Behind the Scenes: Tide Women?s Basketball Day 2
4/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
In the second of a four-day series designed to get a glimpse behind the scenes of the Crimson Tide women's basketball program, RollTide.com takes a look at Tuesday's weight-training session. Today the Tide players undergo a series of lifts designed to increase power and explosiveness. Strength and conditioning coach Michelle Diltz walks through Tuesday's workout below...
Tuesday ?? April 24 (Power Day)
"We start off with an Olympic lift, because you always want to start the workout with your power. That helps prevent fatiguing or injuring the athlete towards the end of the workout, so I always start with an Olympic lift that focuses on developing power and explosiveness, something that would be similar to jumping or a plyometric exercise.
"The main focus of this workout is power. This makes us focus on those Olympic lifts and we are more interested in power than speed or dynamic movement, they are going to be lifting for power. After the Olympic movements, we go into band walks, which are bands connected to their legs while they get into their defensive stances and shuffle. We are really working on those first steps to increase their lateral movement and explosiveness.
"Also on Tuesdays, we have an arm circuit with high reps and endurance. We are getting a fitness/strength base with an upper-body circuit. It is tiring and exhausting, but afterwards, the girls feel great. They can actually feel themselves getting stronger and they have a little muscle pump and they can all think they have great arms and show off their guns.
"Then we end with the core workout, with the more traditional core work like crunches or physio-ball. Core work also includes the lower back work as well to work on the whole trunk."
The workout: details and instructions of lift can be found at www.exrx.com
A. Power Clean ?? develops explosiveness and power ?? 1 repetition max
B. Band Walks ?? strengthens hips and legs and lateral quickness
C. Upper-body circuit ?? did as many repetitions as possible in 25 seconds, twice each
1. Bench ?? chest strength exercise
2. Low Row ?? upper back and shoulders
3. Incline bench ?? chest strength
4. Hi Row ?? lats
5. Shoulder press ?? upper shoulders
6. Seated Row ?? upper back and shoulders
7. Bar Curl ?? biceps
8. Skull Crushers ?? triceps
Diltz's thoughts on Tuesday's workout:
"We maxed out on the power cleans today to see how much they could lift once, so it was a true maximum. Everyone went up at least 5-10 pounds on their power cleans from the fall, so I think that gave everyone a positive feeling about how far we have come since the fall."
Highlights of Tuesday:
"Everybody went up on their power cleans today so that was great. They came in ready to lift and lift hard, and that is always a positive. They actually wanted to keep going up, but we stayed where we were for a couple of reasons. One, we wanted to just establish a maximum that we can build on for the summer and two, we wanted to end our workout on a positive note, rather than going up till we couldn't get any more and ending with a failure to lift a certain weight. It was a satisfying moment for everyone to have seen improvement.
"Nathalie lifted the most with power cleans, doing 165 pounds. She really worked hard today and throughout the spring. Nikki went up nearly 20 pounds from where she was in the fall, so that was great for her. Both of those were due to focus and determination and gaining some confidence in the weight room."
After a day off on Wednesday, RollTide.com takes another look in the weight room at Thursday's workout, designed around the use of more Olympic lifts.
