The Shaping Of A High School Athlete Part 3: 460 Training Sessions Completed
Hunter’s last off-season training was scheduled to begin November 28, 2022. As we embarked on the final part of our journey together a few key points stood out to me with Hunter's progress. First, his desire to embrace the journey itself. There is no doubt there were certain external motivators for him (315 bench press, 10’ + long jump, and a 30’ triple jump). The key was that he understood he needed to be able to show up every day to move a little closer to achieving them. Second, he had a highly driven training partner in Tobia Tagliabue. They had been training together for 3 years and each of them had accumulated 400+ training sessions over the 3 years. At the end of this off-season, Tobia squatted 435 lbs and bench pressed 345 lbs. I believe this friendship was one of the biggest factors in both of their physical development.
I had some goals for the program beginning this off-season period. The first was to acquire some basic gymnastics equipment that allowed our athletes to practice their movement skills and explore different tumbling techniques. Thankfully we were able to purchase a balance beam, pommel horse, parallel bars, and some big mats. These simple acquisitions would take our program to another level in shaping our athletes. Second was acquiring a Keiser leg press and seated calf machine.
When we began our first training week, we would fall back to very basic exercises and begin to build volume through general preparation work. This included body weight circuits, extensive jump circuits, basic barbell movements (squats, deadlifts, and bench press), tempo runs - extensive, medicine ball circuits - extensive. Sprinting at this time wasn't going to happen because of weather conditions, field space, and no indoor space.
The goal of the first eight weeks was to build back Hunter’s work capacity and recovery capacity. As we moved deeper into the off-season this would become very important to recover from more intensive work. When I look at Hunter’s training we did very basic exercises. It was when and how we applied them which created an environment for the adaptations we wanted to acquire. Having very basic testing, repeated consistently, allowed us to see how the program was progressing. Hunter tested his resting physiology on a daily basis through HRV and I could monitor his daily readiness and see how he was adapting to the training load.
Our first test session was March 13, 2023. We tested triple jump, 1rm bench press, and 3rm squat. His bench press 295 lbs, 3rm squat 385 lbs, and triple jump 29’8”. During the period leading up to this test day, Hunter was performing 4,000 - 5,200 yards of tempo work, 2x week squats/bench (nothing exceeding 80%), basic jump volume was 400-600 foot contacts per week, power work consisted of kettlebell jump squats with 16-32kg, general strength circuits of Gambetta leg circuits, pillar - gss, and movement cooldowns. His body weight at this time was 200-205.
Between March and the second week of June, Hunter moved into using contrast methods. These consisted of pairing some type of barbell lift (ex. 5 reps of Kettlebell jump squats immediately followed by 5 hurdle jumps), we also performed this method with upper body training. This work was performed 2x a week. Tuesday and Thursdays continued to be aerobic based, with the weather permitting, he would begin performing hill sprints. Volume started at 20 reps and the distance was <5 seconds with a 50 sec rest period. Thursdays we kept tempo sessions. Wednesdays would not become a sport specific day. This was used as contact prep for our linemen and linebackers. Basic exercises such as partner bear crawls, tug of war, and grappling with medicine balls.
Once the summer program started, Hunter’s training would make a shift. We introduced depth jumps up to a box. From there we progressed to a depth jump to a broad jump. The highest box he dropped from was 18” and the weekly volume was between 40-80 jumps. These might be paired with a heavy squat (90% x 2), jump squats (3 x 6-8 reps with 30-40% of 1rm). I eliminated hill sprints and we reverted back to 2x week tempo sessions. We dropped the volume down to 1,200-1,600 because there would be a 30 minute football practice post lifting every day, and the 7v7 passing league was 1x per week. I used the daily HRV measurements to help guide training reductions, recovery, or full gas.
We performed our last test session prior to a team lineman challenge (multiple physical events i.e. tug of war, farmers walk, vertical jump, broad jump). This time we only tested 2 events, triple jump and 1rm bench press. Hunter set a school record in the triple jump at 30’ 6”, and hit a 315lb bench press.
When Hunter competed in the Metro Area Lineman Challenge he was able to break two records which had been held for 13 years. His vertical jump was 38.5” and broad jump was 10 '2". He bench pressed 185 lbs x 23 reps. Hunter placed 1st overall in the lightweight division.
We both knew then that he was ready for practice to begin and was at a very high level.
Once the season began, the entire team would continue to strength train 2x per week. Monday’s session was lower body strength. Thankfully we had purchased the Keiser leg press in August, this would allow the athletes to continue training at a very high velocity in a safe environment. The A300 Leg Press uses more resistance where you’re stronger and less where most vulnerable to injury. And the low inertia of resistance eliminates dangerous shock loading on muscles, connective tissues, and joints. This significantly lowers the risk of injury and pain during exercise. This would be key to keeping Hunter healthy and explosive during the season. By tracking Hunter’s peak power on the leg press (see 7 week progression below), I could adjust training accordingly. If numbers were lower, then maybe cutting his session short and having him do more recovery exercises is appropriate. If numbers are higher, then keeping the session as planned.
At the end of the season, Hunter was awarded 1st team All League offensive line, and 2nd team Linebacker.
I can not thank Hunter enough for being such a great person to work with and that he was always himself. Being able to have a partnership within the training process allowed me to become a much better coach and listen to what Hunter valued. This became a win-win for both of us and shaped the culture of trust between coach and athlete.
I also would like to thank a few people for all their hard work and support.
First my wife Deb. Her belief in me, putting up with me coming home late at night after training, her fabulous editing of my writing, and making food for the kids every Friday during the school year. I love you.
Head Football Coach Steve Coury. Steve hired me in May of 2021 to come and work with the football team. Without him hiring me, none of this would have been possible. Steve is a great coach and person. Thanks for the opportunity.
Finally, every athlete who has allowed me to work with them over the past 20 years. I have learned from you each and every day. It has been an unbelievable experience and I look forward to another 10-15 years of learning.
Joy of sport for all.