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The Athlete Academy

Personalized Programming to Help our Clients Perform ON and OFF of the field

Cody Revel

Your Shoes are INJURING You!

​Any time that you’re elevating a heel like you would in high heels, or like you would do in running shoes, you’re creating compensational patterns for your body that often leads to anterior, or lateral knee pain, often labled as patellofemoral inflamation or patellofemoral pain.

The Anatomy…

For my anatomy nerds you’ll enjoy this section, if you’re not big on anatomy feel free to skip over this.

When you elevate your heel, you’re eliminating your bodies natural ankle motions, specifically dorsi-flexion of the ankle (think of pulling your toe upwards). 

​Ankle dorsi-flexion increases the propusilve force in elite sprinters, so it’s really not something you want to detrain!

​​​Whenever a joint is not acting like it’s supposed to, another joint has to compensate for what was lost. 

It could be that when you’re squatting, or running, since your body is lacking the ability to dorsi-flex to full motion, your feet begin to turn outwards, creating an internal rotation at the knee joint, placing your knees into a valgus position that has been found to increase the liklihood of major knee injuries like ACL tears.

Losing any range of motion at your ankle will alter your whole lower body alignment, even influcing the movements of the lower lumbo-pelvic region, making the spine more mobile (curved spine), which ultimately decreases the ability to produce maximal force.

​Stiffness is essential in all force production

​​Ankle Braces and Taping

​​For all of the same reasons above, we do not believe in over-using ankle braces and or ankle taping during play. Obviously if you have an injury, it’s imperative that you brace and tape your ankle so that you don’t reinjure the weak and damaged tendons/ligaments, at least until you are able to return the injuried limb to its previous mobility and strength.

​Summary

​Elevated heels, like in running shoes and heels in women, make us more quad dominant and put our bodies in less than optimal positions during sports and training. These deficiencies commonly lead to a variety of sports related and non-sports related injuries, i.e., ankle sprains, patellofemoral inflamation, the over diagnosing Osgood Schlatters, hamstring pulls, hip impingments and other similar injuries.

​Practical Setting

​In all athletes that are training, especially if you’re training as intense as we are, invest in good TRAINING shoes! All of your major brands make shoes that are good for agility, cutting, and sprinting, and it’s usually labeled on the box. ​(The Local NIke Outlet has them for a great price!)

Author Information

Cody Revel, CSCS

Owner & Founder of The Athlete Academy

Sports Performance Specialst & Speed Specialist

Info@AthleteAcademyMD.com

Running shoes are NOT for Agility!

The Importance of Habits in Successful Athletes

It was a bit before 6:30am one Monday morning, right before we were to lift our Salisbury University Field Hockey Team, when I noticed a few Field Hockey Athletes that had looked to have been there for at least 30 minutes practicing on their stick work.

A few of them were dripping in sweat and breathing heavy, while others seemed to just be “going through the motions,” they seemed like they were just there because everyone else was.

This was only my 2nd week working with the team so I assumed that this was a mandatory pre-lift ritual, so I brushed it off and went into the weight room to go about my day.

After the lift I spoke with the Head Strength Coach about what I had seen. I asked him if it was normal for teams to come in early to practice before a lift.

He smiled and said, “If they want to win a Championship, then yes.” He went on to mention that his job was much more then just making them stronger, faster and more injury resilient in the weight room.

He had a much more meaningful job then just that.

His job was to mentor, teach and instill within his athletes the key characteristics to be successful in life, not just sport.

The key characteristic that I had walked into to see was the development of daily habits.

During our conversation, he noted that the goal was not to make the pre-session stick work training mandatory, rather, it was about them creating their own standards and their own habits to be great.

Setting Standards and Habits

A few weeks before I started with the team there was a meeting that included setting their own standards and goals for the season.

Once their goals were decided on, the team decided on what their standards to achieve these goals would be. They decided on what habits should be executed, and measured daily, to successfully bring them closer to their goals.

They set their own standards on sleep time, nutrition, water consumption, mindset, and practice time.

Once the standards were developed, their strength coach dropped a bug into one of his captains ear’s noting that they need to find a way to make it easy for the athletes to get their 30 minutes of stick work in a day (mind you this was out-of-season, so it was all to be done on their own).

The captain then ran with the idea and began to show up 15 minutes early before lifts to practice.

Then she would go on to invite a few girls to join her.

Then a few girls would just join out of fear of being left out.

Then it became a staple in their culture.

The team felt that if you didn’t show up 30 minutes before for extra work then you weren’t focused on the teams goals.

This 30 minutes of extra work became a habit for the team that all players felt was mandatory, although it was always voluntary.

Some athletes resented waking up 30 minutes earlier for practice, but over-time you noticed it became easier.

What started off as 10 minutes early turned to 15, and then 30, then 45.

Overtime, the athletes not only began to build the habits to be successful in themselves, but they even spread the habits to those around them.

3 Ways Coaches and Parents can Help their Athletes Develop Successful Habits

1. Start by setting clear goals. Once the goals are set, ask the athletes how they can obtain these goals. What are the right stepping stones to achieve their goals? And from there, what habits can they embark on daily (and measure daily) to achieve their goals?

2. Hold athletes accountable but still allow for failure. Not every athlete will “buy-in” to the habits that are set, and that’s okay, that’s what we want. As a Coach, or parent, you shouldn’t step in and scold the ones that are resistant. Instead, have a talk with the captains or the more dedicated. Explain that as a leader it is their responsibility to ensure that their whole team is on the same page. Allow them to problem solve the situation so that they can grow as a leader.

3. Preach a “character first, athlete second mindset.” What this means is as Coaches our goal is to develop the persons character first, so they may be successful in all avenues of life, and the athlete second. It’s much bigger then wins and loses, it’s about developing successful adults one day.

3 Ways Athletes can Develop Successful Habits

1. Set clear goals and define how you will achieve them. Once you know how you can achieve those goals, measure them daily.

2. Talk to successful people, or study successful people, on what daily habits they embarked on to be successful.

3. Self-reflect often! Look at yourself in the mirror and ask, “am I doing all I can every day to be even just 1% better each day?” If no, challenge yourself more. If yes, challenge yourself even more.

5 Habits That we Have Found in Successful Athletes

1. They never miss a training session

2. They train year around, in-season, out-of-season, or injured. They NEVER allow themselves to take steps backwards, only forward every single day.

3. They take ownership of their training. (They contact us directly for a make-up if they must miss)

4. They take their eating and sleeping just as important as their training and practicing.

5. They give 100% in everything. School, training, games, practice, etc. Effort is not something you turn “on” or “off” as you desire. Effort is something that you give 100% of the time in EVERYTHING that you do.

 

Other articles you may find interesting..

5 Characteristics of All Successful Athletes

If Kobe Bryant Could Teach our Youth 1 Lesson of Today

If Kobe Bryant Could Teach our Youth Just One Lesson Today

It’s obvious that Kobe Bryant was more than a basketball player for many. Kobe was the man. Kobe was the defensive Doberman. Kobe was the Black Mamba. Kobe was an icon.

Kobe was a legend that many aspired to be like.

But aspirations weren’t simply because of Kobe’s basketball talents.

People aspired to be like Kobe for his insane, incomparable, work ethic.

Kobe showed the world that being the best athlete in the world is not God given; it’s only earned through astronomical like work-ethic.

That astronomical like work-ethic is was what we now call the “Mamba Mentality.”

Everyone aspired to develop the Mamba Mentality, but very few would ever achieve the level of mental toughness that Kobe had.

As many of you probably know by now, Kobe, and others, were on his personal helicopter that went down earlier this week, and the man that we all knew to be invincible is now gone.

While many people have different ways to mourn the loss of such a great father (in Kobe’s words, “girl-dad,” husband, and legend, I decided to write this blog as an acknowledgement, a celebration of life, and a simple THANK YOU for Kobe Bryant’s impact that he’s made on many people of this world over his 41 young years.

No matter what cloth you were cut from, every person in the world felt the loss of not only a basketball superstar but a man that set the tone for greatness in all aspects of life.

 

What our Youth Can Learn from Kobe

If I could choose only one lesson from Kobe Bryant to teach our youth of today, I would undoubtedly choose the importance and the value of the PROCESS, not the outcome.

What is probably my favorite quote from Kobe Bryant comes during his number retiring ceremony:

“Those times when you get up early and you work hard. Those times you stay up late and you work hard. Those times when you don’t feel like working. You’re too tired. You don’t want to push yourself, but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream.” – Kobe Bryant

Oftentimes, our youth are fixated on the outcome and less on the process.

You see it everywhere today, in schools, in sports organizations, and at home.

Students are doing work for a letter grade, not for learning.

Young athletes are playing sports for trophies and championships, not for fun or development.

Young athletes play numerous games but practice infrequently.

It seems that in every avenue of life, we’re praising the importance of the outcome and failing to emphasize the importance of the process.

 

The School System…

In modern schools, students are disciplined with poor letter grades for not answering questions with 100% accuracy.

Students are not encouraged to fail; rather, they are labeled by a letter, which indicates their current level of success.

Alternatively, education should emphasize the process of learning. Our system should be complex and full of learning.

It should be filled with teachable moments that encourage learning through failure.

Instead, our educational system uses an outcome driven, five-letter grading system, that is simple and typically demoralizing for students.

In the most simplistic picture, good grades seem to reward those with natural knowledge (natural talents), and stigmatize/discourage those who have to work a bit harder to comprehend a subject in order to be “successful,” according to our current five-letter grading system.

All of which, subconsciously, may be teaching our students to focus less on the process and more on the outcome.

 

Youth Sports Organizations

Our youth sports organizations have been corrupted by the “Must Win” mentality by parents and coaches. They have made the “Must Win” mentality the primary, and only, indicator for success, pushing us further away from the importance of having a process driven mindset.

Why is this an issue?

Well, when an athlete’s travel ball team doesn’t win a championship, or when an athlete doesn’t receive the playing time that they think they deserve, they then jump ship to another team because the other team was “unfair” to them.

But what lesson is that teaching our youth?

It’s teaching them that when life gets hard, or when life doesn’t give you exactly what you desire, you give up and move somewhere else that does, and everything will be okay.

Doesn’t that sound like quite the opposite of being focused on the process?

This is why our youth are now being labeled “entitled.”

And reality check: it’s NOT their fault.

It’s the fault of the parents and coaches that allow it.

 

Naturally Gifted Vs Developing Athletes

Our “naturally gifted” athletes are proclaimed by parents and coaches as the “next big thing” or being “league bound” at the youngest of ages.

These athletes are not praised because of their work ethic; they are not being praised on the process that brought them to their current skill level; rather, they’ve been praised for their natural abilities.

Dr. Xing conducted a study in 2018 which was published in the journal “Frontier Psychology.” Xing’s research explored the differential effects of ability and effort praise in an attempt to account for the etiology of self-serving attribution and self-handicapping behaviors.

The results showed that ability praise led children to use self-serving failure attribution in addition to claimed and behavioral self-handicapping and to achieve less improvement on post-failure tests.

While research is great, sometimes it’s not always practical.

So, if you want practical, next time you’re at the ball field, don’t talk; just watch and listen.

Watch how the coaches interact with the “gifted” athletes, and watch how they interact with the athletes that are still developing.

Unintentionally, you’ll find that each athlete is coached the same: outcome driven. It’s not about getting better that day; it’s about throwing that fast ball absolutely perfect or kicking that soccer ball absolutely perfect. Nothing is mentioned about the process; rather, success is indicated by the outcome.

We are measuring success on outcomes, never acknowledging the growth from the process.

The number of strikeouts.

The number of baskets.

A win or a lose.

Our success is measured based on perfect execution instead of the process. 

 

80% Play 20% Practice 

For those of you that know me, you know I’m big on facts and research, but I’ll be honest here. There are not any facts to be included within this next section.

Alternatively, I will present anecdotal evidence in the form of my observations and experiences over the past seven years and personal findings gathered by talking to other youth performance professionals. Although the information presented in the forthcoming paragraphs within this section may not be considered factual or evidence based, I believe that you’ll find what I present to be quite accurate.

Today, kids play roughly 80% of the time and practice the other 20%. They go from tournament to tournament, playing for different travel ball teams, school teams and recreational teams, all aspiring to win a trophy because that’s what success looks like, right?

Although they may be practicing at least 20% of their time, what kind of quality do you think the 20% is?

What kind of effort do you think they are giving in practice?

Probably not 100% because practice is not as fun as a game, so why would they waste their energy on the small minority, 20%?

The mindset here is if the athlete plays more, they become better, right?

Well, I think that’s wrong.

I believe that deliberate practice is where you become better at your craft.

“Film Study is all about detail. From a young age-a very young age- I devoured film and watched everything I could get my hands on….The biggest element that changed over time, however, was I went from watching what was there to watching for what was missing and should have been there. I went from watching what happened to what could have and should have happened. Film study eventually became imagining alternatives, counters, options, in addition to the finite details of why some actions work and others don’t work.” – Kobe Bryant

There was a study conducted around 1996 that analyzed total practice time compared to total tournament time and compared the relevance it had on player skill level. The study concluded that the players at the most elite levels of chess completed nearly 5x more hours of deliberate practice then those of lower skill ratings.

“Cumulative hours of serious study alone, arguably the best index of cumulative deliberate practice in chess, was the single most important predictor of a player’s current chess rating among a set of activities considered by experts to be relevant to chess skill (Charness et al., 1996)”

While this study was established with Chess players, I believe that it relates to all other crafts. With that, we should be striving for the reverse, 80% practice and 20% play.

 

3 Ways Coaches Can Emphasize the Process More than the Outcome

  1. At the start of each season, hold a player only and parent only meeting (two separate meetings) discussing the importance of long-term development, and set your athlete and parent standards. The standards should be process driven.
  2. Praise improvement (even the slightest bit)instead of outcomes. Improving by just 1% each day is a great mantra to go by. Incremental Improvements.
  3. Make deliberate practice mandatory. If you don’t practice, you don’t play.

 

3 Ways Parents Can Emphasize the Process More than the Outcome

  1. After a game, ask open ended questions to generate a conversation rather than having a lecture with your athlete. After games as questions like the following, “did you have fun,” “what did you learn,” “are you happy with the outcome?” “What do you think that you can do, or what will you do to create your desired outcome?”
  2. Encourage your athlete to not only fail, but to analyze their failures concerning how they can improve. Failure should be viewed as an opportunity to grow.
  3. Don’t step in when your athlete is struggling. If your athlete isn’t receiving playing time, allow them to analyze why. Often times it’s because they’re not the better player, so encourage them to decide how they want to handle the situation.

 

3 Ways Athletes Can Emphasize the Process More than the Outcome

  1. Study all game film, including wins and losses
  2. Self-evaluate daily. Ask yourself, what can I do to be a better teammate? Introspection is essential to personal development.
  3. Understand that outcomes occur from individual moments. A desired outcome comes from a series of small moments and winning these moments will bring you to the desired outcome.

 

Final Thoughts

Involvement in youth sports, statistically, has been on a decline for many years now, and it’s time we stop blaming our youth. I challenge every coach and parent out there to self-reflect on their teachable moments. Are you doing the best possible job to set your youth up for a career full of success? Are you instilling the Mamba Mentality in your athletes? How can YOU be better as a coach or parent? After all, you can control only your actions.

Last but not least, my condolences goes out to the Bryant family and all other passengers on his helicopter. The loss is tragic to their families, but we must not forget about the impact that their loved ones have left on this earth. We may not know much about the other passengers, but I guarantee that each and every one of them has left their mark on this world in some way or another.

May each of them rest in peace and find happiness in their next journey of life, knowing that their legacies will still continue on through all of us.

Please go ahead and hug your loved ones a little longer today and cherish each moment with them.

For more blogs from us head over here!

References:

Image: https://clutchpoints.com/lakers-news-kobe-bryant-reveals-meaning-behind-black-mamba-nickname/

Study on Effort: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6176062/

Role of deliberate practice study: http://clinica.ispa.pt/ficheiros/areas_utilizador/user11/11_-_the_role_of_dp_in_chess_expertise.pdf

5 Key Characteristics of All Successful Athletes

I’ve trained well over a thousand athletes of all levels (grade school up through college and even into the professional level) and in my time it’s become obvious that there were 5 Key Characteristics of ALL Successful Athletes.

#1: Consistency – I can’t think of one single great athlete that doesn’t show up 100% of the time. Obviously, life gets in the way sometimes but no matter what, these athletes show up or make it up in the very near future. You won’t find a great athlete who takes off 2-3 months a year from training. You won’t find a great athlete that doesn’t train in season. And you won’t find a great athlete that isn’t consistent in the training, nutrition and sleep.

Daily, they eat, sleep, train and recover.

#2 A Desire to be Better – Great athletes don’t blame the refs, coaches, parents or their team. Great athletes know that there is 1 person in this world that they can control, and that’s themselves. Knowing that, they work vigorously on their craft.

They thirst for improvements and strive to be better against all odds.

#3 Supporting Family & Friends – One of my most favorite quotes reads, “you become like those you surround yourself with.” Great athletes know this is 100% true. If you walk with lions, you begin to act like a lion. Great athletes aren’t worried about being the big fish in their small pond. Great athletes are fixated on surrounding themselves with other bigger fish.

Iron sharpens iron, surround yourself with those who will push you and make you better.

#4 Focus – When it’s time to practice or train, all other distractions go away. Side conversations are removed and the cell phone goes away. For the next 90 minutes it’s their time to be better and work on their craft. 

No excuses, no distractions.

#5 Adaptability – All great athletes display the ability to be adaptable. Very rarely will things go as planned, but great athletes don’t hang themselves up over it. Great athletes analyze the situation, adapt, and respond. There won’t be any blame being placed anywhere, rather, great athletes find a way to overcome. 

There is no obstacle too big for a successful athlete.

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Author:

Cody Revel, CSCS, Owner & Founder of The Athlete Academy

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An Open Letter to All Sports Parents on Athlete Nutrition

It seems like nearly every week, or even every day, i’m proposed with the question “Do you think my athlete is eating enough?”

Nearly 100% of the time, the answer is no.

“But <insert athlete name> is ALWAYS snacking and eating something”

While that may be the case, I’ve analyzed hundreds (maybe even thousands now) of athlete food logs, given many suggestions, often times, the same suggestions over and over again.

In fact, it’s quite redundant..

If you are having these struggles, you’re not alone. Here’s a look at what every athletes food log has in common.

  • Their Snacks consist of: An orange (if i’m lucky, but it’s ONE single orange, not even TWO..), chips, cookies, etc.
  • They often miss breakfast, or eat a bagel, cereal, or any other sugary/high carb breakfasts
  • Rarely do they consume any quality proteins throughout the day (minus dinner)
  • What are Veggies??? Yeah, most kids don’t know either, hence why they don’t eat them
  • Protein Bars, “I had a protein bar for lunch, that’s healthy right?” Well, it may be better than chips, but if you want to be great lets be better.

Sound like your kid?

Probably….

Many years later, i’m still seeing the SAME food logs and giving the SAME suggestions.

“Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results is the definition of insanity.” – Albert Eintstein

Realizing that I was often more unsuccessful then successful, I decided to look into the athletes that I had been successful with previously.

I had given them all the same nutritional guidelines, same advice and same speech, yet only few were successful.

“The most elite athletes we have in our gym are the ones that EAT and SLEEP the best.”

“I told you _____ that you have to eat” – Parent

*smile or chuckle* “I know, I know.” – Athlete

Then….. no changes, except maybe that nights dinner they were a bit more conscious of their choices.

This made me think, what can I do different?

I’m giving the SAME guidelines and the SAME speech explaining the seriousness behind nutrition, yet nearly 80% of our athletes don’t practice good nutritional habits.

I NEED to be better. I NEED to find a way to improve their habits.

Do I make healthy eating a requirement to train at our facility?

Well no, I can’t do that. We’d lose upwards of 80% of our clients and would close down. Then we wouldn’t be able to provide the shore with a high level of training.

Do we punish the kids?

Well no, that’s not my job. My job is to make them better, and overall more athletic. Not to discipline kids.

So what do I do?

I Influence the parents.

So here’s my proposal to all parents. Please be patient and hear me out, in fact, I believe I may make your life much easier..

Most of the time, YOUR athlete wants to play a sport, play for a certain club, travel with a certain team, and or receive specialized training.

They expect YOU to pay for their memberships, travel expenses, equipment and food.

They expect YOU to adjust YOUR schedule around their practices and games

They expect YOU to take them to practice and their games

They expect YOU to give them money when traveling.

They expect a lot, but what are they giving in return?

Some athletes show up and practice hard, play hard and even train hard sometimes.

Which is nice because you feel like you’re receiving your monies worth, right?

You’re enabling the athlete to be more social, opening doors for more experiences and giving them the training that you may wish you had received.

All of that’s great! I believe most parents have great intentions of wanting the best for their athletes and wanting to give great opportunities, but lets take a look at the bigger picture.

If your athlete is NOT eating properly then they are NOT recovering and they they will NOT receive maximal benefits from the games, practices and training that YOU’RE paying for.

So to make it simple, you’re not only wasting your money, but you’re wasting your time (travel) and efforts.

Now I don’t know about you but I don’t like when people don’t value my time, money and efforts.

Sorry to be so harsh, but it’s true.

Where’s the accountability?

There is none.

Real world…

At your job, can you expect your boss to give you more money, give you food and adjust your work schedule to suit your needs?

Can you expect your boss to give, give and give, all while you put in lack-luster efforts?

Probably not.

So what are we teaching our youth?

Not accountability, work ethic, or hard work.

Proposal for Parents

So here’s my proposal to parents…

Require that your athlete takes OWNERSHIP of what they want.

Require that your athlete GIVES to the PROCESS!

This doesn’t mean they have to pay for their training, club fees, etc., because that’s not really practical.

But rather, lets start simple, lets have them prove that they are willing to receive your monies worth.

“IF YOUR ATHLETE ISN’T EATING PROPERLY THEY ARE NOT RECEIVING THE MAXIMAL BENEFITS OF THEIR TRAINING, AND WASTING YOUR TIME, EFFORTS AND MONEY.”

Require that your athlete learn how to cook quality foods (PS. could be a great way to spend quality time together.)

Teach them the importance of not only quality foods, but the impact of preparation and the effects that it has on success.

Maybe not 100% of their meals. But why not at least half?

1. It takes a burden off of you

2. It teaches your athlete how to prepare quality foods

3. Teaches them about the importance of preparation

4. It’s cheaper in the long run to cook quality foods rather than purchasing quick snacks

Not only will you, and your athlete, notice positive changes on their athletic abilities, but they will learn valuable life skills

Example:

Week 1: Athlete learns how to make eggs w/ veggies and potatoes (breakfast)

Week 2: Athlete learns how to make an animal protein, veggies and a variation of rice (lunch)

Week 3: Athlete learns how to prepare their own quality snacks (yogurt w/ fresh cut fruit, granola, home-made protein balls, etc.)

Getting the idea here?

There is so much opportunity for your athlete to grow outside of sports, and while you may feel like you may be the best parent in the world by giving everything to your kids, you may be hindering their abilities to grow as a young adult in the future.

PS. This obviously does not pertain to all parents. In no way, shape, or form, am I telling anyone how to raise their kids, rather, I am suggesting that while intentions are often good, as mentors and parents, we can sometimes be doing more harm than good without even realizing what we’re doing.

Parents, let me know what you think in the comments, I would love to hear from you!