by Wil Fleming, IYCA Director of Sport Performance If the qualities of our athletes are like buckets—ones that can be filled to the brim or only half full—the strength bucket is often the most important bucket. If the strength bucket grows larger, all other buckets can grow larger, as well. To think of it another way, if an athlete works on max strength and takes their back squat from 250 lbs. to 400 lbs., the max rep set at 200 lbs. is likely to see an improvement as well. In this way, the strength bucket can improve the work capacity.. More »

By Dave Gleason, IYCA Director of Youth Fitness Coaches and trainers love working with team sport athletes live to get after it in their training sessions. You know the type: you give them a cue to correct an exercise or activity and bam…they listen, they absorb, and they transfer that information into a more efficient movement. The type of internally-inspired young athlete that gives everything they have for each training session is a dream come true—right? What are the odds of coaching these types of younger athletes 100% of the time? What is the mark of a great coach? How.. More »

By Keith Cronin,  DPT, OCS, CSCS Being on the end of rehabilitation, injured athletes cross my path daily. Now some (around 50%) are simply the result of misfortune: sprained ankle sliding into second base, torn ACL from a lineman collapsing on his leg, or a collision on the volleyball court resulting in a rotator cuff tear. Simply put: crap happens. Then there are the other 50% 1. These athletes suffer from injury are the result of: Overtraining Undertraining Poor body mechanics Improper training routines Poor lifting technique Pushing through pain/injury Ignoring warning signs of problems These are things that perhaps.. More »

By Eric Cressey, MS, CSAS One of the biggest mistakes coaches make in training young athlete is just treating them like they’re adult clients. Obviously, this line of thinking is incorrect for a variety of psychological, physiological, and biomechanical reasons, but perhaps none stands out as more significant as their different postural demands on a daily basis. Adult clients spend a big chunk of their days sitting in flexion, and often need more extension – especially through the thoracic spine – in their daily lives. Many trainers are, as a result, terrified of including any flexion-based core training in their.. More »

by Dave Gleason If you want to start a business in Youth Fitness or become the expert in your area, this is the next best step…

Become a Youth Fitness Specialist today, like our Coach of Distinction! This can be YOU!

by Shane Fitzgibbon, B.Sc., NCSC, FMS, YFS, HSCS, YNS, YSAS Taekwon-do Instructor & Strength & Conditioning Coach This blog post is being written as I reflect on all the recent articles I have read about youth obesity spiralling out of control in Ireland, as well as the reports on young athletes being burned out at ever- increasing rates from exhaustion and/or injury. While these are opposite extremes of the scale, I believe they are opposite sides of the same coin. The issue is lack of education (or perhaps even lack of caring) on what exercise professionals can offer. While both.. More »

Fun Agility and Strength Training by Shawn Manning Movement is crucial for these kids as they sit daily for long periods of time. So we feel that it is our responsibility to give these youth athletes the opportunity to move, and more importantly teach them to move correctly. In that movement comes positive coaching. Helping classmates in school, on the bus, at practice or anywhere. Our goal is to not only help these youth athletes create a healthy lifestyle, but to help them realize that they can make a positive impact on anyone. “Be the good in the world that.. More »

by Wil Fleming Female athletes are one of my favorite “subsets” of athletes I get to work with. The reasons are plenty but in no particular order: They are typically less tied to the egomaniacal pursuit of more weight. They have usually less experience with “bad” training. They are typically better movers at a young age compared to males at the same age. Most importantly is the recipe for a young female’s success is quite simple, keep them moving well, and get them strong. I first learned this as a collegiate athlete, where the females that came to the track team.. More »

By Jim Kielbaso Because acceleration is such a vital part of most sports, plan on devoting a significant amount of practice time to developing this trait. Always explain that a drill is intended to work on acceleration and that adequate rest periods will be given between sets. During speed and agility training, some athletes will simply try to get through the workout rather than giving 100% intensity on each drill. While this kind of pacing may get an athlete through a workout, it will never allow for optimal speed development. If the athletes understand that this particular portion of the.. More »

by Haley Perlus, PhD Author’s note: When you read this article, in addition to enhancing the performances of the athletes you coach, relate the information to your personal performance and success in sport, health, and business. There’s a fabulous video being shared online right now about a high school girl, named Kayla Montgomery, who is an award-winning long distance runner even though she’s battling Multiple Sclerosis. MS is a disease of the central nervous system that disrupts information between the brain and body. It’s basically your body’s immune system attacking it’s own nerve cells. MS symptoms include fatigue, gait difficulties,.. More »

by Keith Cronin If you are a coach or trainer you have probably heard this answer from a healthcare provider when you ask a question as simple as, “How hard can I push an athlete after rotator cuff surgery?” And whether it is a rotator cuff, a patellar tendon, or perhaps a strained neck muscle, you probably want to know more about your athlete’s injury and what you can do to help prevent problems in the future. Seems like a simple answer. Right? The problem is “Well, it depends…” takes a long time to explain if you are a physician,.. More »

Become a Youth Fitness Specialist today, like our Coach of Distinction! This can be YOU!

by Keith Cronin, PT No one likes being injured. Every fitness professional, strength trainer, and coach is intimately aware of this fact. Hurt clients are not showing up for training and injured athletes are “riding the pine.” Your job most likely revolves around a lot of “P” words: Supporting the possibility of winning the big game. Progress towards achieving a clients desired weight goal. The potential of making someone healthier or more athletic. Being a part of an individual’s perseverance to be happy in all their fitness or sporting endeavors. And then someone gets hurt. Oh no, now everyone is.. More »

by Wil Fleming, CSCS, YFS For most coaches, if you give them a goal—whether as different as fat loss, strength, hypertrophy, or vertical jump improvement—that individual can quickly come up with a program that will lead a client to that particular result. We know the sets and reps. We know the rest times. We know the movements that can get an athlete or client to those goals. It is part of our profession and likely something we learned fairly early on in our college or post-collegiate education. Say that goal is not fat loss or hypertrophy, but improved speed. Then.. More »