09/13/2022
I was asked to come up with 10 rules for training athletes. Here is what I came up with:
1. Always warm up. There are a ton of physiological and psychological benefits to increasing your blood flow before you train.
2. Think about injury prevention. Some wise person once said that the best ability is availability.
3. Think technique. I love chasing big weights, that's the competitor in me, but when you are working with younger athletes or athletes that are new to the weight room, take your time and teach technique first. This will pay off down the road.
4. Have a plan. When it comes to sports performance, you cannot take the “shotgun” approach. I have seen sport coaches and strength coaches make up practice plans or workouts on the fly and in the long run, it never ends well. Your training should have a purpose.
5. Consistency is key. Young athletes should be training in the weight room anywhere from 2-4 days per week depending on what's going on. A high school football player who is also competing in wrestling may only be able to squeeze in lifts twice a week but a college football player in their offseason can train four days per week.
6. Strength is your foundation. Strength training will improve almost all of your other physical capabilities when you are starting out. Once you get to a certain point, you will need to focus your training on other athletic abilities while maintaining strength. For many athletes, this could take them 4-6 years of consistent training.
7. Train character. If you have the time and ability, teach your players positive character traits that will help them become better people.
8. Evaluate everything. If something goes wrong look at yourself, your program, or your values and make sure that none of them is the culprit before you blame others. If something goes right, still evaluate to make sure what you are doing will be effective moving forward.
9. Use the tools you know how to use. Just because I like to use a hang clean doesn’t mean that you should. I am confident I can teach a hang clean well enough to get the benefits of it. If you don’t have that confidence, use an exercise where you do.
10. My way may not be the best way for you.
