August 31, 2006 – On this Wednesday morning, Tropical Depression Ernesto left the Florida mainland, and like a pent up post pubescent teenager, quickly regained its stamina over the warm Atlantic waters. Ernesto was officially declared Tropical Storm Ernesto around 11 o’clock that night.

About the same time, the beaches east of Jacksonville experienced the first band of Ernesto, rapidly moving cumulus clouds accompanied by thunderous booms and bright flashes, winds around 25 mph and brief but torrential downpours. The bands continued racing onshore intermittently throughout the night and by morning it was over. Or was it?

The eye of Tropical Storm Ernesto had actually passed well offshore of North Florida, continuously gathering strength and churning up the waters as it made its way to landfall in the Carolinas.

Weather wise, the storm was no big deal in the North Florida beaches area, and most people slept through it with little incident. But there were those who retired that evening with tense anticipation of what was to come the next day. As Ernesto passed offshore and north east winds turned to south west winds, a phenomenon typical of cyclonic storms occurred in the area.

As the waves generated by a passing storm pound the shore with the fierce power of a nor’easter, they can at times be huge, but are generally sloppy, poorly formed mush. These waves, backed by the winds from the east, can last as long as the storm is out there churning up the waters.

If the storm is paralleling the coast, and is close enough that it is effecting our wind direction, once it passes and is to the north, the winds will shift, coming out of the west.

Those big fat waves that were once pounding our beach are now standing up proud, spitting back foam from their tips with the blusterous wind hollowing out their faces – preventing the waves from breaking until they can no longer hold back, finally curling down in a thunderous crash of white, foamy water peeling off left and right.

The chop is gone, and the surrounding water is as smooth as a baby’s butt. The water can look as calm as a lake, only to be heaved up by sets of incoming swells standing at attention until finally bursting at the seams at the last possible moment.

East Coast Surf is entirely dependent on storms that brew offshore in the Atlantic, producing swells that eventually travel to the coastline. From a surfer’s point of view, the conditions accompanying a storm like Ernesto is as good as it gets in North East Florida. But you better be there on time, because it only lasts a few tide cycles.

And that’s the downside. This west wind is so good at cleaning up the surf, that over time it totally knocks the waves down, and they keep getting smaller as long as the west wind lasts. In an absence of anything creating waves in the Atlantic, the surf can diminish to less than 6 inches. Not an uncommon occurrence in Jax Beach or the entire east coast for that matter.

Due to the geography of the coastline in north Florida, we seldom get a direct hit from hurricanes or tropical storms. This is not to say that we won’t, and if we do, it will no doubt be disastrous. We do however get a lot of storms passing by, and some very close calls. Floyd is one that comes into mind that skirted our coast on its way to wreak devastation further north. The surfing community here has come to know what to look for, and with an excellent bottom that is in place at the Jacksonville Beach Pier, they also know where to go.

Tropical Storm Ernesto was small by any comparison and did not spend a lot of time off our shore generating waves. But every surfer knows that when the right circumstances converge, and all the conditions are met, there is a real potential for some very fun, if not huge surfing opportunities. In this case, this little tropical storm called Ernesto delivered!

Who will T.O. play for?

That was the big question on Wednesday, as word began to circulate that the Philadelphia Eagles’ suspension of Owens was likely to be cut from four games to only one or two. There’s no question that T.O. has played his last game for Philly, and that the Eagles certainly don’t want Owens around their practice or training facilities for the rest of the season, even if Philly has no chance to make the playoffs any longer. So the guess here is that the Eagles release Owens, take the big cap hit that entails, and let the rest of the NFL deal with this idiot.

But man, you talk about midseason acquisitions. If Owens really does get waived, he’s going to be the mother of all injections for some lucky (or not-so-lucky) NFL team. He’ll probably sign for short money, with a contender, trying to enhance his image as a “team player” (yeah, right), in order to get a multi-year deal next summer. And really, I don’t hate the idea of signing him. In 2004, Owens proved he was capable of shutting up for a single year, when circumstances are fresh and people don’t hate him yet. He could very well be a good soldier for the rest of ’05, wherever he lands. (But teams should not sign him to a multi-year deal!) Anyway, let’s take a look at my leading contenders to get T.O.’s services:

5. Seattle Seahawks. The ‘Hawks have suffered a number of wideout injuries this year, the most notable being Darrell Jackson, who still isn’t expected back for a couple more weeks. As a result, Shaun Alexander is having an incredible year, but defenses are starting to put 16 in the box to stop him. Would Mike Holmgren swallow hard to get a legitimate deep threat to keep Alexander a bit cleaner?

4. Washington Redskins. This is the Dan Snyder Factor, which is mitigated by the Joe Gibbs Factor. Acquiring Owens is just the kind of ludicrous, high-profile thing toward which Snyder gravitates. But Gibbs is a smart guy who doesn’t suffer fools, and insiders say Snyder worships Gibbs and wouldn’t do anything this big to piss him off. He’s a decent fit, though.

3. Atlanta Falcons. Owens has a history with Jim Mora, has a house in the Atlanta area (which is reportedly for sale), and gets along with Mike Vick. The problem here is that he also has a history with former 49er offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, the o-coordinator here in Atlanta, too. Knapp is the guy Owens humiliated by yelling at him for about ten minutes during a game in his last San Francisco season.

2. Denver Broncos. Mike Shanahan already believes he’s a genius, and what better way to prove he deserves say over personnel than sign Owens, plug him next to Rod Smith, and watch Jake Plummer go crazy. Then again, if it means Plummer starts throwing 35 times a game again, Denver might want to re-think this.

1. Dallas Cowboys. It’s a natural fit. Dallas just hasn’t been punky enough lately. Owens strides out onto the Texas Stadium turf in a few weeks, and genuflects on the center star. His career thus comes full circle.

Will the Indianapolis Colts go 16-0?

Rob Gillespie, BoDog.com: I don’t think so. They have some tough games ahead, and they could clinch the AFC so early that their last couple of games will be meaningless. I also think they are focused on winning the Super Bowl and not a perfect season. The only team that can beat them though is themselves.

Do you want to reconsider your answer about Reggie Bush for the Heisman Trophy yet again after his incredible performance against Fresno State last week?

RG, BoDog.com: Wow. I was certainly second-guessing my comments Saturday night for sure. Impressive on the stat sheet and even more impressive to watch! Two things will diminish the impact of that game though. First, it wastoo late for many east coast voters to see and secondly, there is no way that game should have been that close. The gap between Texas and USC in the polls has closed over the season significantly and I think that will impact voters a little as well. The Texas game against Texas A&M on Friday could be the key game for the Heisman race.

What’s the most confusing thing about the NFL this year? That the Minnesota Vikings are at .500? That the San Diego Chargers might not make the playoffs? That the Philadelphia Eagles are below .500? That the AFC East is so pathetic? Or something else entirely?

RG, BoDog.com: Seems like an off year for parity. You have the Texans stinking it up on Sunday night (again) and the Colts going 10-0 with relative ease (no wins by less than a TD). My take is the salary cap created parity for awhile and had squashed dynasties, but now some teams have figured how to out how to work with the cap and others haven’t. This is resulting in some smaller dynasties like the Pats have had and a return to an unbalanced league where the level of talent in your division and on yourschedule will largely dictate who makes the playoffs. If the Eagles or Chargers were in the NFC West instead of Seattle, or NFC Central instead of Chicago, they would be 8-2 as well probably.

Other than Texas-USC, can you give us the one BCS matchup you’d like to see this January, and tell us why?

RG, BoDog.com: I think a Notre Dame/Ohio State Fiesta Bowl would be a great game. Ohio State has only two losses, the great game against Texas and the grinder in Happy Valley. The Penn State game perhaps looked a little weak at the time, but we see now that the Nittany Lions are for real. That makes OSU a very good team in my mind and would be a great test for a Notre Dame team that I can’t really figure out. Two programs with huge and deeply passionate fan bases will make the energy level in the stadium very high and get the best out of both teams.

Christopher Harris is a featured writer for the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com

In part one of this series I discussed some tips to keep your strength and muscle, or even gain some during the wrestling season. In part two of this series I will give you ten sure-fire tips for improving your “wrestling strength” and therefore your wrestling performances. These tips apply to both in-season and off-season training.

1. Train the “Posterior Chain”

The posterior chain muscles are comprised of the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. This extremely powerful area of the body is a key section to overall wrestling performances. By improving strength in this area you will notice a marked improvement in speed and power in the neutral and bottom positions. Some exercises that you might want to consider in order to work the posterior chain are good-mornings, stiff-leg deadlifts, deadlifts, barbell squats (bar low on shoulders). My two favorites are the reverse hyperextension and the Russian glute-ham-gastroc machine. They are the ultimate in working the posterior chain muscles.

2. Strength Train SLOW, Wrestle FAST

You want to be fast and strong on the wrestling mat. Don’t think that you should throw weights around when you strength train though. When wrestlers try to move a barbell quickly in their workouts, they are using momentum to help move the weight. You should minimize momentum, and maximize the amount of muscle that gets worked by slowing down. How fast (or slow) should you move a weight when strength training? When you are raising a weight (or contracting the muscle) try to do it in 2 seconds. When you lower the weight, do it twice as slowly. You should take about 4 seconds to lower a weight.

3. Brief Workouts

Your workouts should never exceed 35 minutes in duration. If they do, YOU”RE NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH! By completing your workout in no more than 35 minutes or so, your body’s hormone levels are optimal. Your ability to recuperate from the workouts, and therefore develop more strength, is increased. Avoid long, drawn-out strength training workouts. They will eventually cut into your body’s ability to recuperate, and lead to over-training.

4. 12 Exercises Or Less

When I develop sport-specific strength training routines for my athletes, I always adhere to this. This number of exercises will allow you to hit the “wrestling muscles” with just enough, but not too much. Any more will almost guarantee that you will send your body into an overtraining syndrome.

5. 2 Sets Or Less

Read this one carefully, and try to really absorb the content. You should do no more than two work sets (the sets that count. These don’t include a warm-up set) for any given exercise. If you are working hard enough, this is plenty. You do a warm-up set for an exercise, then move to your top weight. After you complete that top weight, reduce the total weight on the bar or machine by 20% and repeat. If you are really training intensely, you can do just one work set per exercise. This is the ideal. If you can hammer a muscle with one perfect set of an exercise, there will be no need for another set. I advocate a second set with a 20% weight reduction because many people don’t quite hammer that muscle with one set.

6. Fail In The Gym To Dominate On The Mat

Other than your warm-up set for each strength training exercise, you should train your sets to “momentary muscular failure.” This is the point where you can no longer complete another repetition with perfect form. By training to momentary muscular failure, you are forcing the muscles to adapt, and therefore get stronger. Let me clarify training to “failure.” Training to failure is not “almost taxing the muscle.” It is the point where you cannot push or pull another repetition no matter what. Is it safe to train this way? Absolutely! The first few repetitions of a set are actually more dangerous. When an athlete is not using good form, and slower speed, it is usually during these first few repetitions that an athlete gets hurt.

7. Use Machines And Free Weights

There is a common misconception amongst athletes and coaches that you must use free weights when strength training. Free weights are great! So are machines! Your muscles don’t know the difference. The intensity is the most important thing when trying to improve your strength for wrestling. The tool that you use to get there is not. I like certain exercises for certain muscles. It also depends on injuries that a wrestler might already have. You can work “around” and injury and still give the body a thorough strength workout. If you have access to Hammer Strength machines, I highly recommend that you include them in your wrestling strength workout.

8. Use A Thick Bar

If you don’t have access to a thick bar, get one. This is usually a hollow metal tube that you put free weights on the end of. A thick bar forces you to hold on tightly when performing exercises. It develops fantastic forearm and hand strength. It should be part of every serious strength training program for wrestlers. You can do curls, reverse curls, rows, and presses with it.

9. Keep Up The Protein

Whether you are trying to cut weight or go up a weight class, you need regular feedings of protein. Protein helps to repair and rebuild muscle tissue. It is vital to keep up protein feedings if you are trying to cut weight unless of course you don’t mind losing muscle and getting weaker. Try to get at least 5 protein feedings per day. The difference lies in the carbohydrate intake. If you need to cut weight, you should begin slowly dropping carbs, but never completely. You can’t wrestle if you have no energy. Carbohydrates are you body’s preferred source of energy. Contact me at steve@sports-strength.com if you’re interested in a personalized meal plan for wrestling.

10. The Trap Bar

The trap bar is another incredible piece of equipment when trying to gain wrestling strength. The trap bar is a hexagonally shaped bar. It allows you to perform deadlifts with maximal stimulation of almost every muscle vital to improved wrestling performance. If you’ve never seen one, do a search on the web. This is an exercise that all of my wrestling clients use. It will make your entire body stronger. If I were limited to only one exercise in order to increase the strength in my wrestlers, this would be the exercise that I’d choose.

Steve Preston is a nationally-recognized strength and conditioning coach for wrestlers. He is the owner of Wrestling Performance, a members-only website and forum for wrestlers, coaches, and parents who want strength, conditioning, and nutrition information for improved mat performance. Check it out at http://www.wrestlingperformance.com