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I’ve shared my squat progression at clinics and on social media many times. Inevitably, there is always a coach in the crowd who wants to debate the validity of my exercise selection or correct my ignorance with a more efficient teaching method.

Awesome. Question everything and be as pragmatic as possible. But never forget that athletes are complex organisms in a complex environment; they are not math problems with definitive solutions. There is no such thing as a perfect exercise selection or an infallible training progression. As coaches, all we can do is use our previous experiences to guide our decision-making.

Never forget that athletes are complex organisms in a complex environment, not math problems with definitive solutions, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

My squat progression is the result of years of shaving away the things that don’t work (for me), expanding upon the things that do work (for me), and taking great pride in technical proficiency.

The progression is simple, and every newcomer in my program goes through it.*

1. Hands-Free Cyclist Squat
2. Hands-Free Front Squat
3. Front Squat
4. Back Squat

*An athlete’s injury history or structural limitations may dictate a regression, but there is not enough ink on the planet to cover every hypothetical scenario in this article. For the sake of argument, this article assumes a healthy athlete actively trying to master the exercises. 

Essential Context on This Progression

To offer insights into this progression, consider three variables in my decision-making:

The first is that I work with team sport athletes. I do not work with strength specialists such as weightlifters or powerlifters. Team sport athletes can be classified as strength generalists, relying on resistance training as a means to saturate athletic attributes necessary for sport.

Because my athletes are strength generalists, many exercises are completely novel to them. In order to progress these exercises, we must address three components:

• Mobility to get into positions
• Skill to perform exercise
• Stability to add load

The second thing to consider is that, in my opinion, “full range” training is more ideal than partial rep training for long-term athletic development. A mistake I see with strength coaches is progressing beginner and intermediate lifters to partial rep training too soon. Newbie gains are rarely anything more than improvements in neuromuscular coordination. Intermediate gains are best achieved by applying progressive overload to proficient movement patterns. Many strength generalist athletes never advance beyond being classified as intermediate level.

So, yes, research absolutely supports restricting range of motion to increase joint angle specific strength adaptations, but research also suggests that crucial architectural and mechanical muscle adaptations are dependent on the range of motion used in training. For the strength generalist, I believe partial ROM training should be reserved for later stages in training. We should not deprive beginner and intermediate lifters of long-term progress by putting them on advanced training protocols too quickly.

We shouldn’t deprive beginner and intermediate lifters of long-term progress by putting them on advanced training protocols too quickly, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

One final thing to consider in the partial-range versus full-range training debate:

Any athlete capable of full squatting 400 pounds will possess the capacity to quarter squat 500 pounds. Not every athlete capable of quarter squatting 500 pounds will possess the capacity to full squat 400 pounds.

Chase your rabbits wisely.

The third variable is that I utilize an Olympic-style squatting technique with my athletes. The full spectrum of reasons for this style of squatting would require a separate article, but the Cliff Notes version of why I prefer this style of squatting is that:

• Many athletes compensate for long limbs, or ankle immobility, by becoming low back dominant squatters. This puts the low back in a compromised position. Full squats can correct chronic compensations.
• Olympic-style squatting requires the knees to drive out over the toes in the bottom position with the hamstrings covering the calves and the torso in a vertically upright posture. The legs, not the low back, get the most work.
• This style of squatting engages all heads of the quadriceps to varying degrees through the entirety of the range of motion. This prevents the structural imbalance of overdevelopment of any head relative to the others.
• Because it is a “full range” exercise, it acts as a natural safeguard for the weight selected.
• I believe the proprioceptive qualities on display during this style of squatting are second to none.

Coach’s Notes:

The NCAA allows us eight weeks of training in the summer to work with our athletes. This is the first chance I get to work with my newcomers, and the progression I utilize takes this into account.

Hands-Free Cyclist Squat

The hands-free cyclist squat (HFCS) is a narrow-stance squat variation with the heels 4-6 inches off the ground, maintaining 4-5 inches of space between the insides of the shoes. It is initiated by driving the knees forward and hips straight down while maintaining a vertical torso position. The goal is to completely close off the knee joint until the hamstrings are covering the calves.

I start with the hands-free cyclist squat for two reasons. The first is that I believe it is the best exercise for learning the skill of deep knee bending with a leg-dominant (not low back-dominant) squat. The second is that a hands-free bar position provides immediate feedback with the bar dropping as soon as the torso begins to lean forward.

I’ve worked with many Division 1 players over the years, and a common issue I continually see is that the lack of mobility to get into the bottom position is due to a lack of skill at deep knee bending, not structural damages. Essentially, athletes don’t have the mobility to get into position because they’ve never been asked to display or develop it, not because of injuries that need to be worked around. This lack of mobility and skill inhibits the ability to develop the stability necessary to add load through a full range.

Nevertheless, many coaches still opt to work around these mobility limitations and find exercises to start loading immediately. However, in my experience taking a few weeks to teach the skill of squatting will elicit greater long-term results, especially as the athletes move into an intermediate-level training age.

I typically allot two weeks to achieve proficiency in the HFCS. During these two weeks we train the HFCS twice a week for 4-6 sets of 6-8 reps on a 4111 tempo. Neuromuscular coordination and exercise competency are the training effects I am chasing during these two weeks.

Very Important Side Note: It is critical to have the right equipment. You will need a squat wedge to properly do cyclist squats. There are many variations of squat wedges on the market, but I have had the best success with the 20 Degree Prime Fitness Squat Wedge. It is built to last with a lifetime warranty, but it is also versatile. If not using it for cyclist squats, athletes can move their heel to the bottom 1 inch of the wedge to mimic an Olympic weightlifting shoe during other squat variations.

Hands-Free Front Squat

The next exercise in the progression is the hands-free front squat (HFFS). This exercise again serves as a teaching tool where the desired adaptation is neuromuscular coordination and exercise competency.

If the HFCS did its job, the athlete should understand the vertical torso position and using the legs, not the low back, to load and drive out of the bottom of the squat. The HFFS further reinforces this technique, but with the feet flat on the floor. This is important because it sets us up to add load to the exercise in the front squat phase of the progression.

Spending a few more weeks teaching a hands-free position usually solves the problems of athletes trying to support the bar with their hands, and instead reinforces the technique of supporting the bar on the shoulders while maintaining the elbows above the bar.

An important note during this progression is that I am an advocate of squatting in Olympic weightlifting shoes. If these shoes are available to the athletes, we typically forego squat wedges after HFCS and begin using the Olympic shoes only at the HFFS point of the progression. If the shoes are not available to the athletes, I give the athletes the option of placing their heels 1 inch up the 20-degree squat wedge to mimic the effect of an Olympic weightlifting shoe. There is not a winner in the “wedge vs. shoe” debate for squatting—both work great. I’ve had athletes go entire collegiate careers using the heel on the wedge with great results.

Like the HFCS, I typically allot two weeks of twice-a-week squatting to the HFFS portion of the teaching progression. Sets, reps, and tempos remain unchanged, but I allow the athlete to add a little bit of weight during these two weeks if technique allows it. Rarely will we go above 40-50 kgs during this time.

Front Squats

This is the phase of the progression where we truly begin to load the squat. Four weeks of teaching movement efficiency and neuromuscular coordination of a novel squatting style will begin to pay off. However, with only four weeks of true “full range” squatting completed, there are still safeguards that you must take to protect the athlete. Nobody cares about setting PRs in week 5. The goal is to master the movement so we can continue progressive overload at weeks 35, 105, and 205.

Many consider the front squat to be safer than the back squat, myself included. A reason for this is that the bar can be dumped at any time when technical failure occurs. Another reason is that, due to the biomechanics of the lift, significantly more weight can be used during the back squat than the front squat. This acts as a natural regulator of load and allows us to apply enough stimulus to elicit results with lighter loads in the front squat than we can get in the back squat.

Anecdotally, another reason I prefer the front squat is that improvements in front squat numbers have corresponded really well with improvements in standing vertical jump numbers with my athletes over the years. As an athlete’s training age gets more advanced, other techniques may help peak jumping power, but front squats are a very efficient exercise you can implement for a long time and keep getting results.

Progressive overload methods will start becoming more important during this phase of training, but the goal is still to maintain rep integrity with range of motion and technical proficiency. When those two things are accounted for, increased load will always follow. When excessive load is emphasized too early, range of motion and technique become compromised. At this point, weight room injuries become inevitable.

The front squat is a great exercise to introduce progressive overload because cheating technique is really difficult to do, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

I believe it was Christian Thibaudeau who said, “show me a man who constantly cheats technique, and I will show you a man with joint problems.” The front squat is a great exercise to introduce progressive overload because cheating technique is really difficult to do.

This part of the progression can last anywhere from 4-12 weeks or longer, depending on how the calendar looks for the teams you’re training. I’ve found that straight sets and ascending sets work really well here, and there isn’t really a need to get too zesty with set and rep protocols.

Back Squats

Properly progressed and strategically overloaded, back squats are a great tool for building robust athletes. More weight can be utilized in the back squat than the front squat, making it an excellent tool for manipulating stress to saturate attributes such as strength, speed, and power.

There are many styles of back squatting, but I teach a high bar Olympic-style squat. I want my athletes to maintain the same depth on a back squat as they do on a front squat. Remember, the goal is still covering the calves with the hamstrings, not getting three white lights in a powerlifting competition by getting to parallel. Parallel is an arbitrary standard, and a partial range of motion exercise, whereas closing off the knee joint maintains the same benefits written about earlier in the front squat.

Much like the front squat phase of the progression, rep integrity and range of motion remain critical, but progressive overload is the name of the game for back squatting. This is the phase of the progression where we can start getting a little zestier with our set and rep schemes.

A few of my favorite loading schemes are wave loading and clusters. In fact, I really like using three-week blocks of wave loading to establish the rep maxes I will be using during the next three-week block of clusters. While you can obviously do this with front squats, remember that we are working with strength generalists. Changing the modality of stress application serves as a good way to prevent plateau.

A final contextual piece of why I use back squats at this point in the progression is that there are still other squat modalities I will implement during the year, including the Hatfield squat. Back squats serve as a good segue into Hatfield squats, which can be loaded supramaximally relative to the back squat due to the hand placement helping guide the athlete through sticking points.

Closing Thoughts on Squat Progressions and the Craft

This progression is not an exact script for you to follow, but instead it provides insights into what another coach has used with success. The biggest key to my squat progression is an unwavering refusal to deviate from my standard. Many roads lead to Rome, and my Rome is a full-depth Olympic-style squat. If that isn’t your goal, this isn’t the right progression for you, and that’s okay.

The biggest key to my squat progression is an unwavering refusal to deviate from my standard. Many roads lead to Rome, and my Rome is a full-depth Olympic-style squat, says @CoachAlanBishop. Share on X

Like I said earlier, there isn’t a perfect way to select exercises or an infallible progression to use. Squatting isn’t a zero-sum game, but this progression has worked really well for me. Whether you choose to implement it or not, be the best in the world at what you choose to do, hold your athletes to a high standard, and coach your face off every rep.

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

Work hard on the farm, stay focused in the classroom, participate in multiple sports year-round while trying to attain quality sleep each night. This was my life as an adolescent, and I learned early on the influential role diet played in my energy levels. I kept a food journal at 10 years old and began researching “healthy foods” to enhance my energy to gain a competitive edge. By tracking my calorie consumption, I was able to see a connection between peak energy and good training days versus the bad.

That experience led to my passion and dedication for supporting our youth in their endeavors as people first and athletes second. The majority of adolescent athletes these days are training longer, participating in more leagues, and specializing early on. Check out this great article on supporting your child athlete early on.

We currently live in a world of self-proclaimed experts touting poor nutritional information, sugary “recovery foods,” detox drinks, protein-infused cereals, and other “health foods” that have become a fountain of misinformation leading several athletes and parents down the road to suboptimal choices. Suboptimal choices that can derail their growth, development, and overall athletic performance.

If you don’t understand physiology and biochemistry, making sense of the nutrition information out there can be like trying to drink from a fire hose, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

As a registered dietitian who works with many adolescents and master athletes, I find they come to me confused, with a head full of information overload. If you don’t understand physiology and biochemistry, making sense of the nutrition information out there can be like trying to drink from a fire hose. It is overwhelming. I work vigilantly to navigate the science for my clients so they can make the most informed choice while shopping for whole foods and supplements and planning out pre- and post-event nutrition.

The goal of optimal performance can be reached by using nutrition as a tool to modify the stressors linked with the mechanisms of skeletal muscle, damage, and repair from intensive training, conditioning, and competition. Many athletes are starting to learn the critical role food and nutrition play in mitigating the risk of injury from high-intensity training and to support desired physiological adaptations to training. Post-training nutrition is vital for an athlete to replenish what was depleted during training.

Start with Hydration

Adequate hydration for the young athlete is important to support optimal sports performance and avoid health complications. Sweating is a normal and essential bodily function to cool the body via evaporation, but in turn it increases the risk of dehydration during exercise. Identifying optimal drink volume and composition for enough hydration would be nearly impossible without technology. So many factors influence sweat rate, such as genetics, biological maturation status, body composition, fitness level, training intensity, and environmental conditions. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, losing more than 2% of your body weight during exercise can result in dehydration. Therefore, young athletes who properly hydrate leading up to training—and rehydrate during, between, and following competition­—are more likely to secure optimal sports performance.

Young athletes who properly hydrate leading up to training—and rehydrate during, between, and following competition—are more likely to secure optimal sports performance, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

So, how does a young athlete ensure optimal sports performance? Optimal sports performance comes down to more than body fluid balance. Sports drinks and nutrition drinks are comprised of different ingredients. Ultimately, many coaches are quick to suggest using a sports drink, which, in my opinion as a sports dietitian, is vastly overrated and overhyped. Sports drinks can offer electrolyte replacement, sugar, and support fluid balance, but so can real food and nutrition drinks.

Furthermore, what about protein and quality carbohydrates? Protein is key for muscle repair and growth, so why not reach for something that offers fluid replacement and tissue repair? Let’s examine this topic closer. First and foremost, we should always be looking for the best strategy to fuel optimal performance. That means consuming enough nutrients and fluids to support training adaptations, overall sports performance, and health in young athletes. Each time you reach for a food or drink, it is an opportunity to fuel your body and to “get better.”

“Don’t miss opportunities that others are willing to capitalize on” is something I instruct my athletes. If you want to be your best and compete with the best, what are you going to do in your nutrition, training, sleep, and regimen to secure that? It’s not a colorful sports drink. Nutrition drinks offer carbohydrates, protein, and even some fat. Beverages like whole milk and low-fat chocolate milk are examples of quality drinks that contain protein, fat, minerals, and more nutrition than a sports drink. A sports drink will often be relatively concentrated and rich in sodium and sugar, but it doesn’t contain protein for tissue repair.

As shown in the Beverage Hydration Index, water and sports drinks are thought of as the ideal way to hydrate. But what about other drinks? How do they stack up? The volume and composition of ingested beverages have a significant influence on how quickly they will leave the stomach and be absorbed in the small intestine. The quicker a drink is emptied from the stomach and the faster it is absorbed, the more rapid the fluids will enter the body. Following are some of the top pre-, during, and/or post-workout optimal foods and drinks that will support fluid status, muscle growth, and overall recovery from exercise.

Tart Cherry Juice

Tart cherries are loaded with antioxidant anthocyanins, which act to reduce inflammation and share similar properties to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen. Research has found improvements in fatigue post exercise and attenuated muscle damage and soreness with just 8 ounces of tart cherry juice. Furthermore, tart cherries contain melatonin, a phytochemical that is key in sleep regulation. Research has supported consumption of tart cherry juice to increase melatonin levels, translating into improved sleep duration and quality. Sleep is paramount for adolescents and especially student-athletes looking to maximize their controllable factors.

Research has supported consumption of tart cherry juice to increase melatonin levels, translating into improved sleep duration and quality, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

Immune-boosting properties are another great feature of tart cherries. Training hard, competing, academic stress, and the overall environment all offer challenges that can depress immune function. Tart cherry juice can help reduce upper respiratory tract symptoms, keeping athletes in the game and away from illness, according to a study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

Watermelon Juice

Watermelon juice can serve as a drink and food to reduce muscle pain and provide relief post-training that facilitates recovery. How can this be true? Watermelon is rich in the amino acid L-citrulline. It is also high in water content and offers quick sugar to restore glycogen reserves that have been depleted in exercise.

Citrulline is a non-essential amino acid. Besides watermelon, there are limited food sources of citrulline (walnuts, liver, garbanzo beans, garlic), and the rind of the watermelon contains the highest amount. A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry investigated consumption of unpasteurized watermelon juice pre intense cycling and found participants had reduced muscle soreness within 24 hours.

Chocolate Milk

Chocolate milk is highly underrated among parents, coaches, and health practitioners who are concerned about “too much sugar.” However, chocolate milk offers electrolytes and 8 grams of high-quality protein per cup, and it replenishes glycogen stores and rehydrates just as well as Gatorade. Additionally, you’re getting nine essential nutrients, including calcium and vitamin D, which support bone health.

Chocolate milk offers electrolytes and 8 grams of high-quality protein per cup, and it replenishes glycogen stores and rehydrates just as well as Gatorade, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

How does chocolate milk stack up to the commercial sports drinks for both male and female high school athletes? A field-based study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition showed that in high school football players, chocolate milk has a greater impact on performance than regular sports beverages when high school athletes drink it for recovery. The athletes who drank chocolate milk bench-pressed an average of 3.5% more than they could before, whereas those who drank the commercial sports beverage decreased in bench-press strength by about 3.2%. This is a net difference of 6.7% for those who drank chocolate milk versus a commercial sports beverage.

Both groups showed improvement with squats, but chocolate milk drinkers showed more, lifting 15% more weight than before, while commercial sports beverage drinkers only lifted 8% more. That represents nearly double the increase in strength for chocolate milk drinkers. Chocolate milk is an accessible, affordable, and delicious recovery option for adolescent athletes—and it may give them a strength edge due to the 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio.

So, the argument for milk versus sports drink? Gatorade has fluids and electrolytes but, as you have learned, so does milk. Let’s further examine a study evaluating cyclists who rode until they were absolutely depleted of energy, rested for four hours, and then cycled until reaching exhaustion. During their rest period, the cyclists consumed low-fat chocolate milk, Gatorade, and a flavored protein drink that contained carbs called Endurox R4. In the second round of cycling, the cyclists who consumed chocolate milk were able to cycle roughly 50% longer than those who consumed the Endurox drink and/or Gatorade. Chocolate milk lengthened time to exhaustion and improved perceived exertion, heart rate, and overall levels of lactate in the blood.

Science continues to back up the notion that with greater nutrients you have a greater retention in fluids, which supports recovery from exercise performance, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

For further examination on the effects of sports drinks on metabolism and endurance performance, check out this article published in Nutrients. Another study evaluated restoration of body net fluid balance post exercise and thermal dehydration of milk versus a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution or water. Results indicated milk post-exercise restored whole-body net fluid balance better than a carbohydrate-electrolyte solution. It was a small study of seven active men around 26 years old, but the point is that fluid ingestion with greater nutrition enables you to better support recovery needs to be better equipped for the next training session or event. Science continues to back up the notion that with greater nutrients you have a greater retention in fluids, which supports recovery from exercise performance.

Food for Athletes: Nutrition Is a Tool to Optimize Performance

What about functional foods? According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, all foods are functional at some physiological level. That includes whole foods and fortified, enriched, or enhanced foods that have a potentially beneficial effect on health when consumed regularly. A functional food is characterized by its structure: conventional or whole, modified (i.e., fortified, enriched, enhanced), medical (enteral formulas), or in specialty use (gluten-free, soy-free, etc.). Functional foods are not the same as supplements. Functional foods have no such regulatory identity according to the Nutrition Board. Functional foods are often marketed to athletes, including those with and without supportive exercise performance-related research. Muscle-building, strength, endurance, and power supplements include beetroot juice, energy drinks, and fish oil/DHA/EPA.

Muscle soreness results from mechanical damage to the muscle and several biological changes within muscle tissue that are characterized by swelling, pain, inflammation, stiffness, and muscle injury markers such as creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), as cited in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism’s article on implications for muscle performance and recovery. Many athletes are looking at any type of advantage to enhance metabolic capacity, delay fatigue, improve recovery, and support muscle hypertrophy while maintaining immune function. However, due to intense training and frequent competition, respiratory infections and high physiologic stress on the body can increase blood flow and oxygen supply to the working skeletal muscle.

At rest, muscle receives roughly 20% of total blood flow. However, during exercise this can increase to greater than 80%. This can support the notion for utilizing anti-inflammatory foods that can play a role in ameliorating the performance declines associated with heavy training.

Omega-3 fatty acids, along with alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are highly sought after as functional ingredients. Increased Omega-3 levels in the blood are linked with decreased levels of proinflammatory markers like interleukin [IL]6, IL-1ra, tumor necrosis factor [TNF] alpha, and C-reactive protein [CRP]. Athletes training at a high level understand the importance of decreasing inflammation, maintaining energy levels, and expediting the recovery process as quickly as possible.

A goal of athletes is to increase oxygen-rich blood to tissues, and they can support that by keeping the lining of their arteries smooth and clear with a proper diet, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

Exercise-induced inflammation produces free radicals, which can damage your body’s cells. This is a normal and desired response, to a degree, due to supporting desired physiological training adaptations. However, omega-3 fatty acids can help reduce joint pain, tenderness, and inflammation and can support maintenance of arterial integrity to allow for a maximal amount of oxygen-rich blood to reach working muscles. A goal of athletes is to increase oxygen-rich blood to tissues, and they can support that by keeping the lining of their arteries smooth and clear with a proper diet.

Meeting needs:

• • Strive to consume at least 3 ounces of fish containing omega-3 two times per week following intensive training.

 

• • Mix two tablespoons of ground flaxseed or chia seed in oatmeal and/or a smoothie or sprinkle over whole grain toast.

 

• • Eat 1 ounce of walnuts in a salad, yogurt parfait, or smoothie.

 

• • Take a fish oil supplement containing 600-1,000 mg of EPA or DHA.

 

What’s the Scoop on Creatine Supplementation?

I get this question quite frequently as a sports dietitian. I myself (a female who strength trains regularly) take creatine because it is one of the most widely studied ergogenic aids available. The research supporting the benefits of creatine supplementation are robust, especially for females desiring to increase lean mass and maintain strength. Women should absolutely take creatine. More research has been carried out on men, but I am confident more research will examine the health, exercise performance, and body composition changes with creatine supplementation in women.

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound compiled of arginine, glycine, and methionine, which are amino acids found primarily in the flesh of animals. The body naturally produces creatine in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas at a rate of roughly 1-2 grams per day. The uptake of creatine is an ongoing, active process in which roughly 95% of creatine is found in skeletal muscle. Creatine-rich foods include steak, salmon, chicken, wild game, pork, tuna, and cod.

The use of creatine as an ergogenic aid can be traced back to the 1990s, and since then, hundreds of publications have surfaced examining the impact of creatine supplementation on exercise performance. Creatine allows muscles to sustain energy by endorsing ATP replenishment (energy currency for muscle cells). In skeletal muscle, creatine combines with phosphate (Pi) molecules to create a compound called phosphocreatine (PCr). PCr in this form plays a key role in energy metabolism within the muscle cell, supporting high-intensity energy activities like sprinting and strength training. Creatine increases muscle growth, strength, endurance, overall performance, recovery, and tolerance to heavy training loads.

Furthermore, creatine helps prevent and decrease risk of injury and time to fatigue, and was recently found to have neuroprotective effects on the brain and spinal cord, according to the International Society of Sports Nutrition’s position stand on creatine supplementation. In fact, there is also strong support highlighting cognitive benefits and use in clinical practice.

Creatine is used with adolescent athletes, but lacks the research, which creates topics of discussion surrounding the safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in young athletes under the age of 18. Jagim et al. published a review examining the limited studies in the adolescent population as a means to identify the use of creatine in young athletes. The review suggests that adolescent athletes using creatine tolerated supplementation well and had no reported adverse events or incidents. Ethically, we do not have sufficient research to recommend creatine monohydrate to young athletes, but many are using it despite direction from professionals.

My advice as a sports dietitian is to provide the literature and suggestions to support the best interests of my athletes. I encourage whole foods first, which contain creatine. However, many parents still seek out the use of supplements. I strongly advise supplements that are Informed Choice Certified, meaning they are free of any banned substances and ensure the product has been tested for any unsafe substances. Here is a comprehensive list of certified products updated in March 2020.

Choosing Real Food to Drive Performance

Performance nutrition is important, but the meals leading up to the competition are more important. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks in between in the days leading up to the event are what win games. If your athlete isn’t consuming breakfast, lunch, or snacks on game day, their pre-game meal won’t matter because the window for opportunity has been missed.

Performance nutrition is important, but the meals leading up to the competition are more important, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

Again, we go back to the basics with quality nutrition. When thinking about optimal athletic performance and recovery, think the four R’s: refuel, rehydrate, repair, and replenish. The USOC has a recovery factsheet, along with other great resources. Recovery is an all-day process just like preparation for competition. Elite athletes need to view eating and fueling as opportunities to maximize health and performance.

In my practice I emphasize “eating” to support health, growth, and development, and “fueling” to support athletic performance. The point is that good nutrition is not just for athletic performance, but for proper growth, development, and maturation. Person first, athlete second, which I understood well upon reading the brilliant Brett Bartholomew’s famous book, Conscious Coaching.

Simply put, we need to get back to the basics with consistent habits of consuming breakfast, fluids, high-quality protein, and carbohydrates that contain fiber and vitamins. I would also argue that milk is a sports drink! The foods young and old athletes consume should support muscle growth and hormone regulation, strengthen bones, facilitate recovery, protect against illness and injury, and optimize overall athletic performance. A more comprehensive list of sports nutrition tips can be found here.

To truly support your young athlete, you must point out that proper nutrition, hydration, and sleep are not luxuries. They are paramount for success. Control your controllable factors. Nutrition is a controllable. It can make a good athlete great or a great athlete good.

To truly support your young athlete, you must point out that proper nutrition, hydration, and sleep are not luxuries. They are paramount for success, says @Wendi_Irlbeck. Share on X

My final statement to parents, coaches, and sports staff looking to support their young athletes is: “Nutrition is your secret weapon. At the next level, everyone is good. What are you able and willing to do to out-compete your competition? What are you willing to sacrifice and prioritize to stand out among the rest?”

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

Bob Alejo called me up and said, “Hey B, what’s new? Or should I say, what’s new with VBT? I want another article on it.” There are a couple of things that I’ve been doing: the first with force-velocity profiling and the second with creating load-velocity profiles and assembling zones on exercises out of the norm.

Force-velocity profiling is nothing new. I assure you that in 1983, when the Kaneko study¹ that I will reference later came out, it wasn’t truly new either. But before we go any further, I think we need to take a minute and differentiate between some terms, as there seems to be some confusion.

Load, force, velocity, acceleration, and power. I have seen some people talking about acceleration when they really mean power (I know because their unit was watts) or velocity (because the unit was m/s and not m/s²). I have seen some people saying force when they are really talking about load (I know because the unit was kg and not N).

Load is simply the weight that is being lifted. It can be expressed as an absolute load (how much weight is being moved) or a relative (sometimes called normalized) load (percent of 1RM). For instance, let’s say that I have a 200kg squat max, and I’m supposed to lift 60% of that. My absolute load would be 120 kilograms and my relative load would be 60%.

Acceleration is the change in distance per unit of time squared, and velocity is distance per unit of time. If I were to run a 10-meter sprint with a time of 1.65, my velocity would be calculated as 10/1.65, equaling a velocity of 6.06 m/s. My acceleration would be calculated as 10/1.65² = 3.67 m/s². The point is that these are two different units, and even over the same distance with the same time they will yield two different scores. Thus, they are not interchangeable, as some people seem to believe.

Force is mass times acceleration (some try to calculate it as mass times velocity, and this is not correct), as Isaac Newton’s second law tells us. (F=ma is the common representation.) So, whatever the mass being lifted, if you multiply it by the acceleration, that derives Newtons.

Power is force times velocity. While force mathematically is more dominated by mass, power can be more dominated by velocity. Because of this, it is important to know how peak power was derived. Meaning, looking at not only what power was, but what was the mass and what was the velocity.

It is important to know how peak power was derived. Meaning, looking at not only what power was, but what was the mass and the velocity, says @jbryanmann. Share on X

Let’s say the power was 500W. Was it a 500N force and a 1m/s velocity? Was it a 1N force and a 500m/s velocity? Was it a 25N force and a 20m/s velocity? While we are looking at some extremes on this example, the point is that force and velocity are players. Someone could be more toward one end or the other, and if we examine where it occurs, we may need to alter training to move it. If power is occurring too late (i.e., post 200 or 250 ms), then we can see this and change training to use things that are lighter and faster in order to alter training to elicit power to occur sooner.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If you want a new idea, read an old book. Sometimes it’s just an old study, but either way it gets the job done. I was sitting in on a class taught by Dr. Joseph Signorile, who is nearly infamous for his work on power training with aging and diseased populations. He happened to show that 1983 paper by Kaneko¹ that I mentioned before, and it hit me. If I just change up a small amount of what we do for a 1RM test, we can do force-velocity profiles and gain so much information on what the athlete can do and what the athlete needs to do to improve. 

Take Your 1RM to the Next Level

If you are using a GymAware or another device that accurately gives force, velocity, and power at every load, you can easily figure this out. Also, from personal experience, you can set up the GymAware to plot these things for you, so this is why I specifically mention this device. I’m unsure of the others. It will require some alterations to the typical testing of the 1RM.

With the 1RM, you are approaching true maximal force capabilities, so the force end of the spectrum is well controlled. However, most people start out at around 60% of 1RM after the warm-ups, and rightly so as this is mentioned in most protocols as a good starting point. However, this won’t give the maximal velocity component to see how the athlete is here.

I recommend starting with a ballistic version of the exercise for 3-6 repetitions with either a PVC pipe or a wooden dowel to get an unloaded condition to get a maximal velocity, and then a ballistic with 20% and possibly 40 % of 1RM as well to get a well-plotted curve as we move into the mid-range with the 60% of 1RM starting point. If I perform 1-3 sets that have minimal load and require minimal rest, I tack on probably 2-3 minutes of training time, but I gain a greater insight into the way the athlete performs.

During all of these sets, from the unloaded ballistics all the way to the 1RM, velocity, power, and force need to be recorded from the device and then plotted. You can use Excel (but it does get tricky), SigmaPlot (I prefer this one, but I only use it because we have it at Miami), and I have heard you can even do it in R and other software that is used for visualization like Tableau, but I cannot confirm this. When examining force and velocity, you will see that the relationship is curvilinear rather than linear. (Force rather than load is being utilized. Load-velocity is a straight(ish) line).

Once you see where the athlete excels, where they are deficient, and where power occurs, you can attempt to develop the appropriate force or velocity end of the spectrum, or a mix of both. If you examine the different loads as presented in Figure 2 of Kaneko’s paper, you’ll see how the interactions occurred.

The concave curvilinear lines are force-velocity plots, the convex lines are power-force plots, and both are overlaid onto the same graph. If we look at the training at 100% of 1RM (for squats, dead lifts, and bench presses, this would be absolute strength and circa 0.3 m/s), we see that there was a massive improvement in force and a minimal improvement in velocity. Power did increase significantly, albeit moving to the right slightly. This portion of the chart shows the basis behind Bompa’s statement² that all strengths relate back to absolute strength—it is obvious that they do. However, the increase in force with no increase in velocity will, over time, cease to show an improvement in power that can be illustrated in the playing arena, as peak power increases do move to the right (indicating that they take longer to achieve).

This adaptation reinforces the findings in the classic graph from Hakkinen and Kraemer’s GSSI 53, where they proposed that maximal strength continually increased force, but the ability to produce force in a short time did not improve.³ The 60% load caused moderate increases in both force and velocity, which led to a power increase going up and only slightly to the right. This sort of balanced training saw a similar increase in power, but it was a result of increasing both force and velocity equally.

This graph illustrates the focus of strength-speed and how both were enhanced through the moderate load, which would be around 0.80 m/s. The 30% load showed a significant increase in velocity and a minimal increase in force, but a great increase in power that went nearly straight up. Great increases in speed and minimal increases in strength show the apropos labeling of speed-strength; these results are achieved at a velocity of about 1.05 m/s on squats and deadlifts (in the speed-strength zone). The 0% load, of course, showed great increases in velocity and very small increases in force. With the imbalance in results, we see that the power increase is small, but it does rise directly above the previous number.

Breaking Down Load and Velocity Further with Profiling

By examining the individual’s load-velocity profile, we can assign them what they need to improve. Is it just force? Do some heavy lifting. If they’re good on force, we can start to improve their power very well by going to strength-speed and utilizing those velocities. If they’ve developed an increase in power by working here, they can move on to speed-strength and utilize those velocities. Only after they have gotten all that they can gain by using speed-strength is it a good idea to use starting strength. You can see here how the adaptations got their names based on what they develop and how.

Only after athletes have gotten all that they can gain by using speed-strength is it a good idea to use starting strength, says @jbryanmann. Share on X

Below are two tables showing data we have gotten from high-level Division 1 athletes using the GymAware. The unloaded condition was collected through the use of a PVC pipe and performed as ballistic (i.e., they jumped into the air from the depth of the lift). The first chart is a spaghetti plot illustrating power and where athletes achieve it in relation to their 1RM. This is normalized power to load and has led everyone on the entire team to allow us to make more wide-sweeping decisions. The fact that the plot is normalized means that the loads were based off their 1RM, and their power was based off their maximal power as well.

There is no load greater than 1.0 and no power greater than 1.0. With the information related back to absolute strength, force, and relative velocity, decisions can be made about how to train to enhance power in a more efficient manner. In most instances, weak individuals will improve their power capabilities by simply getting stronger. When someone is strong, they tend to need to utilize faster velocities to cause power to increase.

When examining the data below, we see that most of the athletes achieve peak power at around 60% of 1RM. Some athletes hit peak power at around 40%, and it appears that one athlete hit peak power at 100% of 1RM. The individual who hit peak power at 100% of 1RM actually had poor technique and was not allowed to progress with any greater load, which falsely made him appear to require maximal loads to achieve peak power. I did leave this athlete in for the illustration to demonstrate how this may occur.

The other new “old” thing is utilizing load-velocity profiles for those movements that aren’t the squat, bench, and deadlift. I admittedly had rose-colored glasses on when creating the zones. I looked at this only from my frame of reference with the constraints that were dealt to me by sport coaches and my personal background athletically in powerlifting. They liked certain movements and only wanted those progressed and/or tested. Thus, I never examined stuff outside of the clean, snatch, squat, deadlift, and bench press.

To me, those were the big rock exercises. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. This, however, has led to some confusion when trying to apply other exercises, especially those that either have an instability factor or no ground-based component (not even feet touching ground). Of course, these are not going to fall into the same velocities as the squat, deadlift, and bench press—the purpose of the exercise is different.

Load-velocity profiling is basically what everyone does as a result of the Gonzalez-Badillo and Sanchez-Medina paper⁴. Within a several-week training block, the relative loads at the corresponding velocities are the same, regardless of the changes in the absolute loads. For instance, if someone is stronger for a session, they may be moving 15kg heavier for the same velocity of 0.8 m/s, which happened to equate to 60% of their 1RM. So, you can see how their 1RM is essentially up around 15kg that day, and the converse is true as well.

If the coach happens to collect all of the load-velocity profiles for their important lifts outside of squat and deadlift, they’ll be able to derive their own zones for their exact team by looking for the mean and standard deviations for the velocity at each given percentage. Using their individual load-velocity profile is obviously the most accurate way of training athletes, but if you are beyond a 1:5 ratio, I have found it difficult to maintain this sort of precision and revert back to group means.

Also, you have to continually monitor this. As a result of heavy strength training, you are able to achieve movement at slower and slower velocities as your body has adapted to be able to move these heavier loads. If you look back to that Gonzalez-Badillo study, you will notice that at not one single load were they moving faster—they were moving slower at every intensity. I’ve noticed that athletes seem to drop velocity by about 0.02 to 0.04 m/s per year.

As a result of heavy strength training, you are able to achieve movement at slower and slower velocities as your body has adapted to be able to move these heavier loads, says @jbryanmann. Share on X

This may also be important for athletes of lower qualification but higher strength levels (meaning high school kids who are already performing full squats with greater than two times their body weight with good technique). The zones were collected on a multitude of Division 1 athletes, and sometimes those speeds don’t work for the high school athlete. They don’t have the same nervous system, and you may need to adjust things.

Likewise, for very specific populations like strength-sports—they have gained neuromuscular efficiency to move more slowly to allow them to lift a heavier weight. For instance, my training partner (who is known as Doc Dave, if you have listened to some of the chatter about Westside vs. the World) would achieve a 1RM bench press at about 0.08 m/s, as opposed to the 0.15 m/s that I would see in most Division 1 athletes. Chris Duffin showed a video of him achieving a deadlift at 0.08 m/s, as opposed to the 0.32 m/s I typically saw in most Division 1 athletes.

Load-Velocity Relationships and Further Directions

Speaking of the individual load-velocity relationship, below is a load-velocity graph for our athletes, again collected with GymAware. The velocity end of the spectrum was taken with ballistic movements performed on a modified PVC pipe trap bar. The starting position for this was performed at the same height as the high handles with the bumper plates used in the program. We utilized 100% of 1RM as the force end of the spectrum.

By examining the slopes of these curves, we can see if individuals are more deficient in velocity or force. The data plotted are for those who achieved a true 1RM and did not include younger athletes who had difficulty when progressing to heavier loads and dealt with technical breakdowns. These athletes were stopped by the strength and conditioning coach, as their technique was no longer acceptable, and they were thus at a greater risk of injury when continuing with heavier loading.

I do not have normative data as far as what is optimal for load and velocity at this point in time, nor do I have an optimal slope or curve. We do see that there is a pretty significant disparity between those who achieved the highest unloaded velocities and those who achieved the lowest. There was a much smaller discrepancy in loads greater than 60%, and the line became nearly flat after having a slightly curvilinear design with the lighter intensities (less than 40%). It nearly appears as if there are two straight lines that intersect for the velocity and the load ends of the spectrum. With the plethora of data out there showing a curvilinear relationship, we need to collect further collegiate data to examine if this is an issue of the specific population or due to the unconventional nature of examining the entire spectrum of the load-velocity relationship.

I plotted the charts in this article in SigmaPlot due to the fact that I have access to this program and enjoy its capabilities. After a short learning period, the production of various curves was very easy. There are plenty of other programs that can produce data visualizations and will do an excellent job (maybe even better than SigmaPlot). Some people have made gorgeous visualizations even in Excel. Whatever you have access to is what you should use.

To wrap up, these are the two things that I have been looking at lately. While neither is new, if you haven’t heard about it—it’s new to you.

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. Kaneko M, Fuchimoto T, Toji H, and Suei K. “Training effect of different loads on the force-velocity relationship and mechanical power output in human muscle.” Scandinavian Journal of Sports Sciences. 1983; 5:50–55.

2. Bompa, TO and Buzzichelli, Carlo. Periodization: Theory and Methodology of Training. Human Kinetics, Inc., 2018.

3. Hakkinen K, Komi PV, and Alen M. “Effect of explosive type strength training on isometric force- and relaxation-time, electromyographic and muscle fibre characteristics of leg exensor muscles. Acta physiologica Scandinavica. 1985;125:587-600.

4. Gonzalez-Badillo JJ and Sanchez-Medina L. “Movement velocity as a measure of loading intensity in resistance training. International Journal of Sports Medicine. 2010;31:347-352.

Coaches and athletes are always looking for better ways to train, but leaving out the mindset from the equation is foolish. This article shares six essential mental areas that help good athletes become great, and the great athletes legendary. If you were to study some of the greatest to ever perform in sports, the commonalities are pretty stark. I will share the six areas of potential and break down why they are important, how they work, and what you need to do to apply those mental skills.

I have spent years studying and working with some of the best professional athletes and learned from the works of pioneering experts in the field. In this crash course, I share the very best of what I use with my own athletes so you can apply them directly. You may choose to use one or plan out a road map to use all of them with your athletes or yourself. I have used the techniques for years with our athletes and the changes are transformative, sustainable, and of course ethical. You don’t have to be an athlete or train athletes though, as the general demands of everyday life can benefit from the recommendations below.

Learn to Apply Triggers

If you’re a high-level coach, then you’ve experienced the athlete who just doesn’t give you enough. You know—the individual who can give so much more but doesn’t. We all look to the athlete instead of the coach. Yes, getting an athlete to buy in or lock in is tough, but if you have triggers you can override that entire phenomenon itself.

Triggers are the mental skills that allow a performer to tap into their deep motivational roots. Triggers can’t be seen—they’re internally driven—but they can be experiences. Share on X

Triggers are the mental skills that allow a performer to tap into their deep motivational roots. Triggers can’t be seen—they’re internally driven—but they can be experienced. It’s that switch we see being turned on, where an athlete’s body language, demeanor, and intensity shifts from house cat to tiger; where the athlete proceeds to dominate the task at hand, attaining the desired results. Contrary to current day beliefs, like the classic line from Rocky Balboa goes, the (performance) world really isn’t all sunshine and rainbows.

Coaches who work with high performers know that it’s a world of aggression, cruelty, and ego. That’s why triggers tap into controlled anger or aggression versus the other fluff; research shows that it’s more beneficial to tap into anger and aggression when you can control it. They enhance performances when used in the right ways and ensure that no results are left on the table.

In 2005, Robazza and Bortoli proved that tapping into controlled aggression led to better performances when they studied a group of rugby players and looked to anger as the driving motivational factor. They found that a calm, cold, and controlled aggression brings out a stronger level of effort in performances. Even some of the world’s best athletes have been tapping into triggers for ages: Michael Jordan proving his high school coach wrong; Kobe Bryant playing Journey’s “Don’t Stop, Believing” over and over again in the offseason when he trained; Tom Brady getting back to work right after the Patriots were eliminated this season so he could start preparing for the next season (although he’s just declared next season will be with Tampa Bay and not New England).

There is, however, both an art and a science to weaponizing triggers; it isn’t just a matter of getting someone angry or annoyed. Instead, this is about understanding how to guide an athlete by using these triggers effectively while calling on a mixture of adrenaline and dopamine. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a weight room with 300 pounds over their face or during a performance with 40,000 fans watching—you must master the art and science of tapping into triggers or you’ll be allowing your athletes to walk away while leaving results on the table.

Know When to Use Dark Triggers

I’m sure you’ve seen the classic scenario where a coach calls out a player and challenges them, and then the player responds and dominates the task at hand. Or maybe you’ve experienced someone calling you out, challenging you as a professional or a person, and you’ve responded flawlessly. You feel the rush of adrenaline through your blood and right after that momentary rush, you get so focused on the end result that nothing can stop you.

Dark triggers are meant to be used for momentary surges of energy; the art behind tapping into this trigger is that you let your anger fuel your intentions of proving someone, or something, wrong. It’s being able to temporarily call on a moment of pain to spike adrenaline so you can sprint to the end result. It’s brief, temporary, and highly impactful.

Sigmund Freud has been explaining this to us since 1895 with his Pleasure Principle: the mind seeks pleasure and avoids pain. When you control the bouts of anger that you’re about to unleash on a person you want to prove wrong, you experience positive performance results. In his book Endure, Alex Hutchinson highlights the importance of being able to tap into this deep, driving motivation: He found that in the final, sprint-like moments of a marathon, the brain is responsible for overcoming limitations. And they’re not just effective in marathons either.

Look at the great Michael Jordan: All it took was for the Grizzlies’ Darrick Martin to trash talk Jordan in the fourth quarter. Jordan pushed his dark triggers, or that “prove you wrong” scenario, the adrenaline was released, and he went off. Going into the fourth quarter he had 10 points; he finished the game with 29. It’s that “gun to the head” mentality we hear about so often—you just better make sure you choose the right weapon. If you don’t master the skill of tapping into dark triggers, then you won’t be seeing your athlete’s truest potential.

If you overstimulate an athlete’s dark triggers, you run the risk of burning out your athlete. You should only be using this weapon when you need to increase adrenaline, says @mattcaldaroni. Share on X

Coaches, I’ll warn you now: If you overstimulate an athlete’s dark triggers, you run the risk of burning out your athlete. You should only be using this weapon when you need to increase the adrenaline—most likely at the start or end of a performance or during a time of despair. In short, don’t overuse these weapons. There’s a balancing act that comes into play at this point; what do you do once you’ve pressed these dark triggers? Adrenaline management is the key, and light triggers are the tool that’ll help you achieve this.

Create a Steady Burn with Light Triggers

Light triggers still tap into anger and aggression, but the intentions are to prove someone right; you’re fighting to get the result for something that brings you fulfillment. Or, in short, you’re purposely filling the blood with dopamine to manage the adrenaline by focusing on pleasure.

Again, this goes back to 1895 and Sigmund Freud—the mind seeks pleasure. And if the mind prefers pleasure over pain, then we have to be able to play to this pleasure more than we do the pain. Dark triggers are meant to spark someone when the fire starts going out, but once that fire’s lit, we have to keep adding wood (imagine what would happen if we just kept trying to spark it). When you control your anger and guide it toward making something good happen, then you gain control over a situation. Think, a simple shift in perception of “revenge with violence,” to “revenge with results,” can change an entire performance outcome. One most likely causes you to get ejected from a game, while the other allows you to feel satisfaction from attaining results.

How many athletes have you heard of who get into the daily grind so they can provide a better life for their families back home, or who have had a loved one pass away and now they want to achieve success in their honor? These are light triggers—there’s a guided anger, a “stop at nothing” mentality, that takes over, where these individuals fight for the fulfillment of proving something right or supporting those they love. That’s when the sunshine and rainbows can come back and when you should be tapping into these light triggers.

Light triggers are a guided anger, a *stop at nothing* mentality that takes over, leading individuals to fight to prove something right or support those they love, says @mattcaldaroni. Share on X

And, again, the science proves that fulfillment is crucial for long-term high performances. In 2017, a study showcased the correlation between job enjoyment and reduced levels of burnout, with the major indicator for burnout being a lack of fulfillment in experienced results (Demerouti et al). Or, in short, working for something without a cause; a lack of dopamine when experiencing results.

The same thing happens when you only depend on dark triggers: If there’s too much adrenaline and not enough dopamine, then you’re playing with fire. You need to have a mix of dopamine to manage the adrenaline. If you’re in a stadium with 40,000 people and the adrenaline is surging, how do you control it? In a heated moment of anger when someone gets in your grill, how do you keep controlled? In a moment where you broke through a PR on your last set, and now you need to finish the workout, how do you stay high and not drop off? Light triggers.

The key to all of this is learning when to turn these triggers on, and when to shut them down. That’s when the alter ego comes into play.

Design and Cultivate the Alter Ego

I’m sure you’ve seen or heard about the transformation an athlete makes when they walk into their performance environment; their whole demeanor changes. They put on their mask and become a completely different person than who they are out of performance. The easygoing individual they were at home now becomes a cutthroat high-level performer. And as I said before, we need this in performance, because it’s a mean world of high performance. This is the power of an alter ego: It allows you to put on your mask and become a relentless individual who taps into their triggers and stops at nothing, or gets into what is known as “the Zone.”

The crazy part about it is that a form of the alter ego is not new, by any means. In the 1960s, when Russian psychologists used various mechanisms on the Russian and East German Olympic squads, they just called it a co-personality. In the book Red Gold: Peak Performance Techniques of the Russian and East German Olympic Victors, Grigori Raiport talks about the various mechanisms that were used to create the co-personalities of the athletes. They included manipulating the athlete’s routines, motivations, attitudes, and relationships, ultimately creating this person who was more aggressive when they were in performance. In short, they built an alter ego for the athlete that they fully embodied when they were in performance.

This concept of an alter ego wasn’t just used by the Russian and East German Olympic teams either. The infamous Kobe Bryant, or rather the Black Mamba we all knew him as, has alter ego written all over it. It’s like Michael Jordan turning into Air Jordan, or Brian Dawkins turning into the X-Factor. Alter egos are a tool we must capitalize on, otherwise you’ll only see a fraction of the results with your athletes in performance. It’s knowing when to put your mask on and become the person that your team needs you to be, both in and out of performance. I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of the Black Mamba barking at his teammates in the gym for cutting corners, but then Kobe Bryant taking them out to dinner afterward and being their friend. Every athlete needs this alter ego, and if you haven’t prescribed it to them yet or taught them what it is and how to use it, then you’re missing out on their best performances.

Master the Quiet Zone

But what about shutting it down; how do we ensure that the alter ego doesn’t take over? If you’ve been around high performers, then you’ve realized that they all have specific people, places, and activities that they like to engage with that allows them to disconnect. Or, they visit their quiet zone.

Whenever an athlete is visiting their quiet zone, be it at the family dinner, watching a movie with their loved ones, or people-watching at a restaurant, they know that the alter ego doesn’t belong there. Or, at least, they should; if you’re not conditioning your athlete to shut it down when they’re out of performance, then you’re running the risk of burnout. If you don’t have a controlled quiet zone, then you’re running the risk of burnout.

It’s evident that you need to have some sort of obsession if you truly want to do extraordinary things, but too much of anything is never a good thing. There have been countless studies that show the importance behind disconnecting and why it’s crucial for performance; in one study done by Smith et al., researchers found that mental fatigue impaired soccer-specific physical and technical performances. Too much is never a good thing, and the current notion being pushed that “taking a day off is a weakness” is actually the weakness itself (ironically). Both the body and mind need a break from all the adrenaline and dopamine surges; simply put, we need balance.

Both the body and mind need a break from all the adrenaline and dopamine surges. Simply put, we need balance, says @mattcaldaroni. Share on X

From recent studies, one day per week of stepping completely away from competition does the trick. What you do on that off day matters though: How many times have you taken a step back from performance and gone out with a group of friends, only to realize there was no real “me time” happening at all? There was no real personal reflection that could occur. Then, you come back to performance feeling even worse than before the break! Not with a quiet zone, though; when you have this mental tool primed, scheduled, and loaded, the step back becomes more effective. And if you really want to enhance it, then you have to take on a dopamine fast.

Remember the Dopamine Break

You have to be able to step away from the adrenaline if you’re going to be a long-term high performer. This goes hand in hand with visiting the quiet zone; you have to be able to reset and recharge. The adrenal glands have to rest and recover, or they’ll be shot. And if you’ve ever experienced uncharacteristic anxiety, rapid heartbeat, elevated blood pressure, or excessive sweating and palpitations, especially after adrenaline-filled environments, then you’ve most likely experienced the side effects of too much adrenaline.

In today’s world, where athletes are constantly at the demand of social media and social channels or other addictive behaviors like recreational drug and alcohol use, video gaming, etc., they’re dually combatting the adrenaline surges mixed with overstimulated dopamine sensations. Study after study shows the correlation between too much dopamine and issues like ADHD, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, bipolar disorders, and addiction. Mix that with a high-strung, adrenaline-surging athlete, and we’ve got the perfect storm brewing for an athletic disaster.

This isn’t something we haven’t known, either. In 2017, the book Unplugged, by Brian MacKenzie, Dr. Andy Galpin, and Phil White, warned us of this overstimulation by dopamine and the issues it could cause. And let’s get this straight—I’m not talking about “fasting” from dopamine; I’m talking about stepping away from the social demands of the world and just resetting for a day. It’s a matter of abstaining for just 24 hours from all activities that create manmade surges of dopamine and reflecting.

This is why you see athletes, especially Italian soccer players, take mini vacations during their Christmas breaks; whether they know it or not, they’re getting away from the social world. Or why the great Sidney Crosby doesn’t have social media; one of the most marketable athletes in the world makes it a point to step away from the social game.

However, despite all of this, we still haven’t taken action against it. We still haven’t made a point to schedule dopamine reset days. If we’re going to demand that our athletes to be constantly on a high in performance, then we have to know the mechanisms to step back and reset so that we can achieve a long-term balance. And if you haven’t been paying attention to this, or haven’t taken this on, then you’re cutting performances short—the science shows it.

It’s evident that if you haven’t been tapping into these mental gems, then you’re doing your athletes a disservice. These have literally been around for decades. You have to tap into them.

Winners Find a Way and Are Prepared

Life is not fair. The good news is that you can control a lot more than you know. While everyone is scrambling for bodyweight exercises and home workouts, you should consider the gift you have between your ears. If you really want it, the core essentials of training should be enough to get most of the results you need. It’s important to be the coach or athlete who is skilled at mentally being ready for anything, including a lockdown or quarantine.

It’s important to be the coach or athlete who is skilled at mentally being ready for anything, including a lockdown or quarantine, says @mattcaldaroni. Share on X

The month of March is forever etched in history as the time most of the world came to a screeching halt, but those who are resilient march forward and find a way. You don’t need much to be prepared for the return to a new normal, just a plan and the confidence in yourself to make your goals become reality. Stop everything and work with a coach or mentor who is beyond a “sets and reps” type of expert—work with a professional who is trained and skilled in preparing the mind for battle.

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

Demerouti, E., Veldhuis, W., Coombes, C., and Hunter, R. “Burnout among pilots: psychosocial factors related to happiness and performance at simulator training.” Ergonomics and Human Factors in Aviation. 2017;62(2):233-245.

Rathschlag, M. and Memmert, D. “The Influence of Self-Generated Emotions on Physical Performance: An Investigation of Happiness, Anger, Anxiety, and Sadness.” Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 2013;35:197-210.

Robazza, C. and Bortoli, L. “Perceived impact of anger and anxiety on sporting performance in rugby players.” Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2007;8:875-896. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2006.07.005

Smith, M.R., Marcora, S.M., and Coutts, A.J. “Mental Fatigue Impairs Intermittent Running Performance.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 2015;47(8):1682-1690. doi: 10.1249/MSS.000000000000059

Wang, J.C.K. and Biddle, S.J.H. “Intrinsic Motivation towards Sports in Singaporean Students: The Role of Sport Ability Beliefs.” Journal of Health Psychology. 2003;8(5): 515-523. SAGE Publications. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F13591053030085004

Woodman, T., Davis, P.A., Hardy, L., Callow, N., Glasscock, I., and& Yuill-Proctor, J. “Emotions and Sport Performance: An Exploration of Happiness, Hope, and Anger.” Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 2009;31:169-188.

Imagine the chair of your Chemistry department walking into your president’s office and saying, “Organic chemistry is just too difficult to teach.” It’s absurd that many of us teach at institutions of higher learning and dismiss weightlifting movements as “too complicated to teach” and avoid them altogether with tall athletes. It is true that these movements are complex and challenging. However, they are extremely valuable when implemented correctly following a logical progression with excellent coaching.

There are many different tools in the strength and conditioning environment. I prefer to choose these tools based on effectiveness and efficiency. Weightlifting movements, along with their derivatives, check a lot of boxes: explosive strength, mobility, and rhythmic application of force, to name a few. If successful long-term athletic development is your goal, you should strongly consider these movements for your program.

Make sure to collect a thorough medical history whenever starting an athlete on a strength and conditioning program. There is nothing like finding out during a teaching progression that the athlete is recovering from a surgical procedure (been there). Once you are on the same page with the medical staff, you can start coaching your athletes. It is also important to be on the same page with the sport coaches regarding relevant background and goals for the individual.

The very first thing I do is go over a few important safety points. The biggest safety mechanism our athletes have is the ability to drop the bar. Share on X

The very first thing I do is go over a few important safety points. The biggest safety mechanism our athletes have is the ability to drop the bar. I tell them we can buy new equipment, but we can’t buy new shoulders, backs, knees, etc. Many commercial and high school gyms have engrained our athletes not to drop barbells. With a designated platform area and bumper plates, dropping is a completely safe practice. I currently use a very small weight room, so it’s important for the athletes who are not lifting to pay attention to those who are, in case the bar ever gets away. I also take time to teach proper postures when picking up and setting down the bar, as this can save athletes from possible back issues from the start.

Most programs teach weightlifting with a top-down approach. They start with high hang movements and progress slowly to lifting from the floor. I think this is generally correct. But I also think it’s important to introduce positions that require mobility and stability early in the teaching progression. I prefer to utilize an approach of concurrently teaching top down and bottom up.

So how do you get 7-foot-tall athletes to clean and snatch from the floor? Just like everybody else. Progression, coaching, consistency, and time are the key factors.

The Foundational Exercises

These six fundamental exercises are almost always included at the beginning of an athlete’s training program. They are great at improving mobility, strength, and stability, as well as providing a scaffolding on which the snatch and the clean are based. It is important to coach early and often at this stage of development. These movements should be mastered before moving on to more difficult variations. Don’t push an athlete’s progression forward if they are not ready for it.

I often find there is one athlete in a group who struggles with some of these concepts. Progressing the team without progressing the struggling athlete is a powerful motivation to learn correctly. Nobody likes being left out. This often solves the technical issues in a week or two. If the athlete is absolutely stuck, I bring them in outside of their normal training time for extra technical work. It allows them to learn in a more individualized fashion and saves us both from beating our heads against a wall.

Progressing the team without progressing the struggling athlete is a powerful motivation to learn correctly. Nobody likes being left out. Share on X

Supplement with mobility drills and correctives, but most of the time athletes really get better at these movements by doing them. I like performing these exercises at higher volumes. More repetitions allow for greater exposure, with that increased ability to coach, learn, and perfect. For teaching purposes, the load is light. This is beneficial to beginning athletes and those returning from a break.

For new athletes, I ensure they have proper technique before I allow them to add load. Watching the athlete from multiple angles and distances is also important for looking at joint angles, timing, symmetry, etc. I have made the mistake of coaching from one angle, only to find that I had missed them favoring a leg.

1. Front Squat

I like to start the front squat with the hands-free variation. I think it does a good job of forcing athletes into an upright posture while squatting. If you have any major faults in your squat, this variation will quickly find them. If you get out of position slightly, the bar will let you know in a hurry. The front squat is great because it simultaneously develops quad strength and ankle mobility: two attributes that are paramount for athletic success.

I encourage full depth with my athletes, provided they have the mobility to do so. Working with basketball players, sometimes it takes time to develop the necessary mobility, and, quite frankly, some guys never get there. If an athlete does have limitations in depth, we use every tool we have to acquire greater ranges of motion. It is not a problem if you give a struggling athlete a heel lift to help facilitate movement integrity, especially through the lumbar spine, pelvis, and hips. Do remember the end goal is to get the athlete as close to normal as possible. Progress your remedial athletes once they look proficient.

Video 1. Front squatting is one of the most obvious requirements for cleaning, as it teaches an athlete to rack the bar. With other exercises and the popularity of the safety squat bar, athletes may not be getting enough repetition with this exercise.

After several weeks of hands-free front squatting, we put their hands on the bar. For catching cleans it is imperative to have a good rack position. Athletes have a taste of the rack position with the muscle clean (I talk about this later), but they start to live in the rack position with the regular front squat. Putting the hands under the bar will create a greater margin of error. The bar will not automatically fall off the shoulders when a lifter gets forward. So, with that, you need to continue to cue an upright torso and elbows up.

In my experience, there is a direct correlation between vertical jump height and front squat/bodyweight ratio. Every basketball player I have coached with a >35” vertical jump has front squatted at least 150 kg. For a more in-depth article on the front squat click here.

2. Romanian Deadlift (RDL)

The first pulling variation I teach is the RDL. If the goal of the front squat is to increase an athlete’s horsepower, the RDL serves to reinforce the athlete’s chassis. This movement is great for strengthening the athlete’s back as well as developing functional hamstring strength. Along with front squats, RDLs appear in even our most advanced athlete’s program.

The first pulling variation I teach is the RDL. If the goal of the front squat is to increase an athlete’s horsepower, the RDL serves to reinforce the athlete’s chassis. Share on X

I teach the RDL as simply as possible. It is one of those exercises that 90% of all athletes seem to get within the first couple minutes. For whatever reason, the 10% who do not pick it up quickly tend to struggle.

Once I establish hand positioning (about thumb width from the knurling) and foot position (vertical jump width), I use these three simple rules:

1. Keep back flat
2. Keep bar close
3. Keep a slight but consistent bend in the knee

There are many other aspects that need to be coached, such as pushing the knees slightly out and head positioning. But these three cues will solve most of your problems with beginning athletes.

Video 2. Athletes who can RDL have a better chance to perform the Olympic lifts, as it teaches them postures and good hinge patterns. Consider bringing back the RDL into your program for hamstring and learning benefits.

3. Overhead Squat

If you are going to snatch your athletes, it’s a good idea to learn the overhead squat beforehand. Not many exercises will simultaneously tax an athlete’s mobility and stability like the overhead squat. This is why many coaches have used it as a screening tool. This exercise will identify problem areas in your athletes in a hurry.

Video 3. An overhead squat is similar to snatching, as it incorporates arm mobility and stability. While it takes longer to master, overhead squats really help keep athletes healthy and teach them to snatch better.

For basketball players, the problem most often lies with a lack of dorsiflexion in the ankle. So often they land with excessive plantar flexion and lack the local tissue strength to handle the forces their sport regular exposes them to. Over time this results in a loss of dorsiflexion range of motion. As with the front squat, you may need to add a heel lift in the short term. Restrictions in the hips, thoracic spine, shoulders, and wrist can also factor into the quality of the movement.

Proper positioning creates stability just as much as muscular action. If you start overemphasizing muscular action as a stability tool, you will end up with overly tight athletes. Share on X

I prefer to start this exercise with a PVC pipe but progress quickly to a regular 20-kilogram bar. This gives the athlete a chance to learn the movement and understand the dynamic balance that is required from having the bar overhead. Some coaches teach their athletes to break the bar with their hands or rotate the elbows, but I like them to be locked out in the elbows with only the minimum effort need to maintain lockout. I believe proper positioning creates stability just as much as muscular action. If you start overemphasizing muscular action as a stability tool, you will end up with overly tonic/tight athletes. I intentionally keep this exercise very light to encourage athletes to maximize range of motion.

4. Muscle Snatch

Many collegiate and high school weight rooms do not utilize these next two exercises. They are critical at teaching impulse, along with active and passive bar control, and you should not skip them.

It is important to define the power position early in the coaching process. It is a term and position that athletes need to be taught, because it will be referenced often. This position is when the bar touches the crease formed between the torso and hips with flexion. This is where we start the lift from. The knuckles should be turned down with lat pressure that pulls the bar directly into this crease.

I use my hand and have the athlete push against it so they can feel this active lat pressure. For long-limbed athletes like basketball players, this doesn’t come naturally but must be taught, as it is a critical step from a leverage standpoint. Many tall athletes must bend their arms to get the bar into the power position. This is very common in the muscle/power clean. For many purists this may seem wrong, but based on my experience working with extremely long-limbed athletes, this arm bend is necessary. Once this position becomes second nature, transition to start with the bar below power position so the athletes learn how to move the bar into the proper power position dynamically.

Video 4. Muscle snatches don’t replicate true positions of the snatch, but they are great drills to get athletes comfortable with the demands of the exercise.

The feet should be vertical jump width apart. The shoulders should hang over the bar with a flat back. The bar should be accelerated using a combination of hip and knee extension. Many athletes in this position tend to throw their hips at the bar. This is a big technical fault, as it puts the back and hips into loaded hyperextension (not good), and it will make getting under the bar difficult once they start jumping in power snatches and cleans.

I really encourage fast knee extension. I define and cue this simply as “fast knees.” You’ll know you are on the right path when you see the athlete’s knees lock out and stay locked out before the elbows do. By focusing on the knee extension, you will tend to avoid hyperextension of the back and hips. Watch the feet as well, to see if the athlete gets “toes-y” too early. If so, make the correction to keep more of the foot on the ground longer.

In this exercise, the athletes will get an introduction into the passive control required in the weightlifting movements. Rhythmic application of force is an important part of all sports. Look at how relaxed sprinters can be at top speed, or the periods of effortlessness when pitchers throw a baseball. There are examples of this in just about every sport. There is a period in the snatch and in the clean where the lifter must relax and just let the bar fly. I feel that complex movements requiring athletes to contract and relax have a lot of carryover to sport.

Following this sequence of passive control is the lookout position. Once again, this is a position of stability, though be careful not to overemphasize being too tight. This lockout position is relatively easy at lighter loads if the bar is directly over the athlete’s center of gravity, not too forward and not too far back.

Before progressing to the power snatch, I ensure my male and female athletes are able to muscle snatch 40 kilograms and 25 kilograms for five reps respectively. This ensures they have sufficient mobility and overhead strength, and they are also comfortable with bar path and body position.

5. Muscle Clean

Many power clean errors could be corrected with initial use of the muscle clean. I could walk into just about any high school weight room that performs power cleans and find many sore collarbones from the bar hitting the wrong spot. By slowing down and performing a few weeks of well-executed muscle cleans, you can prevent a lot of technical faults. The muscle clean uses lower loads and slows down bar velocities so that the lifter can learn to receive the bar in a correct position. The muscle clean reps are like training wheels for your power clean.

The muscle clean reps are like training wheels for your power clean. By slowing down and performing a few weeks of well-executed muscle cleans, you can prevent a lot of technical faults. Share on X

I might mention that this is a great time to teach your athletes how to hook grip. It amazes me that many collegiate strength and conditioning facilities where power cleans are being performed do not use the hook grip. Let’s face it: Many athletes don’t have great wrist flexibility, and I would include myself in that group. If you are going to be lifting some decent loads, the hook grip or straps will help you from over-gripping, which slows the arms from getting into a great rack position. If you lack flexible wrists, then the hook grip should be your go-to. If you are going to use straps, please use weightlifting straps. They will actually let go when you decide to drop, unlike traditional bodybuilding straps. They are cheap and easy to make with 1-inch tubular webbing and some athletic tape.

Video 5. Similar to the muscle snatch, the muscle clean is a great drill if incorporated correctly. Muscle cleans are great finishing drills for athletes who are sufficient front squatters.

To begin the muscle clean, instruct the athlete to take the same “vertical jump width stance.” The bar should start somewhere around mid-thigh, with a flat back and the shoulders over the bar. There is plenty of room to play around with the width of the hands. Again, I generally start around thumb-width from the edge of the knurling, but I often modify that based on the individual.

This is where I do things a little differently. After teaching the initial position, the next step I teach is the active motion of pulling the bar into the power position. I believe that this position should be the same with the snatch and the clean. Traditionally, we are taught that the clean power position is lower than the snatch power position. But if you look at elite weightlifters, this position is often exactly the same. Long-limbed lifters lack the anthropomorphic structure to make this happen naturally, so I teach it.

In many lifters, this will involve premature bending of the arms. I actually encourage this. If they understand when to contract and relax those arms, it can be of great benefit. The bar has moved closer to their center of gravity, creating better leverages. Additionally, it puts the athletes in a body position where they can apply the greatest amount of force into the ground during the last few inches of ankle, knee, and hip extension. Without teaching this, many long-limbed lifters will jump prematurely on the pull of their cleans and snatches.

Once the lifter learns to hit the power position with the bar, it is time to teach them how to accelerate the bar. Just like in the muscle snatch, we teach the athletes to aggressively lock out the knees with a “fast knee” cue.

You must watch to make sure that the athlete is not throwing their hips at the bar, but actively bringing the bar to the hip. I teach the athletes to push through their whole foot into the ground to avoid premature weight shift toward the toes. Once knee extension is complete, the athlete passively and quickly controls the bar into the front rack position. If this is done with excessive arms or too tight of a grip, the bar will move too slowly. The bar should land primarily on the deltoids as opposed to slamming against the collarbone.

If the collarbone is getting smashed, encourage the athlete to get their elbows up quicker and higher. Also encourage your athletes to open the hands at the top of the movement and let the bar roll to the fingertips. By this time the athletes are familiar with the bar placement, as the hands-free front squat does an excellent job of teaching where the bar should sit on their shoulders. If using a hook grip, I teach the release of the grip at the top of the “upright row” position as the elbows are about to come forward. Start light and gradually build up weight as the athletes become more comfortable with this interaction with the bar.

6. Liftoff (Snatch or Clean Grip)

This exercise is key if you want your athletes to develop mid-thoracic strength and mobility, which is often a limiting factor for a lot of our athletes. Liftoffs are how I get my athletes, no matter how tall, to pull from the ground. It might be my best exercise to improve thoracic spine kyphosis. Lying on a foam roller or lacrosse ball is great, but unless you backfill that mobility with solid strength work, it will be lost by the time they leave the workout.

Liftoffs are how I get my athletes, no matter how tall, to pull from the ground. Share on X

This exercise dovetails with the RDL to complete a full pull from the ground. For those coaches who use trap bar deadlifts, I challenge you to look at liftoffs as a more complete exercise. It may be more of a challenge to coach, but I believe the benefits are substantial.

Most athletes just don’t have the ankle and spine mobility to start from the floor. Because of this, make sure you have proper weightlifting lifting blocks to start. They should be stable and customizable to the height and mobility of each of your athletes. Blocks create a safe, progressive way to start pulling from below the knee. With most male athletes, I start with 10-kilogram plates on 8-inch blocks, and with females, 5-kilogram plates on 8-inch blocks.

Video 6. An underrated deadlift variant by itself, the clean liftoff is great for athletes to be disciplined with patience during the first pull. Coaches can teach and train the Olympic lifts at the same time with this great exercise.

The athlete addresses the bar flatfooted with the knees bent over the bar. This is an important distinction compared to the knees behind the bar taught by many coaches with powerlifting backgrounds. Externally rotating the hips so that the knees push against the elbows is a great way for tall athletes to drop their hips and get the bar closer to the center of gravity.

Proper posture is very important in this lift. The back must remain flat for the entire lift. If the athlete feels their back start to round at any point, they should drop the bar. I would much rather see this lift missed with good technique than made with bad technique. Little things can also add up and make a big difference. Keep the knuckles down and elbows out to help facilitate active lat pressure to keep the bar close. Supinated feet also create a rigid base for optimal force transfer to the ground.

I teach athletes to initiate the lift by pushing the knees backward while the hips and shoulders raise together. This knee action is extremely important. I often see athletes, particularly at the high school level, pull the bar forward around the knees. By pushing the knees back, athletes will avoid scraping their shins on the bar, as well as set up for a big finish on the snatch and clean.

This movement really mimics a good athletic position seen in many sports. It also trains the hamstrings in a position of hip flexion with simultaneous knee extension. This lengthens the hamstrings from above and below. With proper progressive overload, the liftoff is a key tool to improve hamstring tissue tolerance.

Instead of standing all the way up in a traditional deadlift, I have athletes hold the pull directly above the knees. This facilitates extra concentration on setup and on the initial pull, as well as time under tension in a functional athletic position. The bar can either be dropped (be careful of hitting the front edge of the box) or lowered. If you choose to use the lowering method, ensure that you coach athletes to put the bar down exactly the way they picked it up, with a flat back and proper knee bend.

You can progress slowly to the ground by removing 2 inches of block at a time. Every athlete will progress differently, but you can usually drop 2 inches every two weeks so. Make sure the starting position stays sound. It will require more dorsiflexion of the ankles, more knee bend, lower hips, and, of course, a flat back.

Weightlifting Exercises

Once athletes have mastered the foundational lifts/exercises, it is time to add a degree of athleticism and speed to the lifts. Before letting the athletes loose, it is important to go over an obvious but important safety consideration. The bar and the athlete will be moving at very high speeds, so it is important that they know the biggest safety mechanism they have is their ability to drop the bar. The following exercises are key tools I use to continue to progress athletes beyond the basics.

Hang Snatch from Power Position

Often, when athletes learn the snatch, the bar will travel too far behind their head. In this case, the athletes need to know that they can drop the bar behind them and take a couple steps forward. Straps can be added after a week or two to make sure athletes completely understand the movement. Correct weightlifting straps will help facilitate proper dropping of the bar.

Warning the athletes to make sure the bar clears the head before moving it forward is critical to avoiding bar to face/forehead collisions. This is a lesson I have learned the hard way. I have seen enough of these accidents to make sure I warn the athletes ahead of time, and it is something I watch for throughout their training process.

The beauty of progression is that it simplifies the teaching process. The starting position for this movement was already learned in the muscle snatch. Instead of merely locking out the knees, I teach the athletes to jump violently, with most of the jump centered around the “fast knees” concept. The hips and ankles will naturally follow suit. After an aggressive knee extension, athletes have to be taught to relax quickly while dropping. This creates a powerful stretch reflex that helps pull the athletes under the bar. This is the fast up and fast down concept that I often use while cueing athletes.

During drop under the bar, athletes must use passive bar control with the arms. If the arms are actively trying to position the bar overhead, the snatch will be too slow. Being relaxed during unloaded (if the bar is moving upward, it is temporarily weightless) is key to expressing speed. This is similar to a sprinter at top speed who intermittently relaxes between foot contacts.

The catch completes the lift with a simultaneous flatfoot landing and arm lockout. They must happen at the same time. If the foot hits the ground before lockout happens, it is called a press out. Define this term for your athletes and let them know that press outs are unacceptable. It is a result of being overly tight or too slow. The lockout creates stability of the shoulder. If a press out occurs, the athlete is putting the shoulders at risk in a position of loaded instability. Again, I would rather see a missed lift than a snatch finished with a press out.

If a press out occurs, the athlete is putting the shoulders at risk in a position of loaded instability. Share on X

The feet should hit the ground flatfooted in a squat width, not any wider. Landing on the toes or balls of the feet is not desired. Flatfooted landings will create stability. This loaded, fast eccentric movement is great for teaching landing mechanics, especially for athletes who land too much on their toes. Holding the catch is important to make sure the bar and body are properly organized.

Video 7. Snatching from the hang helps an athlete to feel the right tension in the hips and hamstrings. A good hang snatch has enough range of motion to create a training effect.

You will often find athletes stand up quickly from the landing position in an attempt to regain balance due to subpar positioning. This component seems to help landing mechanics stick much better than altitude drops from boxes. I have made the mistake of spending time with landing drills like altitude drops. In my experience, athletes looked great doing the drills, but it did not seem to carry over to practices or games. These drills are appropriate for warm-ups but are not sufficient long-term training stimulus. Once your athletes are doing decent loads in the power snatch and power clean, you will start to see a dramatic improvement in landing during practices and games.

I spend about 2-3 weeks working the hang variation before I start moving athletes to block above knee. The lowering that occurs with the hang variation is a great way to initially build upper body strength, but eventually the high block or block above knee will produce better reps at higher loads. This movement will involve the lifter starting from below power position, so they will need to be coached to actively pull the bar in.

Power Clean Block Above Knee

I am not a fan of hang cleans. I have seen more than enough poor hang cleans for a lifetime. The problem with the hang power clean is that, after the first one, the arms and back really become fatigued. There is constant time under tension with significant load, and this a problem for athletes just learning how to power clean. Blocks will make the coaching and technical adjustments much easier, especially rep by rep. An athlete can perform a rep, you can make an adjustment, they can shake out their arms/hands and make that adjustment for the next rep. Sets of hang cleans turn into survival mode—just get through it. This should not be the approach if maximal power development is the goal.

Once again, the starting position has been taught with the muscle clean. The only difference is that the bar is placed on the blocks. The movement is initiated by pulling the bar into the power position, making sure to keep the shoulders over the bar. Again, I believe athletes can do this by bending the arms.

When the bar hits the power position, that’s when the explosive jump happens. Every athlete will have a slightly different speed going into the power position. It is a mistake to pull off the block too quickly. You must save the expression of force for the power position. By moving the bar too quickly too early, athletes will lack the explosive finish on the pull. I like to teach the athletes to ease the bar into the power position and explosively jump when, and only when, the bar touches the power position. It’s easier to speed up this maneuver later then have to slow it down, which is why I err early on with the initial liftoff being a little slower.

Video 8. Cleaning above the knee offers variety with purpose. Using blocks saves the paraspinal muscles from overworking and can increase volume safely.

Once again, I emphasize this fast knee lockout and unlock on the jump. This keeps the pull/jump from turning into a hyperextension mess, and it facilitates the stretch reflex of the hamstrings pulling the athlete under the bar faster. The bar should be passively guided to the rack position, making sure not to pull the bar to the shoulders with the arms. The upward trajectory of the jump should be all the impulse needed to get the bar high enough. The athlete should be thinking about getting under the bar as soon as their feet leave the ground.

I have the athletes freeze as soon as their feet hit the ground. Not only does this ensure that the bar is properly racked on their shoulders, but it builds eccentric landing strength. Share on X

Just as they have learned in the muscle clean, the contact of the bar in the rack position should primarily be on the shoulders, not the collarbone. A flatfooted landing should happen in a squat width and not any wider. Like the snatch, I have the athletes freeze as soon as their feet hit the ground. Not only does this ensure that the bar is properly racked on the shoulders, but it builds eccentric landing strength. This quarter squat position is used throughout all sports. The method of proper teaching and gradually increasing weight makes overload of this eccentric stress very manageable.

Block Below Knee Power Snatch and Power Clean

Once I feel that the athlete is competent in both the high block snatch/clean and liftoffs from the floor, I incorporate low block or block below knee movements. This movement is just a combination of a liftoff and a high block snatch or clean, and that is exactly how I explain it to the athletes. The starting position and speed should be exactly like a liftoff. Make sure the athletes start with flat feet in a vertical jump width. The knees should be slightly over the bar with the hips slightly externally rotated so that the knees are touching the elbows.

Movement of the bar should begin by pushing the knees backward. The bar and knees should move together to keep bar spacing. One of the biggest mistakes I see coaches make is that they allow their athletes to loop the bar around the knees, rather than the knees moving out of the way of the bar. This will quickly lead to bloody shins and a forward jump on the snatch or clean.

This movement should be controlled and somewhat slow. I want to see a change in speed from the liftoff to the final jump. That change in speed should happen at the power position. It is something to remember in even more advanced athletes who tend to panic and pull a little too quickly, too early. Patience with a heavy weight in your hands is without a doubt a learned skill.

Video 9. The use of low boxes is a compromise between high and floor snatching. Anything below the knee will have a slower early rhythm than a lift above the knee.

Once the bar clears the knees, the arms actively pull the bar toward the body with lat pressure. The wrist should be in flexion (knuckles down) to close any gap between the lifter and the bar. This helps get the bar into the power position and keeps proper weight distribution on the pull. Failing to do so would swing the bar away from the athlete and create a poor explosive position.

From the power positions, both the power snatch and power clean are familiar tasks learned from previous exercises. A big explosive jump centered around knee extension should be second nature by now. Cue staying relaxed in the hands and arms as your athletes quickly get under the bar and form a position of stability. Practice once again being motionless as soon as the feet hit the ground. Being in a rush to stand completely up is a sign of imbalance or instability. You should really emphasize this when learning and even with advanced athletes during warm-up or lighter sets. Pay special attention to where and how the athletes land.

Excessive forward and back jumping are usually symptoms of improper positioning during the pull. Typically, I find that if an athlete jumps forward, either they loop the bar forward around the knees or they bring the hips to the bar to hit power position rather than actively pulling the bar to the hips. Excessive backward jumping can be solved by cueing the athlete to jump slightly forward. A line on the platform created by a piece of weightlifting chalk can served as a great reference to coach and athlete alike, especially if the athlete is struggling to feel what they are doing.

Power Snatch and Power Clean from the Floor

Hopefully, by now all the elements needed to complete weightlifting movements from the floor are already in place. By this point, your athletes should be comfortable in all positions required by these two exercises.

Snatching/cleaning off the floor requires a solid starting position. Several weeks of doing liftoffs off the ground will make your life much easier in this step, as nothing is fundamentally different. You will need to make sure that the athlete has sufficient bend in the ankles, knees, and hips. I check to make sure the feet are flat and that the knees hang over the bar; the arms should be straight, and as always, the back should be flat. This position will require the knees to get pushed back a little more on the liftoff compared to the block below knee position as the knees start further over the bar.

Video 10. Pulling from the floor is not difficult with tall athletes if you prepare them. Use the right grip, posture, and foot stance to accommodate athletes with less mobility.

Once again, this action should be controlled, as it is merely a setup for the explosive final jump in the power position. Make sure that the bar and knees move together. Sometimes the knees will start moving backward without the bar leaving the ground, creating poor leverage.

This liftoff sets the athlete up for success with the rest of the movement, which by now should be old hat for your athletes. Make sure the bar is actively pulled into the power position, which is where posture should get set to take off. The rest of the movement is learned in previous exercises. The jump, drop, and catch are exactly like the above and below the knee versions.

Get Started

Be careful in each one of these exercises to expose your athletes to a safe and sequential overload. Training loads, whether volume or intensity, should be increased little by little. Consistent improvement over time is much more desired than trying to take huge jumps.

I find pulls a little too slow to develop power compared to a power snatch/clean and a little too light to develop strength compared to an RDL/liftoff. Share on X

Omitted from my progressions are snatch pulls and clean pulls. I use these only if I have an injured athlete who cannot perform the catch. Otherwise, I find pulls a little too slow to develop power compared to a power snatch/clean and a little too light to develop strength compared to an RDL/liftoff. When pulls do have enough speed, they still lack the eccentric catch, which is critical to reduce the risk of injury and improve athletic performance.

The eccentric portion of the pull also tends to get sloppy. When emphasizing an explosive finish, the lifter is just not granted the short period of weightlessness needed to receive the bar in a good athletic position. Instead, the lifter often absorbs the load in a compromised position, often in hip and lumbar extension…ouch.

In summary, all athletes, regardless of height, can learn these complex movements through manageable progression and quality coaching. I have repeatedly used these techniques to successfully train athletes up to 7 feet tall. Taking time on the progressions and making sure that your standards as a coach are being followed through on can be the difference between success and failure. As coaches, we should hold ourselves to a standard of excellence and follow best practices to effectively and efficiently prepare our athletes for the demands of their sport.

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