06.03.05

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CONGRATULATIONS to DeFranco’s Training client, Rich Scanlon of the Berlin Thunder! Rich is currently leading all of NFL Europe in tackles!

  

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Q: Hi Joe, Hope all is well post surgery. Keep up the excellent website; I get more and more inspired with every update.

My question to you is this: I am currently 4 weeks into my rugby season, however I have missed the last 2 with a hamstring injury and strained my other hamstring in the first week also. I feel that these injuries have been caused by an imbalance in strength between my quads and hammies and also as my physio has suggested over tightness in my hip-flexors.

Addressing the strength imbalance, I have access now to a GHR and reverse hyper machine and was wondering do you think that I should focus increasing the strength in my hamstrings even though I am in-season or wait until the next off-season before attacking them? I train Tues and Thurs night and play Saturdays and have access to a gym 24/7. I was thinking of doing a session consisting of squats, glute-hams and reverse hypers on Sunday afternoon. Any thoughts?

Keep up the great work.

Regards,
Callum
Brisbane, Australia

A: Callum,
For in-season hamstring problems, I would suggest that you perform UPRIGHT sled walks and do lots of hip flexor stretching! Upright sled walks will help to strengthen your hamstrings during the season without “tearing them apart” and causing soreness. This is because there is no eccentric contraction when performing this exercise. Start light and don’t lean forward as you walk. Walk upright and take big steps. Think about “pulling” the ground behind you each time your foot touches the ground. This technique really activates the hamstrings. I would do these at least 3X a week. Start with 2-3 sets of 50 yards and see how your hamstring feels.

As far as reverse hypers and glute-ham raises are concerned, I would favor the reverse hypers during the season – especially since you have a hamstring problem. I don’t have my athletes do many knee flexion exercises during the season anyway - even if they’re healthy. For hamstrings, we do mostly reverse hypers, pull-throughs and upright sled walks in-season.

Stretching your hip flexors is also a great way to relieve tension and increase the healing process of your hamstrings. Tight hip flexors create a constant tension and “pull” on your hamstrings do to the anterior pelvic tilt that it creates. Have your trainer perform P.N.F. stretching on your hip flexors 1-2 times a day. By keeping your hip flexors flexible, you will take some tension off of your hamstrings. This will help to speed up your recovery.

Also, try buying some white flower analgesic oil and rub it on your hamstrings before practice and games. I tried this stuff for the first time on my back today and I couldn’t believe how much it improved my pain and mobility (temporarily)! This stuff is like Bengay on steroids! It’s definitely worth a shot.

Good luck!
Joe D.

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Q: Joe, I'm interested in knowing your opinions of H.I.T., machine based college football Strength &Conditioning systems. I know that at least two of the athletes you train (Brandon Short and Dhani Jones) came out of schools with that S&C philosophy. Have you noticed those two, and other athletes you've trained from those types of programs, lack sports specific strength? I'm wondering in particular if these athletes were lacking in functional lower body strength, overall explosiveness, and dynamic upper body power. As you know, the training methodologies of H.I.T. often abhor speed-strength exercises, and free weight exercises most especially those that have a speed component. From fear of injuries while weight training (greatly exaggerated), and the dismissal of the transferability of free weight training, and dynamic weight training to the playing field.

How have you noticed an improvement in your previously H.I.T., machine based program athletes, and corresponding improvements on the playing field, if any.

Thank you,
Steve

A: Steve, You did your homework. Both Dhani and Brandon came from 2 of the biggest “HIT” schools in the country. Fortunately for them, they are both extremely gifted athletes. It would take more than just a H.I.T. program to ruin their careers. This is where uneducated college strength coaches are lucky. The big-time football schools recruit the best high school players in the country. The strength coach can basically do everything WRONG and the team still wins games because the athletes are so blessed. Basically, the teams win IN SPITE of their strength & conditioning program, NOT because of their program. Unfortunately, the coach’s egos are too big to realize this and they end up taking total credit for their player’s success. The sad thing is that a lot of the genetically gifted players never develop as much as they should during their college careers.
The positive side of this situation is that college coaches that advocate HIT training make me look good! When college football players come to me to prepare for the NFL, a lot of them think that they already know it all. After all, they just spent 4-5 years training at one of the biggest universities in the country, with the best coaches in the country…right? Wrong!

I actually enjoy getting kids from HIT schools because I know that there is so much for me to teach them and so much room for improvement, regardless of their on-field endeavors. Their squat form is usually pathetic, their vertical jump height is usually below average and they perform every rep of every exercise in a 10-1-10-1 tempo! Once I teach them how to squat, get them performing max-effort and dynamic days for upper and lower body and throw in some special exercises, I look like a genius! This is actually how I became close friends with Dhani Jones. He was the first HIT-trained Pro athlete that I ever worked with. He argued with me for the first 2 months during every rep of every set of every exercise. We literally fought like cats & dogs for the entire workout! I feel that there were 2 factors that enabled me to win him over with my training methods:

1. His strength & explosiveness skyrocketed within weeks of training with me; more so than they did in 4 years of training in college. He wasn’t feeling fatigued and over-trained all of the time. He also got full strength back in his reconstructed knee in about half of the time that the doctors predicted. Basically, my results spoke louder than any words!
2. I explained the REASON & PURPOSE for every single thing that I did with him. I didn’t just say to, “Lift until you puke!” or “The reason we’re doing this workout is because I said so!” When you can validate your program with real science and real-world results, people will listen.

I can only imagine where these guys would be if they would have trained right in college.

  

If only their old strength & conditioning coaches could see them now!

Joe D.

 

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