Performance admin May 23, 2018

Taking an Acceleration-Based Approach

Taking an Acceleration-Based Approach to Performance and Return to Play

By Derek Hansen

I had the exceptional opportunity to provide a return-to-play presentation to NFL athletic trainers as part of the PFATS (Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society) in late February 2018 at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. The focus of my lecture was on an acceleration-based approach to hamstring return-to-play. While there are all sorts of techniques and technology directed at strengthening the hamstrings, I have always had superior results using short sprints as a means of addressing the specific strength needs of the hamstrings. The goal of my presentation was to impart basic coaching techniques for sprint and acceleration training that the athletic trainers could use as part of their in-season return-to-play protocols.

Squatting admin February 22, 2018 Altius, Altius Northampton, Altius Personal Training, Altius PT, Altius PT Northampton, Squatting

Squat Depth in Athletic Development

The Specificity of Squat Depth

Disclaimer: I love the squat and I love deep squats. I come from a powerlifting background and feel a deep sense of pride that I would miss squats rather than cut them high. This was my sport, and I took great pride in my sport. Some say that I hate deep squats, but that isn’t it at all.

I just happen to think that things that are great for one sport aren’t great for all. I’ve gone on record many times as saying that we don’t need perfect technique on Olympic lifts. Reasonable is good enough and, in fact, I mostly just did pulls with my athletes. Likewise, do we need to have a powerlifting standard for squats? Food for thought as we go ahead. Many will disagree, and that’s OK, but I feel that we need to get this information out there now rather than later.

Fitness admin February 22, 2018 Altius, Altius Northampton, Altius Personal Training, Altius PT, Altius PT Northampton, Fitness

50-Year-Old Superheroes

New Challenges for Personal Trainers!

As action stars lead franchises into their second decades, top trainers sweat to keep actors ripped while providing knee- and back-friendly routines now that they “can’t take the physical abuse.”

Acute Muscle Injury

Early versus Delayed Rehabilitation after Acute Muscle Injury

Acute traumatic muscle-strain injuries are common and result in a substantial loss of time and risk of recurrence. Treatment options such as platelet-rich plasma are ineffective. The extent to which the timing of rehabilitation influences clinical recovery of strain injuries remains unknown. We investigated whether early or delayed use of injured musculotendinous tissue affected recovery after acute muscle-strain injuries.