A Strong Body

 

"A strong body makes the mind strong." ~ Thomas Jefferson

The Value of Movement

Our many goals and hopes are accomplished because we can move. Whether we are athletes or simply want to work and play freely, we depend upon our bodies' ability to move to fulfill our desires. Notice that our capability to fulfill our desires reduces when our ability to move is reduced. Many think that we must accept that with aging or injury comes loss of function and restrictions. It does not have to be this way.

We lose function because we stop using it, either by neglecting ranges of motion, by injury, or by not having enough energy and resources to run, maintain, or heal the muscles and their supporting tissues. Loss of motions leaves us with weaker, restricted areas susceptible to strain, discomfort, injury, re-injury, and pain.

Activity Levels Keep Range of Motion Active

If you are less active, you can be pain-free at a lower level of activity; however, should you need or want to place a higher demand upon your body or should you have an accident, then the weaker and restricted areas can leave you vulnerable to a sudden problem.

If you are more active or are an athlete, it is important to note that the higher the demand you make of your body, the more you need to keep your joints moving freely and with strength and stability. Though you train diligently and feel strong, if you have an imbalance of any kind and weaker or restricted areas, you increase your risk for struggles in performance, injury, and pain.

Traditional activities such as walking, hiking, and running; being involved in a recreational or competitive sport or in multiple sports; playing with the kids and grandkids; and everyday activities such as cleaning, painting, cooking, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping - any and all activities that use your body are valuable to keep ranges of motion active. (Sometimes you can have problems and pain with these activities. Unused ranges imbalance the joints and strain the tissues.) The more you use the fuller spectrum the joints offer, the more you receive freedom to do the activities you want. 

Targeting Your Goals

You may want help knowing which motions are your priority ranges. There are significantly more ranges the body can make than we can possibly train. If we could imagine what a google squared to a google cubed represents (a google is the number one with 100 zeros behind it, a google squared is the number one with 10,000 zeros, and a google cubed is the number one with 1,000,000 zeros behind it), that is the approximate number of defining "end-range" positions the body can make. This does not include the increments of motion in between the defining positions. Muscles have millions of fibers for this very reason.

With so many choices, every body can and does use different muscles. We see that everyone walks and moves uniquely. Making proper corrections requires identifying each person's unique restrictions and weaknesses, the high-priority ranges that the person does not use.

Honing in on your individual needs produces immediate improvement in your personal biomechanics. It helps to have a movement expert prioritize your needed ranges in the manner that is best for you - either by the Precision Exercises you perform or by letting your body learn through Manually Assisted Corrective Motions. Both make your body feel good and function well.

Enjoy freedom to move and the ability to have unrestricted, pain-free motions. Enjoy the value of movement any way you can - in months to years or within minutes to days. Simply cherish moving.

Approaching Training Challenges

We have more training tools today than ever in history. It is exciting and overwhelming what is available to make us better athletes. YouTubes, equipment, DVDs, personal trainers, video analysis... just go into any of the sporting good stores and have a heyday!

The challenge is not having variety or enough training aides. It is now, how do we maximize our time and give our bodies the best improvement for the limited numbers of hours in our days and seasons?

The best way to approach training is to know:
1) what are the weaknesses that limit our overall performance and your joint weaknesses,
2) which motions are the most important for our sport,
3) how to increase all aspects of performance: speed, stamina, strength, power, coordination, stability, flexibility, reaction time, mental control, proper conditioned responses, and more.

Because training our weaknesses is the least enjoyable, it is usually the top priority in being a cut above the rest. Find the training tools and coaches that help you to find more pleasure in mastering the things you aren't as good at or don't like practicing. 

Training weaker joints and the weaker ranges in those joints is also key to making your body perform better and avoid injuries. You may look great and be a world-class athlete and still have limitations in your performance and injuries. These are due to weaker muscles and range. Learn to strengthen these areas as much the ranges you enjoy.

There are many motions you make in competition. Try to equip yourself beyond the ranges that non-sports-specific equipment offers that are priorities to your sport.  

The secrets of The Cyto Advantage improve your speed, stamina, strength, power (all the things listed above) by specifically identifying and training your joint and performance weakness. Often the weight of your own body is too heavy for your weaker muscles. Therefore, you do not use them adequately while performing your intense sport demands. Coordination, stability, flexibility, reaction time, all benefit when you discipline yourself to train what brings balance and secure power base from which to operate. 

With so many motions to make while working out and only so much time in a day, the athlete who train the best swill do the most for his/her performance and for the longevity of his/her career. Take the time to find out how go farther each hour you put into your training by finding the highest priority training ranges. 

Improving Tournament Pre-Game Hitting

My youngest son and I just finished our All-Star season last night. Both teams rallied every at bat, gaining hits by both teams to be tied each inning until the 5th when the other team pulled ahead on our errors. We did not answer their closer.

It was an exciting game and a sorrowful one. Though disappointed along with them, I was greatly encouraged by their emotions and the closeness they shared in their team loss. I have been concerned before at the lack of emotion after a loss, even our first loss that had moved us into the losers bracket of double elimination. Their fighting back tears and their whimpers and silence showed that our team had gained hope and expectation to replay the team to whom we first lost.

Unbeknownst to our boys, we were foreseen not to contend in our small pool of four All-Star teams, and by our first night's showing, we were tentative, including our coaches. Losing is an opportunity to recognize what we all know: baseball is usually about who makes the fewest errors. Errors reflect discipline and training. They distinguish between the levels of athletes and coaches. Errors reveal.

After the first evening, I knew I needed to do something with our hitting. And while I was the hitting coach, the dad's who pay for their son's hitting lessons and those who hold their opinions dear wanted little input from a woman coach. They were the squeaky wheels. 

After a few days of squeaks during our first practices and with a lot of ground that needed to be covered, I decided to work from a different standpoint - I would ask to influence the warm-up and began to have them do drills to change their coordination and ability to weight transfer and rotate. As one might expect, I got flack from the same parents for this too. We did continue my modified warm-ups most of the practices until the games, making great gains in their all-around performance and body-control. For the sake of peace, I decided to primarily work the squeaky-wheel-sons' abilities to hit in their weak ranges adjusting form very little and would teach the others to transfer their weight and develop their weak ranges. The kids who were learning to transfer their weight could feel the increase in power and a better ability to adjust their swing. I also kept training all of them using my signature concept of seeing, hearing, and feeling ideal ball contact. I was to use the tee for most of my bat-work.

However, after the first game, I asked our head coach if I may utilize the hitting stick instead of the tee. I like the stick because I can make adjustments more quickly in their form, have better control of their weight transfer, they get better sensory and auditory feedback, and they end up with 3 times as many swings in the same amount of limited, pre-game time. It has worked with the seven teams I've used it. Our manager being supportive of me gave me the green light.

The change was immediate. It also helped me feel more comfortable in making adjustments while they were at bat. As the players and I worked through their position in the box and they began to trust my judgment, we scored 13 runs in the 5th to 10-run them.

In last night's game, we hit better than the other team, made more errors fielding, and struggled more with our pitching to lose 7 to 9. In both games, from top to bottom of the line-up, we were hitting.

As for how my youngest son performed, in the first game, my son and one other player, the best listener, were the only two to hit solidly, and, in the second game, my son bunted one and had three hard hits. In the third game, he hit a line drive caught feet from the fence. My youngest is my first protege who has recently grasped the body control of my hitting technique that adds to the blended styles of two professional hitting coaches. My other sons and my other athletes have hit well, but they have yet to master that type of control in consistent, combined force production throughout their swing.

Being a woman coach in a male sport, I am earning my place even among the naysayers. It will take more time, but my hope is to build the winningest program for young and professional baseball players. I believe I have the keys that traditional baseball has been missing. I have several deep-seated traditions to overcome, but, like for anything new and good, the outcome will be worth all the effort. 

The Better Athlete Better Controls His Mind and Body

One of my signature sayings is: The better athlete can better control his mind and body.

Training for baseball or any sport takes discipline. Having been a competitive swimmer where swimming intense sets filled two hours every day when I was younger and four hours a day when older, I witness much room for improvement for baseball players with the discipline of drills.

For all good baseball players, stage one of drills is to become familiar with the basic plays and proper mechanics of throwing, fielding, base running, footwork, and hitting.

Stage two drills are the ones that make the execution of plays and good mechanics automatic - where you do not need to think about where to go and how to do it. 

Training this way alone brings you far when you are disciplined to practice consistently to achieve the quickness of body and mind.

Now, what if you learn a routine that will significantly improve every practice? 

To save your precious time and assure you can more effectively control your mind and body, learn The Cyto Advantage drills that train your mind to control the ranges of every joint. You will be able to quickly master stage one and two drills with better mind and body control. You will have a clear advantage with the rate you progress and a higher level of performance. Check out my specials to get ahead.