Category Archives: Women’s Sports Training

Jan 21 2010

Depth Jumps For Women

Women should include depth jumps in their exercise routines!  Depth jumps burn leg fat and help shape your butt, hips, thighs and calves.  Build adequate body stabilization and strength before doing depth jumps and other jump exercises.

      

The depth jump is a plyometric exercise that will work your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calf muscles. You will improve your athleticism and speed.

If you play sports, the basic depth jump can be tailored to your specific sport. For example, basketball requires landing on one leg in many situations. So, you could progress from two-legged to one-legged depth jumps.

You should perfect jumping and landing techniques before doing depth jumps.

1. Stand on top of a plyo box or platform. A higher plyo box will improve your leg strength more and a lower plyo box will improve your speed more.

2. Step forward (don’t jump) off the plyo box and land on the balls of your feet. Don’t land on your toes or your heels or you could damage your knees.

You can do one depth jump at a time or repeating depth jumps. With repeating depth jumps, you would step off a plyo box and immediately jump up onto another plyo box. Repeating depth jumps are more applicable to real game action.

Use your arms to add to your speed by swinging them back before stepping off the platform and swinging them up as your feet hit the ground (ready to jump again). Keep your back in neutral alignment (not arched or rounded) and look staight ahead.

Need more exercise and nutrition tips? Subscribe to my FREE Fat Blaster eNewsletter and get a FREE Special Report: “10 Must Know Fat Loss Tips” and Free Fat Loss Workouts!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

Nov 30 2009

Female Athletes’ Training–Get Faster!

Running sprints will make you faster! If you run alot of long distances, you will not get faster! Run sprints at the beginning of your workout when you are fresh. Rest 1 minute for every 10 yards sprinted. So, if you are sprinting 60 yards, rest 6 minutes between sprints. You need to run each sprint with maximum effort in order to get faster!

      

Because you will rarely reach maximum speed during the game, playing speed is also critical. No matter what sport you play, there are only 5 ways to improve playing speed:

1.Starting ability is critical. You can improve starting ability by practicing starts from 3-point, 4-point, standing and moving positions. At this point, it is important to accelerate to maximum speed (or as close as possible).

2. Increase your stride length. One good way to improve stride length is to effectively pump your arms as fast as possible. Leg strength and power also improve stride length.

3. Improve your stride rate (the number of steps you take per second). Leg strength and power improve stride rate. There is one running technique that is often overlooked. One way to run faster is to apply more force to the ground with your feet. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

The more force you apply to the ground, the more the ground will “give you power.” When you run, don’t lift your knee past your “thigh being parallel” to the ground. This way, you will use your “power center” (glutes and hamstrings) to apply force to the ground instead of the less powerful hip flexors.

In other words, running “with high knees” is not the best way to run. Also, step over the opposite knee and drive the foot down into the ground to create maximum force.

4. Improve your speed endurance. Speed endurance will not make you faster but it will keep you from slowing down when you are fatigued after repeated sprints.

5. Improve your running mechanics. You should practice running mechanics every day.

Your goal should be to play the game faster than your opponent!

Need more exercise and nutrition tips? Subscribe to my FREE Fat Blaster eNewsletter and get a FREE Special Report: “10 Must Know Fat Loss Tips” and Free Fat Loss Workouts!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

Nov 19 2009

Burn Body Fat, Be A Better Soccer Player

Don’t be a fat soccer player or athlete!  If you are too fat, you won’t be the soccer player you could be! Eat less food, burn fat and lose weight! While its true that you inherit a certain body type, don’t blame genetics if you’re overweight or fat. Ultimately, your body weight will depend on how much you eat and how much you workout, not your genetics.

                                                                                                     

If you consistently eat more calories than you burn (caloric surplus), you will consistently gain weight and add on body fat, no matter what your genetics may be. This can be a good thing if you are pumping iron and building muscle. But, if you are lazy, you will get fat!

You need to know how many calories you need each day. Start by learning your basal metabolic rate (how many calories you would burn if you did nothing all day). If you have a caloric surplus, you will gain weight.

Keep a food journal. Research has proven that you will have a better chance of succeeding with your meal plan and fat loss if you keep a food journal!

Take responsibility for your body and do the things necessary to change your body composition! It will make you a better soccer player!

Need more exercise and nutrition tips? Subscribe to my FREE Fat Blaster eNewsletter and get a FREE Special Report: “10 Must Know Fat Loss Tips” and Free Fat Loss Workouts!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!