High School Weight Training Tips
By Hector Cotto
Lifting weights in high school is very important. Is it absolutely necessary? No, it’s not. But if you’re a coach who’d like to set up your athletes for success from an early age, then you should have them do it. This article will discuss the major phases of weight training with the hurdler in mind, providing details of what each phase consists of.
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Defining the Phases
During the General strength phase, your athletes are “learning to lift weights.” During the Max strength phase they are “learning to lift as much weight as possible,” and during the Power phase they are “moving the weight as fast as possible.”
If you could relate them to a hurdler, the general phase would be the very beginning of the season when you’re running 400+ meter workouts, getting a feel for your legs, remembering what it is to work. The Max strength phase would be the repeat 200 or 300s that get you strong and very strong, and ready for the more intense shorter track workouts. And the Power phase would be the very short but very intense speed work, such as 20s, 30s, and 60s.
General Strength Phase
General strength is the very beginning of the training season. It is the time of the season when athletes are first getting back on the track. They are in flats for every workout, and they are running well below their max intensity during their running workouts. This is the time of the season when veterans get reacquainted with what it feels like to lift weights, and newcomers learn what it is to lift weights.
During fall training you start the season putting “mileage on athletes’ legs to get them used to running again. This is also the time of season when your athletes should be building the general strength in the weight room.
Let’s imagine you have three 8-week cycles. That’d be November and December for the first 8-week cycle. Here’s how it would look:
Week 1-4
General Strength
Body weight only
Week 5-8
General Strength
Intensity 75% or less
Sets 3-5
Reps 12-15
Max Strength Phase
This is the phase in which you are no longer just lifting weights to move them around, but you are lifting with the purpose of achieving your maximum strength. This phase will follow some kind of taper in which during the last week of the phase, your athletes will max out in all their lifts. The strength you acquire during this phase will last you throughout the year.
The Max strength phase should end with a testing week, in which all athletes attempt their maximum lifts on the bench press, squats, and deadlifts.
After the Max strength phase ends, athletes are usually on Christmas break and should do very little lifting.
The 8-week cycle for Max strength, from January through February, would look like this:
Weeks 9-16
Max Strength
Intensity 85%+
Sets 3-4
Reps 8-12
Power Phase
Upon returning to school, the Power phase should begin. In this phase, athletes learn to move their newly acquired strength in the fastest manner possible. This is also the part of the season when power cleans, snatches, and single-leg exercises reign king. Volume should stay very low, but the intensity should be near maximum.
Power differs from strength in that power involves moving a weight with speed. It is no longer good enough to squat 400 pounds for one rep. Now your athletes need to learn to squat 300 pounds for eight reps in a faster, more explosive manner. The most explosive lifts you can perform in the weight room are Olympic lifts, and this is the time of the season to utilize them. This phase preps the athletes for true speed work on the track.
At the end of the Power phase, athletes should be nearing championship season, so weightlifting should be kept to a bare minimum or halted altogether.
The 8-week cycle for Max strength, from March through April, would look like this:
Power
Intensity 95-99%
Sets 1-3
Reps 1-3
Weeks 20-24
OFF or
Power-Maintenance
Intensity 90-95%
Sets 1-2
Reps 1-3
Be Smart
Many coaches and parents feel that trying to lift heavy weights is dangerous and therefore not worth taking seriously. But the truth us that high school athletes are in their hormonal prime. They will recover from workouts faster, perform at a higher level of intensity, and even recover from injuries faster as teenagers than they will at any other time in life.
Don’t be afraid to push the high school athletes to a higher limit than you once thought possible. Injuries can occur, obviously, but they happen even after years of experience. If work is done in an intelligent manner, with the emphasis being on performing with proper technique, injuries will always stay at a minimum. Having a strength coach available to teach and ensure proper technique is highly advisable, especially for beginners.
For first-timers, the regimen should consist of two times per week, with the first day focusing on upper body and the second day on lower body.
Athletes with a couple more years weight training experience should lift up to four times a week, alternating upper and lower body days. Very rarely should an athlete ever need to lift more than four times a week.
Athletes who have already their outdoor track season and are now thinking about weight training would be best advised to not go past the General Strength phase. Working on max strength or max power once the season has already started would likely do more damage than good. I would stick to general strength building phase and keep workouts down to two or fewer per week.
Athletes in high school should never rush into the Power phase of training. Power cleans and snatches are very explosive exercises, and should only be done by athletes who have shown maturity through proper technique during the previous phases of training. If proper technique is not executed, then athletes should stick to body weight plyometric exercises during this phase of training.
Conclusion
Everything works, but not everything works for everybody. Numbers can and should always be manipulated during the training cycles for a more tailored result, but sticking to a cookie cutter program is advisable for newbies to the gym. I hope this general overview serves as a helpful start for coaches who want their athletes to take their weight training program more seriously.
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