Over the last two weeks I've had time to remember why I love coaching. We finish Finals tomorrow and I'm already thinking about 5 weeks from now when we start back up in January. Don't get me wrong. I need/want the break. It's just nice to know that with a little down time my mind still gets excited about what I do for a living.
A few weeks ago I wrote a post about our Take Home Workout and the first 3 week phase of winter training we'll do when we get back.
In the process of writing programs I always look at the resources I have available. I've developed a system that works and I'm confident in. Part of that development was looking at other programs for ideas (organization of lifts, length of lifts, number of exercises, etc...). This year was no different. I'm lucky because I have some great GA's who have been to some different places as Interns. At my disposal are the 2012 Alabama program, the 2013 Michigan program, the 2014 Ohio State program, this year's South Carolina program, this year's Army program, my 1998 Arizona program, as well as the various programs I've written over the years.
It's interesting to look at and study these. When you break them all down, everybody does the same thing. Alabama and South Carolina lift 3 days a week (South Carolina does some periods of 4 day workouts, too). Michigan, Ohio State and Army lift 4 days a week. And when I played we lifted 4 day a week.
Everyone has their own progression. Some are pretty planned out (like mine) and others are/seem more loose. But, there's a plan, despite how loose it seems.
Alabama and South Carolina do a TON of work, on paper. In reality, they usually get through about 1/2 to 3/4 of what's written on the workout. Basically, they get through the really important stuff and if they get to the rest it's a bonus.
Ohio State, Michigan and Army don't have as much written on paper, but they do get through all of it. I've seen OSU and Army workout. We have a football coach on staff who played at Michigan and he's shared what they did.
I've always been someone who believes that college athletes can handle an insane amount of work. For me, I always try to make sure that all bases are covered when it comes to a training session/week.
Every training session includes these ideas:
- Dynamic Warm-up
- Explosive Movements (Jumps, Olympic Lifts)
- Power/Strength Movements (Squat (variations), Deadlift, Pressing (variations)
- Horizontal/Vertical Pulling
- Hamstring Pull Prevention
- Neck/Trap Work
- Single-leg Work (ACL Prevention)
- Ab Work
- Mobility Work
- Static Stretching
This is a lot of crap! Some of it probably isn't necessary every day. But, if someone gets hurt I can point out that we hit everything necessary and it covers me.
The cool thing is that there are a bunch of things that hit multiple areas. For instance, jumping. This covers explosive movements, quickness, speed, power, ACL prevention, hamstring prevention, balance/body control.
I've also had the chance to see Stanford's Volleyball program (our head coach is a "flavor of the month" guy. Whoever he goes to see in the off-season is the "next greatest thing" every semester. This battle, I do not fight. In the four years I've been here he's always wanted a different program every semester. This is as dumb as it gets, but to quote my boss, "It's his job on the line. Not yours."
Nonetheless, I've had a chance to see all of these programs first hand. It's interesting because my concepts are very similar to all of these programs, including Volleyball. There are obviously some differences, but if you look at the meat and potatoes, they're all the same.
I wrote all of this to say that as a young coach you need to look at other people's programs. What you should NEVER do is just copy and paste it. Take the time to study it and try to understand it. You don't have to get every fine detail, but you should get to the point where you're very comfortable with it because you understand it.
From there, try to take ideas/concepts and fit them into your philosophy. If it doesn't fit into your philosophy you have to then look at your beliefs and see if they need to be adjusted/adapted. Be critical of yourself. Five years ago I never did some of the things I do now. But, through examination of other's programs and a tremendous amount of research and reading I've expanded my philosophy.
As a young coach you may not have a real philosophy, yet and that's ok. You should constantly look at what you do and why you do it. Go back and look at some of the first programs you've written. Compare them to what you write now. If you take the time you'll start to uncover "what you stand for" when it comes to training. That is the beginnings of you philosophy. As you continue to progress you can compare your program to what your philosophy is - it's a self-check system. As you learn more you may have to expand your philosophy. If you're like me, you'll end up believing in things that you never thought you would.
I can look back at my programs from when I first got back into S&C back in 2012. Although my programs have evolved, I can see the core of my beliefs hasn't changed. New ideas have been added, but the foundation remains intact,
What do I mean? Six years ago I believed in Olympic lifting, Squatting, Deadlifting, Benching and Pressing with a lot of RDL's, Rows and Pull-ups. This hasn't changed. What I've gotten better at is adding in the "fluff" that can enhance my core program - mobility work, injury prevention movements that can be used as general strength building movements and pairing the core movements with assistance movements to try and get the most bang for your buck.
I used to be a upper body/upper body superset guy. Now, I use the upper/lower superset. When I'm wanting to try and ruin their day it's the upper push/upper pull/lower superset or the lower (quad)/lower (hamstring)/upper superset.
None of this is groundbreaking. I'm just trying to illustrate that as my philosophy has evolved I've been able to stay true to my beliefs while improving my overall program.
For me, it's been cool to see my evolution as a coach (x's and o's). Not on purpose, I've stayed true to my core beliefs while incorporating a whole bunch of new ideas. All this tells me is that I have strong core beliefs on training.
Hopefully, this hits home with some of you and maybe it can help. When in doubt, put some weight on the bar and try out those new ideas. The only way to really learn is to do it. Reading is important and absolutely necessary, but reading never got me stronger.
I was wondering how much emphasis you put on form — especially on the bench press. Thinking back to my HS/ college days there was a lot of sloppy form and bouncing the bar off of our chests (no eccentric). And when you watch YouTube videos of NCAA athletes setting “team records” at big schools, there seems to be a lot of sloppy form goin around.
So, as a respected and well travelled coach and — more importantly — a former elite power lifter — how to you balance the the need for good form and injury prevention on max lifts with the college athletes compulsion to just “grip it and rip it”?
Once a semester, at the least, I reteach what I'm looking for. Truthfully, I could rip them on every set they do. This becomes very negative and the athlete can get frustrated. Hence, the 80% Rule. If it doesn't look like they're going to tear something off, I'll let it go, but make note of it.
I have been known to make an athlete squat or bench all of their sets with 10lb bumper plates until I get correct form. That usually sends the message to everyone for a little while.