Strength Training Similarities & Differences

High School - College - Professional

Ted Rath, SCCC

Throughout my time as a strength and conditioning coach I have been very fortunate to work with many outstanding athletes at the high school, collegiate, and professional level.  For the purpose of this article I will focus on comparing and contrasting strength training for each level.  In this day and age it is not uncommon to see high school weight rooms rival that of a Division II college or in some cases a smaller Division I university.  With the abundance of tools available to our young athletes in the weight room it is important to step back and consider the reasoning behind strength training.  If the # 1 consideration that pops into your head is anything other than SAFETY, I urge you to reconsider the philosophy behind your strength program.  The weight room is supposed to be a safe place where each athlete can come to develop the strength necessary to compete at a higher level with more resistance to injury.  This leads me to the largest similarity in designing a strength program no matter what level of athlete you are working with.  The program must be designed to SAFELY strengthen the athlete’s muscular system in order to increase performance and decrease the risk of injury while participating in his/her particular sport.  This should be considered whether you are training a freshman in high school or a 12 year NFL veteran.

            One of the main differences that I have found between athletes at the high school level and those at the collegiate and professional level is that of strength imbalances.  It became very evident when training collegiate athletes at the University of Toledo that you inherit several athletes who are very good at bench pressing.  These athletes had developed the musculature in their pectorals to a large degree.  The problem arises when we realize these same athletes have performed 1/10^th of that amount of work developing the vast musculature of the upper back.  In many situations it took upwards of an entire semester to correct the muscular imbalance that was unknowingly created by the athlete’s focus on certain exercises over others.  We have also found that the athletes often neglect other very important body parts, in particular the shoulder capsule (anterior deltoid, medial deltoid, posterior deltoid, and rotator cuff).  In sports that involved throwing, hitting, spiking, etc… this region of the shoulder is perhaps one of the most important parts on that athlete’s body.  I would advise anyone working with high school athletes in sports such as football, volleyball, baseball, softball, etc. to include exercises that strengthen the upper back and shoulder, in particular the latisimuss dorsi, posterior deltoid, and rotator cuff.  Deceleration forces are approximately twice as strong as acceleration forces.  If an athlete lacks the muscular strength to decelerate the arm in an efficient manner during a standard throwing movement, severe injury can be the result whether immediately or later in life. 

            These imbalances can also be found in the lower body of the athlete.  When comparing high school athletes to those at higher levels, I've noticed a trend that the majority of high school athletes are “Quad dominant” in their lower body.  This can present a problem in the form of more prevalent hamstring injuries.   A simple solution is to include hamstring curls, RDL’s (video in Multi-Media Section), and hip extension exercises in the athlete’s program.  Another great exercise for the hamstring is a Russian Lean (aka Nordic Hamstring excercise, video found in the Multi-Media Section).   I also suggest that high school athletes be sure to perform movements that work the inner thigh (hip adduction) and outer thigh (hip abduction) when training their lower body.

Another common problem that I have found when training high school and college track athletes is that of shin splints.  One possible reason for this can be the focus on strengthening the muscles of the calf (gastrocnemius and soleus) while neglecting the tibialis anterior muscle (muscle located by your shin).  A simple way to strengthen this muscle is through manual resistance dorsi flexion where the spotter places his/her hands on the top of the lifter’s feet while they dorsi flex the foot, but Hammer Strength also makes a piece of equipment designed for the same movement.

             Perhaps the most disturbing difference that I have found between high school athletes and those playing college or professional is the focus on strengthening and training the neck for all athletes who participate in contact sports.  I currently work with the Detroit Lions, and the FIRST exercise sequence they perform upon entering the weight room is a shrug, neck flexion, neck extension and then another shrug.  Many coaches may read this and say that they don’t have the resources to train each athlete’s neck; I would implore them to look into manual resistance exercise.  Each time I have been asked to speak to high school athletes about strength training, the first thing that I cover is how to properly train the neck and the surrounding muscles.  As I have spent time working with a local high school football team recently, I made sure that each athlete knew how to properly perform manual resistance movements as both the lifter and as the spotter.  It is imperative that every coach that will be in the weight room is educated on the correct techniques in administering manual resistance exercises before adding them to your program.

SUGGESTIONS:

Ø  Be sure to have a balanced plan

Ø  Don’t neglect any areas

Ø  Don’t overtrain any areas

Ø  Have a clear cut plan of progression for your program

Ø  Be sure that each workout has proper supervision

Ø  Be sure that every coach is knowledgeable about the program and how to coach each exercise that the athletes will perform