As the year comes to close, we look back to share some quick tips from what we learned this year, new things we are trying out, lessons from the John Smith interviews, and how to successfully blend different training methods.
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Training is often thought of in terms of exercises. Exercises might be the building blocks of training, but as Vern wrote about today, it isn’t about the exercise. Good programs stand out more from the continuity and progression between each exercises. They look at the synergies created by exercises rather than how an exercise works in isolation.
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Recently I wrote an article on substitutions and alternatives for the Olympic lifts. Those of you who have not read the article may be asking why would you want any substitutes for Olympic Lifting? Why not just do the Olympic lifts? For some coaches the reason is that they take too much time to teach. For those coaches I have another option for you: microdosing. Teaching the Olympic lifts in small doses means that you don’t take time away from other forms of strength training to learn the basic lifts.
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There are few things in coaching as rewarding as helping a young person achieve something for the first time: a forward roll, a cartwheel, leaping over a hurdle or standing up with a weight above their head. Their enthusiasm is contagious. Conversely, there are few things in coaching as difficult as coaching a group of young people whose minds and bodies are going through the turmoil of puberty and school and socialization. In this article I shall outline some of the coaching and technical ideas that I use when coaching juniors.
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Develop competent, confident, and effective coaches, and then competent, confident, and effective athletes will follow. As a director of coaching education at USA Weightlifting, Michael Conroy’s mandate didn’t just need to teach coaches about technique, he needed them to learn how to program creatively. On this week’s episode he walks us through the scaffolding of programming and the key elements all good programs in any sport should contain.
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Creating your own program takes a lot of leg work. It isn’t just about adapting a template to your situation; it is about seeking out influences and inspiration from numerous sources and making them your own. On this week’s episode we dive into the program at Notre Dame High School by analyzing some of the foundational influences and how they have been adapted, as well as important elements done on the periphery.
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Velocity-based training has been gaining traction over the last few years as the technology becomes more affordable. Many of the resources out there, however, keep discussing the same old approaches to VBT. Weightlifting coach Wil Fleming just published a new book on VBT based on his experience using it in a sport that is based around the barbell. On this week’s podcast we discuss some of the methods he has tried out and how they can be adapted to other sports. Read more
The people who come to our club to learn weight lifting are normally in their mid to late twenties and have had experience of lifting a barbell before. Unfortunately, a lot of them use the C-word in their enquiry, but I don’t hold that against them. They have found that they like the lifting part of Crossfit and want to just do weight lifting or they want to improve their technique to go back to their box. A few of these novices want to compete and whilst they won’t break records they have managed to win medals in their age/weight categories since training at our club. Read more
Take a look around Instagram and you’ll see hundreds of variations of your favorite exercises. Exercise variation is critical to sustained progress, but how you vary exercises matter. Randomly copying what you see online isn’t going to do the trick. The latest training program we posted in the HMMR Classroom provides a great look at how exercise variation can fit into a training plan. Read more
Racks, benches, bars and platforms dominate the space in most high school and collegiate weight rooms. The iron temple arms race is alive and well. Read more
