Week 1 Preview: #1. How can I maximize my off-season [training] time in 45-minute sessions during my summer weight and performance work?
As a former multi-sport high school athlete, I know how hard it can be to consistently train throughout the year. Whether it’s always being ‘in-season,’ not having access to the weight room, or the coaches being too busy with school and all the sports they are coaching, there are definitely a lot of variables that make it hard to have a great, consistent high school training program.
One of my main career aspirations is to give high school coaches and athletes the most practical tools and resources to solve this problem, and to use the awesome experience I’ve had so far (lead training programs for 2 high schools / Division 1 basketball performance internship) to help these coaches and athletes. To start, I will be putting together content each week that tries to simplify and answer the most common questions I get from high school coaches. Though some of the content will discuss different the over-arching principles and strategies of training, my goal is to provide practical advice that coaches and athletes can implement immediately.
Here is the basic outline to this week’s question:
- Keep it simple
o Strength training: train the fundamental movements
- Power, squat, lunge, hinge, upper push, upper pull, core
o Speed: teach techniques
- Arm action, leg drive, knee drive
o Agility: teach techniques
- Base stance, change of direction footwork (push step, crossover step)
o Conditioning: train based on athlete need and time of year
- What is the athlete’s individual level of conditioning
- Are they in: in-season, post-season, off-season, or pre-season training?
o Nutrition
- Encourage hydration before, during, and after
- Encourage food intake before/after training (carb+protein)
2. Track your progress
o Get baseline (basic testing)
o Plan training around making the athlete successful
o Progress from session to session
The rest of the week I will break down each segment of this answer with the practical ways to achieve success in these areas!
- Strength training
- Speed and agility
- Conditioning
- Basic nutrition
- Tracking progress
- Putting together a 45-minute training session
Please share ANY feedback you have (other questions/what wasn’t clear/what was helpful). Thank you for reading!
