Young Athletes & Poor Technique - Part 2

Today, I want to show you how to teach exercises from the BOTTOM UP in order to reform poor technique.

With young athletes who exhibit poor technical quality on a particular exercise or group of exercises, the best method of offering correction is often to become less dogmatic or predictable in your teaching method.

When teaching the squat for example, most Trainers and Coaches tend to take a 'top down' approach to skill execution. They teach the young athlete to set there feet and proceed through an eccentric-concentric progression.

The nuances as to why a squat may be faulty are many, but very often, it is the inability of the young athlete to get to and summarily regulate the base of the squat phase (the 'hole'). When inaccurate applications of force production/absorption are applied to the eccentric and 'pause' phase of the eccentric base (no matter how quick or seemingly inconsequential), the ability of the athlete to apply correct force sequences towards the concentric motion will be compromised.
In that, it is often the incorrect pattern of eccentric loading and 'hole' stabilizing that causes an incorrect pattern of force production through the concentric phase of the lift.

Many Trainers and Coaches will visually recognize the poor form during the concentric phase, but fail to recognize that it was due to incorrect loading patterns during the eccentric portion.
Having said that, a wonderful way to reform poor squat technique (as an example) is to start the young athlete in the fixed, static 'hole' position, and then proceed up through the concentric phase.

Have the young athlete assume a quality 'hole' position and talk them through what they should be feeling:

- Weight back on the heels
- Knees pushing outward
- Neutral low back
- Chin up
- Chest push forward
- Elbows angled downward

Do not be afraid to hold these positions for several second counts. An increase in the static strength of this position can, and usually does, improve technical patterning of the entire squat.
Upon ascending into the concentric phase, be sure that the young athlete understands how to push from their heels, using the large muscles of the hip extensors and drive through the ground.

Repeated efforts of this exercise, perhaps over a single training session or for several successive sessions, will have a tremendously positive impact on the technical qualities of a young athletes squat.

So, whether it is the squat, lunge, push-press or any other compound exercise, think 'BOTTOM UP' when trying to create a positive change in the technique capacity of a young athlete.

In my next article, I will conclude our look at changing a young athletes technique by examining set and rep ratios... you're going to be surprised!!

Cleaning Up A Young Athletes Technique

When a young athletes presents with poor technique in a strength training exercise, how do you correct it?

Naturally,
there are many Trainers and Coaches in the world who simply allow the
athlete to keep hammering out reps with the same technique, either
oblivious or unconcerned about the potential repetitive stress damage
that improper technique can bring – not to mention the limited
performance gains that will occur.

More over, there are Trainers and Coaches who use only some basic verbal or visual cueing
to help an athlete overcome a poor habitual pattern. “No, get off your
toes” or “Here, do it like this” are common verbal and visual coaching
methods that typically have no impact whatsoever.

In the verbal
explanation above, notice how the Coach told the athlete what NOT to
do, rather than providing information as to WHAT to do.

This may sound like an irrelevant difference, but I could assure you that it isn’t.
Very often, technique is poor because young athletes have been riddled
with countless cues that offer little more than instruction on how not
to perform an action.

Your job is to empower your athlete with the knowledge of HOW to perform an activity and more over, WHY …

… Which is the reason that basic cueing methods also don’t work with trying to reestablish correct technique in an athlete with limited execution ability.

Many
Trainers and Coaches also confuse ‘visual’ coaching styles (which are
actually quite effective when applied correctly) with basic examples
like the one offered above.

It’s not about showing or
demonstrating a few times, it’s about breaking down the motion into
smaller units and having the young athlete develop and understanding
for the technique process by being able to see it in phases.

Develop Skill Sets:

In terms of the cueing,
break down each exercise you are trying to alter into a 4-stage skill
set. Always cue with the same verbiage and in the same order. Have your
athlete work on the verbal dialogue of thiscueing system and gain an understanding of why the new pattern is good.

For
instance, when instructing the squat to an athlete with habitually poor
form, break down the set-up and movement parameters to the exercise in
terms of primary and secondary skill sets:

-Set your feet
-In-Steps off
-Hips back
-Eyes on the horizon

This is the primary skill set and covers the ‘set-up’ portion of the squat techno.

Your secondary or movement skill set should look like this:

-Push back
-Push the knees out
-Chest tall
-Drive off the heel

This will cover both the eccentric and concentric phases of the motion.

Teach
these words and phrases to your athlete and have them be able to both
recite them back as well as diagnosis what they mean in terms of
application. Poor technique often occurs because the athletedoesn ’t
truly understand the nuances associated with how to execute well, and
this is especially true of young athletes who were previously poorly
coached and therefore have developed poor habitual patterns.