What Makes You Sore and What Does Not

Hello Everyone!

Please stop going for long jogs/runs thinking they will help you flush the lactic acid out of your muscles and therefore help reduce soreness. That is a myth. That is not science. That is actually a waste of time and detrimental to your body and its performance.

Photo Credit: http://hallshighspeeddevelopment.com/

Muscle soreness from working out happens not from the burning lactic acid that you feel, but from the tearing and breaking of muscle fibers that occurs when you expose your body to weights and lifts that overload the muscle fibers to the point of tearing and breaking. This is a good thing! Think of it like tearing and breaking apart soil before you plant a garden. Your garden needs you to break up the soil to plant and grow, and your muscles need you to tear and break up the fibers to plant and grow new, more, and often times bigger fibers. (How much they grow depends on your nutrition, genetics, gender, and consistency.)

Photo Credit: https://gymjunkies.com/learn-how-tearing-your-muscles-leads-to-fat-loss/

Photo Credit: http://www.preparemd.com/can-exercise-raise-ck-creatine-kinase/

Instead of going on long jogs that actually stress your joints, research shows that doing mobility, flexibility, and warm-up drills when sore can actually decrease the feeling of soreness and improve recovery. Because forcing more oxygenated, nutrient-rich blood into the torn areas helps quicken recovery and lower inflammation.

Athletes and Coaches, it is 2016, let's please use science to fuel our training, not "this is what we've always done" or "this is what I did 20 years ago." Let's be better and let's advance.

Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Kephart

Got It

Hello Everyone!

Have you ever had a conversation with someone where he/she just got it? Where he/she just completely understood what you were saying and were instantly on-board with what you were conveying? Well that’s exactly what happened to me this past weekend in Dallas, TX at the PGC Athlete Performance College that I directed.

There was close to 70 athletes and over 15 observing coaches at the 13-hour weekend course, which includes film analysis, classroom, and gym sessions, and it seemed like everyone just got it. As I shared how speed, strength, and power are all skills that anyone through proper training can improve, I looked around the room to find these individuals nodding agreeingly and taking detailed notes. I was honored to be able to provide the tools, information, and skills these individuals were seeking to take their game to the next level.

This group continually and consistently demonstrated that they “got it” and that they wanted it. Throughout the course these individuals had to compete against other athletes that were sometimes bigger, faster, and stronger than them. Every time they rose to the challenge and used the speed and strength skills they were learning to face the challenge head on.

One of the most powerful things we can embrace in life is that we create our lives through our actions, not our thoughts. If we choose to continually act in the ways that we know will help us get closer to our goals we will find steading progress. If we focus on our actions, and not the outcomes, we can find success. We can’t always control the outcomes, but we can always control our actions.

Choosing to train our speed, strength, and power are actions that any athlete seeking athletic success must embrace. Learning the difference between good, better, and best training, in order to maximize our time and efforts, is an action that separates the good from the great. I am blessed to have spent a weekend with individuals that are on the path of greatness.



Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Kephart

3 Things Athletes Should Have Done This Summer

Hello Everyone!

There’s no sugar-coating this blog post. It’s the end of August which means the end of summer and back to school. Let’s look back on three things you should have done this summer if you were truly trying to become a great athlete in the sport you love.

#1) Created a Schedule of Best Practices

You should have taken the time to plan out your days with the “best practices” for each part of your day. Best practices such as waking up after 8 hours of sleep and starting the day by addressing one of your weaknesses. It’s well documented that our mental willpower diminishes throughout the day. The more choices and decisions we have to make the more we drain our willpower’s strength. Guarantee you’ll make progress towards improving one of your weaknesses by tackling it first thing in the morning. For many athletes a 20 minute yoga or stretching routine to improve flexibility, first thing in the morning this summer, could have dramatically improved their range of motion and movement.

Photo Credit: http://usafootball.com/blogs/health-and-safety/post/11750/yoga-helps-athletes-of-every-age-improve-flexibility,-balance-and-strength

#2) Learned How To Prepare Healthy Foods

You should have taken the time to either learn how to cook and store healthy foods that you like or simply to research what are the safest, healthiest, and best food supplements for your goals. In today’s world there is an abundance of healthy options that you can keep on hand. The more you surround yourself with the right foods the more often you’ll eat the right foods. Just imagine if you would have eaten healthy foods all throughout the summer? How much better would you look and feel about your body now?

#3) Read Autobiographies about your Sport Heroes

With all the extra time you had this summer you should have filled your mind with the true stories of successful athletes in your sport. You can learn so much about the road you have ahead of you in your sport by reading the autobiographies of your favorite athletes. Please realize that these athletes have climbed the mountain, made it to the top, AND THEN taken the time to write about it for you to learn from! Do you understand what a huge competitive advantage it can be to learn from success athletes...in their own words?!

Photo Credit: http://harriscomm.com/catch-a-star-tamika-catchings.html

Now you can’t go back in time and add all of these “should haves” to your summer, but thankfully you can prevent future guilt and regret by adding these to your upcoming fall. I’d suggest picking one of these “should haves” and make it your primary focus for fall (September through November) and then pick a different to add in the winter, etc.

Keep Training!

Coach Amanda Kephart

How Athletes Can Avoid Ruining Their Two-A-Days or Three-A-Days

Hello Everyone!

I have the privilege of working with some very driven and focused athletes. These athletes are far from you average athlete that barely does the little that is asked of them, instead these athletes that I am coaching do more than their share and more than is expected of them.

Recently I had an athlete come in for her one-hour speed and agility session. This workout was her third workout of the day, she had already conditioned with her high school team and lifted with her strength coach (did I mention it wasn't even lunchtime yet?). When she arrived she made the mistake that most athletes make when doing multiple workouts in a day - she showed up looking tired and fatigued with her body language. 

Did she have every right to be tired and fatigued? Most people would say "yes" and I am here to tell you that if you think it is your right to look tired and fatigued than you are ruining your two-a-days or three-a-days. 

Looking tired and fatigued is not some badge of honor that you wear, it is a sign that says you're actually a pretender, not a contender. Simple said, great athletes never look tired.

Even at the end of hard fought games, great athletes never look tired.

Looking tired is a waste of your energy and a waste of your coaches' time. As the third coach to work with her that day I didn't spend time planning and organizing her speed and agility work to have her walk in looking tired. If she is trying to be great, which would be the point of her doing multiple training sessions in one day, then I expect her to walk in looking like a great athlete. (Note: As a responsible coach I obviously take into consideration the training she has already done when it comes to the drills and training I will put her through.)

You might be thinking that I am being selfish when I say I don't want her looking tired, but I'm actually doing my job which is to coach her into being the best version of herself she can be. If she wants to be great then I need her to look great, even when she is not feeling great.

Athletes at all levels, collegiate, high school, and middle school ruin their two-a-days and three-a-days with poor, weak body language. If you want to avoid ruining your multi-workout days than start holding yourself to a higher standard when it comes to your body language, even if you have to fake it until you make it.

Great athletes never look tired.

Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Kephart 

The #1 Way to Become A Better Defender

Hello Everyone!

There are countless articles and drills out there for how to become a better defender, increase your defensive speed, or how to become a defensive stopper, but all of those drills and articles will fall short of your goal if you fail to get into the right athletic stance.

In this short video I show you how to maximize your defensive speed by getting into the right athletic stance.
Many athletes struggle to get into this proper stance because they lack flexibility in their low back and hamstrings. If your low back and/or hamstrings are tight you won't be able to lift your hips. Lifting your hips not only points your shoulders into a better, more horizontal position, but lifting your hips also loads your hamstrings and glutes into a more powerful firing position. Having your hamstrings and glutes loaded and ready primes your body to make the quickest, most powerful movements possible!

Keep Training!
Coach Amanda Kephart