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College Strength Coaches Need to Wake UP!


Sorry for the disrespectful title of this blog, but lets be honest, it was the only way you would actually read this blog.

                I would like to touch upon the subject of summer packets for incoming college athletes.  I am getting packets in now from many different schools, some of them are really high level division 1 schools and some are low level division 3 schools.  Either way, there are a few tips that I would like to give you that I think would help in making it easier on other trainers to decode your programs.

1)      A picture is worth a thousand words.  Many of you may have specific names for exercises that you want done. Most of these are not universal names. I am guilty of re-naming exercises all the time.  When I write programs, I provide a youtube clip of myself or staff doing the exercise. It would help our athletes and their trainers if you provided picture diagrams or video links to many of the exercises in your programs.

2)      Simple math.  Some programs I have seen would need a math teacher to figure out the numbers. I have always followed the KISS method when putting together a program for my athletes.  Using percentages from a max is great but to give an incoming freshman a sheet with all numbers on it and expect him to understand it is crazy.  Most of them don’t know how to lift any. Simple sets, reps, and a percentage of weight should be enough

3)      Linear progressions are not always the best way to go.  I had a dad come into my office in a panic.  His daughter, who is very very type A, was following her packet to a T.  He had reviewed it and had an issue. If she were to follow the packet as written, her last week of conditioning workouts would have been three  7hour  workouts!!! This would have been a week before entering camp. As I looked over the packet, the coach literally just copy a pasted the 1st day of conditioning and added another round of their circuit each week.

4)      Match the training to the sport.  We all know that athletes all do the same movements in training : push, pull, squat, rotate, etc. But at least make a team feel they are being cared for. I got a packet that had               XYZ  University Football Summer Program crossed out with a sharpie and hand wrote Girls Lacrosse under it. That’s not cool.

5)      Minimal Options.  I got a program that had about 15 different exercise options for each training exercise. For example it had Upper Body Push in a block and on a separate sheet of paper had a list of about 15 different exercises you could use. I actually really liked this approach, except for the fact that the kid was soooo confused on which to use. I believe with training less is more. Give them maybe 4 or 5 different options for lifts.

 

With this all this being said, I have been training high school athletes for almost 10 years now and have been in fitness for over 15 years. I have met some amazing college strength coaches and have learned a ton from them. I have also seen some wonderful programs and have also learned a ton from those programs. Writing a program for an incoming freshman, you have never met or seen before, is no easy task and I understand that. I applaud you all for the work you do and have nothing but respect for your industry and what you do. We are all fighting the good fight and as in any industry, there are your Greats, Goods, and Ugly’s.  I hope this blog can help the Ugly’s  to improve on their efforts when putting together summer workouts for their athletes.

Thanks  

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