2026 Thanksgiving Strength Camp is Open
TL;DR
Thanksgiving break is five days most kids spend on a couch. Mighty Oak Athletic's Thanksgiving Week Camp turns one hour of each of those days into a real training block: five CSCS-coached sessions, ages 6–18, $50, shirt included, Nov 23–28 in Westmont. It's the lowest-friction way a new family will ever try strength training.
The Five Days Nobody Trains
Thanksgiving break is the easiest week of the year to get stronger — because nothing else is competing for it
Every November I watch the same thing happen. School lets out Tuesday or Wednesday. Practices stop. The travel team takes the week off. And for five straight days, a kid who normally moves for two hours a day moves for none.
Nobody plans it. It's just what a week with no schedule looks like.
Then the following Monday, that same kid shows up to practice and everything feels heavy. Coaches call it "coming back slow." Parents call it "he needs to get back in the groove." What actually happened is simpler: a growing body went five days without a reason to be strong, and it responded exactly the way bodies do.
Here's the thing most parents don't realize. Five consecutive days is also a real training block. It's the same number of sessions a serious athlete gets in a full month of once-a-week training, compressed into one week when there's nothing in the way. No homework at 8 p.m. No game on Saturday. No coach asking for rest days. For a kid who's never lifted, five days in a row is enough to learn the squat, hinge, press, and pull well enough that they never forget them. For a kid who already trains, it's a week of progress instead of a week of decline.
That's the whole reason Thanksgiving Week Camp exists.
What one hour a day looks like
A twelve-year-old I'll call Owen came to camp two Novembers ago because his mom wanted him off the Xbox. He'd never touched a barbell. Monday he learned to squat with a kettlebell held at his chest. Tuesday he hinged with the same bell. Wednesday he pressed a light bar overhead and rowed it from the floor. Friday he put all four together. Saturday morning he did the full session without being told what came next.
Five hours. That's the entire investment. He left with a shirt, a squat, and a picture of himself doing something he didn't know he could do. He's a green shirt now — level four of nine — and he still comes on Saturdays.
Owen is a composite of a lot of kids, but the arc is the one I see every year. The first day is awkward. The third day something clicks. By the fifth, the kid is pushing himself.
Why this is the right week to start
If you've been thinking about strength training for your athlete and haven't pulled the trigger, the honest reasons are usually cost, commitment, and not knowing whether they'll like it. Camp answers all three.
It's $50. A month of membership is $199, so the week is a quarter of the price with nothing recurring.
It's five days. Not a season, not a contract. If it isn't the right fit, you've lost nothing but a few afternoons that would have been screen time anyway.
And it's the same coaching members get. Same coach, same four movement patterns, same twelve-athlete cap. You're not buying a watered-down preview; you're buying the real thing for a week.
The details
Camp runs Monday, November 23 through Saturday, November 28. We're closed Thursday. Sessions are one hour; book any open slot Monday through Wednesday and Friday from 3:30 to 7:30 pm, and Saturday from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Ages 6 through 18. Every athlete gets a training shirt.
Buy the week on the camp page, then book your five sessions on the training calendar. Bring athletic clothes and water. We'll take care of everything else.
Five days. Five hours. The strongest kid at practice the following Monday is the one who used them.
Book the Thanksgiving Week Camp
Coach Mike Ockrim, CSCS, is the founder and head strength coach of Mighty Oak Athletic in Westmont, Illinois.
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For a first-time lifter, yes. Five consecutive sessions is enough to learn the squat, hinge, press, and pull with correct positions, and those patterns stick. For an athlete who already trains, a week off during a growth spurt shows up as lost strength the following Monday; a week on shows up as progress.
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Athletes at Mighty Oak start with bodyweight and a kettlebell and earn the bar by technique, not age. The girl in the photo above is squatting an empty bar overhead because she demonstrated the position first. The NSCA and the American Academy of Pediatrics both endorse supervised resistance training for children.
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Yes. Every session is capped at 12 athletes and coached by a CSCS, and every athlete works at their own level. Beginners learn the movements; returning athletes progress through the nine-level system. Nobody is asked to match anyone else's weight.
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Athletic clothes, water, and shoes they can take off — much of the training is barefoot. The shirt is on us.
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Buy the camp on the program page, then pick any open one-hour slot each day on the training calendar: Monday through Wednesday and Friday 3:30–7:30 pm, Saturday 9:30 am–12:30 pm. Closed Thanksgiving Day.
