conditioning for young 'uns

[slinger]

can anyone come up with a few ideas regarding conditioning exercises for young athletes???

the athletes concerned are all teenagers that are at that 'funny' age were they are having growth spurts every other week, voices breaking, mumbling sentances, sending texts to girls every 5 minutes and generally being in a 'mood' all the time!!!! you know between the ages of 13 and 18.

it's more the younger athletes that i'm concerned at, as the older ones are multi eventers that have there own conditioning schedule - i just help them technically.

i really want to try to make the exercises as fun as possible with as much benefit as possible!!! there's obviously circuits but they aren't that fun in the freezing cold and wet! [we have no indoor facility] i was thinking of medi balls, other balls, weight throws, hurdle ex's, footskills and shot throws - any other suggestions???

i'm clued up on all the above, as i used to do abit of that type of stuff when i was throwing but i'm more interested in medi ball ex's especially for core and shoulder work, can anyone help? i know tom's into his medi ball any ideas tom?

i never did any medi ball stuff when i was young so my knowledge is rather poor!!!

[motherhen]

A quick internet seach will come up with a load of med ball exercises. The only limit with those things really is your imagination.

Regarding circuits I remember BP passing one on that Mick used. It involved running, jogging, hopping and skipping etc around the track doing exercises on the way. It still wont be that much fun in the wet but it certainly will keep you warm.

[tomd]

Phill, to be honest there are so many its hard to know where to start. Probably best just to use the imagination and throw the damn thing. Thats all I tend to do. For me, I just think about the throw and think of exercises that will mimic certain aspects. You have the knowledge in terms of body positions so just use that.

But doing this sort of work in ther wet and cold certainly reduces your flexibility in terms of exercises. Surely there must be some gym (school) that you can train in.

[slinger]

yeah i know! but because the only time we train is tues/thurs nights i have to try to fit in as much beneficial stuff as possible so it has to be at the track!! ideally it'd be great to have a seperate medi ball night but when the athlete you coach is only 13 then twice a week is enough!!! it is for me and i'm just watchin' telling him what to do!!!!!!!! but he does listen i'll keep you posted on his progress!

[sam]

Ok i think you should get your butt down to see my group of teenages train this winter. I had a guy from USA Javelin come over last winter to inspect the training and feed back to the yanks about it....his comments were..

"Never have i seen such young throwers demonstrate such correct use of the technique"
"These sessions your athletes are doing would knacker some of the best in USA and yet your kids keep going"

mainly because i hold a shotgun to their heads to keep them going......joking obviously

[slinger]

sam what are you joking about i thought i was the only one adopting the shot gun technique!!!