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Football can be a grueling sport. It requires a serious training regimen in the off-season so that you are not injured when game-time comes.
It is critical for anyone considering playing football (or anyone who is struggling to avoid injury or improve their performance) to review their training.
All football positions require great stopping and starting skills. This means that your training regimen must consist of three things to help with this:
- Reactive Training to help you have more power and speed on your start.
- Stabilization Training to ensure stability so you are not injured.
- SAQ – Speed, Agility and Quickness. You should ensure that you work on sports-specific drills to improve.
Certain positions also have additional risks and training requirements that are specific to the position that you play. Are you a quarterback? You need to review stabilization training on elbow and shoulder joints. Are you a running back? You need to review strength and power training as well as stabilization training to support your explosive movements. These are only some examples, but most positions have their own demands in addition to the general demands of playing football.
Football players, especially children, need to review their hydration requirements as well. Due to the physical demands of training, as well as the season, many football players are taken to the hospital with severe dehydration. You should never feel dizzy or vomit from training. These are serious symptoms that require medical attention.
And while we are on the topic, anyone considering playing football should consult their doctor on their goals. Your doctor can give you a physical and determine any extra tests you may require to play safely. He can also point out critical physical issues that are unique to you that should be addressed in your training. An example of this would be if you are overweight, underweight, diabetic, etc. Good luck with your game!

Tags: Fitness, Flexibility, Injury Prevention, Kids and Sports, Off Season Training, SAQ, Sports Fitness by David Hansey, Personal Trainer
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There are MANY different ailments and conditions and diseases that affect the back. Your spine is CRITICALLY important to your entire life! Back pain is exhausting and can be extremely painful. If you have a healthy back, you should do everything you can to stay that way. If you have issues with your back, there are a few things that you should do:
1) Go to the doctor and get a diagnosis. Once you have this, ask your doctor to help you develop a plan for getting better.
2) Follow the plan. Did your doctor tell you that you would feel better if you took some of the weight load off your back (by losing weight)? Then, do it!

Some general things that can help you feel better (and prevent pain in the first place) :
• Get active. Just like your car doesn’t fix itself in the driveway, your back won’t fix itself when you are in bed!
• Strengthen the muscles that support your back. If you only do crunches, your abs are not properly developed to support your spine. You need to work on your core.
• Consider losing weight if you are overweight. Additional weight on your body causes more stress on all of your muscles and joints as well as your back. You may find that not only does your back pain go away, but also so does your knee pain and your foot pain!
• Drink water. Studies by the Jack M. Blount Foundation found that chronic dehydration is a contributing factor in muscle spasms. It also makes spasms more painful. You know all the other good reasons to drink water, so if you aren’t doing it yet, make it an easy resolution that you can keep!

Tags: Fitness, Flexibility, Injury Prevention, Sports Fitness by David Hansey, Personal Trainer
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Have you ever taught a kid to hit a baseball? What do you keep repeating? Keep your eye on the ball, follow through, stay relaxed, etc. These are the same basic concepts for a great swing. However, your body could be holding you back.
How flexible are you? Do you think that improving your flexibility would improve your golf game? OF COURSE IT WILL. Here is why. When you are more flexible, you improve multiple things that improve your game.
You will hit longer. When you are more flexible, you are able to achieve a loaded position at the top of your backswing. What that means is that the muscles that produce your clubhead speed are stretched. And by stretching, your body is able to transfer more power to your clubhead.
You will give your arms some relief. Many golfers lack the flexibility and core strength to control their swing so they compensate by overusing their arms. Have you looked at the guys on the PGA tour?? I was at East Lake in November and I had a good hard look at the pros on practice day and game day (in case you have never been, go on both, since you can get very close and even get tips from the pros on the practice days). My point here is that these guys don’t look like bodybuilders.
Your swing will become more consistent when you are more flexible. When you aren’t flexible, you compensate your swing. And that makes your swing more erratic.
Your teacher will find you a better student. A golf pro can teach you the proper mechanics when your body is not holding you back. My father-in-law would not agree with this analysis because he believes retraining can ruin your game. However, he ISN’T flexible. So whatever the pro tries to show him will need to be modified (and that modification may be worse than what he is currently doing). If you have the flexibility, you are more able to properly apply the teachings to your game.

Tags: Flexibility, Injury Prevention, Sports Fitness, golf by David Hansey, Personal Trainer
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Stability Training

David Hansey

NASM Certified Performance Enhancement Specialist

NASM Certified Sports Fitness Specialist

NASM Certified Personal Trainer

Any strength training program should be progressive and the first step is always to correct imbalances and gain stability in order to move on and strengthen. This is one of the reasons why I always suggest at least a few personal training sessions for anyone starting a new sport or returning to a sport after a break. Just because you think you are “fit” does not necessarily mean you are in optimal shape to prevent injury once you start to play. I see clients almost every day who complain of injury. And most of these injuries can be traced back to using poor mechanics to compensate for weak or tight muscles.

This is also true in teens. Just because your child is slender and active does not mean that they have the shoulder stability to pitch baseball games. Nor does it mean that the training they receive on their team will help them gain this stability. Most sports training programs are just what they say they are. Programs to help you perfect your game and be a more capable player. They rarely include a personalized training program to assess and correct your personal needs. That is where personal training comes into play.

Once your weaknesses, strengths and goals have been assessed, it is time to lay out a training program that will correct any weaknesses and will help you to get to a point where improvements to your game are noticeable because you have the strength and balance to perform the movements correctly.

The first part of your training program must include stabilization exercises. I cannot stress this enough. These exercises are the “building blocks” that allow you to continue on to strength and power training. Failure to build muscle stability just increases your chance of injury. And to be honest, EVERYONE should review their stability needs. I am not just talking about elite athletes here. I see weekend tennis players with sore elbows. I see golfers with sore elbows, wrists, shoulders and lower backs. I see baseball players (and as young as 10 years old) with elbow and shoulder problems. I see runners with sore ankles and knees. I even see people who take aerobics or walk with sore ankles, knees, feet and shoulders. And almost EVERY single one of these complaints can be corrected with stability training. So be sure to get your body assessed and add stability training to your program today.

Regardless of your sport, the off-season is the time to make these assessments and train for improvement so when the time comes to play; you are stronger, faster, more accurate and less prone to injury. For more information on Sports Specific Training, call me at 404-514-1896 or visit my website at www.4fitbodies.com.

Tags: Chapel Hill News, Flexibility, Sports Fitness by David Hansey, Personal Trainer
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Back pain is one of the most common reasons that people seek medical attention. We are all at risk of having a back injury. I hear a lot of people tell me that they don’t have a bad back so they don’t need to work on it. That is a recipe for disaster. Go and sit in a chiropractic office and ask people why they are there. Back pain. What happened to them? For many people, it was caused by one thing (such as lifting improperly or reaching, pulling or bending). For others, it was caused by poor mechanics such as poor posture or sleeping in a bad position or having a work area that was not set up ergonomically. You won’t hear any of them saying their back is bad because they are getting older.
So, if you are one of the MANY people that tell me that they don’t need to strengthen their back, I would like you to do one thing for me. Look around your life and see all of the things that you do every day. If you injure your back, are you going to still function normally?
Will you be able to lift your kids? Will you be able to golf (forget it!!) Or will you even be able to work? Strengthening your back and your core is about prevention, not cure. That is why so many health professionals do Spinal Fitness. They know that it is not about cure and they see people every day who are in terrible pain.
There are many things you can do to take care of your back. They are all common sense things, like being careful how you lift. Adding the Spinal Fitness System a couple of times per week can dramatically help strengthen your back.
Still not convinced?? Then, consider this. Your core muscles act as a girdle running around the entire mid-section of your body. If your core is strong, it will not only promote better health, but it will pull everything in. This will give you a leaner appearance. So, in addition to being healthy, you will look great!

Tags: Fitness, Flexibility, Sports Fitness by David Hansey, Personal Trainer
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