October/November 2020 - 12

Roundtable Discussion
variety of pieces of equipment, like dumbbells, medicine
balls, kettlebells, etc. And they can and will get stronger at a
young age without ever even using a barbell. However, I am
in no way saying that it is unsafe or detrimental for a young
person to do barbell movements and some of our young
athletes do progress at an early age to using a barbell.
Nonetheless, my main goal is to educate vested parties on
how we will progress a young person through our program.
Finally, there is that myth that weightlifting is
dangerous. I like to address that by adding that anything
done incorrectly is dangerous, so yes if done incorrectly,
weightlifting can be dangerous. However, it's our mission
to provide the highest quality teaching and coaching for all
our movements and progressions.
JP: A lot of people think they need fad diets or the newest
training program. Simple movements executed consistently
over time will always work.
AJ: Athletes today don't work as hard as they used too.
Athletes today will work hard if you hold them accountable
and create a positive culture and energetic environment
to improve. If your expectation/standards are low then the
athlete will not rise above that level.
Strength and Conditioning coaches' purpose is to only
improve the athletes performance in the weightroom.
Today's strength and conditioning coach wears many hats
and must be a combination of a coach, mentor, male role
model, psychologist, and friend. The strength coach spends
more time with the athletes than the sport coaches do and
knows more about the personality and mental makeup of
each athlete. Trust and building relationships are two of
the keys in my opinion to being a successful coach. How
does that saying go, " You can't cross the river 'til you build
a bridge? " That entails getting to know the backgrounds,
family situations of your athletes and developing strong
relationships with them. It has been said that athletes spend
82.5% (Jones,B. HFC, Univ. of Tenn. 2015) of their time
in college with their strength coaches and the remaining
17.5% with their sport coaches.
T&C: How have you altered your approach to
building strength in student-athletes, if at all, during
this COVID-19 pandemic? With the potential for less
access to gyms, weight rooms, athletic facilities, have
you guided your student-athletes to other forms of
training like H.I.I.T. or plyometric training? If so, how
can that transition be beneficial on the field? Can it be
detrimental?
MK: Definitely. In our previous programming, we would
have multiple athletes at each rack and they would be sharing
equipment and spotting each other. The athletes would share
a barbell or dumbbell and alternate the use of it during their
tier of exercises. In order to maintain social distancing, the
program has now been designed for an athlete to only use
their own set of dumbbells or barbell throughout the entire
3-4 set tier. So they have their own rack or their own area
10 | Training & Conditioning | October/November 2020
in the weight room where they are only using that barbell or
equipment for their entire set of exercises. After they finish all
the lifts for that tier they wipe all the equipment down before
another athlete ever touches it.
On top of that our current programming is designed so
that the only movements we program are ones that do
not need the use of a spotter. For example, with our older
athletes, we've increased some of our Olympic weightlifting
exercises and their derivatives. We've also implemented
front squats more frequently because exercises like these do
not necessarily need a spotter. An athlete can safely " miss "
these lifts without a spotter.
We have also reduced capacity in our weight room,
maximized our outdoor training options, incorporated daily
temperature checks, and have athletes fill out daily wellness
questionnaires.
JP: My assistants Ashley Christy and Justin Bentivegna
were an integral part of the communication and
programming with our athletes throughout the pandemic.
We reached out to all of our teams individually and created
programs based on the equipment they had access to.
When returning back to training and sport we have
followed the NSCA and CSCCa recommendations of the
five-week progression. The goal of our department is
to have the safest and most effective transition back to
athletics as possible. We are taking a slow progression back
to keep our athletes safe and healthy.
AJ: We have had until recently only been able to have 16
student-athletes in the weight room at once. Consequently
with not being able to have a partner spot and with social
distancing on Benches, Presses and Squats we have had
to reduce the load that the athlete could lift. It's been a big
adjustment but the players understand the limitations due
to COVID-19. Now we have expanded to 26 athletes and
everyone wearing masks, it's been awesome to finally put
some weight on the bar.
During the four months our kids were away from us
we sent them weekly workouts based on what they had
available to train with - whether it would be using using
objects around their home such as milk jugs, backpacks,
tree limbs, furniture, logs,bricks, chin-up bar, etc or weight
equipment at home, school or gym. We incorporated H.I.I.T.,
hypertrophy, circuit training, jump training during this time.
Our kids did the best they could do under the circumstances
but without really being able to get much of a true overload
it was tough to build any measurable strength. Overall,
training away from us was the best we had available but
obviously not the same as training back on campus. We
stayed in contact with them via Zoom, Facetime, calls and
texts to keep them motivated and keep them engaged.
T&C: How do you combat the potential for soft-tissue
injuries among student-athletes if and when sports
resume with the possibility of athletes not being in their
typical game-shape?
October/November 2020

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