Smart Muscle™ Training, Adaptations for All Ages

Twist Smart Muscle™ exercise captures the essence of elite athlete training and applies level appropriate programming to kids and aging boomers.

Active Adults of all ages benefit from Smart Muscle™ training methodology by awakening movement patterns, activating extensive muscle groups, re-energizing neuromuscular communication pathways and restoring total body function mentally and physically. The result is enhanced mobility, reduced incidence of injury and a youthful sense of athletic confidence that brings new excitement to every recreational pursuit. Adult clients do desire appearance changes. The high metabolic cost of Smart Muscle™ strength training nets a massive caloric expenditure but while also teaching all the muscles in the body to work harmoniously.

Children and youth gain balance, movement and strength through motor experiences and with each repeated exposure to foundational movement patterns (running, jumping, kicking, throwing) neuromuscular references are established and enhanced. The brain thinks in terms of movements not individual muscles and neuromuscular communication pathways (sensory and motor commands) become faster and more efficient over time leading to more coordinated, precise and athletic movement. Rather than teaching children and youth to isolate muscles, exposure to whole body, sequential movement patterns with ability specific balance challenges builds a solid foundation for sport specific skill execution for their lifetime. The key to safely utilizing Smart Muscle™ training with these age ranges is understanding the growth and development stages along with the individualized needs of each child as they progress through the dynamic challenges of neurological, skeletal and muscular changes of adolescence.

From a performance enhancement perspective, success in sports demands Smart Muscle™ training. The nature of sport creates an environment that requires exceptionally fast read – react – respond abilities where an athlete can quickly interpret a game situation, evaluate the opponent (or the terrain) and apply the correct strategy to create an advantage for themselves or a team mate, all with a focus on winning. Sport is won or lost in small fractions of time and precision frequently determines outcomes. Developing the physical attributes that support sport skill requires that athletes have exceptional movement skills (speed, agility, coordination, quickness), dynamic balance (core strength, proprioception) and diverse strength (endurance, capacity, power). Layering complex movement, balance and strength challenges develops a smart athlete that is well prepared for the unpredictable demands of sport.

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What is Smart Muscle™ Training?

Success in the fitness and sport industries is measured by results. Professional athletes maintain sizable contracts by working diligently with well organized sport coaches who plan every aspect of the performance process from intricate workout design through to extensive season long cyclic training programs. Personal trainers in the fitness industry are hired and fired based on their ability to inspire clients to create short and long term tangible physical change. In a society that changes in an instant, moves at a lightening fast pace and provides access to information in a heartbeat, the ability to deliver real results quickly is paramount. Time to shift gears from training harder, to training smarter using Smart Muscle™ training!

Smart Muscle™ Training

Smart Muscle™ training is a recommended methodology that combines appearance goals with real life function and sport performance goals. Using a blend of dynamic balance challenges, multi directional movement skills and whole body strength exercises, an efficient and effective workout is built. The training style creates a maximum metabolic cost that activates various muscles from prime movers, to synergists and stabilizers to create complex, purposeful movement that occurs sequentially from toe to fingertip. Executing whole body movement relies on excellent proprioception and coordination built from rehearsed mind to muscle communication pathways. Referring to the Olympic motto, the outcome is bigger, faster, stronger and smarter muscles.

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Transfer from the Gym to Game Action

Throwing (football, softball, lacrosse) striking (hockey, tennis, golf), and kicking (soccer) sports all can benefit from stronger and more effective torso rotation. Examining the mechanics needed to optimize sport skills, rotary power is the key link from the weight room to the playing field. Preferred exercises use a closed chain position (standing up on your feet), weight shifts both laterally and horizontally (to pre-load the rear leg) and transfer of weight to lead leg at a high velocity.

When working movement around the spine, through a transverse plane, initial exercise prescription uses slow controlled movements, for time under tension to optimize strength and hypertrophy gains. Moreover, slow controlled movements on both the positive (concentric) and negative (eccentric) phases of the lift decrease the risk of injury.

Think of swinging a tennis racket or throwing a ball from your hand. The commonality is loading the legs to sum power from the legs, through the hips to the core and onwards to the shoulder complex. ‘Triggering’ the hips will transfer explosive power through the core. We like to use weighted medicine balls, 6 foot long covered strength tubing, and partner resistance exercises that allow powerful explosive strength training without having to decelerate at the end of the range of motion as is necessary with free weights. These accommodate full ranges of motion, whole body skill movements and explosive, high velocity training. Core rotation begins with a strength emphasis and controlled speeds, and finishes (later in the program cycle) with quick countermovements focused on power initiation. At this stage, athletes are performing core plyometrics.

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The Core Connection to All Sports

The sport skills of kicking a football, swinging a tennis racket, shooting a hockey ball, getting air and spin on snowboards, spiking a volleyball, driving a golf ball and hitting a baseball are all dependent on a highly developed torso capable of explosive rotation. The paradox continues in that most exercise professionals, with their good intention of ensuring core exercises are safe, prescribe very limited exercises that ultimately under prepare their clients for sport demands and actually set them up to be injured.

In the fitness world, ‘core’ strength has become a very common buzzword. In sport, you are definitely only as strong as your weakest link, and for most athletes this is the core or speed center, which includes abdominals, low back and hip musculature. For a solid base of support which is capable of transferring power through the kinetic chain, you need to build strength from the center of the body out to the periphery, as opposed to preferentially working on the muscles you can see in a mirror. However, enhanced skill execution and sport power cannot be optimized with traditional floor based sit up exercises.

In the past, core development has been attempted through the utilization of floor based exercises such as crunches, sit ups, leg raises, rope crunches, and back hyperextensions which predominantly isolate abs muscles.

However, the speed centre must be developed with the intent of improved performance. Nothing on the court, field or ice is done in isolation. Isolation exercises will hurt your sport performance and lead to injury. Strength exercises must incorporate the entire body and accelerate through various joints, activate all muscle groups and move through varied planes.

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Balance Your Sport

The evolution of athlete conditioning established roots in individual sports where coaches turned to physical development to get the most out of each athlete's performance. Individual sports like track sprinting found they could benefit from enhanced leg strength and power. Head coaches were the first trainers of athletes, taking them into the weight room with an eye on improving performance.

The systems and strategies in sports such as football, cricket and tennis can best be described as organized chaos; during competition no one knows what will happen in the very next second. Multi-directional sports are a read-and-react game where success hinges on individual tactics – the toolbox of creative moves on offence and the mobility and reactivity on the defensive side.

Many other sports directly draw upon balance for skill execution. Snowboarders and skiers make endless adjustments relative to changing terrain, jumps and tricks, requiring a highly trained balance system to make their body more reactive to unpredictable events. The joy of the sport is exploring how to coordinate the body to become more competent at increasingly more difficult technical maneuvers.

The bottom line: fitness and strength are only useful if they are developed with an exercise style that actually improves the physical tools game action draws upon. Integrating strength, movement and balance helps athletes build muscle and strength levels in a manner that will better transfer on to the playing field.

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Welcome to Twist Sport Conditioning's Blog Page!

This blog will be updated on a weekly basis, so we encourage you to check back weekly for the latest post, or choose to "follow" this blog to get regular updates sent to you. Contributions to this Blog will come from a variety of sources- Peter Twist, Douglas Brooks, Janice Hutton and Twist Coaches and staff- from a variety of standpoints including; whats hot in the industry, current research reviews, upcoming events, discussion boards, training tips and more...

We encourage you to provide your comments, ask questions, create discussion topics and make suggestions.

Sincerely,
The Twist Team!

A Christmas Poem from Twist Conditioning Whitby

A Twistmas Tale
by Jeff Roux

Twas 2 weeks before Christmas and all through Centre
Heather’s touch made it festive for all who would enter.
Eric calculated and cursed from his Ballast Ball
And the smell of Jesse’s dinner permeated the hall.
Adam walked in with his usual shout,
Yo, what’s up y’all Twist gang, it’s %$*@ing cold out.
Jeff was all snuggled in at his laptop upstairs
Listening to mashups and getting workouts prepared.
Big Todd was out setting up hurdles and sleds
With Nancy digesting the drills she just read.
A regular night at Twist Whitby it seemed,
Then, I ‘m not sure if it happened or was something I dreamed,
As, what to our wondering eyes would appear
A sleigh full of people, what they wanted unclear.
The leader came down and walked up to the desk,
“I have for you Heather, a unique request.
I know its late notice with 2 weeks remaining,
But I fear that me and my boys here need training.
We’ve got a big job on December 25th
In order to fill all of the world’s gift wish lists.
My arms feel too flimsy for hauling the sack,
I’ve been feeling a tweak in the small of my back,
And when everything’s frozen my feet seem unsteady.
So what can you do to help us Be Ready.
Heather smiled at the man in the red suit and beard
And said, “sir, things may not be as bad as you’ve feared.
Our team can help your team prepare for game day”.
And with that she pointed and said come this way.
Coach Todd led the group through the DWU
And Jesse proceeded to coach SAQ.
Adam addressed them with respect and great care
Then created a complex that made even Santa swear.
Coach Nancy came in to create CORE confusion,
As the elves were awaiting the workout’s conclusion.
Then Heather came back for some poses and chants
And watched Santa sweat bullets in his red yoga pants.
At the end of the session the group was all smiles
“Exactly what we needed to help conquer the miles”.
They had one more thing to say as they prepared for their flight
Merry Twistmas to all and to all a good night!