Things I Find Effective in Training Athletes

Below are some random thoughts that I find effective when training athletes.

1. Right now a lot of guys that I train are playing Fall Select hockey in Massachusetts. I have found it effective to make small deals with them after their last session of the week before their weekend tilts. We set a goal, for example, Ed Nolan of BC High fame and I set a goal for last weekend of 3 points and zero penalties for the 2 games he was going to play in. Score 3 points and I have to do 10 burpees. Get zero penalties and I do an additional 10. However, if he gets 1 penalty, he does 10 burpees and 10 for each additional penalty. He also does 5 burpees for every point under 2 that he gets. I think this teaches a solid lesson about having a goals for games, and I am now trying to have guys set goals for their upcoming seasons.

2. Like Mike Boyle explains in his writing. It is easier to teach guys how to close grip snatch than teaching them to clean. The catch position of the clean requires wrist and forearm flexibility that comes with time but almost anyone without a history of shoulder conditions or being a baseball guy can come in and snatch with decent instruction.

3. It may be better to have one heavier olympic lift during the week and one lighter technique day where we focus on bar speed. Two heavy Oly-Lift days seem to drain quite a bit from guys.

4. I trained 24 athletes this summer for 12 weeks. I have a group of those guys back for the fall. I think only about 5 of them bench pressed all summer. Young guys need to be able to do sets of pushups and even loaded pushups before we start loading up the bench press.

5. Some kids respond best to different coaching styles. If athlete A is setting up for a big lift or chalking up for a set of Cleans, I know that saying "jeez, thats a lot of weight, I don't know if you will get it," he will tell me to cordially go F myself by nailing some pretty aggressive reps. However a different kid will dial it up if I keep it positive and pump up his tires a bit.

6. I have taken some of the cardio-strength training complexes that Coach Dos has in his book, "Power Training" and have started sprinkling them in on Thursdays and challenging guys to see who can complete the most rounds in a given time. This week we did an unloaded 45lb barbell complex. It was 3 high pulls, 3 push presses, 3 reverse lunges each leg (6 total). Set a stopwatch for 10 minutes and see how many times you can get through it. My best was 21 times. My glutes are also toast today. I think it provides a nice conditioning effect and also is a mini deload from lifting heavy.