KIDS, KETTLEBELLS, and ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT SKILLS
When training young athletes there is always a
problem of “fitting it all in”. Most of the middle
and high school (off season) programs in my area
have weight room time and footwork/running/jumping
time, usually on separate days. Most of the
coaches in charge of these programs are well
intentioned, but unfortunately have very little
knowledge on teaching basic movement, strength and
athletic development skills. Even those that do
know what and how to teach still face the problem
of limited time. This is not meant to be an attack
on all coaches, but it is a harsh reality.
Something that I have consistently seen is that
during high school a kid’s biomechanical indicators
and injuries increase together. This tends to
coincide with a decrease in performance. It’s not
necessarily something that happens 100% of the
time. But is an alarming trend I’ve observed. There
is so much focus on 40 times, vertical leap, bench,
etc. that testing has become a sport of its’ own.
We spend too much time preparing to pass the
test, and not enough learning the subject.
It frustrates me to see the amount of concern there
is on how much a kid squats rather than whether or
not he or she can squat properly. Telling a kid to
squat more and squat lower without teaching them
how is like telling them to solve an algebra
problem before they’ve learned to add and subtract.
The primary difference being that in math, we don’t
see quite as many ACL tears as we do in sports. We
do, however see a lot of ACL tears in youth sports
that could be prevented with proper training
(almost all of them). There is too much emphasis on
weight and reps and not enough on mechanics. Too
much time is spent teaching how to generate force
without ever teaching how to absorb it. When do we
see most injuries occur, when someone takes off
running, or when they stop and change direction?
How does a kid get better at their sport? Usually
they get better by playing it, not by sitting on
the bench because of a preventable, non-contact
injury. I’ll try to stay on topic here, but when
time after time a high school junior or senior
tells me that their lifts are much higher than when
they were sophomores, but they’re hurt all the time
and they’re not playing as well it makes me think
we have a problem.
Now, I don’t want to give you the impression that
the kids I train don’t perform barbell lifts. They
do, and they lift heavy and hard. But not just for
the sake of lifting heavy and hard. It’s done as a
part of their overall athletic development, not
just because it’s a “weight day”. When it comes
to youth athletic development, there is a lot more
to training an athlete than just lifting and
running.
Youth Athletic Development
So, how do we fit it all in? We probably can’t, but
we can consistently try to work on all aspects of
athletic development. Strength is an important
part, but it is not everything. In my own personal
“never to be humble” opinion, most youth programs
tend to focus on the wrong things at the wrong
times. Ultimately, it’s coordination that will
determine an athlete’s performance. I don’t mean to
sound like I’m not a strength guy, because I am and
always will be. If all things were equal (which
they never are) I would rather have an athlete
squat 400 than 300. However we need to have our
training programs focused on the goal. From my
own standpoint as a trainer the reason I have kids
squat is to reduce injuries and play better. I’m
far more concerned with that than actual poundage
because in my experience the guy with the highest
lifts is seldom the best player. If that wasn’t the
case, then the top powerlifters would be the ones
making millions in the NFL and NBA. The complete
focus on weight room numbers overlooks some very
important things.
You may have seen this coming, but my answer to
this problem is the
kettlebell and the RKC hardstyle
training method.
Why, because it is quite simply the best teacher
of body mechanics and the best tool for filling
in the gaps left by most strength and
conditioning programs. Also, the portability and
diversity of the kettlebell make it perfect for
putting strength and athletic skills together in
the same training session.
Youth Athletic Development
The question always comes up, “When do you start kids with kettlebells and where do they fit into a program?” The answer is when the kid is ready and the right teacher is available. It is not when a kettlebell is handy. Keep in mind we’re talking about kids here. Whether it’s a second grader or a high school All-State player they are not elite athletes and cannot be trained as such. We have to keep their ability to focus consistently in mind. Semi-sumo deadlifts with a kettlebell are appropriate for almost any age. Bent press and snatches are not. At this level we need to focus on the development of skills and preparation for the next level of play. Obviously different ages, skill levels and what that next level of play may be will determine the direction and intensity of training.
Another answer to the “when” question is, “as soon as possible”. By this statement, I don’t mean that swings are a good thing to start a 5 year old with. The reason I want an athlete to train swings is that a properly performed, hardstyle swing will do more for strength, endurance, and movement efficiency than almost everything else put together. The Turkish get-up will handle most of the rest. Please take note that a “properly performed hardstyle swing” is not the same as mindlessly letting a kettlebell go back and forth between the legs. Don’t teach it if you don’t understand it. If you’re not an RKC or at least trained by one, you probably don’t. I didn’t, and I’d done thousands of what I thought were swings before attending the RKC.
Athleticism is a combination of multiple skills,
of which strength is one very important component. The goal of this site on Youth Athletic Development is to help you integrate movement (not sport) specific strength training into an athletic skill set sequence. It begins with seemingly different drills in a static setting that are gradually “layered” into a game speed training complex. Depending on the age, physical and mental development of the athlete this progression could take five sessions or five years. The sequence would be very much the same for a division 1 athlete as it would be for an eight year old. It just takes longer for the eight year old. The most important thing to remember when training kids is that they’re not just short adults. Developmentally two thirteen year olds can be light years apart. Let them advance at their pace not yours.Youth Athletic Development
Verbal Cues – Feet shoulder width
Off your insteps (for an eight year old it’s “tickle part”)
Hips back/ knees out
Long spine/ eyes up
Deadlift – Same verbal cues
This teaches athletic stance, torso stabilization and force generated from the hips applied through the feet to the ground.
Lateral Deceleration Stance – Same verbal cues
Learn the position in a static environment. In this case it’s “to the right” on the verbal command. The teaching points are foot outside the box, weight inside the box, whole foot contacts ground, toes forward, chop the hips back, make postural and alignment corrections and drive back to center (athletic stance).
Skill 3a: Dynamic Strength Skill
Swing – teaches force absorption and generation and reinforces everything learned from the deadlift.
Skill 3b: Dynamic Movement Skill
Shuffle to deceleration. Same as 2b but begins with a shuffle step.
- The athlete performs a set of swings, drops the kettlebell and steps forward assuming the athletic stance. A verbal cue of “right” or, “left” is given and the athlete shuffles, plants, makes corrections and drives back to center.
Side Stepping Swing – At the top of the swing, as the kettlebell becomes “weightless” the athlete steps to the side. The athlete plants his/ her foot and executes a swing in the lateral deceleration position, driving back to center. It’s the same position as the lateral deceleration but now the kettlebell reinforces proper mechanics. More specifically it reinforces a proper breathing pattern and absorbing and re-directing force through the hips. It reminds the athlete of proper hip, knee and foot position, spinal alignment and eye position. The athlete on the left is demonstrating an advanced version of this drill.
Same as 3b but with a visual cue for direction:
This is critical because in sport (and life) we need to be able to react to signals that are verbal, visual and kinesthetic. This example only addresses the first two. However, this is where I might add an element of confusion by giving the athlete contradictory cues i.e. pointing one way and saying the other. Of course I tell the athlete which cue to respond to. To put this into a sport perspective, in football the offense starts on a verbal command (hut) and the defense on a visual (the snap). Very often the same kids will play both offense and defense and need to be able to separate the two. To me, it just makes sense to treat it like the skill it is and train it.
Integration – Same as the integration of skills 3 a & b
Side Stepping DARC Swings. – Teaching the DARC (switching hands) swing is a pre-requisite. This adds an element spatial awareness and kinesthetic differentiation. The shoulder gets the added benefit of having the cuff muscles react in real world time and “suck” the shoulder into its socket.
Walking/Jogging (Progressing to a sprint) – Forward, laterally decelerating and changing directions with a visual or verbal cue.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
When an athlete is proficient in all of the skills here is how I might put it all together in a training complex that approaches game speed.
The athlete performs side stepping DARC swings, drops the kettlebell and sprints forward. A verbal miscue and a visual cue are given for the athlete to decelerate, change directions, and re-accelerate. A ball is then thrown in a way that causes the athlete to change speed and/or direction to catch it.
That’s a lot of athletic skills, practiced at near game speed in about ten seconds. By the time an athlete is at this level, training time becomes even more valuable. Being able to practice this many skills together leaves a lot of time for the development of others (like absolute strength).
These skills won’t usually develop in a linear fashion. Mix and match based on the athlete’s needs. For example, the 3rd grader pictured here performs excellent swings and does well with all of the advanced movement drills, but is certainly not ready for side-stepping DARC swings. For him we might use a sequence of strength skill 3 and movement skill 5. This mixing and matching of the drills allows you to train athletes of different abilities and ages together if necessary.
The intent of this Youth Athletic Development page is not to give you an exact template that you must follow, but to inspire thought about maximizing the time spent with young athletes. You can use these types of kettlebell and movement sequences to train many movement skills. You are limited only by knowledge and imagination.