Victorian Roller Derby League wins National Championship
VRDL Roller Derby wins National Title
Great to see the VRDL Roller Derby girls win the National title at the Great Southern Slam national tournament.
A few of the team do their Strength and Conditioning at Advanced Athletes Performance in Preston and that has been a great experience for me to learn about a new and exciting sport.
Hopefully at AAP we can help some of the girls develop some power and speed characteristics that can be transferred to Roller Derby and help the team climb the World Rankings.
Australian Men’s Volleyball Team make London Olympics
There is a strong connection at Advanced Athletes Performance with Volleyball. We are the official providers of Strength and Conditioning for Volleyball Victoria and family wise my daughter Lauren has played for Australia and overseas as a professional. So I have been lucky to learn heaps about the sport. We are proud to be connected with the sport of Volleyball, which is NO 3 participant sport in the world but in OZ gets shoved down the ladder. The men’s team is an elite group which won the Asian Cup 4 years ago and narrowly missed the games then. Fantastic to see them make London in a last gasp thriller vs China and I am sure this will give the sport a boost. So many young kids play the sport at school but opt out and now with this plus other options opening up it should become am attractive sport.Many of these boys should be household names in OZ and I am sure when the London Olympics starts they will be front and centre for the OZ public. Awesome stuff!o
News link below
Aussie volleyballers book Olympic berth
VRDL’s Kitty Decapitate doing Power Cleans at Advanced Athletes Performance
Link Below on YOU TUBE of Kitty Decaptitate Power Cleaning
Lots of VRDL Roller Derby players now training at Advanced Athletes Performance in Preston. The first stage with many of the girls was simply to do some basic screening, fitness testing and then generic squatting and deadlifting plus some core and rotational work. Warmups have involved mobility, proprioception training and low level plyos.
Some of the girls have started doing some Power work, sleds, med ball throws, hurdle jumps etc. IE Just getting the concept across of converting to power.
The next stage will be to become very specific to what players need and this could involve power training, stair jumping or even high level ergometer work to develop speed repeatability. But the base is always general conditioning.
In the pic above we see Kitty Decapitate doing a Power Clean for the second time only. She did some light front squats, some cleans, snatches then some medball granny throw complexed with hurdle jumps. Thats it!
Kettlebells, bands, sledgehammers etc…Why not weighted wheelbarrows!
Confused? Well I use to throw Kettlebells in the 70’s because I was a Hammer Thrower. Before their commercial use. So I cringe when I see over 40’s doing clean and jerks with kettlebells with bent wrists etc. Bands, chains etc all a great idea but there is a limit. Once in a while a sprinter will use bands for a start. But why I am saying all this. Well my main job is to train athletes. Generally jumping, running athletes. So programs have to have max effect.
Of course the key when coaching is to have an open mind to new methods. But it really is getting out of hand now due to the commercial push ( and brainwashing) for methods which tie in with the need to buy something. The variety is FUN for sure and great for kids and to stall boredom, but after that it is simply overkill.
A muscle doesn’t know what it is using. It is contracting. Do all the motor units switch on in a whole body exercise? Is one working retraction for Scapular needs or switching on the Lower Traps? Are glutes firing? Are calves getting stronger?
You Tube is awesome because so easy to search for techniques but also as with the “Dr Google” phenomenon can be dangerous.
An athlete needs qualities with force production and elastic strength. Why can a coach produce World Class Throwers or jumpers in environments where no chains or GHG machines exist? Well because they have lifted, done heaps of jumping & bounding, sprints and general conditioning with balls and “things”. Look at what the fastest, most explosive and most enduring athletes do. Not what a 110kg You Tube chunk does or what some Team Sport Athlete does.
The beauty of this plethora of equipment and methods is variety, and also when athletes are injured there is lots to move to now & that is the big positive. But I simply do not see the evidence out there to support some programs and equipment. Because athletes have to keep it simple and have time restraints the GYM has to be as basic and more so efficient as possible.
Once in a blue moon smash a tyre with a hammer. I do that with clients ( more so PT) for fun but how many Motor Units have been switched on? What are you doing? Why? Does Rafa smash a tyre? Dont think so.
And guess what, I am not saying olympic lifts will cure the worlds ills. Crossfit bemuses me totally. Mixing a POWER CLEAN with a Watt bike is like Singing Opera at a Karoake bar. ( Never was good at analogies!). Power Clean means Power. So doing massive reps with cleans destroys the concept of explosive triple explosion. Stick with something that is endurance I say. Better if they just pushed a weighted wheelbarrow for 400 metres then did WATT BIKES. But of course Crossfit is great for fitness so OK. HA
So IF you are an athlete be very specific in the GYM and get maximum BANG for BUCK for effort. If that is a One Legged Press followed by Explosive Step Jumps followed by specific Core Stability then do that, recover and go and train for your sport.
Strength and Conditioning has become very specific now. The challenge is to be specific, individualized and simple and time efficient.
Volleyball Strength and Conditioning at Advanced Athletes Performance
Hannah Martin doing a Depth Jump at AAP and Lena Skipper in background doing some hurdles.
The Victorian women’s Volleyball team has access to AAP’s facilities and the girls were in for a weights and plyometric session on Friday morning.
We tested the team for speed, block and spike jumps a few weeks ago in preparation for the AVL season.
Tennis Fitness Morning at Advanced Athletes Performance Preston
7 30 start at Advanced Athletes Performance in Preston with a group of fit tennis players. From left, Marija Mirkovic, Jo-Anne Karaitiana, Nives Baric and Alison Bai. On the menu this morning was boxing, medicine ball circuits, weights and speed. All the girls are heading overseas in the next few months so they are getting ready to hit the European summer.
Advanced Athletes Performance has only been going for 9 months but already we have lots of tennis players training here. From ATP/WTA ranked players to young players starting off.
I am running a 13 week group circuit for 11 to 14yo players on Sunday nights at 5 30 so feel free to contact me for more details on this circuit or anything else to do with tennis specific fitness or rehabilitation. My email is loris@advancedathletesperformance.com.
Josh Ross and Advanced Athletes Performance Athletes
Day after winning National 100m title, Josh is seen here with fellow Advanced Athletes Performance athletes, Marija Mirkovic,Dayne Kelly, Paul Cugnetto and James Parissis.
Josh Ross wins 6th Australian 100m title as an AAP athlete
Josh Ross blitzed the field to win the OZ 100m title last night. Josh has been training at Advanced Athletes Performance in Preston since September last year. 2 years ago my business partner, Piero Sacchetta, hatched a plan for Josh to become a wide receiver in the NFL.
They went to the US together and did trials. He wowed them with his athletic ability and was picking up the game rapidly. He had played Rugby League as a junior. Anyway the project didn’t proceed past 2010, but it was a great experience for Piero and Josh. Bit more time and he would definitely have got somewhere with American football.
Since September 2011, Josh has trained as an AAP athlete and Piero has been awesome at making sure everything stayed on track. In the last month Piero added masseur to his CV!
Josh’s first run was a 49 secs 400m in Interclub in October 2011.Come April 2012 and he has run 10.23 into a slight headwind. With a bit of luck with wind he would have had a definite A Qualifier for London.The great thing is that his amazing career is back on track and that he and Piero got a reward for al the effort they put in for 2 years since heading off to the US. It was great for Josh to chat to Adam basil 6 weeks ago. Adam was a bronze medallist in the Athens 4*100 team and is Melbourne Victorys fitness guru and he came to the centre a few weeks ago to add something to Josh’s build up.
And it was great to see such a talented athlete train daily right here at Advanced Athletes Performance. Definitely a great learning experience for me.
Well done Josh.
Jarrod Egan from GFC to Celtic to Redbacks to Crows to Port!
Article late 2011 about Jarrod Egan, my assistant at Geelong from 1999 to 2003
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/port-puts-one-over-adelaide/story-e6freco3-1226186648971
- by: Jesper Fjeldstad. From: Sunday Mail (SA). November 05, 2011 10:00PM
And the Power has confirmed it will venture overseas for a training camp this summer, heading across to New Zealand for what is expected to be four or five days some time in late November.Port Adelaide, which has been able to boost its football spend after a $9 million assistance package from the SANFL and the AFL, signed Egan to complete its most resourced football department in years and say he has already made an impression.
Egan was known by Port Adelaide fitness coach Cam Falloon because of their joint mentor Loris Bertolacci, the ground-breaking fitness coach who played part in the Baby Bombers’ 1993 success at Essendon and AFL’s first full-time fitness coach.
Falloon and Egan met over coffees and for regular catch-ups last year and when Falloon was told there was room to expand his department he didn’t have to think long before knowing whom to target.
Egan came with impressive credentials, having previously worked with North Melbourne, Geelong and Scottish Premier League soccer club Celtic.
As the Power embarked on a early morning session in the parklands yesterday morning, Falloon said the Egan investment was already beginning to reap rewards.
“He’s been a really good pick-up and what we’re really looking forward to adding to the fitness department is some experience,” Falloon said. “We’ve got some really good staff here with Andrew Rondinelli and Ben Serpell but we’ve probably lacked some experience.
“While we didn’t know each other well, we knew about each other and we had a few meetings last year, a coffee and a catch-up, and when the opportunity came up for us to recruit an experienced person he was certainly high up on our list.
“In a very short space of time Jarrod had been able to already make a very significant impact.
“We’re rapt with him.”
Then, in a cheeky manner, Falloon couldn’t resist to rub it in:
“And it’s always good to get someone from the Adelaide Crows.”
Fallon was also chuffed about the trip to New Zealand, which was about team bonding through hard work rather than high-altitude training – the time they will be away won’t be long enough to get the benefits of being in thin air.
“There are some fairly significant plans in place and it’s a really good opportunity to get the group together, work on team bonding and leadership and help the guys who are coming into the system,” Falloon said.
“Brad Ebert from West Coast Eagles and Brent Renouf from Hawthorn … it’s just a good opportunity for the guys to get away, do some hard work together and get to know each other.
“But also have a change of scenery. I guess what we’ve been able to do in the past few years has been to get away for a few days locally so this is a fantastic opportunity to head overseas.
“It’ll be a great thing for us as a group. With the clubs in the past, it’s had a really good effect in bringing the group together.
“It’s been a trend that when clubs do that they tend to have a really good year.”
Long Term Physical Development of Geelong Football Club from 1998 to 2006
There is heaps of confusion now in AFL fitness practices. 2 main areas of confusion are how to interpret GPS Data and also how big and strong should players be. The GPS situation needs to steady a little. The evolution of the technoogy has meant more precise data with better GPS units and more units. The rule changes have forced people to try and theorize about major changes in fitness needs. The biggest impact in fitness and AFL games has been the rotations. I saw the trend quickly early in 2005 when other clubs rotated and pushed rotations up as quickly as I could. Is every player now doing a 17 beep test now? Or a 22 YO YO test? Or bench pressing 150kgs? Players are leaner and overall stronger and fitter but physiologies havent evolved as much as people think. More how people are used and the mix is the key.
The danger has been that people have reacted to the GPS data too quickly and said “more steady state running this year = more fitness needed.” But at the same time people have said “we have to play contact footy so need to smash bodies.” Very confusing. Some still fantazise about running teams off their legs. I reckon Bangsbo is pretty right. Good test the YO YO . Add a repeat speed test, some power test and some basic weights data and then easy to profile players.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF GFC PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 1999 to 2006 April
Now I was gone from geelong in April 2006 when they were 3rd i think on the ladder and after 2 years in the finals ( 04/05) with young players. From 2007 onwards the club didnt miss a beat with their preparation, development and management with a flag in 2007.. But the reality is that in 2004 and 2005 the players who underpinned their great era had heaps of experience in finals footy and a few wins and heartbreaks. All required in the journey.
When I got to Geelong in 1998, Scarlett,King for example were elready there. Kingy already had done a lot of hard work whilst Matty was very skinny but showed great promise with speed and decision making. Wojcinski was drafted in 98 . So really that year ( 1999) in terms of specific physical preparation, it was a bit insignificant because Gary Ayres team was ageing and I simply tried to keep them on the park. Interesting that my assistant in 1999 was Matt Hornsby who then went to Port Adelaide and now Richmond. Basically I did a lot of core stability work and low level unilateral weight training and lots of recovery. Alan McConnell did a lot of small sided games in pxmas 1998 and I also did lots of crosstraining. Simply the whole exercise in 1999 was keeping people playing and also not pushing the envelope in the gym and on the track. Mid 1999 saw the financial crisis at Geelong and I had almost no resources from then.
In 1999 many of the crew that formed the base of 2007 on were drafted. Ling,Corey,Chapman,Enright and so on. That year ( 1999 /2000) was a mix of development of very young players and maintaining an old base of players that got the club to one final versus Hawthorn. My assistant that year was Jarrod Egan. Jarrod is now at Port Adelaide but from 2003 worked at the Kangaroos, then Celtic in Scotland, the Redbacks and Crows. He was a good track and field athlete and had worked under Vern McMillan at the VIS. Jarrod was great at showing technique both in the gym and on the track. We were very conservative with all the new draft boys and I also sent Jarrod to do his levels in Pilates. Thus we started slowly from the ground up in 99/2000. All the players were screened and the main focus was that any areas of imbalances or core stability/strength issues were addressed. Then all the young players were taught all the different running and agility drills plus technique development in the gym was a critical part of the Program. By 2000 I was aware that the average age of a good team was 25 and nothing has changed. And all my experiences with players from Gary O’Donnell to all the Baby Bombers then the Lloyd/Lucas era had showed statistically that it would take time.Added to this was the fact that in the 90’s young players were a year or two behind the current draft kids. So 2000 was simply again keeping old players on the park and nurturing and not breaking young babies.
The next crop of players started coming in over the 2000/2001 drafts. All of a sudden by 2002 there was a lot of pressure to succeed. But reality was the club was almost broke and full of kids. I knew we were in for the long haul. So preseasons 2000 to 2001 were a lot about building the base for the 1999 draftess and repeating the careful physical approach of preseason 1999 with newbies. One thing that I did with players in their second year was put running efficiency and speed developemnt at a premium. I also made the 2nd and 3rd year players do some hard work up the hills at Eastern Beach each pre season. Controlled and timed sessions such as 10*100m or 3 sets of 3 220m’s walk back. I did not rush their weights program in this phase. More important was a gradual build up of all athletic skills with strength and power and also a dedication to keeping players on the park so they could get lots of skill development & games played. The most important factor.
I repeated a camp I did with Essendon in 2000 and we went to the AIS for a week and exposed the players to elite training methods. Not Arizona but just as good.
So by the end of preeason 2002 all the young group had been privy to every conditioning technique and also exposed to some hard work. Not 5*1km stuff or LSD but repeated high intensity interval work and exposure to plyometrics and speed/change of direction and acceleration training. Stats in the gym were meaningless still at this stage. Technique was the aim and conditioning.
In preseason 2002 I employed Mark Spivey ( head lead ECB now) and Chris Dennis ( Paris Rugby Union Guru now). Also I got Tahi Reihana in from Rugby League and used John Minns in the gym. ( Ex OZ Shot Put record holder). My brother in law ( Gus Puopolo) donated Power Racks and weights because still the club was not spending. I also bought second hand weights and scrounged bits and pieces. Mark Spivey added a dimension of Agility Training to the program and also introduced week in/week out sleds and contrast sprints training. Seeing Harley and Hunt ripping sleds and sprinting was great. We also did more bounding and started an aggressive Power Weights program that pre-season. Spives went to the Bulldogs the next year and Chris Dennis took over as my assistant. Chris had captained Vic in junior basketball ( I think!) and he also was great in the gym and on the track. John Minns stood at the Squat Rack every Saturday morning for 2 years and we carefully put 2 good years of hard yakke into their legs and bums. I used Tahi Reihana in the gym but moreso to transfer the weights work into contact work and change of direction. Tahi did a lot of unheraled work with many of the young players. I also used Mark Sayers ( ex All Blacks Biomechanist) to assist me with inclose agility work and screening players for running technique and contact work.
So in preason 2002 players like ling etc ( add Carazzo!) were doing high intensity repeat 150’s with a minutes break and looking ominous. Repeating speed and grunt was the focus n a base of stability and technique. But there was always a commitement to making sure all the players had a great base to work off. Even players like Cameron Mooney had to spend a year getting problems like OP corrected after coming from the Kangas. And an Individual approach was taken as much as I could with the staffing I had.
So by preseason 2003 most of the players ( except the AblettG/Mackie) group were well on the way to be being powerful runners and inclose contact players. Gazza etc were again in a development situation due to age/low training age and simply not ready.I alsof the players after a few years of development. I tested every players MAX VO2 that year and had every player screened for core stability by Michael Dermansky. Thus I then knew the underlying physolgies. Enright and Ling were high 80 max vo2 adn even Ablett was above 60.Someone like Mooney was close to 50. Thus after years of testing speed and fitness plus wathing them play I had a better idea of what they could do on the park..
In the preseaon of 2003/2004 I changed training a lot. We prioritized Skills and tactical training and didn’t do specific running days as in the previous 2 preseaons. Running was done after Skills. One session was an aerobic bias , one was anaerobic and the Wednesday Run session was speed. But the push in the gym was still on and whilst being individualized, focussed on power and strength.I also employed Donna Rae Szalinzki to fine tune players with anaerboc needs on egros and had more funding and staff that year. Players were creeping up to 22/23/24 and starting to look like men. And play accordingly. Watching Ling. Steve Johnson and David Spriggs run that pre season was amazing. Unfortunately Johnson and Spriggs had accidents socially which meant their 2004 seasons were almost over. A pity because we went close in 2004. Awesome athletes.
The preseaon of 2005/2006 was a washout. A decision was made to only train once daily ( not mine!) and we crammed everything into one session and the review of 2006 demonstrated the inadequacies of that preparation. My hands were tied.
By that period and after a close call in the 2005 finals ( after a tough 2005) the players needed to be “topped” off. this happened in 2006/2007 pre-season and the finally the team got their reward.
So I started this bried history saying there is confusion in the fitness areas of AFL. Simply takes time to develop an athlete and AFL players have to run and jump and tackle repetitively. Pretty simple. They are not Sumo wrestlers or dustance runners.And if you rush development you can pay the price after. By 2004 or after 4 tears in teh system players were ready to win finals. Bot a flag.
Interesting that Decathlon in the 2000’s is really the trend that AFL fitness gurus whould examine. Add that to more Sports Specific Training & fitness related work. What trend is that or more so, what has changed in Decathlon in the last 10 years that leads me to that link?
Give me a buzz!
loris bertolacci 