The following is a list of some mistakes that I have made in my coaching and teaching. If you learn from your mistakes I should be a genius, but unfortunately some of the lessons were only learned after I repeated these mistakes several times. I hope that by sharing these with you, it will help you to avoid making the same mistakes I have made.
It does not have to be hard to be good.
Each workout is part of a larger picture. If you put their backs to the wall in each training session you will quickly lose sight of the big picture. Everything must be in context. Remember that different physical qualities adapt at different rates, so they need to be stressed differently.
Too much, too soon
You can’t hurry the adaptive process. The younger athlete can handle a lot both in terms of volume and intensity, but once again if you lose sight of the big picture it is important to remember that by not following proper progression and individualizing can stifle long-term development.
Overloading the spine – Too often and too young
I think this is obvious so I don’t know why it took me so long to figure it out. Even with the mature athlete the spine just cannot take the heavy repetitive loading that is imposed on it by too much heavy back squatting and dead lifting. That does not mean you don’t use those exercises, just use them wisely.
Too many exercises or drills in a training session
This just leads to confusion from an administrative perspective and poor adaptive response on the part of the athlete. This results in a loss of focus. They get tired but they do not get better.