Train Athletic to be Athletic

       Walk into any commercial gym and you'll see it. There's no shortage of huge, musclebound men that are not the least bit athletic. But when we hear youth and high school coaches talking about kids getting started with strength and conditioning, the first two points of emphasis are "getting stronger" and "bulking up." It's not that strength and size are inherently bad for athletes, but they're not nearly as big of factors as balance, power, quickness, endurance and healthy movement patterns.
       Strength is just not all that important. Strength is the ability to move mass. Speed and efficiency don't factor in to strength. It's just moving mass.
     Now, let's consider how infrequently an athlete, especially at the youth level, has to move another object with significant mass without any regard to how quickly that event needs to happen. I think most coaches would rather have the athlete in position quickly with the ability to maintain balance and leverage so that an opponent doesn't gain an advantage.
       One of the most common examples of athletes needing to moving mass is what we used to see more frequently in popular gap-scheme football offensive line blocking assignments. But, gap-scheme-based offenses are less popular these days, having given way to zone schemes, run-pass-options and three-step or even one-step passing offenses. The translation to all that jargon is that, even in football, it's less important to be able to move large objects and more important to be able to move yourself.
      In many other sports, athletes never make contact with an opponent. so, they don't ever need to move another significant mass. The only mass they need to move is their own body. And still in other sports, like gymnastics, swimming, and running, your ability to move yourself efficiently and effectively is the foremost athletic emphasis.
    This is not to say that weight training is not important. It is one factor in the grand scope of strength and conditioning for athletes. When a young athlete starts on a strength and conditioning program, here are a three other aspects of training that need to be included for the program to help the athlete accomplish their goals.

1. Movement pattern correction/reinforcement - Proper functional movement patterns help ensure that athletes are using the energy and skills they possess efficiently, and also helps reduce the risk of injury. There are many functional movement screenings available out there. Find one. Make sure your athlete is improving his/her movement patterns.
2. Explosive movements - Exercises like power jumps, Olympic lifts and ground-based plyometrics are generally viewed as more effective for athletes than standard strength training movements.
3. Balance-related exercises Athletes are training to be effective on their feet. Laying on a bench doesn't do much to help that. One-legged exercises and exercises incorporating Swiss balls and BoSU balls help athletes maintain their balance while also moving weight. These are not the only balance aids, but they're pretty easy to find and most trainers/strength coaches know how to use them.

     Strength training is good. For some people, it's great. But for a young athlete, "strength" is rarely the aspect of strength and conditioning that they need most.

     As for that muscle-bound guy at the gym: There's a very good chance that either he is no longer a competitive athlete, or never was an athlete to begin with. He may look impressive, but lets not confuse looks with athleticism. Moving efficiently, having great balance, changing direction without hesitation, and having healthy movement pattern; now that's athletic!