Friday, August 31, 2007

The Contender SPARQ Training Session






Monday, August 27, 2007

National Powers in 'Herbstreit'

TOM GROESCHEN


ESPN and Kirk Herbstreit will be in Cincinnati next weekend. All told, seven of the USA Today Super 25 football teams also will be in Herbstreit's football extravaganza.

It's the third annual Burger King Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge, an event that longtime recruiting analyst Tom Lemming has called "by far, the best high school event ever staged."

The marquee game pits St. Xavier, rated No. 4 nationally by USA Today, against No. 5 DeMatha on ESPN Sunday (noon) at Nippert Stadium.


"The St. X-DeMatha game really jumps out at me," Herbstreit said in a recent interview. "The Elder-Independence game, that one really jumps out at me too."

Charlotte (N.C.) Independence is the highest-rated team here, No. 3 in the USA Today poll. Independence carries a 108-game winning streak into its game with two-time Ohio champion Elder at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at UC.

The Herbstreit games are Sept. 1-2, with seven games in Cincinnati and four in Canton.

Herbstreit helped start the event in 2005, headlined by Colerain vs. Tyler (Texas) Lee at Columbus Crew Stadium. The Challenge grew to nine games in 2006, but after losing nearly $200,000, Herbstreit acknowledged that the event almost went under.

Chicago-based Intersport marketing helped pay down the debt and also enlisted Burger King as title sponsor.

"The event is on much better footing this year," Herbstreit said. "Hopefully we can do this for years."

Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback and now an ESPN "College GameDay" analyst, hopes to be in Cincinnati for the second day of his event.

"I've got 'GameDay' at Virginia Tech on the first (Saturday), then a charter to the Tennessee-Cal game that night, then hopefully take a red-eye back to be in Cincinnati for those games on Sunday," Herbstreit said.

The schedule:

Saturday at UC : 11:30 a.m. - La Salle vs. Indianapolis Cathedral; 2:15 p.m. - Colerain (No. 23 USA Today) vs. Hoover, Ala.; 5 p.m. - Moeller vs.

Mission Viejo, Calif.; 7:45 p.m. - Elder vs. Charlotte Independence (No. 3 USAT)

Saturday at Canton Fawcett Stadium: 11:30 a.m. - Grove City vs. Buford, Ga.; 2:15 p.m. - Cleveland Glenville vs. Long Beach (Calif.) Poly (No. 11 USAT); 5 p.m. - Youngstown Mooney (No. 25 USAT) vs. Gateway, Pa. (No. 10 USAT); 7:45 p.m. - Canton McKinley vs. Tulsa (Okla.) Union

Sunday at UC: Noon - St. Xavier (No. 4 USAT) vs.

DeMatha, Md. (No. 5 USAT); 3 p.m. - Clayton Northmont vs. Pittsburgh Central Catholic; 6 p.m. - Trotwood-Madison vs. Highlands

After the St. X-DeMatha game on ESPN, the Northmont-Pittsburgh Central Catholic game will be on ESPNU.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Words of Wisdom from Florida Gators

Friday, August 10, 2007

Training Volume vs. Training Frequency

What kind of overload causes the greatest training gains? Is it better to do more exercises two days a week or fewer exercises three days a week? Canadian researchers found that training volume was more important than workout frequency in developing musle mass and strength in beginning weight trainers. Subjects did the same number of exercises per week (exercises, sets and reps), but one group did them in two workouts per week, while the other group did them in three. Both groups increased in muscle mass, squat strength and bench press strength with training, but the number of workouts per week did not affect the results. This study used untrained subjects, so the results may not apply to trained bodybuilders or weight-trained athletes. (Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 21: 204-207, 2007)

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Heat Stress Bulletin

Whether it is the air pollution or simply part of a 5 or 10,000 year cycle is unknown, but Earth is definitely getting hotter. We humans still have the same old defense systems against heat illness: raise skin temperature by raising skin blood flow; start sweating sooner; and produce more sweat. However, it takes three things for these systems to work:

1. Time for conditioning
2. Water / Hydration
3. Ability to evaporate sweat

TIME
Even an athlete in training needs time to get used to working out in the heat. It may take him only 3 to 5 days, working out for two, to at most, four hours a day in the heat (more hours won’t help, but will increase the risk). Someone out of condition may need 5 to 7 days to reach the same degree of “heat acclimatization.”

WATER
The hotter the air AND the harder the training (i.e., the more calories required for the workout), the more body water will be lost as sweat. Loss of a quart (2 lbs.) per hour is routine; losses of 2 quarts (4 lbs.) or more per hour have been measured. Note, an average man only has about 5 quarts of blood to: 1) carry oxygen to the working muscles; 2) carry heat out to the skin; and 3) provide a large part of the water lost as sweat. So, it is all too easy for the body to run low on its “radiator fluid” and overheat. Heat exhaustion collapse can occur in less than one hour; heat acclimatization and a high water intake are the two key solutions to avoid the heat illness.

These guidelines, and the following common sense suggestions, should help insure your team against heat illness problems early in the season:

1. Reduce the amount of body surface covered by clothing, particularly by impermeable plastic protective pads.

2. Schedule hard workouts for the cooler times of day.

3. Eliminate (minimize) alcoholic drinks for 24 hours before workouts in the heat.

4. Check body weight pre and post activity daily during very hot weather to be sure enough water is being taken during activity (pre and post activity weight should, ideally, be unchanged) and that there is no cumulative dehydration (day to day weight loss, if any, should not be water loss).

HYDRATION

To calculate your body’s water needs, either use .5 oz fluid per pound of body weight (bw). Or divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to find your kilograms body weight. Then multiply it by 49: to convert ml to oz divide by 30.

Example:
200 lb. Male needs:

16 oz cups X 9
12 oz cups X 12

Step 1: 200 / 2.2 = 90.0 kg

Step 2: 90.0 x 49 ml = 4454 ml

Step 3: 4454 / 30 = 148 oz

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Friday, August 3, 2007

St. Xavier Tops National Poll

BY TOM GROESCHEN

St. Xavier will be rated No. 1 nationally in the preseason PrepNation.com and Rise magazine football polls, the polls' ratings editor said today.

Jamie DeMoney compiles the polls, with the PrepNation.com poll officially called the National Prep Poll. The NPP has been compiled weekly since 1987, making it the nation's second-oldest weekly high school sports ratings. The USA Today national ratings began in 1982.

"I can't give you the full list yet, but I can tell you that St. X will be preseason No. 1 in my poll," DeMoney said in an e-mail to The Enquirer Tuesday. "Colerain will probably start the year ranked between No. 15-20 nationally."

DeMoney said the full list will be released at PrepNation.com Monday morning, and also in the Rise magazine August/September issue.

He said he bases St. Xavier's rating on the fact that the Bombers return 15 regulars and will play another strong schedule, including national power DeMatha (Md.) in the Burger King Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge on Sept. 2 at the University of Cincinnati.

St. Xavier, the Ohio Division I state champion in 2005 and a regional finalist in 2006, returns several standouts, including running back Darius Ashley and linebacker Fred Craig. Craig committed to Stanford over the weekend, while Ashley is mulling Louisville, Virginia, Illinois and others.

When told of the No. 1 rating, St. Xavier coach Steve Specht said it is a tribute to past St. X teams.

"This year's team hasn't done anything yet," Specht said. "It's an honor, but it's a credit to the program (former coach) Steve Rasso built here and all the coaches and kids who have been involved."

The USA Today ratings come out around Aug. 25, poll editor Chris Lawlor said.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007