Training the Athlete that Trains at School Revisited

As a strength coach in the private sector, the majority of my clients are required to train with their teams at school to some degree.  This is something I have dealt with for 10 years and I wrote a blog about it a few years back.

Click here to read.

Like any other solid strength coach, my program has evolved since I last wrote that.  Even though there is nothing in the old article that I don't do, there are many other things I now do more of and some things I do less of.   I have also found that more and more athletes other than football players are required to lift at school.  As a result, I am seeing even more eyebrow raising workouts being put into play and as a result I have gotten more creative with my program design.

Just like wrote before, I must know what my athletes are doing on each day at school.   Sprinting?  Long distance running?   P90X?  Insanity?  Benching?  Squatting?   I need to know all of the particulars and I usually wait to make a program until the athlete fully informs me of their weekly training regimen.  Once I have all the information I need, I make a program that usually contains exercises from the categories listed below.


1. Sled training.    We push sleds and drag them in all imaginable directions.   For one, I know it is not being done at school.  For two, it eliminates eccentric stress so my athletes will not be sore for their school workouts.

 

2. Bent leg hip extension.    Google that term and you will see many of the top coaches talking about how that movement directly influences speed.   However, very few coaches have their athletes perform bent leg hip extension exercises.  Various forms of bent leg bridges and extensions are performed at Soar on a weekly basis.


 3.  Shoulder and Hip Prehab movements.   Again, very little of this is done at school so they are an easy add in to our program at Soar.

4.  Horizontal pulling  -  In my experience,  the push to pull ratio of my athletes that lift at school is at least 2 to 1.   This means that twice the amount of pressing is being done in comparison to pulling.   Usually they mix in Lat Pull Downs and Chin ups, so I add lots of rowing and suspended horizontal pull ups to offset all the benching.

5.  Submaximal Work on the Big Lifts  -  This has become a staple for me.   So you say you can squat 315 for 3 at school?   Show me 185.   98% of the time, their technique is mediocre at best.   Since their already doing max effort work at school  (with incorrect load), the submaximal lifting just serves as technique practice.  You can squat and dead lift a few times a week if you do it correctly!

6.  Warming Up  -  This one is laughable.   It shocks me how many teams do not go through a proper dynamic warmup before their workouts at school.   Since most of my high school clients have terrible mobility and flexibility, its a no brainer to have multiple warm- ups in place.

7.  Lateral Plyometrics   -  I wrote a blog on this topic a few weeks ago.   Lateral plyometrics are often neglected and very necessary for the any team sport athlete.  Like anything else, volume and progression is key.

I will acknowledge that supervising a weight room full of 40 high school kids of various sizes and strengths is a daunting task.   Even the best strength coach in the world would struggle to give individual attention to every kid in the program.  But, the reality is that most high school weight rooms are supervised by the sport coaches.   I give credit to them for trying to implement a program, but if quality work is not being performed  - are the kids really getting stronger?    Or are they adding strength to dysfunctional movement?