The amount of high school athletes I see wearing weight belts and doing quarter squats makes me sick. It is not their fault. Trust me I have been there. Back in the day though, strength & conditioning was not very common and there were a limited number of accessible coaches that possessed a thorough understanding of how to properly develop an athlete. Fortunately now, there is almost too much information and the coaches who have their athletes training this way simply have a lack of understanding of the complexity of the nervous system, anatomy, or have put their ego before the athletes health.
High School athletes who are just starting to strength train are often faced with a dilemma. They need to get stronger, but don't want to get sore. Performing well on the field means feeling your best. Understanding that initial strength gains are purely neurological in nature is critical. Here is one approach that provides a simple and effective outline for the first year of training.
Over the past three years our virtual coaching membership has grown quite a bit. On numerous occasions I have come across the SQUAT DILEMMA. When back squat is implemented into our program as a primary lift we need to be VERY specific about what our expectations are. If we are not, then people will either fall back on what they think is a proper back squat or will rely on what a previous coach had taught them.
However, there has been a paradigm shift for many athletes as to what recovery entails. ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต. While I am a huge proponent of some of these modalities in the proper context, they will never take the place of programmed protocols which force specific adaptations in necessary tissues or energy systems.
๐ฅWhen it comes to nutrition coaching implementing a roadmap to guide the decision making process is absolutely critical. For us, utilizing a hierarchy of nutrition development allows us to sequentially introduce more complex nutrition topics as members demonstrate competency over time.
๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ will always be at the foundation of our pyramid. If you are not assessing you are simply guessing. Which type of assessment we utilize is dependent upon the goal of the member, the coaches experience, and as well as current research.
We all know the saying "if you're not assessing you're guessing." While this may be a very true, I have found very few coaches/trainers use assessment data to actually influence how a training program is put together. In a team or group setting this will be a greater challenge as logistical considerations have to be made. However, for coaches working one on one, there is absolutely no excuse not to use assessment data to drive program design. Here are three assessment protocols that we have found helpful to use in our 1 on 1 sports performance analysis:
The amount of high school athletes I see wearing weight belts and doing quarter squats makes me sick. It is not their fault. Trust me I have been there. Back in the day though, strength & conditioning was not very common and there were a limited number of accessible coaches that possessed a thorough understanding of how to properly develop an athlete. Fortunately now, there is almost too much information and the coaches who have their athletes training this way simply have a lack of understanding of the complexity of the nervous system, anatomy, or have put their ego before the athletes health.
High School athletes who are just starting to strength train are often faced with a dilemma. They need to get stronger, but don't want to get sore. Performing well on the field means feeling your best. Understanding that initial strength gains are purely neurological in nature is critical. Here is one approach that provides a simple and effective outline for the first year of training.
Over the past three years our virtual coaching membership has grown quite a bit. On numerous occasions I have come across the SQUAT DILEMMA. When back squat is implemented into our program as a primary lift we need to be VERY specific about what our expectations are. If we are not, then people will either fall back on what they think is a proper back squat or will rely on what a previous coach had taught them.
๐ฌ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ:
๐ฌ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ค๐ก๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ค
However, there has been a paradigm shift for many athletes as to what recovery entails. ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ซ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ค๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ป๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต. While I am a huge proponent of some of these modalities in the proper context, they will never take the place of programmed protocols which force specific adaptations in necessary tissues or energy systems.
๐ฅWhen it comes to nutrition coaching implementing a roadmap to guide the decision making process is absolutely critical. For us, utilizing a hierarchy of nutrition development allows us to sequentially introduce more complex nutrition topics as members demonstrate competency over time.
๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ will always be at the foundation of our pyramid. If you are not assessing you are simply guessing. Which type of assessment we utilize is dependent upon the goal of the member, the coaches experience, and as well as current research.
We all know the saying "if you're not assessing you're guessing." While this may be a very true, I have found very few coaches/trainers use assessment data to actually influence how a training program is put together. In a team or group setting this will be a greater challenge as logistical considerations have to be made. However, for coaches working one on one, there is absolutely no excuse not to use assessment data to drive program design. Here are three assessment protocols that we have found helpful to use in our 1 on 1 sports performance analysis: