Coaching Cues from the Summer Weight Room Part 1
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As teams gear up for another year of competition, Volt wanted to take a glimpse at summer training insights from coaches across the country. In the first part of this mini-series, Coaching Cues from the Summer Weight Room, we sat down with Coach Mike DeRoehn of Two Rivers High School, WI. After a successful career as the Health and Fitness Coordinator at Two Rivers, DeRoehn is turning the page and will be starting a new position as the Director of Strength and Conditioning at Lakeland University, also in Wisconsin. Before making the transition, Coach DeRoehn shared some final takeaways from his time training athletes at the high school level.
Q: What has strength and conditioning looked like for your sports teams this summer?
MD: We've had a great summer with strong participation by a variety of athletes in their respective sports. We offered training four times per week for most athletes. Each session is planned for about one hour. Most of our sessions involve a variety of athletes from different sports training together at the same time. We conduct a unified program (not to be confused with a uniform program where everyone is doing the same thing) because we have mostly multi-sport athletes in a smaller school like ours. Therefore I try to program "athlete-specific" training instead of rigidly "sport specific". Obviously, I adjust for the nuance of certain sports where appropriate and for individuals as needed. This is a huge benefit of Volt's movement replacement feature, allowing me to individualize on the fly for athletes who need adjustments.
I've found that using three to four-week blocks are very beneficial for high school athletes. While we obviously have consistency in our main lifts, the programs always have some tweaks in there from block to block. So I've found it helps them build confidence and competence in what they're doing from week to week. In the first week they're kind of "learning the program", the second week they're "practicing the program.” By weeks three and four they're "training.” As we do this throughout the year, and they learn all the variances of different exercises, tempo, emphasis of the block, and repeating previous cycles, they develop a true understanding of what they're doing. When I see them helping their fellow students with peer coaching going on, making correct suggestions to clean up the form, and challenging each other, I know we're making real progress because, ultimately, I want them to take ownership of their training in the long run.
With all of our programs, I primarily select exercises within the fundamental athletic movement patterns (hinge, squat, push/row, or press/pull) in vertical and horizontal vectors while incorporating transverse movements as well. Having large groups at the same time also provides an opportunity to incorporate some contrast training, which obviously benefits the athletes from a power production standpoint, but also helps manage space issues and the flow of the workouts within the room.
Coach Tip #1
When faced with limited equipment and space be strategic in how you cycle athletes from certain sports through the various movements. while also being time-efficient.
With our football group being 50-55 kids, and our weight room having just 6 racks, I've trained them in their own group. Because football season starts a couple of weeks ahead of the other fall sports, they were on a slightly different periodization schedule. We did a six-week block of tri-phasic training with them in an effort to have them powerful and explosive heading into fall camp.
Q: What are some of the challenges your school faces regarding strength and conditioning? How are you planning on addressing those challenges?
MD: I'd say one of the biggest challenges our school faces is limited space and the equipment layout. I'm a big believer in maximizing the resources you do have; versus complaining about what you don't have. But in a perfect world, we could update the equipment and outfit the space to be more appropriate for training for sports performance. What we have is fine and we will always do the best we can, with what we have, where we are. But in the future, I'd love to apply for some grants and fundraise to address that challenge and improve the facility, in order to provide an even better student-athlete experience.
Q: How do you like to prepare athletes over the summer who participate in fall versus winter or spring sports?
MD: We have primarily a population of multi-sport athletes. For the few of our athletes who aren't in a fall sport, the plan is to get them into a tri-phasic block this fall, in order to have them primed for the winter sports season.
Regarding the "summer break", the unfortunate reality for multi-sport athletes in a small school, is that summer isn't much of a break at all. While the kids are preparing for fall sports with me in the weight room, drilling speed work, or practicing change of direction, they are also being pulled in many different directions because the head coach of each sport asks them to participate in summer practices, summer leagues, open gyms, camps, and weekend tournaments. So if anything, I'm trying to find some sort of balance in their overall athletic participation schedule. This is a challenge that is somewhat out of my control, but still within my sphere of influence.
Coach Tip #2
A pre-summer coach meeting will facilitate collaboration and compromise on what is being asked by each coach while prioritizing athletic development training. This will optimize the training of our students, rather than run them ragged all summer and risk being over-trained or under-recovered heading into the fall sports season.
Q: How do you keep athletes motivated and engaged over the summer?
MD: The first part of engagement, any time of the year, is making sure the athletes feel welcomed and encouraged. They need to know that they're cared about as a person first, and athlete second. I try to greet them at the door, say hello, and be upbeat and alert to bring energy to the session right away. We typically incorporate some sort of energizer or kick starter game that is an extension of our warm-up to get them smiling, laughing, and get their brains woken up.
Coach Tip #3
If you keep showing up, the weights keep going up.
I encourage them to focus on the process, recognize improvement, as well as celebrate achievement by featuring them on social media when they hit a PR, or even provide little incentives such as a temporary tattoo or sticker when they hit a new PR. With Volt's Cortex™ feature, the athletes are consistently encouraged by the app itself when they see improvements in their estimated 1RM because they know they're making progress from week to week.
Q: Any closing thoughts?
MD: Lessons I've learned or even just been reminded of so far this summer, especially with our younger student-athletes, is that kids tend to thrive when there is structure, a consistent and systematic approach, expectations are well-communicated, and the kids are positively encouraged while still being held accountable.
This is the first installment of a three-part mini-series highlighting the training insights of successful coaches and athletic directors across the country who are part of the #VoltFamily. Have questions or want to be featured on the Volt blog? Feel free to reach out at zuha@voltathletics.com.
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