In-season, Off-season? How are you training?

It's an interesting time of year... plenty of team sports are winding down at BCSS and others are starting up, the holiday-break seems like it's just around the corner (although it's still a few weeks away), and as usual our fitness and conditioning spaces are filled with students working hard.

Yesterday, our Junior and Senior Boys Football Programs began their off-season strength and conditioning workouts during the lunch-hour. A few weeks ago, our field event athletes started some weekly pre-season strength training sessions after school. It's especially amazing to see so many athletes working hard toward a goal that may very well be months away.

But if we're planning for the long-term with our strength training and fitness in mind, we should be thinking about the concepts that are related to long-term training and periodization. Athletes who break their training into specific cycles (marked by purpose, volume, intensity and other variables) over the course of a training year can benefit in many ways.

The concept of periodization is best understood as time-management for the specialized athlete who trains on a year-round basis. Is this you? If so, perhaps there's a lot to learn... 

Earlier this year, students in our Long Term Athlete Development and Sport Specific Fitness courses learned about concepts related to periodization and how to get started with long-term planning. If this interests you, you can check out our Smarter Athletes session on periodization concepts at StrongerBCSS.ca

If you'd like to chat one-on-one about periodization and a yearly training model for yourself, let me know! 

Happy training, 

DV

2015-16 Weekly Programming

Did you know that there is a place to just "drop-in" and train at BCSS at least once every day?

If you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to take a look at the 2015-16 program schedule below and start taking advantage of some of the great training facilities that BCSS has to offer!

Click on the image above to view a larger PDF of the weekly training schedule!

A new site is in the works...

StrongerBCSS.ca was created to act as a central hub for BCSS students looking for Smarter Athletes presentations, video resources, training programs and schedules. We are happy to report that the site is currently receiving a facelift with a few new features added to it. Among them: new social media connections, new video formats for presentation viewing, and an improved process for making a program request through our strength and conditioning department.

With the 2015/16 school year well-underway at BCSS and plenty of student athletes hoping to take advantage of opportunities to train, the timing for releasing a new Strength & Conditioning site couldn't be better.

We're hoping to have the site up and and running by early October and welcome your feedback. If there's something you'd like to see on the site, be sure to let me know!

In the meantime... Happy training!

DV

High Speed / Olympic Lifting Workshop for SSF & LTAD Students

Students in LTAD & SSF classes this year can sign-up for our upcoming High Speed / Olympic Lifting Workshop that is taking place during class on November 17th and 19th.

High speed lifting is one of the very best ways to train and improve the system our bodies use and rely on regularly to produce force rapidly. This pertains to maximal and sub-maximal sprinting, jumping, and any other explosive movement.

Students who sign up for the workshop will be introduced to safe and functional high-speed lifting techniques so that they can proceed with confidence when integrating these new exercises into their strength and conditioning routines.

To sign up for one of the sessions, students in LTAD and SSF sections must pre-register by completing a short registration form click here to complete the form.

The maximum number of participants permitted in each workshop is 20 students. So sign up early to ensure your space.

Note: This is an introductory workshop. If you are already a well-seasoned weight lifter with experience in high-speed lifting, you may not be interested in taking part. However, the Plyometrics Centre will be unavailable to any students that are not enrolled in the workshop on the scheduled dates.

For athletes, food is fuel and so much more.

It's easy for student athletes to find a variety of healthy options when it comes to meal planning.

Don't say that it's hard. It's not.

Finding them isn't the hard part... the hard part is learning about what those options are- and specifically, how to distinguish between excellent, good, satisfactory, poor, and terrible choices.

We don't just group nutrition choices into good and bad categories anymore. And athletes that are truly interested in reaching the next level when it comes to performance should recognize this. It's not enough to simply avoid junky food and crappy calories. You need to do more.

If you're getting mixed messages because of what you're seeing around you- allow me to apologize on behalf of the people that thought it would be okay to fill our vending machines with the items you see here... rest-assured, these are all in the poor and terrible categories when it comes to student athlete nutrition. Do better.

This week, our SSF and LTAD classes are integrating smart nutrition with their approach to being a student athlete. This involves meal planning, pre-, intra-, and post-exercise nutrition strategies, and for some of our athletes, sport supplementation.

Understanding that food is so much more than just fuel for athletes is the first step in recognizing its full importance. What we eat doesn't just affect our short-term physical performance, but also influences our rate of recovery, mental alertness, reactive ability, and more.

If you're interested in learning more about smart nutrition for athletes, talk to your P.E. or fitness class teacher about scheduling a Smarter Athletes presentation in your class!

Later this week, our "Nutrition for Athletes - Part One" presentation will also be available on www.StrongerBCSS.ca for download.

Happy training, and happy nourishing everyone.

D

Strength & Conditioning in 2014/15

Welcome back BCSS students!

If you are interested in taking your strength and conditioning training to the next level during the 2014/15 school year- there is good news for you- drop-in strength training sessions will start next week!

If you want to take a look at the drop-in training schedule for the 2014/15 school year, here it is!

Remember, there are always plenty of other opportunities to get a workout in as well! Stay tuned for information about after-school yoga and spin workouts!

For senior-level students, you may like to consider taking one of our SSF or LTAD classes next year! These are great ways to get your workout in for the day, and get a PE credit at the same time! Sweet deal.

Here's to another great year of stronger and smarter athletes at BCSS.

Happy training,