Building a Foundation for your High School Strength Program

By Ryan Carlson

The following 10 principles are the foundation of our strength and conditioning program at Minnetonka High School.  These principles comprise a comprehensive approach that we use to train our students, athletes, and anyone else interested in reaping the benefits of improved muscular fitness.

1. Year-round participation 

          The most important period for an athlete is in-season and off-season strength and conditioning is a key component of an athlete’s success, unfortunately, many athletes train very hard in the off-season and then discontinue training once their sport season begins.  This is a big mistake. To prepare for an athlete’s season is extremely important, but so is a continuance of effort during the season so an athlete can work at minimally maintain their strength and conditioning levels that they worked so hard to achieve. A year-round commitment to strength and conditioning is vital in maximizing athletic potential and injury prevention.

2. Perfect Repetitions 

            Perfect repetitions should be a foundation of all strength programs.  For maximum gains, the resistance must be raised at a speed that forces the muscle to perform all of the work.  If momentum is used, fewer muscle fibers are recruited.  After raising the weight, pause momentarily in the contracted position and then make a smooth transition into the lowering phase.  For maximum gains, more time must be taken to lower the resistance than was used to raise it.

3. Intensity 

            Intensity of exercise is the most controllable factor in any resistance training program.  Despite what the majority of the population believes, magical set/rep schemes, barbells and one repetition maxes have little or nothing to do with obtaining results. The physiological basis for any strength training program is the overload principle.  The overload principle states that a system must be stressed beyond its current capacity in order to stimulate a physiological response… that response is an increase in muscular strength and size.  In our program, each and every exercise is taken to the point of momentary muscle failure, followed by 2-4 forced repetitions.

4. Progression 

          To ensure progressive overload, we use a double progressive system.  The goal on each exercise is to either perform more repetitions or use more resistance (or both) then the previous workout.

5. Brief and Infrequent 

          Our athletes train 2-3 days per week with each workout lasting between 15 and 60 minutes.  Emphasis is placed on the quality of the work, rather then the quantity.  Because high intensity exercise is so demanding, only small amounts can be tolerated and each athlete should perform the minimum amount of exercise needed to attain the desired response.

6. Total Body Training 

          Every athlete we work with train the entire body, placing an equal emphasis on each muscle group.  Athletic performance in all sports requires the muscular systems to work synergistically, meaning that all muscles groups must be developed.

7. Record Data 

          All pertinent workout information must be recorded to ensure progression.  The workout card should allow for the recording of the following information: seat settings, number of repetitions achieved, amount of resistance used, and the date of the workout.  We also list descriptions of different overload protocols we used and also have each athlete record the percentage of exercises in which they demonstrated progress.

8. Supervision 

          The success of a strength training program is directly related to the amount of supervision and coaching each athlete receives.  Athletes always strength train with a partner whose job it is to not only spot, but also to provide specific feedback related to speed of movement, posture, exercise form and encouragement.

9. Variety 

          Variety in a training program will help the athlete to avoid mental and physical boredom and has the potential to make the athletes experience more challenging, enjoyable and rewarding.  Variety can be achieved by using all forms of resistance (free weights, machines, manual resistance, etc.), varying rep speed, number of reps performed, plane of movement and a host of other variables that we employ.  We also like to throw in abbreviated workouts such as a 3x3 or FAT (fried and toasted).  The same goals are achieved by these workouts, differing only in how the goal is attained.

10. Unification 

          Creating a unified program that has the support of physical education staff, coaches, and athletes is a key to building the best possible strength training program.  Confusion and doubt will exist if coaches from different sports recommend different styles of training.  Educating coaches and athletes is key in achieving program unification.