Young wrestlers often sacrifice strength training out of fear that lifting weights will increase their muscle mass and bump them into a higher weight class. Kevin Jackson, National Freestyle Coach for USA Wrestling, responds to that mindset, saying, “A wrestler should always be on a weight training program—if not to get stronger, then to maintain strength and health throughout the year.”

Jackson, a 1992 Olympic gold medalist and 1991 and 1995 world champion, explains how the same weightlifting program can yield vastly different results by tweaking certain elements: “To gain weight, you have to increase your calories and lift heavy weights. But you can also use weightlifting to maintain and even lose weight. When you are not trying to get bigger, lift lighter weights and increase your repetitions.”

Jackson’s recommendations to maintain your current weight class are to keep the weight 20-50 pounds below your max, increase reps by 2-4 per set and add an additional set for each exercise. Another strategy he uses to keep his wrestlers strong without unwanted weight gains is 45 minutes of lifting performed 10 to 20 minutes after a tough wrestling workout or other rigorous training session. “When you work fatigued muscles, you continue to burn calories and lose weight while simultaneously getting stronger,” he says. “Lifting after training hard also increases mental strength, because you learn to refocus on a weight workout after you’re already spent.”

Mental training is a huge element in Jackson’s overall program. “To win at the highest level against the best guys, mental toughness helps you more than any other tool,” he says. “Young athletes need to learn how to use their minds as a physical force through which they can tell their bodies what to do. No matter what pain the body feels, the mind can push through it and accomplish more.”

Jackson helps his wrestlers build strong minds by consistently taking them out of their comfort zones during workouts. Then, when adversity hits on the mat, they can roll right through it. He goes as far as to say, “Unless you’re focusing strictly on technique and tactics, it’s not even worth working out unless you push hard outside your comfort zone.”

Two of Jackson’s protégés—2000 Olympic-gold medalist, Brandon Slay, and 2005 national champion and world team trials champion, Muhammed Lawal—benefited tremendously from his blend of wrestling mental and physical strength training. “These are two guys who let their training take over,” Jackson says. “Because of the work they put in, they became confident and mentally tough, and this confidence removed any question or doubt when they were competing, making them much harder to defeat.”

Wrestling Strength Training

Designed to increase strength, power and explosiveness, the U.S. team’s workout program ensures daily departures from the comfort zone. The full-body system centers on explosive lifts like Hang Cleans and jumping exercises. Jackson says, “These are really efficient exercises for wrestlers of all ages to build the explosiveness and full body movements they will need on the mat.”

Overhead Squat

• Hold bar overhead with wide grip
• Squat down with control, keeping knees behind toes until tops of thighs are below parallel with ground
• Drive upward to starting position

Hang Shrug

• Grip bar just outside athletic stance
• Begin with bar just above knees, back locked, shoulders up and abs and chest flexed
• Explode by forcefully shrugging and fully extending hips, knees and ankles

Squat

• Begin with bar on back in athletic stance with toes pointing slightly out
• Focus on a point high on wall in front of you
• Squat down with control and good posture until thighs are just below parallel
• Keep weight back on heels
• Drive upward out of squat into starting position, keeping eyes up and chest out

Pull-Ups

• Grasp bar with an overhand grip
• Pull body up until chin is over bar
• Lower down with control until arms are straight

Leg Curl

• Lie down on a leg curl machine with heels locked underpads
• Bring heels to butt by contracting hamstrings
• Lower with control until legs are straight

Dumbbell Incline Bench

• Hold dumbbells at chest level slightly wider than shoulder-width
• Drive dumbbells up towards the ceiling until arms are straight
• Lower with control

Calf Raises

• Stand with bar across back in hip-wide stance
• Press into floor with toes until heels rise off ground

4-Way Neck

• Position body on 4-way neck machine
• Press head against pad in specified direction using only neck muscles
• Move back to starting position with control
• Repeat for all directions

Dumbbell Front Raise

• Stand with light dumbbells in each hand at waist level
• Raise arms forward to shoulder level, keeping arms straight
• Lower down with control

Dumbbell Lateral Raise

• Stand with light dumbbells in each hand at waist level
• Raise arms to the side to shoulder level, keeping arms straight
• Lower down with control

Dumbbell Rear Delt Raise

• Hold dumbbells and lean forward keeping back flat until torso is almost parallel to ground
• Drive elbows out and up with arms bent
• Raise elbows until even with shoulders
• Lower down with control

Dumbbell Squat Jumps

• Stand with dumbbells at the waist in an athletic stance
• Squat down until thighs are parallel to the ground
• Drive-up by extending hips, knees, and ankles
• Push through the ground to achieve maximum height
• Land with knees bent; do not let them extend over toes
• Repeat immediately, spending as little time on ground as possible

Bench Press

• Lie down with back on the bench
• Grasp bar slightly wider than shoulder-width
• Lower bar with control until it touches base of sternum, with hands directly above elbows
• Drive bar upward until arms are fully extended

Romanian Deadlift

• Hold bar in an upright position with slight flex in knees
• Bend forward at hips and slide bar down front of legs keeping back flat
• Drive hips backward and lower bar as far as possible without changing flex in knees or spine position
• Move upward in same fashion to standing position

Bentover Row

• Bend over at hips holding bar with shoulder-wide grip
• Pull bar toward chest
• Keep back flat and do not raise torso
• Lower down with control and repeat

Barbell Curl

• Grip bar slightly wider than shoulder-width
• Curl bar up to chin level, keeping elbows locked in place
• Lower bar with control

Tricep Extension

• Lie down with back on bench and arms straight up in front of chest
• Grip bar with only 6-8 inches between hands
• Lower bar toward forehead bending only at elbows
• Keep upper arms locked
• Raise weight through same motion to starting point while keeping elbows narrow

Hang Clean

• Grip bar just outside athletic stance
• Begin with bar just above knees with back locked, shoulders up and abs and chest flexed
• Explode by forcefully shrugging and fully extending hips, knees and ankles
• Pull bar up, keeping it close to the chest
• Drop under bar and catch it along front of shoulders in athletic stance with knees bent

Front Squat

• Hold bar across front of shoulders with elbows high
• Begin in athletic stance with toes pointing slightly out
• Focus on a high point on the wall in front of you
• Squat down with control and good posture until thighs are just below parallel
• Keep weight back on heels
• Drive upward out of the squat into starting position, keeping eyes up and chest out

Lat Pulldown

• Sit at pulldown machine with slight backward lean
• Grasp bar with overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width
• Pull bar down to below chin level without leaning back any more than from starting position
• Control weight back to starting position

Good Mornings

• Stand with the bar resting on back and knees slightly bent
• Bend forward at hips keeping back flat and tight
• Drive hips back

Clap Push-Ups

• Begin in a push-up position
• Lower down until sternum touches floor
• Explode up by pushing down into floor
• Clap as many times as you can while in air
• Immediately repeat upon landing

Chin-Ups

• Grasp bar with an underhand grip
• Pull body up until chin is above bar
• Lower down with control until arms are straight

Alternate Dumbbell Military Press

• Stand holding dumbbells at shoulder level with tight core
• Drive one dumbbell toward ceiling until arm is straight, without leaning backward or to side
• Lower back down and repeat with another dumbbell

Seasonal Changes

Jackson says, “During the off-season, preseason and early in the season, depending on your weight class goals for the year, you should be lifting heavy and trying to gain mass. As a young athlete, you should try to get as big and strong as you can through a healthy diet and heavy lifting, with numerous sets.

“Once you get to mid-year, look more toward maintaining your lean muscle mass, strength and conditioning levels. You are also lifting to prevent injury. You will be less susceptible to injury if your body remains strong. Do not expect your maxes to go up during this time; they will stay the same, or maybe dip, depending on how much training you’re doing in the wrestling room.

“When you get into the late season, you’re still lifting for maintenance and conditioning, because we want the muscles to fire hard and explosively. About three weeks before a competition, your weightlifting should get a lot lighter, with a few more reps, to work the cardio and maintain the conditioning, as opposed to getting bigger and stronger.”

CLASS ACTION

Cutting weight to fit into a lower weight class perturbs Kevin Jackson. “Great technique determines success at any size,” he says. “Young wrestlers should grow into a weight class and get bigger and stronger along the way. When they go on crash diets to cut weight, it is unnatural and ill advised. It also prevents a wrestler from expanding his technical knowledge of the sport, because he spends time trying to lose weight instead of getting stronger and improving his technical skills.”

Dieting and cutting not only diminish energy levels, adversely affecting performance on the mat, they also reduce a young athlete’s growth and motivation. The sport loses its fun factor.

On the other hand, Jackson realizes that losing weight may be inherent to the sport. He says, “You really have to consider what weight is too heavy for you. If you are wrestling an opponent, and you are in a position to win—where executing the proper technique should close out the match—but you end up getting muscled out, then it’s possible you are in too heavy a weight class, where the athletes are too strong for you.” If this is the case, Jackson hopes that coaches are knowledgeable enough to assist athletes in a healthy weight loss regimen that has no long-term, negative effects.

WHAT DO YOU SEE WHEN YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES? Kevin Jackson offers his thoughts.

I truly believe in visualization exercises. Visualize yourself in difficult situations and having success. Visualize yourself in training as well as in actual combat matches. Visualize your execution of perfect techniques. Visualize your hand being raised at the end of a match, or your celebration after winning the championship.

Many young athletes fail to mentally train this way. There are a couple ways to use visualization. First, you can do it at the end of practice when your body is totally exhausted. Try building yourself up to concentrate, relax and stay focused for four to six minutes, which is the duration of a typical match. Visualize your wrestling techniques, anything else dealing with wrestling and your success. Just relax, think about it and see it in your mind for that length of time. It’s difficult to focus that long on anything without letting your mind drift to other thoughts. The longer you can do it, the better.

The second method is to visualize and lock in on wrestling for six to 20 minutes while you’re lying in bed at night. This will aid you in your pursuit of success. Falling asleep while visualizing winning is a good thing. What you see in your mind will stick with you subconsciously and allow you to capture what you are trying to accomplish. When you’re visualizing your technique over and over again, it makes it much easier when you have to execute it physically. If you can see yourself winning a world championship in your mind, it is stored in your subconscious. Your mind can draw upon this as if it were a real past experience.

Article originally published in 2005, it’s been updated as it’s so popular. 

Call them Barbell Squats, Back Squats or just plain old Squats. Any way you say it, this lift separates serious athletes from the crowd of recreational gym rats looking to improve the appearance, size or shape of their legs. Why? Because a demanding set of Squats requires effort, guts and heart—three qualities that define an athlete and scare the heck out of the general public. And while Squats are tough to perform, their countless benefits are worth the effort.

The Squat is not the beginning and end of all lower-body training. However, by strategically mixing together a few adaptations from the Squat Family, you will create a full squatting experience that can help you attain any athletic goal imaginable—whether it’s pure power, strength, balance or flexibility. There is a Squat for you.

We pooled together the expertise of some of the top strength coaches in the nation to break down the five most effective Squat exercises out there. Bow down to King Squat.

1. Barbell Squat

Benefits: Lower-body power and strength; core stabilization

“If you want to improve power, you have to Squat.” These words, from Detroit Tigers strength and conditioning coach Javair Gillett, sum up the importance of the old standby in one breath. It should be the foundation for every lower-body training program, barring injury or specific circumstances. “This hits every lower-body muscle and is a great lower back and abdominal strength exercise,” adds Gillett.

To make it most effective and to prevent injury, you must adhere strictly to proper Squatting technique.

“Squats might be the most incorrectly performed exercise out there,” Gillett says. “We make sure an athlete is proficient in this movement before we fully incorporate it into his training.”

Below are Gillett’s guidelines to mastering the all-powerful Squat. Use them to reap the kind of rewards that slackers will never realize.

Technique
• Assume athletic position with bar on back and feet slightly wider than hip width
• Keeping chest up, core tight and knees behind toes, lower into squat until tops of thighs are parallel to ground
• Drive up, out of squat position

Key Tips
• Position bar on traps, not above or below
• Do not allow your knees to go past your toes as you move into and out of squat position
• Keep chest up, eyes straight ahead and back straight as you sit back into squat
• Do not allow knees to cave in; keep them directly in line with ankles
• Maintain control during descent; do not drop down
• Make sure to get proper depth [tops of thighs parallel to ground] • Explode out of squat

2. Single-Leg Squat

Benefits: Single-leg strength, balance

Take a look at a few action shots from one of your recent competitions, and notice the position of your legs. At any given moment, it’s highly unlikely that both of your feet are planted solidly on the ground. “All sports are played on one leg,” says Mike Boyle, Boston University hockey S+C consultant and industry legend. “Athletes are constantly driving and pushing off one leg.” Which is exactly why Boyle recommends the Single-Leg Squat.

When your body assumes a single-leg position—whether during training or competition—balance is an issue and different muscles take over. “Pelvic stabilizers, the various muscles in and around the buttocks, lower back and abdomen, are forced into action,” Boyle says. “These muscles, which are critical to balance and overall sport performance, are not activated when you are in a two-legged stance. Balance is single-leg strength.”

Follow Boyle’s lead to develop all of the muscles in your hips, ankles and legs required to maintain balance, change direction and accelerate.

Technique

• Place one foot flat on ground with other foot resting on bench behind you
• Keeping front knee behind front toes, descend into lunge position until front thigh is parallel to floor and back knee is nearly touching ground
• Rise into starting position

Key Tips

• Begin with bodyweight; gradually increase to light dumbbells, then eventually a bar with weight
• Keep front knee behind toes as you lower
• Do not allow chest to fall forward
• Do not cheat by pushing with the back leg

3. Pause Squat

Benefits: Explosion, first-step quickness

John Krasinski, University of California football strength and conditioning coach, has a theory: The athlete who can get up to speed the quickest will win the battle on the football field [and in most other sports as well]. But getting up to full speed is no easy task for a football player who is stuck holding a static stance or a sprinter who starts his race locked into the blocks. Realizing this, Krasinski instituted the Pause Squat. “When you look at the start of a play, or when they’re timing the 40 at the Combine, the [athlete] has to hold on the line,” Krasinski says. “We’re trying to train that explosive movement from a dead stop, so it’s not like a plyometric, where you have a counter move. We want to generate as much force and as much power as quickly as we can.”

Krasinski provides the keys to a perfect Pause Squat.

Technique

• Assume athletic position with bar on back and feet slightly wider than hip width
• Keeping chest up, core tight and knees behind toes, lower into squat until tops of thighs are parallel to ground
• Pause for two seconds
• Explosively drive out of squat position

Key Tips

• Use lighter weight so exercise is not a struggle; keep it explosive
• Keep your chest up and lead with it on way up
• After two-second pause, generate velocity immediately, not gradually

4. Lunge

Benefit: Muscle balance

Although The Lunge is not in the immediate Squat Family, it is part of this discussion due to its balancing benefits.

Cleveland Indians strength and conditioning coach Tim Maxey wants you to stop worrying about your reflection in the mirror. Concerned that most athletes spend too much time developing the front side of their bodies, or “mirror muscles,” Maxey uses Lunges as a core lift to counter that full frontal overload.

“If an athlete only performs Squats, he will create an imbalance,” Maxey says. “He will become tight in his hip flexors and will become quad-dominant. Balance needs to be created with an exercise that works the posterior chain—the glutes, hamstrings, erectors, lats and scapular stabilizers. These are often neglected, but have a significant impact on your performance.”

Use Maxey’s tips on the Lunge to get your backside caught up with your front.

Technique

• Stand with bar on back and feet slightly closer than shoulder width
• Step forward and slightly toward midline of body
• Lower into lunge position until back knee is about two inches from ground. Focus on getting both front and back knees to 90 degrees
• Push back with heel of front foot to return to start position
• Step forward with opposite foot; repeat

Dumbbell Variation: Same as above, but hold dumbbells at side. Use dumbbells under 40 pounds and do not allow weight to swing during movement.

Key Tips

• When you step forward, land on whole foot, not ball of foot. This will take pressure off your knee
• Push back with heel of front foot to work appropriate muscles [glutes and hamstrings] and to make movement less quad-dominant
• Use back leg as anchor
• Do not touch back knee to ground
• Squeeze shoulder blades together throughout whole movement
• This is a strength-building, not a power exercise, so keep speed of movement slow
• Don’t add external resistance until technique is perfect
• Always perform warm-up/movement prep first

5. Bodyweight Lateral Squat

Benefits: Flexibility, lateral movement

Dallas Mavericks strength and conditioning coach Robert Hackett uses the Bodyweight Lateral Squat to help his players improve their flexibility and movement.

“I have had some amazing athletes over the years, who couldn’t bend over and touch their toes or squat down into a low defensive position,” Hackett says. “These guys had never worked on range of movement or flexibility. Although they might have been able to go out and jump over the rim, they would have been that much better if they had worked on flexibility.”

This exercise targets range of motion in the legs and hips, especially the hip flexors, where most power is generated. According to Hackett, when these muscles are tight, your ability to move with power in an explosive movement is greatly diminished. In addition, “[this exercise] builds strength in the abductors and adductors, which are crucial in change-of-direction and lateral movement ability.” Perform this exercise adhering to Hackett’s hints to loosen up your hips and unlock your power

Technique

• Assume athletic stance
• Take large step right with right foot
• Drive hips back and lower into Lateral Squat position; keep weight on heels and right knee behind toes
• Drive up and left out of side squat into standing position. Repeat for specified reps
• Perform set on left leg; rest

Key Tips

• Keep back straight
• Do net bend over at waist
• Keep feet pointing straight ahead
• Do not allow heels to come off ground

This premium content and event marketing partnership will help young football players reach their goals through the Youth Football Combine Tour and STACK.com.

Toronto, Ontario — Sport Testing, Inc., the worldwide leader in athletic testing, announced today an exclusive partnership with STACK (www.STACK.com), the nation’s leading multi-platform sports performance content and media company for athletes. The two companies will work together to help youth football players improve themselves with a robust content experience on STACK.com, football training plans and industry-leading events as part of the Youth Combine Tour (www.theyouthcombine.com), a multi-city nationwide tour launching this spring.

“We are extremely excited to partner with the national leader in sports performance and athlete lifestyle on this event series,” said Marques Colston, President of Sport Testing, USA. “Our ability to leverage STACK’s expertise, premium content and deep relationships in this industry adds significant value to our event series and its participants.”

As part of its global strategy to engage athletes throughout the course of the year, STACK will be integrating its premium MORR Football Offseason Training program, created in conjunction with legendary football performance coach Chip Smith, and its forthcoming Performance Club app, which provides customized workout programs based on sport, position, experience level and training goals, into the Youth Combine Tour. The results will be a long-term improvement plan for young football players and a top-notch combine experience.

“STACK’s goal has always been to engage athletes and help them reach their goals on and off the field,” said Josh Staph, STACK’s SVP, Content. “Partnering with Sport Testing on this event series gives us another channel through which we can impact athletes in person at events as well as through our training programs and mobile app.”

Sport Testing uses a combination of testing hardware, monitoring software and applications to assess both general athleticism and sport-specific skills. This seamless process will enable athletes to view and compare their scores to players who have been tested previously and are in the Sport Testing database. Professional athletes Connor McDavid, Andrew Wiggins and Tristan Thompson are among the elite athletes who have been tested by the company. Additionally, the technology has been used by many NHL, NFL, NCAA, NLL, KHL and AFL teams and players as well as youth sports organizations globally.

“Our solution highlights athletes’ strengths and weaknesses, providing them with insight into which areas of their game need improvement and helping them reach the next level,” said Colston. “By leveraging STACK’s Performance Club app and premium training plans, we can now provide continuous dialogue and engagement with participants as they progress athletically.”

About Sport Testing Inc.

Sport Testing Inc. provides state-of-the-art sport-specific athlete assessment technologies and services. The company’s highly accurate testing and data collection and analysis tools are used by the NHL, CHL, NLL, CFL, CIS and NCAA teams, Canada Basketball, amateur teams and more. For more information, please visit  www.sporttesting.com.

About STACK

STACK exists to educate and inspire athletes of all ages. STACK is a multi-platform content and media company providing differentiated sports content focused on athletic performance, fitness, nutrition and other important aspects of the athlete lifestyle. STACK engages a massive audience of active millennials through its various channels, including: STACK.com, the digital home of all STACK content and web-based tools, reaching more than 6 million monthly unique visitors; its nationwide network of 13,500 high school athletic programs, representing 75% of all high schools with varsity sports programs; and digital applications, including STACK Performance Club and STACK Conditioning.

Visit: www.STACK.com

RELATED: The New GSSI Lab at IMG Academy is an Athlete’s Dream

You see, these athletes are not lifting weights, running sprints or doing position-specific skillwork. They’re participating in a new vision and cognitive training program—one that’s being used by a growing number of pro athletes across many sports.

At IMG Academy alone, Super Bowl champions and MLB stars regularly take part in the vision training protocol. Quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill and Russell Wilson used the program while preparing for the NFL Combine in 2012. New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz tried a version of the vision training last year and immediately felt benefits.

“You want to be able to track the ball all the way from the quarterback’s arm into your hands, and these hand-eye coordination drills definitely help with that,” Cruz said. “I want to be known as a guy who does everything he can to prepare, so fine details like this are crucial to me.”

According to IMG Academy’s mental and vision conditioning coach David Da Silva, the program is based on how the Air Force Academy trains pilots. There, vision and reaction time are life-or-death attributes.

“Knowing that performance can be improved by training someone’s ability to look for something and to see it more clearly, we took that process and applied it to athletes here.” Da Silva says.

RELATED: Try These Vision Training Drills From the U.S. Air Force

How Sports Vision Training Works

The program isn’t just about seeing. It’s about doing. IMG Academy sets out to improve the speed and efficiency with which an athlete’s brain processes information and gets his or her body to respond.

“Seeing, thinking and doing are highly trainable abilities,” says Da Silva. “Cognitive training is really about how the brain processes information. It starts with what the athlete is able to see and how clearly they can see it.  Then, how quickly the athlete is able to make a decision based on what is seen.  The third phase is getting the body to react, whether that is a wide receiver catching the football or a quarterback throwing a pass precisely where he needs to target it.”

Football players go through one to two sessions per week. Each session ranges from 20 to 30 minutes. During the training, athletes complete a series of drills that challenge their eyesight as well as their brains and their bodies’ ability to react.  As they do, high-tech equipment tracks their performance, allowing Da Silva to monitor their progress.

“We can see an improvement in reaction time of .2 to .4 seconds within a few sessions,” Da Silva says.  “We’ve seen some reaction times drop from one second to .4 seconds, which is an extreme improvement—more than twice as fast the original time.”

Considering that the outcome of a play—or even an entire game—can come down to a fraction of a second, you can imagine the impact of shaving off this much time. If you’re a receiver adjusting to a pass, or a defensive back trying to intercept it, that speed can determine who comes up with the ball.

Although a player’s field vision and cognition are tough traits to quantify, Da Silva’s athletes say their training has translated to improved real-world results.

“Athletes tell me that their confidence and focus on the field have improved quite a bit,” Da Silva says. “They see things out of their peripheral vision that they couldn’t see before. Even just walking around campus, they are more in tune with their environment because their visual and cognitive systems are functioning so well. Some athletes have even noticed that their reading speed and comprehension have increased.”

Three Elements of IMG’s Vision Training Program

IMG Academy relies on three main exercises. Each develops a different element of an athlete’s vision and cognitive process.

1. Dynavision D2

WHAT IT DOES: Improves hand-eye coordination, reaction time and peripheral vision.

HOW IT WORKS: A large board with approximately 64 light buttons is positioned at various heights in front of the athlete. The lights light up one by one. The athlete tries to touch the illuminated button as fast as possible to turn it off while also focusing on the center of the board, where a small screen displays numbers that the athlete must call out throughout the 30-second set.

“Most people struggle on the outer reaches of their peripheral vision on this, notably the bottom of the board,” Da Silva says. “This really helps you become more definitive and accurate with your hand-eye coordination. It helps you see things better, process what is going on, and then react to it better. It is also very competitive. Athletes challenge themselves to improve their score.”

2. Neurotracker

WHAT IT DOES: Trains the athlete to span his attention across many moving elements under pressure.

HOW IT WORKS: The athlete wears 3D glasses and sits 3 to 5 feet away from a screen displaying eight yellow balls. Four of the balls turn orange, indicating to the athlete which balls he or she should track throughout the exercise. The balls then return to yellow and start shuffling around the screen, bouncing into each other and moving toward and away from the athlete.  When the balls stop moving, the athlete tries to identify the four balls he or she was assigned to follow.

“This is developing the decision-making process, spatial awareness and most importantly the athlete’s awareness and attention of what’s going on in front of him,” Da Silva says. “Just like when you’re playing wide receiver, there are many moving targets and you must spread your attention across all of them.”

3. FITLIGHT Trainer

WHAT IT DOES: “This develops the ability to make good decisions under pressure in a certain sequence by relying on memory and speed of thought,” Da Silva says.

HOW IT WORKS: The FITLIGHT system consists of a series of disc-shaped lights that light up in a variety of colors. Da Silva positions five light discs in front of the athlete on stands at about waist height, then designates a specific color pattern—“red-blue-green-yellow-purple,” for example.  The discs light up in different colors, and the athlete must slap them with his or her hands in the designated order as quickly as possible to turn them off. The discs then light up with a different order or colors, and the athlete repeats the pattern.

Sports Vision Training You Can Try At Home: Saccade Eye Exercises

Da Silva recommends a simple drill for improving your vision and eye strength at home.  The exercise focuses on saccades, which are rapid movements between different focus points, either vertically or horizontally. 

To perform the drill, you need four sheets of paper with random numbers and letters printed across it in rows of 10 or so. You can download the four sheets here. 

Position the four sheets of paper on a wall to form a square. The bottom sheets should be just above the floor and the top sheets should be about seven to eight feet above them. The left sheets should be 7-8 feet from the right ones.

Stand eight feet away from the wall and keep your head still with your gaze directed straight in front at the middle of the square. Without moving your head, focus your eyes on the upper left sheet and call out the first number or letter in the first row. Then, move your eyes to the upper right sheet and call out the first letter or number in the top row.  Continue reading each subsequent letter on the sheets going line by line. Rest for about 20-30 seconds and move onto the sheets in the bottom left and right corners.

“This drill focuses on eye rhythm and getting the muscles of the eyes to be able to move the eyes in different directions over different durations,” Da Silva says.  “The athlete must move their eyes from different positions to read numbers and letters efficiently.”

On the next set, move your eyes vertically from the bottom left corner to the top left corner to read each letter on the sheets. Repeat on the right sheets.

Over time, increase the distance between the sheets to further challenge your eyes, always making sure that your head does not move during the drill.

Get More Off-Season Football Workouts

The new cutting-edge lab is situated inside the recently built, 65,000-square-foot IMG Performance and Sports Science Center. Gatorade’s first satellite lab location in the U.S, it not only provides larger testing spaces and improved equipment, but it also leverages direct access to high school athletes in a practice, training and competition environment through the athletes attending school and playing sports at IMG Academy.

The newly built 9,200 square-foot GSSI Lab at IMG Academy

“Back at Barrington, it might take us several weeks to gather the right high school athletes for a study,” says Melissa Anderson, principal scientist for Gatorade and leader of the GSSI satellite location in Bradenton. “Here, we can literally propose a test to the coaches and have it set up within a day. It gives us immediate access and feedback with high school athletes of all multiple ability levels.”

The type of testing that is taking place down in Bradenton is truly amazing, and STACK was able to take part in it over a two-day period last month.  We learned that though an extremely small percentage of high school athletes will be blessed with personal access to this state-of-the-art facility, the testing taking place within it will benefit every athlete nationwide.

The GSSI Experience and Testing

On our first day of testing, GSSI’s team set out to get a sweat profile for each attendee.  The goal was to monitor our sweat loss rate (how much fluid we lose per hour) and how much sodium we lost through our sweat. To do so, we weighed in and then had sweat patches applied to the top of each forearm.

Sweat patches being applied prior to the workout.

We were led through a warm-up and about 30 minutes of basketball and reaction drills to get a sweat going. Perspiration has never been a problem for me, so my sweat patches were fully saturated and removed prior to us heading outside for a three-mile run.

After the workout, we weighed in again to determine fluid loss, and our sweat patches were sent to Gatorade’s scientists to be tested that night. The following day, we got a full report on our sweat profile. I learned that my sweat rate is 1.7 liters per hour, which is categorized as “very high,” and that I lose 1,465 mg of sodium per hour, which is classified as “high.”

The results were not surprising, because I have long suffered from cramping problems, but the report was only the first part of the process. It was the personalized fuel and fluid recommendations based on my sweat profile that made the experience so beneficial. I now know which products and the exact amount to take in prior to, during and after intense activity.

Gatorade’s Gx Platform

The type of testing taking place at GSSI at IMG Academy has become the foundation supporting Gatorade’s latest innovation, its Gx sports fuel customization platform, which is a revolutionary way for athletes to hydrate and fuel in a more personalized way based on their specific sweat and fuel usage profiles. In short, Gx will set out to go beyond the one-size-fits-all approach to hydration by offering athletes an appropriate concentration of electrolytes and carbohydrates based on their specific needs.

This personalized formula will come in an easily transported pod inserted into the flip cap of a new type of Gatorade squeeze bottle. The athlete pierces the pod, and the concentrated solution mixes with the water in the bottle below.

Gatorade’s Gx Pod and Smart Cap System

Perhaps the most interesting element of the Gx platform is the development of smart cap technology, which helps athletes track their fluid, electrolyte and carbohydrate intake over the course of a workout, practice or game by way of blinking lights that monitor their actual intake against the amounts recommended based on their previous testing.

As an athlete, I often worried about whether I was drinking too much or too little during scheduled hydration breaks, and having the smart cap technology during an intense basketball drilling session proved its efficacy for me. When I picked up the bottle, I saw what hydration gap I needed to cover to maintain the appropriate intake over time until the blinking light was close to or at the target light. It was a simple process that would have put my mind at ease when I was a high school and college athlete.

Gatorade’s Gx Smart Cap Technology in Action

Gatorade piloted its Gx platform and smart cap beginning in 2014 with the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) leading up to the World Cup. Additionally, teams like the Chicago Bulls, FC Barcelona, Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos have been using the technology and providing feedback to Gatorade’s innovation team regarding how Gx can be improved prior to launching it with 50 teams in 2017.

There’s no need to worry if you don’t happen to play for one of those 50 pro teams, however; a form of this personalized pod technology will soon be available for all athletes online and at sporting good stores. You will be able to purchase a flip cap bottle and concentrated pods based on your sweat and fuel needs. Initially, Gatorade Thirst Quencher and G2 will be the two formulas available to the masses, but big things like digital sweat patches and more personalized formulas are coming soon.

More Innovation Ahead

As if this innovation and testing were not exciting enough, Gatorade has more in store for athletes over the next couple of years. The innovation team is currently developing actual food products with ingredients that will help athletes fuel throughout key points of the day, including carb-packed wafer products and a nighttime frozen yogurt product rich in the slow-releasing casein protein that helps athletes’ muscles repair and recover while they sleep.

Further down the line, we might be seeing products that help with collagen production, which would be a huge asset in injury prevention and recovery for athletes, and vegetable-based nitrate products that improve endurance by reducing the oxygen cost of exercise or competition.

This current and future innovation is only possible through the athlete testing taking place at GSSI’s new state-of-the-art lab, which is why we are all benefitting from the new facility.

In mid April, the day before I ran the Boston Marathon, I had the opportunity to sample CLIF’s yet-to-be-released Nut Butter Bars. Since that day, I have eagerly been awaiting the full-scale release of this delicious combo of typical CLIF Bar shell and creamy nut butter filling. That glorious day arrived a couple weeks ago.

While I picture this new bar having come together in some late-night accident involving peanut butter in the CLIF Bar kitchen, it is actually the result of a well-thought-out idea to combine two healthy, energy-rich foods for athletes and fitness enthusiasts to enjoy, regardless of the intensity of their activity.

The results of this combination are impressive to say the least. After taste testing the bars and learning about their ingredients, I wanted to share what I believe are the biggest benefits to athletes looking to snack or refuel with them.

1. They’re Low Glycemic

Depending on the flavor, each bar contains 9-10 grams of sugar, which is considerably less than a typical CLIF Bar, which has around 22 grams of sugar to help replace muscle glycogen and sustain energy during long bouts of intense activity. Because the Nut Butter Bars have less sugar, they have less of an impact on insulin levels, so you can snack on them during much lower intensity activities without overloading on sugar. In short, you don’t have to work as hard to earn this tasty reward.

2. They Can Help Pack on Muscle

Each bar contains 7 grams of plant-based protein to help rebuild and repair muscle following a workout or to simply satisfy hunger and get you closer to your daily recommended amount of protein intake when eaten outside of activity.

3. They’re Chock Full of Healthy Fats

Each bar contains 8.5 grams of unsaturated fat, or “healthy fat,” which provides long-lasting energy and has been shown to lower cholesterol, help maintain blood sugar and insulin levels and improve overall heart health.

4. They Don’t Have Any Bad Stuff in Them

All ingredients are organic and non-GMO, plus there are no artificial flavors, hydrogenated oils or high-fructose corn syrup.

5. They Won’t Weigh You Down

A typical CLIF Bar weighs 68 grams, while the Nut Butter Bars come in at around 50 grams. The smaller size addresses the fact that nut butters are extremely filling. With the added filling, less dough is necessary to help athletes fuel up on the go without getting overly full or weighed down.

6. There is Something for Everyone

CLIF Nut Butter Bars come in four different flavors to ensure every nut butter lover has a bar of choice. The flavors are chocolate hazelnut butter, chocolate peanut butter, peanut butter and coconut almond butter [by far my favorite].

7. They Taste Really, Really Freakin’ Good

As I mentioned above, my favorite flavor is coconut almond butter, but I can honestly say that I consider all four flavors to be the best tasting energy bars I have ever eaten. That is obviously my personal opinion, so check out the bars yourself and see if you are as impressed as I am.

Learn more about CLIF Nut Butter Bars.

One of those excited yet patient Cavs fans was Mark Davidson, who of course was rocking his brand new Cavs championship snapback hat to show his intense pride in the achievement of his favorite team. Davidson headed to the parade at 9:30 a.m., and he estimates that he stood outside for nearly 7 hours to take in the delayed parade’s festivities and rally. As you can tell from his tweet below, Davidson’s lack of sunscreen and presence of a snapback created an epic farmer’s tan in the shape of a crescent on the fan’s completely bald dome.

Who needs a farmer’s tan when you can get a @cavs Finals hat burn? pic.twitter.com/rIUXldi4nz

— 2016 NBA CHAMPIONS! (@MarkdFL) June 23, 2016

Clevelanders can now brag they’re home to the world’s best basketball team and the best bald-head farmer’s tan. Please send this guy some aloe vera.

Ever since my collegiate football career ended, I’ve suffered from spondylothesis, a fracture of my L5 vertebra that causes nerve pain down my leg and spasms in the muscles of my torso. I have developed a morning routine of forward bends, rotations and extensive foam rolling to rid myself of back tightness and achieve full range of motion. Each morning, I sit on the edge of my bed fully aware that the previous hours of  “restful” sleep will require 10-15 minutes of undoing before I am ready to face the day.

In some instances, discomfort in my back has affected my sleep prior to rising, negatively impacting my training or work the following day. This is not surprising, since the link between sleep and athletic performance is undeniable—a solid eight hours or more are crucial to recovery, regeneration and overall health. Sleep provides an opportunity for the body to repair damage caused by training, practicing or competing, improves blood flow, and removes stress.

Sleep also packs numerous performance-enhancing benefits beyond recovery. One of the more recognized studies on athletes and sleep, focused on the Stanford men’s basketball team, showed that their athletic performance drastically improved when they increased their sleep duration each night beyond their usual sleep habits. The results were conclusive.

During the study, the players’ total nightly sleep time increased by about 80 minutes, which resulted in improving their sprint times by .7 seconds, free-throw accuracy by 9 percent and 3-point field goal percentage by 9.2 percent. The athletes also saw improved reaction time and decreased fatigue while experiencing improvement in their sense of physical and mental well-being during practices and games.

RELATED: How Your Nutrition Can Improve the Quality of Your Sleep

Despite this evidence, many athletes and fitness-minded individuals who are striving to gain an edge on their performance and general well-being look only to training and nutrition as the key components to improvement. In most cases, the importance of sleep is overlooked.

However, one company is hoping to change that by bringing more restful, performance-enhancing sleep to the masses. LEVELsleep has created a product line of mattresses that purportedly provide lumbar support and minimize pressure on key areas of the body to enhance natural alignment, all with the goal of improving the quality of sleep while reducing next-day pain and stiffness.

LEVELsleep mattresses rely on a unique structure to provide these benefits. Made of foam, each mattress consists of zones of varying firmness to allow a natural alignment of the body. Typical mattresses sag under the weight of the torso, which results in flattening the lumbar spine’s [low back] natural curvature. In contrast, LEVELsleep mattresses support the torso with added firmness via a LEVELfirm layer positioned two feet from the head of the bed.

Your head and shoulders are situated above this zone on a softer layer. Same goes for your hips and legs below the firm zone. This allows for a more level, sag-free posture, providing a natural decompression of your spinal column as you lie on the mattress.

According to Roger Sramek, co-founder and inventor of LEVELsleep, the typical flattening of the lumbar curve is compounded by the fact that many of us are hunched over computers or bowing our head to text all day before we hit the sack. “All of the things we end up doing all day are distorting our posture, and we definitely don’t want a mattress that is going to do the same,” he says. “Otherwise, that will reflect down to the lumbar region as back pain and stress on the soft tissues, ligaments, muscles and intervertebral discs. It worsens the pain and the next thing that happens is your sleep is disturbed.”

The consequences of unnatural sleep posture can wreak havoc on the body. “When pain and stiffness result from the previous night’s sleep, you’re starting the day with that and have to find a way to mentally and physically shake that off before moving into any activity,” Sramek says. “And of course, the tossing and turning that was probably a part of your night has cut into your sleep and affected your energy level and your positive attitude. If you’re a competitor waking up to go into competition, you’re waking up with some strikes against you already.”

With all things touting performance benefits, we wanted to see the research behind the claims. Turns out, there is some data to support the benefits of the mattress. LEVELsleep recruited 30 patients and monitored their sleep and body positions with Philips’ Actiwatch technology while they slept on the mattress. Monitoring was done for the first week on the patients’ usual mattress, then the LEVELsleep mattress was put in place, and patients were monitored for five nights. The monitoring revealed the following changes in the patients:

• 34.5% reduction in tossing and turning
• 57% reduction in pain
• 54% reduction in stiffness
• 43% reduction in next-day fatigue
• 56% reduction in time to fall asleep
• 60% increase in overall sleep satisfaction 

While the study provides substantial evidence, firsthand experience is always ideal. So, with the goal of putting the efficacy of the mattress to a further test, I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep on it for the past two months. After unwrapping the rolled up foam mattress from its tight plastic seal, I watched it expand to about three or four times itself in a matter of minutes.

The feeling of the mattress took a little getting used to, as I had been accustomed to sinking into a typical mattress my entire life. The firmness of the mattress was immediately noticeable as was the posture my body adopted after lying down. My hips, legs, head and shoulders were below my torso, resulting in what felt like a chest-opening sensation (picture yourself lying with your back on a physioball and allowing your body to curl around it, just not as extreme).

According to Sramek, an adjustment period is quite common. “Every night for eights hours a night, we do the same thing over and over all our lives,” he says. “To change anything has a temporary disruptive effect. It certainly makes you notice it. That’s why we did the clinical studies after the people had a chance to sleep on the mattress for a few nights. Some people said they slept all night long for the first time in years on that first night, while others said it took them a few nights to get used to it.”

The new sensation was odd at first, but it didn’t dramatically disrupt my ability to fall asleep the first few nights. After that, it became less and less noticeable, until it felt completely normal lying in bed.  While I didn’t immediately notice any changes in how quickly I fell asleep or how often I moved around, the next-day benefits were evident from day one.

When I awoke the first morning, I immediately noticed less lower-back stiffness and did not need to go through my usual loosening routine.  The noticeable change has remained over the two-month testing period, and I can get into my morning workout without any special low back considerations. I can confidently say that my workouts and performance have improved as a result of sleeping on the LEVELsleep mattress at night, and I look forward to the continued benefits.

Rob, Chris, Dan, Glenn and Gordie, Jr. should probably stick to the weight room and football field, where they generally kick ass. The Gronk Fitness plyo box in the video may have had the best moves.

Approximately 2,500 pounds of USC offensive linemen got stuck in an elevator for obvious reasons. Most notably, there were eight massive creatures crammed into the elevator. This emergency situation would be the average person’s worst nightmare, but the husky fellas put their free time and tight quarters to use by executing the ultimate team bonding activity: shoulder-to-massive-shoulder freestyle rapping. The topic of the rap? Being stuck in an elevator, of course.

USC’s offensive line got stuck in an elevator and they made the “elevator rap”pic.twitter.com/8LW58URGX3

— Football Vines (@TheFBVine) April 23, 2016

As the situation progressed, the lighthearted singing gave way to more urgency on the part of the Trojans. 6-foot-9-inch, 360-pound Zach Banner thoughtfully began documenting the whole experience for us. He first checks in to let people know they are stuck and in need of help. His shirt is being attacked by back and chest sweat:

We Are Stuck on the elevator…. pic.twitter.com/mfykPPtxUJ

— Zach Banner (@zachbanner73) April 23, 2016

Finally, firemen arrive to save the day… with snacks? That’s the last thing these dudes need. The saga continues…

Fireman are but aren’t helping much pic.twitter.com/eyD7JwHzBH

— Zach Banner (@zachbanner73) April 23, 2016

Things are getting hot and gross. Banner offers his loved ones the grossest, sweatiest farewell ever.

Here’s my will… pic.twitter.com/TQWQD3PWSA

— Zach Banner (@zachbanner73) April 23, 2016

Someone farted.

Someone farted… pic.twitter.com/wVRtQGJmxE

— Zach Banner (@zachbanner73) April 23, 2016

Finally, as Banner’s phone hit the 2% power mark, he had to stop live tweeting. He fired one final tweet out to let the world know the sweaty beasts had been set free from the world’s worst fat-guy sauna.