December 7th, 2010
In Season Training:
So wrestling and basketball season have begun and you are hitting practice pretty hard. Many people make the mistake of stopping training once the season begins. You worked so hard in the off-season to increase your strength and conditioning and then once the season starts you stop. Does that make any sense to you? What do you think will happen to those gains if you don’t continue to work? The problem many athletes encounter is that they try to workout the exact same way during the season that they did in the off-season. This is simply not possible, as the body cannot handle all of it. You do not need to workout the exact same way during the season as you did in the off-season in order to maintain what you achieved earlier.
This guy does not skip in season workouts!
In season workouts should be scaled back in intensity by lowering the loads either by reducing the weights, sets, or reps…or a mix of all three! If you are a basketball player or wrestler the intensity of leg work should be scaled back even more, as you are performing lots of sprints, jumps, and shoots. These take a toll on the legs. Hit the upper body and make sure to get some good stretching in.
Speaking of stretching, that brings me to restorative exercise. In season restorative exercise is of the utmost
Lebron performing some restorative Yoga
importance! This can make a huge difference in ones performance over others. While your opponents are feeling beat up, you will feel fresh and ready to go. Restorative exercise can take many forms, and can be done aftera workout or as a workout in and of itself. Foam rolling, dynamic movements, bodyweight work, and yoga, as seen left being performed by Lebron James, can all be used to help the body feel better.
If you want more information on In Season workouts, or would like to train in season with me, don’t hesitate to contact me!
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October 22nd, 2010
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May 19th, 2010
It seems there is a dangerous trend happening around the country that will greatly impact the athletic skills, and more importantly, the HEALTH of our youngsters in a negative way. What is this epidemic sweeping the nation you may ask? SPECIALIZATION IN SPORTS! It is commonplace these days for young athletes to spend a majority of their developing athletic career playing just one sport. “How is this bad?” you may be thinking. “Wouldn’t it be smart for a child to focus on one sport so they can develop their skills and reach their ultimate goal of super stardom?” In short….NO! In the short term the child who specialize earlier will dominate because they will have mastered the skills necessary for that sport. Their peers have not matured in the same manner and thus it will appear that specialization was the correct choice. The problem arises once that child faces advanced competition. Many studies are finding that athletes that specialize early are not as competitive in international competitions or once their peers have matured. Why does this occur? The reasons for this are various.
Lack of Skill Development
By specializing in one sport at an early age a child misses out on developing all of the other skills that one develops by playing other sports. The multi-sport athlete is constantly developing motor skills by playing numerous sports. The one sport athlete only develops one set of motor skills. This additional skill set aids them later on in their sport career and HURTS the one sport athlete because they have not developed fully. In 1985, a study by the Swedish Tennis Association suggested that early specialization is unnecessary for players to achieve high performance levels in tennis. Among other things, this study found that the players who were part of the Swedish tennis ‘miracle’ of the 1980s, including the great Bjorn Borg, were keenly active in a range of sports until the age of 14 and did not begin to specialize until about the age of 16.
Injury
This is especially true in a sport such as baseball. Baseball requires the athlete to repeat the same throwing motion over and over again. I’ve watched countless athletes injure their arms at an early age because they do nothing but throw all year round. I recently attended a strength and conditioning clinic and one of the speakers was the strength coach for the New York Yankees. He said something that jumped out at me. He said that Tommy John surgeries have increased 5 fold this decade! He said there are many schools of thought as to why this was happening. He believed it to be the advent of early specialization, year round playing, and belonging to multiple teams in one season. Simply put, kids are throwing too much and too early! Young athletes are not getting a chance to rest their arms and develop other skills. Rest is essential to the young athlete. Consider this statistic from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons: “Twenty percent of children ages 8 to 12 and 45 percent of those ages 13 to 14 will have arm pain during a single youth baseball season.” Children need to play other sports throughout the year to avoid overuse injuries in one sport.
Burnout
The constant pressure to become a star athlete is not something most kids are ready to handle. The downturn of the economy and the outrageous cost of attending college have also put added pressure on kids to earn scholarships to save their parents money. This can weigh on a child and ultimately lead to them becoming disenchanted and disinterested in the sport they at one time loved. According to Safe Kids USA, by age 13, 70 percent of kids drop out of youth sports. The top three reasons: adults, coaches and parents. At the end of the day, sports should be something that is used to teach kids valuable life lessons such as determination, and teamwork.
Playing multiple sports is the best route when it comes to ensuring the future athletic success of your child. Numerous super star athletes have played multiple sports:
Has it hurt this guy: 
Thats Lebron James. Did you know he was an All State receiver in high school?
How about him: 
This is Derek Jeter, who was an All State Basketball player in high school!
Or him: 
Donovan McNabb, who also played college basketball!
And on and on it goes….Jackie Robinson….Bo Jackson…Deion Sanders…..Jim Brown….Tom Brady(who was drafted by the Montreal Expos out of high school)…John Elway….Tony Gonzalez….Julius Peppers. All of them great multi-sport athletes.
I think you get the point by now. All of these amazing athletes played multiple sports and excelled. You don’t need to specialize in order to achieve greatness in a sport, in fact science PROVES you shouldn’t. So get out there and tell your kids to play LOT’S of sports, not just one all the time.
Tags: athletes, baseball, basketball, carozza, Carozza Strength Training, derek jeter, Donovan McNabb, hockey, injuries, Lebron James, softball, sport specialization, strength, strength training
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March 22nd, 2010
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February 21st, 2010
Sorry it’s been a while, but here is something I have been reading a lot about lately.
Mental Toughness
Lately I have been doing some research on how to develop mental toughness. I did all the usual things one would do, talk to others, look up info on the Internet, and finally, I purchased some books.
Read this if you want to learn more about mental toughness!
I am constantly trying to pick other peoples brains and find out how they do things.
Mental toughness is a big topic in the athletic world. How do you develop it? Can it be developed or does one just have it? These are questions often asked. I wanted to get inside the brain of people who are what I deem to be mentally tough. So I looked for some books about Mixed Martial Artists and other fighters. To me if you can take the beatings some of these guys do, and stay calm in the face of a chokehold or submission move, you’re mentally tough. I came across a book entitled The Fighters Mind: Inside the Mental Game, written by Sam Sheridan. In the book Sheridan seeks to find out the mental secrets of people such as Dan Gable, Freddie Roach, Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, and Marcelo Garcia, among others. How did they stay committed to the brutal training schedules? How did they craft their game plans? How did they recover from defeat and rein in their ego after victory? Finally he wanted to find out how they remain mentally tough despite experiencing incredible physical pain! This book should be a must read for any coach or athlete!
Mental toughness is definitely something that can be learned, however the mindset must be firmly in place. In order for one to be mentally tough a person has to be WILLING to go places they have never been before. Dan Gable called it levels. He said the human body could always take itself to a higher level. He recalled how scientists said it was impossible for someone to run a 4-minute mile, and lo and behold, people now run 4-minute miles and less. The mind and body are truly amazing things….if you get out of the way and LET them be!
Tags: carozza, mental, mental toughness, psychology, strength, strength training, toughness
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November 28th, 2009
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about the use of creatine lately so I am going to try and put some myths to bed about this supplement. Now, before I begin, I am not telling anyone what they should and should not be taking as far as supplements go…unless you’re taking steroids in which case you should cease it’s usage immediately! This is merely my opinion based on the scientific research I have done. Everything I post here is backed up by research done by scientists, not based on anecdotal evidence. There is a lot of garbage out there in the supplement industry and most of it is a waste of money. However, there are 3 things that I take in addition to my vitamins, and that is creatine, protein, and BCAA’s.
There are many myths and misconceptions regarding the benefits and risks of creatine use. Walk into any gym in the country and you are likely to hear “my doctor told me creatine is bad for you.” Having said that, there are many things that one should consider when they are about to begin any sort of supplementation. Obviously, one should be cleared by a doctor to exercise, and any supplement should be cleared by a doctor who is knowledgeable and trustworthy. One’s goals should also be taken into account as well. Is the goal to gain weight, or to run longer or faster? How will creatine help or hinder in the achievement of these goals?
The label of a popular brand of creatine claims to increase muscle fiber protein by upwards of 50% and that in a clinical study done by St. Francis Xavier University, strength capacity was increased by 18.6% in 10 days. To an athlete trying to increase strength, this may seem appealing. Studies seem to back up the claim, though not quite to level claimed on the bottle. A study was done on 33 male power athletes, some given creatine supplementation, and some given a placebo over a 10 week period. In tests of one rep squat strength, the group given creatine increased their squat by 20kg over the 10-week period. The placebo group increased their squat 5kg. In a test of one rep bench press the creatine group increased their bench by about 15kg, while the placebo group experienced an increase of about 8kg(1). Given those results one could safely assume that creatine supplementation would be beneficial for power athletes, such as football players, power lifters, or short sprinters.
The health risks associated with creatine use are anecdotal at this point in time. There are limited studies on longer-term use of creatine. Studies done of creatine use for 5 years have shown no adverse health side effects (2). There have been reports that creatine has caused cramping, and gastrointestinal complaints, however those complaints appear to be anecdotal. One side effect that could be considered adverse would be the increase in body mass. For certain athletes, such as wrestlers, this may be unwanted.
References:
- Faigenbaum A, Hoffman J, Kang J, Mangine G, Ratamess N, Stout J. Effect of Creatine and B-Alanine Supplementation on Performance and Endocrine Responses in Strength/Power Athletes. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2006.
2. Francaux M, Poortmans J. Adverse Effects of Creatine Supplementation. Sports Med. Sept. 30, 2000.
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Something happened yesterday that got me pretty angry, but something also happened that made me think back to my youth and made me happy at the same time. I remember as I was growing up and playing sports my parents instilled the importance of hard work in me. If I wanted to be successful and be the player I wanted to be I would have to work harder than everyone else. Nothing came easily to me as an athlete. I was behind the 8 ball because I did not start to play football until the 8th grade and I was competing with guys that had played since they were 7!