Every one of us is unique in regards to our genetics, training age, age, mobility, past injuries, strength, goals, habits, preferences, etc. and thus, to achieve the best results, each athlete needs their own individualized training program and diet. Therefore, I want to address some of these individual differences so that you guys can have a better understanding of how to tweak our strength and conditioning program to achieve the best results based on your individual differences.
Today is Part 2 in a series of posts on individual differences that will help to provide you with enough information to tweak our programming to achieve your own goals.
Young CrossFitter vs Experienced Rugby Player: Different goals, volume, warm-up, cool-down, recovery ability?? You bet
Training Age
Simply stated, training age is the number of years you have spent training for your sport. For D1 athletes (or former D1 athletes), this can be upwards of 15-20 years. For others, CrossFit is their first training experience, and have a training age of 0-1. Thus, each end of the spectrum requires different approaches to see the best gains. While we already have differing levels of programming to give beginner and experienced athletes enough stimulus to make gains, for experienced athletes, there is a TON of mileage on the body, and as each of those years builds upon the next, there are individual differences that start to become apparent: longer warm-ups, more dynamic stretching, specific drills to get everything working properly, more icing after workouts, higher volume, longer cool-downs etc.
For beginners, it is important to ensure that you have enough mobility combined with correct technique to perform the lifts properly, as bad habits created now will be extremely hard to break as you get more experienced.
Additionally, one of the biggest differences I have noticed for athletes with a higher training age is that static stretching often does not impart the same benefits as it does in athletes with a lower training age. Thus, more experienced athletes will often respond much better to dynamic mobilizations that static stretching.
Age
Each age group needs a different training stimulus: child, teenager, adult, and masters.
The most important thing for children is to acquire basic motor patterns and strength, while making fitness fun. In addition, the habits a child will acquire are going to be lifetime ones, so diet, health, general fitness, and posture are supremely important; weightlifting not so much. A child has no need for testing maxes, and should be tested on form over weight.
At the next level, there are teenagers. Teenagers recover incredibly fast and are often doing a great deal of sport specific training. Thus, they often are in need of muscular balance, as it easy to over-train repetitive, sport-specific patterns. Also, they can be exposed to a higher volume of training, as their recovery abilities will enable incredible gains when administered properly. In addition, during the teen years, mobility becomes supremely important, as the bones are often growing a few inches a year without the muscle length keeping pace.
Next, we reach adults. An adult’s needs are based upon their own goals and starting point. However, often, we must backtrack and establish good eating habits, motor patterns and mobility before we can venture too far into high-level athletics or fitness. Thus, our first course to to address the deficiencies, and then develop abilities.
Finally, we reach the masters athlete. These athletes must keep in mind that their recovery is becoming slower as the years go on, with strength losses occurring naturally as the decades go on. Thus, masters athletes should have more rest days and lower volume. Also, strength and mobility become extremely important as athletes transition through these stages, as the loss of either one results in the loss of independence.
For an abundance of information on masters training, go here.
Top 60 masters athlete right here at CFSB
Mobility
Everyone’s mobility is different, due to everything from genetics, what they do for work, their habits, how they sleep, past injuries, etc. For beginner athletes, as you begin your journey down the path of developing a balanced body and taking care of the basic mobility issues (getting into a squat, getting your arms overhead), you are going to find that certain mobility issues that are going to require a bunch of work to overcome (those ultra-short hip flexors for instance). For advanced athletes, the same thing applies, but there are often more chronic issues that need constant work due to habits or injuries in the past.
For example, I shattered a collarbone a couple years ago, which ended up healing in a shortened position, and therefore the front of my shoulder is chronically tight, and requires daily or weekly mobility sessions to keep it feeling healthy. Maybe you cross one leg over the other when you sit and have one hip that is always tighter than the other. Do you carry your kids/backpack/briefcase on the same side all the time?? If so, is likely some shoulder and hip imbalances that you will need to work with.
Thus, understand that you may need some additional warm-up and cool-down time to be spent on your own specific issues, whether you are simply working on getting your arms straight overhead or are dealing with that junky ankle from spraining it in middle school.
So, what do you do extra in reference to your mobility or past experience??
Workout of the Day
Level 1
A. 3x
10 Hard Russian Kettlebell Swings
500m Bike or 250m Row
B. 40-30-20-10
Russian Kettlebell Swings (16kg/12kg)
Wall Balls (16/12)
C. 2x
10 Double Under Attempts
30 s. Banded Lat Stretch/side
Level 2
A. 3x
10 Hard Russian Kettlebell Swings
500m Bike or 250m Row
B. 40-30-20-10
Russian Kettlebell Swings (24kg/16kg)
Wall Balls (20/14)
*Everytime you break a set, perform 10 Burpees
C. 2x
5 Triple Under Attempts
30 s. Banded Lat Stretch/side
Fundamentals
A. 3 Rounds
10 Romanian Deadlifts
30 sec hamstring stretch
B. AMRAP 8
10-1 RDL
8 KB Swings
Rest 90 sec
AMRAP 8
8 Knees to elbows
21-3 Ball Slams
Rest 90 Sec
AMRAP 8
40m Walking Lunges
20 Double Unders (80 singles)
Here are the details…
Everyone take a look at how you stand naturally with your shoes off. Do you have one arch that’s flatter than the other? Do you turn this foot out more when you squat, walk, or run? Do you sometimes get “shin splints” on the medial/posterior side of your shin? Or pain in your arch? Maybe a hammer toe forming on that foot?? If yes, you may have some stage of this 
The levator scapula creates movement in the neck and shoulder complex (humerus and scapula). It works with the 
