2010 National Conference

Abbie Smith: The power of the protein - a look into the science of a few of the most popular amino acid supplements. Taking a closer look at how beta-alanine, branched chain amino acids, leucine and HMB influence muscle hypertrophy, performance, and body composition. The truth behind the how and when of amino acid supplementation.
Douglas Kalman: This session will detail dietary sources of protein and how each are not necessarily absorbed, digested or metabolized equally. This session will further cover the most recent research with respect to optimizing muscle protein synthesis, athletic and mental recovery as well as noting the practicality of any of these approaches. The attendee will leave the session having an understanding that all proteins are not created equal, there may be different optimal uses for each type of protein (or not) and that protein intake assessment needs to remain a cornerstone of assessing the athlete.

Sprinting and Change of Direction are motor skills, yet few athletes have been taught to run. Any athlete, regardless of age and ability can improve speed with proper coaching and training. This seminar will teach the coach or trainer how to assess strength, flexibility and technique using the Parisi Sprint Assessment and demonstrate some of the best exercises to develop acceleration, top speed and lateral movement

Jose Antonio: This session will address the scientific data surrounding macronutrient manipulation, meal frequency, and select dietary supplements. Both the science and real-world application will be provided.
Marie Spano: When working with overweight and obese individuals, there are unique challenges that cannot be met through cookie-cutter diet and exercise prescriptions alone. Instead, effective counseling techniques, aspects of intuitive eating and constant encouragement and motivation must be used. In addition, many overweight and obese individuals have co-existing issues that affect their ability to lose weight including osteoarthritis, PCOS, insulin resistance, depression and more. This session will cover the science and practical solutions you can use to help your overweight and obese clients transform their body and their life.

Speed, agility, and quickness, along with balance and reaction skills, are the commonalities found in leading-edge, professional athlete conditioning and every day movement skills. Join the Twist Team of Master Coaches as they introduce you to drills designed to increase athleticism, body awareness, and movement skills for kids; functional agility and reactive drills for fitness clients; and multidirectional movement patterns for elite athletes. Scientific theory, exercises and drills, training guidelines, and coaching cues will all be covered during this combined theoretical and practical session. You’ll experience the process by participating in speed, agility, and quickness drills with prescription for multiple sports, functional fitness, and youth athleticism. Learn the drill mechanics, teaching cues and program sequences to successfully implement these future trends in sport and fitness.

The Core is one of the most looked at topics in training. In this lecture Todd will show you how the vertical core training system has evolved over the years and is now better defined and the exercises are fundamentally sound and teachable. See how human motion is converted through the core and how common kinetic chain dysfunctions support why it is important to train the Core in an upright position. Learn how to build your own exercises for your clients based on the functional truths of human motion and create a never-ending toolbox of core exercises.

Imagine giving your endurance or strength and power athlete a natural and safe supplement that would enhance rehydration, while stimulating increases in traditional training adaptations, such as muscle mass, bone density, strength, endurance, and recovery, in both men and women. No one supplement has been able to show all these benefits in the scientific literature until NOW. This presentation will cover the latest scientific findings on the performance enhancing power of milk and how coaches and personal trainers can incorporate the use of this ergogenic aid in accelerating their athletes' goals.

This presentation will take a practical approach for the strength and conditioning coach to use testing information to gain insight into the specific training needs of athletes in order to increase vertical jump height. A particular feature of this presentation will be the use of specific training methods to enhance vertical jump performance.

Skeletal muscle is among the most plastic tissues in the body with an extreme ability to adapt to changes in loading, neural innervations, metabolism, etc. This presentation will focus on the adaptations of skeletal muscle in response to both unloading and training with an emphasis on extreme situations, environments and capabilities.

This session will cover the topic of strategic anaerobic training for improvement in endurance performance, as well as to propose novel approaches of periodization to accommodate the unique needs of athletes. Specific evidence will be presented pertaining to the effectiveness of strength and power training modalities to improve movement efficiency, running economy and work capacity. Further, a comprehensive overview will address the physiological mechanisms to rationalize these findings. Exercise prescription recommendations will be provided and specifically include suggestions for training modes, volume loads, intensity, and progression.

The CDC estimated in 2007 that 1 to 1.5 million Americans were diagnosed with some level of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). One of the main characteristics of ASD is impaired social interaction. Research indicates that vigorous to moderate exercise and other physical activities can decrease self- stimulatory behaviors, aggression, self-injury and destructiveness. The purpose of this session is to familiarize attendees with mental, behavioral and physical characteristics of ASD, review current literature that include physical activity interventions in this population, and how to serve (risks/benefits) this underserved population in a fitness training environment.

Yoga is a modality being incorporated into programs by thousands of athletes. It isn't stretching so what is it? Experience Yoga through the eyes of a strength coach Thursday and Friday morning 7:30-8:30am. You will learn movement principles and exercises that can work quickly to bring your body into greater alignment improving force transfer throughout the kinetic chain. There will be an enormous emphasis on foot mechanics and their connection within your core. Be prepared to sweat!

The purpose of this presentation will be to develop an understanding of common athletic injuries and general adaptation relevant to strength and conditioning coaches and personal trainers. Four primary anatomical regions will be covered; shoulder, low back, knee, and elbow/wrist. Specific exercises, technical errors, and exercise adaptations for injury will be discussed. Following the presentation the participant will better understand basic injuries and relevant adaptations while collaborating with members of the medical team.

With the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) in mind, the seminar will focus on the distinction between strength training and conditioning by discussing training strategies that maximize: 1) absolute strength 2) explosive strength (power) 3) strength/power endurance. Too commonly , these factors are unknowingly omitted or grossly misapplied in favor of muscular endurance training or slow, long duration aerobic exercise. Therefore, support from peer reviewed literature will be used to discuss why these distinctions are so crucial for MMA competitors. Practical application examples and sample training cycles will be integrated throughout the presentation.

The National Hockey League's Department of Central Scouting provides a service which is unique among the four major North American sports. Employing over 40 full and part-time scouts all around the world, the central office, located in the Toronto NHL headquarters, annually collects, organizes, and disseminates data regarding draft eligible hockey players. One very important function of this department is to organize and conduct the annual NHL Scouting Combine, held one month prior to the actual Entry Draft itself. Though this is just one particular part of a multifaceted procedure to identify and select future NHL players, it fits rather significantly into the vast mosaic picture which GM’s consider a critical component of their ongoing blueprint for their team’s success. Dr. McGuire’s presentation will attempt to cover many of these facets of this so-called mosaic of draft strategy, with special focus on the role which the Scouting Combine plays in game plan which each team brings to the draft table each year.

The ability to generate maximal muscular power is one of the most important neuromuscular functions in many sport performances. Thus, the development of training programs that most effectively enhance muscular power is critical to improving athletic performance. The capacity of the neuromuscular system to generate maximal power is affected by a range of factors that are modified through strength training. This session will discuss the role of strength in maximal power production and the influence of strength level on physiological and performance adaptations following power training.

The goal of this presentation is to explore several of the more common overuse conditions experienced by athletes.It will include tendinopathies and other conditions found in the primary joint regions, and discuss how they present symptom patterns and signs. Exercise and conditioning activities that are known to exacerbate these conditions will be examined, with suggestions on alternative options, and/or exercise modifications for these select groups. We will also examine relevant research to identify the best approaches to treatment and prevention. Specific emphasis will be placed on strength and conditioning modifications that can be implemented by the strength coach for fitness professional, in helping to successfully deal with these problematic conditions.

As the obesity epidemic continues to expand, the number of insulin resistant and glucose intolerant individuals of all ages will also continue to increase. Resistance exercise has been shown to be effective in helping improve glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in some healthy and type 2 diabetic populations. However, the responses in females often differ from those of males. This presentation will examine the effects of gender on the insulin and glucose response to resistance exercise.

What is the Best Training Strategy to produce dynamic core stabilization? For the past several years, fitness experts have rigorously debated about the best training strategy to produce dynamic core stabilization for strength, endurance, and performance. Experts in strength and conditioning, Pilates, personal training, Yoga and martial arts each have their own system or school of thought in which they believe teaches the necessary skills for optimal strengthening and stabilization of the spinal musculature. Even the latest research can sometimes be confusing or seemingly conflicting. In this or presentation, Lee will discuss some of the latest research on dynamic core stabilization and the theory behind some of these conflicting schools of thought. She will provide an opportunity to explore how these core training principles may or may not apply to the broad range of athletes and clients you see each day. This discussion will focus on whether “hollowing” or “bracing” is a “spine-sparing” strategy and which Core Stabilizing techniques can be incorporated for maximum improvement in function and performance.

This session will provide an overview of the effects of alcohol ingestion that are related to exercise performance and adaptations from exercise training. Specifically this presentation will include: incidence of alcohol use among athletes, effects of alcohol on exercise performance, and physiological effects of alcohol that might influence adaptations from exercise training (e.g., changes in circulating hormones, muscle protein synthesis etc.).

Speed and agility are essential components of high performance in many sports, but their expression are context specific: the very essence of "Gamespeed". Athletes will be required to express movements in anticipation of, and in response to, numerous sports specific stimuli. This presentation looks at how reactive agility can be introduced into sports enhancement programmes, and some of the challenges faced by coaches in maximising the effectiveness of these sessions, through effective coaching.

The term ‘evidence-based practice’ (EBP) was popularized by medicine in the early 1990’s. It is now surfacing in the exercise science literature and may provide an established approach to evaluating information. However, in some cases the term is being misapplied in industry marketing as an attempt to sound 'cutting edge'. EBP is not a catchy adjective; it is a systematic process of finding, evaluating, and incorporating information into practice. The purpose of this lecture is to define the EBP process, discuss advantages and disadvantages to the approach, and identify practical ways of incorporating EBP into the weight room and classroom.

If we better understand the mechanics of human running and the potential limits of performance we will enable continued progression in our abilities to enhance the performance of athletes. This session will consider some historically common ideas presented in relation to sprint mechanics and the development of sprint ability. Combined with research on running mechanics from the past decade and some theoretical discussion, the session will distil these ideas and present the current and possible future directions that we should be looking at to allow improved development of sprint ability. In doing so, it will also reinforce some existing best practices.

Developing young athletes to reach maximum potential at the collegiate or professional level requires extensive planning and a strong understanding of the growth and maturation consequences of the physical, psychological and social development that occurs through the stages before, during and after puberty. This presentation will have a practical focus aimed at highlighting the major areas that coaches need to understand during these different periods, and how best to structure training to aid in optimizing performance, increasing motivation and reducing the likelihood of injury.