Training high school athletes

I admit to being overwhelmed.

After last week's newsletter about 'The Pygmalion Effect' I was literally
overrun with emails and phone calls from subscribers just like you
who had their eyes opened up.

There really IS so much more to training and developing young athletes
than just exercise selection and programs.

I think that's why I get so offended by the 'Johnny Come Lately' coaches
who just figured out that their is a lot of money being spent on youth
sport performance training and so create books and DVD's for
you to buy.

It's not about the cool new exercise they invented or how well their 12 year
old soccer client did at this past weekend's tournament.

To truly make a difference and reform the youth sports industry, it's about
understanding a SYSTEM that shows you how to make it all work.

Not just exercises and training programs...

... SYSTEMS of development that really help young athletes.

So, as promised, I wanted to share with you my system for developing
awesome adolescent athletes (ages 14+).

Soak this up because after 12 years of trial and error, I can tell you that
this works!

* How to Structure a Training Session *

1) Mobility/Flexibility/Torso -

The purpose of this warm-up period is not a matter of just preparing the
body for the rigors of a tough workout.

This is a valuable time to enhance certain physical characteristics that are
crucial for sporting success but are often minimized in the scope of most
training sessions.

Mobility:

Scapular Push-Ups (3 sets, 8 reps)

Start in push-up position, but do not bend the arms in order to lower your
body to the ground (like a traditional push-up).

Instead, squeeze the shoulder blades together, hold for a second and than
push them apart as far as you can.

This exercise is vital for young athletes as the muscles surrounding the shoulder
blades are often ignored and can easily inhibit the gains you would like to make
in bench press, push-press or other 'driving' type exercises

Flexibility:

Static Active Lunge (3 sets, 10 second holds per leg)

Start in a front lunge position being sure to keep your back knee off the ground,
and have your hands on your hips.

Maintain this position for 10 full seconds.

Many young athletes suffer from both tight and weak hip flexors and this exercise
will greatly enhance both those qualities. 

Tight and/or weak hip flexors can have a very negative effective on speed or strength
potential through the lower body.

Torso:

Side Raises (3 sets, 10 reps per side)

Start lying on your side with your elbow directly underneath your shoulder.

Push your hips up into the air and maintain an even 180 degrees from your head to
your feet for a brief second before returning to the ground.

2) Movement Prep/Technique -

Now, you begin to work on general movement capacity, force production and absorption
as well as movement economy.

This section is split into 4 separate categories...

Jogs:

Forward Jogs

Backwards Jogs

Carioca

Side Shuffles

Joint Dynamics:

High Knees

Butt Kicks

Side Skips

High Skips

Foot Contacts & Rhythm:

Pepper Knees

Robots

Ladder Drills

Strength/ROM:

Crab Walks

Bear Crawls

Reverse Lunge Walks

3) Systemic Strength -

Strength is the crux of all athletic success and injury prevention.

Strong athletes are fast, powerful and injury resistant.

Many Coaches and Trainers make the mistake of making the strength training
portion of their training sessions far too difficult and far too complex.

I like to provide strength training exercises that make athletes think and cause
them to incur a 'conditioning' gain as well.

Far too many high school and collegiate athletes use poor form in the weight room
and this is almost always due to heavy loads.

You CAN get an athlete MUCH stronger and keep them SAFE if you know how...

... That's why I use HYBRID LIFTS a great deal.

A hybrid lift is a set in which the athlete will string together several exercises (performed
back-to-back).

The benefits are many.

- They gain conditioning in addition to strength

- They cannot load the bar or dumbbell to heavy

- They must think and consider form at all times

Here are a couple of exercises I would suggest...

Hybrid Lift (3 sets, 4 reps per exercise)

Romanian Deadlift/Hang Clean/Push-Press

Deadlift/High Pull/Shrug

Front Squat/Forward Lunge/Push-Press

4) ROM/Cool-Down -

It is important now to reset ranges of motion and ensure optimal cool-down.

Have the athletes perform any static stretch they like (hamstring, quad etc).

With more advanced athletes, you can perform SEQUENCED ROM EXERCISES.

Not unlike hybrid lifts, these exercises string together several rang of motion
exercises that may look a lot like Pilates or Yoga.

For example...

Downward Dog/Lunge (hold)/Dive Bomber

So, there you have it.

45 - 60 minutes worth of training that is guaranteed to make your teenage athletes
strong, fast, powerful, mobile and injury resistant.

Remember, it's not about the individual exercises or training programs, it's about
the SYSTEM of making it all work together.

Having said that...

... Stayed tuned next month for the release of my brand-new resource that will put an
absolute end to your questions on training young athletes.

Coming in 4 weeks...

... The Complete Athlete Development System!!!

'Till next time,

Brian

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Check out an interview I did with youth coaching legend, DAVID JACK, on THE ART
OF COACHING

It is a PERFECT compliment to last week's article on 'The Pygmalion Effect'.

You can access that interview for FREE by following this link -

http://www.iyca.org/Free-Resource-Center-c8.html

To hear what Al Vermeil says about coaching young athletes you should click here -

http://www.youthtrainingsecrets.com/1sc.htm

Who is Al Vermeil?

Al is the former HEAD STRENGTH COACH for the New England Patriots, Chicago White Sox
AND Chicago Bulls!!!

He is considered the foremost expert in the WORLD of performance training for athletes.

Don't forget to hear what Al has to say on this matter...

http://www.youthtrainingsecrets.com/1sc.htm

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Developing Athletics Inc.

109 White Oak Ct. #9
Schaumburg, IL
60195
US