Think Seani was in between sport scientist and strength and conditioning coach!😂 Nice to get public recognition but its Seani's work ethic and desire to improve what makes him the player he is.. top player, top guy and great for him to get a well deserved move to Preston! Take a look at @SoccRepublic's Tweet: https://twitter.com/SoccRepublic/status/870739314195406848?s=09

Timeline Photos

Been quiet online recently but EPI athletes have been going well on the field. Last Friday Cork City made it 10/10 in the league, while on Saturday the Cork ladies footballers progressed to the League Final after beating Dublin! Some big developments taking place over the coming months with a large volume of new content and services coming. Will keep you updates with developments!

5 Common Mistakes In Golf Strength & Conditioning | Article | TPI

Excellent post by Mike Carroll of @fitforgolf discussing training mistakes commonly made and the principles he uses to develop athletic abilities with his athletes! While Golf is specifically mentioned here, it is important to note that the key issues raise in the article are transferable to all sports. Have a read and see if you can apply any of the recommendations to your own training. http://bit.ly/2em2nbD

Hello all, A lot of individuals have been asking me about the new mass marketed "Back baller" foam rolling product, and should they buy one. For me, in short - No! It cannot do anything a regular foam roller cant. I think a more sensible investment would be a regular roller, tennis ball, lacrosse ball, and golf ball. With these you can access all areas you want to get into that you cannot do with the back baller. This isn't a post about bashing a specific product - i have just been asked about this extensively due to the amount of intercounty GAA players tweeting thanking the company for getting a free one - this does not make it anything new or groundbreaking. I may do a post about the research and benefits self-myofascial release over the next few weeks if the interest is there. KT

After John Kavanagh's successful return to the starting team on Monday night I feel this is an appropriate post for the week that's in it! Kav had a very bad injury last year which forced him to miss a year of football. His dedication to his rehab has been phenomenal - from doing extras after training, coming in on days off, carrying out mobility/management of the injury at home, etc. he has been a pleasure to work with! In the initially stages we had to put a large focus on running re-education, correcting some compensations he developed in his sprint mechanics. We then had to spend a significant amount of time on his fitness/conditioning to ensure this new acquired technique held up under a fatigue environment. We are now spending some time improving his max speed and agility. In this video he is carrying out some resisted sprint training (RST with the use of sleds). In a recent review by Petrakos et al (2016) it was shown that RST can improve acceleration by up to 9.5% in field sport athletes. The research regarding the exact load which produces the best results is inconclusive with some recommending heavy loads to increase ground reaction forces - Other suggest loads of 10% of the athletes bodyweight, or a 10% reduction is speed, produce the best results as they don't cause a change in acceleration mechanics. In reality it may be individual - some weaker athletes may need to spend time with heavier loads increasing force development, whereas some heavier/stronger athletes may prefer unresisted sprints, or using light loads. Sport and position should also be considered - a rugby player that is forced to break many contacts (e.g. inside centre) may prefer a higher load to simulate game conditions whereas a winger who has more openfield running may not. With field sport athletes (GAA and soccer in particular) I tend to first get the athlete to do some unresisted accelerations so they are neurally ready to carry out RST. Then I get them to do the sled accelerations at around 20% body weight (including sled weight) - I find this weight gets them into a good forward lean position encouraging the desired running posture, without degrading the quality of the sprint. If the athlete tends to drag their hips or shoulders I reduce the load on the sled. I then get them to carry out some accelerations at with just the sled (around 7-8% bodyweight with Kav) re-emphasising good technique, followed by some unresisted accelerations again. I find this method good for potentiating the unresisted sprints (improving performance due to increased neural drive and activation). The volume of accelerations depend on the amount of similar training the athlete has done prior to the session, other training they had that week (football/gym/matches) and what they have coming up. If you are looking to improve your speed, power and agility get in touch. Best of luck. KT

The pull up: This is a great exercise for enhancement and assessment of posterior upper body strength! It gives an excellent idea of strength relative to your bodyweight.. always good to use as a wake up call to expose you when your diet is bad and when you are out of shape, as the extra dead weight (body fat) makes it much more difficult. It is simple exercise yet commonly done very wrong. - Start with hands just a few inches outside shoulder width apart, making a V shape with your body. Too wide changes the angle of the ball and socket joint of the shoulder and essentially puts it in an unhealthy position - always try to put your joints in the most optimal positions to produce and transfer force. - try to keep your legs locked out with toes pointed just out in front of your body with core tight and engaged. By bringing heels up behind the body as commonly seen, individuals tend to extend the spine to find the range of motion rather than achieving it through movement of the scapula (shoulder blade). Likewise when individuals raise their knees infront of their body they are simply raising their centre of gravity so they fool themselves into getting their chin over the bar. - to initiate the movement think about pulling the shoulders down towards your ass..this is called scapular depression. Without this the exercise becomes very much like a bicep curl with anterior delts and biceps taking much of the work off the back muscles. Note: Movement through the shoulder blade is important for efficient and optimal motion in a variety of sporting activities such as sprinting, and any sports involved upper body like hurling, golf, volleyball, tennis etc. Without good mobility here, there will poor postures, unused power, and overuse injuries to other nearby joints observed. - on the descent the movement should be controlled (roughly 3seconds) with a slight pause at the bottom, ensure lats are engaged and shoulder joint is positioned into a good powerful position before the initiation of the next rep. Give it a go and see how you get on. KT

Johnny Dunleavy Cork City FC captain doing some incline dumbbell presses! Johnny is currently out injured and wanted to increase his strength and size while unavailable for selection. Fortunately he had a good foundation of strength in place with excellent technique so we were able to increase volume relatively quickly! Over the last 8 weeks he quickly increased his bench press 3RM to from 80 to 92. 5kg, overhead press 3RM from 47.5 to 62.5kg, 3RM pull ups from 20kg to 30kg, while increasing his bodyweight by 3kg with no change in body fat. This shows what can be done with discipline and commitment to a program - again, however, it is critical to note that johnny had the excellent mechanics required to tolerate the volume needed to achieve these results. The off season is a crucial window of opportunity to develop these body structure changes! If you are looking for some assistance with your off season program and coaching get in touch. KT

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***Performance & Health Improvement Opportunity*** With the league of Ireland season coming to a close, EPI now has the capacity to take on individuals or groups for the following services: - Personal Training - Individual or group Strength & Conditioning - Postural Restoration If you are looking to correct performance deficiencies, improve athleticism, alter body composition, or enhance health and functionality, get in touch. With experience in working with both world class athletes, as well as, the average joe, EPI is ideally placed to help you reach your personal goals this Winter. KT

Warm-Ups

Nice article by The Science of Sport detailing the elements and requirements for an effective warm up. The principles listed here Raise, Activate, Mobilise and Potentiate/performance (RAMP) can be used for all sports to ensure an individual is physically prepared to perform. Importantly the author also emphasises the need to consider psycholgical and biomechanical factors when implementing a warm up routine. The one thing I would add is that not all levels of sport can be exposed to the exact same warm up - for example a warm up for a premier league footballer may be the equivelant to a training session for a junior C hurler. It is therefore crucial to consider the Minimum Effective Dose when designing a warm up for you or your players. If you need to reduce the duration of you warm up to avoid excessive fatigue while still trying to be sensitive the the skill requirements of you sport, try integrating elements of the RAMP principle to achieve ticking all the required boxes (e.g. for field sports, during the "Raise" part of the warm up, try to do this with the ball) Have a read, KT http://www.scienceforsport.com/warm-ups/

Dr Ed Coughlan: Either get with the times like Dublin or get left behind

Nice article outlining benefits of sport science.. especially liked the end where he challenges the consensus that Dublin have more money and hence do it better.. it's not the budget that matter as much, but the people involved and commitment to improvement!

Cork City FC

Unbelievable night.. boys gave it everything.. Hard work on training field and in the gym makes it worth it for nights like tonight!! #CCFC #EuropaLeague