GS circuits stuff like light bb type exercises for 1-2 sets of 10 each I’m guessing? And with this short of time to teach, would you prefer to teach this athlete snatch over clean?
How frequent would you include speed work in a 3 day training week (MWF)? I’m thinking twice a week would be plenty with her given practice schedule.
It really depends on the athlete, I have had success teaching a multi sport freshman high school female athlete the power clean in only a couple sessions. So in this case I probably would have taught her the power clean this week before starting her training. This is the teaching progression I like to use with success.
Remember she is a not a weight lifter, so if we can get her to be 80% proficent then I think it’s good.
We will most likely warm up inside the facility where at least the flooring is a bit softer (rubber mats). Might have to do her drills on concrete; there is a small patch of grass next to the concrete but it’s a bit sketchy; has some holes in it (damn gophers!!).
Yes, I am a fan of DP GS circuits tons of bw and mb drills.
I think 2 days of speed is plenty.
I perfer the clean myself, has she ever clean or snatch before?
I don’t think she has much experience lifting weights, let alone the olympic lifts. What do you think?
If you have any doubts then don’t use them. I had a basketball athlete join last weekend, I taught him my clean progression in one hour and the following week we started training the clean, it’s a working progress but his tech is solid and safe enough at this point. Some athletes are athletic enough to pick up the progression fast and some are not.
In this situation I would avoid complex lifts. They aren’t so valuable that they couldn’t be replaced with something else (like med ball work) here.
I’ll assess it on Monday and go from there. Thanks for your help!
play it safe and keep:
1: speed work
2: throws
3: unweighted jumps
4: weighted jumps
I wouldn’t worry about the ol’s. With the amount of time you have and with the new things you have plan, I would keep the ol’s out it would be one less thing she would have to adjust to.
Those are my two cents.
Thanks for the input. I think I will opt to not use the olympic lifts for this situation. With the time frame given, I just don’t see it being practical.
Do you guys feel with her given practice schedule (Tues/Thurs) that speed work on Monday/Friday will still suffice/be productive without compromising recovery from practice sessions, etc?
I also found out she has prior groin injury that happened around April-May… I will make up the draft tomorrow and post it for anyone that would like to critique.
OK here is the tentative draft I have made up.
Indicator exercises:
30 yard sprint
Standing Long Jump
Push Ups
Back Squat
Week 1
Monday
Lying Sprints 10x10m walk back
MB Throw Height 2x5
MB Throw Forward 2x5
1 Arm DB Clean/Press 3x8
Back Squat 3x10
Bench Press 3x10/DB Row 3x12
RDL 3x6
Front Plank 2x60 sec
Wednesday
Vertical Jumps 2x5
Broad Jumps 2x5
Deadlift 3x6
Forward Sled Drag 5-6x20
Reverse Lunge 2x12
Push Ups 3x max reps
Lat Pulldown 3x12
Back Ext. 2x12-15
Friday
Lying Sprint 5x10
Falling Sprint 5x20
MB Throw Height 2x5
MB Throw Forward 2x5
1-Arm DB Snatch 3x8
Back Squat 3x10
Bench Press 3x10/DB Row 3x12
Band Pull Through 2x20
Front/Side Plank 1x60 sec
Any thoughts, comments, suggestions, feel free to critique. I’m open to any feedback there may be! Thanks.
The looks pretty good to me, just keep extending out the accel work slowly. The most important thing will obvious be the coaching of the sprints, lifts, throws, etc. Doing a back squat with crappy technique won’t provide the same benefits as one that is done well, you get the idea.
I would consider a bit more ab/core work. It is pretty low intensity and can provide good conditioning effects for little cost. I would also consider putting your sled drags on Wednesday more towards the end of the workout (perhaps as a finisher) as I’ve seen some girls and younger athletes in general have crap workouts after them if they really push their efforts.
Thanks for the quick feedback. I agree, I will definitely be a stickler on technique than weight. And yeah I was considering some high rep ab work at the end of each session as well, starting off with 100-150 reps and working up each week. I’ll throw that in there as well at the end of each session.
I’ll put the sled drags in towards the end of Wednesday’s session as well. Thanks for your input again!
Sled drags westside style or normal sled pulls with light weight? Why the single arm ol work, I would rather see box jumps or some form of weighted jump squats or lunge jumps etc or maybe even snatch or clean pulls.
I was going to use it more as a strength movement… Not super heavy but enough to get a stimulus in. What do you think?
Never used them, I probably would drop them and increase the vol on the lunges and hypers to 3-4 sets.
Under the (correct) suggestion of being easy on extending acceleration, I would perhaps increase the acceleration distance from 10 to 15 m, especially if the switch from 10 m lying to 20 m falling is chosen. A detail perhaps or not as applicable to this athlete, but you can try it. Assess and decide!
I don’t mind the clean/snatch duo, but perhaps for your limited time with this athlete I would prefer one of them, i.e., the snatch, which works well with the MB Throws beforehand. Bar or DB: use what’s best for her in terms of confidence/learning curve -this will give you maximum results, I would guess. Good luck! 
First day went very well. She is a great athlete; most of today was initial testing and assessments. For someone who has never had proper instruction on how to lift weights or perform simple bodyweight exercises, she performed very well. Basic technical cues on her sprints and teaching form is going to benefit tremendously for her.
Very excited to work with her! Thanks everyone for all your help. I’ll keep some updates coming.
Just a little update… Things are going well. She is able to progress every session. I haven’t timed sprints, but she looks much more fluid in her running and her starts look much more quick/efficient.
Her throws and jumps improve every session… In a fatigued state today did 2 sets of 4 standing long jump after sprints at 81-82" (initial test yielded a 76" SLJ)
Her first session of lifting we performed 3x10 box squat to a below parallel box with 65 lbs. Today she did 3x8 below parallel box squat with 85,95, and 100 lbs on last set-- and these sets all looked explosive, with a slight pause on the box. She has excellent technique already on most all lifts;
I’ve even begun to introduce hang power cleans on Mondays and after two sessions with cleans, she is using 70 lbs for 4 reps. Not the prettiest technique, but it’s actually quite decent.
Deadlifted an easy 120x6 last Friday on her third set… I’m still holding back a bit but gradually increasing the intensity week to week.
Speed volumes have increased very very gradually but she’s recovering and adjusting well. I’m very curious to see where we’re at in November. Thanks to everyone for the help again.
10/19/09 Second Assessment
Standing Long Jump: 82.5" (+6.0" from day 1)
40: 5.14/5.19 (-.09 from day 1)
Box Squat 12" box: 160 lbs x 3 (pause on box) Stopped here with some more left in the tank.
Push Ups: 32 (+12 from day 1)
Not bad for ~4 weeks of solid training!! Very impressed so far with her progress, especially since she still is fairly new to all this. Her technique is great on squats, I feel she had another 15-20 lbs in her for a true 3rm.