By Dr. Greg Shepard
Egoing good, my throwing goes good because I am a Power Thrower.” with Coach Venegas like a thrower. he liked this new form of training. lovin’ it. It feels good!”
Over the years, I have interviewed many of our nation’s top athheart. this transfer principle.
Program: throwing events. I use it in my coaching, many coaches don’t. I the throw. [ have a series of drills to accomplish that. We take advantage of our ability to transfer.”
The Warm-up - BFS Dot Drill: to throw. Definitely!” the right foot and then the left foot.
Track phenom Amber Affeldt doing the BFS Dot Drill. She is now at Texas Tech on a track scholarship WERING THE TRANSFER QuEsTION ‘it Since we have standards (for exames take the Dot Drill very seriously.
If athletes work on the BFS Dot Drill, they will improve. Many low priority. However, you should see the eyes of these same athletes er, would you be interested?” among athletes on the BFS program. questions? intensity level will also increase. son for our successful transfer believe the wins will come easier. evaluate his athletes. to sprinting and jumping. Please note the photos of Amber doing the minute a day. foot is pointed outward. I want the athlete to look like a sprinter.
I actu- PROGRAM There are two significant reasons for our ability to transfer abilities and improvements with our flexibility program to not only other areas of strength and conditioning but to athletic performance as well. The first reason is simply just answering the question as to WHY we stretch. The vast majority of athletes and coaches at any level will state, “we stretch to prevent injuries.”
Naturally we are concerned with preventing injuries, but the primary Poor technique. No transfer will take place. Little or no ally teach sprinting technique during this stretch.
Almost Perfect. Amber should have her arms straight. leg. She looks like a sprinter. concave position, the chest should be spread, the hips thrust forward, the feet pointed straight, the back leg should be in a full extension position just like a sprinter and finally the athlete should press down on the back heel for the best stretch. Now, whenI take this same athfete out on the track to work on sprinting, he has already experienced a correct kinesthetic feel of sprinting. When a video analyzation of sprinting technique is experienced, the athlete has a clearer vit,ANSWERING THE TRANSFER QUESTION understanding of what he is seeing and how to correct mistakes.
20% of it’s players with problems. cupied with the idea of transfer.
OF STRENGTH AND POWER We have two main areas of concentration to accomplish an easy transfer of Strength and Power, developed in the weight room, to the arena of competitive athletics. The very first aspect of our transfer system is to establish a POWER POSITION. Some coaches refer to this posture as a “Ready, Athletic or Hit” bleachers or in chairs. “Squat Stance”. Now “Sit Tall” “Spread the Chest” and lock-in the lower back. Sitting on a bleacher the correct position. The second step, if needed, is to stand on the field, court or weight room. Say, “Hands on Knees.” The elbows should be locked. Let the lower back sink in assuming a conposition.
The first day of weight training or training for any sport should be spent teaching a perfect POWER POSITION. I don’t care if you are working with 4th grade footbal] players, 7th grade volleyball players, ting on a bench. correct POWER POSITION is easy.
Mark, my 9-yr. old son, assumes a real poor basketball stance every athlete can assume a perfect POWER POSITION. You teach this cave position and spread the chest. Finally, keep that position and move the hands from the knees to a “Ready Position.” I wouldn’t let an athlete play or lift until he/she could assume this position with perfection. Now, when your athletes Squat, Clean, Tackle or Jump, they will be in great position and should significantly reduce their chances of injury. weight room.
4 through 12) cannot get into a perfect POWER POSITION. Try this as soon as possible. Go to a football or basketball camp. The coaches will order their kids to get in a “Ready” position. Drills will be performed. However, the coaches most likely will not correct the kids who don’t understand how to get into this position. Their bips will be forward with a rounded back. I Next: Hands on Knees The second aspect of our transfer system is to concentrate on two kinds of stances. The “Athletic Stance” and the “Jump Stance.” These are the two stances we use in our BFS approach. The “Athletic Stance” is used in Squats while the “Jump Stance” is used in the Clean, Snatch, Trap Bar or Dead Lift.
Athletes who Parallel Squat use a wide variety of stances like body- -continued from page 32building, or powerlifting stances. have read 50 books on strength training. They all say the stance should be about “shoulder width apart.” To me, this is not precise enough. These books also say the toes can be pointed out slightly for balance. So does mine but with strict limitations. When our athletes begin their downward descent on a squat, they must be in that perfect “Athletic Position” at the halfway point. Thus it must be for a transfer to take place the way we want it. If you build leg-thigh-hip the positions used in athletic competition, you are asking for trouble in sprinting and jumping.
At the beginning of a Power “Jump Stance”. from an “ATHLETIC STANCE.”
Position”. stances. don’t understand this principle. themselves and don’t coach them. pretty good but his elbows and chin should be higher athletic stance. There are two advantages for an athlete in using this style. First, you can Clean or Snatch more weight and second, you can learn how to balance a heavy weight from an athletic stance which, in my opinion, has more transfer benefits with all power sports.
Adefend his style of racking the Clean or Snatch, without moving the feet in the following manner. The most important part of these lifts is the jump phase so it doesn’t matter how you rack the bar. I agree the jump this stance while squatting. explained in the above paragraph. clubs. Mark does a Pre-Readiness BFS Program athletes do not do this. decision as to when. ing a great risk to the lower back. However, since the bar is started off risk than curls to the lower back. Momentum continually builds and when the bar is raised several inches above the knees, the athlete jumps as explosively as possible. He does an all out vertical jump with a heavy weight.
[t is the overload principle in action. The better you get at jumping with a weight, the higher you jump vertically or the farther you can go on a Standing Long Jump. You should coach these lifts from the very beginning for the transfer benefits The athlete keeps the bar moving then racks the bar. The Clean is racked at the chest while the Snatch is racked overhead. Many coaches I demonstrate two advanced coaching secrets for Power around a Power Clean platform. too far out.
JAZZ Center Felton Spencer showing correct jump stance Ion clean with toes straight. technique and then one with good technique. figure out what I am doing wrong.” This first secret can mean 20-50 pounds on a maximum attempt. This mistake is very common with athletes whose technique seems quite good to most coaches. Only about three coaches out of 100 will notice this mistake. That's why I _ This 800 Ib. Squatter is a powerlifter. His toes are pointed out and his Stance is too wide for for an athlete. call ita secret. Then, when I tell them what it is and repeat the mistake it becomes quite obvious. The first mistake is dipping the rack phase of the Clean.
Keep the chin up throughout the entire lift. It wide. This is not an athletic stance. is best to focus the eyes on a point high on a wall. Coaches, before you teach this secret to your athletes, the ability to transfer explosiveness. amazed as to how common a mistake this is, especially with your better athletes. The second advanced coaching 100 to guess correctly the mistake after my demonstration. [ have been to Top Ten Division I football Clean. One school in particular was on the knees. After a coach has taught an athlete reasonable technique, then you can become a great coach by watching the chin and knees. completely lost.
Position for this Athlete.
It really is simple with the knees. They should completely and fully THE TRANSFER QUESTIO.
_ of the Hang Clean is more difÏcult to execute than doing Power Cleans from the floor. [ have seen a number of good high school and college athletes Hang Clean a lot of weight by swinging the bar up to the rack position in a circular type motion. The objective of seeing how much you can rack should be secondary. The primary objective should be to get a great jump with every Power or Hang Clean. The reasoning by most coaches for doing Hang Cleans instead of Power Cleans from the floor is safety. They claim Hang Cleans are less stressful to the lower back. However, if an athlete begins the Stefan demonstrating jump phase of the Clean. Photo at left shows Stefan, 6-1 270 Ibs., jumping.
He put his ear on the backboard from a stand at a BFS Clinic. Notice the body similarity between the two there really is no safety difference. photos. We use the overload principle by getting into a jump position with weight and then jump. Can we transfer? Of course!
T recommend Power Cleans from the floor over Hang Cleans because was taking place with his technique. jump. Most athletes do not do this. happen. is disastrous.
300 pounds!
All-State junior running back.
MIRACLE! bar in a low squat position just like an Olympic Lifter. I shook my head and told the kid he had huge problems. You see, when an athlete Squat Cleans, he will invariably concentrate on get- This stance is OK for powerlifting but we Dead Lift from a Jump Stance.
Trost settles back on his hips slightly, then drives forward centrate primarily on the jump phase no matter which style is chosen. summation of force. best vertical jumps.
Is this not Transfer? upward attempting to rise up on the toes, just as you would in a block, movement. and hip tendon strength like the Box Squat. The Box Squat is done with the idea of simulating hip action on a block, tackle or on any lower body power movement. The athlete squats down under control on a padded Squat Box. The weight is taken partially from the feet to the hips by a slight rocking motion. The athlete rocks back and then surges forward and up. Now instead of just slowing down once the athlete gets past the “sticking point”, the athlete keeps accelerating on the upward drive. doing so. Can this simulation of athletic movement of the Box Squat be transferred to power sports?
I believe so. I do know this . . . some great coaching for any sport, but especially football, can be done as the athlete trains on the Box Squat. Not only can the basic athletic position be reinforced, but how to deliver a correct block or tackle with power can be taught. Throughout the many years I have done the Box Squat, I get the feeling that this lift is instrumental in athletes throwing or hitting farlift, you don’t stop flat footed as in a Coach Anderson making sure Utah JAZZ Center Felton Spencer’s lower back is locked in on the Box Squat.
From BFS Magazine — Winter 1995. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).
