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The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

Filed under: Soccer Fitness by: Soccer

The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

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Home Page > Sports and Fitness > The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

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The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

By: The Bowling Coach

About the Author

For more bowling tips, including bowling rules and how to calculate your bowling score, visit The Bowling Coach.

(ArticlesBase SC #403027)

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

Learning the basics of bowling is never a difficult task. If one is eager to learn the basics of bowling, he can start by focusing on the selection of a ball the fits properly.

The first step in choosing the right bowling ball is determining if the ball feels right to the one who will use it. Many players opt to use the same ball whenever they bowl after they find they like. When they feel comfortable using a particular ball it affects their bowling performance. The weight of the ball must be considered as it has a great impact on the bowlers balance. The ball should not be too heavy for the bowler’s size. If the bowler does not have balance, the performance may be less than desired. This is why it is important to choose a ball that is right for the weight of the bowler.

The fit of the ball should be the primary concern in the selection of a ball. The ball should follow the configuration of the bowler’s hands. The holes’ sizes and the distances between them should be in accordance with the normal grip of the bowler and may vary depending on which grip he/she may use.

Inserting a good portion of the finger in the holes will allow a better grip of the ball and is why it is important that the finger fit comfortably in the holes. However, the holes should not be too big for the fingers. An improper fit causes a tendency for the grip to be loose or the fingers to slide when swinging the ball.

The bowling ball is an important consideration when learning the bowling basics. The ball should perfectly fit the fingers to have a better grip of the ball. Having a better grip allows a better release and enhances the performance.

When a person knows how to choose a ball that is right for him/her, then it is easier for him/her to perform the moves and strategies needed. Bowling will never be difficult as long as he/she knows the basics of bowling, and chooses the right ball.

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(ArticlesBase SC #403027)

The Bowling Coach -
About the Author:

For more bowling tips, including bowling rules and how to calculate your bowling score, visit The Bowling Coach.

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Article Tags:
bowling tips, bowling techniques, bowling technique, bowling rules, bowling score, history of bowling, bowling terms, bowling hook, spare bowling, bowling equipment, mental game of bowling, bowling glossary, choosing a bowling ball, bowling 4 step approac

Plyometrics – How Watered Down can it Get?

Filed under: Soccer Fitness by: Soccer

Almost without exception, every sport-performance training center and youth sporting association in North America both markets and incorporates some degree of plyometric conditioning into the routines of the athletes they manage. More often than not, the trainer or coach prescribes an unintelligible series of jumping exercises and can be seen either holding a clipboard and a stop watch as they count and record the number of jumps or foot contacts a young athlete makes within a certain period of time, or barking out commands to jump higher. Plyometric training has become such a catch-phrase in the vernacular of trainers and coaches that it is often marketed as a sole measure of distinction for a training facility or individual coach/trainer. Do you know how many sporting clubs, for instance, have told me that they would love to have their athletes train at my facility, but their Director of Coaching has a plyometric class that he/she hosts every week and thats all the conditioning they need?

Plyometric training has become watered down in North America to such a level that now even basic health clubs have introduced ‘plyometric jumps’ into their general group exercise classes as a means of achieving some measure of ‘high intensity’ training. Jumping and then abruptly stopping and holding a fixed position, jumping and then jumping again after a cursory pause or being taken through a series of jumping exercises without being taught proper execution of either the jumping or landing phases respectively are simply gross misappropriations of what plyometric training is or how it should be applied.

Originally called the ‘shock method’, this type of training is meant to increase the speed-strength aptitude of a given athlete (speed-strength is the ability to perform a quick movement which is either unloaded or against a minimal external resistance). A key ingredient to shock training is a short amortization phase, which is the time between the conclusion of the eccentric or braking phase of a jump or movement and the commencement of the concentric or acceleration phase (it is also often defined as the time from the beginning of the eccentric action to the beginning of the concentric action). Shock training is based on the creation of very quick eccentric and explosive actions during which stored elastic energy is released from the connective tissues housed within the series elastic components of a given muscle complex. Within the muscle complex, soft tissue is divided into a contractile system and a non-contractile system; the non-contractile system encompasses connective tissue including tendons, ligaments and capsules. This system subdivides again into the parallel elastic component, which includes fascia, and the series elastic component, which includes tendons. Ballistic stretching or fast, reactive motion has a greater impact in the series elastic component, thus its involvement in plyometric or shock training.

Of important note with respect to execution and prescription is that if the transfer from braking to acceleration takes longer than 0.2 seconds, than the activity would not fall under the parameters of shock or plyometric training. This is a crucial point considering that many trainers and coaches use ‘plyometric’ training to such an extreme level (i.e. increased number of reps and timed sets or decreased amount of rest between sets) that young athletes are simply not able to produce quick explosive and eccentric actions. Having said that, speed-strength is not being produced or improved. It is exceedingly decisive to remember that when training young athletes, the goal should not be to create as physically difficult a training session as possible. In fact, as with shock or plyometric training, the more physically challenging the exercise or training session is, the less you are actually improving the speed-strength capacity of the athlete – which is the reason you were offering plyometrics to begin with!

Shock or plyometric exercises encompass four phases:

Momentum Phase – the body is in motion due to the kinetic energy drawn from a prior action (such as stepping off of a box during a depth drop).

Contact Instant  the momentum phase is concluded due to contact with a surface (as in the landing after a jump or drop). The body is essentially restricted from moving further.

Amortization Phase  the stored kinetic energy manufactures a stretch reflex and subsequently an eccentric contraction followed by an explosive action.

Rebound Phase – elastic energy is released from connective tissue and an involuntary concentric contraction occurs due to the stretch reflex.

Shock training exercises can be divided into impact and non-impact varieties. With impact-based exercises, the rebound phase is inspired via contact with a surface while with non-impact exercises a recoil action is voluntarily performed. Shock training exercises can also be sub-divided into functional, non-functional and supplementary categories. Functional exercises are those which match a particular movement pattern and direction of motion for a given sport or action within a given sport, while non-functional exercises are more globally-based and do not necessarily work to improve a precise sporting action. Supplementary exercises can also be referred to as preparatory in that they aid in developing adequate muscular and connective tissue strength and movement aptitude.

A very concerning point to ponder when considering how wide spread the use of plyometric training has become in North America is that not every athlete needs or will benefit from plyometric training! Due to the stretch reflexes involved, it is certainly accurate to say that shock training has a positive impact on neuromuscular power production and a far less influence on basic muscular strength or hypertrophy. However, even when traditional western per iodized training methods are followed (which typically indicate power training as a final phase), shock exercises should not necessarily be assumed to categorically enhance the sporting prowess of every athlete.

Force = mass x acceleration. With basic resistance or weight training, the mass portion of the equation increases whereas with plyometric or shock training, the acceleration portion of the equation amplifies. More over, shock training exercises incorporate a low level of inertial loading while resistance training involves a high level of inertial loading (inertial loading refers to the action of moving a mass in a short period of time). Although moving a weighty load with a small amount of acceleration or an insubstantial load with a high degree of acceleration can attain the exact same force, the training effect is quite dissimilar. Lower inertia training (shock method) influences the neuromuscular and CNS while high inertia-based training (resistance exercises) directly target muscular strength and hypertrophy.

To determine the specific needs of a given athlete and from which training stimulus they will benefit most (i.e. shock or resistance) one must determine the strength deficit of that athlete. Strength deficit is defined as “the difference between maximum voluntary strength produced in a given action and absolute involuntary strength of which the athlete is capable in the same action.” The strength deficit shows what degree of the maximal strength potential is not used in a given exercise or action. A rudimentary example would be contrasting the height reached in a vertical jump starting from a fixed, knees flexed position (which shows maximum strength) versus one in which the start included a quick recoil phase (which shows absolute strength). If the difference between the two results is minimal (10 – 15%) then shock training to target the neuromuscular system is warranted and would be well received. If the difference is large (greater than 25%), than resistance training to increase strength and hypertrophy is necessary. Unfortunately, ignorant coaches and trainers continue to conduct plyometric classes and training sessions without first assessing their athletes needs. This blind practice serves to both limit potential performance and potentially lead to injury.

This is not to say that appropriate amounts of jump training would not aid in preparing young athletes for their respective sports – after all, jumping and landing are movements involved with virtually every sport. The key, however, is to teach proper elements of jumping and landing as skills with the intent of developing lower leg and hip strength/durability. Known as ‘America’s Youth Fitness Coach’, Brian Grasso spends all his time training young athletes, children with disabilities and those encumbered with body weight concerns.

He has authored two books on the subject and was recently featured in Newsweek magazine for his work in youth fitness and sports training. He has also been named as one of the ‘Top 100 Trainers in America’ by Men’s Health magazine. Brian is the Founder and CEO of the International Youth Conditioning Association and can be contacted through his website – www.DevelopingAthletics.com

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24

Agassi Brought Down By a Scud

Filed under: Soccer Fitness by: Soccer

It could be an Australian after all. The No1 seed Lleyton Hewitt may be reduced to a spectator, sitting in the stands watching his girlfriend Kim Clijsters outpace and outlast him for the second grand slam in a row. But his compatriot Mark Philippoussis rolls on, removing the favourite Andre Agassi in this tournament’s most absorbing match so far. Philippoussis now goes on to meet the German outsider Alexander Popp in the quarter-final.

The Aussie surfing addict, who starts every day he can with three or four hours out in the swell, is now looking at a possible semi-final against Tim Henman. He must now believe that, come Sunday, he could be rolling in on the big one.

Three hours and 12 minutes it took “the Scud” to dispose of Agassi over five sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. His victory proves there is a lot more to him than a surname crammed with so many surplus consonants that Carol Vorderman could base an entire series of Countdown on it. If nothing else, he demonstrated enormous reserves of will to come back and win after Agassi eased to a two sets to one lead. For much of the match the American, pumping those trademark double- handed backhands, played with the kind of assured, calm purpose that makes him the most compelling man to watch on the circuit.

“I’m the kind of guy that goes for risk, I play with instinct,” said Philippoussis afterwards. Yesterday, however, he played against type and declared himself “extremely happy with the way I concentrated throughout the match”.

He needed to. Agassi did not play badly at all. At times, though he is hardly the tallest man around, the way he stretched to reach and return Philippoussis’s serve, invariably arcing it back within half an inch of the line, took the breath away.

And for much of the middle period of the match it looked like only a matter of time before he would ease comfortably away to victory. But, as he observed wryly, being comfortable in the middle of a match is not what counts. “I need to be comfortable at the end,” he said.

Never mind patience, Philippoussis began as if he believed the only way to win was to blast Agassi out of contention immediately. When Concorde flew over during the course of the first set, there were rumours that the pilot might make a complaint because of the sonic boom emanating from Court No1 every time the Australian served. Philippoussis sent down a record 46 aces in all, a significant proportion of them howling past Agassi in that first set.

“When the first serve goes well it definitely makes life a lot easier,” Philippoussis said afterwards, suggesting he had mastered understatement along with the former champion.

Agassi, however, who Boris Becker reckons is the modern player with the most impenetrable poker face, did not look remotely perturbed at the little explosions of chalk at his feet or the tarpaulin rippling behind him. In the second and third sets he did precisely what he does best: returning from the baseline with metronomic timing; waiting, waiting, waiting for his opponent’s patience to snap.

At times Philippoussis’s did and the Australian risk-taker took chances he should have left alone. And before he had a chance to regroup Agassi had established that 2-1 lead. The poker player would never allow a flicker of a smile to be visible but he must have been grinning inside then.

But Philippoussis did not crumble as Agassi’s game- plan might have predicted. A player whose physique has let him down too often in the past, he has worked hard over the winter to strengthen his frame for the challenge of hammering down all those serves. And, he revealed, it was the pain of the preparation that drove him on through Agassi’s dominance.

“All I was telling myself was I’ve been working really hard with my fitness trainer Marcus in San Diego,” he said. “We’ve done some crazy drills where he’s nearly made me cry. I just thought back and said: ‘Think about what you’ve done to get here. Stay strong. All that work was for this.’ “

The personal psychology clearly worked. He took the fourth set with an ace that bounced a good five feet above Agassi’s now glistening pate. The fifth was the sort of ding-dong that comes when one of the best servers meets the master of the return, fortune swinging wildly from one end to the other, deuces arriving more frequently than buses down Wimbledon High Street, the tension enough to sap the strongest wills. When Philippoussis took the last two games and accepted Agassi’s gracious congratulations at the net, the Australian flags rippled in the stands. Now those obituaries to Antipodean sporting dominance we all long to write will have to wait a little longer.

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26

Samit Patel Weighed Down By Fitness Jibes After Losing England Place As He Commits to Tough Regime

Filed under: Soccer Fitness by: Soccer

If Samit Patel was under any illusions about the way his England career was heading after he was withdrawn from the one-day series in the Caribbean for failing fitness tests then Kevin Pietersen was only too happy to tell him his fortune.

“Unfit, fat and lazy,” was Pietersen’s blunt assessment as an exhausting winter neared its end, a summation that brought less criticism for Patel than Pietersen himself as he was castigated from afar for a destructive absence of team spirit.

As Patel prepared for another extra gym session at Trent Bridge in an attempt to appease the England hierarchy and make the squad for World Twenty20, he offered a different take on Pietersen’s criticisms. His words, far from being cruel, were something that he needed to hear.

“Kev was being honest,” he said. “If he rates you, he rates you; if he doesn’t, he doesn’t. He brought me into the squad, he picked me, he supported me and then he told me I had to get fitter. He told me the truth. Kev is a good role model. He ticks all the boxes. Maybe sometimes you need to hear some straight talking.”

The 24-year-old Patel’s considerable talent is backed with brazen self-belief; he is the sort of player that Pietersen respects. On -England’s one-day tour of India before Christmas, his left-arm slows were pulverized by Virender Sehwag and co, but he fielded athletically and played several inventive and confident innings, as much as it was possible to do in the lower-middle order with the overs running out.

He heard strictures about his fitness levels and classified them under irrelevancies that would not affect his progress. Then on tour with England Lions in New Zealand, he got a call from Geoff Miller, the chairman of selectors, and his world fell apart.

“The call came on the back of a hundred at Queenstown in the first Test. I was feeling pretty good about myself and my cricket. He told me that I wasn’t going to go because I wasn’t fit enough. I didn’t know what to say. I had to take it on the chin and move forward. I was a bit stunned.

“We came back to Christchurch to practise and Dave Parsons, the coach, came up to chat to me on the practice day before the second Test and asked if I was mentally in the right state. I said, ‘Yeah, I want to play cricket.’ It was not my cricket that was the problem, it was the fitness.”

His conversation now wavers between old Patel – “It’s just my body shape” – and the new enlightened Patel who is committed to greater levels of fitness. The new Patel is dominant in his conversation, quickly correcting any relapse into old habits, but if this improved version now talks impressively one wonders whether it yet inhabits his soul.

“With a figure like mine I probably get pointed at more than others,” he said. “I also sweat a lot. It’s partly a perception. I am fit to play cricket, but the fitter you are the better you can perform and I can’t put it off any longer. It is one thing to be left out because of poor form but to be left out because of fitness is unacceptable. I was very disappointed in myself. I can’t blame anyone else.”

It will not be easy. “I have been trying to stay off the carbs at night and eat just three times a day.” Only three meals a day? How many did he used to eat? “I used to snack a bit. I think the crisps were a temptation but I am trying to cut them out. It’s going pretty well at the moment.”

Samit Patel should not be regarded as unambitious. Whether he has been misguided is a different matter. The Patels are a committed cricketing family. His brother, Akhil, who has moved across the Midlands from Deryshire to join him at Nottinghamshire, now does gym sessions with him, and will benefit just as much. His parents, Ron and Sejal, independently followed him throughout an exhausting India one-day series, spent endless hours awaiting flight connections, and were briefly stranded in Guwahati when the tour was abandoned because of the Mumbai terrorism attack. He will not be short of strong advice.

Mum is drastically cutting the amount of oil used in a traditional Indian diet. Ron, lithe and hyperactive, is a useful role model. Patel observed: “I know all about 7am gym sessions these days, but Dad gets up at half past four so I suppose I am still getting a lie-in. I realize it is an attitude thing with me and I have to put in the work, but it’s going to take some time.”

Kevin Paxton, Nottinghamshire’s fitness trainer, encapsulates the challenge ahead. “Samit will work all day on skills. We do a lot of high-intensity fielding sessions and he enjoys those too. He never wants to stop. The fitness work does not come naturally to him but these days you don’t see many cricketers who don’t work hard on their fitness. If we improve his fitness he will have the capacity to play longer innings, bowl after a long innings too, and concentrate more easily in the field. He is capable of meeting his targets, but a lot of it is down to him.”

At Chelmsford they were smiling about how Patel has already fallen off a treadmill in pre-season as presumably the ECB’s targets briefly became too much. But he remains undaunted. If confidence was calorific, he would never get the weight off.

“There is plenty of time for World Twenty20,” he said. “My aim is not to miss any cricket. My aim is to play for England all summer, definitely in the one-day game, and then if I get enough runs in four-day cricket, who knows? I am definitely not ruling anything out. I want to change my attitude and I want people to take notice.”

Guardian News & Media 2008
Published: 4/16/2009

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Soccer Fitness 101

The Basics of Bowling: it All Boils Down to Ball Fitting

Plyometrics – How Watered Down can it Get?

Agassi Brought Down By a Scud

Samit Patel Weighed Down By Fitness Jibes After Losing England Place As He Commits to Tough Regime

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