Maximum Sports Conditioning

2008-10-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Jamie and I ran the "Dawg Dash" last Sunday, October 12th. It was Jamie's first 5k and he ran it in 37:24. A great place to start and build on.

Well done Jamie!

Barker boys mean business!

2008-10-14T10:29:00.000-07:00

MaxSC would like to welcome our newest members, Jerrett and Griffin! These brothers are here to sharpen their basketball prowess and become on court machines.

Best of Western Washington

2008-10-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

MaxSC Nation,

We are competing for King 5's "Best of Western Washington" in the gym division. As you all know, we don't compete to lose. We compete to dominate. That's where you come in. Please follow the link:

http://best.king5.com/maximum-sports-conditioning/biz/135107

We need your vote!

10 reasons to train at MaxSC (from vollyball parent, Robyn Bachesta)

2008-09-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

The following is a response to a simple survey we sent out. We simply asked why they keep coming back to us!

1. Enthusiastic with a positive approach to training. Leads by example, gets down on the floor with the athletes.
· Choice of words are encouraging, motivating with positive feedback

2. Comes prepared and gives undivided attention. Is not distracted by cel phone, other clients, personal conversations.
· Lot’s of eye contact. Personal, on a first name basis with each student athlete.

3. Sets high expectations and hold student athletes accountable.
· Offers a dialogue of goal setting and its importance, provides learning tools ie., literature, notebooks, handouts, guest speakers, examples of role models.
· Follows up with student athletes; did they achieve their goals? Do they need a little nudge along the way? Gives examples on how to achieve.

4. Importance of nutrition.
· Always talks about importance of nutrition, the types of foods best to eat before and after work outs.
· Reminds the athletes of healthy choices.
· Provides additional information, handouts, availability of guest speakers.

5. Importance of training.
· Reminds the student athletes why it is important to train consistently and correctly.
· Reminds them of why it is important to get other team mates to train as well.

6. Sports Psychology:
· Communicates his passion for training and his belief in the accomplishments of each student athlete.
· Shows a sincere interest in their strengths, weakness and accomplishments of physical fitness.

7. Balance:
· Recognizes when a student athlete is over training.
· Takes the time to explain the risk of over training and the importance of taking a break.
· Develops a plan.
· Reminds both student athlete and parents the importance of a well rounded individual.

8. Respect: We earn the respect of each student athlete that comes through our program. In return, they begin to respect themselves and their fellow athletes.
· Camaraderie amongst the athletes begins to develop, especially with those that regularly attend. The mind set of receiving individualized training begins to subtly transition to the mind set of training “as a team”. The students begin to encourage one another unselfishly, pushing each other to successful results.

9. Develops leaders on and off the court or field:
· Promotes healthy choices outside of athletics.
· Encourages student athletes to step outside of their comfort zone and become role models to others.

10. BELIEVE ~ It doesn’t matter if the goal is grand or simply taking baby steps. You have to believe -
· We believe each student athlete can accomplish what ever they set out to do.
· We believe each student athlete can overcome challenges with dedication and perseverance.
· We believe each student athlete can achieve their dream because it is real.

Thanks Robyn!

-MaxSC

My Longest Year

2008-09-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

The year 2003 is like a blur to me. Looking back, I have trouble distinguishing one month from the next, which is why I find it so ironic that at the time it felt as though 2003 would never end. Out of the 24 years I have lived thus far, it has seemed to be, without a doubt, the longest.

So why did it seem so long? In 2003, I finally did something about my life-long foot pain.

I had lived with foot pain since I could remember. I used to have so much pain in the morning that I could hardly walk to the shower and, especially after basketball games, could sometimes not walk at all. I tried countless remedies from orthotics to physical therapy. So when I visited with Dr. Sig Hansen at Harborview Medical Center, the rest of my options were practically exhausted. That was the summer of 2002, right before I began my first season of college football.

Together, Dr. Hansen and I devised a plan: Cut through my left heel and restructure my foot immediately following the season and perform a less-severe operation to relieve pressure on both feet by effectively loosening my calves. Recovery would be 8 months to a year depending on setbacks, so the best case scenario predicted my stepping back on the field right at the beginning of my sophomore season. It felt to me as if there was no choice in the matter. The present condition of my feet was beginning to severely hinder my ability to perform on the field.

After the surgery I began the long process of rehabilitation. I found comfort in my teammates as they were patient and encouraging, but I still became overwhelmingly frustrated at my inability to join them in our workouts. I watched as my leg strength diminished and my cardiovascular endurance regressed. Three months post-surgery the cast came off and I began pedaling on the stationary bike. Then came the elliptical trainer and body weight squats. But my recovery was not coming quickly enough.

Let’s be clear about one thing. When it comes to football, the only feeling worse then being injured is not being on the team at all. Watching my teammates push each other beyond their natural limits as I sat in the corner and stretched was almost too much to bear at times. In addition, the camaraderie that is built during that first off-season in college is hard to replicate and I always felt as if I was catching up to my classmates. That was the longest year of my life.

Fast forward to August of 2003 – nine months post-surgery. I am about to head back to school and join my teammates for training camp. Only one problem… my foot is still not completely healed! I still feel a jarring pain in my heel whenever I step on my left foot. So I go back to Dr. Hansen and he tells me that I should consider taking the season off to let my foot fully heal. But there is NO WAY I am going to let that happen, so I decide enough is enough and it is time to play.

Every season, Colby College opens training camp with a test of sixteen 110 yard sprints in under a certain amount of time depending on position. Repercussions were immense for any upperclassman that did not pass the 110s. Now picture this: I have not run in nine months. I have not properly lifted for nine months. My surgery is still not healed and there is still a considerable amount of pain in my foot. Plus, I had not even gotten close to passing the 110s my freshmen year. But when I stepped on that field to begin the test with my 70 teammates, I realized that there was no way I was going to let them down.

Since my physical capabilities were limited, I was forced to rely almost entirely on mental strength and perseverance. What else could I do? Somehow a switch was flipped in my brain. The word “fail” ceased to exist to me and as the test began, I was like a different person, determined to succeed at any and all physical price.

I passed the 110s that day and collapsed afterwards onto the grass in agony and relief. When I was helped up by the very teammates I had sacrificed for, it was like rising out of a dream. Later that day, while sitting in the training room with my feet in buckets of ice-water, I reflected on the experience and came to the realization that I had, for the first time in my life, harnessed the power of my mind to achieve a physical end. Ever since, I have been able to draw upon that experience as inspiration when I need to really center my focus to perform.

I am a better person for having gone through that difficult year of rehabilitation and the subsequent fitness test. Discovering the ability to draw on the power of my mind in times of physical distress has proven invaluable to my athletic career and to my development as a human being. I've learned that the mind can overcome nearly any physical limitation if you can figure out how to harness its power.
So although 2003 was the longest year of my life, it was also arguably the most important to my development as an athlete. I did not get any bigger, any faster, or any stronger, but the mental capacity I gained has served me better than any physical attribute ever could.

Dan Giuliani

THE CONCEPT OF OBSTACLES

2008-09-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

In a recent conversation I had with an old colleague of mine (whom I consider to be one of my mentors) the topic of roadblocks and obstacles came up. I asked him how he dealt with these kinds of impediments during his career (he is an extremely accomplished football coach), and how he continues to handle them as they come up. He responded by saying that as long as you keep a steady eye on your goals and where you want to go, obstacles don’t matter. In fact, obstacles don’t even exist. Obstacles are really just opportunities to learn and get stronger while traveling on the journey toward your goals.

As athletes, we will ALWAYS come across these opportunities. They show themselves when injuries arise, when difficulties occur in school or our social lives, if we don’t perform the way we expect to, if we get beat out by a teammate and don’t play as much as we feel we should, etc…

When these things happen we must remember to stay focused on our long term vision, and do whatever we need to do in order to get back on the path. Athletes lose (and sometimes never bounce back) when they become too distracted by these opportunities and cannot see beyond them.

No matter what experiences happen during our lives, bear in mind that ALL of them are positive. They are only opportunities that we can learn from and use to become better athletes and better people.

Daniel Jahn

Chlorophantastic!

2008-09-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

Most of us vaguely remember the word Chlorophyll from our high school science class. I would bet that few actually know the benefits of this great molecule. The most common time we see chlorophyll is when we look at plant leaves. In plants, it's primary function is to absorb and transfer light energy. In humans it can provide great benefits too:

Detoxifies Liver
Eliminates body odor
Cleans digestive tract
Prevents liver cancer
Used in cancer therapy
Good for anemia
Eliminates mold from body

Where can I get some? Easy - look for leafy green vegetables like spinach, romaine lettuce and green peas to start. Another easy method is in Nutritox Spirulina Energy bar, it can be an great alternative.

Milestone 1

2008-08-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

After much hard work, Kevin has hit our first goal.

This morning he weighed in at:

348.9!!!

He is officially under 350 and rolling strong.

Great work Kev!

The highs and lows of the GI index

2008-08-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Glycemic index of foods

GI values can be interpreted intuitively as percentages on an absolute scale and are commonly interpreted as follows:

Classification

GI range Examples

Low GI 55 or less
Most fruit and vegetables (except potatoes, watermelon), grainy breads, pasta, legumes/pulses, basmati rice, milk

Medium GI 56 - 69
Wheat bread, whole wheat products in general, brown rice, orange sweet potato, table sugar

High GI 70 - 99
Corn flakes, baked potato, some white rices (eg. jasmine), croissant, white bread, candy

100 straight glucose

A low GI food will release glucose more slowly and steadily. A high GI food causes a more rapid rise in blood glucose levels and is suitable for energy recovery after endurance exercise or for a person with diabetes experiencing hypoglycemia.

The glycemic effect of foods depends on a number of factors such as the type of starch (amylose vs. amylopectin), physical entrapment of the starch molecules within the food, fat and protein content of the food and organic acids or their salts in the meal — adding vinegar for example, will lower the GI. The presence of fat or soluble dietary fibre can slow the gastric emptying rate thus lowering the GI. Unrefined breads with higher amounts of fiber generally have a lower GI value than white breads.[3] Many brown breads, however, are treated with enzymes to soften the crust, which makes the starch more accessible. This raises the GI, with some brown breads even having GI values over 100.

While adding butter or oil will lower the GI of meal, the GI ranking does not change. That is, with or without additions, there is still a higher blood glucose curve after white bread than after a low GI bread such as pumpernickel.

The glycemic index can only be applied to foods with a reasonable carbohydrate content, as the test relies on subjects consuming enough of the test food to yield about 50 g of available carbohydrate. Many fruits and vegetables (but not potatoes) contain very little carbohydrate per serving, or have very low GI values. This also applies to carrots, which were originally and incorrectly reported as having a high GI.[4] Alcoholic beverages have been reported to have low GI values, but it should be noted that beer has a moderate GI. Recent studies have shown that the consumption of an alcoholic drink prior to a meal reduces the GI of the meal by approximately 15%.[5]

Many modern diets rely on the Glycemic Index, including the South Beach Diet, Transitions by Market America and NutriSystem Nourish Diet [6].

Getting down with Kev

2008-08-07T19:39:00.001-07:00

Below are updated pictures!

5 weeks and into the low 350's. Way to go Kevin!

Going lean with Kevin Week 4

2008-07-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

This week we are going to continue to work on movement. When getting back into exercice, it's important to take time to train or re-train the body slowly. Initiating new movements too fast can cause injury and delay your goals.

Kevin and I have started with the basics:

Cone drills and low ( 1 1/2 inch ) box jumps.

Last week we introduced jogging and jump rope!

Going lean with Kevin

2008-07-21T17:43:00.001-07:00

MaxSC is proud to take the first life changing steps with our latest client, Kevin. We started training on June 30th and have seen tremendous success. When we started, Kevin weighed in at 378 pounds. Just three weeks later he has dropped a solid 21 lbs!

Here are the most recent pictures, taken on the 17th:

Kevin is extremely motivated and understands the seriousness of his endeavor.

Our workouts for the first 4 weeks consist of:

20 minutes on the treadmill / variable incline up to 12 , speed at 2.3

5 minute cool down

15 minutes of conditioning exercises including body weight squats, box jumps and other movement exercises.

20 minutes of circuit training

Cool down / stretching

1 lap around the building

Our goal is into the 200's by November 1st. I'll Keep you posted!

Get Tough

2008-07-21T17:42:00.001-07:00

What is mental toughness?

What do you think of when you hear the words ‘mental toughness’? I tend to think about athletes who never quit or give up. I think about athletes who love working hard and welcome any challenge presented to them. Mentally tough athletes can deal with adversity and struggle in a way that ends in positive outcomes for the individual and his/her team. Athletes who set high standards for themselves and their teammates, then hold themselves accountable to those standards show mental toughness as well. The pitcher who can hit his spot in the bottom of the ninth, the goalie who makes the save on a penalty kick, the volleyball player who makes the serve on match point, the Olympic weightlifter who trains for 5 years to improve by 2 kg, the fullback who makes the block to allow his tailback to gain an extra three yards, and the shooting guard who follows her shot and scores off her own rebound, all show mental toughness as well.
To know the definitions of mental toughness are important, but what is more significant is to understand how to develop this ability in yourself and those around you.

Never accept failure (from yourself or anyone around you) without first giving every ounce of effort you have. If failure does occur, immediately re-set a goal to achieve whatever it was in a realistic time-frame.
Stop talking about how you feel. How you feel is generally not important to whether or not you achieve an athletic goal. The game must go on whether you feel great or not.
Get used to being uncomfortable when training to become your best. If you’re comfortable while preparing for your endeavor, your body probably isn’t adapting and improving.
Once you decide on a goal, don’t change it. Too often athletes change their expectations based on difficulty of the challenge. Don’t be beaten so easily. Be fiercely determined to achieve your objective.
Never sympathize with yourself or your teammates over a challenge or hardship. You can understand their tribulations and difficulties, but sympathy gets nothing but a loss of respect.

Grand Opening!

2008-07-09T17:27:00.000-07:00

!!!!SAVE THE DATE!!!!
Saturday, JULY 26th from 12-3pm

We are happy to announce our Grand Opening to all our current, new, and future athletes!
14320 NE 21st Street
Suite 16
Bellevue, WA 98007
425-641-4310

Free Class Demo Sessions:
· 12:30-1:00pm - VERTICAL JUMP TRAINING
· 1:30-2:00pm - EXPLOSIVE STRENGTH TRAINING
· 2:30-3:00pm – AGILITY & QUICKNESS

Welcome to all ages, friends, and family members!!
Please forward to friends, family & teammates!

We have classes for YOU!!!
· Adult Athletic Conditioning
· Agility & Quickness
· Basketball
· Baseball & Softball
· Football
· Soccer & Lacrosse (field sports)
· Volleyball