One conversation I have often with my fellow coaching and co-workers is whether the byproducts of lifting weights are worth the time they spend teaching their athletes. At the same time, the answer (like most things in athletic performance) was inconclusive. Many coaches claim that lifting weights isn't a great return on your investment, and in most cases the risks outweigh the benefits. I respect what these people say and I believe that every situation is unique. Teaching 80 high school athletes the strength to hang in a crowded weight room in a 45-minute window of time sounds like the next plot from a mission impossible movie.
Is it worth lifting weights?
I don't think there is, or should be, a one-size-fits-all approach to training athletes, especially the exact variations of exercises chosen by coaches. With that in mind, I also believe that removing weightlifting from a program without trying is a disservice to athletes. I believe that with the right system, adequate support, and effective exercise guidance, weight lifting can be implemented into a program, arguing that the benefits far outweigh the risks. I understand that coaches who tried to include weightlifting in their program but failed because of the logistics, but those who are too lazy to even trust the avoidance excuse are too dangerous or ineffective, "Think again.
The myths that it is safe or absent in weightlifting have largely been debunked, while numerous publications have highlighted the performance-enhancing benefits over the strength and speed of strength development it has to offer. How can we implement these movements effectively, efficiently and appropriately in a comprehensive training program?
Consider
Before we dive into powerlifting, we must first tick the preferred boxes for our athletes. Do we know your injury history? Can they bend, swing, bend, walk, pull, carry, etc. appropriately? Are they mature enough and advanced in training to require teaching these movements? If so, we can take things a little more seriously. Here is your checklist:
- As a coach, do you feel comfortable teaching these movements and performing them yourself? Be honest and don't let your ego get in the way.
- Do you have enough time to properly teach and nurture your athletes through these highly technical moves? If you only see them for a month a year, it might not be worth it.
- Do you have adequate technical staff and supervision for the number of athletes you will encounter? When you're a one-man team running an 800 athlete program in high school, things can get dangerous.
- What is your goal in teaching these athletes and do you have a plan to train them?
- Have you done your research and really understood why you should exercise this way? Don't blindly follow the advice of others without educating yourself.
- Overall, do you think this is a good idea for your program and situation?
When you can be sure that weight lifting will work well with your program, there are a few important keys to implementing in your program that will determine its success.
Easy to use
When it comes to education, complexity simply kills learning. If you give too much clue and thought to athletes while trying to learn a new move, the learning process will stop abruptly. If you overload the movement and allow incorrect techniques to be used, bad habits and injuries develop. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, weight training in all of its forms is a skill. So when we're trying to improve a skill, we need frequency, specificity, progress, and feedback. One of the main reasons programs do not implement weightlifting movements effectively is the lack of one or more of these elements.
This will ensure that you can successfully incorporate weight lifting into your program.
1) Increase the frequency
When I teach my athletes how to hang strength or a variation of it, they do this movement almost every time they enter the weight room. It doesn't mean they load it up a lot or build it up day in and day out. It just means they are exercising more than normal if we schedule it for one day a week.
That's what I mean. Suppose I have three days a week to train my athletes (e.g. Monday, Wednesday, Friday). Maybe Monday is the day you charge the AC adapter for a set number of sets and repetitions. You will get through this smoothly and come on Wednesday. We are definitely not going to do the same because we have to take a different step during the day. What I'll do instead is simply use the clean hanging force with an empty barbell for 3-5 minutes during the warm-up before we begin our main pull for the day. The athlete can decide exactly how many quality repetitions he would like to achieve in this time by asking questions and "lubricating" the groove per se, without really putting additional strain on the volume load. While it may seem small, we are doubling our preparations for the move to hone our skills without virtually deviating from the overall goal of the day's session. If you repeat a similar process on Friday, practice this step for an additional 6-10 minutes per week, 24-30 minutes per month, or 5-6 additional one-hour sessions per year. These small investments pay off tremendously in the long run, as athletes, especially developing athletes, require repetition to be successful. They are trying to learn, and the more opportunities we give them, the better their chance of improvement. Chances are there are athletes who miss a session here and there or have a bad day of training. It is likely minimal or impossible to give them only one opportunity per week to work on a move. Do it right and do it often.
2) make things digestible
Some athletes can learn a full movement with relative ease, while others cannot. One of the most successful methods I've used over the years to teach athletes to clean and shake or pluck is to break them down into different parts, especially complexes. The place to start isn't here or there, but within each move we can create a step-by-step process that athletes can follow so they can figure out how to properly chain things together.
I teach my athletes a unique complex that collapses on the first pull, on the second pull, and catches them with a jump and a fall in between. Some of these partial movements allow athletes to focus on a smaller target at a time, while others force them to take the correct positions. You can pause these movements at will and certainly not be afraid to add extra volume to some athletes in your problem areas. You can benefit a lot from these complexes by seeing where an athlete may have mechanical difficulties or where they may have mobility impairments.
Power Clean Complex # 1
3) Choose your poison
I think what prevents some coaches from teaching weightlifting moves is the abuse of the language they need to teach a move in its entirety or not at all. It's a flawed concept. Therefore:
Can athletes be successful in a sport without taking a single drag or properly cleaning and shaking?
In the same way, they can also successfully perform a specific part or variation of each of these movements. Cranking, cleaning and pulling are just tools in the toolbox that we as coaches use to develop our athletes, although this is an example of mine.
Rarely does an athlete start with the bar on the floor and do a cleaning in the lower position with maximum load. You do not necessarily have to and can get similar benefits from electrical cleaning or other exercise variants. If that's the catch that bothers you as a trainer, well, pull up and shrug if you want to. These are still large variations that can be of great benefit to the athlete in the long run.
A variation in each movement must occur; You won't be supporting squats year round, nor will you need to do hanging energy cleanses year round. Find a way to incorporate these movements into your program effectively and appropriately.
Hang up Power Clean
Hang up Power Snatch
Wrap
Weightlifting is understandably intimidating and as a human performance trainer has nothing to fear. Assuming that an individual has taken due care to understand and has credibility to properly operate such elevators, they should do so. Good athletes are resilient and know as a challenge that nothing is easy, just like training. Be the trainer who shows them what is possible through different training modalities and open the door for them to reach their full athletic potential. Constantly evaluate and evaluate whether the training methods you use can or should be practiced not just for lifting weights but for everything you do. Ultimately, it's not just about what you do as a trainer, but how and why you do things.
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