Saez

This weekend I participated in Pat Powers’ volleyball clinic as an assistant coach in Chicago. About 60 eager volleyball players spent 11.5 hours over a full weekend of non-stop solid talk, drills, game strategy and more by non other than volleyball legend Pat Powers. I’ve participated in a few of his clinics several years ago. Coach Pat breaks down the game using a non-nonsense and step-by-step approach that works for junior players and adults alike. In this session, about 15 adults participated which was unusually high number for his clinics. Four adults were club and school coaches seeking to hone their skills to help their kids. Again, this continue to validates the trend of more and older adults seeking to an active lifestyle pursuing the sport at a more competitive level. Then, there was Diego who, for several years now, flies in from Puerto Rico for this clinic and to visit his aunt. Diego is a 14 year old 6′2″ who plays in the roster of one of the top national teams. This kid can hit, set and play… tremendous raw talent with a great future in the sport.

During the clinic, Pat covers just about every aspect of the game emphasizing passing and hitting. He covers serving, defense, blocking and setting, but not to extend of passing and hitting. On overall strategy and gaining that elusive competitive edge, Pat focuses on anticipating the next play or playing the game 1.5 seconds into the future. This is, players shall never play (or follow) the ball in motion but rather focus on the player who is contacting the ball next. This will force you to react to bodies and earn you some precious time to make your next move. As with any team sport, you need to react to the players, avoid thinking and anticipate the next move.

Even after several years of following Pat’s teaching, I continue to appreciate his style and always leave with more helpful tips. I highly recommend this clinic to anyone interested in taking their game to a new level. Pat travels all over the country throughout the year for this clinic, so check the schedule for a clinic near you.

written by osaez \\ tags: clinics, pat powers, training, vollleyball

In my heavy days, I’ve been taking one Whey protein shake after workouts. This is about twice or three times a week. I read that this improves muscle recovery, especially when you are working out later in the day. I also read about BCAA and two months ago started taking two pills with my shake. BCAA focuses on a chain of non-essential (not naturally occurring in the body) amino-acid credited to be important for recovery and muscle growth.

The results? Unknown and probably not worth it. The original intent was to speed the recovery from P90X which I consider a catabolic AND anabolic workout. I have not noticed any gains in muscle or weight and I’m unclear as to whether this has helped my recovery. After reading further, I’m convinced that I should drop BCAA. I’ll keep doing the shake from time to time, but I’m on the hunt for a good alternative recovery product. Continuing with the P90X workouts while doing tournaments this summer will not be easy without some help.

The basic and most popular compound related to muscle recovery is L-glutamine which is contained in many foods and is a non-essential (naturally produced by the body) amino acid. The body may loose up to 50% of its l-glutamine during workout. Hence, people believe that boosting its intake is the best approach. L-glutamine has a bigger following and for good reasons - read more about l-glutamine benefits here.

So here’s my dilemma, two friends have suggested two different products that I’m now considering.

Friend #1 says to take Max GXL

The research behind glutathione as a powerful antioxidant is clear. However, I found some references suggesting that while glutathione is marketed as a nutritional supplement, it does not appear that it actually hits the blood stream or is effective as it dilutes in the digestive track. Other more effective deliver mechanisms include IV. Clearly, I’m not into this! Further, glutathione is widely available in common foods and supplements including vitamin C, whey protein and alpha-lipoic acid which to help restore intracellular levels of glutathione. So is Max GXL effective? Not sure. I’m a big fan of Acai, pomegranate and mango as high source of antioxidants. On the other hand, L-glutamine promotes the body’s natural production of glutathione, although it puts some strain in the liver and gut. So all things considered, is MaxGXL a better product than just taking l-glutamine? Taking glutamine is much cheaper given the abundance of supplements in the market vs. glutathione.

Friend #2 says to take Endurox

Based on a research of 4:1 ratio (4 carbs for every 1 protein), the company claims to be the best muscle recovery formulation. Again, there is quite a bit more information on this topic, here’s a good article. Many of my volleyball friends take this and so there is more consensus on Endurox as a strong recovery after workout. Here too, you’ll find 450 mg. per service of l-glutamine.

When you are in your 40s and want to stay active, you tend to look for good helpers. Recovery becomes an important factor in the equation of being competitive at this stage. Max GXL and glutathione make claims on several areas of latic acid prevention, muscle ‘cool-down’ for sustain recovery, joints… which sounds a bit like a kitchen sink to get you hook. Endurox is more focused on after workout muscle recovery containing the more populate l-glutamine form.

Who should I listed too? I’ll try these out and come back with a full report later on. If you have any experience with any of these, let’s hear it!

written by osaez \\ tags: bcaa, glutamine, glutathione, health, recovery, supplements

Back from my Clearwater, Florida trip with 11 guys and 4 days of non-stop beach volleyball action from sunrise to sunset. Clearwater is going through quite a transformation. Lots of new commercial development, infrastructure and condo conversions. Needless to say, the locals are not happy that the retail profile has changed dramatically and that the crowded evenings during spring are summer may never come back. Nature threw at us all it got with an assortment of heavy fog, rain, gusty wind and yes… sun! We were usually by the beach around 9:30AM although some of the celebrities in the group (e.g. Egan) would leisurely make his encore entrance around 11:00am and conveniently after the nets were up.

Here are some video clips from our trip. Unfortunately, as I’m the camera person, there is no evidence of my “open AVP level play”. Thanks to P90X, I squeezed the most games, outplayed most of my friends and felt pretty much on top of my game except for one afternoon. Lesson learned, never play right after you eat lunch.

Not surprisingly, we bumped into some local players to find out that most of the them play for half a day during the weekends. What’s up with that? It must be that sun and good weather are available all year long and these guys don’t have the craving that Chicagoans do. Our philosophy is just to play until you crash or the sun is out, whichever comes first! This was my first year with this group and I’m glad that I made the trip.

Top trip quotables…

20. I’ve already dropped people from the summer beach group, what’s a few more?
19. To heck with regulation height!
18. Hey Daryl, let me rub lotion on you!
17. You want “ME” to block….
16. the same “ME” getting a block on ensuing play after saying above 6. Is it really called Mugs & Jugs?
15. God D@mn, mother f’er, can’t I get a tape trickle over serve…hey, is that a church group over there?
14. Have they really been playing cards and drinking all day at Crabby Bill’s?
13. Jim…Jim… wake up!
12. Is it mothers/daughters weekend?
11. He’s in the closet, literally!
10. It’s all about respect here!
9. Where’s Eagan?
8. Jim, do you need some more sunblock?
7. Steve’s lifetime membership to the I-blocked-Chris-hall-of-fame
6. Fermented orange juice does increase your vertical
5. At the departure gate. “Steve go ahead, children board first”, and reply “Paul, pregnant people can go in first as well”
4. You look really hot with those short above your knees… and you can jump so much higher!!
3. Hey Mark, let’s also change the carpet and give the place a fresh coat of paint while we are at it.
2. I didn’t find any hot girls, I have higher standards. - Paul

… and the number one top 20 quotes from the trip…

1. Hey, you want some of this!!!

I’m looking forward to my summer season at NAB (North Avenue Beach, Chicago) and to Clearwater next year with this group of crazy friends.

written by osaez \\ tags: beach, beach volleyball, clearwater, fun, P90X, sun, volleyball

This is my final strength training week. I’ll have to replace my recovery and core focus next week and my last overall, for my 5-day beach volleyball trip in Clearwater, Florida. I feel pretty good about completing this program and ready for a great summer. Game on!

So now that my 90 days are over, what should I do next for conditioning? I wanted to insert disc #14 (P90X only has 13 discs). There is no goodbye, no love, no instructions on how to continue to feed the habit. Since I still have about 45 days before summer, I plan to repeat the first month again. This seems to makes sense as pre-season training, but the question still remains, what to do during sport season.

written by osaez \\ tags: P90X, training, volleyball, workout