Piece 1 of The Athlete Puzzle

Putting the Puzzle of a Complete Athlete Together

Step 1– Assessment

When beginning to build our strength and conditioning programs it is vital to know where we are as a team so that we can determine where we are going. This will ensure that we are building the proper base for our athletes and setting them up for success both in the weight room and on the field. A proper evaluation of our athlete’s movement patterns as well as their athletic performance will give the you the answers to these questions and allow you to build a strength and conditioning program with purpose and progression to build a complete athlete. Below we will go over some simple athletic evaluations that can be used in a high school team setting.

Movement Assessment – There are many different movement assessments out in the performance world right now. Some of them look at gross movement patterns while others will break the body down into parts to evaluate. A few things to remember when choosing an assessment in a team and high school setting are:

1. Our athletes body function and move as one connected unit
2. Our assessment needs to be simple, effective and time effective
3. One of the main exercises in most of our strength programs is the back squat

Over Head Squat Assessment- With these points in mind, a simple and effective assessment to use for your high school athletes is the over head squat assessment. This assessment tells us as coaches many things about the way our athletes function and mimics a movement that we will be asking them to do repeatedly over the duration of our program. The main things that the over head squat assessment will tell us about our athletes are:

1. Ankle Mobility – Lack of dorsiflexion in our athletes’ ankle complex can be a major culprit of poor squatting patterns. With out this mobility athletes can not sit back into their glutes and use the proper muscles in the squatting pattern. Causing a decrease in strength and stress on our athletes’ connective tissues.
2. Lack of Core Strength – Everything begins and ends with our athletes’ core region. Weakness in this area will lead to decrease in performance as well as increase risk of injury.
3. Squatting Movement Pattern – when a kid has a proper squatting pattern he usually possesses the physical attributes that we are looking for to perform a squat correctly such as the ones listed above. Gray Cook talks a lot about not adding strength on top of dysfunction. If an athlete can not squat properly with out any weight with his hands over head then he will not be able to squat properly with a load on his back. If we put them into the rack with weight when they cannot squat correctly then we are allowing our athletes to use the wrong muscles, have poor form and stress their connective tissues each and every time they perform a squat. Adding to their dysfunction and setting them up for injury down the road.

Setting Up the Overhead Squat Assessment

1. You will need a un-weighted stick of some sort a broom stick or dowel rod works perfect
2. Have athlete stand with feet slightly wider than hip width apart and toes straight ahead
3. Place dowel on top of head grasping the bar with elbows bent at 90 degrees
4. Lift dowel directly above head and extend arms fully

Performing the Overhead Squat Assessment

1. Once athlete has assumed starting position have them squat down as deep as possible
2. Do not coach them on what you are looking for in the assessment. Allow them to perform squat naturally so that you can see their natural movement pattern.
3. If athlete cannot perform squat properly, elevate their heels onto a board or plate that is around an inch to an inch and a half high. 25 pound plates work well. Once heels are elevated have them perform squat again.

What to Look For When Performing the Over Head Squat

1. Do your athletes’ toes turn out when they squat down?
2. Can the athlete keep the bar over his head and feet during the squat?
3. Can the athlete sit back on his heels when he squats staying off of his toes?

Grading your Athletes Over Head Squat Assessment

Grading your athletes over head squat will tell you where you need to begin with your strength and conditioning program. If the majority of your athletes perform poorly on the assessment then you should take the time to correct these patterns before throwing them into the squat rack. If some of your athletes perform poorly then set up a program that allows them to correct their pattern with out messing up the flow of your program or having them miss sets or reps. If your team does very well on the assessment then you have done a good job with programming and its time to get after it in the racks!

Perfect Score = Athlete is able to perform squatting pattern perfectly keeping the heels on the ground, toes straight ahead and keeping the dowel directly over their head and feet. These athletes are clear to begin a squatting program without restrictions and can properly perform the squat pattern. No corrective exercises are needed for these athletes.

Medium Score = these athletes were unable to perform the squatting pattern with their feet flat on the ground. They had one or more of the following: heels came off the ground, toes turned out or the dowel went forward past their toes when they squatted down. After the initial assessment the athletes were asked to elevate their heels taking the calf complex out of the equation. Once their heels were elevated the athletes were able to perform the squat pattern correctly. These athletes need some corrective strategies to help them while squatting but are able to squat in the racks. Working to get them to a perfect score is a priority in order to maximize their strength, flexibility and power gains.

Low Score = Athletes in this category are unable to perform the squat pattern correctly both with heels flat on the ground and with heels elevated. These athletes have severe movement dysfunction and cannot correctly use the correct muscles to perform a squat pattern. The athletes in this category need a corrective exercise program to correct their dysfunctional pattern before being allowed to squat with a load on their back. Allowing these athletes to squat in this state will reinforce their poor squatting pattern leading to over use injuries, joint dysfunction and less strength and power gains due to their inability to use the proper muscles in the squatting pattern.