Pro Training Secrets for Better Performance

Health Envoy's Blog

By: Pete Williams

 

It's an early-February morning, and the Athletes' Performance training center looks like backstage at the ESPY Awards—except that the jocks are clad in workout gear, and not formal attire.

At one end of the training floor, "performance coaches" direct a group of baseball players that includes Pat Burrell of the Philadelphia Phillies, Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and Brian Roberts, the pint-size but powerful infielder for the Baltimore Orioles.

Curt Schilling is lying on a padded table as a physical therapist examines his famous ankle. Outside, NFL prospects pull weighted sleds across an Astroturf field. Last year, NFL teams drafted eight Athletes' Performance clients in the first round, including top-10 picks Ronnie Brown, Carnell "Cadillac" Williams, and Carlos Rogers.

Roberts, who at 5'9" hit 18 home runs last season, surveys the scene and shakes his head. "Look at the people you see here. You work out all your life, then come here and quickly find out there are more effective ways to train."

It's an impressive show of talent gathered here in Tempe, Arizona, to improve strength, power, and overall performance, under the whip of Mark Verstegen, better known to these pros as the fast-talking, flat-topped hulk of energy who has pioneered the concept of "performance training." At 36, the Men's Health "Muscle Guy" columnist still looks as if he could suit up as a linebacker for Washington State, which he did until a career-ending arm injury launched his coaching career.

In his new book, Core Performance Essentials, Verstegen shows how anyone can follow the same routines used by the likes of top athletes in almost every sport.

You, too, can add your name to his list of all-star success stories.

 

Do Your Prep Work

If you could spend 3 minutes at the beginning of your workout to boost production for the rest of your regimen by 20 percent, would you do it? How about if you knew that such chiseled athletes as Crawford and NFL wideout Nate Burleson perform the same exercises?

Verstegen's "movement-prep" routine usually consists of six to eight exercises that boot up the body's computer and prepare it for action. But you only have to do two of them.

First, perform 10 hand walks. Start in pushup position: legs straight, hands on the floor. Keeping your knees straight, walk your feet toward your hands. (Your hips will rise toward the ceiling.) When you feel a stretch, walk your hands out until you're in pushup position again. That's one repetition.

Next, do 10 repetitions of what Verstegen calls the world's greatest stretch. Take a large step forward with your left leg to get into a lunge position. Now bend down and place your left elbow against the instep of your left foot while keeping your right knee off the floor. Pause momentarily, then lift your left hand and place it outside your left foot. From this position, push your hips to the ceiling (your back knee will straighten) and lift the toes of your left foot toward your shin. Finally, stand up and step forward into the next lunge and repeat. That's one repetition. "You're giving your muscles mobility and stability, which will support the rest of your workout. This is the most important and easiest thing you can do to improve performance," says Verstegen.

Master Time Management

You'll never see a pro at Athletes' Performance resting between sets. That's because Verstegen believes in workout density—packing as much as possible into a workout for maximum physiological response. "Time is the limiting factor for most of us. Put the work back into working out," says Verstegen.

The key: strategic arrangement of exercises. By alternating between upper- and lower-body exercises, and movements in which you either push or pull, you'll be able to do set after set at your highest intensity—without resting. So you'll double your workout efficiency. And that means you'll save time—or get more done during the same period.

In fact, you'll be better off than if you spent the previous 2 minutes ogling bare midriffs. By activating more muscles, you're increasing the amount of muscle-building and fat-burning hormones released, so you'll grow stronger and leaner.

Here's how to set it up: Organize your workout so that an upper-body pushing movement is always followed by a lower-body pull, and an upper-body pull is always followed by a lower-body push. See the lists below for basic examples, then click on each for a video demonstration of each exercise.

Train Movements, Not Parts

Good luck trying to find a jock in Verstegen's shop performing a preacher curl or run-of-the-mill row. That's because Verstegen believes in training body movements—not body parts—for maximum gains in strength, as well as mobility, stability, and flexibility.

So, instead of doing a routine bent-over row, try a dumbbell single-leg, single-arm row. This will develop not only upper-back strength and power but also hip stability and flexibility. It's still an upper-body pull, but you're getting lower-body benefits as well. "A lot of guys don't take the time to work on flexibility and stability, because they think they don't have time," Verstegen says. "But if you take a common exercise and tweak it, you can accomplish a lot more."

This is part of Verstegen's overriding emphasis on pillar strength, the notion of strengthening and stabilizing the musculature around the hips, shoulders, and midsection. Think of it as training the hub of the wheel, not the spokes.

Shore Up Weak Spots

When it comes to lifting, muscle imbalances are a prescription for injury. Of course, you've probably spent a lot of time trying to create symmetry, at least the kind that reflects in the mirror—that is, equally impressive-looking pecs, arms, and shoulders. But unless you've established muscle symmetry throughout your entire body from a strength-and-stability standpoint, you're setting yourself up for injury. (To find out if you have strength imbalances, see "Balance of Power.")

The idea is to create balance in your right and left sides, and the easiest way to do that is through unilateral movements, or exercises in which you work one arm or leg at a time. For instance, instead of doing a barbell or dumbbell bench press, try a dumbbell alternating bench press. (See "Elevate Your Game.") "This forces you to stabilize your shoulders and pillar the entire time," says Verstegen. "Working unilaterally also keeps the muscles under tension longer, which will improve your size and strength gains."

Verstegen recommends that you spend part of each workout—or even one full workout a week—working unilaterally.

Jumpstart Your Routine

Step onto the workout floor at Athletes' Performance, and chances are you'll see somebody jumping. That's because Verstegen wants to create elastic power in his athletes. The goal is for your muscles to store and release energy powerfully, like a pogo stick or Super Ball. Whether you're swinging a golf club or reacting to slipping on a patch of ice, all movement has an elastic component.

"Elasticity is your body's shocks and springs," Verstegen says. "Even if you have big muscles, they don't necessarily generate much power unless you've trained them elastically."

It's simple: The next time you do a set of squats, follow up with a set of squat jumps. This will heighten your nervous-system activity—improving your mind's ability to communicate with your muscles—and put those movement patterns immediately to work the way you'll use them in real life. "It's like taking the doughnut off the baseball bat and going up to the plate," Verstegen says.

To do it, perform eight to 10 repetitions of a squat using the heaviest weight you can lift that many times. Then perform the same movement explosively without the weight—quickly lowering your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor, then jumping as high as you can 10 times. Repeat the sequence for a total of two sets of each exercise.

Recharge Your Muscles

Make faster gains—outside the gym.

Pros at Athletes' Performance quickly learn trainer Mark Verstegen's mantra: Work + Rest = Success. They train hard 3 or 4 days a week and use the days in between as "regeneration" days.

That doesn't mean you should shut it down. Verstegen's regeneration plan includes working with a foam roll, the next best thing to a professional massage. By rolling on the foam, working key areas such as your hamstrings, quads, calves, groin, and back, you'll loosen muscle, get the blood flowing, and hasten your body's recovery from all the work you did the previous day. The payoff: Your muscles will grow faster, and you'll perform better in your next workout.

You can buy your own foam roll at select fitness-equipment stores. (We like the 36-inch Foam Roller Plus at performbetter.com; about $30.) But in a pinch, you can use a basketball. Here's a sample foam-roll routine for your hamstrings, but the same method works for any area of your body.

Place the foam roll under one or both of your hamstrings and roll your body back and forth over the foam. For added benefit, put all your body weight on the roll. It may be uncomfortable at first, but over time, it'll become considerably easier. It's a great barometer of the quality of your muscle and connective tissue; the less it hurts, the higher the quality of both.

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