I can’t say enough good things about Chris. He’s all heart and puts in even more hard work in the gym than anyone can imagine. And to say his efforts off the field pay off is an under statement…

Since this past football season we have been getting him ready with our combine prep program as he’s been getting some Pro looks.

Here is Chris’s private workout he did with his agents a few weeks ago;

Chris also has had pro day’s or football combines at Yale University’s “Pro” day as well as few other in the Northeast, with a BIG Time Private workout at Giants Stadium with The NY Football Giants earlier today.

Like I said Chris has been a long time Athlete of ours here at Optimal Performance and has become a great friend.

With his heart mindset and work effort , combined with his football skills – if he gets a shot in the pro’s, I know he’ll make some heads turn!

Good Luck Chris

JZ

Baseball, Lacrosse, Tennis, Softball, Golf, Track and Field… So many great sprig sports and they all have one thing in common (besides being played in the spring).

So what’s the main thing all these sports have in common?

A term we at OPTC call “Rotary Power” or the ability to swing a bat faster, throw a pitcher harder, shoot 90+, Drive a golf ball 300yards, or even run faster!

The common theme with most spring sports is that your need to have great ability to rotate your torso with great power and speed, while maintaining stability throughout the rest of your body.

The good thing is developing a strong and powerful core to enhance rotary power is pretty simple…

All you need is a solid block wall and a medicine ball!

What to do;

Simply stand in front of the block wall with med ball in hand and heave the ball at the wall in various positions.

Sounds simple right?

There is one thing to consider though – if you are like most athletes the thirst to lift, throw, and move heavy things is felt as a necessity as they think the heavier you can lift or throw the better the result. There is truth to that however, rate of speed and explosiveness is just as if not more important. What you want to do is choose a medicine ball that’s heavy enough to make your muscles to work, but the key to getting results that transfer into your sport, you want to be able to throw the med bal l as fast as possible while maintaining control.

Here is OPTC’s Rotary power training in action;

Now if you play a spring sport a or any sport that calls for rotational power – get yourself hammering a ball at a wall ASAP

Lata

JZ

PS – OPTC is now offering an unlimited group training package for 1 month, so you can try us out and let us prove to you that we are the best in sports performance enhancement training. Simply click the picture below and lock in your unlimited sports training month today!

To say the day was a success would be an understatement. We lucked out with (although somewhat windy early on) good weather and the turnout was great! We had Rockland County Football athletes representing Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South, Suffern, Nyack, Nanuet, and North Rockland, ranging from current 8th graders to High school juniors.

I really think that all the participants now have a great opportunity on their hands! They now know where they stand in terms of performance numbers, and can now laser in and focus their time on improving their weakest links.

The only thing left to do is get out and do it!!! The season is just around the corner.

I’m pleased to say that the day ran very smooth from start to finish!

Again, THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING OUT TO SUPPORT SUPPORT OUR FIRST OPTIMAL PERFORMANCE FOOTBALL COMBINE!!!

JZ

Ps – I almost forgot… to view the results of the day please visit www.opfootballcombine.com

I hit some clean drops, then a nice muscle clean and Tall clean complex, followed by a 3 position clean. I then hit my only real work set of the day…

a Clean for a set of 6 at roughly 50% of my projected final lift for August.

check it out…

not bad for my first real week back.

FYI – all my O-lift training will be some what light as I’m nursinga slightly strained (was torn) bracial radialis. I strained it almost 7 weeks ago, but has been feeling pretty good just taking slow for the next 6 weeks. then it will be go time.

More to come next week

JZ

PS – a bonus clip of a couple of our BIG BOYS playing with the Axle…

My email box is pouring with some questions. Instead of answering them all individually I am posting them all up here.

Be sure to check back as I will be updating this page every day with more questions regarding the combine.

Q: What is the process the kids go through at the event?

 

A: The day will go as follows; 

Check In  (register if walkups are taken)
Introduction and group placement

Dynamic Warmup by Optimal Performance Training staff

Testing Stations

Closing ceremony – awards to be presented to best athletes in each category, plus best overall team (if teams participate) will be awarded with the 1st “Optimal Combine Cup”

 

Q: What is the cost for the combine

 

A: Individual rate $20 per athlete / Group Rate $10 per athlete (minimum of 20)

 

There are the top questions I’m seeing. As more come in I’ll post them up on the blog as well as this email

 

you can access it here

 

Thank you and can’t wait to see you at the combine

Here is my first guest blog from collegue, friend, and owner of Better Athletic Development (located in Shelton CT.) Kevin Gendron

It’s a Q & A he recently posted in his email newsletter. It’s about the whole steroid /A-Rod & Stroid problem we are seeing in youth, college, and pro sports sports

Guest Blog;

Hey Coach, did you hear about A-Rod?

The answer is yeah,unfortunately i did.

      On February 9, 2009, Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003.  As any baseball fan would know, that period marked the start of his signing with the Texas Rangers, starting the longest contract in baseball history.  For days, all anyone saw when flipping through news stations or watching ESPN was ‘A-FRAUD ADMITS TO USING PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS’.  But what does a statement like that tell us?  What should we think about this kind of scandal?  In the search for opinions for comparison, I found that most people were extremely disappointed to find more PED use in a sport they love, but when I asked folks what substance he used, no one knew anything about the drugs, not even the names.  Everyone hid behind the scariest word in baseball history – STEROIDS.
      After doing a little digging, I found this quote: “Rodriguez reportedly tested positive for the banned substances Primobolan and testosterone in 2003″ -ABC News.  Testosterone is the human male sex hormone, which is made naturally by both genders but only in extremely low amounts in females, and when supplemented into the body is called a steroid.  It is responsible for causing secondary sex characteristics in males, production of sperm, hair growth, and increased muscular development.  Primobolan is a drug touted to stimulate production of testosterone.  Now testosterone is an anabolic steroid, anabolic meaning it stimulates growth of living tissue, which is why A-Rod was using it.  But again, what do steroids mean to us, our society, and our young athletes who are aspiring to be like their heroes?

      Last year, a movie came out which asked these types of questions, a movie called Bigger, Stronger, and Faster.  This Documentary, directed by and starring Christopher Bell, explains three brother’s struggle to find heroes, shows their battles with steroid use controversies, and the searches for information to help us better understand steroid scandals.  Bell visited politicians, medical experts, athletic trainers, professional athletes, and even gym rats, to find out the truth about steroids, their positive side effects, their negative side effects, and most of all, why we as Americans might be culturally pushed into using them.  The movie also talks about the misleading images of the supplement industry, and helps us see through some of the before and after photos.

In light of the A-Rod controversy, and in the quest for an entertaining way to educate our young athletes about steroids, I would fully recommend all of our athletes and their parents watch this amazing documentary!

Its reviews:
Bell’s documentary is an absolute must see for anyone taking part in any kind of debate about steroids. – Film Threat
This movie is remarkable in that it seems to be interested only in facts. – Chicago Sun-Times
Raucously funny and surprisingly insightful.- Los Angeles Times
Super Size Me on steroids! - Variety

Movie trailer:

http://www.biggerstrongerfastermovie.com/

 
Rated PG-13 Thematic material involving drugs, language, some sexual content and violent images.

I must say that this year is a bit different however. Different because I am actually dealing with a descent amount of football guys who are prepping for football combines.

The fun thing is I got the whole spectrum of football athletes this year   - Two professional hopefuls in Shawn Harris(Southern CT)  & Chenry Lewis (Rutgers/ Abilene Christian University). Shawn Recently completed a private Pro-day where he hit an unheard of 42″ vertical jump, While Chenry participated in Rutgers Pro- day last week where he also threw up some descent numbers.

Hopefully the made enough noise and the pro scout opened their eyes…In the mean time Chenry and Shawn are training hard every day as they prep for the Elite Combine coming up in May.

On the other side of the spectrum I have a soon to be High school upper classman and an 8th grader prepping for the National Underclassmen Combines coming up this spring as well. You may now these two as The Porcelli brothers! Vin who had a standout year as a sophomore will participate in this combine for the 2nd year in a row, while Guido is stepping up for the 1st time this year. I am sure I will report back to you with great results as these two have been at OPTC training their butts off getting ready for this thing.

I will keep you posted with their results.

In addition I have a special announcement coming your way later this week, so be sure to check back the blog frequently.

I will leave you with this – My special announcement will pertain to Combine training so check back!!!

 JZ

PS – Did you know we offer specialized training to all football athletes participating in combines or just getting ready for thier upcoming season? Check out details of our Optimal Combine Trianing Program here