It’s been a wild summer inside the gym the last couple months. The lack of posting is a direct cause of literally training ALL day! A typical day has us in the gym 10-12 hours a day with all types of athletes. Once nearly 12 hours of training is done it’s time for any paperwork, emails, or other loose ends to be tied up. Myself and the coaches usually head out for some grub and a beer to unwind, or attempt to have a few hours to ourselves so we can say we have a life outside of the gym (it’s summertime, we don’t).

It’s a ton of fun and the results have been awesome but now it’s time to start getting caught back up posting and sharing what we’ve been up to.

In the meantime, here is what we have been implementing with all of our athletes in some form or another. No matter what the sport or level, we obviously like to have all our athletes strong, powerful, and athletic. One of the ways we bridge these components together is through our ‘MAZE’. Our athletes love it and the possibilities are literally endless and only limited by your creativity – or the athlete’s ability level.

MAZE is just what we call our chaotic, reactive hurdle hops. It’s one of our dirty tricks for developing coordination, body control, reactiveness, and overall athleticism (quick first step anyone?). The goal is to spend as little time on the ground as possible (this is called the ‘amortization’ phase and should only last .2-.8 seconds to be deemed a true plyometric). We tell our athletes that the ground is lava and to rebound as quickly as possible.

Like everything else we do in the gym, there is a progression to these. We start with teaching proper landing technique through various drills, then progress to a few forward low hurdle hops, then mix in low lateral hops. As the athlete decreases ground contact time we progress to a MAZE. All our athletes do this 1-2x week at the end of their warm-up. The other 1-2 days they perform sub-max box jumps. It’s no secret that we like jumping, do it often, and get good at it. It literally takes 3-5mins of our time but is a vital component to our program! Afterwards our athletes are primed for their workout!

Watch here –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLGy-HWNr8Y

You’ll see all shapes and sizes of athletes performing these. Football (both skill guys who are 165-230lb to linemen who weigh 250-310lbs), hockey, basketball, and volleyball players are all taking part in the videos below. These are a staple in our NFL athletes’ programs as well. You can add variety anyway you like (use your best judgment and don’t be too overzealous). You’ll also see us add a box jump, a broad jump, mini-hurdles, down-up start, or a quarter turn to add variety and a different training stimulus. Again, the possibilities are endless and we only posted a few – get creative once the skill is there!

Another way to progress is to add in reaction. In these videos our athletes are responding to simple verbal cues (right/left). Some of our other favorites are making them respond to visual cues- pointing to a direction, or cognitively as they either solve a math problem or react to the number called out. For instance, if the number is odd you jump left; if it’s even you jump right. Below you’ll see some high school football and hockey players, volleyball players, along with Jared Veldheer, Cam White, and Jesse Peterson all performing a reactive maze with a verbal cue.

Reactive MAZE Here –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCdVROuDc58

Volleyball MAZE Here –> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P_H-wZcZbQ

Watching 300lb men fly through these with ease shows how effective they are at developing athleticism. We have been doing these for months and they’ve quickly become a staple in our program.

Give them a try to improve athleticism.

-Mark