April 21, 2013    Orange -  I Dare You

Traveling to an unfamiliar city recently, I recognized the familiar pangs of hunger. I located the local corner store to get a couple things. I scanned the racks of chips and snacks when my eye caught a flash of something beautiful.  There it was, it looked amazing and I grabbed it.  An orange, a dazzling fruit-in-the-bowl-on-a-magazine-cover looking orange.

“Something like this going to cost me right? Doesn’t matter I am buying this orange.”

Unsure of how to weigh it and have it priced and without the benefit of signs in a familiar language to rely upon, I brought the flaming orb to the register for appraisal.


The cost? 28 cents.  I was flabbergasted and went from amazement at this beautiful orange, to the financial shock of the low price, and a questions came to mind,   “Why do we buy junk food?” 

 “Why aren't Fruit & Veg at the checkout aisle instead of treats, at half the cost and twice the nutritional value?”

Don't get me wrong I love a chocolate treat, and have many favorites, but it is what it is, and should be considered a treat.  An orange is food! Food that will satisfy your hunger, food your body will be so thankful for in a nutrient aspect, and food that can taste great.

We have all been to the grocery store, or on the daily shuttle run, and the next time your little one asks for a treat at the counter maybe a trip to the produce area to choose a wonderful orange, a story book apple, or the largest strawberry possible, might just change the way the we view treats and food, not only for our kids, but for us big kids as well.

April 19, 2013  Pushups are Power – Not Punishment

Pushups are one of the great exercises where the person’s body weight is used as resistance to develop overall strength.  There are legendary stories about Bo Jackson and Hershel Walker using pushups rather than weights, and doing hundreds and hundreds of pushups daily, which can now be corroborated by searching You Tube, of course. 

At ALCAN we totally embrace using the Wonderful World of Pushups for our athletes’ strength development in a positive way.  We have games, challenges, and teamwork options to keep it fresh and exciting.  Yet we have seen in many generations of people, pushups are looked at negativity, and most often associated with punishment. Pushups are vilified in Hollywood, it seems in every sports or military movie, the disciplinarian uses pushups as punishment.  Coaches and Gym Teachers seem to make this dynamic exercise a part of their punishment on youth teams and PE class.  The result is that we have another generation of children who when asked to do pushups, their immediate reaction asks, “What did we do wrong”?  


We propose a fundamental shift, a movement if you will, to push away from Fitness as Punishment, and instead, glorify the Push Up!  Coaches, despite what you went through years ago, do not make kids do pushups unless the intention is positive.  In fact, please do not use any form of fitness as punishment.  In Europe, “Suicides”, the act of going line to line as a form of conditioning, are called “Idiots”.  Isn’t that great for the Psyche? “Okay kids lineup, and  lets do some Idiots”, however that might still be better than “Suicides”.  How about we change them to “Champions”? Or even “Warriors” if it needs to be a little more edgy, and let’s do them as a form of teamwork and conditioning.  How many kids will embrace doing fitness activities on their own time when it is called Suicide or being an Idiot? 

If the situation comes up where a youngster is deserving of a consequence, then take away something that really hurts, Time or Money.  Since most kids do not have the money to take away like a professional, take away free time. This will state that the action was not acceptable, but avoid a negative association with fitness as a punishment. We can save the reputation of the Wonderful Pushup.  It is up to the adults to make the change: parents, coaches, and teachers are in positions to influence a new generation, that embrace Fitness as rewarding and fun, and Pushups become the exercise of choice.



March 23, 2013 Chocolate Milk – Drink of Champions?

Several years ago while my team was preparing for a playoff game, the Denmark National Team was  preparing in the same facility for the World Championships.  Amongst the fruit and breakfast foods were several jugs of chocolate milk.  I scoffed at the notion that delicious chocolate milk would be considered fuel for the athlete.  However, after further investigation I learned that what some consider a treat, is actually an effective fuel for the body.  I made it part of my training diet ever since.

Since this time, many articles and reports have been conducted in regards to the benefits of chocolate milk (it still makes me smile, yes chocolate milk).  The big cow in all this came when the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism in 2006, proclaimed its findings and evidence to the advantages of chocolate milk as part of athlete’s fuel for the body.

Here is the skinny on chocolate milk in regards to athletic performance:

• It should be consumed immediately after a training session, practice, or game. If you are hockey player do not even take your skates off, just drink your milk, or recovery drink.
• Carbohydrates in milk help replace lost glycogen, which is needed for peak performance
• The protein can boost muscle growth and repair muscle damage to speed recovery after a workout.
  
• Sodium and potassium are needed to replenish electrolytes.

Of course there are also strikes against chocolate milk.  Naysayers site high sugar content, milk in general as unsuitable for humans, or in some cases it just seems too good to be true.

So we are aware of the Athletic Performance benefits, science has spoken.  Maybe we can look at it from a parent’s perspective in daily life.

• Imagine Your Childs face when you insist he or she have a glass of chocolate milk, maybe Mom or Dad jump into the “Cool Category”
• Coin Toss: would you rather have your child drink a serving of Chocolate Milk or Cola?  I know in a perfect world they should reach for a cold water, but when they don’t and in a position of choice, a milk product with vitamins and nutrients would be a great choice. (My daughter recently did her science project “What Cola Can Really Do”, let’s just say chocolate milk seems more appealing on my internal system)
• Negotiating at the store about a Treat?  Give in Often? How about Chocolate Milk, not a bad option that may make everyone happy.
• Have a hard time to get junior off Minecraft and the Vids, how about a little fitness with the knowledge that a delicious glass of Chocolate milk is waiting.
• Breakfast: can’t get anything into junior to start the day, and they are lethargic by 10 am, maybe a glass of chocolate milk might help the cause. Some would argue that the sugar in the morning is not good, (hmmm one might consider the cereals and pop tarts might be more) but what about the kids who eat nothing, certainly a serving of chocolate milk and an apple on the go, might partially fill the void
• Knowledge of the Importance of Fuel for the Body: maybe this simple gesture will stimulate conversation in the house on what is Fuel for the Body and work towards estblishing some healthy habits.

In summary, should we challenge years of studies and published research articles from Doctors, Universities, National team trainers from the U.S. and other countries who have spent many resources on the subject?  The product is available at no significant cost, is widely available, and many times it would just be replacing what your child is drinking now.  I realize it sounds too good to be true, but maybe we should look at it from a kids perspective and simply enjoy a thick, delicious, cold glass of chocolate milk.  What are we waiting for, more Science?


Feb 13, 2013 - Athletic Development in Children – When Should it Start?

This is the question we get from parents, and if we asked 100 people the question we may get a wide range of answers.  From our experience and education we have the following philosophy at ALCAN.

To be honest the development has already started when little junior or Betsy-Sue started running from sofa to sofa and around the coffee table.  Their motor development was in motion, some motoring faster than others.  There are many reasons for this including the reality of genetics.  Some youngsters are going to be blessed with speed, strength, an ear for music, a correlation to math, the gift for reading and writing, processing foreign languages quickly, or the ability to build.  Some kids bloom later than others as well, in many cultures this is encouraged.  In many European countries children are NOT encouraged to start reading until 7 years old.  In other cultures this may be seen as a travesty.  This is all good and no cause for concern.  The great thing about all these aspects of development, but especially in regards to Athletic Development, it can all be developed with good habits, techniques, and repetitions in a fun atmosphere.

One area that we like to focus on at ALCAN is the area of Speed and Strength, which is the foundation of our little athlete in the future.  In most sports these two factors alone will be a criteria and influence on future success, so the best thing to do is give the children a good foundation and correct habits and techniques in this area.  In our Rookies Program, the 6 & 7 year old kids develop these habits, just yell out at any time “hip pocket – eye socket” and you will see a breakout of kids whirling their open hands in perfect motion from the lower part of body in unison with their upper body. This is a great habit, and they will have it forever as part of their development.  Now throw in the Hilarious King Julian from Madagascar Movie and a “We’ve got to move it – move it” (add accent at your own discretion) and you will see flawless Push Ups, and other body weight resistance exercises that provide the developing athlete with a solid foundation for the next stage of development.

The group of athletes at the next stage, well we just call it ALCAN Developmental, because that is what it is from the ages of 8-13.  With reference to the Speed Training program, the focus is that they will have a foundation at this age for greater balance, core stability, strength, and fluidity, and it will lead to overall speed, agility, and quickness.  If you are wondering if the kids feel challenged just watch as we pull out the stopwatches and the kids try to beat their personal times.  “Coach just one more!”  this goes on at least 10 times, as we delay our snack time, day after day.

The foundation of strength development compliments the speed development.   At ALCAN, our youngsters are able to focus more on strength exercises and again build a foundation of great technique and baseline strength for the next phase of their development as they prepare to go through the natural teenage physiological and emotional development; puberty.  Just as important as the foundation, the young athletes are now at an age to learn about that wonderful machine they have to work with, namely their body, and how to best prepare it for the future athletic endeavors.   As mentioned the kids are blooming at their own individual rate.  Strength training for this age group utilizes the child's own body weight, along with medicine balls and resistance bands to promote balanced development and growth. 

At this point it is great to expose the kids to a variety of sports, and utilize their speed and strength techniques in various sports.   Of course there are always going to be a few youngsters who are so passionate about one sport, they cannot get enough, and we can respect and cultivate that.   However, experience and statistics tell us that this can sometimes lead to premature retirement from that sport, and sports all together.  At ALCAN we encourage the idea of choosing multiple sports to learn correct fundamentals and engage in repetitions, but we are flexible and respect the passions of others as well.

ALCAN Prospects are the group of young athletes between the ages of 14 – 17.  These athletes are now at an age where there will be more individual attention placed on their specific aspirations and goals.  Different body types, levels of athletic development, natural development, etc  are all factors on how the process and program to be established for each athlete.  That does not mean that every family needs to go out and hire a personal trainer for their kid.  However, there is a now a focus on some sort of success and one determining factor will be speed and strength.  The young athlete applies these habits and skills to pursue their chosen sports at a higher level.  For the ones that built a great foundation on habits and techniques during the developmental stage they will close the gap over the “naturals” that simply got away with being bigger or faster in earlier years due to a natural advantage.   We see this all too often that kids who scored all the goals, hit all the homers, made all the baskets, is no longer way above and better than everyone else.  Sometimes adults are even flabbergasted by this, “what happened to so and so” even though we are talking about a 14 year old kid. Usually the main factor is the rest simply caught up in speed and strength as they entered into the teenage years. If that child only focuses on the end result during the development years, whilst the others focused on their athletic foundation, they may be bypassed in their mid-teens because they lost the advantage they had at a young age.  Unfortunately this also results in a number of kids of who have talent in a sport, then become frustrated, and stop the sport altogether, when there is still a possibility to develop the speed and strength going forward.

As we can see there is a balance in development and a path of progression to follow.  This is another reason why having selections and All Stars at such a young age is sometimes counterproductive as we have no idea what will happen to these kids as they enter their mid-teens in their natural development.  Somehow in sports we have an idea that we need to separate the kids at a young age.  The better ones will get 5 days of training, with better equipped coaches, and have more resources provided.  In contrast, the others will get 2 days of training, and limited resources.  The gap between these two groups will start to emerge simply on the basis of hours of participation alone.   In other areas, such as school when a youngster has a shortcoming in a subject we want to close that gap to get that youngster caught up, or right up there with the others.  Maybe that means more attention to other styles of teaching, more reps of math pages, etc.  With that in mind, let’s give all kids the foundation for athletic development through fun applications of speed and strength.  Let’s expose kids to a number of different sports and see what direction their internal passion goes.  When we do this as adults, educators, coaches and parents, we clearly have the child’s best interest at heart, and now it is their trail to blaze.