By John Furia
Xceleration Sports Training
As a sports performance coach I often get asked many questions about different training methods, coaching styles and how they can positively or negatively affect athletic development in young athletes. Today in the American youth sports culture of “win now and at any cost” I am seeing an increased and alarming trend of overuse injuries, overtraining, burnout, and drop out in youth sports. The purpose of this article is to help parents and athletes understand the role of sports performance coaches, athletic performance training programs, and the difference between training for sports skill and sport performance.
The Sport Specific/Functional Training Debate
When I evaluate youth/adolescent athletes the first thing I try and explain to kids and parents is that getting too “sport specific” at a young age can have an adverse affect on future sport performance. Unfortunately this is the last thing they want to hear. “Sport Specific Training/Functional Training” is the big sales and marketing buzzwords when it comes to selling parents and kids on improvement in their sport. Parents and athletes are told by trainers or coaches that strength or running movements in “functional” or predetermined movement patterns is the key to athletic improvement on the sports field (agility drills, ladders, Bands). Not only is this ideology a flawed science, it defies well-established theories of child motor and psychomotor development. Too much emphasis is focused on playing the sport at a young age versus training and preparing for the sport at a young age.
Speed Training
Unenlightened parents put their athletes into “speed training” classes or running programs with the idea that their young athlete will improve speed and endurance with fancy foot work drills, resisted bands, and parachutes. These drills may look cool but hardly address the true needs of a young athlete desiring to get stronger and faster. Here is the answer simplified: The most efficient way to improve sport speed in young athletes is to increase and improve force production (strength development) of the lower body musculature as well as to improve flexibility and mobility of muscles and joints. End of story!
The whole concept of “speed training” has been turned into a circus training act by trainers and coaches who are looking to make a quick buck and who are not qualified to implement programs for anyone, more less youth athletes. Anyone who tries to sell you a program with the idea that all it takes is six weeks to develop the lasting speed you or your athlete desires to improve at his/her sport is selling you a lie or a quick fix that will end up in disappointment. Bringing athletes to the point of vomiting with the concept that this is “hard work” is foolish and reflective of a lack of knowledge and inability to design effective programs as well. Here is a sure fire way to get faster with no tricks and no specific exercises. Drop your body fat! Eat better and train smarter. This has been one of the most successful tactics I have emphasized over my career. When the body is leaner and more muscular it functions better as whole regardless of the specifics. Leaner + Muscular = FASTER!
Simply telling a young athlete he/she has a “weak core” and needs to do more “core training” to get faster is a typical answer given to parents or athletes by less seasoned and experienced trainers/coaches. This is the typical response many trainers will use to sell desperate parents looking to help their young athlete improve speed by using “generic” answers without true evaluation techniques to generate self doubt and urgency. Yes, we know most athletes young or old can have weakness in the core but you must find the origin of that weakness before you just start throwing exercises at it!
The key to speed development is getting to the root of the problem and determining the factors that are causing you to be slow. My goal is always to find the problems and correct them instead of reinforcing them with dysfunctional running drills and conditioning programs that are ineffective anyway.
Evaluation or Initial Assessment
The initial evaluation of any athlete is the key to determining where their strength and weaknesses lie and I am not talking about forty yard dash, vertical jump, pro-agility, and bench press. In many programs athletic assessment is used as a means to divert attention to “values, scores or comparisons” to other athletes versus your individual needs. This is another way to hide a lack of knowledge and the inability to deliver the specifics to correct the problems that an athlete has.
Assessment to the spine, hip, knee, ankle, shoulder and wrist as well as assessing structural balance to the musculature and evaluating past injury history are the keys to determining effective program design for each individual athlete. Both male and female athletes have individual needs and females most certainly need to be screened for ACL insufficiency because of the high incidence of ACL tears amongst the female athletic population. My experience has shown me that any trainer or program who sells or designs “one size fits all” programs or herds it’s athletes into large groups will ruin 1 out of every 3 athletes they come in contact with.
Developing an athlete is not unlike a teaching a math or science class. You are developing a student the same way you would in the classroom. You cannot learn geometry or chemistry in six weeks, nor can you become a highly trained athlete in six weeks. My job as a coach is as a mentor and instructor to give them the tools they need in order to get them to the next level. Youth or high school athletes are not elite level athletes! They are adolescents or pre-adolescents who need an individualized training program with an injury prevention emphasis with both short and long term goals for the future.
Aerobic Training Disguised as “Getting In Shape”
Parents fall of their chairs when I tell them this because many make the mistake of doing it: “If you want to make your kid the worst athlete on the field let them run cross-country” or run long distance to condition for their sport. For those of you who run cross-country as your main sport please forgive me but for those who run cross-country to stay in shape for lacrosse, baseball or most other sports besides cross country itself, you really need to re-evaluate your training methodology. This is probably the most common mistake I see young athletes make by using aerobic training to stay or get ‘in shape”. This breaks the one big cardinal rule of what knowledgeable trainers know as energy system training. If you are a world class sprinter training for the 100 meter dash would you continually run 3 miles per day to train for that event, obviously not but this what I see the majority of kids doing to train or condition for their sport, with female athletes being most guilty. Athletes need to get up and down the field faster so coach has him/her run steady state for a half hour in circles. Makes no sense but it happens everyday in youth sports.
Your body runs off of three main energy systems each one catering to specific energy demands that allow the body to accomplish what it is being asked to do. In order to maximize the on field demands you must isolate and condition primarily around the energy system used to fuel the demands of that specific sport. Yet, I see coaches turning lacrosse practice into the New York Marathon in the name of “conditioning” and “getting in shape”. This only leads to burnout and overuse injuries before it is all said and done. For instance, my experience with female lacrosse players is that the greater their aerobic capacity is (V02 Max) the weaker their leg strength and maximal strength is therefore increasing knee injury potential about 50%. WHY ARE AEROBIC TRAINING METHODS BEING USED BY YOUTH SPORT COACHES TO CONDITION ATLETES THAT PLAY ANAEROBIC SPORTS?
I have seen it all too often for the past twenty years: star female player, best athlete on the field, can run all day, never strength trains, and has a knee brace on one or both knees because she tore her ACL(s). It is never a coincidence! I guess it was never considered that had this girl squatted or lunged and done some reinforcing on her hamstrings and lower extremities to begin with she may have never torn the ACL in the first place. ACL surgery has become part of the preventative maintenance protocol for young female athletes. This is sickening! Research also shows that running and cutting on the sports field puts about 300% more shear force through the knee than any strength exercise you can do in the weight room! In the end my experience again has shown me that although you can never predict exact outcomes on knee injuries those females that strength train and do sprint intervals not marathons seem to cut the rate of ACL injuries in half.
The moral of the story here is unless you are a marathoner or tri-athlete, long distance running for the sake of “conditioning” is futile in every facet as it pertains to athletic development and injury prevention.
Conclusion
Quality performance coaching in my opinion is a huge factor in athletic success especially when you consider many of these so called performance coaches lack the hands on practical experience, credentials, and academic backgrounds to work with young athletes.
Here are my 5 rules to help you better direct yourself or your young athlete when it comes to improving athletic development.
- Expose your athlete to a variety of multiple sport skills before the age of 12. Do NOT specialize them until they are at least 12-14. Changing sports or sport activity every three to six months is paramount.
- Teach good nutrition habits as early as possible. Kids can’t excel in sports without good nutritional habits. This is the #1 deficit I have seen working with young athletes over the years. So much emphasis is put on doing everything else but healthy eating goes to the wayside and it hurts athletic development and performance.
- Start focusing on training for the game not just playing the game. The demands of today’s youth sports programs are insane. Many kids are not even adequately physically prepared to walk on the field. The right physical training acts as an insurance policy for you or your young athlete.
- Find the right performance coaching for yourself or young athlete. Choosing the right coach and program can be the stepping stone to elevating your game to the next level. Before you sign on talk to the coach/trainer in regards to his/her training philosophy and methodology. Telling a kid he/she runs with “bad mechanics” and has a “weak core” isn’t a training philosophy. It’s a smokescreen to having no answers! Playing big time college lacrosse or football is nice but hardly qualifies one to work with young athletes. What kind of a track record does he/she have with getting good results? Know who is training you or your young athlete.
- Let them have FUN!
Simple food choices go a long way when it comes to your heart’s health. Focusing on fresh foods full of heart-healthy fats and antioxidants can decrease your risk of developing heart disease and cut your chances of a heart attack. These 10 foods will help keep your ticker in top shape.
Childhood obesity, underage drinking, smoking and failure to exercise are all concerns for parents these days. If you want your kids to adopt a healthier, wiser lifestyle, you are going to have to show them the light. Children often learn best by example. Lead and they will likely follow.
