What does Athletic Matrix training offer that my daughter doesn’t already get in her normal sport training?
Athletic Matrix provides the training that will improve athleticism. All athletes have four major areas that need to be developed in order to be successful:
Technical: This is sport-specific skill training. Dribbling, shooting, spiking, catching, and hitting are all examples of skills. Most athletes receive plenty of this type of training through their practices.
Tactical: This is sport-specific strategy and positioning. This training emphasizes where the athlete should be in varying situations, and what role they play in order to ensue success. Most athletes receive plenty of this type of training through their practices.
Psychological: This is the ability to focus on real-time sports performance while controlling emotions. Stress, excitement, fatigue, and fear all contribute to a very heightened emotional state during competitions. Psychological training ensures each athlete is able to focus these game-time energies to ensure optimal performance. Most athletes do not receive any of this type of training.
Athleticism: This single development area underlies all others. If you cannot run past a defender, all of the fancy dribbling in the world is only impressive during practice. Many players can shoot the lights out, but are they fast and agile enough to lose their defender? This quality is even more important when 90% of most games take place: without the ball. Whether defending, or sprinting to receive a pass, athleticism is what will define success. This is the area that Athletic Matrix has expertise developing.
Speed, agility and quickness, coupled with explosive power is what will allow your young athlete to play at the highest levels. The level she will ultimately achieve will then be determined by her love of the game, and not whether she is good enough to compete at that level.
Athletic Matrix provides a comprehensive training program that specifically targets the qualities so many young athletes lack: speed, agility, explosiveness, and balance. The system first corrects inefficient movement patterns, and then adds complexity and power training. Once each athlete is able to move powerfully and gracefully without a ball, only then will we add back in the sport-specific variable.
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How many sessions a week should I attend?
Optimally an athlete should focus on pure athleticism development two to three times per week. This is heavily dependant upon the amount of strength training required for each sport. Sports such as football require a very specific need to add muscle mass, where sports like soccer needs each player to be very strong, but only strong relative to their bodyweight. So the issue is whether the sport emphasizes absolute strength or relative strength. This is why a football training program, or a bodybuilding routine can actually hinder a soccer or volleyball player’s performance. Athletic Matrix suggests two training sessions for sports that require strength relative to bodyweight.
While the recommendation is two sessions per week, progress can be made on a single session per week. Each training session is very focused, and will ensure that the movement patterns are being ingrained. Perfect repetitions are expected, and the level of coaching provided ensures that the sessions are highly productive. Additionally, sample sessions are provided to each athlete if they decide to do “homework” on their own. This homework reinforces the training, but lacks the continual monitoring and feedback from an Athletic Matrix Certified Coach.
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Is their training my son should be doing in between sessions?
Between sessions, your son should be working on the other areas required for success: technical, tactical, and psychological. If additional athleticism training is desired, additional session can be scheduled, or the athlete can do “homework” as described above.
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I heard that the Athletic Matrix program is progressive; can you explain what that means?
Athletic Matrix makes the long-term development of your young athlete top priority. This isn’t some quick-hitter type program where we show you a few tricks and then disappear when plateaus are met.
Athletic Matrix’s system is based on first correcting all faulty movement patterns. Each coach is individually trained by our Director of Training, J.R. Haworth, and undergoes extensive movement analysis and correction training. That is why all athletes must first go through our 8-Session Movement Pattern Training prior to higher-level training.
The first eight weeks work is to introduce what is expected during the sessions, what level of effort is acceptable, and focuses on ingraining perfect movement patterns. Patterns taught include: linear deceleration, jumping and vertical deceleration, lateral deceleration, linear acceleration, lateral acceleration, top speed mechanics, and change of direction at various speeds and angles.
Once these basics are taught and understood by the athlete, power and complexity are added. Sport specific relative strength training is emphasized, and drills become more intense and more complex based upon the preparedness of the athlete. Depending on the age of the athlete, contrast training, pure strength, and plyometrics are prescribed. In this way, progress is assured year round.
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It seems like all of the best players in college rely on strength training in the weight room. What does Athletic Matrix recommend for strength training?
Speed and agility are the ability to overcome your own inertia. Therefore, for most sports relative strength is what is most important. Non-functional muscle mass is completely inappropriate for most sports that are not dominated by contact.
Therefore, Athletic Matrix focuses on maximal strength once the athlete is developmentally ready. Developmentally ready means that prior to any lifting, the athlete must have all of the underlying traits necessary for strength training: the ability to move your body through space, a very strong core, the emotional readiness to focus on the task at hand, etc.
This is why young athletes begin with bodyweight calisthenics, medicine ball work, and light skipping drills to prepare them for future strength work. Most young athletes cannot squat their own bodyweight 30 times, or do 10 push-ups, yet are pushed into wholly inappropriate routines on fancy machines. This is the current state of fitness training in most health clubs.
Athletic Matrix only prescribes the appropriate amount of strength training to improve performance where it counts: on the field.
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Is this training safe to do year-round?
Not only is this training safe to do year round, it is recommended. Brief layoffs to recharge mentally are encouraged, but maintaining a high level of fitness year round is what allows athletes to withstand the workloads of technical and tactical sessions. Also remember that progress comes through a continued dedication to a sound training program.
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Can I do this type of training while I’m in season?
Again, training is meant to be year round. Strength and speed are both muscular and neural traits, which cannot only be trained, but can also be detrained. If athleticism is a large contributor to success in your sport, then maintaining levels of speed, agility, and strength must happen throughout the season. Even Tiger Woods trains for athleticism three times per week.
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What type of results can I expect and when?
Depending on the level of athlete, results can be jaw-dropping. The closer the athlete is to an elite status, the smaller the gains will be incrementally.
Normally we recommend 24 sessions to really see noticeable results. During the first eight weeks you will see changes in the way an athlete moves. This may be awkward at first as new ranges of motion are achieved and the athlete learns to move at a much lower level. This helps lay the groundwork for the upcoming sessions.
The next 16 sessions are where the training is kicked up a notch. All expectations are set, a good base has been achieved, and during the next 16 sessions, a new level of performance can be expected.
During the summers, Athletic Matrix offers two and three day per week camps, either for 12 or 8 weeks respectively. During these 24 sessions most athletes can expect to lower their 40 yard dash times by 2 tenths of a second, add 2-6 inches on their vertical, and come into camp in the best shape of their lives. Many athletes who go year round once per week will sign-up for the 8 week intensive summer training because of the amazing training effect it provides.
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