Triphasic Training 2 is an applied performance book showing coaches how to build strength, speed, and power by targeting the eccentric, isometric, and concentric phases of training.
The Test That Might Explain Your Athletes' Tight Hamstrings
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"Coach, my hamstrings are always tight. I stretch them every day and nothing works." Every strength coach has heard some version of that sentence about a thousand times. The Flip The hamstring isn't the problem. It's the messenger. In TP2, we break down hip extension into a specific firing order, and if your athlete's body isn't following it, something downstream is going to complain — loudly and often. The Order That Actually Matters The correct recruitment sequence for hip extension is: Glute max → Hamstring (same side) → QL (opposite side) The glute max has to fire first. When it doesn't, one of two compensation patterns shows up instead, and each one carries a different, predictable injury risk. Two Ways This Goes Wrong
Cal calls the second one out directly: "The most dangerous hip extension pattern is when the little QL muscle fires first to drive hip extension, then the hamstring, and then the glute max." A 10-Second Self-Check Stand with your arms at your sides. Feel the bottom of your ribs, then feel down to the top of your hip bone with your other hand. You should be able to fit four fingers in that gap. Can't fit four fingers? There's a good chance you're looking at a compensation pattern, not a flexibility problem. Here's a line from Henk Kraaijenhof, one of our mentors, that stuck with me: Tight hamstrings after a normal day of walking around usually means the wrong muscle has been doing the work all day, every day, for years. Stretching a muscle that's compensating just relaxes it long enough to let it go right back to compensating. I'll admit, the first time I ran the four-finger check on myself I was a little annoyed at the result. Worth doing before you run it on an athlete. Reframe Stop treating a tight hamstring as a hamstring problem. It's usually a hiring problem — the wrong muscle got the job first. The full RPR breakdown — the exact drills to reset a bad hip extension pattern in under two minutes — is laid out step by step in TP2. https://triphasic2.com << order here All the best, PS - Here is what Joel had to say: "What is the correct muscle firing pattern and what is the worst hip extension pattern? This might be the reason you or your athlete experiences muscle tightness in the lower back. Learn a quick self check on how to spot it and learn a technique to correct it immediately." -- Joel Yakowitz https://triphasic2.com << order here Coach Cal Dietz, U of MN If you do not want to get this newsletter, we will miss you, sniff sniff, but you can unsubscribe by clicking the link below and -poof- we are gone. |
Triphasic II
Triphasic Training 2 is an applied performance book showing coaches how to build strength, speed, and power by targeting the eccentric, isometric, and concentric phases of training.
Can you have athletes do....gasp....bodybuidling work? Yes! Super Endurance This is the fourth aerobic method in the TP2 book and it isn't a track or a bike. It's an old-school bodybuilding circuit, built to keep heart rate parked at 110 to 170 beats per minute while the muscles do the work instead of the lungs. Seven Levels, One Rule Sets, reps, and a finishing conditioning burst all scale together: Level 1: 1 set, 10 reps, 10-second finisher Level 4: 2 sets, 12 reps, 15-second finisher...
"My athlete added 40 pounds to the squat. Why did the first 10 yards not move?" That question is uncomfortable because the weight-room number is real. If Volleyball Vicki can grind out a four-second back squat at 315, does that automatically make her a better volleyball player? "I doubt it." Weight Room vs Transfer To The Field Functional Transfer Complexes, or FTCs, pair two or more exercises to improve a specific movement pattern. The basic idea is not exotic: pair posterior-chain work with...
Why does an athlete look explosive in the first few minutes, then become a different player late in the game? Speed That Disappears Is Not Useful Pure speed is easy to admire. Repeated Sprint Ability (RSA) is harder: can your athlete hit explosive speed again and again without fading? That is the quality football, hockey, and basketball coaches actually need when every shift, down, or fast break matters. Cal and Jon Janz call their answer the Fast-Twitch Repeated Sprint Ability Sequencing...