Strength & Conditioning

List of 3 items.

• The KRCS Commitment to Multiple Sport Training

  John Smoltz made history in his Hall of Fame induction speech, while explaining the national increase in over-use injuries in athletes. Stating that baseball is "not a year-round sport" his implication was quite simple. Playing a sport, such as baseball, all year around, all the time, for your entire youth, does not lead to success but instead, injury.

  
  The recent rise of single-sport athletes starting at a very young age, combined with the lack and the decline of well-rounded athletic development, is one of the most alarming and puzzling trends in the sports world to date.

  
  Prepubescent kids specializing in one sport starting at age 10 and determining to play for the rest of their lives is irresponsible as it displays a massive misunderstanding of anatomical development. There is nothing better for a young athlete than to play multiple sports and to compete for the majority of their careers in multiple arenas of play.

  
  This is one of the major reasons KRCS does not overly-specialize our strength conditioning program.

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• The KRCS Strategic Approach to Training

  It’s not uncommon to find Upper School weight rooms across the country training with a “one-size-fits-all” methodology.

  
  Typically, the style and interest of the coach determines the template used for every athlete who crosses the threshold of the weight room regardless of season, sport, or development level.

  
  This means the same exercises, at the same rep ranges, at the same intensities will be used regardless of specific needs that must be met per athlete. This style of training is certainly effective and an athlete could still grow, stay healthy, and be a well-rounded competitor. However, since there is no attention given to specialization of their current season or development level, much of their success and resulting accomplishments will be limited.

  
  At King’s Ridge Christian School, we choose a different approach.

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• Why Olympic Lifts?

  “[The Olympic Lifts] not only require high power production if executed properly, but also involve large muscle mass and multiple joint movements that relate well to everyday work, recreational, and sport activities. Thus, by specificity of training, these lifting exercises result in adaptations that transfer well to improve performance in other common movement activities, as well as sports requiring high power output.” —John Garhammer, Ph.D., CSCS. Professor, Director - Biomechanics Laboratory California State University

  
  “The mere practice of the Olympic lifts teaches an athlete how to apply large amounts of force. Part of the extraordinary abilities of an Olympic lifter arises out of his having learned how to effectively activate more of his muscle fibers more rapidly than others who aren’t trained to do so. This becomes extremely important for athletes who need to remain at lower body weights for athletic purposes but need to learn how to apply greater force.”—Artie Dreschler, Author of “The Weightlifting Encyclopedia: A Guide to World Class Performance”

  
  In most sports athletes must have the ability to apply force, quickly, efficiently, and in a synchronized manner. Olympic lifts prepare athletes to do all three. Programming in the King’s Ridge strength and conditioning program is based on these three reasons.

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