This area is flooded with athletic talent. The area schools are competitive in one sport or another. Some of them are even dominant in one or more sports. This is without a doubt due to competent coaches who love their respective sport and cherish the time spent with their athletes. I was lucky enough to have great coaches and great sport teams to play for. Most of our young athletes have the same opportunities as I did in being on a winning program. Whether it be football to golf, young men and young women alike, sport programs in the south are highly recognized all over the nation.

Like professionals, our high school athletes need proper training and motivation as well as coach who knows every aspect of the game. He or she (coach) is usually hired on by a school or promoted by their school because they have proven themselves on the field or court. The only downside to coaching positions is that all responsibility is on their head where the athletes are concerned. They have to worry about filling positions, teaching plays, getting their players to pass their classes.

This leads, sometimes, to a lack of proper knowledge in the weight rooms. My experience with nearly every high school athlete that I have helped is that their form is about 80 percent correct. Also, they are doing lifts that do not transfer to their respective sport or position. The most common mistake is lifting too heavy for the age of the athlete and improper form. While not entirely the fault of the coaches, with all other things to worry about on and off the field, it can lead to problems such as chronic injuries, plateaus in strength, and even a decrease their strength in some cases.

Weight lifting programs should vary differently from each other. The power sports and high contact sports should be similar in the weight room. The endurance sports or non-contact should also have weight lifting routines. Now, let me clarify this, they should only be alike in the off-season. As the season draws near, the routines should be changed to mimic the sport and individualized for different positions. This is what we refer to as sport specific training. I will go into sport specifics sometime in the future. My main concern with young athletes is as I said earlier, having them perform proper lifts for their age as well as their sport.

Some of the most overused and under taught exercises I’ve seen are the barbell bench press, the barbell squat, the power moves, which include the power clean, the dead lift, the jerk, the snatch, and all variations of the above mentioned. These are not the only ones, but, you get the idea. There are also some moves that are utilized in the high school weight room that I feel have no place there. The concern is poor technique, or the athlete attempting too much weight, and in some cases not enough supervision from someone who knows the proper technique. All major lifts need to involve not only good muscular strength but also joint stabilization, core strength and stability, but the lifter needs good spotters for help or they need to know the proper release techniques. A release technique is the way to drop a weight if the lifter is unable to perform the lift with good form. It should also be taught to the athlete to be sure that they are not injured or that the weight doesn’t fall on them or someone else. Teaching this to your athlete can ensure you and them that they will be safer and healthy as season draws near.

I want everyone to be well aware that each coach’s program should be what they feel is best for your program, but if I could offer my advice, there are some lifts that you should try to avoid if possible. They are: frontal squats, behind the neck presses, and for some athletes, no overhead lifts at all, below parallel squats, heavy leg extensions, stiff leg dead lifts, and shrugs where the athlete rolls the shoulders forward and backwards. Each of these lifts do have benefits to an athlete, but not usually a high school athlete. Young men and women alike will benefit from a structured, progressive weight training program, but I cannot express enough the importance to proper lift techniques. Some may feel that if your program is halted now to teach these techniques that it may in some way set your players back physically. I, on the other hand, feel that they would benefit from some proper instruction before moving on to heavier weight and other advanced lifts and doing those possibly incorrectly.

The best way to teach these lifts is having someone trained in the fitness field teach them. If that is not available to you, then here are the easiest I know to explain it to you. First, it is essential to start with light weights. A broom stick, light barbell, or anything close to the length of a barbell will be great. Next, each lift has different segments and can be broken down into such. Evaluate each movement associated with the lift and perfect each one before moving onto the next portion of the lift. What I mean is each lift has a beginning point, a mid or movement segment, and lastly, the finish position. There is no most important portion of the lift, all parts are equally as important and must be practiced as equally. Be careful to watch for deviations in posture, knee placement, and stability of the athlete throughout the movement. Once the starting position is learned, move to the movement stage, then the finishing position. I hope to be able to offer a seminar of proper techniques in the summer and will announce when it will be as school come a close. I hope to do it before summer workouts and off season workouts begin.

I don’t want to take anything away from our coaches. I commend you for the great jobs you all are doing with our young athletes. I believe you all intend to help as many as possible be successful in your program, and see some of them reach the next level of competition I offer a personal thank you for making this area rich in tradition of great athletic teams. It has been fun watching and I hope to see even better things from the next generation of athletes.



God bless,

Brandon



• Brandon Barr is a certified personal trainer and sports conditionist at Jeff Anderson’s Health and Fitness Center. You may write to him in care of The Star at P.O. Box 1591, Meridian, MS 39301.