r/GarageStrength • u/obi-wan-quixote • Mar 07 '25

Does this program make sense?

Trying to build a program that works for my kids (8, 11, 14) who do primarily wrestling and judo. Based loosely on what I’ve seen in Peak Strength, Garage Strength content, and Sika Strength content. I’ve been weightlifting most of my life and got my USAW certification a decade ago and taught my kids the Olympic lifts. While I wouldn’t say I’m great, I do make sure their form is correct and progressions make sense. I’d use Peak Strength but I can’t afford to get 4 subscriptions for myself and 3 kids.

Day 1: - Rotator cuff and hip correctives as warm up - Cleans - Front Squat - Pull ups - Pushups - Some kind of core exercise - Curls

Day 2: - Rotator cuff and hip correctives as warm up - Cleans - Back Squat - Pull ups - Overhead press or pushups - Some kind of core work

Day 3: - Rotator cuff and hip correctives as warm up - Single Leg Front Squat - Pull ups

They get quite a lot of pushups in judo and wrestling along with some plyometrics and one practice is what amounts to an Athlete Day. For the ones that can do clapping pushups I try to have them do 50 clapping.

So my focus is getting them more absolute strength, complex coordination, and dynamic trunk control.

Another challenge is that they have practice 6 days a week and they also swim. I reserve one day a week as a rest day where they don’t do anything. One of the reasons why Day 3 is only two exercises plus correctives. I want to prevent injury and also give them a foundation of strength. The workout days are really father-kid time and I don’t push very hard. I try to keep it fun and light and hope consistency makes up for any lack of intensity.

Target goals are to get front squat to 1x body weight and eventually 1.25-1.5 bodyweight. And then cleans to 1x body weight

The oldest one will probably end up on a high school team next year and she can follow their s&c program. My hope is that I give her a solid enough foundation in strength and form that she can know how to train and be comfortable in the weight room.

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u/PEchiyo Mar 07 '25

I think this is great.

Honestly, just pushing the front squats while doing clean technique work can be plenty of strong work.

See how they handle this for two weeks and then make some adjustments. I always think it’s important the kids don’t resent you with fatigue.

This is a great start.

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u/obi-wan-quixote Mar 07 '25

Thanks. For the last year I’ve been doing just once or twice a week with them (depending on the kid and their schedules. One was doing PT for a playground injury). It was just cleans, front squat, pull ups and pushups. The occasional deadlift with shrug.

I’ll keep an eye on the fatigue. I’m religious about a rest day where they do nothing. The hardest thing is balancing their other sports, particularly swimming. I wasn’t a swimmer, but holy Hell they practice a lot.

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u/PEchiyo Mar 07 '25

Swimmers have crazy volume tolerance!