The Blueprint for Nurturing Excellence in Youth Athletes: Training, Nutrition, and Recovery

Unlock the formula for nurturing excellence in youth athletes with us as we delve into a holistic approach that transcends regular training routines. This episode is all about the secret ingredients that empower young sports enthusiasts to excel, not just in their respective sports, but in life. We've got the inside scoop from our new team members, including coaches who understand the grind and a nutritionist who champions fueling bodies and minds for peak performance. Get ready to understand why consistent training, recovery, and nutrition create a powerhouse of progress and success for these budding athletes.

Are you aiming to raise the bar in your athletic endeavors or guide someone who is? Then you can't afford to miss our latest discussion where we dissect the nuances of physical exertion, mental toughness, and the vital, yet often neglected, recovery process. We share insights on the transformative power of quality sleep, and the magic of a balanced diet, and unveil the substantial gains achievable through steady, CNS-focused training. Whether you're an athlete, coach, or parent, this episode is tailored for you, offering a comprehensive blueprint that will pave the way for sustained excellence on and off the playing field.

00:00 Introduction
00:31 Importance of Nurturing Excellence
01:49 Consistency: The Cornerstone
03:09 Nutrition: Fuel for Performance
04:25 Sleep: A Critical Process
05:59 Load Management: Finding Balance

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:57 Importance of Nurturing Excellence
• 2:15 Consistency: The cornerstone
• 3:35 Nutrition: Fuel for Performance
• 4:51 Sleep: A critical process
• 6:25 Load Management: Finding Balance

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:28

Well, it's cracking. Guys excited to hop on here and talk through a couple more concepts with you guys for the podcast. It's actually been a minute since I've done an episode was going strong, there had a couple of, so it's out in a row and then had to take a break. Been really busy at the gym hiring some new coaches, brought a nutritionist for the athletes that they have access to and looking on some different expansion options for the gym and in a different location, so definitely been staying busy.

Speaker 1: 1:01

I wanted to chime in today and talk about something I wrote about in a blog a couple weeks ago. Today's topic per se will be nurturing, nurturing excellence and breaking that down into a try out of success in youth athlete training different things. We can focus on different factors that play a huge role in an athlete's ability to perform, to recover and to train at a high level. So what I find is there are a lot of athletes putting in the effort to train at a high level, but there are not a lot of athletes putting in the same amount of effort into their recovery or or their training outside of sport. So it's a pivotal phase as a youth athlete and as you're developing into a sport star or high level athlete, but also, ultimately, healthy, a healthy human. There's a blend of physical exertion, mental fortitude and the ability to understand what your body needs and being able to listen to your body. So I wanted to go over some of the components that we think form the bedrock of a successful youth athlete training cycle or for the athlete as they develop and grow throughout the year. So number one obvious one is consistency. It's the cornerstone. It's more important than doing cool workouts or even the type of workouts you're doing they face. Youth athletes have a huge challenge of balancing academics, social activities and sport commitments, and if you're able to establish a consistent routine, training routine that you know fosters discipline but also will give you gradual, sustainable progress over time, then you're winning this battle. Many athletes find themselves with soft tissue injuries, overuse, injuries due to participating in sport and neglecting the strengthening side that allows the athlete to move through different planes of motion patterns and develop strength and elasticity throughout the body, as well as develop the central nervous system Due to the demands of sport nowadays. Nowadays, with the athletes, they are missing out if they are not consistently training. What we have found is we've been able to get great progress with athletes that are even coming in only two times a week. As long as they can stay consistent over the years, they turn out on the other end as really capable, healthy athletes that many of them get to go play at the next level.

Speaker 1: 3:38

Number two is nutrition, and this is why we took the time to hire a coach that can help provide this for our athletes. It is huge when it comes to maximizing your progress in the gym, performance on the field, and you are what you eat. It holds particularly true for youth athletes. Proper nutrition is imperative. It's a fuel that propels not only their physical but their mental health and performance, so keep that in mind. There's a lot of focus on mental health in today's climate, but it's not often talked about that nutrition can be a big part of that and how they feel about themselves every day. So carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals pivotal role in supporting growth and energy production and recovery of the athlete once they do play in their sport or they are in here training. You need to be eating the food and you need to be eating the right types of foods. That's why we have that consultation available for athletes now, so they can get that dialed in and start working towards those goals Again. Can't stress how imperative this is for athletes looking to make it to the next level.

Speaker 1: 4:51

And then we've got sleep Again, tough with everything that's out there to distract us. In today's world there's so many opportunities to waste time or hop on social media or stay up and watch a show, stream a movie, whatever. We find that a lot of athletes are not getting quality sleep and oftentimes they're expressing that they're unable to sleep due to their circadian rhythms being thrown off and a host of other reasons. So, really taking the time to learn and develop patterns for great sleep, the body is going to undergo critical processes such as muscle repair, hormone regulation and memory consolidation. So this even comes back to performance in school as well.

Speaker 1: 5:33

As the type of training we do at Hans Athletics is very CNS driven. Neurologically is challenging and if you are not sleeping, you're not going to make the progress or garner the results from the work that you're doing and potentially even lead yourself into a deep circle of injury and a long term issue with staying healthy and on the court. It's also going to have a big role in your emotional well being, your ability to be resilient and to handle the stresses of life and not run into a wall when you're trying to improve yourself and push yourself beyond your limits. So challenge you to create a conducive sleep environment that aids in overall performance and health. And then bonus, bonus one is load management. So easy again with multi sport athletes and the emphasis on that. And then the problem is a lot of these sport coaches don't want their season to be over when it's over per se on in the high school realm, right? So now you've got a lot of club sports. You got a lot of different opportunities to continue to play sport. This has led to very skilled athletes, but it has also led to a lot of over trained and burnt out athletes.

Speaker 1: 6:48

So, as an athlete, is an apparent being aware of load management being realistic with with how much your athlete is competing and performing. You know, if they're practicing over two hours a day between all the different sports that they're participating in, they're probably going to be burnt out and potentially get some injuries. It just doesn't. It's not available to athletes, nor even professional athletes to. You know, train one sport in the morning for an hour and a half, play another sport for another hour and a half and potentially even have another game or sport, which we see more often than not, where athletes are physically active of up to six hours a day. So keep that in mind. As a parent, stay realistic. Put yourself in that situation. Would you be able to go to work, a k, a school and complete all of that physical exercise outside of that and and be sleeping and eating and doing the right things to even make that possible? It's important to have a systematic approach to the sports you're playing and how much you're competing in your training, having rest periods off seasons and allowing the body to adapt and peak at the right times. Again, you might find that your athlete, by playing less sport, will actually get better at the sports that they care about.

Speaker 1: 8:16

So, in conclusion, youth athlete training it's a holistic journey extends well beyond the playing field. Consistency, nutrition, sleep and load management have a symbiotic relationship. Each element is complimenting each other as you go through the pursuit of excellence. By instilling these principles with your athletes early on, or as they come into our facility, and we try to teach them this we not only mold physically adept athletes great athletes in their sport, but you also foster your athletes. We also foster habits that contribute to a lifetime of health and well being. Again, that is the long term goal of hence athletics College. Sports are awesome. We've sent out 55 athletes in the last year and a half out of Pocatello, idaho. That is unreal, but at the end of the day, athlete being able to leave our facility and continue to take care of themselves in a healthy way for the rest of their lives is our main goal and mission. As parents, as coaches, it's our responsibility to nurture the potential with these young athletes and provide them with the tools to be able to not only do well in their chosen sport but also in all facets of life outside of that.

Speaker 1: 9:22

So wanted to kind of share that with you guys. Go through it, talk through it. If you guys have any questions or thoughts on these topics, go ahead and send them over. Make sure to connect with us on Instagram, twitter, tiktok, whatever you are available on Facebook. We have different sites and opportunities to receive education through those different social media platforms, websites, handsathleticscom. If you are interested in training or you have a team that's interested in training with us, please reach out. We will be filling up this summer with our team training and we are now doing some in season, fall and spring work with teams as well. So again, appreciate you guys. Thank you for the support. We could not do the things we do without you guys, and I hope you guys have a great weekend. It's a Friday right now I'm recording this and stay positive and optimistic about life. Have a great one, guys.