We had the rest of our test out today, with maxes in back squat and incline bench. Hit slight PRs in both, so I’m happy, but definitely thought that I’d be able to eek out a little more on both. Although ultimately, as I’d mentioned in the previous post, my main goal really isn’t to be putting up huge numbers, but to have some carry over to my on-ice attributes. Although as a self-confessed gym rat, the numbers do matter to me.
Back squat–
bar X 5
95# X 5
135# X 3
195# X 1
225# X 1
245# X 1
250# X 1
260# X 0
255# X 0
250 is a 5 pound PR, so I’ll take it. Both 260 and 255 were attempts that I lost trying to get out of the hole. On the plus side, as far as I know, the funky knee stuff that happened over the summer was gone. I didn’t feel my knees shifting at all coming out of the hole, and my knees feel a hell of a lot better than they did after squatting in the summer. I’ll definitely take that positive.
Incline bench–
bar X 5
95# X 5
115# X 3
135# X 1
145# X 1 (PR)
150# X 1 (PR)
150 was a sloooooooooooooow grind of a rep, especially compared to 145#, which came up fast and easy. I had a good spotter (the head strength coach), so he didn’t even move to take the bar until I had it completely locked out. 150 was a 10lb PR, and also a bodyweight incline bench, so I’m happy with that.
It was pretty interesting maxing out with my team and watching other teams go through test outs earlier. The battery of tests we go through (vertical jump, 5-10-5, 10 yard sprint, max squat, max incline bench) give a pretty good look at the athletic ability of the athletes we have. It was interesting to compare the results of different sports, and even different positions in the same sport, and see how they all stacked up.
On the women’s side, the disparity between the girls that lift more seriously and have some training background and the girls that don’t is huge. However, there are some outliers, as some of the girls had natural athletic ability that was readily apparent, as they ranked high in testing, without high training age, and even in testing, were able to adapt quickly to any cues that they were given.
The more concerning trend is that many of the girls fall into the category of being de-trained, that is, they lack mobility and strength to reach a proper squatting depth, lack the power necessary to accelerate quickly in a sprint or change direction on a dime.
Over the course of the year, many of the athletes that fell into the detrained category (many of which are freshman) have actually improved, but still lag behind. The challenge then becomes encouraging these athletes to look at their own improvement, and not be discouraged or intimidated by the efforts of some of their teammates. All-in-all, I thought that the staff and the teams did a great job being positive and encouraging towards the efforts of every player.
The next interesting point would be to see if the gains that these players have made are maintained over summer, when the task of putting aside time for training and committing to it while they are at home falls squarely on their own shoulders. This past fall, the vast majority of the returners had test-in numbers that were below their spring test-out numbers, meaning that they had not done much of anything over the summer. As a soon-to-be strength coach, you always hope that this trend starts heading in the other direction; however, there is only so much one can do when the athlete is on their own time.