Category Archives: workout program

Efficacy and Safety – Middle School Strength Training

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Next year our district, the Independence School District, is taking some pretty bold steps that I believe have the potential to generate some huge positive effects in our community and school district.

The first step is aligning the middle schools and high schools that are currently in our district.  Next year, Bridger Middle School will become a 6th grade center; Bingham Middle School will be comprised of students living in the Chrisman HS attendance zone, and Pioneer Ridge Middle School comprised of students living the Truman HS attendance zone.  Nowlin Middle School will continue to feed Van Horn High School, as it currently does.  The hopes are that aligning our schools will improve and ease student transition to high school in all areas: academics, athletics, music, forensics, etc.

The second step is adding to and enhancing the middle school physical education curriculum.  We currently have one option for middle school PE – a lone Physical Education class.  Next year there will be three options for 7th and 8th graders:

  • Strength Training and Conditioning
  • Personal Fitness and Wellness
  • Physical Education

The Physical Education class will essentially be the same class we are teaching now.  The Personal Fitness and Wellness class will focus on aerobic fitness, flexibility, pilates, yoga, etc.  Of course the offering I am most excited about as a teacher and coach is the Strength Training and Conditioning course.

This course curriculum will be aligned with the corresponding high school Strength Training and Conditioning course.  Our district has also committed to outfitting each schools weight rooms with equipment needed to safely, effectively and efficiently teach and train our students.

NSCA logoAs soon as the decision was made, some teachers (yes, some PE teachers) and some coaches (yes, some athletic team coaches) were questioning the efficacy of strength training with 7th and 8th grades boys and girls.   The NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association), THE authority on strength training and conditioning, published the first position statement paper on youth resistance training in 1985 and revised this statement in 1996. A more recent 2009 report was based on an even more comprehensive analysis of the pertinent scientific evidence regarding the anatomical, physiological, and psychosocial effects of youth resistance training.

Potential-Youth-Training-pic-2I am highlighting some of their findings in case you find yourself in the position of having to justify a strength training and conditioning program for your younger students and athletes. The terms youth and young athletes are broadly defined in this report to include both children (up to age 12) and adolescents (ages 12-18).

Their conclusions:

  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program is relatively safe for youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can enhance the muscular strength and power of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve the cardiovascular risk profile of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can improve motor skill performance and may contribute to enhanced sports performance of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can increase a young athlete’s resistance to sports- related injuries.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help improve the psychosocial well-being of youth.
  • A properly designed and supervised resistance training program can help promote and develop exercise habits during childhood and adolescence.

Some of the NSCA recommendations – I have provided links to posts of mine dealing with these issues:

I am looking forward to implementing this type of program with our Middle School students in the Independence School District!

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Strength Training and “At Risk” Students

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We all know that a Strength Training and Conditioning program or class has great benefits for our athletes.  Most of us (fall or spring sport coaches) are deep into our off-season programs with our athletes during this time of the year.  The thing I have really begun to realize after teaching the course for a number (and I mean a NUMBER) of years is that it can really be a great class for any student and especially for “at-risk” or “problem” students who are not athletes.

Here are some reasons why:

1)  Most of the work is typically done in small groups – with normally 2-4 students in a group working together.  Studies have identified, and we probably all can cite anecdotal examples of the advantages of learning in small groups:

  • Students come to a more complete understanding by comparing themselves with others.
  • Having to explain to others encourages elaboration.
  • Students with better skills serve as models.
  • There is more opportunity to develop skills in communication (listening, responding, interacting) and interpersonal relations
  • Motivation comes from peers in addition to coming from the instructor.

I have noticed all of these things taking place in a high functioning Strength and Conditioning class.

2)  Peer tutoring

Peer tutoring has been defined as students from similar social groupings whom are not professional teachers that help each other to learn and, in fact, learn themselves by teaching.  This happens daily in good strength and conditioning classes.  Peer tutoring is beneficial to both the Tutor and the Tutee:

Tutors

  • Tutoring helps students increase their own understanding of the subject matter as they teach students
  • Tutors can practice their communication skills with junior students
  • It allows tutors an opportunity to develop their own leadership skills

Tutees

  • Tutees receive individualized instruction
  • Tutees receive more teaching
  • Tutees (may) respond better to their peers than to their teachers
  • Tutees can obtain companionship from the students that tutor them

3)  It is easy to catch someone “Doing Something Right”

push pressI think this is the most significant reason that a Strength and Conditioning class can be every effective for “At Risk” students.  Lets say the students in class are doing a workout that consists of 3 sets of 8 repetitions on 3 different lifts.   During the course of that classroom session you as a teacher (or a peer tutor) has the opportunity to watch and catch them doing something correct as they attempt nearly 75 repetitions!  Almost any student will find a way to do at least 1 and probably several reps correctly… and that gives you, as an instructor, an opportunity to praise them and give them positive feedback… something many “At Risk” students seldom hear.

I see it nearly every day… a quick “that was awesome” or “great technique on that last rep” and their faces light up.

4) Students get a sense of accomplishment.

I have never had a student get weaker during the course of a Strength and Conditioning class…. most see significant gains.  These gains typically come weekly or even daily early on in a program, and are displayed prominently on their workout card (see post The Workout Card) as they “break” (see post Breaking – It’s a Good Thing).  Many students, even those that have never been involved or successful in athletics, can achieve some degree of success in Strength and Conditioning class.  With that success comes confidence.

Who takes the Strength and Conditioning classes at your school?  Are non-athletes encouraged, and are there sections open to non-athletes?  Do you as a teacher put the same type of effort into your non-athlete Strength and Conditioning classes?

Just asking….

I would love to hear comments or stories about your experience with At Risk students in a Strength and Conditioning class!

You Can Do More…. your brain is lying to you… Don’t Believe It! 

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

 

Bridger Strength

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The Bridger Middle School weight room is coming along!  Over the past several months Truman High School has acquired many new pieces of equipment, which allowed the older or underutilized pieces to be passed down to Bridger.  Seven new racks, with accompanying adjustable benches, a Lat/ Row machine, and some bars and plates has transformed the Bridger weight room, which began with good space and some existing equipment, into one of the top middle school facilities in the area.

bridger1

We will begin the Strength and Conditioning program at Bridger this fall.  It is the current plan that every Bridger student, 6th – 8th grade, will have a 6-week strength and conditioning unit this school year.  It is an ambitious program, but one that we are looking forward to.  I will keep you posted as the year progresses!

bridger2

 

The Bridger Middle School students will soon be realizing that ….

You Can Do More…. your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

 

Perfect Squat Reps

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squatI have always considered squat the most challenging of the 4 Core Lifts to coach regarding technique, especially with competitive athletes.  It goes back to the “gray area” of what constitutes full range of motion.  With the rest of the Core lifts, it is cut and dried if you made the rep or not…. there is a distinct “finish” position.

With squat, going down until your hips are below your knees, thighs parallel with the ground or below, and returning to the starting position constitutes a correct rep through the full range of motion.  This should be cut and dried as well.  I am reminded of Coach Vint’s comments in his post, Building Championship Culture, where he states:

“Attention to details is what sets apart consistent success. When you parallel squat, are your athletes getting to parallel? Or are they cutting corners? Are you allowing them to cut corners? Do you have a definition of parallel that is clear and concise? Are you willing to hold kids accountable to reaching a standard?”

The desire to break, to increase their max, to do more weight, should never come before doing things right.  Most of us are training our athletes to become better football players, softball players, or basketball players, … not to be Olympic powerlifters.  Doing the lift correctly, with us as coaches holding them accountable for correct technique on every lift, will get the results we all want.

This is one area I can improve in… I Can Do More!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

 

Motivation and Evaluation

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I want to take some time to clarify the difference between the “Start” column (cells) and the “Now” column in the Excel Workout Workbook.

motivationThe Start column is where I put the beginning Estimated 1RM for each athlete.  It could be either their max when they first begin the program, or it could be their starting max for a particular evaluation period, such as the start of a semester, or the start of an off-season cycle.   None of the calculated formulas in the workout card are based on the cells in the Start column – these are strictly used for motivation or evaluation purposes.

The Now column, on the other hand, changes with each “break” (see Breaking – It’s a Good Thing!) and are the values that the workout is based on.  Every time an athlete “breaks” on one of their 4 Core lifts, their 1RM in the Now column is increased by 10 pounds.  All of the calculated formulas in the workout section of the workbook are based on the values in the Now column.

I added the Start column to the workout workbook just within the last year for two reasons.

  1. It was a motivation piece for the student-athletes.  It became easy for them to compare what their current strength level is compared to when they started the program.  Every time they pick up their card, it is right there for them to see.
  2. I used it an evaluation piece for the student-athletes.  As a teacher/ coach it was easy to monitor their progress, either from their start in the program, or over a specific evaluation period (like a semester of school).

Here is a brief tutorial on how the Start and Now columns are used:

As always – any questions just email or comment – I will answer!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Just a Girl

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One evening, years ago, our family was attending a “Jazz in the Park” concert.  We were with friends whose daughter, Shelby, was about the same age as our son, Carter… about 5 years old.  All of a sudden, Shelby’s tears interrupted our relaxing evening of Jazz.  The two kids were playing in a tree, so immediately we thought she was hurt.  When we came over to ask what was wrong, Shelby sobbed, “Carter said I was just a girl!”  The comment was not acceptable … it was dismissive, as if being a girl was something lesser.

Last week, while waiting for class to wind down, I overheard one of the male athletes at our school commenting on the District performance of our female Triple Jumper, Lexi Hart.  Lexi, a freshman, won the District meet with a jump of 38’ 10” that shattered our school record in a Bob Beamon-esque fashion – by nearly 4 feet!  The comment by the male athlete was “Well, it was wind aided”… The comment was not acceptable … it was dismissive, as if the only way a girl could jump that far was with the aid of the wind.

As strength coach at our school, I was invited to participate in the volleyball “kickoff”  last night.  The head volleyball coach, Denise Craig, asked me to write a note to the returning and incoming volleyball athletes.  Here was my message:

volleyball cards

The girls programs at our school are outstanding.  The Truman Softball team won the state 5A Championship this past year, and our Basketball team was 25-1.  The Volleyball team is perennially vying for the conference and district championship.

womenThere is no “magic bullet”… nothing is “in the water” that helps our girl’s teams be successful.  They are well coached… they train hard in the off-season… they “get it”.  If you came any day of the week to our Advanced Strength and Conditioning Class for Athletes, you would be impressed by how hard the girls work.  As I have discussed in a previous post (Training Women Athletes) we do not train or treat our women athletes any different, or have a different set of expectations than for our men.  We train them to become better athletes.

Oh… and to update both of the stories I began this post with… Carter’s comment about Shelby being “just a girl” was not a great impediment to their relationship.  They have been friends for nearly 20 years.  Lexi Hart followed up her “wind aided” 38’ 10” triple jump with another 38’+ jump to win the Sectional Meet last Saturday!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

 

Customizing the Workbook

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customizing the workbookAll of the Excel Workout workbooks that have been shared are customizable.  When you download them, they are locked, allowing the user to only enter information in the cells that are shaded yellow.  But, they are not password protected, so unlocking them is easy.  Here is how you will do it .

Go to the Tools menu in Excel

In the drop down menu select – Protection>>>> Unprotect Sheet

When you are finished making your changes, I recommend going back and protecting the sheet.  Go to the same Tools menu and select – Protection>>>>Protect Sheet

Here is a brief video showing how to unprotect and protect the Workout Worksheet.

Some basic changes you might want to make:

Changing the Header to your school name, and logo: 

To do this you can either double click on the header (where it says Truman Patriots Strength and Conditioning) and enter whatever title you would like on the sheet.  You would do the same to delete (or add) a logo on the header.

Changing the Positions:

The “Position O” and “Position D” fields are specific to football.  You can easily change these to a position for another sport – say softball or basketball

Changing any of the testing results:

In addition to cells for entering the athlete’s estimated 1RM, the card is set up to enter additional information on the following tests:

  • Weight
  • 40 yd (40 yard dash)
  • Vert (Vertical Leap)
  • Pro Agile (5-10-5 Pro Agility Shuttle)

You can change (or delete) any of these fields to enter different tests you might do in your program.  Keep in mind that the fields Power Q (Power Quotient) and LB/LB (Pound for Pound ratio) are calculated fields.  The Power Q cell will multiply the square root of their body weight times the square root of their vertical leap.  The LB/LB ratio will take the total amount of weight the athlete lifts on the 4 Core Lifts and divide by their body weight.  If you delete or change the Weight or the Vertical Leap fields, the card will no longer be able to calculate the Power Q or LB/LB.

Changing the workout set/ rep percentages:

You can also change any of the percentages in the cells that calculate the workout for each day.  It is slightly more complicated but still fairly easy to do.  For instance, on the Heavy day for each lift in the 5 x 5 cycle, the athlete will lift the following percentages of their 1RM for each set of 5 reps:

  1. 60
  2. 75
  3. 80
  4. 85
  5. 90

The formula (all of the formulas will follow the same format) used to calculate the correct weight for the first set, light day, is:

CEILING((MAX(0,K2*0.6)-2.5),5)

In this formula, K2 is the cell where the estimated 1RM is located and .6  is the percent of the estimated 1RM (60%) that you want to do for this set.  If you would rather do, say, 70%, you would simply change the .6 to a .7 –   The rest of the formula is used to round the amount to the nearest 5 pounds, and would remain the same.

It is important to remember that if you change the formula for one days lift (ex.- Heavy lift on Monday – Bench) you will need to change for each day (ex. – Heavy lift on Tuesday – Squat, Heavy lift on Wed – Push, and Heavy lift on Friday – Clean) that you want those changes to take place.

Here is a brief video showing how to change the workout percentages in a cell.

If you have any questions on how to do this, or would like me to help you customize the Excel Workbook template to fit your needs, just let me know…. I would be more than happy to do it!

 

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

 

A 3 Day a Week Workout Program

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3 dayI have had several requests from colleagues asking if I had a 3-Day a Week workout program.  YES!  In addition to the 4-Day a Week  Excel based workout program that I have shared, there is also a 3-Day a Week option available to you.

The instructions for using the 3-Day a Week program are identical to using the 4-Day a Week workbook (that I shared in the post – The Excel Workout Workbook), except for one additional step.

This program still has 4 “core” lifts, bench, squat, clean, and push press.  Each week, over a 4-week cycle, you will do three core lifts, and omit one for the week.  It looks like this:
  • Week 1         Bench, Push, Clean
  • Week 2         Push, Clean, Squat
  • Week 3         Clean, Squat, Bench
  • Week 4         Squat, Bench, Push

Each workout card still has 3 different “cycles” (3×8, 5×5, and 3×3) printed on it, with all the weights based on their estimated one rep max.  On the “quote” page of the workbook there are two things you can change.  One is the quote or reminders that get put on each workout sheet for that week, and the other is a “pull down” menu to select which week workout you want to use.  When you select a week, it will automatically populate their workout cards for the new weeks lifts and weights.

The one additional step is selecting which week on the 4 week cycle you are on and want to print.  This brief video tutorial will show you how to manage the 4 week cycle on your Excel template:

Just a reminder – there are three different Excel workbooks available to you –  just click on each link to download:

The Mac version will run on Windows without any problems.  The only difference in the Windows version, is that it has a “button” to click on when an athlete “breaks” that automatically adds 10 lbs to their estimated 1RM.

If you have any questions, just comment or email – I WILL answer!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

 

The Seniors

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graduateYesterday was the senior’s last day at our school, and Sunday they graduate.  In 30+ years of teaching and coaching I can honestly say that as a coach you develop an affinity, a bond with almost every class that comes through your school. That is the nature of the profession.  This group, though, will always be a special one for me.

This senior group, both the men and women athletes, really “bought into” what we were trying to do in our strength and conditioning program.    We could not have made the gains we accomplished at our school without them.

When we started, there were 8 male students enrolled in our Advanced Strength and Conditioning class for athletes, and pretty much all they wanted to do was bicep curls, bench, or lay on the bench.  They were in for a rude awakening!  This past year we had over 120 students (2 sections of 60 students each) enrolled in the class, both men and women, who are committed and train hard (and inspire me) daily.

This group was committed to training in the off-season, both in the classroom, after school, and summer.  Our numbers expanded so much in our off-season program that it dictated expanding our weight room – nearly doubling space and equipment. We went from literally just a handful of student (6-7 male athletes) the winter before we introduced our workout program (A Weekly (not weakly!) Workout), to 70+ (both men and women) athletes at nearly every after school workout since that time.

Last summer we had over 220 committed athletes from our school – both men and women and from every sport – that attended our summer Strength and Conditioning Class. They dedicated a portion of their summer by working out four mornings a week, two hours a day, for nearly 8 weeks!  The workouts were brutal – and included weight room, speed development, quickness/ agility, and conditioning sessions daily.

This group of senior football players was also instrumental in winning only the second district championship in the schools history during their junior season.  Although their continued hard work did not translate to the success we were hoping for on the football field this (their senior) season, their work ethic set the standard for what real training should look like.

In addition to being an incredibly hard working group, they also displayed great character, both in the classroom, in the hallway, and on the football field.

I always tell people that I learned so much more than football, X’s and O’s, from my high school coach, Fred Merrell.  I only hope that some day, this group of seniors will look back and think the same thing.  I know I learned from them.

Thanks to the Truman High School class of 2013

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

In the Spotlight – Sandra Chiles

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pats girls bbToday in the Spotlight is senior three-sport standout athlete, Sandra Chiles.  Sandra participates in volleyball, basketball and soccer at Truman High School.

Sandra has played Varsity volleyball for 2 seasons and started this past year.  She played varsity both her junior and senior seasons on the basketball team, and was part of two conference championships squads, including a 25-1 record her senior season.

In Soccer Sandra has been on the varsity squad all four years in high school and has been starting since her sophomore year.  She was voted Honorable Mention All-Conference three years, and was part of a Conference and District Championship soccer team.

Sandra has been training in our strength and conditioning program for three years, both during the school year and summer sessions.

Here is a copy of Sandra’s most recent workout card

chiles card

Here is a brief video of Sandra training.

Remember…

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you… don’t believe it!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com