For high school athletes, strength training is an important component of on-field preparation and success. A well-designed strength and conditioning program can help athletes become stronger, faster, more powerful, and better prepared for the physical demands of their sport. Research supports properly designed and supervised resistance training for youth and high school athletes, including improvements in strength, power, motor skills, and a reduced risk of sports related injuries.
What Should High School Strength Training Look Like?
It is important that high school athletes do not all follow the exact same program. Adolescents develop at different rates and have different physical demands for their sport, so training should be adjusted based on an athlete’s deficits, goals, sport schedule, and ability.
Each training session should start with mobility and a dynamic warm-up to get the body prepared for the movements of the session. This should be followed by any plyometrics (skips, sprints, jumps, and agility) that focus on high speeds, moving weight fast, and developing the ability to rapidly absorb and produce force. From here, the athlete should be warm and relatively fresh to focus on force development and hypertrophy training through foundational lifts (squats, hinges, pushes, pulls, single leg exercises, and trunk exercises). These can be incorporated on different days of the week (like an upper body day and a lower body day) or be grouped in the same day (multiple full body days). Either way, these foundational movements develop the athlete’s ability to produce and control force while strengthening the major muscle groups and complementing the speed and agility work performed beforehand.
Finally, an effective strength program should be scalable to the athlete. The four variables a strength coach can manipulate are exercise selection (which squat variation is the athlete performing); intensity (how much weight is the athlete lifting); volume (how many sets and reps is the athlete performing); and rest intervals (how much recovery is the athlete given between sets or exercises). These variables should be adjusted over time so that the athlete continues to be appropriately challenged and make progress in both speed and force production.
If done well, this training should transfer to the field or court. A good strength and conditioning program teaches athletes how to apply their strength through movements that matter in their sport. It can help develop rotational power in baseball players, a strong base for an offensive lineman in football, or jump height for a volleyball player. Overall, the goal of training is to build a broad athletic foundation that helps an athlete produce and control force effectively.
Can Strength Training Reduce Injury Risk?
No training program can eliminate injuries, but appropriately prescribed strength training can help athletes become better prepared to tolerate the demands of their sport. Building muscular strength, developing movement skills, and gradually exposing athletes to higher levels of force and speed can all contribute to greater physical preparedness. This may include improving an athlete’s ability to absorb force during landing and deceleration, control their body while changing direction, and better tolerate the high forces associated with sprinting, jumping, and contact.
Whether an athlete is preparing for a season, looking to become stronger in the off-season, or simply wants to become a better overall athlete, structured strength and conditioning can provide the foundation to perform with confidence and stay prepared for the demands of competition.