Aug 31, 2018Strong Foundation
Every year coaches have new athletes entering their program. And chances are these athletes aren’t at the same level physically as the ones that you have been working with for years. When it comes to training these newer athletes, it can be difficult to know where to start. But according to Chad Aichs in an article for elitefts, the process begins with simply building a strong foundation and the building up from there.
To start building the foundation, Aichs suggests watching the athlete and noticing any issues in the way that they move whether it’s walking, standing, sitting, or the general way in which they carry themselves. While this won’t tell you everything, it will make you aware of common problems that the athlete might be facing. Next, Aichs recommends going deeper by learning any major surgeries or injuries that the athlete has had in the past.
“I also want to know if he has any areas with [recurring] injuries,” writes Aichs. “This would be things like lots of ankle issues or back issues. I also need to know if there are any current injuries, even if it is one of those nagging things that is currently bothering him.”
The next step is to check the athletes mobility. As Aichs states, understanding and working on areas where an athlete struggles with flexibility can help rehabilitate from current injuries as well as prevent future ones. When checking flexibility, it is important to look at the whole body. For example, with the lower body Aichs checks hit internal and external rotation, hip flexion, hamstring flexibility, ankle flexibility, and spine rotation.
“Next, I move to the hip extension with the client lying on his side,” writes Aichs. “I then move to the hip slide, which is where the client is on his hands and knees. Then, I have the client slide the hips back toward the feet. This works best with the feet against the wall. While in this position, I usually have the client do a quick cat camel stretch to give me an idea of his back flexibility.”
With the upper body, Aichs starts by checking shoulder internal and external rotation, shoulder flexion, and simple neck flexibility. After checking an athlete’s flexibility, Aichs suggests moving onto mobility of the upper and lower body. What’s the difference between flexibility and mobility? According to Aichs, mobility is an athletes ability to put their body into a flexible position on their own. Here is his process for checking mobility of both the lower body:
- In the supine position, pull a knee up to the chest one leg at a time for the hip flexion.
- Repeat this with a straight leg for the hamstring and hip flexion mobility.
- Sit up and place one leg out to the side, pulling the knee in for internal rotation.
- Demonstrate the bridge movement to check hip extension and glute activation.
- Lie on one side and lift one leg up to check abduction mobility.
- Bend the top leg up and lift the lower leg into adduction.
- Roll into a prone position and do a hips-down push-up to check back extension.
After assessing flexibility and mobility, the next step is to take a look at the athlete’s strength and conditioning. According to Aichs, the starting point of this assessment depends a lot on the athlete’s age, experience, and physicality. For beginners, he might have them do one-leg squats, one-leg deadlifts, body-weight box squats, and pull-ups. He then adds more difficult exercises and weight depending on the athlete’s ability.
“In more advanced athletes or lifters, I just like to start with regular training sessions,” writes Aichs. “I can spot weaknesses and then test them more with supplemental or accessory work. I know that some people will do a lot of specific testing for muscle groups, but I find that this can take a lot of time, and I feel I can find weaknesses more efficiently during regular training.”
While Aichs uses this as a general plan with new athletes, there might be times that coaches don’t follow it to the letter. There may be an athlete who has never had any injuries, in which case a coach might move straight to flexibility and mobility. Or, there may be an athlete with which a coach might not spend a lot of time on flexibility and mobility.
