‘The most important thing for me is to care about the athletes, and not only the physical development, but also their personal development.’ Elisabeth Oehler – Olympic Strength & Conditioning Coaches interviewed Episode 82

Elisabeth Oehler, Head of Talent Identification at the German Olympic Weightlifting Federation, National Coach, and Strength and Conditioning Coach outlines her journey into coaching and talent identification. The importance of the Olympic Lifts in Strength & Conditioning and strength training for children.

Furthermore, we discuss

How she got into Strength and Conditioning
Her work as Head of Talent Identification for the German Olympic Weightlifting Federation
Her darkest moment
Her best moment
Her advice to a younger Elisabeth Oehler
Her recollection of the Sydney 2000 Olympics where Women’s Olympic Weightlifting was introduced
Her advice for young aspiring S & C coaches
The role of Olympic weightlifting in Strength and Conditioning
How long it takes to learn the technique of the Olympic Lifts
Her coaching philosophy
The similarities and differences between strength and conditioning for youth athletes and mature athletes
Is Strength training for kids dangerous
Her core values
The person that has influenced her most
The talent identification process in the Olympic Weightlifting Federation
Testing motor skills and what kind of motor skills are best tested
The relative age effect
The LTAD (long term athlete development) outline
What other sports are beneficial for Olympic Weightlifting
A typical day in the life of an S&C coach and Talent ID coach
How to design a training program
Her interview nomination
What is going on in the life of Elisabeth Oehler at this moment in time
Where can you find Elisabeth Oehler

Christian: Today I’m joined by Elisabeth Oehler, fellow strength and conditioning coach, national coach at the German Olympic Weightlifting Federation, Head of Talent ID [identification] at the German Weightlifting Federation.

Welcome, Elisabeth.

Elisabeth: Hello. Thanks for having me.

How she got into Strength and Conditioning

Christian: Elisabeth, how did you get into strength and conditioning?

Elisabeth: It’s actually quite a funny story because I was a coach before I studied sports science. Normally, it seems to be the other way around, people study to then become a coach.

When I was a student I got into weightlifting, it was more for fun. I did a bit of CrossFit as well, I know that S&C coaches don’t like that word but I got into a CrossFit box and I’ve been involved with Olympic weightlifting, I started to train more than I ever planned and then I competed on a national level in Olympic weightlifting, but on a very amateur level.

I always liked coaching people, especially coaching kids, because you can change so much in their development. I started coaching as a volunteer coaching kids in a weightlifting club, and then a few opportunities did arise, and I got a job at a German Olympic Weightlifting Federation.

I always liked coaching people, especially coaching kids, because you can change so much in their development.

I started doing normal youth Olympic weightlifting work and since last year, I work as a talent ID coach and I’m trying to find talented athletes for the Federation.

Her work as Head of Talent Identification for the German Olympic Weightlifting Federation

Christian: In your work as a Head of TID [Talent Identification], at what age do you start the identification process?

Elisabeth: It does depend, I try to find athletes as early as possible and get them into the sport. Firstly, I don’t care too much what sport they do, if they only come to weightlifting once a week, it’s fine as long as they do other sports as well. I assess what they’re doing and then see if they develop through and have athletic talents.

I don’t care too much what sport they do if they only come to weightlifting once a week, it’s fine as long as they do other sports as well. I assess what they’re doing and then see if they develop through and have athletic talents.

The youngest I have are between 8 and 10 years and then I do a lot of crossover athletes, or I try to find crossover athletes that come from other sports and want to pursue a career in Olympic weightlifting because they might not make it in their sport. Olympic weightlifting has a very late peak age so you can start much later than probably in other sports.

Christian: At what age does the talent ID stop?

Elisabeth: We have one athlete at the moment, who’s in their Olympic qualification process. She started at 25 years and she’s now 31 years, she’s one of those rare athletes that finds a sport very late, but she has done heaps of other sports before. So that is an example of a very late identification.

Normally it stops when they’re like 21 years, that’s probably the latest you can work as a crossover athlete. When you consider the peak age is around 28 or 29 years, then you have 7 to 8 years of developing them to make it to the Olympics.

Christian: That’s really interesting.

Her darkest moment

Christian: In your coaching life, what was your darkest moment?

Elisabeth: It sounds strange when I say they’re a few. But for me, it’s always a very dark moment when I lose young athletes, or when I have dropouts, when they’re very young, due to stress, overtraining, or any issues that shouldn’t happen.

Also, check out the interview ‘With a good scientifically based training system, you will make progress and don’t waste any time.’ Olympic Weightlifting coach Remco Eenink, who outlines his darkest moments are when athletes drop-out of sport.

When I have a drop out due to lack of motivation, then I always ask myself like, could I have done something differently or could I have maybe brought him into a different environment and where he or she could have gained motivation again? So, dropouts are probably my darkest moments.

It’s always a very dark moment when I lose young athletes due to lack of motivation, then I always ask myself like, could I have done something different.

Christian: How do you recover from these moments?

Elisabeth: I try to reflect, and think about what was my job in that or what was my job as a talent ID and coach or recruiter is? What did I do wrong and what has the coach done wrong, who trained with the athletes. At the end of the day, you don’t have reasons for everything, or you can’t find reasons for everything, so if you have an athlete who drops out at the age of 16, 17, or 18 due to a lack of motivation, then that’s maybe sometimes how it is and then you’ve got to move on.

At the end of the day, you can’t find reasons for everything, so if you have an athlete who drops out, then that’s how it is and then you’ve got to move on.

Christian: Yeah, yeah, you can only control what you can control, right?

Elisabeth: Yes, and you can’t look inside their brains, even though you sometimes want to do that, but you don’t know what’s going on. And they won’t tell you every reason why they stop, so sometimes it’s just okay to accept it as it is.

Dropouts shouldn’t happen, so I reflect but then move on.

Her best moment

Christian: What was your best moment?

Elisabeth: The best moment is probably when I have an athlete who completely commits to my program. I do program for other athletes outside of Olympic Weightlifting as well, for example, Rugby and when I have an athlete who completely commits and tells me after the season or after he has done the project for a certain time that it works, and that he wants to continue working with me. That’s very rewarding.

When an athlete who completely commits to my program and wants to continue working with me. That’s very rewarding.

When they start trusting your program and become very coachable, especially athletes that are very skeptical to S & C in the beginning. I have done a lot with especially rugby players who have maybe a S & C at their club, they don’t really have a buy or they don’t really trust him and then they try to do their own stuff and then that doesn’t really work out and then they come to me and ask me how can you write me a program.

When they start trusting the program, that’s quite often the nicest moments.

Christian: That’s pretty surprising, I always thought the S&C is quite embedded and accepted in the sport of Rugby.

Elisabeth: The S & C in Rugby is very important because it’s such a physical game, but it’s very difficult for an S & C coach in Rugby to please a squad of 40 or 50 players.

The S & C in Rugby is very important because it’s such a physical game, but it’s very difficult for an S & C coach in Rugby to please a squad of 40 or 50 players.

You will always have players that don’t commit to you or don’t commit to your program or they read something on the internet, what they think works better for them or they just think they are so experienced. If you have a big squad, there will always be a few who try to find someone else or find a different S & C coach or they don’t really commit to your program.

Her advice to a younger Elisabeth Oehler

Christian: If you could travel back in time, 10, 15 years, what advice would you give the younger you?

Elisabeth: I’m not that old yet.

Christian: That is true, I was just thinking about that when I just said it. I should have scripted it better.

Elisabeth: So, 10 years ago, I was 18 years, maybe I would have followed my passion a bit earlier. When I was 18 years, I’ve done sports and I’ve always been extremely interested in sports and very passionate about it, especially about the Olympics.

I remember the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney, I remember that I sneaked out of my bedroom and watched every sport I could, I always was involved in sport.

But when I was 18 years and I just graduated school, I thought, I’m going to do something, that is considered more normal, and then I started studying something that I was not really passionate about.

I’ve always been extremely interested and very passionate about sports, but when I graduated from school, I thought, I’m going to do something, that is considered more normal, and started studying something that I was not really passionate about.

It took me too long to finally say, I’m going to take that bigger risk and work in sports, than doing what’s maybe more secure and safer for us or has a steady income.

So if I would look back 10 years, I would say, follow your path or in my case, I should have followed my passion from the beginning. Even though everyone around me was telling me, that you can’t work in sports, you won’t have a steady income, it’s not secure, don’t do it, do something normal.

Christian: I had to hear the same thing, I was told you can’t work in sports.

Her recollection of the Sydney 2000 Olympics where Women’s Olympic Weightlifting was introduced

Christian: What do you remember of the 2000 Olympics?

Elisabeth: The 2000 Olympics were the first Olympic Games, where Women’s Weightlifting was introduced. So, 2000 was a big year, where women finally came on the big stage and we had a German female athlete there, her name was Monique Riesterer.

I actually met her at the weightlifting club in Berlin where I trained for a while and it was quite an honor to meet someone who paved the way for women in Olympic Weightlifting, someone who’s responsible that there are so many women in weightlifting now, so that’s quite nice.

Christian: That’s cool. Talking about the Sydney Olympic Games, Olympic Weightlifting, and me, being a big Pyrros Dimas fan, I remember he won his third Olympic title there.

Her advice for young aspiring S & C coaches

Christian: What advice would you give to young aspiring S&C coaches?

Elisabeth: So, since I’m still a young S & C coach, from my experience now, I would give the advice to gain as much experience as possible, especially to not stay in one sport, not to focus on one sport only.

Gain as much experience as possible, and not to focus on one sport only.

Let’s say, if I want to work in football, I’m just going to focus on football, I’m trying to get an internship in football, and just learning everything about football. That’s not good as a young S&C coach.

If you have a passion for one sport, that’s a good thing, but it’s always good to look around you and get out of your comfort zone. So, what I have done the last few years is trying to gain as much experience as possible while shadowing other coaches. It’s better to travel some way and shadow another coach from a completely different in sport, then putting money into doing like the 10th or 11th certificate somewhere.

What I would recommend every other coach is to travel and shadow another coach from a completely different sport, that’s more important than focusing on the sports science studies all the time.

What I’ve done is like traveling and shadowing other coaches and that’s what I would recommend every other coach and it’s more important than focusing on the sports science studies all the time. So, rather use your free time or your money to travel and get as much experience as possible in other sports.

Also, check out the interview ‘I see myself as an employee of the athlete, my job is to get the athlete better.’ with Olympic Strength & Conditioning Coach Jorden Bres, who outlines traveling and learning from other coaches as his most valuable experience.

Christian: I agree.

The role of Olympic weightlifting in Strength and Conditioning

Christian: You’re a strength and conditioning coach and an Olympic weightlifting coach, how do you see the role of Olympic weightlifting in strength and conditioning?

Elisabeth: It can play a very important role if the athlete you coach is able to perform the Olympic lifts, or if you work with young athletes and you have enough time to teach the technique.

I’m not a fan, and I know that a lot of Olympic weightlifting coaches probably won’t like what I’m saying, but I’m not a fan to let athletes do Snatches or Clean and Jerks when they haven’t learned the techniques for a very long time.

I believe it’s a waste of time to teach a 23 or 24-year-old rugby player a snatch for power development because that’s a waste, it’s really a waste of time because they will never reach their weight you need to do, to have power development and the same with like clean and jerks, especially jerks, I don’t see a reason or for any other sport, besides Olympic weightlifting to learn a Split Jerk, it’s like, it’s the sports-specific skill for Olympic weightlifting, you don’t need it in any other sport.

It can play a very important role if the athlete you coach is able to perform the Olympic lifts, but I’m not a fan to let athletes do Snatches or Clean and Jerks when they haven’t learned the techniques. I believe it’s a waste of time

And if the reason why you do it is getting overhead strength, then it’s the wrong exercise. If it’s the reason you want to have developed upper body power, there are so many different exercises that are much easier and you can use, you can program so I’m not a big fan of Olympic weightlifting in either sports or on Olympic lifts and other sports. And but if you have players who have been through an athletic development program, for example, when they were young, and they learned to technique while they were all from age 12 until age 18, then you can use the Clean.

How long it takes to learn the technique of the Olympic Lifts

Christian: What would you think would be a time span to learn the techniques sufficiently in order to benefit at a later stage?

Elisabeth: It always depends on, for example, overhead mobility, hip mobility, all that stuff. But, for example, we plan in our long-term athlete development model for Olympic weightlifting, we plan two to three years for learning the techniques of the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. So, that’s for an Olympic weightlifter, he can learn the technique in like two to three years.

We plan in our long-term athlete development model for Olympic weightlifting two to three years for learning the techniques of the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk.

You don’t have that with any other athletes in S & C at that time. And it’s not useful to have an, I don’t know a 24-year-old basketball player or a rugby player, whoever, who does snatches with 40 kilograms, that’s like not useful. Because his technique is going to, if you put on 50 kilograms, his technique is going to get worse and that’s a waste of time.

Christian: And how much do you get out of a 40-kilo snatch, right?

Elisabeth: Yeah, nothing. I think I can do that, like at nighttime and I’m a 50-kilogram girl.

Her coaching philosophy

Christian: What is your coaching philosophy?

Elisabeth: The most important thing for me is to care about the athletes, and not only the physical development, but also their personal development. For me, this is very important in the way I coach, because they spend a lot of time with me as an Olympic weightlifting coach and as an S & C. It’s very important that they like to develop to be like good and honest and real people.

The most important thing for me is to care about the athletes, and not only the physical development but also their personal development.

Besides the physical performance part of it, that’s probably my coaching philosophy. I’m trying to be like a good friend to them and a good friend that also tells them to choose when it’s needed. That’s kind of my coaching philosophy. I’m not someone who yells at athletes or tries to be like, from the top down, I rather, I want to work with them and not tell them what they should do.

Christian: Does that change with different age groups, the approach?

Elisabeth: Especially with the younger athletes, especially between the age groups, 12 to 17, you have to be a bit more strict, because otherwise, they’re going to do whatever they want to do.

The role of being more a friend to them and like working with them and their opinion should count, and they should reflect on what they’re doing, they should understand what they’re doing.

It’s very important at that age as well but it’s like, I probably sometimes come to a point where I say, you have to do this now and just shut up. In that age group, this happens quite often.

The similarities and differences between strength and conditioning for youth athletes and mature athletes

Christian: You are a certified youth strength and conditioning coach as well, what are the similarities between strength and conditioning for youth athletes and mature athletes, and what are the differences?

Elisabeth: In the sports world, it happens quite a lot, that S&Cs, or sports coaches in general, treat kids and young athletes like grown-ups. So they basically train the same exercises, the same structure of the program and but they do just a bit less.

It happens quite a lot, that S & Cs, or sports coaches, treat kids and young athletes like grown-ups. So they basically train the same, but they do just a bit less.

I don’t think that’s the right approach. Kids can train much more, they can train much higher in volume, but lower intensities, especially the age groups from like, 6 to 12, or 13 years.

In those age groups, they can do like extremely high volume, but at very low intensity when it comes to weight training. They benefit quite a lot from high volume, and you see a lot of progressions and when they train at high volumes.

In youth strength and conditioning, you should be able to get out of your sports-specific comfort zone, you can do a lot of different exercises, you can try to teach them a lot of techniques.

In youth strength and conditioning, you should be able to get out of your sports-specific comfort zone.

For example, I’m working weightlifting, but I do a lot of basketball skills and football skills to improve coordination. I’m not a fan of early specialization so I’m trying to have like a huge variety and the older they get, the more specific they can train.

It’s actually way more fun to train with those age groups, or because you can do a lot of experiments and you won’t harm them.

Is Strength training for kids dangerous

Christian: Some beliefs never die, tell us your opinion about strength training for kids, is it detrimental to their development? Is it dangerous?

Elisabeth: It’s not dangerous, otherwise I wouldn’t do it, I definitely wouldn’t do it. I don’t know why this is still a thing in sports, the sports science literature is pretty clear, strength training for kids as long as you don’t overdo it, is pretty beneficial in so many ways.

I don’t know why this is still a thing in sports, the sports science literature is pretty clear.

There are hundreds of studies that prove that strength training for kids is pretty beneficial. So, I don’t know where this still comes from, especially from sports coaches. And sometimes I feel that S & C coaches are way more educated than sports coaches and you have to discuss with like a football or a basketball coach about strength training with kids.

If you would have you done anything at the university looking at the evidence of strength training for kids, it wouldn’t be a discussion anymore.

It’s like, strength training is good for them.

Christian: Thanks for your answer.

Her core values

Christian: What are your core values?

Elisabeth: My core values are what I said at the beginning, I’m very passionate about my athletes, I’m very passionate about them becoming better. Honesty, even though sometimes that hurts, where it gets you in, not so nice situations, but honesty is important.

And I would say commitment, I expect commitment from athletes, or they can expect commitment from my side. So I would say these three, passion, commitment, and honesty.

The person that has influenced her most

Christian: Which person has influenced you most and why?

Elisabeth: I would say two people that are extremely important for me and why I’m still doing S&C, or why I finally got into S&C and Olympic weightlifting. First of all, it’s my old weightlifting coach. He has brought a lot of athletes to the Olympic Games; he won a few medals at the Olympics. He’s over 70 years now and he’s still coaching. Everything I learned about Olympic weightlifting, I learned from him, like the biomechanics, the programming, and what it takes to bring someone to the Olympics. He knows because he has brought so many athletes to the Olympics and he has quite some experience.

Christian: Let’s give him some credit, what’s his name?

Elisabeth: His name is, Rolf Feser, I call him Mr. Feser. He’s the former coach of Oliver Caruso, who won a bronze medal at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.

He was a former head coach of the German weightlifting national team a long time ago, he’s now over 70 but he’s still squatting. So, actually last year we did a squat challenge and he squatted 100 kilograms in his jeans.

He taught me so much, we took a lot of hours, doing video analysis of lifts. We watched all competitions over the last probably 10 years on YouTube, and he tried to teach me so much of the technique and programming and he’s probably the most organized coach I know. I can ask him what one of his athletes has done in 1997 on a particular day, and then he goes into his library and finds the program on exactly that day. And that’s pretty impressive.

So, that’s the first person and the second one is, well I would say, there are a few, but it’s mainly those women or these female coaches that just followed their passion and went into a sport they just like. I would say they went into a male-dominated sport, for example, Katie Sowers now, she’s the first female American football coach who coached in the Super Bowl, and they just did whatever they wanted to do and followed their passion into their favorite sport and didn’t care about that it is like a male-dominated sport. These kinds of women, there are like supporting my way or supporting me in working in sports that I just like, even though there are not a lot of women.

The talent identification process in the Olympic Weightlifting Federation

Christian: You are the head of talent identification, how does the talent identification in the Olympic weightlifting Federation look like? Just give us a rough outline.

Elisabeth: We start when they are around to like 12 or 13 years, we do basic assessments for power, strength, mobility, and we track them over time. Basically what I’m looking for is a more athletic talent or I call it athletic talent so either, do they have the fundamentals or the base to become good in sports, in general?

What I’m looking for is more athletic talent, do they have the base to become good in sports in general.

I wouldn’t say we do specific talent ID for Olympic weightlifting. Of course, there are a few things that show if someone has the potential to become a weightlifter. So, if someone is extremely tall, do we really need them for Olympics weightlifting? However, I try to do assessments to figure out, does this kid even have the base or the fundamental skills to develop into an Olympic athlete.

Testing motor skills and what kind of motor skills are best tested

Christian: I saw that in one of your LinkedIn posts, you talked about testing motor skills, what kind of motor skills are you testing?

Elisabeth: We try to let them sprint, I let them throw, then I have like a med ball backward throw, to test the triple extension and we want to have in a vertical jump. Then I do a mobility assessment for hip mobility, shoulder, and ankle and that’s basically it.

There’s not much more that I need in those age groups. I would like to do more, I would like to do, not just motor skills assessments, I would like to do also the psychological side of talent ID, but it’s very difficult and you don’t want it to influence your selection process. I always have a very hard time selecting athletes at a very young age because they can still develop, therefore I try to select as late as possible.

I always have a very hard time selecting athletes at a very young age because they can still develop, therefore I try to select as late as possible.

The relative age effect

Christian: A lot of things have been said about the relative age effect in the last years, is that something you take into consideration?

Elisabeth: Yes, definitely. With the German youth national team, we have a standard weight they have to hit. For example, in the 59-kilogram female weight class, they need to do a total of 145 kg. In the age group below they have a lower total and we take the biological age for seeing what the standards should be, and what standards they need to hit in order to become national team athletes.

I don’t think a lot of other sports do that. In our case for example, even though they compete in the age group 16 and if their biological ages are like 15 or 14, then we take that standard for the national team.

The LTAD (long term athlete development) outline

Christian: That leads perfectly into the next question about LTAD, long term athlete development. So, you work with chronological age, biological age, and training age through the different phases of development. How does the LTAD framework look like, more or less, what age do you start, and where does it end?

Elisabeth: It would be ideal for us, in weightlifting, if we get athletes at the age of 13 or 14 years, who have a lot of sports experience in different kind of sports, so they have their motor skills or especially the coordinative skills that we need. Unfortunately, most often that is not the case, so most athletes who come to us with 13 or 14 years haven’t done a lot of sports when they were younger.

It would be ideal, if we get athletes at the age of 13 or 14 years, who have a lot of sports experience in different kinds of sports, unfortunately, most often that is not the case.

We now start our long term athlete development model a lot younger so we already work with 8 until 10 years old and we try to do, what schools don’t do anymore, we teach them fundamental movement skills. Otherwise, we can’t develop them for high-performance sports later.

If they haven’t done this phase, we can’t use them, we can’t use them later for like elite sports. So, now we start at the age of 8 or 10 years where we introduced them to the weightlifting technique already. Most 10-year-old kids are able to do Snatches with like a broomstick, or PVC pipe, they do Overhead Squats with it, they do Split Jerks with it, all the techniques they are learning right from the start. But for the rest of the training, I would say 80% of the training is based around fundamental movement skills. We do a lot of playing games.

When they are around 13 years, around PHV (peak height velocity) we start strength training and we evaluate how they respond to it. And it depends on the individual, how much volume he needs, or she needs, how much intensity they can handle.

When they are around 13 years, around PHV, we start strength training and we evaluate how they respond to it.

It would have been better if we could just start working in weightlifting with them when they are a bit older, but they lack a lot of skills that we need, so we got to start early with them.

Christian: And you mentioned PHV, so you start the loading process or high intensities post PHV?

Elisabeth: We start strength training during PHV and then increase the intensities and lower the volume post PHV.

Christian: Yeah. So, without putting words in your mouth, but I hear you want to have the basic techniques consolidated prior to PHV and then be able to load it.

Elisabeth: It would be perfect if they have already learned the techniques. You don’t need to learn techniques loaded, it’s fine if they know how to Snatch with a broomstick or an empty barbell, that’s completely fine. Then that’s like the perfect base to do strength training during and post PHV.

What other sports are beneficial for Olympic Weightlifting

Christian: In the last years, we’ve heard a lot about the multilateral athlete, meaning successful athletes have participated in more than three sports when they were young. And you also mentioned you would like to see more athletes participating in different sports. What sports do you think would be beneficial for weightlifting? Where do you see the highest transfer?

Elisabeth: First of all, I believe that for every sport, if you have a gymnastics background, if you’ve done gymnastics as a kid, you have the foundation to almost make it in any other sport. Maybe besides those sports where you need to be extremely tall or whatever, like basketball for example. But if you have done gymnastics as a kid or a young athlete, you have a pretty good base for high-performance later.

If you have a gymnastics background, you have the foundation to almost make it in any other sport.

I’m also a big fan of those sports, of sports like wrestling or Judo. From athletics, if you look at the throwers, for example, they have basically the same physical profile as weightlifters have.

If you see at the world stage now and especially in the US, a lot of female lifters have been gymnasts before or have done another sport and then made a transition into Olympic weightlifting even at a very late age.

So, I try to have cooperation with Wrestling, Judo, Gymnastics, and Athletics and try to find athletes in those sports that want to transfer to Olympic weightlifting.

A typical day in the life of an S & C coach and Talent ID coach

Christian: How does a typical day in the life of an S & C coach look like or in a talent ID coach?

Elisabeth: It probably sounds so boring, but I spent a lot of time in the office, especially because Talent ID involves a lot of analysis. You collect a lot of data and then you obviously have to analyze the data.

I also do a lot of conceptual and strategic work for the German Weightlifting Federation. I’m writing concepts and I’m trying to be there for the coaches who train the high-performance athletes in the high-performance centers.

I spent a lot of time in the office, I do a lot of conceptual and strategic work for the German Weightlifting Federation.

As a Talent ID coach, I actually do a lot of driving as well, I’m driving to different high-performance centers and do talent assessments, in cooperation with schools or with other sports, collect data and then make decisions based on the data. I try to have a good contact to the coaches and athletes that I found, in some way, and I try to monitor a bit of their progression and try to support the process of talent development at the end of the day.

That’s my day job and my night job is probably programming for rugby players or programming for other athletes. I think if you’re an S&C you’re, kind of a workaholic, so that’s what I do on Sundays and at nighttime, trying to get rugby players fit and strong, as well as returning to play since they get injured a lot.

How to design a training program

Christian: How do you design a training program?

Elisabeth: First of all, it always depends on the athlete and the sport. With the younger athletes, I don’t design that much, especially the younger age groups, I have a specific goal for a period of time. Let’s say four to six weeks, and in this time, I want them to learn a few specific skills for weightlifters.

For example, the weightlifting kids group, we’re going to learn a handstand against the wall, or we learn to have a stable overhead position and then I try to find exercises and especially games for them to learn that specific skill for a period of time, and then I try to get a lot of variety into the programs with kids.

I change exercises all the time and try to give them like a new impulse all the time. That changes, the older they get, so then it will be way more structured and they get a structured training plan.

I change exercises all the time and try to give them like a new impulse all the time.

I always start with like a technique exercise, for example, Snatch or Snatch Balance, I don’t like overhead squats that much. When they’re older it’s a good warm-up exercise, but not as the main training exercise.

After the technique part, I do the strength part so it’s going to be Squats, Pulls, normal strength work, and then at the end a lot of accessory work. That would be for a weightlifter.

For a rugby player or football player, volleyball or basketball player, it always depends on what position they play, what are the demands of the sport.

However, a basic structure I like to follow is to start movement prep and prehab stuff, because if it’s not at the beginning they wouldn’t do it and skip the prehab stuff. After that, I do a main upper body or lower body exercise, and then a lot of accessory work and core work around it. That’s probably the basic structure and then it always depends on the position. For example, rugby, you have 15 different positions and all of those positions have different demands.

Her interview nomination

Christian: Do you want to nominate someone to be interviewed?

Elisabeth: It’s Julia Eyre. She is a female coach in football, a sports psychologist, and S & C coach. She has very interesting views on football and she’s a good S & C for football, that is very different from all the other football S & Cs that I’ve met.

What is going on in the life of Elisabeth Oehler at this moment in time

Christian: What else is going on in your life at this moment in time?

Elisabeth: At the moment we are in the Olympic qualification process with our senior athletes and with Corona, we have different news every day, what’s going to happen.

Otherwise, I’m going to have a youth training camp in France next month, if Corona doesn’t cancel it.

Christian: And you’re a part-time student?

Elisabeth: I’m writing my bachelor thesis at the moment. I say this, if you’re an S & C, you are kind of a workaholic and you always recommend to your athletes that they should sleep at least eight hours and as an S & C, you never do that.