Getting there...Speed and Strength...

[slugger3]

DD#2 is 14 YO and is the athlete of our bunch. But she can be a little stubborn at times.
Finally got her to change her sprinting form to get more of a jump out of the gates. Lean more and pump your arms...before she'd pop straight up and her arms would move like a marathoners arms.
Ran her first 2.7 this weekend (2.78) I was hooting and she basically said, "meh..." Before she changed form she was in the upper .8s to upper .9's

I finally let her start getting into power lifting a little...
She's been working out with me with light weights for a couple of years now.
She's always been very strong for her size... i.e. 27 legit push-ups is her max. Tip toes, straight as a board, touch your chest
But at 5'6" and a lean 136 lbs, I didn't think I'd see the strength she has
8 weeks into more of a power lifting regiment, and she can bench 115 lbs x 4 reps. (yes it was a clean lift) and 105 lbs x 6 reps
And she can do seated close grip lat pull downs 100 lbs x 6 reps.
No max reps yet...I'll keep it at 4-6 reps for a year or so.
I had her start doing shoulder shrugs with 95-105 lbs. x 8 reps. She likes doing them, but she's starting to get bigger, angled trapezoid muscles (traps)...and she says, "I really don't want these dad."
So very proud!!!

 

[IRONMAN]

She has good size and GREAT speed. If she is wanting to hit the weights, it will do nothing but help her in all aspects of sports. Is she a slapper?

 

[slugger3]

We tried slapping and she doesn't like it.
She likes to bat regularly.
She's right handed, so it was a little difficult for her to adapt, and maybe that was the deterrent.

 

[55dad]

She is FAST! She sounds like a hard worker as well. If she can run in the 2.7s at a college camp, coaches will notice her!

 

[slugger3]

She is FAST! She sounds like a hard worker as well. If she can run in the 2.7s at a college camp, coaches will notice her!

Thanks!
We were at a Showcase last summer. In the skills portion, and as an eight grader, she was tied at 9th fastest out of nearly 100 girls, from 14U to 18U . But tenths to hundredths separated the majority of the girls.
...but in the games, she stunk it up on the field and at bat...really bad
Nervous and simply out skilled.
I'm hoping she doesn't end up with the "lumberjack" frame like her older and younger sister.
Mass equals power. But in their case, mass also equals slow. The speed will go south in a hurry then.
She's going to a camp here in a couple of weeks, she's emailed them, but she's at the age where the only contact they can have is basically notifications of the camps they are having.
We'll keep hitting the weights and working on the speed, but she needs to play catch up with defense.
Some of the 14U girls we watched in the PGF showcases last summer we quite a ways ahead of her defensively.

 

[IRONMAN]

Our DD's sound very similar. She is 5-6 and was around 135 in 8th grade. She was stopwatched at 2.72 H2F. She started working with weights as a freshman in HS last year and gained 15 pounds of muscle, and is up to around 150-155. Very solid and strong and has little speed. She can bunt with the best, but she is more of a power hitter now, with speed. Her (soon to be) college coach loves her speed in the OF.

 

[slugger3]

Our DD's sound very similar. She is 5-6 and was around 135 in 8th grade. She was stopwatched at 2.72 H2F. She started working with weights as a freshman in HS last year and gained 15 pounds of muscle, and is up to around 150-155. Very solid and strong and has little speed. She can bunt with the best, but she is more of a power hitter now, with speed. Her (soon to be) college coach loves her speed in the OF.

Yes, that would be another concern of mine. DD#2 getting bulked up and muscle bound...slowing her down.
So as a outfielder, do coaches still use the 20 yard dash (home to first) times, or do they use a 30 or 40 yard dash time?

I don't think DD#2 is going to get bulked up like my oldest DD seems to be getting. That can obviously change, but she just doesn't have the broad shouldered (lumberjack) frame that my oldest and youngest DD do.
But once she stops growing in height, things can change.

Your DD gained 15 lbs of muscle in year...what type of lifts is she doing?
Clean, squat, bench?
Pyramid workouts with reps of 8,6,4,3,2,1...or powerlifting style workouts, where they do 4-6 reps of a weight and slowly move up over time?
Is she a senior now?

Trying to relate the power lifting I did as a man took a little time to adapt to 13-17 year old girls.
In the lower weight range, it's hard for them to jump from up 15/20/25 lb weights, in 5 lb increments.
I would let them work their way up in reps, before I would have them move up to the next larger size dumbbell in a 5 lb increase.
For example, I get them up to 6-8 clean reps (no cheating) with 20 lb dumbbells, and then have them use 25 lbs at 3-4 reps...
Then get them up to 6-8 clean reps with 25 lbs, then start them on 3-5 reps with 30 lbs... and so on.
Right now DD#2 is at 6 reps with 30 lb dumbbells while doing shoulder press. I really don't want her do jump up to 35 lbs, since I feel like she's getting too strong too fast.
But with the universal machine it is easier to get them jump climb up in the weights.
I bought some 2 1/2 and 5 lb rubber stack weights to add on top of the weight stack, which is in 10 lb increments from 10-150 lbs.
It's much easier for them to transition 2 1/2 lbs at a time, 40 to 42.5 to 45 to 47.5 to 50 lbs, while doing tricep put downs. Versus jumping from 40 to 50 lbs. in one 10 lb increment.
This is where I'm really seeing the biggest jumps. Just adding a little weight at a time.
Keeping the reps from 4-6. And keeping track of their progress. And then showing them how much strength they have gained over time...It's fun!

 

[55dad]

Thanks!
We were at a Showcase last summer. In the skills portion, and as an eight grader, she was tied at 9th fastest out of nearly 100 girls, from 14U to 18U . But tenths to hundredths separated the majority of the girls.
...but in the games, she stunk it up on the field and at bat...really bad
Nervous and simply out skilled.
I'm hoping she doesn't end up with the "lumberjack" frame like her older and younger sister.
Mass equals power. But in their case, mass also equals slow. The speed will go south in a hurry then.
She's going to a camp here in a couple of weeks, she's emailed them, but she's at the age where the only contact they can have is basically notifications of the camps they are having.
We'll keep hitting the weights and working on the speed, but she needs to play catch up with defense.
Some of the 14U girls we watched in the PGF showcases last summer we quite a ways ahead of her defensively.

I don't know the accuracy of this overall, but I have had several coaches say that if they are recruiting a speedy girl they want to see her keep that speed into 16U. A lot of girls lose speed from 14U to 16U.

 

[IRONMAN]

Your DD gained 15 lbs of muscle in year...what type of lifts is she doing?
Clean, squat, bench?
Pyramid workouts with reps of 8,6,4,3,2,1...or powerlifting style workouts, where they do 4-6 reps of a weight and slowly move up over time?
Is she a senior now?

Some power lifting and TRX type workouts mixed in with Insanity type cardio all with the HS coaches. I was surprised how much weight she gained (and she's a junk food eater) but she got a lot stronger lifting. I'm not sure what her current 20 yard times are, maybe a little slower than before. She was born with great fast twitch muscles too the weight training really seemed to add to her strength in the box. All kids are different though.

She's a sophomore this year.

 

[BT3100]

Great job by you both!

I lifted pretty hardcore as a late teen and young adult. This was back in the late 90's and early 00's. Now my daughter is 13 and she is getting into lifting. I track her stats pretty closely. I did speak with several experts and learned a lot more about women's fitness than I every thought I would.
Girls make very fast gains in strength versus boys who make more gains in size at this age (12-16). All of the experts I spoke to said to avoid pressing exercises like flat bench, incline bench, butterflies. Instead they said to stick to pulling exercises, reverse rows, pull downs, etc.
DD still benches but not as much as I would have had her do. She's gained an amazing amount of strength in 8 months. Her starting numbers were almost laughable, but now she putting up some nice numbers.
She's a very slim 5' 7" 115 maybe.. I have been making her protein shakes and she loves Syntha-6. She's put on 8lbs in 6 months. Pretty happy with that while she still has a 4 pack
One of the trainers at our gym recommended Creatine. Which I know from personal use is pretty potent and harmless. But she's too young in my opinion. Just good food and plenty of protein.
Good luck and make em lift HEAVY!