2 Mistakes In Training Young Athletes.
Respected coach Mike Boyle provides insights on building a solid foundation for our athletes, including common mistakes that we need to avoid.
If you coach young athletes at any level, you are in for a treat this week. We have some input from one of the most respected and insightful coaches in the field on building a solid foundation towards athletic performance.
First, a little backdrop. It is becoming more and more commonplace for young athletes, especially 12-13 and older to build their armor off the field in preparation for their participation on the field. While the intentions are positive, the standards are not consistent. The foundation for coaching performance often falls outside the area of expertise of the skills coach, and many are trusted who …well, don’t always have the expertise to accommodate the needs of today’s young athlete. More on that in a minute.
2nd: while skills coaches’ responsibilities have grown exponentially over the last 20 years, strength and conditioning coaches (also known as movement or performance coaches) become very important contributors.
3rd: there are university degrees in movement science (kinesiology), there are certifications and accreditations in strength & conditioning, but the best bring together science, ongoing learning and experience. Which also creates a grey area in latching on to what is best for our athletes.
If you were to define a hall of famer, words such as ongoing contribution to an activity or field of practice come to mind. Mike Boyle would fall into that category based on his depth of experience and longevity in the field. His bio is easy to find. What the bio does not say may be the most important attribute to his hall of fame credentials, his willingness to learn.
In a recent article on functional training, Coach Boyle had many interesting insights that all coaches should consider.
I think as strength coaches we are stuck in the “Why can’t we just do what we have always done?” mode. I prefer to look at it as “What if the way we always did it was wrong?” I know that what I learned about anatomy, and subsequently what I learned about muscle function, in 1979 was either not true or partially true. I can take that information and use it to my and my athlete’s advantage, or I can continue to use the same program we used 10 or 20 years ago.
On the topic of balancing training programs between an athlete’s weaknesses and training their strengths?
I’m not sure I like the term “corrective exercise.” I think we always need to work on weaknesses; however, we see weakness as pretty generic. Most athletes are weak posteriorly. The posterior chain is a weakness and upper back strength is a weakness. I also think most athletes don’t do enough proper core training, so we do a lot there.
I think the key is simple: You need a properly designed program. If this means that these exercises are corrective, then I am a strong believer in corrective exercises.
We also want to balance knee- and hip-dominant work. Most coaches are very squat-oriented and really neglect the posterior chain. In the same way, most coaches are also very push- or press-oriented. We again try to balance our pushing and pulling.
In our world, we like balance. I want an athlete who can bench press, hang clean, and split squat (two DB rear-foot-elevated) with the same weight. If you can bench press 300, you had better be able to hang clean it and split squat with 120s in each hand. In addition, if you bench 300, you had better be able to do five reps in the chin-up with about 250 pounds (bodyweight plus external load on a dip belt).
Your core program should have anti-extension, anti-lateral flexion, and anti-rotation exercises. We have comprehensive programs, not individual corrective stuff. As for other “corrective” stuff: I probably see things like bridges, etc. as specific warm-ups. Maybe not corrective in nature, but rather, turning on the right muscles pre-workout.
On the topic of evolution in functional training in the last 10 years:
Ten years ago, I was still seeing programs where unilateral training involved doing leg extensions one leg at a time to isolate the quads. Think about this: Dynamic warm-ups, foam rolling, and core work have become widely accepted in the last decade. Ten years ago, most people walked into the weight room and started lifting. Core work was 100 sit-ups or crunches at the end of the workout.
Think about what we now know about breathing, core training, spine mechanics. Ten years ago, coaches were telling athletes that flexion was the key to preventing back pain. Now we know it’s the cause. Ten years ago, most coaches had never seen a foam roller or thought about any type of soft tissue intervention.
I love this quote: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
I have the benefit of having cross over in multiple worlds. A parent, a skills coach and strength and conditioning coach. I have also worked with many in the equipment supply business and it always amazes me how easy it is to find an argument on social media between performance coaches spouting their programming as the best.
It’s worth repeating from Coach Boyle:
“What if the way we always did it was wrong?”
If your young pitcher is being told to run distance after their outing, if your hockey playing son/daughter is being asked to do speed work at the end of a 1 hour practice, if your athlete is being asked to go to crossfit or have a large Olympic lift programs without accommodations, well “what if these are wrong or harmful?”.
Context is everything. I reached out to Coach Boyle this past week and asked him:
Coach, what 1 or 2 things do you see happening in training young athletes that are misguided?
Coach responded within minutes:
1- Not realizing they are young and not remembering they are athletes.
They aren’t mini-adults and they aren’t training to be powerlifters or middle distance runners.
2- Not having a process.
Everything should be a progression. Sprints, plyos, strength. All step by step.
Beginning at the beginning.
There you have it, from one of the best in this field.
The mistakes above give program directors, skills coaches, parents and young strength and conditioning coaches the criteria for adding the expertise that will bullet proof your athletes and prepare them to exceed the demands of the competition.
Sample questions before your son/daughter go to a local strength coach or participate in the local elite programs:
Simply having questions puts you as a skills coach, parent, athlete and program director in better position than most.
a. Provide an example of something you learned recently that was different than you originally thought and how have you applied it to your programming?
b. What are the components of your process of progression for your athletes. (This should include some form of assessment and follow the guidelines mentioned in point 2 above).
c. What is your philosophy on loading resistance to a new young athlete to your program?
d. What would be a positive outcome for one of your young athletes after 3 months in your program?
Thanks to Coach Boyle and to all the strength and conditioning coaches who are tirelessly learning, trying, conversing and focusing on improving the abilities of young athletes.
Let’s step back from pushing how much we know or 1 way of doing things.