KalNet Message Board

Training 101: The Perfect Intro Workout
By Chris Colucci

Updated: December 30, 2011 at 9:52 AM
This straight-forward, short-term plan is designed to transition an athlete from a deconditioned state into a consistent training routine. For example, if you get on the field to play a few times every month but you’ve never trained with weights before, this would be a great first step.

Or, let’s say you went to Puerto Rico and spent 10 days doing nothing but watching eye candy on the beach and sipping frosty coconut-flavored drinks, this would be the workout you do when you get home and finally return to the gym.

The goal for this routine is to get familiar with the most basic bodyweight exercises while also developing total body conditioning and a fundamental level of strength and coordination. As soon as each set of each exercise feels “easy” at the maximum number of reps, the athlete can switch to a more targeted and comprehensive program.

This workout is also ideal for teenage athletes new to exercise. As young adults, their bodies are not physically prepared to the stresses of weight training, which is where the old “lifting weights will stunt your growth”-myth evolved from.

I prefer to have teens follow this routine, exactly as-is, for at least a few weeks before moving on to a more challenging workout that includes barbells and dumbbells. This allows the body’s support structures (tendons, ligaments, etc.) to be sufficiently prepared for more intense training.

The Plan: Simple, But Not Easy
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
A) Squat 2×12-15
B) Push-up 2×12-15
C) Alternating lunge 2×10-15 per leg
D) Neutral-grip pull-up (assisted) 2×12-15
E) Plank 2×15-count
F) Burpee 2×12-15

The exercises should be done as “straight sets,” meaning that both sets of an exercise should be completed, with a brief rest between them, before moving on to the next exercise. If you were to work the exercises as a continuous circuit, with one set of an exercise then a set of another exercise then the next and the next, you’d turn this into more of a cardio-focused workout and that’s not the purpose right now.

Each set should be stopped before muscular failure occurs. This means that you shouldn’t be absolutely killing yourself to grind out… that… one… last… rep. Focus on the technique of each individual repetition. If you see or feel your form getting shaky, end the set right there. You can attack it again next session.

For the plank, the top position should be held for a simple count of 15 (approximately 10-15 seconds) in each set or, again, until you notice your form begin to degrade.

Paintball Fitness: Bodyweight Intro Workout Video


A brief demonstration of a basic bodyweight workout, ideal for teens and adults who are new to exercise and athletes new to weight training.

Technique Tips
Squat: Stance should be wide enough to maintain the full foot on the ground throughout each rep, without having to come up on your toes. Depth should be as low as is comfortably possible. If you can’t get your thighs below parallel to the ground, it’s a sign that some basic stretching should be in your near future.

Push-up: Reps should always be performed on the toes, not the knees. If the exercise is too challenging, elevate the hands onto a bench or step while keeping the legs straight/toes on the ground, rather than bending the knees. Quick side-note: Anybody who calls push-ups from the knees “girl push-ups” should be smacked in the side of the head. That’s a pet peeve of mine.

Lunge: Alternate legs with each rep. After stepping forwards into position, focus on an “up and down” squat-type movement, rather than a “forward and back” gliding motion to maintain knee health and increase muscular work. Lunges are a very under-rated exercise in general, but they’re crucial for the paintball athlete.

Pull-up: Using either bands or a weighted-counterbalance/assisted machine, perform full range of motion reps from a straight-arm “dead hang” to a full contraction. The neutral (palms facing each other) grip will allow for the strongest pull with the most arm and back work. If neutral-grip handles aren’t available, performing the reps with your palms facing you (technically these would be “chin-ups”) would be the next best choice.

Plank: Simply hold the top position of a push-up. The body is supported on the hands (with straight arms) and toes while maintaining a straight line from your ears to your heels. Focus on body awareness to not let your back sag down and not let your hips rise up.

Burpee: A classic four-count squat-thrust. 1) From a standing position, drop down to a squat and place both hands on the ground. 2) Jump the feet backwards landing in a push-up or plank position. 3) Jump the feet back in, returning to the bottom of a squat position. 4) Stand fully upright. This basic version does not include a push-up or a jump into the air, which are more challenging variations of the burpee.

Wrap-up
That’s it. Six exercises, two sets each, maybe 30 or 35 minutes of training time if you’re moving slowly. I know it probably looks easy… and that’s half the idea! Remember that it’s for deconditioned folks, people who are either new to training or haven’t trained in a while.

We’re not trying to break records here, this isn’t a hardcore fat loss plan, and it’s not going to give you abs of steel or super-sculpted arms in three weeks. We’re trying to get through a few full body workouts that train all the major muscle groups while establishing a basic level of strength, endurance, flexibility, and good old “fitness.”

Attack the workouts with consistency and proper form, squeeze some progress from the plan, and then move on to a more challenging training program when it’s appropriate. I’ll get more into proper eating, nutrition, supplements, and vitamins in a future article.

A Slow Target is an Easy Target: Practice The T-Drill
By Chris Colucci

Updated: April 15, 2012 at 7:17 PM
One of the most basic truths about sports success is that it’s better to be fast than to be slow, but things aren’t actually that simple. “Fast” is good, sure, but there are actually different kinds of “fast.” More specifically, there are different aspects of speed that need attention if we’re really interested in becoming lightning-fast bringers of pain and destruction.

As athletes, we need to understand that there’s speed and then there’s agility, and if you want to dominate on the field, you better make sure you’ve been training to improve both. One without the other is like being chrono’d all the way down to 100 f.p.s. If that’s what you’re stuck playing with… good luck, pal, I’d hate to be you.

Speed is the ability to move really freaking fast, from “here” to “there.” Agility is the ability to move really freaking fast, from “here” to “there” and then to right over there, no wait, back over this way, oh crap, quick now get over there… while staying really freaking fast the whole time.

For another example of the difference between speed and agility, let’s jump into the ocean. The blue whale, which is the largest animal on planet Earth around 90 feet long and around 240,000 pounds, can swim up to 30 miles per hour. That’s pretty speedy, but at this ginormous size, it’s definitely not an agile creature. Hairpin turns and water acrobatics are not its thing.

Contrast that with your friendly neighborhood dolphin. Some dolphins can be around 9 feet long and nearly 800 pounds, while swimming up to 25 miles per hour. Again, that’s pretty quick – a high rate of speed – but these goofy guys are world-renowned for being agile tricksters who can jump through hoops, “balance” on their tails on the water’s surface, and do barrel rolls while jumping in mid-air – a high level of agility.

Agility is about changing directions while maintaining speed. Some people can get away with being fast and not agile, but it’s much better to be both. Let’s look at one drill that can help us to build agility in all directions.

The T-Drill – Basic Agility Training
If agility is, essentially, the ability to change direction without losing speed, we want to train in a way that has us moving in all different directions. Make sense, right?

The T-Drill is the most fundamental, and one of the most effective, agility drills around because it trains the three basic directions of movement – Straight-ahead (forwards), backpedaling (reverse or backwards), and lateral (sideways).

This basically lets us “teach” our body how to move in one direction, and then quickly move in another direction, and then quickly move in even another direction.

By actually running in a “T”-shaped pattern, we train the body’s ability to accelerate, quickly decelerate, and quickly re-accelerate in a different direction. This is very similar to the footwork needed to approach a bunker at top speed, slow down enough to pop off a few shots, and immediately advance to another bunker upfield.

How To “T”


To perform the T-Drill, you’re going to need four cones (or random place markers, big textbooks, bags of dirty laundry, whatever). The first will be placed at the “base.” The second will be placed approximately 25 feet straight ahead of the base. We’ll call this one the “center.” Approximately 15 feet to the direct left and right of “center” will be the third and fourth cones.

Begin at the base, sprint straight ahead to the center, side shuffle to the left cone, side shuffle all the way to the right cone (without stopping at the center), side shuffle back to the center cone, and then run backwards to the base. That’s the entire drill.

If there’s one “trick” to it, it’s to remain facing forward the entire time. That will ensure a proper lateral shuffle while avoiding any chance to cheat by turning and facing the left/ right cone, which would reduce the overall effectiveness.

When running forwards and backwards, make sure to coordinate your arm swings for maximum technique. When shuffling sideways, be sure to keep the hips back and low, and keep your feet close to the ground, only coming up enough to move without dragging on the grass. We want to be shuffle/sliding, not actually jumping like a sideways kangaroo.

Make sure you’re properly warmed-up before running the drill, as you should be before any kind of training. To incorporate this as part of your speed and agility workout, one or two days a week run through the drill up to five times, resting two or three minutes between attempts to make sure you’re fully recovered between each set.

An ideal T-Drill run time will be under 10 seconds per drill. Maintaining that time for all five sets would be a very solid goal to shoot for, and improving upon that time on a regular basis (monthly or even every other month) would show me an athlete who’s actively trying to perform better and become a more effective player.

Because this drill covers all three basic movement patterns, you could actually use it as part of a basic warm-up instead of (or in addition to) using it as a primary training method. Rather than sprinting through the drill at full speed, go through it around half- speed, focusing on loosening up the hips and ankles.

During this type of warm-up, you could also incorporate a bit of a “high knee” run on the forwards and backwards part (first from base to center, and then from center backwards to base) purposely exaggerating your knee lift as you move, to emphasize hip flexor activation and glute/hamstring mobility.

Wrap-up
While a good T-Drill time is definitely not an indicator of a good athlete, a good athlete would (or should) be able to get through the T-Drill without a problem.

The agility that is necessary to run from Point A to Point B, and then cut to Point C, cut across to Point D, return to Point B, and end up at Point A is the same kind of agility that will bring us off the break to our first target bunker, redirect us to the snake, and bring us up to an even better field position.

If you aren’t already including some type of speed and agility training into your program, the T-Drill is absolutely a great place to start. Get after it, build some quick feet, and after a few weeks of practice, you should be feeling light and agile… like a dangerous land dolphin (um, or something like that).