Olympic Lifting With Young Athletes I was speaking yesterday to a fellow strength and conditioning professional and the question came up “Do you like to do cleans from the floor or from the hang?” Considering that my first experiences with training came at the age of 15 in an Olympic lifting club where we competed regularly in the sport of Olympic lifting, you might just assume that my answer is from the floor. It was what I was first introduced to and where I cut my teeth in training. It turns out though that the answer is not.. More »
Pretend Play for Youth Fitness
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness This subject can actually get quite complex, because we are delving into the inner workings of the developing brain, with billions of neurons. However, as much as we have to learn, we do know some things. I will try to break down this subject of how pretend can be beneficial for development. Everyone knows that kids pretend. It’s often considered a frivolous, useless activity. I find this a curious conclusion. Why would kids all over the world, no matter the culture, engage in pretend play if it was so useless? Why are our brains.. More »
Children’s Health & Lucky Charms – Is This Good or Bad?
[wpfblike] Children’s Health Children’s Health, a new magazine as part of the "Men’s Health" brand, will be released soon. I’m interested. Anxious. Curious. A new and improved trend or more of the same fluff? It’s very easy to throw stones. In fact, one of the biggest lessons my Dad ever taught me was about that particular issue. "It’s easier to throw a brick at a house than it is to build one yourself" Dad’s words have always been a staple in my professional life. So, without opinion, criticism or.. More »
Youth Fitness Professionals: My Job Is To Equip You
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness Professionals There is no real danger in kids performing machine based training under the proper supervision and appropriate guidelines. Many studies done the world over have concluded that strength based training programs done on this kind of fitness equipment is very safe for young children (again under appropriate guidelines). My issue is not whether or not kids CAN perform this kind of training, my question is WHY they need to. Back tracking for a second, I have watched (as I’m sure we all have) a very young baby struggle to get to their feet… More »
Should Kids Participate in Triathlons?
Is it OK for 8 – 10 year old kids to participate in Triathlons? BG Says… While I am 100% heartened by virtually any activity a young person chooses to engage in, it is important to be careful how we direct their efforts in terms of "developmentally-sound" parameters. The essence and need of childhood play (or fitness – they are interchangeable terms) is self-exploration of movement. This movement must be in the style of "free play". Meaning simply, kids must be encouraged to move in a variety of fashions (run, climb, crawl, jump, hop etc) without the.. More »
Prevent Overtraining for Young Athletes
[wpfblike] Young Athletes Programming In far too many situations throughout North America, strength coaches and personal trainers make common errors in their programming for young athletes, many of which can lead to overtraining syndromes – Critical Analysis of Biomotor Ability In working with young athletes, there is very little reason to ever ‘test’ their ability at certain lifts or speed variances. Your programming guidelines must be based around instilling proper execution of technique in your young athletes from a lift and movement economy standpoint. Having said that, gleaning 1, 3, 5 or 8 RM values on.. More »
Youth Fitness & Success
[wpfblike] Youth Fitness Professionals David exudes passion, doesn’t he? And now his passion is being matched with obvious and incredible success. The IYCA truly is different. Its world-class education opens the doors to a market that is among the highest grossing in the entire fitness industry. It guides you through youth fitness business success. David is just one example. Click here to learn what other IYCA Youth Fitness Professionals have to say…
What Inspires You To Work With Young Athletes?
[wpfblike] Young Athletes Give Back The fact that you read my random thoughts every day means a great deal to me. No joke. This has never been a "static" message medium for me. I take great care in drafting the kind of information I think you need in becoming the very best Youth Fitness Coach you can be. And I don’t take the fact you read my daily ramblings for granted. Over the past several days, I’ve recounted some memories I have from the days when I spent all my waking hours in.. More »
Coaching Kids: My Memories – Part 4
[wpfblike] Coaching Kids part 4 Hotel hallways are all I had. 26 figure skaters. No equipment. No facility. I had to learn quickly how to create effective training programs that kept National Team athletes fit and injury free while we toured throughout Europe. Now, you may be conjuring up the image of a group of supreme, specimen-like athletes when you hear the words "National Team". Well, let me assure you, in most sports, "National Team" athletes are great at what they do to be sure, but are not always as gifted athletically.. More »
Kids Coaching: My Memories – Part 3
[wpfblike] Kids Coaching Triumphs Justin was overweight, shy, awkward and without a shred of athletic ability. But he had a ton of passion. Loved baseball. And I mean loved everything about the game. You could see the delight in his eyes and practically feel the joy in his smile when he slid his glove on, picked up a Louisville Slugger or laced up his cleats. This was the kind of kid you flat out just enjoyed being around. Not because he brought a tremendous amount of vocal energy to the field, but.. More »
Kids Coaching: Memories – Part 2
[wpfblike] Kids Coaching is so Rewarding Robert was a born leader. Not the most gifted athlete in the world. Not the strongest kid in the weight room. And certainly not the fastest guy on the field. But he was captain of the #2 ranked high school football team in Illinois and a three year varsity starter for one reason…. He elevated the work ethic of his teammates. And he did so without words. Robert just flat-out worked hard. Every play. Every down. Every moment in practice and games… More »
Kids Coaching: My Memories – Part One
[wpfblike] Kids Coaching teaches us Blake came to me as a quiet, shy and terribly uncoordinated 8th grader. 13 years old and quite tall for his age, I knew the second I saw him that I was going to like the kid. He never said much and certainly had a great deal of difficulty learning how to perform even the most basic of exercises, but he was steadfast in his work ethic and always brought a good energy to the training center. I learned a lot over the years from kids coaching and from Blake… More »
Coaching Young Athletes and my Memories
[wpfblike] Coaching Young Athletes It truly is sad that my full-time coaching young athletes days are behind me. I love to Coach. I love it from every aspect and angle. The relationships you build with your athletes. The friendships you develop with their families. The sense of pride you get from watching your athletes succeed. The feelings of intense dedication you get from working "over-time" trying to figure out how to communicate better with some of the kids in your care. I’ve been blessed to an extraordinary level and will.. More »
Youth Fitness Industry: How to Send The Wrong Message
Youth Fitness Industry If you haven’t already, the recent Time Magazine cover story about the Myth of Exercise is a must read for you. You can access the article here – http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html Here’s the one sentence that caught my attention most: "I have exercised like this — obsessively, a bit grimly — for years, but recently I began to wonder: Why am I doing this? Except for a two-year period at the end of an unhappy relationship — a period when I self-medicated with lots of Italian desserts — I have never been overweight".. More »
Overtraining Young Athletes – Part 2
Young Athletes In my last article on overtraining, I offered the suggestion that as trainers and coaches, we must take a deeper look at how we program for and train our athletes. I have made a career out of advocating for the use of more moderate training intensity and volume with young athletes, but this goes even further – it goes to the route of our programming abilities and skills. How much time do we truly spend in designing, monitoring and dynamically adjusting our training programs? General overtraining syndromes impact both the central nervous system as well.. More »
Overtraining Young Athletes – Part 1
Young Athletes I have long supported the notion that the zeal many Trainers and Coaches show with respect to conducting high intensity training sessions with young athletes is akin to the unsure actor who feels a need to "over-do" his or her role in a given appearance for fear that the audience may disapprove of his acting ability. Almost like a "they paid for it and now I must deliver it" mind set. As a Coach, you sometimes feel as though you must have your athletes walk away from a training session dripping with sweat and barely.. More »
Young Athletes: Are We Too Results Oriented?
Goals of Young Athletes So I was in Long Beach California last week giving a talk at the Perform Better Summit on the state of youth fitness and sports training. I got to the portion of my presentation where I hash out the difference between Principles and Results when it comes to fitness and the objectives we carry for our client or young athletes success. I have long maintained that we are far too results-focused and that, in fact, results are quite easy to achieve when it comes to fitness-related goals. But they are often.. More »
Physical Education Injuries: 150% Increase
Physical Education Injuries alarm bells IYCA Member, Mike Howard, sent me a link to this incredible article. I was floored. Stunned. And completely annoyed. 150% increase Physical Education injuries. Read the article and then be sure to leave me your comments about why exactly you think this has become such a problem. I feel very strongly that I know the answer. And tomorrow I’m going to tell you what it is. But for now, I want to hear your thoughts. Here’s the article: New national study finds increase in.. More »
The Truth About Youth Obesity
Youth Obesity realisations I’m going to start by telling you what very few other people are willing to… … The truth is, there should be no incidents of overweight or obese youths with the exception of those with medical conditions. There should be no excuse beyond that. With daily exercise and attention to proper nutrition, obesity and overweight concerns cease to be problems. As a matter of fact, the one and only solution to youth obesity and overweight conditions lies in exercise and good nutrition. And these things have to become a habit in your.. More »
Favorite Strength Training Exercises for Young Athletes
Strength Training Exercises for Young Athletes Tony Reynolds is a cut above almost every Strength Coach I know. And that’s why he’s 100% in charge of the content for the message board on www.IYCAMembers.com When our Members have questions about training young athletes, their is no one in the world I trust more than Tony to answer them. But not only does Tony answer questions, he also contributes to the message board every day with fantastic thoughts, opinions and suggestions. Tony detailed some of his favorite strength training exercises to use with young athletes last week.. More »