Building the Athlete - Step 2

In Step 1, I talked about building the foundation and the various concepts that are part of that process. I also said that younger kids will spend months, even years in the foundational phase but kids in the 14- 15 year old range will be progressed faster.

So what happens once a 15 year old begins to master our foundational techniques? Do we introduce new, more challenging exercises? Do we keep doing the same exercises for more reps?

I feel that taking the beginner 15 year old from the foundational stage to the intermediate stage is a process that is crucial and often botched by trainers and coaches. I have seen trainers continue to have high school softball players press 5 lb DBs and do swings with a 10 lb KB for weeks on end. Nobody is getting stronger doing that! I have also seen athletes continue to do 3 sets of 10 reps for months and months hoping to get stronger. Sorry, not going to happen!

Let’s look at an example of an average 15 year old girl with a ZERO training age. I said in Step 1 that I can usually get them to a good barbell front squat with 35 – 45 lbs in 8 – 12 sessions. Let’s say that she can do 45 lbs to a good depth for 10 reps. Now what? Adding 5 lbs to the bar would be an increase in over 10% in resistance and she would probably not get it for 10 quality reps. Do we stay at 45 and go for higher reps? We could, but I have learned that high rep squats are usually not the answer for younger lifters. I would much rather see 4 sets of 6 quality reps with an appropriate load than 3 sets of 12 mediocre reps with a lighter load.

This is when Stage 2 begins for the 15 year old girl. We must begin to lift heavier weight but by paying particular attention to our sets and reps. We would start with 4 sets of 6 reps and the first set would be with 45lbs. She gets it easy with good form, so the next set we would hit 50 for 6 reps which I know she can get. If form looks good, we can go in three directions.

1. I didn’t see anything close to strain and technique was still very good so we go to 55 for the next two sets.
2. I see some strain and technique was good but not great so we stay at 50. Since we are only doing 6 reps per set, I have no worry that she will break down and injury will occur. Basically, we are doing 3x6 at her 8 rep max.
3. If the girl is still squatting to a height above parallel, try to move her an inch lower and stay at the 45 – 50 lbs. I always try to go lower before I go a lot heavier.

The next week I will usually go with 4 -5 sets of 5 reps. Again we start with 45, then go 50 and then assess as we did the week before for the final sets. If we did 55 for 6 last week, our goal is to do 60 for at least one set of 5 reps. If we ended with 50 last week for 6, then we try to get to 55 for 5. This is the same process I use for other core lifts such as the bench press.

Keep your eyes open for the day the light comes on. The day that she masters breathing and driving through her heels. It will happen. It is the day that she shatters 60lbs, then 65lbs and works all the way up to 75. It might even be to a lower box then we have ever used.

This wouldn’t have happened if we kept trying to do 45 lbs for 12 – 15 reps. This girl is now stronger then she could ever believe. Usually on a day like this, the girl can jump up and do a chin up on her own for the first time. The beast has been unleashed.

Many of the high school girls that I have trained that receive All – District and All – State honors have had a day like this at Soar. Believe it, girls can be strong as long as you take the proper steps to do it. You almost have to trick them into believing that they are strong.

I used a female athlete as an example because it seems that many coaches have a fear of making girls stronger. But, the same method applies to the 14 – 16 year old boys that I train. Within the course of the week, we are still doing exercises such as push up variations, DB lifts, 1 leg squats and pull ups in the 8 – 15 rep range. Many different variations of sled drags and pushes are also introduced.

Here are the keys to Step 2.

• Continuing with our foundational exercises but starting to increase resistance by keeping reps in the 4 – 8 rep range. For the record, this does not mean we are going to a 4 rep max on every set.
• Still keeping a stern eye on technique. From time to time, a kid might have a bad day so a step backwards could happen.
• Moving to more advanced exercises in our plyometric progression.
• Getting the athlete to understand intensity. Going 80% does not get you stronger or faster.