Top 3 Things to Look for in a Youth Training Program
As a coach, our primary focus is reducing our athlete’s risk of injury. The best athletes are the ones that stay healthy and injury free the longest, without setbacks getting in the way of progress. A good way to know if your program is doing this is to look for attention to detail from the coach. Questioning the coach can come off in a bad way, but curiosity and a search for more information will never rub a quality coach the wrong way. Another great thing to look for is the coach’s understanding of recovery methods such as nutrition, sleep habits, and stress-lowering techniques.
The next most important principle of a quality program is attention to detail in the basics. Mastery of the basics is key when developing youth athletes. Keeping movements simple is the best way to ensure that this happens. Avoid flashy programs, or ones that make you sweat without teaching any skill. Look for foundational movements like squats, presses, pulls, and carries. Once those movements have been mastered and the athlete has developed in ability and maturity, then add in lunges, step ups, snatches, and clean and jerks.
Last, is the simplicity of the program. Some good examples of an overly complicated program include
Percentage work: most beginner athletes are not capable of performing a true max lift, therefore any percentage prescribed is just a guess, and beginners adapt at too fast a rate for percentages to matter.
Complicated rep schemes: if your program looks more like an algebra problem than a workout, beware!
Too many exercises: Most youth athletes cannot focus for much longer than 30-60 minutes (depending on age and maturity level), and can’t remember key technique points for more than 3-4 exercises at a time. If your workout has 7 different exercises and lasts for two and a half hours, more than likely the program is just doing babysitting for the last 2 hours, not getting results.
If you are looking for the perfect beginner program, check out my FREE WL101: Beginner Guide + 6-Week Weightlifting Program!
-Coach Brian