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Take two college athletes, one who lifts year-round and the other who takes six months off—who has the competitive edge?

Obviously, the athlete who trains continuously will be in better shape. Knowing this, why do many sprint coaches neglect to give their athletes workouts during their short academic breaks? Further, what types of workouts should athletes perform on their own, especially when they lack training facilities?

First, we’re not talking about summer training. Most sprint coaches will give their athletes some direction about what to do during this longer break. I’m focusing here on extended periods when athletes are away from school during the academic year. Do the math: spring break can steal up to 10 days of training, winter break may consume up to a month, and there are often several shorter holiday breaks such as Thanksgiving. When added up over a four-year athletic career, these interruptions can represent 4-6 months of downtime.

Although most athletes probably won’t let themselves go like Thor did in Endgame, if they don’t perform some type of resistance training during these breaks they may lose strength, power, endurance, and even speed. The good news is that it doesn’t take much work for an athlete to at least maintain their athletic fitness during these stretches away from the program—and, possibly, they can even slightly increase it.

The good news is that it doesn’t take much work for an athlete to at least maintain their athletic fitness during these stretches away from the program, says @GabrielMvumvure. Share on X

A 2011 study found that “performing 1 weekly strength maintenance session during the first 12 weeks of the in-season allowed professional soccer players to maintain the improved strength, sprint, and jump performance achieved during a preceding 10-week preparatory period.” However, another group in the study that trained only once every two weeks not only lost leg strength, but also saw increases in their 40-meter sprint times.

Other studies have found that as long as the intensity was high, strength (and even aerobic fitness) could be maintained for as long as three months by reducing the training volume by two-thirds! Translated into a practical example, it’s possible that getting in just one 30-minute workout during spring break may be enough to have an athlete start back where they left off. However, with careful and creative planning, it’s possible to get athletes in better shape than when they left.

During the school year, I give my athletes detailed weight training programs designed to improve sprint performance that include cleans, deadlifts, squats, and chin-ups. I can also work with the athletic training department and our strength coaches to provide them corrective exercises to address muscle imbalances that may increase the risk of injury.

If an athlete has flat (i.e.,valgus) feet that may cause injuries such as shin splints, they could be given corrective exercises that create lateral tension on the foot to help reform the arch. If an athlete has a history of hamstring pulls, we might give them specific hamstring, glute, and subumbilical abdominal (i.e., below the belly button) exercises to address muscular imbalances that may be the underlying cause of this injury. But when an athlete is on a school break and doesn’t have a world-class gym and support staff as we do at Brown, you are faced with the dilemma of “optimal training versus reality.”

When an athlete is on a school break and doesn’t have a world-class gym and support staff, you are faced with optimal training vs reality, says @GabrielMvumvure. Share on X

When an athlete is on break, it is often difficult for them to find a gym that has platforms and power racks that will enable them to continue the workout they performed at school. However, even the lamest of commercial gyms will have dumbbells. Further, some athletes have these dumbbells at home, or are willing to purchase them.

The Home Training Solution

Please understand that what I’m saying is not just theory—I performed such training programs while competing for LSU, and have given my sprinters these types of workouts to use on breaks. Before providing examples, I would like to share with you the following five practical guidelines for home training:

1. Follow a workout! Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Don’t just allow your athletes download a copy of Richard Simmons’ Sweating to the Oldies so they can make like Chubby Checker and “twist again, like they did last summer.” Athletes need to discuss with their coaches what equipment, if any, they have available during their break so their coaches can design a workout accordingly.
2. Consider the training environment. A large family room or a garage are obvious places for home training, but consider training outside in a yard or in a park to get some fresh air and stock up on natural Vitamin D. Also, consider that college weight rooms are climate controlled. If an athlete is on a winter break in Deadhorse, Alaska, perhaps training in a garage at 10PM in shorts and a T-shirt may not be such a good idea?

If athletes must train in a colder environment, they should spend more time warming up to enable them to train harder and avoid injuries. In contrast, if they are training in an extremely warm environment, they need to dress lightly and have plenty of fluids nearby to hydrate properly.

3. Schedule the workouts. Athletes should set up a specific time to train, just as they would come to the track or weight room at a specific time to train with their coaches. Early in the morning is best, as there are likely to be less distractions. Also, your athletes need to be considerate of others. Doing Coach Mvumvure’s “Pump your Stomach!” core workout in the front room while a family member is trying to watch their favorite TV program is rude.
4. Find ways to stay motivated. Athletes who go away to college don’t have much time with their families during breaks, so why not have a family member join in to motivate the athlete to train harder? Playing upbeat music will also enhance the workout atmosphere. Many commercial gyms, especially the hard-core ones, play lots of hard rock, which can often be more irritating than inspiring. At home, if your athletes like country music, they can play country music. And if they like Justine Bieber, well…they can play country music! They can also pull up some inspirational sports videos on their laptops to inspire them and remind them of why they are working so hard in the first place!
5. Set goals and communicate. Athletes should establish some type of goal for every workout, such as completing all the reps for a specific weight or performing certain exercises faster. Also, athletes should check in with their coaches on how their workouts are progressing. I take this a step further with my athletes—while going green!—by sending their workouts directly to their personal cellphones, complete with drawings of each exercise along with suggested weights, reps, and sets. Going high tech in this manner also enables me to make immediate changes in their workouts, if necessary.

Athletes should set up a specific time to train, just as they would come to the track or weight room at a specific time to train with their coaches, says @GabrielMvumvure. Share on X

Home Training Tools

Regarding exercise selection, there are many ways to challenge the muscles without barbells. Consider chin-ups and push-ups, for example—if these are too easy, there are more challenging variations (such as wide-grip chin-ups and one-arm push-ups). Many movements can also be performed isometrically (hey, remember the classic Charles Atlas “Dynamic-Tension” Course?). Figure 1 offers a few examples of different modes for home training.

Unless the athlete has access to a commercial gym, most likely the only exercise modes that will be available will be bodyweight, isometric, and possibly bands and a few light dumbbells. Regarding dumbbells, the athlete can save a lot of money by purchasing adjustable dumbbell handles that allow for a variety of weight selections. Kettlebells are fine, but consider that these are usually fixed weights, and purchasing several pods can be quite pricey—besides, pretty much any exercise you can do with a kettlebell you can do with a dumbbell. Yes, swinging movements are more comfortable with a kettlebell, but you can certainly do swings with a dumbbell.

Workouts with a Purpose

Having reviewed a few of the tools at an athlete’s disposal during school breaks, I would suggest two types of workouts.

First, many athletes come out of high school programs with a history of chronic injuries. Often, during team training, the focus is on exercises that will directly improve performance (such as exercises that include explosive movements like cleans or strength movements like deadlifts). This approach leaves little time to perform corrective exercises that focus on preventing past injuries from recurring or doing pre-hab work that addresses muscle groups at a high risk of injury (for example, hamstrings with sprinters). School breaks are an ideal time to focus on such exercises—of course, athletes should consult with their school athletic trainers and strength coaches on these workouts.

At LSU, I had to opportunity to work with sports medicine guru Dr. Michael Ripley, both as an athlete and later as a coach. He did wonders to keep me healthy so I could train hard and eventually compete at the international level. Figure 2 shows one type of pre-hab workout Dr. Ripley recommends for athletes who have SI joint problems, often common in hurdlers.

The second type of workout is designed to improve performance and address an athlete’s weaknesses. Let me give you an example of one such workout I would give to my sprinters. It was designed on Excel, dragging and dropping in the exercises into a spreadsheet that was converted into a PDF file. The focus of the workout was on leg and core strength, and the only implement required were dumbbells.

This workout can be performed in a station manner (one exercise at a time), or to save time (and increase muscular endurance), performed in a circuit. Two-to-three sets of each exercise are prescribed. Although not shown here, I will give each athlete suggestions on what weights to use (usually, I just give the starting weight, and then allow the athlete to select their own). Also, don’t rely on drawings or videos to ensure the exercises are performed correctly—have the athlete perform the workout at least once before they leave for break. That said, we’re working on a video exercise bank athletes can access to review optimal performance of exercises.

The next workout (Figure 4) is designed to help athletes who have had issues with overuse knee injuries or knee stability, which can affect running efficiency and cause hamstring injuries. Because there are several factors associated with these conditions, the workout includes exercises for the glutes, calves, and abdominals.

This last workout (Figure 5) is designed to improve power and muscular endurance, and requires an investment in at least one medicine ball. Muscular endurance is often important for new athletes or athletes coming off of an injury, and power is crucial for athletes who need to work on explosiveness.

Don’t get hung up on the exact exercises shown—coaches should use whatever exercises (or other loading parameters) they believe will best help each athlete achieve their goals. And for convenience, the coach should have several pre-made workout templates, each with a different emphasis and strength level. For my athletes, I start by making a version of each workout for men (heavier starting weights) and women (lighter starting weights).

For convenience, the coach should have several pre-made workout templates, each with a different emphasis and strength level, says @GabrielMvumvure. Share on X

The 2019-2020 indoor season was my first at Brown University. Despite it being cut short by the coronavirus, my sprinters collectively established 32 personal bests, had 12 performances that ranked in the top 10 in school history, and broke two school records, including a 29-year-old record in the 4x400m women’s relay. I believe that part of this success was addressing all the variables that can contribute to performance. One of these variables is having a continuous, year-round weight training program that keeps my athletes strong, from the start of the season to the finish!

This article was edited for publication by Kim Goss, a former strength coach for the U.S. Air Force Academy who has a master’s degree in human movement.

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

Hickson, RC, et al. “Reduced Training Duration Effects on Aerobic Power, Endurance, and Cardiac growth.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 53:225-229. 1982

Ronnstad, BR, et al. “Effects of in-season strength maintenance training frequency in professional soccer players.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2011 Oct;25(10):2653-60

Graves, JE, et al. Effect of reduced training frequency on muscular strength. Int J Sports Med. 1988 Oct;9(5):316–9.

How do we create an atmosphere of trust with our sports coaches and athletes that will allow us to move past the ingrained fallacies that prevent us from maximizing our sports performance efforts? It’s a universal problem that is systemic in nature and can be paralyzing to a program.

The list of challenges we face as high school sports performance coaches is long, from budget restraints to athlete attendance. To compound matters, each of us has individual situations with our own hurdles. It’s probably not a problem we can resolve completely, but there are roadmaps we can follow to foster a maximum level of trust possible with a high percentage of the coaches and athletes we serve.

Strength Coach to Sport Relationships

I once was told that rules without relationships lead to revolt. This single sentence has had a major impact on how I’ve dealt with not only athletes but also coaches over the last few years. Take an inventory of the good and the not so good situations you’ve had with people (not just in sports).

I bet we can trace a great majority of the issues directly to a lack of communication. The lack of communication likely resulted in a lack of understanding. And the lack of understanding undoubtedly prevented the development of a personal relationship between you and the other person. Each of you had rules governing the situation. And without a personal relationship, it was impossible for either side to understand how the other interpreted the rules, and this led to revolt.

Now put this same set of circumstances into a team setting with athletes. The adage “they won’t care what you know until they know you care” is an absolute truth. If you step into the room on day one and say, “I’m Coach so-and-so. I have three degrees and nine certifications. Here are the rules, follow them or else,” you will have trouble.

At this point, the athletes don’t know enough about the subject to care what you know. It’s our job to show them how a positive relationship with their strength coach will benefit them. What benefit do they really understand? Playing time. If you’re a non-sport coaching sports performance professional, however, you don’t have that control. That’s where the sport coach comes in—they have the control.

First, we must have a positive personal relationship with the sport coaches, and this starts with getting together with the head coach. The goal is to begin building a deep personal relationship with complete understanding. That’s not always easy, but it’s always necessary.

The head sport coach sets team culture and rules. It's our role to support the culture within the arena of preparation, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

The head coach of each sport is responsible for the team culture and rules. Our role is to support that culture within the arena of preparation. The tough part is that not all head coaches foster a great culture. As tough as it may seem, it’s not our job to build that. It’s not our job to set rules for a sports program. Our job is to build a relationship with the sport coaches that will allow us to operate within the culture to the best of our abilities.

Developing relationships with athletes takes time. Start with the head coach, the culture, and rules and grow from there, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

If we set rules for athletes or coaches without the initial steps of building strong relationships, we set ourselves up for revolt from all sides. Once we achieve that goal, our job gets easier. It takes time to develop relationships with athletes. If we can start with the head coach and the program culture and rules as our jumping-off point, we can grow from there.

Building Trust

Once you’ve built relationships with your coaches and athletes, you can start building trust. Trust that your prescription will make them better—not just that you’ll do what you think is best for them. This can be tough at first. As we know, habits are hard to break.

Most of the coaches and almost certainly all of the athletes we work with have a narrow set of margins when it comes to evidence-based sports performance. It’s our job to widen the margins so they’ll trust we’re making the best decisions. As we all know, everyone we are tasked with making bigger, faster, and more explosive has a bias about training.

How many times have we heard or seen a power sport team running laps or doing long runs that far exceed the time and distance needed to train the energy system their sport typically uses? They do this because someone they had a personal relationship with (and trusted) told them it was the way to train!

It’s the same with countless other things we see and hear. Much of what occurs at the lower levels of athletics is based on concepts of bodybuilding, powerlifting, and aerobic training. While certain aspects of these three things play into what we do to prepare for sport, we all understand that hypertrophy, slow-moving high-intensity barbell lifts, and steady-state running will not make up the bulk of what we need for transfer to sport.

Our biggest challenge is to change the thought process of coaches and athletes about what will cause transfer to sport, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

Our biggest challenge is to change the thought process of the coaches and athletes about what will cause the transfer. Again, the coach is the key. Regardless of how close you are to the athletes, you don’t control when and how much they get to play. The coach is the main influencer. Despite the questions your athletes may have, they will buy into what you’re asking them to do faster if the coach already has.

So what steps do we take to ensure everyone’s on the same page? First, speaking from trial and error experience, don’t be too aggressive. The minute you begin talking to any coach (or athlete) in a tone that makes them feel insecure or less knowledgeable, you’ll be setting up the relationship to take a step back. Know your audience and give them enough insight to show why your program will be more effective.

Keep in mind that regardless of the knowledge difference about how to prepare to win, winning is the common denominator. Start by introducing small things that may not be in the coach’s wheelhouse. Instead of saying, “there is a certain point in which an athlete’s strength level becomes detrimental to performance,” try introducing the idea that technical failure is a signal to end a lift.

Speak a common language and don’t go over the top with verbiage. Sport coaches have their own job to master, and most don’t have the will or the interest to master our job as well. Understanding this and speaking a common language will help the process.

Ask coaches to identify the areas their athletes need improvement and explain how your program will accomplish these things. As the level of trust begins to grow, the coach will become more and more comfortable with how you do things. Soon, you’ll be able to influence some of the more bell-cow aspects of what the coach and athletes believe is correct, encouraging them to make any adjustments needed to create a best practice.

You can build trust quickly with athletes and parents after securing the coaches' confidence, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

As for the athletes and their parents, you can build trust quickly after securing the coaches’ confidence. We must show them that our job literally is what’s in their best interest. I preach to athletes and parents that our number one goal is to be healthy.

As a parent, I can tell you this is a powerful statement. If we think coaches have narrow margins when it comes to sports performance, parents often go to a whole new level. And parents will influence the trust level you’ll receive from the athlete. Assure parents that everything you do is evidence-based and designed to keep their child healthy and moving well. If you heard me talking to parents, you’d probably believe I was against lifting heavy weights. Of course, I’m not, but I make it clear that their kids must earn loads and movement.

I find it easiest to build trust with the athletes. The reason is simple; we spend a huge chunk of time each day with them. While we must coach them hard and be a great teacher, we also have the opportunity to show them how much we truly care about them. Once we have that, there is almost no limit to how far we can push them.

Once athletes believe we truly care about them, there is almost no limit to how far we can push them, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

The relationship can’t stop at the weight room door, either. I’ve found that walking the halls and high-fiving kids, hanging out in the cafeteria, attending games and practices, and similar actions make the job much easier. Win and lose with your athletes. If they see you getting excited when things go well and grieving with them when they don’t, they’ll believe how much they mean to you.

Technology and Data

While in the weight room or any training situation, the athletes (and coaches) want to hear about your expertise. They want to see your expertise. They also thrive on new and exciting concepts. I speak from experience on this as well. Whether it’s a new technology or a new breathing system, they recognize that you introduce these things to make them better. That goes a long way in building the trust needed to help them thrive.

As your relationships grow and blossom, bring some more advanced protocols into the program to seal the trust factor deal. One integral factor in my current situation is using techniques and technology that let me greatly individualize our program. It’s human nature to embrace things we can see and touch that also clearly benefit us as individuals. Our athletes and coaches have really embraced technology.

Velocity based training (VBT), for example, has moved the needle of trust with our female population exponentially. In my earlier post on training female athletes, I highlighted how difficult it was to convince female athletes to lift heavier intensities. It’s always been a battle to get them to trust me and believe in themselves enough to put the proper load on the bar.

Velocity based training is an instant trust builder. It moved the needle of trust exponentially with our female athletes, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

VBT is an instant trust builder. It lets you quantify the true percentage of 1RM at a single moment. That reading of m/s is not a guess! It’s a fact that can’t be debated or reasoned out of. Within a very short time, our females using VBT were adding weight and using the proper programmed intensity with complete trust in their ability to lift it. No more “I can’t lift that much” conversations. The velocity says you can.

VBT added layers of trust and buy-in from my athletes. And not just about load and reps. Every time we do something for our athletes that makes them believe we have their best interest at heart, our trust level gains depth and width. VBT is just one example. We can include heart rate monitoring (HRM) as well. Using HRM allows us to quantify conditioning levels (among other things) the same way VBT does load.

The cherry on top of the trust sundae is an athlete monitoring system. This could be an article in itself for sure. The questionnaire alone can seal the deal with our athletes and coaches. When they see us taking time not only to produce and use a survey system but also use it to lead conversations and make training adjustments on an individual daily basis, they know we care. From a sport coach point of view, it’s a way to set their program apart.

The cherry on top is an athlete monitoring system. A questionnaire alone can seal the trust deal with our athletes & coaches, says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

I can say from experience that our football staff has a deep level of trust in the data and information I provide based on athlete monitoring. The more actionable data you provide, the more impact it will have. When your sport coaches begin to see practices improve, game performance increases, and fatigue and injury rates fall, things really take off. The more they trust you, the greater the impact you’ll have. That’s why we’re all in this isn’t it?

You know you're a true stakeholder in the team when the coaches begin adjusting practice loads, conditioning drills, & intensity says @YorkStrength17. Share on X

The day our coaches begin adjusting practice loads, conditioning drills, and intensity is the day we become a true stakeholder in the team, coaches, and athletes.

Athlete monitoring is low hanging fruit for us as coaches. Don’t sit back and say, “we don’t have the budget or time for that kind of stuff!” It can be as simple or as in-depth as you choose. I’ve used a daily handout and a pen, a homemade Google Doc that I sent out and other things that led me to the system I now use—the comprehensive and adaptable athlete monitoring questionnaire from CoachMePlus.

The questionnaire gives insight into our athletes’ lives. Stressed? We know why and can help. Fatigued? Let’s fix it. Sore? Let’s adjust it. It’s impossible to ignore a tool that comes at such a low-cost and has the potential to be so valuable. As I said, this is a deep topic that deserves investigation. How it plays into the topic we discuss in this post is undeniable. Athlete monitoring will build a level of trust and personal relationship that is valuable for the athletes and makes us more effective at our job.

From a non-technology standpoint, we use an organized and highly programmed system of injury reduction, mobility, and activation protocols that are made possible only by the high level of trust my athletes and coaches have with me. From Dynamic Warm-up Movement Assessment to Reflective Performance Reset, Original Strength Resets, and the Hop and Stop test to our barefoot foot and ankle mobility program, our athletes will jump in and do these things without question.

Imagine that your athletes can execute every drill and technique with almost no hesitation? This happens when your athletes and coaches recognize your investment in them.

Never Stop Learning

The final piece of the trust puzzle is never stop chasing knowledge. The athletes and coaches will see very quickly if we go into coast mode. The coaches and athletes I work with have a deep understanding of my daily road to improvement. In fact, I think they’d all be shocked if I didn’t come in at least once in a while and say, “So I’ve got something great to show you.”

Showing how much you care doesn’t come with a pause button. We must continue to pursue best practice with the same vigor in year thirty as we did in year one. We work in a field that changes by the day. Once we earn the trust and respect of the athletes we serve and the coaches we work with, we must not only maintain that trust but also continue to build on it.

I mentioned that most issues between people stem from a lack of understanding. To combat that, we must continue to strive to build personal relationships with every new athlete and coach that walks into our weight rooms. Doing this to the best of our ability requires us to stay on top of the latest developments in the world of sports performance. The further we get into the technology age, the more important it will become for us to embrace that technology. It’s not just the athletes who are getting younger as we age; it’s the sport coaches as well.

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

“All it takes is four cones and a pair of shorts,” said my friend and fellow performance coach Jim Liston in a conversation almost 15 years ago. He was teaching me how to present world-class training in a team sport practice with little to no equipment. He reiterated to me that all you need is some open space and creativity to give a team a quality athletic development session.

All you need is some open space and creativity to give a team a quality athletic development session, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

As a young coach at the time, I couldn’t imagine spending any time outside a weight room. I mean, how could I train any athletic quality without a barbell, platform, and bumper plates? But over the years those words stuck with me, and as I began to spend more and more time coaching young athletes, I realized their magic.

Use Practice Sessions to Develop Essential Skills

Things have certainly changed the past few years. I am now a father of four young children, and although I still have my coveted weight room, my focus these days is youth athletic development. Spend enough time around young children and you don’t need to be a genius to realize that kids don’t need complex training programs. Instead, they need exposure to basic physical education and movement skill development. The development of movement coordination, balance, stability, spatial awareness, and range of motion should take center stage in a young athlete’s development between the ages of 7 and 13. What better time to develop these skills then during a practice session for sport?

During weeknights and weekends, both my wife and I can be found coaching our children in the various sports they participate in. In the past seven years I have coached youth tackle football, youth flag football, t-ball, Little League baseball, rec basketball, travel basketball, and youth lacrosse, and I even took an at-home course on learning how to cartwheel and do a handstand so I could practice with my gymnast daughter.

There are two things I realized quickly when coaching youth sports. The first is that most youth coaches are volunteers, and although they have the best intentions, they are not professionals. The second thing is that, when it comes to basic coordination and movement skill development, children are all over the map in terms of their athletic ability. Some kids are naturally good movers while others need some time to practice and develop.

As I said, most coaches are parent volunteers not professionals. They do not have a background in physical education or athletic development. Many just want their children to be active, learn a few new skills, and have fun. We know kids these days have less access to quality movement opportunities than the generations before them. Less recess, less physical education, and more sedentary entertainment like phones, iPads, and gaming systems.

Finally, we know that better all-around athletic ability makes learning sports skills easier and playing any game more enjoyable, and it will serve them well later in life when they are trying to stay fit and healthy. With this in mind, I set out to develop a basic framework that youth coaches can use to provide athletic development training during youth practice sessions.

An Updated Youth Practice Session: Football

The genesis of this program occurred when I started coaching youth tackle football. The sport of tackle football is notoriously stuck in tradition. Most coaches practice the same way they did when they played. The beginning of practice is set aside to jog a few laps around the field, followed by static stretching, then right into football practice. Then, to finish practice, coaches usually implement some type of conditioning, which is usually something like wind sprints or suicide runs with little to no rest.

All of this work is in the name of mental toughness and hardly specific to the work/rest ratios of a football game. As a former player and now coach, this old-school mentality is a huge waste of time. Two things that young football players don’t need much of are static stretching and conditioning. What these young football players’ bodies are starving to do is move their joints through full ranges of motion. They need to work on balance, coordination, stability, strength, speed, and getting comfortable in each other’s contact space.

Young football players don’t need much static stretching and conditioning. What their bodies are starving to do is move their joints through full ranges of motion, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

So, I set about figuring out how to use the first 10-15 minutes of practice not only as a proper warm-up, but to also expose the kids to activities that will make them more athletic and better football players over time. Then I had to figure out how to use the last 10 minutes of practice in some type of competitive game environment that is similar to the demands of the game of football.

We know that, like any dynamic sport, the game of football requires a combination of speed, agility, strength, and toughness. It’s a contact sport where the players need to be comfortable in each other’s personal space. Players need to be adept at fundamental movements like running, jumping, pushing, pulling, tackling, and catching a ball. Furthermore, since proper tackling and finding yourself on the ground are main parts of the game, players should have a good grasp on how to properly fall on the ground. So here is the setup for the beginning of my football practice.

Warm-Up Fundamental Movement Skills

My warm-up skills are simple, basic movements to get young athletes moving in a variety of ways. Kids are rarely exposed to these sorts of movements these days. Furthermore, the game of football will involve different types of movements going in a variety of directions. So, practicing these fundamental movement skills is better than a slow jog in a straight line any day of the week. With these movements, we can improve coordination and develop a better sense of where athletes are in space.

• Skip
• Shuffle
• Bound
• Run to backpedal
• Backpedal to run
• Stride

Video 1. Football Warm-Up Drills: These fundamental movements develop coordination and prepare the young athlete for the practice ahead. We dedicate five minutes to them each practice session.

Range of Motion Development

In my opinion, young athletes do not need static stretching. Young athletes by their very nature are very excitable and energetic. Making them sit and hold different positions goes against the way their nervous systems are developing. We have to remember that many of these young athletes are growing rapidly. Bodies change so fast that kids can literally look different at the end of a season than they did at the beginning. With growth comes change, and, for example, kids get bigger and stronger but at the same time may lose some flexibility and coordination.

Activities that make young athletes move slowly and deliberately through full ranges of motion help develop suppleness and improve strength and coordination, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

The goal here is not to create yogis or bore the kids to death by holding static stretches, but to try to improve global suppleness and coordination. We do this by using activities that make them move slowly and deliberately through full ranges of motion. These activities not only provide the young athlete with a chance to develop that suppleness, but they also improve strength and coordination.

• Spiderman crawl
• Low lunge walks
• Low lateral walks
• Leg kicks
• Bouncy inchworms

Video 2. Football Mobility Drills: These dynamic flexibility drills allow the young athletes to move through a wide range of motion with a variety of different movements. We spend five minutes each practice and on game day exploring these exercises.

Groundwork and Foot Work

In order to thrive in a chaotic sporting environment that involves contact, like the game of football, we have to have a body that is capable of attaining and remaining in certain positions and postures. For example, getting a young athlete in a basic athletic stance to be able to teach blocking or tackling. Getting into these positions takes a fair amount of strength and stability/balance. Therefore, as coaches we should look for ways to develop these qualities for them to be both a better athlete and a better football player.

• Bear balance with partner
• Crab reaching
• One-leg balance with partner

Video 3. Football Stability and Balance: Balance is an element that is still developing in many young athletes. Do these exercises prior to more dynamic movements like sprinting and agility drills.

Pre-Contact and Grappling

What better way to prepare a young athlete for the contact of football than by getting them comfortable in a close space with an opponent? Tacking and blocking do not come naturally for all kids, so coaches must find ways to introduce these concepts and develop better players over time.

• Clamp drill
• Under hook
• Shoulder battle

Video 4. Football Pre-Contact Drills: Pre-contact drills get young athletes more comfortable and confident in each other’s personal space. Do these exercises before tackling skill work each practice.

Practice Finish

For kids, I always recommend any type of competitive game or race to finish practice. These competitive situations get the kids excited, work on specific skills, and develop conditioning without the kids even knowing it. Some of my favorite activities are tag games and relay races.

An Updated Youth Practice Session: Basketball

Here in New England, when the fall weather changes to winter cold and the football season ends with a celebratory Thanksgiving dinner, it is time to move indoors for basketball. Basketball is one of those sports that can be played fairly easily in some form or another by young children all the way through adulthood. Basketball is a fast, dynamic game that involves running, jumping, catching, throwing, and shooting, with plenty of change of direction. In short, it takes a decent level of athleticism to play successfully. What better time to develop those athletic skills than during youth basketball practice?

As with football practice, many volunteer coaches use the same drills in basketball practice that they used when they played basketball. Most of the time you see two alternating lines of players doing layups for 10 minutes before real practice begins. The problem with that drill is that one player is actually doing something while the rest of the team essentially stands in line watching. In my eyes, this is a complete waste of time.

A proper basketball warm-up will look to develop elements of athleticism like coordination, balance, strength, speed, mobility, and injury reduction, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

First off, most of the team is simply standing around doing nothing, and secondly, the actual movement of a layup hardly prepares the body for the faster-paced, dynamic practice/season ahead. A proper basketball warm-up will look to develop elements of athleticism like coordination, balance, strength, speed, mobility, and injury reduction. We can prepare the body for practice and at the same time improve movement skills in the long term. With enough exposure to the right kinds of warm-ups, we can improve things like running form, defensive position, and jumping ability and be less prone to injury.

Part 1. Movement: Baseline to Half-Court with Partners

Goal: Improve coordination, move major joints through large ranges of motion, get warm

• Skip forward dribble
• Skip backward dribble
• Side shuffle with circles
• X-over dribble
• X-over backward dribble

Video 5. Basketball Warm-Up: A warm-up series that combines fundamental movements along with dribbling skills. This is a fantastic way to combine basic skills with sport-specific skills.

Part 2. Strength (Partner)

Goal: Develop a strong base of support in different athletic positions

• Iso squat ball out front taps
• Iso lunge ball overhead taps
• Push-up hand on ball taps

Video 6. Basketball Core Strength: The goal of these exercises is to develop a strong base of support in a variety of different positions. Again, using a basketball adds sports-specific feel to general athletic development.

Part 3. Balance

Goal: Prevent ankle and ACL injuries

• Sissy squats w/ball overhead
• One-leg reach to overhead
• One-leg side-to-side dribble
• One-leg lateral line hops

Video 7. Basketball ACL Prep: This exercise series aims to develop single leg strength and stability for the prevention of ACL and ankle injuries.

Part 4. Speed

Goal: Develop game speed

• Speed dribble/sprint chase ball tip

Video 8. Basketball Tip Drill: This is an acceleration/situational awareness drill to develop game speed. By using a dribbling fast break, we can work on teaching our young athletes how to run down offensive players.

An Updated Youth Practice Session: Baseball

When the spring thaw begins and the snow melts, everyone starts looking forward to green grass and warm sunny days. And with those warm days comes one of my favorite seasons: Little League baseball. Out of all the youth sports I have coached in the past few years, youth baseball seems to have the widest range of abilities. Some kids begin playing in T-ball, while other kids start playing much later.

So, while some kids feel comfortable catching, throwing, and swinging a bat, other kids look like it’s their first time. I wish more kids would play pass and catch with mom and dad or Wiffle ball with kids in the neighborhood before they begin playing organized baseball, but the reality is that many kids start organized sports lacking many basic athletic skills. It’s because of this that I came up with the following series for my youth baseball players to work on basic coordination, core strength, and flexibility.

Movement Series: Fundamental Movement, Lower Body Strength, Crawling Patterns

Goal: Warm up, improve basic coordination, and develop upper and lower body strength. On the grass for 10 yards (same as Video 1).

• Skip
• Bound
• Run to backpedal
• Backpedal to run
• Stride

Range of Motion and Strength

Goal: Use a baseball bat to develop sport-specific strength through a full ROM

• Diagonal lateral chops – 10x each direction
• Split lateral bending – 10x
• Split squat forward/backward reach
• Lateral lunge and reach – 5x each direction

Video 9. Baseball Bat Mobility: A simple series of exercises where each player can use their bat to move through a variety of different movements and ranges of motion. The goal is to develop sport-specific strength through a full range of motion.

General Athletic Skills

Goal: Develop power, coordination, balance, throwing, and grip

• Athletic stance/vertical jump – 5x
• Athletic stance Lateral jump – 5x
• Athletic stance 180 jump – 5x
• Bat drops – 20x
• Eye tracking: tennis ball get up drill

Video 10. Baseball Athletic Development: I dedicate 5-10 minutes each practice to developing general athletic skills. One or two sets of each exercise each practice really adds up over an entire spring season.

During a youth sports season, a coach may spend up to 2-3 hours per week coaching their team. Devoting 10-15 minutes each practice solely to athletic development can go a long way when it comes to learning new skills. By the end of an eight-week season a team can accumulate 250-300 total minutes of athletic development training. Considering that most kids have P.E. only once a week, it’s imperative that kids find other avenues to learn to move. We can find that avenue at youth sports practice.

You Can Build Foundations

Parents and volunteer coaches are our first line of defense to make sure that kids stay active, learn new skills, and, most importantly, have fun, says @JeremyFrisch. Share on X

Parent and volunteer coaches are our first line of defense to make sure that kids stay active, learn new skills, and, most importantly, have fun. Many youth coaches are looking for ideas on how to fill the time in their practice schedules. Hopefully, some of the ideas in this article will provide youth coaches with ways to implement basic athletic development into the beginning of each practice. At the end of the day, we all know that a better all-around athlete is not only better at their sport and tends to enjoy playing sports, but is also healthier overall and less susceptible to injury.

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

Over the last several years, there’s been a massive growth in the demand for “sport-specific training programs.” While I believe the intent of people seeking these programs and those who propagate them is good, the premise behind sport-specific training programs is flawed, and it wastes time. We can attribute the boom in demand partly to the visibility granted by social media. We are living in the Golden Age of Social Media. Anyone can create and post content regarding anything. This ability has generated an issue within the performance sphere: visibility and accessibility give the illusion of credibility to those who are not credible in the slightest.

To strike while the iron is hot and capitalize on this trend, “trainers” and “gurus” advertise training that will make an athlete better at a specific sport. Often, these training methods are ineffective and downright dangerous. So why are people wasting their money? In short, they’re looking for an edge. We live in a world that doesn’t like to wait. We live in a microwave society of instant gratification. Why is this a problem? Training is like a crockpot. It takes some time. Changes occur slowly and in small increments. For coaches, parents, and athletes who want results in a hurry, these trainers and gurus seem like the answer they’ve been seeking. Often, the program is nothing more than a waste of time and money. In this post, I’ll discuss why your energy is better focused on training foundational movements and qualities that create long term improvements in overall strength and athleticism.

All athletes, regardless of sport, benefit from certain physical traits and qualities. All athletes benefit from being stronger. All athletes benefit from being faster. All athletes benefit from increasing agility. All athletes benefit from being more resilient to injury. All athletes benefit from increased confidence. These are the qualities that I take into consideration, no matter what the sport is: strength, speed, agility, resilience, and confidence.

All of these are trainable and translate from the weight room to the field of play. Isn’t that the goal? To have what we do in training show up during competition? Of course it is. And it’s why strength coaches get so frustrated when they see trainers placing athletes in harm’s way. The problem? Most people don’t realize they’re putting the players in a position to get hurt—but they are. They take the training they see on social media and try to apply it to their athletes. Or they take specific movements performed during competition and load these movements. Both of these tactics are unsafe. Focusing on the five qualities mentioned above is a much better use of time and energy.

Trainable Qualities that Translate from the Weight Room to the Field

Strength

I use six basic categories of movements when programming for strength: pressing, pulling, hinging, squatting, bracing, and rotating. These categories cover all the movements that any athlete will encounter during their sport. Using simple and effective training principles to address each of these is the best way to increase your athlete’s strength. No BOSU balls or circus acts required. We can facilitate training these categories with just a bar, dumbbells, and a few bands.

Be careful, though. It can be easy to confuse the purpose of training. Athletes do not need to be strong for the sake of being strong. Athletes need to be strong to be successful in their sport. When we establish our measure of strength as nothing more than how much weight an athlete can move in one rep, we’re in danger of realizing Goodhart’s law. According to Goodhart’s law, when a measure becomes a target, it is no longer a good measure. When we make one-rep maxes our end all be all, we create a conflict of interest with the rest of the training. The athlete is tempted to focus only on excelling at the one-rep max, which is a recipe for disaster unless your sport is powerlifting or weightlifting.

Speed

Speed kills. We’ve all heard this, and it’s absolutely true. You can tell when one team is just flat-out faster than the other. Speed creates advantageous situations in team sports. No coach in the history of the world has ever watched their athletes and thought, “Geez fellas, I wish we were not so fast.” That said, speed training is one of the most mismanaged aspects of athletic development.

Speed is tied to how much force an athlete produces, not how fast their feet move. Sprint maximally & time it to track changes, says @CoachTQuick. Share on X

Speed is directly tied to how much force an athlete can produce. Speed does not depend at all upon how fast an athlete can move their feet. The phrase “slow feet don’t eat” has caused more athletes to waste time and money than almost anything else. Seeing athletes spend hours running through speed ladder drills in the hopes of getting faster is becoming more and more commonplace. These things do not make you faster. They simply make you proficient at doing the drill. If athletes truly want to increase their speed, they need to sprint maximally and time it so they can track changes. Sprinting is one of the most taxing activities on the CNS that athletes perform. And it offers an easy way to monitor whether they’re getting faster or doing too much training and damage is occurring.

Agility

People get very confused here. To some, agility is doing change of direction and footwork drills. Just like speed ladders, this does not help. Performing drills with set parameters over and over only makes you better at doing the drill. While change of direction is a part of agility, we often overemphasize the change of direction component and underemphasize the response to outside stimulus.

Drills will improve agility if they require athletes to process unknown and unexpected information, says @CoachTQuick. Share on X

To truly train agility, an athlete needs to respond to an unknown and unanticipated stimulus. Changing directions on a line or at a cone does not help increase this skill. Having to change directions accurately on a verbal or visual cue does much more for the athlete’s agility skills. The ability to process information quickly and react to it translates directly to the field of play. This is why people often loop speed and agility together. Sports other than track require athletes to be fast while processing information and reacting to their environment. Going through drills that don’t require athletes to process unexpected information will not improve agility.

Resilience

Two of the biggest buzz words in the industry right now are injury prevention. While preventing injury is a noble undertaking, it’s impossible to avoid injury completely. It is possible to mitigate the risk of injury through training. In fact, a 2014 study by Lauersen et al.¹ stated that strength training could reduce injury rates by as much as 69%. That’s a massive reduction rate, especially when compared to stretching. According to the study, stretching reduces injury risk by 4%. The final findings showed that strength training “reduced sport injuries to less than ⅓ and overuse injuries could almost be halved.” ¹Reducing the risk of injury by 70% is a huge plus for any program.

There's a difference between reducing injury & mitigating risk: the goal of strength training is to decrease the severity of injuries when they occur. Share on X

Understanding the difference between reducing or mitigating risk and reducing injuries is essential. There are obviously extenuating circumstances that we can’t account for—freak accidents happen. The goal with strength training is to decrease the severity of injuries when they do occur.

Confidence

“The number one transferrable quality from the weight room to the field is confidence.” This quote is from none other than Joe Kenn, the longtime NFL strength coach and founder of Big House Power. This could not be more accurate. Consistent strength training yields results. The results allow athletes to increase the loads they lift. When athletes begin to see increases in their ability to handle heavier loads, their confidence grows with it. When confidence rises, athletes play faster and more “loose.” For lack of a better term, they play with more swagger. Some refer to this as the tight jersey effect. When the sleeves on their jersey and shirts fit a little tighter, they feel stronger. When they feel stronger, they play stronger.

Sport-Specific Programming

So what do these five qualities have to do with sport-specific programming?  So glad you asked. These qualities should shape all of your programming. When we address the qualities consistently, improvements occur, making the athlete a better overall athlete. A better overall athlete will make a better baseball player, football player, soccer player, cheerleader, etc. Balancing one-legged on a BOSU ball while curling a Tsunami Bar and singing “We are the Champions” does nothing more than make them better at this activity. Build your base from the basics. There is a reason that the basics are the basics. They are time-tested and proven.

So how do you sell this? I’m a former collegiate football player. I played offensive line and am still a pretty big person. Because of this, the biggest concern I hear from sport coaches, parents, and athletes is: “Are you going to just do a football workout with them?” That question is often driven by previous bad experiences or content they considered sport-specific. Coaches and parents want the best for their athletes. I understand completely. I have to take time with these parents and coaches to explain my system and training process so they feel comfortable.

I take time with parents and coaches to explain my system and training process so they feel comfortable, says @CoachTQuick. Share on X

Communication is a foundational building block for effective coaching. It’s essential to address the concerns of sport coaches and parents. From this point, I will discuss how to get these people on board with a training-centered approach that increases athletic ability while dispelling their concerns and fears in a respectful and soothing way.

Sport Coaches

What is the number one job of a sport coach? To win. Period. Their job is to take a team or individual and win. The vast majority of sport coaches I’ve had contact with understood that the weight room is important, but they know this only in the context of it helping them win. They often don’t care to hear about the science behind what we do and don’t want to know the withertos and whyfores. All they want to know is if Johnny is getting stronger, faster, and staying healthy. If this happens because of the strength program or despite it is irrelevant to them.

When it comes to training philosophies, there’s often friction between the sport coach and the strength coach. Sport coaches are usually perfectly happy to do things as they’ve always been done. To point out flaws in their methods can be taken as a personal insult to any success they’ve had doing so. Coaches may also credit their process for their success on the field. But sometimes, coaches and programs are successful in spite of their process because talented players adjust and overcome them. For someone to examine all aspects of their program to discover that it’s not causing the team’s success takes incredible ability and humility. If it’s not broken, they often don’t try to fix it. Why would a sport coach want to change things if they’re winning?

Discussing biomechanics, bioenergetics, & kinematics with sport coaches often gets you nowhere. Speak their language, says @CoachTQuick. Share on X

One last piece of advice is to understand how to talk to sport coaches in their language. This is paramount. Trying to discuss biomechanics, bioenergetics, and kinematics often gets you nowhere. They don’t care about what’s behind the curtain. Learn to speak their language so you can effectively communicate what you’re doing and why it will help them win. After all, that’s their job. To win. If you can show them how you help them win, the friction often dissipates.

Parents

This may be the hardest group to engage. Parents want what’s best for their kids—plain and simple. Parents are also some of the most informed people on the planet. Is that information always correct? No. But they’re informed nonetheless. In our society, professional athletes are the height of celebrity. Fame and fortune come with being the best at a sport. What parent wouldn’t want that for their child? Often, parents go to extreme lengths to provide their children with every opportunity to succeed, and this has bled into sports performance. Parents want to give their child a leg up on their competition. Of course, they want them to have the advantage.

Seizing the opportunity are private trainers and gurus who wax poetic and expound about their secret sauce that will make Little Johnny into the next Mike Trout, LeBron James, or Patrick Mahomes. The problem? None of these guys are the athletes they are because of the training that they did when they were 12. Did the training help? Of course it did. But their genetics are the biggest reason they are who they are. And this can be a hard pill for parents for swallow. It doesn’t mean that their child cannot be great at a sport, but a 5’9″ 165lb senior in high school probably won’t start at quarterback in the Super Bowl one day. No matter how hard they try or how much money they spend on gimmicky training and gurus, there is no way to make an athlete grow taller than what their genetics will allow. Sorry, Mom and Dad, the height thing is kind of predetermined.

So how do we, as performance coaches, navigate these waters with parents? I’ve found that the answer is often, “It depends.” Some parents welcome the education and want to know why the information they’ve known to be a commonly held belief is wrong. Others do not. It doesn’t matter what we say or how we say it; they’ll think we just haven’t figured out how to do sport-specific training yet. If you’re lucky enough to encounter parents who genuinely want to learn, great. Educate them. Get them involved. Invite them to watch the training sessions. When parents are involved in a positive way, athletes benefit.

However, if you come across parents who don’t want to learn, sometimes telling them what they want to hear goes a long way. When they ask if your training is sport-specific to whatever sport, just say yes. Technically, it is. Saying yes doesn’t mean you have to start putting the kid on a BOSU ball to juggle kettlebells. At the end of the day, remember that they also want what’s best for their child. Variances in understanding and use of terminology are insufficient reasons not to train their child.

Athletes

For the most part, athletes are much more active on social platforms than their parents. They’re exposed to limitless information daily. Some of that information is great. Some is horrible. Athletes can regularly find videos of the professional players they aspire to imitate performing terrible nonsensical movements that are often dangerous and negligent on their trainer’s part. Or they see their athletic idols performing advanced level movements and using high tech gadgets and equipment. Obviously, they want to imitate these athletes. They naturally assume that because a professional athlete is doing something, it must be from the best training money can buy. The thing is, it may be.

It does not, however, mean it applies to an adolescent athlete. With videos of advanced movement, what’s not shown is the many years of training it took to earn the right to perform those movements. We don’t start our kids in calculus doing differential equations. We begin learning to count single-digit numbers. Training is the same. Athletes have to prove they’re ready for the next level by mastering the basics and advancing from there. In the case of gimmicky training that’s nonsensical and dangerous, there’s often lots of wow factor that looks cool on Twitter or TikTok. The wow factor and ability to go viral is almost literally currency to our young athletes today.

To get athletes to buy in to your training principles, video them performing well and post to social media with positive comments, says @CoachTQuick. Share on X

One way to get them to buy in to your training principles is to use social media to your advantage. Video your athletes as they own ranges of motion or execute a perfect technique. And post it. Tag them and explain how and why what they’re doing is so great. The basics are simple, and that’s not sexy to the masses. However, there is a large audience that needs to see sound training principles, and using your athletes to do so will create some great buy-in. Always remember, simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.

Next, answer them honestly when they ask why. If an athlete asks why they are doing a specific movement or a certain amount of reps, tell them. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they aren’t disrespectful when they ask. They are simply what their world has made them. When I was growing up—and all the generations before me—we relied on adults to provide us with the truth. We did not have social media and limitless information literally in the palm of our hands. Athletes today have been able to find answers to their questions whenever they wanted. They’ve never had to trust that the adults in their lives were always honest. And they genuinely want to understand. If you don’t know why or cannot explain why to them, you need to reevaluate the movement. Never program something you cannot defend to anyone who asks you. Don’t speak science jargon. Explain in terms they understand that relate to their sport.

For example, I had an athlete ask me why we performed lateral lunges. I could have answered with science jargon, names of muscles, and kinesthetic principles. Instead, I explained how the lateral lunge would improve his cuts. He was a running back, and he had to make lateral movements quickly. Having the ability to produce force laterally was essential. The lightbulb turned on, and he attacked those reps with great attention to detail from that point on. I also overheard him telling other athletes how the lateral lunges would help them, encouraging them to perfect the movement. Are lateral lunges sexy? Nope. They are not. Did that kid get excited about lateral lunges when he realized they made him a better football player? Absolutely.

Communication is key. Learning how to speak your athlete’s language and connect with them is so important. One more piece of advice—when they ask why you don’t program certain movements or exercises, be honest. They’re excited about training and want to share that with you. Explain the principles of your program. Don’t belittle the specific movements. They don’t need us to make them feel stupid. It’s much more productive to say something like, “That’s cool. We do such and such to achieve the exact same thing.”  Your athletes are our most precious resource and the sole reason we have jobs. Without them, there’s no need for us. Don’t isolate them by being the know-it-all coach who reminds them all the time that you are far more intelligent than they are.

If training causes adaptations and enhances qualities that make athletes better at their sport, it's sport-specific, says @CoachTQuick. Share on X

Sport-specific training is just training. If the training causes adaptations and enhances qualities that make athletes better at their sport, it is sport-specific. How we understand this and relate it to those who employ us and those in charge is everything. The desire for sport-specific training is not going away anytime soon. It’s our job to educate people respectfully and consistently. Bashing them over the head with textbooks, research studies, and jargon will do nothing more than drive them to other sources for information and training. We can all agree, that’s less than desirable. Let’s all be leaders by taking the first step meeting in the middle with sport coaches, parents, and athletes.

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

Reference

1. Lauersen JB, Bertelsen DM, and Andersen, LB. “The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials” British Journal of Sports Medicine 48, no.11 (June 2014): 871-77.

Strength and core training in golf is much like the game itself—traditional and steeped in years of “we do it this way because that’s how we’ve always done it” thinking. The uptick in sports science being done in the field has challenged that belief in recent years. This comes at a time when the young stars of the game are defying many of its old ideas: from fashion to etiquette to what really matters when it comes to cashing a check.

The last couple of years of stats on the PGA and LPGA tours have proven that the age-old saying of “Drive for show and putt for dough” is inherently wrong. The updated saying for 2020 is now: “Drive for show and cash checks for millions.”

These seven types of training and exercises are valuable in golf performance training but are often left out of traditional golf fitness plans. Share on X

What follows are seven exercises and types of training shown to be valuable in golf performance training, but often left out of traditional golf fitness plans. These are things that Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and even Tiger Woods had no idea about in their primes. In fact, many of the top Tour players and their trainers are still discovering the value and place that these seven critical elements hold in the best performance plan for a golfer.

kPulley Straight Arm Rotation

Rotational training is nothing new in core or strength training for golf. It has been around since the invention of training for the game. Medicine balls, bands, cables, and anything else you can hold while you rotate are all used to “train the core” for better separation in the golf swing. “Without a strong core you can’t create separation” is a common saying you will hear from a trainer whenever they work with a golfer. While we don’t know if it is true, we do know that if we train rotation with a specific intent, we can produce 150% better gains in swing speed than seen in traditional rotational training.

The kPulley is a machine that helps coaches train golfers with rotational eccentric overload in a way that has not been available in the past. The flywheel and Bluetooth outputs allow a coach to train different traits of a golfer, from speed to power and many things between.

The straight arm rotation was the exercise we used in our 2018 study, which demonstrated 150% more swing speed gains in golfers in six weeks compared to just using bands or cables in the traditional way. Raw numbers, for perspective, were a 2.5 mph gain compared to a 1 mph gain, which equates to about a 5-yard difference in gain off the tee.

Video 1. This exercise is more stabilization and strength than power. Using a bar enables an athlete to focus on the trunk rather than using the upper body too much.

The straight arm rotation on the flywheel offers a couple of options to the coach in terms of sequencing and ground force applications that can be trained depending on the goals of the exercise. If straightforward rotational “core strength” is the goal, having the athlete stand while keeping the hips straight forward and just moving the upper body is a way to isolate the upper half and be able to load the pattern with upward of 30% overload eccentrically, as we have seen in training. This would obviously require lower body stabilization and separation of the lower and upper halves.

If a coach wants a more athletic-looking movement that is similar kinematically to the golf swing, another approach to take with this exercise is to have both the upper and lower body moving through, with active use of the lower body to assist with the rotational horizontal pull. The benefits of taking this approach also include the opportunity to coach the athlete on proper use of the ground with a focus on load and horizontal drive initially off the instep of the trail foot and then working into torsional (and even vertical drive, if desired) as each repetition is completed.

Five yards gained off the tee using this exercise is massive compared to traditional methods employed more predominantly in golf today. Share on X

The coach can best decide when and how to use this exercise with the overall program in mind; however, I cannot understate the benefit of this exercise. Five yards gained off the tee when this exercise was specifically used is massive compared to traditional methods employed more predominantly in golf today.

kPulley Wrap Low to High

The strap that wraps around a golfer or other rotational athlete has been around for a while now. Its popularity is spreading mostly via social media campaigns and higher profile athletes utilizing it in various social media posts. Beyond that, however, the use of a strap-wrap to drive performance gains continues to remain on the sidelines of traditional golf performance programs. When coaches utilize it, they’ve brought it in for variety’s sake or to combat boredom by athletes here or there; it doesn’t often have a targeted performance-based purpose.

I will contend that while the strap has value, as I will discuss shortly, the real value in this exercise is in what the strap connects to. This is why we utilize it with the kPulley with our golfers.

Video 2. Rotation and twisting can become difficult to differentiate in real-life. Using a strap with solid leg drive is an awesome overload option for golf and other sports.

As described with the horizontal rotational pull, the eccentric flywheel proved to produce superior results to the traditional tools of bands and cables when it came to creating gains that transferred to the sport because of the eccentric overload opportunity that the device offers. For this reason, we aim to utilize the eccentric flywheel whenever we can with our rotational strength training work.

The other added value that we have seen with the use of the flywheel along with the wrapped strap is the increased opportunity as a coach to have your athlete focus on how they kinetically use the ground. Because they do not have their arms connected to anything, the only way that they are able to create movement is by using their legs. This becomes their only focus, and when coaching it, you can really help them tune into how they use the ground.

Most golfers sequence kinetically from horizontal to torsional and then finish vertically. This is how we look to cue our golfers to move when they use this exercise in their program. Even more helpful, though, is that if your player needs to work on more horizontal force creation, then you can help cue that. Move the connection to the flywheel higher so it is more at the hip level as opposed to truly low, like when you might want to train more vertical drive at the end.

Finally, as a coach, you can also look to train the athlete to focus on improved impulse on each repetition. This is becoming a buzzword in the golf world these days with some recent research findings, and rightfully so. The better the impulse a golfer is able to create, the faster their club speed will be. Helping them to work on getting to their maximal power output on each rep as fast as they can, as opposed to a long low-level ramp-up, is also a very important skill to focus on during this exercise.

Hop Back Iron Man Throw

Iron Man throws are not necessarily a new concept in the golf strength and conditioning world. The idea of when to use a hop back variation versus a standard throw versus a step behind variation versus a dropdown variation, however, is not so common in progressive and periodized programming, traditionally.

When looking at the types of training that are most effective for golfers across the age spectrum throughout their careers, triphasic training has shown to be very effective for golfers in their adult and senior years. That being said, it would make sense to periodize the plyometric/impulse training-focused exercises to progress through a triphasic program along with a strength component.

A hop back variation of an Iron Man throw is a great way to train a golfer’s ability to absorb and store force during an eccentric phase. It is also a great way to start to help the golfer understand what it means to load and use the ground correctly. Many times, we see golfers roll to the outside of their trail foot the first few times they try this exercise. We also see them fail to get down “into” their trail hip, leading to them “floating” through the throw. They are not able to use the ground appropriately, and this leads to significant decreases in how they create force.

Video 3. The Hop Back Iron Man Throw isn’t common, but the benefits are more than they appear. This demonstration shows controlled use of the hip, and as athletes progress, the speed can increase as well.

When measured on force plates, we have noted that how you coach the athlete to load directly impacts the kinetic sequence as well as the magnitude of ground force that is created in significant ways. We cannot understate the importance of the athlete’s focus on the quality of how they use the ground during this exercise.

I cannot understate the importance of the athlete’s focus on the quality of how they use the ground during the hop back Iron Man throw exercise. Share on X

The lack of this and other variations of medicine ball exercises being used incorrectly in traditional golf performance training are both, in my opinion, due to a severe dearth of understanding in how to use medicine ball throws with maximal efficiency. There have been a number of SimpliFaster articles on the optimal use of medicine ball training and the importance of periodizing medicine ball use throughout the year.

Unfortunately, more often than not, medicine ball throws such as the Iron Man throw are included to fill time rather than achieve a training goal need. If you can think about what the variation of the throws attempts to accomplish from a kinetic standpoint as well as a training system standpoint, it starts to become more apparent when and where to use them for maximal results.

Drop Rotational Box Jump

As mentioned in the Iron Man hop back variation, improving a golfer’s impulse is paramount for them to be able to produce more club head speed when they compete. The Iron Man variations allow for single leg focuses and are probably more “sport movement specific,” as they tend to mimic the way a golfer specifically moves in the golf swing. That being said, we all know that training does not have to look like the golf swing to be extremely helpful and transferrable.

The drop rotational box jump puts the golfer in an environment where both legs have to absorb force and then express it out as quickly as possible, with a torsional and horizontal component to rotate 90 degrees and land on the box to the side of them. This will lead to greater force generation and is generally easier to introduce from a coordination standpoint than a dropdown Iron Man throw.

As the athlete progresses, changing the height of the drop box as well as the height of the box they have to land on (if there’s one at all) allows the coach to manipulate the exercise based on the appropriate training goals for the athlete and where they are in their training.

One of the most common things that we see in traditional golf fitness programs is the misuse of box jumps and other jumps, similar to how medicine balls are used. You don’t have to look far to see golfers and others in the golf fitness industry touting how high they or their athletes can jump onto a box.

Video 4. Due to the planned motion, the exercise is safer than it sounds. Regardless, coaches need to program this only when the athlete is ready.

There are two common issues at play here. The first is the basic understanding of why we would program a box jump in the first place. Box jumps should be used to train improved impulse magnitude and, if we use a drop, to decrease the time of that impulse as well as the amount of force the system has to absorb. A higher box is easier for the system, not harder.

If an athlete has a vertical jump of 24 inches, then jumping and landing on a 30-inch box means that they have to flex their hips up at least 6 inches to land the jump. That is a negative 6-inch absorption of load. If, however, that same athlete steps off a 30-inch box and has to stick the landing, they just had to absorb way more load. So, which is more helpful? It depends.

If you want to decrease the load acceptance requirement for an athlete, a higher box jump is where you want to go. If, however, you want to maximally train an athlete for force absorption and impulse improvement, a drop jump is where you want to be. Understanding what the exercise accomplishes allows a coach and an athlete to start to figure out where and why it belongs in training. Without this first part, the second is impossible.

Higher definitely looks cooler for social media posts, but accepting load when dropping down off a box is definitely more challenging for the athlete’s system. Share on X

This confusion over which type of box jump is “harder” might be the biggest misunderstanding that I see in training golfers on a daily basis. Higher definitely looks cooler for social media posts, but accepting load when dropping down off a box is definitely more challenging for the athlete’s system.

Velocity-Based Resistance Training

Velocity-based programming or training, depending on who you talk to and what they like to call it, is definitely not traditional by any stretch of the imagination. It is relatively new, in general, and we all know that golf is not known for being at the forefront of anything when it comes to strength and conditioning. It shouldn’t shock you that velocity-based training is not traditionally in a golf-specific training program.

The apparent value of this type of training is becoming more and more obvious in the research and in practice. The idea that you essentially have a leading fatigue metric every day an athlete comes in to train that will self-regulate their load to keep them in the range you want them to train is extremely appealing. While it is a mind shift for any coach or athlete used to percentage-based training, it is one that comes relatively quickly and shouldn’t be a barrier to adoption.

One of the bigger logistical barriers is the need to assess athletes to determine their individual profiles for each lift. In golf, however, this is much less of a barrier, as golfers are individual athletes, and we don’t run into the issues that large football or other team sports do where a coach needs to profile 40+ athletes. Even at the collegiate level, where golf is a team sport, there are rarely more than 10 athletes, which makes it not an issue logistically.

In a recent article published by Dorrell and colleagues¹, there was a noted, significant improvement in strength and countermovement jump performance despite the group using velocity-based training having done less volume. The authors commented on the potential value of this for managing fatigue of athletes during competitive seasons. With golf at the professional levels being essentially a year-round sport at this point, this is a huge finding and potential benefit for golfers.

There is still an obvious barrier to the inclusion of this type of training in golf on a large scale. The travel that occurs during the long season means that athletes at the professional level do not have access to barbells and/or the technology all the time, making year-round use of this type of training challenging sometimes. That being said, the wearable market for velocity-based training is improving in its accuracy and ability to produce reliable readings for athletes to use it on the road when they travel.

As the research and the benefits of this training become more defined and the technology continues to improve, I would not be surprised if velocity-based programming and training starts to trend as the “norm” more than anything else on this list.

Lateral Sled Pulls

Sleds are not often used in traditional golf performance training as it is, never mind a lateral pull variation. The benefit of this type of pull is that it requires increased use of the adductor muscle group. This is an extremely difficult group of muscles to train in an explosive manner in the gym. As such, despite it being one of the most important muscle groups in the golf swing, particularly on the lead side of the golfer, traditional strength and conditioning programs for golf performance often overlook it.

The exercise challenges the athlete to extend the hip with adduction, which is the exact movement that the lead hip completes during the golf swing. You can vary the load depending on what attributes you are looking to train (strength vs. power vs. metabolic, etc.).

We utilize lateral sled pulls in our programs throughout the year with our athletes, but we do so differently, depending on where they are in their season and what the overarching goal of their training program is at that time. For instance, in the early off-season, we utilize the lateral sled pulls but with a focus on metabolic goals to build a base or capacity for the upcoming season. We utilize different variations of workouts from low load, low recovery to pyramid schemes, and everything in between.

When we get into the middle of the off-season, we often utilize this exercise as part of a superset on a low neural day to continue to challenge capacity while it is okay for volume to be higher. As their program progresses toward later off-season, and we concentrate on impulse magnitude and duration for maximal power output, lower volume with good power output and longer rests becomes more of a focus.

When the athlete is in season, we apply this specific exercise as a bit of a warm-up to make sure we train that pattern and keep it clean, but we don’t put a ton of stress on their system with it. They are playing and traveling so much that we focus more on the compound movements for our big power outputs and consider this an auxiliary lift at this point in their programming.

The biggest barrier to the mass adoption of lateral sled pulls in traditional programs is the access to turn and/or sleds as well as a long-enough runway to make it worthwhile. Share on X

The biggest barrier to mass adoption of this exercise in traditional programs is the access to turf and/or sleds as well as a long-enough runway to make it worthwhile for the athlete. Particularly when athletes are on the road, finding gyms with this equipment can be tough. When you are able to find a facility that provides the opportunity to implement this exercise, however, go for it. You’ll be happy you did.

Triphasic Strength Training

This is not a specific exercise, but rather a type of training that has been found to be helpful to drive clubhead speed gains in older golfers. In adult golfers, a gain in club speed of more than 50% was seen when the subjects utilized triphasic training as opposed to traditional training (progressive load without tempo considerations). The opposite effect was actually seen in junior golfers, which is interesting to note.

In the study outlined below, a four-week phase focusing on 5- to 7-second descent followed by a four-week phase focusing on a 5- to 7-second isometric hold at the bottom of each rep flowed into a four-week conversion to power phase. Because of the increased time under tension in the first two phases, the adult and senior golfers used lower loads to achieve the results of the increased club speed than the traditional training groups. Subjectively, the individuals were much more comfortable with less load on their bodies and, as such, self-reported enjoying the program.

When using triphasic training, we have also found it productive to periodize rotational work such as medicine balls, cable/flywheel rotational exercises, and jump training. As mentioned earlier in this article with the different Iron Man variations, utilizing hop back variations during the eccentric phases to focus on storing energy and progressing to step behind or drop variations during the conversion to power phase improves impulse magnitude and decreases duration.

Video 5. Eccentric tempo work is timeless and popular for a reason. Controlling the eccentric portion of the lift offers a great foundation before advancing to maximal and rapid overload options.

There are no barriers to using this type of training like there are with some of the other exercises or VBT mentioned above. The only thing needed to utilize this type of training with your athletes is for them to be able to count to five correctly. It is simple to implement triphasic training on the road, and athletes pick up on how and why they should implement it very quickly.

Keep Pushing Our Athletes, and the Field, Farther

The golf fitness and performance industry is progressing in leaps and bounds every year, and that is nothing but great for the game and the athletes who play it. As demonstrated above, there is still a high ceiling that we can reach for to continue to push our field and our athletes even farther.

As technology & research continue to make available new methods and modalities, coaches need to continue to educate ourselves on what’s worthwhile to share with our athletes. Share on X

The common thread here is to utilize each of these seven exercises or strategies first with an understanding of why you would use it with an athlete and why that athlete would potentially benefit from it. Then, we need to be crystal clear as to where it fits in their program and when it would be most beneficial for them to achieve transferrable results on the golf course. Finally, as technology and research continue to push forward and make available modalities and methods that were not available before, coaches need to continue to educate ourselves on what exists and is worthwhile to share with our athletes.

The future is bright for golfers and their ability to continue to perform at levels never before thought possible. These are only seven of the many elements that will continue to become more and more mainstream over the next decade as “traditional” continues to be redefined on an almost daily basis.

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References

1. Dorrell, H. F., Smith, M. F., & Gee, T. I. (2020). Comparison of velocity-based and traditional percentage-based loading methods on maximal strength and power adaptations. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 34(1), 46.