Interview with Andy Titterrell

A while ago I had the great fortune of meeting one of my favorite rugby players in my position, Andy Titterrell played rugby like a modern day hooker today, he was in effect an extra flanker but solid and effective in the set game too. It would be fair to say while growing up he was a player I tried to model my own game on. Now when most people meet the people they aspire to be they often are disappointed, not this time. Myself and Andy were both instructing on The Foundry Heavy Weekend a couple of years ago, the weekend was a success. Lots of trainers took away some great information and I walked away having taught some great trainers and met one of my childhood heroes.

I stayed in touch with Andy and he agreed to my request of an interview on his thoughts of youth development. So here is the typed up version of Andy responses.

First a bit of background on Andy:

Honors:

* British & Irish Lions
   

* England Capped
   

* England A
   

* England A Church Hill Cup Winners 2003, 2007 and 2010
   

* Invitational Teams
   

* Help for Heroes 7”s
   

* Premiership Champions Sale Sharks 2006
   

* European Challenge Cup Winners 2002 and 2005
   

* Leeds Carnegie 2009 – 2011
   

* Gloucester Rugby Club 2007-2009
   

* Sale Sharks 2001-2007, 2012/13- Present

 Qualifications:

*  ASCA Qualified (Australian Strength and Conditioning Association)
   

*  Personal Trainer Level 2 and 3
   

*  Level 2 Body Massage
   

*  Level 2 RFU Coaching Award

Now Andy also runs his own Youth Strength and Conditioning program and is heavily involved in academy training and development.

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF TRAINING FOR AN ASPIRING YOUNG RUGBY PLAYER?

Without doubt listen to those that are around you. Ask questions and be prepared to take constructive criticism. You'll be surprised at what your take in and you learn not to take the sport or your career for granted.

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK MOST YOUTH PLAYERS COULD WORK ON TO GET THEM NOTICED?

The basics. Within the game some moves break down cause of being able to catch and pass at speed and with accuracy. Also, their continued development within strength and conditioning. Everyone will increase at different speeds, but the game is built around different sized athletes.

Q: DO YOU THINK YOUTH DEVELOPMENT HAS COME ON IN THE LAST 5 YEARS?

I believe it has with strength and conditioning but I still see many coaches train guys out of the field for far too long. Just because they are younger doesn't necessary mean they can train for longer. 

Q: YOU ARE HEAVILY INVOLVED WITH YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, WHAT IS THE BIGGEST HURDLE MOST YOUTH PLAYERS HAVE TO OVERCOME?

Learning how to be responsible away from training and making sacrifices. A lot of players I come across love the idea of being a professional rugby player and think talent alone will get you there. 

Q: WHAT NUTRITIONAL ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR YOUNG PLAYERS?

Stay away from fast foods and don't fill your plate so it's overloading. 

Q: YOU’VE BEEN ON COUNTLESS TOURS, IN YOUR CAREER WHAT TOUR WAS THE HIGHLIGHT?

Every tour I have been on has been a fantastic experience. The 2 that spring to mind was when I got capped against new Zealand and also The British & Irish Lions tour to NZ as well. I'll always remember my first tour to Canada and Japan. It was real successful and full of a great bunch of players and management.

Q: DO YOU SEE TOURS AS A CHANCE TO BOND AND CREATE A TEAM ETHOS?

It's hard to get that team feeling within a short space of time but because everyone has played with and against each other before the guys get on well with each other. 

Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ENGLANDS CHANCES IN 2015?

 If they continue to improve and show development in the following seasons then they stand as good a chance as any. Stuart Lancaster has brought some guidance and accountability back to the side and the players look as though they are enjoying themselves. 

Q: PREFER TO SCORE A TRY OR MAKE A BIG HIT?

Big hit, it's what I love about the game.

Q: DID YOU COME THROUGH THE RANKS OF THE YOUTH ENGLAND SET UP? IE U18’S, U21’S?

I played in every age group of the England set up from youth to senior. The only side I never got to represent were the 7's!

Q: WHO HAS THE BEST WORK ETHIC OF ANY PLAYER YOU HAVE PLAYED WITH OR AGAINST?

I've played with and against some outstanding individuals but probably the one player who is also my best mate has to be Gareth Delve. His attitude on the field is first class and leads by example. Very physical and never takes a backwards step in anything he does. His only downside is his time keeping!

Q: WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE KEY TO BEING THE BEST PLAYER YOU CAN BE?

Dedication and desire. As a player and coach I believe you can't teach this. It has to come from the athlete. They either want to succeed or they don't! If you never win anything in your career you know how hard you've worked to try and make it happen, others give up.

Q: YOU HAVE ONE TRAINING SESSION IN THE GYM… WHATS IT GOING TO BE?

Without doubt legs. 

Thanks Andy good luck with your rugby career and the strength and conditioning career as well! If you would like to get in touch with Andy his details are below.

Website: www.andytitterrell.co.uk

Email: andy@andytitterrell.co.uk

8 Amazing Variations on Rowing Exercises

After chin ups usually comes some form of rowing motion exercise. It creates balance and more often than not is needed due to the amount people tend to work the front half of the body!

The problem is they tend to be a little boring.... cue this article from T-Nation giving you 8 variations on the pulling theme. Have a read and get rowing!!

There are three important factors that go into deciding whether a back exercise is worthy or not. (You won't find this type of information in a textbook – only after many years of focused, hard training and listening to your body.)

3 Key Back Training Factors

Compression: Does the exercise allow you to forcefully squeeze the muscle against a significant load?

Notice I didn't say a light load – squeezing light weight can help with your mind muscle connection and lat activation, but you have to handle significant weight to achieve the level of compression required.

Range of motion: Does the exercise allow you to work your lats through a long range of motion?

Some row variations really capture this – you almost feel like your scapulae are about to rip from your body. At the other end of the rep, the further you can get your elbows back, the more you can tap into your lats.

Contraction: Does the exercise allow you to feel your back contract?

A lat contraction is tougher to feel than say, the biceps or triceps. This also takes time and practice, but it makes a huge difference in terms of results.

Using these three factors, I evaluated my top 8 rowing movements and ranked them according to effectiveness. Here's the list, in ascending order of effectiveness:

8. Cambered Bar Row

I'm not a fan of traditional barbell rows. I know, Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman liked them and their backs were huge. Well, their backs would've grown even if all they did was paint their toenails.

One tweak that can make a barbell row better, though, is using a cambered bar. This allows for a greater range of motion in the contracted position as your elbows can travel back much farther.

Compression: 6 – Because the barbell is "locked" into place, you lose some compression.

Range of motion: 8 – The camber in the bar allows for an extended range at the top. However, you can't get an extreme stretch at the bottom.

Contraction: 6 – Not bad here. By getting your elbows up high you get a solid contraction at the top. Also, adding a few chains enhances it, as the weight is heavier in the contracted position.

Total score: 20

For the other 7 exercises click here

“Know Pain or No Gain.” Essential Pain Facts for Triathletes

Guest post today is all about pain in triathletes, share, like and read!!

1. PAIN IS 100% AN OUTPUT OF THE BRAIN – this is one of the most important facts about pain. There are several examples illustrating this point. A common example is that of the phantom limb. Many amputees will often complain about pain in a limb, which no longer exists. This freaky sensation occurs because a road map to that limb, which exists within the brain, has not been re-written since the limb was lost. So the person will still feel pain, in a limb, despite that limb being gone. Even crazier, research has been performed on treatment approaches which use mirrors, to make the intact limb reflect a healthy image to appear as the amputated limb.

Click to read the other 8 points

10 Ways To Train Your Core Without Crunches

This article from 'Girls Gone Strong', gives all you core junkies out there a few more ideas of how to build a great midsection. You can a lot of things about a person from this section of their body so make sure you get in a couple of these exercises a week! Dont go doing all of them in one go, just pick a couple every week and do a few sets.

10 Ways To Train Your Core Without Crunches

As the saying goes, “abs are built in the kitchen” though it never hurts to have a solid repertoire of core exercises to not only get stronger but also complement those six pack, nutritional efforts. As we get closer and closer to the midriff  baring months, here are 10 of my commonly used core exercises for both myself and clients.

Note: You won’t find a traditional crunch on this list. While many (ladies especially) associate the “burn” from crunches as an effective way to train the abs, the jury is out on whether crunches could hinder the integrity of our spine / disks with high volume, repetitive flexion. Because of this, you’ll find many coaches and trainers who utilize other methods to train strength, stability and overall performance through the core.

In no particular order:

1. Pallof Press – It’s always great to train on our feet as we’re usually operating / performing from a standing position. This is a great exercise for anti-rotation and sometimes I will utilize these in place of a side plank for clients as well.

For the rest of the article and some more great info from the girls over at Girls Gone Strong, please follow the link:

10 Ways To Train Your Core Without Crunches

Eric Cressey' 15 Mistakes of Static Stretching

A great article written by a very knowledgeable man. The article has videos as well as text, its well worth a read, its just gives you some great tips that you could implement straight away and change you stretch routine for the better. Enjoy and thanks to W10 for putting me onto this one!

One of the most debated topics in the strength and conditioning world in recent years has been whether or not static stretching is necessary and, if so, when it should be implemented.  While I don't think everyone needs it, and that there are certainly are times when it is a bad idea to utilize, I'm still of the mindset that it can have some solid benefits when implemented properly. 

Unfortunately, like all training initiatives, some people do it all wrong. To that end, I wanted to devote today's article to covering the top 15 static stretching mistakes I encounter.

Mistake #1: Stretching through extreme laxity.

This is the most important and prevalent one of all, so it comes first.  When I see someone doing this, this is pretty much how I feel:

We're all have a different amount of congenital laxity.  Basically, this refers to how much "give" our ligaments have.  Some folks have naturally stiff joints, and others have very loose joints.  This excessively joint laxity is obviously much higher in females and younger populations, but, as Leon Chaitow and Judith DeLany discuss in Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques: Volume 1, it is also much higher in folks of African, Asian, and Arab origin.
When you take someone who is really lax and implement aggressive static stretching, it's on par with having someone with a headache bang his/her head against a wall.  It makes things worse.
This is a tricky thing to understand, though, because many of these "loose" individuals will comment on how they feel "tight."  Usually that tightness is just them laying down trigger points as a way for the body to create stability in areas where they are chronically unstable.  They'd be better off working on stability training to get back to efficient movement.
I think yoga has a tremendous amount of applications and we borrow from the discipline all the time, but I think this is where many modern yoga classes fall short; they have everyone in the class go to the same end-range on certain exercises. Folks with serious joint laxity should not only contraindicate certain yoga poses, but also modify others so that they're training stability short of the true end-range of their joints. Unfortunately, most of the people you'll see in yoga classes are hypermobile women; you see, they like to do the things they're good at doing, not necessarily what they need to do.
How do you know if you're lax, though? I like to use the Beighton hypermobility scale to assess for both generalized congenital laxity and specific laxity at a joint. The screen consists of five tests (four of which are unilateral), and is scored out of 9:
1. Elbow hyperextension > 10° (left and right sides)
2. Knee hyperextension > 10° (left and right sides)
3. Flex the thumb to contact with the forearm (left and right sides)
4. Extend the pinky to >90° angle with the rest of the hand (left and right sides)
5. Place both palms flat on the floor without flexing the knees

One of the biggest problems I see in today's strength and conditioning world is that we assume all "big, strong" athletes are tight and need aggressive stretching.  As an example, take a look at this high Beighton score in a 6-3, 240-pound athlete.  We do very little static stretching with him - and absolutely none in the upper body.

If someone is really lax, nix the static stretching and instead spend more time on stabilization work.  If they still feel like they need to "loosen up," tell them to do some extra foam rolling.  They'll transiently reduce some of the stiffness they're feeling, but they won't be working through harmful end-range joint range-of-motion in the process.

Day 4- 5 Lessons of a Samurai- Eric Falstrault

Thanks to a good trainer friend of mine i came across this article a few days ago, it has some extremely useful information and practical guidelines for living life! Have a read of lesson 1 and then follow the like to Eric' blog and read the rest, while you there you may as well sign up to his blog posts. A lot of what he says just 'makes sense', so  go read, follow, learn, enjoy!

OC

Lesson #1

Preserving life is a matter of what we eat so food and drink are the nourishment of life. For this reason, nourishment should be considered a special daily supplement to one’s life that should not be neglected nor abused. The stomach and spleen receives the nutrients that send the pure liquid (pure liquid that supports animal life, that becomes blood) to the organs and viscera, just as the grass and trees grow by the means of the ch’i of the earth. In other words, Taking care of the stomach is of the utmost importance Yojokun (way of nurturing life) and taking care of the body. Ancients always set limits to their food intake in order to not disrupt the balance, and this nourished their health. You always must be aware of what goes into your mouth. The ancients often said ‘’disasters go out through the mouth and disease comes in through it.’’ Food and drink should be used to extinguish hunger and thirst. Once the desire is fulfilled, you should stop eating. Control yourself and set limits.

Another great point he made is that you should write down all the things that consistently make you ill, and then avoid them. A consistent malady becomes a chronic illness. Some will make you ill immediately and others over time. Avoid both at all costs.

For the other 4 lessons click here

4 Reasons why sugar is bad for you!

4 Reasons why sugar is bad for you!

Different foods affect the body in different ways and sugar is uniquely fattening.

Sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup contain two molecules: glucose and fructose.

Glucose is absolutely vital to life and is an integral part of our metabolism. Our bodies produce it and we have a constant reservoir of it in the bloodstream.

Every cell in the body can use glucose for energy. If we don’t get glucose from the diet, our bodies produce what we need out of proteins and fats.

Fructose, however, is very different. This molecule is not a natural part of metabolism and humans do not produce it.

In fact, very few cells in the body can make use of it except liver cells.

When we eat a lot of sugar, most of the fructose gets metabolized by the liver. There it gets turned into fat, which is then secreted into the blood.

1. Fructose Causes Insulin Resistance

Please click here to read the rest of this post by Authority Nutrition.