New EP athletic facility’s program design to make its athletes swifter, higher, stronger
By John Molene
Under the watchful eye of performance director Shawn Myszka, Chaska baseball player Nate Murphy throws the large weighed ball toward the wall. Again, and again. And Again.
Practice makes perfect, they say. And while these three Chaska Senior High baseball players training on a Saturday morning in January may not attain perfection, striving for it is more than acceptable, it’s required.
For many people, January marks a resolution to get in better shape.
For the elite athletes who train at Explosive Edge Athletics in Eden Prairie, the new year means getting to a level they’ve never reached before. In fact, the club’s brochures ask that very question: “Are you ready for the next level?”
Opened in 2007 in an office complex on Valley View Road, Explosive Edge Athletics (EEA) provides power training programs, athletic testing, speed, agility and quickness drills, nutritional consultation and sport-specific clinics for high school, collegiate and professional teams and athletes.
In fact, the staff at Explosive Edge is so confident of their abilities to improve athletic performance that they offer a money back guarantee.
“We provide a unique, multi-faceted approach to athletic performance training,” said Jason Thompson, EEA business director.
“The difference between great athletes and mediocre ones is often minimal,” Thompson said. “Therefore, an athlete’s inner mental strength and will to win can be the determining factor for success. At EEA ... successful training is based on principles of a superior training philosophy and a strong mental commitment of both the athlete and the athletic performance coach.”
All training programs at EEA are customized specifically to each individual client focusing on their sport, ability and personal and athletic goals, ensuring that no two athletes have the exact same overall plan.
“Nothing we do is cookie-cutter,” said Thompson. “Every single program is customized based on each athlete’s strengths and weaknesses.
“By utilizing proven and highly technical methods, along with state-of-the-art testing equipment, we are able to guarantee an athlete’s results,” Thompson noted. “All to often, many other athletic performance facilities simply exploit a young athlete’s natural maturation and claim huge gains in success from it. ... We strive for technical perfection from all of our athletes and thus achieve results above and beyond natural growth, as well as reduce the number of unwarranted injuries.”
Shawn Myszka, EEA’s athletic performance director, brings a heavy list of credentials into the gym. As a former competitive bodybuilder, Myszka won the NPC Wisconsin State Championship in 1999 and 2001, and eventually competed at the national level. He then took his passion for training to the next phase as a professional strength coach with the Chicago Bears in 2003.
Myszka is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and speaks at state, regional and national clinics and seminars on athletic performance training. One of his areas of expertise is in the field of plyometrics, an exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, generally for the purposes of improving performance in a specific sport.
Plyometric movements use the strength and elasticity of muscle and surrounding tissues to enable the athlete jump higher, throw farther or hit harder, depending on the desired training goal.
“Very few do it correctly,” said Myszka, who is one of the leading experts on the methodology and application of the program and has led seminars for professional football, baseball and soccer strength coaches on the subject.
“It’s the bridge between strength and speed,” noted Thompson.
“It’s one of the things that makes us different,” added Myszka.
Myszka, who brings a wealth of high-profile experience to EEA, creates programs that develop both physical and mental strength so that athletes will become faster, stronger and mentally tougher than their opponents. He’s worked with high school, college and professional athletes and coaches from novices to world-class professionals.
“Training for athletic performance goes much further than what is happening inside a weight room or on the track; it actually goes much deeper than that,” said Myszka. “It taps into the heart and determining day-in and day-out what someone is truly made of. When the athletes are here at EEA, they are expected to go the distance. We expect them to have the desire to push themselves to the absolute limits of their potential – if they have the desire, we will design the program and put them in a position to get there.”
The plyometric program they have instituted has had dramatic results with several athletes, Thompson noted. They said:
* Ben King, a quarterback at Mankato State, improved his horizontal jump seven inches in less than three weeks.
* Minnesota state 2007 Class AA high jump champion Hanna Muegge of Hopkins increased her jumping ability two inches in seven sessions.
* Minnesota professional tennis player Eric Butorac gained four inches on his vertical jump and nine inches on his horizontal jump.
Thompson and Myszka said the strength programs they design emphasize quality over quantity, and combine power with speed.
“It’s all about developing strength with speed, or speed with force,” said Myszka.
The first session with an athlete involves measuring their present abilities. The EEA team then puts together a plan to improve performance in the areas the athlete wishes to improve.
“On day one we assess their weaknesses and strengths, and then we work with them one-on-one to improve,” Thompson said.
For more information on Explosive Edge Athletics, see www.explosiveedgeathletics.com, or phone 952-746-9003.
Training the best – to be better
