We put another semester under our belt. There were some slight adjustments to the program, but in general, it has stayed intact. I'll go over a few of the things that I find important or interesting.
1-Train too light
This isn't news to anyone, but I think it bares repeating. There's very little need for athletes to train heavy. I do think there are some exceptions where some heavy singles or doubles can be very beneficial, but generally speaking, keep it light and fast.
I've toyed with having Baseball and Softball position players (hitters) use heavy singles after their prescribed work. In my head, an at bat is like a Max Effort single. Obviously, it's different, but the idea that it's a very technical movement that is expressed with maximal force is something that connects in my head. Am I right? Who knows? But, I can rationalize it and that dog seems to hunt.
What I did was have the athletes work up to their 80% (Week 2) and their 85% (Week 4) and hit their numbers. I needed to see these sets and judge bar speed and technique. I had their numbers with me and we would make a decision what their next weight was.
The general rule is if you hit 80% x 3 and it looks really good, we'll go to 85% x 1-2. If that looks really good we'll take one more set at 90% x 1-2. I looked at bar speed and how explosive they were out of the hole (Squat and Trap Bar). Obviously, it's a judgement call, but I've been doing this stuff for 30 years. If I don't know what to look for... As Charlie Francis said, "If it looks good, it'll fly."
This was MUCH easier with the female athletes because they don't have the same level of ego as the guys do. The guys always think it's a dick measuring contest.
Results of training too light - When we tested the athletes (male and female) at 90% of their Training Max (TM is 90% of their Max) the results indicated that that number had "turned into" 70-80%. Most (probably around 80%) fell into the 72-76% range. As I interpret the numbers it tells me that most had a 14-18% strength increase. Obviously, there are always exceptions on both sides. Training age (reps on the field/court) and injury history play a role, to some degree.
The other massive benefit is the athletes never get beat up and run down. They always have something left in the tank. Training to exhaustion is stupid. Always has been. Always will be. Just because they can do it doesn't mean they should.
My conclusion (as stated before) - Train too light. Stress/Preach/Demand bar speed.
2-Technique/Exercise execution matters
This is something that I'm sure all of us stress to the athletes all the time. It took me a while to figure out how to get it across in a manner that most could understand. We've all seen the kid who has pretty good technique on the Bench, but as the weight gets heavier, they perform chest compression (a la CPR) on themselves with the bar. This drives me insane. You all know exactly what I'm talking about.
So, I went tyrannical on this (similar with the Squat and Trap Bar). I came up with a checklist of how to perform the exercises properly (in my opinion). My goal was to make the Main Lift execution identical. I wanted to use the same cues for every lift (Squat, Bench, Trap Bar). The thought was, if they always hear the same thing no matter which lift there's a better chance for them to understand it. Here's what was created:
- Start - Unrack and Hold/Pause
- Eccentric - Control down (3-5 seconds)
- Bottom - Lightly touch
- Concentric - Explode to the top
- Finish - Hold 1 thousand 1
- Repeat
The Trap Bar throws a little monkey wrench in this. I tell them once they get to the top, count 1 thousand 1 and execute just like the Squat and Bench.
The other thing I did was to actually SHOW them what a good rep/set looks like. I had one of my assistants follow my cues and execute the reps the way they should be done. The visual cue helped the most, in my opinion. Once the visual was combined with the verbal things looked awesome.
The overall description of how to perform a set is to treat each rep like it's a single (Jim Wendler has written about this). When the kids do this (most will) everything looks and goes so much better. I've watched a lot of strength and conditioning videos on YouTube. I would not post 95% of these if I were the coach because the technique is atrocious, at best (in my opinion). Anyway, with these changes I've found that very few kids hit the J-Hooks when doing their heavier sets. Obviously, this leads to better reps, sets and results when it comes time to test.
This is a battle I have to fight and will fight EVERY training session. I believe it's worth fighting.
3-Keep things on a timer (of some sort)
I've put our Circuits on a timer for 3 years or so (every minute on the minute). This created a tremendous amount of organization and a way to be able to watch a big room and see who's working and who's cheating. It's not fool proof, but it absolutely helps.
During the Covid nonsense time was at a premium. Even this year we still had some restrictions. As irritating as it is, it has definitely improved overall efficiency in programming and running groups. It has been extended to giving blocks of time to complete movements.
For instance, during Football season I started each lift with Back, Neck and Traps.
- Pull-ups or DB Rows: 3-5 reps or 10-15 reps
- Neck (Harness/Plate): 2x10-15 reps each
- Shrugs: 10-15 reps
The kids had 10 minutes to do as much work as possible. This generally turned into the getting their 4 sets of Neck and 5-7 sets of Back and Traps. This work was done and out of the way every day before we got "started" with the Main Lift.
The Main Lift was Trap Bar paired with an Upper Push on Monday and Bench paired with hurdles (mobility) on Wednesday. I gave them 12 minutes to get this done (it usually took around 9-10). If they finished early they could move on to the extra work that was prescribed. The extra work block was 10 minutes. Obviously, if they finished early they had more time for the extras.
How it all played out was:
- Warm-up and Workout explanation: 7 minutes (a little less if I was on top of my game)
- Back/Neck/Traps: 10 minutes
- Main Lift w/paired exercise: 12 minutes
- Extras: 10 minutes
- Stretch/Mobility: 5-10 minutes
Lift time: 32 minutes
Warm-up/Cool-down: 12-17 minutes
Total time: 44-49 minutes
This "gave" me a 10 minute window if things needed to be re-explained or if timing was just off that day.
4-Explain things multiple times
The athletes just don't care as much as we do, as coaches. Not a knock on them. They're not here to lift weights. They're here to play their sport. So, I would explain the Back/Traps/Neck and the Main Lift after the Warm-up. Obviously, once they knew what each workout looked like the explanation got shorter and shorter until it reached the, (point at the Back section) "You know what you're doing?" (Point at the Main Lift) "You know what you're doing?" Same with the Extras section. If there was an adjustment or an option with the Main Lift I would explain that. Then, we got set up for the Back section. Once the Back portion was done I would briefly re-explain the Main Lift and the Extras and get them started.
I found two things:
- If I kept the explanation (time at the board) to no more than 2 minutes and the re-explanation to no more than 60 seconds their retention was better.
- This drastically cut down on mistakes and having to repeat myself over and over and over and over...
It all led to more efficiency.
5-Do the important things first
No kidding! But miraculously, when I started doing the Back work, namely Pull-ups - Pull-ups execution improved. So weird? It's common sense, but I think it gets lost (by me) sometimes when you design the "perfect" workout. At the end of the day, they just need to get good work done. If it's really important (as deemed by you) then get it done early (1st or 2nd block). If it's "not as important" or kind of mindless work save it for the end. This is determined by you, but it's something that I have to remind myself of, often.
Hopefully, this gave you some ideas and things to look at as you start getting ready for the winter training sessions.