Löfte: Commitment

Commitment:

How important is Commitment? You may answer "important", as the common-sense answer. But if you think about this questions deeply, it's more than a simple one word answer. Commitment is everything; it is action - from the efforts you put into practice, to the schedule you keep to balance team and personal training, to the skills you develop to help push you to that next level.

So as you enter 2013, I dare you to analyze your "commitment" by answering these questions:
1.) How does my schedule show commitment? 5 days or more each week
2.) How do I "look" during practice? am I fully involved
3.) What am I doing outside of practice to improve? personal training

Maximize your summer

Using the summer months to maximize your game is a tri-fold approach.

Part 1: Athletes who are serious ahould be using this time to train, for example I host morning boot-camp style workouts with exercises focused specifically to the athlete/sport. This begins with essential cardio to build stamina to then transition into strength, speed, and agility training. It's all about power, not so much skills in the summer.

Part 2: Using the summer to get your name and skill set to prospective coaches is an essential element to this season. Most college coaches like you, don't have school so it's heavy-recruitment time. It is essential to send your summer competition schedule to coaches NOW (May) so you can get on their travel list.

It is helpful to have a video to se d along with your summer games to entice coaches to come recruit you.

Part 3: Competing in the summer is essential because during your high school season these prospective college coaches were also competing. So they likely didn't get to see you play. **Make sure if you are playing in a recruitment tournament that you not only send your game schedule to coaches you like, but each of these tournaments typically has a list of "attending coaches". Scan ths list, even look into some of the schools you have never heard of and email and additional coaches your cover letter, video, resume, and game schedule.


Good Luck, ***make it your goal to get the most out of THIS summer.

The right way to train for spring athletes: Part 5 of 5... "playoffs"

Congratulations! You have proven yourself in competiion to be THE ONE who knows how to win. This is the most important quality to enter post-season play with. Do you know how to win?

Winners:
1. Enter competition with clear goals that contribute to the "win". In example: I will be the first girl around turn one, or I will make contact during each at bat.
2. Are mentally tough. I had a quote I posted in my college bedroom "never consider the possibility of failure"... Winners replace any even remotely negative thought with a positive one.
3. Stay competitive throughout the entire season. This is one of the biggest challenges to young athletes... It's all about continuing to put forth your best effort both mentally and physically in practice, pregame, and gametime. Winners thrive by pullin from within to make the most of every day.

Good luck in offseason play!
Continue with your current nutrition plan,mad you start to fatigue you may want to step back and consider if you have enough energy mid-to-late game... If you do not try FRS Energy Chews: they are a GREAT, Quick, Energy boost.

The right way to train for spring athletes: Part 4 of 5... "end of regular season"

So you have about a week remaining in your regular season. If you don't have a chance for post-season play, enjoy your last few days with your teammates and take pride in your team and the relationships you have built this season. After all, isn't it more than just the love of the game, but the people we share it with that brings us back each season?

If you foresee a playoff opportunity your mind is going to be your biggest challenge. You might start to feel drained of your sport, or stressed about your current or upcoming performance. Use this week to work on your mental game with these suggestions:

1. Have fun EVERY DAY. Enjoy your teammates and practice/competition. It's important to take the end of your season seriously, but it's essential to relax and enjoy the game too. So try to balance between competition and making a few goofy memories at the same time.
2. Realize you're "Too Blessed to be Stressed!" This translates to your game by realizing you are not perfect; whether you are striving for a PR or perfect game--recognize that passion is great but perfection is not the measure of your worth. Too much focus on perfection is only going to stress you out and lower your performance.
3. And lastly, keep up the hard work... though you shouldn't demand perfection, demanding a solid effort each day is your responsibility. And it feels good at the end of the day that you put forth your best.

****now is the time your nutrition regimine should be propelling you through the end-of-season fatigue!!


Good Luck as you finish out the rest of your "regularly scheduled season"

The right way to train for spring athletes: Part 3 of 5... "mid season"

By now you are mid way through your season and it's got to feel good to hear your training time really minimizes at this point. For now, put 100% into practices and your games will show your training has paid off. Any extra time you spend these next few weeks preparing for the end of your regular season should be time spent on developing your skills. If your having trouble with the finer points of your game now is the time to put a few extra minutes and a bit more energy into your game skills.

Good luck as you enter the second half of your season!!

The right way to train for spring athletes: Part 2 of 5... "first games of the season"

Congratulations spring athletes, you made it through tryouts. You may be focused on proving yourself as a contender on the field but it's a whole-season approach that we are striving for.

Continuing to give 100% effort during these essential preseason practices, scrimmages, and first games is essential. Not just in skill but effort in the physical--make it a point to jog to the water cooler, aim to be the first girl done with each sprint, and yes--continue to put in a few more at-home hours.

Especially during preseason coach may be making lots of changes in the lineup, and game-days may produce less on-field playing time than normal so coach can give everyone a chance to show their stuff. Because we are taking a whole-season approach to your training, we want to make sure YOU reach peak performance this season.

At home/after practice workouts are ESSENTIAL to reaching peak performance later this season. You should aim to peak early- to mid-season, and that means putting extra efforts in now.

It is important to continue to utilize a healthy energy fuel to help you perform at max intensity. I am a huge fan of healthy energy and I really see a difference in my mental and physical performance when I fuel with FRS energy drinks.

The most important part of this early season is to continue at-home training. I suggest an early morning regimine of 1 mile of cardio, 2 minutes of pushups, and 5 minutes of core. Overall this shouldn't take you more than a half-hour and it will really jump start your day.

Remember - we are ultimately trying to prevent mid- to late-season fatigue, so if you want to perform your best all season, maximize your efforts now... I promise, you will be offered relief from this intensity in a few weeks.

Make the most of your recovery with sleep and replacement fuels such as Hammer Nutrition's Recoverite. I learned as an athlete that I was over-training... Building muscle doesn't happen in the gym or on the field - that's the time you are actually tearing apart your muscles... (yes, you read correctly!). Your muscles aren't fusing back together until your sleep & recovery hours. These new bonds are now stronger, and are what give you strength. Like sodering metal - the new bond is stronger than the original metal piece. To make time for this new bond, it is essential to get enough sleep to build your body the way you are training it to. Recovery fuels like Hammer Nutrition's Recoverite help maximize this rest-time.


***This is the second post in a 5-part series: "The right way to train for spring athletes."

The right way to train for spring athletes: Part 1 of 5... "training during tryouts"

Periodization may be a foreign word to you - but it is at the core of any quality training program. It means to change your workout as your seasons change.  To reach your goals, you can't do the same routine all year long.

In the next few weeks INTENSITY should is your goal. Before games begin, put forth your MAXIMUM effort. Here's how and why... 

Training During Tryouts:

Push yourself to contribute 100% effort into team tryouts/practice. Of course you want to impress coach and show your teammates you want a starting spot. But more importantly, if you train hard at the beginning of the season, your body will expect that performance and you will compete better once mid-season fatigue sets in.  Now is the time to put the most effort on the field, its not "just practice".

It is important to find an energy fuel to help you perform at max intensity. I am a huge fan of healthy energy and I really see a difference in my mental and physical performance when I fuel with FRS energy drinks.

Give a little more at-home by adding 1 mile of cardio, 2 minutes of pushups, and 5 minutes of core. 
Why, after a grueling practice would you want to do this? We are trying to prevent mid- to late-season fatigue, so if you want to perform your best all season, maximize your efforts now... I promise, you will be offered relief from this intensity in a few weeks.

Make the most of your recovery with sleep and replacement fuels such as Hammer Nutrition's Recoverite. I learned as an athlete that I was over-training... Building muscle doesn't happen in the gym or on the field - that's the time you are actually tearing apart your muscles... (yes, you read correctly!).  Your muscles aren't fusing back together until your sleep & recovery hours. These new bonds are now stronger, and are what give you strength. Like sodering metal - the new bond is stronger than the original metal piece. To make time for this new bond, it is essential to get enough sleep to build your body the way you are training it to.  Recovery fuels like Hammer Nutrition's Recoverite help maximize this rest-time.



***This is the first post in a 5-part series: "The right way to train for spring athletes."

Top Questions To Ask Your Coach

No matter where you are playing, there are coaches who want to "train" you. (Especially if you already show talent as an athlete). But how do you distinguish a good investment from a bad one?
Here are a few essential questions to ask a potential coach:
1. What type of training do you see me most benefiting from? (ask them to consider your age, aspirations, and current talent)
2. How do you train girls in my sport differently than boys in my sport (you BETTER hear something about body alignment, acl prevention, and impact-if you don't hear all of these things--Run Away!)
3. How many female athletes have you trained? Where are they now? And how many reached the college level?
4. What am I going to "get" from this training? (mention your current commitments and availability; is there enough time to really reap benefits?)
5. Why do you want me to train with you?


Consider that additional training is an investment both financially and of effort/time. I have an investment of both in each athlete I take on. And we work together to develop the most meaningful program. You should truly FEEL this-from your coach and the training sessions.

Maximize your training

In order to maximize your training, and more imoortantly-prevent injury-it is essential to develop a balanced training program.

A great way to develop a total-body program is to combine large-muscle-group exercises with small-muscle-group exercises. This helps build muscle and prevent injury from ignoring some of the essential small muscles that hold our body together.

We recommend Circuit Training, to focus on the large muscle groups, promoting strength, explosiveness, and essential injury prevention exercises. Combining circuit strength training with Power Yoga will focus on the small muscle groups, increasing flexibility, balance and body awareness.

Developing your training philosophy

We aim to educate girls to maximize their training by combining exercises into circuit type sets. We believe in the demand for perfect form, proper resistance, and fluid movements for best results:

Perfect form? Controlled exercises increase opportunity to hit major and minor muscle groups along the path of exertion, getting the best results out of every movement.

Resistance training? This is the safest way to maximum strength and the results will please our women: long lean muscles! (As opposed to “man-like-bulges”)

Fluid motion training? To gain maximum strength without injury, muscles need to be worked in two ways, fluid motion away from the body, followed by stable, fluid motion rejoining the body. This component contains the elements shown above and with a constant flow in your exercise program, endurance is an added benefit without ever stepping on a track or elliptical!

Training on your own can be harmful and your chances of getting your desires results are slim.

Join us for fun and meaningful workouts tailored to your sport and season.