As coaches, we’re often inundated with information on the Next Big Thing. Speed program X, Strength Program Y, or whatever Pro Athlete Z is doing seem to catch interest among coaches and parents alike. In my younger days, I was no different in my pursuit of “advanced knowledge” and even more eager to apply it.
During nearly twenty years in the industry, I’ve seen trends come, go, then come back again—sometimes repackaged, recycled, and watered down. But one trend that has steadily grown (if you can call it growth) is the lack of baseline skills coupled with a dwindling physicality in the developmental population. This has made the answer to the question, “Where do we start ’em”‘ one that has regressed congruently over the years.
Some may argue that today’s training landscape (and to an extent, physical education in general) is ridden with a lack of behavioral and physical standards. This is bred by the tolerance of low efforts while over-celebrating the equivalent of basic hygiene with over-expectant results. This may seem like a loaded statement to some. Still, we can examine the country’s youth obesity rate1 along with the prevalence of injury in young athletes2 to see how this philosophically may fit. Layer this with well-meaning but misinformed parents who ask you about the Westside Barbell Program for their twelve-year-old (true story), and you have the recipe for a ticking time bomb of premature injury and burnout.
I don’t mean to go on a rant about how kids are soft, and their parents are crazy but recognize that invoking standards, celebrating success, and building culture takes some ingenuity. This also helps us traverse the murky waters of athletic development in our pursuit to prepare these trainees for their next level.
So, where do we start ’em?
Drive Engagement, Embrace the Basics, and Celebrate Success
The short answer is a blend of general physical preparation (GPP) that employs a progressive loading and movement system during which our young athletes can see where they’re at and know where they’re going. The key is in how we make the general basics attractive enough so that our young ones embrace them.
The following model is a blend of ideas from various GPP methods, inspired in part by social media posts from Jay DeMayo several months ago. The crux of the program includes basic movement patterns for the upper and lower body paired with resisted crawling, carrying, and dragging patterns. Execution involves interspersing a crawl, carry, or sled drag in between sets of your chosen 1×20 exercise. You can see the GPP influences here, ranging from Yessis (1×20) to Dan John (crawls and carries) to Louie Simmons (sled dragging). I’ve run variations of this program for one to three months, depending on the progression of the individual involved.
In this system, we realize progression in a few ways.
- The 1×20 parameter allows our athletes to progress in two ways: by increasing load upon hitting the 20 or by increasing repetitions with the same load. The wonderful thing about this is that the visual of “more weight on bar” or “more reps per session” is empowering, as momentum and confidence build over time.
- Each movement has a progression where young athletes earn the next level by hitting a target load for an assigned repetition range. For kids and parents who want the barbell right away, I explain we must earn our way by displaying impeccable control of our bodyweight before loading with external resistance. Some of the exercises progress a level or two within the month, while others take a while. In this way, individualizing a program has a direct purpose and grows with them. I term this auto-regulatory progression.
- As work capacity improves, time to completion compresses. Over time, these kids become beasts. And as this portion of the session becomes easier, we allow them to add in stuff they like. In other words, they earn their way to fun by taking ownership of their progress. We can’t ignore the significance of this subjective progress, as the perception of “getting in shape” creates a motivated, internal mental environment that allows young athletes to approach each day with the best effort they can give us. For coaches, this is an important tool.
Be warned, though, that this implementation makes for a bit of a smoker—initially, athletes breathe hard and often report DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Trust me, when I say we do not chase this, it’s a result of the lack of acute work capacity. Athletes quickly adapt to these demands, as bi-weekly personal bests become a regular occurrence. Another psychological caveat of the single set program is the urgency factor. Athletes get one chance to do their best. No do-overs! No second chances! No sandbagging! Whatever happens, happens right here and right now!
It’s a built-in culture-builder within a pragmatic system.
The Basic Template
Here is the skeleton layout of the system.
Block I: Lower Body Emphasis
A1) Squat: variation based on progression
A2) Forward/backward bear crawl
A3) Hinge: variation based on progression
A4) Lateral bear crawl
A5) Single-leg variation: left
A6) Rotisserie crawl-bear to crab to bear; repeat
A7) Single-leg variation: right
A8) Forward and backward bear crawl
A9) Trunk/hip flexion
A10) Lateral bear crawl
Video 1. Forward and backward bear crawls.
Block I emphasizes the lower body, where we work three of the five basic movement patterns (squat, hinge, single leg). Some will disagree with having two squat exercises in the block, but the way I see it, you can use the single leg in different planes, as in a lateral lunge or rotational lateral lunge.3 I also include a basic trunk drill (I don’t call it core) involving hip flexion or anterior chain stability.
We determine the beginning exercises during an evaluation. Progressions for the hinge range from the old school waiter’s bow to the barbell RDL. For the bilateral squat, we begin loading with a dumbbell (goblet style) and progress to the barbell. Single leg is an interesting case, as I’ve used a similar progression to the squat but have found loading with a weighted vest is better because it lessens the complexity. Keep in mind, complexity is another layer of loading (especially on one leg) that may not be the best option initially. The crawls serve as “focused filler” work that prepares the upper limbs for Block II without directly interfering with lower body fatigue (not to mention all the great things the cross-crawl pattern does for the brain).4
Block II: Upper Body Emphasis
A1) Horizontal/vertical push
A2) Forward sled drag/carry variation
A3) Trunk lateral flexion
A4) Backward sled drag/carry variation
A5) Horizontal/vertical pull
A6) Lateral sled drag: right/one-arm carry variation
A7) Trunk rotation
A8) Lateral sled drag: left/one-arm carry variation
A9) Trunk extension
A10) Drag/carry variation
Block II is upper body dominant, initially applying one multi-joint push and pull movement along with hitting the other movements of the trunk (flexion and rotation extension). The multi-joint push and pull is enough for most young athletes at this stage, but you can layer in single-joint drills as trunk work becomes too easy. Again, the reason behind putting a drag or carry here is that it won’t directly interfere with the strength drills. One can argue the trunk is getting worked in the carry—which I agree with, but from an isometric standpoint. The simple beauty of the carries and drags lies in their resemblance to hard work. As stated earlier, having young athletes perceive work as hard is important in building standards of behavior in the overall culture.
Remember how I told you this session is a bit of a smoker? Well, here’s how we accomplish this: we go on the clock. My experience in working with the swim community forced me to learn a certain vernacular to understand how aquatic athletes practice. A common swim set may be ten one hundreds on the one-thirty, meaning they swim 100 yards every one minute and thirty seconds ten times—your basic interval-based training here. Organizing the swim dryland workouts in this fashion allowed a connection to their language and culture while keeping effort and compliance honest. After researching articles on how to condition in the weight room, I figured I would apply that to the above structure.
In the early going, for a few reasons, I space out the intervals a bit with an E202 (every two minutes on the two minutes).
- We aren’t out to destroy these kids, as they’re walking in our doors with low work capacity and low training age.
- There is more space to coach in. If movement quality means as much to you as it does me, you’ll appreciate the time to coach the proper technique.
As each athlete improves in movement progression, strength levels, and stamina, you can compress the interval to challenge them. The most compressed interval I’ve used is the EMOM (every minute on the minute) structure—a challenge to the aerobic pathways given a set of 20 will last about 25-35 seconds.
Troubleshooting the Carries, Crawls, and Drags
The next question becomes, how do we apply the carries, crawls, and drags? Take a simple inventory of what you have in terms of implements and space.
Things you need to crawl:
- Your body
- Space 5-10 yards
Things you need for carries:
- Kettlebell, dumbbells, barbell, or farmers’ walk handle
- Space 15- 20 yards
- If you don’t have anything from number 1, you can use loaded buckets
- If you don’t have space, you can march in place
Things you need for drags:
- Loadable sled with strapping, ropes, or chains
- Space 15- 20 yards
- If you don’t have a sled, you can make one from an old tire with a 2×6 piece of wood as a base inside the tire. Load up anything of weight inside.
- If you have a treadmill, you can turn off the motor, and the belt will provide resistance. This has come in handy during our current state as everyone is homebound.
Video 2. Off-Set Backward Sled Drag
Here’s the quick and dirty application.
If you have the allotted space: crawl for 10 yards and carry/ drag for 15-20 yards.
If you have less space: crawl in 5-yard increments, carry in a shortened area (or march for thirty seconds), drag, or work the treadmill for thirty seconds. This is a scenario where, if you lack a training partner or the coach is with a group, you can set an interval time (SIT Timer in the App Store) for :30on/:30off and commence exercise on the beeps.
This system covers total body strength and work capacity while leaving room for technical work for sprinting, jumping, cutting, and landing. Share on XOne great caveat about this model is how it fits into the minimal effective dose and bang for your buck philosophies. The entirety of an E202 session will be forty minutes for each block and compresses to twenty minutes in an EMOM. Total body strength and work capacity are covered, while leaving room for technical work for sprinting, jumping, cutting, and landing. Applying remedial dynamic means in congruence with this system is no problem, as you can increase the volume and repertoire of jumps, throws, and tumbling as the workouts become more time-efficient.
Video 3. Carioca Sled Drag
Which Brings Me to Other Variations I’ve Applied!
Let’s say you have a kid who comes in, and mom and dad tell you they only have 30 minutes today because they have an ACT tutor coming. I’m sure my fellow private sector coaches have dealt with this (or comparable) often enough. If we need to compress the overall daily structure to include our dynamic work, we can simply insert extensive jumps or throws into the series.
Block I: Lower Body Emphasis —No Contrast
A1) Squat: variation based on progression
A2) Med ball chest pass vs. floor or wall
A3) Hinge: variation based on progression
A4) Overhead throw vs. wall
A5) Single-leg variation: left
A6) Sideways/shot put throw vs. wall
A7) Single-leg variation: right
A8) Twist throw vs. wall
A9) Trunk/hip flexion
A10) Slam variation
Block II: Upper Body Emphasis—No Contrast
A1) Horizontal/vertical push
A2) Low box jumps
A3) Trunk lateral flexion
A4) Low hurdle hops with forward displacement
A5) Horizontal/vertical pull
A6) Zig zag jumps with two legs or skater style
A7) Trunk rotation
A8) Split jumps
A9) Trunk extension
A10) Single-leg hopping LLRR
Make sure you put these on the minute and keep the jumps and throws to no more than ten total per exercise. If you want a contrast effect, just simply perform the jumps during the lower body emphasis and the throws during the upper body emphasis.
A Slightly More Advanced Model
Here is yet another variation I’ve applied with contact sport, cheer, and gymnastic athletes. You can compress it or extend it in a couple of ways.
Base model
Block I: Lower Body Emphasis + Somersault
A1) Squat: variation based on progression
A2) Forward somersault
A3) Hinge: variation based on progression
A4) Backward somersault
A5) Single-leg variation: left
A6) Forward somersault
A7) Single-leg variation: right
A8) Backward somersault
A9) Trunk/hip flexion
A10) Forward somersault
Block II Upper Emphasis + Rolling
A1) Horizontal/vertical push
A2) Shoulder or log rolling
A3) Trunk lateral flexion
A4) Shoulder or log rolling
A5) Horizontal/vertical pull
A6) Shoulder or log rolling
A7) Trunk rotation
A8) Shoulder or log rolling
A9) Trunk extension
A10) Shoulder or log rolling
Extension
A1) Squat: variation based on progression
A2) Forward somersault
A3) Hinge: variation based on progression
A4) Backward somersault
A5) Single-leg variation: left
A6) Forward somersault
A7) Single-leg variation: right
A8) Backward somersault
A9) Trunk/hip flexion
A10) Forward somersault
A11) Horizontal/vertical push
A12) Shoulder or log rolling
A13) Trunk lateral flexion
A14) Shoulder or log rolling
A15) Horizontal/vertical pull
A16) Shoulder or log rolling
A17) Trunk rotation
A18) Shoulder or log rolling
A19) Trunk extension
A20) Shoulder or log rolling
Compression
A1) Squat: variation based on progression
A2) Pick somersault or roll
A3) Horizontal/vertical push
A4) Pick somersault or roll
A5) Hinge variation
A6) Pick somersault or roll
A7) Horizontal/vertical pull
A8) Pick somersault or roll
A9) Trunk drill of choice
A10) Pick somersault or roll
Anyone who has followed Dan John over the years can see his influence here. And let me tell you from experience, the stress on the vestibular and circulatory system is tremendous. An EMOM clock here works best and keeps you honest while you’re trying to figure out which end of the room is which when you’re getting up from the rolls.
By no means is this system a be-all and end-all, nor is this anything you must do in perpetuity. As your athletes progress through the ranks, they will require more intensive means. But you can revisit this system during rest cycles or the “curve balls” life may throw at you. You can make the adjustments suggested above when time, equipment, or space become an issue—which happens to be the case for some of us currently.
In this system, our young athletes learn to embrace the basics, drive work ethic, engage their efforts, and catalyze improvement. Share on XThe marriage of simple GPP modalities, along with a systematic approach to strength and conditioning, has allowed me to plug and play variations that fit the current and evolving needs of my athletes, along with daily fluctuations in performance and logistics. And all the while, we’re getting them to embrace the basics, drive work ethic, engage their efforts, and catalyze improvement. The simple stuff is sexy when it delivers.
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References
1. “Childhood Obesity Facts,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- “The prevalence of obesity…affected about 13.7 million children and adolescents.”
- “Obesity prevalence was 13.9% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 18.4% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 20.6% among 12- to 19-year-olds.”
2. Youth Sports Injury Statistics,” Stop Sports Injuries, American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.
3. Nick Garcia, “Creating and Implementing Template Based Training,” Garcia Performance (blog), October 17, 2018.
4. Dan Fichter, “Neuro Based Training,” Presentation TFC 8.