Training Sport Teams: Principles, Strategies, and Programming for the Strength and Conditioning Professional

Deliver high-quality, effective training programs to large groups.

Program design for large groups of athletes is a daunting task, with far more factors to consider than in one-on-one training. Training Sport Teams: Principles, Strategies, and Programming for the Strength and Conditioning Professional offers practitioners invaluable guidance on the creation of training programs.

While many resources discuss what practitioners do with their teams, the practical application of these approaches is often not provided. Each team has its own set of constraints that must be factored into the program design. Training Sport Teams provides explanations, tools, strategies, and programming frameworks that address the challenges posed by large-group training.

Author Tim Caron brings technical concepts into a practical light, sharing his experiences as an assistant strength coach, head strength coach, and business owner. He describes the parameters programs should follow as well as the rules that help create an effective structure for training large groups of athletes.

Team training, says Caron, should be bound by two basic principles: biomechanical rules through structural balance and physiological rules through periodized program design. Programs need to address progression, progressive overload, specificity, individuality, diminishing returns, and reversibility. While most strength and conditioning professionals know these key elements, scaling them up to work in a team setting takes special expertise.

With guidance on communication, variance, and application, professionals will feel equipped to make changes, try new things, and deliver quality programming to athletes regardless of group size.

Tim Caron, CSCS, is the cofounder of Allegiate Gym in Los Angeles, California, established in 2017. He is directly responsible for programming for over 600 members and oversees more than 20 coaches working across three gym locations and remotely. He designed a comprehensive staff curriculum that has trained over 100 coaches, many of whom have gone on to work in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and Division I programs. He is also responsible for designing and outfitting each facility with the necessary equipment.

From 2014 to 2017, Caron served as the head football strength and conditioning coach at the Army’s West Point Academy. He led all strength and conditioning programming for the football team and was responsible for hiring and managing the football strength and conditioning staff. He also designed and implemented the team’s nutrition program, sport science protocols, return-to-play strategies, and off-season competition planning. Prior to that, Caron worked as a football strength and conditioning coach at the University of Southern California. He held a similar position at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Caron began his coaching career in 2007 at Springfield College, where he served as the football strength and conditioning coach. Earlier in his career, he completed strength and conditioning internships at Harvard University, Georgia Tech, and at the University of Mississippi.

Caron holds a master’s of education in strength and conditioning from Springfield College. He also earned a master’s of science in performance enhancement and injury prevention from California University of Pennsylvania. He completed his undergraduate education at Westfield State, where he received a bachelor’s of education in mathematics and movement science.

Caron is the author of two other books: Strength Deficit: Leveraging Ratios Between Eccentric and Concentric Strength and How to Become a Strength Coach: Periodize Your Career in Strength and Conditioning. He also hosts and produces digital content, including the pH Podcast and the Strength TC Collective website.