Mike Volkmar

 

For the dedicated student-athlete: More than just lifting weights

Peddie strength and conditioning coach Mike Volkmar’s latest book, “The High School Athlete: Football,” features a unique strength and conditioning program for developing high school student-athletes. With over 100 workouts covering all four training seasons, and a forward by former NFL player Hakeem Valles ’11, Volkmar’s book covers what young athletes need to know to improve physical performance, motivation and health.

"I wanted an official platform to organize the articles, blogs, workouts and research I've been working on for the past 20 years," said Volkmar. "This book was a place to put all my workouts and innovations in one place for one sport, for one specific group of athletes that I have worked with for the last 15 years.

Volkmar wanted to design long-term strategies for incoming freshmen to graduating seniors.

"The book includes 'foundation' workouts for incoming freshman players, and as they mature physically, athletes can 'Earn the Barbell,'" said Volkmar. "Finally, I designed a progression chart for my 15 foundation athletic movements, including squat, deadlift, bench, pull up, sprint, jump, balance and stability. This chart alone is invaluable. It gives athletes and coaches a clear path for safe and effective progress in the weight room."

Working with teen athletes for over a decade, Volkmar understands the integral role psychology plays in the success of both individual athletes and entire teams. More than just sets and reps, Volkmar said that psychology plays a significant role in the application of strength and conditioning principles.

"I know how they (high school athletes) think, react, and progress and this helps me teach high school kids safe progressions in the fitness center," Volkmar concluded."The book is more than ‘five exercises to improve your deadlifts’ or ‘three new speed exercises to help build your 40-yard sprint times.’ It's a four-year, slow-burn process (versus one or two months in the gym before the season starts) for building high school football players."

The second (basketball) and third book (baseball) in the High School Athlete series will become available November 2019 and January 2020, respectively.