Don’t Start With Sets and Reps

Start with the athlete who changes teams

Imagine an athlete finishing one season and joining the next. The training language changes. The expectations change. Nobody knows much about what the athlete has already learned.

The athlete starts over, even though they're still in the same school.

That is a useful problem to think about when building a strength and conditioning program. An athletic department needs enough shared direction that development can continue across teams and seasons.

Coaches will make different choices for different sports. They should. But the athlete's progress shouldn't depend on whether the next coach happens to use the same exercises or keep the same records.

Before discussing sets and reps, decide what needs to carry from one season to the next.

Agree on what every athlete receives

Start with a practical question: what does being an athlete in this program include?

Your answer might cover coached strength training, opportunities to develop speed and power, preparation habits, and a way to track progress. It should also address who receives those opportunities and how consistently you can provide them.

Be honest about what the organization can deliver. A modest standard that reaches every team is more useful than an ambitious document that only one team can follow.

Write the standard in language a sport coach and a parent can understand. Then check it against the schedule. If you can't show where it happens, you haven't finished planning it.

Share principles without prescribing every detail

A common approach doesn't require identical workouts.

Coaches can agree that athletes learn movements before adding difficulty, that training accounts for competition demands, and that progress is reviewed over time. Those principles still leave room for different athletes, sports, and facilities.

The useful test is whether a coach can explain a choice. Why this exercise for this group? What are they working toward? What would cause the coach to change it?

That conversation tells you more about the quality of the program than whether every team uses the same worksheet.

Give athletes a starting point they can handle

A roster doesn't tell you who knows how to train.

An older athlete may be new to structured strength work. A younger athlete may have several years of good instruction. Both need a starting point based on what they can currently do and the coaching available.

For the main movements in your program, give coaches a manageable set of options. Explain how to choose an entry point, what competent execution looks like, and what earns the next step.

Progress doesn't have to mean learning a more complicated exercise. It may mean better control, more consistent execution, or an appropriate increase in load. The coach should be able to explain what improved.

Help coaches make the next decision

A program is much easier to run when common adjustments have already been considered.

What happens when an athlete can't perform the planned movement? What if the equipment is unavailable? What if the athlete has missed several sessions?

Give coaches clear options for those situations. Keep the choices limited enough to teach and use. A long exercise library can leave an inexperienced coach with more decisions than they started with.

Also define where routine coaching adjustments end. Pain, an injury concern, or a return-to-play restriction requires the appropriate qualified professional and an agreed process. A list of alternative exercises doesn't replace that responsibility.

Build around the staff you have

Staffing belongs near the beginning of the plan.

Who designs the program? Who supervises each group? Who teaches new movements? Who can a sport coach contact when a situation is outside their experience?

If a qualified performance coach oversees the program and sport coaches help deliver it, those coaches need instruction, clear responsibilities, and ongoing support. Sending them a spreadsheet leaves much of the job unresolved.

Group size and exercise selection also need to fit the supervision available. Adding another training area only helps if you have a workable plan for coaching athletes there.

Write down who is responsible for each part. If several important jobs have no name beside them, simplify the plan or solve the staffing gap before expanding it.

Plan one week for one athlete

It is easy for each coach to write a reasonable plan that becomes unreasonable when combined with everyone else's.

Put practice, training, games, travel, and other team commitments on the same calendar. Look especially closely at athletes who participate in more than one program.

Then coordinate. The performance coach needs to know when competition demands change. The sport coach needs to understand what training is already asking of the athlete. Both need room to adjust.

Our experience with the first FLXPOD reinforced the value of making training easier to integrate into practice. Bringing it beside the field removed a transition. The schedule still needed coaching judgment, but we had more practical options for arranging the day.

Look for those opportunities in your own setup. The best change may be to the timetable, the location, or the division of responsibilities.

Measure whether the program is reaching people

Athlete testing can tell you something useful about progress. It can't tell you the whole story of how the program is working.

Look at participation and access too. Which teams train consistently? Which lose sessions? Are beginners getting instruction? Are coaches able to deliver the planned work with the time and equipment available?

Use a small number of measures you can review and act on. If a test result changes, consider attendance, testing conditions, and the athlete's recent schedule before deciding what it means.

If an entire team keeps missing training because its time slot doesn't work, start there. Changing the rep scheme won't fix that problem.

Give the program a chance to become familiar

Athletes learn expectations through repetition. They see how older teammates prepare, how coaches give feedback, and whether equipment is put away at the end.

Shared routines make it easier for a younger athlete to enter the program and understand what comes next. Consistent records help the next coach build on work already done.

Start with a version you can operate well. Teach the coaches, run the sessions, and review where the plan breaks down. Expand when you can support the next group with the same care.

The useful test is whether an athlete can enter your program, learn how to train, and keep progressing as their needs change. Build the decisions and support that make that possible. Then write the workouts.

General training information. Adapt activities to your athletes, equipment, and setting, with appropriate supervision.