It was just about 2 months ago that I met Kimble, he had literally just gotten back from serving his church for 2 years on a mission and when I say literally just gotten back.....I mean the man just got off the plane pretty much. So considering that one of the first stops he wanted to make after his return of a 2 years absence from friends and family, he first wanted to get his summer training squared away showed me a lot. In that meeting Kimble shared that he had one goal, and that was to be in the best shape of his life by the time he would need to report to Snow College where he will be playing football this fall.
I began to program for Kimble by getting an assessment of his movement, speed, and overall strength levels with some general baseline testing. Another key compenent was understanding his athletic and training history, which he went to high school at Layton High where he did do quite a bit a strength training previously and had some exposure to speed and agility work.(This is key, knowing an athlete's history with strength training allows me to know as a coach if they will easily respond to linear style of training or if we will need to take a more complex route and undulate the training a bit.) Once we were clear with where he currently was in comparison to where he wanted to be; the conclusion was drawn that we would be spending a lot of time together in the next few weeks. Kimble then made the commitment to training at Apex 5-6 days a week for the next 7-8 weeks. Our first real training session made it evident to me that the strides that would be made in the weeks to come would be very significant because of Kimble's work ethic. There is an uncomfortable threshold that most athletes, especially in their first few training sessions aren't willing to push to and Kimble didn't hesitate to go there. (This made my heart smile, I'm a stickler for the small stuff ; ) )
As the training time passed as if it was in fast forward Kimble and I got to know each other pretty well. I got to see how passionate of a young man he is, not only about football but whatever he is pursuing. All summer long I told him that our job was to make sure that when he showed up to camp that there would not be another athlete present whom was more prepared or who had outworked him, he made sure with his effort that those things were true. Kimble also accepted any information I made present about nutrition and rest, not cutting corners. All of these aspects helped him go from a softer(yet studly) 6'1 195 to a 6'1 lean and mean close to 205lb. faster and stronger than he has ever been. Some of his numbers looked as such:
Pre Testing:
Squat 305 lb.
Bench (225 reps): 6
40 yard dash: 4.78
*We did not do official post testing numbers, I personally don't feel as though it is necessary for athletes going right into their season, especially if through training they have shown strength gains, Kimble wasn't training to be a power lifter, or a 40 yard dash professional runner, he was training to be a starting safety at Snow College, and hopefully our training helps him pursue that.
Last squat day: for 1 rep Kimble hit 345lb. (amidst explosive jumps that took place between sets) this workout was not meant for him to peak at a true 1 rm, so I'm sure there is still a higher number for him to hit if that were so.
The rest of the information is a directly from his performances on his testing day at Snow. August 2nd 2012.
Bench reps @225: 17
Pro Agility: 4.12
40 yard dash: 4.56
Kimble Jensen put the work in necessary to be able to look back at this summer and never wonder if there was more he could have done to be prepared for this football season. As an athlete and as a coach I try to pass that same sense of urgency on to each and every client I've got, we have today.....and tomorrow isn't promised, let's make the most of it.
Good luck Kimble. And thank you.
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