Friday, May 22

Last Friday, the same clients came in. One athlete is in rehab because he had knee surgery back in November. He comes in every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do his rehab workout. He has to do a number of exercises to build up the muscles in his knee. I had to work with him on his weight exercises because Nicki was meeting with a potential client, and Rocky was out of town on business. This was the first time I had ever worked with him before because he's normally with Nicki or Rocky.

They did the warm-up that Brian and I told them to do. For the most part we weren't very busy. The first hour wasn't busy at all. There were three kids, two did treadmill workouts and one did a plyometrics workout. It was my job to run the plyo and the girl did great. She listened to what I was telling her to do. She kept her knees bent, her hips square, feet even and shoulder-width apart. She's been through the program before in the past so she knew what she was supposed to be doing.

I learned how to read the results of a post-test and compare it to the pre-test. A pre-test is given to see how athletic a client is ir isn't. A post test is given when the athlete completes the twenty sessions and this basically tells us how much progress the athlete made. I take the pre-test and compare it side by side to the post-test. You subtract the old results from the knew results and that gives you a number. You then subtract that number from 100% and that is the athletes percent increase in athletic ability.

There are a lot of clients who go through Tekulve Acceleration Training to make their knees stronger. The different exercises work different parts of the knee to help strengthen those muscles that they need in order to walk, go up and down stairs, and even play sports.

Treadmill Work

Today was a fairly slow day. When I first got there I had to stuff envelops with pamphlets and letters that were for a particular sport. These envelopes are to be mailed to the coaches around the tri-state area. These packets are full of information about Tekulve and what the program is all about. There is information about the rates, locations, hours, and everything else that you might need to know about the programs. There are even sport specific flyers that explain how each sport is executed through the protocols.

I was the only worker besides my supervisor. Basically I was in charge of doing the plyos for all of the athletes, and Nicki was in charge of spotting the runners on the treadmill. The first couple hours, there were only a few kids. The third hour was the busiest. There were five athletes, three were running and two were on plyos with me. The first girl is on a in-season protocol, meaning that she is training during her season. Her workout is different than most of the other athletes. She does part of a plyo and part of a run. Most athletes either run OR do a plyo.

The last hour there were three guys that have been going through the program for a couple of years. They know all the warm-up drills, core, quickness, etc. Nicki decided that I would train to spot people on the treadmill. I was hesitant at first, but she reassured that they all know what they are doing, so I shouldn't have to do much. There were only a few times when I had to put pressure on the lower back of one of the kids. Although I didn't have to spot that much, my wrist is still sore because I don't normally use those muscles. Once I get familiar with it, it won't be so bad.

Day 2 and Day 3

Last Friday was my second day at my internship. I pretty much did the same thing I did on Wednesday. I filed the workout sheets from the previous day, and then I pulled the new workout sheets for those athletes that were going to work out Friday afternoon. I observed the warmup again because I'm still not familiar with all the drills they go through. The majority of the athletes had run workouts, therefore there wasn't much for me to do. I stood and watched the athletes run, I read over the workouts so I know what to do when I'm spotting the athletes. I listened to what the employees were telling the athletes, "stay tall, high knees, shoulders back..." These are all things that the athletes should be doing on their own without someone telling them what to do. Friday flew by compared to Wednesday. It was a shorter day since we got out at 6 instead of 8.

Today, I did a little bit more than I did on Friday. I filed and pulled the workout sheets like I did the past two days. I observed a post-test, which shows the progress the athlete's made from the pre-test they take at the beginning of the session. I also read over some information about the program, frequently asked questions, and the rate sheets. After that I had to get some lunch before the first two athletes got there to start their workouts at 2:45.

I led the Active Dynamic Warmup. I still had the cheet sheet that showed me all the drills, but I had to tell them what to do, and if they didn't know one of the drills, I had to demonstrate. The time went by pretty fast even though a few athletes cancelled their workouts due to a sickness, homework, etc. At the end of the day, I wiped down the treadmill, and grabbed my stuff and left. I have to be back there tomorrow at 12 noon, hopefully I'll learn something new.

My First Day

Today, I started my first day at my internship at Tekulve Acceleration. I arrived about 15 minutes early because I wanted to make a good impression on the employees and my supervisor. I was nervous to meet the girl that was going to train me on how to do everything. I knew my supervisor already since I went through the program about five years ago, and because he's friends with my mother. After we introduced ourselves to one another, Nikki (my trainer) explained to me about how to do some of the paperwork. I learned how to pull files (not that I didn't know how to before), I read over the warm-up drills, and then observed everything else. At first, I just observed the warm-up and read over the sheet of drills. When I went through the program 5 or 6 years ago, we didn't do any of the drills that they do now. We only had to run a lap or two around the track to get your heart rate up, and then you got stretched individually. The whole warm-up is totally different now. Eventually, I will have to lead the warm-up, so I have to become familiar with all of the drills.

After the warm-up, the kids were allowed to get a drink until they were sent to do either plyometrics or running on the treadmill as their workout for this particular session. I stood behind Shawn (employee/trainer) and watched him go through the different numbers on the formation. I remembered what they were so that wasn't a problem for me. There was the Munoz and Kromrite formations that I wasn't familiar with at all. They looked pretty hard compared to four square formation that I was used to. I just listened to what Shawn was saying to the athletes as they were going through the plyos. He kept saying, "bend your knees...keep your hips straight...keep your eyes down..." These are things that I'm going to have to learn to look for when I go through the plyos with the athletes.

At the end of the night, I got to actually run through the plyos with two athletes. I had to be loud, tell them what they were doing, and what they needed to work on. It wasn't too bad. I had two kids that were coordinated and knew what to do for the most part. I only had to say a few things. It wasn't too bad at all.

All in all, for the first day it wasn't too bad. I didn't feel overwhelmed at all and I felt like this isn't going to be bad at all. I have a feeling that I will be leading more plyos on Friday when I go in for my second day.