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An ongoing argument among coaches these days revolves around the issue of transference. Those who have delved into this subject may also know it as dynamic correspondence, and Dr. Verkoshansky is credited with initially using this concept to classify exercises. The five criteria he used serve as a gauge to determine transference:

1. Same muscle groups
2. Same range of motion
3. Same type of muscular contraction (regime)
4. Emphasis of a portion of the ROM
5. Magnitude of force and duration applied

Examining this deeper, it’s not an all or nothing proposition but rather a classification process that can help coaches determine the “degree” of transference. This is evident in Bondarchuk’s “complex” system, where a training program encompassed exercises of high transference (CE/SDE) to lower transference (SPE/GPE).

Even though this sounds complicated and can prove to be a time-consuming endeavor, Dr. Michael Yessis (creator of the 1×20 system) broke it down into three categories, where most coaches can see their exercise sets in the gray areas:

1. That the exercise duplicates the same neuromuscular pathway as seen in execution of the competitive skill.
2. That the exercise develops strength over the same range of motion as it is displayed in execution of the competitive skill.
3. That the exercise duplicates the same type of muscular contraction as seen in execution of the competitive skill. ¹

For those of us working with young athletes in their critical developmental stage, the path of simplicity, efficiency, and frugality is in high order. Our goals are to drive improvement at a low cost and leave room for progress during a high-performance stage. Given that field and court sport athletes are best served by developing the major qualities of speed, power, change of direction, and strength in congruence, our exercise selection should give us a bang for our training buck. Regarding the athletes I discuss in this article, I’ll reveal how we drove improvements in speed and power markers with general training that covered a broad spectrum.

We can drive improvement at a low cost and leave room for progress during a high-performance stage using high repetition and low load, single-sets. Share on X

For me, the discovery of high repetition and low load, single-set exercises validated the effectiveness and efficiency of this method—especially when training the year-round athlete who has limited developmental time and reserve capacities due to the demands of their sport. Here, we’ll delve into the broad spectrum of transference that general exercises have on multiple athletic qualities. This is a follow-up to my post on applying velocity based training in the 1×20 system.

Quality I: Power Measures

I’ll begin with power measurements but won’t go on and on about how broad jump and vertical jump improvements are correlated to athletic performance, as these are well known. I’ll explain how improving the basic ability of power not only underpins the quality at which we do our sporting movements, but also bridges the gap of a strength exercises to applicable movement.

The quality of power production (and absorption) is particularly evident in a sport such as soccer with the many cutting and start and stop actions in pursuing or defending the ball:

In order to make a change in direction while in motion, especially a quick one, you must have adequate levels of strength (eccentric, concentric, and isometric), speed-strength (explosive strength), flexibility (ROM) and coordination (technique). Also included is speed of movement which is related to your strength levels. ²

For optimal projection to occur, the muscles of the hip, knee, and ankle must absorb, stabilize, and contract in a quick, powerful, and coordinated manner. I understand that the transfer of more specific drills (plyometrics, altitude drops, etc.) plays a vital role in the development of these movements, but these means incur a high cost if the athlete is not prepared. In other words, our athletes are only as strong as their weakest link—especially among an over-competed and under-trained population such as women soccer players.

Establish a base of preparedness from general means in the developmental stages with the foresight of preparation for a high-performance model. Share on X

The way I see it, coaches must develop needs sequentially: establish a base of preparedness from general means in the developmental stages with the foresight of preparation for a high-performance model. Even though both of the young women featured in this article are Division 1 signees, their base athletic metrics were at a relatively low level.

As you can see, both athletes made substantial progress over the respective time periods, especially in the broad jump. The beauty of using BABA (Build A Better Athlete system, a.k.a., 1×20) was two-fold. Performing one high-rep set for broad-spectrum (general) exercises helped build strength along the repetition spectrum. It also gave us time to work on other aspects of athleticism without draining the neuro reserves. These included cutting technique, sprinting, specialized exercises, and variations of broad and vertical jumps.

Side Note: This phenomenon became even more evident as Meg and Katelynn had their early morning team “conditioning” requirements as well as side jobs that included babysitting and shoveling snow for multiple hours a day. Jeff Moyer mentioned circumstances like these in his TFC presentation covering “strength as a spectrum,” as he explained the “why” behind the minimal effective dose philosophy.

What’s also interesting are the improvements in average power, a metric that includes jump height in relation to body weight. There are two ways to look at these improvements:

1. Jump height remains relatively unchanged as body weight rises, which applies to athletes looking to put on quality muscle mass. This scenario mainly pertains to athletes in weight-class-dependent sports looking to bump up a class or two as well as underweight footballers or rugby players. I don’t believe in gaining weight at the sacrifice of our power production capabilities.
2. Body weight remains relatively unchanged while vertical jump (countermovement style) rises, which applies to our athletes in this scenario. The low exposure to total volume (and time under tension) in this minimal dose, broad-spectrum strategy helped keep their body weights unchanged.

• Yessis also referred to the 20-rep sets as strength-aerobic, in which the cardiovascular system is stressed via cardiopulmonary response. Remember the old Super Squats program by Randall Strossen? Your heart would be beating out of your chest and you’d be breathing hard by rep 10.
• Capillarization is also a hypothesized effect where the growth of new BVs occurs.
• Aerobic style training is typically associated with mobilization of fatty acids, which may help keep a lean physique.
• The effect of Henneman’s size principle with this method lends itself to FT fiber growth without the risk of heavier loads.

The total volume remained stagnant (20-rep sets in the half squat), as each exercise was executed for the same amount of reps aiming at improving technical execution of the jumps and specialized exercises while making minimal increases in load in the strength exercises from week to week. This is unlike classic strength approaches in the West, where overall barbell loads (volume and intensities) and the number of exercises increase over time. While this approach may be optimal for those in barbell sports or the gym rat who wants to work out longer and harder, it will most likely eat away the adaptive reserves of those who merely need to use strength to develop athletic abilities.

Quality II: Agility

Devoting time to the specialized drills and jumping exercises (while sparing the adaptive reserves) was imperative to bridge the gap between our strength exercises and “on-field” work. While these young women improved their strength, they simultaneously learned how to apply that strength without running the well dry.

As you can see, both young women made great progress in the basic 5-10-5 test. Note that I did not introduce the specialized exercises for the side and forward cord lunges until the second week of January (these are described in the many resources provided by Dr. Michael Yessis and better shown in the Coaches Corner video section of the CVASPS Community site). This may be why we saw the larger improvements in Megan’s time from December to February. Part of this decision was two-fold:

• I felt Meg needed to develop strength in the spinal erectors, abductors, and adductors
• My comfort level with teaching the exercises, which was made easier with the videos on the CVASPS Community site (excuse my shameless plug for Jay DeMayo)

In hindsight, I probably would have introduced the lunges in a more basic manner with dumbbells, or possibly isometric holds, to make a smoother transition into the cords. Still, there is nothing wrong with the progress we made. Here are my takeaways on how we did this.

First: The protocol of half squats was not simply doing a set of 20. While I may get flack for this, I used a form of triphasic modalities in two warm-up sets preceding the 20-rep set (what we call our push set). The importance of eccentric strength in cutting cannot be understated, as it’s a key strength skill (a coordinated strength effort) in executing effective change of direction movements.³ I waved the method of slow-lowering to the half squat position (for a six-count), holding the half squat position (for a six-count), and slow lowering with a bottom hold (each for a three-count). We did this in three-week waves.

My reasoning here was for them to learn the position, posture, and pace of the pattern (apologies for the tongue twister). The loads represented fifty and seventy-five percent (respectively) of the load in the push set, which was just enough to prime them for it. In the grand scheme, loads this light may not have been sufficient to completely train eccentric or isometric qualities enough. But, given the training age of the athletes, I felt it was necessary to use the TP method as a learning tool to effect posture and position more than anything else.

Some may ask: Why the half squat? In short, a really smart guy in Whitewater Wisconsin told me in a phone conversation that half squats transfer to cutting and quarter squats transfer to sprinting, referencing the Rhea paper about joint angle specific adaptations.⁴

Second: As mentioned previously, the ability to spare training time and the nervous system allowed us to develop technique simultaneously. Below are a series of pictures at the “plant point” of a cut.

From this perspective, you can see a couple of things that stand out as inefficient. First, her head and shoulders are in front of her hips (center of mass). Second, her hips are closed, not turned, and are too late in positioning her body to run in the opposite direction. The lack of strength in her erector muscles is evident as her torso angle dips into her shin angle. The lack of position causes her head and hips to swing around her plant foot as she pushes off, which forces her lead foot to swing back and to the side roughly at a 45-degree angle from her intended direction (as marked by the circle), detracting from the sharpness of the cut.

In this case, her lack of technique and postural strength force her to lose a step in the direction she wants to change to.

Notice the more balanced and centered posture in the picture above, along with a pretty good hip turn. You can also see that Meg’s lead foot is more perpendicular to the plant foot as well as “in the air,” ready to receive the ground off the push-off. What used to take Meg two movements (and more time) to execute now takes a single movement. Look at the torso and shin angle—nearly perfectly parallel and into that ankle beautifully—so she can now apply the developed strength optimally.

Quality III: Confidence

I believe I heard Joe Kenn say in one of his presentations that “confidence transfers,” and this is a quality often overlooked in developing young athletes. It’s easy for us coaches to get lost in the numbers, but if there’s one intangible I’ve learned in this project, it’s that if we can measure, we can motivate. These two things go hand in hand, giving both coach and athlete an idea of where we’re going together and giving both equal ownership in the progress made.

If there's one intangible I've learned in this project, it's that if we can measure, we can motivate. Share on X

Gratification is a great thing, both as an athlete and coach: it keeps us in check with the athlete on the intent of effort, and for the coach, it pushes us on the critical thinking end. I believe it was Tony Holler who wrote in a recent article (or one of his million twitter posts per day) about a dopamine release when kids see their numbers. If this is true, is this not the neuro-rich environment we want our kids in? Hell yes, I say—because if they can see it, we can sell it! All this talk about buy-in is made simple.

In working with this pair of female athletes thus far, they’ve given me a hard time about having to go pants shopping because their legs had grown out of their current size. I, of course, joked, “As if you two ever needed another excuse to go shopping?!” This type of interaction is vital in relationship building. My young eighth-grader (whose numbers were not featured in this article as her training is mostly to garner technical competence and basic strength) has also experienced a similar confidence boost.

Recently, she scored a goal while playing as a defender during her indoor season—since she was on a shorter pitch, she was able to score from a long-distance kick. She and her parents were surprised and elated, and her mother told me that she would never have had the confidence to attempt that type of shot before. A couple of weeks later, her father told me how she now pursues offensive attacks with her arms up, unafraid to engage with larger players as she plays a level up against high schoolers. With that said, it’s hard to argue with the positive effects of a minimal effective dose approach that does not bash our kids into some archaic and ass-backward mantra of no pain, no gain.

For the private sector coach, this outcome is imperative, as keeping steady improvements throughout your time with athletes will make for a more enjoyable training experience—which also keeps parents and coaches happy.

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

References

1. Michael Yessis, PhD. “What Is Dynamic Correspondence?” SportLab (blog).

2. Michael Yessis, PhD, “You Must Have Adequate Levels of Strength (Eccentric, Concentric, Isometric),” in Women’s Soccer: Using Science to Improve Speed, (2001, Wish Publishing), pg 47.

3. Michael Yessis, PhD, “Strength Along with Coordination Is Very Important, Especially Eccentric Strength,” in Explosive Basketball Training, (2003, Coaches Choice), pg 130.

4. Matthew R. Rhea, et al. “Joint-Angle Specific Strength Adaptations Influence Improvements in Power in Highly Trained Athletes,” Human Movement 17, no.1 (March 2016): 43-49.

In order to graduate with a degree in exercise science, The University of Scranton requires students to complete an internship in a desired career path. This requirement led me to research and apply for internships in both the collegiate strength and conditioning field and the private sector. After filling out questionnaires, shooting exercise demonstration videos, and interviewing over the phone, I was fortunate enough to be selected to spend this past summer as a strength and conditioning intern under Coach Sal Alosi of the University of Connecticut (UConn) Men’s Basketball Program.

Students and graduates typically undertake Internships to gain relevant skills and experience in a particular field. While these were influential in my choice to intern at UConn, my primary motivation was being able to study under and be mentored by Coach Alosi, who has coached at both the professional and collegiate levels, and who was spoken of very highly by a professor of mine at The University of Scranton.

While there are numerous experiences and lessons that I learned in those three months, I decided to highlight three that I believe will benefit other young coaches attempting to break into the strength and conditioning field.

Lesson 1: Experience Triumphs Over Knowledge

Like most 21-year-olds would, I entered this internship thinking I knew more than I did. Having completed three-quarters of my undergraduate degree in biochemistry and exercise science, I would say the amount of knowledge I had obtained was fair—I understood basic strength and conditioning concepts after having read a ton of Mike Boyle’s stuff, I’d watched a few of Glenn Pendlay’s videos, and I had over a 3.70 overall GPA to show for it (humble brag). My thoughts quickly changed during the first couple weeks of my internship, as it was the first time I was actually in a weight room and able to work with athletes as a “coach.”

I entered this internship thinking I knew more than I did. That quickly changed during the first two weeks when I was able to work with athletes as a “coach,” says @blakehammert. Share on X

Words and pictures do not do UConn’s weight room justice—it is something iron enthusiasts need to see and experience for themselves. It is heaven: grey turf running down the center of the weight room with UCONN written in white and red letters, Eleiko barbells and bumper plates, Watson dumbbells ranging from five kilograms to 50 kilograms, glute ham raises, reverse hyperextensions, kettlebells, maces, clubs…you name it, this weight room has it. While I stood there in awe of the weight room, I was equally amazed by every athlete who walked into the weight room towering at least 6 inches above me.

I was not necessarily coaching every single athlete, but there were times when I instructed athletes in warm-ups and cooldowns and had to cue athletes on specific movements. It is one thing to know how a book describes and teaches the Romanian deadlift—“A hip-hinging pattern that emphasizes the hamstrings and glute maximus… set core, slight bend in the knee, push hips back, keep the bar close to your leg, go to mid-shin level, etc.”—just as it is one thing to be able to memorize concepts, such as that a 10-rep maximum is roughly 75% of your one rep maximum. It is a whole different ball game, however, when an athlete does not understand what you thought was such a basic task in asking them to perform a Romanian deadlift, and now you have to figure out additional cues to give him.

Using a cue like “It’s a hip-hinging pattern” or “Don’t bend your knee and turn the RDL into a squatting pattern” does not necessarily work well with an athlete who has spent limited time in a weight room. Rather, my choice to use the cue “Try to get your hips to touch the wall behind you” was easier for athletes to understand and did a better job.

During this experience, if you are familiar with the Dunning-Kruger Effect, I was essentially a living version of it (see figure 1).

I would not consider myself to have gone through a full cycle of the Dunning-Kruger Effect over the duration of my internship—although I learned a great amount over the three months, I am still far from an “expert” and probably have an additional 15-20 years of coaching before I begin my second ascent. More or less, I learned to stay levelheaded. I am also not knocking getting education or self-educating yourself, as I believe investing in yourself over the long haul will prove to be beneficial. What I am saying, and what I wish someone had told me, is to go coach.

It does not have to be at a big Division I program; it can be with local high school athletes. Go somewhere based on the coach(es) there; where you can learn, gain experience, and be mentored. Sure, a Power Five school with a well-known logo looks great on a resumé, but if your main job is picking up weights, cones, and cleaning, how beneficial is it to you as a coach?

For your internship, go somewhere based on the coach(es) there; where you can learn, gain experience, and be mentored. Share on X

Knowledge can be understood as guidelines. You should use the guidelines provided in textbooks just as they sound—as guides. A great coach takes these guidelines and can alter them based on an athlete’s needs, using the “eye of the coach.” The only way to develop an “eye” is to get experience coaching. Prior to this internship, I would have done everything by the guidelines and never strayed. Being able to attend weekly strength and conditioning staff meetings, ask questions regarding athlete’s programming, and be present in strength and conditioning sessions allowed me to gain both knowledge and experience as a coach.

At the end of the day, a coach who has a base of knowledge, can draw from multiple experiences, and has been mentored by a great coach will be more well-rounded than a coach who simply picked up equipment for three months.

Lesson 2: There’s More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

Go on Twitter or Instagram and you will see coaches pushing their philosophies and reasoning as to why their program is superior to other programs. A program can be rooted in (variations of) Olympic weightlifting, the Conjugate Method, or even jumps and medicine ball throws. While I would tend to say one is better than the other, that is not the point of this article, and I am sure if I looked hard enough, I could find teams that have won championships using all three of these methods.

Some coaches have athletes execute lateral box hops with the front foot performing the hop versus the back foot. Is one superior to the other? Tough to say—I would ask what the goal of the exercise is. If you are programming the exercise to develop lateral agility or lateral power using Chris Doyle’s PAL mechanics, you would program an athlete to jump off their back leg. “P” stands for “Push to move”—an athlete is stronger pushing (using their back leg) than they are pulling (using their front leg). A statement that came up in a strength and conditioning staff meeting is particularly relevant in this scenario: “The only exercise that is inherently bad is one programmed without a purpose.”

I entered my internship with the belief that all athletes should perform a bilateral squatting pattern of some sort, as they will have the ability to maximize the load used. But what happens if an athlete cannot necessarily squat bilaterally due to structural imbalances? Do you force them to squat bilaterally, increase their risk of injury, and ultimately not let them progress in the weight room? Or, do you alter their program slightly and have them perform unilateral squatting patterns?

This experience occurred with an athlete this past summer. The choice was simple: Rather than spend two to three of his four years trying to fix a structural imbalance that most likely will not be fixed, we could have him perform unilateral squatting patterns and let him progress on them and get stronger. That is not to say athletes did not squat bilaterally—all (but one) did, to proper depth, and extremely well. This was just one specific circumstance.

In the sport of basketball, an athlete may be big enough for their position. So, does the coach continue to program this athlete in a similar manner to the other athletes? Or does the coach alter this athlete’s program to increase other athletic qualities such as explosive strength, elastic/reactive strength, or speed? The choice should be, yet again, simple—do not use one program for every single athlete. It’s a disservice to the athlete. Look at their specific needs and training age and go from there.

All in all, there is no “one-size-fits-all” method for getting athletes stronger and increasing athletic performance. Nor is any program inherently bad. A program that is well-thought-out and created with a purpose, is adaptable to the needs of an athlete, and is coached with intent will provide athletes with far more benefits than a program that was blindly created for them.

Lesson 3: Read, Read, and Read

Prior to my internship, unless it was a textbook for school, I did not read. You can imagine my thoughts upon seeing an internship curriculum that required me to read and summarize eight books and eight articles, as well as numerous videos. Nonetheless, I got through them and am glad I did. I think a quote by Coach Johnny Parker sums this lesson up well—“Ordinary people have big TVs; extraordinary people have big libraries.”

To be extraordinary, you have to want to learn and grow. One simple method of doing so is through the self-education process of reading. The books do not necessarily have to be strength and conditioning based, they can be books about leadership, culture building, and even how to stop procrastinating. The more a person pushes themselves to grow, the more they will achieve. Essentially, being “forced” to read tested my work ethic and discipline, helping me grow as an individual and coach.

Essentially, being “forced” to read tested my work ethic and discipline, helping me grow as an individual and coach,” says @blakehammert. Share on X

One of the books I read over the summer that I highly recommend is Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. While this book is not necessarily strength and-conditioning based, it will both make you want to become a Navy SEAL and provide you with lessons that you can apply to the field of strength and conditioning.

One detail that I found very interesting regarding Extreme Ownership was the idea that leaders do not take credit for their team’s success. Rather, they give credit where it’s due—to the subordinates of the group. This can be exhibited in the strength and conditioning world very easily: A coach should not take credit for and/or brag about the success of their program; rather, they should give credit where it’s due, to the athletes who trust in the program and give 100% inside and outside of the weight room (including sleeping, eating, warm-up/cooldown, etc.). This is extremely important, as it can help develop a team’s culture at every level, creating a high-performance, winning team.

While it is important for leaders to give credit where it is due, in my opinion, it is equally, if not more important, for them to set the standards. A leader’s attitude will set the tone and either drive performance or make it crash. The key to “driving” (and not crashing) performance lies in what a leader tolerates. In essence, the only part of a “bad team” that is “bad” is its leader.

During the internship, an assistant coach’s remark to a player about wearing compression pants with holes one Saturday was, “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” While the coach was joking (I think), this quote hits the heart of what a leader’s attitude should be—one of intent. Do the small things right, and over time they will add up and lead to success.

If a coach stresses that athletes properly warm up, eat, hydrate, sleep, and perform every lift as if it is the most important rep of the block, they set a tone that will drive performance. Leaders need to push the standards and let others follow. Additionally, coaches must establish consequences in preparation for substandard performances; otherwise, these poor performances will become the new standard—the “norm.”

Leaders must believe in the mission, the bigger picture. By doing so, they do what is best for the team. Likewise, the subordinates must understand why the leader requires them to do this. Examples can be seen in athletes understanding why they perform Olympic Lifts (they are explosive, ground-based movements that require 100% motor unit recruitment and eccentric strength to finish) or why they are required to strength train (increase athletic performance/ decrease risk of injury). There should be a purpose behind everything a leader does. By telling subordinates (athletes) the why, leaders build their subordinates’ trust and belief.

My Three Internship Takeaways

In summary, from my internship with Coach Alosi, the three lessons I learned and benefited from the most were:

1. Go get experience coaching by­—you guessed it—coaching.
2. Program with a purpose, coach to the best of your ability, and do not be close-minded to other programs.
3. Read and never stop self-educating.

I was fortunate enough to be mentored by a coach who I believe is one of the best, not only in Division I basketball, but in collegiate athletics as a whole. Additionally, being able to work with and help a program with a top-notch work ethic and culture, even in very small ways, was an experience I will never forget. Furthermore, my desire to work in the collegiate strength and conditioning field has never been greater, and I look forward to applying these lessons I learned day-in and day-out wherever I find myself coaching in the future.

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

I took a road less traveled to get to where I am today in my career: my degree is in an unrelated discipline, I never had an internship in the field, and I didn’t really find a mentor until 4-5 years into my career. The closest thing I had to an internship was back in 2008 when I decided to become a paying client at Mike Robertson’s gym, largely to observe how they trained, and also because I liked to read his online articles back then.

Long story short, it worked out. My unique journey has been almost a decade long, so I’m starting not to feel so new to the industry anymore. With that feeling comes reflection, and one thing I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the importance of internships in our field. Although I personally never had one, I now own a facility and try to give our interns the type of experience I look back and wish I would have had.

Although I personally never had an internship, I now own a facility and try to give our interns the type of experience I look back and wish I would have had, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

Every spring, decision-makers in our field tend to be inundated with applications, resumes, and emails that begin Dear Mr. [Insert Last Name] and make you feel way older than you actually are. Internships have a way of filling up quickly, so I wanted to put out this resource to help prospective coaches and interns in a way that can have a positive impact on their career.

Also, my hope is that the current hiring professionals on the lookout for interns or staff can benefit by exposure to the multiple perspectives of people who have been in their shoes. I reached out to a few professionals, both inside and outside the industry, to get their perspective on internships. Here are some great insights from people who have been interns, hired interns, and/or developed internship curriculums, providing actionable advice whether you’re hiring or applying for your next internship position.

Should Internships Be Mandatory?

We should first address the elephant in the room, so for the roundtable this was the ice-breaking question: “Should an internship be mandatory in our field?” The response from Joel Sanders, EXOS Performance Specialist, was firm and immediate:

“Yes.”

Elaborating, Sanders went on to say: “Yes [internships should be mandatory]. What other time in your life will you get four months where you can work your craft and just LEARN? I went to Georgia Southern, and we actually had the option to do another semester of courses or go do an internship. I thought that was the biggest no-brainer of my university career.”

Scott Charland, a former D1 S&C coach and currently the Manager of Human Performance of Parkview Health, agreed with Sanders, adding “I feel that an internship should absolutely be a requirement for the field. I actually think students should have to complete two internships (one junior year, one senior year) at different facilities. Nothing you learn in the classroom can take the place of hands-on experience. It also helps the student develop a network that will help them land a job upon graduation.”

Professionals in the trenches day in and day out highly value an internship as a pivotal learning experience—even taking the alternate route I took, I would have to agree with them. I benefited from there being no such requirement, but I definitely wish I would have gained that experience.

To play devil’s advocate, however, making internships mandatory would first require our field to make an Exercise Science degree (or related field) mandatory as well. That’s when the water gets murky. Coaches often complain about the current state of the industry and mention the low barrier of entry as a main reason for some of the flaws. The barrier isn’t just low, it doesn’t exist. A low barrier of entry would be something like a dental hygienist or X-ray technician. There are two-year programs that will fast-track you to those careers, and earn you a solid salary, and they are extremely important and respected jobs.

To play devil’s advocate, making internships mandatory would first require our field to make an Exercise Science degree (or related field) mandatory as well, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

To be a trainer, the only requirement right now is to simply say “I am a trainer.” Make up some job title like Certified Functional Kinetic Mechanic, toss it on your Instagram bio, and you are officially in the industry. Now, of course, you wouldn’t have a shot at landing a high-level collegiate job, but you could work for yourself and nobody would blink an eye.

With that being said, a degree in a related field is becoming a more common requirement for many jobs. So, if universities push internships to be mandatory, that could potentially be killing two birds with one stone. Any graduate of the program will have the internship experience plus the degree, ideally satisfying the requirements of whatever job they apply for.

Coaches in strength and conditioning all have a responsibility to enhance this career so that it flourishes and becomes something that kids grow up wanting to pursue. This makes it an attractive college major, by which time internship and degree requirements may be in place to ensure a more prepared and educated young professional. At the end of the day, it’s not a method of weeding people out; it’s more of a method to make sure we prepare prospective coaches so that they make a great impact on the industry.

How Can Candidates Find the Right Internship?

Having established a need for impactful internships, let’s develop ways to help prospects find those positions. There were three common denominators in the answers from every person I talked to on this subject.

1. Do your research
2. Establish your “why”
3. Provide value

Let’s dive into those three things and how you can use them to find the best position for you.

Do Your Research

In todays’ world, information is accessible literally anywhere, anytime, and in a matter of seconds. The #1 thing you can do to make a great first impression on a job interview is to have an understanding of where you are, who you’re talking to, what they believe in, and how they get things done. There’s really no excuse not to.

For example, talking to Joel Sanders, I learned that he interned at EXOS before getting his full-time position with the organization. Prior to his internship, he read a book written by their founder and implemented its teachings into his own training to have a better understanding on the finer details of their training process.

That goes above and beyond, but there are even simpler ways you can do your research when applying for openings.

You can use the business or university website to familiarize yourself with the staff. You can review methodologies on social media outlets like Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube. You can listen to podcasts or read articles by the people at the business or university. All of this research will help you learn more about where you want to work and help you feel more comfortable during the interview process.

When choosing places to apply, I would suggest looking into places that are doing something that you could see yourself doing as a career, but that also make you uncomfortable at the same time. So, instead of your local university, maybe try one across the country. Instead of a private facility where you know the owners, try one where you know no one.

When choosing where to apply, I suggest looking at places doing something you could see yourself doing as a career, but that also makes you uncomfortable at the same time. Share on X

Get out of your comfort zone as much as you can. Remember, this is a learning tool. Learning is greatly enhanced without the presence of comfort and complacency.

Start with ‘Why’

I totally just stole the title for Simon Sinek’s book with that subheader, but it’s that good. I would suggest every single human on the planet read the book. As a potential intern or as someone who is even just considering this field, it will help you find your core values and purpose while establishing career and life goals.

Establishing your “why” will help you develop a clear vision of how you want to approach your career, regardless of the field you choose. Your “why” may change and evolve over the years, but ultimately it all works together toward that same original vision.

As coaches, we get far too anchored to our niche elements. Scanning outside of our industry and learning from the perspectives of other professions is one of the best ways to enhance your coaching skill set. When I reached out to Taylor Tannebaum, an NBC Sports anchor and reporter, she added, “A great goal for an intern to have would be to try to learn enough about the profession to decide if this is truly a potential career path they want to choose.”

The beauty of internships is that they’re often a part of the educational model, so you could totally try something, hate it, and decide it doesn’t align with your “why.” Or, you could try something, love it, and confirm that you’re on the right path.

Provide Value

Offering his input on providing value, Old Dominion University’s Director of Sports Performance, Eric Potter, suggested, “Work as hard as possible, learn as much as you can, and be the ultimate assistant for the coaches and the athletes. Provide value to the department. Athletes are always the number one priority.”

As an intern, you’re there to learn, so your directors won’t expect you to immediately know every single thing. Some things you do have absolute control over are your work ethic, your attitude, and the way you treat others. If you can use those things to make yourself valuable, that will help you stand out and make an impact.

Providing value doesn’t have to be measured by the number of tiny tasks you complete or the minimum hours of sleep on which you can complete a 12-hour day. It can simply be measured by the impact of your efforts and the way you do things, rather than what you do. Try to find an internship that will allow you to use the unique skills that you possess, not just scrub toilets every week.

How Can Coaches Find the Right Interns?

As a coach, how do you go about finding, vetting, hiring, and ultimately teaching an intern? I asked a number of my colleagues the same question—What characteristics do you value most in potential interns?—and here is a “roundtable” of their insights and advice.

Missy Mitchell-McBeth (Head Strength & Conditioning Coach at Byron Nelson High School): “Initiative. At one time, my largest group of athletes was 14. I didn’t need much help, so I didn’t ask for it. My thought was, if I had to ask an intern to assist with the program, I probably had someone on my hands who would be more work for me than help. I’m not a very good hand holder, so I want people around me who can see a need and fill it. Several interns over the years took initiative and asked if they could be a part of the process. They were each an outstanding addition to my program.”

Scott Charland: “The characteristics I value most in potential interns are energy, enthusiasm, inquisitiveness, and consistency. When I was going through my hiring process to become an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Ohio State University, my boss, Anthony Glass, told me: I don’t care what you know, I’ll teach you everything you need to know. I just need to know if I can get along with you. This is how I feel about interns. I’m not looking for them to bring a bunch of new ideas or shift our entire training philosophy, I’ll teach them what I need them to know. I just need to be sure they can get along with myself and my staff.”

Taylor Tannebaum: “I value their willingness to help with anything—literally anything—not just the big, cool, exciting stuff. That’s critical. I also value their ability to pick things up quickly and figure things out. While I’m there to teach interns, I also don’t have time to be a babysitter. I value an intern who can pick up the task quickly, as it’s taught, and learn on the fly. A problem-solver, if you will.”

You want to find your next great intern? Look for a problem-solving attitude, leadership qualities, enthusiasm, sharpness, and most of all—Can you survive 12-15 hours a day with that person?

To find your next great intern, look for a problem-solving attitude, leadership qualities, enthusiasm, sharpness, and most of all—whether you can survive 12-15 hours a day with that person. Share on X

How do you find them? Just like attracting athletes to your school or business, your two best tools are:

1. Word of mouth
2. Marketing

Having a track record of interns enjoying their experience and moving on to earning full-time roles in-house or elsewhere does amazing things for your internship search. Not only will they tell their peers, but people in their network will already know about some of their moves based on social media and other outlets. Some of the best ways to ensure a great intern experience include:

Tannebaum: “I try to make their experience as similar to my day-to-day duties as possible. That way they truly know what it’s like. I know when I was an intern, I hated sitting there doing nothing. So, I give them even small tasks—like transcribing my interviews or logging big plays in a game that I may use in highlights later. I also let them be hands-on. I want them to shoot highlights with the camera; I have them do stand-ups and anchor a mock newscast. I also make sure to ask what it is they want out of the internship. If it’s something specific, I try to do more of that for them.”

Mitchell-McBeth: “[At TCU] we had a 12-week curriculum which included topics like program design, speed development, nutrition, etc. Additionally, we conducted ‘mock’ interviews during their final week where we, as staff, acted as a hiring panel interviewing potential candidates. I will tell you that prior to being hired on full-time at TCU, I was an intern there, and the mock interview is the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through. Someone interviewing you in front of people you know is far more challenging than interviewing with strangers. I will say, having been through that experience, I now have ice water in my veins during real interviews!”

Charland: “There are several things my staff does to make sure our interns get a great experience. We spend A LOT of time going over exercises with our interns and putting them through these exercises. We have noticed that most interns coming to us have no practical experience with performing, let alone coaching, numerous weightlifting exercises, or sprinting, jumping, and agility drills and exercises. I tell every intern, this is a ‘doing’ internship, not an ‘observing’ internship. We also have weekly internship education meetings where we discuss the ‘why’ components of the program.”

Making the Internship Experience Work

Aside from being hands-on and realistic with your internship experience, I think it’s also extremely important to get personal and communicate well. Get to know your interns on a personal level, just like you would with an athlete. This will help you understand where they’re at, where they want to be, and how you can potentially help them get there. Treating every single staff member like they are the most important person on your staff lets them know you care about the person they are, not just the work they do.

From a marketing perspective, there’s the obvious platforms like social media and job boards. Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn seem to be the best three social platforms for listing jobs and getting good engagement. Other job boards such as the SimpliFaster job board or Indeed have great listings as well.

Aside from those, a very underrated form of marketing is a campus visit. You go to them. Set up visits to high schools or local colleges to get in front of their athletes and/or strength and conditioning classes. Plant those seeds. They may not apply now or next year, but maybe within the next 4-8 years you have a chance to mentor and work with that person in an internship setting because you went out and showed them what your world is all about.

Letting young adults know about our profession is how we can help continue to grow the field and set up the future generations to have a lot of the things we’re fighting for today, such as increased pay, improved benefits, larger staffs, and more time spent with loved ones.

Learn from Our Mistakes

To wrap up the roundtable, we can look at hard lessons learned from former interns who are now pros in their field. I’ll start with my take:

Make sure you try everything you can to get an internship, for all of the reasons stated throughout this article. I can’t stress enough how much I feel like not having an internship set me back early in my career. I definitely could have benefitted from the educational piece, but most of all, I never got the networking piece. You can self-teach anything you want if you learn from the right sources, but building your professional network early is something that can never be duplicated.

You can self-teach anything you want with the right sources, but building your professional network early is something that you can never duplicate, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

Mitchell-McBeth: “I could have done a much better job building a relationship with the head strength coach. While it can be intimidating at times, remember that often this field is about who you know, and who is willing to help you find a position afterward. The strength coaches you are working around already have positions. They don’t need you. You should take the initiative as an intern to build this relationship and learn from them. It would have gone a long way for me to have simply asked to sit down with the head coach and talk about his program and why he does things a certain way.”

Charland: “As an intern, I could have shown more ownership. A big part of the intern’s job is to make the job of the full-time staff members easier. Our full-time staff members put a lot of time into training our interns. I’ve challenged our interns to ask my staff, when they first arrive for the day, what can I do to help you? I’m not sure I did this well enough when I was an intern. If an intern has to be constantly told what to do, that’s not a good thing.”

Tannebaum: “I could have been more assertive, asking to do more and not just waiting for tasks to come to me. I also could have taken it more seriously in the sense that it’s bigger than just college credit. It truly is an opportunity to learn, make connections, and get ahead for a future career. I remember in college sometimes I’d just be at my internship because I felt like I had to be. Taking it more seriously is something I could’ve been better at.”

I think the strength and conditioning field should look to maximizing the role of internships and how we use them to hire, connect, and educate, says @JustinOchoa317. Share on X

With all of these things considered, I think the strength and conditioning field should look to maximizing the role of internships and how we use them to hire, connect, and educate. We’ve heard from professionals in the private and team settings, a hospital-based setting, and high school, college and pro settings, and even opinions from other fields.

If you’re someone looking into this space as a potential career, I hope you decide to jump in head first. If you’re looking to hire a candidate like that, hopefully this article gives you a nice broad stroke of refreshing info to use in your own hiring process. Like I said before, aside from performance goals, our current generation of coaches should put some emphasis on developing and building the industry. Internships seem like a no-brainer to accomplish this.

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Good ol’ warm-ups! When you hear the term “warm-up,” I’m sure a few different things come to mind: running slow laps, static stretching, mobility circuits, mini-bands, movement drills, and so on. For as long as I can remember, I have participated in “dynamic warm-ups”—all the way from Little League through my days playing college football. All of them had a common outcome: They were anything but dynamic and didn’t move the needle in terms of accomplishing the goal of “warming us up.” (Looking back, this has become even more clear.)

For as long as I can remember, I participated in “dynamic warm-ups”—they were anything but dynamic and didn’t move the needle in terms of meeting the goal of “warming us up,” says @bigk28. Share on X

Even when I began leading my own warm-ups as a professional, we still weren’t accomplishing what was necessary or maximizing our time. That’s why this year I got rid of the term “warm-up” and swapped it out with “ignition series.” Our ignition series has two primary goals:

1. Improve performance
2. Ready the athlete for the activity ahead

In this article, I outline what I use as our current ignition series and what you can do to get the most out of your pre-practice, pre-game, or pre-lift routine. I changed the name of “warm-ups” to “ignition series” to make it clear to my athletes that we were no longer going through the motions or easing into things—we were sparking our nervous systems to perform at a high level.

Warm-Ups, Then and Now

In Little League, our coach would have us run around the field, do jumping jacks, and stretch our hamstrings (sadly enough, this is still common among teams across all levels). Fast forward to high school football, when my fellow captains and I were responsible for leading the team in a pre-practice/pre-game “warm-up.” We used to stand on the goal line and lead the team through a series of static stretches, both upper and lower body, before we went into team drills.

In college, we came out in different groups based on position, going through different “movement drills” before partnering up to do static stretches and then moving on to position-specific drills. Through the years, each warm-up became a little more complicated, but still didn’t accomplish what was necessary during a pre-practice/-game routine. The only good thing I took away from doing these warm-ups—through all my years of playing—is that when I finally did design my own warm-up, I didn’t want static stretching anywhere near it.

The only good thing I took away from doing these warm-ups through all my years of playing is that when I finally did design my own warm-up, I didn’t want static stretching anywhere near it. Share on X

Coaches can debate all they want about whether static stretching helps an athlete get prepared or present the argument that “the athletes like it”—in my opinion, that’s an insufficient argument. Our job as professionals is to give athletes the best possible recipe for success, and sometimes that’s things they may not enjoy…AT FIRST. But I guarantee if you implement the series I outline below, the athletes will feel better in movements that matter (such as speed).

As a professional, my warm-ups evolved over time into the sequence I had run through the past couple of years:

• Jump rope circuit to increase blood flow
• Foam roll series on the now pliable muscles
• Different “glute activation” drills before going into the weight room

Initially, for a warm-up before a run or practice, we spent our time going through “dynamic movements” followed by “form running” drills that were anything but dynamic and did nothing to improve form. Looking back, I’m glad I led these warm-ups just to know exactly how much we were wasting our time (or doing activities with less-than-optimal intensity).

Ignition Series

The moment I decided to change our pre-activity routine came when evaluating how effective our warm-ups were—I can honestly say that they were uninspiring and did nothing to prepare the body for what was ahead. When jumping rope, it appeared more like a chore than a preparation. Our foam roll series looked like a pillow session, with athletes just lounging on the foam rolls versus performing the drills with 100% focus. The mini-band series, which was probably our most engaging of the three-part warm-up, would turn into a friendly talk session for the entirety of the rep/set scheme.

Until the day I changed my warm-up, I saw too many athletes go through the motions during this period. If you want to improve at anything, you must do it with 100% effort and intensity. I was failing them as a coach: If these were things that I wasn’t inspired to do before my own workouts, why should they feel any differently? This becomes even more true when going through a warm-up before an intense activity.

Before I go into our current warm-up, it is important to understand how much time we spend on our “warm-up” throughout the year. I personally do not see my athletes daily, and most of the time they do their warm-ups on their own. I wish it could be different, but this is the truth of the matter, and I must optimize how much time I have with them and take into consideration how much time they are completing this series without me.

Let me break the math down for you. We are currently in week 23 of our training year for both of our men’s and women’s basketball teams. On average, we lift 2-3 times a week, they practice 4 times a week, and they play games twice a week (regular season). On days we plan on lifting, we do our ignition series first, so we get the most out of the lift. I would say our warm-up takes roughly 15 minutes. Here is the math for how much time we spend warming up throughout this period:

• 15 minutes a day x 6 days a week = 90 minutes
• 90 minutes x 23 weeks = 2,070 minutes = 35 hours

On the days my athletes are with me, we usually do our ignition series for 15 minutes, followed by a 45-minute lift. I will go over our lifting in another article, but let’s look at those numbers. Based on how long our lift sessions are (1 hour), those are 35 extra 1-hour sessions we get in during this period with just our ignition series alone! I know a lot of coaches say the warm-up is so important, but how many of those coaches spend time doing knee hugs and Frankenstein kicks? Last time I checked, the knee-hug lunge won’t move the needle in terms of improving sports performance.

Below, I outline the four parts of our ignition series that help our athletes improve performance throughout the entire year. One of the best lines I’ve heard about sport performance is (and I paraphrase)—If it doesn’t look like their sport, then it isn’t improving performance. I have used that principle in developing this warm-up to make sure we are doing what’s right by the athlete to maximize their genetic potential.

1. Reflexive Performance Reset™(RPR)

There are few things that have been more influential in my career and had a bigger impact on my athletes then Reflexive Performance Reset™ (RPR). I have never come across a system that prepares my athletes and ensures correct firing patterns better than RPR. Throw away your glute bridges and lateral banded walks and go learn about the Reflexive Performance Reset™ system.

I am not going to go into the extensive aspects of RPR (you can look that up on your own), but since implementing RPR we have seen a reduction in injuries and games lost due to injury. This is consistent among all teams that use RPR within our program. No, I’m not arbitrarily saying this—I have the data and the facts to back it up. (If interested, get a hold of me and I will share those numbers.)

Injuries are going to happen, but it is our job as professionals to reduce the risk. RPR helps reduce that risk. We start with belly breathing for a minute in a supine position, our zone 1 warm-up for about 30 seconds each zone, and finish with supine belly breathing for another minute. We perform assessments on our athletes prior to the year, so if any athlete has any incorrect or less optimal firing patterns, we give them additional drills to correct those firing patterns before we begin our workout.

The beauty of RPR is that you can always adjust on the fly. If an athlete comes in and they are feeling less then optimal, there are drills you can use to help their CNS fire the correct way. The other beautiful thing about RPR is that the athletes can do it on their own; they don’t need a coach there to tell them the drills or to perform the drills on them. The system is incredible! Seriously, if you have not taken an RPR class yet, go and do it—it will be one of the best things for your career and for your athletes. After performing RPR we are ready to start our next set of drills.

2. Sprint Mechanics

This is not going to be a section on how to make Olympic track athletes, but rather simple things I have implemented that have helped my athletes improve their technique and therefore their speed. I experimented this year with ONLY doing timed sprints prior to our lift, and I got good results. I saw improvements in sprint times throughout the entire year just by doing 10-/20-yard sprint variations. Just because something works, however, doesn’t mean it is ideal.

I have read a lot of articles about whether altering sprint mechanics has an impact in the field of play or during competition. The answer I have found out is simple: YES. A lot of athletes just do not know how to run, and it is our job as professionals to do the best we can to help correct easy mistakes. We do not all have to be track coaches or speed gurus to see that athletes are at risk of injuring themselves when running out of control at high speeds.

I have read a lot of articles about whether altering sprint mechanics has an impact in the field of play or during competition. The answer I have found out is simple: YES, says @bigk28. Share on X

These are the sprint mechanic drills we perform daily. All of them are done at 100% effort followed by 100% recovery. Each athlete should do these at their own pace; we do not need everyone to do the drill at the same time to look like a “team.” Performing drills as a team to look unified is a gimmick. We need the drills to be effective at improving performance, and that means each athlete doing the drills at their own pace when they feel recovered. The following is a list of drills we do daily:

1. A/B Skip Variations (march, low, regular)
2. High Knees with correct arm action
3. Butt Kicks (real ones)
4. Ankling Drills
5. Bounding Variations (speed, height, straight leg, single leg)
6. Backward Runs

Insert Video 1. Athletes in the gym performing sprint mechanics and mobility drills as part of the “Ignition Series.”

We do the first four variations one time through over the distance of 10 yards. We do bounding and backward runs once or twice (depending on the day) over a 20-yard distance. All these drills are designed to excite the CNS and improve speed. The day after a game, these drills change slightly; we usually cut the volume in half in terms of distance and increase the recovery between each drill. I can tell you that athletes will be prepared to run fast year-round, as I have seen many kids PR even after playing 40-60 minutes of high-intensity athletic events.

Now that I have outlined the drills that we use in order to improve our sprint mechanics, there are also simple form cues I follow when looking at improving speed:

• Triple Extension out of the Start: For any sport where an athlete starts in a two-point stance (lacrosse/softball to name a few), it is crucial to look to see if they get proper triple extension. Way too many athletes come stumbling out of their stance, false stepping with their necks extended, chest forward, and big knee drive from the front leg. All big no-no’s when it comes to proper starts.

If we do any of those movements listed before, we will lose force and be slower. We are looking for our athletes to be in a straight line with regard to their ankle, knee, hip, and shoulder (triple extension); this will be the best position to produce the most amount of force. When we get tall, we also get maximal stretch reflex of the hip flexor helping us to fire the front knee forward in our second step out of the gate. Our second step should work on keeping that foot as close to the ground as possible, shortening the distance to the second step. Again, I’m not saying this is perfect, but this is what has worked for my athletes. I found that athletes benefit most when you film their start so they can see what they are doing.
 


• Relaxed upper body and face: This one I see way too often—an athlete trying to run faster, so they hike their shoulders up, close their eyes, create tension in their face, and stiffen up every part of their upper body. This is a disaster for running effectively at high speed. I tell all my athletes to run relaxed, shoulders down, eyes open, moving smoothly. This is something we can improve upon instantly with regard to improving speed.
• Upright running motion: Simple, but athletes will lean forward while sprinting, lessening their knee drive, increasing the braking effect of their foot, and therefore slowing themselves down. Tell your athletes to get upright when sprinting in order to get maximum force production from their lower body.
• Arm drive: It is strange how athletes sometimes use (or don’t use) their arms in the course of sprinting. The cue I give, and I heard from Coach Tony Holler, was driving their elbows back so their hand passes their hip. This is another simple cue, but it must be hammered away when coaching sprinting mechanics. It may not dramatically change their speed, but anything that can help improve, we want to do.

3. Timed Sprints

To me, this is the most important part of the ignition series. I know there is some controversy over the issue, but in my opinion, if you don’t have your athletes running timed sprints, you are not working on speed. It is not the fault of the athletes participating, but it is human nature. When you are being timed and the times are being announced, you will run faster.

I know there is some controversy over the issue, but if you don’t have your athletes running timed sprints, you are not working on speed, says @bigk28. Share on X

I have experimented with thousands of athletes and my lightbulb moment (I have a few of these throughout the year) happened after an off-season with one of my teams. We worked on “speed” every Monday before our lifts. We did progressive sprinting movements (or, at least, I thought we did), from bodyweight to hills to bands and sleds. After 14 weeks of training, I couldn’t have been more excited to test their sprint times. Shockingly, my athletes made little improvement. Looking back, it was very clear why they didn’t improve: They weren’t being timed. When you are asked to full-out sprint and you go 90%, that is not enough to improve speed. WE MUST RUN WITH 100% INTENSITY.

I have spent six years at my current school, and I have seen more improvements in speed in the last two semesters then in my previous five years as a coach. Timed sprints work and help improve speed. There are some variations of timed sprints we do as the final part of our warm-up:

Each drill is performed 2-3 times, depending on athletes’ results:

1. 1. 10-Yard Sprints
   2. 20-Yard sprints
   3. Flying Sprints
   4. Sled Drag Resisted Sprints
   5. Sled Pushing Resisted Sprints
   6. Wickets
   7. 40-Yard Sprints

Like I said earlier in the article, I did nothing but 10-yard and 20-yard sprint variations in the fall and saw great improvements in our 40-yard dash times across all sports. Over the course of this year, my mind has shifted, and I am now putting a bigger emphasis on developing max velocity.

I believe if our max velocity improves, so will our acceleration. I saw someone say that it is ill-advised to have your athletes jump right into 40-yard sprints without properly working them up to that intensity and distance. I will have to respectfully disagree for one reason: There is no time for preparation when you get to college.

If you play a fall sport, you get to campus in July/August, and as soon as you get on the field, you will be competing in practices and sprinting distances of 40 yards and more. You will not sit out because you don’t have proper mechanics, and you will not sit out because you haven’t run all summer. You will be in the middle of high-intensity practices, competing for a spot. That’s why, as sports performance coaches, we need to prepare our athletes for the rigors of competition, each day.

Evaluate Your Own Warm-Up

In closing, if you still find yourself doing “warm-ups” that include slow movements and less-than-inspiring drills, you need to start evaluating what it is you want to accomplish. As a sports performance coach, I would love to see my athletes as often as possible throughout the week. But, based on your situation, that may not be a reality, and you need to figure out the next best thing to helping your athletes daily.

The days of looking at the warm-up as just a thing we need to do before we work out are behind us, and we need to start looking at it as a great amount of time we get to improve performance. Share on X

By looking at some of the steps mentioned above, you can create your own plan that is best-suited for your athletes. I think the days of looking at the warm-up as just a thing we need to do before we work out are behind us, and we need to start looking at it as a great amount of time we get to improve performance. So, ditch the warm-up, and start igniting your athletes to get the most out of their training every single day.

When is it time for your high school athlete to begin adding weight to the bar? When is it time to stop adding weight? These topics are often discussed, but they’re not often written about.

Over the last year I have written a series of articles describing the athlete layering process we use at York Comprehensive High School. In those articles I have gone in-depth into our body weight/load ratios, which are a big factor in dictating the steps of our vertical integration program. I have detailed our progressions and how we advance our athletes from an exercise standpoint. However, I have not really laid out our plan to advance our athletes from a progressive overload point of view. This article will explain how we use the most basic and simple concept in sports performance to force the adaptations we desire from our athletes.

While we can’t deny that progressive overload is a simple concept, in my experience it’s often only looked at from a load perspective. I truly believe that one of the most overused terms by sports coaches is “we need to get stronger.” While that is often a true statement, it doesn’t always fit the individual athlete’s situation. However, it is a universal phrase that most of us have heard ad nauseum.

Load being moved isn’t always the best way to force adaptation in our athletes, but it’s the most commonly understood one, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

Load being moved isn’t always the best way to force adaptation in our athletes, but it’s the most commonly understood one. I will take a look at how high school coaches can expand on that highly important, but sometimes overutilized, aspect of the concept. I will also go in-depth into how we use multiple ways to force progressive overload in our athletes at each layer of our block system.

Many Paths to the Same Destination

While adding weight to the bar is the most common form of progressive overload, there are many ways to skin that cat. We can all agree that younger athletes need to be taught the best movement patterns and techniques possible before we begin adding weight. How do we get to that point? When is it time to permit the athlete to load the bar? When is it safe? What are we looking for from the athlete before we do so? Let’s dive into those questions.

First Off: A Word of Warning

I will give you one piece of advice that I have learned the hard way over the years: Don’t be in a hurry to load a young athlete. Somebody once asked me what my biggest mistake was as a strength coach. That answer is as simple as progressive overload; pushing athletes who are not proficient movers to load weight on the bar because MY ego wanted to see it. If you do this, your athletes will suffer.

I look back over many years of coaching and cringe at things I did as a young football coach trying to learn the art of coaching. Do you want the strongest 15-year-old sophomores in the league who will probably suffer a greater number of injuries because they were pushed too soon? You can absolutely have that using progressive overload and loading up the bar. Wouldn’t you rather have the healthiest, most powerful, and available 16- and 17-year-olds? Be patient. Learn from the most common mistake I’ve seen in my 21+ years of doing this job. Your ego can cause life-long damage to kids. Be patient!

I will give you one piece of advice that I have learned the hard way over the years: Don’t be in a hurry to load a young athlete, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

As discussed above, the most common method of progressive overload is probably the use of increasing load. It’s really so simple that anyone can do it. This is a great thing but also a curse at times. Because of the ease of this method (especially when combined with the anatomical adaptations that come so easy to teenage athletes), every coach who has ever stepped in the weight room seems to believe they are an expert in the field of strength and conditioning. I actually had a head football coach who told me once “we were stronger before we started hiring strength coaches.” Well, that’s great…if we competed in powerlifting. I’m sure you had fewer concussions when the offensive coordinator was also the “athletic trainer,” but that’s not an ideal situation.

As we know, there is most definitely a point of diminishing returns from a strength standpoint. We are here to keep the athlete healthy while improving athletic performance. Strength is a necessary by-product but isn’t the only prescription.

As I told this same coach, making athletes stronger isn’t really that difficult. In fact, I could teach a five-year-old to take athletes into the woods and tell them to pick up a rock today, repeat but pick up a heavier rock tomorrow, and do this for six weeks. Guess what? The athletes will be stronger. If your claim to fame as a strength coach is “I make people stronger,” it may be time to hire a sports performance professional to help you out.

Basic Variations and Overview

I heard something at the gym in 1986 that rings true even today. I was 15 years old and learning how to train on my own. I had a guy at the gym describe progressive overload to me (many years before I knew what that term meant!) by giving me this advice: “Every day you come in here, add a small amount of weight to the bar and do five reps. When you get to a weight you can only do four reps, use that weight until you can get six again and then add 5 pounds.”

That launched my lifelong journey into human performance. That simple advice covered two of the four ways I use progressive overload today: load and volume. We have already discussed load. Everyone understands that one. Volume is, in my opinion, the second most prevalent way to pursue adaptation. You could use the same weight forever and just keep adding volume, and you would continue to adapt. The body is in a constant state of adaptation. The test for us as coaches is to understand what specific adaptations we need for maximal increase in athletic performance.

The body is in a constant state of adaptation. The test for coaches is to understand what specific adaptations we need for maximal increase in athletic performance, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

Using volume can be a very efficient way to progress our athletes, particularly in the novice and advanced stages that sandwich the major strength-building cycles. The third variation we use to force adaptation is time. The faster you move a load, the more power you develop. We use velocity-based training in our program on a regular basis. Power=Force*Velocity is a formula and a scientific law. Using bar speed will result in the progressive overload of your athlete.

The fourth variation we use is time. An example would be to give an athlete 10 seconds to do as many reps as possible at a certain load. When the reps done in that time frame go up, add some weight and once again…adaptation.

Now that I have laid out the basics, it’s time to get into how we use these protocols within our block layering system. What and when signals us to add weight to the bar? What signals us to stop adding weight and use velocity?

Block 1 New Lifter (Freshman) Athletes

As we begin to transition our athletes from Block 0 to Block 1 (ideally in the summer between eighth and ninth grades), the main focus of our program is technical proficiency and teaching intent of movement. Load is a very secondary consideration during this time. Again, I need to reiterate that patience is a virtue during this period. You will have a wide variety of maturity among the athletes who come to you at this point. Just because an athlete looks 16 or 17, it doesn’t mean they have a training age to go with that.

For the sake of the athletes who trust you and depend on you, make them earn weight on the bar with an extended period of movement practice. Our first step with this group is to review the basic movements using bodyweight that we taught in Block 0. Next, we preload or assign a very light load to each movement. It’s important to remember that, at this age, anything they do will result in improvements (be patient).

For the sake of the young athletes who trust you and depend on you, make them earn weight on the bar with an extended period of movement practice, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

For this article, I will assume that we are working with a group that has graduated from our Block 0 program. Below is the final step in exercise goals we set for graduation to the three main movement variations we use initially in Block 1.

Once we have technical proficiency in these areas, we begin our 5×5 program using these exercises. Step 1 is coach-loaded bars or assigned. The one caveat here is that, for us, athletes must earn the front squat with mastery of the goblet squats. This means our athletes all move into that movement at their own pace.

A second small adjustment is we start many of our block 1 athletes on a plate-elevated hex bar deadlift. Once they show us that they can hold a strong position from top to bottom, we remove the elevation. Once again, you see the patience we have with our athletes. Our motto is: Give them what they need, not what we want them to have.

Let’s take a closer look at the hex bar deadlift. On day 1 for a graduated to the floor athlete, we load each bar with 100 pounds. This is an extremely light weight for most athletes, but we feel it’s a place we can start where all of our athletes will be successful. Once the athlete completes all 25 reps with 100 (usually that day), we add volume. The following session they will complete five sets of 6, then five sets of 7, and finally five sets of 8, all with the same load of 100 pounds.

This is the time we teach them intent and use our coach’s eye to coach technique and breathing. I will say that, in a few instances, I have allowed athletes to move to 140 during this initial four-week period. Use your coach’s eye. I will not allow any athlete to go above that load during this initial four-week period.

In the second block we begin to vary the load while still using our volume plan. We go back to our 5×5 but now have the athlete begin at 100 (or 140) and add 10 pounds per set as long as they hit the reps. For example:

In the scheme above, if the athlete misses any rep, they will stay at that weight for the remaining sets. An example of this:

The athlete above would then repeat this same scheme until they are able to complete all the reps at the designated load.

If the athlete completes the entire program at the designated load, that tells us it’s time to add a little weight. We slowly move from a program where volume is the main consideration to a load-based program. For the week following the completion of the last set of 5 at 140, our athlete’s sheet would look like this:

You see that we have added a “plus” set to begin to take individual performance into consideration in the loading process. The plus set gives the athlete the opportunity to go as far as eight reps in the fourth set and use the chart below to adjust the load for set 5.

We now reach a point where things begin to take off. Our athletes begin to work toward the percentage-based programming they will graduate to in Block 2. Let’s say the athlete in question was able to hit 140 for eight reps (+3). They would then add 15 to the last set and attempt 155 for five on their final set. If they are successful, the fifth set weight will now go into their fourth set for the following week, and we adjust sets 1–3 accordingly. Here is their next week’s chart:

This athlete will again repeat the process of adjustment and could go as high as 170 the last set for 5. You can see that once we get to this point, the athlete is on track for successful strength adaptations.

One major note here: Only clean reps count. We DO NOT allow struggle at this point. Failure is not a goal here. Technique with bar speed is not to be compromised. This method has proven successful for us in balancing the teaching of technique and intent with the loading of weight onto the bar. We use the same basic progression for all three of our major strength movements. By the spring of their freshman year, most of our athletes are well-prepared and ready to graduate to Block 2 intermediate.

Block 2 Novice (Sophomore) Athletes

By the end of our Block 1 program, all of our athletes have a projected 1 rep max to work off of. The basic program is in the chart below:

We assign each athlete a training max that is 90% of their predicted 1RM to start. This ensures that our athletes stay in an intensity that allows max bar speed for transfer to sport (70–85%). So, when you see the sets at 88%, 90%, and 95%, keep in mind that those are based on 90% of the actual 1RM. As you can see, we use a traditional program with an inverse relationship between volume and intensity.

In Block 2 there is just one plus set every four weeks. As above, we have no interest in blowing up our athlete’s central nervous system with sets to failure. Our goal is moderate to moderately high intensity with great technique and at max bar speed. Transfer is always our No. 1 consideration for sports performance programming. So, the question of when we add weight to the bar is pretty simple during this block. We follow the plan.

You do not need advanced techniques to force strength adaptations. Keep it simple and trust the process (and be patient), says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

This method has produced very good results for us, and I highly recommend it. Keep in mind the age of the athlete in this block. You do not need advanced techniques to force strength adaptations. Keep it simple and trust the process (and be patient). By the spring of their sophomore year, most athletes are ready to graduate to Block 3.

Block 3 Advanced Athletes

Our Block 3 athletes shift to yet another form of primary progressive overload. While we still use intensity increases to force adaptation, we now also use an undulating wave volume system as our primary path of progression.

We progress with a slow increase in volume of 10% (all reps over 50% for squats, cleans, snatches, RDL, presses, and pulls constitute the total volume) every four weeks. During this phase we use ranges of relative intensity for each major movement. Every four weeks the RI of each movement also increases 2% total for each movement. Our goal is to do 750–850 total countable reps with the vast majority in the 70–85% range by the final two phases.

While we still use intensity increases to force adaptation with Block 3 athletes, we also use an undulating wave volume system as our primary path of progression, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

Within the four-week phase, we have one session that includes a plus set exactly as we do with our Block 2 group. This allows us to give a mid-term-like exam to our athletes at least twice between testing phases. In addition to this, we use our athlete monitoring system to initiate a conversation with any athlete who seems to be at a high level of readiness about possibly adding weight to set. At the same time, it can also lead to a conversation about lowering weight if the athlete’s readiness is not in a good place. This is where the art of coaching comes in. Know your athletes and use your coach’s eye to make every attempt to give them what they need when they need it.

Block 4 Elite Athletes

Not every athlete will make it to our Block 4 Elite program. In general, only my year-round, over a long period of time athletes reach this level. For that reason, a large number of football players (I see them 235 sessions a year!) and a smaller number of other athletes are in this group. The differences between Block 3 and Block 4 are not great. For the most part, it’s two major changes.

One is the use of velocity-based training and the bodyweight ratio for each individual athlete (also described in an earlier article). For our major movements, the main mode of overload is a combination of volume and speed. Relative intensity guides our load but the athlete’s bar velocity on a day-by-day basis dictates it.

The second difference is that these athletes have earned my trust to be able to adjust the weight using their perceived readiness in combination with meters per second. Here is an example of an initial back squat workout with our elite athlete block and VBT. This time the plus set is the athlete going until there is a 10% drop in average velocity and then adjust for set 5.

We allow the Block 4 athlete to choose what the adjustment set will be based on how they feel for that set, as long as they stay at or below the recommendation. In this case, the athlete could have added up to 10 pounds but chose just a 5-pound adjustment. Our online programming platform will note this adjustment and adjust this athlete’s predicted 1RM as well. Using VBT allows us to correctly adjust load for the specific adaptation we seek each and every session.

As you can see, the most basic and simple aspect of strength and conditioning can be used in multiple ways to force specific adaptations in your athletes. While the advice given to me as a young athlete about just adding a little weight each time is, without a doubt, progressive overload in its most pure form, it’s not the only road to take. When making decisions to allow your athletes to load the bar, remember that while overload is simple, your decisions should not be.

Give the athlete what they need, when they need it. Too many coaches pride themselves on “I can make them strong” egotistical chest-thumping and not enough on precision in programming. Making an athlete strong isn’t an achievement of great thinking and skill. That’s literally the easiest part of our job. The tough part is mastering the art of making athletes the best version of themselves they can possibly be.

Too many coaches pride themselves on “I can make them strong” egotistical chest-thumping and not enough on precision in programming, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

Unless you only coach powerlifters, powerlifting protocols won’t transfer well to sport. Until they decide the winner of two teams tied at the end of a game by breaking out a bench and bar, stay focused on evidence-based practices designed to maximize your athlete’s ability to thrive in the arena they choose to compete in.

A presentation of this article is available at PLAE Academy, where you can collaborate with the author and earn a certificate of completion to apply toward CEUs.

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