Take Home Manuals are always fun.  For Fall sports they're starting their new training cycle right now (preparation for next fall).  For anyone involved in collegiate strength and conditioning you know that it's hit or miss if the athletes will actually follow the program.  There are always a few that just follow it to the letter, don't ask questions, don't argue - they just do.  Miraculously, they always seem to make the best progress.  It's so crazy how that works?  I still can't figure it out.

And then you have he chuckleheads that still do "chest"...  Or the crowd that have their personal terrorists (term stolen from Buddy Morris) that are just trying to sell training sessions.  They woo these kids with fads and gimmicks and insult the collegiate strength coaches as if we don't have a clue and they are the gift to training.

I can't rip all of these people because I know that some of them are very good at what they do.  I also know that some of them will run the program that's been sent home by the strength coach.  They may make a few tweaks here and there, but they run the spirit of the program.  This is actually good for the athlete.  If they do the program they were given, they're ready for the next phase of training when they get back on campus.

It also makes it much easier for the collegiate strength coach because if they do what they're supposed to do we will know exactly "where they're supposed to be" when it comes to readiness for training.  Sadly, this doesn't happen often.  As cool as an annual plan sounds (in theory) we all reside in the real world where annual plans simply can't be administered as they were intended.

I do think that big football schools that go on to Christmas-New Year's bowl games can utilize an annual plan much more effectively than those of us who don't work at that level.  With the rest of the sports, I just think they're away from us to much for a true annual plan to be implemented properly.  This is just my opinion.

Like most, I feel like I've continued to get better at using the ideas of the annual plan as I put together workouts for when I do have hands on the athletes.

Here are the things that I go through as I put together a Take Home Training Manual.  As I mentioned earlier, in my head, the new training cycle starts after their last game.  For Fall sports, it should start in late November/early December.  For Winter sports it should start in March/April.  For Spring sports it should start in late May/June.  Obviously this is dependent on whether they make conference championships or national tournaments, but you can figure that out.

Whenever the season ends this is what's in my head:

  1. Probably lost muscle mass/strength/speed/power.
  2. Mobility has been decreased.
  3. Possible injuries to contend with.
  4. Not in weight room shape.

Loss of Muscle Mass, Strength, Speed and Power

It's very hard to keep muscle mass on athletes in-season.  Especially in sports where the weight room isn't preached and treated as importantly as it should be/as it is.  Common sense will tell you that when you lose muscle mass, loss of strength, speed and power will soon follow.

Project #1 is to rebuild muscle mass.  This is simple and we all know how to do it - lighter weights and higher volume.  Going back to #4 - Not in weight room shape - I think it's important to start the new training cycle with moderate volume to get them back into weight room shape.

The first 2-3 weeks of my take home workouts are just that - moderate volume.  It's not moderate compared to what they're used to in-season, but it's moderate and it gives their bodies a chance to get accustomed to the weight room again.  The last 2-3 weeks are what one might consider high volume.

Loss of Mobility

Even though we spend a lot of time working on mobility, flexibility and movement they will lose some during the season.  Games, practice, bus trips... all of that takes it's toll.  We spend about 10 minutes at the beginning of workouts with thorough warm-ups and about the same at the end with cooldowns.

This portion of the workout is emphasized in the Take Home Manuals.  They have the General Dynamic Warm-up and specific mobility drills that they are supposed to perform at the beginning of every workout.  Do they do it?  There is also a specific mobility routine they are to perform at the end of every workout along with some static stretching.

The cool thing that I have noticed about all of this is that you really don't have to do it perfectly.  Obviously, doing it correctly, with purpose is always better.  But just doing it does help.

Injuries

These suck!  There are a bunch of athletes that can just do the standard program and continue the rehab exercises that the Athletic Training staff has given them.  But, there are occasions where they need a special workout.  This workout and their rehab needs always take precedence over the "normal" workout.  I sit down with the AT staff and make sure we're all on the same page when these kids head home.

The other portion to the injury puzzle is to set up little workouts that athletes can add to their workouts to address injuries.  I have neck and shoulder health, knee health and lower back health workouts that will supplement and address injury areas.

These are usually 3-5 exercises done for higher reps (10-20) for 2-3 rounds.  Just something they can add on at the beginning or end of each main workout.  Nothing fancy.  I talk with the AT staff and choose exercises that they like to use so that the kids can see that we are in constant communication with each other.  We know what's going on with them.

Not in Weight Room Shape

When they finish a season they're generally in good shape for their sport.  Weight room workouts are dropped to 2x per week and are generally shorter than off-season workouts.  Even though they're not out of shape, their weight room conditioning isn't good.  This is mentioned above.

Getting them (especially the guys) to understand that being sore isn't cool is next to impossible.  Coming in and burying themselves probably isn't the end of the world, but it's not good.  Do they listen?

At the end of it all, I get my hands back on them after 2-3 months of being left to their personal terrorists or their own devices.  The hard lesson I'm still learning is that I can't control them when I don't have hands on them.  I have to stop thinking I can and worrying that I can't.

For Spring sports this is a time we should have hands on them.  It's their last chance for building muscle and strength before their season starts.  I understand all the nonsense that goes along with rules and being a college athlete...  We should still have hands on them (Baseball, Softball, Track for us) at this time of year.

Since we don't, it's more of the same.  Send them home with a plan and hope they follow it.  If they don't there's little we can do in the 3-4 weeks we have with them before they start their season other than get them back on the right path.

The next Act will be an overview of the second phase of off-season training (Fall sports).  I'll also cover a little bit of what we do for our Spring sports at this time of year.