We put Instagram & TikTok training on our kids at the expense of their development.
“Knowing that a training concept exists & knowing when or if you should use certain training concepts are two wildly different things.
For example, resisted sprinting & weighted ball training are theoretically sound.
But not with the beginner demo who lacks relative strength.”
-Ray Zingler on X
A lot of people in the S&C/Fitness world have heard of different training concepts. They know they exist.
What they don’t know is the how and why behind why they do or don’t work for certain demographics of people.
This is why the 22-year-old bro hears about German Volume Training (GVT), a brutal 10×10 high volume training prescription, performs it for 2 weeks and then realizes he doesn’t have the ability to recover from it.
The program worked for chemically enhanced Germans in the 80’s, but it doesn’t work for the 165-pound frizzy haired dude in Gymshark apparel trying to be like Ivan Drago at your local fitness center.
In the sports training world, we hear a lot about resisted sprinting, overspeed training, and my all-time favorite “weighted ball training” (for throwing athlete velo).
I’m not arguing that the idea of these nuanced training methods aren’t scientifically sound. They absolutely are.
In lay terms, run against resistance, get faster without resistance. Artificially increase your running speed, the body becomes trained to produce higher outputs. Throw a heavier (base)ball in training, throw a regular ball faster.
Again, I’m not arguing the concepts. They make sense and do work for right populations.
But therein lies the problem.
It’s this time of year I hear from 12, 13, 15-year old’s that their “travel coach” is going to start implementing some of these practices.
As much as I am used to hearing these things at this stage of my career, it still blows my mind every single time I hear it.
The reason is because we are taking a heavily specialized youth athlete who lacks a base of relative strength and applying advanced training methodology that they aren’t within 100 miles of being prepared for.
Resisted & assisted sprinting? They aren’t strong enough to overcome their own bodyweight, do you this manipulating resistance is going to help? Of course not.
Weighted Balls? For 13-year-old’s? They can’t do a set of 10 push-ups or sit down into a squat properly.
Yet we push this stuff because “it’s what the pro’s do” and the fundamentals don’t sell.
All while we sit here in the middle of a youth sports injury epidemic at a scale the world has never seen.
Success and failure leave clues.
