Archive for “High School Athletes” Category

Building Youth Weight Training Programs by Starting Young

Posted on: June 23rd, 2014 by IYCA 5 Comments

Starting Young: Building Youth Athletic Programs in the Weight Room

By Shane Nelson, MSS, CSCS

People ask me all the time when is the best time to focus on building youth weight training programs. My answer is always to start young.

It is no secret that successful high school athletic programs begin with great feeder systems. Show me a prolific high school team that competes for state championships year in and year out, and I’ll show you one that has built their program from the ground up. This begins at the youth level with coaches conveying the philosophy of the varsity coaching staff and culminates with these young athletes ‘buying into” and believing in the program. Whether it is Pop Warner football, swim clubs, or youth basketball programs, it is no coincidence that the best of these (and I define “best” here as those working for a common goal and developing everyone—not just wins and losses) often breeds tremendous success as these kids get into high school.

This is an approach I have carried over into the weight room as the strength coach at Chesterton High School. Over the past several years, I have had countless athletes enter their freshman year of high school having never seen the inside of a weight room, much less having any idea what an RDL or a Pallof Press is. What I have found in these cases is that I have to spend a significant amount of time teaching these kids basic form and technique, which, in my opinion, are things that could have been taught at a much younger age. Had these athletes been taught at a young age by qualified instructors or coaches the lifts that they would be expected to perform when they enter CHS, they would be able to “hit the ground running” upon their arrival. Therefore, not long ago, I decided to be the guy who would prepare our younger athletes for life inside the weight room.

To that end, I have started running strength and conditioning camps at our high school for students in grades 5-8 with the focus of teaching the young athletes proper form and technique on every lift they may have to perform when they get to high school. Typically, these camps run for 8-12 weeks, and participants are taught the most basic progressions. At the beginning of the camp, participants go through a quick assessment in order to identify any muscular weaknesses or imbalances that need to be addressed.

Every session begins with both a general and dynamic warm-up. In future camps, we will implement foam rolling and corrective exercise as part of this period, as well. After the warm-up, the athletes go into the weight room to complete their prescribed workout. Athletes perform bodyweight-only exercises until they are able to complete EVERY rep with perfect form. Only then will they be allowed to add an external load. Athletes are also taught how to properly spot every exercise that requires one. Typically, I have two or three other varsity coaches assisting me with the camp to ensure that participants are executing the lifts with good form and are being spotted correctly by their peers.

As a strength coach, I cannot overemphasize the importance of getting athletes into the weight room before they reach the high school level. The key is understanding that young athletes at a young age are still physically and psychologically immature, and that fact needs to be taken into consideration when designing training regimens and building youth weight training programs. In other words, make it fun!

We all know how important the weight room is to success on the field or court in 2014, so teaching young athletes how to lift SAFELY at a young age will benefit them and their high school sports programs as much as, if not more than, teaching them the motion offense in basketball or how to zone block in football. So the most direct path to building great youth athletic programs is building youth weight training programs for young athletes.

Until next time,

Shane Nelson, MSS, CSCS

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach

Posted on: May 25th, 2014 by IYCA 1 Comment

Opportunities Abound—Consider Your Strengths

By Jim Kielbaso

The field of strength and conditioning has exploded over the past 10-15 years, and more people are wondering how to become a strength and conditioning coach than ever before. Unfortunately, most young professionals simply don’t know what options are available, where to start, or what it will take to get there. Because of this, many professionals end up moving on to other career pursuits. The purpose of this article is to give you a basic understanding of the strength and conditioning profession, what is available, and which paths are typical for each scenario.

Opportunities Available to the Strength and Conditioning Coach

Strength and conditioning job opportunities are typically found in four main career areas:

Professional sports
Collegiate sports
Private setting
Volunteer or part-time positions

Entrepreneurship has become an ever-important aspect of this profession, and having a great business idea can open up additional career paths such as speaking, writing, web-sites, product development, product sales, and more. Those areas are not the typical paths, so we won’t be spending much time talking about them. Keep in mind, however, that an entrepreneurial spirit can open the doors to a wide variety of additional opportunities in this field.

The Power of Networking

Most strength and conditioning coaches who have been in the game for more than a few years have worked very hard to get where they are. Almost all have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in a related field and at least one major certification. Many coaches have a master’s degree, own multiple certifications, and have done internships or graduate assistantships to gain experience and connections in the Strength and Conditioning world. Like any other profession, some coaches simply fall into incredible positions and may even be ill-qualified for the job. Most, however, are “connected” to another coach. When that coach gets a new job, he often takes “his people” with him.

University of Tennessee Strength Coach Ronnie McKeefery puts it best: “Networking is an absolute must when you’re trying to break into this field. Knowing the right people can move your resume to the top of a large stack or even let you know about job openings you otherwise wouldn’t have known about.”

There is no objective way to determine who the best strength coaches are—there are no win/loss records attributed directly to the Strength and Conditioning coach—so “who you know” plays a big role in how many opportunities come your way. Unfortunately, many good coaches lose their jobs because they are connected to a sport coach who loses his/her job. That’s part of the game, and it’s the state of the profession. If that’s not appealing to you, you may want to find a job outside of college or pro sports.

More and more, sport coaches are learning about strength and conditioning and developing their own opinions about training. If you hope to work with a sport coach like this, your training philosophy better match his/her opinion of what works: The sport coach is in charge of the team and he/she may carry a lot of weight in the hiring/firing process; if you do things in a way that contradicts the coach’s beliefs, you’re probably not going to be hired. This reality has gotten many coaches to reevaluate what is important to them, and compromises have been made in order to keep jobs. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing, but it is a part of the profession.

Nearly Endless Options

If you’re just starting out and have a real passion for strength and conditioning but haven’t gotten too far into the business, you need to know that there are many options and paths to choose from. If you just want to be part of the scene, there are endless opportunities. There are a lot of schools, teams and athletes that would love some free or very inexpensive help. If you want to get paid, however, there are fewer opportunities. And, if you want to make a lot of money, your path is even narrower. That’s not to say that there aren’t good jobs out there, but there are a lot of quality coaches vying for a relatively small number of coveted jobs, so it’s very competitive. No matter which path you choose, you’ll probably have to pay your dues, unless you’re one of those lucky people who fall into a perfect situation.

“Putting in a lot of hard work and spending time developing as a coach is an absolute requirement,” says McKeefery. “This is a tough job, so you have to be willing to work. If hard work and long hours are a problem for you, this probably isn’t the job for you.”

You also need to keep in mind that not everyone is a good fit for this profession and different personalities fit better down certain paths. You don’t want to be the square peg trying to fit into a round hole, so it’s a good idea to figure out which path presents the best opportunities for your strengths. As you read through the rest of this article, you may connect with certain aspects of each job. Try to be very honest and objective about which environment you are best suited for. The coach who is perfectly suited for college football may be the wrong person to work with professional basketball players. An incredible Olympic sports coach may be terrible in a business setting.

You also need to understand that each situation has pros and cons. Working with professional athletes may be your dream because you love Sports Center. That dream could be completely shattered when you find out the realities of the situation. You may start out being driven in one direction, but don’t be surprised if your outlook changes as you mature in the profession.

Let’s take a look at some of the opportunities available in the field and the most common paths taken to get there. While you read, think about which situations you’re best suited for. Also keep in mind that there are always combinations of these positions available, and you may have an opportunity to create your own job in certain situations.

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach in Professional Sports

(Salary range: $500/month–$300K+/year)

To some people, this is the pinnacle. To others, it’s a terrible situation. There are a very limited number of jobs available in pro sports, so you’ll certainly have to pay your dues, get to know the right people and be in the right place at the right time to make it happen. Professional sports have evolved to the point that the athletes often have more power than the coaches, and some coaches aren’t right for that environment.

The path to success in professional sports is generally to pick one sport and go full tilt in that direction. You’ll probably get pigeon-holed early on as a hockey guy, football guy, basketball guy, etc., so be sure you like the sport you’re dealing with. That’s not to say you can never switch sports, but once you’re in, you’re kind of in.

Like college coaches, many pro coaches start out as a Graduate Assistant or intern for a collegiate program. From there, they often intern or volunteer for a pro team to get a foot in the door. Sometimes a player you’ve worked with puts a word in for you to get you into an organization. Once you get a foot in the door, it’s much easier to move ahead. It’s pretty common for a part-time coach or intern to be promoted to assistant coach if he/she is doing a great job. From there, many assistant coaches move up to a head coach spot when one opens.

MLB seems to have the largest number of opportunities, but many of them are internship positions with minor league teams. Inexperienced coaches have the opportunity to get jobs in pro baseball, and it can be a good learning experience if you are lucky enough to work under a good coach. It can also be frustrating because moving upward in an organization is difficult and competitive. The people at the top of the ladder typically stay there for as long as they can.

In baseball, you generally go from being an intern with a minor league team to being a minor league coordinator and finally to MLB head strength coach. Many teams hire from within, so it’s often a game of attrition: How long can you wait for a good job to become available?

“I spent time in three different organizations waiting for an opportunity to present itself, but it never happened,” says Nick Wilson from the University of Detroit Mercy. “I stuck around baseball as long as I could, but when a college position became available, I knew I had to jump on it.”

Your ability to connect with coaches and athletes will often outweigh your knowledge, so keep in mind that you have to be the right fit if you’re going to make it very far in baseball.

The NBA, NFL, MLS, and NHL are a little different because there aren’t many lower-tier or minor league positions available. The path noted above (intern–>assistant–>head) is similar to the path taken in collegiate sports. The big difference is that most “farm” systems of these sports simply don’t have full-time strength and conditioning coaches… yet. That may change in the future.

To get into one of these sports, you typically have to pay your dues for a while, making very little money, working very hard, traveling A LOT, and connecting with the right people in order for it to pay off. More importantly, you typically need to ride the coattails of a coach or high-profile athlete to get into a good position. For example, you may be a volunteer coach for an NFL team just at the time that the assistant Strength and Conditioning coach gets a new job. If you’ve done an outstanding job, you might get the Assistant position. From there, you may become great friends with the Defensive Coordinator. The next year, that coach may get a head coaching job for another team, and he may bring you with him because of your relationship. That’s a typical situation, but it doesn’t always work perfectly.

You also need to understand that pro Strength and Conditioning coaches are often hired and fired depending on how the players feel about you. It’s not uncommon to see a coach get hired or fired in pro sports because a star player either loved or hated him/her. It’s also not uncommon for someone to get hired by a professional team because he/she had developed a relationship with an owner or high-level manager. That’s certainly not typical, but you just never know how things might work out in professional sports.

If pro sports is your true passion, you’ll probably need to start out by volunteering for a team. Call the strength coach and ask if you can be involved in any way. If you’re lucky enough to get your foot in the door, take advantage of that opportunity by working your butt off. Hard work will often impress someone, and that could give you the opportunity to take the next step in that sport.

You’ll almost always need a strong educational background to land a good pro job, but there have also been plenty of ex-players or personal friends that get hired.

The NFL typically has one head strength coach and one or two assistants. Many teams are going with a speed coach instead of an assistant. Because of the schedule, NFL jobs require the least amount of travel and often have the most authority over the actual training the athletes engage in.

The NBA typically has one head strength coach, and some teams have intern positions. Travel can be grueling because you’re on the road most of the year. Not many NBA strength coaches have the authority to “make” a player train, so developing relationships is very important.

Not every NHL team has a full-time strength coach; many are also athletic trainers, and most have additional responsibilities such as minor league training or making travel arrangements. The MLS is still in its infancy. Most teams have someone working on fitness, but the quality of the position varies greatly from club to club. MLS and NHL have plenty of room for growth in this area.

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach in College Sports

Salary range: $500/month–$300K+/year

There are certainly more opportunities in college athletics than professional sports simply because there are more colleges than pro teams. Many colleges also employ more than one strength coach, and some employ several. There seem to be two distinct paths here: football and everything else. There are now several basketball-only Strength and Conditioning Coaches, but the majority of college coaches can be divided up by football and what they call “Olympic sports.”

In either situation, you always need a degree and national certification (usually NSCA or CSCCA), and most coaches now have a Master’s Degree and experience as either a Graduate Assistant or intern. If you want to get into college Strength and Conditioning coaching, you’re definitely going to need to pick between football and Olympic sports and work on getting a G.A. spot or internship. Getting a G.A. position at a large school is quite competitive, so you’ll need to make connections early and talk to college coaches about upcoming opportunities. Many G.A. positions are filled internally by former athletes, so you need to network heavily to get your foot in the door.

If you’re just starting out, try to get your experience at the biggest school possible, especially one with a good athletic program. That’s not to say you can’t get a fantastic experience at a small school with a great coach who gives you lots of responsibility; you can. Unfortunately, Athletic Directors (who are frequently doing the hiring) are often pretty uneducated about this, and they love to see successful sports programs on a resume, even if you didn’t do that much there. So, when choosing a Graduate Assistantship or internship, look for a big school or one that will give you plenty of hands-on experience.

“Having a resume is not good enough anymore,” comments McKeefery. “My last job listing, I had over 400 resumes, and 97% of them had a degree and certification. Having the education is a given. You must have practical application and experience.”

You may also want to look at the track record of the coach getting his people better jobs. Some coaches don’t help very much in this department, while others do everything they can to help people succeed.

Similar to pro sports, football Strength and Conditioning coaches often attach themselves to a coach and ride him as far as possible. With that in mind, a perfect scenario would be to become the assistant strength coach at a large school where the assistant football coaches have a good shot at being a head coach in the future. Keep in mind that when that coach moves on, you may be taken along for the ride.

If you really want to get into football strength and conditioning and you think you’re the right fit, contact as many football strength coaches as possible while you’re an undergrad so you can land a good G.A. position. G.A. positions are often filled a year in advance, so do plenty of networking by attending clinics and making phone calls to meet coaches.

Once you get a G.A. position, don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s going to be happy times for two years. On the contrary, most G.A.’s get worked to the bone, so get ready to put in some serious work. A Graduate Assistantship is basically a two-year interview just to get a recommendation. Of course, you get your graduate school paid for, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get a job. You still have to do a great job and impress the head coach just to be in the position to have a favorable recommendation.

In general, Olympic sport strength and conditioning coaches are more laid back and focused on teaching an intern or G.A. how to be a great coach. These G.A.’s still work their butts off, but it’s generally a different attitude. There are often more jobs available because many schools have multiple Strength and Conditioning Coaches working with Olympic Sports, but those usually aren’t the huge-salary jobs. There are many excellent opportunities for quality female coaches in this setting, because many female sports want a female strength coach. There is a lack of quality female strength coaches, so good ones can often have plenty of opportunities.

The road to a big-time job can be long and full of ups and downs. The big-money jobs are typically associated with college football, so you have to be attached to the right coach and be willing to make a move when the timing is right. A typical path to the top involves several moves, so your family needs to be on board early in the process. It is common for a G.A. to get an assistant coach position and work there for a few years before getting a head job at a medium-sized school. If things work out well at that school, and your head football coach wins a lot of games, you might get the opportunity to follow him to a big school and a big-time job. From there, the program better keep winning, or you can lose that job as fast as you got it. Some guys will win a National Championship one year and lose their job the next (yes, it has happened), so don’t get too comfortable in any position.

Keep in mind that head strength coaches often do the hiring of assistant coaches at large schools. Athletic Directors are usually involved and will probably be part of the interview process. A.D.’s at smaller schools are much more involved in the hiring process. In both situations, a call or recommendation from another influential coach can often go a long way toward getting you an interview. If you don’t know anyone at the university, it’s very difficult to get noticed in a stack of resumes.

Don’t be too discouraged if you don’t even get an interview for a job. Many jobs get posted but have basically been filled internally. It’s not often that a great job gets posted and the school has no idea who they’ll be hiring. Again, networking is the key here.

How to Become a High School Strength and Conditioning Coach

Salary range: $10/hour–$100K/year

The high school scene for strength and conditioning is very interesting and very different from state to state and region to region. There are some states such as Texas, California, and Ohio where strength coaching jobs are fairly common in high schools. In other states, there may not be any school-sponsored positions. High school jobs are often filled by volunteers, assistant coaches, or sub-contracted employees who fill part-time positions to help a school. Most often, physical education teachers fill the role by default. Still, there are schools in certain areas that have multiple full-time coaches with large budgets and the full support of the administration. Private schools usually lead the way in funding these positions.

Helping at a high school can be done for a single team or an entire school. If you’re volunteering your time, you need to decide how many kids you’re willing to work with or how much time you can put in. Interestingly, many high school sport coaches are even more controlling than college coaches when it comes to strength and conditioning, so you have to be prepared for different personalities.

“I believe High School Strength and Conditioning is a great opportunity for newcomers to strength and conditioning,” says McKeefery. “If you combine that with a teaching position, you have a stable income and time at your disposal. With that financial stability, you can use the extra time to network while being able to practically apply what you learn with your athletes.”

Unfortunately, the high school scene has been inundated with sub-par programming from poor coaches. This often happens because the sport coaches choose a program based on marketing hype or because an unqualified coach fills the position. With all of the information available today, it’s almost unbelievable to see what some sport coaches come up with, but it’s the reality of the situation.

Landing a Job

To get a job at a high school, a strength coach usually needs to win the respect of a sport coach or A.D. Sometimes a degree and experience are necessary. In other situations, you just need to be the friend of a coach. If you’re looking to be a part of a program and have the time to volunteer, it’s possible to get your foot in the door of many schools.

Some schools fund the strength coach through school funds while others pay with booster club money. If you think this is a setting you can see yourself fitting into, think about getting your teacher’s certification. It doesn’t mean you have to teach, but it certainly opens a lot of doors in public schools.

How to Become a Strength and Conditioning Coach in a Private Setting

Salary Range: $10/hour–over $200K/year

Over the past 10 years, more and more opportunities are springing up for strength and conditioning coaches in private settings. You can be a personal trainer who works with a few athletes, or you can run a complete business focusing exclusively on athletes. Entrepreneurs have established businesses like these all over the country, often focusing on a specific niche of the market. Some businesses focus on football combine training, while others are geared toward soccer or hockey players. Some deal mainly with younger populations, and others strictly run camps. You can pick your niche or spread out and train lots of different athletes. The key here is that you get to create your job and decide who you’re going to work with as long as you can get them to pay for your services.

You can operate an independent facility or be part of a large network of training centers. Athletic Republic is the largest chain in the world with over 160 centers, but there are also smaller chains. Athletic Revolution offers franchising opportunities for those who like control over how their business looks and feels.

Some training centers make good money, but most have found that this business does not have a very high profit margin. You can make a very nice living, but there aren’t many people getting rich in this business. Even the most successful facilities in the country supplement their income with personal training, nutritional supplements, or information products. It’s a difficult business, and the use of a consultant or outside expert is highly recommended when getting started. Many new facilities go out of business quickly because of bad decisions made early in the process. I have consulted with several facilities, and it’s amazing to see the mistakes that put people out of business. Again, Athletic Revolution (and personal training franchise Fitness Revolution) can provide business solutions to ensure you are efficiently running your business and allowing you more time to spend in the coaching aspect.

The surge of private training centers has created a lot of jobs for young coaches, however, and this segment of the field is expanding faster than any other. It is a great option for a young coach who may not fit into the college scene, can’t get a foot in the door in pro sports, or doesn’t have the demeanor to work with large groups of high school athletes. One of the most difficult aspects of this job is that you need to be nice enough to get people to pay for your services and stick with you yet demanding enough to get results. People who can talk comfortably with different athletes and parents and have the ability to make training somewhat enjoyable can just about write their own ticket in this industry. Many college and pro coaches lack these skills, so don’t underestimate how difficult it can be to run a successful sports performance business.

Most private facilities require a degree in the field and a certification from a nationally accredited agency such as the NSCA, NASM, or ACSM, but each business will have its own requirements. Doing an internship at a facility is probably the best way to get a foot in the door, but completing a graduate assistantship or internship at another facility is also a great start. These facilities often have a decent amount of turnover, so they hire on a fairly regular basis. When there is a job opening, the owners often hire coaches they don’t know very well, so opportunities abound, especially in metropolitan areas.

You’ll usually make the most money in the private setting when you own the business, but there is certainly a downside to ownership. The first, and most obvious, is the financial risk of spending a lot of money on a business and having it fail. Other downsides include having to do marketing, paperwork, accounting, and hiring and firing of employees. It can be difficult to find good employees you can trust, and this is a huge source of stress for many business owners. The upside is that you’re more in control of your career, and you can reap whatever financial rewards come your way.

It’s OK to be an employee if you feel that is where you fit the best. Not everyone needs to own a business, and the additional money may not be worth the stress.

Many gyms or fitness facilities have personal training programs, and these trainers always have the option of working with athletes. It’s a great option to do personal fitness training most of the time (to pay the bills) and train a few athletes as well; this is a very common situation. You don’t have to train athletes exclusively to make this work. You have to weigh your options and choose the best path for yourself.

Interning or getting experience at a private facility may also help you move into the college or professional setting. For example, Total Performance Training Center in Wixom, MI, has had several interns/employees move on to full-time college positions, paid college internships, or GA positions at major universities. Sometimes this kind of experience can really benefit you because you bring a different outlook to the table. Again, it all depends on your personality and determination.

How to Become a Part-time or Volunteer Strength and Conditioning Coach

Salary Range: Negligible

If you just want to be involved in athletics, there are a ton of opportunities to be connected without it taking over your life. A great option is to have another well-paying job that you enjoy and volunteer with athletes on the side. You may even get paid a little for your time, but it doesn’t have to be a full-time job. This can often keep things interesting for you and not turn training into a burden because you have to do it all day, every day. If you only spend a couple hours a week volunteering at a high school or with a sports club, you’ll probably continue to stay excited about it and keep the enjoyment factor high.

Many high schools, and even colleges and pro sports teams, love volunteer help from qualified coaches. Limited budgets often cause staffing problems for athletic programs, and a qualified volunteer can be a huge help in many situations. That doesn’t mean you can just call up an NFL team and ask to volunteer in the weight room. You still have to be qualified, and you need to network. Once you get to know a strength coach, you might have the opportunity to talk about being involved in some capacity. If you’re not asking to be paid, it’s always easier to bring this up.

Wrap-Up

I hope this article sheds some light on how to become a strength and conditioning coach, including the most common paths in the strength and conditioning profession and what type of person would excel at each. Of course, every coach has his/her own path, and there are many ways to achieve a goal. The point of this article was to show you the most common paths taken by coaches to get to each position.

To sum it all up, here are the things you need to do to become a strength and conditioning coach:

Get a great education: at least a bachelor’s degree, probably a master’s degree
Get certified by a nationally recognized organization
Learn from great coaches and hone your coaching skills
Network with as many coaches as possible
Seek opportunities and jump on them when appropriate
Work hard and put in long hours
Do an outstanding job training athletes day after day
Have a little bit of luck

If you do all of those things, you’ll certainly have opportunities in this field. If you have the right personality and meet the right people, you’ll probably get a decent job. If you work really hard, do a great job, and have a little bit of luck, you just might hit it big and become a leader in the field. Whatever you hope to achieve, I hope this article sheds some light on how to become a strength and conditioning coach and helps you choose the path that suits you best.

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Developing Athletes for Multiple Sports

Posted on: April 28th, 2014 by IYCA No Comments

A Holistic Approach to Developing Athletes in Multiple Sports

One would think that with the sports specialization “epidemic” in the United States, there would be very little need for an article discussing better ways for developing athletes in multiple sports. In reality, MANY of our high school athletes are indeed playing multiple sports in high school.

Thanks to the information provided by the IYCA and other educators in the strength and conditioning field, more and more coaches and parents are being exposed to the Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD) model and promoting the multi-sport athlete.

I have the very rare opportunity to be on both sides of the sports performance training industry. I work as a private strength and conditioning coach at my own facility. I am also a High School Strength and Conditioning Specialist (HSSCS) at a small school in South Carolina.

Due to the size of the high school (about 300 students), most of our athletes play multiple sports in order to field full teams. As such, I have worked out effective strategies for properly developing athletes who play multiple sports. Here are some tips for training the multi-sport athlete in the high school environment.

Incorporate the Functional Movement Screen (FMS)

One important goal of the HSSCS is to keep athletes safe and help decrease the risk of injury. The multi-sport athlete could be arguably considered “in-season” at all times, with most playing club or travel sports in the summer, as well. This high amount of sports participation increases the likelihood of injury.

The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) can be a valuable tool in helping the HSSCS identify potential risks and inefficiencies the athlete may demonstrate. Such information is critical in making the most of the limited training time available.

Give Developing Athletes Homework

Giving athletes exercises to do at home is a great tool for the highly motivated athlete at any skill level. One way to do this is to provide “travel packets.”

In these packets, athletes will find mobility sequences, soft tissue/self massage programs, and body-weight exercises that can be performed independently at night. This is a great reason to start a YouTube page for any strength and conditioning program.

Get Them Stronger

With the multi-sport athlete, the focus in the weight room should be strength. Most of these developing athletes participate in the in-season conditioning that the sport coach requires.

After all, coaches usually cannot tailor the program for a few specific athletes. Programming for strength gains around competitions with multi-joint exercises—such as deadlifts and squats with single leg and shoulder strengthening exercises—can help the HSSCS take advantage of this key developmental stage.

Implement a Sport-Specific Agility Program

Very rarely will I use the term “sport-specific” but I feel it is necessary here. There will usually be a two-week transition period for athletes who are moving from season to season unless they go deep into the post-season (which is always a good thing).

For example, after football season, the athlete may have a brief transition period moving from football to basketball season. During this time, it is important for the HSSCS to implement an agility program that will meet the needs of the basketball player in order to improve performance and also assist in the prevention of injuries.

In the previous example, the athlete would perform the agility program on the basketball court to get used to the surface along with movements specific to basketball.

Meet with Coaches

The topic of getting coaches to buy into a program will be addressed in future articles. It is a critical topic that is imperative in helping build a strong sports culture at the high school level.

Meeting with coaches to discuss the needs of the multi-sport athlete is not just good for the athlete, but will also build cohesiveness and improve communication among the staff. This is a time to share the need for athletes to “do their homework” as well as address any other issues that may arise. Getting your school’s Athletic Trainer involved is a great idea, as well.

Reinforce Proper Nutrition and Rest

Multi-sport athletes are seemingly on the run all the time. Constantly having practices or games after school along with academic requirements and an ever-increasing social calendar can lead to decreased sleep and recovery as well as inconsistent eating habits.

Such behaviors increase the risk for injury, over-training and increased fatigue. Working with other school staff members and educating multi-sport athletes on the need for appropriate sleep, hydration, and nutrition is an important key in optimizing health and preventing injury.

A great tip would be to organize a “field trip” to the school cafeteria to educate athletes on appropriate lunch choices.

Bottom Line for Developing Athletes

I love the fact that this article is about developing multi-sport athletes. It is a refreshing topic in a time where sports specialization is impacting youth at an alarming rate. With that said, the multi-sport athlete has their own needs and risks that the HSSCS must plan around in order to trigger optimal results.

Josh Ortegon

About the Author: Josh Ortegon

Josh Ortegon - 5 Tips to a Healthy Football Season Joshua Ortegon is co-founder and the Director of Sports Performance Enhancement at Athlete’s Arena in Irmo, SC. Joshua earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science from Western Michigan University in 2000.

As an IYCA-certified High School Strength and Conditioning Specialist, speaker, and writer, Joshua has helped establish Athlete’s Arena as the premier high-performance center in South Carolina since 2005.

Joshua has worked with a wide range of athletes from youth to professionals specializing in the areas of injury prevention, return to play and performance enhancement.

Want to Help Ensure Your Athletes Are Prepared to Perform for the Long-Term?

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Are We Really Getting Stronger?

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

Is Your Youth Strength Training Program All Hype?

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 youth strength training 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 youth strength training 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.

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 youth strength training 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 youth strength training 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.

If you are interested in learning more about developing complete athletes and GREAT youth strength training programs make sure you check out Complete Athletic Development!

Loading For High School Weight Training

Posted on: April 30th, 2013 by IYCA 1 Comment

By Wil Fleming

Much of the time spent in the weightroom will be dedicated to the coaching of athletes on the proper movements, positions, and providing general technical info needed to safely complete the movements with maximal return on the time invested. The other portion of the time of the strength coach will be spent on determining and helping to select the weights that athletes use.

The beginning stages of the high school athletes‘ career in the weightroom should be spent teaching athletes the right way to lift and train, cueing the right movements, and ensuring technical proficiency. Building these foundations with minimal external loading is extremely important.

Movements, and more importantly, proper movements form the foundation of a good program. Gyms and weightrooms with individuals moving poorly, will limit athletes from getting stronger and staying healthy.

Once the movements have been taught, drilled and perfected, it will be time to load the movements to create more strength. I will outline two effective strategies to do just that. One will be quite intuitive and allow for novice lifters to get great benefit from your program. The second is based on the athletes’ 1RM and require careful planning on your part.

The work up method

The work up method is one that can be used for any athlete for whom you do not know their current 1 RM. This method allows for great freedom in the weights used on any given day, but will always dial in to the perfect weight on a given day.

There are no specific percentages at which an athlete should be working when using the work up method. Instead it uses the ability of an athlete on a given day to reach the proper level of difficulty.

First, work up to your best set of the given reps on any day you are training. Some days will be better than others, but athletes should always work up to the best set that day with perfect form. Counting their sets backwards and count any set within 10% of your best as a work set. So for instance, let’s say snatch was prescribed for 4 sets of 3 reps and the athlete snatched the following sets:

40k x3
50k x3
60k x3
70k x3
80k x3
85k x3 92%
85k x3
90k x3
92k x3 100%

On this day you would count the highlighted sets. Each of these sets falls within 10% of the highest load on the snatch that day.

If for instance an athlete did the following sets on a snatch workout you may have to add another set below your highest weight to get the right number of work sets in.

40k x3
60k x3
70k x3
80k x3 86% (do not count)
90k x3
92k x3 100%

Because only 2 sets were within 10% of your best on that day you could do the following to get the appropriate number of work sets.

85k x3
85k x3

The work up method allows for high intensity training at the best level an athlete can reach on any given day. For large groups of athletes with varying levels of confidence and competence in the strength training this is an ideal method to use.

This method of loading is similar to the idea of rate of perceived exertion (RPE), or the Borg scale, that is typically used for aerobic training. While the Borg scale uses values from 6-20 (correlating roughly to heart rate when multiplied by 10), an RPE scale for strength training can be used in a 1-10 range (correlating to percentage used when multiplied by 10).

An RPE scale for strength training based on 1-10 would look something like the following.

Modified from Tuchscherer, Michael (2008). The Reactive training manual.

For training in the work up method using weights on a given day that are between 9 and 10 will ensure the maximum training effect. Lifts in the 9-10 zone for a given rep scheme, will challenge athletes no matter the day.

In line with our need to promote recovery, on some weeks it will be important to coach athletes to train with the work up method, in the 6-7 zone. This will ensure complete recovery prior to a more difficult week of training.

The percentage method

The percentage method is most commonly used with higher level athletes. This method uses known 1 repetition maximums and specific percentages to prescribe training loads.

In a given training period the goals for the completion of the training cycle should be known. That is, what numbers would the coach and athlete like to hit by the end of the cycle. From these numbers all weights will be based.

The model for both linear periodization and undulating periodization that I used earlier both use percentages to estimate the appropriate load to be used on a given day. In that way the percentage (%) method is the most studied and established way of determining loads.

Prilepin’s table, designed by former Soviet weightlifting coach A.S. Prilepin can be used to closely predict the sets and reps used at differing levels of intensity.

These two methods of loading can be used to accommodate nearly all high school athletes in your gym.

Flexibility and Mobility for Young Athletes

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

Flexibility vs. Mobility in Youth Fitness Programs

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)

As you can see, 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

So my goal with youth fitness programs 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).

Youth Fitness Programs: When should young athletes train flexibility?

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

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.

Youth Fitness Programs: 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 over train your body by doing some simple mobility drills throughout the day.

Youth Fitness Programs: 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 from how 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 bodies 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.

Youth Fitness Programs: 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. Using the methods I outlined above in your youth fitness programs can go a long way to improving the flexibility and mobility of your body.

Flexibility and mobility are part of a complete program for athletes and in youth fitness programs. Check out the IYCA’s Complete Athletic Development 2.0 program to get the most comprehensive resource ever assembled for developing young athletes.

http://completeathletedevelopment.com/

High School Strength Program: Why Copying Is A Mistake

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

A post on High School Strength Programs by Jim Keilbaso

Strength program by Jim Keilbaso

Trying to copy some big time college strength 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 high school strength program for a 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 strength program program.

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

“First, I would explain to him that your high school strength program 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 strength program just isn’t going to be a college program. More importantly, it doesn’t have to be.

What A High School Strength Program Does Include….

Tell him that you’re going to create a team-wide high school strength program, then individualize from there. There is no need to create a completely different 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 high school strength 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 strength 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 high school 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: Developing a High School Strength Program that really works!

Learn how to become a Certfied High School Strength and Conditioning Coach by Clicking Here.

3 Lessons From The NFL Combine

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

By Jim Herrick

This upcoming weekend, most of the nation’s top pro football prospects will gather in Indianapolis for the 2013 NFL Combine. It is what the league refers to as a ‘4 day job interview’, where participants are subjected to a battery of physcial tests, position drills, interviews, and aptitude tests to determine how likely they are to succeed in the league.

Millions of dollars can be earned by top performers, and jobs are on the line for the team’s talent evaluators. Everyone has a huge stake in making sure this event truly measures what it takes to be successful.

And these days, you’ll find combine events for college and pro prospects in just about every other sport, as well.

There are some critical lessons we, as youth coaches and parents, can all take away from these high-stakes events. As you watch the incredible athletic feats demonstrated this weekend, remember that what you see is a product of the thousands of hours these college kids put in since they were very young. And remember too that there is a correct path to reaching the heights of athletic development. When followed correctly, it can add up to serious success in the long run.

LESSON 1 – Do Everything You Can To Build Speed & Agility

3 of the 6 main physical tests (40 yd dash, 5-10-5 shuttle and 3 cone drill) measure pure speed and cutting ability. Why? Athletes who can get from Point A to Point B in the least amount of time – whether in a straight line or with some stops along the way – make more plays. This is not exclusive to football, it is true for almost all sports.

How should young athletes begin working on speed?

As early in possible as life, encourage your kids to move and move often. It doesn’t have to be a formal event or practice, in fact that may be detrimental in earlier years, so have some fun with them. Their nervous system will figure things out far better than our coaching cues anyways.

Put them in a coordination and balance rich environment often. Create engaging but challenging activities that enhance their ability to move better while building an early base of stability, which will help even further.

Develop healthy eating habits early on, as well. A large part of being fast involves maximizing your strength while minimizing your body mass. Poor eating habits will not only drain your energy but will also hamper your ability to stay both lean and strong simultaneously.

Get strong, and keep getting stronger at an age appropriate level. In your earlier years jumping, running and other basic bodyweight activities will do plenty. As time goes on resistance will need to increase. Band and free weight exercises, along with advanced bodyweight strength will achieve great results when implemented properly.

Refine speed and agility technique once your kids are mature enough where they can internalize specific coaching. In my experience I’ve seen kids as young as 9 years old learn and improve from specific technique tips, but this is rare. Usually it’s not until 12 years old or later, but the earlier the better as poor habits will be easier to break. Coaches will need to be a commanding force when technique drills are covered, since so much of speed development is about repeating and perfecting movements. Balance the seriousness of technique work with some game-based drills where kids can be kids and have some fun, but be sure to make clear your expectations for focus and effort when you transition back to skill work.

LESSON 2 – If Speed is the #1 Most Coveted Physical Ability, Explosive Power Is Clearly #1A

The NFL also has 2 separate explosive power tests, the vertical jump and broad jump. With the understanding that speed is a byproduct of power output, then 5 of the 6 performance tests this weekend will measure power in one form or another.

Power is highly sport-specific. The NFL uses the vertical jump and broad jump because the evaluate a prospect’s ability to tackle and block well. A soccer combine may be more concerned with kicking power, hockey combines may measure slap shot power, and all other sports may have their own variations of power tests too.

For youth performance coaches and parents looking to build sport-speicifc power, you should be focusing on two skills that form the foundation of almost all power movements – hip hinging and hip rotation.
By learning to hinge at the hip joint correctly, you can maximize power output while jumping, skating and sprinting. Young athletes sometimes incorporate too much knee or even lower back flexion and avoid using the more powerful hip muscles. Re-teaching this pattern will unlock their true power potential, and allow them to further improve their explosiveness by properly executing advanced exercises like Olympic lifting and plyometrics as they get older.

Hip rotation is critical to power output in sports like baseball, softball, ice hockey, field hockey, tennis, golf, and lacrosse. Done properly, you will be able to explode through the entire trail side of your movement, from the foot all the way through the shoulders. Being able to maximize total-body rotational power will once again unlock your current potential and make better use of development exercises using tools like medicine balls and functional training machines.

LESSON 3 – Elite Athletes Come In All Shapes And Sizes

This weekend you will see both 5’8″, 170 lb and 6’8″, 350 lb prospects, along with many others at just about every size in between. Extended beyond pro football, there is a much wider range of male and female athletic frames, skill sets and abilities.

The lesson? Kids should never focus on what they cannot become, and instead seek inspiration in all the things they can become some day with dedication, effort, and perseverance. No matter what your current size or skill level may be, there are doors of opportunity somewhere for you if you truly want to achieve excellence.

To increase a young athlete’s chances of success, the younger years should be dedicated to taking part in a wide range of activities, and developing basic physcial skills. Pigeonholing them into one sport or activity too early will make it much harder to create the large ‘toolbox’ of athleticism needed to excel later on.

The undersized and lightning quick 8 year old may grow to be the tallest person in his or her 9th grade class. Younger kids whose parents may see as being too stocky could find an active sport they love and completely transform themselves in their teenage years. Not knowing where a child will actually end up, by focusing on variety and foundational skills over a sport-specific track you will maximize their chance of long-term success.

If you do watch any of the testing this weekend keep in mind that it took a lot of hard work for each of them to get where they are right now. And also remember that although every kid will not become a professional athlete some day, there are certain traits that all elite athletes need to reach the top that are trainable and can be greatly enhanced over time.

Power Exercises for Athletes: A Guide to Plyometrics

Posted on: February 20th, 2013 by IYCA 3 Comments

Your Quick Guide to Plyometric Power Exercises for Athletes

A Quick Guide To Plyometrics

This day in age, you can find a ton of information on plyometrics and power exercises for athletes in seconds.

Books, articles, and blog posts abound, with most discussing the various types of drills that can fall into the category of plyometrics. Considering that plyometrics as a category encompasses nearly any “explosive” exercise, this leads to a LOT of possibilities.

Unfortunately, there is an information shortage when it comes to discussing how to apply and program plyometric power exercises for athletes progressively, which is really what matters in coaching. Here are just a few questions to consider:

Do you prescribe 50 contacts in a day of training? 100 contacts?
Is it OK to program plyometrics on consecutive days?
What kind of jumps do they do? Are some more appropriate for my goals than others?
What about medicine ball drills?

This list can go on and on.

Obviously, there are a lot of questions that arise when discussing using plyometrics in your program—and there should be! After all, choosing the right exercises for reaching your athletes’ goals takes careful consideration.

Today, I hope to share with you some fundamental information about plyometrics so you have a better grip on how to use them. But 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 the drill requires should not be more than the athlete has. As a result, 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 during a period that we call “Dynamic/Explosive.” This can encompass a lot of different drills and power exercises for athletes.

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:

Lateral Hurdle Jumps:

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 Jumps:

Depth Jumps:

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). Medicine balls are a versatile way to program power exercises for athletes in a number of planes and recruiting many different muscles.

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.

As a rule of thumb, keep the number of contacts at or below the following for a given session:

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 used if programming plyometrics as their own day of programming.

Frequency of Training with Power Exercises for Athletes

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, then schedule repetitive effort plyos and maximum effort medicine ball throws on day 2.

Conclusion

Plyos and medicine ball throws are a great way to increase your athletes’ explosive power. I would even go so far as to say they are essential to successful programs.

Use this guide to plyometric training as a starting point off which to build your programming. Also, learn more about power exercises for athletes by viewing our top 4 plyo exercises free video series. You’ll have no trouble progressing your athletes to new levels of performance.

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.

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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.

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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.

Stop the Insanity!

Posted on: September 18th, 2012 by IYCA 2 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…

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

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.

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.

https://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.

https://iyca.org/kettlebell/

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

https://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.

Understanding Low Back Pain in Adolescents

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

Low Back Pain in Adolescents

By Jake Moore

Every one of us has worked with a young athlete with low back pain. In fact, we have all likely have worked with and missed the signs of serious low back pain in our athletes. Looking back at my career so far, I’m sure I have. Of those young athletes with lower back pain, up to 47% have spondylolysis or spondylolisthesis (1). Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis are injuries to the posterior vertebrae and result from excessive spinal extension loading. Unfortunately too many young athletes are over-trained and exposed to poor training, leaving them at risk for these injuries. On the positive side, these injuries are preventable with good movement training and knowledgeable coaches. As IYCA professionals we expect to be held to a higher standard than youth fitness professionals when working with young athletes. If we can recognize the signs of serious back pain, and how to train to prevent such injuries, it will go a long ways in diminishing low back pain amongst your youth fitness athletes, help those with low back pain get timely treatment and decrease the impact of low back pain into adulthood.

Young athletes are at a vulnerable time to develop low back pain from excessive trunk extension. In late middle school and early high school they may be participating in multiple sports throughout the year. It is not uncommon to be in-season for one sport and still participate in off-season training for their club teams. (It would be worth another article to discuss how these athletes would benefit more from developing fundamental movement skills instead of being in-season all year.) In addition these athletes will be asked to begin a youth fitness or strength and conditioning program in their school as part of their athletic participation. Meanwhile this athlete is at a time in their development where:
1. The rate of bone growth is often outpacing the lengthening of muscle and fascia, leading to tight hips and poor posture.
2. Growth plates are still open and bone density is not yet fully developed.
3. Core strength is not developed as the body adapts to having longer limbs.
4. Motor control and posture are continuing to be shaped.
If these athletes are asked to perform fully loaded strength movements with poor form with an immature and ill-prepared body, the body has but one choice to accomplish this task. That is to hang onto ligaments and bony restraints instead of utilizing muscular control.

Pelvic influence on spinal curves

The spine has three curves. A lordosis, or slight backward bend at the cervical and lumbar spine, and a slight kyphosis or forward bend at the thoracic spine. This helps the spine absorb shock and increases stability versus a completely vertically stacked spine. The lumbar spine position is controlled largely by the pelvis. The pelvis is able to anteriorly and posteriorly rotate based on the muscle pull on the front and back side of the body. The images below demonstrate the muscles involved in creating rotation of the pelvis. The line of action of the hip flexors and spinal erectors pull on the pelvis to create anterior rotation. This anterior rotation results in increased lumbar lordosis. On the other hand, the glutes, hamstrings and abdominals create posterior rotation and a decrease in lumbar lordosis. It’s common to see individuals with inhibited glute and abdominal musculature and tight hip flexors and spinal erectors. The result is a tendency to position the pelvis in anterior tilt and increase compression of the lumbar vertebrae. When this occurs repeatedly over time, the posterior structures of the lumbar vertebrae are at risk for injury.

Spondylolysis and Spondylolisthesis

Some of the most significant injuries affecting adolescents are spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis. We all have likely trained athletes with this injury, whether we knew it or not. Spondylolysis refers to a stress reaction of overload to part of the vertebrae. In the lumbar spine this is often the pedicle or pars interarticularis. Spondylolisthesis is an advancement of spondylolysis with an identifiable fracture to the vertebrae and possible forward slippage.

The pedicles and pars interarticularis are located on the back side of the vertebrae and are placed under compressive and shear load when the spine moves into extension. Injuries to these structures often occur gradually over time. As an athlete is asked to do exercises that are beyond their ability for the core musculature to control, the lower back will drift towards extension to find stability. Think about trying to bend a copper wire. As you initially bend the wire a hinge point develops. As you do this over and over again the wire will bend more easily and eventually break. This is exactly what is happening to young athletes with spondylolysis. It’s critical that these individuals get treatment before it is too late (spondylolisthesis).

Recognizing serious low back injury

To recognize the signs of spondylolysis or athletes at risk, look at posture, core strength, hip mobility and activities. Posture is often excessively lordotic when doing squats, overhead presses, deadlifts, back extensions, push-ups and planks. These athletes may be some of your more capable squatters and deadlifters because they understand how to keep the spine from rounding forward. The problem is they can’t control spine extension. Athletes with poor core strength are more apt to use this type of strategy to make-up for inadequate active lumbar stabilization.

An athlete with limited hip mobility is also at risk. Without flexibility in the hamstrings, glutes and hip flexors, the athlete will have to bend more through the spine on order to perform sport specific or weight room movements. Tight hip flexors will pull the spine into excess extension and poor glute and hamstring mobility will force the athlete to contract more through spinal erectors. The end result either way is increased posterior spinal loading. Any athlete who has made recent large increases in loading in the weight room should be monitored closely for low back pain. Football players and gymnasts seem to be most at risk as well as athletes participating in multiple sports at the same time.

Initial symptoms of spondylolysis may be a dull ache in the back with no initial onset. These athletes often have the most pain with running and jumping due to large ground contact forces. Squats, cleans, deadlifts, overhead presses, planks and leg lifts are also exercises that can increase symptoms. These athletes may be able to do every exercise in your program but have pain doing it. These symptoms may go on for months before they bring it to your attention. It may even recur every year, increasing during track season for example, going away during the summer only to return during football season. Once diagnosed, these athletes may be held out of sports and put in a brace for up to 6 weeks with another 4-6 weeks of rehab before full sport participation. An athlete who develops spondylolisthesis may battle low back pain on and off for the rest of their lives.

Keys to prevention of Low Back Pain in Adolescents Through Youth Fitness Programs

Low Back Pain Youth Fitness Solution #1
Teach pelvic tilt. Understanding how to pelvic tilt is fundamental to developing awareness of the position of the spine and pelvis. An athlete who does not know how to posteriorly pelvic tilt will have difficulty controlling trunk extension and rest on boney structures during exercise. The athlete who cannot anterioly tilt the pelvis will have a hard time learning how to hip hinge and keep neutral spine with squats and deadlifts. Teaching pelvic tilt is easily done if doing and floor based core exercise. Have your athletes start with knees bent, feet flat. Have athletes practice arching the lower back up off the floor, keeping the glutes and shoulders down, then have them smash the lower back down into the floor. This can be progressed to quadruped, tall kneeling and athletic stance positions. Once your athletes understand pelvic tilt, many of your strength exercises will be easier to teach.

Low Back Pain Youth Fitness Solution #2
Train in neutral spine. Have your athlete’s pelvic tilt both ways and then find a happy medium. That’s roughly what we would call neutral lumbar spine. To find neutral spine a stick placed along the lower back works well. The athlete should be able to contact the stick at the sacrum, thoracic spine and back of the head.

Floor based core exercise should use neutral spine as well. Dead bug progressions work very well here. Have your athletes lift one leg or extend one leg and opposite arm, keeping neutral spine. Check under their back to be sure there isn’t an increase in the gap between the spine and the floor. Exercises such as double leg straight leg lifts will be too challenging for most athletes without a progression. This is why kids put their hands under their butt if asked to do excessive leg lifts with a weak core.

Look at how your athletes perform planks. Ideally the glutes should be tight and spine neutral. The pelvis position should not change when doing planks or push-ups. If it does, then the abdominals are fatigued or the athlete has poor core control and the lower back passive restraints will bear the load. Discontinue the set. This means push-ups may be limited more by core strength than by upper body strength.

Neutral spine applies for other strength exercises as well. Athletes should be able to use the force couples around the pelvis, engaging the glutes and abdominals to help control pelvic position. Exercises should maintain lumbar lordosis without forcing end range lumbar extension. Back extensions for example should be taken to full hip extension without hyper-extending the low back. For strength exercises, the cues to squeeze the glutes and tighten the abs will often help create balanced forces around the pelvis to control excessive pelvic tilt.

Low Back Pain Youth Fitness Solution #3
Improve hip mobility. As mentioned earlier, the hip flexors can create a force pulling the pelvis into anterior rotation, increasing lumbar lordosis. Keeping the hip flexors mobility is essential to allowing for neutral spine positioning when strength training and running. For younger athletes a specific static hip flexor stretch is not necessary. You can adequately train the hip flexors with lunges and split squats to develop mobility and neuromuscular control. Again use a dowel held along the spine and cue abs tight to improve pelvic control during the movement. On the other end of the spectrum, the athlete with tight hamstrings may not be able to utilize their glutes well when doing deadlifts, squats or getting into athletic stance. Getting the hamstrings more mobile will help young athletes access their glute strength and decrease demands on the lumbar extensors. Again, an isolated static hamstring stretch is not needed. Get your athletes to hip hinge with a stick and RDL with a neutral spine and you will develop functional hamstring mobility and trunk stability. These types of exercises along with many of the hip mobility exercises from your IYCA certification will help your athletes develop great hip mobility and allow for decreased demands on the lumbar spine during training and sport participation.

If you encounter Low Back Pain in Adolescents or an athlete who complains of LBP, take it seriously. Suggest that they see a therapist or physician for further evaluation. If their back pain is still there, suggest they see an orthopedic specialist. To help diminish the risk of spondylolysis, teach pelvic control through fundamental movement patterns and core exercise. Correct excessive spine extension just as much as you would the athlete who tends to round over. Teaching athletes how to move well and stay injury free is the essence of an IYCA professional and avoiding Low Back Pain in Adolescents. Being aware of the risk of spondylolysis in adolescent athletes will help direct those who need it to medical attention while improving the quality of training for all our athletes.

1. Motley G, Nyland J, Jacobs J, Caborn D. The pars interarticularis stress reaction, spondylolysis, and spondylolisthesis progression. Journal of Athletic Training 1998; 33 (4): 351-358

If you are interested in learning more about proper programming for youth fitness programs check out the IYCA Program Design System.

Top 4 Alternatives for Olympic Lifts When Training Young Athletes

Posted on: July 16th, 2012 by IYCA 2 Comments

Training Young Athletes Using Olympic Lift Alternatives

As a coach and professional I know that I love the Olympic lifts when training young athletes. For good or bad I think that there is no EQUAL to getting athletes more explosive than the Olympic lifts.

Being married to a lift or movement places too many limitations on the program you are able to design and in particular limits the improvements that each individual athlete can make.

For the athletes that are exclusively training with me and are physically capable the Olympic lifts are the king of my gym. There is no BETTER way to get explosive.

As my training business has grown, however, more and more athletes find out and are recruited to train with me, the necessity is not to place my training on them, but to discover the best training methods for them.

This means that the athlete that are concurrently training in their high school and doing Olympic lifts 2-3 times a week need alternative methods to train explosively with me. My beliefs are not something that can supersede the needs, time or ability of the athlete.

This being the case when we are training young athletes, the Olympic lifts have been replaced with alternatives that replicate the explosive nature of these lifts.

Using Medicine Balls To Train Young Athletes

training young athletes with medicine balls

The broad category of medicine ball throws can be used for nearly every athlete to produce explosive strength. These throws provide a low impact to the athlete but a maximal force production.

Throws in the rotational plane can be used to develop a vital linkage of the upper body to the lower body through the core musculature. Correctly performed throws originate in the lower body and leave through the hands, a kink in the core armor will be very apparent if a delay occurs from initiation to delivery.

Regardless of whether athletes can do Olympic lifts or not, medicine ball throws are a vital part of athletic programs, nothing develops the all important power in the transverse plane quite like rotational medicine ball throws.

KB Swings To Train Young Athletes

Much has been written on the kettlebell and benefits of using it to develop explosive strength. The addition of elastic resistance can take this movement to an entirely different level.

The swing itself is an excellent tool to develop an explosive hip hinge pattern. Most athletes lack in the ability to feel the explosive hinge and the swing is the best movement that I have found to break knee dominant athletes of using the knee bend to initiate explosive motion in the lower body.

The end range of hip extension is one of the best ways for athletes to truly feel the maximum contraction of the glutes. The voluntary muscle contraction that most athletes have difficulty attaining through other movements is a must for athletes to achieve a total hip extension.

The addition of elastic resistance allows accomplishes 2 main objectives:

1) It spares you of having to buy an unlimited number of kettlebells. Our biggest kettlebell is 32 kg. Many of our high school athletes can toy around with this weight with little to no difficulty for 10-15 swings. By adding even a small band to the kettlebell, 10-15 swings becomes a much greater challenge.

2) The majority of resistance occurs at the top end, where athletic movements occur. The maximal contraction should occur at the top end of the swing movement. With just the dead weight resistance supplied by the kettlebell athletes are sometimes apt to use the top extension as a point of relaxation. The addition of band resistance increases the load as it travels away from the floor. This top “high resistance” position is also the position in which most athletic movements occur.

In general swings simulate overall athletic movement. A correct swing should have the athlete relax momentarily at the top of the swing after reaching full hip extension but before returning to contraction at the top. This contract, relax, contract pattern allows for greater recruitment on the next upward swing.

Prowler Sprints To Train Young Athletes

training young athletes with prowler sprints

The goals of Olympic lifting are varied. They can go from becoming a better competitor, across the spectrum to improving speed (I first noticed that I had become a much more powerful athlete due to Olympic lifting when my 40 yard dash time dropped .5 seconds in just 6 months) For the latter a great substitution is to do resisted sprinting with the prowler.

The idea of special strength training was popularized by USSR coaches, and in particular those coaches in track and field. My first exposures to it were as a hammer thrower, to us special strength training was literally training the specific event in which I competed with a heavier implement (can’t get much more special than that!). Prowler sprints are the perfect special strength tool for athletes looking to improve acceleration.

The sets are typically 8 seconds or less, and the athlete gets adequate rest. This timing both mimics the boughts typically seen in athletic competition, the length of time for typical Olympic lifts, and helps increase the alactic power an athlete is able to produce.

An increase in stride length will be seen for athletes training with resisted sprinting techniques. This increased stride length will be due to an increase in the athletes’ ability to produce more power.

Submaximal Front Squats or Deadlifts to Train Young Athletes

This is something that I have been toying with recently that has really improved the maximum power output that we are seeing from our athletes.

Loads of 40-50% 1RM on the bar and band resistance of less than 100lbs should be used. Athletes should be instructed to lift the weight with maximal force on the concentric portion of the movement.

Recently Bret Contreras wrote an excellent article on similar movements In it he describes recent research showing that maximal force produced during 40% of 1RM in the Hex Bar Deadlift is surprisingly similar to that produced in the Olympic lifts. (4800 Watts Hex Bar vs. ~4900 Watts in O lifts). While research has shown that maximal power production measured in watts can be achieved in the split jerk at nearly 6000 watts, this is very close when it comes to the big 2 Olympic lifts (snatch/clean).

Adding bands to the puzzle has not yet been studied but anecdotally my athletes have seen a large improvement in the ability to produce power top end hip extension. The greatest load is encountered at this point in which the athlete has the greatest mechanical advantage.

The bands pull the athlete down at a faster rate in the eccentric phase of the lift. To resist this greater speed the posterior chain must contract with a greater force. This is similar to the eccentric portion of plyometric action. Higher rate of contraction in the muscle spindles will lead to a greater force of contraction on the concentric portion of the lift.

Check these moves out next time your training young athletes and let me know what you think.

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