Adam, great and thanks. I know the practical workouts/session ones are popular, so I'll try to get more of these done whilst still doing some more in-depth technical ones and keeping the Q&A format ones going too. Hope all is going well with your training etc

If you are U.K. based then email me at Johnshepherdufit@aol.com

If you are U.K. based then please email me at Johnshepherdufit@aol.com And many thanks for your comments

Specific jump conditioning should be done all year around. I’d suggest that at 11 body weight and light to medium intensity plyos would be more beneficial than weights. And above those learning the basics of sprinting and jumping would be fundamental. You can always get stronger and faster as the years pass but technique if not learnt at a young age can be more difficult to pick up as the years pass. There are also some potential issues with doing weights at an early age (particularly heavy weights). Single leg squats, Swiss ball ham curls, step back lunges, heel raises, body weight jump squats, split jumps, low height drop jumps etc all offer suitable conditioning benefits for young athletes. Hope this helps

@@Johnshepherdtrackcoach Thanks for the Info. Is 8.06sec a good time for 60m for 11?

Will have a think about this - that's a good idea! Do note that most of the landing's effectiveness comes from a good in-flight technique, which goes back to the talk-off. If you have forward rotation at take-off you will invariably get a poor landing.

Many thanks.... the student athletes would need to have a good foundation in relevant weight and plyometric training. In particular their landing and the control aspects for the latter would need to well-established. So, perhaps 6 months prior of good quality plyometric training (although of course if they are regular jump athletes this should place them in a good position). Just a thought... It's probable that there may be more to be gained from just focussing on plyos and a pre-training programme to develop robustness (injury resiliance) as there is some research that indicates that complex training works more successfully with mature athletes and those with a good base of prior strength i.e. the ability to lift heavy weights (to recruit the most powerful and largest bundles of fast twitch fibres). With the young athletes I coach who are of a similar age to the ones you work with I emphasise the speed of movement aspect of plyo training (drop jumps, near straight leg hops, bounds) and the development of greater leg stiffness. Hope that helps and makes sense.

Thanks Coach. That does help. I figured it’d be more of a specific or technical prep type session. With the strength training for the younger athletes. I’ve been emphasizing what you said about the speed of movement. Is that something you recommend for most of the year with that age group? Thanks for your help. Love your channel.

Thanks for your comments... I'd say that speed of movement would be key - as long as the exercise is performed technically well as you'll appreciate. There is however a need to also add some slower movements to bring in the stabilising muscles more into play, so balance type movements and single leg squats for example with dumbbells held at arms' length. Most of the young athlete I coach in the 12-14/15 range don't do too much specific weight training (it's more about getting them ready for weights at a later age). The resistance training they do is comprised of exercises to bolster their robustness and develop the power and movements required of the jumps in my instance. We'll do pause and hold jumps from a stationary position to develop concentric power and rate of force development, lots of lunges, marching drills, isometric squats, etc to develop this condition. Weighted jump squats are another favourite of mine - relatively safe to perform but with a rapid RFD. It's all food for thought and thanks again for stopping by.

I'm not really one to advise on supplements as 99.5% of your nutritional benefit comes from the proper food you eat. Supplements are just that "supplements". You should eat as much non-processed food as possible and probably in this macronutrient ratio - 25% fat; 55% carbs; 20% protein (protein can be higher for power athletes it's normally recommended at 15%). Eat as many fruits and veg as you can too. You need micronutrients (vits and minerals) - these act as sort of spark-plugs in your nutrition engine. Vit B promotes every release from food and ACE are anti-inflammatory. You could take a multi-vit pill if you don't think you are meeting your micronutrient needs... Creatine is used by power athletes (it's found naturally in meat and fish), but can't be consumed in sufficient quantities to give a boost. It enhances anaerobic metabolism. This is perhaps the one supplement that could be useful providing you get everything else from your everyday diet. With any sups, read the label and make sure they are athlete-testing compliant. Creatine can place stress on the kidneys, so there's always something to consider. It's recommended that you check with your doctor to make sure you don't have problems... And if you fail a drugs test and claim it's the supplement, an athlete will need all the information they need to prove otherwise and then they're still likely to get some form of ban.