May AOTM and Mobility Progress

The athlete of the month for May is Evan Macauley. Evan trains 2-3x per week and has been training since September of last year. He plays football, basketball, baseball, and throws for the track team. Despite all these sports and busy schedule, Evan and his parents still MADE time to get to his workouts. Evan has supportive parents who make his training a priority and don’t make excuses. He is in 8^th grade and is a great example of how a young athlete should develop. Evan sets goals, reaches them, and immediately sets new ones. He has adopted our blue-collar work ethic and has matured a lot in the past nine months. His discipline and responsibility as a young man may be one of his greatest improvements...

May Athlete of the Month Evan Macauley

When he first started, Evan couldn’t do one single push-up. Now he can do 20+ with perfect form! He has gained over 25lbs of bodyweight and also increased his vertical jump by 2 inches. He wasn’t allowed to bench or squat for months until his strength, coordination, and mobility improved. This progression has led him to bench 200lbs, box squat 275lbs, and deadlift 335lbs- all with proper technique. He can also drag 12 plates (540+lbs) on the sled. Evan was actually the first athlete to attempt, and complete this feat. Since then, we have had numerous athletes reach (and surpass) the mark that was set by an 8^th grader. Like everything else, this was progressed as well. I think the first sled drag Evan ever did was 4-5 plates.

Another thing I’d like to discuss is mobility in the young athlete. This is the missing component in a lot of high school and college programs and I don’t know why- it is so vital. 10 minutes before (dynamic warm-up with specific mobility drills added in) and 5 minutes after of extra work on the weak areas is all that is needed. It’s not as cool as squatting big weights but it will make squatting those big weights easier, more efficient, and in a healthier manner.

Like many 8^th graders, Evan’s mobility was poor when he first started. He was tight everywhere and had many restrictions in his movement patterns (this coupled with a lack of stability is why he wasn’t permitted to squat or deadlift with a barbell for the first 5-6 months of his training). It took a little bit of reinforcing but once he saw that he was improving it was easy for him to put the extra mobility work in on his own.

For example, below is a common mobility drill we use with all of our athletes called the “Squat to Stand”. It’s a great visual to see an athlete’s mobility in the upper back and hips primarily, but also see if they are tight in the lower leg, hamstrings, and groin. The goal should be to maintain a flat back (as vertically as possible) while keeping your chest up and dropping your hips. I wish I would’ve taken a picture of Evan on his very first day but these will have to do. This pose is at the bottom of the drill. The picture on the left was taken about 5 months ago and the one on the right was taken last week. Look at how much lower his hips are and how straight and vertical his back is. There is still room for improvement but these changes probably saved him an injury or two and allowed him to progress to more complex exercises without sacrificing technique due to a lack of mobility.

   

Young athletes should be involved with a strength-training program. This is a whole other post entirely but a large goal for them is to make changes in their mobility like these. If they can’t move, putting loaded weights in their hands or on their backs isn’t going to improve anything except improper movement patterns and likelihood of injury and feeling like crap. Sore lower backs and knees don’t make 15-year old athletes any better at their sport. Athletes like Evan who put the time in to build a foundation and learn proper techniques through quality training allow him to bench, squat, deadlift, etc. at a younger age.

Hope this shines some light on how a young athlete can stay disciplined and make progress year-round despite a busy schedule. It’s important for athletes to earn the right to lift weights through a proper foundational program that may take months to achieve. I look forward to seeing the results show up on the field from all of our dedicated athletes who are fortunate enough to experience a complete strength program on a daily basis.

Here is a video of Evan performing some of these exercises..