5 Self-Tests Athletes Must Do Before Off-Season Training by Andy Haley

Sports are tough on the body. And diving right into an off-season training program—or worse, trying to get a baseline of your strength by “maxing out”—can limit your gains and increase your risk of injury.
“Over the course of a season, your body gets banged up,” says Mike Reinold, PT, DPT. “Your mobility often suffers the most.”
Mobility problems start a vicious cycle. Lacking full range of motion means you can’t perform exercises with proper form—which means you won’t work the right muscles with each rep—which means you won’t make the gains you deserve, and you’ll be more likely to get hurt.
The good news? Avoiding mobility issues is easy. “Simple self-assessments can tell you what you can safely do in your training,” says Tony Gentilcore, CSCS.
Before you start piling on weight plates, try these five tests of your strength and mobility. They’ll pay off when you’re crushing reps later in the off-season, injury-free.

Core Strength

Test it With: Push-Up Planks. Have a partner place a PVC pipe along the back of your head, shoulders and lower back. Hold for 60 seconds. If any of the three points lose contact, you need to strengthen your core.

Want to see the rest of the Tests? For the rest of the tests and full article, log onto http://www.stack.com/2013/12/09/off-season-training/ There you will also find articles on nutrition, sports, fitness, etc.

2011: How to Fix Brett Favre – A Sports Kinesiologist’s Rx

Amid rumors of another possible Brett Favre come back, I decided to post this story written by Sports Kinesiologist Zig Ziegler after last season. (There is speculation that Favre is considering returning to the league to serve as the backup to Michael Vick for the Philadelphia Eagles.)

While many of us consider former Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Brett Favre to be one of the greatest in history, 2010 was a disappointment for many reasons. Favre should have never come back for his 21^st NFL season.
The reason?
Favre, regarded as the “Ironman of NFL quarterbacks” is capable of living up to the tough guy mantra, “no pain, no gain.” However, his tough guy act has now caught up to him. Due to previous injuries to his left ankle, Favre required surgery again in the off-season. Yet the problem wasn’t the surgery, but the rehab. Years of listening to his medical advisers and failing to adequately prepare his body physically in the off-season to meet the demands of the regular season may have contributed to this horrible season.

Let’s look at Favre from a biomechanics perspective. For starters, Favre’s left ankle acts as the first major joint in stabilizing his body for each and every pass attempt.  Tough guys find ways to work around the pain and Favre has been doing just that. The human body is great at compensating around its own deficiencies but that stress still has to go somewhere.  Suffering from an immobile ankle all season, it was only natural that Favre would struggle with accuracy and even begin to over use an already weak shoulder.
Historically, Favre has never been known for great throwing mechanics. (Tom Brady has the best mechanics of any NFL Quarterback— we’ll tell that story another day).  Unfortunately, for Farve, those mechanics have gotten even worse this season. Why? You can’t build a $20 million dollar mansion on a $20 foundation.
With a shaky left ankle, a good athlete’s body finds a way to compensate for the injury and perform the necessary task. In Favre’s case, the task is: throw the ball.  However, what then happens to the stress that should be in his ankle? The stress shifts to his throwing shoulder, causing an aging shoulder to absorb more than its appropriate share of the workload. If Favre’s body were healthy, that workload would be spread over his entire body.
Favre could probably play another 3-5 years because of his mental toughness. However, in order to do that he would have to take care of this body from head to toe. So, the next question is how should he do that? Here is my prescription:
MY PRESCRIPTION TO FIX BRETT FAVRE:
1)      Fix the left ankle by increasing the mobility in each joint in his left foot.  Increase the mobility of his left foot’s plantar fascia with golf ball rolls and massage therapy. Careful consideration should also be placed on joint mobility in the left ankle.  This is best done by a manual therapy expert who digs in to break up all of the accumulated scar tissue from Farve’s previous surgeries.
2)      Address the mobility issues that have developed over the past three seasons in Favre’s throwing shoulder.  This means more manual therapy on the biceps and the front of his shoulder and chest muscles. Simultaneous to the mobility activity on the throwing arm, a qualified expert in performing exercises correctly needs to work with Favre to perform exercises for strengthening the posterior (back) side of his throwing arm and shoulder (triceps, posterior deltoid, and latissimus dorsi muscles on the right side.)
3)      Finally, it would not hurt for Favre to build-up stronger muscles on his right leg from foot to hip.
These are just a few recommendations for the future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback.  If Favre’s body felt better (a lot less aches and pains), we could be in for a wonderful summer season of our favorite NFL soap opera “Will he or won’t he.” Stay tuned.


With over 18 years of experience in health, fitness, and sports performance improvement, Mr. Ziegler has helped some of the world’s best athletes find their groove in baseball, Olympic softball, basketball, football and many other sports. Learn more in About Zig Ziegler, Sports Kinesiologist.

Why Mark Sanchez is not the same quarterback who led the Jets to the AFC Championship game

As the NFL lockout appears to soon be over, I came across this story which was put together with information provided by Zig Ziegler, one of my mentors and an expert in biomechanics, injury prevention and sports performance enhancement.

Why Mark Sanchez is not the same quarterback who led the Jets to the AFC Championship Game and how an old injury has held him back and will continue to do so in 2011.

As one of the top quarterbacks in the NCAA at USC, Sanchez suffered a career threatening injury to his patella tendon in 2008. While the injury on the surface does not seem to garner as much attention as the dreaded torn ACL, it actually can be significantly more difficult to recover from. This is due to the relationship between the patella tendon and the quadriceps muscle group of the thigh. The patella tendon attaches the major muscles of the quadriceps to the lower leg (tibia). This connection provides stability to the knee and assists the muscle in moving the lower leg.

Typically, an injury to the patella (also known as the knee cap) and patella tendon occurs in the form of either a partial or complete rupture (tear) or a subluxation or dislocation of the joint. A tear might be easier to recover from because the typical mechanism of the injury is related to over use. However, the subluxation or dislocation is typically related to rotation of the patella to a position where the tendon no longer is "in line" with the patella.

Sanchez, apparently never fully recovered from his patella tendon/knee injury at USC. As a result, in February of 2010, Sanchez underwent surgery on the left knee to repair the patella tendon, which was deemed necessary by team physicians. An injury of this nature, to a player like Sanchez, does more than limit his mobility as we might assume.  As a quarterback, Sanchez relies on the knee to make him agile in the pocket. But more importantly, as a right-handed quarterback, the left knee is the joint which provides stability as he throws the ball. It also must absorb rotational forces initiated when the quarterback firmly plants his left foot and initiates the throw.

In an evaluation of his throwing mechanics in video footage from 2010, 2009 and 2008, his mechanics show a poorly planting left foot and extreme extension of the left knee during delivery. This is a subconscious compensation or adjustment Sanchez has made to reduce the rotational force on this knee which could cause another and potentially more severe left knee injury. In addition, his risk of injury includes possible ACL injuries to both knees and possible lower back pain. As a result of his compensation, Sanchez has a tendency to deliver the ball with a more pronounced vertical movement of his throwing arm during delivery. This is more noticeable on balls thrown deep to the right as it will cause balls to the right to sail higher than expected. (Derek Anderson are you listening?) This can lead to more incompletions when throwing to the right or worse, more interceptions in that direction.

When throwing to the left, Sanchez more than likely will demonstrate throws which appear to lead the receiver in that direction because he is more likely to have natural rotation of his body increase. (Please understand that this flaw also can lead to incompletions as Sanchez may still be off target from where his throw is intended.)

Until Sanchez works to increase the rotational stability of his left knee, he will continue to struggle in and out of the pocket with mobility and accuracy. Just as importantly, Sanchez will continue to struggle with his confidence as he fails to achieve the success he was accustomed to in his early days at USC.

My number one exercise for Sanchez? Well there are actually three.

1.  Medicinal ball rotational twist to the left side
2.  Single leg hamstring curls on both legs with an emphasis on the left leg. (Hey Mark, be sure to focus on doing these in the prone position and keep your glutes tight so you don't arch your back)
3.  Increase left ankle mobility with manual therapy

We'll see what the Jets training staff has in store for Mark and the subsequent results. Let's play some football.