Every week I come across this situation and it goes as follows…

New athlete comes in the gym. Wants to get stronger, faster, more athletic

Says he’s been “working out” at school or at local health club with his buddies.

I tell athlete to do 300 jump ropes to start. Athlete trips on rope and can’t do any or athlete does a few hundred and is gassed.

I show athlete the stretches we do. Athlete is tight as shit. Do you stretch I ask? No he says.

We go into our prep or warmup portion of the session which usually consists of sleds and abs. Athlete is gassed or throws up from sleds and has weak abs. Do you do abs I ask? Once in a while he says.

We move into our main lift. Do you squat I ask? Yes he says.. 405 at school. Ok put on 135 and lets work up I say.

Athlete puts on 135 and his upper back rounds, knees cave in, and it looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I say rack that bar lets start with a kettlebell.

We move into jumps. Do you jump I ask? No he says. Ok do 25 jumps on that 25″ box I say. Athlete gets to 3 sets of 5 jumps before he needs to sit down because he’s nauseas.

My point here is not to make fun of these kids. Its to point out that many times when athletes, coaches, or parents think they are actually doing productive training THEY AREN’T!

Is there some exceptions? Of course. But the vast majority of athletes aren’t really doing any type of training that is productive.

They aren’t becoming more coordinated. They aren’t even fit. They aren’t training with good form. They aren’t developing the foundation needed to sustain a high level of performance. They aren’t even training for the athletic qualities that they need like explosive strength.

Many of the HS athletes we see we need to start from square one and pretend they are brand new.

A good way to avoid this situation is to start young!