendar, with a pencil.
  • Whenever possible, switch to hard copy books as well. Reading on your iPhone or Kindle can lead to other distractions; emails and text messages can extend your screen time, and sidetrack you from finishing your reading.

Aside from limiting your screen usage, another one of the most impactful ways to be more efficient with your time, is to wake up early and get stuff done! It’s easy to sleep in. Sometimes, if you’re not careful, it’s even easier to trick yourself into thinking that you got up early. I used to wake up at 6:00, but not really get much work done until about 9:00. If I had early training clients, I half-slept through their sessions. I experienced a huge boost in productivity when I started to use those extra 3 hours every morning. For me, that means about 5-10 minutes of deep breathing, meditation, or reading to get in a positive and productive mindset. Immediately after that, without hesitating, I jump into my tasks for the day. If you tackle the hard stuff first, you’ll be amazed how much you can accomplish before 9:00 AM.

It also helps to:

  • Keep daily and weekly to do lists.
  • Say “no” to unnecessary commitments, and leave room for what you need to do.
  • Face your problems, first. Putting things off often allows issues to snowball, and the resulting mess can cost you way more time, later.
  • Build in time for self care and personal development. You won’t be able to manage your time well, if you are burned out.
  • Try hiring a coach. You can get accountability and regular help with time management in my online coaching program: https://joetoproathlete.com/product/online-trainer

Just like with training, and every area where you seek to improve, tracking progress will help you be more successful. Take notes on what saves you time, and on what makes staying organized easier. Taking notes will also keep you more focused on your goal. It all comes down to how much you want to be successful here; as always.

Should Athletes Cross Train? Or Specialize?

Sometimes, for young athletes especially, competitors are pressured to specialize in a certain sport or event. When an athlete is very gifted, this is often thought to be the best advice; but are we robbing our stars of key opportunities to get better?

“Focus on basketball,” a Varsity coach tells a star Freshman recruit; “you’ve got the height and talent to earn a scholarship.”

Athletic development models, though, show that might not be the best plan for success. The more sports scenarios a player experiences, the more movement patterns he/she can master. This is especially true for developmental, youth athletes. Track sprinters might learn the best methods for building straight line acceleration, but the basketball player will master lateral agility, and the baseball player will develop elite hand-eye coordination.

Even as adults, cross training has a ton of value. Still, even in a fully developed body, mastering new movement patterns or sports techniques increases neural drive. Basically, that means that learning new skills makes you stronger and more athletic. Also, changing up your routine can be key to long term and sustainable fitness; you’ll work out more if you’re not bored!

It’s true that it’s important to train for your sport. However, there are limits to that. Trying to be too specific in your training can cause you to miss out on a lot. That’s true of general S&C as well as cross training. If my sport requires me to be strong, like football, then squats are pretty sports specific (even if you’ll never squat in a game); because they make you stronger! In the same way, if increased sprinting speed will help me in my sport, then cross training in things like track events will make me better!

I knew one athlete that wouldn’t even go outside for a walk, because she was always “saving her calories and effort for training”. Wow! While I admire that kind of dedication, how long can a person function like that before getting burned out?

If you want to be successful in anything, it will take lots of dedicated focus on that one thing. You’ll have to be a little obsessive. In the case of sports and training, though, be sure not to neglect variety! The next time that you need to do some conditioning, try a game of basketball, instead of the treadmill. If there’s a cross training activity that you really love, share it with the rest of us in the Members Forum!