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Coaches don’t always agree on the training for the long sprint events of the 300m/400m. However, no matter your approach, there is a balance between speed reserve, lactate training, and some aerobic work. This becomes an even more daunting task in the winter or without a good facility. In Massachusetts we have had a relatively mild winter, so we have been able to use the outdoor facilities for a lot of the season. In past seasons and on certain days this season we have been forced to regroup and head inside or elsewhere.

This article and topic are near and dear to my heart, since at Triton we have dealt with any and all challenges with regard to this. We even went more than five years without a home meet! We had to resort to traveling to a nearby high school for occasional access to a track for practice. Our “home” track during this time was in such disrepair that it was nothing more than a concrete oval with the rubber stripped away. Not surprisingly, our numbers dropped embarrassingly low, and our program visibility plummeted. In some form or another we have always made it work.

No matter what, nobody wants to see their long sprinters’ technique erode and then completely fall apart.

The Options

When the snow covers the track or the temperature drops below a certain degree, I move my sprinters inside. Forty degrees is the number I usually like to see before heading outside. If it is an early season acceleration workout featuring drop-ins or short hill accelerations, perhaps a bit colder is acceptable if athletes wear sweats and a hat. I would rather be inside late in the season than outside spiked up in the cold. It is less miserable and is submaximal in intensity either way.

The workouts and training modalities listed in the article are not always the best method, but they still present as attractive options that have netted us some successful results. Coaches need not always shake their fist at the weather or administration when it comes to a lack of training facilities.

Speed Is Always Possible

I will state the obvious even if I don’t focus on it in this article. Even without a track, it is possible to train the speed reserve necessary in the long sprints. There are always stairs or enough space around to get in some quality high-speed reps. There is really no excuse.

Even without a track, it’s possible to train the speed reserve necessary in the long sprints. There are always stairs or enough space around to get in some quality high-speed reps. Share on X

If the surface is a concern, then doing fewer reps and keeping distances within the 10- to 30-meter acceleration range could be wise. I love starting early season with short hill runs. We are lucky to have a few hills on our grounds that I consider a suitable gradient to sprint up. You can also consider supplementing with plyometrics on mats or other softer surfaces like grass for an excellent way to get the speed stimulus without killing shins.

We commonly sprint in the high school basketball gymnasium. Fly times are slower, but through timing the effort is still high. Running fast is great, but not at the cost of lower limb health. Even if you don’t always touch 95%+, I think you can make do until better options arise.

Video 1. Acceleration is important for 400m athletes, as sometimes relays and indoor events have more tactical demands. They can do short hill runs in the fall as a way to help build capacity through volume instead of distance.

Split Runs Wherever Possible

At times we measure out reps with a wheel anywhere we can, including parking lots, grass fields, and sidewalks. I find split runs to be an excellent way to improve the quality of training with high school athletes. If you mention running 320 or 350 meters 2-3 times to some high school athletes, they may look at you with skepticism. Splitting it up into smaller distances with short rest is psychologically easier to handle. It also allows slight recovery to take a few breaths and then attack the next rep while maintaining form. Of course, being spiked up on a track would be ideal, but I think that even split reps at intensive tempo pace working to high 80s for percent effort is enough to elicit an adaptation that builds the mental grit to run fast long sprint times.

I am very much experimenting with the rep distances and how best to split them up. I think the only answer is to find what yields the best results for the athletes in front of you.

Even split reps at intensive tempo pace working to high 80s for percent effort is enough to elicit an adaptation that builds the mental grit to run fast long sprint times, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I have used this mostly with my female athletes, for a few reasons. First, they run longer, as they are usually slower than their male counterparts. They respond better to longer reps. Two years ago, I had a girls’ 4x400m team run 4:04, and they trained much differently than the boys’ team. They ran more aerobic reps, some critical velocity reps, and longer intervals on both speed on special endurance. The following year I kept the training more similar to the boys’ team. The end result? The same girls ran 4:15—11 seconds slower. I was experimenting, but ultimately it was a huge coaching failure on my part.

Here are a few split run workouts I have utilized this year.

• 4x4x75m @80% of RP in a hallway. We have gone as high as 85%+ on turnaround rest between the 75-meter reps with four minutes between sets. It’s a good starting point and a technically intensive tempo. It provided a nice early exposure to some lactate work, and the 75-meter reps were clean-looking due to their short length. I like alternating weekly between this workout with a 5x200m at either backend 400-meter pace (early), median 400-meter date pace (mid-late), or front-end 400-meter goal pace (late and less than five reps, if needed). I think doing a little of this work in the early season allows us to unleash a firestorm during the competition phase while running pretty.
• 3×320 outside on a measured course (160m+160m, 30 seconds between reps, 8 minutes between sets) I like this because Massachusetts runs the 300-meter dash indoors. Running 320-meter reps trims the fat off the reps and allows a rehearsal with a rep slightly longer than race distance. Later in the season, I dropped a set and increased the rest to 15 minutes, and they were flying with confidence at the 400-meter pace even though they hadn’t previously used a track. For two of the girls, I added the occasional completion rep of a dribble or high knee run for 40 yards with the focus on mechanics.
• 2-3x 350m on the sidewalk (200m+150m rest). We ran this a couple times around midseason. We aimed to run quality reps at the total length of the current 400-meter time as a starting point. A girl running 60 seconds would run a 200m at 34 seconds with 30 seconds’ rest. She would then run a 150m at 25.5 seconds. I wasn’t too concerned with someone being slightly fast or slow, only that they got a feel for the actual race in both distance and fatigue. I could get away with less rest at these early workouts. Later in the season, I would increase to 15 minutes or more, since the heart rate would be higher from going faster.

Of course, the split runs don’t have to be these distances exactly, but some specific combination and split will most likely allow your athletes to run harder. It leads to faster times even when athletes are not running on traditional surfaces. Outdoors, my top females may run some reps longer than 400 meters for split runs.

Video 2. Split runs are far from perfect solutions, but they are a gritty bridge to many high school environments. Use them selectively when you can and know when to keep things traditional.

Completion Runs

As mentioned before, not running on a track makes it hard to hit times comparable to being on the oval. I don’t want athletes to run slow just because the surface is less conducive to fast times. I have begun utilizing completion runs as a means to counteract this. Instead of running 3-5 200-meter reps on intermediate rest (4-5 minutes) and getting discouraged by the slower times, I split the 200-meter rep into 150 meters plus 50 meters. The 150m was run at an intensive tempo pace (early season) or faster (later season, fast and loose). It is psychologically easier for them to run a 150-meter rep than a 200m.

I don’t want athletes to run slow just because the surface is less conducive to fast times. I have begun utilizing completion runs as a means to counteract this, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

After resting 30 seconds (which is a pretty inconsequential rest), they performed a fast and technical final 50-meter rep to finish. I have debated using a reduced number of spaced wickets here but have not gotten around to it, as I feel like wickets need to be limited to a maximum velocity tool with proper six-step run-in.

The fastest girls ran cumulative 30- to 31-second reps. This would have been faster on a track that wasn’t covered with snow, but it was fast enough and put the focus on ending a rep with good mechanics, which never hurts. Running 30-31 seconds in sneakers on a sidewalk is at least some form of their 400-meter race pace, even if it is technically their backend 200-meter split time.

Again, some kids may need even shorter reps, but I find the completion run concept allows them to sustain the pace for a longer broken interval, which is a good thing for a long sprinter.

Video 3. The 400m is a tough event but don’t let athletes get tired and lose form. When an athlete is tired, they will fall to their worst training habit, not the other way around.

Cone Workouts

To start this workout, you need cones set at 10-meter spacing for 10-50 meters. This workout was introduced to me in college by my coach, Jeff Rockwood, and I have used it on and off throughout my coaching career.

The coach calls out a cone number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) that corresponds to the 10- to 50-meter segment desired for the athletes to sprint to. Cone 1 is set at 10 meters, cone 2 at 20 meters, and so on. The coach should predetermine the desired volume for a set. Two-hundred meters of volume could have many different looks/combinations, but the important thing is that athletes walk back quickly for the next rep. We used to do this workout in college with jog-back rest, but since I traditionally use it with younger long sprinters or older short sprinters, I usually opt to keep jogging out.

The athletes could have cone 3 called six times (30 meters x 6 = 180 meters), and then ending with a cone 2 could be the supplemental 20 meters to make it an even 200 meters. It can be any combination that adds up to 200 meters. We have called this 200 “the hard way in a hallway,” but you can run it wherever you have enough room to decelerate (inside or outside).

I like this and think it adds a layer of unpredictability. Instead of a uniform rep distance (such as 7 x 30 meters), the athletes run the reps while having to expect the unexpected. Calling out a cone 1 yields a perceived break and a resultant sigh of relief. Calling out a 50-meter rep late yields a groan, yet they still attack and relish the challenge to run fast under a little added stress. I don’t time these, although I have run head-to-head reps.

I guess, technically, this would fall under the umbrella of glycolytic short speed endurance. I think the base of acceleration really should not be rushed, so I would not use it early in general prep cycles, as it can be too much demand too soon. I do like to use it as a precursor to speed endurance or longer flys, as it eliminates a lot of hesitance with running those types of reps fast later in the season. Aggression and intent are underrated things when it comes to the average high school athlete.

I can recall one especially bad winter in which some of my more seasoned long sprinters progressed to running two sets of 300-400 meters total volume of the cone workout in the gym or hallway with about 15 minutes of rest between. Perfect? No, but it was a decent option in less than ideal conditions, which is why we are here in the first place.

Video 4. Athletes have to stay elastic for 45-60 seconds, and that means repeated double leg bounds. Sprinters don’t need to go for extended durations, but a longer session of bouncing is demanding metabolically.

Movement Circuits

Aerobic work is often debated and hated when it comes to 400m training. I am not going to debate that too much in the scope of this article, but I think some (as Carl Valle says, just a “dash”) aerobic work is required to support the 300m/400m. The longer the race and the slower the time, the more aerobic it is. However, I think the athletes who do it, as well as what events they do and where you place it in a training week, are all important things to consider before just deciding to run junk tempos. Tempos can be run beautifully and can help running form, but if the wrong athletes run them incorrectly or overzealously (or at all?), you have spoiled the training pot for the week. Where you put this work requires a little thought.

I think some aerobic work is required to support the 300m/400m…(but) where you put this work requires a little thought, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

Again, I think for females more aerobic training is necessary, due to them running longer than their male teammates. Speed reserve is king (or queen), but just a little “fitness” can extend the king’s reign.

When stuck inside with only 30 meters of space, I often improvise when I have a need for such a workout. I turn the warm-up into the workout during the early- and mid-season points. I think the athletes appreciate these workouts because they are light and allow practice to be about 30 minutes in length, which is a good thing.

I usually select the most general drills that can be done with terrific form. The simpler, the better. There is usually an array of skips, core exercises, and light drills. The important thing is that the exercises in the circuit are low-impact and not too demanding. I opt for “restoration” days to be less about med ball throws or expressing additional power and more about posture and rhythm. We are really just loosening up for the next day, and athletes usually come in feeling refreshed the next day.

The term “core exercises” as mentioned above is probably a mischaracterized and ambiguous term used to refer to exercises that challenge lumbopelvic stability/control or glute strength or focus on resisting rotation and not just the abdominals. However, I work with high school kids, so I call it “core” because it sounds exciting and challenging, and they think it gives them abs. The best “core” work of all is sprinting fast and lifting heavy. I typically run 3-4 rounds of this circuit, and a typical round looks something like this:

• Loose skip forward, 30m x 2
• Loose skip backward, 30m x 2
• Side skip, 30m x 2
• Low carioca, 30m x 2
• Core exercise: bear crawl hold, 30 secs
• 2 x 30m tempo stride or 30 jumping jack/front jacks

After the bear crawls, athletes will be breathing pretty hard. There is only enough rest between exercises so I can call out the next item and give a simple cue. The important thing is not what exercises they do, but that they do them well and look athletic.

I have experimented with a few things, and ultimately, the best information comes from asking the athletes how they feel during the workout and the day after. Once their face gets a little pink, I give them 2-3 minutes’ rest before the next set. Again, the number of sets and exercises they do depends on what you think they need and what you see. It is always about them and not about providing work for work’s sake.

To add variety, here is a list of some of the exercises I have used:

• Loose skips
• Cross and clap skips
• A-skips
• Donkey kicks
• Jumping jack variations
• Lateral pushes
• Ankle pops
• Big arm side skip
• Side shuffle
• Low carioca
• High knee carioca
• Jumping jacks
• Bear crawl
• Push-up plank
• Kick-throughs
• Bear crabs
• Cat/camel
• Deadbugs
• Bird dogs
• Push-ups

This is not the main thing, and it is just a piece of the week. We do not do aerobic work in large volumes every week or at times when we need to be at our best. I think the movement circuits have helped our athletes gain an understanding of how their bodies move, and they allow me to zero in on areas of need.

Video 5. Simple mobility and pillar strength are great ways to keep an athlete in shape by adding more without piling on the meters. A 400m athlete needs core endurance just as much as core strength.

Finding the Right Fit

Again, a lot of long sprint coaching is just identifying who has the mindset and talent to run these events. I think that culture can be created, and I have plenty of kids who have excelled at the 300m while focusing primarily on training for the dash events.

I am not advocating these training strategies for everyone, and some of my long sprinters will never see some of these reps as underclassmen. It really just depends. I can say these workouts have helped the mindset and confidence of many kids this season and last season. Our boy’s school record 300m time of 35.52 was set last winter, and several top five marks (girls and boys) were set this winter before a single rep on an actual track, so it can be done.

Coaches can still provide sufficient training for their long sprint athletes in the absence of a training facility, says @grahamsprints. Share on X

I think coaches can still provide sufficient training for their long sprint athletes in the absence of a training facility. Preparing them adequately enough to race and then allowing the races to be a major component of the training schedule when necessary can be enough to develop them and have success.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF

A constant phrase that I hear muttered across the sports performance and strength and conditioning field is “polishing the basics.” This is a topic that the strength coaching community needs to address before we lose our heads over what it actually means and why it is being harped on at an absurd rate. Multiple coaches continue to use this phrase, and I personally believe it is being abused and athletes are losing out on development because of it.

This article will explain why polishing the basics is something we must move on from at some point soon. I’m not sure where this came from and how it became such a popular mantra, but I am going to just come out and say it…

Are you “polishing the basics” or are you incompetent as a coach?

Before someone loses their ever-loving mind on me, I want to preface this with the understanding that the basics are IMPORTANT. Everyone needs a foundation. Everyone needs that 101 course to get them started. Every athlete needs to learn how to squat, lunge, hinge, push, and pull. If you think I am getting away from that, you need to check your ego at the door.

Part of performance coaching is teaching movement. It is imperative that we ingrain good movement patterns and habits as soon as possible. But remember, the basics are simply that—the basics. You must move on from them at some point in order to continue development. If not, you and your athletes are going to get left behind, and you’ll be left wondering what went wrong.

Remember, the basics are simply that—the basics. You must move on from them at some point in order to continue development, says @clh_strength. Share on X

Let me paint this picture for you: In your college education, you only take general education courses for 2-4 semesters. In the military, the average basic training lasts about 10 weeks. There aren’t any engineers who only took pre-algebra in high school. Why do we believe that this is the best way to approach training for our athletes? Let me answer that for you…it’s not. I am going to go through what a progression with a team in the weight room may look like, and why polishing the basics for so long will not only yield smaller results but may even stop development altogether.

Let Me Give You Some Context

I took over the strength and conditioning program here at Madison Academy back in May 2018. It became my fifth stop in two years as a strength and conditioning professional. At that point in my career, I was spending just enough time somewhere to see traction begin to set in….and then I’d get another job.

This happened three times, and it became apparent that I had not been anywhere long enough to see any fruit from the seeds that I had planted in those places. I made the move to the high school ranks knowing this was where I wanted to stay, so I decided to approach it a little differently than those other places. Little did I know how much I would learn about who I was as a coach and how I was going to get results.

I told myself that the first few months were going to be about—yes, you guessed it—polishing the basics. Ha! Funny, right? We were going to become masters at movement patterns because this is what high school kids need the most, right?!

Well, it became apparent that I was partly right. These kids knew how to move decently well, for the most part. Fortunately, there was a qualified strength coach who came before me, setting these kids up for success and ingraining the idea of developing movement patterns before adding load. This is good and all, but I had a decision to make when I arrived that May:

1. Start everything over, implement my system, and teach everyone the very basics.

or

2. Just begin training and teach as we go.

I chose the latter.

We began to train with the frame of mind that we needed to get used to movement WITH LOAD. I quickly began to see who could handle it and who could not. This is where my differentiated leveling system was born.

My athletes fall into three different categories: novice, intermediate, advanced. I initially placed them into these categories based solely on two factors: movement complexity capability and effort. Who could sequence the clean right now? Who could squat to depth with great control right now? Who could hinge and hold pelvic stability right now?

I made these evaluations on the fly and we began to TRAIN. I did not stop and make everyone do a PVC clean; I did not have everyone do 1,600 bodyweight squats. We just began to train, and the training allowed for development to begin without losing time.

We just began to train, and the training allowed for development to begin without losing time…now all of my students are competent movers, says @clh_strength. Share on X

Fast-forward two years, and now all of my students are competent movers. We load every main movement in some capacity and polish the basics no more. The basics are important to cover, but why do coaches stay on them forever? My guess is they are scared and insecure. It’s as simple as that.

A Story of Two Coaches Who Are Both Wrong

I currently see two philosophies across the board when it comes to strength and conditioning, especially at the high school level and other developmental models. Let’s call them Coach A and Coach B.

Coach A is the old-school coach who wants to chase numbers and solidify himself as a hard-nosed, tough coach who gets his athletes to work hard. Coach A believes that reaching a specific number on the squat, clean, and bench will automatically make the football team better. We can all argue that this is not the best approach to performance training and that Coach A may get his kids hurt. Coach A does not focus enough on movement. Coach A does not consider prehab to be beneficial. The numbers he chases are arbitrary, and the return on investment is not as high as he believes it is. Most professionals would agree that Coach A needs to check his ego at the door and seek some growth on human and athletic performance.

Then there is Coach B. Coach B considers himself a human performance specialist, with certifications in everything from corrective exercise specialist level 12 to backyard nutrition with four distinction asterisks. Coach B believes that the basics are what is best because they keep athletes the safest. Coach B focuses a lot on ankle mobility rocking drills and PVC movements on the whistle. It takes two years to “earn the barbell” because mastering a goblet squat is really difficult to do. The elite athletes of the group do more complex movement such as catching tennis balls while doing footwork on a Bosu ball, because of the vestibular adaptation. But this coach’s athletes are never sore and do not have injuries in the weight room. This coach seems to be praised more in the online performance setting because polishing the basics is what keeps athletes healthy…

Which coach would you want developing and coaching your athletes? My answer? Neither.

Alright, I know I was a tad extreme there, but you get my point. Unfortunately, I see a lot of coaches out there who share a lot of characteristics with Coach B. They use phrases such as “Earn the barbell.” Although this is good in theory, barbell movements still require a level of skill that athletes can only acquire from experience with a barbell in their hand.

Although “earning the barbell” is good in theory, barbell movements still require a level of skill that athletes can only acquire from experience with a barbell in their hand, says @clh_strength. Share on X

I see many coaches who believe that there needs to be some revolutionary program that spends hours and hours on push-ups and bodyweight squats. Shall I say the “Block Zero” approach may be a little ridiculous? The strength community may disown me for saying it, but I believe you are wasting your time after a certain point and need to get under a bar and learn what a bar feels like. Many coaches love the term “Block Zero” that was coined by Joe Kenn. Unfortunately, some of the “Block Zero” programs I see today are simply a waste of time.

Let me give you an example. In my program, the front squat is a high priority. I see my students as early as eighth grade. When they begin with me, we do four weeks of goblet cyclist squats to drive volume and kinematics then go straight to the barbell. It is going to take time for my middle schoolers to feel what is demanded in a great front squat, so guess what we do? We rep it for months, at different speeds, different loads, different volumes, and different intensities. I see many coaches who goblet squat their athletes for an entire year. You can’t practice checkers to be good at chess even though they are both strategy board games.

I recently spoke to Brandon Reyes, Graduate Assistant Strength Coach for the D2 National Champion University of West Florida Football Program, and he spoke highly along the same lines of using bang-for-your-buck movements that you can load:

“We were able to continue to load our guys throughout the season, moving heavier weight faster, and that eliminated having to do more exercises in-season because of the qualities we were developing through our experience with a loaded bar.”

There is a distinct difference between establishing the basics and polishing the basics. Some coaches spend too much time in the basics and forget the principle of progressive overload and the law of accommodation. The basic movements that coaches teach are not fundamentally tough enough to get good at with little to no load. The kinematics of the movement change as load increases. In order to see adaptation, whether that is strength, rate of force development, power, or what-have-you, there must be some experience with those load zones.

There is a distinct difference between establishing the basics and polishing the basics, says @clh_strength. Share on X

The greater the athlete’s skill with the handling of load, the higher their training capacity will be. The higher their training capacity is, the higher potential for adaptation. The only way this happens is if the athlete gets some experience with the bar in their hands. Does this excuse bad training? No. Does it excuse poor movement patterns with poor intensity prescription? Not at all. But load is important and must be practiced just like anything else. Let me give you some examples of where I think coaches miss the boat when they believe they are “polishing the basics.”

The Perfect Push-Up Must Come Before the Bench Press

This is probably the most asinine concept that I can think of. I have heard countless coaches argue that if an athlete cannot handle their body weight in a push-up, then they have no business loading up a barbell. I can give you a few reasons why this concept does not make sense. Let’s compare the two and I will show you.

The push-up is a movement that requires anterior core strength, pelvic control, and upper body strength in order to properly complete it. The push-up position is used as a core stability exercise by itself, so moving through a range of motion in that position will require even more stability. Stability must be present in order to produce high levels of force, and it is hard to do that in a push-up, especially for a young athlete whose relative body strength is low. There is a reason why your lightest athletes can bang out push-ups with no problem, but your heavier, and sometimes stronger, athletes cannot. Many coaches say that they do not allow their athletes to bench press until they can complete 10 bodyweight push-ups. Let me use some numbers to open your eyes on this ridiculous concept.

The push-up requires you to lift 65% of your body weight (Zatsiorsky, 2006). Let’s say I have a freshman athlete who weighs 235 pounds. In order to pass the 10-rep prerequisite to bench press, I must keep great technique while doing 10 reps at 152 pounds (65% of BW). Because of the nature of the push-up, the stability and anterior core demands may be too much for this athlete to complete really well right now.

The push-up prerequisite for bench press wastes your athletes’ time and leads to you leaving so much development on the table, says @clh_strength. Share on X

So how should we approach this? Train both at the same time! While my athletes are learning to do the push-up and gaining anterior core stability, they are also gaining relative upper body strength with the bench press due to the greater capacity to train it. The push-up prerequisite for bench press wastes your athletes’ time and leads to you leaving so much development on the table.

‘Earn the Barbell’ – Long Squat Progressions

Another popular concept is for athletes to earn the right to use a barbell in training by mastering the movement in unloaded fashions. The biggest example is mastering the bodyweight squat before adding any load, much less using a barbell. Once again, why is this a thing? I understand that squatting is a motor pattern that needs to be mastered, but why don’t we understand that the movement changes as different loads are added to it?

You can bodyweight squat all you want, but as soon as you add load, something is going to change. For example, getting to depth with a bodyweight squat is more difficult than using an anterior loaded goblet squat. Why? Counterbalance force. When load is added in front of the body, it is easier to stabilize in deeper ranges of motion.

I do not do any bodyweight squats in my program. Zero. We begin with some kind of load with every student, athlete or not. Load gives feedback to the body and allows the athlete to figure out how to move with it. This is why load is important once you have introduced the movement. Furthermore, transitioning to a front squat is a demand that must be worked on through repetition.

Guys, you cannot goblet squat your way into a great front squat. It just does not translate. The rack position demands more thoracic extension and differentiation of scapular upward rotation and lumbar extension. Most athletes who cannot get into a front rack position are very poor in these demands. So, it must be trained. As soon as they are competent, it must be loaded in order to progressively overload. Unfortunately, we have coaches who continue to goblet squat athletes to death and leave mounds of development on the table.

You cannot goblet squat your way into a great front squat—it just does not translate, says @clh_strength. Share on X

The sooner I get my athletes under the bar, the closer they get to development. Do I use the goblet squat for accessory volume? Sure. Is it our primary lift for the lower body? Absolutely not. My eighth graders begin feeling a front rack position as soon as the fourth week of school. I did not do this last year, and I am seeing this year’s eighth graders much further along than this year’s ninth graders.

We established the basics, but we do not polish them. We polish habits every day through high integrity of training. Once our athletes are competent, we load in order to prepare their tissues for the demands of their athletic careers. This is what is going to reduce injury; this is what is going to enhance performance. Not your fancy PVC drills and empty filler mobility super sets.

Qualified S&C Coaches Are Essential

Once again, I want to reiterate that basic movement patterns are essential. It is important that we continue to teach these movement patterns to our athletes, but if we do not get our athletes to a competent point to handle load, we are not doing our jobs as strength coaches. I firmly believe that the majority of coaches who claim they are “polishing the basics” are just afraid they are going to get their kids hurt due to their inability to know how to progress. This is why it is essential for qualified individuals to be running performance and strength programs across the country.

Since you’re here…
…we have a small favor to ask. More people are reading SimpliFaster than ever, and each week we bring you compelling content from coaches, sport scientists, and physiotherapists who are devoted to building better athletes. Please take a moment to share the articles on social media, engage the authors with questions and comments below, and link to articles when appropriate if you have a blog or participate on forums of related topics. — SF