Archive for “training young athletes” Category

Are We Really Getting Stronger?

Posted on: May 6th, 2013 by admin No Comments

By Mike McGurn

All sports I can think of require basic strength levels, and strength training has recently become a much sought after attribute in the athletic community. Kinesiologists, physiologists, athletic trainers, and professional strength coaches all tell us that if all we did was increase muscular strength by 35-40% in an athlete without changing any of the other attributes needed for the sport, there will be a definite improvement in performance levels.

The doubters may disagree and question how getting stronger can be of benefit in sports where the technique is the priority. Surely though, being a lot more stable or injury resistant when performing the activity is a major benefit.

I have always found that there is a massive transference from doing a proper strength program into improving all the other physical components that a sport requires. Various journals and abstracts on Muscle Activity tell us ‘without sufficient strength, factors such as skill, flexibility, and endurance cannot be used effectively.’

This is not ground breaking information, nor will it allow me to claim that I have discovered some amazing new angle in the fitness industry that I can exploit to become a millionaire overnight! The truth is, millions of athletes all over the world are now participating in ‘strength training’ programs.

The questions I have is whether these programs are actually improving strength or if they are one among the many overhyped fitness programs masquerading as the next best thing. Some so-called strength programs I witness these days resemble a gadget assault course, with all sorts of non essential equipment being used.

Another aspect of these diluted strength programs that winds me up are exercise machines. Equipment manufacturers saw a niche in the fitness market with their highly engineered exercise machines, and boy did they have an impact. Gyms, health clubs, and sports clubs embraced this concept and were covered in rows of fancy machines which had the sole purpose of allowing you to do one exercise!!! Of course we know that this type of equipment is nowhere near ideal for developing useful strength.

strength programs

There are many other short term fads which are likely to go away as quickly as they appeared.

So how do we get back to actually building strength? I once heard the quote, ‘to get stronger lift heavy rocks.’ That isn’t too far wrong.

I call my approach to gaining real functional strength ‘the bullseye theory,’ which can basically be summarized by saying that throwing 3 aerodynamic darts to try and hit the bullseye is much more favorable than throwing 15 broken ones! In other words it is better to concentrate on a few aspects of training and do them well, rather than trying to cover a multitude of areas. Trying to do too many different things only leads to athletes spreading themselves too thin and diluting what they are doing. This means that despite busting themselves in the gym, they don’t really improve at anything in particular.

This is where I feel a lot of high school strength programs are seriously flawed. Some strength programs I have observed have up to 15 different exercises. The reasoning was that in order to make the athlete stronger, every muscle group needed to be activated individually. This is simply not the case.

In general, when it comes to dedicated strength training, I believe athletes need to focus on only three core movement patterns: Olympic lifts, squats, and deadlifts.

If all our athletes ever do in the gym is work on these patterns and their derivatives, and focus on them all the time, they will drastically improve their strength and athletic performance. My opinion is that to improve athletic performance Olympic lifts are king. Clean and snatch often and do it hard. Supplementing these lifts with squats and deadlifts will go a long way in developing strength in our athletes.

It really is that simple, a strength program does not have to be complicated to be effective. Rather than trying to implement 15 exercises in a program to make sure all the bases are covered, focus on the few that give the greatest return.

Mike McGurn has been a strength and conditioning coach for 18 years. He is currently based in Belfast in Northern Ireland. 

8 Ways To Get More From Your Team Training Sessions

Posted on: April 1st, 2013 by IYCA No Comments

Having worked with dozens of coaches over the years, I know that every single one of them wants nothing but the best for their players. They are typically consumed by the desire to get an extra edge for their kids that will put them ahead of their peers. And it eats at them to see one of their kids go down with a serious injury, especially if they feel it could have been prevented.

Today, the dream for many sports coaches is to give their kids that edge by having a great off-season program, a development system that plays a key role in the success of their team’s upcoming season. In this ideal scenario they see players coming back to them faster, stronger, more injury resistant, and with a stronger group bond for having worked so hard together.

In reality, this is not happening as well as it should. Many coaches are scraping together off-season training based on what they used to do, have found an eager but inexperienced strength coach who puts together a program for their team to follow, or are using an outdated training system that used to pass for ‘cutting-edge training’ about 25 years ago. The results they will see from any of these scenarios may have some positive impact, but nowhere near as much as it could be having with a few critical tweaks.

For anyone using or planning to use a team training program for their athletes, know that there are ways to enhance the program you are using without having to start from scratch. Make sure these 8 critical guidelines are all in place if you want to really see your kids come back physically and mentally tougher for next season:

1. Have A Plan
This important first step is so basic that it is often missed. Just saying ‘I want my kids working out’ is not enough. What, specifically, do you want them to get better at? And how do you or your coaches plan on achieving these objectives? Your off-season staff and your team coaching staff should be in full agreement of what the biggest problems were last season that training can address so those designing the program can create a cycled plan for getting the exact results the head coach wants to see.

2. Take The Long Road
Team Training

We live in an instant access world these days, and that mindset tends to lead towards an instant gratification approach to performance training as well. When you are dealing with kids, who often times are still growing, ramping up the intensity of training too quickly can have extremely negative consequences. Tendonitis, muscle strains, and some bigger injuries come up more often when taking part in a ‘quick fix’ type of workout program.

A smart team training program is always looking to improve on something, no matter what time of year, but does so with the understanding that you are never going to do everything all at once. Your players will be much better served by a philosophy of developing the complete individual year-round, and not how much they get better in a 4 or 6 week block.

3. Create A Focused Atmosphere
Read any books on how elite talent is developed - “The Talent Code”, “Outliers”, and ”Talent Is Overrated” to name a few – and they all point to the 10,000 hour rule for reaching greatness. The basic idea behind this concept is that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to become great at anything.

The key phrase in there is ‘dedicated practice’, meaning that all of your focus is on the task at hand. It does not mean that showing up and going through the motions will help you accumulate the time needed to improve.

Team training can be a difficult setting to achieve maximum focus because of friendships, competitiveness, and the overall social nature of many teenagers. But if you really want to get the most from your program, training that is focused on the task at hand is a standard that coaches and supervisors must priortitize.

4. Bring Some Energy!
Being focused on the task at hand does not mean it should be like a library in your training room. To the contrary, this is hard work and you’ll need to maximize the energy output of your kids at the same time as they are dialed in to their drills.

A common mistake is to just turn the radio up really loud and let the music provide the noise. That can be helpful on occasion and with advanced groups, but loud music removes the coach-athlete interactions, teaching moments, and positive conversations between teammates that could be taking place. It also promotes a mindless approach that lowers focus and attention to detail.

A truly energizing atmosphere is one whose foundation is built on positive bonds shared by a group working towards a challenging goal that is important to all of them. There is something incredibly motivating about being around a team or group whose intrinsic desire to succeed is almost palpable.

Coaches and training room supervisors play a huge role in fostering this kind of atmosphere. Lead with an energetic and positive style that you are comfortable with, be an interactive presence with everyone in your group, and confront those who are not there to do things the right way. Over time and with a respectful approach to everyone, you’ll have the right atmosphere in place.

5. Personalize, Personalize, Personalize 

Team Training

Football players need to be fast and strong, soccer players need speed and endurance, basketball players need vertical jump power. Every sport has its own unique needs, and programming must take that into account.

But does even sport-specific training go far enough to address the needs of all your players?

Let’s say you are working with a basketball team and 5 of your players need to improve explosiveness, 3 are always getting hurt and need corrective training, while 4 more lack the conditioning necessary to play well deep into a game. How do you run a ‘basketball-specific’ workout program for a group like that?

I’d say in almost 100% of team training scenarios, there is no way a One-Size-Fits-All workout program will serve the needs of all your players. Coaches must come up with even more personalized workout programming to make sure every single player gets what they need to improve their game for next year.

6. Pay Attention To Details
Performance training is a science, with a wide range of variables. The results you see in the end will be a byproduct of how well every last detail is implemented, and coaches must be vigilant in regards to how well their athletes are following the program as intended.

This means correcting technique on an exercise, using the right resistance, progressing at a proper pace from one workout to the next, and ensuring rep/set schemes are followed as intended. Do it all right and you’ll get more from the same hour of training than the teams who are allowing all the little things to slip through the cracks.

7. Focus On The Entire Range Of Athletic Skills
Remember that strength training is just one aspect of athletic development. A well-rounded workout program can address all of these areas:

Explosive Power 
Strength 
Stability 
Injury Prevention 
Mobility 
Speed & Agility 
Conditioning 
Balance/Coordination

And within each of those categories there is a wide range of tools available to address each need in a slightly different way. Simply put, if you are a slave to strength training using barbells and dumbbells then you are missing out on so much more your players can be doing to maximize their time.

8. Be Flexible, Your Athletes Schedules Demand It
Kids playing sports, especially if they are dedicated to maximizing their game, are extremely busy these days. They may be trying to juggle academics while playing on multiple teams before they even consider adding performance training to their day. Make sure you are aware that many hard-working, dedicated kids are going to need some schedule flexibility in order to pull off working with you, too. 

Find creative ways to get workouts in so those who truly want to get better have a range of opportunities to fit team training into their schedules. Maybe you have a range of times to come in, or create workouts that can be done quicker than the typical 1 hour session. But most importantly, do not get down on a kid if they are not 100% committed to what you want them to do without knowing all you can about why they may not have time to work with you every day after school. 

Coaches have thousands of small opportunities every single day to make a positive impact on their kids. It can come from personalizing a program, correcting technique, giving encouragement, picking them up after a failure, and even with simpler acts that show them you are about more than just winning games. Make that impact every minute of every day, and you will transform the lives of each athlete who is lucky enough to work with you.

Misuse Of Speed and Agility Drills

Posted on: March 27th, 2013 by IYCA No Comments

By Jim Kielbaso

Alot of people in this field call themselves Strength & Conditioning Coaches. I don’t have a problem with the “Strength” part of the title, but the “Conditioning” part could use a little work.

As a former college S & C Coach, I fully understand the time constraints of the collegiate or high school environment. Running a private facility for athletes, I also understand the limitations of this situation. In both cases, it is very difficult to give every athlete the time and instruction they need. Still, there is one area of our profession that I feel is in desperate need of some attention. That area is what I call Movement Training.

Recently, I was asked by a college coach what mistakes I have made in the past and what I would do differently if I could re-live the past 6-10 years of my career. At first, like many coaches, my ego didn’t want to admit to any mistakes, especially to another coach. But, after some thought, I realized that the area in which I have the greatest impact on athletes today, I simply did not understand when I was younger.

A few years ago, I thought the best S & C Coach was the one who most fully brutalized his/her athletes. I thought I was supposed to lift my athletes until they puked and condition them until they couldn’t see straight. Don’t get me wrong, I still think that stuff has its place. I love putting athletes through brutally hard workouts, and I think that kind of hard work can have amazing benefits (it also has terrific entertainment value). But, through time, I have gained a better understanding of how to maximize the “Conditioning” or “Speed and Agility Training” part of my job title.

To a lot of coaches, conditioning means creating running programs that enhance the physiological processes involved in aerobic or anaerobic metabolism. You may not think of it this way, but that is essentially what many conditioning programs are designed to do. I have no problem with this. Conditioning sport-specific energy systems is a vital part ofathletic success.

Speed and Agility drills

Many coaches also implement speed, agility, and plyometric routines into their programs, and I think it’s great to see coaches making an effort to improve the physical abilities of their athletes. Unfortunately, I see way too many mistakes being made in this area, and I think many coaches are doing their athletes an injustice.

Over the years, we have read articles by some great coaches about specificity, but the full message of these wise men is often lost in an effort to use their message to support our own views. I’m sure you’ve done it. You’ve read an article, and thought to yourself “That’s what I’m talkin’ about. That’s why I do what I do. I’m going to use this article to support my training philosophy.”

The articles have been great. They have helped a generation of S & C Coaches formulate their strength training philosophies….strength training philosophies. Why didn’t we see that the same information we’ve applied to strength training can also be used to develop effective speed and agility programs?

In my opinion, a lot of S & C Coaches approach speed and agility training the same way they approach strength training. They find out what other coaches are doing (through reading summer manuals, watching workouts, etc.), and duplicate it in their environments. This has worked out pretty well for strength training because there are a lotof good Strength and Conditioning Coaches to learn from.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems with learning about speed and agility this way. First, there are not nearly as many quality speed and agility coaches to learn from. Second, most of us didn’t learn anything about effective movement patterns in school. Third, proper coaching of speed and agility is highly dependent on coaching prowess, movement analysis, and the ability to understand proper movement patterns. It is more like teaching a sport skill; instructor knowledge is vital, and you can’t just apply a cookie-cutter approach like many coaches do with strength training. Nonetheless, we’ve learned our speed and agility drills from Strength Coaches not Speedand Agility coaches. The best case scenario for many of us was to learn a few drills from a track coach or catch an article outlining a couple of exercises. This kind of coaching just doesn’t cut it. I believe that movement training falls under the “Conditioning” part of our job title, and it’s time we take full responsibility for this important part of our jobs.

I like to call speed and agility work “movement training” because the goal is to train athletes how to move more efficiently. The problem with most movement training is the assumption that if we put some cones or hurdles out in a cool design and have our athletes run through them, we are making an impact on their movement patterns. The truth is, we’re not. All we’re doing is helping them reinforce whatever movement patterns they are using to get through the drill. Take a few minutes to re-read some of those specificity articles, and I think you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

I have had the good fortune of working with, observing, and learning from a lot of good sport coaches and instructors. I have never seen a good basketball coach allow players to take hundreds of jump shots with poor shooting technique, and I have never seen a good baseball coach let players pitch and hit with poor mechanics. Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of Strength Coaches allow athletes to perform hours ofagility drills using horrible technique. A lot of coaches assume that if the athletes are going through the drills, their athleticism will improve. But, the benefits of performing speed and agility drills are dramatically reduced if the athletes are not executing them with sound mechanics and learning proper technique. If the coach is unable to analyze the movement and give corrective feedback, what good is he/she doing for the athletes?

There are still a lot of questions about movement training, but there are certainly some answers and a lot of room for us to improve. I look forward to examining this misunderstood aspect of our profession in more detail with you in the future.

Flexibility and Mobility for Young Athletes

Posted on: March 19th, 2013 by IYCA No Comments

By Mike Robertson

What is the difference between Flexibility and Mobility?

I’ve always used the Bill Hartman definitions; they go something like this:

Mobility – Range of motion under specific circumstances (specific)

Flexibility – Range of motion about a joint (non-specific)

So mobility is specific to a certain movement – i.e. you need a certain amount of hip mobility to squat, lunge, etc.

In contrast, flexibility is non-specific – i.e. you lay someone on their back and stretch their hamstrings. This gives you an idea of their flexibility, but it’s not specific. Just because they have great hamstring length doesn’t mean they’ll be able to perform functional movements properly or without compensation.

Are both important to young athletes or is one more important than the other?

I feel that both are important, but flexibility is merely a component of mobility. I think of mobility as an equation, something like this:

Tissue length + neural control/stability + joint architecture = Mobility

flexibility and mobility

So my goal with young athletes is to improve their mobility and allow them to perform those specific movements (squatting, lunging, etc.) without compensation from other areas (generally the lumbar spine).

When should young athletes train Flexibility?

There are several times throughout the day when I would incorporate specific flexibility drills into the programming:

Pre/peri-workout – I would only use this as part of an acute-corrective strategy; in other words, I don’t believe that static stretching has much of a place pre-workout. The goal here, for example, would be to statically stretch the hip flexors and pair that stretch with an activation drill for the gluteals. This will enhance motor control and function by helping restore proper length/tension relationships.

Post-workout – Here I’d use more “active” flexibility techniques like eccentric quasi-isometrics (EQI’s).

Before bed – I’ve always been a proponent of static stretching before bed. I think not only does it allow you to unwind and relax, but if you hop right into bed afterwards you’re less likely to lose any flexibility gains you just worked for.

When should they train Mobility?

Whenever they can! Quite simply, most people need more mobility in the appropriate areas (ankles, hips, t-spine, etc.). Especially in the beginning or foundational period of their training, more is generally better.

Getting more specific, pre-workout mobility training is a slam dunk. But if someone is really restricted in their movement patterns or movement quality, I’ll have them perform mobility drills several times throughout the day to reinforce good movement. Unlike strength training, you’re not going to overtrain your body by doing some simple mobility drills throughout the day.

Are there different kinds of Flexibility, or is ‘bending over to touch my toes and stretch my hammy’ all young athletes should be doing?

With the athletes I work with, we include several different kinds of mobility throughout their day.

Pre-workout, we always do a dynamic warm-up. Always. They’ve been sitting in school or class all day, so my first goal is to get them warmed up and moving through a nice range of motion.

EQI’s are a little more advanced, but they’re still working to promote optimal/length tension relationships and develop active flexibility. Once someone has been training for a few months I like to get them doing this at the end of every workout.

Finally, we discussed static flexibility above, and I think it’s an integral component as well. Kids are a lot different now than they were 10, 12, or 15 years ago when I was a kid! They sit more. They play more games. They have more homework. Static stretching can help get them back in tune with their body and keep themselves healthy.

I think all these methods are important; what’s more important is using the right flexibility method at the appropriate time.

What is the single greatest mistake or myth people make when it comes to Flexibility training?

Not doing it!

Seriously, most people are so focused on their training and/or diet, they put no value or stock into recovery methods. Just using the methods I outlined in the above question can go a long way to improving the flexibility and mobility of your body.

Copying a Strength Program Can Be a Mistake

Posted on: March 4th, 2013 by IYCA 2 Comments

By Jim Kielbaso

Strength program by Jim Keilbaso
Trying to copy some big time college program is common mistake made in high schools. I’ve been engaged in a series of e-mails with a coach about his situation at a high school, and I thought it was worth sharing.

He has been asked to implement a strength program for a high school football team, and the coach has started to voice some strong opinions before anything has even begun. The football coach feels like he’s under some pressure to win because the team has been average for the past three years. He has told the new strength coach that he likes Penn State’s program and wants him to implement it. He also wants to make sure that each kid is getting an individualized program.

The member explained the situation to me, asked for some advice, and I here is how I responded:

“First, I would explain to him that you can’t copy a college program because you don’t have the staff, equipment or athletes to do it at the high school level. Second, seeing a 5 minute video doesn’t really give you a complete understanding of a college program. Just say that you’re taking things from several colleges and list the ones he wants to hear – Penn State, LSU, Alabama, etc. And, if he wants you to run it like Penn State, ask if he’s going to give you everything it takes to run it like Penn State?

Will he have 5 more coaches there every day?

Can you demand 100% participation from a kid or he’s kicked off the team?

Can you dog-cuss kids left and right if they’re not doing exactly what you say? Can you train them all in small groups instead of all at once before/after school? Will he stand behind you no matter what? Can he tell the parents not to ever talk to you so you can focus on doing your job? Can you spend $500,000 on equipment? Will there be ATCs present at every conditioning session in case kids go down?

That’s what Penn State has available. I’m guessing you don’t. You’re high school program just isn’t going to be a college program. More importantly, it doesn’t have to be.

Tell him that you’re going to create a team-wide program, then individualize from there. There is no need to create a completely different strength program for every kid.

These are high school athletes. They need BASICS.

So, you create a “workout template” then make adjustments for any kids who need it. Most kids will be just fine with a basic program, but you have to play politics and say the right things.

Instead of doing complete individual assessments on every kid, you might want to start with some basic strength testing. You can get predicted maxes on a couple of lifts, maybe max chin ups, get numbers on vertical or broad jump, 40s, shuttles, etc. so you have baseline numbers. You want to be able to document progress, so you need to test them periodically to show that your program is working.

The reality of a high school program is that you have to get the biggest “bang for your buck” and hope for as much support from your coaches and parents as possible. Anyone who has coached in both college and high school should understand the differences. I hope this helps. Feel free to forward it to your football coach if you think it will help.”

The strength coach had a talk with his football coach, and talked him down from the ledge. It turns out the football coach is stressed because he feels like his job is on the line, and he wants to make sure the kids are getting stronger. The talk this strength coach had with him reassured the football coach that things are going to be OK and that the program is going to work.

Sometimes, we just have to talk stressed out coaches down so they understand we’re on their team, and we want to win just as badly as they do. A conversation like that can go a long way to establishing a relationship with a sport coach, and I think this strength coach has done just that. Once this relationship is established, everyone can work together toward the goal of helping the kids reach their true potential.

Ultimately, that’s what this is all about.

A Quick Guide To Plyometrics

Posted on: February 20th, 2013 by IYCA No Comments

By Wil Fleming

A Quick Guide To Plyometrics

There is a lot of information about plyometrics that goes around. This is another one.

Books, blog posts, etc, most discuss the various (numerous) types of drills that can fall into the category of plyometrics. Plyometrics as a category of exercise can be nearly any “explosive” type exercise so this leads to a LOT of possibilities.

There is however an information shortage when it comes to how to apply and program plyometrics into your athletes program on a progressive scale.

50 contacts?

100 contacts?

What kind of jumps to do?

What about medicine ball drills?

This list can go on and on.

There are a lot of questions that arise when discussing using plyometrics in your program.

Even before we start thinking about the number of contacts to use with a particular athlete there are a couple of things that we need to consider.

 

Age of the Athlete

Younger athletes are going to be on a steep learning curve, so it is important that the desired outcome of the drill is known and in place. The technical skill that should be executed with the drill should be sufficient. Younger athletes do not need high impact plyometrics, but instead should be focused on grooving the motor patterns that are a part of jumping and throwing.

Type of Plyometric Drill

We program all plyometrics for the beginning of sessions in a period which we call “Dynamic/Explosive”. This can encompass a lot of different drills.

At Force Fitness/AR Bloomington we have 3 broad categories of plyometric drills

Repetitive Effort jumps
These drills are of moderate or low intensity and the focus is on minimal ground contact time. Once the pattern is learned athletes of all ages can benefit from repetitive effort jumps. Progressions of these jumps include adding external resistance in the form of bands, kettlebells or weight vests.

Pogo Jumps Video:

Lateral Hurdle Jumps Video:

Maximum effort Jumps
These drills are high intensity: box jumps, distance jumps (broad jumps) and depth jumps all fall into this category. These drills are more advanced and are not usually prescribed for younger athletes. The focus is on the generating the maximum amount of power in the movement.

Box Jump Video:

Depth Jump Video:

Medicine ball throws
This category can get very broad, and includes rotary throws, chest passes and overhead throws. Divided further these can be maximal effort, repetitive effort, or combined effort throws (Including another skill).

Number of Contacts

When it comes to the number of contacts for these drills the type of movement must be considered. In general the quality of repetitions of each of these explosive movement types will diminish over time, so large volumes are generally not prescribed.

Some general guidelines:
Maximum effort plyos: Repetitive effort Plyos:Medicine Ball Throws:

These numbers reflect programming of the drills as part of a larger program, some more aggressive numbers might be found if programming plyometrics as their own day of programming.

Frequency of training

The recovery time between sessions for plyometrics varies greatly based on the exercise. Maximum effort plyos require a longer recovery time. To account for that an easy way to program plyos is to alternate days on which you do max effort and repetitive effort plyos.

So on a 2 day training schedule one might program Max effort plyos and repetitive effort Medicine ball throws on day 1, repetitive effort plyos and maximum effort medicine ball throws on day 2.

Plyos and medicine ball throws are a great way to increase your athlete’s explosive power. They are essential to successful programs.

Teaching Olympic Lifts To A Large Group

Posted on: February 11th, 2013 by IYCA No Comments

by Wil Fleming

If I presented most people with the following list, the likely response would be "Psssshhhht, impossible"

  • Actually finding a real live bigfoot.
  • Water skiing with no boat.
  • Climbing Mt. Everest with no ropes.
  • Developing a cold fusion machine.
  • Teaching Olympic lifts the right way to large groups of athletes.

Like the guys on Monster Hunters, the mythbusters, and Bear Grylls I beg to differ (at least on the last point). No, like a mad scientist hard at work on a world changing project, I am here to present to you how to approach teaching Olympic Lifts to large groups with no problems.

1) Have a way to determine if someone is ready.

Just putting any John or Jane Doe on the platform is a bad idea. Actually, it is worse than a bad idea, it’s a horrible idea. Aside from the technical know how that is required (which we will cover in a moment) there are so many physical requirements that putting a newbie on the platform without knowledge of their ability is absolute craziness.

To really teach large groups how to Olympic lift it is important to determine their readiness through your assessment process. The FMS gives us some important information about the movement patterns that new trainees posses but there are a couple OL specific ideas that are important to wrap your head around as well.

Expanding on the FMS and the deep squat test, I find that having an individual perform a full front squat with a barbell is perfect to determine their physical ability to achieve and maintain the racked position of the clean and its variations.

Standing tall have the potential Olympic lifter rack a barbell at the shoulder level with their upper arm parallel to the floor. This position itself requires great thoracic extension, and shoulder external rotation, and those that do not posses the right amount will find this position uncomfortable and difficult to achieve. Descending into the full squat position will give you back up data to support conclusions you make in the deep squat about thoracic extension, hip and ankle mobility.

With that information and the appropriate corrective exercises in place, 3 sets of movements should be practiced in a group setting to prepare individuals for the platform.

The hinge
The squat
Plyometrics

The hinge will form the basis for the starting position in terms of weight distribution, and foot placement, and the movement pattern will be used to accelerate the bar in the hang position, or above the knee in the traditional clean or snatch.

The squat will then form the basis of the receiving position, and the pattern of knees out will be mechanically identical to what happens at the catch. Have your group prepare by practicing both goblet squats, and overhead squats.

Finally, plyometrics are an important class of movements to prepare for Olympic lifting. The take off position teaches individuals how to produce force, while the landing position informs the group on how to receive the bar with proper patterns.

2) Have a ready made set of progressions.

Technical knowledge in the Olympic lifts is one of the biggest problems that most coaches see with implementing the movements in a large group setting.

While there is no doubt that technique makes the lifts successful or not, a simple set of progressions to take a newbie to a seasoned lifter is not a pipe dream.

The key in teaching Olympic lifts is to teach from a position that allows for early success, doesn’t require extreme mobility, and is easily relatable for most individuals. I am talking about using the "hang" start position for the Olympic lifts.

The hang start position for the clean and the snatch will be a much easier task for most clients than using the floor start position. The floor start, in the traditional power clean or power snatch, is one that requires mobility and technical knowledge that most do not posses early on.

Instead we use the following progressions of movements, each with their own individual teaching progression to use Olympic lifts effectively with new lifters.

Hang Clean –>Power Jerk–>Power Clean–>Split Jerk–>Hang Snatch–>Power Snatch–>Full Clean–>Full Snatch

Your clients can get great benefits of the Olympic lifts by just performing the first 2 movements. Progressing to the latter stages of these movements is not necessary unless you have great confidence in the abilities of the individuals you are coaching.

3) Know the corrections to make for common mistakes.

As technical lifts there are many things that can occur during the completion of the movements that can make the lift go wrong. If your qualification process and progressions are together there are not many mistakes that are outright dangerous, but rather are just impediments to maximizing the benefits of using the Olympic lifts.

Knowing common corrections to common mistakes will allow your clients to unlock the full potential of the Olympic lifts.

One common mistake that has an easy correction is jumping forward when receiving the bar. This is often a result of incomplete hip extension in the second (fast) pull above the knee. In turn the typical reason for this mistake is the athlete being too far forward over their toes in the pulling position.

When on the toes the individual is unable to get their hips to the bar and complete hip extension. This causes the individual to jump forward when receiving the bar.

While there are many other mistakes that can be made in the lifts, you can have confidence that qualifying the individuals before beginning lifting will remove much of the chance that the movements can be dangerous.

Conclusion

The Olympic lifts can hold a lot of benefit to your clients. Unlike many might suggest there is an easy and effective way to teach the lifts to large groups so that they all can become stronger and more powerful.

 

 

Specialization

Posted on: January 25th, 2013 by IYCA No Comments

By Wil Fleming

 

As coaches we no doubt know about the pitfalls of early specialization when it comes to young athletes.

Despite much evidence that early specialization can lead to higher levels of burnout and dropout, many coaches still believe that the only way athletes can reach 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is to begin specialization at an extremely early age.

Recently several researchers (Moesch, Elbe, Haube and Wikman) published a very interesting article in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Sport Science examining just this theory and has amazing implications for the coaching in your program.

The researchers asked elite athletes and near elite athletes to answer questions about their experiences in athletics regarding their training and practice throughout their career.

(more…)

Three Keys for Programming and Coaching Olympic Lifts

Posted on: January 24th, 2013 by IYCA No Comments

By Wil Fleming

A lot of coaches include the Olympic lifts in their program, but few go outside the traditional power clean. Those that due may include a snatch or jerk, but what is next after that?

How can you improve your programming and improve your athletes’ execution of these lifts?

I have outlined three key ways to improve both your programs and your athletes’ performance.

(more…)

Fix your program: 7 movements you can coach better

Posted on: January 18th, 2013 by IYCA 1 Comment

By Wil Fleming

coach better

In the history of man, and of training there have been more than a few training programs that have been passed off as the best thing since sliced bread, and a lot of them have been exposed as bunch of junk as we (coaches and fitness pros) have gotten smarter.

Training programs are starting to include better and better movements. The general public and athletes alike are shying away from the use of machines and moving towards training on their feet, with free weights, and tons of other awesome tools. Unfortunately some great movements are often being done poorly.

When your training program has bad movements in it, your program is broken. When your training program has good movements that are being done poorly, your program is busted.

Even in my gym we have had to break down some of the movements we train regularly and figure out better ways to coach them and teach them. In some situations we have developed a keener eye for the movement itself and in some situations we have taken the advice of smart people and made some corrections to the movements we do.

Lets fix those busted programs. The next 7 movements are awesome to do, but not when they are done poorly.

Hang Snatches

Lets just get this straight first. There is no inherent problem with the movement itself. Hang snatches rock. The biggest problems I see with athletes doing the hang snatch is in the initiation and completion of the lift.

Athletes that need to fix the initiation of their hang snatch slide their knees forward immediately when starting the lift above their knees. This forward weight shift will lead to an incomplete extension of the hips and typically mean a missed lift at higher weights or a forward jump to receive the bar at lower weights.

At the moment of the catch the athlete needs to work on a timely and powerful punch overhead. Catching the bar with poor timing, arms unlocked with a press out following, is going to lead to a ton of missed lifts.

Box Jumps

As a movement in and of itself the box jump is pretty awesome. It gives athletes a target by which they can measure progress and reduces the impact of landing from a jump. That being said there are TWO big problems that need to be fixed when athletes are doing box jumps.

Problem 1: Jumping down from the top of the box. When we get down to it one of our benefits of using a box jump is the reduction of the impact of landing from a maximal effort jump. Why then, may I ask you, does it make any sense to jump down from the box? The answer is it doesn’t. Make your athletes create a path down from the box and step down.

Problem 2: Jumping on a box that is too high. Our goal while training athletes should be to provide them with opportunities to safely improve techniques that are applicable in the field of play. Jumping on boxes that require the athlete to pull their knees to their chest does not accomplish this task. Instead it creates an unsafe movement patterns, and will eventually ruin the athlete’s chances of becoming a shin model in the future.

Rotational MB Throws

For the most part I think that many programs are seriously lacking in work in the transverse plane, there is so much work done in the sagittal plane that athletes are hampered in their ability to move rotationally. There is much to be said about mastering the sagital plane first but for athletes that compete in rotational sports, learning the right way to deliver power rotationally is very important

The problem that I see all too often is rotational power being produced through movement in the lumbar spine. Regardless of what your opinion is about how much movement should come in the lumbar region, it definitely isn’t a region that is made for producing power. Rotational medicine ball throws need to occur through movement that originates in the lower body, and is expressed through the upper body, a stable lumbar region is key to making sure that the most power is transferred. Pay attention to the back foot on rotational movements to ensure that the movement is starting with the lower body.

Chin Ups

Lets all get together and say what we are thinking right now. Chin ups should never again be denoted as “chest to bar chin ups” because really, what’s the point in pulling only your chin past the bar? Chest to bar needs to be the standard from now on.

Doing chin ups, and pull ups for that matter, that go only to chin above the bar miss out on much of the great functional portion of the movement. When doing the partial movement there is little low trap involvement. Going a little functional anatomy on you, low traps are largely responsible for scapular depression, going only to the chin above the bar is primarily a movement dominated by the lats.

Trap Bar Deadlift

The trap bar deadlift is a great movement, but it doesn’t readily fit into the categories of movement that we like to use to create our training programs. Is it a squat pattern or is it a hinge pattern?

My personal preference is to make it a hinging pattern. Quite simply most athletes get plenty of squatting patterns in their training without our assistance. Making the trap bar a hinge pattern can alleviate this issue.

Teach athletes to do the trap bar deadlift just as you would teach them to go to the ground in the power clean. Hinge first (RDL) then squat until their hands are on the handles. Drive through the heels, keeping the knees back on initiation and then finish with hip extension.

Split Squats

Split squats are good right?

To me it all really depends on how you do them. As I have done coached this movement more and more I have realized that the tendency of most athletes while training is to let the knee slide forward very quickly after the getting them set up in the start position.

Cueing athletes out of this movement can correct the problem for many athletes, but we have adopted a solution that can fix this problem for EVERY athlete.

The concept of blocking a movement to prevent the incorrect pattern can be adopted for most any movement, while I was a thrower we would do this to prevent unwanted technical problems in the shot put and hammer throw by placing a physical barrier between myself and the bad pattern.

With the split squat we use a bench or a band stretched across a rack to prevent the knee from moving forward. In the bottom, 90-90 position the athlete’s front knee should be in contact with the bench. Push up and down from that position.

Power Clean starts

The start on the power clean is one of the most commonly butchered movements in the weightroom. Among many pre-lift rituals that can put athletes in terrible positions, the lift-off from the floor is often misunderstood.

While the bar is on the floor it is a distinct unit from the body, meaning that both the body and the bar have their own center of gravity. The bar’s center of gravity is always in front of the lifter’s while the bar is on the floor. The goal when lifting the bar off the ground is to link those two centers of gravity. This means that upon lift-off the bar must move back and up toward the athlete and not vertically (and definitely not forward).

Many athletes don’t get this right and always pull the bar in front of the body, and are unable to reach full hip extension in the final portion of the lift.

Fix these problems and your program might not be perfect but you are on your way to getting the most out of some awesome movements.

Changing Views on Training Concepts

Posted on: October 6th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

By Wil Fleming

Foam Rolling, Aerobic Training, and Ice: What’s right?

We all know that the profession of training and coaching is a constantly evolving process of learning and adapting. Heck that is what training, itself is all about, staying ahead of adaptation to make continued progress.
(more…)

Plyo Boxes, Agility Discs and Push Ups with Young Athletes

Posted on: October 4th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

Young Athletes Programs Using Plyo Boxes, Agility Discs and Push Ups

By Dave Gleason

In this video IYCA Board of Experts Member Dave Gleason discusses how to utilize agility discs and plyo boxes to teach push ups to young athletes. In this short 4 minute clip coach Dave talks about everything from the set up to how to make is as much fun as humanly possible.

Resistance Bands and Olympic Lifting

Posted on: October 2nd, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 


Olympic Lifting and Resistance Bands


By Dave Schmitz

 

On September 10th, Wil Fleming wrote a very powerful article on “Olympic Lifting” that I found very thought provoking.

 

I agree with Wil that when you begin to discuss Olympic lifting with coaches, red flags immediately goes up about concerns for proper teaching, concerns for safety, and the stigma that Olympic lifting is only for the highly skilled or older athletes. For those coaches I understand their opinion and will not argue those points. Instead I will pose the question, is there a way to achieve some of the benefits of Olympic lifting without struggling with the teaching challenges or putting athletes at risk for injury.

 

As I read Wil’s article I continued to see a strong correlation between the benefits of resistance band training and Olympic lift training. Therefore as a follow up to Wil’s outstanding article, I wanted to touch on all 5 of Wil’s key points and relate them back to how resistance bands could assist young athletes and coaches with “improving” Olympic Lifting skill sets.

 

Please note that I am not suggesting you replicate Olympic lifting with bands but rather that you can get some of the neuromuscular benefits of Olympic Lifting by training with resistance bands.

I also feel that performing certain movement with resistance bands will carry over to helping young athletes become better Olympic Lifting candidates.

 

Type II Muscle Development

 

Elastic resistance is an ascending resistance that increases as the range of motion increases. As a result a young athlete quickly learns that in order to complete the movement using a resistance band they must accelerate out of their loaded posture. This mind set of acceleration is what not only recruits Type II muscle fibers, as Wil noted, but neuromuscular also teaches young athletes how to accelerate a force which is a key skill set necessary with Olympic Lifts.

 

Improved Coordination

 

Resistance band training incorporates the use of compound multi-joint movements like squat to press, hip hinge to high pull, and squat to row. All these compound movements require neuromuscular coordination to effectively complete the movement. Teaching young athletes these compound movements initially using resistance bands will provide them the neuromuscular training to learn how to coordinate movements similar to those required in Olympic Lifting.

 

 

Improved Power characteristics

 

Attaching a band around the hips to create a horizontal or vertical force vector will proprioceptively teach young athletes how to perform full hip and knee extension. Applying the hip attached set-up with bands while performing a dead-weight swing or board jump will reflexively teach the skill set of full hip extension and knee extension with an upper extremity arm swing. Using the band belt system will proprioceptively create a more vertical load while performing some of the band exercises shown in the previous video. In both cases it will allow young athletes to train the Olympic lifting skill of getting full hip extension and knee extension with an upper extremity driver.

 

View Band Belt System

 

Band Belt combo training

 

Improved Force Absorption

 

Absorbing the force of the bar when receiving it overhead or at the chest requires the core to reactively stabilize in order for the body to maintain its center of gravity over its base of support and avoid excessive lumbar extension which can often be the case with Olympic lifts. This same reactive stabilization is seen when doing any type of horizontal vector upper body band exercise with the individual facing away from the band attachment site. For instance a simple horizontal chest press or overhead tricep press requires the core to reactive stabilize to avoid excessive lumber extension during the initiation of the concentric phase of the movement. Using bands to teach young athletes how to dynamic engage their core while performing an explosive upper body exercise with bands will neuromuscular replicate the core reaction needed with Olympic lifting.

 

Success Elsewhere

 

Bands are rarely seen in a high school weight room being used to augment or help train movement skills. Instead they are used to simulate machine based movements or assist with body weight exercises like pull ups. One of the greatest benefits of resistance band training is its impact in proprioceptively teaching young athletes how to feel movement, train movement and ultimately store it into the body’s muscle memory bank. Once permanently embedded into the muscle memory, these movement skills will easily transfer into any other lift or activity that requires that particular movement skill like with Olympic lifting or more field specific foot agility training.

 

Foot Agility Training Video

 

Resistance Bands are by no means a replacement for Olympic Lifts. However, incorporating them into a strength and conditioning program will not only allow coaches more training options but will also teach young athletes a skill set that could bring them closer to incorporating many of the movement skills needed to successfully implementing Olympic Lifts into their training program.

 

Special Thank You needs to go out to Wil Fleming for creating the original article on Olympic Lifting. ~ Dave Schmitz

 

The ‘Missing Link’ in your HS Long Sprints program?

Posted on: October 1st, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 


High School Long Sprints Program Mistakes

 

By Coach Latif Thomas

 

The biggest mistake high school long sprints coaches make is wasting time and energy searching for solutions to problems that don’t exist.

 

You can write the most beautiful annual plan or the most individualized and specific workouts the universe has ever known.

 

But, if your sprinters secretly hate the 400, fear the 400 and/or don’t possess the level of inner confidence proven to fuel great performances, they’ll still get beat by inferior athletes running inferior workouts who Believe they’re going to run faster.

 

I’ll be honest:

 

I don’t excel at writing workouts. I don’t need to. Or try to.

 

The season is less than three months (and that’s only for your very best runners) of training little kids with low training ages. They don’t need nuanced workout progressions because they’re too inexperienced to absorb or apply that much detail.

 

The real secret to my High school long sprints program is simple:

 

I’m good at motivating kids. At developing self confidence. At inspiring them to buy into the program, system and philosophy… hook, line and sinker.

 

I look at it like this:

 

Like you, I only have so much time in the day. It means I can’t get to everything I’d like to do.

 

So I focus on what’s going to get me the most ‘bang for my buck’.

 

For my money, that’s spending more time studying and applying the ‘Science of Mind’ than the ‘Science of Periodization’.

 

We all coach for different reasons. But it’s generally a safe bet that near the top of that list is: 1) Help kids, 2) Develop faster long sprinters (200/300/400 runners), 3) Larger numbers of #2

 

All of which lead to more winning, which, last I checked, is a good time for everyone. So, if you want to experience more of the things I just listed, spend more time refining your system of developing self belief and less time trying to jack workout progressions from coaches whose programs have almost nothing in common with yours.

 

And remember this:

 

Since you coach one of the most disrespected and irrelevant sports your school has to offer, you have to think of yourself as a marketer. Because you’re competing against the soccer program, the basketball program, the lacrosse program and the baseball program. Against sports kids have been playing their whole lives.

 

If you want to grow your numbers, how are you going to compete with the Club Soccer or AAU coach who tells your young athletes that year round soccer or basketball is going to get them noticed by college coaches and scouts?

 

Or the dad who is reliving his failed baseball career through his son?

 

Simple. Make their experience on the track team more fun and rewarding. We have a unique opportunity in an individual sport like track and field because each personal best is an individual experience.

 

The ‘team’ didn’t PR in that 400, ‘I’ PR’d in that 400.

 

It wasn’t the starting point guard getting the credit while I stood on the wing. I did the work and I got full credit for reaping the full results of that work. It doesn’t matter if that result is winning an All State Championship or breaking 70 for the first time, everyone can take pride in their own individual improvement.

 

It’s going to take time to cultivate a default ‘I can’ mindset in your young athletes because right now they don’t really believe they can. They might BS you if you ask, but they won’t look you in the eye when they say it. They ‘hope’ to. They ‘want’ to.

 

But they don’t expect to.

 

If you want to find the Missing Link to sustained success, improvement and growth in your high school long sprints program, spend the bulk of your energy this season on the Periodization of Expectation.

 

My process isn’t random. I develop and apply it systematically, the same as I would if teaching acceleration mechanics or an Olympic Lift.

 

I do and say certain things at certain times in certain ways to certain people based on their current ability to receive and apply the lesson.

 

It’s a game changer. And the only thing more fun than winning is seeing the look on a kid’s face when you tell them they just achieved their goal time, something they thought was unobtainable just a few months before these changes in your High school long sprints program.

 

 

Throw Out Your Scale and Enjoy The Ride

Posted on: September 28th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 

 

Youth Fitness: Throw Out Your Scale and Enjoy The Ride

 

By Kyle Brown

 

Imagine yourself out in the park, with a basketball in hand, playing an impromptu game with friends. You’re laughing, smiling, and having a good time–not a care in the world. It’s like a form of Tai Chi, meditation in motion.

 

When do the best athletes in nearly every sport have their best performances? When they’re completely in the moment, acting like a kid, pressure-free, enjoying the process. They are not focusing on the mechanics or the pressure of the game. They’re having fun and everything simply gels. They’re laughing, they’re smiling–they’re remembering why they starting playing the youth sports in the first place.

 

This philosophy applies to youth fitness and anyone trying to live a healthy and fit lifestyle. Just like when you are on a road trip with your family, you need to enjoy the ride instead of whining, “Are we there yet?” Every aspect of your training and nutrition should feel this way. You eat healthy because it makes you feel good. The food tastes delicious, and when you are done eating you feel full and satisfied, your energy renewed. You’re excited to walk into the gym and lift weights because it makes you feel strong. You’re amped to go to practice because it makes you better at the game you love. You drink water because you feel healthy and energized.

 

They key is to get to the why.

 

When you were a really young kid, “Why?” was most likely your favorite question. I’m sure you constantly asked your friends and family why something was the way it was and “Because I said so” was never a good enough answer. The answer to “why” is your purpose. It’s the reason behind your actions, your effort, and your sacrifice.

 

It’s the reason you do what you do. And your “why” may be different from my “why” or from your friends’ or family’s “why.” One of the big mistakes your athletes make is that their initial “why” gets replaced by the fantasy of becoming rich and famous. Those are potential side benefits of achieving your goals but should not be the reason you’re striving for them in the first place.

 

Your “why” should be based around improving your quality of life.

 

You need to throw out your scale and focus on enjoying the ride. A healthy lifestyle needs to become part of your personal culture and who you are at the core. Not approaching your goals in this manner is the problem of nearly every adult. They know what they do and focus on learning how to do what they do, but they forget their purpose. For example, I have seen many young athletes do whatever it takes to become a professional athlete. Yet of these select few who actually make it, the overwhelming majority crash and burn once they get there. This phenomenon happens partially because they don’t set goals for what they’re going to do once they become a professional, but mostly because their “why” has become tainted in the process. They’ve lost their love for the game and stopped striving for greatness. The goal is to be happy but not content. You should always strive to be the best you can be.

 

And it’s not just young athletes and in youth fitness.

I’ve also seen this happen with people who are trying to lose weight or gain muscle. They focus all their energy on trying to reach a particular number on their scale and follow an approach based solely on temporary sacrifice. As soon as they reach their scale weight goal, they typically start eating poorly again and stop exercising as frequently. It’s disastrous!

 

For many others, after a week of dieting struggle and sacrifice, they step onto the magic box known as a scale and say, “Oh magic box. Please tell me that I am beautiful, that I am loved, that my program is succeeding.” And if the number that pops up is lower than the last time they checked, the answer to these questions is yes. If not, they’re an epic failure and it is time to find a new diet. Weight loss has little to do with willpower. It’s about developing a mindset and enriching yourself with proper information.

 

Many people trying to get fit put forth a ton of effort but are misguided by poor information. Instead, you need a game plan that helps create healthy habits and daily rituals that will get you to the top and keep you on top. And the process needs to be fun rather than a miserable sacrifice. Quick fixes are not acceptable, as they are inconsistent with long-term change. Thinking “the diet starts tomorrow” is setting yourself up for failure.

 

Instead, use my motto: “The healthy lifestyle starts now.” Do this for your own reasons, your own “why” for wanting to improve your quality of life today. And always remember: enjoy the ride, as it will make you emotionally fit and psychology.

 

 

Stop the Insanity!

Posted on: September 18th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 

 

Young Athletes Sports-Specific Training Insanity

 

By Mike Mejia

 

You see the ads all the time. Typically rife with promises of “radical increases” in strength, speed and power, they grab the attention of athletes, parents and coaches alike. Capitalizing on the desire of young athletes to gain any possible advantage over their peers, sports-specific training programs have been popping up all over the place in recent years. Whether it’s a soccer player seeking a more powerful kick, or a basketball player that wants to increase his, or her vertical leap, parents are shelling out big money for training that’s aimed at increasing their child’s physical prowess in a given sport. The question is, though, how specific does a training program really need to be for bodies that are still developing and as such, often have a variety of needs that far outweigh the enhancement of particular sports skills?

 

The unfortunate reality is that often times these programs do little more than contribute to the rapidly increasing rate of overuse injuries currently seen in youth sports! By replicating the same movement patterns and taxing the same muscle groups that are already being overused during practice and competition, this emphasis on “sports-specific” training is the exact opposite of what young athletes actually need. Rather than seek to enhance overall athleticism and reduce injury risk, many of these programs load kids up with bands, sleds and various other types of resistance, long before their bodies are physically prepared to do so. The thought process being that by overloading specified movement patterns, the athlete will be better able to meet the specific demands of his, or her sport.

 

Is this really necessary…

 

Young athletes sport specific training

 

Seemingly sound thinking; particularly when applied to young athletes age 16-17 and older, who’ve likely been training longer and as a result, possess a more sound physical foundation to work off of. Even then, however, such athletes should be thoroughly assessed to identify any weak links (i.e. strength and flexibility imbalances) that may serve as potential precursors to injury. For younger kids though, this trend towards sport specificity is an unmitigated mistake- especially when the intent is future sports stardom! As experts in the field of athletic development and sports conditioning continually point out, the vast majority of world class athletes didn’t specialize too early and instead, were exposed to a wide variety of sports that helped them develop more in the way of global athleticism.

 

In direct contrast to this, nowadays we commonly see kids who despite dominating in a particular sport, lack the ability to run properly, skip, throw a ball, change direction, land from a jump, or execute a host of other basic physical skills that require efficient, coordinated movement.

 

That’s why I’m imploring parents and coaches alike to stop buying into the hype and subjecting young athletes to this type of approach.

 

Get your kids working on improving things like mobility, flexibility and systemic strength and resist the temptation to have them mimic specific sports skills through training. If they play tennis, instead of having them try to replicate their swing against rubber resistance tubing, have them work on general core strengthening. If basketball’s their game, forget all of the intensive plyometric drills until they’ve first demonstrated the ankle mobility and knee stability necessary to safely engage in this type of training.

 

Granted, this may not be the popular approach and is in fact, often the last thing that scholarship obsessed athletes (and their parents) want to hear. I guess it just doesn’t pack the same marketing punch as potential division one success, or lucrative pro contracts. However, with up to half of the 2 million sports injuries suffered each year by middle and high school aged young athletes being attributed to overuse, it’s a message that desperately needs to be heard. It also happens to be where this industry is eventually headed and exactly the tact we need to take if we’re ever really going to get this young athletes injury epidemic under control.

 

 

Why Olympic Lift?

Posted on: September 18th, 2012 by IYCA 1 Comment

 

 

Olympic lifting With Young Athletes

Olympic lifting young athletes
 

By Wil Fleming

 

There is a large portion of coaches that don’t think Olympic lifting has any benefits whatsoever. These coaches believe that the benefits of Olympic lifting is over blown, inflated and doesn’t really pertain to athletes. They cite the time it takes to teach athletes the lifts (too long they say), and they cite risk vs. reward (they say the risk is too great for too little reward). This post is not for those coaches, if you are one of those coaches, then I applaud you for creating more explosive, faster and more dominant athletes while not using Olympic lifts. This post is for the coaches that are using Olympic lifting or on the fence about these lifts, that need more ammunition when discussing their programs or want a final piece of the puzzle to commit to training their athletes with these lifts.

 

Type II muscle development

 

Type II (Fast twitch) muscle fiber is the golden currency for successful athletes. Greater type II muscle makes athletes more explosive, and faster. Type II muscle fibers are part of high threshold motor units and only react to high output activities, so curls with the 25 lbs dumbbells are not going to cut it. Olympic lifting uses high power movements and recruits type II muscle for activation, the more explosive movement is used the more preferentially these units will be recruited. There are movements that replicate the power output of Olympic lifts, but don’t hit on all the other great parts of Olympic lifting.

 

Improved coordination

 

The Olympic lifts are a great display of coordination and motor skill for all athletes. There is a precise control of the body that is necessary to complete these lifts. While this coordination is not identical to that required by any other sport nothing else in the weightroom is an identical match to sporting events either. This coordination does center around the hips and legs, similar to many other sporting events.

 

Improved power characteristics

 

The completion of the Olympic lifts includes full extension of the hips and knees in an explosive manner. This improvement has great carryover to hip and knee extension power in other areas of athletics. Athletes that are trained extensively in the Olympic lifts show improved rates of force development which greatly improves their power creating ability.

 

Improved force absorption

 

Often overlooked, receiving the bar overhead or at the chest requires the athlete to absorb force. This is the piece of the puzzle that can really make the Olympic lifts something that keeps athletes healthier. Most displays of power in the field of play must have a corresponding need to absorb force upon landing, Olympic lifts above other displays of power in the gym can provide this.

 

Success elsewhere

 

If you own a private facility the fact of the matter is, your high school athletes are probably doing another program at their high school. That program likely contains an Olympic lifting of some sort (probably power cleans). If you are not going to teach them how to power clean or hang clean, then you are just relying on someone else to do it for you. To give your athletes the best chance of success it is imperative that a qualified coach teaches them how to lift.

 

There are some young athletes with whom I do not use Olympic lifting with. Those athletes that have a history of back pain or back injuries would be first among them. For young athletes (12-14) I teach the Olympic lifts only as a skill, something to be improved upon by repetition not by weight used. For other athletes that are able, the Olympic lifts can serve a great role.

 

 

Adventure Themed Programming Ideas For Young Athletes

Posted on: September 18th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 

 

Programming Ideas For Young Athletes

 

young athletes fitness games

 

By Dave Gleason

 

Without a doubt, the most popular game amongst our youngest athletes (Discovery 6-9 years) is the Pirate Game. Many Athletic Revolution coaches have successfully adopted and modified this multi-purposed game to meet the needs of their young athletes.

 

Coordination, systemic strength, cooperation, object manipulation and FUN are all the required elements of the Athletic Revolution programming templates. All of these elements are layered into the Pirate Game and can be duplicated and or expanded on with any other theme.

 

Themed games or programs are fantastic ways to incorporate several movement-based skills while masking them as fun for your young athletes

 

The adventure theme is a great variation. The following activities can and should be coached using the part whole method. These are suggestions and the art of coaching will allow you to modify these activities to suit the needs of your young athletes within the confines or your facility and equipment availability.

 

Climb the Mountain - Use Valslides or just do traditional Mountain Climbers. Cueing on this one is to “look up, don’t look down”.

 

Cross the River – Using balance pods, low balance beams or agility disks have the athletes cross the river that is already mapped out by you or have them cross the river while bring 2 or three implements with them.

 

Traverse the Canyon – Have your athletes cross a span of monkey bars, climb a cargo net or pull a battle rope attached to a sled, kettle bell or other weighted implement.

 

Anaconda – The young athletes must defeat the anaconda by working as a team to press the entire battle rope overhead.

 

Climb the Vines - Athletes will climb monkey bars, a cargo net or climbing rope.

 

Avalanche – This activity can be carried out in two ways. 1.) Coaches chase athletes by rolling stability balls 2.) Coaches roll multiple dodge balls (rocks) and athletes attempt to dodge them.

 

River Rapids – Place a UCS plyosafe box on top of an Airex pad for a bit of instability or utilize a Bosu ball (flat side up). The athletes must stay balanced on the implement in small groups for 8-10 seconds to “Ride the Rapids).

 

Quick Sand – Utilizing a gymnastics landing pad or “fat” pad, the athletes try to avoid sinking into the quick sand by stomping or running in place with quick feet. If they spend too much time in the quick sand they will surely sink!

 

If you do not have some of the above equipment at your disposal, be creative and if all else fails…ask one of your high motivation, high skilled young athletes to come up with some ideas.

 

Any themed game can be used for the game/cooperation portion of your programming, as a reward or for the entire class. Meet them where they are and observe. You will be able to ascertain when the game has run its course with them very quickly by observing attention level, effort and of course verbal cues – “Can we play something else?”

 

Remember your young athletes will mirror your energy and excitement so put on your Indiana Jones wanna be persona and have a blast!!

 

Keep changing lives…one at a time.

 

 

Dave Gleason

 

Giving Your Young Athletes Ownership

Posted on: August 30th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 

 

Giving Young Athletes Ownership Over Their Fitness Programs

 

By Dave Gleason

 

At times we speak about giving kids ownership over their fitness programs. Self efficacy, self confidence and a vested interest in long term health and wellness are all associated benefits of giving a little control back to the young athletes we coach.

 

With all of the documented and experiential proof of these advantageous rewards, why do we not allow for coaching in this manner on a more consistent basis? Once more, should we be digging deeper into the possibilities we could examine with our young athletes?

 

Many coaches may feel uncomfortable with giving up ultimate control of the sessions they run. Giving up control is not the point. The perspective must be that the session we run are theirs…not ours. The kids we serve are the owners of their sessions.

 

Yes, for the most part, we orchestrate the parameters and boundaries they are allowed to explore movement within. That said, coaches must trust in the fact that the opportunity to explore, discover and learn human movement patterns far outweighs the perceived advantage of the most technical of programs.

 

As stated, there are several reasons why we should allow for more engagement and decision making from our young athletes. Recently, I took this to the extreme, leaving positive lessons learned by myself, my staff and most importantly by the young athletes we serve.

 

If cultivating a physical culture in children is important…if physical literacy is lacking in today’s youth and we are charged with positively impacting lives…

 

Then consider this:

 

I gave full control of our 10-13 year old classes for one week…to the 10-13 year old young athletes!

 

We all know how difficult it can be to maintain focus and effort levels during the end of the school year, especially for our younger athletes.

 

So here is what we did.

 

Within the parameters of our programming templates our young athletes where asked to name the categories of movements and or activities we operate our classes within. Next they chose appropriate exercises, movements, activities or games within each category.

 

The individuals in each class were allowed to help each reach answers that were correct in category name and appropriate in activity selection.

 

The result was an astonishing realization that our young athletes were learning. They are learning how to structure an exercise plan – a life long lesson. Tissue quality, active range of motion, muscle activation, general preparation, systemic strength and game play were all nomenclatures they not only knew – they understood.

 

My staff and I would ask them, for example, what “systemic strength” means to them and the answers were miraculous and dead accurate.

 

“It means working the whole body coach. The entire system”.

 

“It means not to strengthen just one part of our body but to get all the moving parts working together”.

 

When asked what activities they would suggest for each respective element of training my staff and I were once again amazed.

 

Not only did they produce suggestions that were befitting the chosen category, some of our young champions remarked correctly that some of the activities could potentially be used for more than one category. Brilliant.

 

This was a lesson to us that if we truly want to empower our kids, we need to coach as such. Not just on special occasions or during times when traditional programming does not suffice…all the time.

 

Every session, every moment young athletes has in your program should be memorable, remarkable and exciting.

 

Start with giving them the ownership they deserve.

 

Keep changing lives!

 

 

Youth Fitness Resources From The IYCA

Posted on: August 28th, 2012 by IYCA No Comments

 

 

Youth Fitness Resources

 

By Wil Fleming

 

I get a lot of questions regarding what IYCA product other coaches should buy. To my inbox, in person, and on facebook the question is always “I am thinking of buying Product X, and also product Y if you had to rank them what would it be?”

 

Continuing education is one of my favorite things to spend money on. I know that there is a big return coming on the money spent on products that help me improve as a coach. So in truth, any information gleaned from a text or DVD is valuable for me, but if I had to rank them here is how it goes.

 

Youth Fitness Specialist Level 1

 

This product really is what sets the IYCA apart. There is no more complete text about youth fitness and training athletes from ages 6-18. This text defined for me what youth athletes need when it comes to training. It underwent a recent update and has been improved even more from the original.

 

http://youth-fitness-specialist.com/

 

IYCA High School Strength and Conditioning Coach Certification

 

This was the first product I was ever involved in creating and is the most practical text I have ever read about training high school athletes. There are dozens of done-for-you high school training programs. If they don’t fit the bill for your training situation, there is a huge text book giving you the tools to replace movements with ideal choices. The fact that it was written by Mike Robertson, Eric Cressey, and Toby Brooks makes it even better. Normal texts talk a lot about theory but this one really does tell you how to apply theory to make great high school athletes.

 

http://iyca.org/highschool/

 

The IYCA Youth Speed and Agility Specialist

 

Written by Dave Jack, Latif Thomas, and Toby Brooks there is not a better text about speed and agility available anywhere. It is required reading for all interns with me, and for all the coaches that work in my facility. The section on lateral speed alone is worth the investment. That being said I have never read a more practical de-construction of the mechanics of acceleration and high speed running than what is provided in this text.

 

http://youthspeedspecialist.com/

 

IYCA Kettlebell/Olympic Lifts/Resistance Band Instructor Courses

 

I grouped these together because there is always a weak point in coaches arsenal that needs to be improved. The IYCA has provided 3 manuals that can help you eliminate those points to become a better coach. There are no better kettlebell instructors than Jason C. Brown and Pamela MacElree at teaching kettlebells in an easy to process way. When it comes to resistance band training, no one surpasses Dave Schmitz in his knowledge, I have seen him train elite football teams with only resistance bands, creating some of the fastest and most explosive athletes I have been around. The Olympic Lifts course is designed by me, and in my honest evaluation, it is the only product that comes from someone with an elite Olympic lifting background that uses the lifts primarily to train young athletes and not competitive Olympic lifters. Each of these products can help make you a better coach in a chosen weak point.

 

http://iyca.org/kettlebell/

 

http://iyca.org/olympic-lifts/

 

http://iyca.org/bands/

 

 

There are plenty of other awesome products from the IYCA. The Youth Fitness Specialist Level 2 and Level 3 products can only elevate your knowledge, and are the most thorough texts I have ever seen on a given subject matter.