By Steven Morris
Author
of Explosive Football Training
I used to think the average lifter
was confused. Now that I've been working with football players for
years, I know they are beyond confused…they are downright misled.
Most football strength training programs I see are a joke. They
have no focus. They just throw exercises on paper and pull the sets/reps
out of God-knows-where. Worse, most young players just copy and
paste their training programs out of some Bodybuilding magazine.
Worse-er, they usually mix and match these inferior strength programs
to come up with some sort of Frankenstein monstrosity of a program.
Football strength training, like all
forms of training, shouldn't be overly complicated. It's easy to
get caught up in the details and, judging by the emails I get on
a daily basis, fall victim to paralysis by analysis.
Follow these 3 Simple Rules when putting
your strength training program together and watch your performance
on the field and in the weight room explode.
1. Strength Must
Be Your Main Focus
Guys constantly ask about how to get
faster for football. Should they buy strength shoes, jump soles,
vests, parachutes, towing equipment, hurdles, etc.?
No, save your money and get stronger.
It's been said a million and one times but no one wants to listen:
maximal strength is foundational to all other forms of strength.
Stronger = faster. Stronger = more
explosive. Stronger = hitting harder.
Most don't want to hear this. They're
afraid they'll get hurt. Doing a gut-busting P.R. in the Deadlift
is nowhere near as fun as repping curls till your arms burn.
You must start almost every workout
with an emphasis on top-end strength. Heavy, low-rep work must be
done. Some call it Max Effort. Some call it Old-School Heavy. Whatever
you want to name it is up to you, but go heavy.
What does that mean? Well, for beginners
working up to a top set of 4 reps or doing multiple sets of triples.
For a more advanced guy, this will
mean working up to a max (training max, not competition max) single
or double for the day. Seems overly simple, doesn't it? Just work
up to a really heavy weight, can't be that easy, can it? Yes, just
do it. The stronger you get the better football player you will
become.
Before I move on to the 2nd rule, there is a growing community of
people who think that lifting heavy and focusing on strength is
counter-productive. They fell that everyone is out there slamming
into walls of diminishing returns because at some point, the increase
in strength doesn't produce performance increases.
True. When you're talking about going
from a 700lb Squat to an 800. When you reach that level, we'll talk.
Until then, shut up and lift heavy.
2. Need to Bulk
Up for Football? Time Your Sets
I know I just drilled into you the
importance of going heavy in your football strength program. But,
most guys need to gain some mass as well and the low rep stuff doesn't
always lead to huge increases in bodyweight. Some medium and higher
rep work is needed.
However, most guys simply pull some
rep ranges out of the air. I'm a big fan of the Rule of 24 (3 x
8, 8 x 3, 4 x 6, 6 x 4, etc.), but, unfortunately most guys can't
handle this on their own. If they don't have a coach with them to
make sure they're pushing, they tend to go too light. Just because
you're doing 8 reps doesn't mean you should simply back off and
train like you're in an aerobics class.
The easiest way to ensure you're going
heavy while still doing higher reps is to simply time how long you're
working. No one here will have trouble recognizing this form of
training. Yes, adding EDT style blocks to your football strength
training will leave you both big and strong.
See, when I just set the stopwatch
and tell the guy to go do what he can for the entire time, they
end up racking up huge volumes with respectable weights. As Vince
Gironda was fond of saying, "it's not the heavy weights that
build muscle. It's not the high reps that build muscle. It's the
high reps with heavy weights that build muscle." This pretty
much sums it up. Relatively heavy weight, lots of reps, more muscle.
And, because this is combined with heavy, max effort training, you
can be sure that you're increasing your football performance rather
than just looking good.
I do have a slight twist I use for
football players, however. I usually have them do 4's and 3's (when
5 or 6's are possible), working down to as low as singles as the
time goes on. It's a more hybrid power/mass training style that
combines the best of both worlds.
For example, let's say we have a young
linebacker who just isn't big enough in the upper body. He's getting
run over. We'd have him start with something like this:
Incline - Work up to a max set of
3.
Chins
Close Grip Bench - done for 20 minutes. As many reps as possible
on the chins and starting with sets of 4 in the Close Grip.
If he works hard, he should get 7
or 8 sets in with the potential of hitting 50+ reps in the chin
ups and 30+ heavy reps in the Close Grip Bench. That's the stuff
that adds quality mass.
3. You Must Transfer
Your Strength to the Field with These Movements
I think it was Dan John who said his
team had a saying, "looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane."
Sadly, this is true. So many football players look like they should
be in an Under Armor ad, yet they can't get a glimpse of the field.
Why? Well, usually, they train for looks and leave performance out
of the equation. But, even when they shoot for performance, they
neglect doing the exercises and movements that will help transfer
their weight room strength to the football field.
This is actually pretty easy, and,
not surprisingly I have 3 rules for it. (Yes, that adds up to 6
total, I lied in the beginning).
- Rule 1 - You must do speed or
Dynamic work in the weight room.
This includes Westside style speed
training involving bands, chains and over-speed work. If using these
extras is daunting, simply reduce the bar weight and lift it as
fast as possible. Usually around 60% is good. I do suggest that
you invest in a set of chains and learn to use them. Basically,
the body will slow you down as you near lock-out, so doing speed
work sans chains/bands can be problematic. But, the point is, you
have to focus on moving the bar as fast as possible so all your
new found strength isn't wasted.
Alternatively, you can use the Olympic
Lifts and their variations. They help build explosiveness and the
kind of hip strength needed for blocking, tackling, and running
people over. I wrote about the whole Box Squats v. Olympic Lifts
debate here on Staley Training a while back. Again, I'll reiterate,
both are good, both should be used. In fact, more and more I'm finding
that doing Power Cleans before Box Squatting is leading to big time
performance increases…but that's another article for another
day.
- Rule 2 - Train Laterally
In the game of football, we are not
always moving straight ahead. No, we move laterally, side to side,
backward, from different angles. So, why do I never see any lateral
movements in any strength training plans for football?
Would it kill you to add some Side
Lunges? Oh, yea, it might. See, these are humbling exercises. Guys
with huge Squats can be reduced to a crumbled mass of soreness by
100lbs in the Lateral Lunge. Ego usually wins out over logic.
Add movements like Lateral Lunges,
Angle Lunges, Lateral Sled Pulling, and Side-to-Side jumps to your
program and watch your football speed go through the roof.
- Rule 3 - Train with Sandbags
Sandbags and football training are
a match made in heaven.
|
Having a big Deadlift or Bench
is great. Using Speed Front Squats with Chains and the Power
Clean is even better. But, even if you use these as your base,
small "gaps" can develop in your strength. These
gaps can mean the difference between being a good player and
a great player.
Football is a game that is played
100 mph from all angles and they come at you from all sides.
Take a lineman for example. He comes out of a half squat,
fires out low, then has to punch out into his opponents chest,
move either forwards or to the side, push and pull at the
same time and continue this until the play is over. Pretty
hard to mimic that kind of strength with just a barbell.
|
 |
Using Sandbags builds that kind of
strength. It fills those gaps. If you're new to it, check out Josh
Henkin's stuff, he's the master Sandbagger.
|
|
Start simple. Get
a sandbag, start doing Clean and Presses, Squats, Overhead
Squats, Shoulder and Carries. Use them at the end of your
strength training workouts as a finisher. This alone will
put you miles ahead of your competition.
CLICK
HERE TO GET YOUR
SANDBAGS NOW!
There you go. 3
Rules to plan your football training by. Follow them and you'll
succeed. Ignore them and flounder around, play J.V. ball and
just lie about how good of a player you used to be. Choice
is yours.
To get Free Football
Training Reports please visit Explosive
Football Training Program.
|
About
The Author
|
Steven Morris is a Personal
Trainer and Strength Coach in the Philadelphia and South
Jersey areas and the owner of UWA Fitness. He has been lifting
weights for over 15 years and has been helping people achieve
their fitness and strength goals for over a decade. Steven
is currently pursuing an M.S. in Psychology.
You can learn more about his
methods and services at, www.explosivefootballtraining.com
and, www.UWAFitness.com
|
|
