When I notice athletes having some difficulty with range of motion, most of the time it is an ankle or hip range of motion issue. The ankle issue drastically changes the loading during acceleration, but more so in deceleration. The issue with the hips will mostly cause athletes to not load well enough to accelerate out of their stance. But immobile hips will certainly cause deceleration issues as well because of the same inability to load.
Most of the time I can work on athletes’ range of motions issues right on …

Back in the ’70s and ’80s training was all about isolation. In the ’90s we started to become more “functional” and now we are starting to figure out how it all works together. Speed training isn’t much different. There are times when we might need to isolate a movement to get the feel and to allow for a teaching moment. But we also know that we have to look at the entire body and how each level, foot to head, sets up or reacts to what the other level is …

Let me set the stage. Friday, my wife went to Chicago with my oldest daughter, Jae, on a class field trip. I stayed home with Bailee and Brennen. Not only did I have to get Bailee up for school and drive her there, I also had to get Brennen up and ready to go with us. And it just happened to be the day before Halloween so Bailee had a little more stuff than usual to bring to school. It wasn’t such a big deal. For the most part it …

Chris Blake is a certified athletic trainer and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. Chris Specializes in training Football, Hockey, and Baseball athletes.
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