If
your athlete is healthy and not rehabbing any injuries the place to start is
with body weight exercises along with med balls & sledgehammers,
dragging sleds, sand bags and bands (and maybe a few other farm boy
implements). Let’s take it one step at a time, although I am sure you are
wondering how often these kids can strength train. Forget about over
training and over working these kids. Back in the 50’s and 60’s kids did
farm work for 10 hours a day and were stronger than ever! I like doing three
full body workouts on non-consecutive days and then have the kids on their
own perform another two mini workouts. These mini workouts might consist of
no more than few sets of push-ups or the mini workout might consist of
carrying a sand bag for a few sets that last 1 to 2 minutes a set. The goal
is to give them small workouts that raise their overall conditioning, but do
not tire them to the point of exhaustion.
General
Physical Preparedness: If you cannot tell by now, the programs
goal is largely aimed at improving the GPP (general physical preparedness)
of the young athlete. You will be amazed at how simple a workout can be and
yet still be extremely effective. You will also notice that we use bands to
work smaller muscles. I sometimes refer to these smaller muscles as support
muscles. When these support muscles get stronger these young athletes are
able to perform many of the basic exercises such as trap-bar
deadlifts,
t-bar rows, and the bench press more effectively.
Body
Weight Exercises: Here
is a short list of body weight exercises we choose from. You can
arrange the exercises in any order you want. Variety is key as it will aid
in their progress as well as make the workouts highly enjoyable. More on
program design will be discussed later in the article.
• Push-ups and
all variations (you may have to start doing push-ups with the hands
elevated – we do this by placing an Olympic bar on the power rack and
once the athlete can perform 12 perfect push-ups we lower the bar down one
notch).
• Squats and
all variations (split squats, skater squat with back foot elevated on
bench or with back foot off ground for stronger athletes).
• Lunges and
all variations (forward alternating, reverse, walking, lateral).
• Recline
pull-ups (many young athletes can not perform a normal pull-up so we have
them perform these as a substitute – once they can perform 12 recline
pull-ups we can usually start them on normal pull-ups). Description: Place a bar on the power rack
or squat rack that is slightly below the half way position. Get under
the bar with feet and legs extended out in front. Raise your hips
slightly so your body forms a straight line. From here, pull your body
up towards the bar. This exercise is sometimes referred to as a reverse
push up because your form and technique resembles exactly that! Perform
these with a slight pause at the top, squeezing the shoulder blades
together. The entire time you perform the exercise you should keep your
shoulders slightly retracted. This will help you avoid the hunch back
position and helps you work the upper and mid back through the entire
duration of the exercise. To increase difficulty elevate your feet on a
bench.
•
Pull-ups/Chin-ups and all variations (constantly change the grip on every
set) – if an athlete can only do 1 or 2 pull-ups, we encourage them to
Grease the Groove (GTG) – on their “off” days they will do 1 or 2
pull-ups at a time spread out during the course of the day. Each time they
perform a set they are fresh and strong. By the end of the day they may
have done 10, 15 or 20 total reps! This is an excellent way for improving
strength and technique. We use GTG with push-ups as well.
• Sit-ups –
lock feet under a couch or two dumbbells (this engages hip flexors which
are often weak points as well).
• Parallel bar
dips (if there is a play ground with parallel bars we have the athlete
walk with their hands on the bars).
• Knee
raises/leg raises on parallel bars (hold the upright position of dips and
raise the knees, as you get stronger raise the legs out in front of the
body).
• Superman
variations (lay on stomach and raise both arms with thumbs up, raise both
arms and legs simultaneously, raise opposing arm and leg and then repeat
with other side).
Medicine
Balls & Sledgehammers: Another great tool is the use of medicine
balls . Our athletes throw these against concrete walls or for distance
in an empty parking lot or field. Sometimes they slam the medicine balls
down into the ground for high reps or a prescribed amount of time. The
athlete can push them forward like a chest pass, throw over head like a
soccer throw in, push overhead straight up towards the sky while coming out
of a squat position, throw them backwards over the head. These exercises can
also be done with rotational movements. Don’t be afraid to think outside
the box as long as the movement is safe! If you want to replace some of the medicine
ball exercises try using a sledgehammer!
These will toughen up their grip and get their conditioning through the
roof! The sledgehammers overhead work hits the legs, back, shoulders,
abs, arms and grip! You can also do rotational/side swings!
Dragging
Sleds: We use a dragging
sled for our young athletes so they can work the posterior chain,
especially the glutes, hams and lower back. But remember, the posterior
consists of the entire back of the athlete’s body not just the legs! We
use two different ropes here. Sometimes we take a tow strap and loop it
through a weight belt and have the kids walk forwards, backwards or
laterally. We also use a rope shaped like a “Y” (used for jet skiing).
The athletes can now hold the rope behind their back while walking forward,
or extend arms in front and drive forward to get extra work on the shoulders
and triceps. If you use a moderate weighted dragging sled, the
athlete can walk backwards and retract their shoulder blades at the same
time to work the upper and mid back. You can also perform a chest pressing
type motion with the Y rope as well as a rowing motion. Kids love the sled
work and I encourage them to find a tire and loop a chain and rope to the
tire for more dragging on their own.
Sand
Bags: Another implement we use is a sand
bag. For the beginning lifter we don’t do anything except carry the sand
bag for time or distance. After an appreciable amount of strength has
been achieved you can start including a ton of exercises with the sand
bag such as squats, lunges, over head presses, rotations, sand bag
throws, Romanian deadlifts, bent-over rows, clean & press and many more!
I leave the sand bag on the ground so they can perform a
squat/deadlift type motion for picking the weight up and they do the same
motion at the end of the set.
Jump
Stretch Bands: Another favorite tool we use is Jump
Stretch Bands. These are mainly used for doing face pulls to work the
upper back. We start with a mini band and they quickly work up to the purple
band. We will usually wait until they can perform two perfect sets of 25
reps with a mini band before moving up to the purple. I have found that this
exercises has played a major role in aiding their deadlift form and
strength! They can also do good mornings with a band, and when they get very
strong they can do push-ups with the band (place it behind back and grab
each end with your thumbs).
On
a final note, keep the training FUN! Kids want fun workouts so make sure
they are in an upbeat environment. Always have them leave the workout
feeling like they could have done more. This gives them the energy and
excitement to want to do the little extra work on their own as well as
looking forward to the next session. Let them bring in their own music and
train them in small groups. The group dynamics add to the atmosphere as well
as allowing them to learn from one another (critiquing form and helping each
other understand the how and why of each exercise).
If
implemented correctly, these tools can sky rocket a young athlete’s
success level on the playing field. You have also given them the best gift,
which is that of their health. With so many adolescents over weight and
obese it is an honor and a gift to be able to transform their body into fine
tuned performance machines!
Zach
Even – Esh is a strength and performance coach in NJ. He is the owner of
Zach Even – Esh Performance Systems, LLC. To learn more about Zach’s
methods visit his web sites at: www.CombatGrappler.com
and www.UndergroundStrengthCoach.com
