… and some ideas on how to solve those problems with your strength and conditioning program.

1. Lack of Equipment

Not all facilities are created equal, that’s a pretty obvious statement. Strength and Conditioning is often an afterthought for most coaches and therefore an afterthought for administrators. If only three teams are using the weight room, why should they invest already-limited funds into upgrading it? This creates a chicken-and-the-egg scenario where teams are not using the facilities because they are not updated, and resources are not spent on training facilities because they are not used.

Solution: You don’t need a high-end facility to still get the benefits of strength and conditioning. For about $1,500 a school could outfit themselves with everything they need – in fact, this is precisely what we did to prepare for a deployment to Afghanistan.

• $25/ea – military surplus duffel bags filled with wood pellets, rock salt or powder Quickrete can make weighted duffel bags from 40lbs to 200lbs.
• $15/ea – a sheet of plywood and two 2x4s can build a standard plyo box (16″x20″x24″).
• $200 – a few sets of bands can go a long way towards adding resistance training options to a Spartan weight room.
• FREE – go to a farm or construction company in the area, I guarantee they have a collection of old tires they don’t need. Flip them, slam them with sledgehammers, carry them as a team across the field, get creative.
• FREE – logs make a great team building training tool. Contact your local electric/powerline company and see if you can get free sections of broken wooden light poles.
• $2/ea – PVC pipes make an excellent technique instruction, mobility, and stretching tool.

Now, the challenge is how to utilize this new equipment so that athletes see results.

2. Athlete Schedule Conflicts

Very few high school athletes are single-sport athletes, especially the more accomplished ones. It’s tough to balance their in-season commitments, a needed dose of downtime and an offseason strength and conditioning program for the season ahead. Young athletes need downtime to recover, both mentally and physically, and it’s unfair to take it from them. Athletics are supposed to be fun, after all!

Solution: Try to look at other sports your athletes participate in as complimenting your efforts. Our general rule of thumb is that 2 weeks before your first game, the focus should shift on specific drills and skill work related to the sport. The 2-week to 8-week window is the time to work on the “accessories” or the middle tier of the Ektelo Atheltic Performance Pyramid. Anything before 2 months from the first game of the season is when athletes are focusing on their foundation of strength. If you don’t have 2+ months between seasons, then focus on a foundation of strength in your off-season program. Squat, Deadlift and Overhead Press.

3. Lack of Time for Coaches

This is the toughest problem to see as an outsider. There are many well-intended coaches who just don’t have the time to research, create, and run a strength and conditioning program in addition to their other responsibilities. Most coaches are part-time or volunteers, and there just are not enough hours in a day.

Solution: Keep it simple. A strength and conditioning plan does not have to be flashy to be successful. Use a program that focuses on the basics to reduce complexity for both coaches and athletes. If possible, partner with a coach or gym that specializes in working with athletes. In fact, this is a major reason why we created Ektelo – a simple, plug-and-play system that coaches can use without needing a degree in exercise science and extra hours in the day to figure out.

4. Outdated Coaching Methods

In many clubs and schools, your coaches may be people who played 10, 20 or even 30 years ago. These are volunteers with great intentions, but a lot has changed since they laced up their cleats. Science is continually changing the landscape of strength and conditioning, and unfortunately, many legacy coaches are teaching what they learned as an athlete, which may be flawed. Equipment has changed, science has changed, and the industry has added an information dump to the ever-growing database of knowledge provided by Google.

Solution: This is a tough one, as there is no easy solution. Hopefully, legacy coaches are open to new ideas, like bringing in recent college graduates or interns for a season – or hiring Ektelo Athletics for a weekend Coach’s Workshop – and being open to learning from them. As a strength coach, I’ve encountered this before, and it’s why we at Ektelo approach things as a partner with a clear line of demarcation. I know very little about soccer formations so I shouldn’t teach them to a team. That is why I ask legacy coaches to take a leap of faith on a change to their strength and conditioning program, and I promise to stay away from coaching any technique or skills. I try to explain that I’m there to help them and add something new to their toolkit.

5. Athlete Buy-in

Maybe the only people more stubborn than the coach who has been running the team for the last 30 years are some of the athletes on that team. Change is hard and implementing a new strength and conditioning program is guaranteed to see resistance from some of the athletes. That resistance is a good thing because it shows they care about the program. The challenge is gaining their trust and not making them do something “just because you said so.”

Solution: Lean on your captains and hold them accountable. Your team captains are your most dedicated athletes, and their buy-in carries clout for the rest of the team. Get their input and buy-in before you implement any changes to your program, and have them advocate for it. Warm-ups, group workouts, or even controlling the attendance roster – empower your student-leaders and watch the team come together.