How Fast Can a Baby Boomer With a Hip Replacement Sprint for 40 Yards?

    Early spring is the time when the National Football League (and the Canadian Football League) hold what is known as the 'Combine'.  The Combine is when potential recruits are put through a series of interviews, aptitude tests and physical assessments. The most regaled assessment has always been the 40 yard sprint!

It is often interesting for the average fan to fantasize how they would do against the professionals.
Well think no more! Little Bobby Strong has the answer.

I was a distance runner. I had some sprint speed back then  - and a lot more hair!
  See the following video to see how I have maintained the fast twitch muscle with age.

                         

For the last two years I was updating my Personal Fitness Training certificate to a diploma. One of the required courses was in Sports Performance and Assessment Techniques. There was a lab in which the Trainer or a client performed a linear speed test and made a video of the performance.
I decided that I would make the attempt of the required 40 meter sprint in 2 timed trials. It should be noted that I had a total hip replacement in 2006.! The attempts went better than I thought they would.

40 Meter Sprint Trial

Trial No. 1                                                           Trial No. 2

20 Meter Split Time	40 Meter Time	20 Meter Split Time	40 Meter Time
4.13 seconds	8.1 secs. Split 3.97	4.13 seconds	7.56 secs. Split 3.43

My closing momentum was greater in the 2nd trial.   
If we convert to 40 yards my time would have been around 6.9 seconds. Top combine prospects run around 4.5 seconds for backs and receivers to around 5 seconds for the fastest linemen. If my offensive line opened a hole for me there might be a slight delay before I hit the line of scrimmage.                
   The next day my hamstrings were seized  and I could hardly stand up. Unfortunately, there were also technical issues. (My camera man drank the 6-pack beer payment before we shot the video. The record button was off.)
  We filmed the re-run 3 days later. The running gods did not smile on me this time. I was hit with muscle spasm in both quadriceps as I tried to accelerate from a crouched start. Nevertheless, I think I showed true, raw speed.  The NFL may take a pass but I fully expect a call from my hometown Ottawa RedBlacks of the Canadian Football League.
  
Don't blink or you'll miss it! Believe me, I was much faster in the sprint with the video failure! 


Usain Bolt, stay retired. My time has come!

Little Bobby Strong


Links

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

www.rabbitview.com

Corrective Exercise Specialist

I am now a certified Corrective Exercise Specialist.

   Last spring I finished updating my Personal Fitness Training certificate from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to a diploma. The final course that I took was in corrective exercise. This gave diploma graduates the optional follow up to challenge the exam for the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as a Corrective Exercise Specialist. NASM is one of the most credible Fitness Trainer learning agencies in the U.S.A.
   Corrective Exercise should be a foundation for any fitness training program.

• The majority of people, whether active or not, usually have muscular imbalances. 
• Some muscle groups may be overactive or tight. Other muscle groups may be underactive or weak.
• You often see people with stooped shoulders, sway back posture, externally rotated  knees or foot pronation. They can have one or many such postural misalignments.
• Many fitness training clients are returning from injuries due to postural dysfunction. The injury has healed but the anatomical cause has not been fixed.
• Putting such clients on a cookie cutter training program may reinforce muscular imbalances leading to further dysfunction or even injury.

   A Corrective Exercise Specialist uses static, transitional and dynamic assessments to determine  if the client has postural issues such as:

• Weak muscle agonists.
• Overly dominant muscle synergists.
• Overactive muscle antagonists.

 The Corrective Exercise Exercise specialist can then determine remedial action.

• Overactive muscles are inhibited by pressure using manual pressure or a foam roller.
• Overactive muscles can then be lengthened by static stretching. 
• Strengthening overactive muscles just makes the dysfunction worse.
• Underactive muscles can be re-educated using isolated strengthening techniques. 
• Inhibiting or stretching underactive muscles is counterproductive at this stage. 
• An integrated dynamic movement can then be included to train the body to move in synergy.

  The Corrective Exercise Specialist can then progress the client along the exercise spectrum as muscular balance and posture improves. Exercises can be progressed in complexity or regressed depending on how the client responds to the training program.
   A corrective exercise assessment should precede any fitness training program! 

I also appreciate the fact that this certificate does not expire. The Corrective Exercise Specialist is expected to take continuing education courses and stay updated on current knowledge.

Little Bobby Strong
B.A.
PFT College Diploma
Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology - Certified Personal Trainer
NASM - Corrective Exercise Specialist
All this but I still have to pay $3.50 to get on a city bus??


Links

www.fitnwell.com
www.hwsafaris.ca

www.rabbitview.com