A - Ability: The ability to train to become an athlete and not just settle for being athletic. To do this you have to strength train. If you do not, you will likely end up injured.
B - Behavior: The weight room and other strength training venues are not a place for horseplay. The behavior in these settings is different than a cafeteria or a playground. Set the tone right away for the weight room to be a place of business by having and enforcing rules. Be sure to post the rules there. Make your athletes clean the weight room like they would their car or their room.
C - Commitment: To succeed in strength training you need to be committed to showing up, following the program and getting others to do the same. Success or failure (after being properly trained and coached) in strength training always reverts back to the individual, not the coaches. The burden of this commitment will ultimately fall on the seniors and captains.
D - Desire: You must have desire to make gains and work your way through the soreness and fatigue that occurs when you strength train (especially in the beginning of a program).
E - Energy: Your body needs the proper energy for maximum effort to occur. If your battery is running low then your workouts will suffer. Athletes should be told to eat a blend of carbohydrates, proteins and fats that will provide adequate fuel before, during and after workouts.
F - Flexibility:Athletes who are flexible stand a greater chance of being injury-free vs. athletes who are not flexible. Muscles are like rubber bands and they need to be stretched properly to function like rubber bands.
G - Goal Setting: If you do not set long and short term goals when strength training, you do not have anything to prevent you from getting off track.
H - Hip Mobility: The hips are the gateway to success or failure when strength training the lower body and the core. Tight hips can lead to poor form in the plyometric lifts – (deadlift, squat, hang clean, snatch, etc). This lack of hip mobility is going to negatively impact an individual in practice and competition. Coaches need to evaluate all athletes for proper hip mobility by checking their athletic stance, posture and squat form. Get your school’s athletic trainer involved in this assessment procedure. Find your athletes with poor hip mobility to prevent reactive problems down the road.
I - Intensity: Each of us have different levels of intensity and it shows up at certain times and at certain venues. Be sure to make the weight room one of those venues and one of those times. Coaches need to let athletes experience different levels of intensity in the weight room and prepare them for the type of workouts that will lead up to competition. The intensity in the weight room should mimic that of an athletic event.
J - Journal: Tracking your results is crucial for meeting goals and seeing gains. You can keep a notebook journal or simply follow a program where you are setting records and beating a personal best each workout you do.
K - Killer Instinct: Every weight room needs an animal, as long as the animal is tamed. Kids will gravitate towards the athlete who gets after it and grunts and groans during his or her workouts. Your weight room will turn into a place of hard work and effort once you praise and reward that individual with killer instinct.
L - Lactic Acid: To understand your body correctly and make it through varying degrees of strength training workouts, you need to know what lactic acid is and what is does to the body.
M - Motivation: This includes motivation for self and others. The best athletes not only get themselves to the weight room but they can bring an ARMY with them.
N - Nutrition: What you put into your body is going to determine the amount of energy you have to meet your needs as an athlete. Good choices regarding nutrition can lead to increased performance in the area of strength training.
O - Oxygen:You need to use proper breathing technique when you are strength training. When lifting you need to know when to inhale and when to exhale. The explosive part of a lift is usually the exhale phase. In the squat for example, an athlete would exhale as they begin to come up (the explosive part of the lift).
P - Power/Plyometrics: Athletes need to do Olympic style lifts that teach them the importance of an athletic stance, shooting the hips and staying upright, while keeping the knees, shoulders and feet in line with each other. Lifts like the squat (front and back squat), clean, snatch, deadlift and jerk are examples of a few Olympic style lifts. These are all plyometric in nature (i.e., there is a shortening of the muscle followed by an elongation) that produces explosive power.
Q - Quality: In most businesses there is a saying about quality over quantity. The same should hold true for weight room workouts. The quality of a workout and what is accomplished should be more important than the amount of weight that is lifted. If coaches get too involved with how much weight an athlete lifts, they will likely compromise on technique and form.
R - Recovery: All athletes need time to recover and heal properly between workouts and between phases. It is important to vary training routines and incorporate rehabilitative components into workouts that lead up to recovery and keep athletes fresh. Nutrition and rest are crucial components of recovery.
S - Spotting: Spotters are important for several reasons, the most obvious being safety. Every good strength coach wants to brag about not having any accidents in the weight room. Spotters also act as motivators and watchful eyes for proper technique. They can push their partner to finish that last repetition and they can also be there to critique their form and technique; that is, they provide feedback to one another. It is not good enough to have a spotter in position – that spotter needs to be in position and know what they are doing.
T - Technique: Strength training can hurt people who do not use proper technique. Use of proper technique is crucial to developing strength and explosive power. If you have great technique you can fall back on it; if you have lousy technique you have nothing to fall back on.
U - Uniformity: It is important to teach young athletes uniformity in the arena of strength training from spotting and proper technique to appropriate lifting attire and cleaning up the weight room. The #1 goal in any weight room should be to stay accident free and keep everything safe. Uniformity allows this goal to be achieved.
V - Victory: Every workout that is accomplished leads towards a goal. To see that this occurs each and every time you do a workout, you need to see each one as a victory. Workouts prepare athletes to compete; with that being stated, there is victory in each workout. Victory is partly defined as a sense of self-fulfillment and accomplishment.
W - Water: Water should be the only drink that gets consumed in a weight room. Athletes know that they need to drink water; it is especially important that they know to drink water before, during and after workouts.
X - X-tra Effort: That last rep of that last set is what effort is. Going above and beyond the last rep and pushing yourself to places you have not gone are what X-tra effort is all about.
Y - Youthfulness: Everybody wishes they were younger once they get older. To keep ourselves ‘young’ we need to strength train properly and follow all the ABCs. The positive habits we get into as youths will carry on as we get older. Coaches who stay in good shape are more likely to be seen as positive role models for young athletes. These youthful coaches will be more likely to demonstrate drills effectively if they stay in shape.
Z - Zest: Zest means that there is passion and fire. The athlete with zest is the one who sets the tone for behavior and attitude in the weight room. Zest is best.