The Rule Of Three By Louis Simmons.pdf

The Rule of Three By Louie Simmons

Published by Westside4Athletes® Made in United States of America. 2018

Copyright © 2018 by Westside Barbell Cover credit: Tom Barry Back cover credit: Tom Barry

ISBN-13: 978-0-9973925-3-1

www.westside-barbell.com Email: [email protected]

Printed by Action Printing

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THE AUTHOR Louie Simmons is the founder of the Columbus Ohio Westside Barbell Club, established 1986. Louie has several decades of special strength training experience for many sports. His members have broken over 100 all time worlds records in powerlifting. He has been a consultant for many collegiate and professional teams. He is one of only four men to have made elite totals in five weight classes, top 10 from 1971 to 2005, has authored eight books, 15 DVDs, 250 articles as well as being a current lecturer and holding 11 United States patents.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface:

Dreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Foreword: Identifying Athletic Talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Chapter 1 Training Boys versus Training Girls . . . . . . .

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Chapter 2 Genetics and Heredity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Chapter 3 Training for Flexibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Chapter 4 Endurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27 Chapter 5 Physical Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Chapter 6 Learning Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Chapter 7 Before Choosing a Sport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Chapter 8 Selecting a Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Chapter 9 Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Chapter 10 Reaction Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Chapter 11 Sprinting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chapter 12 Special Strength Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Chapter 13 Conjugate Training System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Chapter 14 Endurance Training . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Chapter 15 Testing a Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Chapter 16

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69



1- Single leg Hip and Over head raises . . . . . . . .. . . .. . 69

2- Bodyweight Jumping Squats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70



3- Bodyweight Regular Squats



4- Jump Rope



5- Weighted Jumping Squats



6- Front Raises

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 5



7- Medball Squat and throw

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75



8- Angled High Knees



9- Side Raises



10- Side Stretches . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78



11- Power Jog



12- Lunge . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80



13- Press Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81



14- Single Leg Glute Raise .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 82



15- Med Bll Sit Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 83



16- Single arm Push Up Row



17- Push Up to Plank



18- Abdominal v sit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86



19- Modified push Up

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87



20- Single Tuck Jumps

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77 . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 79

. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 84

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

References and Selected Bibliography

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.. . . . . . . . . . . 99

Preface: Dreams As a young boy, I always had dreams. I guess I could have been called a dreamer—I always wanted to be something more. I could imagine myself as a weight lifter or a baseball player. Sometimes I dreamed of growing up to be rich. I was always dreaming. Perhaps it was because when one starts out with little you dream of lots of things it would be nice to have or do. Maybe dreaming was a way to avoid reality when reality was not that pleasant. But over the years, I have learned the importance of dreaming. I believe you must dream of something before it can ever become real. At 12 years of age I dreamed of becoming a strong man and someday having the strongest power-lifting gym in the world. That dream came true. Young boys may dream of becoming a Lebron James or Mike Tyson, or maybe Tom Brady or his coach, Bill Belichick. Young girls may dream of being Serena Williams or Ronda Rousey, or maybe a Victoria Secrets model or a race car driver. Every future starts with a thought or dream. In the spiritual book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Jonathan dreamed of being the fastest gull. After years of trying, he found perfect speed. Perfect speed is being there. Jonathan’s story changed my life. It enabled me to go from eighth in the country to number one in four months. The most important lesson for me is that if one person can accomplish something, so can you or I. I have had many accomplishments over the years such as receiving my first patent for the design of the Reverse Hyper© or writing my first of eight books about strength training. Each of these accomplishments started with a dream. One has to dream big, and I’m not just talking about the athlete, but the parents and coach must buy into the dream as well. A dream can be hoping to do something or be someone. It can be a fantasy at first, but it may come true when thoughts and time coincide. My dreams come true from mentally seeing myself succeed as the main thought I have at that moment. I believe it is advisable to allow a child to fantasize about being what others are not. At 70 years old, I still fantasize about becoming better for the athletes I represent. I rely on many things and people to motivate me to become more enlightened about my surroundings so I can be better for them than I was the day before. Boys and girls, this should be your goal as well. Louie Simmons 7

Foreword: Identifying Athletic Talent Many years before the Soviet sports machine determined that great sports talent must be identified and nurtured as young as four years old and then led throughout the sports training cycle, the Soviets had the first sport scientists. The duty of these scientists was to find young talent and develop that talent until these athletes became world or Olympic champions. They did this through identification of special characteristics that were needed for a particular individual or team sport. Men like Jozef Drabik, PhD, developed a system to train children to become future champions. In his book Soviet Training and Recovery Methods, Ben Tabachnik, PhD, explains the system and the process. A system of development started at age eight to 10 years old. The child was graduated every two years until at 19 to 21 yeas old, he was a polished athlete or he was gone. And during these years, top sports scientists like Vladimir Issurin, PhD, wrote books like Building the Modern Athlete and Athletic Talent. Issurin’s work was intended to support the reality of proper selection of sports talent based on testing the children, but also overseeing their longterm preparation as well as the possibility of having other family members that excelled at high levels in sports. Louie Simmons, the author, found a completely different path to his lifting career that spanned from 1961 through 2011. His path was a winding road that came full circle. His career started at age 12 when he had a dream of becoming a strong man. He began working as a block laborer mixing mortar, carrying block and pushing a wheel barrow. This work made it possible to buy his first 110-pound weight set. Because of the strenuous labor he had been doing, he could clean and jerk 110 pounds at 12 years old. He did not have any guidance from a coach. What he knew came from reading Strength and Health by Bob Hoffman of York Barbell Fame and Iron Man by Peary Rader, and then finding his own way. He was reading one day and told his lifting buddy that he would be in a magazine some day. His friend said without hesitation that he would never be in any magazine. Those words provided motivation that Louie says he can still hear in his mind today. Around the same time in his life, a family from the city moved out to the country where he lived and soon talked him into playing Little League 9

Baseball. He had never played before, but found he was gifted and soon was hitting home runs at almost every game. It was while playing baseball that a major occurrence happened in the small village called Valley View. (Ironically, this is where Westside Barbell is now located.) The field where the team was playing had a home run fence. This was the first time Louie had played on a field with a fence. When he hit a home run, he would have to and hear the crowd cheer him on, which was a totally new experience. That day—at that moment—he knew he could be special. It changed his life forever. While he was playing Little League, he continued to do Olympic lifting. His clean and jerk was 260 pounds at 14 years old. This strength helped his baseball career and with the help of his Pony League coach he played on a low level farm club at 15 years old. He needed his coach’s help because a player was supposed to be 17 years old to play on the farm team. But thanks to the coach—and his strength—he started at right field and batted third while 15. He played until after high school graduation when he was drafted into the Army in 1966. Although he had thought about baseball at the highest level, he realized that the fact that he was barely 5’6” meant that baseball was probably not in his future. At that point, he began concentrating solely on weight training. Ironically he competed in his first power lifting meet in 1966 one month before entering the Army. He had never before seen men built like the competitors. At that point, he was sold on Powerlifting, and it became his lift-time indulgence. That decision meant more reading; and this time he was reading about the world-famous Westside Barbell Culver City, California. The guys at the Culver City gym, Bill West, George Frenn, and Pat Casey, became his mentors without knowing it. It was 1969 that marked the new beginning for his lift-time dream to become a strong man. By 1971 he set a national squat record and started a journey of 34 years making Top 10 Lifts. He made Top Ten Lifts in all categories without gear and with gear. He became only one of four men to Total Elite in five weight categories and for five decades. He has a tattoo on his neck to signify this, the only one of its kind. From the beginning he knew it would take mental toughness, genetics, dedication and sacrifice, but this was easy for him because strength is his soul. But he also always knew his limitations: at 63 years old, injuries had taken their toll on his body and he stopped lifting competitively. But his 10

soul was still strong and he had 11 patents to his name and had written eight books as of 2018. Like Culver City before it, Westside Columbus, Ohio, is the strongest, most recognized, special strength gym on the planet. Louie has made many acquaintances and has mentored them to become some of the greatest lifters of all time. But, more important, many of those young men and women have become gym owners and mentors themselves. All of these coaches/mentors have to be very knowledgeable in all competitive sports, but most of all they have to be honest with the child and always the parents. Anyone can call themselves a coach, but only a few really qualify. I have never heard Louie ask to be called a coach. His philosophy is to teach a child so that someday that child can teach others on their own quest for greatness. An experienced coach will evaluate the progress of the child and determine if he or she is ahead of schedule or maybe a year or two behind the others due to not maturing physically or mentally. However, many coaches neglect to understand this common problem. The coach may have to interact with a second coach or possibly a therapist to correct a posture problem. Unlike the Russians who provided a degree in sports coaching, it can take years to develop into a top coach. Among his many accomplishments, Louie and Westside Barbell have provided a certification to understand the science of sports training. And now he has written this book focused on coaching children. Children need to be nurtured early to successfully travel the road to athletic champion, and I feel confident this book will help athletes, parents and coaches gain a better understanding of what that journey entails. Tom Barry

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Introduction The Rule of Three is a term coaches in the former Soviet Union used for the general physical preparedness (GPP) training for boys and girls from seven to 10. To successfully participate in sports today, it is extremely important for all children in this age group to develop coordination, flexibility, general strength, endurance, hand and eye coordination and the ability to perform athletic feats. In the United States, the training of boys and girls seven to 10 years old was unheard of for weightlifting. L.S. Duorkin states that prior to the 1930s, the rules permitted that only males who were 20 years old and up could train and compete. Then, in the 1950s, it was lowered so that 15- to 16-year-olds could compete in the sport of weight lifting. A. I. Kurachinkov studied junior weight lifters from 14 to 16 years of age. The study focused on the effects weight lifting had on their physical development and how physical stress can affect the child. The results of the study showed only positive contributions to bone density and motor apparatus. For those who participated in the study, weight lifting had a positive effect on the spine due to a more muscular corset that corrected posture. A study by B. E. Podskotsky showed weight lifting made it possible to adapt to progressively heavier loads and increases in cardiovascular fitness. His study also stressed the importance of GPP. Studies like this one led to weight lifting training starting at younger and younger ages. It also allowed the training of “The Pocket Hercules,” Naim Süleymanoğlu, who would become a Turkish World and Olympic Champion in weightlifting, to start training at the main training facility in Kircahli, Bulgaria, in 1977 when he was 10 years old. Naim became the youngest lifter to make a triple-body-weight clean and jerk at 16 years old. Because of his phenomenal prowess at the age of 10, a special scientific study was formed as not to lose young athletes from 11 to 12 years old. Ramping up the program with younger athletes was a large investment for the Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation. It amounted to a fifty percent increase in their budget. At first, the Russian Team did not think it was that important that the Bulgarian’s junior team was starting to defeat their Russian counterparts, but they soon realized that those junior lifters were 13

becoming the senior lifters, and then the senior team was beating the Russian team. While it is hard to determine who will rise to the top at seven to 10 years old, you can expect the strongest boys and girls will excel due to the fact that they are stronger than their competition. But it is also most likely that they will excel at all forms of their training throughout their adult careers. The Rule of Three begins with brief discussions about training boys versus girls and the role of genetics and heredity, but quickly moves on to address training for flexibility, endurance and physical fitness. The first skill to consider is jumping ability. Jumping is a basic test of explosive power. The higher one can jump with body weight, the more explosive one is. Explosive strength is the ability to rapidly increase force. This means the steeper the increase of strength in time, the greater the explosive strength (Tidow, 1990). There are alternative methods to develop all special strengths for children aged seven to 10 years old. The strength chapter will show how to build general strength without loading the spine. Throughout The Rule of Three, three points you’ll see stressed again and again are 1) the importance of a quality coach in the athlete’s success, 2) the prominent role of an athletic training plan, and 3) the child must be happy, enthusiastic and not over trained.

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Let’s begin.

Chapter 1 Training Boys versus Training Girls The Westside viewpoint on the difference between methods of training boys versus training girls is that there are simply no differences. Today, boys and girls compete in the same sports from basketball to track and field and even combat sports. Except for the obvious differences in the reproductive organs, boys and girls both have the same anatomy including a brain. Both have to constantly learn new skills. Learning new skills will increase the number of synaptic connections between brain cells (Black, 1990). Both boys and girls must be healthy, fit and happy to have a well balanced lifestyle. No one can excel when they are sick or depressed. Because both genders compete in the same sports, both must learn to run, jump, throw and catch and other basic athletic skills at a young age, hopefully by age four or five. If not learned early, it will be much more difficult or maybe impossible for them to catch up. Boys and girls over five will find it much more difficult to gain those movement abilities. It is known that all boys and girls learn movement skills at the same rate. This means the children that start at four or five will have a distinct advantage over the ones that start at seven or older due to being limited to the same amount of training hours. All skills must be trained, but children will invariably lack in something. It could be endurance or strength or even balance. More time must be allocated toward the lacking skill. But what if the child lacks general strength? What age should they start using weight training? And is weight training safe? Before we go into several studies by experts, let’s consider that the general public was doing weight training on its own without formal training. The author was part of the “general public” that picked up weight training. His continuous weight training began when he was 12 years old. With no formal training or coaching, his clean and jerk, a traditional weight lifting exercise, was 110 pounds. However, his General Physical Preparedness 15

(GPP) was vast due to a background of doing manual labor and extensive playground work. A high GPP makes it possible to excel at all physical activities. The Soviet sport scientist Leonid Dvorkin published a study that dealt with lowering the age for weight lifters to begin training. In 1936 Soviet rules only permitted adult males who were at least 20 years old to train. By the 50s, it was lowered to 16 or 17 years of age. Then, 15-year-olds started to compete by the 1960s. The Bulgarians started lowering the starting age of their weight lifters and started a trend when their junior team started to dominate the Soviet team. The Bulgarians then selected a young man of 10 years old and forever changed the face of weight lifting as well as general weight training. Naim Suleymanoglu, the Pocket Hercules, became the youngest weight lifter to clean and jerk triple his body weight. So, you are most likely wondering what effect weight training has on young girls and boys. As far back as 1953, A. I. Kurachenkov showed in his two-year study a very positive effect. His study demonstrated that weight training did not effect the development of the osteo, motor skills or height. A similar study on swimmers showed no indistinguishable results. A plus, however, was that young weight lifters gained bone hypertrophy. Hypertrophy is the increase in the volume of an organ or tissue due to the enlargement of its component cells. The study also showed a positive effect on the spine by strengthening the torso and having a positive affect on posture. Many young boys and girls may choose weight or power lifting and The Rule of Three pertains to specialization in strength sports as well. Other studies from G. Gurkov and I. Ivanov found training for weight lifting was acceptable for 12-year-olds. There were numerous studies on the optimal training loads that would include GPP. The information from the studies made it possible to increase the number of Masters of Sport Studies. International classes increased two-fold at the famous Dynamo Club. Medvedyev states the success for the Soviet weight lifting team was due to its early work on young weight lifters. To conclude, if you follow the Westside System for loading, it is perfectly safe to start weight training at an early age, provided you have a qualified coach to guide the weight training from the beginning. Strength training plays a large role in developing the physical qualities of children. The young 16

athlete must rely on gaining strength to increase speed as well as technique, flexibility, coordination and dexterity. By seven and eight years old, they must build quick movement. By nine, add general endurance. Note: The strongest sprinters will increase their strength with age according to Y. P. Loko. It has been said that it is hard to test seven to 10-year-olds because the strongest boys and girls will out perform the others due to their strength. Westside concludes that the boys and girls who are the strongest should stay above the rest in that category. The Westside System is conjugate in its entirety and will completely avoid the Law of Accommodation by having a large arsenal of training methods. As long as the coach is training the child optimally, there should not be any problems of any kind. And this should be true for all types of training including running, jumping or learning technical skills. The coach must have an open mind to show new tasks and drills to the child. It is important to have a happy and enthusiastic child at home and at practice.

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Chapter 2 Genetics and Heredity When looking at young athletes who hope to play pro sports, there are some things to consider. First, do you have a coach that is capable of taking the child to a pro level? You must have good coaching from a very young age all the way through the time the athlete leaves college. Even at the pro level, the coach will have a major influence on the athlete’s performance. Playing football, for instance, calls for several special-skill coaches to hone the athlete’s skills. The coach is also responsible for the athlete playing the right position. Many parents send their child to special sports schools to advance their athletic abilities. Attending these types of schools is also the time more advanced coaches help determine in what position the child will have the best chance to excel. They can determine if the child is too big for his or her position or perhaps undersized for it. If your child plays on a team that asks them to play a position they are not comfortable with, the child may or may not excel at that position due to personality or due to maturity. This will enlighten the coach on their ability to cope with stress. The coach, of course, plays a very important role in the success and development of a young athlete. On the other hand, it can be devastating for the child if there is a personality conflict between the coach and the child or with the coach and someone else in the child’s life. But, while the coach can help guide the child throughout their young career, it is many times the parents who can make or break the child’s sports career. While men such as Jozef Drabik, PhD. specialized in the development of children in sports, other experts such as Dr. Vladimir Issurkin researched how to develop sports talent, how it can be identified through body types, and how heredity can be very relevant. Of course, there are many first generation athletes who make it to a professional level. To be a professional athlete in any sport there must be a gauge to fulfill. Limb length, body fat, how much muscle mass, and the performance between muscle fiber types 19

need to be considered. What is the athlete’s amount of flexibility and strength endurance? There are many other factors and many tests the athlete must endure. But what if the child comes from a professional family or a family with former Olympic athletes, does that help? The answer appears to be yes. If we look at a variety of sports there are many that have a parent and child in the same sport, or the chances of two siblings each in the same sport are high. In tennis there are the Williams sisters Venus and Serena. If we look at combat sports like MMA, you have the Miller brothers, the Shamrocks, the Fedors along with the Pettis brothers and, of course, the Nogueiras and, maybe the most visible of all brothers are Nick and Nate Diaz, who are some of the best fighters out of the cage. In the sport of boxing there is Muhammad Ali and his world champion daughter, Laila, as well as Ken Norton, Sr. whose son, Ken Norton, Jr., is an All American football linebacker and now coach. And in the lighter weight, consider the Marquez and Vasquez brothers, both world champions. On a very positive note, Floyd Mayweather started to box at a very young age—about four years old. He went on to an illustrious career going 50 and 0, which is the best record by an American boxer. He has become a very successful businessman with Mayweather promotions and the money team, making $750 million in the ring himself. On a similar note, Oscar de la Hoya, a multi-world boxing champion and CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, made millions of dollars in the ring and later with his own promotion company. Once you are on the right track, the sky is the limit. What about other sports? In hockey there are greats like Bobby and Brett Hull. One of the most successful football father-son combos could be the Mannings—first Archie, and then two Super Bowl Champion sons, Eli and Peyton. How about Kellen Winslow Sr. and Kellen II—they were two great football players. The Dorsetts, the Grieses—you all know Howie Long from football to broadcasting and television commercials. And now, Chris. Wow. You’ll even find coaches from the same family, such as the Shulas— Don and his sons Mike and David. All sports seem to have a father-son combination—like the Rick Barry connection in basketball with Rick the father and his sons Brent, Jon, Drew and now Canyon all professional basketball players as well as Gary Payton and his son Gary Payton II. Also in basketball and a great player for the Warriors are Seth Curry and his father, Dell, who was a professional basketball player as well. The Currys are a family of athletes: Dell’s wife, Sonya, 20

played volleyball in college, son Stephen also plays professional basketball and their daughter plays volleyball in college. There are so many families in sports, but no one can forget Bill Walton from UCLA and later the NBA as a player and now a television commentator. One of his sons, Luke, also won multiple NBA championships as did his father, and Luke now is coaching in the NBA. Talent is talent, and sometimes it can show in two sports as is the case with NBA star Grant Hill and his father Calvin who became the first Dallas Cowboy to rush for 1,000 yards. This pair shows that athletic talent is just that—athletic talent that can cross sports lines. Other father-son combinations to cross into different sports are Yannick Noah who was a world champion in tennis and his son, Joakim Noah, a star in the NBA. Athletic talent in families can be seen even in auto racing. A four-generation family to show greatness is the Pettys. First, Lee in the 50s and 60s, a Hall of Famer, then his son Richard won 200 races. And, then, Kyle, Lee’s grandson and Richard’s son, racked up 829 races until 2008 and is now a commentator. Kyle’s son Adam was a race car driver as well, but was killed in a crash during a practice in May 2000. Although all sports have had such a connection with genetics, don’t be dismayed if your father or mother was not a professional athlete. In the past, many fathers had to provide for their families and did not have the time or money to pursue a sports career. This does not mean that the parents did not have the genetics or athletic talent to be a pro in one sport or another. Although fathers usually get the credit, parents play an equal role in passing down body type, muscle fiber type and the mental and emotional disposition to be successful in sports. Take for example Ronda Rousey and her Judo Black Belt mother AnnMaria De Mars, the first American to win a gold medal at the 1984 World Judo Championships. Ronda has now moved into the World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc (WWE), which is an American entertainment company that deals primarily in professional wrestling. An athlete’s parents are very important in the quest to become a great amateur or pro status athlete. Hopefully, understanding this helps both the parents and sons and daughters choose the sport wisely and then dream and plan for the young athlete. Remember, without a plan, you plan to fail.

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Chapter 3 Training for Flexibility It must be noted that up to age six little attention to flexibility is necessary. Joint mobility may start to be reduced, however, starting at seven years old. But, a child should not do excessive stretching and bending at these early ages. Permanent damage to the spine can result, which can manifest itself in the form of stress fractures. Years ago I found the best route is to follow the stretching protocols used by such experts as Thomas Kurz with his years of experience for developing strength and flexibility concurrently. Let’s not forget yoga. To practice yoga one must use the mental, physical and spiritual aspects of life. Its origin is from ancient India. The most popular types of yoga are Raja yoga and Hatha yoga. Yoga became widespread in the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Yoga’s many benefits and hidden effects include its meditative and spiritual core, but I believe its contribution to balance is most important. Children need lots of stimuli to combat boredom. The best method is to do many stretching workouts and yoga classes along with direct sports stretching in short doses. Remember, though, that the child won’t be 10 years old forever. As the young athlete matures there will be a need to start a more formal flexibility program. The program Westside recommends is for the young athlete to work on flexibility one or two times a day, but each session should last no longer than 10 or 15 minutes. The lower back can start to lose some flexibility due to injuries or even by gaining weight around the waist. The sit and reach test, which was first described by Wells and Dillon (1952) and is now widely used as a general test of flexibility, is an excellent way to measure the flexibility of the low back and hamstrings. The test itself is conducted like it sounds: The child would sit on the floor with his or her legs stretched out in front. The soles of the feet would be placed against a box. Both knees should be locked and pressed 23

flat to the floor. The child would then reach forward with both hands and hold that position until the distance is measured. One way to record the results is to have the position of the soles against the box stand for zero. Then, anything past the feet is a positive number and anything before the feet is a negative number. The idea is for the child over time to score positive numbers in this test. The more mature athlete must also test the flexibility of the shoulders, neck and thoracic spine along with the hips, tests that should be performed with his or her coach. Combining Strength Training with Flexibility is a Superior Method With a normal barbell, the bar is nine inches off the ground. By standing on a two-inch, four-inch, or five-inch mat, a greater range of motion can be gained in the low back and hamstring. By gradually lowering hips deeper and deeper, shoulder flexibility can be increased. For lower body, sit on lower and lower boxes with the bar on the back. Again, this is combining strength and flexibility. Dynamic Flexibility is Far Superior to Static Stretching And, remember, all joints do not gain flexibility at the same time schedule. A flexible lower back does not mean the same athlete will have a flexible neck and thoracic spine. If you lose 15 or 25 percent of your range of motion you will operate at only 75 to 85 percent muscle capacity. This could mean the difference between playing and not making the team. Total Performance Special Strength

Sports Talent Physical Fitness GPP

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Flexibility in all movement will be necessary to improve motor abilities. Start with building physical fitness as the base of your development to reach true potential of any child. A pyramid is only as tall as its base’s total performance. Building Flexibility Makes It Possible to Gain Agility To have agility is being able to quickly perform highly coordinated, fluid changes of direction of the entire body (Drabik, 1996; Bompa, 1944). The training for agility should start with simple tasks at first, then more sophisticated challenges that will teach the child greater agility, but also confidence. Increasing agility can only be done with greater coordination, power, speed and mobility. It is a way to measure the extent of the central nervous system (CNS). For a young athlete to build general agility, there are several ways to obtain it. All types of ball games can build general agility. If one has the time to build it, an obstacle course can lead to increasing greater agility. Directed Agility To achieve agility for a particular sport, the child must concentrate on only the abilities needed for that one sport, but not doing the actual sport. Too much time spent with one sport can lead to boredom or, much worse, accommodation. The law of accommodation says that when the athlete repeats the same exercises, volume, and intensity for too long their progress will stop and many times go backwards. To raise agility a wide variety of exercises must be rotated constantly and can cause fatigue very fast, especially in young athletes. Using longer rest intervals can help combat fatigue. Do not push young boys and girls too fast. This is a mistake many coaches repeat over and over. More is not always better; train optimally. Flexibility and agility training in young boys and girls may lead to a possible pro contract.

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Chapter 4 Endurance

Endurance must be built at an early age. Endurance is only developed when the child is sufficiently fatigued. To increase endurance, one must work through fatigue. When developing great endurance, the coach must train the child at different intensity zones. This can be done by using just body weight and other times by using different amounts of resistance. It can be done without loading the spine. Using different amounts of resistance is a benchmark of the Westside Training Protocol. Endurance training can determine the child’s physical response as well as the character of the young child. There will be many methods to test the child’s ability to resist fatigue. Of course, the ability to resist fatigue can also depend on muscle type. Part of the instructor’s job when placing the boy or girl in the proper sport is to recognize his or her muscle type and whether the child can be successful in that sport. People have two general types of skeletal muscle fibers: slow-twitch (type I) and fast-twitch (type II). Slow-twitch muscles help enable long-endurance feats such as distance running, while fast-twitch muscles fatigue faster, but are used in powerful bursts of movements like sprinting. Soccer players, rugby players, and wrestlers, will have more type II A muscle fibers. The type II A fibers can be trained to perform, to some lesser extent, strength or endurance, depending on what is needed. Type II B fibers are the maximal force production fibers. The weightlifter or sprinter will have a higher degree of type II B muscle fibers. They are not only the largest, but also have the highest potential for increasing size and strength. Even though endurance is a slow-paced activity it requires high-energy demands. Muscle endurance is just one part of building endurance. The child must increase oxygen consumption and also anaerobic metabolism. Strength training is a recognized part of strength endurance. The child will use all muscle fiber to build great endurance, but primarily the slow 27

muscle fibers will fatigue last. The slow fibers are developed by resisting work at a given intensity over longer and longer periods of work. Rest intervals must be planned as to shorten the time between work loads. Resistance circuit training is one method to build endurance. Five to seven exercises can be set forth with the child going from one to the next. Circuit training can be done with a set rest interval between exercises or without rest between exercises. As the child gains strength endurance along with improving the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, many types of circuits can be done. Local endurance can be increased for many sports. For the legs, high-rep squats with one or both legs are common. Belt squats will eliminate using the back muscles and focus only on the legs. Hamstring and calf exercises will build local endurance. High-rep back raises or reverse hypers will build local endurance in the back. Dumb bell presses will do the same for the upper back. Of course, push-ups, pull-ups and sit-ups are a form of local endurance training. Two special exercises for longer distance running is power walking with a sled or pushing a wheel barrow. There are two primary methods: 1) Select an amount of weight to pull or push and go for one trip for as long as possible. 2) Do several sets at a predetermined distance with a sled or wheel barrow with the idea of shortening the rest intervals. A child could also swim while pulling some type of resistance or wear a mask that restricts oxygen consumption. Note that in a single workout you must work on one type of endurance. Trying to add strength training at the same time as great endurance would cause conflicting demands. Work on strength first and endurance later. The longer the workout, the longer the rest periods the child will need. Large workouts mean you should take 72 hours of rest. Small workouts mean 12 or 24 hours of rest. 1. It has been shown that these five methods of endurance training work best: 2. Circuit 3. Repetitive 4. Interval 28

5. Continuous with constant 6. Variable intensity The child also must watch his eating habits carefully and plan a diet to maintain a constant weight or a diet designed to gain or lose weight, with weight meaning body fat. Do not let the child over train. According to Dr. Phil Maffetone (1994) and Thomas Kurz (Science of Sports Training, 2016), over training can lead to injuries, not being able to get up at the proper time in the morning, becoming fatigued early in his or her workout, not being motivated to work out, not being able to stay on their diet, or becoming sick too often.

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Chapter 5 Physical Fitness Let’s look at physical fitness and its goals. Our goal is to allow the child to play at least one sport at a high level. Basically, you must raise the level of motor skills. To do this, all concepts must come together. In many sports an athlete must possess such athletic abilities as throwing and catching a ball, kicking a football or soccer ball, or dribbling a basketball and shooting it in the basket from all sides of the court. Gymnastics and wrestling, if available, are very complimentary to gaining fitness. Having improved fitness is the ability that the young athlete needs to perform safely at a high level in a chosen sport. To have fitness is the ability to raise work capacity over a long period … sometimes years. Work capacity makes it possible to do work at differing intensities and for different time limits. Work capacity calls on all special strength and special endurance. Each sport requires fitness in a different method. Work capacity must be held at a certain level that is constantly raised over time. Preparedness is not always stable. It can rise at times just to fall at other times. It can be referred to as the athlete’s level of preparedness. Preparedness has two components: 1) slow changing, which is fitness, and 2) fast changing, which is exercise induced fatigue. (Zatsiorsky, 1995). The Westside System calls for the athlete to do training that has long been based on mathematics and bar velocity when training with weights. The weight training builds greater strength that allows for increased work capacity and a higher level of preparedness. There are other skills that must be in place as well—good nutrition, learning the motor skills for a special sport, along with good means of restoration and psychological preparedness. All of this adds up to raising the child’s General Physical Preparedness (GPP). Raising GPP must happen before the child can focus on Specific Physical Preparedness (SPP). 31

The message for the child is that he or she must be fit for their sport as different sports require a somewhat different fitness to cope with a special sport task under contest conditions. Always look to exercise specificity especially if you specialize in one sport where a set of specific training methods are used constantly because of certain imposed sport demands.

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Chapter 6 Learning Tactics Learning tactics or simple plays can be taught during playground exercising. Tactics are the basic foundation of setting and achieving a sports goal. To be able to fulfill a sports goal, or the techniques to perform tactics, one must achieve a degree of physical, mental, and technical skills to allow the child to use their knowledge and experience. Tactics and Techniques The child must be able to perform during the game with well mastered technique. Until you can participate in a game, there is no need for tactics. For example, if a young boxer cannot throw a left hook, it is of little use to plan to throw a left hook without a proper setup or trap. Also, the young boxer must learn to set up a right hand with a jab after both punches are mastered as a combination. Sports and Tactics Sports like track and field require few tactics. On the hand, wrestling calls for some method or tactic to make a take-down or a pin. Technical and Tactical Skills A young baseball player at 10 years old must gain not only physical skills, but also be able to hit better pitching. Or, he must learn the tasks a catcher must have to call a fast ball, a change-up, or as he grows older, to pick off a base runner. Can a pitcher constantly throw a fast ball over the plate or hit a curve ball? The coach must track the player’s progress with such measures as batting average or the number of base steals each year. Basically, as the child grows older he or she must constantly become more reliable and also more confident in their abilities. Competing

Athletes will find that to be more successful it is best to learn new 33

tactics when competing against a lesser opponent. This is true for either an individual opponent or in a team setting. Technique and tactics can’t be separated, but must be thought of separately as a way to succeed. As the child’s skill level and the opponent’s skill level each grows, technique and tactics must be mastered. Tactics can depend on the opponent. Each team or opponent will cause the child to learn to alter the tactics to some degree. To be successful the child must learn new tactics; and the child must go slowly as to master the new tactics correctly. As competitions come with a greater degree of difficulty, the athlete needs to realize that opponents may try new tactics, or they may bend the rules somehow. But being the best athlete possible, the child must try to always obey the rules. In boxing, a high skilled boxer may request a larger ring to move about his opponent. On the other hand, a hard puncher will ask for a small ring to stay close to his opponent. The environment, as you can see, can be used as a tactic. For example, time periods can cause a change in tactics. Again, in boxing, the number of punches per round can be a tactic used to try to conserve some of the athlete’s energy for the last round of matches. Another tactic can be talking to your opponent to take your mind off the game. It is most important for an athlete to master his or her techniques before using tactics. Tactics are developed in training and used during competitions. When an athlete uses new tactics he or she will find that some work on some opponents, but they may not work on some who have seen it all. The important learning here is to always work on new tactics in training before trying them in a contest. To conclude this section, remember that before training on tactics, Drabik advises that the athlete must be very fit, have good technique skills, and develop a high degree of mental toughness and knowledge of his or her sport. The last thought about tactics is that many young boys and girls will compete at one level or another. After the competitive years some will become coaches themselves. With all you have now learned reading this book, you can now benefit your young athlete and it becomes your turn to teach all aspects of the game, including tactics.

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Chapter 7 Before Choosing a Sport Long before a child starts to compete in a sport, they must build a base of basic skills. A child should learn basic skills such as throwing, catching, jumping, good balance, and some degree of fitness. This is just playground activity that should begin at four or five years old. If not, it will be very difficult for a child to be equal to their peers and they will never acquire the sports development to compete with the boys and girls who started at an early age of four or five years old on the playground. Once in school, a gym teacher should recognize in what sport a child may excel. By watching the children at play or in gym class, the teacher can recognize which boys and girls possess great strength or great endurance. The strong child will dominate in the early stages of play, but will tire quickly. Conversely, the child that has a great degree of endurance can maintain their ability to continue to play without slowing down or showing a decrease in their movement abilities. In would appear that basic gymnastics is a suitable base to start. It teaches good body awareness including balance, flexibility and body coordination. Participating in gymnastics is advised by most wrestling and weight lifting coaches. It is used by the high skilled weight lifters from countries like Russia, China and Bulgaria. It can help the child engage in many sports, especially ones that call for kicking or catching a ball. They could try a sport like soccer where play is seldom interrupted or American football where play is interrupted by a short rest between plays, or baseball, a slow played game with many breaks between plays. Basketball, on the other hand, is a game with fast action then stops for foul shots or time outs. Other sports like boxing or MMA require not only skill strength and endurance, but also a high degree of hand and foot speed, plus courage.

The coach must determine what sport the child is best suited for, not 35

the spot where there is a void on some random team that needs filling. To the parents, choose a coach carefully. In most sports it’s the basic skills that are not taught at an early age. And basics are just that—basics of all sports. Let’s look at basketball. The athlete must shoot, dribble, guard their opponent, rebound and run. Like all ball sports, one must learn plays, meaning tactics, and show determination to win. In the end there are only a few who will become professional athletes. It is about one-tenth of one percent, and much less for an athlete who plays two sports. Look at playing football. Does the child like physical contact? What is the preference, offense, defense or both? Can the child take pain? Tough question, but pain is a part of some sports. While a child can play one sport, he or she may not be able to play a second sport. There is reason one plays either tennis or golf, but not both. The coach must consider the child’s strength, endurance, coordination, and flexibility before choosing the correct sport. As you can see, there are many aspects of fitness to consider before placing the child into a sport that will possibly lead them into a long, professional career. .

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Chapter 8 Selecting a Sport By 10 years old it is time to join a sports team. For the last three years the child should have been going through a series of evaluations to determine for which sport the child is best suited. Many boys and girls are recruited to play on an organized team. After a large group of children are assembled, a selection process begins. After competition becomes greater, it will be much more difficult to find a place on the more advanced teams. Hopefully, the three years spent on the theory of the Rule of Three will make it much easier to advance from Little League to Major League. When selecting a sport to participate in for a long career, there must be a standard for the child to measure up against. (Wazny 1989). There are many things to consider and take into account including his or her flexibility, speed and strength ability. Expect to honestly answer difficult questions. Does the child have the right proportions—meaning height and body type and many times the genetics—to participate in a sport like basketball? Or, should he or she be a 125-pound MMR fighter? Does the child have the correct personality for the chosen sport? Is the child mentally prepared to endure fatigue? Is the child motivated for the chosen sport? The author has found normal boys and girls will only give you normal results. This means the greater the potential the child has, the more the coach and parent must understand and concur with their idiosyncrasies. Westside has experience working with an athlete’s idiosyncrasies: the strongest powerlifter of all time is a Westside lifter. His lifts are like no other and his mindset is like no other. We all know the names of great coaches in their respective sports. These are our greatest coaches, but there are countless so called coaches of which you have never heard. Within all of our universities in the United States, not one has a degree focused on coaching; instead most programs are in physical education studies with emphasis in various areas of physical edu37

cation from sports management to sports studies, strength and conditioning, and general sports education. This lack of emphasis on coaching is a major problem and is not being dealt with. Only Westside has a certificate for the science of special strength. A subject that must be addressed is the progression of the athlete from 10 years old to the age of a polished athlete, which is generally 19 to 21 years old, especially for the young athlete that far exceeds the expectations of all others and is destined for a professional career or an Olympic athlete status. After 10 years old there is a progression for increasing sports excellence. The Soviet Union found a method for evaluating sports progress was a constant evaluation from 10 years to 13 years, from 13 years to 15 years, from 15 years to 17 years, from 17 years to 19 years, and from 19 year to 21 years. By 21 years old the athlete was polished or removed from the sports program. Remember, it is just as important to choose the correct coach as it is to choose the right sport for the child. In the United States, coaches tend to use different training methods. What I mean is that many coaches use their own training method instead of time-proven methods, such as many methods from the former Soviet Union. Special exercises such as Plyometrics are done incorrectly or too often and at the wrong time. This simply means that the coach must always have a correct progression of special exercises over a long-term plan. The coach must know how to start the training of seven to 10-years-old to train them correctly so they can continue on the long path to being a polished athlete. Many experts, such as Drabik and Tabachnik, have said it is hard to evaluate children seven to 10 years old because the strongest boys and girls will perform at a higher rate due to their strength. This finding told Westside what we believed all along—strength is a major factor in becoming tops in your sport at any age. This is why top track and field athletes along with combat athletes come to Westside to get that edge to go to World or Olympic games, the UFC, or specialized combat sports such as judo, karate or all forms of grappling. In selecting a sport, the child must pass periodic tests for choosing a sport based on their emotional status, if they understand the sport’s psychology, and their willingness to participate in the simplest forms of restoration. The coach must understand that there are three main stages of training: the training itself, competition, and restoration. The child will certainly change 38

both physically and emotionally as they go from possibly four to 10 years old. The coach must train the child optimally and learn to balance sports with studies. The family’s obligation is to afford the time and energy to reach the child’s ultimate goals while he or she moves toward becoming a young adult.

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Chapter 9 Speed It is said that if you want to be a professional athlete, pick parents with good genetics. It is common to see a father and son both play in the NFL or the NBA or major league baseball. This is genetics in play. But, with proper training, a highly skilled athlete can be trained and developed. To develop speed, one must increase jumping ability. This is explosive strength. Explosive strength is defined as the ability to rapidly increase force (Tidow, 1990) -The steeper the increase of strength in time, the greater the explosive strength. There are many factors to consider in developing speed. Speed in sport movement comes from strength and endurance. Let’s look at the three main elements of speed: 1) frequency of movements, 2) reaction time, and 3) sprinting. Frequency of movements is speed of execution of a cyclic locomotion. It is related to the ability of the muscles to overcome some amount of external resistance. While the best age to obtain maximal speed is 24 to 26 years, it takes many years to build a base to make this possible. There are many special physical qualities that must be developed starting at seven and sometimes even four years old. All speed is measured by time. Reaction time is important for all sports. It is the time one reacts to a movement. It could be the ability to block a shot, or parry a punch, or throw a punch. It could even be the time to react to a takedown. Some may have a slow reaction time, but the ability to move at a very high speed. Some can move very fast for one or a few movements. Others can continually move their arms and legs very fast over a long period of time. The coach should note what type of sport the child would excel at by recognizing the different physical qualities.

Body type must be considered while guiding the child into a sports 41

program. Long muscles—meaning long arms and legs—tend to be able to do athletic tasks more efficiently than those with short limbs. The short-limbed boys and girls are better for pure strength sports such as weight lifting. To be extremely fast, it is most important to have a mixture of maximal strength, speed strength along with speed endurance and reaction time. All of this must coincide with timing, flexibility and technique. The child may have fast arm movements, but possess slow leg movements. Some children have very good coordination in some movements, but not all movements. This means the coach must use many tests to decide for which sport the child is best suited. This can be proven by special exercises that will determine what type of speed sport the child will excel—explosive strength or strength endurance. Remember there is a great difference between a sprinter and a long distance runner. A coach must decide if the child can play his or her sport with perfect technique at top speed. What sport can they play at top speed for the complete game? The child may play baseball with good technique for the entire game due to baseball being somewhat slow-paced. But can the same child play with good technique for an entire basketball game due to its fast pace for the complete game? Remember, many baseball and football players are better track athletes due to not mastering top techniques in ball sports. Training the athlete for speed can be very deceiving without the coach being completely honest with the parents, athlete, and most importantly, him- or herself. This honesty can save the athlete years of training for the wrong sport. Emotional stress can affect speed technique and one’s reaction time. If you choose the wrong sport for the child, he or she will not be comfortable, will never excel at the particular sport, and will appear without confidence. Much more information can be found about speed in Science of Sports Training by T. Kurz, and Supertraining by Mel C Siff.

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Reaction time and sprinting will be covered in the next two chapters.

Chapter 10 Reaction Time Reaction time is viewed as the time between stimulus and response to a movement. As mentioned, the pure speed of a sport movement depends on strength and endurance. But, if you perform the same movement or exercises over and over, a speed barrier will occur. According to Sozouski, the speed barrier happens even if the athlete’s strength, endurance and flexibility improve. The sport movement can only move at a certain speed. To build reaction time, not only reactive ability must be trained, but speed-strength methods must be used as well. Strong legs must be developed—first through rope jumping. This will build athletic ability through timing full body coordination and endurance. Sled pulling is a very natural way to increase leg and hip strength. Westside Barbell’s A.T.P., a special belt squat machine that can be used to squat with a belt around the waist, is a valuable tool for the child to build strong legs with belt squatting. With belt squatting, like sled pulling, there is almost no spinal pressure. While these two special exercises provide constant muscle tension, they can provide fast explosive power. For increasing speed strength, light loads must be used. This can be done in the A.T.P. Squatting, walking, and small step-ups should be used in many ways. Sled pulling can duplicate walking forward, backward, sideways as well as being able to use any weight movement with a barbell or dumbbell. With the exception of rope jumping, no child should do depth jumps that cause a sudden stretch preceding a voluntary effort. Plyometrics (depth jumps) can be very dangerous for anyone with excessive use or not knowing how to land. For this reason, Westside has a jumping program based on our past experience and the work of Tadeusz Starzynski, Henryk Solanski and Anprzej Lasocki. 43

Jumping Let’s start with jumping. The student’s first method of jumping should be general and directed. There is not much need for sport-specific jumping until beginning the “Rule of 10.” The book Explosive Power and Jumping Ability for All Sports (Starzynski, Kurz, 1999) details a series of kneeling jumps. Kneeling jumps came from dance training and moved into all sports. It calls for a combination of speed, strength and coordination to develop a high level of jumping. Start with jumping rope. Jumping rope includes all three—speed, strength and coordination—by bringing together the involvement of the arms and legs. By doing explosive strength training in the form of jumping you can reduce some weight training with heavy weights, which may not be advisable for some children. The Methods Begin by reviewing the illustrations. Start exercise by sitting on the floor and pressing the dumb bell or Kettlebells overhead. Next, while sitting on knees, jump onto feet. Eventually, add weight or resistance. This can be done in a single jump or a series of multi-jumps. By using multi-jumps, the exercise can increase sport-specific strengths, agility and jumping endurance. A second method is box jumping. This means the child stands in front of a box and jumps onto a box of a predetermined height. There are many ways to test. Examples 1. Jump with two feet 2. Sit on box and jump onto second box on one foot with no pre run 3. Switch from left to right foot with no pre run 4. Bounding on left foot 5. Bounding on right foot 6. Jumping sideways left or right

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* Always use acceleration for multi-jumps. * Always try to land on soft surface.

When building strength with jumping, use resistance in the form of ankle weight, a weight vest, dumbbells, Kettlebells or a barbell. To make jumps more difficult, jump out of sand or foam with or without some form of resistance. Please note: Plyometric exercises—meaning depth jumps or free falling on a box—should not be used for training children under 10 years old! A rule of thumb is that one should be able to squat two times body weight before depth jumping. Throwing, punching and pulling Jumping is just part of the equation. The child must be able to also throw, punch or pull without becoming fatigued. This must be built in other ways or methods. One of those methods is medicine ball throws and catches. Many sports require the athlete to throw or catch a ball. All field events require throwing an implement. The field event implements have much different weights, so the medicine balls must have many weights and methods to choose from. Why? If we look at the training for the shot put, their training with a heavy weight is about 50 percent of all total training. The javelin thrower, on the other hand, spends only 15 to 20 percent on weight training. Why is this? Let’s look at the release of a shot put. It is about 14 meters per second (m/s) for a 16-pound shot. The release time for a javelin is at least 30 m/s. This is due to the force velocity curve and shows why medicine balls of different weights must be used to develop special strengths. Like with jumping, where many variations are needed to test or measure progress for vertical and horizontal jumping, medicine ball throwing involves different weights and directions—off knees, seated, overhead, and one-arm throwing for distance and height. There will be several methods for jumping and medicine ball work inside this chapter. The most-used test for explosive upper body power is while kneeling and throwing a medicine ball from behind the head. There is not much information on weights for children, but women use a two-kilogram medicine ball and men use a three-kilogram ball.

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Chapter 11 Sprinting Last, but certainly not least in importance is short sprinting. The previous chapter about jumping and sled pulling pertains to sprinting ability. The definition of a sprint is to run as fast as possible for a short distance. This means no deceleration. The length of a sprint should be limited to a distance where after the acceleration phase the top speed phase is held for the entire length of the sprint. To be a good sprinter you hopefully have good genetics, meaning parents or grandparents with the right muscle fibers. For finding what is the best sport for the child, testing the speed to run to a base and base to base is helpful. But, you should use many distances to test ones sprinting time. Five, 10, 20 and 30 meters are good indicators of speed and fitness. There are many other variables to consider in addition to genetics. In sprinting, event speed is determined by fast or slow muscle fibers; your maximal strength and endurance to cover a predetermined distance; the excitability of the central nervous system (CNS); and, of course, good coaching. These are the factors that will bring the highest possible results. The use of jumping exercises, medicine ball throws and short sprinting are major tools for the coach to employ. Everyone likes a highlight on ESPN for football, but for the record, you have four plays to make a first down. Testing sprinting ability calls for timing five yards and less to find if the child has the ability to hit the hole as it opens when playing football. Many sports must have fast lateral movements including tennis and baseball. Always try to improve non directional sprints. Soccer is one such sport for non directional sprints. A standing long jump into a sand pit is also a valuable measurement. As you see, there is more to sprinting than just going in a straight line. Is the child able to recover quickly after a sports play? Or, does the child require long rest intervals to recover? The child would be advised to run 47

track and not football if recovery is slow. Recovery methods—or active rest—can be pulling a weight sled, working on a treadmill, or other means such as playing ball games. Rope jumping and box jumps play an important role for the sprinter. Box jumping is a tool to measure the child’s explosive power. A seven to 10-year-old can measure their explosive power by jumping up onto a box. If the box jump goes up, he or she is more powerful. If the box jump goes down, his or her explosive power has gone down. A young child will certainly gain weight. You should let them as long as the box jump goes up. Work on acceleration only to build the ability to sprint. Acceleration is the major part of the sprint and next is top speed maintenance. Do not run long distances for the sprint. Running long distances will cause one to slow down while sprinting because your body will feel the need to conserve its energy.

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Chapter 12 Special Strength Training There are three methods of strength training: the Maximal Effort Method, the Dynamic Effort, and the Repeated Effort Method. We’ll look at each one individually. The Maximal Effort Method The Maximal Effort (M-E) Method involves lifting—exercising—against maximal resistance. This can be a heavy barbell exercise for a one-repetition maximum or lifting a non moveable bar, which refers to isometrics. One-repetition maximum (more often referred to as a 1RM) in weight training is the maximum amount of force that can be generated in one maximal contraction. This method should not be used until a child is at least 10 years old. The Dynamic Method The Dynamic method refers to lifting or throwing a non maximal load with the greatest possible speed. F=MA. The repetition range must be monitored to maintain maximal velocity. Consult A. S. Prilepin’s data from 1974 to establish the number of repetitions and sets for the optimal number of lifts at a certain percentage. For children 10 and above, it is recommended to use a minimum number of lifts to the optimal amount of lifts for speed. Strength 70 % (3 to 6 repetitions per set) No less than 12 And no more than 18 Lifts 80 % (2 to 4 repetitions per set) No less than 10 And no more than 15 Lifts 90 % 1 to 2 repetitions per set) No less than 4 And no more than 7 Lifts

The Repeated Effort Method

The Repeated Effort Method calls for the athlete to lift a less than 49

maximal load to failure. Only in the last few repetitions do the muscles develop maximum force. It is most common to use a classical lift to perform the Repeated Effort Method. The Westside System calls for one to use single-joint exercises for this method. Using single-joint exercises is much safer and more productive as it addresses the weak muscle groups. Which Training Method Should You Use? The M-E Method is far superior to all strength methods due to its ability to improve both intramuscular and intermuscular coordination as well as the central nervous system (CNS). Remember the muscles adapt only to the demands placed upon them. The M-E Method can be used for any barbell exercise. The child should learn how to do the five classical lifts, squat, bench, deadlift as well as the snatch and the clean and jerk. While the snatch and clean and jerk are always seen as very technical lifts, so are the three powerlifts (squat, bench and deadlift). All barbell exercises should be done with perfect form. However, perfect form is seldom the case due to a lack of expertise by many coaches. From seven to 10 years old, general strength should be the base of their training. It must be difficult, but safe for the child. This means minimal stress on the spine and other joints. How can this be done? The answer is belt barrow walking, sled work, wheel barrow walking, and the Westside A.T.P., a special belt squat machine that can be used to squat with a belt around the waist. The A.T.P. provides tremendous muscular work with a minimal amount of stress on the spine. All of these devices will provide not only building muscles in all major muscle groups, but also great conditioning regardless of whether the athlete is developing explosive strength, maintaining top speed, or building maximal strength. The different special strength’s can be built separately by using light or heavy weight and choosing the correct distance to cover. Belt Barrow Let’s look at the methods used with this device. First, add weight when possible on the weight holder and have the athlete walk forward with their hands free. Next, have them walk forward or backward while throwing punches with boxing gloves. Also, he or she can throw a medicine ball or any type of ball while walking. For extra stabilization, the athlete can walk with a light bar with Kettlebells hooked with mini-bands overhead. 50

For more variety, the athlete can use ankle weights or a weight vest. On other days while walking with the belt barrow, he or she can hook a sled to their belt while walking forward. The combinations are endless and limited only to your imagination. Weight Sled

This simple device comes with low cost, but it’s worth a million.

By hooking the sled to his or her weight belt, the athlete can walk forward or backward or even sideways for lateral movement and strength. For lower body strength, he or she can hook the sled to the weight belt or for direct hamstring work; the athlete should hold the strap between the legs from behind with the strap held below knee level. The lower the strap, the better the results will be. For upper work, use a second strap and duplicate any barbell or dumbbell exercise you wish. It can be curls, presses, upright rows, or external rotation work. The work is only limited to the imagination. You could also do football pass blocking or for the wrestlers, pummeling or pushing the strap down such as when an athlete controls his opponent’s head in a match. Just think about your sport and duplicate its moves. Also you can use ankle weights or a weight vest or carry a medicine ball. Combining work could be pulling a sled while pushing a wheel barrow. Sled Pulling for Strength The sled can play a large role in the young athlete’s strength training, upper body or lower body development. For the lower body, hook the sled strap to your lifting belt and walk forward for the calves, hamstrings, glutes, and posterior hips. When walking backward, it builds knee extensions and the front of the hips. Hook a strap around ankles to build strong hips. When walking sideways, it builds lateral strength and speed. By wearing ankle weights or a weight vest, you can make the sled work more challenging. Or, carry a medicine ball overhead, or a light barbell for stability. For females who suffer from knee problems, they can carry a medicine ball at waist line while pulling a sled. This will automatically correct alignment with the hip—no more knock knees that cause many injuries. By using a second strap, you can duplicate any dumb bell or barbell exercise that can be done in a gym. Now you are building strength while gaining GPP and fitness. 51

For power sports that cover a short distance with some type of rest intervals, trips of 60 yards work best. The number of trips will depend on the child’s fitness level. Be sure to let the child fully recover to maintain a set pace. Choose the weight on the sled carefully. If the child can not walk in a straight line, it is too heavy. Always keep in mind the sport for which the child is training and duplicate the sport movement with the upper body. One example is running backwards for a defensive player. Another example is a drill where the child holds the strap overhead like pass blocking or guarding a basketball player. Just use your imagination. Westside has 10-year-old athletes who would complete a mile and a quarter in one workout. The sled will build the entire body from toe to fingertips. It is very time effective and well worth the money. When it comes to sports equipment, it is the best cost ratio investment you can make. As mentioned previously, there can be many ways to use the weight sled. First, for the lower body, the most common method is to walk forward. For building strength development, over stride and land on your heels while walking. Upon contacting the ground, immediately pull through with the heel very powerfully. It will duplicate the start of a calf-ham-glute raise. This will build the glute and hamstrings in the most natural way possible. For power development, 60 yards a trip is best. The rest intervals can be as short as 40 seconds, much like the rest intervals in football, but no longer than two minutes to allow for improving the child’s fitness level. The coach should choose three amounts of weight ranging from 10 pounds to 70 pounds for larger or stronger boys and girls. At younger ages, boys and girls will be equal, but this changes at puberty. During the week, use the heaviest weights on Monday; reduce the weight somewhat on Wednesday and then again on Friday. Always hook the sled strap to the weight belt. Monday could be 12 trips, 18 trips on Wednesday and six trips on Friday. Monday will raise maximum strength, Wednesday will increase strength endurance, and Friday can be one of two things—a warmup for sports training or for restoration. The walk should be in a balanced and coordinated manner. Always use natural arm movement. If the child loses balance and is not walking in a straight line, the weight on the sled is too difficult. 52

Walking backward is a great hip and knee developer. It can be done

at normal speed at a fast pace. For lateral strength and speed development, walk from side to side. Always divide the trips up left to right and right to left evenly. Walking forward should be used for the most volume. The recommendation for most sports is two-thirds forward and one-third going backwards. For upper body work, slide a second strap through the strap that is attached to the sled. Any special exercise that can be done in the gym can be performed with the strap. The advantage is that as you become stronger, your fitness level also is being raised by walking instead of sitting down inside the gym. The machines will build muscle, but not motion, meaning coordination. Just a few of the special exercises the athlete can do while walking backwards are curls, upright rows, and internal and external rotations. When walking forward, the child can do such special exercises as curls, peck decks, triceps’ extensions, and overhead pressing. When considering special exercises, always think of the child’s sport. If it is football, you can duplicate pass blocking. If it’s grappling, you can use pummeling. Use two-arm passing for basketball. While walking sideways, use one arm for tennis or hand ball. These ideas should enlighten the coach about special methods to increase strength in all possible angles that are used in most, if not all, sports. One special exercise for the hamstrings is to walk forward with the sled strap behind you held below the knee level for two or three trips of 60 yards. Walk forward for trips of 400 meters for endurance. For beginners use the heel-touch method for strength endurance. For more advanced boys and girls 800 meters can also be a test to build muscular endurance. When a child cannot power walk 400 meters, break it up into 100 or 200 meter intervals. A rest interval between trips should be long enough to almost fully recover. Use three different weights to cover the distance. A light ankle or weight vest or both can provide different amounts of resistance to set record time. Always monitor the child’s fitness status as not to over exert the child and put their health in jeopardy. The sled is a very affordable, dependable, and valuable tool for strength and conditioning. Add a weight belt and a few weights and you have an arsenal of special training methods at your disposal. By using a power sled your young athlete can increase muscular strength, aerobic endurance and fitness as well as raise anaerobic fitness and endurance while at the same time raising maximal oxygen debt. 53

Wheel Barrow Westside has a special wheel barrow for Strongman contests or for conditioning for all sports. It has weight holders to add resistance. Its name is the War Wagon, but any wheel barrow can be used. Load it up with weights or sand, dirt, gravel—anything will work. By pushing or pulling a wheel barrow, it builds the entire body from the feet and calves to the traps. But an extra bonus is that it causes the athlete to balance it as he or she pushes or pulls it along on one wheel. This is a major plus as it builds a strong grip. There are three different ways to use it. One can push it forward, which does lots of hip and glute work. The athlete can pull it backward for a lot of hip and quad work, plus a real test for the grip. Or, a third method is for the athlete to face away from the wheel barrow and pull it behind him or herself like a rickshaw. This, again, builds a strong grip and lots of glutes. ey.

Just like a weight sled, the wheel barrow is a great deal for your mon-

Using the Athletic Training Platform, the A.T.P. Westside was doing belt squats in 1975 standing on two boxes with the weight supported on a third platform. Now, Westside has a patented cable device with a platform that lets the athlete do countless sports-related exercises. An athlete can do belt squatting onto a box or regular squats. With the A.T.P.’s special squat racks the athlete can have a bar on his or her back or front squat while also having great resistance held around the waist to cause two accelerations: one with the legs, the other with the back. The athlete can also do cleans or clean and jerks. For the athlete, having the belt around his or her waist supplies two separate amounts of acceleration for squats and deadlifts. The athlete can also turn around on the platform and two athletes can do football drills, Rugby drills, medicine ball throws, throwing punches or throwing a baseball, football, shot put and the like. The list goes on and on. Again, the only thing that limits the work you can do on the A.T.P. is your imagination. General Physical Preparation Training With young boys and girls, it is best to exercise with as little weight bearing as possible. What we are discussing is General Physical Preparation (GPP) Training. This type of training builds coordination, endurance, explo54

sive speed and strength speed, not to mention flexibility, acceleration, static strength, and indirectly, skill for all sports. Strength Building with Rubber Bands Westside made training with rubber bands popular in the mid-1990s. Rubber bands can be connected to the barbell for accommodating resistance, but by using the bands alone, one can do any exercise that can be done with a barbell or dumbbell. This includes curls, presses, squats, deadlifts, push-ups with bands held behind the back, assisted pull-ups, external rotations, leg curls, throwing punches with the band held behind. And on and on ... The Westside Training System Zaremba (1982) coined three blocks of training: accumulation, intensification, and transformation. Accumulation is where a large volume of training is possible to accomplish at a steady pace. Intensification is where the athlete starts to introduce sport-specific exercises that mimic sport movements while reducing some non specific exercises. Transformation is the period that calls for the athlete to transform him or herself into a specialized athlete. However, when switching from block to block some of the work done in the last block is lost due to eliminating some of the special work in the form of exercises and workload. Is there a better way? Yes, as explained in the Conjugate Training System Chapter, the Westside System builds explosive speed strength on two workouts, Maximal-Effort (M-E) sessions on two workouts, and builds the lacking muscle groups by using single-joint special exercises. This can be done year-round. For important contests, a delayed transformation stage is set in place. Twenty-eight days out from a major contest the athlete trains at 50 percent intensity. At 21 days out the athlete the athlete takes all time records. At 14 days out the athlete trains at 75 percent of new record made at 21 days out. And seven days out the athlete uses an active rest period. This schedule makes it possible for the athlete to make the goals of the contest day. Training the Young Athlete When training seven to 10-year-olds with a barbell you should use a youth lifting bar. The young athlete should train their abdominal muscles (abs) before and after each workout along with the hamstrings and low back. The lumbar region of the spine, more commonly known as the lower back, 55

includes many ligaments and soft tissue. Athletes must have sufficient blood pumped into it on a daily basis to avoid injuries. As you can see, Westside’s foundation for training is general strength exercises. This is the foundation for directed and sport-specific exercises that increase the strength of all muscle groups, small and large. This foundation assists in insuring that the athlete is well balanced and strong to reduce muscle and joint injuries. Westside’s theory of strength and conditioning is to incorporate both simultaneously and build the muscles through general exercises while walking with some type of device as discussed earlier in this chapter. Injury Prevention The key to injury prevention is doing general exercises from many angles to build great strength around joints, which reduces instability. Most injuries are because of having weak muscles that attach to joints. A study by Orchard (1997) showed that a bilateral deficit of eight percent can cause injury. Orchard also found that if the hamstring muscle is 40 percent of the strength of the quadriceps, a hamstring injury is quite possible. Laura Dodd, a former 200-meter sprinter turned powerlifter, had a ratio of 60 percent hamstring 40 percent quadriceps ratio, which was tested at Ohio State University. They said it was by far the highest ever recorded at the Exercise Physiology Lab. General exercise made it possible to create a foundation for directed strength. These general exercises are close to, but not identical to directed exercises that prepare the child to use sport-specific strength training later in their career. This is the same process for jumping. The child needs to do very basic jumps at first then on to the competitive jumping events. As you can see, if you are to reach the top, you need a wide base. Just like a pyramid it can only be as tall as its base—weight training at a ratio of 20 percent barbell and 80 percent small special exercises. Even the young athlete must find a way to increase volume and intensity if he or she is to become a master sports person by 19 to 21 years of age.

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Chapter 13 Conjugate Training System The Conjugate System was first developed in 1972 at the Dynamo Club in the former Soviet Union. One group of 70 high-ranked weight lifters trained with 25 to 40 special weight lifting exercises for a period of time. When asked about the wide variety of exercises available, one lifter was satisfied, but the rest of the group wanted more special exercises to choose from. While it was intended for the highest level athletes, Westside has used the Conjugate System since 1970 with the switching of special exercises! But switching exercises is just a small part of what makes the Conjugate System successful. The Conjugate System’s main purpose is to raise a lagging motor system for improving specific motor abilities. The system can eliminate a lagging muscle group or raise specific motor abilities that do not function correctly. But be aware that the Conjugate System is only as good as the coach that lays out the program. The Westside Conjugate System calls for changing from high barbell volume training to very low barbell volume –roughly 40 percent—72 hours later. On the high volume training days the intensities are 75 percent to 85 percent. While on the low barbell volume training day—meaning M-E or Maximal Effort training—the intensities are 100 percent plus. Because special strength training is measured by velocities, on the Dynamic Method day Westside strives to lift sub maximal weights as fast as possible. On M-E day, the bar velocity will be very slow by nature to build great force. While a Block Training System works on one specific motor ability or velocity, the Conjugate System makes it possible to train what is needed at any time. You must recognize when doing a block training system becomes a detraining system. After a hypertrophy block within a 21-day period, you start to lose the muscle mass you just gained. This is true for power and maximal strength. 57

Westside uses the Conjugate System to replace the far-outdated Block System. During the weekly plan, two workouts for speed or explosive strength are used. And two workouts for M-E are done as well. Training with a barbell is 20 percent of the total volume and 80 percent is on special exercises to build a special strength from explosive strength to strength endurance. The coach must be able to recognize what muscle group or special strength the child lacks. The lagging muscle group can cause a technical problem that can stop progress in its tracks. The Westside Conjugate System makes it possible to balance all methods: velocities, intensities, volume, and exercises during the entire yearly plan. The main reason one fails to make progress is a lack of knowledge of special exercises and when to rotate them before they stop working. This also happens when repeating the same volume over a prolonged period. This is called accommodation. The Conjugate System solves the problem of accommodation by constantly using new stimuli during a weekly plan. For jumping, one can jump onto a box with ankle weights one workout and then use a barbell the next. The next workout can be with dumb bells or a weight vest. The same variety can be put in place for sled pulling. You can do this by using at least three different weight loads and three different distances. Westside uses five different bars to squat by rotating to a new bar every fourth week; and the same for benching. When doing Olympic weight lifting, Dr. Medvedev had his lifters rotate among 100 slightly different workouts. If one has a child stay with the same training program over a long period of time, the young athlete will experience diminishing returns. Dr. Ben Tabachink says to adapt to training is to never fully adapt. When one fully adapts to training, the boy or girl will suffer from accommodation. As you can see, all training must interact together seamlessly. There is a time to train with bands and a time to train with chains. By having many combinations of training methods, you should never experience accommodation, which is a general law of biology. Training must always become somewhat more difficult to cause one to improve. This means adding more volume at the correct intensities, introducing new exercises or a new method, or bringing a new athlete to the team. Bringing in new talent can make all athletes perform at a higher level, not only physically, but emotionally and psychologically. 58

Training programs must change to avoid accommodations. This

means you must go through a series of special exercises from general to specific and on to sports specific, which means getting to the actual sports event for which the athlete has been training. The Conjugate Method is the most effective training method to avoid accommodation.

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Chapter 14 Endurance Training Endurance is the ability to withstand fatigue. It is developed only when an athlete is thoroughly fatigued. One must stop doing endurance training when form breaks. To build great endurance, one must work with different intensities and different times as well as rest intervals. The important thing for athletes to know is that developing endurance raises their strength and oxidation qualities. Westside uses a non motorized treadmill to build muscular endurance. Endurance is built with one long set on the treadmill or it can be done in intervals. One can walk for the length of time of their sport-event. Or you can do intervals for a long distance race. Here’s an example: if a race is 20 minutes long, the athlete can start with four, five-minute workouts with a set rest interval. Then, to increase endurance, shorten the rest intervals until four intervals are now two intervals. When training seven to 10-year-old children, consider many short runs from 40 to 60 meters for up to 15 trips while constantly shortening the rest intervals. For example, start with 60-second rest intervals, and then go to 50-second rest intervals, then 40 seconds, and so on. Go slow at first so the child can recover and perform the task correctly.

For workouts, do the following: • Sled pull • Wheel barrow • Carry medicine ball • Sand bag on back • Carry Kettlebells

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• Walk with weight vest • Bear crawl • Run backward.

These are just a few examples.

For upper body endurance, do simple tasks. •

Hook rope to sled and pull hand over hand

•

Carry Kettlebells

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Carry medicine balls of 10, 15 or 20 pounds

•

Walk with band bar with light weight

•

Pull sled with upper body by using a second strap

•

Swim or walk in pool with water up to your waist

•

Do push-up and assisted pull-ups by placing your feet in a rubber band attached to top of rack.

This is the lightened method: ride stationary bike or walk on treadmill. It takes great endurance to perform prolonged sport activities. The above methods are for general endurance. This leads to directed endurance that leads to a transition period for sport-specific activities. You must develop both cardiovascular and muscular endurance evenly. One sees many athletes with great cardio, but little muscular endurance in sports requiring arm endurance such as boxing. When one exercises, one must also recover. Every athlete needs to learn to relax, meaning both the mind and the muscles. This is a skill that must be taught by the coach. The ability to recover will teach the child to correctly carry out technical skills. Remember, one has to build endurance for long races, but also to maintain top speed for the maintenance phase of races. One has to build endurance for other sports events as well whether it is hand speed for throwing punches or swinging a racket. Both lower body endurance for the legs and arms are required for many sports. All sports call for somewhat different forms of endurance. To build endurance with light activity, heavy resistance must be employed. In the NLF 62

there is a test with 225 pounds in the bench press for a number of repetitions. Just think if a player can only bench 250 pounds for one rep. He would be limited with just 25 pounds under their top weight. But, if a second player could bench 450 pounds, then 225 pounds would be easy to do several reps. This example is why having a high level of maximal strength leads to greater endurance. Both have to do with body type and genetics. Sports like soccer rely more on great endurance, not great strength while on the field. Great muscle strength can be built by doing reps with 75 to 80 percent of a one rep max. In conclusion, all special strength must be increased to improve endurance. It is important to know that great physical change from endurance training then explosive strength training requires more time for recovery. This is the reason that other methods of strength training must play a role in endurance—the recovery rate of other special strength is much shorter. To close, remember both muscular endurance and cardiovascular fitness must be improved simultaneously.

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Chapter 15 Testing a Child

Can a child compete with others?

A physical test can not only determine the child’s physical ability, but also their composure. Are they prey or predator? If they can’t complete a cone drill correctly, then there would be little chance of running a route for football or basketball.

Some basic tests would include the following types of activities: • Running a 10, 20 or 30-yard race • Doing a running and standing long jump • Performing vertical jumps • Counting number of standing push-ups • Counting number of pull-ups • Jumping rope and counting jumps for one minute or jumping for as long as possible • Swimming a lap or laps for time • Sitting in a half squat in a stationery position for time • Holding arms to the sides or in front in a stationery position for time • Sit and reach to test for flexibility • Throw a one, two and three kg medicine ball and measure distance

these:

Other tests to gauge strength, endurance, coordination, and flexibility are

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• Games • Badminton • Table tennis • Miniature golf • Handball • Throwing baseball for distance • Throwing football for distance • Kicking a football for distance • Dribbling a basketball for time Partner drills are another assessment tool. Here are two examples to help you consider what other types of activities would work for your child: throwing and catching and catching ground balls. Along with these observations, consider how the child responds to a drill. Can they do the drill? Can they improve their time? If not, are they determined to improve, or quit? Does he or she get frustrated or take things in stride? These are some of the keys to evaluate a child from seven to 10 years old. Choosing a sport the child can excel at can be a very difficult task. But hopefully, these suggestions will help guide a short or long-term sporting career. Parents are always planning their child’s education, but seldom provide a path for athletic excellence. This manual is merely a guide for parents and coaches on selecting a sport or sports best suited for a child. For more in-depth information an excellent book to read is Children and Sports Training: How your Future Champions Should Exercise to Be Healthy, Fit and Happy by Dr. Jozef Drabik (1996). Drabik analyzes all aspects of developing young children from four to 10 years old. The book covers many workouts and why boys and girls do not use the same exercises. What comes after the Rule of Three? I believe what comes after the Rule of Three is The Rule of 10 Years. This theory came to me about 20 years ago. To be truly successful, I believe it requires 10

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years of training or 10,000 hours of special training at an athlete’s chosen sport. Not only young children, but children starting at 11 or 12 years old must strive toward a single sport. An athlete must excel constantly to advance in his or her sport. Every two years up until the athlete is 19 to 21 years of age would be referred to as the polished period. Throughout, the 10 years of training must be enjoyable, never boring while enhancing his or her sporting ability. Much more can be found about athletic development in a book by Vladimir Issurin, Ph.D entitled Athletic Talent, Identification and Its Development (2017).

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CHAPTER 16 1- SINGLE LEG HIP AND OVER HEAD RAISES

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2- BODYWEIGHT JUMPING SQUATS

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3- BODYWEIGHT REGULAR SQUATS

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4- JUMP ROPE

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5- WEIGHTED JUMPING SQUATS

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6- FRONT RAISES

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7- MEDBALL SQUAT AND THROW

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8- ANGLED HIGH KNEES

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9- SIDE RAISES

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10- SIDE STRETCHES

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11- POWER JOG

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12- LUNGE

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13- PRESS UP

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14- SINGLE LEG GLUTE RAISE

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15- MED BLL SIT UP

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16- SINGLE ARM PUSH UP ROW

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17- PUSH UP TO PLANK

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18- ABDOMINAL V SIT

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19- MODIFIED PUSH UP

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20- SINGLE TUCK JUMPS

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Side steps

90

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Over headpress

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Pull through

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Back Row

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Peck Deck Action

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References and Selected Bibliography Bach, Richard, and Russell Munson. 2006. Jonathan Livingston Seagull. First edition, New York: Scribner. Black, J. E., K. R. Isaacs, B. J. Anderson, A. A. Alcantara, and W. T. Greenough. 1990. Learning causes synaptogenesis, whereas motor activity causes angiogenesis, in cerebellar cortex of adult rats. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 87(14), 5568–5572. Bondarchuk, Anatoliy. 2015. Champion School: A Model for Developing Elite Athletes. Translated by Michael Yessis. Michigan: Ultimate Athlete Concepts. Brunner, Rick, and Ben Tabachnik. Soviet Training and Recovery Methods. 1990. Pleasant Hill, CA: Sport Focus Publishing. Drabik, Jozef. 1996. Children and Sports Training: How your Future Champions Should Exercise to Be Healthy, Fit and Happy. Island Pond, VT: Stadion Publishing Company, Inc. “Famous NFL Fathers and Sons | FOX Sports.” n.d. Accessed February 13, 2018. https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/famous-father-son-football-pairings-061513. “Hall of Fame Fathers and Sons | Pro Football Hall of Fame Official Site.” Accessed January 21, 2018. http://www.profootballhof.com/news/hall-offame-fathers-and-sons/. Kraaijenhof, Henk. 2016. Speed Is What We Need. Edited by Bryan Mann, Ph.D. First edition. Muskegon Heights, MI: Ultimate Athlete Concepts. Issurin, Vladimir, Ph.D. First edition, 2017. Athletic Talent, Identification and Its Development. Muskegon Heights, MI: Ultimate Athlete Concepts.

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Issurin, Vladimir, Ph.D. 2015. Building the Modern Athlete. Muskegon Heights, MI: Ultimate Athlete Concepts. Janovitz, Scott. n.d. “The Most Successful Father-Son Combos in Sports History.” Bleacher Report. Accessed February 13, 2018. https://bleacherreport.com/ articles/2336045-the-most-successful-father-son-combos-in-sports-history. Komi, Paavo V., ed. 2002. Strength and Power in Sport. Second edition. Osney Mead, Oxford ; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Kurz, Thomas, and Tadeusz Starzynsk. 1999. Explosive Power and Jumping Ability for All Sports: Atlas of Exercises. Stadion Publishing Company, Inc. Kurz, Thomas. Second edition, 2016. Science of Sports Training: How to Plan and Control Training for Peak Performance. Island Pond, VT: Stadion Publishing Company, Inc. “List of Second-Generation National Basketball Association Players.” Wikipedia, February 9, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_ of_second-generation_National_Basketball_Association_players&oldid=824714002. Romanov, Nicholas, PhD., John Robson, and Professor Vadim Balsevich. 2002. Pose Method of Running. Coral Gables, FL: Pose Tech Corporation. Ross, Barry. 2005. Underground Secrets to Faster Running. Lexington, KY: Bear Powered Publishing. Siff, Mel C. Sixth Edition, 2003. Supertraining. Denver: Supertraining Institute. Stupnicki, Romuald, Editor. 1991. Biology of Sport, Vol. VIII, (Reference to Wazny 1989 article). Polish Scientific Publishers, Warszawa.

Viru, Atko. 1994. Adaptation in Sports Training. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. 100

Wells, Katharine F. and Evelyn K. Dillon. 1952. The Sit and Reach—A Test of Back and Leg Flexibility, Research Quarterly. American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 23:1, 115-118, DOI:10.1080/10671188. 1952.10761965. Yessis, Michael, and Richard Trubo. 1988. Secrets of Soviet Sports Fitness and Training. New York: William Morrow & Co. Zatsiorsky, V. M. 1995. Science and Practice of Strength Training. Champaign IL: Human Kinetics.

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