Action Planning

As a supplement to the information found in my blog from October 17th, 2009 title Be Smart – Goal Setting, I have posted a lesson and some work sheets for you. To view this material follow this link (click here). You will need a users name and password to access the links. You can get this by e-mailing password@scathletics.com from your school e-mail.

Be Smart – Goal Setting

I have always believed that setting personal and professional goals would help me succeed in life. This is no different when it comes to fitness. If you hope to achieve some level of success with your physical pursuits, you must set goals, it’s that simple. Well, maybe not, your goal must also be S.M.A.R.T. 

S – Specific in nature. Simply saying you want to run faster is not enough. You must decide what that means. May it is that you want to run 5 km in under 25 minutes or sprint 50m in under 11 seconds. Either way, you must be specific.

M – Measure. If you can’t measure it, how will you know if you have attained your goal. Setting a goal like “I want to feel better” is a great, but how will know when you have gotten there. There will be moments in your life when you will feel good, but if you can’t but a value to your goal, it will be increasingly hard to determine if you have reached you goal and to what degree you have succeeded.

A – Achievable. This probably goes without saying, but your goal needs to be something that you can actual do. No matter how well I write out my goal, and no matter hard/smart I work at reaching my goal, I am never going to be 6 feet tall – I can’t achieve that goal.

R – Realistic. People often confuse this point and the previous. There is a difference though. A goal could be achievable, but not realistic. You may be able drop 10 pounds before your sister’s wedding on January 1st, however, you also know that you only have 4 weeks to it and you will be eating more and exercising less over the holiday season. Achievable yes, but not very realistic. A better goal may be to maintain your current weight until the holidays are over.

T – Time oriented. This point relates directly to the first one – specific. Once you have designed your goal to as specific as possible, set a date that you must attain your goal. In a perfect world, you will be able to set ‘mini-goals’ along the way so you can see if you are on track to reach your ultimate goal.

Keep these points in mind when you write down your goals and you will off to a great start to attaining your goals.

TEACHERS – there is a lesson and some work sheets for you dealing with goal setting. Check out the Action Planning  blog from October 17, 2009.

 Yours in Movement,

Coach

One-Arm Dumbbell Row

This exercise is critical for development of  the entire back. It is a favorite of mine because of its effectiveness but also because of the small amount of equipment needed to perform the movement – one dumbbell and one bench or chair.

One Arm Dumbbell Row Step 1

Stand near a bench or other stable object. Take a wide stance with one leg in front of the other. The leg in the back should be out to the side. Lean forward with your hips until your body is parallel with the floor. Be sure to bend your knees to support the back.

Place the hand closest to the bench on the bench and pick up a dumbbell with the outside hand. Use a neutral grip (palm facing inward – toward the bench). Keep the hand with the weight in it hanging straight down.

One Arm Dumbbell Row Step 2

Concentrate on using your back muscles to bring your elbow as high as possible with the weight moving towards the hip. Pause for just a second and slowly return to the starting position.

After you have completed all desired repetitions on one arm. Switch positions and repeat for the other arm.

Yours in Movement,

Coach

Terminology

I have given much thought to my first post. Well, I suppose it is not truly my first post, but my first post that coincides with the topic that will more than likely cover the majority of these pages  – weight training. As a rummaged through the ideas in my mind, it occurred to me that before I could write about weight training I needed to make sure that we all are using the same vocabulary.

What follows is a list of some common terms and their definitions. It is a good idea to commit this to memory so that they become common terms in your everyday discussion about weight training.

• Endurance – continual production of a force, over a period of time
• Tone – firmness of muscle
• Hypertrophy – growth of muscle fiber (increase in size)
• Strength – ability of muscle to produce a force
• Power – strength and speed
• Repetition (rep) – one complete movement of an exercise
• Set – a fixed number of repetitions
• Rep Range – the range of the number of time the movement is to be performed
• One Rep Max (1RM) – the maximum amount of weight a person can lift for one repetition
• Primary Mover – muscle that is mostly responsible for the movement (i.e. the chest muscle is mostly responsible for doing a push up)
• Synergists (secondary/tertiary movers) - all other muscles that assist prime movers
• Antagonists – opposites (i.e. biceps and triceps)
• Overhand grip  – a grip that allows the thumbs to be on the inside or next to each other
• Underhand grip – a grip that allows the thumbs to be on the outside or away from each other
• Neutral grip – a grip that allows the thumbs to be parallel to each other
• Alternating grip – a grip that allows the thumbs to facing the same direction (i.e. one facing in and one facing out) 

Yours in Movement,

Coach