High School strength & conditioning: three ways to bulletproof knees

The amount of high school athletes I see wearing weight belts and doing quarter squats makes me sick.  It is not their fault.  Trust me I have been there.  Back in the day though, strength & conditioning was not very common and there were a limited number of accessible coaches that possessed a thorough understanding of how to properly develop an athlete.  Fortunately now, there is almost too much information and the coaches who have their athletes training this way simply have a lack of understanding of the complexity of the nervous system, anatomy, or have put their ego before the athletes health.

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The in season strength training dilemma for the high school athlete

High School athletes who are just starting to strength train are often faced with a dilemma. They need to get stronger, but don't want to get sore. Performing well on the field means feeling your best. Understanding that initial strength gains are purely neurological in nature is critical. Here is one approach that provides a simple and effective outline for the first year of training.

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Virtual Programming - The Squat Dilemma

Over the past three years our virtual coaching membership has grown quite a bit. On numerous occasions I have come across the SQUAT DILEMMA. When back squat is implemented into our program as a primary lift we need to be VERY specific about what our expectations are. If we are not, then people will either fall back on what they think is a proper back squat or will rely on what a previous coach had taught them.

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Sam Kavarsky
A few quick thoughts on RECOVERY

๐Ÿ’ฌ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜š๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜–๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜›๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜บ:

๐™ฌ๐™š ๐™–๐™—๐™จ๐™ค๐™ก๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™ค

However, there has been a paradigm shift for many athletes as to what recovery entails. ๐˜™๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ด, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด, ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜บ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ป๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต. While I am a huge proponent of some of these modalities in the proper context, they will never take the place of programmed protocols which force specific adaptations in necessary tissues or energy systems.

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Sam Kavarsky
Our Nutritional Hierarchy

๐Ÿ’ฅWhen it comes to nutrition coaching implementing a roadmap to guide the decision making process is absolutely critical. For us, utilizing a hierarchy of nutrition development allows us to sequentially introduce more complex nutrition topics as members demonstrate competency over time.

๐Ÿ’ฌ๐—”๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ will always be at the foundation of our pyramid. If you are not assessing you are simply guessing. Which type of assessment we utilize is dependent upon the goal of the member, the coaches experience, and as well as current research.

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Sam Kavarsky
Three Missed Underutilized Assessment Considerations for Optimal Training

We all know the saying "if you're not assessing you're guessing." While this may be a very true, I have found very few coaches/trainers use assessment data to actually influence how a training program is put together. In a team or group setting this will be a greater challenge as logistical considerations have to be made. However, for coaches working one on one, there is absolutely no excuse not to use assessment data to drive program design. Here are three assessment protocols that we have found helpful to use in our 1 on 1 sports performance analysis:

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Sam Kavarsky