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Strength Training ProgramsWhen you send your athletes into the weight room, it is critical to their athletic success that they follow a strength training program that is specific to their needs and also designed for athletes. Just going into the weight room and doing whatever exercises you have equipment for is not an acceptable use of time, energy and resources. In this country, we have developed a ‘body builder mentality’ in regards to strength training for athletes. What I mean by this is that athletes perform lifts and exercises and follow set and rep schemes that are well suited for bodybuilding, but are not appropriate for athletes. Athletes are not body builders and therefore their strength training programs should not follow the same general sets of rules. Primarily, this means lifting in a way that promotes significant gains in muscle mass at the expense of strength gains. This mindset is one of the main reasons that it is so difficult to convince female athletes of the value of getting in the weightroom. They are afraid they will bulk up and ‘look like a guy’. But if done properly, significant strength gains can be obtained with minimal gains in useless body mass. So in order to get the most out of your strength training program, here are a few tips that you must implement into your program, no matter what sport or gender you coach. Start out by perfecting your form and technique. Many athletes are in a rush to throw on the biggest plates they can find as if weight lifting is a competition in and of itself. We have a saying with our athletes: ‘No Egos in the Weightroom’. There is a lot more to gain by holding back and getting your form down. In the long run, not only will athletes avoid injury, but they’ll also be able to lift much greater weights than would be possible if they just try and be a hero in the weightroom from the very first day. For the perfect resource on teaching and learning Olympic Lifting technique, I recommend you check out www.completeolympiclifting.com. Perform functional training. That means that each exercise that you perform in the weightroom should be applicable toward athletic movements. There are certain staples of the high school weightroom that have no use in any sport, but are used as parts of teams’ programs. For example, bicep curls, leg extensions and hamstring curls are exercises that do not aid the performance of athletes in any sport. Exercises in the weight room should be multi joint movements such as squats and deadlifts because that is how the body moves when competing. To learn about functional training program design from one of the best strength and conditioning coaches in the world, Mike Boyle, visit: Get full recovery between sets. Your goal in the weightroom is to gain strength. That means athletes must rest at least 2-3 minutes between sets. If they rest less time than this, they will not recover fully and will be training in a state of fatigue. This will result in gains in muscle mass and size, but will limit increases in strength. Again, if the goal is to get big, then use short rest. But if the goal is to get strong, full recovery is required. Also, don’t use high repetitions. Reps should fall in the 1-6 range for each set. That means athletes should be using heavy weights once they learn the technique for the lift. For more information on program design and understanding how sets and rep schemes impact results, check out: Don’t base your strength training program on outdated training methods when success on the track or in the field relies heavily on the thought that went into improving athletes’ strength levels.
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