I’ve got a great audio interview for you that I was asked to be a part of a couple months ago. Travis Self of FITT Warehouse Training Systems in Atlanta, Georgia and I spoke on the phone for nearly an hour about GPP, strength development for youth athletes, educating parents on WHY it’s so vital for young athletes to get stronger, and much more.

Check it out by clicking the link below.

John Cortese Interview with Travis Self <— Click Here to  Listen!!

Hope you enjoy,

John Cortese

Be sure to leave your comments in the comment section below. If you liked this interview, please “Like” by pressing the Facebook “Like” button!

Yes, IMPROPERLY PERFORMED WEIGHT TRAINING IS BAD FOR YOU. This should be not confused with PROPERLY EXECUTED, WELL-COACHED, SOUND-REASON weight training. Unfortunately somewhere along the road the two got mixed together because a couple of morons got hurt deadlifting with a rounded back or not warming up at all and tearing a pec or injuring their shoulder on the bench press because they used a weight they were simply not ready for.

So, let’s go over a couple myths and lies about Strength Training for Athletes, shall we?

1. “Squats are bad for your back and knees” OK this has got to stop. Bad squatting is bad for your knees and back, this is true. Properly performed, full range of motion squats are NOT; in fact, done properly, they should be alleviating your problems. I don’t remember where I read this, but to loosely quote the author “If the exercises you are doing are making you feel like shit, evaluate your technique. If they are still making you feel like shit, STOP!” Look, we all like to making things more complicated than they really are for some reason or another. Take a look at the leg development of some of the best speed and power athletes in the world; Maurice Jones-Drew, Barry Sanders, Maurice Greene, Ben Johnson, etc. They didn’t earn legs like that overnight! I don’t care about genetics, natural athletes, etc because most of that garbage doesn’t apply to you or me! Properly executed squats will yield tremendous benefits to your athletic performance and physique. If you are unsure of what a real squat looks like, check this video out below:

2.) Machines are Safer/Easier: This drives me nuts. No athlete should ever be allowed to use traditional “fitness” machines. You know, the funny looking, expensive, space using, pieces of equipment that do most of work for you, while sitting down? Catch the last part of that sentence? DO MOST OF THE WORK FOR YOU, WHILE SITTING DOWN. Athletes need to train movement patterns that require some form of coordination, rhythm, timing, balance, mobility, strength, and speed. What machine allows you to do this? I know plenty of barbell exercises that train all of these qualities at once: Squats, Cleans, Snatches, Overhead Presses, Unilateral upper/lower body exercises, sprints, jumps, throws, etc. Yes machines are EASY because the machine has a fixed path that the resistance travels; usually up and down on some form of cable and pulley apparatus. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few machines out there such as the reverse hyperextension and glute-ham developer that have merit and are excellent for athletes and regular Joe’s to use; but if you’re looking for results, stick with free weights and body weight exercises such as push ups, jumps, pull ups, dips, etc.

Pretty sure she lifts weights.. Not very bulky or manly looking if you ask me!

3.) “Weight Training Will Make Me Slow and Bulky” I usually hear this garbage from females and inexperienced athletes in general who don’t really have a clue. I don’t blame them though, since the majority of popular media would like us to believe that women should only perform aerobics and use frilly 5 pound dumbbells, and athletes should be performing 1-leg balances on a swiss ball, juggling, while catching a football because it’s totally sport-specific (I hate that term by the way; “SPORT SPECIFIC”. I’ll touch on that topic in a future post). Let’s clear the air here; ladies you don’t have enough testosterone to turn “bulky” in the first place, and weight gain is simply a result of taking in more than you burn, simple as that. Nothing will get you “toned” faster than some good ol’ fashion weight training, coupled with a day or two of metabolic conditioning like sprints, jump rope, sled drags, etc. Same goes for athletes; getting stronger will only HELP your sprints and jumps. As long as you stay on top of mobility and flexibility (which you are, right?) and you continue to sprint and/or do some form of jump training at least once a week,  then you should see no loss in speed.

Now that I’ve had my soap box minute, what about you? I’d like to hear your thoughts below.

What myths and lies about strength training for athletes (or just people in general) frustrate you?! Leave ‘em below!

See ya,

John Cortese

This will be a series of posts about strength and conditioning for youth athletes; read Part I below.

This is a topic that I’m very passionate about and I have some strong views on, so bare with me here while I shed some light on why I feel even youth athletes need to be involved in some form of basic strength training. Hear me out…

For some reason, we’ve been brainwashed and told that you have to be a certain age to participate in a structured strength training program. This is due to the fact that most people associate strength training with bodybuilders they see on TV or in the latest magazine. This is the exact opposite of what we want to associate to our youth athletes.

Now, when I use the term “youths” I’m speaking of athletes ranging from 8-17 years old. Every age group have different needs and the type of training they would participate in. The goal of a strength training program for a child at the age of 8 would differ GREATLY than one for 17 year old Johnny who is a 200 lb runningback. Make sense so far?

It makes me cringe when I see a high school aged kid who is so out of shape, weak, immobile, and tight that I want to scream. Yet, they are playing a sport often year-round; club team, travel squad, all-stars, regular season, etc. This is just an overuse injury waiting to happen. Whatever happened to playing multiple sports? If you are going to subject a 10 year old to full contact football but hesitate allowing this young athlete to learn how to move his body, decrease risk of injury, improve relative body strength and fitness, and just feel better overall with a basic strength training program, then we as a culture have sorely missed the boat.

I have spoken about this before, but we need to quit looking for quick fixes for NOW (i.e. wanting little 10 year-old Billy to decrease his 40 yard dash time because he HAS to be the best in youth football; this is a great recipe for burn out and quitting the sport because it’s no longer FUN) and start looking at LONG TERM ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT. I firmly believe in this. You must always look long-term in order to keep training fun, keep the kids coming back for more because they WANT to and ENJOY it! Yes, strength training CAN be fun; what a concept!

This post sounds a bit like a tangent and ramble, but enough is enough. Strength training, while properly supervised by a competent and experienced coach, is one of the safest activities you can take part in. The younger the athlete, the simpler the program should be. For example, if I had a group of 10-year old football players, they may see me twice  a week for 30 minutes at a time. Our focus would simply be improving body awareness, coordination, relative body strength (i.e. getting really good at moving their own bodies with movements such as push-ups, squats, walking lunges, leap frog jumps, light medicine ball throws, jump rope, hand walking, gymnastics, etc), and getting some good mobility training in while incorporating this type of stuff into a game-like atmosphere. You can just see how fun and rewarding this type of basic training can be; especially since nowadays most kids see P.E. in school as a chore and the lack of physical fitness and strength in the average teen is pretty sad. Maybe if we shut off the TV and X-Box we would have less injuries in sports and more kids actually enjoying being active. Just a thought.

So, what’s the real truth about strength and conditioning for youth athletes? It CAN be done, if it’s done RIGHT and it’s FUN. Here are a couple guidelines I like to follow for youth strength training programs:

• Keep it SIMPLE. The younger the athlete, the less complex their training needs to be. No need for fancy workouts or exercises.
  
• Monitor frequency and duration. A younger athlete’s training frequency (i.e. how often per week or month they trained) and duration (length of a session) would be less than an 18 year old’s.
  
• Master bodyweight exercises first before looking for additional resistance.
  
• Use games and team-building style sessions whenever possible. If you can incorporate strength training into a game or competition, they will forget they are even “working out” anyways. Keep it fun!
  
• Have a plan and make sure whatever these kids are doing that a purpose is behind it.
  

If a child can be subject to a full-contact sport, then they should be involved in some sort of program that lets them learn how to move their bodies safely and properly, strengthen muscles to decrease risk of injury, and build confidence and self-esteem that will carry over into a positive experience in sports.

Stay tuned for Part II, if you have any questions feel free to leave them below.. What are your thoughts on youth athletes and strength training?

See ya!

John Cortese

Jeff Demps, a 10.01 100m runner (at 18 yrs old!) who just so happens to be one of the nations top college FB players

How often have YOU been on the other side of being beat deep for a touchdown by a player who just was flat out faster and more explosive than you? How frustrating is it to race for the ball in the middle of an open field during a soccer game and get beat there every single time by a player who had a better set of “wheels” than you?! These are just some examples, but you get the point? I wanted to address this topic because of a comment that I heard last night from one of the announcers during a high school football game. It was along the lines of “you CANNOT teach speed”. I’m sure we’ve all heard this before. I USED to believe in this. No matter what I did in high school, it seemed nothing worked to get me faster and more explosive. I was told I’d probably never break 4.6 seconds in the 40 yard dash-My freshman year of college I ran a 4.66 40 weighing 176 lbs; a little over 1 year later (after some hard/smart training) I ran a 4.47 40 yard dash weighing 189 lbs, while being significantly stronger!

What is the point of all this you say? Speed is a skill that can be taught to any athlete. Anyone can get faster than they previously are with some smart planning, hard work, and doing just enough to create an adaptation (QUICK TIP- Do enough to stimulate, NOT annihilate). Here’s some reasons WHY you may not be getting faster.

Jason Smoots- Safe to say, he has NOT neglected weight training (10.01 100m PB)

• You’re doing TOO Much- If you’re going out and running endless 100 yard sprints every single day, your body will start to break down. Injury will result soon enough, or you will get frustrated as fatigue starts to accumulate and get slower. My general rule is keep a speed session above 200 total meters/yards but no more than 500 total meters/yards in a given session, and do no more than 3 speed sessions per week. The rules are rough guidelines, so follow them loosely. If your form starts to break down, or you feel fatigued, then the session is called off. Which leads me to the next guideline…
  
• You’re not focusing on QUALITY- If you try to turn these speed sessions into a conditioning session, then you’re defeating the purpose! In order to facilitate improvements in speed, you MUST achieve complete recovery after each rep in order to teach your nervous system what a fresh, full speed sprint feels like. You will not be able to achieve the types of speed you’re looking for if you’re resting 30 seconds between 60 meter sprints. The effort might be there, but the times will show otherwise. Take home point- rest enough to make each rep QUALITY.
  
• You’re not lifting weights- Yes, most young (and even some college) athletes are flat out weak. If you aren’t strong enough to apply force to the ground, absorb force (each sprint stride places around 4-5x your bodyweight on each limb upon footstrike), and consistently do that rep after rep, you aren’t going to be as efficient as you need to be. Again, like number one, don’t over do it and go and lift 5 days a week and expect to get faster. My rule here is lift AFTER speed sessions (if speed is your main priority, this must be emphasized as supplemental to speed work) and keep it simple. Often times you may be too drained from a great speed session and only be able to perform a few sets of heavy squats, cleans, and chin ups- FINE, as long as you are striving to get strong and not afraid to pay your dues in the squat rack. Most fast athletes are also very strong (Ben Johnson, former world record holder in the 100 meters is said to have squatted ~600 lbs for 2 sets of 6, and bench press 440 lbs for 2 sets of 5- at a bodyweight of 175 lbs. He ran 9.79 seconds in the 100m). Think about it like this- you need to add some horsepower in that engine of yours, so get stronger!
  
• You’re not warming up properly- A thorough warm up is critical in order to generate the heat necessary for your muscles to perform optimally. Since sprint training is such a high velocity activity, you must be warmed up prior to engaging in this type of activity. No this doesn’t mean static stretch for 5 minutes and expect to be ready- I’m talking a full dynamic warm up (lunges, hip circles, leg swings, skips, jumps, throws, push ups, sit ups, drills, etc). This shouldn’t take you more than 20 minutes. Not only will you be ready to sprint, but you’ll notice decrease in some painful problem areas such as your back, knees, shoulders, etc. QUICK TIP: Don’t turn the warm-up into the workout itself; this should be something that gets you “warm” and lightly sweating before activity.
  
• You’re Not RESTING- Your body gets better while it rests in between high intensity bouts of training, not during the training itself. A training demand of this nature requires you rest so your body can repair and come back rested for the next session. The nervous system generally requires 48 hours in between bouts. So if you’re going to sprint on Monday, wait until Wednesday or Thursday to do it again.
  
• You’re Out of Shape- Yes, even sprinters and power athletes must have some sort of general fitness in place. The key here is to keep it low intensity. Low intensity activities can include extensive tempo running (“rhythm running” i.e. stride at 60-75% of your best time over a given distance with short recoveries), bodyweight/calisthenics circuits, jump rope, incline walks, swimming, even an extended warm up of 30-45 minutes without resting. Benefits of this type of activity are that it improves capillary density to promote greater bloodflow and recovery between training bouts, increases the amount of high intensity activity you can tolerate (aka work capacity), decrease recovery time the day after a hard training session, keeps the athletes “fit” and body fat  percent down (ever seen a fat, soft, pudgy guy who could run really really fast? Not very often!), and promotes rhythm through cadence. This can be done in between high intensity days and the younger or less fit you are, the more this type of work should be done. Start out with 2-3 times per week. *NOTE- There is a time and place to partake in those gut-wrenching, ball-busting conditioning training sessions, but keep in mind that the further away you are from your competitive season, the less this type of work should be done (this is my opinion, others may think I’m full of shit, but what are you gonna do?! Can’t please ‘em all!)
  

Putting it all together: Ok, so we’ve established some general guidelines, but how the hell do you put a sample week together, or a given training day? Here’s an example speed day:

Full Dynamic Warm Up: Light jogging 400m, leg swings, hip circles, knee hug/quad stretch, walking spiderman lunge, crossover lateral lunge, a-skips, b-skips, pogo jumps, mb throws, practice starts.

Speed Work (acceleration focus) : 5x10m, 4x20m, 2x3x30m (complete recovery)

Jumps: Standing Long Jump 2×6, Standing Triple Jump 2×5

Weights (full body): Back Squat 4 x 5 (increase weight each set to a heavy set of 5 on last set), Bench press 3-4 x 5-6, 1-Arm DB Row 3 x 10/Pull Up 3 x max reps, Glute Ham Raise 3-4 x 8-10, Front/Side Planks 2 x 60 sec.

Regeneration: Foam roll x 5-10 minutes, static stretch 5 minutes, post-workout carb/protein shake, contrast/hot-cold shower.

Get stonger, get faster!

EXAMPLE TRAINING WEEK FOR AN 18 YEAR OLD FOOTBALL PLAYER:

Sunday- OFF

Monday- Speed (linear)/Weights/Jumps

Tuesday- Tempo (1500 yards tempo running 100 yard intervals at 70%, 30 seconds rest) Bodyweight circuit of push ups, sit ups, and squats.

Wednesday- Off or Light Skill work

Thursday- Speed (linear and non linear)/Lower Body weights/Throws

Friday- Upper body weights/incline treadmill walk w/ weight vest 5.0%, 3.5 mph 20 minutes

Saturday- Tempo runs 3x6x60 yards @75%, rest 20 seconds between runs, 60 seconds between sets, high rep ab circuit, soft tissue work/regeneration.

So there you have it. It doesn’t have to be rocket science. Keep it simple, lift weights, do some speed work with complete recovery, recover smart, break records each week, and you should see yourself finally get FASTER! Although the proper planning and periodization is also a factor in creating fast athletes, the principles remain here. Don’t over analyze the situation! Assess your goals and get started!

Here’s to getting you faster, stronger, and an explosive machine! And remember, it’s not your fault- Speed can be taught!

-John Cortese, YFS

PS- Questions/Comments? Leave em below! Liked this article? Spread the word, tell your friends =)

PPS- My new ONLINE COACHING PROGRAM is officially open. I only have 5 slots available, so first come-first serve! Check the link out for more info HERE.