Random Workouts Aren’t a Development Plan

Making an athlete tired is easy. Making them better requires a plan.

Almost any workout can create sweat, soreness and the feeling that something productive happened. Add enough jumps, sprints and heavy exercises and it will certainly look like performance training.

But a collection of exercises is not automatically a good program.

If we don’t understand where an athlete is starting, what they actually need or whether they improved, we aren’t developing them. We’re keeping them busy and hoping something works.

At Iron Performance Center, we believe athletes and parents should demand more than random workouts. They should understand what the athlete is working toward, why certain qualities are being trained and whether the plan is producing results.

That’s why we lean into our performance process:

Assess. Identify. Build. Retest. Progress.

Step 1: Assess

Before deciding what an athlete should do, we need to understand where they are now.

We assess the physical qualities that matter for performance, including strength, speed, power and reactivity. Depending on the athlete and their sport, that may include jumping, sprinting and strength testing.

The goal isn’t to overwhelm athletes with numbers, show off testing equipment or print off a fancy PDF without any substance. It’s to establish a useful starting point.

Testing should help answer practical questions:

• How does the athlete currently produce force?
• How quickly can they express it?
• How do they compare with relevant standards?
• Which qualities may be limiting their performance?

Without a starting point, training decisions are based largely on assumptions. We would rather measure what matters and use that information to make better decisions.

Step 2: Identify

Imagine two volleyball players who both want to jump higher.

One lacks the strength required to produce more force. The other is already strong but struggles to express that force quickly.

The goal is the same. The path shouldn’t be.

Giving both athletes the exact same program might look “sport-specific” (a term I wish went extinct), but it ignores why each athlete is currently limited. More jumping isn’t automatically the answer to every jumping problem.

The same principle applies across a variety of sports. Two athletes can be the same age, play the same position and still require different training.

Assessment helps us identify an athlete’s strengths and their biggest opportunities for improvement. It gives the training process direction.

The objective isn’t to chase weaknesses forever. It’s to determine which improvements will make the greatest difference for that athlete right now. Essentially, we look to accelerate the process instead of hoping something moves the needle forward.

Step 3: Build

Once we better understand what the athlete needs, we build the plan.

IPC athletes train in a coached performance environment, but their programs are individualized. Athletes can train alongside teammates and other motivated people without everyone being forced through the exact same workout.

Their exercise selection, training emphasis, volume and progression can reflect their needs, experience, sport and schedule.

Individualized programming also doesn’t mean placing an athlete in a corner with a piece of paper and hoping they figure it out.

The program matters, but so does the coaching.

Our job is to teach athletes how to execute the plan, understand the intent behind their training and make adjustments when necessary. It also means knowing when to progress an exercise, when to hold it back and when the original plan needs to change.

Athletes don’t need constant novelty. They need the right work performed consistently and coached well.

Step 4: Retest

A training plan isn’t about producing sweat and soreness. It is about producing an adaptation; a planned progression of stimuli that force the body to change to meet new demands.

That’s why we retest.

We repeat important measures and compare the results with the athlete’s starting point. This helps us determine what improved, what stayed the same and what may require a different approach.

Progress is rarely linear (pretty much never). School, sport practices, competition schedules, sleep, nutrition, injuries and training consistency all influence the result. A number that doesn’t improve doesn’t automatically mean the entire program failed, but it does give us information we need to consider.

Testing without changing the plan is just collecting numbers.

The value comes from using the results to guide the next decision.

If we never measure again, we don’t truly know whether the athlete improved. We only know they completed the workouts.

Step 5: Progress

Athlete development doesn’t stop after one training phase.

As athletes improve, their needs change. Their sport schedule changes. Their training experience grows. The quality that once limited them may no longer be the priority.

That means the plan has to evolve too.

We use coaching observations, athlete feedback and updated performance results to adjust the next phase. Sometimes the priority changes. Sometimes we continue developing the same quality using a more advanced progression.

During demanding competitive periods, the plan may shift toward maintaining important qualities, reducing unnecessary fatigue and helping the athlete stay prepared to perform.

The goal isn’t to create one perfect program. It’s to keep making better decisions as the athlete develops.

If the plan never changes, either the athlete isn’t progressing or nobody is paying attention.

Training Should Have a Purpose

Athletes don’t need to win every workout. They need training that helps them perform when it matters.

That requires more than a hard session or a collection of impressive exercises. It requires a process that connects where the athlete is now with where they want to go.

At IPC, that process is simple:

Measure what matters. Train what the athlete needs. Prove the progress.

Not sure what your athlete should focus on next? Click here to schedule a quick call and let’s start the conversation.

Matrixx Ferreira, RSCC, CSCS