As I've evolved as a coach I've really gotten away from some of the old ideas I used to subscribe to. I've always been a big believer in being in great condition. When you're in great shape a lot of issues disappear and guys/girls have more "mental toughness". But, I never really agreed with just running the shit out of kids, or as our basketball staff loves to say, "You can kill 'em today." To which I answer, "Why would I want to run them into the ground? It defeats the purpose of building them up."
In the past I just ran them. I never really ran a lot, but it was something we did in some form 5 days a week all summer. I would often catch myself in the "let's do more for the sake of doing more" mentality. Such a stupid thought process.
Last summer (2018) and this summer I dropped to 3 days of training in June. We lift and run on the same days (Monday and Wednesday - Agility/Friday - "The Hill" for conditioning).
This summer I inserted what I'm calling a Strength Circuit. I think it would be better classified as an Hypertrophy Circuit. We (they) end up doing 15 sets in 14 minutes.
One of the Circuits looks like this:
- Trap Bar: 5x5 (FSL or simply 20% lighter than the percentage we use for our heavy Squat work)
- Pull-ups: 5x10/5 (linemen)
- Press (no leg drive): 5x8
Set 1 starts when I start the clock. At 1 minute we start the second exercise. At 2 minutes we start the third and so on... This is a buttload of work done in a fairly short amount of time.
On Monday and Wednesday we run Agility Drills pre-lift. In total we take 30 minutes to warm-up (about 10 minutes) and then do 4 reps of 4 different drills (about 20 minutes). After the run we come inside and get into the lifting. Each day there is one Main lift, one Supplemental lift and then the Strength Circuit.
The kids are getting in very good shape. How do I know, you ask? Handsome question. Every Friday we run "The Hill". Week 1 no one got 10. Week 2 a little over half got 10. Week 3 everyone finished 10 in under 20 minutes (including the 300lbers).
I have ZERO (0) injuries. No pulls, no strains, no sprains - NOTHING! things are going so well I really don't want to move to the 5 day plan I have, but I'm going to for a few reasons.
- About 20 kids are here right now. I have no worry about them adapting and being ready for camp.
- I should have about 30-40 more kids starting next week. They're not in shape because they will not work very hard at home. I need to get them ready in 4 weeks so doing some kind of conditioning or agility 5 days a week is an easy way to get them as up to speed as I can get them.
- Some of the older kids have been asking if we can do 2 extra running days in June. I'm guessing they probably feel like they "need" to do something 5 days a week. I don't think they need to, but I'm just going to keep everything very short and sweet and throw them the proverbial bone.
Time will tell, but I think I'm going to be able to keep the running to a minimum, save their legs and have them well conditioned for camp.
