What can bodybuilders teach high school athletes?

What NOT to do. 

Why? Body builders are professionals. It's their life, their dedication, their occupation often! Body builders often spend hours at the gym. Body building is a sport of it's own. And honestly, most body builders probably aren't the best basketball, soccer, baseball or football players. But they sure are great body builders!

Lunges and split squats are an athletes best friend!

Look at how bodybuilders lift. They usually have 3-4 exercises per body part, using 4-6 sets of 10-20 reps. Imagine how long this takes and the amount of stress on their bodies! 

But what does it take to be a high school all-star? Dedication to your sport and efficiency in the weight room. Sports are played using a single joint. Athletes don't do preacher curls, leg extensions, calf raises, tricep kickbacks or crunches during sports. They push, pull, rotate, squat and lunge. 

Also, we lift heavy. We keep it short and sweet. 4 sets of 6, 5 sets of 5, not much over 8 reps ever! And we use compound lifts that work 3-4 muscle groups per exercise!

The sad thing is that misguided coaches and parents often teach their young athletes to lift like this. Then when they see the way we lift, I always see the light go on followed by the words, "That makes a lot of sense!"

And these are things we do right now in our FAST Forward program. And they are the movements we'll train in our summer Speed, Strength and Power (SSP) Camp. Interested in learning more about either program?

Contact me at aaron@pairmarotta.com.

Why am I doing this?

I've said it many times before. And I am going to keep saying it no matter how much parents don't want to hear it:

Developing movement skills, and thus athletic ability, is like developing any other skill - It takes time and there is a process. Just like there is a process to learning the rules of language.

So here at Peak Performance, we emphasize teaching skills through drills. Far too many sport coaches, whether they be volunteer or "professionals" are busy simply running kids through drills without teaching them the one thing that matters, WHY AM I DOING THIS DRILL?

You really have to make a conscious effort to teach kids how to move. So if you simply ask them to do a ladder drill. Yeah they will probably be able to do it, but if you can't teach them how it carries over to their sport, then you're simply making a "ladder" athlete (a kid who's great at ladder drills). And last time I checked, there wasn't a trophy or scholarships given out for being good at ladder drills.

At Peak Performance, we emphasize the big WHY. We want our athletes to know why they are doing a drill and what skill it is they are developing.

We want you as parents to know as well. So if there is ever a point that your young athlete comes to you and says, "we did such and such drill today...but I don't know why," PLEASE send me an email. I want you and your athletes to know what it is your kids are doing and why it is your kids are doing it.

Our Movement First Program will be starting on August 30th. This is for athletes ages 8-12 and the time is from 6-6:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sign them up today!! The cost is $48. And trust me, this will be one of the best things you could do to develop their movement skills and thus, athletic ability!