Training Young Athletes: Let's Get Back to the Basics!

by Scott Shetler
May 1, 2007

I have been fortunate enough to work with many talented athletes from all ages and skill levels. I find the greatest reward and enjoyment from working with younger populations, particularly the middle school and high school athletes.

We live in a time in which we are bombarded by information. While I believe it is important to continue learning and pursuing knowledge, I believe that some knowledge too soon too fast can be a bad thing. Because of the amount of training information available kids tend to overlook the basics in favor of the more attractive advanced training methods. It is important to remember that in order to run we have to learn to walk and in order to walk we have to learn to stand up!

While I have never bought into any one training method, I do use the same basic approach for all the youngsters that I have the good fortune of working with. There is a reason the basic exercises have stood the test of time, they work! In this article I will present what I have found to be a simple and effective approach to training young athletes.

General Physical Preparation (GPP)

This is where all of my young athletes start. We use basic bodyweight exercises, calisthenics, deceleration drills and dynamic warm-up exercises in order to build a solid foundation from which the athlete may progress into more advanced training modalities.

Dynamic Warm-Up

The training session always begins with a variety of movement preparation drills that I use to prepare the athlete for the training session. The goal of the dynamic warm-up is to improve an athlete's active range of motion, warm up the body, grove correct movement patterns and prevent injury. We typically use stationary drills such as bodyweight squats, various types of jumping jacks, pogo jumps, leg swings and scissor jumps. We then perform moving drills such as walking lunges (forward, backward and lateral), crawls and tempo runs. We finish with floor-based mobility exercises for the hips and torso. Some of our favorites include cat/camel, various "fire hydrant" hip mobility exercises, groiners, and bird dogs. For a more detailed warm up plan I highly recommend the Parisi School's Warm-Up Method DVD.

Deceleration Training

I like to incorporate some basic deceleration work into the training of my young athletes. I feel this is an important aspect and one that is often overlooked. Before someone can get fast they need to learn how to slow down and stop. Some of our favorites include altitude landings into various positions. These drills teach the young athlete to land properly from a jump in order to properly absorb force and minimize the chance for injury.

Bodyweight Exercises

Before I let an athlete begin training with weights we start out with bodyweight drills. This allows the athlete to build the correct movement patterns that will carry over to the barbell lifts and will ensure the athlete has a base level of fitness in place before progressing to more advanced strength training. In this stage we use a broomstick for a barbell in squats, presses and pulls in order to learn the correct movement patterns. We also will perform chin-ups, push-ups, glute/ham raises and abdominal work. I like to use the box squat when instructing young athletes. I find the box squat is easier for a young athlete to learn. It forces them to sit back and down and ensures the same depth is achieved on each and every repetition. I never let the athletes slam into the box or bounce off the box, and eventually work my athletes to a point well below parallel. One benefit I have is that I work either privately, or in very small groups of 2-6 athletes, so I can implement certain lifts that may not be practical for a coach who has to work with 20 or more athletes simultaneously. We emphasize technique and control first and foremost. In keeping with our deceleration training I emphasize slower eccentrics in this stage of training as well. Our goal in the bodyweight exercise phase is to prepare the athlete for progressive strength training. Therefore we groove the correct movement patterns for the basic lifts and focus on building strength in the entire body, particularly in the torso and hamstrings. Before we move onto the barbell lifts all of my young athletes will be able to perform 5 sets of 10 reps perfectly in the box squat to a depth below parallel, 5 sets of 10 reps of perfect military-style push-ups, and 10 reps in the pull-up. Once these goals are achieved we move onto the barbell lifts.

Strength Training

In this phase we may continue to use bodyweight exercises as supplemental lifts particularly pull-ups, glute/ham raises, and pushups. We introduce five basic barbell lifts, plus pull-ups, with the goal of performing perfect technique each and every repetition. In order to promote balance throughout the body I use the basic core lift in each of the following movement patters: (1) squat (2) deadlift (3) horizontal push (4) horizontal pull (5) vertical push (6) vertical pull.

For the squat we use the basic barbell back squat. At this point we may or may not continue to use the box but usually keep box squats as part of our arsenal long-term.

For the deadlift we use the conventional bent-knee deadlift. The deadlift is the only lift we don't perform "reps" with. I have my athletes stand up and reset in between reps, so while they may do a set of 5, they are standing up and resetting in between each repetition.

The horizontal push is the classic bench press. In the bench press we spend a lot of time on technique, we use a minimal arch, lower the bar to the nipple line or slightly lower to the tip of the sternum, and we use a lot of leg drive and various other tension techniques. We spend a lot of time learning how to bench correctly to maximize strength gains and minimize the chance for injury.

The horizontal pull exercise is the bent over barbell row. The torso is typically held at a 45 degree angle and we pull the bar to the upper abdomen/lower chest. We learn to sit way back on the heels to maximize hamstring recruitment and minimize lower back stress. Typically we don't go over 5-7 reps per set in this exercise.

The vertical push exercise is the classic shoulder press with a barbell. Shoulder presses are always performed standing and never sitting down.

The vertical pull exercise is the pull-up. By the time my athletes are performing the barbell lifts they are usually able to work sets of 3-5 reps in the pull-up with additional weight.

We perform these lifts practically to exclusion in the early stages. The only strength exercises we perform in addition to these six are glute/ham raises and heavy abdominal exercises. For the barbell lifts we will typically perform 2-5 work sets with a moderately heavy weight. I like to use the "2-reps in the tank rule" and have my athletes stop their set when the feel they have 2 quality reps left "in the tank." This prevents the athlete from experiencing a break down in form due to fatigue and provides an easy way for the athlete to manage their training volume as some days they may be feeling a little better and can push a little harder whereas some days are a bit more reserved. During the work sets we typically perform 5 repetitions but may use 3 rep sets on occasion to allow for an immediate increase in the training load.

When we test strength levels we use what I call an"easy 1RM." I believe this is the safest approach when testing. I allow my athletes to work up in weights performing one repetition then continuing to add weight. The minute I see the bar speed slowing noticeably the athlete stops and that is their "1RM." We usually will not do this until the athlete as a solid year of weight training. I believe testing a 1RM is safer than testing a 3 or 5RM like some coaches recommend. There is less that can go wrong with 1 repetition as opposed to going all out on a set of 3 or 5.

After an athlete has achieved an "easy 1RM" of 1.5 x BW in the squat and deadlift and a 1 x BW in the bench press we may begin adding in variations of the core lifts and prepare the athletes for our more advanced training methods.

Conditioning

Some of my athletes are multi-sport athletes. This presents a challenge when it comes to strength and conditioning work as they don't have an off-season. For instance one of my athletes has football starting late-summer through fall, this runs into school basketball, which overlaps with AAU basketball. AAU basketball typically overlaps with summer football conditioning and practice. I do very little running drills with athletes in a situation like this and focus mostly on the strength work. It is very important that we monitor to training volume and intensity in the multi-sport athlete. It is far better to undertrain than overtrain in a situation like this. Some of our workouts may be spent solely on mobility and recovery work. Typically we determine whether or not an athlete is ready for a heavy training session by testing the vertical or broad jump. We keep PR's in the jump and on a heavy training day, after the warm-up, we'll have the athlete take a couple of jumps. If they fail to achieve 92-95% of their PR they are not training heavy. They may do higher reps, more mobility work or light conditioning work (like sled dragging or kettlebell swings) and save the heavier lifting for a future workout. There is no point in beating an athlete down further is they have not recovered from the last training session or sports event.

We may perform sprints and tempo runs for conditioning work or various agility drills. However many of the athletes I train perform this work at school. I tend to work alternative forms of conditioning into the programs of my athletes and we like sled dragging, kettlebell swings, cleans and snatches and battling ropes drills in particular.

For sled dragging we will typically use a light to moderate weight and perform forward walks, backward walks or bear crawls for distances of 100-200 yards for multiple sets.

Kettlebell drills are great and can be beneficial to any athlete. We like swings, cleans, jerks and snatches (and I usually teach them in that order). I prefer the one arm versions when working with athletes, although we may periodically work in the two arm varieties.

Battling Ropes drills are a great new form of training we've been experimenting with. This is a system developed by John Brookfield and has huge potential in the programming of athletes. Right now we are mainly using various wave drills trying to build a combination of power and endurance. I highly recommend looking into John Brookfield's system for yourself, as John has developed some tremendous exercises with the ropes.

Granted we use some advanced exercises and techniques with older athletes, particularly collegiate level and above. However, this basic approach to strength training and conditioning works quite well for youngsters and is a great template to some older athletes can return to when it is time to rebuild a solid foundation of strength and conditioning.

For more information on optimal strength and conditioning techniques check out my new book: "Optimal Strength Training and Conditioning for Young Athletes" available at: http://www.extreme-fitness.org/information.html