JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Take your School Program to the Next Level!

SPORTS PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

SPORTS REHABILITATION CLINIC

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WHY CHOOSE OUR
JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT SPORTS PERFORMANCE TRAINING PROGRAM?

Is your child a young athlete looking to take their performance to the next level? Our Junior development Training Program is designed to help children aged 9-12 maximize their athletic potential and achieve their goals. Our experienced coaches provide personalized attention and guidance to help your child excel in their sport and develop key skills for success both on and off the field.

Our program is specifically designed for young athletes who demand the very best in training, performance, and results.

Here's why our
program stands out:

01. Expert Coaching

Our coaches are experienced in working with young athletes and provide personalized attention and guidance to help your child reach their full potential.

02. Age-Appropriate Training

We tailor our training programs to meet the specific needs and abilities of young athletes, helping them build a solid foundation for long-term success.

03. Fun and Engaging Workouts

Our training encompasses all aspects of athletic development, including strength and conditioning, speed and agility, endurance, flexibility, and sport-specific skills.

04. Sports-Specific Training

Our program focuses on developing key skills for your child's sport, including speed, agility, strength, and coordination.

05. Positive Environment

We prioritize the long-term health and well-being of our athletes, integrating injury prevention strategies, proper warm-up routines, and technique refinement into our training programs.

06. Comprehensive Support

We provide comprehensive support to both parents and athletes, including nutrition advice, injury prevention and more

GET STARTED

TESTIMONIALS

BELLA SMITH

Sport:

AFL

Team:

Sydney Swans

Greatest Sporting Achievement:

Representing SA & NT in the 2019 AFLW Under-18 Championships

How ACE Performance’s training methods have helped me:

Whom would I recommend ACE Performance to?

ACE performance prepared me and allowed me to hit my third preseason in the AFLW with great speed, power and strength. I would recommend ACE to anyone who is wanting to be the best in their field, sport and position and those wanting to get the most out of themselves. The work they have done with me has enabled me to take my game to the next level and I can’t wait to return next off-season.

MORE ABOUT THE
HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

HEAR FROM THE
ACE COMMUNITY!

Massive shoutout to two of our young basketball athletes Jack & Flynn

Both recently competed for Victoria in the East Coast Challenge Cup in seperate teams and both went undefeated.

Credit to them for their consistent work on and off the court. Hopefully more to come

Athlete spotlight @jack__coughlan and @flynnmack_

Both boys have successfully been selected into the @basketball_vic SDP/SPP program.

Great reward for effort from both who have been regular morning trainers getting up early and putting in the work and have come a long way

Can’t wait to see what they do next

@elthamcollegeau day out at @ace_fairfield!

Last week we had our yearly tradition as part of our partnership with Eltham college and there EAP program is to bring the group out to our facility for a big session.

Luck enough this year to have guest speaker @emily_whitehead_ speak the group about her journey as an athlete

Then the group got stuck into an S&C session led by our coaches.

“Why would you step backwards if you want to go forwards,” Have you ever heard your coach tell you that it’s counterproductive to step backwards if you need to sprint forwards?

Now yes, there is some merit to this, especially the athlete is in a stationary starting position. But in the world of chaos that is sport, majority of the time athletes will need to sprint from a moving position.

The false step is then used to position the athlete so they can push behind their body, to push themselves forwards. Without the false step athletes will tend to ‘fall’ and reach, which results in much slower movements.

In the first video Hugh is going through starting positions where we aren’t looking for a false step, as it will change his centre of mass in the opposite direction we are looking to see.
In the second video, we have Hugh utilising the false step to position his COM in a way that allows him to produce more power and a faster acceleration.

When the athlete can be in a fixed position to accelerate from, we don’t want to use a false step. Whereas, in a chaotic landing or reaction to a stimulus, a false step is beneficial and a faster way to start.

#foryoureels #sports #aceperformance #athlete #performance #coach #performancecoach #foryou #foryoureelinstagram♥️ #fitness #eliteperformance

Acceleration for youth athletes!

Two of the big rocks of acceleration that we teach our youth athletes is body position and force into the ground (pushing back into the ground)

Here are a few snippets of some of the progressions we use in our current youth program

1) Resistance High Knee March – teaching them to push harder into the ground through a fundamental technique drill
2) Triple Extension – teaching knee and hip drive in the first step
3) Sled Run – A light resistance to encourage maintaining body position and more force into the ground
4) Falling Start – falling into a good body position and using the reaction of our leg to explode out

#sports #fyp #foryoupage #foryoureels #melbourne #aceperformance #performancecoach #athlete

Aqua Bag Running Series

The aqua bag challenges an athlete’s stability, forcing athletes to become more aware of controlling stability through their entire body to counteract the chaos.

There are three main loading options for running drills with the aqua bag.
1. Shoulders
2. Front rack
3. Overhead

Each position provides a different challenge as it forces the body stabilise in different ways depending on where the bag is positioned. Jordan and Trent are showing the High knee march with each loading option however any running drill variation could be used.

Have a go, it is way harder than it looks and provides a very new challenge to athletes.

#sports #foryoureels #aceperformance #fitness #exercise #melbourne #foryoupage #aquabag #coach #performancecoach #strengthandconditioning

Once an athlete has mastered power movements through the different planes of motion on their own, we can then start to blend the movements together to target multiple planes at once

Some examples of these kinds of movements include
- Vertical jump into lateral bound
- Lateral bound to box jump
- Broad jump to box jump
- Hop, lateral bound, jump

Give these a go if you want a challenge! 🙌

#sports #aceperformance #fitness #athlete #coach #athletics #hop #training #performancetraining

Teaching Running Mechanics:

A breakdown of the hurdle run –

One of the first things we teach our youth athletes is good knee and foot position. But how does that look in action.

A hurdle run is a great way to teach kids to get up into that high knee position while in motion but at slower speed than sprinting so that they can concentrate on the technique

Big things we want to tick off include
- Smooth speed of movement
- Good knee and foot position
- Arms and Legs working together
- Alignment of foot, knee hips (from front on)

Check out some of our youth athletes nailing some of these key components

#foryou #foryoureels #sports #aceperformance #athlete #melbourne #performancecoach

How to improve your backwards running speeds and technique so you can run faster backwards than most can forwards!

The importance of backwards running in sport is often missed/overlooked. More than you may realise, athletes run backwards during their sport. Whether it’s for defensive positioning, positioning to set up an attack and your ability to always see the ball in motion, you need to be able to run backwards.

We want to see a few things when running backwards to ensure high speeds and great positioning to set up for a change in direction.

Some key indicators we look for are;
• Low COM
• Heel to toe foot strike
• Decent stride lengths

In the first video above is an example of a real-world sporting example of an athlete running backwards.
In the second video you can see a little bit closer in to the foot interaction with the ground.

#foryoureels #hop #sports #aceperformance #athlete #athletetraining #fitness #coach #sports

Cross Training for Better Performance

One of the best ways to boost your speed and race performance is by training your body to run faster. At ACE, we use sprint, interval, and Fartlek training to help improve overall speed — all supported by our curved treadmills and expert coaching.

Interval Training alternates bursts of high-intensity running with slower recovery periods.
Fartlek Training means “speed play” — where you mix up your pace based on how you feel, making it fun and flexible.

Our curved treadmills make both styles easy to train indoors.

Wattbike Training adds variety to your program. Cross-training helps avoid overuse injuries and keeps your muscles balanced by working different muscle groups.

We use both the Wattbike and treadmill to condition athletes of all levels.

Tried these machines yet?
Chat with a coach to learn more.

#aceperformance #sports #melbourne #athlete #foryoureels #fitness #strengthtrainingforrunners #intervaltraining #curvedtreadmill #cardioworkouts🏃‍♂️

Transferring power from the lower body to the upper body is an important aspect of many sports skills. To promote efficient power transfer, we coach athletes through power exercises such as Barbell Push Jerk, MB Vertical throw and Landmine Rotate and Punch.

In each exercise, Power is generated from the lower body before transferring up the chain into upper body and then through to the arms.

#foryoureels #reels #sports #athlete #performancecoach #coach #melbourne #aceperformance #athletetraininghealth #sportperformance

3 power exercises to improve your lateral power

Lateral power is so often underutilised and/or programmed poorly. Plyometric and power-based exercises are so often done in a vertical or horizontal manner, but most sports spend a massive amount of time in lateral directions.

To be able to move more explosively and change directions faster than your opponent it is critical to maximise your lateral power, the exercises below are just a few of the many in abundance which can be utilised based upon an athlete’s capacity, training age, time of season and their periodisation.

- Lateral Bounding
- Banded High Knee Side Skips
- Barbell side lunge explosive

#foryoureels #foryou #melbourne #sports #athlete #lateralbounding #exercise #barbellhighknee #sideskips #exercisetips

Mirrored Lateral shuffle & GoCan soccer, basketball, and footy athletes all do the same agility drill if we want it to be sport specific?With many drills the simple answer is yes, we just emphasis different aspects of the drill for different sports. Using this lateral shuffle & Accel drill as an example. For the soccer and basketballer, lateral shuffle is crucial and we want them to be able to master that. For the footy players, although the may not lateral shuffle often, the do turn and sprint from a side on position throughout games. So, in this group they are all doing the same drill, but we are going to focus our coaching on the aspects that are relevant to each individual’s sport. #foryoureels #foryou #sports #athlete #performancecoach #coach #melbourne #fitness #exercise #AthleteDevelopmentProgram #eliteathletetraining #athletetraining #mirroring #performance #aceperformance

Control and chaos - there always needs to be both sides of the coin in a youth training program

Obviously we want to teach our young athletes good technique and training methods but at the same time they enjoy a bit of chaos

Take Kamel and Jamie here. Both nailing their dowel overhead drills in a controlled environment, then when it came to work on change of direction we made it competitive and chaos ensued!

We want our kids to both learn and have fun in our training environment

#sports #aceperformance #melbourne #foryoureels #performancecoach #athlete #youthtraining #youthtrainingprogram #eliteperformanceprogram #athletedevelopment #athletedevelopmentprogram #aspiringathletes #mentor

3 exercises you need to include in your program if you’re serious about your sport For most winter sport athletes, your season is at the tail end. Were you happy with the results from your gym program throughout the season? If not, you need to reflect on it and make changes. Determine exactly WHY you didn’t get what you hoped from it, and HOW you’re going to get the results you want next season. This off-season, the upcoming preseason, and next winter sport season, try training like the pros…not the body builder next to you at your local gym. See below 3 movement areas that feature in all professional athlete programs that’ll help your game next season!
📍Jumping:Plyometrics, or to put it simply Jumping, refers to jumps, hops, bounds and/or skips. Plyometric exercises replicate the demands of sport movements by utilising the stretch shortening cycle during locomotion. By training and improving these athletic qualities, we can subsequently improve performance during jumping, changing of direction, and accelerating and sprinting itself.
📍Unilateral Lower Limb Lifting: How often do you think you are on 2 legs during sport? Sport is single leg dominant, so therefore, we need to be training unilaterally in the gym. Squats and Deadlifts are fantastic and there are places for them in strength training programs, but we need to be including single leg lifting variations to stress one leg at a time, just as it’s stressed during match play. 📍Posterior Chain Strengthening:Training the muscles you can see in the mirror look good. But training the muscles you can’t see are great for sport. The Glutes and Hamstrings play a key role in sport. Having strength through your posterior chain can help you break tackles, burst off the line ahead of your opponent, and protect you against nasty soft tissue injuries.
#fyp #foryoureels #sports #athlete #elitetraining #eliteperformancetraining #jumps #hoppin #hops #youthathlete #performancecoach #coach #melbourne

The Falling Start on Sprints!

The Falling Start sprint position is a great method for letting gravity take over with your starts. By allowing ourselves to tip forward, we are placing the body in an advantageous position to accelerate out from a staggered start.
Keys to nailing this drill include:
📌Low hip height
📌Flexion at the knees
📌Tall posture
The video above shows young Calder Cannons player, Conner, doing really well with his falling starts. We’re still working at dropping his hip height and therefore achieving more knee flexion. This will result in further forward propulsion from the start line, and therefore a faster acceleration! The last video is a much better representation of what we’re after with this drill. It may feel like you’re going to fall flat on your face! But don’t stress, keep your hips low and posture upright and you’ll bolt away like Usain!

#foryoureels #sports #sprinting #aceperformance #backpedal #lowhipheight #flexionattheknees #tallposture #athlete #youthathlete #performanceprogram #athleteperformanceprogram #athletedevelopment #athletetraining #foryourpage #foryouシ #melbourne

Teaching kids that if they want to go fast they need to know how to break!

The drill shown in the video above has been a great tool recently for teaching our youth kids acceleration & deceleration technique as well as back pedal speed & positioning.

3 key areas that we focus on with our youth athletes in this drill include:

📌Deceleration – short sharp steps and a drop in body position as we get to the marker in order to slow ourselves down.
📌Back Pedal – Using that low body position we want to have small, quick steps on the backpedal, being sure to keep our eyes forward so that we stay balanced
📌First step quickness – Teaching good body positions and foot strike to make the most out of that first step to transition forwards

#foryou #foryoureels #sports #athlete #youthathlete #athletedevelopment #melbourne #aceperformance #performancecoach #FYP #fitness #exercise #sprints #deceleration #backpedal #fypviral

Our recovery zone is operational at Oakleigh! Great work to the whole team in getting this project up and running! We open to the public on 07/07. DM us ‘Recovery’ to find out more about access and memberships!

Do you have bad balance? This is for you!
We have been seeing that there is a chunk of youth athletes that struggle with single leg balance, and this struggle can lead to other problems in areas like running, jumping and landing safely.

Most kids will get bored with just trying to balance on one leg for an extended period of time. Here are a few ways we like to mix up our balance exercises and challenge our youth athletes coordination

📌8 Point Balance
📌Partner juggles
📌Unstable surface

Give them a go!

#sports #balance #athlete #youthathlete #melbourne #aceperformance #athletedevelopment #foryoureels #foryou

Multi Directional Plyometrics. Within game scenarios, athletes are constantly required to change the orientation of the power they are producing between vertical, horizontal, or lateral. A fantastic way to develop the skill of changing from one direction to another is by combining jumps in multiple directions into one drill.

Here are a few examples that utilise basic equipment such as boxes and mini hurdles to challenge the athlete to manipulate the direction the power is produced and the magnitude of power.

#sports #athlete #ACEPerformance #foryoureels #athletedevelopment #jumps #plyometrics

Resilience- Injury Prevention is a term that gets thrown around a bit too much in the Strength and Conditioning industry. Yes, as Performance Coaches we want to prevent injuries to the athletes we work with, although sometimes we can’t. It’s pretty difficult to prevent contact injuries in sport for example. Instead of ‘Injury Prevention’, why don’t we use the words ‘Resilience’? Or even just ‘Strength’??? Being strong and resilient in identified risk areas is paramount to preventing soft tissue and preventable injuries in athletes. The videos in this post highlight 3 areas of field-based sport that Performance Coaches should be addressing in athletes programs:
📌Adductor Strength – BB Side Lunge
📌Hamstring Resilience – SL Hamstring Bench to Bench Isometric
📌Ankle Power – Floating Heel BB Reverse Lunge

#foryou #foryoureels #sports #anklepower #hamstringresilience #anklepower #adductorstretch #exercise #athlete #athletetraining

Advanced Plyometric Training

🙌Plyometric exercises need to be staged. Like any strength program, a planned and periodised progression is imperative.

See the video for an advanced plyometric option for multi directional field/court sport athletes. Once an athlete has progressed through our system of plyometric loading and complexity, we begin to combine different vectors to reflect the sport.
The video highlights Shags and Zoe completing a lateral movement, with a single leg vertical plyometric:
📌Lateral Bound to Box Hop

This plyometric exercise is on the advanced end due to the fact it is done entirely through 1 leg at a time, plus we’re combining the two vectors as stated above. Shags and Zoe have a large training history and have progressed well through the stages to be able to tolerate and excel at this exercise. The aim is to perform a powerful lateral bound, then be as quick as possible off the deck to execute the box hop.

#plyometricstraining #plyometrics #boxhops #sports #athlete #jumps #training #athlete #aceperformance #exervise #workout #gymlife #foryoureels #reels #foryoupage #advancedplyo #strengthtraining #strengthandconditioning #strength #melbourne #foryoumelbourne

INJURY PREVENTION FOR SOCCER ⚽️
Don’t believe everything you see on Instagram! We see countless videos of exercises on Instagram that state ‘Soccer specific training’. You might even catch a glimpse of a superstar player doing something crazy that looks kinda cool.
Although some of these exercises and crazy jumps, hops and bounds might look awesome and beneficial to every single soccer player on the planet, they’re probably not!
We need to be aware of the physical demands that soccer players go through when competing, and what is required to stay available throughout the season.
There needs to be a WHY behind everything we do.
See below 3 identified areas and WHY they should be included in a soccer athletic performance program!
📌Reactive Strength - This has been shown to have a strong relationship with both change of direction speed and acceleration speed. Plyometrics can improve this quality.
📌Frontal plane strength - Soccer involves change of direction. Keep our adductors happy and healthy by including frontal plane strengthening exercises.
📌Hamstring resilience - Sprinting is a key component of the game. Protect those strings through knee dominant hamstring exercises.
3 exercises that target each of the above areas are seen in the above videos:
📌Mini Hurdle Hops
📌Side Squats
📌Hamstring Slides

#sports #foryou #exercises #exercisestips #strengthtraining #youthathlete #athlete #youthathletedevelopment #aceperformance #jumps #hurdles #workout #workoutvideos #movementmatters #soccer #foryoureels #foryoupage #melbourne #fairfield #CoffsHarbour

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at ACE Performance.
To all the strong, caring and inspiring mums , thank you for everything you do.
We celebrate you today and every day. 💐

#MothersDay #mothersday❤️ #aceperformance #mothersdayspecial

We know all basketballers want to work on their vertical, but power training is much more than that sometimes.

Take Ed for example, he is growing rapidly, so we need to make sure that we are loading his plyos in various different ways that 1) will help him be more explosive on the court, and 2) set a good foundation of movement going forward.

On this particular day Ed was working on some fast contact hurdle hops, working both vertical and some horizontal power, plus some maximal effort broad jumps, focusing on getting as much horizontal distance as he can.

#sports #jumps #basketball #plyometrics #legdayworkout #plyometricstraining #athlete #youthathlete #aceperformance #foryou #foryoureels #foryoupage #aspiringathlete #sessions #athletetraining #AthleteDevelopment

INTENT

Think of your sport training for a second.
You get to training on a cold and wet Tuesday night. You had an average game last weekend and you think you might be on the chopping block. You know that you must train well tonight to eliminate those doubts the coach might have. Fast forward a couple of hours… You’ve trained well. You’ve given it everything you had on a cold and wet Tuesday night. You get home exhausted, but at least you know you’ve given 110% and cemented your place in the team.

Now we’ve set the scene, think about your strength and power training. If you have the above attitude when it comes to your sport specific training, why wouldn’t you have that same attitude when it comes to your strength training in the gym! The gym shouldn’t be any different than the field.

Training with intent is something that needs to be ingrained within you when you walk inside the gym. So that every time you complete a gym session, you know you’ve bettered yourself.

Using technology in the gym helps with driving these standards. At ACE, we use velocity tracking to objectively measure the speed of certain lifts, at certain times during an athletes performance program.
Our athletes are competitive beasts and when they see a target number on the software, this breeds intent without the need of a coach having to drive it!

#foryou #foryoureels #workout #TeamPerformance #melbourne #gym #youthathlete #aceperformance #athleteprogress #fitness #melbournegyms #oakleigh #sessions #strengthtraining #aspiringathlete #foryoupage #onlineprogram #highperformanceprogram #gymmotivation #weights #weightlifting #athleteperformance

Raising intensity! 🏃

One easy way to raise the intensity of any drill or sprint for youth athletes is to make it a competition.
Having someone to race or compete against instantly raises the intent level in the sprint.

Check out some of the ways we mixed it up during the session, including a full group sprint at the end.

#sports #melbourne #foryoureels #aceperformance #sprinting #youthathlete #fitness #melbournegyms #TeamPerformance #athleteprogress #performancetraining #teamperformanceprogram #juniordevelopment #oakleigh #coffsharbour #gym #foryou #performancecoach #athlete #workout

Using weights with youth athletes. Is it safe? Absolutely, if done right!
All our youth athletes go through various progressions of bodyweight movements to make sure they can control their own body weight before adding any external load
But once we feel that there are competent at these key movements then we certainly encourage our youth athletes to add some light weight so that they can start to gradually build their strength and get their body used to loading movements.

#foryou #athlete #sports #youthathlete #weightlifting #weights #fitness #foryoureels #foryoupagereels #highperformanceprogram #athleteperformance #sports #strengthtraining #gym #performancetraining #gymmotivation #performancecoach #melbournegyms #coffsharbour #workout

Today we pause to remember and honour the courage, sacrifice, and spirit of our ANZACs.
Lest we forget.

#ANZACDay #LestWeForget #aceperformance #melbourne #APRIL25TH #anzacday

Happy Easter from all of us at ACE Performance! 🐰
We hope your weekend is filled with joy and some well-deserved relaxation.

#eastersunday #easter #sports #athlete #happyeaster #foryoupage #foryoureels #foryou

Make youth training fun! 🙌

With an increase in the amount of primary school kids starting to get involved in training we want to make sure that we are accommodating to where they are at in their development as well as what they will enjoy.

It’s not always about set & reps for kids, sometimes they just want to be challenged, and we try to do that in a purposefully but engaging way.

As you can see we can still teach & practice aspects of athleticism like change of direction, speed, jumping and landing, but we can do it in a different way.

Be sure to look out for more like this coming up!

#foryoupage #foryoureels #sports #youthathlete #athlete #aspiringathlete #aceperformance #sprinting #youthathletedevelopment #coach #performancecoach #exercise #workout #strengthandconditioning #fitness #coffsharbour #strengthtraining #jumpingexercises #melbournegyms #elitepgroram #sportscenter #juniordevelopment #boxhop #gymnearby #coachperformance

Linking the gym to the field!
There are many ways that we can aid speed development in the gym. One of those is through our power based (or plyometric) movements.
For acceleration:
📌Horizontal force – when we sprint, the majority of our force is pushing horizontally (or behind us). So similar exercises such as bounding can mimic that.
📌Projection – get out of the blocks quick can come from projecting our body forward as much as possible, just like is done in a standing broad jump.
For upright running
📌Short ground contact – once we are at full speed we spend very little time on the ground. A matching power exercise would be hurdle hops, where ground contacts are short & sharp
📌Vertical force – when running full speed in a upright position, the direction of our force changes to more vertical (up and down). So exercises such as box jumps and hurdle jumps are a great match.

Rapid rate of force development – with the quick ground contact we still want to be able to produce enough force to push us forward. Similar to a single leg tuck jump shown to be both rapid and powerful.
Check out examples of all of these aspects in the video above

#foryou #sports #athlete #performancecoach #coach #melbourne #strengthandconditioning #horizontalforce #sprints #sprintexercise #exercise #workout #coachlife #fitness #power #foryoupage #foryoureels #foryoupage #sports #foryou

The medicine ball keg toss is an excellent exercise to develop lower body power for athletes of various disciplines.

In the medicine ball keg toss, the key focus is on utilising the lower body to generate full body power transfer through the arms and ball. The objective is to achieve maximum height and slightly backward projection when throwing the ball.

This exercise is particularly useful in developing explosive power in the legs, which can translate to improved performance in a wide range of athletic activities.

#medicineballkegtoss #sports #athlete #power #strengthtraining #foryoureels #foryoupage #youthathletetraining #youthathlete #melbourne #aceperformance #exercises #workout #recovery #medicineball #medicineballworkout
#medicineballtraining #workouttips

Kids are always going to jump, so let’s make sure they jump (& land) properly.

Whether it is involved in their sport or they just have a ridiculous amount of energy it is very hard as coaches to stop kids from jumping around. That is why as part of our youth program we encourage it, whilst making sure that they are jumping correctly but also importantly landing correctly in order to avoid injury.

Throughout our program we have all kinds of jumps
📌Standing vertical
📌Running
📌Long/Broad jumps
📌Single leg jumps
Plus many more

With all of these variations we are coaching our youth athletes the correct technique to get the most power and also putting an emphasis on good landing mechanics.

#sports #melbourne #recovery #jumps #jumpingexercises #running #sprinting #singlelegjumps #performancecoach #TeamPerformance #trainingtips #gym #performancecoachmelbourne #coach #highperformanceprogram #eliteprogram #strength #athletesgym #sports #sportspecifictraining #foryoureels #foryoupage #juniordevelopment #sportscenter #melbournegyms #glutesworkout

Pair your MB power exercises with your sport! 🏃

Coaches and Athletes can sometimes get caught out in the gym by thinking too ‘sport specific’. Attempting to copy the exact sporting movements of a chosen sport in a gym setting can be messy and useless.

BUT, attempting to mimic the DEMANDS of the sport movements with exercises in the gym is what your performance coach should be doing.

Enter our Combat athletes at ACE Performance. We love using Medicine Balls with athletes that compete in combat sports as part of their power programs. By using MBs, we can somewhat mimic the movement patterns seen in most combat sports.

In the examples above, we have a Karim (Boxer), a Ricky (Mixed Martial Artist), and Joyce (Muay Thai) all demonstrating exactly what we’re after with their exercises. Power is generated from the legs and hips, with the arms just the final product in each example. With all our combat athletes, we focus on thrusting through with the hips aggressively and powerfully, and cueing them to split the ball in half or hit the roof! 🙌

#mbpower #aceperformance #sports #performancecoachmelbourne #coach #sportspecifictraining #strength #trainingtips #eliteprogram #youthathlete #nsw #onlineprogram #gym #highperformanceprogram #athletesgym #recovery #coffsharbour #teamperformanceprogram #athleteperformance #strengthtraining #juniordevelopment #strengthandconditioning #youthathletedevelopment #athletedevelopmentprogram #sessions #foryoupageviral #foryoupagereels

Recovery for kids!

Not too many kids know or even think about recovery between games and training, so it is up to parents and coaches to educate them on what they can be doing to help them be ready for their next training session.
We should all know that 8 hours sleep and a good meal and key to recovery but here are some strategies to add to that for little to no cost

📌Active Recovery – Can be as easy as a light walk or bike ride. The goal being to get the body moving, get the blood pumping so that the sore muscles can get the nutrients they need to recover
📌Foam Rolling – Think of it as self-massage. Getting deep into those tight muscles to help loosen them up. It also acts like the active recovery in getting more blood pumping to the target area
📌Stretching – Sometimes gets a bad wrap but if it makes you feel good then that is the main thing. Try to hold stretches for at least 20-30s per muscles group

If you need any more help or ideas for recovery feel free to reach out! 😁

#foryoureels #aceperformance #melbourne #Sports #onlineprogram #gym #athlete #nsw #strength #foryoupage #performancecoachmelbourne #highperformanceprogram #athletesgym #eliteprogram #trainingtips #plyometricstraining #coach #sprinting #youthathlete #recovery

Change of direction – curved running🏃

So often we see and talk about change of direction/agility to do with sharp turns and fast feet, but how about our ability to maneuver and weave through the traffic in sport?

Maintaining speed whilst having to change direction takes practice. That is why we love this curved running drill shown in the video.

It allows the athlete to run at a high speed whilst having to adjust their feet and body position around the obstacles. This drill can be applied to so many sports. In this example we have a footy player and basketball players completing this drill.

#sports #ACEperformance #performancecoach #highperformanceprogram #juniordevelopment #teamperformanceprogram #onlineprogram #eliteprogram #youthathlete #melbourne #sprinting #sprintingtips #changeofdirection #strengthtraining #glutesworkout #trainingtips #foryoureels #foryoupage

The WHY behind ‘Priming Sessions’

As the sport season kicks off for most of our winter athletes, the re-structing of your gym sessions is a must. Incorporating a ‘Pre-game Primer’ session at the back end of the week leading into the weekend can help prepare you for the game, minimise fatigue, and get you feeling great leading into the weekend.

The meaning of ‘priming’ is to make something ready for use or action. So therefore, if we were to ‘prime’ our bodies before competition, would that be beneficial to our performance output on gameday?

The short answer is yes. Research has shown that a low volume, power and velocity based training session can result in improvements to explosive performance 1-2 days later.
We’re talking improvements in your Speed, Power, and Strength, whilst you’re playing sport the next day.
Who wouldn’t want this?!?!

The theory behind it is that by executing explosive movements in the 6-48hrs pre game, we are eliciting a potentiation effect of neuromuscular performance in the subsequent game or competition.
By minimising fatigue via exercise selection and turning the program into a ‘short and sharp’ power-based session, athletes will walk out of the gym feeling good and ready to run through a brick wall on gameday!

Check out the above video for some exercise we use at ACE in our priming sessions. 😁

#foryoupage #foryoureels #sports #athletedevelopment #Weightlifting #weightliftingtraining #sprinting #priming #melbourne #performancecoachmelbourne #strength #athletesgym #performancecoach #coach #youthathletes #sportscenter #pullups #strengthandconditioning

These may look like simple games & races but they serve a greater purpose! 🙌
One of the main purposes is to create 100% intent!

Some of the other key benefits to these drills/games include:
📌Accel/Decel ability
📌Putting the body in similar positions to many sports
📌Cognitively challenge, not just physically
Adds some variety and fun to a structured session.
#sports #foryoupage #aceperformance #melbourne #athletedevelopmentprogram #athletedevelopment #sessions #coachingtips #strength #youthathletedevelopment #performancecoach #coffsharbour #melbourne #athletesgym #performancecoachmelbourne #foryoureels

Improving your main lifts by working on your stability…
Quote from @danpfaff-

“Neuromuscular development studies tell us that the brain will not allow maximal recruitment of prime movements musculature if it senses inadequate strength in the stabilizing musculature”

So basically, we cannot use our full strength if we are not also stable through the movement.
How can we fix this? Simple solution is to work on stabilizing some of the key muscles used.

Using squats as the example, here are a few exercises that can help strengthen and stabilize some of the key muscles we use.
📌Adductors (groin) – Copenhagen Side Plank
📌Glutes – Standing Leg Abduction
📌Hips & quads – Reverse Lunges
📌Hamstrings – Hamstring Slides
#ankle #foryoupageviral #dorsiflexion #gymnearby #strength #youthathletes #strengthtraining #foryoupagereels #youthathletedevelopment #athletedevelopment #coachperformance #coachingtips
#foryoureels #sports #melbourne #coffsharbour #coach #performancecoach #athletesgym #glutesworkout #hamstringworkout

AFL agility test

Used every year at the draft combine to assess prospects change of direction ability.

Fairfield athlete Summer showing us how it’s done recently in preparation for the @talentleague testing day. As well as our recent testing with the @sedaaflhpp_burnley class

How to nail it come testing day:
- sharp deceleration
- drop the shoulder to get low
- stay as close to the pole as you can

#foryoureels #foryoupage #sports #athleteperformance #performancecoach #melbourne #highperformanceprogram

The Foot and Ankle Complex-

The foot and ankle are often overlooked components of performance training. How athletes strike the ground when sprinting, significantly impacts their running performance and efficiency.

The video above highlights the same athlete completing the same drill…just 1 week apart.

Although Nic’s high knee switches are excellent, the first video clearly highlights him searching for the ground with his toes, which results in his heel collapsing into the turf.
The second video is a huge improvement in this area and highlights a dorsiflexed foot, which emphasises correct foot strike mechanics when sprinting. Dorsiflexion as you sprint puts your foot in the ideal position to absorb the shock of landing by preparing your posterior chain to allow you to spring and bounce into your next stride.
Poor dorsiflexion will result in athletes experiencing a ‘floppy’ foot and ankle, which will produce longer ground contact times, and therefore, a slower and less efficient sprint.

#dorsiflexion #aceperformance #footworkout #athlete #youthathletes #YouthAthletics #sportscenter #strength #trainingtips #performancecoach #sports #foryoupageviral #victorian #gymnearby #melbourne #ankle #strengthtraining

Sport specific – What people think it is vs what it actually is! 😁
Sport specific training gets thrown around a lot but what really is it?
Gym based sports specific training does not need to necessarily have the implement of your sport. Whether you play footy, cricket, basketball, tennis or anything else you can do “sport specific training” without using a ball, bat or racquet.
How do you do this?
By performing the key movement patterns involved in that sport. If it involves sprinting, then we do some sort of sprinting. If it involves change of direction and lateral movements, we link those together. If it involves plenty of jumping then we work on jumping.
When it comes down to it training for your sport is the most specific thing you can do for it, but when it comes to the gym there is so much that can be done to aid your sport.

#foryoupagereels #foryoupageviral #sports #athlete #youthathletedevelopment #athletedevelopment #foryoupagereels #aceperformance #performancecoach #strength #sportscenter #trainingtips #melbourne #gymnearby

Vertical Pulling options in the gym--

Vertical Pulling options? Pull ups, Pulldowns.

You probably can’t think of many. Either can I. BUT, check out the videos of the ones I can think of and the different variables you can bring to them.

Don’t just think of Pull Ups as your only Vertical Pulling option in the gym. What if you can’t do them?

Although a great exercise, these are hard and not everyone can jump straight to a bodyweight pull up. How do you regress the exercise and how can you build your strength to be able to complete one?

See below for a variety of Vertical Pulling options to help you either add variation in the gym, or build that strength up to be able to get that illusive bodyweight Pull Up.

📌Video 1: BW Pull Up
📌Video 2: Banded Assisted Pull Up
📌Video 3: Partner Assisted Pull Up
📌Video 4: Pulldown variations

#sports #athlete #sportscenter #performancecoach #fypviral #foryoupagereels #sports #youthathlete #victorian #coach #strengthtraining #athlete #strengthandconditioning #strength #aceperformance #ankle #melbourne #coachperformance #performancecoach #gymnearby #trainingtips #pullups #pullupbar #pullupexercise #athletetips

Upright Sprinting and Using Constraints

Sprinting is an action that almost every athlete that participates in sport must do. So, being able to sprint fast, efficiently, and safely would be something an athlete would want…right???

It’s not a trick question. The answer is yes and should always be yes.

One of the key landmark areas we look to improve with our athletes at ACE Performance when training upright sprinting mechanics is the position of the swing leg during the Stance (or Full Support) phase of a sprinting gait cycle.

Ideally, what we’re looking for is the swing knee to be at a minimum, level with or slightly in front of the stance leg knee during the full support phase. If we can improve this quality, we are putting our foot in a position to strike the ground quicker, which will reduce the reliance on our hamstrings to whip that foot through.

The first video above highlights Bailey’s run through where she is almost achieving the above. It’s definitely not the biggest difference between knees we’ve seen, but it’s something we’re looking to improve with her.
The next video focuses on perfecting this via the use of an external constraint like mini hurdles, and we can see the swing knee punching right through on this rep!

#sports #foryourpage #foryoupageシ #athlete #sporttips #trainingtips #sprinting #sprintingdrills #strengthtraining #performancecoachmelbourne #coachingtips #sportscenter #strengthandconditioning #youthathlete #aceperformance #victorian #weightlifting #melbournecoach #strength #coffsharbour #melbourne #coffsharbour

Using bands for power movements in the gym

We all know that the top of the squat is where we are strongest, or the finishing lockout of an upper body pushing exercise. So, if we wanted to drop the weight, and push the speed on these drills, chances are we are either going to go flying into a jump from the squat or throw our shoulder out trying to push the bar through the wall!

Enter resistance bands!

If set up correctly, bands will offer resistance at the point of the lift where we are strongest. This allows athletes to accelerate through the entire range of motion of an exercise without fear of the weight going flying off their backs or out of their hands.

2 examples of banded power movements we use at ACE are the Banded Box Squat, and the Single-Arm Landmine Split Jerk. Joyce and Shags are lifting with speed and intent throughout the entire range of motion, thanks to the added resistance of the bands!

#foryoureelsシ #f#foryoureel #sports #weightlifting #performancecoachmelbourne #aquabag #melbourne #strengthandconditioning #coachingtips #melbournecoach #youthathlete #athlete #exercise #aceperformance #victorian #strengthtraining #sportscenter #ankle #strengthtrainingforrunners #coffsharbour #coachperformance #athletedevelopment #oakleigh #melbourne

Ankle, Knee and Hip Stability and Strength-

Turn that muscle car of yours, into an F1 weapon!
Steering and Stability helps us better utilise those muscles that often get neglected, and therefore, will allow us to get to 6th gear smoothly! Athletes need to be able to use their body as efficiently as possible when competing to achieve the most effective performance possible.

At ACE, these exercises play a pivotal role in the ‘Steering’ component of our programs.

The Ankle, Knee, and Hip (AKH) sequence underpins all athletic and human movement.

This sequence all begins with our feet. Our feet play an essential role in all movement as this is our first of point of contact with the ground.
📌The ankle must provide adequate range of motion in all planes to help by taking some of the load from the knee. If our ankles do not provide this, our knees take on a higher % of load, which can create problems down the track.
📌Our knees need to control and mitigate the forces we do not require.
📌And lastly, our hips move in an undulating and oscillating pattern whilst we move. Although for static exercises, we need our hips to be stable and as neutral as possible.

The AN each need to take a % of load during actions to achieve effective and efficient movement.

See the above videos for exercises targeting the AKH complex. 😁

#foryou #sports #athlete #youthathlete #weightlifting #victorian #coachingtips #melbournecoach #melbourne #strength #strengthtraining #strengthtrainingforrunners #strengthandconditioning #ankle #aquabag #floatingheelreverse #aceperformance #melbourne #sportscenter #performancecoachmelbourne #exercise #exercisetips

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JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

TRUSTED BY...

WHY CHOOSE OUR
JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT SPORTS PERFORMANCE TRAINING PROGRAM?

Here's why our
program stands out:

01. Expert Coaching

02. Age-Appropriate Training

03. Fun and Engaging Workouts

04. Sports-Specific Training

05. Positive Environment

06. Comprehensive Support

TESTIMONIALS

BELLA SMITH

Sport:

AFL

Team:

Sydney Swans

Greatest Sporting Achievement:

Representing SA & NT in the 2019 AFLW Under-18 Championships

How ACE Performance’s training methods have helped me:

Whom would I recommend ACE Performance to?

MORE ABOUT THE
HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

HEAR FROM THE
ACE COMMUNITY!

COMPANY

FACILITIES

NEWSLETTER

CONTACT

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

TRUSTED BY...

WHY CHOOSE OUR JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT SPORTS PERFORMANCE TRAINING PROGRAM?

Here's why our program stands out:

01. Expert Coaching

02. Age-Appropriate Training

03. Fun and Engaging Workouts

04. Sports-Specific Training

05. Positive Environment

06. Comprehensive Support

TESTIMONIALS

BELLA SMITH

Sport:

AFL

Team:

Sydney Swans

Greatest Sporting Achievement:

Representing SA & NT in the 2019 AFLW Under-18 Championships

How ACE Performance’s training methods have helped me:

​

Whom would I recommend ACE Performance to?

MORE ABOUT THE HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

HEAR FROM THE ACE COMMUNITY!

​

COMPANY

FACILITIES

NEWSLETTER

CONTACT

WHY CHOOSE OUR
JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT SPORTS PERFORMANCE TRAINING PROGRAM?

Here's why our
program stands out:

MORE ABOUT THE
HIGH PERFORMANCE PROGRAM

HEAR FROM THE
ACE COMMUNITY!