BreakAway Sport, What We Do

At our facility you will be introduced to a large variety of exercises. It is our job to make sure you learn how to perform these exercises safely and effectively. This will be done in an atmosphere that is fun and easy to gain the proper knowledge of each exercise. The exercises will be taught progressively and mastery of each stage is required before moving to the next level. We believe that we have a higher standard for exercise technique, and we will hold each person accountable for keeping up with this standard.

Prehabilitative Exercises

Perhab exercises are like an insurance policy to help guard your body against injuries. Many athletes focus on making the larger muscles stronger, and don’t think about the little muscles that help the larger muscles move. When this happens, athletes can become imbalanced, and this can lead to overuse injuries. Prehab concentrates on making the shoulders, upper back, hips and core stronger. When time is taken to make the smaller muscles stronger, then the larger muscles are free to work in the natural plane they are intended to. We will take some time to do the simple exercises that will keep your body balanced.

Core Exercises

The core can be defined as the abdomen, lower back and hip flexors. When doing core exercises the athlete will first be taught how to activate the transverse abdominis. It is this muscle that helps prevent lower back injuries and helps to move the limbs more efficiently. Next we will progress to more challenging exercises that target the torso using various modalities. The use of medicine balls, physio balls, bridges, stabilization drills, and weights will help to build the solid core an athlete needs to excel.

Olympic Lifts and Training

A large part of our training methods involve Olympic weightlifting. The Snatch and the Clean and Jerk are the two lifts performed in Olympic weightlifting competitions. Not every athlete needs to learn the full movements that are used in competition, but it is the components of the lifts that are invaluable to sport. Teaching these movements in a controlled environment and utilizing weights that emphasize speed and technique are the best way to increase an athlete’s speed strength and neuromuscular coordination. Every athlete can benefit from being faster and stronger, and the Olympic lifts teach the body how to produce maximum force when the body demands it.

Arthur Dreshler, MSS, author of, The Weightlifting Encyclopedia, eloquently describes the benefits of Olympic lifting and its derivatives for athletes.
1) Olympic lifts teach an athlete how to explode (to activate a maximum number of motor units rapidly and simultaneously).
2) Olympic lifts teach the ability to apply force with his or her muscle groups in the proper sequence (i.e., from the center of the body to the extremities). This is a valuable technical lesson for any athlete who needs to impart force to another person or object.
3) Olympic lifts teach how to accelerate objects (including other people) under varying degrees of resistance.
4) Olympic lifts teach how to effectively receive forces from another moving body.
5) The actual movements performed while executing the Olympic lifts are among the most common and fundamental in sport.
6) The Olympic lifts are commonly used to measure an athlete’s force output capabilities.

Plyometrics

At BREAKAWAY Sport we like to teach a progressive plyometric training program. Each athlete must learn how to jump and land properly before any type of true ploymetric program is introduced. We like to introduce the body to the elastic response slowly and this in turn puts injury prevention before the development of power.
Plyometric exercises will coincide with strength and technique development helping to assure each athlete is ready for the next phase. If an athlete is not ready for the next phase, then he or she will stay in that phase until the necessary skills are developed.

Traditional Strength Training

At BREAKAWAY Sport each athlete will learn how to properly perform a variety of exercises. Some of the exercises will include squats, dead lifts, bench presses, pull ups, various rows, push ups, dips and presses. Each athlete will progressively learn how to do all exercises, and each program will be designed for different sports and age groups. We also stress the importance of doing each exercise correctly. The value of these exercises is in doing them correctly through proper range of motion. Emphasis is not placed on the amount of weight lifted; it is how the weight was lifted that is more important. Some athletes are afraid of strength training, but with the proper guidance and a proper program, it can be an athlete’s biggest asset.

Agility Training

Agility training is more than setting up a few cones and having athletes run around them. Agility training teaches a person how to accelerate, decelerate, rotate, and move the feet and body more efficiently. With some athletes these skills don’t come naturally and some only need to brush up on their skills. No matter what the case may be, we will teach each athlete how to move their body through progressive drills. After all, it is important for an athlete to learn how to dissociate the upper body from the lower body and let each part do its job properly.

Flexibility

Some athletes think they were born inflexible and that is just how they are going to be. Truth be told, if a little effort is put into flexibility, then that view can change. We like to teach basic static stretches, dynamic stretches, assisted stretches, and regenerative techniques. Through all of these modalities, an athlete can become more flexible and recover more quickly between workout sessions.

Testing

BREAKAWAY offers a variety of scientific testing to help you achieve your health and fitness goals. We offer body fat analysis, resting metabolic rate test and a VO2 Max test at reasonable costs. These (3) testing tools are a great way to measure where you are and where you need to go.

Put the scale away and get a body fat analysis to see what % of your body is fat and what is muscle, bones and tissue.

Not sure how many calories you burn during the day and you are looking to lose weight or gain weight? Then the way to do it is with an RMR – resting metabolic rate test. It can screen for a slowed metabolism that may explain frustrated attempts to lose weight in the past. It can reveal changes in your metabolism during the weight loss process that can help trouble shoot a frustrating plateau. Once a goal weight has been reached, an RMR measurement can give you the precise caloric prescription necessary to maintain that goal weight.

Many people are inefficient exercisers, with no understanding of what heart rate, intensity or duration would best help them reach their specific goals such as fat burning, endurance training, or cardio conditioning. To find out your exact fitness level, a VO2 Max test done either on a treadmill or bike will give you the proper tools to help become an efficient exerciser. You will find out how many calories you burn during exercise and what your training zones are. Good for beginners and competitive athletes: a VO2 Max test is the best way to test your to set realistic goals and assess improvement.