Reason for so many injuries

Submitted by BIGBLUEWORLD on

Floyd Mayweather is by any measure is a well conditioned athlete. Power, speed, endurance, mobility. In a video, it was interesting to see he has a foam roll in his house. That's used for Myofascial Self-Release, known as Trigger Point Therapy. This increasingly popular method, pioneered by Dr. Janet Travell and Dr. David Simon, gets tension and knots out of muscles.

People carry much more chronic, restrictive tension in our bodies than most realize. Trigger point release, along with stretching, yoga, massage, etc, releases adhesions and restrictions in the muscles and connective tissue. Teaching this for 24 years, I've seen it have a powerful effect.

More examples? In 1976 Hasely Crawford won the Olympic gold in the 100 meters. He was able to generate tremendous force with speed to generate power, and overcome his inertial mass more effectively than anyone in the world. I met Hasely Crawford in Ann Arbor in1978. We spoke for a while. He was probably the most relaxed person I ever met in my life. He carried very little tension of any sort in his body or being.

Usain Bolt does a great job of staying loose before a competition. Do you think he works on just getting stronger, or having resilient, efficient muscles?

Olympic coaches nowadays emphasize releasing muscles fibers from chronic tension, and maintaining pliability and resilience in fascia, tendons, ligaments. If an Olympic athlete carries tight, non-functional muscle fibers, it's like an anchor. They can't compete at world class levels. S&C coaches are all over the map on this subject. A former U of M S&C coach thought flexibility was useless. That's really WRONG.

A primary principle for athletic training is: The more you do something the better you get at doing that thing. As a health and fitness instructor, and former addiction counselor, I've worked with pro and Olympic athletes. We train with bands and cables more than weights. Stabilization training produces real world power, and is optimal for the joint's supportive tissue. Elastic bands support maximum force generation along with explosive speed, optimizing endurance as well. Barwiss uses this training. Starett strongly emphasizes mobility.

Flexible, mobile, efficient muscles generating power through a wide range of motion are the key to athletic power, and for preventing injuries. Core training in all three planes of motion (sagittal, ventral, transverse) is also important, because the core is the weak link in transferring power from the legs to the torso.

Why do we have so many ACL and other injuries? Where is our fourth quarter performance? It can be traced to the type of strength and conditioning training being practiced. There are four protocols for training: Strength, Power, Endurance, Hypertrophy. It's apparent from results on the field: Our S&C program over-emphasizes gross muscle mass, that is Hypertrophy, over Power and Endurance, which are the real factors in athletic performance. Those impressive pictures we see of our football players getting bigger? That's body building muscle, which does not translate well to sports performance, and sets up our players for injury.

Who is responsible to determine the direction of our S&C program? Aaron Wellman has a say in this. But who makes the final decision? This rash of injuries is not a random fluke, but can be explained by current sports science. Old school training protocols, which promote superficial results, lead to these painful outcomes.

Comments

DonAZ

October 23rd, 2014 at 2:53 PM ^

S&C coaches are all over the map on this subject.

Why? 

If the evidence was clearly in favor of the benefits of "Myofascial release techniques, trigger point therapy, and other methods of tension reduction" then I would think the S&C community would move in that direction.

It makes me wonder if the evidence is not quite so clear.  Hence the observation that S&C coaches are all over the map.

I'm not trying to be a contrarian dick here ... it's an honest question.  S&C coaches are like anyone in a competitive environment -- they seek anything to stay competitive or become more competitive.  If the benefits of tension release were so obvious, I can't see why any S&C coach would hesitate to employ them.  Unless the argument being made here is that Wellman and others are stubbornly clinging to past ideas despite clear evidence to the contrary.

That would explain Wellman and Michigan ... but what about others on the map that are in the same neighborhood?

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 24th, 2014 at 3:49 PM ^

Athletic training evolves over time. Your question is legit.

When you study practices such as Olympic training, body building, power lifting, martial arts and yoga, just to name a few, you find tremendous diversity in methods people use to improve physical performance.

Who's right? This question must consider the practitioners aims and goals. I find that martial arts and current Olympic training, which is centered on flexibility and dynamic movements that generate power (force with speed), is a much better model for football conditioning than widely popular but less athletic body building practices.

Gameboy

October 23rd, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^

That is because very little of this is scientifically proven.

All of these methods boast impressive anecdotal evidence, but the end of the day, they are just that,anecdotes.

Until you see results from a large randomized trial, with such small sample sizes involved, any thoughts on current injury status nothing more than a guess, and should be treated as such.

floridagoblue

October 25th, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^

Your comments hit it squarely on the head. It takes cooperation from athletic coaches and funding to run the correct experimental studies on different training methods. Generally both are hard to come by. I have been involved with a quite a few training studies, but generally they are run on sedentary older men and women, or college students that are not high caliber athletes. The types of training you can get them to do is very different from what I experienced as a Division 1 football player. The field will continue to be dominated by personal experience, anecdotes, and intuition until there is a change in the funding model and buy in by coaches.

LJ

October 23rd, 2014 at 3:02 PM ^

If it was true that "this rash of injuries is not a random fluke" then it should be easy to demonstrate, with statistical confidence over a large sample, that some S&C programs or some methods of training have a higher incidence of certain injuries.  I've never seen anyone present a convincing case of that.

We heard these same statements made to argue that Barwis would be our savior.  I still saw plenty of bad 4th quarter performance and plenty of injures.  As the above poster said, if one method was demonstrably better than all the others, wouldn't everyone just switch to that program? 

LBSS

October 23rd, 2014 at 10:46 PM ^

I never saw any evidence that Barwis was a good S&C coach, and in fact, apart from his extremely impressive hype machine, the only knowledgeable commentary I ever saw on his methods -- from Charlie Francis and the various S&C coaches on his forum* -- was derisive. The kitchen-sink, yelling-and-screaming approach may help motivate kids to work hard in the gym but that's really only a small part of the S&C coach's responsibility. Helping ensure proper rest and nutrition, using appropriate methods and volumes to improve measurable qualities that enable kids to play better without interfering with their ability to have high-quality practices, and building a strong physical foundation so that kids are less likely to get injured are much more important. 

It's disheartening to have so many soft-tissue injuries, and while to some extent those are fluky and Just Happen in a sport like football, it's the S&C staff's job to prevent them as much as possible. The fact that we have so many makes me skeptical that what Wellman et al. are doing is really effective or optimal. In S&C there may be many ways to skin a cat, but there are many more ways to skin a cat messily while also slicing off part of your thumb. 

*FWIW, they also had little respect for his predecessor, Gary Moeller.

Turn Texas Blue

October 23rd, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^

Is there any evidence that Wellman is ignoring these principles? Unless you have insite on training programs for players, which you very well may, I don't think there is any way to pin this on S&C. Football is a violent sport and injuries will happen. Hypertrophy can be attained while maintaining flexibility and players can still utilize preventative measures, like foam roling, and they could still take a hit to the knee and be out. Just saying...

petered0518

October 23rd, 2014 at 3:23 PM ^

You met a sprinter and he was laid back, which to you is evidence that Myofascial Self-Release is key to athletic performance? You don't have any clue what his training regimine is. Same goes for Usain Bolt. You can't use laid back people as evidence of the efficacy of a training method that you don't even know they use.

While I don't doubt that flexibility/mobility is a big part of athletic performance, the entirely of your evidence is scientific sounding bullshit and anecdotes. Come back when you have actual science and/or statistics to share.

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 24th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^

Congratulations petered0518!

Most of the comments people made here were thoughtful or somewhat funny or at least in the ball park of being relevant. You posted by far the most ignorant comment out of all, and managed to get the most upvotes for it.

You have mastered the art of being cynical and snarky, while managing to scrounge up a few points in the process. 

You are wrong. I have more than a "clue". There are libraries full of literature on sports medicine and athletic training that provide more than a clue. The fact is, not all professionals agree on what are the best current methods and techniques. I presented a brief summary and examples of sophisticated, state-of-the-art methods of athletic training which could benefit our football players. Do you have any care or concern for our football players?

If you are willing to read, the training methods of Hasely Crawford and his coach are well documented. The same goes for many other Olympic athletes and martial artists. Let's make it easy for you. Just Google "functional training". That will get you started.

If you are willing to read, you could fill in some of the obviously wide holes in your knowledge. What you can do for the holes in your head, I do not know.

 

HipsterCat

October 23rd, 2014 at 3:32 PM ^

Boy I sure wish Derrick green had streched more, maybe he wouldnt have broken his collar bone if he had. Or Morris had done yoga then he wouldnt have been concussed from that head blow or had that ankle sprain. Or peppers and his bone chip mystery injury. 

glewe

October 23rd, 2014 at 11:44 PM ^

Your /s is all well and good, but strength and conditioning will affect how and when you fall (re: Green).

Morris was both an anomaly and probably uncounted in an injury analysis on the season given that he was never held out for the so-called "probable mild" concussion. Frankly, Green is probably also an anomaly. Those are bad luck; they do very little for your point. OP deliberately referenced high ankle sprains and ACL tears as common problems probably rooted in S&C.

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 23rd, 2014 at 4:59 PM ^

If this diary were a research paper, it could be conservatively titled "Factors contributing to the statistically high incidence of injuries in the University of Michigan football program".

But from what I've observed, heard from inside the program, and learned through 24 years of intensive study and practice with clients, I'm speaking up for a higher level of competence which our football players deserve, and sticking with "Reason for so many injuries". 

LJ

October 23rd, 2014 at 5:25 PM ^

That's completely fine, and I'm glad you posted the diary.  Anecdotal insight is valuable.  But you can't post a somewhat-controversial opinion and then expect people to just accept it without asking for, y'know, some evidence.  And this is a case where the data are so readily available (tons of teams over many years with various S&C programs, and mostly publicly available injury information) that you would expect some trend emerging if one style was better than the other.  I'll be skeptical until I see something like that.

DrewGOBLUE

October 23rd, 2014 at 7:41 PM ^

I don't think you can go so far as to say with certainty that the success of these athletes was contingent on the type of treatment they received and/or methods of conditioning you describe.

Regardless, your reference to the use of manual therapy scratches the surface of what I think is a pretty interesting facet of sports medicine. The Myofascial Release technique you mention was actually developed and used by Osteopathic physicians many years before the time of Drs. Travell and Simon. After their own use of this particular treatment, though, they did apparently help popularize the method through their research/publications.

But anyway, what's interesting to me are the potential benefits on athletic performance that different varieties of manual medicine might be able to provide, namely from the approach of certain, specialized Osteopathic doctors.

I used to see one of these particular DO's to receive treatment for back pain which was very helpful. Basically, through a number of hands-on therapies, the goal is to optimize the structure, and thereby functioning, of musculoskeletal components. Pretty much, it's to help get everything in line and in sync, improve range of motion, as well as relieve muscular restrictions and tension.

So naturally, it's logical to think that regularly treating athletes in this sort of way could feasibly enhance performance to an extent. Therefore, I of course wonder if our own football team would be wise to have some of these people on the medical staff. Maybe it's even a little secret for Sparty, since they're the ones with the Osteopathic med school.

Also a short article here that talks about this manual therapy catching on in pro and Olympic sports
-- http://www.osteohome.com/resources/Articles/Top_Athletes1.pdf

Just another interesting tidbit - these doctors are also pretty adept at realizing when someone is having, say, shoulder pain, yet the cause has nothing at all to do with the shoulder. In actuality, it could be 'referred' pain due to something like a gallstone. Essentially this can happen because sensory fibers coming from certain muscles and internal organs converge. Ultimately then, nerves signaling a dysfunction of the gallbladder can come back as shoulder pain. Yet, there may or may not be any abdominal discomfort. Thus, it's important to be suspicious of muscular/somatic pain that seems to appear without reason; it could be a sign of a more dangerous, visceral problem. -- health tip of the day.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 24th, 2014 at 12:36 AM ^

Interesting article, DrewGOBLUE. Thanks.

There's a tremendous amount of controversy in the medical field regarding Osteopathic medicine. Not long ago, Chiropractors were vilified by Allopathic practitioners. The growth of Integrative Medicine, established at such places as Duke University, the University of Arizona and Scripps, raises all manner of debate among physicians. There is no set course to which all agree.

In general, younger S&C coaches would be more in agreement with the methods I'm proposing than older coaches. It would be interesting to talk with Aaron Wellman and see if his approach to training is entirely based on his own understanding of the best methods and practices, or if he is being constrained to work toward predetmined objectives from another level of decision making.

Do you know what I mean?

 

 

DrewGOBLUE

October 24th, 2014 at 11:29 PM ^

(Meant to be edit to above post, but can't seem to do so after using app). According to MSU's team physician webpage, they do in fact implement Osteopathic Manual Medicine as a means to benefit the performance and rehabilitation of their athletes. Surprisingly, despite having both Allopathic and Osteopathic medical schools, 10/12 of their team doctors are DO's. So I imagine their prevalence in the MSU athletic department has at least a little bit to do with the perspective in which they approach sports medicine. Even if the advantages of having a couple Osteopathic physicians on Michigan's athletic training staff are marginal, I still think it would be a good idea to do so.

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 25th, 2014 at 2:19 AM ^

Thanks for the information on Osteopathic medicine. One of the factors that makes things challenging for Osteopaths is that insurance companies are disinclined to pay for soft tissue work. If a doctor sets a bone or prescribes a pill, they just check a box and get paid.  For soft tissue treatments, the muscular and connective tissue work that Osteopaths practice, they have to jump through hoops to be reimbursed by the insurance companies.

Thanks again DrewGOBLUE. I really am concerned whether our football players are getting the best S&C coaching and recovery therapy possible.  There are numerous indications, some we've all seen, that they are not.

 

 

glewe

October 23rd, 2014 at 7:54 PM ^

Thank you. I think Wellman deserves more scrutiny. Technique is harder to execute if you lack the requisite physicality necessary to execute--think OL, DL, WR routes, RB power running, staying balanced and on your feet after first contact, etc. On top of that, you'll just lose in the trenches.

It seems rather clear to me that Barwis had more success with that than Wellman. I think Wellman has been a major contributing factor to our team's failures.

B-Nut-GoBlue

October 23rd, 2014 at 10:27 PM ^

I remember reading years back while Carr was still coaching that the S&C methods utilized were a bit archaic, HIT-type methods if I recall. I don't have a real point, something interesting I remember.

I know many here don't like your analysis because of course data and numbers are missing but I think I'm of the opinion that our players aren't training in the best of their interests. I'm not sure the injury correlation is there but I wouldn't doubt it.

Also, I know many discredit this but could there be something to these new field-turfs aiding in injuries? Are injuries to the knees and ligaments elsewhere higher in number than say, a decade ago or two decades ago?

You Only Live Twice

October 23rd, 2014 at 10:38 PM ^

You posted a thought provoking diary and you got thoughtful responses (for the most part).  That's basically all you can ask for here unless you're one of the "In" crowd.  Downvotes happen for minimal reason, or no reason, or simply if the downvoter disagrees, or if they've voiced support for someone the In crowd disapproves of.  Don't expect consistency.  There are also a few trolls who have accumulated enough points where they can downvote all day long.  Again, you're lucky you got thoughtful feedback and explanation. 

I'm betting over the long term, the thoughtful types here prevail for the most part and that's why there are so many good diaries and MGo threads. 

The injuries this year do bring up a lot of questions and it's difficult to know how to analyze.

BlueGoM

October 24th, 2014 at 5:55 AM ^

Well if they didn't gain muscle mass then people would be bitching about how our OL is undersized and that will never fly in the B1G, like they were during RR's time.

 

ih8losing

October 24th, 2014 at 9:16 AM ^

Injuries certainly are a part of sports in general, football in particular but at what point do you not think to bring the S&C methods into question?

 

#GoBlue

Blueinsconsin

October 24th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^

stem from incompetence at the top of the program and decisions made by the strength and conditioning leads.  These issues are constantly in affecting the players and it all points to Hoke and Aaron Wellman.  I want Barwis back..badly...Or steal Shannon Turley from Stanford

dcallen39

October 24th, 2014 at 3:43 PM ^

The "cause " of an injury/tear of the ACL is much more profound than strength training. There may be some validity to muscular imbalances, quads:hamstrings, leading to and ACL tear, but there are also congenital variables such as the Q-angle or the slope of the tibia relative to the femur that play a role. To assume that the strength and conditioning methods are the 'cause' of these injuries is rather presumptive. Research in this area is expanding, but as of now is only based on retrospective or prospective studies. The only way to give causation to an ACL injury is to hook up some markers to an individual as well as bone pins to the tibia and femur and needle EMG to all of the muscles crossing the knee joint and do motion analysis while they tear their ACL. I don't think a study like this will be happening in the near future.

It is also worth noting that the existence of trigger points is debatable. While there are individuals with increased tone in their muscles and some people likely do have fascial tightness or certain tender points it is difficult to assess their existence. When therapists have been studied on their ability to palpate a trigger point their inter-rater reliability was worse than chance. Maybe they exist, there is just too little quality research for me to have an opinion either way.

Flexibility is a key component of training as is joint stability, but making that the key focus of training and then asking a defensive lineman to push against a 300+ pound offensive lineman sounds like a recipe for disaster. Should they be addressing these areas in training? Sure. However, there are time restrictions on how much you can do.

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 24th, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^

Sounds like you study or work in this field. Thanks for the comments.

Trigger point therapy is a rapidly growing practice. DrewGOBLUE made some good observations on this subject, and correctly noted the contributions which came from Osteopathic medicine. I would also note that these methods were being utilized hundreds of years ago by practitioners of martial arts. Dr. Janet Travell and Dr. David Simons wrote their book on "Trigger Point Therapy" in 1983, and the research supporting their contentions has expanded through the years. At the popular level, there are practical articles in fitness, runners, even golf magazine.

This is part of the training regimen which I've been teaching for over 24 years. I've worked with hundreds of people who could assure you that trigger points (that is muscular fibers, connective tissue, or scar tissue that has collected into a knot or fibrous adhesion) are no mirage. What's more, adhesions can form within muscle fiber bundles, on connective tissue surfaces, even at the inter-cellular level. You can debate trigger point or myofascial release if you prefer. I will go on with my daily work, helping people to improve athletic performance, relieve aches and pains, find significant relief from mental stress.

As for "the key focus of training" I'm going to sum it up with an analogy. Would you rather have a 300 lb lineman who is carrying all sorts of dysfunctional, neuro-muscular internal restrictions, lumbering around like a water buffalo? Or would it be better to have a 285 lb lineman who has been trained to move and "deliver a blow" (quote from Greg Mattison) with the speed and agility of Chuck Norris?

Always nice to converse with people who want to share knowledge. Peace.

 

dcallen39

October 24th, 2014 at 11:07 PM ^

I am not in favor of recruiting water buffalo. I agree with the need for power training that improves the ability to deliver a blow. I also agree with your previous comments that training for hypertrophy is not really functional for football players. I honestly don't know what kind of exercise program the S&C people have the players doing, so I do not feel that I can assign blame to them for any of the injuries or losses soley on them. I do think that resistance training programs for athletes, and non-athletes, need to focus on triplanar movements. Functional movment is tri-planar and training should focus on function.
Previously in this thread the S&C program at Stanford was mentioned. IIRC there was a great deal of news about how their program decreased injuries by doing a functional movement screen on their players prior to the season and then accommodating their specific training to address any limitations. I think this should be an area focus for sports at all levels, especially high school. Although, I am not aware of any high quality studies that show the a functional movment screen can significantly decrease the prevalence of injuries among football players.
I appreciate that you have found success in working with trigger points and myofascial release. I have no problems with people practicing it according as they see fit, to reach their desired outcomes. I only bring up the fact that there is a great deal lacking in RCTs for trigger point therapy, and every time I ask individuals for the physiologic rationale behind these therapies there answers are different, and usually lack a sound knowledge of physiology.
I will admit that my experience is still lacking. I am a second year physical therapy student with a BS in exercise and sport science. Give me another 24 years to get more patient care under my belt! I do appreciate the medical discussion on the blog. I don't post a lot, so this has given me a chance to come out of my shell.

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 25th, 2014 at 11:37 PM ^

Good to hear from you dcallen39. As you noted, Shannon Turley at Stanford is implementing training modalities which, by many indications, are increasing athletic performance and decreasing injuries.  

Teaching people to foam roll (Myofascial Release) is not exactly easy.  It's a foreign activity to most, and the majority of people nowadays don't have a good connection with their body.  You ask them to locate a sensation in their body and they have little awareness of what's happening with their physical being.  It takes patience.  But then seeing your clients feel relief from tension, relieve aches and pains, significantly reduce headaches, regain the ability to play sports and enjoy their daily activity, is a big reward.

You might want to check through this diary, and see what other people have posted about Osteopathic medicine and "yoga in sports".  If you're going into sports medicine, I would recommend learning about the work of people like Gray Cook, Paul Chek and Kelly Starrett (skip past the Crossfit stuff).  Also, check out the video demonstration by Naudi Aguilar from Functional Patterns.  The link is towards the end of the post.  From my experience, it would be of great benefit for our football players receive a lot more training along these lines.  Along with conventional resistance training, of course.

I would like to hear what you and others think of his type of training, and how it could benefit our football players.

To round out your understanding of human physiology, I would suggest that you research martial arts; they've been developing ways to optimize human performance for a long time.  And I can assure you, you're ability to be of service to your clients will be greatly improved if you actively practice some yoga.  Take a few classes.  You'll discover things about the human body the books will never teach you.

Vaya con Dios.

 

 

Bluesnu

October 24th, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^

My issue with the post is that there is no evidence Wellman isn't implementing these sorts of aspects into his program.  Without that knowledge, you can't directly attribute the injuries to the issues you are talking about. 

Nonetheless, I do wholeheartedly agree with your sentiments.  As a former college athlete as well as someone who is very much into the strength and conditioning circuit, proper stretching, etc. is incredibly important to injury prevention.  While on my team, we saw a rash of ACL tears and other injuries.  That summer, our S&C coach implemented a yoga regimen for the team.  The next year, we saw our injury numbers drop dramatically.  If Wellman isn't embracing such methods, he would be wise to do so.  Just googling "college football yoga" you will come up with numerous results.

Here's a few:

Nebraska:

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/husker-players-embrace-yoga-as-part-of-new…

Wisconsin:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/badgers/badgers-secret-weapon-yoga-b9997…

Stanford:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/31/sports/ncaafootball/stanfords-distinc…

Minnesota:

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/102629/strike-a-pose-gophers-e…

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 24th, 2014 at 7:09 PM ^

No, it is not.

The time is way overdue for someone to speak up for the well being of these young athletes, who put their health and careers on the line for our football team. The University of Michigan is a world leader in many areas, and I expect nothing less from our strength and conditioning program. When you take a look at the work of people like Paul Chek, Kelly Starrett, Gray Cook, Naudi Aguilar and Shannon Turley, you see we lag far behind. 

However, making a convincing case that details the deficiencies of our current training regimen, and mapping out a comprehensive program that would prevent injuries and improve athletic performance is not really practical in the parameters of a football blog. In this limited context, I can only summarize and indicate the directions where we must move forward.

This is going to be a bit technical; but hang on, it gets interesting. Most of our current football strength and conditioning is done in the Sagittal Plane, moving from front to back, like a basic squat or bicep curl. There is a deficit in Frontal Plane activity, that is side to side. There's a serious lack of work in the Transverse Plane, that is rotational movements. Rotational movement is the center and foundational element of every athletic activity. Yet it not at the center of our strength and conditioning program, which is instead focused on getting the players bigger and stronger.

Now of course bigger and stronger is necessary. But take a look at this video that demonstrates combined functional and martial arts training. Then you decide if these methods and practices would make our football players more athletically powerful, efficient, and less susceptible to injury, 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MIweO9f23A

Bluesnu, thanks for the informative links. I'm not expecting to avoid controversy, but I prefer to engage it in a respectful, courteous way.

 

 

 

 

Bluesnu

October 25th, 2014 at 5:37 PM ^

Along these same lines, and again not to argue but rather to contribute, another factor that should be taken into account in this discussion is proper form as it relates to the sport. Proper form, as I was taught by my coaches growing up, is just as much about injury prevention as it is efficiency--if not more. When I was a kid, I had a coach who, at the end of every practice, would run a drill where we would just run down the field and jump and fall 3 or 4 times. He did this to teach us proper form on falling and getting hit. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this team do both wrong. Our tackling form is TERRIBLE, and has consistently regressed. I thought it improved dramatically Mattison's first year, but since then I've seen nothing but high tackles, and guys bear hugging instead of dropping shoulders and wrapping up. Perhaps worst of all is the consistent putting of heads down going into a hit. That's a sure fire way to put yourself in the hospital. If you can't see what's happening you can't protect yourself. Things like that are the reason Green is breaking his collarbone or why guys are tearing ACLs. If you tackle high and get turned while your feet are planted, it's a lot easier to tear an ACL than if you're low and your knees are behind you

Lucky Socks

October 24th, 2014 at 8:26 PM ^

If I remember correctly, we had several key injuries under Barwis as well. And I can speak from personal experience, having two close friends who played, that Barwis' workouts were effective for freak athletes (i.e Brandon Graham and Mike Martin) but for the walk-ons and 90% of the other 3/4 star types they felt frankly burnt out and exhausted from the weight room.

It's my opinion that an S&C program should have you feeling your absolute best for game days. Barwis may have taken things a bit too far.

MStrength

October 26th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^

I have heard the same sentiments about Barwis. Also, Barwis attempts to use weightlifting movements (Power cleans, etc) in his training, yet when you watch his tv show, the athlete's form and even Barwis' form when demonstrating the lifts was horrendous. He yells a lot and is a great marketer and can self promote very well, but he does not grasp the ideas of recovery and peaking very well.

 

in regards to "functional training", I believe there needs to be a balance. Stabilization training has some merit, and obviously the coaches need to make sure imbalances are limited, but there are only so many ways to continue to overload stabilization. Also, I'd argue that proper resistance training through a full range of motion should not make a person less flexible, but should actually improve flexibility. The bottom of a back squat, for instance, is really just a loaded stretch. By continuing to work through the range of motion flexibility should be enhanced. I do know that football coaches tend to skimp on technique oftentimes, so if this is the case that could explain changes in flexibility. That being said I do agree that there needs to be a balance between the two. Jon Sanderson and the rest of the strength and conditioning coaches for Olympic Sports at UM have this balance and are some of the best in the business.

 

My biggest issue with Wellman is that I know for a fact he trains every player the exact same way. Generally with football, you train the linemen on a somewhat different program than the big skill (RB,LB, TE), and also differently than the skill positions. Wellman does not do this and has everyone on the same program. Buddy Morris, former strength coach at Pitt, who I believe is in the NFL now, said that you should train the linemen like track and field throwers and skill positions like sprinters. Linemen should be given more volume and should be "beat up" (in terms of doing more work) more than the skill players. The fact that Wellman doesn't do this, to me, does not put the players in the best conditions possible to maximize performance

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 24th, 2014 at 9:07 PM ^

Shannon Turley at Stanford is one of the tops in his field, as Blueinsconsin mentioned. He lowered the incidence of injuries, and improved the athletic performance of the team. You might note, he employs a dynamic, multi-planar style of training, and uses a functional movement metric to gauge the progress of his players.

That's the caliber of S&C coach the University of Michigan football players deserve. 

Thanks for the info Lucky Socks.

BIGBLUEWORLD

October 26th, 2014 at 12:14 AM ^

In summary: When a human being trains to get bigger and stronger, in the process their neuro-muscular system, the kinetic chain, becomes somewhat tighter and less flexible.

For optimum athletic performance, training must include various compensating modalities to regain and increase freedom of movement, such as stretching, yoga, myofascial release, massage, etc. The various types of resistance training (i.e. weights, cables, elastic bands, body weight, etc.) must be taken into consideration.  Multi-planar activity incorporating twisting movements (Transverse Plane) develop coordination and support joint stabilization.  Flexibility, mobility, agility are central components of a complete, integrative training program.  These areas are often undervalued or neglected, not only in gyms around the world, but even in the most sophisticated professional environments.