Young athletes at the high-school level have the potential to experience significant growth and improvement through participating in a well-developed, properly-taught strength program. I think it’s safe to say this fact is understood by the majority of coaches and athletes alike, but are these programs well-developed and properly taught? This is more of a rhetorical question, because some may be and others may not be. What are the guidelines used to assess a program’s level of effectiveness; breaking records on the ‘board’, weight-gain, the top 10% improving, or bars moving quickly? Or are any of these results of training effectively representing a sound, safe training program? Here are some thoughts on this issue:
- Is injury-prevention the top priority of the program?
- The purpose of strength training is to better equip the athletes to handle the stresses of their sport and improve their respective physical abilities within the sport. If the athletes are placed in a training program that places lifting a maximal amount of weight as the main representation for achieved progress, is this injury-prevention?
- Are the athletes taught to properly move their own body-weight correctly through multiple-joint exercises such as squats, push-ups, pull-ups, jump-landings, lunges, etc? If so, is their progress monitored before moving to maximal-weight loads for these exercises?
- Are single-leg exercises used to develop balance and stability across the very important knee, hip, and ankle joints? What about scapular-stability in the upper-body exercises, is this a point of teaching to insure the athletes understand how to stabilize the highly mobile, highly injury-prone shoulder joint?
- Are the athletes required to train multiple times in the same day?
- If this is the case, how do the two (or three) sessions differ? Is one session focused on upper-body strength and the other on lower-body strength; or one session focused on core-stability and mastery of body-weight movements, and the other on multiple-joint strength? Do the two sessions closely mirror one another, meaning the same muscles, tendons, and joints are used across both training sessions?
- Are the athletes being allowed 48-72 hours recovery from any training-stress before repeating the same or closely-similar stress? Are the athletes required to perform two multiple-joint, full-body strength sessions in two consecutive days? If the athletes are performing CNS-intensive training sessions or exercises (such as sprints, maximal-effort lifts, plyometrics) are they given significant rest before repeating such activity or other high-intensity training?
- Do the athletes utilize proper recovery techniques between two-a-day training sessions to allow for maximal repair, regeneration of the trained muscle fibers and tendons? Does this type of training allow for the athletes to get stronger, or is it repeating the break-down tearing of the muscle fibers, therefore negating the anabolic effects of the first session?
- Is the emphasis of the training environment and program placed on successfully completing exercises correctly and safely, or on moving as much weight as possible?
- Is the record board the sole basis for ‘successful’ participants in the program? Is the 1,000 or 1,500 pound club the highest attainable state representing success? Are spotters utilized, and are they taught how to properly spot a maximal-effort exercise?
- Is the bar-movement the main focus of attempted lifts, or are the coach’s eyes focused on the working joint(s) to determine if the exercise is deemed functional, explosive, special, etc?
- Are all athletes held to the same standard of expectation for correct lifting form? Does proper, safe form become excused when dealing with a record-breaking maximal-effort lift?
- Are some athletes mocked, made-fun-of, or harassed because they are ‘weak’ or not on the same level as the top 10%? As coaches, are we establishing an environment of positive, encouraging hard-work?
Is the main focus of our programs the safe, fundamental education of our athletes, or are other interests at the forefront? We need to continue to ask ourselves this question if we are continuing to design and implement training programs for young athletes.
-Bryan-
