you can't fool you podcast
The Simple Training Approach That Builds Better Athletes
How should you build a strength and conditioning program for high school athletes when you may have 30 minutes, 30 athletes, different strength levels, limited equipment, and a different training environment from one team to the next? You still have to make the session count. In this episode of the You Can't Fool You Podcast, I break down the simple training approach I use with high school athletes, and why effective youth strength training starts with getting the basics right. As the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator at Garnet Valley, I work with athletes across different sports, backgrounds, and experience levels. With our new weight room finally open, I wanted to walk through how I think about programming when a team steps into the gym. What Determines a High School Strength Program? Before I choose a single exercise, I want to know three things: How many athletes am I training? What space and equipment do I have? How much time do I have with them? Training 8 basketball players is different from training 30+ cross-country athletes. Equipment access changes what you can do. 30 minutes instead of 60 means every exercise has to earn its place. The goal isn't fitting in as many exercises as possible — it's choosing what gives athletes the greatest return on the time you have. That's where good S&C starts. How I Structure a 30-Minute Workout Using our girls basketball program as an example: with 30 minutes, the session has to move. We start with pogo variations, A-skips, and running drills, progressing into jumping and explosive work. From there, primary strength exercises — a squat paired with a pulling movement one day, a trap bar deadlift with a half-kneeling overhead press another. We finish with split squat holds, push-ups, side lunges, or farmer's carries. There's a structure behind those choices. The exercises need to serve the athlete and the purpose of the session. Build a Balanced Program, Not a Random Workout With athletes twice a week, I want sessions covering the major qualities and movement patterns they need: explosive work (sprints, jumps, throws), upper-body pushing and pulling, hip- and knee-dominant lower-body work, bilateral and unilateral movement. Strength, speed, power, movement quality — developed without overcomplicating things. The individual exercises can change. The principles don't. That's the distinction that matters when coaching teams — enough structure to know where you're going, enough flexibility to adjust to what's in front of you. Keep Youth Strength Training Simple The biggest mistake we make with high school athletes is assuming complicated means effective. Most have a low training age — they may have lifted before, followed a few workouts online — but haven't trained consistently enough to need advanced programming. That's an opportunity. Build the base first. Teach them to squat, push, pull, hinge, choose an appropriate weight, and move well before progressively challenging themselves. Simple doesn't mean easy — it means putting attention where it matters. How Hard Should They Train? I introduce athletes to RPE and reps in reserve. If we're doing 8 reps, I might have an athlete choose a weight they could do for 9-10, stopping at 8 — teaching them to understand effort instead of blindly picking a weight. I don't just want athletes following instructions in front of me. I want them learning how to train. Different Athletes Need Different Coaching A football or lacrosse team usually has more weight-room experience than a cross-country team. That changes how complex I'm willing to make a session. With our cross-country team, we kept session one simple — squats, push-ups, split squat holds — but still used it to teach technique and what productive training should feel like. Training age, sport, and athlete all shape the program. The Real Goal My goal walking into a room of high school athletes is to educate them enough that they could eventually train with confidence on their own. At the end of a session: did you learn something today? If you walked into a gym alone, would you know what to do? If that starts becoming yes, that's a win. We're not just getting athletes through today's workout — we're building knowledge they keep using after they leave. A Good Program Is More Than a List of Exercises A program succeeds not because it has the perfect exercise list, but because it's a sequence of decisions — each one with a reason behind it. You have to be willing to adjust as athletes, equipment, space, and time change. Good coaching means understanding the principles well enough to adapt without losing the purpose of the session. Build the base. Teach the athlete. Train with purpose. If you're looking for a coach to run your team's S&C, or want to exchange ideas on programming and athlete development — reach out. I'm always open to the conversation. Follow Rockne O'Leary: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rockne-o-leary-81a25270 Facebook: facebook.com/rockne.oleary Substack: substack.com/@rockneoleary YouTube: youtube.com/@youcantfoolyou Instagram: instagram.com/rockoleary #youcantfoolyou #StrengthAndConditioningCoach #HighSchoolAthletes #YouthStrengthTraining #SportsPerformance #AthleteDevelopment
