The TeamBuildr Approach to Long Term Athletic Development

When you are browsing through the Teambuildr App or website you will tend to see some similarities between a lot of the programs that have been written. That is mainly due to the fact all the programs that we have are centered on a similar approach. A lot of the same basic principles can be found in our Block Zero Program, as well as the first phase of our General Athlete Development Program. This was done for a variety of reasons. We feel that a comprehensive approach to training can span a variety of different sports and athlete populations. At times, our profession tends to try and get too specific too early. We feel that taking time to teach, and slow cook athletes will allow them to get the most out of all of the programs that we currently have on both the website and the app.

At Teambuildr we approach all our programs with a holistic, or all-encompassing outlook. This is the best way to go about structuring our programming because it will allow us to make sure that we are able to develop a fully functional and balanced young athlete. When we look at general athlete development, we will set up a hierarchy that will allow us to get the most out of all athletes as they progress on their strength training journey. The foundation of this hierarchy is TECHNIQUE!!! Technique will not be compromised for any reason whatsoever. Technique is vital to overall development, in that, if you are not performing the movements correctly you will not get the proper training stimulus that you are looking for. Another drawback to improper technique is the increased risk of a young athlete getting hurt. We as performance specialists must always remember that our athletes are our greatest commodity, and we must always assure a safe training environment.

Once proper technique and movement patterns have been established, we will then begin to add load to the basic movements that we perfected. Even when adding load to an exercise or movement, we must remember that no amount of load is worth an injury. There are a lot of people out there who are solely on the quest get numbers, this is not the case here at Teambuildr. This is all about Long Term Athletic Development. As these athletes continue to train and mature you are going to see increases in overall strength, speed and explosiveness, you just have to give the program time to work and be patient. Once we have established proper weighted movements with our basic movements, we will then move on top more complex movements that will require a higher level of skill and muscular coordination.

Another piece of our development program is the time under tension (TUT) aspect that is also vital to the overall development of young athletes. It has been shown that both isometric and eccentric focused movements will aid in the development of proper movement patterns. As the science has shown, with increased TUT, you increase tendon and ligament strength and increase hypertrophy of the trained musculature. As with any young athlete, increasing lean muscle mass is vital to building injury resiliency. Time under tension is just another variable that can be manipulated to elicit a desired training effect. Using time under tension at the beginning stages of an athlete’s training program will also keep the loads from being too heavy. as we stated earlier, and allow for the movement quality to be ideal. As we progress forward in the program the time under tension will decrease at the loads that are placed on the athlete increase. Similar to load and volume, load and time under tensions have an inverse relationship.

As young athletes continue to train it is also important that there is a proper flow and progression to the program. All the programs within the Teambuildr website or app have progressions that will allow the athlete to train effectively and safely over the course of their development. From a programming standpoint, we tend to work backwards from the end of the program to the beginning to allow for a smooth undulating periodization. This will allow us not only to know we are getting the proper stimulus, but also allow us as the coach to be able to schedule proper rest and deload weeks when applicable. Over the course of a 12 week program the athlete should have 3-4 deload weeks to allow their central nervous system to bounce back and super compensate. This super compensation effect will allow the athletes to begin seeing changes in their levels of strength and explosiveness. When it all comes down to it, we strive for any athlete using our programs to be able to get the most bang for their buck, but also making sure that all the scientific foundations are covered. This will allow for all athletes to be safe.

Another benefit to the Teambuildr site and app is the availability for both the athletes and the coaches to have access to our exercise videos and teaching progressions. As you navigate through the site you will see how much time and effort has gone into making sure that both athletes and coaches have access to proper lifting technique and progressions. This will only benefit their program as a whole.

We at Teambuildr are confident in the product that we have put out, and know that if athletes adhere to our Block Zero or General Athlete Development Program, they will be ready to begin more advanced programs on Teambuildr or any High School/College program. College coaches and others in the performance industry have positively remarked that athletes who have followed one of these foundational programs are well ahead of individuals who may have not has any type of early GADP. I hope this sheds some light on what we have to offer here at TeamBuildr - not only to athletes just beginning their athletic development journey, but also older athletes as well.