Motor Skills

In Stage one, simple & broad learning set the foundation for the rest of your life. During this time, the more sports you play & learn, the better you will become at all of them. This is not the time to become in expert in one, rather it’s the time to become a “jack of all traits.”

Conditioning

In Stage four, you are often controlled by a coach, so don’t worry they will take care of it. Use some of your off-season time though doing non-specific conditioning that’s fun to you. This will help preserve your body, keep you fresh and actually make you better.

Flexibility

In Stage four, preserving the basic patterns is a must, along with sport specific stretching. By this stage staying healthy is largely determined by your healthy range of motion. Test often using Gray Cook’s Functional Movement Screen to make sure that you maintain the proper stability/mobility balance. If you sacrifice your flexibility in this stage for increased strength and power it will catch up to you. Your not as young as you used to be.

Strength & Conditioning

In Stage four, a strength coach will be guiding your efforts with a progressive program that includes strength training, plyometrics and power exercises. It is assumed that you have great body weight control at this stage so you focus more on the ability to move heavier weights, faster. This stage is often the peak of your strength training efforts.

Speed

In Stage four, almost all speed work in done in team organized practices. most of these are sport specific type moves taught by a strength coach. Real successful athletes however, can apply this training into their sport to make them more effective. It’s all about the transfer, so make sure you are getting faster in your sport.