Kettlebells for Young Athletes: Part III

In the first installment of this series we briefly looked at studies concerning weight training for young athletes and the potential risk associated with it.  In the second article I explained some of the double leg progressions that I use with my athletes that minimizes the risk of injury and decreases the stress placed on the spine of the growing athlete.

In this installment I want to focus on single leg movements that I use with the kettlebells.  I have seen plenty of strength programs that focus too much on double leg movements; like squats, deadlifts and power cleans.  These exercises are great for increasing strength and power production quickly, however, neglecting single leg work is doing an athlete a huge disservice.

The benefits of single leg work are tremendous.  Most sport movements use the legs independently; running, cutting and bounding are all done off the single leg.  If you only train double leg movements there is no way of truly knowing how the legs compare in strength and stability between each other.  If your right leg is much stronger, more stable and has more appropriate flexibility, when you need to use the left leg to perform a high level movement you may not be able to perform the movement, or even worse, you could sustain and injury because it was not capable of performing the movement you needed to do.

Kettlebell Lunge Variations

One of the most common and effective single leg movements is the lunge variation.  Many of these movements can be done with dumbbells or other weights but the kettlebells offer a few more intermittent variations that can help the young athlete progress successfully.  I am not going to deconstruct the lunge and all of its variant movements, just note there are several movement variations like the stating lunge, forward lunge, reverse lunge, bench split lunges,  etc.

One of the first variations I use is the Low Kettlebell Lunge usually starting with one kettlebell in each hand.  The kettlebells are easy to hold and using two generally makes the movement more stable.  As the athlete masters that movement with showing appropriate levels of strength and stability you can challenge the anti-rotational stability much more by using only one kettlebell for the same movement.  The single kettlebell will pull the athlete toward the side of the weight therefore increasing the need for strength and stability of the legs and core muscles to resist the weight pulling you off-line.

Taking the lunge to the next level is a variation that cannot be done comfortably using dumbbells and that is why kettlebells are ideal for these movements.  The Racked Kettlebell Lunge is a great challenge for stability and core strength.  I usually start out with the single kettlebell version because it is slightly less demanding on the core stability.  Find a place for the kettlebell to sit well against the upper body.  I tell my athletes to allow the weight become part of your body.  For safety reasons you want to keep the kettlebell as close to the body as possible and centered over your hips.  During the descent the kettlebell will want to pull you out to the side of the kettlebell and forward.  Leg and core strength and stability are key in making the movement successful and beneficial to the athlete.

The double racked kettlebell version is one of the hardest versions I have encountered primarily due to the amount of the demand it places on the core muscles of the body.  During the descent the heavy weight will want to pull the body forward so it is important to keep the core muscles strong so the body stays upright and stable.  The double racked kettlebell lunges also challenges the breathing because the bells are racked on the chest not allowing the chest to expand to take a normal breath.

The last lunge version I will discuss is the Overhead Kettlebell Lunge.  This movement can be done with a dumbbell, however, I prefer the kettlebell because of the weight displacement.  Unlike the dumbbell, the kettlebell weight conforms to the body and sits in a direct line over the hip making the weight easier to keep in line and therefore minimizes the risk of stress on the shoulder joint.

Start with the single overhead kettlebell lunge, the leg position is entirely up to the strength coach and it may be a good idea to alternate which legs are forward or back during your training.  When performing this movement it is very important to keep the shoulder sucked into the socket and keep the weight in-line with the arm and the hip.

If you need to make this movement really challenging for the athlete then add the second kettlebell and use the same principles of execution.

Conclusion

Single leg movements should not be ignored when helping the athlete to build the strongest and highest performing self that they can be for their sport.  Give these variations a shot and let me know what you think.

Tags: athlete training

Considerations for Year-Round Athletes: Part II

In the first installment of this series we looked at the studies and learned that young athletes, who participate in the same sport for too long, without having adequate time for recovery, run the risk of several overuse injuries.  There are several studies like R.M. Malina’s that discuss the nature that specialization may not only hinder future athletic success within that sport but could also lead to more detrimental health problems down the road.

“Limiting experiences to a single sport is not the best path to elite status. Risks of early specialization include social isolation, overdependence, burnout, and perhaps risk of overuse injury.”

Unfortunately, it seems that the trend of focusing on a single sport is not going to stop.  Young athletes feel the need to play and the parents feel the pressure to give them every advantage as they can.  This includes traveling teams, private training and even strength and conditioning programs.

In this article I will discuss what we as strength and conditioning coaches can do to help the student athletes without adding to the overtraining problem.

Athletes have Goals and so should Strength Coaches

Ask one of the athletes what their goals are and they are most likely to respond with something physical; be stronger, be faster, be a better athlete.  Strength coaches are there to help them achieve these goals and make them more efficient at performing these physical tasks; however it is important for strength coaches to also have a set of goals for their athletes.  For my athletes, I remind myself that my main goal is to make sure they remain healthy.  I want to work with them and not contribute to any potential setbacks for training or athletic performance by adding more unnecessary training stress to an already busy athletic child.

I see myself as their coach but not the type of coach who is going to try to break the athlete.  Some strength and conditioning coaches have the mindset of making the training harder than the game and therefore pushing their athletes to the limit.  Athletes should be tested at times but never broken and never when they are unable to perform optimally.

At Rise Above Performance Training, the goal is to help the athlete.  I don’t try to bend, break or arbitrarily train athletes; I work with them to improve their overall performance potential.  When you help the athlete you are choosing correct movements, loading parameters, volume and duration for that given day.  Helping athletes in a positive and encouraging manner yields great results without less likelihood of sending the athlete down the road of self destruction.

Periodization with Improvisation

We might have heard the saying, “If you fail to plan, plan to fail;” I believe this to be true with strength and conditioning programs.  I choose to start my programs with asking the athletes about goals, what their timeline is and if they have any important events coming up.  Then I complete a physical assessment looking at basic mobility and stability of the joints and muscles.  After considering all of these factors, a program is designed and a few weeks training cycle is implemented including: the training movements, sets, reps, rest and duration.  In a perfect world an athlete would simply follow the program prescribed and get results; however there are other factors involved that could affect positive results, namely, the state of the athlete for that day.

With the athlete playing year-round, daily assessment of the athlete’s current condition is necessary to ensure progress, not regression.  How are they feeling today? Did they get enough sleep, nourishment, recovery between training and competing?  Looking forward to upcoming events also plays a big role in the athlete’s programming.  Big events, heavy sport training and weekend tournaments all should be factored into the equation and planned for accordingly.

If the athlete is coming off a weekend tournament where they played a total of five soccer games in the heat and plans on coming into the gym to train the following Tuesday, chances are that the athlete is not going to be able to handle the full intensity of the program provided.  Spending more time on restorative protocols like foam rolling, mobility drills, and stretching will deal with soreness and accommodate healing of the tired muscles.

Decreasing the volume and intensity allows the athlete to train without the heightened risk of potential overtraining.  If training programs calls for deadlifts, four sets of six reps, at 70% max weight, an adjusted protocol might be three sets of three reps at 50% for that day.  The athlete is still getting the movement in but the intensity and volume is much lower than planned so optimal recovery is gained.

Summing it all Up

As we learned from this two part series, participating in the same sport year-round is a very popular practice among young athletes and this trend seems like it is here to stay.  Coaches and parents need to realize that this participation increases the athlete’s risk of overuse injuries.

Strength and conditioning coaches should formulate programs that are part of the solution and not the problem.  Sport practices, training and games played are not likely to change much, therefore it is important for the strength coach to adjust his program to make sure that it continually helps the athlete, whether through strength training itself or through the restoration process.

Recognize these limitations so we do not have young athletes with problems like this:

References:
Malina, RM, Early Sport Specialization:Roots, effectiveness, risks. Curr. Sports Med. Rep, 2010. Nov-Dec;9 (6):364-71.

Tags: athlete training

Sports Performance Series – Hip Adductors

The second video in this sports performance series we look at common muscle imbalances found in the adductor muscle group of youth, high school, college and professional athletes. We will go over how to test and assess these imbalances, how to mobilize and stabilize these areas and finally what exercises can be used to strengthen these areas.

Tags: Conditioning, flexability, Mobility