Getting The Most Out Of The Weight Room

Injury prevention starts in the weight room. Of all the benefits of the weight room, that is one of the biggest reasons to have your players in the weight room. Of course there is the camaraderie, team building, competition, strength and conditioning, and more. But getting the most out of your weight room sessions seems to be a lost art.

Depending on where you are in the country, your weight room work will determine when and how often you can get your players in the weight room. But how many times have you heard as a coach..."coach, is winter or summer weight room mandatory?" my response was always,"nope, but neither is your playing time. Your choice" I have also talked to many coaches who have asked how often should your players be in the weight room, what kind of training should they be doing, any advice, etc. Like I said, teams in California have different sports seasons and rules for their teams. Teams in NH have MUCH different rules and seasons for their teams and I am sure NC, PA, ID etc., all have different rules.

What matters is what you are teaching and training your players to do and how to get the maximum returns out of their weight room sessions whether they are only during the winter, spring or all year long.

I understand that some high school programs have very humble weight rooms and some look like a D1 College team. Some teams have world class strength and condition coaches come in and others have their HC do it. I have been in and seen both and everything in between, and as I said, what matters is how you coach your players, proper instruction and the "Y's. Yes, "Y's. Why are we hear, why are working out at 6:30AM, why are doing all of this when everyone else is on vacation, why am I doing these exercises, etc. The "Y" is as important as 4th and goal and the reduction of injuries.

I have some guidance and advice I am going to share to help you get the most of your teams time in the weight room whether it looks like PSU or your local small town HS. So lets get into it.

Some of the benefits of team weight room training

• Team Chemistry

• Teamwork

• An opportunity to welcome and engage the young bucks

• An opportunity to set, discuss and reinforce standard. (You must have a standard or your chances of winning are greatly diminished)

• INJURY PREVENTION!

• Strength and Conditioning

• Competition & Team Building

• Building that 4th QTR switch.

Some of the challenges

• Your players are dual or tri-sport athletes and can only make so many days or not at all. This is tough with your starters but opens an opportunity for others to stand up to be leaders

• Humble weight rooms versus top of the line weight room

• Other sports using the weight room at the same time your in their

• Young Team limited or no leadership

• Distractions

• Being Unfocused

• Idiocy

You get the point. So lets outline some things to maximize your team weight room sessions

• HAVE A PLAN! What are you doing. What is your objective. Your objectives should be different for each season, winter, sprint, summer, etc.

  
  

• One size DOES NOT FIT ALL! Your players should NOT all be doing the same workout. Lineman must be different than QB's. Why? The QB is different type of athlete using different muscles than a linemen or any one else for that matter. Same for LB's, RB's, WR/DB's, etc. You must customize your work out exercises based on position/skill groupings otherwise kids can get hurt and you will not maximize their gains.

• Workout exercises should be focused on the time of season i.e. winter is ideal for strength training, spring..switch to more strength and conditioning, summer, strength, conditioning and cardio, Fall hybrid, etc.

  
  

• Super Set your sets. What is super setting? Doing one muscle group exercise for one set, then immediately do another type of exercise using a different muscle group. For example, One 10 rep set of incline dumbbell bench then, one set of 10, tricep extensions. Repeat. Do 3 or 4 super sets of this combo exercise, etc. to complete a "Set". Do this with many of your exercises or at least the ones that make sense. You would be surprised. This will not only optimizes time, you will incorporate HIIT and get a better breakdown of muscles and gains.

  
  

• The workouts should be timed. Not to rush, but the HC should outline how long each work out should take each athlete. Todays work out schedule should take X amount of time. If you are to far ahead or behind, you are either rushing/cheating or screwing around and not getting your work out done.

• Your workouts should be blocked. This means, in this 20 minute block we are doing exercises 1-5. Block 2 is another 20 minute block and will be exercises 6-10, etc. This keeps things moving and on time.

  
  

• Proper grip. YOU MUST teach your athletes to use proper grip in all of their exercises. Grip is key to not only gains, but also doing the exercise properly and heavier weights. You would be surprised what proper grip will enable you do to do. Especially with free weights...dumbbells, bench press, etc. The proper gripe on the bench press can be the difference of 175 or 205.

  
  

• Take the time to demonstrate and show EVERYONE how the exercise is safely done and what you expect out of them. Safely doing the exercise will ensure gains and limited to no injuries. You do not want a kid blowing a rotator cuff because of poor technique. DUMB!

  
  

• Form, form, form! I can't stand seeing players using to much weight arching their backs because their are 1: not strong enough to lift the weight, 2: don't know how to properly lift weights, 3: rushing the exercise or all of the above. Aside from possible/probably injury, you are not realizing any gains. Exercises, especially free weights, bench, etc should be either slow on the downward motion and slow on the upward motion maximizing the exercise, explosive on the upward motion and slow on the downward motion, or lighter and more reps to exhaustion. But just whipping through your reps is a waste of time and invitation to injury.

• ABSOLUTELY NO PHONES, screwing around (Freshman especially!), or standing around in peer groups talking. NONE! This is serious team business. You are working with heavy weights, lots of people around, etc. focus! You want to screw around and be a jack ass? Play soccer or lacrosse!

  
  

• Encourage competition on certain exercises i.e. bench and squat exercises for example. Break it down by age/class and weight, then at the end of a month or a certain period do a one rep max competition, etc. This builds team work, camaraderie and an investment by the team. Plus, they are fun!

  
  

• Be sure to use both free weights and machines to maximize gains and results. I love free weights due to the dynamic instability they offer. But machines are good for lighter weight where rep to exhaustion are key. Machines are also good for injury rehab, etc. A balance is idea.

  
  

• DO NOT forget plyometrics, bands, planks, core, etc. These are critical. Especially with QB's WR and DB's.

  
  

• Any team work outs should include cardio and conditioning. Do not neglect this. This is what separates a winning team from the losers. Granted, you will not be working on Cardio in the winter, but spring and especially summer, you absolutely should! Imagine its the 4th QTR, tied game, you have ball with limited time. Who do think has the best change of winning, the team that is gassed with the players who have their hands on their hips, sucking wind or the team, that seems to get stronger each down? Obviously, the team who is getting stronger. Why? Because their coaches trained them in the offseason in strength and conditioning. Their players died a million deaths, vomited on the field, thought they were gonna run out of air during their summer conditioning. We have all been their as players and coaches. It sucks. But its what wins football games. You want to be the team that is killing it in the 4th QTR, the team that exudes...we are here all night and we are gonna keep punching you in the mouth to the final whistle. We are the victors. We are not soft. We came to play. Yeah, thats why you train!

• A note on conditioning. This too should be position group based. Forcing linemen to meet the same times as RB's, WR's, DB,s etc., is not only stupid, irresponsible but counter productive. Be smart. Focus your conditioning to maximize the results for everyone. It should be hard. Thats the point. Whats hard in July/August should be easy in November!

  
  

• Every conditioning rep and exercises should be timed with position/skill groups using different time measure. Holding people accountable with sliding demand is ideal.

  
  

• Everything should be timed in the weigh room as well. Every rep and every exercise should be timed. If you didn't get it done on time, thats on you.

• Use conditioning reps to reenforce discipline. NO CHEATING THE LINE or the rep. I can't tell you how many players or an"elite" athlete cheat their reps or the line.I have seen this in the pro agility, sprints, etc. Pisses me off! Collective punishment works well here. Especially if its a starter. Any chance to reenforce discipline will pay dividends during the season. We play and practice to OUR standard (assuming you have one). Practice like you play and play like you practice.

• Work with the young bucks. Yes, they can slow things down, take up equipment, etc. but if you invest now, they will be your studs next year. Its all about building a culture of excellence. Start with your young bucks and get them bought into the standard. Its a win for everyone.

There you have it! Some high level ways to maximize your time in the weight room. If you incorporate even half of this, you will be well on to your way of building a successful season and program.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention nutrition. While I will not go into here, you can not realize your gains if your players don't engage in proper nutrition. You, as the coach need to reinforce this. We used to say finish in the fridge! Also, be careful of supplementation. I am a big fan, but certain supplementation can be dangerous. Especially for adolescent student athletes who all think they are college or NFL players. Especially if the player has a pre-existing medical condition. Be careful on what you as a coach recommend, allow in your weight room, etc. YOU are responsible for your program, players and team. Stick to the basics i.e. creatine, protein and a high protein or balanced diet. Leave the crazy pre-work outs out of the gym. IF a player wants to bring that in discuss with your AT, AD and have the player bring a note in from mom saying its ok OR have the parents sign a waiver. Otherwise, stick to the tried and true no matter how cool it is to use exotic supplements. You don't want any part of that.

I can tell you from spending time in the LA Rams locker room at Sofi or at their prior training facility in Thousand Oaks, Rams players had lots of choices for nutrition. You know what they were? Good ole fashion H20, Gatorade, PB&J, Beat Juice, Pickles, Turkey Sandwich, etc. Nothing exotic. If its good enough for the LA Rams, its good enough for your HS players.

Coach DF