Reader Question – Keeping Athletes Motivated

December 21, 2008 on 11:32 am | In Exercise Inspiration And Motivation, Football Strength Workouts, Strength Training | 2 Comments

Coach Hashey, I’m a new high school football coach and I need something to get more variety into my players training program.  It is a struggle to get the kids to keep getting stronger all season without some extra motivation.  Do you have any ideas of exercises or variations to keep the kids going?  I’m looking forward to your response.  -Larry B.

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Thanks for the question Larry.  If you have been visiting the site, I’m sure you have come acrossed many unique lifts and variations.  Of course you may browse through the archives on the right to check out some of the old posts. 

But honestly Larry, in terms of motivation it doesn’t really matter what lifts or variations you use, it is how you present them.  Training full teams or large groups is definately a different animal than training an individual.  What you will have success with depends largely on the personality of the team.  As a high school football and baseball coach, I can give you some suggestions that the coaching staffs I have worked use.  Some are works in progress, some have already been implimented with success.

But first, remeber this word – Incentives.  Everything revolves around incentives.  You must be creative in your implimentation, the more intriguing the better.  As a fellow coach of mine always says “Incentives shape behavior.”  If you make something worth their time, they will do it.  If they don’t see themselves getting out of the program, then they will either go through the motions or not participate at all. 

Training Incentives:

1. “Getting Better.”  This incentive will only get you so far and will reach the athletes that have intrinsic (internal drive) motivation.  Too many coaches preach ONLY this, and it leaves most of the team behind.  Intrinsic motivation is a goal, and isn’t created over night. 

2. Team Building.  Before you hit the weights you must work on the team atmosphere.  You can do something silly like have a scavenger hunt (ie, find out how many wins your team had in 1985, count the mascots on the field, etc).  Silly, but effective.  Team movie nights, contests, etc all work on building that culture. 

3. Record Board.  Get yourself a record board on the wall of the weight room.  Make a big deal out of it everytime an athlete gets a record.  Save it to the end of the workout, give them the sheet, and have them post it in front of everyone. 

4. Team Newsletter.  Another coach suggested this concept.  Collect the emails of your players.  Send out a newsletter every week or every other week.  Include new training records, motivational qoutes or video clips. 

5. Have weight clubs and goals.  Set reasonable short term goals for your players and hold them to it.  Soon they will be doing all the work for you, by setting their goals and keeping to them.  Set weight clubs for their total of three lifts, the standard lifts are bench, squat, and deadlift, but you can make it adjustable for your needs.  Set three tiers, the last teir somewhere around 1000 lbs for high schoolers, should get a large incentive, ie, their picture on the weightroom wall under a 1000 lb Club sign.   Only a few players, will achieve this in your first years, but it will get better, stay with it. The top club gets to leave their pictures up even after they graduate. 

 Easier said then done, but it is worth putting in the time!  Good luck with your goals and if you get a weight program together, send it along and I’ll take a look at it for you. 

As a side note, I like to show the players this video clip.  Its one of my favorite.  It makes light of all the weak excuses.  They have no real reason not to participate in your program. 

-J. HASHEY, CSCS-