Goal Setting for Young Athletes

by Mike Hanley

Back in high school the biggest question that anyone that had access to iron was "How much can you bench?’ It did not matter if the weight bounced halfway off of your
chest just as long as you got it up. I am sure that still goes on in weight rooms across the
country with young bucks today. I think the attitude that goes along with it is something
to hone in on. I like for young athletes to have a competitive attitude. Hell, I still have a
competitive attitude at age 32. My partner & I will challenge each other in the weight
room on a daily basis. Competition builds character. I have learned many of life’s
lessons through the pain and joy of athletic competition.

I want to talk about goals that young athletes should have and how to help them
achieve those. I think it is great that athletes today constantly want to improve
themselves and continuously get bigger, faster, and stronger. It is important to set goals
for the young athletes that we train. It does not have to be "How much can you bench?"

Yes, this question might still arise but the more important focus is to make goals with
these young athletes.

When I start an athlete on a training program, I talk to him about what he would
like to see happen. Most of the time, the answer is the same. "I want to get hyoooge."
After I tell them that that is a given training with me (just kidding), we talk about some of
their more serious goals. I talk with them about the things that they want to achieve on
the field. Run faster, hit harder, be stronger than their opponent. After they tell me about
their sports related goals, I talk to them about the training we are going to do and how
training in the weight room has a direct effect on their goals on the field. Once they
understand this, it is easier for them to take weight training more seriously. Working on
muscle imbalances with them takes on a whole new meaning once they understand how
strength training can make them a better athlete overall.

When I establish this kind of relationship with the athlete, it improves their
training program that much more. Here is where the goal setting in the weight room
comes in. If you look at some of what Louie Simmons does and the theories behind his
famous Westside method, it has a reccurring theme to it. For the max effort days of the
week, Louie talks about trying to top that max number from the previous week. It does
not have to be a 1RM but any max effort lifts that you do you try to beat the number from
the week prior. This to me is a big component of goal setting. If you go into the weight
room with no agenda except to workout then you will not achieve much. If you go in
with the intention of beating a specific number from the last time you did that lift, then
you have a pretty good chance that that workout will be more productive. Even if you
don’t hit that mark all the time, at least you are trying to improve on a weekly basis. This
attitude has a direct effect on your performance on the field. I find this to be an integral part of a young athletes training program.

When I design a program for a young athlete, I design the program with the
specific athlete in mind taking all their past training history along with their present
condition in mind. I design the program to fit their needs on their designated field of
play. What this means is not all athletes do a 1RM or a 5 RM for that matter. This does
not mean that there are no goals set for that exercise.

Whatever the athlete’s program calls for, there should always be that attitude of breaking
records in the weight room. If an athlete is brand new to training and has never lifted
weights in his or her life, then he or she is certainly not going to do a 1RM in ANY
exercise. However, what I will do with that athlete is have them work on breaking their
previous goal. For example, we are doing a wall squat with a newbie and the first time he
did the wall squat he could stay in a solid position for 12 seconds, the goal for the
following week would then be to break that 12 second mark. As long as he beats that
number, the athlete is progressing, even if he breaks it with a 13 second hold. I would
much rather have an athlete who is brand new to training take smaller, more frequent
jumps than to have him progress rapidly and then plateau. If you can get the athlete to
think like this, he or she will stay in the training game much longer.

Training goals should vary during each training session. I teach my athletes to
think SUCCESS. No one specific lift in the weight room is going to make them the best
on the field however if we teach athletes to increase the amount of time he or she
succeeds in the weight room this will make him or her a better, well rounded player on
the field. If the athlete continues to break all types of exercise records you can rest
assured they will be ready to play when the time comes. Success in the weight room
could mean a max bench, squat or deadlift. It could also mean the total number of pullups, push-ups, kettlebell snatches he or she can do. You can put a time limit on the drill
or you could take the specific time it takes to finish a 40 yard farmers walk. There are
endless ways to increase the amount of successes an athlete has during his training.

The success in the weight room will have a direct effect on how that athlete
perceives themselves on the field. They will have more confidence which will increase
the desire for competition. They will learn how to be aggressive beating goals which will
allow them to push harder and be more aggressive on the field. They will develop mental
toughness by breaking barriers that they might have thought impossible to break in the
weight room. Take a freshman in high school who has never lifted weights before in his
life and has played some pop warner ball but lacks the confidence that athletes need to
succeed. By setting small attainable goals in the weight room he will start to develop
confidence in himself. I have seen it too many times for this not to be true. Once they
break some weight room records it’s like a snowball effect. This kid becomes more
aggressive in the weight room and takes it right out onto the field with him. It is a joy to
watch.

Mike Hanley walks the walk as a Coach!

To summarize, set realistic goals for these young athletes. We are in a position to
help them achieve goals that could help mold their lives. Make it a point to set goals with
the exercises specific to them. Relay the importance of setting goals, breaking them, then
helping them set new ones. Setting goals in the weight room is what I call training.
There is a difference between training & working out. Athletes need to be taught how to TRAIN. To go into the weight room and workout is one thing but to go into the weight
room and TRAIN, well that is an entirely different arena. When athletes train is when
they will see progress. Teach the young athletes of today how to TRAIN not just
workout. Instill in them what was so freely instilled in you, making you feel so
compelled to work with young athletes. It is our duty as strength coaches.