Whether your a strength coach, physical therapist, athletic trainer, or any other sports medicine professional that works with athletes, you need to know about creatine.  Despite if you agree or disagree with supplementation, many athletes use creatine to enhance their performance in some shape or form.  Numerous studies have come out with the benefits for increased athletic performance such as increased strength and speed.  Recently, there has been an abundance of research on additional creatine benefits.  This post discusses some of the newest research findings for creatine other than performance benefits.  While more research needs to be done on these new benefits, its worth reading about to understand when speaking with athletes or clients who want to supplement with creatine.  

This week's S&C article comes from Rob Panariello, MS, PT, ATC, CSCS.  Rob speaks to a number of vital points with sports performance programs for high school athletes.  With the education level and more importantly, vast experience in both physical therapy and strength & conditioning, this article is a must read for strength coaches and even physical therapists who work with high school athletes.  

Rob highlights 7 key points.....

#1 The High School Athlete Should Be Evaluated prior to Their Participation in an Athletic Performance Enhancement Training Program
        -  Rob emphasizes how many HS athletes are essentially just thrown into a training program  
#2 The High School Athlete Must Be Prepared for the Initiation of a High Stress Athletic Enhancement Training Program
      -  Each athlete should be considered as an individual, as certainly not every specific exercise may be appropriate for every athlete
#3  The High School Athlete Should not Be Trained as a “Little Adult”
      -  Program designs should be appropriate for the HS athletes age and training experience, not designed off a program/training prescription from experienced athletes(college, professional)
#4  Emphasize Quality and not Quantity During Training
        -  Applying increased intensity to an exercise that an athlete has poor technique with can lead to possible injury
#5  Prescribe Appropriate Levels of Exercise Performance Volume
        -  More is not always better.  Intensity and volume go hand in hand
#6  Don’t Make Powerlifters or Weightlifters of the High School Athlete
        -  Absolute vs Relative strength
        -  We use powerlifting and olympic lifting principles to train athletes for transfer to athletic performance (skill)
#7  Be Sure the High School Athlete Recovers from Their Workouts
        -  Consider nutrition, rest time, training, CNS, etc