Kavan Latham is the assistant strength and conditioning coach of the Washington Commanders. That means he’s responsible for keeping the players in shape, both during the football season and in the offseason. Here are excerpts from his interview with Special Olympics Virginia:
Special Olympics Virginia: How many days a week do your guys do strength training during the season and during the offseason?
Kavan Latham: During the offseason, we go four days a week. But that’s primarily because they are not playing football. So you think in terms of their energy systems and how much you can tax them, how much they can sacrifice. During the offseason, you are always going to train more.
In season, we require two lifts per week. Usually, that’s a post-game workout. That’s on a Monday after a game. They are going to come in and usually train their legs and their lower body. Later in the week, on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday, they will train their upper body.
A lot of people like to train upper body first. But the way we see it is in season, we have to flip the program. We want them training legs as far away from their next game as possible. So then they have time to recover appropriately to be ready for the next competition. The upper body can always be pushed back a little bit more. But the closer we get to a game, the faster we want their legs to be.
So your heavier movements should always be done earlier in the week. Then you have time to recover. With faster movements, let’s say you just can’t get to a lift early in the week, something happens and you can’t make time to lift. But you can make time to lift on a Thursday or a Friday. Now we’re about 17 hours out from a game, so we’re not going to lift heavy. We’re going to lift light and fast, just to keep the body going.
SOVA: Do you guys do anything different in the offseason that you wouldn’t normally do during the season?
Latham: During the season, we look at what these guys do and accomplish on the football field and on the practice field and don't feel the need to double down in the weight room, as well. As a strength staff we see ourselves as a pressure valve. We are constantly watching the players communicating with the players and the coaches. If they come to us and tell us that was a really hard practice then we know that we need to take the pressure off of them. So the strength training program is constantly being modified, constantly being changed.
SOVA: Do your guys do any strength training when they are injured or recovering from an injury?
Latham: Oh, absolutely. Everything has to be cleared by the training staff first. So if a guy is just coming out of surgery or has stitches, he might not be allowed to sweat for a certain amount of time. We want to avoid any kind of an infection. So to manage that, the training staff will not let them in the weight room for a certain amount of time.
Then after that, they have to be cleared so we can train them in some capacity. We’ve got a couple of guys with lower limb injuries that are post-surgery. Right now, they are clear to train upper body. So two to three times a week, they will meet with us and we’ll train their upper body. And when it’s cleared from the training staff, we’ll start training their lower body as well.
SOVA: What are good strength training exercises that anyone looking to get stronger can benefit from?
Latham: I would always start with body weight movements. (Note: Body weight movements are exercises that simply involve your own body.) They are the simplest, they are the safest, and you can do them almost anywhere. So they are also the most accessible, and that’s what it really comes down to when you are trying to get stronger.
When we first started talking, you were telling me that you are a streak runner. What’s the motive? It’s commitment and consistency. If you can handle those two, you can get strong.
That’s one of the main reasons why I love strength and conditioning. Anybody can be strong so long as they’re willing to put the effort into it. As long as they’re willing to be committed and be consistent, they can get strong. And that is one of the coolest things about it. That is one of the main reasons why I love strength and conditioning. Anyone can be strong. It is strictly mental – as long as you’re willing to put the work in, you will get strong. Guaranteed!
