How to Train "Big" Athletes - Keeping Your Big Athletes Small
We all wish to train the “elite of elite “ athletes. However, we need to always look further into what has given these “elites” the ability to develop through all the different levels of competition they have been exposed to.
Setting Up “Big” Athletes For Failure?
Many of us have bigger, more mature athletes step into our facilities at a young age and we immediately label them as “big” or mature. We see their dominance over their peers in certain positions on the ice, and assume they can handle more load and volumes. With their dominance comes confidence, which, up until this point, only helps and supports their development. They thrive being the biggest kid in their cohort.
The problem is you might be setting up these athletes, often the ones with the best chances to become the elite of the elite, up for failure.
I've seen countless big, slow, robotic athletes. Never in their development have they been told that they need to be big and move like a small lean athletic athlete. Instead, they're encouraged to “play to their strengths” and maintain the role of bigger players, which comes at the cost of developing the attributes essential to success at the highest levels: speed, power, mobility, and more.
(At the highest levels, yes, players are bigger, but they're also FASTER).
If, however, we train these athletes to stay ahead of the curve and be both mobile/athletic and big, then their physical prowess will combine with elite athleticism, giving them the best chance to succeed at the higher levels.
But what does that look like? Firstly, stop training them to be big, lumbering, robotic athletes, and start treating them like everyone else. Yes, you can (depending on the stage in their development) push them in their loads and intensities during their training, but not if that comes at the sacrifice of power and speed training. This is a key step, but in my experience with these athletes, you may have to go beyond this.
For these big early-development athletes, you have to implement more strategies to keep them light and nimble, and push them towards their potential as an athlete.
How to NOT Fall Into the “Big And Slow” Trap
PLAY OTHER SPORTS
If you see an “elite” athlete making an unorthodox, mind-blowing play on the ice, don't think that all that body awareness came from the 10000 hours they have spent in their sport. I often evaluate my athletes' long-term potential on their ability to adapt to a sport or made-up game/activity they have never played.
During this “Athletic Capacity Assessment” The best athletes quickly think critically on how to adjust to the game and environment. Give them a chance to compete and keep them playing. Depending on your training setup, you could encourage athletes to play games like Spikeball and Sewer ball (hockey players will know this second one) if they get to your facility early.
In your conversations, continue to encourage them and their parents the importance of playing multiple sports.
EXERCISE CAUTION GROUPING THE BIG LESS MOBILE KIDS TOGETHER.
I know the big kid generally wants to perform field or agility work with the ones they can compete against. The player that can't run wants to always run other athletes that are not fleet of foot. Ensure parents, coaches and the athletes understand the basis of your thoughts in grouping them for their future development, not just the present. They may never be the fastest athlete but they will push themselves closer to their personal capacities.
KEEP THEM DANCING
Ensure that the big athlete understands what rhythmic, fluent motion is. Microdose certain exercises that teach this such as skipping with rhythm or fluent athletic motions such as boxing or dribbling a basketball. More specifically, you can get a lot of work done here with a well-thought-out dynamic warm-up. Skips and bounds can be staples, but feel free to mix up the dynamic warm-up, even just one or two exercises to constantly give the athlete new movement patterns to learn.
KEEP THEM LEAN
Promoting a healthy body image is very important. However, promoting size over speed and efficiency at a young age will very likely not allow them to flourish and push their athletic spectrum. As performance coaches, the lean, efficient 16-year-old athlete is best set up to use our knowledge and manipulate our programming to allow them to thrive. The athlete that is big, slow, and has limited experience in any other role other than being big is in trouble.
With eating disorders on the rise, this is not always as simple as just cutting their body fat. However, in the long run for their development getting lean and staying lean is paramount.
We all have varying education, experiences, and certifications, but we all can agree that the big, mobile, and athletic athlete is what every coach loves to have on their teams. Keep the big athletes moving like they are small.
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Chris Schwarz is the Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Ottawa Senators.
