Posted on: April 19th, 2011 by IYCA No Comments
At what age should a young person begin lifting weights or using Kettlebells?
The question I get asked more than any other.
Here’s my brief thought on the matter (taken right from the curriculum found in the IYCA’s Youth Fitness Specialist – Level 1 Certification (more…)
Posted on: August 8th, 2010 by IYCA 3 Comments
In this 3-part article, I will discuss the role and significance of ‘Coordination Training’ as it relates to both preadolescent and high school athletes:
This article will provide a broad-based look at each of those myths and shed some light on the realities behind coordination training as a continuum for the complete development of young athletes aged 6 – 18.
Posted on: August 3rd, 2010 by IYCA 19 Comments
“Do you do ‘Sport-Specific’ Training”?
When working with preadolescent and high school athletes, the undeniable reality is that we are tending to an organism that is in the process of growth. And that fact is something that we cannot do anything about, nor cause disruption to the process of.
What a growing and maturing body needs in order to remain injury-free and develop optimal athletic skill is variety. With respect to training, this amounts to NOT having a hyper-focus on making a young athlete a better football player by only doing exercises in the gym that the NFL players would do.
Posted on: July 14th, 2010 by IYCA No Comments
It is very standard for Coaches and Training Facilities to both expect and ‘sell’ parents on the fact that the young athletes in their care will become decidedly better in only 6 or 8 weeks’ worth of training.
And in fact, they’re correct in saying so.
But not because their training system is somehow superior or because they possess unique talents as a Coach, quite simply, it’s because human beings are adaptive machines that alter (become better) under the strain of applied demand (training).
This is especially true for young people in the age bracket of 6 – 18. This time of life represents a literal coming of age with respect to maturation and athletic ability. The Central Nervous System is learning to master the art of movement, bones are growing more dense and muscles are becoming naturally longer and more powerful.
You could, quite literally, ask a 15 year old soccer player to run stairs 3 times per week for 6 weeks and show improvements to both their speed and power output capacity. That doesn’t mean running stairs is an efficient training style, it just means that the human body is designed to accommodate the stress it is placed under by getting faster and stronger.
Posted on: May 3rd, 2010 by IYCA
Good Afternoon Brian,
I am a PGA golf professional and do a lot of teaching, including junior clinics. I am looking to include physical fitness into my junior golf program and get away from having the kids just hitting golf balls for the hour lesson. What information do you have to offer that might specifically address what programs to design for different age groups and child development stages in general?
I look forward to hearing from you
Thanks,
Joe, PGA
Posted on: August 23rd, 2009 by IYCA 2 Comments
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Justin was overweight, shy, awkward and without a shred of athletic
ability.
But he had a ton of passion.
Loved baseball.
And I mean loved everything about the game.
You could see the delight in his eyes and practically feel the joy
in his smile when he slid his glove on, picked up a Louisville
Slugger or laced up his cleats.
This was the kind of kid you flat out just enjoyed being around.
Not because he brought a tremendous amount of vocal energy to
the field, but because of the way he walked around a baseball
diamond in a trance-like, dream state that conveyed absolute bliss.
And what he taught me about coaching was, and is to this day,
one of the most important lessons I have ever had the pleasure
of learning.
Justin went from the shy kid who didn’t really have any friends on
his team, to a hero.
And he did it all by himself…
I won’t belabor this story or add too much in the way of detail.
I’ll just get straight to the point by saying this –
Every Child Has Currency
They’re all important.
They all have hopes, dreams and ambitions.
And most importantly…
They’re all good at something.
Part of the Art of Coaching is knowing how to create enough
of a wide-spectrum training system that allows each and everyone
of your young athletes to be "the best" on a particular day.
Posted on: January 16th, 2009 by IYCA No Comments
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Short and to the point.
I may even say something that offends you.
But in the end, trust me when I say you need to hear this…
You don’t make enough money.
You simply don’t earn what you’re worth.
That’s not a matter of greed or indulgence.
It’s just a fact.
Worth more than $4 billion annually in the United States alone.
Parents are willing to pay top dollar for Personal Trainers who
can rid their children of excess body weight.
Parents are happy to shell out thousands to qualified Performance
Coaches in order to improve their child’s athletic ability.
And yet there you sit.
Wondering why you’re still working from 5am – 8pm as a Fitness
Professional, training unmotivated and unhappy adults.
Jealous as you read the stories of other professionals who
have found the fitness training for youth ‘system’ to success and are now working
less hours for more money.
Concerned if all your effort and passion for this industry is
ever going to be enough and finally provide the career you
so desperately want… and need.
All religious aspects of this story aside, I’m sure you’ve heard
this tale before –
A town was flooding and its citizens were evacuating with
great haste.
One man decided not to.
He opted to stay in his home and wait for God’s help.
As the water rose, he was forced to climb on top of his roof.
While there, another man in a row boat came by.
"The town is flooding. Here, get in my row boat and I’ll take
you to safety."
"No thanks" said the man. "God will help me. I am waiting
for Him."
A few minutes later, an emergency craft sailed by.
"The town is flooding" the officer said. "Let us throw you a
line and we can take you to safety".
"No thanks" said the man. "God will help me. I am waiting
for Him."
Several minutes later a helicopter flew by and paused over
the man’s house.
From the speaker, the pilot called down.
"The town is flooding. Let me cast down a rope for you. I
will fly you to safety."
"No thanks" said the man. "God will help me. I am waiting
for Him."
Not too long after that, the man drowned.
When he arrived in Heaven, he said to God, "I believed in
you. Why didn’t you save me?"
God answered.
"I sent you a row boat, an emergency ship and a helicopter.
What more do you want from me?"
You don’t earn the living you deserve.
You don’t have the career you want.
And yet the youth niche is flourishing.
You need new information, a fresh perspective and exact
blueprints of success from some of the most successful Fitness Training For Youth
professionals in this industry.
I write you emails.
I tell you what you’re going to be missing by not coming to
the IYCA International Summit in February.
More than 150 other professionals from all over the world
have already registered.
What more do you need to hear?
– Brian
P.S. – Click on the link below to register for my International Summit now –
http://www.iyca.org/2009summit
Posted on: October 27th, 2008 by IYCA 4 Comments
No more guessing.
Proven strategies that work every time.
An all-inclusive training system for working with
young athletes ages 6 – 18.
And yes. It’s been internationally field-tested and
proven to work.
Over 15,000 young athletes worldwide have been exposed
to my training system. And I may a lot of mistakes
with them along the way.
That’s kind of like the built-in guarantee of Complete
Athlete Development.
I’ve made mistakes and am certainly never afraid to
say I was wrong.
I used to work endlessly on linear speed technique.
Teach my young athletes who to accelerate forward,
drive their arms and get full hip extension with every
stride.
Then I realized I was wrong.
It’s not about linear speed. It’s about angles and
deceleration.
That’s why I created my Principles of Movement.
They teach young athletes how to accelerate and decelerate
through a progressive sequence –
1) Repeat Statically
2) Repeat Dynamically
3) Repeat Randomly
4) Predictable Specificity
5) Random Specificity
6) Individualization
I also used to think that working with pre-adolescents
was nothing more than playing some random games.
Tag
Sharks and Minnows
Capture the Flag
Then I realized that these games had to be cloaked in
certain aspects of coordination.
That without these coordination efforts, young athletes
would be grossly deficient in certain areas of athletic
ability by the time they reached the teenage years.
Some of the coordination facets include –
1) Kinesthetic Differentiation
2) Balance
3) Rhythm
4) Spatial Awareness
5) Movement Adequacy
Ever since I adopted all these ideas and put them into
practical use, I have seen the injury rates of my young
athletes drop considerably while their overall performance
increase dramatically.
Have a look at what other Coaches worldwide have to
say about my Complete Athlete Development system –
www.DevelopingAthletics.com/cad-short-copy
This training system has changed the philosophies,
training styles and lives of countless Coaches worldwide.
And all because I was in the trenches making mistakes.
Until I found the secret to it all…
www.DevelopingAthletics.com/cad-short-copy
‘Till next time,
Brian