I thought I would take an opportunity to share some insight to what I have been up to in training my athletes, clients, and myself lately. It helps me as a coach to take a step back and evaluate what's working, and what isn't.
Athletes
This fall I had the good fortune to be able to continue working with some of my athletes who have been with me since the beginning of summer. These kids have worked hard since June and the results really are amazing. Most of these guys are skinny kids who were slow, awkward, and weak. Some of these kids are now Hang Cleaning bodyweight for reps of 3 with solid technique, knocking out sets of 30 push ups, and 10+ pull ups. Their speed drills look really crisp and their conditioning levels are solid. Another point to mention is how "tough" these kids have gotten. Through training with heavy weights, challenging circuits, and competitions these kids have built a resevoir of mental toughness that will be exciting to see how they use them in the upcoming season.
So what has been working for these kids:
In the summer, when you have 120 minute sessions four times per week, no homework, and no organized sports, you have lots of freedom in what you want to do with athletes. In the Fall, we now have 80 minute sessions three times per week so it has become crucial that we have no wasted time. For our warmup we do 4-6 movement drills that include various skips, walks, and dynamic stretches followed by pull-ups (3x as many but not to failure), push ups, and either overhead squat practice or 3 sets of light olympic lift technique work. This type of warmup allows for repeition and practice and also to prepare the athlete to have primed his system for the lifts to come later in the workout. I think this type of warmup has been huge. We will do some jumping, some speed, Abs, and lift (not rocket science, just great technique with challenging weights). One day per week, we do the same set up but the lift changes to a circuit. Each circuit is designed to push the athletes limits of focus, technique, strength, and conditioning. A typical circuit might be to push the sled for 25 yards, climb a 20 foot rope, perform 6 goblet squats, and sprint 200 meters. Rest for 30-60 seconds and repeat somewhere between 4-7 times. It's amazing at how taxing these are. I will perform the circuit earlier in the day with my training partners and will lie on the turf for 10 minutes with my chest pounding and these kids will fly through a circuit and walk out the front door as if nothing happened.
Clients
Most of my regular clients come to train 2-3 times per week. I think for them, it is the hardest part of their day. Getting to the gym can be a victory in itself for people who work traditional jobs, so it is up to me to provide them with an exceptional experience to make their trip to the gym as productive and enjoyable as possible. I follow a similar format for their sessions as I do with my athletes. We always foam roll and work on soft tissue, go through a dynamic warmup, followed by adding in either a few sets of basic strength or movement patterns. Once per week we will do a ladder to get them moving their feet quickly (plus they enjoy this) and then it is on to abs. All of the ab drills I do with this population are some sort of a plank, anti-rotation, or anti extension exercise. Then we have a quick rest and water break (during this time I lay out whatever gear will be needed for their workout) and then it is on to the meat of the session. All of my sessions with these folks are a circuit combo of strength exercises, power exercises, mobility drills (active rest), and a conditioning exercise. A sample from last week would be: 100 pound sled drag for 25 yards, 4 T-Pushups, 3 Med Ball Slams, 5 Plate Raise Squats, Side lying Windmill, Med Ball Scoop Toss, and a hip mobility drill. We perform one round, rest for one minute and repeat for a total of 5-8 rounds depending on fitness level of each client.
Teams
I currently have two Select Hockey Teams (12-13 year olds and 13-14 year olds), and one midget youth program that I work with. For these teams, I only see them once per week for 60-75 minutes. With these teams on such a limited time basis, it is crucial that they get a productive session. The format remains the same for the teams as my high school kids for the most part. We do a dynamic warmup, a jumping/landing drill, a speed drill (tennis ball drops are their favorite), some stability abs for a couple minutes, then onto some other work. We will spread them out on the turf and have them go through a circuit of basic bodyweight strength stuff in their own little area where I fly around correcting technique. If they are focused and do everything I ask, we finish with some relay races and other fun stuff.
Myself/Training Partners
For the past 3 weeks, I have trained 6 times per week. Why 6 times? 3 times per week I perform the high school athlete workout. How can I effectively coach and expect things of the kids who come through the door if I can't perform and recover from the same workouts? The other three days per week I do some type of a metabolic circuit because as the months get colder I find myself eating shittier food and drinking more beer than I typically would, so I try to offset that in the gym. Is this sound logic? Not really, I could make better progress doing a better job in the kitchen and cutting back on the moonshine, and not having to train as hard. I guess it comes down to priorities and being in single digit bodyfat just isn't a high priority for me. A tyical training week for me will look like this: every session starts with a foam roll/soft tissue session followed by a dynamic warmup followed by some plyos and speed (which I do three days per week), followed by 8-10 minutes of abs and stretching. Monday is close grip snatch for 6 sets, rear leg elevated split squats for 5 sets and a variation of weighted pullups for 5 sets. Then conditioning for 12 minutes of sprints or slide boards. The rest of the lifts look like this with an explosive/olympic lift followed by two big compound lifts done with heavy weight.
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