The 25 Minute Workout?

You want to know what I’m starting to figure out…

… A lot of Trainers and Coaches are mistaking ‘progression’ with ‘variety’.

I wrote an article a few months back about ‘Strength Training Progressions’ and asked folks to email me some of the ways they use progressions when training their young athletes.

One Trainer responded with this:

“I think progressions are really important too. When I teach my young athletes to squat, I work with them on the basics of form and then add exercises like step-ups, lunges, single leg reaches and deadlifts to really solidify their squat technique”.

Now, a lot of professionals in my shoes like to pretend they are the ‘Intergalactic Champions’ of athlete development and ‘Zen Masters’ of all training.

And in thinking so, they opt to poke fun, ridicule and generally sound off about how much they know and how much YOU are wrong.

Well, that’s not me.

I wanted to show you that email response because I think there are a lot of Trainers, Parents and Coaches out there who make the same types of judgment errors as this – and it’s critical to understand the difference between variety and progression.

This is a slippery slope so read carefully.

YES – variety at the youth level of sport and training is critical.

You have heard me say it a thousand times.

The Central Nervous System of kids in general is working overtime to learn, understand and gain knowledge.

In that, a variety of stimulus is not only prudent, it is an undeniable must in developing a healthy, injury resistant and athletically gifted youngster.

But in terms of training and conditioning, that variety must be considered a long-term project and not something you need to establish within a few weeks or months.

In the training room, patterns and habits are brutally important.

And they can’t be established, nurtured or mastered if we are constantly changing the stimulus offered to our young athletes.

This reminds me of a conversation I had a few weeks back with the Head Coach for a local basketball club.

This particular club hired me as their Conditioning Director for the coming season. My job is to create the training programs and oversee their implementation for 420 young basketball players ranging from 12 – 18 years old.

When I asked the Coach what they were looking for from me as opposed to the last guy they had, he replied in one word:

“Variety”.

When I prodded for more details, he told me that “Last year, the guy we had just kept doing the same workout everyday. Non-stop day after day, the exact same program”.

Now, I’m not going to defend that.

The exact same program day after day is NOT what I’m getting at here.

No difference in stimulus infers no progressions. And no progressions means that the Central Nervous System has become accustom to the stimulus and likely not responding with adaptations any longer.

But as the conversation with the Coach moved on, I started realizing that he to was misunderstanding the fine line between variety and progression.

Chris Scarborough and I had a fascinating conversation about that last week.

Chris, if you don’t know, is one of the all-time great Strength Coaches and someone I admire significantly. He has such unique and insightful perspective about strength and conditioning and always makes me think ‘outside the box’.

He and I were talking about this exact topic.

Chris’ own work with young athletes is extraordinary and his methodologies are something I guarantee you have never seen before or considered.

He trains his young athletes for only 25 minutes per session and uses a mere 4 exercises for the first 4 weeks of his progressive system.

Here’s a rundown of what it looks like:

Format:

Each exercise is performed for a total of 5 minutes.

Rather than performing ‘reps’, athletes hold positions.

If the form breaks significantly or the athlete requires a break, the clock stops and they are given a very short recovery time. They resume holding the position for whatever is left of the 5 minute total working time.

There are no definitive warm-ups or cool-downs.

Each position is held with a specific force production framework. Meaning, young athletes don’t just ‘hold’ the position, they fire in and produce force through specific areas.

Exercise # 1:

Wall Squats.

Young athletes are taught to stand with their backs against a wall, shoulder blades retracted and depressed with their feet out away from the wall (so that in the squat position, the knee joint is at a 90 degree angle).

The weight is on the balls of the feet and the toes are lifted slightly off the ground.

Young athletes are told to focus on contracting their hamstrings by actively ‘pulling’ their heels back towards the wall.

As the athlete holds this position and fatigue sets in, they are encouraged to not stand up. They can descend down the wall slightly, but if a short break is needed due to form breakdown or intense fatigue, it is given.

5 minutes total working time.

Exercise #2:

Split Squat.

A young athlete will place their front foot on top of a short box (8 – 12 inches) and hold a split squat/lunge position.

Similar lower and upper body force production points as with exercise #1.

Again, standing up is not an option. A slight descent is allowable, but if a break is required, the clock stops until you resume the position.

5 minutes total working time per leg.

Exercise #3:

Push-Ups.

The young athlete is taught to hold a push-up at the top position of the movement.

In this exercise, maintaining a braced torso and strong scapular position is a must (retracted and depressed).

It is also important to have the young athletes ‘tuck’ their chin and keep their eyes towards the ground.

As fatigue sets in or form fails, the young athlete can descend towards the ground slightly, but is able to break if necessary.

Once again, 5 minutes of total working time.

Exercise #4:

Horizontal Pull-Ups.

The young athlete is taught to hold the top position of a horizontal pull-up.

Just like in exercise #3, scapular retraction and depression is critical, as is neck position.

Athletes may descend slightly as fatigue sets in.

5 minutes total working time.

Now, I may not agree 100% with this methodology, but I can certainly see its merits.

Here’s something I want you to ask yourself:

What are the benefits of this type of training?

Here’s what I see:

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• Strength patterns are being developed through very specific and important parts of the young athletes frame (scapular strength, torso strength and stability, hamstring/posterior chain strength).These are areas that most young athletes need improvement in and many Trainers and Coaches don’t do a fantastic job of strengthening.

• <!--[if !supportLists]--> Flexibility, specifically during the split squat holds. Young athletes tend to be weak or tight or both through the anterior muscles of the hip. This kind of ‘Static-Active’ stretch will most certainly enhance the strength and length of these muscle groups.

Now, you have to keep in mind that this 4-week span is just the beginning phase of the system. It moves onto more complexity, different exercises and certainly some movement work as well.

But you’d have to agree with the fact that the aspects of patterning proper strengthening habits into a young athlete is accomplished very well with this type of training style.

You certainly don’t have to use this type of training methodology when working with young athletes, but staying with the fundamentals until they become definitive skills before moving onto other exercises is something I advocate.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Don’t change or prescribe ‘innovation’ because you think you need to.