Dips and pull ups

great point coach.....
We are adamant about our kids getting better through weight training at every stage of their development in our program. I'm finding more and more kids in the 8th grade incapable or 'lost' when we show them pullups / dips / PUSHUPs(!) as they initially can't do these (I'm not a teacher - so I don't know - but how do kids NOT know how to do these?!)....

Unfortunately, with all the machines and other movements, these isometrics can be difficult to do (sustain body weight) for the lesser athletes. We harp on pullups EVERYDAY as a warmup routine and we use 'assisted' spotting (holding under the knee / shin) and EMPHASIZE both the concentric and eccentric phases of movements in all exercises.
some things we've done to help those that can't do these movements;
---wide grip "pullup position" hangs for time (to stretch the lats)
---Wide grip T-Bar rowing from adjustable incline bench
---Heavy Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns

for the dips we've done;
---pushups
---decline pushups off flat bench
---"pushup position" hold on a med ball for time
---Push ups off med ball

any help with getting these athletes more "athletic" would be appreciated....

ha ha ha....Coach E....

Yeah, I know....I am just as shocked as you, believe me! We have kids from ALL CLASSES ( totally broke through Extremely affluent) and from over 4 middle schools...I am located in IOWA...bordering with ILLINOIS.

Coach(es), if you guys have some help for us - I'd be all ears - I am personally frustrated with the state of affairs and all the peripheral elements to coaching HS kids now a days. I truly enjoy working with the kids that want to be there - but "in my day" the coaches didn't have to find new carrots to dangle or entice kids to want to show up (find) the weight room (only thing coaches had to do "in my day" was not burn us with their cigarette ashes). Of course, "in my day" we didn't enjoy getting our ace handed to us on Friday nights, either. Any more, it's a juggling act with the 'fringe' athletes, wrestling the feeder programs for participation, finding a way to get the parents involved / care, sparring with the AD for support....ah, all for the priveledge of those Summer / Autumn evenings....

you might like this;
People over 35 should be dead. Here's why:

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, ... and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.)
As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. NO CELL PHONES!!!!! U n t h i n k a b l e !
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, DVD's, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.
We had friends!
We went outside and found them.
We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?
We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment!
Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors!
Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.
Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
Congratulations...so far...so good!
Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good !!!!!



I didn't write this, but I found it in my documents file. I don't remember where I got it

thanks - we HAVE a 'club' system (levels of accomplishment based on weight class), give T-shirts away (strong man lifts), give gift certificates (for attendance), have a 'Record Board' (best lifts).....

Sometimes, I think fighting all the other teenage distractions becomes an uphill battle.